Author: Dr. K

Movie Night: The Simpsons Movie

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Released: 27 July 2007
Director: David Silverman
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Budget: $75 million
Stars: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Harry Shearer, and Albert Brooks

The Plot:
When Homer Simpson (Castellaneta) pollutes the lake in Springfield, Russ Cargill (Brooks), head of the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) imprisons the town under a giant dome. Although the Simpson family narrowly escape, they ultimately abandon Homer due to his selfishness and he is left to find a way to redeem his folly to help save the town and reunite with his family.

The Background:
Soon after the first episode of The Simpsons (1988 to present) aired, their iconic yellow visages were seemingly everywhere as “Bartmania” swept the nation. Creator Matt Groening and the other showrunners first considered a feature-length adaptation early into the show’s run, but these plans were scuppered by the show’s popularity and ratings. Work began in earnest on the venture in 2003, when The Simpsons was entering its fifteenth season, with the creators bringing in some of their most successful writers to work on the script, which went through over one hundred revisions and eventually included cameos from almost every character in the show’s long history. Following a unique marketing campaign, The Simpsons Movie finally released to mixed to favourable reviews. While the show has had an impressive run and been incredible popular, many felt that felt that movie (despite being a massive box office success and earning almost $540 million) failed to live up to the expectations set by the show’s peak and its years in development.

The Review:
The Simpsons Movie opens in true fourth-wall breaking fashion with the family (and, seemingly, the rest of Springfield) attending a screening of an Itchy & Scratchy movie, during which Homer openly criticises the stupidity of audiences everywhere for their willingness to “[pay] to see something [they] get on TV for free”. In many ways, this sets the tone for the story that is to follow since The Simpsons Movie is, basically, like an extended episode of the series rather than a true, one-of-a-kind cinematic experience like, say, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (Judge, 1996) or South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)m which took the concepts of their respective animated shows and expanded upon them using their new medium rather than simply repeating a lot of the same tropes and traditions from the show.

Despite Grandpa’s prophetic ramblings, the Simpson family have more immediate concerns.

The story begins proper when the Simpsons (and, again, apparently the rest of the town), attend church and Grandpa Abe Simpson (Castellaneta) has a sudden and prophetic turn that greatly disturbs Marge (Kavner). The rest of the family, however, is happy to ignore Grandpa’s warnings of a “twisted tale, a thousand eyes, trapped forever, [and] eeepa!” to concentrate on more pressing concerns such as Homer’s many chores and Lisa’s (Smith) attempts to warn the town about the benefits of recycling and repairing their damaged environment (especially after the heavily polluted lake resulted in the untimely deaths of Green Day). While Marge is unable to drop the subject and spends the first half of the film trying to figure out what Grandpa’s words could mean, Homer dares Bart (Cartwright) to skateboard through the town naked (resulting in an amusing sequence where the film does everything possible to hide Bart’s junk and then just shows us it). When Homer refuses to take responsibility for Bart’s indecency, Bart begins to grow frustrated with his Dad’s shabby parenting and gravitates towards the support and caring nature of their long-time neighbour, Ned Flanders (Shearer).

Russ Cargill is determined to isolate and destroy Springfield to contain their pollution.

Indeed, Homer only exacerbates Bart’s ill feelings towards him by adopting, and showing more care and concern for, a pig. Homer’s selfish and reckless ways are a pivotal catalyst in many of the film’s events as they not only drive Bart further away from him (and, at one  point, literally to drink) but also earn him the ire of his entire family (especially the environmentally-conscious Lisa) and the town when he disobeys Mayor “Diamond” Joe Quimby’s (Castellaneta) mandate that all pollution of Springfield Lake must immediately stop by dumping Spider-Pig’s faeces into the lake and incurring the wrath of the E.P.A. Their representative is, of course, Russ Cargill (who sounds so much like Hank Scorpio (Brooks) that it may as well have been the same character), a somewhat-unhinged government official who is absolutely determined to first isolate and then wipe out Springfield. Cunning and power-mad, Cargill easily manipulates the incompetent President Arnold Schwarzenegger (Shearer), imprisons Springfield within an inescapable dome, and then plots to destroy the entire town to avoid his actions being exposed to the world. His mission borders on obsession and it’s implied that he’s simply gone mad with power but his fixation on Springfield (which eventually leads to him being willing to shoot Homer in the face) isn’t really explained all that much beyond him simply wanting to prove that he’s the best at what he does.

For me, the movie slows down and falls off the rails a bit once the family are driven away to Alaska.

Honestly, for me, the best parts of the film are those that take place in Springfield; once the Simpsons are driven out of the dome and end up in Alaska, the film really loses its way and slows down a bit. Understandably, Homer’s actions cause a lot of friction and resentment in his family and his unwillingness to save their town from destruction provides Marge with yet another perfect excuse to leave Homer. It’s not the first time Homer and Marge have split up, broken up, or fallen out or the first time that the family have been driven from town by an angry mob and, honestly, these were tired tropes even then and the only real difference here is that they’re in Alaska so there’s a lot of snow about.

The Nitty-Gritty:
One major positive of The Simpsons Movie is the vast and immediately noticeable improvement in the animation quality; even little things like adding shadows to the characters makes them pop out more and appear more cinematic and there are far more elaborate and dynamic shots of the town and its citizens. Everything looks and feels much bigger and like more time, effort, and money has gone into making every scene as good as it possibly can be; it’s just a shame, then, that more of the film doesn’t actually take place in Springfield so we can really see the benefits of this. Indeed, while we get to see much of the town, a lot of key areas and locations are only briefly glimpsed and, similarly, some of the show’s more entertaining supporting characters are reduced to mere cameos or cut entirely.

Homer’s buffoonery and stupidity are unusually neglectful and selfish in the movie.

On the plus side, this does service the main focus of the plot, which is on the Simpson family; one thing that does separate The Simpsons Movie from most episodes of the show is its emphasis on drama and conflict within the family. This drives Marge not only to take the kids and leave Homer but also puts Homer on the path to self-discovery in the Alaskan wilderness; however, considering Homer’s actions are uncharacteristically selfish and his stupidity and self-serving ways and dialled up way past eleven this time around, it’s difficult to really root for him. This is troublesome for me as Homer is one of my favourite characters of the show; his bumbling ways are usually amusing and endearing but, here they’re just callous and foolhardy simply because the plot has to happen and the lessons he learns from the Medicine Woman (Tress MacNeille) are really ones he’s already learnt in the series and should already know.

Sight gags and physical comedy are a big part of The Simpsons Movie‘s humour.

Of course, being that it’s The Simpsons, The Simpsons Movie also features a bevvy of jokes and humour; some of these are simple gags, such as Homer literally being stuck between a rock and a hard place, Drederick Tatum (Hank Azaria) attempting to punch his way out of the dome, Homer’s middle finger salute to the angry mob, and the aforementioned mob heading away from the Simpsons’ house in their mission to lynch the family. Other humorous moments I enjoyed included Cletus Spuckler (ibid) proving that Quimby’s idiot-proof barrier works, Homer urging Spider-Pig to drive away from the polluted lake and being fooled by his reflection in the dome, Marge stopping amidst the burning of their house to do the dishes, and Lisa punching out Bart when he taunts her.

While a lot of the jokes are great, not all of them land and I could’ve lived without the gorge scene.

Similarly, there’s some very funny lines in the film, such as when Cargill’s men admonish Bart for scratching the chains of his manacles, the gag at the service station when Bart randomly scribbles over the family’s wanted posted and a group who look just like his doodles walks in, the entire sequence at the government spy centre, Cargill’s mental rant about tough guys and soft guys, and Marge’s sudden and unexpected cry of “Somebody throw the Goddamn bomb!” Unfortunately, not every gag and reference works that well; there’s a particularly outdated reference to Titanic (Cameron, 1997) at the Green Day concert, probably one too many anti-gay jokes and gags, and I really could have done without another visit to Springfield Gorge (though it was funny to see the crashed ambulance was still there). Likewise, while the Spider-Pig song was amusing the first few times, it (like the pig itself) quickly becomes grating and annoying.

Sadly, the film had little lasting impact on the series, which rigidly stuck to the status quo.

I think one thing that also disappoints about the film is that it could have been a really good opportunity to spice up the show after nearly twenty seasons (at the time) but introducing some actual changes and fallout from the movie. Instead, no real, lasting repercussions are ever really felt following the film’s conclusion; Colin (MacNeille) disappears despite how interesting it might have been to develop Lisa’s character with a boyfriend, Spider-Pig is reduced to mere cameos and a largely insignificant role despite how important he is to the film, and even Doctor Nick Riviera (Azaria), who appears to die, turns up alive and well in subsequent episodes. I get it, obviously; you don’t want to risk alienating long-term viewers with sudden unexplained changes but, surely long-time fans of the series saw the film and would understand any changes made to the show’s formula.

The Summary:
The Simpsons Movie was a long time in the making…maybe too long, judging by the quality of the story and the resulting film. It’s not an especially bad premise, to be fair, and results in some funny moments and gags but I can think of several episodes of the show that are funnier or could have been expanded, or combined, into an even more entertaining feature-length film. As a reflection on the film and their love/hate dynamic, it works; the film’s more dramatic elements are interesting and it’s clear that the filmmakers were trying to emphasis a few undeveloped aspects of the family, such as Bart’s relationship with Homer and Homer’s destructive ways, but, since the movie had no lasting repercussions on the show and their characterisations, it almost feels like a waste of time and potential. In the end, The Simpsons Movie is less of a celebration of everything that works about The Simpsons and more a blatant attempt to recapture some of the show’s earlier magic and failing just short of the mark. Rather than try and be a truly unique cinematic experience, the filmmakers played things way too safe and took what would have been a semi-interesting premise for an episode and blew it up to feature length rather than trying to craft something more unique and memorable and, while it’s amusing and entertaining enough, it ultimately fails to live up to its potential as a truly unforgettable experience.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy The Simpsons Movie? Do you think it was worth the long wait or were you, like me, somewhat disappointed with the end result, especially compared to feature-length versions of other animated shows? What did you think to Homer’s characterisation in the film, Bart’s sub-plot with Flanders, and Lisa’s sub-plot with Colin? Did you like Russ Cargill and the plot about the dome, and Homer’s voyage of self-discovery in Alaska? What were some of your favourite moments from the movie? Which member of the Simpson family, or the cast of the show, is your favourite? What are some of your favourite episodes and moments from the series? Perhaps you prefer a different animated series; if so, what is it? How are you celebrating Scotchtoberfest this month? Whatever your thoughts on The Simpsons Movie, or The Simpsons in general, drop a comment down below.

Movie Night: V for Vendetta

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Released: 17 March 2006
Director: James McTeigue
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: $50 to 54 million
Stars: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea, Tim Pigott-Smith, Roger Allam, Stephen Fry, and John Hurt

The Plot:
In a world where the United Kingdom is subject to a neo-fascist totalitarian regime headed by High Chancellor Adam Sutler (Hurt), the unassuming Evey Hammond (Portman) find sherself caught up in masked anarchist and freedom fighter V’s (Weaving) attempts to ignite a revolution through elaborate terrorist acts themed after the legendary Guy Fawkes.

The Background:
V for Vendetta began life as a black-and-white serial written by the legendary Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd and published in the short-lived UK anthology Warrior between 1982 and 1985 before being picked up, colourised, and completed, by DC Comics in 1989. Influenced by a variety of literary works, V for Vendetta was a bleak, uncompromising tale of a morally ambiguous anarchist rallying against a totalitarian government and is generally regarded as one of the more subversive and influential comic books ever made. The production of a live-action adaptation can be traced back to 1988, when producer Joel Silver acquired the rights, but didn’t begin to gain traction until the late-nineties when Andy and Larry Wachowski (as they were known then) became involved in the production. Actor James Purefoy famously walked out of the title role after six weeks of filming and Moore, of course, hated the script and the idea of an adaptation, but V For Vendetta was a decent box office success with a gross of over $130 million. Critically, the film was also quite well received and became an influential cult hit.

The Review:
V for Vendetta immediately begins by emphasising the overall thrust of V’s crusade: that, while a man might be forgotten, killed, or mere flesh and blood, an idea can live forever to inspire others into acting. It’s this belief that permeates throughout the film alongside the oppressive governmental regime that dominates this alternative version of the United Kingdom. When we are first introduced to V, it’s on the eve of the beginning of his masterplan for revolution; garbing himself in a black outfit, cape, and eerily emotionless Guy Fawkes mask, he stumbles upon Evey being assaulted by Fingermen, the secret police of this world, and immediately beats them into submission while spouting eloquent quotations. V’s mystery is immediately apparent not only because his entire face and figure is obscured but also through the verbosity of his vocabulary; approaching his crusade like a dramatic role, he exudes a theatrical flair and polite, curious personality that immediately captivates Evey’s attention despite her better nature.

V is an enigmatic, anti-authoritative persona is a mixture of eloquence and violence.

V’s more melodramatic and articulate moments are offset by a disturbing unpredictability and ambiguity that makes him appear more than a little insane through his explosive methods, revolutionary opinions, and anti-authoritative stance. V destroys the Old Bailey using explosives, theatrical fireworks, and the sounds of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s ‘1812 Overture’. From there, V’s methods and agenda only escalate as he storms the office of the British Television Network (BTN) and forces them to broadcast a message of insurrection and revolution to take place in one year’s time, on the fifth of November, to take a stand against the oppressive government. V’s message affects the film’s characters in a variety of ways; Evey is awe-struck, families and viewers are puzzled and curious, and he is quickly branded a terrorist by the tyrannical government.

After rising to power, Norsefire continued to spread fear and oppression by controlling the media.

The Nordic supremacist and neo-fascist totalitarian regime that rules the UK, the Norsefire Party, spreads its God-fearing message primarily through the media in the form of Lewis Prothero (Allam); an extremely aggressive and spiteful individual, Prothero has an immense level of power and influence on the country as he spreads lies and messages of fear and hate to keep the populace under the rule of, and dependent upon, Chancellor Adam Sutler. Norsefire’s rise to power came after a series of orchestrated events that saw the country besieged by plague and death and, in their fear, they turned to Sutler and his promises of order, only to find that minorities, faiths, and sexualities were not only oppressed but cruelly ostracised, hunted, experimented upon, and killed by Sutler’s party.

Creedy is Sutler’s main force in removing insurgents and seeks to usurp Sutler’s authority.

Years later, the United Kingdom has become a bastion of law and order because of this fear; whereas former political powers like the United States are now little more than a “leper farm”, “England prevails” thanks to Sutler blacklisting music and arts, controlling the media, and having Creedy (Pigott-Smith) remove those who dare to oppose him. Creedy, a spiteful and cruel man, was the one who suggested Norsefire launch a viral attack on their own country to consolidate their power and takes his job very seriously; when insurgents rise up, he personally leads his men in breaking into their houses, beating them mercilessly, wrapping their heads in a black sack, and taking them away to be tortured and killed. His relationship with Sutler deteriorates over the course of the film when Sutler places the blame on V’s actions and elusiveness solely on Creedy’s inability to track him down and end him and V is able to manipulate Creedy’s aspirations to usurp Sutler’s position while still making him pay for his past crimes.

While Finch is horrified by the truths he uncovers, Deitrich is inspired to mock the government.

Equally perplexed by V’s crusade is Chief Inspector Finch (Rea), an Irish-born policeman who is horrified by V’s actions and broadcast but, in the course of trying to find him before Creedy can make him disappear, is horrified to uncover evidence that the Norsefire Party were responsible for a devastating plague and numerous deaths. His faith in the system already faltering at the beginning of the film, it is shaken to its core when he learns of V’s backstory and the horrifying experiments he and many others were subjected to, which turn him into something of a reluctant ally. V’s message strikes a chord with many others across the country, including Gordon Deitrich (Fry), a charismatic and entertaining talk show host who has been forced to live a lie his entire life since he is secretly gay and homosexuals are effectively outlawed. This leads to an amusing sequence in which he openly mocks Sutler on live television which, in turn, emphasises the tyrannical cruelty of the government when he is quickly bagged up and killed by Creedy. Other random members of the public are similarly inspired by V’s message and pay the price for it and, in turn, inspire others to take a more proactive stand against their oppressors.

Evey has been beaten down by her losses but is awestruck by the strength of V’s conviction.

