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Doctor Sleep Review

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

While an improvement over the first film in the series, Doctor Sleep is still not a film that you’re really going to give much of a thumbs up to. It has some good ideas but really ends up wasting them and goes for way more grit than is needed. You will be engaged during any scene where the villains aren’t around but once they show up it becomes game over.

The story starts with a girl named Andi using her mental abilities to scar an evil predator when she is approached by another psychic named Rose. Unfortunately Rose is much more powerful and quickly subdues Andy and takes her to their cult. There she is brainwashed and forced to work for the villain group while also getting a big power up. See the villains have two goals. The first is to live and to do so they have to absorb the shine from people who have powers.

Effectively it’s like a person’s life force and only those with super powers have this. Then the other goal is to keep their ranks strong by turning others over to their faction. They have to keep a balance where the group isn’t too big and they also have enough prey left to absorb. It’s hard to say quite how many shiners there are in the world but if the villains are too successful they may start to run out of people to absorb and die anyway. After taking out a kid, the villain group sets their eyes in the main heroine Abra as they noticed her watching telepathically.

That takes us to the main character Dan. He has really been trying to keep a low profile after surviving the original events of the Shining and just wants a peaceful life. So even when Abra shows up and explains that there is a dangerous group out there, Dan refuses to help and goes back to hiding. Fortunately he is convinced to help by the ghost of his old mentor. This won’t be easy since he’s up against a complete group of fighters but Abra is tough in her own right so perhaps that will balance things out.

I was not a big fan of Dan though. The fact that he was so quickly going to abandon Abra was unfortunate. Sure he’s scared and all but when you know that a kid’s in trouble you’d think that you would try to help some more. At least teach her how to fight a bit or something. Instead he has to be guilt tripped into helping. He also doesn’t do very well with the willpower by the end of the film as the villains were just too much for him. Considering how much experience Dan has, I would have liked him to have been a bit more powerful here. Maybe walk into the room with a confident grin or something like that as he takes the villains down one at a time.

It would have been more satisfying than his having to be running all the time. At least at the end of the day he still does help out even if it was reluctantly at first. Abra’s a much more interesting character and it’s rare to have the heroes be more powerful than the villains. From the start we see that Abra is a lot more powerful than any of the villains. The only way they can keep up is to amplify their abilities with the magic drugs and even then they don’t last long.

Abra is a good guy so she doesn’t just go around murdering them but otherwise she may have been able to stop them in their tracks. She pull’s a good trick on Rose at one point where she lures her into the mind realm so Abra could then go into Rose’s mind and find out their plans. Rose is a fairly young kid but she has certainly learned how to do some creative things with her powers and illusion abilities.

If there were more films in the series I feel like there might be some foreshadowing for her going to the dark side soon though. She actively tells the villains that she hopes their death were painful several times and really relishes in her victories. Of course a large part of this is because she completely despises the villains for what they did to the kid at the start of the film so she wants them all to pay. Give her another year or two of training and she should really be completely unbeatable.

While the film has some action and they get to use their magical abilities, the film never quite goes into action territory. It’s unfortunate because I think this would have lent itself well to that kind of premise. The powers are easily weaponizable and then the villain group could have all gotten to have some fights with the heroes. Instead the only action scenes we get are very down ot Earth like fighting with a knife or something like that.

The battle with Dan and Rose is very anticlimactic for example. He played the matchup quite poorly and the scene of him getting drained just drags on for a long while. You know what they are building up to with Dan’s trump card but even that scene didn’t look quite as impressive as it should have.

Also, I was waiting for him to try the coffin technique on one of the villains. I figured this was foreshadowed with how close he was to using it on his old friend. If it only works on you once you’re dead then that’s a fair counterpoint to why he didn’t even try to use it but then he certainly needs more abilities at some point. Dan does well with crashing a car at one point though.

It’s nostalgic seeing the old mansion later on. While the Shining was pretty bad, the actual mansion was fun. I don’t think the house itself lives up to the hype at all though. For the most part all of the tricks are completely ineffective. In the end Dan really has to take things into his own hands because the house just wasn’t working. For instance there’s one scene where the river of blood shows up and the villain just smirks. The house is clearly not a threat to her at all and while I guess that almost feels like a twist I guess, you may as well have not had the mansion at all. You could almost call the mansion itself filler.

As mentioned earlier, any scene with the villains is awful though. They’re shown to be as demented as possible with their various ceremonies as they murder and brainwash everyone. The way they murder the child is particularly brutal as they mention the death has to be as painful as possible to absorb more shine. It’s definitely the kind of plot details that we did not need. I was not surprised that the kid dies since it seems like something this film would pull off but they went out of their way to make it as bad as possible.

Any scene with the villains trying to absorb the shine always drags on and on. The villains are not even remotely interesting and you just want them off the screen. Unfortunately for Abra she has to feel all of the pain as well thanks to her full synchro ability which is always something that you absolutely do not want to have. It ends up backfiring almost all the time.

Even from the start with Andi we quickly learn that her backstory is super grim dark. Even the scene of her taking down that one chump at the beginning can’t just be that she’s taking out a bad guy but we have to learn what kind. In general this is the kind of thing that can really hurt horror films in general. The more extra details you give to every scene, the more likely it is that you’re going to focus too much on the shock value and not get to the actual plot in time. This film certainly shows us that the world in which the Shiners live is a really depressing one and that just makes the film more depressing as well.

As Abra is the only really solid character here, I wouldn’t say that the writing or cast is all that good either. The film isn’t super violent all of the time at least but the kid scene certainly filled up the quota there. If the villains could have at least have had some semblance of a more interesting goal or character development then maybe things could have been different. As it stands, they really do their best to crush the film.

Overall, Doctor Sleep is a sequel that takes the series in a very different direction but still ends up failing. In a way that’s impressive. It beats the Shining as this film would at least have its interesting moments. If you cut the scenes with the Baseball kid out then that would help quite a bit. The score still wouldn’t be quite positive but it would win a few points. You just won’t have any fun in this film by the end of its run and for that reason you’ll want to give this one a big pass. If you want to watch a film involving super powers then it’s time to watch one of the Bleach films instead

Overall 1/10

Surrogates Review

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Surrogates is a pretty interesting take on a world where robots have become the new in thing. It gives a good amount of time to tackling the prospect of this even if I find it hard to believe that this would ever become the norm or that one company could possibly be the only one that can make them. Still, while you’ll be suspending disbelief throughout the whole film, I think it’s safe to say that you’ll have some fun with this one.

