movie night

Movie Night [Friday the 13th]: Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood

Dr. K3 Comments

Long considered an unlucky day due to superstitions involving the number thirteen and religious connotations, Friday the 13th is equally well-known as a long-running series of slasher movies. As a result, this is clearly the best opportunity to take a look at the Friday the 13th (Various, 1980 to 2009) horror series and to commemorate this unlucky and dreaded date.

Released: 13 May 1988
Director: John Carl Buechler
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Budget: $2.8 million
Stars: Lar Park Lincoln, Kane Hodder, Kevin Blair, Susan Jennifer Sullivan, Susan Blu, and Terry Kiser

The Plot:
Unwittingly resurrected by traumatised, psychically-endowed Tina Shepard, decomposing serial killer Jason Voorhees (Hodder) renews his killing spree, only to match his brute strength against Tina’s psychic powers.

The Background:
Following the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (Carpenter, 1978), which popularised the “slasher” sub-genre, Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980) proved a surprising box office success. Despite producer/director Sean S. Cunningham distancing himself from the resulting franchise, which has been beset by negative reviews, Friday the 13th Part 2 (Miner, 1981) and Friday the 13th Part 3 (ibid, 1982) were financial successes. Still, embarrassed by the franchise, Paramount tried to bring it to an end with Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (Zito, 1984). However, its financial success led to Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (Steinmann, 1985), a disastrous experiment that saw Jason’s resurrection the following year. Despite a modest box office and mixed reviews, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (McLoughlin, 1986) is now considered one of the best entries. Initial ideas for the seventh film included a potential crossover with Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), though Paramount and New Line Cinema couldn’t agree on how to best execute this and it would be some fifteen years before audiences saw this come to fruition. Instead, associate producer Barbara Sachs leaned towards the idea of granting the “Final Girl” telekinetic powers not unlike those of Carrie White (Sissie Spacek). Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood marked the first appearance of fan favourite Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees, setting a record for the longest uninterrupted onscreen controlled burn in Hollywood history and debuting one of Jason’s most horrific and iconic looks. With many explicitly gory scenes cut during post-production, The New Blood performed about the same at the box office as its predecessor and received largely negative reviews. Fans of the franchise, however, treat the film more fondly, regarding it as one of the better entries, and its poor reception didn’t stop Paramount producing an eighth instalment the following year.

The Review:
Seven movies into the slasher franchise and Jason Voorhees has become more than a rumour; he’s a legend. The long-dead “Crazy” Ralph (Walt Gorney) returns as an unseen narrator to give a quick rundown of Jason’s previous hits and misses, which have seen the “death curse” of Crystal Lake translate into “Jason Voorhees’ Curse”, with no mention of his mother or the tragedy that befell him as a child. It’s interesting that Crystal Lake is even called that here since such a big part of the previous movie revolved around the locals renaming the area “Forest Green” to disassociate themselves from Jason and his memory. Now, it’s just back to Crystal Lake with no explanation, which is odd. Even stranger is that no one stops our new crop of victims from hanging around the cursed lake and no one, save the pushy and manipulative Doctor Chris Crews (Kiser), is even aware of Jason. To be fair, it’s not stated how much time has passed since the ending of Jason Lives and the present day of The New Blood. It could’ve been years, so maybe the residents felt comfortable believing Jason was long gone. The New Blood takes a similar approach to The Final Chapter with the landscape of Crystal Lake and its forest, showing residential cabins placed around the lake, such as Tina’s childhood getaway and the cabin Nick Rogers (Blair) and his friends rent to surprise his cousin, Michael (William Butler). I would’ve liked to see The New Blood double down on this and have these be the same buildings from The Final Chapter, renovated and available to rent to bring some tourism to the local community. This doesn’t appear to be the case and nothing is mentioned about the town or what’s happened between Part VI and Part VII, meaning the New Blood title doesn’t just refer to Jason’s newest crop of victims but also the narrative, as the film’s almost like a soft reboot of the series in some ways.

Traumatised Tina finds her unique gifts being manipulated by the shifty Dr. Crews.

The New Blood adds some additional lore to Crystal Lake with its opening flashback, which shows young Tina (Jennifer Banko) fleeing to the lake to escape her parents’ constant arguing. Having witnessed her alcoholic father, John (John Otrin), strike her mother, Amanda (Blu), little Tina took a boat onto the lake and wailed her anguish and hatred to her father. Unfortunately for Tina (and John), her heightened emotional state triggered her unpredictable psychokinetic powers, causing John to fall into the lake and drown/be crushed be debris. The trauma of witnessing this and the guilt from having caused her father’s death scarred Tina, leading to her spending most of her life in therapy and in a psychiatric hospital under the care of Dr. Crews. Although Tina’s visibly uncomfortable at returning to Crystal Lake and Amanda is desperate to hide her concerns behind blind optimism, the Shepards return to their family cabin in what’s stated to be a last-ditch attempt to help Tina overcome her trauma. However, Dr. Crews is far more concerned with exploring and documenting Tina’s psychic abilities, badgering her into working herself into a state so she’ll perform parlour tricks for his camera. While he justifies this by saying that her powers and vivid delusions are manifestations of her guilt and thus intrinsically linked, it definitely seems like he’s less concerned with her wellbeing and more concerned with attained some kind of accolade for discovering her psychic powers. Annoyed when Tina gets distracted by Nick and his friends and frustrated by Tina’s reluctance to adhere to his demands, Dr. Crews constantly belittles Tina and waves away her panic when she starts seeing visions of dead bodies and accidentally reanimates Jason while remembering her father’s death. At her wit’s end and desperate to bring her daughter some peace, Amanda puts all her faith in Dr. Crews and is thus enraged to find that he’s been using and manipulating Tina, even more so when Dr. Crews decides Tina’s a lost cause and threatens to have her committed. While she struggles with her guilt and is noticeably uneasy around other people, Tina can’t help but be attracted to nice-guy Nick, who encourages her to socialise with his friends, takes an interest in her past and her feelings, and reacts with shocked amazement rather than horror and ridicule when her powers caused chaos and disruption.

Nice guy Nick is surrounded by largely forgettable or overly exaggerated victims.

Disturbed by her visions of death and Jason, Tina constantly tries to warn those around her and is repeatedly shot down. Dr. Crews refuses to entertain her wild claims as anything other than delusions and the catty Melissa Paur (Sullivan) openly mocks her, to the amusement of her otherwise disinterested friends, in a desperate attempt to discredit Tina so she (as in Melissa) can have Nick to herself (despite him quite bluntly stating that he doesn’t even like her!) Nick’s a bit of a bland do-gooder on the surface; he’s tall and ruggedly handsome but there isn’t much to him. He says he ran with a bad crowd and is trying to turn his life around, but he’s mainly there to offer Tina some affection outside of her family and to try (and fail) to shield her from Jason. His friends, however, are as painfully one-note as all the Friday the 13th victims, focused mainly on sex, skinning dipping in the freezing cold lake, drinking, and getting high. There are a few standouts from this largely cliché group, as ever: Eddie McCarlo (Jeff Bennett) fancies himself a science-fiction writer and regularly bores and freaks out his friends with his bizarre imagination, Robin Peterson (Elizabeth Kaitan) is a perky little stoner in contrast to shy Maddy Paulson (Diana Barrows) but doesn’t hesitate to put her friend down so she can claim clumsy stoner David Peabody (Jon Renfield) for herself, and Ben MacNeal (Craig Thomas) is having undisclosed issues with his girlfriend, Kate Pataki (Diane Almeida). The film tries to give Maddy an empowering moment when, in an effort to defy Robin’s claim that she needs “little touch-up work”, Maddy defiantly…goes and touches herself up with make-up. She then wanders outside calling for David as though expecting him to be in the dark forest and is unceremoniously killed. I quite liked Eddie, who is seduced by Melissa to try and make Nick jealous and storms out after she rejects him in an amusing scene, though the others are mostly forgettable and simply there to be eye candy and add to the kill count.

Jason looks more horrifying than ever and utilises some bizarre weapons.

The New Blood sees the debut of Kane Hodder as Jason Voorhees, and boy does he embody the role in an instant! Sporting one of Jason’s most disturbing and iconic looks, the hulking Hodder stalks the forests and darkness of Crystal Lake with an enraged determination, as though Jason is royally pissed off at being disturbed by Tina. Now degenerated into a rotting, skeletal form and sporting a cracked mask and heavy chain around his neck, Jason appears more inhuman than ever and seemingly savours the hunt, never breaking from a brisk stride and as happy to stalk, taunt, and slowly off his victims as he is to crash through windows or catch them unawares. Jason sports an uncanny ability to sneak up on people, even when they’re barely looking the other way, and to get ahead of his fleeing victims, to say nothing of shrugging off nails, bullets, and blunt trauma thanks to functionally being a zombie. Exhibiting superhuman strength powerful enough to plunge his hand through chests and crush heads, Jason is surprisingly gentle with Nick in the finale, preferring to simply toss and throw him aside rather than crush his rib cage. Jason sports various weapons in The New Blood, from spiked implements, large kitchen knives, and even a party horn that he rams into Kate’s eye. This is taken to almost comical levels when Jason pursues Dr. Crews and Amanda through the forest and he attacks with a bizarre bladed implement, prompting Dr. Crews to use Amanda as a human shield! This respite is short-lived, however, as Jason soon comes after him with a motorised bench saw like he’s Leatherface (Various) or something! I have no idea where Jason got these weapons from or why he discards them, and we’re denied a decent look at the damage since the film’s butchered by cuts. Jason slices throats, hacks off heads, and leaves victims strewn around the forest to scare Tina but is visibly puzzled by the girl’s inexplicable psychic powers. Jason thus becomes fixated on Tina, not just because she’s the “Final Girl” but also because he sees there’s something different about her. Tina gives Jason a run for his money, tangling him up with nearby roots, electrocuting him, and causing his hockey mask to shatter so we get a good look at his gruesome, rotting visage.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Jason Lives marked a turning point for the Friday the 13th franchise. From the moment Jason was brought back as an undead killer, all bets were off and the series leaned more heavily into the supernatural for the following sequels. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; the formula was getting stale, after all. However, it’s still a bit weird to suddenly see psychic powers in this world. Tina is obviously a stand-in for Stephen King’s Carrie, a disturbed and emotionally distraught young woman who cannot control her powers, much less understand them. Tina’s ability to move objects with her mind is directly tied to her emotions, something Dr. Crews regularly manipulates just to see them in action. Tina’s also cursed with a degree of clairvoyance; she has visions of people’s deaths but is always too late to save them and is haunted by delusions of Jason that have her questioning her sanity. This makes Tina wary to be around others since her powers can be chaotic and they earn her scorn, fear and hatred even when characters have no reason to think it was Tina who caused Melissa’s necklace to break. Tina’s powers are seemingly limitless; she can combust matches, smash open floorboards, move roots and electrical wires, and even resurrect the dead if she concentrates hard enough. Sadly, her powers also appear really feeble. The only reason Jason doesn’t just snap her in two is because the script says he must stand there gawping at her while Tina flings nails at him, douses him in gasoline, and hangs him from the ceiling. Indeed, when Jason gets his grubby mitts on her, Tina’s largely helpless and dependant on Nick to save her cute ass. The technology just wasn’t there to make Tina’s powers look threatening enough to Jason, who was made to look like a chump during their “fight”, and it makes for a very poor substitute for a throwdown between Freddy and Jason. Perhaps if Tina’s powers had been more pyrokinetic things might’ve been different but, as is, her abilities seem more bizarre than formidable and make The New Blood one of the stranger entries in the franchise.

