Tag Archives: Action

Joe Kidd Review

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Time for another Western type title. It’s always fun when you see Clint Eastwood on the poster because you know that the main character is about to be really fun. He really doesn’t put up with a lot from anyone and the film starts off really strong with the opening scene. I’ll admit that after that the plot isn’t super interesting though. You’re mainly just watching for the action scenes and to see the main character talking tough to everyone. Ultimately it makes for a good watch though and does beat the average western in the genre.

The film introduces us to Joe who is in prison and is just about ready to get out. One of the other prisoners makes the mistake of messing with him and gets his lights knocked out for the trouble. Joe’s bail has been paid by a guy named Harlan who is looking for another guy named Chama. There is a pretty big dispute going on and so Harlan and his posse are getting ready to take down Chama’s gang. Joe doesn’t care about any of this and is ready to get home but it turns out that his neighbors/friends were beaten and murdered by Chama’s men. So now Joe has a stake in all of this and is ready to set out. Is everything as it seems though?

One thing I will say from the jump is that neither Chama or Harlan are particularly heroic. This film is more about the grey in between as both groups have their share of secrets and issues going on. It means that in a way you just need the lesser of two evils to win or you need Joe to destroy them all. I just don’t think the film gives you enough reason to care about either side. To me they both seem super corrupt. I would say Harlan’s group is more villainous ultimately since they are picking fights and using force to take what they want. Chama’s group are mainly like the resistance but Chama was ready and willing to let everyone in the Church get murdered because he figured as the figure head of the group he had to live.

A very selfish gesture all the way through. He gets called out on this and tries to do better but yeah to me this was basically a gang fight. Ultimately Joe gets his revenge on what happened to his friends and then takes out everyone in his way. The most notable moment of the climax was definitely when he rode a train through the enemy base and started shooting. That was pretty fun in large part because it was so unexpected. It’s not every day that you see someone bring a train to a gun fight right?

The action scenes are on point as always. There aren’t quite as many as you would expect but they are always handled really well. As expected Joe is also a pretty fun main character. The romance here was definitely on the very weak side and that’s the weakest aspect of Joe’s character since he moves so fast on this. He is great in all other areas though. The guy has confidence and there is one fun plot where one of the villains is constantly picking fights with Joe and always gets humbled. It’s crazy how vast the skill difference is between them but that’s why Joe is a legendary figure while this guy is just some nobody.

I’ll give some good kudos to the preacher at the church that was taken over by the villains. Sometimes in these things the preacher will make a big deal about not being able to help since peace is the way to go but there’s nothing preventing you from using some good ole self defense. In this case that means getting Joe a weapon so he can fight back when he doesn’t have one at one point. So getting him the weapon was a great idea and it also meant that the inhabitants had a new lease on life. Without Joe they would have been absolutely doomed.

While the end of the film may not have been super strong since the romance was super weak but it did have a nice callback to the opening scene that was really good. Someone takes a big punch that was absolutely deserved considering how useless the character was during the whole film. It’s also a moment that shows how Joe isn’t going to be forgetting anything. When it’s time to make a move or get revenge for a slight that happened earlier, he’s going to keep it in the back of his head until it’s time. I like to think he was waiting for this moment throughout the whole movie and he probably was. The punch had to feel good. Once again, he was just a really fun lead character.

Overall, Joe Kidd is a pretty fun film. The film is mainly carried by Joe himself but that’s probably why the film is named after him. That was always going to be the film’s focus and it’s not a bad idea. A great main character can really take you very far. Even when the plot isn’t quite as sturdy, if the main character is good enough then it barely matters. That’s just the way that it goes. So I would recommend this one. It’s fairly basic as far as western films go but that means you can enjoy pretty much all of the usual ropes in this kind of title. There are a lot of betrayals and twists running around but at the end of the day Joe just needs to tackle anyone who gets in his way.

Overall 6/10

Sugoi Hebereke Review

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It’s time for a game that’s a bit on the odd side. It’s okay but ends really fast. There are only a few levels before it starts looping so your best bet here is definitely the multiplayer mode and even then I’m not sure if it’s really going to keep your interest all that well. But hey I might be underestimating this one just a tad.

Basically you are playing as a bunch of little animals and you fight each other. The gameplay is that of an overhead fighter. The level starts off with a 1 on 1 fight but then as you progress through the game you get a 3 way free for all and then a 4 way free for all. You want to really make sure that you are dishing out the combos and heavy blows early on or you will quickly be left behind. I found the best thing to do was to focus on one opponent until you have him completely defeated. Then move onto the next one. Rinse and Repeat until you’ve finally taken everyone down for the count. It’s much easier this way because the computer isn’t great at head on fights. It is great at landing sucker punches and hits from behind though. When that happens then you are really in trouble.

That’s pretty much it though which is why I don’t put this game much higher. There’s really not much to it here at all. The gameplay is really simple so you will have the hang of it in no time but there is no depth here. It is truly a button masher/brawler all the way but one of the simplest ones that I’ve played. The character cast is quite small so don’t expect a lot of variety there and the same goes for the stages. It feels like the bare minimum amount of effort was put into this title and that’s a shame.

The graphics aren’t bad. At least they do look decent so I won’t say that the game cut any corners here. Could it look better? Yes of course but it’s not bad and that’s the important thing. The soundtrack is supremely forgettable of course but that’s really to be expected. A game like this one isn’t usually going to wow you in that department. Really what should make this game a success is the gameplay and to do that they needed to add more attacks or something. The game needs a hook because right now it doesn’t have one.

When you’re fighting the opponent you’re just thinking that you could be playing Street Fighter instead. Maybe if the story was super good then having it be translated would have helped but even then I have my doubts. I don’t get the feeling that there was much of a story from how short the cutscenes are. So that just means that the game is really out of luck on all sides. I’d play a modern reboot that added a ton of features but as it is this just feels like an incomplete game. If you play it, I guess I’d say to think of it more as a proof of concept. Not a full fledged fighting game. Then you can at least have fun thinking about how you would have tackled some things differently and what content you would have added.

Overall, This is a decent game but it is hurt by the lack of content and replay value. Ultimately there isn’t a ton to do here at all. You won’t be playing this for more than an hour and if I spent any money on the game then I would probably be very disappointed. As a free title with the Switch Online it’s not bad but I still couldn’t call it particularly good. This game will have to put in some work before I can really put it on that level. So, check it out if you’re curious but it doesn’t really hold up next to the others.

