It has been a while since I saw Ocean’s Eleven. It was a good film, but would this one be able to match up? History hasn’t been kind to sequels for a very long time. Also, throwing in a 12th member could be stretching it since most films are not ready for a huge cast. This film seemed to face a lot of problems with the cast and the budget, but it was still a decently good film. Nowhere near as good as the first one of course.
The Ocean’s 11 gang has been living their lives in luxury since their big heist in the first film. They’ve put it all behind them, but they should have known that their past would find them someday! The head honcho of the casino has been tipped off to who the members were and he pays each of them a visit. He informs them that they have two weeks to earn around 200 million dollars or they shall be destroyed. The heroes will need to pull a really big job to even dream of getting such an amount!
The first thing that I would mention is the size of the cast. Managing so many big players is tricky for a film and this one didn’t pull it off. From the original Ocean’s 11 group, not all of them get big roles. One of them basically leaves to enjoy his riches in the beginning and another one is stuck in jail for the majority of the film. 2-4 other members are there, but they barely get any lines and they’re just there for the effect. They could have called it something like the Ocean’s 6 and it may have made more sense. It’s still fun to have a large cast though and it can give a film potential as long as most of the characters are likable.
The next issue would likely be the budget. Of course, it doesn’t have to be a budget problem and it could be a stylistic choice by the director. Nevertheless, the film felt really low budget at times. The camera angles looked as if someone grabbed their handheld camera and recorded everything. We got a lot of scenes where the picture would just stop and quickly start again. It was to show how the time was passing of course, but it could have been done in a better way. The most noticeable part was definitely when the camera angles kept shifting. Over and over again until you would get dizzy in the theater. It especially happened during the stalker scenes where the camera color turned into a red background. Intriguing to be sure…but it didn’t really work. I also felt like we got cheated out of the operations. We would typically only see parts of their plan and others would be filled in through flashbacks, but as an afterthought.
Luckily, the budget and large cast don’t take away from any of the film’s pros. The opening (Not the unnecessary opening scene) where the villains goes to each hero one by one was pretty epic. I like how one of the characters mentioned Jim Crow as he was taken out of a book or something. (Likely referring to the Jim Crow laws) and one character mentioned how he always did play the race card. It was only notable because I got the Jim Crow reference and it is true that someone’s always ready to use the race card online. The character had a good comeback for that as well. It’s too bad that he got the shaft in this film. The solid opening was definitely one of the best parts of the film.
I’m always up for a good competition between secret agents so the final part of the film had a pretty cool plot. I believe that it could have been handled a little better, but the whole point is that the main characters aren’t very smart so I suppose that some parts were excusable. The scene where the rival gets through the lasers was definitely pretty good. I would have been rooting for him if not for the constant cheating.
Danny is essentially the main character of the film. He doesn’t get to eat up a majority of the screentime, but he still acts like the leader. He takes the situation in stride and the name is based on his last name. He’s a pretty good character for the most part, but the romance angle can definitely be dicey. At least he puts more effort into the whole spying operation than the others. He’s probably the most likable member of the group. He knows the stakes and he’s ready to take the win.
Terry is easily the best character in the film. Easily. This guy meant business and he’s an epic villain. He really just tells it like it is and he doesn’t use any cheap tricks. His wager may not have been very fair, but he’s the first to admit to that. 2 weeks is still a decent amount of time and if Ocean’s 11 is as good as they say…it shouldn’t be a problem. It would have been cool if Terry got to appear more, but that’ll do for now. Epic Name + Epic Character = Win. This guy seriously couldn’t get any better at this point!
Isabel is one of the main antagonists of the film. She’s pretty smart and the only scene where she doesn’t look very good is at the beginning. She’s probably not as cunning as the main characters, but she has picked up many tricks in her line of work. Stealing one of the main characters’ phones was pretty good work on her part. I don’t really blame her for going under the radar at the end of the film since the consequences for the 1077 would be pretty severe, but hopefully she keeps her moral compass on. Stealing from someone and going back to the old ways would not help her character progression.
I didn’t really care for Yen’s character. It’s really for the same reasons that I don’t care for Groot or Chewy at times. He doesn’t speak English and he is always bouncing around. He just didn’t really work in this film. At least provide us with subtitles so we can follow what he’s saying. The characters can understand what he is saying somehow, but it doesn’t make his scenes any more enjoyable. He got a bigger role than most of the other characters, which is too bad. Maybe he’ll be better in the next film.
