Transformers Age of Extinction Review

Posted on June 30, 2014 by dreager1

I’m a pretty huge Transformers fan and the franchise has been great in many areas. Comics, TV Shows, and Video games have all been greatly produced. The live action films is the area in which Transformers typically falters. I had some decently high hopes coming into the fourth film despite the first three because the trailer was pretty solid and it should be a fun experience. Well, it’s essentially the same as the last film so things didn’t get much better for me. The film jumps in head first and manages to fall into just about every hole as it struggles to the finish line. Still, the film had some good moments…let’s look at how things played out.

Everyone is still sad over the battle of Chicago and the world has moved on. The government has decided to start destroying all of the Autobots who are still out there. Well, the CIA is doing this and the President is unaware of the situation. (The government is very uncoordinated in this film) Meanwhile, Cade finds a truck when he is buying things to help him invent something amazing and it turns out to be Optimus Prime. Together, they must find the other Autobots and stop Lockdown. (Who has made a contract with the humans) With a film that’s around 3 hours, there are definitely a lot of subplots to help keep the plot from ending too fast. Those will be mentioned in the character bio sections.

Cade is the main character and he’s a solid character. He’s definitely not great, but he does his best to get through the days. He’s tough when it counts. He may have been a little on the generic side and lacked character development, but it happens. He’s very overpowered and it’s hard to take his fight scenes seriously, but he doesn’t squander the power. He’s definitely one of the only likable humans and without him the film would have been a little tougher to watch. He did the right thing in helping his daughter to stay away from guys for a while and while it didn’t ultimately work, you can’t blame him for trying. Cade’s a noble character and we get so few of those nowadays.

Optimus Prime is back of course and this portrayal of him is definitely different compared to any of the others that we’ve seen in the past. Prime isn’t advocating for human safety anymore and he’s not here to show that all sentient beings have the fight to freedom. He’s here to destroy enemies and leave the planet. It’s definitely a big change from what we have seen in the past and I can’t say that it’s a good thing. Optimus starts off the film in a badly injured state thanks to the events which have transpired off screen. The humans want the Autobots dead after all and with their primitive technology, they’ve just about done it.

This likely hurt Prime’s logic circuits and his first few scenes are all about him saying how he will destroy the opponent as he fights a (losing) battle against the humans. The feral Prime battles with Lockdown, but it’s more of a chase scene since the Autobot is on the run. He begins to regain his reason once he’s back in normal form, but things don’t go so well during his big break in. After that whole operation and seeing what was being done…why didn’t he wreck the place? Leaving it intact was a huge mistake and then we get to watch the heroes get beaten up again. They weren’t as unprepared as last time, but it can be a little irritating to see.

Prime then makes the right move to leave once and for all after finishing up a mission, but ends up making a controversial move. After Man of Steel, everyone loves to use the controversial card as we have heroes stretching their limits to see if they are still heroes. We saw some of that in Amazing Spider-Man 2, Xmen Days of Future Past, older films like James Bond and Star Wars used this as well. It’s pretty unnecessary, but not nearly as bad as Superman’s moment. It will hurt Prime’s portrayal as the hero a bit, but it wasn’t a terrible moment. Letting his guard down is another story. I also really disliked how he handled the Dinobot situation. Threatening them and then forcing them to help out is pretty uncharacteristic and it felt like a Decepticon move.

In the end, I have to say that this version of Prime may be the worst one that I’ve seen. He’s not terribly heroic anymore and he seems slightly more mindless. Not completely of course, but he’s always going on about how he’s going to destroy someone. He just really sounds as if he’s broken and maybe that will be a plot point later on. Perhaps not because his voice slowly starts to go back to normal by the end, but he was definitely off. Since the next film will likely be a sequel, it’ll be interesting to see how his character arc goes. I do wish that Prime had taken a more traditional personality in the film, but these things happen. He’s still the best character in the film (Which says a lot eh?) and I just had a lot of complaints about his portrayal. I do like that he took matters into his own hands and finally decided that the humans are not always worth the trouble.

Galvatron gets a role in the film, but it’s relatively small. There are a few twists about his origin and they were well played. I wish that he could have appeared more since his short appearances were pretty epic. His plan is decently well thought out and his minions being so weak was likely not in his calculations. Otherwise, it could have been the end of everything! He’s the best antagonist in the film and I was surprised by how cool he was.

Lockdown is the main villain of the film at least according to all of the trailers. In the actual film, it is a little debatable with all of the major human players around. Still, Lockdown’s a solid villain and he definitely means business when battling the Autobots. Since he’s a mercenary, Lockdown gets to make fun of the Autobots and Decepticons. Power wise, he’s high tier, but one of the weakest ones of that caliber. He would likely get wrecked by Sentinel Prime, Optimus Prime, Galvatron, or Megatron in a fair fight. His battles in this film were typically against opponents who were already weakened or against one who could get distracted. In a fair fight, I don’t believe that he would have done quite as well. Of course, power isn’t everything and he still looks pretty good. I can safely say that he’s much better in the film than in the video game. He’s one of the few likable villains in the film since he at least makes sure to have a motive and solid lines.

Bumblebee’s character is a whole lot different from the last ones. He’s a lot more reckless and he picks fights whenever possible. He risked jeopardizing the mission just to finish a personal vendetta. These are all great traits, but his character change just came out of nowhere. Also, getting humiliated by Drift didn’t help with this. Overall, Bumblebee was still a good Autobot and great compared to most of the other cast, but he didn’t feel like Bumblebee. Regardless, I wouldn’t mind if he kept this personality since it’s a lot more intense than how he used to be.

I really don’t like Hound and I have to wonder why they chose to include him when there are so many better Autobots that could have been in it. He’s the “hardcore” Autobot who’s been through his share of fights and now he’s very gruff and experienced. He shows this by shooting a defenseless alien creature after going to the cage and getting spat at. Hound completely destroys the creature and it was essentially an unprovoked attack. He definitely doesn’t make the Autobots look like the heroes with actions like that. Hopefully he is not in the sequel.

As much as I didn’t like Hound, Crosshairs may have been even worse. How he became an Autobot is beyond me, but he’s always acting like a Decepticon. He clearly says that he plans on becoming leader and he loves to start fights. We’re supposed to get back on his side when he makes the “hero” move to take out a few enemy ships, but why should that make me like him? He essentially had to do it as they would have blown him up anyway. He’s another Autobot that I hope doesn’t get to appear in the next installment.

Drift was one of the main Autobots in this film, but he was also wrecked. I didn’t care for his character as he was essentially a Japanese stereotype. He strongly believes in honor and he doesn’t resort to violence…except when he does. His only good scene is when he defeats Bumblebee in their fight, but even then I can’t say that it was very impressive. He barely even got a chance to use his swords and there was nothing to separate him from the others. He’s an excellent fighter in the comics and his personality is great. We don’t get to see any of that in the film. He just isn’t likable and I can’t say that I really care for the character design.

Ratchet gets a very small appearance in this film and it’s not a good one. Unfortunately, he suffers from the fact that the Autobots must stay true to their beliefs and stay away from retaliating against humans. Even so, I believe that he should have looked a lot better. At least put up a fight as you go down! The design also didn’t even look remotely like Ratchet. His scenes were definitely not enjoyable and it doesn’t help the Autobot cause.