The movie starts off by explaining the situation. So one company was able to find out a way to make robots that you can mentally link too. So you buy a robot and then you can stay at home while the other “You” heads outside to buy supplies, go to work, etc. It can feel everything you can so it really feels like you’re out and about but now you can always use a young robot so that you stay in your prime 20s as opposed to looking like you’re 50. By and large people have all begun using these to the point where the crime rate has dropped to being almost nonexistent now. The world has finally achieved global peace. There is just a small faction of humans who oppose this and have created little communities in each state where only humans are allowed.

This peace has lasted until now but one day a robot is murdered and somehow the owner is destroyed along with it. This was supposed to have been completely possible but now this peace may be ripped apart in an instant. After all, if the owner is at risk then the whole surrogate system just got a whole lot more risky. Tom is on the case but along the way he sees just how dependent people are on their surrogate robots…and he doesn’t like it. Will this journey cause him to rethink everything he thought he knew about the system?

Of course the danger gives us a plot to chew on as the film goes through but for the most part I’d say this movie is really about taking a look at how things would really play out if this was the case. In some ways the film probably has it right that most people would jump on board with this and you would just have the resistance saying that it isn’t quite right. Having a robot would just be too convenient for most people to ignore. I do think the real forms of the humans should have looked way more overweight and out of shape though considering how extensive this is.

In the film we see how people use their surrogates to walk around, go to work, and even to be used inside their own house. It’s so extensive that having a real person walking around outside is a pretty big deal. So unless the humans are vigorously working out every day after work (Which seems very doubtful) I don’t see how their health would last for very long at all. We can assume that other technology was built in order to keep everyone fit but that would be a massive assumption considering that it’s never mentioned at all.

Additionally, I don’t think surrogates would achieve world peace. Far from it, I could see it accelerating things because people will be more detached from life. It’s almost like you would be living in a video game at that point as you’re controlling robots which can move at superhuman speeds and have super strength. We see this with Tom’s character as he chases down a human. The robots are able to do a whole lot so people wouldn’t be tempted to use this for crime? I just really don’t see how this would make the world more peaceful, certainly not on its own.

It was fun to see the human resistance though and I thought that side of things was fun as well. I 100% could see such settlements becoming a big thing although it’s almost hard to imagine them being left alone to live a normal life in a world where every country has united like this. I’m glad that they were left alone for a while here. Now there is a twist that undermines one part of the movement but I like to think that most of the characters here were on the level and actually didn’t support the robots. It would be kind of ironic if they all owned surrogates as well though. Would be like someone saying they don’t use the internet but they just so happen to have a smart phone.

For the story itself, the mystery’s pretty decent. It’s a very by the books kind of film with regard to the plot though so I wouldn’t say that it sticks out or anything. The cast isn’t very large so the suspects are limited in who’s really responsible for all of this. There’s corruption as always and it’s hard to trust anyone. You’ll be invested in the film well enough to see it through to the end though. There aren’t a lot of action scenes or anything like that but we do have a fun chase scene. As a side note, the surrogate they chose for Tom is fun. You immediately know that it’s Bruce Willis because of the facial expressions but that wig is crazy.

Tom’s a decent character but he does tend to fly off the handle a bit. The scene of him beating up the random guy at his apartment was certainly an odd one that’s for sure. I do think he makes the right call in the climax of the film though. The rest of the characters aren’t likable even if I wouldn’t call them bad. They aren’t given much focus though and we don’t even know much about who they really are because of the whole robots angle. Tom’s wife seems to be going through a mid-life crisis as she uses her younger robot and prefers not to use her real body at all. She also hangs out with some friends that are rather crude and doing drugs.

Those guys were definitely the weakest characters here. You’ve got Tom’s boss who never has his back when it counts and the prophet who is always talking a lot but doesn’t seem like a very nice guy. The film may have a bit of a jaded view of society here as everyone is really only working in their own self interests. Aside from Tom, nobody really seems interested in good ole justice or doing much of anything. The military is the only one who takes Tom seriously about this gun that could hurt people and seemingly it’s only so they could have it in their possession.

I do question why nobody else was as big onto this case though. Think about it, the world is now populated by the Surrogates to the point where almost everyone uses them. If you’re the only guy with a gun that can take them out and the owners in one shot, would that not be the most valued item in the entire world? I would think everyone would be scrambling for that. Of course this does lead me to one last moment of disbelief.

There’s no way that only one company would have this technology. Someone would steal it and make their own version or reverse engineer the code. You’d have a ton of different companies manufacturing this. I’d go one step further to say that if one company figured out how to make a gun that gets through the defenses, more would as well. This is all very convenient to work towards the ending of the film but I’m not buying it. It’s a bit of an issue with the writing since the entire film revolves around these two truths. That there is only one gun and only one company. With any more then the ending falls apart so I don’t think it stands up to close inspection.

Plot holes or things that don’t make sense aren’t the kinds of things that really hurt a film though. What keeps this film from being higher is that it really ends before the concepts can be explored further and the cast isn’t that good. It’s hard to root for almost anyone here. Tom’s good but even he has his random moment where he attacks that random robot and makes himself look bad. The scene of the characters doing drugs also just felt really out of place. More action scenes could have spiced things up but as this isn’t that kind of movie, I think just giving us some more good characters and expanding the scope of what we see could have worked. It’s not a concept that is easily to dive into even with 2-2.5 hours but there’s still more that could have been done with it.

Overall, Surrogates is a fun film. I think it could have been even better with a longer length as we see more of the effects that this has on the society as a whole. Of course who wouldn’t want to have a robot right? The downsides would likely still outweigh the positives and the film certainly seems to take that stance as well. It makes for a fun hypothetical and is probably one of the better dystopian settings that I’ve seen in a while. Certainly feels more realistic than the Hunger Games or Divergent at least. If you want to look at a possible future timeline, this is a good one to check out.

Overall 6/10

Point Break Review

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

This is definitely a film I knew about for a while but only the bare minimum. It’s nice to check this one off the bucket list and it certainly has some fun ideas. Ultimately the film does have its share of negatives though which keep it from going into the green. As a result I’d place this one right in the middle. It basically cancels itself out at every scene but makes for an entertaining watch as a result.

The movie starts with the U.S. former presidents robbing yet another bank. They’ve hit dozens of banks at this point for years and nobody has ever caught them. Now I should say that these aren’t the actual presidents but merely thieves who wear the masks resembling the old presidents. Well, the FBI have a newbie on the team named Johnny Utah and he is determined to crack this case. He convinces his senior partner Angelo to tell him everything and the guy reveals that he thinks the villains are actually a bunch of surfers. Naturally the idea seems crazy but it’s the only lead so Johnny has to learn how to surf. He quickly meets a team of very close knit surfers and the main one is a really good fighter. Hmmmm…maybe he’s on to something.

