Marvel Studios took one of their biggest gambles in producing Ant-Man(Reed, 2015), given that the character is far more obscure than his other Marvel counterparts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet, seemingly against the odds, Ant-Man surprised by momentarily shifting the tone of the MCU away from world- or galaxy-ending threats and back down to Earth for an amusing heist adventure. Now, in the wake of the cataclysmic events of Avengers: Infinity War (The Russo Brothers, 2018), Marvel is at it again. However, while Ant-Man and the Wasp (Reed, 2018) does scale back to stakes and focus of the MCU, it also expands upon the nature and potential of the Quantum Realm, perhaps in service of future films in the franchise.
Scott has been under house arrest since Civil War.
Ant-Man and the Wasp takes place about two years after the events of Captain America: Civil War(The Russo Brothers, 2016) and sees Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) three days away from being released from house arrest after violating the Sokovia Accords. While Scott has used the time to set up a security and surveillance company with his friend Luis (Michael Peña) and bond with his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), he has last all contact with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) as they were less-than-impressed with Scott’s actions and have been on the run ever since. However, when Scott has a dream/vision of his time in the Quantum Realm, he reaches out to Hank and is promptly abducted by Hope. Taken to Hank’s laboratory (which he can shrink to the size of a carry-case), Scott learns that he may hold the key to finding and rescuing Hank’s wife, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer).
It’s all about the car chases this time.
Hank is reluctantly forced to coerce Scott into helping Hope acquire a vital component to their Quantum Tunnel from Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins), an act that draws the attention of the mysterious assassin Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Very quickly, Hank, Hope, and Scott are in a race against time to evade Burch, the FBI (led by Jimmy Woo (Randall Park)), and Ghost and complete the machine before Janet is forever lost to the Quantum Realm. I went into this thinking we would be getting a much faster paced, more action-packed story now that the origin and exploration of Ant-Man’s powers had been sufficiently delivered in Ant-Man but, surprisingly, Ant-Man and the Wasp is as much about the notion of family as it is its action. While nothing quite tops the small-scale battles on Thomas the Tank Engine railroad tracks or inside purses, there is a decent level of car-based action as Scott and Hope shrink and grow Hot Wheels cars to evade their pursuers and the fight sequences involving Ghost are pretty exciting.
Ghost continues Marvel’s attempts to have more layered villains.
Speaking of, rather than being a simple dark counterpart to Scott or Hank like Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) was, Ghost is a pretty unique and sympathetic character. Constantly fading in and out of reality thanks to exposure from the Quantum Realm, she blames Hank for her affliction and the death of her parents. It also helps that she’s pretty bad-ass, which helps showcase Hope’s ability to kick ass as the Wasp.
Anything Scott can do, Hope can do better.
In many ways, actually, Ant-Man and the Wasp is more about Hope than any other character; she finally receives her suit, which comes with all sorts of nifty gadgets and tech not included in Scott’s, and is clearly a far better and more effective superhero than Scott. Her passion and desire to be reunited with her mother are evident throughout but she also retains a compassion for others (mainly Scott and her father) that keeps her grounded.
Happy to see Giant-Man make a comeback.
As for Scott, he’s everything he was before, and that’s not a bad thing. Paul Rudd perfectly portrays the everyman who is swept up into things largely beyond him and his ignorance to the technobabble and subpar fighting ability are offset by his charm, wit, and ability to think on his feet. Scott is also all about making up for letting down Hank and Hope by not involving them in the airport skirmish from Civil War and, refreshingly, his daughter and family are all perfectly happy for him to continue to be Ant-Man, rather than giving him shit for his actions.
Laurence Fishburne jumps to the MCU but is Bill Foster all that he seems?
Rounding out the cast are Michael Douglas and, in a new addition, Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster. Foster and Pym have a strained relationship after a falling out and Pym’s efforts to discredit Foster’s work, which all helps cast Hank as a man who has some demons in his past. Driven to rescue Janet, Hank will seemingly go to any lengths to atone for what he sees as his greatest failing. Once again, Marvel Studios employ some impressive de-aging effects to Douglas (and Pfeiffer) to shed more light on the Pym’s troubled past as a married couple and part-time spies. In the end, Ant-Man and the Wasp is probably about on-par with its predecessor; it isn’t necessarily worlds better but it’s by no means a step back. As before, it’s a great way to catch your breath after the exhaustive events of Infinity War and, if the mid-credits scene is anything to go by, a vital entry for future films in the MCU.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Recommended: Of course, and not just for MCU fans. Rudd’s charisma and the general premise make this a great recommendation for everyone. Best moment: The triumphant return of Giant-Man and the fight sequences involving Ghost. Worst moment: The side-plot of Scott’s damaged belt, which causes him to by stuck at different sizes, grew thin very quickly for me. It just seemed weird for Hank to create a new, presumably better suit but have the most vital component be janky.
Ah, the nineties! What a time to be alive for comic book fans! We saw Clark Kent/Superman die and be replaced by four imposters before returning…with a mullet! We saw Bruce Wayne/Batman get his back broken and be replaced with a Frank Castle/Punisher-like nutjob. We saw Arthur Curry/Aquaman get his hand bitten off by piranhas and replaced…with a harpoon! And we saw Hal Jordan, the premier Green Lantern, go mental, kill a bunch of his fellows, and take on an antagonistic role as Parallax. Yet, the legacy of Green Lantern lived on in a new, young, sexy replacement who was to take the title in a bold new direction; a character who, though he exists today, is a shadow of his former self, prompting me to ask…
DC Comics like to paint Hal Jordan as the greatest Green Lantern that ever lived. Literally almost every time the character appears, text boxes, character dialogue, or story events are geared towards this agenda. This was especially obvious in 1992 when, after being replaced buy Guy Gardner, Jordan decided that he had had enough of bitching, moaning, and moping about and forced Guy to relinquish the Green Lantern power ring and reclaim his mantle. This was sold to us as a miraculous return; characters, including Guy’s Justice League teammates, openly gushed at Hal reclaiming the mantle and trashed Guy. I mean, sure, Guy was no saint and was a massive pain in the ass, but for everyone to talk so much shit about him was jarring. Things went from bad to worse, however, when Mongul and Hank Henshaw/Cyborg-Superman obliterated Hal’s home town, Coast City, during the ‘Reign of the Supermen’ (Jurgens, et al,1993) arc that saw Superman return to life. Hal, unable to cope with the loss of his friends and family, tried to recreate the city and was admonished by the Guardians of the Universe. Incensed at what he saw was a betrayal after years of loyal service, ‘Emerald Twilight’ saw Hal fly to Oa, relieving multiple Green Lanterns of their rings, killed Kilowog and Thaal Sinestro (later revealed to be an illusion), and absorbed the entire power of the Central Power Battery. This immediately depowered every Green Lantern in the universe (it is implied that the majority of them died, though this was also later retconned) and transformed Hal into Parallax.
Kyle was severely tested at the start of his career.
While Parallax went out into the cosmos to acquire yet more power and would eventually attempt to rewrite all of time itself in Zero Hour: Crisis in Time!(Jurgens, et al, 1994), the last remaining Guardian, Ganthet, travelled to Earth and, seemingly at random, presented the last power ring to the first person he saw: Kyle Rayner. Kyle, a young freelance artist, was initially characterised as being cocky and irresponsible; a rookie who received no training or instruction, he struggled to get to grips with his newfound power and responsibility. Attacked by enemies of Jordan’s who mistook him for the former Green Lantern, Kyle endured a trial by fire made all the more testing when Clifford Zmeck/Major Force infamously killed his girlfriend, Alexandra DeWitt, and stuffed her into a refrigerator! For a long time, this was a constant source of guilt and angst for Kyle; it seemed that he would openly mention it to anybody at the drop of a hat, even amidst battling Parallax, saving the universe, and joining perhaps the strongest incarnation of the Justice League ever. In time, though, Kyle was able to master his emotions and his power; unlike other Green Lanterns, Kyle’s ring did not carry a weakness to yellow (later revealed to be because the weakness was a result of Parallax being imprisoned within the Central Power Battery), did not need to be recharged, and could only be used by him, which effectively made him the most powerful Green Lantern ever seen at that point.
Despite making a name for himself, Kyle was constantly overshadowed by Hal.
As part of the Justice League, Kyle struck up friendships with Wally West/The Flash and Connor Hawke/Green Arrow, just as Jordan had been friends with Barry Allen and Oliver Queen in the past, and voted to keep Batman (one of his strongest supporters) in the Justice League following the ‘Tower of Babel’ storyline in 2000. As his career progressed entered into a romantic relationship with Alan Scott’s daughter, Jade, and evolved into a leader when he fought off the Circle of Fire. After Parallax sacrificed himself to reignite the Sun in the ‘Final Night’ storyline, Kyle received a massive power boost and was rechristened Ion. Wielding God-like powers, he eventually restored Oa, the Central Power Battery, the Guardians of the Universe, and the Green Lantern Corps in order to relieve himself of the burden of his newfound powers. Restored to a regular Green Lantern, but still unrestricted by the yellow impurity or the need to recharge, went from being the last of the Green Lanterns, and a God, to be one of many Green Lanterns. His status was further damaged when writer Geoff Johns took over the Green Lantern title and orchestrated Hal Jordan’s return in the ‘Rebirth’ storyline. Jordan, who had since become the Spectre, was absolved of all his previous crimes by the revelation that Parallax is actually a parasitic fear entity that latched onto his soul and drove him to evil. Thanks to the efforts of Kyle, Guy (who also had his recent years of messy writing undone), and John Stewart, Jordan returned to life as a Green Lantern once more and promptly took over the Green Lantern title.
Kyle has assumed a number of different forms and identities over the years.
Despite transforming back into Ion during Infinite Crisis (Johns, et al, 2006) following Jade’s death, Kyle was possessed by Parallax during the ‘Sinestro Corps War’ storyline (Johns, et al, 2007) and continued to operate as just one of four (five, if you count Alan Scott) Earth-based Green Lanterns, even after being promoted to ‘Honour Guard’ status. He even found his very existence branded as an anomaly during ‘Countdown’ and ‘Countdown to Final Crisis’ (Dini, et al, 2007 to 2008) and spent most of 2007 bouncing around the Multiverse with little rhyme or reason. He found himself on the frontlines during Blackest Night (Johns, et al, 2010), which saw Jade restored to life, and sacrificed himself to destroy a bunch of Black Lanterns. He, too, was restored to life and, during War of the Green Lanterns (ibid, 2011) assumed the role of a Blue Lantern after Parallax infected the Green Lantern rings. Unfortunately for him, Blue Lanterns are pretty useless; they only real do anything when Green Lanterns are around, making him the weakest of the rag-tag group (obviously led by Jordan) that stood against the renegade Guardian, Krona. As much as I hate to praise it, The New 52 actually returned some semblance of importance to Kyle; while Sinestro and Jordan dominated the main Green Lantern titles like it was the late-eighties, Kyle was the focus of the New Guardians title. When power rings from all the different corps are drawn to him, Kyle goes on a universe-spanning pilgrimage to master the entire emotional spectrum and once again reaches the levels of God-hood he enjoyed as Ion by becoming a White Lantern. Oddly, The New 52 also put Kyle in a romantic relationship with Jordan’s long-term love interest, the Star Sapphire Carol Ferris, which only further bogged his character down with unnecessary ties to Jordan’s legacy. It wasn’t to last, though, it soon became apparent that the powers of the White Lantern were too much for any one person to wield and, as of Rebirth, Kyle has returned to being a lowly Green Lantern.
What the hell is this nonsense!?
