Law of Ueki Review

Posted on October 24, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for one of the manga elites! The Law of Ueki is pretty underrated in the manga community and you’ve likely never heard of it. That’s too bad since it can definitely hold its own against big titles like Naruto and One Piece. For some reason, it just never really hit it big and it’ll forever be more of an obscure title. Why is the Law of Ueki so good? Well, it has a perfect blend of action and hype. The ending is pretty rushed, but it almost fits the pace of this title.

The plot follows a kid who’s named…..waiiiiiit for it…..Ueki! He has a talent..he can turn garbage into trees. The running joke is that this ability never becomes useful and it’s probably one of the worst abilities ever. Luckily for him..this can all change. There is a tournament being held with 100 fighters. Each fighter represents a candidate to be the next King. The fighter’s prize is that they may learn a new “talent.” They can write down whatever ability they want on the paper and it shall be theirs. Each student starts out with around 10 talents if I recall correctly. Injuring a non combatant will result in the character losing a talent. Lose all of them…and let’s just say that your life will effectively be ruined. Ueki just needs to win the tournament to get the best super power ever, but he’s really just doing it for the guy he’s representing. He’s also going to need to make sure to do his best since the villains can be ruthless.

Much like MAR, The Law of Ueki is really just one really long tournament. The action is nonstop and that’s what I like to see from any title. This series pulls off most of the Shonen tropes that you would expect and does a nice job with them. One mild weakness for the series is that you could call some parts a little generic. Ueki is what you would expect from the lead and we even have the change in villains twist that you may have expected. I wouldn’t say that this is a big weakness though since everything is repetitive to an extent. As long as the scenes are enjoyable, then the Law of Ueki is still winning.

The art in the series may not be spectacular, but it’s definitely very good. The style reminds me of One Piece and it really captures the battle scenes. It’s always easy to follow what’s happening and many different series have trouble with that. There are a bunch of fight scenes to be found so that is a pretty big positive for the series. I’d say that the artwork is above average and it helps the manga feel even more exciting than it would have without it.

Tier wise, this series is likely a lot stronger than you may have expected. The top fighters can easily hold their own against fighters from Naruto and One Piece. I’m still going to say that it would be a stretch for them to go up against Bleach or Reborn! fighters, but that’s not bad. Ueki vs Beet is a good comparison to make here. It is like Sailor Moon though in the sense that the top tiers are drastically stronger than the average fighter. Ueki and the two big villains are really in a league of their own. They have super speed, flight, super strength, and much more. Fighting those guys will tire most other fighters out. Another reason why I love having strong fighters appear is that we are treated to some great fight scenes!

Ueki is our lead and he’s a pretty good main character. One can definitely see why he’d be called generic though. He’s very similar to Luffy and I think the author must be familiar with the series. I got a One Piece vibe several times while reading the series. I like Ueki, but I wouldn’t call him an amazing character like Train Heartnet or Ichigo. He’s a hero and I tend to agree with all of his calls. He believes in the power of friendship and he always sticks by his team. Beyond that, he doesn’t get any memorable lines and he doesn’t really stick out. You’ll mostly enjoy him for his fight scenes. He does get all of the best ones after all.

Mori is the main heroine and she makes sure to get involved in the tournament. Unfortunately, she has one of the worst powers of all time. She can make her opponents fall in love with glasses. That’s pretty terrible when you think about it and her fight was really just one big parody. I think that the author could have given her something that was a little more decent since that hurt her appearances in the series. She never really gets to help out in the fights, which can be sad for her fans. She’s a decent character, but she just doesn’t stand out.

Ueki’s main group of friends doesn’t really get any better with Kobayashi. Technically, he’s Ueki’s mentor, but he’d still be considered as one of the main characters. He doesn’t get a whole lot of screen time though since he is banished from the planet for breaking one of the rules. The only way to get him back is to win the tournament, which gives Ueki some motivation. I suppose that he’s not a bad character, but I don’t find him to be very likable. He’s meant to make the reader laugh and I didn’t find him to be very funny so that plan didn’t work. He’s basically just a side plot for most of the series.

Sano is easily the best friend that Ueki has, but it’s still not saying a whole lot. He can turn towels into iron/steel, which isn’t bad. It’s not the greatest ability out there, but that means that he’ll always have a solid weapon to hit people with. He’s the strategist of the group and he’s typically the first person to figure out what an enemy’s ability is. He comes in handy quite a few times, but he can’t help all that much against the big opponents since he physically cannot keep up with them. He’s no Sanosuke, but Sano is always ready to help out.

Rinko joins the team pretty early on after a brief stunt as one of the villains. She can throw explosive beads at her opponents. It’s not a great power, but when you look at her allies…you start to appreciate it. Her slap is pretty iconic by the end since the artist makes her hand look huge and it’s almost always a one hit KO attack. At least she’s getting a lot of action! I wasn’t a big fan of her either though and she didn’t really add a whole lot to the group. She just pretty unmemorable as well, which adds to the amount of characters that were fairly generic.

Hideyoshi is largely inspired by Usopp, but I really don’t like him. He can make sounds come from other directions with his drawings, but man…that’s a pretty awful power. He cannot fight at all and he’s mostly used for comic relief. It’s hard to really root for this kind of character because he can only win with severe plot hax. I think the series could have been even better if Hideyoshi had not been introduced. I still like most of the villains in the Law of Ueki, but I have to say that most of the heroes can use some work. Ueki mostly has to carry the team on his own and he’s already not the greatest main character. (Although the others make him look like the next Vegeta!) (In terms of epicness of course)

Tenko is the Celestial Beast who helps Ueki develop his abilities. His training is highly risky though and if Ueki were to fail…he would die. Tenko is still a nice guy though so he lets Ueki train when needed. I guess I didn’t mind Tenko by the end. As a whole, I find Tenko to be a little unnecessary and he should have gone in to help Ueki instead of “trusting” him at one point. I disagreed with his decision and it was hard to forget about that. He is better than most animal mascots though and I dare say that I like him more than Mokona and Cerberus. It’s a close call of course.

Hanon is the final villain of the series and he’s very powerful. He can absorb other fighters to gain their abilities, which comes in handy. Initially, he was tough, but he was probably not a huge threat. That changed once he met up with the previous main villain. Suddenly, Hanon become a big contender and his powers almost have no limits. His speed and power are off the charts and he can fly as well. Hanon makes for a great villain as his abilities are perfect. The fight scenes with him are naturally great and they feel very climatic. It’s rare that I like all (2) of the big villains in the manga series, but Law of Ueki managed to pull it off. Most impressive!

Robert is the main villain for a good chunk of the series. He’s pretty great and it was our first glimpse of DBZ action. He starts out as a pretty sinister villain, but he starts to warm up to the others as the series goes on. I quickly became a fan of his, but my timing was a little off since he quickly stopped appearing due to a tragic meal. I was rooting for him there, but it was a good way to hype up the next villain. I would have preferred a climatic fight first with a clear resolution, but The Law of Ueki just moves too quickly for that. Robert is not someone that you will forget and he had the privilege of staying in the top tier from start to finish.

“God” is the host of the tournament and he doesn’t do anything until we reach the end of the series. He seems like a pretty nice guy and he’s really relaxed about the whole situation. He does have to step in when his rules start to be abused by the competitors, but what if he has grown rusty over the years? His fight is pretty intense although a lot of it is off screen. It’s implied that he actually could have won against most of the villains, but Hanon is very debatable. “God” was having a very tough time when he went up against Hanon’s right hand man although he was holding back so that he wouldn’t hurt him. At full power, he could possibly give Hanon a good fight although I’m confident that he would lose. He’s a pretty good character, but he suffers from a severe lack of screen time.

Li Ho was actually one of my favorite characters in the series. Unfortunately, he got the shaft towards the end since it was fairly rushed. He never got to have the ultimate fight with Ueki that I had been waiting for. He’s an immense threat without the use of his abilities and that’s a big part of why he’s likable. He has super powers, but he chooses not to use them so that he can perfect his martial art skills. This makes him strong enough to take on the main villain and he did fight Ueki on more than one occasion. He does take his honor a little too far though as he should have activated his powers by the end. I mean, imagine if Goku decided not to turn into a Super Saiyan 3 and the series ended without him transforming. All of the foreshadowing ends up going to waste. Ah well, Li Ho is definitely a solid character and I dare say that he’s even better than Rock Lee. (Both of them are hand to hand fighters in a supernatural world, but Li Ho looks a little more impressive)

Barrow is another big opponent in the series. As expected, he has a really formidable ability up his sleeve. He has the normal celestial weapons like the Pick and the Cannonball attack, but his secret ability is what really makes them deadly. He can bring back past images of himself to fight as well. So, if he attacked you from a certain part of the field 15 minutes ago, he can bring that “him” back to launch the attack. He’s not changing the past, but merely bringing it back once again. The only drawback is that the past him is still real so then he can become a target. He can spam his time manipulation to launch some devastating combos. It’s very tough to overcome this kind of opponent and it definitely depends on what the location is. Again, I definitely enjoyed this villain. He didn’t have much of a personality beyond wanting to win, but he was pretty reasonable and I never found myself rooting against him. He did help to activate Ueki’s rage mode though.

We have another big villain in the form of Marilyn. I’ll admit that her power was a little too good since I don’t really see how she could have lost her battle. We can make the same case for some of the other villains, but Marilyn really stood out in this regard. She can make 1 second stretch out into 10 seconds for her. This means that she is moving 10X faster than everyone else and that’s a massive advantage. There are so many ways to win that way and only a few opportunities to stop such a strategy. I was highly skeptical of Ueki’s win against her because it didn’t make a lot of sense. It’s one of the risks of making your villains so powerful without giving the hero a power up. If you are physically superior to Marilyn already, then you should be fine, but nobody in the series (At the time anyway) was good enough to pull this off. Even someone like Goku would have a tough time if he wasn’t expecting the hit. Marilyn’s backstory can come off as a little cheesy, but she was a solid villain overall.

