Dragon Ball Evolution Review

Posted on June 24, 2014 by dreager1

Dragon Ball Evolution is one of those films that should have been downright amazing. The trailer was decently impressive and the visuals were intense. We were going to see some nice city busting feats and people could finally see how strong Goku is. Unfortunately, the film didn’t really have a lot of budget behind it and the writers forgot to actually read the Dragon Ball volumes. As a result, this is kind of adapting the King Piccolo arc, but very loosely to the point of fanfiction. Was it still an incredible film? Time to find out!

The plot is simple enough as Goku lives an ordinary life with his Grandpa. He is very powerful, but Goku is told not to hurt the bullies. Goku agrees and quickly smashes them into the ground without actually attacking them. Unfortunately, his grandpa is eliminated by Piccolo and Goku must now find the 7 Dragon Balls to stop the world from falling into ruin. He is accompanied by Bulma, a woman who wants to be rich and famous. Will these two be enough to get past tricky bandits and rock creatures of unlimited power? More importantly….can they defeat King Piccolo!!!!!?

Goku is the protagonist of the film and many people around the world have started to call this version of him by the name of Geeko. This is because the bullies of the film called him that and it sums up the universe in general. As a disclaimer, I still like the main character here, I just don’t like him as a portrayal to Goku. It’s even worse than Mario’s live action appearance and America’s first attempt at creating a Godzilla film. Goku simply isn’t Goku and that’s the problem. Unfortunately, one of the few things that they do keep in is the fact that Goku can turn into an Oozaru. This is one of my least favorite parts of DBZ so that was a little disappointing. As expected, Goku just roared a lot before finally transforming back to normal.

Unlike the real Goku, our hero is a very timid person and he lets the bullies have their way in the beginning. Usually the bullying scenes are always sad for the heroes, but at least we know that Goku could defeat them so it’s not as bad. This Goku brags a little more and he always wants everyone to know how strong he is. This Goku is constantly grimacing as if he’s in pain or something and his walk towards Piccolo is now famous. Intentionally hitting a fly into Gohan is also completely out of character and attempting to cheat during training is simply terrible. Goku is also a lot more interested in romance here, which won’t really be helping his reputation.

Now, let’s ignore the fact that this guy is supposed to be Goku. That makes things a lot more interesting. In that case, his personality is basically the same as Peter Parker. Goku’s pretty timid, but he does like to taunt the villains when he has finally had enough. He gets them to knock each other out and destroy a car while using some super acrobatics. I’m glad that Goku taught them a lesson and he looks decent from there on. He doesn’t hold back against Roshi and he confidently goes up against Piccolo. Goku can be a little cheesy at times, but overall he was a solid main character. He always fought to win and he never went down without a fight. This just wasn’t the Goku that I had been expecting and that’s the problem. I could likely go on about Goku, but this is the Dragon Ball Evolution Review and not the Goku comparison story.

Chi Chi is the main heroine of the film and she’s a good fighter. Her role may not be incredible at first, but she’s still a nice person. Her fighting skills are shown once she enters the tournament and then in her fight against Mai. She’s a good character as well and is a little easier to root for than her original counterpart. Chi Chi may be a little overconfident since she believes that she can defeat Goku in a fight, but that’s not necessarily a negative trait. Overconfidence can do wonders and it made Vegeta an awesome character.

Bulma is one of the main characters and her portrayal isn’t bad. She’s usually a good character in the original series as well so I definitely wouldn’t say that she’s better here, but at least Bulma’s character was good. She was one of the few characters who could hold her own in Evolution and I’m glad that they didn’t try to wreck her with a lot of romance. There was certainly some, but it was luckily glossed over. She was a decent fighter with her guns, but the film barely gives Bulma any opportunities to use them. I wouldn’t mind seeing her get some more action in the sequel as the gun fights provide a nice contrast to the hand to hand battles in the series.

Piccolo is the main villain and he’s not that bad. My only complaint with him would be the fact that Piccolo’s goal is vague at best. What does he have to gain from blowing up the world? I have nothing against villains blowing it up for no reason, but I have my doubts that Piccolo could survive this. Piccolo wanted the Dragon Balls and I guess that he would have made a wish, but if they mentioned this, it got lost in the long narration. Piccolo’s voice is appropriately deep and he’s a lot more experienced than Goku. Seeing him fly was pretty intense and he reminded me of General Zod from Man of Steel in appearance and personality. His only sad scene would likely be the post credits moment where Piccolo looks very, very weak. I would have preferred an epic line or a nice zoom in. Unfortunately, we didn’t get that. Either way, Piccolo makes for a solid villain against Goku.

We all knew that Master Roshi would be in the film, but I was still hoping that he would be cut out. He’s not as obnoxious as he tends to be in Dragon Ball, but it could be attributed to his lack of screen time. Roshi is still terrible and his few scenes are pretty bad. He’s easily the worst character in the film and it’s hard to feel bad for him in the climax. He should have trusted in Goku’s supreme abilities. Roshi also says that the heroes must hurry, but then he takes his time in the pit. If he could have jumped out all along….why spend most of the night down there letting Yamcha taunt everyone? The heroes lost a lot of time and Roshi could have prevented it all if he had just jumped. The humanity!

Yamcha is one of those characters who you can’t help but dislike. Yamcha didn’t appear that much in DBZ and while he was a terrible character in the original Dragon Ball series, he got better for Z. In Evolution, Yamcha really has no point and he never looks good. From the beginning, it’s impossible to take him seriously. He’s not a great fighter and he’s mostly there for the one liners and to get thrown around. The film definitely could have left him out and I would have been pretty happy about that. I can’t believe that the heroes fell for his trap.

Gohan doesn’t get a huge role, but Goku’s grandpa rarely does. He was all right and we don’t get many reasons to dislike him. He helps Goku get stronger and that’s really all that we can ask of him. It would have been nice if he could have looked a little more impressive during the big fight, but I suppose that it wasn’t meant to be. The cake that he baked looked pretty great.

Mai is one of the main villains of the film and she’s Piccolo’s right hand man. At least she is actually a solid character and she doesn’t shame her manga counterpart. I dare say that she is more likable than the original Mai from the manga and that’s saying something. I still can’t say that she is a great character since she gets no development. She’s just a villain who is there to take down the heroes and show them what true power really is. Her hand to hand skills are decent since she was doing well against Chi Chi and having a pair of guns always comes in handy.

The film is really devoid of an epic soundtrack. There should have been a good one for something like Dragon Ball, but it was likely not in the budget. It’s too bad because a few good tunes are always appreciated as they make the fights more enjoyable. At least I can imagine some real DBZ music for the fights…it’s a start.

The film has its share of romance as well. We get a little between Bulma and Yamcha while most of it is between Goku and Chi Chi. It may not be a whole lot, but it’s still more than the film needed. They should have spent more time focused on their training instead of being with each other. Why must these films insist on adding romance subplots that do not strengthen the characters or add anything substantial to the plot? It gives the film an excuse for Goku to fall for the fake damsel in distress trick, but that’s not something that I had been looking forward too.

This is one of those films that really could have used an extra hour. The film is just too short and you’re already in the climax before the film has time to do anything. Because of this, we have to skip most of the “Collecting the Dragon Balls” part and just launch into the action. Fighting the lava creatures was pretty fun, but I would have liked for them to have put up a little more resistance. The whole thing just felt a little too easy for the heroes if you ask me.

The film only has a few fight scenes so you’ll want to saver them. The first fight scene will definitely remind you of Spiderman as Goku pulls off a bunch of acrobatic moves to keep the bullies guessing. He beats them without actually attacking and the fight scene was fun with all of the random slow mo moments that would happen. We got to see Chi Chi fight Mai on two occasions, but one of them barely counted since it was all part of the plan. That fight was good although it was a little on the short side. There was a brief gunfight with Mai and Bulma and then the film concludes with a battle between Goku and Piccolo. That one is easily my favorite since you can finally see a little DBZ in it.

