This was easily one of the films that I was waiting for this year. Aside from Godzilla and Captain America; I was pretty sure that Spider Man would be the best film of the year. The first one wasn’t as amazing as I had hoped, but it was still a pretty fun film. This one would have more action and the trailer was the best superhero film trailer that we’ve had in quite a while. The film makes some errors that keep it from being truly amazing, but it’s a film that I don’t regret checking out.

The plot involved Peter Parker, who is actually the Amazing Spiderman, has he tries to get through life. (Disclaimer, when mentioning Spiderman, I will not use the space. This is the way that I’ve always thought that it should be spelled) He decides to break up with Gwen when the film starts and then he begins to doubt whether this was the right call. Peter is also kept busy because several villains are after him. A gangster is around and there is a shocking new villain in town as well. Peter also finds out that Aunt May may not have told him the truth about his parents!!!

That’s not an amazing plot summary, but you don’t really need one for this film. They squeeze in tons of plot points and while the film is about two hours and a half, it may feel longer. There were several scenes where you may have thought that the film was going to end and then it didn’t. (Like the Dark Knight) It’s in a good way of course; the film didn’t really drag on. Time to go into a little more depth with the film.

I got worried during the first few scenes. We start out with some animals dying and then we find out that Spidey’s parents were actually pretty hardcore. I don’t think we needed this development for those two. Richard Parker attempts to be like Clark Kent’s father and I just can’t take him seriously. Parker’s mom helps out during the fight as well, but the parents are basically fighting James Bond! That scene came across as pretty generic and it wasn’t very interesting, but at least it was serious.

Which brings us to the next problem with the opening. After the sad and “shocking” scene, we get to see Spiderman swinging through the sky. He’s laughing and making Mario sounds, but it’s a complete 180. We just got through a pretty sad scene so we should have had some subtlety. A scene that wasn’t quite so happy before we get a really happy scene. The transition just happened too quickly and it’s hard to feel happy alongside Spiderman. The scenes were Spiderman is just flying through the city can also be a little too long. We get that they want us to see how great the special effects are, but we’ve seen Spiderman web sling dozens of times in the past. 5 straight minutes of close calls and daring maneuvers isn’t going to impress me.

The beginning may have been rocky, but things get better during the first fight scene. I’ll talk more about the fight scenes in a sec. Things get rocky when Spiderman shifts into his secret identity and then makes some big errors. Peter is being haunted by a ghost so we are supposed to sympathize with him. I don’t mind the decision…but then Peter goes back on it pretty quickly. Again, I’ll go into that a little more in a bit.

The Fight Scenes in the film are some of the best that we’ve seen in Marvel. They easily defeat the battles in The Avengers and are probably in the top 5 of all time. Aside from Man of Steel, I can’t think of a superhero film that had better action scenes. That’s major props to the Amazing Spider Man 2 and hopefully the third film can continue this. Spiderman is very quick and powerful so his battles should always reflect that. He looked pretty good in the first fight against Rhino, but he did let the bragging distract him a lot. It’s not very heroic at times, but he could have beaten the Rhino whenever he pleased.

The scenery also helped to make the battles really cool. Times Square is always ready for a superhero showdown and making sure that it was night time was a good move. Spiderman is also shown to be able to think quickly and save people in a split second. This portrayal of Spiderman helps to reinforce the idea that he could easily take down the Avengers. I want to see some feats for those guys in Avengers 2.

This film naturally had a lot of romance surrounding Gwen and Peter. It was pretty unnecessary and Peter could have ended things. They did break up during the opening minutes of the film after all. They should have stayed as friends after that instead of constantly flirting. It was partially why I didn’t like Peter’s portrayal in this film and I can’t say that Gwen was my favorite either. Romance doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but it’s rarely a good thing either. It’s just another subplot in a film that already has a lot of plot lines going.

The music for this film was very interesting. It felt very parodyish at times and then it would be awesome during other scenes. It was so topsy turvy that it makes the soundtrack a little harder to rate. I would say that it’s still above average for a live action film, but some of the tunes may make you sneeze. The best themes are during the fights and Electro’s main theme is pretty great. Then, we’ve also got some happy disney music and random beats that don’t make a lot of sense. You’ll likely walk out of the theater puzzled.

Spiderman looked pretty good during the fights. He made a controversial decision towards the beginning as he let the Rhino damage a lot of property so that he could make a few extra puns. Spiderman could have stopped him at any time, but instead he decided to mock him. The Rhino was eventually defeated, but what if people pulled the Man of Steel card on us? It’s definitely possible, but punning is Spiderman’s first job; preventing collateral damage is definitely second.

I will admit that it’s not very heroic, but we have the Avengers for heroics. Spiderman is just an average guy who got super powers and then decided to help people. He still remembers the bit about Great Responsibility, but maybe he just forgot in that scene. It happens to the best of us and Spiderman still made sure that no humans were hurt. He was literally amazing during the fight scenes and the freezes in the film helped to show that. When the film would stop the time, we could see things from Spiderman’s point of view. He’s definitely a capable superhero and still one of Marvel’s finest. I would make a whole paragraph about how they didn’t use his spider sense to its fullest extent, but I’ll wait for the next film. This is one problem that never leaves the franchise.

Peter Parker…is not nearly as cool. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from him. I don’t mind the actor, but he just does not look like the real Peter Parker from the comics. Aside from his looks, Parker continues to make the wrong calls. I’m okay with him breaking up with Gwen so that he could keep the promise that he made to her father. (Even though he should just have stayed away from her in the ending of the first film if that was his intention) What’s not okay is the fact that Peter decides to start following with her and he obviously wants to get back together.