It gets worse for Kyle outside of the comics. Although his name and profession were used, he looked exactly like Hal Jordan when he appeared in Superman: The Animated Series, and even had Hal’s origin! With John Stewart acting as Green Lantern in Justice League, Kyle was relegated to brief cameos and bit-parts in Justice League: Unlimited. While Stewart is generally included as an alternative costume for Hal in various DC videogames, this luxury is rarely afforded to Kyle; he appears as a skin in Justice League Heroes (Snowblind Studios/Warner Bros. Games, 2006) and is featured in DC Universe Online (Daybreak Game Company/WB Games, 2011) and Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham (Traveller’s Tales, 2014) but barely gets a mention in the Injustice videogames (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, 2013; 2017) due to being unceremoniously killed off in the prequel/tie-in comic books. I remember, many moons ago, reading an article in Wizard around the same time that the ‘Emerald Twilight’ storyline happened; whomever was being interviewed at DC said something along the lines of “DC reserve the right to not give their characters happy endings” and basically said “Hal is evil; Kyle is Green Lantern – deal with it!” as I mentioned, DC was all about major character changes in the nineties; Wally West had become the Flash following Crisis on Infinite Earths(Wolfman, et al, 1985), Dick Grayson became Nightwing in the ‘Judas Contract’ storyline, and Tim Drake succeeded him as Robin, in addition to the aforementioned Connor Hawke and even Roy Harper progressing to Arsenal.
A generation of heroes doomed to obscurity and irrelevance.
Kyle was supposed to be the next in line of these young new legacy heroes; his costume was bold and striking, a far cry from the regimental style favoured by most Green Lanterns, and his constructs were often infused with manga and anime imagery. As a young, untested hero, Kyle made reading Green Lantern was perfect for newcomers at the time who got to learn about the Green Lantern mythos through fresh eyes. However, once DC’s editors and writing staff switched hands and decided that they wanted to bring back Silver Age characters like Barry Allen and Wally West, the writing was on the wall for characters like Kyle. Once the sole Green Lantern and the figurehead for the Corps, Kyle was relegated to being just another face in a sea of green once Hal came back; even his costume and haircut changed and became far less interesting.
You’ll always be my Green Lantern, Kyle!
For my money, DC massively dropped the ball by not keeping Kyle bonded with Ion and carrying that codename; at least then Kyle would have been set apart from Hal Jordan and the other Green Lanterns. In these modern times, where we have a Corps for every colour of the emotional spectrum, there really is no excuse for Kyle, Hal, Guy, John, and newcomers like Simon Baz to all be Green Lanterns. I would have kept Kyle as the White Lantern, Guy as a Red Lantern, and John as an Indigo Lantern if only to mix things up and keep everyone different and relevant. Instead, with Hal still at the forefront of the Green Lantern titles and constantly being branded by DC writers, editors, and characters as the greatest Green Lantern of all time, there doesn’t seem to be any room for Kyle these days. Once upon a time, DC vowed that characters like Kyle and Wally were the new standard but, now, they’re pale imitations living in the shadow of the apparently far superior Silver Age counterparts and that’s just sad for people like me, who grew up in the nineties reading about Kyle’s adventures and growing attached to his character, rather than that of Hal Jordan.
Given that Warner Brothers bought Midway back when they were forced to shut up shop, it should have been seen as inevitable that a videogame would be made that mashed together characters from the Mortal Kombat series with those of the DC Universe. Of course, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe(Midway Games, 2008) was quite the barebones, lacklustre effort compared to the spiritual successor, Injustice: Gods Among Us (NetherRealm Studios/Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, 2013).
Brainiac is coming to collect the Earth!
Injustice was generally applauded not only for its graphics, gameplay, and competitive fighting mechanics but also its story mode; NetherRealm Studios have seemingly perfected the art of infusing their fighters with an in-depth and genuinely captivating single play story and Injustice 2 (ibid, 2017; 2018) continues this trend. After the Justice League travel to a parallel world to help end the reign of a dictator-like Superman and his regime of similarly-evil former heroes, the Injustice-world faces a new threat in the form of Brainiac. Though Batman attempts to rally a new generation of heroes against Brainiac, they have no choice but to free Superman from his red sun prison cell in order to combat the threat and enter into an uneasy alliance.
A good roster, bogged down with one-too-many Batman characters.
A fighting game is only as good as its roster; like Injustice, Injustice 2 has an unhealthy obsession with Batman characters – Batman, the Joker, Robin, Poison Ivy, Red Hood, Scarecrow, Bane, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and Deadshot bloat out the roster. While it is a little disappointing that this appears to have caused other, unique characters such as Booster Gold or Doctor Sivana miss the cut, Injustice 2 does bring some welcome new faces to the game; Firestorm, Blue Beetle, Atrocitus, Gorilla Grodd, and Doctor Fate are just some of the new heroes and villains available to play as. The Legendary Edition also includes some fantastic downloadable characters, such as Hellboy, Black Manta, and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!
Every character has a unique play style.
Every character boasts their own unique combos, special moves, and super moves and plays a little differently; Darkseid, for example, is slow and methodical, Supergirl is a much faster character, while characters like Green Arrow and Batman rely more on their gadgets and skills to succeed. Successfully pulling off combos, counters, and landing attacks allows players to build up their super meter and power up their special moves or execute a world-ending super move. Each character starts with three loadout slots, which can be increased to five, that allow you to gear up Aquaman, for example, to have one loadout the favours attack, one that favours health, one that favours special moves, and so on, depending on the gear you apply. You can also apply this gear to AI Loadouts and have them fight for you, which is kind of weird and I’m not sure why you would want to do that rather than play the game yourself but it is useful for the game’s Endless and Survival modes.
Injustice 2‘s stage selection levels much to be desired.
While Injustice 2 has a decent roster, it doesn’t have much in the way of stages; there are only twelve stages to pick from and they’re not really that dynamic or interesting. You can still send characters flying to other parts of the stage, which is fun, but it seems there’s a lot less opportunities to do this than in Injustice. There are also some fun stage interactions to be had, like smashing Swamp Thing over the head with a crocodile in Slaughter Swamp, but, again, it seemed that there were more and better stage interactions in Injustice. The primary selling point of Injustice 2 is the Gear System; winning matches not only earns experience points for each character and the player’s profile but also awards numerous gear. Players can then apply this gear to each character to boost their attributes, gain performance buffs (such as greater attack strength against Metahumans), alter the character’s costumes, and even unlock different special moves. Winning matches also earns the player coins and crystals, which can used to buy Mother Boxes and unlock more gear, transform or combine gear to make it stronger, or unlock Premier Skins for certain characters.
Premier Skins are available…at a price.
Premier Skins allow you to play as new characters; Cheetah, for example, has a Premier Skin that turns her into Vixen and Raiden’s Premier Skin is Black Lighting. This is great, as it effectively adds even more characters to the game’s roster; the only downside is that, to purchase Premier Skins, you need Source Crystals, which are few and far between. You’re therefore forced to grind over and over, levelling up your profile and characters, to earn a pittance of Source Crystals or spend real money. This latter appears to be what NetherRealm Studios want you to do as it is extremely difficult to earn enough Source Crystals as the Premier Skins carry a hefty price tag, and only the best Mother Boxes and rewards can be earned through spending real money, it seems, making the in-game currency all but worthless. Unlocking gear and applying it to characters is fun but, let’s be honest, you won’t be applying all of your gear to every character as some characters are better than others and some or just dead weight. The biggest downside to the Gear System is that, unlike in Injustice, it is the gear that determines what your character will look like; therefore, you can’t just select Green Lantern and choose to play as Yellow lantern, you have to unlock the correct gear and colour palette (which also require Source Crystals), which is quite disappointing and annoying.
The clash mechanic as as annoying as ever.
In terms of gameplay, Injustice 2 is very similar to its predecessor with a noticeable increase in AI competency; I played the entire game on Very Easy and, on more than one occasion, noticed that the AI doesn’t take any shit. If you spam moves or favour a certain tactic, the AI calls you out on it and gives you a competitive match more often than not. The story mode is fun to play through but a breeze; I finished it in within two casual days of gameplay and only went back to it to finish off the branching paths. The clash mechanic returns from Injustice and it’s just as annoying as ever; as you take damage, you can spend your super meter initiating a clash and pressing a button in a rock/paper/scissors type of mini game, which will either deal additional damage or restore your health. It seems that the AI always busts out a clash at the worst or most annoying opportunities and it’s easily to most frustrating part of the game.
Take on the entire Multiverse…once you’re levelled up enough…
Similar to Mortal Kombat X (ibid, 2015), Injustice 2 utilises an ever-changing Multiverse mode that allows players to fight a number of opponents and obtain better rewards. These change hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly and often carry certain themes that will be familiar to DC Comics fans; you can also use the Battle Simulator to play traditional tournament modes or battle endless opponents. One thing I will praise about Injustice 2 is that every battle is different; I don’t think I ever fought the same version of a character twice as it seems every match sees random gear and colour schemes applied to the opponent. You can also join a Guild and take part in Guild Multiverses and challenges to unlock even more Mother Boxes and rewards; these are far more challenging than the regular Multiverse modes and, similarly, the best Multiverse rewards are only available when you’ve levelled a character up to level twenty or thirty, meaning that you’re going to have to play again and again and grind over and over to reap the benefits. Honestly, maybe I’m a bit jaded, but I don’t find myself particularly enthusiastic about stepping up to this challenge; Injustice 2 features a wealth of Achievements, many you can sweep through regular gameplay, but the more specific ones (such as maxing every character’s level out) just seem like too much of a chore. I really don’t like that I have earned so many in-game coins and yet I cannot use them to purchase Premier Skins or extra colour palettes; I don’t really want to spend my actual money buying them, was disappointed to see that they weren’t already unlocked in the Legendary Edition, and am not sure I can be bothered to grind over and over to unlock them.
Want the best stuff? You better have deep pockets!
In the end, Injustice 2 is good; it’s fun to play, the story mode is decent, and the graphics are very impressive but there’s not too much calling me back to it. I played Injustice pretty much to death working my way through the challenge mode but you have to put some serious effort in to challenge the best Multiverses and the motivation is severely lacking this time around just because the best gear and rewards are either really rare or too expensive. Maybe, next time around, NetherRealm Studios should limit the in-game currency to two forms (one to buy stuff, one to upgrade stuff) and move away from forcing players into spending their real-world money on additional extras, especially if they’re going to bring out a Legendary Edition after the initial versions.
Believe it or not, it’s been thirty years since Die Hard (McTiernan, 1988) pitted one lone man against a skyscraper full of charismatic terrorists. Since then, Die Hard has gone on to inspire not only a slew of sequels but also knock-offs and copycats; we’ve seen Die Hard in a hockey arena, Die Hard on a boat, Die Hard on a train, Die Hard in the White House, Die Hard on a plane and, to be honest, some of these have been pretty good in and of themselves.
Who better to assess your safety than the Rock?
Now, director Rawson Marshall Thurber brings it all full circle by giving us Die Hard in a skyscraper…that’s on fire! Which, yeah, is very Towering Inferno (Guillermin, 1974) but with one crucial difference: this burning symbol of capitalist expansion has the Rock in it! Skyscraper tells the story of former FBI agent turned security assessor Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson), who lost a foot in a hostage situation that turned sour, who has been roped into signing off on the largest, tallest, most advanced building ever constructed. The brainchild of Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), the Pearl promises to be a city in the sky in Hong Kong.
The Rock will do anything to rescue his family.
Unfortunately, to build the Pearl, Zhao was forced to do business with terrorist and extortionist Kores Botha (Roland Møller), who infiltrates the Pearl with a gang of gun-toting thugs and proceeds to set the building ablaze in order to retrieve a USB drive that implicates his illegal activities. With his wife and children trapped inside, Sawyer becomes a man on a mission to not only enter the Pearl but also brave the odds and rescue his family.
Watch the Rock spit in the face of physics!
