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The Dawn Rider Review

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John returns for another adventure and this time it’s more of a revenge thriller. Get ready for some classic Western hype. By now if you’ve seen John Wayne’s other films then you should understand the drill. If you haven’t seen any before, just think of this as a quick adventure film. It has a fun tone throughout and music that may be a tad generic but is catchy all the same. It’s a good film to watch.

The movie starts with John riding into town and seeing someone being forced to dance as he is shot at. John gets involved and immediately shows why he is the top gun in town. He outdraws the guy and then beats him up physically. Still, John manages to make friends with the guy and it turns out the other one being shot at was a villain anyway. It’s a small world and it turns out this guy works for John’s father but just as they arrive, the father is shot. Some hoodlums had done a heist and then they get out of there. John intends to avenge his father no matter what. How can he track these villains down though?

It’s nice to see John on the offensive right from the start here. He was definitely not going to back down easily and with his skills there are very few who can hope to stand against him. The film only lasts as long as it does because John has to find these guys but the fights themselves are a little quicker. One guy does put up a reasonable fight while they wrestle around but the victor is never in doubt. John is not somebody who will ever end up submitting. He would sooner die than be defeated here and that’s why he is such a living legend. You cannot underestimate him at any cost.

The main weakness that the film has is the villains are really not notable. Taking down John’s father was a big deal of course but aside from that they are just ordinary joes. Nobody to write home about or anything like that. They just exist to be absolutely devastated by John’s impressive gun combos. Another reason they last longer than they should is because they are easily able to convince Ben (The guy John became friends with) to turn against John. Now I didn’t mind this as much as I usually would since they’ve only been friends for a short while. Ben betraying him works well enough but it still does ensure that you don’t really like Ben much as a character.

The guy is just too easy to sucker the whole time and he also severely lacks in confidence. The guy feels like he needs a ring in order to propose instead of just going forward and doing it. Not really what you would like to see from a lead like this. Meanwhile the film does try to stick some romance into the picture by the end but it’s definitely more on the rushed side. The time skip at the end really comes out of nowhere.

You are hoping for a happy ending with a film like this of course but you will feel like the romance was still too out of the blue. You just didn’t need it here at all. It’s the kind of romance that is just here to check off the boxes instead of adding onto the plot. A weak romance like that will never succeed in feeling all that believable. Beyond that, the writing was solid as always. I enjoyed the script and how smug John always tends to act. He works really well as the main lead for that reason.

Meanwhile the soundtrack is fun enough even if there are no new tracks here. It’s the same tunes you’ve heard a million times but fortunately they are good tunes so it does work out well enough. The pacing is good too so the film has no main weaknesses. I think the best thing about a western like this one is the high replay value. You could re watch it at any time without any issues. The story beats will feel familiar but that’s because they are similar in all of the films so it helps stop you from thinking that you’ve just seen the exact same film.

Overall, The Dawn Rider is a pretty fun film. John really did well on the attack although as an older film it doesn’t feel as much like a revenge thriller as it probably would nowadays. It still keeps a high level of energy and all but you don’t feel the rage that you might expect. I suppose that might have been hard to picture for a film like this so the most important thing is that it’s a good film. I would definitely recommend checking it out whenever you have some time. You will get to see the power of a solid gunman in action.

Overall 7/10

The Star Packer Review

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It’s time for a little more John Wayne action. In this film he has to go up against the legendary Shadow which won’t be easy. This guy has been manipulating a small town for a long while now and shoots down any would be sheriff. So John takes it upon himself to become the sheriff and bring some justice to this corrupted world. It will not be easy by any stretch though. He has one friend but the Shadow has many. One wrong step and this will be John’s final fight.

The movie starts off with a lady getting robbed not once but twice on her way over to town! She’s heading to one of the most dangerous towns in America where the outlaws have really taken over from the shadows. Fortunately John shows up and saves her life. Once in town, John feels obligated to take on the role of Sheriff after watching another one get shot. Everyone warns him not to rock the boat or do anything crazy but he doesn’t care. John will save them all whether they like it or not.

The Shadow’s true identity becomes clear early on but he still maintains a lot of hype the whole time. You’re always wondering what kind of dirty trick he’s going to try next. You see another big goal of the Shadow is to get the main heroine to sell her place but she wants to stay strong even among the threats. John even gives her a gun at one point which really helps a whole lot. It was smart thinking to properly arm her since sometimes it does feel like the heroine is left on her own.

This film’s got a pretty straight forward story and it works out rather well I would say. It’s nice to see John outwitting everyone not through some kind of fancy plan or genius abilities but through every day actions. John was ready to clobber these guys and showed why his abilities are the real deal. He even uses the secret communication method against the villains by holding one of the minions at gunpoint and forcing him to act cool.

The town should still be ashamed of themselves for letting it get this bad but at least now they will be in a good spot for the future. Ideally they won’t let any more criminals take over the place. Maybe John will teach them a little more about self defense and how to handle things. He did well in teaching the heroine so I could definitely see that going over well. Once the whole town is prepped it will be one of the safest places to live.

As always you have the same general soundtrack and array of sound effects. I do think they ought to change this at some point but in this way I guess you could treat the movies like an anthology series of sorts. The characters may change around but they all follow very similar beats. John had a partner in this one for example, a local Indian who helped out. John’s had a partner in a few of these films but is still usually a solo act.

What this film did better than in most is having an actual villain. I’ll be reviewing another John Wayne film shortly and a weakness that one had was in not having any big villains or notable characters. That is always a big mistake because you want someone for Wayne to bounce off of. Instead, he really had to do everything on his own against ordinary henchmen in most films. Still not a terrible thing or anything like that but you would absolutely prefer to see a worthy foe. The Shadow delivered on that and we even got some decent banter as a result. It goes without saying that the writing and pacing were really good as always so this film nailed the fundamentals.