V’s primary ally, however, is Evey; acting as the audience surrogate, we are introduced to V’s world (the “Shadow Gallery”) and learn about the specifics of his agenda through her; initially a timid and inconsequential character, she is captivated by V’s mystery, the strength of his conviction, and magnetic presence. Having suffered through many losses and tragedies, Evey is initially a product of the oppressive world in which she lives; she doesn’t like the rules, regulations, and actions of the government but feels powerless to do anything about it and prefers to stay out of politics. While she comes to bond with V even after his more questionable and violent actions, and feels an immense deal of pity and sympathy for him, she nonetheless attempts to escape and finds herself subjected to round the clock torture and isolation.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Conspiracy, revenge, and oppression are the name of the game in V for Vendetta; Norsefire went to extreme lengths to secure the vote and confidence of the public and covered everything up, from deleting military records and killing those who would expose or oppose them. The St. Mary’s virus devastated Ireland, and much of the UK, resulting in numerous deaths and was purposely released into the water supply by Norsefire to consolidate their power. Ever since, they’ve enforced strict curfews, rounded up homosexuals, people of colour, and all those with conflicting religious beliefs and lorded their superiority over those who were once their political betters. Hurt, who famously portrayed a contrary role in Nineteen Eighty-Four (Radford, 1984), demands nothing less than complete obedience, compliance, and results from his underlings; represented as a an aggressive, demanding voice shouting through a television screen for most of the film, his position and authority is never in question and he takes V’s actions and open defiance as a personal insult to him and everything he’s built.

Delia is the only one to regret her part in V’s suffering and welcomes her end at his hands.

Those within the Norsefire Party are deplorable and reprehensible individuals. Prothero was formally the commander of the detention camp that was responsible for producing the St. Mary’s virus and the suffering V and his fellow prisoners underwent; Bishop Lilliman (John Standing) is little more than a disgusting paedophile; and Creedy is a sadistic thug. The only real exceptions are Finch, who begrudgingly complies with the will of his superiors even before his faith is shaken, and Doctor Delia Surridge (Sinéad Cusack), the woman responsible for the experiments that led to the creation of V and the St. Mary’s virus and vaccine. Back during her time at the detention centre, she was a morally appalling woman who grew to hate the lethargic and miserable state of those she was experimenting on but, upon seeing her work go up in flames and coming eye-to-eye with a horrifically burned inmate, came to regret her actions. Changing her name and living in constant fear of reprisal, she accepts her fate at V’s hands willingly and is the only one of his tormentors to repent for her part in his suffering and to whom he shows a modicum of mercy.

V’s true face and identity remain a mystery as he is 100% committed to his vendetta and ideals.

V’s mission, for all his theatricality and grandstanding about brining down the government, boils down to simple revenge; referring to his actions as “justice”, he is driven by the desire to hunt down and punish those responsible for his suffering and the horrific scars he clear still carries from the fire. We never see V without his mask or without his face being obscured by shadow or some other disguise and his true identity is never fully revealed; clearly, he was some kind of genetic aberration to have been locked up and experimented on but there’s also more to him than simply being gay or a different creed or colour since he is able to endure unimaginable pain, exhibits near-superhuman levels of strength and durability, and is skilfully adapt with knives and in hand-to-hand combat.

V subjects Evey to round the clock torture to free her from the fear that has been holding her back.

The mystery of V’s true nature and origin is left intentionally vague, as it is in the comic book, in favour of the idea of V being more important than his physical form. In an effort to teach Evey the same lessons he learned, he subjects her to round the clock torture and forces her to live a very similar life of isolation and desperation as he was subjected to so that she can both better understand his motives, see the world for what it really is, and be freed of the fear and lethargy that has held her back her whole life. While Portman’s English accent is a bit dodgy at times, she more than makes up for it during this horrific sequence where she has her beautiful curly locks shaved, is hosed down and interrogated over and over again, and left in a cold, dank, desolate cell with only a rat and the writings of a fellow prisoner for comfort. Enraged at V’s treatment, she nevertheless discovers a strength and resolve she never knew existed and honours her promise to return to him for his revolution; however, while he pulls the lever that will usher in V’s new age, she doesn’t assume his identity like in the comic book but remains a changed and resolute character nevertheless. V’s treatment of Evey adds to his questionable moral nature; he’s fully willing to maim and kill those who wronged him, or who get in his way, to say nothing of forcing Evey to endure constant torture and, yet, he is disgusted not just at his actions but at those who made him the man he is today.

Despite having fallen in love with Evey, V is committed to his idea of a world free from oppression.

Having turned his back on his humanity and committed himself to a bulletproof idea, his conviction is strong enough to allow him to endure multiple gunshots and to give his life for his cause, knowing full well that he won’t live to see the dawn of his new age and grateful for the end of his suffering. Through Evey, though, he finds a kindred spirit and she even offers him something else to live for, something more akin to a normal life for the two of them, but he adamantly refuses, despite his love for her, since he is so dedicated to his crusade. Arguably insane and blinded by his obsession, V’s message of revolution is the kick up the arse the British public need to shake them out of their apathy; this dystopian version of the UK is ruled by fear and hatred of other races, creeds, and sexualities even before the rise of Norsefire, who are little more than a Nazi regime. Until V came along, normal, everyday civilians merely went along with the ruling body, accepting it as the way things were and beaten down by submission and subjugation but, in the end, it is the normal, every British public who assume V’s guise and march through the streets of London, stand up to the government’s military might, and witness the dramatic destruction of the Houses of Parliament. In that moment, they all become V and witness the symbolic destruction of the ruling authority just as V’s actions remove the tyrants in power and give power, and truth, back to the people to do with as they wish. It’s a startlingly effective message to stand up to totalitarian rule, whether foreign or domestic, and the lengths to which governments will go to to control their people; in the end, it takes subversive, even terrorist acts to force people into action, though the film goes to great lengths to justify V’s actions and to only have those who are morally questionable label him as a terrorist.

The Summary:
When I first saw V for Vendetta, I hadn’t read the original comic book; based on how much I enjoyed the film, I was inspired to read the source material and, while there are a great deal of thematic and notable differences between the two, V for Vendetta is still a really solid adaptation and an effective film in its own right. Much of this is, largely, due to the incredible enigmatic performance of Hugo Weaving in the title role; despite his face being completely obscured by an unnerving visage, he exudes a multitude of emotions, from conviction to sympathy to self-righteous anger, and his eloquent delivery and dulcet tones bring as much characterisation as his dramatic body language and gestures. It’s a captivating performance, one sadly rarely replicated in comic book movies where actors constantly remove their masks, and is surpassed only by the political and emotional heart of the film. V for Vendetta’s world is one that seems to grow more and more relatable each day as cameras, surveillance, and control dominate our everyday lives more and more each day; governments become unreliable, their methods questionable, and the idea that apathy rules our society is powerfully relatable in an age were media controls us with carefully constructed messages and versions of the truth. The message is clear; V even says it himself in the film: “People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people” and, while the comic’s more subtle and intricate means of depicting its messages are replaced by for more explicit Nazi iconography and action-packed moments, the film does a commendable job of bringing Moore’s work to life and it remains one of the more thought provoking comic book movies.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Are you a fan of V for Vendetta? How do you feel it compares to the source material? What did you think to Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman’s performances and the themes and message of the film? What do you think V’s true origins were? How comfortable are you with the power of the media and the increased surveillance we are met with these days? Which of Alan Moore’s works is your favourite? How are you celebrating Bonfire Night tonight? Whatever your thoughts on V for Vendetta, or the works of Alan Moore, go ahead and leave a comment down below.

Movie Night [Godzilla Day]: Godzilla (1954) / Gojira

Dr. K11 Comments

Toho’s famous atomic beast, and easily the most recognisable kaiju in the entire world, Gojira first emerged from the waters of outside of Japan to wreck the city of Tokyo on this day all the way back in 1954. In 2016, the day was declared “Godzilla Day” and, as a result, I’m only celebrating the undisputed King of the Monsters.

Released: 3 November 1954
Director: Ishirō Honda
Distributor: Toho
Budget: ¥100 million
Stars: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, and Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka

The Plot:
When a gigantic creature (Nakajima and Tezuka) born from nuclear radiation destroys a Japanese freighter, ransacks Odo Island, and rampages through Tokyo, Doctor Daisuke Serizawa’s (Hirata) experimental “Oxygen Destroyer” becomes the only hope of saving Japan!

The Background:
On August 6th, 1946, at the height of the Second World War, a nuclear weapon code-named “Little Boy” was dropped by the United States military on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, killing 70,000 people. A second bomb strike Nagaski three days later, killing a further 35,000 people, and in the Japanese Imperial Army summarily surrendered in aftermath of these devastating attacks. Since then, radiation and atomic fallout from the bombings have resulted in thousands of people falling sick and dying, and post-war Japan was gripped with fear regarding nuclear weapons and the threat of nuclear destruction. From this fear was born Gojira, the living embodiment of nuclear destruction, and was as inspirational to producer Tomoyuki Tanaka as King Kong (Cooper and Schoedsack, 1933) and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (Lourié, 1953) in Godzilla’s development. Director Ishirō Honda’s war-time experiences made him idea to the task of taking the concept seriously, while the titular creature went through a number of concepts before Teizo Toshimitsu, Akira Watanabe, and Eiji Tsuburaya settled on its final design.Combining elements of numerous dinosaurs, Tsuburaya initially planned to bring the creature to life using stop-motion animation but reluctantly utilised suitmation, resulting in a 220-pound suit that was so heavy, hot, and cumbersome that it took two stuntmen to wear it. Though the origin of the creature’s name is the subject of many tall tales, his iconic roar was the work of composer Akira Ifukube and Tsuburaya directed the film’s many complex models, miniatures, and special effects. In its original Japanese run, Godzilla was a modest financial success but was criticised for glorifying a real tragedy with an unbelievable, fire-breathing monster. Still, the film did well enough to receive an international release, where it was retitled Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (Morse and Honda, 1956) and featured a number of edits, including the insertion of Raymond Burr, where it made a further $2 million the original’s bleak themes. Since then, Godzilla spawned easily the greatest and most iconic monster movie franchise of all time and enjoyed a legacy that spanned over sixty years of invention, reinvention, and creativity and it all began here, with a metaphorical mediation on  the horrors of nuclear war.

The Review:
I can’t actually remember off the top of my head when I first became aware of Godzilla; I think it was just one of those cultural phenomenon’s that I had just picked up from references and homages in other media as I certainly don’t remember the movies being on television when I was a kid. I know I was fascinated by the creature, and the concept, in my pre-teen years and jumped at the chance to stay up late to watch a whole evening’s worth of content celebrating kaiju films, which included the first-ever Godzilla movie I ever watched from start to finish, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (Ōmori, 1991), which was all produced to coincide with the upcoming release of the 1998 American version of the film. After that, I was as hooked as I could possibly be and made a point to tape any subsequent Godzilla movies when they aired, and even went out of my way to get box sets from Australia to own the films (since hardly any of them are available here in the United Kingdom). Consequently, I’m more a fan of the Heisei and Millennium eras of the franchise, but I’m always up for a bit of black Showa action since that is where the series started, after all. The first thing to note about this review is that I am watching the original black-and-white version of the film with Japanese subtitles, meaning there’s no Raymond Burr and no hilariously bad dubbing; however, this isn’t actually my preferred way of watching Japanese films or anime and I’m perfectly fine with dubs over subtitled films. Still, it would be remiss of me to mention that the film quality hasn’t actually aged all that well; it’s quite grainy and dark, and actually seems inferior to even King Kong, but I’m hardly going to begrudge the film based on the technology and film quality of the time.

Japan’s islands are ravaged by a gigantic, radioactive creature who lives to kill… kills to live!

The film begins with a sudden and violent flash of light destroying the Japanese freighter Eiko-maru just outside of Odo Island; when the Bingo-maru is sent to investigate, it is also destroyed, the locals are thrown into a panic at the loss of life and the few survivors tell tales of the ocean simply exploding around them. Of course, the press catches wind of the story and speculation as to the cause of the accidents is only exacerbated after the natives of Odo Island find their fishing efforts ruined and stories of an ancient sea monster named “Godzilla” being blamed for it all by an elderly native (Kokuten Kōdō). Although these are initially dismissed, they turn out to be true when the island is ravaged by a fierce storm and a gigantic, dinosaur-like creature is briefly seen laying waste to the village. Traumatised by the devastation, the natives appeal for an investigation, which renowned palaeologist Doctor Kyohei Yamane (Shimura) agrees is the best course of action. Accordingly, he heads to the island to assess the damage and is accompanied by a team of scientists, his daughter Emiko (Kōchi), and Hideto Ogata (Takarada), a salvage ship captain who steers the boat. Amidst the wreckage on Odo Island, Yamane discovers that the village well has been contaminated by radioactive fallout and that massive radioactive footprints and extinct trilobites are littered throughout the village; the cause is immediately identified when the alarm bell rings and Godzilla is fully seen, and heard, for the first time, quite rightly sending everyone into a screaming panic! Although the creature disappears back into the ocean as soon as it emerges, Yamane has seen enough to postulate an original for the creature, believing that it is an ancient, sea-dwelling dinosaur of sorts that survived the extinction of its brethren to become the legendary creature the natives refer to as Godzilla and apparently disturbed from its long sleep at the depths of the ocean by recent atomic tests being conducted at sea.

The humans are decent enough, but as always the last thing you’re watching a Godzilla film for.

Although there is some debate about how public to make these events, the press print their story anyway, though few seem to take the impending threat of Godzilla seriously and find the idea of retreating to the safety of bomb shelters to be too much of an inconvenience. The military’s efforts to destroy the creature using depth charges are met with failure, and only cause further lives to be lost at sea when Godzilla retaliates, destroying both military and civilian vessels with its atomic breath. Yamane is distraught at the military’s efforts to kill Godzilla, as he wishes to study the creature further to discover the secrets of its biology and resistance to radiation, though he asserts that the creature is virtually indestructible since was able to absorb massive amounts of radiation and survive for millions of years without being harmed. One newspaper agrees one the scientific merit of the creature and sends a reporter, Hagiwara (Sachio Sakai), to interview Dr. Serizawa, a reclusive scientist horrifically scarred from and traumatised by the war, and to whom Emiko is engaged. Emiko agrees to take Hagiwara to see Serizawa since she wants to break off their engagement in favour of Ogata anyway, but he staunchly refuses to divulge any information on his latest research to Hagiwara. He does, however, provide a secret demonstration of his Oxygen Destroyer to Emiko, who is so traumatised by the devices ability to strip marine life to the bone through aggressive asphyxiation that she forgets all about mentioning their engagement. However, after Godzilla finally makes landfall and begins rampaging through first Shinagawa and then central Tokyo, shrugging off the fighter jets, missiles, and electrified fences erected to slow and stop its progress, she has no choice but to betray Serizawa’s confidence and goes to him with Ogata to plea for his help. Serizawa, however, is reluctant to employ the Oxygen Destroyer since he fears, and knows, that the military or other superpowers of the world will see its awesome destructive power as a weapon and force him to make more, but is spurred to assist after witnessing the sheer destruction caused by Godzilla.

The Nitty-Gritty:
As is to be expected from a Godzilla movie, much of Godzilla’s runtime is spent following a handful of human characters who react to the titular creature in different; thankfully, for a long-time Godzilla fan such as myself, the original film doesn’t actually set the template that so many others would follow and veers away from following reporters and/or soldiers and mostly focuses on Dr. Yamane, his concerned daughter, and her bland, would-be-lover. Yamane is different from every other character in the film in that he doesn’t want to see Godzilla destroyed; instead, he wishes to study the creature, to uncover the secrets of its strength and the potential benefits it could bring to mankind, and this even brings him into conflict with Ogata, who tries in vain to argue that the creature’s threat outweighs Yamane’s scientific curiosity. Were it not for the presence of Dr. Serizawa, Yamane would easily be the most interesting human character; while the reporters, soldiers, and government officials we do see are overwhelmed by Godzilla’s rampage, Serizawa is more concerned with the potential of others to pervert his research into something equally, if not more powerful, than nuclear weapons.

Godzilla is a fearsome force of nature who rampages through the city with an unquenchable fury.