It doesn’t take long to see the clear differences between Die Hard and Skyscraper; Johnson, a physical specimen, is far more the muscleman than the snarky cockroach embodied by Bruce Willis. Sawyer is far more about the physical stunts and acts than John McClane, who was beat up to shit and still kept coming; the role of Sawyer showcases the Rock’s more vulnerable side, it’s true, and he spends much of the film nursing injuries and overcoming his emotion to find unique ways around problems, but he’s far more likely to leap from a construction crane, climb a rope, and stabilise a collapsing bridge than enter into a fist fight with a gun-wielding terrorist. Møller, though relatively well-rounded and reasonably charismatic, is no Alan Rickman but, to be fair, very few actors are. Far from Rickman’s chilling, magnetic Hans Gruber, Botha is a driven and focused individual who is more than capable of backing up his ice-cold threats with physical violence. His willingness to take the Rock’s daughter hostage shows how he will do anything to retrieve his USB drive and he makes for a serviceable villain.
Skyscraper has a lot of heart beneath its action.
Rounding out the cast are Neve Campbell as Sawyer’s wife, Sarah, who is far from a damsel in distress; she holds her own in a fight, uses logical and intelligent solutions to help keep her children safe, and convinces the Hong Kong authorities that Sawyer is trying to save lives rather than being responsible for the blazing skyscraper. Make no mistake, this film is an over-the-top action set piece through and through and going into it expecting anything deeper or more meaningful is a fool’s errand. The Rock defies physics, logic, and gravity on more than one occasion but it’s the freakin’ Rock! Would you really want anything else? If you’re looking for a movie to shut your brain off (not completely, I should add; it’s not a brainless action movie) and just enjoy with some friends, a few drinks, and a pizza than Skyscraper more than meets that criteria.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Pretty Good
Recommended: Sure, yeah, the world always needs more Die Hard-like films. Best moment: Anything involving the Rock using his physicality to absolutely absurd limits, like leaping to the Pearl or climbing down it using a precariously-secured rope. Worst moment: The side plot that sees the Hong Kong authorities brand Sawyer a criminal was a bit annoying, and didn’t really play into the overall plot in the end.
For years now, the Sonic fan community has generally had one thing in common: a desire to see long-forgotten characters from the past return to modern Sonic titles. Characters such as Fang the Sniper/Nack the Weasel, Bean the Dynamite, Bark the Polar Bear, Mighty the Armadillo, and Ray the Flying Squirrel have, for too long, been absent from the Sonic franchise and many, such as myself, have been begging for their return for a long time now. In recent years, SEGA have been fanning this desire and almost trolling the fan community; wanted posters featuring Mighty, Ray, Bean, Bark, and Fang were featured prominently in Sonic Generations(Sonic Team, 2011) yet the characters did not actually appear in the title. Even more recently, Bean, Bark, and Fang all appeared as illusions cast by the Heavy Magician in Sonic Mania(PagodaWest Games/Headcannon/SEGA, 2017), which appeared to be the closest we would ever get to seeing them return to Sonic canon.
Mighty and Ray have made a dramatic return to the franchise, and even have merchandise now!
However, Sonic Mania Plus (ibid, 2018), an expanded and updated version of Sonic Mania, offered a glimmer of hope: for the first time in decades, Mighty and Ray returned to the series as playable characters. Not only that, the two featured prominently in Sonic Mania Adventures (Hesse, 2018), a series of short animated episodes designed to promote the videogame. For me, this was extremely exciting. As a kid, I got the chance to visit SEGA World in London and was lucky enough to be one of the few to actually play SEGASonic The Hedgehog (SEGA AM2/SEGA, 1993); while I don’t recall playing as Mighty or Ray, the fact that this is one of the few Sonic titles to never receive a port of any kind imbues both characters with a sense of mystery and desire. Later, of course, Mighty would make a return in Knuckles’ Chaotix (SEGA, 1995), here as a poorly-veiled substitute for Sonic himself. This is obviously pretty ironic considering that an armadillo was one of the first rejected concepts for the character that would eventually become Sonic and yet, like with SEGASonic The Hedgehog, the fact that Knuckles’ Chaotix has never received a port keeps the character from being openly accessible to modern players. Indeed, when the Chaotix did return for Sonic Heroes (Sonic Team USA, 2003), Mighty was nowhere to be seen and was not acknowledged in any way, despite the fact that he easily could have been incorporated as a victim of kidnapping.
Mighty and Ray were recurring and prominent characters in the Sonic comic books.
However, over the years, both Mighty and Ray were featured regularly in both Sonic the Comic (StC) in the UK and in Sonic the Hedgehog, the long-running comic book series published by Archie Comics in the US. While Ray did not appear in StC, Mighty debuted in issue 52 in the story “Total Chaotix”; in StC, Mighty is the short-tempered muscle of the group, here cast as the designated guardians of the Special Zone. Mighty, who often came to blows with his team mates, was primarily known for his brute strength rather than his speed and agility, as depicted in Knuckles’ Chaotix. Meanwhile, in Archie’s Sonic comics, Mighty first appeared in their loose adaptation of Knuckles’ Chaotix, published in November 1995. This version of Mighty, while also super strong, was more of a pacifist who was originally born into a family of thieves and was deeply devoted to his younger sister (like most Archie Sonic characters, Mighty was lumbered with an extensive family tree) and his best friend, Ray, whom he treated like a younger brother. Speaking of, Ray debuted in issue 26 of Knuckles the Echidna, featuring in a flashback that served as a loose adaptation of SEGASonic the Hedgehog. Lost in a space between dimensions for years, Ray was finally reunited with his friends and joined the Chaotix as a junior member. Ray, a timid youngster who suffered from a stutter, eventually gained a redesign (alongside Mighty) to better fit in with the post-Sonic Adventure(Sonic Team, 1998) designs of the cast and proved to be a tough and resourceful Freedom Fighter. Sonic Mania Adventures, while simplistic in its design and narrative, maintained the strong brotherly bond between Mighty and Ray that was a staple of the Archie comics. In “& Knuckles”, Ray is desperately searching for Mighty, who has gone missing, and the two are reunited in “Mighty and Ray”. Mighty willingly throws himself between Ray and Metal Sonic to defend him and uses his brute strength to hurl a boulder at the robot. When Metal takes Ray hostage, Mighty reluctantly hands over the Chaos Emerald he has in order to spare his friend and the two quickly head out to join Sonic and Tails in regaining their lost jewel. Very quickly, in just one short episode, we very clearly see the friendly bond between the two and their personalities. I’ve always found it interesting that, back when they were building up to the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 3(SEGA, 1994), SEGA held one of their famous internal competitions to come up with a design for a new character.
With his prehensile tail and gliding abilities, Ray could very well have replaced Tails.
This would, of course, eventually become Knuckles the Echidna but they could just as easily have revived Mighty as the guardian of the floating Angel Island. Similarly, although SEGASonic the Hedgehog released some time after Sonic the Hedgehog 2(SEGA Technical Institute, 1992), it isn’t exactly inconceivable that the result of their internal design for Sonic’s sidekick would have resulted in Ray’s early debut and his replacing of Tails. Therefore, imagine, if you will, a slightly different turn of events. Instead of Yasushi Yamaguchi dreaming up the plucky two-tailed fox, Manabu Kusunoki’s Ray is submitted and approved for Sonic 2. Remember that, in Sonic 2, Tails never carried Sonic and, instead, controlled exactly the same; therefore, all Ray would be required to do would be to jump, roll, Spin Dash, and glide down from the heavens in two-player mode. Therefore, Ray would fit in really well with Sonic 2’s restrictions. In Sonic 3, though, Tails obviously carried Sonic in two-player modes and for the Marble Garden Zone boss. It’s difficult to imagine Ray being capable of this, so that aspect of the videogame would ultimately have been lost, however it’s very easy to see Ray borrowing Tails’ swimming mechanic, Knuckles’ glide to manoeuvre around stages, and possibly some kind of swinging mechanic using his bushy tail. While the absence of full-on flight would have been lost from the Triple Threat’s moveset in subsequent 3D titles, Ray could easily have adopted the 3D gliding of Knuckles and possibly even a spring-loaded jump of sorts
Mighty can smash like Knuckles, and his wall-jump helps him scale vertical surfaces.
Mighty, meanwhile, is slightly simpler; like Knuckles, he would have bashed through walls and boulders by running or jumping into them and, if possible, incorporated his dropping bash to smash through boulders beneath him. Mighty could also have kept his wall jumping mechanic from Knuckles’ Chaotix, which could have been implemented in ways that compensated for the loss of Tails’ flight, and potentially even have deflected all projectiles when rolled into a ball. In later 3D titles, Mighty could have kept the physical attacks used by Knuckles and, eventually, have evolved into a brawling/hack-and-slash hybrid similar to that seen in the Werehog in Sonic Unleashed(Sonic Team, 2008). Remember that, in both cases, Mighty and Ray would have exactly the same personalities and character traits as Knuckles and Tails, respectively, so much of the characterisation these two have been given in the comics and Sonic Mania Adventures would instead be supplanted with those seen in Tails and Knuckles. Just as it is easy to imagine Tails and Knuckles adopting some of the mechanics now assigned to Sonic (the bounce, the stomp, the wall jumping, some of the other Wisp abilities), so too can I easily see these being adopted by Ray and Mighty. Ultimately, however, this alternative timeline featuring Sonic, Ray, and Mighty as the Triple Threat would have meant the loss of two of the franchise’s more visually striking and engaging characters.
The gang’s finally all back together!
In the end, as sad as I am that Amy Rose didn’t make the cut for Sonic Mania Plus, I am absolutely overjoyed to see Mighty and Ray finally return to the series. Their sprites are absolutely gorgeous in the videogame and their animation in Sonic Mania Adventures is truly heart-warming. Going forward, I would be completely on board for their return in future 2D/2.5D Sonic titles and, better yet, the mainstream 3D videogames and, if we can finally have these little guys back as playable characters, there’s still hope that, one shining day, Fang will finally return as, at the very least, a secondary antagonist.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Bayona, 2018) is, of course, the sequel to Jurassic World(Trevorrow, 2015) and the latest in the Jurassic Park series of movies based, loosely, on the books by Michael Crichton. Set some three years after the events of Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom sees the genetically resurrected attractions of the titular park face the prospect of renewed extinction when a long-dormant volcano threatens to destroy the entire island of Isla Nubar. While the debate rages in congress regarding whether the dinosaurs should be preserved or left to their fate, Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) reaches out to Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) to join a team in returning to Jurassic World and saving as many species as possible before they can be wiped out.
Dinosaurs face extinction once again.
Joined by Claire’s assistants, Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) and Doctor Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda), and a group of mercenary types led by Ken Wheatley (Ted Levine), Claire and Owen and successful in locating Blue, the last Velociraptor, but are ultimately betrayed when it is revealed that Wheatley has been hired to steal the dinosaurs for Lockwood’s aide, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall). Escaping the destruction of Isla Nubar, Claire and Owen stow away back to Lockwood’s mansion where Mills, alongside Gunnar Eversol (Toby Jones) and Doctor Henry Wu (B. D. Wong), not only auction off their captives but also engineer an entirely new and deadly breed of dinosaur, the Indoraptor, to the highest bidders. As I said, the trailers have really outdone themselves with how much of the movie they give away; by watching each, you know that the dinosaurs are in danger and must be saved, that they’re taken from the island and the protagonists are betrayed, that the dinosaurs are auctioned off and that the Indoraptor is created and runs amok. With some creative imagination, you can fill in the blanks between these trailers and pretty much guess the entirety of this movie, which ends up being a cross between The Lost World: Jurassic Park(Spielberg, 1997) and Jurassic Park III (Johnston, 2001).
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is at its best when it’s a monster movie.