While some of the kills are good or even iconic, Tina’s psychic powers are pretty lamely realised.

It’s also one of the most butchered. Sure, we get some great shots of Jason’s spine, skull, and bones sticking out from his ragged clothes and the effects used on his ghastly face are top-notch (it may very well be the best Jason look ever!) but this doesn’t excuse the disappointingly bloodless kills. This is doubly disappointing as there are some creative weapons and methods at play in The New Blood, with Jason resorting to simple stabbing and tossing people to their deaths alongside more elaborate means of killing, such as launching an axe into Russell Bowen’s (Larry Cox) face and stabbing Maddy with a scythe. The movie’s not entirely bloodless, of course: we see severed heads and blood splatters and a lot of time is spent lingering on the mangled corpses of Jason’s victims. In a way, this is a bit more horrific than if we’d seen the deaths in detail since your imagination can fill in the blanks…but Dr. Crews was such a dick, I wanted to see him get shredded by that weed-wacker! I liked that Jason didn’t simply go around swinging a machete and tried a few different things here, even if some of his kills largely amounted to the same thing (David may as well have been stabbed by a machete, for example, same with Amanda, especially as Jason discards that unique weapon). Of course, the most memorable kill in The New Blood is Judy Williams’ (Debora Kessler). Her and her boyfriend, Dan Carter (Michael Schroeder), are a couple of randoms Jason attacks while camping (an odd choice given these roles could’ve been filled by some of Nick’s friends). He plunges a fist though Dan’s back and snaps his neck and then drags Judy from their tent while she’s still in her sleeping bag. Hauling her across the brambles, Jason slams her against a tree, snapping her spine and leaving her a horrified, bloody mess. It’s a simple, exceedingly brutal kill that stands as one of the best in the franchise. Naturally, we also get a bit of sex and nudity here, far more than in Jason Lives but still less than I’d like. Despite being a horny little she-devil, Melissa never gets any action and has to settle for an axe to the head, though Robin, Kate, and Sandra Casey (Heidi Kozak) all get a chance to get naked and have some sexy times before being butchered.

When Jason proves to be unstoppable, Tina summons her dead father to take care of business.

Unable to convince anyone that her visions are real and desperate to help her mother, Tina drags a confused Nick all through the forest and the cabin trying to find Amanda before it’s too late. She discovers newspaper clippings about Jason in Dr. Crews’ drawer and realises he knew she was telling the truth about “the man in the lake” and has been trying to gaslight her into thinking she’s crazy. Unfortunately, Tina’s unable to save her mother and Nick finds the cabin empty, save for Eddie’s slaughtered corpse and a disbelieving Melissa. His friends are just hanging around in the forest, though, their bodies on display to lure Tina back into the cabin, where Jason attacks. Although Nick tries to fight the monster off, he’s tossed aside like nothing and, grief-stricken and enraged, Tina finally unleashes her full power. Using her destructive psychic powers, Tina shatters Jason’s mask, hanging him by a cord, and drops him into the basement. When he drags her down with him, Tina douses him in gasoline and sets him on fire, with her and Nick barely escaping the house before it inexplicably explodes. They’re relief is short-lived, however, as Jason reappears on the docks, sporting no evidence of being set on fire or caught in an explosion. Though Nick tries to fend him off with a gun, Jason is unfazed and closes in for the kill. Hurt and desperate, Tina summons all her power and, unbelievably, causes her father (who’s looking remarkably well for a guy trapped underwater for years) to burst up from the lake. John’s clearly agonised spirit wraps a chain around Jason’s neck and drags him back into the cold depths, ending the film on a bit of an anti-climax as Tina and Nick are rescued by emergency services. Quite why John’s body was still in the lake is beyond me. Tina “felt” him earlier, but it turned out to be Jason and I don’t see why her father’s body couldn’t have been recovered after he fell in when she was a child. I guess it’s supposed to be a call-back to the first and third parts, but it felt quite lame and cartoonish in execution, much like Tina’s powers.

The Summary:
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood is a bit of a disappointment for me. A lot of this has to do with my fondness for the previous film, which is still one of my favourites; nostalgia gives Jason Livs an edge that The New Blood lacks. I tried to cut it some slack on this viewing, but there are a lot of elements that don’t work for me. As much as I liked the score from Jason Lives being recycled, it felt quite repetitive and the weird, jingly, fairy tale music used when Tina used her powers got old fast. I quite liked Tina, even though she was a bit bland and pure. I liked the struggle she faced with her guilt and her powers and she had some cute chemistry with Nick, despite him being a white-meat good guy. It was nice that he just accepted Tina and gave her unconditional encouragement and affection. Dr. Crews and Melissa made for interesting secondary antagonists. While Melissa was ridiculously one-note, she was such a conniving bitch, making her comeuppance well deserved. I would’ve liked to see Dr. Crews’ motivations explored a bit more: maybe he could’ve been trying to profit from Tina, or purposely using her to resurrect Jason for some reason. Nick’s friends were alright, but largely forgettable and full of dumb decisions. The group offered nothing we hadn’t seen in every Friday the 13th movie prior to this one and we were even denied the satisfaction of some gory kills since The New Blood has been hacked to death worse than Jason’s victims! I fully believe The New Blood is highly rated purely because of Kane Hodder’s performance and unique appearance as Jason, the bizarre weapons he uses, and that sleeping bag kill. These elements are far more memorable than the lame-ass psychic powers and the weak-ass showdown between Jason and Tina, where the formally menacing Jason just stands around and lets her make him look like a fool. Jason’s look is incredible here, almost unmatched, and seems to be where all the time and budget went. It’s such a shame as the concept had a lot of potential and I liked the suggestion that Tina was descending into madness because of her abilities and visions. The execution was lacking and hampered by the technology of the time, however, and the gory effects are completely wasted as the film cuts away before we can see them in all their glory. I appreciate the effort to try and do something new, but I think The New Blood needed another go-around at the scriptwriting stage. Jason looks great, better than ever, but it’s not enough to keep this one from being pretty dull at the end of the day.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Is Friday the 13th VII: The New Blood one of your favourites of the franchise? What did you think to Tina, her trauma, and her bizarre psychic powers? Which of Nick’s friends was your favourite and which death scene were you most disappointed by? Do you agree that the sleeping bag kill is one of the franchise’s most iconic? What did you think to Jason’s look and his showdown with Tina? Is Kane Hodder your favourite Jason actor Are you watching a Friday the 13th movie today? Whatever your thoughts on Friday the 13th (the movie, franchise, and day), leave them down below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other horror content.

Movie Night: Predator: Killer of Killers

Dr. K2 Comments

Released: 6 June 2026
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Distributor: Hulu / Disney+
Budget: Unknown
Stars: Lindsay LaVanchy, Damien Haas, Louis Ozawa, Rick Gonzalez, Michael Biehn, and Britton Watkins

The Plot:
In this interconnected series of shorts, a bloodthirsty Viking warrior (LaVanchy), a battle-weary ninja (Ozawa), and a hot-shot pilot (Gonzalez) are forced to fight to the death after besting three separate Predators (Watkins) throughout history.

The Background:
What started as a high-budget B-movie that had Jean-Claude Van Damme running around a jungle in a bug suit eventually became a box office success when Predator (McTiernan, 1987) released on this day in 1987. Though praised as one of the best of its genre, Predator was followed by a troubled and financially stunted sequel in Predator 2 (Hopkins, 1990). Despite positive reviews, it took twenty years before Predators (Antal, 2010) revived the series with a back-to-basics approach. Though a minor hit, hopes for a direct sequel were quashed in favour of a soft reboot, though The Predator’s (ibid, 2018) divisive response saw the franchise take a hiatus despite its respectable box office. After 20th Century Fox was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2017, director Dan Trachtenberg and screenwriter Patrick Aison returned the franchise to its roots with Prey (Trachtenberg, 2022), a surprise hit that promised big things for the franchise. Indeed, while Trachtenberg was busying himself with a Predator-centric follow-up, he also spearheaded this separate project, an anthology film inspired by hyper-violent and stylised anime. Released exclusively on Disney+ and Hulu, Predator: Killer of Killers was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews that praised its visual design, varied stories, and intriguing expansion of the lore.