Overall 5/10

Lycoris Recoil Review

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I remember this anime being massively popular when it first came out. There were clips of it everywhere and it looked like a pretty fun show all around. Well, I have now gotten to dive into it and it is a fun experience. I’d say the dynamic between the main two heroines is definitely one of the stronger ones and is a big reason as to why the show is fun to watch. It’s also the only time I can think of where you have one character who is a prodigy and then the other is a super prodigy to the point where the first one even looks super weak. The power scaling here gets pretty intense.

In this world, there are a group of girls who fight to protect Japan from behind the scenes. They are the Lycoris. They operate in complete secrecy so nobody even knows that they exist. Because of this, the world believes that Japan is basically crime free because their citizens are just that good. They’re literally built different and it gives people a lot of security. You feel safe while in Japan. The main heroine is Takina and she is the best agent in the group. She completes all missions with ease and while this has stunted her emotional growth, she is effective. Unfortunately on one mission her partner gets captured so Takina rescues her by going in guns blazing but she had to defy orders in the process.

Takina is demoted from the main task force and sent to a little Lycoris cafe in the middle of nowhere. Since Takina has trained all her life to be the best, this is a huge blow for her and she wants to get back into the elite squad at all costs. It won’t be easy though as she will have to work together with Chisato, the problem child of the group. What Takina doesn’t realize is that Chisato is the greatest Lycoris agent to ever live. She has uncanny reflexes that allow her to dodge any attack and she does all this while keeping up a no murder policy. It’s going to be tough getting back to the main squad when working with a troublemaker like this. Takina may be at odds with Chisato for now but will she slowly learn how to just be a normal civilian?

I’d say in a lot of ways that’s the main plot here. Takina put her whole life into being a ruthless killing machine but now she gets to do some normal stuff. Operating a cafe for example may be low key but it does force her to learn some actual conversational skills. Chisato helps her learn how to dress fashionably and take life less seriously as well. It takes a while for Takina to really start dropping her defenses but that’s what makes the dynamic work. I think it wouldn’t have worked nearly as well if Chisato wasn’t so unbelievably strong so it’s good that she was the top fighter.

The concept of the Lycoris group is also pretty interesting. I feel like it probably doesn’t hold up if you think about it too hard though. Like when they’re murdering all of these villains and hiding the evidence, what happens to the families? They’re told some kind of accident happened and they aren’t allowed to see the body? No matter what tricks you go with here, it feels like they wouldn’t be able to work indefinitely. The more that things keep being weird and having unexplainable circumstances, the more that it’s going to raise some flags. There’s also a second secret assassin group made up of the guys but they’re a lot weaker and not much of a threat so you can ignore them.

The animation here is very solid as you would expect. It’s all very smooth and the action scenes always bring out the best in the series. There are a lot of quick movements and the opening is also high budget. Basically any time Chisato is fighting, the series dials things up quite a bit. It helps that this is the best way to show her bullet timing abilities so she gets to dodge a lot of hits all the time. The gun fights and also just the general movement around town tend to be good as well. The colors are striking and so I have no real negatives here.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is good as well although it’s a lot more subdued. The opening for example is great but from the ost within the show, you will likely be forgetting about it fairly quick. None of the tunes there were super memorable but at least they would fit the scene so I still wouldn’t say that the themes are bad or anything like that. Then we get to the characters. The cast isn’t all that large but considering that the show is only 13 episodes that makes sense. First up is Takina who is of course a great main character.

It does feel like her confidence doesn’t always line up with her skill level though. She may have been the best among the active Lycoris but when the going gets tough she does not do well against the main villain Majima and several times seems to be holding Chisato back. Still I like her personality and I tend to enjoy characters with high levels of confidence. Takina is always talking tough to anyone in her way and she does try really hard to learn every lesson that Chisato gives out. So you have to give her a lot of credit there. Like I said before, she is one of the big reasons why the show is good.

Then you have Chisato who definitely steals the show here. She has a lot of confidence and is always upbeat. She’s not the kind of character who will do much bragging but her confidence shines though in subtle ways. If there is a big fight where everyone is sweating and stressing, she’s just casually dominating the fight. She is quick to defend Takina as well and is also the most heroic member of the group. Unlike everyone else who are content to murder as many villains as possible, Chisato takes them all alive. She even loads her gun with pepper spray instead of bullets to further make sure that she doesn’t go too far by mistake.

Chisato definitely has a serious plot ongoing here involving a mystery that she has to solve but where other characters might falter and get frustrated, she just plunges forward. There aren’t many characters that are as mentally strong as she is, that’s for sure. Her character’s ending is satisfying here.

Then we have Kurumi who is really good at hacking. So while she may not be able to fight, that’s fine. Having two expert fighters on the group seems like it should be enough for any circumstance right? Kurumi’s hacking comes in handy many times as it is. I don’t think she adds a ton to the dynamic as far as the characters go but she’s not bad. She’s still a fun character to have around. Finally you have Mizuki who probably has the smallest role from the main group. She helps out as needed but is really here as comic relief so don’t expect her to really contribute in the plot.

Now lets talk about the higher ups in the Lyrocis project who tend to be the worst characters. First you have Mika who owns the bar and is trying to do better but I have to say that he comes across pretty badly by the time all of the twists are accounted for. He takes way too long to come clean about a lot of things and the secrets are actively hurting everybody. He really needed to do better and comes across as wishy washy during a lot of points. There was no real saving him because at the end of the day inaction is almost always a negative action.

Even worse though is Kusonoki. She leads the Lycoris project although she still has to answer to the board of directors and everything. The problem is that she loses fight of the point of the project early on into the show. Benching Takina for a small problem and then ignoring her the whole time is just unprofessional. Even worse is the fact that Takina finds out new clues and evidence that helps them press the case forward on several accounts. It’s clear that they need Takina but a misplaced sense of justice causes Kusonoki to still make the wrong move. Then here is a moment where the government tells her to stand down so they can murder all of the girls, she doesn’t do much about it. Yeah she has her big resistance moment but now that we know this kind of order can happen she should be taking steps to destroy the other groups. Kusonoki ultimately feels like the kind of character who will follow orders and keep the status quo even if everyone ends up dying as a result.

