London Has Fallen: The Only Person Who Can Save Britain Is An American, Apparently

London Has Fallen

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I wanted a trashy action film and by god this film delivered. Now I am not saying this film is good by any means, it is dumb, and more than a little racist, but as a film to turn your mind off to you could do worse.

The main issue with this film is its rather obvious xenophobia, the film seems to have a distain for anyone who is not American, even showing the British people who help the lead as being subservient as no one can be as good as an American soldier. Moreover, there are a good few lines in here that are straight up racist which makes this film a little uncomfortable to watch.

Butler is serviceable enough in the lead, but his accent keeps slipping and it is annoying and jarring: one minute he will have an American accent next it will be back to his native Scottish- pick one and stick with it, it worked for Connery.

I thought this film was fun in a dumb, turn your brain off and watch people explode sort of way. I was entertained and I thought the films action scenes were well done feeling very real.

Overall, mindless entertainment lacking anything more, with racist moments and accent slips that make finishing the film hard.

Pros.

The action

The dumb spectacle

Cons.

Butler’s accent

The racism

The ending

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Star Wars Rebels: Series Overview

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I enjoyed watching Clone Wars, so I thought I would give this series a go and I have to say it was even better. I think from being one complete narrative that plays in order and has a central group of characters to focus on this show manages to take all the best parts from Clone Wars an expand them.

If you remember from my series overview of Clone Wars the two things that bothered me about that show were, how it jumped around in time and in and out of episode order as well as how it would have multi episode asides focusing on characters no one really cared about, neither of these issues this show. There are a few droid episodes that are a little weak, but they still tie in and feel like they have a place within the wider story.

The best thing this show does is expanding the Star Wars universe outward, building on pre-existing characters and ideas whilst also adding new characters and ideas. When I first began watching the show I wasn’t a huge fan of Ezra, in fact I found the character annoying, but as the show went on he grew on me and the same was true of a lot of other characters to a point that by the end I was sad to say goodbye.

A personal highlight for me was seeing Rex, Ahsoka and Maul crossover into this show, I thought the series really came alive when they featured heavily in episodes.

Overall, a wonderful piece of Star Wars content for new and returning fans alike.

Pros.

The crossover characters

Expanding Star Wars cannon

Everything with the Inquisitors

The surprisingly emotional ending

Cons.

A few weaker episodes that were not focused on the main cast of characters

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For Those Who Want Me Dead: Theron Would Have Been A Better Lead. AKA I’m Worried About The Eternals Now

For Those Who Wish Me Dead

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I am a big fan of Taylor Sheridan- he is one of the best screen writers of our age and is up there with Sorkin. As such when I heard of this film I was intrigued and wanted to watch it, and now that I have, though it is good, I found it to be disappointing. I found the film itself to be fairly breezy action fun, but the ending was slightly anti-climactic: especially the parts of the final fight involving Angelina Jolie’s main character.

For the most part Jolie’s character does very little beyond be there and run occasionally, a lot of the things happen around her and she has little involvement in actually progressing the narrative at all; besides killing the final bad guy at the end. Jolie who used to be an action hero is surprisingly passive here also, and honestly doesn’t seem like she is trying.

Aside from Jolie the rest of the cast come together nicely with Aiden Gillen almost certainly being the standout. The action for the most part is intense and well-choreographed, with some nice gore in the later stages.

Personally I think this film would have been better had the lead actually had something to do, beyond being sad about something in her past and vaguely bonding with a child.

Overall, good but still a slip for Sheridan.

Pros.

Gillen

The action

The vistas and the cinematography

Cons.

The passive lead

Jolie

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The Bad Batch: Replacements

Star Wars The Bad Batch: Replacements

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I think of the 3 episodes so far this was the weakest. There was an air of filler to it. The main clone band find themselves trapped on a desolate planet and only Omega can save them: which is beyond dumb as these are expert soldiers and they can’t repair the ship and go and fight the creature at the same time. Moreover, this young child without any combat experience can not only survive a run in with this beast but best it- yeah the story telling is really clutching at straws trying to explain this.

They advance the Crosshair storyline, and it is this part of the episode that scores the points in this review. Crosshair becomes even more irredeemably bad, clearly he will turn back to the good side later, but for now they are really exploring the depths of what you can get away with in what is basically a kids show.

