Peacemaker: Murn After Reading

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The police circle in on Peacemaker, played by John Cena.

I found this episode to be frustrating, not so much in what was happening as in how they got there. I found the planting of the diary in the last episode suspect, as in I don’t think the character would have done it, but I also found the fact that a secret government agency was unable to stop a determined detective equally baffling and poorly thought through. Clearly these things happen for story reasons rather than anything resembling logic or consistency.

However, that said the show is still very good and even this episode manages to have a number of standout moments. Chief among these is the slow breakdown of Peacemaker himself, as he is starting to come undone at the seams, this has been brewing over the course of the season but it is really starting to come into it’s own in this episode. Cena does a good job nailing the emotional beats.

Moreover, I think the possessed Song’s, played by Annie Chang, police takeover scene might be one of the best moments of the entire series, it perfectly establishes the threat and is also incredibly cool visually.

Also things are moving forward with the White Dragon, played by Robert Patrick, plotline which promises interesting developments in the next episode.

Overall, a weaker and more frustrating episode on the whole, but it still has some fun moments.

Pros.

Cena nailing the emotion

The Song takeover scene

Teases for things to come

Cons.

It feels a little contrived narratively

Some of the character decisions don’t make sense for them

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Uncharted: Tom Holland Can’t Act

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A child, played by Tom Holland, tries desperately hard to prove himself as an action man and reminds us all why video game movies don’t work.

Well, I hate to say I told you so. I remember many people had an issue with me saying Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg were totally miscast as Drake and Sully and told me to wait and see the final thing before I commented, well I have seen it now and yeah I was right.

This film is not bad hence it not getting lower, but it is aggressively average and dull. It tries desperately hard to supply gamers with member berries, even bringing back the Nathan Drake voice actor for an extended cameo, but even this is not enough to give it a personality or soul.

Wahlberg is playing Wahlberg and Holland is playing Holland. It will win me no fans to say this but this film proves my point about Holland once again, he is a fine Spider-Man, but taken out of the MCU he has all the range of someone in a high school play. Holland better hope they keep needing him to play Spidey as outside of the MCU he will quickly be forgotten about as a non-talent.

The two try and have some banter together, which feels like an attempt at MCU style comedy, this mostly doesn’t work and misses the mark sometimes even being groan inducing.

The only silver lining I have for this film is that Sophia Ali is actually quite capable as Chloe Frazer and is an interesting character in the film. I found Ali to capture the duality of the character well, as she is able to convey her as both an ally and a possible betrayer. Sadly, Chloe isn’t given much to do.

Overall, Sony’s big bet on Tom Holland is widely a bust and so ends yet another needless videogame adaption.

Pros.

Ali

It is watchable

Cons

Holland and Wahlberg

It is boring

It never justifies its existence

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The Book Of Boba Fett: In The Name Of Honor

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The war between Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison, and the Pike Syndicate finally comes to blows.

This was one hell of a mixed bag.

On the one hand you had the Grogu and Din, played by Pedro Pascal, stuff, which was really sweet and well done and honestly also quite effecting. As well as some great action set pieces that felt intense and bloody, and had a nice heft to them that helped you forget you were in Disney era star wars where blasters are set to stun half the time.

However, on the other and infinitely worse hand you had the Mods at their most insufferable, lecturing Boba Fett, an experienced mercenary, on battle tactics and social justice and being far too prominent during the final battle. The social justice message of the Mods really makes me dislike them, and it takes me out of the show and makes me feel like Hollywood Z listers are talking down to the fans. I understand that Robert Rodriguez likes to push diversity in his kids films now, and for the most part that is admirable and well done, but here it is forced down your throat by characters that never fit into the universe. Also surely if it was a diverse street gang they would have at least some alien members? No? That seems well thought through.

Moreover, this episode has Boba learn that it was in fact the pikes that killed his beloved Tuscan Raider tribe, yet can he avenge them? No, no he can’t. Instead the show has to once again take the action and badass moment away from Fett and give it to Fennec Shand, played by Ming-Na Wen, which feels illogical and like a slap in the face to anyone invested in the show. To not give this to Boba means his character journey is not ended in any meaningful way.

Finally, and perhaps most egregiously of all they kill off Cobb Vanth, played by Timothy Olyphant, off-screen…… The last episode had him survive his injuries, what happened? Honestly this made me want to turn off the finale.

Overall, Boba Fett spent more time in a bacta tank then doing anything even remotely cool.

Pros.

Grogu

The action

Cons.

The Mods

Cad Bane’s awful death that looked hilariously bad

Not finishing Boba’s character arc

Cobb Vanth

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The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey: Greed Is Not Limited To Dragons

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Lord Of The Ring’s disappointing cousin.

