Tag Archives: Review

Dr. Stone: 4D Science Review

Posted on by
Reply

It’s time for the return of Dr. Stone. After the series ended a while back, it returned briefly for a 3 chapter mini series. That was a pretty nice surprise particularly since it actually does add some more context to that controversial ending involving the time machine. Retroactively it adds a lot to the lore as well although this may have been a bit too ambitious for a 3 chapter series. The first chapter has a massive cliffhanger after all and the second one ends with some mysteries but the third has to wrap things up rather quickly. I’d say it feels rushed but I’m at least 99% confident this was meant to be a 3 chapter miniseries from the jump so I suppose that was intentional.

The series starts by having Senku remember his first time trying to make a time machine. He was a kid at the time and so he knew he couldn’t actually build one but what he could do was test to see if a certain event would happen in the future. For example, hypothetically if you built a time machine and did find a way to travel through time, the best way to prove it would be to leave something for your past self to find right? Well nothing happens so Senku gives up on it but in the present they decide to try again. To their surprise something does happen…they discover a message from Senku’s father implying that he was able to master time travel but how is that possible? It’s time for the scientists to work on one last case!

I do want to say that this experiment is the most logical way to test time travel and it’s also why I’m confident that it will never be discovered. In theory there would be some evidence at this point from people going back in time. I know a few counter arguments for it is that they’re really careful about changing time so that only the outcomes are noticeable and since that’s our present reality we would not be able to tell. I’m not sold on that but time travel’s always an interesting subject. So for the heroes to get a message from Senku’s father, that’s pretty big.

It’s a great hook from the first chapter and the only problem is that there are a ton of really fun scenarios you can make from that but the series doesn’t opt to go with any of them. It’s a shame because I think that would have been great. Perhaps a little “Jump the Shark” in nature since it would be way less science based but it would be fun. Instead the series opts to go with the cop out ending as in it ends before we see exactly what happened. The series allows you to decide for yourself if the time travel worked or if it didn’t. Me personally? I’d rather know one way or the other. The author needed to take a stand here and just tell us. Putting off the decision of what happened feels like the author was just playing it too safe.

Perhaps one day we will get a sequel to this that explores the ending because at least if the ending goes one way then there is plenty of room for a sequel and that’ll definitely change things in a big way. Beyond that the art is really solid as always. I like the realistic style that is always used for Dr. Stone. The writing is also good as you would expect with all of the characters making plans and it’s good to see that Senku really hasn’t changed a bit. He’s still a super logical person who doesn’t let anything get to him.

I did appreciate that Ryusui also got a really big role here. He’s the first one to pick up on something and the series hasn’t forgotten that he can compete in intelligence with everyone else. Perhaps not as a pure scientist, Chrome, Xeno, and Senku are definitely superior there but in overall intelligence and picking up on things, it’s hard to beat him. He was also doing his best to shield Senku from taking any emotional damage which I appreciate. The characters are really a close knit group at this point and even with society back, you figure they will always stay great friends and won’t drift apart.

There’s one emotional subplot in here that sort of comes out of nowhere though. At best you just don’t really care about it and at worst it feels like just a way to nerf a character. The all powerful alien cube beings apparently have emotions and just hide them behind logic. Why is this even a thing? It just doesn’t make sense to me and it has this whole emotional goodbye to everyone before going back into its emotionless mode. So why is his basically filler? Because if you skip that chapter, the status quo hasn’t changed. It’s back to being emotionless and in theory the emotional outburst will never be mentioned again. So…..yeah there just wasn’t much of a reason for this. I can’t say I felt bad for it either since the being creates a lot of the drama in this miniseries for no good reason. If it just talked things through with Senku that would have been way better and Senku would have understood since he is a scientist at heart. There are some twists of course since this miniseries is part mystery so I won’t go any further into the nitty gritty of what’s going on there.

Overall, This was a fun mini series. At only 3 chapters long it’s really a blink and miss it kind of title. You’ll be done with it so quickly that it almost feels like a one shot but in volume format it’ll be a fun way to see the cast again. Each character gets a quick moment to contribute and we also get a classic building roadmap which was always fun in the series. It’s a little too short to really go into too much detail on this but there’s still enough for you to feel the nostalgia. Outside of the cop out ending which is a little iffy, there’s nothing bad here so there’s really nothing to dislike. Particularly within the context of the 3 chapters limit I’d say it did a good job.

Overall 7/10

Godzilla vs. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to jump into the big Godzilla vs Power Rangers crossover. It’s safe to say that crossovers are always a great way to catch my attention. Whether it be for the power level discussions or just the interactions between the characters, crossovers really take my enjoyment to the next level. I’ve read way more Godzilla comics than Power Rangers but I like to think I’m still fairly familiar with the franchise thanks to the video games and the movie. In the end this story was definitely a blast and I look forward to the next crossover.

It starts off with the Green Ranger defying orders and attacking Rita and her associates by himself. Not the smartest move to be honest and he’s quickly dispatched as they warp across time and space into another dimension. This is the world of Godzilla where monsters roam around freely and the only defender of the planet is Godzilla…and he is not a merciful ruler. As long as you stay out of his way you’re good, but the local aliens are always causing trouble and stirring him up. Rita sees this as her big chance to rule the world because there are no Power Rangers to worry about here. But is she really ready to take on the King of the Monsters himself? Additionally, the Power Rangers make their grand entrance later on.

