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Top Gun Review

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Top Gun is a film that came out a long while ago and by this point just about everyone’s heard of it. With the new film out it was the perfect time to give it a re-watch. It’s a solid film that has aged well. I remember I expected a little more action when I saw it originally but it’s probably best to go in expecting more of a drama that contains action rather than the other way around. It has its weak points to be sure but ultimately it’s a solid film that you could check out at any time.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Maverick and Goose who are one of the top airplane pilot teams around. However, as skilled as they are they also tend to be rather unpredictable as Maverick in particular loves to be a rebel. He’ll prioritize thrills over doing things by the book. As luck would have it, the guy ahead of him ends up cracking so now Maverick and Goose have been selected to go to Top Gun, a school where only the best of the best qualify. Can they prove that they are the best duo in the sky once and for all?

Of course the purpose of Top Gun isn’t merely to see who is the best but to keep America strong and ready for any kind of dogfight. Towards the beginning of the movie they mention how America’s aerial supremacy has been weakening as of late as people have gotten used to just using tech and auto aiming so this should help them stay in peak condition. Maverick isn’t particularly concerned but he will find that Iceman is a tough rival when it comes to claiming the top spot in the school. Will he be able to get the win here?

Right off the bat one of the film’s strengths is that it has a very memorable soundtrack. The Danger Zone song that plays really is quite good so you never get tired of it when that track plays. The opening scene with the planes is certainly iconic with that song in the background. It really gives the film a lot of personality and also makes the scene feel that much bolder. If you take the song away then the scene wouldn’t hold up as well and it’s a perfect example of why the songs are so important.

The effects throughout the film are also really good. They spared no expense on this one and as a result it holds up well. The movie is a bit long but it doesn’t feel that way as it’s always interesting. When we finally do get to the action scenes near the end it is worth the wait. The battles are solid and while of course I would like to have had more action, it works well as the climax regardless.

Now as for the weak points of the film, there are 2 in particular. The first is that the romance is very weak here. Maverick needs to try and be the best so you’d think there would be no time for romance right away. Particularly once he finds out that she is the teacher you’d expect that he would pump the brakes a bit. Instead he really lets this get to him and can’t even take constructive criticism after that. If you cut out the romance entirely then I think the film would be a lot stronger.

On Charlie’s side as well you feel like she wouldn’t have fallen for him so easily after she has seen the usual pick up lines a million times before. She’s here on a very serious job to train these pilots so there’s no time for distractions like that. It also wouldn’t really change the film much at all if you cut out the romance so it always begs the question of why include it in the first place right?

The other weak point is surprisingly Maverick. I actually wasn’t a big fan of him at times. He does have his good qualities of course like his confidence and the fact that he always has a comeback. That’s good and something I want my lead to have. Where he falters aside from the romance is how he loses his nerve towards the end. Now there is an important story reason as to why that happens which really shakes Maverick up, but it’s a little too much. So I’d have been fine with it if Maverick quit or something right off the jump. My issue was later on in the climax when Maverick is able to get into the air but then loses his nerve again and ditches Iceman when it was 5-1.

It was for a short time and Maverick ultimately turns back to help out but he easily could have died in that time. 5 against 1 is absolutely crazy odds in a dogfight after all. So Maverick has all of the potential to be a great character and on paper I would expect to like this character but he didn’t actually work out for me. Instead it was Iceman who stole the show. He has great confidence as well but never loses his cool. The nickname is very deserved and while he may do things by the book, it doesn’t make him any less skilled than Maverick. If anything he is more dependable.

Is Maverick probably a little more skilled as a pilot? It’s very debatable but sure I would give him the slight edge. Iceman is still the guy I’d want as my wingman the whole time though because I know where he would be at every moment. He had a really good handle on things and he was always willing to be the bigger man too. He’s the one who approached Maverick to pay his respects and if you notice he never tended to instigate any of the issues without a valid reason. He was certainly legitimized in trying to explain to Maverick why you can’t abandon your partner even in a training exercise.

In general the writing is really solid though so you’ll get a lot of fun exchanges there. Goose is another big character in the film and he’s a good character too. He’s definitely got a good friendship with Maverick going here and he has skills of his own as well. Then you have Viper who shows off his skills during the simulations as the instructor too. He runs a tight ship and has the skills to back it up.

As I mentioned earlier, there isn’t a lot of real action until the end of the film but there is a lot of airplane battles throughout. The simulations are handled really well so you’ll have a fun time with that too. Writing is what ultimately puts a film like this over the top and so I had a good time with it. It’s a solid all around movie that has a good amount of replay value because of how fast paced it is.

Overall, Top Gun is a pretty good movie. It has some areas where it can be better but the positives certainly outweigh the negatives and it’s a fairly safe recommendation to anyone that wants to watch a solid film about teamwork. I’ll have a review up for the sequel shortly and I can confirm that it makes the most out of this one as a base. A good sequel should use the tools that it has from the first film after all and this one makes the most of it.

Overall 7/10

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom Review

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Kemco has delivered quite a lot of amazing hits over the years and this one is no different. It’s definitely very different from their other titles in a few ways which I’ll get into, but it nails it. This is really trying to cross the classic RPG style with more of a gathering game you’d think of for mobile or online gaming. It works really well in doing so.

So the game follows a kid named Volker. His father died in an accident a while back and so he had to start running the blacksmithing operation on his own. At the same time he always wanted to be an adventurer though and is at a cross roads. Fortunately his best friend says she will man the shop while he is away and a fairy also shows up to help out. Now Volker can focus on being the best in both fields and along the way he may uncover some conspiracies. At the end of the day he wants to keep his kingdom safe, whether it is through creating equipment for them or by clearing quests. Will he be able to do this?

The game’s hub world has several areas including the shop, mission area, infirmary, food store, the arena, the dungeons, and the workplace. Each area has tasks that you can do once a day. For example you can enter a dungeon once a day and you can eat once a day. When you are ready to go to the next day you can head home and build a lot of equipment to sell which triggers the end of the day. The typical flowchart here is that you will complete a bunch of ordinary missions which involve building things for people until you get a story mission. The first story mission is always to investigate a dungeon which means getting to the final floor. The second story mission will be to fight a boss at the end of it.

