Tag Archives: Action

Freejack Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

Freejack is definitely a film with a lot going on. It’s a pretty fun sci-fi title with a unique view on the future. Sure we’ve seen some of these elements before like body snatching and the dystopia world but it mixes in enough of these to feel different. I also think it had a fun script at times. It’s not perfect though with my main issue being that the main character can be a bit annoying and it feels like he’s trying to sabotage the group after a while.

The film starts with everything going really well for Alex. He has a fiancé who is already thinking about marriage and he’s a top racer. Unfortunately he is snatched into the future by some kind of sci-fi device and barely lives through the experience. They try to stab him with some kind of other sci-fi device so he runs off and hops in a cab but the driver tries to murder him so he runs off into the city and meets up with his best friend Ian. Unfortunately Ian betrays him for money so he finds his fiancé but then she sells him out to the government so he’s all on his own. Why is everyone against him? Alex knows that he will need to do something or he’s about to die unceremoniously and alone but if there’s one thing he’s always been good at, it’s improvising…in theory. Can he survive this experience?

I will say it’s a bit funny how everything turns out badly for him at first though. Seriously when the cab driver is trying to take you down as well then you know you’re in a real pickle here. Now you do have to cut Julie some slack for not believing that Alex was back from the dead. There is a good reason for this which is that in the future “Freejacks” (Or they might just be called Jacks) are bodies of dead people that have been purchased by someone in the future. So for example, Alex was “bought” by a rich person so he was taken away right before he died and in fact he would have died in a car crash if he wasn’t warped into the future. According to the law that means he is legally dead and would be possessed by someone.

The reason the mind transfer didn’t happen is because Alex escaped at the last possible moment but there’s no reason for Julie to actually believe that. It would seem like a real longshot but ultimately she does believe it is him. He’s rather sore about the initial reaction but I think he should have been more understanding all things considered. His worst moment is after that though. He’s still sulking and gets drunk at a bar where he talks to a camera crew which lets the villains know where he is. Cmon that’s just not smart. I get that he’s in shock still at everything going on but the one thing you shouldn’t do is heavy drinking then because that’s just going to get you in a lot of trouble.

Alex is good at driving though so I’ll give him that. One of the best parts of the film is a car chase early on where the bounty hunter Victor is after him. There’s a lot of back and forth as each one tries to get the edge and I like how Victor hacked Alex’s computer so he’s trash talking the whole time. The movie is definitely at its best when it is enjoying the banter between the characters and I think having more of the film take place on the road would have absolutely been a great idea. Trust me on this that would have been a really good idea.

The film also excels with the ending though. Without going into details there is a classic scenario where the villain starts the mind transfer but then the machine breaks. So the characters have to figure out if it’s Alex or Ian in the body and the way they get around this is fairly clever. The ending is just a blast with a certain character looking great and a lot of “playing it by ear” going on among various characters. I would go as far as to say that the ending was great to be honest and it was really a spectacular way to finish things off. A strong ending is important for any film so this ended on a high note.

Julie was a good main heroine. She did a solid job of really rising to the top ranks of a company while Alex was gone and she had a firm hold on her life. She didn’t let Alex’s disappearance break her and she was able to move on. It’s definitely the right approach and she helps out throughout the film. At times she is definitely more on the ball than Alex to be honest as the guy even nearly gets himself shot to death in a bar. I mean it’s good that he didn’t back off when the drunk guy made eye contact with him but it would be a really rough way to go. You didn’t die saving the world but looking at someone the wrong way? Not very hype on the tombstone.

Ian is sort of the main villain. I say sort of because I would give that to Victor in terms of screen time but Ian is the head honcho. He’s an old guy who wants to be immortal but he does have charisma so I thought that the film did a good job there. Victor steals the show though as he talks tough to everyone. He starts breaking random objects in the office of the guy who hired him which shows just how much confidence he has. I also liked the scene of him testing his right hand man and then saying he was actually testing the lie detector. Like I said there is a lot of very clever dialogue here.

The only real weak point here is the main character because he was really annoying at times. Technically I like the character type the film was going for. The very aggressive lead who is super confident and ready for action. He never backs down from a fight and those are all great traits but he could have been a little smarter. It would have made the whole film a lot easier for him as well since he gets lucky quite a few times otherwise. While the romance is okay, I think it’s going to be hard to make it work after the time skip since there should be close to a 15-18 year age difference now. That’s a fairly long gap even though you know the person. That said, I think a sequel would be very interesting given how this film ends. I think there’s a whole lot you could do with that.

Overall, I rather enjoyed Freejack. It’s a film that is having fun with the premise and showing us a dystopian world without being too gritty about it. You absolutely wouldn’t want to live in this future and that’s obvious as the characters walk around town but we don’t really dwell on that. Most of the film feels like it’s the main character running from place to place and trying not to get caught so the pacing is always really quick here. I also give it points for being very unique so if you’re looking for a solid sci-fi title then this one fits the bill.

Overall 7/10

Stargate Review

Posted on by
2


Stargate is one of those films I didn’t really know anything about so when I watched the film the execution was quite a bit different from what I was expecting. I think it should have embraced the sci-fi nature of the story more and yet instead we’re stuck on a sand planet with no real tech for most of the film. I don’t know why so many sci-fi films like going to pre tech planets for a good chunk of the adventure, Star Wars, Dune, Star Trek The Movie, and Stargate now. I mean it defeats the entire purpose of seeing all the cool tech right?

So the movie starts off with Daniel being recruited by the government to help with some kind of super secret project going on. Basically there are some hieroglyphs with special messages and there is also a mysterious gate. If they can figure out how to use it then this could be a massive discovery. Daniel solves this pretty quickly which activates the gate and so he is picked to be a part of the team that goes through it. His expertise will be absolutely critical here after all. Plus if his theory is right they will need to activate a gate on whatever destination they end up in if they want to return. Unfortunately when they land they don’t see the missing part of the gate so it could be anywhere. The team is now stranded and they will have to find a way back before their supplies are shot.

Right off the gate the group is pretty mean to Daniel. They’re all giving him a tough time throughout and sure they are upset because he had more or less assured them that he would be able to get then home. This turned out to be more of a bluff but it would still be nice for the group to at least have some kind of unity right? If you can’t get along while on an alien planet then I’m sorry to inform you but you’re definitely going to be doomed. Surviving is hard enough on its own when you have the whole group, let alone when you’re all split up like this and sabotaging Daniel like when they threw all of his papers away.

