Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace Review

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The Star Wars legacy continues as we see the origin of the franchise….or of the films anyway. This film takes place before Episode IV and we get to see what the older villains were like. Without Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, could this film keep pace with the other three? It’s time to find out!

The film’s plot revolves around Qui Gon and Obi Wan as they must protect the Queen and restore order to the planet. The planet is currently being run by the Federation and things aren’t looking good for our heroes. Meanwhile, Anakin must prove that he is a skilled warrior and he enters the Pod Race. The stakes are very high and winning could he his chance for freedom. The Sith are also around and Darth Maul is sent to take the Jedi down once and for all.

Well, the film has a solid intro with the Jedi taking on a large number of droids and easily winning the battle. The droids definitely do not seem as skilled as the Storm Troopers and they go down pretty easily. There is one sad scene for the Jedi as they are forced to run away from the Droids who possess barriers. They may have the Force, but they aren’t immensely skilled in its usage, or maybe they just lack the confidence. Either way, a tactical retreat was in order!

Unfortunately, this film starts to drag on a bit during the middle. This is one of those films where they could have cut out 30-60 minutes and it may have helped the overall pacing. There just wasn’t a lot of action in the film and while the lightsaber fights were really good, you may miss the classic space fights. There is a quick one that is forced into the movie at the very end, but it’s pretty short anyway.

Obi Wan is a decent character, but he doesn’t really stand out. He has his big “Rage” moment where he quickly unleashes his full powers, but that was his only notable scene. It was a good one since he looked a lot better than Luke did in his rage moment so I do have some hopes for him in the next film. I always liked his fight scene in film IV since he mentioned how it’s not wise to strike him down…right before he’s struck down. It’s one of those scenes that forces you to smile and wave…just smile and wave.

Qui Gon is the wise character of the film and he’s always got his lightsaber at the ready. He’s a decent character as well I suppose, but he is pretty dishonest since he tries to cheat a store owner with the Jedi mind trick. Luckily he is unsuccessful although he also ends up cheating at dice. Qui Gon is a powerful fighter and he can hold his own against the Sith, but he still wasn’t a great character. Average sounds about right as with Obi Wan.

Jar Jar Binks is a pretty infamous character and this is where he makes his debut. I wouldn’t underestimate Jar Jar Binks since he definitely means business and won’t go down without a fight. Unfortunately, like the Ewoks, this leads to a lot of plot hax during the fight scenes. He takes out several drones by accident which is humiliating in itself and it doesn’t stop there as he takes on a whole tank. He’s not quite as annoying as Chewy although his voice isn’t as iconic as Chewy’s roar. Jar Jar is definitely not a likable character and he was unnecessary, but he’s still better than C-3PO and R2D2.

Yoda is back along with the Jedi Council in this film, but he still doesn’t do anything. They all fear Anakin’s power since it far surpasses theirs, but it’s not like they can do anything about it. They were not even aware that the Sith had returned which is a little sad for them. Why couldn’t they feel “A disturbance in The Force!?” Maybe they just weren’t skilled enough as the time which is to be expected in the long run. C-3PO and R2D2 are in the film and luckily they aren’t as bad as in the original trilogy thanks to their limited roles.

Anakin is only a kid in this film so its understandable that he’s not a great character just yet. He did start to fall from film V to VI, but this is before those events so he should be just fine. I expect that he’ll improve in the next film when he’s older. He’s not a bad character in this film, but he can’t really be taken seriously just yet.

Queen Padme is a decent character and she is more likable than Princess Leia. That being said, she does fall for Emperor Palpatine’s tricks and her final plan resembled Luke’s from Episode VI! It was thought out more than Luke’s, but still an overly risky plan. If only they all could use The Force!

Finally, Darth Maul is a pretty solid villain and he definitely gives the heroes a solid fight. One on one he seemed to be stronger than the Jedi thanks to his duel blade skills. He was the best character of the film and I dare say that he approaches Darth Vader in epicness. The EU gives Darth Vader the edge, but if we’re purely talking about the films, I dare say that he’s a better villain.

The fight scenes in this Star Wars film were vastly superior to the previous films. You could really feel the blows when the Lightsabers clashed and the special effects have also received a level up. I can only imagine how the Lightsaber battles would look in the current days and it would likely be about as epic as Kingdom Hearts II!

The film does fall into its share of holes which keeps it from a higher rating. In the first place, the characters weren’t terribly interesting. The original trilogy definitely had a better cast to go along with the better plot and better soundtrack. This film also dragged on for quite a while when they were on the desert planet. The invasion was fun, but not the Jar Jar Binks part of it. They should have been incinerated instantly, but instead they lasted with gimicks. Also, Anakin shouldn’t have been able to break inside the enemy ship so easily. Animals also end up eating other animals for no real reason since it doesn’t serve to advance the plot and is just unnecessary.

Overall, this was a decent start to the next Star Wars trilogy. The fight scenes were fun and we had a great villain, but the film was just too long and featured too many unlikable characters. If the film can reduce on the negatives and make things a little more fun, then the next one has a chance for success. This is a decent film to check out, but I’d sooner recommend IV since the intro is a lot more intense. The Storm Troopers are definitely hardcore!

Overall 5/10

Star Wars Episode VI Return of The Jedi Review

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The Star Wars trilogy ends with this movie so it really needs to be a good one! The trilogy started out on a high note with the first film, but the second one wasn’t quite as good. This one beats the second film, but could it match up to the first film? I don’t think so and during the review you will find out why!

The plot involves Luke Skywalker as he needs to free Han Solo and help his friends. That’s the plot for the first 30-40 minutes and from there we realize that Luke and Han need to disable the force field so that the rebels can destroy the Death Star. To do this, Luke may have to confront Darth Vader. This may be tricky because of the whole “I’m your FATHER!!!!” plot twist, but we hope for the best while expecting the worst. It’s a pretty basic plot overall, but the villains are intent on stopping Luke Skywalker from succeeding.

