Tag Archives: Marvel

Spider-Man: Brand New Day Review

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It’s time for the new Spiderman film that’s been getting a lot of hype around the world. I can definitely see why as it delivers on a lot of great character moments and fight scenes. The film is also fairly long so it got to have a number of climaxes before actually ending. The Spider-Man films are fairly stacked by this point but this one has to make it into the top half.

The film starts off with Spider-Man beating up a bunch of enemies as he recovers his reputation from the last film. The city loves Spider-Man now and while he should feel like this is the height of his career, his days as Peter Parker have never been worse. After Dr. Strange did the spell to wipe everyone’s memory of him, Parker is basically by himself. He still keeps up with MJ and Ned but doesn’t allow himself to talk to them. Now there is a mysterious body hopper who is going on a rampage and Spider-Man’s powers are on the fritz. He’ll have to take control of the situation quickly or it’s all over.

One thing the film gets right about Spider-Man immediately is how nobody is ever there to help him. Spider-Man’s out there busting his back to save everybody and the instant he’s down, nobody wants to help him. With his powers out of control he ends up injuring someone and the police contact he had been working with immediately starts throwing threats around. When Spider-Man goes to the Avengers for help, he’s dismissed out of hand in an almost mocking kind of way. These guys would be the first ones to run to him for help but don’t want to stick their necks out.

It’s pretty tragic just how alone Spider-Man is. He’s strong enough to be able to take it, but that doesn’t mean that he wants to. I’ll also say that the Avengers look really bad as a result since there is a whole lot of destruction going on in the city. You’d think that they would be taking some kind of an interest in the situation but I guess that wasn’t in the cards this time.

On the Peter side, it’s a bit harder to feel bad for him. He made his choice of not reconnecting with MJ and Ned so I think he just has to live with that. That means completely breaking contact instead of being half hearted about the whole thing. He shouldn’t be keeping up with their social media accounts or anything like that because it’s just going to make him feel worse. It’s like getting over an ex or an old friend, the best thing you can do is achieve a fresh start completely. If you do that correctly then you’ll really be all set.

A big theme in the film is about how you can’t do everything on your own and it makes sense. As smart as Peter is, he does make a mistake with one of his gadgets and needed a fresh pair of eyes to see it. He also can’t be everywhere at once and isn’t even in the best mental state because of the constant headaches. The film would have been a lot easier for him without the power issues. For example his spider sense appears to be off for just about the whole movie as a result. While it may not be confirmed that it was happening at the very start, it’s the only way he would get hit by the Punisher or the other random folks in the movie so it tracks for me.

Peter may make his share of mistakes but still looks good throughout the movie. The Punisher also makes for a fun ally here. He’s completely out of his depth the whole time but has a good amount of banter with Peter and is fun to have around. He probably just needed a bit more conviction though. If you’re willing to take one shot then you should be willing to take two. I think the ending would work better with Peter completely stopping Punisher and that causes a bit of a rift between them. It’s a bit harder to see them getting along with such drastically different senses of justice.

As for the main antagonist, it was interesting to see the film set her up as such an evil character. This could become another Scarlet Witch situation if the writers aren’t careful. She really crossed a lot of lines here and while it was ultimately to help someone out, it doesn’t take away from the actions themselves. As far as I’m concerned she is functionally a villain here and this could be a really creative way to set up the in-universe discourse on characters relating to her. I could see a few freedom fighter type groups being inspired by the devastation to put a stop to this. So we’ll see how it all plays out but it puts a whole lot of pressure on some characters going forward. Humanity isn’t going to just sit back after all this went down.

Scorpion is more of a B villain here but it was fun how the film gave him so much hype. The music changes whenever he shows up and he’s treated like an actual threat. It’s all so sincere that I nearly thought it was parody. I suppose he is strong but usually the guy is absolute fodder. We also get the Hand to show up and while I feel like they should all get leveled immediately against someone like Spider-Man, we can’t have the film end too soon.

Hulk looks good in his brief appearance but honestly Banner should have put on the limiter immediately. He already knows that things will not be going well otherwise. I get that the limiter as a concept feels rather shady but these were desperate times. On the supporting cast, I’ve never been the biggest fan of Ned and MJ but they’re okay. They just don’t really need to be around by this point. The fact that they’re both geniuses like Peter at least gives them a little relevance but it still makes the world feel a bit too small. They’re not in high school anymore and in a city like New York, you never really need to bump into anyone more than once.

The guy who loses out the most here is MJ’s new boyfriend because the guy barely gets to appear and then is portrayed as not being a great guy. The film did a good job of avoiding any rebound romance though because it’s not like this MJ even knows Peter. It would have been extremely rushed. For that reason Peter should have suspected something during the roof scene. The whole scene just feels crazy because you usually remember someone by seeing them, not by doing anything weird. Peter was a bit off with all the crazy stuff going on though so I guess he gets a small pass for not noticing that something was amiss.

Now it’s been a while so lets rank the Spider-Man films. I’m not counting the animated ones since we’re really looking at live action here. Number 1 will always be Spider-Man 3 as the definitive Spider-Man title out there. I’d say that second is No Way Home with the cool crossover action. Third would be The Amazing Spider-Man 2 which still has the coolest visuals out of all of them. Then I’d put this one in 4th, 5th would be Far From Home, 6th would be The Amazing Spiderman, 7th would be Spider-Man, 8th would be Spider-Man Homecoming, and finally 9th would be Spider-Man 2. The films tend to be pretty close though and with rewatches I could see the list shuffling a bit. Perhaps this one is so high with recency bias. You never know until time passes I suppose.

Overall, I definitely recommend checking this one out. There is a whole lot going on here and I appreciated that the film made the most out of being in an expanded universe. We had a number of guest star characters which was good to see and I always prefer when a film acknowledges what the others are doing instead of just ignoring it. While those answers may not be satisfactory, at least they’re there. We also got to really see Peter being able to act as the friendly neighborhood Spiderman even when his life was coming to pieces. I really appreciated how he would still force himself to joke and be light as the hero. It showed just how hard he was continuing to try being the best hero he can be. Now we begin the wait for Doomsday!

Overall 8/10

The Fantastic Four: First Steps Review

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It’s time for another journey with the Fantastic Four. This team has always had a rough transition into the live action environment so would this one be able to change that? I’ve enjoyed the films more than most and for that reason while I don’t think it beats the first two, it is still a fun film. This one is just going for a less action packed adventure than some of the older ones and I always tend to be less impressed with Galactus as a threat. That guy needs to learn some hand to hand or something.

The movie starts by introducing us to an alternate reality where the defenders of humanity are the Fantastic Four. Reed and his three friends had gone up to space and came back with super powers. They have used them well as the planet has achieved peace. There is not a whole lot of crime anymore but unfortunately the planet has been selected for destruction by Galactus. He aims to eat the planet and Reed must try to figure out how to stop this from happening. The problem is that a genius intellect can only take you so far. Perhaps….there is no way to stop this threat.

I was glad that the film starts with the heroes already being experienced fighters. We’ve seen the origins enough times after all and it’s also a good way to make the world feel lived in. The Fantastic Four have a whole lot of social credit from protecting the world for so many years and everybody trusts them. They may not be ultra powerful but it’s not like the villains have been all that tough. This is probably a pretty decent way to frame a Superman movie that adapts Doomsday at some point.