As the film goes on most of them gradually start to soften up and be more reasonable but it was a rough beginning there without a doubt. Daniel doesn’t make for the best character though as he generally isn’t super confident and sort of stumbles around a lot. He is a genius which is why he was able to decode the puzzle. So the guy’s skills are legit but I think he could stand to be a little tougher and more self sufficient. The army commander Jack was a lot more interesting. Now he does start off a bit more antagonistic but the guy is also seeing the big picture and trying to stay alive out there.

I wouldn’t say he makes all of the right decisions but he is also put in a pretty tough position. He was basically given secret orders that would be super controversial if the world knew about them so he has to play things pretty close to the vest. It’s a lot of pressure for anyone to have to real with. He fights hard to the end and never waivers in setting up his attack. The rest of the squad are mostly on the forgettable side and a lot of them start to get bumped off once the villains get serious anyway.

The villains here had an absolutely epic introduction as they showed up in their full armor and were ready for action. I liked the robotic designs and their energy attacks which really stood out. Unfortunately they were not able to keep their momentum up because it turns out that these were robotic suits and that underneath them these guys just looked like ordinary humans. Yeah….not the most interesting design they could have chosen that’s for sure. These guys end up feeling really forgettable as a result but it was also such a let down because it’s another area that could have looked really cool visually on the sci-fi angle and they fumbled the ball on that one.

This film is going with the Egyptian origins for the villains so for example the big boss is Ra. Of course he isn’t actually the god from the myths but an alien that showed up back when humanity was still in its early stages and he was so advanced that they all treated him like a god. Ra enjoyed this and so he basically set up the whole culture. Yes, the pyramids and such did arrive thanks to aliens! That’s always a fun little nod but still they should have given Ra a really cool design. Instead he basically takes the form of a human when instead I’d have loved for him to actually look like Anubis or any number of other sci-fi type designs.

Any scene back at the village with the aliens would tend to be a little dull as well because you could remove the term “sci-fi” from the genres and you wouldn’t know the difference. The village has no tech at its disposal and since both sides can’t understand one another it makes for a lot of slow paced scenes. The foods the heroes have to eat were also pretty gross although it was smart to accept since turning away food could definitely be seen as a slight. I was just waiting for them to get back to the actual alien plot with cool sci-fi elements and all of that.

The climax does have some real action though even if the humans should have been immediately defeated. This was another case of villains that were created to be too powerful so they end up getting really nerfed by the end. You just don’t buy that they could possibly be defeated in the way that they were. They were stronger and faster than the humans in addition to having the better tech. So when you consider all of that….well that should be it. In the end they let their guard down too much and pay the price for it. The effects are good though and I can say that for the whole movie. It’s all aged well visually which is why they should have focused on that aspect more.

All told, this is still a decent movie but one that should have been pretty good instead. It’s a tale of two halves here. Anytime the sci-fi elements are around then you are bound to have a lot of fun but when they’re at the village you end up getting bored. The romance is also really weak considering that the two characters barely know each other. I find it hard to believe that the romance would happen so quickly especially when the humans are busy trying to get back to their world. There is just no time for any of this.

Overall, Stargate was really not what I was expecting but I can see the potential for how you could turn this into a really fun franchise. It just needs a few more steps into the right direction and then it will really be set. If the sequel can just double down on the action elements and have a portal to a more advanced world then we will be in business. If you’re up for a sci-fi film that forgets it is one for large parts of the film then this is the title for you but otherwise I would say to skip it for now.

Overall 5/10

Fire Emblem Engage

Posted on by
Reply


Probably thought this was for the game for a minute there right? I’ll have a review up for that one soon too but in the meantime the manga has started and it’s off to a good beginning. I’ll have a review up once it finishes but the art is good and the story is on point so I see this being a smooth journey.

Overall 7/10

Hard Time Review

Posted on by
Reply


Hard Time is one of those movies that is basically all about a day on the job as an officer in a corrupt environment. As the film is going it hits all of the usual beats you would expect it to while throwing in some twists to keep things fresh. It’s a fairly by the numbers film with some good action and a solid story behind it. Ultimately it is held back a bit by some uninteresting characters and a generally weak introduction. The movie mainly picks up once all of the big players like the mob start to take an active role but can take some time in getting there.

The movie starts with Logan on graffiti watch which he finds boring and a bit insulting since he is used to the tougher cases. Unfortunately for him he has gotten into some trouble over the years for getting a little too aggressive and violent in in some instances. Well he spots an active crime in progress and quickly steps in to help but after a long chase scene one of the crooks shoots the other one and escapes. Fortunately Logan prevented him from stealing the cash but now he is apparently the lead suspect in the shooting and is being taken to court. He’s going to need his attorney to really bring her A game to beat the charges but they don’t really get along all that well from prior encounters. She doesn’t much like the cops and he doesn’t much like attorneys. They’ll have to put these differences aside for now but ultimately the best way for Logan to ensure his innocence is to find the people who were actually behind this and bring them to justice. He better do this quickly as the mob is after him as well.

You may wonder how Logan could possibly have been framed for shooting the one crook. Well, during the chase there was a point where he finally caught up to the crooks but badly underestimated them so they stole his gun and his handcuffs. Unfortunately Logan did not share this with his attorney which comes back to bite him later on and it also makes the whole thing a lot more realistic when you consider which gun was used to murder the crook with. This was definitely all on Logan since you really do need to tell your attorney everything if you intend to stand a chance in court. A single omission or lie can completely turn the tables against you and at that point it is very hard to gain the upper hand again.

It was also rather sloppy of him to let the crooks go there. Basically he had them at gun point and told them to have their hands against the wall. Usual strategy so far so good. Where he went wrong is he gets in close to shove one of them and starts to talk tough so the other one just backs up and lands a kick on Logan. Once he’s down then it’s easy for the two to overpower him from there. This is a common mistake they make in the movies. If you have a gun then the whole point is to stay at mid range. If you get within arms reach then you are basically asking them to make a move. It’s definitely not worth it and will get you killed every time. If anything Logan is super lucky that they didn’t finish him off there. It’s not like they planned to frame him either, they just figured murdering him would increase the heat so they were better off running.