Since this is a tournament title, there are naturally many more fighters involved. I just managed to grab most of the main characters and the iconic villains. There is a small part of the series that happens before the tournament and we get some breaks, but it’s mostly all about the tournament. The series also kicks into overdrive towards the end in terms of pacing. It goes a little too quickly as we get rushed results with Li Ho, Robert, and arguably Hanon. Hanon’s right hand man also starts to get some development that ends up going to waste and the host of the event’s fight had to end a little quicker than it might have been. That being said, the series doesn’t drag on because of this and I can’t say that it had any bad volumes. Just about every installment gave us an exciting fight and advanced us through the tournament.

The climax in the Law of Ueki can hold its own against any climax. Whether it be from Bleach or DBZ, the Law of Ueki’s still manages to shine through. It may not beat their arcs, (Nothing will beat the end of the Aizen Invasion) but it’s enjoyable enough that you won’t miss them while reading it. The end fights hit all of the right notes and it basically sums up why the series was fun in the first place. It has a lot of great fights and exciting villains. Some parts may be generic, but the action and art keep it real. I also like when a series decides to go all out for the ending. Let’s just say that the power levels skyrocket in the final volume and Ueki/Hanon get to shoot through a few tiers in their big fight.

The Law of Ueki also manages to take the high road as it avoids fanservice. I don’t recall any of that being in it and if there was any, it was extremely brief. There is also virtually no romance in this title so it’s really a complete action story. There are basically no negatives that I have with it. Some of the characters may not be great, but I can’t remember any truly awful ones (Like Roshi or Oolong) either so that’s a pretty big win.

Overall, The Law of Ueki is an incredible manga that I highly recommend. It’s fairly short compared to the average Jump (Or Shonen in general) series, but it contains a ton of fights within. The series got a sequel series a while back, which I’ll be checking out soon so you can expect a review for that title at some point. I can only imagine the plot hax that will be involved to make the fights even considering how skilled Ueki is. I doubt they can stop Hanon, but they can try. Between Hanon, Robert, and the others, it’s very tough to match the Law of Ueki’s high caliber villains. You should definitely enjoy this title if you are into action. Think of it was a grounded DBZ in terms of tone and finesse. Now we just need Ueki to get popular enough for people to compare him to Luffy some more!

Overall 9/10

The Box Review

Posted on October 23, 2014 by dreager1

All right folks, it’s true that Avengers:Age of Ultron’s trailer finally debuted, but we need to quickly refocus our attention to an older film. The Box arrived onto the world in 2009 and it was a very ambitious film that didn’t really know its own limits. Needless to say, it’s not exactly at Avengers level and I can’t guarantee an epic viewing experience. What I can guarantee…is a story with more riddles than characters.

We start off this adventure with Norma and Arthur Lewis as they try to make ends meet. Arthur wants to go to Mars and Norma just wants to get through another semester at her school. Unfortunately, both of their dreams are shattered when Norma is basically fired and Arthur fails the psych exam. (Red Herring number 1) Luckily, a sketchy man by the name of Mr. Stewart gives them a box and tells them that they can push the button and receive 1 million dollars…at the cost of someone’s life. Will the heroes quickly realize what the morally correct decision is or will they run for the money? This is Hollywood, but more importantly…this is the planet Earth. Who wouldn’t push the button? (Average main characters only so we’re not counting naturally epic characters like Superman and Batman)

Well, that’s not a bad start right? Well, things get pretty crazy from there. You remember that red herring from earlier? Well, the film is full of them and many plots are introduced without any resolutions. Is Arthur a little crazy or is Mr. Stewart just messing with him? (My money’s on the latter) Mr. Stewart warns the heroes not to contact the police and he takes it pretty personally when they do, but why should he care? By the end of the film, we find out that the police can’t really do anything about it either. Why is the government so corrupt? Okay, let’s address these issues a little more coherently after we check out the main characters.

Norma is the first character to meet up with Mr. Stewart and she tries to make the most of it. She’s had a pretty tough time recently and she also suffered from an accident that left her without most of her foot. The idea of getting 1 million dollars is just too great for her and she crumbles. It’s pretty sad for her even if it was expected. The reason why I can’t really root for her is that Norma isn’t very realistic. I don’t mind unrealistic characters, but this was not a good thing here. I’m addressing her attitude towards Mr. Stewart. It was like the guy could do no wrong at some points. Even after he messed with their son and threatened the heroes multiple times, Norma treated him as if he was just a friend of theirs. She never really treated him as an enemy and that could definitely be pretty annoying.

Arthur isn’t much better although I dare say that I liked him a little more than Norma. His lack of realism comes from the Library chase scene and basically every scene in the second half of the film. A lot of supernatural things are happening and he takes it way too calmly. He doesn’t even seem to care half of the time as he just asks where the exit is…instead of wondering why the whole town is out to get him. He gets a classic rage mode scene where he threatens someone, but he doesn’t end up doing anything. Likewise, he grabs a gun during one scene, but he lacks the drive to pull through. It’s the hero’s move of course, but he still shouldn’t have let Mr. Stewart just walk out like that.

Mr. Stewart is the main villain and he’s not completely human. He doesn’t appear to possess any supernatural powers although he may have telepathy. He has alien technology that his employers gave him that allows him to subjugate anyone who is caught in the blue liquid. This gives him an army and then he’s ready to blackmail everyone. He throws a lot of threats around and he tries to be sympathetic as well, but I can’t say that it really worked. He betrayed the human race after the accident and he allowed himself to be corrupted. I don’t know why Arthur didn’t try to tackle him in the end. (You should have seen how Mr. Stewart ran!) At least Mr. Stewart can talk tough to the government and get away with it.

I don’t really like the main kid in this film so I’ll mainly bypass his section. He’s a little too much of a know it all and he’s not very smart when it comes to practical situations. He didn’t help matters for the heroes and he just ended up being a liability. Why couldn’t he have stayed home reading comics?

Okay, where to start! Things really blew up for the film when the nosebleeds start to happen. All of the townsfolk seem to be possessed at certain points before they “regain themselves” and try to help the heroes by giving signs. Pretty weak mind control eh? The expendables keep flip flopping in and out of their trance. We learn that they were all forced to go into the blue vat, which is how they lost their free will. So, are we to believe that all of these people were put into the pool? It seems like dozens upon dozens of people were thrown in…even a clown got in on the action! This is also fairly convenient for the bully from the beginning since we find out that he may have been possessed.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t add up. Mr. Stewart has no motive to make the kid insult Norma so we have to believe that he’s just normally a cheap character. Still, we do know that he was also possessed along with the bell boy so things start to get a little dicey. Mr. Stewart’s wife/right hand woman also jumps into the fray since she owns the library. It seems like she still has her free will, which is interesting, but I’m going to assume that she was meant to be possessed since it was out of place and Mr. Stewart is more alien than human now.

Once there, Arthur is given a choice between 3 portals. 2 will lead to Eternal Damnation and one will lead to Eternal Peace. Arthur obviously picks the Eternal Peace portal. (He found out after breaking through the mind control and getting the slaves to tell him, which the good portal was. Although, it was fairly obvious since two of the portals were dark blue and one was light blue) Unfortunately, he finds out that it was a sham since it just leads him back to his living room after a dimensional journey.

Spoiler Alert. I’ll just give you more time to get out of this paragraph with this line so that you can be sure to dodge the spoiler. The ending shows us that the two main characters are actually stuck in Purgatory and their choices here will result in whether they go to Heaven or Hell. (Or the film equivalents anyway) So, it is just the main characters in this place and everyone else is fake? Is everyone real and the whole town was thrown into Purgatory or is Earth itself already in Purgatory and it may have happened before they were born? The film will never bother to explain so you can make your own theories about it.

Of course, this brings us to the point of this whole charade. I guess it’s a morality test that Mr. Stewart has set up, but what about the town inhabitants that he has enslaved? Do they not deserve to get their own test to see if they are good people or have they already failed the test? One guy’s son is dragged off since I guess he completed his test, but now he’ll have to complete another one. The government warns him that his decision will have grave consequences, but he doesn’t seem to care since he’s basically drugged and out of it by that point.

Ah yes….the Government. Skeptics of the NSA will have a blast with this since they decide to work with a mad alien. Why did they just bow before Mr. Stewart so willingly? We actually see many armed guards just stand by the main villain with the NSA director just watching and (almost) crying. The NSA seems to be petrified of this guy, but it’s confirmed that a bullet is enough to destroy Mr. Stewart so they should be a little braver. He has some hi tech equipment, but he’s still just a guy. Let his “Employers” come…the NSA will just take them out too!

You could go on and on about this film for quite a long time, but you start to lose track of what’s going on with the film’s many plots. Mr. Stewart’s technology allows you to rid someone of their senses (2 out of 5 in this case) but then he can also give the person back their senses somehow. I suppose that he actually does have some powers to pull that off since it wasn’t a matter of tech that time. It’s sad for the humans since they’re basically powerless to stop these “high above” beings and they will just be toyed with. Even if they win their tests, these guys will just make new ones up so it’s ultimately pointless. The villains also seem confused since they go to the trouble of getting the wife and the son, but they allow Arthur to drive back home with Norma. (They still get the kid though) With their powers, they could have forced Arthur to stay back, but I guess it was all part of the plan.

