Today I continue my Road To Prey with Alien Vs. Predator on my marathon of Predator movies reviews! You can read my review of Predatorhere and my review of Predator 2here.
This was a moment from my childhood that I could not be more excited about. Alien and Predator, two of my favorite franchises ever made finally coming to the big screen for a crossover! This was like seeing the Avengers coming together for the first time.
I already had the Aliens Vs. Predator video games on PC as a kid so I was more than ready. When I saw it back in 2004, I remember being equally pleased and disappointed. Mostly, I was a dumb kid and my big complaint was that it was on Earth and not on an alien planet like in the games.
So, where do I land now rewatching Alien Vs. Predator as an adult? Well, it’s definitely not what would expect from an AVP film but I can’t lie I had a smile on my face.
IT’S DEFINITELY A PAUL W.S. ANDERSON FILM
I mean that as a good and bad thing. I don’t think Paul W.S. Anderson is a terrible director, I still have a love for the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, I think Event Horizon is an absolute horror gem, and despite their flaws, I still have some fond memories of the first two Resident Evil films.
So, when I rewatched Alien Vs. Predator, I found that it is a perfect display of all of Anderson’s strengths and all of his flaws as a filmmaker. When Paul W.S. Anderson does good, he delivers some awesome scenes but when he trips, he falls hard.
For example the first act of Alien Vs. Predator is a bit of a drag. I wasn’t expecting the movie to just be Aliens and Predators fighting for 2 hours but AVP takes way too long with the setup in my opinion. I like a lot of the concepts in the setup but it feels like it takes ten to fifteen minutes too long to get to the stuff audiences came for.
The biggest reason why the setup is uninteresting is mainly because of the characters that we follow. Other than a few standouts like Charles Weyland, Lex Woods, and Graeme Miller, pretty much all of the characters are generic fodder for the two titular monsters.
Weyland is the best human character and that is mostly due to Lance Henriksen continuing to be a show-stealer. He even gets to fight a Predator which is one of the only times I actually felt a little bit sad for a human character’s death.
Lex is a fine protagonist. She’s definitely an analog for Ripley: the confident and wise character that clearly knows what she’s talking about but nobody listens to her. Sanaa Lathan gives a nice performance that actually gets better as the movie progresses, especially when it’s just her and a Predator working together.
Ewen Bremner is a delight in everything he does and I genuinely liked his character. He’s one of the only characters who have some sort of development. But other than that, I couldn’t really care less about the characters in Alien Vs. Predator.
Paul W.S. Anderson also reuses a lot of tropes from the first Resident Evil movie in this and sometimes it’s a bit distracting. From holographic maps of the pyramid which are just like the Hive holograms from Resident Evil to some of the traps and kills being uncannily similar, it gets a little annoying.
However, Paul W.S. Anderson delivers on so many other things. I think the Antarctic setting brings a different but refreshing aesthetic that allows it to be set in the modern day without it feeling too contemporary. The icy wasteland already feels like something on another planet and combined with the pyramid, I think it is an interesting setting for Alien Vs. Predator.
When the characters actually enter the pyramid, I think the set design is phenomenal. The ancient architecture and design with an extraterrestrial twist give a chilling atmosphere; mixing claustrophobia and elegance into one. You can see elements of Event Horizon in the world-building and the set design and though it’s not a horror movie, both franchises’ roots in horror are ever-present and it’s clear that Anderson has a love for both.
IT DELIVERS ON THE TITLE
Despite its rocky start, the second and third acts are much stronger. Mostly because, when the Xenomorphs and the Yautja Hunters finally meet? It is when this movie goes from decent at best to a total thrill ride.
Ian Whyte portrays all three Predators in this one and Tom Woodruff Jr. portrays the Xenomorphs and it is a match made in heaven. Both of these performers excel as these monsters and it’s enough to make anyone grin since they each are given a fair amount of time to show off how both monsters have their strengths and weaknesses.
I can’t lie, when the Celtic Predator is throwing down with the lead Xenomorph known as Grid, I have the biggest grin on my face. This is where Paul W.S. Anderson shines: he knows the ins and outs of these aliens and he effectively showcases what each can provide in a fight.
And this continues throughout the rest of the film: anytime it focuses on the two factions of monsters battling, it is the best part of the movie. Even when it’s just one of each monster, I find it enjoyable. Xenomorphs are much smarter here and we see more of how the Queen communicates with her swarm of soldiers to do her bidding.
Fans also get to know more about the Yautja Hunter lore and their culture. I love the idea of the Xenomorphs being the ultimate rite of passage, where the Hunters who survive graduate from a Youngblood to an Elite Hunter. I’m a sucker for lore and even though these two Alien Vs. Predator movies are no longer canon, they did leave an impact since future Alien and Predator games would take inspiration.
Even just small details sprinkled throughout the film that reflects previous movies in both franchises are a delight. It may not be the smoothest film ever made but it clearly respects the Alien and Predator movies to deliver a fun experience throughout.
WHY SETTLE WITH PG-13?
I’ll be honest, I’m not someone who needs everything to be super gory and hyper-violent. I think it’s a complaint that is not only overused but showcases that some people are a little twisted in the head when they beg for it. However, Alien Vs. Predator is one of those times where I wish it was rated R.
Thankfully, creature gore is not considered the same as human gore so when a Yautja or Xenomorph dies, the movie does not hold back and I heavily appreciate that. However, there is almost no blood when it comes to humans and sometimes it’s fine, other times it feels like a waste.
See, the reason why the gore works in both Alien and Predator movies is that both are showcasing how much of a threat they are. Xenomorphs are pure evil and all they care about is killing and reproducing: that’s all. Yautja are the most ruthless hunters in the galaxy with methods that are meant to show how formidable they are.
As a result, when little to no blood and gore is displayed, it definitely makes both titular monsters come off as nerfed. Especially since the Predators are all equipped with plenty of iconic weapons such as the Net Gun, the combistick, the Plasmacaster, and new ones such as the shuriken. This should have been the most brutal of the films but it’s actually the tamest.
Thankfully this is something that the sequel improves upon…probably the only thing.
SEBASTIAN THE EXPOSITION MAN
This is not the actor’s fault, Raoul Bova was simply given the most annoying part as Sebastian. This character’s entire role is to be nothing but the greatest archaeological genius on the planet and as a result, he delivers nearly every bit of exposition to the audience when it comes to the Xeno and Yautja lore.
By the third act, his schtick actually gets so annoying that I felt relieved when the xenomorphs captured him. And when he’s killed off, it’s supposed to be this super sad moment for Lex, but I literally felt nothing for his death. Actually, I got more reaction when the Predator catches his chestburster and kills it with his thumb.
SCAR IS A BADASS PREDATOR
I mentioned earlier how Ian Whyte delivered with Celtic when it comes to the action scenes, but he gives an even better performance as Scar. Scar is the main Yautja who outlives his two brothers and becomes the star Predator of the movie.
Even though he has no dialogue, Ian Whyte gives Scar so much personality that I couldn’t help but fall in love with this guy. Small things such as showing respect to Lex or explaining that his wrist computer is going to explode, he’s just a joy to watch throughout the last half of the film.
Scar even has easily one of the funniest gags in the entire franchise when the Queen rises out of the ground and he just drops his jaw in disbelief. Almost like he’s saying, “Oooooooooh sh*t!”
I mentioned it prior but I really like the alliance between Lex and Scar. It reminds me of some of the AVP comics from Dark Horse where it’s a bit cheesy but still manages to work; such as when he creates a spear and shield out of the remains of a Xenomorph corpse.
THREE DIFFERENT VERSIONS TO WATCH
So, if anybody is curious about checking out Alien Vs. Predator, I just wanted to alert to everyone that there are three versions of the movie to watch.
The theatrical cut is fine. It’s still a fun time.
The extended cut. This one adds a new prologue and a little bit of extra footage. It’s better but it’s not anything drastic.
The “unrated” cut. Stay. Away. From this version. Yes, it adds all the blood that we were all asking for, but it is some of the worst CGI blood that was clearly just superimposed onto the theatrical cut.
Stick to the Extended Cut. It’s the best version. Alright, PSA is over.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
So, my opinion has changed over the years, but I still maintain that Alien Vs. Predator is a mixed bag. For everything it does really well, it also disappoints in other aspects. The actual Alien and Predator stuff is stellar but it has pretty forgettable human characters of both franchises.
The action scenes are really fun but sometimes rely too much on high-framerate shakycam and the lack of blood is sometimes annoying. It respects the movies as well as the AVP comics but can come off as kind of cheesy at times.
I think the best way to describe Alien Vs. Predator is that it’s a prime example of a popcorn flick. It’s not a masterclass of action or horror but it does just enough right that if you put it on, have some food, and maybe watch it with friends and family, it’s a cheesy monster flick that delivers on having these iconic monsters fight each other.
I’m going to give Alien Vs. Predator a 6.75/10. It has plenty of flaws to poke fun at but I still think it’s a decent experience. Especially in comparison to the sequel that I do not look forward to talking about.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this article! I write about anything geek-related, especially comic book-related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady where I am much more active! Love you all!
It’s been over two years since I reviewed the first Predator from 1987, which remains one of my favorite movies ever made. So, with Prey coming out in just a few days, it seems like the best time to revisit the entire franchise and give me thoughts on each entry, starting with the immediate sequel: Predator 2.
Have you ever had a movie that you saw when you were much younger and initially, you didn’t like it very much? However, when you rewatch it years later, you think to yourself: “what exactly was my problem?” That’s Predator 2 for me.
When I was a kid (I had parents who let me watch all kinds of R-rated material), I used to firmly believe that Predator was great but Predator 2 was awful. Now that I’m all grown up with an adult-ish brain, I’ve come to like Predator 2 more and more with each time I watch it.
WELCOME TO THE CONCRETE JUNGLE
One of the biggest compliments I can give Predator 2 is that it does not come off as a rehash of the first film. Having it set in a gang war-torn Los Angeles immediately gives Predator 2 a different look and feel than the previous film.
The city environment gives the new Yautja Hunter (yes, that’s what they are called) the chance to show off the new ways it moves and hunts. There are new pros and cons to hunting in the city, it has a much larger selection of prey, and there is just something appealing with seeing the alien hunter performing a victory screech on top of a skyscraper.
On top of all that, the human characters are vastly different. There are aforementioned gangs that are tearing the city apart for control which makes some of the kills feel somewhat earned. There’s no mistaking that the Predator needs to be stopped since he’s killing cops as well, but picking off murderers and gang lords are hardly the worst thing that the City Hunter could have done for Los Angeles.
There is even a line about this early on: “Maybe we should hire him, put him on the payroll.” Almost like a bit of commentary on how flawed the justice system is in the city when an alien vigilante is cleaning the streets better than they have been.
So, Predator 2 utilizes its concept surprisingly well with plenty of new ideas and elements that allow it to still feel like a Predator movie without simply rehashing the first film beat-for-beat which it could have easily done.
MIKE V PREDATOR: A BETTER CAT & MOUSE GAME
Though Arnold Schwarzenegger battling the Jungle Hunter will forever remain iconic, I have to say that I think that Danny Glover’s Mike Harrigan is the superior protagonist. Mike Harrigan is not some elite and hardened badass with muscles the size of bowling balls; he’s a regular cop who has been working for years trying to clean up Los Angeles.
He’s afraid of heights, he’s a bit hotheaded, and he’s a little bit older but he’s dedicated and wants to see proper justice. In my opinion, Mike Harrigan being the everyman who has to rise to the challenge to defeat a Predator is much more appealing and relatable. This isn’t me saying that Arnold’s Dutch was a bad character, far from it, I just find Mike Harrigan to be the better character, especially when it comes to his rivalry with the City Hunter.
In the first film, Dutch and his team were fighting the Yautja Hunter out of pure survival. Mike’s journey with the City Hunter in Predator 2 is much more personal and shows that the new hunter is much more twisted in his methods. There are so many times where the City Hunter could have easily taken out Mike Harrigan, but he never does and instead goes after those connected to him.
He kills Mike’s best friend and partner, he kills the gangsters that Mike pursues, and he kills Mike’s new recruit. On top of all that, the City Hunter chooses to toy with Mike by dangling the necklace of his partner from a tree near the partner’s grave. All of this riles Mike Harrigan up to the point where he goes from an old and rugged cop to the new badass hero who storms in with a massive arsenal to take on the Predator face-to-face.
The City Hunter sees Mike as a potential elite trophy for him to mount on his ship, but Mike just didn’t reach his peak yet. So, the Predator toys and manipulates events to basically turn Mike from the hunted into a new rival hunter. This makes the rivalry between Mike and the Predator so much more fascinating, resembling the kind of relationship between Batman and the Joker where both parties fuel each other as they battle.
So, when Mike actually fights this extraterrestrial being, not only do you root for him but you believe that this regular cop is able to fight him. The last act of Predator 2, in my opinion, is just as strong as the first movie’s climax due to its even more grounded take on the action between Mike and the City Hunter.
THE CITY HUNTER
Despite being played by Kevin Peter Hall again, the Predator in this sequel is a very different beast. Where the Jungle Hunter was a more stealthy hunter who waited for the right moment to pick off his prey, the City Hunter is far more brutal and hands-on.
