One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows Review

Posted on September 2, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for one of those games that looked just enough like a tie in where people had some reservations about it. The good news is that because of that you can get this game for dirt cheap nowadays. I always enjoy some good One Punch Man action so I was definitely eager to see how this one turned out. Fortunately they really held nothing back here. It’s a great title and one that is even carried a bit by the technical aspects. The combat isn’t the most fine tuned 3D title that you’ve ever seen but the menus and layouts are all just really solid and smooth. You’re constantly impressed as just how easy everything is to navigate. This is probably the kind of game I would point to when explaining to people why menus are so important.

The game roughly follows the story of season 1 but has you playing as a brand new hero. You are recruited into the hero’s association and work on rising up the ranks by saving people and crushing monsters. Along the way you run into Saitama and Genos. This results in your constantly showing up to fight off the big villains but typically Saitama is the one who will actually put a stop to the madness. It would be more effective if you actually talked during the cutscenes though. During gameplay your original character talks and even has some great lines so I don’t know why they didn’t keep that energy up.

Either way the story is a pretty reasonable length. It should take you around 6-7 hours to clear it and there is a lot of replay value aside from that. This is a fighting game title after all so you can have fun in multiplayer mode for many hours. Additionally in single player mode you have a ton of bonus missions and level ups to work on. You will want to max out each of the fighting styles for more trophies as well. The platinum trophy looks like it will take a while to unlock but at the same time it looks very achievable. So put in enough effort and you will definitely be able to complete this one.

When you level up you get to choose which stats to increase so I recommend putting everything in attack power. Trust me, that’s what you will be using the most by far. Use two quick hits, a low hit, and then your standard combo. It does a good amount of damage and you can recycle that comb for the entire game. A pretty tempting strategy to use if I do say so myself! You don’t really need to get fancy here. It is good to make sure you have a super attack that breaks through guards though. That is really handy for when they start blocking.

Ultimately I went with the power type for the whole game. Then my super attack was a grab so if the opponent blocked the opening moves of my combo, I would immediately use the grab and would deal the damage. It’s a really good way to cheese the opponent and so I kept up a win rate of over 90%. The tough levels tend to be ones where stage hazards show up. I died once because a meteorite was slamming me into the ground and it did massive amounts of damage. The hazards could probably be dialed back a little to be honest.

I could never figure out how to get up quickly though. This is the toughest part of the game by far as a result since the enemy only has to knock you to the ground once and then after that they can keep comboing you to oblivion. It meant that I would either crush an opponent without getting hit or just barely win because one hit has such a massive effect to it. I’m assuming there is something you can do but I just couldn’t figure it out.

Back to the technical elements, the map is super detailed and has icons for every kind of content around. There is an arrow always pointing you to where you need to go within the story and there is also quick travel. All of the menus have super fast loading times and really look natural. There is really no downside to be found here. Then the graphics are also really good. The game models look sharp and there was just a whole lot of effort put into this one. I have to give the soundtrack props next as the tunes are really good. It felt like everyone was proud to work on this game. It may not be a AAA title by any stretch but the technical elements wouldn’t be out of place in one.

Just touch up the story and gameplay a bit and this could have been the next big thing. Ultimately that wasn’t really part of the plan but it’s still a game that any fighting fan can really enjoy. I always love playing through a great fighting title and this one is really no exception. Anime fighters can get real immersive and I dare say this game feels like it had a much higher budget than even something like Jump Force which is crazy when you think about it.

Overall, One Punch Man really delivered with this game. I definitely had a blast here. The whole game definitely goes by real quick but it’s also one that I could feel like picking back up and playing at any time. I left a whole lot of content on the table as well so there would be a lot for me to do when I get back into the game. The fact that the whole game is dubbed and contains a ton of voice acting is also super impressive. It’s something I never take for granted because even nowadays games will come out without voice acting like this. So when it does appear, that’s just really awesome. If they ever come up with a sequel to this one then I can safely say that I will be there day 1. I definitely won’t be missing out on this and I recommend picking up One Punch Man whenever you can. It’s that good.

Overall 8/10

Demon Slayer Season 4: Hashira Training Arc Review

Posted on September 1, 2024 by dreager1

Demon Slayer has returned with another season and this is probably the first time where it’s more of a preparation one. Usually you’ve have the massive multiple episode length fight to close things out but instead we’re setting up the movie trilogy this time around. It makes for an incredible cliffhanger in the final episode but at the same time it does mean that the first half tends to be more on the slow side which can be tricky since as it is, Demon Slayer doesn’t have the best cast of heroes.

The season starts off with Tanjiro eagerly awaiting his chance to get some training from the Hashira. He is still injured so he has to wait a little while while the others get a head start but he quickly begins to catch up. Can Tanjiro clear all of the trainings before it’s time for the next big move? Muzan appears to be getting desperate so he could really show up at any point. The heroes have to be prepared to stop him.

That makes the training a little dicey though. I mean there’s no real way around it but imagine Muzan decides to strike right after the heroes are done training for the day? They’ll all be exhausted while he is at full strength. In fact, it seems likely since the heroes do their training by day and the vampires move by night. Now that I think about it, the heroes should have absolutely been training at night the whole time. I’m sure it’s hard to adjust their internal clocks but I’m sure they could pull it off if they had to. This is actually giving Muzan a good advantage. Now, the heroes definitely need training so to an extent they are going to have to do this, whether it’s at night or in the day but it is really something to be considered here.

As always the animation is really sharp here. There are less opportunities to show off but we get a few Hashira training bouts that look really good and of course the final episode looks stunning. The fighting that we get there is really hype and it’s one of the best anime cliffhangers that I can think of to end a season. They didn’t hold back at all, this is a good way to get everyone into the theaters right away. The scene is drawn out to maximum intensity without going too long and like in the manga, it hits you just how sudden all of this is. I also liked Muzan’s slow walk to the castle. I know this got some shade for being super long but it’s the big villain himself finally making a move. I would say that warrants the extra attention.

The soundtrack is also really good as you would expect. The opening isn’t my favorite but I do really like the ending. It played perfectly when Muzan showed up to take everyone down. In general the show always has a very grand feel for the serious moments and this season was no different. The season also only has 8 episodes so it does go by pretty fast which helps to make up for it not being super eventful for most of the run.

I suppose the main weakness the show would have is that the humor doesn’t work super well. As I alluded to earlier, the character cast in Demon Slayer isn’t really one of my favorites. They can’t hold their own comedic/slice of life moments as well as a lot of the other big titles. So you’re really just waiting for the next fight scene the whole time instead of just absorbing the moment. So every time there is a training bout you are excited but otherwise you are shaking your head. While it’s not always entirely serious, I also do think that the training regimen is way too harsh on the characters. It feels like a borderline villainous group with how ferocious they can be. If Tanjiro had been one step closer then Genya would have lost his eyes for example.

It makes it very hard for you to really like the Demon Slayers at times. Obviously they are still much better than the demons so lets not get that twisted but I would appreciate it if they were more likable. For example Kagaya gets his big moment at the end of the season after being sidelined for the whole series. He has a decent speech and a good plan but you’ve never really been given much reason to care about the guy. I give him tremendous props for hanging in there despite his injuries but that’s about all I can say for him.

Tanjiro looks solid as always. He’s definitely very determined and shows off his good work ethic here. He had humble beginnings like the rest of the corp but through all of the life and death battles he has really shot past them in every metric. He is basically a Hashira at this point and I appreciate that the show supports this by the fact that he can follow their movements now. I look forward to seeing him fight next time since he’s finally back to full power. Muzan definitely better watch out!

Zenitsu’s role isn’t very big here but he has a noticeable personality shift once he gets a certain letter. After all these years we can finally see him in a serious role. I was definitely happy to see this because his old gags had run dry by now. In the final episode he keeps his composure even more than the Hashira. He’s definitely going to be causing the villains some problems.

Inosuke doesn’t get a ton to do here either but he’s always eager to fight as always. His physical abilities are always good so I look forward to seeing what he does next time. It does feel like Tanjiro had started to leave those two far behind so now is their chance to catch up a bit. Tamayo also gets to make her big return here to help the group out. As the medical expert it’s good to be seeing her knowledge used in a combat context. She definitely had a tough role here but she never backed down. Honestly she has the most reason to be rather annoyed at everything going on because she really set the heroes up perfectly.

Sanemi is still a little too cruel for the demon slayer corp. Once you are actively trying to remove a fellow fighter then you need to be kicked out. Yeah he has his reasons and everything but they just aren’t good enough. Meanwhile Obanai is definitely missing the forest for the trees with how he’s trying to bump off Tanjiro the whole time. Allowing jealousy to cloud his heart at a time like this is definitely not a good move. Mitsuri doesn’t have time to do a whole lot here but that makes sense since she just had her character moments last time.

Muichiro is still working on not being so emotionless and I would say he does a pretty good job here. He may not be making too many friends just yet but at least he is more reasonable. The paper airplane stuff may have been a little cheesy but it was fun enough. They also are really showing how Muichiro is one of the strongest now too with how he was handling multiple Hashira at the time time. Shinobu doesn’t get to fight this time as she’s concocting some kind of a plan. We’ll have to see what comes out of this.

Giyu gets one of the biggest roles from the group as we finally learn about his backstory. It definitely adds a lot of context for why he has had a hard time fitting in and has trouble really being expressive. In some ways he’s like Tanjiro where he is super oblivious and in other ways he just doesn’t realize what he is saying. I will miss his arrogant side since we’ll probably get less scenes of him explaining how he’s different from the others but either way I still trust him as one of the big hitters in the series.