The ending is pretty underwhelming as you may expect. It’s similar to a certain Ronin film and it’s not the kind of ending that you wouldn’t even wish upon your least favorite film! The heroes basically just accepted their insignificance in the grand scheme of things and allowed themselves to be puppets in the end. That’s not very satisfying if you ask me and they should have done something to escape their fate. Maybe next year…

I would talk about the soundtrack, but it’s basically nonexistent here. There’s not really a lot of romance so that’s always a plus. A little here and there, but it could be a lot worse. The bully at school is pretty wince worthy and the deformations can be a little hard to look at, but I suppose that it’s part of the point. I still wish that Arthur and Norma could have been a little more assertive in those scenes. The babysitter’s lies may have made for an intriguing moment and especially as she went through the motel with the brain controlled zombies, but we all had a feeling that the plot would vanish given the film’s track record. Everything goes back to nothing. (I don’t believe that all of the town’s folk could be kidnapped by the NSA and nobody would notice…it’s a bit of a stretch)

Overall, The Box is the kind of film that you would only want to watch if you like to watch films that are very vague so that you can make up your own version of what happened. There are some scenes that are fairly interesting and they had potential, but the film couldn’t live up to it. It just blew itself up along the way and ended up going out with a whimper. I do applaud the fact that is tried to be contain so much in a single film, but it couldn’t pull it off. Don’t bite off more than you can chew after all. (Meta + Unexplained, Convoluted Plotlines + Arthur = Loss) If you want a complex film filled with mystery and adventure…check out The Big Sleep. It’s a classic and I dare say that it’s a little more suspenseful.

Overall 3/10

Firestarter Review

Posted on October 20, 2014 by dreager1

Note that this review is of the edited TV 14 version. All thoughts below pertain to this specific version as a review of the original would likely be more negative.

I’m sure that we’re all familiar with Stephen King. His books are definitely popular and he has written a ton of them. They’re about as mainstream as you can get for older fiction and many of his titles have naturally gotten films and miniseries. Firestarter came out quite a long time ago so we’ll see if the story is as chilling and action packed as it used to be back in the day. I can say that the sound effects really hold up!

“mm mm mm mm” is a sound that you’ll never forget after watching this film! Well, the plot involves Andy McGee and his daughter Charlene as they try to evade the cops. ….Just kidding, these guys are actually from “The Shop,” but they are just as deadly. Andy possesses telepathy and some brief telekinesis or the technology equivalent while Charlene has advanced pyrotechnic abilities. Charlene is said to have the power to blow up an entire planet (Once she’s older) and Andy can definitely become a threat depending on who he comes into contact with. The Shop must recapture these individuals and use their abilities to create more meta humans and take down America’s enemies. All in a day’s work eh!?

The film definitely feels dated for some of the scenes, but I’m always ready for a retro adventure. The feel of the film also tips you off that it’s aiming at older audiences with the few death scenes that we get. The film actually isn’t very violent considering, but the guy who starts to blow up at the hospital and the wife’s demise keeps things in perspective. Most of the other deaths happen with special effects thanks to the fire that is being thrown around.

The fire effects are pretty fun to watch and you’ll feel like you’re watching a TV show with super humans. No matter how old or new the show is, live action episodes tend to be fighting on the same level so a fire blast in the 80’s from Charlene can hold up just as well as a fire blast from a villain in Agents of Shield or The Flash. It’s a good or bad thing for the medium depending on how you look at it, I enjoy the effects so I’d say that it’s pretty good and fire is one of the basic elements so it’s natural that it would be perfected fairly early in TV history.

The fight scene with Charlene at the end it pretty intense since we’ve been waiting for her to fight! The action scene is longer than I would have guessed and it’s also more impressive than I could have thought as well. Bullets definitely aren’t a good bet against her and Charlene is basically invincible at this point. The only thing that she has to worry about is the time that it takes for her to power up.

Charlene is about as decent as a kid can be, but I still don’t really care for protagonists that are kids. It works better in anime I’d say. In a film, it’s just hard to take a child seriously and Charlene is also very gullible when the situation starts to get dangerous. I felt bad for Andy because if the powers had been reversed, things could have been a lot different. Charlene’s powers are incredible, but then she decides to never use them against someone again….during a moment where the situation is even more dangerous than usual. It’s good not to destroy someone of course, but she should still use scare tactics and hurl fireballs to keep the enemies guessing.

Andy is a pretty decent main character although he doesn’t think things through as much as he should. His final scene comes to mind as a number of other commands would have been more effective than “Jump.” “Drop The Gun, Give Me The Gun, Throw The Gun, Shoot…..all of your bullets away,” etc. Beyond that, it’s hard not to like Andy when you consider his power. It’s very catchy since he basically says “mm mm mm mm” directly into your mind as he overcomes it. It was likely a directorial choice to add the sound effect, but maybe they asked Mr. King about it. Either way, it made his power a lot more interesting since that was a lot of fun. Andy definitely could have trained a little more though. He really scrunches up his face whenever he uses the ability so you can tell that he can’t keep it up for very long. (I felt bad for the Cab Driver since he’s going to go home a lot poorer than he thought!) Andy’s original scene in the hospital is super cheesy, but I’ll let it slide this time. He’s definitely a product of the 70’s/80’s and he’s got the accent to top it all off. He’s better than your average protagonist. Thinking about it….Andy may just not be hero material. After someone shoots Charlene with a sleeping dart…he doesn’t move away and Andy lets the guy shoot him as well. His reflexes are very slow.

John Rainbird is one of the main villains and he can definitely hurt the overall score. I dare say that he ended up bringing the score down from a 4-5 to 3 in the end. His scenes as he pretends to be a janitor are pretty painful to watch and you’re just waiting for him to take a loss the whole time. Again, Charlene was way too gullible here. John also has some mild resistance to the telepathy, which was disappointing, but it was partially Andy’s fault. John doesn’t have any redeemable qualities as a villain and he just pulled the film down.

The heroes get driven to a house by a nice resident at one point and I liked the guy. He was pretty sharp on the uptake and he was ready to defend the heroes. He was skeptical at first, but I would have been as well. The important thing is that he ultimately decided to help out and show the heroes what a true gunman is. He may have been knocked out of the fight pretty quickly, but the important thing is that he really tried.

Hollister could be called the main villain I suppose. He seems to be the highest ranking villain at “The Shop” and his ambitions are pretty great. He starts to play second fiddle towards the end though and he’s intimidated by John’s threats. He’s a much better villain than John, but I still can’t say that he was great. His plan was risky from the get go and he didn’t handle the Charlene situation very well. At least he takes a good amount of time out of his day to work on his haircut. It’s a start. We also have a doctor who is introduced at one point, but his most memorable scene is when he’s driving away on his trolley as he continues to look back to where Charlene is. It wasn’t his best move!

There isn’t really much of a soundtrack aside from the “mm mm mm mm” noises during the telepathy sessions. The effects are good though so that helps out as well. I don’t think it will end up being a terribly memorable film, but it was worth the trek. One final thing that reminds you that this is more of a retro film is one of the decisions that the villains make. As Charlene is blowing up a bunch of cars…a few of the men run towards one. This would prove to be their final mistake as it ended up exploding, but you have to wonder what they were thinking. They were seriously outgunned.

I do have to give the film a big thumbs up for one scene. Towards the end of the film, everything is burning so we think that the horses may be toast. Luckily, Charlene saves them and the camera makes sure to show you that they got away safely. It was a classy move on the film’s part and it shows that you can definitely avoid animal violence if you really want too. That was definitely a solid move.

Overall, Firestarter is an intriguing film. I dare say that it feels like an old school slasher during some parts of the film and more like a slice of life in others. The two main characters aren’t bad, but the villains range from slightly under average to terrible. The guy with the shotgun was pretty great although it was sad that he couldn’t do a little better in the gunfight. This is the film for you if you want a Supernatural type of adventure with escaped convicts and action. Still, you’ll have more fun watching DBZ Cooler’s Revenge if you want a story of a Saiyan overcoming hardship as he shows the world that he is more than human. As a sidenote, it’s interesting to wonder how Charlene would fair against the Avengers from the 2012 film. We can assume that a fireball would likely crush Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Captain America. Iron Man’s armor has been shown to be weak against fire and Thor had to dodge machine gun fire so I’m not sure how he would fair. Hulk could end up being the final obstacle and then it all depends on how long Charlene can evade him. Given time, I believe that she could defeat him as well. Still, I guess I would side with the Avengers if they all fought against her at once. (This is assuming that she is already in her awakened state of course, so no charge up is necessary)

Overall 3/10

Justice League of America Sanctuary Review

Posted on October 17, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for a classic (Pre 52 anyway) Justice League story. This isn’t an iconic event and it’s not even the climax to an arc. No, this is just an installment in the middle of the Justice League of America’s run back in the day so this is a perfect way to see how it holds up. Is it new reader friendly? Is it action packed? Luckily, I can say yes to both of those questions.

The title actually hints at the plot as many villains are on the run since they are being targeted by the Suicide Squad. You would think that the villains would have a clear edge, but the Squad has grown tougher over the years. They have a man who has the strength of a wild animal, The Sargent/General (DC’s version of Red Hulk) and several other members, but I’ll admit that none of them left a lasting impression. They have already gotten some of the big guns like the Joker, Lex Luthor, and Grodd so the final villains realize what they have to do…..they have to turn themselves in to the Justice League! This starts a pretty interesting plot as the League does tend to be at odds with the government on several occasions. Has Amanda Waller overstepped her boundaries?

The other half of the comic deals with what the heroes find when they try to track down the mission villains and we also get a long discussion with Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. They talk about the team and there are a few hidden insults as well as the three of them try to out think the other two members.

Cliffhanger wise, I can’t say that it was an amazing one, but it was what I would consider solid. The villains have plans of their own and this makes them look a lot better since you may have assumed the worst when we heard that they had all been beaten by the government. As Luthor basically states, this particular twist has been done a few times already though so it’s not shocking, but it does have the potential to give us a lot of great fights. The Martian Manhunter is also dealing with troubles of his own. (By the way, this graphic novel apparently leads into Final Crisis so I guess it was sort of related to an event after all!)

