Tag Archives: Thriller

Heat 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

There’s an old saying that a good movie will become a great movie with enough length but a bad movie will become a terrible one if you extend it. I tend to agree with that in theory and this film’s a pretty good example. It has a nice set up but coms with several problems and those problems just start to get worse and worse as the film goes on. It really needed a checks and balance system in order to prevent things from getting out of control like this. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen and so this one really sabotages itself. There’s a good film somewhere in here but it is buried deep.

The movie focuses on a master cop and an ultimate thief. Both of them have really put everything into the job to the point where their lives away from the job have really become a mess. It is the lot they have chosen in life though and neither one has any regrets. They will have to face each other though as only one of them will be able to walk away from this in one piece. Will the victor be the cop or the crook? You’ll find out by the end of the film.

Right away the biggest hurdle for the film is just how unlikable the characters are. For the main two the film is trying to show us how they are just trying their best but can’t find a happy middle between the job and their lives. The problem is that it sure doesn’t look that way from the outside. They’re just jerks who make each situation worse so I’m not seeing any great effort there.

Lets take the main character Vincent. This guy is already on his third wife and things are not going well because he refuses to tell her about his work at all. So he goes out there for incredibly long hours and when he gets home then he doesn’t want to talk. In fact he goes out of his way to push her out because that’s just the way that he likes things. When she calls him out on it, he has no real good response to this. She decides to end up cheating which is obviously a terrible thing to do and then Vincent keeps on going with his routine.

It’s a toxic relationship all the way around with both parties looking super bad. I just don’t get why he was completely unwilling to compromise and talk to her before that point. I understand really enjoying your job but there’s no reason to be like that socially. Being with him just seems like it would be an incredibly hollow experience. Vincent is at least good at his job so I’ll give him that but that’s about all that I can give him.

As the film goes on he gets to interact with Neil who is the big gangster on the other side. The conversation is decently interesting but I don’t really get why they would even slightly respect each other. The hero/villain dynamic can work with respect but you usually still have to earn it in some way. I didn’t think that Neil did anything to earn that respect here. From Vincent’s point of view he should just be another villain to overcome. He wasn’t super impressive. Vincent’s group had him dead to rights early on if one officer hadn’t dropped his water bottle.

As for Neil, well he’s worse than Vincent. The big problem with Neil is that he makes a whole lot of mistakes throughout the film. The whole thing wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t lose track of the mass murderer outside the deli. I don’t know how that guy escaped in the first place, clearly Neil has no peripheral vision. At least he was ready to get revenge for the rest of the movie but I would have written it a bit differently so the escape wasn’t completely Neil’s fault like this.

Additionally Neil is always willing to compromise and is a villain through and through. You could have had a villain with a really strict honor code which explains why Vincent doesn’t mind him but that’s not the case here. Neil’s too busy covering up for his allies who are just not good people. At one point he threatens the cheating wife of one of his subordinates about how she needs to stay with the toxic guy for a while longer. Neil just wants to complete his mission and he can’t even stick to his own internal rules in the end.

So yeah he’s just another random villain. At least that’s how it should seem to Vincent. As per usual the romance throughout the film is more on the weaker side. This one is really going by the classic rules of how someone is eventually going to cheat out of loneliness or boredom which always means that you picked the wrong person. The film also has a mass murderer named Waingro running around. I thought he was rather unnecessary to the film but is mainly here so Neil isn’t as bad in comparison.

That part is true as this guy is obviously the most evil character. We see him murder quite a few people and he basically has no reason to do this. He just enjoys the violence and that’s really all that you need to know about the guy. That’s why any victory by the end is going to be rather hollow because of the body count. The climax is nice and action packed but it does feel like the villains have a lot of plot armor. They are outnumbered at least 20 to 2 and are mostly taking all of the heroes down. I don’t get how you can miss so many shots in close quarters like that.

What I can give this film as a positive is that the writing is generally solid. The plot is engaging and you are interested in seeing how things will wrap up. There are a lot of traps and counter traps going on. Each side is really able to fight well and even if the supporting characters don’t have huge roles there, they get enough scenes to be more than nobodies. I would have just used some of the film’s exceptionally long screentime to give them some more memorable scenes and fights.

Overall, Heat is one of those films that is very ambitious but messes up on the fundamentals. In theory it’s interesting to have two main characters who are set up to eventually have to fight each other. That’s always going to be a fun idea but you need to actually have both characters be likable first. Until you actually do that then the film is really going to be doomed. It’s also a little too drawn out. Perhaps if this was more of an ensemble cast with 4 factions then it could work but the film is very clearly centered around the main two. I’d recommend checking out a different title instead for your dose of action.

Overall 3/10

Geostorm Review

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It’s time for a good ole disaster film. This one is fairly unique by starting off with the disaster and then handling it off screen. Then in the present…the disaster is happening again. Due to the story the film wanted to tell it probably had to happen this way but I have to admit that I still found it just a little bit funny. This is a pretty good movie all around though.

The film is centered around Jake who successfully built a weather satellite station that can control the weather and prevent disasters from happening. It worked very well for a long time but then Jake got fired for talking back to the government. Several years passed and now things are going wrong. The system is creating the disasters that it swore to protect. Jake is reluctantly asked to come back and fix things but it’s awkward since his brother Max is now the new boss. Jake feels like Max betrayed him by taking the position and not fighting harder to get Jake back into the mix earlier. Can they get past their sibling drama to save the world?

So right away I will say that the weakest part here is definitely the brother drama. Neither character looks great by the end of this. Jake should be taking responsibility for how he was acting towards the government and should realize that there was nothing Max could have done to save his job. Jake very thoroughly burned every bridge that he could and so the end was inevitable.