This Predator wipes out an entire room of gangsters using much more up-close and personal methods of killing. He uses a plethora of new hunting weapons and gadgets, many of which would forever become staples of this franchise.
The City Hunter is also shown to kill so many more people in Predator 2 that it’s almost hinted that it’s no longer about sport for him. He seems to enjoy his killing spree which turns him more into a serial killer than a hunter on safari.
However, Predator 2 does showcase more of the honor code that was only hinted at in the first film. He still only kills those that are armed and dangerous, but one scene shows that he refuses to kill a pregnant woman. Anytime this franchise reveals small nuggets of how the Yautja race thinks and operates are some of the best moments, in my opinion, and I think it helps in showing that the Yautja are not just mindless killing machines like the Xenomorphs.
GARY BUSEY IS A NATIONAL TREASURE
Everyone else in the delivers a solid performance: you have to love Bill Paxton, María Conchita Alonso is a badass, and Rubén Blades is really charming as Danny. However, none of them are even close to being on the same level as Gary Busey who portrays Agent Peter Keyes.
This guy steals the entire movie simply because Gary Busey is one of those actors who elevate a character with his style of acting. Jeff Goldblum is charmingly strange, Christopher Walken is a downright oddball, and Gary Busey turns every character into a charismatic psycho.
Peter Keyes has some of the best lines in Predator 2 and easily delivers some of the best laughs. I honestly wish that this character would go on to become a series regular, but I’ll take him being one of the best things about this sequel.
ALAN SILVESTRI IS BACK
If you’ve read my review of the first film, you’d know that I have a deep love for Alan Silvestri’s music. So, Predator 2 knew to not fix what isn’t broken and brought back Silvestri to compose the soundtrack and it’s just as strong, reusing familiar tracks throughout in effective ways whilst still adding new scores to fit this setting and new style.
Funny enough, you can actually hear similarities between the music in Predator 2 to music heard in the darker alternate timeline in Back To The Future Part II. Now there’s a fun idea for a crossover.
PREDATOR 2 EMBRACES ITS FUN FACTOR
One of the biggest complaints that I often see people have with Predator 2 is that they say it is campy. To a degree, I would say that they are right, but that would imply that the first film was never campy. Don’t get me wrong, I love Predator but I feel like people tend to forget that the first half of the movie is pretty over the top as well.
From the characters being walking quipping machines to one-liners like “Stick around” to even the ridiculous about of explosions in the first act. Predator becomes more and more grounded as it goes on as characters are picked off. I honestly view Predator 2 as basically more of that just throughout because of the less isolated setting.
Yes, it is can be a little goofy with some of the shots and editing choices it makes but I think that adds to the fun. I would also like to point out that I think people tend to exaggerate how campy Predator 2 is when it has plenty of gritty action and suspense throughout. Like I said, I think the last act with Mike Harrigan actually chasing and fighting the City Hunter is some of the strongest scenes in the entire franchise. Also, once I was able to understand the depth of the rivalry between Mike and the Predator, I think it overpowers all of the campy elements.
NEW ICONIC WEAPONS, NEW GORY KILLS
Predator 2 definitely ups the kill count with even more carnage candy to enjoy. As I said prior, the City Hunter is equipped with a ton of new weapons this time around. The wrist blades and the shoulder-mounted Plasmacaster are back but you are also introduced to the net gun, the smart disc, the combistick, a wrist cannon, and a speargun.
All of these weapons have gone on to become iconic pieces of the Yautja arsenal. They appear in sequels and have been in nearly every video game featuring a playable Predator. The combistick is clearly a favorite of the filmmakers’ because the City Hunter uses it a lot throughout. The smart disc is probably my favorite but not because of the City Hunter (although the death of Keyes is a memorable one), I actually think Mike Harrigan has some of the best moments in Predator 2 with it.
THIS HUNT IS STILL FLAWED
I’m not going to act like Predator 2 is some flawless masterpiece. Even though I find myself enjoying it more and more, I still have some old issues as well as some new ones.
First off, some of the effects are dated even for 1990 standards. There are some elements where the green screen was so obvious that it looked like effects from the early 80s.
However, I will say that this movie does improve on some things such as the cloaking for the Predator. Now the cloaked silhouette actually looks like the Predator where it almost never did in the original.
There are some cliche cop movie scenes in this. I literally laughed when I heard Harrigan’s chief say, “You’re too close to this!” Thankfully, it’s followed up with a great line from Harrigan but you have a few scenes like that throughout where if you’ve seen any action-cop film from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, you will roll your eyes just a little bit.
“Want some candy?” Why? Why does the Predator decide to imitate that of all things? That always bugs me.
I personally think that Predator 2 has some pacing issues. Where the first film has a nearly perfect pace, Predator 2 gets a little awkward with all the different aspects it tries to tackle. For example, the whole King Willie scene, though makes for one of the better Predator sequences, could have been cut out completely and the movie would be no different. The second act is definitely the weakest part of the film (though I still enjoy it) since it sometimes is a little padded out and jumbled.
Also, this is a common flaw with older films, but the whole idea that it was supposed to be the future of 1997 serves almost no purpose. Other than a few “futuristic” gun designs, you could honestly say it was 1990 and there’d be no difference. You actually have to be reminded that it takes place in 1997.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Though not at perfect as its predecessor, Predator 2 still has a lot of great things going for it and as I stated prior, it actually manages to improve upon certain aspects. I think that Predator 2 still delivers on an action-packed thrill ride with plenty of gritty action, gore, and memorable characters to be a worthy sequel in this franchise.
It will probably never be as good as the first Predator, but I definitely do not view it as the disappointment that I used to. It’s a fun sequel that I think more people need to give a second chance and be less blinded by their love for the first film. I’m going to give it an 8/10.
With Prey coming out in a few days, I’ll be continuing my marathon of Predator movies with my Alien Vs. Predator review next. Make sure to follow me to stay up to date!
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this article! I write about anything geek-related, especially comic book-related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady where I am much more active! Love you all!
I love Star Wars, I’ve loved it since I was a kid and I will continue to love it until I’m 80 and we’ve seen the 50th episode in the film franchise. I consider myself a Star Wars fanatic and it pains me to be associated with one of the hateful, spiteful, and ungrateful groups on this planet.
Am I going to sit here and say that Star Wars is a franchise that is nothing but perfection? No. There have been some choices that I found myself tilting my head from or disagreeing with. Having an opinion and critiquing something is only human of us but like everything, there’s always someone who takes a concept and goes to the extreme. Sadly, it happens more often with Star Wars fans than it should.
So let me be clear here: I believe every person’s opinion is valid so don’t take what I have to say as me stating that “anybody who dislikes something Star Wars-related is wrong.” That is not the case. However, I will be taking the time to discuss why this fanbase needs to change.
THE FANDOM MENACE
Let’s go back to 1980. The first Star Wars was a mega-sensation so fans were excited about the sequel. The Empire Strikes Back was released and most people think the movie was immediately considered the all-time classic that it is today. Wrong. Many accused it of being too dark, too different from the first movie, and it leaves off on a massively disappointing cliffhanger. Hmm…
In 1983, fans called Return Of The Jedi a weak third entry that had too many plotlines and appealed too much to kids with things like the Ewoks. Didn’t we just get done talking about how Empire is too dark? Interesting.
In the early 2000s, the prequels graced cinema and those who grew up on the original trilogy instantly hated them. They were too different than what they expected, there was too much CGI, and they claimed that George Lucas had lost his way. Meanwhile, people that grew up with the prequels would go on to hold them close as their own classics alongside the original trilogy.
Finally, in the 2010s, Lucasfilm created the sequel trilogy. Guess what? They too were criticized. They tried too hard to honor the original trilogy, the practical effects were considered too much nostalgia bait, the characters were weak, there were not enough prequel-era references, and they disgraced George Lucas’ legacy. Oh, and The Last Jedi was terrible because it was too dark, too different from the last movie, and it leaves off on a massively disappointing cliffhanger. Boy, that sounds familiar.
Do you see the glaring issue with all three eras? It’s that Star Wars fans are hypocritical and have no clue what they want.
They say that the prequels are a problem because of the overuse of CGI and going in a different direction. But yet, when the sequels go for a lot more practicality and embrace the style of the original trilogy: they are considered unoriginal and trash. Hmm. Interesting. Okay, so the Disney+ series like The Mandalorian must be a problem too? Actually no, the same people that would nitpick the sequels would end up praising this series for nearly all of the same reasons they hated the sequels. The Mandalorian focuses more on new characters, has similar plot elements to the original trilogy, relies a lot on entertaining audiences through nostalgia, and characters from the original trilogy have even less of a role in the sequel movies.
Then in The Book Of Boba Fett, Star Wars fans go crazy over how the series tributes the prequel era and The Clone Wars. Wait, I thought the prequel era was bad? Now it’s considered a classic trilogy? Well, that’s great I guess since I grew up a fan of both trilogies.
But I could have sworn that the prequel trilogy was completely maligned…I remember this because I grew up only to learn that fans attacked people from those movies and they never stopped.
BULLYING, SEXISM, AND RACISM
Oh yes, we’re going there.
In The Phantom Menace, fans were given Jake Lloyd as the child version of Anakin Skywalker, the child who was destined to become Darth Vader. Now, was Jake Lloyd on the same level as Haley Joel Osment or Abigail Breslin? No. The performance of young Anakin was not great but hey, he’s a kid, right? Well, not in the eyes of Star Wars fans.
Fans all over mocked and berated Jake Lloyd, calling him one of the worst actors to exist in the acting world. Saying that he ruined the Star Wars franchise with his performance. Do you know what happened to this young boy? He was bullied. Bullied to ridiculous degrees. As a result of constant harassment from Star Wars fans and his peers, Jake Lloyd retired from acting in 2001 and his life went downhill to the point that he was submitted to a psychiatric facility in 2015.
Jake Lloyd was terrorized so badly that Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker himself) called people out on it. It was why he never let his children get into the acting business. So when actors are afraid for their children’s mental and emotional health, isn’t that a sign that maybe something is wrong with Star Wars fans? Oh, but it gets even worse.
Let’s talk about Hayden Christensen, the other actor to play Anakin. This man was given just as poor of reception as Jake Lloyd but he had to put up with it for two movies. I personally find the actor charming: he seems like a nice guy, I like most of his movies, and despite some questionable dialogue from the script, Hayden did his job as a young Darth Vader in both Attack Of The Clones and Revenge Of The Sith.
Unfortunately, because the character was written to be a rash, emotional, and over-zealous young man, “fans” seemed to think that was Hayden’s fault. So once again, an actor was attacked mercilessly by the fanbase. I’ve even seen comments saying that Hayden deserved to die for his performance.
What the actual fuck is wrong with these people? He’s an ACTOR. He was doing his job. Why attack him for a character that he did not write?
Why were people so upset by how this character was written? This is meant to be the man who betrays and causes the death of the Jedi Order. He’s not meant to be some perfect hero. He was a flawed man with a lot of emotional problems that were brought about because of the manipulation of an evil Sith lord and the cold and calculated ways of the Jedi. If anybody was going to snap and turn evil, it was going to be Anakin.
Yes, the dialogue sometimes wasn’t the best but every writer has their off day. I write for a living and sometimes I hate what I write but because of my quota, sometimes I gotta leave it as it is. But again, this has nothing to do with Hayden.
Wishing for someone’s death over a character? Seriously? How low can someone get?
That’s why it makes me laugh when the Obi-Wan Kenobi series is announced and it’s revealed that Hayden is going to return, this time as Darth Vader himself: everyone reacted like when they saw Harrison Ford return to Han Solo in The Force Awakens. Cheers and celebrations all around. This is where the fun begins, right?
Then the Obi-Wan series is released and Hayden is given nothing but love for his Darth Vader performance. I adored seeing this reception because I too was excited to see Hayden again and I adored his and James Earl Jones’ combined version of Vader. It reminded me of the Darth Vader comics where he is this fast-paced tank who will destroy anything in his path.
However, I can’t help but be annoyed. The same fanbase that mocked Hayden for over a decade was suddenly welcoming him back with open arms and saying his performance in Obi-Wan Kenobi was stellar. Yeah, I agree but I also say that Hayden was equally as impressive of an actor in the prequels. So, the hypocrisy returned and it was so frustrating.
Still, it’s great that Hayden Christensen made such a powerful return to the series and that he was not bullied for his performance………..but other actors were.
Now when I write, I try not to let my emotions get the better of me. However, this is one time where I must speak freely and say that anyone who sent racist remarks to Moses Ingram because of her performance as the Third Sister and cruel comments to Vivien Lyra Blair as young Leia? You’re vile and inhuman.
Did we literally learn nothing from the prequels? Because this exact situation happened before. As mentioned prior, Jake Lloyd was bullied into mental illness and actor Ahmed Best was endless ridiculed and sent racist remarks for his performance as Jar-Jar Binks. Fucking why? Why are the fans like this?
History repeats itself and Moses Ingram and Vivien Lyra Blair were also attacked. You have Grace Randolphdedicating an entire portion of a video breaking down why Vivien, an innocent young child, is a terrible actress and a disgrace to Leia. There were a ton of social media comments mocking her take on the character when she was giving a performance that I absolutely adored. She echoed so much of Carrie Fisher but all fans can do is whine about how she’s bratty…which Leia always was.
