Tag Archives: Sequel

Sonic The Hedgehog 2 Review

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It’s time to finally take a look at the big Sonic sequel! There was a lot of hype going into this one because Knuckles was finally going to show up! In some ways the hype for the 3rd film had already started before the second even came out because that was going to be the big one with the key player finally showing up but this one is the true build up. Sonic had to first learn responsibility and what true power is before the third one so he would be ready. Fortunately I would say this one even ended up beating the original in pretty much all areas. Only the human plot isn’t as good so in the third maybe they can balance that out.

The movie starts out very quickly as Knuckles shows up and helps Eggman return to Earth. Eggman aims to use this guy to take out Sonic once and for all and becomes interested in the Master Emerald which can grant unlimited power! Sonic has been trying to fight crime lately but it’s awfully difficult. It’s hard to minimize casualties and all that so the humans keep telling him not to help out at all which seems a bit selfish if you ask me. Sonic is still saving lives after all. When a fox named Tails shows up, Sonic realizes that his time to be a true hero has finally arrived. Is he up to the task?

Since the human plot has almost nothing to do with anything we may as well knock that one out first. As I said this is the weak point of the film. So Tom has to head over to Rachel’s wedding but she really dislikes him and aims to make this a rough time for the guy. Unfortunately Tom does end up having to mess with the wedding a bit but duty calls. I was glad that he made the right call in the end even if it did make things tricky for him socially.

Tom is ultimately a good character who is stuck in a rather weak plot the whole time. He is ready to fight and isn’t afraid of Eggman. The biggest shame here is that he doesn’t get to banter with Eggman much in this film since they don’t meet up until the end. It’s too bad because that dynamic was actually really solid in the original. I would have just included Tom with Sonic’s plot and I think that would have amped things up a lot. The guy has a lot of good lines.

Rachel is just annoying though. She needs to stop trying to dunk on Tom and just have a good time. It’s her wedding after all so why get so stressed right? She gets a comedy plot where she teams up with Maddie to clown on the government and get some revenge. The music may be reasonably solid here but the scene’s a bit dragged out and does start to cross the line of being a little too over the top.

The one thing I will give for the human plot is I loved the introduction of GUN. This is a group that should have a massive role in the next film. Yes, I can already tell their role won’t be as good since that group was highly competent in the games while this one looks to be comic relief. It’s a shame but that’s how it goes. Still, I was glad to see them and their plan here was actually good. I mean by all accounts it really worked so not bad right?

Meanwhile in town you had Wade trying to prove himself as the sheriff in stopping Stone but that ultimately didn’t really go anywhere or have much relevance to the plot. You could cut Wade out entirely and nothing would really change so it was pretty much filler. Stone still looks up to Eggman a whole lot and just wants to feel appreciated. That’s probably not going to happen anytime soon though. Stone’s dedicated, I’ll give him that.

Now we start to get into the main plot. Sonic and Tails fighting it out with Knuckles and Eggman to try and get the Master Emerald first. This had a lot of fun tributes to the games like the avalanche levels and the Sonic vs Knuckles fights definitely deliver. I did have some power level issues with this though like how Sonic should have smoked Knuckles. Why did he keep running straight at the guy? In a battle of speed vs power you always have to use your speed in order to gain the upper hand and land some devastating blows.

Trying to beat the power guy with power isn’t going to work. I thought Sonic could and should have fought a lot better here. Ultimately even while he lands some good blows, it always feels like he’s on the losing end here. Also, the speed difference between him and the others isn’t emphasized enough. When Sonic’s sandbagging sure he can look as fast as Knuckles or Tails. He likes to be running with them together but otherwise he should be zipping around like crazy. The film does understand his speed in some cases like when he’s dodging lasers or missiles but then in the fights he is suddenly a lot more normal.

I get that they had to try and make Knuckles seem like a threat but they went a bit far beyond the believability territory. By that point you’re really just shaking your head. Still great for the visuals and all plus Knuckles fans should be happy but it’s very noticeable. It’s always the issue you face as a writer when your lead character is so fast but you just have to adapt and keep it moving.

This plot had its share of serious and somber moments along with the light hearted adventuring. It’s well balanced and a lot of fun. This is definitely the highlight of the movie and it’s no surprise since you probably are watching this for Sonic after all. He delivers in each of his scenes without a doubt. Sonic also does get some decent development from the first film. He’s at least trying to be a hero even if he hasn’t mastered it yet. I wouldn’t expect any drastic changes to his character any time soon so he’s probably still going to appear as a younger version to the Sonic we’re used to from the games but he’s done well.

Tails is also really solid here and feels a lot like his classic self. He looks up to Sonic a lot and is lacking in confidence but is slowly building it. If they adapt the tearjerker scene from Adventure 2 next time then that’ll be the perfect place to give Tails the rest of his character arc. It’s always good to have a genius on your side so having him around is a great help to Sonic.

As for Knuckles, fans of his should definitely have fun with his character. He’s super strong and is devoted to finding the Master Emerald at all times. He feels a little less smart than his game counterpart as it almost seems like they were going to start taking inspiration more from Sonic Boom Knuckles who takes things literally and doesn’t know a ton but the writing is good enough here to where he is not super exaggerated like that. So in the end he still made for a great antagonist. I’d like to see him stick around and be a main character for the next adventure.

Then we have Eggman and I was not expecting him to gain super powers the way that he did. It was an interesting take on his character though. I hope he would return for future films but if not, this was a good exit. He has a lot of clever little puns that he would throw in throughout the movie that were a blast. At times he can be a little more crazy than genius and the film could maybe dial it back a bit at times but all in all I still had a lot of fun with him. Eggman is an iconic part of the film and you definitely couldn’t do this adventure without him.

