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The Creature Walks Among Us Review

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This film is a bit of a mess and the biggest problem is that the romance is absolutely crazy here. The film should have focused a whole lot more on the Gillman himself. Instead he is functionally a human for most of the movie and we have this awful love triangle going on. Trust me, the drama is not worth it for this film and you should stay far away. The winning formula is not to be found here.

The movie starts off with the main characters taking down the Gillman once more. He was badly burned so they take off the gills and it turns out that he looks just like a human now. He can no longer breath underwater without the gills but maybe they can slowly rehabilitate him. The problem is that Dr. William is bit on the crazy side. He’s also randomly abusive towards his wife Marcia and so their relationship is incredibly strained.

Unfortunately one of their divers is a man with no redeeming qualities named Jed. Jed decides that he wants Marcia all to himself so he begins to continually harass her as he tries to weaken her will so that she can cheat on her husband. Marcia doesn’t have much love left for William with how things have gotten and so she gradually weakens enough to allow Jed his advances. What does any of this have to do with the Gillman? Well, the poor guy is getting an up close view at how humans cannot be trusted and are all rather sinister.

That’s a huge problem for the film which is that the characters are simply unlikable. You’re basically rooting for the Gillman to take them out. First it’s easy to say that William is the worst of the humans. There’s no excuse for being abusive. The fact that he gets physical puts him on the lowest rung of the totem pole here and you’re waiting for someone to bump him off. He’s also not that good at thinking ahead as he puts himself in a really rough position when trying to frame the Gillman.

The Gillman gets framed? Yeah that actually happens near the end which was definitely a real desperate move. Could have been interesting if we had a courtroom trial or something but all of this is taking place privately with the characters on their property so we never get that far. Next up I have to put Jed as the second most unlikable character. You should never be trying to get someone to cheat. How classless is it to go after a married woman? That’s just total villain behavior and this guy seriously cannot take no for an answer.

So I can’t say that I felt any real sympathy for him. He found out real quick what the repercussions for this would be and shouldn’t have been making those mistakes. Finally, Marcia takes up some of the blame here but naturally not as much. She was on the back foot here but could have been more decisive in shutting Jed down. For example when Jed was going to go diving underwater, she insisted on coming along.

Everyone warned her that she’s not experienced for this and she could get the bends. Marcia insists on going and naturally she immediately makes a big mistake and Jed has to save her. That’s far from pushing him away and now it’s an excuse for him to be real close to her. Marcia needed to make sure she wasn’t putting herself in that kind of position. Sure, she couldn’t have assumed that she would make a mistake underwater but the point of the mission is that diving is really hard. It’s why Ned is here as an expert in the first place.

So instead of swimming with him, she needs another way to stop his endless pestering. This is the kind of serious matter where you do tell everyone and make a big stink about it. You have to embarrass the guy and if you don’t feel safe, then it’s time to get the cops involved and such. It’s also time for her to end the marriage to William and just start fresh. Hard decisions but this guy was clearly escalating more and more. Once things go physical then there isn’t a way back.

Still, this is a whole lot of screentime for the pesky humans. Keep in mind that the runtime for the movie is short. This is under 90 minutes total. The Gillman spends a good amount of that time getting burned and then being in recovery mode. He wakes up in time to take down one of the animals just for the film to remind us that this is not a quality picture. Far from it! Then the ending also goes out on a total whimper.

The Gillman walks out onto the sea. We know that he can’t breath under the water anymore so the implication is that he walked into his death. Living on the ship with those crazies was enough to thoroughly break him. That’s pretty sad in its own right. There is no climactic battle, in general the film didn’t have much action. This really feels like a poor way to end the Gillman trilogy. You’re left wondering what the whole point of the film was really about.

What purpose was there in showing that the Gillman was actually very similar to a human being? William had an obsession with evolution and biological changes like this but it’s not like that ever went anywhere. The Gillman didn’t ultimately learn how to hold a whole conversation or anything like that. You can barely even call this a horror film to be honest and maybe that’s not one of its official genres anyway. It’s more of a full on drama.

Overall, I’d say to stay away from this film. It doesn’t really satisfy you as a creature feature film and when it comes to full on dramas, there are way better ones out there. We needed a much better cast of characters here and there should have been way more action. If you do want to go into the romantic drama, then go all in and have both guys trying to murder each other throughout the film or something. Put it out in the open and the film is a battle of wits in this murder game. Then you somehow have the Gillman get involved in all of that. it would have been infinitely more interesting that way. Instead what we get is a mishmash of genres that won’t really satisfy anybody.

Overall 3/10

Spider-Man: Octo-Girl Review

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This is one of those series that lasted longer than I would have expected. It’s always good to get more superhero manga and this one definitely fits within that category. It’s a pretty fun story that revolves around Doc Ock for a change. The art is good and the pacing is solid. There does tend to be a lot of plot armor since a bunch of kids are around as main characters but even with all of that I would say this is a pretty good story.

The story starts with Ock getting absolutely destroyed by Spiderman once again. He just can’t seem to keep up with the web crawler but lost quick enough this time where even Spidey forgot to hold back. So as Ock plummeted to his doom, he activated his last minute clone technology to send his mind to one of the doppelgangers. Unfortunately, the A.I. made a critical error and he ends up being sent into the mind of a little girl named Otoha who was in a coma. Pretty big glitch in the system right? Now Ock has to share a mind with her until he can find a way back to his own body. In the meantime he refuses to live a sub optimal life and so he intends to help Otoha deal with her various issues.