The positives of the movie shine through right away like the quality writing and quick pacing. The movie goes by pretty quickly and there are no parts that really drag on. By the same token you may not care a whole lot about the human plots like Thing’s budding romance with a school teacher or the Moleman and his antics. They’re just sort of part of the background and you’re waiting to see how the Galactus stuff works out.

If I had a main issue with the film, it would be Galactus though. He is said to be this ultimate disaster that cannot be stopped and so Reed gives up on trying to stop him almost immediately. The reason this doesn’t work is because he’s shown to be extremely vulnerable and filled with weak spots in every encounter. Johnny and Sue are able to focus a heat blast on his eyes that clearly deals a lot of pain. Johnny also severed a few of his energy tubes which made him yell in pain and then Reed did the same with a wrench later on.

If you want me to believe that Galactus can’t be defeated then these attacks should not be causing him so much damage. He feels like a character who is relying on the feats from the comics but in the movie there isn’t enough to suggest that this guy is so unbeatable. I was glad that he had some real character even if he nearly fell for the most obvious trap of all time. It’s like he has intellect but at a fairly low level and the Fantastic Four are the ones who messed up by taking the bait too quickly.

So it was cool to see Galactus finally walking around and everything but he just didn’t seem to be strong enough to me. The guy should really not have any major weaknesses and it should take someone of a much higher power level to actually hurt him. Even the final blow felt a bit cheesy but I can at least buy it more than his other action scenes. Another tricky thing about this is that it means there were no real opponents for the Fantastic Four to fight in this film. Outside of Galactus you had the Silver Surfer but she would just oneshot the heroes whenever she felt like it.

The only hero who could really fight at a high level was Sue and so that’s why the film kept her pregnant for a while so she couldn’t end the film sooner. Sue looked really good throughout the film and I was glad that she was always very quick to go on the attack. There was no hesitation when she told Johnny to murder the Silver Surfer and she rightfully called out Reed for not immediately dismissing the idea of sacrificing her kid.

As for Reed, well this might be his weakest portrayal. He’s just lacking in confidence throughout the film and throws a pity party for a lot of it. The rest of the team try to get him to move past the initial accident but he just hasn’t been able to. Then he absolutely bombed the press conference and put more trouble onto the team instead of quickly talking about how they will figure out a way to win. His stretching could also stand to look more impressive but Reed was always the weakest member of the team so I suppose that works out well enough.

Ben gets the shaft out of the main 4 characters because he doesn’t really have anything to do here. His thing is usually being the strong member of the team but in this case the opponent is stronger than him. So Ben is really stuck in the background the whole time. He’s a fun enough character but there just isn’t much room for him in the script this time. Better luck next time I suppose.

Johnny looks great though. He really gets to show off his intelligence here and is also very quick to go on the attack like Sue. His powerset may not be as strong as Sue’s but I really like how versatile it is. Being able to fly at super speeds is just incredibly handy and it means he can always be at the danger scene when needed. He was also ready to make the heroic sacrifice at the end if needed.

As for Silver Surfer, they have her be a little more emotional than the Silver Surfer folks are used to from the old movie. That said, if you read the comics then you know that the Silver Surfers are always extremely emotional. I would just say that she looks a little too wishy washy here because it’s not like any of the arguments made were very compelling. She knows exactly what she is doing by picking planets for Galactus to eat and has accepted this if it means protecting her planet. I don’t think hearing a few yells or anything would help that. If anything, hearing her fellow people would have just steeled her resolve instead of the opposite happening.

The film does show just how quickly humanity is always ready to stab you in the back though. The Fantastic Four saved them countless times and they all fall to pieces immediately when they are faced with the latest threat. It would have been interesting if the Fantastic Four just ditched humanity on their rocket. Obviously being a hero means saving people no matter how miserable they are but it’s the kind of thing you certainly don’t forget.

The after credits scene is way too short but still makes for a decent setup to Doomsday. At this point there are just so many great plots set up for that film so I’m really looking forward to seeing how that one stacks up. Honestly they’ll have to try hard to mess this one up. It feels like the floor will be an 8 and I’m expecting the title to be a 9. Never count your chickens before they hatch though.

Overall, This was a pretty good Fantastic Four film. As long as you’re not looking for the next big action packed thriller then you should have a good time with this film. It feels a little bit calmer and quieter than the average Marvel title but it fits with the vibe of this alternate Earth. For that reason it’s going to have a bit less replay value compared to the other titles but on an initial watch it absolutely holds up.

Overall 7/10

Thunderbolts Review

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A lot of people called this film the return of Marvel and I can absolutely understand that after watching this film. Thunderbolts is a lot of fun with a solid blend of humor and action. It also knew better than to have the heroes even be close to a match against a villain that they could never defeat. Ther was a lot of care that went into this one and it ends up being a strong film across the board.

The movie starts with Yelena completing another mission but feeling like her life is rather hollow right now. She asks her boss De Fontaine for something a little more heroic than all of these secret missions. De Fontaine agrees but first Yelena needs to complete one last mission. This will be her most dangerous mission yet as she runs into a former Captain America, the dangerous Taskmaster, the frightening Ghost, and Bob. Can Yelena survive this mission and find the purpose that she has been searching for?

One of the big themes of the film is that everyone here is dealing with some issues. Well, you could say that Taskmaster may be the big exception to this. She seems content enough with her mission and goes in guns blazing. Taskmaster looks a lot more impressive than you may have expected and the fact that she was able to keep up with Ghost 1 on 1 is impressive. Taskmaster grows more dangerous as the fight goes on since she can copy your moves. It was nice to see her here and in general the opening confrontation with all of the characters was a blast. I always like seeing these initial skirmishes as the characters size each other up before banding together.

Still, I’d say the theme is consistent outside of Taskmaster. Ultimately it’s going to be hard to really find a purpose for yourself if you’re a hitman. It’s not like being a hero will necessarily solve that issue but as Alexei points out, it does feel really good to have everyone cheering you on. Each of the characters have it rough and while Yelena is confident that she would win a battle of trauma dumping, I may have to give the edge to Ghost there. It depends how you interpret her backstory but it sounded to me like she cannot even keep herself stable anymore without the body suit. That seems like it would be constantly stressful and I’d always be worried about getting into any fights.

Now, it is fair to say that this film is a bit light on action compared to some other titles. There is a climax but it’s more of a subdued one with some action in the background. It’s more about banding together and finding out how to defeat the darkness without violence. So the film’s taking a subversive approach there. It ends up working and we still get a good fill of action from the first half but this would not have worked if the writing was not up to snuff. This is a perfect example of how good writing will elevate every part of the film.

The special effects are also solid as you’d expect. The film looks good so you should be absorbed pretty well. We are also back to the classic 2 post credit scenes setup. You’ve got the comedic one and then the serious one. They’re both pretty solid but the second one will probably land a lot harder if you’re a big fan of the characters represented by the stinger. I’ve never been the most impressed with these guys, but hey it’ll still be fun to see them.

Yelena is the main character of this film and gets a lot of development throughout. One of the main reasons why she is so likable is how she is actively trying to do the right thing from the start. When Bob first shows up, Yelena is the only one who really tries to defend him and make the guy feel secure. She points out that he is a civilian and stops Walker from attacking the guy on several occasions. She feels like Bob is out of his element here and as the film goes on, Yelena can understand that the guy has been through a lot.