First up, the art is definitely great here. It’s all very detailed and colorful. Every page really grabs your attention and you are glued in on the action. My favorite panel isn’t even an action one this time, but instead the splash page at the end of the first issue when the Power Rangers arrive. Their outfits just look extremely dynamic and it’s a really hype moment. I always like the grand entrance kind of moment and this really works out well. You know that the Power Rangers have never failed before but even for them Godzilla will be a tough opponent. I think that’s another big hype part about crossovers. When you have a matchup of say Superman vs Goku and assuming there won’t be a cop out, you have a hard time being able to guess who will win because both fighters are used to overcoming all odds and claiming victory. Superman defeating Thor for example was huge for that reason because a part of you just figured the fight wouldn’t end and other parts just thought maybe Thor would have the edge.

It’s always fun when you don’t really know who will win. Surprisingly, I would argue that the comic takes the stance that the Power Rangers are stronger than Godzilla. I do personally agree with this but I was expecting him to have more of an edge. It’s pretty well balanced though as the Godzilla verse Kaiju are shown to be much stronger than Rita’s legions of monsters. On the other hand, Rita and her friends basically humiliate the aliens from the Godzilla verse the whole time. So the Power Rangers may have had the edge as a verse here but it’s pretty close the whole time.

This incarnation of Godzilla leans more on him being a neutral party who destroys everything in his way. I wouldn’t call him heroic but he’s also not downright evil like other versions. Basically if you mess with him then he’ll blow you up but otherwise he’s not going around picking fights. He also does get his respect in the power department as he blows away Megalon and does hold his own against Ghidorah for a little while. I was also glad that he completely no sold the mind control from Rita. That would have been really disappointing if she had succeeded even for an instant.

Ghidorah also looks really good here. They really show him to be a top level threat and this seems like one verse where he’s even stronger than Godzilla. You do have to account for some factors like Godzilla already having been in several fights while Ghidorah was coming in fresh though. Gigan doesn’t look great though as he’s treated more like fodder compared to the other Kaiju. I also still don’t get the whole space chicken thing but I guess you either see it or you don’t.

The aliens on the Godzilla side weren’t too interesting but I enjoyed Rita and her crew. They all had solid designs and she seems like a good leader. She makes some questionable decisions (Like sending her B team out to fight Ghidorah and actually thinking they stood a chance. She found out the hard way that they really didn’t in very short order) but for the most part she is in charge. I like her confidence and would like to see more of her in action.

Then of course we have the Power Rangers who are great characters. They have great teamwork and actually feel like a complete unit. No bickering, insulting each other, second guessing orders, etc. I dare say they are one of the best led units I’ve seen in a while. It’s just rare to see the whole team buckle up to get the job done the way they did here. I always saw that as one of the appeals of the series and have no doubts that their comics are a lot of fun. The Red Ranger always has a plan and is ready to protect everyone. The Green Ranger may have been a little too headstrong in stopping the villains but considering that they were about to unleash their big plan, I totally get why he felt like he had to run in and stop that.

The Megazord also looks incredibly powerful. In the comics it manages to defeat Gigan, take out many of Rita’s monsters, and was also stalemating Godzilla and that’s before it merged with the Green Ranger’s own Zord to unlock its true power. I was very impressed and then apparently it can also self repair? Within a few minutes it was back up to 80% after sustaining massive damage so that is super impressive. Yeah the Power Rangers really got a lot of hype here and I dare say that it was all very deserved.

The writing is really on point here and this would make for a really fun movie someday. You could adapt it real easy and fans of both verses are bound to have a good time. Each verse gets treated with a lot of respect which is always important in a crossover so that everyone feels satisfied. I’d also say there were no real cop outs here. That’s probably a bit more subjective but to me they did answer the questions of who would win each fight. Whether you agree with the power levels is another issue of course but at least they put the scenes out there. There’s a lot of nonstop fights here and it’s got a whole lot of replay value.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this comic. It’s a blast all the way through and there are really no negatives to be found anywhere here. It’s rare for a crossover to happen more than once so I’m not sure if these two will meet again but there are definitely way more crossovers out there for me to check out. Godzilla vs the Justice League for example will be a fun one at some point. I’m sure the Power Rangers have had more as well, maybe they even met the Justice League as well. Either way I’m sure I will be seeing these characters again.

Overall 8/10

Here Comes Mr. Jordan Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for another film involving souls and it was pretty interesting but I definitely had a massive problem with the ending. The problem was so big that I dare say it ends up having a big effect on the movie itself. It’s just not the way you want to see these things go and it felt like the main character basically got the raw end of the deal. Nothing went the way that it should have for him.

The movie starts with Joe getting ready for the biggest match of his life. If he wins this then he will be crowned the #1 boxing champ. Joe has been training his entire life for this and is pretty confident in his chances. He hops into his plane and heads on over but some wind shows up and his plane starts to crash. That’s when he wakes up in the after life where he is being taken away….permanently. The whole thing seems rather off so he questions the angel, 7013 on this. Well…it looks like this guy is new at the job and he jumped the gun by taking Joe out early. His boss Jordan vows to make this right.

He will see to it that Joe has a satisfactory new body to replace the old one and that he can live out the rest of his life there. He’s supposed to have dozens of years left to live and so of course Jordan will make sure that he gets to live those years. Joe is not thrilled about any of this but will give this a fair shake as he waits for a good body. There has to be one around here somewhere. And so begins the journey of body hopping and trying to become the champ again.

A good chunk of the film takes place with a corrupt businessman named Farnsworth. See, he was murdered by his wife and her rebound guy so this is a decent body for Joe. It’s not exactly in the most well fit shape but it can do the job. The only problem is of course that people want him dead and the girl that Joe likes (Bette) can’t stand Farnsworth. Well, it’s time for justice and maybe he can get her to change her mind by becoming a better person.

