Cinema-Maniac: Ready Player One (2018) Review

Ready Player One is set in a future where a virtual reality world called the OASIS is the biggest thing on Earth. One of its deceased creator challenges its users to find all his Easter Egg to give the winner his fortune. An unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt against evil corporation IOI. Very sloppily written, the best time Ready Player One shines is when it doesn’t try to encompass everything out of reach, and simply focuses on being a piece of entertainment. It’s breakneck speed ensures there isn’t a dull moment to linger on in its nearly two, and a half hour runtime. Something else that’s somewhat of a positive are the pop culture references, for the most part, are simply there. Not drawing too much attention to them despite the large number of iconic characters to be seen on screen. There also isn’t a reliance on pop culture knowledge to understand the story itself. Granted, even knowing just a little bit helps add to the appeal of Ready Player One. For me, it was the The Holy Hand Grenade reference from (possibly the greatest fantasy film ever made) Monty Python, and the Holy Grail that was a nice surprise.

Not even a DeLorean capable of time traveling can outrun the almighty King Kong.

When it comes everything else this film does plenty of things that works against itself. Mostly how it feels disingenuous in delivery its “experience the real world” message. For starter, the lack of proper world building in the real world. Sure, the OASIS is a fantastical place where a majority of people go to avoid the harsh reality of their life, but those harsh realities are simply ignored in the film. Most you’ll get about the hardship of this future is the main character Wade lost his parents, and his current living conditions. There are also other aspects of the real world that are explained, but just like Wade parents, they come across more as decoration since it rarely shows the real world effects on its people. I sound like I’m being oblivious that this was the intended effect, but when Wade himself doesn’t show any concern for a family member dying within the film why should I care. Wade obviously doesn’t since all he does is simply acknowledge his caregiver has died, and moves on from it. Nothing about that plot point was handle properly making it seems like constant addiction to escapism is great.

Another issue is not enough time is spend in the real world itself for its message to be meaningful. Wade, and the other characters are rarely seen in the real world absorbing its actual beauty like it proclaims it has. You can claim something all you want, but when you don’t actually show it the results is disingenuous. Where’s the connection Wade makes with the real world, and its people. Absent within the film. Bringing up another point that if it wasn’t for Wade constantly ignoring the real world he would have never made the connection with his online friends in the OASIS. Reiterating, “experience the world” in this movie is forced. Why would people prefer to live in the real world if they live in slums over living in the OASIS where they can obtain anything they want. There’s a case to be made for living in the harsh real world, though you won’t find it here.

Speaking of disingenuous, all the pop culture references in the film just feel like they exist. While I’m sure Spielberg, and his crew has some connection to some of the things he references, all of it becomes homogenize. There’s no connection to a majority of it. If you notice something you love on screen chances are high it’ll disappear as just quickly. This issue applies with the pacing disregarding characterization. The most fleshed out characters are the creators of the OASIS; Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg), and James Halliday (Mark Rylance) whom are given more characterization than the main cast themselves. Morrow, and Halliday also have a more fully realize conflict that gets explored as the film progresses unlike the main storyline that refuses to evolve. A big contributing factor to this is Halliday, and Morrow storyline deals with a trouble friendship whereas the other main storyline becomes save the world ordeal from the onset.

Even the main character more engaged in this subplot than their own.

When the movie begins, the OASIS users are competing against each other, and evil corporation IOI desires to win the grand prize. By the time the movie gets to it climax, this storyline has hardly evolve into anything beyond its introduction. Contributing more to a lackluster storyline is the writing makes the villains idiotic, and a plot point later on in the movie removes the whole underdog trait of its hero. It’s simple for IOI to find Wade Watts address, but it’s nearly impossible for the same group whom seemingly have dozen of drones ready to blow up anything be able to find Wade later on in the climax. This includes the fact there surveillance cameras seemingly all over the world which is a bigger leap in logic that IOI can’t find them. Like I wrote earlier, when Ready Player One is simply a film focusing on being a piece of entertainment it succeeds, but when it wants to capture the emotional investment it fails. If you removed the whole “experience the real world” message from the writing than issues regarding the lack of world building is gone. Instead, it prefers escapism over reality, and during the portion of the story it actually accepts that part of itself is when it’s a good film.

Tye Sheridan plays Wade Watts, and while his performance here didn’t impress me as much as he did in Mud (2012), he’s fine overall. While his enthusiasm for the OASIS is an aspect of his character he sells to the viewer successfully, everything else about his character ain’t as easy to sell. Some of this can be blame on the screenplay, like the scene where Sheridan is supposed to mourn the loss of a family member for less than a minute before it moves onto something else. When this happens, it’s reasonable he wouldn’t be able to emotionally capture what his character is feeling, and portray that in a way where the viewer can become further invested. Other times it’s purely his fault, like typically falling back to wide eyes facial expression to constantly show how he’s in awe of everything he sees. Showing some more enthusiasm would help him, though he also lacks the ability to get across the urgency when the film needs it.