But we have to talk about Moses Ingram. Now if by the finale, someone genuinely dislikes the character of Reva the Third Sister? That’s fair. However, these childish “humans” who decided to fill Moses’ social media DMs with dozens upon dozens of racist comments and insults because of her performance as a Sith Inquisitor? I would have them all shipped to live on an island alone if I could. It’s disgusting what level these so-called fans will stoop down to when something doesn’t go 100% their way. It makes me sick and I was so happy when Star Wars started fighting back.
Not only did official Star Wars social media pages fire back against these people but Ewan McGregor himself actually posted a video calling out these cruel and racist fans, saying that they are not real Star Wars fans in his eyes. THANK YOU! This is something I have been begging for all filmmakers and studios to start doing. Fight back against toxic fans who do nothing but cause problems. Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Middle-Earth, and even Pixar all just let whiny fans just walk all over them when they need to stand up for themselves and tell these people to simply “shut the hell up.”
And it makes me laugh that certain content creators such as Geeks + Gamershave tried to claim that THEY are the victims in this situation. That Disney and Lucasfilm are being bullies to their fans. Funny, the typical bullies are the ones who claim to be victims the moment someone calls out their wrongdoings.
Unfortunately, it took Lucasfilm over 20 years to finally do this. When the first trailer for The Force Awakens arrived, fans boycotted the film the moment they saw a man of color as a Stormtrooper. John Boyega was given so much hatred before the movie, it was insane but thankfully, he was actually treated kindly, for the most part, when it came to the reception of the movie itself. Sadly, Lucasfilm did nothing to help John Boyega and they even removed him from one of the international posters.
The Last Jedi was even worse. Kelly Marie Tran was introduced as Rose Tica and, I’ll be honest, she was my least favorite character in the film. Now I didn’t have this raging hatred for her like so many others did but yeah, she was the weakest CHARACTER in The Last Jedi. Never once did I think Kelly Marie Tran was a problem but guess what? Star Wars fans did. In a nearly identical situation as Moses Ingram, Kelly Marie Tran was the victim of a mass social media attack that included racial slurs, body-shaming, and sexist insults. I would not even DARE to try and repeat what they said because the comments were that disgusting and it forced the actress to close her social media. As did Daisy Ridley, who was also being sent a bunch of hate over either being a woman in Star Wars or because fans didn’t care for Rey.
In a galaxy that has displayed hundreds if not thousands of different races and species living amongst each other, why is it suddenly a sin to have people of color in Star Wars? Why is it suddenly a problem if a character happens to be a woman? Short answer: it’s not and anyone who does think it’s a problem does not deserve the air that they breathe.
Think we’re done? Oh, no. I’m not even close to being done with these people.
INCONSISTENCY STRIKES BACK
Why don’t we bring up some more hypocrisy? I mentioned Rey earlier and overall, disliking the character is a fair opinion. I personally really enjoyed her but there were some comments made that I have to bring up. Fans said that she was too nice, too perfect and that she was too much of a Mary Sue.
I find that kinda ironic. Remember when you all were complaining that Anakin was too mean, too loud, too power-hungry, and he was too impulsive? So when a character comes about that is kind, caring, smart, a fighter, and overall a great person, she’s a poor character.
As for being a Mary Sue because she has a natural affinity for the Force. I would just like to point out that Luke Skywalker and Ezra Bridger both learned how to use the Force quickly. In his first movie, Luke Skywalker used the Force to guide a torpedo into the exhaust vent that destroyed the Death Star thus boosting the Rebels to have an edge over the Empire. Ezra Bridger learned to become a Jedi in one season of Star Wars Rebels under a master who never even became a Jedi Knight.
Now you could make the argument that Luke has his father’s genes. Fair point but…Rey is a Palpatine. It’s in her genes too. And before the revelation of her being a Palpatine, she was a nobody with non-Force Sensitive parents which is exactly what Ezra was. Combined with the accusations that Rey was “pushing woke agendas” on fans, pretty much calls out that most of these toxic fans are sexist.
Do I think they could have handled some things about Rey better? Yeah, but I’m not going to attack Daisy Ridley or call her a Mary Sue just because things don’t go the way I expected. This continues to show the consistent issue that Star Wars fans are ungrateful and don’t know what they want from this franchise.
It becomes especially frustrating when you have fans with more recognition like Star Wars Theory who goes off on a tirade that we shouldn’t be happy that we’re getting Star Wars content and that “it has to be perfect.” Oh boy. We’re getting to THAT side of the Fandom Menace. The spoiled little brats who think that every single piece of Star Wars material has to follow their little headcanons or they set their expectations so high that absolutely nothing will ever please them.
As for “perfection” this is something that has been an issue with toxic fans of all franchises. It’s gotten to the point where if something is not a 10/10 ultra-fantastic masterpiece, it’s a 1/10 horrible disgrace to mankind. There is no in-between anymore. The 2-9 are non-existent and if something doesn’t meet the standard of perfection, it’s awful. I would just like to point out that the Nazi regime had a similar mentality…
ATTACK OF THE OVERLY HIGH EXPECTATIONS
This isn’t just a problem with Star Wars fans. Ever since Avengers: Endgame came out, fans of all kinds of franchises put these hyper-unrealistic expectations on any big-budget film that comes out. This happened with Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, where fans seemed to be under the impression that the movie was going to transform into Doctor Strange And The Illuminati V The Scarlet Witch: Dawn Of Cameos. People were expecting Ben Affleck’s Daredevil, all of the X-Men, Ghost Rider, and so many other people to show up that they got mad when a movie called Doctor Strange remained a Doctor Strange movie that has a few cameos in it.
Yes, I loved Avengers: Endgame and I adored Spider-Man: No Way Home but people need to understand that those kinds of movies that bring together these massive crossovers? They happen very, very rarely. This same mentality has been plaguing the Star Wars fanbase for years.
With the sequels, fans were expecting Luke, Han, and Leia to be these superheroes who were gonna tear the First Order apart. Would that have been cool? Yeah, totally but Harrison Ford was 72 years old in The Force Awakens. He broke his ankle making just that movie. Carrie Fisher was far from being in shape to be some Jedi or blaster-toting commando for the Resistance. Oh, but wait, The Last Jedi had Leia use the Force to save herself from death but that was considered too much and too powerful. Wait, what?
Mark Hamill, though he did kick ass in The Last Jedi, was never going to be pulling off anything like the fighting in the prequels. This is not me discrediting the three actors, I love those three, and I love what they brought to the sequel era but there is no denying that they were much older and fans put too many expectations on them.
In The Rise Of Skywalker, fans set high expectations that every Jedi we ever knew was going to appear to help Rey fight Palpatine in some “Avengers Assemble”-like moment. Even though J.J. Abrams, Kathleen Kennedy, and the cast never promised that.
The same thing happened with Obi-Wan Kenobi. The series began with Obi-Wan living as a hermit on Tatooine with PTSD after the Purge. That makes sense, right? Obi-Wan did have to sever his best friend’s limbs, lose his entire Order and everything he cared about, watched the love of his best friend die from childbirth, and see the Republic be corrupted into the Empire. Plus he’s been living for ten years in hiding, cut off from the Force due to his PTSD and lack of regular training.
Did fans understand this? Nope. They called Obi-Wan Kenobi terrible because the titular hero was not the swashbuckling hero shouting out one-liners and snappy comebacks. No, instead it was a more personal story of Obi-Wan grieving after everything that happened and being forced to become a Jedi again.
Fans also kept whining because there were no flashback sequences to the Clone Wars. This is another example of putting unreal expectations on the creators because never once, ever, even for a second did Lucasfilm, Deborah Chow, or the cast hint at there being flashbacks to the Clone Wars in this show. That was just conjured up in their heads because they saw that Hayden Christensen returning and that somehow meant that we were going to get flashbacks.
What makes it even funnier is the fact that we DID get a flashback to pre-Attack Of The Clones which is a period that we have never seen before. That was a great surprise and for the most part, everyone loved it. That was what they wanted but of course, it’s never enough. “Fandom Menace always want more, more, more, and more.” Like little Veruca Salts that are in desperate need of a garbage chute.
Here’s an idea. If you want to see Obi-Wan and Anakin working together during the Clone Wars………….go watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars. There are many seasons of it and there are quite a few episodes where they work together. There ya go. Now I would have screamed if we got to see Hayden and Ewan wearing their Clone Wars armor and fighting a bunch of battle droids but I honestly don’t NEED to see it.
So, now we have these fans who NEEDED to see it and so now they think the Obi-Wan series is bad because it didn’t meet their absurdly high expectations that were never promised in the first place.
REVENGE OF THE SENSIBLE
My favorite fanatics are the ones who immediately need to find a scapegoat is they have an issue with something. One little problem with the Obi-Wan Kenobi series? Suddenly, Deborah Chow is the enemy and Lucasfilm should never hire her again for anything. Rian Johnson directs The Last Jedi and that man suddenly is crucified and is one of the worst directors in the industry despite his films Brick, Looper, and Knives Out showing that he’s massively talented. But no….he ruined Star Wars. Kathleen Kennedy ruined Star Wars. Robert Rodriguez ruined Star Wars. Everyone ruined Star Wars.
No. In the oh-so-perfectly delivered words of Obi-Wan Kenobi: “You have done that yourself.” This is to all of the Fandom Menace who have been plaguing us for decades:
You ruined Star Wars by bullying others.
You ruined Star Wars by being racist.
You ruined Star Wars by spewing out hateful unconstructive bile at filmmakers, actors, and even other fans.
You ruined Star Wars by being spoiled brats with overly high expectations
You ruined Star Wars by being so consumed with hate.
You ruined Star Wars by being so loud and in everyone’s faces that you created the false image that every Star Wars fan is this rude, obnoxious, cruel, racist, sexist, narcissistic egomaniac who is going to do nothing but attack storytellers.
You ruined Star Wars for everyone. Either learn to be a decent human being again or go. the hell. away.
To all my fellow fans and content creators who are equally frustrated by the Fandom Menace as I am: fight back. Disney? Lucasfilm? Continue to fight back. The real fans simply want to see more content and the expansion of this universe, despite any flaws that we may or may not have. These toxic fanatics don’t know what they want yet they demand perfection even though they wouldn’t know what perfection was even if it flew passed their face in the form of an N-1 Starfighter. And I could go on and on about all of the different things they did such as boycotting Solo: A Star Wars Story because the main actor didn’t look 100% like Harrison Ford even though Ewan McGregor doesn’t look anything like Alec Guinness but everyone loved him.
They act as if they own this franchise and they deserve whatever demand: they are not owed anything and they don’t deserve anything except maybe a 4K copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special.
I know this one was a long one but this has been a long time coming. I hope you all enjoyed this little article and are inspired to keep fighting against toxicity. This has gone on long enough and it’s time people actually fought back. From here on out, can we just be sensible? Having an opinion is one thing but being a bully is so not necessary.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this article! I write about anything geek-related, especially comic book-related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady where I am much more active! Love you all!
Finally, after so many years of anticipation, Matt Reeves has delivered fans his take on the Caped Crusader. I finally saw the movie along with my older brother who is the biggest Batman fan I have ever met. This was our most anticipated film of 2022 and our expectations were soaring higher than a Kryptonian in orbit. Much to our surprise…The Batman not only met but exceeded our expectations.
I’m just going to be straightforward about this; The Batman is now a contender for my favorite comic book movie ever made and possibly one of my favorite movies, period. It finally did what I’ve always wanted to see done in a Batman movie.
To preface this, I have loved nearly every Batman movie made since 1989. The two Tim Burton Batman movies, Batman Forever, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. All of them have given their own awesome portrayals of Batman. However, The Batman trumps them all by going in the direction that I wanted to go myself as a filmmaker.
Robert Pattinson Is The Perfect Batman
From the instant he was announced to be playing Batman, the internet instantly went into boycotting the actor because of his time with the Twilight franchise. While he was never in my head prior to the announcement, I was always on board with it. Especially after films like The Lighthouse, The Rover, and Good Time showed off the actor’s immense talent.
I went in expecting a great performance and portrayal of Batman but my jaw dropped at Robert Pattinson’s Batman. This is the young, violent, and troubled Batman that I felt was never explored enough in previous incarnations. This Batman only cares about wearing the cape and cowl while pummeling criminals to a pulp. There is no Bruce Wayne mask yet and I loved how Pattinson portrayed the intensity and fear factor of the Batman. There is almost an addiction to being Batman and he feels that being this vigilante is the only way he can help Gotham City.
He wasn’t just an angry man through the whole movie, however. He has plenty of emotional moments that he plays with such subtlety but the sorrow echoes beautifully through those moments. Pattinson’s Batman voice is less drastic than Christian Bale’s, for example. Pattinson’s simply lowers his octave and puts a slight gruffness that changes his voice just enough to be effective, similar to Michael Keaton’s Batman voice.
What really helps is that Robert Pattinson is the first Batman who actually feels like the star of this own movie. Previously, the only movie to get that right was Batman Begins but whether it’s The Dark Knight or Batman V Superman or even Batman ’89, Batman himself is always treated as an afterthought. The Batman puts the titular character front and center for all three hours and I loved it, especially since he is Batman for easily 90% of the runtime. In a way, it reminded me of the Arkham games where Bruce Wayne rarely ever makes an appearance.