The drama would have been better if Jake had acknowledged this more but it never really comes up. I don’t think Jake’s attitude of not really wanting to be a people person is inherently bad but it does come with its share of weaknesses. Particularly in jobs where you do have to answer to other people while staying calm. Jake knows what he is doing but just being the best at what you do is really not always going to be enough in these situations. Also Jake loses a fight after having the element of surprise and two free shots which was incredibly embarrassing.

As for Max, well I still blame him for going out of his way to be a jerk about things at times. He seemed to really resent Jake for a large part of the movie and does lie to his face on different occasions. I imagine that over time the rift between them just kept on growing so it made for negative feelings on both sides but one of them needed to be the bigger man. So they both just end up looking rough.

Also I wouldn’t say that he handled the romance with Sarah particularly well. He acts shocked when she has to go on last second assignments but that is the life of the secret service which is fairly similar to his line of work. Most of their dialogue just tends to be banter otherwise which is fine but that was the one moment where you definitely look at him sideways. Sarah is a much better character than either of the main two.

She is very quick to use her elite skills to fight off the villains and actually takes down a whole squad. That helped to put some more action into the film and without her they would have all been doomed without a doubt. I’ll also give the President a thumbs up here for being on the ball real quick and not just having a shocked face the whole time. He had to endure some pretty big twists with no warning and handled them well.

Geostorm is at its best when it just embraces the crazy setup here. It was nice looking at all the big disaster scenes and the film is very fast paced. Something is always happening whether it is Jake’s investigation in space or Max’s on the ground. There is a good amount of conspiracy here to keep the tension and intrigue high at all times. The action scenes are also fun and having a human opponent helps a lot as opposed to it just being humanity against a bunch of natural disasters.

Realistically if we ever made a giant weather machine over the globe, it makes sense that someone would try to use it for nefarious purposes. Whether that means destroying it outright or just sabotaging it, that would only be a matter of time. Even as the film ends, things are going to be really rough for humanity for a while. The body count was rather huge by the end of the film so it feels like they only put of the disaster by a bit. Ultimately humanity cold not fight back against nature.

If the film wanted to fix the brother plot I think they would have needed both of them to be on the space station. Have them be forced to work together and slowly becoming close again. I would cut Jake’s kid out entirely because there’s just no way to fit that plot in and it makes the film over crowded. She didn’t end up having much of a point in the film. Then when Jake and Max save the days, you’ve got a pretty complete ending right there. Of course you don’t even need that drama in the first place. You could have easily just made Max another one of the government bureaucrats that Jake doesn’t like and he’s forced to learn how to play nice by the end. With how this film ends, you could make the strong argument that Jake didn’t learn any lessons and will blow up at Congress during his next meeting.

Overall, Geostorm is a pretty good movie and I would recommend checking it out. It covers all the bases you would expect from a thriller film and executes the plot well. Whether you haven’t seen many disaster films before or if you’ve seen them all; Geostorm holds up. I’d be ready for a sequel to this one. It’s also got just enough high tech elements where you could really have any number of plots within it.

Overall 7/10

David

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It’s time for a recent film based on the events of King David from the Bible. This one is particularly focusing on his rise to becoming the King. This makes for a pretty good adventure as that focuses on his strengths and his devotion to God. At this point we are only seeing the tail-end of Saul’s journey where he began to go crazy. Unfortunately being king is a huge burden and one that is far too much for just about any man after enough time has passed.

The film starts off by showing David being a good shepherd as he protects his sheep from a Lion. David was brave the whole way through even while knowing that he could be ripped apart by the Lion. David was not going to back down and that is absolutely crucial here. He would have to continue fighting opponents of a much larger stature than him like when he goes up against Goliath. That’s probably the most famous part of David’s journey so naturally it was going to be here.

Surprisingly it’s a fairly small part of the film though as a good chunk of it is really about dodging Saul’s many assassination attempts. I’d say this was a good idea because these are the scenes that you don’t see animated very often. It was definitely a really stressful time for David because having an actual king and his armies after you isn’t easy. Additionally, David’s troops continuously pressure him to murder Saul but David refuses. He refuses to go that far and will wait for Saul to see reason.

The animation may take you a little bit to get used to though. The character models and everything feels a bit off like this is almost a mix of 3D and stop motion. Still, the film does get the horror imagery across pretty well with how the Amalekite tribe looks. Their clothes really seem demonic and make them a clan that you don’t want to fight. David was able to put his trust in the Lord though and got everyone else to do this as they all began to sing and put their fear aside.

The film is part musical so there are different songs that play during the movie. On the whole I would say that the songs are good. None of them are going to end up being super memorable but they do work well in the scenes that they are in so I didn’t have any complaints there. Additionally, they don’t overdo it with the songs the way some musicals have one playing every 5 minutes. They are spread out pretty well here so there is always a purpose to the song.

The movie is also pretty straight forward so there isn’t a need for a bunch of twists and turns. Naturally if you’ve read the Bible before then you will know how the events play out so there wasn’t going to be much of a purpose in trying to keep anything hidden. Saul definitely feels like a very imposing character from the start who isn’t exactly oozing goodness so you’re not surprised when he ends up being a big antagonist.

It was good to see more of Jonathan as well since he was David’s best friend in the Bible and got a lot of screentime. Generally you don’t see him much in the adaptions though so this was really good. David’s brothers tend to appear a lot but this is the first time that his sister also got a role. So the film did well in expanding the characters and really fleshing everyone out.

It was also important to start off by showing David’s work as a shepherd. It’s a big part of his character growing up and sets the tone well. I was also glad about the fake out because initially it seemed like we would be starting the film off with animal violence which would have really been a rough beginning. It also would have completely undercut the first scene if you ask me so everything really turned out for the best here.