In general Logan does look good during this film, it was just the opening that hurt him a lot. He goes on to defeat multiple attackers even after he was tied up and he never really looks back. Logan is a tough fighter to bring down and he knows it. Perhaps that’s why the confidence got to his head but by the end he is taking numerous opponents down and showing why he was the best in the business. He also figures out the truth of what happened before anyone else which helps him a whole lot in the climax. His partner Charlie would have been really doomed without him.

Now as I mentioned above there is a lot of corruption in this town as the mob owns just about everyone. This becomes a bit of a subplot later on and the film wants to make sure you don’t forget it so we get a lot of flashbacks. That’s one thing which is overdone in this film. We don’t need a lot of flashbacks in any movie because you should remember what you just saw unless it was a really small detail that you want to point out. This one has flashbacks to moments over and over again which didn’t need it. The film’s not as confusing or complex as they may have thought it was. Ultimately the cast is also small so you shouldn’t have a problem remembering any part of the movie. Just saddle up and you’re all set.

Logan’s partner Charlie isn’t quite as impressive as a character. He let himself get really out of shape which is dangerous in his line of work. The guy doesn’t really end up helping Logan much at all. He does talk tough with just about every character in the film but considering that he would likely lose every fight, it wasn’t as impressive as it could have been. I wasn’t giving him any major thumbs up at least. I actually liked the rookie a lot but unfortunately he didn’t get to appear all that much. He was very confident in himself though and that goes a long way.

I really liked the idea of the mafia showing up to weigh in and complicate matters. It helped make the world feel more alive even if I was surprised that they didn’t do more at the very end of the film. The climax was definitely very explosive though. It’s almost tragic in a way because the body count gets a little high and you have to wonder if all of these guys are villains or some are just getting manipulated. If the latter is the case then that is really a rough way to go out. You have to figure that some of the villains probably got away in the end just by sheer numbers but on the whole it’s still a semi happy ending. Things may be tough for Logan as well with the court case. Technically that may not have really changed much even after the climax and then one villain also seems to get off rather easy. There was actually some decent humor at the very end though which did give me a bit of a chuckle.

Overall, Hard Time was a fun movie. It’s a fairly standard action title all things considered but it delivers with the fights and a solid main character. You’re invested in seeing how it all ends and we get a lot of action near the end. I’ll be interested in seeing how the sequels play out but at the end of the day this is a film which delivers even if it is fairly unknown compared to most other big titles. You want action and it delivers so it accomplished the objectives it set out to achieve.

Overall 6/10

Aliens Area Review

Posted on by
Reply


I finally checked out Aliens Area which sure got cancelled awfully quick. It’s a shame because it did sound pretty fun from the premise although after reading through it I can see why it was cancelled. Ultimately it doesn’t deliver on the action you’d be expecting and while it’s not a bad thing to try and be different from the usual action experience, it didn’t feel like the series really knew what it wanted to do. You end up just being really confused by the end and wondering what the whole purpose was. The ending is rushed due to being cancelled of course so that part doesn’t really count but even before that it didn’t really have a focus.

The basic story starts with Tatsumi taking care of his siblings. His parents died a while back so he’s on his own but he’s done a pretty good job of raising them so far. Money is real tight though and then one day he is attacked by an alien. He manages to fend it off with his mysterious arm which worked out really well because otherwise he was definitely going to be in a true jam there. Somehow his arm was able to stretch as if he was Monkey D. Luffy. A guy named Hajime appears and explains that he is the leader of a group that looks into aliens. He wants Tatsumi to join and it pays well so his family will be looked after now. Tatsumi agrees to this but can he keep his new job a secret from the kids and is he really ready for this?

The core premise is solid enough. It’s sort of like Men in Black, this organization deals with aliens. Often times that is done through force but sometimes they will let the aliens know that they are breaking the law and that’s that. What makes things more complicated is that there is another group known as A3 and their mission is to simply destroy all aliens. They figure it will save more people in the long run and in some ways they think it’s more just as the main org will deal with aliens peacefully but they rarely help out on the follow-up. So often times if they provide housing for example, if the alien bombs out then he is exiled anyway. It seems like the manga was going to run with this as a fairly big subplot because Tatsumi had his share of issues with the organization. They do seem extremely shady. They aren’t straight up murdering everyone like A3 but it would be a stretch to fully call them heroes.

The series ended with 20 chapters so there wasn’t time for a whole lot of missions. After the first chapter we have Tatsumi accompany Hajime on a mission. This one had them protect an alien princess from the greatest assassin in the universe. I may as well add now that this is already a mistake. You can’t have the best in the universe appearing this early in the story unless he is going to win. The problem is that Hajime defeats him rather easily….so just like that the power creep has gone absolutely crazy. It does work well as an initial battle to teach Tatsumi the rules of how to fight and all. It’s just the context of knowing that they just defeated the greatest assassin in the universe that is a problem. You can’t convince me that this was a good idea, it just doesn’t make sense. The assassin loses all of his hype immediately.

Of course he returns later as an ally but by that point you still don’t think he’s nearly as strong as his reputation once was. It’s still a solid intro arc and shows Tatsumi more of what the aliens can be like and what their missions are but it wasn’t executed quite as well as it could have been. I do like Tatsumi’s arm since he seems like it would have a lot of uses in combat. He uses it here to block a blast that was aimed at the princess. This leads to my next issue though…he doesn’t get to fight. Aside from the punch he landed in chapter 1, he never gets another fight after that. 20 chapters should absolutely be enough for the main character to do something.

Instead he ends up feeling like a side character in his own manga. Maybe Hajime would have ended up becoming the main character but the way the manga presents him is as the mentor figure. Tatsumi even went through some training so they were gearing up to some fights and took too long. This is a pacing issue that you have to blame on the actual manga because there was no excuse not to have him fight earlier. Just throw in some minions for one of the bad guys and we’re set.

To an extent the series wanted to be subversive with how Tatsumi was always ready to fight but then sometimes it would be a peaceful thing like a parking ticket. I think that’s good for a few gags but it wouldn’t be enough to cover the series longterm. This one wasn’t built to be a slice of life adventure even if the author wanted to pull that off afterwards. You have to learn into the battles because that’s what everyone is looking for here. Having another group was already a good start and you could do a lot with the aliens but the series just wasn’t preparer to do that.