The classic going undercover routine is always a classic. It’s definitely a tough job to be sure since your cover can be blown at any time so it’s a high risk. Especially since Johnny is actually working in the field as an FBI agent in the same area. If anybody recognizes him then his cover is blown. Fortunately for Johnny he is a smooth talker and he used to be a big shot quarterback so that helps his cache with the guys that he meets. After all, what are the odds that a quarterback would go on to become an FBI agent right? It just seems to random that nobody suspects him at all.

Unfortunately, maybe in part because of how new he is to this, Johnny can be a bit sloppy at time. Case in point, there’s a moment where he is having his quick affair with the main heroine and of course he just so happens to have his gun and ID hanging around. You probably should have that kept extremely secure. I would also argue that while you want to get close to the suspects you probably shouldn’t start any kind of romantic affairs with them. It’s the biggest reason these operations tend to end in disaster because the main character gets too close to the case. It also means you have to start lying a whole lot more frequently and people are bound to get hurt.

I also think the whole thing was too fast to be a true romance. Johnny barely even knew Tyler by that point. She helped him learn how to surf which is great but that’s about it. He should have kept to himself a little more which would also give him more time to process all of the information that he was getting. You can blame some of it on Johnny being new to all of this but some of this is just common sense. He often ends up putting himself in worse and worse circumstances as the film goes on.

I do like his ability to remain cool under fire though. At one point in the film he knows that they’re onto him and they certainly know that he knows, but both sides play it cool. They decide to go sky diving and pretend that they’re having fun even throughout all of the tension. The shoe eventually drops on this and they all have to go back to reality but I thought that sequence was handled fantastically. It’s one of the better moments here.

So Johnny made a lot of mistakes and I wouldn’t call him a great lead but he’s fun. For example, I disagree with his final decision to let someone have their last request. I know that accepting a last request is a big deal but sometimes I really think that you shouldn’t give the guy the satisfaction. This is one of those ties without a doubt.

The main heroine Tyler is okay. She’s good at surfing which is very important in this film. She’s gotten in with a fairly bad crowd though and it’s probably hard to get out. That means things don’t really go very well for her in the film. Tyler’s not as far off the deep end as some of the other characters though. For example, Bodhi’s the main villain here and you can tell that he’s not quite right. The thrills mean far too much to him to the point where he has been completely consumed by them at this point. He’s no longer in it just for the surfing but to keep on topping himself.

I think if he had kept to the plan and not done any showboating then he would have ended up as a better villain. Once he started going overboard and just blaming this on Johnny or chance is when he got weaker. What I’d have done would have been to have had the group escape after handing the hostage over and making a clean getaway as always. They would have then all perished in the big waves that came through. It may not have been a very satisfying end to the heroes but I think it would have made Bodhi appear as a villain who was quite genuine in his motives. That wasn’t the case though so I didn’t end up becoming much of a fan of his.

Angelo’s a good character for the most part but has one scene that approaches the point of parody. He’s supposed to be the smart one of the group who’s always ready for action and yet he is so dismissive of the possibility of catching the crooks that he slacks off while on a stake out. He’s more interested in getting his sandwiches and a drink than actually keeping watch. When a vehicle pulls up to the bank he doesn’t even give it a second thought.

This is absolutely something you’d have seen in a comedic parody but it’s played straight here. Angelo should be blaming himself throughout but instead shifts this onto Johnny later on. If Angelo had taken this more seriously then the film might have ended a whole lot sooner. He blew it there but it’s a funny scene because of how crazy the whole thing is. It really takes you by surprise.

Finally we have Ben who is a stand out character. He’s Johnny’s boss and is always giving him grief about everything. I like how direct he is and the guy seems to try and be a jerk from day 1. In his first scene he’s already being mean for no real reason. He’s so over the top that he ends up becoming a fun antagonist. He’s not going around committing crimes or anything but he might as well be with how he’s handling all of this. He’s not exactly making any waves in the case either but always comes in to assign blame. Shoutout to the undercover cop at the final bank though. That guy really did a great job, he certainly took out more opponents than I was expecting. I ended up liking him quite a bit even though his role was so brief. That’s a perfect example of how you make the most of your opportunity.

The film keeps up a solid comedic tone throughout which makes the pacing good. That said, the script is one of the weakest ones I’ve seen in a while. Apparently becoming a sailor pretty much means talking like a sailor the whole time so the main characters are just swearing like they’re in a horror movie at all points. It’s incredibly overdone to the point of being a bit distracting. I’d say that could have definitely been improved here.

As mentioned, the romance is also on the weaker side here. It’s just extremely rushed and doesn’t really make much sense. I don’t see it lasting beyond the film either once the characters have all calmed down. It’s hard to forget about things like that. A sequel could have been interesting with how this all turned out though. Johnny’s role would have certainly been different.

Overall, Point Break really embraces the craziness of their plan to take the villains down by becoming a surfer. The best scenes are when the heroes are messing around with the boss and just causing a lot of trouble at work. It’s a film where you should be grinning for a good chunk of it. I also don’t think it would be very hard to make the film better either. Scale back the romance, improve the writing, and maybe take out some of the surfing scenes for other sports and that could work. For example the sky diving was a lot of fun and I did like the quick football game. Maybe even show more of the robberies since we didn’t actually get to see those. At the end of the day Bodhi blew it for his team but that’s the way it goes for villains sometimes. They just lose sight of the forest for the trees.

Overall 5/10

Frogs Review

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I have to say, I had my doubts about a horror film based on frogs. After all, that has a lot of potential for animal violence and generally not being a good film. Well, it ended up not falling into that trap so I was glad about that. I do think the title is incredibly misleading for the most part and I would have changed it personally. Not like a title is going to hurt the score though. I wouldn’t call Frogs a particularly good movie but it does enough to stay afloat which is far more than I thought possible from this sub genre.

The film starts off with Pickett minding his own business as he takes photographs of the local animals. Unfortunately his boat is tipped over by Clint and Karen who were enjoying a nice boat ride. They tell him to come to their private island so they can give him a nice meal to make up for this and send him on his way. This is actually a very special occasion as it’s Jason’s birthday and that guy is the captain of the family. When it’s his birthday everyone has to attend and make a big deal of it. Jason says that nothing will stop this birthday celebration. That is put to the test when the big family starts to get bumped off one by one. It couldn’t be….and yet….could it be the Frogs taking them out??