Goku and Piccolo attack each other so quickly that their hands are a blur and they also throw around a lot of ki blasts that destroy many of the rocks in the area. The big moment for fans was when Goku fired his Kamehameha, but it’s more of an air bending technique in the film. That means that we don’t get a cool beam and we only see a blast of air that Goku uses to ride through the sky and blast Piccolo. Well, that’s certainly one way to end the fight, but I simply cannot accept that as a Kamehameha. It just doesn’t work.

I have to say that one moment, which stood out was Goku’s house. After being blown up and smashed to pieces, we find out that a few rooms were still kept intact. The guys who built the house should be proud of themselves! Also, Bulma’s Dragon Radar is very strange. At times, it can sense Dragon Balls that are miles away and other times it can’t sense ones that are very near. They were in the tunnel for a long time before it finally located the Dragon Ball. That’s a little too long and they almost didn’t find it.

Overall, Dragon Ball Evolution was not as amazing as I had hoped, but it was still a solid film. You simply can’t compare it to the amazingness that is the DBZ anime or the Broly film in particular. Aside from that, I did enjoy the fighting scenes and the two main characters (Goku and Bulma) were likable. Some of the supporting characters were pretty bad and the film’s pacing is a little off. The romance and lack of soundtrack isn’t good so the film has a lot of ups and downs. In the end, it’s still pretty fun and I recommend it to any action fan. Trust me, you don’t need to know anything about Dragon Ball since the film writers mostly ignored it as well. There are enough plot holes and logical inconsistencies to make you get out the thinking cap. Oh yeah, make sure to stay past the credits for a bonus scene. It sets up the sequel and I’m sure that it would have been much better, but the actual scene is pretty bad and looks like the budget had been long gone by this time. I guess even post credit scenes can lose their epicness sometimes.

Overall 6/10

The Forgotten Review

Posted on June 4, 2014 by dreager1

The Forgotten is a film that I had not heard of before, but the poster is pretty cool. This was in 2004 so it was ever so slightly before the time where I got into films. Because of that, I tend to be unaware of films that came out before 2010 except for big classics. (Ghostbusters, Mario Film, Jaws, Alien, etc) This is a pretty solid film and while there are some twists where I would have chosen a different path as the director…it was better than I had expected.

The plot involves a woman named Telly. She is still in mourning over the passing of her son Sam, who died in a plane crash. Dr. Munce is trying to help her move on from Sam, but he goes too far when he tells her that she should forget about him. Telly won’t have any of that and she heads home. Unfortunately, she discovers that her husband (Jim) has erased her video tapes of Sam and also used photoshop to alter their pictures so that Sam is now Jim or he’s not in the picture at all. Telly questions others about Sam’s existence and none of them remember. It’s as if Sam has been wiped from existence. Telly must now find out what has happened to her son and who could have enough connections to bribe everyone into pretending that he doesn’t exist! (The alternative is that she’s crazy or this is all just a big dream so we can’t take that out of consideration)

Telly is a good lead for the most part and it’s nice to see some determination from her. We rarely get that in our movie protagonists as they conform to the higher ups or just do what they want. Telly is doing everything that she can to find Sam, but it’s a tough battle. The problems that I have with Telly involve an unnecessary scene that I’ll mention later and the fact that she practically starts flirting with Ash at one point even though she is a married woman. It’s not as if it has been years since she was just at home with Jim and there’s no reason for this. Aside from this, she is a decent character and while she never got to grab a gun or a sword to defend herself; she still talks tough until the end. (Letting her guard down as they was playing tag towards the climax was pretty bad though)

Ash is one of the main characters in the film and he showed some moments of brilliance, but many of his scenes were still pretty sad. He definitely doesn’t have as much willpower as Telly and he forgot that he even had a child. That’s pretty…disappointing to say the least. He has a tendency to drink a lot, which likely didn’t help. It’s good that he finally decided to stop drinking later on, but it took him a little too long to make that decision considering how high the stakes were. He had a good fight with two members of National Security and he put his hockey skills to good use. That was definitely his best scene in the film and he did a lot of the physical work for the heroes. Ash definitely got better as the film went on although he never became as cool as Ash Ketchum and I can’t say that I like him as a character.

Jim is Telly’s husband and he was decently likable for a while. He can’t really take a joke and telling the cops that Telly was crazy seemed a little sad. Perhaps she was or perhaps not, but he seemed pretty exasperated at the time. His role is pretty small and he still seems like a decently good guy, but it’s a good thing that Telly managed to escape. He would have impeded her investigation.

Dr. Munce is the psychiatrist who is helping Telly and at first I was surprised that he was actually serious. Typically psychiatrists are always evil or inept in films and Munce seemed to avoid this. Seemed is the key word here. Once the first twist occurs I quickly became suspicious of his motives and hopefully everyone else had that thought. Then he began to get a little pushy in his search to find Telly and I knew that things were about to get dicey. I don’t like him as a character because he lacks the will to stand up against injustice. Lacking bravery is never a great thing and you need to stand up to fight for what’s right when the chips are down.

There is one Detective who appears to be on the heroes’ side. She doesn’t like the National Security members and she believes that Telly may be on the right track. She has a gun, but that may not be not be enough to save the day. After all, is Sam a real person anyway? There is also a strange person that is following the main characters. There is something off putting about him….hopefully the heroes stay out of his way!

The big Unnecessary scene that I really disliked involved…you guessed it..Fanservice! I’m not sure if people use that term for live action, but we may as well since it’s the same thing. At one point, Telly and Ash are at a motel and she decides to strip down so that she could go to sleep. The stakes are already super high and Ash is basically still a stranger at this point. Is now the best time to be worried about how many layers you’re wearing while asleep? It’s not exactly hot out since everyone has jackets so she could have just gone to sleep with all of her clothes on. Ash has the generic moment where he stares at her for a second before tearing himself away, but that whole situation should not have happened. it was forced and I doubt that it attracted any new viewers since nobody would know about such a short scene. (Unless it’s in the trailer, but I skipped it this time) They also flirt a little in the next hotel as they sleep way too close to each other, which was also terrible. It’s what drags Ash and Telly down as characters. How could I like them as much after that?

Once the big twists come in; then the film loses a little bit of the suspense. I agree with the twist on who is behind Sam’s disappearence. The government, Telly’s mind, or something else! What I didn’t care for is the fact that the heroes really don’t stand a chance. It’s always good to keep the heroes in the mix because there’s no danger if they’re too powerful or too weak. (It’s why I cringed when Kid Buu went up against Krillin!) They should have closed the gap in power, but I can’t say much more without spoilers. That’s just my take on the matter.

Typically, this is around the time where I would mention the soundtrack, but there isn’t really one to speak of. I’m sure that it technically has one, but in a film like this you don’t remember any of them. It probably had some generic dramatic themes or a good one for the hero moments but I can’t recall any of them. That’s never a great sign, but it’s to be expected for a live action movie.

Overall, this was a pretty fun mystery film. It’ll definitely have you hooked as the film goes by and the stakes continue to be raised higher and higher. We actually get a gunfight, but I will admit that it was pretty unimpressive. The best part of the film was the fight with Ash and the two National Security members since it was a fight and it also brought the suspense that the film needed. This proved that something needed to be done and things got a lot more interesting. I definitely enjoy films like these and I’d recommend it to mystery/suspense fans. It’s very suspenseful and intense until the interrogation scene comes to an abrupt end. (Well, the actual interrogation scene wasn’t really good because the heroes have to become the villains and that sort of thing. They didn’t really go too far, but Ash may have crossed the line eventually. I just don’t like interrogation scenes unless it’s done in a peaceful way in a peaceful setting) That’s when things got a little out of hand, but you’ve still got a big chunk to look forward too. (Also, there were more scenes at the end that were cool, but that part took away a potential route that would have been more fun) Also, how can you pass up on the film with such a cool title!

Overall 6/10

X Men Days of Future Past Review

Posted on May 28, 2014 by dreager1

This was definitely the Xmen film that everyone had been waiting for. It had been a while since First Class so it’s only natural that everyone was excited about this one. It would link up the original trilogy with First Class and finally tie everything together. It was a great move on Fox’s part and I’ve always loved time travel stories. I believe that the very concept makes plot holes jump in all at once, but they’re worth it for the sheer fact that it’s time travel! I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this was the greatest comic book film ever as I’ve heard around the web, but it was a good film.