Overall, The Star Packer is a pretty fun film. In most of these western adventures, John plays the role of the lone cowboy or a guy getting framed. It’s a nice change of pace to actually see him become the sheriff who is calling the shots here. Definitely very impressive indeed. The film has less shootouts than in some of the other ones but we still get a solid climax here and also see just how fast John is on the trigger. He’s also not the kind of guy to back down from a fight. Sometimes you just want a fun film that is straight to the point like this one.

Overall 7/10

Rurouni Kenshin Season 2: Kyoto Disturbance Review

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It’s time for the return of Rurouni Kenshin. This season begins the build up to the most well known of all the Kenshin sagas. Shishio is here with his elite 10 swords and Kenshin’s sense of justice will be pushed to its limit. Can he manage to defeat them without going back to his killing ways? Winning as a Rurouni will put him at a disadvantage but this is still the way that he wants to win. It will mean potentially getting his friends out of the picture but they won’t let him do that so easily.

The series starts off pretty quickly with Kenshin deciding to head to Kyoto where the action will be. Saito will be there as well to fend off the invaders but first he takes out Kenshin’s friend Sanosuke to prove why Kenshin left him behind. This boxer is going to have to get a whole lot stronger. In general all of Kenshin’s allies have to strengthen themselves in order to be ready for this mission. At the same time, Aoshi has returned and he wants revenge on Kenshin even if it means joining up with the villains. Kenshin’s honor code may be stronger than ever but Aoshi has ditched all of that. At this point all he cares about is getting his revenge. His judgment may be clouded but his abilities are as dangerous as ever so this won’t be easy.

One thing’s clear from the start, Kenshin can’t possibly win this on his own. Naturally he does want to keep everyone out of harm’s way but he’s not really fighting at his best right now and he’s also completely outnumbered. While he could probably defeat any of the 10 swords individually, he wouldn’t stand a chance as a group. It’s also hard to say if he could beat either Shishio or Aoshi one on one. Fortunately Kenshin gets a whole training arc later on which helps him to finally regain his old abilities.

As always, you have to decide if you feel like Kenshin is going too far in his pacifism or if it is admirable that he would sooner die than take a life. Although when hostages are at stake then he is more likely to act. It’s hard for me to directly fault him for that but it can be rough to see him effectively be sandbagging mid fight when people can die at any second. Of course the remedy to this is to get so strong that you can win even while holding back. That is the path that Kenshin must go down.

Meanwhile you have Yahiko who is still trying to be one of the big main characters but just gets in the way the whole time. I know he means well but this is why the kids can be annoying. He knows very well that he shouldn’t be anywhere near the battlefield and yet he still comes to Kyoto with the others. Yahiko is just a kid and even though he has some training under his belt, he’s far too weak to be of any help at this point. It’ll likely be a very long time until that changes either so he really just needs to stay home.

I have the same criticism for Kaoru. She’s not a real fighter and Kenshin left her behind for a reason. Deciding to follow him after that is completely selfish and potentially puts all of their lives in the balance. You just can’t be doing that and of course it puts him in an awkward spot as well. It’s not like he can force her to stay back and he’s generally too polite to be too harsh about the whole thing. But this does mean that he has yet another person that must be protected.

Megumi is probably the smartest member of the side characters. She knows her limits and so she helps with medicinal herbs but isn’t trying to just constantly get Kenshin’s attention like the others. I definitely respect her for that and in general she has the roughest road because you know that for Kenshin she has no chance over Kaoru. He didn’t even give her a personal goodbye like the others and she took it in stride instead of immediately sulking.

Sanosuke is the only guy I can defend when it comes to defying orders. He is still a fighter after all even if he isn’t nearly as strong as Kenshin or Saito. Things work out well for him in that he is able to train and get stronger. So that definitely makes things even easier. Sanosuke has a right to die on the battlefield with the others and at least he will give it his all. So yeah in his case this is just what I would call proper determination. He even gets to contribute at several points in the arc. I look forward to seeing him continue to his best and get stronger still. With all of the sword fighters around, it can be fun to have an old fashioned hand to hand specialist.

Then we have Saito who is easily the best ally to have around. His sword fighting is top tier and he can even match Kenshin. The most impressive moment though was when he crushed Sanosuke in hand to hand combat. When you can defeat a hand to hand specialist in something like this when that’s not even your main weapon of choice, well that is absolutely a flex. He’s a very practical guy and while he is very aggressive, it’s never at the expense of strategy. Saito is even a good judge of character as he knows exactly who to leave the district with later on. Saito can’t be everywhere at once after all and unlike Kenshin, he is tied to the government. So there are limits to how far Saito can go and what he can do. The guy just does his best in maximizing all of it.

We know that he is ultra powerful, but Saito actually doesn’t get a ton of action scenes just yet. So that is something to look forward to. A fight that would be a lot of fun would be him for Aoshi. Both of them are extremely skilled and bloodthirsty after all. Aoshi may be a complete villain at this point but he is certainly an interesting one. I would even say he is more interesting than Shishio at this point in time. You get the feeling that Aoshi could possibly even take him on. We’ll find out the answer to this soon but for now it’s just fun to see how he fears absolutely nobody. Aoshi just does whatever he wants and fights when he pleases. He just lives for revenge now and his skills are sharper than ever.

He even surpasses his clan rather easily. Okina used to be the big leader there and the guy is still strong but I wouldn’t say it was a particularly close fight. Aoshi has reached new limits with his abilities while Okina has gotten old. Age is something that will ultimately defeat the strongest of warriors. The clan was fun to see overall but it’s not like any of them are a big threat to Aoshi. The member with the biggest role is definitely Misao and even then it’s more about her trying to find him and not because she is a deadly fighter. She is still a step up from Yahiko though without a doubt. At least Misao has a ninja background and can absolutely end the various enemies who get in her way. She’s also generally fun so I can overlook her being in the way to an extent. She actually adds some fun banter and humor.