Peter can’t keep swinging back and forth like that. It’s not a good move and it also makes things tough on Gwen. Forgetting that his house didn’t have a chimney was a pretty big lapse in judgment as well. There is a plot involving Harry Osborn and Peter doesn’t make the best call and he doesn’t word it very subtly either. It involves choices of death or possible death and Peter doesn’t choose the latter. Parker did have some good scenes in the film. He took down the grunts who were after Gwen and he made sure to help a kid that was being bullied. It’s the little things that help at times, but the final scene doesn’t count because he was in Spiderman form.

Gwen Stacy is one of the main characters of this film and she has to endure Peter’s emotional tornado. She also can’t stick to the decision as she invites him to become friends again, but it doesn’t really work out. Peter started the flirting, but she went along with it so it’s all the same in the end. Gwen proves that she’s smarter than Peter in some areas and she can mildly fight so I still say that she’s a huge improvement over Mary Jane. I think it would be cool if she just forgot about Peter Parker and decided to become a superhero, but the world may not be ready for that yet.

Harry Osborn is one of the big players as well and things don’t look good for him. At one point, the shocking revelation of what’s going to happen to him is so shocking that he doesn’t even finish his pizza. Everyone has turned against him so it’s time to turn against them! His goblin form is as ugly as it looked in the trailers so I didn’t like that form. Harry was a decent character when he was in Harry form, but he doesn’t make for an epic villain. He’s out of Spiderman’s league so he’s not much of a threat. Hopefully he has as much composure as the CEO did when he went out.

The Rhino isn’t likable in the slightest and he’s really just here to be defeated by Spiderman. He’s completely out of his league and he can’t back up his tough talk. He has his “epic” moment where he almost fights a kid, but that’s the only time where it looks like he may take the win. The film gives us a few name drops for other characters, including Black Cat, Vulture, Doctor Octopus, Smythe, etc. I’m hoping that they throw all of those guys into the next film so that they can afford to cut Rhino out of the next one. Let’s keep the D listers in the comic books folks…

Electro was a pretty likable guy in this film. I actually liked him during his Max days and he always tried to do what was right. After Spiderman saved his life; Max was finally able to be happy. Nobody came over to celebrate his Birthday party, but he believes that Spiderman baked it. We’ll never know for sure, but it definitely made Max’s day. Aside form Gwen Stacy, everyone else is really mean to Max and they make it their job to ensure that he has a terrible time. I definitely can’t say that I would want to be in his shoes. He does find out that someone is not telling the truth when the person claimed to be Spiderman!

As Electro, he’s a pretty big threat. He’s not quite as upbeat or happy anymore, but his raw power is incredible. The cops started the fight and then Electro decided to end it! I was rooting for Spiderman, but Electro is definitely cool. His friendship with Spiderman wasn’t as deep as he had thought since Electro turned his back on the wall crawler so quickly. I suppose that they just weren’t meant to be friends. Overall, Electro reminded me of Walter Mitty as far as characters go and I definitely hope that he comes back for a sequel. Maybe not as Electro, but as Max Dillon!

Aunt May wasn’t that good in this film. She refused to tell Peter about his past and she wouldn’t even let him do his own laundry. She also didn’t want to tell Peter about her nursing position, but then she quickly uses it to throw Peter into a guilt trip. She just wasn’t likable in this film and I find myself missing the old Aunt May. At least she will probably tell Peter about more secrets in the next film.

Norman Osborn doesn’t appear for most of the film, but his short role is pretty fitting. He makes sure to take a few shots at Harry and then he shows him the despair that Harry will have to endure. Norman doesn’t appear after that scene, but it was pretty powerful. Norman is always pretty mean and the film really tried to capture that. You can’t really say that he’s likable, but he was memorable.

One thing that I have to note is that the film seemed aware of the 60’s memes. If you don’t know about the Spiderman memes, then you haven’t truly appreciated how epic Spiderman could be. The movie borrowed the fireman joke and the “Nobody will recognize me if I put on a coat” memes. Naturally, the film gives us context so that he has a reason to do these things, but it was a nice addition anyway. More films should look at the memes and acknowledge them in some way.

I may as well compare the film to the original trilogy since we’ve come so far. I easily prefer this to the original Spider Man 2, but it gets defeated by Spider Man 3. As far as characters go, Peter Parker, Aunt May, Norman Osborn and Harry Osborn as not as good as their original counterparts. Gwen Stacy defeats her former self, but that’s mainly due to a lack of screentime. It’ll be hard to defeat the original trilogy, but this film was a good start. Both trilogies are essentially tied if we just pit the first two films against each other. The Amazing Spider Man may have been slightly ahead or slightly behind the first Spider Man film. It’s a pretty tough decision to be honest and that’s why we need to see how The Amazing Spider Man 3 does. I’m expecting big things from it once again!

Be warned that the film makes some pretty big changes from the trailer. Remember when Harry let Peter know that Oscorp was spying on his parents? That is not in the film at all and Harry doesn’t even mention how they will (literally) change the world. (They cut the world “literally” from some of the trailers) I don’t like it when films remove scenes form the trailer because it feels like those scenes were fake. It’s as if they were only around so that you could go and watch the film. It’s false advertising at its finest!

