Rating: 2/5 When I watched Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, I thought it was a poor spoof of The Avengers that took place in space. Nonetheless, I found it different from any other MCU film and I appreciated its jokes. Sadly, I can't say the same of James Gunn's second instalment. It's clear from the start that Volume II is trying to ride the wave of success of its predecessor. Accompanying the opening credits, Baby Groot dances to Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra, while the Guardians are busy fighting an alien octopus in the background. This sequence reveals the abysmal difference between the two films. The Guardians seem tired; their initial jokes, which should be a warming up session before the real fun kicks in, will turn out to be the only jokes, repeated over and over; and the debatable quality of the visual effects makes the battle painful to watch, if not to fight. However, it can't be said that the beginning doesn't do its job, as it effectively sets the tone for the entire film: '80s music, pointless action, and forced humour. The story progresses with the introduction of the Sovereign, a race of golden-skinned nerds whose greatest achievement is any gamer's wet dream: a spaceship full of gaming stations to pilot remotely controlled spaceships. One would expect the Sovereign and their golden empress Ayesha to be a subplot, but in the end they play the same role as wallpaper in a rather messy room. No one really sees them. At last, the Guardians encounter Ego, an all-powerful being who announces he's Quill's father. Quill decides to follow him on a quest to discover his origins, causing the team to split and therefore establishing the underlying theme: the separation and reunion of a family. Then we have to sit through more than an hour of Quill, Gamora, Drax, and their new friend Mantis sitting around and chatting. Like a sitcom, but with less action. In the meantime, Baby Groot, Rocket, and Yondu have to escape Yondu's former pirate crew in order to save their fellow team members from Ego's megalomaniac tendencies. Of the two storylines, the latter is at least eventful, whereas the former just drags on, filled with expositional dialogue and the same one-liners about Rocket's rodent nature, Quill's inadequacy, and Mantis's alleged lack of visual appeal. When the much anticipated Heroes versus Villains final showdown takes place, it's difficult to enjoy it: too many characters compete for our attention, already exhausted by a cocktail of CGI evoking sad memories of Suicide Squad. Even the Sovereign make a comeback, which is just as absurd as their introduction and ends when their video game platforms break down. If anything, Gunn nailed the emotional impact of that particular scene on an audience of geeks. Overall, Guardians of the Galaxy - Vol. II has a simplistic plot that stretches out for two hours and a half for no better reason than "we really like to make these characters talk to each other." Except the Guardians seem to have left their humour and bite back in Vol. I.
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Rating: 5/5 Director James Mangold's and writer Scott Frank's new Wolverine story packs a clawed punch. Logan is the clever answer to a difficult question: how to make a Wolverine solo film without affecting the other X-Men titles? Well, you set the story in the future – or a future, courtesy of the Marvel multiverse. The year is 2029, and mutants are extinct. Or nearly so. Logan (Hugh Jackman) is still around, with some grey in his hair (and beard) and considerably diminished powers. He doesn't heal too well and has trouble with his claws. He works as a chauffeur to pay for the drugs 90-year-old Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) needs to ward off brain seizures that seem to alter time and endanger people's lives. World's most wanted, with Xavier's brain listed as a weapon of mass destruction, the two of them live in relative peace in an abandoned building in Mexico with mutant-tracking Caliban (Stephen Merchant). That is, until Gabriela (Elizabeth Rodriguez) comes begging for a ride to North Dakota for herself and her "daughter" Laura (Dafne Keen). When Gabriela is killed, Laura hides in Logan's car to escape Donald Pierce (Boyd Holbrook). Pierce and his men are on the hunt for all the mutant children escaped from a clinic where they are created using mutant DNA. Now Wolverine has to decide whether to leave his quiet haven for a potentially suicidal trip to save the life of a girl he doesn't even know. Once he finds out she has claws to rival his own and she is more to him than he imagines, it's hard to say no. His choice marks the beginning of a journey across Mexico and the States to reach Eden, a safe place for these young new mutants. Yet the journey isn't only physical; the emotional tension stays high for nearly three hours of run time as Logan and Laura slowly build a touching relationship, with a climax that will break even a heart of adamantium. Mangold and Frank blend feelings and butt-kicking together skilfully, alternating slow, character-driven sequences with fast-paced fights featuring plenty of guns, blood, and mutilations. Entertaining as the massacres are, it's in the slower scenes that we unravel the core of the story: for instance, when Logan, Xavier, and Laura accept to have dinner with a family they helped on the way to Eden, Xavier encourages Logan to savour this moment. The episode reveals Logan's longing for a family, a desire unbeknownst to him until it is personified by our heroes' hosts. Admittedly, the road trip and the emotional journey eclipse the Transigen threat. Pierce and Zander Rice (Richard E. Grant), head doctor of Transigen, have very little screen time and personality; moreover, the final battle is way too quick and anticlimatic. Regardless, this doesn't impact too negatively on the overall cinematic experience. There will come a time when an X-Men film will feature a truly fearsome enemy, but Logan isn't that time. Nonetheless, you won't regret the ticket, whether you're missing some good ol' violence