Then we have the other members of Lycoris who are mainly here to help remind us why the group is absolutely doomed without Takina and Chisato. Those two hard carry the group. Fuki is one of the squad leaders and she can’t do much of anything. She talks a big game but can’t back it up. Then you have Sakura who replaced Takina and gets embarrassed at every opportunity. She comes across more annoying than anything else. Like I said I typically enjoy the confident characters but it can’t be 100% empty air. At that point I just can’t take you seriously.

There’s also a detective character running around but I feel like the show wasn’t really sure what to do with him. He just gets written out midway and gets a final scene at the end. I was expecting his plot to continue and maybe we would get something big in season 2. Granted, like I said the whole Lycoris secret project doesn’t always feel very well thought out so him solving it could have been interesting but the whole thing felt a little weak.

Okay now lets talk about the villains here. First up is Shinji who is definitely on the weak/annoying side. So this guy basically has a death wish for a while there and his plans don’t really excite me. I feel like he isn’t even getting closer to his goals with the way he handled things. Chisato looks up to him a whole lot so a direct approach might have at least had a slim shot of succeeding. Instead he’s playing all of these games and being sneaky while talking about his message in the worst way possible. There was no way he was going to win over Chisato the way that he planned it out. It just doesn’t make sense. So yeah this guy was pretty awful the whole time.

Then you have Robota as the evil hacker and he was okay but my main problem was just that he was really weak. You couldn’t take him too seriously because the heroic hacker was so much better than him at all times. So this guy has a lot of confidence issues as a result and that doesn’t really work for a villain. Fortunately the main villain Majima helped to balance things out because he is actually a really good character. Basically he wants to expose the Lycoris group by letting everyone know the truth about them. He goes pretty far in this goal like spreading a ton of weapons among the civilians and making a lot of connections.

Naturally he goes full villain with how he is actually murdering people but otherwise the message makes sense. This fake sense of security by hiding all crimes does feel like it’s not the right thing to do. They’re just hiding things at that point and playing judge, jury, and executioner. They are explicitly acting outside of the law here. That said, the characters still treat him way too kindly to the point where it doesn’t make sense. The biggest example of this is the climax with him fighting Chisato.

At times it feels like Chisato doesn’t care that this guy was ramming other Lycoris agents with cars and generally causing a lot of people to die. She was arguing with him like he was some random dude. Yeah it’s great that she never takes things too hard or gets down in the dumps for long but this was different. This is a fight where she needed to knock him out right away to neutralize the threat. The climax just felt out of character and a bit bizarre. It only would have worked alongside the twist that he never actually ended up hurting anybody. It’s why the whole fireworks scene doesn’t really work.

But hey, getting let off easy by the heroes isn’t a negative for Majima. He’s just responsible for his own actions and on those he did good. Considering how outgunned he was against Chisato, he also did a great job of planning for the fight and using the only way possible to even the playing field. Even with that Chisato was definitely primed for the win but I give the show big props for actually coming up with a way to make it dangerous for her. For a while it seemed like there were not going to be any real threats to Chisato in the series. Nothing wrong with that of course but I do always love when a character can go all out because it’s really close.

The show mainly keeps things high brow the whole time too which is nice. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that there wasn’t much fanservice. The show even mainly avoids having any rushed romance plots thrown into the mix. So this way we’re able to just have the main characters enjoy life and have fun. The episodes usually would spend half of the runtime having fun and then half with some kind of action scene and the balance works really well. I’d say the show’s biggest strength is that it’s just fun to watch. Each episode is entertaining and so the show manages to be consistent the whole way through. The foundation is strong enough where the show could fully transition into being a slice of life title and it would still be in good shape. Although of course I’m glad we get to keep the action in. One plot that I think we could take a bit further is Chisato’s killer mode. We don’t get to see much of that even in the final battle and it feels like there is some good potential there because she’s still holding it back in a sense. The longer she holds it back, the more credit I give her strength of will though.

Overall, Lycoris Recoil is a pretty fun show. It’s the kind of title with a lot of potential for sequels. You could really keep sending the heroines on more and more missions as needed and the end only has to happen once the writers run out of ideas. If you like the idea of secret agents protecting Japan then this lives up to the premise. It’s bound to keep your attention all the way through and a lot of care was definitely put into this one. I’d be hyped for a season 2.

Overall 7/10

Bram Stoker’s Dracula Review

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Uh oh it’s time for another Dracula film. By now you know that most of these Dracula movies are pretty bad. I think part of the problem is that there just isn’t a whole lot that you can do with this vampire. Blood sucking will always be annoying at best and rather gross at worst. Then mix that in with the main characters being generally inept and you aren’t going to be in for a good time. By now the story is also rather stale so yeah it loses on all fronts.

The film starts with Jonathan heading over to meet Dracula on some real estate business as usual. He ignores all of the red flags because his family really needs the money. Unfortunately this proves to be a fatal error as he is attacked by Dracula’s vampire wives. Unlike other Dracula incarnations who command respect, he has to actually physically stop them here since they took a bit to actually listen to his orders. They get their win shortly afterwards but not before Dracula heads out to take down Jonathan’s fiancé as well as her friend. Can anybody stop this guy?

Of course not! What do you think this is??? I mean sure he’ll be taken down eventually but not before he causes a lot of chaos. That’s always the annoying thing about these films. You have to slowly watch him do some blood draining and take the heroes down before anybody is actually able to stop him. That’s where it just gets annoying the whole time and the scenes take forever. The film also squeezes in some fanservice here. Lets just say that the scene is played up quite a bit and Dracula is doing some unnecessary stuff during the biting.

There are no coincidences here and so the film is going extra hard in making everyone look bad. I would say even among Dracula movies this one is particularly weak. There is really no reason to watch it. The movie gets excessively violent, the fanservice is poor, and there are no great characters. Even Dracula as I mentioned doesn’t get the usual amount of respect you would think. He doesn’t look very imposing, if anything he seems confused at times. You feel like the heroes could take him down if they would move a bit quicker.

There’s at least one scene where Van Helsing has the cross at the ready but throws it away so Dracula gets the upper hand. Yeah he had a hostage at the ready but that’s when you charge forward. Naturally Dracula continues going about his business once the cross is away so the heroes earned nothing there. It’s why the hostage dilemma can be difficult of course since it is often a lose-lose situation but it was particularly annoying here.