The story missions are unlocked by completing a lot of normal missions. There are 296 missions in the game and you need to complete almost all of them in order to unlock the final story mission so prepare yourself. While combat is important, just as important is having a lot of materials at the ready so that you can build things as needed. Each time you complete a dungeon you unlock new materials. Also be sure to stop at every store each day in order to trigger cutscenes that move the story forward.

As you can probably guess, this means you will be moving around a lot. You will also have to spend a lot of time crafting weapons and shifting materials from one form to the next. There isn’t a lot of downtime here, you’re always just pressing on to the next thing. You gotta be ready for that without a doubt. It’s more fun than it sounds though so you’ll like it. At the very least I get a kick out of it. You usually have to do this kind of thing in mobile games and it can take hours sometimes as you have to allocate resources and then just wait it out. If you’re not used to that kind of thing then it may seem tedious. I would go as far as to say that this is the tipping point of the game. Whether you love it or not will depend on how much you enjoy crafting objects.

Trust me, you’ll be crafting a lot too. I nearly completed the 100% secret gallery (Made it to 97%) by the time I beat the game because I had to cook so much. Also, the game is difficult. I had all my guys maxed out at level 99 and I still barely beat the final boss. In a sense this is because I didn’t fully master the different concepts in the game. There are just so many from the prayers you use before battle to the orbs you equip to each piece of your equipment. Each character can choose 2 classes out of 12 in order to build a solid formation and each formation can be altered. There are also active and passive skills that you have to choose.

That sounded like a lot? Well it’s even more imposing while playing. So I did my best and crafted a team strategy that I thought sounded good but if there had been any more bosses then I may have had to rethink that a bit. They really were quite difficult and the final boss took over 30 minutes. It doesn’t help that a lot of the bosses like to heal themselves or summon an infinite amount of minions. You often have to decide whether to go for them or the minion first. Each strategy has its ups and downs in that respect.

Also, they love going for the paralyze option and if that happens then your character can’t attack for 3 turns. Definitely watch out for that since it gets really tricky. The challenge never feels unfair or broken though. You’re always left with the thought that you could have assembled your team better in order to win. So as you can tell I liked this game quite a lot. It’s just a very great all around experience and there’s so much to have fun with. I very nearly got all the trophies along the way.

Now if the game has a weakness it’s that there isn’t much of a story for about 90% of the game. There are hintings at one for a while of course but it never really happens until you’re at about the climax. Then we get a cosmic being and some nice action but it’s all at the very end. It’s clear that the story wasn’t really the focus here. The focus was definitely on the whole harvesting/gathering aspect of the game. It’s a fun aspect of course so I’m glad that they handled it well but a nice story would have been fun to have too. As it is the cast is incredibly small since the rest of your party is made up. Because of that there are just a few characters around the hub world and a villain or two.

Finally, the way the equipment works is a bit too time consuming if you ask me. So here’s how it goes, when you want to change equipment you go to the screen as normal except you can’t see your current weapon’s stats compared to the one you are equipping. As a result you have to switch screens a lot to make sure you’re getting the right one. Upgrading a weapon or transferring effects also takes you to a screen with tons of weapons so you have to make sure that you’re grabbing the right one. The equipment part could be a bit of a pain so in the end I just ended up going for the ones that had the highest stats and called it a day instead of always looking to optimize. It just was not very user friendly.

Naturally the graphics are solid here. I like the illustrations and the levels look good. I wouldn’t say it feels as dynamic or polished as the Asdivine Hero titles but it still looks good enough. Meanwhile the soundtrack is good. There are some solid tunes here although a lot of the battles are so fast that you won’t get to hear it much. I tend to have the team set to auto battle in most fights because manually battling takes forever in this game. If they can’t handle the battle then I take the wheel as needed. Another small thing I like about the game is that there are keyboard shortcuts for everything and you move faster than the villains. So if you don’t want to fight some minions then you don’t have to. It’s the quality of life features like this that always put Kemco at the top.

Overall, Blacksmith of the Sand Village is definitely a great game. The way the very game is developed does mean that it won’t be for everyone though. I just get the feeling that not everyone is going to want to be spending some hours crafting equipment over and over which is understandable. It’s just so smooth and enjoyable though that you don’t even notice. I ended up having a very good time with the game without a doubt and would love to see a sequel. Just give us more of a story next time.

Overall 8/10

Rayman 2: Revolution Review

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It’s time for some Rayman hype! The series is always guaranteed to give you a fun platforming adventure but there has yet to be a definitive title in the series for me. I’ve played some good ones of course but none that made me think it had to be the king of the series. Well, this one changes that as I would say Revolution is the best yet. There are no mandatory collectibles or anything like that. No, this is all about just getting through the levels and having a good time. I can definitely respect that.

So the game starts off with the villains taking everyone out including Rayman but fortunately he is able to get out in one piece. He is depowered now and the pirates are taking more and more people as slaves. At one point in the game the ticker shows that they have over 30,000 people captured which is insane. Rayman will have to save them one by one and to do that he will need to get his powers back and also hit some of the installations so he can weaken their forces. He will have some friends to help him along the way but at the same time they can also be liabilities with how they can’t really fight all that well.

With the gameplay you’ve got your classic 3D platformer. You can run and jump to get to the end of a level. Rayman can also punch and his fist goes far which is really handy. He can even glide for a bit so there’s a whole lot that you can do in the levels. Rayman definitely has variety in his move set which is always important. It also means that the levels are able to do a whole lot because more movement options means there are more ways for developers to set up their obstacles.

It works well and the gameplay is always fun. There is a decent amount of difficulty thrown in but I wouldn’t say it’s comparable to Crash or anything like that. It’s more classic in that sense but you still shouldn’t underestimate it. Some segments took me many tries like some of the rocket runs. Those are levels where you have to ride a rocket and zoom around all over the place. That level is really set up so it can be as difficult as possible. Good luck getting the rocket to go where you want it to go! It just seems to have a mind of its own the whole time.

