Author: Dr. K

Game Corner: RoboCop: Rogue City (Xbox Series X)

Dr. KLeave a comment

Released: 02 November 2023
Developer: Teyon
Also Available For: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S

The Background:
Although RoboCop’s (Verhoeven, 1987) surprising success saw it followed by big screen sequels, a cartoon, and a live-action television show, these were largely met with mixed to negative reviews. While the R-rated franchise all-but flopped as a kids’ cartoon, RoboCop did fairly well in arcades back in the day. Unfortunately, the videogame adaptation of RoboCop 3 (Dekker, 1993) performed about as well as its source material. RoboCop fared better when battling another iconic cyborg, something only further evidenced when an attempt to reinvigorate the cyborg cop on then-modern consoles flopped hard back in 2003. The near universal negative reception for Titus Interactive Studio’s RoboCop meant players had to wait twenty years for another first-person shooter (FPS) adaptation of the franchise, one courtesy of Teyon, the developers behind Terminator: Resistance (2019), the first halfway decent Terminator videogame in ten years (at the time). For RoboCop: Rogue City, Teyon worked closely with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and publisher Nacon to ensure the game was faithful to the original film and captured the dark satire of the franchise, even bringing back Peter Weller to reprise his iconic role. In contrast to fast-paced FPS titles, director Piotr Latocha lobbied to recreate Weller’s robotic, methodical movements and emphasise RoboCop’s “Prime Directives” as much as action-packed shooting. Reaching 435,000 players in its first two weeks, RoboCop: Rogue City received mostly positive reviews that praised the fidelity to the movies and layered gameplay mechanics, while criticising the pacing and noticeable glitches.

The Plot:
Transformed into a cybernetic police officer after being murdered on the job, Alex Murphy/RoboCop finds his efforts to police the increasingly lawless streets of Detroit compounded by a plot by megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) to mass produce cyborg cops.

Gameplay and Power-Ups:
RoboCop: Rogue City is an FPS title in which players assume the role of the titular cyborg police officer and play through a mission-based narrative that includes gunfights, a smidgen of detective work, and a dash of role-playing elements. There are four difficulty settings to pick from the outset and a fifth unlocked once you clear the game, with enemies being tougher and dishing out more damage on the higher difficulties. Players can also pick between two control schemes, but I stuck with the default settings that saw me aiming with the Left Trigger, shooting with the Right Trigger, and punching thugs in the face with the Right Bumper. X reloads your weapon and is used to interact with the environment, with players holding X to open doors and OCP supply crates and pressing it to talk to non-playable characters (NPCs) or pick up ammo, various incriminating evidence, and supplies like OCP Recovery Charges. You hold B to restore your health with these, storing three at the start and eventually carrying up to five once you’ve upgraded RoboCop’s skill tree. Similarly, you can interact with fuse boxes to restore RoboCop’s health. Also, once you’ve unlocked the correct upgrade, you can dash at enemies with A and engage a temporary shield to reduce incoming damage with B. X also grabs and throws objects at enemies; everything from computer monitors to chairs, tables, motorbikes, and sledgehammers can be grabbed and tossed, which is a lot of fun. Naturally, you can grab and toss scumbags as well! RoboCop is armed with his signature Auto 9 (which has infinite ammo), can pick up one additional weapon, and you switch between the two with Y. You can press in the left stick to change RoboCop’s clunky walk to an ungainly trot and the right stick to activate a night vision filter, though I found this wasn’t utilised much and an infrared mode would’ve been far better. The directional pad changes the firing mode of your weapon with up, activates a disabling shockwave (with the right upgrade) with down, and brings up either your “Skills” or inventory menu with left and right, respectively.

Blow away street scrum with RoboCop’s array of weapons and upgrade his Skills for more options.

A great deal of RoboCop: Rogue City focuses on shooting, with players blasting punks in the face (or crotch) and splattering their brains across the walls or dismembering their limbs. RoboCop can grab a handful of largely generic additional weapons to help with this, liberating them from enemies or grabbing them from nearby caches. You can grab another pistol and a high-impact .50 Cal that would make Dirty Harry smirk, two combat shotguns that are awesome for close-quarters combat, a couple of submachine guns and assault rifles that can fire a bit wildly, and heavy-duty machine guns lifted from turrets. RoboCop also gets a sniper rifle, the Cobra Assault Cannon from the first film, a rocket launcher, and a grenade launcher, with these latter four being some of the most powerful weapons. That power comes with a trade-off, though, such as low ammunition and long reload times. RoboCop always has his trusty Auto 9, however, which can eventually be upgraded with computer chips. These come in different configurations and can even be spliced together to create newer, more powerful chips. When applied to the Auto 9 motherboard, they increase the gun’s ammo capacity, reload speed, damage, spread, and armour piercing ability to make the Auto 9 even more formidable. RoboCop’s dash ability allows him to charge into enemies and his shockwave can be upgraded to cause damage rather than just stun. You can also shoot explosive barrels, mines, gas cannisters, motorbikes, and vehicles to take out large groups of enemies with explosions and many of these can be thrown for the same effect (though be careful as you’ll also take damage from the explosion, especially if your barrel is shot when you’re carrying it!) Sometimes, you can shoot parts of the environment to get an edge in gun fights, such as dropping scrap metal onto enemies, and RoboCop will occasionally be backed up by fellow police officers. Anne Lewis, rookie Ulysses Washington, and even an Enforcement Droid-209 (ED-209) will provide cover fire in certain missions. When fighting alongside the ED-209 or the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, you’ll engage in an “Efficiency Test” and be challenged to get more kills that your rivals to gain more XP in your post-mission evaluation.

Rescue hostage, scan clues, and choose responses wisely to earn XP and improve your reputation.

Many times in your adventure, you’ll be asked to “breach” doors or walls, causing RoboCop to burst through and take out any enemies on the other side in a slow-motion sequence. These sections often involve hostages, who’ll be executed if you’re not quick enough, which will cost you in your post-mission evaluation. Despite being bulletproof and an unstoppable cyborg cop, RoboCop isn’t invincible and his health drops as he sustains gunfire or is hit by grenades and rockets. Thankfully, there are many checkpoints in RoboCop: Rogue City and, as you gun down punks, collect evidence (documents, drugs, stolen items, and such), and enforce the law throughout Detroit, you’ll earn experience points (XP). When you get enough XP (or find OCP Skill Disks), you’ll gain a “Skill Point” to upgrade RoboCop’s eight skills. This not only unlocks the dash, shockwave, and shield abilities but also allows RoboCop to enter a “bullet time” mode by holding the Left Bumper, hack enemy turrets, decrease the damage he receives, automatically reload upon connecting with a punch, ricochet shots off specific panels, and automatically regenerate health over time. RoboCop must also solve crimes and you must thus upgrade his “Scanning” and “Deduction” skills to help with this. By holding LT, RoboCop scans the environment for clues and these upgrades make this easier and faster. They also increase the XP you gain and mark important locations and items on your map, a generally useful overview of the immediate area that’s largely superfluous since there’s a helpful onscreen compass on the heads-up display (HUD) and an objective list in the pause screen. Upgrading RoboCop’s “Engineering” skill allows him to open locked safes and better scan the environment to complete optional objectives. However, this isn’t a requirement and you can often find alternative means, such as picking up a manual, to accomplish the same task. Players are also given dialogue options when talking with certain NPCs and picking different answers changes RoboCop’s relationships with these characters, altering the ending depending on his political stance, his leniency towards informants, his conduct towards Washington, and the answers he gives psychologist Doctor Olivia Blanche. Upgrading your “Psychology” skill helps with these moments, allowing you to earn more XP, though there’s little benefit to picking the “right” answer beyond seeing different reactions.

RoboCop’s primary objectives are accompanied by secondary and menial tasks.

It’s actually comical how many menial tasks the cops stationed at Metro West give RoboCop to do. When Lewis is shot, RoboCop’s asked to gather signatures for a get-well card; when the line of civilians coming in to complain gets unwieldy, RoboCop is asked to help with their problems; and, when a fellow cop is found dead, RoboCop helps Officer Cecil place a memorial photo on the wall. RoboCop can choose to aid or scupper Washington’s career, assist or derail reporter Samantha Ortiz, has regular briefings with the cantankerous Sergeant Warren Reed, and will be clearing out lockers, testing weapons at the shooting range, and fixing power outages throughout the station. When on the streets, RoboCop has a primary objective tied to that mission (investigating an arcade that sells drugs on the side, checking out a familiar steel mill, confronting OCP executive Max Becker regarding his cyborgs, and more) alongside numerous secondary objectives. You can issue tickets to cars illegally parked and to graffiti artists (who’ll spraypaint colourful anti-RoboCop graffiti in retaliation), and help solve a murder tied to a seemingly faulty MagnaVolt car security system. RoboCop visits apartment buildings to deliver bad news and goes to see Lewis when she’s in her coma, works with Washington to locate a missing cat, investigates a potentially shady garage, begrudgingly assists Nuke addict “Pickles” in a video store, defuses in a hostage situation at the courthouse that’s eerily reminiscent of the first movie, and delves into a malicious “Afterlife” facility to uncover OCP’s latest crazy scheme. All throughout the game, RoboCop experiences glitches courtesy of main bad Wendell Antonowsky, who screws up RoboCop’s programming with a chip. This sees the environment change around you; enemies appear and disappear and you’ll flashback to Murphy’s death and his family home as RoboCop struggles to get his shit together. All these disparate plot threads come together in the game’s final missions, where Detroit descends into all-out chaos and you must revisit every location and NPC you’ve encountered previously to help save them from fires or from the gangs running rampant in the streets.

Presentation:
Without a doubt, RoboCop: Rogue City is the best looking RoboCop game we’ve ever had (so far, anyway). It shouldn’t be surprising given Teyon’s attention to detail in Terminator: Resistance, but the game recreates the visuals and atmosphere of the first two movies with an impressive fidelity. The game is bookended by Media Break segments hosted by Casey Wong (who also appears on various radios found throughout the game) that recapture the dark satire of the first film and the likenesses of Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Robert DoQui, and Dan O’Herlihy bring returning characters to life. The game reminds me of Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Terminal Reality, 2009) in that it primarily evokes the first movie while acting as a follow-up to RoboCop 2 (Kershner, 1990) and a prelude to RoboCop 3. Thus, Metro West is ripped straight from the first movie (including the check-in desk, locker room, RoboCop’s maintenance area, the shooting range, and the garage) and the cops all wear the same uniforms featured in that movie. RoboCop is also modelled after his chrome silver look rather than his glistening steel blue and the game revisits key locations from the first movie, including the steel mill where Murphy was executed and the OCP headquarters, which includes the cylindrical lifts and an exact recreation of the board room. References to RoboCop 2 are included, however: players collect Nuke for XP, a standee of RoboCop 2 appears during Becker’s presentation, and the Urban Enforcement Droids (UEDs) are modelled after one of OCP’s failed RoboCop 2 experiments. This all gives the game a great deal of legitimacy as an official continuation of the original movies, something only bolstered by Weller reprising his role and little touches, such as RoboCop occasionally twirling his gun and incorporating Basil Poledouris’ iconic RoboCop theme throughout the action. While it’s great to have Weller back, though, I was a little disappointed by how…robotic…his performance was, even more than usual, as though he phoned it in a bit during the recordings.

Despite some visual hiccups, the game recreates many recognisable elements in impressive detail.

When out on a mission, RoboCop finds himself on the mean streets of Detroit, a restricted sandbox-like environment with a few locations you can enter and elements you can interact with. You’ll revisit the same area multiple times, but it does change as you progress, shown in day, at night, and in the midst of a full-scale riot that sees the streets filled with punks, fires raging, and chaos everywhere. You’ll pop into a few buildings to talk to NPCs, solve crimes, or gather evidence, occasionally engaging in a violent shoot out, though most of this takes place either away from the city centre or in specific buildings, such as a hidden drug lab in the arcade. RoboCop ventures into the Channel 9 building when the “Torch Heads” hijack their broadcast, investigates the steel mill where he died (recreating the area where Murphy was gunned down and the pool where he confronted Clarence Boddicker), glitches out in an abandoned shopping mall (causing mannequins to disturbingly shift about), and assists prison guards during a chaotic riot at the city prison. When the action kicks in, you’ll find much of the environment is destructible. Glass shatters, monitors explode, and walls break apart from bullets and explosions. You can use the environment for cover (though high-calibre weapons will quickly destroy these) and blood, bodies, and evidence are scattered everywhere. Unfortunately, there are some negatives to the presentation: RoboCop has no reflection or physical model, textures tend to warp or struggle to load, and there are obvious parts where the game drags out elevator rides or dialogue exchanges to load the next part. Paradoxically, RoboCop: Rogue City impresses in the endgame when every enemy you’ve encountered (including an ED-209) roams the anarchic city streets causing chaos with no visible slowdown or performance issues.

Enemies and Bosses:
There are two main gangs in RoboCop: Rogue City: The Torch Heads and the “Street Vultures”. You’ll encounter both in different missions and gun down many of their disposable members, all of whom scream in agony when you blast off their limbs and yet never hesitate to engage RoboCop when he appears. They wield various weapons, from pistols to machine guns, which you can acquire after putting them down, and often attack in large groups in restrictive corridors. Enemies will take cover and run about, certain variants will call for backup, and many toss grenades. Luckily, you can shoot these as they’re being prepped or are in mid-air to take out large groups, but you must aim for the legs when rushed by goons in body armour and carrying sledgehammers. The Street Vultures tend to ride around on motorcycles, crashing into you and shooting at you, though you can explode their rides to thin out their numbers. The goons get a new coat of paint during the prison riot, arming themselves with shotguns and more powerful weapons, and they’ll often take hostages or assume sniping positions on rooftops. You must also watch for suicidal punks who rush you with lit gas cannisters and, as you progress, you’ll clash with Antonowsky’s more formidable mercenaries. These guys are more heavily armoured, shielding themselves from headshots and carrying stronger assault rifles, sniper rifles, and even the Cobra Assault Cannon. Bolstered by tougher commanders, these mercs can be tough to deal with in large groups as they’ll shrug off your punch and even explosions, though all the enemies you encounter are surprisingly resilient when shot. RoboCop also tangles with Becker’s UEDs, relentless cyborgs cobbled together from stolen bodies that constantly shoot out you, pour from doors, and even try to skewer you with a charge! If you blow off their heads, they’ll become confused and attack their allies, which is helpful. It’s also advisable to upgrade RoboCop’s “Engineering” skill to hack enemy turrets as they’ll catch you in a crossfire and cut you down.

After destroying a bunch of ED-209s, players ultimately (and surprisingly) re-enact the finale of RoboCop 2.

You’ll often fend off waves of enemies, sometimes combinations of them, forcing you to think more strategically, take cover, and utilise RoboCop’s abilities to survive. Becker tests his UEDs against RoboCop, forcing you to battle waves of the inferior cyborgs in an enclosed space. You’ll also take on a legion of them when they go rogue during Becker’s EXPO presentation, with their forces bolstered by an ED-209! Later, heavily armed mercenaries and UEDs block your path to apprehending Antonowsky, and every enemy you’ve faced takes to the streets for a riot in the endgame. However, there are a handful of more traditional boss battles, with you battling ED-209 on multiple occasions. Each fight takes place in different locations but the strategy remains the same: stay on the move, grab nearby weapons and explosives to use against the machine, and take advantage of any like OCP Recovery Charges you find. ED-209 is slow and a big target but incredible powerful; it fires a machine gun arm and rockets, which you can anticipate by the laser sight, and is only vulnerable by targeting the “mouth” on its “head”. When battling ED-209 at the EXPO and on the streets, you can make short work of them with the rocket launcher and, especially, the Cobra Assault Cannon. While Antonowsky is disappointingly taken care of in a cutscene, the game ends with a surprising recreation of RoboCop 2’s finale as RoboCop battles the “Old Man”, who died earlier in the game but has his brain/consciousness implanted into RoboCop 2! RoboCop 2 is a multi-stage boss with no checkpoints between phases and is a massive difficulty spike. The only way to damage it is by targeting the Nuke cover on its chest; there are very few OCP Recovery Charges and additional weapons to aid you and the cyborg is heavily armed. It fires its machine gun attachment (smacking you clear across the room with a punch from it), fires rockets that drop the fight to lower floors, charges at you, grabs you and shoves a taser attachment in your face, and represents the game’s toughest challenge, not least because it can only be damaged in the final phase when the Old Man’s face pops out from its head.

Additional Features:
Players can snag twenty-seven Achievements in RoboCop: Rogue City, earning nine simply by completing the game as they pop when you finish each mission (and the entire game). You also get Achievements for shooting an enemy in the groin, hacking a turret, adding a chip to the Auto 9, and fully upgrading one (but not all) of RoboCop’s Skills. You must search around a bit for a couple of Achievements, which are tied to hidden rooms or require you to find a manual (or upgrade RoboCop’s “Engineering” skill) to access hidden areas. You get another Achievement for receiving an A grade, one for blowing up a moving motorbike, and another for solving a murder. Despite the game having multiple difficulty settings, there are no Achievements for clearing the game on the harder settings, so just play on “Easy” and enjoy the ride. The hardest Achievements, for me, are scoring 250 points on the shooting range (I barely hit the 200 mark) and clearing out Becker’s UEDs in under ten minutes, a mission you should be able to retry at your leisure if you can find the right save file. Clearing the game unlocks “New Game Plus”, where all your upgrades and such carry over, and “There Will be Trouble” mode that makes enemies tougher. Another playthrough is advised if you want to see the different ways the game can turn out in the end, such as who gets voted as mayor, what happens to Washington, and RoboCop’s quest for basic human rights. Otherwise, there are the nine Skills to upgrade (which probably will require multiple playthroughs) and numerous optional objectives to complete, though the only reward for this is XP to boost those same Skills.

