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Annie Hall Review

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Woody Allen films are consistently about a whole lot of rambling and characters talking in a way that just doesn’t make sense. They fill the air but none of the lines have any real substance behind them. They’re just creating more and more problems where no character ends up being likable by the end. There’s not a whole lot of plot going on here either so the story is forced to throw in a bunch of flashbacks and third wall breaks. You’re definitely in for an adventure of some kind here.

The movie starts with Alvy reflecting on when he used to have a strong relationship with Annie before things fell apart. He has already been married twice but in both of these relationships things did not go well. Annie was someone who actually understood him and they had some fun but it seemed to be very surface level. After some time had passed, they would grow further and further apart. Wait…so we already know the ending? Yes, this is one of those films that spoils the ending immediately so the movie is about the events that take you there. I never liked that cinematic plot device but what are you going to do right?

From the start you can see why it would be hard to stay with Alvy though. He is constantly depressed and complains about everything. He tends to be a complete doomer and you can barely even tell when he is having fun because he is still finding time to complain. That’s not the kind of attitude that is really going to get him far. Alvy’s a comedian but one who lacks in confidence so he gets stage fright and panics about every little thing.

For some movies there may be a bit of a mystery on why the big romance falls apart but it’s obvious from the start here. They are just way too different. Annie is more sociable and wants to hang out while Alvy’s idea of a good time is staying cooped up indoors. While some modern couples think it makes their relationship stronger to be able to still flirt around with other people to make the partner jealous, it’s just a terrible strategy in reality. They were both friends with people who were definitely the type to mess around and that increases the chances of it happening to them as well. You become the kinds of people that you hang around after all.

Towards the end they can’t even be intimate without Annie having to get high the whole time. They just have to casually use drugs and there doesn’t seem to be anything romantic about the relationship. They satisfy their physical desires and that’s it. You’re never going to have a meaningful relationship that way. None of the side romances are any better in this film.

As for Annie, well I can’t really give her any props either. The way she and Woody meet just makes her look a bit desperate. She clearly has ambition and drive in her life so staying with someone like Woody who has already given up on his future is not a smart play. Annie also tends to be a little too scattered like how she starts seeing a psychiatrist because Woody recommended one and then takes all of the advice in without thinking about it. She starts attending school classes because Woody suggested them and that leads to meeting with the teacher and starting more drama. She kept on starting new tasks because Woody would recommend them without really thinking about it.

Needless to say, it’s hard to picture either character being a reliable friend here. They would both just be annoying you to bits the whole time. You could also rest assured that they would be talking about you behind your back right away. That’s just how they operate and again that’s not the healthiest kind of personality to be associated with. I’m sure there are people like this but these are the kinds of social circles that you want to avoid. Everyone is two faced and fake with no real sincerity anywhere.

Now that isn’t to say that the film is devoid of humor. I actually think that Woody’s fast way of talking has some appeal to it. It certainly tends to miss a lot more than it hits but there will be some fun moments in the dialogue. A few jokes that will hit or a wisecrack that feels good. I tend to like fast, snappy kind of dialogue for humor and that is what this film is going for. With a stronger writer then this could have been a good recipe for success. To be really funny you should be hitting on around half of your jokes though, not 10%.

Also the film really needed more of a plot. To me this feels like an Abbott and Costello setup. Woody Allen films I mean. They all have him being really nervous and panicking the whole time but so far without much of a plot to back it up. Abbot and Costello would be about two guys joking around with some light plot in the background but it works because they are really funny. Additionally they would also tie the plot into something throughout the movie even if it was slight. I’ve got a mystery review coming up which addresses this to an extent at least.

So if you had some cool hook like the main two were stuck on a boat or travelling to space then you would have something there. You could keep the same tone but at least there is a real story to sink your teeth into. It’s not like this would have totally saved the film or anything like that but it would absolutely be a whole lot more watchable. As it stands, the film just doesn’t have any reason to make you watch it and you are desperately waiting for the characters to get more likable but it never happens.

Overall, Annie Hall is not a film that I would recommend. It’s a bit of a dreary watch with no real end point in mind. There can be a kind of humor in the way the dialogue goes but for every laugh you will have a number of groan worthy moments. This kind of film desperately needs direction and an end point. Without that or a good romance, there is no reason to get really invested in the film. I would definitely advise staying away from this one, it’s just too mindless the whole time with a lot writing standard. I’m still waiting for Woody to deliver on making a really good film.

Overall 2/10

Interiors Review

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It’s time for one of those dreary films where all of the characters are unlikable so there isn’t anyone to really root for. This film was really doomed on arrival as a result because I can’t really see any way that it could have turned out to be good in the longrun. There are definitely ways that it could have been a little better than the end product but not too many ways where it could have landed in the green. You at least need some humor or positive story beats other than the drama. This one didn’t really have any of that and your only chance of enjoying it is either ironically or if you also think that people are super annoying so the film wins back the realism points that it loses very quickly otherwise.

The film introduces us to Arthur and Eve who have had a very rocky marriage for a long time. Eve appears to have gone completely crazy and Arthur seems to want a fresh start. Well, it turns out that they are getting a divorce so now it is time for the three sisters to see how they can handle the situation. I can tell you that it won’t be easy because none of them are really having satisfying lives of their own either. The situation only seems to grow worse and worse so without even the possibility of a happy ending here, what can be done?

First off even though this is about the 3 daughters, the youngest one doesn’t get much of a role. It takes a long while for Flyn to even show up into the main story and nothing goes right for her there as well. She is attacked in her van by Frederick, one of the drunk villains who had a lot of red flags from the start. Aside from this being a needless scene that hurried to keep dragging the film lower and lower, it doesn’t make sense that nothing ever came of this. While the characters are all in toxic situations and seem so worldly that they may let such an attack go, the film ought to have at least addressed it.

Flyn never really gets any wins in the film and ultimately it seems like her decision to be far away from the others was probably for the best. In general if she had not come home, that would have ended up working out way better for her. There’s nothing much more to say about Frederick since being a villain is really his only role. He likes to insult everyone constantly without taking any responsibility for his own actions. He just keeps on getting more and more drunk as the film goes on and you wonder what Renata ever saw in him.

Renata is the oldest of the 3 daughters and constantly fight with her younger sister Joey. There’s always been a one sided competition here as their father only ever wants Joey’s opinion and Renata can never really seem to match her. No matter how much success Renata gets, it is ultimately used against her. Now she is in a toxic marriage of her own and so things are not looking any better. Her way of coping with these constant issues is to essentially encourage her mother in the delusions that the parents may get back together again. Not a good idea but in general no response would be very helpful there.