All right…..there are some pretty iffy moments going into this so I suppose that I’ll get one of the big things out of the way first. That would be Luke Skywalker’s personality and overall skill set. In this film, he is an experienced fighter who presumably knows a lot about the Force. Well, he looks pretty bad in this film and I still have to wonder how I became a fan of this guy. It must have been somewhere in the expanded universe, but I believe that I may have only liked him in theory. That does happen sometimes, where I like someone because he/she should be cool in theory, but when I actually see the media…I’m underwhelmed. That may be what is happening in this case which would mean that I actually do not like Luke.

His very first scene is pretty bad as he makes a deal that endangers the lives of his friends. It’s one of the worst plans that I have ever seen since Luke walks into the base completely unprepared. He doesn’t have his Lightsaber on him and he nearly loses to a random beast. Luke is not very adept at The Force, but it doesn’t look like any being is in the movies. The Force is a much greater power in the expanded universe. (Just check out Star Wars Unleashed!) Skywalker makes a great number of mistakes which also include the fact that he throws away his weapon in the climax of the film. He definitely did not think that one through and what really makes this scene a sad one is the fact that the villain was unarmed and would have lost.

I’m afraid that isn’t all of it for Luke’s mistakes. He also hesitates for a very long time while his friends are being incinerated in front of him. He can potentially stop this by defeating The Emperor and going over to help, but he has no time for games! There’s also a vehicle chase scene where he seems to forget how to use The Force to stop objects, but he may not be skilled enough to use that ability. I’m sure that there are more moments like the ones that have been mentioned, but Luke is definitely not a likable main character. He talks a really good game, but he can’t back it up. It’s also a little disappointing how he barely seems to be more skilled than the average human with a sword. Unfortunately, there is another character who didn’t look very good in this film.

Darth Vader has definitely fallen a long way since the first Star Wars film. In this one, he’s nothing but the Emperor’s lackey. He basically does whatever The Emperor wants and he acts like a complete slave. At least he mentioned a plan to overthrow the Emperor in the last film, but this time he seems content to just serve him. In the end, Darth Vader has his big moment, but I feel like he hesitated for a little too long. It was nearly too late to do anything by the time he stepped in. He was also very weak since Luke was able to defeat him with ease once he got serious. Darth Vader performed decently when Luke wasn’t fighting back, but once it was a real fight…there wasn’t really any contest about who would win. Unlike Luke, I do know that Darth Vader is a good character thanks to the EU. I have seen Darth Vader in the comics and I can say with certainty that he was a much better character in the ones that I have read. He’s also vastly stronger as he would be considered pretty low tier in the movies. Please Understand that I may have appreciated the characters more if I did not already know about their cooler appearances…but alas, it is too late for that.

Unlike the previously mentioned characters, Han Solo actually shows some signs of improvement. It’s a win/lose scenario as he gets better in some aspects while worse in others. On one hand, he seems to have matured and he doesn’t flirt nearly as much as he used too. On the other hand, he’s not as much of a rebel as he used to be and he seems to have mellowed out. Still, he’s a much better character than he was so I give the film props in that regard.

Leia is still around, but her role is definitely smaller and she doesn’t get many action scenes. She still knows how to use a gun and she manages to defeat several scouts who were masquerading as Storm Troopers. It was too bad that she was captured by Jabba, but it was pretty much unavoidable thanks to Luke’s awful plan. She wasn’t a bad character by any means, but I suppose that she was pretty unmemorable in this one.

Boba Fett is the guy who steals the show and aside from one questionable scene, he does a good job. Believe it or not, he actually gives Luke a decent fight and he’s not someone that you will want to mess with. He has a pretty cool demeanor and he seems pretty experienced. He has an air of confidence about him and he reminds us all why he is the top agent around here. I wouldn’t mind a whole film about Boba Fett since that would be pretty awesome. His role is pretty brief and there are some inaccurate moments, but they tend to happen, we just have to try and tune them out.

We’ve still got C-3PO and R2D2. They’re as annoying as usual and R2D2 continues to get them into some pretty big messes. If R2D2 would actually listen to C-3PO once in a while, then maybe the heroes would stand a chance. That being said, he is prone to giving bad advice at times so you won’t always want to trust him. Chewy is also still around and he gets to yell a lot, but that’s really all that he ever does. I don’t think that he’ll ever make the transition to being a likable character, but they can’t all be winners right? That being said, we had more annoying characters than usual in this film.

The Ewoks were terrible and I mean terrrrible characters. Every minute that they were on screen made me cringe inside. A part of me died whenever they would defeat a Storm Trooper and I’m not exaggerating when I say that they may have been some of the worst supporting characters that I’ve seen in a movie that was part animal in a very long time. They were responsible for 90% of the film’s cheesy scenes and moments of innacuracy. They definitely should not have been in the film.

The Storm Troopers don’t get the respect that they deserve in this film. They’re trained professionals and they should be defeating all who get in their way. One of them managed to defeat Luke in a high speed battle/race which is saying something, but that was their only really good scene. They would easily defeat the Ewoks so it was a little upsetting that they did not. There was also a decently large amount of plot hax in the whole climax since the rebels should have been completely wiped out. They were vastly outnumbered and would have been incinerated very early on, even without the Star Destroyers.

The Emperor himself is a pretty underwhelming character as well. Not only is he a very old person, but he’s not exactly the best close combat fighter. He’d quickly be overwhelmed by anyone with a decent amount of ability and his plans don’t really make any sense. Why Darth Vader works for this guy is completely beyond me. Lando is around…and he stays around for the whole film while not really doing anything. Granted that he’s still a decent character overall.

