Released: April 2019 Director: Neil Marshall Distributor: Lionsgate Budget: $50 million Stars: David Harbour, Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, and Daniel Dae Kim
The Plot: Hellboy (Harbour), a demonic paranormal investigator for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defence (B.P.R.D.), is the only thing standing between the ancient sorceress, Nimue (Jovovich), being resurrected and leading the forces of darkness into all-out conquest over the human world.
The Background: Created in 1993 by noted writer/artist Mike Mignola, Hellboy is quite a unique and intriguing comic book character; a demon entity with a giant stone hand, filed-down horns, and a big-ass hand cannon, he is noted as being the world’s greatest paranormal detective and investigates, and fights against, the forces of evil. Of course, we’ve seen the character adapted by Guillermo del Toro and portrayed to fantastic effect by Ron Perlman back in 2004. Although we got a sequel in 2008, talks on a third instalment stalled and, eventually, died out, leading to this grittier, bloodier reboot.
The Review: Hellboy is a chaotic, frenetic movie that blasts along at a mile a minute, rarely taking any time to catch its breath or take a moment to think about what is going on. While this does make for a loud (very loud; at times, the music drowned out the dialogue), action-packed slug-fest, it does make the movie far more exhausting than its 2004 counterpart. However, this version separates itself by being full of gore, violent action, and foul language, which definitely ups the movie’s fun factor. The movie opens with some narration from Professor Trevor Bruttenholm (McShane), who quickly runs through the story of the Blood Queen Nimue while we see it happening onscreen; this is one of those cases where a a prologue exists simply to spell out the plot for the audience as, later in the film, Hellboy obviously has to be told the same story so he knows what’s going on and I end up just asking why we couldn’t skip the opening narrative and just splice that footage in to the later exposition.
Hellboy wisely introduces some new character’s from the comic lore.
After that, we jump-cut to Tijuana, where Hellboy is unable to save a friend of his (a fellow B.P.R.D. agent) and, just as he’s trying to deal with the guilt of that, we jump-cut to Colorado, where Professor Bruttenholm sends Hellboy on an assignment to help out the Osiris Club with an outbreak of giants in England. So then we jump-cut to England for an exciting action scene where Hellboy fights giants; it’s around here that the actual plot starts to come together as, at every turn, Hellboy is told rumours of an approaching evil, his role in the apocalypse, twists, turns, betrayals, and so many sudden location shifts as Hellboy prepares for the resurrection of the Blood Queen. As perfect as Ron Perlman was as Hellboy, David Harbour is a fantastic replacement; gruff, sarcastic, and conveying a lot of conflicting emotions, he is less of a child-like goof but still portrays the character as enjoying his violent job and beating up bad guys. The make-up and effects on Hellboy are top notch, and clearly have had the most effort put into them; compared to Perlman, Harbour is bigger, more battle-hardened (scars pattern his face and body) but just as poor a shot and quick to enter a fight. I don’t really know the Hellboy comics very well at all but we still don’t see much evidence to support Hellboy’s status as the world’s greatest paranormal investigator; he’s more a hit-first-ask-questions-later kind of demon and, though there are some wrinkles in his portrayal, he’s pretty much the same character from del Toro’s films.
Once again, Milla Jovovich is little more than a plank of wood.
Supporting him are the always-great Ian McShane, who is a far more gruff and pragmatic version of Professor Broom, Alice Monaghan (Lane), a telepath of sorts who can talk to and summon spirits, and Ben Daimio (Kim), a UK-based B.P.R.D. agent who, despite hiding a big secret, hates all the world’s monsters and is prepared to eliminate Hellboy if he proves to be a threat. They’re okay; there’s far more friction between Broom and Hellboy given that Hellboy discovers his true origins for the first time in this movie; Alice is serviceable enough and helps to humanise Hellboy, while Daimio undergoes the most character development as he begrudgingly learns to tolerate Hellboy’s existence during the course of the movie. Nimue is quite the antagonistic force; in addition to being effectively immortal, she can command the forces of darkness and bring about plagues through sheer force of will. She’s a constant shadow hanging over the film and actual shows up quite a bit, too; she’s also willing to concede her throne to Hellboy, given his destiny to be the destroyer of worlds. However, a lot of her threat and menace is diluted by Jovovich’s trademark wooden acting; as always, she is an emotional void, despite moments of emotion, and she just seems like a puppet dancing around onscreen.
Gruagach is a fun antagonist who needed more screen time.
Nimue’s desires are facilitated mainly through her right-hand…man…Gruagach (Stephen Graham and Douglas Tait), a half-man, half-pig who pretty much steals the show whenever he shows up thanks, in large part, not only to his gruff voice (which is full of personality) and his sympathetic motivations, but also due to him mostly being portrayal through practical effects. When he is onscreen with Nimue, she suddenly seems a lot more interesting and my only regret is that there isn’t more interaction between him and Hellboy as the film constantly throws other threats and obstacles in Hellboy’s path. Hellboy also features a booming soundtrack, though it does drown a lot of the dialogue out, as I mentioned earlier; this is something to note as Hellboy is a gruff-spoken character, Harbour has a gruff voice, and the make-up is obviously difficult to act through so it can be he hard to hear Hellboy’s snappy dialogue when the soundtrack is in full force. The effects are good, for the most part; the creature effects are clearly inspired by del Toro and the practical effects all look great. Some of the CGI lets the film down though, particularly around Nimue, her powers, her minions, and when Daimio reveals his true nature. The shots of hell seen in the trailer are very well done, though, and Hellboy looks great, and it’s helped that the movie blasts along way too quickly for you to really take in how good, or bad, a lot of the effects can be.
The Nitty-Gritty: If you’ve seen the trailers, or Hellboy (del Toro, 2004) then you already know one of the film’s biggest spoilers, which is that Hellboy embraces his role as Anung Un Rama and, also, that he ultimately rejects his fate as the bringer of the apocalypse by breaking his horns. He is forced into doing this by the death of a loved one (this time it’s Broom) and talked out of it by being reminded of his humanity (also by Broom, as a spirit, in this film). It’s a bit too samey, unfortunately, as was the flashback to Hellboy’s origin, which differed only in that Broom was at Hellboy’s summoning in order to kill him and decided to raise him as a son and weapon against evil instead…which was somewhat implied in del Toro’s movie. The trailers did do a decent job of hiding Daimio’s true nature, however; it was heavily implied that he was a werewolf of some kind and it turns out that he can turn into a beast that resembles a sabretooth tiger. This doesn’t fully happen until the film’s climax, however; probably because the effects are not very good at all and he’s not onscreen in this form for very long.
Hellboy is betrayed and stabbed in the back, literally, at almost every turn, adding to the film’s chaotic nature. Yet, amidst all of this, Hellboy presents the idea that Hellboy is half-human, half-demon and that his human lineage stretches all the way back to King Arthur. This means that Hellboy is the true ruler of England, for one thing, and (conveniently) the only one capable of wielding the legendary Excalibur (the one blade that can kill Nimue). I don’t know if this is a thing in the comics but it felt a bit contrived and convoluted for me; the entire movie is this mish-mash of exposition and senseless action and then, suddenly, Hellboy is destined to be the descendant of King Arthur while also being destined to bring about the apocalypse. O much prefer Hellboy being a down-to-Earth kinda guy who rejects his demonic heritage to do good out of his own volition and not because “fate” says he will. Like any good comic book movie, Hellboy features a few post-credits scene; two set-up a potential sequel, especially with Baba Yaga (Emma Tate and Troy James) swearing revenge against Hellboy and Hellboy, Alice, and Daimio discovering Abe Sapien’s water tank; in another, Hellboy is randomly consoled by the ghost of the legendary Nazi killer Lobster Johnson (Thomas Haden Church).
The Summary: Hellboy is a bombastic mess of a movie, to be honest. It’s loud, jumps all over the place, and never stops to let you catch up. The movie is full of foul-language and gratuitous violence, which really adds to its chaotic nature; unlike del Toro’s movies, this Hellboy doesn’t hold back and goes balls-deep with the violent nature of Hellboy’s work and life. While you can argue that the violence and gore is simply there just to be there, it really makes the film’s over-the-top premise and action far more enjoyable and allows this film to distance itself from its predecessors. I enjoy a mindless action movie as much as the next guy and am al for switching my brain off and watching some mindless violence, but Hellboy’s rapid editing and frantic pace soured me at the start. Similar to Suicide Squad (Ayer, 2016), Hellboy tries to cram way too much in at the start and then has multiple flashbacks to each character’s origin as they are introduced that interrupts the plot and makes things more convoluted than it needed to be; I think a cold-open and dialogue concerning Hellboy’s origin would have been enough. However, there is something to like about Hellboy; the effects are good, Harbour is great as the titular character, and the action and violence are loud and fun. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t seem to be tracking well and doesn’t look like it’ll turn much of a profit, if any, so we may never get to see a sequel iron out some of the film’s issues but, to its credit, Hellboy goes for the jugular right from the start and doesn’t let go even after the credits have rolled.
Released: 5 April 2019 Director: David F. Sandberg Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures Budget: $80 to 100 million Stars: Asher Angel, Zachary Levi, Mark Strong,Jack Dylan Grazer, Grace Fulton, and Djimon Hounsou
Plot: Billy Batson (Angel), an abandoned boy searching for his missing mother, is suddenly bestowed with magical superpowers, transforming him into an adult superhero (Levi) with the mindset of a teenager. When Doctor Thaddeus Sivana (Strong) attains equal power through possession of the seven Deadly Sins, Billy is suddenly faced with putting aside his personal issues and becoming a fully-fledged superhero.
The Review: Shazam! was released at a time when the DCEU was in a very chaotic flux; it’s not much better these days, to be fair, but back in 2019 we were still in the murky depths of the whole “Release the Snydercut” movement that saw a very vocal and very toxic splinter cell of “fans” decry anything and everything that wasn’t spearheaded by Zack Snyder. Consequently, I’ve seen discussions online trying to claim Shazam! isn’t canon to the DCEU films that came before it simply because Superman (Ryan Hadley) is wearing a blue suit instead of a black one…like he couldn’t just change his bloody costume! Well, I’m sorry to tell you but, at this point, Shazam! is more canon than the bloated and over-rated Zack Snyder’s Justice League(ibid, 2021) and different superheroes in the same shared universe can have different tones to their movies; if you don’t want to look at Marvel’s movies for proof of this, maybe try comparing Man of Steel(ibid, 2013) to Wonder Woman(Jenkins, 2017) and then each of those to Suicide Squad (Ayer, 2016) and Aquaman(Wan, 2018), four films that most definitely are a part of Snyder’s flawed vision of DC’s most famous characters. For me, Shazam! represented a shift towards telling more light-hearted, comic-accurate, and action-packed stories that focused on getting to the heart of these beloved characters rather than muting and saturating them or making them unnecessarily grim; Snyder extremists may lose their nut when Batman (Ben Affleck) mercilessly slaughters people and swears like he’s Frank Castle/The Punisher, but that’s not true to Batman’s character at all so I saw Shazam! as a bit of a course correction for the DCEU towards a less ridiculously serious take on these characters.
Streetwise Billy pushes everyone away in pursuit of his missing mother.
I feel it’s important for me to point out that I haven’t read any of the New 52 comics featuring Billy/Shazam’s altered background and extended family; I’m vaguely aware that his origin and situation were changed and updated somewhat, but I’m much more familiar with his classic comics and his appearance throughout the mid-nineties as a budding kid reporter and the “Big Red Cheese” who goofed about on the Justice League International team. I was therefore amused and intrigued to find Billy portrayed not a newspaper boy living on the streets with aspirations of working in radio, but instead as a streetwise orphan with a reputation for causing trouble with both his foster families and the cops and businesses of Philadelphia. Billy is a lot more in common with young John Connor (Edward Furlong) in that he resents being placed in the care of others, prefers to rely on his own wiles to get by, and frequently scams his way into police databases to track down his birth mother, Marilyn (Caroline Palmer), who he became separated from at a carnival ten years previously. Although he’s a rebellious kid who actively rejects assistance and affection for others, there’s a real tragedy to Billy; he believes he has a “real” family and mother out there waiting for him, refuses to entertain the notion that Marylin isn’t interested in finding him, and is desperate to be reunited with her and feel that sense of belonging once more. Unfortunately for him, he’s only fourteen and therefore legal mandated to be placed into foster care; having run away from good families before and been rejected because of it, he’s placed into the care of the lovable Víctor (Cooper Andrews) and Rosa Vásquez (Marta Milans), who shelter a whole troupe of foster kids of all ages. Since he’s a self-sufficient kid who doesn’t see the point in connecting with others because he’s trying to get back to his real mother, Billy is unimpressed by the Vásquez’s friendliness and the mixture of personalities in their household.
Billy revels in the power and freedom offered by his superpowered alter ego.