Reuben is a pretty solid character and he’s one of the more experienced members of the Ocean’s 11. He definitely takes the whole charade a little more seriously than the others. He defeated the stock market and he has more money than all of the other members. This is definitely a guy that you don’t want to underestimate. His disguise was also more thought out than the others. (Most of them didn’t even bother with one….) I wouldn’t have minded if he got more of a role.
Rusty probably gets the largest role from the main characters aside from Danny. (And that is arguable) He used to hang out with Isabel and he jeopardizes the team’s goals more than once. He typically doesn’t regret anything because it’s all worth it to him. I did not like him though and he’s one of the more unlikable members. He let romance get in the way of the team’s glory and that’s one of the things that you are not supposed to let happen. He let his skills degrade over the years and the team may have done better without him.
Tess is with Danny and she ends up coming to help for the final case. She was all right I suppose, but I believe that her character could have been a lot better. I definitely expected her to beat up Danny at the end and she didn’t disappoint. She was just a little too generic in the film and she didn’t get any moments that really helped to separate her from the pack. Her opening scene was decent since she talked back to the villains, but that was about it. Isabel was definitely more impressive.
Linus is basically the rookie of the group. He doesn’t really understand all of the lingo involved and he fells bad about stealing from those who are not in an equal position to fight back. The other don’t harbor any doubts since their morals have already been thrown out the window. Linus decides to throw his out as well as he joins in on the fun. He was a decent character although it’s too bad that he joined the group in the first place. From a character standpoint anyway, he was basically corrupted. His ending is pretty good though and at least he got to have a short turn as the leader.
Toulour is the big rival in the film. He doesn’t really get much of a role until we’re nearing the end of the film, but he quickly makes up for this with his scenes. He really does earn his title as the greatest thief out there. It was a little too easy for the heroes to find out what his true identity was, but I guess he wasn’t really hiding it. At the end, we really have to accept that he is a better thief than the Ocean’s 11. (Especially when you consider that there is 1 of him and 11 of the other guys) His laser scene was just intense! He does cheat though so he’s not as likable as he could be. I guess anything goes in such a battle, but I would have liked to see him go for the gold on his own. He didn’t even need to cheat at that point.
Notice that I didn’t mention all 11 of the members. That’s because the rest of them didn’t really get a role in the film. They were really just there to be there and that’s not the best role to have. The old man did make the right move in leaving, but he had a pretty bad attitude about it so I can’t say that he was likable. One member was only there to complain about the team’s name and the Jim Crow one was taken out before he could really do anything. So, the film really cheated on the large cast since most of them didn’t really do a whole lot. We’ll see if they have better luck with Ocean’s 13!
The soundtrack was decently good for this film. It’s not going to win any awards, but at least I remembered a tune or two by the time the film had ended. That’s more than the average movie and the film deserves some credit for that. Now, it just needs to try to add more tunes to the sequel.
One thing that bogs the film down a little is the romance. I definitely would have been happy if they could have reduced it a little. It takes away from the story and we just want the plot to start up again. It’s all we could want in the end to be honest. The film also drags on just a little by the end, but it’s good that they made the 2 hour attempt.
Overall, This was a decent heist film. I definitely preferred the first one, but it wasn’t a bad sequel. I think it could have been better if we had gotten to see their operations all the way through and if they had cut out some scenes. We get many shots of the characters just walking around or talking to each other where the plot has to come to a halt. Seeing more of Terry would have been nice as well. Still, the writing is pretty solid in the film and the characters are decently good. There were a lot of missed opportunities, but the film did a decent job with the cards that it had. I recommend this film to those that want to see a retro thief against thief mission. If that’s not your style, I recommend checking out Justice League Unlimited for some pretty deep plots.
Overall 6/10
The Amazing Spider Man is considered by many to be one of the greatest comic book series to ever hit the shelves. I have always thought that it was pretty good as well. The sheer size of the series as well as the large continuity contained within is one of the reasons why it was so great. This collection deals with some of the later issues and it’s still as good as you may have expected. I can safely say that this was the best comic collection that I have read in a while.