Unfortunately, the film falls into the holes that the last one fell into like the animal violence part. There is less than the last film, but it’s still sad that it had to happen. There isn’t really much romance to distract from the plot in this film, but to make up for that, we have a lot of inaccurate scenes that are just sad to watch. We also got to see a great villain wrecked throughout the movie. Princess Leia also had a very unnecessary costume change for a short part of the film and we have to remember that the Ewoks are a major negative to the film. This movie definitely made its share of mistakes, but we’ve also got the positives as well.

Boba Fett was a solid character and he never backed down from a fight. He was a brave man until the bitter end! The fight scenes were solid (When Lightsabers were involved) and Luke’s Lightsaber looks a lot more formidable than his old one. This one is a green blade that is very thick and looks pretty menacing. The film is pretty fun to watch and it won’t drag out all that much even though it is very long.

Overall, Star Wars was a pretty solid trilogy and I can see why it is so legendary. It was a fun watch from start to finish. While Yoda really didn’t end up contributing at all by the end of the trilogy, we got to see some good fights and establish a new universe. The end of the trilogy leaves a lot of room for a sequel and it would appear that the sequel will be coming out at some point in the future. The expanded universe will continue to grow for this series and you can expect a Star Wars related review to come out on the blog at some point within the next few months. I can safely recommend this film and it’s actually a solid jumping on point for new Star Wars fans, although the first film is the best so I would recommend that one the most. I wonder if the Prequel trilogy is as good as this one….

Overall 5/10

Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back Review

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There are many film series that fall into the sequel trap. After having a great start, they start to relax and the sequel falls into the ground. (Spider Man 2. It wasn’t awful, but it was easily the weakest of the trilogy. Still a decent film though) The first Star Wars film was better than I had anticipated, but could the sequel hold its own? The climax fight is definitely better than the first film, but this one falls into more traps than the first one and is definitely not in the same league.

The plot of this film picks off from the first one, but a lot of time has gone by. The rebels are currently based on an icy planet and Han Solo has decided that he needs to leave since the bounty hunters are after him once again. This time they aren’t ordinary bounty hunters since the legendary Boba Fett is among them! He doesn’t have time to leave as the rebels quickly evacuate the planet and he heads off with Princess Leia as they attempt to escape from The Empire. This subplot gets a lot of screen time and some can even make the case that it is the main plot as they travel across the unknown.

The other plot involved Luke Skywalker as he heads off to star system because Obi Wan Kenobi’s ghost told him that he should. He meets the fan favorite character, Yoda, and he starts to train. Those are the two main plots in the film and they both come together by the end. Were the plots engaging? Welll….that’s where things get tricky.

The first film was definitely a lot better in the plot area. Luke training for The Force wasn’t that great since it was mostly Yoda trolling him the whole time. It’s great that Luke can get stronger, but it wasn’t the best plot. Han’s plot was a lot more interesting, but he flirted a lot more than in the second film and it could definitely get tiring.

Yoda is a pretty big Star Wars fan and just about everyone likes him, but I’m definitely not a fan. He’s supposed to be the wise guy who’s been through thick and thin, but isn’t that what Obi Wan is for? Yoda also gives out some awful advice during crunch time and advises Luke to stay and train while his friends get terminated. Luke’s a little too cool for that and he quickly heads off, even though Obi Wan doesn’t help matters either. Yoda would likely be a cooler character if we could see him fight or do something really cool, but right now he seems like he’s all talk. Before the twist, he was also acting pretty strange.

Luke is a mixed bag in this film. On one hand, he is definitely more experienced in this film and he makes the Hero move towards the end. That being said, he had a pretty awful intro where he was actually defeated by an ice beast in one hit. He managed to get out of the cave, but then he couldn’t withstand the icy wilderness and was taken down for the count once again. It was pretty hard for Luke to rise up the personality ranks after such a performance. He was also caught up in Princess Leia’s charms and didn’t really take it all very well. In the end, I still don’t really care for the character in the film series, but I like him overall. He was decently good during the final battle although I think he could have put up more of a fight.

Han Solo is hardly the greatest character in the roster and he definitely needs to show more alertness while on the job. As long as Chewbacca is with him, I don’t think that they’ll be doing so well with their spaceship. Chewbacca definitely tries, but he’s still not very likable. Dying didn’t do Obi Wan any wonders either. If Han spent more time on beating up enemies and less time flirting, then maybe he could be more of an admirable character.

Princess Leia hasn’t gotten any better during this film either as she is still leading everyone on. She’s pretty much chosen Luke over Han, but why should she choose at all? They’re at war with The Empire so she should have more important things to think about. I’m not even going to mention the two droids as they didn’t really help matters and basically held Luke and Han back the whole time.

It’s time to get into some of the mistakes that cost this film some points. The first one is definitely the animal violence. The first film steered away from this for the most part, but this one just couldn’t escape. We have the opening scene where Luke’s camel (type of creature) is slaughtered by the ice monster and then Luke takes off the poor beast’s arm. Later on, Han cuts one of the creatures open after it dies from the cold. Those scenes were definitely in bad taste and I couldn’t forget them as the movie went on. From that point, the film was definitely not going to pass the first one.

That was the big hole that the film fell into, but I had some minor complaints with other parts as well. This film definitely had a lot more romance than the previous one and it made all of the characters act pretty loopy at times. Finally, the film had some pacing problems. I wouldn’t call the film boring per say, but the best scenes were easily the ones with the villains. Lando’s plot with Hal was decent enough and it was much better than Luke’s, but it still had some dull moments. This is one of those cases where I think that it may have helped to cut out a solid 30+ minutes.