If you told me this film was part parody I would actually believe you. The way the characters react to their whole family being destroyed can feel unreal at times. Jason is absolutely true to his word about sticking to the party celebration. Even with multiple family members dead he keeps on with his plan. The guy is certainly the main human antagonist of the film but it’s so overdramatic that it’ll make you chuckle a bit. Absolutely nothing phases the guy which is really quite incredible. By the time he takes the threat seriously it’s far too late.

The death scenes are crazy though. One guy walks into the greenhouse. I forget why he was there, but it might have just been to mend the plants or he was looking for medicine. Well, a snake starts to slowly toss each of the ingredients to the ground which gradually causes a poisonous effect. Now this isn’t a subtle poison but an obvious one as the smoke ends up filling the room. This guy…..walks towards the poisonous smoke instead of away from it…even as he sees that the snake is dropping bottles. Sure enough, the snake keeps going so the bottles keep falling and that’s it. There’s just no escape at that point but it was probably the oddest way to go out.

A close second though is one lady is taken out by a snapping turtle. Basically she tripped and couldn’t get out of the way in time…but it’s a turtle! They’re so slow I dare say you could outrun one while crawling or being on the ground. Honestly you could probably even defend yourself really well unless I’m underestimating them. No comment on the leeches death though, I guess that one’s hard to get around if they’re draining you dry at a rapid pace. I can also say the alligator death would be incredibly difficult to get around. Once you’re in the water with it I don’t see a way out so I completely understand on that one. It’s very understandable that this is a fight you cannot win.

So each of the characters is bumped off but you’re probably wondering…what about the frogs? Well, the frogs are there but they just don’t do much of anything in the field. Instead they seem to give orders as they are constantly yelling to each other in that way frogs speak. It’s not terribly exciting but evidently it gets the job done so who am I to argue with the results right? Having the frogs be the masterminds behind this whole plot is definitely interesting but I would have liked to have seen them fight more. I think the writers were probably wondering just how a frog could destroy somebody. Personally I’d go the poison route, like it’s so strong that the person can’t break free. That would work well enough.

Knowing that the characters are mostly all doomed, it’s hard to get attached to any of them. Pickett is the main character here and he’s reasonable enough I guess. He tries to stay out of the family drama for the most part which is really a smart move. At the same time, he’s trapped on the same island as the rest of them so there really isn’t much of an escape either. He’s just going to have to ride this one out and it’s tough to get off of an island like this when your enemies are all over the ocean. That’s something he has to deal with right from the start.

Clint didn’t seem like a very good guy. He wants to please Jason so that he’ll get the inheritance and unfortunately he chooses that over defending his wife. Then you have Karen who is easily the most reasonable member of the group. Unfortunately she is also hesitant to stand up to Jason which means that she delays the group in leaving until the last possible moment. That definitely doesn’t help matters for their chances of survival.

The film has a good twist ending but the problem is that it’s before the actual ending. Usually you want to have the twist at the end, at least that’s how I figure you would want it right? That’s not actually the case here though. It’s still a really good twist and I like how nonchalantly it’s handled but this absolutely should have been the final scene in the film. That would have really left a huge impact with the audience. It sets up the sequel quite nicely and that’s really how you want a horror film to end.

So, is this film taking itself seriously or is it a parody? Well, ultimately I do think it’s taking itself seriously and the victims are unironically making all the horror movie mistakes. Splitting up, tripping, etc. It’s just some of these decisions will really be having you scratch your head at how it all plays out. It’s also just a little hard to take Frogs seriously as the main villains even if they are having the rest of the animal kingdom helping out.

Most of the deaths aren’t really that violent. This is still part horror-thriller though so you can expect some painful ends. It has more restraint than most titles like this though so it should get some credit there. The writing is okay, nothing spectacular but I thought the characters were decent enough. The film will manage to keep your attention the whole way through too. You’ll even feel sad when the frogs end up crushing the birthday cake and all of the festivities. Those guys really were not holding back here!

Overall, Frogs may be a film that will have you chuckling half the time but it really does mean well. I think you may like it partially in an ironic way but that’s still enough to get it some points. I wouldn’t call it a bad film even if it’s really not very good. That’s why I have it squarely in the middle. You’ll have some fun with it, the film’s got good pacing so it doesn’t drag on and the film really goes all in on what it’s trying to do here. At the same time there aren’t many memorable characters and even fewer likable ones. There’s nothing about it that particularly would make it stand out as a good title.

Overall 5/10

Boomerang!

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Boomerang! is a rather odd name for this film. It’s certainly not one of the first names that you would guess when thinking about this one. That said, the film definitely gets a solid thumbs up all the way. The court scenes are handled very well and the story is a good one. With quality writing and a solid story backing it up, you can tell that a lot of heart was put into this film.

The story starts with a priest/minister being murdered and the assailant runs off into the night. Unfortunately it was late and nobody got a good look at the guy. He’s now on the run and the police are being put under a lot of heat in order to find him. The local government is getting involved as well and so nobody is happy. The current administration is trying to stay in business and this could be game over for them. Meanwhile the other side is naturally thrilled since this could be their chance to be in charge. Henry is right in the thick of it as the prosecutor in the case. He is being pressured every which way but has to decide to look at the case fairly.

It’s a very compelling story here and of course when there’s a lot of pressure put on you like this, it can make every decision feel very tough. Henry knows that his career could be over depending on how he goes about this and he is even threatened at gunpoint to make a certain decision. So he can’t forget that all eyes are on him here. The fact that it will be very difficult to get any tangible evidence on whoever committed the crime is really what will make this a tough battle to get around.

Throughout the film we see how the hysteria gradually reaches everyone. It starts out with some of the townsfolk being upset and before long everyone is watching the news real closely. At one point they are even ready to beat up the police to attack the main suspect in case the court system was going to let them off. By this point they’re no better than a mob of course and to think before now the town had been completely peaceful. It all changed within the span of a day. That’s how big this current case was.

As the main character, Henry is great from start to finish. He really does try to examine all of the evidence himself to make sure that he is doing the right thing. He isn’t afraid to look really closely into some of the evidence even if it could hurt his case as the prosecutor. Henry really wants to do the right thing even if it’ll hurt him politically and keeps his cool even when a gun is pointed on him. It’s hard to find a lead that’s much better than he is, Henry always made the right decisions when it counted.