Considering that Godzilla is the embodiment of nuclear terror and exudes radioactivity, the scientists don’t really do all that much to protect themselves from radiation; Yamane handles radioactive evidence with his bare hands and his team simply tell bystanders to stand back when they pick up signs of radiation, however once it makes landfall, its threat is taken very seriously. While the miniatures and model shots would improve over time (vehicles, such as helicopters, cars, and trains, suffer the worst in this film, though houses and structures tend to simply crumble and topple with ridiculous ease), the rear-projection effects are pretty ambitious for the time. Honestly, the entire film is bolstered by being in black-and-white and the graininess of the film stock; this, and the darkness that constantly bathes Godzilla, goes a long way to hiding some of the cruder effects and presenting the creature as a terrifying force of nature. I do have to commend the suit work, though; sure, it’s probably cheaper, easier, and less impressive than stop-motion effects but it definitely allows for a far ore versatile kaiju, one who can crash through a miniature version of Tokyo with ease and leave thousands either dead or slowly dying from radiation sickness. Of course, the star of the show, and the main reason that anyone watches this and any of the Godzilla films, is the Big-G himself. The film spends a great deal of time building anticipation to Godzilla’s full reveal, showing merely the flash of its atomic breath or the dark shadow of its leg as it topples buildings; even when we see its head and torso emerge over the mountains of Odo Island and out at sea, were still barely have an idea of what it actually looks like, which is a great way to paint it as this mysterious, fearsome, and almost mythological being. Long regarded as a creature of legend, Godzilla is like a living force of nature, easily shrugging off gunfire, missiles, and every attempt by the military to harm it. Seemingly without conscience, the creature emerges from the ocean and tramples its way through Shinagawa, killing untold numbers and causing devastation in its wake; while the military scrambles to organise mass evacuations and erect massive electrical fences, their efforts are entirely in vain (despite the incredibly speed that they’re able to put these defences together) and Godzilla easily tears its way into downtown Tokyo. The shot of the creature, seeped in darkness and with fire rage all around it as it roars in triumph and unleashes its destructive atomic breath, perfectly encapsulates everything that this original version of Godzilla represents: fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the power of nature, fear of radiation, fear of nuclear fallout, and fear of our impending demise against forces we cannot possibly understand or hope to fight back against.

Godzilla shrugs off all of the military’s might but is finally killed by Serizawa’s Oxygen Destroyer.

You can make all the jokes you want about how ridiculous it is to see a man in rubbery suit flailing around and slapping at model buildings, but there’s a raw power to Godzilla in this film that is often forgotten in many of his interpretations; it’s not some cute, cuddly mascot or a benevolent creature looking to defend us from some greater evil, it’s all the fury of nature and man’s inhumanity to man given physical form, and nothing showcases the awesome ferocity of its nature than seeing it lay waste to one of the greatest and most prolific cities in the modern world. Although Dr. Serizawa is moved by Emiko and Ogata’s plea to help get rid of Godzilla, he is so determined to keep his Oxygen Destroyer from falling into the wrong hands or being perverted into a superweapon that he destroys all of his research notes and all evidence of the device save for the one he has created. Realising that he could be coerced into making another, but fully aware of the destruction and devastation being caused by Godzilla, he sees only one viable option: he must personally deliver the device to the bottom of Tokyo Bay, where Godzilla has retreated following its most recent rampage, and kill himself along with the creature to end two threats against the world in one blow. He does this willingly, despite Emiko’s (unconvincing) tears and Ogata’s insistence that he go in Serizawa’s place since the doctor has no experience using a diving suit; although Ogata insists on accompanying him to where the creature lies on the seabed, Serizawa refuses to leave and severs his lifeline to the ship after depositing the Oxygen Destroyer. The device has a near-instant and fatal effect, suffocating the creature and stripping it away to its bones, and sparing Serizawa’s loved ones from its threat. Those who are familiar with the multitude of Godzilla sequels and movies may be surprised to learn that Godzilla dies so conclusively (and, if we’re being honest, anti-climatically), but, while the crew and Serizawa’s friends salute his bravery, a troubled Dr. Yamane believes that another Godzilla may come into being if humanity is unable to learn from its mistakes and stop screwing around with nuclear weapons and technology.

The Summary:
Godzilla obviously isn’t going to appeal to everyone; I’ve known a lot of people who straight-up refuse to watch black-and-white films, let alone ridiculous kaiju movies featuring a man in a rubber suit smashing apart model buildings, but I think it’s still an important film for movie fans, especially, to check out for its message on the horrors of nuclear weapons if nothing else. The themes of fear and apprehension regarding nature and man’s destructive potential haven’t been diluted over time; if anything, they’ve only strengthen over the decades as global conflicts and arsenals have escalated, meaning that we’ve never been closer to blasting our world into oblivion than we are right now. Godzilla represents the fear of that threat; a literal beast that rises from the darkest depths of the ocean and punishes humanity for their stupidity and hubris, shrugging off all modern weapons and only being defeated by employing a weapon even more devastating than both it and the weapons that awoke and empowered it. While the human characters aren’t all that interesting and some of the effects haven’t aged too well, this is true of many kaiju movies from this period, and films in general from back in the day, and I think it’s better to concentrate on what does work about the film. The model shots, rear projection, and practical effects are all very ambitious and, arguably, allow the film to hold up a little better without the jerkiness of stop-motion animation. Characters like Dr. Yamame and Dr. Serizawa are clear standouts against the bland Ogata and the largely inconsequential Emiko; speaking out on the scientific potential of Godzilla and the harmful potential of scientific research, both characters help to drive home the primary themes of the movie (that war has brought about terrible consequences and that nature will punish us for our violent tendencies) as much as the titular creature, which makes an immediate impact as a ferocious and terrifying monster in its debut appearance.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of the original Godzilla? Which version do you prefer, the original Japanese movie or the American dub with Raymond Burr? What did you think to the build up to Godzilla’s appearance and the lore surrounding the creature? Were you a fan of the film’s characters and what did you think to the suitmation used to bring Godzilla to life? What is your favourite Godzilla movie and why? How are you celebrating Godzilla Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Godzilla, or Godzilla and kaiju films in general, feel free to leave a comment below and be sure to check out my other Godzilla content!

Movie Night [Day of the Dead]: Dawn of the Dead (2004): The Director’s Cut

Dr. K1 Comment

The Day of the Dead (or Dia de los Muertos) is a traditional Latin American holiday on which, every November 1st, the lives of deceased loved ones are celebrated with food, drink, parties, and a great deal of masquerade involving the calacas and calaveras (skeletons and skulls). For me, this seems like the perfect excuse to look back on the long-running and ever-changing zombie genre that was largely popularised by director George A. Romero, which I devoted a great deal of my PhD thesis towards and which has often been used as a parallel to various aspects of society and culture.  

Released: 25 October 2004
Originally Released: 19 March 2004
Director: Zack Snyder
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Budget: $26 million
Stars: Sarah Polley, Jake Weber, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Lindy Booth, and Michael Kelly

The Plot:
When the world inexplicably descends into chaos and bloodshed following a sudden zombie outbreak, a handful of survivors are driven into the local shopping mall.

The Background:
Ever since White Zombie (Halperin, 1932), zombies have long been a staple of horror cinema but their status as reanimated corpses who incessantly feed on the flesh of the living was popularised by director George A. Romero (despite Romero’s films avoiding the term “zombie”) in Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968). Not only did Night of the Living Dead inspire a vast sub-genre of horror works, the first of its five sequels, Dawn of the Dead (ibid, 1978), is largely considered one of the best and most influential zombie films of all time. Plans for a remake of Romero’s classic allegory for consumerism began with producer Eric Newman, who acquired the rights to the film and aimed to reimagine it for a younger, modern audience. The remake was written by James Gunn and marked Zack Snyder’s directorial debut, and separated itself from the original by increasing the speed and ferocity of its flesh-eating ghouls. While many often decry remakes, many of the most popular and iconic films are remakes and Dawn of the Dead proved to be a commercial success by grossing over $100 million at the box office. Though some regarded the film unfavourably upon release, an extended director’s cut was released on DVD later that same year and the remake earned some notable cult success and is often regarded as being just as good as the original.

The Review:
Like any good, self-respecting zombie film, Dawn of the Dead offers the merest glimpse of life before the outbreak before everything mysteriously and hideously goes to hell. Ana Clark (Polley) is an underappreciated and overworked nurse who, fatigued by her long hours, is more concerned with going home to her husband, Louis (Louis Ferreira), and her nice, normal suburban life than worrying about bite victims being admitted to the intensive care unit and emergency news bulletins.

Ana wakes up to find her normal, everyday suburban life has descended into violence and chaos.

As a result, when she awakens the next day, Ana is horrified to find that a local neighbourhood girl, Vivian (Hannah Lochner) has become a rabid, animalistic cannibal; she viciously attacks Louis, taking a chunk out of his neck and, though Ana tries to stop the geyser of blood, she’s unable to get through to the hospital and Louis chokes to death on his own blood…only to immediately return to life and attack her! Distraught and running on pure adrenaline, Ana is able to scramble her way out of the house…only to find her peaceful little neighbourhood has descended into violence and anarchy; fires rage all over the area, car crashes, explosions, and wrecks are everywhere, and the equally desperate and terrified victims of these animalistic zombies pose just as much of a threat as the undead.

Rhames delivers a solid performance as the surprisingly complex Kenneth.

Stunned by a car crash and overwhelmed by shock and fear, Ana is little more than a zombie herself when she comes across the shotgun-toting Kenneth Hall (Rhames); a big, sombre man who is just looking to reunite with his brother. Although he joins up with the main group of survivors, Michael (Weber), Andre (Phifer), and his pregnant wife, Luda (Inna Korobkina), and accompanies them to the nearby mall (which offers a modicum of protection from the rabid undead and a whole host of creature comforts to sustain them), he initially wishes only to check on his brother but quickly realises that no one is coming to help them and that they must work together to survive. Of all the characters in the film, Kenneth is easily my favourite; an intimidating figure with a no-nonsense attitude and a deep, gravelly voice, Rhames is great in the role and is much more than mere muscle as his character has a real depth of emotion and a significant arc where he comes to view his fellow survivors as his surrogate family.

Michael plays peacemaker and offers logical, practical solutions to keep everyone safe.

However, the mall is currently claimed as sanctuary by three security guards – C.J. (Kelly), Bart (Michael Barry), and Terry (Kevin Zegers) – who aggressive oppose the taking in of additional bodies and a reluctant, frosty truce is force between the two groups Michael, a former television salesman, attempts to keep the peace and bring some kind of organisation to the group; he’s not looking to give orders or be a leader but merely comes up with logical suggestions for the others, which are generally adhered to for their practicality. Kenneth, at first, stoically rebukes him and he’s able to appeal to C.J.’s ego and sway him into helping them by coming up with good ideas and attributing them to him, thus positioning him as a paper leader. Constantly adaptable and something of a father figure, Michael becomes close with Ana but their attempts at romance are hampered by the greater problems facing the group. Though lacking in formal training and physical stature, Michael is pretty handy in a tight spot and, thanks to his will to survive and adaptability, is able to kill his fair share of zombies when the moment calls for it and is the first to actively stand up to C.J. during a tense confrontation on the roof.

C.J. goes from a stubborn antagonist to a pivotal ally willing to risk his life to get others to safety.

C.J. is, initially, the film’s secondary antagonist after the zombies; ruled by his fear of the undead and paranoia, he stubbornly holds on to his fragile authority and begrudgingly assists the other survivors on the understanding that they will leave the mall as soon as possible, even locking them up to keep them from stealing stuff. While Bart has a perverse fascination with the undead and follows C.J.’s orders to the letter, Terry is far more reluctant but, while C.J. is a hard-ass when the others first encounter him, he eventually becomes a trusted and valuable ally, covering their escape, putting himself at risk to save others, and even sacrificing himself so that the others can escape. While an obnoxious and detestable character when he’s first introduced, C.J. became another favourite of mine through his redemptive arc; after being decked my Michael and humbled by being locked up with Bart, his attitude shifts noticeably and he becomes a pivotal ally in the film’s chaotic third act. Soon, the group is joined by a number of other survivors: Andy (Bruce Bohne) is trapped on the roof of his gun shop across the road and slowly starving to death and communicates with the main protagonists using writing, leading to a brief bit of entertainment amidst the chaos where he plays chess with Kenneth and they shoot zombies who resemble celebrities. A truckload of other survivors upset C.J. when they crash into the mall, which brings a diverse quasi-society to the mall and, with the zombies kept at bay, the survivors begin to bond, with Terry and Nicole (Booth) sparking up a mutual attraction and Steve Markus (Burrell) acting as a tertiary antagonist with his pessimistic and cynical attitude. The others are little more than shellshocked cannon fodder who exist to share stories of their lives before the world fell apart, stories of their experiences of the outbreak, and fall victim to zombie bites and attacks.

The Nitty-Gritty:
As in Romero’s original films, there is no explanation given for the zombie outbreak and the word “zombie” is never used; newscasters and governmental and scientific minds are baffled by the sudden outbreak and the closest we get to an explanation for the horrific events that unfold is from a televangelist (Ken Foree in a welcome cameo) who believes that “when there is no more room in Hell, the dead shall walk the Earth”. Like most zombie films, the cause and prevention of the outbreak takes a backseat as the survivors concentrate mainly on just that: survival.

Zombies are fast, aggressive, and dangerous monsters driven purely by instinct and hunger.

Like the Infected in 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002), the undead in Dawn of the Dead are fast-moving, aggressive, and animalistic creatures; although the source of the outbreak is unknown, the virus is transmitted through bites: a single bite will kill the victim and then almost immediately reanimate them into a near-mindless cannibals. The only way to stop the zombies is to shoot them in or otherwise destroy their head; anything less results in them relentlessly pursuing their prey or becoming what is known as a “Twitcher” (where they simply thrash around in manic spasms). The zombies work purely on instinct, seeking out warm, fresh meat and guided by vestiges of memory to places they frequented in life, such as the mall, though they show no signs of intelligence or problem solving and simply throw themselves ceaselessly at their victims until they succeed or fall down. Even a single zombie poses a significant threat thanks to their incredible speed, strength, and ferocity but they are even more dangerous in large groups, where they resemble little more than a sea of blood-stained, mangled corpses bent on feasting on living flesh.

The threat of a zombie’s bite is the source of much tragedy and suffering for the few survivors.

The inevitability of death from a zombie bite is a source of great tension and tragedy in the film; when Ana first theorises on the bite being the source of the infection, Michael pragmatically decides that it is best for any amongst them who have been bitten to be immediately executed, which brings him into brief conflict with Ana. Ultimately, he chooses not to kill Frank (Matt Frewer) in cold blood and instead allows him to die peacefully and be put out of his undead misery by Kenneth. Similarly, the revelation and horror of the bite’s potency drives Andre into a deep denial; he starts to brush off offers for help from Ana and the others and his obsessive desire to keep Luda safe, even when she’s succumbed to her infection, leads to his death when he desperately tries to keep his little monster baby from harm. While the original film was largely an allegory for consumerism and greed and held a mirror up to a society that was already a form of brainwashed zombies thanks to advertising and excess, the remake is more concerned with the survivors indulging in excess once they establish a delicate, makeshift society.

The remake is more action-packed and gruesome than the original but no less allegorical.

Tensions, paranoia, and fear are high because of the gruesome events unfolding around them but, with C.J. and Bart locked up and isolated from the group, the remaining survivors quickly bond and share their life stories and experiences. Eventually, C.J. becomes a part of the group when Bart is attacked and helps them to fortify a couple of buses to take them away from the mall when they realise that it’s just a matter of time before more of the zombies breach their defences. This is, primarily, where Dawn of the Dead separates itself from the original (for the better, in my opinion): it’s much more action-packed, the pace is much faster, and the gore is far more ghastly (Bart, for example, is attacked by a zombie that’s missing its legs and scrambles along an overhead pipe!) Nowhere is this seen more in their desperate escape from the mall in their spruced-up vehicles, which, for all their efforts, are nearly toppled over by the zombie hoards and one is easily overturned by the presence of a single zombie. Tension definitely ramps up when the group leaves the safety of the mall as, exposed out in the open, they are constantly at risk even when no zombies are around and, in the film’s last frantic minutes, they lose more of their group in their escape than they arguably would have if they had stayed put and tried to fortify the mall.