The film starts out with the heroes in the future as they do battle against the Sentinels. It’s basically a wasteland at this point and there aren’t many mutants that are still alive and ready to continue the fight. The Xmen decide that their only hope is to go back in time and stop this from ever occurring. Professor X wants to go, but Wolverine is the only one that can handle the strain on his mind. They send his consciousness back into his body from the 70’s and Wolverine must assemble what’s left of the Xmen to correct the timeline. The question is…does it need correcting? We’ll talk about the ethics of time travelling later on in the review.

Mystique has decided that she’s going to destroy Trask for the suffering that he has brought to the mutant cause and she’s also freeing other mutants along the way. Professor X doesn’t want anything to do with this and Magneto has plans of his own. It’s going to be tough for Wolverine to bring everything together, but at least he has the Beast with him. He just needs to stop the Government from making the Sentinels…how hard can that be?

Wolverine is a pretty commanding figure as you may have expected from previous films. He still talks big and we get a classic scene where some guys try to shoot Wolverine and he quickly takes them down. The problem is that we are mostly seeing Logan and not Wolverine. Wolverine gets an extremely brief fight against a robot, but that is basically it. The rest of his action scenes are against humans who cant really fight back. He looked pretty intense in his future outfit, but the fight scenes were not meant to be. Unfortunately, his few action scenes were not very kind. Wolverine looks terrible against the robot and I cant say that his final fight was great either. His role was smaller than you may have guessed from the trailers and he’s basically there to be the “old pro.” That’s the vibe that I got from him. He’ll finish the job if the others are unable to do so, but he’s mostly there to watch. Unfortunately…he isn’t much of a last defense.

Mystique is one of the main characters in the film. As she continues in her investigation to take Trask down: Mystique needs to evade the heroes. She does pretty well and manages to make the heroes look bad at several points. She does a really good job of following Trask to his base, but she is outmatched by the heroes. Aside from outsmarting them, she doesn’t stand a great chance in a fight. She plays the part of the hardcore Anti Hero and she does it pretty well. You start to root for her when she saves the first mutants and it helps that her subplot is infinitely more interesting than Wolverine’s. She’s surprisingly good at following Trask’s trail and she’s basically a secret agent. She can definitely hold her own in a hand to hand fight and she ended up looking much more impressive than Wolverine. This is easily her best film appearance.

Magneto gets a bigger role in the past than in the present, but he looks pretty good in both. As an old man; Magneto is definitely still pretty good in a fight and he does inflict some damage. His powers have their limitations, but I thought that his portrayal was accurate considering his age. The past Magneto was pretty nostalgic because it felt like his role in First Class. He got to have his own plot on the side and nobody could really stop him. He’d go wherever he wanted to go and just cause mayhem. He had a clever plan involving metal and a group of Sentinels, which was pretty good. He should definitely be considered as a villain in the film due to his extreme sides, but one could make the case that he’s an Anti Hero. (Anti Hero is typically still a villain, but someone who is committing evil acts for a good cause. Magneto’s actions stretch this a little bit, which is why I just thought of him as the villain) Whether Magneto was a hero or a villain; he’s always been a pretty likable character. His scenes on the Airplane were good and I always enjoy a good veiled threat from one “hero” to another.

Professor X is one of the worst characters in the film. (Past version) I understand that he wants to get away from the whole mutant problem and seeing them go off to fight a losing war in Vietnam was probably sad…but it completely destroyed his personality. (Also, if America has Xmen in the Vietnam War…I’m confident that we would have won. Also, couldn’t Charles have just altered some memories so that the Xmen wouldn’t have to be drafted? It seems simple enough) Charles is now a drunk person who uses injections to keep his powers away. Any scene with him in it was pretty bad. Magneto even has to point out how awful Charles’ actions were as he let their students be destroyed through the years. Xavier definitely should have done a better job of trying to protect them.

It also makes you wonder how he goes back to normal. Without Wolverine entering the timestream…how could Professor Xavier become the man that we saw in the first film? As it stands, it’s really hard to picture him going bald and then deciding to help mutants again. I’ll assume that his shots ran out and it helped him go back to the way that he was, but I can’t say that it seems likely. A bit of a fault with this subplot in the film, but every time travel story has its issues. It’s just one of the unspoken rules about time travel. The current Xavier was pretty good and he’s about what you would expect. Unfortunately, telepathy has never been good against Sentinels.

I definitely was not a fan of the Beast in this film. I don’t like how they basically made him into a Hulk and I don’t like him in either form. The effects for his Beast Mode are surprisingly unrealistic and they over hype him. (I don’t see him doing so well against Wolverine) I definitely would have been glad if he wasn’t in the film and it’s a scary thought to see that he’s the only Xman left at one point. These were definitely dark times for the heroes.

Quicksilver was pretty good in this film and I have to say that it will be tough for Avengers 2 to top his portrayal here. Speedsters should basically be invincible when they appear due to how slow everything is in comparison. In Quicksilver’s scene, we see just how slow everything is compared to him. Bullets are in slow motion and those are already moving at supersonic speeds. I don’t see how he can endure it when characters talk to him because it must take whole minutes for the sound to get to him. It’s one of the phenomenons of super speedsters so I don’t generally think about it that much. Just accepting it is a lot simpler, but I can’t accept a random person landing a hit on a speedster. Luckily, Quicksilver’s speed is accurate and he looks very good during his speed scenes. I definitely can’t wait to see him in the sequel.

The Sentinels in the present are very cool. They’re powerful and the designs give them a very horrifying appearance that is perfect for them. Sentinels should definitely be intimidating and the film captured this. I’m a little skeptical about the humans creating something this hi tech, but I’ll just assume that they got some other worldy help on the project. Naturally, the Sentinels in the past are very unimpressive and downright weak, but they’re more than a match for Wolverine. It would be nice to see the present Sentinels get some more screen time, but their few scenes were very good. They can definitely hold their own against the mutants.

Aside from the main mutants in the past; we also have the team from the future. Storm, Sunspot, Warpath, Shadow Cat, Iceman, Blink, and Bishop. They have a pretty limited amount of screen time, but the cameos are still fun for fans. Storm is able to make a pretty impressive storm that takes care of some of the ships. I would have liked to see some more lightning as well, but we can’t have it all. Shadow Cat doesn’t get to fight since she’s busy with her time travel abilities, but she’s a decent character. Warpath is pretty silent for most of the film and the average moviegoer may wonder how a guy with two daggers is still alive in these tough times. Warpath is outmatched from start to finish, but at least he tries. Iceman and Sunspot use their elemental blasts, but none of them are really that effective against the Sentinels. Good for temporary measures, but that’s about it. Iceman’s idea to wake up Shadow Cat was decent since a tactical retreat could have been in order. With his ice slides, I like to think that he would have made it pretty far. Bishop had a cool design and his powers were epic, but he was pretty inconsequential. He didn’t do a whole lot of damage and he should have focused on releasing his energy quicker as they started to blast him. It was a waste of his abilities in that scene.

Blink did the best against the Sentinels and her powers are formidable. Creating portals wherever she wants too is an excellent ability and it’s one that should be more than enough to buy time against the Sentinels. Unfortunately, she lets her guard down and moves a little too slowly at one point. Something like that was bound to happen at some point, but I wouldn’t have minded if she had escaped. With her abilities, she can basically launch a one person offensive against the Sentinels for a long time.

Trask and Stryker are both extremely unlikable. It’s natural to dislike them since we’re supposed to be rooting for the heroes to win. Still, it is possible to make villains that are likable and these two don’t fit the bill. Since they are basically the only villains for the heroes to face in the past…it doesn’t really help matters. Both of them can’t fight at all so they have to hide behind other people with guns and just hope for the best. Stryker has a gun, but I don’t believe that it will really help him.