This collection deals with a lot of government intrigue and political talk as we have to decide whether it’s a good thing that the government is capturing all of the thugs or not. Naturally, I agreed with Batman that when nobody can see what the government is doing, they start to cross the law. As always, the government looks shady to the point where you can say that Waller and her group are just as evil as some of the villains. They just want to eliminate the villains for good. It would save hundreds if not thousands of lives, but resorting to destroying the villains is just as bad. Their prison is basically a death sentence after all.

Batman’s portrayal plays out as you would hope. He doesn’t get a lot of action, but he’s always a step ahead of Waller. Instead of making threats, he’s busy finding out where the prison is and alerting his teammates to Waller’s assault on the Watchtower. (You have to admit…it would have been Awesome if that had happened during the TV show. Her gang wouldn’t have stood a chance if Superman and the others had shown up) The Dark Knight doesn’t really get much better than this and he was a highlight of the collection!

Superman also looks pretty sharp. There seems to be an event that happened with Vixen a while back, but it evidently wasn’t Superman’s fault (Too much) although he should have been able to dodge. He has the speed and that must have been a character plot hole. Regardless, he’s still the heart of the team and he likes to take an optimistic look at what the team is doing..even if it’s shady. He’s probably the only hero who keeps up a polite pre tense with Amanda Waller.

From the big three, Wonder Woman definitely gets the smallest role or at least it felt that way. Technically, she does get a team up issue with the Flash that helps to even things out. You can even argue that technically she appears the most and it just feels like she didn’t appear as much because she didn’t get as many memorable scenes. She looked pretty good in the team up although I was mostly busy feeling sympathetic for the Flash. You can definitely tell that she’s one of the big leaguers.

The Flash only gets a brief appearance in his team up issue, but he seems like a nice guy. The Flash has easily been one of my favorite leaguers, but I’m usually talking about Barry Allen. I like Wally West, but I can’t say that I find him as likable as Barry…usually. He was definitely very good here and he may have been blowing the league off, but I’m sure that he has his reasons. His super speed always comes in handy and personality wise, he’s a pretty complete hero. (Like Mega Man) Hopefully we will see more of him in future issues.

Vixen gets a rather large role in this graphic novel due to a side plot that revolves around her. She used to harness the powers of animals through her amulet, but now she has been able to absorb the powers of heroes around her. This means that she can have the strength of Superman and she can even use Green Lantern’s energy blasts. It’s pretty surreal and it’s definitely something that is useful to have. Because of this, you could say that she’s one of the League’s power hitters although she only gets into a brief skirmish with one of the Suicide Squad’s members. It’s a pretty interesting plot and I’ll be sure to stay tuned.

Red Arrow doesn’t look very good though and his plot isn’t very interesting either. He is pretty desperate in his search for Cheshire and it doesn’t do his team any favors. The last thing they need is for him to start falling into traps. He usually has a pretty cool air about him, but he’s not very likable here. Hopefully he gets over that situation pretty soon.

We also can’t forget the surprise villain at the end. I guess I won’t spoil who it is, but he’s usually not a fighter. Luckily, he stumbled onto a piece of tech (Or something or magical origin) that allows him to give the Justice League a decent challenge. Even Superman can’t snap these blue threads, which was a little of a stretch to be honest. You can tell from his design that this villain isn’t going to be taken seriously very often, but his plan was decent and pretty well thought out. I’m not a fan and I don’t find him terribly interesting, but I’ll give him some props for the attempt. Think of it as a little filler before the real battles.

Amanda Waller makes for a pretty interesting villain as per usual. I don’t like her methods as a hero, but she does usually make for a fun antagonist. She gets to trade hidden insults with Batman and their mind games always tend to be pretty intense. I’m sure that we’ll see a lot more of her in the future, although I have to say that she really didn’t think through her plan that much here. Sending the villains away to the “prison” is good (for her) and all, but she should at least check to see what’s happening once and a while. In the DC universe, you never know what’s going to happen with a situation like that.

I’ll admit that I liked the Key’s confidence. With a power like his, it’s easy to see why he’s like that. I like to think that the villains still could have put up a decent fight against the Suicide Squad, but I guess it does pay off to play it safe sometimes. It gave the beginning an event feel as the group is on the run and we have to hope that the villains make it out…unless we just wait for the League to take them all down.

The art is pretty solid. It’s admittedly not as sleek as the New 52 comics, but that also allows the heroes to look a little more built as well. Superman is definitely pretty muscular here and I like how he takes charge. (Unlike the Avengers) Superman stands up to Waller’s cronies and he doesn’t give an inch. This is why he’s Superman! Whoops, I diverged from the art a bit. Needless to say, the art is pretty good.

One thing to note is that there is not a whole lot of action to be found here. There are a few skirmishes and a small battle with Queen Bee, but that’s about it. This collection is mostly plot based, but The Justice League of America manages to pull this off pretty well. More action is almost always better, but I can deal with a break from it if everything else is top notch. It’s also heavily implied that the next volume will have a lot more action since the plot is really getting close to the climax.

Overall, This is a fun Justice League comic. Unfortunately, we don’t really get to see the big 3 get a lot of action, but their meeting helps since they still get a decent amount of screen time. Superman gets to stand up to Waller and Batman quickly uncovers the enemy plans. It’s really everything that you could want in a Justice League comic and naturally, we have some fight scenes ready as well. It’s a title that I recommend to any comic fan, whether you are reading it for the action or the plot. Either way, it is just an interesting read from start to finish and you can tell that this is the calm before the storm.

Overall 8/10

Mega Man Volume 6 Breaking Point Review

Posted on October 17, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for the latest volume of Mega Man! The title could really have several meanings, but I’m aiming for either the very ending or the Break Man appearance This collection brings four stories and aside from one of them, they were all pretty solid. The story that I didn’t really care for had a pretty fun side plot though so it all evens out into a win!

In the first comic, the year has almost ended. Everyone had been hoping for a peaceful New Year’s Eve, but it turns out that a group of terrorists want to spoil the festivities. These guys mean business and Mega Man is put on the case along with Agent Stern. Will Stern be able to prove that robots can never be better than cops because of his instincts or will Mega Man’s robotic enhancements prove superior? That’s the question that must be asked as the race against time begins.

It was a pretty fun start although the stakes were low. It’s really a holiday comic with a little action to keep you ready for the future issues. It should be noted that the villains have a connection to the Agent’s partner and they may end up becoming a real threat in the future. Maybe….it’s hard to see them ever getting a huge role, but it’s always possible.

The second comic is the weak link of the bunch as Roll decides to play matchmaker for Splash Woman and Mega Man while they are at the Arctic. (Or Antarctica….one of those places!) Mega Man is a little too cool for that though, but it does result in some unnecessary tensions. The moral at the end basically proves that they are too young for that and they should just stay as friends anyway. The side plot is a lot more interesting as Agent Stern debates against Dr Light about whether or not robots are actually good for society. I found myself agreeing with Agent Stern a whole lot and basically shaking my head at everything Dr Light said. I really don’t like Dr Light and this reminded me why. He must be one of the worst characters in the Mega Man series! The story also showed us that Agent Stern may be strict, but he’s also a good guy deep down.

Things really start to heat up in the third comic as Break Man launches his big offensive against Mega Man. It was the Blue Bomber’s Birthday, but he won’t get to celebrate because of the chaos. Break Man easily manhandles Mega Man’s allies so the hero is forced to get serious. He still doesn’t like to fight, but he always puts his friends first. Break Man better be ready for the toughest brawl yet!

The 4th comic takes place immediately after the third….and yet it doesn’t. The big crossover with Sonic and Mega Man took place during this break, but they don’t remember what happened to it was more like a brief pause with the fight. Mega Man is about to continue when Roll makes the mistake of jumping onto the field. Break Man defeats her and the injury appears to be severe. Mega Man may have to do the breaking this time.

As stated earlier, I really don’t like Dr Light. He’s way too optimistic to the point where it seems like he’s just denying reality. He knows that robots have been corrupted in the past and they have even hurt civilians and damaged property. Knowing this, Dr Light still acts as if the robots are completely safe and he just wants them to basically run the world. There will be a robot for just about everything and if they ever went rogue, they would basically put number the humans. I think Dr Light really needs to step back and think about what he’s doing. Robots can help make the world more convenient, but the danger really outweighs the reward.

Mega Man is a pretty great hero. I’m glad that he easily avoided the romance trap and he handled the terrorist threat pretty efficiently. I would have liked him to take out Break Man with ease once he entered into his rage mode, but at least he didn’t joke about it as you would expect from other heroes. Mega Man is basically the perfect main character as he’s a good fighter and he doesn’t shy away from the arena, but he still tries his best to diplomatically end all hostilities. I’m sure that Roll’s situation is going to affect his mindset going into future battles, but he will likely do a good job of handling it.

This definitely wasn’t Roll’s best appearance though. First we had the matchmaking comic and then she interfered with Mega Man’s battle. It’s good to tell him the truth about Break Man, but she definitely should not have jumped in without being prepared for a fight. She should have disclosed the information to Mega Man after the fight was over. Let’s face it, Mega Man rarely does permanent damage to his opponents and I’m sure that Break Man would have been just fine. A few more minutes of deliberation would have saver her a lot of trouble here.

Some of the other Robot Masters like Cut Man and Ice Man appear, but their roles are minimal. I highly doubt that any of them will be integral to the plot ever again either. Their times have gone and passed at this point. Splash Woman got a bit of a role in the second comic, but she doesn’t get to fight. I’m not really a fan of any of the current Robot Masters that appeared in this volume aside from cameos. They also look very weak power wise as Break Man didn’t even have to try to defeat them.