One of the reasons why it is so good is the plot. The whole Cosmic Spider Man arc is pretty great. I was on the edge of my seat for each issue which is why I read the whole saga in one shot as well as a few of the after comics. Each issue had a great cliffhanger and all of the subplots were interesting as well. The Acts of Vengeance is a pretty great supervillain group and it makes me wonder how they fared in the other comic books at the time. We’ve got an angered Black Cat out to wreck Spider Man’s life and an obsessed stalker who is messing with Mary Jane. These are two of the subplots that are in the collection and they have yet to be resolved. Another interesting plot is the one with Puma and Jameson. Puma took over the newspaper to help Spiderman’s reputation, but the hero doesn’t want that since it’s really affecting some of his friends. Meanwhile, Jameson is trying to start his own newspaper to defeat Puma!
The final part of the collection is definitely not as interesting since it’s from the spinoff series. We have an adventure with Ant Man and a few others about Spider Man while he’s still shrunk down to size. It definitely doesn’t grab your attention the same way that the others did. Why would I want to see a few comics where Spider Man has to deal with being small? I can’t even say that there is a lot of potential to be found there. Aside from those two big arcs, there are also a few stand alone adventures. Spiderman has a two part team up with the Punisher and he has a two issue battle against Venom as well. Let’s take a look at some of the characters involved in this collection.
Spiderman (Spelling his name like this is so much better) is the main lead of course and he looks pretty good. This isn’t the modern Spiderman that you see in the new comics. This is from his classic days where he was a tough fighter. He isn’t used for comic relief all of the time and Spiderman is actually taken seriously. As Peter Parker he can definitely be a little too interested in the romance segment though. At least he’s only interested in Mary Jane compared to how he goes after everyone in the newer comics.
The important thing to remember is that Spiderman’s a pretty top tier opponent here. His cosmic abilities allow him to punch guys like the Hulk into space. That’s some pretty serious power at his beck and call. It’s part of why I liked the saga. Spiderman usually has to rely on his spider sense and wits to win fights, but now he can just go for some good ole strength tactics. Watching Spiderman crush everyone in his path is a nice change of pace and he’s an endearing main character. He just tends to overthink everything.
Mary Jane has gotten used to the fact that Peter is not usually around because of his heroic duties. She does a good job of just going with the flow and her acting career is back on track. There is one comic where she’s very out of character. She’s a little too dramatic and panicky after Spiderman is shrunk. Surely that is not such a shock where she should be talking about heart attacks and such. Naturally, this was in the spinoff so it’s to be expected. Overall, Mary Jane is a pretty decent main heroine. It would be good if she could fight a little more though since several threats are targeted at her. Spiderman better stay close since everything seems to be heading towards a climax.
Venom’s role isn’t very large, but he gets his own two part story. He breaks out of jail rather easily and resumes his attack on Spiderman. Knowing Peter’s secret identity is definitely a big advantage for Venom. Luckily for Peter, Venom has a strict set of morals that he abides by. One of them is the fact that he refuses to harm any innocents. So, Mary Jane and Aunt May are safe from him. He really just wants to destroy Spiderman. His big battle gets interrupted unfortunately, but he easily crushed Spiderman in their first encounter. His return was brief, but it was good to see him return.
Dr Doom is actually one of the main villains of the Cosmic Spiderman arc. He’s the one who goads on a lot of the other villains and he makes a lot of preparations behind the scenes. He’s the only one of the big villains who has his own plans at the ready and he’s pretty rebellious. It’s one of the reasons why Dr Doom is one of the more intense villains. His plot likely resumes in the Fantastic Four series, but it was good to see him match wits with Spiderman.
Magneto’s battle against Spiderman is pretty fun. I definitely did not expect the Master of Magnetism to challenge Spiderman. Magneto is always confident and that’s one of the reasons why he is a good villain. He decides to just relax at the park until Spiderman appears. He’s also a more sympathetic villain than the others since he always wants to help the mutants. Recruiting Spiderman to the cause definitely would have tipped the scales a lot. He was a fun guest star to have.
Graviton gets a minor role in this collection, but it’s a pretty good one. He arrives just before the Cosmic Spiderman arc and he also gets to appear during it. He crushes Spiderman during their first battle, which is very accurate. He doesn’t do quite so well against Cosmic Spiderman, but who could really hope to stop such a powerful threat? It’s just impressive that he was able to go up against him at all. Graviton even admits that Spiderman’s power surpassed that of Galactus’ at that point. Graviton is definitely a cool villain and his design is pretty solid as well. It was good to see him make an appearance!