Don’t get the wrong idea, he has no intentions of assisting her because he cares about the situation at first. He’s just doing this for his own ego because Doc Ock must always be on top. That is how things have always been and how they must persist. Ock gets a whole lot of development within the story as he learns more about being empathetic. He’s in an interesting position because this clearly takes place deep within the Spiderman mythos so to an extent you’d figure he already knew a lot of this. He’s a character who often teeters between being a hero and a villain. Still, it’s an alternate take so that’s the best way to write this off.

Ock’s inventions are certainly very useful at all times as he quickly improves Otoha’s situation. The metal arms make her a force to be reckoned with and while she often has to tone him down, I don’t think she could deny that she was in a better space immediately after he showed up. Ock gave her more confidence in standing up for herself which is her main character arc. Otoha starts out as a really timid character but gradually becomes able to defend herself and reach out to gain back some friends who had been lost along the way. She never became one of my favorite characters but had a noticeable improvement from the early scenes.

Marika was apparently a nice person throughout the series but her first scene got her off on the wrong foot with Doc Ock. After that they get along well enough and Marika even plays a role during the series in getting one of their friends back to being a nice person. She can’t actually fight though and so generally she’s more of a spectator. Denko gets less of a role but she tends to have an edgy outlook on things like telling people they’re better off dead. Certainly not the kindest thing to write to someone who was just in a coma and nearly died…..yeah I never ended up liking Denko.

Taka is much more than just one of the opening chapter bullies though. She actually gets a really big role as this series’ Vulture. She gets her tragic backstory and all but it’s not enough where you end up rooting for her over the heroes or anything like that. She made her choices and like Ock she will have to try and atone for them. I liked how tough she was throughout the series. In her opening moments she was already talking tough to Doc Ock and never wavered in the midst of his power. Now granted, that’s probably not smart since at the time she couldn’t fight.

She does gain powers later on though and really makes the most of them. I always tend to like the tough talk and when a character is really confident so that sounded good to me. She’s easily one of the better characters in the series and helped to not only increase the stakes but make them personal too. She gave Otoha a reason to fight along with Ock as opposed to just being in the backseat. Otoha had more of a reason to fight in this case to be honest. The series wouldn’t have been the same without Taka.

Another really good character is Haruka. When she showed up it was a pretty awesome moment since she’s already well known from other manga titles like Deadpool. Alas she is still stranded across dimensions and that has been hard for her but she won’t overlook the crimes around her. So she naturally goes into battle with Ock. While she is essentially on the losing side and continues her streak of consistently being defeated by everyone, I’m glad that she never stops trying to fight. You need a hero like that, especially when Spiderman is never around in all of these spinoffs.

Then we have Superior Ock who shows up as another personality gone rogue. It’s pretty fun to see two versions of Ock running around at the same time. Superior Ock gets all of the best dialogue throughout the series and consistently dominates whenever he is on screen. I also really liked his Spider-Man costume which is also similar to the one he wore during that era in the comics. You needed a villain like this to fight Ock brain to brain. He also forces our doctor to confront his past self in a sense.

The villain who is a bit redundant is Old Ock who shows up for a climax. He is really here just to redo the character arc of Ock having to see what he used to be like. Old Ock is his earlier self as well from when he was pure evil. So this one wants to destroy everything as opposed to being an extreme justice advocate. He doesn’t have enough screentime to really contribute much and is mainly just here to extend the climax a bit. The action is all solid but yeah this character wasn’t needed.

I suppose it may have been better than sticking with Maxine as the corporate final boss. It was fun to see how shady corporate was as per usual but it’s not like that makes for a very interesting final boss. The series is under 40 chapters so you didn’t need a whole lot of characters. The cast we got was solid enough. Spiderman himself shows up for the beginning and ending of course. He looks good and heroic as you would expect. He never gave up on Doc Ock throughout the whole time he was in a coma. It’s why Spiderman is always an inspirational hero.

The artwork in the series is pretty good. I would say the title especially excels when it comes to fight scenes which is a good thing. We get quite a few dynamic pages with characters squaring off. The artwork does a good job of keeping up the intensity and definitely getting you hyped for the battles to come. So the series gets a real good thumbs up there.

While you may wish Ock didn’t have to share a body with Otoha, it would be a different story at that point. The school stuff may be far less interesting than what is going on with the villains at large but the plots are often really intertwined to the point where you are getting a lot of screentime for both at all times. It’s not like each plot has to take a break for the other one. This is definitely a fun manga to binge and the art is clear enough where you would finish it up pretty easily.

Overall, Octo-Girl is a pretty good series. It gives each character a good amount of character development and lasted long enough where nothing feels rushed. You could tell the author really had the story beats laid out from the start and followed them all. We start off with the slice of life adventures to get you used to the characters and then we enter te story arcs. Everything feels planned out in a good way so I definitely appreciate that. If you like the various Spiderman characters then you should check this one out. There is a lot to enjoy for longtime fans and newcomers alike. Doc Ock may be a character who has already gotten a lot of development in different titles but it’s always fun to see a new take. I am still waiting for a new title about Spiderman himself though.

Overall 7/10

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Review

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This is one of those films that is incredibly bonkers. There is a lot going on and the cast is intentionally huge to the point where you will have a hard time remembering all of them. The film even takes time at the very end to have each member of the cast do the slow hype walk as you try to remember what some of them contributed to the adventure. I always like a good parody type film and this one is good fun. I do think that the long length does start to take a bit of a toll by the very end though. So it might be a bit of a mixed bag by the very end but it certainly does a lot more right than wrong.