Tye Sheridan co-stars are a bit better in balancing the area Sheridan lacks. Olivia Cooke for example is able to properly get across the urgency of a scene. There’s a moment in the second half of the film where she discovers where she’s being held captive, and her reaction is something appropriately out of a horror movie. She’s more rounded as an actor in this movie because she’s able to do a lot with little. There’s Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, and Hannah John-Kamen whom play the evil adults. As expected, they play the evil adults as you would expect. Mendelsohn especially comes off the most slimy, though the direction is a bit confused if he should be over the top evil, or humanized evil. Making it impossible for Mendelsohn to be memorable as a villain. T.J. Miller, and Hannah John-Kamen are the opposite simply being over the top in their portrayal. Being more than comfortable to make their characters come off as cartoons, and it works surprisingly well in the movie because of the already silly nature of the movie. There’s also the remaining co-stars of Win Morisaki, Lena Waithe, and Philip Zhao that make up the rest of the heroes. These three actors material are the most limited making them go into autopilot acting when the second half hits, but they do their best. Not on one point did I feel these three actors were phoning in their performance in spite of the thankless material.

This has to be the strangest assortment of characters I’ve seen in movies recently.

The two best actors in the movie without question are Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. Simon Pegg took a while for me to notice as it’s simply something I didn’t expect from him. Relying more on his dramatic side as a actor Pegg eases his way through scene after scene. Being effectively dramatic in everything without ever over acting, or stepping out of bound in his role. However, Mark Rylance is even more impressive in his performance. Without question he is the complete package as an actor in the movie; sincere, funny, believable, and captivating all at once no matter what scene he is. Rylance, and Pegg scenes together are easily the best in the movie, but Mark Rylance presence alone is something that hugely benefited Ready Player One. Without MarK Rylance in the movie, what would be missing is the only actor who is able to capture something heartfelt within a script that feels artificial with it dramatic scenes.

Steven Spielberg visuals aren’t convincing, but within the context of the movie they are more than fine. Since everything takes place in a virtual reality world accepting the plastic looking visuals is easy. What’s not easy is the blurriness that comes whenever the camera moves quickly. Whenever there’s too much going on screen it’s difficult for the camera to stay focus, especially in the climax of the movie where the blurriness makes it difficult to spot the many pop culture figures. However, during the action sequences the freedom of placing the camera wherever Spielberg wants leads to some visually stunning setpieces. In particular, the racing sequence in the beginning in the movie is a sight to behold, especially the amount of effects on screen all at once. My favorite set piece involved obviously involved Mecha-Godzilla (because I grew up with the franchise) fighting against two other iconic robots which I won’t spoil as it best to experience that fight blind. When it comes to music the original pieces of music was during the climax, and a orchestrated piece played that sounded similar to the classic Godzilla theme music. Aside from the obvious insert classic songs from The Bee Gees, Blondie, Prince, and a few other from the era. Music in the movie is nothing that stands out.

Ready Player One is a decent blockbuster made by Spielberg, but misses the magic that made blockbusters like Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park special. Missing is the heart, and the connection the filmmakers had with these creations, and recreating the joy it brought to them to a whole new audience. Gone is the wonder, missing is the heart, and absent is the emotion the story attempts to capture, but gave up on at some point. Whenever Ready Player One isn’t pretending it’s something it is not the film is enjoyable experience, and thankfully it’s like that for a majority of the run time. Disappointing yes, but also very entertaining.

Rating: 7/10

 

SPOILERS BELOW ON SOMETHING THAT BUGGED ME

I didn’t know where to put in this my actual review since it’s not detrimental enough to cripple the movie quality, but it did bug the Hell out of me. When the climax draws to a close, and Wade Watts bids farewell to James Halliday. Wade asks Halliday what he is, and Halliday simply leaves without answering. If Wade encounter with Halliday was simply explained away with it being programmed for whoever won the challenge than I would have been okay, but Halliday says it not. So, either James Halliday became a sentient being that somehow managed to live in a video game, or Halliday actually alive somewhere in the world, and is a big dick for making his best friend, and everyone he cares about that he’s dead. Either way, that minor detail bugs me to end.

