A Force of One Review

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A Force of One is a pretty good film that really follows all of the right steps. You’ve got some good martial art scenes (Even if it does overuse the slow mo a bit so they don’t keep up with the recent action films I’ve seen like Kickboxer) and the film even avoids throwing in the obligatory romance. All in all it’s a well balanced movie and while it may not end up becoming one of your all time favorites or anything like that, it’s consistently solid all the way through.

The movie starts with a pair of cops trying to crack down on some drug smuggling going on and so they tale one of the guys into a store. Unfortunately they are taken down by a mysterious kung fu fighter before they can even get any shots off. It’s a huge deal because both were murdered and so now the cops really have to try and stop this right away. They even go as far as to try and learn martial arts by asking the champion, Matt for help. Matt is reluctant but ultimately gets involved. He may even suspect who is behind this but will even he be a match for such a deadly fighter?

You can understand why Matt doesn’t really want to get involved here. He is a fighter to be sure but this is really police business and it’s a huge responsibility to jump in like that. He’s got a lot on his plate but this does end up getting personal later on in the film which really ends up forcing his hand. Once Matt is serious he definitely shows why he is one of the top fighters out there. I thought he would do a little better outside of the restaurant in his first main fight with the villain but I suppose he was taken by surprise so you have to consider that.

Once we get to the big fight Matt is dialed in and it’s clear that he is more powerful than his opponent. He really did end up being the strongest and it was nice to see him just be able to win straight up without needing a pep talk or anything like that. Those moments can work sometimes but other times you just want to be able to follow a lead who can just defeat the opponents with no real help.

His son Charlie gets a fairly big role here as well. He wants to be a really great fighter but does tend to get distracted a lot. He’s very young and still has a long way to go but he’s got a lot of heart and means well. He definitely could have handled the final situation a bit better but he still kept on trying all the way to the end so you have to give him some credit there.

Mandy is the main heroine here and she is really invested in stopping the cop killings. Her main task was getting Matt on board and she does a good job there. From there on out she does her best to keep things professional while trying to get more info but the film mainly sabotages any chance for them to get too close which is good. With a serial killer on the loose there really isn’t any time for side adventures right? At least that’s the way that I see it here so this really made a lot of sense. Later on when Mandy tells Matt to stay out of it and focus on the match is the only time I didn’t really agree with her. That just wasn’t possible by that stage.

Then you have the main villain and since the film is part mystery I won’t say who that is. He works well as the final boss since he is powerful and can hold his own for a bit. There just isn’t much time to really develop him as a character though. He barely gets any screen time which will also make it a bit hard to guess that he is the villain so props if you figured it out early on. The film probably could have done more with him but I get their wanting to not spoil the twist early by mistake.

As mentioned the fight scenes are good so you’ll be entertained there. The film is actually pretty good about never making the battles too violent or over the top either. It’s pretty clean martial arts action most of the way through and you can really enjoy the battles. The writing is also good which will keep you engaged and the characters are solid so it’s really a win all the way around.

The weakest aspect of the film is probably the cops trying to piece together what’s going on. Some of their deductions just take too long like not realizing until the end of the film how odd it is that one of the officers had clay in his fingers. That should have stuck out immediately and while it wouldn’t have broken the case wide open, it would have led them on the right track. It felt like that was held back for dramatic effect over the actual logic in universe. So the movie was definitely much stronger when it was just focusing on the battles. I did enjoy the light hearted banter and slice of life moments in the middle though. We had several fun dynamics which you could picture them building a show around. Matt helping out the cops on different cases and such. Yeah I think that would have had potential.

Overall, A Force of One is a pretty good movie. The title is certainly appropriate as well considering how Matt really dominates the characters when it’s a straight fight. I think the worst thing you can say about the film is perhaps that it’s not going to be super memorable by the end. Sure it has the mystery angle going for it but for the most part the film isn’t actually trying to have you solve it. You’re just waiting for the villain to make their move and then the fights can resume. The movie is very by the numbers for the most part but this is another example of why execution is so important. It can all be a little generic as long as it’s still a lot of fun and this movie succeeds in that area.

Overall 7/10

The Letter Review

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It’s time for a movie that is entertaining but definitely riddled with suckers around every corner. These characters were all slacking, down bad, or just generally not very smart. Either way it makes for quite the ensemble and the whole time you’re wondering when they will wake up or if it’s just going to be game over for them. The movie’s fairly short so you don’t have to wait long for your answer.