Since Batman is the main character, this is one of the few times where Batman actually has a character arc and it is a beautiful one at that. Batman actually grows as a character and learns from his own flaws, leading to a finale that I felt was surprisingly emotional.
Not only was Robert Pattinson a great actor but he wore a beautifully designed suit that looked like the best parts of Zero Year, Arkham Origins, and even a bit of Gotham By Gaslight mixed with some of Matt Reeves’ own elements to create my favorite Batman design thus far.
I can go on and on about how much I loved Robert Pattinson as Batman. This man deserves more than just a trilogy in my eyes and I now call him the definitive Batman.
The Rest Of The Cast Excels
Pattinson is not the only great character; there is Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman who I personally think the movies have never done that well. Burton leaned way too hard into the supernatural with his version and Nolan’s Catwoman was…bland. Zoe Kravitz was a nice blend of her version in comics like Year One and The Long Halloween but still added enough of her own flavor to create this sympathetic anti-hero that stole a lot of scenes in the film.
The best show-stealer in my opinion was Paul Dano as The Riddler. From the marketing, I expected this really quiet and ominous serial killer akin to the Zodiac killer or some of the villains in Hannibal Lecter stories. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised by how wild and flamboyantly Paul Dano played the Riddler which felt straight out of the comics and in some cases, reminded me of a much darker Frank Gorshin version of the Riddler. I loved the way he looked, I loved the way he acted, and I loved how scary he could be.
The other one that I felt made every scene ten times more enjoyable was Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepott AKA The Penguin. Every single scene with the Penguin was such a joy to watch because it is clear that Colin is having the time of his life but this version of the Penguin was a bombastic gangster who chewed through the scenery but never felt like he was going overboard with it.
There’s a history to Cobblepott and this movie helps set up the character so well. Prior to seeing it, I had no interest in watching a spin-off about the Penguin but after seeing The Batman, I am honestly excited to see Colin Farrell lead his own series. That’s how good he was in the role. He doesn’t have a huge role but he had an important one that helped flesh out this version of Gotham City.
John Turturro was an excellent Carmine Falcone that made every scene with him even more engaging. He was a surprisingly layered villain rather than your typical mob boss character but part of me wishes he had more scenes. However, for what scenes he does have, I was having a blast with Carmine.
Jeffrey Wright knocked it out of the park as Jim Gordon. He’s always been a very underrated supporting actor in everything he’s ever done and he shines brightly as Gordon. As much as the movie is about Batman, Gordon is not just there to turn on the Bat-Signal and let Batman take over his job.
Batman and Gordon are basically partners in this movie and they bounce off each other well with Gordon providing healthy doses of humor. Is he my favorite Gordon? Time will tell because Gary Oldman did the character perfectly in my eyes but maybe as I see the movie more times or across multiple sequels, Wright will take over as the best.
Andy Serkis is quite literally one of the greatest people working in Hollywood today, not just as an actor. So when he was cast as Alfred, I knew he was going to nail it and he did. This was very much the Batman: Earth-One version of Batman who was this stern but loving ex-military man who raised Bruce Wayne but also trained him. Much like The Penguin, he doesn’t have a large role but he’s a joy whenever he’s on-screen with one of the best scenes in the movie featuring him.
Finally, The World’s Greatest Detective
For as great as some Batman movies have been, one of my biggest complaints about them is that the detective work is either non-existent or reduced to five minutes of the movie. Whereas, The Batman is a full-on detective story from beginning to end with some superhero action sprinkled onto the film.
This is what I’ve always wanted. Ever since I was a kid, my favorite episodes of Batman: The Animated Series were the ones where Batman doesn’t have much action and he’s simply investigating a case. That’s exactly what The Batman was, a very much extended version of those kinds of episodes. The Batman is David Fincher’s Se7en and Zodiac mixed with Saw and various famous comic books of the past and I couldn’t get enough of it.
Batman is in detective mode through most of the movie and Matt Reeves shows off his cunning intellect beautifully by having him always finding clues, solving ciphers, and using his gadgets to spy on leads.
The Most Gotham That Gotham City Has Ever Looked
Gotham City was gorgeous despite how grimy and awful the place truly is. Matt Reeves and Greig Fraser worked together to bring Gotham to life that felt straight out of the comics and even games like Batman: Arkham Knight.
It has that perfect blend of old and new with gothic architecture and neon signs combined that always look beautiful whether it’s night, daytime, raining, or sunset. It’s essentially what the Joel Schumacher movies were trying to do but done far better.
The Action Scenes Fit This Batman
I’ll just say this: the warehouse fight from Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice is still my favorite Batman fight scene of all time. That’s not to say that The Batman doesn’t have good fight scenes; no, they are awesome but they are not the same as the warehouse fight and fittingly so.
This is not the veteran Batman who knows every single martial art that can destroy a criminal. This is a younger and flawed Batman who more or less uses his enemy’s momentum against them for the quick combos that may not have the flourish of the warehouse fight but they have even more impact. Every time Batman punches someone, I felt it in my bones.
That fight scene with the skull-themed thugs from all the trailers is even better in the actual film but the big climax against Riddler’s men is beautifully handled. It may not reach the same levels as the warehouse fight but it’s a really close second.
Best. Batmobile. Ever.
To everyone that is judging this Batmobile for being “a regular car” can simply shut up. When that thing fires up with the rocket engine roaring, the entire theater rumbled but then it goes through this epic car chase with the Penguin that was also showcased in the trailers. That scene is much longer in the final product and it is a spectacle to see, especially since it was all done practically with cameras mounted to the vehicles.
While I do prefer my Batmobiles to have more of a Bat-like theme to them, this Batmobile was pure muscle that was blowing through concrete and metal as if they were paper. I can’t wait to see how this Batmobile is upgraded through the sequels.
When Did This Turn Into A Horror Movie?
The Batman is not a movie for kids and I respect the hell out of Matt Reeves for pushing the limits of a PG-13 superhero film. There is no gore but what is suggested by the Riddler as to what he does to his victims is enough to make anyone cringe in fear.
Even Batman is scary in this movie and it is BRILLIANTLY done. Without spoiling, there are theme brilliant shots towards the beginning where once criminals see the Bat-Signal in the sky, their souls leave their body and they start getting paranoid. These shots feel straight out of a horror film where a person is looking for a killer or a monster and they are so afraid that they turn pale. That’s what Batman is to the criminal world in Gotham City and I commend Matt Reeves for that.
Batman is supposed to be the boogeyman of Gotham City, almost like a reverse-Jason Voorhees and while other versions of Batman have dipped their toes into that pool, The Batman dives right into the deep end.
Michael Giacchino Is A Genius
I’ve said many times in the past that I consider the soundtrack to any movie to be one of the most important elements. That’s why it bugs me that most superhero movies suffer from forgettable soundtracks, especially movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Thankfully, Michael Giacchino delivered with The Batman, giving fans a soundtrack that I have been listening to non-stop since it came out. The main Batman theme alone is brilliant on its own, reminding me a lot of Phantom Of The Opera with a hint of Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm.
Then there are the final two minutes of the theme which has been played in the trailers that is Batman’s overture. That will get stuck in your head after seeing The Batman but also give you the chills because it is always used at the perfect moments.
There has never been a bad Batman theme song and that streak continues with Michael Giacchino. However, it’s not just the theme song because the rest of the score is immaculate, fitting the tone for each character and scene. Riddler’s theme is very horror movie-like and Catwoman’s sounded eerily similar to both her themes in Arkham City and Batman Returns combined.
The music for The Batman is already one of the best scores I’ve ever listened to on its own but in context, the music is even better.
Is It Worth The Runtime?
100% yes, because there is nothing in The Batman that seems padded or not necessary to the plot. Everything that happens is an essential part of Riddler’s scheme and the character arc for Batman. As a result, there are no scenes that dragged on. The Batman may be a slower detective story but it’s still a thriller that personally kept me captivated through the runtimes. I was never bored, although I was very hungry by the end of it.
Did I Have Any Flaws?
Technically, only one and it’s one that I immediately got over just because of how much it got me to laugh. Without spoilers, there is a scene where Batman goes through a very nasty crash and I do not care what kind of armor you are wearing, there is no way any human would have survived through that. That being said, the crash was so over the top and Batman’s reaction to the crash was so genuinely hilarious that I was able to get over it.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The Batman felt like it was catered to me as it mended every single flaw I had with previous incarnations of the Caped Crusader and gave me what is now, in my opinion, the best Batman movie ever made. It was dark, epic, broody, filled with neo-noir intrigue, the action that left an impact and created a personal story for Batman that had me invested.
The villains were memorable but they never took away from Batman in the spotlight. It was a Batman story that was very similar to the one that I’ve wanted to tell but never got around to it. Matt Reeves’ direction was even better than his work on the Planet Of The Apes movies, Greig Fraser’s camera work felt like a comic book brought to life, and the characters were perfect.
Robert Pattinson is now my Batman and I can’t wait to see more of him. Even with my slight nitpick, I was enthralled and elated from beginning to end. It was also an amazing theater experience, seeing it in IMAX with my brother and looking over during the climax to see my Batman fanatic of a brother break into tears from seeing his hero brought to life in such an astonishing way. I give Matt Reeves’ The Batman a 10/10, it was the perfect Batman movie for me.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek-related, especially comic book-related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
Task Force X is back and better than ever! F*CK YES!
James Gunn brings the next entry of the DC Extended Universe with The Suicide Squad which contains villains such as Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Polka-Dot Man, and of course, the one and only Harley Quinn.
So let me begin by saying that I did not hate the 2016 Suicide Squad movie directed by David Ayer. While I know it is not what Ayer wanted, I still found myself having a fun time watching that one but I was more than happy to see James Gunn, one of my favorite filmmakers, take on the sequel.
I LOVE THIS SQUAD
Every actor nails their role in The Suicide Squad and is given just enough screen time for it to work. Idris Elba killed it as Bloodsport, I really liked that he was this very morally grey character unlike Deadshot who clearly was on the path of reforming. Bloodsport starts off as a bit of an a-hole and he goes on a character progression that feels believable in the fact that, yes, this is not a good guy but he’s still human.
John Cena continues to impress me with his acting ability as of late. He’s really evolved as an actor and is definitely someone who steals the show as Peacemaker; he even shows off some surprising amount of emotions when certain events happen, which I will not spoil.
Margot Robbie continues to show that she was born to play Harley Quinn. I was already loving what she brought in Birds Of Preybut this was even better: this one showing more of the psychotic and murderous side of Harley rather than how heroic she was in Birds Of Prey. Harley has the best action sequence in the film by far which showed off how she views the world in a vibrant, psychedelic, and hilarious way.
Rick Flag also makes a return with Joel Kinnaman and I liked him WAY more here. I thought he fit with David Ayer’s movie but I did enjoy this more idealistic version of Flag and bought him more as a leader. He even had a few jokes that got me to laugh pretty hard.
The real showstealers for me were King Shark, Polka-Dot Man, and Ratcatcher II: these three had me laughing, smiling, and having me fall in love with them. Sylvester Stallone was perfect as King Shark, he is so adorable but also a little tragic in a way since he’s like a little kid in a monster’s body with no friends. I felt a little sorry for him.
Same with Polka-Dot Man, his powers are very much a curse which was portrayed in a way that made me feel sympathy for him. David Dastmalchian really surprised me with his performance and turned out to be one of the best metahumans in the DC Extended Universe and he’s a guy who shoots POLKA-DOTS AT PEOPLE! Let that sink in!
Ratcatcher II was to The Suicide Squad what Cyborg was to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. She was one of the cutest and most likable characters with a lot of heart, proving to be the soul of the Suicide Squad. Daniela Melchior played Ratcatcher so well that I honestly can’t wait to see the actress in more projects over the years. She even got me a little choked up towards the end of the film.
A LIVE-ACTION COMIC BOOK
I really dig how non-linear James Gunn made this film: it bounces constantly between events from the present, to the past, the present at a different location, to eight minutes ago, to have events at a different location lead up to where things are eight minutes later, it honestly feels just like how a lot of stories are told in comic books. Even the way James Gunn transitions and tells the audience when the scene takes place is very creative and comes straight out of the more campy comics of the 70s and 80s.
The whole film also has this grindhouse vibe mixed with classic war movie elements, almost similar to how Quentin Tarantino structures his movies but less foot perversion. Combined with the way James Gunn shot the film, these angles and the imagery shown to give the movie a look similar to panels of a comic with huge, scoping shots that can only be experience in IMAX. Even the music reminded me of the animated Suicide Squad movies like Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay.
It’s also just a refreshing experience since most superhero movies follow a simple three-act structure (which can work in many films’ cases, don’t get me wrong) but The Suicide Squad tells its story in a unique way that fleshes out everybody just enough and gets the audience invested in their story without bogging everyone down with 30 minutes of exposition.
THINGS ARE ABOUT TO GET BLOODY
If you are someone going into The Suicide Squad expecting your typical superhero romp, you are going to be a little shocked. This is one of the most irreverent and gory films I have seen in a while, even putting the likes of Deadpool to shame. This is not just Guardians Of The Galaxy with a DC paintjob, no this is a visceral action film that had my job hanging a few times.