The game has a lot of constant check points though so that’s really appreciated. If you get a game over then you go a little further back but it’s never all that crazy. Odds are that you’ll never feel discouraged as a result and that’s why the game handled this in a very smart way. The only area where the gameplay wasn’t amazing was with the camera angles. Those could definitely be rather brutal but you’ll get the hang of it after a while. It can make some moments a little harder than it should be but ultimately you will be able to press on past that.

As for the graphics, I’d say it’s pretty solid. It’s got that very retro look which still has a good amount of detail and personality to it. You really can’t go wrong with Rayman on this. The soundtrack isn’t very memorable though so it looks like I’m in a bit of a streak on that lately. I need another all star soundtrack soon! After all great tunes are really what gets a game to the next level.

As for the story, well I’d say it’s fun enough. The game’s got a nice sense of humor and so while the game never feels very high stakes, you get to enjoy Rayman as a hero and root for him to save the day. The characters around him are solid and the villain certainly works hard. Technically with that many prisoners you could say the pirates did well. They were one Rayman away from total global conquest.

There is a bit of replay value here in terms of grabbing all collectibles but I’m not sure what you actually unlock with that. It better be something really good because there are a ton of collectibles to grab here. If they had been mandatory that definitely would have been really discouraging but I assume the developers knew that and that’s why they went all out since this would only be for the players serious about 100% completing the game.

Because of this the game can be a bit overwhelming at the start since you feel like maybe you should try grabbing these things. The hub world is also huge with many different areas to it so you can easily get lost or enter a level by mistake. Doing so triggers an unskippable animation and of course it just slows you down so try to learn the place little by little. Once you do then you’ll be all good. The game does have a good amount of quality of life features in it like being able to sense when an orb is nearby after beating the game. You just have to get there so this is very much a game where the more you play it, the easier it gets. It’s not as much of a plug and play title though so you have to be prepared for it.

Overall, Rayman 2: Revolution is a very fun game. It really knows how to get the best out of being a platformer and keeping you wanting more. The game’s fairly straight forward even if it can be a little overwhelming at first. Once you get the hang of it then you’ll be blasting all the way through the end. The dialogue can be fun and so you’ll remember Rayman quite well and even some of his friends. Their names escape me most of the time though so they’re not quite at that tier yet. Soon I’ll get another Rayman game so we can see how he’s doing in more of a modern era. In the meantime I would definitely recommend checking this one out.

Overall 7/10

Breath of Fire Review

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It’s time for an old school RPG. This one has definitely been around for a while but I just hadn’t had time to give it a shot before. Well, after playing it I can confirm that the game has aged well. The gameplay style is nice and retro with the story being rather solid. You don’t really see a lot of games like this one nowadays, at least not among the AAA companies.

The game starts with everyone in the village being murdered as per usual with just a few survivors making it out. Ryu’s sister decides she will go out to stop the Dark Dragon Clan in their wild quest to destroy the world. A long time passes and she does not return so Ryu is forced to take up the challenge next. He will need to team up with a lot of skilled fighters in order to make a difference but is he really just setting off on an impossible mission?

As you complete each area you get more and more allies to fight by your side until you’ve got a rather solid roster. It’s all done very methodically which works rather well. While the game may not be very original in some ways like the story and all, the fundamentals are just really strong which is what makes this game a lot of fun. For example the gameplay is just really smooth and in some ways it beats out some of the more modern versions. When you don’t want to fight enemies you can actually use up an item that prevents any random encounters for a little while. I thought that was a really handy item and there were no strings attached. Sure, you do have to spend money to get the item but it’s rather cheap and you’ll be swimming in money later on.

You get a map along the way and the ability to fly so going through the map isn’t super crazy. I will say that on occasion the game isn’t very clear on what you need to do next though. Because of how the game lets you mess around with the order of things a bit, sometimes you’ll miss out on an item or event that you need in order to go forward. When that happens it can be a bit annoying. It doesn’t happen often but in those moments it would be nice if there was a way to ship the item to a newer location so you didn’t have to run all the way back. Now that would have been ideal.

So it’s not like it’s all perfect here but at the end of the day it’s a very peaceful game. It’s one that you can just sit down and have a good time with at any point. IN general I feel that way about the retro RPG titles because I like the turn based system quite a bit. Beating up on enemies over and over again is a great way to build up your XP but it can also be very soothing at the same time.

For the graphics, I’d say they’ve aged well. The level designs are on point and I like how the characters look. The soundtrack is also decent although I wouldn’t say that any of the themes are very memorable. It could have used a little more energy to the tracks but either way it’s not something where I would give it a thumbs down for that. There isn’t much replay value after beating the game but the campaign’s fairly long so that won’t be much of an issue here.

As to the story, I thought it really took off once Goda and the group of villains showed up. It starts off a little slow as you beat up a bunch of forgettable villains for a while but then once the big villains show up, the game really raises its level. It also made you feel like the game had a good chunk of content left since for a little while there it felt like you were going to end it before a whole lot happened.

Your allies are a bit forgettable though. None of them really stood out for me. They weren’t bad but if you asked me to tell you their personalities I wouldn’t be able to say much more than the one sentence premise of their characters. It felt like they didn’t get to do a whole lot despite being around. The main character was the most interesting and even then he is fairly standard. The villains are definitely the more interesting characters here and the game has some twists and turns at the end of it.

As with just about any RPG you can expect that the final boss here is rather difficult. Make sure you’ve trained a lot and have the best attacks and equipment ready or you will be in for a rough time. If you lose you can always just go back to train of course but it’s always ideal to train first so you don’t have to backtrack for a long while. Particularly for the final boss where you would have to go trough the dungeon all over again.

Overall, I’m definitely ready to check out Breath of Fire 2. If you like a good RPG then you’ll definitely be a fan of this one. You’ve got all of the classic RPG elements here and they’re executed well. While some areas could have been better, I’d say it shines as a bright example of why the genre is so good. It would absolutely be worthy of being someone’s first RPG too as it would get them used to the mechanics. There really aren’t any downsides to this one so just go in and have fun.