It’s not to say that the rest of the characters were completely unfeeling, but Yelena is the only one who was really looking out for others beyond herself. Yelena has also been holding in a ton of darkness and isn’t letting it loose on the others. She does her best to push it all down and keep moving on. She has the right attributes to be a hero and is just really fun to follow. I’d also say that her sense of humor just tends to work and she has all of the funniest moments in the film.

Then we have Bucky who has a smaller role than the others but is trying to adjust to his new life as being part of the government. It’s all a bit much for him but the guy is trying. Bucky certainly feels more at home once he’s actually helping the others in combat. Ultimately it’s not like he is much stronger than the others though so he doesn’t make a big difference in the final battle. He’s a solid enough character though. The guy has a hard time connecting to his emotions which makes for a funny plot in itself.

Then we have Alexei who has absolutely no problem being emotional. He is always incredibly proud of Yelena with whatever she is doing. I always like to see that kind of support. He has her back no matter what and is good at removing the tension in a room. As a super soldier it would be nice to see him showing off that strength more but I suppose there weren’t many opportunities for that here. He adds onto the dynamic pretty well so I was glad that he’s around.

After that is Ghost who is around a lot but we don’t delve into her psyche as much. I suppose you can understand enough about her from the bits and pieces spread throughout the film. In general I would say Thunderbolts did a great job of not just spoon feeding you mountains of exposition the whole time. You’re able to just figure things out for yourself as it goes on. Ghost’s abilities are easily the most impressive which is why ever villain in the film has a homemade sound cannon. It’s her one weakness but it just shows up everywhere. In context it makes sense though since everyone knows about that weakness.

Walker is the biggest jerk of the group but that’s part of what makes him endearing. It’s easy to see why the guy is really upset at everyone. He had to deal with Falcon and Bucky gaslighting him throughout his first days as Captain America until he was fired. Then he murdered a terrorist and everyone started talking about innocents. Walker is just sick and tired of everyone being incredibly dense and it unfortunately spilled over into his home life.

It’s hard to believe that he was ever Captain America since he is really quick to go for the kill here and is provoked incredibly easy. By the end of the film he has finally started to calm down. I would consider him to be the biggest loose cannon on the team though and that’s saying something. Walker has skills and may be the best all around fighter on the group. He could probably beat all of the other members as long as he stays cool but the others all know how to get under his skin.

I’d say he’s a great example of how everyone adds something to the table. Yes, on the surface they are all the same kind of fighter who can shoot and throw punches but they can all do this at different levels. Then we have Bob who spends a lot of the time being really nervous and everything. That’s really what Bob is known for even in the comics until he finally matured. So it makes sense but I can see why he gets on all of the characters’ nerves.

Bob means well though and is always trying to help out. It would be nice if he was more in control of himself instead of being manipulated so easily though. The guy has a lot of inner demons to wrestle with and had a sad backstory. So it’s easier said than done but I look forward to seeing when this guy is more confident. He needs to be able to just master his abilities and be able to go toe to toe with anybody. The film uses his name as a fun joke and I’d say it works really well. Bob is just a fun name to say. I was also glad that he wasn’t oblivious and could tell that Walker was using his name as an insult for a while there.

Then we have De Fontaine who is a better villain than I was expecting. For a political type villain like her, the most important thing is making her actually be a clever person. If she was panicking and messing up all of her plans then that would be lame. Instead she is actually able to outmaneuver the characters throughout. She had a great scene in the old Avengers tower where she is the one pouring the drinks and making wisecracks instead of Ironman. She was in control throughout and her last scene ends up being her best one. You always want to see a character with incredible confidence like this.

Finally there is Mel and I have to say that I initially though she was Kate, the new Hawkeye. Until they mentioned her name, she just looked similar and I assumed it was just the time passing that made her seem older. She works well as the secretary though. I like how studious she is and Mel is constantly learning more and more how to use the right terms to describe all of Fontaine’s illegal activities. Mel has some doubts on what she is doing but ultimately gets on board and learns how to be a good foot soldier.

To address the elephant in the room though, this Thunderbolts team is probably going to need to add at least one big hitter to their team so they don’t get destroyed by every possible opponent. Right now assuming Bob can’t be in control of himself, they wouldn’t be able to get past almost any of the Phase 1 villains. Abomination, Destroyer, and Loki would crush them. I think they could end up beating the Iron Monger at least but yeah we need some power ups. The army was giving them a pretty good run for their money in the opening act. It’s not like power is something a team needs to have of course but if the Thunderbolts want to go by a new name at the end of the film…they’re going to need some additions.

Overall, Thunderbolts is a great title. This is one that could hold its own with the older Marvel films. I’d definitely recommend checking it out. It can be a little darker than some of the other Marvel titles but a lot of the darkness is off screen and implied rather than shown. So it doesn’t come across as being too extreme but if you are looking for a more light hearted adventure then that’s the one time I’d say to go for another one. Otherwise I really recommend this to all action fans. It will also be my new go to example on how you do a film about a bunch of villains. I feel like most titles (Suicide Squad) mess this up completely while this is a great example of how you can make them likable without softening them up. Yes, I consider these characters to all be villains who are now going to be in the light going forward. We’ll see if the praise of the masses will be enough to keep them on the right side.

Overall 8/10

Marvel Midnight Suns Review

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I remember thinking Midnight Suns looked like a really odd Marvel game when it first came out. The whole strategy card game just didn’t seem like something you’d expect for a superhero game. It was also known as a super long game so I figured I ought to wait until I had some time. Well, that time was now and this definitely ended up being a really fun game. I’ve been loving this kind of strategy gameplay and it is really satisfying to play through. Mix it in with a really detailed story and this is a winner all the way.

The game starts off with an ancient evil awakening and so the Caretaker wakes up The Hunter. The Hunter is the son of the ancient witch who has returned to destroy the world. He’s not really much of a people person but he does get results. The Hunter will be working with the Midnight Suns as well as the Avengers to save the world. It won’t be easy but he will have to step up and work as the leader here. Can he bring all of these heroes together?

A big part of the game is about how nobody really gets along. Iron-Man is used to leading the Avengers after all and doesn’t want to be taking a backseat to the Midnight Suns. Additionally, the Midnight Suns are resentful for being put to the side when they are the experts on the supernatural side of things. Hunter isn’t used to working with others and so that ties into the relationship mechanics in the game. As the story goes on you will be trying to increase your friendship ranking with the various characters.

That said, you can also choose the meaner options to increase your dark energy. It’s not completely linear though where some dark options will increase your friendship depending on who you’re talking to. For that reason it can sometimes be difficult to tell which is the right option but I focused on increasing my dark energy because there was a trophy for getting 200 dark energy decisions. I ended up completing the game before I could get it fully maxed out but I was awful close.

A lot of times those awkward responses felt more in character for Hunter anyway. I didn’t really go out of my way to use a lot of the social aspects of the game but it is impressive just how much content is here. It’s like a whole other game within a game. The structure is formulaic. Each morning you get to start a research, send a hero on a research mission, and talk to your friends. You then select your story mission for the day. After the mission is complete it is the evening so you can hang out with your friends or attend a book club. Go to bed and you repeat the adventure again.