Shishio is the big bad so you know he will be really strong but for now he’s mainly still aura farming. The guy will have to prove himself in the next season but he does enough as the main villain to still be solid. He’s perhaps winging it a little too much with his underlings though as they came pretty close to thinking about turning on him. With his right hand man Sojiro he would still be okay even against the other 9 deadly swords but he really doesn’t have time for any infighting right now. Kenshin and friends would absolutely be glad to have less opponents.

Sojiro has already gotten to prove himself with several really impressive moments. It’s why the guy is already a really fun villain. I tend to like the right hand man villain type who can hold himself at a really high level like this. In another series he could have even ended up being the main villain. So you definitely don’t want to sleep on this guy, even Kenshin was taken by surprise with his high level of skill. Considering how young he is as well, you could say that he is a true prodigy.

Hoji is one of those guys who is loyal to a fault. He’s not a top tier fighter or anything but he would definitely give his life to ensure that Shishio wins. He sees that as his absolute focus in life and will do anything to see it through. Certainly impressive, I can say that much. I ended up liking him more than I expected to by the end. I don’t always love the advisor types but in this case he was convincing enough in the role to get me to take him seriously.

Anji is one of the more honorable villains. At the very least he isn’t going around murdering for fun but it’s always important to keep in mind that he is still fighting on the side of the villains. By allying himself with them, he definitely takes on a large part of the guilt. No amount of grandstanding can change that. He seems like one of the more powerful villain members but we’ll have to see how that shakes out. He definitely seems stronger than Cho for example since that guy was captured pretty quick. He’s also portrayed as more of a rival to Sanosuke while Anji is seen as being above him.

Usui is probably the biggest wildcard among the villains since he is willing to openly go against Shishio and basically dare the guy to make a move. A bold play to be sure and I would even say that Shishio allows too much here. It would be a better look if he had taken Usui down already. I know he wants to conserve strength and all but that would be a way to really ensure that all other villains completely stayed in line. I know right now they do follow his orders without question and all but adding a little more oomph to that is certainly not a bad idea.

The animation is really solid as always. You really feel the various sword clashes between characters and the choreography is on point. The colors really stand out and the sounds do a good job of showing the power behind each blow. meanwhile the soundtrack has a lot of variety and fits the moments well. I wouldn’t say that the opening or ending particularly stands out but it’s not bad either. The show is definitely backed up well on the technical front.

Meanwhile the writing is good as always with the story being very interesting. The arc has a whole lot of fight scenes going on nonstop which is really exciting. This is the kind of story that is always fun even without fights but of course you are always glad to see them appear and take the story to the next level. Yes, definitely no complaints here. I felt like there was a big fight in nearly every episode and even when it was for characters I’m not too engaged with like Misao’s ninjas, it still worked well. The show was trying to get everyone involved including the villagers so I can appreciate the teamwork nature of it all.

Kenshin having to constantly deal with the fallout of his actions is also good. At the end of the day when you live by a strong creed, there will definitely be things that come with that. His mentor was also good at making sure Kenshin stuck by his decisions by even upping the stakes of them. The mentor is the kind of guy who always shows off a really gruff exterior but means well when it counts. I would say he still seems to be considerably stronger than Kenshin at this time so the hero will need more training.

Finally the show still depicts how a fairly simple story can still be super engaging. At its core this is a very simple show. A bunch of terrorists are trying to overthrow the government and Kenshin has to stop them. All of the heroes and villains are known, we’ve already got most of the matchups and the climax is approaching. There isn’t a need for a bunch of twists or mysteries, the show is just very confident in its story and rewards you with the strong banter and matchups. Due to how corrupt the government is, it also allows you to see the villains as more than 2D villains who are just trying to destroy the world. It’s not enough where you’d root for them over Kenshin but it is solid writing all the same.

Overall, Kenshin season 2 was a lot of fun as expected. We still got great fight scenes at every turn and the animation was really solid. I enjoyed the soundtrack quite a lot as well. It’s fair to say that the technical aspects across the whole show are fundamentally really strong. A lot of work goes into every part of it. I’m definitely looking forward to season 3 as it will be adapting the peak of the series. So long as the budget stays high this will be another all star title. It had one of the more satisfying climaxes to an arc in the manga as well.

Overall 8/10

The Black Stallion Returns Review

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It’s time for the Black Stallion to return. I wasn’t a big fan of the first film and while this one is better I still wouldn’t say it’s great or anything like that. The biggest problem here is the boring second half which is interesting since it was the first half that was boring in the original film. Hey that’s how it goes sometimes but at least the film tries to fix the original error so I give it some props there.

The film starts with two different groups deciding to kidnap Alec’s horse. Alec and Black had been winning so many races and taking the world by storm that this allowed these groups to see what was going on. One of the groups wants to use Black to make loads of money while the other one wants to set him free back in his home country. Both groups believe their reason to be the right one and so Alec isn’t brought in to discuss this. Instead they break in and one group burns down the stables and kidnaps Black. Alec gives pursuit and tells his mom that he’ll be back someday after he saves the day. Can a kid really be okay all alone in the desert like this though?

First off, Alec took a terrific risk here in going all the way to the desert by himself. He’s still a kid here even if he’s older than he was in the first film. I give him some respect there but at the same time he probably could have told his mother where he was going or gotten some backup. Either option did run the risk of his being physically prevented from continuing though so I won’t blame him too hard there. The problem is that he is completely out of his depth and gets annoying on more than one occasion.