The Summary:
I’ve watched a lot of zombie films in my time; I’ve seen all of George A. Romero’s movies and researched the genre, and the concept, extensively for my PhD. However, as much as I respect and admire his influence on the genre, I can’t say that I’m really that big a fan of his films; yet, while I feel that they haven’t really aged all that well, the allegorical messages and subliminal horror of his zombie films remains as relevant as ever (if not more so given the state of the world these days), it’s just let down a bit by the pacing. As a result, I am a big fan of the Dawn of the Dead remake; it’s grittier, much more action-packed, and the effects are far more convincing and horrific. While zombie purists may decry the faster, more aggressive zombies, I actually much prefer it since it makes for a much more frightening and formidable creature; plus, they do shamble and shuffle along when converging on the mall and only explode in a burst of speed and ferocity when flesh is nearby. Best of all, the film retains Romero’s trademark bleak undertones not just in Andre’s macabre fate but also the conclusion of the film, which sees characters both beloved and obnoxious giving their lives so that the few that remain can survive only for them to meet what appears to be a horrific end during the end credits.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Are you a fan of Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead? How do you think it compares to the original and other zombie movies? Do you like fast-moving, aggressive zombies or do you prefer the traditional, shambling, more allegorical depiction of the undead? What do you think caused the zombie outbreak and how do you think you would react in such a scenario? Which of the characters was your favourite and which death affected you the most, if any? What is your favourite zombie film and what do you think of the genre in general? How are you celebrating the Day of the Dead today? Whatever your thoughts on Dawn of the Dead, and zombie films in general, feel free to leave a comment down below.

Movie Night [Halloween]: John Carpenter’s Halloween

Dr. K12 Comments

Starting life as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts, Halloween is largely associated not just with ghosts, ghouls, and confectionery but also a long-running series of horror movies. Beginning with John Carpenter’s Halloween (Carpenter, 1978), the franchise is largely credited with birthing the “slasher” sub-genre of horror films and has endured numerous remakes and reboots and is one of the most influential films in all of horror.

Released: 25 October 1978
Director: John Carpenter
Distributor: Compass International Pictures/Aquarius Releasing
Budget: $325,000
Stars: Jamie Lee Curtis, Nancy Kyes, P.J. Soles, Donald Pleasence, and Nick Castle

The Plot:
After murdering his sister on Halloween night, Michael Myers (Castle) escapes from a sanatorium to stalk babysitter Laurie Strode (Curtis) and her friends while his doctor, Sam Loomis (Pleasence), desperately tries to hunt him down before he can kill again.

The Background:
After being impressed with his work on Assault on Precinct 13 (ibid, 1976), producer Moustapha Akkad sought out writer/director John Carpenter to work on an idea he had for a horror film that revolved around a psychotic killer who stalked babysitters. It was Carpenter, however, who conceived of the idea to set the film on Halloween night and collaborated with long-term friend and colleague Debra Hill on refining the script. Although the film’s low budget meant that Carpenter was unable to attract veteran horror actors Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee, he was able to cast accomplished actor Donald Pleasence, who was the highest paid actor in the film. Michael Myers’ iconic, expressionless mask was the work of Tommy Lee Wallace, who famously altered a mask of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Carpenter himself wrote the iconic score, which convinced producers of the film’s potential. This paid off at the time as a worldwide gross of over $63 million made Halloween one of the most successful independent films ever made, although Halloween was largely dismissed upon release for its graphic content and macabre narrative. Although movies like Black Christmas (Clark, 1974) laid the foundation for the “slasher” sub-genre, Halloween is now regarded as one of the most influential slasher movies and one of the greatest horror films ever made thanks to popularising the clichés of this popular sub-genre.

The Review:
Halloween has, perhaps, one of the most iconic and chilling openings in all of horror cinema; shot entirely from a first-person perspective, the film builds a great deal of tension as we follow an unseen character on a tour of the Myers house and brutally stab Judith Myers (Sandy Johnson) to death. It’s quite a long sequence but it effectively establishes a foreboding and unsettling ambience as the anticipation build and builds to a gruesome finale and, right as we’ve taken in the sight of Judith being stabbed to death, it’s dramatically revealed that the perpetrator was small child with an inhuman, unflinching look etched on his features. The randomness and brutality of this opening act is all the explanation we really need for Michael Myers in this first movie, where he’s portrayed more as a force of nature (evil in the shape of a man) than an actual person.

Loomis is horrified when Michael gets loose and determined to track him down.

Of course, nobody sells the horror and menace of Michael Myers more than his doctor, Sam Loomis, who is vehemently opposed to Myers being transferred from his facility and of the unwavering opinion that Michael is evil incarnate and a significant threat to all of those around him. Having worked with Michael over the course of fifteen years (eight spent trying to reach him and another seven spent committed to keeping him locked away), nobody knows Michael (whom Loomis refers to as “It” rather than “him”) better than Loomis and he is horrified to find that Michael has managed to escape. Fully aware that Michael will head straight to Haddonfield to kill again, Loomis’s first priority is to illicit the help of Sheriff Leigh Brackett (Charles Cyphers) but, while the Sheriff indulges Loomis, he remains incredulous since they find little evidence of Michael’s presence, all of which simply gives Loomis further excuse to exposit the danger that Michael poses through a series of outbursts.

Laurie might be quite unremarkable to begin with but she proves herself capable by the finale.

As one of the original “Final Girls” of slasher cinema, Laurie is, honestly, not all that spectacular a character but that’s kind of the point. The main crux of Halloween’s horror is that it takes place in a normal, everyday, boring suburban environment filled with normal, unextraordinary people and Laurie pretty much embodies that. Sure, she smokes a little weed at one point and has the hots for the elusive Ben Tramer but she’s a much more responsible and level-headed young woman than her friends Annie Brackett (Kyes) and Lynda Van Der Klok (Soles); she’s generally more of a bookworm and takes her duties as a babysitter much more seriously than  her friends and seems much less interesting as a result. However, as unremarkable as she seems at first, Laurie really comes into her own once all of her friends are dead and she’s left at the mercy of Michael Myers; here, she really comes into her own as she’s the only one of Michael’s victims to have the gumption to actually fight back as, while she does become an emotional wreck at times, her quick thinking and adaptability are key factors in keeping her alive.

Michael stalks Laurie throughout the day, seemingly appearing and disappearing at will.

Like Laurie, Annie and Lynda also do a bit of babysitting to help supplement their income; however, unlike her, they generally use this as a good excuse to hook up with their boyfriends and pay the price as a result. Annie, the Sheriff’s daughter, is the clumsier and ineffective of the three as she spills butter all over herself and is happy to simply let Lindsey Wallace (Kyle Richards) watch The Thing from Another World (Nyby, 1951), but is a bit of a rebel as she smokes pot behind her Dad’s back. Lynda, meanwhile, is a total rebel and a complete airhead as she cuts out the middleman completely and simply spends her night have sex with Bob Simms (John Michael Graham) and spouting her catchphrase, “Totally!”, at every opportunity. Each of them fall victim to Michael Myers in some way, shape, or form; Myers’ reputation in Haddonfield has become something of a neighbourhood legend as the kids believe his house is haunted and taunt Tommy Doyle (Brian Andrews) over his fear of the “bogeyman”, but very few seem to be aware of what happened all those years ago and even fewer mention Michael by name. He spends the entirety of his day first making his way down to Haddonfield (inexplicably fully able to drive, despite fifteen years in confinement), acquiring his now-iconic mask, and stalking Laurie. While Tommy runs across Michael at one point, the only one of the girls to constantly stop Michael stalking them is Laurie, who is disturbed at his ability to seemingly appear and disappear at will, but his presence is quickly felt by all three girls when night falls and he begins his killing spree in earnest.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Of course, one of the most horrifying and memorable aspects of Halloween is John Carpenter’s iconic score; a simple few notes of a piano are enough to send a chill down the spine as Michael suddenly appears onscreen or looms into view, always seen from a distance, the neck down, or bathed in shadow with only his mask standing out against the pitch darkness of night. It’s a fantastically simple and effective score that is perfectly used to build a sense of dread and tension and, by the conclusion, ramps up significantly to reflect Laurie’s growing fear and desperation as she frantically tries to escape from Michael’s wrath. Of course, few films are perfect and Halloween has a few dodgy moments; as chilling and effective as the opening shot is, the angle and perspective of the young Michael’s attack is a bit awkward (it looks like he stabs Judith in the stomach or leg but the blood is splashed over her ample bosom) and Haddonfield is very green for October.

Halloween is surprisingly light on kills and favours mounting tension over gory effects.

Compared to many of its sequels and contemporaries, Halloween is also relatively light on the gore; Michael wields a massive kitchen knife, which he uses to cut Annie’s throat and stab Bob through the stomach, but he also heavily relies on his brute strength to choke, strangle, and manhandle his victims. The body count and use of gore is quite low and limited but it actually adds to the film’s terror since it’s all very subdued and realistic rather than relying on gruesome and over the top effects. Michael is the forefather of all the hulking, masked, silent killers who came after him; while Leatherface (Gunnar Hansen) proceeded him, he was a far more mentally unbalanced and animalistic killer, whereas Michael is like a force of nature. Eerily silent and ominous, he stands perfectly still and watches his prey with all the patience in the world and every movement is premeditated and efficient, almost like a machine; at the same time, he exhibits a curious nature, cocking his head like a dog as he watches Bob choke to death on his own blood, and slowly, deliberately turning his head towards Laurie after sitting bolt upright from her assault. Seemingly impervious to pain, inexhaustible, and possessing superhuman strength (he’s able to life Paul clear off the floor with one arm), Michael is easily able to overwhelm his prey by taking them completely by surprise. He’s even got a flair for the dramatic and likes to toy with them as he dresses up like a ghost to get close to Lynda and goes to the trouble of stealing his sister’s gravestone and laying Annie’s corpse out before it for Laurie to stumble across (he also leaves the bodies of her other friends for her to find, which became a recurring trope in the finale of slasher films for years to come).

Though resembling a man, Michael’s exact nature (and ultimate fate) is left ambiguous.

According to Loomis, Michael is more like an animal, an inhuman perversion of a man, and we see this on numerous occasions, such as the revelation that Michael has been eating dogs for sustenance and the fact that that he’s fully capable of recovering from a coat hanger to the eye and being stabbed within a few seconds. Indeed, the only real proof we have that Michael even is a man is the fact that…well, he clearly is and he is heard breathing, which only adds to his horror as he simply stands, breathing deeply and heavily, and watches his prey. Loomis’s evaluation of Michael is that, somehow, all traces of emotion and empathy and humanity were stripped away and all that is left is pure malice and evil (showcased best not in the fact that he kills teenagers without a thought but also that he commits the ultimate sin by killing a dog!) Michael spends the entire film hidden behind an unsettling, expressionless mask; though we do get to see him unmasked for the briefest moment, it’s not an especially pretty sight and he quickly covers his face up again to reassume his true guise. The question of Michael’s supernatural nature is left ambiguous; he gets stunned and reacts to pain a few times and seems to be finished off by Loomis’ gunshots but, when he goes to check on him, Myers has mysteriously vanished and the film ends with his fate and true nature left uncertain.

The Summary:
Halloween is a classic piece of horror cinema that has stood the test of time purely through a masterful execution of its simple premise, an alluring and disturbing villain, and a chilling score. Michael’s evil is pure and uncomplicated in this original film; he is simply an inexorable and unrelenting force of nature who completely lacks anything in the way of humanity and empathy and lives only to kill. Michael’ motivations are a mystery, despite the theories and beliefs of Loomis, and are have little meaning anyway once his killing spree begins. While some of the performances are a little janky in retrospect, the film is elevated by Pleasance’s presence; he brings a real gravitas to the film and does a fantastic job of selling Michael’s threat and walks a fine line between paranoia and madness as his desperation to stop Michael, and warn others of his danger, becomes a frantic obsession. Halloween proves that slasher films don’t need to be complicated by complex lore or problematic conspiracies and supernatural events and can be as simple as a masked madman slowly stalking and murdering teenage girls while shrugging off physical pain and, arguably, the Halloween franchise peaked with this influential original for that fact alone. The legacy and influence of Halloween cannot be understated as, without it, the slasher genre and popularity of masked, silent killers would arguably be very different or non-existent. It’s slower, measured pace and lack of gruesome gore may not be for everyone but Halloween set the standard for the genre, establishing all the now-cliché tropes, and changed the horror genre forever and, while subsequent sequels and a myriad of reboots and one of the most screwed up timelines in all of cinema can’t change how influential John Carpenter’s seminal original was.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What are your thoughts on the original Halloween? Do you think it still holds up today, especially compared to its sequels and all the other horror franchises it inspired? What did you think to Michael Myers’ portrayal in this film; did the vague descriptions of his motivations work for you or do you prefer horror villains to have a more tangible backstory? Which of the girls was your favourite and what did you think of Laurie as the final survivor? Did the emphasis on tension work for you or would you have preferred to see more gore? What did you think to Dr. Sam Loomis and his unique relationship with Michael? Which of the Halloween films is your favourite and why? How are you celebrating Halloween this year? Whatever your thoughts on Halloween, and the Halloween franchise, drop a comment below and have a spook-tacular Halloween!

Back Issues: The Crow

Dr. K9 Comments

Story Title: “Inertia”, “Pain”, “Fear”, “Irony”, and “Despair”
Published: January 1989; February 1989 to May 1989
Writer/Artist: James O’Barr (as “J. O’Barr”)

The Background:
The Crow began life as a comic book published by Caliber Comics in 1989, with the title character’s first appearance being a short prequel tale, “Inertia”, which was published in Caliber Presents #1 (January 1989). The comic book was the creation of writer and artist James O’Barr as a way of coping with the pain and loss he felt after losing his fiancée to a drunk driver. Although it took O’Barr nearly ten years to find a publisher, The Crow became an underground success thanks to its bleak tone, striking black and white artistic style, and emotional narrative. Wildly regarded as one of the most unique and poignant tales in the industry, the comic book achieved even greater mainstream success with the release of a suitably bleak 1994 feature film adaptation. Although The Crow (Proyas, 1994) was a cult hit, its sequels were disappointingly lacklustre; nevertheless, the original comic remains a highly regarded masterpiece and was succeeded by a number of spin-offs and subsequent stories.

The Review:
I first became aware of The Crow in very much the same way as I’m sure a lot of people did: by watching the first movie, which immediately captivated me and made me curious enough to seek out the original comic book. The story begins in the grimy, dangerous streets of Detroit, where gangs and crime and vice run rampant; the first thing we see is small-time thug Jones Transfer, a muscle-bound skinhead desperate for a fix of cocaine and having just swiped a Toshiba cassette player. His exhilaration turns to horror, and then anger, when a large, shadowy figure draped in a long black trench coat and with a face painted into the image of irony (a perpetually smiling clown-like face that is decidedly at odds with his generally more stoic and column appearance). Completely unfazed by Jones’s switchblade, even after it’s stabbed into his shoulder, the clown-faced mystery man demands to know the whereabouts of another local thug, T-Bird, and his cronies (Tom Tom, Top Dollar, Fun Boy, and Tin Tin). Jones is terrified to see the ghostly figure remove the switchblade, lap blood from the blade, and reveal that he tortured Jones’s friend and associate, Shelby the Giant, by clipping off his fingers one by one until he gave up everything he knew. Convinced, and desperate to save his own miserable life, Jones reveals that where each of the ghost-man’s targets can be found throughout the city, and is left alive to tell the thugs that he (as in, the painted-up vigilante) is coming for them.

Tormented by his fragmented memories, the Crow executes his first victim.

When the story proper begins, both the art and the presentation has shifted somewhat; text boxes allow us into the mind of the ghost-faced vigilante, now identified as “The Crow”, who stalks through the murky city streets and broods in an abandoned house outside of the city, constantly reliving the memory of a girl being attacked, though he cannot remember the exact specifics. All he can think about are the names of those responsible, and we transition over to find one of them Tin Tin, testing out a gun on a hapless pedestrian. He guns down the seller, and the little punk who arranged the sale, caring only about sending a message to Top Dollar’s would-be competition and little for the innocent woman’s cat, Gabriel, who would be left homeless as a result of his actions.  Thankfully, we don’t have to wait long for Tin Tin to pay for his reprehensible nature as the Crow immediately confronts him down a dark alley; showing no fear and completely no-selling an errant shot to the head, the Crow downs Tin Tim with a bullet to the wrist and, after bombarding Tin Tin with nonsensical religious statements, triggers his victims memory by detailing his part in attacked a man and a girl on a cold October night. Although Tin Tin begs for his life, pinning the blame entirely on T-Bird and the drugs they were on, the Crow, wracked with fragmented memories of happier times, shows no mercy and blows the asshole’s head clean off.