Right off the bat I think what the series should have done was skip to the next arc first. Basically the heroes head into a bar where a girl there knows about aliens which shouldn’t be possible since the heroes mind wipe everyone after a mission. Well, she has been taking care of aliens and so Hajime wants to remove her memories and take the aliens while Tatsumi isn’t a fan of this. As payment for staying free the lady gives them intel on the other group but ends up getting murdered by a high ranking member of A3, Yutaka. This leads to Tatsumi being upset but Hajime saying they can’t make a move due to their job descriptions. This would have been a good way to introduce the hero group from the start and have Tatsumi quit for a while or declare that he will change the group. Give us a good reason to root for him like that and then the whole series would get more emotional.

That doesn’t happen though and the problem here is that every arc gives us more and more reason to dislike Hajime and his group. The whole group just looks incredibly shady and unlikable so why would we root for them? It feels like Tatsumi has to work for them or they will erase his memory so it’s not like he wanted to be here either. The biggest red flag though is when Hajime introduces us to the heads of the group. These are the most powerful members in the whole organization and most of them have completely disposable designs. You know those random characters in any show who don’t stand out and you know they are background characters immediately? That’s the kind of design I’m talking about here and that’s crazy because these are supposed to be the top tier epic characters. It just didn’t make any sense at all. Maybe by then the author knew the series was over but it didn’t feel like a ton of effort was put in there.

Even when Hajime introduces Tatsumi to his squad, the characters don’t really stand out there either. They’re okay designs I guess but you won’t remember any of them. Despite that, the art is actually really good. This feels like a very experienced artist who knows how to draw a good action scene. It’s just the designs that need work but otherwise this one is solid all around on the art front. The fights are good which is what you are reading the series for, it’s just a shame that the rest wasn’t quite as solid. Then this could have had a really good future.

Ultimately Tatsumi is a good main character. He can be a bit too passive and follows orders without making enough complaints but he is new to the alien world so I’ll cut him some slack. Give him a little extra time and he should end up doing a lot better in the long term. His overall motivation of wanting to protect his family is a sound one and so I wasn’t bored when he was on screen. He should have held his own easily enough. Then you have Hajime who is good at what he does. In terms of personality I find him to be a little too shady to the point of being a villain. Some characters act tough but you know it’ a bluff. With this guy I didn’t get that impression. Instead he seemed really serious about what he was saying and that’s a bit concerning. This is definitely not the guy you want to have your back.

The way he uses the gravity powers was interesting. Basically the way the power set works in this world is that the humans have manipulated the alien tech in a way to simulate super powers. Each person can use 3 equipments at once and Hajime opted to use 3 gravity sets at the same time. This lets him attract objects, negate gravity, and jump around using that as a way to propel himself forward. The fighting style with this was fun and he uses a cane which is a rare weapon for any fighter. Just make him a little more heroic and we’re in business.

There is a whole group of people working with the heroes but most are totally forgettable so we don’t need to get into those. Yumeko is the only one with a fairly big role as she ends up being a tough mentor for Tatsumi. She believes in using power to get her message across and definitely beats Tatsumi up quite a bit. The guy can never catch a break when she is there but she is also quick to help him out when needed. She’s a fun character and I expect her role would have only grown bigger as she appeared more.

Finally you had the main villain Yutaka but he is a character who gets hurt big time by the series ending fast. Basically in the final arc he decides to randomly take down all the villains on his own and cause a giant explosion to wipe out a bunch of aliens. Naturally this would wipe himself out as well and more aliens would still exist so it’s like he’s finishing his goal halfway. They do give us a reason foe why he suddenly made such a drastic move and it was a sad plot twist that he learned about. It still doesn’t make this feel any less rushed though. The final arc is the big invasion as the heroes rush the villains but it doesn’t feel earned and we don’t know almost anyone yet so it’s hardly emotional either. In the end Yutaka goes out like a chump and just isn’t cool at all.

I had a lot of issues with the series so this one probably came across as rather harsh. It’s because this should have been a really good title but ended up fumbling the bag almost immediately. In a lot of ways I dare say it was trying to be like Kaiju No 8 but without a lot of the things that made the other title so successfully. If you see this one in stores if it gets a physical release then I would recommend checking it out. You’ll still be entertained without a doubt even if you do see the lost potential floating around throughout the adventure. There is just so much that they could have done with this series but ultimately didn’t.

Now if the series did want to go for less of an action angle while still being serious throughout, then the only option would be to be more of a horror/suspense title. You saw that octopus image from earlier? The series has its jump scares like that and part of the tension is that aliens can be anyone. Some wear human puppets so you can’t tell and they can jump you at any time. Having the main character infiltrate different establishments while looking for them could have been a good idea. It’s absolutely an angle that the series could go for but it is fairly incompatible with huge power levels so again I would say that you remove the whole best assassin in the universe getting immediately defeated in the pre arc aspect out as soon as possible.
Overall, Aliens Area should have focused more on the aliens and the combat. Ultimately this one didn’t last very long but at the very least the art is good and the action scenes are fun when we get them. The series also has some crazy horror visuals that come in from time to time so it is trying to do a whole lot but never finds its footing in the end. sometimes you have to go slow and just knock one thing out at a time. If they ever brought this manga back I’d still be interested in seeing it continue. It is good…it’s just not Very good.

Overall 6/10

Kid Icarus: Uprising The New Myth of Light – The Mirror of Pathena Review

Posted on by
Reply


That title’s definitely a bit of a mouth full. You probably don’t need to write all of that out since part of it is almost like the full title that usually doesn’t make it over but I wasn’t 100% sure either way so I figured I would just do it like this. It works well enough anyway and what’s more important either way is the actual manga. The story and art here are definitely on point. You’ll definitely have a good time with this one although as a oneshot that means it is really over as soon as it has begun since it’s only around 20 pages or so.

Basically Pit had defeated the forces of evil a long time ago but for some reason monsters have started popping up again. The only way to stop them is to take down the leader. Palutena believes that it may be a powerful dog like creature which has popped up. It looks like the Cerberus but only has two heads. Is Pit really going to be a match for this guy? Also, he seems strong but is this creature really the leader or is there more to this battle than meets the eye? The chapter mainly focuses on this battle and then ends with a solid cliffhanger to keep you going to buy the game. It’s definitely handled well and gets you excited.