Jonathan is particularly awful though. Early on he has the chance to destroy Dracula when he goes up to the coffin but he hesitates for some bizarre reason which gives the henchman enough time to take him out. Next time you have the lord of darkness in your sights you really need to finish the job. Like what are you even doing by that point? You have to lock in and take care of business. It’s the only way forward.

There’s not much to say about Lucy and Mina here. They basically exist to get wrecked by Dracula the whole time as they can’t muster up any willpower. Arthur is also annoying because of course he falls asleep on the job and is generally unhelpful until the end. He may have some enthusiasm but he is lacking in overall skills and ability which are just as important. Without those he ends up just being lost in the grand scheme of things which isn’t helpful to anyone.

Van Helsing at least knows what he is doing. Again he doesn’t always handle the situation well but I give him some points for the attempts. Without him the heroes wouldn’t be doing much of anything. He’s just going through the motions for the most part though, I prefer the adaptions where he is a little crazier and willing to go to extreme method to stop Dracula. Lets see this guy cut loose and everything you know? That would be way better.

Not that there was ever any chance for this film to be good though. Lets just face it, it was always going to be a pretty bad movie and there’s no real way to avoid that. It’s not impossible to make a good Dracula movie, in fact it’s been done a few times. You have to try really hard though because you are starting at a disadvantage and I didn’t feel that the film did a particularly good job here. There are also so many Dracula films that I feel as the writer you need to at least try and differentiate yourself a bit. This one didn’t really do that at all.

At least the film’s not super long so I can say that about it. Is that really the only positive? Well…yeah. I mean what other good things are there to say about this one? The characters are annoying and Dracula doesn’t make for a good villains. All of the characters are supremely annoying so you are just shaking your head the whole time. Dracula also needs a better motivation. He’s basically draining all of these girls because he wants romance or just enjoys the power? One of them reminds him of his wife but he must not have loved her a ton if he’s rebounding like this. He comes across as a desperate guy who isn’t even remotely likable and I can’t stress enough how bad that makes him look. That’s one of the worst kinds of motivations that a villain can have.

Overall, This was a pretty bad Dracula movie. It falls into all of the usual issues around a vampire film like this without having any hook to keep you interested. Maybe throw us some big fights showing off Dracula’s super abilities or have some kind of government plot. Maybe have the army try to take him down? Things like that could at least give you something to sink your teeth into instead of effectively watching the same movie again. To be honest it’s unlikely it would give the film many more points but every little bit helps. Definitely avoid this film as much as possible.

Overall 1/10

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Review

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It’s time for the latest big TMNT project. This film works as a new segment of the franchise so you can jump in without any prior knowledge on the series. Long time fans will get some extra fun out of it with all of the characters around but it is very accessible. Technically I would put this one below a number of the other TMNT films but as a whole it’s still a good title. I’m ready to see what the sequel has in store.

The movie starts by introducing us to the origin of the Ninja Turtles. They get blasted by some ooze and are raised by the rat known as Splinter. He believes that they should stay hidden away from the outside world because people wouldn’t understand and I get that. They would almost certainly be hunted to their demise like the X-Men. Unfortunately the Turtles are now old enough where they want to get into the human world and have a lot of fun. They meet a girl named April which leads to a partnership. She will let them into School and help them try out various human activities while she gets the exclusive scoop. These happy days cannot last forever though as other creatures are preparing to take control of the human race.

There is always a lot going on with this film so I give the movie props for the fast pacing. I wouldn’t go as far as to say it’s quite as fast paced as the Spider-Verse films and there is definitely down time here but it does aim for a rapid style. That means the action scenes can go pretty hard as well and fight past the limitations of the art style which isn’t the best. In general the film can be pretty fun and I liked the main villain a lot. Before diving into the characters though I’ll just touch on some of the reasons why the film didn’t stack quite as high for me as some of the others.

The first part is the animation like I referenced earlier. I feel like it’s a bit of an uglier style with or without the characters. The characters you could blame on the art style but even that can hurt a bit. Like Leonardo is obsessed with April but the art style means that it’s a bit hard to connect with him because nobody looks even remotely attractive in the film. When April first appears you half think it’s a parody for a second and the real April will show up behind her and this might not have been so noticeable except that her beauty gets referenced quite a lot as Leonardo’s crush continues. The film could have tried a little harder here.

Then throw in the crude humor that this film shoves in for a few characters like April and one of the mutants and you’re really in trouble. I’ve seen way worse crude humor before of course but it’s been a minute since I’ve seen this much in a movie. Probably since I saw the Garbage Pail Kids about a year or two ago. It’s not overwhelming but it’s the little things that add up and these comedic moments definitely do not land. In general this isn’t a laugh out loud kind of film. The jokes are mainly okay with some that fall flat and others that are reasonably good.

Finally the Turtles themselves are one of the worst incarnations of the characters that I’ve seen. They beat the Bay Turtles but beyond that they’re just really not likable. The film tries too hard to make them act like actual teenagers. Teens are generally not as likable as adults unless we’re talking about anime or comics where the teens tend to be cool. These are more like real life teenagers so the film wins points on realism but loses points on the basis of their just being annoying the whole time.

Also, Splinter suffers from this as well. I prefer him to actually be an expert fighter who knows what he is doing. In this film he’s one of the main comic relief characters. All he knows about fighting is from movies so he’s not very good but he does bumble his way into a few victories. It’s a very different direction for the series so it’s a bold take but one that I don’t think worked very well. I want Master Splinter back, not this guy. You do feel bad for him in one scene when the heroes all ditch his pizza party without giving any good reason for that. That was definitely emotional.

So these are the areas that hold it back from being higher but now lets talk about the good aspects. First up we have the main villain Superfly. This guy has a cool design and he’s a really good fighter. He actually manages to take on the whole team with ease. The film can’t resist the “Giant enemy” climax but this guy still does good the whole time. Definitely not an enemy to take lightly at all. He was the only villain who was really ready to see the whole thing through to the end.

He got a good origin story so you can understand his actions from the start. That’s something that goes a long way to making him more of a memorable villain than the others. The rest of his allies are mainly other animal hybrids who have had a tough time of things. They tend to range from annoying to bad though. You have the crude humor one who is the worst but will unfortunately probably be in the sequel. There’s the “cool” skateboarder who isn’t bad. He has some skills and potential.