This is really where the film should have stayed as this makes perfect sense for the film. He gets to have a shot at the title because he’s so rich that he can schedule fights and he can use his wealth to make the world a better place. How do you top that right? Well, that would be the general idea but the characters don’t play this smart and the film isn’t quite done yet. There are more bodies to hop and twists to come flying.

First I will say it’s odd that Joe didn’t do anything about the people who murdered Farnsworth. He knows good and well that his wife and secretary had already murdered him once so doesn’t it stand to reason that they would do this again? It makes no sense that he just leaves them to their own devices and doesn’t do a thing about it. This ultimately comes back to bite him and it’s all just rather senseless. Additionally there’s a long period there where Joe doesn’t even really think much about taking them to justice, it’s the last thing on his mind and so he’s close to just letting these murderers keep the money and just doing his own thing. That also doesn’t make sense, cmon now.

Joe’s just not a very smart guy and makes every kind of mistake imaginable. If there’s an error to be made then he will make it. It’s just that simple and that’s really bad all around. You’re rooting for him because he’s a nice guy, but he is definitely a frustrating character the whole time. It’s like he’s sabotaging himself the whole time. Meanwhile it goes without saying that everyone should be upset at 7013 since he messed everything up in the first place. Despite that, he has the gall to be complaining about the situation at different points and how time consuming it all is. He’s the guy who made the situation like this in the first place so there’s really no sympathy here.

Jordan is a bit disappointing in the end too and Joe should be mad at the guy. First off, he absolutely could have warned Joe that he was about to get bumped off the second time. He knew in advance so why not mention something? I’d argue even if it’s against the rules that wouldn’t matter in this case since the situation was all his fault as well. At that point there’s no real precedent for what’s going on. The worst part is also that Jordan ends up just being a big liar the whole time. He made a lot of promises to Joe the whole time about how he would be able to live out the rest of his life and get his shot to be the champion. While the latter maybe counts if you really squint, he definitely went back on the first aspect. It’s just a super rough spot to be in because Joe really lost everything without anything to show for it.

The film also doesn’t make Bette look good as a result. You have to understand that she falls in love with Joe when he’s in the Farnsworth body and then falls for him again in the next one? As far as she knows these are two completely different people so she moves on way too quickly. That’s not the way you find true love and it just makes her look more on the shallow side. I definitely expected better from her here and the romance in general is definitely on the weaker side. Even in the first place it’s hard to see her falling for Farnsworth when he was the one responsible for sending her father to prison. Yes, he made things right but it’s way too late by then right?

Joe’s boss Max was an entertaining character and I always enjoyed seeing him around but the guy could be a bit slow on the uptake at times. Things definitely didn’t go his way a whole lot and you could argue that he probably lose out the most in a lot of ways. Yes, the ending does throw him a bit of a bone but that’s all it does. The guy should have gotten off with a much better fate. He may have contributed to the issue by burning up the original body but it’s not like he ever could have known what was going to happen so I can’t blame him there.

Overall, The writing is good and I enjoyed the plot but the whole movie feels rather unfair to Joe. He was taken from Earth way too early and so he correctly fought for his case to go back. All well and good but the end of the film just slips the rug out from under him which is unfortunate. So I had a good time here and the comedy could be good but parts of the story feel really forced and additionally that ending is particularly brutal. That knocks it down a few pegs here and it’s an eternal reminder of why an ending is supremely important. Without it, you have nothing!

Overall 5/10

Soul Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time to look at a Pixar film that came out a while back. It’s a fun title about body swapping while also just being a bit emptier than some of the previous films. You will have a good time here but it feels like they left a whole lot of meat on the bone with what you can do in this kind of plot. I suppose it’s going for a very different feel compared to something like Freaky Friday or Your Name so I couldn’t expect to see all of the usual shenanigans and yet I do think it would have been nice to have seen those.

The movie starts with Joe being stuck in a rather boring teaching position. It’s just not his passion, the guy wants to get out there and play some jazz music. He’s super interested in music but he doesn’t seem to have the talent. Joe’s just never been able to make it in the profession and he had started to lose hope when he gets one last shot. He does really well in the audition this time and is prepared for success when unfortunately he falls down a manhole and is brought to the brink of death. He’s so close to death that his soul heads to the waiting area for death. His only chance to avoid oblivion is to get back to Earth immediately but along the way he meets a spirit named 22. This is his loophole.

Joe needs to convince 22 that she does have a passion, something worth living for. She doesn’t actually want to go to the real world but agrees to get the badge so she can give it to him to have a second shot at life and then she can have fun in the waiting area for the rest of her life. Thing is, there is a bit of a time constraint here in case something happens to Joe’s body and additionally what if he succeeds and 22 decides to keep the body? It’s going to be tricky for him.

It’s always a bit hard to tell where the plot summary really stops in a case like this because the plot just keeps on rolling. I feel like this is a safe place to stop without getting you too many spoilers there but I’m not sure how much the trailers cover and I think some would say to take it a step further is valid. This feels about right to me though even if I will be getting more into the film below. This isn’t exactly a film with any big twists in it or anything like that anyway.

Interestingly there isn’t even a main villain here. At no point are the characters in any real danger or anything like that. The main dilemma is really in Joe trying to get back to Earth but it’s technically very low stakes for the guy. If he fails then he gets to move on into the next realm. There’s no life or death stuff going on here or even a mean landlord trying to steal money or something like that.

In this film it seems like reincarnation is the way the spirits work. Instead of natural biology occurring and kids growing up naturally, spirits are sent from another world to jump into the body of the baby once it is born. Basically souls don’t just appear naturally and so there is a whole order of people raising the spirits and getting them ready to succeed. Natural talent? No such thing, every spirit already has skills that are predetermined from when they were created.