Despite that, however, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is a very effective monster movie; some Jurassic Park fans may decry this but, make no mistake, these movies have always been monster movies. Giant, medium, and tiny dinosaurs have always run amok and eaten people in these films and, yes, while the original may have had a heart and soul that elevated it above a typical monster film, at their core this is what the series has been from the start. The Indoraptor takes this to the next level, shot and presented in as many terrifying ways as possible and presented as a nightmarish creature that lives only to stalk, kill, and eat. When the movie is focusing on these elements, it truly shines; the dinosaur effects and action are probably the best that they have ever been and the return of fan favourite creatures such as Blue and the Tyrannosaurus rex are always exciting to see.
Blue returns to the fight.
As for the human characters, Chris Pratt carries this film; the guy has such a natural charisma that he elevates anything he is in. his character arc is pretty much the same as the last film (he’s the ‘raptor trainer who is level-headed, wants to stand against those who would do harm to the dinosaurs, and is trying to win back Claire) but he’s just too likable to care too much that he hasn’t changed much between movies. Bryce Dallas Howard is probably better in this film than the last, where her time as the annoying, stuck-up corporate stooge really got on my nerves, and the new characters (especially Daniella Pineda) are decent enough in their roles and supply some respectable comic relief, when necessary. Honestly, though, it really feels like the resurrection of the Jurassic Park franchise does not actually deserve a whole new trilogy. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom retreads a lot of ground covered in the original two sequels and continues the insane idea that dinosaurs could be used as biological weapons of war, but covers its imperfections and flaws with a wash of incredible effects and terrifying imagery. The franchise will clearly progress to its third instalment but one can only hope that the next film truly tries something fresh and new with the series.
My Rating:
⭐⭐
Rating: 2 out of 5.
Could Be Better
Recommended: I would always recommend a Jurassic Park film; even after all these years, it’s still impressive to see dinosaurs brought to life onscreen. Best moment: The entire sequence on Isla Nubar, despite being largely spoiled by the trailers, and the Indoraptor’s rampage, for sure. Worst moment: There are some parts where the film drags noticeably and the plot is stupidly predictable, especially after watching the previous movies and the trailers.
As part of my PhD thesis, which revolved entirely around live-action and animated adaptations of videogames, I decided to dedicate an entire chapter to the Resident Evil films. Helmed by director Paul W.S. Anderson, these six movies largely veered quite far from the source material, only including popular franchise characters and situations when it was deemed necessary and financially lucrative. While I, personally, have come to loathe the series (with the exception of Resident Evil: Apocalypse (Witt, 2004), purely because it’s the closest adaptation of any of the Resident Evil videogames) because of Anderson’s insistence on pushing star and wife Mila Jovovich over recognisable videogame elements and his blatant disregard for the shitty continuity he created, they nevertheless reaped over $1,233million in worldwide gross over six movies. This, whether I or any one else wants to admit it or not, makes the Resident Evil films the most successful live-action adaptation of a videogame franchise to date.
While researching Anderson’s Resident Evil franchise, I discovered that the first movie was mired in a tumultuous period of development hell. Before Anderson was given the reigns to the survivor-horror videogame franchise, legendary grandfather of the zombie genre, George A. Romero, was offered the chance to direct a feature film adaptation. Although not a videogame fan, Romero’s 1998 script, available to read here, was produced from a screen story by himself and Peter Grunwald and is surprisingly closer to the aesthetic style and atmosphere of the original Resident Evil videogame than Paul W.S. Anderson’s eventual 2002 film. However, the script contains many issues that, rather than being addressed in subsequent re-drafts, were ignored in favour of a complete overhaul. These range from clichés often closely associated with Romero, to a close, almost uninspired fidelity to the source material. In this article I’ll go through the script and describe some of the plot points and characters and talk a little bit about how Romero’s efforts differed from those seen in Resident Evil.
Chris and Jill are at it in Romero’s script.
Like the videogame, Romero’s script features Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield as the central protagonists. Jill is largely similar to her videogame counterpart, being somewhat overwhelmed by the events surrounding her, rather insubordinate to her superiors, yet militaristic and direct in her actions and capabilities. Chris, however, undergoes a significant alteration; rather than being a member of Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.; here a military organisation rather than being associated with the Raccoon Police Department), Chris is depicted as a “part Mohawk” Native American who has strong ties to the Arklay land and a close association with nature. As part of her cover story, Jill initiates a sexual relationship with Chris in order to gather intelligence on the Arklay Mountains and the mansion where the Tyrant-Virus (T-Virus) outbreak occurs; Chris is swept along due to his need to find answers concerning both the infected and Jill’s betrayal. These alterations are apparently intended to make Chris the voice of reason among the other S.T.A.R.S. members, who mostly follow orders or are concerned with their own survival rather than the implications the T-Virus has on natural life. Chris’s capabilities are severely downgraded from his videogame counterpart and he spends the majority of the script brandishing “an old Winchester rifle” in contrast to the well-armed S.T.A.R.S. members.
The entire S.T.A.R.S. team is represented in Romero’s script.
Jill’s Alpha Team, made up of Russo, Williams, and Disimone, is quickly massacred, leaving Jill the only survivor. Albert Wesker leads Bravo Team, twelve additional commandos (including Barry Burton, Brad Vickers, Rebecca Chambers, Richard Aiken, Kenneth Sullivan, Rosie Rodriguez, Forest Speyer, and Laguardia) to assist, and they are immediately beset by zombie dogs and forced into the mansion, as in Resident Evil (Capcom, 1996). Wesker and Barry are portrayed as old friends, almost like brothers; Rodriguez, ironically much like Michelle Rodriquez’s Rain from Anderson’s film, is a trash-talking tough girl, while Rebecca is a nearly non-existent and inconsequential medical officer. Nevertheless, they closely resemble Resident Evil’s S.T.A.R.S. members rather than being entirely original characters as in Anderson’s film, yet Anderson’s Umbrella Special Forces Commandos fill a very similar role.
The characters still have to solve Resident Evil‘s trademark puzzles.
Wesker also serves as Romero’s principal source of exposition as he relates the mansion’s history, the experiments being performed there, and their mission to rescue Dr. John Marcus and recover key research data. Much of this dialogue is mirrored by the Red Queen (Michaela Dicker) and serves as blatant exposition, sandwiched between moments of gore-filled action, reading very much like the videogame’s passive cutscenes. The team also navigates the mansion using various coloured key cards, solving some familiar puzzles involving grandfather clocks and crests, and utilising a map similar to the computerised system seen in Anderson’s adaptation. These aspects, excised completely from Anderson’s films, are depicted as security measures built in by the mansion’s eccentric architect, yet they make the mansion much bigger than usually depicted in order to encompass the script’s large, shifting labyrinth-like rooms and puzzles, and the decision to replace these with Anderson’s more practical key card/password system seems a wise and realistic aesthetic decision, especially considering the majority of Resident Evil’s puzzles simply provide keys to open new areas.
Chris really hates Wesker in this script!
Depending on the avatar, either Jill or Chris can go missing after S.T.A.R.S. take refuge in Resident Evil; in Romero’s script, both Jill and Chris rendezvous with S.T.A.R.S. at different points to reference this, with both eliminating multiple zombies along the way. Though Jill and Chris both exhibit an uncharacteristically aggressive disrespect for Wesker (Resident Evil depicted both as frustrated by Wesker’s secrecy but nonetheless trusting him until the finale), Chris is far more vocal, turning his confusion into anger at the events which have left his homeland a bloody mess. He directly blames Wesker for these events, and Jill for her betrayal, and he continues to butt heads with both throughout their investigation. Romero’s script draws principally from Resident Evil alone –Resident Evil 2’s (Capcom, 1998) only influences are the mysterious, bloodcurdling, roar echoing throughout the mansion similar to G’s and Ada Wong (albeit as a scientist who assisted in developing the T-Virus and delivering yet more superfluous exposition, rather than being a double agent).
All of the game’s BOWs appear!
The mansion is beset by Plant 42’s destructive growth, infected sharks, a giant snake, and even the murderous Hunters, all lifted directly from the original videogame, and showcasing the scale of Umbrella’s research and the impact of the T-Virus beyond “simply” reanimating dead tissue. Whereas the exact implications of the T-Virus in Anderson’s films is left mostly unclear, Romero’s script openly lifts its purpose – to create nigh-indestructible bio-organic weapons (BOWs) for use in warfare – from the videogame, while this only become relevant in Anderson’s films after the T-Virus was released in the Hive.
The Tyrant is the big bad of Romero’s script.
This research culminates in, like the videogame, the Tyrant, and its subsequent rampage mirrors the closing moments of the videogame very closely. By including these creatures, most of which are rather large, complicated, and cumbersome entities, the budget for Romero’s vision would conceivably far exceed that of Anderson’s originally far more low-key, fixed approach; in Resident Evil: Apocalypse’s director’s commentary, he claims that the Licker was only included in the final stages of the first film’s development, implying that the film lacked even that lacklustre “final boss”. Additionally, the script’s extremely graphic depictions of zombie and creature attacks, with victims being ripped apart and torn open and copious gore that mirrors Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978) and Day of the Dead (ibid, 1985), takes it far from an R-rating. Although these comparisons are not only fitting due to the influence Romero had on the creation of Resident Evil but also his involvement in the script, they were clearly at odds with the film studio and Capcom, who desired a more manageable budget and wider audience range, which is also at odds with Romero’s surprising faithful adaptation.
One takes on the script’s characterisation of Wesker.
In addition to incorporating more recognisable Resident Evil elements, Romero is not shy about self-gratification: characters draw comparisons to Night of the Living Dead (ibid, 1968) and call zombies “ghouls”, and the increased emphasis on both military presence and Umbrella’s surreptitious nature is extremely similar to the military’s depiction in The Crazies (ibid, 1973). Romero’s cynicism regarding government and corporate power is reflected in Wesker’s superiors being devoid of personality and appearance: “We see no faces. But expensive watches, sleeves with high-ranking stripes, indicate wealth, power, and a military presence”. Wesker’s depiction is much more military-orientated; his focus on the mission and barking orders reflects this, and it is easy to see how his characterisation could have evolved into One (Colin Salmon). Seemingly the only line of Romero’s to reach Anderson’s is “we live here now”, originally delivered by Rodriguez throughout the script in extraneous reference to her childhood. While the line becomes over-emphasised and is far from relevant in Romero’s script, when delivered by Rain it highlights the dire situation that she and the others are in. Romero’s closer adherence to gameplay mechanics is again evident in the conservation of resources; having been beset by enemies and rendered expendable, Wesker orders the division of ammo and supplies, mentioning that they came unprepared for the odds they face. While Anderson’s Commandos are similarly unprepared, they nevertheless enter the Hive fully equipped and fully armed; such resources allow the protagonists to gun down their zombie attackers without the fear of running out of ammunition, though their armaments are inevitably useless against the Red Queen’s defences. These, specifically the laser grid system, surprisingly appear in Romero’s script, though only as a quick jump-scare, with the true danger coming from the acidic steam the lasers trigger, which causes a gruesome death.
Surprisingly, the famous “laser grid” is in this script.
Thus, both Romero’s mutated creatures and Anderson’s laser grid serve the same ends – the deaths of minor characters, though Romero’s approach to this is much closer to the videogame than Anderson, who has often openly voiced his appreciation for the source material, as opposed to Romero, who largely dislikes videogames. Whereas in Anderson’s film, the lasers are significant, in Romero’s script they are glossed over in favour of an overly complex battle against Plant 42 and a mutated copperhead snake, both more suitable inclusions to a Resident Evil adaptation given their prominence in the videogame, yet clearly more expensive to incorporate than Anderson’s more subdued lasers. As S.T.A.R.S. navigates Umbrella’s laboratory, they are beset by Hunters, which are given an extreme durability upgrade. In Resident Evil, the Hunters were far stronger, faster, and more aggressive than zombies, providing an effective difficulty spike, yet they could still be dispatched using small arms fire (though close-range weapons like the shotgun were more effective). Romero’s Hunters are practically indestructible as their skeletal structure is protected by a metallic coating – the only effective tactic is to aim for their joints (an action that Resident Evil’s stiff, restrictive controls would not allow), and even then they continue their relentless pursuit, crawling and dragging themselves along the floor.