The artwork is pretty solid here with some real action all around so it’s easy to read. Granted, the scanlated version uses that blue tint that seems to happen when you turn a color chapter back into black and white so it can be a bit more difficult than it should be but you could see that the art underneath that was very solid. This is a title that definitely goes all out with the pages that it has. Realistically though I suppose you won’t remember this one for too long before you have finished it. That’s just the way that these things go because it’s really short but I like to think that this hopefully convinced at least a few people to buy the game.

The lore around Kid Icarus was always fun. You’ve got a lot of monsters and gods fighting it out and it’s like Nintendo’s take on the old Hercules myths. With Nintendo’s seal of quality it’s also not surprising that it’s so good. They never really give you anything sub par and I wish they would do more serious manga. The Mario and Kirby gag titles are an exception to this. When they bring their A game then you have great titles like with the various Legend of Zelda ones. You could absolutely do a good Kid Icarus ongoing story as well. I’d say that they shouldn’t even feel like they have to follow the game and can just do their own thing. There is so much to explore with the world and so many characters to introduce. It would be a whole lot of fun.

Overall, there isn’t much more to say here because of how quick the manga is. You’ll be breezing through this one in no time and I’d say that’s just a good thing. The story is on point and it never drags on. The characters are likable so oneshot or not, it covered every base here. The fundamentals are sound and it’s why I can confidently say that this would have been an ongoing. The ultimate purpose of a oneshot is to draw you in. Whether it is to sell a video game or just to try and get an ongoing from the oneshot, it has to grab you quickly because there aren’t very many pages. I would say that the game definitely succeeds in that.

Overall 7/10

Virtuosity Review

Posted on by
Reply

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 n

Virtuosity is one of those films that reminds you of the dangers of virtual reality. I still think we’re probably a good 20-30 years away from anything quite this advanced but hey if it ever does happen then I could see at least parts of this film being really realistic. You just know that the A.I. will be used in dubious ways almost right away. Honestly it’s the best argument against VR being a big thing because someone will immediately find a way to turn the pain sensors back on and just like that you are in a tough spot.

Well, the film opens up with Parker going through a training mission where he enters a computer world and has to try and take down an A.I. Parker was once a police officer but he murdered the killer who took out his family and is now serving hard time. This will help to reduce the sentence at least but the training doesn’t go well as SID (The A.I.) murders Parker’s partner and the lead barely gets out of there. It turns out that the training simulation wasn’t quite so safe eh? Well, SID breaks out anyway thanks to one scientist being a sucker and SID’s creator being a villain anyway. SID is now determined to torment Parker as much as possible. Why is it so personal though?

The film explores a connection with Parker and SID right away. The answer to this question becomes clear fairly early on and it’s really just a lot of bad luck for Parker. I mean the film probably would have been tough for him either way but the chips just happened to fall in a way where things were just as bad for him as they could have possibly have been. He’s already in jail which is pretty rough in itself and now having to deal with a powerful A.I. like this is just throwing extra salt to the wound. Not playing the game with SID isn’t an option either because the guy will hunt Parker down and frame him if that’s what it takes to keep the battle going.

Good luck trying to destroy SID as well because the guy has super strength and a whole host of supernatural abilities that put him above the rest of the rank and file. He can regenerate and move really fast too. In a way the film makes him just a bit too powerful because you know there is no way the heroes should be able to really do much of anything to him. It would just be hard to buy at that point but that’s just how it goes I suppose. For the most part this is more of a chase film than an action one but there are some fights and you may shake your head at those.

I do really like the visual effects used for the cyber world though. We don’t spend a whole lot of time there but the intro scene was very effective. You know that something is wrong right from the start with how everyone has the same kind of shirt on. Then the shooting starts and you realize this isn’t exactly the real world. I would have been cool with the whole film taking place in virtual reality to be honest even if it probably would have been tough on the special effects team. It’s why we need that Sword Art Online movie already but I guess we’re going to have to wait a long while for that one.

SID makes for an intense villain. The guy is completely insane but the thing is that he knows it. So he’s still really clever with his attacks. He just enjoys making everyone feel terrified and we get a whole scene where he creates music using people’s yells. That was certainly very twisted. The scene drags a bit too I would say. With a villain like this, you’re more interested in the banter with the main character as opposed to seeing him just terrorize the civilians who can’t fight back.

Parker is a good lead. He definitely had his share of trauma and baggage over the years. He doesn’t regret what he did to avenge his family by any means though but it does mean that he has had to put up with an awful lot in every category. It’s why he had to crush the first prisoner who tried to mess with him so that hopefully he wouldn’t have to get into any other fights after that. It’s really the rule of the jungle out there and if you aren’t the most powerful then you are going to be in a whole lot of trouble. He works well as the lead and never gets bitter about the whole thing either. At the end of the day he is still trying to save lives at every opportunity.

Madison is the main heroine here and she does well. She may tend to get in the way a little at first but by the end she is actively contributing and doing her best to help out. Her son ends up getting into trouble so she really has to take a big role in the climax. The climax is handled well with the elaborate trap used at the end and Parker having to use his past experience to deal with it. The voice clips were also a lot of fun as you hear some lines on loop and it ends up being memorable.

I was a little mixed on the film by the end because I really liked the premise but I think they could have done more with it. Of course you could do more with the virtual reality for sure but also more with the interactions. SID still kept his powers while in the real world somehow so I’d like to expand on that and see what else he could do. Giving him the memories and personalities of various serial killers was an unexpected move but it’s not a bad idea to really make this villain as terrifying as possible. The character cast is good too although for most of the movie I felt like the researcher got off easy. Yes most of the characters didn’t know that he planned this out but you’d still think that he would be getting some heavy blame here since this is his creation. Even if he hadn’t helped SID out, this was going to be inevitable after a while and every company needs a fall guy. I wanted more of corporate’s reaction to this.

Overall, Virtuosity was an interesting movie to be sure. It had its fun moments and it never dragged on. The way Parker’s family was bumped off was also an especially tragic one to really make him feel a lot of guilt. It was done tragically but without being overly violent which I thought was clever. The film can be a bit violent to be sure but it’s not as excessive as you may think and so it doesn’t take away from the overall story. I would recommend this if you are interested in seeing more of the virtual world.