The movie starts off with Leslie shooting the living daylights out of a guy who’s trying to scramble out of her house. He doesn’t make it though and she finishes him off with a few more shots. She summons her husband Robert and their friend Howard as she explains that the guy tried assaulting her and so she had to shoot him in self defense. Of course it is still a murder so she’s heading to trial now but should be found innocent very quickly. Howard has a lot of doubts about this case because of little odd notes that keep popping up that don’t line up with Leslie’s story. Still, he’s just ready to get this over with his bus receptionist Ong shows up and says that a letter exists which will destroy the whole case. Should Howard destroy his entire legal career to save his client when he knows that she is actually guilty or should he follow the law and do the right thing? It’s going to be a tough call.

After all on one hand you could follow the law and establish a fair case. Doing this would save his best friend $10,000, would ensure that he salvages the reputation of the deceased, would keep his career in order, and would get Leslie to actually pay for her crimes. On the flip side, he could save Leslie and ensure she gets away with pure murder, allow his best friend Robert to never realize that his wife was cheating on him, destroy the deceased’s reputation, and also spend $10,000. I’ve never seen an easier decision and yet in the film this is treated as a tough one.

It just makes absolutely no sense. The film maybe works if he actually thought that Leslie was innocent and the letter was fake. Maybe have him try to buy it only because he thinks that the jury would be fooled. That’s a much more interesting dilemma and actually makes a bit of sense. Otherwise the way it appears here is just no good. For a minute that I thought he was falling in love with Leslie which would have been awful for his character but then I would at least understand the logic. However that doesn’t even happen so you’re just questioning his judgment now. Howard’s a pretty awful character all around.

Then you have Robert who unfortunately fits into the trope of the nice guy. He’s just so nice and forgiving that both Leslie and Howard know that he will forgive her even after she was cheating on him. It’s really a bad look for this guy as he opens his heart up again just for her to break it one last time. Hey I’m all for second chances but when you’ve been cheated on then the trust is completely gone. You can never really get it back and the worst part is that Leslie isn’t even sorry about it. She’s sorry that she got caught but that’s about it. Robert really needed to stand up for himself more.

Of course Leslie’s a pretty bad character as well as she threw away a perfectly good life in search of thrills and adventure. There was no real reason to leave Robert like that and she knows it. She just let her base desires win and that was the end of that. Throughout the film she is portrayed as very manipulative and rather merciless so at no point do you actually stop and consider that maybe she’s the victim here. Because it’s obvious that she isn’t. The film does a good job of making her so unrepentant here to the point where when the ending shows up you were practically waiting for it. Leslie really handled the situation as poorly as possible given all of the hints though.

Then you have Ong who does a lot of planning the whole time. He really sets up the conspiracies and places the heroes in harm’s way time and time again. You have to give him credit for being really dedicated. Again I think it was too easy to blackmail the main characters since the ammo wasn’t that strong and the characters should not have gone for it at all but I guess that’s just how it goes.

So while I didn’t really like any of the characters, the film succeeds because the story is still good. It’s an engaging movie from start to finish and also has good writing throughout. The pacing is on point and at no moment will you get bored or anything like that. That’s why I would still say this is a good movie in spite of the characters. A lesser film would have absolutely crumbled without a solid cast but this one managed to really keep it together.

Overall, The Letter is a film that I would recommend checking out. It’s definitely a good cautionary tale to remind you how easy it can be to tell a convincing lie. If you just believe what you are told at face value then you will be putting yourself in a really tricky spot. It can be hard to know who to believe and when to believe something. Unfortunately there will never be a 100% foolproof way to determine that so just go with your gut but always remember that your gut can be wrong sometimes. The characters here definitely learned that the hard way. I would have preferred if the characters could have acted more rationally here so maybe the film could take a bit of a swerve on a remake if we ever get one.

Overall 6/10

Pokemon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle Review

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It’s time to look at the final Pokemon movie. There have sure been a lot of them over the years and ultimately it’s been a fun series but I can see why this one didn’t hit it big. It’s not the worst Pokemon movie in the series to be sure but I feel like it’s definitely bottom 5 and I think there’s a chance it could even be bottom 3. It’s really got quite a few issues and I think it’s the final nail in the coffin for this movie AU trilogy. We need to tie these movies back into the anime again like the old days and then I think we’d really be in business.

The film starts by introducing us to the Zarude clan who rule the jungle with an iron fist. They bully all of the smaller Pokemon and show everyone just how mighty they are. They’re very proud of their physical strength. One day one of them finds a kid and decides to raise him even though it means being kicked out of the clan. This kid is named Koko and he grows up believing that he is actually a Pokemon. One day he bumps into Ash Ketchum, a Pokemon trainer from Pallet Town and the young hero shows Koko what humans are all about. Now Koko can finally get along with everyone but unfortunately there is a scientist who wants to get to the legendary Zarude tree of healing. Are his intentions noble or corrupt?