Ada also makes an appearance.
The survivors take refuge with Ada, who wishes to atone for her part in creating the T-Virus. Her videogame counterpart’s lost love, John, is amalgamated with Professor James Marcus, the videogame creator of the T-Virus, to become Dr. John Marcus, a markedly different character whose work Ada describes as being “for humanitarian purposes”, rather than specifically creating the T-Virus for military applications. This is pinned directly onto Umbrella, who corrupted Marcus’ research, and this concept was later explored through Resident Evil: Apocalypse’s Dr. Charles Ashford. Ada, far from her deceitful, untrustworthy, and sultry videogame counterpart, awkwardly explains the film’s events directly to the audience and the characters before the finale, rather than this information coming naturally. Ada’s attempts to keep Wesker out of D Lab are unsuccessful, as Wesker’s true motivations are revealed and he activates the Tyrant, confiding in Barry his intentions to retrieve the creature’s data, sell it to Umbrella, and split the money between himself and Barry as payback for Barry’s loyalty and friendship. Once Romero’s script enters D Lab, it closely follows the videogame’s finale, with Chris, Jill, and Barry openly opposing Wesker’s schemes and the Tyrant escaping and going on a rampage.
This ended about as well as you might expect.
By not resorting to a mid-level enemy like the Licker for his finale, Romero’s conclusion is considerably augmented as the Tyrant is practically unstoppable. Its physical threat, imposing stature, unrelenting nature, and iconography as the classic Resident Evil final boss give the finale a danger and tension that we must be convinced of in Anderson’s finale as his Licker has to undergo a significant mutation into a less-recognisable version of itself in order to match the Tyrant. As in the videogame, the Tyrant tears Wesker apart during its rampage, although Romero’s script describes this death as being so total and horrific that it seems unlikely that Wesker could have revived himself as in the videogames. However, as this was retroactively introduced in Resident Evil – Code: Veronica (Capcom, 2000), Wesker’s gruesome death can be understood as being his much-deserved and overdue fate, rather than a deviation from the source material, as Wesker’s death seemed to be total and final in Resident Evil. As the final countdown to the destruction and eradication of all the evidence of the T-Virus takes place, the survivors are beset by zombies and infected crows, and forced to solve contrived puzzles to access a secret passage. The tension is somewhat numbed by these distractions; typically, Resident Evil players face relatively few enemies and some rudimentary but necessary puzzles while an ominous countdown flickers onscreen (like in Resident Evil 2 when players must activate an underground train to allow the survivors to escape) but few distractions that slow progress to a crawl, as in Romero’s script. Like the videogame, though, the final confrontation between the Tyrant and the survivors is short-lived, as a single Stinger missile is enough destroy it. This ending is more predictable than Anderson’s, which mirrored Resident Evil 2’s ending, but the specifics and fundamental impact deviated quite considerably due to Anderson’s belief that to simply copy the videogame eliminated any suspense or tension for Resident Evil veterans.
The script’s clunky dialogue can be worse than the original voice acting, if you can believe that!
Instead, Romero adheres closely to the source material’s finale, with the Tyrant dispatched almost identically and the final survivors escaping just as and the mansion explodes. Romero deviates by making this explosion powerful enough to eradicate Raccoon City, which has been overrun with zombies, effectively encompassing the ending of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (Capcom, 1999) and seemingly eliminating the possibility of a direct sequel. Quite how the protagonists survive this is left unresolved, but the imagery suggests Romero intended on a big, gory, explosive finale, one that reads as being very abrupt and total rather than Anderson’s cliffhanger or the videogame’s various endings. Overall, there is very little doubt that Romero’s script is a very (very!) rough first draft; there are clear elements, such as dialogue and characterisation, which require re-drafts to make them less contrived, and the characters more three-dimensional. Largely, it ironically reads very much like the original Resident Evil videogame, with cheesy dialogue and awkward, flat characterisations. These issues were addressed in subsequent sequels and remakes, with the localisation improving over time and characters becoming more detailed and intricate. Thus, it is not too unbelievable that Romero’s script could have been improved and the constant repetition of “we live here now” and Chris’s cringe-inducing speech about evil “[residing] in all of us”, in a contrived justification of the film’s title beyond the simple and obvious fact that evil literally resides in the mansion, could have been eliminated altogether.
The movies love to use those zombies.
Additionally, rewrites could possibly eliminate the larger creatures and emphasise zombies, as in Anderson’s first film, which avoided BOWs completely. The Licker was the obvious exception, serving as the big effects finale, but Romero’s script is littered with BOWs – virtually every Resident Evil enemy is present. While enemy variation is important in videogames to maintain player interest and increase difficulty, on film the appearance of so many different creatures could potentially overwhelm it with underexplored monstrosities. Anderson’s films, after all, rely heavily on traditional zombies and utilise BOWs for the finale, rather than focusing on them, ironically making Anderson’s films more zombie films than Resident Evil movies, as the videogames are generally concerned with addressing the T-Virus’s communicability, and zombies are simply a by-product of this rather than the main objective, and this is very much reflected in Romero’s script. The result is that, oddly, Romero’s Resident Evil is less a Romero film infused with videogame elements, and rather more like a slavish videogame adaptation, with certain elements and characters altered in order to create, or force, friction between the characters and unpredictability. Rather than critiquing society, consumerism, or even videogame culture, Romero delivered a banal gore-fest, one that attempts to cram as much from its source material as possible to showcase its fidelity, rather than attempting to adapt gameplay elements and characters in smarter, more sophisticated ways.
At least Romero’s script doesn’t include shit like this…
While Anderson failed to produce direct adaptations, he nevertheless strived to include a fresh, perspective; beyond Anderson’s quickly-redacted claims that his first film was a prequel to the first videogame, his films have always been more inspired by the videogames than adapted from. Romero’s script, however, is the opposite; even though he utilises videogame characters, they all read very similar, especially supporting characters, and utilising the videogame’s puzzles seems unrealistic within the mansion’s confines, whose architecture, on film, promotes realism rather than fantasy. Finally, while videogame purists and fans may yearn for absolute fidelity, there is a considerable difference between adapting smartly and adapting directly, and Romero appears to have produced the latter. For all Anderson’s faults, particularly in his first Resident Evil, Romero’s script reveals how attempting to incorporate every aspect of Resident Evil into a single movie causes characterisation to suffer and the impact of the various creatures to be lessened. Where Anderson infuses a sci-fi, action-horror aesthetic, pulling visual inspiration from various other successful action movie archetypes, Romero relies solely on gore. By creating a more marketable, accessible, and audience-friendly film, Anderson was able to improve upon any faults in sequels and introduce other videogame elements, even though they clash with their source material. As this aligned with the intentions of the multiple production companies behind the Resident Evil films, it is hardly surprising that Anderson’s vision won out over Romero’s, whose adaptation reads, for all its attempts at slavish fidelity, as unimaginative and lacklustre, literally as though he was given crib notes concerning the general aspects of the videogame and worked from them, rather than attempting to incorporate these elements in a smarter, more inspired way.
Honestly, after Deadpool(Miller, 2016) became the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history, I actually expected a new renaissance of action movies to flood cinema screens. Finally, I thought, the days of watered down 12/12A-rated action movies is behind us; I thought we would see the gloriously foul-mouthed, gory, over-the-top action movies of the 1980s make a return now that they had been proven to be critically and commercially viable prospects. Unfortunately, that didn’t actually happen and I’m still waiting for the action movie renaissance I’ve dreamed about for the last few years; but, in the mean time, director David Leitch takes the reigns of the highly-anticipated Deadpool sequel, a movie that, again, emphasises that audiences are ready for a return of the entertaining, bombastic action movies of yesteryear.
Deadpool’s forced to try and protect Russell from Cable’s wrath.
Picking up about two years after the first movie, the immortal, wise-cracking, maniacal mercenary, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds, returning to the role he was born to play) has been carving a path of destruction through various criminal underworlds. Unfortunately, he suffers a personal tragedy when one of his targets returns for revenge; distraught and disillusioned, he attempts to kill himself in various hilarious and unsuccessful ways before Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) literally picks up the pieces and brings him to the X-Mansion. While attempting to find a place in the world as a rookie X-Man, Deadpool meets an angry, traumatised young Mutant named Russell Collins (Julian Dennison), who christens himself Firefist. Recognising that the boy has been mistreated by the Mutant-hating Headmaster (Eddie Marsan) and staff of the Essex Home for Mutant Rehabilitation, Deadpool kills one of the ordeals and the two of them are fitted with power-nullifying collars and sent to the Ice Box (a super-max prison for dangerous Mutants). Finally dying now that the collar keeps his powers from curing his cancer, Deadpool shirks Russell and wishes to die in peace; however, a cybernetic Mutant named Cable (Josh Brolin) travels back from the future and breaks into the prison to kill Russell, who is destined to grow into a dangerous killer. Torn between his desire to die and his urge to put Russell on the right path, Deadpool reluctantly finds himself assembling his own team of Mutants to protect Russell and keep Cable at bay.
With more action, more laughs, and more lewd humour than ever, Deadpool 2 definitely delivers.
Deadpool 2 had one job, in my eyes: to be everything the first movie was and more and, in many ways, it delivers. The movie has real heart, as Deadpool is forced to confront a very real loss and question his place in the world. This is, arguably, a ridiculous premise for a character that is aware that he is fictional by Reynolds pulls it off nicely; Deadpool is just as capable of pulling off some kind of over-the-top action sequence as he is cracking wise or emoting and you really root for his redemptive arc in the film. Similarly, Brolin, who brings fan-favourite Cable to life, is suitably grim and gritty; it’s as if Brolin watched all of Clint Eastwood’s Westerns and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s science-fiction movies to create this stoic brick of a man who is, nevertheless, razor-focused and carries a haunting sense of loss about him. Thankfully toned down from his comics counterpart, Cable is the straight man to Deadpool’s madcap insanity and the two play off of each other fantastically whenever they’re on screen. Brianna Hildebrand returns as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, now revealed to be in a same-sex relationship, though her role seems to be the same, if not reduced, from the first movie. Instead, Deadpool recruits Domino (Zazie Beetz), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan), Zeitgeist (Bill Skarsgård), the Vanisher (Brad Pitt, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo), and (hilariously) the entirely ordinary and nondescript Peter (Rob Delaney) to form X-Force, a Mutant team capable of doing what the X-Men refuse to do and kill Cable. While the team’s fate is ill-fated, to say the least, the recruitment process and their initial mission are a highlight of the movie. Unlike the first film, Deadpool 2 does not really feature a central antagonist; Cable is more of an anti-hero throughout the film and the Headmaster is not a physical threat to anyone. Once Russell decides to enact revenge against the Headmaster, he recruits some serious muscle in the form of an all-CGI Juggernaut (Ryan Reynolds), finally doing the character a modicum of justice, but the central theme of the movie is more about coping with loss and family. Deadpool, who was on the verge of having a family of his own, forms a surrogate family through X-Force and his X-Men allies and, through them, finds the means of both redemption and to seemingly correct the loss he suffers at the beginning of the movie. Filled with Easter Eggs, in-jokes, meta-humour, action, and enough blood to make Paul Verhoeven proud, Deadpool 2 does exactly what I wanted: it takes everything that made the first movie great, ramps it up to eleven or twelve, and then expands Deadpool’s world and cast of characters beautifully.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Great Stuff
Recommended: Definitely, movies like Deadpool and Deadpool 2 are a lost art in these days of PG-friendly cinema. Best moment: As mentioned, the recruitment process of X-Force and their first mission is pretty funny, while the rescue operation and the second fight between Deadpool and Cable is pretty bad-ass. There’s also some unexpected cameos in the X-Mansion that made me chuckle. Worst moment: We don’t learn too much about Cable’s back-story beyond the basics (it’s not clear which future he’s from, for example) and the film did lack a central physical antagonist but, given Cable is due to return in future films and the theme of the movie, these are minor nit-picks.