Naturally there is an after credits scene. You’ve likely heard or seen it since that was everywhere even before the film was fully out, but if not then you’re going to really be in for a treat. Hype levels for Sonic 3 are now out of this universe so get ready. If it adapts even 10% of what the next adventure should be then we’re really going to be in for a treat. It’s not too early to say that the film has a shot at being movie of the year at this point. I would be surprised and dismayed if it’s anything lower than that.

Just based on how different the characters are it’s bound to not be a 1 to 1 adaption but as long as you get the bullet points then you’re good. I’d also like them to include some more of the video game tunes. The soundtrack was still good and all but hearing some of those classic tunes would make it even better. At least if you ask me that would be the best move here. There would be no turning back from that. The effects and everything are good here as well.

Overall, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is a great film. It really capitalized on the development and hype moments from the first film while taking this one to the next level. The human scenes are a weakness but they’re not so bad that they drag the film down too much. Without them would this be a 9 star film? Probably not so in the end the damage was minimal and you’ll be okay. Like I said, at least we got GUN out of it so that’s a start.

Overall 8/10

Stepfather III Review

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

You can tell that the writers stopped caring with this one but I can at least give the poster some props. It’s one of those images where it’s hard to see exactly what’s going on at first. Is it a knife, shovel, or a candle? If the guy bleeding, just blasted someone else who’s bleeding, or is it the rain? Is he looking sad, mad, or glad? The more you look at the poster, the more it changes. I know what you’re thinking though, it’s bad when you have to start complementing the poster!

Okay so Jerry survived yet again because he’s just that powerful. He runs over to a plastic surgeon who agrees to give him a new look and doesn’t question how dangerous this situation is. Jerry murders the guy afterwards and heads to a new town. There he meets the desperate widow Christine and quickly marries her. This time he is sure that he’s found the perfect family but he will have to deal with her ex-boyfriend Mark, her ex-husband Steve, and his mistress Jennifer. Can Jerry defeat all of these obstacles? Man that’s a lot of people here.

Okay so the first big issue with this film is that it seems like Jerry’s character doesn’t make a lot of sense here. Yes the guy is insane and all but at least he did have his vision of a perfect family. Every little thing that goes against his values would set him off and his view of a perfect family was a bit warped but he wouldn’t sabotage it himself. Now we have a subplot where he is cheating on his wife with the new neighbor. Really? That doesn’t make any sense. Yes he would look for his next targets as he’s ending the current arrangement but he never actually makes a move until that’s happened.

Also…having an affair in the same small town where everybody knows everybody? No disguise or anything, he just drives on over there. Of course he’s caught but the whole thing is so obvious that it doesn’t work. Jerry was a master strategist who evaded the cops for years and had plans for his plans. You can’t expect me to believe that he would suddenly be making rookie mistakes like this. Of course he ends up blaming Jennifer for tempting him and tries to turn it all around but it doesn’t change the fact that he made the errors here. He’s the one ruining the perfect family concept and it goes against his character. That’s really his only gimmick as the villain so if you toss that aside then there’s not much left.

Meanwhile it is almost funny to see an ex boyfriend and ex husband in the same movie. I feel like that’s really rare at this point. The ex husband is lucky that he doesn’t stick around since I thought he was doomed. Of course Jerry makes quick work out of the ex boyfriend but that almost felt like a bit of satire with how the guy just shows up to get bumped off. It’s not played out that way but what are the odds right?

This guy wasn’t that smart or good with his reaction times either. Don’t just stand there and get pounded like a sack of toast. Meanwhile I wasn’t a big fan of Christine either. Naturally she is tricked rather quickly and the whole wedding was rather quick. She ignored everyone’s advice that she was going too fast and just kept moving along. Now everyone may have seemed like they were just being sour grapes but the warning bells were there. Like Jerry laying hands on one of her sons when he was playing video games. The way she found out may have been rather dramatic but she overlooks it so quickly.

Then we have the affair going on and she lets herself be manipulated a little too easily. Her plans are always thrown away and she is never able to stay one step ahead of the game. In this film Jerry left a lot of clues that something was not right and she didn’t pick up on them. Then you have Father Ernest who was at least helping the kid try to crack the case here but unfortunately that didn’t work out. Ultimately Jerry did sniff that plan out quick and unfortunately the roads were deserted. Unfortunately there wasn’t anything Ernest could have done there so the whole thing is just tragic for him. He didn’t even make any mistakes necessarily, he just didn’t drive quick enough.

As for Jennifer, well she was moving rather fast but at least she didn’t know that Jerry was married. Again it does continue the trend of everyone being so desperate in these films. It’s like nobody is content to just be alone and happy, you always gotta be looking for the next rebound. The romances here are all rather weak but that was probably obvious from the jump. This isn’t really the film you’re looking for when trying to find a quality romance.

Now while the film is definitely not good and the writing for Jerry didn’t work at all, there is one positive I can say about the film. The soundtrack is actually surprisingly good. I dare say I would even call it great. There are a lot of tunes that sound like they’re from the 90’s X-Men show. The music is definitely more comic book movie material than your average horror fare. I was surprised whenever a good tune would show up and it happened several times. Perhaps even though the budget was lower they were able to spend more on music or they chose these to save money and they just ended up being really good. However they pulled that off, it definitely worked for me.

It doesn’t save the film of course though as it still suffers from all the usual horror pitfalls. Aside from the writing being sub par you’ve also got to deal with the over the top violence that is always around. Everyone gets bumped off in rather brutal ways. The surgery scene at the beginning is also very graphic and so the movie is trying to put in as much grit as possible. It should have stuck to the Matrix effects like in the first murder where it’s like the guy was phasing out of existence with a lot of clones and tremor effects. Instead we just go back to normal murders after that and that never helps a film out.