Nitpicking A Joke (Contains Spoilers)

When the heroes are off visiting the world of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, there’s a moment where Aech, whom is presume to be male at this moment, making out with a corpse he temporarily sees as a beautiful woman. Once it reveals that Aech is a woman, the scene immediately didn’t make sense. I mean, there wasn’t anything in the movie to indicate she’s bi-sexual, or a lesbian. It was something that left me scratching my head. Sure I laughed when I saw it, but when thinking on back on it. This moment just feels like it got overlooked during the writing process.

Some Thoughts On: Vampire Princess Miyu (1996 – 1997) TV Series

On March 9, 2018  I finally finished the 26 episode anime series called Vampire Princess Miyu. In Vampire Princess Miyu, the title character is the focus of the anime, and shows her cursed to her duty to eliminating the stray Shinmas (demons basically) for all eternity. I started this anime around the same time I started Hell Girl Season 1. Both anime are named after the stoic, immortal female lead cursed to fulfill a otherworldly duty. Unlike Hell Girl season 1 which I liked from the first episode. Vampire Princess Miyu took around 5 episodes before I could enjoy watching it. The first episode isn’t good, and simply gives off a bad impression. Visual storytelling is messy, the human characters introduced become irrelevant after the episode ends, and very little key elements of the anime are established. It’s pretty lame until a giant demonic lizard makes an appearance. Episode 2 through 4 continue the trend for a bit, but episode 2 shows more of its promising side. For starter, some recurring characters are introduced, its formula is properly set up this time, and the episode has a pretty good ending. While episode 3 & 4 didn’t do much either to improve my impression of the anime.

When I finally got to episode 5 the series finally nailed it. The formula worked in its favor for once; the story the episode told was interesting, and just like episode 2, had a good ending to it. Episode 5 basically has Miyu, and her friends attempting to figure out what happened to a director’s unfinished film, and figure out what happened to the film’s leading actress. The supernatural elements work in nicely with this episode where in previous episodes it didn’t quite fit into them. Along with taking a unexpected direction it also touches on the future not turning out how the director desire it to be, and facing the consequences of his inability to move on from the past. Granted it doesn’t go in depth into this because not all 24 minutes are dedicated to that subject, but makes it feel balance with the desired minimal fantastical elements compared to the previous 4 episodes.

Much like Hell Girl, Vampire Princess Miyu is also an episodic series, but without an overarching story for most of it run. Episodic series typically have this trait, and here it comes with just about the same mixed results. Without an overarching story, Miyu, and her demonic slaying companions are simply wondering around Japan until they come across a Shinma, stary demons whom wonder into the human world creating chaos. Resulting in a anime while intriguing for me to watch had no urgency during its duration. For starter, the main cast of characters are hardly developed. Only Miyu, and her Shinma slaying partner Larva (also a Shinma) are given characterization randomly in the anime. Not to the point where I cared about their livelihood, but enough to keep my interest. However, nearly everyone else in the series is one dimensional. With a monster of the week setup characters are introduced, and typically killed within the same episode. Recurring characters that do make a appearance, like Miyu schoolmates are sidelined, and just there to provide some info of Shinma chaos through rumors.

So, with the lack of characterization for a majority of the cast, and repetitive episodic nature simply meanadering without an overarching story what kept me watching were the Shinmas. In certain episodes, seeing a Shinma cause trouble for humans, or seeing from the victim point of view the Shinma evil doings could be really engaging. For example, episode 9 (one of the best episodes) shows a couple adopting their neighbor cat, and showing it slowly tearing them apart. Unlike Hell Girl which tried to be scary, Vampire Princess Miyu can at least capture the horror-eque atmosphere it’s going for. The best example of good writing in the series is episode 11, and displaying the focus character psychology in his certain predicament. Besides receiving a new face from a Shinma, the focused character also begins what can be best described as sleep killing. The story episode 11 tell can have an entire series build around thanks to how well the execution of a simple idea was handle.

Miyu, despite being her voice actresses being stoic in the English dub was a character I couldn’t help, but like. Could be that I might have a thing for stoic, immortal female leads since I also liked Ai Enma (Hell Girl herself) from Hell Girl a good deal. Being such a drastic departure from your typical Vampires, it’s refreshing seeing a vampire who can wield fire, and occasionally fights demon. She also has empathy towards the human suffering from the Shinma which the anime goes into great detail into showing that side of her. It’s made a point in the anime early on Miyu does take blood from humans, and also has the ability to give certain humans “Sweat Dreams” forever to eventually die after sucking their blood. Of course, with the stoic voice actresses playing Miyu, it works in its favor when Miyu is cold towards certain Shinmas. I remember one episode where Miyu simply tells a very slow aging woman whom consumed Mermaid flesh to become immortal, and is afraid of dying. Miyu simply doesn’t reject the old lady plead to ease her suffering when ending her prolong life, but tells that’ll she simply have to suffer like every other human being until her very last dying breath. Outwardly, Miyu rarely shows the more conflict side of her emotions, but nonetheless I ended liking the character despite my better judgement.