Finally we have Gyomei and we also learn his backstory here. Definitely a pretty tragic one where he tried his best but it just wasn’t enough. He gets good props for holding his own against a demon even as a kid but ultimately it didn’t serve as much of a consolation to him. Demon Slayer always has to have some kind of tragic ending though. I feel like we’ve already seen the whole family get murdered a few times by now for other characters but I suppose it’s an easy one to set up for the tension. I still don’t really care for Gyomei though. The constant crying just seems like it’s a bit much even if that’s his gimmick.

Finally we have Muzan as the big villain. He may be starting to get awfully sloppy here but he’s so close to his goal that it makes sense in a way. At this point he is so close to his goal and he figures that the humans can’t really do anything to him. It’s not a smart play but I can cut him a little slack there. He still did have a backup plan ready to go which worked really well after all. It’s lucky that he had this though as I dare say the whole series would have ended here otherwise. Even with regeneration, I definitely don’t think he would be able to tank so many powerful hits at once. Especially as they would keep on slamming into him over and over. His regen is near instant but it still does take up energy and he doesn’t have an unlimited amount of that. It’s pretty interesting how similar it looks to a Titan forming but I suppose that makes sense since it’s the same concept.

The heroes are already using a lot of plot armor to hang in there with Muzan though so you wonder how that will continue. This is one of those series where I do think the villains got a huge power creep over the heroes though. It’s hard to really picture them standing a chance so we’ll have to see how that goes. Like I’m skeptical about Muzan falling for the trap but at least now that he has, the rest of his events make sense since he’s so weakened. Once the rest of the Upper 5 members who are still alive show up, you would assume that it’s curtains. I’d take Akaza over any one of the Hashira any day after all. Being able to match them blow for blow while also having high speed regeneration is just an absolutely insane combo.

Overall, You could say that the whole season really exists just for the final episode. It’s all to bring about this big cliffhanger and prepare people for a bunch of nonstop battles that are all going to start now. It’s hard not to get excited for something like that. It’s going to be absolutely awesome. In the meanwhile I would still say to check this season out. It’s not every day that you get a season for the main characters to relax and chill out before the big fights begin. I know fans of many series would wish that they could have gotten this treatment. It all depends on how much you enjoy the characters of course but I don’t think they will steer you wrong. The animation is smooth for all of their moments either way so just think of this like a quick mini arc before getting to the real stuff. At worst you can just call it uneventful but it should still keep your attention the whole time. The show has had so many different fight scenes in previous seasons that you can allow this at least once, but the pressure is definitely going to be on for the movies. The fights need to absolutely bring out Ufotable’s best although they have never failed before do I’m feeling pretty confident.

Overall 7/10

Man on Fire Review

Posted on August 31, 2024 by dreager1

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for one of those big thriller movies that definitely gets real intense. Movies involving a kidnapping usually are after all since the stakes are extremely personal right off the bat. The villains are all super evil even if they claim to be professionals and so you’re dragged into the revenge fantasy right away. I would say this one is pretty solid but it definitely doesn’t mind being over the top violent at different points.

The film starts off with The Voice orchestrating another kidnapping and forcing the father to pay a lot of money. Kidnappings have become a huge deal within the country even more than usual and as a reporter notes, this is organized crime. Someone is pulling the strings on this operation and his influence continues to grow. John is hired to protect, Pita, the daughter of an influential man who owns an empire. John used to be a super agent but unfortunately he developed a drinking problem which dramatically reduced his abilities and he has lost his confidence. John only accepts the deal because he needs the money and he is assured that the likelihood of a kidnapping is very minimal. He does his best to not bond with Pita so this will remain as an impersonal job but he is unable to keep this up and she is kidnapped.

Most victims do not actually make it back once kidnapped and as a professional, John knows this. So now he is going to set out on a mission to murder each and every kidnapper around. Can he really pull this off while surrounded by villains and unable to rely on the corrupt police force for help? It’s definitely not going to be easy but he’s definitely been angered enough to stay sober so his skills will be at their peak now.

Like I said, this is a fairly long film so there is a whole lot going on here. The film spends a whole lot of time introducing the characters in the first half even before the kidnapping. Despite you as the viewer knowing that this can’t last, the film decided to try and up the emotional beats here. I think it was a pretty solid decision even if you know what’s going to happen. I can’t think of any scenario where you could hide the fact that Pita will be kidnapped either way since the context clues would be there for the audience right from the start. The first half is also still interesting even if a bit slow at times.

Pita has already been through a lot growing up in such a corrupt place so she doesn’t panic as much as most kids would have in her position. She does make one mistake where she turns back instead of continuing to run, but at that point I have my doubts that she would have escaped either way. Meanwhile John is a solid main character even if he doesn’t look very good at first. Being a jerk to a kid is definitely not the way to win any points. Yeah, you get why he is doing that but it’s not a good look and of course he is suffering from a lot of PTSD at the start. In the second half he locks in. The guy definitely isn’t afraid to go full villain mode on the opponents either.

While I won’t blame him for any of this since it all seems pretty justified from his position, in general I never like to see the heroes torturing villains under any circumstances. The cycle just gets a little too violent for me in the whole everything goes kind of ballgame. It’s one of the things that does hold this film back a bit as well as I feel it relies pretty heavily on shock value on different moments. A top tier film will go with the implied violence route where you don’t actually see anything while this one wants you to see and feel every single injury. I always take that as a sign that the story wasn’t quite strong enough to stand on its own.

My other issue is in how generally corrupt everyone else is. The only characters who are actually being helpful is John’s old contact from the CIA days and a reporter. For the reporter, she has to put up with constant harassment and blackmail when helping out and the fact that the other guy never gets his comeuppance was annoying. I would have trashed this entire subplot because it doesn’t add anything to the story. We already know most of the characters here are awful, we didn’t need this part. Those scenes are definitely annoying the whole time.

Most of the characters are super flawed which is the jaded theme that the film is presenting and it’s the kind of theme that can be exhausting real fast. Also I didn’t care for the ending. While writing the review I quickly looked up the alternate ending and it is 100x better. I don’t know why they didn’t keep that ending, it seems way more satisfying to me. I dare say it would have helped the whole movie because with this ending it just doesn’t feel like there is a ton of hope for the heroes in general. It’s like they won a battle but had no real effect on the world. You can call it a realistic ending, I just call it an annoying one.

My final main complaint with the film is the crazy camera work. It was one of the worst displays I’ve seen since one of the Taken films. There is a lot of constant spinning almost as if this is a found footage film at times. The colors are a mess and the film is just all over the place. It never really lets up which hurts the fight scenes as well. With how obnoxious it is, I’m assuming there is some thematic/narrative reason for it but it definitely didn’t work out very well for me. Give me some classic camera work instead and that would have been better.

Overall, Man on Fire is one of those movies with a decent pitch and execution but shoots itself in the foot before reaching the finish line. It’s just trying to be too dark and shocking the whole time. It would have been a lot better if it showed more restraint. Yes, it’s definitely nice to see John taking it to all of the villains who clearly did deserve to die but doing it in the slowest/most painful ways possible tends to push the envelope a little too far for my tastes. The film could have used some more injections of hope to make the whole thing a bit better. Keeping the happier tone of the first half at least for the ending with less tragedy in the middle would have done wonders. If you are looking for a really intense revenge thriller though, this should be right up your alley.

Overall 4/10

Machine Gun Kelly

Posted on August 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a film about Machine Gun Kelly, or as he’s called near the end, Pop Gun Kelly! That was probably one of the best insults that I’ve heard in a long time. That was absolutely great, I was cracking up there. The cops got to have a good laugh and it was just such a clever line you know? This film does a good job of chronicling the events of what’s going on here and establishing Kelly as an all bark no bite kind of character. I don’t always think what the characters were doing would make any sense though.

Kelly ends up robbing a big bank and showing the world why he is to be feared. He has quite a bit posse of men around him and his girlfriend is particularly impressed with his antics. She likes to flirt with everybody to rile Kelly up and cause some chaos. Definitely one of those really crazy relationships and it only gets worse from the intro. The cops need to grab Kelly but it’s hard to find him. So for now they will wait and ponder their next move. They have all the time in the world while Kelly is bound to make a mistake sooner or later.

It’s honestly pretty easy to see how Kelly and the gang were caught in this movie with how much they were fighting. Someone was constantly getting beaten up and thrown around. Imagine losing your arm to a lion/tiger and not getting revenge right? Kelly definitely underestimated the guy there. I think the main problem with some of their actions is ultimately for moments like this though. Kelly is having a breakdown so his girlfriend starts pulling moves on his friend so he could go and beat Kelly up. The guy does so…and then doesn’t finish Kelly off? So naturally Kelly grabs his machine gun and gets the upper hand.

At several points in the film the characters get beat up and just go back to working for Kelly. Then some have absolutely no situational awareness. One of Kelly’s friends starts laughing and making fun of Kelly for being scared…while Kelly is right there. So obviously the guy is beaten up for a while. Another guy tries to steal some of the money…and so naturally he gets beat up, etc. None of the villains seemed to be any smart and hey sometimes they aren’t but this felt a little extreme at times.

Even the tough girlfriend who was calling the hots and messing with everybody. Laughing as much as she was while getting in Kelly’s face was not a good move. How about the cabal of fighters who threatened to murder Kelly but then they were just gambling in a room so he shot them all? A lot of the events in the film just come across as being rather bizarre so I can see why this is a fairly loose adaption. I imagine things definitely didn’t play out quite like this in a lot of ways. The important thing though was to get across just how scared Kelly was the whole time and I would definitely say they succeeded in that. The guy was extremely afraid of everything death related. Put him next to a skull or anything like that and it was curtains for the guy. He was definitely not coming back from that.