As in the source material, Billy is approached by the aging wizard Shazam (Hounsou), here depicted as a desperate demigod seeking to pass his great powers on to a suitable heir before his time ends. Djimon Hounsou is a great choice for this role; his gravely voice oozes a perfect mixture of menace, authority, and despair. Burdened by the guilt of having misplaced his trust in a previous Champion and witnessing the deaths of his fellow Council of Wizards, the Wizard is determined that his next Champion be pure of heart in order to fend off the influence of the Seven Deadly Sins (Steve Blum, Darin De Paul, and Fred Tatasciore) but is forced to rely on the reluctant Billy after the Seven Deadly Sins are freed from their prison. By speaking the Wizard’s name, Billy is transformed into an adult form sporting one of the best and most comic-accurate costumes ever put to cinema; the effort sees the Wizard crumble to ash but empowers Billy with the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. Whenever he utters his name, Billy becomes a boy trapped in a man’s body, leading to many humorous moments such as him struggling to navigate the world now he’s a six-foot, musclebound man, him learning the alcohol usually tastes terrible, and his awkward attempts to exude authority as a superhero. Zachary Levi shines in the role, though it can’t be overlooked that Billy seems to act more immature as Shazam than he does as a kid, somewhat negating whatever influence the Wisdom of Solomon is supposed to have on him; however, I would chalk this up to the freedom and power offered by his adult form and superpowers and it results in some of the film’s best moments as he and Freddy Freeman (Grazer) test Shazam’s limits, try to think up a suitable superhero moniker, and attempt to become social media celebrities by recording his feats of power and heroism.
Freddy encourages Billy’s growth from a super celebrity into a capable superhero.
The Vasquez house shelters five kids of various ages, including avid gamer Eugene Choi (Ian Chen), the enthusiastic, the overly affectionate and chatty Darla Dudley (Faithe Herman), introverted workout aficionado Pedro Peña (Jovan Armand). While Darla steals every scene she’s in with her endless excitement and Billy can’t help but be taken by her childish positivity, it’s cripple Freddy Freeman and academic prodigy Mary Bromfield (Fulton) whom Billy spends the most time with. A superhero fanboy who’s constantly wearing Justice League t-shirts, showing off his Superman memorabilia, and rattling off Justice League statistics and abilities as Billy explores his powers. While Freddy’s nonstop chatter quickly exasperates Billy, the self-styled loner can’t help but step in when the snarky Freddy is set upon by a couple of douchebag jocks; Freddy’s a bit of an odd duck, one who sports a dark sense of humour, chatters incessantly, and struggles to maintain his boundaries. It’s lucky for Freddy that Shazam’s powers are so formidable as he doesn’t hold back in putting him through his paces; he actively encourages armed thugs to shoot him in the face, secretly sets him on fire, and delights in watching him barrel into buildings and fall from great heights in his attempts to fly. Eventually, however, a rift forms between them that only grows wider when Billy chooses to goof off as Shazam rather than show appreciation for Freddy’s assistance; even Eugene and Pedro question Shazam’s heroism as he’s more concerned with grifting and showing off. Although Shazam’s able to pull off and impressive physical feat and save a busload of civilians from certain death, Freddy chastises him for causing the accident in the first place and chews him out for not appreciating how lucky he is to have such incredible powers.
Though empowered by the Seven Deadly Sins, Dr. Sivana covets the Wizards gifts most of all.
Billy is put to the test, however, by Dr. Sivana, who we first meet as a little boy (Ethan Pugiotto) suffering emotional abuse at the hands of his strict father, business tycoon Mr. Sivana (John Glover), and his obnoxious older brother, Sid (Landon Doak). Although seemingly a more playful and less repugnant individual compared to his domineering elders, young Thaddeus is a perfect cause of nurture over nature; when he’s magically transported to the Rock of Eternity and offered the chance to become the Wizard’s Champion, he’s easily swayed by the influence of the Seven Deadly Sins, who offer him the power he needs to prove his strength to his father by claiming the Eye of Sin rather than the Wizard’s staff. Deemed unworthy because of his impure heart, young Thaddeus is rejected by the Wizard and his subsequent outburst causes a car crash that sees his father paralysed from the waist down and sets the boy on a lifelong quest to research the Wizard and his other rejected attempts to find a Champion in order to force his way back into the Rock of Eternity, confront the Wizard’s rebuff, and become the vessel for the destructive power of the Seven Deadly Sins. Largely represented as grotesque gargoyle-like creatures comprised of rock and smoke, the Seven Deadly Sins imbue Dr. Sivana with power to rival that of Shazam, which is a far cry from the mad scientist he was in the original comics but, as I understand it, is more in-line with his New 52 counterpart and allows Dr. Sivana to pose a physical challenge to the titular demigod. Composed, spiteful, and revelling in his dark powers, Dr. Sivana is the polar opposite of Shazam, who takes far longer to reconcile his immaturity with his magical adulthood and to realise the potential of his superpowers; it’s telling that Dr. Sivana can both fly and throw more effective punches in their first encounter, such is the benefit of his lifelong quest for the Wizard’s power, and he doesn’t hesitate to use every advantage at his disposal, even threatening Billy’s foster family, to add Shazam’s power to his own.
The Nitty-Gritty: Some of you reading this may question why I’ve included Shazam! in my Christmas Countdown series considering it’s not a “typical” Christmas movie. Well, for me, the reason is very simple: the film is largely set around the festive season, Christmas songs, trees, and lights are all over the place, as is snow and a general sense of festive anticipation in the air and, while Christmas might not be at the heart of the narrative, this is enough for me to justify it being a Christmas movie. Plus, why not take the opportunity to slap on a fun or enjoyable film around Christmas even if it isn’t a focal point of the movie? A common criticism I have of early Shazam! comics is the depiction of the Rock of Eternity; it would take some decades for artists to render it in a way that felt both grandiose, fantastical, and foreboding and to not simply have cartoonish writing all over the walls to explain to kids what was happening. Thankfully, Shazam! addresses this issue, depicting the Rock of Eternity as a cavernous labyrinthine temple home to the aging Wizard and seven thrones where his peers once sat. The Seven Deadly Sins are also entombed there and, while they do have their name sand natures etched into their rocky surfaces, they’re far more monstrous and impressive than in those early comics; the Rock of Eternity is also home to various other magical doorways and artefacts that effectively lay the groundwork for future films, villains, and characters.
When his perfect memory of his mother is shattered, Billy turns to his foster family for support.
Family plays a central role in the film; as indicated, the influence of Mr. Sivana and Sid has a lasting effect on Dr. Sivana’s nature and life, with every action he takes in his quest for power, both magical and otherwise, motivated by a need to prove himself worthy and superior to his father and older brother. Billy holds his last memories of her close in his heart, remembering her as a kind-hearted and loving mother who did her best and gifted him with a compass so that he could always find his way, and he both dreams and actively rehearses what he’ll say when they’re reunited after they got lost in a bustling crowd. It’s therefore all the more heart-breaking when Billy does eventually track her down and learns not only that his memories of this event were skewed by his childish perception, but that Marylin chose to abandon him as she couldn’t cope with the pressure of being a mother. Asher Angel absolutely sells Billy’s dejection at this revelation as he realises that his whole life has been a lie, that this perfect memory and vision of a loving mother was far from the actual truth, and that his mother dropped him at the first chance she got rather than try to live up to her responsibilities. Despite his earlier reservations, this means that Billy comes to recognise the importance of his true family; while he’s spent much of the film pushing others away and only reluctantly accepting Freddy’s help in discovering the limits of his superpowers, the Vásquez’s and their foster kids have been nothing but warm, welcoming, and understanding to Billy. When he first meets them, the family is coming to terms with Mary’s impending departure for the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), a move which is encouraged but also a subject of sadness, especially for the emotional Darcy. After saving her as Shazam, Billy relates his belief that family is for those who can’t take care of themselves and encourages her to make it on her own and, similarly, early on, refuses to say grace over dinner or join hands with his foster family. However, when Dr. Sivana threatens his adopted family, Shazam agrees to hand himself over in exchange for their lives, finally seeing himself as their brother, and later turns to his adopted siblings for help by sharing his magical powers in much the same way as Victor and Rosa share their love.
Alongside his superpowered family, Shazam defeats Dr. Sivana and finds his place at last.
Although their power is primarily embodied through Dr. Sivana, the Seven Deadly Sins make a hell of an impression, delivering some disturbing PG violence that’s more than on par with the explicit brutality of previous DCEU films. Dr. Sivana barely flinches when his assistant (Lotta Losten) turns to ash before his eyes, launches Sid (Wayne Ward) out of a window, and unleashes the monstrous Seven Deadly Sins upon his father and his board members, whom they slaughter with an unexpected malice for an otherwise kid-friendly film. Although he can easily manhandle Shazam thanks to his composed nature, Dr. Sivana covets the Wizard’s magic above all and takes advantage of Freddy’s very public relationship with Shazam to hold his foster family hostage in exchange for Shazam’s powers. Their loyalty to Billy sees the kids come to his aid and reveals a glaring weakness in Dr. Sivana’s otherwise formidable powers; he becomes more vulnerable as the Seven Deadly Sins expel from his body, so Billy shares his powers, transforming his foster siblings into their own adult, superhero forms to divide the Seven Deadly Sins and weaken Dr. Sivana. While it’s convenient that Lady Shazam (Michelle Borth), Shazam Jr. (Adam Brody), and the others are all able to master their abilities faster than Billy, it leads to a fun and explosive finale as Freddy revels in finally having the superpowers he’s long idolised, Pedro Shazam (D. J. Cotrona) marvels at his physical stature and finally finds his confidence, Eugene Shazam (Ross Butler) delights in spouting videogame catchphrases to match his powers, and Darla Shazam (Meagan Good) retaining her childish exuberance. Although the Seven Deadly Sins and the Shazam Family are technically evenly matched in their strength and durability, Shazam’s able to render Dr. Sivana powerless by goading Envy into leaving his body. He then saves Dr. Sivana from certain death and forcibly extracts the Eye of Sin from his head, imprisoning the Seven Deadly Sins once more, though Dr. Sivana is approached by another potential villainous ally, the hyper-intelligent caterpillar Mister mind (David F. Sandberg) while languishing in prison. Having now found a safe, loving home and family to share his life and powers with, Billy chooses to stay with the Vasquez’s, joins them in their family traditions, and establishes himself and the other Shazams as the new keepers of the Rock of Eternity. He’s even able to bolster Freddy’s credibility at school by joining him for lunch as Shazam and alongside an awkwardly-framed Superman (seriously, it would’ve been just as good, if not better, to show Superman from behind and floating outside the window).
The Summary: It can be difficult to craft a truly original superhero origin movie; even I’ll admit it’s usually better to fast-track or skip the origin entirely, especially for more well-known superheroes, but Shazam does a great job of establishing its world and Shazam’s powers through well-paced exposition and different means. Rather than opening with a voiceover explaining everything to us and then having that information repeated later, we see the conflict between the Wizard and the Seven Deadly Sins and how that influences Dr. Sivana and, when Billy first gets his powers, he’s completely clueless how to use them and is forced to turn to superhero nut Freddy for help. Seeing the kids become their own magical superheroes was a blast as all the adult actors equally conveyed their thrill at their newfound abilities and I really enjoyed the film’s humour, especially in the man-child personification of Shazam and his not being able to hear Dr. Sivana’s villain monologue. Seeing Billy grow from a damaged loner to truly accepting his foster family and his newfound powers was a charming development after the utter gut-punch delivered by his mother; Mark Strong was, ever, a deliciously scene-stealing villain and I absolutely loved the costume design and presentation of the film. Infused with exactly the right balance of action, comedy, and heart that’s often sorely lacking in the DCEU, Shazam! is a hugely enjoyable romp that’s got just enough Christmas spirit laced throughout it to justify an annual watch every festive season regardless of how much of a hard-on you have for Snyder’s grim and gritty perversion of DC’s characters.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Did you enjoy Shazam!? Are you a fan of the comic books and, if so, were you happy with the way it adapted the source material? What did you think to Billy’s characterisation, his mother’s true nature, and his acceptance of his foster family? Which of his siblings was your favourite and did you enjoy seeing them get a share Shazam’s power? What did you think to Dr. Sivana and the Seven Deadly Sins? Are there any Shazam characters, villains, or story arcs you’d like to see adapted one day? Do you prefer the grim and gritty DCEU or its more light-hearted side? Whatever your thoughts on Shazam!, feel free to drop them below or leave a comment on my social media.
I’m going to kick this off with a revelation: I’ve never actually played a Tomb Raider (Core Design/Eidos Interactive/Square Enix, 1996 to present) videogame from start to finish. As I’ve alluded to in the past, I didn’t have the luxury of being able to afford every videogame console as a kid so I picked the Nintendo 64 while others were playing PlayStation; I did play the original Tomb Raider (Core Design/Eidos Interactive, 1996) for about twenty minutes (and wasn’t massively impressed by its controls, sparse environments, or graphics) and I think I have either Tomb Raider: Legend (Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Interactive, 2006) or Tomb Raider: Underworld (ibid, 2008) downloaded on my PlayStation 3 but I instantly lost interest in it moments after first playing it. However, when my friend gifted me Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix, 2014) for the Xbox One, I was intrigued not just because I felt I had skipped an important franchise in videogame history but also because I had heard good things about it and that it played similar to the Batman: Arkham (Rocksteady Studios/WB Games Montréal/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, 2009 to 2015) franchise (I guess the Assassin’s’ Creed (Ubisoft, 2007 to 2018) series is a better comparison but I haven’t played them either…).
Lara’s lost and alone in the wilderness…
Tomb Raider is, if you couldn’t guess from the title, a complete reboot of the franchise in which Lara Croft (and her fellow explorers) journeys to Yamatai, a lost island off the coast of Japan, to find evidence of the mythical Sun Queen, Himiko. Unfortunately, Yamatai is protected by violent supernatural storms, which sinks Lara’s ship and separates the survivors across the island. Isolated and hunted by the island natives, Lara is forced to adapt to her surroundings to find food, shelter, and warmth and then take up arms against the violent Solarii Brotherhood, who wish to make a sacrifice to the Sun Queen. Gameplay takes the form of a third-person perspective as players guide Lara throughout her diverse and varied environments; initially, Lara is relatively incapable and struggles to get through the jungles, cliffs, and shanty towns dotted around the island but, once she obtains a pickaxe and a make-shift bow, she soon becomes an accomplished rock climber, forager, and survivor.