Rocksteady and Bebop are reasonable. This is the one case where I actually preferred the Bayverse ones but that’s more so because those were way better than expected. So there were a lot of mutants to show up here but it felt like a bit of a cop out not to have a proper fight with the Turtles. I worry that the problem is that the Turtles are a bit too weak in this verse. They seem super young and don’t really know how to fight at a high level. I’m hoping the sequel has a time skip where they are now expert fighters or something. Maybe they hired a proper fighting coach or something like that.

The school setting has potential for the sequel. So long as the film avoids the romance traps and mostly focuses on the Turtles getting used to human customs, it could be fun. There’s a lot of material there to have fun with. As with this one, there should be a lot of jokes running around so as long as most of them land then we’re good. Of course I won’t complain if we switch to a more action focused approach like the 2007 TMNT film. Either way though if we’re not comparing this to other TMNT films then it is still a good movie. For sure there is still more action and stakes than your average animated theater film over in the US. I still enjoyed a good amount of the jokes and some of the action segments could look pretty good. The world building is on point and there are already a lot of things set up for the sequels.

Overall, This is a good TMNT film. There are other directions I would have preferred that it went but at the end of the day the important thing is that the franchise is continuing. I’d say this one’s sort of like a modern take on the 80s part of the franchise. With some of the intro stuff out of the way the sequel might be able to jump into the action a little quicker. Naturally I will be waiting for the Shredder to show up and take some names. Since Splinter won’t be able to do anything this time, maybe this could be when Casey is introduced as the rival to the Shredder. Either way there are a lot of possibilities here and I would recommend checking this film out.

Overall 6/10

Override 2: Super Mech League Review

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Override 2 is a pretty fun game. It really keeps the same gameplay style of the first game although in this case it does remove the story mode entirely which is too bad. Instead you just play through a lot of tournaments and stand alone battles. It’s more like what you would find in a Tennis game where your career mode is really just about racking up wins. It works well enough in a sports context but in a fighting game like this you definitely want to see a little more. Particularly since the first game had the whole invasion plot. Ah well, at the end of the day the gameplay is the true make or break point here.

It’s a classic 3D brawler where you can use standard attacks and power moves to deliver damage to your opponents. You can also use different items from the environment to deal damage as well so you always have a lot of options. That being said, your best option is usually to watch for the glowing circle on the map and get to it. The longer you are under the light, the more you can charge up your final smash meter. That ends up coming in a whole lot of use when you’re dealing with multiple opponents. There are different rulesets you can switch between in this game. You have the classic 1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, 4 player free for all, then you have tournaments which are 3 battles in a row, battles where you fight a ton of mini robots, and also a 4 player stay in the ring challenge.

The last one feels like it was inspired by Fortnite since you start taking a whole lot of damage if you leave the ring. Your normal attacks also don’t really deal damage in this mode so you mainly want to focus on grabs. Throwing your opponent out of the circle is a great way to win. In general the game is fairly easy on most of the lower ranks but I imagine that the more I play the game, the harder it will get. For the 4 way battles I would usually hide and let them knock each other out before jumping in. In the 1 on 1 battles I found it easiest to just keep using combos and they wouldn’t fight back much.

Ranking up in the mode is rather weird. You can actually move backwards if you aren’t careful by playing the same mode on a lower rank. This tricked me a bit on the way the mode works but if you’re careful you actually can continue to go up. I got stuck on D rank for most of the modes and it just wouldn’t let me go up though. I suppose I just have to keep on winning over and over until it sticks though. Ultimately I wasn’t sticking around quite long enough for that to do the trick.

The graphics for the game are pretty solid. They’re not out of this world or anything but I thought they were pretty good. The character models are nice and I liked the attack animations. The soundtrack is more on the bland side, I wouldn’t count on seeing any tunes that you really love. They’re more the basic type all around. At least in terms of content there is a whole lot here. You have to win tons of battles to get all the way to the top in career mode which will take many hours. The game tends to go for a fairly cheap price as well so that’s something to consider as well.

You do get a lot of value here. You will have the most fun if you have someone to play with of course but the 1 player experience isn’t bad either. The gameplay is good after all which is ultimately the main thing that counts. My version brought the Ultraman characters with it which was definitely a lot of fun as well. If the gameplay was just a little faster and more intense then that would have really helped the game out. I think part of the problem is the matches can take a little while and it’s not very cinematic either.

So it’s like you’re playing more of a retro fighting game as opposed to a PS4 title. Don’t let that scare you away though. If it was $60 then that would be spooky but that’s not the price at all so it really works out here. Aside from adding a Story Mode the other main change I would add is to give all of the characters more impressive final smash attacks. The current ones don’t even have cinematics or anything like that and those really add o the experience. Not having them just doesn’t make sense. It just feels like another power attack.

Overall, This is a pretty good fighting game. While there is a lot of content, I would say it still feels rather barebones compared to other modern fighting games though. The difference in quality is night and day between this and something like Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm or Tekken. Still, if you don’t compare it to other titles then it does hold its own. The gameplay is a bit different from those after all and there is always room for more 3D brawlers around the bend. I wouldn’t exactly be pre ordering a third game if it came out but I’m still glad to be playing this one. There was enough effort put in to make this one worth it.

Overall 7/10

Demetrius and the Gladiators

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It’s time for the big follow up to The Robe. I saw that film a long while ago so it was good to finally check out the sequel. It really does pick up immediately after the film ends and of course the main character this time is Demetrius. He is ready to uphold the legacy and keep the Robe safe but unfortunately he is taken in by Caligula’s forces and forced to be a gladiator. Will he be able to survive in this arena considering that he refuses to take a life? Demetrius’ trials are just beginning.

The film definitely focuses on pushing Demetrius to the breaking point with everything that he has to endure physically and emotionally. On the physical side, he’s pushed into a rather violent world where the prisoners have to murder each other for sport. This puts him at a natural disadvantage in a fight. Technically with his physical abilities he would be able to win most fights without a problem but he really doesn’t want to cross that line. Then on the emotional side, he is subjected to constant temptation by Claudius’ wife Messalina who wants him for herself. Demetrius is determined to stay strong as he already loves a lady named Lucia and doesn’t want to betray her.