Overall, The Amazing Spider Man 2 is a fun action film. I give it props for being such a light hearted superhero film that is full of action. In that sense, it’s similar to the Avengers and that’s a good formula to follow. Unfortunately, Peter Parker didn’t help the film with his constant mind switching and the music wasn’t the greatest at times. The 60’s Spiderman memes will continue to live through this film and it definitely could have been worse. The action scenes alone are enough to make this film worth a watch. The film does have a habit of suddenly shifting from happy to sad to happy scenes, but you just need the ride the waves as they come. I recommend checking this film out while it’s still in theaters. It’s not quite as good as Captain America, but it’s much better than critics would have you believe. I wasn’t really disappointed with the film by the end and the action scenes were as great as I had hoped.

Overall 7/10

This is a film that I definitely remember from the theaters. The trailer played a few times and it always looked pretty interesting. I wasn’t expecting an all star, but I had some pretty decent hopes for the film. While the film seems to lose some of its edge during the end; I can safely say that it surpassed my expectations. This is how you do a film about Walter Mitty!

The plot involves Walter Mitty and his life troubles. He has a pretty decent life, but there’s a new coworker in town by the name of Cheryl. Walter wants to become friends with her, but he’s too nervous. He works up the nerve to send her a message, but it doesn’t work because his account is empty. Walter ends up calling Todd (Todd works at the company) and that becomes a subplot for the film. Adding more troubles into the mix; Walter is attacked verbally, mentally, and even physically by Ted Hendricks. Ted is here to fire as many workers as he can and he’s also here to destroy the magazine that Walter works for. (Life) It will now be completely digital! (The same fate may hold true for video games 100 years from now if Nintendo does not stand strong)

That’s the prelude to the plot. Things get interesting when the legendary Sean O’Connell sends a group of photos to Walter, but one of them is missing. Ted threatens to fire Walter if he doesn’t turn up with it by the next time they meet. Walter must use the other 20+ photos to track Sean down. He’ll have to travel across volcanoes, oceans, mountains, and go to as many countries as it takes. Walter isn’t coming back until he gets that photo! His life may have been dull before, but now he’s going to have more excitement then he can handle.

Walter Mitty is a pretty excellent character. Robocop, Captain America, Will Caster, Crawford; Walter beats them all as far as protagonists go. He has a habit of going into daydreams, which get him into a lot of trouble. The daydreams are typically awesome, but I’ll go into them more towards the end of the review. Walter is a nice guy through and through. He is definitely determined as he travels across the planet. Throwing away his wallet may not have been a great move, but the circumstances were pretty tricky. I’m not excusing the action, but just noting that things had gotten tricky. Walter gets teased at his job because of his tendency to zone out, but he takes it in stride. He didn’t have many faults and I was definitely rooting for him in the big fight.

Ted Hendricks is the main villain and he’s pretty intense. He’s the sterotypical mean boss that likes to mock everyone who gets in his way. As with many bullies; Ted makes sure to single out the most exploitable character and then focus on him. Unfortunately for Walter; Ted decided to pick him. Ted also fits into the “not very bright” cliche and he mistakes McDonald’s catchphrase for Life’s. (Admittedly, I don’t know what Life’s motto is either, but he probably should have found that out) Ted goes as far as throwing objects at Walter and things climax in the elevator. (AKA, the best scene of the film) Ted is easily one of the best villains that I’ve seen from a live action comedy film.

Edna Mitty is Walter’s mom and she does pretty well. She actually tried to tell Walter some important things, but he was already in dreamland. Nontheless, she saves his life through her cooking and helps out a lot. She’s a fun character and while she doesn’t get may scenes; she proves that it is always important to have a good dessert at the end of a meal. Not to mention that Edna also brings up the infamous…Papa Johns! (Walter and Papa Johns have some history together)

On the other hand, I did not care for Odessa Mitty. She is Walter’s sister and there was something off about her. She didn’t really seem too nice and she needs to prioritize. Maybe things just aren’t working out at the moment with the play and that’s why Odessa is off her game. We’ll never know without a sequel I suppose, but that’s one character that could have been cut out.

Cheryl is one of the main characters of the film and she helps Walter in his mystery. She was taking a class on that sort of thing so she is pretty well equipped to handle this. She has a kid who needed help on his skateboard and Walter gladly showed him the ropes. Cheryl’s a decent character and she got a pretty big role. Plus, Cheryl has a pretty epic dog and he immediately stole the show. Dogs are epic and they make every film at least 20% cooler.

Stretch Armstrong is simply fantastic and seeing him in the movie was pretty great. I admit that Odessa did a good job in giving the toy to Walter, but at the same time….I can’t really gain respect for her because it was technically not the best move. If she had given a better reason for giving it to him, then I would have been okay with it. Still, Stretch was great and he gave us the best scene in the film!

I can’t say that I liked Sean O’Connell. He got incredible amounts of hype for the entire film and he doesn’t appear until the very end. Nobody could really live up to that kind of hype and while Sean is a good guy…he just wasn’t very likable. That’s just the way it goes I suppose. I’m definitely satisfied with his appearance being limited.

Todd was a pretty fun character. He took things in stride and he is a very trusting fellow. He really seemed to have Walter’s best interests at heart and I can’t imagine a better customer service employee. This guy had everything down to a fine art. He comes through for Walter when it counts and he gave a lot of helpful advice. I won’t be forgetting Todd anytime soon.

Hernando was similar to Todd in some ways. He was also a good friend to Walter and he always gave his tasks 100%. Hernando may not have gotten a great deal by the end, but he took it pretty well. He managed to save his plans and he even told Walter that they should evaluate themselves instead of letting others do it. This didn’t work, but it was a sound plan in theory and it made sense.