Joey gets the biggest role out of all the characters but does end up being one of the most annoying characters as a result. She has done her best to get close to her mother over the years but all of the attempts have been futile. She is stabbed in the back every single time so her problem is essentially the flip side of Renata’s. Clearly everybody is just in a tough situation here.

Joey’s problems are largely self inflicted though. She tends to get bored of all her jobs and so she jumps around a whole lot. Joey seems to have a lot of confidence issues and also doesn’t want to start a family with her boyfriend so that starts up a lot of fights as well. Joey just allows her mother to call the shots at all times even when it means wasting a whole lot of money. She then takes her frustrations out on the new step mom. There’s just nothing likable about Joey. You understand her actions during the story and see why she is upset but Joey always manages to handle these situations in the worst possible way.

Mike tries to be the most reasonable one around. He isn’t a pushover like Joey and the others but at the same time he does want their relationship to last so he does his best to make her happy. He just can’t seem to do enough as she always has a bunch of complaints around. I don’t see how they can possibly be happy long term but he’s trying so I have to give him some credit there. It’s definitely not an easy circumstance.

As for Eve, well I’m afraid she loses the sympathy points rather early on. She is going through a lot and that is sad but she just never stops complaining. You can see where Joey gets it from. Eve is never happy and will always find the negative in a situation. She’s the kind of character where if you helped her out 99 times but couldn’t do so once, she would always bring up that one time. She’s the kind of person you would generally try to avoid or at least make sure you weren’t in the same social circles with. So it’s no wonder that Arthur wanted to get away from her, although he is far from blameless. Ultimately Eve makes the wrong decisions all the way to the end.

As for Arthur, well the guy got tired of Eve and decided to split up. That’s always going to be the wrong decision there. I can only defend that if there is serious abuse going on, whether physical or verbal. Then to compound the issue he immediately gets married to his rebound pick and brings her over to show off. It all makes him look quite selfish. If he was going to rebound then at the very least he needs to be more discreet about it. I’m afraid the time to show her off to the family may never come but he has to accept that. For what it’s worth, she seemed fine. A lot of red flags with how Arthur would be her third husband but that’s his business.

It’s not as though the relationship seemed any weaker than the others. All of the romances in the film were quite dreadful. Meanwhile the writing is pretty bad as the characters talk a lot but don’t have a great deal to say. The whole film is just so jaded like this is how you imagine people are talking behind closed doors. There are probably some who are like this but they would be far from the majority. The film was also way too determined to be a sad drama the whole time. I get not wanting to have some humor but just a few jokes could have gone a long way.

For any film the main goal is going to be to entertain the audience. You’re not going to be entertained with this one and the pacing is much too slow. It’s also hard to feel bad for anyone because it’s hard to imagine being friends with any of the characters in this film. They would all be talking behind your back constantly and slipping insults into every sentence. The film’s ending doesn’t help matters either as it is an extremely weak one. The film just fumbled everything from start to finish. One little thing the film could have done at least as a fun little easter egg would be to have mentioned there were 4 sisters but the 4th one decided not to show up. I could have at least written a paragraph about how that was the smartest character in the movie.

Overall, Interiors is a film that I would definitely avoid. It’s much too dreary and the characters are so bad. Usually they’d just be bad in a super unlikable way but then you have Frederick who becomes an actual villain and this is never addressed. He should have been in prison by the end at the very least. There were simply no chances to enjoy the film as every moment that would even hint at being light hearted was immediately slammed down. A movie just can’t survive on those kinds of negative vibes. The characters are all written to be as unlikable as possible and that’s already a hard enough issue to get past without all of the other problems.

Overall 1/10

Mosaic Review

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It’s time for another old school superhero film. Although in a way it may be more apt to call this one a mystery thriller that would have led into a superhero sequel. There isn’t quite as much action as in the Condor but you do have a whole lot of characters running around and setting up plots for the future. There is a good amount of world building in here and it would have been nice to see what kind of expanded universe we might have had. I guess that’ll have to be something that you can only dream about for now though.

The film starts by introducing us to Maggie who is finally achieving her dream of being a big actress. Her father is skeptical of the career though and wants her to keep studying in school so she can get a real job. Unfortunately his career as an interpol agent is quite dangerous and he is defeated by a mysterious shapeshifting alien. Maggie is also inadvertently blasted with the powers of the chameleon during a thunderstorm so now she can turn invisible and shapeshift.

A crisis rarely comes when you expect it and so now she will have to do her best to master these powers and stop the alien threat. She meets a guy named Mosaic who will help her out but he has the same powers and may not be trustworthy. Maggie will end up learning the truth behind these “aliens” and these truths threaten to change the course of human history itself.

Like I said, there’s a lot of world building here. We learn a whole lot about these chameleon creatures and all of the events that lead up to the present. We also get a quick reference to the Condor and other heroes running around. It’s a big world that just got a whole lot bigger but there isn’t a whole lot of time to get into that.

The main adventure is really about Maggie getting used to her powers and making sure that these villains can’t target her father again. Her abilities are really handy all around. Who wouldn’t want to be able to shape shift or turn invisible right? This gives her a big advantage over the average crook even if it doesn’t help as much in this one since everybody has the same abilities. Hers are slightly heightened in that she can tell when someone else is a shapeshifter as well though.

Maggie is a nice character and an easy main character to root for. She knows when it is time to take action into her hands and throw caution to the winds. Sometimes you have to do that in order to save the day and plunge ahead. The government actually seems to mean well in this story so far but it would take way too long to explain everything to them so I completely understand why Maggie had to plunge on ahead without worrying about any of that. Getting out of the Interpol chief’s car and making a break for it was the right move. The film also explained how she went out of her way to learn a lot of fighting styles so it makes sense why she is able to get into the action so easily.

Meanwhile her best friend Stephan is secretly in love with her. The problem is that the poor guy can’t bring himself to tell her this and so he always lags behind and allows himself to be in the friend zone. He either needs to say something or just be honored to be her friend. The secret crush always ends up making one party look bad because it’s sort of spoiling all of the friendship moments. Maggie really thinks that Stephan is her friend and so she is able to share her excitement at being cast in the shows and all without any reservations. If Stephan confesses and she doesn’t like him like that, well it’s going to get awkward.

I’d also argue that the film goes out of its way to show that she considers him as just a friend with how she acts around Mosaic. Mosaic is one of those very suave characters who seems to have a way with the ladies and is also an excellent agent on the side. That said, he is a lot weaker than you’d expect. You could say that most of his fight scenes weren’t really fair but honestly I could only give him so many excuses before I had to shake my head. He is just not star material.