The Crow wastes no time in dispatching the top player in town.

The Crow ties a shotgun shell into his hair to indicate that the first of his victims has fallen, and Tin Tin’s death causes some concern amongst his shit-kicking associates; Top Dollar, the self-styled head honcho of the neighbourhood, is unconcerned, however. He doesn’t give two shits what the street punks think about it, or that Tin Tin got killed, and vehemently asserts that he owns the dope, the neighbourhood, and that “[his] word is the law!” Top Dollar is quickly convinced to give a shit, however, when the Crow gate-crashes the meeting and guns down everyone there. Some of the punks are sporting bulletproof vests, but the Crow is as unfazed by this as he is by their wild bullets, which strike him and draw blood but do not drop him, and simply executes them with a shot to the head while preaching a sermon on their evil ways. In the end, only Top Dollar is left; he attempts to barter for his life with money and drugs, but the Crow ignores him and simply stoically tells his story of a man, a woman, and a 1971 Plymouth on a rainy night. the second Top Dollar admits to remembering what the Crow is talking about amidst his angered ranting, the Crow executes him with two shots to the head. That’s right, in the original comic book, the Crow went pretty much directly to the top of the pecking order and then worked his way down, rather than working his way up the chain of command in the gang responsible for his suffering, showing him to be slightly more efficient and direct than his filmic counterpart.

The Crow retrieves Shelly’s engagement ring and catches the attention of the local cops.

Those that were concerned about Gabriel’s welfare can rejoice as the Crow takes the fluffy white cat in brings her (Gabriel is initially thought to be a boy but is later revealed to be a girl, and pregnant to boot) back to their old home, where he presents the cat as a gift to his lost love. This triggers a cute flashback to when the fresh-faced, unscarred and far less tortured Crow (then known as Eric) proposed to his beautiful girlfriend Shelly, during a playful bout of painting their home. Later, as Christmas closes in, Gabriel triggers another memory of when Eric surprised Shelly with the news that he had secured the house for them, leading to the Crow lamenting that the cat “[makes him] smile too much”. The Crow then arms himself with a samurai sword and heads out to confront Tom Tom, beheading his punk-ass friend Skank before taunting the gun-toting thug with the iconic gag about Jesus Christ being “put up for the night” at a hotel. Shrouded in darkness, Tom Tom has no chance to land a shot quickly has his legs literally taken out from under him with one swipe of the Crow’s sword. Bleeding out, and suffering from shock, Tom Tom seems mildly repentant for his part in Eric and Shelly’s murder and tells the Crow where he can find Shelly’s engagement ring. This leads the Crow to Gideon Resale, a pawn shop in a seedier part of town, where he calmly confronts the grouchy owner, stabbing him through the hand and forcing him to hand over a box full of rings. After locating Shelly’s ring and taking it for himself, the Crow executes Gideon, loads himself up with armaments from his shop, and sets it ablaze using a makeshift kerosene bomb. Young police officer Albrect attempts to interrupt the Crow, but is suitably intimidated by the vigilante’s stoic demeanour and conviction, bringing the Crow to the attention of the police for the first time. Based on Albrect’s description of the Crow, Sergeant Hook figures out that he’s Eric returned from the grave pretty much right away since, as we later find out, he visited Eric in hospital after he was attacked and offered his condolences. Hook was shocked when Eric utters his dying words: “The crow said don’t look!!” and is later less than impressed to find that the Crow has left him the pregnant, flea-ridden Gabriel to look after.

The Crow wades through Fun Boy’s goons and grants him a merciful death for his honesty and help.

On his way to confront Fun Boy, Crow comes across a young girl, Sherri, whose mother is one of the punk’s concubines. Feeling a connection with the girl’s innocence, the Crow gifts her with Shelly’s engagement ring, much to the girl’s emotional appreciation, and promises to return her mother to her. Later, before bringing his vengeance to an end, the Crow bids a heartfelt farewell to Sherri and promises her that things in her life will one day get better, or at the very least she will find serenity in the afterlife. Barging in on Fun Boy and Sherri’s mother in bed, the Crow demands that she leave and compels her to do better by her daughter with the memorable “Mother is the name for God” line, before getting into it with Fun Boy. Unlike his film counterpart, who was a wacked out junkie, the comic book Fun Boy is far more defiant and integral to the plot; he talks snark to the Crow and agrees to gather the rest of the gang together in a bar for a big gun fight. After intimidating the hugs with his loquaciousness, the Crow dispatches them in a blood-soaked battle that sees him burying an axe in one guy’s neck and gunning them all down with two pistols without missing a single shot, all while shrugging off any bullets that happen to hit or graze him until only Fun Boy is left. Unlike his associates, he doesn’t beg or plead or even repent for his actions; instead, he owns his reprehensible actions and even admits to perpetrating even worse acts against his fellow man. Tired of all the killing and vengeance, the Crow demands that Fun Boy go and get T-Bird so that they can finish this where it all started, at the side of a road outside of town where Eric and Shelly were tortured and killed. In return for Fun Boy’s assistance, the Crow promises him a quick, clean death, but makes no such promises for T-Bird, the man who pulled the trigger on himself and his lover.

Eric and Shelly are brutally murdered by a gang of coked up assholes.

After following the Crow’s vicious and bloody path of vengeance throughout the story and being treated to brief flashbacks and memories of Eric and Shelly’s lives together, the final chapter shows us exactly what happened to the two on that fateful night. After proposing to Shelly, Eric takes her on a night out to celebrate but, on their way home, their car suddenly breaks down. As Eric is attempting to fix it, T-Bird and his cronies, completely off their heads on cocaine, alcohol, and other drugs, randomly happen to drive past them and, spotting Shelly, decide to circle back and harass them. Eric has Shelly lock herself in the car and attempts to reason with the gang and, for his efforts, is violently shot in the bac of the head by T-Bird. The bullet blows part of his skull off (giving him the scar over his nose and the one glazed over eye we’ve seen him sport throughout the book as the Crow) but doesn’t actually kill him. Even when T-Bird follows this up with a second, direct shot that briefly sets Eric’s hair on fire, Eric still doesn’t die; instead, he’s left helpless and paralysed on the cold, wet road and forced to watch as Shelly is beaten and raped by the gang before being killed by T-Bird. As Eric lies there, mortally wounded and barely clinging to life, he is berated by a vision of the crow, who begs him not to look and urges him to give up the mortal coil so that he can have his revenge.

The Crow destroys T-Bird’s crew and finally completes his mission of revenge.

After burning his house down and leaving Albrect a note to look after Sherri, the Crow heads to the final showdown at a dilapidated house in the city after Fun Boy was unable to convince T-Bird and the others of the Crow’s threat. Still, the Crow remains true to his word and allows the junkie to kill himself with a lethal dose of morphine, before pumping a dose of the drug directly into his heart, killing a number of T-Bird’s cronies (with the exception of Two-Tone, whom he allows to live), and finally confronting T-Bird himself by stowing away in the back seat of his car. The Crow endures a bombardment of bullets from T-Bird’s gang before brutalising them with his superior strength and turning their weapons against each other, butchering them all in violent fashion and even walking away from a bullet shot through his neck at point-blank range. Terrified by the Crow’s manic violence, T-Bird races away in his blood-soaked and ends up crashing at the exact location where he killed Eric and Shelly; suffering from two broken legs, T-Bird remains defiant to the end and the comic cuts away as the Crow approaches his helpless foe with nothing more than a hammer in hand. The story ends with the Crow resting at a cemetery, having succeeded in avenging himself and his lover, and allowing himself to be spirited back to the afterlife by memories of himself and Shelly as the crow lies overhead.

The Summary:
Each chapter of the story is preceded by a quotation or a short poem that sets up the theme of the chapter, and the entire book, be it “Pain” or “Night”. Flashbacks to Eric’s journey to the afterlife, or his far happier life, are rendered in a far different visual style; these are beautiful, soft paintings rather than harsh pen strokes of black and white and, from the very first interlude, set the tragic tone for the entire story. “Shattered in the Head” appears to show Eric in a dream-like memory of riding a train but is, in actuality, a representation of his journey to the afterlife; he sees a beautiful white horse get tangled up in barbed wire, suffering in agony as it bleeds to death, which is an obvious parallel to how Shelly died. Just like in that instance, Eric was helpless to do anything to help and powerless to do anything but look on in horror, something which the Crow admonishes him for as the skeletal train conductor as for his ticket (an obvious representation of the Grim Reaper or, more specifically, Charon, with the train being an interpretation of the ferry he uses to take souls to the realm of the dead). Another interlude shows the Crow performing Kata-like dances while brooding over pictures of his former life and being tormented by memories of Shelly’s dead; we also see that the Crow regularly engages in self-harm, cutting and scarring his arms and wrapping them up in black tape in an attempt to either commit suicide and return to his love or feel something, anything, other than his eternal emotional torment.

Eric is guided by a snarky, supernatural crow that keeps him focused on his violent mission.

Unlike in the film, only Eric can see the crow; it advises him here and there throughout his mission but noticeably disappears between panels, indicating that it’s much more of a supernatural entity. It also has far less play then in the film; there, it was a mysterious guide and commonly seen at Eric’s side but, here, it appears sporadically and directly communicates with him, chastising him for constantly tormenting himself with memories of his past and distracting himself from his vengeance. In one of the interludes, the Crow chastises Eric for losing himself to the throes of passion with Shelly in what appears to be the closest representation of his paradise, before the conductor (now dressed as a Skull Cowboy) violently shoots Shelly in the head and forces him out of his heaven. In another, the crow scolds Eric for juicing up on Fun Boy’s drugs and reliving sexual memories of him and Sherry; while the crow is overly blunt and direct, it’s clear that it cares about Eric, his feelings, and his need for revenge and just wants to keep Eric on track rather than constantly dwelling on the past. After Eric is shot and left for dead, the crow immediately appears before him and its first advice is to turn away from the horrors being performed by his killers; it tries to comfort him by telling him that it wasn’t his fault and then chastises him for clinging to life, eager to give Eric the power to avenge himself on his killers.

The Crow is a tortured, tragic, invincible figure who is the embodiment of vengeance and fury.

The Crow’s mission is fuelled by rage and a lingering sense for brutal justice; there’s very little “heroic” about the Crow in that he’s acting solely to appease his need for vengeance rather than for the benefit of others. However, he remains a tortured and vulnerable character; he has no desire to hurt Albrect or those who aren’t on his list and shows a great deal of love for Sherri. At the heart of his motivation is, of course, Shelly; he curses a God who would allow someone as beautiful and innocent as Shelly to be molested and murdered in such a violent fashion, and who would allow him to suffer so badly by association, and regards the scum he guns down and brutalises as being little more than vermin deserving of punishment. Eloquent and largely impassive, the Crow is prone to bouts of intense rage and emotion when avenging himself; thanks to being undead, he has nothing to fear and willingly walks into gunfire and knives without hesitation. Although the comic doesn’t actually go into detail in explaining exactly what Eric has become, how he was resurrected, or the extent of his powers, it’s largely inconsequential to the story; all you need to know is that he is retribution personified on what he sees as a Holy mission to purge the city of undesirable sinners. The Crow remains a powerful, intense, and brutal tale of revenge and love; it’s far from a traditional comic book story and is more akin to a Gothic mediation on loss and chaotic emotion, and is bolstered by some great use of shadows and pen work. The black-and-white art style makes the story as beautiful as it is violent and it remains a passionate, tragic story to this day; it’s made even more enjoyable for fans of the movie as the film directly lifted entire scenes and dialogue from the original comics and perfectly captured, and expanded upon, the atmosphere of this dark, gritty story that I would definitely recommend everyone check out.

My Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fantastic

Have you ever read The Crow? What did you think to the story, artwork, and the narrative structure? How did you feel about Eric and Shelly’s plight, their love story, and their deaths as the motivation for the Crow’s mission? What did you think to the Crow; did his loquacious nature annoy you or did you find him intimidating and compelling, and do you think he was overpowered? Were you a fan of the interludes, poetry, and symbolism employed throughout the comic? Which of The Crow’s follow-ups was your favourite and how were you introduced to the franchise? How are you celebrating Devil’s Night tonight? Whatever you think about The Crow, leave a comment on my social media or sign up to reply down below.

Game Corner: SEGA’s Mega Machine

Dr. K26 Comments
SEGA’s Mega Machine

On 29 October 1988, SEGA released the 16-bit Mega Drive (known as the SEGA Genesis in North America); far superior to Nintendo’s 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), and bolstered by both an aggressive marketing campaign and the eventual release of Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Team, 1991), this release kicked off the “Console Wars” of the mid-nineties and changed the face of home consoles forever. This year, to celebrate this momentous occasion, I’m going to share some of my memories of this sleek, beautiful machine and the impact it had on my childhood. I was just a kid, something like six or eight, when I had what I am pretty sure was my first ever home console (and videogame) experience; I remember being at my aunt’s house and being introduced to the SEGA Master System II and, more specifically, Sonic the Hedgehog for the first time when I sat down to fumble my way through Sonic the Hedgehog’s (Ancient, 1991) Green Hill Zone. The colours, the sounds, and the user-friendly nature of the system clearly struck a chord with me and it wasn’t long (it was probably my birthday that same year) before my parents gifted me that very same machine and, as I recall, three titles: Spider-Man (Technopop, 1991), Trivial Pursuit: Genius Edition (Domark, 1992), and the aforementioned Sonic built-into the machine.

The Master System II served me well until I got a convertor unit for the Mega Drive.

For a long time, probably something like two or maybe even three years, the Master System more than met my demands. I amassed a pretty decent library considering money was a bit tight back in those days and wasted many hours playing a variety of 8-bit titles. One memory that sticks out for me in particular was when I had a friend come over to play games (this was, of course, back in the days when kids mostly only owned one machine so you had to actually go around someone’s house to play other consoles and games) and he was struggling to get past the Green Hill Zone boss. I took the controller from him and reached the last Zone of the game for the first time, which was quite the achievement for me at the time; though I distinctly recall not actually completing Sonic that day, I did eventually, and many times over. Another memory for me was when I discovered the elaborate method of activating Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s (Aspect, 1992) level select and actually being able to bypass the God-awful Sky High Zone. My love for videogames had well and truly began. I played the NES at a friend’s house, the PC at another friend’s, and enjoyed a handful of ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Amiga titles while routinely playing the Master System, reading Sonic the Comic (Fleetway, 1993 to 2002), and watching the likes of Captain N: The Game Master (1989 to 1991), Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (1993 to 1996), and GamesMaster (1992 to 1998).

The article I most attribute for selling me on the Mega Drive.

I bought videogame magazines from car boot sales, drooled over Master System games in the local game’s shop, and doodled pictures of Sonic and his friends at every opportunity. Then, one fateful day, I became aware of another SEGA console; one with far more detailed graphics, bigger, better games, and, more importantly, more Sonic titles. I can’t be exactly sure when I first became aware of the Mega Drive but I distinctly recall owning issue two of Mega (Future Publishing/Maverick Magazines, 1992 to 1995) which had a whole article devoted to the upcoming (or recently released) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (SEGA Technical Institute, 1992). I was awe-struck; the sprites were so big and colourful, the graphics so crisp and detailed. Unlike in the 8-bit Sonic 2, Miles “Tails” Prower was actually a playable character…and he followed Sonic around onscreen, too! I’m sure I must have seen other photos, articles, and gameplay footage of the Mega Drive across the other magazines and shows I watched but this particular issue of Mega really sticks out in my mind; I read that article over and over, each time more and more attracted to the power and superior graphics of the Mega Drive.

The Mega Drive was for sharing back when I first got it but that was fine by me.

Another memory I distinctly have is pointing the machine out to my parents in an Argos catalogue and trying to explain the benefits of upgrading to SEGA’s newer, sexier console. As I said, money was tight back then for us; we weren’t exactly poor and destitute but we also weren’t rolling in disposable income so I’m sure the decision to buy a Mega Drive didn’t come easily for my parents. Thankfully, however, unlike a lot of parents these days, mine were cleaver and, that Christmas, I received the coveted SEGA Mega Drive and two games (Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker (SEGA, 1990) and my equally-coveted Sonic 2) on one proviso: it was to be a joint present for me to share with my older sister. I’m pretty sure that that gorgeous black machine, with its two control pads and those two fantastic games, was the only present either of us got that year, as well, but I didn’t care: I had it and that’s all that mattered. In 1983, an influx of home consoles, poorly-made titles, and a vastly oversaturated market caused the videogame industry to crash in spectacular fashion; what had once been a booming, attractive business had crumbled under the weight of expectation, success, and a market inundated with machines and titles that retailers just couldn’t sell. A few years later, the industry began to recover thanks to the release of the Nintendo Family Computer (Famicom); known as the NES outside of Japan, the machine was marketed not as a home videogame console but more as an “Entertainment System” (it wasn’t a “home console”, it was a “control deck” and the cartridges were “Game Paks” rather than “videogames”) to give it a better chance at selling in toy shops.