Overall 7/10

Hitman: Agent 47 Review

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

We are back in the Hitman universe with this reboot. They learned a lot of their lessons from last time fortunately so this one actually ends up being pretty fun. We’ve got some solid action, special effects, and the whole works. It even feels a bit more like a superhero kind of film with how we’ve got powers now and even 47 can shoot across the whole city. Yeah if you were looking for some Hitman action then you’ve come to the right place.

So the movie introduces us to Katia who seems to have the ability to see the future. It helps her get out of a lot of bad spots and she even saves some lives by utilizing this power. She has been trying to find someone for a while now but doesn’t even know why. The situation gets dangerous when a man named John Smith (I’m sure that’s his real name…) shows up and tells Katia that an assassin is after her so she has to trust him. The assassin of course is 47 who is pursuing her quite relentlessly. Perhaps this guy can help Katia find out why she has super powers and why she even wants to find this random guy from her visions. Either way they will need to move fast.

The first half involves a lot of chase scenes as they try to get away from 47 and I thought this was handled really well. 47 is a Hitman after all so he won’t always be the hero here. Putting him in as a villain makes for a very intense perspective and I definitely wouldn’t have minded if it stayed like that the whole time. He gets some great feats here too like when he goes on a roof and then shoots a bullet that goes through a train, car, past a bridge, and then into the car where Katia is to hit her. The shot is absolutely insane and even Hawkeye would have to give him some respect there. It’s really impressive all the way through and 47 is practically robotic with how he keeps on going.

Now I do have one absolutely major issue with one of the opening scenes though. So 47’s mission right now is seemingly to neutralize both Katia and John. He is authorized to do whatever it takes to accomplish this. Now as the film goes on you can see why Katia is okay for now but what about John? There are several times where 47 can finish him off but chooses to keep on going. These scenes only work if you assume that 47 actually is a robot. I’ll give you a quick scene here. 47 knocks John to the ground and then turns to set up his gun so he can fire at Katia. He gets really close to shooting her but then John tackles him so they fall to the ground.

Okay, time to shoot John and then go back to hunting Katia right? Wrong, 47 acts like John isn’t even there and gets up to walk after Katia. So…John tackles him again and they wrestle in the train tracks for a bit. Several times John will interrupt 47 and the Hitman will knock him away or land a punch but then go back to ignoring him. I thought that didn’t make any sense unless they changed scripts midway and he was going to be a robot. 47 seems to have no common sense in these scenes which is just odd because he is always portrayed as such a highly skilled agent.

Still, as a character he was really solid. I liked his scenes in the embassy where he is in control the whole time and talks tough. He talks a whole lot more in this film than in the first one and it works well. You get the sense that he is absolutely ruthless and now that he can explain his intentions to the other characters, it makes him that much more sinister. It was also just nice seeing the U.S. Embassy show up even if you knew they were going to be doomed after a while. So there was a whole lot to like about these opening scenes. Plus I also enjoy how everything was dialed up to 11 with the crazy shots across the city or even Katia using her powers to figure out where to go next.

As a character Katia is quite solid. She may have been lacking in confidence at first but this didn’t stop her from taking a risk to save the lady in the opening scene and then always staying on the run. Katia basically had to self teach herself how to use these strange abilities and to stay in the game which is not easy. By the end of the film she has really come into her own and it’s a shame that we won’t be getting a sequel because I think that could have been a great film. Certainly Katia would have had a nice role in it and I liked where the film was going.

Yes, we do have a cliffhanger here so get ready for that. It’s a really hype one though and you can pull quite a few comparisons to Terminator 2 here. I think in a lot of ways this film was trying to be like that one and it succeeded. So if we kept this up I think the movies would have gotten even better as we leaned more on the sci-fi angle. The final scene (pre credits) was just really excellent and exactly the kind of note you want to end the movie off on.

Diana actually appears in person for this film which was nice. She doesn’t seem quite as personable as in the first film though. Here she appears to be fully part of team corporate. I guess if you stay long enough they always get you but it would have been nice to have seen her in more of a heroic role. Then we have John Connor Smith and he’s a fun character. I did find it a bit funny when Katia asked if that was his real name later on. Cmon now…it’s definitely not. The sad thing is if I ever met someone who was actually called John Smith I probably wouldn’t believe him. At this point the name is only used as an alias to the point where using that name actually just puts some suspicion on you.

Either way John was a really solid character here though. He definitely helped to bolster the cast. The movie has a fairly small cast of important characters to be honest but this way you can focus more on the plot and what’s going on. There are some other characters of course but these are the big ones. There is a whole lot of action here as well so you’ll definitely enjoy that. 47 gets to fight with guns, knives, and his fists. Everyone gets a little piece of the pie here.

The uniform still really stands out as well. This movie got to show off how versatile it could be as well by having 47 be a villain one moment and then someone you have to root for in the next. In some scenes he’ll remind you of Wesker even. This time the movie has quite a few twists and turns compared to the first which was more straight forward and it works out quite well. I did think the first one left things off on an interesting note as well but this one really raised the bar. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t better received because I need that sequel!

Overall, If you like a solid action movie then you should definitely enjoy this one. It’s a well rounded title with a lot of action and interesting plot developments. Sometimes the heroes can be a bit brutal with how they finish off their enemies like one kill in particular where the guy got crunched into oblivion but in Katia’s case she is fighting for her life and in 47’s case…he really couldn’t care less. You get the feeling he has some kind of plan going on that he’s not mentioning to anyone either but that could just be me overthinking it. It’s not like we’ll ever know for sure I suppose but hopefully we get another reboot or something soon because this series has a lot of potential.

Overall 7/10

Hitman Review

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

The Hitman video game series is definitely well known and you figure a film about it should be amazing right? Well, this one didn’t quite do it for me. It has some moments that show promise but ultimately just made too many mistakes which kept this from being the next big hit. At least they got the suit and tie right.