Lara overcomes her aversion to killing pretty quickly…
Lara is forced to fashion a bow and arrows in order to hunt wildlife for food (though this is merely a plot mechanic; Lara’s health automatically regenerates when she finds cover or avoids damage) but a huge dramatic moment is made of the first time she picks up and fires a gun in self defence. Shaken by the ordeal of having to kill to survive, you’ll soon find yourself blasting fools in the face with a shotgun and stabbing guys through the neck with arrows without mercy. Lara is able to explore her environments to find various helpful items to improve her progress: salvage and weapon parts can be used to upgrade and enhance her weapons, completing various trials and performing certain objectives and actions will award Lara experience points that she can spend on upgrades to improve her hunting and survival skills, and she can find various treasures and documents scattered across the island to unlock Achievements.
There are tombs to raid but they’re more of a distraction.
There are also some hidden tombs to be found, which reap greater treasures and experience points; you’ll get a notification when one is near and they’re usually easily identified by nearby markings and drawings. Each tomb tests Lara’s abilities with a few simple puzzles, which involve lighting things, jumping across gaps, and manipulating the environment with her various tools. While they are a fun diversion they are just that, a diversion, and the game’s title is actually somewhat misleading as the actual raiding of tomb’s is not even secondary to the game’s plot; it’s a side-mission, one barely given any prominence or relevance at all. Instead, the game pushes the plot revolving around the Sun Queen; when one of Lara’s ship-mates is captured by the Solarii, Lara has to go and rescue her to stop her being possessed by Himiko’s spirit and bring and end to the storms that prevent anyone from leaving the island. She faces betrayal and further trials along the way but, by the time you reach the final area of the game, you’ll be more than levelled up and ready to face the waves of enemies that come at you.
Lara’s “instincts” give her the edge over her enemies.
Like Batman, Lara is able to use her “instincts” to scan her environment for treasures, intractable objects, and locate enemies that she can combat in a variety of ways: the bow is good for stealth but Lara can also sneak up on enemies for stealth kills. She only has access to one gun throughout the game until the very end, when she acquires a second and ends up as the battle-hardened, experienced hunter/survivor we know as Lara Croft, but this can be upgraded into a rapid fire Magnum. She also obtains a shotgun and an assault rifle (which can somehow also be upgraded into a grenade launcher…) to mow down enemies and use her pickaxe for melee attacks and instant kills. Enemies are reasonably varied; some will attack with machetes and dynamite, others use assault rifles, while bigger enemies are shielded by Samurai armour, meaning Lara must dodge their attacks to strike from behind. This is facilitated via quick-time events, which also appear at various moments when Lara must run to escape flooding areas, collapsing areas, or her many (many) tumbles down hills and cliffs. It was a little difficult getting the timing right for a lot of these quick-time events as the button doesn’t appear onscreen right away but you soon get the hang of it and will be dodging enemies and blasting them with a clip full of bullets before long.
Quick-time events help keep things engaging.
Lara is also adept at jumping, climbing, and swinging; she can leap pretty far and climb up roped surfaces, jump from rock face to rock face with her pickaxe, and even end up shooting roped arrows to ride her pickaxe down to new areas. Jumping across rocks can be tricky due to the camera angle being just slightly off but, as long as you press X and time it right, you can make most jumps without any issues. You can bring up the map at any time to see what goodies you’re missing in each area; every area of the island has a bunch of stuff to find that will help you out and unlock Achievements. Lara can also make camp at various points; this will save the game, allows her to fast travel around the map (how, exactly, is never explained…). Upgrade her abilities and weapons, and write in her journal like a geek. You can also switch her outfit here, though none of them are that great to be honest and there’s no option for her classic green vest and hot pants outfit.
Yeah…I won’t be unlocking her any time soon…
Tomb Raider also comes with a multi-player component, though I’m not entirely sure why. In it, players can select one of the many characters featured in the story mode (though, ironically, Lara can only be unlocked after you level-up enough) and take part in deathmatches, rescuing survivors, or retrieving batteries whilst being hunted. As with all online modes, I found this to be chaotic and confusing; I was constantly picked off with frustrating ease, barely ever saw who was killing me, and contributed very little to the match but this is more due to me not really liking online deathmatches and I’m sure if you’re actually good at these modes then there’s enjoyment to be had here. The entire point of this game appears to be to bring Lara to rock bottom and build her up; some of this is dampened by a lot of her ship-mates constantly telling her that she “can do this” because she “is a Croft”, as though having that last name automatically means she can scale a cliff side and kill a God…but she can, and she does, after enduring some harsh trials and learning to do whatever it takes to survive. Along the way, she becomes comfortable with killing to stay alive and looting treasure for her own benefit and, by the end, is noted to have changed a lot and committed to the life of a scavenger and survivor rather than a simple naïve explorer.
Lara’s experience shapes her into the character we all know.
This makes Tomb Raider quite an engaging experience; you really feel like you are becoming this survivor as you learn new tactics and figure out the best ways of clearing out rooms of enemies and solving puzzles. Every area teaches you something new, introduces new elements, and asks you to adapt and, by the time you’re done and you’re back-tracking to other locations to find stuff you missed, no obstacle will be too great for your fully-upgraded weapons and abilities. Overall, I enjoyed Tomb Raider; it wasn’t necessarily difficult to play through and complete and getting all the upgrades was pretty easy, with only a bit of back-tracking required at the end of the game. There is some replayability in the multiplayer and in the challenges you’ll find in each area but no real post-game story or additional modes that require a further playthrough. Nevertheless, for the first Tomb Raider game I’ve ever played from start to finish, this was a great experience, though I suspect this is largely due to the tight, polished gameplay of this particular title compared t its predecessors.
Released: 8 March 2019 Director: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Budget: $152 to 175 million Stars: Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Lashana Lynch, and Annette Bening
The Plot: It’s the mid-nineties in the MCU and, across the galaxy, Kree super soldier Vers (Larson) is embroiled in a war against the shape-shifting Skrulls. When the Skrull campaign brings Vers to Earth, she encounters a young Nick Fury (Jackson) and embarks on a journey to recover a mysterious light-speed craft that also reveals the truth about her past as an Air Force pilot.
The Review: Captain Marvel is another of Marvel’s colourful characters who I know very little about; Mar-Vell was long dead by the time I started reading comics and I believe the mantle was in the hands of Monica Rambeau when I got into the medium. Still, I was somewhat aware of Mar-Vell and his time sharing a body with perennial sidekick Rick Jones, and I knew of Carol Danvers as she was occasionally mentioned as being in a coma (or something similar) following an encounter with the X-Man Anna Marie/Rogue, but I wasn’t very familiar with the character prior to the announcement of Captain Marvel. This wasn’t much of a problem for me as I was interested to see a powerful female hero introduced in her own solo movie and I had expected that the film would set the stage for bigger things in the MCU since we were right on the cusp of Avengers: Infinity War(Russo and Russo, 2018) at the time and Marvel’s then-recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox had my imagination running wild over the possibilities of introducing the shape-shifting Skrulls to the MCU. I can fully understand the argument that Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) should’ve led the first female-orientated superhero film in the MCU given that she was already an established Avenger by 2019; hell, I would’ve liked to see a film centred around her, Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Nick Fury, and Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) that explored into their pasts and the formation of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division (S.H.I.E.L.D.), especially after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier(Russo and Russo, 2014). Sadly, it took some time for Black Widow to get her own solo film, but I didn’t mind Captain Marvel beating her to that accolade as she was framed as being a game-changer in the MCU hierarchy and it made some narrative sense given how the MCU was pushing towards cosmic adventures in Phase Two and Three.
Having devoted her life to the Kree cause, Vers is stunned to discover her origins as an Air Force pilot.
Captain Marvel starts with Carol out in the galaxy with no memory of her true identity and already a formidable superpowered warrior. Believing herself to be a Kree soldier named “Vers”, she sees herself as a peacekeeping hero in an increasingly chaotic universe and wouldn’t question her past if she didn’t possess a broken dog tag that gave her her name or dream of a life she doesn’t remember. This uncertainty about her true past and nature makes her powers dangerous and unpredictable; under the tutelage of Yon-Rogg (Law) of Starforce, she is pushed to overcome her weaknesses and be a stoic, unflinching soldier. Vers and Yon-Rogg have a mutual respect for one another and enjoy regular sparring sessions, but he’s riled by her cavalier attitude; she would rather make flippant remarks and wind him up than learn to control her strange energy-based powers, a formidable ability she believes was bestowed upon her by the Kree but one that Yon-Rogg feels she is overly reliant on and which she’s told can be removed from her at any time. Despite the volatile nature of her powers, her impulsive nature, and her offhand attitude towards authority, Vers is a key member of Starforce; led by Yon-Rogg and commanded by the Supreme Intelligence (Bening) – the artificial intelligence that governs Kree society – the team is comprised of sniper Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan), marksman Att-Lass (Algenis Pérez Soto), powerhouse Bron-Char (Rune Temte), and swordsman Korath (Djimon Hounsou). While Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) is seen as more of a blunt instrument, bombing targets from afar with his mighty fleet, Starforce goes in at ground level for high-risk infiltration missions. Vers’ dedication to her team and the Kree is without question until she’s captured by Skrull soldiers and subjected to their mind probe, which provides glimpses of an entire life on Earth in which Carol fought to earn her rightful place in the sky as an Air Force pilot. Although initially believing that the Skrulls have implanted false memories into her head, she’s nonetheless left stranded on Earth after escaping their ship and forced to join forces with a young Nick Fury to locate an experimental light-speed engine and its creator, Doctor Wendy Lawson (Bening), a recurring figure in Vers’ dreams, before the Skrulls. Along the way, Vers is stunned to discover that her dreams are memories of her former life on Earth, one that was suppressed by the Kree, and is devastated to learn that the dogma she’s devoted her life to has all been based on a lie.
It’s great seeing Fury take his first steps towards defending the Earth, despite his goofiness.
It’s great to see Coulson back in the MCU; while I appreciated that his death was a significant emotional trigger to galvanise the Avengers, I always felt like he’d been offed too soon, but equally disliked that his death was undone in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.(2013 to 2020), even if that show is now considered non-canon. Coulson doesn’t have a huge role here; he’s simply a fledgling S.H.I.E.L.D. agent still earning Fury’s trust and is mostly relegated to comedy relief, but it was nice to see him and get a sense of how he entered Fury’s inner circle. When the Skrulls attempt to order S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to take in Fury dead or alive for colluding with Vers, Coulson immediately senses something isn’t right and chooses loyalty over orders, something which no doubt Fury kept in mind in the years since. It’s even better to delve into Fury’s past; rather than being the all-knowing director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury is an active field agent whose perception of the world is upended by Vers, who confirms the presence of alien life (and antagonists) and thus sets Fury on the path to preparing Earth’s defences. A pragmatic and proactive individual, Fury is careful about who he trusts but stands against injustice in all forms; naturally, he’s dismissive of Vers’ claims of an alien invasion since he’s never encountered aliens or superheroes before but he dedicates himself to assisting the Skrull refugees once the truth is uncovered. This mission takes him not only across the country but into space, giving Fury a crash-course in advanced technology and introducing him to the vast and dangerous cosmic threats out in the galaxy through artifacts like the Tesseract. However, as great as it is to see a younger, far less jaded Nick Fury in action, he’s a bit too much of a goof at times. I’m happy for him to go ga-ga over a cute kitty cat, for example, but randomly singing, laughing, and joking seems contrary to his character and I can only assume that he saw some serious shit between this movie and The Avengers/Avengers Assemble(Whedon, 2012). Also, yes, I was a little disappointed that Fury lost his eye from an errant scratch from Goose (Reggie, Archie, Rizzo, and Gonzo), this weird cat-alien “Flerken” that swallows objects whole using tentacles, rather than this injury either being left a mystery or attributed to something a little less comedic.
Although framed as the villains, the Skrulls are simply trying to escape the oppression of the Kree.
Thanks to the Kree, Vers (and the audience) believes that the shape-shifting Skrulls are the film’s antagonists; depicted as terrorists who can assume the form of anyone they see, they can only mimic ( or “sim”) the most recent memories of their hosts, raising Fury’s suspicions about S.H.I.E.L.D. director R. Keller (Mendelsohn). Their invasive probing of Vers details they plan to acquire Dr. Lawson’s light-speed drive to aid in their warring ways, but it turns out that Talos (ibid) and his wife, Soren (Sharon Blynn), are actually refugees who were being aided by Dr. Lawson (actually renegade Kree scientist Mar-Vell), who wished to spirit them to safety after the destruction of their home world at the hands of her race. As Keller, Talos adopts a very strait-laced and bureaucratic demeanour but, in his true Skrull form, he’s much more laidback and speaks with an Australian twang that makes him an affable personality. There’s a tragedy to Talos, who simply wants to be reunited with his people and escape the conflict, and he’s depicted as a simple man driven to extremes in order to free his people, though the blood on his hands is nothing compared to the oppressive nature of the Kree. After being subjected to the Skrull mind probe and finding herself stranded on Earth, Vers’ dreams manifest in real life as her memories bubble to the surface and, seeing a link between her dreams and Project: Pegasus, Vers and Fury head to Louisiana to meet with Captain Maria Rambeau (Lynch), the last person who saw Dr. Lawson alive. Vers is stunned when Maria and her young daughter, Monica (Akira Akbar), recognise her as their old friend, Captain Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot presumed dead six years ago. Despite being shocked at her wingman’s return, Maria and Monica fill in some of the gaps in Carol’s memory, revealing she was a test pilot for Dr. Lawson, a woman she greatly admired (hence why the Carol sees her when she communes with the Supreme Intelligence). Carol’s entire life philosophy turns on its head when Talos and Soren play black box audio of her plane being shot down, revealing she was charged by Dr. Lawson to carry on her work and ended up being supercharged when she tried to keep the energy core out of Yon-Rogg’s hands. Although robbed of his prize, he chose to take the amnesiac Carol as compensation and indoctrinate her into the Kree way of life in order to manipulate her powers to expand their ruthless campaign against the Skrulls.