He was also shown to not even be a villain with an honor code. He was very quick to betray his girlfriend for some random ladies and had no real remorse about it. He’s rude to everyone and Kelly is always making a bunch of threats. As tough as his girlfriend was acting near the end, I do think there’s a few times she could have come close to being bumped off. She may claim that Kelly didn’t have the guts but in a fit of rage I definitely wouldn’t take that for granted. This is the kind of guy who could absolutely pull that off if he needed to.

Then you have the little girl who was being held hostage and the caretaker. The whole thing was definitely a rough spot for them. Both of them held themselves together fairly well I’d say. The caretaker went through a lot but I was glad at least in this case Kelly wasn’t about to let things go any further. I’ll take what I can get in terms of moral character. It may not be a whole lot but at least it’s something.

For a film called Machine Gun Kelly, he doesn’t actually use the weapon all that much though. I think it might have been good to see him using the gun a few more times against some random gangsters at least. You can’t do it at the end because it would not match the ending’s message so I get that, but doing it earlier would have been a really good idea. It would make the ending hit all the harder. Honestly Kelly’s rationale also makes a lot of sense. Why fight a battle that you know you can’t win and you would die for rather than surviving another day even if it’s in prison. It’s not quite so simple of course as continued survival can be rough in its own way but yeah dying for no reason is not really a tempting offer to anyone.

Overall, Machine Gun Kelly is an entertaining film. Sometimes perhaps not for the reasons that were originally intended but it will definitely keep your attention the whole way through. The final line alone is really worth the watch but it’s generally a good time either way. The only bad scenes I’d say involve the lion and Kelly really poking fun at him the whole time and teasing him by throwing rocks. I could definitely do without all of that so those were the weakest scenes. When it was the gangsters all fighting and trying to get on each other’s nerves things were way more exciting. The film never forgets to remind you how they’re all villains and I appreciate that. You’re rooting for the cops to take them down the whole time.

Castlevania Advance Collection Review

Posted on August 29, 2024 by dreager1

Time for the next Castlevania collection! This time we’re entering a more modern era with a bunch of GBA titles and I gotta say this works out pretty well. You can feel the quality of life updates oozing out of each title and all in all they do feel a lot more fun. I would also say generally speaking they do improve as they go on. Sometimes not unanimously in every regard but generally speaking they feel stronger. The games also increasingly have more story which always works out well.

So we kick things off with Circle of the Moon. Dracula is returning once again and he must be stopped but how do you beat a foe so powerful that he has the whole world on its knees? Well, Nathan will have to figure that out. This game has the classic Metroidvania type style here as you wander around a labyrinth gaining new powers and abilities in the rooms. With each new ability comes new opportunities and so you work to find out which areas have opened up for you to crack. It makes for some good fun in exploring but this is the critical make or break point for any game in the genre.

Here’s the balancing act. Naturally you want a lot of dead ends and such to encourage players to return later once they are stronger. However, the rooms can be quite large so what you don’t want to do is make the journey feel like a chore. The way to prevent this is by having fast travel in a lot of different areas so you can hop on that right away. It removes all of the excess running. Now, there is a level up system so beating the enemies gets easier with time. That is a good idea since proper progression is always a plus. It means that if you’re stuck at any point, you are given clear direction on how to get past that point which is really cool. Not just any game will do that.

So this one did it better than some of the other titles. Not perfectly mind you, but it’s a fairly good showing of the genre. I never quite understood the card gimmick though. You could use cards in different combinations to unleash powerful elemental attacks and such but I could never get any of them to work. You can still win without this but I imagine that the game might have been a whole lot easier otherwise. So I definitely did not make things easy on myself here. The graphics are solid and I liked all of the boss battles. There are quite a lot of them here so you really get to go all out.

Then in the second game Juste shows up to put an end to Dracula’s reign of terror. Defeating the king of the vampires won’t be easy but this guy is ready. It picks up a lot of the gameplay details and abilities from the previous game while also throwing in some new wrinkles. Gone are the cards (Which I’m 100% down with) and replacing them are magical super attacks. You are invincible while using these abilities which is extremely handy and the techniques themselves vary based on what sub weapon you have equipped. I chose one that let me shoot energy waves and I made sure to never pick any other sub weapons after that. This one was just way too useful but I can’t remember which one it was. I think the sub weapon looked like a book of sorts but I’m not sure of the name.

Either way there are a ton of sub weapons everywhere so it should not be hard to find these. Just keep searching and you will get them fairly quick. Meanwhile you still have the level up system so make sure you get those right away. If you beat all of the enemies you will get the level ups normally but especially securing some of them early on is an incredible help for you later on. You want to be able to easily dispatch all of the zombies and creatures that head your way to save health for the bosses. The bosses definitely do not hold back and really dish a whole lot of damage out.

The game loses some steam near the very end though as it does fall into the trap of the journey being a little too monotonous. As you approach the end game, there will only be a few passages left to check but they are in completely different sides of the map. So even though you have quick travel, it takes forever to get anywhere which is really the issue. This only really applies to the end game as it’s possible to miss power ups and then this cascades quite a bit as they are all linked. So just watch out here because missing things is really high stakes.

Then we have the third game, Aria of Sorrow. This one felt like it had a pretty good technological jump right off the bat. The graphics are extra clear, we have a whole new setting, and all of the gameplay mechanics are very sharp. You still have the level ups but now you have a soul system. Instead of finding the power ups for the most part, you gain the abilities through souls. It’s a fun way to go although there is a mild issue of having to pause and cycle through your abilities to keep on switching powers. That part’s a little dicey you know. Still, it’s a mild annoyance at worst, not something that will really be giving you a hard time here.

I liked the plot of several people being suspicious and you have to try and figure out who will be Dracula’s new vessel. It’s almost like a mystery game of sorts there so that was a fun angle. I think another way to put it is that the game had a whole lot of personality. It felt like the devs could have fun taking things in a new direction and it worked really well. It even felt like there was some true replay value here as you could clear the game while still leaving a lot left to be done. It’s the right balance of being a completionist vs just wanting to finish the game. Additionally, you gain powers like flight that make each room a breeze so that addresses my issue of moving through the map too slowly from the last game. This was definitely super solid.

Finally we have Dracula X. Well, Dracula is back and we have to take him down. Lesss goooooooo. The plot is super basic/nonexistent and the game feels like a super simplified version of the old ones. The fact that you can no longer jiggle your whip around or use magic attacks feels like a massive step back. It just went too far into being super retro. It’s not bad, the whole game is super short but very linear. It just doesn’t hold up compared to the big full fledged game titles. It was kind of funny to go back to this one.

The graphics for all of the games are pretty solid. Dracula X looks rather dated but all of the GBA ones hold their own. The soundtracks definitely vary from game to game but as a whole there are a ton of good tunes to listen to so you definitely won’t be getting bored at all. The variety is definitely here to stay and you might even recognize one or two from Super Smash Bros. There is a good amount of replay in trying to get all trophies and really ace each of the games as well. You will definitely need to tap into your inner Castlevania fan to pull that off but it will add some extra hours without a doubt.

Overall, Castlevania Advance Collection is definitely pretty fun. All 3 of the game boy advance titles are pretty solid and generally speaking are a step up from the retro styled ones. They all feel like complete games and I do think adding a full fledged level up system to the vania games is a real good way of keeping things from being too repetitive. Even if you get lost, at least you know you are making progress. I may still not be a huge fan of the sub genre but I can say this is on the higher levels in terms of quality. It’s certainly miles away from certain other titles that just feel like a grind. The final game may not hold up as much but I consider that to be more of a bonus title so either way there was no real pressure there.

Overall 7/10

The Enforcer Review

Posted on August 22, 2024 by dreager1

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for Harry to return to fight off some more crime. Unfortunately for him, the guy doesn’t have much backup this time. The film shows even more just how inept everyone tends to be without him and corruption is through the roof. I think the movie goes a little too far with this at times here but I dare say it has a slight touch of comedy at times which helps to push things through. If it was fully serious it might almost get a bit depressing.

The film starts off with some guys getting murdered as a terrorist group continues to gain ground for some kind of nefarious purpose. Meanwhile Harry pulls off another stunning victory over the forces of evil but there was a whole lot of collateral damage and he’s demoted. He now has to work with a lady named Kate thanks to a new initiative where they are trying to get more girls on the force. Harry is against this, not because Kate is a girl but because things should be done in a meritocracy. Promoting her just for this reason strikes him as a little silly although the silliness is just beginning. Can Kate prove that she has what it takes?

I think the rough part here is of course we know part of the message is that Kate is ready for action and can back him up but she looks really bad at first. She is clearly not prepared for any of this and nearly gets blown away during a missile practice exercise. It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence when you are counting on this person to watch your back in a life or death situation right? It takes a very long time for Kate to really be combat ready and by then we’re approaching the end of the film so you know what’s about to happen. For what it’s worth, I do think she’s a likable character. Her heart’s in the right place but she was in over her head.

Harry is a fun lead as always. Super gruff and to the point. He can be rather rude for sure but at least you always know he is speaking his mind and not sugar coating things. He’s still just as good a fighter as he ever was and age has not gotten the best of him. The guy puts up with a whole lot but ultimately keeps on going to help people. So I admire the drive and there is really nothing to dislike about the guy. He always puts his best foot forward and is an inspiration to everyone around him.