So the movie starts off with a quick origin for 47 and he gets the drop on the interpol agent Mike. We then get a flashback to 3 months ago to set things up. Here are the ground rules you need to know about this universe. A bunch of kids were raised to be future hitmen so they don’t show much emotion. The main character’s name is simply 47 and he has done really well. The head of the group or at least the one who contacts him is Diana and she has historically given him a lot of missions that he completes easily enough. Well, one day the mission appears to be a set-up as the guy (Mikhail) that 47 murdered is still alive and he’s told to murder a witness (Nika) who didn’t actually see him? 47 needs to figure out what is going on quickly to turn the tables on these guys or else his reputation as a top hitman may be on the line.

I do think it’s always an odd decision to have your first movie be something that changes the status quo to something you haven’t experienced yet. Shouldn’t a plot about 47 being betrayed by his group be a sequel’s plot as opposed to the original? At least give us a chance to see 47 working in a normal environment. In that sense I’d say you should have had the sequel take place first since the plot was more standard for 47. This is true for any film based on a franchise though, the first movie should feel like a classic adventure with whatever elements are usually in the games and then you subvert this later on.

Well, lets knock out some of the negatives right away. First up, the editing isn’t great and that’s a field I don’t even bring up unless it’s really bad. There are a ton of cuts in each action sequence so you don’t actually get to see the action a lot. Why do you need 5 different camera angles for someone getting punched? Now even if they actually did a solid punch on the set it’s hard to tell and you assume the choreography wasn’t very good. This happens a lot during pretty much every fight.

The only one that gets around this is the 4 man sword fight which is actually really good. Now that’s a fight that is a highlight in the movie and gave us a good look at what could happen here. If this had been the feel of the whole film then I think we’d be having a whole different conversation here. The sword fight was just really good. The gun battles and hand to hand are solid too of course but not nearly on the same level, particularly because of the cuts.

Then sometimes it felt like they were just taking short cuts. There is one scene where a character is walking through a underground parking lot of sorts. Instead of you know…having the character just walk all the way through before cutting away we see him take a step, then there’s a blinding flash of light. Then another step, another light, and then rinse and repeat for a third time before he vanishes. Beyond trying to give the audience seizures, what is even the point of that? It doesn’t make sense to me and felt like they just didn’t want to film the whole walking sequence or something happened and they lost some of the files.

I don’t mind a film being busy with a lot of effects (Kaguya season 1 handled this perfectly with lots of special effects everywhere) but they should have some kind of purpose to them. Otherwise it’s just adding effects to add them. Also, the romance here is pretty bad. Nika is a character who has effectively been held hostage for a long while by the villains. It feels like the last thing she wants to do is to get into an affair right now. There’s also no reason she would actually start liking 47 this quickly as she should still be in self preservation mode. He’s constantly threatening her and their whole dynamic just seems very weak. It all happens way too quickly and 47’s half hearted resistance will just make you roll your eyes.

This is a film that definitely didn’t need romance in the slightest. Finally, I thought the organization could have looked better. Now I don’t know much about 47’s group so maybe they’re all just evil anyway but at least Diana seems trustworthy with how she called 47 to warn him. How come she didn’t find out that the fix was in sooner? Also, why is the organization willing to sell out 47 this easily when he’s one of their best assets? Feels like they’re choosing the wrong side to me by a long shot. You don’t want to turn someone like 47 against you, that’s a terrible move.

Okay so for the good parts, I did like the Interpol agent Mike. That guy wasn’t about to get pushed around by the Russians and just kept going on the case to stop 47. He wasn’t getting distracted or tricked along the way either and just held onto his singular focus the whole time. He may never actually be a threat to 47 in anyway but his plot was always interesting.

47 himself was a decent main character as well. I wouldn’t say he was very good and he lost some points along the way but ultimately he always had a plan and would come out on top. He certainly got the upper hand on Mike quickly enough and took out a ton of villains at every point. I liked Diana even if her role was super small. I was not really a fan of Nika though. Certainly a tragic backstory for her but in the present she didn’t actually get to contribute much at all.

As for the villain Mikhail, well he is the kind of guy who panics a whole ton. The plan to frame 47 was solid without a doubt but the villains didn’t know how to follow through on that. There are a few other villains as well but none of them are particularly memorable. The movie goes through the motions and they get their moments where they come close to stopping 47 but you barely even see them as characters most of the time.

The soundtrack is pretty decent though. Some solid tunes in there and I did like the visual. The movie always made sure to show off 47’s suit and how the tie would practically glow. Fans will at least be satisfied that the outfit is pretty much a 1 to 1 recreation from the games. No expense was spared there and the ending also leaves some interesting plots for future installments. Of course no sequel would end up coming out but it did get you interested in the franchise as a whole and that is at least partially the goal in making an adaption like this.

Overall, Hitman wasn’t a success. For everything it did right, it did something wrong as well. I would place is squarely in the middle as a result and while there is a decent amount of replay value, I feel as though there is no real reason to watch it again. Watch Mission Impossible instead if you want to see some solid secret agent work or watch Terminator if you want to watch a stoic villain running around. After all, make no mistake, 47 is still a villain here. Just because his goals align with the heroes sometimes doesn’t change the fact that he is still a killer for hire who follows orders without really thinking about it. If the games keep in all of the interesting plot elements while touching the rest up then I can definitely see how this became a really big franchise.

Overall 5/10

Ransom! Review

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With a title like this you know exactly what the movie is going to be about. It’s not trying to beat around the bush either and just gets you right into the action. The film revolves around a kid being held for ransom and how to deal with that. The writing is on point and the movie is engaging from start to finish so I certainly had no issues with it. It’s a compelling title all around.

The movie starts with Dave agreeing to help his son Andy out with this little fort he’s building. Dave will grab some supplies on the way home and will even be leaving work early to make sure it all works out. Well, he arrives home and Andy is late which Dave is a bit annoyed at. Gradually this grows into concern and when a call arrives saying that Andy was taken away to the doctor’s and the doctor denies this, Dave knows they have a problem on their hand. Sure enough, the thief calls in and demands a large sum of money for Andy’s return. Everyone quickly tells Dave to pay the ransom and he agrees that this makes sense but then he finds out from a local reporter and the police chief that paying the ransom may actually not help. In fact, it may just seal Andy’s death. So now what should Dave do?