Overall, Stepfather III is a film you should certainly skip. In a way I’d probably say that this beats the first two and ends up as the best in the trilogy but that would be due entirely to the soundtrack. After all it’s similar to the first two but they didn’t have good music. Jerry betrays his entire character here but in a way it shows that he was always a villain with no morals so that may not be a bad thing. He’s so bad at covering his tracks that it buys time for the main characters as well. It’s a bit ironic that the final movie would end up being the best one as usually it tends to fall off but it’s not like it matters much since the gap between them is fairly small anyway.

Overall 2/10

Stepfather II Review

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

It’s time for the Stepfather to return for another adventure. How did he survive his wounds from the first film? Well, I guess you could say that he’s just built different. Nothing’s putting him down, at least not right now. Unfortunately this movie is more of the same and so there’s not much good to say about it. It’s your classic slasher film with everyone making some questionable decisions.

The movie starts off with showing us that Jerry is now at an asylum. At least he’s not being allowed to run rampant around the world but it’s a very small consolation at this point because the therapist in charge of him isn’t really the cautious type. He is quickly convinced to let Jerry have his way around the place and gets promptly bumped off. Jerry has to look for a new widow and that isn’t hard either. Carol is very eager to get together with him and the two hit it off. Will she be able to realize what a phony he is in time or will it all be game over for her?

Right off the bat it feels like the film is winking at us a bit. This therapist was just way too trusting. Seriously he got fooled this easily? All it took was Jerry playing on the guy’s ego a bit and he was twisting him around with ease. The guy should have seen this coming and even telling the guard to leave the room was a bit much. You knew the guy was doomed either way but he made it all so easy on Jerry.

Meanwhile I wouldn’t say that Carol looks very good here either. Her friends are right that Carol barely even knows this guy. Sure, most of them are happy either way but this is why you shouldn’t go on the rebound so quickly. Every guy is going to try and appear normal at first, that part’s obvious. It’s why you gotta take it real slow. Now I’m not saying that you have to take a few years but at least enough time to hopefully really get to know him. The rebound shouldn’t be considered automatic though, like Carol doesn’t absolutely have to find a new man. Maybe she’s happy on her own and that’s completely okay.

It’s why I still find Jerry’s whole gimmick to be annoying because it resides on the assumption that he will find someone who wants to marry him at every town. That feels like it should be a stretch and yet it ends up working out for him every time. It shouldn’t be so easy. Jerry himself is just as insane as always. He does lay on the nice guy act rather thick but I guess everyone just eats it up. It’s too bad he’s saying every line ironically since the whole family message could be rather decent if it was coming from someone else. It just loses all of its weight when he’s saying it.

Matty is Carol’s best friend and you feel bad for her since Carol immediately turns on the lady. You’d think Carol would appreciate how hard Matty was working to try and make sure that everything was good. Instead Carol basically threatens to terminate their friendship. Matty is nice enough where she still keeps on going with the investigation but ultimately makes the mistake of going to Jerry directly about this. When you’ve already proven that someone is lying, why not go straight to the local authorities or if you don’t think they’ll take the stolen identity angle seriously, then tell Carol. Force the issue or make a big stink about it throughout the neighborhood so everybody knows. Confronting the villain one on one is not the way to go about it.

Yeah Carol made it hard on her which is why Carol’s not a great heroine either but this still wasn’t the way to go about it. Todd actually got along with Jerry well enough in this version so the act actually could have worked but ultimately Jerry made too many mistakes and it came back to bite him. Todd was able to step up when it was crunch time. Then you have Phil who shows up to get absolutely wrecked right away. Again, this didn’t make Carol look great since she seemed willing to jump ship and go back to Phil only to rebound with Jerry once again when that guy mysteriously vanished.

The worst part is that Phil didn’t seem like he was going to be a great guy either, he was just going to be better than Jerry and that’s not a tall order to fulfill. Jerry does a good job of covering his tracks but the victims really make this easy on him the whole time. There are a lot of ways to explain their disappearances each time because they ended up meeting with Jerry 1 on 1. You know that eventually things will work out but it always takes quite a while to get to that point.

The film’s fairly violent as you would expect and follows the usual horror formula. Everyone gets bumped off over and over again here. Sometimes it’s almost out of nowhere like a random driver showing up and getting taken out. This time around Jerry even starts to throw in some one liners when he takes the characters down. That was definitely different as I don’t really remember him doing this much in the first film. Maybe he did and I forgot but I don’t think that was the case. This would then continue into the next movie.

Overall, Stepfather II has no real good excuse to get Jerry back onto the field so the whole opening scenes are as contrived as possible. In general the film only barely works because it’s all such a big stretch. Then it stumbles for the rest of the duration anyway with Jerry not being a very interesting villain. Yeah we know he’s crazy but at least in the first film he’s trying to have some kind of plan which is to have a perfect family while here he’s letting everything get in the way of that. It’s almost like he’s sabotaging everything on his own. Just don’t give out so much information that could be easily traced to show that he’s lying. He’s almost better off just claiming amnesia with some of the lies he’s telling here. He should also quit naming such small towns where everybody has heard of everyone. Start saying New York City or something since nobody would be able to verify that so easily back in the day.

Overall 2/10

A Good Day to Die Hard Review

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This is a review 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

Die Hard’s a fun series. It may have its ups and downs with quality but you know that you’ll always be in for a lot of action and thrills. This one was a little better than I was expecting though and I would even say it beat the last two. It doesn’t quite match up to the original but has a nice spin on an older main character here. If only the kid wasn’t so annoying.