Alec would have died near the beginning if not for meeting up with a nice kid named Raj. Alec gets punked by some obviously shady figures and then he even has to try some really awful looking food. Alec never really thinks ahead and gets stopped on more than one occasion before he can get himself into even bigger trouble. Enthusiasm is good but ultimately it’s not like that is going to win you any awards and that’s what he learns the hard way. It definitely gets old.

Also the desert has nothing really going for it. The backgrounds are always going to be boring and plain without any really nice things to look at. The pacing of the movie also completely dies here as you never learn quite enough to really care about Raj’s plot. You just want to see Alec and Black get together which takes a really long time. We still get a race by the very end of the film but it sure took some doing to get there. I’m also not sure about the ending. On one hand it looks like it’ll be better for the horse which is definitely huge but on the other hand it is basically rewarding these groups for acting like vigilantes. Surely they could have tried to do this a little more diplomatically but they left no room for discussion right from the start. I’d say Alec should still be upset and his mother had to be worried to death the whole time.

It’s still hard to wrap my head around why you would make a sequel to the Black Stallion where the horse barely gets to appear. How does that make any kind of sense? To me that just seems crazy and I’m sure the viewers were shocked. Especially since the opening actually did have the horse showing up and we had a pretty intense beginning. The spy stuff was fun and there was a lot of tension as you waited to see if Alec would find out that there were people up to no good around his house. The film basically squandered all of that to give us a really long desert sequence and that is the exact moment where the film lost its steam.

I know in a film like this you have the kid be by himself to ramp up the feeling of danger but my hot take is that his Mom should have followed him. Having an adult there would give Alec a little legitimacy when talking to the various cutthroats around. Additionally, an adult would just be a whole lot more interesting. Lets face it, there’s just not much Alec can actually do on his own. He can’t fight, he’s not smart enough to be a spy, he has really no available options to him. At least his mom could theoretically fight or use a gun at least. Just anything to make the desert plot less boring.

Overall, The Black Stallion Returns is a decent film at best. The main problem I have with it is that it can be boring at times. It’s not the biggest issue a film can have but of course it is still powerful since you are watching a film to be entertained the whole time. Being bored for any period doesn’t really help. The film also mainly manages to dodge the animal violence but not totally as there is an incident with a camel and also the horses are treated a bit roughly the whole time. I never like watching horse races for that reason since I don’t think they’re very fun for the horse. If you absolutely need to watch a horse film then this one could be decent but keep in mind that no horses appear for the majority of the film. Just something to consider.

Overall 5/10

The Black Room Review

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The Black Room is a reminder that sometimes characters really don’t know what they are doing and fall for the most obvious traps imaginable. While watching this film, I had to see character after character just make absolutely massive mistakes. They were all very preventable which was the worst part. The film can be funny at times in an ironic kind of way but as a whole I would say the film still ends up falling flat. It’s definitely far from my highest recommendation within the genre.

The film begins with a king being rather worried because the prophecy says that his younger kid will murder the older one within the Black Room. An advisor wisely says to just bury the room so the king does. Many years pass and Anton decides to go home to see his brother. Gregor had always seemed worried that Anton would murder him so Anton gave him space but by now things should be fine. He is rather surprised to learn that everybody hates Gregor but doesn’t put much stock in it. He knows that his brother is a force for good after all. Well, as it so happens, Gregor is a rather big villain who had been disappearing all of the women in the village and doesn’t really bother hiding this. Now that he needs to since Anton’s IQ is in the single digits. Can Anton escape with his life?

I’d say all of the characters have a little bit of blame in a film like this. First off is the fact that the Colonel never made a move against Gregor sooner. He finds the guy deplorable but still plays chess with him often and isn’t trying to arrest the guy. After a point if people keep disappearing after seeing Gregor you gotta make some kind of a move. It’s also not like Gregor is denying anything, he just relaxes and acts smug the whole time. The Colonel only cares once the situation involves his own daughter and even then he is slow on the uptake.

“I’ll expose you to the world and get you hanged! Now let me make a call to the police” Naturally turning your back to a supposed mass murderer when you’re alone with him in a room full of solid objects is a really bad idea. Then you have the house attendant. “Hey, I’m going to spread some really bad rumors about you to ensure you will never get with the girl you like. Don’t you dare try and stop me…” This line of argumentation didn’t go over very well for her either as you can probably guess.

Anton’s is probably the absolute worst though. He follows Gregor into a basement where Gregor starts to talk about all of his crimes at length. Anton is in such denial that he starts spamming questions. All of Gregor’s responses are a simple “Yes”. Anton finally runs out of questions and slowly it begins to dawn on him. He will not be leaving this room alive. He’s really not all that bright but neither are the rest of the characters.

Even Gregor as the first time he is found out for his hand writing, it’s a rather obvious blunder. Just write with your non dominant hand. It might look a little messy but taking a big gamble there isn’t very smart. He really only has himself to blame for getting exposed as the guy has no patience. He’s also lucky that this was the most subdued mob ever s usually he would have been torn apart the first time they visited the house. The film had nonstop plot armor the whole time which was just annoying.

Even the main heroine Thea came across as hopelessly naive. It felt like every character immediately liked her. Her own fiancé warned her about this and she was quick to dismiss his worries. Another idea that didn’t go well by just continuing to make appearances. She needed to find a way to just leave town along with him. Even if the main villain wasn’t crazy, it’s probably not a good idea to hang out with royalty when there’s even a chance that they like you romantically. That kind of deal goes badly even in real life because of how much authority they have. The fiancé is also taken down rather easily although at least unlike the other victims, it was in a way that he could not possibly have escaped. It just makes Thea look worse for being ready to move on.