Finally David’s story is a classic example of how these situations were not ones that he could have solved on his own. If he had chosen to fight without God and just trust in his own skills, he would have lost. The odds were not in his favor and by any human metric David would never have survived this encounter. He would not have defeated Goliath with a slingshot under his own power. Nor would he have been able to evade Saul’s men for years and always find a way to make a counter attack. David was only able to survive this because he put his complete trust and control in God’s hands. While David would go on to have a rough adventure, this is why he is still looked up to as one of the men closest to God’s heart throughout the Bible. You tend to see him and Paul mentioned a lot in that respect. Paul went through a rough period to start things off while David hit the rough patch near the beginning. Ultimately they had to repent and confront their own weakness.

Overall, This was definitely a really good film and it’s clear that the writers were paying attention to the source material here. The animation may not be one of my favorite styles but you’ll quickly be drawn into the narrative so it won’t be a big deal. The film is really paying attention to details and has good pacing throughout. They cover a whole lot of ground here and the characters all act as they should. There is plenty of room left for a sequel should they ever want to do that but this one definitely covers the key events. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I definitely recommend changing that. Whenever we get a well done adaption of the Bible like this, you really want to see it as soon as possible!

007 First Light Review

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This was a game that looked like a blast right from the start. In a way First Light was kind of like a successor to the old Uncharted franchise. Yes this would be about James Bond but there was more of a focus on the hand to hand combat than on the gun gameplay. Can’t really say I minded that all that much. After all I love the hand to hand gameplay. Throw in a compelling story and you really have a great title here.

The game is essentially an origin story for James Bond as we start the game with him being a soldier. After one mission goes haywire, Bond ends up joining M16 and trains to become a numbered agent. Along the way he will have to deal with powerful rival agents and an information leak that could end the civilized world. Fortunately Bond is ready for all of this. He’s never been the kind of guy to shy away from a fight after all.

Bond is one of those characters that I don’t generally like. I feel like he tends to lose far too quickly in most films and gets outsmarted all the time. He’s also way too girl crazy and this comes at the expense of the mission. While those traits still exist in this game, they are certainly not played nearly as much as in the movies. Bond is much more focused here for the most part even if he still makes time for a few one night stands every now and again. That keeps him from being a great character but at least he came a lot closer here than he ever did in the movies.

The game is fairly long so you won’t beat the campaign too quickly. It’s certainly not 20 hours but is easily in the double digits and I was satisfied with the campaign. There are 10 main chapters here and there are a lot of collectibles and extra dialogue options in each level. Unfortunately the simulator mode is online only which is a shame since that part is supposed to be a whole lot of fun. I guess I will work on playing through that during a free PSN weekend or something like that.

For the gameplay, the action part has you focusing on lots of punches and grabs. Grabs are completely broken in this game. They go through any attack and you can trap enemies in unescapable combos. They only don’t work on bosses who are immune to physical attacks and you must use the environment against them. Not a problem, there are always a lot of things to throw everywhere. You also have your gadgets which can short change any fight. Each gadget can one shot the opponent standing in your way.

I think the goal was to make sure that the game is accessible to everyone and for that reason it is a little bit on the easier side. Tere are times you will die though. I definitely died in quite a few of the shootouts which are the toughest part s of the game. The stealth and hand to hand parts though? You will breeze through those.

For the stealth there isn’t much of a punishment to failing thanks to the bluff mechanics that are around. Just back up and start again or use one of your gadgets to stun the guy and walk past him. Likewise for the punching parts, if they manage to land a blow on you then you can just run away. Your health regenerates really quickly so you can go back to full health and then fight again. So if you really want a challenge then you should probably start on hard mode.

I gotta say that I approved of these mechanics though. It’s going to be hard going back to normal stealth after this since all of the bluffing just feels so satisfying. Additionally you feel the impact from every punch. The combat is super satisfying all the way around. I really don’t have anything bad to say about the gameplay. It is always consistently top tier and you have a whole lot of freedom to attack the levels in any way that you want to. I certainly have a lot of fun with freedom like that.

If I had any kind of nitpick with the game it could be that at times the story could move a bit slowly. I really enjoyed the intro, the climax, and a lot of stuff in between but then sometimes things would go a bit slowly. Walking through the villain HQ in the arctic for example was a bit on the slow side as you must maintain your cover and can’t just go in blasting. I know why we had to be subtle but I just wanted to get on with it. If anything I wish that the final part could have been longer since having to play as Bond without any gadgets or special powers was fun. It lets you see just how strong he still is even without any kind of backup like that.

I’m betting that the sequels will only continue to add new gameplay styles and gadgets to the mix so I’m sure things will only get better from here. Of course with a different game studio coming in that may not be as much of a guarantee as I was thinking. Either way I have high hopes though. This is definitely the kind of game that you should play right away. The story is still very good even if I thought it had some pacing issues. The villains also end up being quite memorable. The best boss fight in the game is pretty early on though where you have to take on two assassins at once. That was a great fight, wish we could have gotten more like that. Later on the bosses are all immune to physical attacks like I mentioned before so they are a bit more gimmicky than the usual battles.

Overall, The term “AAA” may have taken some shots over the years but this is exactly the kind of game that you would think of for this acronym. First Light feels like a game that had a lot of development time put into it and this was not wasted. Every part of the game is treated with a lot of care and dedication. The gameplay is smooth and every technical element is accounted for. There may have been one or two times where the game crashed but it auto saves constantly so you don’t lose much progress. All of the classic quality of life features are in this game as well which is another credit to its favor.

Overall 8/10

Mercy Review

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Mercy is one of those films that has an amazing concept right out of the gate. People finally had enough of the crazy crime rates and so an A.I. was created to serve as judge, jury, and executioner. All criminals are presumed guilty unless proven of innocence. This is a film that feels like it could have been a Twilight Zone episode. I’ve also been playing a lot of Ace Attorney lately so this was really timely. Generally I tend to be on the side of the prosecution and this film is really no different. Can the main character actually prove his innocence?