The Review:
Predator: Killer of Killers came somewhat hot off the heels of the surprise success of Prey, which successfully rejuvenated the Predator franchise after years of ups and downs. It seems my desperate call for new Predator stories set in unique time periods and locations has finally been answered as Predator: Killer of Killers takes place in the frigid wastelands of Scandinavia, the beautiful landscape of ancient Japan, in the midst of the Second World War, and finally on an alien world that could very well be the Yautja home world. Yes, after years of me fighting against it, the term “Yautja” is now undeniably canon thanks to the film’s opening quote from their codex. While I’m sure long-time fans of the extended Predator media are glad to see this, I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of this name and would prefer the species went unnamed or were referred to as “Hunters” or “Predators” and the like. Still, I’m really glad we’re finally seeing the Predators being used in new settings and time periods as there’s so much potential for that to see how different people combat the Yautja threat depending on their technology or understanding of the alien foe. Indeed, to two of our main characters, the Yautja are seen as devils or demons rather than an extraterrestrial force, which is understandable given when they encounter them. Predator: Killer of Killers adopts a framing device where each of the main characters are trapped on a Yautja transport ship taking them to a gladiatorial arena for the finale, though this is primarily used as interludes between each story and to show who’s the main character of each segment. Finally, Predator: Killer of Killers uses subtitles when appropriate, particularly throughout “The Sword” and the final segment, where the characters talk exclusively in their native tongue even if we’ve heard them speak English before. I liked this aspect as it added some authenticity to the film, and each character, and I liked that their words weren’t translated for us beyond subtitles despite the characters wearing explosive translation collars.

Ursa’s quest for revenge sees her turning her rage against a vicious, hulking Predator.

The first segment, “The Sheild”, is set in Scandinavia, 841 and follows Viking warrioress Ursa as she leads her son, Anders (Hass), and their battle hungry clan into battle against the Krivichs to avenge the death of Ursa’s father, Einar (Doug Cockle), at the hands of the Krivich chieftain, Zoran (Andrew Morgado). While Anders is keen to make his mother proud, this is his first expedition so he’s understandably a little rattled at the sheer wanton destruction and violence his clan, and his vengeful mother, heap upon the Krivichs. Thus, he freezes when presented with his first kill, both out of fear and concerns for his place in Valhalla should he kill an unarmed man, though Ursa has no hesitation in cutting their prisoner in half after learning Zoran’s location. Unaware that a Yautja ship has dropped off a Predator to hunt the ruthless Vikings, Ursula shares the story of Einar’s death with Anders, which saw young Ursa (Cherami Leigh) consumed by anger and vengeance from a young age and determined to avenge her father, wearing his bloody handprint with pride despite initially being too overwhelmed by grief to function. So righteous is Ursa’s quest that she storms Zoran’s heavily fortified fortress alone, cutting through and bludgeoning many of his men single-handedly before her warriors (and Anders) join the fray. Using her sharpened, splintered dual shields, Ursa severs limbs and slaughters Zoran’s troops to confront the chief in his throne room. Despite Ursa’s rage, Zoran openly mocks her, disrespecting her in front of her men and leading to Anders beheading him for his insolence. Before Ursa can comment, the hulking Warlord Predator decloaks before them, naturally startling the Vikings and easily brutalising them with its superior speed, strength, and bionic hand appendage. Anders successfully wounds the Warlord with a spear, leading Ursa to leap to this defence, only for the Predator to bring the whole fortress down with a single concussive blow. Its helmet damaged by Ursa’s attack, the Predator stalks her on the brittle, frozen water, though she eventually traps and seemingly kills it by improvising with an anchor and turning its own weapon against it. Despite her victory, the exhausted and wounded Ursa is distraught when Anders succumbs to his wounds and dies in her arms.

Brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi must set aside their differences to battle a common foe.

“The Sword” is set in Japan, 1609 and follows twin brothers Kenji and Kiyoshi Kamakami, bright and optimistic youngsters who are forced to duel to determine which of them is strong enough to succeed their father, a stoic and demanding samurai warlord. Though Kiyoshi shares Kenji’s reluctance, he ultimately attacks with a sudden viciousness, forcing the hurt and heartbroken Kenji to flee. Upon his father’s demise twenty years later, Kiyoshi adopts his grim persona and succeeds to the throne, ceremonially burning his father’s corpse and ringing the bells to indicate the succession. This attracts Kenji’s attention, with him gearing up to confront his brother for his betrayal using the ninja skills he cultivated while living in exile. As a Predator watches with curiosity, Kenji stealthily subdues Kiyoshi’s guards and infiltrates his old homestead, utilising shuriken and a chained weapon to overwhelm his foes. When the alarm is raised, Kenji’s forced to take a more direct and violent route, cutting his brother’s personal guard down with his katana using a smoke bomb for cover. With a mere glance and a glare, they match swords once more as the Predator observes, with Kiyoshi’s straightforward samurai skills being somewhat outmatched by Kenji’s shinobi deviousness as Kenji utilises various weapons to press his attack. Still, the brothers are largely evenly matched, especially as Kiyoshi dons his father’s samurai outfit throughout the fight. Still, Kenji gets the upper hand and symbolically scars his cheek, just as Kiyoshi did when they were younger, then sheathes his sword rather than deliver a killing blow. Stunned when Kiyoshi apparently plummets to his death, Kenji’s ambushed by the Predator, who cuts down a bunch of Kiyoshi’s guards with its spear, katana-like blade, and fancy spring-loaded chains. Forced from the pagoda, Kenji utilises his ninja skill to hide, flee, and even launch surprise attacks on the cloaked Yautja, who relentlessly pursues him across the rooftops. Driven to the moat, Kenji’s amazed to find his brother alive and, though skewered by the Predator’s wrist blades, Kiyoshi joins his brother against their mutual foe. Despite the Predator’s great strength and explosive gadgets, Kiyoshi stabs it through the neck and the brothers injure and then dramatically cut the Predator in two with dual sword strikes, though Kiyoshi dies after making peace with his brother.

World War Two pilot Torres finds his aviator skills tested by a Predator with a taste for war.

The third segment, “The Bullet”, starts in Florida, 1941 and finds free-spirited John J. Torres dreaming of being a pilot, much to the chagrin of his down-to-earth mechanic father (Felix Solis). Though Torres gets his wish, it comes from being drafted into the United States Navy and, one year later, Torres puts both his dreams and his practical skills to use when he impresses with his dad’s mechanics knowledge. Frustrated at being grounded by Captain Vandenberg/Vandy (Biehn), Torres is bewildered when one of their squadrons is decimated by a mysterious aircraft. While Captain Vandenberg leads a squadron to investigate, Torres inspects the alien, harpoon-like device stuck into one of the plane’s engines and is stunned when it suddenly activates and flies off, dragging an engine behind it on a chain. Despite Torres’ best efforts, he’s unable to warn the squadron of the greater threat in the skies around the Atlantic, so he commandeers a battered old fighter plane (the titular “bullet”) and goes to warn them. Though they take out the opposing squadron, Vandy’s planes are suddenly attacked by a decloaking Yautja craft, whose one-eyed pilot easily rips apart Vandy’s planes. With his wing burning, Torres makes a desperate climb to fix the damage while the remaining planes provide cover fire. Despite their bravery and aerial skill, the pilots are no match for the Predator’s technology, with one shredded by an energy net. After sorting out his plane, Torres regroups with Vandy and correctly theorises that the Predator can only see heat, so they make a desperate gamble and lure the ship as high as they can. With the alien ship closing in, Vandy bravely sacrifices himself to buy Torres the time to swing behind the blinded ship and take out one of its engines. Enraged, the alien pilot pursues Torres through the city streets, struggling to get a lock on and being drawn into a Naval skirmish. After the cannon fire heavily damages the alien ship, Torres tricks the Predator into firing, blowing his parachute and turning its massive harpoon against it to finally bring the craft down, though Torres is abducted after the war while working in his father’s garage.  

The Nitty-Gritty:
Predator: Killer of Killers is a fitting homage to everything that makes the Predator franchise so good, with Benjamin Wallfisch offering a fresh take on Alan Silvestri’s classic “Predator” theme, infusing it with a darker edge befitting of his horror roots, and the Yautja technology is very similar to previous films. Each segment follows radically different main characters, with Ursa being a venge-seeing Viking warrior, Kenji wishing to get a little payback against his brother, and Torres dreaming of being a heroic wartime pilot. While they’re all from very different backgrounds and have very different skills, with Ursa attacking first and asking questions later, Kenji largely laying down his sword, and Torres desperately trying to keep the peace and escape, they share a unique bond in their shared experiences with different Yautja. These Predators were as different as the protagonists are from each other, of course, with the Warlord being a bulky fighter, Kenji’s adversary favouring stealth, and the pilot attacking from a space craft. All three were ultimately outwitted by their foes turning their technology against them, however, with even the pilot’s systems and numerous armaments proving useless without a clear target. Ursa’s story is one of violence and vengeance, with her soul being consumed by both for years, while Kenji has no desire to fight any more and Torres just wants them to join forces against a common foe. Ursa is driven to a suicidal madness by the end, wishing only to die in glorious combat to reunite with her son in Valhalla, and even Kenji is completely at peace with meeting his end to be reunited with Kiyoshi. Torres’ infectious demeanour ultimately wins both over and they learn to take up arms once more against their shared enemy, with the ultimate message being that human tenacity, adaptability, and co-ordination is what makes us such a compelling target for this warrior species.

We finally get to see some visually distinct Predators in unique environments and time periods.