There’s one scene where he gets effortlessly knocked down, then he gets up only to be combo’d back to the ground. Mosaic then gets up for a third time before they just hold him down. I appreciate the resilience but you have to have some kind of a plan. Not just getting up to be knocked down once again. I wasn’t super impressed with Mosaic as you can guess but they did have to move fast to get him out of the way. If the film was longer then he would have definitely had more hype scenes.

Meanwhile Maniken worked well as the main villain. He’s definitely got a real intimidating design all the way through. He is also strong and has a very specific plan so it’s not like he’s just trying to destroy the world. I was satisfied with having him as the big boss at least. Maggie’s father actually put up a decent struggle against him at first. He just made the classic mistake of forgetting that being invisible doesn’t mean you’re intangible in most cases. I feel like you should just start firing all around or throwing punches. Instead characters always freeze up while the invisible menace just walks over and finishes the job.

That’s why I’m giving a special shoutout to the cop at the very beginning of the film who actually kept his calm and fired the gun at Maniken. He was even able to get the magic gem away from him as a result. Usually the cops in these films miss every shot and never even get close so this was a real nice change of pace. The Interpol chief also looked good and was trying to be supportive. Down the road I could see her helping Maggie out but there will probably always be some tension since you never know when the gov will turn you in for testing.

The animation was solid enough. The character designs are good and the action is on point. I liked the invisibility effect and all in all the animation was very streamlined. There weren’t big chunks where you were wondering what happened to the budget or anything like that. The soundtrack is a bit more on the forgettable side. Nothing to write home about anyway.

Overall, This was a good film. I don’t think it will go down as being super memorable though. I didn’t have any specific issues but it is a little slow paced so on the rewatch that may hurt to an extent. The characters are always looking around because of how many people are actually alien shapeshifters. I enjoy that kind of tension but naturally it won’t hit as hard the second time around. The sequels would have been in a great place now that Maggie is confident in her powers though, maybe they will at least do a comic sequel to it someday. In the meanwhile I would recommend this one, it’s a fun watch.

Overall 6/10

Mercy Review

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Mercy is one of those films that has an amazing concept right out of the gate. People finally had enough of the crazy crime rates and so an A.I. was created to serve as judge, jury, and executioner. All criminals are presumed guilty unless proven of innocence. This is a film that feels like it could have been a Twilight Zone episode. I’ve also been playing a lot of Ace Attorney lately so this was really timely. Generally I tend to be on the side of the prosecution and this film is really no different. Can the main character actually prove his innocence?

The film starts off with Chris being strapped into his seat at the A.I. Mercy courtroom. He is accused of murdering his wife a few hours ago. The trial would have been even sooner but they had to wait for his alcohol levels to drop off. Things are not looking good for Chris, footage at the scene of the crime shows him having a fight with his wife and being the last one to leave her place. Their marriage was not in a good place and Chris was known to have severe anger issues. He was also an alcoholic. Judge Maddox seems to have an ironclad case against him. Can Chris stop panicking long enough to prove his innocence or is it curtains for him?

One thing I have to say right away is that Chris is super annoying the whole time. You really have a hard time rooting for him. The first 5-10 minutes are basically him trying to break out of the chair and yelling a lot. This just isn’t the time to panic like that and it gets worse when you find out that he is one of the main guys who pushed for the Mercy system. He even helped capture the first person to be put to death by the system. That means Chris should understand more about what’s going on than the average person and so I would also expect a certain amount of composure.

You don’t really get any of that here though. Then as we learn more about the case, we see that he really wasn’t a good guy. Now it is always important to separate the person from the crime. Just because you’re not a good person, that doesn’t mean that you are guilty. I think it is also why I tend to be more on the prosecution’s side though. They are always fighting for the guilty plea and the evidence is going to be on their side. The defense has to try and save their client even when they know that they are guilty. That’s always been much tougher for me to square in my head.

Neither side is ever always on the side of justice but I’d say that the prosecutors have a higher batting average. Additionally, Judge Maddox just does a terrific job. She calmly analyzes the facts and constantly makes sure that things are going the way that they should be. It’s a giant contrast to what is going on with Chris as he just panics and panics. He throws a whole lot of personal attacks her way while she doesn’t stoop to his level.

I will say that the film does go in a bit of a cheesy direction with her character though. I would have liked for her to have stayed far more decisive and calculating than how it actually went down. I don’t understand her getting so emotional within such a small time frame. I would have liked for her to have stayed fully neutral. Still helpful depending on the circumstances but never giving you the vibe that she was on someone’s side. she was still the best character in the film though.

As for Chris, well you’ll just have to see if he is guilty or not. One thing we can say for sure though is that he messes up a lot. We find out how he was trying to drink in secret without his wife knowing and then he went totally crazy when she found out. He tried fighting off a whole group of police officers which was a terrible look for him. At one point he even pretended to give up, only to grab a chair and start swinging at them. That’s a really underhanded move even in the best of times but for here it’s another demerit against him.

You are meant to feel sympathetic for Chris by the end but I can’t say that I ever really got to that point. The film just went a little too far in making him as unlikable as possible. Of course this still doesn’t excuse the subplot where his wife is fooling around with someone else. You get a divorce first and then you can hit the market again. Doing that while married is just as bad and so the supporting characters quickly get annoying here. The rebound guy is real smug and likes to hear himself talk but you don’t want to really hear what he has to say either. He’s not a good guy either.

The film did already explain that there was a huge crime wave so in some ways it does make sense why everyone is so unlikable. It doesn’t make them any better but the film did lay some groundwork there. I do think the film had to stretch its own logic a bit for the final plot twist though. Given how much power Maddox has with A.I. and all, I don’t see how she would have missed some of the evidence here. I guess you could say that she just won’t look into things as much unless the accused is fighting back but that doesn’t totally track for me. So the final twist felt a bit forced and could have used more of an explanation. In general I’d say that’s true even for the main case to an extent but a lot more time was spent on that one so there aren’t any true plot holes there. Still some parts I’d be skeptical of but nothing absolutely insane.

The general action climax tends to run into some of these issues because it feels like this shouldn’t be so easy in the future. Shoot out the wheels for the truck at least right? Felt like there wasn’t enough security and then all of the officers kept crashing their cars into the truck. Not saying it should be super easy or anything like that but that was absolutely a skeptical moment for me. The villain’s plan seemed to rely on way too many things going right in too many different directions. Realistically I feel like his plan should have been doomed way before he got to the point he was in during the climax. Maybe I’m overestimating the surveillance I guess.