As some of you may know The Lord Of The Rings is one of my favourite trilogies ever, so much so that I may never review them: as even the concept of having to think critically about something I care so deeply about seems hard. However, the Hobbit and it’s various sequels are fair game.

Like many people when I watched An Unexpected Journey in the cinema for the first time I was mixed, and then in the short term afterwards I grew more negative towards the film. However, with time I found within me a fondness for this trilogy so I decided to go back to it, and after all these years I can honestly say that this film was okay, not great, not terrible.

This film has a lot going for it Tolkien’s fantastic world, strong source material and a good cast with the likes of Martin Freeman, Aiden Turner and Richard Armitage and for the most part these factors stop the film from being awful and even create positive feelings towards the Hobbit trilogy, then you get to the ending and yeah…….. Then you remember why everyone dislikes the Hobbit films.

The rather obvious issue with these films as many have pointed out in the past is the pacing. Now I have nothing against the long run times of these films, but I do take umbrage when I feel the audience is being exploited, as in to take a short story contained within one book and then turning it into three films. When we reach the end of the film and realise that we aren’t even going to see Smaug basically at all, it feels as though you have been cheated. It feels like a smack in the face and an executive laughing at you saying, ‘oh better come back for the sequel’.

This clear mentality is what I think really harms this film and its sequels.

Overall, exploitative but not without promise.

Pros.

The cast

The world

There is fun to be had

Cons.

The pacing

The unmistakable feeling of corporate greed

Catwoman: Remember When Halle Berry Used To Be In Films

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Halle Berry is paraded around to be ogled and objectified.

Most agree that this is one of the worst superhero films ever made, as it takes everything fans know and like about Selina Kyle, here played by Halle Berry, and just throws most of it down the drain in favour of lusting after Berry for the runtime of the film. It is hard to watch this film now and not find it wildly sexist and problematic.

Berry for her part proves that maybe she isn’t such a good actor after all and that she should give back her Oscar and ask for forgiveness. She seems fully uninterested in the subject matter or in trying to give a performance that is anything other than wooden. Clearly her interest when signing on for this film was on whether it could become a franchise vehicle for her.

The writing and the plot are both laughably bad and the film feels like it is trying to divorce itself from the comic book source material, which is never a good move.

Overall, a terrible film best forgotten.

Pros.

It is laughably bad

Cons.

Berry

It is sexist

It has no respect for the character

It makes no sense

It has massive plot issues

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Catwoman Hunted: A New Voice For Catwoman?

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Catwoman, voiced by Elizabeth Gilles, becomes the subject of a manhunt after her attempt to steal a precious jewel lands her on the wrong side of a powerful crime organisation.

I would say as far as DC animated fare goes this was slightly above average. I thought Gillies did a very strong job as Catwoman and nearly perfectly fit the role, bringing just the right amount of charm and capability. Moreover, I liked the way the film handled her character and that it gave her some nice quips as well as strong character motivation.

In terms of the art style, I think of all the recent DC animated films this is the one that is the most obviously anime inspired, barring something like Batman Ninja for obvious reasons. I do like the animation here and think that it has its own distinctive feel which is important in making the film memorable.

My issues with the film would be two fold, firstly that the film has a rather generic story that far out stays its welcome and that gives us nothing that we haven’t seen before. Secondly Stephanie Beatriz is deeply miscast as Batwoman. I don’t quite know why but every time I heard Beatriz’s voice coming out of the character I couldn’t help but be pulled out of the film and think to myself ‘oh my she was miscast’. This is a shame as Encanto proved Beatriz is a talented voice actor.

Overall, in terms of what they did with the character and the wider style of the film it is good, however with regard to the lacklustre story and some of the weaker casting choices the film is let down.

Pros.

Gilles

The character of Catwoman

The style

Cons.

The story

Beatriz

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The Book Of Boba Fett: From The Desert Comes A Stranger

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The Mandalorian season 3 continues on with a silent cameo from Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison.

I think this may have been the best episode of the series yet. Admittedly much like with last week’s episode it is concerning that the episode without Fett in them pretty much at all are the best ones, considering this is Boba Fett’s show. In my mind this has now just become The Mandalorian but under a different name.

I think this episode does a lot right, I enjoyed that it brought back Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth, Olyphant can do no wrong and he was on fire in this episode. Likewise I thought they nailed the emotional reunion between Din, played by Pedro Pascal, and Grogu: though not much of a reunion took place. I thought the episode’s cliff-hanger cruelly played with our emotions in the best way, though I have a fairly good feeling I know where it is all heading.