So the movie starts off with a villain named Komarov being ready to shed light on some recent corruption and tyranny from some Russian officials. The thing is, the whole trial is naturally fake and they’re just going to blow him up. Before that can happen, he is rescued by Jack McClane, the son of John McClane. This guy works for the CIA and is ready to complete his mission no matter what. Wouldn’t you know it though, John happens to be in the area and decides to help out. There’s a lot of friction between John and Jack though which threatens to compromise the mission. Can they put aside their differences to save Komarov?

Now I’m referring to both of them there but if we’re being honest every issue is completely Jack’s fault. He’s constantly getting on John about everything when it’s never about him. Seriously John saves the guy’s life early on and Jack has absolutely no gratitude to show for him. Jack’s just constantly yelling and being slow on the uptake. He seems to forget that John has saved the world multiple times.

The movie does try to give Jack a little support here as it reminds us that John was often away from home which would make things tense but I think you ought to cut him some slack. At the very least John’s doing his best to make things right and even if Jack isn’t ready to be friends yet, he doesn’t have to be antagonistic. I absolutely understand him not wanting to be a close family or anything as that’s a deep wound but lives are at stake and he’s supposed to be a professional agent so he could act like one.

There’s one scene where they just keep yelling each other’s name for a full minutes as they’re walking around and I couldn’t help but think that they were giving their location away to every possible villain in the area. There’s definitely a way to be discreet but the heroes haven’t mastered that yet. I didn’t like Jack at all as you can probably guess. He can’t even give John credit like when he was able to get some car keys and always has to have some kind of bravado going.

John carries the film here. He’s clearly tired of saving the world and just wants to rest at this point but steps in with no hesitation once Jack is in trouble. John just makes sure to blast the villains off the road and it shows that he will always be there for Jack when it counts. John can be a little sarcastic all the time but he’s still taking the adventure seriously. I can say with confidence that Jack would have been doomed without him.

As for Komarov…well he’s around a lot but there’s nothing too memorable about him. He’s someone who has to be kept alive so Komarov is always around but basically his only character is that he also wants his daughter to be safe and that ends up being a whole other thing. Once again the situation may have been avoided a bit if Jack was more cautious since John realized that something was up right away.

For the main villain Alik, the film tries to give him a fun personality as he rants about America but I wouldn’t say it works as well as the earlier films. He’s an okay villain but ultimately he’s just a guy in a suit so you won’t remember him much. I would say that the film’s biggest weakness is that the plot isn’t super interesting. I’d say the best parts of the film are more about the dynamic with John and the fun action scenes.

The actual plot you don’t care all too much about. So there’s another corrupt guy in Russia and we’ve got a whistleblower here to talk about it. For starters part of you feels like it won’t actually amount to much. These guys have enough power to have a fake court proceedings and were comfortable going to murder him out in the open so realistically…will this guy make a big difference? I suppose he should and we have to believe that but the stakes just didn’t feel as big as any of the other Die Hards. So even though it won overall against some of them, it just wasn’t for the story.

Where the film succeeds is with a solid script and pacing. The movie is always moving rather quickly and doesn’t waste any time. It may be by the numbers but the execution is good. The change in scenery worked rather well too, it all just looks a bit different. It makes for some fun battles on the streets since it all doesn’t look familiar. Finally there was one scene I appreciated where the villains told the heroes to drop their guns and John just didn’t.

After all, why would you possibly do that? The terrorists will just destroy you as soon as you drop it. Unfortunately Komarov has horrible reaction times so he messes this up and the heroes get taken out but otherwise John was going to go out blasting. I absolutely think that’s the right call. Hostages can make things tougher but otherwise you should always go down blasting instead of dropping your gun. All the latter will do is guarantee a slower and more painful death. At least if you’re riddled with shots you should die almost instantly.

Overall, A Good Day to Die Hard is a solid movie. It has a good amount of replay value and is the kind of film I could definitely watch again. It’s fairly stand alone as well so you don’t even need the context of the earlier films. In fact, not seeing those may make you sympathize with Jack more but it can also make John seem a little too good as he outpaces all of the CIA agents immediately. (Those guys don’t look very good here) I didn’t like Jack though and it’s hard to see that changing. When you watch the movie just be prepared to see him whining over and over again.

Overall 6/10

Breath of Fire: Princess of Wings Review

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Breath of Fire has returned with a new adventure. It actually brings the characters from the first story back for a round 2 which is pretty neat. It’s nostalgic to see them all back in action. It captures the hype of getting to have all of the characters fight it out once more and also with introducing a new threat who is even stronger than the last one. It’s over as soon as it’s begun with only 8 chapters at the ready but this is still a satisfying read all the way through.

The story begins with Nina telling her story to some kids as she wraps up the first adventure. She makes sure to omit some details though. Nina is having a good time for the most part but misses Ryu as he hasn’t come to visit in a long while. In general the 8 heroes haven’t really stayed in contact much and that’s about to cost them. A pair of ice demons known as Zazan and Kruce have appeared and are targeting the 8 legends. They’re all being hunted down and yet nobody knows about this until it’s too late. When they attack Nina as well, she fears the worst and is thrown into the fray. Can she get the band back together in time to stop the ice dragon god from returning or are they all going to enter an eternal slumber?

It’s a rather specific premise but I always like it when a sequel brings in all of the characters and has them get wrecked or at least challenged by a new foe. Because at this point the heroes have seemingly already beaten the most powerful villains alive so who could possibly be giving them a fight right? That’s the kind of hype that this conflict generates and I’d say that Breath of Fire does well with that. It also tries to balance giving the new villains hype while still having the heroes be considerable threats which isn’t easy to do.