Joshua (KSI head) is one of the big antagonists from the start and we get to watch his “character development” as he becomes a likable guy. Unfortunately, he was just too far gone and I couldn’t sympathize with him. I also just didn’t find any of his scenes very humorous. It was just over for me at that point and his faint attempts as being likable and emotional fell short. I just found it odd as to how much screentime he got in the later half and how we’re supposed to feel sorry for him. He’s not as bad as some of the other villains, but definitely bad enough.

Tessa was definitely one of the more unlikable characters in the film. We have another rebellious protagonist who makes things hard for Cade and she’s constantly lying so that he won’t know that she has an affair. At least she didn’t make “The call.” (You’ll know what “the call” is when watching the film. Let’s just say that it involves a whole lot of money!) Tessa was really just annoying from the beginning and it would be great if she could have been written out along with shameless Shane. (More on him in a bit) Making matters worse is her refusal to cross the bridge later on due to the dangers of heights. I can sympathize as I’m mildly hesitant to go to high placed myself, but I’m in the middle of a firefight…I would make the effort. Her character development just took her south the whole time. She was a decent character at the beginning and slowly started to fade when Shane appeared on the laptop. Then she dropped off of the character development cliff when Shane actually appeared. Staying out late and deceiving Cade just aren’t cool traits in a hero.

Shane is a pretty terrible character and he definitely didn’t help the film at all. Not only does he make sure to give up and essentially leave his friends to die whenever possible, but he’s really…stuck up. We’re supposed to take his side (I think) and sympathize with him because everyone only lives once and all, but I definitely did not. All of his lines were pretty cringe worthy and I’m glad that Cade gave him a tough time for the whole film. Shane should have just walked away and exited after his first scene. He would still be a bad character, but at least his appearances would be limited. His line about the mouthwash was just as bad as his other lines and I have to wonder how anyone could stand his “Cooler than you” attitude throughout the film. It works for guys like Gary Oak…but Shane. At least he (hopefully) won’t appear in the sequel.

Harold is another one of the big human villains in the film and he’s just as unlikable as you may have expected. There really isn’t any light at the end of the tunnel for him and he should at least expect that nothing will come of his plans. Does he really think that he will be able to just disappear and keep all of the money? I don’t believe that he thought things through and he just makes for a boring antagonist. Well, he also serves to bring up the moral aspect for the film, which we really didn’t need, but it happens.

James does things personally as opposed to hiring others to do the dirty work. He’s a decent fighter and he has a lot of past experience. In the end, he does get his own fight, but it’s out of place in this film and the fight scene is not fun. Michael Bay decided to make it ultra realistic and gritty so that it ends up being a scuffle that you want to fast forward instead of an epic fight. He’ll never be a likable character and I’m sure that everyone won’t even remember his name as they walk out of the theater.

Lucas is “The Friend.” Why the quotations? Well, in the Transformer films, there is always that one character who talks to the main character, thereby exposing that he’s a pretty petty person at heart. Sometimes, the character is just downright bad like Lucas. His first lines are terrible and I immediately disliked the guy. Haven’t we had enough characters who were attracted to everyone? Getting hit in the face by a Football was also embarrassing and his scenes get worse. He is supposed to be funny, but it’s hard to find him humorous when 1 out of every 3 jokes would just be in bad taste. Luckily, his appearance in the film is pretty brief. Tough to watch, but still brief.

As for the Dinobots, they were clearly added just to sell the tickets. They only really get to appear for a few minutes and most of their scenes have already been online for weeks thanks to trailers and clips. Worse than that is the fact that they just didn’t look very good. They were essentially mindless brutes who crave action, but lack skill. It’s cool for Optimus Prime fans to see him beat up Grimlock, but the fight is incredibly one sided. Prime just shows how slow and ineffective Grimlock is as he lands blow after blow. If he can be bested so easily, why are the Dinobots a game changer? It would appear that they are strong, but without skill and reason. Luckily, this is enough to take out the fake Transformers. The flying one was definitely the coolest design wise, but I can’t say much else for them. I expect much bigger things in the next film.

I have to say that I was disappointed in the film from the very beginning. Transformers’ intro for this film is one of the worst that I have experienced in quite a while. We start by getting to see an animal eaten and then a mass genocide where the animals don’t really get to make it. It didn’t get much better from there as that may have been the only big case of animal violence, but it was a really sad way to start the film.

The Transformers films have always had a lot of gross violence in them and I’m afraid that is doesn’t end with this film. An alien uses its tongue to attack one of the heroes and I’m sure that we all know what will happen as soon as the hero grabs the knife. It happens so often and it’s always pretty wince worthy to see the act. The hero may not have had a choice, but it’s the film made the choice to add the irrelevant scene as well.

How about the fight scenes in general? Well, the main problem with them is that there isn’t really any substance. The fights aren’t glamorous like Spiderman or expertly choreographed like Captain America. This results in really gritty human fights that aren’t even fun to watch and robots wrestling with each other. The human fight scene is just awful so I won’t really go into it, but it’s not enjoyable. It’s what you would expect from a film like 300 or a big war film like the Hobbit, not in Transformers. Then the fight scenes simply aren’t very enjoyable and I blame it on the effects.

Maybe Live Action simply isn’t ready to have large robots fighting each other. Every time they transform, the robots typically have to hit the ground or take a long time to complete the action. They just seem as if they aren’t comfortable as that size and every movement is an effort. A good example of this is when Prime tries to jump to another building as he’s being chased. His jump is pretty terrible and it would be akin to me trying to jump over a fire hydrant and tripping over it. Based on his size, the jump should have been no problem and easy for him. It’s as if the robots are just wearing robot suits, which restrict their movements and make everything stiff.

So, that translates into the fights. The only good fights in the film were really Prime’s final fight against Lockdown and also his fight against Galvatron. Even those weren’t amazing, but they were good enough. They were actual fights. The rest of the action in the film mainly consisted of just blowing up minions or car chase scenes. Technically, those two battles were probably the only fights in the entire film. We had a brief skirmish with Bumblebee and Lockdown, but it wasn’t long enough to be considered a fight.

That’s likely another one of the problems that we have here. The film has a lot of explosions and action throughout and it may have worked for another film, just not Transformers. I was waiting for the big mecha fights so I will admit that I was basically waiting for that the whole time and the rest was just padding. Unfortunately, that was pretty much all of the action that I was going to get. The film loves to show off Cade shooting the Transformers and the heroes “epicly” slaying the villains, but one hit KO attacks are never fun if they are around constantly. It’s like the Avengers film as they beat up on the aliens. At least we got some scuffles and a Hulk vs Thor fight before that. I would have been satisfied if we got more fights, but none of them really happened.

Horror films have a tendency to have the main characters swearing every few minutes, but typically action films don’t follow this. Now, Michael Bay is involved with the Transformers franchise and that could be why, but the characters are always yelling crude things whenever something explodes or they are shocked. We have the generic moment where the guy uses the “big” word and the audience clapped a lot. I could only metaphysically shake my head and wish that the G1 film would suddenly go on the air.

The next issue with the film was the….Fanservice! I really saw this one coming from a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any more bearable. We have the obnoxious friend of the main character who makes sure to be point it out and show that he isn’t a good person. Then we have the whole plot between Tessa and Shane, which is terrible. I’ve already talked about it in length so I won’t go into it so much, but it’s not cool. Naturally, Tessa is using the new fashion of super short pants that really do not even count as pants anymore. What is the world coming to? I could really go on, but you get the picture. To the film’s (Really) slight credit, there is much less fanservice than the first two films and possibly the third. So, the series is making some slight improvement in that area, but it’s happening too slowly. There really weren’t too many scenes like that, but the problem was that they were mostly at the very beginning, which really takes you out of the film as you have to try and forget them as soon as possible.