So, as may already be apparent, I am a pretty big fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. I am, by no means, a “Sonic Apologist” though; I am more than capable of admitting to and pointing out flaws in individual videogames and the franchise as a whole. However, unlike what appears to be the majority of Sonic fans (seriously, is there a more toxic fan community that the one adopted by Sonic fans?), I tend to be quite pleased with most Sonic titles. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that, these days, I generally ask little from my videogames than a fun, engaging, pick-up-and-play experience that has some depth but not an infinite amount of depth. It probably also helps that I rarely, if ever, buy videogames first-hand on launch day and therefore spend less money per purchase so have less to complain about. With that in mind, I recently completed Sonic Forces (Sonic Team, 2017) for the Xbox One and figured I would share my thoughts on it. Created to commemorate Sonic’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Sonic Forces ostensibly positions itself as a loose sequel to Sonic Generations (ibid, 2011) and Sonic: Lost World (ibid, 2013) and was developed and released within the development and launch of the massively successful Sonic Mania (PagodaWest Games/Headcannon, 2017), a videogame that successfully (and finally) returned Sonic to his high-speed 2D roots.
It’ll take two Sonic’s and a randomer to save the world!
Sonic Forces, in comparison, sees players once again take control of “Modern Sonic” in 3D and 2.5D action stages and “Classic Sonic” (now retconned as being from “Another dimension” rather than being Modern Sonic’s past self) in 2.5D platforming sections. Players can also create their own custom Avatar from a variety of options, a feature that seems to have replaced the arguably more sensible idea of playing as the Sonic Boom iteration of Sonic. Narratively, Sonic Forces attempts to be the darkest in the series since Shadow the Hedgehog (SEGA Studio USA, 2005); during a routine battle against Doctor Eggman, Sonic is attacked and defeated by Eggman’s latest creation/ally (the exact specifics are a little…blurry, to say the least), Infinite, a villain so dark and emo that you’ll went to throw on a dirty black hoody and bust out some Taking Back Sunday while crying over that girl who cheated on you and writing badly composed poetry every time he’s on screen. Infinite appears to possess the Phantom Ruby from Sonic Mania and uses its reality-warping powers to conjure multiple illusions of some of Sonic’s greatest foes (Chaos Zero, Shadow the Hedgehog, Zavok, and Metal Sonic).
Two of these will not feature as bosses…
With Sonic defeated, Eggman and his forces overrun the entire world and take control, leaving the world’s hopes in the hands of a rag-tag resistance led by Miles “Tails” Prower, Knuckles the Echidna, and (most of) Sonic’s other friends and allies. Vastly outnumbered, they recruit a rookie to help the cause (the player’s Avatar) and, randomly, Classic Sonic, and set out to first rescue Sonic from the Death Egg and then put a stop to Eggman’s nefarious regime.
Boost through stages at break-neck speed as Modern Sonic.
If you’ve played Sonic Generations, then you’ll be immediately familiar with Sonic Forces. Ditching the poorly-conceived “run button” of Sonic: Lost World, Sonic Forces once again sees players smash robots, collect Golden Rings, and collect Wisps to fill up a Boost meter as Modern Sonic. When the meter fills up, you can hold down the Boost button and blast through enemies and stages at break-neck speed; Modern Sonic can also utilise the now-classic Homing Attack to target enemies and other objects and team up with the player’s Avatar to perform a Double Boost or allow the Avatar to attack enemies.
Struggle with dodgy controls as Classic Sonic!
Classic Sonic, meanwhile, can no longer collect Elemental Shields or be assigned different abilities like he could in Sonic Generations, but he does have the Drop-Dash from Sonic Mania (which I honestly used even less than in Sonic Mania, if that’s even possible). As in Sonic Generations, Classic Sonic feels very heavy and floaty and sluggish, especially compared to Modern Sonic’s gameplay and the picture-perfect controls of Sonic Mania and his inclusion in the videogame is an odd question mark for me as he doesn’t really factor into the plot that heavily.
Create your own fan characters with the Avatar creation tool!
Players can create their own Avatar from seven species: hedgehog, dog, cat, bird, bear, wolf, and rabbit. You can customise the Avatar’s skin colour, fur colour, eye shape and colour, ear type, and pile all sorts of clothing and accessories onto them. For a fan community that loves to create recolours and their own characters, this is a fun opportunity to create your own Sonic character, with quite a few options to choose from, but the function does have a few limitations. Firstly, you can apply hats, gloves, and shoes to your Avatar but you cannot recolour them; secondly, you cannot alter their height or width (so you can’t create fatter Avatars); and, thirdly, most of the clothing and accessories must be unlocked by completing Missions during gameplay.
Try to not fly off stages using the Avatar’s Wispons!
You can use the Avatar function to create close approximations of Sonic characters, but they’ll never be perfect; for example, clothing for Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Amy Rose are available but you can’t really create any of them in picture-perfect detail. The Avatars attack using a whip-like lasso that allows them to do a poor-man’s Homing Attack and can be equipped with a variety of “Wispons”, gun-like devices that are powered by Wisps and allow the Avatar to perform awkward variations of Sonic’s Wisp abilities from Sonic Colours(Sonic Team, 2010). I say “awkward” because many of these abilities can cause the Avatar to go shooting off the stage and to their death or have a slight delay that cause you to take damage; honestly, I don’t really know why Wisps are even still a thing in the Sonic franchise.
Mash that button for a Double Boost!
As mentioned earlier, you can complete a variety of Missions to unlock clothing and accessories for your Avatars, additional features for Wispons, and bonus stages. Some Missions are stupidly simple, like switching your Avatar’s footwear, and others are more tricky, like completing stages within a time limit. You’ll also be tasked with completing random SOS Missions; occasionally, a blue, green, or red SOS signal will pop up from a stage you’ve previously completed and you can revisit the stage to complete the Mission. These range from finding and freeing prisoners from familiar-looking prison pods, completing stages with your Avatar, or completing them with a random Avatar. Ironically, considering Sonic Forces continues the annoying trend of modern Sonic titles to hand hold you through every arbitrary function (“Press X to jump!” springs instantly to mind), you only ever get one notification about which colour equates to which SOS Mission, so you’ll have to make sure you know what you have to do or you might blast through a stage in record time only to fail the Mission like an idiot because you forgot what the red signal meant. Both Sonics can still collect Red Rings in stages; collecting these allows you to get Achievements and unlocks bonus stages. Bonus stages consist of annoying tasks like dodging lasers and making it through small stages where platforms randomly vanish beneath you, but collecting the Red Rings can be a fun task as it encourages exploration.
The level of graphic detail is quite high.
Graphically, Sonic Forces is gorgeous; running on an updated version of the Hedgehog Engine, you’ll marvel at the level of detail and layers in every stage. Blasting through Green Hill as it’s attacked by giant mechs or through a city under attack by Death Egg Robots is a real thrill and there’s clearly been a lot of thought put into the presentation. Gameplay-wise, there are still times when control gives way to automation (dash pads, boost pads, loop-de-loops, and quick-time events all take control away from the player) but, honestly, I didn’t really care because the game is all about speed and going forward so I am happy to be propelled along as long as it’s not into a bottomless pit. Despite my disappointment at having to play through Green Hill and Chemical Plant again, stages are fun and surprisingly layered; players can take multiple paths in many levels, some of them only accessible when you have certain Wispons equipped, others by simply using the Homing Attack, and they’re short enough that they never become tedious or boring. Indeed, the longest stages are saved for later in the game and, by then, it’s a real sign that the difficulty has ramped up a bit. For me, though, having fun stages to play in short-to-medium bursts makes for a far more enjoyable experience and really assists in speed runs.
Sonic Forces‘ story is quite weak.
On a slightly related note, acquiring trophies/achievements is a blast in Sonic Forces, largely thanks to the short stages and the ease of their requirements; if you like getting trophies/achievements without much effort then you’ll love Sonic Forces. I know that I was so encouraged by how many I popped in my first playthrough that I was more than happy to try some of the more difficult ones and the game really lends itself to a pick-up-and-play mentality. Narratively though…oh boy. This is perhaps the weakest aspect of Sonic Forces; when the videogame uses CGI cutscenes, its amazing and, as always, Sonic Team excel in this area (graphically, anyway; the script still leaves a lot to be desired). Unfortunately, a great deal of the plot is told through talking heads on the world map or through simple white text on a black background. Quite how Eggman acquired the Phantom Ruby is never really explored and Infinite’s back-story (largely told in the free DLC, “Episode Shadow”) is paper thin; he got beaten up by Shadow and has apparently become some kind of weird cyborg-thing. It’s a neat twist to see Eggman win right from the start but there’s never a real sense of urgency or threat; you blast though stages and Eggman’s underlings with very little fear of failure.
Bosses, at least, are larger, layered, and fun to battle.
As for bosses, there’s a surprising lack of them here. You’ll do battle with Zavok, Eggman, Metal Sonic, and Infinite but Chaos Zero is depressingly taking out in a cutscene…by Classic Sonic…with one move…and you never battle against Shadow. Boss battles take three forms; either you battle on a 2.5D arena, race down an infinite highway towards the opponent, or take them on from a slightly skewed overhead perspective. Bosses have a variety of attacks and forms/stages, which can make them challenging but not too difficult, and sometimes require you to team up with the Avatar to win the day. There’s honestly a lot to like about Sonic Forces if you ignore the writing and the poorly-conceived plot; gameplay is fun, action-packed, and blasts along at a decent speed. It’s fun to create Avatars, unlock new gear for them, and to pop trophies/achievements. I do feel like more could have been done, though; honestly, Sonic Team really should have included Boom-Sonic as the third character (maybe include the Avatar function as well, though) because the Avatar is so blatantly and clearly there in place of him that it just feels weird. I also would have liked to see the ability to more accurately create Avatars of other Sonic characters and greater customisation in the Avatar function; it works but it feels very limited at times.
On the plus side, it’s really easy to get S-ranks if you blast through as fast as possible and don’t die, which is great for me, and I didn’t encounter that many cheap deaths or glitches while playing. Sure, sometimes you blast along so fast (especially as free DLC Super Sonic) that you’ll over shoot jumps, pits, or automated sections and fall to your death but I never glitched through anything or found any oddities and the game also ditches the lives system so you don’t have to worry about running out of tries. As great as Sonic Mania was at bringing Sonic back to his roots, I feel like the universal praise for that game has tainted the reception of Sonic Forces and that people are all-too-ready to tear apart the modern, Boost-heavy emphasis of 3D Sonic titles to focus on the positives. I feel there’s room for both, especially given how little funding and development is needed to make a top-notch 2D Sonic game compared to a Triple A 3D title; I just hope that Sonic Team either introduce more of Sonic’s cast back into the 3D games as playable characters or, at least, work on Classic Sonic’s gameplay as he feels jarringly slow and sluggish compared to his Modern counterpart.
Released: 27 April 2018 Director: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Budget: $325 to 400 million Stars: Josh Brolin, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Pratt, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, and Zoe Saldaña
The Plot: Thanos (Brolin) carves a path of self-righteous destruction across the universe in search of six all-powerful cosmic gems that will allow him to erase half of all sentient life with a snap of his fingers. Though fractured from recent events, the Avengers scramble to oppose the Mad Titan’s plot, and join forces with the Guardians of the Galaxy to seek out and protect the remining Infinity Stones and acquire the means to combat Thanos and his vast army.