The film starts off with Chris being strapped into his seat at the A.I. Mercy courtroom. He is accused of murdering his wife a few hours ago. The trial would have been even sooner but they had to wait for his alcohol levels to drop off. Things are not looking good for Chris, footage at the scene of the crime shows him having a fight with his wife and being the last one to leave her place. Their marriage was not in a good place and Chris was known to have severe anger issues. He was also an alcoholic. Judge Maddox seems to have an ironclad case against him. Can Chris stop panicking long enough to prove his innocence or is it curtains for him?

One thing I have to say right away is that Chris is super annoying the whole time. You really have a hard time rooting for him. The first 5-10 minutes are basically him trying to break out of the chair and yelling a lot. This just isn’t the time to panic like that and it gets worse when you find out that he is one of the main guys who pushed for the Mercy system. He even helped capture the first person to be put to death by the system. That means Chris should understand more about what’s going on than the average person and so I would also expect a certain amount of composure.

You don’t really get any of that here though. Then as we learn more about the case, we see that he really wasn’t a good guy. Now it is always important to separate the person from the crime. Just because you’re not a good person, that doesn’t mean that you are guilty. I think it is also why I tend to be more on the prosecution’s side though. They are always fighting for the guilty plea and the evidence is going to be on their side. The defense has to try and save their client even when they know that they are guilty. That’s always been much tougher for me to square in my head.

Neither side is ever always on the side of justice but I’d say that the prosecutors have a higher batting average. Additionally, Judge Maddox just does a terrific job. She calmly analyzes the facts and constantly makes sure that things are going the way that they should be. It’s a giant contrast to what is going on with Chris as he just panics and panics. He throws a whole lot of personal attacks her way while she doesn’t stoop to his level.

I will say that the film does go in a bit of a cheesy direction with her character though. I would have liked for her to have stayed far more decisive and calculating than how it actually went down. I don’t understand her getting so emotional within such a small time frame. I would have liked for her to have stayed fully neutral. Still helpful depending on the circumstances but never giving you the vibe that she was on someone’s side. she was still the best character in the film though.

As for Chris, well you’ll just have to see if he is guilty or not. One thing we can say for sure though is that he messes up a lot. We find out how he was trying to drink in secret without his wife knowing and then he went totally crazy when she found out. He tried fighting off a whole group of police officers which was a terrible look for him. At one point he even pretended to give up, only to grab a chair and start swinging at them. That’s a really underhanded move even in the best of times but for here it’s another demerit against him.

You are meant to feel sympathetic for Chris by the end but I can’t say that I ever really got to that point. The film just went a little too far in making him as unlikable as possible. Of course this still doesn’t excuse the subplot where his wife is fooling around with someone else. You get a divorce first and then you can hit the market again. Doing that while married is just as bad and so the supporting characters quickly get annoying here. The rebound guy is real smug and likes to hear himself talk but you don’t want to really hear what he has to say either. He’s not a good guy either.

The film did already explain that there was a huge crime wave so in some ways it does make sense why everyone is so unlikable. It doesn’t make them any better but the film did lay some groundwork there. I do think the film had to stretch its own logic a bit for the final plot twist though. Given how much power Maddox has with A.I. and all, I don’t see how she would have missed some of the evidence here. I guess you could say that she just won’t look into things as much unless the accused is fighting back but that doesn’t totally track for me. So the final twist felt a bit forced and could have used more of an explanation. In general I’d say that’s true even for the main case to an extent but a lot more time was spent on that one so there aren’t any true plot holes there. Still some parts I’d be skeptical of but nothing absolutely insane.

The general action climax tends to run into some of these issues because it feels like this shouldn’t be so easy in the future. Shoot out the wheels for the truck at least right? Felt like there wasn’t enough security and then all of the officers kept crashing their cars into the truck. Not saying it should be super easy or anything like that but that was absolutely a skeptical moment for me. The villain’s plan seemed to rely on way too many things going right in too many different directions. Realistically I feel like his plan should have been doomed way before he got to the point he was in during the climax. Maybe I’m overestimating the surveillance I guess.

Overall, I thought this movie would be pretty good as soon as I saw the trailers for it and this one did not disappoint. Generally I always tend to enjoy court room films. This one may have a different setup than usual but still follows the main beats. There is a good amount of suspense here and you will definitely be eagerly awaiting each and every twist. The pacing is good and the concept is also a really good one that just makes you think. Would you be able to use the A.I. tools to prove your own innocence in such a situation? Chris had to get real creative here in order to find an angle and that’s really how it always is for using these tools. Some plot developments may get a bit weaker as you watch them but that’s the nature of a thriller. I would definitely watch a sequel if that ever came out and I’d recommend this film.

Overall 7/10

Godsend Review

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This is one of those films where the characters are constantly making a bunch of mistakes. You are going to need to suspend a good amount of disbelief in this adventure because otherwise you’ll be questioning everything. Unfortunately this movie doesn’t really succeed at any of the genres it is trying to hit. It’s not super suspenseful as a thriller and it’s definitely not very scary. I guess you can’t win them all.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Paul and Jessie who are happily married and raising their kid Adam. Adam is your average boy who likes sports and games. Unfortunately he gets hit by a car one day and dies. This causes Jessie’s old professor Richard to show up. The guy explains that he can clone Adam so in a way they will have their kid back. They will have to leave town and get new identities though. None of their relatives or old friends can know about this. Paul thinks this is a dumb idea but Jessie is desperate to have a version of Adam back. Paul relents and so they do the cloning. 8 years later, the clone is now as old as Adam was but he begins to act very oddly. Have the main characters made an oopsie here?

There are so many reasons why agreeing to clone your dead kid is a bad idea but of course we wouldn’t have a movie if they had just said no. So for the most part I’m just going to go ahead and skip all of my reservations about that. This is still a bad idea aside from that though. Why would you actually break off contact with all of your friends and family? I understand why you would tell Richard that so that he can give you the clone but you could absolutely reach out to them afterwards. There wouldn’t be much that Richard could do at that point.