Human Empowerment is the theme that really helps to wreck the film. At one point, Cade gives Optimus Prime a speech about how he needs to learn how to trust humans again. Yeah…….no. No, that is not what Prime should do and Cade should feel ashamed for even mentioning that. He has no political power so he would be convincing Optimus to stay in a hostile place where the government will just destroy him at any time. Prime has already lost a whole lot thanks to the humans and he shouldn’t need to lose more. Unfortunately, we’re supposed to agree with Cade since we’re humans and all. I’d rather that Prime just blew up the planet or decided to rule it. Either way, the Earth would likely be a lot more peaceful.

Unfortunately, the biggest effect of human empowerment is that they look too good in the fight scenes. See, these kind of moments are added because it is supposed to unite us as fans. Many people cheered when Jaws was taken down and they did the same thing in Alien and Terminator. The problem is that it can be very hard to root for the humans in the modern films. I can safely say that the protagonist was likable in Alien and Jaws and the government wasn’t to bad so it was okay. Innocents were being taken down in Jaws so the main character took some steps. Capturing Jaws would have been a lot better and it would have helped the film jump up a few stars, but it happened. There weren’t really any innocents in Alien so it’s a little trickier and I don’t want to get too off topic. The problem in Transformers is that they show such a large amount of evil humans. These guys just want an excuse to murder sentient beings and they figure that destroying a Transformer will be fun. Thus, we get to see the humans destroy many robots and they’re sure to do it in cruel ways.

That’s one of the problems about being a hero. If the main characters had been 5 Decepticons, you can bet that the humans would already be destroyed. Unfortunately, the heroes don’t fight back until it’s too late and they’re never as advanced as the villains. The Decepticons always have some big weapon that they can use to enslave humanity, but the Autobot tech tends to be primitive in comparison. Aside from evil humans taking out the Autobots, we have the equally (un)believable moments of humans taking on villains.

Cade is the main offender of this as we get to see him mow down over a dozen robots. There’s one particular scene that is reminiscent of the Storm Troopers as he’s in plain view and all of the robots keep on missing him. There is no one else in this scene so you can’t make the argument that they are distracted. The robots simply keep on missing until Cade has fired enough shots to beat them. Another sad moment is when Cade jumps into the climax and he actually blocks a sword strike by lifting up his gun. I didn’t know that this guy could bench press several tons. The robot was swinging with full force and Cade just blocked it. That’s really unbelievable and it drives the human empowerment thing way too far.

The soundtrack is pretty good and Lockdown’s theme is easily the best part of it. It comes whenever he appears and it’s a nice theme of tension and sadness as you know that things won’t go well for the heroes. It’s pretty catchy and it definitely works for the film. The insert songs are also decent some of the time. We get a nice rock song as one point I believe and then we also have some soft ones that can be a little off putting. It definitely depends, but through it all, the soundtrack was pretty good. Not 5 star material, but definitely good enough.

I won’t even get started on the “rage” scenes where Optimus Prime and Cade fail to deliver. Every time….it just doesn’t work. I expected some more retaliation from them. The guy in the elevator who knew hand to hand combat was good and the girl with the motorcycle was a decent character as well. These two just got really small roles although the girl’s was almost big enough to be considered as a supporting character by the end. The lady who finds the bones in the opening basically vanishes so I can’t say that she got much of a role either. It was essentially filler since the Dinobots weren’t there. Then again, this film had a whole lot of filler so that it could get around 3 hours. All you need to do is look at the scene where a man asks if Cade has insurance…nuff said.

The film did have a moment of brilliance as one of Hasbro’s biggest franchises of all time got to make a cameo. MLP…Yes, My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic got a cameo as Rainbow Dash entered the stage. It was pretty intense and fans of the series will either like the cameo or feel that it is parodying the whole Brony issue. I won’t get into that here of course, but I’m sure that it was the latter since Bay loves to throw in stereotypes whenever possible. It was still nice to see Rainbow Dash get included though.

Overall, my hopes for this film were shattered. I just barely didn’t give it a negative rating as the film had so many flaws. I’m a pretty huge Transformers fan if I do say so myself and seeing this version of it can be unsettling. They essentially wrecked Optimus Prime and Drift. The Transformers look very weak since simple armaments can take them down for the count. The Dinobots were essentially thrown in at the last minute and the film still had some of the usual (terrible) humor and fanservice. Most of the characters were downright unlikable and the action wasn’t really enjoyable. Lockdown, Prime, Galvatron, Case, and the soundtrack helped the film to stay afloat. Believe it or not, I still have high hopes that future Transformers films can be good, but I believe that they will have to change a lot of the current roster. Getting a new director and writer would be a very good start and it should be a remake. This continuity needs to end! The ending for the film is decent thanks to the fact that it could help the sequel if we follow the big plot, but I have a feeling that it will be ignored and the next film will be on Earth again. I certainly hope not. Either way, the film was really long so there isn’t any replay value and I would definitely not recommend this film to anyone. (There isn’t even an after credits scene) If you want a good Transformers film, check out the original animated one. Now that was a film!

Overall 5/10

In Time Review

Posted on June 27, 2014 by dreager1

I’m always up for a film that takes place in the future. The possibilities are basically endless and while I believe that things are not going to be as advanced as all of the films seem to suggest..it’s fun to think about. The concept of this film is very bold, which makes some parts interesting, but also requires you to suspend your disbelief for this system actually occurring. This film may have dropped the ball in some aspects, but the plot was pretty original.

The film takes place in the future and money has been phased out. The currency is now time…and it’s on the side of the rich. After you age to 25, then the rest of your life depends on how much time you have. You start off with a year and go from there. If your time reaches 0, then you “time out” and it’s game over. Just about everything cost time like riding a bus and you get time for completing your job. Unfortunately, the rates continue to go up and everyone continues to die. The main problem is the fact that it is incredibly easy to steal time. Just grab someone’s arm and you can drain them until it’s all over.

That brings us to Will Salas. He is an ordinary joe who lives in the slums. He doesn’t have a whole lot of time, but he gets by. Unfortunately, his mother gives him a little too much time that day and she doesn’t make it. Will got rich from a guy who didn’t want his time so now he’s doing all right financially. Will decides to avenge her by taking all of the time away from the rich people as he transfers into the rich sector. Unfortunately, he quickly forgets this goal and now it’s simply a matter of staying alive and disrupting the system. He won’t be able to do it alone and that’s where Sylvia comes into play. The two of them will need to surpass the system!

Will Salas is the man character of the film and he’s definitely not one of the better protagonists. He’s all right at first as he tries to do the right thing and there’s nothing really bad about him. That changes when he makes the decision to avenge his mother and take down all of the villains. It was a great move on his part and Will’s big mistake….is that he completely forgot about this. That was where I began to lose respect for his character. Will decides to go to a hotel and live the good life as he gets to enjoy a nice meal. He then goes to a casino to gamble and he nearly throws his life away for a single card game. I suppose that it looks cool for the audience, but it’s definitely not a smart move. After that, Will gets heavily involved in the romance aspect of the adventure and I believe that he loses sight of his original goal. By the end of the film, Will is basically back on track, but it certainly took him long enough. He definitely could have been a much better protagonist.