The film starts off by making sure that you really understand who Banzai is. He’s a world class scientist, a genius inventor, a really good musician, he has ties to the president, etc. This is basically the most important man in the world and everyone respects him greatly. He has now found a way to access the 8th dimension and so he is even more popular now. Unfortunately this breeds jealousy as another scientist had come close to doing this a while back but didn’t perfect it. He now intends to steal Banzai’s invention.

More importantly though, going across dimensions has resulted in some aliens getting loose. These guys had been in a war between alien factions and Banzai’s invention will allow all of them to get free and turn the tides of battle. Banzai will have to keep the invention safe, keep humanity free from the crossfire, and stop the evil aliens from causing any destruction. This may sound like an insurmountable task, but this is Buckaroo Banzai we’re talking about. He’s got this!

One thing to keep in mind here is that the film rarely takes itself all that seriously. It’s not a total slapstick fest or anything like that but at no point do you really think that Banzai is in danger. He can be tied up or getting zapped and yet he still has absolutely unbounded confidence in himself. That’s what you want to see from a leader though and the way he’s nonchalant about it adds to the humor. He makes for a good main character.

Now the romance he is involved with is not quite as good. See, he meets a girl named Penny who is the twin sister of his wife who died previously. Naturally that means any romance here would be absolutely ill advised and one of the worst possible rebounds you could do right? I don’t see how the film could even try to pursue this romance and yet it does. That was definitely a rough plot and while it doesn’t take up much of the focus, Penny is around a lot. She is integral to the plot which means getting kidnapped at least once. So even if the romance isn’t at the forefront, you’re thinking about it a lot.

The enemies are a little more on the forgettable side though. Since they look like humans, you’ll barely even think of them as aliens. They’re basically just like Star Trek villains. Nothing wrong with that but you don’t feel a lot of personality out of them. For such a crazy film, the villains are rather ordinary. In a way that’s one of the “jokes” which doesn’t work for the film which is that the story itself is played deadly serious. This whole alien war going on and these aliens trying to steal tech and attacking the humans? You don’t really care about any of it. You just want to see what crazy thing Banzai is going to do next.

So the drams isn’t really the film’s strongest aspect. The soundtrack is really nice, the humor is good, the special effects are fun, etc. The film excels at quite a lot of things but the story itself has to be the weakest aspect here. It’s just not all that compelling and is really just the device to show off what Banzai can do. If anything, for that reason I think they should have made the story a little less serious. Maybe give more time to Banzai’s team. They all get to do different things but as a result they don’t stand out much either. Focusing more on them or even giving the band a few more songs could have worked.

Alternately, I’d say make the film a bit shorter. Take away maybe 20 minutes and I think it would work a lot better. There are very few films that can make it almost 2 hours without losing steam unless it is an action based film. Making the pacing even more rapid would help quite a bit and then the middle wouldn’t drag much. Still, I can say that the film does have a lot of replay value because it does start really strong and the more you see it, I expect you will catch more and more subtle gags in there. This really could have been made into a whole franchise and I think it would have worked out well. There was a lot of potential here even if I think the film didn’t quite achieve all of it.

There is also a cliffhanger ending here but you can say it’s also just here to poke fun at the usual sequels. There’s a whole villain organization all of a sudden and these guys really mean business. It’s a bold way to end the film even if it is in a comedic way though. I thought it worked out pretty well and the film’s soundtrack helped with that. The whole scene is nice and catchy. This helped the film to end on a high note.

Overall, When you finish this film you’re probably going to feel a little tired. There’s a whole lot of content crammed into the film and that’s a good thing for the most part but usually it is hard to keep churning out good gags for a long enough period to make this all work. I would say even this film ends up faltering as it goes on. Even if it might drag out a little bit, I would still recommend watching the film just because of how crazy it is. I always appreciate when a film is really bonkers but treats everything within the film as being normal. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a film that feels a bit different. You like adventure and comedy? Watch this one asap!

Overall 6/10

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order Review

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It’s sure been ages since I played the first two Ultimate Alliance titles. The first one is super nostalgic for me, I’ve seen the cutscenes numerous times and remember how much fun it was to play. The second one I remember feeling like a downgrade but it was still pretty fun. Now after all these years I get to check out the third one. It’s pretty solid although it does feel like the gameplay/story are weaker compared to the last ones. Still ends up being a fun overall experience.

The game starts with the Guardians of the Galaxy causing trouble as per usual but this time it gets serious because the Infinity Stones are at stake. Peter Quill acts fast and prevents Thanos’ army from getting them but now they are scattered across Earth, where most villains reside. They will have to team up with the Ultimate Alliance in order to get them back. This will mean tangling with powerful foes like Magneto and Green Goblin. Will the heroes be able to do this?

You get to see a whole lot of Marvel heroes and villains here which is pretty fun. The story certainly does move at a breakneck speed as a result and the story tries to cycle the characters who appear in the cutscenes a lot. I think a better approach would have been to send different members to each mission to force you to play as a bunch of different characters but that may have gone against the game design philosophy. This game makes it easy to constantly switch out your party every level if you want to.

Personally I stuck to my team as soon as I unlocked the fun ones. I went with Thor, Psylocke, Iron Man, and Wolverine. A pretty good team if I do say so myself. The game can actually get rather challenging so I would encourage you to stick to a team. You do get bonuses based on the character dynamics though so you may want to just play as Avengers for an easier experience as they get a nice bump. I just wanted to play as the characters I wanted to play as so I didn’t really worry about any of that.