Also the instant Adam started acting weird, Paul needed to do something. Unfortunately Jessie was already under Richard’s sway early on so she wasn’t going to do anything but Paul should have gotten the second opinion sooner. It’s not like Adam was subtle either. One of his first scenes is telling Paul that he doesn’t like him anymore. Weird thing to say to your father right? Then he starts zoning out more, having strange visions, etc. You can’t just listen to Richard when he says that everything will be okay.

Odds are that the other doctors couldn’t have done anything but that’s more of a hindsight argument. You should still do something. Unfortunately this is part of why none of the characters are likable here. Jessie is annoying from the start with how easily Richard is able to manipulate her. She just puts up no resistance and also seems to have no survival skills. At one point during what is supposed to be a horror scene, she follows Adam into the camera room. It’s naturally very dark since the light would ruin the photos.

So then Adam vanishes into the darkness and….Jessie follows him instead of just opening the door. That would have been the easiest solution and there is no reason to worry about a few photos at that point. Instead she fumbles around in the darkness so we can get some more jump scares. It just didn’t really make sense. If Jessie had at least turned against Richard early on that would have helped but instead she chooses him every time.

As for Paul, he is better but still looks bad throughout. He knew that cloning was a bad idea but still allowed himself to be convinced otherwise. Then when it comes to Richard, Paul lets his guard down and is easily defeated. It’s a rather humiliating scene for him because that should have never happened. You shouldn’t be turning your back to a dangerous threat like that. So he was really lacking in survival skills as well.

Finally for Richard, his end goal didn’t really make sense. For how long was he going to just try and stall the characters by saying that things would work out? It felt like he had absolutely no plan. I also think his whole cloning project relied on some pretty huge assumptions like the clone looking like the original no matter what DNA was used. That part seems really odd, especially with the spirit realm bodies fighting it out. The film couldn’t really decide if it was leaning more on supernatural or science based. I’d argue that this doesn’t make total sense in either case. The clone should have looked a bit different in retrospect after one of the twists.

As for Adam, well the first kid seemed okay. Then the clone seems to mainly be evil for its own sake. There’s just not a whole lot to him as a villain and so he will not be keeping your interest at any point. Far from it, you’ll prefer the passive aggressive meetings of Richard and Paul since those are a lot more interesting. There isn’t much that Adam can actually do in a fight unless the victim turns around and becomes hard of hearing. That does happen but it’s still unrealistic.

In the meanwhile Adam does murder another kid which was a shame. You were definitely hoping that someone could have intervened in time. Yes the kid was a bully but the bullying was not all that drastic and either way should not be a death sentence. We see enough of the villain’s origin story to see the casualties there as well and even then it doesn’t feel like Adam should have lasted as long as he did. There was a lot of plot armor behind every strike. The film isn’t exactly dreary but it’s also not trying to be a lot of fun. It’s very dramatic and emotional the whole time. Without really strong characters to counteract that, the movie can feel like a bit of a slog at times.

You’re not as interested in ignoring the jarring questions of how nobody realized where the family went to track them down. They wouldn’t need to explain the kid looking similar part because that absolutely could happen. The family running off and trying to start new lives is what would be more suspicious. Did they really get new social security numbers and IDs? I know Richard is great with science but I don’t see how that translates into this CIA type of access.

Overall, This is just not a very good film. It takes a while for the plot to really start as we get a whole lot of build up. Once the story does start in earnest, Adam just isn’t able to hold his own as the film’s main antagonist. Throughout the adventure you can’t help but feel like the movie should have a lot more meat to it. Either go full on supernatural and explore the interesting idea of souls running around waiting for clone bodies to be born or go full on science with the souls residing inside of the DNA. This one tries to do a lot and ends up not being able to accomplish much of anything. Even the twist ending feels more obligatory than interesting. There just isn’t much you can do with the evil kid genre. As it stands, this film is fairly low and still beats its average competitor.

Overall 3/10

Greenland 2: Migration Review

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Greenland 2 is one of those films that will make less and less sense as you watch it but that’s okay. The main purpose of the film is just to let you have some fun with a bunch of action scenes. In fact I dare say it beats the first film. It does run a little long though. The runtime isn’t even that long technically but the pacing starts to die out as the main characters run into trouble after trouble. They really can’t go 5 minutes without having some kind of bad luck.

After the events of the first film, the world is in a really rocky spot. Almost all of humanity has already been wiped off the map and the survivors aren’t doing so well with the crazy amounts of radiation everywhere. There is really no escape….except for one last chance. A perfect oasis that was near the initial blast zone. If you can reach this place, you will be completely safe and will not have to worry about anything. Does such a place even exist though? It sounds almost too good to be true and often times places like that are just a way to give hope to those who have lost it. We’ll see if the journey ends up paying off this time.

What really sets the adventure off is when the island that the heroes are on begins to erupt as a volcano was dormant under it. So John and his family go on a long journey but right away I have to say that he was the only one looking good here. So his wife Allison is big on trying to do the heroic thing and having a clear conscience through what is a really tough situation. No problems on that but she takes it to very dangerous levels to where she would doom everyone. The concept here is called suicidal empathy.

For example we are shown at the beginning of the film that the emergency shelter is already at the breaking point. They only have enough food for maybe 2 weeks left and everyone is crammed in like sardines. John has been trying to find some food and materials for a long time but there has been no luck. The air outside is poisonous so they have to all wear air masks and everything. Well, another group has sent out a distress signal. The problem? The group has dozens and dozens of members within it. A group vote is held and Allison puts in enough pressure to win the vote. So now the shelter will have to accommodate an extra 50 people and there simply aren’t the resources for it.