As you can probably guess, there are some excuses made for Ryu when he is attacked by the villains. As we say in the world of competitive gaming, no johns. He still did lose the fight no matter what the context was and it was one of the big scenes here. The battles are often very short since there isn’t much time for anything beyond moving the plot across but the suspense is always right there with you.

Nina works well as the main character here. She has a lot of reasons to want to get the band together and being a member of royalty also means that she will have some connections here. She even has two guards who try to protect her at all times. They were actually rather solid and get some big moments in the story. You always feel like they are probably doomed since they weren’t apart of the main character cast but they never back down and fight their hardest at all times. I could definitely appreciate their dedication.

Nina also looks very good as the leader in how she tries to come up with plans to help Ryu and keeps the team together. At this point she is the heart and soul of the team. Sure, Ryu is the most powerful but he doesn’t really like fighting and is more of a solo act at this point. He commands everyone’s respect but being leader isn’t really something he’s all that interested in. Of course I did have a lot of fun watching him battle once Ryu finally got into the mix. He definitely does not take prisoners, that’s for sure.

I’d say the other standout character from the heroes was Deis as she is still treated like a true powerhouse here. In a straight fight even the new villains were having a hard time with her. She absolutely had the advantage but unfortunately as a hero there will always be a lot of other people that you have to look out for. That’s just the way that it goes. Ultimately it made for a reasonable explanation as to why she didn’t just end the series abruptly.

If you’re a fan of Mogu, Manillo, Builder, or Danc then you may be sad as they get the shaft. Hey, you couldn’t possibly expect the series to squeeze everybody in right? The series did its best but there’s only so much time in 8 chapters and I think they chose the right people to give a focus. For example Gilliam got to do a lot here as he fights hard and is treated as a very dependable ally. He knows how to take care of himself so the heroes don’t really have to worry about him. He feels a little out of his league here but doesn’t complain about it. Gilliam just gets up and goes straight to business.

As for the villains, there were two main ones here. First is Zazan who gets the biggest role here. You could call him the mastermind of the villains and is instrumental in reviving the god because he’s a spellcaster. Zazan can activate the magic needed to make this all work out but in the meantime he likes dishing it out in combat against the heroes. I liked his confidence and he’s a very prideful villain. Zazan ends up looking good throughout the series and was a very intimidating presence.

His partner Kruce was less notable but no weaker. The guy made his presence known as well but was a more direct fighter who uses brute strength to get through. That puts him in a good spot to defeat most of the fighters but naturally that wouldn’t fly against someone like Ryu. The two villains had a solid dynamic going and I’d even say they trusted each other. You like to see that from villains every now and again. Their leader the ice god was decent as well but he only gets to appear for a chapter or two so there’s not a whole lot for him to do.

Picture any big villain and that’s basically this guy. He’s got endless amounts of confidence up his sleeve and a lot of power but you know that he’s just doomed from the jump. Ultimately there isn’t a whole lot that he can do to delay his inevitable demise. If the series were longer then he would probably be able to leave more of an impact.

The artwork is really good here. It’s definitely a step up from the original manga. The style is very different though so this could definitely depend from person to person. It works for me though, it had that old school fantasy look to it. The characters are more detailed and the fights really go in depth. Each page has a lot of power to it and I just had no complaints with how it looked. It was all very satisfying to me.

So the story here is simple but the execution is solid. It’s really the definition of a good action story. You get to have some fights and each big character gets their chance to shine. There’s no twists or anything deeper than the villains trying to summon the god and fighting the heroes but there doesn’t need to be. It all just flows together smoothly and the 8 chapters can easily be sped through in a single sitting.

The climax happens quickly but with the amount of tension and atmosphere that you would get after a longer story. The planet is at stake after all and the heroes are facing their toughest threat yet. It all feels very real even while going all the way through. It’s also worth noting that there just aren’t any weak points to the manga. It’s got good pacing and each chapter will keep you at the edge of your seat. It would work really well as a movie and that may have been what they were going for here.

Overall, Breath of Fire continues to operate on a very high level here. Even if you haven’t played the game you could get what’s going on here but it probably won’t hit you with as much nostalgia. It won’t really feel as big a deal to see the 8 heroes of legend taken out so quickly. At its core this is a very dramatic epic with good amounts of action and story. You want to read it with the full context to really get the complete impact. Hopefully they bring the characters back again in the future, I’m sure there’s still a lot you could do with them.

Overall 7/10

Smokey and the Bandit II Review

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Now it’s time for the big sequel. Smokey and the Bandit II retreads a lot of ground from the first film but tends to do it in a weaker way on all fronts. Right off the bat I can say that this is still a good movie but it’s a step below the first. In no way does it surpass the original and that’s a shame because a sequel should always strive to do better…to be better! This one doesn’t quite accomplish that in the end.

The story starts with Snowman being recruited once again to help with some smuggling. He’s forced to call in his pal Bandit, but the guy has let himself go ever since Frog broke up with him. He’s gained a ton of weight and just doesn’t have any energy anymore so Snowman calls her back in too which causes her to walk out on her wedding to Junior. Once again that sets off Smokey who decides to take Bandit down. Frog and Bandit will have to put aside their personal feelings to get the job done as there is a lot of money at stake here. Will they be able to pull it off or is this game over?