Predator: Killer of Killers employs a stylised, jerky, comic book-esque animation style that’s very similar to the Spider-Verse movies (Various, 2023 to present) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (Rowe, 2023). If this animation style isn’t for you, you may struggle with the film but I think it worked really well. It’s not as frenetic and overstylised those movies, but it accentuates the violence and action with a comic book-style aesthetic that I find really appealing. The character models also reminded me of the exaggerated models used in TMNT (Munroe, 2007), though they’re far more varied, nuanced, and detailed here. For the most part, human characters are rendered in a stylish but ultimately realistic way, being proportionate to their size, with only Kenji and Kiyoshi seeming to defy gravity in their agile nature. The Yautja, however, are the extreme opposite, presented as towering, monstrous beasts who defy explanation and live up to their description as “devils”. The Warlord Predator, for example, is a massive brute far beyond any hunter we’ve seen before and the pilot is a grizzled, battle-scarred veteran who reminded me of Commander Kruge (Christopher Lloyd). The stealthier Predator who attacks the Kamakamis is probably the closest to a regular Yautja in the film and even he boasts chain-like weapons and a more samurai-styled appearance. The Grendel King, however, takes the award for most elaborate and intimidating Predator design, sporting full-on tusks, elongated dreadlocks that appear to be Xenonorph tails, and showcasing a ferocity far beyond his peers. There’s some fun new Yautja technology on show here, including miniature explosive devices, the Warlord’s concussive arm device, and the pilot’s energy net. Predator: Killer of Killers gives us a taste of the Predator ship’s combat skills, which is very refreshing, with the pilot utilising a devastating harpoon weapon that essentially frames the dog fights as old school Naval battles. There’s also some gruesome gore on display here, with characters being sliced in half, heads and limbs being lopped off, and blood splattering everywhere, which was glorious to see to sell how vicious both the Predators and their prey are.

Rather than fight to the death, the three survivors team to fight and escape the Grendel King.

“Final Battle” reveals that Ursa, Kenji, and Torres were placed into suspended animation after being abducted. Thanks to the language barrier and his cell mates being largely anti-social, Torres struggles to communicate with the two, though they’re soon brought to a gladiatorial arena on a scorching hot alien world. There, they encounter another elder Predator that Ursa dubs the “Grendel King” who, thanks to the translation collars fitting around their necks, commands them to fight to the death for the honour of facing him in tribal combat. The three are furnished with fitting weapons, with Torres gifted Captain Raphael Adolini’s (Bennett Taylor) pistol, and are threatened with having their heads exploded by their collars if they refuse to fight. Naturally, Ursa attacks first, determined to prove herself the “killer of killers”, but Kenji defends Torres and refuses to fight, urging the others to join forces against their captors. While Torres struggles to load Adolini’s pistol and Kenji desperately defends himself against Ursa’s savage attack, the Grendel King unleashes a massive alien beast that promptly swallows Torres whole! Enraged after seeing Anders’ likeness in Torres, Ursa attacks the creature alongside Kenji on the outside while Torres desperately stabs it with a Predator’s severed gauntlet arm from the inside. Together, they successfully kill the creature, much to the Grendel King’s amusement, but the suicidal Ursa only agrees to join forces with them upon seeing Torres alive. Having disabled their collars and commandeered a Yautja hoverbike, Torres flies his new allies to the Grendel King, who overpowers them with little effort, suffering only superficial wounds as Torres tries to figure out the Yautja ship’s controls. Just as the Grendel King is preparing to finish off his foes, Torres activates the ship, sending the brutish Predator flying. However, as they limp to safety, Kenji’s right arm is severed by the vengeful alien’s spear and the ship is anchored by a harpoon cable. Thus, Ursa slides down the chain to destroy the launcher, allowing herself to be recaptured so they can escape but eschewing her father’s ways by demanding they not avenge her. Though she mocks the Grendel King’s efforts, he orders his forces to pursue the escapees and has Ursa returned to suspended animation, where she’s stored alongside thousands of others…including Naru (Amber Midthunder).

The Summary:
Predator: Killer of Killers was another pleasant surprise after the fun return to form the franchise enjoyed with Prey. I’ll admit that I was a bit dubious at first by the idea of an animated anthology movie, but I enjoyed the framing device of these three characters triumphing over separate Predators and being brought together to earn the right to fight the Grendel King. This was a new wrinkle in the Predator lore that adds new layers to Predators, which already revealed that the Yautja abduct the best of the best (or worst of the worst) to hunt for sport. The animation style might not be for everyone, but I think it did a great job of presenting these visually arresting Yautja as incredible, monstrous beings that are so far beyond our understanding. Put simply, Predator: Killer of Killers makes the Yautja scary again as we see them absolutely decimate anyone who gets in their way, ripping them to pieces and deftly wielding incredible alien technology repurposed into practical weaponry. It thus takes a very special individual to overcome them, and our three main characters certainly fit that bill as they use their individual strengths to endure and overcome the alien threat, largely by turning their strengths and technology against them. I really enjoyed that we got three different time periods for the Predators to play around in, showing how the distinctly different hunters approach their unique environments and prey, and the ways the main characters react to and tackle them. Framing each segment as a character driven piece that happens to feature an alien hunter was a great choice as it allows you to connect with each character and for them to stand out against each other, with the finale showing how their vastly different personalities clash but ultimately result in victory once they come together. Even if you don’t like the animation and can’t connect with the characters, there’s some fantastic Predator action here. Each one is distinct and uses different tactics and weaponry and we get a glimpse into a different aspect of their society and overall lore. Honestly, I wouldn’t be against seeing a couple more films like this to explore this aspect of Yautja society and tie up a few loose ends in the franchise, and Predator: Killer or Killers just reinforced how much potential there is for more stories in this world.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Did you enjoy Predator: Killer of Killers? Which of the characters and segments was your favourite? What did you think to the animation style and the visual design of the new Predators? Are you a fan of the Yautja name or do you prefer the species to go unnamed? What did you think to the gore and how each character overcame their alien foe? Would you like to see more anthology films like this for the franchise? Which of the Predator films is your favourite and how did you celebrate Predator Day this year? Whatever your thoughts on Predator: Killer of Killers, feel free to leave a comment below, check out my other Predator reviews, and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest future Predator content.

Movie Night [Ghostbusters Day]: Ghostbusters (2016)

Dr. K6 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

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

Movie Night: Non-Stop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

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

Movie Night [RoboCop Day]: RoboCop (2014)

Dr. K4 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

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

Movie Night [Dinosaur Day]: Jurassic World

Dr. K6 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

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

Movie Night: Thunderbolts* / The New Avengers

Dr. K3 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

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

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

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DragonBallDay

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

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

Movie Night [Alien Day]: Alien Resurrection: Special Edition

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Audiences were first introduced to the horrific, biomechanical Xenomorphs in the classic science-fiction horror film Alien (Scott, 1979), in which an unsuspecting cargo crew investigates a beacon on the barren world of LV-426. Thus, the 26th of April is widely celebrated as “Alien Day”, a day to celebrate one of the greatest sci-fi/horror franchises ever created.

Special Edition

Released: 2 December 2003
Originally Released: 26 November 1997
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Budget: $70 million
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Tom Woodruff Jr., Ron Perlman, J. E. Freeman, and Michael Wincott

The Plot:
200 years after dying in battle with the Xenomorphs, Lieutenant Ellen Ripley (Weaver) is resurrected as an Alien/human hybrid, “Ripley 8”. Her memories fragmented, she teams with a rag-team crew of pirates to battle a renewed Xenomorph threat, one born of her own blood.

The Background:
In 1979, Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett’s concept of “Jaws (Spielberg, 1975) in space” came to horrific life with Ridley Scott’s Alien, a surprising commercial success now regarded as one of the greatest movies ever made. Despite being a financial success, we wouldn’t see a sequel for seven years. Director James Cameron, Aliens (ibid, 1986) endured a difficult shoot to produce perhaps the most influential entry in the franchise. The studio’s desire to capitalise with a third film led to an extremely troubled production; though Alien³ (Fincher, 1992) was a modest hit, it was met with mixed reviews and even those involved disowned the film. Not long after, 20th Century Fox hired Joss Whedon to pen a script treatment for a fourth film, though many of his ideas didn’t make it to the final draft. Despite having advocated for Ripley’s death, Sigourney Weaver was impressed with Whedon’s work and signed on, eager to dissuade the studio from producing a crossover with the Predator films (Various, 1987;1990) and receiving a co-producer credit. Although names like Danny Boyle, Peter Jackson, and Bryan Singer were considered to direct, the producers were impressed with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s visual style and offered him the film, requiring the use of an interpreter. Amalgamated Dynamics Incorporated returned to produce the film’s effects, which retained the practical animatronics and suits of the previous films, and saw the design of a horrific human/Xenomorph hybrid, the “Newborn” that was originally depicted with both male and female genitals! Of course, perhaps the most notable trivia from the film’s production was Sigourney Weaver landing an over-the-shoulder basketball shot on the first try, much to astonishment of her co-stars. With a box office of just over $161 million, Alien Resurrection wasn’t the hit 20th Century Fox were hoping for. Reviews were largely mixed, with many praising Weaver’s performance and the visual presentation while criticising the bleak aesthetic and repetitive elements. Whedon was unhappy with how much the film differed from his script but Jeunet was aggressively proud of the finished product and collaborated with the studio to produce this alternative version in 2003. Not only was Alien Resurrection accompanied by tie-in comics, novels, and a videogame, it was also far from the last entry in the celebrated sci-fi franchise, though it is often noted as one of the strangest entries.

