Superman: Red Son Review

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It’s been a while since I saw a Superman film so it’s good to be back. When I read the comic a while back I was definitely a pretty big fan of it. The same is true of the movie. It does a good job of keeping in all of the big events and so you’ve got a complete story here. It’s a little ironic that one of the best Superman titles is one that’s actually a what if but it shows that the story of Superman can really be shown in many different ways.

The story starts off in an alternate timeline where Superman crash landed in Russia instead of the USA. He grows up under the reign of Stalin where he fights for the USSR. Gradually Superman realizes that the regime isn’t living up to the ideals that they had claimed to be so he decides to take things into his own hands. Superman desires a pure world where everyone can be happy. Unfortunately real life isn’t quite so easy and he gradually has to make small sacrifices here and there. Will these concessions eventually add up to drive him on the wrong path or will Superman find a way?

The problem Superman faces is that world peace is basically impossible. There will never be a situation where the whole world is at peace. There will always be people who don’t like the status quo or a shortage of resources that lead to people being unhappy. Superman can always strive to make the world better but once he seeks perfection, that is where he starts to get really frustrated. One of the things I really like about Red Son is that Superman keeps his core ideals. At the end of the day he will help anyone whether they are allies or not. He does want to be a symbol of hope and will do whatever he can in order to make that vision a reality.

Superman’s beliefs on how to help the people are just different growing up under the USSR but at the end of the day he comes to the same answer, it just took longer than usual. He’s definitely a standout character here to be sure. Then it’s also fun to see alternate versions of the rest of the Justice League as well. The Green Lanterns look good for example. They were actually doing really well against Superman in the fight and it’s impressive that Lex was able to reverse engineer the GL Ring.

Then you have Batman who grew up in Russia and so he is quite vicious as well. It also continues the impressive record Batman has against Superman. It seems like he always tends to win the majority of these contests. Prep time is just too good to pass up. Of course this Batman is not a hero by any stretch as he openly murders a bunch of people if it means that he will get closer to his goal. He’s as ruthless as can be.

Next up is Wonder Woman who gets a solid role here. She is trying for peace as much as possible but is very disillusioned with man’s world from the start. She sees Superman as the exception for a little while but ultimately he becomes too extreme. She has a good scene where she blocks his punch and appears as a good ally of justice. Her role may not be large but it was a fun one to be sure.

Lex gets a great role here as you would expect. His genius is what gives the US a chance against Superman as otherwise they would be in a completely unwinnable situation. He isn’t afraid to use underhanded tactics like intentionally allowing a satellite to nearly flatten Metropolis though but he calculates the future really well based on how he expects everyone to act. It would be nice to have more direct interactions between him and Superman of course but they do meet up near the end.

Lois also looks good in her screen time as she gets some important information to Superman and in general is a consistently strong character. Finally there’s also Brainiac who looks good here and gets a lot of respect. He just comes out of nowhere but then has a presence for the rest of the film. There are more characters of course but these are the big ones. Red Son juggles the cast really well. It’s not a particularly long film so it has to make the most of each scene and I would certainly say that it succeeds at that. Something is always happening here after all.

It adapts the comic material really well. Naturally there are a lot of things that need to be trimmed as otherwise the film would likely be over 2 hours but we get most of the big things. The one change that I wasn’t a fan of was in the original comic, the American Superior Man went out as a hero as he sacrificed his life to stop a nuke and put his hopes on Superman. In comparison he didn’t really get to have a big hero moment in this film. He just got overloaded and kind of melted. I thought the comic gave him a more fair portrayal.

Beyond that of course you can always have more detail in a comic since you can use up as many issues as needed and include a lot of great inner dialogue. We had a scene in the comic where Lex is so impressive that it was said he could have even defeated Superman by just talking to him for a few seconds. The core of the story is the clash of ideologies and seeing this alternate world though and the movie really executes this wonderfully. The ending to the movie is also perfect and really wraps up the movie in a way where you feel satisfied. Even if we don’t get a sequel, this tells a full story.

The animation here is pretty solid. The character designs are on point and it looks like the comic. The battles are solid and so I definitely have no issue with the visuals. There can be some violent scenes like one character blowing up or some dead bodies on the rise but the film has a lot of restraint and doesn’t go too far with any of this. You get just enough to further the plot and show what Superman has to go through without just dwelling on it the way some films do.

Overall, Superman Red Son is definitely a great film. If you like Superman or just want a good story then you’ll definitely be on board with this one. It’s just a very interesting take on Superman to be sure. It was also nice to see the other heroes appear even if just for a bit as it shows that at least some parts of the world still happened as usual since their timelines shouldn’t have all changed just because Superman grew up somewhere else. I’d actually question why we don’t have a Batman in Gotham but I suppose for alternate universes they don’t have to mirror the normal one exactly so these can all be creative changes.

Overall 8/10

Mary Poppins Returns Review

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Mary Poppins is certainly a classic film that just about everyone as seen or at least heard of. The idea of it finally getting a sequel after all this time was certainly fun. It basically retreads the same ground as the original but it’s the kind of story that works well even more than once so this ended up being fun. I do think some characters don’t look great since their memories aren’t too good though.

The movie starts with Michael having a rather rough time of it. He has fallen behind on his payments. Despite getting a job as a teller, he hasn’t been able to make enough money to support his family. He took out a big loan with the house as collateral but forgot to make the payments on it so now the family is close to being evicted. Ever since his wife died things have just been tough and this adds another wrinkle to that. His sister Jane says they should find the stock certificate that their father had with the bank. If they can find it, William, the current chair of the bank, says that they won’t have to leave the house. The stakes are high but the 3 kids are a bit of a handful.