At least Darth Vader was still a pretty solid villain. The plot twist about his master could have completely destroyed everything, but this is where you’ve got to look at this objectively. Darth Vader is just using this guy and he’ll betray him soon enough….is what we’ve got to think. This is the only way that Darth Vader can stay as an imposing villain and it’s the only explanation that I want to believe at this point. “I’m YOUR FATHER!!!” is probably something that you’ve heard a lot at this point right? Well, the twist never gets old and we’ll never forget that line.

The film is less action packed than the first one with only a few scenes that contained any fighting. For the most part, I would label this film as an adventure as opposed to an action. The final fight makes it all worth it since Darth Vader battling Luke Skywalker was the best Star Wars fight to this point. It may have been a little one sided, but Luke gave it his all and that’s what counts!

I do have one last complaint although it’s relatively minor. The music score in the first Star Wars film was very good and I can see why it has been renowned for this. Unfortunately, the music in this film isn’t nearly as good and I can’t really think of any solid tunes. I think this leads up to the point that the second film just didn’t feel as theatrical. Everything, from the special effects to the music made it feel more like a tv film than a theater film. The Lightsaber action is great as always, but it would have been cool to see some more movement in the actual fight.

Overall, this is still a solid film, but definitely not on the same level as the first film. Yoda and the animal violence help to bring the overall score down among other factors. Luke is still not the protagonist that I remember from the good ole days (Although he showed a glimmer of this as he ditched Obi Wan and Yoda to go save his friends) and Darth Vader seems pretty depowered. I’m confident that they will repair some of these mistakes in time for the sequel since every trilogy needs to end on a really solid note. This is still a solid film to watch and may be a nice jumping on point for new fans, but I’d recommend IV a little more since it’s a better movie. Watch out for Luke’s big jump towards the end as you watch the film!

Overall 5/10

Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope Review

Star Wars is a pretty huge franchise and you will have definitely heard of the franchise at some point during your life. The franchise is huge in just about all areas including: Video Games, a popular TV series, many comics, and the large film franchise. The series may not have had over a dozen films like some other series, but each film has grown to be very popular. I saw this film many years ago and after re watching it, I can definitely say that I liked it more than the first time around. There’s a lot to say about a classic film such as this one, but let’s get into the plot first.

This film mainly deals with the adventures of two characters who go by the names of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. In this film they are typically featured in the same scenes, but they do have their own story lines that continue through this film and the sequels. I’m sure that most of you know the basic plot of Star Wars, but I’ll give a little recap just in case. The Empire is basically in charge of the galaxy and you can call them The Empire. They’re more corrupt than the average government and there is a small group of rebels who currently oppose them. Unbeknownst to all of this, Luke Skywalker dreams of leaving his planet and going to where his friends now reside. His uncle is against the idea and he constantly tries to show Luke who’s boss, but it’s to no avail.

Luke ends up going with C-3PO to find R2D2, but he is attacked by the sand men. Ben Kenobi saves them and reminds Luke that he has a duty to help him save the universe! R2D2 delivers a message to Kenobi and they realize that they must get the schematics of the Death Star to the Rebels and also free the princess. Luke’s uncle may not approve, but he’s quickly annihilated along with whoever was still in the village. Luke takes this chance to go with Kenobi and they head off to stop Darth Vader and the Death Star!

Please understand that this is a very rough/abridged version of the plot. Star Wars is a film that does a good job of fitting a lot of plot points into one scene and you can tell that this was the start of a franchise. There are numerous characters and scenes that could lead to future plots and they’re all fairly interesting. The first scene where Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers take on the army is pretty fun and definitely holds up well. This may be a 70’s film, but they certainly knew how to use their budget and clobbered the effects from the Star Trek films. (Pre reboot and even then, they make it close to the first one)

Darth Vader has always been one of my favorite Star Wars characters and this film definitely shows me why this is true. He completely outranks all who oppose him and he never backs down. None of the good guys really seem to be a match for him and he creates a feeling of dread whenever he appears. He seems to work for a human in the Empire, but it’s hard for the believer to…believe this! Darth Vader is much stronger than any of the other villains since he can use the force and is very experienced in its use. He demonstrates how he can choke a person with it and use telekinesis. This is one character that will definitely be sticking around for a long time and his character design will stay awesome as his helmet is unforgettable.

Luke Skywalker is one of those characters that I’ve always liked and I barely know why. It may have been from when I saw the Clone Wars animated film, but I’m not completely positive. Either way, it definitely wasn’t this film that did it for me. Luke is definitely not a bad character, but in this film he’s still a novice when it comes to the Force and he’s not a character that really stands out. He’s a hero through and through, but there really isn’t much too him. He’ll get a lot of character development through the sequels, so we don’t really need to worry about him. He’ll definitely have his moments at some point.

Han Solo is a pretty good character for the most part and he’s a lot more charismatic than Luke. He’s definitely not as heroic and noble as he is still a bounty hunter. He seems to have gotten in with the wrong crowd and getting out isn’t very easy. He’s not a complete hero, but we are led to believe that he’s a good guy deep down. He ends up getting attached to the other good guys and slowly starts to turn towards the good side as the film goes through. He flirts a lot during the film and Princess Leia continues to use him and Luke. If not for the flirtations, Han would easily be the best hero in the film. He’s a good pilot and his ship is pretty fun to watch since it can definitely fly at high speeds!