The various Dream Sequences were the best part of the film. Jumping into the burning building was fun and then the extended action scene that we got was awesome. The actual fight scene used a surprising amount of CGI and it looked like Man of Steel. That’s definitely how you do a fight scene and it came so suddenly. Stretch Armstrong must be a toy that everyone really wants! Needless to say, that scene was one of the major reasons as to why I enjoyed the film so much. You really need to see it to believe it. Walter was so hardcore in his dreams….

It should be noted that the romance in this film is not as bad as one would usually expect. There is some romance and while we could have cut it out without altering much of the plot; it could definitely have been worse. The romance develops, but nothing really happens since the characters are mature and taking things slowly. If only we could get more of this in modern films.

The one big negative would be that the film does drag out during the second half. About 80% of my chuckles were from the beginning scenes. The actual journey isn’t quite as fun and that’s because the film takes itself a little too seriously. We get less comedy and more drama as the film closes. I wouldn’t have minded if they had just stuck with the comedy. It was working! Towards the end; Walter stops having the dreams since his character development is occurring. Some scenes that could have been cut out would be, The drunk guy in the bar scenes, part of the trek up the mountain, and various scenes from his travels. The travels were my least favorite part of the film, but they weren’t really bad. They just took up more time than they should have.

Overall, this was a pretty great film. As far as comedies go; I’d say that it’s one of my favorites. It managed to defeat Old Dogs and Tower Heist, which is pretty impressive. I really don’t have many flaws with this film, but cutting out some scenes could have helped. Shorter is sometimes better and this was one of those times. I definitely recommend this film if you want a good laugh or want to experience an epic fight scene. The ending can be a little sad for some of the characters, but everyone doesn’t always get to have a happy ending.

Overall 7/10

The Marvel Universe keeps on adding new films to the roster and this is the latest addition to the franchise. The original Thor was a good movie, but it definitely had a lot of mistakes that needed to be corrected. A lack of fight scenes is definitely the major problem that I had with the film as it was mostly a comedy. That being said, S.H.E.I.L.D. got a much bigger role in that one as they are basically nonexistent in this film. The Dark World improves upon the original film and even shows us glimpses of hope that the MCU can rise to the Man of Steel’s level of greatness.

All right, I’ll do my best to avoid obvious spoilers, but some may slip out. What’s happening to Jane Foster? Well, I’d call that part of the basic plot so I don’t count it as a spoiler. If you do, then just make sure to skip some of the lines here and there. Thor is busy spreading peace across the nine realms and the film starts out with him finishing up on one of the worlds.

All right….I’m afraid that I’m going to have to bring up one of the negatives about the film early on. In this scene, Thor is fighting grunt level opponents along with Lady Sif and the Warriors Three. They’re doing pretty badly considering that Thor should be able to take these guys down effortlessly and without help. Things didn’t get sketchy until one of the minions nearly destroys Thor with a spear through the head. Lady Sif has to save Thor and it makes you wonder why the MCU has decided to make Thor and the Asgardians so weak.

I can understand why the Asgardians lack power as they are basically humans with some decent weapons. On the other hand, Thor should definitely not be an average mortal in terms of stats, but he appears to be for some of them. Thor’s defense is not great and while he can endure a lot of blows, his skin is only as hard as an average human’s. This means that any sort of dagger, knife, or spear can potentially destroy him in one shot thanks to the old beheading or limb loss treatment. That is a critical weakness as it means that a human could feasibly defeat Thor. If someone’s a master of martial arts, it would be a simple matter to stab Thor and end things in an instant. People may have scoffed at the thought of Batman defeating Thor in the comics, but it would appear to be very feasible in the movies.

Thor’s speed is definitely not impressive as well and he completely relies on the hammer. Without the hammer, Thor does not seem capable of using lightning, flying, and even his strength is not quite as impressive. This doesn’t bode well for Thor and it really shows during his later fights. Before I go into that, let’s head back to the plot.

After Thor has restored peace, he heads to Heimdall to find out about Jane Foster, but she is not on Earth anymore! Thor quickly finds her, but Jane has already absorbed the powers of the Aether. Now, she is a very powerful being who could possibly take Thor down in a fight as her powers increase exponentially. Unfortunately, this is a missed opportunity as she doesn’t use her powers to fight. Thor needs to cure Jane before the power consumes her while dealing with the coming threat of the Dark Elves, who wish to return the universe to darkness!

I’m going to finish my criticisms of Thor before I go into the other negatives and pros since I already started. Thor is very confident in the film, but he seriously cannot back up half of the things that he says. At one point, Thor mentions how he thought that Malekith would hit harder. This would be a great line if Thor had just shrugged off his attack or had been winning, but he says this after Malekith has been effortlessly pummeling Thor into the ground with his attacks. Thor hadn’t landed any hits at this point in the fight so it’s basically empty words. It’s a problem that I have with a lot of the MCU films since they talk very tough and just can’t back it up.

I’m afraid that it’s not over as there were a few more scenes that made me cringe. I should mention that this was a solid film, but as it’s one of the more anticipated films of the year and I just saw it, the scenes are still fresh in my mind. Thor ends up fighting the Kursed and the battle does not go as you may have guessed. Kursed completely annihilates Thor and the latter does not even land one hit. He was completely helpless against Kurse’s (Kurse or Kursed, it’s cool either way. If you want a third name, he also goes by the title of Algrim) attacks and it was the most lopsided fight that I’ve seen in the MCU. Kurse was faster, stronger, more durable, and superior to Thor in every single way during their fight. The MCU has consistently hinted that Thor is not as strong as the Hulk and this film basically cements that fact as Hulk would have put up a much better fight and maybe even have won the battle.