Right off the bat it’s a rather odd decision to have Frog and Bandit be broken up only to reunite them right away as she runs out of the wedding. Immediately you know how the film is going to spin this but now the romance works even less than it did the first time. Bandit now knows that she was absolutely going to marry someone else just a few minutes ago so how much does she actually love him? Then she reveals that he was cheating on her even while they were together which makes sense with how he is acting all the time. They have so much dirt on each other that the romance can’t possibly start up again and yet it does. This is a complete rebound which is a bad idea.

In general the script isn’t quite as tight this time either. The characters are a bit more exaggerated this time. For example Smokey is now shown as being completely incompetent. He’s scared of other truck drivers and no longer intimidates anyone. While he would usually watch the other cops crash and burn in the first film, he’s the one crashing in this one. It’s just way too much of a role reversal the whole time. The film is trying to have him be the funny character without building up his talents without it. It completely missed the point of the original which is a shame.

Smokey is still fun of course but he’s just not nearly as imposing or effective. The characters don’t fear him at all and that’s a shame because it’s part of what made him such a good character. Instead the gag of him constantly insulting Junior is played up even more here and Junior is even less intelligent than usual. You can’t see how Frog was even close to marrying him unless he is just really rich or something. That wouldn’t be a good look for Frog regardless.

As for Bandit, man he has really fallen off since the first film. He’s not the big leader that he used to be now as he got all depressed so quickly. It takes a lot for him to finally get back in shape and ready for action. Then even after that he seems a little more petty than usual like how he blows up at someone for not being a big fan of his. You just didn’t think that something like that would bother him nearly as much as it does. Bandit wasn’t out for the fame, but the thrill of the hunt right?

Snowman also doesn’t get to do a whole lot even though he’s the lead. It’s a little hard to even say what his personality is here. I guess he’s just a nice guy who is ready for some action but for the most part he’s going through the motions. Now you may be wondering at this point, how is this still a good movie? Well, to a large part I’m comparing it to the first movie a lot and of course it doesn’t compare favorably but if you look at the movie on its own then it’s still good.

For one thing, the soundtrack is still solid here. Smokey still has his big moments with his iconic theme song playing. That’s always fun to hear and the chase scenes are still good. They may not be as dynamic as the first film’s but they’re good enough. The comedy is still solid even if less of the jokes land. I feel like the film was also trying to be more family friendly which explains why the humor was a lot goofier. Not sure if that was the intent but that makes sense to me at least.

The movie still has good pacing and you won’t get bored. The slowest part has to be the opening as you just want Bandit to be ready for action already. Once he is then the race is on. The film doesn’t focus as much on the dangers of smuggling this time as it’s all easy for the leads now but I guess in the back of your mind you can assume that it’s still a tough bet for them. I think we should have gotten to see more of the big race for governor since the petty squabbles there had some potential. Unfortunately that pretty much vanishes after the opening scene instead of being a whole big deal.

While the movie doesn’t excel, I also wouldn’t say it has any seriously bad points. Reusing so many plots from the original is certainly something that it shouldn’t be doing but that is what limits it from being better as opposed to striking it down. Ultimately I would recommend checking this film out to anyone who likes a good comedy. In a way it might work better to start with this one and then go back so you end with the higher note and then treat it like a prequel.

Overall, Smokey and the Bandit II didn’t really know what it wanted to do. The film was less focused and borrowed a lot from the original. Still, it wasn’t bad and I would say it worked well enough on its own merits. It may have less replay value than the first but you’ll still have a good time here. Expect to have less laughs but you’ll be engaged all the way through. We’ll see how the third film is able to compete with the first two, or even if it can compete with them at all. It may end up just being a sound loss for the movie but hopefully it can surpass its limits and even be the best one.

Overall 6/10

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes Stats and Records

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Stats time!

Play Time 15h 26m
Camp Level E
Facility Effects 2
Current Renown 173 Points
Achievements Completed 70

Character Levels

Shez 61
Edelgard 56
Hubert 56
Ferdinand 42
Linhardt 12
Caspar 28
Bernadetta 27
Dorothea 15
Petra 15
Monica 51
Ashe 16
Lorenz 22
Ignatz 22
Yuri 39
Balthus 22
Constance 10
Hapi 10
Manuela 25
Jeritza 25
Shamir 60

Father’s Little Dividend Review

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It’s time for the sequel to the last film in this series which means that Stanley is going to have to deal with another trial. You definitely have to feel bad for the guy because he just got done spending a fortune on the wedding and now there is a kid on the way. Granted there is a time skip of course as kids don’t just come out of the blue but it looks like the burden will be on him again. This is one dividend that he may not want to accept.

The plot starts with Stanley being in a good mood though. He is in a great point in his life where everything is working. His life is clicking like a well oiled machine which is just perfect. The problem occurs when his daughter Kay announces that she and Buckley are having a baby. This was not the good news that Stanley was hoping for and naturally a lot of issues start to come up. Kay and Buckley are fighting again and Ellie is hoping that they can move back in to the main house. Stanley will have to think of something quickly or his life is basically going to be gone yet again.

As with the last film I sympathized a lot with him here. You figure at least that after the marriage there would be peace as Stanley can visit and all but they’re still in separate houses and he doesn’t have to worry about anything. Asking them over to come and live at home is really a bit much. Ellie doesn’t take it well as she guilt trips Stanley but I feel like she could have been a whole lot more understanding on the matter. Certainly she can see how it would end up being a lot of trouble on his side here since a baby is really a full time commitment. It doesn’t help that the baby doesn’t even like Stanley and is always throwing a fit.

Of course Stanley’s no saint here either. He has one scene where he really messes up in leaving the kid alone for 30 minutes. Ultimately he is able to sweep this under the rug after the cops find the baby and he convinces them to stay quiet. It’s all well and good for him and his reputation but that was such a bad look for him. Beyond that he looks good here and ultimately he is as supportive as possible even when he’s not thrilled about the whole thing.