It’s a bit of a wonky system and also one that doesn’t really change much about the film. It’s an interesting take on things but you could also cut it out and nothing would really change so deep down it’s not actually all that important. The spirit world is just a bit boring though so you are always waiting for Joe to get back to Earth. The world wasn’t built for humans so I suppose that makes sense but it means this film doesn’t have as strong a supporting cast as the average titlle.

The only character in spirit world that I liked was Terry and I felt bad for him the whole time. He’s just doing his job and literally helping out by reporting anomalies and everyone treats him like a pest. All the other cosmic beings here are super annoying and Terry really needs to take over at some point. He’s the only one with the skills to actually make that happen after all. The others would crumble immediately.

As a lead Joe is decent but there’s not a whole lot to him. He’s got a tough time actually talking about how he feels and so without 22 here to help him out, the guy hasn’t build himself the best social life. If not for nearly dying he actually would have been in a decent spot though so he was about to turn things around. His character arc feels like it’s still incomplete by the end which does hurt him a bit.

As for 22, she’s more on the annoying side. She may have apparently existed for many years but she still feels like a kid, and a rather selfish one at that. You can’t trust her to keep her word and she guilt trips Joe as needed. I wouldn’t say she had much time to improve either which is unfortunate. 22 ends up helping out a whole lot but this usually occurs through luck and coincidence. By all accounts she shouldn’t have done very well here otherwise.

Now this may sound like a lot of negatives all at once but the film is still good. The animation is solid enough. The graphics are good and you can tell that this is a newer film even if the style isn’t exciting. Pixar really needs to branch out and start to work on better character designs and streamlined colors but at this point you’re used to the style so you either like it or you don’t. It’s still good even if I don’t think it’s elite or anything like that.

Also the movie does move very quickly. The pacing is good and it never drags on. I wouldn’t say it ever makes any big mistakes either. Soul keeps me entertained well enough as well. So I’d say the best way to think of this film is as one that will keep you interested all the way through but doesn’t have a lot of replay value. It’s great background noise in a way that fills in the time but there’s just never a whole lot happening. I think it bit off a plot that was bigger than it could handle and so in the end it just doesn’t make great use of it. You either need the whole film about body swapping or you need the whole film about showing 22 why life is fun but splitting them apart doesn’t leave room for much.

Overall, Soul is a fun film. I think it would have succeeded more if it was funnier as most of the jokes don’t land but at the same time I would consider it to be a very safe film. It’s not particularly ambitious and it has a very small cast but it’s interesting and looks decent. It probably could have stood to have a little less world building so it could focus more on the situation at hand but if we ever get Soul 2 then we could jump right into the story which should end up helping it out. I’d recommend this one if you like Jazz music or are just interested in the story.

Overall 6/10

Woman in Hiding Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for an old noir thriller. I felt like this one was a bit weaker than the average Noir title thanks to the main character in a lot of ways although it’s not like the main villain was all that great either. So it’s a team effort there but at the same time it is still a good movie which is the important part. There’s enough to enjoy here without issues and it will keep your attention.

The film starts off with Deborah deciding that she is through with Selden. The guy basically never comes by to see her. It’s apparently been over 6 months since he effectively ghosted her so she’s going to move to New York. Selden makes some weak excuses but she won’t have any of them. She knows deep in her heart that she has made the right move and settling for this guy would be doing herself a disservice. Her father has everything set up and so she goes home to get ready to pack. Unfortunately Selden runs in later on and explains that her father tripped and died in a crazy accident. He’s also back in love with her so she quickly marries him. Unfortunately this was part of his plan and now he owns the mill.

He threatens her to not leave him or try anything or he will take her down for good. So Deborah waits until night fall to make a break for it but gets into a sabotaged car and crashes. This does allow her to fake her own death but Selden is too prepared and stays on her tail. Surely switching states and names would be enough right? Well she meets another guy that she falls for and what she doesn’t know is that there’s a reward out for her. Uh oh……

So as you can probably guess I have quite a few issues with Deborah in particular here. She just seems way too easy which how she falls for these men. In fact the entire plan only works because she’s always falling in love so easily. (Which as we know when you fall in love too easily then the feelings aren’t all that deep) I don’t get how she let herself marry Selden after it was clear that he didn’t care about her the first time. I won’t fault her for not realizing that he murdered her father since that’s a lot more obvious for the viewer than the character but what she should have definitely realizes was that he just wanted to run the company and she was a means to an end. The fact that she never even suspected that makes her look absolutely terrible.

It took actual proof in front of her face that he was cheating on her for her to finally see the light. Then, in the days before internet you’d think it would be easy to stay out of hi gaze once you’re out of town right? Well it could have been easy if she had kept to herself and not taken chances but starting to like another guy? Cmonnnnnnnn, it just shouldn’t work that fast. She falls into every trap and just makes this adventure a whole lot harder than it needs to be.

I didn’t even like the second guy either. So Keith is someone who just wants to have a good time and he likes her but the guy isn’t the best at listening. Deborah basically spells out the situation to him but he chooses to sell her out anyway. I have to imagine that deep down part of it was for the money but either way it’s a bad look because she had warned him several times that she was being pursued and was obviously terrified. Somehow he took that in the other way to mean that she actually was crazy and the guy over the phone was the one who could be trusted.

He put her in so much danger that I don’t care how sorry he was about it afterwards, there’s no way I can picture her staying with him after that. You’d think that she would be completely traumatized at that point and would prefer sticking it out on her own. Meanwhile the main villain wasn’t the smartest either. He could have handled the situation with Patricia so much better if he wanted to keep the company. Additionally if he wanted to stop Deborah in the opening scene there were much better ways to do it than sabotaging a car and hoping that she didn’t survive. There are so many ways that the plan could have backfired even outside of the way that it backfired in this plan. The guy just wasn’t smart.