Break Man is a decent villain, but I don’t think that his reason for vengeance on Mega Man was handled that well. The misunderstanding in his origin was already pretty drastic since he knew Dr Light pretty well and a quick visit would have cleared things up. Unfortunately, Break Man hasn’t forgotten that and now he just wants to wreck Mega Man’s day so that the hero will be sad. It’s not the greatest reason to join the fray and no matter how many hardcore lines he gets, it’s just petty in the end. I’m sure that he is going to become a full fledged hero soon and we already got a glimpse of that a few comics ago. By that point, I’ll likely become a fan once again, but he’s definitely fallen for now. At least his power was very accurately represented since he is close to Mega Man in overall ability, but he should ultimately be inferior. I’ll be very skeptical if he manages to beat Mega Man at some point….verrrrry skeptical.

As cool as the robot plots are, I mainly just enjoy them for Mega Man and the action. The humans may actually be more interesting on average since I really don’t like Dr Light, but I enjoy Agent Stern’s speeches. Whenever he debates Dr Light, it’s something to remember and I hope that he sticks around as a main character. Dr Wily only gets two brief appearances and nothing really happens with him except for his hasty retreat. I can’t say that he looked very good at all here, but I’m sure that things will look up for him at some point. Maybe he’ll have a fight with Agent Stern at some point.

The cliffhanger for the volume is pretty epic for several reasons though. We know that Mega Man is going to want to smash something once he is able to move so Break Man has to be careful about his next moves here. Of course, he’ll want to think fast since Ra Moon is making his move and the entire planet may be forfeit. With Mega Man out of the fight and Break Man decently fatigued…this could be the end for the heroes!

The art is pretty good as expected. The color scheme really works for the character designs and the energy blasts. That really pertains to the robots though since the humans don’t always look very sharp. I think they can maybe look a little stretched at some points, but overall it looks pretty good. The art definitely doesn’t hold the series back.

Overall, This Mega Man volume brings the series back to its core. The plot has returned and the stakes in the final comic have risen to the highest yet. I thought that the last volume or two was pretty slow, but that’s certainly not the case here. This is a must read for any Mega Man fan and it’s also a title that’s easy to just pick up and read at any time. Everything about the comic just makes it easy to get into and you’re sure to have a quality experience. Now, all we need is for Bass to appear and the series will have really reached its peak!

Overall 8/10

Edge of Tomorrow Review

Posted on October 14, 2014 by dreager1

This film is definitely way more recent than some of the others that I’ve reviewed as of late. (With the exception of Assault on Arkham) It’s time for a good ole 2014 film and this one looked pretty good when I saw the trailer in theaters. I’m always up for an alien invasion film and it looked to have the exciting explosions from Battleship while being a few pegs ahead in terms of writing and character development. It was about as good as I expected although it was also a little lighter on the action than I had anticipated as well.

William Cage is the protagonist of this story and he didn’t really want to get involved in the big battle against the alien invaders. He was happy to report on what was happening, but getting on the frontlines was for the soldiers. Unfortunately, he upsets an army general who forces him to go to the frontlines and things can pretty tough for him from there. He dies. Luckily, Mr. Cage managed to take out a Mimic first, which has allowed him to enter the timestream.

To provide some more background on this, the alien leader has a complete mastery over time. It’s why the aliens are crushing the heroes so easily. Whenever one of the alien Mimics is destroyed, it can go back in time to relive the day and to inform the other aliens of what is going to happen. So, by destroying one of them, Mr. Cage now acts as a Mimic and he gets to relive the day whenever he is destroyed. It’s really not a bad deal, but dying all of the time can be pretty sad as well. I have some issues with this part of the plot, but I’ll get to that later. Mr. Cage realizes that his only way out is to end the invasion once and for all so he will have to locate the war hero (Vrataski) in order to vanquish the aliens once and for all.

Okay, let’s talk about the parts of the plot that I find a little hard to believe. One is that nobody has ever destroyed a Mimic at close range before. I find that really hard to believe considering how long the war has been going on. From the start of the film, they act as if the war has been going on for years and years. America didn’t even join in at first, but we hit pretty hard when we did go in. So, there should be other humans that have obtained this ability. By “more” I’d say at least 10-100. The odds of finding a Mimic are apparently 1/1000 or something like that, but that’s not a terrible odd when you’re involved in a war.

Another dicey part is the hiding place of the master alien. Let’s just say that it picked a very iconic and legendary position to set up shop. How could nobody go to this area during the entire war? It’s not very feasible to think that the alien can easily escape and its travel speed is likely very slow. The heroes were definitely slacking off here and the governments should have been on top of this.

William Cage is a pretty good main character. Unfortunately, he still does suffer from the negatives that plague most mainstream leads. No matter how serious the situation is, he quickly thinks of romance and comes up with some terrible reasons to try and jumpstart this. It’s played for laughs of course, but it certainly doesn’t help his case. I do like how he immediately resorted to blackmail though since that felt pretty “American.” No offense intended of course, but he just did what seems natural to many people at his level. Why risk his life for our planet? He eventually learns how to fight though and he does a pretty good job of taking on the enemies. He’s a little slow on the draw at first, but he becomes a pretty capable warrior by the end. The film takes place over a span of around 1 year based on the amount of days that he had to relive. That’s a lot of time and it’s a wonder that he kept it together. Cage is a pretty decent lead, but I guess he’s pretty interchangeable. I’ll take him over James Bond or Jack Sparrow though and that’s already a pretty solid step up. For the most part, he really he is a solid character, but he’ll strike you as just being very generic.

Ms. Vrataski is the hero who has slain many aliens and she is supposed to be virtually unstoppable. There is a plot twist about this that really eliminates most of her reputation though. I suppose that a figure head is always necessary to win the big battles, but she’s only pretty good at fighting. I wouldn’t call her legendary or exceptional. Especially at one point towards the middle of the film where the aliens continue to best her. I have to say that she was pretty underwhelming although you may have already surmised that from this paragraph. She tries really hard to be the next fan favorite character who’s as emotionless as Mikasa or Sai, but it just doesn’t work here. I assume that she has some kind of tragic past, but the film (thankfully) doesn’t explore this and you just wonder why she’s so mean to the main character. I would be too if I was in her position, but then she needs to back it up a little more while on the field. We also can’t forget how she left Cage to die in one of the first scenes. She’s just not hero material.

It’s time to mention another part that I found hard to believe. A lot of those in this film, but keep in mind that it’s an alien invasion film that deals with time travel and both of those genres already tend to have this “weaknesses”. Mr. Cage knows way more than he should. I don’t see how he would ever learn about someone’s true name through their origin. Most of the other pieces of intel that he acquires off screen are pretty believable, but at the same time it is still hard to picture for others. Even knowing so much about the Secretary was a little dicey at this point. Reliving a day an infinite amount of times is great, but there’s still so much that you can do in a day. Would someone really trust you with their ultimate secret after a single day? I don’t think so.

Aside from that, the film does a good job of avoiding the mainstream film holes. No animal violence, and the slight bits with romance are purely through dialogue and nothing is shown. That’s always a good thing and the action is pretty fun without being over the top in a negative way like we’ve been seeing recently with blockbusters.

The fight scenes aren’t a huge focus of the film, but they were very well done. The aliens are actually some of the fastest creatures that we’ve seen in this kind of a film. I’d actually take one of these against a Xenomorph, Predator, Chitauri, or a number of others. They don’t typically use projectiles, but they’re incredibly fast. If anyone’s seen Attack on Titan, they use a similar spin move to Levi’s. If you haven’t seen it, just picture a top once you spin it. Then imagine that the aliens can keep up this speed as they slice and dice throughout the war. I really liked these guys! The aliens are strategic and very deadly. It’s hard to imagine the army winning a single battle, but the film actually does provide us with an acceptable answer to that question.

Overall, Edge of Tomorrow is a pretty good alien invasion film. I would have liked to have seen the actual battle against the aliens some more or maybe our government leaders and how they plan out their next strikes. I think Cage’s plot was actually less interesting than those would have been, but it’s still good for what it was. We learned that you never trifle with the government as seen in one of the early scenes. I do applaud Mr. Cage for attempting to run though since at least he didn’t go down without a fight. I recommend Edge of Tomorrow as a solid alien invasion film, but don’t go in expecting this to be as thought proboking as other titles in its two genres.It’s a fun summer blockbuster and that’s good enough for me.

Overall 7/10

Transformers Classified The Complete Mission Review

Posted on October 11, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time to review the Transformers trilogy that came out a while back. These three books all take place in the film continuity, which can make longtime fans groan. Not to worry, you wouldn’t even notice if not for a few key references. None of the characters are quite as bad as the movie counterparts and the writing is certainly a lot better. This feels like a real Transformers adventure and it was a pretty fun ride from start to finish.

The first book is mostly the set up as we meet the Autobots and get to see them take down a few Decepticons. After that, we shift to Kevin’s point of view. He can’t get any homework done at his friend’s place due to a party that is going on so he heads off. He meets up with an Autobot named Gears who is currently looking for a special location to protect it from Decepticons. It ends up being hidden under a real government base so Kevin agrees to tag along so that he can finally get in on some action. Things get tricky when a Decepticon named Reverb tricks Ratchet into believing that he’s an Autobot and that they have to destroy Gears. This will definitely test the bonds of friendship between Autobots and Kevin will have to move quickly if he wants to survive this!

The second book gives Duane a bigger focus as he realizes that he needs to get closer to the heroes. He plans for his minions to steal some super tanks that a company has developed so he leads the heroes on a wild goose chase onto the next special facility. It actually turns out to be pretty useful and he works on earning Kevin’s trust while Reverb and the Decepticons attack the tanks and the Autobots. Can the heroes save the tanks or will they have to go back and make sure the Kevin and the scientists are okay. Meanwhile…when are they going to find Douglas?