Fortunately, Mary Poppins has returned to be a housekeeper. She hasn’t aged a day since the characters saw her last but Michael and Jane are too busy to worry about such things. They figure that the events from the first film didn’t really happen anyway since it was all in their head. Mary is determined to show the kids what true imagination really is and along the way will try to help the main characters as well. Can she pull this off?

Of course she will be accompanied by a whole host of songs here. The music starts pretty much immediately in the film and never really lets up. You can expect song after song to be sure. Fortunately the songs chosen are pretty good. They may come out of nowhere at times and you feel like it slows the plot down but they could have been worse. For me the slowest part was when they went into the wonderland since I was ready to go back to the bank plot to see them take on William. That’s got to be the most intense part for sure.

I’ll give the film credit for allowing the kids to actually be useful this time around. Take Annabel for example, she’s a kid who is quite mature for her age. She helps with the chores and is always ready to jump in to help Michael out when she sees that things are a little overwhelming for him. Same with John who doesn’t mention that they don’t have enough money for groceries and tries to make do with what he has. The kids are young but they at least know how to improvise on their own and don’t really make things tougher on the others.

Georgie is the youngest of the kids and definitely isn’t as solid as the others. He runs off to grab a balloon despite the others warning him not to and runs on the grass as well. It’s a shame because the other two are so responsible but perhaps in time he should be able to match them. Then you have the caretaker Ellen who has a fairly small role but she’s a fun character. I would have liked her to have had a few more scenes but at least she didn’t back down to William’s minions.

There’s one subplot in the film about two sailors who fire off a cannon every hour. I admit that their plot may be the most forced as it’s a bit over the top so it’s hard to take seriously. It has an emotional end so at least the plot ends on a high note but I dare say you could have trimmed that plot out entirely. Instead we could have more scenes of Jack showing the world how talented he is. The guy is resourceful and definitely someone who likes to spread a lot of cheer around.

He’s certainly a reliable ally to have around and also works as Mary Poppins’ unofficial hype man. When the others are in doubt he just drives on through with his bike. He also has a knack for being at the right place at the right time. As for Mary Poppins, she is solid as usual. She has a lot of confidence and doesn’t really care when the other characters doubt her powers. She is very self assured of her abilities and that’s all that matters to her. Along the way she teaches the other characters how to have a good time in whatever they do. Alas, they will certainly miss all of her magical abilities.

We even meet one of Mary’s relatives in this film which was interesting. She can fix anything which is a nice magical spell of her own even if she has a weakness on 1 day a month. Now that the heroes helped her solve that she should be even more powerful in the future. Her role is very small but she was a fun supporting character. Then of course you have the villain William who was really good. I like how that guy really pretended to be a hero while manipulating people from the shadows. That’s certainly how you rise up the chains on the dark side. This guy took every opportunity possible and didn’t miss a beat.

His underlings are less memorable though. You have the mean one who is 100% on board and the nice one who wants the heroes to win but is worried that helping them out will cost him his job. Ultimately he steps up by the end though. Then you have the parents. Unfortunately Michael wasn’t a particularly strong character in this case. He panics far too often and always ends up taking it out on the kids by yelling at them for no good reason. He doesn’t even try to hear there side of the story and just forgetting to make a payment on the loan when he puts his house on it was pretty irresponsible. He’s generally a nice guy but folds too quickly.

Jane was holding it together much better in comparison as she was working her union job while helping out with this. It never broke her though so she was always around to lend a helping hand. The film also resisted the urge of setting her up with a romance plot here with Jack. She’s doing quite well for herself as it is and any kind of romance here would have been really rushed.

The writing and the effects are pretty good here so at the end of the day everything appears to be on point. The film will go by pretty quickly. They did a good job of making this film feel rather old school. There aren’t any giant explosions or anything and the characters talk in a rather distinguished manner like they did in the original film. It’s a very calm movie where you can just relax and watch the events proceed. Mainly my only gripe is just that the two parents look really bad thinking even for a second that everything was in their imagination. How could you possibly think that? Hopefully if we get a third film these kids don’t make the same mistake.

Overall, Mary Poppins Returns is a solid sequel and does a good job of bringing back all of the elements that made the first film good. In a lot of ways this is a film that is playing it super safe. It’s effectively a remake of the first film despite being a sequel so I’m sure they were banking on everyone enjoying it for that reason. It works well enough as it carries over the fact that there are no real negatives to be had in the film. If anything you might even feel sad for the main villain at the end since the film hits him with one last burn at the end. Of course when you consider how he was going to mess everyone over, you may just crack a grin instead. If you want to check out a nice little musical then this is a good movie to watch.

Overall 7/10

Multiplicity Review

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Who wouldn’t want to have a gadget that could duplicate yourself right? Ideally of course you’d want one that only turns you into multiple copies for a little while though. Any option that is permanent will end up causing a lot of issues because then that person will have become real. Well this film takes a look at that concept a bit although in a comedy context of course. The main character could have handled this a whole lot better and things would have been fine but he definitely wasn’t prepared for this. It’s a decent film that has a lot of fun moments but you do feel like it could have been better.

Things have not been going well for Doug lately. He is having a very hard time balancing his home life with work. He’s slowly losing touch with his wife Laura who wants to go back to work and as it is he keeps missing various events for his kids. Just when everything seems to be too much, he meets up with a doctor who suggests that cloning is the solution. Doug agrees and so they quickly create a clone. #2. #2 will handle the work obligations while Doug handles the home life. Can he pull this off?