The Summary:
Without a doubt, RoboCop: Rogue City is the best RoboCop game I’ve ever played. The first-person shooter genre is a perfect fit for RoboCop, a traditionally clunky character who doesn’t fit into the traditional action/platformer genre. Despite some struggles with loading textures and everyone resembling lifeless puppets at times, the game looks and performs really well, something only bolstered by its visual fidelity to the movies, especially the first one. I was glad to see RoboCop 2 referenced during the game as well, though I do feel the balance between the two could’ve been better, and even the teaser for RoboCop 3 as the game leads right into the start of that movie. While I would’ve liked to see better variety in RoboCop’s weapons and the ability to use his data spike as an attack, the Auto 9 was satisfying to use. Heads pop off, blood splatters everywhere, and the shooting action is fun and engaging as the environment and bosses take battle damage and you cause carnage in the pursuit of justice. Speaking of which, I enjoyed patrolling the streets and enforcing the law; though it was a bit weird seeing RoboCop’s peers as him to help with menial tasks, it tied into the overarching idea that he’s accepted as a human and fellow officer by his peers. While Wendell Antonowsky was a bit of a weak main villain and the RoboCop 2 fight came out of nowhere, I enjoyed the further exploration of RoboCop’s humanity and the different missions, both big and small, presented to the player. It’s a bit shallow at times, lacking a lot of replay value and bonus content, but RoboCop: Rogue City is a very enjoyable celebration of the first film, and the franchise overall, that finally allows players to experience what it means to be the cyborg law enforcer.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy RoboCop: Rogue City? Were you disappointed by the lack of boss battles or did you enjoy tackling the many ED-209s? What did you think to the different tasks RoboCop was asked to help with? Did you every fully upgrade RoboCop’s Skills? What did you think to the visual fidelity to the first movie? Which RoboCop movie and/or videogame is your favourite? Drop your thoughts the comments and go check out my other RoboCop reviews across the site!

Movie Night [Ghostbusters Day]: Ghostbusters (2016)

Dr. K6 Comments

Throw on your proton pack and get ready to bust some ghosts because June 8th is officially “Ghostbusters Day”! Ghostbusters (Reitman, 1984) was first released on this day back in 1984 and has become a major pop culture franchise that includes comic books, a popular cartoon and line of action figures, and videogames.

Released: 15 July 2016
Director: Paul Feig
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $144 million
Stars: Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, Chris Hemsworth, Neil Casey, and Andy García

The Plot:
Estranged friends and physicists Doctor Erin Gilbert (Wiig) and Doctor Abby Yates (McCarthy) team with engineer Doctor Jillian Holtzmann (McKinnon) and transport employee Patty Tolan (Jones) to investigate a spate of ghost sightings across New York City, creating both chaos and controversy.

The Background:
Originally conceived by Dan Aykroyd as a project for himself, Eddie Murphy, and John Belushi, Ghostbusters came into being when director Ivan Reitman, writer/actor Harold Ramis, and Bill Murray joined the project. A critical and financial success, it was followed by an under-rated sequel that both underperformed financially and was met with mostly negative reviews, Rumours of a third movie circulated for decades, often stalling due to Murray’s reluctance to return and Aykroyd’s ambitious scripts being too costly to produce. After everyone got on the same page for Ghostbusters: The Video Game (Terminal Reality, 2009), plans for a third movie regained traction, however Murray continued to veto scripts and Columbia Pictures eventually decided on a complete reboot rather than a sequel. Initially marketed as a soft reboot set in the same continuity and later distinguished by its tagline, “Answer the Call”, the new Ghostbusters would feature an all-female lead cast, a decision that effectively killed the film for many audiences. After the leads and cameos for many of the original cast (including, bizarrely and hypocritically, Murray) were secured, Sony Pictures Imageworks produced 1700 visual effects shots for the film, which also included some more traditional, practical effects. Unfortunately, controversy surrounding the casting, its status as a reboot, and claims that director Paul Feig failed to conduct reshoots saw Ghostbusters underperform at the box office. While some reviews praised it as a fun time with some entertaining performances, others criticised the overreliance on CGI and uninspired script. In the end, the vocal negative reaction and undue racial and sexual backlash towards the film killed any plans for a sequel. While the characters lived on in IDW’s comics, Columbia Pictures opted to ignore the film and produce a legacy sequel to the original five years later.

The Review:
Rather than being a legacy sequel or a re-quel, as the original trailers first suggested, this version of Ghostbusters is a complete reboot with an all-new cast, though all the principal names from the original movies appear in cameo roles and the film does follow a similar narrative structure. Erin starts the movie on the cusp of earning tenure at Columbia University and desperate to impress department head Doctor Harold Filmore (Charles Dance) with her capability and professionalism. She’s thus very perturbed when Ed Mulgrave Jr. (Ed Begley Jr.) shows up with a copy of her previous co-authored musings on the paranormal and asks her to investigate ghost sightings at the allegedly haunted Aldridge Mansion after an employee (Zach Woods) is attacked following a tour. Ashamed of her past dealings with the supernatural and wishing to shut down any further publications of the book to secure her teaching position, Erin’s forced to confront her co-author and former friend, the loud and obnoxious Abby Yates. While the two were best friends in high school and Abby was the only person who believed Erin was haunted by the ghost of her mean old neighbour as a child, the two have grown distant in recent years and Erin is exasperated that her old friend would republish their work just to get some extra revenue for her research. Unlike Erin, who abandoned the paranormal to focus on physics, Abby never gave up researching and pursuing the supernatural and her interest is only encouraged by her partner at the Kenneth P. Higgins Institute of Science, enthusiastic engineering physicist Jillian Holtzmann. Together, they’ve assembled a mess of prototype gadgets and gizmos to detect, subdue, and (eventually) capture ghosts, all while going under the radar of the institute’s dean, Thomas Shanks (Steve Higgins). However, after Erin reluctantly accompanies the two to the Aldridge Mansion and they’re attacked by its resident malevolent spirit (Bess Rous), all three lose their jobs when their frantic, indistinct footage goes viral, forcing them to relocate to a cramped apartment space above a Chinese restaurant since they can’t afford the outrageous rent for the more familiar firehouse.

Four misfit women come together to investigate and capture the ghosts suddenly haunting New York.

Despite having no income, Holtzmann continues to tinker with their equipment, dreaming up a clunky prototype proton pack and additional weapons, all scavenged from whatever resources they can get their hands on and the equipment they liberate from the institute. With her distinguished career in tatters, Erin has no choice but to team with the two to establish themselves as bona fide paranormal researchers, though her reluctance is swayed when goofy hunk Kevin Beckman (Hemsworth) shows up to be their receptionist. Despite noted supernatural debunker Doctor Martin Heiss (Bill Murray) publicly discrediting the “Ghostbusters” (a name Erin begrudgingly comes to accept), lonely and explosive transport employee Patty Tolan comes to the team after sighting a ghost (Dave Gruber Allen) in the subway. This leads to the perfect field test for Holtzmann’s new gear, which successfully ensnares the spook and encourages her to make the weaponry smaller and more accurate, as well as cooking up a containment unit to capture a ghost for them to study. Amazed by the experience, Patty joins the team and provides them with overalls to keep them from being slimed by the ghosts’ ectoplasm and even provides them with a vehicle, a hearse borrowed from her uncle (Ernie Hudson) that Holtzmann repurposes into something more akin to Ecto-1. The team is kept surprisingly busy as more ghost sightings are called in, and are troubled and confused by strange, burned-out devices at each location, leading to a very public display of their abilities at a heavy metal concert that sees them successfully capture a ghost and become overnight celebrities. This earns them the attention of Mayor Marth Bradley (García), who reveals that they (and Homeland Security) and well aware of the supernatural threats and cautions the group that they’ll be publicly labelled as fraudsters despite his office acknowledging their contributions to the situation. Undeterred, the Ghostbusters continue their research, continue to get calls, and continue to pay their bills and build more accessories for their actions, presumably eating into their savings since none of them have a family home to remortgage.

Rowan’s mad plot sees him unleash ghosts upon the city and become a gigantic spirit!

This minor plot point aside, I have to say that I enjoyed the rapport between the four leads. I could’ve done with less toilet humour from the always obnoxious McCarthy (who’s clearly been given license to ad-lib a lot of her lines, leading to some awkward moments) and the two cringe-inducing musical numbers, but the four had great chemistry. I must’ve missed how she and Abby fell out but their issues are quickly worked out within the first fifteen minutes as Erin is swept up in Abby and Holtzmann’s paranormal research. Holtzmann was a great standout for me; I loved how wacky and enthusiastic she was. Patty was also great, being loud and having a down-to-earth attitude that made for some fun comedic moments. It definitely felt like the four bounced off each other well and were left to do their own thing with the material, and I liked that they didn’t bog down the runtime with immature disagreements or love triangles. Kevin is mostly played as a bumbling idiot who can’t work a phone properly but is easy on the eyes (for Erin, at least), while even Mayor Bradley acknowledges their good work despite having to discredit them to keep ghosts a secret. They’re very real, however, and being actively summoned through devices built and placed by doomsayer Doctor Rowan North (Casey), a socially maladjusted man who’s been convinced by a horde of malevolent spirits that the world needs to be “cleansed” by breaching the barrier between the living and the dead. He plants these devices along “ley lines” to break down the barriers, and ultimately crosses over himself when he commits suicide after being confronted by the Ghostbusters, an act that only increases his power as his spirit possess first Abby and then Kevin. Far from seeking to bring forth an Eldritch God, Rowan wishes to unleash the spirits of the dead upon the world and trigger an apocalypse, leading to a string of ghosts to rum amok through Times Square in a surprisingly impressive CGI finale that evokes both the original movie and the cartoon with some off the ghosts’ wacky designs.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Although I was surprised by how much I didn’t mind this version of Ghostbusters, it is strange to me that the filmmakers went for a full-blown reboot rather than trying to tie it into the original canon. This is doubly confusing by the cameos from returning actors as Patty could have easily been Winston Zeddemore’s niece, Erin could’ve been the daughter of one of the other original Ghostbusters, and Mayor Bradley’s line about the paranormal being covered up could easily have been used to explain why the Ghostbusters have been defunct for so long. I just find it odd, especially as Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) and the later legacy sequels showed that a generational story could work in this universe. To its credit, though, Ghostbusters does do things a little differently. For starters, we spend more time with them field testing their equipment and Holtzmann puts together a bunch of different gadgets for them to use, including ghost-busting grenades and a glove accessory, though sadly I felt their new uniforms left a lot to be desired and Ecto-1 is largely an afterthought until the finale despite boasting its own armaments. Secondly, the team have to earn their firehouse by saving the city, meaning they’re working in cramped quarters for the entire film and the team seem far less adept with their cobbled together equipment, often being knocked on their asses or flung through the air for comedic value. This isn’t to say that they’re incompetent, but it’s interesting that these Ghostbusters are more likely to flip out in excitement and appear like raving lunatic compared to their more subdued predecessors. I was glad that the film didn’t fall back on crude, man-hating humour but the toilet humour and musical numbers were a bit weird. The movie seems to be trying to force comedy where the original so effortlessly executed it, and it doesn’t always land. Hemsworth is funny in his role and there were some good moments between the leads, but often it felt like this was more accidental than intended. I liked that the four come together much faster than the original four, allowing a lot of screen time and personality for each, though we learn more about Erin than any of the others until Holtzmann’s surprisingly emotional toast in the finale.

The team’s gadgets, rapport, and the film’s ghosts were surprisingly entertaining.

This Ghostbusters also veers into the horror aspect in surprising ways. Obviously, there’s no blood or gore but the ghosts are pretty horrific here, appearing as looming, intimidating spectres that roar and spew ectoplasm and loom from dark corners. The subway ghost (apparently the victim of the electric chair) was surprisingly menacing, as was the gargoyle that terrorises the heavy metal concert and gives Ozzy Osbourne a scare. In fact, the ghosts and the special effects were really impressive here, even though there are obvious moments where the film was pandering to the 3D craze of the time, potentially because the filmmakers are mixing real actors and practical effects with the CGI. Fan favourite Slimer (Adam Ray) even briefly shows up and the Ghostbusters tackle a spectral balloon parade during the final act, eventually being squashed and almost suffocated by an inflatable Mr. Stay Puft. These balloon ghosts were really fun and reminded me of the old cartoon, as did the barrage of malicious spirits Rowan unleashes upon Times Square. While it’s kind of crazy that the ghosts attack one at a time rather than using their obvious superior numbers and powers, this is an impressive showcase of the Ghostbusters’ teamwork, camaraderie, and Holtzmann’s gadgets as they evaporate spirits all over the place. They tackle a skeletal pilgrim, a towering, monstrous corruption of Uncle Sam, and innumerable wicked spirits in an all-action showcase the original film could only dream of. It’s a good thing these special effects work so well as Ghostbusters is crammed full of some of the most egregious product placement I’ve ever seen, to the point where it’s almost painful, to say nothing of its parade of cameos. It’s nice to see the original actors show up but it’s also kind of a slap in the face since they dragged their feet on making a third movie, only to later return to their roles anyway. It just makes me wish the film had been a legacy sequel, or an offshoot following a new team in a new city.

Despite Rowan’s army and girth, the Ghostbusters are victorious and finally legitimise themselves.

As the Ghostbusters investigate the spate of hauntings and slowly build their confidence in tackling and trapping ghosts, they discover strange devices not unlike their proton packs at each location. Together, the four figure out that they’ve been placed at ley lines, with Erin and Abby theorising they could weaken the barriers between life and death. This is exactly what Rowan hopes to do having grown despondent by humanity and society’s treatment of him and having made contact with the malevolent spirits seeking to “pester” the living with unspeakable tortures. Ignored and mistreated by those around him, Rowan easily places his devices and grows increasingly aggravated by the Ghostbusters’ interference, before dramatically killing himself so he can possess Abby and wreck their equipment. He then upgrades to hijacking Kevin’s body to enact the final stage of his plot, the activation of a large device that, similar to the first film, unleashes a hoard of ghosts upon New York City. When the Ghostbusters’ frantic warnings are met with scorn and dismissal, they suit up to tackle the threat directly, subduing Rowan’s army and confronting him in Times Square. There, he toys with them, promises to bring about the end of days, and eventually corrupts their iconic logo to become a Kaiju-sized apparition and go on a rampage not unlike Gozer the Destructor’s (Paddi Edwards/Slavitza Jovan) as a gigantic Mr. Stay Puft and the opening sequence of the old cartoon. Though their proton packs are useless against the creature, the Ghostbusters trick Slimer into driving Ecto-1 into the swirling vortex Rowan conjured, turning it into a giant ghost trap and sucking him in. Though Rowan tries to drag Abby down with him, Erin rescues her and the team are heralded as saviours, despite Mayor Bradley continuing to downplay the paranormal threat. In the aftermath, the Ghostbusters finally move into the iconic firehouse and further upgrade their operation thanks to secret funding from city officials, constructing a containment unit and a device to monitor spooky sound waves, alerting the team to a potential threat named “Zuul”…

The Summary:
After years of hearing nothing but negativity about the Ghostbusters reboot and being sure that I would hate it due to a combination of Melissa McCarthy and what would surely be an obnoxiously anti-male stance, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. While it teases appealing to the lowest common denominator with some of McCarthy’s painfully unfunny toilet humour, the film shows some surprising restraint in its all-female approach, characterising the leads not as sex-starved bimbos or wacky nuts obsessed with their genitals but as kooky, enthusiastic, and ultimately good natured individuals who come together as a team and family to save the city. While I’m not a fan of McCarthy, I did enjoy Abby’s sisterly relationship with Erin and Holtzmann, whose energy and mad scientist aesthetic was a constant stand out. Patty was also great, bringing a grounded rawness to the team and I really enjoyed the banter with the four, who all appeared as equals and to have a deep respect for each other, even if they drive each other crazy at times. While the film hits many of the same notes as the original, I liked that it changed things just enough to stand on its own, from the different equipment, the bumbling receptionist, and the main villain. Rowan’s threat was palpable by the end and I really liked the depiction of and the variety in the ghosts, who were surprisingly creepy even when they were charging at the screen for a jump scare. While I would’ve much preferred this was a legacy sequel or a spin-off to better utilise all those cameos, I do think Ghostbusters gets a bad rap that isn’t fully justified and that perhaps things would’ve been different if it had been a legacy sequel, allowing these characters to return in future films. As is, it’s obviously not as good or as iconic as the original but nostalgia is a big part of the original’s appeal and I think there’s enough here to allow this Ghostbusters to work as a comedy/horror for a new generation.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to the Ghostbusters reboot? Were you disappointed that it wasn’t a legacy sequel or do you think it works better as a standalone film? Which of the new characters was your favourite and did you like their rapport and new gadgets? What did you think to the ghosts and the bigger, action-packed finale? Did you enjoy IDW’s continuation of this universe? Which Ghostbusters film or project is your favourite and how are you celebrating Ghostbusters Day today? Whatever your thought about the Ghostbusters reboot, drop a comment below, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Ghostbusters content.

Movie Night: Non-Stop

Dr. KLeave a comment

Released: 27 January 2014
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Distributor: Universal Pictures / StudioCanal
Budget: $28 to 50 million
Stars: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Scoot McNairy, Corey Stoll, Nate Parker, and Jason Butler Harner

The Plot:
United States Air Marshal Bill Marks (Neeson) must set aside his personal demons to save a transatlantic hijacked by vengeful terrorists seeking recompense for the September 11 attacks.

The Background:
Taken (Morel, 2008) was a surprising critical and financial success that was not only followed by two largely substandard sequels and a short-lived prequel television series, but also reinvigorated Liam Neeson’s career by recasting him as an aging action hero. As if inspiring a slew of similarly-themed movies wasn’t enough, Taken also saw Neeson star in a bunch of similarly low-budget ventures in a bid to recapture the magic of that movie. One of these was the action/thriller Unknown (Collet-Serra, 2011), which teamed Neeson with Spanish-American horror director Jaume Collet-Serra for the first time and which also resulted in notable success. Thus, Neeson was eager to reprise their working relationship with Non-Stop, a thriller that tied into very real fear about flying and acts of terrorism against the United States after the tragic and horrendous events of 9/11. Working closely with the same Special Forces trainers who work with real Air Marshals, Neeson sought to make the action as gritty and realistic as possible, resulting in some minor injuries for the eager actor. Meanwhile, Collet-Serra relished the challenge of filming on a single, enclosed set, though the script was heavily reworked to capture the vibe of fear and mistrust he wished to evoke. Despite garnering a mixed reaction from critics, Non-Stop proved a decent box office success and Neeson’s performance was praised, despite the film’s more ridiculous moments. Although there was talk of a sequel, nothing has materialised yet. Still, since today is Liam Neeson’s birthday, this seems like a good excuse to revisit it.