Speaking of characters making mistakes, we’ve also got Patricia who makes a lot of mistakes. So Selden nearly murders her in the opening scene and ditched her for money immediately yet she continues to like him for no real reason. It’s clear that he is just using her and that he’s insane but later she tries to act shocked about it. There’s no way you can believe her and I don’t see how she can even believe herself. It just makes her look even worse. If you’re going to be a backstabbing villain then you have to own that but trying to play it both ways and gain some sympathy will never work.

So in the end, what keeps this from being a stronger Noir title is that I didn’t really like any of the characters. They were all really annoying the whole time and kept on holding each other back. Deborah should have escaped easily once she made it out of the car, Selden never should have let it get to that point, Keith never should have sold her out, and Patricia should have never thought that she could trust Selden. They all kept on making mistake after mistake which was annoying but at least the core story was still engaging. This is a thriller that keeps you wondering what will happen next especially sine it’s hard to guess what the characters will mess up next.

Overall, If this sounds like your cup of tea then you should check it out. There’s always room for more thrillers out there right? If this sounds like it might be a bit of a slog, then it’s time to shift gears back onto a more iconic one. At the very least this film will remind you that if you intent to hide or fake your death then you need to really stay out of the limelight entirely. That absolutely means no falling in love for a while I’m afraid.

Overall 6/10

An Eye for an Eye Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

It’s time for a revenge story. Sort of like John Wick but this film does balance in some humor the whole time as well and it can be difficult to balance out those two tones. I will say to the film’s credit, it did a pretty good job with the two of them. I was pretty satisfied the whole time at least on a tonal level although the film as a whole I wouldn’t say was all that great.

The movie starts with Sean and his partner getting ready to finally complete this big undercover drug case that they have been on for a very long time. It’s been a really grueling mission the whole time but things are looking up. Unfortunately it turns out to be a set up and Sean’s partner is murdered while he barely manages to stay alive. So what’s going on here, who set them up? It’s hard to find out because Captain Stevens on the police force is blaming Sean for everything so Sean quits. He isn’t able to stay out of the situation for long though as his partner’s girlfriend is murdered after calling Sean about a lead she had. Now Sean will have to team up with her father James who happens to have been his old coach. Can they uncover the truth behind all of this?

If it was just a matter of beating everyone up then that would certainly be easier but the main problem here is actually figuring out who the big villain is first. There are a lot of players involved so you can bet that there are a ton of coverups and misdirects as well. Sean gets lucky more times than not. He’s a great fighter but I wouldn’t call him a detective so it’s fortunate that Linda and her colleague Heather managed to pick up most of the pieces. Linda even came close to escaping but unfortunately let her guard down at the end.

As the main hero I would say Sean is a solid main character. It can be annoying how he gets knocked out at times but since most of the movie is about him absolutely dominating whole squads of villains I can let it slide. The one point in particular that made me shake my head though was when he was face to face with the guy who murdered Linda and then allowed himself to be downed in a single blow. You just can’t let that kind of thing happen to you. Otherwise I did enjoy all of the fight scenes. The movie did a good job with the choreography and showing how Sean was just on a completely different level.

At the same time he loses some points for not treating the situation with the level of urgency that you would expect here. There are murders going on and everything is real shady right now yet he has time for a romance? The romance here feels really rushed, forced, and unnecessary as you’d expect. There’s just no room for that right now and it would have been better if that was something that could have been a plot to be started as the credits roll. “The danger is over and the world is saved, now we can discuss the future.” Something like that would be completely reasonable.

So the same is true for Heather and even more so in a way because she’s currently being targeted by the villains and unlike Sean, it’s not like she can fight. They already broke into her house once early on so she needs to keep her priorities straight. One guy who is not good about priorities has to be Captain Stevens. I did think he handled the whole situation poorly at the beginning with being so hard on Sean when the operation fumbled. I don’t know how he actually figured he could blame it on the lead. His reasoning was shaky at best.

To an extent I think it’s because the film was trying to convince us that maybe he was the murderer. A nice attempt I suppose but you have to handle that with a little more subtlety otherwise he’s just unreasonable. James was a unique character because at first you figure he’s going to be the tough mentor type character who is always ready for action but instead he spends every scene getting absolutely humiliated. The guy loses almost all of his fights but still talks tough afterwards. After a point it’s clear that he is a comedic character so that helps but at first I was definitely astonished.

In a way it’s realistic though as you probably can’t fight so well when you’re really old despite what most films would have you believe. So I was not expecting the character’s story to play out the way that it did but it worked out well enough. Again, maybe he should be taking things a little more seriously considering what happened to his daughter but after a point you have to just decide if you can roll with the fact that the movie is going for a light comedic tone to offset the dark moments or not. I think some of the scenes could have been timed better but ultimately I was mainly okay with it.

Ultimately the actual main villain here is okay but more on the forgettable side. He can’t fight or anything and has to rely on the hired help to save the day. That doesn’t go so well for him once Sean enters the building and it’s why you always want to be able to fight. He does have the classic hostage trip at the ready which is a decent equalizer but in the end that will usually just stall for time. His right hand man is fun enough as well. The guy is fairly unassuming but can fire a gun as well.

The movie’s twists work well enough. There’s enough to keep you guessing the whole time. The story itself was okay but I couldn’t really get into it a ton. You have drugs being moved and conspiracies and all but it felt more like the basic outline of a plot to start up the fights rather than it being fully developed. Like if the villains didn’t make so many large moves then they may not have been in so much trouble. Kidnapping Linda would have bought them way more time than murdering her. Since they had a mole within the police they could have made so many more moves over time rather than waiting until the end. There were limitless opportunities to bump off Sean quietly as well.