The one guy who opposes this is treated like an antagonist throughout the film but his points really made sense. At that point you are just dooming everyone and Allison keeps this up throughout the movie. At one point everyone is running for the last 3 life boats. The first two end up toppling because too many people tried to go into them. The heroes manage to get onto the third boat and the driver explains that they have to go or their ship will topple over too. Despite this? Allison still says they should let everyone on, knowing that it would doom them all.

She just wasn’t a very practical character. Unfortunately I would say that she is realistic as a lot of people would feel the same way, no matter how bad of an idea it is. There is a time where you can still feel empathy but have to move on or everyone will be dead. She never really recovered from that showing. Still, it’s not like Allison is a villain or anything, she just ends up being an annoying ally.

Then we have the son, Nathan. He’s the classic teenage character who is just really bored. He wants adventure and so he goes outside even with the poison air everywhere because he can’t stand being cooped up. It makes him seem rather selfish but also short sighted. He could have easily spread some viruses throughout the shelter which is the whole reason why only one person is allowed outside and has to be thoroughly detoxed each time. Nathan also has a tendency to panic all the time. At one point they all have to cross a bridge but he keeps yelling about how he won’t and he’d rather just stay and die there. This is life or death, you have to cross the rope even if it’s hard.

Sure it may be easy to say that from behind the screen but I stand by it. Nathan was always slowing them down quite a bit. I’d have cut him some slack if it was because of the insulin issue but aside from a passing mention at the start, that stops being a thing. So as long as it’s just a fear that Nathan has to get past, I have to blame him 100%.

So John is really the best out of the main characters. I really liked the pragmatic government character but he technically doesn’t last very long. John is at least trying to save his family throughout and is actively sacrificing his safety in order to do that. He’s a good hero and that’s really all you need in order to make a quality character. John gets to show off his expert gunman skills as well during the movie. Without him the family would have had no shot.

I’ll give the film props for also completely changing the film’s location early on. We are at the emergency shelter just long enough where you think that a bunch of those characters are going to be sticking around during the movie. Despite that, they are all removed from the story after the heroes leave the base. That was pretty unexpected for me and I thought that it worked. Having a really small cast of just the main 3 characters was a good idea.

The action was also consistent and never let up. While I do think the film began to drag on just a tad bit by the end, I can’t say that it was uneventful. We got several gunfights and a whole lot of running around. It did feel like the film was perhaps being a bit too ambitious at times though. A lot of focus was put on the atmosphere being poisonous but it felt more like an empty threat because there were many times where the characters would be without their helmets and it wasn’t really a big deal. Then it turns out that the sacred land near the crater has no poison at all. In fact that somehow became the biggest oasis on the planet.

It’s not a plot hole as the film very explicitly talks about how we don’t really understand any of this because humanity isn’t really in a position to study it. It’s just a bit convenient. I don’t really see how this land would not have been destroyed by now. Yes, an army is protecting it but with the whole world seeking shelter, that just wouldn’t last long. This isn’t a story that will hold up too well so the important thing is to just have fun in the moment. That is something that the movie is good at.

I was skeptical going into this film because I never thought that Greenland would really need a sequel. It felt like this would just be stretching a premise past the breaking point. At least by making it involve the rest of the world and an actual war, that made things pretty eventful. The writing is also good and most of my complaints about the characters being annoying are not the kinds of things that would actually lower the score of the film. Same with the inconsistent world building and such. They’re elements that are fun to make fun of and note, but don’t actually hurt my enjoyment of the movie.

Overall, Greenland 2 is definitely a good film. I won’t call it a great one or anything like that but I wasn’t bored. The movie kept my attention all the way through and there weren’t any parts that took me out of it because I thought the writing was super bad or anything. The ending is definitely pretty weak though. That’s one thing the film could have done better with because it just isn’t satisfying. It’s the kind of ending that feels standard in a bad way and also heavily limits the potential of a third film.

Overall 6/10

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Review

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All right if someone asked me if I could survive 5 nights at Freddy’s I would definitely say yes. The animatronics are slow and clunky so that’s not a problem. If they asked me if I could survive 5 more nights? Well now that’s getting tricky. The monsters in this film seem to be considerably more powerful than in the first film although I would say that they are still under the average horror title. For that reason nobody in this film is really putting up much of a fight most of the time.

The film starts off with Mike trying his best to forget the events of the first film. He figures the best way to do this is to gaslight Abby into thinking that he will fix the old robots when he doesn’t plan to. Then on the side Mike is trying his best to fix Vanessa from all of her childhood trauma but Mike doesn’t really have the temperament for such a journey. Eventually his plans fall through and Abby runs back into Freddy’s to bring her friends back while Vanessa heads over for some closure. Unfortunately they both end up bringing something far darker back into the world. And yes…there are now two Freddy’s locations.

This is definitely one of those films where everyone looks pretty bad which is what the villains are able to capitalize on. For example in the first flashback scene we see how William wasn’t exactly subtle in grabbing one of the kids to destroy but even when another kid notices, nobody wants to help. The adults are painfully oblivious and almost go out of their way to ignore the situation. Then once it all happens, we see how the media blamed this on the kid who died. Now that was crazy and it sets the stage for how this is a world without a whole lot of empathy. Everyone is just looking out for themselves here and they don’t want to stick their neck out.

The fact that this happened before the other 5 murders is also crazy because it really shows how William was allowed to do whatever he wanted to do. Now in the present, we’ve got a number of plots going on. For Abby’s, well I feel like she looks really bad here. She wants to bring the robots back since some of them had her friends from the beyond but even in the first film it was always a 50/50 chance at best on if they were actually the kids. Usually they were the evil demon robots so she is risking everyone’s lives for a small chance. Not a smart thing to do.