The Review:
Non-Stop follows a routine day in the life of morose Air Marshal Bill Marks, a man haunted by his past and who has isolated himself from his peers, friends, and family, preferring a good smoke and a glass or two of whiskey over socialising or confronting his issues. As if still grieving for his young daughter, who tragically died of leukaemia when she was five, and the break-up of his marriage wasn’t bad enough, Marks is irritated that he must board a transatlantic flight to London and stay in the United Kingdom for three days. This leads to a heated call to his supervisor and Marks being especially grouchy and dismissive of his fellow passengers, such as computer whiz Zack White (Parker), the overly chatty Tom Bowen (McNairy), and even his fellow Air Marshal, the condescending Jack Hammond (Anson Mount). In fact, just about the only people Marks isn’t rude towards are Becca (Quinn McColgan), a young girl travelling alone to meet her father, Nancy (Michelle Dockery), a flight attended with whom Marks is already familiar (enough that she brings him a bottle of water when he orders a gin and tonic), and fellow passenger Jen Summers (Moore), who comforts Marks when he shows distress and displeasure as the plane takes off. I can relate to that; flying is an awful experience and it’s comforting knowing a guy as seasoned in air travel as Bill Marks still gets anxious during take-off. Marks eases his anxiety with a ribbon from his daughter, a keepsake from her vast collection of “magic” ribbons that he desperately clutches to remember her and to help with the transition. He also makes sure to regularly visit the toilet and have a cheeky smoke, blocking the vents with some duct tape, and stays in contact with the plane’s pilots, Captain David McMillan (Linus Roache) and co-pilot Kyle Rice (Harner), to ensure the flight is relaxed and smooth. Though he engages with Jen, Marks mostly just wants to be left alone and limits his interactions, though even he can’t help but be hyper aware of his surroundings and attentive to those around him, watching with envy as young couples smooch, brushing past Zack when he holds up the checking in line, and generally keeping a profile to blend in as an ordinary passenger.

Gruff Marks faces a race against time to locate a terrorist on a transatlantic flight.

Marks is therefore annoyed and disturbed when he suddenly receives a series of vague threats on his fancy little phone that demand a hefty ransom to be paid in exchange for the lives on the plane. Since Marks is working from a secure, Federal line, he initially suspects Hammond of playing a prank on him and angrily confronts him, only to be brushed off as paranoid and the victim of an elaborate hoax. However, Marks takes the threat very seriously and, with just twenty minutes to identify who’s behind the texts before a passenger is killed, recruits Nancy and Jen to watch the security monitors and identify potential suspects. As Marks texts the unknown number, with the messages cleverly popping up onscreen for our benefit, he’s shocked when Hammond appears to be a suspect and angrily confronts him in the cramped toilet. When the crooked Air Marshal first tries to bribe Marks and then frantically fights him, Marks has no choice but to break Hammond’s neck to keep the plane from being compromised by an errant gunshot. After finding a stash of cocaine in Hammond’s briefcase, Marks alerts the Transport Security Administration (TSA), only for Agent Marenick (Shea Whigham) to reveal that Marks is their chief suspect not only after his threatening call to his supervisor but by the hijacker’s account number being listed in Marks’ name. Thus, Marks receives no support from Marenick, who orders him to stand down and begins negotiating with him as though he’s a terrorist, even ordering Captain McMillan to relieve Marks of his badge and gun. Undeterred, Marks takes Hammond’s firearm and continues his surreptitious investigation, eventually fingering Bowen after he reveals he was paid to engage with Marks at the airport. Although Agent Marenick insists that Bowen is clean, Marks manhandles and detains him before the shocked passengers, raising the suspicions of New York cop Austin Reilly (Stoll) and even alienating Jen when she asks too many questions. When Captain McMillan is suddenly and fatally poisoned and Marks’ next suspect also suddenly dies from anaphylactic shock, the situation worsens when video footage from the passengers paints Marks as a paranoid, dangerous man with nothing to lose who’s accosting passengers, searching them at gunpoint and under the guise of some higher authority, while plotting to bring the plane down as some kind of statement.

Marks’ erratic behaviour raises suspicion amongst the passengers and crew.

Considering how paranoid and terrified September 11 left the United States, in particular, the passengers, led by Reilly, grow increasingly concerned and incensed, especially when Marks forces them into one cabin and searches his chief suspects, coming up empty handed each time. Thanks to Jen chatting to Zack, Marks finds a potential solution with a computer virus, only for it to lead to bankruptcy attorney Charles Wheeler (Frank Deal) who, as mentioned, is killed by a poisoned dart. Investigating this leads Marks to briefly suspect Jen, who convinces him of her innocence by sharing how she nearly died and is facing a sudden death from a heart condition, and Marks loses Kyle’s support when Royal Air Force (RAF) jets force the plane to redirect to Iceland due to the perceived threat. After discovering a time bomb in Hammond’s briefcase, Marks desperately prepares for the worst-case scenario and is suddenly jumped by the terrified passengers, who are determined to overwhelm their apparent hijacker and keep from being killed like the unfortunate souls in 9/11. However, an unexpected assist from the bound and scared Bowen sees Marks released and he delivers an emotional tirade to the plane, admitting his flaws and insisting that he’s trying to save them, regardless of the damage to his reputation, winning them over and seeing even Reilly and Zack help pack the briefcase bomb against the rear-end of the plane to reduce the damage from the inevitably explosion. Marks is equally aided by Doctor Fahim Nasir (Omar Metwally), who faces racial profiling from the other passengers, especially when he’s let into the cockpit to attend to Captain McMillan, and faces an uphill battle first keeping the situation quiet and under control and then dealing with the accusations about his chequered past.

The Nitty-Gritty:
This paranoia and fear is palpable in Non-Stop, one of many post-9/11 movies that dealt with the fallout from that horrific event and the way the world changed as a result. Following the hijacking of those planes, Air Marshals became more prominent and were charged with identifying and subduing potential risks, though the capability and suitability of such agents is specifically being questioned by the hijackers in this film. Marks is the perfect candidate to be put to the test given his violent past, unpredictable nature, and withdrawn personality, which paint him as an unstable individual, something not helped by his gruff attitude and demanding nature. Almost everything he says and does is easily taken out of context when filmed by the passengers and in his conversations with Agent Marenick, despite Marks insisting he’ll surrender himself once they land and demanding that the plane be lowered to even out the pressure once the bomb explodes. As someone who abhors air travel, I appreciated Non-Stop’s depiction of flying, especially the traumatising take-off, the buffeting of turbulence, and the concern whenever there’s a technical glitch. I loved that Marks hates flying and is deeply uncomfortable while taking off and when in the air, and the use of such claustrophobic and restrictive sets. Marks is a big dude and seems to struggle in such a confined space, which leads to some thrilling and impactful close quarters combat that’s very visceral and raw. It was very tense seeing everyone packed like sardines in a can, and watching Marks desperately try to spot the perpetrator and constantly being restricted by the environment. It also doesn’t help that the few allies he has grow frustrated with his stern demeanour and suspicious behaviour, with the pilots and cabin crew gradually losing faith in him until it’s revealed he really is on their side and that there’s a very real threat that requires everyone to chip in to defend against. This leads to an inspirational moment of co-operation as prejudices and paranoia are set aside and everyone works together to lower the risk faced to them all, even with the threat of being shot down looming from the jet fighters.

Marks wins over the crew and saves the plane, despite a rough landing!

After learning that video footage of his wild actions has gone viral, Marks demands to review the video and sees that Bowen slipped an incriminating phone to Wheeler while being detained. This makes Marks realise all-too late that he had the right guy all along. This grievous error leads to Reilly being held hostage and then injured by a gunshot, and Marks attacked by Zack, who’s revealed to be Bowen’s partner. Bowen, who was left traumatised when the September 11 attacks not only revealed the failings of the air security system but also killed his father, signed up to fight against those who perpetrated the attacks, only to return home and find things were no different and had actually gotten worse since Air Marshals are so unpredictable. Bowen aimed to frame Marks and force the United States to tighten their air security laws, thus preventing further attacks and ensuring the safety of innocents, and convinced Zack to help him with the promise of a big payoff for them and other veterans, though Bowen is fully prepared to go down with the plane. This gives Marks the chance to try and convince Zack to help by disarming the bomb, leading Bowen to wound his partner with a gunshot, though a sudden descent from Rice allows Marks to overpower and dramatically kill the misguided Bowen. When Zack attacks with a knife, Marks delivers an awesome retort and fights him with nothing but his grizzled bare hands and an oxygen mask, a conflict that ends when Marks shoves Zack into the path of the bomb’s explosion. With the plane being torn apart from g-force, Rice struggles to maintain control and execute a messy landing, one that sees part of the plane torn off and Marks and Jen desperately dragging Becca to safety. In the end, the plane grinds to a halt and the shellshocked passengers quickly disembark, with the media now labelled Marks a hero and even Agent Marenick giving him his props. Marks also earns the gratitude of the injured Reilly and emotional Becca, before presumably leaving to spark up a relationship with Jen and keep hold of the hansom money now sitting in that bank account.

The Summary:
Given how poorly received the Taken sequels were, I’ve long said that I wished Liam Neeson’s character, Bryan Mills, had been placed in other thrilling scenarios, with each film in the franchise having a different title and a handful of shared characters, not unlike the Dirty Harry series (Various, 1971 to 1988). Therefore, I’ve always felt one of the biggest disappointments about Non-Stop is that it wasn’t a substitute for Taken 2 (Megaton, 2012), with the premise being rewritten to place Mills in this situation. As much as I enjoy the movie, I feel this would’ve made it a lot more interesting and engaging, though the role of Bill Marks does give Neeson a chance to showcase his range. Unlike Mills, Marks is a dejected and haunted man, a self-confessed alcoholic who’s isolated himself since he was (understandably) too afraid to watch his little girl suffer and die. He’s a gruff, grizzled man who makes demands without thinking and is so determined to safeguard lives that he doesn’t care if he gets branded as a terrorist and a hijacker. This costs him valuable time and the trust of the passengers and crew, making his uphill battle even harder since he bullies his way through the situation, desperate to resolve it as quickly as possible, and ends up having to win over the justifiably unnerved passengers to make progress. Non-Stop does a great job of capturing the nervousness of air travel following 9/11 and the fear of those around us. This leads to racial prejudice as even Marks is suspected because he’s of Irish descent, and plays right into Bowen’s hands since he believes the system is fundamentally flawed and requires a dramatic example to change it. Non-Stop is much more of a thriller than an action piece, with Marks constantly against the clock and desperately trying to find his man, though the brief spurts of action are very engaging thanks to the claustrophobic sets and the setting limiting gun fire. Liam Neeson carried the film with his intense, cantankerous performance but he’s supported by some decent character actors, such as Corey Stoll and Nate Parker. I can’t say that Non-Stop is a film I put on all the time and I wouldn’t necessarily rank it that highly in Liam Neeson’s filmography, but it’s an under-rated action/thriller that definitely holds its own, and I imagine it especially hits the mark for those affected by 9/11 or who are still afraid to fly!

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy Non-Stop? What did you think to Liam Neeson’s performance as a more tortured soul? Would you have preferred to see it reworked into a Taken sequel or do you think it works as a standalone piece? What did you think to tense game of cat and mouse and Marks’ struggle to find his man? Did you find the close-quarters setting suitably unnerving? How did 9/11 impact you and what are your thoughts on Air Marshals? How are you celebrating Liam Neeson’s birthday and what is your favourite Liam Neeson film? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my reviews of other Liam Neeson films on the site.

Movie Night [RoboCop Day]: RoboCop (2014)

Dr. K5 Comments

To celebrate the release of this very movie on home media, June 3rd was declared “RoboCop Day” in the city of Detroit, providing the perfect excuse to celebrate RoboCop each year.

Released: 5 November 2014
Director: José Padilha
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Budget: $100 to 130 million
Stars: Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Gary Oldman, Jackie Earle Haley, and Abbie Cornish

The Plot:
Wounded by a car bomb, top cop Alex Murphy (Kinnaman) is transformed into a cyborg enforcer, or “RoboCop”, by Doctor Dennett Norton (Oldman) in a bid for OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellers (Keaton) to bypass governmental law forbidding him to sell his militarised technology on American soil.

The Background:
In 1987, director Paul Verhoeven took Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner’s satirical commentary on 1980s commercialisation and media and gave us RoboCop, a modest critical and commercial success. RoboCop 2 (Kershner, 1990) released to mixed reviews and a lower box office but the franchise was essentially killed off with RoboCop 3 (Dekker, 1993), a universally panned, kid friendly affront to the violent satire of the first film. While RoboCop limped along in cartoons, toys, and low budget, made-for-television affairs, talks of a remake began circulating back in 2005/2006. Darren Aronofsky was initially tapped to direct but financial concerns saw the project repeatedly stall, leading to José Padilha taking his place and desiring a new, contemporary direction for the concept. Although Michael Fassbender and Russell Crowe were courted, Joel Kinnaman won the lead and the project immediately came under scrutiny when numerous media outlets criticised the new design for the title character, which was more akin to the Bat-suit featured in the Dark Knight trilogy (Nolan, 2004 to 2007). Padilha was said to be frustrated by the project and studio interference and, though RoboCop performed surprisingly well at the box office, reviews were largely unimpressed. Judged as inferior to the original, RoboCop as criticised for its dumbed-down take and uninspired execution. Though some praised the cast and the ambition on offer, plans for a sequel were cancelled in favour of a legacy sequel, which also soon fizzled out in favour of a proposed streaming series.

The Review:
The world of RoboCop is strikingly similar to ours, like in the original movie, though set a little further in the “near future”. In this depiction of 2028, OmniCorp is making headlines with their robotic peacekeeping corps, led by tactician Rick Mattox (Haley), which have been successfully sold to and utilised by the United States military in numerous overseas ventures. Made up of drones, humanoid robots (EM-208s), and larger Enforcement Droid-209/ED-209 automations, these efficient and pragmatic robots are reported to have spared countless American lives and been instrumental in “pacifying” foreign markets. At least, this is what the extremely biased, right-wing, ultra patriot Pat Novak (Samuel L. Jackson) regularly touts on his Novak Element television show. Far from the breezy, light-hearted nature of Media Break, The Novak Element aggressively criticises Senator Hubert Dreyfus (Zach Grenier), whose bill forbids the use of drones and robots on American soil, and champions OmniCorp CEO Raymond Sellers as a “true patriot” who’s being held back from bringing the same peace and prosperity to the American people. Dreyfus’s objections are pretty simple: a robot cannot be held accountable and feels no emotion about life, and is therefore unqualified to take a life. While this is a commendable moral position to take, it is interesting, confusing, and hypocritical that Dreyfus is seemingly unconcerned about the lives taken by the EM-208s, however this is a recurring element in this version of RoboCop. Novak repeatedly shuts down any discussions that go against his pig-headed beliefs, Sellers is sold as a visionary who’s protecting America’s interests, but the primary concern of everyone (even if their opinions differ) is on safeguarding American lives and championing the United States as the greatest country in the world. However, the American public is split right down the middle when it comes to having robot peacekeepers walking their streets, largely because they (like Dreyfus) don’t agree that an automaton should have the power to end an American’s life.

Murphy’s distraught when he’s transformed into a cyborg cop to appease a greedy CEO.

Despite OmniCorp making huge profits from their overseas ventures and the prosthetic research conducted by their chief scientist, Dr. Norton, Sellers is frustrated by Dreyfus’s bill and eager to capture a majority stakehold on domestic soil. Thus, to circumnavigate the specific wording of Dreyfus’ bill, Sellers brings in Dr. Norton and Tom Pope (Jay Baruchel) and Liz Kline (Jennifer Ehle), OmniCorp’s heads of marketing and legal affairs, respectively, to cook up a new “product” by placing a man inside a machine and therefore appease concerns. Although OmniCorp have a range of critically injured candidates and amputees to choose from, Dr. Norton rejects them on the basis that they lack the psychological strength to endure what’s essentially a horrendous full body prosthesis. Lucky for them, the perfect candidate lands in their laps when driven and determined cop Alex Murphy is horrifically injured in a car bomb courtesy of notorious drug dealer Antoine Vallon (Patrick Garrow). Like in the original film, we spend a bit of time with Murphy prior to his accident to get a sense of his character and learn that he detests crooked cops and is fixated on bringing down Vallon, even if it means going against the orders of his commanding officer, Karen Dean (Marianne Jean-Baptiste). Suspecting that Vallon has eyes and ears within the Detroit police department, Murphy limits his trust to his partner, Jack Lewis (Michael K. Williams) and is devastated when their unauthorised undercover operation ends with Lewis in hospital from a gunshot. Unlike in the original film, we see Murphy interacting with his wife and son, Clara (Cornish) and son David (John Paul Ruttan), seeing that Murphy’s a doting father and still has a close relationship with Clara, even if it seems strained by his work. Clara’s thus devastated to learn of Murphy’s critical condition, which would leave him deaf, partially blind, paralysed, and maimed, and covered in severe burns. It’s therefore out of sheer love and desperation (and a little coercion from OmniCorp) that Clara consents to have Murphy transformed into a cyborg, with Dr. Norton personally overseeing Murphy’s recovery. In easily the film’s most horrific scene, Murphy is horrified to learn what he’s become and almost demands to be put out of his misery, but Dr. Norton convinces him to keep going, if only for the sake of his family.

Murphy struggles to adjust to his newfound life, which brings him much pain and heartache.

This version of RoboCop delves a lot deeper into the emotional and psychological turmoil faced by Murphy after his transformation. Stripped of 98% of his human anatomy and understandably distressed by his somewhat monstrous appearance, Murphy demands to never again be seen without his suit and battles depression, doubt, and sly persecution from Mattox, who scoffs at the idea of compromising a machine’s efficiency with organics and a conscience. Despite Dr. Norton’s pride in his work and faith in Murphy’s abilities, it turns out Mattox is right: murphy’s human instincts make him dramatically less efficient than the EM-208s. Unimpressed by what he sees as RoboCop’s “imperfections”, Sellers demands a workaround so he can sell RoboCop as a sleek, sexy, impressive product and Dr. Norton’s therefore forced to implant a new chip into Murphy’s brain. Now, when his visor goes down, RoboCop’s artificial intelligence takes over, though Murphy believes he’s in full control, thus appeasing Sellers and completely undermining the entire point of the project since it’s still a machine pulling the trigger. Then, to make matters even more laughable, Dr. Norton and his team decide the best time to upload the entire criminal database and internet access into RoboCop is right before his public unveiling, causing Murphy to have a seizure and forcing Dr. Norton to intervene again. This time, Murphy is practically lobotomized and little more than a cold, calculating machine with a human face (…and hand). Effectively reduced to the pragmatic, directive-compelled RoboCop of the first film, Murphy ignores social graces and his family in favour of hunting down Detroit’s most wanted. However, when Clara begs Murphy to come home and assuage David’s anxieties, Murphy’s human nature overrides his programming and drives him to get back on mission. Specifically, he accesses CCTV and other archives to not only uncover corruption in the police department that extends to Chief Dean, but also solve his own murder and finally bring Vallon to justice, though this defiance naturally leads him on to a collision course with OmniCorp.

While Vallon is forgettable, Sellers and Mattox are bolstered by strong performances.