Both sides of the family fight a bit about what the baby’s name should be and if they want it to be a boy or a girl. I always thought that kind of conversation puts a whole lot of pressure on the parents because it’s not like you can really control that. As for the name, I personally think the parents should have that all settled before even talking to family so that there are no issues there. Imagine allowing peer pressure to dictate what the name of your kid would be. There’s no way that would end up being even a remotely positive experience for anyone involved.

I didn’t really care for Kay in the first film and that continues here. She still has a bad habit of dashing out of a situation where anyone starts to question her. She tends to panic at the drop of a hat and doesn’t handle her disagreements with Buckley very well at all. We don’t see the whole scene but the movie never portrays it as Buckley being super out of line but rather Kay just seems to be a little overly sensitive. Considering how long they’ve been together now you would figure that their relationship would be a little stronger so that it wouldn’t crumble at the drop of a hat like this.

As for Buckley, what happened to the guy? He was some kind of fancy young CEO in the first film but now he’s hard up for cash?? Does not compute. It felt like the movie needed some excuse for them to be on tough times financially but I think this could have been handled a little better. I can’t say I really liked Buckley by the end either. It’s really up to Stanley to hold the film together as per usual.

Ellie and Buckley’s parents are all reasonably good even if they don’t always seem to get along a whole lot. There’s definitely a lot of competitiveness going on between the two sides. Ultimately things always turn out well for Stanley and Ellie so I wonder how the other two feel about that. At the end of the day though it’s not like the characters are awful or anything so they still do a good job of keeping the movie going.

Where this film shines is that it’s just a fun rom-com. The movie has good pacing so it never drags on and I would say the script and writing are both good. You’re always sure to be entertained which is absolutely the important thing here. There’s a lot of fun little events you can have with a kid coming into the picture, especially when the kid himself doesn’t have a big role for most of it.

It’s the kind of film that does still feel long but more in the sense that a lot is going on as opposed to you feeling like they’re overplaying a part. In general that can be a strength of a rom-com. You can fit in a whole lot of scenes and development because the more low key the film, the more you have to rely on talking scenes and a lot can happen there. A single conversation in a movie can completely change the plot after all.

Personally I would say that the first film has the slight advantage though. It’s always hard to beat the first encounters and that’s when all of the characters really got to meet up. Additionally, the whole thing was a lot more personal with Stanley trying to stop Buckley as opposed to the kid who is coming whether he likes it or not. There is much less that he can actually do about the situation here and so the stakes aren’t nearly as high.

Overall, You should have a good time here. This is a film with quality writing throughout and is just fun. It’s got a good amount of replay value and I wouldn’t say that I had any serious issues with it. The series would probably need to change up the formula a bit if it got more movies but this works very well as a follow up. This kind of film rarely gets a sequel either so it’s fairly neat to see how the characters are doing after the events of the first movie.

Overall 7/10

Jurassic World: Dominion Review

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It’s time to bring the Jurassic World series to a close. It’s been quite the run and while I have yet to find any of these titles to be good movies yet, it’s always neat seeing dinosaurs. You could just say that the films are usually doomed from the start because it’s hard to have a dinosaur film without the dinosaurs themselves eventually running into peril. The animal violence sabotages the film right from the jump and this one is no exception with several hunting scenes. I’m afraid the franchise has overstayed its welcome and needs a new premise like robotic dinosaurs to get to the next level.

The film starts off by giving us a massive info dump about the dinosaurs having taken refuge in all parts of the planet. There is no escape from these dinosaurs and so Biosyn has taken this chance to quickly become one of the biggest companies in the world. Yes, it’s time to rake in those profits like nobody’s business! They were granted exclusive rights to grab the dinosaurs and so everyone else needs to stay back. Naturally they aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their heart though and seem to be doing something nefarious with the insects in their company. If they aren’t stopped quickly then the entire planet could be in danger.

There are two main plots here. First, you’ve got Owen and Claire who are still trying to raise Maisie as best they can, but they seem to have gotten lost in the sauce as in trying to protect her from everything around them, they’ve effectively trapped her in a house. Maisie quickly started to resent this and so she ran off and gets captured along with Blue’s kid. The heroes are in a race against time to find her and so we get a good amount of action here as they get to relive their action hero days.

In the B plot, the 3 main characters from the original trilogy have to try and get proof of Biosyn’s wrongdoings by infiltrating their headquarters. This plot has less action by comparison as they do their best to find out the facts but it’s all a bit more low key. I feel like this is intentional as the old characters do things by the book and it’s a very old fashioned type approach while the new characters are having fancy gun fights and hand to hand combat scenes. Naturally the main plot was typically more interesting. Then eventually the plots converge.

Lets get the obvious issue out of the way first and that’s the animal violence. Within 20 minutes of the film starting you have a rabbit eaten and a wolf murdered. Later on you’ve also got birds taken out and a fox hunted down. Of course eventually this also goes to the dinosaurs as they attack each other and one gets stabbed. It’s inevitable that this would happen with so many dinosaurs around and that’s the real issue here with dinosaur films in general. They are cool to see but of course they won’t stand a chance against properly armed fighters or bigger dinosaurs so someone’s going to get hurt. Each time that happens, the film ends up losing some momentum.

The other biggest issue I’d say is just that the film feels very long. The pacing isn’t air tight and it actually does drag on a bit. The plot with the old main characters can almost get boring at times. There are a lot of chase scenes and everything but when the film slows down, man does it slow down. You don’t care too much about the conversations on the dinos because we’ve heard it all a million times before. You just want to get to the good stuff and the film peaks early in that regard.