The Review:
Every time Ripley wakes up after encountering the Xenomorphs, her situation worsens. First, she woke up to find she lost fifty-seven years and her daughter, then she wakes up to find her surrogate family dead and herself impregnated with an Alien Queen, and, here, she wakes up to find herself an Alien/human hybrid some two-hundred-years after her death! Some things have, obviously changed in that massively ludicrous amount of time: Weyland-Yutani is gone, having been bought by Walmart, and Ripley 8 is instead faced with the morally dubious scientists and soldiers of the United Systems Military (USM). Thanks to blood samples taken from “Fury 16”, scientists like Doctor Jonathan Gediman (Brad Dourif) and Doctor Mason Wren (Freeman) successfully cloned not only Ripley, but the Alien Queen gestating inside her. While General Martin Perez (Dan Hedaya), the military commander of the USM Auriga who’s supervising these clandestine experiments, is suspicious of Ripley 8, angered at her having even fragmented memories of her past encounters with the Aliens, he nevertheless allows Dr. Gediman and Dr. Wren to keep the clone alive to study her unique physiology. Having been grown to maturity in a laboratory, Ripley 8 often adopts a child-like, instinctive demeanour; she struggles to recognise eating implements, is tormented by disjointed recollections of a little girl who she lost in a previous life, and blasé regarding her handlers since she considers it inevitable that they’ll die if they try to teach the Xenomorphs “tricks”. While Ripley 8 shares many similarities with the original and has access to some of her memories, she’s often confused by her conflicting emotions, instincts, and these memories. She’s fully aware that she’s not the original and that she isn’t quite human, and yet still identifies as Ripley for convenience and is out to serve her own interests, only tagging along with Frank Elgyn’s (Wincott) band of pirates because they amuse her and serve her sense of preservation.

Ripley 8 struggles with her sense of identity thanks to her fragmented memories and human/Alien DNA.

Unlike her predecessor, Ripley 8 is a superhuman individual. While she appears as human as anyone else, save for a mysterious shine to her eyes and black fingernails, she shares much of the Alien’s DNA, giving her mildly caustic blood, heightened senses (she can sense the Auriga moving even when it’s in stealth mode), and superhuman strength. This not only makes her a formidable basketball player but also means she easily shrugs off a weight to the face, manhandles the ape-like Ron Johner (Perlman), and can hold her breath for an extended period. Described as “something of a predator”, Ripley 8 is far more animalistic than her organic counterpart; she smells, hears, and feels things that bypass even the synthetic Annalee Call (Ryder). Specifically, Ripley 8 can sense the movements of her kin, especially the Alien Queen. Ripley 8 feels when the Queen is in distress, knows when the Xenomorphs are near, and even willingly embraces them at one point. Perhaps thanks to her more animal nature, Ripley 8 takes Ripley’s disgust and disapproval of “The Company” to the next level and is largely dismissive of all humans, especially the likes of Dr. Wren, who thinks nothing of implanting unwilling humans with Alien embryos. Ripley 8 genuinely doesn’t seem to care if her handlers live or die and enjoys toying with Elgyn’s crew, joining them simply because it increases her chances of safely escaping the Auriga before it crashes into Earth and even willingly killing her Alien brethren when they get “in [her] way” if it means she can survive. We see this trait echoed in the Aliens when two of them attack and kill a third to escape from Dr. Gediman’s captivity and Ripley 8 isn’t immune to the Xenomorph’s attack, despite sharing their DNA, as they pursue her through the flooded kitchens and a Facehugger even attaches itself to her at one point. Ripley 8’s senses are so accelerated that she even senses the turmoil of her failed clones, descending into a near hysterical outburst as she mercy kills the failed experiments. Oddly, despite her justified anger, she refuses to kill Dr. Wren for his part in their suffering and also misses that Call is an android, something I feel the now-superhuman Ripley would’ve been the first to pick up on.

The Betty‘s crew is a mismatched band of pirates who must unite against a common threat.

Call is a newcomer to Elgyn’s crew, one largely treated as a child or a sex object despite her incredible mechanical skill. Her closest friend on the Betty is wheelchair-bound mechanic Dom Vriess (Dominique Pinon), who defends her when she incurs Johner’s wrath and stays by her side even after her true nature is revealed. Unbeknownst to Elgyn and the others, Call is an advanced android who escaped a mass recall and infiltrated their ranks specifically to get aboard the Auriga after learning of Dr. Wren’s experiments. Her self-appointed mission is to destroy the renewed Xenomorph threat and, as such, she’s largely distrustful of Ripley 8, and understandably so since the clone’s true allegiance is kept firmly in the grey throughout the film. Call clashes with Johner, who’s more akin to a mercenary; a surly caveman who’s quick to anger, Johner seems to respect Gary Christie (Gary Dourdan) over their shared love of firearms and booze. After being humbled by Ripley 8, Johner comes to begrudgingly respect her and even be attracted to her, appearing genuinely happy to see her alive at the end of the movie. Indeed, though he angrily lashes out about their increasingly worsening situation and initially appears to have little love for his crewmates, especially Vriess, Johner eventually lightens towards them all, even shellshocked Larry Purvis (Leland Orser), whom Johner is originally ready to mercy kill before agreeing to freeze him to save his life. Despite oozing charisma with his distinct, gravelly voice, there’s not a lot for Michael Wincott to do here. He pervs over Call, has previous history with General Perez, and enjoys a close sexual relationship with Sabra Hillard (Kim Flowers), but is mainly there to add to the body count. An unscrupulous pirate who deals only in cash, Elgyn thinks nothing of hijacking a ship of unknowing passengers to deliver to General Perez and Dr. Wren and is only interested in what can serve him the most.

The Auriga‘s amoral staff are more monstrous than the Aliens and pay for their actions.

While the Betty’s crew may have questionable morals, it’s a thin line that separates their unscrupulous actions from those of General Perez and Dr. Wren. With their entire operation apparently being unsanctioned, the two are free to use any means necessary to recreate the Xenomorphs…as long as they’re not exposed. Thus, General Perez agrees to let the Betty’s crew stay as long as they don’t cause trouble, meaning Dr. Wren immediately orders their execution when he discovers Call is a “terrorist” who knows too much about what’s happening on the Auriga. While Dr. Wren and Dr. Gediman are united in their desire to breed and weaponise the Xenomorphs, Dr. Gediman showcases an uncomfortable sexual fascination in the creatures and, even when cocooned in the Queen’s nest, fawns over the monstrous “Newborn” (Tom Woodruff Jr.) Dr. Wren’s goal is to tame the creatures and sell them as military assets, a motivation Ripley 8’s all-too-familiar with and therefore scoffs at considering how aggressive the species is. Arrogant, dismissive, and impassive, Dr. Wren doesn’t care who he has to sacrifice to achieve his goals and embodies the worst of humanity, betraying the survivors and attempting to escape the Auriga once they’ve gotten him to a safe point. Confident in his command over the station’s artificial intelligence, Father (Steven Gilborn), and his authority over the likes of Private Vincent DiStephano (Raymond Cruz), Dr. Wren begrudgingly aids the crew as long as it benefits him and doesn’t hesitate to hold Call hostage for safe passage, eventually falling afoul of poetic justice when Purvis brutally murders him with the Facehugger Dr. Wren implanted within him. General Perez isn’t exactly innocent in all this, either, since he’s in command of the Auriga and its experiments. He’s happy to put the Betty crew up as long as they behave but is clearly motivated by the same desire for power and notoriety for successfully weaponizing the Xenomorphs. When the Aliens escape captivity, however, General Perez immediately orders an evacuation to leave the Auriga to its fate, even granting his troops a merciful death when a Xenomorph slips into the escape pod. Naturally, though, he meets a fittingly awful end when a Xenomorph takes a bite out of the back of his head, ensuring that all those who dared play God are summarily punished for their transgressions.

We learn a bit more about the Aliens’ intelligence and meet a new, grotesque variant sure to terrify.

Although I never got the suggestion that Ripley’s sacrifice spelled the extinction of the Xenomorph species, the creatures are apparently so rare that the USM was forced to spend 200 years working on cloning and genetic engineering to get their hands on the creatures. And not just regular drones: they have a fully grown Alien Queen in captivity, thanks to Ripley 8. This wasn’t an easy process, resulting in seven grotesque Alien/human failures over the many decades, but finally gave birth to Ripley 8, a seemingly perfect blend of the two species. The Queen was their ultimate goal, however, and they wasted no time in forcing her to produce eggs and then sticking Purvis and the other poor saps Elgyn and his crew kidnapped before these eggs so they could be implanted with Chestbursters and birth a handful of new Xenomorphs. The Aliens are more monstrous and disgusting than ever, constantly dropping with goo, roaring, and skulking about in the darkest parts of the Auriga. Thanks to Dr. Gediman’s experiments, we get the best look at their intelligence so far, revealing they quickly learn not just to avoid danger but also to find unique solutions to captivity. While the Aliens still capture prey to be brought to their Queen, they also engage in wholesale slaughter, killing many of General Perez’s men and even Elgyn when he inexplicably wanders off. Although the Alien Queen is initially said to have pumped out eggs as before, Ripley’s DNA sees her adopt a far less efficient human reproductive system, birthing the monstrous Newborn that’s the inverse of Ripley. Grotesque, feral, and aggressive in its childlike demeanour, the Newborn is the perfect example of how Alien Resurrection takes what was once essential a sci-fi slasher film and turns it into a full-blown monster movie. The Aliens are also more unsettling than ever, often depicted in a sexual or desirable light, with Ripley 8 often feeling more kinship towards them than humans since the Aliens act only on animalistic instinct rather than being purposely immoral towards their own kind.