Rebounds are always sketchy, but especially when your first partner goes out in such a violent way. The movie isn’t particularly dark or violent as the deaths are pretty quick or off screened but it definitely does get annoying to see them all make these mistakes over and over again. At some point you really need to just connect the dots. Like I said before it can be funny in an ironic kind of way at times but that’s definitely not what the film was going for. It’s just easy to poke fun at how badly the characters handle every twist of fate. How the town let things get this bad is beyond me.

It’s implied that Gregor made many women disappear. Not just 2-3 but quite a lot and the families just let this go every time? That kind of plot works when it’s the King and he has an army or something but it’s well documented here that everyone hates Gregor and he has no backup. Forget the mob, some vigilante would have taken him out by now right? The world building just didn’t connect with what was happening on screen and the villain got away with too much.

Overall, The Black Room is definitely not a good film. The characters are all as dumb as rocks and the whole movie would not be happening if the characters were thinking straight. They really should have handled things way differently and the fact that they didn’t feels like plot armor that was not nearly subtle enough. It’s not a particularly scary film either and I was actually expecting more supernatural elements. I dare say that those would have really helped the movie out in the long term. Not like it would have saved things either way I guess. In any event, you can definitely do much better within the genre.

Overall 4/10

Godzilla: Skate or Die Review

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They say that the artwork in a comic is the most important aspect…and they were right. Good writing is something you want to have too of course but when reading a comic you need the art to look solid. Unfortunately this is one of the worst displays of artwork that I have seen to the point where it is incredibly distracting. Nothing looks right and since the story didn’t have the greatest plot in the first place, the whole comic ended up being cooked. It’s not bad but it’s definitely not all that great either.

The comic starts with some skaters talking and having a good time getting ready to head to their favorite spot. They are not exactly grade A students but they are a close knit bunch who are all ready for some fun. Unfortunately it turns out that Kaiju are real as Varan and Godzilla both appear. They are heading towards at each other for a climactic battle. That’s not the worst part though, they will be colliding at the big skating area that the main characters set up. They will have to dash over there now to get one last skate session in and find a way to stop the Kaiju from tearing it apart. Will they be able to get past the government barricades and put a stop to this?

Now you may be thinking that the cops will make short work of the skaters but they’re actually kept on the back foot the whole time. They do their best like having the cop cars running around but the skaters keep on outmaneuvering them. We get some extra drama as the police guy in charge is the father of one of the kids. The comic doesn’t care a ton about this connection though which is fine with me since I am hear for the Kaiju. The problem is that none of the humans get a ton of development. They start out the adventure as your average skater dudes and don’t change much from there. They’re not over the top annoying or anything but they’re also not particularly good either.

Of course it’s always easier to point out the negatives there than to fix them. I’m not exactly sure what I would do to fix them for example. Maybe playing up their different characteristics a bit more. Like one of them was really into Kaiju so they could have had him show off his knowledge more or worked on the father-son tensions with the other one. At the same time it’s still all about the execution. So that leads me to my main solution, the comic should have leaned into the cheesy nature of the concept a bit more. Have Godzilla actually fight with the skaters. He tries to blast them while they keep jumping away and dodging every move. That would have made for a much better dynamic and then you would have a reason for them to get so much focus.

With their speed and all, readers could maybe buy into it a little bit and it’s not like Godzilla would be going all out using his nuclear wave to stop them or something. So me personally? That’s how I would have solved the issue and I dare say that it would have really worked. It’s just my two cents though and again with the art the way it is, it’s not like the score would be much higher.

I think Varan fans will be satisfied with his portrayal though. He actually has the edge against Godzilla for a good portion of their fight. You can even make the case that he would have ultimately defeated the King of the Monsters if not for the humans giving some help near the end. I like to think Godzilla would have gotten his second wind though. We don’t actually get to see most of the fight since it keeps cutting back to the skaters so for all we know, Godzilla had the edge for most of the battle.

The art still wasn’t good for the battles but at least it was something to catch your attention. I would say the main issue here is that the art was just too abstract. For the most part it was just severely lacking in detail and that’s never a good thing. A comic should be easy to read with everything being organized neatly. That was not the case here. It actually takes longer than it should in order to read through the comic because of how cluttered each page is. The artist really tried sticking everything possible onto the page and it just did not work.

If we ever got a sequel to this comic, they just need to switch the art style asap. There was enough foreshadowing where you definitely could do a sequel after all. Even a prequel I dare say since it was said that Godzilla has appeared several times in the past. It’s hard to say what kind of timeline we’re working with here but it’s definitely something where you could throw in a whole lot of fights. It’ll just all be futile if you can’t really enjoy the fights because you are deciphering the art. Also, the comic neglected to put Orga in the giant Kaiju splash page which was definitely a big mistake. That guy is iconic.

Overall, Skate or Die is definitely more about the skaters than Godzilla. Not necessarily a bad thing but you just don’t care about those guys. They’re all nice enough and all but don’t end up being all that memorable. I would say most of the issues are all amplified by the art though because if the art was really good then the characters would stand out more. Ultimately this whole comic is just a reminder of how important the artwork can be. If you really love Godzilla comics then you should probably check this one out as a completionist kind of thing but otherwise there isn’t much reason to check this one out. It’ll probably go down as one of the weakest Godzilla titles.

Overall 5/10

God Eater 2: Rage Burst Review

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It’s time to jump into the big sequel to the first God Eater. Rage Burst definitely improves on some things here quick helped to streamline things. It does fall into some of the issues of the first game though and I would say the story itself doesn’t hold up as well. We do get more cutscenes technically and the pacing is quicker but it doesn’t have the same super end of the world stakes that the first game managed. So it’s a close fight with the two but in the end I would say this one gets the slight edge.