I thought it was an interesting approach here about not paying the ransom and the logic made sense. Once the villain has the random money there is no reason for him to return the kid and until he gets it, there is more reason to keep the kid alive. Of course as the film makes sure to explain a lot, this can still go sideways no matter what you pick. So Dave has to be prepared for the consequences no matter what because if anything happens to Andy he will likely have a whole lot of regrets no matter what. If he doesn’t pay the ransom then everyone will pile on him afterwards and blame him for the full event.

Dave gives it a lot of thought in both options and the way he handled it was great. Basically he turns it around by using the money to threaten the kidnapper directly. If you’re not going to pay the ransom then this is absolutely the way to go about it. It would be difficult for the kidnapper not to get nervous after a point because that is a ton of money to throw around and naturally there are few people you can trust at that point in time. It was a way to turn the tables and considering that Dave had pretty much 0 support, it was a good testament to his character. He was ready to sacrifice everything in order to make the best pick for Andy’s safety.

His wife Edith wasn’t quite on board with this though. It’s a stressful time so you understand why she is panicking a lot but as a result she really does not look good at all here. Edith never takes time out to try and listen to the ideas or anything and just cracks immediately and has to be put under sedation a few times. It would have been nice if she was a little more supportive so Dave could have had someone backing him up. Ultimately she did him no favors here and ended up being the weakest character.

There’s also Jim who is the head of police and he seems reasonable up to a point before he chooses the wrong side. He was one of the first people to float the idea that providing ransom money isn’t a good idea but ultimately the politics of the whole thing gets to him and he tries to take that back. Ultimately he gets back on the saddle but it takes a little while.

As a result I was a much bigger fan of Charlie. Charlie’s a reporter and so he’s seen this play out many times before. He’s someone you would want to use as a reference for a huge decision like this. Nothing is 100% of course and he stresses this a lot but at least he is able to give Dave a fresh perspective. He doesn’t back out on him either. So Charlie has a solid character arc where he starts off as someone who is only interested in the story and gradually becomes someone that Dave can count on. Considering that he started off as someone that Dave nearly beat up, I’d say he did well for himself.

The movie keeps up the tension throughout the whole film really well. At no point is there a break in this and you can see the characters getting tired over time. After all the longer this goes on, the more time the characters have to keep on second guessing themselves. The villain never truly appears beyond a quick silhouette from time to time which worked out well enough. The villain isn’t really one of the main points of focus after all. This film is really about dealing with the kidnapping itself and the social pressure that is causes. So in a way the kidnapper himself is of a secondary concern.

The social aspect was also handled well like with how everyone said Dave should pay the ransom because that’s just how it’s done. They don’t talk about how this would be helpful and that’s why Dave starts to give this more thought. It’s always a good thing to do since you shouldn’t just do something because it’s always been done that way. I don’t doubt that the town may have fully attacked Dave at some point if things didn’t go over well. During the film we already started to see them get a little intense like throwing rocks through the window after all.

The film has a satisfying ending though and ultimately there’s a good amount of replay value here. It may sound like that wouldn’t be the case since the whole thing takes place pretty much inside the apartment with the characters talking a lot but the writing is very good from start to finish so it’s never an issue. It’s why good writing is so important since you need that to keep the movie interesting. If there are no big fight scenes or visuals then writing will suddenly become the most important aspect.

Overall, Ransom! is a very fresh take on the kidnapping plot. I can’t think of any other titles that went about it in this way where it focuses on how the parents handle this in terms of complying or choosing not too. A lot of the dynamics for the social plot would certainly be different in a modern setting and I’d be interested in seeing how that’s tackled as well. Naturally a kidnapping is a fairly dark plot in and of itself so you’ll need to be able to take that if you’re going to enjoy the film. It’s all handled in a classy manner though without getting too grim. It keeps up the tension but it’s all about the atmosphere which is the best way to do it. I would definitely recommend checking this film out, it was really quite interesting.

Overall 7/10

Old Review

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Old is a movie that certainly got a lot of promotion. You always figure it should have some kind of a twist since the producer is known for that and the very premise goes hand in hand with having a good twist in there. There are some mysteries and it’s all very interesting but it fumbles the ball quickly. The characters are unlikable and the film explores a lot of the things you’d rather not see in quick aging instead of more interesting ideas. As a result it ultimately starts to drag and just really messed up here.

So the main characters Guy and Prisca have been having a lot of relationship issues lately. Their marriage is pretty much at an end so they’re just going to do this one last vacation and then call it quits. Well, their kids are excited for this at least and it seems like it should be fun. The place has complementary drinks and the whole thing is very high-end. They’re even invited to a private beach with a few other select guests but that’s when things get tricky. It doesn’t seem like there is a way to leave the Beach and they all start to grow older so time is limited here.

Naturally the hook is on seeing how the characters grow old and what they do about it. It’s a solid hook but you absolutely need something more than that if you’re going to make this a very memorable experience. This film opted to do that with character drama as they inevitably start turning on each other and everyone goes crazy. It’s not out of nowhere as the film does set up some legitimate reasons for why this group is so crazy but it doesn’t help take away from the fact that it’s annoying.

In a life or death situation the last thing you want is for everyone to start cracking right out of the gate. Of course a film may need some drama but I dare say that it would be executed better without this angle. Seeing the characters team up and keep on trying new things would absolutely have a much better effect. This way the characters are still likable and you’ve still got some drama as each attempt wouldn’t work which would put them in a tougher position. These are just some ideas off the top of my head that I think would have done a whole lot of good here.

Guy and Prisca start off on a rather rocky note and it doesn’t get much better for them for most of the film. Particularly once we find out why their relationship is in tatters. They put this aside to help the kids which is good but at no point are they all that likable. Then you have the kids Maddox and Trent. Maddox is okay but Trent definitely looks really bad here as he decides this is the best time to mess around. You’d think that he would hold off on doing anything crazy when all of this is going on but I guess not. I’ll throw blame onto Kara as well here as it takes two to tango.