I mean it’s a scientist in a Pokemon movie so you can probably guess how that’s going to go. I guess you could say this movie is taking a lot of cues from the Tarzan movie but that’s not a super good idea in this case. The forest never tends to make for a great backdrop to the adventure because you just end up missing civilization and all of the witty banter. You’re not going to get that over in the jungle and unfortunately the movie sidelines Ash for a great part of the adventure as well. These are all very bad ideas and I just have to say that upfront.

I have several issues with the film and one of the biggest is that there’s not a lot of action here. There aren’t any traditional Pokemon battles and while we get a quick 5 second skirmish from time to time, this film is really not about the action. Instead it opts to bring in a giant robot at the end so everyone can keep on throwing their attacks at it. Really not a great way to handle the climax because that takes a lot of fun out of the whole thing. The robot is slow so it’s just tanking all of the hits and eventually landing its own counter strike. That’s not really a fight, that’s just everyone throwing attacks out. It’s extremely underwhelming as the ending.

The scientist was also a very weak villain. The fact that everyone was openly obeying him and destroying the forest was crazy. That only works if all of the characters were evil but the assistants play it off like they didn’t know any better later on. That’s an extremely weak excuse if you ask me. When you’re destroying trees and such, there is no real way to frame that as doing the right thing. Cmon now you just can’t try and pull that. It doesn’t work and the only kudos he gets is for actually bumping off the obstacles in his way. It’s rare for a Pokemon villain to be quite so driven so that was impressive but also a bad look for the two who got taken down. Why don’t they have any Pokemon to defend them or something?

In a world like this you absolutely need that kind of protection. Meanwhile Koko is an okay character. He means well and all but doesn’t have a ton of personality. He’s just a nice kid and he doesn’t really understand human language so he does the bet that he can. There’s not a whole lot to say about him and he definitely doesn’t appear to have the makings of being the next lead quite yet. If you just went by this film you could probably say the same about Ash too though which is why its good that he has so many films already. He just doesn’t look great here and should be fighting at a much higher level at this point.

The soundtrack is a mixed bag. The song for the Zarude is probably one of the worst songs in the whole Pokemon franchise. That one’s super weak and really doesn’t work but I did like the emotional theme that plays after the opening track. That one was nice to hear at least so I guess the soundtrack is a 50/50. The animation is good too. It doesn’t feel like it’s really at that theatrical level like the older films but is still smooth enough. The colors are on point and the fights probably would have looked great if we had gotten more of them. It’s still annoying how these Pokemon had a tough time breaking some armor.

The film has enough of a runtime to have done some fun things with the story which is why it’s a shame that nothing really happened. It feels like the film ends up dragging a bit because there isn’t much of a central focus. No villains to stop or collectibles to find for 90% of the movie. That means you just have Ash and Koko hanging out but with no stakes or any real plot. Of course you can tell where the plot is going since the scientist isn’t subtle but you spend too much time waiting. At least Team Rocket shows up and gets to contribute here.

Okay so this is sounding like a 4 star movie so why is it positive? Well all of these things are particularly negative because you instinctively compare them to the other Pokemon titles. While the film may not be all that exciting, at least it does have a little action. It gets enough of the fundamentals right where you can still say you had a fun enough time here. Additionally it doesn’t make any significant mistakes that would drop it down a few stars. So it survives on playing it safe and works well enough on the first watch but is why it won’t have much replay value.

Overall, Pokemon is still a good movie when you look at it in a vacuum. It just doesn’t live up to the solid reputation of the other Pokemon movies. It loses the head to head to almost every other film in the franchise which is really bad because there are so many of them. There’s very little replay value to be had here and so the Pokemon movies really need to take a step back and really look at what worked back in the day. Lets give Ash some more fight scenes, get a cool final boss in there, and even add a little danger. I want to see something like the Destiny Deoxys film where the heroes had to fight in the battle tower. Those fights are the reason why we watch Pokemon!

Overall 6/10

Wave Race 64 Review

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It’s time to venture into the world of racing. Wave Race is a fairly unique racing game when you think about it because there aren’t a lot of games about racing on the water. Unfortunately it still isn’t able to really break the mold and be a top tier contender. The game’s just way too limited with not a whole lot of levels to play with. The few that we do get quickly start to become repetitive as well which is not a good sign. Ultimately you can do better than this one.