Finally, I’ve got to mention another pair of complaints for Thor. During one scene where a character dies, Thor does not enter into “Rage Mode” or even get ready for some revenge. I was hoping for a Goku transformation after Krillin’s big moment, Naruto’s rage after Haku took Sasuke down, Luffy’s rage after Arlong made Nami cry, Tsuna’s rage after Byakuran terminated his friend, or at least something! Instead, Thor shows no emotion as he fights with Malekith and still has a smile on his face for most of the battle. It’s as if he completely forgot what Malekith did just minutes ago. It definitely did not make Thor look like a likable character.

Which brings me to the final point that needs to be mentioned…Thor murders someone for virtually no reason. Sure, it’s a big fight and all, but Thor ends up destroying a random minion for no good reason. Remember the Man of Steel’s ending? Thor does that to one of the villains and it was a very merciless scene. In retrospect, I have to say that Thor was a much better character in the first film and I didn’t like him in this one. I can only hope that he looks a lot better/tougher in the next film.

All right, that’s enough ranting about Thor. Let’s talk about Loki. He was a pretty solid character in this film and while his true self in the prison was pretty disturbing, he quickly pulled himself together. He mostly treats everything as a big joke, but he gets ready when the going gets tough. He’s still not the greatest hand to hand combatant, but when you’ve got illusions on your side, who can stop you? There was one scene with Loki that was nearly a negative due to plot hax, but I had a change of heart by the end of the film. Many people said that Loki was the best character in the film and while I can’t agree to that, I will say that he was the best hero Protagonist in the film.

Lady Sif and the Warriors Three get a very small role. I still do not like the Warriors Three anymore than usual. Lady Sif was also pretty cool as per usual and at least she didn’t try to get Thor to break his code of honor. That would have been annoying, but only Odin pulled a stunt like that in this film. Lady Sif was cool about the whole thing and got some nice threats in as well. The after credits erm….her final scene is a little tricky. It questions whether or not she’s a hero, but she’s an Asgardian…so she probably isn’t. She was raised to their customs and probably does not know the folly of her ways.

Odin….I almost don’t want to talk about him. There’s nothing nice to say about him at any rate and he was a bad character. He’s a King, but he does the worst possible job in ruling and he makes so many tactical mistakes. When you’ve got an all powerful object, you should try to keep it somewhere safe…like in the vault. I don’t see the logic to giving something like that to an obviously evil shady character who’s evil intent is basically spilling off of the screen. Like Thor, Odin doesn’t show much emotion after the big scene and he basically vanishes for the majority of the film. He didn’t look particularly impressive and if someone tries to compliment him, Odin will quickly make you regret it. Honestly, I’m surprised that Asgard is still standing! Frigga is much better than Odin in this film and she completely overshadows him. She has a pretty solid fight of her own and we learn that she is adept with a lightsaber sword. Heimdall looks pretty bad and he had one scene that was supposed to be cool, but I could not take it seriously as I knew that it was doomed to fail.

This review is getting awfully long, so I’d better wrap things up. Let’s talk about the humans….oh boy. Well, Jane Foster is still around and she hasn’t gotten any better from the first film. She basically messes up someone’s day by tricking him into thinking that he had a chance. She had one good scene where she lands a solid hit on Loki, but that’s her only good scene. She has great powers for the majority of the film, but then she doesn’t even use them. She is an improvement over her friends which counts for something I suppose. Her friends are just bad…there’s not much more to say about them. They are really hard to watch when they’re on screen. Eric talks a good game, but he also looks really bad and has some very pointless scenes. If they had cut out the human characters, then the film would have been that much better.

How about the villains? Malekith is basically your average villain who wants to plunge the world into darkness because he is evil. He serves as a villain who needs to be defeated, but don’t be expecting any huge character development. Without his enhancements, Malekith is not able to beat a non combatant…which is definitely not good for him.

Kurse steals the show in the villain department. As mentioned earlier, he wipes the floor with Thor in the film and he proceeds to defeat everyone in his way. He’s not a mindless brute and he fights with strategy and finesse. It would be great to see him appear again in a future film or at least another Kurse with a different host. I would like to see how Thanos or the Hulk would fare against such a fighter.

The minions were pretty tough, but could they surpass the frost minions? Well, they had much better weapons, but physically they are about the same. They’ve got compacted gravity grenades and laser blasters. The Asgardians were basically defenseless against them, but they have cool weapons of their own. In this film, Asgardians strike with blades that emit energy or thunder and it makes the fight scenes a lot cooler. The problem with this is that you’ll wonder why they didn’t have such tech in the first film. In the flashback that takes place ages ago, they had the swords soooo…it really can’t be explained away.

The final fight scene may also come as a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, it was still better than some of the other MCU finishing fights like The Avengers, but it was a lot worse than I thought it would be. The fight was way too gimmicky and Thor wasn’t actually fighting half of the time. He and Malekith would fall through portal after portal after portal and it was actually played for laughs several times as they ran away from giant monsters and fell from a building. The latter scene was definitely made for laughs as they panicked and the whole scene was just sad. It makes them both look so weak and unprofessional. The minions also suffer from this during the climax as they trip, get beaten by humans, and make a lot of mistakes. Also, I should mention that Thor is not the one who defeats Malekith in the end. Most of the damage is not really done by him either, but from the help of allies. I won’t say who lands the final hit on him, but it may not be very satisfying.