Robinson is the police chief and I liked him as well. He makes sure to do a very thorough interrogation of the suspect John to make sure that he really is the criminal. Robinson is one of the last people to really buy into this guy being the crook and that’s established as one of his personality traits. He doesn’t change his mind easily which is very helpful at the start of the film and less so by the end. There is definitely a lot of tension between him and Henry later on in the film since they have two different ideas about how this situation should go. Definitely a good character though and the kind of guy you want as the police chief.

Then you have John who is the big suspect here. I would certainly make the case that John didn’t handle the situation very well but it probably wouldn’t have matter much to an extent. There was just too much circumstantial evidence here for him to have gone. He was in the town at the right time to commit the murder and even had a gun that is linked with the bullet. All signs pointed to him being the guilty party so it was difficult for him to not appear guilty.

John seemed really upset right from the jump but getting dragged in on murder charges will do that to you. Someone even comes in to give false testimony and mess him up just as a grudge which makes him even more upset. I feel like the lady was let off easy for completely showing up with a false statement to try and get rid of John but at least they warned her. John signing the document also made sense because after a few days of this kind of interrogation is seems likely that almost anyone would crack.

I tend to love court scenes so with a big part of this film taking place there, I knew this was going to be good. Henry does a great job of breaking down the case point by point in a way that’s easy to follow and that can get the jury on his side. He really dismantles every point that he tackles in a very systematic way. He was ready for some of the witnesses to give him a hard time and with ways to debunk everything. Some of these counters involved a lot of lengthy tests from before the trial which shows that he did his homework.

Henry was taking this case very seriously and it’s a flattering look at the justice system. It may not always work out but this town can certainly breathe easy when you have guys like Henry on the job. The corruption didn’t win this time as the politicians try messing around but they couldn’t break Henry. In part this is also thanks to one of the reporters who was around named Dave. This guy always knew when a story would strike and had quicker reaction times than the others. So he was the first to leave the room and the first to enter it. He’s also responsible for a lot of the snappy dialogue in the film which is always a blast. The banter here was top notch!

Overall, Boomerang! is a great film on all accounts. The writing and story are strong and the characters are just as solid to match that. The movie does a great job of showing how everyone just really wanted someone to pin the blame on regardless of how good the evidence was. A crowd can certainly be stirred up into a frenzy very quickly and that’s exactly what happened here. It was great to see the town get so engaged with what was going on but of course the obvious downside is how extreme they take this. The townsfolk sometimes end up being more of a hinderance than a help with how they try to get everyone arrested.

Black and Blue Review

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

It’s time for a police thriller here as Alicia has to try and get past the corruption to make a difference. In a way you could call this a part conspiracy film as almost literally everyone is out to destroy Alicia before she can get the truth out. It’s got enough explosive moments throughout the film to be a complete thriller but this movie doesn’t end up making it into the big leagues.

The film starts off with Alicia joining the police department in her hometown and she is looking to make a difference. Unfortunately none of her old friends seem to like her anymore now that she’s a cop. Her partner is okay but the police department as a whole seems rather bad as she is attacked on day 1 when they don’t recognize her and later on she even has to hear some cat calls. Clearly this department is in need of better personnel but before there is even much of a chance to think about transferring, she witnesses a few cops murdering a gang member. She has the footage to put them away but they got a few shots off first so she is injured. With the whole police department after her, can Alicia survive?

Alicia is a solid main character and definitely one of the highlights in the film. She does a good job of hiding out from the force throughout the movie and doesn’t waver in her quest to make sure that justice is done. We don’t get to see her fight a whole lot here but this isn’t really that kind of movie. The main goal is just to survive until she can get some help. Alicia usually sees through the traps that are set out for her which is good.

My only issue is that she can act a bit oblivious when it comes to her friends pretending not to know her. It’s apparently been something like 10 years so of course they aren’t going to be immediately jumping into conversation. Additionally it seems that the town has a really strained/broken relationship with the police so either that wasn’t the case when she left or she didn’t notice. Regardless as soon as they saw her badge that was it. They were definitely not going to be friends after that.

In particular Alicia’s former best friend. Honestly that’s no big shame because Missy was just really bonkers the whole time. I think the scene that really went overboard is when the gangsters finally see Alicia’s feed so they know she isn’t the villain but Missy tries to convince them to murder her anyway. Really? There’s no way to like Missy after that so maybe it’s for the best if they go their separate ways anyway.

Milo gets a big role in the film and he’s someone that Alicia can count on. That’s a good thing because without any allies around that would have really been awful for her. Having even just 1 teammate can make a huge difference in these things. He also does well in infiltrating the police base and helping out during the movie. Without him it’s fair to say that Alicia would have definitely been doomed here. There were just too many to get past here.

Alicia’s partner Kevin definitely isn’t great. I mean, he’s portrayed as one of the more reasonable guys here but even then he doesn’t exactly jump to help Alicia when it counts. He always tends to look the other way when crimes are going on and so while he isn’t an active participant, it doesn’t seem like he’s a great guy. Kevin just let everyone down but at least he does have a good moment near the end.

Malone is the main villain here and he does a good job of playing the field. He is always in control of what’s going on and has the villains and heroes being in fear of him. The gangsters could beat him but the partnership is mutually beneficial. You’ll still wonder how Malone can be going around openly shooting and acting like a villain but nobody tends to look closely in this film. For all we know quite a lot of them are in on the take which would also explain why Malone isn’t worried in the slightest. I do think he works well as a villain though.

The gang have a fairly big role as the big third party in the film. They’re villains of course even if they aren’t the main antagonist of the film. By the end the gangsters try to be a bit reasonable but considering that they were beating up on Milo for a while and nearly destroyed him and Alicia, you never forget that they are villains. This experience might hopefully help them not to jump to conclusions and be manipulated so easily next time. I thought they were going to be more suspicious of the intel they got throughout the movie but they actually seemed to buy Malone’s story 100% without any doubts.

Beyond that you have a few more corrupt cops like Deek running around but they don’t get a whole lot more to do. I would say part of my issue here is with how widespread this is. At first it’s one rogue cop teaming up with the NARC agents. Then we find out there are 2 more cops in on it, then this becomes 4, and gradually you wonder who isn’t on it. Even though it starts to feel like she’s in the middle of a conspiracy, presumably not everyone on the force is in on this. You just don’t get to see any actual good cops throughout the film.

I’d have liked to have seen a few reasonable characters. It’s the biggest difference between this and how an older film would have played it. The difference here is restraint. In an older title you’d probably see some decent characters even if they got bumped off. Here that just doesn’t happen. It’s quite telling that in the very first scene in the film Alicia is pushed against a wall and quickly threatened by the cops just for jogging. The police appear to be extremely aggressive in every scene that they appear in.