One of the toughest levels was actually the first one. I don’t know why but the Guardians have some of the worst movesets possible. You will want to get rid of them as soon as possible. I think it made the whole gameplay feel weaker before I switched out. For example Starlord has so much recoil that he goes backward with every hit. Then you have Drax as the power hitter but he doesn’t do much damage. So yeah you want to get them out of there. I do think part of what makes the gameplay a little weaker here is how airy everything feels though. You don’t feel the oomph behind the blows the way you would have in the older action games.

It also means that the big beat em up sections aren’t as satisfying because you want to really be blowing them away. Instead you’re just spamming attacks until you win. There are many ways to get stronger such as equipping ISO crystals, filling out your skills matrix, and upgrading your techniques. It’s not the most convenient way to get stronger that I’ve seen but it’s definitely worth going through those menus. You also have your general level ups as well. Like I mentioned, the game can be difficult so if you don’t do that, then you will likely be losing a lot of battles.

You can grind by doing different Rift missions at any time. So at least you won’t be getting stuck anywhere. The game makes sure that you have the tools that you need in order to get stronger. The story also feels like it’s at a decent length. Mix that in with the bonus missions and you have a good amount of bang for your buck. If you are here for the story, it’s still fun to see everyone interacting. The scope of danger is also the highest that it’s ever been with reality in the balance but none of the heroes take it particularly seriously so you probably won’t either. I would have liked to have seen more unique character interactions within the story but due to the structure of how many characters are around that may have been difficult.

The graphics are pretty solid. The game is very colorful and the characters all look very sharp. The different game locations are all immediately recognizable and so I have no issues here. The soundtrack is surprisingly good although it is extremely limited. So fortunately I enjoyed the main theme but if you don’t like it, well be prepared to be hearing it for almost every cutscene. That’s why it’s important to have a good theme and since the game pulled this off, there’s nothing to worry about. On a technical level the game holds its own.

One nitpick I have with the game is that every characters starts out with only a single special attack instead of the usual 4. You gradually learn the other 3 as you level up through the game. It doesn’t take too long to learn them but I think I was halfway through the game before I got my first character to have all 4 attacks. So until then I was spamming even more than usual since I only had a single attack to use. I feel like you should have all attacks learned from the start. Also we can probably ditch the platforming for the next game. It’s clear that this wasn’t the developmental focus of the game and it’s extremely choppy. I don’t think anybody’s playing this game for platforming so that can safely be dropped.

Overall, Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3 is a pretty fun title. You’re playing this for classic popcorn fun and it definitely succeeds in that area. I can see some gamers playing it through a few times to talk to every character and maximize how much enjoyment they get out of it. You can’t say that the game is low on content after all. I’d like an Ultimate Alliance 4 at some point with a heavier emphasis on the crossover aspect. Maybe make it a reboot so we can get all of the original meetings. When this game starts, the Ultimate Alliance is already a team led by Nick Fury after all. Going in fresh could add more potential to the series, particularly since most of the characters have already been used by this point.

Overall 7/10

The Ring Two Review

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The sequel to the Ring is definitely a very different film because it decides to throw away a lot of what made the first film unique. The video isn’t really relevant outside of the opening scene. Samara basically just does whatever she wants at this point and it’s not like anybody can really stop her. So she just goes on a rampage here and for some reason the film tries to make her slightly more sympathetic here when in the first film it was clear that she was super evil and had no doubts about it. I do appreciate that we have true continuity here with the old characters returning but the direction was definitely odd.

The movie starts with showing us how Rachel has built herself a new life far away from the events of the first film. She has escaped the Ring by passing on the curse so things should be better right? Well, unfortunately Samara keeps a grudge and she has apparently followed Rachel. She destroys one teen near the beginning as a warning shot and then starts to possess Aidan. Yes, this is a classic possession film now instead of being curse related. The first teenager is as unlikable as possible so you don’t really feel bad for him since he tried to murder his girlfriend, but why is Samara going after the main characters again?

In theory she should have no reason to go after them right? They passed on the curse and ensured that people would keep dying. Well, Rachel tries to find answers which means looking into Samara’s mother but there is really less point to it this time around. The research may have been futile in the first film but it still made sense since they needed to find out more about the monster and how to stop it. In this sequel, there is less for the heroes to really go on. Even if Rachel finds out some information, it’s not like it will help her right?

This does lead to an extended well fight which makes the well even more important than the first film. The plot armor is even stronger than in the first film as well since Rachel essentially has to fight Samara for quite a bit in order to lock her in. There’s no way this should work by what we’ve seen up to this point and even if Samara would get trapped, we have no reason to believe that it would even slow her down. She is basically a complete monster and should be immune to all of that. Her abilities are not of this realm. We saw in the first film that she could strike even from within the realm after all.

All of the possession stuff doesn’t really add to the film either. She mainly possesses Rachel’s kid Aidan the whole time. You can’t make a kid all that scary. He does bump off the guy who was helping Rachel but you could have seen that coming a mile away. Aidan does his best to fight her but he’s just a kid and so naturally he is utterly powerless against the possession. His scenes tend to drag on and you’re more interested in Rachel’s plot.

Rachel may not be perfect as she nearly drowns Aidan by accident when tricked by the illusions but she is able to do more damage to the villain at least. While I feel like her drowning plan towards the end was way too risky, I suppose the results proved it to be the right course of action. You have to take some leaps of logic when dealing with an all powerful creature like this after all.

You kind of feel bad for Max here because he’s roped into something where he is completely out of his league. At first he thinks he is helping a kid and his mom who are in a tough spot. Then he thinks he may need to help the kid from an abusive situation. All he gets from this is utter destruction. Towards the end you could say he is a little slow on the uptake but you really do have to cut him some slack because this situation is really out there. It’s not the kind of thing that you would be able to believe at face value. At least that’s the way I see it.