Instead of Guardians, this film actually comes closer to another James Gunn film that doesn’t get nearly enough attention and that is Slither. It has the same violent and downright F’ed up sense of humor combined that made me love that movie so much. It’s also similar to Slither in some other ways that I will not spoil here.
See this? This is actually one of the TAME deaths in the movie.
Since this is a hard R-rated film, the Squad members are not forced to hold back. They murder and maim in some brutal ways but somehow James Gunn makes all the Mortal Kombat-esque gore seem funny is a rather bizarre way. This makes a lot of action scene leave much more of an impact, especially when done with his beautiful way of filming.
There are deaths in this movie that had me gasping and going, “OHHHHHHH!” Again, no spoilers but yes, there are deaths in this movie and they are not predictable at all.
STARRO WAS STELLAR
There are technically four antagonists and two of them are the most cookie cutter villains. The other two are cool, even if one of them is wasted a little too early in my opinion but that is made up for when Starro becomes the central threat. It’s in the trailer so I’m not going to count it as spoilers but yes, Starro The Conqueror is in The Suicide Squad and he made the last twenty minutes someone kick the movie into overdrive.
It was chaotic, it was action-packed, it was still gruesome, and it actually made the Suicide Squad fighting Starro actually make sense. Part of me wishes that the fight with Starro lasted a little longer but what we got was great.
DO I HAVE ANY FLAWS?
On first viewing? Not right now. I do have a couple of nitpicks such as certain characters I wish got more screentime and that the movie felt a little short. But even those I can deal with since I enjoyed everything so much. Like I said, there are some bland villains in this one but they aren’t really the focus either, so it didn’t hurt the film for me.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
As someone who loves both the modern and classic Ostrander run of the comics, The Suicide Squad left me with a smile on my face from beginning to end. It’s wild, completely insane, hilarious, filled with a surprising amount of heart, as R-rated as it can get, and a total blast. This blew the first movie completely out of the water and has me excited for a Suicide Squad 3 and whatever else James Gunn wants to do for DC. I’m going to give The Suicide Squad a 9.5/10, I loved it that much and I can’t wait to see it again.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek related, especially comic book related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
Another big franchise makes its return and it’s one that I happen to be a big fan of. Mock me if you like but I am a fanatic of the Saw movies. The first seven chapters features some imaginative traps along with an intriguing and complex storyline that continued to get more and more insane which I was invested in for many years. As for the eighth chapter from 2017, known as Jigsaw, I enjoyed it well enough but I agreed that it was basically more of the same stuff. It was definitely one of the weaker ones that I would have enjoyed a follow-up to, hence why I was nervous about the newest film.
Spiral: From The Book Of Saw is a sequel/spin-off to the Saw movies that was produced by and starring Chris Rock. I personally only knew Chris Rock for his comedy, which I do love. However, I was worried that this meant that Saw was going the route of The Predator and going full parody of itself. Then the trailers released and I became intrigued by what Rock and party had in store. Much to my surprise…Spiral ended up being one of my favorite entries of the series.
Chris ROCKS As The Hero
I will likely be punished for that pun but it’s true. Even walking into the film, I wasn’t sure if Chris Rock could lead such a dark and serious franchise. I came out so surprised by how great of a performance Chris Rock gave and might even go as far as to say his character Detective Banks might be my favorite protagonist of the series.
Since nearly all of the movie is from Banks’ perspective, it helps that Chris Rock carries the film. Rock delivers on being a hardened clean cop in a precinct filled with rotten cops very well. Honestly, this could have been a thriller about cops having a conflict and I would have loved it. Whenever Rock goes off on some of the cops, he is astonishingly good and shows a lot of emotion.
Detective Banks is also surprisingly funny. Of course, since it is Chris Rock, there is going to be humor but unlike The Predator where it destroyed the film, Spiral uses humor every now and then to show the human side of these characters. Banks delivers some lines that actually got me to crack up but it never becomes a horror/comedy. It still manages to keep that same Saw tone and vibe but inject some needed humor to keep things from become dull.
I also enjoyed his screen time with Samuel L. Jackson as Banks’ father. I kind of wish there were more scenes of Jackson and Rock together but what they do bring to the table together is great. Again, these two are some of the most human the series has ever had.
Traps Are Still Awesome
The trailers purposefully hid all the “Jigsaw” traps and kept focusing on the investigation. Either these traps were going to suck or there was some great ones in store for the audience. Fortunately, it ended up being the latter because I really appreciated the traps in this one. As much as I enjoy the franchise, some of the later traps got a little too extravagant and relied too much of suspension of disbelief. The traps in Spiral return to the franchise’s roots of the first three Saw movies with more grounded and brutal traps that even got me to cringe in places.
While I did appreciated this, I can see someone finding them a little disappointing if someone if going to this expecting gallons upon gallons of blood, guts, and other forms of carnage candy. The gore is there but definitely much more dialed back to rely on the visceral shock value of the traps rather than gore for the sake of gore.
Also, these traps serve more of a purpose and have themes that fit within the nature of the story they decided to tell. And unlike other copycats like Hoffman and Amanda, the new killer finally follows how the original Jigsaw did things by providing traps that are actually winnable instead of just glorified execution rooms.
Speaking of, I really appreciate the way they showcased the traps. At first, it goes more of the route of the first Saw movie where the traps are seen as their own separates chapters of the overall story while the investigation is happening. As the movie progresses, it slowly becomes more like the later films with a character going from room to room, each providing a new trap-related puzzle to solve.
This Jigsaw disciple features the scariest version of the pig-face mask of the series and goes all out with that theme, even with the new puppet.
Can Non-Saw Fans Watch It?
Yes…and no. While it’s not Avengers: Endgame where it requires you to have seen the entire franchise to understand it, I definitely recommend at least the first three Saw movies if you’ve never seen them or haven’t seen them in a long time. There are scenes and references that definitely reward fans of the whole series since it’s definitely a spin-off in the same universe. Then I must ask: why are you watching a Saw spin-off if you don’t like Saw?
New Ideas And Direction!
Thank you, Twisted Pictures! Yes, this is not just the same movie with a fresh coat of paint. It tries new ideas by going in more of a mystery thriller a la Se7en or most recently The Little Things. This is more akin to the first Saw movie but done to an extreme to create a police thriller that I loved. Then there’s the new Jigsaw who is very different from John Kramer and the other disciples in the past and brings about some relevant social commentary that I found myself enjoying…and understanding why Spiral was delayed by a year.
However, this does lead me to one of my only complaints with the film and that’s the big twist that it tries to do like every Saw movie does. DON’T WORRY, NO SPOILERS ARE IN THIS REVIEW. While I certainly didn’t see it coming, it was not even close to some of the twists from the last eight films that actually got my jaw to drop. This one was surprising but the most I got out of the twist was, “Oh…okay then.” It wasn’t mind-blowing but it was definitely intriguing.
That is made up by the last ten to fifteen minutes of the movie which I absolutely loved. I couldn’t believe how it ended, I was expecting at least a few more minutes but instead, it just stops right there and it instantly got me hyped for a sequel. Before Saw fans ask, yes, THAT music does play and I had a big grin on my face when it did.
The Best Looking Saw Movie
Darren Lynn Bousman returned to direct Spiral: another reason why I was intrigued by this movie. Bousman directed Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV which are easily some of the best in the series (Saw III being my personal favorite) so it was nice to see one of the original revolutionaries of the franchise return.
This was easily Bousman’s best looking film: despite everything being so gritty, grimy, and bleak, he manages to delivers some downright beautiful shots. He has a lot of scenes that are all done in one long take and they impressed me big time, even though it was usually just people walking and talking.
The investigative segments, the traps, and everything in between? It was all nice, the music was pleasant to listen to, especially with the return of some famous music, and I appreciated the more effective gore this time around. In Saw 3D, it was all pink-ish blood and gore done to appeal the (thankfully) dead gimmick of 3D. Jigsaw was an improvement but it relied too much on CGI blood which is never a good things.
Here, the gore for all the traps was 95% practical and as a horror buff, I really appreciated that. Especially with the designs for the traps themselves.
Not A Perfect Game Win (Negatives)
Spiral is really short and that is normal for the franchise but since this is not only introducing a new killer but a new set of characters, some end up feeling wasted. There were some cops introduced during the investigation that were clearly only there to trick the audience into thinking the killer is one of them. I hope with Spiral sequels, these characters return to develop more of their story and why they are the way they are. One character introduced in the first act never once reappears or gets a mention which I felt was an odd choice.
With an extra ten to fifteen minutes, it would have been about the same length as the first Saw and it would have fleshed things out a bit more. Especially with Samuel L. Jackson’s character who does not have a lot of time on screen.
While I definitely enjoyed what they did with the new killer in this one, like I previously mentioned, the twist was not astonishing; this killer simply lacked a presence that Kramer, Hoffman, and even Nelson had in Jigsaw. When the killer is revealed, they personality just doesn’t have that same impact that they had but there is definitely room for improvement in future films.
Game Over… (Overall Thoughts)
I went in with mild expectations for Spiral: From The Book Of Saw, definitely intrigued by what a spin-off of one of my beloved series had in store. I ended up loving Spiral and would easily rank it in the top three films of the series. If you are a Saw fan like I am, I think you will be happy in this new direction for the series and if you are looking for a dark, bloody, mystery thriller and are not that big into the later Saw movies? I will also say you should check it out.
It’s an intense ride that never has a dull moment and will have everyone hyped to see where the sequels go. Chris Rock as Banks is a great lead and is easily one of the biggest reasons to check it out: just to see one of, if not THE best performance of his career. While it’s not perfect, it was a great return for this franchise and shows how to make a proper spin-off of a horror franchise; I’m giving Spiral: From The Book Of Saw a 9/10 and I highly recommend you see it in theaters. It was my first time in a theater since February of 2020 and it was refreshing to be back.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek related, especially comic book related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
For those who are arriving to this blog for the first time, I am a huge fanatic when it comes to Mortal Kombat. It’s been an important franchise to me since I was born and I have exposed myself to every form of Mortal Kombat media that has ever existed. I even did a retrospective on my time with Mortal Kombat just recently and I did a review for Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath.
Growing up and still to this day, the Mortal Kombat movie from 1995 is a nostalgic gem that I will likely always enjoy. However, I am someone who was begging for a reboot and I could not wait to see what director Simon McQuoid had in store for us. As the title suggests, I had a blast watching Mortal Kombat.
KAST IS PERFECT
The characters are what make the games so iconic and if the movie failed on bringing these people to life, then the movie would have failed as a whole. Fortunately, the filmmakers and actors clearly are fans of this franchise and care about how they should be done. There was not a single character from the games that I disliked here.
Let’s get this out of the way: Scorpion and Sub-Zero are perfect. Joe Taslim plays Bi-Han AKA Sub-Zero and he is one of the most menacing yet awe inspiring villains I have seen in a long time. He was cold (pun definitely intended), dark, twisted, and brought justice to this character after the 1995 movie completely wasted him.
The same goes for Scorpion: Hiroyuki Sanada was absolutely captivating as Hanzo Hasashi. While I would have preferred a larger role for Scorpion, whenever he does appear, it earned my applause and fangirl giggles of joy.
For those worried that Liu Kang was going to be sidelined? Don’t be. Yes, he is not the main protagonist of the movie like one would expect but he is given enough time to shine as a badass Shaolin Monk. Ludi Lin nailed the mild-mannered monk vibe that Liu Kang always has in the games but showed off that he’s not afraid to perform fatalities. While I will always applaud the wonderful Robin Shou and what he brought to Liu Kang, Ludi Lin was as perfect to Liu Kang as Robert Downey Jr. to Iron Man. And his comradery with his cousin Kung Lao was absolutely adorable.
Speaking of: I could not get enough of Kung Lao in this movie. Max Huang nailed that cocky yet likable attitude the character is famous for. I loved the way he acted, his fighting style was straight out of the games, and his special moves featuring the hat are a sight to behold. Combine his performance, gorgeous looks, and the fact that he just released a single called Flawless Victory? Max Huang might be my new Hollywood crush and I am not afraid to admit that. We need a Shaolin Monks spin-off on HBO Max, I’m just saying. These two were great together.
Another one who stole the show for me personally is the one everyone says is great. He’s funny, vulgar, and one hell of a villain that starts with “K.” And that would be: KABAL….you all thought I was going to say Kano, didn’t you?
Yes, everyone is going off on how Kano was great and I’ll get to him in a bit but I could not get enough of Kabal in this movie. He’s a small role but every time he was on screen, he was pure gold. I loved how they did his speed, I loved his design in everyway to the point that I NEED his skin to be added to Mortal Kombat 11, and I was shocked by how much dialogue he had. The marketing set him up like he was going to be some silent and nameless jobber but he was actually the Outworld fighter with the most personality and standout fights.
Now I guess I should talk about Josh Lawson as good ol’ Kano. Yes, I will agree with everyone else: he was perfect in every way. The marketing made it seem like Kano was going to be a good guy in this first movie. Without spoiling too much, I can confirm that is not really the case. The man is a complete scumbag, he’s greedy, sleazy, and has a mouth that never closes for more than five minutes. As much as he is a disreputable cretin, every scene featuring him had me in tears of laughter because Josh Lawson’s comedic adlibbing and improvisation was so on point. Some of the best scenes are just Kano roasting Liu Kang and Kung Lao.