If you’re craving some good demon slaying action look elsewhere since the action sequences in Vampire Princess Miyu are easily the weakest scenes in the anime. Besides having little in the way of fight choreography the same thing happens in nearly all of them. Larva comes into to save Miyu primarily with psychical attacks, and Miyu finishes off the Shinma quickly by burning them. No strategies are involved in the fight making them lame to witness. Only two fights in the anime are okay, though if it primarily desired to be an action series I would have been harsher on these sequences.

The only thing that somewhat positively stands out this anime would be the music. Dance of the Shinma, the series opening theme composed by Kenji Kawai, is a great tune that sets the mood for the series. I also like the limite usage of piano in the song, especially when it plays along the singing choir. It simply makes a joy to listen too. In series, the music helps set the atmosphere, and does a great job of creating this otherworldly sense when viewing it.

Other than that, I could touch on the English dub which is bad. The cast I felt was fine, but the performances of the voice cast leaves a lot to be desired. I could have just switched to the english subs to make some kind of comparison, but I didn’t since if I got the option I’ll go with a English dub. Even a subpar English dub like the one for this anime is more preferable for me when just casually watching anime. There’s also the 4 episode OVA also with the same name that I saw a long time ago before checking this series. Simply put, I can’t say much on that since it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it, but I can say for certain when I saw the 4 episode OVA of Vampire Princess Miyu that I didn’t like it. It nearly put me to sleep. Speaking of which, this anime series can also have that effect on viewers since it doesn’t change it formula. The same things might not be happening, but it certainly feels the same once you’ve seen more than 4 episodes.

I’ll close out another one of these scattershot impression, though upon re-reading this particular piece it certainly sound like (to me also) that I disliked the anime more than I liked. On very rare occasions, sometime something of average, or lower quality I end up liking for the positives despite the elitist in me telling me I simply shouldn’t. With Vampire Princess Miyu tv series, all it took to fall on my good side was simply provide me some stuff I can enjoy for 24 minutes. Enough so that I can forgive it faults whenever they showed up, and it succeeded. It didn’t keep improving like I wanted it too, but I’ll take an anime I find to simply be alright over the dozen, and dozen of bad animes I’ve seen.

If I were to rate Vampire Princess Miyu TV series I would rate it a 6 out of 10.

Cinema-Maniac: First Shot (1993)

I always disagreed with the notion that there’s a set number of ways to write stories. However, there are times where it does feel like that is the case. Not just in movies, but in general media that I consume. It also doesn’t help in the little time I did spend in college taking classes on writing further expanded my knowledge on fictional writing. One thing I didn’t need to learn in my classes is that execution is key. No matter how many type of stories you write, or experience understanding how to make those elements work together can lead to making a good product. Hence, today’s movie while overly familiar for viewers who’ve seen The Untouchables execute the same general story into a decent film.

Alright, time for another full body checkup from the entire force.

First Shot is set during a time of widespread police corruption, Wong Yat-chung (Ti Lung) is a stubborn cop who takes on both the mob and the political establishment. In terms of story, it’s lifts from heavily from Brain De Palma’s The Untouchables (1987). If you’ve seen that film than you more, or less will know what to expect from First Shot. However, if you haven’t seen The Untouchable, here’s a couple of lifted plot points. In both, you have a good guy cop against the corrupt police system, the main character recruiting at a academy to ensure the officer they recruit aren’t corrupted, the struggle to maintain a key witness safe from the film’s villain, a scene with the main character departs from his family to put them in police protection, a vocal confrontation between the film’s hero & villain surrounded by the press after a ally of the protagonist gets killed, and both leading character getting betrayed by other high ranking officers. Also, both movies are based around true events. To call the writing of First Shot uninspired would be an understatement.

Now that the similarities have been brought up, the area they stand apart in are easy. First Shot is significantly less subtle with its portrayal of factual events. For starter, all the corrupt police officers have no qualm about showing how corrupt they are in public. Dialogue goes of it way to reinforce this fact in several scenes. There’s the slimy villain whom typically who to do something evil whenever he’s onscreen. Making the preceding events in the story a basic good guys versus bad guy story. It keeps the viewer engage in its predictable story by fleshing out its heroes, and going through fulfilling character arcs. Just like in The Untouchable, no one in this film safe from death, and it’s uncertain who is exactly next up on the chopping floor. The cast of First Shot aren’t fleshed out enough to ensure you’ll care about them, but you will see beyond them cannon fodder.