Far from a scheming conglomerate full of well-dressed executives looking to profit from Detroit’s misery, the new Omni-Consumer Products (OCP) is largely embodied by Raymond Sellers. A visionary entrepreneur, Sellers is a silver-tongued salesman who arrogantly ignores focus group feedback and pushes his own agenda for RoboCop, reasoning that people don’t know what they want until they get it and that simply placing a man in a machine and removing his humanity will silence his doubters and increase OmniCorp’s profits. Played with the perfect balance of charisma, smarm, and slimy superiority, Keaton presents Sellers as an industrious and charitable businessman who’s genuinely offering people a second chance through Dr. Norton’s robotics work and safeguarding American lives with his machines. However, behind all that is a corporate magnate who cares only about increasing his already considerable wealth. He makes promises to Clara that Murphy will be returned to them and then denies her access to him, threatening legal action if she speaks out; he disregards Dr. Norton’s frankly genius work and putting a career cop inside a machine in favour of stripping away Murphy’s instincts; and doesn’t hesitate to order RoboCop’s destruction once he’s outlived his usefulness. Indeed, when Murphy regains his humanity, Sellers simply spins a story about how Murphy’s suffered a psychotic break and his machine programming has turned him into a killer, despite such a story only working against the deployment of automations in the streets! While Sellers is eventually forced to get more hands on when he basically kidnaps Clara and David, Mattox isn’t afraid to test himself and his EM-208s against RoboCop. Derogatorily referring to Murphy as “Tin Man” and openly criticising him at every turn, Mattox relishes proving his superiority over RoboCop but is ultimately and ironically, undone by Murphy’s very human ally, Lewis. I enjoyed Mattox far more than Vallon, a crime boss who’s infiltrated the police department and whose grudge against Murphy causes RoboCop’s creation. A far cry from the wicked Clarence Boddicker (Kurtwood Smith), Vallon is basically an afterthought. There’s almost no catharsis when RoboCop catches up with him and I would’ve much preferred Mattox being given an expanded role as the one who injured Murphy to kick-start Sellers’ scheme.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Though RoboCop also has a distinctly loud and on-the-nose political agenda, it focuses all its satire into Pat Novak. RoboCop comments upon America’s perceived superiority over the rest of the world, the media’s flagrant bias towards far-right thinking, and touches upon prejudices. These are largely embodied by Mattox, who’s the only one who voices criticism of RoboCop, but also extends towards the foreign nations brought under heel by OmniCorp’s technology. RoboCop has always juggled themes of “man vs. machine” and questions regarding the human soul, and these elements return in this remake, where Murphy’s adjustment to his transformation is at the forefront. Unlike in the original films, where it’s ambiguous how much of Murphy is alive or just memories in RoboCop, this film explicitly states that Murphy is still alive and functioning, just without his biological body. His brain is now partially cybernetic, giving him unprecedented access to criminal databases, CCTV, and augmenting his strength and reflexes, but he’s not a “ghost in the machine”: he’s Alex Murphy with a full body prosthesis. Thus, Murphy reluctantly agrees to test his newfound cybernetic armour against the EM-208s and to reunite with his family, though he remains incredibly self-conscious and uncomfortable with his appearance. Although this RoboCop isn’t bound by directives, he can be remotely shut down and even have his will suppressed through procedures and programming, turning him into a stoic robot who effortlessly hunts down criminals. Yet, Murphy’s humanity and emotions are powerful enough to break this programming, reasserting his personality and compelling him to avenge his woes upon Vallon and confront the corruption in the police department. Despite him callously ignoring them, Clara and David remain devoted to Murphy and are distraught by OmniCorp’s lies. Placing additional emphasis on Murphy’s family was a nice touch, though he keeps his distance even before Dr. Norton suppresses his emotions simply because he’s uncomfortable in his new body and would much prefer to be dead. It isn’t until the finale, after reaffirming his humanity, that Murphy comes to accept his new life and be more comfortable around his loved ones.

The film relies more on slick visuals and emotional drama than over-the-top gore and action.

If you’re hoping for the same action-packed gore and gleeful cussing of the original, then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed by this distinctly toothless remake. Murphy is caught in a car bomb rather than shot to pieces and RoboCop primarily fires a high-powered taser gun rather than blowing limbs off. RoboCop’s biggest action scenes also take place either in a virtual simulation or against automatons, severely reducing the film’s body count until Lewis joins him in busting up Vallon’s operation. On the plus side, RoboCop’s suit looks fantastic. While, at times, the illusion is lost, particularly when Sellers demands a black paint job, the initial suit is an impressive modern reimagining of the original. I particularly like the futuristic visor and the depiction of RoboCop’s helmet, which was the one inconsistency in the previous films, and Kinnaman’s movement in the suit. While he’s not as stiff and robotic as Peter Weller, Kinnaman still echoes some of that performance, especially when Murphy first wakes up and acclimatises to the suit. Once the AI takes over, RoboCop moves with a beautiful, fluid grace that shows the ghost of what this film wanted to be. While RoboCop rides around on an awesome motorcycle and sports an influx of visual aids, his black suit is really unfitting and makes him look ridiculously generic. He just looks like Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman a lot of the time, which in turn makes the suit look fake and plastic-y. RoboCop does boast some impressive visual effects, however. The EM-208s look amazing, especially marching through the streets and when sparring with RoboCop, and the prosthetics seen in Dr. Norton’s lab are really well realised. The most impressive effect is saved for the unsettling scene where Murphy sees the full extent of his injuries, which have left him simply the remains of a head, a set of lungs, and a single hand. While the ED-209s lack the personality and clunky build of the original, they’re still an impressive walking tank and it was fun to see a troop of them in action overseas, and standing in RoboCop’s way in the finale. Sadly, RoboCop plays it far too safe regarding its action, sucking out all the gory fun and replacing it with a dull pace that really causes the film to drag. It doesn’t even use Basil Poledouris’ iconic score, save for the opening titles, favouring music by Pedro Bromfman that’s as generic and forgettable as the rest of the film.

Murphy ultimately overcomes not his programming and OmniCorp’s robots to assert himself.

After Murphy’s breakdown sees Dr. Norton suppress his emotions, RoboCop becomes a hit with consumers and the public, finally giving Sellers the sway to challenge the Dreyfus Act. However, when Clara gets through to Murphy and his humanity forces its way back into the spotlight, Sellers cuts his ties with the project and orders Mattox to destroy RoboCop, ready to sell the idea that Murphy suffered a psychotic break and died from a seizure. To keep Clara from publicly criticising OmniCorp, Sellers brings her and David in to the deliver the news, confident that he’s swayed Dr. Norton by promising to further fund his research, only for the remorseful doctor to betray him, remove Mattox’s ability to shut Murphy down, and reveal the truth to Clara. While Murphy is furious at Dr. Norton for having lied to him, he forces his way past ED-209s and Mattox himself, suffering tremendous damage in the process thanks to Mattox’s superior firepower. Thanks to the intervention of his fellow officers, particularly Lewis, RoboCop reaches the rooftop, where Sellers is preparing to escape (while still playing the benevolent role with Clara and David). Unfortunately, Murphy’s programming won’t allow him to arrest or harm Sellers, who openly taunts him, threatening to kill Murphy and his family and pointing out that Murphy can’t do anything to stop him since he’s “just a robot”. Despite the incredible pain and the forcefulness of his programming, Murphy asserts enough will to fatally shoot Sellers at the same time as the devious executive shoots him. It’s a very different ending to the original, where Murphy confidently confronted OCP’s executives and asserted himself. Here, Murphys “dead or alive, you’re coming with me” line barely makes any sense and, since he’s only kept from acting because of Mattox’s special wrist bands. It might’ve been better if Clara or David had rushed Sellers to rip this from him and give Murphy the chance to fire. Regardless, Murphy is repaired and placed back in a more fitting suit, now having accepted himself and ready to embrace his newfound life. Pat Novak, however, is incensed that a “Motherf*****” like Dr. Norton is walking free after he spoke out against OmniCorp to keep the Dreyfus Act alive, though he remains adamant in his belief that America is the greatest country in the world and that, one day, her citizens will see sense and allow robots to keep the peace through good, old fashioned fascist oppression.

The Summary:
I’ve been a fan of RoboCop since I was a little kid, when I first saw the movie and was wowed by its over-the-top gore and fantastical main character. As big a fan as I am of the sequel, even I have to admit that the franchise basically peaked with the first movie and it’s been downhill ever since. Thus, I was somewhat curious when the remake was announced and went to see it opening week simply because I’d never had the chance to see a RoboCop film in the cinema before. Unfortunately, RoboCop is as disappointing now as it was back then. The thing about remakes is, you kinda need to do something different with the concept to make it stand out, otherwise it just feels like a needless rehash. RoboCop tries to do something different by focusing more on Murphy, his struggle to adapt to his new life, and his family turmoil, but it’s lost beneath a middling plot, forgettable characters, and a truly uninspired design for the character. It’s such a shame as the suit does look good and Kinnaman moves really well in it, but then they paint it black and it becomes the most generic thing I’ve ever seen. As if lacking the gratuitous violence, blood, and cursing wasn’t bad enough, RoboCop is almost completely devoid of satire save for Pat Novak and the underlying hypocrisy of OmniCorp’s motivations. Admittedly, these elements have a scary relevance in modern times, where bias right-wing media spreads fear and hatred, but all the elements that made RoboCop fun have been as stripped away as Murphy’s body. I didn’t mind the deeper dive into Murphy’s acclimation to his new abilities, but the pacing flip-flopped all over the place between his emotions (or lack thereof). It’s almost criminal how unfulfilling Murphy’s vendetta against Vallon was and how wasted Mattox was by comparison. Hayley and Keaton stole the show here, playing their roles with joyful relish, but Kinnaman is no Peter Weller and this is no RoboCop. As a standalone sci-fi concept, it’s decent enough, but it’s called RoboCop and fails to be anything but a surface level rehash of the original film, with none of the fun or enjoyable elements to make it an instant classic or anything more than a footnote in the history of sub-par remakes.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy the RoboCop remake? Were you disappointed by how toothless it was? What did you think to the focus on Murphy’s emotional struggle and his family? Did you also find the film dragged or did you enjoy the slick action? What did you think to the new suit and RoboCop having a human hand? Which RoboCop movie is your favourite? How are you celebrating RoboCop Day today? Whatever you think about the RoboCop remake, feel free to drop your thoughts below, support me on Ko-Fi, and be sure to check out my other RoboCop content!

Movie Night [Dinosaur Day]: Jurassic World

Dr. K6 Comments

Sixty-five million years ago, dinosaurs ruled the Earth. These massive beasts existed for about 180 million years before a cataclysmic event left them mere fossils. Fittingly, “Dinosaur Day” gives dino fans an ample opportunity to pay homage to these near-mythical titans.

Released: 12 June 2015
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Budget: $150 to 215 million
Stars: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Irrfan Khan

The Plot:
Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell (Robinson and Simpkins) visit Jurassic World, an island theme park populated by dinosaurs. However, their workaholic aunt, Claire Dearing (Howard), is soon relying on unruly Velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Pratt) when a genetically engineered dinosaur runs amok.

The Background:
Legendary director Steven Spielberg and special effects wizards Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, and Dennis Muren turned Michael Crichton’s bestselling Jurassic Park (ibid, 1990) into a pioneering blockbuster back in 1993. Although Jurassic Park made over $1.030 billion and received widespread positive reviews, Crichton and Spielberg were reluctant to work on a sequel. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Spielberg, 1997) may have broken box office records but it garnered mixed reviews and, feeling he failed to match expectations, Spielberg passed on Jurassic Park III (Johnson, 2001), the lowest-grossing and least popular of the franchise. Development of a fourth movie can be traced back to 2001 and initial ideas involved dinosaurs migrating to the mainland and, bizarrely, genetically engineered human-dinosaur mercenaries. This evolved into a character who would train dinosaurs and, eventually, Owen Grady. Following numerous failed proposals, the writers turned to both Spielberg and Crichton’s The Lost World novel for further inspiration and references to the two sequels were downplayed. Colin Trevorrow was hired to direct, Stan Winston’s Legacy Effects studio was brought in to develop the animatronic dinosaurs, and Industrial Light & Magic handled the CGI. With a worldwide box office of $1.671 billion, Jurassic World was a major hit and successfully revitalised the franchise, leading to two more sequels over the next seven years. The mould was further broken with the film’s largely positive critical reception. Reviews praised the exciting plot, the magnetic performances, and the natural evolution of the original concept. Spielberg and Jurassic Park star Sam Neill also praised the film, though it did draw some criticism for its unnecessary violence against women and its narrative similarity to Deep Blue Sea (Harlin, 1999).

The Review:
It’s been some years since John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) first dreamed up the idea of Jurassic Park. By employing the services of arrogant geneticist Doctor Henry Wu (BD Wong), Hammond created an awe-inspiring theme park populated by rides, gift shops, and, obviously, genetically recreated dinosaurs. Of course, Jurassic Park proved to be a disaster; the Isla Nubar theme park was left to rot and the remaining dinosaurs were abandoned to die from “lysine deficiency”. Although Jurassic World plays it fast and loose with references to the previous sequels, it begins with Hammond’s dream of a dinosaur theme park finally made a reality. Having been bequeathed ownership of InGen and all its assets, including the park and Hammond’s ideals, billionaire tycoon Simon Masrani (Khan) successfully brought Jurassic Park to life with Jurassic World, an expansive and fully-functional corporate sponsored theme park literally built on the bones of the original. Children of all ages flock to Isla Nubar to see the prehistoric creatures roaming the forests and wilds of the island, petting and riding baby Triceratops and other herbivores like they were lambs, watching daily performances from the titanic Mosasaurus, and freely exploring herds of dinosaurs while learning from Jimmy Fallon (of all people) in the park’s advanced gyrospheres. An eccentric businessman who prefers flying helicopters and wowing visitors with bigger, better dinosaurs, Masrani is notably hands-off regarding the park’s day-to-day functionality. He isn’t overly concerned with the bottom line since he’d rather everyone, humans and dinosaurs alike, enjoy the spectacle, and therefore mindlessly orders bigger, “cooler” attractions from Dr. Wu. Accordingly, it’s up to workaholic Claire to oversee Jurassic World and make sure everything’s running smoothly from her control room. Aided by underappreciated Lowery Cruthers (Jake Johnson) and his unrequited crush, Vivian (Lauren Lapkus), Claire treats her job very seriously but also very callously. She isn’t concerned with the welfare of the dinosaurs or whether the guests are enjoying themselves. All she cares about is increasing profits, gaining additional sponsorship, and keeping everything running like clockwork.

Tight-ass Claire is forced to rely on others and realise what really matters when she loses control.

This means that, while she seems happy to see her nephews, Claire has no time to spare spending time with them and barely remembers their ages or what they look like when they ditch her overwhelmed assistant, Zara (Katie McGrath), in search of better, more exciting adventures. Claire’s noticeably uncomfortable in almost every social situation: she focuses on the numbers and practical matters, disregarding emotions and animal intelligence. Since Masrani ordered Dr. Wu to cook up a fantastic new attraction, Claire’s primary goal is securing sponsorship deals for the Indominus rex, a patchwork hybrid of numerous dinosaurs that Masrani hopes with “give […] parents nightmares” and reinvigorate ticket sales. Though impressed by the monster, Masrani requests that Claire ask their resident ex-Navy Velociraptor handler, Owen, to inspect the Indominus paddock and give his expert opinion. It’s through interactions with Owen that we see just how maladjusted Claire is: she brought an itinerary to their one disastrous date and is obsessed with being in control of every situation. She’s therefore as ignorant to the true threat the Indominus poses as she is to the feelings of others and the welfare of the park’s dinosaurs, which she constantly refers to as “assets” and “it” since they’re just numbers on a spreadsheet. When the Indominus escapes, Claire disregards Owen’s warnings and confidently deploys the Asset Containment Unit (ACU), only to be stunned when they’re systematically slaughtered. When Owen advises an evacuation of the park, Claire’s more concerned with their reputation than anyone’s safety and it takes a frantic call from her sister, Karen Mitchell (Judy Greer), and the suffering of the injured guests for Claire to finally realise the gravity of the situation. Her and Owen couldn’t be more different: where he’s sensitive and seasoned, she’s largely naïve and incompetent, especially regarding tracking and understanding dinosaurs. Owen frequently chastises her tight-assed demeanour and encourages her to just let loose, which eventually sees her defiantly shed her corporate outfit. She even saves Owen from a Dimorphodon attack and puts herself at risk to lure out the Tyrannosaurus rex in the finale…and all while wearing high-heels! Claire also prioritises Zach and Gray’s safety by the third act and is actively appalled by InGen’s head of security, Vic Hoskins (D’Onofrio), and his obsession with weaponizing Owens ‘raptors.

Zach and Gray must brave the park’s dinosaurs and draw strength from each other.

Much of Jurassic World focuses on Zach and Gray, two brothers with very different personalities. While Gray is younger and far more energetic, boasting an encyclopaedic knowledge of dinosaurs, Zach is sullen and moody and more concerned with staring at attractive girls. The two have been shipped to Jurassic World to see the awesome attractions and be with their aunt, only to be abandoned by Claire and left with a glorified babysitter, which only furthers their individual responses to their parents’ ongoing issues. While Gray is distraught at the idea of his parents getting a divorce, Zach hides behind an angsty bravado and is initially aggravated by his little brother’s exuberance, preferring to stare at his phone rather than dinosaurs. His mood lifts upon seeing the Mosasaurus and he encourages Gray to veer off when exploring in the gyrospheres, ignoring warnings to return to safety and stumbling upon the overgrown remains of the original park. Together, they get an old Jurassic Park jeep running and are stalked by the Indominus, eventually reuniting with Claire, who then makes them her top priority, and being immediately amazed by the charismatic Owen, who fends off the Pteranodon and Dimorphodon assault. While Zach doesn’t make a great first impression, being every moody teen you’ve ever seen, he soon shows a softer side and actively reassures and protects his little brother, recognising the danger and the trauma Gray’s feeling at both their personal and current situation. To be fair, Gray is irritating at times, constantly running around and babbling facts, but he embodies the excitement and wonder that Jurassic World elicits in its target audience. Unlike the kids from the first movie, who find a way to be useful by the film’s climax, Zach and Gray are mainly here to be put in peril and kept safe, but they go a long way to humanising Claire and showing the amusing dichotomy of Jurassic World. It’s amazing, yes, but there are some who are no longer impressed by genetically recreated dinosaurs and who demand “more teeth”.

Charismatic Owen impresses with his bad-ass attitude and ‘raptor buddies.