Overall 6/10

Point Break (2015) Review

Posted on by
Reply


Point Break is one of those films where I’m almost surprised that it got a remake. I mean most things get remakes eventually but I wouldn’t say the first film is one of the top ones that comes to mind when I’m thinking about a thriller. It just felt like a random remake but hey, it’s here so how did it fare? Well I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original and yet I would still say it edges this one out. It’s not a landslide victory, they’re both on around the same level but this feels like a slimmed down version with characters that aren’t as interesting. The only interesting thing here is the whole eco-warrior angle and that part isn’t fleshed out as much as you might expect.

The film starts off with Johnny Utah pulling off some great stunts once again but unfortunately it gets a bit too intense and his friend dies. He decides not to do the stunts anymore and becomes an FBI agent. Well, there are now a string of odd crimes happening around the world and Johnny notices a trend that everyone missed. The villains are attempting to complete the Ozaki 8. These are crazy stunts where nobody has ever managed to complete the whole set in their lifetime before. These crooks are accomplishing those feats while also robbing places and causing general mayhem which is the impressive part. The FBI agents don’t really buy into this theory though so Johnny is on his own when he goes over to prove this theory. If agent Pappas doesn’t think there is any promise after a short while he will pull the plug on this little operation. Can Johnny find these crooks?

Well, that might be the wrong question. See, Johnny finds them very quickly. That’s not really the hard part here. The hard part is that he quickly starts to hang out with them and doesn’t think they are so bad. In a way he wants to take them in peacefully and he also needs proof which will be difficult. It puts him in a tough spot and that’s also why you really don’t want to be an undercover operative for too long. The longer the mission goes on the more suspicious the villains are naturally going to get. So there is always a timer here.

I would also say that Johnny sure gets lucky a whole lot of the time. If the villains were smarter and made direct moves from the start then Johnny would have been doomed. He’s not exactly subtle with how he will vanish for a full day and then come back. He’s extremely suspicious with all of his little trips. Basically Bodhi at least figured something was up midway but instead of finishing Johnny off he plays along because he hopes to convert Johnny. Overconfidence? Yes absolutely, things would have gone a lot smoother for him if he just made Johnny disappear and that wouldn’t have been hard.

Johnny does have some street cred by being a former extreme sports guy and that at least was a god addition to the film. It actually makes sense to add to his cover and yeah it might be convenient but it also gives more reason why he wouldn’t be immediately distrusted at least so I can get behind that. This one has less of a focus on the surfing and in exchange it’s more like a decathalon as there are a bunch of different sports and activities being played here.

Ironically Johnny reduces the villains’ numbers by getting caught up in the moment and making things a little too extreme. His old habits kick in during a snowboarding level where one guy doesn’t make it. Bodhi and the gang aren’t too bothered since they figure it’s everyone’s choice to go on and that is true. I mean you’d probably still be rather guilty about the whole thing but I don’t think he’s wrong. At the end of the day when someone encourages you to do something, you (almost) always have a choice and so if you do go through with it, you can’t go blaming the other person.

So Bodhi and the gang’s intentions here are to save the environment and complete the stunts. Where this falls flat for me is that their goal doesn’t seem very focused and doesn’t seem to help the environment much at all. Johnny even calls them out for this by saying how they keep taking a lot of money and living the good life but when will they give back? Sure they occasionally give money to people but they don’t seem to be the selfless Robin Hood types that they claim to be. I would say Johnny is right on this, sure they were always going to be villains either way but showing more of how they actually helped the environment would have done a lot to make them more compelling as villains. I think it would have made a world of difference at least and they wouldn’t have been nearly as bland.

In general bland is probably how you would describe the film. It does have some good visuals and action scenes as they perform these extreme stunts but the actual story around that is so forgettable. Half of the conversations between the characters are about the environment and the world around them yet you don’t feel like they are actually saying much. It is a lot of dialogue without a whole lot of actual focus and that is the problem.

I also didn’t care for the main character much because to an extent I think the agents were right that he lost sight of his duties here. He gets distracted way too easily while trying to learn about them. I don’t feel like he really held back once the chips were down but he would have worked harder to stop them. I don’t think fitting in with the group was the most effective way to stop them and at the end of the day they are still big criminals. Even if Johnny sees that they are trying to do something good, it really doesn’t change the bigger picture. You have to stop them.

Now for the ending, it is going for an emotional vibe of course but I do think at this point Johnny is obligated to stop Bodhi. Basically the situation involves arresting Bodhi or letting him destroy himself. At least in the original you could see how Bodhi might have a chance if his skills were up to par but this time he went in a boat so it just felt like a suicide mission. I feel like Johnny has to quickly try and stop him here because there is no chance of success. Additionally Bodhi needs to answer for his crimes rather than getting to go out on his own terms like that. Sometimes death is the easy way out and this is one of those times. Johnny needed to hang in there and make sure this didn’t happen.

Overall, Point Break just feels a little unfocused and didn’t put enough attention to the plot. The stunts were on point but you can’t really make a whole film about that. You need a focus, some kind of overarching story to make it all work and this one didn’t really have that. The characters aren’t the best and I think the film thought that it was a lot deeper than it actually was. As a result the whole thing ends up being rather weak and I can’t say that I would really recommend it. It’s not bad but it’s just not very inspired. I would say to watch any Mission Impossible film starting with film 4 instead for some good stunts that are connected through an exciting plot.

Overall 5/10

Mothra vs Godzilla Review

Posted on by
Reply


Mothra vs Godzilla is a classic film and should not be mixed up with Godzilla vs Mothra. They are too different films with very similar names but rest assured that we are talking about the original here. As for which is better, it’s been a long time so it’s hard to say but the new one may have the edge. This film is before Godzilla really got the power upgrades that made him into a famous Kaiju king so you can’t expect him to look quite as good. Mothra has a lot of plot armor here though so get ready for that.

The movie starts with a large egg washing up on shore and a business man named Kumayama quickly buys it. The guy was smart to deal directly with the local fisherman rather than waiting around and it paid off big time. He aims to open up an entire amusement park with his backer Jiro and they are going to be rich beyond their wildest imaginations. It’s a scheme that can’t go wrong..except what if something is in that egg? They are visited by a mysterious pair of twins who confirm that this is not a good idea. The villains will not be scared off so easily and so the twins have to work with Ichiro, Juko, and Miura to save the day. Will they be able to stop these rich guys?