Can’t have Kano without his nemesis: Sonya Blade played by Jessica McNamee and I thought she was great. I liked the angle they took Sonya where she’s less of the mean-spirited version depicted a lot in recent games but she just takes no nonsense from anybody and still captures the spirit of Sonya. I see her as a perfect mix of all versions of Sonya in the past plus her own flavor added to it all.
Mehcad Brooks was a great Jax, so much so that I wish he had more screen time in the movie. What they do with Jax is great in every scene but I feel like he could have used another five to ten minutes to really showcase the character, especially in one scene that I will talk about later. Overall though, Jax was great and I can’t wait to see more of him in future films.
The rest of the Outworld fighters were serviceable enough for what this movie was going for. Sisi Stringer as Mileena was scary good but she does not appear in the movie for very long. Goro impressed me a lot more than I thought he would. I really liked the obscure characters like Reiko and Nitara: they were essentially there because we need fatalities and best not to kill iconic villains in the first movie. So while they were fodder, I did like their execution. Shang Tsung was more akin to the sinister and wicked version of the character from Mortal Kombat 9 and I think Chin Han nailed that. I know many might have been hoping for him to be just like Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa’s portrayal but I’m glad he didn’t: he went closer to the games while still providing a unique performance for the character. However, he does say a certain line that will make Tagawa’s fans happy.
Finally, that brings us to the big one. The one that everyone was either curious or terrified of: the new character known as Cole Young. Does this character work for me? Without any hesitation, I say YES! I ended up really liking Cole Young and how he was interwoven into the lore of Mortal Kombat.
Understandably, many were worried that Cole Young would be this movie’s equivalent to Alice from the Resident Evil movies. A character created for the movies that made the movie as distant as possible from the games. The difference between Cole and Alice is that Alice was shoehorned in and executed to overshadow what were already bastardized characters from the games. With Cole, he is new but he is only another part of a great cast that brings all the characters to life beautifully. Cole Young is not some overpowered god who makes all the other characters look like nothing, he is actually the one who is overshadowed by other characters for most of the movie.
On top of that, Lewis Tan delivers both as an actor and a fighter: I really enjoyed what he brought to this role. It’s clear how much passion he has for Mortal Kombat and his character which helps in making Cole Young even more engaging. I can see this character evolving and becoming a fan-favorite for the Mortal Kombat lore. Hell, I would love to see Lewis Tan do the voice and motion capture for a Cole Young DLC character in Mortal Kombat 11.
KANDY FOR THE EYES
This movie is gorgeous as hell: for a movie with such a low budget, I was surprised by how beautiful the sets, cinematography, and locations were. There is a surprising amount of practical locations used for both Outworld and Earthrealm, all places that look like perfect stages for a fighting game. My personal favorite location was Raiden’s temple: it had a very unique look to it with tons of easter eggs and details that made me smile.
The special effects for all the characters powers and abilities were surprisingly polished. Kano’s lasers, Liu Kang’s fireballs, Kung Lao’s hat tricks, and Sub-Zero’s cryomancy were all awesome to witness with many of the different abilities coming straight out of the games. Speaking of which, there is a new explanation given to how all these humans have these superhero-esque abilities and I actually really liked it. It kept the movie from having too much exposition and made more sense of it all.
The fight scenes are on another level: every fight was choreographed and performed so well that they make the original movie look like nothing. Nearly every actor is doing the stunt work and fighting on screen with little to no cuts: it makes the fighting feel real and impactful. My only gripe with the fights is that the climax montages the fights all at once (in an effective way, I will say) when I feel like each fight should have been shown off one by one instead of all at once.
KOMPLETE KARNAGE
Remember that one complaint everyone had about the 1995 movie? The one thing even fans of that movie like myself don’t like? The complete lack of gore? Yeah, well, that is not something to worry about here. This one goes all out with an R-rating. Every character (especially Kano and Kabal) drops some F-bombs, the fights are brutal on their own, and then there are the FATALITIES.
By the Elder Gods, there are some beautifully done fatalities in this one. I won’t spoil a single one but there is one fatality that actually shocked me by how gory and twisted it was but because it was directly inspired by the games. It was easily the best one and I could watch the scene on loop because of how well-done it was. So if you are hoping for blood, gore, and horrifically executed deaths: you are going to love this movie just for that.
KOLOSSAL FAN SERVICE
Not going to lie: this movie was definitely made by fans for fans. Nearly every five minutes there are Easter eggs and references that made me jump in my seat and point at the screen going: “OH NO WAY!” “LOOK AT THAT!” “IS THAT?!?” “YOU GUYS DID THAT?!?”
Iconic lines are said, characters’ different outfits are basically skins you’d get in the games, as said fans will recognize certain fatalities, and there are things that will tease future movies that casual viewers might not pick up on. The movie even ends on a teaser that will have any fans cheering and clamoring for the sequel.
KICK-ASS MUSIC
Benjamin Wallfish provides the music for this Mortal Kombat movie and I loved it. I love listening to movie scores all the time and this was one of the best in a long time. It has beautiful and epic orchestral pieces that fit the more modern blockbuster but it also features hints of techno and electronic music to match the games and also tribute the soundtrack of the 1995 movie.
And to answer that question that you might have: yes, THAT song is in the movie…in a way. It’s well implemented into the score and makes for one of the biggest applause-worthy moments of the film.
KAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL
Let me just say that the marketing for this movie is super deceptive. I personally appreciate that because it made me love what this movie was going for. However, I could understand why this would frustrate others. Without spoiling, I’ll just say that this movie takes things in a different but understandable route. I get why they did it, to help establish these characters but some fans will go in expecting something but end up surprised by that something not happening. It’s definitely setting up for sequels to come and I am personally all for it. Bring it on.
KONS
Is Mortal Kombat (2021) a flawless victory of a reboot? No. I don’t think it’s flawless. I think it is great but I do have a couple of things that I think could have been done better. While I had no problem with Reptile’s more saurian design reminiscent of the PS2 era, the character is literally in the movie for like three minutes at the most. It’s a great scene but I hope the sequels find a way to bring him back.
I had the same problem with Lord Raiden. Tadanobu Asano was great as this tough love mentor figure and I think he nailed it whenever he was on screen but he was barely in the movie. He doesn’t even get a single fight. I would have enjoyed at least ONE fight to really cement Asano’s portrayal but at least he was still a great character that I look forward to seeing more of.
The pacing of this movie was done well. Actually a little too well because the little less than two hours almost feels like one hour. I think that this reboot could have benefitted from at least fifteen minutes of extra runtime. This is where I think the climax should have been separate fights instead of a montage like I said previously.
FINISH IT! (OVERALL THOUGHTS)
If it’s not already obvious from the rest of this review: I loved this movie. After so many years of waiting for a proper reboot, I finally got what I wanted. It met my expectations in every way and even exceeded a few of them.
As someone who has grown up playing the games and obsessing over the lore, characters, and stories that the games and movies bring: I had the biggest smile on my face throughout Mortal Kombat (2021). I loved seeing a diverse cast bring these iconic characters to life, the ninjas were top-tier, the fights were out of this world, it was surprisingly funny, and it just did everything I wanted in a Mortal Kombat movie.
This did what it was supposed to do: get past the difficult hurdles of a first movie just enough so they can go all out with the sequels and spin-offs. If New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. want to turn this into the next cinematic universe? I say TAKE ALL OF MY MONEY! I want to see this MKU span over ten years and become some of the highest grossing movies alongside Avengers: Endgame. Hell, maybe at one point, we’ll get Cole Young VS Kronika and I’ll be there on day one. I’m going to give Mortal Kombat (2021) a 9.5/10. Though not flawless, the health bar was still pretty damn full and it won two action-packed rounds.
To Lewis Tan, Hiroyuki Sanada, Joe Taslim, Mehcad Brooks, Jessica McNamee, Chin Han, Ludi Lin, Max Huang, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Nathan Jones, Sisi Stringer, Daniel Nelson, Mel Jarnson, Greg Russo, James Wan, and Simon McQuoid: I say you have won the heart of this Mortal Kombat fangirl.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek related, especially comic book related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
The gory and extremely over-the-top fatalities are awesome and play a big part in what gave Mortal Kombat its legacy. To me, the fatalities are only the icing on top of an already delicious cake that is Mortal Kombat; a franchise that has been an important part of my life even before I was born. Come join me on my retrospective as a fangirl from Earthrealm.
It Has Begun
It all started when my older brother first experienced the original games as a kid. He would play them on the Sega Genesis with his friends. The games are a huge hit at the time for their stellar gameplay, gnarly (at the time) fatalities, and bombastic characters.
It’s these reasons why New Line Cinema and Lawrence Kasanoff saw the potential in a Mortal Kombat movie. Thus in 1995, the first Mortal Kombat movie was released to the public starring Robin Shou, Linden Ashby, Bridgette Wilson, Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, and Christopher Lambert.
For many critics, it was a mess of an action film but those that grew up in the 1990s would celebrate the film and its respect for the source material…for the most part. It is far from a flawless victory but it holds a special place in the hearts of fans including my older brother.
I was born in 1996 and from the moment I was brought into the world, my brother indoctrinated me. There are old home videos of me as a baby and my brother can be heard singing the famous Techno Syndrome song by The Immortals as he played with me.
Since he was seven years older than myself, as I grew up, I inherited pretty much everything he had which included clothes, games, and VHS tapes (google it if you’re too young to remember). One of these VHS tapes was a little movie called Mortal Kombat.
He would put it in, the New Line Cinema logo rolled into view and we heard that shouting of: “MORTAL KOMBAT!!!” Without even having played the games before, the intro alone got me to jam out and get me excited for the fantasy/martial arts adventure. Ever since that day, I have grown up adoring Mortal Kombat as one of my favorite films.
Like I said, it is not technically a good movie but the memories of loving the characters, pretending to fight with my brother like the characters, the music, the atmosphere. It all left me with so many memories that I will never forget and I doubt my brother never will either.
We even grew up watching the one and only Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. We can still put it on and have a good time but not in the way the filmmakers had hoped. Annihilation is one of the most amazingly bad movies that my brother and I burst into tears of laughter every time we watch it. It is arguably worse than Batman & Robin of the same year: 1997.
My First Mortal Kombat Game
This shared admiration for Mortal Kombat (1995) led to us getting our first Mortal Kombat video game we had ever actually owned. It was the early 2000s, we had our PlayStation 2, and we booted up the newest entry at the time which was Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Jax, Sonya, Shang Tsung, so many of the characters that we loved brought to a graphical fidelity and epicness that made our jaws drop. Yeah, the game is not much to look back on these days but we still loved it and even to this day, we will put it on and play some matches just for fun…but likely swap back to Mortal Kombat 11 soon after.
Since he was one of my favorites from the movie, I experimented with Johnny Cage in Deadly Alliance. This would mark the beginning of my love for Johnny Cage as I would always play and main the character in other games. He might not always be my main but I always anticipate his return in every game.
My brother would always pick Sub-Zero and he mastered the character. This tradition would carry over into Mortal Kombat: Armageddon which acted as the finale of the series at the time. Sadly, Armageddon is a pretty poor game but back in 2006, seeing every single character from the lore on there made us love it. Even to this day, the Konquest story mode featuring Taven remains a personal favorite of mine to revisit.
The thing that always brings me back to Armageddon, however, is the opening cinematic. Wow, did this cinematic rock: it was an epic war that rivaled the likes of Avengers: Endgame. I get chills every time I watch it.
Start Of The New Era
From there, Mortal Kombat took a nose dive since new games weren’t coming. I ended up going back and playing older games including the original Mortal Kombat. Then from out of the blue came Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe: yes, this was a thing that happened. Mortal Kombat characters battling superheroes and villains from the DC Universe in a weird yet oddly entertaining crossover that made little to no sense.
It wasn’t very good but it proved to be important because this would result in Mortal Kombat coming back a few years later in a reboot simply titled Mortal Kombat (2011). However, rather than completely rebooting and erasing what had come prior, Mortal Kombat (2011) AKA Mortal Kombat 9 would actually act as a sequel. The events of Armageddon lead to Raiden sending visions back in time to his past self, a form of time travel to try and prevent Armageddon.
Mortal Kombat 9 was the first game in the series that I bought for myself and I am so glad I did. It was a stunning gem that showed the potential for Mortal Kombat‘s universe and storytelling, feeling like a giant six hour epic movie. It took the stories of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy and merged them into a familiar story that wasn’t afraid to reinvent. There were twists, turns, and new events that took the mythology in totally new ways.
From beginning to end, I was in awe as I experienced the beginning of a new era for Mortal Kombat. I was reintroduced to Richard Epcar who has become the definitive voice for Raiden. Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s rivalry along with Sub-Zero’s brother were given so much more development. My favorite character Johnny Cage was still my main, changed back to his more classic depiction while still giving him enough depth to make him an actual character. One that would evolve throughout the next few games.