They’re the villain group in this film and they basically act like gangsters. You might have seen this more in the wild west but in a film set in the modern day it all feels too extreme. So that was one element that really held the film back here which is that everything feels very exaggerated. You have all the stereotypes within a few minutes, “This guy giving you trouble” one of the cops asks as he grabs his gun when the characters were having a completely peaceful chat with nothing going on.

The soundtrack is also underwhelming as I didn’t care for any of the lyrical songs. That one’s of course more of a minor thing. In the end the writing is more on the underwhelming side too. The best thing about the film is that the thriller scenes are pretty solid. We do get some decent fights in the mix even if none of them would really hold up against the bigger action titles. You’ll still be engaged from start to finish, but the whole time you feel like the movie could have been better.

Overall, The whole film just feels super extreme but not in a cool 90’s snowboarding kind of way. If I’m Alicia I would have definitely transferred to another division even after the crisis was over but good on her for sticking it out. It’s the kind of experience that would almost make you want to look for a whole new line of work. The film ends on a hopeful note that things should be better in the future now. There’s the added bonus of a ton of villains being taken down during the climax so the town should also be a lot safer right away.

Overall 3/10

Kiss of the Dragon Review

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

Kiss of the Dragon is a film that is carried completely by its action scenes. The rest of the film just isn’t able to stand on its own and as a result it doesn’t end up making it into the green. It had some interesting ideas and mixing in government secret agents with martial arts could and should have been good. Unfortunately it was not meant to be.

The movie starts off very quickly as Liu is tasked with joining Richard’s squad on some kind of assignment. Richard’s group betrays Liu though and frames him for murder. Liu’s group has one member who believes in Liu’s innocence but he is quickly murdered too so now Liu is on the run. The only chance to clear his name is a lady named Jessica who witnessed what happened but her daughter is being held hostage by the villains so she is in no position to help yet. Liu will have to free the kid first but will he be able to do all of that in time? This won’t be easy that’s for sure.

As the film goes on you learn more of the circumstances here. I had thought Liu and Richard’s groups were both criminal enterprises under different sections and it was just a case of one betraying the other. Turns out they are all government related which makes Richard’s first scene of his group beating someone near to death a little more alarming than you initially thought. That’s a huge red flag right off the gate and Richard never seems like he’ll be a decent guy. I would argue that this should have tipped Liu off right at the start but if this is normal behavior then that speaks volumes about their government group.

So the intrigue in what’s going on here is good. As mentioned, the fight scenes are really great too. One of the standout moments has to be when Liu takes on a whole karate class and shows them what’s up. Each action scene in the film feels quite real and intense. You certainly won’t have any issues with the choreography or anything like that. It flows well and not even guns are enough to deter Liu. If the whole film had been a bunch of fight scenes then the movie would have been better off for it. Unfortunately we have to get back to the story and that’s when the film keeps knocking itself out.

So the villains are big into human trafficking to the point where they’ve basically taken the whole country over with it. Jessica is one of these victims and she is forced to work in this field while her daughter is being held hostage. It’s certainly a very distasteful subplot here and the fact that the villains are so open about all of this is pretty sad. Clearly the law enforcement isn’t doing a great job here. The film is really going for max edge here to remind you that these villains have to be stopped.

Naturally they also use this as an advantage against other villains like the chump that gets murdered in the first scene. Of course he is more interested in fooling around than in being safe which makes it easy for one of the ladies to knock him out. The fanservice here does the film no favors. It’s almost like you’re grabbing the worst elements from a classic spy movie without keeping in the good parts.

As a character Jessica is okay at best. She’s not particularly likable but given her situation I wouldn’t expect her to be very nice anyway. Her life’s already been messed up to a huge extent as it is so even if the heroes win at the end of the film, it’ll be tough for her to get her life back to normal right away. I wasn’t a big fan of Liu either though. Usually I like the classic hero on the run type character who is tough and knows how to bend the rules. The hero goes in and knocks everyone out.

It’s a hard formula to mess up but this film pulled it off. The absolute worst scene for Liu is when the villains break into the soba shop and start roughing Jessica up. Liu basically does nothing. Then they decide to take money from Liu for wasting their time….and he does? Really??? That was just embarrassing. At least he tells them not to hit Jessica again as he pays double but then Liu only acts when they do hit her again. So the implication is that if they didn’t, Liu would have simply let them walk off with the money and Jessica even though he just saw how they treated her.

That’s a big no no for a main character. I get that a hero can’t protect everyone all of the time, but Ichigo Kurosaki put it best when he said that he would still protect anyone in front of him. Liu should have immediately taken those guys out instead of taking so long. It was hard for me to root for him as much after that. I mean, of course I am rooting for him against the villains but he just wasn’t a likable lead. He did well in the fights but that’s all I could say for him at this point.

As for the main villain Richard, well he’s definitely not a good villain either. In his line of work it’s rare to find a decent villain because they’re all just as edgy as possible which hurts any chance of them being a good villain. To be a good villain you don’t need to be sympathetic or anything like that but I want a villain who commits his crimes and gets the job done instead of staying back just to overdo it. In the end there’s just nothing to like about Richard. At best I will say he does get some snappy lines and it’s crazy how bold he is. The guy is destroying people left and right, but keep in mind that he is technically supposed to be a good guy so you’d think that he would keep his cover up a bit more. I guess not though….

Overall, I definitely had a lot of issues with this film. The fights were really good as I said, but the overall story needed some major work. It tries to have some funny moments once in a while but they never last long enough to really help the movie out and I would call the tone on the darker side. It feels like the villains own the city way more than they should if this is a normal planet and it’s just too easy. Like how did they stuff a locker full of guns in an area where cops are always patrolling? It’s impressive how detailed they are in framing Liu but it doesn’t seem like it should work. If you want a good martial arts film you can definitely find better ones out there.

Overall 3/10

The Omega Man Review

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The Omega Man is another film in the classic story where humanity is seemingly wiped out so one guy has to survive on his own. That said, the premise is quite different here so you find out that other humans are alive quite early on. I have to say that most of the changes in this film were for the worst though. Ultimately it’s about on the level of your classic zombie film which isn’t really a complement.

The movie starts off with World War III and the human population is effectively destroyed by the chemical warfare. Fortunately Robert was able to survive due to a quick vaccine he had at the ready. As the last sane man alive he gathers supplies during the day and then keeps to himself at night. Those who have been infected can’t move freely in the day so that at least gives him a chance. See, the infected are led by a man named Mathias and they’ve created a cult of sorts where they want to hunt down anyone who still uses technology and isn’t cursed. Naturally Robert would fall into that category.