Back to the time travel part of the film. The Xmen send Wolverine back in time so that he can change things and help them all out. Naturally, it’s understandable that they would want to change things because of how everything turned out, but…why not use time travel for other cases. They could have used it to go back in time and stop the Phoenix from destroying Cyclops. They could have gone back in time to stop the bullet from taking out Professor X’s legs and so on. Ultimately, if you time travel once…there is no turning back. There will always be other things that they could have done with it. Why not save Abraham Lincoln or Kennedy while they’re at it? Ultimately, the Xmen are doing it to help their position and I’m sure that many others would do the same, but it’s still not the best move considering that the repercussions will be worse for others. Some will be better off and others will lose out thanks to this deal.

Another part of time travel stories that I never buy is the fact that things got so bad so quickly. I don’t believe that the humans could take down the mutant race with a bunch of Sentinels. There are far too many mutants and the government can’t hide something so big. The mutants would quickly find out about the Sentinels and it would be game over. Some of the mutants must have an EMP related ability and naturally we have control over time. Taking over minds or just nuking the planet…either way this wouldn’t work. There’s no way that the human race would band together for the Sentinel program and at least one country would fire the first nuke. World War III would begin and there wouldn’t be any survivors. The few that may live through such an event wouldn’t have time to form a government and launch thousands of sentinels. The whole situation is about as unbelievable as the Age of Ultron…and that was unbelievable! I just don’t tend to believe any scenario where all of the heroes are defeated so easily. (Not to mention the villains. Naturally this means that I will never buy into Spiderman 2099’s continuity. It just doesn’t make sense)

This time I can’t really say that there was much of a soundtrack. There are some light background themes playing, but none of them are really memorable and you may figure that they were free domain music. It’s not the next Winter Soldier or Amazing Spider Man 2 in that regard, but an unmemorable soundtrack is better than a bad one.

While Days of Future Past was good; I ranked Amazing Spiderman 2 and Captain America higher than it. This is mainly due to the following reasons that I will get into. First, the film lacks fight scenes. We get two fight scenes in the future with the Sentinels and that’s about it. In the past, the only opponents are random humans and unfinished robots. Beast has a small scuffle with Magneto, but it’s barely even worth calling it a fight. The past scenes are decently interesting at times, but also a little boring for others. I felt that the film could have used a little cut in the runtime or just focused on the present more. At least give Trask a mutant body guard to that we could have some fights. I was really surprised by how little fighting there was and that was the first big strike.

Next, I didn’t like how weak the mutants look. Wolverine yells in pain when some guys shoot him and then he yells again when someone throws in another bullet. By this point…isn’t he used to getting shot? I get that the regeneration factor doesn’t take away the pain, but his reaction felt very dramatized. The present scenes don’t help the mutants either. While it does make the Sentinels look tough in comparison; I would expect a much better fight from the Xmen. How about using teamwork and letting Warpath get a clean shot at the Sentinel’s head through a portal? Long range fighters like Iceman and Bishop should have fired from afar instead of running right into the Sentinel’s range. The Xmen were humiliated in the fight and we got to see them get completely crushed twice. Storm also let her guard down in a critical moment, which was likely sad for fans. Weakness in the heroes is something that I criticize Transformers 3 for (And likely 4 based off of the trailers) and it can definitely bring a film down if you’re a fan of the character. The Sentinels could have still looked impressive if they had some more resistance from the Xmen. It’s a delicate line to tread for the film, but it is crucial.

Those were my two big complaints with the film. Despite the new Spider Man film not being regarded as a masterpiece, it didn’t make these mistakes. There was constant action throughout and Spider Man looked very impressive during his fights. He never went in unprepared for action. The film never dragged on for me because it was a blast. Winter Soldier may have had a bit of a slow middle, but it made up for this with higher stakes than these two films and really great hand to hand scenes.

Naturally, the film has an after credits scene, which should lead to an epic sequel. I’ll admit that I was underwhelmed by the scene, but that’s because I had high expectations. I basically knew that this character would appear in the scene, but I expected him to look a little more grand. Like the Thanos scene in the MCU franchise. The scenery also wasn’t my favorite and I wanted a little more action, but it’s only a single scene so we can’t expect too much out of it. While this film may not have felt like an Xmen/Superhero film; the sequel could definitely get that vibe. If they adapt this villain correctly; then it’s safe to say that big things should be expected!

Overall, this was a good Xmen film. It lacked action and dragged on for a while, but it was good to finally have another film in the series. (Wolverine films can’t make up for the other Xmen not getting to appear) The stakes were technically very high since the future was dire, but it didn’t feel that way in the present. From the moment that Wolverine went into the past everything seemed safe. Even if he had to go, Professor X and Magneto are now aware of the danger so the Sentinel program would never be allowed to advance into such dangerous territories. The ending was really good and it’s a fun way to end the franchise. (Ignoring the sequel coming up) I’m pretty happy for Wolerine since he usually gets the short end of the stick, but he can finally enjoy himself now. I still recommend this film to superhero fans, but don’t walk in expecting a lot of action and explosions. Think of it as an Ocean’s Eleven tale as Wolverine must gather up some friends to take down the villain’s plans. As a side note, the final scene of the film is probably one of the best ones in the franchise. Wolverine finally gets taken down a peg as someone puts him in his place. The line was epic and it’s the type of moment that will make an audience blow up with rage and excitement. It’s a scene that you don’t want to miss!

Overall 6/10

Robocop Review

Posted on April 20, 2014 by dreager1

Robocop is a name that I’ve been familiar with for a long time, but I had never seen him in action. When I heard that he would be having a new film; I was largely indifferent. I was sure that it would be fun, but I figured that it could be years until I actually saw it. Instead, I ended up seeing it at the theater. It was essentially as good as I thought it would be, which can be seen as a good or a bad thing.

Alex is an ordinary cop and he’s one of the few policeman left who has not turned to the dark side. He’s on the case as per usual when an explosion basically takes him down for the count. To save his life, a medical group quickly puts him inside of a suit that will enable him to live. The main drawback being that the government (Ok, not really the government, but his handlers) can take direct control of him whenever they please. Alex doesn’t like this and he needs to make sure that nobody can stop him from enforcing the law. He’s going to have to use all of his abilities to pull this off!

Alex is a pretty good main character and he’s a hero through and through. Well, he does go all out in the ending which may make his hero status a little murky, but before that he was known as a heroic cop. He got the job done and villains could not mess with him. After he becomes Robocop, he’s still a good character, but he doesn’t really get his will back until the end. I can sympathize with how he doesn’t want anyone to see him in his new form. It’s pretty tough to look at and it could traumatize his kid. Alex was easily the best character in the film, but from here on…I shall call him Robocop!

I’ll admit that the beginning had me a little worried. It starts off in a small village with robots and humans working together in harmony. I didn’t mind the harmony part, but deserts, underwater, and places without a lot of buildings don’t make for great scenery. Luckily, we quickly move to the big city and the scene wasn’t that bad. I’m not sure what the point of the suicide bombers was, but I suppose that they give us a sense of dread and show how against drones America is. Which brings us to another point of the film….

America is actually pretty smart this time around. We decided that we didn’t want a bunch of droids infiltrating America so we put a stop to it. Patrick has a TV show where he tries to convince people to allow droids in America, but it’s tough to stop an American when it comes to politics. The show was one of the better subplots because I always like to see TV scenes. Patrick is a decent character, but his final line is unnecessary. Unfortunately, you know that it’s coming. You can seriously guess what he’s about to say before he even says it thanks to his actor. As with Wolverine, it’s somehow become a part of his character. Until then, Patrick kept his cool at least.

Meanwhile, I actually didn’t mind Alex’s kid that much. Usually I don’t really care the kids in a movie because they can be a little annoying or just add filler to the story. I could sympathize with this kid a lot more because he was actually supportive of Alex’s predicament. He taped all of the sport games and waited to watch them until Alex came home. Unfortunately, Alex wasn’t able to watch it with him and that’s where things got sad for David. (The son) He also has a tough time going to school because of Alex’s image being ruined on public TV. (Alex was forced to ignore him as well since he was hijacked)

Clara is a decent character and she makes the tough call to have Robocop be created since Alex wasn’t in a position to personally agree. The decision may not have been universally appreciated, but she did have to make a choice and the scientists probably would have went along with the process anyway. It’s good that Clara made things hard on the villains for a while, but she does end up underestimating them at the end.