Princess Leia is one of the big characters of the film as well, but I can’t say that she was quite as likable as the other characters. I believe that she tried a little too hard to be the real “tough” character and it didn’t translate so well. I never really comment on acting ability and I don’t intend to start now, but she did seem to overact a little unless it was part of her character. When Princess Leia would talk, her eyes would always be opened very widely and it looked a little puzzling to say the least. That being said, it’s more of a positive than a negative. At least Leia is a hardened professional and her gun skills are…..better than the Storm Trooper’s! I can’t say that I’m a fan of her, but she’s far better than some of the other characters coming up.
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To spare myself from wincing, I’ll be shorter with these characters coming up. Let’s start with R2D2 and his pal, C-3PO. R2D2 can get really annoying as the film progresses since he can’t talk and is constantly getting the characters in trouble. He’s pretty mean to the heroes when he needs to be and he just won’t listen to reason. C-3PO is the comedy character, but he’s not really funny and he makes the effects feel dated. The effects are quite good, but his character looks pretty clunky. This could be intentional, but I’m not sure and he’s a pretty sad character. We’ve also got Chewbacca and his “roar” can quickly make you turn the volume down. I can barely imagine hearing that sound in theaters, it must have been ear splitting! He’s a pretty annoying character, but I suppose that he’s not awful. He’s definitely better than the two droids, but he doesn’t really add anything to the table. If he had not been in the film, I doubt that anything would have changed.

We can’t forget about Ben Kenobi…or should I say, *Spoiler Alert*Obi Wan Kenobi!!!!! He’s the wise man who was very tough in the past and he wants to make sure that Luke doesn’t make the same mistakes that he did. He knows a lot of neat tricks with the Force, but he is no longer able to fight as well as he could. He gave Darth Vader a decent fight, but Darth Vader was hardly trying and they were definitely not in the same league. It’s good that he tried and he was actually a decent character. He may not have been around for very long, but he gave Luke a reason to fight. Let’s see if it helps him in the next film!

I nearly forgot to mention the Storm Troopers! Their aim was about what I expected and it is fun to see them miss targets at very close range. The heroes are usually right in front of them and the Troopers will still find a way to miss. That being said, their uniforms are pretty cool and they never back down from a fight. These fighters have a Lion’s Heart and they’re some of the best cannon fodder that I’ve ever seen. The Chitauri could learn a thing or two from these guys. It’ll be interesting to see how they deal with the Jefi in the upcoming films.

As stated earlier, the effects for this film were pretty good. The beam fights were fun and the Lightsaber will always be a very cool weapon. The Force seems to have almost unlimited power and it really comes down to will power, but it also makes for some cool visuals. Seeing the Death Star take out a planet was also pretty awesome and a solid way to make the weapon threatening.

To throw my two cents in on the Star Wars vs Star Trek debate, I’ve always been on Team Star Wars. I prefer the characters, video games, TV shows, and comics. Filmwise, it’s a little harder since the latest Star Trek film was so good, but once I watch the other Star Wars films, I’m confident that it will pass Star Trek. The Clone Wars may have already given Star Wars the edge, but this will make it certain. Star Trek is still a…..interesting take on the Sci-Fi genre and the last film was quite good, but Star Wars definitely has the edge. This is the stuff of legends and Boba Fett hasn’t even appeared yet!!! (Jango Fett is also pretty awesome in the Bounty Hunter video game)

Overall, this was a very solid start to a great franchise. It’s easy to see why Star Wars was such a great hit as this film avoids the mistakes that most other films make. This film is pretty fun and it definitely goes by pretty quickly. Luke has not hit his stride yet, but just wait until the next film where the stakes increase and we start to reach the climax. I’ll have a review up for that film in the near future to continue the Star Wars streak!

Overall 7/10

Psycho Review

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Psycho is a pretty famous movie from Hitchcock and it’s pretty legendary. Unfortunately, it’s one of those films where the hype is definitely more intense than the film. This is essentially a horror/slasher film that plays out as you would expect most of those too go. The only difference is that there is no twist ending involved, which probably wouldn’t have hurt. I’ve never watched a good slasher film and I doubt that there is such a thing, but this is definitely Hitchcock’s worst film. He should stick to the murder mysteries, but let’s jump to the plot!

The film opens up with an awful scene involving Marion and Sam which should quickly start the warning bells in your head. Once she leaves, Marion goes to her nice ole job where people throw lots of money around. One look at that money is enough to corrupt Marion and she quickly gets out of town and decides to head to a private island. This is obviously the only course of action for her by this point and she makes it a point to act as suspicious as she can. She even falls asleep at the road and quickly starts to act like a criminal. She decides to stop at an abandoned motel to spend the night. At least the landlord seems nice and he’s got a nice mother…what could possibly go wrong!?

If you’ve seen any sort of slasher film, then you can probably guess where the film will go from here. Norman Bates is the main villain of this story and the fact that he believes in animal violence should have helped the main character realize this. Unlike Jason or Freddy, Norman isn’t much of a fighter and he relies on the fact that his opponents are either kids or people who are not ready to fight or have any experience in it. He also takes any opportunity to land a cheap shot in. There are no likable characters in this film so don’t hold your breath for one of them to make a solid decision!

One of the main problems with this film is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be a point to the whole thing. The villain murders people and the heroes don’t know what to do. The cycle repeats and repeats until it’s about time for the climax. There was an unnecessarily long shower scene that was really awful and the opening scene did no wonders for the romance section. If you cut out both of those scenes, then the film is a lot better, but it still would have been doomed in the long run.

We’ve already established why Marion and Norman were both pretty bad characters. Marion got corrupted very easily which wasn’t a good thing. Norman made the mistake of being a psycho and he wasn’t a likable character while he was acting either. He’s just your average mass murderer, just take away the part where he’s actually tough. Lila wasn’t much better as she talked tough, but froze up when the going got tough. I disliked Sam from the start and he never turned out to be a good character.

The police officer could have been a solid character, but he failed in the end. I was actually liking him until he just stopped appearing. He just got written out of the script and vanished. The Sherrif wasn’t very smart and the guy whose money was stolen in the first place was pretty bad as well. Let’s skip the rest of the characters and just remember that they’re pretty bad.