There is really just the one main mode for racing and you have to always worry about the circles. See, if you miss too many rings while heading to the goal then you lose points and eventually lose the match. You also move slower by not going through the rings so long story short…you gotta go through all of the rings. The controls can be a bit sloppy with the waves constantly hitting you so that’s already a bit of a tough ask. I get that they wanted the water to be really realistic but me personally? I’d have preferred to just be able to drive really smoothly.

I also think these gimmicks just take away from the race itself. When you’re racing you want to be able to just go to the goal and call it a day. Having to go down a super specific path takes away from the freedom of it. I can see people enjoying this style too of course but I just prefer pure freedom. Let me chart my own path and then I’m really set and ready to rock and roll.

The graphics have aged pretty well for this game though so I’ll give some credit there. It’s certainly better than a few of the other N64 titles I’ve played recently. It’s all very colorful and really sticks out. You won’t get lost or bump into an object because of how clear everything is. So it is all on you as far as getting to the end of the race goes. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side so nothing much to write home about there.

At the end of the day the other problem is the lack of content like I mentioned in the intro. Even if you really like the game there isn’t much to do after an hour or two. There is multiplayer which will have to suffice I suppose but it’s still not quite the same. There are too many other racing games trying to grab your attention for you to spend any time on this one. I still say the series has a ton of potential but it needs to change things.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t recommend throwing items into the mix but that would have at least made it more exciting. I also just say get rid of the rings and make this a straight race to the finish. I feel like some devs avoid this for fear of the game feeling too standard or even boring to the average audience but I just don’t think that will be the case. So long as the gameplay is good, people would love playing a racing game like this. You really don’t have to get fancy sometimes, just trust in your gameplay and the execution. So long as that is on point then you will be set.

Overall, Wave Race wasn’t one of my favorite games but if you have the Nintendo Switch Online then you should give this one a try. There’s no real downside to doing that after all. It’s just not going to end up being all that hype so I would say to keep your expectations reasonably low. Maybe see if someone wants to play it with you and that’ll give it a boost. In the meanwhile I’m confident that the next Nintendo 64 titles I play will beat this one.

Overall 5/10

Queen Nehellenia vs Wiseman

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Suggested by Destroyer This is a pretty tricky fight between two beings of unimaginable evil. Wiseman and Queen Nehellenia both specialize in shooting off massive amounts of energy blasts and have good defense. So who comes out on top? Well whoever lands the main blow will win and I’d put more stock in Nehellenia winning this one. Her abilities were really amped up to a super high level by the end and while Wiseman has some regenerative abilities I don’t think they will really be enough here. Queen Nehellenia wins.

Woody Woodpecker vs Tweety

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Suggested by Destroyer Woody Woodpecker and Tweety are both pretty strong birds but Woody is more about going on the offensive and taking down his opponents while Tweety comes up with ways to survive. In a fight I’d say Woody has the clear advantage both in terms of overall attack power but also in attack options. He’s wielded just about every weapon known to man at some point or another and Tweety just can’t escape them all. Woody Woodpecker wins.

L vs Luke Benson

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Suggested by Destroyer Luke Benson is a complete amateur fighter. He may have a gun but he certainly can’t fight or do much with it. L is an experienced detective who does have a gun thanks to the live action movie and will be able to tactically use it much better than Luke. He has the complete edge all around in this fight so there is nothing Luke can really do to mount a counter attack. L wins.

L vs Chunk

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Suggested by Destroyer The Chunk is a pretty powerful opponent and I have to admit that L would not be able to defeat him. Chunk was able to tag the Flash with his fast gem attacks and of course he has gravity which would make it hard for L to move. L may have the analytical advantage all day but in the end it won’t be enough to take the Chunk down. You need more than smarts to beat him. Chunk wins.

Shukaku vs Palkia

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Suggested by Destroyer Shukaku is a pretty powerful fighter but not the fastest one which has always put him in a tough spot. Palkia isn’t as strong as Shukaku but he is faster and can fly so he can spam a lot of attacks from the sky. Shukaku is durable but these attacks will take their toll which is why I see Shukaku going down here. Having the advantage in the air is massive! Palkia wins.

Arcee vs Windblade

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Suggested by Sonic This is a pretty close fight. In general Windblade tends to be portrayed as the more powerful bot and even Arcee’s more powerful portrayals like Prime don’t tend to catch her. Arcee has a wealth of comic appearances and opportunities for power ups though so there is a chance that she could catch up. At the end of the day both combatants can easily destroy the other once they land a blow but Windblade’s high speed flight should give her the edge in dodging long enough to land a counter blow. Windblade wins.