It was a bad moment that also leads to a completely unnecessary scene as the gang have to work on helping Kara give birth on this island. Really now? You can probably guess that with the whole aging thing this doesn’t go over very well. Then you’ve also got a live surgery operation that has to go on and you quickly realize that the film is really trying for max shock value here. There’s a lot of interesting ideas you can do about being trapped on a beach with time moving so quickly like this but surgery and giving birth aren’t two items I would put on the list there.

Then with the characters going crazy it’s not like there’s many opportunities to team up either. So Charles is a surgeon but he was already losing his mind and this just made things worse for all of them. He ends up being the biggest obstacle here and on a small beach like this, having just one person against you can be absolutely deadly. The guy runs around with a knife trying to attack the others almost from the jump. Right when he appears you know something’s off and it just gradually gets worse and worse throughout the film.

His wife Chrystal at least seemed reasonable. Perhaps a bit stuck up but she wasn’t losing her marbles the way the others did. Unfortunately almost nobody is safe by the end so eventually she went looney as well. Agnes and Sedan didn’t really have a chance to crack. Patricia was in a really tough spot from the start so the whole time gimmick was going to get to her. For Jarin I thought his plan to swim wasn’t very well thought out. It’s a shame since he seemed like one of the most reasonable members by far.

In fact, he has the best idea early on and it was disappointing that nobody tried it. So this whole time you may be wondering why the heroes don’t just walk off of the beach right? Well, every time they walk to the exit they get dizzy and then end up fainting. The characters figure this is because of how time moves so quickly here that their bodies need time to adjust almost like when swimming deep underwater. So Jarin figures that maybe this won’t be an issue if they go really slowly.

That makes a lot of sense and I think it would have worked. Now, would it have actually resulted in a happy ending for all of them? Eh, probably not since getting out of the beach isn’t necessarily a win condition here. They’d probably still lose but from their perspective I think it is absolutely worth it and something they should have tried for. It would take a lot of time but still would have easily been the best chance of success.

Without saying what the twist is this time, I can say that it does make sense. It’s a bit more on the low key side so it’s nothing crazy but at least it does work which is the important thing. It’s a reasonable ending all things considered and at least isn’t super dreary or anything. The characters actually played it smart in the climax this time which was nice. If they had made any big mistakes or something then that would have been annoying.

Overall, Old is not a film I would recommend. The concept behind the island and the mystery is definitely interesting but it goes all “Lord of the Flies” way too quickly. Mix that in with just trying to be gritty for no reason and you lose a lot of the atmosphere that this film could have generated naturally. There’s just so much potential and promise that you can do with this kind of film and ultimately it just wasn’t there. This is a movie that you will definitely want to skip out on.

Overall 3/10

The Time Machine Review

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Whenever you have a film with time travel you know that things are going to get good. That was my thought upon watching this film as well and it definitely delivered. What you have to understand right from the jump is that this isn’t an action title though. It’s actually very low key about the time traveling aspect. Sure, there are some punches thrown near the end but for the most part this is a dialogue based film but one that works rather well here and I like the time travel rules that the film abided by.

There are a lot of time travel rules after all. The ones where you can’t alter the past or the future, the ones that create new universes, ones where you can’t go directly to your own past, etc. Personally my favorite styles tend to be when you can change things and you just see a lot of ripple effects. It makes the most sense to me even if we don’t actually know how time travel would work yet. Back to the movie though.

So George invites his friends over for dinner but when they arrive he is very late and appears as if he’s been in some kind of battle. He explains to them that he has been travelling through time and this triggers a flashback which is from the rest of the movie. So a while back he tried to show his invention to them but they didn’t believe him. It was partially on him for only showing them the basic version when he could have messed with the real one and proved the machine quite easily. Instead they laugh and run off while he decides to use this machine to go to the future. At first George just has fun seeing how things will change in the next year or so but then he ends up going over 800,000 years in the future. Humanity seems to finally be at peace but is there some darker secret here? George will have to find out fast because his machine may be in danger.

Naturally if your time machine breaks for any reason then that’s game over so you don’t want that to happen. The way the film handles it, the machines effectively exists outside of time while it is being used and then it appears in the same spot that it was, just in a different universe. It’s a very handy ability that’s for sure and the controls are very intuitive so he is able to stop on a dime in any era. Somehow George even made a mini version of it so he has completely mastered the mechanics of it. He could really become rich with an invention like that even if that’s not really his style.

So the first half of the film is just very calm as he goes from place to place and has fun. He can be a little slow on the uptake and draws attention to himself all the time but nobody is really going to be thinking about time travel so that part’s safe. The real high stakes of the film don’t appear until after he’s in the far future though.

So Humanity pretty much blew themselves up it seems because al technology is gone and the world is back to the cave man era. The people are still rather dignified though so it’s not a full reset. People have grown lazy though because now there is a race of alien type creature that cater to their every whim so people don’t need to work anymore. Their food is served to them and they don’t bother reading so people just live every day on repeat. George is quite dismayed about this but at the same time he meets a lady named Weena that he likes so that’s a silver lining there.

Now he has a reason to embrace this new time period. The film never makes it clear why these other beings are watching over humanity and how they prepare all of this when they seem mindless. There are a lot of questions here and perhaps another film could go more into detail but it’s not like George has a lot of time to find out all of the answers. He’s busy just trying to stay alive the whole time and he does a good job of it too.

I like to think he’ll give some more closure to the characters in the present at some point but the ending is a happy one either way. George was a solid main character once he found his footing and really got used to traveling through time. He should help make the future era a much better one as well. Then Weena was a good heroine as well even if she didn’t get a whole lot to do in the future. She was brave enough to talk to him when most wouldn’t say a word.