Overall, though I find this series watchable, and it is nice to see new Star Wars content, it really has yet to find its stride and has entered a period of stagnation after the first episode.

Pros

Crosshair

The darker moments

Cons.

The filler main story

Everything with Omega

It still feels directionless

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Outcast: Nicolas Cage’s Weirdest Haircut Yet

Outcast

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

So I put this on for two reasons, Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen. Cage is barely in this film after the opening 5 minutes appearing what feels like hours later, but is in fact less, to be present for the final fight- clearly a pay check role for him. Christensen fares better and has some good fight scenes that at least make his character some what memorable.

Liu Yifei is in this film- yes that is the woman with the terrible views on freedom and who stared in the recent Mulan live action film: she is okay but does not really have much to do here. What she and other characters do have to do however is spout weirdly clunky racist lines every now and again. Yes there are comments such as ‘white devils’ and ‘do white people actually bathe I’ve heard they don’t’, to paraphrase, thrown into this film, why? Who does this serve?

The only real pro I can give this film is that it has cool fight scenes, the fights themselves are well choreographed and look suitably impressive, however everything around and in-between them is dull, cliched and vaguely racist.

Overall, Cage and Christensen deserve better.

Pros.

The fight scenes are well done

Cons.

It is racist ‘

It is uninspired

It feels like a straight to DVD film in all the worst ways

The CGI in the first section is particularly terrible

Invincible: Stop Watching The Walking Dead And Watch This Instead

Invincible

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This show is undeniably good, everyone you will hear talk about it agrees on that: some such as myself might go so far as to say it is the best piece of media ever adapted from a Robert Kirkman graphic novel, yes even better than the one about zombies that has been going on forever.

There is just something about this animated series that is hard to describe. Everything works and works well, the voice acting, the animation style, the slow build of the story it all comes together beautifully.

You don’t have to have read the comics to watch this either, personally I am familiar with the comics but had not red them prior to starting this show, and I fully understood everything that was happening on-screen. However there is a lot happening over the course of the first season so you will have to pay attention to make sure you get everything that is going on.

Moreover, I think the best thing about this show is what it does for adult animation, and the wider superhero genre. It proves two things, firstly that adult animated series can be done well, without relying on gross out humour, and secondly that non Marvel and DC comics properties can be just as popular as the heavy hitters; for those interested Invincible is an in Image comic series.

The only negative I could find with the season is that some of the plot lines feel a bit slow and drawn out for the sake of pacing which can make some episodes feel more interesting than others and that creates minor bits of drag throughout the season which hurts it ultimately.

Overall, one of the best new series of the year.

Pros.

The voice cast

The world and the characters

A new frontier for adult animation

The gore

Cons.

Slight bits of drag here and there.

The Bad Batch Episode 2: Cut And Run

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This episode is benefited from leaving the Crosshair stuff and focusing on something a little less predictable; I think it is fairly obvious Crosshair will be a baddy for a while and will then rid himself of the inhibitor chip it some way and probably save the Bad Batch- most likely in the series finale.

I enjoyed seeing this long lost clone deserter who has managed to have an entire life of his own outside of the various wars of the Republic, it makes me wonder if there are other clone deserters out there who we are yet to meet? I also thought seeing Omega interact with the other kids allowed me to warm to her that little bit more; though it is becoming evident that her voice work is more than a little jarring.

I found this episode to be more emotionally impactful, at least for me. I also again enjoyed the action set pieces and though they are rare when this show does give us some action it always gives us something worth seeing. My one growing concern for the show is it’s seeming lack of direction, where are our heroes going next, what is their purpose now; I suppose that is the theme of the show, but right now it feels like they are in-danger of having them go to different planets helping different people each week in very much a Supernatural monster of the week sort of way, which I wouldn’t like from a narrative perspective.

Overall, the show continues to have promise, though it is yet to blow me away.

Pros.

Omega interacting with the other kids

The clone deserter

The action

A few funny moments

Cons.

Directionless?