The Nitty-Gritty:
I feel like Alien Resurrection often gets a bad rap, potentially because it is very weird at times, and I’ve often had issues with this reputation as it’s much more in line with the action-packed nature of Aliens than the bleak, depressing tone of Alien3. Perhaps one explanation for this bad rap is that it is more akin to a monster movie and lacks the nuance seen in its predecessors, often being very explicit in its depiction of corrupt, amoral humans versus the purely instinctual Aliens and the sexualised nature of the Xenomorphs, especially in the way Dr. Gediman and Ripley 8 act when around them. One thing I will say, though, is that Alien Resurrection isn’t as clever as its predecessors. I never understood the logic behind wasting 200 years cloning Ripley just to get the Queen out of her rather than searching out other Xenomorph hives. There’s nothing to say the USM weren’t doing this as well, but they also don’t mention it and I’m baffled why they didn’t try to search the remains of LV-426 or the Sulaco. Furthermore, characters repeatedly make insanely stupid decisions, even by slasher movie standards: I don’t get why Elgyn wandered off like that or why Christie felt it necessary to cut himself free during the daring ladder climb when he had plenty of choices to save himself. It’s weird that Ripley 8 didn’t detect that Call was an android and that the Auriga’s security staff were so lax about checking the pirates for concealed weapons. All these elements have to happen, of course, for the film to take place and to give us “cool” scenes like Johner hanging upside down from a ladder and somehow missing Vriess and Christie with his painfully cartoonish bullets. This Special Edition version offers a few extended scenes, such as a bizarre opening sequence that I guess showcases man’s arrogance at the top of the food change, more emotional scenes where Ripley 8 is haunted by fragmented memories of Rebecca “Newt” Jorden (Carrie Henn), restructures and extends some scenes, and delivers a vastly different ending that implies some or all of the Earth has become an apocalyptic wasteland.

The Aliens and body horror work best when brought to life using disturbing practical effects.

Still, Alien resurrection retains the grimy, “lived-in” sci-fi aesthetic I love and most commonly associate with the franchise. Despite being a fully-funded USM facility, the Auriga seems to be on life support half the time, with the lighting system being secondary to the high-tech labs. A great gag, for me, was the malfunctioning doors that require both an access code and a breathalyser to open and General Perez’s little laser-powered whiskey machine, both examples of redundant technology given the context. The Aliens are a hybrid of the one seen in the first movie, sporting the same overly phallic domed head, and the drones of the sequel, attacking with their claws, tails, and little mouths but also being brought to life through CGI for the first time. While these effects often look cartoonish, they’re thankfully fleeting, and the film relies on Tom Woodruff Jr. in a suit for 90% of its Alien effects. We do get to see them swimming with an almost shark-like grace, spitting acid, and clambering up a ladder, though they mostly stick to the floor grates and lurking in the shadows. Elgyn and his crew sneak some fun weapons onto the Auriga, with Christie sporting two disposable wrist pistols, Johner hiding his gun in a thermos, and Vreiss cobbling together a shotgun from his wheelchair. Private DiStephano is also armed, though as you’d expect their weapons often do more harm than good, splattering them with the Alien’s acid (though, helpfully and oddly, not causing explosive decompression). Alien Resurrection is pretty horrific at times; the eggs ripple like never before, blood and viscera splatter against walls, and we get a brutal scene of Purvis shoving Dr. Wren’s head against his chest so the Chestburster can kill him! There are so many blood squibs and blood splatter that it’s like Paul Verhoeven directed the film! It’s both amazing and laughable at times, and the body horror displayed by Ripley’s failed clones and the disturbing Newborn are unsettling, to say the least. Alien Resurrection also sticks with traditional model shots, though I have to say the compositing effect isn’t as convincing as I’d expect for 1997. I don’t know if the filmmakers were consciously trying to replicate the B-movie-level sci-fi of the 1970s but it’s disappointingly at odds with the grotesque and impressive Alien suits and the grimy ship interiors.

An incredibly gory finale sees Ripley 8’s human side prevail and her finally return home.

So, after Christie and the others adamantly reject Call’s suggestion to blow up the Auriga to destroy the Xenomorph outbreak and group bring Purvis along to try and help him at a later date, the miss-matched survivors find their numbers dwindling after a disastrous swim through the flooded kitchens. With Call revealed to be an android, the group take control of Father to clear a path to the Betty, where Purvis dies, taking Dr. Wren with him. Unfortunately, Ripley 8 is abducted by a Xenomorph along the way and witnesses the birth of the Newborn, which brutally rejects the Alien Queen in favour of Ripley 8 who, though both captivated and horrified by its appearance, slips away as it’s munching on Dr. Gediman. Just as the Betty safely detaches from the Auriga and Ripley 8 makes a dramatic leap to safety, the Newborn follows, tearing Private DiStephano’s head off and toying with Call. When Ripley 8 goes to assist, she comforts the grotesque abomination rather than fighting it. Realising it just wants its mother’s affection, Ripley 8 embraces her “child” and surreptitiously uses her acidic blood to put a hole in one of the portholes in the Betty’s cargo bay. The decompression sees the squealing, disturbingly human monster sucked inside out into space and, in a moment that emphasises Ripley 8’s unsettling kinship to the creatures that have hounded her life, its “mother” can only tearfully watch on as the monster is pulverised in suitably visceral fashion. Since their pilots are dead and neither Vriess or Johner have any idea how to pilot the Betty, Ripley 8 takes the controls and guides the ship to a safe, if troubled landing while the Auriga collides with the Earth in a spectacular (and presumably devastating) explosion. In the theatrical version, Ripley 8 and the others celebrate and reflect from orbit, admiring the beauty of the world and wondering what’s next for them. In this Special Edition, they land in what appears the be the remains of Paris and again ruminate on their future, with Ripley 8 stating that she’s “a stranger” there. Both endings are surprisingly impactful in different ways; I love the idea that it took about 300 years and coming back from the dead for Ripley to finally make it back home, only for Earth to be as much of a “shithole” as Johner claims it to be. I also appreciated how quickly the Newborn established its dominance and the conflict Ripley 8 felt towards it. There’s a real sense that she’s torn between her two sides when faced with the abomination, with her humanity winning out only by the narrowest of margins.

The Summary:
My relationship with Alien Resurrection is pretty much the opposite of my opinion on Alien3. While I grew to appreciate Alien3’s bleak tone, I slowly came to see that Alien Resurrection is more of a loud monster movie than the nuance sci-fi horror I expect from this franchise. Yet, despite that, I still find a lot to enjoy from it and feel it’s unfairly judged at times. Ignoring the time, effort, and massive inconvenience of cloning Ripley rather than seeking out other Xenomorphs, bringing Ripley back as a clone was a decent way to return Sigourney Weaver to the franchise and I think the film does a good job of examining her new perspective on humanity and the Aliens. Barely aware of her former life and working on instincts inherited from both species, Ripley 8 is a thoroughly tragic and fascinating character who’s literally torn between two worlds. Humanity isn’t that different from the Xenomorphs at times and Alien Resurrection’s supporting cast goes a long way to reinforce that, surrounding Ripley 8 with disreputable, amoral characters who are technically worse than the Xenomorphs since the Aliens are basically mindless, ravenous animals. I did enjoy Alien Resurrection’s cast, though; there are some fun character actors here who do as much as they can with their limited screen time. I would’ve liked to see more from Michael Wincott and still think Christie could’ve lasted longer, and to this day keep forgetting about Private DiStephano until his head’s being torn off, but I quite liked Johner’s character arc, which parallels the distrustful Ripley 8 in a lot of ways. I’m still amazed that Winona Ryder’s even in this as it’s such an odd fit for her, but she captured the innocence, shame, and determination of her character well. I also enjoyed the deeper exploration of the Aliens and the complex depiction of the grotesque Newborn. Essentially a dark opposite of Ripley 8, the creature is even more horrifying to look at than Ripley’s failed clones and the disturbing nature of Ripley 8’s almost maternal relationship with it makes Alien Resurrection very unsettling. The franchise has always dabbled in sexual horror and gore, but Alien Resurrection takes it to the next level, throwing some fast-paced, loud action at the viewer and largely abandoning subtext, but that makes it a very enjoyable popcorn flick that I always enjoy revisiting since it’s probably my least watched of the original four movies.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Great Stuff

Are you a fan of Alien Resurrection? Which version of the film do you prefer and how do you think it compares to the other entries in the franchise? Were you a fan of Ripley being resurrected as an Alien/human hybrid? What did you think to the amoral pirates and scientists? Which of her supporting cast was your favourite? Were you disgusted by the Newborn and what did you think to Ripley 8’s relationship with it? Which of the Alien movies is your favourite and why, and how are you celebrating Alien Day this year? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave them below, support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Alien reviews.

Movie Night: Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete

Dr. K6 Comments

Released: March 2009
Originally Released: 14 September 2005
Director: Tetsuya Nomura
Distributor: Square Enix Holdings
Budget: Unknown (potentially up to $100 million)
Stars: Steve Burton, Rachael Leigh Cook, Steve Staley, Fred Tatasciore, Dave Wittenberg, Wally Wingert, and George Newbern

The Plot:
Two years after Final Fantasy VII (Square, 1997), Cloud Strife (Burton) exiles himself to avoid spreading the Geostigma disease he and many children are suffering after Sephiroth (Newburn) contaminated the Planet’s core. However, when three Remnants of Sephiroth – Kadaj (Staley), Loz (Tatasciore), and Yazoo (Wittenberg) – kidnap the diseased children to resurrect Sephiroth, Cloud reunites with his friends to defend the world once more.

The Background:
After decades of being largely exclusive to Nintendo’s 8-bit and 16-bit titles, the genre-defining Final Fantasy franchise was given new life when developer square shifted focus to the PlayStation with the award winning, incredible success that was Final Fantasy VII. This success eventually led to a whole host of spin-off media that didn’t just include new games, but Square’s second crack at a feature-length CGI movie following Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Sakaguchi, 2001), a critical and commercial disaster that nearly bankrupted Square. Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children began as a short film by Visual Works, the company behind Square’s CGI cutscenes, designed to pitch a new game. Instead, Final Fantasy VII character designer Tetsuya Nomura joined the team and helped them develop the concept into a feature-length film, one that would focus primarily on Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockhart. While motion capture technology helped map out the character’s movements, the team struggled to bring the more complex action sequences to life and many characters were redesigned to make the animator’s lives easier. Accompanied by an anime tie-in and selling over 700,000 copies in Japan in its first three weeks, Advent Children garnered mixed reviews. While some praised the animation and action scenes, the confusing plot and reliance of audience familiarity with Final Fantasy VII turned many mainstream reviewers off. Regardless, the film was enhanced and extended for its Blu-ray release with this “Complete” edition, which was specially screened in Japan, increased the violence, and was largely received more positively upon release.