Super Mario Bros. catapulted Nintendo to mainstream success as the home console market leader.

Thanks to a lack of competition and the blockbuster success of Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo EAD, 1985), 30% of American households owned the NES by 1990 and Nintendo absolutely dominated the slowly re-emerging videogame market after the NES sold over 35 million units in the United States, a number that was far beyond those of other consoles and computers. Videogames were back, and more popular than ever, thanks to Nintendo’s efforts and high quality titles, and the industry once again became lucrative and profitably so, naturally, others wanted in on the action. Enter SEGA; formally one of the top five arcade game manufactures in the US, the videogame crash and a decline in the popularity of arcades had seriously hurt the company and led to its purchase by Bally Manufacturing and an eventual restructure towards the home console market with the SG-1000, a precursor to my beloved Master System. Though the console sold well in Japan, it barely made a dent thanks to Nintendo’s stranglehold on the market so, amidst growing competition, SEGA’s research and development team, led by Masami Ishikawa decided that the only way for SEGA to remain competitive was to incorporate a 16-bit microprocessor by adapting their successful SEGA System 16 arcade board into the architecture for a new home console. Mitsushige Shiraiwa led the team that designed the Mega Drive, drawing inspiration from audiophile equipment and automobiles, and the machine was purposely designed to appeal to gamers of all ages, rather than just children like Nintendo’s console.

Aggressive marketing and strong third party support also helped give SEGA the edge.

To impress customers with the system’s power, “16-bit” was slapped right onto the console itself in impressive, striking gold yet, despite shipping 400,000 units in its first year and producing a number of additional peripherals, the console’s launch was overshadowed by the released of Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo EAD, 1988) and the system was unable to surpass the NES in terms of sales or popularity. For the Mega Drive’s release in North America, the system was rebranded as the “Genesis” and SEGA of America CEO Michael Katz spearheaded an aggressive marketing campaign to sell the power and superiority of the console compared to the NES. While the Genesis certainly did do what Nintendo didn’t, it still wasn’t enough to topple or compete with NES or their podgy little plumber. Thus, when Tom Kalinske replaced Katz as CEO, he developed a four-point plan that involved cutting the console’s price, create a U.S.-based team to develop games specifically for the American market, continue and expand their aggressive advertising campaigns, and bundle copies of the Genesis with the one game exclusively developed to overtake Mario once and for all: Sonic the Hedgehog. For a time, this plan worked wonderfully; bundling Sonic in with the Mega Drive gave SEGA the edge it needed as gamers who had been anticipating the release of Nintendo’s own 16-bit console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), bought a Mega Drive instead just to play Sonic. Sonic’s popularity also led to the Mega Drive outselling the SNES during the 1991 holiday season and, but 1992, SEGA had wrestling 65% of the market away from Nintendo and overtaken Nintendo as the home console market leader for the first time since 1985.

Had SEGA focused on the Mega-CD, things might’ve been very different for them.

With a focus more on arcade-quality titles, a willingness to consider a greater variety of genres and videogames compared to Nintendo, and Sonic’s explosive popularity as not just a videogame icon but a mainstream icon, SEGA seemed unstoppable. A sleeker, more streamlined version of the Mega Drive released in 1993 and the company even produced a special convertor unit that would allow gamers (such as myself) to play their Master System cartridges on the 16-bit console. SEGA were ahead of the times in many ways; unlike Nintendo, they released Mortal Kombat (Midway, 1993) with its signature blood and Fatalities intact through use of a special code, showing the machine (and the company) to be the more mature and “edgier” of the two, and SEGA soon began to experiment in both CD-based games and 32-bit graphics with the Mega/SEGA-CD and Mega/SEGA-32X add-ons. Unfortunately, despite showcasing some impressive graphics, CD-quality sound, and the sheer potential of these peripherals, producing such expensive add-ons to prolong the Mega Drive’s lifespan ultimately proved financially disastrous for SEGA. When research SEGA and their tumultuous history for my PhD thesis, I was disappointed to see how the company squandered all their success with blunder after blunder in this way. To me, they had the right idea with the Mega-CD and should have stuck with that. Had SEGA simply made the little-known SEGA Multi-Mega the standard and ditched all plans for both the 32X and the SEGA Saturn, producing all the games that released for those console (and the Mega-CD) as CD-based games, the company may have fared better heading into the sixth generation of gaming. I don’t know if would have been enough to make the Dreamcast more competitive but SEGA would definitely have been in a much better financial position without wasting all that money making expensive add-ons and inferior consoles.

My Mega Drive collection is still a work in progress but has always had some quality titles.

Still, it is what it is and, for many years, even when I owned a Nintendo 64, I still returned to the Master System and the Mega Drive. My library of Mega Drive games grew respectfully as I continued to indulge my love of colourful, action-packed action/platformers like Rocket Knight Adventures (Konami, 1993), Marko’s Magic Football (Domark, 1994), The Revenge of Shinobi (SEGA, 1989) and, of course, every Sonic title released for the console. However, to say that I was a fan of Sonic was an understatement; I remember incurring the wrath of my mother for not pausing Sonic 2 right as I beat the game for the first time to go for dinner and I must have played that game endlessly, rejoicing every time I got to play as Sonic and someone else got to play as Tails for a change. I distinctly remember getting Sonic & Knuckles (SEGA Technical Institute, 1994) for a birthday and that I got the game before I owned Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (ibid). I’m not sure exactly how that happened but I remember being fascinated by Sonic & Knuckles’ unique “lock-on” technology and being able to play as Knuckles the Echidna in Sonic 2. Some time later, while at a game’s shop in Northampton, I picked up an unboxed copy of Sonic 3 for £9 and, after reading a guide in Sonic the Comic that showcased the awesomeness of Super Sonic, Hyper Sonic, and the Doomsday Zone, eventually made it my top priority to unlock these forms and reach this final Zone in a precursor to my newfound desire to obtain as many Achievements as possible.

The Mega Drive was pretty great for multiplayer experiences, too.

It wasn’t just about Sonic, though; the Mega Drive was a great two-player console and I lost a lot of hours playing T2: The Arcade Game (Probe Software, 1991), Captain America and the Avengers (Data East, 1992), and Mortal Kombat 3 (Midway Games/Sculptured Software, 1995) even while I was playing the likes of WCW vs. nWo: World Tour (Asmik Ace Entertainment/AKI Corporation, 1997) and Quake 64 (Midway Games, 1998). While not every title I played or owned for the Mega Drive was a smash hit, I still managed to find plenty to love thanks to the eye-catching graphics, catchy tunes, generally tight controls and gameplay, and the sheer attractiveness of those black boxes and cartridges. I even got a lot of enjoyment out of games that were short-lived in my collection, like Cosmic Spacehead (Codemasters, 1993) and The Aquatic Games Starring James Pond and the Aquabats (Millennium Interactive, 1992), even though they may not have necessarily been the easiest or most suitable games for my tastes at the time. Sadly, as I mentioned, money was always an issue in keeping me from having a truly expansive Mega Drive library; I borrowed a few titles I never actually owned, like Taz in Escape from Mars (HeadGames, 1994) and Street Fighter II’: Special Champion Edition (Capcom, 1993) but, while I played the likes of Golden Axe (SEGA, 1988) and Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension (Gremlin Graphics, 1992) on the Amiga, I never actually owned them for the Mega Drive back in the day.

My original mega Drive still sits proudly in the actual, physical game corner.

Thus, once we tore down our unused garage and had a little log cabin built and my dream of having an actual, physical game corner quickly became a reality, I knew what my first priority would be: to build a respectable library of physical, complete Mega Drive games to play at my leisure. It’s an expensive and long-winded process thanks to the fact that complete versions of Mega Drive games can be quite expensive but it’s a much easier prospect than collecting for Nintendo’s 8-, 16-, and 64-bit consoles as Nintendo favoured flimsy cardboard boxes for their games so the only Mega Drive game you really have to worry about having a battered or ripped box is Sonic & Knuckles. I first made my steps towards building this library when I finally bought a boxed and complete version of Sonic 3 a few years ago and, since then, the collection has grown slowly, but steadily. I’m prepared to play the long game when it comes to completing my collection as, while my Odroid console is great for emulating thousands of games and there’s plenty of ports or collections of classic Mega Drive titles available for modern consoles, there’s nothing quite like seeing a shelving unit full of those gorgeous, bulky, black or blue boxes and slotting a physical cartridge into that very same Mega Drive my parents gifted me all those years ago.

What are your memories of the SEGA Mega Drive? When did you first play or own one and which model did you have? Perhaps you preferred Nintendo’s consoles; if so, why and share your memories of those days? Do you also believe that SEGA might still be something of a competitor in the home console industry had they avoided the 32X and the Saturn or do you think their downfall was inevitable given how crowded and competitive the home console market became? What are some of your favourite Mega Drive titles? How are you celebrating this momentous day today? No matter what your thoughts, please feel free to share your opinions and memories of the Mega Drive and this era of gaming below.

Movie Night [Asterix Anniversary]: Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion

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Asterix the Gaul (and his best friend Obelix) first debuted on 29 October 1959 as a serial in the French/Belgium magazine Pilote. Since then, the plucky Gauls have gone on to have many adventures in comic books, videogames, and feature-length productions and Asterix himself has become a popular and enduring character in his native France and around the world as Asterix’s stories have been translated into over a hundred languages across the world. I may be a day early in celebrating this anniversary as it coincides with the release of the SEGA Mega Drive but I’ll take any excuse to talk about Asterix’s amusing escapades.

Released: 5 December 2018
Director: Louis Clichy and Alexandre Astier
Distributor: Société Nouvelle de Distribution/Altitude
Budget: Unknown
Stars: Ken Kramer, C. Ernst Harth, John Innes, Fleur Delahunty, and Michael Shepherd

The Plot:
In 50 B.C. ancient France (then known as Gaul), has been entirely conquered by Julius Caesar (Mark Oliver) and his army of Romans…except for one small village of indomitable Gauls given superhuman strength by the druid Getafix’s (Innes). However, when Getafix starts to worry about his mortality, he embarks on a quest across Gaul, accompanied by the village’s most powerful warriors, Asterix (Kramer) and Obelix (Harth), in search of an heir.

The Background:
Asterix was created by writer René Goscinny and artist Albert Uderzo in 1959 and first appeared in Pilote before being collected into a single volume. Since then, the duo produced volumes on an annual basis until 1997, when Goscinny tragically died; after continuing solo for a while, Uderzo eventually signed the rights over to a new generation of creators so that Asterix’s stories could continue. Since then, Asterix has been an incredibly popular character the world over, selling nearly 400 million books and has been adapted into a series of animated, and live-action, features. The first, Astérix the Gaul (Goossens, 1967), was produced with Goscinny and Uderzo’s input and the two were heavily involved in subsequent productions. Nine animated features were produced between 1967 and 2014, where the animation made the jump from 2D to 3D with Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods (Clichy and Astier, 2014), which was France’s highest-grossing animated film of that year. Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion followed about four years later; based on an original story by Astier, the film made over $2 million on its opening night and eventually grossed over $46 million.

The Review:
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion begins with Getafix out in the forest cutting ingredients for his magic potion with a golden sickle; he’s a sprightly, lively old man, hopping and jumping all over the place and handling his sickle with an effortless pizazz. Unfortunately, his luck runs out and he takes a particularly nasty fall from a treetop. Having seriously injured his ankle, Getafix is despondent and angry at his stumble and decides to search out a young successor in order to pass down his greatest secret; since the secret can only be passed from one druid to another, this means Getafix must leave the village to seek out his heir. Getafix’s decision to seek out an heir worries both Asterix and the village chief, Vitalstatistix (Don Brown), as they’re concerned that Getafix is giving up too easily and that a new druid will misuse the magic potion. To allay their fears, Getafix suggests that Asterix and Obelix accompany him to ensure that his chosen successor uses the magic potion as wisely as he and that their village can continue to resist the Roman invasion.

Getafix’s injury causes him to a crisis of confidence, much to Asterix’s chagrin.

Getafix’s mission is opposed by the malevolent druid Demonix (Shephard), a practitioner of forbidden magic who greatly resembles Prolix from Asterix and the Soothsayer (Goscinny and Uderzo, 1972) and is capable of conjuring will-o’-the-wisps to hypnotise and manipulate others. His power is so frightful that he’s even able to freeze the mighty Obelix in his tracks like a statue Demonix is disgusted that Getafix has wasted his magic potion on his village and wishes to take the secret from himself to satisfy his desires for power and glory. To facilitate this, he strikes a deal with Caesar that will see him manipulate the promising young druid Cholerix (Michael Adamthwaite) in order to learn the secret of the magic potion. After forcing Cholerix to mage the potion, Demonix augments it further and consumes it, becoming a super-powered sorcerer and threatening not only the Gauls but the Romans as well with his vast powers.

Demonix’s plot to learn Getafix’s secret sees him manipulate the young druid Cholerix.

Getafix is dismayed to find that all the young druids he meets are either charlatans or incompetents and, as a result, he’s excited at the potential Cholerix. Although Cholerix initially rejects Demonix’s advice, he falters when standing before his peers and potential mentor and decides to conjure Demonix’s useless spell and, in the process, impresses Getafix. However, Cholerix is almost immediately dismayed at Getafix’s choice as he knows he basically deceived the druid and is forced to brew up the magic potion before Demonix’s eyes in order to save the village from being destroyed by the Romans.

Pectin impresses with her curiosity, gumption, and inventiveness.

Asterix is enraged to discover that a young girl from the village, Pectin (Delahunty), has stowed away in Getafix’s cauldron; despite women being forbidden from the Forest of the Carnutes, Getafix is impressed with Pectin’s ingenuity and craftsmanship and allows her to accompany him to the druids’ gathering in disguise as a boy. Her presence and curiosity is the perfect way to coax exposition out of the druids (in the form of a traditional, hand-drawn animation) regarding Getafix’s past with Demonix and she proves instrumental in thwarting Deominx after he consumes his augmented magic potion, proving herself to, potentially, be worthy of taking Getafix’s place someday.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion is full of little gags and slapstick comedy, mainly revolving around fights and the physical pratfalls the many characters get into; the routine of village life and the Roman garrisons is amusingly introduced to the tunes of Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’, with characters performing their everyday actions in tune to the beat of the song. As is the case with many Asterix stories, there’s an ongoing rivalry and animosity between Unhygienix (Jason Simpson) and Fulliautomatix (Scott McNeil), a gang of pirates continuously run afoul of the Gauls even when they’re safely out at sea, the Romans are generally portrayed as being reluctant warriors who are in fear of the Gauls’ strength, and the Gauls using chickens to fly in and attack the Romans. There’s also a running gag in the film that the druids can speak and understand the snorts and grunts of boars; indeed, boars themselves play quite a large role in this animated and are far more prominent than they usually are, getting into all kinds of scrapes and hijinks similar to Scrat from the Ice Age films (Various, 2002 to present).

As there are a lot of characters in the film, some inevitably get reduced to mere comic relief.

There’s a great number of characters in the film, more so than usual since Gettafix’s search takes him all over Gaul. However, all the village men (except for Cacofonix (Cownden)), decide to follow along with the quest to add some additional comic relief to the film through their tendency to argue and brawl with each other at the slightest provocation. Although the village is left only in the care of the women and Getafix’s limited magic potion reserves, the Gaulish women are, as always, more than capable of holding their own against the Roman forces, who are ordered to attack again and again to exhaust their reserves. The druids also get a lot of play in the film; their gathering is little more than a piss-up and the druids misunderstand the boar’s message and think Getafix has just brought them all together for a big party and Getafix is stunned to discover that the druids’ age-old traditions of passing information only through word of mouth has given way to “crib notes”.

Rather than focus on Asterix and Obelix, the film is much more about Getafix and a group effort.