Omega’s VO work is distracting

The Bad Batch Episode 1: Aftermath

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This episode and this series so far as a whole feels very much like a direct continuation of Clone Wars, which I appreciate as it helps to fill in the gap between that show and the later Rebels. This episode revolved around Order 66, and the clone response to that, which again I found fascinating and hope the show will dig even deeper into. I thought the decision to have the majority of the Bad Batch not be effected by this order, bar Crosshair was a little strange as surely either they would all have not been effected, or all been effected as they have very similar DNA; hopefully the show will clear this up.

I thought the appearance of Kanan Jarrus and Saw Gerrera was again a nice way to tie the series in with what had come before, in terms of production. Though it did also feel a little ‘remember this character, remember that character’, with these returning characters acting as somewhat of a story crutch: the same can be said of Omega- but I’ll get to that.

As a character I am torn on Omega, on the one hand I think the idea of a female clone of Jango Fett, who also has powers, has a lot of potential. On the other hand I think they are clearly trying to recapture what they had with Baby Yoda and that parent-child bond which again feels like repeating things from the near past.

I thought the action and the animation as a whole were both very well done, with a clear progression between the 3 shows being clear to see.

I am looking forward to the next episode.

Overall, a solid start that is perhaps a bit too reliant on the past.

Pros.

The animation

The action

The Bad Batch themselves

Cons.

Omega

Bringing back so many old faces

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Spider-Man 3: Emo Spider-Man Is Back

Spider-Man 3

3/5

Many people view this film as somewhat of a joke, the black sheep of the Spider-Man film family, if you ignore the Amazing Spider-Man sequel. I think the reason why this film is still so sore to so many people is because of just how disappointing it is, and just how badly it managed to screw up classic Spider-Man characters.

Now I don’t mind emo Spider-Man and I actually think the storyline gets a lot more hate than it deserves, is it bizarre? Yes, but is it also hilarious? Yes again. I even give this film a pass for the Sandman Uncle Ben plot because I think in the end the arc works and is actually quite powerful. However, it is Venom where this film really puts its foot in its mouth.

I won’t say the standard line about this film though it is true, the number of villains in this film is one of the main reasons it doesn’t work. If they had focused on one villain and had another a minor or sub antagonist then it could have worked, but this felt far too crammed together and like a desperate attempt by Sony to set up the Sinister Six.

In all honesty I can’t take this film seriously, and if I were to it would get a lower mark than it has, viewing it as a goofy almost comedic take on a serious superhero blockbuster is the only way I can enjoy this film.

Overall, perhaps given an unfairly bad rap, but at the same time ruined by corporate greed and iffy story telling decisions.

Pros.

The comedy

Sandman

The ending

Cons.

Too many villains

They get Venom so very wrong

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Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace: Jar Jar Is Even Worse Than I Remembered

Star Wars Episode I The Phantom Menace

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I have been greatly enjoying the animated Star Wars television offerings recently, so I decided that I would give the films another go; I watched them all when I was younger, and I was not a fan. Regardless of my new found knowledge on all things Star Wars, I still didn’t find my enjoyment of this film to be anymore than it had been when I was a child. If anything the issues were now far more glaring.

Unlike James Cameron’s Avatar, the effects in this film look horribly dated. The CGI does not hold up even to a late noughties standard, and the sequences that feature heavy practical work do look better, but not by much.

Moreover, the forced humour is irritating. The amount of tense moments that are cut away from, under cut or out rightly defused by a bad joke are staggering. Moreover, not only does the loathed Jar Jar Binks not serve as the comedic, toy selling masterstroke he was intended as, but rather a crudely put together racial stereotype that simply serves to offend; there has been quite a bit written on this subject and I suggest you go and do you own research. Basically it boiled down to George Lucas saying, I am not a racist for my stereotypical character, you are racist for noticing the stereotype. Like I said read up on it, it’s fascinating.

The pacing is so slow it makes the film hard to watch, and if Lucas did not have complete creative control over this film I’m sure big sections of it would have been cut out, and honestly that would probably have made it a better film.

The only slightly redeeming parts are Liam Neeson as a jedi and Darth Maul, but they are underused and killed off so not really a pro for the film.

Overall, despite a wider appreciation for Star Wars on my part this is still a bad film.

Pros

Neeson

Maul

Cons.

The horrible CGI

All the needless padding

The racist characters

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