Another advantage to the film is the chase itself to lock up the villain. Seeing the heroes coming inches close to lock away their man is an engaging part of the film. Same with the deviation whenever it goes away from it source of inspiration. Alleviating the serious with some comedic scenes which generally tend to be less over the top than films typically produce in Hong Kong around this time. Resulting in a dynamic cast of heroes who makes the film somewhat worthwhile when action is absent.

Man, looks at that face on the left

What garner mix results are some of the subplots. While characters are generally fleshed out, minus the villains, some of the subplots come out of nowhere. In the middle of the film’s climactic action sequence, one of the character reveals he’ll take revenge against the man who killed his father. This plot point was never brought up beforehand making it a convoluted way to add tension in the climax. There’s also the romantic subplot which isn’t as bad, though doesn’t come across as tragic as the film expected it to be. Would have probably helped if it didn’t immediately switch gear into a climatic action sequence over lingering on the fact an important character just died. There’s also the unexpected gay bar scene where the heroes have to undercover to gather intel, and it’s um, something odd to place into the movie to get a quick laugh. I’ll leave it at that.

What it lacks in writing quality it makes up for it in star power. For starter, the usually great Ti Lung delivers in being a good leading man. While nowhere near his best work, Ti Lung in First Shot becomes the embodiment of his character making the typical good cop feel more human. Unlike the writing, Ti Lung imbues more emotion into scenes than what would have been required of him. For example, when he’s confront Simon Yam in alley it would have been enough if Ti Lung just come across as a bitter man. However, Ti Lung comes across as more understanding, and disappointment from how he deliver his dialogue. Of course, Ti Lung partakes in some action sequences, but there’s not much of them here in terms of gunplay. What there is in fight sequences are also brief, though well put together to make up for the lack of action. I wasn’t expecting Ti Lung to partake in a choreograph fight sequence against Waise Lee in the climax, but I welcome that.

Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do yah?

Simon Yam delivers the best performance in the cast as Sam Mok. Portraying a police officer who seeks redemption for his misgivings. He comes across the most humane out of his co-stars. While other actors also do a good job, they do feel samey since the script doesn’t offer much differentiation between them. Yam is the exception convincingly turning around a character whose fearful for his life as a officer, and seamlessly transform it into an officer looking to do right. Portraying the film’s closest thing to a complex character in a natural progression despite having to share the screen with several other actors. All the while never losing his charming side to him that makes him likable.

Maggie Cheung in the film doesn’t offer much in her role. He does well, but unfortunately unlike her male co-star she only gets one moment to portray any sadness for her character. She given much of the exposition to deliver, although she does make the most of what she can in a thankless role. Then there’s Canti Lau, and Andy Hui playing the young cadets who are best friends. While the script never capitalizes on the potential of these characters the actor sure do. It’s unlikely you’ll be shedding tears whenever one of these two bites the dust, but you’ll care to some degree. Canti Lau does pretty well in his fight scenes.

Diner scenes, typically the most dangerous for criminals

Waise Lee plays the film villain, and chews the scenery in all his scenes. He holds nothing back in comically playing his playing role as serious as possible. He lacks much in the way of facial expressions aside from looking angry in every scene he’s in. Same thing applies to Batt Leung-Gam who plays a silence henchman. He lacks the menacing presence for his type of character, but makes up for his appearances with his fighting abilities in his action sequences. Director David Lam does a competent job helming the movie, but nothing to elevate the movie unlike his cast of actors. Finally, Lowell Lo composed the music for the film. While the only piece of music in the film that stands out is the one that plays the movie out during the ending credit it’s all around serviceable. It’s hardly noticeable, but does the job fine.

First Shot is a solid crime action flick in its own right. It doesn’t come close to matching it’s source of inspiration, The Untouchable, on any level. What it does do is execute a similar story into a straight forward action movie with mild success.

Rating: 7/10

 

Poor Subtitles Quality

My favorite badly sub line of the movie

In the off chance you somehow manage to find a viewable copy of this by any means the hardsubs are very poor. Several times throughout my viewing of the film would there be grammatical, and spelling errors. Other points portions of the subtitles would be cut off making it easy to lose vital information. Considering at the time of this posting I’ve yet to find any other official release of First Shot. The poor subtitles will be a drawback for anyone with a passing interesting to view it, or unintentionally fun by how bad it is. Either way, take that in account you plan on viewing First Shot at any point.

Some Thoughts On: Kino’s Journey (2003) Series

On March 10, 2018 I finished Kino’s Journey (2003) anime series for the first time, and found it average. As usual, this is not a review, and it’s simply scattershot thoughts. If I actually ever bothered rewatching this “eh” anime again I certainly would form a much better blog post than this.