Sylvia is the main heroine and I can’t say that she fares much better than Will. In the film she’s mostly used for fanservice and romance with Will. She has her moment (Which is starting to become very generic) where she quickly shoots down one of the villains even though it’s one of her first times using a gun. The hero is impressed and they bond as he teaches her to shoot. Then we get more romance and it’s time for their plan. Sylvia does help with the strategies as Will wasn’t really thinking of any elaborate plans. Still, I can’t really say that I cared for Sylvia.

Ray is much better than our two heroes and he’s one of the better characters in the film. His job is to keep time and he has to stop the heroes from wrecking the whole economy. He does pretty well, but the heroes are always one step ahead of him. Ray doesn’t get bribed and he always gets his man. Ray hasn’t been working at his job for 50 years for nothing! You almost sympathize with Ray since he seems to be a good cop in a corrupt system. That is…until he says that he doesn’t care about justice. Then his whole character goes out the window and he gets a pretty unnecessary plot twist. Ah well, I can’t let the plot twist wreck him and he’s still one of the better characters. The twist just didn’t help his case.

Hamilton gets a relatively small role and I was expecting some kind of big twist by the end. I suppose that it wasn’t necessary and he was just needed to start up the plot. Compared to the rest of the rich guys, Hamilton didn’t have a bunch of time. That being said, 100 years was a huge amount to Will and Hamilton knew this. I can’t say that Hamilton’s a great character because he unwisely went into a bar to try and end his life. At least it would have been a painless exit, but still not one that he should have attempted.

Fortis is the leader of the local gang. The cops leave him alone because he helps to keep the poor people in line. (Since when isn’t the government corrupt in these kinds of films?) He duels people for time and he always has a few bodyguards since he knows that his skills are lacking. He’s easily the worst character in the film and we didn’t need a petty threat like him. The time cops were good enough for me and they should be good enough for the world. Fortis is just a mild villain that you will likely forget a few days after the film. There just isn’t anything likable about him.

Borel is Will’s friend and he’s easily one of the cheapest characters in the film. He’s pretty poor and he has a family to support so Will gives him some time. The next thing you know, Borel runs to the bar so that he can go and drink until he drops out. I was pretty surprised since that came out of nowhere and I just expected him to have been offed by the villains or something. This is a much cheaper way to go out and I doubt that anyone would really find him likable after that. It just came out of the blue and showed that he lacked strength of character.

Philippe is one of the richest men on the planet and he doesn’t like to share this money. He has enough time to live for well over a millenia and he loves to gamble with his time. After all, he can’t possibly lose it all so he may as well have a blast with it. He gets pretty sore about losing to Will and he also seems a tad suspicious of Will’s motives. When the moment of truth strikes, Philippe essentially chooses the dark side. Time is all that matters to him now and he will do whatever he can to ensure that he wins in the end. He has a lot of bodyguards as well, but he probably pays them minimum wage. Philippe is definitely in cahoots with the government and he has quite a lot of connections. I suppose that the film needed a big villain and he’s much better than Fortis.

Rachel doesn’t really get a large role in the film, but she’s still instrumental to the plot. Giving away 30 minutes may be a move that she’ll end up regretting, but it was still the right call since she didn’t know that Will would essentially be winning the lottery. She seems like a nice person and I guess her job just doesn’t pay a lot of time. Will should have stuck to his plan of avenging her as it would have made me gain respect for him.

Finally, another film that actually had a soundtrack. It’s actually been a while and this is always good to see. The soundtrack wasn’t the next Resident Evil, but it’s definitely a start. The main techno theme isn’t bad and the background music is also solid for the car chase scene. It’s these little things that can help to enhance the film experience and make the scenes a bit cooler.

The film definitely has too much fanservice, which drags it down. Most of it is from Sylvia as she teams up with Will. The romance between the two of them is forced at best and annoying at worst. They get too many scenes on this and it feels like Will immediately lost sight of his true objectives. Not a good decision if you ask me. The film also makes sure to emphasize the fact that they’re all 25 so they are all essentially wearing party attire for a while, but it’s still unnecessary. A conservative cost would work just fine. Either way, there was too much of it in this film and that’s always a negative.

Now, it’s hard not to be a little skeptical of using time as a currency. First off, how did humans learn to control time and place it in such a container? The easiest thing that I can think of is that it’s a scam. They inject poison into everyone when they’re born and it doesn’t start to have an effect until the person is 25. The “time” that they receive from others is merely an antidote that prolongs the poison’s effects until it runs dry. Naturally, the film really means for it to be time, but it’s hard to believe that humans are ready for that power yet. If they have discovered how to control time, then I could see endless wars being raged to get control of it.

I’m also not crazy about how time is transmitted. Merely grabbing onto someone’s wrist is enough to force it out of them. So, it’s just a battle of physical strength so we should see a lot of bodybuilders walking around with extra time in the slums. After all, everyone apparently fights to survive so the weak ones should be out by now. I just don’t see how anyone could ever feel safe under such a system and how it would be passed. It also results in a really cheesy battle between Will and Fortis that did not make sense. The strategy is all right in theory, but I don’t see it working in real life.

Overall, I am definitely skeptical about how time would work out as an economy, but this is sci fi so I’ll just take it in stride for now. The main characters aren’t that good and their friends are even worse. Luckily, the time cops are pretty solid characters and you almost want to root for them at some points because they really want to win. It’s one of those films with an open ending so you can decide what happens next. Personally, I think it leads to the next great depression of time and then the economy will stabilize in a few years. It’ll just take a while. The film was very interesting and it really just drops thanks to all of the romance and fanservice. It was just unnecessary and they could have made Fortis into a much better villain. It’s a decent alternate future and you may want to take a look if you’re intrigued by the idea of time as money. If you want a slightly cooler future story, check out Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time!

Overall 4/10

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

Groundhog Day Review

Posted on June 23, 2014 by dreager1

I probably should have heard of this film before, but I only have a vague notion that I may have heard it prior to the week before I actually watched this movie. I liked Christmas Do Over and the concept is pretty similar except that it’s not taking place on Christmas. Groundhog Day is significantly funnier than the last few films that I’ve seen, but it also manages to fall into more film holes than the others.

The plot involves a man named Phil Connors and he’s (not) excited about the big Groundhog Day celebration. He covers it every year for the news, but he doesn’t enjoy it. Two other characters by the names of Rita and Larry are coming to assist him. Phil avoids them and get through most of the day, but then he finds out that the blizzard (Which he predicted would not happen in this area) has blocked his only way out of town. Phil goes to bed with a heavy start and begins his infinite loop inside of the day. He doesn’t have any reality superpowers so getting out of this loop will take every bit of skill that Phil has. Will his best be enough to end this crisis? That’s what the film asks the audience as it unfolds.

“Phil……Phil Connors!” is the main character and I love the way that Ned yells his name. Phil is definitely someone who you can root for at first. He’s very sarcastic and he spends most of his time mocking the other characters and being a bad sport about everything. He doesn’t like the hotel and he doesn’t like the coffee. Phil can barely hold in his contempt for the actual Groundhog Day Celebration and he lowers his comrades’ spirit whenever he can. After that, his true character bubbles to the surface and I can safely say that it ruined his character.