At least even if the film seems less focused and a bit more pointless than the first, it was better with the animal violence. Not perfectly as we have a bizarre scene of deers attacking the car and injuring themselves in the process. What was this scene even about? Who knows, Samara may not even know the full extent of her abilities. If she has teleportation, mind control, possession, etc, then she may just have all of the powers. It’s another gentle reminder to the pesky humans that they don’t really stand a chance here.

The film’s overall atmosphere is a little less spooky than the first one’s. In a way this one may have more jump scares but less effective ones. You just want to see Samara on her own attacking everyone, not acting through the body of a kid who can’t really fight back. I also think we need to bring the video back, a fun way to do it would have been to warp the characters inside the video for the climax. One of those stories where if Rachel beats Samara in the video, then Samara dies in real life. It would make Samara look dumb for bringing her in there, but at least it’s a way to get to the end.

Overall, The Ring Two is a pretty different film from the first one. Ultimately I would say that it is a weaker one thanks to all of the emphasis on possession. That tends to be one of the weaker forms of horror to me. It doesn’t help that it’s a kid being possessed so he’s not very scary either. I don’t see the point in learning more about Samara’s backstory here and how even her character feels a bit more different. This almost could have been a completely unrelated film to the first and that’s a problem. A sequel should really be maximizing its potential by being able to skip introductions. This should have been a film about finding Samara’s weakness and defeating her for good. Yes, I don’t count general drowning or closing a well to be an actual weakness.

Overall 4/10

The Suicide Squad Review

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

The Suicide Squad is back once again. They are 0-2 with the original film being terrible and Birds of Prey was only a small step forward. Well, this one is another tiny step forward but we’re still not all that close to getting into the positive territory yet. The film still suffers from the same problems as the first two titles and doesn’t seem all that much closer to fixing them. It’s really an uphill battle for any film dealing with a group of villains as the main characters. This is absolutely possible so long as you make them likable enough but the more you remind us how evil they are….well then that gets even tougher.

The movie starts with Waller creating two more sets of Suicide Squads. One of them is thoroughly crushed while we get to our main squad who are able to infiltrate the island to start the plan to destroy project Starfish. This won’t be an easy mission though as they are essentially surrounded by enemies on the entire island. They also don’t exactly get along all the time since nearly all of these people are complete. Can they put aside their differences at gunpoint to save the day or are they all going to be in complete trouble?

I did think it was pretty clever to put Harley Quinn on the doomed team since it really made you surprised that the whole thing was a fake-out. She’s certainly not one of my favorite characters but she added a level of legitimacy to the whole thing. As always she is super crazy the whole film and basically used for fanservice so this movie didn’t do anything to raise her character for me. Fortunately we do have an interesting character in Rick Flagg.

That guy is essentially like Duke from GI Joe. He may not have special powers and things like that but he still gets the job done with his grit and tenacity. Rick is an easy character to appreciate. Now it’s not like he’s a total hero, he’s working for Waller after all. Rick does believe he is doing his best to defend the country though so I can respect that.

Of course for every character like Rick, you have 5 like Savant who are just here to add some edge. The film started off on a really sour note by having this guy murder a bird within the opening minutes. Yeah, we get it these guys are evil. Don’t think that scene actually added to any of the film’s messages if you ask me. King Shark is okay but his main gimmick is ripping people apart and eating his enemies. You immediately realize there isn’t much more to him than that.

The Polka Dot Man is just too weak and unhelpful for most of the film. He has his big moments of course but I think you just can’t really save the power. I did like Bloodsport though. They basically reuse the backstory from Deadshot but this guy still holds his own. He does well in the fights and shows that just having a gun can be a good asset on the field. He gets some banter and easily feels like the most fleshed out character in the film.

Of course Peacemaker ended up getting really popular here to the point where he got his own tv show. He works pretty well another psychotic villain to add to the mix. His jokes tend to fall flat but he works well in combat with his rivalry to Bloodsport. Ratcatcher gets a little less to do but I liked her more than some of the others by default. She has some charisma and at least has a likable personality.

Now like I mentioned, the humor can work well sometimes. There is a dark humor scene where the squad accidentally murders the whole resistance thinking that they were more villains. It’s definitely rough for the resistance to get wiped out in an ironic way like that but it’s a scene that definitely worked. They could have probably toned down the violence on some of the kills along the way though.

That’s ultimately what the film boils down to though. It has a lot of interesting ideas but always seems to push the envelope just a little farther than it needs to be. The squad is always just a little extra crass, just a little extra violent, and a little extra edgy. It tends to contaminate each part of the film. So you have some really cool fights here like Rick vs Peacemaker but then a lot of general action scenes that constitute the squad murdering everyone in their way unopposed.

The film is generally light when it comes to the tone but at the same time it’s not like this is a very fun film. We do get the big CGI climax though with Starro showing up. I’m not as big a fan of him as most though. Interesting design but mainly he is fun when he has powerful heroes to mind control like Superman. Otherwise he’s essentially a giant sea creature that won’t be doing much in the way of fighting. As a result the climax with Starro isn’t quite as good as the fights going on around it.

Amanda Waller does seem a little less bloodthirsty here than in other films though. Usually she’s portrayed as being an ice cold killer who almost enjoys being as extreme as possible. This film seems to be trying to make her look a little more human, to the point where she spares the lives of her colleagues who actively commit insubordination. It’s a tough balancing act but you probably do need to keep her ruthless because she ends up losing credibility by not finishing off two workers in particular. Yes there is a punishment later but that’s not really enough.