Mainly a lot of the issues here come from the fact that both Dougs don’t actually discuss things with each other. For example, what to do if Laura calls the wrong one, how to switch out when things get dangerous, etc. The sad thing for Doug is that #2 actually does better at work than he ever did. Doug should be enjoying his time at home but he’s not a big fan of dishes and chores so he creates another double. You can imagine how this only increases the difficulties he starts to encounter.

Each double seems to take on a different personality though. #2 is a lot more aggressive and stern as I guess the workplace made him tougher. #3 is the one who does the chores so he is a lot more polite and even becomes an expert at folding. Doug is more of an all around guy I suppose so he does a bit of everything. The tricky part here is that Doug just wants to go and watch Basketball games or mess around but still wants to be at home at the end of the day. So that means one of the others has to find an excuse to leave the house to make the switch every time but that’s not always easy especially when Doug is coming home late at night.

Doug really doesn’t make things easy on the other characters, especially when he leaves home for days at a time. He imposes two rules on the clones, not to get together with his wife and to stop making clones after we get #4. That being said, since they are all him, he should probably realize that this is going to be a very hard ask. Another issue is that they don’t share memories so Doug is always incredibly out of the loop when he gets back which causes a lot of issues.

Really they should have had a quick recap meeting with each other at the end of the day before the switch or something. That would have definitely been a lot easier. Of course Doug isn’t really the planning sort but you feel like it would have made things easier. Surprisingly he doesn’t tell Laura even at the end either. Of course telling her from the start would have absolutely been the easiest way out of this. I don’t even think she would have had much of an issue with this although I guess it’s hard to say for sure.

One subplot the film could have done without was #4 appearing though. To be honest that guy just didn’t add anything to the mix and was more annoying than funny. I can’t think of a single fun scene the guy had since he was just way too overboard with how he became a kid version of Doug. I would have kept the film to 3 versions of Doug and that is more than enough to carry out all of the plots. Alternately just make hundreds of Dougs for the final scene of the film as you know that he’s going to be in trouble now.

Also, the film does go a bit overboard on each clone basically getting overpowered by Laura as they break rule number 1. Not much will power to be found with these guys. Less of those romance scenes would have been good so we could focus on the actual plot at hand. The film is at its best when Doug is confronting these guys. It’s always interesting to see a character effectively talking to himself. I was also a bit surprised that we didn’t see more of the scientist at the end but since the clones all actually worked out without issue I guess there wasn’t much of a use for him.

So Doug’s a decent main character I suppose but he definitely isn’t a smart one. He messes up everything he possibly could in this situation and that’s almost impressive in a sense since he couldn’t possibly have done any worse after a point. Doug has a tendency to panic a lot and his reactions can be amusing. Laura is a good heroine even if she doesn’t put two and two together but in her defense it would be really hard to assume that clones exist and that Doug somehow got a few. It would have been nice if she had found out about this but I suppose this keeps the chances for a sequel.

That said, a fun final gag would have been her driving home in a blue shirt and handing him some groceries. He goes inside and sees her with a red shirt as the credits roll. Then you have to wonder at what point she started with the clones as well. That would have been a great turn of events to end on. Still, that’s going off on a bit of a tangent so lets get back to the film.

Overall, Multiplicity is a film with a pretty solid concept. It’s original and I like the idea of a lot of clones running around and causing trouble. There’s a whole lot you can do with that. The film could have taken a lot of better angles with this or at least having Doug construct a better plan but it makes for a decent watch. I basically shaved off a star for the existence of #4 as well as for the over the top seduction scenes but there’s enough good here to keep the film in the green. There are a lot of humorous scenes here after all.

Overall 6/10

The Best Man Review

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It’s been a little while since I’ve seen a political thriller so this was sure to be fun. A lot of times these old school films tend to be pretty fun with both sides trying to one up each other. The writing is strong here and so the film ends up being pretty great. There’s a few things I definitely would have done differently but at the end of the day you’re definitely going to be quite engaged the whole time.

The movie starts by first showing us William’s side of the story. He is a guy who wants to be President but isn’t quite as aggressive as the other candidate. He prefers to think things through slowly and then get to the right answer. He tends to hesitate a lot more when it comes to using the more under handed kind of tricks and wants to win in a clean fight. The issue is that he doesn’t like his rival Joe and believes that the guy isn’t the right man for the job. William is having troubles with his wife who is really only here for the power but it looks like things are going to break down between them plus William has had a troubled history of cheating and a breakdown.

Then you have Joe. Joe believes in the ole attack first in all situations and you’ll be okay. He tries to find dirt on all other candidates so that he can knock them out of the picture. He has no hesitation about using illegal means to find these items as well. Naturally that’s why he doesn’t like William since he feels like the guy isn’t tough enough to be President. Joe really serves as the main antagonist of the film since I would say at the end of the day William seems to be the true main character although both of them get a lot of screen time.

I should say that both of these candidates are from the same party so whoever wins the nomination will then be fighting the other party’s candidate. In theory they will all need to band together after this, but whether they will or not is another story. That’s really the premise of the film so you can imagine there is a lot of back and forth debate between them. I would say the only weakness in the film is that the characters only meet up twice and don’t really get to mix it up much beyond that. As it is the first time mainly had a third character in the mix so they weren’t actively debating each other and in the second meetup there wasn’t much time.