From the onset, Kino’s Journey is about a traveler, who travels the world, and that’s about it. For an episodic anime this quickly came across as something I would not enjoy. However, after seeing the first episode I was pleasantly surprised that it turned out good. It was wondrous, had good world building, and a nice twist by the end of the episode that I didn’t see coming regarding the town’s history. Then episode 2 happened where it’s philosophical dialogue conflicts with the visual medium. You can talk about the true nature of man all you want, but you have a character who doesn’t like staying in one place too long. Making me question if I’m supposed to care what topics she brings up? The anime wants me too, but I don’t because one moment it’s absorbing with it philosophical talk, and something over the top happens to kill the mood. Like the ending of episode 2 simply felt like it just happened to have a “the folly of man” message.

Episode 3 was probably the high point of the anime for me. It displayed the most towns, the messages it had were delivered quickly so they wouldn’t get drowned out, and for once it was all tightly written without anything silly ruining it. In essence, it’s about this point I realize the series is literally just about Kino’s journey in the world, and the societies she witness. Leading to not creating any memorable characters, including the lead herself, and her talking motorcycle named Hermes. Leading to series where the main character you follow is the least developed aspect of the series. When it doesn’t to have the audience feel something about it’s world citizen is when Kino’s Journey at it strongest. Using the town’s people as plot devices to get across some kind of theme, or message.

At it weakest, you get episode 4 which delves into Kino’s backstory. Around half of the episode is good since it uses it characters to get across broad ideas. In this specific episode, it’s on what makes an adult, and what it means to be one. Where it falls apart is when you’re expected to care about the effect the society has on its people, even though consistently they never show up again once the episode is over. Much like Kino, everything feels passive. Kino goes into a town, passively observing it citizens decay in misery, and moves on to the next town. Aside from the two parter, every episode follows this formula. When not asking its audience to care about the characters it work because the ideas it touches are interesting.

My whole experience with Kino’s Journey (2003) was simply “eh”. Episodic anime, like mentioned in Hell Girl, aren’t things that draw me in. Kino’s Journey is an example of why; it’s a series of standalone adventures not connecting to anything resembling an overarching story. It’s main difference being it has more interesting ideas it touches on than a majority of episodic anime. Consequently, the lack of an overarching story make Kino seem like she is simply running away from her problems instead of facing them contrary to her backstory.

Just like Kino, the town’s people simply let things happen to their society without wanting to change it. Only once does Kino’s bother to interfere with the town itself in the two-parter Coliseum which is underwhelming. Aside from this one example, Kino, just like my attention, simply goes on to whatever is next without a connection. Speaking of connection, I struggle to figure out how this many decaying towns, or conflicting societies would be able to coexist in the same world without much conflict. Than again, that’s yet another victim of the passive writing.

I saw Kino’s Journey (2003) with the English dub for around 5 episodes, and I saw the entire series sub since I’ve watched it other people on a Discord server. When I saw the anime alone with the English dub, I found the English dub to be fine. From the episodes I saw, the performances were fine. None of the voice actor stood out. However, it was a lot easier to watch. For a series that’s wholly uneventful visually, being able to ponder about the themes it brings on without reading subtitles kept my mind stimulated. Watching it sub on the other hand simply make things a struggle to pay attention. Kino isn’t the kind of anime that likes raising action, so everything comes off as benevolent in a way. I did not care to read exposition dialogue for several minutes in multiple episodes especially when the town itself won’t matter in the next episode.

On a technical level, much like everything else, it’s average. The animation is at times soothing to look at, and some of the OST does wonders in bring the world to life. The opening theme, “All the Way” by Mikuni Shimokawa, on the other hand I wanted to skip every time I heard it. I heard some of Mikuni Shimokawa music beforehand, but never an entire album. The few songs I’ve heard from her make me feel like her singing in “All the Way” was half-assed. Shimokawa singing on songs like “Kimi ga Iru Kara” which is Fairy Tail 4th ending theme, and “Sore Ga Ai Deshou” which is Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu opening theme are better example of her singing. Now, I don’t think Mikuni Shimokawa is a great singer by any stretch since her inability to express strong emotion through singing prevents her from coming across as genuine. All the Way feels phones as the instrumental simply try to overtake her singing to disguise her stoic delivery. However, on the song “Sore Ga Ai Deshou” puts in the effort to pull on the heartstrings, even if she’s incapable of doing so. Unfortunately, since I was watching the series with other people I couldn’t skip the opening, and came across more phoned with each listen. The ending theme, “The Beautiful World” by Ai Maeda is okay.