Now the police captain looks real bad here. For starters, he really wants good press and to look good for the mayor. So he’s running around spoiling Harry’s plans and generally not caring about anything. Arresting Harry’s informant was absolutely terrible. The guy was only looking out for the short term benefits there. It’s clear that he wasn’t actually thinking of the public good. Then by the end he’s absolutely given up as expected and doesn’t even realize that the fight was already over. This is the kind of person that Harry has to work with on a daily basis.

The worst part? Harry is outranked by this guy so there is only so much you can do. It has to be absolutely disheartening to be the best man on the force but to not be ranked high enough to actually make a difference in these things. It’s the ultimate frustration. Then you mayor as well who falls into all of the same traps. He wants votes and he wants results but the guy can’t wait long enough to get them the right way. He’s the kind of guy who would jump into a trap just to spite Harry and to show that he can make his own decisions. He’s not the smartest guy at all.

The villains are okay but not super memorable. They have their own motives and all but at the end of the day they basically are terrorists. Their message gets lost early on when they’re murdering everyone. It always takes a rather huge kind of message to counter murders like that. You need to have an extremely powerful message for me to even begin to think of supporting you by this point. These guys don’t though so they lose the credibility rather quickly.

Like I mentioned earlier, one of the film’s strengths is that it does throw in some good humor from time to time though. Harry’s dry wit really works well in different scenes and then you also have a lot of crazy stuff going on like one of the terrorists being in a nun outfit and the pastor generally being super unhelpful. You can’t really stay neutral or talk about nonviolence when you have terrorists inside the building with you. People are unhelpful to a comedic extreme, corrupt to an extreme, and everything is just big and crazy. Even the way Harry handles the opening case is rather funny with how nonchalant he is about it.

The humor never goes too far or wrecks the tone of the film though. It is absolutely a lighter tone than the last film but it’s handled smoothly and isn’t forceful. It just works here and not every film has to have some kind of super deep message after all. This film is also a lot shorter than the last one so in a way this may have been a decision to just make this more of a basic action film. You can never really go wrong with that as long as the writing is good and I thought it was rather solid. The ending may not be quite as solid as the last one since it’s way more of a hollow victory but it’s still good enough. Harry shows off his attitude to the end and we get one last gag of sorts.

Overall, The Enforcer is a good film. I don’t think it quite has the depth of the last one but it’s still a good adventure. In a way it continues to show just how corrupt things are to the point where Harry has to rely on other criminals to get the info he needs on the main villains. He can’t rely on the cops or their information networks which is really rough when you think about it. With the mayor pushing all of his social justice policies in, Harry can see how it might get even worse in the future. He may complain, but ultimately he keeps on getting the job done though and that’s what is important. I would recommend checking this film out, you’ll have a good time.

Overall 6/10

Magnum Force Review

Posted on August 22, 2024 by dreager1

This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as the review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for Harry to return and start putting some justice back in the streets. Magnum Force tackles the topic of vigilante justice which is pretty fun because usually you only see that in a superhero story. Sure, non superhero movies sometimes have this as well for the main character but it’s a little rarer to have the complete hero having to take on a vigilante. Especially when the hero is someone who is willing to skirt the rules quite a bit like Dirty Harry.

The movie starts with a crook managing to get away on a technicality and preparing to enjoy his new freedom. Unfortunately for him, he bumps into a cop who is just not having this and gets brutally murdered. Harry decides to look into this although he is warned not to look too closely. A man like Harry is going to try for answers and those answers may not be to the department’s best interests. It’s a touchy subject after all and so naturally Harry doesn’t listen to them at all. He’s going to do whatever he wants and that’s really the final answer. He does have a partner, but there’s not much point talking about him because you know how that tends to go.

In a way this movie plays out like a part mystery. Who is this rogue cop? There are several suspects because in the movie we meet a new rookie unit that is formed of several prodigies. These guys are all experts with a gun and are definitely not afraid to use it. So which one of them has gone off the deep end and started executing criminals? Sure, it might sound like a good idea at first and that’s why it is always such a tempting proposition but it becomes a super slippery slope. In fact we can go over that a bit in this review because the movie also goes over this in detail.

Basically as Harry points out, the rogue cop is playing judge, jury, and executioner. Yes, Harry has had to wrestle with these themes even in the first film. Sometimes you do have to pull the trigger but there’s a big difference between doing that either in duress, a split second situation, a one time event, and casually going around bumping off all criminals. You have to be absolutely sure that the person doing the crime is actually guilty and figuring out a lot of similar things as well. After all, if you got this wrong, then you are murdering an innocent person.

In a perfect world, if it were possible to perfectly know if someone was guilty of particularly heinous crimes then I doubt that anyone would have a problem deleting them. If you could press a button and it only deleted people that you knew committed the crime like cold blooded murder in a non acceptable circumstance, then that’d be great. Of course, that is not something that can ever happen. The thing with vigilantism is that you can’t promote it because then it’ll spread and inevitably be used by someone who doesn’t subscribe to the same values. It puts the whole topic in a very dicey spot. You can only really internally root for it and not externally.

Take the opening scene, everyone knows that this guy murdered a bunch of people. He got off on a legal loophole, but that’s all it was…a loophole. When you have actual footage of someone doing something criminal, it can be extremely frustrating to see them out and about again with no problem. The law will never be perfect of course as you can’t stitch every loophole but that’s when vigilantes don’t seem to bad. So in the world of Dirty Harry, you can easily imagine how vigilantes would appear. There is just so much crime and corruption everywhere. The cops seem rather dirty at times so the only way to put a criminal off the streets is to do it yourself.

Of course, using a cop to do this means the whole agency could be compromised. So it makes for a pretty good battle of ideals throughout the movie. Then you also have the battle of generations. Harry is an older guy who has been around the block many times before. He knows how to fight and make command decisions but can he handle any of these younger cops? We see that they are near perfect on the gun range and hold their own in a shooting exhibition. Of course, Harry threw the latter so we can assume he would have won or at least tied there but it doesn’t change the fact that these guys are really evenly matched.

Harry is always a likable character and he does tend to carry the film at a lot of points. He’s certainly not flawless. The guy makes mistakes like anybody else but he’s always at least fighting for something. He still believes that the badge means something after all and this kind of main character is always fun. I also like the main villain. I won’t say who it is but the film definitely takes a twist out of a mystery film with how it’s handled. It makes for a really solid climax all the way around.

The film does show off what a lawless city it takes place in so there is definitely some grit here though. The murders can be a little bloody at times of course. There is some fanservice running around and most of the characters are meant to be rather unlikable. I like the young cops and Harry but pretty much everyone else here tends to be annoying. I actually thought Harry’s partner wasn’t bad but you just feel like he’s absolutely doomed the whole time. Nobody can hang with Harry for long. That’s just how it always is. He’s built different for this kind of thing.

Overall, Magnum Force is a pretty solid film. It’s definitely a long one so there is a whole lot of time for investigation here and debates on what is going on. The movie avoids being too black and white on the issue which I appreciated as it is a bit of a nuanced topic. It may be an uncomfortable one for most but there is a reason why vigilante justice is so popular after all. The film absolutely lands the ending as well so it makes for a satisfying watch. It’s probably a film that would be a little too intense for younger watchers but I wouldn’t say it is completely off its rocker either. I do think the film showed some restraint overall since it could easily mess with the audience’s emotions to make the vigilantism even more accepted based on how awful the criminals are. You are more left to assume based on context and such rather than shown the various crimes for the most part which is always the best way to go. So yeah this is definitely the film to watch if you want a compelling action title.

Overall 6/10

Godzilla Minus One Review

Posted on August 22, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the return of Godzilla! Japan likes to bring him back from time to time although lately we haven’t really seen any big opponents for him. This is a return to form of a more serious Godzilla film and what would happen if he really did show up. It’s a solid modern take on the Kaiju and delivers with some solid special effects. It doesn’t stand out compared to the average Godzilla film but having any Godzilla film show up is always awesome!

The movie starts with Koichi deciding to dodge his suicide bomb run and just head to an island to recharge for a bit. No way he’s dying in futility! Nobody is particularly thrilled about this but they don’t have time to convince him to be destroyed because Godzilla shows up and starts laying waste to all of them. Koichi and Tachibana are the only survivors. Tachibana escapes to parts unknown while Koichi visits his home but people are also upset at him. A suicide bomber cannot return alive, it means that they didn’t follow through. The only thing keeping Koichi together at this point is taking care of a lady named Noriko and a baby she is helping out. They are homeless after the attacks and so he lets her crash at his place. Can he redeem himself now?

A lot of the story is really about Koichi dealing with the fact that he survived and wondering if he made the right choice. He has survivor’s guilt and a whole lot of PTSD to unpack so it’s definitely not easy. I would say this also tends to be a cultural distinction here as Japan always was really big on the family honor dynamic. Koichi knows he would have died for pretty much no purpose and yet he still can’t shake the guilt because it’s what was expected of him. Defying the rules and doing your own thing is more of an American ideology and that’s where I tend to stand. To me it makes sense to keep surviving and make the rational decision without guilt but of course that’s easier said than done.

So the film keeps up this very somber tone for a long while with Koichi and it’s a bit hard to connect to. I do appreciate that he is trying to take care of Noriko though. The film can’t help but try to force a romance later on though which I thought was rather unnecessary. Having Koichi help a pure stranger out of the kindness of his heart or some kind of belief that he needed to even out the scales would have been really good. In saving her he would save himself or something like that. The romance just muddies that message a bit I’d say. At least it does take place over several years so I won’t give the usual complaint of it being rushed. It really wasn’t in this case, I just felt it didn’t really support the themes.

