Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part V

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Vader closes in on Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, and Reva, played by Moses Ingram, has her origins explored.

First things first, the flashback scenes wherein we finally got a return from Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker weren’t great. What I mean by that is twofold, firstly not a huge amount happened in them and secondly the de-aging CGI used on Christensen wasn’t good, there was something deeply uncanny valley about it.

My other issue with the episode was that the ending implies that Reva will go and hunt down Luke Skywalker if she survives her injuries, this makes no sense as in the episode she was helping Kenobi to a degree and had a heel turn so to go after a kid would not make sense in terms of character progression. However, that aside I do think that this episode is probably the best one for the character of Reva as the youngling theory is confirmed and we get to see more nuance from both the writing and Ingram’s performance.

I thought the final fight with Vader was pretty strong, it was fun to see just how powerful Vader is and the return of the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend, satiated the part of my brain that needs things to stick to cannon. I would say the highlight of the siege was probably the death of Tala, played by Indira Varma, as it felt incredibly powerful emotionally.

Overall, another good episode though I do wish they would stop using this de-aging tech as it doesn’t look good.

Pros.

The Vader fight at the end

The death of Tala and its impact

Reva’s origins

Kumail Nanjiani’s return

Cons.

The ending

The de-aging tech

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The Boys: Glorious Five Year Plan

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Boys go to Russia to try and track down a weapon that will stop Homelander, played by Anthony Starr. Meanwhile, Starlight, played by Erin Moriarty, tries to recruit more supes to her anti-Homelander resistance.

I am glad to see that Soldier Boy, played by Jensen Ackles, didn’t actually die and will not instead be a rival to Homelander in the supe game. I think that the season finale will be a battle between the two that likely Homelander will lose causing him to snap, and honestly I am very here for it. I enjoyed seeing more of the Boys get powers with Hughie, played by Jack Quaid, this time being the one to juice up. I hope more members of the gang do so it can be closer to the comics.

The Starlight sub-plot is again weaker, with everything he has done it makes little sense that she stays working alongside Homelander, but I will say it was cathartic to see Homelander put a definitive end to the love triangle between Starlight, Hughie and her old flame.

Overall, I think this episode brought the action and was firing on almost all cylinders.

Pros.

More of the Boys on V

The return of Solider Boy

The ending

Lots of action

Cons.

It makes little sense why Starlight is still in the Seven

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The Boys: Barbary Cost

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After a very public rant Homelander, played by Anthony Starr, rises in public ratings and starts to feel like he can take on his Vought overlords. Meanwhile, the Boys ask Mallory, played by Laila Robins, about her time in Nicaragua wherein she saw the supposed death of Soldier Boy, played by Jensen Ackles.

A slight step down from the second episode, but still quite strong. The octopus eating scene will stay with me for a while it is all kinds of messed up and really highlights The Boys at its obscene best. I do still strongly believe this season is pushing Homelander to an extreme wherein he is going to go fully off the rails by the end. In that vein I don’t like the idea of the quasi forced relationship between him and Starlight, played by Erin Moriarty, I know he is just doing it to mess with her but I don’t see why the character would care enough to fake a public relationship with her, especially after she just walked the red carpet with Hughie, played by Jack Quaid. This again feels like more forced relationship drama.

The Nicaragua stuff handles better and the flashbacks for the most part work well, we get to see Payback in action and see more of Jensen Ackles Soldier boy who is quicky starting to steal scenes. I also thought the Butcher, played by Karl Urban, side plot wherein he is suffering withdrawals from the temporary compound V was interesting to see and his scene with his surrogate son was quite powerful.

Overall, a very good episode but the Homelander/ Starlight relationship announcement at the end just feels like forced in drama and the action is a bit lacking in the episode as a whole.

Pros.

The flashbacks

More of Solider Boy

Homelander going further off the rails

Seeing Butcher destroy Ryan and the drama of it

Cons.

The episode as a whole lacks action

The Homelander Starlight relationship twist at the end feels forced, more needless drama for padding

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Jurassic World Dominion: This Is What Killed The Dinosaurs

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Yet another shady biotech company is causing trouble for the world and all the leads of the Jurassic series must rise up and stand together to stop them.

It wasn’t so much that this film was bad just totally unneeded.

It was fun seeing the old cast again but the film never really gave them an interesting or compelling reason to be there. When pondering why they have returned to the series the answers given are not because the plot needed them, as the giant locus could have been defeated by the newer cast, no the clear answer is they were just brought back for the sake of nostalgia.