Aside from that that, I ain’t got much left to say on Kino’s Journey. If it weren’t so passive in its, well just about everything it might have left me with some other impression. Something much more meaningful than “eh” by the end of it. The only noteworthy feature of Kino’s Journey (2003) are the ideas it brings up, but I’m sure you could find those same ideas executed better, and worse than what this anime could provide.

If I were to rate Kino’s Journey, I would rate this a 5 out of 10.

Cinema-Maniac: The Isle (2000) Review

Art house films is a part of the whole spectrum of movies that I don’t care for to be honest. It’s pretty obvious by the movies I choose to see. The challenge of seeing such a film is not a turn off, but the absent of substance I tend to find is. Art house cinema, unlike everything else related to movies I encounter, is the likeliest home of some of the most shallow piece of filmmaking that I can find. In particular, the smugness of these filmmakers that become present in their work thinking they made something deeper than it actually is. With this kind of mentality being equally common in art house cinema as the thought-provoking films that stick with you I’m happy engaging in it as little as I do. Preventing viewing experience like the one I had with The Isle from being a frequent thing.

Suh Jung recreating my reaction watching this movie

The Isle is about mute Hee-jin (Suh Jung), who operates a fishing resort, forming an unlikely bond with shady customer Hyun-shik (Kim Yu-seok). What little there is too the story is underwhelming. This is one of those art house movies that pad out their runtime by showing you every single action of their character not related to the story. Typically, it would be characters walking long distances, but this case its seeing Suh Jung drive people, or herself in a boat around the fishing resort. Things that take up minutes of screen time with little substantive dialogue to connect a theme, or a message of any sort. Being more damaging in this movie since entertainment is not a focus of the film. There’s also numerous occasions of seeing people do random activities at the fishing resorts whether it be seeing them poop on the resort, or attempting suicide. It’s the mundane atmosphere of nothing visually exciting happening that make the “shocking” scenes “hard” to watch. It’s easier to be shocked by something when the film has nothing happening in terms of story.

Characters simply go through the motion of events, and are more about displaying abstract ideas with nothing concrete to center the characters. One can ponder why a woman would shove a several fishing hooks up her vagina, but one can also be bored by such a sight when the only thing gather about its characters are abstract. Same with the abstract characteristic thag Hee-jin becoming possessive when saving a suicidal man’s life. Maybe Hee-jin is possessive, but with little foundation to her as a character she could also simply be a woman overstepping her boundary in preventing a suicidal man from taking his own life. Either of these notions could be correct. By doing so, it would defeat the movie intentions when simply throwing non-correlating interpretation at it, but when there’s no foundation for characters to connect to themes anything goes.

Hyun-shik character best gets across the clumsy writing of the movie. His shady background once reveal involves him being a wanted man, along with the brief details of the crime committed. By the way the story is written this revelation is just mundane. By choosing to remove raising action, and the essence of conflict from the writing everything seems equally dull. It’s not the intention of the film to portray such events, or people as dull. Rather it has something to say about the human state of suffering, and the way different ways people communicate is more sincere, even if against the familiarity one is use too. I know, that’s quite a mouthful of a sentence. In the movie itself, it doesn’t come off that way. Unlike great art house movies, you’ll won’t find working pieces that connect everything together. It has substance, but it’s all over the place that’s more than likely to leave your pondering what was the point than being provoked by it.

The Isle (2000) can look beautiful at times.

Actress Suh Jung despite playing a mute delivers a fantastic performance. Conveying an arrange of emotion, and inner turmoil of her character through her body language. Bringing to life a tragic character of its own kind rare to be seen in films. Taking pleasure in portraying the more sadistic side of her character, and improving the movie with her presence. She might lack any memorable lines of dialogue to speak, but when she’s as good as she is there’s no need for it. Aside from the cinematography from Seo-shik Hwang, Suh Jung is practically the only thing the movie has going for it.

Actor Kim Yu-seok whom plays Hyun-shik does well in portraying a lost soul, wandering soul. Awkward, sincere, and crazy are the impressions he’ll give you with his performance. When it comes to his acting he best shines with Suh Jung whom together create a strange onscreen couple. One’s that is odd as it is fascinating, and a bit charming when fish hooks, or knives aren’t around. Much like Suh Jung, Kim Yu-seok is also able convey the same inner turmoil of his character to similar success. There are other actors in the movie whom do adequately in their roles, but Suh Jung, and Kim Yu-seok are the only actors with substantial material to dig into.