There are only 21 story missions in the game but each one usually requires you to do a filler day in the middle so the story will still take you a while. I believe my playtime was over 30 hours by the end which shows just how much there is to do here. I haven’t even touched upon the training dojo, collecting all of the cards, etc. There is also DLC that you can buy to continue the adventure and fight more battles.

So lets talk about the gameplay. It’s a strategy game where you have your playable characters and can move them across the board based on how many turn points you have. You can perform 3 card actions, move once, and use up to 3 items per battle. You can do free environmental attacks where you blow up objects to injure enemies but it costs you some action points. Action points are how you use the stronger cards in your disposal.

I appreciated that the game really explains these mechanics to you very gradually so you’re not scrambling from the start. If the game had launched all of the mechanics immediately then trust me you would end up lost very quickly. There are just so many mechanics that it would feel overwhelming otherwise. The final level is essentially a pop quiz on all of these mechanics at once as you launch into the longest mission yet where you end up using every character in the game.

The game is reasonably difficult without being overbearing. I died twice in the game but for the most part I was taking care of business. There are harder difficulty options available though and they increase the rewards you get when completing the level. That’s definitely a good incentive right there. This is also a game where you can level up your characters but the enemies scale up to them so it’s not immediately helpful. The level cap is 25 and after that you just increase stats which don’t scale to the enemies so that is when you will really see the benefits. I was only able to max out the Hunter in the game but level ups come pretty fast so it wouldn’t take long to do that with the rest of them.

The graphics are definitely pretty solid. The art style may not be my favorite but on the whole I thought they did a good job here. It does have a bit of a supernatural feel and you can tell that this isn’t the normal superhero adventure. I also enjoyed the different gameplay effects in terms of visuals. The soundtrack is a bit more on the boring side though. The tunes aren’t bad but none of them really stand out. As for the writing, as long as you like it when all of the characters are constantly being ironic and cracking jokes then you’re good. I had a fun time chuckling at most of the dialogue here. I’d say it works out well enough.

It’s rare to have so much dialogue in a Marvel game like this so I was really just enjoying getting to see all of the characters talking to each other. There is a lot of great opportunity for banter in this kind of setup. They should really make more Marvel RPGs, I would definitely be there ready to have fun with the tactical gameplay. Or if they just want to go with a classic Final Fantasy turn based kind of gameplay, I’d definitely be there for that as well.

Overall, Marvel Midnight Suns is a really great game. I’m super impressed by how much content is in this game. There is a whole lot to do and you’ve almost got 3 different games here between the story, the relationships, and the card collecting. You could easily spend 100 hours here just trying to complete everything. It does mean that I won’t be getting the Platinum trophy here any time soon but the game has a ton of bang for your buck which I appreciate. I’d recommend picking it up.

Overall 8/10

Captain America: Brave New World Review

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It’s time for the 4th Captain America film. Of course Steve Rogers is dead so in this case it’s about his successor Sam Wilson who has let go of his old Falcon persona. This is a good film but definitely one that drags out quite a bit near the middle and that’s not good because this isn’t a particularly long film in the first place. The film has a running joke which I think is even a bit meta about how Sam should have taken the super soldier serum and honestly…he should have. It would have helped quite a bit.

The movie starts off with Sam and his sidekick Joaquin taking down a bunch of terrorists and securing a package that had been stolen. He is thanked by the president elect Ross. After a timeskip, Ross has become the president and he is attempting to seal a treaty with Japan over the use of Adamantium. It is a material that may even be stronger than Vibranium and would have a whole lot of uses. Ross is trying to move on from his dark past and be the best president that he can be, but it won’t be easy. A figure from his past has appeared and is attempting to sabotage all relations with Japan. Can Ross put an end to this?

It was nice to see Ross return because I always thought he was a pretty fun character. Definitely on the gruff side and he had a tendency to do things that weren’t exactly legal but he was always fighting for his country. Now as the president Ross brings that same level of grit to the job. As the film goes on he starts to look a little shakier though. After we get through all the twists and such, I can say that he definitely made one too many mistakes here. It was still fun to root for him, but he really sabotaged himself completely.

When you make a mistake you have to deal with it. Ross decided to just ignore it and naturally that comes back to bite. So he does really good in all of the present actions but that was enough to really hurt him. Meanwhile you can also say something similar for the main villain here. This mysterious villain has a grand master plan and could have easily completed it if not for his ego. This guy really wants everyone to know that he is the one behind this plot and so naturally that leads to him being captured.

It just feels a bit absurd that a so called super genius could not find a better way to do the plan without being captured in the process. Maybe he plans to escape and that’s another plan but that’s way too risky. The villain never ended up being very impressive for me and I also thought that they really messed up his design compared to what it was in the comics. That look was 100X better than this one which is really going for more of an intentionally ugly design.

As for Sam, he does a good job as Captain America here. He certainly looks better than in the Winter Soldier miniseries where it almost felt like you were meant to root against him. Sam tries to do his best to help the country out while not becoming some yes man to a guy as dubious as General Ross. Sam’s also dealing with a lot because his old friend Isaiah goes crazy for some reason and Sam needs to figure out a way to prove his innocence.

Throughout this adventure, characters are quick to doubt him as well. The villains make fun of him, Ross compares him negatively to Steve, etc. I do think it would be good for Sam to finally get past the self confidence issues though so hopefully after this he won’t be wavering anymore. It is just tough to see that he is still just a human with tech though. It works for someone like Iron-Man who is surrounded by nanotech and that’s always been his thing. Being Captain America without the actual super strength? That’s a lot tougher.

It also does limit what the film can do in terms of fight scenes. The final battle relies on an enormous amount of plot armor and nerfing the opponent so that Sam can have a chance. It’s really hard to pull off that kind of a fight without making one party look worse than they should. As for how you solve that, well you have to give Sam some serious powers. Otherwise even fighting humans can be tough for him. He was getting absolutely clobbered by one villain near the beginning of the film. Sam is only able to win with a lucky shot near the end but effectively lost that battle. Then he has a really close shave against a guy with a gun. Yeah that guy is the head of Serpent and is skilled but is technically still just a guy.

If you’re having close shaves with all kinds of normal fighters like this then you’re not really going to be able to go toe to toe with super powered villains. Joaquin made for a good sidekick and while he is much weaker since he is a human with worse tech, he does good against the side opponents. He’s not really ready for the bigtime but the film isn’t trying to put him in those situations so it works out.

We’re introduced to a new character named Ruth here who is a former Black Widow. As a result she is fairly strong and can fight well despite her short stature. Her inclusion felt a bit random compared to the rest of the characters but it’s always good to have another fighter at the ready. This film was really trying for a more grounded approach which is why you have so many street level fighters running around here. It’s also why the climax feels especially out of left field because the power levels have such a huge jump. It’s not like it’s a spoiler to say who it is since the film was advertising him a lot but I’ll still abstain there.

So we’ve got a lot of action scenes and everything. Why isn’t the film higher? Well, the writing and action are good as always and I enjoy the general tone of the film. It just moves a bit too slowly and takes some of the war stuff more seriously than is needed. For example we get a fairly long dog fight of Sam trying to chase some jets and based on the speed we saw from him early on this should be easy. Instead the chase overstays its welcome by quite a lot and just doesn’t really get that interesting.