The plot continues where the first one left off. For a while, Aragami had slowed down but now new variations are appearing that are even stronger. Typical God Eaters are fairly ineffective now so you need Blood Eaters in order to tip the scales. The main character joins this blood unit and shows a whole lot of potential. Will the heroes be able to destroy all of the new aragami and save the world or will they only prolong the inevitable? The original game showed that aragami will continue to exist so long as the planet does so perhaps this is a never ending fight.

I would say the game does have you almost sympathize with the villain’s plan from the first game because of this never ending cycle. A lot of sacrifices were made in the first game so to see that the villains are stronger than ever is a bit disheartening. The new villain’s plan is a bit more insane though as she flat out wants to destroy the planet and end humanity. Sure, that’s one way to beat the Aragami but is it a real victory if everyone is dead? At least escaping into space would save some people. Still, you do understand the thought process when the stakes are this high. For all the people outside of the main human bases, they live on the brink of life and death every day.

This game also introduces a red mist that transmits an incurable disease if it touches you. It also contaminates the rain so there are more ways to die than ever before. This game focuses on the story through more of a chapter system as each character gets their own story arc before we reach the climax. Additionally, all side characters get an additional bonus story through character episodes. The amount of content is impressive as the 162 story missions took me around 30 hours and that’s considering that this time I did not do almost any bonus missions and 0 character missions.

The reason for this is because the game is considerably easier than the first game. In the first one they were a lot stingier with the materials and you had to have an incredibly strong weapon to stay in the game. In this one there are so many different power ups and ways to get strong that you can have your weapon be a little weaker to compensate. I still tried to make sure I had strong weapons in all 4 categories so I would be ready for anything but it did give me some extra wiggle room that was super important. I only used Buster Blades and Charge Spears. I didn’t bother with any other types of weapons so this way I could max them out sooner. Additionally I always stuck to the same blood art until it was maxed out.

Trust me, these decisions will save you a ton of time as you go through the game. It makes an absolute world of difference. Not to say I never died or anything though, there were a few times I was defeated. Survival missions are an example of this as you will fight in 3-5 boss battles back to back and they don’t tell you what the final boss’ weakness is. Once you’re in the fight you cannot change weapons and so I guessed wrong twice so I had to go all the way back.

In this game if you use the wrong element then you are cooked. For example with the right type effectiveness you might deal around 1000 damage per hit and then the wrong one is around 80-100. Keeping in mind that it can take around 8 minutes of nonstop attacks to put the enemy down in the first example, the latter takes so long that you get timed out. If you notice that you aren’t doing much damage, your best bet is to immediately quit and save time. Trust me, it’s the best way to salvage a bad situation.

There are so many ways to customize your character, supports, and equipment that you can spend a long time just on that. The one area where the game still suffers is in crafting as they throw over 500 materials at you and they are not alphabetized or anything. It makes searching way more tedious than it should be. I’m surprised that this wasn’t fixed yet since I’d imagine that most players would complain about it.

The other area where the game suffers a bit is in being lazy. Nearly all of the game’s minions and environments are from the first game. Around 90% of the assets are all reused which just feels like something that should not have happened. The game’s sheer length may be impressive but since it keeps on recycling everything, that takes a bit of the punch out of it. God Eater would easily be able to make it to the next stage if the gameplay could feel more innovative. I like 3D combat and even I thought it was a bit exaggerated to keep on fighting the same minions over and over again. After 160+ of them you really get the drill.

The soundtrack is pretty solid, it may even beat the first game. It’s not the biggest soundtrack by any means but it gets the job done and the opening is always fun to hear. The graphics are okay but I would say below the average PS4 experience. I did really like the hand drawn cutscenes when they would show up though. That was always an added treat.

Overall, God Eater 2 is a pretty solid game. If you liked the first game then you will like this one as well because they are so similar. In a lot of ways they are basically the same game just with a new story. So it feels familiar in a fun way and the lowered difficulty does help make the levels a lot more bite sized when going through them. There is dozens of hours of replay value as well so you’re getting a bargain here. I would definitely recommend checking it out.

Overall 7/10

Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 Review

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It’s time for a very emotional game. Poppy’s Playtime has been a fairly intense video game series where almost every journey ends with tragedy. Most of the characters do not get a happy ending and at this point they are just hoping to get out of this place alive. It’s hard to say how many chapters there will be but this one does feel as though we are approaching the ending. Potentially just one chapter left now but we’ll have to see how that goes. This was my first journey where it was just one chapter by itself so that was different. It does mean that the game goes a lot faster than the collection.

Chapter 3 ended with the hero finally getting close to the safe haven so things should go well from here. Poppy will go check on Missy while you go forward to save the day. The only thing you did not count on was that the danger is still ever present. Well, I guess you probably did figure on that to be honest. You’ll have to use your wits and reflexes to stay alive once more because these villains still intend to destroy you as soon as they can. There may not be a whole lot of enemies left but each one packs a punch. Are any of the creatures on your side? Or are you walking right into a trap?

Along the way you will learn a lot of lore through your surroundings as well as the various audio tapes. They can get a little repetitive at times though as it feels like the game is drip-feeding you the information much slower than before. You need multiple tapes just for the characters to be begging for their lives during the experiments. It’s pretty clear that the villains got away with a whole lot back in the lab and you can definitely see why they are all eliminated.

The gameplay itself is solid but the story does often tread into the valleys of being a little too extra grim dark. You’re more interested in the present and staying alive than the mystery of what happened before. Personally I would say the best thing for the game to do would be to keep it as secretive as possible. The more open you keep the past, the better it will work for theory crafting. I suppose its existence does give the game a lot of replay value though as I’m sure a whole lot of people enjoy going through the rooms slowly to try and find every possible collectible. Even outside of those, you will often find messages on the tables and walls .