I thought this film would focus far more on how the dinosaurs have now been let lose on the world but really that gets swiped under the rug fairly early on, yes we see the odd dinosaur attack here and there but the locus plot seems to be all that the film focuses on. This is obviously disappointing.

Also seeing yet another evil biotech company just makes one roll their eyes as hasn’t the series had enough of that old chestnut? The biotech baddies even build a park esque location to house the dinosaurs which comes under attack towards the end of the film meaning we came dangerously close to the double cliché of having the dinosaurs once again escape into the world.

I am not saying this film is entirely bad there are a few good scenes and I think Jeff Goldblum, DeWanda Wise and Bryce Dallas Howard do manage to salvage the film to a degree, but there are just too many issues with this film. An example of one you would think easy to fix is the incredibly poor CGI when Claire, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, is ejected from the plane: it makes bad Youtube greenscreen work look good.

Overall, the franchise goes out on a meh.

Pros.

Goldblum, Howard and Wise

A few fun moments

Cons.

It feels cliched

The bad CGI

The boring locus plotline

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part IV

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A freshly defeated Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, must venture into the Inquisitors’ base to try and save a captured Leia, played by Vivian Lyra Blair.

I think this was the best episode of the series so far. I liked seeing Kenobi back in action fighting off storm troopers and actually being capable to a degree, I see why the show had him be so weak and ineffective to show how far he had fallen, but it was nice to see him recovering and returning to his old ways.

I enjoyed seeing the early form of the Resistance in the Path people, and though I would have liked to see another Jedi like maybe Quinlan Vos show up, maybe that was just wishful thinking. On that note, I am intrigued to see where they go with all the trapped Jedi beneath the Inquisitors base, that could be quite impactful for the wider universe.

I like the little bit of Vader, played by Hayden Christensen and voiced by James Earl Jones, we got towards the end, it was nice to see him pose a threat to Reva, played by Moses Ingram who up to this point has just been great at everything and got away with seemingly killing the Grand Inquisitor. Reva again had some very painful scenes, Ingram managed to pull off threatening in the torture scene though that would be hard not to, but in the proceeding interrogation her lack of facial acting abilities really shone through.

Seemingly Lucasfilm have greenlit a Reva series now, which highlights that the character won’t die and that Star Wars is almost more concerned with sending out a political message rather than producing good content, but who knows maybe it will be good if they actually give the series good writers.

Overall, a good episode let down once again by Reva with it now almost feeling like her show rather than Kenobi’s.

Pros.

Kenobi getting his groove back

The torture scene was surprisingly hardcore for Disney

I enjoyed the ending fight set piece

The Vader/Reva scenes were strong

Cons.

Reva is stealing too much focus from Kenobi and Ingram’s poor acting is starting to show

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The Boys: The Only Man In The Sky

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Homelander, played by Anthony Starr, splits further off the rails and the Boys continue their investigation into the fallen supe Soldier Boy, played by Jensen Ackles.

This was an improvement on the first episode in a couple of ways. I enjoyed that the series didn’t mess around with the will he wont he question around Butcher, played by Karl Urban, giving himself powers and just went straight for it. I am excited to see where this plotline will go.

Moreover, I enjoyed where the Soldier Boy storyline went I am looking forward to seeing more of Laurie Holden’s Crimson Countess and think she will be a welcome addition to the rouges gallery of the show. In that vein I also like that the show is continuing to push Homelander into becoming an outright villain in the public’s eyes and thought that killing off Stormfront, played by Aya Cash, was a bold step in doing that.

Again much like the first episode the thing that I am the least happy about is the separate Hughie, played by Jack Quaid, plotline as I feel that it continues to feel like filler and for the most part I just want him to get back involved with the rest of the Boys. The relationship drama that I complained about in my previous review is still here to a degree though thankfully it is down on the last episode.

Overall, the series is getting into its flow and looks to be heading in an interesting direction.

Pros.

Butcher getting his powers

Holden’s Crimson Countess

The further descent of Homelander

The continued mystery of Soldier Boy

Cons.

The Hughie/Annie relationship drama and other slow side plots

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The Boys: Payback

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

One year after Stormfront, played by Aya Cash, is outed for being a Nazi the world has a whole new view on superheroes.

I thought that this was a slow first episode for the most part. I understand why the show has chosen to start in this way, to show the changes in the characters and the world but I just thought that compared to other season openers this one was a little light on action, though the sequence with the shrinking superhero was a fun little bit of gore.