Abby definitely shouldn’t have been going to Freddy’s by herself. Then we have Mike who comes across as really annoying the whole time. He gets upset with Abby when she notices that he’s been lying a lot and that’s on him. Then even after Vanessa has saved his life on multiple occasions and saved Abby, he still tells her off. There are some things like a life debt which should not be so easily broken. Certainly not in this manner. Mike really needed to lock in more.

He got one good scene where he actually fights one of the animatronics but that’s about it for him. Then we have Vanessa who is dealing with the most issues right now. William is still attacking her through dreams which she just barely manages to survive through. It feels like there is only a matter of time before she falls to him unless she can find a way to destroy him forever. Of course that is not going to be easy.

Then Vanessa has to deal with the new villain of the movie, The Marionette. Unfortunately a gun isn’t going to do a whole lot to this thing. She definitely should have told Mike more about what was going on but I still tend to place more of the blame on him for not taking the news well at all. With the stakes this high, there is no time to be falling apart at the seams.

The Marionette makes for a pretty strong villain. She leaves more of an impact than a lot of the different Freddy creatures and for now I would say she was more impressive than William as well. She has a good amount of space and can basically take control of someone’s body which is a really big deal. I suppose that the name is quite fitting.

On that note, the main Freddy crew don’t get to do quite as much here. They threaten the humans a whole lot and are always on the move but don’t technically produce a whole lot of results. More often than not they are foiled at the last second. The body count is a bit smaller than you may have initially guessed. Also unless you are a hardcore fan you will have some trouble differentiating the designs between the new ones and the old ones even when you see them back to back.

The film does go all in on the jump scares though. There is a lot going on at all times and the characters act super suspicious the whole time. There’s a new night guard named Michael for example who seems ominous the whole time. He’s constantly grinning and seems to know a whole lot about Freddy’s. They’re going to want to keep an eye out for him. So the film knows how to be scary.

Then on the other hand it also has some funny moments. I liked the cab driver who was always ready to break the ice. There’s also a mean science teacher who is a complete antagonist but does a really good job within the role like when he “accidentally” broke a girl’s toy. This guy has clearly been in the game for a long time. The film certainly leans harder on horror than comedy but handles both genres rather well.

The writing and script are certainly not realistic but you can put that to the same camp. The film also still keeps itself from being too violent. It’s maybe a little more violent than the first one but I would say that it was close. There is less focus on all the kids who got murdered from the first film which is a good thing. I would also say that the film’s story is a lot more interesting now that it is embracing all of the crazy characters. It was sad that Golden Freddy didn’t show up but I guess the film was getting rather packed.

There are quite a few clffhangers in the film too which sets up the third film nicely. First up we already have a main villain, then a returning villain shows up, and then a hype message which might signal a third one. In theory it’ll be hard for the heroes to stop these guys next time because there is no longer any kind of an off button. Physically these creatures are mainly still robots so you can mess them up but that requires no tripping or panicking which is rare.

For the next film I would like to see some more action though. One issue I have with this one is that the animatronics all tend to look very slow aside from the Marionette and just don’t seem to be a huge threat. Mike takes one out extremely easily in one scene and it feels like that would work on any of the others as well. So I feel like the next film needs to show them actually fighting and moving a bit quicker to make things scary again.

Overall, I definitely wouldn’t be eating at Freddy’s but the film does a good job of staying scary while adding in a lot of story this time around. The concept of Freddy’s is definitely an intense one. I am glad that the series continues to reign in the violence and doesn’t go for a ton of grit. It would be nice if we could go one film without children being among the fatalities though. This time it was brief and then it was over at least but we don’t need to retread the plots. Since this one hints at a much larger threat looming, it may be time to call in the government. Some may say that would be jumping the shark but I think it would be hype!

Overall 6/10

For Your Eyes Only Review

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It’s time for more James Bond. Now you all may remember 007 as the agent who is constantly on the back foot and getting crushed by all of his adversaries right? Well, that doesn’t change much here as he still gets crushed a lot but I will say he fares slightly better than in other films. It doesn’t take longer than the first 10 minutes or so for him to have to rely on plot armor though. This is a classic Bond film all the way through so if you have liked the prior films then you should enjoy this one as well.

The movie starts off with Blofeld returning to bump Bond off once and for all. He actually comes close but Bond is able to turn over the situation and literally make the guy beg for his life. The real mission starts when some kind of targeting system goes missing so Bond must now grab it before the soviets. He isn’t the only one after the villains though as a lady named Melina wants in on the action as well. Her parents were murdered by the culprits and so she seeks to take them all down. She may not have an all powerful spy network at her disposal but she has a car as well as a gun.

This makes her journey even more impressive with how she gets to one of the villain compounds and murders the leader. Bond isn’t ultra grateful but he was about to be murdered so he should actually be quite happy with her. His license to kill was about to be expired. Melina looks less impressive as she is manipulated into her next destination by the villains but I can’t blame her much because again she is doing all of this on her own. That is considerably different from what Bond has to go through so a trap or two makes sense.

Unfortunately she peeked with the opening fight scene. After that she’s basically just one of the Bond girls. Meanwhile Bond is his same old self. He can’t help but be a flirt in every situation and doesn’t let the gravity of the situation stick. The entire world is at stake and yet he’s still messing around with everybody. I really need Bond to lock in and focus here. The film reminds us about his wife who died and yet he is still having affairs? Not a very good look for him I gotta say.

Now the film doesn’t care much about the plot just like Bond. For the most part Bond just has to follow the dots and eventually get to the right answer so it’s not really a traditional mystery. Bond’s usually just walking when the villains show up to shoot him and then he gets some intel. I feel like they may have gotten away with this if they had just stayed quiet and not made a move. Sure, Bond was getting closer but I don’t think he would have made it in time.

The fight scenes are pretty good though. The series has always done well in this arena and I would say that this movie is no exception to that. The movie generally has a fun tone and even has a sense of humor. The film doesn’t get quite as silly as the last one but still has its moments. So if you’re looking for a fun action thriller then the film succeeds in that arena. You do have to still get around the usual issues though.