When Getafix’s search initially proves fruitless, Asterix loses his temper; he’s annoyed that Getafix has let such a simple stumble throw him so completely and, in an amusing outburst, hands his helmet, dagger, magic potion, and status as the village’s top warrior over to Geriatrix (Ron Halder) in order to make his point and storms away. This does, however, allow him to stumble upon Demonix’s plot to collaborate with the Romans but he basically disappears from a big chunk of the film after he’s helplessly bound and gagged. Even when he’s rescued, he’s just one part of an unsuccessful team effort between the Romans and the Gauls to take down the gigantic, invincible, and super-strong Demonix and, in the end, it is Getafix’s resourcefulness and magic that saves the day. It’s a bit unusual to watch an Asterix film where Asterix ends up having such a small role but the bulk of the story revolves around Getafix and his shaken self-confidence so I guess it makes sense but Asterix and the Big Fight (Grimond/Weiss, 1989) was a very Getafix-heavy film and that still placed Asterix in a prominent role in its narrative.

The Summary:
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion is a very fun and entertaining little romp. While I preferred the traditional, 2D animation of the previous films, the computer-generated characters are gorgeous to look at, full of life and little details and character quirks that really make them lively and amusing. It’s not one of the more action-packed Asterix stories, and it’s a little disappointing how small a role Asterix and, especially, Obelix play in the plot but it’s got a lot of funny little moments and gags peppered throughout it and really captures the quirky spirit of the comic books. As a lifelong Asterix fan, it’s heart-warming to see the character is still so popular and beloved that he continues to be relevant in a crowded genre and there’s clearly been a lot of care and attention put into bringing these unique and memorable characters to life. The story is pure Asterix and feels reminiscent of many of the books but also manages to stand out on its own merits through its distinctive visual and narrative flair and I’d say it’s definitely worth a watch for fans of the source material and should keep both kids and parents sufficiently amused with its wackier moments.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Have you seen Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion? If so, what did you think to it? Are you a fan of the CGI Asterix films or do you prefer the traditional, 2D animated features? Which character, book, or movie is your favourite? How are you celebrating Asterix and Obelix’s birthday this year? Whatever your thoughts on Asterix, feel free to leave a comment below.

Movie Night: Wonder Woman 1984

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Released: 16 December 2020
Director: Patty Jenkins
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget: $200 million
Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, and Connie Nielsen

The Plot:
Decades after losing her former love, Steve Trevor (Pine), during the First World War, Princess Diana of Themyscira (Gadot) works at the Smithsonian Institution while covertly helping others in her guise as Wonder Woman. After befriending shy geologist and cryptozoologist Barbara Ann Minerva (Wiig), both Diana and her friend find themselves forever changed when business tycoon Maxwell Lorenzano/Max Lord acquires a mystical artefact, the “Dreamstone”, and begins bringing people’s deepest wishes to life.

The Background:
Following her creation by psychologist William Moulton Marston, Wonder Woman has been a firm staple of DC Comics and an influential feminist icon. Wonder Woman achieved mainstream success as a pop culture icon following Lynda Carter’s portrayal of the character in the 1970s and she finally proved to be a massive critical and commercial box office success with the release of Wonder Woman (ibid, 2017). Although the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) was in flux following the poor reception of Justice League (Whedon/Snyder, 2017), production of a Wonder Woman sequel was officially announced in 2017, with both stars Gadot and Pine and director Jenkins set to return. Rather than produce a direct sequel,Wonder Woman 1984 (or simply WW84) jumped ahead to another unexplored period in the character’s long history, the 1980s, to capitalise on the recent interest in the decade. The film’s release was hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic but WW84 finally saw the light of day at the end of 2020, where it was met with a lukewarm and underwhelming critical response. This, coupled with its limited release, meant the film massively underperformed and brought in only $166.4 million at the box office; however, while many criticised certain narrative elements of the film, Gadot’s performance was praised as a highlight and a third entry in the franchise is was greenlit soon after the film’s release.

The Review:
Like the first film, WW84 begins with Diana narrating a flashback to her childhood where, as a girl (Lilly Aspell) on the island of Themyscira, she competes in a gruelling obstacle course. Although she’s able to hold her own for the most part, she is knocked from her horse at a crucial moment and, in order to catch up, opts to take a shortcut and, as a result, is penalised and reprimanded by her aunt and mentor, Antiope (Robin Wright), who teaches her a valuable lesson that forms the basis for the film’s main theme: that she must be honest and true to herself and that she must have patience in order to succeed in life.

Despite claiming to have left the man’s world, Diana is covertly saving lives in 1984.

Despite claiming to have walked away from man’s world for a hundred years after Steve Trevor’s death, Diana is living and working in Washington, D.C. and we’re reintroduced to her as she performs various heroic deeds as Wonder Woman in an amusingly edited montage that is both bright and vibrant thanks to the excess of the eighties and comically exaggerated in a way that recalls Superman (Donner, 1978). Although Diana makes an effort to destroy security cameras and move quickly to largely avoid being seen, she does appear in full costume in the middle of a shopping mall in front of numerous witnesses, though the film does make a point to show that her identity is unknown. Still, regardless of the continuity blip this causes (it’s hard to imagine Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) wouldn’t have been somewhat aware of Diana before he first encountered her judging by this film’s events), it’s a fun and exciting way to be reintroduce to Diana that is immediately offset by the emotion of seeing that she’s largely closed off from the wider world.

The insecure and shy Barbara instantly idolises Diana.

Thanks to brief shots of photographs in her apartment, we see that Diana continued to maintain a friendship with Etta Candy (Lucy Davis) and ties with Steve Trevor but is, otherwise, quite a lonely individual. In this regard, she meets a kindred spirit in Barbara Minerva, a quirky, social inept, and insecure geologist who is largely ignored by her co-workers and those around her. Barbara is excited when Diana actually gives her the time of day and the two bond over their interest in history; the two quickly form a friendship, filling the gaps in each other’s lives, and Barbara comes to idolise Diana for being everything she wishes to be.

Max Lord is a charismatic con man obsessed with obtaining power and the Dreamstone.

After foiling a robbery in the film’s opening, Barbara is asked to examine an artefact that was recovered, which claims to be a wish-granted stone, the Dreamstone. Although both are sceptical about this, the stone’s powers turn out to be genuine when Barbara wishes to “be like” Diana and wakes up the next day to find herself suddenly noticed by others, slipping into sexier clothing, and her fortunes generally turning for the better. Sadly, however, her insecurities remain the same and she is easily tricked by the film’s main antagonist is Max Lord, into allowing him to steal the stone for himself. Lord, a prominent figure in DC Comics and, here, is portrayed as a charismatic and silver-tongued oil tycoon and enigmatic television personality who appears to be another corporate, suit-wearing industrialist. Behind his public façade, however, is a is a con man whose oil business is slowly falling apart around him, whose debts are being called in, and who desperately wishes to make his son, Alistair (Lucian Perez) proud of him.

Diana unwittingly wishes Steve back to life and the two pick up right where they left off.

Another consequence of Barbara’s wish is that she develops superhuman strength and agility, just like Diana has, while Lord does the natural thing and wishes to embody its powers, thus turning his fortunes around overnight. The stone’s powers also have a startling affect on Diana when she unknowingly wishes for Steve Trevor to be resurrected; the stone accomplishes this by having his spirit inhabit the body of another man (Kristoffer Polaha). Overjoyed at being reunited with him, Diana and Steve immediately pick up where they left off and, despite how awkward it is for Diana to be taking advantage of a random stranger, this allows the film to present the reverse of the first movie’s concept. Now, Steve is the fish out of water, confused and puzzled by “the future” he has returned to, and it is Diana who has to guide him through navigating the world and the garish style of the eighties.

The Dreamstone’s powers come at a price, weakening the character’s physical and mental health.

Perturbed by the stone’s powers, Diana and Steve set out to investigate it; while Barbara begins to revel in her newfound confidence, abilities, and popularity, possessing the stone’s powers turn Lord into an influential, Donald Trump-like figure and Diana is horrified to discover that the Dreamstone is a construct of the Gods, specifically Mendacius, the “Duke of Deception”. Like all good things, the stone’s powers come at a cost; Diana finds her superhuman abilities beginning to wane, Max’s mind and body starts to deteriorate from the immense power, and Barbara slowly loses her humanity until she eventually transforms entirely into the cat-like Cheetah. The only way to reverse the damage is for them tor enounce their wishes, something none of them are willing to do at first since it would mean losing everything they have desired for so long

The Nitty-Gritty:
WW84 is a much more character-driven film that it’s predecessor; much of the runtime is spent exploring Diana and Steve’s renewed relationship, acclimatising him to the then-modern world, and rekindling their passion. Thankfully, Gadot and Pine still make for a charismatic and engaging duo and the two gel really well together as equals but it can’t be denied that things would have been much less awkward if the stone had literally returned Steve to life rather than having him possess an unassuming stranger’s body Quantum Leap (1989 to 1993) style.

Diana is forced to let Steve go once again in order to put a stop to Lord’s carnage.

Still, on the one hand, spending so much time on Diana and Steve’s relationship does help to further develop her character; she’s clearly still grieving his loss, even after all these years, and doesn’t have much of a social life, though she still uses her abilities to help others as covertly as possible. She forms a real bond with Barbara, perhaps the first real friendship she’s had in some time, and is elated to be reunited with Steve. Her character arc in this film is learning to rediscover her humanity, somewhat, and to let go of the past, something we know from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Snyder, 2016) that she doesn’t really do after these events but it’s still wonderfully realised here as Diana applies the lesson she learned as a child to her current situation and, however reluctantly, renounces her wish to regain her strength and put the world to rights after Lord’s actions cause worldwide upheaval.

When the action does kick in, it’s exhilarating and thrilling.

This has a detrimental effect on Lord, who begins to suffer more and more physical pain and consequences for playing Wishmaster (Kurtzman, 1997); driven to desperation, he finds himself unable to stop granting wishes and tries to restore himself by absorbing the energy of others, plunging the world into chaos in the process. Ultimately, rather than engaging him in a fist fight, Diana is able to convince him to renounce his abilities after forcing him to relive his own unhappy childhood and reconnect with his son. That’s not to say that WW84 doesn’t have its fair share of action; the opening sequence in the mall is a lot of fun and Diana’s attempt to chase down Max Lord in Egypt seems to be a homage to the seventies show, and Diana’s lasso-based fight scene in the White House was very thrilling, but the scene-stealing sequence is the moment when Diana dramatically swings her way through the storm-swept sky by lassoing onto lighting!

Diana dons ceremonial armour to battle Cheetah in the film’s finale.

Diana’s journey in WW84 is one of gaining strength from these decisions; she demonstrates the ability to turn a jet invisible, acquires the golden armour of Asteria (Lynda Carter), and gains the ability to fly (to the stirring chords of “Adagio in D Minor”) after renouncing her wish and regaining her full powers. This comes in handy for her big showdown with Cheetah; earlier, Cheetah had been able to defeat Diana since her powers were fading, which helped to showcase Barbara as a physical threat to Diana. Drunk on the power and freedom offered by the stone’s powers, Barbara becomes a formidable and fierce adversary and a far cry from the meek character she was at the start of the film. Unfortunately, Cheetah kind of lets the film down a bit in the effects department; even though her fight with Diana takes place in the murkiness of night, the CGI is quite wonky, which is a shame as the practical effects look pretty good. Still, it’s a thrilling climax to the film, which even goes a long way to showing Diana’s compassion as she chooses to save Barbara and even Max rather than just kill them.

The Summary:
Wonder Woman 1984 is a curious film; rather than being bigger and better than the original, it opts to tell a more dramatic, character-based story that focuses more on Diana coping with her grief and loss and learning to let go of the past rather than being a bombastic, action-packed sequel. This is pretty good for Diana’s character development; it’s clear that she is overjoyed to have Steve returned to her and torn between wanting to be with him even if it means leaving the world to its fate and seeing her step into the role of a full-blown hero and saviour is very gratifying. The twist of Steve being the fish out of water this time around was interesting but, at the same time, could potentially have been handled differently or excised entirely in some ways, and I was surprised to find that Barbara’s “geeky, quirky, obsessed” character cliché wasn’t as annoying or aggravating as in other superhero films; it’s perfectly suited to Wiig’s strengths and she pulled off the character’s descent into villainy really well. Thanks to his charisma and magnetism, Pascal successfully walked the fine line between being a scenery chewing character and a cartoonish villain and it was great to see Pine and Gadot’s chemistry back in action. My only real gripes with the film were its length (and even that wasn’t that big a deal as I was interested throughout) and some continuity hiccups with the larger DCEU but, considering the mess the DCEU has become since then, I think I can forgive it and would say WW84 manages to be just as enjoyable as the first film while still mixing things up with its presentation and narrative.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

What are your thoughts on Wonder Woman 1984? How do you feel it compared to the first film and were you disappointed by it? Were you happy to see Chris Pine return and what did you think to Diana’s character arc in this film? Were you a fan of Max Lord and Cheetah? What are your thoughts on WW84’s placement in the wider DCEU?What are some of your favourite Wonder Woman stories, characters, and moments? How are did you celebrate Wonder Woman Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Wonder Woman, drop a comment down below.

Game Corner: The Evil Within 2 (Xbox One)

Dr. K6 Comments

Released: 13 October 2017
Developer: Tango Gameworks
Also Available For: PC and PlayStation 4

The Background:
After a long and illustrious career at Capcom in which he created and spearheaded the Resident Evil franchise (Capcom/Various, 1996 to present), Shinji Mikami left to help found Tango Gameworks in a bid to develop new properties and titles, such as The Evil Within (Tango Gameworks, 2014). Although critical reception of the game was somewhat mixed, The Evil Within sold well enough to justify a sequel, which began development shortly after Mikami’s team had finished up working on the first game’s downloadable content (DLC). In response to some of the criticisms regarding the first game’s convoluted plot, the team sought to make The Evil Within 2 more comprehensible while also placing greater emphasis on psychological horror elements. Despite a much shorter production period and some notable technical hiccups, The Evil Within 2 fared much better with critics than its predecessor and was generally regarded to be an improvement over the original.

The Plot.
Three years after the events of the first game, Sebastian Castellanos has left the Krimson City Police Department and continues to be haunted by his experiences. Driving to alcoholism by the death of his child, Lily, and the break-up of his marriage, he reluctantly agrees to re-enter the nightmarish world that plagues his dreams when it is revealed that Lily was actually being used as the Core for a new STEM system.

Gameplay:
The Evil Within 2 is, fundamentally, extremely similar to the first game but also noticeably different in many ways. Where the first game really emphasised a twisted, nightmarish world where anything was possible and that was populated by a variety of gruesome creatures and restricted your resources to keep you constantly fighting for survival, The Evil Within 2 is much more linear and action-orientated title. The difficulty setting you pick for your playthrough will determine how much ammo and damage you can take, which is pretty standard, but even on the “Normal” difficulty, “Survival”, there’s quite a bit of ammo, crafting items, and opportunities to replenish your health through the game, certainly more than in the first game.

The game’s controls are largely the same as before but tweaked for the better.

Control wise, however, the game is basically exactly the same; you can aim your weapon with LT, shoot with RT, and reload with X, and interact with your environment with A but, this time around, your melee attack is also mapped to RT and Y brings out your Communicator, which allows you to lock on to signals and help lead you towards objectives and objects of interest. Thankfully, you no longer need to worry about burning bodies so, rather than tossing matches with B, B activates your flashlight (Sebastian is no longer hampered by a large lantern this time around), though you can still sprint by pressing in the left analogue stick.

Stay low and sneak around to avoid detection and perform an instant kill move.

Like before, stealth and taking cover is a big part of the gameplay; you can snap to nearby cover by pressing the Right Bumper and shift from cover to cover by pressing up on the left stick. Pressing in the right analogue stick will see you crouch down and sneak around and, when enemies are nearby, you’ll again see the return of the eye-themed “Enemy Alertness” icon that will help you to know when you’ve been spotted. This time around, though, it is much easier to spring away from enemies and out of sight to keep them from pursuing you and there are far ore opportunities for you to sneak up behind enemies and perform a one-hit Sneak Kill, and you’re also given the option to enable or disable an “aim assist” that is super helpful in targeting enemies but combat is much more fluid and far less awkward this time around even without this.

Save areas have now been expanded into two locations to allow you to heal up and upgrade you attributes.