Overall, I thought this movie would be pretty good as soon as I saw the trailers for it and this one did not disappoint. Generally I always tend to enjoy court room films. This one may have a different setup than usual but still follows the main beats. There is a good amount of suspense here and you will definitely be eagerly awaiting each and every twist. The pacing is good and the concept is also a really good one that just makes you think. Would you be able to use the A.I. tools to prove your own innocence in such a situation? Chris had to get real creative here in order to find an angle and that’s really how it always is for using these tools. Some plot developments may get a bit weaker as you watch them but that’s the nature of a thriller. I would definitely watch a sequel if that ever came out and I’d recommend this film.

Overall 7/10

Tron: Ares Review

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Tron has returned for a new adventure! It’s definitely good to see the franchise make a comeback because it’s been way too long since the last film. While this one isn’t quite able to match that legend, this is a very good movie with a good amount of action. We finally get to see the cyber world enter the real one and for once the army actually looks rather decent. I was glad that they didn’t just go down immediately. I’d like to see more films after this one but unfortunately it sounds like another long gap is going to appear instead.

The film starts off by explaining that ENCOM no longer owns the monopoly on the digital world. Dillinger Systems is closing in fast and now both of them are competing to take the decisive advantage. The only way to do this is to find a way to finally allow the cyber world to enter the real one. Both of them are able to pull this off for 30 minutes, but they need the permanence code to pull this off. Julian Dillinger creates a master program named Ares who aims to use to find the code or to break into ENCOM and steal it from them. His hunch was correct as the head of ENCOM, Eve, has found this code. She must try to escape from Ares long enough to pull it off but does she have the strength to stay alive?

In a way the first part is a bit like Terminator here as you have the powerful cyber fighters trying to assassinate this one human. At first they need her alive in order to get the code but that’s not always the gameplan. Additionally since they can stay in the real world for 30 minutes and can be respawned as many times as needed, the humans are at a disadvantage. Eve may know how to keep these digital people in the real world indefinitely but it’s a very small comfort when she has no fighters on her side.

The film doesn’t go in this direction but it would have been nice to have seen her summon Tron or something like that. He would have been a powerful asset for the hero side. Eve means well though and does want to make the world a better place. She just doesn’t want this breakthrough to be used for evil. After all if you can create infinite guns, bombs, and robotic soldiers then this will be desired by all kinds of bad actors. The good effects are that you can now have infinite food to solve world hunger, ways to revolutionize medicine, etc.

So the effects of this film will greatly change the world no matter who wins. The film doesn’t really focus on the ramifications of this though. There’s just not really enough time and that would be more for a sequel. Eve is a solid heroine though. She may have taken a little time to really take Julian’s ambitions seriously, but she was able to outsmart Eve during their first fight and did well to keep on staying alive.

As for Julian, well he’s your classic corporate villain. The guy is super cocky and arrogant when he is in control but really starts to panic once the shoe is on the other foot. The guy wants to win at any cost and so he will break as many rules as he feels is necessary to make things go his way. This ends up being rather easy for him in general since Ares gives him a huge leg up over all of the other programs. He never ends up being all that interesting though and the computer villains are definitely more fun. Julian’s also the kind of villain who is creating his own problems since Ares would have absolutely been more loyal if Julian wasn’t transparently antagonizing him throughout the whole film.

Ares is a fun character who takes decisive action right away. He realizes that Julian sees him as expendable and decides to do something about it. He was introduced as being a really strong fighter and he proves that quite a few times during the film. I would have liked for there to have been more of a focus on fight scenes as opposed to general action ones but in either case Ares is always at the top of the class.

I’d say his character arc ends up going a little fast. I would have liked for him to have kept a bit of an edge but at the end of the day I suppose he was just more heroic than Julian would have predicted. I also think the way the film ends leaves a lot of room for his character to go in any direction. You can’t really stop technological progress though and so I fully expect him to have a big role in the next film. If there aren’t a bunch of other programs in the real world by that point then something went wrong.

Eve is really the main villain here. She always had dreams of grandeur and was certainly not going to settle for being 2nd best for long. Her confidence tends to outweigh her skill though. The only times she is winning is when the heroes are at a huge disadvantage. She had the right idea in summoning everyone for the climax though. At that point there isn’t really anything to lose. I also think it would be a really interesting to have an army of extremely powerful fighters who can only exist for 30 minutes going up against the armies of the world. They are strong enough to make a dent but the time limit and constant respawning is a big weakness.

The old characters get a cameo here and there but you shouldn’t expect anything more than that. It would have been really cool to see the characters from the second film show up but I do get how they would probably end up stealing the whole film. The guy from the first film is around but I feel like those scenes don’t have as much of an impact at this point. Maybe it was just the timing though, I wanted to go back to the real world instead of hearing a quick music debate.

The soundtrack for the film is really good as you would expect. A lot of really solid electronic themes going on and they absolutely fit the atmosphere that the film is going for. The end themes actually sounded like something out of Stranger Things but for the midway point and action scenes it would be the Tron that you’ve come to expect. This is a soundtrack that is very loud and unique so I appreciate that. It’s very memorable and that’s part of the Tron experience.

The special effects in general are really good. There is always a lot going on and I love the way that the digital world looks. We also get the classic Lightcycle battle which is a staple for the series. It does make you wish there was more of it though. I think that will always be the hard balance trying to have some human scenes while also giving more time to the Grid. Legacy was more about the Grid so this one’s more about the human parts.

Overall, Tron: Ares is at its best when it is showing off all of the cool digital effects. I always like seeing the battles there and the concepts are also interesting. In this case the members of the Grid are clearly able to feel and emote so they even mourn their fallen allies. If they all start to be sentient, then that’s definitely going to lead to problems in the real world. You may not be as engaged in the company vs company stuff but the film has really quick pacing so there are no points where any of this is dragging on. The whole adventure really ends before you know it with constant danger around every corner. Even if you haven’t seen a Tron film before you should be able to get into this one without any issues. I’d say that it’s very new viewer friendly.

Overall 7/10

The Condor Review

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It’s time for one of those superhero films that has a pretty snazzy name but it didn’t actually go very well. Nobody’s really heard of this film and it’s too bad because it had some good elements. I do see where the film did make a lot of mistakes though so it’s certainly not the next Avengers. I would have watched sequels to this one though. The film is surprisingly short and wraps up in the blink of an eye.

The movie starts off with the cops chasing a bank robber. The guy has on some kind of a head piece that gives him super speed. The cops still catch up though and then the robber runs out of juice and dies. Seems like this has been happening more and more often, clearly there is a master manipulator behind the scenes who is orchestrating all of this. What could his end goal be? Well, the film then takes us to our main character, Tony. Tony is one of the best skaters around and is looking to defend his title for the 4th year in a row. He has some tough competition ahead of him but isn’t scared.