I liked Phil at first, but then he used his time travel as a way to make false relationships and add unnecessary romance to the story. That really makes him no better than guys like James Bond and Captain James T. Kirk. Phil couldn’t really redeem himself after that because he simply went way too far. Phil is one of those characters who has some good traits, but it destined to remain in my “awful characters” section along with Kamina. They have the potential to be likable characters and then throw it out of the window for their own personal desires. It’s not worth it and they realized this too late. At least I can always smile at the memory of Phil punching out Ned….Ned Ryerson!

Ned…..Ned Ryerson is the best character in the film and he’s someone that you don’t mess with. He always laughs at the misfortune of others and he’s very good at being an insurance employee. He put the pressure on Phil and he didn’t back down as things got tough. At the same time, he knew when it was time to get out of there and make a new plan. I won’t be forgetting Ned anytime soon and his name is just plain epic. It’s why I loved the banter between him and Phil. Both of them would use each other’s full name in fake surprise during greetings.

Rita is the main heroine and she’s a decent character at best. It’s probably rough to have to work with someone like Phil. She doesn’t do extremely well because Phil has the time advantage, but she still could have looked better. She shouldn’t be doing anything with Phil since it’s only been a day and they got too buddy buddy in other times. She should at least be suspicious for a few more days after Phil’s big change in personality. As a supporting character she is okay, but the romance between her and Phil is unnecessary at best and cringe worthy at worst. I almost wanted Larry to get more screen time…almost.

Larry actually doesn’t look that bad at first, but they his character quickly starts to fizzle out. He suddenly becomes the comic relief character and he just wants to make some new friends. That was a pretty unnecessary addition to the film and I don’t know why they bothered to add it. I liked him when Larry was snacking on desserts and insulting the main character behind his back. He should have stuck to that role.

There are certainly more characters in the film, but this is essentially the main cast. The lady in the hotel who always offered Phil coffee was cool. She went straight to the point and she was always polite despite Phil’s unfriendly approach to everything. The actual groundhog was pretty fun and he’s a solid driver. There were many other characters sprinkled throughout the film, but their roles were not very monumental and I’m sure that they will fade over time.

One of the major flaws with the film is the abundance of unnecessary romance. Why did one of the citizens be so eager to have a one night stand with an old (fake) classmate? How could the no nonsense Rite quickly get tricked into romance? It was all very forced and it certainly didn’t do any wonders for the film. The romance wasn’t ridiculously long, but there were more scenes of it than I’ve seen in a film for a long time. Each scene gradually lowered the enjoyment value of the film until I cheered as the real plot took over (temporarily) and got rid of the romance. Those romance scenes are the different between a great comedy film and one that forgot its place.

There isn’t much of a soundtrack for this film, but the songs are there. It can just be tough to notice them, but the radio song is another matter. We heard it quite a few times and the song is definitely catchy. I never really expect a big soundtrack for any live action movies, much less a comedy one. That being said, it’s always a pleasant surprise to have any that I can remember after it is over.

Phil ended up living through the cycle for over 6 months and possibly a whole year or longer. That’s pretty intense and it would have been pretty scary to keep going on forever. I do think that the movie ends a little too happily and there aren’t really any big twists. I believe that the film could have used a few of those and it would have been that much better. Just ending on a twist would have been a nice change of pace for me.

We do get treated to a pair of car chase scenes when Phil is having one of his episodes. The drive with the Groundhog started off in a great way, but then things went sour quickly. This film did not need a mild case of animal violence on its shoulders as well. It’s very mild because the death is quick and we don’t see it, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Groundhog didn’t make it. That was unnecessary.

Overall, Groundhog Day was one of the funniest films that I’ve seen in a long time. The humor was pretty solid and Phil really stole the show with his facial expressions and one liners. If Phil and Rita had not been such unlikable characters by the end, then the film could have done better. Taking away their romance and the other romance scenes would have made the film be a lot closer to a masterpiece. This is a good film if you’re looking for a solid comedy, but the romance really does drag it down. Instead, I recommend watching Christmas Do Over at the plot is very similar, but it takes place on Christmas. A nice twist if I do say so myself. One thing that I give the film credit for is the fact that Phil decides to eat as much as he can because the food won’t hurt him the next day. Brilliant.

Overall 4/10

The Next Karate Kid Review

Posted on June 20, 2014 by dreager1

The Karate Kid trilogy was pretty intriguing. It was never as good as the Rocky films, but Daniel LaRusso eventually became a decent main character. It was always fun to see Mr. Miyagi take out some villains. This one was supposed to be a step down from the trilogy and I can definitely see why. At best, this film can possibly match up to the second Karate Kid film, but that’s about it. Why couldn’t this film take down the rest and become the best? Let’s find out!

The plot involves a girl named Julie Pierce and she’s not doing very well. She’s been skipping out on class and not finishing any of the homework. She also gives her grandmother a lot of attitude, BUT she has a soft spot for animals. (Hint, this is where the audience is supposed to sympathize with her) Her parents were also taken down a while back so she’s pretty sad about the whole thing. Luckily, her grandmother is friends with Mr. Miyagi and he offers to babysit her for a few weeks. The grandmother heads out of state for a while so that Miyagi can make Julie a better person.

Unfortunately, the school has been corrupted and the fighting instructor is out to get Julie along with many of the students who are on the disciplinary committee. The harassment won’t stop and while she has one friend…it’s not enough. Mr. Miyagi decides to teach her how to fight, but will Julie learn enough to take down these advanced fighters? It’s time to find out!

Well, before I get into the characters, I must warn you that the film’s ending is arguably tragic. Eric had a dream to become a pilot, but it may have been shattered by the villain. Eric may still be able to follow his dream someday, but it will now be a lot harder. His really expensive and extravagant car is also blown up and the bullies decide not to pay him back since nobody can prove it. Eric really gets the short end of the stick by the end of the film and you almost feel bad for him.

Julie is the main character of the film and she’s definitely a step down from LaRusso. She’s very rude to everyone from the very beginning and her scenes made me physically cringe for most of the film. Her sarcastic expressions just wouldn’t stop and her glaring at everyone got old pretty quickly. By the end of the film she has essentially changed her ways and become a much better person, but it’s hard to forget the first half. I can’t say that she was one of the better characters, but she went up from being a terrible character to a slightly below average one. She’s a little too distracted by her emotions and romance as well, but Eric is also to blame for this.

Eric is the main guy in this film and he’s a decent character at best. He’s constantly trying to be with Julie and eventually the two become friends. That subplot could have definitely been written out of the film. Eric spends most of his time getting beaten up by the villains, which is definitely unfortunate for him. The final fight wasn’t very fair, but considering that I believe that he only landed one punch. I’ll never understand why the good guy doesn’t throw a punch immediately. Even the legendary Rocky preferred to get jabbed a few dozen times before countering.

Mr. Miyagi is about as good as per usual. The film really wanted to show how well he could fight so Miyagi got more battles than usual. He takes on some guys in a random gas station, shows up some other guys in a bowling tournament, talks big against the evil fighting teacher, beats up the evil fighting teacher, etc. The film really tried to show us that Miyagi is the greatest fighter of all time and he’s too cool for the world. Miyagi is cool, but the hype can be a little much at times. It was definitely played up a little more than the other films. Wellll….Karate Kid 3 had a pretty intense scene where Miyagi beat three professionals teaming up soooooo….nuff said.