Luckily for Claire, Zach, and Gray, Owen is on hand to immediately recognise the potential and current dangers posed by the dinosaurs and to take charge of every situation. An ex-Navy veteran, Owen works with Barry Sembène (Omar Sy) to tame a pack of Velociraptors (of whom “Blue” is the favourite and most intelligent) to follow simple directions and commands. Unlike Claire, Owen fully understands and respects an animal’s intellect and needs, allowing him to subdue the ‘raptors as their “Alpha”. His skill impresses Hoskins, who believes this proves the creatures could be deployed as living weapons, despite Owen very emphatically stating that his relationship with the ‘raptors is tenuous. Though attracted to Claire and eager for her to stop being so uptight, Owen constantly clashes with her since she believes she has full control over every situation, meaning she doesn’t understand how dangerous and intelligent the Indominus is. Owen’s often at a disadvantage since Claire stubbornly refuses to divulge the exact genetic makeup of the Indominus, leading to many deaths (much to his anger) andhim temporarily losing favour with his ‘raptors since the Indominus turns out to have ‘raptor DNA. Owen also vehemently objects to Hoskins’ desire to employ the ‘rapors and a scaled down Indominus as military assets, only agreeing to his insane plan to have the ‘raptors hunt down the Indominus because they have no other choice. Hoskins sees Owen’s relationship with the ‘raptors and mistakenly, arrogantly, believes the creatures are tamed to be on “the same side” as him. Thus, he vastly underestimates the aggressive creatures and it costs him dearly, whereas Owen’s bond with Blue allows him to reaffirm his status as the ‘raptors’ Alpha by the finale. Unlike Claire, who thinks only about the park’s profits and reputation, Owen is in the business of saving lives. His demands to pull the ACU out are ignored, leading to their wholesale slaughter, and he actively braves danger to rescue Zach and Gray while also trying to keep his ‘raptors alive. The only exception to this rule is the Indominus, a creature Owen sees as an abomination that needs to be taken down as quickly as possible. He’s visibly distraught when the Indominus kills for sport and horrified by the reckless mad science used to create it, which practically guaranteed that it would endanger others.

The Nitty-Gritty:
It was amazing to see a fully functioning Jurassic Park onscreen, which added something new to the Jurassic formula. While Jurassic World touches upon many of the same themes as its predecessors (the moral debate of genetically recreating dinosaurs, discussions and depictions of nature vs. science, and dinosaurs going on a rampage), this had never been tackled in a fully populated theme park before. I loved how everyone accepted Jurassic World and flocked to see its attractions like it’s Disney World. While Owen and Masrani agree that dinosaurs are attractive enough, Claire and the Board disagree and constantly push for newer assets to draw in more visitors, even if it means building their own dinosaur. It’s an interesting position to take since Jurassic World is seen to be thriving; everyone there is having a great time and there’s no sense that they need anything more. This truly is John Hammond’s dream come to life, with dinosaurs performing shows and rides that take visitors into the dinosaur’s territory, though fully protected by seemingly impenetrable gyrospheres. Of course, just wowing the crowd isn’t enough, not for Claire and her bottom line and certainly not for Hoskins. I’ve always hated the idea of weaponizing dinosaurs; it seems like such a stupid thing to do, one guaranteed to backfire, and Owen echoes these sentiments. It’s outrageous to someone as seasoned as Hoskins would think dropping Velociraptors behind enemy lines would end well for anyone and it’s very satisfying seeing him get his comeuppance. It’s sad that so many lives are lost due to people disregarding Owen’s warnings, but it’s a harsh lesson about the reality of dealing with highly intelligent and aggressive predators. The Indominus goes on a slaughter, devouring humans and massacring an Apatosaurus herd simply to prove its dominance, and only Owen recognised its threat (sight unseen, I might add) since Masrani and Claire only cared about scaring and profiting from visitors, respectively. Jurassic World also reiterates the pseudo-science of its dinosaurs by bringing back Dr. Wu, an arrogant and selfish scientist who explicitly states that his dinosaurs have always been genetic monsters rather than 1:1 recreations. Dr. Wu also impassively reacts to the Indomonis’ rampage and various abilities since he was simply following Massani’s foolish demand for more awesome theme park attractions.

In a land where dinosaurs are theme park attractions, the Indominus rex reigns supreme.

While Jurassic World stays close to the look and depiction of dinosaurs from the previous films, eschewing feathers and other scientific considerations, it does showcase a few new dinosaurs. The baby Triceratops were cute (though somewhat horrific as they’re resigned to a life of being manhandled by children) and I liked the Pteranodon and Dimorphodon attack. This is precipitated by the Indominus breaching their glass aviary and Masrani fatally crashing his helicopter into the structure, leading the flock of the ravenous, bat-like dinosaurs to cause mass panic. It was also cool to finally see an aquatic dinosaur; the Mosasaurus is initially introduced much like an orca whale, performing tricks and taking a subtle jab at Jaws (Spielberg, 1975) by devouring a Great White Shark. Naturally, the Velociraptors continue to be depicted as the most intelligent dinosaurs, though now somewhat tamed thanks to Owen. Mischievous and aggressive pack hunters, the ‘raptors obey Owen out of mutual respect but even he can’t turn his back on them and must be constantly on guard to admonish and reward them, as required. Hoskins sees unlimited potential in the creatures and relishes deploying them to hunt the Indominus, fitting them with night vision headsets and seeing them run alongside Owen’s motorcycle. Of course, the ‘raptors become a very real and horrifying threat when they’re swayed by the Indominus, leading Owen to put his knowledge to safeguarding others until he reasserts himself as the Alpha. Unsurprisingly, the Indominus rex is the star of the show here. Purposely portrayed as an exaggerated and ridiculous monster of a creature, the Indominus is like what you’d get if you asked a child to design their own dinosaur. It’s massive and aggressive like the T. rex, can camouflage and even mask its heat signature, and is as intelligent and swift as a ‘raptor, clawing out its tracking device, setting traps, and hunting for sport. It boasts massive, talon-like hands to grab and squeeze prey, easily devours humans whole, can breach the gyrosphere’s hull, and is largely immune to gunfire and even heavy explosives thanks to its super-tough hide.

After a big, brutal dino battle, the Indominus is bested and Claire learns to let loose a little.

Although Jurassic World is in complete disarray due to many of the dinosaurs being loose, the primary concern of everyone (including Hoskins) is the Indominus rex, whose rampage easily made Jurassic World the goriest of the films at the time. People are swallowed, bit in two, trampled, and crushed by its sheer, savage power, to say nothing of the dinosaurs it mauls simply for fun and Zara’s unnecessarily horrific death. After getting Zach and Gray to safety, Owen reluctantly leads the ‘raptors against the Indominus but is forced to flee when they switch their allegiance. Although Hoskins is killed by “Delta”, Dr. Wu safely escapes reprisals (and the island) with his research intact so that he can continue working on refining the Indominus rex concept. With the park’s visitors either safely evacuated or awaiting rescue, Owen and the others find their path to the docks blocked by the raging Indominus. Luckily, Owen restores his bond with Blue and the remaining ‘raptors leap to their defence; however, Gray calculates that the dinosaurs won’t stand a chance against the monstrous abomination. Thus, Claire steps up and has Lowrey release the aged T. rex (the same one from Jurassic Park, judging by its scars) and lures it to the Indominus for a quasi-Kaiju finale! Unlike the disappointing fight between the T. rex and the Spinosaurus, this is a brutal and violent clash that sees the two chomp on each other’s necks, slash great gashes in each other’s hides, and crash through the park’s buildings. It’s a fantastic visual metaphor for nature literally tearing down corporate greed and the two don’t hold back, being evenly matched at times in terms of power and ferocity. That is until Blue enters the fray and leaps to the T. rex’s aid, clambering onto the Indominus and causing it to stagger towards the edge of the Mosasaurus tank. Wounded and exhausted and with its two rivals closing in, the Indominus prepares to continue the fight (and, honestly, probably would’ve won) when it is suddenly set upon by the Mosasaurus, which drags it underwater and ends its threat. In the aftermath, the T. rex and Blue part as mutual allies and they (alongside the other dinosaurs) reclaim Isla Nubar. Though shaken by their experiences, Zach and Gray’s bond is strengthened and they’re tearfully reunited with their parents. Claire realises the error of her ways and apologises to her sister, before seemingly being ready to rekindle her relationship with Owen, who reluctantly allowed Blue to return to the wild where she belongs.

The Summary:
I was sceptical when Jurassic World was first announced. While I can understand the idea of doing at least one Jurassic Park sequel, The Lost World and Jurassic Park III failed to capture the magic of the original movie and I figured it was better to leave it lie. However, Jurassic World was just the shot in the arm the franchise needed. As a legacy sequel and part re-quel, the film does a great job of hitting upon the familiar story beats of the franchise while delivering something fresh and new: namely, a fully operational dinosaur theme park. This alone was an inspired idea and I loved the parallels to Disney World, the juxtaposition of wanting to maximise profits while also aweing visitors, and the idea that the world has accepted that dinosaurs are a thing now. Jurassic World certainly impresses with its many visual effects, which still hold up today and are largely on par with Jurassic Park’s. It’s helped that animatronics and practical effects are also employed wherever possible, but the scale of the chaos is beautifully brought to life here and more than makes up for the previous two sequels. While Claire and the kids could be annoying at times, that was the point: Claire’s character arc was learning that she can’t control nature and atoning for being such a workaholic and neglecting the things that matter, and the entire experience was designed to bring Zach and Gray closer together. Chris Pratt is such a magnetic presence here; Owen oozes cool, being both sensitive and bad-ass and stealing the limelight as the pro-active voice of reason. I really enjoyed his relationship with the Velociraptors and how they were recast as good girls (or, at least, anti-heroes), giving us familiar ‘raptor action but with a twist since they’re largely on “our side”. The Indominus rex was a ludicrous monster in all the right ways; its bevy of abilities and sheer ferocity make it the stuff of nightmares and I loved how this one abomination was enough to threaten the entire island. The last-minute return of the T. rex for an awesome dinosaur fight was spectacular as well and set a new standard for the franchise. I liked this film more than I expected when I first saw it and it’s stood the test of time since then, easily being the second-best film in the franchise after the first, the best of the sequels, and the best of the second trilogy.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Were you impressed with Jurassic World? Were you also sceptical of revisiting the franchise at the time? What did you think to Owen’s characterisation, his relationship with Claire, and his taming of Velociraptors? Were you glad to see a fully functioning dinosaur theme park at last? What did you think to the Indominus rex and its many abilities? Which of Jurassic Park’s sequels is your favourite and how are you celebrating Dinosaur Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Jurassic World, and dinosaurs in general, leave them below and go check out my other dinosaur content on the site.

Mini Game Corner [Turtle Tuesday]: TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled (PlayStation 3)

Dr. K4 Comments

The first issue of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) was published in May 1984. Since then, the TMNT achieved worldwide success thanks not only to their original comics run but also influential cartoons, videogames, and wave-upon-wave of action figures.

Released: 10 September 2009
Developer: Ubisoft Singapore
Also Available For: Xbox 360

A Brief Background:
Back in the late-eighties and early-nineties, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles for us Brits) took kids by storm long before Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers (1993 to 1996) and Pokémon (1997 to present) dominated playgrounds. Kids were as transfixed by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 to 1996) cartoon (a toned down version of the far darker Mirage Comics) as they were by all the toys and videogames. While Konami’s original TMNT arcade game set the standard for some of the franchise’s most influential gaming ventures, the equally beloved sequel, Turtles in Time (Konami, 1991), wowed gamers both in the arcades and at home. So beloved was Turtles in Time that license holders Ubisoft decided to atone for the mediocre reception of their TMNT (Munroe, 2007) tie-in game (Ubisoft Montreal, 2007) with a digital-only, cel-shaded Turtles in Time remaster for home consoles. Sadly, despite impressing with its new coat of paint, Re-Shelled was met with mixed reviews. Critics praised the online functionality and multiplayer but were left disappointed by the difficulty and lack of replay value, and the game was sadly delisted when Ubisoft lost the TMNT license in 2011, never to be seen again.

The Review:
I’ve reviewed the original arcade release of Turtles in Time before, including its Super Nintendo port and the heavily altered version that came to the Mega Drive, so this review will be a bit shorter and focus on what’s similar and different rather than being massively in-depth as, fundamentally, Re-Shelled is the same game as Turtles in Time but with a new coat of paint. Turtles in Time Re-Shelled is a 2.5D arcade-style beat-‘em-up, just like the original, in which up to four players battle across nine stages, from the streets of New York City to the prehistoric past and the far future, bashing seven kinds of shit out of waves of robotic and rainbow-coloured Foot Soldiers and taking on some of their most recognisable enemies in a bid to recover the Statue of Liberty from their archenemies, Krang and Oroku Saki/The Shredder. After selecting your difficulty level and altering some of the usual in-game settings, you pick your character. Each Turtle has different attributes, though perhaps not in the way you’d expect (Raphael is strangely the fastest while Donatello is the toughest, for example), and different weapons that change their special moves and their reach in combat. While Re-Shelled now allows you to attack in eight directions rather than the original’s two, the TMNT’s abilities aren’t that varied. You attack with Square, pulling off simple combos with subsequent button presses, jump with X (executing a jump attack when in the air), press X while running for a dash attack, and pull off an energy-draining special attack with Triangle. This ranges from a lacklustre spin kick for Raph, a wide sword swipe for Leonardo, and a screen-crossing pole vault for Don, with Raph and Michelangelo really drawing the short straw in this aspect. Health is replenished by pizzas scattered throughout each level and you can temporarily enter an invincible spin mode when you grab some pizza power to clear out any enemies, though I never played this game with a friend so I can’t say if there are any team attacks.

The classic TMNT arcade game got a cel-shaded glow up that retains much of the original mechanics.

As before, you can also grab and slam Foot Soldiers or hurl them at the screen, which is always fun, and hit barricades, traffic cones, explosive items, and fire hydrants to help with crowd control. Some onscreen hazards like wrecking balls can also damage enemies, but you must watch out for loose planks, spiked mines, crushing gates, and freezing panels as they’ll all hurt you and momentarily slow you. The TMNT’s recovery time is a bit of a joke; if you get knocked down, it takes a while to get back up, which caused me to get pummelled when fighting Leatherhead. You’re given nine lives on “Easy” mode and the game autosaves as you play, allowing you to continue where you left off or jump to any completed stage in “Quick Play” mode. If you’re feeling extremely sadistic, you can take on the “Survival” mode, which challenges you to finish the entire game with just one life, something I wouldn’t recommend. The TMNT battle an assortment of colourful Foot Soldiers, including blue variants with swords and axes, green ones who fire arrows, and yellow ones who carry bombs. They swarm the screen, occasionally jumping from the background and comically struggling with their hoverboards, but are easy cannon fodder. The Technodrome’s robotic forces are a bit more annoying, teleporting in and stunning you with energy blasts, as are the various hulking Rock Soldiers who stomp around with massive cannons or girders. You’ll visit all the same locations from the original game, with a familiar enough remixed soundtrack and the enjoyable voices of the 2003 to 2009 voice cast keeping you entertained, though cutscenes are limited to simple motion comic-like sequences with a sprinkling of text and voice acting.

The new visuals work, for the most part, but the game is distinctly barebones at times.

Graphically, the game looks pretty decent. It uses a cel-shaded art style somewhat akin to a mixture of the classic cartoon, the aforementioned 2003 revival, and the original comics, but a lot of the colour and vibrancy is lost in some levels. When things are brighter and more open, like in Alleycat Blues or Bury My Shell at Wounded Knee, the game pops quite admirably. While the TMNT have only limited idle poses, they celebrate with vigour when clearing a stage and show a lot of personality when hurt by stage hazards, and I really liked the comic book-style sound effects that appeared with every attack. Stages have a decent amount of detail and depth, including graffiti, Krang’s giant robot body, a bubbling lava pit within a dark cave, a neon-drenched futuristic city, and a speeding Old West train carrying crates and circus supplies. It’s basically everything from the original game, but with a 2.5D twist. Very little has been added to each environment and there’s been no attempt to add new elements like additional power-ups or even bosses from the Super Nintendo version. At times, the gameplay feels very sluggish and unresponsive. The TMNT are both slippery and very heavy, awkwardly performing dive attacks and lumbering around and then breaking into a sprint, which can mess up your attacks. As before, it’s not all mindless button mashing; two stages are autoscrollers where you race around on surf- and hoverboards. This can be fun as long as you avoid the hazards and don’t try to jump attack the hovering Foot Soldiers, respectively (just use your regular attacks, it’s oddly much more accurate). Additionally, this is a bit of a barebones package as, while you can earn Trophies and tackle harder difficulties, there are no new skins, characters, or features to unlock, which actually puts it a step behind the Super Nintendo version.

Bosses are largely unchanged and simple, until you reach the formidable Shredder.

For me, the highlight of the game are the titular foursome and the bosses they encounter at the end of each stage. These are the same as in the arcade version, unfortunately (so you won’t see Slash in Prehistoric Turtlesaurus, for example), and can be beaten fairly easily on “Easy” if you stay on the move and land quick combos. Doctor Baxter Stockman battles you in his fly form in Big Apple, 3.A.M. flying overhead and firing an uzi or his weird goo gun. Again, it’s better to just use your ground combos than to try and land jumping attacks, especially when he’s on the ground. Metalhead comes crashing in at the end of Alleycat Blues, sporting extendable arms and a rocket kick, but he’s quite slow and clunky so you can easily overwhelm him. Sewer Surfin’ sadly retains the gauntlet against the Xenomorph-like Pizza Monsters rather than the more impressive Rat King; simply jump-kick them when they pop from the water and you’ll soon be warped to the past by the Shredder. Cement Man is where the boss difficulty ramped up a bit for me; he turns to goo and slimes about the place, which can quickly whittle down your health. Similarly, the duo of Tokka and Rahzar can be troublesome, especially alone, as they can charge, swipe, and grind at you with a spinning shell attack. As mentioned, Leatherhead was a bit of a pain for me; not only does he toss and stab with daggers but he spams this scuttle move that can stun lock you if you don’t jump over him fast enough. In comparison, the fights against Krang are much easier. His robot body is easily attacked in Neon Night Riders, despite his rocket kick and double-hand slap, and his regular form is simple enough to combo to death in Star Base, though his teleport is annoying and I did struggle to avoid being smashed into a pancake by his slam. You’ll face the Shredder in the finale; armed with a sword and some mystical energy, he can seemingly regenerate his health, kick and swipe at you, levitate and fire projectiles, and unleashes an energy burst if you get too close. He’s by far the toughest boss, tanking damage like a brick wall, but you can get into a good routine of jumping in, landing a quick combo, and jumping away without too much trouble.