Usually this is where you could say that he did stay strong throughout and did not slip up but unfortunately this film was really determined to break him in every way possible. Ultimately that ties into the film’s themes of redemption and second chances but it would have been nice if Demetrius could have really come out on top. He was in such a rigged system that he never really stood a chance though. Unfortunately his heel turn is also rather dramatic and that lasts for quite a while. It definitely is a rough look for him.

The most tragic character in the film is probably Lucia. She really did everything right and did her best at all times only for things to not go so well. The rest of the characters are mainly antagonists. You have Caligula who is still as evil as possible and has become completely delusional. He really thinks himself to be a god by the events of this film and so anyone who defies him is quickly taken down for the count. The guy is definitely not very reasonable at all.

Messalina of course is rather petty the whole time. Anytime that Demetrius shuns her, she quickly does something to get back at him. She’s not doing anything out of a sense of justice or anything like that. No, she just wants to make him suffer and of course that’s not a good reason for doing much of anything. By the end she is seemingly going to do better so we’ll just have to see how that goes. I don’t have much respect for Claudius either. The guy tries his best to always be rather distant and emotionless but it also means that he really allows a lot of disrespect without doing anything about it. I can’t really respect a character like that. You always need to have boundaries at least to some degree.

Yeah it’s good to control your emotions but to not have any reaction and let things continue to happen is just a sign of weakness. So things get rather tricky for all of the characters here. The only one I’d say was fairly decent was the other gladiator, Glycon. He did his best to give Demetrius a real shot the whole time. His skills in the ring were real good and he was close to being free already but he still went the extra mile to help the lead out. That was awful selfless of him and I don’t think that most of the characters would have been able to pull that off. So he definitely gets special props there without a doubt.

Unfortunately the film does have to squeeze in some animal violence. As soon as I saw the tigers I started getting nervous. To the film’s credit it does do its best to not get all that violent. The camera angles don’t really show blood or anything but yeah I’d say you do want to always avoid getting any of the animals in on this.

Overall, This film definitely keeps in with the tone and feel of the original. You could probably watch both films back to back seamlessly without any issues. That said, it’s by no means a particularly happy film with how much happens to the characters the whole time. Nobody really gets a peaceful road here by any means. It’s a reminder that sometimes you do have to go through a whole lot of trials without any real way out. This will test your character on if you can still keep your own values and everything or if you will ultimately crumble before the situation.

Hard Target Review

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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

All right it’s time for a very old school thriller title. This one has a lot of action, guns, and thrills. I’d say it works fairly well even if it doesn’t really have a ton of identity. I can’t guarantee that I will really remember the film a few years from now but maybe I’ll surprise myself. It still is a good film though, the genre is just rather packed with movies at this point.

The movie starts with a guy making a break for it but he’s murdered before he can make it to the goal. Basically there is a group of villains who make sport by giving someone a lot of money and daring him to run all the way to the goal. You sort of wonder how anyone makes it all that far though based on the amount of resources that the villains have. They’re everywhere and you don’t get much of a head start. Well, what they didn’t count on was the victim’s daughter deciding to look into what happened to him.

Her name is Natasha and the deck is not in her favor this time because she hasn’t seen her father in a long time and so she doesn’t have any recent pictures of him. The cops let her know that this is definitely going to be a longshot as a result. The unspoken vibe here is that they can’t help so Natasha recruits a homeless guy named Chance who saved her from a gang. Initially he doesn’t want to get involved but he owes some Union dues and won’t be able to make any money until he can pay them back. So he agrees to help her in exchange for the money but what he doesn’t realize is that he’s about to enter a large conspiracy.

As with any conspiracy thriller like this you will have to stretch your disbelief at least a little bit. Yes, in the film the villains do reference how they’re always paying a ton of people off until the situation gets too hot and they have to leave. Even with that you have to be a little dubious though. They follow their victims into the heart of the city and just go around shooting. You’d think this would attract a ton of attention and eventually reach someone who actually does care. Perhaps I am underestimating the villains but it can be a bit much.

You also wonder why the victims are so bad at using the terrain at times. Once you’re in the city that is absolutely your best shot to survive. Stay in crowded areas and pick off the villains one by one. Instead they usually run into their own demise. So again I’m not sure how the first guy actually got all the way to the harbor. A few more steps and he actually would have beaten them.

There are two main villains here in Van Cleef and Fouchon. Van Cleef is usually my kind of villain as he is very talented with a gun and can hold his own but he weakens near the end. The guy starts to get visibly afraid and he really breaks down. He’s supposed to be the tough man of the group so he really has no business cracking like this. It destroys all of his mystique and so I didn’t care from him by the end. He’s only good at beating up on the weak.

Fouchon is a reasonable main villain though. Very by the books and while his grudge prevents him from making it all the way to the end, you can assume that he only got this far in the first place because of his big ego. Without that he likely would have lost a long time ago. Every associate who works with the villains is pretty much doomed from the start so you are not surprised in the slightest when they start going down. They were definitely not prepared.

As for the main characters, Natasha is a good heroine even if it takes a while for her to start helping. By the climax she is contributing and even has a gun at the ready. Her main issue was just being a little naive at first but fortunately that did not last very long. As for Chance, he may not be the most heroic guy out there as he won’t generally go out of his way to be a superhero but he will help out anyone in front of him like when he stepped up to save Natasha in the intro. The guy’s also a super fighter as he took down like 20 guys all by himself in the climax fight.

Is it maybe a bit exaggerated? Sure but it’s fun. The climax here is really solid with how extended it is and how bad the odds were for Chance. Every time it felt like he had beaten all of the minions, a few more would suddenly show up. There was just no real end to them. Chance also got to mix in some hand to hand combat skills along with the gun shooting. Yeah if you were wondering how well a roundhouse kick would do against a flurry of guns, wonder no longer!

Clarence also ends up helping out near the end. The guy definitely shows up out of nowhere but knows how to fight. He gets some shots in. There’s also a cop who does good in putting the pressure on the villains which is what causes them to start panicking and speeding things up. So the supporting cast here was reasonably solid. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side and the slow-mo was definitely overdone but for the most part the action scenes were always really solid.

The film could be a little on the violent side at times but nothing too crazy. The most disturbing scene is likely when one guy’s ear gets taken out of the picture. Definitely why you never want to get involved with the underworld because it comes back to bite you. If you’re super unlucky then sometimes this can happen to you even if you are unconnected but that’s a whole lot rarer.