Rise And Fall Of A Legacy
So I was hyped, I needed more Mortal Kombat so I waited anxiously for the next game but I would have to wait longer than expected. However, in the same year, Mortal Kombat would get a web series known as Mortal Kombat: Legacy. It was a dark and gritty reboot that would take things in a more realistic angle. The first season set the characters up perfectly with Ian Anthony Dale providing a picture perfect Hanzo Hasashi AKA Scorpion.
It set the stage for the tournament to come in the second season. So I eagerly awaited said season and I got it in 2013…but I ended up being disappointed. While I am not some purist that wants everything to be like the games, I did find the changes made to Legacy‘s mythology to be strange. For example, Liu Kang was now a villain representing Outworld and all the build up for Johnny Cage led to him being portrayed as a weakling who was easily defeated.
The second season was also rushed with so many fights ending way too fast and characters deaths happening within the blink of an eye. Also, certain characters from the first season never returned including Jax, Sonya, Kano, Cyrax, and Sektor who were all setup perfectly. It also ended on a really bad cliffhanger that never got a follow up so season two killed Mortal Kombat: Legacy by losing track of itself.
A New Generation
So I was without Mortal Kombat for a bit longer until the PS4 era hit and Mortal Kombat X came in 2015. Much like Mortal Kombat 9, the tenth game took a lot of risks but it ended up paying off perfectly. It jumped ahead two decades, introduced new characters including the Kombat Kids, Kotal Kahn, Erron Black, and more. It still kept many of the same iconic characters but expanded upon them, showing them as veteran fighters of Earthrealm. This includes my favorite character: Johnny Cage who was now the star of the game which made me nearly drop in shock. A cocky, comic relief character had evolved into a leader and a family man…while still providing comedy.
The new characters are great too both from a storytelling and gameplay perspective: Cassie Cage, Jaquci Briggs, Kung Jin, and Takeda Takahashi were all super fun to play. They never felt like watered down versions of the legacy characters: they left their own stamp. They all had origins and character arcs that I really enjoyed and I also found their variations fun to learn. I played Mortal Kombat X with my brother and it brought us right back to the days playing Deadly Alliance and watching the 1995 movie.
Then DLC came along and as someone who loves horror movies? I was astounded by the likes of Jason Voorhees, Predator, and the character who would end up becoming my new main: Alien. Not only did it appeal to me as a huge Aliens fan but his gameplay was so well-executed that he could overpower every character on the roster. Then add the awesome lore that this Xenomorph is the result of bonding with Tarkatan genes? That pleased me as an Alien and Mortal Kombat fangirl at once.
It couldn’t possibly get better than this. Oh, how wrong we were…
A Time Of Greatness
2019 comes around and we are given an absolutely gorgeous first look at Mortal Kombat 11. The graphical fidelity made Mortal Kombat X look like it was from the PS2 era. However, it was not just looks because it seemed like it was doing everything right: massive roster, intense gameplay, character customization that we already loved in Injustice 2, and more new characters.
When April 23rd hit, we could not have been more excited to boot up the game. Unfortunately, my brother and I live separately so we each experienced the game on our own but that did not stop either of us from absolutely adoring every second of Mortal Kombat 11. When a game is able to make me cry within the first fifteen minutes of the story? That’s nothing but applause worthy.
With tons of Easter eggs, references, classic characters, new characters, a new villain, and so much being bombarded, my jaw was on the floor by the end of Mortal Kombat 11‘s story. It was like everything I had experienced in my life as a Mortal Kombat fan had culminated into that game there. And I haven’t even talked about the gameplay which is so buttery smooth and fun to master: not a single character on the roster is bad. Even the ones that I rarely even touch, I can still have a lot of fun with and enjoy unlocking their gear and skins. I am not ashamed to call Mortal Kombat 11 the best game in the entire franchise and this is back when there was only the base roster and story.
Little did I know that we’d get a plethora of new characters that were all great and even a new story that continues where the MK11 story ended. It brought back my favorite villain of all time with Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa as the face and voice of Shang Tsung, my most requested character Fujin, and continued the already epic story. I even did a whole review on this second story known as Aftermathif you wish to read it.
The Hype Is Rebooted
As a Mortal Kombat fangirl, I was already head over heels because the developers at Netherrealm Studios brought my back to my childhood. I was back to watching that 90s movie but as the perfect game that honors and tributes that movie in so many ways. At the time, my hopes for a new Mortal Kombat movie were mild at best.
There had been rumblings of a reboot for almost ten years at that point so I kind of doubted the movie would even get made. Then I heard casting news: Ludi Lin as Liu Kang? What? Okay then! Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion? 100% YES! Joe Taslim as Sub-Zero, Mehcad Brooks as Jax, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, and even Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden? Okay, I was starting to get hyped…until things went silent. Everything about Mortal Kombat was kept so under wraps that it was hard to know what was going on. Was production going on okay? Any problems while filming?
We didn’t even get a single look at the logo until 2020 was almost over. I’ll admit, I was starting to get nervous since we didn’t get any pictures, any teasers, only some words from the writers and director that gave me some faith. Finally…it happened.
Promo images hit the internet and instantly, my hype was back and I wanted to see more. Fatalities were confirmed. Lewis Tan was confirmed as a brand new character. More info and promotional material released making me excited. Posters featuring the characters started dropping to build hype for a trailer that week. The hype was real because these characters looked amazing! I NEEDED THAT TRAILER!
Then it happened, on February 18th, 2021 the first trailer for the Mortal Kombat reboot dropped and I was stunned with a look of shock on my face. The characters look perfect, the cinematography was perfect, the powers look perfect, the fights look perfect, the lore looked perfect, and the trailer featured a orchestral cover of Techno Syndrome that sounded, you guessed it, perfect. I needed April to GET OVER HERE!
More featurettes and TV spots have been released, making me more excited than ever leading me to where we are today as I write this. It is currently April 22nd, 2021 which means Mortal Kombat hits theaters and HBO Max tomorrow. It doesn’t feel real, honestly. My most anticipated movie of the year is arriving tomorrow and I could not be more ready for it. Yes, I’m even excited to see this new character: Cole Young.
Soon, my brother is coming over and we are going to chill at home to watch our childhood franchise come back once again and transport us to Outworld, Earthrealm, and the Netherrealm once again.
This is what Mortal Kombat means to me as a woman in her twenties these days. It’s memories, family, and fun times that make me smile through interesting characters, bombastic adventures, tons of crazy gore, and unforgettable music. Everyone has their thing: this is what my brother and I still have in our twenties and thirties.
Some people can list off every alien species in the Star Trek universe or breakdown the history of Hogwarts from the Wizarding World. Meanwhile, I can tell you Reptile’s real name and list off the commands for multiple fatalities across several games. If it’s Mortal Kombat-related, I can tell you about it in great detail. Even the forgotten animated series from the 90s that nobody remembers.
Scorpion throwing his kunai, Liu Kang summoning a dragon, Sub-Zero freezing things: it’s our childhood brought to life in a way that we had only dreamed about since we were playing games like Deadly Alliance.
I look forward to giving you all my review of the new movie as soon as possible.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek related, especially comic book related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
To start this, I was someone who always believed that the infamous Snyder Cut did exist. However, I also believed that Warner Bros. would not release it in our lifetime. Look how long it took for them to release Richard Donner’s Superman II. So, while I was all for the Snyder Cut, I did not believe it would happen. Then, us DC fans were shocked when Zack Snyder himself unveiled that not only would it be coming but it would be an exclusive to the new HBO Max streaming service. I was ecstatic and could not wait to witness Zack get what he deserved back in 2017.
Thanks to WarnerMedia for letting me see the film early so I can take my time to process my thoughts and write this review! While I originally did not hate the Joss Whedon version when I first saw it, I do now after seeing how much he destroyed what Zack Snyder created.
What we got in 2017 is a children’s fan film in comparison to what Mr. Snyder has given us. Those who thought that Zack Snyder’s version would just be an extended cut of the same mediocre movie are 100% wrong and I am so glad that they are.
A New Age Of Heroes
The four hour runtime is not just for padding. That four hours allows Zack to not only bring back existing characters like Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman but introduce The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. All six of these heroes are given their own personal stories and a chance to be developed with almost all scenes featuring these characters playing out entirely different.
No longer is Batman this weak and unimportant character like in the Whedon version. This is Ben Affleck’s Batman at arguably his best as he now feels like a continuation of what was established in Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice. He’s dark, he’s a badass but he’s evolved since Dawn Of Justice, becoming the leader figure that the team needs. Ben Affleck’s passion for the character comes through with Snyder as the director: he no longer looks depressed or bored.
Wonder Woman is no longer there to just be eye-candy. Gal Gadot brings the same amount of warmth and compassion she brought in her first solo movie while still acting as a fearsome warrior that can take on interdimensional beings. Gone are the scenes that Joss Whedon used to butcher the character: nearly all her scenes are different, much like Ben’s Batman scenes.
Aquaman is less of a laid-back surfer and he’s much closer to the loner we see at the beginning of James Wan’s movie. He’s not given an incredible amount of development but the extra scenes under Snyder’s vision are much better than what we got in 2017. Jason Momoa is still the badass Aquaman we’ve always known as loved since he debuted but executed so much better under Zack Snyder’s vision.
Finally, there are the two that honestly shocked me: Ezra Miller’s Flash and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. I enjoyed these two the most in the 2017 version but now? They were my favorite characters in the whole movie. Ezra’s Barry Allen is no longer this scared and incompetent clown: he’s got more control of the Speed Force, he’s more confident, he actually contributes to the fights rather than just running around and making quips. Sure, he still provides the comedic relief but it’s healthy comic relief that actually enhances the scene. And Barry is able to take things much more seriously when its required, allowing Ezra to show off his skills as an actor. Barry ends up being one of the most important members of the team and his Speed Force scenes are mind-bogglingly well-done, especially in the climax. This has me too excited for his upcoming spinoff movie!
My absolute favorite though comes in the form of Cyborg, who is already one of my favorite comic book characters. Ray Fisher suffered the most when it came to the Whedon version. Whedon took this character and completely destroyed him whereas Snyder essentially made this movie his origin story and there is so much shown: from his accident, his love for his mother, his tension with his father, and slowly becoming a superhero over the course of the movie.
Cyborg comes so much closer to what Marv Wolfman created back in Tales Of The New Teen Titans. He’s suffering because he’s lost his entire life but he grows and becomes more accepting of himself as Victor Stone AKA Cyborg. Easily, some of the best scenes are with Ray Fisher just going off, nailing this character perfectly in my eyes. Even his CGI is a million times better than what we got in 2017. Ray Fisher to me IS Cyborg and he deserves a chance to return and if Warner Bros. is really going to let Ray go and enable what the filmmakers did to him? Then they don’t deserve him. #IStandWithRayFisher
A Symbol Of Hope
Remember the terrible CGI lip? Remember the cringe-worthy dialogue? Remember the absolute waste of Henry Cavill’s talents that made the first two movies feel pointless? All of that is completely gone! Almost every scene featuring Superman is different and even the stuff that was featured in the Whedon version is extended and plays out much different. This is the true finale to Superman’s story arc with Henry Cavill becoming the Superman fans know and love from the comics while still maintaining the themes and style of Snyder’s world.
The black suit was enough to make me want to drop to my knees but everything he does in the climax is so much better in every way. Even him rediscovering who he truly is allowed Henry Cavill to showcase that he is not just a brilliant actor but was born to play this character.
Zack Snyder also manages to homage scenes from Man Of Steel and, as a Superman fangirl and a lover of Man Of Steel, I was crying. Warner Bros. I don’t ask for much in life, I really don’t. I’m a happy fangirl who is willing to watch any DC project and I’m likely going to love it. That being said: GIVE HENRY CAVILL ANOTHER SOLO FILM!
Villainy Is Scary Again
The villains that make us feel sorry for them or empathize with them are always cool but it can get old. Zack Snyder does not pull his punches with these villains. Let’s start with one of the biggest flaws with the 2017 version and that is Steppenwolf who was a lame villain with horrible CGI. Even Ciaran Hinds stated that it was not the character he worked so hard on.
Zack Snyder’s Steppenwolf is a beast from beginning to end. From the biomechanical armor that is beautifully animated, the new alien-like design, and more. Steppenwolf is a fearsome alien warrior that earns the Justice League’s attention through his deadly methods, strength, and willpower. Most of the reason why Zack Snyder’s Justice League even has an R-rating is because of Steppenwolf. He slices people into pieces, his voice is demonic, and he tortures people in horrific ways. On top of all that, Steppenwolf actually has his own motivations and story for why he’s doing all these horrific things. I’d argue that Steppenwolf is the best villain in the DC Extended Universe thus far.
And he’s not even the main villain because we are also introduced to Darkseid who, in my personal opinion, was portrayed PERFECTLY. Ray Porter’s modulated voice sounds exactly like how I expect Darkseid to sound and his design is straight out of an Injustice game. He’s used just enough to hype up the character without him feeling shoehorned. His presence is made clear and I cannot wait to possibly see him in a sequel.
Music Of The Gods
Danny Elfman’s score in the 2017 version was…meh. Nothing really stood out except for his theme for the Speed Force. Well, Zack Snyder teamed up with Tom Holkenborg for the new soundtrack and it is insanely unique. It reminds me of the soundtracks from the new Doom games with heavy metal mixing with orchestral compositions to create some banging themes for the characters.