Book 3 concludes the trilogy and I wish that I could say how it ended on a bang, but I really did prefer book 2. Duane places all of his cards on the table as he attacks with his tanks. The Autobots naturally counter, but a scientist decides to destroy all of the Transformers as he launches a satellite that will emit a code that will wipe them all out. Kevin and Gears decide that the satellite is the true priority and Reverb wants to live as well so a race against the clock starts. Meanwhile, we have insect worms that have invaded Earth and they are also attacking Douglas on the other planet. (Which actually gets a decent amount of screentime here as a subplot) One way or another…it all ends here!

Optimus Prime may not get a huge role in this trilogy, but it still may be a little bigger than you may have expected. He is guaranteed to get a fight in each of the three books and that’s always pretty fun. He takes down his the first Decepticon rather easily in book one and he also crushes the worms in the final book of the trilogy. (During the re match anyway) The only fight where Prime is on the losing side is when he faces off against Reverb and it’s mostly due to the fact that none of the Autobots or Decepticons are very athletic or quick, but I shall talk about that more in a bit. This is a pretty accurate depiction of Prime and he’s awarded the respect that he really deserves at this point. He seems to be a little more eager to convert Decepticons into Autobots here than usual, but he does ultimately want the war to be over. He can just be a little too naive in this when a single blast can change the course of a battle. He risks his spark with this decision more than once.

Gears is the main Autobot in this trilogy since he’s always hanging out with Kevin. His personality is pretty similar to Bulkhead’s or the green robot in Rescue Bots. He doesn’t really understand all of the Earth customs and such yet, but he still tries to help Kevin through his many hardships. Gears can be pretty cheesy though and he’s not the greatest fighter. He can definitely fight if he has too, but his leg is almost always injured. He beats Ratchet and Bumble Bee, but he’s not going to stand out after the trilogy ends.

Bumblebee looks pretty bad here. He doesn’t fall into any character holes, but the author must think that he’s the weakest Autobot of all time. Bumblebee doesn’t get to win any fights here and he is constantly crushed by random Decepticons. He always “talks” tough, but Bumblebee is the first one to hit the ground. He’ll charge at the villain, but they always seem to be quicker and stronger than him. It’s true that Bumblebee isn’t the toughest Autobot around, but he’s still a tough warrior and he gets the job done. I at least expect Bumblebee to put up a decent fight. That never happens here and Bumblebee’s role is very small, which doesn’t help either.

The only Autobot who may appear less than Bumblebee is Ratchet. Ratchet doesn’t look very good either since he can be worse than Prime when it comes to falling for Decepticon traps. The odds of Reverb actually being a hero are slim to none and he was very suspicious the entire time. Ratchet should have been prepared for such a course of action and he rarely helps during fight scenes. He has a cool buzzsaw, but you have to actually land attacks with it to make a difference. He gets to take down some of the worms and a Decepticon somewhere down the line, but he could have been a lot better. We need more fighters and less medics for the heroes!

Typically, I don’t like Ironhide, but he was actually pretty good here. He is always bragging or putting up a tough front. That can get old fast, but it’s good to see that at least one Autobot is always ready to fight. Considering how many Decepticons are around, The heroes definitely need more Ironhides. Despite his claims, Ironhide still isn’t that much tougher than the others. He has a lot of weapons, but he still struggles to beat a human tank and he is also quickly shut down by Reverb. He’s not a bad character, but he’s going to have to get stronger if he really wants to earn a rep. I am glad that he didn’t fall for Douglas’ tricks though.

Reverb is the main Decepticon and he’s really the only one to actually get a role here. He’s not ultimately powerful, but he can give Gears’ a good fight. He certainly knows how to get back on his feet though since he appears in all three books. He gets an energy shield, which immediately makes him stronger than the rest of the Autobots. It’s a little sad for the heroes, but it certainly gives Reverb bragging rights. He’s pretty generic, but as far as villains go, Reverb was all right. I should remember his name for a while now and he doesn’t let the humans boss him around.

Kevin is basically what you may expect from your average main character. The book does a good job of keeping him away from the romance angle and he just wants to have a good time. He does come with a tragic backstory though since his parents were taken out by Decepticons. Things get even worse for him after the first book as his brother is also taken away. Kevin manages to be pretty likable when he’s on screen although he can be a little wishy washy sometimes. He talks back to government officials as well as Autobots and Decepticons. Nothing can faze him and it’s pretty intense. He blew up at his friend in book 1 rather quickly though, which may make you doubt whether he makes for a good friend or not. All things considered, he’s a lot better than he could have been.

Duane is the main human villain of the trilogy. It’s not really a spoiler to say this because we find out pretty early on that he’s the main villain. He is rich and he just wants his Dad’s big inventions to fail so that he can prove to his father just how good he is. He’s willing to destroy just about anyone to further these ambitions and he’s very good at controlling technology. He can definitely be a handful for the heroes, but he definitely has the skills to prove why he can be useful to both sides. I think his character development in book 3 is very rushed though since an accident forces him to do a complete 180 on his plans. I don’t know…the whole thing happened without a lot of foreshadowing. It’s just hard to picture him changing so drastically because of the one event. I think the series may have been planned to be longer than 3 books or the author just lost track of time there. Still, Duane may be the best human villain that we’ve seen in Transformers since the Hunter in the original show.

Douglas is Kevin’s brother and he’s a pretty noble character. The author tries to portray him as the ultimate hero. He’s a tough commander, but he still makes time to joke around and become buddies with all of his subordinates. His will to survive never wavers and he’s firmly planted on the side of justice. He can be a little too strict at times though and Douglas tends to be very slow on the uptake. The author really tries to force you to like him, but that’s more or less okay since he’s a solid character. (Of course…that’s the point of the plan…) I wouldn’t have minded a book about his journeys on the planet.

Simon Clay is another villain whose character development goes through a radical change between books 1 and 2. You can even argue that it started towards the end of book 1. He was a capable villain at first and then he is completely used for comic relief in the final two books. He’s terrified of the Decepticons and he’s even scared of a kid. (He doesn’t know that his boss is a kid of course, but it’s still pretty embarrassing) He’s always running away or stuttering when Reverb is around and it’s pretty sad. I liked him a lot in book 1 and after that you can only like him in a comic relief way. I actually don’t mind that form of him, but you simply cannot try to be both serious and comic relief. You have to choose one or the other or you will fail at both. That’s what happens to Clay.

Let’s address the power levels of the Transformers. This is the movie continuity so it explains why they’re so weak, but it can be a little sad to fans who only watch the shows. The government’s tech is already almost up to par with the Transformers’ and it’s heavily implied that it is superior. The 1 on 1 battle between Ironhide and a tank ends with the Autobot’s victory, but Duane was holding back so throw away any suspicions that the heroes may have gotten. The scientist was also able to create a ray that could destroy all of the Autobots, but the heroes admit that it may not have worked anyway. Basically, a simple missile can deal critical damage to a Transformer and the government also has liquid metal that can instantly KO them. The Transformers are in a very dangerous pickle here.

What can also be a little annoying is that all of the Transformers seem to be more or less equal power wise. A good shot from a blade or a gun can KO just about anyone. The Autobots typically win because they attack first or land the opening blow, but the Decepticons really seem to have an even chance if they would only land a blow. I think there should be more of a gap between someone like Prime as opposed to the average Autobot.

One of the great positives about the trilogy is the fact that the books just go very quickly. They are a little on the short side (Around 130-160 pages a book and the print is fairly large) but I’m not really referring to length. The plot is very engaging and the dialogue between the characters is interesting enough to just keep you reading. The very first scene in the trilogy can start off a little too quickly since you’re just picking up the book, but it’s clear sailings from there. I typically finished off large portions of the trilogy in a single batch because of how fun they were. (Maximum Ride still holds the record in that regard as I would read a complete book in one sitting. I read a whole Transformers book in one batch as well, but Maximum Ride is about three times bigger)

Overall, This is a pretty great trilogy. We get some nice fight scenes and the human characters are actually pretty interesting. My only warning is that you should not expect the Transformers to operate under many tiers as mentioned earlier. There isn’t much that separates someone like Optimus Prime from someone like Ratchet. They’re more or less equal when it comes down to a fight, which makes things dicey against Reverb. The second book is actually the highlight of the trilogy, but the third still does have some fun action with Douglas and his party as they try to survive on the blue planet. Drama, Suspense, Action…this trilogy has it all!

Overall 8/10

The Invisible Man Review

Posted on October 10, 2014 by dreager1

The 30s aren’t particularly known for their immense selection of incredible films, but they still did churn out some pretty big titles. The Invisible Man is certainly one of them and almost everyone has heard of this figure. He was a character who could scare just about anyone back in the day. Considering that it is nearly a century old at this point, The Invisible Man presents us with a pretty interesting film that is fun to watch. I gotta say that this is definitely my kind of Horror Film! (It can give some of the Godzilla films a run for their money.)

The story revolves around a scientist whose experiment goes wrong and he turns invisible. No..that’s a little misleading. His experiment didn’t turn out as he had pictured, but he was interested in basically turning invisible so it was essentially a success. The big twist is that the chemicals also warp the user’s mind so he starts to get more and more sinister until the Invisible Man basically becomes a mass murderer with visions of world domination. The local authorities have to stop him..but how can you stop someone who is invisible? (And has super strength/speed as well…) The ultimate battle of good vs evil is about to begin!

The film is only about 70 minutes so things have to move at a fairly brisk pace. The film never moves too fast, but it goes quickly enough so that many things can happen. The film starts out pretty suspenseful and then it turns into more of an action by the end. There are some scenes that will definitely stretch your limit for disbelief, but this film is pretty old so it could be a generation gap. These moments will definitely be addressed in a moment.