The Summary:
I was genuinely upset when I finally said goodbye to my PlayStation 3 as it had my copy of Turtles in Time Re-Shelled installed on it. When the game first released, it was the only affordable way to experience the arcade classic and I had a lot of fun playing it then, and for this review. I’m a big fan of the TMNT and arcade beat-‘em-ups so there’s a lot to like in Re-Shelled in that regard as it plays just like an arcade beat-‘em-up, warts and all, and nicely updates the original to then-modern times in a way that I think works pretty well. Sadly, it is a bit of a barebones experience and there’s barely anything new added to the game beyond its cel-shaded glow up. It’s lacking additional features, unlockables, and gameplay modes, and I was disappointed not to see elements from the Super Nintendo version incorporated to further expand on the original game. While it’s perfectly fine to play, the gameplay is clunky and chaotic at times, especially the controls. It’s hard to judge where your attacks will land and how fast you’ll move, meaning I couldn’t decide if it was better to use the directional pad or the analogue stick, and it’s easy to get caught by attacks and hazards because of how haphazard the controls can be. Ultimately, this was a great alternative for players at the time; Turtles in Time wasn’t readily available to play so this was a decent compromise. Since then, Turtles in Time has been re-released and I’d definitely recommend picking up the Cowabunga Collection (Digital Eclipse, 202) for the definitive Turtles in Time experience (although, honestly, I would’ve liked to see this included in that collection as well, just for the sake of game preservation).

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you ever play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled? How do you think it compares to other TMNT videogames and the original versions? What did you think to the new graphics and voices? Which of the characters was your go-to and which of the game’s bosses was your favourite? Would you like to see this game re-released? Which of the four Turtles is your favourite (and why is it Raphael?) Whatever your thoughts, I’d love to see your memories of Turtles in Time down in the comments!

Back Issues [HulkaMAYnia]: Tales to Astonish #61-66

Dr. KLeave a comment

Since his explosive debut in May 1962, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s gamma-irradiated Jade Giant has been one of their most recognisable and successful characters thanks, in large part, to the Incredible Hulk television show (1977 to 1982) catapulting the Hulk into a mainstream, pop culture icon. So what better way to celebrate all things Hulk than by dedicating a day in May to the Green Goliath?

Writer: Stan Lee – Artist: Steve Ditko

Story Title: “Captured At Last!”
Published: 4 August 1964 (cover-dated: November 1964) 

Story Title: “Enter… the Chameleon!”
Published: 1 September 1964 (cover-dated: December 1964) 

Story Title: “A Titan Rides the Train!”
Published: 1 October 1964 (cover-dated: January 1965) 

Story Title: “The Horde of Humanoids!”
Published: 3 November 1964 (cover-dated: February 1965) 

Story Title: “On the Rampage Against the Reds!”
Published: 3 December 1964 (cover-dated: March 1965) 

Story Title: “The Power of Doctor Banner!”
Published: 5 January 1965 (cover-dated: April 1965) 

The Background:
The brainchild of legendary Marvel duo Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Doctor Robert Bruce Banner’s monstrous alter ego, the Incredible Hulk, was inspired by a story of a hysterical mother summoning superhuman strength to rescue her child and classic screen monsters Frankenstein’s Monster and Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde. Initially depicted as a stone-grey figure, the Hulk soon became a mainstay of Marvel Comics thanks to developments to his lore and the popularity of the live-action television series. Stan Lee also contributed to the creation of some of the Hulk’s iconic enemies, with Samuel Sterns/The Leader perhaps being his most notable adversary. Co-created by Steve Ditko, the Leader first appeared in the pages of Marvel’s science-fiction anthology series Tales to Astonish and was as smart as the Hulk was strong, matching the Jade Giant’s brawn with his genius intellect. Allied with Intelligencia, a group consisting of the greatest criminal minds on Earth, the Leader has long dogged the Hulk, either seeking to destroy him, harness his power, or manipulate him. Despite being a prominent foe in Marvel videogames and the Hulk’s animated ventures, it would take nearly twenty years for the Leader to finally appear in live-action when Marvel Studios finally paid off introducing Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson) in 2008.

The Review:
The saga of the Leader’s first appearance is a sprawling, multi-layered one that technically begins in Tales to Astonish #61, where Banner is desperately trying to destroy a robot he built to withstand atomic explosions, one usurped by a dirty Commie spy. I mainly mention this issue for two reasons: the first is that it was the first appearance of Banner and the Hulk’s long-time enemy and rival, Major Glen Talbot. Talbot shares General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross’s suspicions about Banner and has come directly from the Pentagon to investigate the scientist, immediately making him a kindred spirit to Ross. The General even approves of Talbot putting the moves on his daughter, Betty, if only to “take her mind off that milksop Banner”. The second reason I bring up issue #61 is because, while fighting the robot and defending the military base, the strangely loquacious and heroic Hulk throws himself in the path of a missile and is knocked unconscious, allowing Talbot to string him up in heavy iron chains and cart him back to base. And this is where we find the hulk in issue #62, helpless and restrained before a gloating General Ross and desperate to break free before his dual identity is discovered. This issue also reveals that the spy who stole Banner’s mech suit was sent by the mysterious Leader, a helmeted scientist working around the clock on perfecting his latest humanoid creation. To discover the fate of his spy, the Leader contacts Dmitri Smerdyakov/The Chameleon, who gladly takes on the relatively simple job and flies out there, unaware that he’s sitting next to the Hulk’s young ally, Rock Jones, who’s heading in the same direction to help his friend. Despite Rick’s best efforts to reach the Hulk before everyone learns his identity, he’s caught by Talbot and booted off the base. The Chameleon, meanwhile, easily slips into the facility and uses what’s assumed to be his photographic memory to construct an elaborate mask and return to the base in the guise of General Ross!

The Chameleon’s antics cast further suspicion over Banner’s loyalties.

The Chameleon approaches the captive Hulk and offers to set him free if he obeys his orders, but the Hulk obviously refuses to aid his hated enemy. When the Chameleon ushers away the guards to talk more privately, the change occurs behind his back, allowing Banner to easily escape to safety with Rick’s help. Although Rick feels guilty about deserting Banner to partner with Captain Steve Rogers/Captain America, Banner allays his guilt, saying he fears he cannot control the Hulk’s anger and would hate to hurt the boy, or anyone else. Banner then returns to General Ross and Talbot, receiving a chewing out for his disappearing act and brushing off Talbot’s threats about exposing him as a Red Agent. On his way back to his lab, Banner is blindsided by the Chameleon, who knocks him out and assumes his identity. The Chameleon discovers Banner’s Gamma Bomb project but is immediately rumbled by Betty, who intuits that he’s an imposter. Desperate to save his love, Banner transforms into the Hulk but is forced to flee when the Chameleon threatens to set off his Gamma Bomb since even the Hulk realises the danger of such a weapon. The Chameleon then lays out Talbot and escapes with Betty, only to be literally derailed by the Hulk. With the military forces closing in, the Hulk has no choice but to throw himself upon the Gamma Bomb, shielding innocents from the blast and reverting back to Banner from the effort. Although the Chameleon escapes, Banner is cleared of any formal charges thanks to Betty’s testimony, but General Ross, Talbot, and even Betty suspect that Banner is hiding something and he remains under close observation. Unbeknownst to all, the Leader is lurking in the background, left with no choice but to personally intervene since the Hulk’s strength has bested his two agents. Luckily for him, his mighty Humanoid is ready to go but, as he basks in its perfection, the Leader’s thoughts wander to his origins, which strangely mirror those of the Hulk.

The Leader’s unbeatable Humanoid proves more than a match for the Incredible Hulk!

Less than a year ago, the man we now know was Samuel Sterns was merely an ordinary labourer. However, like Banner, he was caught in a Gamma explosion and exposed to “one of the strongest forces known to man”. While recuperating, the uneducated labourer uncharacteristically consumed knowledge and books. One day, while studying like a man possessed, he collapsed in a feverish fit and awoke to find himself permanently transformed into a green-skinned, giant-headed despot. Dubbing himself “The Leader”, he forsook his previous life and immediately put together a spy network to slowly seize power from the world’s governments. However, he is now putting all his faith in his all-powerful Humanoid to succeed where they failed. Thanks to a specially designed (and rather fetching) headpiece, the Humanoid obeys the Leader’s mental commands without hesitation, exhibiting incredible strength and versatility as it easily bends an iron bar and pilots a helicopter. Back at the missile base, General Ross orders Talbot to oversee the transport of Banner’s latest weapon, unaware that the disguised Chameleon is still lurking amongst them or that the Humanoid is following overhead before the pink-hued android is descending upon them. The stress of the attack and Talbot’s constant bullying causes Banner to change into the Hulk, who immediately pounces upon the Humanoid. Interestingly, this is the Leader’s first time seeing or even learning of the Hulk and he’s intrigued to find another Gamma-born creation, and to test the limits of the Hulk’s brutish strength against his boosted intellect. Thus, he commands the Humanoid to battle the Hulk, altering its density so it can withstand the Jade Giant’s mighty blows and easily flinging him into the air! Realising their fierce battle could endanger others, the Hulk forces the two to topple to the tracks. He then rushes back to keep Banner’s weapon from going off and unwittingly ends up caged once again when Talbot decides Banner is a saboteur.

Although Rick frees Banner, Talbot remains aggressively suspicious of him.

Despite Banner’s protests, Talbot and General Ross believe they have all the evidence they need to put Banner on trial for treason, a prospect Talbot gleefully embraces since he hopes to woo Betty in Banner’s absence. Thus, Banner is spirited to Washington, D.C. and put in a bind since he can’t prove his innocence without revealed that he’s secretly the Hulk. Luckily for him, Rick shows up and uses his “top-priority Avengers I.D.” to plead on his friend’s behalf to the decidedly Richard Nixon-esque President. Rick’s plan works and the President releases Banner, much to Talbot’s chagrin, to continue working on his new atomic device on a deserted isle. Convinced that Banner’s up to something, Talbot refuses to let him out of his sight and even threatens to shoot him unless he describes, in detail, everything he’s doing. Banner both laments that they can’t find some common ground and gets pushed to breaking point when Talbot insists that he’s working with the Hulk in some manner. Even worse, Banner’s out of his special pills and forced to flee so Talbot doesn’t see him change into the Hulk. Luckily for Talbot, the cement-lined bunker holds the Hulk at bay and the Chameleon leaked the location of the isle to the Leader, who commands a horde of his Humanoids to dogpile the Hulk, desperate to capture him for study. The Humanoid army aggravates the Hulk since they refuse to fall and his strongest blows have no effect; even flinging a boulder at them simply sees it deflected back at him! With the military closing in and the Hulk’s strength fading, the Humanoids press their attack, wearing the Green Goliath down with their relentless assault. Luckily for him, the trigger happy (grenade happy?) troops cause the Hulk and his assailants to fall into the sea, where a startled Banner avoids drowning only to be captured by a passing Soviet submarine! When Talbot hears this, he naturally assumes it proves his suspicions, while the Leader decides to try and kidnap Banner, convinced that he may hold the key to bringing the Hulk on side.

With Banner branded a defector, the enraged Hulk trashes the Soviet facility to escape.

Banner is brought to an unspecified European country and presented to the commander of a Soviet weapons research centre, who refuses to feed him unless he joins the other braindead, starved scientists forced to create new and more destructive weapons. Caged in a tiny stone cell, Banner realises his only hope is to trigger his transformation and, soon enough, the rampaging Hulk is let loose once more. Despite the Russki’s powerful vaporiser weapon, the Hulk easily tears through the facility, wrecking it with his powerful leaps and thunderous claps. While the soldiers flee, a rebellious slave tends to the Hulk’s wounds, praising and feeding him while the Green Goliath snubs him. Determined to strike back, the commandant arms himself with a “proton gun”, only for the Hulk’s new ally to take the shot, glad to die a free man. Though the Hulk was annoyed by the scientist, the death of someone who was actually friendly towards him drives the Hulk into a berserker rage. Thus, he tears the facility apart in search of the commandant, only to overexert himself and collapse into unconsciousness as Banner. Back in the good ol’ US-of-A, Talbot volunteers to go behind the Iron Curtain to reclaim Banner and make him pay for his defection. Naturally, he and General Ross are quick to slander Banner and, overwhelmed by her grief, even Betty struggles to believe Banner’s innocence. Frustrated by Banner’s disappearance, the Leader contacts the Chameleon once more and learns that his targets are somewhere in Russia. The Leader contacts his unsuspecting Soviet ally to verify this and then decides to simply observe, confident that Banner and the Hulk will escape and return to the US, rather than waste his efforts heading out to Russia. The Leader’s assumptions appear correct as the issue ends with Banner coming to, remembering everything that’s happened to him in recent issues, and going on another rampage as the Hulk before storming off across Europe madder than ever.

The Summary:
This is an interesting time in the Hulk’s history. While Banner transforms due to stress or anger, the Hulk isn’t a completely mindless brute. Not unlike his first appearance, the Hulk is capable of intelligent and coherent thought and speech. He’s blunt and childish at times, but a far cry from his more savage “Hulk smash!!” years. The Hulk showcases complex thought and awareness, especially when fighting his foes, and has the wherewithal to understand where he is, who’s around him, and potential threats. Thus, the Hulk is surprisingly explicitly heroic in these issues; he engages with enemies to keep them from harming others, throws himself upon Gamma-infused weapons, and derails a train to keep people from behind harmed lest Banner’s weapon go off. I generally associate the Hulk from this period as a misunderstood creature who wanted to be left alone and only fought because he was provoked; he had no interest in anything or anyone unless they were nice or antagonistic towards him. Thus, it’s interesting to see him launch himself at missiles to spare even the soldiers who attack him on sight. The Hulk’s also surprisingly weak here; even the narration boxes talk about how he’s just “flesh and bone” and can be killed just like a regular man. He gets injured by the vaporiser ray in issue #66, though shrugs off the significance of this, but is more prone to overexerting himself and reverting to Banner. As lucid as the Hulk is, he still hates his alter ego. To the Hulk, Banner is another enemy, one he cannot see or touch, and he’s constantly striving to stay in his green-hued form rather than turn back into “puny Banner”. The same is true for Banner, who takes tranquiliser pills to help control his transformations and fears the Hulk losing control and hurting someone, especially his loved ones like Betty and Rick.

Fear and paranoia are at an all-time high thanks to tensions between the US and Soviet Union.

A focal point of these issues is Cold War paranoia. General Ross and suave newcomer Major Talbot are deeply suspicious of Banner because he keeps disappearing and acting all cagy. In Ross’s case, his suspicions are rooted in an intense dislike of Banner and disapproval of his relationship with his daughter. He cannot see what she sees in such a “milksop” and constantly badgers her, raving about Banner’s guilt every chance he can get, to strong-arm her into sharing his perspective. Talbot’s dislike of Banner is equally biased since he also has eyes for Betty, which Ross naturally approves of since Talbot’s a man’s man. Talbot loves his country first and foremost, however, and is determined to defend her from any threat, foreign or domestic. He keeps a close eye on Banner and immediately puts together any evidence he can find, however slim, to brand him a traitor. While Rick manages to get Banner cleared, Talbot remains aggressively suspicious and relishes the chance to get his claws into Betty once they receive irrefutable proof that Banner has “defected” to the Reds. The paranoia and fear surrounding the Soviets is the perfect backdrop for the deceptive Chameleon to enter the fray. By assuming various guises, including Ross and Banner, the Chameleon stirs the pot and raises tensions on the missile base. Although Betty’s word is enough to take the heat off Banner, the Chameleon’s constantly lurking amongst the crowd, hearing everything and stumbling upon useful titbits to feed back to the Leader, thereby showing that Ross and Talbot are right to be suspicious. However, their suspicions are misplaced and this costs them dearly, especially when the Hulk goes on a rampage! Surprising no one, the Soviets are depicted as wicked and cruel, starving their workforce and forcing kidnapped scientists to work themselves to death for their cause. However, the US military isn’t exactly squeaky-clean either. Both militaries treat Banner like shit and throw their weight around like stubborn, prideful bulls and it’s as satisfying to see the Hulk rip apart General Ross’s base as it is his decimation of the Soviet’s weapons factory.

The Leader’s mutated brain and all-powerful Humanoid position him as a perfect foil to the Hulk.

And then there’s the main man himself, the Leader. An enigmatic and mysterious individual, we learn about his humble origins but never learn his true name (indeed, he disregards it as meaningless once he takes on his new moniker), yet the Leader is positioned as a thematic double of the Hulk. Like Banner, Sterns was caught in a Gamma blast and somehow survived and, like Banner, he was forever transformed by that mysterious radiation. However, the Leader cannot revert back to human form like Banner; his affliction is permanent and makes him an inhuman figure. The Leader was also gifted with superhuman intelligence, the Gamma radiation increasing his mental capacity to that of a super genius and giving him intellect high enough to create his own intricate spy network. The Leader presumably has agents all across the globe; he definitely has ties to the Reds, who mistakenly believe he is working for them, and agents on US soil. His most prominent point man in this story is the Chameleon, who perfectly aligns with the Leader’s more covert methods. Locked away in a hidden laboratory, the Leader prefers to stay under the radar and have his patsies do the dirty work while he perfects his Humanoid. The Humanoids are mindless automatons directly controlled by the Leader, with no thought or personality of their own. They can become intangible, hyper flexible, and super dense, making them nigh-unstoppable even against the Hulk’s mighty blows. Despite how powerful his Humanoids are, the Leader becomes obsessed with first capturing and studying the Hulk and then trying to woo him to his cause, believing the match of superhuman brain and brawn would make them unstoppable. Thus, while the two never meet in these issues, the Leader’s perfectly positioned as an anonymous puppet master, one whose intellect is depicted as being as much of a threat to the Hulk as his Humanoids. It’s a great introduction to one of the Hulk’s most persistent villains. The Leader may have aspirations for world domination but, here, he’s very low-key and happy to bide his time and even avoid getting involved, confident that an opportunity to strike will present itself and all will go according to his elaborate plan.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy the Leader’s debut? Did you read it when it was first published and, if so, how did you think the Leader compared to other Hulk villains? What did you think to the idea that the Leader was gifted superhuman intellect rather than strength? How did you feel about Major Talbot and the suspicions regarding Banner? What are some of your favourite fights or moments between the Hulk and the Leader? Who is your favourite Hulk villain? Whatever you thoughts on the Leader (and the Hulk), feel free to share them below and be sure to check out my other Hulk content!