Ultimately it feels like one of those movies that isn’t as clever as it thinks that it is the more you actually think about it. I imagine you’re mainly here for the fights anyway though which are fun but I would have liked something more to support it. The film also didn’t sell me on the various flashbacks we would get every now and again to show Sean’s rage at losing his partner. It felt a bit overplayed by the end and just wasn’t as effective as it could have been. Throw in the fanservice romance scenes and this film doesn’t stand the test of time.

Overall, It’s not a bad movie but I wouldn’t say it’s very good either. It’s a forgettable thriller amidst a genre that is filled with many better ones. The revenge genre can be hit or miss depending on how edgy the writers want to approach it. This time they decided to take a more upbeat approach which is interesting but it does make Sean look a bit like a jerk at times. There are some liens that I found to be pretty funny during the movie though. It had a good sense of humor and the fights did live up to the hype. So in the end I would say to check it out if you really like a good battle but the story leaves much to be desired.

Overall 5/10

Sonic the Hedgehog, Volume 6: The Last Minute Review

Posted on by
2


It’s time for the next installment in the Sonic series. The arc is still going strong here with more and more characters being turned into robotic monsters. Shadow was taken off of the board last time and Sonic is already infected so the heroes are really on their last legs. There is a good amount of tension here and a whole lot to enjoy overall so this was definitely a win/win all around.

This volume spends the first 3 issues showing us events from a few different POVs. You have Tails, then Amy, and then Sonic. Each of them were embarking on different missions to try and stop the virus. Tails was working on a vaccine that could reverse the effects of the bug and in theory bring everything back to the way that it was. Amy was doing her best to keep the townsfolk safe until Tails could get back and then Sonic was trying to capture his speed data to see if that could be a lead on getting other people immune. Unfortunately all 3 of them suffer some setbacks here.

By this volume Sonic has started to lose a lot of his stamina as well which makes a lot of sense since he has been running for so long now. He may be used to running a lot, but not for nearly this long without a single break. I still like the idea of how running is able to regress the virus’ effects at least for a while since his speed is the real deal. Even that has a timer though so if Sonic stops running then it’s all over. he still does a good job of trying to keep morale up though and taking care of business. At the end of the day, virus or not Sonic definitely has the edge here compared to the rest of the characters and can lead the way to victory.

Even though it didn’t work for Shadow, I still like to think Sonic could go in there and take all of the robots and Eggman out. The main problem is of course he can’t destroy the robots since they are all innocent so at most he would just be buying time. Then since we find out that even Eggman doesn’t have a cure in this volume, that doesn’t leave the heroes with a lot of options. It’s fair to say that Tails is really the last chance here. Either he makes a cure himself or the heroes are basically doomed.

Tails takes the situation pretty hard in this volume but overall I’d say he’s still looking good. Cream is definitely more on the weaker side here though as the whole situation really did break her. She stayed strong in front of Amy but not in front of Sonic. Whisper also had it rough as she finally broke down too. She’s usually the tough member of the group so I was a little surprised to see her lose her cool like that. Now’s the time to buckle down and get read because the situation will only get tougher from here.

I would say one of the highlights here would be Tangle. Now here’s a character who really put everything on the line and she never gave up. Her abilities may not be the strongest but she used them in a creative way to hold everyone back. I’d also say even Vector looked pretty good here. Yeah he ended up contributing to the situation but I’d argue that wasn’t entirely his fault. That’s more on the stowaway and otherwise his bubble may have lasted. When it didn’t work, Vector was ready with the sacrifice play.

Eggman fans should be a little nervous right now. He hasn’t been looking great so far and while he could still make a full comeback depending how his next scenes go, it’s also possible that this will be played straight in which case he would look really awful. With Eggman you just never really know and in that way the writer has done a good job of keeping things interesting. There are really 3 enemy factions at play here with Eggman, the Deadly Six, and Dr. Starline. Right now it’s hard to say who will have the last laugh. The story is framing it as Starline being the smartest and most prepared but in a way that might be too obvious. For now I’m counting on Eggman to stay on top but we’ll see if he can pull it off.

As always the art is really good here. All of the characters look like they were taken straight out of the games. The designs are all on point and the backgrounds are all very dynamic. The comic is a real page turner and it’s definitely easy to binge the whole time. The writing is also good. This would make for a great TV show someday and the series has always done a good job of really incorporating a ton of the Sonic mythos. The universe is really big so it makes sense to bring a lot of elements in right? The comics have not let me down yet.

As always I do have to throw a little show at Silver here though. The guy was crushing Sonic back when they first met and it seems like he is a true B leaguer at this point. The guy is never given a ton of respect. Yes he holds back a few of the mindless drones but that’s it. That’s not actually all that impressive as a feat and that’s the role he is stuck with here. I just miss his days of being really serious and powerful but so far that’s just not happening. Maybe at some point the tides will turn.

Overall, Sonic continues to product solid comics in each batch. This one’s a bit less action packed as it’s more of a zombie survival right now. The heroes just have to keep on moving and try to stay one step ahead which is no easy feat. It works well and I’m ready to see how the arc ends. I am hoping that we get a true final battle though. In a way you could end the arc without one but it’s always fun to have a big ending. Maybe have the transformed version of Shadow show up to fight Sonic. Now that would definitely be hype.

Overall 7/10

Thunder Force II Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for the next Genesis title with another shooter game. Thunder Force’s gameplay style is a bit unique though as it actually switches from overhead to 2D every level. So this way it’s like you’re playing two different games and while it’s not super long, it’s a bit longer than you’d expect thanks to the overhead levels. Definitely not a game that you should underestimate.