The Nitty-Gritty: Captain Marvel balances a few different genres really well; it starts as a space-epic and, whenever cosmic elements arise, very closely echoes the look and feel of the Guardians of the Galaxy films (Gunn, 2014 to 2023); when Vers crash-lands on Earth and teams up with Fury, it becomes a road trip, buddy-cop take on Thor(Branagh, 2011) as Vers is a super powerful fish-out-of-water. Also, this is a nostalgia trip back to an era very close to my heart, the good old nineties; as such, period accurate fashion, arcade machines, and many references to the Grunge music scene are commonplace. These elements are sometimes a bit in your face (Vers crashes into a Blockbuster, walks around in a Nine Inch Nails t-shirt, and struggles to navigate the thankfully long forgotten realm of dial-up internet) but, generally, they act simply as a backdrop and framing device. Using the nineties is a nice change of pace as well, since all the nostalgia seems to revolve around the eighties these days, and explores a previously unknown time in the wider MCU. For the most part, all these elements come together really well; despite all the negativity I read about Larson and her being a stoic, unemotional robot in the trailers, Vers is actually a very emotive and charming character who makes jokes and quips at the expense of her teammates (and to the frustration of Yon-Rogg) and has a very dry sense of humour most of the time. Larson also expresses Carol’s conflicting emotions about her past and the revelations she uncovers really well, turning sadness and guilt into focused anger. Honestly, I shouldn’t even have to be commenting on this, as trailers are just that…trailers, they show only glimpses of a movie and the characters so to judge Larson completely on the trailers is laughable, especially considering there are plenty of trailers in the MCU that show characters just frowning or being stoic and serious.
The manipulations of the Kree turn Carol from their greatest asset into a formidable threat.
Although I enjoyed seeing the return of Korath and Ronan, their characters don’t get much screen time and I do feel like the film missed a trick by not swapping Bron-Char out for Ronan to expand his character and his prejudices more. I’m not massively upset about this as the focus is on Carol rather than Starforce, but again it feels like they could’ve just had Vers, Yon-Rogg, and Korath be an elite three-person team and had more time to develop their characters instead of pushing four of them to the side. On the plus side, I was very surprised by how well the Skrulls came off, especially as their characterisation is very different from the source material; although they can still shape-shift and are clearly capable of defending themselves, the Skrulls are recast as oppressed and clearly innocent parties in the Kree/Skrull war. Although this initially seemed to lessen the Skrull threat in the MCU, we’ve since seen that antagonistic Skrulls do exist so, while my prediction that they would be an ongoing threat throughout Phase Four wasn’t quite on the money, they’re still portrayed as a surprisingly nuanced race. I’m no Jude Law fan but he did pretty well in this role; he played the smarmy, self-assured leader of Starforce very well and I enjoyed the playful chemistry between him and Vers, which borders on respect, attraction, and frustration due to her impulsive nature and his more pragmatic sensibilities. Carol’s relationship with Fury is somewhat similar; she enjoys toying with him and boasting of the Kree’s reputation as “noble warrior heroes” but he’s so intrigued by aliens that he willingly joins her in her investigation into Project: Pegasus despite the constant injury to his left eye. Similarly, Vers chooses to rescue Fury when the Skrulls target him despite Yon-Rogg’s orders, thus establishing a trust between the two that sees her return to Earth to answer his emergency call and her first concern being his welfare.
Whether on Earth or in space, the film is bolstered by some impressive action and effects.
Although much of the action takes place on Earth, Captain Marvel is full of impressive visual and practical effects; Starforce (and Captain Marvel) reap the benefits of this through some fantastic costume design, which translates Captain Marvel’s outfit to the big screen in immaculate detail and even includes some nods to her other colour schemes when she decides to abandon her Kree colours. Although the Flerken’s effects are a little dodgy, the perfect balance between practical and visual effects bring the Skrulls to life and transform the actors into distinctly different characters, and the progression of de-aging technology is frankly astounding even now (even if Jackson’s age is betrayed during his more active moments). Between the road trip and detective work, there are some pretty solid action sequences; thanks to Goose’s true nature as a weird Lovecraftian alien-monster and Maria’s piloting skills, Carol’s allies are able to contribute to the finale, which sees Fury acknowledge Talos as a friend and ally and Maria take on Minn-Erva in an awesome dogfight sequence that takes more than a little inspiration from Independence Day(Emmerich, 1996). The opening sequence on the foggy world of Torfa shows how ruthless Starforce are when engaging the Skrulls and perfectly establishes the latter’s ability to mimic the appearances of others, and we even get to see just how capable and tenacious Vers is when she resists the Skrull mind probe and fights them off even with her hands and feet bound. Indeed, it should be no surprise that the titular heroine benefits the most from the action sequences; not only does Carol done a fantastically comic accurate suit but she’s capable of some amazing feats with her cosmic powers, which allow her to fire energy blasts, fly, and make her superhumanly durable. Her tenacity for chasing down her enemies is one of her most defining characteristics; highly suspicious of all since she’s been conditioned to believe the Skrulls are her mortal enemy, she has no compunction about attacking old women in broad daylight, leading to a fun action sequence on a train. Even before Carol obtained her unparalleled cosmic powers, she was a skilled enough pilot to engage with a Kree starship but, once she unlocks her true power, Carol makes short work of her former teammates with her concussive energy blasts and cuts through Ronan’s entire armada like it was nothing, effectively establishing her as one of the most powerful superhuman forces in the MCU.
After discovering her true potential, Carol goes full Super Saiyan and vows to protect the galaxy.
After having her memory jogged by the black box recording, Carol leads Talos to the cloaked ship in Earth orbit and it’s discovered that the energy core that allowed Mar-Vell to create her light-speed energy is none other than the Tesseract. More importantly, Talos is finally reunited with his wife and child but their lives, and those of the other Skrull refugees, are immediately threatened by Yon-Rogg and Carol’s former Starforce teammates. Thanks to an inhibitor chip suppressing her cosmic powers, Carol’s forced into a confrontation with the Supreme Intelligence where the xenophobic brutality of the Kree is exposed for her to witness, and to fight against. The Supreme Intelligence’s attempts to break Carol’s spirit only galvanises her when she realises that every time she ever got knocked down, she got back up for more, and this fighting spirit spurs her to reclaim her human name, break her bonds, destroy her inhibitor chip, and finally realise the full extent of her powers, which sees her adopt a golden hue almost akin to a Super Saiyan. Having witnessed the awesome extent of Carol’s true power, Yon-Rogg attempts to goad her into battling him on equal ground but, in a fantastic subversion of expectations, she simply knocks his ass down and refuses to rise to the bait. Finally reconciling her past with her present, Carol ships Yon-Rogg back to the Kree home world and vows not only to end their warring ways but also to find the Skrulls a new home away from further conflict. Before heading out into the galaxy, Carol bids farewell to Maria and Monica and hands Fury the modified pager device seen at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, for use “in emergencies only”. His eye opened to impending cosmic threats, Fury begins outlining defensive measures for the world, dubbing it the “Avenger Initiative” after Carol’s call-sign, which brings the MCU full circle and emphasises Carol’s influence in the wider MCU. As for post-credits scenes, the first is a mid-credits scene in which Carol drops in on the survivors from Avengers: Infinity War and the second is a relatively lacklustre sequence in which Goose coughs up the Tesseract on Fury’s desk.
The Summary: There was a lot of toxic backlash surrounding Captain Marvel when it first released; I’m not entirely sure what the perception of Brie Larson and her performance is now as it’s been a while since we’ve seen her in the MCU, but I was pleasantly surprised with how her solo film turned out. As a mixture of the first Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor, Captain Marvel separated itself not just by introducing a strong, new female hero into the MCU but in its nineties setting and shedding new light on Fury and Coulson’s early S.H.I.E.L.D. days. I thought Brie Larson was great; she played Vers as an arrogant and proud warrior and contrasted this wonderfully with Carol’s more conflicted but no less determined humanity and I enjoyed her interactions with her supporting cast, which showed her to be a very nuanced character fully capable of cracking jokes, smiling, and applying herself in a fight. Obviously, Captain Marvel is framed primarily as a female-led film with a feminist agenda about females being powerful and independent but it wasn’t as in your face as some haters would have you believe; Vers is mostly portrayed as an equal among men, especially on Earth, and is only ever seen as less due to her inability to control her powers and emotions. This is primarily beaten into her by Yon-Rogg, a character who isn’t exactly a bastion of emotion and righteousness, and gives her an oppressive male force to rally against but it’s telling that the Supreme Intelligence takes the form of a strong, manipulative, and ruthless woman, with both attempting to force Carol into bending to their will by trying to degrade and control her. I enjoyed that Captain Marvel framed itself fun buddy-cop movie with science-fiction influences and action sequences but also that it told a relatable story of a strong-willed female overcoming the odds and standing up against injustice, whether it’s against her or a race of shape-changing refugees or pits her against one of the galaxy’s most formidable armadas and I really hope Marvel double-down on Carol’s importance to the hierarchy of the MCU, especially on the cosmic side of things.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Did you enjoy Captain Marvel? What did you think to Brie Larson’s performance and Carol’s characterisation in the film? Were you surprised that the Skrulls were changed to be a less antagonistic threat? Did you see Yon-Rogg’s heel turn coming? What did you think to Carol’s power level and seeing her go full Super Saiyan at the end? Would you have liked to see a little more from Ronan and Starforce? Were you disappointed by the way Fury lost his eye and what did you think to the film’s de-aging effects? To share your thoughts on Captain Marvel, whatever they may be, drop them below or leave a comment on my social media and be sure to check out my other Captain Marvel content.
Those who actually read my articles may recall that, some time ago, I wrote a piece discussing some ideas for the inevitable integration of the X-Men into the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Disney reacquired the rights after their big purchase of 20th Century Fox. In all honesty, bringing in the X-Men is probably one of the hardest tasks faced by Marvel Studios given the popularity and mainstream awareness of the existing movie franchise. As detailed in my piece about films that desperately need a remake, I believe that it would be comparatively easier to bring in a new version of Marvel’s first family of superheroes, the Fantastic Four, and that this should be the main goal following the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame(Russo Brothers, 2019). The Fantastic Four are, obviously, no strangers to live-action adaptation; Roger Corman infamously co-produced, but never released, the extremely low-budget The Fantastic Four(Sassone, 1994) back in the nineties, Tim Story’s Fantastic 4(2005) and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer(ibid, 2007) actually saw the light of day but came under a lot of criticism for some of the effects, tone, casting, and the handling of Galactus, while Josh Trank’s 2015 grim and gritty reboot, Fant4stic, was beset by studio interference, an oddly serious tone, and a dramatically altered interpretation of Doctor Doom (Toby Kebbell). Having seen each of these adaptations, I can say that each does have its fair share of problems but there are some positives to be found as well.
The Fantastic Four have certainly had their fair share of movies.
The Fantastic Four is probably the closest to the 1960s version of the characters; the Four are bathed in cosmic rays and obtain their superpowers, wear very comic-accurate costumes (to a fault, as they literally just look like Halloween costumes), and Doctor Doom’s (Joseph Culp) origin, abilities, and appearance are probably the closest to the comics out of all three adaptations. Also, while every other effect in the film was cringey to the point of embarrassment, Ben Grimm/The Thing (Michael Bailey Smith/Carl Ciarfalio) was phenomenally realised in a practical, semi-animatronic costume similar to those seen in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles(Barron, 1990). Fantastic 4, while suffering from the tired depiction of Victor von Doom (Julian McMahon) as a suit-wearing businessman and some questionable casting (Ioan Gruffudd isn’t bad as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic but also isn’t that great and Jessica Alba was woefully miscast as Susan Storm/Invisible Girl, a fact made all the more prevalent by the gratuitous shots of her in her underwear rather than emphasising her intelligence), was basically saved by Michael Chiklis and Chris Evans, whose chemistry as the Thing and the Johnny Storm/Human Torch, respectively, are well worth the price of admission. Rise of the Silver Surfer improved on the lacklustre finale of its predecessor and, while Galactus was little more than a formless space-cloud, at least the movie tried to do Galactus when it could have just as easily gone down a safer, more boring route. The Silver Surfer (Doug Jones/Laurence Fishburne) was also realised extremely effectively, looking great and being a powerful yet empathetic character; while tying his powers directly to his board did weaken him somewhat compared to his comic counterpart, it simplified matters considerably. Oh, also, the Fantasicar is in this and looks amazing!