The film really thrives because of its writing. A film like this absolutely needs high quality writing to survive since that is going to be what executes on the solid premise. I have no complaints on that area and thought that the script was quite solid. Yes, I do have some issues with how George could have done a much better job of proving his time machine to the group. That is a bit iffy so I’ll just make an excuse for him and say that if his friends would barely entertain this idea of his then maybe they didn’t deserve to see it anyway. He had one good friend in Filby but even that guy didn’t really believe him the whole time. At least he would defend George but that’s about all I can say for him. Nice guy but if he had taken the next step and actually assisted with the time travel that would have been ideal.

Overall, The Time Machine is a fun, dare I say relaxing film. It’s just very low key so there isn’t a ton to say about it, but it’s interesting enough. I think the concept is what intrigues you the most because it’s fun to put yourself in George’s shoes and think about what you would do with a time machine. The possibilities are really endless especially with the level of freedom you have with this machine. Of course you have to be careful not to leave it alone or to let it get broken or you’ll be really sunk. If you want a nice look at the future then this is a good one to check out without a doubt.

Overall 7/10

Faster Review

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

It’s time for an old school revenge thriller. This one plays it by the books but it’s executed rather well and makes for a good title. The cast is fairly small so you really get to focus on each of the characters and it has a satisfying ending. So in the end you’ll be left in a good spot here and it definitely could have had a fun sequel but I guess it’ll stay as a one shot.

The film starts with Jimmy getting out of jail. He’s been doing a lot of time so he’s eager to be out of there and to set things right. He worked with a group of villains who ended up betraying him and murdering his brother. Jimmy nearly died as well since he took a bullet to the head but he barely survived. Now he wants revenge and through an informant he was able to get a list of the names on who was in the gang. He intends to pick them off one by one. Meanwhile someone has hired an assassin known as Killer to take Jimmy down. That guy likes to be known as the best of the best and so it’s a matter or pride now.

Finally you have the cops on Jimmy’s trail as well. Cicero is the main officer in charge but she is forced to work with Humphries who used to be a great cop in his day but he’s considered to be washed up at this point. Will he only serve to slow her down or will he step up when it counts? Either way the time is ticking because Jimmy will vanish to the winds as soon as he has achieved his vengeance against the gang.

So what I did like about the film straight off the bat is that it goes right down to business. It feels like less than 20 minutes have passed before Jimmy got a gun, threatened someone, and found his first target. The guy moves very fast and doesn’t take any breaks. He’s a very convincing man on a mission and you can feel his determination in each scene. It’ also clear that he is quite skilled not just with a gun but in close combat as well. A nice touch here is that everyone in the know regards Jimmy as a legend because he should be dead (Getting shot in the head will usually do that) and he never loses a fight.

So even bouncers are scared of him and the only one who dares to get in his way is Killer. I liked their battles. Jimmy is clearly more skilled from the two but they are experts in their craft. We get a whole scene with Killer explaining that he is the best in every field to show just how skilled that guy is. Killer’s got a bit of a romance subplot where he is thinking about settling down as well. Not a main plot or anything but I suppose it gives him more development there. I liked that the film didn’t play him off as totally insane at least. Initially I thought he was going to bump her off when his therapist started mentioning that she may be distracting him. Fortunately he took it the right way for a change.

Then Jimmy already has a lot of personality and a backstory so you understand his actions from the start. The scene of the gang taking out his brother was definitely really intense. Not the kind of situation you want to be in and so there’s nothing that can shake his conviction when going through the villains. The only obstacle for him is that one of these guys has turned over a new leaf. Jerrof is now a pastor and he even starts preaching about not living for revenge in the hopes that Jimmy will hear this and not take him out.

It’s one of the pivotal moments in the film because if Jimmy finishes him off then it’ll mean he did ultimately see his revenge all the way through. On the other hand, if he spares him then he will have saved the guy’s family from a lot of heartache. It’s a plot that the film gives a good amount of time here so the characters can say their peace. It’s one of the moments where Faster definitely separates itself in a good way. I thought that when it came to be crunch time, the characters always made the right move.

Jimmy and the Killer could have both gone down different roads but didn’t. Jerrod’s journey to redemption was also a very good one and it was a nice way to tie together all of the sermons we heard Jimmy listening to the whole time. The way it was wrapped up to actually be a serious plot point with Jerrod trying to get his message across was handled really well. As for the main police officer Cicero, I felt like she made the wrong calls here.

She has some solid banter with Humphries and I liked their dynamic. I can also totally get why she would be upset at having to work with him. That’s all well and good but what hurts her is near the end of the film she finds something out and has to make the choice of letting people know or burying the information. Very rarely do I think burying information is a good idea and I would definitely say that this is not one of those times. Even if things end up working out, it’s not because of her but in spite of her. It’s hard to totally recover from making the wrong move like that.

Likewise, I didn’t care for Humphries. He created a lot of trouble for himself romantically with his addictions and even now in the present he hasn’t really changed. He does things more secretively but he’s the same guy that he always was and never moved forward. The film may have been trying to balance you rooting for the cops while rooting for Jimmy so the cops couldn’t be super likable but it didn’t work as I just didn’t end up liking them much. Cicero is still much better than Humphries but neither were all that solid.

Faster’s greatest strength is definitely its fast pacing and nonstop action. In the present something is always going on so you definitely stay interested from start to finish. I also thought the ending was very good which was important. On the weak side, I would say that the flashback segment could definitely be really drawn out. It’s the usual fair as the villains laugh it up until they finally blow the guy up and that’s the kind of thing you could handle in a few instances of a really sped up flashback vision. The romance scenes with Killer also could have been reduced somewhat. It’s not like he was a major presence in the film anyway. It did well to establish her as someone who was very supportive and loyal so you want to keep that and can condense it as well. Ultimately you just wanted to get back to the main plot each time.

Overall, Faster will give you your fill of action and story all the way through. It’s a very fast film with Jimmy really going through his list like clockwork. The soundtrack was solid and the film even had some decent humor like Jimmy just asking where the exit was at prison or when he scared the bouncer. It’s not going to be an all time title by any means but it has good replay value so it’s the kind of movie that you could definitely see again in the future.

Overall 6/10