à la Weapon X or you're waiting for the denouement to Logan's eternal struggle between beast and human. Rating: 4/5 Marvel Avengers Academy is a free app available for both iOS and Android devices, released on February 4th, 2016, by TinyCo. In this tap and wait game, you get to build your own Academy of young heroes and villains from the Marvel Universe. Under the watchful eyes of Professor Hank Pym, Director Nick Fury, and Odin All-Father, no less, they study and train to fight A.I.M. and Hydra, which run two rival schools. According to rumours, there is an intergalactic academy, too; maybe a hint at the Guardians of the Galaxy? By completing short missions, you earn rewards: Coins to buy upgrades, buildings, and decorations for the campus; Shards to purchase special equipment and bonus characters; and other tools, needed to upgrade or unlock new recruits. Quests – series of short missions, that is – help you progress the story. You carry out each mission by assigning your characters a number of required tasks, which have hilarious names like “Plot world domination” or “Practice pick-up lines”. At the same time, you have to investigate the mystery behind the “timefog” that clouds some areas of the campus, looking into what Fury, Pym, and Odin are hiding from the students. Soon to come is also a dating feature, Save The Date, a novelty for both city-building games and Marvel games. According to an interview with Jeremey Horn, General Manager of TinyCo., we will be able to send our favourite characters on dates and get them a boyfriend or girlfriend. The game is still in its early stages, therefore you may experience some awkward glitches or get stuck at the same level until the release of a new update. For instance, as of today you can only get up to level 29, after which missions and quests stop giving experience points until the developers introduce new levels. It’s my favourite video game-slash-obsession. One of its best aspects is the high quality of overall graphic and animations. Quests and missions are varied and fun, while the interactions are amusing and sometimes provide priceless fangirl material. For example, if you are a FrostIron fan, get ready for some very juicy dialogue and a “Study together” quest that looks a lot like a date in disguise. The potential couples, anyway, are many more, at least given the number of ambiguous interactions the students share: just to name a few, Black Widow and Iron Man, Falcon and Kamala, and Amora and pretty much every boy in the game. Whereas some may find the waiting annoying, I believe it’s a good stratagem to engage with occasional, busy gamers like me. That way, I don’t have to spend hours playing, but I can just hop in occasionally to check up on my heroes. Less commitment, same amount of fun. Convenient, isn’t it? Whether you are a long-time Marvel fan, a city-building games aficionado, or a sucker for dating games, Marvel Avengers Academy will have something for you. But Nick Fury’s patience is notoriously low, so sign up soon! Rating: 2/5 A more accurate title would be Batman v Superman: Property Damage. Zack Snyder’s latest superheroic stunt, released in the UK on March 25th, is a monument to epic, jaw-dropping, and utterly unnecessary destruction. The two cities where the story unfolds, Gotham and Metropolis, seem to take turns in being levelled to the ground by heroes and monsters. It’s the true competition between the main characters: whose city will be annihilated first? At least that would be a clear plot, because Snyder’s storyline is anything but easy to follow. The focus alternates between Superman, who is unjustly accused of murder and tries to regain the world’s trust, and Batman, who beats up some questionable people because he’s Batman–– I mean, to find a lump of kryptonite to protect the world from Superman, who Bruce fears is uncontrollable. Throw in a young and haired version of Lex Luthor, Diana Prince, better known as Wonder Woman, and random computer files about other metahumans, hinting at a future Justice League’s film à la Avengers. Add several tons of gratuitous violence and just a pinch of clichéd dialogue. Seriously, they share more punches than words. Batman v Superman has fascinating premises, such as the endless fight between mortal and divine, “God against man,” quoting Luthor. However, due to an abysmal lack of character development and a messy structure, the outcome is confusing and unsatisfying. It’s a patchwork of “already seen,” like Martha and Thomas Wayne’s deaths, and fancy digital effects. It leaves DC fans arching eyebrows and the odd cinema-goer wondering what the hell is going on. The editing doesn’t help, either. In fact, the abrupt cuts make the scenes even more disconnected, giving us a hard time trying to decipher, for instance, whether we are watching a nightmare of Batman’s or part of the actual film. Nonetheless, Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Lex Luthor is a success: he masters his character’s stammer, tics, and madness in a creepy and entertaining way. Thumbs-up for the comic reliefs of both sides – Jeremy Irons’s Alfred Pennyworth, Batman’s butler, and Laurence Fishburne’s Perry White, the Daily Planet editor-in-chief – who have the best lines of the whole film. Overall, Batman v Superman leaves a bitter aftertaste of “too much.” Instead of packing so many events in a single instalment, Snyder should have focused on the rivalry between the two superheroes made obvious by the title. Just the one, well thought-out theme would have been much better than a muddy mishmash of battles and one-liners. Besides, why call it “Batman versus Superman” when the conflict between the two is resolved in a grand total of ten minutes, thanks to a plot twist whose solidity is debatable at best? As it is, the hardest blow this film delivers is to our head, giving us a splitting migraine on our unsuccessful quest to piece together Snyder’s enigmatic hints at a substantial storyline that just doesn’t exist. |
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October 2017
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