Ned is the main bully of the film and he’s about as bad as you can expect. He’s a pretty bully who wants the girl for himself and he openly threatens people without any consequences. This is because the teacher is on his side and the teacher can bend the Principal to his will. Ned gets to stay after school at night without being charged for breaking and entering. He also tricks the cops several times and he gets away with assaulting another student with a baseball bat. (I have to say that I wouldn’t go to that school without some body armor or at least a bullet proof hat) I’m sure that we can all imagine how Ned’s big fight against Julie plays out, but you may not expect that Ned shows off his cowardice in public. He tries to start the fight with a cheap shot…which shows that he fears Julie. So much for being the big villain eh?

Colonel Dugan is the evil fighting teacher who is the head honcho of this business. He beats up his students for fun and then he tells them to destroy other students. The school lets this fly for unknown reasons and none of the students are bright enough to tell their parents or the school administration. Dugan has his climatic fight at the end of the film, but aside from physical injuries….he can now head right back to the school. Some of the students quit, but I’ll feel bad for the others that are still in the group.

One of the many negatives in this film is the fact that the school allows this. You could sense the bullies coming before the main character even set foot in the school. The faculty are just not aware of the situation and they don’t even seem to care. The evil teacher angle has been played up a thousand times at this point. I know that this is because this is made to be very similar to the first film, but it can still be hard to watch. There’s also a very unnecessary fanservice scene for the main heroine. It’s brief at least, but still unnecessary and it certainly doesn’t add anything to the story.

One scene that felt completely fake was when Julie’s grandmother forgets what her real name was and called her Susan. This leads to the plot twist that Julie’s parents are dead and she runs off for the umpteenth time. I know that it was a stressful time, but there’s no way that the grandmother would actually mess up her name. It was just pretty lazy writing at that point.

Another complaint would be Julie’s personality turn around. After jumping over the car she became a different person. Suddenly, she bonded with Miyagi over the portraits. She would take a step forward and then two steps backward. The Monks were decent at least and she got to bond with them by the end. It’s what counts I suppose! There isn’t much of a soundtrack in this film so I won’t be mentioning it. It’s pretty common for a film to forget about having a good soundtrack, but it can still be pretty sad.

The ending is rather abrupt and it ends badly for a few of the characters. Julie is basically doomed as far as her homework is concerned and Eric is now missing a car. Both of them have a tough road ahead, but maybe it will be okay. Provided that the teacher is kicked out anyway, but that seems unlikely. At least the bullies will finally take a break.

That also brings us to the artificial scene where the bullies suddenly get a heart. “That’s too much” and other lines like that. They just blew up someone’s car and they were giving him a pretty big beating. They didn’t seem to have a problem with harassing the main character and chasing her around the school all day. The scene happens in most of the Karate Kid films so we all saw it coming, but it still felt fake. The humanity!

Finally, I have to mention the fight scenes. They’re all done pretty terribly and you can tell that the budget didn’t make it through this. To show how powerful Miyagi is, they used slow motion on the villains. This would mean that their punch comes in really slowly to make Miyagi look fast in comparison as he breaks their arms and twirls them around like nothing. Miyagi humiliates all of the fighters, but there really isn’t any choreography. He’ll just flip them and punch them until the villains are down for the count. A show with a TV budget could make more realistic fights, but that’s arguably the charm of Miyagi. At any rate, the fight scenes are amazing compared to the rest of the film.

Overall, this isn’t a film that I would really recommend to people looking for some action. Mr. Miyagi is really the only good character in the film and his fights are the best part. The Hawk is good and I’m glad that the animal violence never occurred because the film couldn’t lose too many more points. The film just isn’t very enjoyable to watch and the romance didn’t help matters. Bullies are everywhere, but I’d like to see a real student council for once. One that isn’t corrupted. Instead of watching this film, go check out Rocky with its true fight scenes!

Overall 3/10

Red Eye Review

Posted on June 17, 2014 by dreager1

An airplane is a pretty good setting for a film. Flightplan definitely did pretty well in that regard although there will always be a lot of suspense for disbelief. Red Eye also takes place on a plane, but the circumstances are entirely different. Red Eye is definitely not as good as Flightplan, but it was an all right film. I definitely had some issues with it, but other parts were played out well.

Lisa has a pretty tough job over at one of the biggest hotels around, but it’s always good to take a little break. Now, she is ready to go back there and she’s going to take a late flight that gets even later after a plane delay. A guy by the name of Jackson starts to get friendly with her. After a lot of awkward moments, Lisa manages to get in the plane…only to find that Jackson is sitting next to her. He tells her that she must place a call that will destroy a prominent political figure (By switching his room to one with a window) who is staying at her hotel or he will have someone destroy her Dad. Those aren’t acceptable terms for Lisa and now she’s going to need to find a way out of this!

Unfortunately, that will be tough because there don’t seem to be any reasonably smart people aboard the plane. This is where the suspense for disbelief comes in. The main villain headbuts Lisa out of nowhere and someone should have seen and heard the attack. I don’t see how Lisa was knocked out so quickly that she was not even able to gasp. Jackson manages to steal a book from an old lady without her noticing and then he attacks Lisa inside of the restroom. Again, I have to wonder how nobody put two and two together. The little girl could have done a better job of explaining what was happening to the Stewards as well.

Lisa is the main heroine of this tale. I can’t say that she’s one of the more likable protagonists as she made things way too easy for Jackson from the beginning. Bonding with him at the bar happened way too quickly. Then Jackson told her about the big plot twist and she really didn’t take it very well. She should have quickly caused chaos and made the plane land. The guy still needs to make the call to get the Dad and she’d have an opening at some point. Instead she starts crying. I have to admit that this is one of the times where a male protagonist may have been a little better. If this had been someone like Indiana Jones, the main character of the Bourne films…or even guys like Captain Kirk and James Bond; they likely would have just gone on the offensive or bide their time until an attack could be made. Now, is the crying realistic for her? Maybe, but I’m not actually so sure. At that point, it was just a threat and the situation wasn’t completely dire yet. There is a chance that things could get worse and then crying would be acceptable, but it happened a little too quickly. Her final scene is also supposed to be cool and hardcore, but it really just falls flat.

Jackson Rippner is the main villain and naturally he isn’t likable. He’s about as generic as they come and we get no reason to sympathize with him or root for him. He’s just an obstacle that is in the hero’s way. I didn’t even like him before Jackson became the main villain. He was way too pushy and definitely not the kind of guy that you could root for. After changing into a villain, it didn’t really help his case. In the end, he was just bland.

Joe looks pretty bad for most of the film, but it’s arguably not his fault. The average joe wouldn’t suspect much from a car just being outside for a while. Must be a coincidence after all. It was annoying to see him get taken down so quickly, but he essentially makes up for all of this by the end. He seems like a nice guy, but his role is ultimately pretty small. It’s good that he always has a gun at the ready though.

Cynthia is one of the helpers over at the hotel and she had a pretty stressful day. The hotel personnel weren’t very nice to her and then the villain situation popped up. She did the best that she could so I don’t have a problem with her. Keefe seems like a decent politician and he takes the whole thing in stride. His role is even smaller than Cynthia’s but he was one of the better characters. That being said, his security guards were even better. Now those guys were trained professionals! They quickly went and scanned the room for any possible dangers and they were skeptical of the room change. They should have moved the (suspicious) boat that was outside, but they’re only fishing right? After the climax, the guards definitely move fast so at least they are always prepared. I always get a kick out of seeing the government no matter which group it is.