I would have set this film a little earlier so we could have had an actual debate with both of them fielding questions and attacking each other. I think there’s a whole lot they could have done with that. Still, their meetings are solid and the writing is just top notch here. Each character is desperately trying to win in their own ways which just are not compatible with each other. No matter what, one of these guys will have to lose.

Art is a big character here since both candidates want his nomination since it could tip the scale either way. William tries to nudge Art in his direction while Joe openly threatens him. Again you can see the big difference in each of their respective styles. Art’s a solid character and he does pick one side over the other. He does get quite frustrated with both characters as the film goes on though since Joe doesn’t pick up on hints well enough and William just doesn’t act. I’m sure Art wishes he could have just run again instead.

He was always a good voice of reason though so I liked the guy. Ultimately I would say Joe was the best character in the film though. He just made for a great antagonist with how over the top he was and how determined Joe got. Joe was willing to do anything he could such as in a long scene where we see him detailing the dirt he has on every candidate. He is also quick to break the rules if it helps him get what he wants. It’s all done in a rather serious fashion though so don’t think he is suddenly getting cartoony. The guy is ruthless but also quite smart about it.

Then you have William who does try to take the high road a lot of the time. He does seem to regret a lot of the mistakes he made early on his career and that is probably why he wants to stay on the up and up now. His approach of going through things slowly does seem like it would be dangerous though. He’s a good foil to Joe either way since they are polar opposites but it’s why he also doesn’t stand out quite as much.

There are a few supporting characters of course like the wives for both candidates. Joe’s wife was easily the more supportive of the two and she was fun to be sure. William’s wife made it clear she wasn’t thrilled about any of this but at least she was ready to support him in public and by the end they have a bit of a character arc. There’s also a lady who follows both of the candidates around a lot as she represents the woman’s division and gives advice on what the first lady should do. She made for a fun character on the side and at least the characters know she will always be there if they have a question on what they should do next.

Naturally the worst character here is Sheldon who seems like a con artist the moment he walks in. He takes years to actually get to the point and is always trying to start his sentence over. His nervousness is so over the top that you can’t help but distrust the guy. It just doesn’t feel like what he is saying can possibly be legit if he’s acting like that. It was interesting to have a guy this shaky running around but he couldn’t compete with the other characters.

Overall, The Best Man is definitely a great title. I liked the back and forth as we saw both candidates talk about their plans. Having dual main characters is always an ambitious idea that can pay off big time when it is executed well. As for the ending, I feel like the plan would ultimately backfire in most cases but here it sounds like it paid off. Bravo I suppose, but it always feels like such a decision is betraying everyone who was in your corner. I’d definitely recommend checking this out if you like to see a classic battle of wills. It’s a shame we couldn’t have a formal debate but you still get a really good understanding of each character’s position in this thing.

Overall 8/10

Woman on the Run Review

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Woman on the Run is a very old school noir title that makes for a good thriller. The film definitely feels like it ends rather quickly but the movie has fast pacing so something is always happening. You’ll also have to decide who you’re rooting for since in this case each character has a reason for why they’re either running or in pursuit.

The movie starts with Frank walking his dog when he witnesses someone trying to arrange a solid deal for himself. It clearly wasn’t the right move as the guy gets shot and Frank almost meets the same fate. The cops quickly show up and explain that this is relating to a mob investigation and the guy who died was going to be the big witness. They now want Frank to be the witness. When he askes if he will have any real protection they basically say no so he dashes out of there. Inspector Ferris is forced to ask Frank’s wife Eleanor for help but unfortunately the two are having a bit of a rocky time in their marriage and she is very uncooperative.

Despite her front with the cops, Eleanor is a little concerned particularly when she finds out that Frank has a relatively serious health condition and needs some pills as soon as possible. She heads out to find him only to be caught by a reporter named Danny. He decides to tag along with her since he really wants a scoop. Will they be able to find Frank before the cops do or are his days of running over?

First off, while I understand this is an important case for the police, I absolutely get why Frank would bolt. The fact of the matter is that he wouldn’t have much protection. If the case falls through or the guy doesn’t get convicted, they will hunt him down right away. Even if he is convicted, depending on the size of the mob they will certainly retaliate to send a message. In both scenarios Frank is taking an awfully big risk whereas if he escapes, as long as he stays out of touch until the trial is over then he’s set.

Escaping for so long would probably be tough nowadays but back then without cameras and such it wasn’t such a tough plan for him. What helps is that Frank has a lot of friends all over the city. It’s a case of Frank’s good deeds ultimately catching up to him here which worked out well. We don’t see him for most of the film but the guy’s a likable character. He’s got a quick wit as well and just does a good job of staying one step ahead of everyone.

Eleanor is really the main character here and she does a great job. She gets a lot of the best lines in the first half of the film as she constantly has something sarcastic to say about about Frank. It’s clear that she isn’t even trying to help solve the case either. She is very much a person who likes to do everything on her own and this is what leads to her own personal investigation. It also helps her understand Frank more and leads to a solid character arc there.

As for Inspector Ferris, he’s a good guy. He may have the rather unpleasant task of having to search for Frank right now but he seems like a good guy. Ferris is also thorough in his searching and does pick up on a lot of clues. The ones he doesn’t quite win are clues he couldn’t possible understand since they are based on experiences only Frank and Eleanor would know. Ferris also has good aim with his weapons and doesn’t freeze up under pressure. He’s someone that you will want to have in your corner.