The Review:
If you’re a newcomer to Final Fantasy VII or it’s been a while since you played the game, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete has you covered in more ways than one. If you want a more comprehensive catchup on the events leading up to the film, there’s a “reminiscence” included in the special features that includes key cutscenes from the videogame. This edition also includes an expanded reminiscence for the entire Compilation of Final Fantasy VII which, while lengthy in its own right, is a fun way to relive the videogame without pouring fifty-odd hours of your life into it. Beyond that, the movie includes an opening narration from Marlene Wallace (Grace Rolek) that summarises the videogame from a child’s perspective, greatly truncating events but quickly setting the tone for what’s to come. For the better part of forty years, the Shinra Electric Power Company sucked Mako energy from the lifestream of the Planet, using it to power the vast cities and equip their lite fighting force, SOLDIER, with the best weapons and technology. SOLDIERs were genetically enhanced super soldiers infused with cells from Jenova, an alien lifeform that fell to the Planet on a meteor many years ago. When he found out about his true origin, Sephiroth (Shinra’s elite SOLDIER) went mad and tried to destroy the world, though he was ultimately thwarted by Cloud, a confused Mako-infused mercenary, and AVALANCHE, an anti-Shinra group who regularly destroyed their Mako Reactors. Many lives were lost in the battle, which reduce the Midgar slums to ruins and saw Cloud’s love, Aerith Gainsborough (Grace Rolek) murdered by Sephiroth, but the group eventually stopped him at the Northern Crater, with the very Planet itself helping to repel the massive meteor summoned by Sephiroth. Unfortunately, though his body was destroyed, remnants of Sephiroth’s consciousness and poisonous influence seemed into the lifestream, afflicting many inhabitants of Edge, a city built on the outskirts of Midgar’s ruins and which contains a gigantic monument to the lives lost during “Meteorfall”. Cloud’s ally and love interest, Tifa Lockhart (Cook), owns a bar and delivery service in the city and cares for various orphans, including young Denzel (Benjamin Bryan), as well as looking after Marlene while her father, passionate ecowarrior Barret (Beau Billingslea), travels to find alternatives to Mako energy.

Burdened by guilt, Cloud isolates himself to protect others but is soon dawn back into the fight.

The Geostigma disease afflicts many of Edge’s children, appearing as an unsightly blemish on the skin and causing nausea, vomiting, and a violent death. Since there’s no known cure, those afflicted are shunned and the citizens live in fear of contracting the disease, which has also manifested in Cloud. Accordingly, the troubled mercenary has isolated himself in the wastelands outside Edge and taken shelter in the dilapidated church where Aerith once tended to her flowers. Fearing he’s ad anger to those around him and unfit to help others, Cloud continues to be wracked with guilt for failing to save both Aerith and his best friend, Zack Fair (Rick Gomez), an elite SOLDIER who died saving Cloud and who’s memories and abilities Cloud inherited. Though conflicted and dejected, Cloud continues to carry his cell phone, listening to but ignoring the many calls he receives from the worried Tifa and his former allies, who continue to try and reach him despite his best efforts. It’s while brooding in the wastelands that Cloud is attacked by the three Remnants of Sephiroth and driven to begrudgingly take up Reno’s (Quinton Flynn) offer for work. Since Reno and his hulking partner Rude (Crispin Freeman) are Turks, Shinra’s special forces, Cloud’s naturally wary of him and, when he discovers Shina president Rufus Shinra (Wingert) inexplicably survived being caught in a massive explosion, Cloud’s ready to walk away from Shinra’s representatives. However, intrigued by Kadaj demanding to know the location of his “mother” and bothered by the notion that the Remnants are seeking to resurrect Sephiroth, Cloud reluctantly becomes embroiled in the investigation, though he strictly acts alone. Thanks to Rufus, Cloud heads to the Forgotten City to rescue the infected children, only to find the Remnants have brainwashed the kids into mindless puppets. Saved by his even dark and more stoic gothic ally, Vincent Valentine (Steve Blum), Cloud discusses and ruminates on his disposition. Constantly distracted by memories and messages from Zack and Aerith, who’s face is always hidden from his eyes, Cloud struggles to let go of his guilt and move on from his past. Seeing Vincent as a dark mirror of himself, Cloud resolves to try and atone for his sins, gaining new strength from his friends and his those he cares for. With this, Cloud’s already formidable superhuman abilities only increase, allowing him to defy physics and pull of his more powerful Limit Breaks, all with the aid of his fancy (if impractical) Fusion Sword, which separates into pieces and easily allows him to fend of multiple enemies at once.

With the exception of Tifa and Vincent, Cloud’s other allies are relegated to glorified cameos.

Stubborn, melancholy loner that he is, Cloud leaves the beautiful Tifa behind at Seventh Heaven and shuns his responsibilities as her point man and his relationship with her. Despite this, Tifa continues to care for and pine for him, keeping the businesses ticking over in his absence and promising Marlene that they’ll give him a “lecture” when he inevitably shows up. Realising that Cloud’s sick, Tifa’ hurt that he chose isolation rather than asking for help but gives him a stern talking to once they reunite, chastising him for “dilly-dallying” and outright demanding that he choose between a “memory [and] us”. While she’s no super soldier, Tifa is an incredible formidable fighter; she goes toe-to-toe with Loz, matching his brutish power and augmented speed, and instinctively leaps to Marlene’s defence whenever she’s in danger. Advent Children is largely an exploration of Cloud and Tifa’s relationship, meaning the other members of AVALANCHE are largely sidelined. Barret, Cait Sith (Greg Ellis), Cid Highwind (Chris Edgerly), Yuffie Kisaragi (Christy Carlson Romano), and Red XIII/Nanaki (Liam O’Brien) are all absent the battle with Bahamut SIN, meaning only Vincent gets significant screen time. Sporting supernatural abilities and whisking Cloud to safety with his ragged cloak, Vincent gives Cloud a lot of intel on the Remnants and their plot but initially refuses to get involved since he’s also burdened by his past sins. Unlike Cloud, Vincent doesn’t even have a phone and is a true loner, though he’s inspired by Cloud’s conviction to aid in battling Bahamut SIN. This fight sees Cloud reunite with all his allies and all of them get in on the action, giving him the physical and motivational boost to take down the rampaging Summon and allowing him to draw additional strength from their support. While they’re all ready to help Cloud in his subsequent battle with Kadaj and the reborn Sephiroth, Tifa orders them to stand down so Cloud can literally and figuratively exorcise his demons.

Enemies become allies in the face of a larger threat and help protect Edge’s infected children.

Having nearly caused worldwide destruction, the critically injured Rufus Shinra resolves to make amends for his past misdeeds and the selfish actions of his company. Thus, Rufus dispatches his Turks – Elena (Bettina Bush), Tseng (Ryun Yu), Reno, and Rude – to investigate the Northern Crater, only for them to be attacked by the remnants. Thanks to Vincent’s timely intervention, Elena and Tseng were spared death and, at Rufus’s insistence, Reno and Rude actively aid Cloud and his allies. Naturally suspicious of the three, Cloud initially gives them the brush off but Reno and Rude continue to aid him whether he likes it or not. Though largely portrayed as comic relief, Reno and Rude are determined to atone for their past and even take on the Remnants (despite being severely outmatched) and seemingly ready to sacrifice themselves to both aid Cloud and try to defeat the three Remnants. When faced with Kadaj, who demands to be handed Jenova’s remains, Rufus remains impassive and defiant, using the opportunity to learn more about the Remnants and hiding both the extent of his injuries and the fact that possesses the calamity’s head. Cloud and the others come to respect Reno and Rude and bury the hatchet with their former adversaries, especially after the two both try to help take down Bahamut SIN and actively save lives during the beast’s attack. In the two years since the end of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud has become a reluctant father figure to both Marlene and Denzel and a figure of inspiration to Edge’s orphans. While this makes him uncomfortable since he doesn’t feel he’s strong or capable enough to protect the children, they constantly pine for his return and have an unwavering belief in him. Though a new character whose background is further explored in the On the Way to a Smile – Episode: Denzel short (Ishihara, 2009), we learn that Denzel was orphaned when the Sector 7 plate crushed the Slums and stumped upon Aerith’s church in a bad way. Afflicted with Geostigma and increasing worn down by his condition, Denzel willing goes along with the other children when the Remnants promise to cure them, only to become another mindless puppet thanks to Kadaj’s corrupted water. It’s only when his maternal figure, Tifa, is injured during Bahamut SIN’s attack and Cloud arrives to save the day that Denzel snaps out of his malaise. Reinvigorated by his hero’s return, Denzel takes a page out of Cloud’s book to save others from the Remnant’s Shadow Creepers.

The unstable Remnants desperately seek to resurrect Sephiroth so he can continue his plot.