There’s really not much of a plot here which is too bad but not super surprising. Go take down the invading aliens and you will be able to save the world! The 2D levels are my favorite ones as you just get right into the game and start shooting down all of the opposition. It’s a true bullet hell type game as you have to dodge numerous kinds of attacks as you fly through the stages. One hit and you lose a life so it is not very forgiving. A unique part of this is you can keep switching the way that you fire. Every power up you get unlocks a new mode up to around 7. So you can shoot in multiple directions with extra firepower or go with more of a low grade weapon. The possibilities are fairly endless here and so you have a lot of control.

I felt like the gun that shoots downwards and upwards at the same time was the best one since you could just stay on top of an enemy and spam that gun. Depending on the boss you would have to change weapons though so I would advise you to always be ready. Even with that, I died tons of times here. It’s just extremely hard to dodge at all times and then some levels will suddenly speed up like crazy and you will have a hard time keeping up. I still don’t know how you’re expected to just react to that without memorizing the board. It felt a litttttttle cheap I have to admit. Once again I think I would have had a hard time being a big gamer if I grew up on the Genesis.

The overhead levels are a bit weaker than the 2D ones though and that’s because there is no map. So you have to fly around looking for enemy installations to blow up. Once you have blown them up then you will have completed the level but you’ll end up flying in circles a lot of times. There are some mazes to watch out for as well in case this wasn’t already difficult enough. Basically what I’m saying here is that you really have to bring your A game or it’s all over. There will be no way to escape.

The graphics here really aren’t bad. They’re not exactly top tier or anything like that but you always know what is going on and won’t be confused at any point. The soundtrack is also okay. I definitely don’t have any real issues here. They complement the gameplay well. Also while I may have had my share of issues with the gameplay, it was still enjoyable the whole time which is the important part.

I really tend to enjoy these sci-fi shooters and how creative they are. The enemy ship designs are all pretty good and I enjoyed the boss battles as well. The final boss even incorporated some gravity into the gameplay as you had to really go max speed to keep up. So that was definitely fun. This is a game with no real replay value though so you should know that once you complete the game, it’s all over. There really isn’t anything left after that. The game felt like it was about an hour for me so not the shortest Genesis game but still pretty short when you think about it.

Overall, Thunder Force II is a fun game. I think it had a lot of room for improvement though and it all starts with the overhead levels. I can’t stress enough how even a basic map would have made a world of difference. I would always be waiting for a 2D level to come up as a result. It also goes without saying that more of a story would be nice but I consider that to be a bit more of a technical limitation so I won’t be too hard there. Either way if you have the Switch Online then it is worth checking out. It may not stand out compared to some of the other games but it’s fun and at the end of the day that’s what counts.

Overall 6/10

Apology for Murder Review

Posted on by
Reply


It’s time for a very old school noir mystery thriller type of film. This is one of those titles where you probably won’t have much sympathy for the guy who is being strung along since he ultimately makes all of the wrong choices. So you’re waiting for the cops to nab them. It’s a good film with solid pacing and so you’ll have fun here. It’s also fairly short so it finishes quickly.

The movie starts off with explaining to us that Toni and her husband are not on good terms. She married him for the money and he finally figured this out. It’s a pretty rough deal for the guy who is already busy enough as it is trying to get richer. Toni decides to enlist the help of a guy named Kenny by promising to love him forever. So the guy murders her husband for her and now Toni just has to dump the guy and move on. The thing is, the cops have found out about the murder and Kenny is dangerously close to losing his nerve. Particularly since his boss is the one investigating the case and always gets his man. Is Toni going to have to extend the body count a little?

So the reason you can’t feel bad for Kenny here is because he did flat out murder her husband so that makes him a villain right from the jump. No matter what happens after that, no normal person would just go and commit murder like this. Second of all, Toni was still married and Kenny knew it so getting together with her is a big no no. The guy is then willing to let an innocent person be stuck with the murder rap instead of him. So what this all boils down to is a super selfish guy who will do whatever he needs to in order to get what he wants. Not exactly a hero right?

Not even close to one! Especially since if Toni had actually turned out to like him, he would have really had no regrets. Everything that happens later on is really because she’s not very smart about picking her moments and also isn’t great at playing pretend. If she just kept up the act even to the very minimum of assuring Kenny that she couldn’t wait for them to run off together then she would have been good. Instead she basically tells him to his face every time that she only cares about the money.

Even then Kenny doesn’t really do anything about this until he actually sees her with another man but anyone who at least had a little respect for himself would have made a move well before then so she really got lucky here. Kenny just doesn’t have any real smarts about him and so you’re waiting for his downfall. Naturally Toni’s just a bad here. Aside from being really bad at manipulating everyone, she is the true brains behind the operation. In that respect you could definitely say that she is the biggest villain of the bunch. Without her a lot of these things wouldn’t have happened in the first place and it goes without saying that she is very unrepentant about the whole thing.

The best character here by far is McKee. The guy tries hard to get to the truth of things the whole time and never stops even when Kenny keeps throwing subtle digs at the guy. It does take him a while to realize exactly what’s going on but in part it’s because he was hoping to find a different answer so you can’t really blame him. He was still the most useful member of the cast by far and did good work.

The writing in the film is pretty good overall. Even if most of the characters can be really annoying, I wouldn’t call that bad writing. It just means that those characters are suckers the whole time and that can happen in real life too which is why it can be realistic. Toni was certainly able to bend a lot of her guys to her will, it’s rather depressing when you think about it but a reminder to always be careful that you are of sound mind when making a big decision. Also if someone tells you to commit a crime like murder, it’s a good idea not to do that.