The things I don’t enjoy about this episode all come back to the same thing, the effects. Ashoka, played by Rosario Dawson makes a return to the show and continues to look like a cosplayer, there is something deeply uncanny about the way her character looks as she moves, especially when there is a focus on her talking. It is quite jarring. Moreover, the bad effects continue with the return of a de-aged Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill, and the less said about this the better. What I will say is that every time the character talked or we got a close up of his face it looked like a video game cut scene from over ten years ago, there were major issues with the dubbing. The de-aging tech clearly isn’t there yet and I really don’t think they should be showing this much Luke Skywalker if it is going to look this bad. In a final example of horrendous special effects this episode marks Cade Bane’s, played by Dorian Kingi and voiced by Corey Burton, first appearance in live action and my word does he look terrible.

Overall, in terms of emotions and action this episode is ahead of the pack sadly the tech and the effects really stop the episode from being perfect.

Pros.

More Mando

The emotion

Bringing back Olyphant

The ending

Cons.

The effects and the look of some of the characters

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Peacemaker: Monkey Dory

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Peacemaker, played by John Cena, and co hit a bufferfly processing plant and Murn, played by Chukwudi Iwuji, has his secret further exposed.

I thought this was a decent episode yet probably the weakest yet. Mainly this comes down to the betrayal at the end of the episode that just doesn’t land. Adebayo, played by Danielle Brooks, was tasked with betraying the team from the start of the series and finally does here, however it doesn’t stick the emotional impact and instead just feels done for plot reasons. This episode goes out of its way to suggest that Adebayo is getting sick of Peacemaker and so is ready to betray him, yet this just doesn’t track at all based on the other episodes.

I also don’t really find the investigation into Peacemaker all that interesting. I thought there were so many better things they could have done with the Robert Patrick White Dragon character other than have him be a rat against his own son. Also we all know that the investigation into our leads will go nowhere as they are working for the government so the detectives will just be shut down and it makes no ends who they ask for help.

The ending leaves the series in an interesting place and I am keen to see where the next episode goes, hopefully it will pay off more of the set up here.

Overall, a weaker episode that doesn’t quite nail the humour or the emotion.

Pros.

Cena

The gore

A few sweet moments

Cons.

The betrayal feels hollow

The police investigation side plot

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The Book Of Boba Fett: Return Of The Mandalorian

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Mando, played by Pedro Pascal, returns in search of a new ship and a new purpose.

This is a good episode, perhaps even the best of the series so far, sadly it doesn’t even feature Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison, thereby side-lining him in his own show. Really this episode reminds us all of how much we have missed Mando and how poor of a replacement Boba is for him. The scene in which Mando despatches a large group of enemies in a brutal fight, woefully contrasts with the moments in prior episodes when the weaker Fett gets beat up and has to use his minions to fight on his behalf.

Though I liked seeing Mando again, and found it heart warming to see him set off on a new quest to give Grogu some beskar armour, it did all feel a bit like filler. The latter half of the episode when Mando is just looking for a new ship drags on and on and eats up runtime. Moreover, the Mando storyline is only used to kill the remaining episodes until we get to the final as clearly they have realised people don’t want any more boring flashbacks from Boba.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode more than a lot of the others, but after I finished it I was sad as this really shows the failure of the series as the best episode didn’t feature the protagonist at all.

Pros.

Mando is always great

The edge and the violence is back

It actually feels like Star Wars

The new Grogu quest

Cons.

It feels like filler

It highlights how The Book Of Boba Fett has failed

It doesn’t feature Fett

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Peacemaker: The Choad Less Traveled

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Peacemaker’s dad, played by Robert Patrick, turns rat so Vigilante, played by Freddie Stroma must get himself sent to prison in order to take care of the problem.

I thought this was probably the best episode of Peacemaker yet, it was certainly the most emotionally raw and I appreciated the show for going there. Though the show might seem crass and silly on the surface underneath there is a lot of depth. I think Vigilante’s breakdown when he realises he’s made the situation worse for his friend, and Peacemaker’s, played by John Cena, dance at the end of the episode where he relives his childhood trauma were both moving and depressing in equal measures.

I thought the prison fight scene wherein Vigilante tries to get the racist gang members to each say something that they are thankful for that a black person has contributed to America before proceeding to beat them up when they don’t was so in keeping with the show. This scene really proves to be a great encapsulation of the show, if you like the sound of it and think it would be funny then you will like it, if it sounds annoying then you won’t. Personally I thought it was great.

My two little issues with this episode, and the things that stop it from getting top marks, are the final twist reveal which shows that Murn, played by Chukwudi Iwuji, has been a butterfly along and the continued waste of Judomaster, played by Nhut Le. In the case of the Murn reveal I found it to just come out of nowhere, there was little to no set up for it and it just feels like a twist for the sake of it, and with Judomaster the character continues to be underused to a point of annoyance.

Overall, an incredibly strong episode only let down by a few strange choices

Pros.

The emotion

The prison fight scene

Vigilante

Cena

The jokes

Cons.

Judomaster

The twist ending

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