His father feels like Tony isn’t using his skills to their fullest though. Tony could be a total genius helping to make the world a better place. Right now the family is working on experimental technologies that can heal people and stop various negative affects across the planet. Tony admits that all he cares about is skating though and so he doesn’t even pay much attention when finding out that his parents are involved in some shady business. Tony’s friend has also gone in with the wrong crowd so there is a lot going on. Perhaps it is time for Tony to put on a uniform and become a superhero known as the Condor?

Right away I have to say that this film is really crazy. There are so many plots and characters running around the whole time but like I said, the film itself is pretty short. So the film has to try and juggle all of this. This results in some plots having to be rushed and others largely being left for a sequel. There was a lot of material here for a whole chunk of films to come out. Fortunately the film still works as a stand alone adventure as long as you just assume that the adventure goes on.

The weakest part of the film has to be the romance here. It’s one of those films where you quickly see how none of the guys are loyal and will fold to any assertive girl. This doesn’t just happen to Tony but to his friend and the Z Man. None can resist the charms of a beautiful lady and while it’s supposed to be funny or endearing, it just makes those guys look really bad.

Lets start with Tony, the “hero” of the story. First off, he is extremely quick to believe an out of context conversation that implicates his parents as criminals. He absolutely refuses to believe anything they say and as far as we know they have had a good relationship. It should not be possible for them to have been ripped apart so quickly and easily. Then Tony turns on his best friend Sammi constantly. She helps him out a lot throughout the film by giving him support, creating legs for him to walk again, etc.

Tony is incredibly ungrateful the whole time. Honestly Sammi should have walked away after a point because it was getting crazy. Now I don’t blame him as much for not noticing her in the romantic sense as the guy seems to be incredibly dense. She should have made a move if she wanted them to be together, but I do blame him for being super inconsistent. After he and Valeria are going out, Tony was still ready to start kissing Sammi at the drop of a hat. At that point that’s not a real romance, it just shows that he’ll enjoy any girl’s company and has no loyalty.

Tony is at his best when he’s skating or fighting. At least he gets a lot of good one liners there and isn’t afraid to go into fights where he is outnumbered. You may question how he is able to fight so well all of a sudden but that even goes for the villain for once. The main villain is shown to be able to fight on par with Tony while not having any super powers. You wonder how Tony can be having any trouble here when he is so much faster. Either Tony has no fighting skills or he has a bunch, you can’t really have it both ways.

For Sammi, well I wouldn’t say she was a great character either. She is still considerably better than Tony though. Sammi’s main issue here is the fact that she just expects Tony to pick up on things without telling him explicitly. That doesn’t really make sense considering how long they’ve known each other. She should have figured out by now that he’ll never pick up the hints so she can either ask him out or move on. In the film she does move on to rebound with the Z-Man but then quickly goes back to Tony. Rebounds like that are never good so she lost a lot of points there.

As for the Z-Man, well he seems like a nice enough guy. He’s a competitor and has some banter with Tony but just wants to have a clean fight. Unfortunately he’s also a bit of a player and can’t resist any lady who throws herself at him. This is definitely meant to be more of a gag but it also means that he is another guy who won’t be the definition of loyalty. He was also way too quick to support Tony and Sammi being together when he liked her. I guess it wasn’t a very strong relationship after all.

Tony’s “friend” Reuben is also pretty bad the whole way through. He gets bullied a lot and so you feel bad for him at first but then it turns out that he is constantly putting himself in bad spots. He decides to get involved in a poker game and uses money that he doesn’t have which resets the whole status. We also find out early on that he is the one who sabotaged Tony which was basically attempted murder. Reuben continues to go down from there and also shows himself to have no morals as he is easily seduced as well. I’m not sure exactly how sympathetic the film was hoping you would find him by the end but I can say that I was at 0%. This guy was just not reasonable at all.

As for Valeria, well she’s not a good character but you almost have to respect her confidence to a degree. She just walks up to whichever guy she wants and claims him. There is no resistance and based on her confidence she has yet to meet a guy who is able to resist her charms. I also thought that she was going to end up being super shallow and dump Tony once he was injured but she actually didn’t. She stuck with him throughout rehab.

So next I figured this was some kind of a trick…but no she actually seemed to like him. It’s possible that she just wanted him for his body but there’s no real way to say for sure. From what we can observe here, she actually ended up being far more loyal than any other character in the movie. Now who would have guessed that? Obviously she is crazy but when you are constantly seeing movie characters like Sammi being too afraid to express their feelings then it ends up being rather endearing. If she had just stuck to Tony and not tried this with anyone else, I would have had to give her my support. That is the kind of confidence you want to see from your girlfriend.

As for the animation, I’d say the fights are pretty solid. Nothing outstanding but the film has a very retro feeling to it with the animation. The strikes are clean and the battles tend to be long and smooth. The power levels are a bit wonky though. It feels like the super speed is very inconsistent in terms of how much of a boost it gives you. The best battles definitely tend to be when Condor is fighting his nemesis.

The characters aren’t very likable and some of them make the worst decisions you can think of. It never made any sense for the parents to be telling the villain that they’re onto him without some kind of a backup plan. I also thought that they handled the car chase poorly but you could argue that may be more of an animation limitation than what was intended. It looks like they could have sped up or at least tried a lot of turning to shake the villains off. By doing nothing it put them back in harm’s way.

The film does also fall into the fanservice issue. This is pretty rare for a superhero film I gotta say but it is frequent here. There are too many zoom ins and slow down effects when Valeria is around. Even the fight with Tony falls into this to a degree. In a way the animation doesn’t help here since they really made sure to do a good job with all of her scenes. A strong movie never has to rely on this kind of tactic. Throw away all the crazy romances along with the fanservice and you’d have a really strong title here.

Overall, The Condor is a good film but does have just enough issues where I can’t give it a higher score here. I like the idea behind it and would say this makes for a pretty good origin. I could easily see them building a whole franchise around this. That said, there are already so many different superhero franchises that you don’t really need any more. If you want to check out a one shot superhero adventure then I’d recommend checking this one out. It’s a special kind of chaotic that you don’t really see nowadays. Just don’t expect this to be the next Superman TV show in terms of quality.