Noriko is a good person as well with how she takes care of the baby and everything. She also tries to move on so that she is not a bother to Koichi at all. I can appreciate that like her getting a job and everything. Her reaction times are also a lot better than Koichi’s and her instincts are sharp. She even has the best durability feat among the humans in the whole film. As a whole she is definitely a quality character, dare I say easily the best human in the film?

There are some other characters but they tend to be more on the annoying side. You have the inventor who barely knows what he is doing and who gets drunk a lot. You’ve got the young guy who is out of his depths but really wants to help. Then you have the older, more jaded guy who is ready to step up when needed. They aren’t bad but don’t do a whole lot. Tachibana was a good rival at least in that he wouldn’t let Koichi off easily but didn’t let his personal feelings get in the way of things by the end. When it was time to buckle down and do his job, he did it 100%.

Now as for Godzilla, unfortunately this is one of his weakest incarnations. That is usually going to happen when you have him up against humans though. In this case, conventional weaponry is enough to heavily damage him to the point of needing to use his regeneration. The main ships are nearly able to destroy him on their own. This Godzilla would not last for very long against someone like Orga, I can tell you that for sure. I liked the regeneration and how fast it worked, but being at the cost of his overall durability was a little unfortunate. You have to try and strike a balance of course but I don’t think this was it.

Naturally it’s all going to get a little cheesy with the humans fighting Godzilla but that’s how it goes I suppose. Whenever the power balance is drastic enough, that is going to happen. The ending actually had another cheesy event aside from Godzilla going down, but that one I was fine with. I always root for the Hollywood type ending where things go well and so this worked out really well. Why have a grim ending when you can have a happy one right? If not for that part of the ending you could argue that the costs were just way too great.

We do have a pair of cliffhangers at the end of the movie. We know most likely they will never be followed up on but I still appreciate having them in there. It’s an ending that reminds you just how doomed everyone is going to be in the future. Humanity has no idea what they have just gotten themselves into! It’s also a very realistic human setting so the odds of building some kind of Mecha Godzilla this time feel very remote.

The soundtrack is all right. The standout is definitely when they play the main Godzilla theme from the good ole days. None of the other tracks were nearly as intense. Godzilla’s new roar isn’t bad although I prefer the original one. The design itself is definitely solid on all accounts though. The Atomic Breath may take a little too long to fire and recharge but these nerfs were likely necessary to give the humans a fighting chance and even then they feel super outmatched anyway.

The writing was solid in the film and I appreciate that there is a lot going on. The graphics are definitely good all around. In general it’s just not quite as fast paced as the average Godzilla film though. It’s hard to go back to the days of not having an opponent Kaiju. Shin Godzilla did that to better effect with all of the humor throughout the film and poking fun at how everything needs a meeting. This one was going for a much more somber tone which was never really going to work out quite as well. It’s just tough to really pull that off in general but thanks to Godzilla the film is still pretty solid.

Overall, Godzilla Minus One is a pretty good film. It may not reach the usual Godzilla standard at times but that’s because they were trying to lean a bit more on the humans here. I don’t think that plot ever becomes super compelling as Godzilla steals the show without appearing for a while. So you’re left just wanting Godzilla to appear every time even when the humans are supposed to be dominating and it’s hard to really balance both ends. Still, I definitely recommend checking this one out as soon as possible. It’s not every day that we have a Godzilla film!

Overall 7/10

The God of Highschool Review

Posted on August 18, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the greatest webtoons of all time! It’s second only to Tower of God and it was real nice to have the two as rivals for a long time. This series eventually ended though and Tower of God looks like it’s got enough energy left in the tank for at least another 10 years. So I guess this one won’t be taking the top spot but it is still an elite title. There are just so many great fights here and the artwork is fantastic. In terms of power levels I don’t think any Webtoon will ever pass this one. It just got so crazy in a good way. It was really an experience reading through this one.

The series starts off with several characters being invited to the God of Highschool tournament. It’s a big tournament to find out who the strongest fighter is. Naturally everyone wants in on this because it’s a huge opportunity to fight for pride, money, or just about anything really. The world will really open up to you if you are able to win the whole thing so you can’t let an opportunity like this slip you by. The main character of this story is Mori Jin. (The way they say the names it can be hard to tell which is the first name and the last name at times but either way you’ll know who I’m talking about) He loves fighting so this is right up his alley. Maybe he will even get to make some friends as he goes through the matches.

The first arc is really all about the qualifiers to actually make it to the world stage. As you can probably guess, it’s a lot of wins in order to even make it that far which is why this takes up the entire anime. You’ve got multiple rounds and of course this is also where you get to meet the main characters and learn a lot about them. It’s an extremely important intro and even within this arc you have several mini arcs like a wedding, the first battle with the supernatural, etc. This is a very busy series and I can assure you that it only gets busier as the series goes on. You won’t be finding much downtime here but of course that’s just the way that I like it!

As the main character is Mori Jin we will talk about him first. This guy is based on the same origins as Goku so it’s pretty fun to see the similarities. Mori loves fighting and having a good time. He’s generally a pretty easygoing guy who isn’t complicated. Mori says what is on his mind and just keeps it moving from there. He is someone you can easily respect and also someone that you can really count on when the chips are down. There is a whole lot to the guy. As the series goes on we learn more and more about him. There are tons of twists about his true character and for fans who read the original legend, it’s fun to see all of the references. It’s played a lot closer to the original source material than Goku ever was.

As the series goes on they incorporate more and more of the legend and Mori’s character gains more and more depth. This does unfortunately mean he has to be reset quite a few times in connection with the legend. It’s a series where I highly recommend reading the comments after each chapter because it adds a whole lot of context and depth to each scene. This is one of those series that won’t really spoon feed you the information. You either know it or you don’t and you will get left behind. There are really no negatives to be had with the character though, he is an amazing lead and a complete credit to the series.

Then we have Mira as the main heroine. As the series goes on there are a few other characters who try to steal that slot but nobody ever quite comes close to her. She has a really good character arc as she initially starts off as the weakest of the trio. She loses a number of fights and has low confidence but this gradually changes as she fights more and gains experience. Mira consistently gets stronger as the series goes on and she is an absolute top tier threat by the end. It was always fun waiting to see the big 3 team up again as the series went further and further. Since Daewi and Mori are always super focused on the fighting, she helps keep them grounded when there needs to be time for some emotion.

Finally Daewi wraps up the main trio. He has a bit of a rough start as his friend gets injured and so he really goes all out against Mira. In the show especially they made a big deal about how violent he was but this part I never fully understood because it was a tournament match. All of his attacks were well within parameters and Mira had no complaints about this either. Sure, in a normal situation he may have gone easy on her but that would have probably just been plain insulting. So I didn’t have a problem there. As the series goes on Daewi does make some really questionable decisions though.

Aside from Mori who tends to see things in a black and white view, most of the other characters get corrupted and have to sacrifice part of their morals. So I didn’t agree with some stuff here but for the most part Daewi was doing his best to help stop the villains and save the world. He also gained quite a lot of power by the end of the series and is one of the only characters who is really a main character in every part of the series. It was always fun to have him around.

Go Gamdo is one of the first tournament fighters to show up and unfortunately for this guy he is really just used for hype. He is dismantled rather easily and unfortunately for him he had to fight a particularly brutal opponent. It’s why you should really only enter tournaments like this if you are absolutely crazy because there’s always one jerk who’s going to try and torture you there. I give Go props for not giving up right away but he definitely needed more experience.

Ma Miseon is another early tournament fighter and she was pretty fun. What I really appreciated about her is that she was a strong fighter who had a good honor code. She would stay in there and fight fair all the way to the end. That’s something I can really respect and her fighting style was fun to watch. She may not have gotten to appear a whole lot in the series but she did end up being memorable as a result.

Baek Gang is one of those characters who started out really minor but really got big by the end. Uma helped keep him relevant for most of the series. In a way he started to even take over Ilpyo’s role as the strategist. His fighting style is fairly simple but effective and he has a good share of emotional moments. He even gets to use Charyeok. Wait, what is Charyeok you ask? The most underdeveloped power system you can think of. It barely even matters to be honest so I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t dislike it or anything as it leads to some good twists but I feel like it didn’t have much of a reason to exist by the end. You could skip it and nothing really changes about the series. At least nothing significant except that it is used as good foreshadowing. So I guess I’m sort of talking both ways here. Hmmmmmm, okay in the end I suppose it’s good that we have it here…I guess. It is a way to have some good cameos from historical figures and everything.

Byeon is one of those characters who is technically really strong but had the unfortunate luck of having to fight Mori Jin. So he’s basically used as a hype tool although I can appreciate that he made it pretty far in the tournament. The guy clearly has skills even if he was doomed from the start. He seemed like a likable guy for while he was around.

Ilpyo Park is one of those characters who started out as an extremely awesome character but got a little dicey from there. He made for a super good rival with a terrific backstory who helped Mori get better. He stole the show in all of his scenes in season 1. Unfortunately after a point he became like Shikamaru where he was willing to get super corrupt and go through with some bad plans. I know we had a ton of twists with the guy but I still felt like he went way too far the whole time. Also he didn’t keep up with the power creep as well as you would expect and really stopped doing things early on. I would have preferred he got less of a role if it meant he could have been less of a yes man though. He sort of got stuck with the worst of both worlds the way that it all turned out.