Now, there are a few more times where I had to suspend my disbelief. At one point, the main character has a gun, but she lets the villain walk up to her and knock it away. That….that’s just not right. If you’ve got a gun, then you need to do everything humanly possible to keep it in such a dangerous situation. That was definitely a bit much. The other part is when the cops are alerted that Lisa is on the run. Then they also allow the villain to run right by them. At least arrest one of these guys. The police just didn’t seem to be very smart.

Ultimately, what held the film down was the fact that it just wasn’t very fun to watch. It didn’t suffer from ultra violence, fan service, (One unnecessary scene, but it could have been much worse) animal violence, etc. This is a negative that doesn’t pop up as often, but it’s always crucial. There were no moments in the film where you would feel like cheering except for MAYBE the final gunshot. The rest of the film may be a bit suspenseful for some or just irritating for others. I was more on the latter since I just wanted the hero to do something. Instead, she was basically Jackson’s pawn the entire time. There was also a completely unnecessary backstory for Lisa that we find out about in the climax. The pen scene can be a little disturbingly brutal, but the scene isn’t there for long and I was expecting something gritty like that to play out at some point. It’s typically something that comes along with characters who aren’t professional fighters. They usually have to resort to pens or another sharp object and aim for a weak point. It definitely could have been worse, but it was a lose-lose situation. Well, Lisa had to do something to escape, but I wouldn’t have minded a book slam instead.

Overall, I can’t say that this was my favorite plane movie. It just wasn’t that fun and there is really no replay value for this kind of film. The main character and the main villain were not so great, but the supporting cast was good, which helps to make up for that. There isn’t really a soundtrack in the film and many characters are introduced as if they will have a role, but they end up being inconsequential. I would recommend this film if you’ve wanted to see a film with blackmail to see how the hero gets out of it, but for a much better plane thriller I would go with Flightplan.

Overall 5/10

The Mothman Prophecies Review

Posted on June 10, 2014 by dreager1

After the last few films that I’ve seen; the Mothman Prophecies is definitely a change of pace. It’s a horror film with some drama mixed in and who doesn’t want to see a film about the Mothman!? Unfortunately, this is one of those films that starts out decently interesting and then quickly stops being entertaining. Why? Let’s find out!

The plot involves a man named John Klein. He’s doing pretty well in his career as a reporter and he has just finished purchasing a house along with his wife. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes and his wife dies after a big car crash. As she dies; Mary (The wife) draws some off pictures of a moth creature…could it be the Mothman? John doesn’t take this too seriously and he takes his mind off of the drawings for two years. After he is taken to Ohio and strange events begin to pop up…John realizes that he’s in it for the long haul. The Mothman’s not going to win without some resistance!

John Klein is the main character and he’s all right……at best. He really gets sucked into the Mothman rumors and he doesn’t take it too well. He breaks down into tears at one point and the Mothman really had him petrified after a late night call. After his wife’s death, John seems ready to move on after two years. That’s way too soon if you ask me and he should be more worried about retiring than thinking about getting into the romance game. No, John Klein is not a main character that will help a film get going. John also comes across as a little generic at times. There really weren’t any good parts about him…that’s disappointing.

Connie is the main heroine, but she’s still a supporting character in the end. She’s the Policewoman in the haunted area of Point Pleasant. For the most part, she seems to be the only cop around, but others appear out of nowhere towards the end of the film. I have to say that she’s a little too trusting since she walks around without her gun at the ready when it’s around 3 in the morning. What if the stranger had actually been evil? It would have been Game Over. At least she doesn’t put a whole lot of stock into the Mothman rumors. She was definitely a decent character.

Gordon is pretty unlikable from the start. The Mothman really does a number on him and Gordon never recovered. He also drags John back into the mix as he keeps Mr. Klein updated on the spooky situations that keep on happening to him. Gordon should have just ignored the weird phone calls and then decide to call it a night. It may be easier said than done, but he definitely could have kept some composure as he was enduring this situation. I’m just saying…

Indrid Cold..AKA, the Mothman is the big villain of the film. Unfortunately, he never actually appears in the film. Maybe the Mothman isn’t actually real? Naturally, the film hints that he is very real, but I guess they couldn’t afford the special effects needed for him to make an appearance. We have to settle with hearing him as the Mothman proves that he may have knowledge beyond comprehension as well as basic telekinesis or invisibility. The Mothman seems to be able to mess with their minds or he is just really good at impersonation and changing his voice. It can be a little sad for the heroes since they really don’t stand a chance. The Mothman is portrayed as being basically invincible so that eliminates any hope of the heroes walking out of this with a trophy or something like that.

Alexander is the expert on all things supernatural, but after the Mothman has a few choice words for him….Alexander leaves the business. We find out that he’s deeply afraid of the Mothman and he prefers to just forget about his supernatural knowledge and just sit around eating tea and burgers. (We don’t see his eating habits, but this is just an expression to show how badly he is taking this) This strategy did work so maybe he was on to something…maybe.

One area that didn’t help this film was the romance from the first few scenes. The main characters are already married so it is a bit much to see what they do upon getting the new house. Pretty unnecessary if you ask me, but it’s nothing compared to the “two teenagers in a car” scene. I’m sure that we must have seen a similar scene like this in just about every horror film. This one was one of the most pointless ones that I have come across and it comes out of nowhere. These two characters literally have no point in the storyline and the scene was just there to add some fanservice. Ugh….you wouldn’t find this in the classic films like the Peanuts Christmas special.

The soundtrack is basically nonexistent. I did like the opening credits since it helped to establish a spooky tone for the film without being overly cheesy and forced. I actually enjoyed the opening a lot and I wouldn’t mind seeing something similar in the next Godzilla or DBZ film. It’s horror themed, but it really builds up the suspense that every film could use.

So, in the end….why was this film so bad? The problem is that it drags on for a long time and there is no point by the end. The climax is terrible and it’s not exciting in the slightest. You never feel a real sense of danger because the Mothman never actually appears. We know that he loves to pick on John, but why? The viewer gets to make a lot of decisions on what has actually happened, which is all right…but sometimes you want the film to make a few decisions. Can the Mothman really take someone’s soul and bring them back to the world of the living or was it just some more shape shifting on his part? He also may be able to steal memories. At first, we’re interested in John’s plight because now he needs to avenge his wife and take this creature down. Then we see him listening to spooky tales for an hour and a half…before deciding to not really do anything about it. Sure, he can’t win, but let’s at least get some action in here. Nothing really happened and that’s why their was no point. We would just see scared people panic all of the time.

Overall, this was one of the weaker films that I’ve seen in a while. Ultimately, it’s just very boring and even the first half would now be pretty boring since I know that it doesn’t lead to anything. We really could have used a few explosions or fights to help make the film a little more exciting. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this film to anyone. Watch the third Bleach film if you want something a lot scarier and a lot more epic at the same time. Next time the Mothman makes a phone call….just tell him that he has the wrong number.