Towards the middle a lot of time is spent on the mystery of why people are going insane. The problem is that as the viewer you know who it is early on and Sam/Ruth find out the method for the hypnosis right away. So then the real mystery is tracking down the assailant but it wasn’t a great journey to get there. None of it is bad but I feel like there really isn’t much in the way of replay value here. You’re glad you saw the film and it kept your attention but that’s about it. I dare say the film is essentially filler in terms of future developments and even the final post credits scene is rather halfhearted. It is just so vague that it is essentially meaningless. I would have gone for something a bit more hype like actually showing a guest star.

Overall, Brave New World didn’t exactly shatter the sky in terms of hype but it is a good film. I enjoyed it and the MCU always does have a fun style of banter and action scenes. The choreography is good and I dare say that was never in doubt. It’s just a fun movie all the way but ends up being a bit more forgettable and the film also has a hard time trying to balance the fun and serious moments. I dare say it should have just leaned more on the fun and being a comic book movie. We’re pretty deep in the MCU so by this point it should be able to get as fantastic as possible. I’d also say that keeping a certain guest star around for the climax would have been a really good idea because otherwise it just felt a bit pointless. We’re getting closer and closer to Doomsday so I look forward to seeing how the next films go.

Overall 6/10

Secret Invasion Review

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The Secret Invasion storyline is one of those really famous ones from the comics. It touched on a ton of different series and affected all of the biggest heroes and villains. So when it was revealed that this would be adapted into a 6 episode tv series with none of the big characters present, there was a little concern. This would end up being treated more like a small footnote than a big event. Well for better or worse, that’s pretty much how it went down. It’s entertaining enough as a series but it’s best to ignore that this is actually related to Secret Invasion. Think of it more like a quick drama title with some action.

The series starts off with Nick Fury finally returning to Earth. He had retreated into space for a long time after the events of Infinity War but with the Skrulls showing up everywhere, he felt that it was his job to fix this. We find out that he is even married to a Skrull, so as always Nick has been keeping a whole lot of secrets. His main ally here is Talos, a skrull general who has been helping Nick behind the scenes for years. This time their friendship will be tested as tensions continue to grow with a faction of the Skrulls deciding to destroy the planet. Many in SHIELD also doubt Nick’s ability and feel like he has lost a step.

Now I will say that Nick has absolutely lost a few steps. He spends a lot of the season being really depressed and blowing up at everybody. It doesn’t feel like he is in control the way that he used to be. Yes he does have his big moments where he crushes someone and gets one step ahead but they are surrounded by scenes where he is absolutely getting devastated. I would also argue that some scenes revolve around other characters just looking bad. One example of this is when he puts a bug inside his rival’s owl statue. I don’t see how she could have missed that and the whole time I was expecting her to reveal that she knew all along.

When Nick beat up a body guard it was a good look for him but it’s a really bad look for the agent. You can’t be losing like that unless Nick had super powers or something like that. In the end this is sometimes unavoidable when you have the mysterious character finally get his own series. As the main character you are going to show more weaknesses and vulnerabilities than when you are a guest star. I think they could have balanced it a bit more in Fury’s favor though. His worse scene is definitely when he blows up at Talos and tells him to get off the train. The two had been working together for so many years so to dismiss him like that was a terrible look. Additionally later on Fury tries to take all the credit for what he’s done in the past and Tavos points out that Fury could get away with that in any other context, but not in front of the guy who actually did the legwork.

I don’t really get how Fury would miss that. So yeah not a good look for him in general. Fortunately there was an explanation for what would have been Fury’s worst moment in the final episode so I can’t use that against him. If not for a twist though, whew I would have been bashing on him for quite a long time. So Fury’s not the great leader you would hope for but the show does make room for one in Rhodey.

Rhodey hasn’t had a big role in a very long time and I can say that it was worth it for his role here. He shows up as smug as Tony Stark and really dishes out the pain. All of his scenes here are great as he launches into threat after threat. He’s really made a name for himself in the military, it’s all quite impressive. His role in the show is bigger than you might have expected as well. Either way he is the standout character here and I can tell you that it’s not even close. He really had Fury on the back foot the whole time.

As for Talos, well he was okay but really weak. Like with Fury he ends up losing almost every fight in the series. Characters constantly get Talos into a choke hold and he underestimates all of the heroes. I also get why the Skrulls are mad at him because Talos isn’t selling a very comforting dream here. This all leads back to Fury making more mistakes. Suffice it to say, Talos did his best to be a loyal ally all the way to the end. He did keep some secrets but for the most part they were rather reasonable. Particularly with how much he knows about human deceptions.

The main villain, Gravik gets a lot of support early on and it’s clear to see why. Basically he believes that Nick Fury betrayed them when he promised to find a planet for the Skrulls and didn’t produce anything 30 years later. The worst part is that he was correct. Fury realized he wasn’t going to find anything and so he gave up a long time ago. So the whole time the Skrulls were doing all of Fury’s dirty work and it was absolutely futile. They were assuming human identities and putting their lives at risk on a daily basis with nothing in return.

Now some Skrulls didn’t mind this as they got power in high ranking positions but for the others this was just a tough living arrangement. So Gravik decides to just take Earth and yes he’s a villain. The thought process makes sense rather than doing nothing though. This was a completely avoidable issue the whole time. Naturally to make sure Gravik isn’t too sympathetic, we then see how he goes around murdering everyone including his own allies. He’s super insane and all which always feels like a cop out to this kind of moral dilemma.

I felt like the show didn’t quite penalize Fury enough for all the mistakes that he made. His wife Varra had to go through a lot as well since Fury just ditched her and she was on her own for so long. He shows up to just start over fresh but it’s really not that easy. She makes it easy for him and ultimately chooses to keep on fighting but Fury made it hard to really feel bad for him.

Then we have his rival Sonya who looks really good here. She takes a very aggressive approach against the Skrulls and has a lot of battle experience. She is able to take down quite a few of them and is also pivotal to the end of the series. Fury really needed at least one ally in a high position and she fit the bill. Sonya was a lot of fun so I look forward to seeing more of her.

Then we have Giah who is essentially the main heroine of the show. Maria Hill almost could have fit into that role except her screentime was far too brief for that. Giah isn’t really sure which group of Skrulls to side with. She has a lot of mixed feelings and looks to continue as a big wild card in the MCU going forward. I wonder when she will appear next, in some ways she is probably a little too powerful so I could see her being bumped off early on. She’s not bad but there isn’t a whole lot to Giah at the moment. She’s essentially just a powerhouse, almost a sentient set of powers is how I would describe her for now.

The end of the show is incredibly interesting, it’s just a shame that it has yet to be followed up on. America is essentially in for the fight of its life and that should attract the attention of every big shot around. The show just didn’t have that kind of budget. As powerful as the Skrulls are, it feels inevitable that they would get stomped out here. Especially once the tech and magic experts step in with ways to detect them. It should really be a turning point in the whole universe with how fractured trust is on all areas. That’s why, while I love the ending, it really feels like a missed opportunity. This series should have been more important.

I was glad to see that this show had an actual theme song, but unfortunately it totally sucked. It’s extremely drawn out and boring. The artwork does not look good at all, it’s going for an artistic, indie kind of vibe and fails massively. The general soundtrack is nothing to write home about either. I thought the final fight looked pretty good at least, even if it does get mocked a lot. I was just glad to see some super powers at play in the ending there.