As mentioned the film is really short which is also why the cast is so small. It’s a bit over an hour so that’s enough time to get the murder in and then jump us to the after effects. A good chunk of it is about McKee getting closer and closer to the truth while Kenny tries to slow things down or just generally panics some more. It’s a solid game of cat and mouse there. If it was longer maybe we could have thrown in a few more characters but the balance works well enough. It won’t rise up to become one of the top Noir titles or anything like that but it is engaging the whole time and made for a good watch.

Overall, I’d call this a fairly safe Noir title. It has a compelling story but isn’t really taking any risks. There aren’t really any twists to worry about this time and the story plays out in a surprisingly straight forward manor. Probably the most straight forward that I’ve seen in the genre. I’d say this probably does make it have less rewatch value than another title but on that initial watch I don’t see you having any issues. I’m not totally sure I get what the title was going for though, I would have probably picked something else to draw in the crowds.

Overall 7/10

Bloodfist II Review

Posted on by
Reply

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

All right it’s time to jump back into the world of Bloodfist! I have to say it’s impressive just how different this film is from the first one. It may as well not even be a sequel to be honest since it laughs in the face of the first one with Jake’s character development but hey that’s how it goes right? It definitely makes its share of mistakes and so it won’t be another film to be remembered.

The movie starts with Jake winning a big tournament but he murdered his opponent and so he retires from fighting. He has now fallen into all of the vices including paying a lady of the night when he gets a call from an old friend who’s in a jam. He hasn’t seen this guy in ages and the call is the shadiest thing I’ve ever seen so Jake quickly decides to come along where he is beaten up by a group of thugs. He has been kidnapped along with a bunch of the world’s strongest fighters. They are all being taken to an island to fight against humans who have been enhanced with a drug that prevents them from feeling pain while also increasing their physical abilities. Can Jake get out of this or is he doomed?

All right the most disappointing thing here is the fact that the concept for the story is really good! You can’t help but get hyped for something like this because it guarantees a whole lot of action. It’s a classic case of skills vs physical abilities here. These guys may be amped up but the main characters have the edge in fighting technique which you would assume would be enough to take the lead. The problem is breaking the habit of stopping once you have your opponent down because you need to finish them off.

The actual tournament is pretty fun although I think it could have been a bit more balanced. For the most part just about all of the heroes were getting completely destroyed by the fighters and I’m not sure how much I buy that. I get that these guys weren’t rookies or anything but the top level pros should have done a lot better. The place is rigged of course so the winners would quickly get jumped and pummeled by everyone but that should have been necessary more times than it was.

Of course the film does get quite violent here with each fighter meeting rather painful ends. There are more survivors than I expected there to be which is a silver lining for the heroes but yeah they get put through the wringer. At least I don’t question why they would enter such a tournament this time since they were all forced into it. It’s the best explanation for why you would enter a tournament where almost everyone is guaranteed to be murdered. Also since it’s life or death, characters do grab guns and whatever they can which absolutely makes sense. Why stick to hand to hand when the whole thing is rigged anyway right?

One of the plots where the film drops the ball is with Mariella though. So she is the daughter of the main villain and gets beaten up whenever a setback happens. It’s really explained to us quite vividly that her life here is awful and filled with abuse. So you’d expect she wouldn’t have any sympathy for the villains right? Like I can get her betraying the heroes since she is afraid of what will happen if they lose but if the villains go down then that’s fine right? Instead she actually seems concerned and saddened by what happens to the main villain and you’re just shaking your head.

She should be absolutely cheering by that point. He had her publicly beaten and humiliated and yet she isn’t filled with anger at what’s going on? We also find out that she can fight later on around the mid point of the film which would have really helped her in a lot of the early scenes….yeah the writing here wasn’t great to say the least. Most of the villains are also annoying and can’t really fight. They just use their status and cheap shots to beat everyone up.

The strongest fighter was probably the traitor Vinny who also only got as far as he did due to cheap shots. In a fair fight he was not going to stand a chance against Jake and he knew it. Jake could be annoying here as well though because the guy is clearly a top tier fighter but falls for the easiest traps imaginable. At one point he is warned numerous times that Vinny is evil which should have been absolutely obvious from the jump, but at least when he realized that the whole phone call was a ruse right?

Well somehow he doesn’t put the pieces together and loses in the most sucker punch-ish way possible. He just turns the corner and gets knocked out. It’s not the only time he gets beaten up either and even when he’s winning, Jake doesn’t push the advantage and runs off. It’s all just pretty annoying because with his skill level he should be doing way better. By the time he gets serious, a ton of characters have already died. It’s an odd case where you don’t feel like he’s in a ton of danger most of the time and yet you know that everyone around him is doomed because he won’t do anything.

You definitely get Mortal Kombat vibes from the film and can see the potential but it just didn’t work. I’d also argue the film could have stood to have started the tournament earlier so that way there is time for more of the heroes to win one round before they get taken out by the higher ranking fighters. I haven’t seen a ton of team vs team films in the martial arts genre yet so that would have been a lot of fun but it’s relegated to the end. I will say that the fights have at least improved since the first film though. The film definitely gets that credit at least.

Overall, Bloodfist II has some fun ideas but still holds itself back. The random scene of Jake having an affair while he is down in the dumps was wildly bad but once we get on the island we get a lot of fights. The main heroine’s plot is fumbled though and we needed more battles. As with the first film, it will scratch the itch of being a solid action film with a lot of fighting but there’s not much beyond that and ultimately I would say you’ll want to pick a different movie to watch instead. For now this is still not touching Mortal Kombat which is the golden standard for tournament films. We need more titles like that.

Overall 4/10