I should also mention that SHIELD (Forget the periods!) is absent yet again. So, they’re too busy to help rescue the President of the United States in Iron Man 3 and they can’t be bothered to stop an Alien Invasion in London. They better be extremely busy or else this is just not going to make any sense. I doubt that we’ll get a legitimate reason in Captain America, but it’s all right since we know that there are limits to how many actors they can keep bringing back for every film. It’s one of those plot developments that you just need to ignore for the greater good.

All right, I should mention some of the positives because there are a lot as well. (Hence the positive score) The banter between Thor and Loki is pretty good with Loki’s impersonations being a pretty good scene. He picks one character that many may recognize. The fight scenes are much better than then previous films and the speed has definitely picked up. The space invasion scenes were also a lot of fun to watch and the prison break was also very exciting. We had the best villain of the MCU in Kurse and Thor’s intro is always cool. That lightning flash never gets old and it definitely fills you with a sense that something epic is about to begin.

The graphics can be very good and the energy scenes are realistic as well. The film is around 2 hours and while it definitely could have been longer, I can safely say that the film never dragged on. There were never moments where I was hoping that the film would end or scenes where I started to zone out. The film is fast paced and something is always happening…even if it’s not a great something. The fact that the Asgardians and Dark Elves both had very cool tech was great since it made every battle good. Even battles between unnamed foot soldiers were fun to watch for the effects. The film also had a very good soundtrack and I dare say that it may be the best soundtrack in a Marvel film. (Ghost Rider had a great one as well, so it is a close call) There’s a solid opera type music in the film and it plays during the end credits as well so you are given a chance to hear it again.

The ending definitely leaves a lot of room for a sequel and future plots. You may want to stay past the credits, but if you didn’t like the teaser at the end of Avengers, maybe the scenes just aren’t your cup of tea. This film is currently the second best MCU film, but it still has a lot to learn from the experts over at DC. Man of Steel is a superhero film that was virtually perfect and they should start to pick up the fight scenes from that film. Thor seriously needs to look better in the next film and they also need to dial down the unnecessary romance. Jane had her romance plot here which was unneeded and a little boring while her friend also got a subplot that was the most rushed romance ever. It made Thor and Jane’s look developed. It was really just there to stretch out the film and add a few more minutes, but it didn’t help the overall performance. There was a very huge plot hole that is impossible to not notice involving the fact that the holes in space open up from time to time and nobody ever notices. I can’t go into detail without going into the plot too deeply, but needless to say…people should know about these portals that are on Earth. There is no way that people wouldn’t have found out by this time. I do recommend this film to all superhero fans and to people who like to see some action. This is a step in the right direction for the MCU and we’ll see if Captain America: The Winter Soldier can continue like this film or turn out like Iron Man 3.

Overall 7/10

Jack Reacher is another film in a new trend of mysterious agent films. You know the type, the main character used to be the best of the best, until he retired or disappeared. Now he’s back and ready to roll! (Bourne, MI4. If James Bond were actually “The best of the best” you could add him to the list as well) Jack Reacher is a pretty good film and while it is weaker than the previous two films mentioned, it can hold its own.

The plot is that this guy shoots some people (And pays the parking meter!) before getting caught. At least the police were pretty quick on the draw this time, but they were too late. The convict asks for Jack Reacher to come, but the Police can’t contact him. Helen is the convict’s defense lawyer and she’s determined to help him. One day Jack shows up and tries to show why he’s the best. Helen decides to team up with him and together they can prove the convi-(I might as well say who the suspected convict is) James Barr’s innocence or vice versa. Unfortunately, some villains want to stop them, and they have the muscle to make it happen!

From there, there is a lot of shooting and fight scenes as Jack solves the case. He’s pretty smart and also physically powerful. In the film he’s capable of taking on several opponents at once and according to his trash talking, he always wins. Jack’s a pretty good character for the most part. When he’s in agent mode, he gets the job done. That’s the important thing. He’s also a pretty skilled marksman and did I mention that he served in the Government?

Helen is the other protagonist. She’s an all right character, but she’s mostly just there to be there. She doesn’t really help all that much and she’s definitely not much of a fighter. Towards the end, she doesn’t do so well, but at least she kept her dignity.

James Barr and Sandy aren’t very good characters either. Barr let his primal urges to shoot things get the better of him and Sandy doesn’t make the right move on several occasions. Cash is a pretty good character and it was nice to have at least one other fighter for the heroes. He’s all right with a gun and he did some damage. Zec is one of the big villains, but he’s very generic and not interesting. Let’s just say that he’s not much of a fighter. We also have the cop, but…..he’s not very good either.

Jack Reacher is a good film and if you like the subgenre of agents who must save the day, I’m sure that you will enjoy it. The final scene for Reacher can make you take a step back, but remember, Reacher’s no hero. He says so himself after all. You may be able to guess some of the plot twists early on, but it’s a good, popcorn fun movie to watch. Maybe it’ll get a sequel at some point. Either way, I recommend this film.

Overall 7/10

The Wolverine is a film that puzzled me for a long time. Not the film itself, but the concept. Wolverine is one of those characters that I never thought would get more than 1 film to himself. Wolverine is very popular, but it was just hard to picture, not to mention that the first one came out a long time ago. Now that the film’s out, it is a lot easier to picture Wolverine having a third film. The film is pretty solid and it’s a good superhero film.