Birthed at the Northern Crater and appearing as manifestations of Sephiroth’s personality and spirit, the Remnants are like angry, defiant teenagers lashing out at a world they feel has mistreated them. Though similar and largely interchangeable, they are separated by some unique characteristics: Kadaj is the composed eloquent leader and wields a doubled-blade sword, Loz is the child-like brute whose punches and speed are augmented by a wrist gauntlet, and Yazoo…well, Yazoo largely disappears for me since he gets the least screentime and only stands out because he carries a gunblade and regularly mocks Loz for “crying”. While all three are passionate and emotionally unstable individuals, Loz is the most erratic of the three, desperate to be reunited with his mother and descending into anger or tears whenever he feels he’s let her down or been denied her. Seeing Cloud as their older “brother”, the Remnants mindlessly target him, Rufus, and anything remotely related to Shinra in a bid to retrieve Jenova’s head and complete their metamorphosis into Sephiroth. The Remnants summon Shadow Creepers to act as their minions and have no hesitation in using children as human shields to gain leverage. When they steal Cloud’s cache of Materia, Kadaj gleefully Summons Bahamut SIN to ravage the Meteorfall monument and attack the citizens to cause chaos and uncover Jenova’s remains. At times, Kadaj relates his despair at being a mere puppet, one with no true purpose other than to facilitate Sephiroth’s resurrection, yet he remains nonetheless determined to do this, mirroring Sephiroth’s anger at the world and his desire to destroy everything. Though he doesn’t fully appear until the climatic finale, Sephiroth looms over Advent Children Complete like a dark shadow. People are only sick because of him, much of Cloud’s guilt is because of Sephiroth, and the Remnants only exist to bring Sephiroth back. Once he does return, Sephiroth wastes no time in renewing his rivalry with Cloud, relishing the battle and taunting his foe, and using his vast powers to shroud the world in darkness, presumably in preparation for another meteor. Sprouting a single black wing and wielding the lengthy Masamune Blade, Sephiroth is effectively untouchable and attacks with a superhuman vigour, savouring his resurrection and the chance to torture Cloud both physically and mentally.

The Nitty-Gritty:
Guilt is a major theme in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. Despite being powerless to help Zack, Cloud carries tremendous guilt about his death and struggles to live up to his promise of being the SOLDIER’s “living legacy”. Despite Zack spirit encouraging him and guiding him (both as a human and as a wolf), Cloud cannot let do of his insecurities, which are only exacerbated by him having indirectly caused Aerith’s death. Similarly, Aerith doesn’t blame or judge Cloud for this and only encourages him to move on and fight harder, but uncertainty weighs heavily on Cloud’s troubled mind and causes him to distance himself from his allies. This is best evidenced in Cloud abandoning Zack’s Buster Sword and leaving it to rust at the spot where his friend died, almost as if the weight of carrying Zack’s legacy was too much for him to carry, and isolating himself from his friends. Eventually, Cloud resolves to at least try and atone for his sins and returns to the fight, emboldening his allies and drawing strength from them in turn. The need to atone is another strong theme here, with Rufus trying to pay penance for Shinra’s part in ravaging the world and Vincent so troubled by his past that he’s even more isolated than Cloud. This need to atone sees Cloud and his friends set aside their differences with Shinra against a common foe and to try and rebuild their world for the better, all of them having been humbled at how close to complete annihilation they came. Unlike Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Advent Children is so intrinsically linked to its source material that it may alienate newcomers. Anyone who’s played the game should be delighted to see almost everyone return and many of them pulling off their signature Limit Breaks during the film’s exhilarating fight scenes. It certainly adds to the emotional weight of the film to see Midgar in utter ruins after the events of the game and to see the survivors struggling with the fallout of Sephiroth’s defeat, and I loved seeing AVALANCHE given more personality through voice acting, even if some of my favourites (Barret and Cid) were sidelined. The film’s bolstered by remixes of Nobuo Uematsu’s iconic tunes, with new versions of “Fight On!” and “Jenova” punctuating the action and easily my favourite version of “One-Wing Angel”, a hard rock remix that really adds to the emotional gravitas of the final battle.

The impressive and detailed CGI delivers some brutal and breathtaking action scenes.

As impressive as the photorealistic CGI was in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, it’s not only much better here but strengthened since it brings these beloved characters to life. Cloud greatly benefits from this effort, sporting a brooding, dark redesign that mirrors his conflicting demeanour. Riding a bad-ass new motorcycle and wielding an unnecessarily complex sword, Cloud’s insecurities and guilt are as perfectly portrayed as his superhuman abilities. Similarly, Tifa has never looked better than here; not only is she gorgeous, she moves with a fluid, powerful grace that recreates her martial arts skill in stunning detail. Vincent also makes a hell of an impression with his flowing cape, numerous buckles, and gothic demeanour. I loved Barret’s redesigned gun arm  and the detail in Red XII, despite him having the least screen time. The level of detail in the locations is equally stunning, with the game’s pre-rendered backgrounds being brought to life with an impressive attention to detail. We see recognisable locations, such as Aerith’s church and the plate that hung over the Slums, and the finale takes place entirely around and on the remains of a Mako Reactor and the Mako Cannon. The film goes to great lengths to recreate the more bizarre gameplay elements of the Final Fantasy VII in a way that makes some sense. Limit Breaks are largely shown to be physical attributes, though Barret does charge energy through his gun arm and Cloud gains an ethereal aura when he powers up. Everyone defies gravity and endures tremendous punishment, surviving brutal wounds and cutting through the air with ease. This results in some spectacular fights, such as Tifa and Loz beating the hell out of each other in Aerith’s church, a high-speed motorcycle chase down the ruined highways and, of course, the devastating battle against Bahamut SIN. Though more closely resembling the Final Fantasy X’s (Square Product Development Division 1, 2001) version of Bahamut, this creature is an immense, aggressive, biomechanical monstrosity that devours civilians and obliterates everything in sight with Petaflare (100055). Though the team throws everything they have at it, their attacks barely scratch Bahamut SIN’s hide and it takes Cloud’s Climhazzard attack (strengthened by his friend’s support) to finally destroy the creature. While we’re sadly denied seeing the rest of Yuffie’s armful of Materia in action, Kadaj regularly summons Shadow Creepers and the remnants exhibit magical abilities as they fight, with Loz moving at superhuman speed and the characters deflecting bullets with ease.

Cloud defeats Sephiroth, literally and figuratively exorcising his demons and curing Geostigma.

After Bahamut SIN is destroyed, Kadaj retrieves Jenova’s head from Rufus and makes a run for it. Yazoo and Loz are seemingly killed thanks to Reno and Rude and Cloud desperately battles Kadaj on the remains of the Mako Cannon, only for the Remnant to merge with Jenova’s head and Sephiroth to be reborn. Sprouting his black wing and flying through the air, Sephiroth attacks Cloud with a cold, clinical aggression, taunting him at every turn and mocking both his attachments to his friends and his fractured memories. Though he holds his own, Cloud’s noticeably overwhelmed by his rival, who slashes him to ribbons with a version of Octoslash and once again impales Cloud on his impossibly long sword to torture him. Weakened from blood loss and stunned by Sephiroth’s plot to eradicate all life on the Planet and use it as a vessel to travel to a new world, Cloud’s encouraged by Zack’s spirit and flies at his foe, determined to protect the ones he loves at any cost. In this version of the film, that translates into an all-new version of Omnislash, which sees Cloud fly at Sephiroth with each of his blades before delivering the final blow. Though defeated, Sephiroth vows to “never be a memory” and dissipates, leaving only the exhausted Kadaj, who reconciles with Cloud before rejoining the lifestream. Though victorious, Cloud is mortally wounded by the persistent Yazoo and Loz before that also disappear, though thankfully his life is saved when his friends bring him to Aerith’s church. With Sephiroth and the Remnants gone, Aerith’s spirit conjures a healing rain that cures everyone of their Geostigma and restores Cloud to full health. Surrounded by grateful children and his friends, Cloud spots Aerith and Zack’s spirits as they bid him a final farewell and he realises that he’s not alone, seemingly ready to let go of his guilt and embrace the present rather than dwelling on the past. This is further reinforce din a post-credits scene, which shows the restored Buster Sword how sitting in the flower patch in Aerith’s church.

The Summary:
I was really ass-backwards with Final Fantasy VII. I watched this movie first, a year or so before I got to play the game and have to confess that I had a lot of questions as a result. The film does a decent job of getting audiences up to date and is clearly aimed at fans of the videogame, but it can be a bit overwhelming for those who haven’t played Final Fantasy VII (either ever or for a while). Still, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is an exhilarating and impressive visual rollercoaster, one that holds up incredibly well today and set a new standard for Final Fantasy’s cutscenes and action-orientated battles. While it can get a bit deep with Cloud’s existential crisis and exploring his feelings of guilt and self-doubt, the film never fails to visually impress, and the battle sequences are a real highlight. I love how it translated the Limit Breaks and physical attributes of its characters to the screen, staying faithful to the source material but still keeping things largely grounded so the more elaborate and supernatural elements (such as the Shadow Creepers and Bahamut SIN) make a greater impact. While it’s disappointing that the supporting characters are relegated to glorified cameos, I liked the development of Cloud’s relationship with Rufus, Reno, and Rudo, the depiction of Cloud drawing strength from his friend’s encouragement was spot on, and the emphasis on Cloud’s relationship with Tifa explored his character in interesting ways. Cloud’s a guy whose entire life turned out to be a lie and he’s been wrestling with his identity for years, so it’s gratifying to see him realise he has so much to fight for and throw his all into opposing Sephiroth. This climactic fight, with its infection hard rock remix of “One-Wing Angel” and brutal, intense action, steals the show even from the battle with Bahamut SIN. It’s amazing seeing these two heated rivals clash with such detail, brutality, and grace and this battle alone clearly informed the more modern, action-orientate gameplay seen in the Final fantasy games (to say nothing of its all-action spin-offs). While every version of Advent Children is a blast, Advent Children Complete is the best way to watch the film with its extended scenes and improved visuals. Overall, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete is the Final Fantasy movie series fans deserved, being both a loving homage to the source material and a worthy follow-up to perhaps the greatest game in the franchise.

My Rating:

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Fantastic

Did you enjoy Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete? What did you think to the additions made to this version? Were you disappointed that some of the supporting cast got less screentime? What did you think to Cloud’s character arc and the guilt that weighed so heavily on him? Were you impressed by the CGI and the high-octane battles? What did you think to the remnants and the final battle with Sephiroth? Which Final Fantasy game would you like to see get a sequel or adaptation like this? Leave your comments down below, go support me on Ko-Fi, and check out my other Final Fantasy content.