Movie Night: Thunderbolts* / The New Avengers

Dr. K3 Comments

Released: 2 May 2025
Director: Jake Schreier
Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Budget: $180 million
Stars: Florence Pugh, Lewis Pullman, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Wyatt Russell, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus

The Plot:
When Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Louis-Dreyfus) seeks to erase the evidence of her malicious experiments, she unwittingly assembles a rag-tag team of losers and mercenaries, led by Yelena Belova (Push), to stand against her and her secret superpowered agent…

The Background:
Back in the nineties, Marvel Comics were not just in a financial state but the “Onslaught Saga” led to some of their most popular characters being presumed dead for a while. In their place, Peter David created an all-new superhero team, the Thunderbolts, who debuted in 1997 as typically excessive heroes who were secretly the villainous Masters of Evil in disguise. The idea of bringing this concept to the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) can be traced back to the production of Guardians of the Galaxy (Gunn, 2014) when director James Gunn expressed interest in a big-screen adaptation. Although the idea was shelved when Warner Bros. produced a similar concept, it regained steam when MCU projects teased Valentina assembling a team of anti-heroes and soon evolved into a starring vehicle for Florence Pugh. Once officially announced, a tumultuous development began as rumours and script rewrites did the rounds, drastically altering key plot points and surprisingly offing one of the main cast for shock value. Writer Eric Pearson was keen to introduce Robert “Bob” Reynolds, arguably Marvel’s most notable Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman proxy, to tackle mental health issues like depression and addiction, with Lewis Pullman cast after scheduling conflicts forced Steven Yeun to back out. Much speculation surrounded the mysterious asterisk in the film’s title, which quickly saw Marvel re-branding the film to The New Avengers shortly after its release, as was always intended. While this bold decision divided some fans, Thunderbolts* was met with widespread critical acclaim and made over $382 million at the box office. Reviews praised the misfit action, Pugh’s elevation to a lead role, its exploration of depression, and the mixture of action and comedy, though many were dissatisfied with the unceremonious showing for Olga Kurylenko’s Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster.

The Review:
Although the marketing for Thunderbolts* had me believe that Junior Congressman and ex-Winter Soldier James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Stan) was the central character in this film, I was surprised and delighted to find that former Black Widow Yelena Belova takes the lead. In many ways, Thunderbolts* is as much a sequel to Black Widow (Shortland, 2021) as it is a continuation of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Skogland, 2021), reuniting Yelena with her eccentric and overbearing super soldier surrogate father, Alexei Shostakov/The Red Guardian (Harbour), delving a little more into Yelena’s backstory courtesy of some traumatic visits to a nightmare dimension known as the “void”, while also significantly building upon the character of disgraced military veteran and former Captain America turned hot-headed mercenary, John Walker/U.S. Agent (Russell). Still grieving the loss of her surrogate sister, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Yelena begins the film in a place of apathy. Yelena now works as a black ops agent for Valentina, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who’s currently under heavy investigation regarding all her shady experiments and dealings. However, despite throwing herself into her work and being an accomplished assassin, Yelena is unfulfilled and bored with the day-to-day mediocrity of her assignments. Feeling directionless and empty, she attempts to find some direction by talking through her feelings with Alexei, a disgraced and overweight former Soviet hero who’s left living in squalor and running a limo driving service. Despite his significant fall from grace and his boisterous personality, Alexei emphasises that the greatest calling he ever had was being an adored hero and encourages Yelena to step out of her comfort zone and take on a more public, heroic role like her late sister. Though hesitant, Yelena decides to give it a shot, if only to change her daily routine, and Valentina agrees to reassign her if she completes one last job. Namely, the infiltration of a secret underground O.X.E. facility that’s in danger of being robbed (and thus exposing Valentina’s dirty secrets) by Ava Starr/Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), a tortured soul who can become intangible for short bursts.

Although Taskmaster’s screen time gets cut short, Pugh steals the show with her layered performance.

However, when Yelena accesses the facility, she’s blindsided by Walker, who’s been contracted to kill her. Walker’s then attacked by master fighter Taskmaster, who’s been hired to kill him, and a four-way melee kicks off as they try to take each other out. Though Yelena immediately sees they’ve all been double-crossed, it takes the sudden, dramatic, and down-right insulting execution of Taskmaster for the fighting to stop. Well, that and the strange appearance of the anxious, confused, and seemingly harmless Bob after he was accidentally released from stasis. Though the pig-headed Walker is reluctant to believe Valentina would turn on him, he’s forced to begrudgingly work with the others to escape the facility, which first threatens to incinerate them and then trap them forever. Despite none of them having the powers or equipment to scale the impossibly large shaft, Bob suggests they clamber up back-to-back and, despite Walker’s selfish arrogance, the group fumbles their way to the surface. Unfortunately, Valentina’s long-suffering assistant, Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan), alerts her boss to their actions – and Bob’s presence – meaning the group are met by a heavily armed response team. Thanks to masquerading as Valentina’s goon squad, the group slip past the barricade, but the grateful and kind-hearted Bob decides to risk his life by covering their escape, resulting in him being peppered by bullets. Instead of dying, he emerges unscathed, blasts into the sky, and crashes to the ground with a massive explosion, inadvertently giving his newfound acquaintances the chance to escape and placing him in Valentina’s excited hands. Thanks to having chauffeured Valentina and Mel, Alexei races to retrieve them and excitedly encourages them to stick together as a team, accidentally nicknamed “Thunderbolts” after a passing mention of Yelena’s school sports team, though the group are less than enthusiastic about working together and are visibly disgusted at having had to rely on each other for so long.

Emotionally damaged Bob turns out to be perhaps the greatest threat the world has ever known…

While all this is going on, Bucky seeks to uncover concrete evidence to expose and impeach Valentina, working his charm on Mel to get the inside track and racing to rescue the group when Alexei’s limo is attacked. Despite Alexei’s joy at meeting a Soviet hero and fellow super soldier, Bucky takes no chances and binds the group, seeking to have them testify against Valentina, but is forced to cut them loose and join forces with them when Mel corroborates their wild claims about Bob. As indicated by paperwork found in the facility, the seemingly unassuming Bob is actually a neurotic and emotionally unstable drug addict and survivor of horrific childhood abuse who, in a desperate attempt to feel powerful and significant, signed up to one of Valentina’s secret drug trials. While all the other subjects died, Bob became a full-blown indestructible superman, capable of flight and exhibiting awesome psychic powers, though his dark side also received a superhuman boost. With a touch, or at his command, Bob sends targets to the void, a dark dimension where they relive their most painful memories. However, Valentina brainwashes Bob with platitudes and strokes his fragile ego, promising to make him the world’s mightiest superhero in the absence of the Avengers and having him become the Sentry. While Bob is reluctant to turn on his newfound friends, he embraces the chance to be more than an insignificant nobody, but quickly becomes drunk on his power, rejecting Valentina’s orders and seeking to take the world for himself. While Mel puts the Sentry down with a kill switch, this merely suppresses Bob’s neurotic (but nonetheless harmless) personality and unleashes his dark side, the Void, who impassively terrorises New York City to plunge humanity into a glorious nothingness. Despite being powerless against the Sentry and going their separate ways, the chaos inspires the reluctant Thunderbolts to save civilians and rally against the Void, with Yelena desperate to appeal to Bob’s humanity by willingly returning to the void and facing his dark past.

While Valentina is a deplorable puppet master, the misfit team is their own worst enemy.

Although Valentina is gleefully presented as a despicable and thoroughly unlikeable villain, I do think she suffered from not featuring more prominently in previous Marvel movies as a dark counterpart to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Luckily, the titular Thunderbolts are all largely dislikeable or morally dubious characters and their bickering and in-fighting means they’re their own worst enemies. Indeed, it’s only the fact that they have a common enemy that the group sets aside their egos and dislike of each other to even work together, though Bucky and Alexei go a long way to galvanising the team. Still, “dysfunctional” is putting it mildly when it comes to these guys, especially considering how abrasive and unlikeable Walker is. His temper and arrogance paint him as a typical jock, but he undergoes a surprising redemption arc throughout as he tries to atone for his past and turn his life around. Though sadly not featured as prominently as she should be, Ghost seems to carry some guilt about murdering Taskmaster and, despite frequently clashing with Walker, sticks with the group simply because she’s lived so much of her life alone. As Alexei observes, Yelena feels the same emptiness lifted thanks to the team’s presence. Despite them constantly butting heads, she takes a leadership role and is constantly the voice of reason amongst them, pushing them to focus on their true enemy and to do some good for a change. Naturally, Alexei enjoys the chance to be a hero once more and Harbour’s enthusiastic and bombastic energy really cements Thunderbolts* as one of the best MCU movies of the modern era. Finally, there’s Bucky, a guy who seems uncomfortable in his political role and who immediately reverts to type the first chance he gets. Without a doubt, though, this is Bob’s show as, through him, the MCU tackles the serious and soul-crushing weight of abuse and depression and forces it to the forefront as he discovers, masters, and then loses himself to his incredible powers.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Unfortunately, despite the film’s marketing, Taskmaster really got the shaft here, she appeared onscreen for one fight, gets one line, and then is suddenly executed with little to no fanfare. Yelena basically shrugs it off since she’s so impassive and Taskmaster is barely brought up afterwards, which is a shame as her new suit was cool and I would’ve liked to see her character get a shot at redemption. They could’ve at least had her live until the team escaped the facility, perhaps have Bob accidentally obliterate her in his first unexpected show of power. Similarly, I’m not sure what the benefit of having Bucky be a congressman was if it was going to be dropped immediately. Nothing he did tied into that role and he could’ve worked Mel and helped his fellow congressman (Wendell Pierce) without having a political role. While it was also a shame we never got to see how the others fared in the void, it did provide some additional tragedy to Yelena (who was forced to see her fellow Black Widow recruits tortured and killed during her training) and touched upon the shame that fuels Walker and explains his brash personality. The void truly shines when exploring Bob’s traumatic past, however, as Yelena witnesses Bob’s father emotionally and physically abuse him, his drug addict mother shun him, and briefly witnesses his own struggles with addiction. When in his default personality, Bob talks about how he sometimes has highs and then suffers crushing lows that drove him towards drink and meth but also, seemingly to the point where he didn’t care if he lived or died. This led him to Valentina’s “Sentry Project”, which remarkably made him everything she hoped for, but also empowered his dark thoughts and made him extremely emotionally unstable. Seeing Bob wallow in his childhood bedroom (the quietest, nicest room in the void as long as you don’t mind seeing and hearing your parents fight and belittle you) was heart wrenching and Pullman really ran the gamut of emotions in his portrayal of Bob.

Amidst the action and banter, there’s a chilling and emotional exploration of depression.

This culminates in a spectacular (if brief) display of power from the Sentry in the former Avengers Tower. Garbed in a golden outfit and showcasing superhuman speed and strength, the Sentry easily overpowers his friends, with even the super soldiers barely making Bob flinch and him overwhelming them all while appearing bored. His transformation into the Void is equally impressive, with Pullman being enveloped in darkness. He speaks in a hushed, impassive tone, with only his silvery eyes glittering from the darkness, and sends targets to the void with a wave of his hand in a chilling visual. While much of Thunderbolts* revolves around the rag-tag team trying to co-exist without killing each other, the group finds a common language in combat. Despite them all pretty much just punching and shooting, each brings something a little different, such as Walker wielding his shield, Bucky utilising his mechanical arm, and Ghost phasing in and out of reality. Although Walker scoffs at Yelena taking charge of the group and a combination of bad luck and miscommunication means their plans often fail or quickly fall apart, the group fights well together. Crucially, when the Void envelops the city, these largely selfish anti-heroes don’t hesitate to jump in and save who they can, leading the crowd to safety and earning their appreciation, much to Alexei’s delight and the others’ surprise. Action-packed moments like Bucky’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (Cameron,1991) style motorcycle intervention, the team storming Valentia’s tower, and their ill-fated showdown with the Sentry are juxtaposed with some fun humour and banter and some poignant moments, particularly between the grieving and emotional Yelena and Alexei. Angry at her “father” for not staying in touch more and still struggling after Natasha’s death, Yelena breaks down in Alexei’s arms at how lonely she is and he does his best to comfort he, just as Yelena finds a kindred spirit in Bob, whom she senses is both lonely and damaged and in need to help and reassurance.

These unlikely heroes step up to meet the challenge when the Void engulfs the city in darkness.

This, as much as her inherent heroic nature, is what drives Yelena to stop running from the Void and willingly return to his dark dimension. There, she ignores her own traumatic past and desperately searches for Bob, eager to appeal to his reason, and discovers the sheer depth of his emotional trauma. Having resigned himself to the void and feeling as powerless to fight it as he was to stand up to his parents, Bob is reluctant to stand against his dark side and, though bolstered by Yelena’s genuine concern, is touched when the rest of the team brave their nightmares to reunite with them. At Yelena’s suggestion, Bob brings them to the worst “room” in the void, the place where he was transformed into a superhuman, and the team discovers that the effect on his psyche was near instantaneous. They also encounter the Void, a spiteful and all-powerful force that belittles Bob, tortures his friends, and maliciously mocks Bob’s insecurities. When Bob lashes out in anger, attacking the Void and mercilessly beating him, Yelena sees that this threatens to erase his compassionate side altogether and, despite the environment itself trying to stop her, she rushes not to stop or kill Bob, but to embrace him. The others do the same, embracing their damaged comrade and affirming their belief in him and their showcase of affection is enough to quiet the Void, returning everyone lost to the darkness and leaving Bob seemingly with no memory of what happened (and, sadly, no longer wearing his awesome Sentry suit). In the aftermath, the group seeks retribution upon Valentina, only to be blindsided when she leads them into a press conference and introduces them as the New Avengers. Though Valentina’s dismayed when the group begrudgingly accept the moniker (and when Yelena asserts dominance over her), she accepts the compromise as it means she can remain in a position of power. Unfortunately, the credits and post-credit scenes immediately deride the unlikely new Avengers, with headlines and news stories questioning them and even Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie) said to be suing them over the name! Still, the team relishes the chance to prove their credentials when they receive word of a strange, extradimensional craft entering Earth’s atmosphere…

The Summary:
I purposely avoiding using any spoiler warnings for this film, and including both titles, since Marvel Studios let the cat out of the bag just a few days after its release. While I was surprised to see the team be revealed as the New Avengers, it was a pretty fun way to end the movie, though I do wonder how prominent the team will be in the sixth phase of the MCU considering how packed the slate is. Regardless, Thunderbolts* was a surprisingly good time. I say “surprisingly” as the team has very little to do with their comic book counterparts and I wasn’t expecting all that much of it, especially after we had two similarly themed DC movies, but it turned out to be very entertaining and surprisingly touching. As a deconstruction of mental illness, Thunderbolts* (more specifically Lewis Pullman) knocks it out of the park, with Bob perfectly encapsulating the insecurities, incredible highs, and soul-destroying lows of depression. While he’s apathetic as the Sentry, Bob is chillingly impassive as the Void and so powerful that he completely neuters his more reasonable side. I also loved how Yelena came to the forefront here as a leader and her own search for meaning, and the evolution of her relationship with Alexei. While it was a damn shame Taskmaster got shafted, I would’ve liked to see Valentina used more leading up to the film, and I was hoping for more Bucky, I really enjoyed the dysfunctional team dynamic and how even an asshole like U.S. Agent could turn his life around with the right motivation. Thunderbolts* was a definitely step in the right direction for the MCU and I’m excited to see how its events will impact future MCU movies, especially regarding the Sentry, and I would absolutely say it’s a must-see for fans of this sprawling cinematic universe.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What did you think to Thunderbolts* and the surprise reveal of the film’s true nature? Were you disappointed that a more comic accurate team wasn’t used? What did you think of the unceremonious execution of Taskmaster? Were you impressed by the Sentry and the film’s discussion of mental health? What do you hope is next for the team in the MCU? Tell me your rating of Thunderbolts* in the comments, support me on Ko-Fi, and go check out my other Marvel content.

Back Issues [X-Men Day]: The X-Men #4

Dr. K2 Comments

To commemorate the culmination of their long-running and successful X-Men movies, 20th Century Fox declared May 13th as “X-Men Day” to celebrate Marvel’s iconic collection of ostracised superhumans.

Story Title: “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!”
Published: 3 January 1964 (cover-dated: March 1964)
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby

The Background:
By 1963, Marvel Comics were hitting their stride thanks to characters like the Fantastic Four, Tony Stark/Iron Man, and, of course, Peter Parker/Spider-Man. To further capitalise on this momentum, Stan Lee dreamed up the idea of “Mutants” to quickly explain away an influx of new costumed superbeings. Working with long-time collaborator Jack Kirby, Lee expanded this concept into the X-Men, misfit teenagers who were hated and feared for their powers, to tackle social issues like racism. Although The X-Men was cancelled with issue sixty-six and wouldn’t return to prominence until a 1975 revival, the X-Men are now an established cornerstone of Marvel Comics and have influenced generations with a much-lauded animated series and massively successful live-action movies. It was in the pages of The X-Men that readers met some of Marvel’s most memorable heroes and villains, most notably the evil counterparts to the superhero team, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, this oddball team of dark counterparts and ne’er-do-wells have dogged the Mutant team for decades, often serving as the henchman for the team’s most persistent villain, Erik Magnus Lehnsherr/Magneto, and changing their roster almost as often as the X-Men. Despite their corny name, the Brotherhood led to the introduction of such iconic characters as Raven Darkhölme/Mystique and future Avengers Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Outside of the comics, thee Brotherhood has prominently featured in numerous Marvel and X-Men videogames, usually as underlings and boss battles, were a regular fixture of the X-Men’s various animated adaptations, and served as largely underutilised henchmen in their live-action appearances to give the Mutant heroes someone to punch.

The Review:
As was the style at the time, “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!” begins with Professor Charles Xavier/Professor X putting his Mutant students, the X-Men, through their paces in the Danger Room, a training area specifically designed to hone their unique superhuman abilities and improve their teamwork out in the field. In this instance, the other X-Men – leader Scott “Slim” Summers/Cyclops, Warren Worthington III/Angel, Bobby Drake/Iceman, and Jean Grey/Marvel Girl – are watching with anticipation as their friend and colleague, Henry “Hank” McCoy/The Beast, puts his uncanny agility to the test, dodging missiles, maces, and falling discs. His hopes of beating his best time are dashed, however, when a seemingly innocuous rope turns out to be nothing but paper, dunking him in water and teaching him a valuable lesson to think twice before acting, no matter his confidence. Next, young upstart Iceman takes up the challenge, eager to show off his ice slide ability and immediately paying for his grandstanding when metal weights and a red-hot cauldron threaten to melt his snowy form. Thinking fast, Iceman pole vaults to safety on a makeshift ice pole and even sends the Beast’s heavy weight back at him with an ice slide, only to be humbled by a blast of steam that melts his ice. To make matters worse, Angel then hangs Iceman from an overhead pole by his pants. This proves a suitable test of Marvel Girl’s telekinetic abilities as she easily lowers Bobby to the floor and impresses further by…taking the lid off a box…before Professor X and the other X-Men surprise her with a birthday cake.