Seungah was a good supporting character and she definitely did a good job of following Ilpyo’s orders. She is a strong fighter in her own right which is how she was even able to execute on his plans. Her role isn’t very large but she is an earnest fighter and it was fun to have her around. She definitely had a rough time of things during the series but still didn’t give up. Ma Bora is a fighter who showed up early on but didn’t do as much as you would expect. Her sheer physical abilities are impressive but she doesn’t have a lot going on for her beyond that. I’d say she entered in one of those awkward spots where she was really strong at first but couldn’t keep up with the power creep and ultimately got overshadowed before she could show up for more fights. Not really my kind of character though so I didn’t miss her much.

Taek Jegal is the first really serious villain in the series and he was a lot of fun to have around. Yeah he’s basically your classic kind of villain and the guy has no honor code. That said, he has a cool design and his shark abilities are absolutely brutal. The guy is obsessed with power and continues to hone his skills a whole lot. He may have gotten power creeped rather quick but while he was in the spotlight you were always guaranteed a good time. He had a lot of aura and it’s always important for your first big villain to be memorable like this so I was really satisfied.

Gang is another one of the early villains to show up but he’s not nearly as impressive. Basically the guy is super petty and one of those bully type characters who likes picking on the weak. Once it’s time to fight a strong opponent he breaks down and it’s all over for him. I was surprised when he returned at one point but he never really made it to the top of the verse. There’s nothing to really like about him either. He’s just an obstacle for Jin to take down.

Jugok is a character who got a little too desperate and it cost him. He needed to be stronger in order to protect his family and his friends so he effectively sold out his soul and that still wasn’t enough. I suppose that touches into the darker side of any universe where there are massive power imbalances. The depressing thought here is that Jugok could train for the rest of his life or even 1000 years and never come close to the rest of the characters. He’s not a god or demon so he just can’t bridge that gap. Replicating the steps that someone like Mujin Park took would also likely be impossible. So you feel bad for the guy when he starts to lose everything but there isn’t much that can be done for him.

Hyangdan is just one of many characters who gets a raw deal as a result of this. It’s why there is always so much tension and characters wanting to murder each other here. The villains are absolutely ruthless the whole time. If you get in the way then you will be destroyed, straight up that’s how it goes. Jeon was at least a more powerful character who was able to indirectly get some revenge. As one of the Six (That group gets a ton of hype but it’s not always earned) he has a great amount of magical ability. I think he referred to it more as alchemy but the conversions let him summon giant rockets and things like that. The fact that he could stand up against angels and everything showed off his power well. I would have liked some more direct revenge but yeah this was a good character.

One team that felt a bit like a waste of time was Jang, Jin, and Na. Basically one of these characters was a dropout from ages ago so he decides to get back into high school. People mocked him for a while but he never took it to heart. Jang ends up falling in love with him over this but the age gap is way too crazy for that to ever work out. They get the emotional moments and everything but this group was absolutely doomed from the start. You knew from the jump they would never be relevant either which is why it’s borderline a waste of time. You can’t win with all of the teams of course but yeah I didn’t miss this group when they were gone.

Gwum is one of those characters who is a victim of always fighting powerful opponents. The guy is a beast in his own right but is just completely dominated when it counts. I liked the confidence at least and he grew on me a little bit but just not enough in the end. There are so many characters in the series that you have to be more than decent to really stand out. He’s yet another character where just one more fight could have helped to push him over the top. Marin Lee is one of those random villains who is so petty and off putting that it’s almost funny. He uses beach tanning cream to keep opponents from hitting him. I mean it’s crazy silly but it actually works so I guess I have to respect the hustle here. It would have been nice if he could have been a little stronger and more competent though. Give him more to do beyond just being a random villain to be taken down you know? His whole group were basically scrubs though and cheap shots and hostages were the only things that kept them in the game for a while there.

This pretty much wraps up all of the big characters from that opening arc. From this point on the cast would only continue to expand more and more as the series went on. The story had 6 main sagas, each one being fairly long considering that the series had over 500 chapters. I’ll go into some of the later characters now but considering the tournament style of the series there are also a bunch of characters that are basically one shots and never got big. Others are fairly big but it’s been long enough where I don’t fully remember them. It’s definitely the kind of series that has tons and tons of replay value whenever you want to read it. It’s what I love about a long series like this. The better it is, the more replay value it gets automatically. Now lets jump into some of these characters:

Mori Hui is probably the most tragic character in the series. You knew all along how his character had to end but he was just so awesome the whole time. The series does a great job of making you real attached to him all the way through. I won’t say he is higher than Mori Jin or anything like that but you could sympathize with him more. It’s hard knowing that your existence is really just that of a replacement. In a lot of ways he reminded me of Roxas from Kingdom Hearts. Through it all though, no matter how many times things got tough or discouraging, he never gave up. Mori Hui fought for his friends all the way through. I’d definitely like to see him return some day in a sequel series or something. This series has so many different magic abilities and supernatural elements that you can’t tell me it’s impossible.

Dante is definitely one of the big standout villains who came in later on. He felt like a hero in the way that he would adapt and get stronger after every single fight. He was never static and wouldn’t just stay at the same level. So he would lose and keep on coming back. It was done in a really effective way so I never felt like he had lost all of his hype or anything. Gaining more and more strength was just how he fought and it’s a copy style like Amazo. The guy also has a great design which never hurts.

There’s not a lot to say about the 3 America fighters: With Hawk, J Doggy, and Anna but I did like that they were going for a full Supergirl homage with the last one. They each represented different parts of America and I always love how we’re portrayed in any foreign media. They really have a very specific view of us that’s for sure. The President showing up in the first chapter with the nukes was absolutely brilliant. As long as you can have fun with this kind of thing then it’s a blast and I always like to have good fun.

In general I’m not going into depth with most of the global fighters but it is pretty fun. More so than the characters, it’s fun to see how each country fights. I feel like the author actually put in a good amount of work to try and make every country authentic to their fighting style. It is a tournament so naturally a lot of countries do lose in round 1 but that was inevitable. I feel like the author treated them all fairly. Perhaps there are a lot of stereotypes in there but that’s a way to easily recognize each country.

Mori Dan is a really good character. There is some extra context to this guy for sure but the main thing you have to know is that he loves a good fight but is very resourceful and clever. He’s good at not picking fights that he can’t win while at the same time still stepping in if anyone is being too shady. It can be a bit annoying seeing some more powerful fighters trying to mess with him the whole time but Dan never backs down and only continues to get stronger. I tend to be on his side for pretty much every situation.

Then we have Dean who basically ends up being his rival. Dean looks real impressive all things considered. The guy starts out as basically a nobody but keeps on polishing his skills until he’s a top threat, at least for the portion of the series that he was in. He helped to keep Dan sharp all of the time. Unfortunately Dean would usually be on the wrong side of every debate which did not help him out at all. I would usually lose quite a bit of respect for that guy.

All of the original judges tend to be pretty fun. Judge O had a cool dragon even if it didn’t get a whole lot of screentime. Judge P was one of the only people who could actually talk to Mujin Park openly without fear or having to mince words. They had a good dynamic there even if Mujin often looked pretty bad by the end of the scene. The guy just couldn’t be honest with himself all the way to the end.

Judge Q is definitely one of the guys to get the biggest role here. His cards were fun and the guy was always looking pretty good. I would say he never struck me as being quite as strong as the story wanted you to believe but to make up for this he did get several super forms. They at least helped to put him in the conversation more than he would have been otherwise. The guy also had a lot of confidence the whole time which I always like to see in a character.

The real standout hit was definitely Judge R though. His powers were absolutely crazy by the end and he had some good plans. Obviously he is rather insane like a lot of the other villains but he would really flaunt this and the way he went about his goals was good. He was definitely extremely impressive when he first showed up even if he would eventually get surpassed as most characters do.

All right Mujin Park is one of the central figures of the series and easily one of the coolest characters of the series. He made for a super excellent villain all the way as he just kept on grabbing power up after power up. It was super impressive and one of the things I liked about him is his versatility and resistance. At some points he had absolutely no shot to do anything and he knew it so the guy would just buy his time. He wouldn’t worry about anything until the time was right. He would team up with Mori and anyone else as needed. His ultimate goal was to protect humanity and while this had some holes poked into it by Mori and the others over time, it was a good goal at its core. Humanity could easily be wiped out with all of these powerful threats around.

He’s a villain through and through with no real wiggle room there. You absolutely can’t make any kind of case for him being a hero or even an anti hero. He wouldn’t even dispute that. The whole idea is that he is being a complete villain in order to unite everyone. Mujin Park believes that only an extreme route like this will allow the humans to survive and the series makes some compelling points in his favor. Ragnarok is a huge one for example as the gods show up and start murdering humans in the millions in only a few short hours. Humanity was completely defenseless without Mori Jin showing up to help. The thing is, it’s hard to just have one hero be the only thing standing between you and complete obliteration. So Mujin Park wanted to eradicate all non humans and at the same time do whatever he could to make humans perfect. This involved a lot of really dangerous experiments and unethical actions. His origin story also ties into this.

In a way it’s an inspiring story about how a normal human literally surpassed all of the gods due to his own creativity and determination. It’s an absolutely insane feat and I don’t think anyone else has even come close to what he pulled off here. So he is a villain to be sure but you can definitely admire the strategy that went into this. It’s why even Mori Jin respected the guy a lot even after he nearly murdered the hero’s friends like 20 times in a row. There’s just a big difference between respecting someone and actually agreeing with what they do. You want to be careful about how you do that though because people who can’t handle nuance may come at you real quick.