One thing you will notice very quickly here is that the twins are unfortunately not very powerful. Don’t let their mysterious aura fool you they can’t really fight. They mainly are just here to wake up Mothra which is a good role in itself but one day I wish Mothra would give them some kind of super powers to fight back with. It would absolutely be a good upgrade that would really let them cause some damage here. Instead they end up nearly being captured.

As for the main heroes, we get a lot of banter with Ichiro and Junko. Junko is definitely a lot more aggressive and outgoing as she doesn’t mind standing up to the villains and taking her time with the camerawork. Unfortunately she isn’t very good at being a photographer and even forgets to turn off the lens once which frustrates her boss a lot. Meanwhile Ichiro doesn’t want to stir up any waves at first but gradually realizes that he has to do whatever it takes to save the island. Likewise the researcher Miura starts to help out more too and later on we have a whole newspaper battle although nothing deters the villains. Lets face it, they’re prepared to make billions off of this park so no amount of bad publicity was going to stop them.

In the end it’s all up to Godzilla as usual. Unfortunately this is probably one of Godzilla’s worst appearances. He doesn’t look very smart here as he trips at one point and gets stuck. He doesn’t really seem to know what’s going on beyond his pure instincts but what I will say for him is that he never gives up. There is a point early on where the government nearly takes him down for the count but they get too cocky and overload the machine. Given how effective it had been there is a real chance that they would have defeated Godzilla if they had kept on going. Human fans should saver this now because there is a chance that they will not be seeing another win like this anytime soon.

Of course what we are really here for is the big battle between Mothra and Godzilla. It’s a bit of a strange matchup because Godzilla is much more powerful physically and he has the overwhelming long range advantage. His atomic breath should also be able to instantly evaporate Mothra with a good burn so the deck is stacked against Mothra. You do see this at times with heroes going up against great odds but the difference is that Mothra is a massive target so she has no room to dodge and not much room to outmanuever the opponent either. So at the end of the day a comeback is difficult that way.

The reason why the fight doesn’t work is that they have to nerf Godzilla to try and convince you that he would lose. He forgets to use his atomic breath for most of the fight except in very short bursts which do not really do much of anything. If he kept this up from the start then Mothra couldn’t even get close and would lose right away. You could make the case that Godzilla wasn’t able to use it for long bursts back in the day and didn’t have the stamina for it yet. I have doubts on that but either way he would still win this round if he just moved a bit more. The Mothra larvae basically pin him down with a lot of string but he should have been able to easily get around that. He only loses because he basically doesn’t move at all which really hurts him here.

I still enjoy the fight because it is a kaiju battle but it was just hard to buy into. Godzilla should win this fight 10/10 times. It was just an off day for him. Meanwhile Mothra is doing her best to protect the kingdom so you have to respect that. She is definitely one of the most heroic Kaiju out there without a doubt. It’s good that the humans have someone that they can rely on at least even if it feels like the tribe wouldn’t help out ordinarily so you better hope that you get to Mothra or the twins directly. Otherwise Earth’s guardian may not help out.

The writing is solid and the film has a good amount of humor in there. The Showa Godzilla films always felt like part comedies with the human characters probably as a contrast to the monster battles. I think it works well enough here. None of the characters are particularly memorable but they’re not bad which is the important thing. The monsters show up before long and once the fights are here then you’re all set. It doesn’t quite have the hype of Godzilla vs King Kong but it soundly defeats the first two films without much trouble.

Overall, Mothra vs Godzilla is a pretty good film. The fight definitely comes across as cheesy since you can’t picture it ending the way that it did though. I feel like they could have just had Godzilla win and then walk away. Maybe that would be cheesy in its own way but you can also think of it from this perspective. Godzilla doesn’t really bother with humans until they start the fight in most instances. So he may be satisfied with defending his crown as the King of the Monsters and just leaving. I could totally see that working. Either way I would recommend checking this film out. It has aged well and you can’t go wrong with Godzilla adventures.

Overall 7/10

Assassination Classroom Season 2 Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for the end of the Classroom saga with season 2. We get more action in this one as there are more super powered beings now but the series still blends together the more slice of life adventures with those too. I’ve never been a fan of the way the series ends and so the anime doesn’t really change that but you should have a good enough time here. The animation is still sharp and you will be invested in finding out what happens in the end. Can the characters surpass their limits and stop Koro-sensei from blowing up the planet?

We start things off with some slice of life adventures and a quick fight with Itona as the season kicks off. Itona had been a bit of a recurring villain so he was finally brought into the fold as one of the main characters but of course this also means that he lost his powers in the process so he becomes fully human. It would have been nice if he could have kept his powers even if it would have made Koro’s job of staying alive a lot harder. Now he would really have to be watching his back a lot because all that Itona would need is a single strike to claim victory. Still you get to have fun with the cast before things get real with the Reaper.

The Reaper mini arc is one of the top highlights in the whole series. The reason for this is because he does embody the perfect assassin without super powers. Yes his abilities are so good that they may as well be super abilities but technically he doesn’t have any biological enhancements of alien parts. He’s just using true skill here and he manages to absolutely hold his own against the main characters. That’s really nothing to sneeze at and his fight with Karasuma was great. The arc really gave a glimpse of how the whole show could have been with the cast trying to stop the more powerful assassins.

That said, it also underscores once again how the kids aren’t really ready for the big time. Without Karasuma they would have had absolutely no chance here. He’s just in a completely different league Karma and Nagisa get their moments of taking down stronger opponents but this was something the series could never get past. At the end of the day the kids needed some kind of time skip so that they could have really helped contribute more. More often than not the teachers had to do the heavy lifting here.

We also get more fights with the top scoring rivals from the school led by Gakushu. The rest of his group was never as memorable but he made for a great rival to Karma. The two of them would duke it out a whole lot throughout the series and it was a fun rivalry. The school competitions were always fun and another side to the whole assassin life as they would use their skills academically. Those battles were always fun also because that meant there was less time for Koro-Sensei to appear and mess things up.