Overall 3/10

I Frankenstein Review

Posted on June 8, 2014 by dreager1

This time, I actually had heard of I Frankenstein before watching it. The trailer was easily one of the best ones that I saw this year and the only one that gave it any real competition was the trailer for the new Spiderman film. The trailer reminded me of the Underworld films and apparently it is from the same crew. I definitely had some decently high expectations for the film as I went in and I can safely say that it exceeded them. Considering that this film isn’t part of a big franchise or based on something that I’m familiar with, it did great. I Frankenstein is easily one of the best stand alone films that I’ve seen in a while. (Losing to The One as far as action films go, but it can even match up to DC and Marvel films)

The plot starts off with the usual Frankenstein story. Dr. Frankenstein tries to murder his creation, but he fails miserably, which results in his own death + his wife’s. When the monster goes to bury the doctor; he gets attacked by ~~vampires~~ demons. (I’m just going to call the monster Frankenstein from here on out to make things a little easier to read and type) Frankenstein is saved by some Gargoyles and they take him to their ~~castle~~ base. They are in a war with the demons and the humans have no idea about what has been going on. It’s a supernatural war and the demons are a part of the 666 legions that Satan sent to plunge the world into darkness. The gargoyles were ordered by the angels to hold the fort. (It was either Angel Michael or Gabriel who gave them this mission) The Gargoyles defend the peace and their leader is the only one who can directly communicate to the angels so they strive to protect her at all costs.

Frankenstein decides that he stands alone and he leaves. They supply him with a holy weapon and Frankenstein disappears for well over 100 years. The demons attack him again and Frankenstein decides that he’s going to fight back this time. No more running away…he’s going to end this war and take them all down. Will the Gargoyles approve? Frankenstein has a lot of battles ahead of him and he’s going to need to keep his guard up at all times.

Frankenstein is a pretty decent main character and this is my favorite interpretation of this figure. No longer is Frankenstein the slow monster that we’ve known him to be. No, he now possesses a mild degree of super strength/speed and he’s a solid fighter. He fights pretty well against the demon hordes. He may not be the most heroic character out there, but the film hints that he has softened up a little. (He better have since he starts the film off with a murder. It’s hard to forget that part) He deals a lot of damage to both sides through the film.

Prince Naberius is the main villain of the film. He’s the big boss and he is assumed to be much more powerful than the other demons. We don’t really see this because he takes a more diplomatic approach. He’s the kind of villain who appears to be gentle and nice in public, but he’s secretly as vicious as they come. He does get to mildly fight at the end of the film, but he doesn’t get any satisfying form of closure. As far as main villains go; he can be a little on the generic side and I was a little underwhelmed by his true form. That being said, it was amusing to see him in his human guise. It reminded me a little of Lex Luther in his actions. Naberius was definitely an all right character.

Terra is the main heroine of the film, but she doesn’t appear until we’re pretty late into the film. She’s all right, but I wouldn’t say that she stands out in any way. She’s experiments on animals and that’s something that I never like from scientists. That automatically meant that I would not like her in the film and she was never able to climb back from that. She helps out towards the climax and she’s supposed to be a sympathetic character that we can relate too, but she really didn’t have a purpose in the film. She could have been cut out and nobody would really notice.

Gideon is one of the highest ranking Gargoyles and he really doesn’t like Frankenstein. He’s so antagonistic that one would almost expect him to descend after he is defeated. He’s definitely no hero and he may be a decent fighter, but there isn’t much to suggest that he’s stronger than the others aside from the hype that he is given. I definitely didn’t care for him and I was rooting for him to lose in his fights.

Leonore is the Queen of the Gargoyles and she does not act as holy as you may expect. She doesn’t mind lying and using someone as long as it furthers her ambitions and she does give a kill order at one point in the film. (Again…this is why I’m glad that they decided to make the heroes work under the Angels as Gargoyles. I would be pretty incredulous to see Angels lie and decides to destroy people) She very unlikable, but then again…I didn’t care for any of the Gargoyles by the end of the film. The very first pair of Gargoyles that found Frankenstein were okay, but that’s about it. Leonore looks bad right up to the very end as she stabs a defenseless villain. At that point, they had to get rid of thousands of demons, but while her allies were taking them down by the dozens…she only defeated one. That’s not going to win her any fans.

Zuriel is the right hand man of Naberius and he was easily the best villain. He was a lot stronger than I had guessed and he proved to be more than a match for Frankenstein in a fair fight. Zuriel’s demon form was a little generic, but I can let that slide since he was fun to watch. He doesn’t get a whole lot of screentime, but each scene proves that aside from being a fighter; Zuriel is also a tactician. He proved to be smarter than Naberius when it came to planning.

Now, I have to address the gargoyles. They were supposedly sent here by the Angels so they should be pretty good people right? Unfortunately, that doesn’t really appear to be the case. I’m sure that some of them are heroic, but I just expect a lot more from them. They may not be complete Angels, but when I finally meet an Angel; I expect them to be nothing like the Gargoyles in the film. One of these holy Gargoyles happy tells Frankenstein that he’s doomed to rot in hell for all eternity and he’s really thrilled about this. (He’s also a little sore since he’s being terminated)

One plot in the film is how Frankenstein doesn’t have a soul. The gargoyles are mad at him and also worried because they say that he shouldn’t exist and now God is not the only one who has created life. They act as if Satan will destroy everything with this knowledge and that the world is doomed. First of all, I don’t see how Frankenstein would not have a soul. Even though he was created by another human; Frankenstein has emotions and he can feel pain. He’s completely alive and I would say that this means that he automatically has a soul. An interesting part is that he does something during the final part of the film that proves that he doesn’t have a soul, which contradicts what happens a few minutes after that. Do souls really grow that quickly? I don’t know…that part felt sketchy. He should have had a soul from the beginning.

One scene that I didn’t care for was the scene with the rat as they tried to perfect the regeneration process. Testing on animals will always be wrong. Many say that it’s for the greater good so that humans will be okay, but that’s not okay in my book. If we want to be healthier, then we need to test on ourselves instead of innocent creatures. That scene was pretty awful, but luckily it was only once and we didn’t have any other forms of animal violence.

Another part that I took issue with was how weak the Gargoyles base was. The demons were basically able to take it over at any time. When they finally decided to attack the Gargoyles; it was a blowout. The demons outnumbered them over 100-1 and the heroes quickly started saying things like “It’s Over.” Why couldn’t they call for backup from the other bases that were previously mentioned? They said that Satan only has command over 666 legions so the Gargoyles should definitely outnumber them at this point. It’s definitely a little on the iffy side to see such a gap in power.

The soundtrack is a little on the forgettable side, but it was pretty good. The tunes tend to be a little generic, but it’s generic action mood that fits the tone. It’s pretty fast paced at times and the dramatic themes were also well placed. You likely won’t remember the music in your head after a few days, but they will help to enhance the fight scenes as you’re watching the film.

The fight scenes were very good and this is the kind of action that I want to see in a film. There were sword fights and we also had some monster action, but it was all done smoothly. The blowing up effects for the demons were pretty neat and likewise with the ascending effect for the Gargoyles. The scenes were intense without being gritty in an over the top way.

Overall, this was a pretty fun film. We got to mix religion with an old myth like Frankenstein. I’m glad that the Angels were not the ones fighting because I would never want to see them look so much like the villains, plus the Gargoyles were so weak. I do not believe that a demon would be able to defeat an Angel. Frankenstein was a good lead and Zuriel made for a good villain, but the rest of the characters were either decent or just unlikable. The soundtrack and fight scenes made the film very enjoyable and it’s fast paced. There aren’t many scenes that will really feel dragged out, which is always a plus. I definitely recommend this film to action fans. There may be one or two violent moments, but nothing over the top. If you’ve seen Jason Bourne, then you’ll be okay to see this one.

Overall 7/10

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

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