I would say the core gameplay is platforming but there is also a lot of puzzle solving. You need to connect different objects and also piece together patterns. For the most part the game is reasonable with these but there was one puzzle involving anatomy that I thought was a little unreasonable. I had to brute force it and am still not really sure how to do it logically. The red smoke made it so hard to explore and it felt like this puzzle had a number of red herrings. That only made things even trickier. When it comes to the platforming itself, I found it to be much easier than the third game. I still did die a whole lot during the game but nothing quite as crazy as the final boss in part 3.

The toughest segments for me here were typically when I had to use stealth and get past the monster. Their hearing is quite sharp and sometimes their speeds were lightning quick. It’s why I was really grateful for all the checkpoints in the game. Without that it would have definitely taken even longer to complete the game. It would certainly be easier if we could carry a better weapon. The flare gun that the lead has is okay but certainly not the most powerful thing around. It’s mostly good for just scaring the opposition.

The story took around 3 hours to beat and we got over half of the collectibles but not quite all of them. The platinum trophy actually looks rather difficult so that would add a lot of replay value. Of course keep in mind that the game is fairly cheap even when it just came out so it makes the play time a lot more tolerable. You are still getting a good amount of value for your purchase with this one.

The graphics are also pretty solid here. The game definitely does get the horror vibe across well. Even I got startled a few times in the game when I would get caught. It’s a mix of well placed sound design as well as a color scheme that just really works with this. It’s hard not to get scared at least a little while playing the game. The soundtrack is less impressive but I do get why they would do that. If the soundtrack got too hype or something like that then it could definitely take away from the scare factor of it all.

My main complaint with the game would be that it does have the most breaks in action. Or at least it felt that way where there would be several points of listening to long monologues from the villains while you can’t move. With the audio tapes those are optional and you can still move so that’s fine but when you can’t move you wish the villains would pick up the pace a bit. You also figure they should have been able to beat the main character several times so the longer they talk, the more you have to suspend a little disbelief here. It’ll be interesting to see who the main character is by the end. By this point all signs are pointing to him not being some ordinary human.

Overall, Poppy’s Playtime Chapter 4 isn’t quite ready to give us any of the important answers but you still feel that we are getting closer to the end. There just aren’t many villains left to defeat after all and it’s also the kind of game where I’m not expecting that we will get all of the answers. Although there will likely be a lot of them that I just don’t notice during the main story so that’ll be where Youtube comes in handy. If you’ve been keeping up with Poppy then you should definitely jump in now. The game is reasonably difficult and quite intense so you will definitely be kept interested the whole time.

Overall 6/10

The Black Stallion Review

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How much you actually enjoy this film will definitely come down to how much you enjoy the main kid. Will you find him annoying or endearing? For me he tended to be a bit more on the annoying side and so ultimately that didn’t help the film. The first half just takes way too long for anything to happen. The film gets significantly better once we are back to civilization but you really don’t feel yourself pulled into the movie. Instead you are on the outside wondering if the climax can save it all.

The film starts off by introducing us to Alec who is a bit of a quiet kid. He’s on a voyage with his father but unfortunately a big storm hits and he gets stranded on an island along with the Black Stallion. Alec must quickly learn how to fend for himself and stay alive. It’s definitely not an easy task for a little kid to handle so I give him props there. He also uses the time to get closer to the horse and it makes for a solid friendship the whole time. Once they make it back to civilization, Alec finds out that his horse is a great runner. Perhaps he can even be the best?

Technically I wouldn’t even say there is a ton of plot in this movie. Certainly not to the level you would expect to see in a movie that is around 2 hours. That is because a lot of the character development is really told through silent actions. Not a whole lot happens when it’s just Alec trying to survive on the island for example. Seeing him slowly get close to the horse can be emotional for some but for me I was really ready to get past this part. It’s why this is the crucial make or break point for the film. Me personally? I would have liked to have skipped to the civilization angle because to me that’s when the film really begins.

So that whole first half is basically dead time and while the film didn’t do anything wrong, not capturing my attention did hurt its chances of going up. Additionally in order to get to that point we had the horse get stuck and nearly drown early on. It felt like the horse was in a lot of distress throughout the movie which is always unnerving to see. The stallion was a very strong horse but I still didn’t want to see it get put through any hardships. This horse deserved a very happy life throughout. That’s absolutely what you want to see here.

As for once we get to civilization, I enjoyed the character of Henry. He helps a lot in training for the race events and just seemed like a nice guy. He was very supportive of Alec the whole time and really had his back. Without him, the racing would not have been possible. Alec and Henry certainly did put a lot of stress on Alec’s new guardian though who was understandably very hesitant to let him ride a horse. That is a dangerous profession and no amount of gaslighting can really get you around that fact.

Sure enough, the horse actually gets injured near the end. We still have an uplifting ending and things go well but yeah horse racing would not be the sport for me. In general I can do human racing but when you bring the animals into it, there are too many maybes for me. Are the horses all being treated right? What happens to the horse in last place? Working with animals is a very delicate field and not one that you want to get too mainstream because a lot of people are not really up for the task.

We’ll assume all the best in this film of course but even so there just isn’t a whole lot for me. At its core this is a film really about the kids and he’s just not good enough to hold the whole film. Kids rarely are, I always end up needing an adult to really liven things up. Since the bulk of the screentime is for the kid, it means that most of the film ends up being boring. That alone is enough for me to keep this film from making it into the green because it’s not a film that I would watch on my own.

I probably wouldn’t have made it past the opening 20 minutes on my own because I would be completely checked out. So I appreciate what the film is going for and I do appreciate there being good films aimed at the kids. This just isn’t one that suits my particular interests. At the end of the day, I certainly prefer to dislike a film based on the plot rather than on the content. So there isn’t anything particularly objectionable about this one. If you really like the idea of a kid surviving on his own in a proper coming of age story, then you’ll like this one.