Long story short, this is definitely not a film that I recommend. It was very close to getting a 1/10 for a while, but by the end, the detective was so awful that I had to raise it to a 2. The scene was just so inaccurate that it raised the score. As I mentioned earlier, the film just didn’t have any point to it and it was like watching paint dry. What’s the point in the end? This is a film that has 0 replay value as well. If you want to watch a true film, then check out Yugioh 3D Bonds Beyond Time!

Overall 2/10

Daylight Review

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Daylight is a movie that you probably haven’t heard of. I definitely had not heard of the film until I ended up watching it the other day. This movie is about a pretty tricky situation that some people get involved in and now they’ve got to get out. There’s plenty of drama and action, but is it the good kind?

The movie starts out in classic 90’s style as we are introduced to the main characters. We’ve got the Hollywood big shot, the old folks, the tough crowd, the Policeman, and others. It’s actually a pretty large crowd and they have one big thing in common…they’re going through the Holland Tunnel! Unfortunately, some members of the mafia (Or just a random gang) quickly go into their top speed and there are some pretty dangerous substances around. One thing leads to another and a large wave of fire engulfs them all. There are many casualties, but around a dozen people survive. The two ends of the tunnel are sealed so it seems like their doom is certain. Meanwhile, Latura decides to head in to rescue them all, but he’ll have to go through a very tough path which may lead to his doom. Latura may make it through the path, but how can he possibly save them!?

The plot is pretty simple and the only problem is that the people need to escape. Unfortunately for them, escaping a sealed off tunnel is a lot harder than it looks. The Hollywood star is pretty brave and he’s probably one of the best characters in the film. He didn’t back down and he never felt fear throughout the whole film. Nobody wanted to stand up to this guy and he was a natural born leader. His climax is pretty intense and you’re not going to want to miss it.

Latura knows his way around the tunnels and he’s definitely the most experienced characters from the main cast. He isn’t about to back down and he’s ready for whatever is about to happen. He’s constantly thinking of new plans on the spot and he doesn’t believe in letting anyone fall behind. (Although he did hesitate about the dog) Latura was a decent main character, but I liked him best during the beginning when he was with the cab.

The rest of the characters were mostly just there. None of them really stood out for the most part although the crook who robbed the bank was a pretty awful character. The parents of the little girl in the film were also pretty bad as they did their best to make things really hard for Latura and friends. I only gave Latura and the Hollywood guy a lot of screen time because they stood out from the other characters. I never cared for the others and they really just fill in the stereotypes. The Government looks pretty bad as per usual and they make their move which involves destroying innocent lives! That is definitely the Government for you.

The film had a very dangerous moment when something happened to the dog. It nearly destroyed the film instantly and would have made the whole review a lot more negative. Luckily the film didn’t fall into that hole, but it definitely did like to test fate with the rat scene also being included. The important thing is that the film avoided the usual death in the animal family and kept its honor.

Overall, this is a decent film. It definitely does drag on a bit since the film is very long and they’re all stuck in the tunnel for the whole time. Also, the replay value for the film is shot since this is the type of film that you won’t really enjoy as much when watching it for a second time. There is a lot of tragedy and drama so if you don’t like when sad things happen, then I would not recommend this film to you. On the other hand, the lines are typically pretty good and I liked the intros for the various main characters. The fire may have been a little too intense, (They shouldn’t have survived it) but it definitely looked pretty cool. The film feels like a 90s film in many aspects and that’s definitely a good thing. If you want a true tragedy story, go and watch Naruto!

Overall 4/10

The Hunger Games Catching Fire Review

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All right, it’s time to review this popular film! I was fortunate enough to get to see it on Thursday night for the 8 o clock showing. Not bad eh? Got to beat the midnight screening by a few hours which was awesome and I probably should have written my review right then and there, but I like to digest it first. I usually have stronger opinions about a film after a few hours/few days have passed. I’d say that one day is plenty for this one and I’m ready. I didn’t really care for the first film and thought that the book was much better. That’s basically the same feeling that I got from this film which was definitely better than the first one, but not by much.

This review will mostly try to stick away from spoilers that occur during the film, but I can’t really avoid the spoilers from the first film….so bear with me on that. As we all know, Katniss ended up winning the Hunger Games on her last run as she thought of the berries plan. Peeta was spared and the world was saved! (Peeta went along with the plan, but it was basically her strategy so he was just along for the ride) Snow isn’t very happy about this and he forces Katniss and Peeta to tour the districts as they watch people get beat up and destroyed. They try (Unsuccessfully) to keep their composure as they go around deceiving people, but it’s not working.

Snow decides that he’ll force them into entering….The Hunger Games! This time, only the winners are allowed into the prestigious tournament so the stakes are going to be a lot higher. This also means that nobody is truly safe since the government could always pull a fast one…but I guess we already knew that from the first film eh? Let the Games begin!!

All right, where to start! There’s definitely a lot to say about this film and unfortunately, a good amount of it is negative. Let’s start off with the positives and work our way from there. The camera is much better for the fight scenes and it’s good overall. There are a few scenes where the camera does move very quickly during the fight scenes, but the improvement is definitely noticeable and it should be perfected by the next film. The training area for the tributes is a lot more hi tech and it makes the whole thing feel more like a serious training ground.

The costumes for the characters are also a lot better and while I can’t put my finger on which costumes they remind me of, they definitely seem familiar. These are more like battle costumes than what they wore in the first film and it’s good that they’re more experienced. Katniss is ready to win this time…or is she?

All right, positives are over! It’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. Let’s tackle one of the larger problems first. This film mixes several factors that I don’t like in a film: Romance, Animal Violence, Acceptance, and Corrupt Governments that mess with everyone. I’ll delve into each of these factors and I suppose that I should start with the romance.