This also closed out the plot with the principal Gakuho once and for all. He was definitely a really fun antagonist in the series and will be missed. The fact that he could hold his own against everyone without any powers was crazy. His origin story was definitely a sad one and the guy was absolutely dedicated to making sure that nothing like that would happen again. He pushed himself to the physical and mental limit of what a human could be and it paid dividends. He could pretty much mind control anyone and had a whole lot of influence. That’s not something that you can see just anyone doing and his confidence never wavered. The guy would take any risk if it meant he would win. Still one of the best characters around.

There’s also the subplot with Nagisa’s mom that finally concludes here. She definitely went rather crazy throughout the series so it was nice that she could finally see a bit of reason. I mean it did take a crazy assassin and a burning school to get the message across but hey at least she did change after that and Nagisa could finally have a break. He would need it since we’re approaching the end of the series now and there wouldn’t be many breaks left.

This led into Koro-Sensei’s origin story which is really solid. Basically he wasn’t always a terrible character. Back in the day he was a top assassin who got results and was basically the best in the world. He even trained the Reaper and in a fair fight nobody could beat him. Ultimately he would have continued to be the strongest but he ended up getting attached to one of the researchers, Aguri which gave the villains some leverage and ultimately had him change his ways. He was no longer a ruthless monster who wanted to destroy everybody. Instead he would now be a caring teacher.

The backstory does a good job of establishing why he wanted to be a teacher in the first place and also tying everything together for the climax. It also gives us a massive twist to one of the characters in the series that was always pretty shocking when it happened. Best twist in the series easily and I gained a lot of respect for the character with what she had to put up with the whole time. Just enduring the pain alone without ever letting it show was already a lot to deal with and that’s not even counting the emotional pain. The only thing it doesn’t really do is explain what happened to Koro-Sensei’s personality to the extreme degree that it is in the present.

Did repressing his emotions for so many years cause him to want to just be as extreme as possible to make up for lost time? I don’t believe that it was all an act because there would be no reason for that and it would just feel like a cop out. Regardless while I consider him to be one of the weakest characters in the series in the present, I did like him a lot in the flashback. Sometimes a characters just really falls down I suppose.

After that emotional arc and we wrap up the fights in the present, we approach the end with the big Civil War. The kids have to decide on whether or not they should murder Koro-Sensei. Of course you know that I’m going to be on the side saying not to murder him. Cmon now, that’s just the worst decision you can make. If it comes down to sacrificing one person to save the world then in almost all cases I’m going to just say that it’s time to let the world be destroyed. You don’t trade lives as they say. Additionally there was still a chance that he wouldn’t blow up so you have to take that into consideration as well. I was rooting hard for the no kill team to win this one because of that. It’s just the only way to have a satisfying ending.

I won’t say which team wins but ultimately I wasn’t thrilled with the ending so you can expect that not everything went the way I wanted it too. I feel like it can be hard to ultimately deliver on an ending because after any big adventure there are so many ways a story can conclude. Although while many Jump final arcs tend to get some heat I usually disagree since ending with a big war arc is always the way to go. The war arc here isn’t literally the ending but it’s close enough where it may as well be and that worked out well. In this case it’s just the actual ending that’s the big problem and so for the last episode you’re not quite as invested. You know this could have easily been saved with just a small stinger at the end showing a certain cliffhanger moment. That’s absolutely all I would have needed and I would have been good. A shame that didn’t happen.

As you’d expect the animation is still really sharp here. I’d say one thing that the series does exceptionally well are the really sharp colors for the character designs and action moments. They really do a good job of depicting the pure intensity of the villains and heroes when they are using their assassin techniques. The ost is also good. It has a good amount of variety and I liked several themes there. It may not be the biggest soundtrack out there but it definitely gets the job done.

In general the character cast is good too. Nagisa and Karma are a solid duo as the leads with their banter and rivalry going on. They really help each other to succeed which is important and of course Karma has that classic rival energy of always being ready to pick a fight. Part of what makes this work so well in the school setting is also how he just won’t tolerate bullies…at all. The other characters may play nice but he just jumps in there and gets the job done which I can always appreciate.

The rest of the kids are solid as well. Itona was more interesting as a villain but he’s still reasonably good. Kaede went way up in this season as she got a much bigger role and the rest of the kids are all around to help out as needed. Irina still tends to not do great when it counts but Karasuma always steps up against the big villains. He also helped the kids out even though it would put his job in jeopardy near the end.

Then for the villains we had quite a few really solid ones like the Reaper. That guy’s techniques were crazy good and it makes sense that almost nobody could touch him. He’s really perfected his craft. Shiro wasn’t nearly as solid as a villain even if you do have to give him some props for his dedication. The guy never gave up that’s for sure. He just kept on trying to go after Koro for ages at this point and considering the power difference there, it wasn’t a small feat. I already talked about how great Gakuho was of course.

The series is at its best during the action moments. We get a lot of quality battles and quick choreography. The show tends to be at its weakest during the comedy episodes as the cast just isn’t generally solid enough to hold these up for long. That’s why the show tends to quickly devolve into fanservice and shenanigans like that to pass the time while the serious episodes avoid that. The fanservice isn’t crazy but still fairly frequent at times and it doesn’t help that Koro’s one of the main characters and he usually encourages this quite a bit. Ironically if you cut him out of the whole series then the show instantly is elevated but the whole series revolves around him so at that point you’re really talking about a completely different series.

At the end of the day I stand by my reasoning that the show would have been more solid if the main characters were more grown up rather than being kids the whole time. It just stacked the deck too far against them, particularly with how fast Koro-Sensei was. If anything even most of the villains should have gotten neg diff’d the whole time. Sure Shiro’s cloak had that special substance on it but there are still loads of ways for Koro to have beaten him. The power levels were just set too far apart which meant that things wouldn’t always end in a very satisfying way although I’ll give the show props for mainly not having Koro ever lose in a crazy way that would make no sense with his speed. I do think that they did put a lot of thought into each of his moves.

Overall, Assassination Classroom season 2 mainly picks up right where season 1 left off. If you enjoyed the first season then you will enjoy this one and vice versa. I would still give it the advantage over the first season as we get a lot of the biggest moments here like with the Reaper and the origin story though. It suffers from the same issues as the first but focuses more on the strengths which is good. I don’t think this will ever be remembered as one of the top Shonen Jump titles but it was pretty big while it was going and it is still memorable enough to be remembered even as the years go by. If you haven’t checked it out yet and are looking for a fairly low key slice of life with some action arcs then this should be right up your alley.

Overall 6/10