Wolverine hasn’t had a very happy life. After the events of the first Wolverine film, and the 3 X Men films, Wolverine has decided to stop being a hero. The X Men can deal with their own problems and he’ll just live out in the woods. It’s a pretty neat set up, but ultimately it was never going to work out. After a very unnecessary subplot, Wolverine heads with Yuriko to japan. They meet with Shingen’s dad (Who is pretty awful. He makes some veiled threats along the way, but they aren’t to be taken seriously…), who is very old. Wolverine saved his life back in the day and now the old man wants to make sure that Wolverine gets what’s coming to him…..Wolverine declines and gets ready to leave. Unfortunately, he’s shot! Wolverine still does pretty good, but can he survive the odds without his healing factor? Also, Mariko is being targeted by the mafia, but why would they do such a thing?

There are a lot of questions that are left to the viewer, but I’m sure that you can guess them all. If you can’t, I recommend reading some Bleach and then getting back to this movie. Wolverine is a pretty solid character, but they did have to tone his healing factor down in this film. For most of the film, it is out of commission. There are circumstances involved, but I don’t find them plausible. This may not be a known fact, but Wolverine is still an expert hand to hand fighter. He’s gone up against Captain America and Spider Man in the past. The film shows us a little of that, but not too consistently. While his healing factor is working well, his fighting gets very sloppy. When his healing factor is fizzing out, Wolverine starts using tactics. Maybe that’s just the way he fights. Wolverine is a pretty solid character. (Even if he says a few “hardcore” things that take away from his character)

All of you should remember Yuriko from the anime, but for those who didn’t watch it; Yuriko is an expert close range combat fighter. She is able to fight against some pretty skilled opponents and it’s always good to have other characters who are able to fight alongside the main protagonist. Yuriko was definitely one of the better characters of the film and she gets 2 critical fights to herself. Her first fight was one of the best fights in the film and it’s always good to see a sword battle.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Mariko. I didn’t find her to be a very good character and she was mostly the damsel in distress of the film. She has a few “tough” moments where she took on the minions and actually defeated a few. I dunno, if she had kept fighting the whole time, then it would have helped. Maybe even some classic lines like “I promise you Revenge!”.

The villains are definitely the weak point of the film. We have Viper, who plays a decently large role. Her power is pretty awful and not one that I would want to have. She’s actually pretty weak, but stays in the game somehow. She didn’t really add anything to the film and I think that she shouldn’t have been added. Shingen is a pretty tough villain, but he’s not very likable. His sword skills are pretty impressive and he makes for a good challenge to Wolverine. He wasn’t nearly as powerful as his anime counterpart, but it happens.

The “Silver Samurai” is a pretty tough mecha. What he lacks in character (Though his character is pretty awful), he makes up for (Somewhat) in sheer power. His Fire Blade is made of adamantium and it’s one of the strongest swords in XCU (Xmen Cinematic Universe) history. The Silver Samurai is pretty tough, but he does lack speed. Still, he was a decent final boss for the film.

On the negative side of the film, there are three main things. The opening scene involving the bear was pretty awful. They should have cut the scene out, but most live action films have a few cringe worthy scenes. The next one would be the excessive language in the film. It’s not extremely over the top, but more than you would find in the average superhero film. Sure, he’s Wolverine, but we don’t need the film to keep reminding us. He says his “iconic” line from X Men Origins, but there’s pretty little point. There are a lot of things that he could have said that would have been more epic. Also, this film has a romance subplot which is pretty annoying. Jean Grey’s ghost (Who is still inhabited by the Phoenix it would seem) keeps goading on Wolverine to just die already. He refuses, but she did cross the barrier between the living and the dead. Possible foreshadowing?

The Wolverine is a pretty good film. The atmosphere is a lot lighter than the first film and it’s more fun to watch. I would say that this film is better than the first, but the first film had a better final battle. (Deadpool FTW) The music is decently good for the film. The film does have more romance than you may have expected. The scenes are pretty wince worthy, but as long as you block them out, you’ll still enjoy the film. I recommend this film, but if you want a true superhero experience, then I recommend checking out The Avengers.

Overall 7/10

Pacific Rim is a film that jumped into theaters with a very risky premise. Robots fighting Kaiju is pretty out there and the general audience might not be able to sympathize with our interest in the film. The film also got very little marketing in theaters and it was very unlikely that you would see a trailer for the film. I went to the theaters quite a few times this year, (Not to mention that I’ll be checking out Thor and Wolverine soon) and while you would see the trailer for At World’s End, and World War Z, Pacific Rim was nowhere to be found. I only saw it once, (if at all) which is pretty disappointing.

The film starts with the main character explaining to us that the Kaiju have started to come to earth through an rift between dimensions, that was located deep beneath the Pacific. (Old school Kaiju fans may be skeptical since they usually come from underground or space, but it can be good to have a new take on that) The first Kaiju to make it through, manages to cause a lot of destruction over multiple cities before he was taken down. (By bullets and planes, but don’t laugh! Remember King Kong?) The rift seems to get bigger with each Kaiju attack and the frequency of the attacks becomes more and more common. (For example, it could have started as 1 Kaiju a year. Then 1 a week, 1 an hour, etc) The Kaiju have levels that let you know how dangerous they are. Level 5 Kaiju are the most dangerous and Level 1 Kaiju should be stopped pretty easily. The humans built Jaegers to combat the threat. They were doing some damage for a while. Now, the Kaiju are stronger and the attacks are more frequent. The Government, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to cancel the mecha project and just put a wall to stop the Kaiju from hurting everyone…..it’s an intriguing idea and I’d love to know which country thought of it. Either way, one Kaiju attack is enough to shatter it. They call in Becket to pilot the new and improved Gypsy Danger to end the Kaiju wars!