Overall, Hard Target is a pretty solid movie. Again I do think it’ll get lost in the shuffle a bit as I watch more movies but at the same time it really embodies what you would expect an action thriller to be. There are a lot of fight scenes, pretty good pacing, and always some extra thrills around the corner. I enjoyed the fight scenes and you are invested all the way through. I would check this one out if you’re looking for an action title to watch.

Overall 7/10

Sword Art Online: Project Alicization Review

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It’s time to talk about Sword Art Online which always gets intense. On one hand, it will always be one of the most exciting and intense franchises of all time. On the other hand it always ends up matching the extremely high highs with some devastating lows. This series is no exception. The series has to squeeze in a ton of content into only a few volumes so over half of the events are skipped but of course what event does it not skip? The worst one in the series. Mannn….that’s how it goes.

The basic plot is that Kirito has already been through a life or death event with several games at this point. Surely there’s no way he would ever put himself in that spot again right? Well the price is right and his safety is guaranteed so he works with a government group about one of the games and then he gets stabbed on a rainy day in a completely unrelated incident. Well, now he’s stuck inside of the game and if he dies in the game….he dies in real life! So Kirito is back into the same situation but this world is so much more real than the previous ones. Even the NPCs talk like real people.

Kirito figures if he can get deep enough in the game he will be able to find someone to log him out. To that end he meets up with a guy named Eugeo and Kirito helps him chop down a big tree. This means they can now pursue training within the city and try to find Eugeo’s long lost friend Alice who was kidnapped by the government a long time ago for breaking a rule. In this society, it shouldn’t be possible for anyone to break rules so if it happens then it’s a super big deal.

So here’s the thing, it takes a few volumes to even get the setup all completed. So now you’re over halfway through the series and the heroes still have to make their way past all 108 Integrity Knights, take down the Administrator, stop the Underworld armies, and then stop the drama happening in the real world. So you may be wondering, how will they do that? Well, the answer is simple. The series basically skips almost all of that. We get a few pages at the end of the volume that uses text to explain what would have happened next but even the final fight has to be abbreviated/basically skipped. It’s evident that the author simply ran out of time which is really rough. Especially when you see other adaption manga that kept going years after the main media had finished. Sword Art Online got the rough end of the stick this time.

It’s especially tragic since the art was actually really good this time around. There was a lot of attention to detail all throughout. The battles looked fierce and it really did adapt the scenes very well. You were able to be invested in what was going on the whole time. There was some real talent at work here. The story was already really engaging so throw in the solid art and it really made reading through the volumes really good. Ending with only 5 volumes does mean that there is only so much that you can do though.

So lets get the elephant out of the plaza first. The series did decide to keep and fully adapt the moment where two students attack two of the heroines who aren’t able to fight back since the rules are in effect. This should have been the scene that was skipped to be honest because it adds nothing to the series and is just another example of a crutch that Sword Art Online uses. It’s easily the most valid complaint that you can have about the series because it is definitely annoying. It doesn’t go nearly as far as in Fairy Dance since Kirito and Eugeo do stop them before it reaches that point but it still goes farther than it ever should have.

You’re rooting for those characters to get bumped off right away. I also think it’s a real stretch of logic on how their attack was within the rules. It reminded me of a certain attack in Jujutsu Kaisen that didn’t count as “violence” which was seen as this big 4D chess move by the villain when it was clearly violence. It’s the same thing here, no matter what flawed logic the royals used when attacking the girls, it’s still a full on attack. The rules in Alicization are definitely messed up.

It’s enough of a bump to shape 3 stars off of the series as well. That may seem rather harsh but that’s how bad the scene is. It’s not exactly something you want to see in this title when you’re just trying to have fun seeing the heroes taking out the villains. The core plot is basically a boss rush after all as Kirito and Eugeo take everyone out. I also like how Kirito is starting at level 1 technically but since he has his memories intact he is able to use more advanced techniques that wow everyone. It’s fair to say that he is stronger than all non Integrity Knight fighters right from the start of the series.

He doesn’t get to show off for a while there but Kirito is super confident and that comes through in all of his scenes. It’s easy to see why Eugeo looks up to him. The series does a great job of showing off the bond between Kirito and Eugeo as well. It’s a little odd to see Kirito in more of a mentor role since he is usually the young upstart but it does work well with how many life or death experiences the guy has been in. He still does have his carefree side though and that’s when Eugeo has to try and pick up on the responsibility part. You could really make a whole series just based on their dynamic. It’s a really solid one all the way through.

I’ve always really enjoyed Kirito’s character in every arc but I dare say this might be him at his best. He still has his confidence and cocky attitude but now he can also make great speeches. Kirito gets to talk about friendship, fighting with honor, etc. He has so many quotable lines in this series to the point where even this manga which cuts most of the content gets to show off a lot of his great scenes. Kirito is a generational character and that goes a long way to making the franchise really good as well. With all of the asterisks and iffy moments in the series that I have to dance around, I do think that it would have totally crumbled if Kirito wasn’t around.

Then eventually Alice gets added into the mix but unfortunately she doesn’t get almost any time to interact with Eugeo. The timing just gets messed up by that point but she has good banter with Kirito. Alice is a really fun character and while it takes a while to fight off all of the brainwashing, she ultimately does get to be a really solid character that you can completely count on. I also liked the main villain a lot. Design aside, she is a calculating opponent who is also really strong. She doesn’t really have any weaknesses and ends up being a villain that you can really fear.

One piece of credit I can give to the series is also that it’s fairly light on fanservice. You only have 2-3 moments with the Administrator and that’s about it. Usually the series can get a bit dicey in that area so I appreciated that at least. The short length may have helped in that respect but for the most part there isn’t a ton of time for that in between all of the battles. Later on in the war there would have definitely been some moments though.

As a final note, the human plot is pretty much nonsense for manga only readers. A lot of things are teased over there and Asuna gets some small appearances but the series ends before anything really happens. So it just ends up feeling like filler. It’s part of what makes the manga a very interesting read when it ends early like this. Some scenes you just won’t get and others will be under the wrong context. That’s why in an ideal world you will always want a series to be able to be long running and adapt everything but in a way maybe that’s just common sense. The cliffhanger of sorts is fun but it’s so early that there are a bunch of fights that you wish you had gotten to see.