When the first trailers for Fant4stic hit, I was actually quite excited as it looked like it was going to be a more grounded, scientific, realistic interpretation and its trailers, look, and marketing reminded me a lot of Interstellar (Nolan, 2014). I also heard a lot of negative reviews surrounding the movie and went into it expecting this dull, boring, disjointed mess of a film but found myself surprisingly enjoying it. For one thing, the cast is much better; Kate Mara is a far better fit for Susan Storm (though the fact that she doesn’t actually go on the mission with the others is a problem), Miles Teller is also far more suitable, portraying Reed as a somewhat awkward but determined and enthusiastic young genius, and Michael B. Jordan was absolutely brilliant as Johnny Storm because of his natural charisma and totally proved that race shouldn’t always be a factor when casting these characters. On the flip side, Toby Kebbell is quite underwhelming as Doom and Jamie Bell really didn’t have the physical stature to properly fit the role of Ben Grimm, though I did like the CGI used to create the Thing. One of the things that separate the Fantastic Four from other superheroes is that they are a family; their strengths lie completely in their unity and, while each are powerful and talented separately, the idea has always been that the four of them together are a formidable unit. Tim Story’s movies emphasised the “dysfunctional family” dynamic of the team quite well; though miscast, as I said, Sue acts as the “mother” to the team, being the voice of reason and logic and intervening in arguments; Johnny and Ben are the bickering children who are just as likely to fight each other as other threats; and Reed is the level-headed, hyper-intelligent “father” of the group, though Gruffudd rarely exuded the charisma, confidence, or intelligence you might expect from such a character. This ended up being a theme in Fant4stic, with the team officially forming at the film’s climax and staying together out of a true sense of friendship that developed over months of working together after being introduced as strangers. Reed and Ben were close as kids but, once Reed becomes part of Franklin Storm’s (Reg E. Cathey) interdimensional project, he leaves Ben behind and forms a fast friendship with Johnny, which is an interesting twist as Johnny is generally treated as a kid brother by Reed.
Doom’s always been a bit…obsessed, to say the least…
Also at the heart of the team’s story is their complicated relationship with Doom; all three interpretations portray Doom as a former colleague and rival to Reed but only The Fantastic Four and Fant4stic delve into their friendship. Reed and Doom are supposed to be equally matched in their intelligence and separated only by Doom’s megalomaniacal ego and lust for power, which is generally realised in his live-action adaptations; The Fantastic Four’s Doom descends into one-note revenge and a desire to conquer the world while Fant4stic-Doom, similar to Fantastic 4-Doom, revels in his newfound power and desire to use it to subjugate others and prove he is the better man than Reed. In the films, Doom’s motivations are generally further bolstered (or diluted, you might argue) by his attraction to Sue; Fantastic 4-Doom proposes to her and actively pursues her simply because she is unobtainable, making his motivations much less threatening. Even in Rise of the Silver Surfer there is a suggestion that he seeks to obtain the Surfer’s powers simply to displace Reed in Sue’s life. Personally, I don’t like this addition to Doom’s motivations; I think it’s enough to have Doom be this selfish, egotistical madman who desires power and more power and to prove that he is superior to Reed and, by extension, his extended family. With their acquisition of 20th Century Fox, Marvel Studios now has the opportunity to bring the Fantastic Four into the Marvel Cinematic Universe; with the Four come some of Marvel’s greatest characters and villains, including Doom, Silver Surfer, Namor, Annihilus, and Galactus and their significance in the greater Marvel universe cannot be understated, with Reed being an integral member of the Illuminati and the team being the force that drives away Galactus’ threat.
Perhaps the Fantastic Four have been trapped in the Negative Zone for a while?
Unlike the X-Men, bringing in the Fantastic Four can be a relatively simple affair; one of the things I liked about Fant4stic was that the team travelled across dimensions, rather than into space, to acquire their powers. Either approach is fine to me because the main thing here is that the Four are explorers and scientists first and adventurers and superheroes second, so you could very easily have the Fantastic Four return from an excursion into the Negative Zone, either by design or having been trapped there by Doom. That way you can establish that the characters and the Baxter Building have existed in the MCU for some time but they have either been away or lost for some time, similar to how Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) was introduced to the MCU. There are, however, a few ways you could portray the team; Marvel Studios could take inspiration from Fant4stic and Ultimate Fantastic Four (Various, 2004 to 2009) and have the Four be in their mid-teens. Perhaps Reed is a genius savant and Doom is his former teacher, embittered by Reed’s intellect and youth, or maybe they were peers driven by a friendly rivalry that turned sour. It’s definitely a route to go down if you want longevity from the actors and characters and to maintain some of the youthful vigour Tom Holland brings to the MCU as Spider-Man.
Reed gives an opportunity to bring in another seasoned actor to the MCU.
However, I would actually go the alternate route, especially as I’m hoping for the majority of the X-Men to be teens at Xavier’s School for the Gifted as in X-Men: Evolution (2000 to 2003), and use this as an opportunity to bring some older actors into the roles and have a few more seasoned voices of authority to be peers with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman). This puts me in a bit of a bind, as I already had Pierce Brosnan eyed for Magneto, but he’d be equally great as Reed; in another time, I would have also said Bruce Campbell, but he maybe doesn’t have the acting gravitas I envision for Mr. Fantastic, though maybe Bradley Cooper would be a good fit (and it’d give him a chance to be seen onscreen in a Marvel movie) or even Nathan Fillion, if he isn’t going to appear as Simon Williams/Wonder Man any time soon.
Definately need someone young and sexy for Torch and gruff but loveable for the Thing.
I previously suggested Zac Efron for Johnny Storm, which I think I’ll stick with; a young, cut, utterly handsome hot-head is just the sort of thing the Human Torch needs. He also needs to have good chemistry with the Thing, who I would hope to either be some Hulk-level top-quality CGI or a combination of a practical suit and CGI; I would also keep Ben as the Thing the entire time, meaning Marvel only need to bring in a quality actor to voice the role, like they did with Rocket Raccoon. I previously, somewhat jokingly, suggested Danny DeVito, mainly because of his accent, but maybe Brad Garrett or Dean Norris would be equally good fits.
Doom needs a deep, booming, theatrical voice and presence.
As for Sue, I’m at a bit of a loss; perhaps a Jessica Chastain, Amy Adams (if she’s really done with DC movies), or Emily Blunt, if Marvel could get her. I’m not too good at casting females, to be honest, but I definitely think Marvel would be better off looking for a Kate Mara than a Jessica Alba (someone like Felicity Jones, maybe) as Sue doesn’t need to be some drop-dead gorgeous bombshell; she should be smart and sophisticated and have good chemistry with Reed. Similarly, for Doom, you want an actor who won’t be a one-and-done as, unfortunately, Hugo Weaving was; Red Skull should be a much bigger presence in the MCU but Weaving’s comments and attitude seem to have prevented that, and Doom should definitely be a massive threat to the MCU, hopefully similar to Marvel’s version of Magneto. I would push to only see Doom unmasked in a flashback to his time as Reed’s peer, meaning you either need an actor willing to be behind the armour for the entire movie or cast a decent stunt man (bring in Doug Jones, maybe) and an ominous voice actor; off the top of my head, though, I would love to see Tony Todd play the role due to his menacing stature and haunting, raspy voice, though Peter Mensah or Sterling K. Brown would be just as fitting.
Pretty sure the Skrulls will be a big deal going forward.
I would also take quite a bit of inspiration from Captain Marvel (Boden, 2019), especially as that film is bringing the Skrulls to the MCU. At this point, I am hoping that the Skrulls play a significant role in the next phase of Marvel movies, with mid- and after-credit sequences and subsequent movies revealing that certain characters are actually Skrulls in disguise and that the shape-shifters have been secretly invading the Earth in the Four’s absence. Marvel’s Fantastic Four movie could initially take place some time after Captain Marvel, in the late-nineties, with the Four discovering the Skrull invasion or their home planet on an excursion and being left stranded there when their gateway/module explodes. Upon their return, the Four (who would perhaps assume Doom died in the explosion) would use their resources to prepare for the invasion, or fight back against it, only to find that Doom is alive and well and lording it up in Latveria, where his dimensional gateway (a combination of technology and magic) has been allowing the Skrulls to come to Earth over the intervening years. Doom would reveal that he discovered the Skrulls first and struck a bargain with them and that he sabotaged the Four’s gateway; when the Four confront him, they could battle the Super-Skrull (a nice thematic parallel as they essentially have to battle themselves and their own powers) and, upon defeating Doom, find that it was simply a sophisticated robotic decoy and that not only is Doom still out there, but countless Skrulls have infiltrated the human race. Admittedly, this is very thin and doesn’t really delve into how the Four get their powers; maybe they obtain them during their time in the Negative Zone or on the Skrull planet, perhaps even through Skrull experimentation? Either way, I definitely feel Marvel’s Fantastic Four should show that the Skrulls are still at large if only to set up towards a Secret Invasion(Bendis, et al, 2008 to 2009) style conclusion to the whole Skrull storyline in a New Avengers movie.
Namor could be a great role for an Asian actor.
Following this, and with the Four playing key roles in a New Avengers movie, a Fantastic Four sequel could juggle a few famous Fantastic Four plots; aside from the obvious return/revelation that Doom is still alive, perhaps Sue is pregnant and ultimately gives birth to Franklin Richards to actually get that Power Pack movie off the ground? Also, it would be a great opportunity to bring in Namor; given how successful Aquaman(Wan, 2018) was, though, I wouldn’t be averse to seeing Namor in the first of Marvel’s Fantastic Four films and end with the revelation of Doom’s existence/survival. Namor is quite the complex and layered anti-hero and would introduce a whole new world to the MCU while still tying in with the introduction of Mutants; I’d also use Namor as a chance to bring in an Asian actor for the role, like Donnie Yen or Lee Byung-hun. Anyway, the second Fantastic Four movie would also have a sub-plot whereby Reed is constantly monitoring or noticing a strange energy spike crossing the globe and the post-credits scene would show that this is, of course, the Silver Surfer. I’d then have the Silver Surfer appear in this fashion across every subsequent Marvel movie; perhaps, during the films, there would be news reports, headlines, clear spoken dialogue referring to craters appearing, ecological changes, power shortages, and sightings of a strange silvery alien. Definitely, though, I would take a page out of previous Marvel movies and have a few post-credits stingers showing the Surfer preparing various sites and, finally, summoning Galactus to Earth. This would culminate in what I’m going to title Avengers: Doomsday (perhaps New Avengers: Doomsday), a movie that would feature the Silver Surfer as the main antagonist for the first third, Doom for the second (after he drains the Surfer’s powers and uses them for his own ends, possibly in league with other villains), and Galactus for the last two thirds. If anyone can pull off a decent Galactus it’s going to be Marvel Studios, who made Thanos (Josh Brolin) one of their greatest threats and are generally really good at bringing their comic characters to life in a way that is believable and also faithful to the source material.
Part of me feels like it would be a disservice to Galactus to resolve his threat in one movie, even one that involves most the MCU’s greatest heroes, especially as one of Marvel Studios’ more questionable decisions was to limit Ultron (James Spader) to one appearance. At the same time, though, I don’t really want to see a two part Avengers movie again as it would be too much of a repeat of what Marvel Studios did with Thanos so, instead, building Galactus (through the Silver Surfer) through multiple movies and the two Fantastic Four movies would allow for a much greater payoff in Avengers: Doomsday. Plus, Galactus doesn’t really have any minions for the heroes to fight so it’d be much more about how they are supposed to defeat this giant, God-like being that is sucking the Earth dry. All-in-all, the Fantastic Four would be a great addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and offer a lot of opportunities for new characters, new heroes and villains, new worlds and new technology, and to include some more seasoned, mature actors to bring a sense of maturity and authority to the MCU. Having Reed Richards (and Professor X if Marvel also bring in the X-Men) also allows for a potential, movie-spanning arc involving the Illuminati and opens even more doors for new stories to tell. The Fantastic Four also really deserve a good crack of the whip as all of their live-action adaptations have been lacking and I know that Marvel Studios would be able to present them in the proper way; plus, if it gives us a really good, menacing, sinister, and complex villain in Doctor Doom then all the better!
So there’s been a bit of a delay in my playing and completing of the Xbox One Resident Evil (Capcom, 1996 to present) titles due to life and the release of Resident Evil 2 (Capcom R&D Division 1, 2019) but I finally played through and completed Resident Evil 6 (Capcom, 2012). Resident Evil 6 is the culmination of the more action-orientated approach the series took from Resident Evil 4 (Capcom Production Studio 4, 2005); while Leon S. Kennedy went solo in that title and played babysitter to the otherwise-useless Ashley Graham, players were forced to constantly play in co-op, either with a friend or with a questionable AI, in Resident Evil 5(Capcom, 2009), a title which also upped the action-centric focus of the franchise.
Chris and Leon get into a bit of a dick-measuring contest…
Resident Evil 6 continues down this route but expands upon it in numerous ways; the most obvious is the amount of playable characters available. Players can choose from four campaign modes, three of which follow the same mechanic of the Resident Evil: Revelations(ibid, 2012; 2015) games and lumber classic Resident Evil characters with a new companion. Players can pick between playing as Leon and Helena Harper of the Secret Service agent, Chris Redfield and BSAA grunt Piers Nivans, Albert Wesker’s son, Jake Muller, who teams up with the returning Sherry Birkin, now a member of the Division of Security Operations, or go it (mostly) alone as Ada Wong. Each character has their own narrative to follow and, as you play through each campaign, you will visit the same locations as other characters, though sometimes at different times, encounter some of the same enemies, and interact with the other character’s stories at various points. This results in perhaps the most complex and connected Resident Evil story ever; you’ll play a lot of the story events out of order so it’s only by playing through each campaign will you truly get a sense of what’s going down.