Overall 6/10

Godsend Review

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This is one of those films where the characters are constantly making a bunch of mistakes. You are going to need to suspend a good amount of disbelief in this adventure because otherwise you’ll be questioning everything. Unfortunately this movie doesn’t really succeed at any of the genres it is trying to hit. It’s not super suspenseful as a thriller and it’s definitely not very scary. I guess you can’t win them all.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Paul and Jessie who are happily married and raising their kid Adam. Adam is your average boy who likes sports and games. Unfortunately he gets hit by a car one day and dies. This causes Jessie’s old professor Richard to show up. The guy explains that he can clone Adam so in a way they will have their kid back. They will have to leave town and get new identities though. None of their relatives or old friends can know about this. Paul thinks this is a dumb idea but Jessie is desperate to have a version of Adam back. Paul relents and so they do the cloning. 8 years later, the clone is now as old as Adam was but he begins to act very oddly. Have the main characters made an oopsie here?

There are so many reasons why agreeing to clone your dead kid is a bad idea but of course we wouldn’t have a movie if they had just said no. So for the most part I’m just going to go ahead and skip all of my reservations about that. This is still a bad idea aside from that though. Why would you actually break off contact with all of your friends and family? I understand why you would tell Richard that so that he can give you the clone but you could absolutely reach out to them afterwards. There wouldn’t be much that Richard could do at that point.

Also the instant Adam started acting weird, Paul needed to do something. Unfortunately Jessie was already under Richard’s sway early on so she wasn’t going to do anything but Paul should have gotten the second opinion sooner. It’s not like Adam was subtle either. One of his first scenes is telling Paul that he doesn’t like him anymore. Weird thing to say to your father right? Then he starts zoning out more, having strange visions, etc. You can’t just listen to Richard when he says that everything will be okay.

Odds are that the other doctors couldn’t have done anything but that’s more of a hindsight argument. You should still do something. Unfortunately this is part of why none of the characters are likable here. Jessie is annoying from the start with how easily Richard is able to manipulate her. She just puts up no resistance and also seems to have no survival skills. At one point during what is supposed to be a horror scene, she follows Adam into the camera room. It’s naturally very dark since the light would ruin the photos.

So then Adam vanishes into the darkness and….Jessie follows him instead of just opening the door. That would have been the easiest solution and there is no reason to worry about a few photos at that point. Instead she fumbles around in the darkness so we can get some more jump scares. It just didn’t really make sense. If Jessie had at least turned against Richard early on that would have helped but instead she chooses him every time.

As for Paul, he is better but still looks bad throughout. He knew that cloning was a bad idea but still allowed himself to be convinced otherwise. Then when it comes to Richard, Paul lets his guard down and is easily defeated. It’s a rather humiliating scene for him because that should have never happened. You shouldn’t be turning your back to a dangerous threat like that. So he was really lacking in survival skills as well.

Finally for Richard, his end goal didn’t really make sense. For how long was he going to just try and stall the characters by saying that things would work out? It felt like he had absolutely no plan. I also think his whole cloning project relied on some pretty huge assumptions like the clone looking like the original no matter what DNA was used. That part seems really odd, especially with the spirit realm bodies fighting it out. The film couldn’t really decide if it was leaning more on supernatural or science based. I’d argue that this doesn’t make total sense in either case. The clone should have looked a bit different in retrospect after one of the twists.

As for Adam, well the first kid seemed okay. Then the clone seems to mainly be evil for its own sake. There’s just not a whole lot to him as a villain and so he will not be keeping your interest at any point. Far from it, you’ll prefer the passive aggressive meetings of Richard and Paul since those are a lot more interesting. There isn’t much that Adam can actually do in a fight unless the victim turns around and becomes hard of hearing. That does happen but it’s still unrealistic.

In the meanwhile Adam does murder another kid which was a shame. You were definitely hoping that someone could have intervened in time. Yes the kid was a bully but the bullying was not all that drastic and either way should not be a death sentence. We see enough of the villain’s origin story to see the casualties there as well and even then it doesn’t feel like Adam should have lasted as long as he did. There was a lot of plot armor behind every strike. The film isn’t exactly dreary but it’s also not trying to be a lot of fun. It’s very dramatic and emotional the whole time. Without really strong characters to counteract that, the movie can feel like a bit of a slog at times.

You’re not as interested in ignoring the jarring questions of how nobody realized where the family went to track them down. They wouldn’t need to explain the kid looking similar part because that absolutely could happen. The family running off and trying to start new lives is what would be more suspicious. Did they really get new social security numbers and IDs? I know Richard is great with science but I don’t see how that translates into this CIA type of access.

Overall, This is just not a very good film. It takes a while for the plot to really start as we get a whole lot of build up. Once the story does start in earnest, Adam just isn’t able to hold his own as the film’s main antagonist. Throughout the adventure you can’t help but feel like the movie should have a lot more meat to it. Either go full on supernatural and explore the interesting idea of souls running around waiting for clone bodies to be born or go full on science with the souls residing inside of the DNA. This one tries to do a lot and ends up not being able to accomplish much of anything. Even the twist ending feels more obligatory than interesting. There just isn’t much you can do with the evil kid genre. As it stands, this film is fairly low and still beats its average competitor.

Overall 3/10

Greenland 2: Migration Review

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Greenland 2 is one of those films that will make less and less sense as you watch it but that’s okay. The main purpose of the film is just to let you have some fun with a bunch of action scenes. In fact I dare say it beats the first film. It does run a little long though. The runtime isn’t even that long technically but the pacing starts to die out as the main characters run into trouble after trouble. They really can’t go 5 minutes without having some kind of bad luck.

After the events of the first film, the world is in a really rocky spot. Almost all of humanity has already been wiped off the map and the survivors aren’t doing so well with the crazy amounts of radiation everywhere. There is really no escape….except for one last chance. A perfect oasis that was near the initial blast zone. If you can reach this place, you will be completely safe and will not have to worry about anything. Does such a place even exist though? It sounds almost too good to be true and often times places like that are just a way to give hope to those who have lost it. We’ll see if the journey ends up paying off this time.

What really sets the adventure off is when the island that the heroes are on begins to erupt as a volcano was dormant under it. So John and his family go on a long journey but right away I have to say that he was the only one looking good here. So his wife Allison is big on trying to do the heroic thing and having a clear conscience through what is a really tough situation. No problems on that but she takes it to very dangerous levels to where she would doom everyone. The concept here is called suicidal empathy.

For example we are shown at the beginning of the film that the emergency shelter is already at the breaking point. They only have enough food for maybe 2 weeks left and everyone is crammed in like sardines. John has been trying to find some food and materials for a long time but there has been no luck. The air outside is poisonous so they have to all wear air masks and everything. Well, another group has sent out a distress signal. The problem? The group has dozens and dozens of members within it. A group vote is held and Allison puts in enough pressure to win the vote. So now the shelter will have to accommodate an extra 50 people and there simply aren’t the resources for it.