I like where this season is heading, with the Boys themselves having superpowers in order to fight the supes, like they did in the comics, and with them investigating an obscure old superhero group; there is a lot of promise for where it could all go. Likewise, I am enjoying seeing the series push Homelander, played by Anthony Starr, to the edge I think it is quite clear that before the season is out he will snap and become outwardly villainous in a very public way.

I am less than keen on the Hughie, played by Jack Quaid, and Annie, played by Erin Moriarty, relationship drama and feel like it is being used to pad out the season, maybe because they don’t have as much footage as they would have liked because of covid. I hope that in the coming episodes we can move away from the relationship drama because honestly it is boring and a little trite.

Overall, a good first episode if a little underwhelming.

Pros.

The tease of the Boys getting powers

The looming mysteries

The ending

The shrinking superhero sequence

Cons.

It is slow

The Hughie/Annie relationship drama

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Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Memento Mori

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Enterprise crew come under attack from the Gorn.

I think this might have been the best episode of Strange New Worlds yet, as it looked and felt like older Trek. Not just that but in this episode the show was really firing on all cylinders, with my only complaint being that it wasn’t longer.

I thought the focus on La’an, played by Christina Chong, nicely paid off her early character work and gave her a platform to shine. Chong really is one of the best performers on this show and we saw proof of that here as she gave a powerful performance.

I enjoyed seeing Captain Pike, played by Anson Mount, in action as well and thought that Mount continues to be the anchor of this show easily holding his own against other Star Trek veterans like Stewart and Shatner. The battle scenes felt really tense and fast paced which really helped the show to escape a lot of its usual issues with needless side characters and subplots.

Overall, a fun episode that restored my faith in this series.

Pros.

Mount

Chong

The battle scenes

It felt like old Trek

Cons.

It was too short

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Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part III

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Darth Vader, played by Hayden Christensen and voiced by James Earl Jones, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Ewan McGregor, face off for the first time.

I think this series is getting better as it goes along, it isn’t perfect by any means but it certainly is finding its footing. The two things that irritated me about this episode up front before I get into the things I liked, firstly I don’t like that Reva, played by Moses Ingram is being written to be a mary sue, great at everything automatically with no knockbacks or challenges and secondly I don’t like that the Grand Inquisitor, played by Rupert Friend, has seemingly been killed off, though no doubt that will get changed by the end of the series.

That said, for the most part I enjoyed almost everything about this episode. I liked the secret underground resistance, before the resistance, rail road and all of the good things it could bring: including maybe seeing Quinlan Vos in live action. I also enjoyed Indira Varma’s Tala and thought she had great chemistry with both Obi-Wan and Leia, played by Vivian Lyra Blair.

Moreover, I also thought the fight between Vader and Kenobi was good and I applaud how brutal they got with it. I think a big issue with The Book Of Boba Fett was how bloodless everything was, so it is nice to see some gore and threat being shown in the Star Wars Disney + universe. I have seen some people complain about Vader letting Obi-Wan go at the end, with him not venturing into the flames to finish him off or even using his force powers. However, I think him doing this makes sense as he is probably going to be playing the long game and be tracking down not just Obi-Wan but also his helpers. Two birds with one stone as they say.

Overall, a pretty strong episode made better by Reva taking a back seat.

Pros

The Vader Kenobi fight

The tease of Quinlan Vos

Leia continues to have good moments

McGregor is on top form

Cons.

Hugely side-lining the Grand Inquisitor

Reva as a mary sue

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The Northman: A Viking Life For Me

5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Amleth, played by Alexander Skarsgård, is a Viking prince who after losing his family and his kingdom goes on an epic quest for revenge.

Honestly this may be Robert Eggers best film, now I love the VVitch it is my second favourite film of all time, but I do think this film gives it a run for its money.

There is something so original and fresh about this film, you have never seen anything quite like it before, there are notes of Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising but even then not quite. This is not a revenge film as you would expect it, this is not a Viking film as you would expect it, this film takes different elements from several different genres and blends them together to create something new and abstract.

The abstract elements of this film, where things go noticeably strange, are just fantastic. Not only are they visually distinct and interesting but they are shot in such a beautiful way that they become burnt into your minds eye.

The characters are of course terrific Skarsgård is a capable lead, but I would say he is outpaced by both Nicole Kidman and Anya Taylor-Joy who both give masterful performance that will stay with you. I thought the twist with Kidman’s character worked perfectly and superbly steered the film towards its final act. My favourite performance of the film was probably Willem Dafoe’s jester/mystic character who thought he was only in it for a few brief scenes is a lot of fun.

Overall, a must see.

Pros.

The epic scale

The battle scenes

The abstract elements

The performances

The ending

Cons.

None

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