Things go to hell when another virus is unleashed…
Essentially, though, it’s the same Resident Evil storyline you’re familiar with only with everything ramped up to eleven and taken to the extreme; a terrorist group known as Neo-Umbrella, apparently under the direction of Ada, develops a brand new virus, the C-virus, and unleashes it at various locations across the globe, causing people to turn into zombies, grotesque mutations, or enter a chrysalis and become these weird, insect-like creatures. Each of the characters pursues different goals in service of ending this threat: Leon and Helena find themselves framed for the murder of the President (who had become a zombie) by Neo-Umbrella affiliate (and National Security Advisor) Derek Simmons and fight to reveal Simmons’ role in the whole conspiracy; Chris and Piers relentlessly pursue Ada after she wiped out their platoon; Jake finds himself recruited by Sherry to bring down Neo-Umbrella because he happens to be carrying the anti-virus to the C-Virus in his blood and they are pursed by Neo-Umbrella’s Usantank; and Ada sneaks around aiding the other characters at various points, obtaining data and information, and uncovering the origins of her imposter.
It’s quite the twisting narrative, to be sure. To differentiate each campaign, the characters all receive slightly different HUDs, weapons, and melee attacks; Leon can duel wield pistols, for example, while Jake can switch to an unarmed mode to pummel enemies. Every character can use melee attacks, however, to stun enemies and set them up for instant kill moves or knock downs but these all drain a stamina meter that can only be filled by standing still. Disappointingly, and somewhat strangely, Jake has this meter and I didn’t really notice it refilling faster than any other characters; I kind of expected Wesker’s son, who is portrayed as this tough, semi-superhuman badass, to have an unlimited stamina meter, especially as he has less weapons to begin with. Another slightly annoying aspect of the weaponry is that the knife is back to being an equippable weapon, so you can’t shoot enemies and then switch to slashing and stabbing with a simple shoulder button press like in Resident Evil 4 and 5, which seems like a step backwards to me.
The HUDs look different but the gameplay is mostly identical.
Also a step backwards is the inventory interface; while other Resident Evil titles favour a grid-like system that clearly displays all your items and weapons, Resident Evil 6 opts for a linear interface that makes selecting a weapon far more time consuming, switching to a sub-weapon (like a grenade) feel very rushed, and forces you to combine herbs into pills and then store them in a pill case. While this means you can recover health at the push of a button, the entire interface makes it very difficult to juggle your inventory; I was playing for most of Leon’s story before I realised that the inventory isn’t unlimited, which it appeared to be, so you have to be constantly reloading every weapon and combining those herbs, which gets especially complicated when your pill case can only hold so much. All this serves to slow the gameplay down quite a bit, at points, or make combat very stressful as you’ll be desperately scrolling through the inventory to select a different weapon or combine your herbs so you can heal. This is also quite complicated and time consuming as, when you press the button to eat a herb pill, your characters will enter into a short animation where they pop the pill out and swallow it and you’ll only regain health once this animation is complete; I was killed quite a few times during this animation, which was very frustrating. Also frustrating is that pressing the button only restores one block of health; you’ll need to press it multiple times to recover enough health to actually have an impact on your gameplay.
Your partner is actually quite useful for taking out enemies.
Luckily, your partner is always on hand to aid you in these times of crisis; while you can’t swap and change items like in Resident Evil 5, the partner AI will still come over and help you if you get knocked down and are near death and their ammo appears to be unlimited, which can be useful in tough battles. What isn’t useful, though, is how unbelievably weak all of the characters are; it’ll only take a few bites from a zombie to sap all of your health to one measly block; enemy gunfire and attacks also have a really annoying habit of knocking you to the floor, forcing you to crawl around on your back trying to unload a shot and get to safety. The enemies are quite varied, which is nice; you’ll get the usual zombies, of course, but some of the weirder mutations, similar to those seen in the Revelations games, have deadly weaponry merged into their anatomy, like a particularly nasty chainsaw-armed asshole. Similar to Revelations 2, though, a lot of the intermediate and advanced enemies have seemingly unblockable one-shot kill attacks (I say “seemingly” as it may depend on how much health you have; if you have more than one block, you might be able to fight back in a quick-time event), which is made more annoying by the unskippable and overly long death scenes that accompany these enemies.
Resident Evil 6 loves a good quick-time event…
There are some new enemy variations at work here, too; there’s one enemy that will burst from its chrysalis as a swarm of insects, which is one of the more annoying and tougher enemies as you have to either chuck an incendiary grenade at it or wait until the big bug appears and hope you can kill it before the smaller bugs swarm over you and drain all your health. Comparatively, the boss battles are much less of an annoyance; they are long and consist of multiple stages and elements, but they generally boil down to a simple tactic of keeping your distance, shooting at the big glowing eyes/boils/similar weak spots, and let your partner do a lot of the shooting. Unfortunately, the enemies all tend to be bullet sponges; in Resident Evil 5, I found I could blast away with reckless abandon and there would always be more than enough ammo to find to keep going but Resident Evil 6 really cuts down on the resources. While I appreciate this as a fan of the classic Resident Evil videogames, it does kind of run contrary to the game’s heavily action-orientated approach; how are you expected to blast through hoards of enemies when your ammo drains away like nothing and the drop-rate is so low? Resident Evil 6 tries to compensate for this not only with the aforementioned melee attacks, which can be useful for conserving your ammo, knocking down enemies, and landing an instant kill, but also in its overabundant use of quick-time events (QTEs). Literally anything could be a QTE in this game; while I don’t recall too many happening in cutscenes like in Resident Evil 4, there are plenty at work in the videogame proper here. Grabbed by an enemy? Waggle the control stick! Being chased by a boss on a mine cart? You better press X and A together to duck under those low-hanging planks of wood! Tackled by a bigger enemy or brought another boss to its knees? Better hit that A, X, or R-trigger and then mash away at X to pummel them! It’s kind of fun in some cases, like when Leon is desperately trying to pilot a helicopter through China, but it’s a lot more fun to do a similar mission with Ada, where she can fire the helicopter’s weaponry.
A story this big and complex needs a lot of cutscenes…apparently…
Resident Evil 6 also really loves its cutscenes; you’ll sit and watch a cutscene filled with some suitably-dramatic tension or an impossible situation and then maybe take two steps forwards and another cutscene will happen. Similarly, you’ll be tasked with defeating a boss and struggling to take aim with the game’s janky sniper rifle controls and then suddenly a cutscene will interrupt you and you’ll realise that you wasted your ammo on the first couple of stages of the battle as all you really need to do is trigger the cutscene and survive to the final stage of the fight. Don’t get me wrong, I found the story interesting and complicated but it got very annoying to be constantly interrupted with the explosive arrival or return of a massive enemy or another twist in the tale. Also, call me crazy, but I don’t see the gameplay benefit of forcing me to walk sl-low-ly from one point to a door just to trigger another cutscene; just show Chris entering the building in the damn FMV! As in Resident Evil 4 and 5, Resident Evil 6 features numerous autosave points and adopts a chapter-based structure; each character’s story is split into five chapters and each chapter is maybe the length of two of Resident Evil 5’s, making casual play a bit more of a chore this time around. At the end of each chapter, you’ll get a medal based on how well you performed, maybe earn a dog tag (which can be customised and used as your gamer profile banner, I assume), and will be able to use the points you earn to buy new skills to equip. Again, though, this is a limited system; unlike previous Resident Evil titles, you can’t upgrade, improve, or buy new weapons between chapters and can only assign three skills at a time.
There’s a lot of online modes in Resident Evil 6.
There are bunch of skill slots available, though, and you can switch between them in-game, but being able to equip only three at a time does make the entire skill tree a bit pointless. I would have much preferred being able to upgrade certain things, like weapon accuracy or melee effectiveness, for each character rather than being forced to equip better ammo pick-ups or infinite ammo as a skill. Like many of the other Resident Evil titles of this era, there are some additional modes available; the “Mercenaries” mode returns, where players to survive as long as possible against waves of enemies across the game’s various maps. In “Onslaught” mode, two players battle against waves of enemies while “Predator” pits up to six players against the Ustanak and “Survivors” is more of a classic death match set-up. I’ve only really played a bit of the Mercenaries mode as I have no desire to be depressingly owned by twelve-year-olds over the internet but I can’t say any of these extra modes hold much appeal for me. Unlike other Resident Evil titles, there aren’t really many incentives for completing the single-player campaign. You’ll get an extra scene at the end of everyone’s credit rolls, unlock New Game+ to play with the weapons and items you’ve previously acquired, and eventually unlock the ability to equip infinite ammo for various weapons but there are no additional costumes to unlock except for in the online modes. There are Serpent tokens hidden throughout each location that you can shatter to unlock concept art and the like, and you can play through each campaign again as the partner character, if you really want to play as Sherry again, and there are obviously a lot of Achievements to unlock, but I really missed unlocking extra costumes and weapons after a playthrough. I heard a lot of crap about Resident Evil 6 but I didn’t really believe it; I figured I would be happy to be playing as Leon once again and returning to his Resident Evil 4 style of gameplay but, ironically, Leon plays very differently to how he did in that game. Instead, every character feels and plays like they’re from Resident Evil 5; much more tactile, combat-focused, and relying on a bunch of over-the-top, QTE-heavy melee attacks to dispatch enemies. I was a bit confused, to be honest, as I figured Resident Evil 6 was going to mash together the Resident Evil 4 and 5 playstyle, the more first-person-shooter approach taken by Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City(Slant Six Games/Capcom, 2012), and an entirely new, melee-centric playstyle.
Don’t even get me started on this fucking thing!
This seemed like the perfect time to mash together the older, more popular style of gameplay with Capcom’s newer, faster, FPS approach but…that’s not what has happened here. Instead, every character is essentially exactly the same, which doesn’t offer a lot in the way of variety; obviously, the Resident Evil characters were never that different in the original titles but that was more due to hardware limitations. Resident Evil 6 can’t really use that excuse, though, and really should have tried to make the characters more distinct in the way they play. In the end, I did enjoy Resident Evil 6 but it was much more of a slog to get through than any of the other titles; as annoying as I found the Revelations games, at least their chapters and missions were short and could be played in a casual burst. Here, everything is an annoyance; you’ll constantly be sent flying, knocked to the floor, run out of ammo and resources, wrestle with QTEs, die a lot, and probably get sick of seeing the same boss enemies crop up again and again and again. I found it much more enjoyable to focus on one campaign at a time and leave a little gap between starting the next campaign, which is a bit of a shame as I didn’t feel as fatigued playing through the campaigns in the previous games.
I’m a bit late with this but NetherRealm Studios’ Mortal Kombat 11 will be coming later this year and, as with every Mortal Kombat, fans have immediately started asking several questions: What characters will be returning? What new characters will be included? What will the story be? What new, or returning, gameplay mechanics can we expect? Just how brutal will the Fatalities be? And, of course, the question of guest characters. After the inclusion of Freddy Krueger in Mortal Kombat(ibid, 2011), Mortal Kombat X(ibid, 2015) featured four guest characters from outside the franchise: Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Alien, and Predator. This may have been a bit of overkill; I would argue that it would have been enough to just have Alien and Predator and that the other two DLC spots could have gone to some classic Mortal Kombat characters but it does set a tone for what we can potentially expect from Mortal Kombat 11.
The question of guest characters has been brought up to me in conversations about the videogame so I figured I would talk about a couple of characters I’d really like to see turn up as DLC in Mortal Kombat 11.
Pennywise would be my first choice.
The first is Bob Gray, better known as Pennywise the Dancing Clown, the eponymous “It” from Stephen King’s classic 1986 novel. Honestly, I would argue that it’s extremely likely that we could see Pennywise in Mortal Kombat 11 as NetherRealm Studios is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, which is itself a subsidiary of Warner Bros., the studio behind It: Chapter One(Muschietti, 2017), It: Chapter Two(ibid, 2019), and Stephen King’s It (Wallace, 1990). As a result, the rights shouldn’t be any more of an issue than they were to get Freddy or Jason into the game. While it’d be nice to bring in Bill Skarsgård to voice the character, NetherRealm Studios would most likely do what they did with Freddy and simply have It chuckle, roar, and growl as It attacks. Given that Mortal Kombat 11 is set to bring back character variations, which allows each character to have three slightly different playstyles, each one associated with a different costume, I would hope to see NetherRealm Studios continue what they did with Leatherface when it comes to Pennywise’s variants.
Seeing It’s different looks would be an essential inclusion.
Each of Leatherface’s variants was modelled on a different outfit from one of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (various, 1974-2017) movies. Since DLC characters tend not to have the same amount of additional costumes as regular fighters, I’d do the same for Pennywise; have one variation be modelled after Pennywise’s 2017 look, one after his 1990 look, and one more closer to his depiction in the books (a shiny, silver suit with big orange pompoms and a bow tie, as illustrated above by Mikael Quites).
Make use of Pennywise’s warped sense of humour.