This one is my favorite of the soundtrack
Zack Snyder At His Best
I’ve always been a fan of his work since I saw Watchmen in 2009 and he inspired me to want to pursue filmmaking. I adored Man Of Steel, I love the Ultimate Cut of Dawn Of Justice, but his best work can be found in his Justice League.
Zack has a way of filming battles and powers in such a way that it’s unlike any other filmmaker. The way he handles the Speed Force is so original and unique that I can’t compare it to anything else. Every character is given so much more to do in the fights as well, making the climax of this movie making the previous two movies look like nothing. However, that is not to say that Zack is only good for action: all of the characters’ dialogue is more thought out and meaningful and under his direction, the chemistry between the actors all come through.
Everything feels so much more natural and the four hour runtime gives Zack the time to flesh every character our beautifully. Even a character like Silas Stone had me smiling, laughing, and tearing up because Zack made me care about him. Whereas in the 2017 version, Silas felt like an afterthought, much like Cyborg.
Every single frame of Zack Snyder’s Justice League was jaw-droppingly beautiful and he paces the movie so well that it does not feel like four hours at all. Actually, I checked my phone to see the time, already a little blown away by what I had been seeing so far and I still had another two hours left!
This Is Not The End (SKIP THIS SECTION TO AVOID SPOILERS)
Most can agree that Warner Bros. really did not treat Zack well and they pushed him into a corner before forcing him out completely. How fitting, that Zack would push back in the most non-aggressive manner possible.
Through his version and his extra scenes that he was able to shoot, Zack sets up more stories to come. These fan service moments are perfect, including Harry Lennix finally unveiled as Martian Manhunter: a cameo I was fangirling over to the point of tears.
The meeting of Deathstroke and Lex Luthor was actually done way better to set up the Legion Of Doom. It’s a similar scene but extended and with a bomb drop that will make things intense in a sequel.
The Knightmare future setting up another Justice League movie features an amazing first-time sharing of the screen between Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker. These two were great together and I cannot wait to see them reunite for the rumored Batman series. Though the CGI was very unpolished, I didn’t mind because it all executed so well that it was impossible not to love it.
If Warner Bros. does not greenlight these projects for the future? There is going to be a lot of angry fans at their doors. A perfect payback that will guarantee that Zack will be brought back and I, for one, hope he does.
Overall Thoughts
I could go on and on about how much I loved Zack Snyder’s Justice League. It was one of the most thrilling cinematic experiences of my life and it was all from my living room. The characters, the story, the action, the visuals, the music, everything was absolutely stellar. This four hour event was akin to The Lord Of The Rings: pure epic spectacle of action, horror, storytelling, and characters.
I personally did not have a single flaw with the movie. It was, in my opinion, the best movie of the DC Extended Universe and a perfect example of why directors should always be allowed to put out their vision. Even if people don’t like it, it’s still their vision and tampering with it or destroying it to replace it with something else is nothing but fraudulence and disrespectful.
Mr. Zack Snyder, you have created a masterpiece that I will never forget. It’s been one hell of a journey for you and the fans and I was so happy to be a part of it. You have reignited my passion for storytelling and I hope to create superhero stories as you do.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League gets nothing else but a 10/10 rating. If you have HBO Max, please watch it.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek related, especially comic book related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
If it’s not obvious by my reviews for The Mummy (2017) and The Wolfman (2010), I am a huge fan of the Universal monsters. I grew up with them and I have been wanting reboots for all of them, including my personal favorite Universal monster: the Invisible Man. That’s why I was so excited back in 2020 for the release of The Invisible Man, directed by one of the most underrated directors: Leigh Whannell.
I saw it right when it first came out and I am just now getting to my review. Why, you may ask? Well, sadly The Invisible Man (2020) turned out to be one of my most depressing times watching a Universal monster movie. I really wanted to love the movie but I just couldn’t. Let’s get into it…
Beautifully Shot
Starting with my positives, one of the things I knew Leigh Whannell was going to deliver with was the way he films a movie. Every single frame of The Invisible Man is gorgeous and almost resembles panels seen from a graphic novel.
In the third act, Leigh Whannell embraces his Upgrade-style of camera work to show the Invisible Man taking out people in an insane asylum. It’s easily my favorite part of the movie since it finally turned into what I wanted from an Invisible Man reboot.
Elisabeth Moss Is God Tier
While I do have issues with the character which we will get to, what I cannot ignore is that Elisabeth Moss gives a great performance. I truly bought her as this broken traumatized individual being pushed into madness over the course of the runtime.
The same can be said for the rest of the cast. Everyone does a great job with what they’re given, especially Aldis Hodge as James. I personally wanted to see more of that character throughout.
This marks the end of my positives. Be ready…
A Boring Villain
How do you take The Invisible Man, one of the most charismatic and bombastic villains ever created and make him a wooden slate? I know that Oliver Jackson-Cohen is a capable actor who can deliver a great performance as shown from his time as Lucas on The Haunting Of Hill House. He was the one thing I was the most excited about besides Leigh Whannell.
Unfortunately, Jackson-Cohen is horribly wasted as Adrian Griffin. Part of the reason why The Invisible Man works is because so much emotion and personality comes through the actor’s voice. Whether it’s the eccentric Claude Rains, the charming Vincent Price, or the twisted Kevin Bacon: they provided a memorable character through just their voice and body movements.
Adrian Griffin never gets to do that. From the start, Griffin is portrayed as a silent and sinister psychopath who is abusive. Even when he’s invisible, Jackson-Cohen is given little to no dialogue and when he is finally able to speak, it’s just typical creepy serial killer/stalker stuff we’ve all heard before. I honestly cannot remember a single line of dialogue from Adrian.
On top of that, the character lacks any development. He starts as a psychopath and continues to be a psychopath throughout. With Claude Rains’ Griffin, we start off with him a bit unhinged but they also establish that he was once a good scientist. The formula and extended time as an invisible being is what makes him descend into madness and turn into a villain. Even Kevin Bacon’s Sebastian Caine, though a cocky and overly ambitious man, was still just a scientist and he evolves into the twisted, evil murderer over the course of the movie.
With Adrian, the character is sidelined and given zero development so his evil side just comes off as a hollow shell of what the character should be. Now a character can be evil without development: look at Michael Myers or Pennywise for easily the best examples. At least those villains provide enough substance for me to either be intrigued or intimidated by them. With Adrian, I just found him to be nothing more than a bland slate.
Cecelia Is The Worst Protagonist
Okay, so The Invisible Man goes for this invisible stalker concept. Not a bad concept on paper but it falls apart with the main character: Cecelia. She is an abused woman trying to escape the clutches of her ex and dealing with the trauma of her relationship. That’s when Adrian comes to toy with her and torment her until she breaks. Again, great concept but Cecelia is one of the most unlikable characters.
Throughout, she treats others horribly and actually makes her situation worse most of the time. In a modern age, there are so many ways she could expose him (which I will get to later) but she ends up doing the bare minimum and acts so much like a maniac that it comes off as unbelievable that she is unaware how she must look and sound.
Like I said, Elisabeth Moss gives a great performance but the character itself makes all the worst decisions possible and gives me no reason to root for her. This especially becomes the case in the last twenty minutes when the character makes a choice that basically just makes me hate her.
It Suffers From Blumhouse Syndrome
Blumhouse is known for haunting movies like Insidious and Paranormal Activity…and it shows. While the concept of an invisible stalker sound nice on paper, the execution is basically just a clone of movies like those I mentioned.
Someone moves into a new house, the person notices small changes like things being moved or activated. As days pass, the strange happenings keep getting more and more intense which drives the main character into mania and desperation. Sound familiar? That’s because the first two thirds of The Invisible Man are literally those movies almost beat for beat. The only thing keeping it from seeming like a generic haunting movie is that everyone already knows it’s an an invisible stalker by the title of the movie! The movie even tries to trick audiences by saying Griffin committed suicide, to make it seem like she’s being haunted (literally) by his ghost. Well, shocker here: he’s just invisible.
There Is No Invisible Man
The title should have been revamped to “The Cloaked Man” because this movie takes things in a more “realistic” direction by having Griffin be nothing but a man in a suit featuring cloaking tech.
Now I hate to view myself as a purist and I usually welcome changes in a reboot. In this case, I personally did not care for the high-tech suit idea. Not only does it remove a large part of what made the original book and movies so appealing but it raises more questions than answers.
Does Griffin eat? Does Griffin just sleep with that suit on? Does Griffin wait until everybody is asleep to go to the bathroom? And here’s the big one: this technological marvel is created with perfect cloaking technology which could allow Griffin to become one of the most powerful men in the world….and he uses it to stalk his ex?
On top of all this, the entire time I was looking at this suit: all I could think of was that not only was it a rehash of every Blumhouse haunting movie but it also rehashed an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. A deranged man in a cloaking suit stalking his ex-wife? Yeah, pretty similar. Sure, their methods and motivations are different but the similarities are still noticeable. The worst part is that Batman: The Animated Series did this concept so much better in under thirty minutes!
The Suit Makes No Sense
Yes, it’s a sci-fi thriller about an invisible killer so it’s not really supposed to make much sense. However, Leigh Whannell and company were determined to make this the grounded and realistic take on the character via the suit. So, my mind immediately started pondering this fancy suit the filmmakers created and I could not believe how many flaws I found with this suit.
First off, what kind of power source does it use? If he is stalking Cecelia for weeks at a time, how much life does its power source have? Then there is the way it works which at first I thought I liked. It uses hundreds of cameras to project the surroundings onto the suit thus hiding him. Not bad and is similar to cloaking tech used in the real world but…there is an issue.
The cameras on the suit are everywhere on the suit, right? What about the bottoms of his feet? He can’t have cameras down there because they would just be seeing blackness when he stands still and it’s doubtful that he’s walking on cameras. So, what is cloaking the bottoms?
Plus this suit remains 100% clean at all times. Even after Cecelia pours paint on him, the suit remains immaculate. I find it unlikely that the camera lenses never get any dirt or scum on them from all the running around he does. Speaking of…
Does Griffin Have Super Powers?
This was one of my biggest issues: Adrian is either a speedster straight out of the DC universe or he can teleport. It is ridiculous how quickly Adrian catches up with Cecelia in several scenes. There is a scene where she actually drives miles away to Adrian’s home and he arrives on foot in just minutes? What?
The same thing happens again when she attacks him and then leaves, driving miles back into the city to meet with her sister. Literally, minutes later as they talking, Adrian arrives. Even in the opening scene when he’s still just a regular guy, he somehow tracked her through the woods right to the exact spot where she is hiding with her sister in her car. Even Jason Voorhees would be accusing this guy of turning on god-mode. The same for when she is trying to expose him: I have trouble believing that he can move so fast without being undetected via sound.
He’s Invisible, Not Ethereal
As mentioned, Cecelia does the bare minimum in trying to expose Adrian’s invisibility. Most of the time she just tries to point and yell at where she just saw him. Not just once though, she says it multiple times…again and again and again. As if Adrian is stupid enough to just stay in one place to let himself get exposed.
However, in the 21st century, an invisible being could easily be detected in so many other ways. Liquid, powders, spray paints, motion detectors, lasers, etc. I have zero way of believing that Cecelia is the only one who detects Adrian’s presence. Unless he’s trained to be a ninjas, I doubt even he can be this undetectable.
What Is His Plan?
Due to having no development of our villain, Griffin’s entire scheme ends up just being confusing. So he’s stalking his ex because he thinks that tormenting her will end up making her fall back into his arms? Wait, what? Oh, and he’s obsessed with Cecelia having his child. Okay…why?
Nothing about this plot makes any sense. So not only are we rehashing Paranormal Acitivty and Batman: The Animated Series but now we’re rehashing a typical obsessed stalker movie? At this point, I gave up on the movie and realized that it no longer had any identity.
Overall Thoughts
The Invisible Man (2020) is only The Invisible Man by name. Everything else is just a bland hodge podge of other stories’ concepts featuring an “invisible” antagonist. It struggles to find an identity of its own so it just rehashes other movies and TV shows but does them worse by featuring a miswritten titular villain, an unlikable lead, stripping away too much of what makes The Invisible Man so iconic, and creating a story that is not scary. The twists it tries to do with the concept not only feel unnecessary but end up raising too many questions that bog the movie down.
I honestly found more enjoyment in The Mummy (2017) than I did this soulless reboot. Not only was I just bored by what it tried to do but I was also disappointed as a lifelong fan of the the original book and previous film incarnations. I give The Invisible Man (2020) my rating of a 4/10. It is a mediocre stalker film at best and a terrible Universal monster movie at its worst.
At this point, I’ve given up hope on a decent return for the legendary Universal monsters.
You’re all SO SWEET for making it this far and I hope you all enjoyed this review! I write about anything geek related, especially comic book related stuff so if you want to stay up to date with all the reviews, news breakdowns, and lists I do, make sure to follow this blog or follow me on Twitter @MelodyMacReady ! Love you all!
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13072509/predator2.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69162141/rev_1_MK_FP_0004_High_Res_JPEG.0.jpeg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/69164631/kano_laser.0.jpg)
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/68980366/snyder_jl.0.jpeg)
Melody's Marvels 