Overall, Sword Art Online is fun as always but one scene definitely does throw the whole series for a loop. It’s a shame that there almost always seems to be some kind of catch to every piece of Sword Art Online media. It’s just really hard to avoid and I suppose that’s life. In the end I wouldn’t be able to recommend this manga all that much. What I would do is say to play the video game instead because that seems to fix things. I am early on in that game so I can’t fully confirm that but that seems to be what typically happens in these things. I at least know that they fixed the Administrator’s costume in that one.

Overall 5/10

Rollerball (2002) Review

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It’s time to look at the remake to the original film that I just watched. Seeing both versions on the same day definitely makes for a pretty interesting marathon watch. It’s safe to say that the original is better in just about every way though. This one has a very “Try Hard” feel to it from the start. It doesn’t seem like the creators had a ton of confidence in the story or writing so right out of the gate they’re having to add all this extra stuff and it doesn’t work.

The film starts off by introducing us to Jonathan who likes doing extreme things. He even races on a skateboard kind of device through the streets which looks extremely dangerous the instant he gets on it. Definitely not a very responsible thing to do and when the cops show up at his door, he figures it’s time to finally get into Rollerball. It’s an extreme sport filled with lots of danger. Think of it like Rollerbading meets Hockey and you’re zooming around trying to score while people are driving motorcycles and all violence is allowed. Jonathan has become the world champ here but there is a dark conspiracy afoot. More and more people keep getting injured and dying as the ratings go higher. Is there any way out of this?

I will also say that the remake tries to spell things out for you more than the first. In the first movie we never heard the exact rules of the game but you could just piece it together while watching. In this one we literally have a whole scene for the announcer explaining the rules. It’s not a bad idea by any means but it does give you a glimpse into what this remake is like right from the jump. Everything is less nuanced. The villains are super evil, complete with evil laughter and long winded speeches. The opposing teams are all in the dark as well and when push comes to shove they are ready to help. The body count is much smaller and things are allowed to be happier.

Hey, I’m all for a happier ending but the whole film just doesn’t work. Part of the problem is that this film takes place in modern days instead of in a dystopia. In the latter it is easy to excuse a lot of thing like nobody caring about all of the deaths since humanity was cooked a long time ago. In this case it doesn’t make sense that they’re still getting TV deals and becoming a huge hit. The instant the first death hits you are looking at tons of lawsuits and negative media coverage. Yes, the sport could continue but it would be more of an indie thing and not the massive mainstream audience with top ratings that we see here.

You can cut a bit of slack for this being in a foreign country and the standards are a bit more lax but the more the film goes on, the less weight this holds. You also have this company owning the border guards, and being able to do whatever they want. The host even takes out a gun and threatens the local media companies in the middle of a crowd. Alexi doesn’t care who sees him and this works in a dystopia but not here. So the film should have kept this in the future. It doesn’t make sense to be in present day.

Then to make things edgier, we have a ton of fanservice throughout the movie. The film wants to show us how depraved the villains are, so they’re all living out their fantasies degrading everyone and the scenes have absolutely no point to being here. It’s clearly a desperate attempt for more ratings and I dare say that it won’t work on the average moviegoer. Even having girls playing in this league makes no real sense with how violent it is. Another thing that I could have turned a blind eye to in a dystopia.

In fact, let me put on my conspiracy hat here for a minute. I think there are only two reasons why they added women participants to the sport for this remake. The first is for…you guessed it, more fanservice since they can add random locker room scenes. The other is just so they could throw in a big romance which would give Jonathan more motivation for later. The romance is pretty bad though, one of those really rushed ones with no real depth behind it. I’m sure the writers had a chuckle with the last line in the film as a callback to the first conversation with Jonathan and Aurora but it’s not enough to salvage the whole sub plot.

The actual Rollerball scenes aren’t bad but even this is not as good as the original which is crazy. It’s a case of trying to do too much. Now we have ramps, big jumps, you have to throw the ball into a goal instead of jamming it in there and the stage is much smaller. To make up for that, there are less players on each team but the whole thing just feels more convoluted and I can’t think of any way where it is quite as good. At most I can admit that throwing the ball into the goal would be more practical in real life but that’s it. The rest of the changes just don’t make much sense to me unless making the arena smaller was a budgetary constraint.

The cast is not particularly inspiring. Jonathan was annoying in the intro. He’s a decent guy but starting off as a delinquent isn’t great and in the whole climax he doesn’t have much of a plan except to try and murder as many of the opponents as possible. Only problem is that he’s super outnumbered so he has to be saved a bunch of times. It doesn’t make him look very smart. I don’t have any real issues with Aurora. She does her best to help Jonathan and make sure that he’s doing well while she makes the sacrificial play since she has family that she can’t leave.

It takes Ridley a little while to find his moral compass so he’s not as good but at least once he is in danger then the guy starts to move. So I can appreciate that a bit. Sure, it’s selfish and all but I can picture a lot of people making that call. You want to hope for the best to make all of the money until you can’t deny it anymore. Alexi’s a fairly generic villain. Not much to talk about with that guy, he’s okay at best.

His right hand man Sanjay is actually really interesting though. I could have used more screentime for this guy. He’s more ambitious than Alexi and smarter as well. He really thought things through and had a great scene near the end even if it didn’t totally end the way you would have expected it to be. He’s surprisingly the best character in the movie.

As a side note, the whole climax is easily the best part of the film, starting from when Jonathan breaks a window and challenges the villains. Suddenly it was like Jason Bourne where he is taking everyone on and using every object imaginable. He even has a Captain America type moment where he blocks a bullet. Yeah the editing is so bad that it makes Taken 3 look impressive as there are literal frame cuts so we see Jonathan teleporting around the map but we can assume he’s that fast. I was glad that we were getting some real action outside of the arena at least.

Overall, This film had a ton of problems. They range all the way from narrative ones to pacing issues and just plain ole logistical issues. It was trying way too hard in all the wrong places and so that was a recipe for disaster. It can be an entertaining movie for a while but by the end the negatives just racked up way too high to be overcome. Ultimately you are way better watching the first film over the remake. Trust me, this is one that you will definitely want to avoid if you are given the choice.

Overall 4/10