Then there’s the reporter Danny. Well, he’s fairly clever in his own right but I can’t say I was a big fan of the guy. He was openly flirting with Eleanor quite early on despite the fact that she is married and has a hard time recovering from that. He does come in handy with helping get her through the plan to find Frank but that’s about it. He’s a crucial part to the story and it was nice having someone who was trying to compete with Eleanor intellectually but he doesn’t quite stack up against the other characters.

Where the film really shines here is with the writing. It’s a classic race against time with everyone trying to find Frank. The film isn’t doing anything wildly different or being super ambitious but the execution of the plot is quite strong so it really works out. The movie has no real weaknesses. Everything adds up and turns this into a great film. Each character comes out of this stronger. Frank was a little over the top with trying to be a perfectionist even if it meant bringing no money in so by the end you feel like he’ll be better with this. Eleanor didn’t always take the right message from things but wouldn’t actually talk about it and now I think she would be ready to have more of an open dialogue. I don’t think Ferris would really change but he doesn’t need to anyway since he already did well.

Overall, Woman on the Run is a great film. Sometimes it’s a simple film like this that can really shine because then everything is all on the writing and this film delivers. If you like a solid thriller then I’d recommend this film. Don’t expect a ton of big action scenes or things like that though as this is more of a low key adventure. We do have a real climax though but you shouldn’t be here for the fights in this case. It’s more about finding Frank and getting some answers out of him.

Overall 8/10

The Beast Must Die Review

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It’s time to look at an old school murder mystery type film. It’s a pretty interesting setup with the host inviting a bunch of people over but one of them has an insidious secret. Things were going fairly well until a dog showed up. The instant he made an appearance I knew things were about to get ugly. Ah well, you win some and you lose some right? Better luck next time and all that.

The film starts with Tom on the run from some guys with guns. They manage to track him a few times but keep letting him go. Eventually he finishes the trial and we find out that the whole point of this exercise was to show how powerful the system’s defenses are. Nobody should be able to escape or run around without at least being detected. Confident that this is true, Tom invites a group of people over to his house. To everyone’s surprise this is not a social gathering though. See, he believes that one of them is actually a Werewolf! Who can it be? Tom doesn’t really care but he intends to destroy whoever it is.

Lets look at the suspects here. First up is Caroline, Tom’s wife. After all, we can’t rule anyone out this early in the game right? He didn’t invite her per say, but she is around. Caroline also makes it clear that she is not very happy with this experiment. She had been hoping for a nice little gathering but this is definitely not going that route and she knows it. Caroline makes for a solid character though. She may not buy into all of this but who would?

We have Professor Lund who is really into werewolves to the point where he may have actually tried being a cannibal. He seems to know everything about them. Then there is Arthur who did some rather shady things in order to attain his position. Paul who just got out of prison for similar crimes, Davina who may have murdered someone to get a house, and Jan who got connections through murderous ways. Now that’s not the greatest summary or these guys as the film goes through all of their shady pasts rather quickly in the opening scene but basically it’s one of those classic cases where all of them have committed some kind of crime in the past. Over half of them seem to have murdered someone while the others have tried out human flesh in the past.

You’re not really going to be rooting for any of these guys but that makes it more difficult determining who the wolf is. As the film goes on you’ll see more and more people getting bumped off so you want to make your choice before the options are too limited. As the film has a temporary intermission to let you pick who you think the culprit is, I would say that’s the time to make your pick. That said if you want to go on hard mode then do so a little earlier while the field is still full of every possible suspect.

I like the idea of trying to figure out who the culprit is. The whole “Who Done It” set up is always a lot of fun. When you have every character already being a villain then that makes everything even more intense. It’s a twist Detective Conan has done a few times as well and it ups the stakes. After all, whoever the Werewolf is also has to watch out in case he or she gets bumped off by one of the others. You can’t exactly trust anyone here although they all still talk very politely and all that.

The writing here is very solid. I liked the script as everyone has a lot of good back and forth dialogue with each other. Nobody wants to drop any hints so they are being very careful how they phrase everything. The film does a good job of really capturing that old school kind of feel. That said, the film does ultimately begin to show some weak points as the movie goes on. In particular there are two things that don’t work here.

The first is that the film introduces a dog. Of course they would right? Unfortunately this was a big mistake. The instant he appeared I had a bad feeling about this and sure enough the film engaged in some animal violence here. Why introduce an animal to die like this? It’s a bad look and an easy way to completely destroy the film’s score. We’re talking close to a 3-4 point swing in a single moment. That was definitely regrettable.

Also, I have a hard time believing that the werewolf did so good against Tom. Either Tom is just awful at being a hunter or the werewolf has more speed than the average beast. Personally it seems like the film picked the first option by accident. There are scenes where the Werewolf is literally right in front of Tom or jumps at him and the guy misses shots from point blank range. In total he misses dozens of shots at the Werewolf which is really pretty sub-par. The guy claims to be a top rate hunter and that’s the best he could do?

He had so many opportunities to take down the Wolf that he can’t blame anyone but himself. He should have absolutely won the match pretty early on into the film. While the Werewolf does go around slicing people, I wouldn’t say the film is overly violent for the most part. Perhaps a few scenes here and there when you see the bodies but for the most part this film is more dialogue heavy so the Werewolf doesn’t get a ton of scenes.

Tom had a sidekick in the control tower during the film to help steer him where to go. Keep in mind that the sensors tell him the weight and size of the creature. Despite this, when the Werewolf escapes Tom and heads over to the guy he isn’t worried. You’d think he would have taken the threat at least a little seriously since he can see from his equipment that it was making a beeline for him. It’s like the guy did not believe that the Werewolf was intelligent despite what his machines were telling him. He definitely wasn’t the smartest guy as he also missed shots at point blank range that made it easier for the Werewolf to get through. That’s how these things go I suppose.