The main character is Mr. Becket and he’s a hardened veteran from the good old days. He has experience inside of Gypsy Danger and he’s one of the only humans to have ever piloted a mecha on his own. (Albeit for a few seconds) Only one other human has ever accomplished such a feat, but the film doesn’t let you know the (Obvious) plot twist until we are near the end. Becket is a pretty good main character and while he’s not quick to throw a punch, he has his limits. Nobody will be able to mess with him for long.

Stacker is the commanding officer of the army. (Don’t watch the trailer!) After tragic happenings, he can never put on the armor and go into a mecha again! (Don’t watch the trailer!) You really sympathize with him, since not being in a mech automatically takes you out of the main cast. He gives a lot of orders, but I never cared for the character. The end is his “Man Up” moment, but I wasn’t impressed. He wasn’t a bad character, I just would have preferred if he had made the final decision a bit earlier in the film. It would have had more impact.

Mako is another strong pilot for the Jaeger program. She was never allowed to actually get into one, even though her virtual scores were pretty solid. Why would they do such a thing!? They don’t tell us the reason for a while, but at least she still gets a decently big role. She was an all right character, but the fact that she nearly jeopardized Earth when she stepped into a Jaeger was a bit disappointing.

Meanwhile, Newton gets the subplot where he joins minds with a Kaiju. It’s a bold move, but probably not the right kind and it leads to some trouble. The subplot was probably to keep the film light, but I wouldn’t have minded some extra Kaiju scenes instead. Still, he could have been worse and he’s almost as good as Hermann. Hermann has a lot of calculations and prefers to use math to save the day. He’s pretty smart, but he’s not as used to mind fusing as Newton. Both characters were essentially filler, but at least they weren’t bad filler characters. Chau is one of the human villains, but he was pretty unlikable. His final scene was fitting…unless there is a post credits scene! (hint hint)

Gypsy Danger was easily the best Jaeger in the film. He had a cool energy blaster and let’s not forget about his Unibeam. He definitely means business and has a really cool design. Just about all of the Jaegers looked pretty cool, but none can come close to this guy. Second place is pretty tricky, but that would go to Cherno Alpha. It’s good to see a Mark 1 mecha fighting alongside Mark 5’s and holding his own. He did pretty good against the Kaiju.

I guess that brings us into the realm of the Kaiju! There are plenty of cool Kaiju in the film, but I’ll just name some of the coolest ones. Let’s start with the Trespasser. The film plays him out to be pretty weak since the army defeats him. (What they don’t mention, is that it took a Nuclear Attack to beat him) He has a pretty good design and you will all remember him from the trailers. He was the first of many!

The next Kaiju I’ll talk about is Raiju. I didn’t really like Raiju and it’s because of the way he lost. Who dives into a sword? (I nearly took a step back when that happened, but I caught myself in time.) It reminded me of Anguirus’s infamous scene in Vs Gigan. Arguably this was even worse!

Time for Knifehead! His design is definitely impressive and he dealt a lot of damage. His head makes for a good dagger and he can shred through metal as if it weren’t even there. Knifehead is only a level III Kaiju, but that’s more than enough to deal some hurt. Most of the Jaegers can’t really keep up with him for long and he’s definitely up there as one of the coolest Kaiju.

Let’s not forget about Leatherback! He has a very powerful EMP which can disable the electricity in a very wide radius. Because of this, just about every Jaeger is useless against him. His raw power is immense and he seems to be one of the physically strongest Kaiju in the film. The EMP scene is still one of the best in the film, because it was pretty unexpected.

We also have Otachi, one of the stronger level IV Kaiju. She was definitely a pretty serious threat and it was a very cool moment where she spread out her wings. Gypsy Danger definitely took a lot of damage in that fight and it was nearly the end. One hit from her acid attack and the opposing Jaeger will start melting. Otachi has been compared to Rodan in the past and for good reason. They’re both pretty cool Kaiju who can fly. Not to mention that winged type Kaiju are pretty rare.

As Godzilla is King of the Monsters, Slattern seems to be King of the known Kaiju. He’s the first level 5 that we have seen, although I’m sure that there are plenty more down below. He’s pretty big, but he’s barely stronger than a level 4. Gypsy Danger took him on without much effort, but I guess that’s the risk of being a Kaiju. No matter how strong you are, your size can be a double edged sword. I thought Slattern was pretty under powered in the film, but maybe they had to rush the ending a little.

One thing that I didn’t like in this film, was the portrayal of the Kaiju’s intelligence. The aliens seem to be sending them out at their leisure and learning from their mistakes. Unfortunately, the Kaiju don’t seem to be very bright. (Like running into the sword!) Mostly, the Kaiju seem to try and strike randomly at the Jaegers, without a real plan. If they had fought carefully, they would have obliterated the Jaegers with ease.

Pacific Rim was definitely a solid film. It avoided the unnecessary romance scenes that most films end with. Becket and Mako stay as friends/co-pilots, and the music score was pretty good. (Godzilla fans should notice a certain music!) Pacific Rim is one film that you need to see in theaters to get the full experience. These Kaiju battles need to be watched in their full glory. Now that America has created a solid Kaiju film, this is only the beginning! Next year, their true test arises in the form of Godzilla. I highly recommend checking this film out and all audiences can appreciate it. Mecha fans, Kaiju fans, and Summer Blockbuster fans will all love it.

Overall 7/10