Overall, The Suicide Squad is not a film I would watch again. It still suffers from too many issues associated with having a bunch of unlikable characters trying to team up. It will land some jokes or have a cool scene, only to undermine it right away after that. At this point we’ve had enough films where I think I can confidently say that the Suicide Squad is not going to translate into a solid live action film. Maybe 4th time’s the charm though. (If you really count Birds of Prey)

Overall 3/10

Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest – The Adventure of Dai Review

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This is one of those games where I was able to get it for a super great price thanks to the PSN. Under $10 for a full game like this is one of those deals where you can’t go wrong. It’s definitely a great title with a whole lot of action and content. It’s too bad the title couldn’t make it to the end though considering how detailed it was. Maybe they just ran out of development time at the last second or something.

The game follows a kid named Dai who grew up with monsters. One day, they are attacked by some pesky humans and then even by a demon lord. Dai has to finally leave his island and become the champion of the world. This will not be an easy fight for him but it’s one that he is ready for. He has many powerful allies by his side and each one will be needed as he fights against the onslaught of demons. This is a story where the villains always tend to have the edge but the heroes pull out wins in the end.

The story uses pictures from the anime and then overlays them with voice acting. So I can see this being hit or miss for folks but fortunately the story is really engaging so it works. Additionally there are some times where you will get fully animated cutscenes and that is always a really nice treat. The story feels pretty long as a result and I’d say we’re looking at over 10 hours here. Maybe 13-14 or so? There are also bonus battles for you to engage in so that you can get some bonus trophies as well.

Outside of the story, you have the temple mode. This is a mode where you start out at level 1 and see how far you can get. The levels reset every time and each fight lets you pick which door you want to go through next. This determines your stats so in a way it’s like a roguelite mode. A pretty fun addition but I don’t think you’ll be spending too much time here. Unless you want to get the Platinum in which case you will spend a lot of time here.

The graphics are really solid. This is definitely a game that has a lot of polish and was trying to excel at all times. The effects within the gameplay are always very sharp and the CG cutscenes hold up. The soundtrack is excellent since the theme song had a ton of amazing tunes. The game is able to bring them all back which was really a great decision.

As for the gameplay itself, it’s a 3D action title. You could even say it’s a full on beat em up with how a lot of the levels are structured. You have your standard moves, then you have 4 special attacks. You have a super move as well and can parry/dodge attacks. Dodging is usually your best bet since parrying is a really tough mechanic to master here. The enemies always seem to be attacking at absolutely rapid speeds.

It is very important that you level up the characters because otherwise the game will catch up to you. When I was playing through the story, I actually got overwhelmed several times. So then I would replay the levels over and over to get a ton of exp. Gaining levels is a pretty quick process so it won’t take you long to grind. If you want to level up your equipped cards, then you do have to go into the temple mode though and hope for duplicates which is how you get the currency for those power ups.

My biggest issue here would be the cards in general since that power up scheme is a little too convoluted for me. It would be better if you could just power them up directly like you do with exp. I suppose they really wanted you to play the temple mode though. At least I can say that the cards aren’t super important to actually completing the game. The main story can be completed without getting them to a high level or anything like that.

You have 4 main characters who are playable here. Each of them gets a second form later on but fortunately the levels stick so you don’t have to grind the individual forms. They do require different cards for some reason though so get ready to spend a little extra time on your loadout. I give the game credit for making each character play differently though. Dai is always the most satisfying one to use but that’s partially because I had him at the highest level. The others had to work in order to reach that level. Maam’s good for healing abilities though, it’s nice to just heal endlessly.

A slight missed opportunity for the story mode was not having a level where you see the 4 characters fighting together though. I would have thought it just wasn’t possible but then in the temple mode you have all 4 fighting in real time so clearly that’s not the issue. Maybe it would have just been hard to code in but I absolutely think it would have helped to enhance the game 100%. Would have really made the final level feel huge in scope.

Overall, Dragon Quest is a pretty great action title. It’s definitely a lot different than the main line ones but as long as you enjoy beat em ups then you will enjoy this one as well. It’s direct and to the point. You’ll be getting a lot of content here and there is a solid amount of replay value for the trophies. If you really don’t like visual novel type storytelling, then that would be the only reason for me to tell you to be wary of this one. Otherwise you are all set for a good time.

Overall 8/10

Jurassic World Rebirth Review

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The Jurassic World films keep on coming. At the end of the day, the public is always ready for some dinosaurs I suppose. That said, the films rarely end up being all that good. Having a lot of dinosaurs running around is generally going to result in a lot of animal violence and that’s just hard to escape from. Rebirth certainly isn’t the worst at it but it is also going for a more serious survival tone than the previous popcorn fun titles in the World genre.

This movie begins by explaining that the dinosaurs broke containment once again and now rule over several islands. Humanity has gotten used to this so you generally just avoid those areas and the government keeps them blocked off. When dinosaurs appear in the world at large, they aren’t really acclimated to the environment and don’t last very long. Well one company needs samples from a rare dinosaur in order to make the next jump in heart related medicine. This is super illegal so the company reaches out to Zora, who will do just about anything for a good check. She agrees after hustling the company for a ton of extra money and brings along a few hand picked professionals for this kind of mission Can they complete the objective and escape with their lives intact?

Right away you can tell that this is going to be a film without very many heroes. I suppose the main scientist would be the only one to count. Zora is basically a bounty hunter, she completes her missions and serves her own interests. It was a bit of a low blow how she kept scamming Martin by making him pay more and more when he was already paying top dollar for this. Zora isn’t really meant to be likable though, she is a necessary evil that Martin has to use.