This is a show that will make less and less sense as you think about it. The logistics with the aliens just aren’t very well thought out because shapeshifting is way too powerful. The skrulls realistically should have even more people in positions of power based on how many of them there are. That said, the show succeeds in showing how nobody can be trusted. The pacing isn’t always super fast but with 6 episodes I wouldn’t say that the show is buying time too often either.

What I will say in defense of the series is that it does feel like a classic Marvel product. You could watch this after the Avengers films and it feels like it belongs. The smaller scaling is apparent, but otherwise the atmosphere and script feel right. The show has high stakes and some pretty intense moments while keeping up a light hearted tone. It probably just takes some extra time to be somber and sappy with some of Fury and Varra’s drama. I could have cut a lot of those scenes out. There was the interesting question of if they would have gotten together if Varra had kept her true form. I would assume that’s a No and so I was impressed when Fury just dodged the question. It’s too easy to just say yes without thinking about it, so it felt like an honest response.

Overall, Secret Invasion is a series that will keep your interest. It has its share of good moments and is a good story but it definitely wasn’t prepared to deal with the sheer scope of a Skrull invasion. I don’t think there is really any way to adapt this into 6 episodes unless you plan to have a War of the Worlds type of ending. Without that, there are simply too many moving pieces and characters running around. It would be unsatisfying no matter how you sliced it. So just enjoy the situation as a whole and don’t worry about the missed opportunities here. Rhodey is already worth the price of admission since this is his best portrayal in any Marvel media. This is at its core a good show, but one that could have been great if it took the story to its logical conclusion. Maybe we will get a season 2 at some point….I doubt it, but that would address some of my issues.

Overall 6/10

Marvel’s Avengers Review

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After all these years I get to see what all the fuss was about for this game. It really had a tragic history as the game decided to be a live service title and those never do well. I contributed to this since I never got the game. Live service can work to be sure but I generally think it needs to be a free to play title. Even then the market is pretty saturated at this point. The game goes for dirt cheap nowadays though and you get all of the unlockables by default so that’s a lot of content. Ultimately it is a great game and I hope one day we get another big budget Avengers game that is made with a proper ending.

The story starts off with you playing as Kamala. She was at the big Avengers expo when they are attacked by a bunch of robots. They manage to stop the invasion but not before thousands of people are murdered and a genetic weapon is exploded which forcibly alters the DNA of many in attendance. These people are being referred to as the Inhumans and they are being hunted by AIM. AIM now controls the entire country and continues to spread. The Avengers have broken up and are too depressed to do much about this. So Kamala will have to save the world and reunite the team in the process.

It’s definitely an ambitious story here. The game decides to not actually have the Avengers present for nearly the entire base story. I feel like you could only make this decision if you actually think that you’ll be around for years and years. So I do like the confidence, I can really appreciate that. That being said, it is a risky move for a reason. You’re probably looking forward to properly playing as Captain America and Thor who have not really had a triple budget experience prior to this. Hulk and Iron Man have had their fun before but not the rest of the team.

We do get the 4 DLC update stories though so that’s pretty fun to play through. The Avengers are finally back for those and we gradually unlock more and more characters. There are well over 100 missions within the game and tons of items to buy and such. The menus for upgrading equipment and stats can be a bit overly convoluted though. There are just so many menus. It reminds me of a mobile game where you decide to download it in year 3 and there’s just so much going on. I think the best games can mitigate this to an extent but Avengers does feel pretty overwhelming at times.

Like I mentioned, the gameplay is really why you’re here though. It’s very solid with a lot of care being put into the combat system. You have a whole lot of attack options at your disposal so you can approach a fight in different ways. Additionally you have numerous takedown animations and can equip up to 11 at a time. Mix that in with the dozens of costumes for each character and you’ve got so many options at your disposal. It’s really a fun thing to see.

Keeping up with the best gear and equipment can be a bit of a nuisance but it’s not completely necessary. There was just one fight that was particularly tough for me and that was the Maestro. He beat me several times so I actually had to pay attention to my gear. All of the DLC missions auto scale their level to match yours which is why they are considerably tougher. Definitely keep that in mind since you may even want to pick a weak fighter for that reason. Go too weak and it’ll feel just as painful though.

The graphics are definitely really good. This feels like 1st party Sony from the character designs to the destroyable environments. I don’t have any real issues on the visuals. The soundtrack is a bit generic though. Now the biggest issue here are the loading times. They are absolutely brutal and far longer than you would expect. The first time you boot up the game for each session can take almost 5 minutes to actually start playing. Then between every mission you get close to 2 minutes of loading times.

These really add up as you play the game and it’s the one big technical issue here. You’ll run into some visual ones as well but this is one that actually affects gameplay which is what makes it a really big deal. It’s too bad they couldn’t have optimized this a little bit in the final dlc update or something. That would have been cool but making everything free offline was already a big step so I suppose I won’t say much here.

Each character has a very unique moveset so you don’t have to worry about them all feeling the same. I enjoyed playing as Iron Man the most because I always love beam spamming. The other characters were all fun too and the main story forces you to play as quite a few of them which is a good thing. Otherwise I have a tendency to just stick to my favorite character the whole time. I found Black Widow to be the toughest character to play as so it’s no coincidence that I lost several times when playing as her. I doubt they literally made her the weakest on purpose or anything but that would be funny if that was the case.

Overall, Avengers is a pretty great game. Definitely one I would recommend checking out. You have a lot of parkour and high octane action. It’s the kind of 3D experience I feel like we don’t see a whole lot of from Marvel outside of a few characters. Spider-Man typically gets a lot of action but otherwise Marvel isn’t super active. We need more games like this, but done offline. It’s a shame we couldn’t get to the end of the story here but the journey is still long enough to make this a W either way. You’re getting a pretty decent amount of content within this one and that’s not even counting all of the side content. It should keep you busy for quit a long while. If they ever make another Avengers game then I’ll be ready to check it out. Hopefully that can arrive sooner than later.

Overall 8/10

Loki: Season 2 Review

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It’s time to close out the Loki saga over here. Season 1 was pretty fun with a lot of interesting concepts and the TVA actually worked rather well as a centerpiece. This season spends a lot more time, buying time, if that makes sense. As a result it does tend to be a little less exciting and I felt like the season didn’t really hit its stride until the final episode. You almost could have jumped right into that. It’s still a good season and you should definitely check it out if you watched the first one. Just be prepared for some of the slower pacing you’ll have seen in a while.

The last season ended with Loki failing to stop Sylvie from murdering Kang which started a whole chain reaction that changed the TVA. Now nobody even remembers Loki and he’s time spazzing all over the place. He needs to find a way to stop warping through time at random intervals, get everyone to remember the true timeline, and get things back on track. To do this, he will definitely need Mobius on his side and together they will have to convince Sylvie as well. This definitely won’t be easy.

The season is only 6 episodes but technically there isn’t actually a ton to cover. That’s why it does feel like the show tries to start buying time later on which can feel a bit obnoxious. This brings us to the worst character in the series, Timely. This guy takes forever to finish a single sentence and is always super nervous. It’s hard to take him serious even though he’s supposed to be a super genius. He gets the important things wrong anyway after all. I guess maybe it’s better to think of him as a red herring. Not the most flattering way to think about him, but ultimately that’s what he is reduced to.