Overall, The Beast Must Die is a film with a lot of potential but it was ultimately squandered. I’ll give the film credit for a pretty intense ending and the great opening setup but that’s about it. Your setup can be perfect but if you fail on the execution that’s probably all that people will remember anyway. The Professor was probably the best character here but it is a little relative since everyone here was as suspicious as possible. It’s a solid angle for the film even if it means you may not like the humans much. If you like a classic murder mystery with a supernatural angle then this film could be up your alley if you can get past the whole dog bit. Otherwise you will want to just take a raincheck on this one.

Overall 4/10

Lunar Legend Review

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Lunar Legend is one of those games that has been buried in my backlog for many years. As I finally approach only having 20 games left though, it was time for this one to come out and have some fun. Lunar Legend is a solid RPG even if it feels like it’s running on speed mode half the time. While it isn’t quite able to match up against a lot of the bigger RPG titles, it’s a fun game.

The basic plot starts out with Alex still looking up to the old heroes of legend. There used to be a Dragonmaster who tamed the 4 dragons and saved the world. While it seems like the age of heroes has long passed, things change once Alex and Luna make it to a nearby town. See, the Evil King Ghaleon has risen and he quickly murders the 4 dragons. The only way to stop him is for Alex to become a Dragonmaster. To do so he will have to pass the 4 dragons’ tests even though they are already dead. Will that be enough to stop this new evil?

Lunar Legend is shorter than most RPGs as it is a few hours under 20. Typically you expect an RPG to be at least 20 hours although of course that isn’t always the case. This one just feels like it’s abridged though. You’ll be spending a large chunk of the game running around with Nash until they mention the Dragonmaster bit. Suddenly you beat all 4 dragons within an hour or two and are running through the climax. You can’t say the game drags on though that’s for sure. I do like the brisk pace of the game but I think it could have used a few more hours to feel like we went through all of the plot points.

Additionally, the characters are a bit weaker than most. Take Alex, he has to be one of the blandest RPG heroes I’ve seen in a bit. He has some good moments near the end of the game but for the most part there isn’t much to him. The same goes for the main heroine Luna. The two allies who do stand out are Nash and Jessica though. Both of them talk a lot tougher than the other characters and don’t mind throwing around the insults. Nash believes himself to be an elite so he always has that air of arrogance although his skills don’t back it up. Jessica’s more of a fighter so she backs up her tough talk more but together they have a solid dynamic.

Kyle gets most of the back and forth with Jessica though as they tend to bicker about everything. I can’t say he is one of the better characters though. Finally there’s Mia who is a lot quieter than the others and always tries to be super polite. She’s a nice person but not very interesting. The big villain Ghaleon was cool though. I liked his evil king persona and the guy just did a good job of taking everyone down. His plan was quite sound.

So on the whole the character cast could have been better and that is probably a factor in why this RPG didn’t manage to break through to the next level. It’s all relative though because in a vacuum this game is still quite good. The gameplay is your classic turn based system filled with special attacks, items, and physical moves. You will want to get some good level ups to deal with the final bosses. The game can be challenging but never overwhelmingly so. The game has a good balance at all times which is important.

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of replay value after the main game has concluded so no big post game to talk about but the main campaign is long enough where that’s fine. The graphics are solid as well. I’m glad we got some illustrations at least even if there weren’t any cutscenes around this time. The soundtrack is decent too, nothing to write home about but it gets the job done.

For gameplay tips I would just say that your physical attacks are sometimes better than the special ones. Yeah it’s a bit odd but sometimes throwing out a normal move is just way stronger than the special attacks. I’m not sure why that is, perhaps they don’t scale up when you increase your level? Maybe it’s also that critical hits are just really good here so that helps to make up the difference. Take your average 3 hit combo. If you get no lucky hits you may deal 150 damage while the super attack deals out 170. Well, if you get a lucky hit that does around 80, then you’ve just beat out the super attack by 10 points. If you get more than 1 lucky blow, then you can see how the special attack easily gets left out.

Don’t even get me started on the final smash attacks. Those are surprisingly very weak. At one point I decided to use it for kicks and it didn’t do much damage at all to the boss. Those are best used for fighting minions since they deal damage to all units at once. It’s a good way to fight those skirmishes but I would say not to bother for bosses. Passive supers like restoring everyone’s health is always good though so that’s one I would keep at the ready. The single best passive super in the game is the one that makes your team invincible for 3 turns.

While I said the game was not crazy difficult or anything, the final boss was pretty insane. For a little while there I thought I was going to have a big issue with him but fortunately the attack of making you invincible for 3 turns was just what I needed. It allowed me just enough time to win. It was a close one but that just shows why this ability is absolutely critical so don’t waste it on minions since it takes a long time to recharge.

Overall, Lunar Legend is a solid game. It might speed through the interesting parts of the game a little too quickly but you do feel like the characters are being proactive about shutting down the villains so it explains why everything is moving so quickly. I already have the prequel DS game so I’ll be reviewing that soon but I can safely say right now that it is a big downgrade from this one. Lunar Legend played it very safe and got a solid score while the other one took some big risks but unfortunately none of them paid off in the slightest. Ah well, hopefully the Lunar series returns some day with a proper next installment.