That said, the character type can usually still be fun. There just wasn’t anything charismatic about Zora. She just goes through the motions and ends up being a bit of a flat character. In general that’s my problem with the case. They all tend to feel throwaway and it’s what ends up hurting the film as a whole too since it ends up not being very interesting for large portions of time. I blame the setting to a degree as I much prefer a big city to the forestland like this. There just isn’t much interesting to look at visually.

Additionally, since the film is going for a more realistic vibe, it’s fairly rough goings. The whole area is rugged and certainly not sleek or shiny. The dinosaurs are also in a tough position because on one hand the film is trying to present them as fierce creatures that are always a big threat and are dangerous. On the other hand they are also basically like wildlife which are very fragile and can be destroyed by the pesky humans. It’s an impossible balance and for the most part I’d say they look weak.

One guy even has an anti dinosaur gun and manages to take out quite a large number of them. At no point do you think the main characters are really outmatched by the dinosaurs. In a way that’s probably why you needed the corporate villain. Martin is easily the best character here. He’s able to think on his feet and always has a plan at the ready. He even pulls out the gun near the end which was a smart idea considering how outnumbered he was. The guy believes that progress requires sacrifice, just not his own.

As a villain, Martin just really stands out and in a very good way. The film needed a main character who could really hold their own against him verbally. The main group also run into a family who were on the waters when they are attacked by a dinosaur. I know it’s meant to be a rare event so you don’t blame the family too much but in a world of dinosaurs…you may want to rethink certain activities. The most annoying character in this group is definitely the boyfriend. He locks in towards the climax but at first he is slacking off even when it is his shift and just doesn’t take things seriously. You know he’ll win over the father by the end but you’re rooting against him.

So we have certain scenes like that which inject a little humor into the film but on the whole it was definitely lacking in that area. In a way the film may have benefited from taking itself less seriously. At the same time it wouldn’t solve the main issue which is that dinosaurs still do get shot and blasted. There is a body count here and you have to blame the humans the whole time since they are the ones going into dinosaur territory and then claiming self defense while going for their goal.

While Henry is the voice of reason here as the timid scientist, he ultimately did still agree to go on this mission. The guy acts a bit shocked when corporate quickly begins to escalate their actions but he probably should have taken that into account. He’s a character who would have been a lot better if he was more confident. Confidence is ultimately still one of the best traits in a character. That’s why Duncan is a lot more likable even though he’s also a scammer like Zora. At least he is ready for the dinosaurs and letting himself be the bait when needed.

It’s already hard to root for humans when giant monsters are involved and this just makes it even tougher. I suppose that’s why the reason had to be really good like the heart medicine but even with that they are still the invaders here. There aren’t any big human against human fights in this one so the dinosaur action is mainly what you’re going to get. Ultimately for me this one was more of a miss but perhaps not much more than other titles in the franchise. As odd as it may sound, they should make a film like this that focuses on the government discussing the impacts that dinosaurs will have on society. I feel like that’s a film that I could get behind a lot more than a survival title in the forest like this.

Overall, Jurassic World Rebirth is a different take on the franchise at least compared to the recent ones. I tend to prefer the blockbuster approach as this one can almost get a bit dull as it goes on. If you really like dinosaurs then you should check it out, but otherwise I’d say you can skip this one with no regrets. It’s not going to become the next breakout hit for you and it may be time for the franchise to finally move onto robotic dinosaurs.

Overall 4/10

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution Review

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It’s time for the return of Shantae! This game seemed like it would never come out for many years but now it has been finalized and released to the public. It’s definitely a pretty fun title and I’ve always enjoyed the games quite a bit. I would have appreciated a good map for this one since the backtracking can be tricky without it but I don’t have many real qualms with the title. If you like a fast paced Metroidvania then this is the one for you.

The title starts with our half genie hero Shantae faced with a new crisis. Risky Boots has returned and she intends to sink the entire country while looting it to the ground. Shantae will have to find the legendary relic hunters in order to spoil Risky’s plans but to do so she will need to face off against the terrible trio. Three powerful monsters who have sworn allegiance to Risky. So this won’t be easy by any means. Fortunately Shantae has a lot of friends on her side as well.

These games are always pretty light with some dark tones underneath. The banter is always a lot of fun. Now these games do tend to have quite a bit of fanservice but that’s easier to ignore in a game since you’re focused on the combat. It’s still a lot more in your face compared to other titles though so it’s enough to note. The game is especially shameless about this for the ending where they make sure you know what’s going on. Fortunately the script and gameplay are still strong enough here to make up for that.

This is a 2D platformer so you can jump, attack, and use a lot of special abilities to get through. I didn’t use any of the special abilities until the final boss because for the most part your normal attack is already busted enough. Your specials are really good though. For example you can become completely intangible with one of them, double your attack power with another, etc. You can also buy items that completely restore all your hearts and it only costs 10 gems. So this is a game where you essentially control your difficulty based on whether you use these items or not. You could choose to skip them and then naturally there will be more of a challenge.

One of the important things that the title does well is let you feel stronger as you get more power ups. It can often be the tipping point between a good and bad Metroidvania. For example you get a faster swimming form near the end so you can easily dash through areas that took a while at first. Then you get a flying form at the end so you can skip a lot of the platforming. These are absolutely crucial additions to the game because they feel like a suitable reward for playing. It’s nothing new for the series but always worth mentioning.

The game is a little short but there is still a good amount of content here. Finding all of the collectibles will take you some time and if you want the elusive platinum trophy then you are going to have to complete the whole game in under 4 hours which will not be easy. I ended up clearing it in around double that time for reference. You will really have to get a great sense of where the next items are each time. I would often get lost between chapters.