Aside from the endless fanservice and meaningless affairs, we also have an ice skating student who really wants Bond. While Bond for once had some class and said no, he is still unable to avoid her entirely. This whole subplot should have been cut because it was just annoying and didn’t need to be here. Additionally, it would have made the villain look a little better by default because one of his goals is basically to get the student which isn’t a great look.

We do get some fakeouts on who the actual villain is though so I appreciate that. Bond even ends up teaming up with one of these guys who is apparently able to keep up. It’s either a good look for that guy or a bad look for Bond. I’ll let you decide which one is more likely here. The Bond films always have the potential to be good here since the action works well. It’s a shame that such potential cannot be realized.

One more silver lining I will throw the film is that the pacing is pretty good. The Bond films all tend to be fairly long but this one doesn’t drag out or anything like that. It actually runs by pretty smoothly and I think in some ways that is because of all the action. It’s hard to drag out when the next combat scene is right around the corner. Bond even takes on an entire hockey team. While the first action scene of the film is played for laughs by the end, it was also still pretty exciting in that way.

As for the soundtrack, well the classic Bond theme is fun as always. That is something that the series really got right. Then we have the new intro song for the film which is supposed to be top tier although I wasn’t a big fan. Generally speaking I suppose I haven’t been a big fan of most of the Bond songs though. They just tend to be a bit too slow and out of energy for me. We need a full rock theme already.

Overall, The film fittingly ends on a note where a parrot is able to successfully outsmart M16 and troll for a bit. They eventually catch up and cut the feed but it’s too late by then. As bad as Bond can be at focusing, I dare say that the agency is worse with how they constantly panic at every opportunity. Every little thing seems to shake them up which is not good for such a large spy organization. I would expect better from them. The last film is definitely more exciting with the space climax though, we’ll see how the next film fares.

Overall 4/10

The Cross and the Switchblade

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This is a film that I’ve certainly heard a lot about over the years even if I hadn’t gotten to watch the film until now. The true events were a really big deal after all so that only makes sense. The film definitely captures how dangerous the environment was in NYC back in the day. Certainly not the kind of place you’d want to be walking around without a plan. Without divine intervention, David would not have been making it out of there alive either.

The film starts off with David hearing about a group of thugs who had attacked someone in the park. He tries to see them in court but is blocked from visitation and forced to turn away. He doesn’t want to just leave without a fight like this though and so he looks around the city for opportunities to turn the troubled youth over a new leaf. He means to introduce them into Christianity so that they will finally have a true purpose beyond their empty lives. Fortunately, he meets a girl named Bo who is able to get him into the gang bases to meet with their leaders. David also runs into a small congregation whose pastor takes him in. Now Davis can focus on getting the word out.

Right away you can see how everything had to go perfectly for David to have even had a chance here. The gangs could have easily murdered him at any time and it’s not like there would be anyone who could have stopped them. The gangs may not have literally ruled the city but they certainly had a lot of momentum. It wasn’t a popular move to get in their way and David was being very aggressive with his approaches. David wasn’t here to be subtle and so he would challenge them to their face. His final goal was to get all of the gangs inside a room with him to convert them at once and really make sure there was no room for escape. In most cases this would have been fatal.

David had God’s blessing in this from the start and so everything turned out well. He was really able to touch their hearts and not only left with his life intact, but knowing that he redeemed many souls. So the film has a happy ending there and is a very uplifting story in general. The fact that this happened in real life is a true miracle, definitely not something that can be downplayed or explained rationally. God is the only answer to a difficult situation like this.

Now the film is aiming to be as realistic as possible and for that reason it can be rather gritty. We see how the teens are all just addicted to the violence. They all hold serious grudges against each other to the point where they are always bloodthirsty. They are even quick to turn against their own members for any perceived moments of cowardice. This leads one of their members to fall to his doom. Each person also has to watch their backs at all times because the other gangs seek to attack them from behind, get them into traps, etc.

Then you have a bunch of drug dealers taking advantage of the chaos as well. Rosa gets trapped into this and is the film’s main subplot. She has a really hard time kicking the addiction and just when it seems like she has gotten out, she is sucked right back in. It’s definitely one of those plots that is tough to watch because she really should have been safe after the first time but then allowed herself to fall back into the same cycle. She let the bad moment get to her which is why you need a particularly strong anchor to fight such urges. The kind of anchor you are absolutely not going to get from your own strength.

I was also glad that David had some allies here. The church pastor and his wife were both very helpful to David. It absolutely makes a world of difference to have a place to rest as opposed to sleeping inside the car the whole time. Additionally, Bo was also helpful in being able to lead David around so he wasn’t just wandering. He had a lot of help that God presented to him and then faith had to take the rest of the way.

As long as you’re wearing the armor of the Lord then you will be protected at all times. It can be difficult to resist fear in the moment but it was absolutely rewarded here. David really never took a step back. The pacing and writing for the film are both pretty good. There is going to be a bit of shock value here as the film did not want to tone down the way that the gang members would talk at all. So you’ll be on the edge of your seat here even when you know that a positive ending is coming up. I do think it would be nice to have a version for kids at some point so they can also experience the story. There have certainly been many plays and such that go through the plot but I don’t think there was another big movie.

Overall, The Cross and the Switchblade is a powerful film to watch about how miracles still happen. You need to really watch it if you just don’t have hope for the future. It’s not a film I would recommend for younger viewers due to the violence and dark themes though. So for now just watch it if you’re old enough to handle this kind of story. Sometimes it can be hard to logically process a miracle and that’s fine. I would even argue that it should be that way because they defy logic. So seeing a film like this can be helpful as you are able to really visualize the kind of atmosphere that David walked into and was able to walk out of in complete victory.