He’s held them off for a long time but when they finally capture him he is fortunately saved by a lady named Lisa. She explains that there is a whole resistance force that has escaped infection so far. Robert realizes this may finally give him a chance to recreate the vaccine and give it to everyone. Can he pull this off before Mathias and his troops take the heroes out? Additionally, will the rest of the humans only serve to slow Robert down and get him into trouble? That tends to be how things go in these films anyway.

The movie starts off well enough. It’s pretty interesting to see the deserted town and you feel how ominous the whole thing is. We see a shadow early on and you’re wondering what that is. Is it a zombie, enemy soldier? If you don’t know the plot before going into the film then there’s definitely a lot of suspense here as you wonder what exactly is going on here. It takes a little while before the film really lets you know what the score is in that respect. The beginning is just the best part of the film to be honest.

I also thought Robert does a good job of having fun here. When you’re the last man on Earth or seemingly so, you definitely better have a good sense of humor or you’re going to end up getting bored. So he talks to himself, plays games, and just has a good ole time. Of course he is lonely but he does a good job of hiding it and keeping himself active. I think that’s really the best thing to do in this situation. He can handle himself well and has good gun skills too. He even has that science background which comes in handy later on.

Where the film starts to buckle is when we meet the villains. The group is led by Mathias as I mentioned and he’s a very annoying main villain. He’s turned the whole situation into a cult where they attack the survivors but without a cure that means his gorup is slowly dying as it is. So there’s no end game here or any possible future where they are okay. His struggle seems meaningless. The film goes out of its way to show how they are all plagued by this disease and so it’s hard to even look at the characters. They’re all badly disfigured and have a lot of issues going on. It’s a shame that they are all brainwashed so thoroughly here.

Even though they’re sentient, for once I have to say that mindless zombies would be preferable here. These villains just seem so irrational that they may as well be mindless so it’s almost worse. Then you have their designs which hold them back as well. Yeah I could have done without these guys. Unfortunately the human characters aren’t very good either. First off you have the main heroine Lisa. At first she seems reasonable, a tough fighter who has survived in this cruel world for so long.

Yet, it feels like she doesn’t remember her survival skills when it counts. Near the end she decides to go and get some groceries, but Robert wisely points out that this isn’t the time for that. Villains can be anywhere and they can make it another day or so before it’s time to leave down. Well, she leaves anyway and things don’t go very well. In theory it should be tough for these guys to catch anyone with how slow they are but unfortunately she ended up being easy pickings for these guys.

Then you have Richie….oh nooooooo! You sort of know exactly when he’s going to make a bad move here. He tells Robert that he should either murder all of the cult members or try to cure them. Robert doesn’t want to mess with these guys since he was already captured once and refuses….so Richie figures he should go over there. Richie may have had connections before but this is really just a bad idea from the jump. You really should not be putting yourself in harm’s way like this. It causes a whole ripple effect across the story. The whole climax isn’t entirely Richie’s fault but he plays a big role in it.

Dutch is mainly safe because he doesn’t do anything although you will wonder where he is. He vanishes for large chunks of the movie and the resistance doesn’t appear until the end. It’s probably for the best that he wasn’t around or things would have gotten dicey for him too I suppose. By the end of the film you just feel like everyone ended up getting in Robert’s way. Perhaps he would have died eventually by himself anyway, you could say there’s a good chance of that. You still just wish things could have gone differently for him by the end.

The writing’s not bad here even if the characters are annoying most of the time. The romance is really rushed though and definitely could have been cut out of the film. Removing those scenes would help the film and in the middle of an apocalypse who is going to be distracted by romance anyway? There’s bigger things to worry about and that can wait until after the situation is resolved. At least that’s the way I see it.

Overall, The Omega Man is held back by the characters and is held back big time by the villains. It’s rare to say that zombies would be an improvement which shows just how bad these guys are. The climax isn’t very good and the movie does not end on a satisfying note. The romance doesn’t help matters either and so you’re left with a film that has a lot of weak points. All the best scenes in the film are from the very beginning and there’s a sharp decline once the other characters come into the mix. It’s almost inevitable that some humans appear but it would have been best to have kept that to a later point in the movie. The action’s good at least so if you can get past everything else then that’s always a fun sliver lining.

Overall 3/10

Magic Review

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

Magic is a film where the main character is acting really shady from the start but nobody ever notices the red flags until it’s too late. As a result the characters are really in a jam here. The puppets always make for interesting characters but with this film it feels like this is all a hallucination which takes away a bit from the supernatural factor. You could make the case that the whole thing is in his head which isn’t nearly as fun.

The movie starts off with Corky messing up at another comedy show gig with his crude puppet Fats. His mentor Merlin just tells him to keep on trying and he will get it. Eventually Corky does become a star and he is super close to making it into the big leagues. Unfortunately in order to secure his TV gig he has to go through a medical checkup and since Corky knows that he is insane, he declines. His agent Ben wants to help Corky get past this but Corky runs off to a very remote area where he meets his old crush Peggy. He figures this place will be good to hide and maybe he can win over Peggy even though she is already married. Will his insanity prevent Corky from having a happy life?

Even if Corky wasn’t crazy I would still have to root against him though because Peggy is already married. I get that he likes her but once someone is married you really have to let them go. Nothing good will come from trying to go after someone who is already married. Corky’s just not a likable character though. Look at how quickly he blows up at his agent Ben despite the guy doing his best to try and get him on the show anyway. Ben even called in all of his lawyers and they did their best. Ben was the only one who really had Corky’s best interests at heart the entire time yet Corky just didn’t care.

Additionally, Corky wasn’t even nice to Peggy early on. When he messes up on one of his early tricks he starts threatening her and you almost think he was ready to murder her there if the trick didn’t go over well. Corky is really the main villain of the film and it’s always tricky when you have the lead as the villain since you can’t exactly root for him. This doesn’t end up working out here and the only way he may have even stood a slight chance is if Fats was definitely a separate entity. I wouldn’t say that the film really plays it out that way though so in the end you have to blame him for everything going on.

Even if Fats was a real character I wouldn’t have liked him much though. The guy is always being really crude which is really the extent of his character. He will always be making cracks to get some easy laughs which the characters always find funny. Fats is always egging Corky on but doesn’t help much. I suppose he does get one stab in near the end. He’s certainly no Chucky or Talking Tina in terms of the scare factor.