I guess the main advice I’d give is to constantly make sure to talk to everyone for hints and for them to give you more collectibles. I apparently got around 80 collectibles out of 100 so that’s not too shabby if I do say so myself. Perhaps next time I could get that number even higher. Most of the collectibles feel natural to obtain without you having to do a lot of crazy things or take on a fully alternate path. Then there are a few that you can easily see but it’s just difficult to get where they are.

There is a puzzle aspect to Shantae to an extent but it’s not a big focus. Yet another W for the game since we’re here for the platforming. The puzzle exploration stuff should only be something to supplement this as opposed to taking over. There are also several ways to approach a lot of the situations here with all of your abilities so you have a lot of freedom in how you play. There isn’t really a wrong way to enter battle here.

The soundtrack is really solid as always. There are quite a few fun references here and the final world in particular has a really ominous theme that worked really well. It was fitting for the game to let you know that the intensity was going up. The graphics are also really good. The artstyle is very colorful and fun. You’re never confused on what is going on within the levels. At worst, sometimes a platform can be hard to see because it doesn’t stand out next to the rest of the level.

Overall, This was a pretty good Shantae game. It’s definitely nostalgic to be playing through another one since the titles seem to come out so rarely. Hopefully the next one arrives sooner than later because the formula is really a strong one. I could play through these all the time and they are a staple for how Metroidvanias should be. Well, it’s just missing the map but that’s it. I’d recommend checking this one out if you haven’t already purchased it.

Overall 7/10

No Country for Old Men Review

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

This is one of those films that tried getting a little too clever with itself. The whole film builds up to some pretty big confrontations and ultimately we don’t get to end any of them. It’s a bit of a downer and while this anti climax was clearly intentional, I’d say that it doesn’t make the end result any better. The film really should have gone with a traditional climax and it would have ended up being much better off for it.

The movie starts off by introducing us to the psycho hitman, Anton. This guy was captured by the cops early on but unfortunately the officer let his guard down so Anton escapes and continues his murder spree. He is then tasked with hunting down a man named Moss who escaped with a bunch of money after running into a total murder scene. Moss realizes immediately that this much money means a lot of trouble so he needs to stay on the run until he can defeat Anton. The problem is that Moss is married so that means his wife is automatically a target now. Meanwhile Sheriff Ed has now been assigned to this case and needs to arrest both parties. Finally, the bounty hunter Carson has been hired to take the money. With 4 parties involved, there should be a lot of chaos.

Well, there should have been at least….this is where things get a bit messy if you ask me. This should have absolutely been a good setup for a ton of awesome fights and while we do get a solid battle between Anton and Moss, the others never get any real fights. Carson is built up a whole lot as a top tier fighter. He has a lot of experience and isn’t scared of Anton despite his reputation. That implies a lot of things, the most important of which is that he can hold his own. Unfortunately instead he is dumpstered unceremoniously while making every mistake he warned against.

It’s an incredibly embarrassing scene and he should have went out with more dignity. It’s a bit of a western staple for the victim to just stand around while he is shot to death but you’d like to see someone try to land a counter shot at least once. This time wasn’t that time though. Then we have the sheriff Ed who is late to every confrontation. He misses every fight and basically just has to comment on the situation every time. He has some weird dreams but ultimately doesn’t advance the plot much at all. I would argue that there isn’t much of a point to him being here. He should have had some kind of action scene.

Then for Moss, well I’d say he generally did the best that he could throughout the movie. The only time he fumbles is at the very end by staying at a motel and getting distracted when he needed to stay on mission. He had lasted a long while up to that point but that’s what makes it all the more tragic. I was glad that he was finally someone who could stand up to Anton though. Everyone else was getting absolutely crushed but he would stand his ground. Again, the ending to Moss’ character was just underwhelming though and undercuts the movie quite a bit.

As for Anton, well he’s definitely as crazy as you would expect. We get a long scene where he stares down a gas station owner and continually threatens him for a while before leaving. It was good that the owner didn’t have to die there since it would have been tragic. The whole scene is there to show you how messed up Anton is. Hopefully we get to see one of the heroes take him out right? Yeah….but even with that I think he’s a decent villain. Only problem is he has a ton of plot armor because he’s still just a dude with a gun. He shouldn’t have broken out of custody so easily in the first scene and the cops just look too ineffective the whole film.

The film takes place just old enough where there wasn’t as much tech so I don’t envy the cops’ position though. It absolutely couldn’t have been easy to live in those times. This movie does a good job of showing how scary the wild west environment can be when it spills into the cities. It can be really violent and you don’t always have much in the way of backup or other people who can help you in general.

I enjoyed the main gunfight between Anton and Moss which is why I wish we could have gotten more of that. The back and forth is intense with how high the stakes are. They each have to use the environment to help as an assist like with the nearby car. Any pedestrians along the way are definitely in for a tough time though. There is quite a lot of collateral damage going on here.

While the film is pretty violent, for the most part it isn’t being too excessive about the whole thing. The deaths tend to be pretty quick and to the point. The bounty hunter’s is more of an exception but it still isn’t overly violent, it’s just longer as Anton wants to really rub his victory in.

Overall, No Country for Old Men is a film that takes a lot of time to really build up the atmosphere. It tries to really develop the situation and set up all of the big players. So things are looking up but then it pulls the ole fake out and ruins all the setup. There isn’t really much reason to watch the film as a result. With no proper ending, it means that all the build up ends up just feeling mean spirited as we see how dark the world is without a hero at the end to save the day. It removes any possible replay value here and the film just becomes really empty. You can do better within the western genre.

Overall 4/10