Next, for Pennywise’s general moveset and depiction, I see Pennywise as a very grounded all-rounder. It would have an average jump height, speed, and recovery and could clash at opponents with claws, fangs, and tentacles. I would look back to what NetherRealm Studios did with Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat and the Joker in their Injustice titles (NetherRealm Studios, 2013; 2017), specifically in Injustice 2, where the Joker was depicted as a nightmarish clown. Just imagine seeing Pennywise morph through some different forms or holding a balloon (or a bunch of balloons) in front of Its face while taunting Its opponent, perhaps while munching on a child’s arm. Pennywise’s special moves could be as varied as you want; I remember being really disappointed with how limited, boring, and weak Freddy’s special moves were in Mortal Kombat and NetherRealm Studios really made up for this with Mortal Kombat X’s guest characters.
Mesmerise a foe or just chew on their flesh!
Pennywise could warp from one side of the screen to another in a cloud of orange smoke or a burst of orange light, stun or screw up an opponent’s controls with a Deadlight Gaze similar to Quan Chi’s Trance from MKX, and chomp away at the opponent’s face and neck with those big old vampire teeth like Mileena’s Pounce from MKX or Reptile’s Fatality from Mortal Kombat 4 (Midway Games, 1997). I’d also like to see Pennywise dart towards the opponent with spider legs like in the 2017 movie and similar to D’Vorah’s attacks, maybe summon a bunch of drowned dead kids to hold the opponent in place, and grab the opponent whilst spewing toxic bile over them in Its Leper form. I would avoid using balloons in any of Pennywise’s moves and save them for the intro and outro animations but I guess It could use them as explosive traps to propel the opponent into the air.
You can’t have Pennywise and not do the Spider…right?
As for the X-Ray moves, I’d like to see Pennywise morph into a gruesome variant of the Frankenstein Monster and the Mummy and perform a move similar to Jason’s Back Breaker/Tight Squeeze and have It crush the ribcage of the opponent, and use those razor-sharp fangs to crush the opponent’s shoulder blade. For Pennywise’s Fatalities, you have to go back to the Spider-It; take inspiration from the 1990 version, yes, but I would also either incorporate anything used in It: Chapter Two (if this form even appears) and both the Alien’s Killer Queen Fatality and Scorpion’s transformation from Mortal Kombat 4. Have Pennywise contort and twist into a giant, crazed spider; have It impale the opponent through the chest/stomach, tear their upper body off, and then drop their still screaming form into its salivating jaws.
The Deadlights could melt foes to their bones!
It’s other Fatality could be based on the depiction of the Deadlights in It: Chapter One; have Pennywise grab the opponent and Its head split open, mesmerising the opponent so they float up to the Deadlights that then melt the flesh off their bones similar to Nightwolf’s Ascension Fatality from Mortal Kombat. Brutalities are generally quite standard but you could have Pennywise rip the opponent’s head or limbs off and start gnawing away, slice the opponent’s legs off at the knees with Its spider legs, maybe toss a balloon at the opponent’s face that explodes in a burst of Deadlights and has the opponent’s head explode. As for Pennywise’s story and ending…well, these are never that strong or defined for Mortal Kombat’s DLC fighters; Pennywise’s status as a transdimensional being means that It could easily be sucked into the Mortal Kombat universe and want to compete for chance to dine on new fears and new flesh. Its ending would simply be to accumulate the power necessary to spread Itself over the multiverse and feast for all eternity, or perhaps even eat Itself to death, or, maybe, some kind of hint towards King’s interconnected multiverse.
Spawn’s no stranger to being a guest fighter.
The other guest character I think is perfectly suited to Mortal Kombat is, of course, Spawn. If he hadn’t already appeared in Injustice 2, I would have also suggested Hellboy but Spawn also has a high probability of appearing as Todd McFarlane, the character’s creator, has all-but-guaranteed that his violent anti-hero will make the cut later this year. While McFarlane is known for blowing a lot of smoke when it comes to his most popular creation, it cannot be denied that Spawn would be a great fit for Mortal Kombat; Spawn was also previously a guest fighter in the Xbox version of SoulCalibur II (Project Soul/Namco, 2002) so a lot of his moveset could be drawn from that title. His story would also be just as simple as him being transported across dimensions and fighting to get back home, though I’d have his ending be suitably dire and angst-ridden, like he ends up displacing Malebolgia and becoming an evil despot intent on conquering the multiverse.
Spawn’s brute strength and magic could pummel foes.
Spawn also has a few distinctive looks that could be used for his variations; the classic Spawn look is a must, as is his tattered-and-torn look, and maybe Medieval Spawn, Angel Spawn, the Redeemer, or some other look could be incorporated into his last variant. Spawn could emerge through a hellfire portal like Freddy, or simply teleport himself in a burst of Necroplasm, and you could even bring in the legendary Keith David to reprise his much-lauded role as the character’s voice artist. Spawn is a great opportunity to carry over some of the superhero-stylings of Injustice 2 thanks to his vast and varied moveset; Spawn could do variants of Superman’s Flying Punch, Lockdown Launch, and/or Rising Grab while teleporting in a manner similar to Scorpion, use his cape to float over the battlefield and launch himself down at opponents, and blast out energy bolts or beams (similar to Doctor Fate) that could set the opponent on fire.
Go back to Kratos for an idea of Spawn’s moveset.
Spawn also has the added bonus of being well-known for his cape and chains; he could incorporate a Cape Parry similar to Batman’s, or wrap his opponents up in it like Sindel used to with her hair, and whip his chains around in a flurry like Takeda in MKX, Kratos in Mortal Kombat, and Scarecrow in Injustice 2. Spawn is also known for using heavy-duty firearms so could bust out a machine gun or rocket launcher like Jax did in MKX, or these could possibly be saved for his grabs and throws.
Spawn should definately send his foes to Hell!
For his X-Rays, Spawn could grab his opponent’s head in both hands and crush their skull, or use his chains to draw them in close and snap their joints. I did have an idea for one Fatality that, similar to the Killer Queen, would see Spawn summon Malebolgia but, rather than repeat myself, I think it might be better to do something like the stage transition from Injustice: Gods Among Us and Cyborg’s Super Move from Injustice 2, which sees the opponent launched to Apokolips and assaulted by Darkseid and Parademons, respectively, only replace Apokolips with hell similar to that seen in Scorpion’s Fatalities/outros and Darkseid and the Parademons with Malebolgia, the Violator, and other Hellspawn.
Spawn’s powers would allow for some gruesome Fatalities.
As for his second Fatality, Spawn could wrap his cape around the opponent’s head and suffocate them, or crush it, but that’s a bit lame; perhaps something similar to Reptile’s Weight Loss Fatality from Mortal Kombat or Scorpion’s Super Move from Injustice: Gods Among Us would be better and a good way to reincorporate some brutal moves previously used by other characters in other games. I’d also look back to Kratos, Takeda, maybe even Kabal for inspiration for Spawn’s Brutalities, which could be anything from detonating a grenade or energy blast in an opponent’s mouth to tearing their limbs off with his chains. In the end, Mortal Kombat 11 is sure to have its fair share of guest characters; for me, drawing from horror movies and violent superheroes/comics is a great starting point as certain characters just fit the franchise. NetherRealm Studios might seek to incorporate faces more familiar to their franchise, which I wouldn’t be adverse to (I’m looking at you, Rain!), or to other franchises (perhaps Chucky or Michael Myers, maybe even someone really obscure like Pumpkinhead!) but, for me, using Pennywise makes sense as It is a natural inclusion, is basically owned by the studio already, and has a big movie coming out this year so it all ties together as a marketing move, and Spawn is as natural an inclusion as someone like Hellboy or Kratos. You’d be hard pressed to find a more violent anti-hero, who still retains a lot of the popularity he had in the mid-nineties, without alienating the kids who might force their parents to buy them this super-gory game just because Batman has been included.
Time will tell who will make the cut but let me know in the comments what you think of these picks, who you would like to see show up, and your opinion of guest characters and Mortal Kombat in general.
I had a plan. It was a simple plan. I would buy up all the videogames I hadn’t yet played for Xbox One at a rate of about one a month, complete them, maybe review them, and get as many Achievements as possible, all so that I could justify buying Resident Evil 2 (Capcom R&D Division 1, 2019) on release day. As you have gathered, that plan got a bit side-tracked as I ended up with every single Resident Evil title for Xbox One; though I managed to get through four of these (I didn’t actually do a review of Resident Evil 4(Capcom Production Studio 4, 2005)…my bad), I’ve had to put the last two on the back-burner to play this highly anticipated game. And it really was highly anticipated, especially by me. Resident Evil 2 (Capcom/Rockstar San Diego/Factor 5, 1999) was my gateway into the franchise; an essential purchase during my Nintendo 64 days and I used to waste entire weekends blasting through the different story modes as quickly as possible thanks to the infinite health and ammo cheats made available in the N64 version. I had an equally enjoyable time with the GameCube remake of Resident Evil (Capcom, 2002) and segued into playing the titles without the aid of cheats but the question remained as to whether I would actually be any good at the Resident Evil 2 remake without infinite health, ammo, and factoring in the new graphics, layout, and over-the-shoulder perspective.
Safe to say these two have had better days…
Resident Evil 2’s story is largely unchanged from the original; rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield arrive in Racoon City just as the entire population is turned into zombies due to exposure to the Umbrella Corporation’s new G-Virus. Taking shelter in the police station, both characters are pursed by a hulking Tyrant variant (“Mr. X”), encounter a constantly mutating creature (“G”), and run into various other characters as they try to survive the horror and escape the city with their lives. First of all, as you may have heard, read, or seen, Resident Evil 2 is an incredibly gorgeous creation; graphically, the game has no equal right now and the characters, environments, and creatures of the franchise have never been more realistic and frightening. The game’s use of light is fantastic; there’s hardly any areas of the game fully lit, so Leon and Claire are dependant on their torch to scan their environment for resources and enemies.
Tension is high as you explore your envionment.
This makes simply exploring rudimentary areas incredibly tense in a way that is so beyond the original game’s fixed camera angles; this tension is expanded further through the winding, claustrophobic nature of the environments. The police station has very few open areas and those it does have are either poorly lit or eventually become hazardous when Mr. X comes plodding along; the cell area, sewers, and laboratory are all equally closed in, meaning that you’re never quite sure what will be waiting around the next corner. Resident Evil 2 is a fantastic return to form when it comes to item management and conservation of resources; fresh off of three of the more modern titles, the sudden return to having very little in the way of ammo and health was jarring. Leon and Claire have a very limited inventory, so you’ll want to make use of the magic Item Boxes and multiple pouches to expand your inventory wherever possible. You should also take every opportunity to combine herbs and gunpowder for additional ammo as you’ll definitely need it in the game’s later stages. Because of this, you can’t just run around blasting zombies like fish in a barrel; the game actively discourages this as these zombies are built to last! A headshot may, if you’re very lucky, result in a one-hit kill but, nine times out of ten, you can empty an entire clip into a zombie’s head and it’ll still get up and keep coming for more. Discretion is definitely the better part of valour in Resident Evil 2 but you’ll be forced to make some tough choices when Mr. X starts chasing you through pitch-black corridors filled with zombies or Lickers!
Don’t even try fighting this guy; just run, quickly!
Fortunately, there are other methods at your disposal; you can board up windows to stop zombies breaking into the station and counterattack any enemy with a knife, flash grenade, or hand grenade. These can also be used as regular weapons but the knife won’t last forever, so you can’t just go stabbing away without a care in the world. None of these weapons have a hope of killing Mr. X, though; unlike in the original game, he can only be momentarily stunned and will pursue you, even through doors, until you manage to give him the run-around.
Use your wits to out-manuevure “G” and blast his weak spot!
You’ll also encounter a few boss battles, mainly against different forms of “G”; in the more modern games, these may have included quick-time events or button mashing sequences but, here, you are forced to go old school, dodging his attacks and waiting for the right moment to shoot his massive eyeball. It’s an exhilarating return to form as you’ll only have yourself to blame for not conserving your ammo or stocking up on healing items. Other boss battles, such as the one against the giant alligator and when you face “G” in the sewer, require you to set traps to win the day to help mix things up, while disgusting G-Virus monsters take the place of the giant spiders and appear as tougher enemies in the sewers.
A myriad of puzzles will test your skills.
Also returning from the original game, but greatly expanded upon here, are the classic Resident Evil puzzles; as a former museum, the police station is full of weird shit, items, and mysteries that you’ll have to find, solve, and piece together in order to progress. One thing that is a bit odd is that, unlike every single Resident Evil title ever, you do not automatically discard items or keys once they’re no longer needed; instead, you have to do this manually, which is the only negative thing I have to say about the game and it’s purely because this has never been necessary in the past, but it’s an extremely minor complaint really. Navigation is pretty easy thanks to the map screen, which clearly shows you rooms you’ve been in, doors that are locked, and other points of interest, though it doesn’t hold your hand like some of the later titles and you’ll be required to use your brain and remember the layouts pretty well to get around obstacles or Mr. X and reach new areas. There’s a lot of variety at work in the game; at certain points, you’ll switch to playing as either the mysterious Ada or the adorable Sherry, both of whom play very differently to each other, not to mention Leon and Clear. Completing the game also unlocks variant costumes (including classic attires) and the “Second Run” mode, which tells the story from a different perspective, swaps around a lot of the item locations, and features different boss battles. Completing the game on each of these playthroughs is essential to battling the true final boss and seeing the game’s true ending; it’ll also unlock the “Fourth Survivor” mode, where you take an Umbrella commando through an infested police station, and the “Tofu Survivor” mode (…where you play as a piece of tofu) makes a welcome return.