Overall 7/10

The Witness Review

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Next up from the PS Home Catalogue is The Witness. This one’s more of a full on puzzle game but also with the potential lore on the back-end. As the title would suggest you are witnessing something but you don’t know what it is. You wander around a large world as you see stone statues of people and a world that seems to have been thrown into disarray. What has happened here and why is everything so empty? You may get emotional while playing the game or you may just be waiting for some action. This is the kind of game where you know deep down that there won’t be any big fight scene but it would work really well because of how ominous the atmosphere is the whole time.

So as mentioned earlier, you start the game off in the middle of nowhere. You wake up in a chamber similar to Breath of the Wild and get to start solving some puzzles. My only gripe with this is that the game never gives you a hint at how to solve the puzzle or even explain what the objective is. You just have to figure it out on the fly which isn’t easy. Since a lot of the puzzles are in sets at least if you solve one puzzle then you will know how to solve the next 5-6. It’s still not a big help when you encounter a new kind of puzzle though. It’s a big quality of life issue that the game missed. If it did have such a feature then I’m confident that the game’s score would have been quite a bit more impressive. Instead as it stands you feel like the game is really lacking something.

I went around and solved a bunch of puzzles but with no visual indicator of how many are left, hints on how to solve the puzzle, or an accessible map outside of the boat; there are too many uncertainties. As I mentioned in a recent game review I like to see my progression. At least something general telling me that I’m making some headway into the tunnel as I try to crawl to the end. If there is no way to see any of that then it feels like you may be going towards something that is endless. What if it’s like No Man’s Sky where there is an infinite number of planets? This game doesn’t seem like it would do that to be honest but I would still like a ballpark number.

That said, with no true start to the game there probably isn’t much of an end either. As a result you can just play this one as long as you want and complete a bunch of puzzles but then call it a day and head home after that. Effectively that’s how it went for this game. It was reasonably fun solving the puzzles and walking around but then it was time to go. I don’t really think I would be going back to this one.

At least I did enjoy this style of puzzle. It reminds me of Professor Layton and while these aren’t quite as polished, those are the kinds of puzzles that I like solving. You just have to go through a lot of trial and error to get to the right spot but once you do, then you are really well set up for what is to come.

As for the graphics, the game looks decent. I wouldn’t say it looks quite as good as many PS1 or PS2 games that I’ve played but it’s not going for a really detailed look. There aren’t many colorful backgrounds or anything and since the place is basically deserted, it’s all rather empty. It’s not quite as visually impressive as the other Home games. I wouldn’t say the graphics are bad though, they’re just decent. There really isn’t a soundtrack though which is a shame. That would have been really good so you could listen to something as you conquer the puzzles. Without knowing the set length it’s hard to say how much replay value there is, but needless to say this should take you a while.

Overall, The Witness is a decent experience but one that won’t last you for very long. It is missing far too many important pieces for me to really call this a truly good game. Nothing that can’t be fixed with a quick update though but in the meanwhile this is definitely a middle tier option. You may sit down with it for an hour or two but it won’t hold your attention. It just needs an extra push and incorporating a story mode would be a nice addition.

Overall 5/10

Rez Infinite Review

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Thanks to the new PS Home promotion where they put up a few games for free I got to play through Rez. It’s a pretty quick game so you should have it done within an hour or two but it’s a fun ride all the way through. It seems like this is really meant for VR and I can see how that would enhance the experience but it’s really solid as a traditional game as well. It will test your reflexes and how well you can adapt to each incoming threat.

The basic plot seems to be that the system of the world has gone haywire so now you have to hack in and save the universe. During the game you will see people asking for help and a lot of crazy things going on in the background. It’s certainly something that will make you take a double look. The final level even seems to be about putting someone back together. I’m sure there’s a lot of fun lore to be found here but really the gameplay is the main thing you are here for along with the fun musical beats.

The goal of the game is to vanquish all of the enemies in front of you without getting hit. The game is a 3D auto runner so you blast the enemies as they appear. If you don’t hit them fast enough then they will deal you some damage and even lower your level. Getting your level lowered is a big deal here since it reduces your attack power and stretches out each level. I highly advise keeping the enemies at bay.

Your method of attack is holding down the X button so that your attacks lock onto the enemies and then you release it. You can’t use an attack without locking on first. That said, the lock on is fast so another thing I would recommend is just pressing the X button as quickly as possible which also works. For bosses you will likely want to charge up to your max of 10 shots though as that does a lot of damage and hits them before they can regenerate their shields. Most of the bosses have pretty intense shields at their disposal after all so you want to make sure you get past all of that.

Meanwhile the graphics look good. I like the whole cybernetic aesthetic the game was going for. It worked pretty well and the whole thing looked high tech from start to finish. The music is also good. I wouldn’t say it is particularly memorable but it is going for a solid cyber feeling that matches with the games style. You also have some beats that play when you hit an enemy so if you launch your attacks quickly enough it’s as if you are building your own song.

For replay value you can try to go back and get a perfect score on each level. You will need to do so in order to get the Platinum Trophy for this game so that definitely does not seem like it will be an easy task. As long as you enjoy the levels though then that’s a nice way to keep bringing yourself back for more. Either way since the game is free temporarily for Home then I wouldn’t say there is any reason to avoid this game. Whether you beat it in an hour or two or play it longer, it’s free so it won’t cost anything. I highly recommend downloading it now while you can.

Overall, Rez is a fun game. It’s got a simple control scheme and then makes the most of it. The gameplay is very smooth and the levels go by in a flash. Usually I’m not thrilled about the no checkpoints option so if you die in part 9/10 of a level then you go back to the start. That said, the levels are still short so you can finish all 10 parts within 10 minutes or less. Given that this is the case, it’s fine not to have any checkpoints. I never died during the game either so I wouldn’t say it’s crazy hard or anything either. It ends up being just right and that’s why it’s an easy game to recommend to anyone. You should have fun with it.