The one guy who opposes this is treated like an antagonist throughout the film but his points really made sense. At that point you are just dooming everyone and Allison keeps this up throughout the movie. At one point everyone is running for the last 3 life boats. The first two end up toppling because too many people tried to go into them. The heroes manage to get onto the third boat and the driver explains that they have to go or their ship will topple over too. Despite this? Allison still says they should let everyone on, knowing that it would doom them all.

She just wasn’t a very practical character. Unfortunately I would say that she is realistic as a lot of people would feel the same way, no matter how bad of an idea it is. There is a time where you can still feel empathy but have to move on or everyone will be dead. She never really recovered from that showing. Still, it’s not like Allison is a villain or anything, she just ends up being an annoying ally.

Then we have the son, Nathan. He’s the classic teenage character who is just really bored. He wants adventure and so he goes outside even with the poison air everywhere because he can’t stand being cooped up. It makes him seem rather selfish but also short sighted. He could have easily spread some viruses throughout the shelter which is the whole reason why only one person is allowed outside and has to be thoroughly detoxed each time. Nathan also has a tendency to panic all the time. At one point they all have to cross a bridge but he keeps yelling about how he won’t and he’d rather just stay and die there. This is life or death, you have to cross the rope even if it’s hard.

Sure it may be easy to say that from behind the screen but I stand by it. Nathan was always slowing them down quite a bit. I’d have cut him some slack if it was because of the insulin issue but aside from a passing mention at the start, that stops being a thing. So as long as it’s just a fear that Nathan has to get past, I have to blame him 100%.

So John is really the best out of the main characters. I really liked the pragmatic government character but he technically doesn’t last very long. John is at least trying to save his family throughout and is actively sacrificing his safety in order to do that. He’s a good hero and that’s really all you need in order to make a quality character. John gets to show off his expert gunman skills as well during the movie. Without him the family would have had no shot.

I’ll give the film props for also completely changing the film’s location early on. We are at the emergency shelter just long enough where you think that a bunch of those characters are going to be sticking around during the movie. Despite that, they are all removed from the story after the heroes leave the base. That was pretty unexpected for me and I thought that it worked. Having a really small cast of just the main 3 characters was a good idea.

The action was also consistent and never let up. While I do think the film began to drag on just a tad bit by the end, I can’t say that it was uneventful. We got several gunfights and a whole lot of running around. It did feel like the film was perhaps being a bit too ambitious at times though. A lot of focus was put on the atmosphere being poisonous but it felt more like an empty threat because there were many times where the characters would be without their helmets and it wasn’t really a big deal. Then it turns out that the sacred land near the crater has no poison at all. In fact that somehow became the biggest oasis on the planet.

It’s not a plot hole as the film very explicitly talks about how we don’t really understand any of this because humanity isn’t really in a position to study it. It’s just a bit convenient. I don’t really see how this land would not have been destroyed by now. Yes, an army is protecting it but with the whole world seeking shelter, that just wouldn’t last long. This isn’t a story that will hold up too well so the important thing is to just have fun in the moment. That is something that the movie is good at.

I was skeptical going into this film because I never thought that Greenland would really need a sequel. It felt like this would just be stretching a premise past the breaking point. At least by making it involve the rest of the world and an actual war, that made things pretty eventful. The writing is also good and most of my complaints about the characters being annoying are not the kinds of things that would actually lower the score of the film. Same with the inconsistent world building and such. They’re elements that are fun to make fun of and note, but don’t actually hurt my enjoyment of the movie.

Overall, Greenland 2 is definitely a good film. I won’t call it a great one or anything like that but I wasn’t bored. The movie kept my attention all the way through and there weren’t any parts that took me out of it because I thought the writing was super bad or anything. The ending is definitely pretty weak though. That’s one thing the film could have done better with because it just isn’t satisfying. It’s the kind of ending that feels standard in a bad way and also heavily limits the potential of a third film.

Overall 6/10

Explorers Review

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It’s time for a film about a few kids who decide to explore the unknown and have some wacky adventures. Generally this kind of film isn’t really my style. The kids usually aren’t the greatest main characters and you’re just waiting for the grownups to step in. Additionally this time the plot seems a little unfocused with subplots not really going anywhere. The real world plot was also a lot more interesting than space which is something that should really never happen. That’s when you know that the film made some strategic errors.

The film starts with a kid named Ben having some dreams that look like what you would see in a Tron film. All kinds of sci-fi computer chips and such. Fortunately he is good at drawing what he sees and so his super genius friend Wolfgang is able to make an invention out of this. It’s a sort of bubble that can travel across large distances. So naturally they build a spaceship during the night. Now they are ready to space but is this safe? There may even be some aliens out there.

One thing I’ll give the film credit for is not making the main 3 kids jerks or anything like that. For all intents and purposes they are good kids. Perhaps a bit too eager to grow up like with drinking beer and Ben having a huge crush but they aren’t juvenile delinquents or anything like that. They just have a ton of free time so they may as well get to inventing. The film is a good portrayal of how you can have fun doing anything when you’ve got some friends at the ready.

I will also say that the effects are pretty solid. Again, that Tron type world in the dreams looks really good. The flying around may be less impressive but all in all you can tell that some real effort went into this production. The soundtrack is also very lively. Perhaps not something that you will be jamming to but at least you can’t say that the music is invisible. I will always prefer a loud soundtrack to a movie where you don’t remember what any of the tunes were at all.

Now on the weaker parts, well like I said the characters aren’t the greatest. Ben is basically your average kid but he has a huge crush on a girl at school and basically isn’t able to talk to her at all without stuttering. The romance is really not developed well at all and doesn’t make any sense. Lori and Ben have almost no time for any interactions during the movie so the ending just feels really obligatory.

Lori is okay I suppose but of course she doesn’t really have much character either. By all accounts she’s a nice person within the school but that’s about it. Then you have Darren who seems to have grown up in a rather rough environment. He was pretty hesitant about going back home for example. This doesn’t really go anywhere though so we just have to hope that things got better for him later on. At school he was quick to defend Ben from the bullies so that was good.

From the 3 main kids he would definitely be my favorite. After that we have Wolfgang who is the genius who builds everything. He’s certainly very smart and is a good sport about things but also tends to panic a lot. He worries about every possibility and doesn’t live in the moment as much as the other two. You want him on your team to build everything but he needs to lighten up a bit.

Now the film does have a pretty interesting concept that is introduced about a shared dream world that can be accessed through an alien gizmo. While you are dreaming is when you go to this kind of Tron world. This is how the kids have the blue print for the ship and so it served as a map of sorts. Alien tech is always pretty interesting even if there aren’t a lot of explanations going around. Why is this even a thing and what causes other people to be pulled into it? The main kids all share this world after a while and eventually even Lori gets in there.