The Background: “There was an idea […] to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could”. For decades, superhero films existed in self-contained bubbles; sure, there would be sly hints towards other heroes, but costumed avengers primarily fought alone on the big screen. That all changed with Iron Man (Favreau, 2008), the first tentative step towards the largest interconnected series of movies ever created, but the unprecedented success of Avengers Assemble/The Avengers (Whedon, 2012) saw the MCU make massive strides towards becoming an unstoppable multimedia juggernaut. After success with characters both known and obscure, the MCU’s flagship characters came together once more; although Avengers: Age of Ultron(ibid, 2015) saw writer/director Joss Wheden part ways with the studio and critical reception was mixed compared to the first film, Age of Ultron still grossed $1,404 billion at the box office and Marvel pushed forward with their biggest venture yet, a two-part Avengers film shot back-to-back by established MCU directors Anthony and Joe Russo. Although Whedon initially had no plans for Thanos when he included the Mad Titan in a post-credits scene at the end of Avengers Assemble, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige quickly began planting the seeds for Thanos’s quest for the mysterious Infinity Stones throughout the MCU for this massive production, which drew significant inspiration from the memorable Infinity Gauntlet (Starlin, et al, 1991) and Infinity (Hickman, et al, 2013) stories.
Multiple characters, comic inspiration, and complex CGI brought to life the MCU’s biggest film to date.
After explaining away a blink-and-miss it inconsistency regarding the all-power Infinity Gauntlet, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely set to work deciding which characters they would use, in which combinations, and gearing the first movie towards a series of unique interactions and set pieces. The Russos worked closely with other MCU directors, like James Gunn, to ensure that the tone and characterisation of the individual films could be retained, although characters from the popular Netflix shows unfortunately did not appear in the massive line-up. Central to the film was, of course, Thanos himself; though his obsession with Lady Death was removed from his motivation, Thanos was cast as the hero of the film and brought to life as a complex digital character thanks to the work of Digital Domain. Featuring nearly every character in the MCU and spanning the galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War boasted over 253 shots from animation studio Framestore alone, to say nothing of 200 digital shots of Thanos produced by Weta Digital, and over 3000 overall digital shots from a variety of studios to bring to life the Russo’s ambitious and complex plan for the unprecedented team-up. Avengers: Infinity War was the very definition of hype, with the first trailer alone becoming the most viewed trailer of the time; this, naturally, translated into astronomical financial success as the film made nearly $2.050 billion at the box office and became the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time. Reviews gushed over the film’s perfect balance between drama, action, and humour, the characterisation of Thanos, and the sudden gut-punch of its ending. After a year of agonising hype, speculation, and anticipation, the story continued in Avengers: Endgame (Russo and Russo, 2019), which was actually morecritically and commercially successful and the MCU continued on into its fourth phase with more momentum than ever before.
The Review: If you’d told me all those years ago when Tony Stark/Iron Man (Downey Jr.) graduated from a C-list Marvel hero to the face of the largest, most successful superhero franchise ever conceived, that we’d see him not only team up with some of Marvel’s most iconic superheroes but also end up rocketing into space to fight alongside obscure characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy and punching a massive purple alien in the face to safeguard half of all sentient life from the misuse of six cosmic space gems…well, I would’ve called you mad. Superhero films just didn’t do this sort of thing; they were always “grounded”, based in some kind of reality, even when they dealt with cosmic subject matter. And they never, ever interconnected. The closest we ever got were some sly references, or teams of characters who already existed together, but we never got to see an interconnected universe like in the comics. And, quite frankly, I couldn’t be happier. Go and pick up The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (Lee, et al, 1964) and see how many gratuitous cameos are wedged into the Sinister Six’s first appearance alone! Marvel, DC, hell almost every comic publisher has a shared universe of heroes and, as much as I’ve enjoyed the solo superhero movie efforts of the last forty-odd years of my life, I couldn’t be happier that the MCU actually has the balls, and the skill, to pull of such a vast, interconnected series of movies that is both respectful of the source material rather than ashamed by it and offers a fresh, new take on these beloved characters.
Thanos, and his mad desire to bring a twisted “balance” to the universe, is the focus of the movie.
However, with all that said, Avengers: Infinity War isn’t about Iron Man; it’s not the story of the titular Avengers, or a celebration of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes coming together to oppose a maniacal despot. No, this is the story of Thanos, the hulking, conquering Mad Titan himself. Previously cameoing at the end of the last twoAvengers films, and popping up in Guardians of the Galaxy(Gunn, 2014), Thanos was more of an ominous, looming force throughout the galaxy. Unless you’d read the comics, you probably had no idea why he was such a big deal but Infinity War establishes his threat immediately by having him ransack the Statesman alongside his “children”, the Black Order, in search of the Space Stone. In the build up to this film, I always assumed Thanos would be introduced by slaughtering Odin Allfather (Anthony Hopkins); after all, what better way to establish the biggest bad in the MCU than having him kill an actual God? However, since Odin is already dead, Infinity War establishes Thanos’s power by having him already be in possession of not only the Infinity Gauntlet, but also the Power Stone, having sacked Xandar off-screen. Thanos then has his henchman kill half of the remaining Asgardians, puts a sound beating on Doctor Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Ruffalo), and chokes the life out of beloved anti-hero Loki Laufeyson (Tom Hiddleston). Unlike in the comics, were Thanos was driven by a desperate desire to win the affection of Mistress Death, the MCU Thanos has a twisted take on the destructive and wasteful nature of the universe; since his warnings failed to save his home world, Thanos made it his life’s mission to purge half of all life on every world so that billions more will be saved in the long run. After realising that the six Infinity Stones can make his dreams come true with a literal snap of his fingers, Thanos sets his minions out into the cosmos to acquire them while he tracks down his adopted daughter, Gamora (Saldaña), the only person who knows the location of the Soul Stone.
Blasted into space, Iron Man is determined to bring the fight to Thanos before he can threaten the Earth.
Since Thanos brings death in his wake, the arrival of his minions, Ebony Maw (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) and Cull Obsidian (Terry Notary), on Earth naturally causes quite a stir. Forewarned of Thanos’s impending arrival by the shellshocked Banner, Doctor Steven Strange (Cumberbatch) and Wong (Benedict Wong) quickly recruit Stark to help them prepare a defence. Despite having retired (…again…) from the superhero life and ready to start a family with Virginia “Pepper” Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) Stark doesn’t hesitate to show off his brand new nanotech armour and stand against the alien invaders, though his arrogance and recklessness causes him to quickly butt heads with Dr. Strange. Still in possession of the Time Stone, housed within the Eye of Agamotto, Dr. Strange is as focused on the big picture as Thanos, in many ways; while Stark wants to commandeer the alien spacecraft and bring the fight to Thanos in a pre-emptive strike, Dr. Strange is more concerned with keeping the Time Stone from being misused and, despite his Hippocratic Oath, is fully prepared to let Stark and even Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Holland) die if it means protecting the greater good from the Time Stone. Having sensed the Black Order’s arrival, Spider-Man jumps in to help with his usual blend of heroism, enthusiasm, and desire to impress his mentor, but soon ends up blasting through the cosmos in an alien vessel and garbed in his “Iron Spider” outfit. Although Stark is pissed that Spidey tagged along for the ride, he dubs him an Avenger (much to Peter’s immense pride) and prepares his make-shift allies for the coming battle. While Dr. Strange is right that Stark is bolstered by his overinflated ego and sense of superiority, Stark’s reasoning for wanting to confront Thanos is fully understandable considering that he’s been taking the direct (if reckless) approach ever since he escaped from that cave. Traumatised by his brief glimpse of the vast danger that awaits in the universe, Stark wishes to protect the world in a suit of armour and has constantly been working to find ways to prepare the planet for greater threats. His methods, however, have been highly questionable; not only did they lead to the creation of Ultron (James Spader), but his willingness to sign the Sokovia Accords directly led to the disassembling of the Avengers right when they’re needed the most, and yet he’s determined to power through and to prove he was right by ending Thanos’s threat before it can begin.
Cap and Natasha turn to Wakanda for help, but Wanda’s forced to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Since the Avengers are splintered, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Evans) has been on the run; having grown out a delicious beard and donning a modified version of his famous suit, one that casts him more as a nomad than a representative of the United States or Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Steve and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Johansson) have been forced off the grid to avoid being arrested by Senator Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) for opposing the Accords. His main concern at the start of the film is locating Wanda Maximoff (Olsen) and the Vision (Bettany), who took off for some alone time and ended up being viciously attacked by Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon) and Corvus Glaive (Michael James Shaw) of the Black Order; since the Vision has the Mind Stone imbedded in his forehead, he receives the brunt of the attack and is left in critical condition, leaving Steve no choice but to take him to Wakanda so that Shuri (Letitia Wright) can help separate him from the stone. There, they’re reunited with T’Challa/Black Panther (Boseman) and James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), who offer them safe refuge and some much-needed allies for the coming battle. Thanks to Wakanda’s advanced technology, the heroes are effectively shielded from Thanos’s army, but his alien monstrosities are relentless and think nothing of tearing through the energy shield even as it shreds them to pieces, forcing Cap to lead a battle into war once more. Despite being on bad terms with Stark, Cap’s dedication to his friends and the safety of the world remains his top priority; he’s largely clueless to the magnitude of the greater threat at hand, and yet doesn’t hesitate to oppose Thanos when he comes to claim the remaining Infinity Stones, literally throwing himself in front of his friends to try and buy them time. Sadly, it’s Wanda who suffers the most; despite Shuri’s best efforts, the heroes run out of time and Wanda’s forced to use her unmatched powers, born from the Reality Stone, to destroy her lover to keep the Mind Stone out of Thanos’s hands…only for the Mad Titan to turn back time, wrench it from the Vision’s head, and force Wanda to see her beloved rendered inert before her eyes.
Rocket and Groot aid Thor in creating a new weapon, while Gamora is captured by her mad foster father.
Thanos is able to accomplish this goal despite the best efforts of the MCU’s greatest heroes thanks to an ill-timed emotional outburst from Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Pratt). Touring the galaxy alongside his friends and fellow Guardians, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Diesel), and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Quill’s masculinity is tested when the group stumble upon the beaten body of Thor Odinson (Hemsworth) out in the endless void. Already traumatised after the death of his father and the destruction of his home world, Thor buries his grief and anguish beneath a determination to re-arm himself with a Thanos-killing weapon courtesy of weaponsmith Eitri (Peter Dinklage) at Nidavellir, a titanic forge orbiting a dying star. After furnishing him with an artificial eye, Rocket tries to console Thor, whose losses have been absolutely devastating, but, though the God of Thunder brushes off any concerns for his welfare with his usual bravado and is determined to kill Thanos as recompense for his actions, it’s clear that Thor is wracked by denial and despair at the loss of his brother and people. He finds new allies with the Guardians, despite Peter feeling threatened by him, and Rocket and Groot help him to reignite Nidavellir’s forge to craft his new weapon, Stormbreaker, a mighty axe capable of summoning the Bifrost and unbound by Odin’s enchantment. Meanwhile, Gamora, shaken by how close her adopted father is to completing his life’s goal, begs Peter to kill her if it comes to it to keep the Soul Stone out of Thanos’s hands. Although he’s reluctant, he actually shows a willingness to go through with this, only to be thwarted when Thanos manipulates reality in his favour. Gamora’s repeated attempts to kill herself and defy Thanos are similarly deflected by the Mad Titan, who forces her to divulge her knowledge to spare her sister, Nebula (Karen Gillan), from a macabre torture. This sees Gamora accompany Thanos to Vormir, where the ethereal presence of “The Stonekeeper” (Johann Schmidt/The Red Skull (Ross Marquand) making a much-welcome return to the MCU) details that the stone can only be claimed if one sacrifices someone they love. While Gamora is initially amused by this, believing Thanos is too twisted to ever love anything, she (and audiences everywhere) is soon aghast to find that Thanos truly did love his adopted daughter, and thus he casts her to her death on the rocks below to get one step closer to achieving his goal. The knowledge of her lover’s death drives Peter into a rage, ruining the carefully laid out plan he and the others concocted to subdue Thanos with a multi-stage attack and Mantis’s sleep-inducing abilities. However, while many may rage at Peter for being so stupid and costing them their best chance at removing Thanos from the source of his power, his outburst is fully understandable given how deeply he cared for Gamora, and ultimately plays into his overall characterisation as a flawed human being rather than some infallible hero.