Rick is one of the big antagonists and I can’t say that he’s a likable character. He’s basically there for us to dislike him and he’s also pretty weak. Robocop would have taken him out instantly if not for all of the protocols. Rick talks tough, but he’s one of the many characters who cannot back it up with action.

Dennett is the main scientist and it’s hard to root for him as well. He helps the villains for a while and he definitely doesn’t make it easy for Robocop. At the end he realizes that things may have gone too far, but things went too far a long time ago! Either way I would have been surprised if I had liked the scientist, they usually aren’t my favorite characters.

Raymond is the mastermind behind the whole operation and his power is only matched by his terrible planning skills. He does make sure to have a lot of backups for his plan, but it was doomed to fail. I’m sure that the American citizens were going to realize that something was up. Raymond is the type of guy who will take a hostage, but he won’t fight Robocop one on one. If not for Robocop’s limitations, the final battle would have been a lot quicker. Raymond just wasn’t an interesting villain.

Jack is Robocop’s partner and he’s a pretty tough guy. He may not have looked very good during the detective work at the beginning, but his reflexes were just a little off. He still had his gun at the ready and he did pretty good. Considering how corrupt the police is, it’s good to know that we’ve got another cop on the side of the law. Once Robocop is fully operational, Jack doesn’t really get to appear much. He’s going to need an upgrade for the sequel!

The soundtrack wasn’t really memorable. It may appear that this is the case a lot recently, but it’s not just in recent films. Many films suffer from having a very unmemorable or just downright generic set of themes. This one may not have been very generic, but I just can’t recall any of the themes. This was definitely no Man of Steel or Avengers in that regard!

The battle scenes were fun when they happened, but we didn’t get enough of them. Robocop is great with a gun and they could have stylized the fights like the Terminator films. The best fight scene is probably when Robocop has a test battle against the droids and the trainer. We get some action in the climax, but the robots were very big so it wasn’t a real fight scene. Robocop would shoot them and keep on shooting them until they were down for the count. We need another humanoid in order to make this a fair fight. I’m confident that a sequel would have more fighting.

Overall, this was a good movie. I wouldn’t say that it was great, but it was a decent starting point. I would have liked some more action and I think that Robocop should have snapped away from the mind control a little sooner, but those aren’t huge errors. I would definitely be interested in watching a sequel and the franchise has a lot of potential in it. I recommend this film if you enjoyed the original Iron Man or if you like a good robot story. It’s light on action so you’ll want to be watching it for the emotional values…maybe. Just watch it if you want to see what life could be like in the future with droids all over the place.

Overall 6/10

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Review

Posted on January 3, 2014 by dreager1

The final Star Wars film to date that the proper numbering is now here! It was always a bold move to name the films with roman numerals instead of numbers and it turned out pretty well. It makes the films even more memorable. There’s a lot of pressure on Star Wars Episode III because Episode II wasn’t very good and episode I was still not quite up to par with episodes IV, V, and VI. The films had been going downhill (Except for the fun Clone Wars film) so we needed something to change. This film is a lot more serious and we get to see how evil Anakin is. Let’s launch into this!

The film starts off with a lot of action as Anakin and Obi Wan have their rematch with Emperor Dooku. It has been several years since the last film, but he can still hold up against the Jedi warriors. One thing leads to another and Anakin ruthlessly destroys Dooku. At that time, Dooku was already unarmed and completely helpless against Anakin so we can already confirm that Anakin is pure evil. Palpatine was goading Anakin on, but it’s not much of an excuse.

From there, the plots start to diverge. Obi Wan is in charge of defeating General Grievous and bringing him back to the base so that they can end the war once and for all. Unfortunately for Obi Wan, he is outnumbered dozens to 1 and he’s no Starkiller. Eventually, it comes down to a 1 on 1 fight with Obi Wan and General Grievous. It’s a pretty intense fight and this plot was much better than the main one.

The main plot deals with Anakin Skywalker…the main villain of the film. There are other big villains in the film, but Anakin must be considered as the main villain. Basically, Palpatine continues to gain his trust while also alienating Anakin from the Jedi Council. Anakin is pretty mad that the Jedi don’t seem to like him and this doesn’t get any better when he forces his way into the council. Anakin finds out that Palpatine is a Sith and warns the Jedi. Can 4-5 of the strongest Jedi in the world take on Palpatine while teaming up? Well, you may have to wonder about the answer, since ~~Darth Vader~~ Anakin joins in on the brawl. Next, Anakin decides to destroy all Jedi and Jedi apprentices while also destroying any life form that goes near him and becoming Palpatine’s pawn…or should I say, Darth Sidious’ pawn!?

All right, let’s talk about Anakin’s descent into madness. (It’s too bad since he was so cool in Soul Calibur IV) Anakin has always showed that he would turn evil ever since Episode II. He was completely unlikable in that film and he stays that way in this film. He’s cool for the first few minutes as he fights Dooku, but then he goes and destroys the villain for no good reason. He instantly faded into oblivion at that moment and I definitely did not buy his redemption act a few minutes later as he tried to carry Obi Wan to safety. Way too soon and it doesn’t stop the fact that Anakin is with the dark side.

Things only get worse as Anakin makes all of the wrong decisions and makes things hard on everyone. The Jedi would trust him more if he didn’t always hang out with Palpatine and he should respect the Jedi’s judgment since The Force rarely steers them wrong. He gets on the council, but then he’s still makes a racket because he did not become a Jedi Master. Did he really think that he would ascend to that rank without taking the Jedi Trials?

Things get to their low point for Anakin when he gets a vision of Padme dying during child birth. He decides that he needs to have enough power to prevent her from dying and this blinds him to the fact that Palpatine is a Sith for a while. Palpatine makes it perfectly obvious from the very beginning of the film, but Anakin isn’t exactly The Hulk, so he doesn’t piece it all together. Anakin decides that he will do whatever Palpatine wants so that Palpatine can grant him the power to defy death. Palpatine continues to make mistakes and heavily implies that he’s basically making it up or he doesn’t have the level of power necessary, but it is too late. Anakin is ready for complete servitude and he will do whatever Palpatine says without question. Most heroes who turn to the dark manage to question some things, like attacking their friends. (Sasuke didn’t murder Naruto even though Itachi wanted him too and Vegeta didn’t cross the line and hurt his friends either when Babidi “controlled” him.)

Anakin lacks the strength of heart that the other characters possessed and that’s basically the bottom line. I never liked him from the start of the trilogy and it ended with me disliking him as well. I have to say that I wouldn’t like the character at all if it was just the films that we were talking about, but I like Darth Vader in the comics and video games which helps to tip the balance in his favor. He’s definitely a good example of how to make the wrong choices and basically be the opposite of someone like Goku. Some characters like Medaka Kurokami are far too noble to commit such vicious acts as Anakin, and even mind controlled, she had enough inner strength to prevent herself from causing any permanent harm to her friends.

Obi Wan gets a pretty big role in this film and while he has a tendency to get knocked out at the wrong times, he does manage to keep it together when it counts. He’s a pretty skilled warrior and he looks good during the final battle. He also puts up a solid fight against General Grievous and he was one of the better characters in this film. He tried for everyone to have a happy ending, but Anakin made that impossible, so they were forced to have a climatic fight!

Padme doesn’t get as big of a role in this film since some of her scenes were cut out, but she still tries to convince Anakin to turn to the light. Anakin’s too far gone and even though his objective was to save her, he barely comprehends this anymore and nearly takes her down for the count. Obi Wan convinces him to stop, but it makes you face palm whenever you think of Anakin.

Yoda is definitely at his best in this movie and he finally shows off his abilities. Don’t get me wrong, we all knew that Yoda could fight. He proved it in the last film, but they’ve been hyping up his abilities as possibly being the strongest Jedi, so it was about time that he got to truly fight. The outcome of the fight may have been disappointing, but it was good to see him fight again after so long. I still can’t say that I’m a big fan of the character, but I can safely say that he was much better in this film than in the previous ones.