If you want the best, you’ll have to be at your best!
You can also unlock in-game models, concept art, Achievements, and even infinite weapons if you dare take on some of the game’s more challenging options. Resident Evil 2 has three difficulty settings: Assisted (aim assist, weaker enemies, health recovers a little bit), Standard (no aim assist, no health regeneration, normal-strength enemies), and Hardcore (no aim assist, no health regeneration, tougher enemies, Ink Ribbons are needed to save at Typewriters, no auto-save points…basically the classic Resident Evil formula, meaning all of us old school gamers must be Hardcore by default!). To get the best weapons and reap the best rewards, you’ll be required to beat the game under a strict time limit on Hardcore mode but, with trial and error (or a handy online guide), you will find that the game can be beaten in under three hours. However, this doesn’t make Resident Evil 2 any less desirable to play; the tension and atmosphere alone are worth the price of admission as the game finally returns the franchise to its survival-horror roots. Newer gamers may struggle with this; enemies don’t drop gold or resources, you can’t punch boulders, and there’s very little hand-holding throughout the game. Either you stay sharp and be smart with your resources and pick your battles, or you get injured, waste your ammo, and die in short order, just like in classic Resident Evil tradition. Resident Evil 2 is nothing less than a masterpiece, from the graphical quality of the game to its gore, soundtrack, and the amazing job it does staying faithful to the original title, and the time period it was made, while still bringing everything a quantum leap forward using modern gameplay mechanics and capabilities. The game is a solid five-star effort and I can only hope that, going forward, Capcom leans more towards this formula for future Resident Evil titles and away from their more action-orientated approaches.
Continuing my ongoing slog through a backlog of Resident Evil titles, I recently played through, and completed the main campaign of, Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (Capcom, 2015) on Xbox One. After struggling a bit with some aspects of the first game, I had hoped to be more comfortable going into Revelations 2 but Capcom made a few changes that make this title almost unrecognisable from its predecessor. Firstly, unlike its predecessor, Revelations 2 was released for main consoles right from the start, rather than being a HD port of a Nintendo 3DS game. However, rather than being a complete package, this title was released in episodes, presumably to encourage players to become immersed in its storyline; whether this actually worked or not is beyond me as I played the Xbox One version, which contains the entire game on one disc.
Never has a skill tree been more unnecessary…
Revelations 2 brings Barry Burton and Claire Redfield back to the franchise; like the first game, each is lumbered with a new character who acts as their partner as they fight to escape from an island that is crawling with infected monstrosities. Claire, partnered with Barry’s daughter Moira, attempts to find her way off the island while Barry, teaming up with Natalia, a young girl suffering from amnesia, arrives at the island some six months later in search of his daughter. Like many of the Resident Evil titles released around this time, Revelations 2 plays from a third-person, over-the-shoulder perspective; as in its predecessor, players have complete freedom of movement, can shoot and reload while moving, and can use healing items at the touch of a button. Well, not quite a touch; this time, players must hold down the R trigger to use these items rather than simply pressing one button. This mechanic is directly tied into the game’s unnecessary and largely pointless skill tree; completing each of the game’s chapters and meeting certain objectives earns the player with BP, which can be spent upgrading certain skills, such as how long it takes to use a herb, how effective they are, and other actions tied in to combat and the player’s partner.
Natalia will point at enemies…it’s super useful…
Unlike in Resident Evil: Revelations (ibid, 2012), players can switch between the two team-mates and even play the game with a friend in co-op mode. Unfortunately, whether you’re partnered with Moira or with Natalia, you’ll find the partners to be next to useless. Neither of them can use firearms; Moira can blind and stun enemies with a torch and bash them with a crowbar while Natalia can sneak around unnoticed and throw bricks at zombies. One of the things I disliked about the first game was the “Genesis” device that forced me to constantly scan enemies and the environment for resources. A similar function exists here, unfortunately, as players can only find hidden items with Moira’s torch or Natalia’s convenient “sixth sense”, which means that you’ll have to jump back and forth between your two characters to find everything in each area. While the first game featured some unique enemy designs tied directly to its water-based environment, Revelations 2 opts for the more traditional zombie-like enemies and mutated creatures favoured by the series after Resident Evil 4(Capcom Production Studio 4, 2005). The major difference here, though, is that these creatures appear to be made of sponge; they will soak up your bullets and still keep coming and some of the larger and more violent enemies may require other tactics to get around.
Seriously, fuck this fucking thing!
Barry, for example, can sneak up on enemies and dispatch them in one move but the Glasp, for example, is invisible, requiring players to switch to Natalia and point out and target the creature so Barry can kill it, which is extremely frustrating when involved in combat. In fact, too many of the game’s enemies have instant kill moves; the reoccurring and extremely annoying bullet-sponge first encountered in the junkyard will have you tearing your hair out as you struggle to hit its weak point and avoid its insta-kill move. Once again, players can use Part Boxes to upgrade their weapons; the game’s extensive (and yet restrictive) crafting system also allows players to craft explosive bottles and helpful items to stop bleeding and wipe away gunk, two new status effects that really add to the game’s frustrations. Personally, I found myself loading tourniquets, wipes, and healing items on the partner character, who will automatically use them when you get stuck in a bind.
This bitch has plans, man…lots of plans!
The game’s narrative is pretty engaging; across four chapters, you’ll attempt to escape from a dire situation and uncover the fate of the characters. In true Resident Evil fashion, though, the plot is far from simple; while it doesn’t jump around as many different places and points in time as its predecessor, it can still be confusing trying to figure out what the mysterious Overseer is up to and uncover the mystery behind the island. On top of that, the game has two potential endings depending on how you deal with the now-traditional “huge tentacle mutating creature” boss battle. This (and the different medals available in each chapter, hidden emblems, and the Achievements) may entice players to revisit chapters from the story once again but, honestly, each chapter is so long that playing casually is not as easy as it was in the first game. Revelations 2 also features a couple of other game modes; Raid Mode returns, this time as a kind of virtual reality simulation that allows players to play as some classic Resident Evil characters in settings that closely resemble those of older games and battle swarms of enemies. Additional side stories also flesh out the main campaign; “Little Miss” sees players control Natalia and her dark doppelganger, sneaking past monsters in an effort to find her bear, while “The Struggle” sees Moira having to hunt animals to survive and clear previous areas of enemies to stay alive.
This bastard alone is enough to convince me to put this game down.
I wasn’t massively blown away by Resident Evil: Revelations; it was a bit awkward in places, the story was all over the place, and the enemies were way too aggressive and annoying. A lot of this is the same here; for everything Revelations 2 does better (graphically the game is superior and the locations are a lot easier to navigate; the story is arguably more engaging as well, if a lot more confusing), it also suffers from some of the same drawbacks as well as some all new ones. Forcing players to switch to their partner, who is as good as dead against many of the game’s monstrous enemies, just to solve puzzles, find items, and get through areas is tedious and annoying; the chapters are also too long, making repeated playthroughs a bit of a slog, and any game that makes a regular mid-level boss more difficult than the final boss is one that irks me, especially when this enemy constantly keeps showing back up and can easily one-shot you no matter how well you’re playing.
Released: January 2019 Director: M. Night Shyamalan Distributor: Universal Pictures Budget: $20 million Stars: James McAvoy, Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sarah Paulson
Plot: Nineteen years after finding out he is a real-life superhero, David Dunn (Willis) finds himself locked up in a mental institute after apprehending Kevin Wendell Crumb/the Horde (McAvoy). While Dr. Ellie Staple tries to reason with them that they are nothing more than average men with delusions of grandeur, the titular Elijah Price/Mr. Glass (Jackson) plots to prove to the world that extraordinary individuals are an everyday reality.
Background: It seems like a life-time (mainly because, for many people, it actually is) since Shyamalan’s Unbreakable (ibid, 2000). After a turbulent career as a director, he finally snuck a continuation right under our noses with Split (ibid, 2016) and, before you know it, we finally get to see where David Dunn’s life has taken him since realising he has extraordinary gifts. A sombre, brooding character piece, Unbreakable presented a very real world almost identical to ours with the sole exception being the superheroes exist, albeit in a dramatically realistic form; since the, the superhero genre has expanded and exploded into a cultural phenomenon so the question is whether Shyamalan’s more introspective approach still works in the age of the superhero blockbuster.
The Review: Strangely, considering how long we’ve waited for an Unbreakable sequel, Glass is more of a sequel to Split that happens to co-star Bruce Willis than a true second chapter. Right off the bat, Dunn (now dubbed “the Overseer”) is working alongside his son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark), to actively pursue Crumb, whose emergence as “the Beast” has driven him to take further hostages. Captured and taken to a specialised hospital, Dunn, Crumb, and the largely comatose Mr. Glass where Dr. Staple spends the majority of the movie trying to prove that their extraordinary gifts are simply delusions of grandeur.
Glass delves a bit more into the superhero psyche.
This, while the heart of the movie, is a less-than-stellar premise; after all this time wanting to see Glass and Dunn truly butt heads and being promised a battle of wits versus brawn, we instead get a lot of introspective analysis into the psychoses of these individuals which would be fine except we know from Unbreakable and Split that these three are all capable of incredible things so it seems like a bit of a waste of time to dwell on these aspects rather than seeing them do what they do.
A team up that promises so much and delivers so little.
This is especially true considering that I’m pretty sure that everyone saw Split so I can’t imagine there were too many people in the audience who don’t know about the three central characters. This all works to the film’s detriment; for a movie titled after him, Mr. Glass isn’t really in the movie that much (Jackson even receives a “and…” in the opening credits, as though he is a bit-player rather than a main character). Sure, he is the master plotter and manipulating events, but he spends most of the film drugged up and out of it, leaving the majority of the movie to showcase more of McAvoy’s incredible talent bouncing back and forth between the Horde’s different personalities.Again, though, we know this and saw it to great effect in Split; equally, we saw a regret-filled, morose Willis in Unbreakable and, despite doing good work and being a more seasoned guardian, he’s still largely the same character here, to the point where even he starts to doubt his abilities despite being fully aware of what he can do. While it’s good to show Bruce’s range, it hardly makes for groundbreaking cinema and is far from what I expected to see in the cumulative chapter to Shyamalan’s trilogy.
The Nitty-Gritty: Shyamalan pulls three major twist on us in Glass; the first is that Elijah has been faking his condition the entire time and has secretly been manipulating events to team up with the Horde. However, the trailers already spoiled this so it’s not much of a twist; I think it was also quite predictable that it was Glass’s actions in Unbreakable that set in motion the events that created the Horde so, again, this was all par for the course for me. The second twist is that Dr. Staple is actually part of a secret society that seeks to suppress all superpowered individuals. Her primary approach is to convince them, through the meticulous charade of posing as a psychiatrist, that they are suffering from delusions of grandeur; the second is a laser-based lobotomy of sorts that removes their abilities; and the third is simply to kill the individuals. It seems that Shyamalan is potentially setting up for another movie where this Cult of Shamrock (they’re not named but they all have little cloverleaf’s tattooed on their wrists…) strikes back against numerous awakened powered individuals but I highly doubt that we’ll get that movie after the ending of this movie…
Which sees Dunn, Glass, and Kevin all dead.
Yep.
When he finds out Glass caused the death of Kevin’s father, the Beast kills him with a simple strike. This is fair enough, I could cope with Glass dying after setting the Beast loose and revealing superhumans to the world. But then Split’s Casey (Anya Taylor-Joy), now seemingly somewhat attracted or at least empathetic towards the Horde, manages to suppress the Beast long enough for the Shamrock’s to plug him with a sniper bullet and kill him.That was something I definitely did not see coming; Glass spent most of his timing convincing the Beast to fight Dunn at the opening of some skyscraper so I expected him to plummet to his death in that battle; instead, he never make sit across the bloody car park before bleeding to death from a single sniper bullet!
At least McAvoy puts in a good performance.
But the absolute worst twist is that David, who was attacked by the Beast and weakened due to being partially drowned, is randomly drowned to death in a sodding puddle by some unknown grunt. He spends the majority of the movie doubting himself when he has no reason to, finally takes up the mantle of the Overseer once more, fights the Beast very briefly, and then is just choked to death by some randomer.Hardly the outcome I expected from this long-awaited sequel and, considering that the film ends with Joseph, Casey, and Elijah’s mother (Charlayne Woodard) posting all the footage online so the world is made aware of superhumans, it really makes you wonder what harm it would have Dunn to have had Dunn be the sole survivor and be faced with the prospect of a lot more superpowered people coming to light. Instead, it sees like Shyamalan wasted the last of his goodwill getting Willis and Jackson (but especially Willis) back for this movie and decided to scrub them all off and bring in some more reliable (or unknown) names for the next movie.
In Summary: Glass is a mixed bag; it’s literally like three or four different movies all smashed together and it jumps across itself more often than Kevin cycles through his personalities! It starts off decent, wastes a lot of time in the middle, and then totally falls apart in the finale. Truly, this was a massive disappointment after such a long wait, and I don’t think anyone who was a fan of Unbreakable or Split will be satisfied with the way this film ends. It seems like Shyamalan was too concerned with subverting the superhero genre but we’ve seen that done numerous times, and he already did that in Unbreakable, and it causes Glass to get too bogged down with its own self-indulgence rather than expanding and exploring this universe in a natural, organic, and exciting (or, at least, interesting) way.
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