Interestingly, the game also offers the option to enable a first-person perspective; I didn’t play with this as first-person games aren’t really my thing but there was a point in the story that forced you into this perspective and it’s unusual to see this feature included in a game, so it’s interesting, if nothing else. There are far opportunities available to you to heal and craft resources; by exploring your environments, you’ll find Weapons Parts, gunpowder, fuses, and other items that can all be used in workbenches in “Safe Houses” to craft ammo and upgrade your weapons. In these Safe Houses, you’ll usually find similar resources to top up your inventory and will always find a coffee maker, which will fully refill your health with one soothing sip. You can’t abuse this mechanic, however, as it takes time for the machine to refill but you can warp through a cracked mirror like in the last game. This takes you to Sebastian’s office, where you can view documents, slides, access another workbench, and upgrade Sebastian’s other abilities (such as health and stealth) using the torture chair from the last game. In both Safe Houses and Sebastian’s office, you’ll find a terminal for you to insert your Communicator and save but, like before, the game is pretty generous with autosave points.

The addition of a Communicator, map, and waypoints makes navigation a breeze this time around.

The Communicator is a pretty big addition to the game and, yet, paradoxically not that integral at the same time. At a number of key moments in the story, you’ll have to hold X to tune into a frequency that will lead you to your next story-based objective and Sebastian will often stop (or continue walking) to chat with the game’s various non-playable characters (NPCs) and expand the story. Perhaps the best addition to the game is the inclusion of a map, which is accessed from the inventory menu; from here, you can see a simple to understand layout of the immediate area, key locations like Safe Houses, and set up a waypoint marker that allows you to easily navigate towards any location. It’s amazing how much of a difference this makes, though it is slightly unnecessary as the game is far more linear than the first game despite the fact that you’re often exploring much larger and more open areas this time around.

Access your weapons on the fly without fear of attack and chat with NPCs for side quests and exposition.

The heads-up display (HUD) remains very similar to the last game and is noticeably sparse to help with your immersion in the game but, this time, you can completely disable it (and all onscreen indicators) from the game’s settings. When you access the “Arsenal Menu” with the Left Bumper, the game actually pauses to allow you to time to select weapons or map them to the directional pad for quick access, which is super helpful. Later on, you can also craft ammo on the go from this menu as well, though it costs you more Weapon Parts to do this on the go as opposed to at a workbench. When talking to NPCs, you’ll often be given a number of different dialogue options that allow you to learn a bit more about these characters, the world around them, and activate side missions. Thankfully, you can skip through or ignore these entirely if you want and the game’s plot and ending don’t really change based on your choices.

Puzzles are few and far between and extremely simple, even when compared to the first game.

The first game was often littered with traps, many of which would kill you in a heartbeat, but the same isn’t true for The Evil Within 2. There are only a handful of moments where explosive trap wires will dog your progress (this time around, you can’t disable them and must simply duck under them or trick enemies into tripping them on your behalf) and absolutely no instant death traps, which is nice but also removes a lot of the tension and trial and error. The most consistent trap you’ll have to navigate is a series of electrified wires that require you to duck under and inch around to reach your target but one area that did slightly stand out was when you were forced to don a gas mask and forgo the use of your firearms to avoid causing a fatal explosion. There are also a few more instances where you’ll be asked to mask buttons (usually just A) to open doors, pull levers, or turn cranks or rotate the analogue sticks to line up frequency waves to open doors but puzzles are generally extremely simple (even more so than the last game) and boil down to maybe finding a key, flicking switches in the correct order, using a door’s markings to decode a cipher, or shooting a Shock Bolt at a fuse box to open a door.

The game is much more linear but there are still opportunities for exploration..

Gameplay is broken up a little bit but has far less variety than in the first game; alongside the aforementioned brief first-person sequence, there is one moment where you and Esmeralda Torres have to hold out against waves of enemies but you’re never asked to take the controls of a mounted machine gun or battle enemies on a moving vehicle or distract larger enemies with bodies this time around. Instead, the emphasis is largely more on exploration; there are numerous instances where you must access a computer and travel through “The Marrow” (which is a sparse, poor attempt at masking a loading screen) to access an underground bunker and different areas of the town of Unity and you’re generally given free reign to explore, which can lead to you partially completing side quests without realising it. As you explore, you’ll get notified whenever your Communicator picks up a signal, which can lead you to viewing “Residual Memories” to understand a bit more about STEM, Mobius, and Unity and the usual documents, newspaper clippings, and diaries will also help flesh things out but it can’t be denied that the story is much less complex this time around.

Graphics and Sound:
Honestly, The Evil Within 2 doesn’t look that much different to its predecessor; character models are really well done and lifelike (though Sebastian remains a visually uninspiring character) but, despite areas being much bigger, the game’s environments lack much of the foreboding atmosphere and horrific imagery of the first game.

While surreal imagery is still prominent, it’s not as visually interesting or macabre as before.

Unity is quite an uninspiring town; though the influence of the game’s first antagonist, Stefano Valentini, is often felt through the presence of disturbing pictures, a giant camera eye lens in the sky, and murdered Mobius agents frozen in time and staged as “art”, the more bizarre aspects of STEM (twisted hallways, crumbling cities and landscapes, and macabre, nightmarish locations) are downplayed in favour of more sterile locations. The game progressively gets more warped and strange as you progress, though, and by the time you reach the final chapter you’ll be wandering around Unity as it collapses around or and through a desolate limbo trying to rescue Sebastian’s wife but I have to say that I miss the emphasis on gore and disgusting, disconcerting imagery over The Evil Within 2’s more subdued and cerebral presentation.

Graphically, the game doesn’t seem much better than its predecessor and is arguably worse in a lot of ways.

The enemies also suffer a bit because of this; before, they were twisted, terrifying creatures that drew inspiration from a wide variety of media and came in all different variants but here they’re mainly just moaning zombies or flaming brutes. That’s not to say that there aren’t some disturbing enemies and locations in the game (the Obscura and Anima are two of the more horrific enemies and the stronghold of the game’s true antagonist, Father Theodore Wallace, is like a Lovecraftian cathedral) but the problem is that they’re just not as prevalent or as immediately creepy as in the last game. It’s telling, to me, that the finale sees Sebastian forced to relive a few key encounters from the first game and seeing the return of the Keeper enemy only served to reinforce how the sequel’s creature designs are somewhat lacking compared to the original. Add to that the fact that I glitched through some steps once, that there was occasionally a delay in textures loading and graphics popping up around me, and the fact that the game flat out soft locked on me once right before I was about he save and The Evil Within 2 seems like a bit of a step back in terms of its presentation despite appearing to be bigger and the gameplay largely being much more fluid and enjoyable.

Enemies and Bosses:
The enemies in The Evil Within 2 are known as “The Lost” and, as mentioned previously, are far less visually interesting than in the last game, where the looked like weird Cenobite/zombie hybrids that had crawled out of some nightmarish fever dream. Shambling, zombie-like creatures, the Lost shuffle about and are generally found tearing into corpses, wandering around, or rising from apparent death. They were charge at you if they spot you, throw you to the ground, attack with knifes or axes, and like to try and take a bite out of your neck but, as also mentioned, it’s pretty easy to outrun them, stealth kill them, and take out large numbers using explosive barrels, setting fire to oil pools, or electrocuting them by shooting Shock Bolts into pools of water.

Enemies, while still horrific at times, seem much more generic and predictable compared to their predecessors.

While many of the game’s creatures leave a lot to be desire, there are some interesting and disturbing enemies on offer here: Spawn are gruesome, scuttling corpses that leap at you with their huge jaws full of sharp fangs; Hysterics attack you with knives; the bulbous Glutton creatures will explode when they reach you or are attacked; and the Disciples cause additional damage thanks to their flaming bodies. You’ll also occasionally be tormented by the onryō-like Anima who, similar to Ruvik in the last game, appears every now and then and is completely immune to your attacks; she also drains your health if she gets close to you and forces you to crouch and dash through an ever-shifting maze and you’ll also have to sneak around the glob-like Watcher at one point (or risk trying to kill it by shooting it in the face).

The monstrous Guardian is a nightmareish mish-mash of linbs and giggling heads with a buzz saw for a hand!

Similar to the last game, the game only really features a handful of bosses, many of which function more like sub bosses and return as regular enemies after being defeated. The first of these you’ll encounter is the abominable Guardian, a gruesome miss-match or bodies and limbs that wields a buzz saw for a hand and pursues you relentlessly at the beginning of the game. Later, you’ll be forced to battle one outside of Cit Hall but, while there’s lots of ammo, health, and places to get a reprieve nearby, you can also dart down an alley way and cause it to be damage by trap wire traps as you escape into the building through a side door. Similarly, you’ll battle the flamethrower-wielding Harbinger first as a boss (where you can shoot at the fuel tank on its back to disable its weapon and set it alight and use nearby levers to douse its flames with the sprinklers overheard) and then as regular enemies out in the streets.

It’s a shame more of the game’s enemies aren’t as disturbing as these bosses…

The aforementioned Obscura also appears more than once; this demonic creature is one of the game’s most striking and memorable monsters in the game and resembles a weird, mangled corpse with an old style camera for a head! It scuttles about on the ceiling in the first encounter and you’re forced to hold it off and survive while waiting for an emitter machine to activate and, if you’re caught in its camera flash, time will slow to a crawl, allowing it to grab at you and attack you. Later, you’ll also encounter the monstrous Effigy, which merges with a nearby telephone pole and tries to smash you with both the pole and its claw-like hands.

After getting past Stefano, you’ll be tasked with fending off some familiar faces from the first game.

When you finally confront Stefano, the battle is one of the more subdued in the game in its first phase, which sees him teleport around his gallery in a puff of smoke and slashing at you with his knife. Once enough damage has been done to him, though, he’ll distort the area into a hellscape and get backup from his gigantic camera eye. Later, during your pursuit of Theodore, you’ll be forced to battle the chainsaw-wielding berserker (more of an interactive cutscene where you simple press A to slice him in two), three of the Keepers (easily dispatched with your more powerful weapons), and even Laura from the first game. This latter battle takes place in the furnace as before but, by that point, you’ll have access to a flamethrower than can make short work of her, too.

Myra’s horrific final form is a much more difficult finale compared to the simplistic battle against Ruvik.

Battling the Effigy is basically a taster of the game’s final battle against Sebastian’s corrupted with, Myra, who transforms into a similar gigantic creature for the finale. Unlike the final fight against Ruvik, this actually requires you to use your own weapons and ammo and a far greater degree of skill as you have to dodge her massive arms and shoot at her stomach to expose her first weak spot. Destroy this and you’ll have to stomp a load of spiders (which will drop ammo and resources) before blasting her arm fro her torso. When this severed limb grabs you, you’ll have to shoot its glowing stump in slow motion before blasting the glowing weak spot in her head. Compared to Ruvik, it’s a much tougher and more involved boss battle but, even then, the game drags out its ending to an uncomfortable degree, featuring a number of long-winded cutscenes and even a brief sequence where you take control of Juli Kidman to shoot down some Mobius agents.

Power-Ups and Bonuses:
Like before, The Evil Within 2’s locations contain a great deal of resources for you to find by interacting with the environment and smashing wooden crates. Syringes and medical kits will restore your health and you can also find ammo, new weapons in special cases, and both the returning Green Gel and the brand new Red Gel. These can also be earned when, soon into the game, a shooting gallery becomes accessible from Sebastian’s office that places you in a simplisic recreation of areas from the first game and tasks you with hitting high scores to earn Green Gel, Weapon Parts, and other resources. Sebastian’s office also allows you to sit in the familiar torture chair and use your Green Gel to upgrade his abilities; this will increase your maximum health and stamina, your ability to recover both of these, and a number of new abilities. For example, you can upgrade to break free of an enemy’s grip with a bottle if you have one in your inventory, dodge out of the way of enemy attacks, perform Sneak Kills under cover of your Smoke Bolts, or Ambush Kills by stealthily approaching from cover. The Red Gel is used in this skill tree to unlock additional skill levels, which seems a little pointless but it gives you something else to look out for, I guess.

Weapons can be upgraded at workbenches at the cost of Weapon Parts.

From the chair, you can also use the keys you find by smashing special statues to once again open up lockers for additional resources. Many of the weapons Sebastian has access to return, or are very similar, to those from the previous game; he carries a knife for melee combat but can instantly kill enemies if he grabs a one-use axe or distract them by throwing bottles, which can now be stacked in your inventory. Very soon, you’ll get hold of a handgun and, in time, acquire such familiar weapons as a shotgun, sniper rifle (which I had very little use for), assault rifle, and the returning crossbow (now called the Warden Crossbow and capable of firing only explosive, smoke, shock, freeze, or harpoon rounds). Later, you’ll also grab a flamethrower and, after completing the game, gain access to the magnum but you can also find better versions of the handgun and shotgun by exploring your environments. Each weapon can be upgraded from a workbench using Weapon Parts; this allows you to increase their ammo capacity, firepower, and reloaded rate, among others, and this skill tree is similarly expanded with High Grade Weapon Parts. You can also find ammo pouches of certain corpses to increase your ammo capacity and, while pipebombs are missing, the Warden Crossbow is much more accurate and wieldy this time around.

Additional Features:
There are fifty-one Achievements available in The Evil Within 2, the majority of which are earned by simply playing through and completing chapters of the story mode. You’ll also earn Achievements for defeating a certain number of enemies (both in general and in certain ways, like with Stealth Kills and your crossbow bolts), upgrading weapons, and finding collectibles. There are a number of special items you can find that will appear in Sebastian’s office, which are tied to Achievements, and you’ll also earn them for clearing certain sections in certain ways, which will require you to reload a previous save point to pop them in one go.

A few unlockables and bonus content add a little replay value but there’s no additional story DLC this time.

Right off the bat, there are free difficulty levels to choose from; when you clear the game, you’ll unlock another, access to the magnum, 40,000 Green Gel points, and a number of skins for Sebastian (which, while nothing too groundbreaking, help to mix up subsequent playthroughs). By signing up for a Bethesda account, and depending on how you purchase the game, you can also access additional perks, such as the “Last Chance Pack” code, which adds a bunch of bonus items to your inventory but, most usefully, the ability to toggle on one-hit kills, infinite stamina, and infinite health. As you’re not penalised for using these “cheats”, the game is made a complete cakewalk with these activated and means you can stack Achievements by just ploughing through on the hardest difficulty without fear of being killed. Also accessible after clearing the game is “New Game Plus”, which carries over all of your upgrades and unlocks and skins and such to a new save file. Unfortunately, you can’t upscale the difficulty when playing New Game Plus and must, instead, start a new file to play on a harder difficulty. There is also no other downloadable content to expand the game’s story or add in new modes like in the last game, no unlockable rocket launcher, and, worst of all, you can no longer freely jump to the game’s chapters, which means that you’ll have to play through the game from the start to mop up any missing Achievements.

The Summary:
In many ways, I preferred The Evil Within 2 over the original; just the inclusion of a map and waypoint system makes it a much more user-friendly experience and the combat has been tweaked just enough so that you’re not hesitating to engage with enemies. The story, which focuses much more on Sebastian and makes him a far more proactive figure, is also far less convoluted (at least until the ending) and the options available for combat make it much more interesting to play. However, it’s undeniably a much more linear game despite how big the locations are and lacks a lot of the features that make The Evil Within interesting and horrific; enemies and environments are rather drab and uninspired, the puzzles are simple and barely a factor, gameplay variety leaves a lot to be desired, and it’s just far less disturbing than the original. Interestingly, while I found the first game frustrating at times, I didn’t consider it to be so hard that it needed cheats for infinite health and stamina and, while I appreciated these inclusions, making it so that you can finish the game and get all the Achievements with these activated really renders any tension redundant and I simply ran around melee attacking enemies and killing them in one hit to complete alleviate the survival aspects of the game as much as the developers eliminated the horror elements by toning down the macabre, disturbing visuals.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

What did you think to The Evil Within 2? Do you think it was better, worse, or just as good as the original? What did you think to the change in presentation, mechanics, and tone? Were you disappointed with the enemy designs and presentation like I was or did you find it just as disturbing as before? What did you think to the story and the new antagonists? Did you play the game with the cheats activated; if not, what did you think to the game’s difficulty? Would you like to see another entry in this franchise or do you think it’s best left alone now? Whatever your thoughts on The Evil Within games, feel free to drop a comment below.