General Grievous is a pretty big villain in this film and he’s definitely fun. His Lightsaber skills may not be on par with Obi Wan or Starkiller, but he makes up for this by using 4 Lightsabers. He was beating Obi Wan in the Lightsaber battle, but eventually Obi Wan gave up and just used The Force to win. This shows that Grievous is a very powerful combatant and he is one of the stronger Star Wars characters. He was likable, so it’ll be fun to see him in the video games. He came in very suddenly and didn’t last very long, but his appearance was very impactful like Jango/Boba Fett.

Count Dooku gets a pretty small role, but his abilities are definitely impressive. The fact that he can take on two powerful Jedi at once is something that can be bragged about. He may not be as powerful as Darth Vader or the all powerful Starkiller, but he may be in the top 5 Strongest Star Wars characters. If so, that’s definitely a feat. Chewie also gets a role and it’s a pretty good one. Apparently, Chewie was an extremely hardcore/powerful fighter whose ear piercing roar was not his only weapon. It’s too bad that he could not appear any longer. R2D2 and C-3PO are still around, but what could I say about them? They’re essentially the same and if you (did not) like them, then you still will (not).

Mace Windu finally gets to fight in this film and it’s a pretty solid scene. He is the only Jedi capable of standing against Palpatine and he manages to get the upper hand. He’s easily one of the strongest Jedi out there and it’s a shame that he did not get any other fight scenes before this one. I have to say that I gained a lot of respect for him, since he is not all talk as the other films have made him out to be. Granted, Mace Windu did fight a little in film II, but even C-3PO could defeat some droids.

Palpatine gets a big role in this film and it’s still hard to take him serious. You can’t help, but grin when he pulls off a fancy spin tackle and destroys three Jedi in a matter of seconds. I know that he’s tough, but that’s a little insane. What about The Force!? Well, either way it was definitely interesting. I’m glad that Mace put up a better fight. It’s a little scary to remember that Palpatine will get away with everything for years and years until Episode VI. I definitely don’t care for him, but you have to admit that he did the one thing that many villains want to do..he conquered the Galaxy!

If I had to name a negative in this film, (Aside from any talking scene that involved Anakin) it would be the unnecessary kids scene. We know that the kids don’t make it since the Jedi go (seemingly) extinct, so do we really need to see Anakin destroy them? We already knew that he was pure evil and a despicable person, but seeing the kids die was definitely a little much. I could also due without the Padme giving birth scene, since those always make me shudder. The process looks overly painful considering the technology at their disposal.

So, this film was definitely the darkest in the series. Was that wise? Well, the fight scenes were awesome in this film and it got to go back to its roots. The film starts out with battles in space, which is all kinds of awesome. As mentioned earlier, the Lightsaber duels are also great and easily the best ones in the series. We got at least 3-4 of those, which is more than usual. I definitely don’t mind having a somber end when the action is this good, as long as “dark” doesn’t mean unnecessarily violent. Without the kids scene, I thought that the film handled it pretty well. All of the Jedi dying so easily was pure plot hax, but you had to expect that at some point. There wasn’t a logical way to have so many powerful fighters be defeated.

The franchise will continue with the next film in a few years. That will definitely be fun and there are a lot of ways that they can play it. I’m expecting Luke Skywalker to appear and maybe be the main character, although it’s not very likely. All I know is that there better be space battles and the new main character should definitely be an improvement over Luke and Anakin. I hope that Starkiller also gets a movie because that would be awesome.

Overall, this was a solid Star Wars film. It is definitely darker than the others so you probably wouldn’t watch this one quite as often, but it did end the saga. Anakin wasn’t likable, but he makes for a villain that you really want to defeat. I recommend this film if you are a Star Wars film, but if not, it makes for a good film to watch before Episode VI. This way you can see what the fate of these fighters is. This film still couldn’t beat Film IV, but it definitely beat I and II. It dragged on less than films V and VI, so I dare say that it may have beaten those. You’ll like this film if you enjoyed The Dark Knight, but if you want something that’s a little happier, check out the new Star Trek film.

Overall 6/10

The Day After Tomorrow Review

Posted on January 2, 2014 by dreager1

The Day After Tomorrow is a disaster movie that shows us the perils of Global Warming. Instead of melting and all of us dying from the water, we are faced with a different threat that may be just as grave. The World is freezing over and there doesn’t seem to be anything that humanity can do. Will we survive or will we perish?

There are several “main” characters in this film, but the true main character would be either Jack or Sam. My money’s on Jack, but they both get a pretty big role. Jack tries to warn everyone about the grave threat that they now face, but they don’t believe him until it’s too late. Jack must now venture through the frozen cities to find his son before it is too late. Will he arrive in time? His son is also keeping busy as he tries to stay alive while at the library with his friends, a librarian, a guy who likes books, and a guy who’s with his pet dog as they try to survive in this world. They decide to wait out the storm, but can they resist the frozen embrace of nature? There are other plots including Jack’s wife as she tries to save the life of a kid in a pretty serious condition and a group of researchers who are gathering a lot of information, but have no way of getting outside their residence.

The film does have some pretty nice fake out moments. There is one scene where this guy is eating at a shop and looks pretty nervous as the cops come around. He gets a few lines and we quickly figure that he’ll be one of the main characters. As he makes his get away; the character gets destroyed by an ice ball. Most of the other citizens in the area are quickly defeated as well, which is bad news for the area. Until the figure dies, you figure that he would be a main character so that was nicely played.

The special effects are pretty fun to watch and we get to see New York City destroyed for the first time in days! I’ve always found it amusing to see the city decimated in so many films because we get to see which threat can defeat it first. Will it be Chitauri, Cloverfield Monster, Apes, Kaiju, Thunder, or Giant Marshmallows? Either way, New York always puts up a pretty good fight! The “science” of it all may not be very realistic, but you can ignore that since this is a film and just watch the action!

The film was moving along at a solid pace until a very unnecessary scene that involved some Wolves. It was nice to see that they escaped their confines, but it quickly got worse as they fought the main characters. Animal violence shouldn’t have been included in this film and it definitely hurt the film. Why did they have to add this!? The other main animal looks pretty good as he survives throughout the whole film with a grin. He shows the world that he’s a true dog and gets to take a nice bite out of a hot dog and essentially has more to eat than the other characters. He also knows when its time to bark and he keeps everyone nice and alert. No cruel fate befell him and that was a good move.

The film did a good job of portraying the United States and I’ve always been a fan of the Government scenes. Right when they called in The President; I knew that things were about to get real. He makes the tough calls and his final scene is pretty intense. He acts pretty confident the whole time and he was a solid character. The Vice President is intriguing since he took The News surprisingly (heh) well. He gives Jack a pretty hard time throughout the film, but I suppose that anyone would have done so, considering his lack of data. The Vice President also did want to save the people in the North so he’s not all bad. He didn’t see eye to eye with the main character, but he did want to save as many people as he could.

Jack is a pretty solid main character and he’s a determined person. He goes a long way to try and save his son while also trying to convince the Government of how grave the threat is. He may have been a little snippy while briefing The President and pals, but he was in a rush and needed to hurry to his son, so it was understandable. He just gave them the quick plan and he headed out. He’s definitely one of the better main characters that we’ve seen in a while and he does a good job of taking charge and thinking ahead.

His two partners are not so lucky and it’s hard to like any of them. The older one is around, but he’s not very useful and he just doesn’t get much screen time. The younger one isn’t likable from the start and he doesn’t seem to realize the gravity of the situation that has befallen the Earth. Janet is not usually one of Jack’s partners, but she comes to help out in this time of desperation and she provides them with a lot of data via satellite. She’s a pretty high ranking person so she definitely helps a great deal, although her role is not very large in the film. She’s definitely better than Jack’s two ~~flunkies~~ partners.

I have to say that the kids subplot was not nearly as interesting. Sam and his two friends are a part of a big school competition when the disaster strikes. I just didn’t enjoy the three of them so much. Sam is always making a grimace when he’s on screen and his emotional moments are not that great. His phone call with Jack also didn’t go so well since he could have made sure to say that he was okay at the end. Instead he paused as the water flooded in. I didn’t like his “Rival” either and the best part of that subplot were the supporting characters.