Kim Ungnyeo was a fun mentor figure. Unfortunately due to the way her powers work she doesn’t get to appear as much as I would have liked. In her true form she could definitely deal quite a lot of damage but I suppose the series had no shortage of top fighters. Na was another mentor type figure who didn’t get too many fights. He definitely helped Mori get stronger though so he did his job. You know that he could fight really well as one of the Six even if he wasn’t one of the main starring roles though. Seo wasn’t too remarkable though. He was good for his connections and intel. He could get a whole lot of people to rise up for a fight but on his own I never thought he was all that.

My favorite member of the Six was definitely Kim Dooshik. This guy was always ready for a fight and had a ton of guts. He definitely would not be hiding behind anybody or anything like that. Whenever he was on screen he was going to be taking names. There was one fight in particular later on where he was clearly weaker than his opponent but he just kept on getting up over and over which was really impressive. Definitely a good way to show how determination is key here.

Taejin gets a ton of hype when he shows up. After all, he’s related to Mori and this guy has insane amounts of power even without a summoned spirit or being part god. He just relies on natural strength and that kind of character is always a lot of fun in any medium. The more gimmicks and supernatural powers you have, the more it becomes easy to really celebrate a character who is just fighting on his own and still doing well. It’s just really impressive and speaks to his absolute power. I would have liked him to have done more though. The amount of hype he gets from his first appearance is impressive to be sure but it’s maybe a bit overplayed. By the 20th time we see it referenced, you feel like you just get it already and want the whole thing to move on. I would have liked even just one more big fight for him.

The King is one of those guys who may be old but he’s still a super strong fighter. The guy absolutely mastered all of the various elements to the point where even the more powerful fighters had to respect him. He stayed relevant for a very long time. I may not love him as a villain but I did love the moveset. So when a certain character became the next king I was definitely stoked because we got to see the attacks used in a more dynamic way. Yeah that was definitely a lot of fun!

Sujin Lee is a very interesting character. She was absolutely awesome for when she first showed up and was a super threat for an entire season. She gave Mori some killer fights and was an amazing rival. Then out of the blue she put on a ton of weight and became more of a comic relief character. It was easily one of the most disgraceful things I’ve seen happen to a character. I thought they couldn’t be serious but she never recovered her former hype. Instead she would talk about food and get wrecked. This kind of plot is never fun to me. Do that to one of the lame characters but not the cool rival! So even though she fell off rather hard, I remember her good moments very fondly.

Then we have Mandeok Sang who was like a weaker version of Mujin Park. One thing I appreciated about this guy is that he kept on returning over and over again. He was extremely persistent and actually kept up with the power levels for a while before he was ultimately shut down. So I give him massive respect and props there. It would have been nice if his goals were a little better though. It felt like he wasn’t truly thinking for himself and was more of a puppet by the end. It weakens the whole premise of his group to be honest but I did enjoy having him around as a wild card. He stayed relevant for a very long while.

Xiaochen is a pretty fun villain who really got a super big role as the series went on. Not only was she really powerful but she was a loyal friend. She was doomed to a large extent because she fell for guy who already liked someone else though. Still, she remained chipper the whole time and never let herself get down about anything. She’s one of those side characters who really made a name for herself despite the smaller screen time.

Drake is a character who does better than I would have really guessed. He’s introduced as what I can only call a two bit villain the whole time but surprisingly he does some real damage. With a last name like McDonald it’s easy to poke fun at him as well but I suppose in the end it’s undeserved. Still, I never quite ended up liking the guy. He’s just not my kind of character I suppose.

Saturn is a lot more fun although you may overrate her abilities based on the title. Most of the other planetary characters are incredibly powerful but she just happens to have the name and is a normal villain. She’s definitely got a mean side and really starts cursing at random points once she is done eating. It’s an amusing gimmick and also one that makes her memorable so it was definitely smart of the series to do this to keep her relevant the whole time.

Axley was the most interesting of the villain trio but as bad luck would have it, he was also the one with the smallest role. It’s a shame because he had a great intro and the most interesting abilities so I wanted to see him use more of those. He’s consistently around but never really the focus if that makes sense. I still liked the character though.

Dan Ahan was a really good supporting character. She’s not a big fighter like most of the cast but she really provides good help to Dan the whole time. I don’t really care for how the series ended her character because it went in a really weird direction but beyond that she was solid. There aren’t a whole lot of human characters who left a mark on the series so that was already impressive.

Mori Jung is another rather tragic character. In some ways you could say he is even more tragic than Hui because they have similar character arcs but this guy had no kind of support network to help him out. So he ended up really being all alone which sucks. The guy is strong and held himself together well but ultimately was not in a good spot from the beginning. I liked the guy, he made for a good wild card.

Uma is a character who got introduced fairly late into the series but was a lot of fun. Her power level was just high enough to stay relevant even as the series started to approach the end. She ends up doing a lot more than I would have expected, especially considering that the rest of the fighters in her group didn’t get to do much at all. It’s always good to have at least one member repping a group pretty well though so she definitely did good there. When Uma shows up you always know somebody is about to get clubbed to death.

It’s really telling just how crazy the series is when you have Satan showing up as one of the more hype characters. I remember people cheering in the comments when Satan had his big return. People were stoked to see him and he ended up being the big ray of hope for the heroes. It certainly underscores how fierce the new opponent was. God of Highschool loves to really increase the power ceiling and what better way than by having a villain absolutely dumpster the previous strongest in the verse right? Get used to it because this happens a whole lot. Yes, the power levels go so crazy here that I often have power level issues with the series. It almost goes without saying but yeah whenever one of the old characters shows up and takes a hit from these guys, they should be dead instantly. That’s just common sense imo. Satan is unironically a pretty fun character here though. He just loves having a good fight and constantly evolves as he fights. His fighting style is crazy and his battle with Mori is still one of the best in the series. I may even have that as the absolute best fight in all of God of Highschool to be honest. The name of the series gets funnier and funnier as the power levels go higher and higher to be honest.

Odin’s character here was definitely a lot different than you might have expected going in. For starters he seems more like a complete demon than one of the gods. The guy is absolutely insane much like all of the other cosmic characters in this series. You really can’t trust any of them but he does stay as one of the top threats throughout the series. At no point does he get power cliffed too hard. I suppose excluding the final battle of the series which power cliffs everybody by a wide margin. You can’t really count the final fight in these things as they always make sure to go all out.

Beelzebub is another real powerful guy but lets talk about Zeus. One of the fun things about Zeus is that he’s easily one of the more emotional villains. This guy absolutely hates humans and isn’t afraid to say it. He wants to put the absolute fear of god into them and goes around murdering people like crazy. Out of all the gods this is probably the one that you want to fight the least. It’s also unfortunate for the heroes that he is easily one of the strongest as well. So if you go up against him, odds are that you are not going to be walking away. He is just going to decimate the competition.

Michael is another one of those really strong cosmic beings and naturally he’s rather twisted the whole time. It was fun seeing him show up even if by this point he was quickly getting surpassed by the others. The guy loves his cheap shots and is definitely not the type to play fair. He has a killer design though which really helps to keep him memorable the whole time compared to the other fighters like Uriel.

Tathagata is one of those villains that was hyped up for a crazy long amount of time so you were really looking forward to seeing him get some action. His power levels are also crazy high. It’s no exaggeration to say that this guy could solo many different manga and anime verses. The series does not hold back with him at all and that’s part of what makes the fight so much fun. There is also this constant back and forth with him and Mujin Park on who the actual final boss is. They keep you guessing all the way to the end with both characters getting massive amounts of hype. You will have to read the series to see who ends up getting that spot though.

Okay so that was a lot of story and a lot of characters! Definitely feels like you went through a full adventure there and I can assure you that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Read the whole series yourself to really see all of the characters and events. When you’ve got hundreds and hundreds of chapters like this series does, you can see how it’s easy to squeeze a ton of content in here. The series definitely had its low moments as well but that’s where the length really comes in. There are scenes and even arcs here that could have doomed a lesser title down to a 2 or worse.

When this series fell into a slump, trust me when I say it was a huge one. Definitely like nothing I had ever seen before or at least something only in very rare circumstances. In a series this long, you’re not surprised to see it making all kinds of mistakes. That’s just bound to happen to pretty much any title of this size. You had babies getting murdered, some animal violence, and generally a lot of terror. The series goes out of its way to show that when the villains win, the universe really goes to a bad spot. Even when the heroes are winning, there is usually something bad happening. The main important thing is that the positives outweigh the negatives for the series though and they definitely do here. The sheer hype from each of the fights and arcs is just insanely impressive to the point where it’s just hard to top.

The final fight went on for months and the series even throws a few fakeouts in there. There were different points throughout the series where it felt like the whole thing was ending, only for a whole new arc to start. I will admit that sometimes this could feel like a bit of a waste with certain plot elements being incredibly overdone, but deep down I was just happy to see the series continuing to go on. As long as you don’t mind Mori getting nerfed a whole lot throughout the series then you should be good. Also, I do get why you would want to nerf him at times because otherwise it would be hard to write around his power. The guy really does Goku proud by the end of this.

The art is also really solid. It’s definitely not as detailed as something like Solo Leveling but it makes up for this with incredible fighting choreography. The battles all look amazing and you can really follow the movements. Each battle is something to be taken real seriously and because the series has such a global element to most of its plots it is nice to see the different fighting styles go up against each other. You’ve got karate, taekwondo, etc. They all get their shine which I appreciate. Of course Taekwondo tends to look the best since that’s what Mori uses but that’s to be expected. He’s the best in the business after all.