The best part of the film is when Owen and Claire confront two of the villains. Owen has an excellent close quarters fight against the knife wielder and it’s the best action scene in the movie. It reminds me of how his fight in the last film was also the best scene. I think it’s time for these films to transition into being more about the hand to hand combat because that’s clearly the best part of these films. I did think Claire was not intense enough in the moment which felt out of character though.

Keep in mind that they are trying to save the kid and it’s a matter of life and death. Owen certainly acted like it with how he was going at the guy and not taking prisoners but Claire’s battle had a lot more comedy mixed in and she was still trying to ask questions and all. I would have liked her to have tackled her villain and got right into the action. It all works out in the end but the villainess really got off easy the whole time.

Owen and Claire do make for solid main characters though. They get the job done and get a lot of good scenes. I do think they made the wrong choice in isolating Maisie as much as they did though. Yeah you’ve got to be careful but wouldn’t it still be better to be in a city environment than in the middle of the woods? Seems to me like being isolated is a bad idea when everyone around the world wants to get you because eventually they would. Just get some fake IDs and a decent disguise and you should be good.

I do think they could have played up the fugitive angle for these two characters a bit more though. In general there’s also more the movie could have done with the whole dynamic of having the dinosaurs on the go too. Having them just randomly running around the world seems like it should have had more of an effect on the planet than what we’re shown. Only around 30 deaths due to dinosaurs?? I find that extremely hard to believe.

These two are joined by Kayla later on in the plot as she gets roped into the adventure. Initially she’s here just for the money but gradually gets a conscience about the whole thing. She’s a decent fighter and helps them out when they’re in a pinch. Without a plane the heroes definitely would not have gotten very far here. As for Maisie, she is quite the rebel in this film and gets everyone into trouble. I’ll give the parents more of the blame here though because she did try to talk things out first several times and it felt like they weren’t giving her any great options.

For the other plot, well Ian definitely steals the show from the 3. He’s just way more of an interesting character than the other two. Ian always tries to find the bright side of things and remains calm even under pressure. His character is always a blast and while he isn’t as much of a field agent as the others, he does come in clutch on many occasions. Without him getting into the company first the others would have had a much tougher time of it.

Ellie and Allen are held back a bit by the inevitable romance which feels like it’s way too late. You can see the romance a mile away but cmon now, they’ve only just gotten reunited after how long? There’s no time for all of that and these two feel like they’ve been out of the game for so long that they’re a bit out of their depth. Their plot just never comes close to being as interesting as the main one.

On their plot you’ve also got Ramsay who gets quite a lot to do. The guy ends up being rather helpful the whole time so that’s good. The B plot has its share of danger and everything but 9 times out of 10 you’re ready to go back to Owen and team. Finally there’s the main villain Lewis and I’m not sure exactly what they were going for with him. He can be rather serious at times and then almost incompetent at other moments. He’s always very hyper/manic so he doesn’t always have time to finish his sentences. He works well as a funny villain in that degree even if I’m not sure how intentional that was which is a bit of an issue.

If he was meant to be more of a serious villain then the film failed but if you’re supposed to laugh at him a bit then that works well enough. He had some of the funniest scenes in the film although I would say Ian was still the most humorous character in the grand scheme of things.

While the movie is fairly lighthearted the whole time, it does have some grim moments like when two kids are attacked by a bunch of locusts. I was actually a little shocked at that because it just comes out of the blue and man, they were not expecting that. Of course you could try to say that they escaped but it was probably all over for them. I would still not call the film particularly violent or anything compared to older ones though. It’s certainly not touching the original films in that regard. Even the dinosaur fights usually happen when it’s really dark so you can’t actually see too much of what’s going on. I like to think that was to hide the violence and not because they’re afraid of how the CG looks.

The movie uses the classic Park theme at one point but for the most part it feels rather quiet. There aren’t any standout tunes at all which is a shame. Good music can really help take you to the next level and it could also have been used to make some of the slower scenes a little more exciting. In fact, that really might be what the film was missing. Throwing in some more good music could have really helped take the film to the next level or at least get a 1 star boost or something.

There’s certainly more to dislike here than to like. There’s also virtually no replay value because of how long the film is and how it ends up dragging instead of really utilizing that length. There are quite a few portions of the film that it feels like you could almost cut out so that it goes along a bit quicker. Now this may not sound good for fans of the original trilogy, but I think a strong case could be made that Ellie and Allen should have been cut out. All you need is Ian for their plot and when Maisie shows up she can take care of the rest. The two characters are almost filler if you think about it.

In a way the biggest way I can tell that the film wasn’t super interesting is I’m already running out of stuff to talk about and usually reviews for films in theaters tend to be on the longer side. There’s usually a bunch more to talk about but I guess that’s it here. At least the T Rex does get to show up and I will give the film props for the dinosaur models. I still think they look cool at least. I liked the one with the claws, that was nice. The film definitely could have used more day-time scenes with the dinosaurs so we could really appreciate how they looked though. A dark climax makes sense for the scary vibes but c’mon, this film isn’t really scary like that.

Overall, Jurassic World ends on a bit of an eh note. I would say this beats Fallen Kingdom for me but it loses to the original Jurassic World. I’m inclined to say Jurassic Park III beats this one as well. This one probably beats the first two though so all in all…that means this one’s roughly in the middle or slightly above the middle. That’s not bad. It’s not a particularly high bar for me though but it’s a start. If you really like dinosaurs then you should still get a lot out of this movie but it really should have been more exciting than how it turned out to be.

Overall 3/10