Overall 7/10

Godzilla Defense Force Review

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When they announced that three new Godzilla mobile games were coming to the app stores I quickly ran to see if they were already there. At the time none of them were, however there was an old Godzilla game that I hadn’t even known about. Needless to say, I needed to check that out right away! The mobile game is actually a lot of fun to the point where I have a hard time picturing the other 3 beating this one. I poured in over 20 hours in an instant and had to tear myself away from the game before all my time was spent. This is definitely a very addicting title.

The basic plot of the game is that you are an army commander, the final one on Earth. Everyone else has been wiped out by the aliens who have mind controlled each Kaiju including Godzilla himself. Furthermore, they have gone through time and plucked out different versions of each Kaiju. They have over 20 different Godzilla creatures at their disposal for example. You have to command the Army to slay each Kaiju and save the world. It will be difficult so as a last resort the army has also given you a time travelling device. If you are about to die, quickly run to the past and save yourself.

This game has a lot of attention to detail. Pretty much any Kaiju you have ever seen in a Godzilla film will make their way here. How the game works is you have around 5-6 worlds. Each world has 120 levels with a unique Kaiju showing up after every 10. There will be 3 points where Godzilla himself will show up and these levels are G levels so they aren’t numbered. The worlds can keep going endlessly after the 120 but only old monsters will cycle in. The final world is the Moon where you can make your final stand against the enemies. It should take you around 20 hours to make it there, I don’t see how you can do so sooner without paying.

The gameplay is a Tower Defense style where you have to tap the screen in order to proceed. The faster you tap the screen the more damage you do, at least for the initial weapon. As you defeat enemies you will earn money which you can use to power up your default weapon or to buy new weapons. Each world has around 6 weapons and usually they are a magnitude more pricey to buy. The first weapon might cost around $1000, the next weapon $100,000, then $1,000,000, and from there the numbers get insane. After the trillions they just start showing initials like BB, DD, EE, and so on. I made it to around the JJ amounts before stopping.

Earning the money is really where the game gets to be more of a grinding mobile game. You will inevitably get stuck on a boss many times because you are out of money. At that point you can choose to keep fighting them since you earn money for each battle until you have enough to get to the next level or you can watch a 30 second ad to get a ton of money. Additionally you can watch ads to slowly boost your units as well. The game is very ad intensive so be prepared to “watch” a lot of ads throughout the game to get the money you need.

There are also a wide range of achievements in the game. Completing them will earn you a lot of jewels. Don’t worry, the achievements come naturally like tapping the screen 1 million times or beating 10,000 Kaiju. You should have most of them by the time you’re done with this. However, no matter how many ads you watch and battles you fight, it seems impossible to make it to The Moon on your first playthrough. That’s when time travelling comes into play. The cost for time travel is that you lose all of your money, upgrades, and even all of your levels.

I know that sounds awful but the benefit is that you get time crystals. These let you buy artifacts with permanent upgrades. For example, dealing an extra 50% damage while you’re in Tokyo. I time travelled quite a few times and by the end I had a permanent +1050% damage increase. It’s really worth it to time travel but even then you have to decide when to do so. The longer you go without time travelling as you rack up Kaiju victories, the more shards you get. Ideally you want a ton of shards so that you can get as many upgrades as possible.

This is really just the tip of the iceberg for the various gameplay mechanics here. I recommend reading the Toho Kingdom articles on the game since they break down all of the mechanics. The game doesn’t actually tell you a whole lot beyond the basics so it’s worth knowing. For example, it’s heavily advised that you save your blue crystals. You can then double your time shards when time travelling which is incredibly handy. It’s a game changer and better to use them at that point than for a quick 1 time money boost.

The graphics are pretty solid. All of the Kaiju look goo. There isn’t a big variety in the level designs and effects but the fact that they got character models for every Kaiju is impressive. I’ll also give the game credit for having a real plot even if there isn’t much to it. It’s enough to connect the stages together but that’s about it. It won’t compare visually to the newer mobile games of course. The soundtrack is solid. I like that they incorporate various themes from the films such as original tunes and even Final Wars themes. My only gripe is that the music often plays for around 5 seconds before it’s quickly cut off by an explosion sound effect or something going on.

What Defense Force really did well is show you a solid rate of progression. You always felt like you were getting closer to the next level. It’s an important thing for any game that is centered around grinding because if you don’t feel like you’re making any progress then of course you will quickly lose interest. That doesn’t happen in this game so that’s impressive. Each battle only being 30 seconds long for the bosses also helps since you don’t have to stick around for a while to move forward if you don’t want to. Even while the game is off you will be earning money (At a slower rate of course) so that’s a nice feature too.

Overall, Godzilla Defense Force is a great game. Definitely one of the best mobile games I’ve played in a while. I didn’t even touch on some aspects of the game like the card collecting system or the Moon Stones but it just goes to show that the game really has a lot to offer. This title is also completely over so it’s a mobile game that actually has an end to an extent. I wouldn’t call it much of an ending story-wise but at least there are no more levels so you can feel like you’ve finished it all. If you’re a big Godzilla fan or like the tower defense style then I would really recommend this game. There are a lot of options to spend money to progress faster in the game but I can safely say that you can make it to the end even without spending a single dime. The free content here and rate of progression is quite solid.

Overall 8/10