The guy and his dog were interesting figures from the start. The guy is pretty quick and he knows how to survive in this cruel world. He’s the main source of humor in the film and he does a good job of making everyone look bad while he continues to survive. His dog is very sensitive to disturbances in ~~The Force~~ nature and he always gives the characters a form of early warning. The Librarian was helpful and essentially saved the kids’ lives as she let them into a nice room where they were able to keep warm. The guy who liked books was also solid since he made sure that the great authors could stay safe. This guy plans ahead and was ready to save Western Civilization at any cost! There was another person in there and she put up a pretty good argument as to why one of the authors wasn’t that good, but that was basically her only role.

One other flaw that I would have for the film (Aside from an extremely unnecessary and pointless scene involving a guy who almost ignored a phone call and jeopardized more lives by not issuing a Tornado watch and the Animal Violence) is the ending. It’s tough to have a real ending in any disaster film because we can’t exactly “fix” the Earth. Whatever effects have happened will not be corrected in a short time and they will be felt more many years. That being said, the ending was very abrupt and basically if you lived in America…you’re doomed. America’s been evacuated and now we have to live in Mexico. For the people who are not rich….they’re doomed. Also, there just isn’t going to be enough room for all of the Americans so it’s essentially the beginning of the end. When you really think about it, Humanity is down for the count.

In Disaster films, my favorite parts are always the set up (Meeting each of the characters and getting ready for them to join up to survive the upcoming threat) and the beginning of the onslaught. When the disaster first strikes, it’s cool to see everyone’s reactions and what they plan to do about it. Things usually get more slow paced from there and this film is no exception, but it’s not incredibly dragged out. The film is still enjoyable in the later stages, but as per usual, I enjoyed the first half of the film a lot more. The best destruction scene would definitely be the Wave of Water that attacked NYC. It was a pretty good batch of special effects and it reminded me of a recent Avengers episode. (A villain flooded NYC, but surprisingly there wasn’t any property damage and they dried off the buildings while not letting anyone die before dinner. Pretty impressive and Completely believable)

Overall, this was a pretty fun film. It’s probably not meant to be “fun”, but that’s what happened in the long run. There are a lot less fatalities than you would expect and nearly all of the big characters survive. (You do feel bad for the dozens of people who ran out into the freezing snow without a set destination in mind and not bringing along any food or utilities, but they must’ve had a great plan if they left the comfort of the Library for that. The cop did do a good job of taking charge and completely blowing Sam away in the verbal debate. At least 90% of the people went with him, which shows who has the better debating skills) It may not have a great amount of replay value, but it still has a decent amount, considering the (disaster) genre. I recommend watching the film if you like to see Apocalypse/End of The Earth scenarios and also view how the Government acts upon the knowledge. The character roster is decently good and Jack is a solid protagonist. The film is solid on just about all accounts so you can still watch it just to see the dialogue and the special effects. This is also a good film to prepare you for the upcoming Godzilla film, which will feature a Lot of devastation!

Overall 6/10

The Mask Review

Posted on November 18, 2013 by dreager1

The Mask is one of those films that I had heard about, but it dropped off of the radar for me. I remember seeing it while at a cool technology store that I used to be around, but then it closed. From that short clip, it definitely looked intriguing. The plot is definitely pretty intense…but could the film stand up to the hype?

Well, this film was definitely better than I would have guessed. The main character is Stanley and things have been pretty rough for him yet. He’s known as a pretty nice guy, but things don’t tend to turn out his way. A car drives through a puddle and wrecks his attire, he also gets ripped off and has to get a new car. One day, he finds a mask in the ocean and decides to take it home. What harm could it cause anyway? After putting it on, Stanley gains super powers and he can basically bend reality to his will. Definitely a useful power to have right?

The plot isn’t all fun and games as the gangs get to business. Tina is sent to the bank as an undercover agent to help them prep for the heist that will be coming up. Is she truly evil or can Stanley help her join the side of justice!? Dorian is the main villain as he wants to get rich and defeat Niko so that he can be the biggest criminal in town. Will Niko be able to stop this guy?

That’s essentially the plot in a nutshell. The film doesn’t really need to have a deep plot since you’re mainly in it to see how The Mask can keep on trolling everyone. The film hits a lot of the high notes that many films do not reach, but the only thing keeping it down is the fact that there is a lot of romance in the film. Tina’s first scene is in slow motion for dramatic effect and Stanley’s friend isn’t very chivalrous. Tina also has to use her charms to distract the main villain and another villain also fools Stanley. There’s also every scene at the night club involving dancing and singing. It certainly could be worse and you could quickly skip those scenes to maximize your enjoyment of the film. Still, the film has more romance than I would have expected.

Aside from that, the movie was very fun. Stanley was a pretty fun protagonist for the most part, mainly because of his overacting. His lines could get intense and his facial expressions make him as much fun to watch as Agent Ward. (Agents of SHIELD) The characters are really exaggerated in this film and that helps to set the mood. The cops were pretty good in this film and they were some of the better characters out there.

The main cop suspected Stanley pretty early on and he did a good job of rounding up the villains. He may not do a very good job of keeping the prisoners, but that’s hardly his fault. His partner isn’t very smart and he keeps up the trend of the character who’s so unsmart that it’s hard to believe. Stanley’s landlord was also a pretty good character and she had a shotgun at the ready. She’s an example of how a well prepared citizen should always be.

Of course, there was one character who completely out shined all of the others. That would be Milo, Stanley’s dog. Milo knew the score from the beginning and he’s a very smart dog. He plays a mean game of Frisbee and he’s able to jump very high. He plays a critical part in the movie and I’m glad that a film finally portrayed the dog accurately. Let’s just say that Milo dominates whoever is opposing him in every scene. He’s a large part of why the film was so good. He reminds me of my dog in a lot of ways. His power, His speed, His intelligence, and many more attributes.

The best scene in the film that didn’t include Milo was the police ambush when The Mask left the park. It was intense and also good to see the cops actually looking good for once. There were dozens of them outside and they were armed to the teeth. These guys definitely weren’t messing around, but The Mask always finds a way to stop them.

The Mask is an intriguing character because his reality warping powers seem to be limitless, but everyone takes it in stride. At one point, he breaks the fourth wall and the other characters just go with it. When he utilizes super speed to rob a bank, the cops just seem mildly surprised. It may be another one of The Mask’s abilities or just something to add to the comedy. Either way, I was definitely a fan of that part so I’m glad that they added it. It gives the film another layer of fun and excitement.

Overall, this film was pretty fun. It has a nice mix of comedy and action and there is a fight in the climax so you won’t end the film on a barrel of laughs. I would definitely recommend this film and it’s a unique experience. I can almost guarantee that you haven’t seen a film quite like this. It’s how you may expect a live action looney tunes film to look. Aside from the excessive romance, there really isn’t anything that’s majorly wrong with the film. It’s solid in all areas and is a well rounded film. The final twist in the ending is pretty great and leaves room for a nice sequel. (Which they totally should have done. The character who ends up with the mask in the ending could have made for a great main character!) Remember to be on the lookout for Milo when you watch the film!

Overall 6/10

Fantastic Mr Fox Review

Posted on October 17, 2013 by dreager1

Fantastic Mr Fox is a film that I had definitely heard about, but I can’t say that I had very high hopes for the film. Stop motion can be good in moderation, but there is a reason why they don’t make a whole bunch of them. The film can be very limited by this type of animation and after a while, audiences may grow tired of it. Can this film get past that obstacle and be a really good film?

Well, the stop motion didn’t really get to me. It can certainly help some scenes and while I would definitely prefer hand drawn or CGI, it could be worse. The plot revolves around Mr Fox, who used to hunt animals. He was definitely not a hero to be admired and some could argue that he’s the big villain of the film. The irony is that the real “villains” of the film are possibly better heroes than Mr Fox. Mr Fox has decided to stop, but after moving into a tree in the roughest neighborhood around, he decides to start up the old job. The super teams up with Mr Fox and they attempt to rob the 3 toughest men around. Will they succeed?