The Invisible Man is the main villain of the title and it’s hard to tell if he was always evil or if the side effects of the potion really threw him over the deep end. Either way, it’s not a positive for the Invisible Man if you think of him as a hero. Luckily, I just think of him as a villain and he’s not bad in that respect. You can’t really root for him since his goals just seem to come out of nowhere, but what villain doesn’t want to become rich and rule the world? We can only see the Invisible Man when he has clothes on, but the serum definitely seemed to make him a lot stronger. He mentioned how it has opened his mind so it may go back to the theory that we only use about 20% of our mind and using more of it would give us super abilities. At least it’s sort of scientific depending on how you look at it. He can choke a man with ease and survive frigid temperatures while naked. He’s also a fairly quick runner and he can be in 10 places at once. (Not literally of course) He makes for a very powerful villain and one that realistically cannot be defeated…which makes the ending a little dicey.

The Chief Detective was definitely my favorite character in the film. He came up with a lot of plans to stop the Invisible Man and nothing fazed him. This was the kind of guy that you just didn’t want to mess with and I actually liked some of his strategies. The net may have been a little primitive, but he didn’t have the tech that we currently possess. He made do with what he had and it would be tough to do a whole lot more. I won’t be forgetting the detective!

Arthur Kemp doesn’t look very good at all since he’s basically a hostage for a good portion of the film. He is too scared of the Invisible Man to launch any counter offensives and the most resistance that he could commit was to call the Police. He made the right call, but he should have either stayed locked up in the room or ran outside to meet the police. The Invisible Man does have some basic super strength and speed, but I don’t think it’s by a large gap. Arthur could still run for a while and he wouldn’t go down without a fight. Even once Arthur is in the car. He just starts begging for mercy right from the get go instead of trying to fight the Invisible Man. If you’re going to die, you may as well fight back right? Just go for the gold at that point.

Most of the fighters don’t do very well against the Invisible Man and that can be a little embarrassing for them. They outnumbered him at least 50-1 at one point and he just scared them into submission. Their best chance was during the first showdown where they were face to face with him, but the crowds ran away when the Invisible Man took off his bandages around his head. They should have pounced right then and there, but the shock defeated them. After that, I don’t think that they really could have defeated him.

Being invisible is just too great of a power. There are millions of places to hide and you could also just reduce the town’s population one by one. It’s impossible to protect everyone and the Invisible Man is already fairly smart. He may have gotten careless at the end, but even then he should have been able to escape. Instead, he decides to play the final Mario 64 level with the Policemen taking the role of Bowser. This proved to be a fatal mistake and you have to wonder what he was thinking.

It’s also a little hard to sympathize with the Invisible Man at the beginning of the film. I did for a few minutes when everyone was scared of him for no good reason. Sure, he was bundled up, but it was freezing out there. The sympathy was lost when he began to yell at the shop owners the whole time. He could have easily finished his experiments if he had been more polite and less direct about everything. Because of that, the Invisible Man lost his chance.

We had a few other characters like the main heroine and her father, but they don’t really contribute to the plot. They are there to provide us with a little context and some backstory for the Invisible Man, but that’s about it. I do have to say that the first Policeman’s portrayal was pretty great though. At first, he doesn’t really care much about the Invisible Man’s situation. (Before they knew he was invisible) However, you can see him growing more and more confident as he walks into the room and the Invisible Man continues to hurl threats. The Policeman doesn’t back down until the Invisible Man starts to become invisible with his iconic laugh. I’ll admit that his appearance isn’t very flattering at that point, but the beginning is really what counts.

There isn’t really a soundtrack to be found here since the film is so old. I will admit that the film’s age does show when it comes to the audio. It can be very hard to hear what some of the characters are saying because their voices are just too screechy. This is especially the case for one of the owners, but it’s more intentional on her part. She’s a pretty exaggerated character, but a pretty likable one nonetheless. I felt bad for her and her husband since they were just trying to run a respectable shop. The audio was a little dicey, but it’s pretty unavoidable and it’s not the kind of thing that will really take points away.

Overall, The Invisible Man is a pretty fun film. The writing is pretty strong as you would expect and the characters are pretty interesting. I think that the Police really should have been out of their league here, but I’ll accept the plot hax since the hero has to win somehow. The towns people were way too afraid of the Invisible Man though and they shouldn’t have been. He’s still just one man and they can definitely take him if they all just charge. It was hard to take them seriously during those moments, but they pulled it together by the end. The town was pretty cool and it’s the kind of place that you definitely wouldn’t have minded living in back during the 30’s. I definitely recommend this film to horror films and it may not be a thrill a minute, but it’s a very good film. It will keep you interested from start to finish. You’ll never forget The Invisible Man’s maniacal laugh afterwards!

Overall 7/10

Ernest & Celestine Review

Posted on October 10, 2014 by dreager1

It’s time for an animated film that went under the radar. It does have a pretty big actress in the form of Lauren Bacall, but it’s not a film that I had heard of prior to now. It goes for a retro feel and the film is pretty fun. The cover technically explains most of the plot, but don’t get the wrong idea. This is a feel good film, not a heist blockbuster!

The plot involves a bear and a mouse. They live in different worlds (figuratively speaking) and their two species cannot coexist in harmony. The mice live underground and the bears live above it. Humans have been ~~appropriately~~ exterminated (Probably by Aliens) and Bears essentially rule the Earth. Celestine wants to be a great artist, but all mice have to become dentists. It’s just the way that things have to be. They tell her not to return to the underground world until she collects 50 teeth. Meanwhile, Ernest is pretty poor and he gets his musical instruments stolen after trying to earn money in town square. He’s at the end of his ripe and that’s when the two characters meet up. Ernest will help Celestine get the teeth and she’ll help him get some food. Of course, in the wise words of the shop owner of the Zelda CD-I games…”This is illegal you know”. Both of them are now being hunted by both civilizations….and this could get ugly.

The film suffers from a pretty slow start. Particularly Ernest’s subplot as we see him scrambling for money. It’s just about impossible to sympathize with him because he wants to eat the birds and he refuses to share his food with them. That’s not the hero that I was really expecting at that point and I was waiting for him to go back to sleep so that we could go to Celestine’s plot. Hers wasn’t great either, but I did think that the head honcho of the dentist committee knew his stuff. This guy wasn’t playing around and he really knew how to use the teeth to save someone’s speaking career. We have the class bully, the “nice” guy who is too afraid to leave the bully and we even have a sleeping room that is ~~ripped off~~ borrowed from Madeline.

That’s all well and good, but I can’t say that I was really invested into the film until the main characters met up. Then, it was time to escape the authorities and fight back. Celestine’s a lot more aggressive than Ernest when she speaks so she usually clobbers him verbally so that she can get her way. Ernest tries to stick up for himself a few times, but he’s simply no match for her. Everyone knows that Ernest is a nice guy at heart.

I’ve already talked a lot about Ernest and you can tell that he’s not really my kind of character. He gets a lot better by the end of course, but he messes up during his “hardcore” scenes and he should have put up more of a fight against the mice. He seems to be a bit of a pacifist, but the survival instinct should have kicked in and taken him to the next level. I also like to think that the other bears may have helped him out if Ernest had just asked them, but maybe these guys are meaner than they look.

Celestine’s plight isn’t quite as serious as Ernest, but it’s a lot more dangerous. Collecting teeth isn’t for the faint of heart since the bears will eat/crush you if they spot the mouse. I don’t blame Celestine for wanting to be an artist instead since that seems like a pretty raw deal. She’s a more likable character than Ernest and she also acts a lot tougher. She does have a few moments where she breaks down, but they both have some pretty dicey nightmares so that evens things up a bit.

I do have to say that the animation is downright terrible for a 2012 film. Of course, they likely had a very limited budget and were going for a nostalgic feel, but I’ve seen 60’s/70’s/80’s shows (Gundam, Transformers) that had better animation. I think the film could have tried a little harder to be more interesting visually. This kind of animation would have definitely had some trouble trying to get a fight scene going. I’d actually take CG-I or Flash over this animation and that’s a little dicey. There isn’t much of a soundtrack here so we’ll just skip that section altogether.

The film’s fairly short, but it’s pretty fun as stated above. There’s not a whole lot of depth to it and it may be hard to really like any of the characters, but none of them are downright awful. We have some cringe worthy figures like the kid who lost his tooth and Ernest, but the others are pretty good. It’s hard not to grin at the Candy and Dentist combo since that racket can really earn the two bears a lot of money. It’s a smart plan and at least they’re open about how they want to make money out of everyone’s misfortune. This is definitely not the happy little town that you may have been expecting since everyone has a hidden agenda.

Ernest & Celestine is fun for what it is, but it leaves less of an impact than other kid friendly films/shows. The colors aren’t as vibrant or engaging as what you may have seen from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Arthur has the more interesting characters. Carmen Sandiego had the more intense chase scenes and Strawberry Shortcake never forgets the morals. So, it’s not that Ernest & Celestine really did anything wrong, but it doesn’t really stand out. It’s like the classic Naruto film 1 argument. It’s a solid film, but why watch it when you can watch (almost) any of the other films for a richer experience. I think that’s the case with this film. It’s pretty fun, but we’ve seen most of the messages and character development in other media and they’ve done it more successfully. (Auto points for no sing alongs though)

Overall, Ernest & Celestine is a happy team up film that shows how the powers of friendship can always result in magical occurrences. The cops never stood a chance against these guys. One dicey thing for fans of the throwback genre may be that there isn’t really a big moral at the end. Ernest isn’t really sad about breaking the law and he would probably do it again if he was given the chance. The judge for the bears was pretty intense and nothing can faze him, but it could just be that he’s a little slow on the uptake. I would recommend this to people that are looking for a fun animated film to watch. It’s decent and there aren’t really any big mistakes that the film made. Of course, I would sooner recommend one of the animated features that I mentioned earlier since they do a better job at conquering this genre.