Where to start! Peete and Gale are around of course. Gale doesn’t appear for very long, but he definitely makes sure to have his share of romance in those scenes. Peeta appears a lot and he also gets a pretty substantial amount of romance. Naturally they all revolve around Katniss as she leads them both on. I want to say that she doesn’t intend to make fools out of them, but it’s really hard to debate that. Katniss wasn’t very good in this film, but when you keep in mind that there weren’t really any good characters in the film, it helps to even things out. There was also a very unnecessary scene in the elevator that dragged on for wayyyyyyy too long and made Peeta and Haymitch look like chumps. Definitely one of the worst scenes in the film and if that’s not easily the worst scene in any film….you know that you’ve got trouble!

All right, let’s get into the Animal Violence. Well, we have forest animals getting hunted by villains guys like Gale and then we have Katniss shooting birds out of the sky. As if that weren’t enough, then we get a scene where baboons (Or a similar creature) attack the main characters and there are many casualties. We also get to see Fish being eaten which is pretty distasteful. I definitely had to take some serious points away from the film for this transgression and it was not something that I would forget.

Ready for the Acceptance? You’re probably wondering why that’s a bad thing so it’s time to get into a little bit of depth for this. It basically ties into the final negative as well which is that the people know who the villains are. Everyone knows that President Snow is a dictator and that he must be stopped, but nobody is powerful enough to stop him. Katniss and Peeta decide to work for the guy which helps to soil their morals as they watch other people get beaten up and destroyed. Either way Snow is going to continue on his path to eradicate everyone so why should they play along as all? It seems to be that they’re just making things worse by doing this when they could be making things better by fighting back.

On a side note, we had the “Hardcore” moment that most films try to gun for several times in this film. When the characters go on TV and are interviewed, one of them says the “Hardcore” word and everyone in the audience laughed and cheered. It makes me wonder if they would have clapped and cheered if the character had switched the word to Forget and still finished the line. Probably not, which is sad. I couldn’t take the character seriously anyway since she was basically out of her league.

This film deals with a lot of tragedy and sadness as Katniss gets to several of her friends beaten up and murdered in front of her. It’s sad for Katniss since she can’t really fight back and she just has to move on to the next thing each time. It would be good if she could try to avenge them and take Snow to jail, but that’s essentially impossible right now.

I’d say that the film overdoes it with all of the tragic moments. Snow is evil and he’s going to murder everyone…we get that. So is it really necessary to see him murder everyone and then see everyone stand back and watch? One scene was almost comical when the new general met the older one. Everyone knew what was about to happen except for the general himself which can definitely be tragic. Everyone who is around Katniss seems destined to die and this is one of those film series that won’t have a happy ending. There is far too much death and destruction for that.

This brings me back to the whole escapism thing. The film is just far too depressing and tragic to be a truly great film. It’s like Sucker Punch and Paranormal Activity. Whatever positives are in those films will always be overshadowed by the sense of dread and desperation that they emit. It’s the reason why films like Man of Steel and Avengers will always take down X-men and The Dark Knight. The film had some light moments scattered here and about, but it was pretty dark for the most part. I would say that it was even darker than the first

Finnick was one of the only Hunger Games participants who actually got a role. Most of the others either died off screen or just appeared for a few minutes and then vanished. Thinking about it, we actually don’t get many human fight scenes. The characters either go up against wild animals or are just running away from traps for the whole games. Some of the contestants weren’t even fighters which lowered the chances of a good fight scene even more. There isn’t really a soundtrack for the movie, but did you expect one?

Another sad thing is that Katniss should have been a good character in theory. She’s the hardened veteran who is back for one last time to destroy the other opponents. It sounds good on paper, but she starts to have stress attacks and the delusions overtake her. She’s also forced to do things for the camera which is pretty demoralizing. She should have just fought back and saved herself the humiliation. Katniss was also ready to lose to the general without a fight which was definitely another bad thing.

The ending of the film is a good and a bad. On the good side, it’s a perfect cliff hanger and in thoery, it’s how most great films should try to end. This is how I’d want Avengers 2 to end and then lead into Avengers 3. Picture the last line spoken in this ending and just increase the scale. It would be a pretty awesome way to end the film. On the negative side, Katniss is supposed to look very menacing and hardcore in the ending, but it didn’t really work. The scene was just way too long and she couldn’t pull off the facial expression.

Overall, this wasn’t one of the better films out there. There were just way too many negatives for me to count it as a good film. If the film had taken out the romance and animal violence it would have helped, but the film would have only risen to a 5 or maybe a 6 at most. If they had made the film happier and added some fight scenes, then maybe I could give it a 7. Sadly I can’t really expect that much more from the sequel since the book wasn’t even as good. This film was disappointing since I did think that the trailer was a big step up from the last one. The run time was also pretty good since it was nearly 2 and a half hours long and made up for the fact that the actual games take a very long time to begin. Unfortunately, I don’t have any hopes for the next one. This could be the beginning of the end, but if you liked the first movie then you’ll probably like this one as well. There was also a poison scene that I didn’t care for since it was a little too graphic for me but…I should probably end there. Check it out if you wish, but I’d sooner recommend playing Pac Man at your local computer!

Overall 3/10

The Mask Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Overall 6/10

Thor The Dark World Review

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

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

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

I can understand why the Asgardians lack power as they are basically humans with some decent weapons. On the other hand, Thor should definitely not be an average mortal in terms of stats, but he appears to be for some of them. Thor’s defense is not great and while he can endure a lot of blows, his skin is only as hard as an average human’s. This means that any sort of dagger, knife, or spear can potentially destroy him in one shot thanks to the old beheading or limb loss treatment. That is a critical weakness as it means that a human could feasibly defeat Thor. If someone’s a master of martial arts, it would be a simple matter to stab Thor and end things in an instant. People may have scoffed at the thought of Batman defeating Thor in the comics, but it would appear to be very feasible in the movies.
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Thor’s speed is definitely not impressive as well and he completely relies on the hammer. Without the hammer, Thor does not seem capable of using lightning, flying, and even his strength is not quite as impressive. This doesn’t bode well for Thor and it really shows during his later fights. Before I go into that, let’s head back to the plot.