The show also has to nerf Loki quite a lot in order to extend the chases. For example at one point you have Loki and Mobius trying to track down a defector named Brad. This should be easy. It’s 2 on 1, Brad’s just a normal human, and they have the element of surprise. Even with that, Brad manages to shake them for a good chunk of the episode. Keep in mind that Loki is still a powerful god with magical abilities. Stopping Brad even without hurting him should be absolutely easy. It should in fact be absolutely trivial.

Throughout the show Loki feels like he’s just a human with basic magic powers which feels off. He gets humiliated by Sylvie every time they fight and the rest of the characters don’t treat him like a powerful threat. It’s a classic case of Loki getting weaker the instant he became a protagonist. In one episode Brad just disrespects the guy for a long time. Loki gets the last laugh but you’re hoping he would just knock the guy out after a while.

This season is really aiming to complete his character arc of redemption though. So you could say in a sense that the fact that Loki feels more muzzled is intentional. It does lead up to him looking really good in the final episode which not surprisingly was my favorite one. Loki really got to cut loose there and while I would argue that he made the wrong decision, it was one that was very understandable. He did what he thought he had to. A certain anime named Madoka had the main character make the same choice and ultimately it’s up to everyone else to decide if they accept this or if they will help find another way. Unfortunately I don’t think Loki has any friends who are going to be selfless enough to try and help him here.

So power levels aside, Loki was a fun character here. I enjoyed his dialogue quite a bit and as always he had a great dynamic with Mobius. Mobius is the other standout character here and if anything I wish that his role could have been bigger. Anytime he’s on screen, you know the role is going to be really good. He’s great as being condescending and then sarcastic as the need arises. He’s perfect in the jaded, middle aged dude role. You really believe him when he just seems bored of everything at this point. He has mastered being detached from reality.

As a result you don’t really care about his serious plot of wondering about what his life could have been like. I think he’s at his best when none of that matters to him. If we had to get a new season without Loki, I actually think Mobius could hold his own show. The rest of the supporting characters would have to step it up a little bit though since he was way more charismatic than any of them. None of the others could even come close to his ability.

Ouroboros is one of the characters who gets a lot to do here. He’s one of those tech geniuses who isn’t great as social interactions but gets the job done. He isn’t bad but his array of jokes are a bit limited. He’s really got one gimmick and it will be spammed a lot. So not a bad character, but probably not someone who will make you raise an eyebrow. Ravonna gets a much smaller role than you would expect but she’s okay. My main issue with her would be that she didn’t have much of a grand plan.

It felt like she was easy to manipulate and the way she went out was rather anticlimactic. Ideally she will return with some kind of a power up, but if she never appears again, I will always remember her as being a little overconfident. Miss Minutes was a lot more compelling. She was good at hacking everything and getting in the way of the heroes. If anything you could say that she got off rather easy here. People are too trusting of A.I. and so she could definitely do more in the future. She’s one of those insane villains who can be fun to have around.

Then we have Brad who is a fairly reasonable villain. He’s very cocky and not one of the stronger characters here. What I mean by that is he will very easily be broken by anyone. Loki gets him to crack first, then Miss Minutes cracks him next, and by the end he gets mind controlled. Brad really can’t catch a break, nor does he deserve one. He’s a classic example of a guy who just does whatever he wants and ignores the consequences. Someone who is a good agent but not someone you can count on. The show handles his character well.

As for Sylvie, she was a bit too weak willed for me. She made her big decision in season 1 and at this point I feel like she just needs to stick to it. There’s nothing here that should be particularly surprising to her. She had to know what would happen by removing the cosmic lynchpin and just made the decision that aligned with her morals. I’ll get into this more later on but I would argue that it was actually the right move anyway. Loki was on the wrong side for most of this season and by the end he stumbles onto a new path but otherwise Sylvie would have been right.

So Sylvie falters a bit too easily. She is still a fun villain to have around but the heroes let her be too smug the whole time. They should probably at least try to arrest her in the meantime. I also don’t buy Loki losing to her every time when they fight a bunch in this season. Eventually he ought to find a way to win. We can assume that he did and we don’t get to see those futures but I would have liked the show to have made that clear. Otherwise it’s close to an unchangeable point in time which I always find dubious at best. Sylvie made a nice little life for herself on Earth and should have been satisfied with it.

Then we have He Who Remains, who is a solid villain. I liked him a lot more than in season 1 but the guy is still way too suicidal to be an impressive villain. The fact that he can defeat almost anyone but chooses to die just makes him a bit lame. I get that he’s been around forever and after some thousands of years anyone would want a break but then he should go out on his own terms. Go to a planet that’s about to explode and go with a bang. Don’t just let someone stab you to death. I liked that Loki called him out on it.

The mini theme song is pretty fun as always. I like the eerie music that plays when the Loki logo is being spelled out. It sets the tone nicely for the adventure although it would be nice to have more of a real theme song. The soundtrack doesn’t have many other tunes but this is still enough to be memorable. The visuals are also good, the effects are on point and the battles look good. There isn’t a ton of action here but what we do get is good.

Okay so one of the big debates here was on whether the TVA should prune timelines or not. Kang believes that this is necessary as you have to stop the timelines from splitting or it will introduce more Kangs who will eventually destroy the multiverse. There would just be too many of them to stop. Meanwhile Sylvie believes that doing this is immoral as you are destroying countless universes daily in order to ensure that there is only one sacred timeline. Since a new timeline comes into being for every decision that every person makes, it is quite literally infinite.

Of course it is prioritized to deal with ones that will have a Kang spawning and the TVA exists outside of time so it’s not like they’ll ever be late but it is something that will never end. I tend to be on Sylvie’s case here. The TVA is playing judge, jury, and executioner at the moment. They slaughter more people on a daily basis than anyone else in history. No matter how you slice it, that’s a really bad look. Their overall goals and visions may be ambitious but overall they don’t void this point. If the Kangs do start a war, then you will have to fight them and hope that good prevails.

Due to the way that time travel works, maybe they’d all be dead already if the war was going to come and so they shouldn’t worry about it either. Assigning themselves as the heads of time is certainly an abuse of power. You also have to trust that Kang was telling the truth. So yes I am firmly on Sylvie’s side. Even if saving everyone means they will eventually die, it’s your duty to save as many as possible. In the final episode we get a quick twist that allows Loki to bypass the whole debate but nobody could have predicted that so it doesn’t make Sylvie wrong in hindsight.

The final episode has a lot of Groundhog Day type moments and cool time loop discussions so that’s another reason why the episode ended on a super high note for me. I like the idea of time essentially being used as a rubber band for Loki to check things out and try many kinds of techniques. Ultimately we even get a thousand years+ timeskip so he’s lived more than almost any other character in existence. It’s hard to even wrap your head around that. It’s certainly impressive that he didn’t go crazy from doing all of that. He has definitely matured over the years and hopefully the franchise remembers that he is now a super genius for anything else that he appears in. Also that he can time travel at will and controls the multiverse. That should come in handy for many things…

So if I could make any changes here, it would be to speed up the events of the first 5 episodes into about 2. You can easily do this without stretching everything out. Then you have around 2 episodes for Loki doing a ton of time travelling and exploring ways to solve the situation. Finally you end as normal. I can’t stress enough how much more interesting it was to have Loki on the field than to be talking with Victor and the others about nothing. Maybe find a way for Mobius to go with Loki so we could still have good dialogue and banter the whole time.