Overall 5/10

Batman Assault on Arkham Review

Posted on October 10, 2014 by dreager1

Batman gets another film to add to his impressive roster with this installment. It’s always good to see the Dark Knight in action and his scenes are easily the best part of the film. Of course, that ends up putting the film in a tough spot since it is really about the villains so Batman’s role is smaller than usual. This is a decision that ends up backfiring!

Amanda Waller knocks out a group of dangerous criminals and forces them to form the Suicide Squad. Refusal to comply with her orders will result in their immediate termination by a bomb that has been implanted inside of them. Their task is to retrieve the Riddler’s staff so now they have to break into Arkham Asylum. The members include King Shark, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Black Spider and Killer Frost. Of course, the mission won’t go very smoothly since Batman is always ready to defend his city and the Asylum does have some dangerous criminals like the Joker inside of it. Will these villains really follow their orders or will they go rogue?

Well, the film mostly plays out how you would expect based off of the plot and you may remember the Task Force from the Justice League show. Unfortunately, these guys definitely cannot hold their own film and you’ll find yourself waiting for Batman to show up. The episode in the Justice League show worked in its own way, although it’s one of the most inaccurate episodes to date. There are definitely a lot of plot hax to help the villains go along here as well since they aren’t strong enough to survive otherwise. Before going into the character selection, let’s address some of the negatives.

One of them is that the film has quite a lot of fanservice and fake romance that is pretty bad for the film. It happens quite a few times where the villains will strip down to trick the guards or to do a one night stand. These scenes are really unnecessary and they destroy any chance that the film had of being a solid installment to the DC universe. The film was just trying to show how evil the villains were and how they operate so differently from the heroes, but it just makes you dislike the cast more.

Ever since Flashpoint, (You can argue that we started getting there with Superman vs the Elite I suppose) DC has decided to ramp up the violence and to make the stories a little darker to fit the New 52 vibe. Even the stand alone titles like Son of Batman and Assault on Arkham are noticeably affected by this although a case can be made for Arkham that the fans would not expect anything less. Some scenes are fairly realistic like a person’s nose shattering when Batman punches it. Sure, that would likely happen, but do we really need to see it? It’s a small effect, but we get more drastic moments like heads blowing up and many expendables getting taken out. The whole atmosphere is just dark and it’s hard to enjoy the film when it acts like a common slasher. You’d think that you were watching Bleach or Resident Evil with how many people are taken out so quickly. Also, most of the scenes involve noncombatants, which can make it worse. I wouldn’t say that this film is as violent as Dark Knight Returns Part 2 or maybe Flashpoint, but it definitely ranks up there with some of the other recent titles and probably surpasses them.

Batman is naturally the best character here. He takes out random muggers while still being aware of the bigger picture. He arrives onto the scene pretty quickly once he finds out what’s going on and he proceeds to do a number on the villains. He’s outnumbered, but he really executes his moves with precision and skill. I can’t say that I had any problems with Batman’s portrayal here and it was really spot on. His only wavering moments may be when he has some trouble with Harley Quinn, but he still tends to pull a win out fairly quickly so I won’t take away any points there. This is why Batman’s still one of the best comic book characters out there.

Harley Quinn is in her recent version of the character and that happens to be the one that I really don’t like. The New 52 may have handled most of the characters pretty well, but Quinn was not one of them. She acts pretty crazy for most of the film, but it’s likely just an act as she proceeds to mess with anyone who gets in her way. She’s still pretty good with a gun and she now has some hand to hand techniques. Her constant flirting will immediately turn you off from her character though and even her start is way too randomly violent for you to start rooting for her.

Deadshot is essentially the leader of the Suicide Squad. He has a lot of experience and he has connections within Gotham. Everyone respects him as a natural leader and he basically gets what he wants. That being said, he has a kid as we can see from a picture that comes out a few times and he still indulges in a one night stand. That makes it hard to sympathize with him and you quickly lose respect for his character. He may be the leader, but he’s not even the strongest member there. I guess you can say that he’s like an evil Captain Kirk. He’s a natural leader, but he takes on his less desirable qualities as well.

Captain Boomerang doesn’t have much of an impact here compared to the other villains. He’s been through the Suicide Squad gig before and he doesn’t have a lot to lose. Unfortunately, he’s just another villain who is influenced by romance and he’s constantly getting outshined by Deadshot. Again, he doesn’t really have any likable qualities and he’s so weak that he really shouldn’t have survived the adventure. He’s really out of place here.

Black Spider claims to be a hero for the people as he destroys his opponents, but he doesn’t really pull this off. The Punisher still has his moral code that he doesn’t destroy innocents, but Black Spider takes out anyone who’s in his way. I like the name and he’s technically the best member here, but it’s a little hard to take him seriously. He threatens to take out the villains at one point, but then he just backs off for the rest of the film…the rest of the film…the rest of the film. You get the point. He proves that he is easily the best fighter of the group when he engages Batman and he’s someone who could probably hold his own film as the main villain, but we’ve already seen that moral in Superman vs The Elite so let’s not go there.

King Shark is sort of like Killer Shark only he’s DC’s villain. He has some mild super strength and his skin is hard enough to block bullets. It’s a little iffy there though since the bullets do seem to leave marks and bruises. He quickly becomes infatuated with Killer Frost, which ultimately leads to his demise as a character. He’s your average “Strong, but not smart” character and that’s the end of his development. He’s just there to get pummeled by good ole Batman!

Killer Frost is one of the more unlikable villains as she just plays King Shark off with her wiles while also choosing to dispose of cops in a romantic way when it’s completely not necessary. She’s the kind of character that I really don’t like as a villain. She never actually does well when the going gets tough and she’s the strongest villain here, but you really wouldn’t know it from watching the film. She puts her abilities to waste and you’d think that she could just freeze the bomb inside of her like any decent ice themed villain….

The Joker is back because you can’t really have a Batman film without him. It’s not one of his better designs, but we can deal with it. He’s shown to be a better hand to hand fighter than usual, but he is dealing with Deadshot. He actually forces Batman to retreat at one point due to some circumstances and his role gets to be decently large by the end. I’m still not a fan here though and he doesn’t look as intelligent as usual. He falls for the no bullets trick when he should have just fired and he definitely should have been destroyed by the guard that he met, but he has plot shielding with him.

We get a pair of guest stars in the forms of Poison Ivy and Bane, but they will likely not be pleasing appearances for their fans. Bane is purely mindless here as he just runs and destroys things. (Gone are the days when he was a master strategist, but he has been in Arkham for a while) Poison Ivy just seduces everyone that she can and she’s randomly taken down by some cops. At least Gotham PD (Or their special crimes unit anyway) can win once in a while.

The animation is pretty solid as we’ve come to expect for DC. The only moment that didn’t look very smooth was the opening where Batman arrives and then stands as still as a statue. His character model just felt a little odd there, but everything clicked into place as soon as the fights began. Batman has certainly gone through a lot of design changes over the years and this one is more similar to the late 80s or early 90s where he was very tall. It’s a good look and it helps during his fights against the villain powerhouses.

The soundtrack is pretty interesting and it’s a step up from what you can usually expect in these titles. There is a lot of electronic music to be found and I’m all for including more of that in the future films. It helps to make the fight scenes more exciting and a good soundtrack can really take you a long way.

In the end, this film just wasn’t one of DC’s better ones and I would actually say that it was a pretty weak title. The amount of fanservice in it was just way too excessive and they try to match that in violence as well. The whole montage for the villains at the beginning is basically just a time for you to wonder how the victim will die or be injured this time. Essentially, it’s a Batman story without Batman playing the center role and it doesn’t work. People end up buying Batman films and toys so much because they want to see Batman. Naturally, that’s why his name is on the title, but it’s only going to hurt future sales when fans realize that his role is so small.

Keep in mind though that the villains take the center stage isn’t a genre that I’m crazy about. It can be pulled off like in Ocean’s Eleven, but more often than not it will just end up like the Catwoman film. It’s why I’m not thrilled about getting a Suicide Squad or Sinister Six live action film. I did like TASM2 so in theory if can work if it’s still in that universe, but that may not even be the case anymore. (Also, if it was more like TASM1 in tone then it gets dicey again) Seeing the villains beat people who are even more evil is just not that appealing to me since they’re all just criminals in the end and that’s what this film is really about. (Although there are no worse criminals here except for the Joker)

The cherry on top depending on how you view the last scene is Batman’s threat to Waller. This scene can be pretty controversial depending on how you interpret Batman’s threat. Is he pulling another Batman Begins on us? I certainly hope not and I’m really trying to believe that he was just uttering an empty threat, but it’s just not very Batman like. So, I really think that it’s the former and that’s pretty unnecessary. Just don’t have Batman appear in the ending and then it’s fine, but throwing Batman in there brings up these questions. At least the Flash writer for DC comics can have some more fun with that since he’s already taken a shot at Batman Begins’ controversial decision in the comics…

Overall, I’d advise to skip Batman Assault on Arkham. If you’re a big fan of the games then you may still want to pick it up, but you’d be better off sticking with Batman Sub Zero or Mask of the Phantasm if you want a stand alone Batman film. This one just doesn’t feature the Dark Knight in it a whole lot and none of the Suicide Squad members are really that likable. There are also a lot of convenient plot moments here due to the circumstances and an easy two to pick out are the scenes where the Police Man didn’t shoot the Joker because he was busy looking at the grenade and the guy who was distracted by Harley Quinn instead of quickly taking down the group of villains. There are many more and it’s just a something that you can’t really avoid in this kind of film, but it can still be annoying since you’ll probably be rooting for the cops. (The non corrupt ones anyway) I have much higher hopes for the next Justice League film though and it should crush this one. Check out the trailer and you’ll be ready for the next adventure. At the very least, this one did inflate Batman’s dvd count and now I’ll be waiting for his next one.

Overall 4/10

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