The Nitty-Gritty: Since Avengers: Infinity War features so many characters, you might think that some are more developed than others, but that’s not really the case here. Thanks to the core cast featuring in their own movies and team ups prior to this, Infinity War easily jumps right into the central conflict without having to worry too much about establishing origins or motivations. While this is great for long-time followers of the MCU, newcomers might be a bit bewildered but if this was your first MCU film then that’s really on you more than anything else. While not every character gets a significant sub-plot or side mission, they still find some way to make an impression, even it’s something as simple as being funny or having an action scene. Despite having his own vendetta against Thanos, Drax is basically a non-factor in the entire proceedings; his one attempt to kill the murderer of his family leaves him crippled by the power of the Reality Stone, but he makes up for this with some hilarious moments such as his attempts to be “invisible” and his ridiculous “Why is Gamora?!” line. As ever with an MCU production, it’s the little things that make the most impression; things like Spider-Man not being able to remember everyone’s names, Star-Lord flipping Thanos the bird, and Eitri and Thor’s “Only if I die” exchange are great moments of levity and characterisation, especially in a film where the stakes are so high. The Russos do a fantastic job of recreating the look and feel of each separate character and franchise so it all feels seamless. While some seemed confused as to why Thor needed to create a new weapon after harnessing his lightening powers in Thor: Ragnarok (Waititi, 2017), the point is to have something tangible to focus his energies through, to craft a weapon specifically to negate the Infinity Stones and kill Thanos, and to give Thor a goal to work towards so he can feel useful and not give in to his utter despair. On the flip side, it’s true that we never really get (or got) much time to invest in the Wanda/Vision romance; their connection is undoubtable and a pivotal part of the film, but we very much pick up with them trying to figure it out rather than discovering it.
While there’s not much Hulk action and the Black Order are a bit random, we do learn a lot about Thanos.
Similarly, there’s a sub-plot regarding the Hulk’s refusal to emerge after his thrashing at Thanos’s hands; while this is amusingly played as an allegory for sexual performance, it’s never actually stated why Hulk won’t come out. It’s assumed that he’s scared and humbled, but we’re told (outside of the movies, so it doesn’t really count) that the Hulk was just sick of fighting Banner’s battles. Personally, I do feel the excised scenes of the Hulk bursting from the Hulkbuster armour would’ve only added to the action-packed finale (and I would’ve loved if he’d been the Grey Hulk as well), so Hulk fans might be a little disappointed by how small a role the Jade Giant plays in the proceedings. Additionally, we really don’t learn anything about the Black Order except their absolutely loyal to Thanos and pretty sadistic villains in their own right; introduced and offed over the course of this film, the foursome is really only here to act as Thanos’s proxies, and I still think it would’ve been cool if guys like Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) and even Loki had filled these roles. Still, it’s honestly nothing short of a miracle that Infinity War manages to juggle all its characters and interweaving plot lines so well; I’ve seen team-based movies that have struggled with less than half the amount of content of this film, though it helps that the MCU has a competent plan, enthusiastic directors and actors, and so many films behind it to lay all the foundations. Some characters are notable in their absence, like Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), but these characters got their due in the follow-up so it all works out. Infinity War had easily the highest stakes of any MCU film at the time, with the fate of literally half the universe in the balance, and the whole film is framed as a frantic chase to prepare for, and stop, Thanos from reaching his goal. Fittingly, we do learn quite a bit about Thanos; easily the most complex and layered villain in the entire MCU at that point, Thanos believes himself the hero of the story. He longs to save billions of lives and to balance the universe through the culling of millions and is more than willing to kill anyone who stands in the way of that goal, but also shows respect, compassion, and genuine affection for both his foes and his adopted family. Through Thanos, we also learn a bit more about Gamora and Nebula’s chaotic and violent upbringing, and the film definitely goes out of its way to present Thanos as both a maniacal despot bent on genocide and a reasonable, well-meaning individual who actually has some solid arguments…even if he goes about enacting his plot in the most diabolical way imaginable.
The film’s visual style is absolutely top notch and bolstered by loads of fun, unique action and interactions.
The scope of Avengers: Infinity War is simply off the charts. The narrative is constantly jumping between the outer reaches of space and here on Earth, and characters travel to several different, visually interesting worlds and locations during the course of the film. Many of these are established places in the MCU, like Wakanda and Knowhere, but even these locations are given a new perspective thanks to Thanos’s influence; the sight of his monstrosities tearing across the Wakandan plains makes for one hell of an epic shot and fight sequence with a grander scale than anything we’d seen in the MCU up to that point. Indeed, the CGI and visual effects are fantastic all throughout Infinity War, with Thanos being the obvious standout. A fully realised, flesh and blood character, his creation is so intricate that you’d barely even realise he was a computer creation so detailed are his physical quirks and emotive qualities. While the CGI on Iron Man’s nanosuit is a little spotty, and Spider-Man’s mask vanishes a little too smoothly for me, all the visual effects are undeniably top-notch on both characters, and it’s frankly astounding that everything looks and feels like it’s actually real despite how much of it is all digitally created. Thanks to the Reality Stone, Thanos is free to bend reality and physics to his will, reducing Drax and Mantis to cubes and ribbons with a thought, leaving Taneleer Tivan/The Collector’s (Benicio del Toro) museum a flaming shambles, and even projecting a lush, verdant recreation of Titan to parallel the desolate wasteland it has become since his people ignored his warnings. This sets the stage for the climatic battle between Thanos and Iron Man’s makeshift team, in which Dr. Strange puzzles the Mad Titan with his incantations and the maniacal despot implodes a moon and curls its fragments at his foes! There’s so much happening in each of these battles that you can spot new things every time you watch the film, and every character gets a little something to do, whether it’s Spidey frantically webbing up his new friends as they’re tossed about, Bucky spinning Rocket around so they can blast at Thanos’s creatures, or Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle) carpet bombing the invading army around the Wakandan perimeter.
In a shocking twist, Thanos succeeds in his goal and snaps away half of all life in the universe!
Obviously, the thing that separates Infinity War from the rest of the MCU (and most comic book movies) is the fact that the villain actually wins in the end. Stark and the others were able to keep him off balance long enough to largely avoid him using the Infinity Gauntlet, but Star-Lord’s outburst costs them the chance to get the gauntlet off him and results in the team being soundly defeated. Skewered and left gravely wounded, Iron Man is unable to keep Dr. Strange from bargaining for their lives with the Time Stone; while it seems as though this goes against his earlier declaration to sacrifice them in favour of the stone, it’s actually all part of a larger endgame as Dr. Strange had looked into the future and found only one outcome where the heroes were victorious out of billions of possible scenarios, and that outcome was predicated on Thanos being victorious. Thus, armed with the collective powers of Reality, Time, Power, Space, and Soul, Thanos is easily able to teleport to Wakanda, swat aside Cap’s fledgling opposition, and tear the final Infinity Stone from the Vision’s head. Thankfully, Thor is on hand to enact his revenge, driving Stormbreaker right into Thanos’s chest and seemingly saving the day but, sadly, he didn’t go for the head and, just like in the comics, Thanos snaps his fingers and the worst possible scenario plays out before our eyes. All noise, whether ambient or otherwise, is sucked from the film and we’re forced to watch as these iconic characters literally turn to dust before our very eyes! Bucky, Groot (hell, all of the Guardians except Rocket and Nebula!), Sam Wilson/The Falcon (Anthony Mackie), and even Black Panther disintegrate into nothingness but easily the most harrowing loss is that of the young Spider-Man. Clinging to his existence with a tenacious desperation, he fades away in the arms of his stunned mentor, and Stark is left hurt and injured with the weight of his monumental failure. Similarly, those left alive are barely able to comprehend the scope of what has happened and end the film in a dazed confusion, the realisation that they have lost (and lost badly) just sinking in. Even now, many years removed, this remains a haunting and deeply impactful ending; never before had the MCU witnessed such instant and total failure and the shock of seeing some of its most iconic characters simply sniffed out with but a thought remains a disturbing visual to end on. As for our “hero”, Thanos makes good on his promise to retire following his victory, happy in the knowledge that the universe will be better off with half its population dead, and unaware that a small glimmer of hope for those left has been signalled to assist.
The Summary: As someone who had waited his entire life to see a group superheroes finally come together in one movie, to share an interconnected universe just like in the comics, and to interact with each other in unique and fun ways, I was super excited for Avengers Assemble. I remember watching the MCU unfold back in the day and still not quite being able to believe that this was actually happening, and then being blown away when it actually did and the MCU exploded into a massive success. Now, take all that and multiply it by a hundred and you have Avengers: Infinity War! Not once would I have ever guessed that we’d see Thanos, or an adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet, make it to cinema screens. Hell, I was surprised the Avengers came together to fight Loki and the Chitauri rather than a gaggle of their solo villains, and the idea of this tyrannical dictator carving a path of destruction throughout the universe (not just Earth), besting the MCU’s strongest characters and even succeeding in his diabolical goal was just unprecedented. And even if I could have guessed that we’d see that, I never would have imagined that such a villain would be presented as a complex and, yes, relatable character. Even setting aside the MCU’s “villain problem”, it really wasn’t the normal thing to frame a superhero film’s bad guy as the lead character, one with lofty dreams and understandable motivations, especially one created entirely out of CGI! The idea was laughable, but damn…Marvel Studios did it; and not only did they do it, but they absolutely smashed it! Avengers: Infinity War was a near-perfect culmination of the MCU’s long ten-year journey. All those solo films, team ups, the risks taken on obscure characters all paid off in the biggest superhero crossover ever conceived at the time. An astonishing blend of action, humour, heart, and visual effects flawlessly captured the look, feel, atmosphere, and characterisations of these different franchises and they all felt perfectly at home co-existing in this vast fictional universe. I say “near-perfect” only because Angers: Infinity War isn’t one movie; it’s two. I don’t say this as a detriment, though; what I mean is, Infinity War is bumped up to perfection when viewed alongside Avengers: Endgame, which completes the story in a way that fundamentally changed the landscape of the MCU going forward. It all started here, though, with the Avengers’ greatest failure, an ending that never fails to leave an impression in its raw morbidity that just leaves you salivating to throw in the next film and see this tragedy undone through the noblest of sacrifices. And yet, Avengers: Infinity War still works incredibly well when viewed by itself; it’s packed with spectacle and more superhero action than you could ever imagine and is a fitting love letter not just to fans of these movies, but lifelong comic book fans such as myself who dreamt of the day when the sprawling, interconnected tales we grew up with would make it to the big screen.
My Rating:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
Fantastic
What did you think to Avengers: Infinity War? Were you impressed by the scope and spectacle of the film or were there a few too many characters for your liking? Were you disappointed that the Hulk didn’t play a larger role in the film and which characters were missing from the film for you? What did you think to Thanos, his revised motivations, and his depiction in the film? Were you annoyed that Star-Lord cost the heroes their best chance at stopping Thanos? How did the ending affect you at the time, and how do you think it holds up today in hindsight? What did you think to it as an adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet? How are you celebrating the debut of the Avengers today and what are some of your favourite Avengers storylines, characters, or adaptations? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on the Avengers in the comments below.
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