The space act is just rather boring like I mentioned before. You have a weird alien who flirts with one of the kids and everyone else starts talking using pop culture references and such. It kind of makes sense that aliens would only know humanity through TV if the signals are all that they could grab. Although at the same time I feel like it means their intelligence is pretty low. Every film still has some kind of a plot, even commercials so shouldn’t they be able to talk normally instead of just using memes and big sound bites?

I mean the aliens are clearly intelligent because they were able to invent all of this technology. It reminds me of when in a show some animals will speak perfect English and then raise a kid who speaks broken English. Like why would that even happen? It just doesn’t make sense once you actually think about it. The film thinks the aliens are absolutely hilarious though so their scenes feel like they go on for quite a long while but get repetitive real fast. The aliens also just seem like creeps so it was probably good to ditch them.

As a result of spending so much time on the alien world we had to abruptly end the plot about two rangers finding out about the UFO and one of them being particularly obsessed with it. He basically just pulls a Spiderverse “Not bad kid” as they dash off in the UFO. Pretty convenient outcome for the kids since he won’t be telling anybody about the ship or doing anything about it. That felt really abrupt and it’s a shame because we could have had a fun government angle.

Overall, This film feels like it’s a bit all over the place. I actually think it could have been a fairly decent school story although it’s not like it would have been amazing or anything like that. Instead going to space was a total mistake and this film is a reminder to me on why you want some adult main characters. The kids are not able to hold their own at all here. It’s a pretty harmless film, no big issues but it’s not really going to be holding your interest either. I’d say to watch Back to the Future instead if you want some slice of life shenanigans.

Overall 5/10

Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Review

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Fullmetal Alchemist is known as one of the greatest manga and anime titles of all time. No matter what circle you’re in, people talk about this series with a great amount of reverence. Would the movie really be able to live up to such a high reputation? Well, I thought it was a really solid one, I’d say another great addition to the franchise. Now personally, I thought there was quite a lot of action in the title but apparently that’s not the main view. It may not be a ton of punch, punch scenes but there’s always a lot going on. Mix that in with a good story and I’d say that we’re in a good place here.

The series starts with a crook escaping just like in episode one of Brotherhood. Just like with that instance, Edward and Alphonse are clowned by the villain as he escapes. They are then roped into what will be one of the more intricate political problems they have had to deal with. Surely it’s not as bad as finding out that the leader of your country is a biological monster trying to destroy the world right? So they follow a clue into a small country/land that has fallen into ruin. It has the unfortunate luck of being right in the middle of two larger countries which are always fighting each other.

All of the spillover damage constantly ravages this place and its people. They cannot escape either as neither country will allow them passage. So everything sucks down there and it comes as no surprise that this has fueled a bunch of terrorist/resistance fighters. You have one group that wants to liberate the country by picking a side and another that wants to take both of them down. Naturally the former is more realistic but how do you choose? There aren’t a lot of easy answers here and even by the end of the film you can’t say that the situation is resolved. Ed and Alphonse do their best and the film does try to have an optimistic ending but it depends how much you buy into it.

The film is fairly long which is a good thing because there is definitely a whole lot of story going on here. I will say right off the bat that they do a pretty good job of keeping things interesting. Ordinarily you don’t want to be adding a bunch of original characters and making the whole film based on them. Naruto in particular always got a lot of shots taken at it for having the classic princess of the week at every turn. Well, at least in this one the characters are very memorable and have a lot of motivations so it works.

I’ll get into the characters in a second but first I will warn you that Ed and Alphonse look pretty weak as always. That’s nothing new since they lose a ton of fights in the main series as well. For that reason I wasn’t really torn up about that. It would be one thing if they looked out of character or something but looking weak isn’t a really big deal. I was disappointed that Roy doesn’t get any on screen fights this time though. I get that he’s a bit overpowered but cmon, at least show the fire abilities off a little bit. The fact that he gets a fight and it’s off screen is even more puzzling than if he didn’t have any fights.

The animation is really smooth and looks top tier as you would expect. I definitely have no issues with the film on that front. You’ve come to expect nothing less from the series by this point though. Then we have the soundtrack which is decent. I wouldn’t say anything to write home about but it works well enough. So the technical effects are as good as needed.

Now as for the characters. First we have Melvin who is a wanted fugitive. Seems like your classic brawler type but he gets several plot twists in the film. On the surface he just wants to save his sister Julia and get her out of this war torn territory. Seems nice enough minus the violence but it’s not like he really has a whole lot of legal options here since all the governments are against him. Naturally the guy starts to go more and more off the rails as the film goes on. He is absolutely and unapologetically a villain all the way through, nothing ambiguous here.

You could say that he gets a little overconfident though. Honestly the plan wasn’t bad and he got super close to victory. Once he was in reach of the stone, he shouldn’t have been stopped so easily. Although in the original series I also thought that the Philosopher’s stone wasn’t quite as impressive as it was cracked up to be. Yes, it does allow you to do alchemy with no penalty or sacrifice but Ed can already do it without seals. As for the whole equivalent exchange part, there is always something on hand so it doesn’t feel like a big penalty.

We still do get a nice fight at the end though so that was nice. Meanwhile Julia is sort of dragged around the place with everyone wanting her on their side but I was glad that she was standing up for herself by the end. She ultimately chose to help the resistance and wasn’t going to let herself be misled in the meantime. I do feel like the heroes guilt tripped her a bit about the stone though. I get not wanting to create a stone since you need to sacrifice souls to it. 100% on board there. However, once it has already been created, I feel like you may as well use it. Try to build a better tomorrow with it instead of just breaking it. Ultimately the situation evolves to a point where she has no choice but the heroes are way too hesitant about using it.

Then we have Herschel who feels like he didn’t think things through nearly as well as the others. My main problem with him is that the guy feels a bit abrupt in his scenes by the end. He just shows up out of nowhere and while that can work in theory, I just have a hard time seeing his end game play out. Even if Ed and Al weren’t there to stop him, he doesn’t have enough allies to make a big difference. The guy just came off as super crazy and the first villain was a lot more interesting.

Overall, I had a good time with this film though. There were definitely a lot of moving pieces with how many factions were running around. You had werewolves, the armies, etc. If you are looking forward to Ed and Alphonse dominating then this film isn’t for you, but otherwise I would say this is a strong all around title. It’s the kind of film that is pretty accessible even if you’re not familiar with the series because of how detailed the world building here is. You could even use it as a pilot and then watch the main series with how similar the start and setup is to the first episode.

Overall 8/10