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

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

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

Finally, I’ve got to mention another pair of complaints for Thor. During one scene where a character dies, Thor does not enter into “Rage Mode” or even get ready for some revenge. I was hoping for a Goku transformation after Krillin’s big moment, Naruto’s rage after Haku took Sasuke down, Luffy’s rage after Arlong made Nami cry, Tsuna’s rage after Byakuran terminated his friend, or at least something! Instead, Thor shows no emotion as he fights with Malekith and still has a smile on his face for most of the battle. It’s as if he completely forgot what Malekith did just minutes ago. It definitely did not make Thor look like a likable character.
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Which brings me to the final point that needs to be mentioned…Thor murders someone for virtually no reason. Sure, it’s a big fight and all, but Thor ends up destroying a random minion for no good reason. Remember the Man of Steel’s ending? Thor does that to one of the villains and it was a very merciless scene. In retrospect, I have to say that Thor was a much better character in the first film and I didn’t like him in this one. I can only hope that he looks a lot better/tougher in the next film.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The minions were pretty tough, but could they surpass the frost minions? Well, they had much better weapons, but physically they are about the same. They’ve got compacted gravity grenades and laser blasters. The Asgardians were basically defenseless against them, but they have cool weapons of their own. In this film, Asgardians strike with blades that emit energy or thunder and it makes the fight scenes a lot cooler. The problem with this is that you’ll wonder why they didn’t have such tech in the first film. In the flashback that takes place ages ago, they had the swords soooo…it really can’t be explained away.
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The final fight scene may also come as a disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, it was still better than some of the other MCU finishing fights like The Avengers, but it was a lot worse than I thought it would be. The fight was way too gimmicky and Thor wasn’t actually fighting half of the time. He and Malekith would fall through portal after portal after portal and it was actually played for laughs several times as they ran away from giant monsters and fell from a building. The latter scene was definitely made for laughs as they panicked and the whole scene was just sad. It makes them both look so weak and unprofessional. The minions also suffer from this during the climax as they trip, get beaten by humans, and make a lot of mistakes. Also, I should mention that Thor is not the one who defeats Malekith in the end. Most of the damage is not really done by him either, but from the help of allies. I won’t say who lands the final hit on him, but it may not be very satisfying.

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

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

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

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

Overall 7/10

The Sixth Sense Review

The_sixth_sense

The Sixth Sense is a film where the title should tell you what to expect. This film deals with the supernatural and it’s up to the main characters to stop them. This film is decently well known and I’m sure that you’ve heard about it at some point in your life. If not…well, it’s not like it’s the end of the world…I hope.

The main character of the film is (arguably) Malcolm. The kid who goes by the name of Cole is also very important to the story, but I never cared for the character. More on that later, but it’s time to get into the plot. Malcolm has always helped people get through their problems by having a nice chat and then slowly getting them ready to solve their challenges. After one kid went off the deep end, Malcolm must now redeem himself by helping another kid.

Cole is having a lot of problems right now, so he’ll be a prime candidate for Malcolm. Cole is considered an outsider by the other kids and he’s pretty withdrawn and keeps to himself. Can Malcolm get this kid to become one with society and break through the barriers that keep him from the rest of the world? A better question might be….does he really want to be with the rest of the world? The other kids are pretty mean and petty after all.

That’s basically the plot of the movie and while it’s pretty simple, that gives the film more time for character development. I didn’t like Cole, but let’s go into the history of that. I’ve never really cared for kid characters when it comes to live action films. They’re just not as sympathetic and I only like them in anime or cartoons. Cole was no exception and he could have been higher if he had taken the fight to the undead, but he decides to save the world instead. (In a way) The ghosts were definitely malicious enough to warrant a counter offensive.

Let’s talk about Malcolm. He’s a pretty solid character and he definitely seems to know his stuff. He nearly defeats the kid in their first battle of wits and he always seems to know what to say. He has to help the kid while also worrying about personal issues of his own. It’s tricky, but Malcolm does what he needs too. He may not be the strongest fighter out there, but at least Cole has someone who can defend him if need be. One of Malcolm’s enemies is the part time worker at the ring shop, but let’s just say that he’s no match for Malcolm.

They were really the only two big characters. The Mom and Wife (Separate characters) are both decent characters in their own right, but they don’t get to appear a whole lot so we can’t totally judge them. We can judge the Mom depending on the aftereffects of the Dungeon game, but the film ends before that. If the kids are still walking with Cole, then we’ve got a problem.

There were some plot hax in the film, but nothing completely devastating. One that would come to mind is the final plot twist. I don’t plan on spoiling that in the review, so you’ll need to check it out. That being said, it’s hard to believe that someone did not notice this twist until the very end. There should have been many things that would not make sense to the character prior to the ending. Well, let’s not dwell on it I suppose…

Overall, this was a decent “horror” film. Cole isn’t very good, but Malcolm is a solid character. There’s no soundtrack to speak of and a very small cast overall. If you want a scare, then this isn’t the film for you. It’s more of an emotional story that happens to feature the supernatural. There may be some gross or scary moments in the film, but nothing that will scare you for life. On the other hand, the film is pretty uneventful and some may find it a little boring. Watch at your own risk I suppose. As long as you like the kid and the plot, you should enjoy it.

Overall 3/10