Paste Pot Pete is not a very notable villain, but he was the final guy to fight Spiderman before the hero’s big transformation. He humiliated him in front of a large crowd and even Spiderman was surprised at how easily he was taken out. This is Paste Pot Pete after all! It’s pretty inexcusable that Spiderman would lose to him at all. It never should have happened, but I guess even heroes have their off days. Spiderman got to return the favor after his big power up. Paste Pot Pete also overrates himself as he actually thought that he could defeat Sandman!
Flash Thompson’s character arc continues in this collection. He really wants to be a better person now and to use his strength for good. He has turned his attention to boxing and he seems to be decently good. It’s hard to tell whether he really is very good or if his friends are just trying to cheer him up. Unfortunately, he has fallen into the trap of romance and that is hurting his character. It’s definitely good that he’s not a bully anymore and Flash has definitely come a long way. His character development has survived to this day as he’s a full fledged hero in the modern comics. It’s good to see the beginning of his journey and hopefully he can realize that Black Cat is just using him.
Black Cat barely appears in this collection, but her plot is just getting started. Evidently, she wants revenge on Spider Man for some reason and she wants to get back at him by messing with Mary Jane and Flash Thompson. Unfortunately, it’s quite easy for her to do this thanks to her super strength and the fact that Flash is oblivious to her true identity. Naturally, I can’t say that I cared for her in this comic. I can’t really think of a time where I actually did like Black Cat anyway! She’s definitely not one of the better Spiderman villains/sometimes allies.
Aunt May is always around for support and that doesn’t change here. She looks after Nathan for most of the collection and she has to stay strong for Peter. She does get a bonus story where she helps the Punisher stop a bunch of terrorists. That was definitely impressive for her, but her narration could have been a little better. She’s still a good character though and Aunt May’s personality is pretty consistent through the years.
Antman only appears for a quick issue and it isn’t very flattering. Well, he appeared in a mini comic, but he looked even worse there. He ignored the call of the ants and he was forced into a battle with a pretty large creature. He’s basically beaten up and they bring him back to his bed. Antman actually figures that the whole thing was a dream until he notices the holes in his clothes. In the main story, he basically just deserts Spiderman when the hero shrinks down to size. You would hope that he would take a little responsibility for that mess. Antman still needs to work on his heroics!
Sandman gets his own mini comic where he is forced to choose between his ex friends and the law. He makes the right choice and it’s good to see how Sandman has turned over a new leaf. Hanging out with the Thing at the ballpark is probably a lot of fun and it’s one of the perks of being a hero. With his abilities, the Sandman can definitely be a powerful force for good. Unfortunately, it will likely take a while for the rest of the world to get on board and some new writers will likely turn him back into a villain soon. It’s the unfortunate, but inevitable fate for most big villains who turn good.
Jameson is pretty good as expected. It’s definitely been rough for him since his newspaper was forcibly taken. He’s handled it pretty well though and he hasn’t used any underhanded methods to try and regain control of it. Far from it! He’s just going to build another newspaper and he even welcomed Peter Parker into the crew. Jameson also invests in a good lawyer to help his friend out of a tough court case. It’ll still be tough, but Jameson’s done his part. He’s definitely one of the better Spiderman characters.
Styx and Stone team up to take on Spiderman in one adventure. Styx is definitely powerful since one touch can destroy the average opponent. Stone is less impressive since he’s basically your average joe. Together, they definitely represent a decent threat to the wallcrawler. I just can’t get over the fact that they’re really generic villains. At least Venom was in the issue so it was still good. It’s a little hard to buy just how well they did though. Venom is usually more careful than how he was portrayed in the issue.
The Punisher’s role is what you would expect from him. He takes out a few more drug dealers and Spiderman crosses paths with him for the biggest mission of them all. Finding out who is supplying all of the drugs was tricky, but now they have their source. At the very least, Punisher only turns his guns towards those who are evil. He does his best not to seriously injure any of the army guards or kids that he comes into contact with. You definitely can’t call him a hero as he strolls in and destroys everyone, but at least he has his morals. He’s always prepared as well and having a bullet proof vest is always a good thing.