The best character by far was Ben here. I’ll give him major points for at least trying to help Corky out the whole time. He never turned his back on the guy and through to the end he was going to go and look for some help. You knew he was doomed in the film but the whole time you were hoping he would somehow pull off the escape and get out of there. Now that would have definitely been amazing. All things considered, the guy did put up a pretty good fight even though he was taken by surprise and in a weakened state.

As the main heroine I can’t say that Peggy was particularly good either. She should not have entertained Corky from the start and cheating is never the right move. Duke may not have been a great guy so in that case split up first but don’t start another affair in the meantime. I also didn’t think she picked up on a lot of the red flags like with Corky threatening her early on. You’d think that would have been a dealbreaker but it didn’t really seem to leave a big impact on her at all.

Finally you have Duke who is definitely a bad guy from the start. He acts all tough when it’s a fight that he can win but at no point in the film do you feel sympathetic to him at all. He’s just not a good person and any scene with him in it is another one where you are rooting for the guy’s scene to end already. The film certainly doesn’t have the strongest cast since I would say only one character here is good.

Naturally I wouldn’t say the writing is great either. The characters don’t tend to act very realistically as described above. The only scene where I would give some good props is the stare down with Corky and Ben where corky had to try and make it 5 minutes without talking. I thought that was handled really well at least. The scene did a good job of showing how Corky just couldn’t keep it together by this point and how serious the whole thing was.

Overall, Magic is a film you can safely skip. It sort of defeats the purpose of its own story by not having Fats actually move around and cause damage. Having Corky be insane instead isn’t nearly as interesting and of course it does mean that the lead is no fun to follow around. I would have preferred to have at least seen more of the comedy acts even if I didn’t find him to be all that funny. I do think comedy shows in general are tough since you have to try and make people laugh but how often are the audiences going to be super engaged? When you’re trying to be funny is often the hardest time to get people to laugh. Ironically a little more magic could have helped this film.

Overall 3/10

Silverado Review

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It’s time for a fun Wild West film and definitely one of the best ones in the genre. We get a cast of likable characters and there’s a good amount of action here. The film’s fairly long and so each character gets their own character arc journey. By the end of the adventure you will have had a good time. Whether you’re here for the solid writing or the fights, you’ll get what you’re looking for.

The film starts off with Emmett taking out a bunch of thugs and seeing that a man named Paden was almost down for the count. Emmett helps him out and then they collect Emmett’s brother Jake. They are saved by Mal after leaving a corrupt town and these 4 have something in common. They’re all going to Silverado. Whether they’re going for revenge, family, a job, they’re all going to the same place and this could pit friend against friend. Will these 4 be able to each complete their objectives or will they end up faltering?

As the characters are a big reason why this film is so good, lets dive into them right away. First off you have Emmett who is your classic wild west main character. He’s a great shot and has a lot of confidence as well. He’s smart on the uptake like when he tricks the sheriff into thinking that he won’t make a move so you have a very complete character here. He also didn’t hesitate in saving Paden as well which shows that he is a good person at heart too. That’s the kind of main character you can root for. I would also say he is probably the strongest fighter in the film which is why he had to be sidelined for a good chunk of the climax. It would not have gone too well for the villains otherwise.

Then you have who is probably the weakest of the 4 character-wise but in terms of skill he holds his own. He’s quick to fight back like at the bar when he wanted his hast so I can definitely respect that. I was less pleased with how he handles the situation once he has his job though. There’s some blackmail involved of course and a hostage which does stay his hand but one character gives Emmett some advice which I thought was rather obvious. Can’t have a hostage or blackmail if the person is no longer alive right?

I mean, in most films that’s not an option since heroes don’t murder and all but in the wild west that’s never a concern. All of these characters have murdered tons of opponents who got in their way and this villain’s as rough as they get. None of the main characters would lose much sleep if he’s gone. I thought it was a bit much that Paden didn’t come to this conclusion on his own and it’s just annoying seeing Paden just let his friends get beaten and interrogated without helping. It shows me that you can’t count on the guy which hurts him quite a bit.

Then you have Jake who is Emmett’s brother. He’s as confident as can be but isn’t quite as smart as Emmett and tends to get himself in trouble. Jake’s got a bad habit of messing around which is always getting people upset and not much you can really do once you’re arrested. Jake does have one good plan he uses near the beginning of the film though.

Finally you have Mal who has more of a quiet confidence about him. He’s not going around bragging like the others but is quite good at his gun skills. He saves the heroes at one point as well. His father is being bullied out of his land and so Mal has to put a stop to this and take care of the villains. His plot ends up being more of a revenge story due to how things play out and has the be the most serious plot of the bunch. Mal definitely does well in firing the others up for the big climax.

So we’ve got a lot of fun heroes here. I can’t say that I liked any of the villains but it would be really rare if I did. Wild West villains are usually guys you just want to be defeated pretty quick. McKendrick is the main villain here who basically rules the town with an iron fist. He’s rich so nobody dares to mess with him and all of the mobsters and crooks are in his pocket. His biggest mistake here is getting greedy and fighting off all these new characters. He should have just been content with what he had and maybe things would have ended better for him.

The writing here is on point and all of the characters are always reasonable. My only issue is when the villains show up and tell the hero to drop their gun…that should never work. Lets take one scene as an example. Mal is tricked by one of the townsfolk into heading into a trap. Mal arrives there where the villain walks out with a gun. Mal should have immediately taken him out there but instead he lets the guy talk as some more guys show up. At any of these points, fighting them off with a few quick shots seems like it would work and it’s only out of each once the villains have him surrounded.

If you’re in the wild west and the villains all have guns, there’s no way you should drop yours. At the very least you die on your feet while taking some of them with you. This is something I can’t help but notice in many films but it’s especially noticeable in wild west titles because of how everyone’s using guns all the time.

One reason this film beats a lot of the classic wild west titles is because the film focuses on the fun banter and good fight scenes the whole time. Usually the genre ends up making things rather gritty or just reminding you that it’s the wild west with animals being shot all around. This one really manages to avoid those things for the most part and it’s just fun.

It would have been nice to have really gotten to see the 4 characters fight each others but maybe it’s for the best that this didn’t happen because I would probably have been bashing the characters that sided with the villains. There’d just be no excuse for this and it’s why one of the heroes cut things really close there.

Overall, Silverado is a pretty solid film. It’s really got a good story here and quality characters. Seeing why everyone wants to get to Silverado is cool and it adds an extra element to the film. They’re all travelling together but what if one of them is more of a villain and the reason for getting to Silverado isn’t so great? Well, all the more reason to check this one out.

Overall 7/10