Well, from the three dangerous antagonists, one of them easily stood out as the best. That would be Mr. Bean! Mr. Bean has a gun and he’s a terrific shot. He was able to it all of his targets with perfect marksmanship in one scene and he even scared the other two guys. He was definitely on the ball and he seemed a lot more professional than the other two. I dare say that Mr. Bean is the best character in the film. Watch out for his scenes!

Kristofferson is one of the main characters and he continues to outshine Ash at every turn. Ash is Mr. Fox’s son and while he’s decently good at what he does, he’s no match for Kristofferson. Ash claims that he’s been improving in the epic sport that is similar to Baseball, but Kristofferson quickly outshines him in his first turn. Kristofferson also steals Ash’s lab partner which probably had bad effects on his project score. Did I mention that Kristofferson is also a fighter and that he was able to defeat a powerful fighter pretty easily. He’s a pretty solid character for the most part, but he fell into a romance that didn’t really add anything to the film. It was just there to be there and wasn’t awful, but those scenes could have been cut.

There was also a fighting Rat who was definitely the greatest threat to the heroes. He had a knife and he was pretty good at hand to hand combat. He was able to quickly dispatch Ash and Felicity, but Mr. Fox came for the climatic battle. He had the best musical theme in the film and was the only fighter who could really match up against Mr. Fox.

So, this was a pretty solid film. Mr. Fox wasn’t a very great character since he murdered some animals, but it’s better if you think of him as an antagonist. The animal deaths were really the only major negative with the romance being a smaller one as it was unneeded. Kyle is the super and he’s also a pretty good character. Once in a while he’ll zone out which can definitely get epic. The design for his eyes was pretty unique and helps to capture the demented vibe that he emits. Some of the lines in the film are definitely unique and help the overall experience. So, I do recommend this film to the average moviegoer, but especially if you like subtle comedies or stop motion films. If you just want to check out the next big animation film, go watch Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time. I can confirm that it’s really great!

Overall 6/10

Rope Review

Posted on September 9, 2013 by dreager1

Rope is a classic film that was made by Alfred Hitchcock. You’ve probably heard of him and I’ve seen some of his other films. I believe that I already reviewed one or two, but if not, now you’ll get to witness one. Rope is a classic mystery where the main characters (Well, really only Brandon) decide to tempt fate and see if their “Perfect murder” will come out all right.

The film starts out with David dying. It’s too bad since I’m sure that he could have been a decent character…hopefully anyway. The two murderers are the main characters; Brandon and Phillip. Brandon decides that the murder won’t be perfect unless they invite some people over and make this a fair contest. Brandon wants to test his intelligence against theirs and he also wants to feel the thrills of danger. Phillip is mortified, but he’s never able to stop Brandon from doing whatever he wants. The guests start to come in and things are going well….until Rupert walks in!

Rupert quickly became the best character in the film as he proceeded to completely obliterate Brandon’s chances for success. Brandon’s pretty cunning, but Rupert is an inquisitive person and he won’t be stopped so easily. The irony of the matter is that David’s body is in the same room with everyone. They are using the box that he is in, as the dinner table for the party. There are a lot of close shaves, but can Rupert actually solve this mystery?

The film is pretty suspenseful and it goes by quickly. The film basically takes place in the main room and they just talk for a while. A movie with nonstop talking may seem boring at first, but you never feel bored. I’m not sure if this would work in a modern movie, but I enjoy the dialogue in really old movies. Brandon makes for a pretty likable antagonist, but Phillip can be pretty annoying. He’s a villain, but he’s always doubting himself. Phillip keeps on getting nervous, but it’s far too late since he already committed the deed. Phillip nearly jeopardizes the mission several times and he does crack towards the end. The rest of the characters were pretty uneventful and they were mostly there to add drama. They never seemed to piece together the clues, but I like to think that they would have at some point.

This is a pretty fun film and I’d recommend it. The film isn’t very long and it holds up well. There may not be a lot of action or special effects, but not all films need that sort of thing. A lot of action can’t hurt, but this film manages to pull through without it. The mystery isn’t for the audience, which may be disappointing for some people, but then this would be a completely different movie. If you want a mystery to solve, check out Sherlock Holmes.

Overall 6/10

Red 2 Review

Posted on July 27, 2013 by dreager1

All right, as you guys may remember from my review of the first film, the film was pretty good and had a nice chunk of action, without getting too dark and generic. The first film had a pretty satisfying ending, so what would the sequel do?

Well, the plot is decent as Frank and his partner Marvin are framed because someone leaked an article claiming that they know about “Nightshade”. Frank wants to stay retired, but things get personal when someone makes an attempt on Marvin’s life. With Sarah goading him on the whole time, Frank finally accepts that it is time to return to the field. Unfortunately for them, “Nightshade” is pretty important, so every big organization on the planet is after them. M16, CIA, etc. There are a lot more villains that are out to destroy Frank and his allies this time around.

The soundtrack is pretty solid and you’ll remember the music for a while. The brief Death Metal music was interesting and the main theme that plays whenever they switch countries is pretty cool. The overall atmosphere of the film is still pretty light as it was in the first film.

Red 2 contains a lot of explosions and action throughout the first film, but Frank himself, doesn’t get to take up most of the screentime. This time he has to share a lot of it with other fighters such as Han. Marvin’s still pretty smart and seems to be the most capable agent in the field.

Frank himself is about the same as he was in the first film, but not quite as good. He’s still pretty tough in a fight, but he’s constantly worrying about Sarah and actually pulls a rookie (Or should I say, James Bond) mistake as he falls for someone’s charms and that person drugs him. He looked pretty bad for a while, but during the climax he’s back to the usual. Unfortunately, there are some things that you can’t come back from, and that error is one of them.

Marvin still has a lot of plans up his sleeve and he’s always ready for just about anything. He hasn’t changed much, which is good, but arguably the pressure gets to him towards the end as he makes a crucial phone call. I’d say that he was easily the best character once again, but Han gives him some pretty good competition for that title. Han was a solid addition to the cast and he’s pretty skilled. I dare say that he could possibly defeat Frank, but it would be close. He’ll definitely remind you of Storm Shadow while he’s fighting and his scenes are definitely cool. (Him popping out of nowhere with the machine gun is definitely one of the best scenes in the film)

Sarah is much braver than in the first film and she’s much more enthusiastic than Frank is about the situation. She enjoys being an agent now, but she suffers from her competition against Katya. She ends up using pretty unheroic methods to get the mission done and I don’t believe that “The End justifies the means” logic. She is still a better character than Katya, but I preferred her depiction in the first film.

Katya is the agent from Russia. She’s pretty high ranked and can get bailed out of jails within an hour. Her fighting skills don’t seem to be as good as the main cast’s, but she doesn’t get to fight that often. She was a pretty bad character and I can’t take her seriously as a “villain”

Victoria gets a small role in this film. M16 needs her to prove her loyalty by destroying/capturing Frank and his cohorts. The film really tries to show us how great a shot she is, but…she never hits the opponents. In one scene, a really loud death metal song plays as she dramatically takes out her gun. She takes out the opponents….after about a dozen+ shots. She was all right in this film, but not one of the better agents. She’s still better than Ivan, who gets a really small cameo/guest star role. It’s a pretty bad role and won’t help me gain respect for the character.

The final villain of the film is pretty intense and he manages to take on a battalion of soldiers while behind bars and not containing any guns or bullets. It’s pretty intense, but makes you feel bad for the army guys. Sleeping on the job doesn’t pay. The explosion at the end looks pretty cool and was a nice way to end the action scenes.

So, Red 2 is a pretty solid addition to the franchise. I wouldn’t say that it was as good as the first, but it was a good film. It suffered from more romance than the original and less hand to hand fight scenes, but the soundtrack kept it afloat. The car chases were also pretty intense and I think that a sequel would be fun. The ending in this one makes a sequel more likely than the previous film’s.

Overall 6/10

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Category Archives: 6 Star Movies

Dragon Ball Evolution Review

The Forgotten Review

X Men Days of Future Past Review

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Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith Review

The Day After Tomorrow Review

The Mask Review

Fantastic Mr Fox Review

Rope Review

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