This collection took place during the phase where the Hulk only came out at night and Bruce had control during the day. Bruce Banner looks really bad in this comic though since he has no clue on what is going on. The Hulk is only interested in money and he’s hired to take Spiderman down for the count. Little did he know that Spiderman was currently out of his league thanks to his cosmic abilities. I definitely didn’t like the Hulk in this appearance and he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would be very interested in money anyway. I guess I overestimated him.
Aside from the main comics, we also got a few backup stories. The Sandman’s story was pretty good and I liked the Godzilla one, but the others were pretty lack luster. The one where a baby became Captain Universe was so interesting because of the Godzilla references. One of the characters mentions the infamous Godzilla meets The Brady Bunch TV special and the baby creates homages of King Kong and Godzilla to deal with the enemy monsters. It’s always good to see Godzilla get involved! The Sandman’s comic also had some decent action and it showed how much he has changed since the old days. He definitely made the right call. The other stories were pretty lackluster though. A superhero who rides a flying skateboard? I don’t think that this will hook the readers…
The art is pretty good as expected. There were a few issues from a spinoff series that didn’t look as good. Web of Spider Man I believe. The art really took a dip in those and everyone looked very out of proportion. The mini stories at the end of those also suffered from these issues, but they’re just mini stories. The main series continues to look pretty solid and that’s what counts.
As you can see, the collection had a bunch of major players involved. Who would have thought that guys like Magneto, Dr Doom, and the Red Skull would be in a Spiderman collection? It was definitely cool to see them test their might against Spiderman’s. (Although Magneto is the only one who directly confronted him) This Spiderman collection was very compelling and it really pushes all of the right buttons. I now have a greater understanding of why Spiderman became such a legend. His comics are a step ahead of most other solo series.
The one negative in this comic would probably be the romance. It has quite a lot of it between Peter Parker and Mary Jane. The rest of the characters are pretty safe, but those two get too many scenes together. It’s fine when they’re hosting party and hanging out with their friends, but we don’t really need the romance. In a Spiderman comic, you really just want to see the battles and all of the interesting storylines. Romance is unnecessary. I’m wondering if Mary Jane’s acting career is going to affect their relationship soon. This could get dicey and it’s not a plot point that I’d really be interested in reading.
Overall, This was a great comic collection! It was close to getting a 9 after the Cosmic saga, but it had to get bumped down a little from the Antman saga. It’s still a riveting read and I would recommend it to any comic book fan. You’re definitely missing out if you have not checked out this collection. This is the portrayal of Spiderman that you need to see to prove to yourself that he actually was a pretty great character. He’s also a lot more powerful than the new writers give him credit for. Either way, who can pass up on a collection where Magneto gets to fight Spiderman!? There’s also the fact that Venom makes his big return here. With over 500 pages of comics to read, you definitely get your money’s worth here. This collection is definitely full of victory!
Overall 8/10
Stats time!
Play Time 8h 9m
Total Captured 6994
Total Watts 358700
Objects 1030
Total Object Weight 11178170.76 kg
Objects Broken 339
Power Restored 57%
Nests Found 20.5%
Total Clear Time 4h 12m
Title King of Curiosity
Stage Stats Rank Clear Time Weight
Level 1 C 5m 42s 1180
Level 2 C 7m 15s 1009
Level 3 C 8m 34s 1502
Level 4 C 10m 15s 3003
Level 5 B 7m 46s 5225
Level 6 C 8m 31s 3106
Level 7 A 2m 7s
Level 8 C 9m 40s 3500
Level 9 B 9m 38s 3541
Level 10 B 12m 14s 5000
Level 11 12m 7s 6079
Level 12 B 6m 11s 5581
Level 13 C 4m 56s 7105
Level 14 B 6m 6s 7007
Level 15 B 3m 17s 5005
Level 16 A 3m 31s 14035
Level 17 A 1m 5s
Level 18 B 7m 55s 15110
Level 19 B 14m 10s 17010
Level 20 C 9m 58s 19037
Level 21 C 11m 9s 20046
Level 22 B 8m 43s 20119
Level 23 C 8m 30s
Level 24 B 10m 42s 25148
Level 25 B 11m 36s 25196
Level 26 B 11m 38s 30027
Level 27 C 17m 48s 55045
Level 28 C 16m 26s 60084
Level 29 C 4m 58s
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