I also really like how the series changes backgrounds a lot. What I mean by that is at first you have people fighting within a stadium, then they’re jumping through the city having fights outside, finally you have battles in outer space. With the exception of Mori Jin, you tend to feel the power levels gradually rising as the series goes on. It also rises by enough of a sizable difference where it’s fun to compare the past with the current. The series really has a good balance there. Now as a whole there are a ton of power level complaints I would have. As the series gets higher and higher this is yet another inevitable thing to an extent. Nothing that would hurt the score but yeah I was skeptical for a lot of different outcomes.

One of the big debates/topics that keeps coming up in the series is about which side is truly good though. You have 3 main groups: The humans, The gods, and the demons. You’d think this should be pretty straight forward but it’s tough. The humans for example have tons of villains all over the place. We’re talking domestic terrorism, psychopaths, mass murderers, etc. Basically the humanity you’ve all grown up with. The series is not subtle about its critique of humanity and how they will always be starting new wars and are ungrateful. No matter how many times Mori saves them, they continue to try and hunt him. Additionally, humans are particularly cruel with their experiments. When they capture a god or a demon, it’s usually a fate worst than death.

Then you have the demons led by Satan…obviously they’re pretty evil. They tend to just murder everybody so it’s not as dark as humanity. At the same time, survival of the fittest is the only way they have ever known how to live. They all keep murdering each other until they rise to the top. They have to keep their strength up or they will be destroyed by the gods or humans. I wouldn’t say they ever get sympathetic though, at the end of the day they are probably the worst of the 3…maybe. I would rather get caught by a demon than the others as my death would at least be quick but there really aren’t any heroic ones.

Then you have the gods, well they really don’t care about anything except their own greatness. They like hunting humans for sport and pick a lot of the fights. Like the demons there don’t seem to really be any heroic ones. They’re just perpetually bored and their idea of a good time is just murdering the various humans and causing a lot of problems. So in some ways you could say they’re the worst because a lot of the issues are their fault. Since Mori Jin basically represents all 3 forms at one point or another, he gets to make nice with some humans and demons (Not really any of the gods though tbh) which leads to some interesting plot points.

All in all, I thought the series did an excellent job with the world building here. After all, no group is ever purely good when it becomes large enough. There will inevitably be some traitors within or people who just get tempted by the dark side. These people are often very motivated to keep moving up the ranks while the kind ones get content. That happens again and again here so you really can’t trust anyone in the series. We even get the Superman type debate here.

Mujin Park feels like Mori can’t be trusted because he’s just too powerful. As the series goes on Mori can throw entire planets. He could eliminate Earth if he has a bad dream and gets up the wrong way. With that kind of power, Mujin feels like there can never be peace unless they are all terminated. He’s big on the whole “Earth is for Earthlings” thing. Ultimately he becomes a complete dictator as you can probably guess but he made for a very compelling villain. I tend to love it when villains really have a whole misguided sense of justice like this. You can root against them while totally getting how they came to this spot. He was really a true highlight in the series.

The series had so many “endings” as things kept ramping up again that it’s hard to say which would have been the best one. I don’t love the actual ending we got because unfortunately I would say they chose the wrong person to be with Mori in the end. It doesn’t really work even when you look at it in the best interpretation. Still, the characters mostly all got closure so the series definitely has that going for it. You can’t say that it was rushed, I remember a bunch of people kept begging for the series to be over for months and months before it finally ended. Meanwhile I was just enjoying how comically large the fight was getting. Look, the best kind of final fight is where every cast one by one goes up against the main villain and gets crushed. That’s always absolutely epic and this series had such a massive cast by the end that it makes sense how long it all was.

Overall, I could go on for sure but that’s enough for now. This is absolutely the kind of series that has a lot to say even if the fight scenes are the top priority. I would definitely recommend checking out God of Highschool as soon as possible. It may seem like a daunting task at first glance but once you get into it then the series will really go by quickly. It’s got a fun tone to it and especially in season 1 there is quite a bit of comedy to balance out the serious moments. It never totally goes away of course but the latter half of the series tends to be so serious that there just isn’t as much time for the comedy. So definitely enjoy it while you can but the series excels in both tones.

Overall 9/10

Battle Beyond the Stars Review

Posted on August 18, 2024 by dreager1

This movie is definitely like a cross between Star Wars and the Seven Samurai. It’s really about recruiting a bunch of people to fight the enemy overlords and then we get to the big climax. It’s a good movie that is bogged down by some terrible writing. This may be the first time I’ve had to say that in a while but yes the writing is absolutely abysmal at times. You’ll see what I mean as we go through this but ultimately I would still give the movie a thumbs up. It may not be the best sci-fi out there but it does a lot of things right.

The film starts off with the evil emperor Sador deciding to take down another planet. This time he is after a peaceful planet that has no real fighting capabilities. They don’t want to go down without a fight though so Shad is sent off into the vast universe to find people who will help fight off the powerful villains. It’s going to be a tough sell because they don’t have any money or priceless artifacts to give up. Anyone who helps out will be doing so out of the goodness of their hearts…yeah. That’s not going to be a great way to get the best help out there but Shad will do his best.

Okay so here’s where the biggest glaring issue of the film comes in. They are absolutely desperate to get some bounty hunters to help. Truly desperate, Shad is asking everyone he meets if they can help. We’re talking from drunk Cowboys to random aliens who share a consciousness. It doesn’t really matter just how good they are, he just needs people. So about halfway into the movie we have Saint-Exmin show up and she is stoked to be a part of the crew. She is begging to join even so that she can fight and even if she dies, then she will have died in the line of duty in an honorable way. It makes a lot of sense so…Shad will let her in right? She is from a warrior race and her entire ship is built for combat.

No, Shad tells her to get lost and thinks she’s annoying. He figures she is weak and they’re better off without her. It’s gotta be one of the dumbest things I’ve heard in a long time. It made absolutely no sense and throughout the film he is a jerk to her for absolutely no reason. Yeah he finally apologizes near the very end but it felt like there must have been a few scenes left on the cutting floor or something. There was absolutely no reason for what he was doing there. It was virtually film breaking because it goes against the entire plot and this is the only time that Shad acts like this. It still makes no sense.

I can’t say I liked Shad much as a main character even aside from that whole thing though. For starters, he is a bit too oblivious about everything. He doesn’t really know anything about romance aside from breeding and is super slow on the uptake. All of the flirting and romance in the movie is painful to watch as a result. You are waiting to just get onto the next plot point each time. Nanelia also doesn’t know much about romance and since she is the main heroine that doesn’t bode well for either of them. Saint-Exmin at least tries to pass on her knowledge so I appreciate that. It may be a bit too bold for some but being bold is the best way to move forward within reason.

Saint-Exmin was actually a solid character. Would have been nice if she wasn’t used for fanservice all the time but her core personality was solid which is what counts. Meanwhile Nanelia wasn’t all that interesting. It felt like she was more of a nothing character who didn’t have any big ambitions or goals of her own. It would have been good if she could have had more to do in the film considering that she is one of the first ones to join in on this whole rebellion.

The characters recruited later on all have more of a role. You’ve got the Cowboy who shows up early on and gets a whole subplot. At first he doesn’t want to fight since he figures its a losing battle and doesn’t want anyone to look up to him but gradually gets his courage back and does really well. He’s someone you can count on when the chips are down even if at first he was really hesitant. That was definitely a pretty uplifting moment for the guy and by the end he was one of the more heroic ones.

My favorite helper was Gelt who is basically the world’s strongest bounty hunter. This guy was a serious threat and definitely not someone to be underestimated. His whole intro is really cool as we learn how everyone else was exterminated. He’s the main reason the heroes can even stand a chance against the main villain. Gelt earned his title and I would definitely be down for a prequel film about this guy. It would definitely be loaded with action and you get the feeling there is more to his past than what he is letting on.

Finally we have the 5 aliens with a shared conscience. They’re not bad, I definitely don’t envy them though. Imagine someone else constantly being in your head 24/7 at all times without any way out of that? That would be absolutely brutal. No privacy taken to the extreme. You could probably use this in some creative ways in a battle series but that’s not exactly what this movie is all about. They do a good job of filling in the last roster slots but that’s about all I would say for these guys.

The film spends so much time recruiting the heroes that we don’t have much time for the villains though. There are some mini villains scattered throughout the film but the main villain himself? He’s more of an obstacle to be defeated than a full fledged villain in his own right. He actually had potential with the solid design and everything but winds up being forgettable. I do think that does a disservice to the film since there was a lot of potential there. It’s another reason why the film doesn’t have good writing to me. It’s not paced correctly with characters being left out and of course I went over the main reason why I didn’t care for the writing. The film is still good and enjoyable all the way of course but yeah you’re left thinking that this could and should have been even better.

The special effects are definitely solid though. I appreciated all of the effects for the lasers and fights. The alien costumes looked good as well. Everything felt like it was crafted very carefully here. Even the ship felt extra real with the various rooms. It reminded me of the Enterprise from Star Trek. The ship basically being sentient with the A.I. was really the cherry on top there. It wasn’t afraid to take shots at the main guy on several occasions for being too timid and messing up on the controls. The ship was right by the way, this guy would choke under pressure every time he was at the command stations. You definitely don’t want him as your captain because he’ll never fire in time.

Overall, This is a film that is fairly memorable which tends to be a good thing. It may not be a match for the top tier sci-fi films out there but it is still at least trying to do something interesting. We got a lot of world building and a bunch of varied characters. I would like to see another film tackle this premise with better writing and it could really be a smash hit. In the meantime this one still has enough whit and good action scenes to keep it on top all the way. That’s definitely nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.

Overall 6/10

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