While the X-Men practice, Magneto and the Brotherhood plot to wage war against humanity!

While the X-Men enjoy their sweet treat, another group of Mutants struggles to co-exist over their own table of food, primarily because of the uncouth manners of the diminutive Mortimer Toynbee/Toad. Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver admonishes Toad’s obnoxious table manners, though he’s cooled from taking physical action by his alluring sister, Wanda/The Scarlet Witch. Jason Wyngarde/Mastermind isn’t so easily subdued, however, and uses his power to cast hypnotic illusions to turn Toad into the pig he eats like, disgusting the Scarlet Witch almost as much as Toad’s repulsive eating habits. The Scarlet Witch’s “spunk” amuses the leering Mastermind, who has aspirations to make her his bride, but he’s kept from driving Wanda mad with his powers by the timely, super-fast intervention of her brother. Their bickering begrudgingly cools when Toad mentions their mysterious leader, a man whose mere mention is powerful enough for them to cease their petty squabbles. The story shifts focus to the office of a large shipping line where Magneto, Master of Magnetism and hated enemy of both the X-Men and humanity, commandeers an ex-convoy freighter using his awesome control of all things metal and magnetic. He guides the ship to an uncharted island and meets with the group, to whom he is obviously their leader, and immediately reprimands Mastermind when Toad tells of his antagonistic ways. When Quicksilver defies Magneto and threatens to leave with his sister, he’s convinced to stay since they owe him a debt after he rescued them from the witch-hunters of their home village. Though Quicksilver isn’t sold on Magneto’s plans to conquer Homo sapiens, neither he or Wanda have love for humankind and agree to follow along for now.

When Magneto refuses to give up his crusade, the X-Men intervene and battle his Brotherhood.

As fate would have it, Angel happens to spot the freighter while out on patrol. Though he assumes it’s simply an unmanned ship, Professor X senses something unnerving about Angel’s tale. His worries prove to be accurate when the ship attacks the small nation of Santo Marco, which Charles immediately assumes to be the work of “The Evil Mutants”. After summoning the X-Men to his office, Professor X confronts Magneto on a “mental plane” (quite how Magneto can do this is beyond me) where each tries, and fails, to sway the other to their cause. However, when it becomes clear that Magneto will never give up his desire to destroy humankind, Professor X prepares his students to face their old enemy once more. As if Magneto’s freighter wasn’t bad enough, Mastermind uses his powers to force the people’s surrender by conjuring images of an invading army, a tactic Toad relishes but which causes the Scarlet Witch some concern. In time, Magneto establishes a real army, enforcing martial law throughout Santo Marco and punishing any dissension swiftly and harshly. Sensing the arrival of the X-Men, Magneto places his forces on high alert, though they’re easily toppled by the uncanny youngsters. Although Toad strikes a blow against the Beast, he’s forced to flee when Hank tosses rocks at him, causing Mastermind to step in and send the Beast plummeting by making him believe the castle walls have turned to glass. Elsewhere, despite the guard’s firepower and Quicksilver’s incredible speed, Angel knocks out the speedy Maximoff and suffers the wrath of his sister, who casts a “hex” that buries Angel under the ceiling and leaves him their prisoner.

Despite Quicksilver’s begrudging aid, the X-Men are devastated when Professor X is critically injured.

Cyclops takes the direct approach, confronting Magneto with his optic blasts and unintentionally causing a massive electrical feedback to blast through the castle when Quicksilver sends his aim awry. Luckily, Cyclops blasts the generator from the castle and frees Angel, but the effort causes him to black out, so Iceman revives him with some snow to the face. After a brief misunderstanding from the unnerved Marvel Girl, the X-Men regroup just in time to face a wall of boiling oil! Professor X then comes rolling through the flames, dispelling Mastermind’s illusion and confronting Magneto, unaware that he’s rigged two bombs – one a nuclear bomb, if you can believe it! – to destroy the castle, the nation, and his enemies. This act gives Quicksilver pause due to the massive and unnecessary waste of life it’ll cause. When the Beast refuses to heed Professor X’s warnings and dives head-first for the first door, Professor X ushes to shield him from the blast, somehow being left unconscious and dazed but otherwise in one piece (I guess he used his mental powers to shield himself?) With the X-Men in hot pursuit, Magneto activates the nuke and makes his getaway, but Quicksilver has a last second change of heart and deactivates the bomb, sparing the innocent lives but fleeing alongside his comrades. Although Cyclops is eager to pursue, he’s held back when the other X-Men discover that Professor X has been critically injured by the blast. Somehow, the explosion “deadened” his mental powers, robbing him of his “greatest weapon” and leaving him despondent, though Cyclops is no less determined to make him proud the next time Magneto and his cohorts strike.

The Summary:
Well, this was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While the artwork and general storytelling has improved since I reviewed the first appearance of the X-Men, things are still very uneven and rushed at times. “The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants!” fails to make the best use of its pages by wasting so much time in the early going establishing the X-Men’s powers and personalities, something that could easily be cut down or reworked to be showcased in their battles against their evil counterparts. On the plus side, Professor X didn’t come across as such a dick this time, though he’s still a strict taskmaster. However, Marvel Girl was basically useless and did nothing in the fight against the Brotherhood. As for the other X-Men, I guess it’s the Beast who takes some of the spotlight here. He’s taught a lesson in the first few pages that, strangely, he doesn’t learn from, resulting in Professor X’s condition by the finale, which seems like the opposite of what you’d want from a character arc. Angel is a grandstanding, lewd douchebag who eventually gets humbled when he’s captured by the Scarlet Witch, at least. However, there are no consequences to Iceman’s childish antics except him getting caught off-guard here and there and Cyclops simply bursts in all eyes blazing with little effectiveness.

Despite the appeal of the new villains, the story features surprisingly little Mutant-on-Mutant action.

The so-called “Evil Mutants” are a bunch of backstabbing, squabbling egos who can barely get on the same page, openly detesting each other and only stomaching the alliance because of their hatred for humanity and fear of Magneto. Toad is the snivelling, loyal underling who’ll do anything to impress his master; Mastermind is the arrogant blowhard whose powers of illusion make him feel superior to his allies; and Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch are semi-reluctant followers who join Magneto’s cause to repay a debt but are primarily loyal to each other rather than fully subscribing to his plot of mass genocide. On paper, the idea of pitting the X-Men against a group of morally corrupt evildoers is a good one but the execution feels lacking. The Brotherhood fight amongst themselves more than the X-Men, and I would’ve liked to see more time devoted to them matching their powers against each other. We caught glimpses of this, but we never got to see Marvel Girl pit her telekinesis against the Scarlet Witch’s Hex power, or Cyclops battle Mastermind, or even Professor X confront Magneto. As for the Master of Magnetism, he comes off as a fairly formidable threat, especially with the extra muscle behind him, yet chooses to limit his campaign to one tiny nation no one really cares about. His desire to eradicate anyone inferior to him, Mutants or otherwise, sees him belittle his allies, despite how reliant on them he is for his evil scheme, but again I think I would’ve liked more time spent portraying him as a dark mirror of Professor X rather than just a posturing despot. Ultimately, this was a decent enough read, with some fun Mutant-on-Mutant action at the end, but with a lot of flaws and holes that made it largely forgettable save for the tinges of grey to the Maximoffs, the strange and I guess impactful ending, and for being the first appearance of the Brotherhood.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

What did you think to the debut of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants? Do you also find their name ridiculous and redundant? Which of the group was the most appealing to you and why? Do you agree that the story needed to do more with the concept or were you happy with the conflict depicted? What did you think to the sliver of compassion shown in the Maximoffs and which version of the Brotherhood is your favourite? Which stories involving the Brotherhood are your favourites and how are to celebrating X-Men Day today? Whatever your thoughts on the X-Men and the Brotherhood, drop them in the comments and go check out my other X-Men related content across the site.

Movie Night [Dragon Ball Day]: Dragonball Z: Super Android 13!

Dr. KLeave a comment
DragonBallDay

When the Great Demon King Piccolo was released, he declared May 9th as “Piccolo Day”…and promptly celebrated by announcing his ownership over the planet. May 9th has seen been coined “Goku Day” but, to make things simpler, I’m using this as a good excuse to celebrate all things Dragon Ball.

Released: 11 July 1992
Director: Kazuhito Kikuchi
Distributor: Toei Company
Budget: ¥25.5 billion
Stars: Sean Schemmel, Christopher R. Sabat, Eric Vale, Chuck Huber, Chris Rager, and Josh Martin

The Plot:
Son Goku (Schemmel) and his friends are torn from a peaceful day when androids wreak havoc in the name of the Red Ribbon Army. Overwhelmed by their vast power, the Saiyans and their allies face a greater threat when Android #13 (Huber) absorbs his comrades and becomes a nigh-unstoppable superpowered being!

The Background:
Inspired by Journey to the West (Cheng’en, 1592), Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball first appeared in the pages of Weekly Shōnen Jump back in 1984 and centred around Goku, a boy with a monkey’s tail and exceptional martial arts skills who got into all kinds of scrapes searching for the seven magical Dragon Balls. While Dragonball Z added a more science-fiction spin to the lore, it often referenced Goku’s early days, with perhaps one of the most notably recurring elements being the Red Ribbon Army. With Goku having achieved incredible power during his outer space adventures, he returned to Earth to face an Android threat as his old enemies sought revenge, birthing one of Dragonball Z’s most celebrated story arcs. These “Sagas” heavily inspired the feature-length spin-off films, which were mostly produced without Toriyama’s direct involvement and therefore played fast and loose with established canon. For Super Android 13!, a truncated version of the “Android Saga”, Toriyama was brought onboard to design the titular Android and the film was met with mixed to positive reviews that particularly highlighted the high-octane fight sequences. Though the film isn’t canon to the mainstream Dragon Ball narrative, Super Android 13, like many of the movie characters, went on to reappear in subsequent Dragonball Z videogames.

The Review:
Taking place in a strange, impossible gap between the end of the “Android Saga” and the start of the “Cell Saga”, Super Android 13! opens with a gory retelling of the last days of Doctor Gero/Android #20 (Martin), the mad scientist behind the creation of the Androids. Slaughtered by his teenage creations, who decimated the world in a possible future timeline, Dr. Gero’s mad ambition to kill Goku lived on in his supercomputer, which continued to analyse the fighting data and capabilities of Earth’s defenders and create newer, stronger Androids. Two of these, the diminutive Android #15 (ibid) and the hulking Android #14 (Rager), are unleashed and immediately make their way to West City and cut a path through buildings, traffic, and civilians alike in their search for their primary target: Goku. In many ways, Goku welcomes this attack since he begins the film bored out of his mind and perplexed by his overbearing wife, Chi-Chi (Cynthia Cranz), and her obsession with shopping. Summer school starts tomorrow and Chi-Chi is determined for her young son, Son Gohan (Stephanie Nadolny), to look his best and force her husband out of his tired old gi. While Goku and Gohan are dragged between shops and forced to carry Chi-Chi’s many shopping bags, Oolong (Brad Jackson), Master Roshi (Mike McFarland), Krillin (Sonny Strait), and Future Trunks (Vale) patiently wait in line for a beauty pageant. Judging by Future Trunks’ appearance, he hasn’t trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, yet his very presence suggests whereabouts this movie is supposed to take place within the wider canon, even if it clearly doesn’t fit due to the timeline. Regardless, poor Trunks is left embarrassed and humiliated by his companion’s perverted excitement at seeing the pretty girls and the fact that they arrived a whole day too early! The two groups reunite soon after and, while eating lunch, become aware of the city being under attack.

The three Super Saiyans are in for the fight of their lives when three new Androids attack.

Though Gohan, Krillin, and Trunks get Chi-Chi and the other civilians to safety, Goku is stunned when Androids #14 and #15 attack, pummelling him with their augmented strength and speed and gaining the upper hand since, as artificial lifeforms, Goku cannot sense their ki. Additionally, these Androids also absorb any ki blasts sent their way, drawing power from them and answering with explosive, often homing shots of their own. Overwhelmed, Goku is only saved from an early death by Trunks’ intervention and the young time traveller wisely suggests they lure their assailants away from the city so they can fight without endangering others or causing more destruction. Goku agrees and moves the fight to a faraway ice field and, naturally, Gohan eagerly follows. Though Krillin advises against it, believing they are outclassed, and Chi-Chi forbids it, Gohan leaves anyway and Krillin’s forced to follow, though the two are primarily onlookers. However, while also serving as comic relief at times, delivering exposition, and emphasising Goku’s incredible strength of will, the two also throw themselves in harm’s way to buy their allies time to recuperate. They’re bolstered by the eventual appearance of Piccolo (Sabat), Gohan’s surly mentor and surrogate father-figure, who interjects himself in the fight. Oddly, neither Goku or Trunks think to transform into their more powerful Super Saiyan forms until they’re saved by Vegeta (ibid), the proud Saiyan prince who begrudgingly aids them so he can have the pleasure of killing Goku himself. Headstrong and arrogant, Vegeta throws himself into the fight, turning Super Saiyan to match blows with and eventually destroy Android #15. Similarly, Trunks cuts Android #14 down to size but the fight leaves all three Saiyans severely beaten and unable to sustain their Super Saiyan forms. Thus, they’re left at a severe disadvantage when Android #13 enters the fray and proves to be enough more formidable, especially after echoing his successor, Cell (Dameon Clarke), and absorbing the component parts of his “brothers” to become the titular Super Android #13.

The Nitty-Gritty:
The three Androids exhibit some interesting quirks. Android #15 is small but deceptively strong and fast, displaying a sneering arrogance, and regularly swigging from a flask. Android #15 is a hulking brute who distracts the heroes with his powerful presence so Android #15 can catch them off-guard. Android #13 has an odd Southern accent; sporting a relaxed, unimpressive attire, he transforms into a grotesque demon that’s like a bastardisation of the Super Saiyan. As Super Android #13, he’s completely immune to all physical assault and he easily pounds the Saiyans into the ice, blasts them across the snow, and holds his own against even three Super Saiyans. Unlike in the show, none of the characters carry restorative Senzu Beans so they take a hell of a beating. Just defeating Super Android #13’s counterparts takes every ounce of energy the Saiyans have, leaving them exhausted and battered. It’s thus amusing to see Piccolo fly at Super Android #13 with such gusto.I admire his passion and bravery but it’s clear he has no chance against the brute, who can take a shot from Super Saiyan Vegeta without flinching. This determination is what’s primarily on offer in Super Android 13! Goku takes shot after shot and keeps getting up, Krillin is left a broken heap but still cheers on his friends, and Vegeta stubbornly refuses to back down even when he knows he has no chance of winning. Sadly, they reach this critical point far too quickly; once the Androids attack, the heroes are almost immediately left battered and fatigued, meaning the film rushes along at a brisk pace that defies realism.

The film’s a prolonged fight scene that puts our heroes at a severe, unrealistic disadvantage.

Therefore, Super Android 13! is essentially one long fight scene. Once the shopping drama is over and the punches start throwing, the exhilarating action doesn’t let up. The Androids carve a path of destruction through West City and their battle in the ice field shatters the landscape that, sadly, doesn’t make for a particularly visually interesting setting. The Androids mostly rely on punches and slams, though there’s a cool moment where Android #14 slices a cop car in two with a fingertip blast and a particularly nasty ki sphere from Android #13 that’s given a lot of hype but is easily blasted away by Vegeta. Other cool moments include Super Android #13 slamming Vegeta’s spine down on his knee, Android #14 briefly wielding Trunks’s sword, and Goku’s powerful rage causing a vortex to split the battlefield ice floats. While the sight of the three Super Saiyans is admittedly impressive, they don’t fight Super Android #13 as a powered-up unit, meaning much of the film is the titular robot beating the snot out of Goku in his base form. Realising he’s physically outclassed by this new machine, Goku desperately calls upon every living creature on the planet to lend him some of their energy and form his usual solution to the movie-based villains: the Spirit Bomb. Despite Super Android #13 having all the time in the world to intercept Goku before he can finalise the attack, the villain gets distracted with monologuing and pitiful attacks from Goku’s allies, and arrogantly believes Goku’s too weak to complete the sphere. However, Goku powers up to Super Saiyan once more and, in an unexpected twist, absorbs the Spirit Bomb into his body, essentially becoming a second Sun. He then draws Super Android #13 in and delivers a single punch that’s enough to atomise him by the sheer energy of the attack. In the aftermath, Goku jokes about how he had no idea if his body could even handle the energy, indicating that he took a calculated risk, Gohan and Krillin rest up in the hospital, and Piccolo and Vegeta are left floating on a chunk of ice, both too stubborn to even acknowledge each other’s presence.

The Summary:
Dragonball Z: Super Android #13 was the first Dragonball Z feature I ever saw. Back in the days of BitTorrent and Napster, I would download the features to watch them, burning them to VCDs to trade with friends, and this one captured my imagination as a kid who was just getting into the franchise mid-way through the “Android Saga”. Unfortunately, I have to say, it’s not that good. The Dragon Ball features are always brisk, truncated affairs that mainly focus on action but it’s especially evident here. It’s odd seeing these powerful characters so easily manhandled and left so injured so quickly. I feel like the film would’ve benefitted from Goku, Trunks, and Vegeta having competitive fights against Android #14 and #15 but coming out on top much faster thanks to their raw power and previous experience fighting Androids. Android #13 then could’ve appeared even more powerful by handling all three Super Saiyans at once before transforming and becoming invulnerable, thus driving Goku to desperately conjure a Spirit Bomb after seeing their combined might fail. I therefore wonder if Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo were necessary to the film. They chipped away at the runtime and added little beyond some obvious commentary, dialogue that could’ve easily been given to the Saiyans or their adversaries. To make matters worse, Super Android #13 isn’t a very inspired or memorable villain. Both his looks are painfully generic, his attacks are nothing special, and he wouldn’t stand out at all if it weren’t for that weird Southern accent. As soon as the film starts to get interesting, it’s over and things come to an abrupt end, making me question the stakes, especially as the Androids are only driven to kill Goku. I give it an extra star simply for the nostalgia factor but there are far better Dragonball Z features out there. Ultimately, I can’t help but feel like Super Android 13! fails to live up to its potential, delivering a weak, unremarkable reinterpretation of the “Android” and “Cell” sagas.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think of Dragonball Z: Super Android 13!? Where does it rank for you against the other Dragonball Z feature films? What did you think to Android #13 and where would you rate him as an antagonist? Would you have liked to see the three Super Saiyans battle Super Android #13 or did you like that they were so easily decimated? Which member of the Red Ribbon Army was your favourite? What Dragon Ball character (hero, villain, or otherwise), saga, or movie is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Piccolo/Goku Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Dragon Ball, please leave a comment below and go check out my other Dragon Ball reviews.