Overall, I’d say parents will get the greatest amount of joy in this film. Seeing this kid take everything on with good cheer is definitely uplifting. You have to be really invested in that part of the story to make it to the race later on. That said, if you’re not a big fan of kids then it’s not like this film is really going to change your mind. The kid isn’t getting involved in a ton of banter or anything like that. If anything, he’s still fairly quiet even by the end of the film. Oh, he definitely has a lot more confidence but he certainly isn’t a big braggart. A sequel taking place 10 years later would probably be a whole lot more interesting to me. Not sure exactly where you would go with that one but it would solve my biggest issues with the film. So that was the Black Stallion, I can still safely say it beats the average animal film which tends to fall into bigger holes than simply being uneventful.

Overall 4/10

Johnny Mnemonic 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

It’s time for one of those sci-fi films that is really all over the place. It’s a dystopia but definitely not the most interesting one out there. I do like that corporate is basically the big villain in all of this but even then I wouldn’t say that it is the big win you might be hoping that it is. That’s just not enough to carry the film and so this won’t be remembered as one of the better sci-fi titles.

Our main character is Johnny and his job is to transport confidential information around. With the internet being incredibly compromised, people rely on humans to traffic the data like this. Johnny puts it in his head and then gives it to the client. He wants out of this gig, but his partner tells him that he will need to do one last job first. The problem is that this latest job has a data size that is way above Johnny’s specs. There is just no way that he can process all of this. So what is he going to do? Well Johnny figures he’ll download it anyway and it should be fine. Unfortunately this job isn’t as straight forward as it appeared and now he’s on the run from the Yakuza. He has a bodyguard named Jane helping him but she is not in the best shape. Yeah this is gonna be rough.

Right from the jump Johnny’s decision is just really dumb here. I know that he’s in a hurry to get out of the business but downloading something into his brain that can’t fit just seems like an easy trip to the grave. It’s not a brave or smart thing to do, it’s just plain dumb. A really foolish move and he is counting on the fact that he doesn’t just die instantly from this. He has a few hours before the brain leakage goes too far but any form of brain leakage obviously brings some risks along with it. So yeah this was a bad idea.

Then Johnny’s partner is super shady from the start so it comes as no surprise to find out that he’s involved with the craziness too. First rule of Dystopias is not to trust anybody. Johnny ends up working with Jane out of necessity but it’s not like he can trust her either. She is very strong and capable but gets a severe case of the shakes all the time. That puts her in a really rough spot for any professional gigs so she is also desperate enough to work with a shady fellow like Johnny. Surely there is no way any romance could bloom out of this right? That would just be poor writing.

It just feels like the story is already pretty forced from the jump with Johnny getting into this mess. There’s just no way he should have stuffed his mind and surely he could have found another job. The people giving him the data also seemed very ill prepared for the villains who showed up later on. You’d think that they would have been more prepared. Ah well, Johnny does his best but I wouldn’t say that he is the most interesting lead character.

Jane is okay and I would even say that the shakes aren’t as bad as the film treats them. Jane’s very first scene has her crushing another bodyguard so clearly she is still strong enough to take out the average fighter. Should shaking really be such a big deal? It feels like in most cases she would still be able to get along just fine even if she will need some breaks here and there. Well, at least she does well as the body guard.

The most interesting villain is the Preacher. He’s a complete nutjob who is a hitman that likes to quote the scriptures the whole time. A real twisted guy but he’s also just such a random addition to the film. Corporate hires him whenever they desperately need some action but the idea that this huge company needs to resort to this is pretty funny. The corporation has so much unbelievable power at their disposal and they still need a secret hitman? It’s not like this is a one time thing either, from the conversation it sounds like they summon him from time to time.

Then for all the hype the Preacher gets, the heroes just run him over during their first encounter. Way to ruin the hype right? It was a very questionable decision as soon as it happened. Preacher does return and gets his share of victims but you still keep remembering the first moment. Naturally the film can get a bit violent so keep that in mind if you’re the squeamish type. The film isn’t holding back with how dark the future gets after all so this is not for the faint of heart.

We also meet a friend of Jane’s, The Spider. This guy doesn’t really like the future. He thinks that things should be done without all the electronics everywhere and he tries to be old school. He was entertaining so I appreciated that. The guy was constantly upset about everything and would really speak his mind. More characters like him could have made the film more interesting. I also did like one of the main villains, Shinji. He had a cool energy whip that could cut through nearly anything. It made him a very deadly fighter and the weapon just looks cool in action. He certainly gets his share of hits in.

I do think the film had some potential here but it’s all convoluted without being super interesting. I like a good mystery and sci-fi babble but it just doesn’t always go anywhere. We have a plot with a lady in the screen with ties to Johnny’s past, a resistance that has been around for a while, and both of those elements don’t appear as much as you would think. It’s the kind of title that has a whole lot of world building and character development behind the scenes but we just don’t get to see it. It probably would have worked better as a full on series.

I would also say that as a future story it should have embraced the fun sci-fi elements a bit more. Bring in more cool weapons like Shinji’s energy whip. Johnny isn’t a super fighter or anything like that so it would make sense for him to be carrying something instead of having to hope that he can deal with these guys in hand to hand combat. When you’re dealing with the future it’s not like you need to stick to some pre-existing ideas.

Overall, I think the film could have been better but it’s not nearly as interesting as you would expect. The film could even be a bit dull at times. The idea of people carrying information in their brains is interesting and dare I even say realistic? I could totally see that being the case in the future. Corporate as the villain was also a good idea but it just goes to show that you need more than ideas. You need proper execution! If you want a good sci-fi film, you should definitely check out something like Sword Art Online instead.

Overall 4/10