Overall, Loki Season 2 has its share of fun moments and I do enjoy the debates on what the right move is. The focus on time travel and its many implications are also a lot of fun. While Loki may not have been on the right side for most of it, it doesn’t take away from the adventure. This show is going for a very cerebral approach and it works more than it doesn’t. It’ll be interesting to see how he loses in the Secret Wars film. However it happens, I’m expecting that I’ll be smirking as I won’t buy any of it but that’s what happens when you make the main character this powerful. Loki should be literally unbeatable now, unless he secretly wants to be defeated or something like that.

Overall 6/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review

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It’s time to return to the world of the Guardians of the Galaxy where they have to deal with a whole new threat. The films have had their ups and downs to be sure but how would this one wrap things up? Well, unfortunately I would say that it is the weakest one of the 3. The Rocket subplot is a double blow since it introduces animal violence while also writing him out of most of the movie. A very risky call no matter how you slice it since he is such a popular character. Ah well, we still do have a lot of fun banter with the rest of the characters.

The film starts off with the Guardians still being in a rocky spot as Star Lord grieves over not having Gamora around anymore. She died and was replaced with an alternate version of herself that never actually dated him. Now he just gets drunk all day but when the team is suddenly attacked and Rocket gets into critical condition, Star Lord realizes that he has to get his game on. Rocket’s unable to be healed by the usual sci-fi tech because of a bomb inside his chest and so they need to find a way to deactivate it. This may mean going up against the high Evolutionary but the team has never allowed themselves to be deterred before and they aren’t about to start now.

So lets get the dicey parts out of the way first. The High Evolutionary’s whole gimmick is that he experiments on animals in order to evolve them further. He aims to make a new human race that is superior to the old one. So naturally in a film adaption that means that we are seeing a lot of animals in rough states. Several of them were essentially dismantled and are part cyborgs now. Rocket grew up with a bunch of them so we see this quite a bit. Fortunately the surgeries already happened as that would have really pushed the envelope into absolutely terrible stories but it is a really dark plot that to this day you never need in any kind of film. It’s never going to elevate things.

Rocket also had a lot of experiments done on him which were quite painful. It’s a subplot that really drags the film since we cut away to it numerous times. Meanwhile the High Evolutionary looks really bad the whole time. I’m used to him being a fairly poised villain who is in control but here he constantly whines and it out of his depth. He doesn’t seem to be a great super genius and was unable to find Rocket for many years despite the guy being a world famous Guardian. This guy’s utopia didn’t even work as he has actual drug dealers running around.

He says he’ll just start again but why would a new attempt be any different? He feels like he is just completely insane. That’s not a bad thing for a villain necessarily but at the same time I would say that it just doesn’t make sense amidst the wider context. I would argue it makes his whole goal seem weird since he wasn’t even close to succeeding and having Rocket won’t really help with that. he discards all of his test subjects too quickly.

While the film also did a number on Warlock in terms of totally changing his character, at least he was funny. I can see why longtime fans wouldn’t appreciate this version since he’s nothing like the comics/games but at least he looks reasonably strong. I would argue he should have crushed the Guardians with ease though since that team is hardly the strongest one out there. I suppose he just lets his guard down a little too quickly when the going gets tough. With the Sentry coming up, Warlock’s probably not going to be able to stand out quite as much in his next appearance.

Where the film is stronger is in the usual banter. If you liked their discussions in the first two films then you should like them here as well. This team loves to constantly be bashing each other and they’re always doing pranks. For better or worse, you can’t trust your teammates on the small stuff but you can count on them when the stakes are serious. Mantis is always pranking Drax despite his many protests, Star Lord seems like he can’t help but constantly flirt with Gamora, etc. The team is completely dysfunctional but you could say that’s part of the fun.

The only member who is mainly left out is Groot thanks to Rocket being gone the whole time. Still a rough decision I gotta say and they should have kept him awake the whole time and helping out, just have there be a time limit on the bomb or something. From the Guardians I would say Mantis was my favorite character. Yeah she is definitely very immature and gets the team into a lot of trouble but at the same time I would say she cares about the team the most. She is always doing everything she can in order to help the rest out. Her attempts sometimes backfire but it’s the thought that counts.

Gamora is also solid considering how much she has to put up with. She is completely a different person than the old one so it’s really not fair how much pressure they put on her. I was glad that she stuck to her guns and did not let peer pressure win. That would have been a pretty bad look if you ask me. It was also good to have at least one team member who could fight well and keep the team on track. I would say that’s Drax’s role but he still ends up being the team’s jobber for most of the film. He does well against Warlock in the opening fight though so I’ll give him that. He also gets some big moments near the end of the film.

I didn’t care much for Yondu’s replacement but at least he doesn’t appear much. He was being kinda rude to Cosmo for no good reason. Cosmo did good though and reminded viewers why he is one of the most powerful creatures here. His mental abilities are really impressive. Finally we have Star Lord and he does not look good at all here. Getting so drunk and wasted during the intro was really rough. I needed him to step up as the team leader a whole lot sooner than he did. This is supposed to be his team after all, it was time for him to man up and act like it. I already talked about the Gamora stuff but yeah he’s just too desperate. I think he works well as the whiny comic relief in most cases, the serious moments just don’t hit as hard.

The film does a good job of making him funny at least though. I would make the case that the humor in the film tends to land more than it doesn’t. For that reason I would label the film more as a comedy adventure than adding any action to it. We do get some good fight scenes but I would say no great ones. The first fight with Warlock is way too slow and the best fight is the room battle near the end where everyone fights at once. Unfortunately there isn’t a great climax fight this time. I think the reason is because the High Evolutionary can’t really fight so there was no big villain that would force the heroes to team up against him.

While the second film had a lot of faults, it did deliver on a rather big climax which also had Star Lord’s best scene in the MCU. If you take away the Rocket subplot entirely then this film has a clean win over the second film but with it then it does end up sinking more than expected. Ultimately I guess you just can’t beat the original film which had all the fun first meetings. It was probably the funniest as well. In general it’s not possible for every joke in a comedy film to land but I would say most of them did there. A good amount landed in this film as well though.

As for the music, I would say it’s a step down from the first two films. Maybe that means low key the new music eras can’t beat the 80s. That is definitely possible although I tend to like 2000s so maybe it’s just the selection. There were no themes here that felt like they would become iconic or anything like that. They were good enough but not crazy good. Meanwhile we don’t get the usual big stingers at the end of this film so the ending is rather subdued.

Overall, Guardians 3 could have been better. It definitely suffers from having one of the worst MCU villains to date and not having a proper super bad to end the film with. Removing Rocket from most of the film was not a good decision and of course his backstory really ended up hurting the film as well. This was just one negative too many for the film to get around and so that sealed its fate. I think if you go into the film as a fan of the Guardians and just want a fun time you may get the best out of this. If you’re going in as an action fan or a big comic book guy, then you are probably not going to have as good a time here between Warlock and the High Evolutionary.

Overall 4/10