Kim Yo-seok: “You see your life story, but all I see is my pet bird in a cage”

Director Kim Ki-duk (whom also wrote the movie) creates a visually alluring film that is absorbing. Almost dreamlike with the mist covering the water resort to add to its surreal mood. Using a wide variety of camera angles to show its beauty, setting the atmosphere accordingly enveloping the viewer into a trance with the calm mist, and smoke above the water to put them in a trance. Consisting of primarily long takes to provide the viewer more than enough time to absorb everything in, and out of this fishing resort. It’s easily an alluring movie displaying beauty in the mundane. Granted, when the “disturbing” scenes came around I wasn’t grossed out by them, but with fantastic dreamlike cinematography I can’t anyone who found the grotesque moments hard to watch.

The Isle is a visually absorbing movie with a fantastic performance by Suh Jung, but that’s about its only outstanding features. With a emphasis on minimalist storytelling, and acting it’s one of those up to interpretation type of art house movies. Why it doesn’t work is simple, it doesn’t center the substance, or themes to anything concrete to cohesively connect the dots. It won’t provide much to think about when it comes to themes, characters, or interpretations. Instead, all you will remember are certain scenes that might make your stomach turn.

Rating: 4/10

Cinema-Maniac: Man Wanted (1995) Review

One factor that can dictates what I choose to watch is sometime having a single actor I like. Simon Yam for instance, is one of my favorite actors whom I first saw acting in Johnnie To films like Exiled (2006), Election (2005), Triad Election (2006), and Vengeance (2009). After those strings of movies, I still started noticing Simon Yam in more films I’ve watched, and everytime he proved reliable in delivering solid, to great performances in all his roles. Seeing him in any film I come across whether it’s him headlining it, or in a supporting role I always take pleasure in seeing Yam on screen. It doesn’t matter the quality of the movie he ends being as he’s typically a bright spot in them. It’s no different here in the average action crime film Man Wanted displaying no matter what film he’s in, Simon Yam makes it a bit better.

Simon Yam, master of the blindfire

Man Wanted follows undercover policeman Lok Man-wah (Simon Yam) setting up a sting for a notorious drug lord, and his friend Luk Chan-fung (Yu Rongguang). There’s more to the story than the synopsis implies as the first arc of the Man Wanted would have been the climax in any other Hong Kong action crime film. What this film ignores is the tedious busywork of other movies like it. Plot points you can find in heroic bloodshed movies showing blood brothers bonding, the undercover officer uncertain where his loyalties lie, and the head criminal betrayal by the one he felt he trusted the most are quickly dealt with. It caught me off guard since in Hong Kong action films of these kind, these plot points are sprinkle throughout the story instead of being quickly dealt with. However, some plot points like the orchestrated death of a love ones are saved down the line, and aren’t as effective as they should be.

Man Wanted biggest issue is the melodramatic romance overtaking everything else in the story. Establishing early on some romantic tension between Lok Man-wah, and Yung (Christy Chung) while also piling on to the fact that Lok Man-wah has a girlfriend. The script doesn’t delve much into Lok Man-wah being conflicted between the women he love, but rather is more conflicting where his loyalties lies. The more interesting aspect of Lok Man-wah character is typically shoved aside so the movie can plow through it material to meet an end goal. Instead of simply having Lok Man-wah tell Yung he can’t pursue a romantic relationship with her. Lok Man-wah just continues seeing Yung, and makes her believe there’s a possibility for a romantic relationship. If this love triangle was use for anything thematic like tackling the hardship of staying committed than yes I can forgive it. However, simply having it here for Lok Man-wah to have a back-up woman is a pretty poor decision. Especially nearly every scene involving Lok Man-wah, and any of his two lovers have dialogue on par with corny romance dramas. There’s also the plot point that Lok Man-wah quickly gets over the death of one of the women he loves, and rebound with the other very quickly. Meaning whatever time was spent with either character was pointless if it got tossed aside as quickly as it did.

Leading into another issue of characters simply acting stupid. Not just the police force whom didn’t bother searching for a body to confirm a drug dealer death, but the lone fact as a officer Lok Man-wah does some stupid things. For example, there’s a scene where Lok Man-wah drives Chan-fung to a school so he can pick up someone, but instead Chang-fung ends up kidnapping a rival drug lord child, and results in a brief gunfight at a middle school. In all his years of experience as an officer, Lok Man-wah decides to drive him to the police station parking lot, and decides not to turn him in to the authority when Luk Chan-fang gives him his word he’ll leave town after settling business. Apparently Lok Man-wah thinks placing his trust in a man he betrayed, whom also kidnapped a kid from a middle school, and started a gunfight with citizens around in a middle school is a guy he can trust to keep his word. There’s also the typical character of the superior officer not getting along with the lead character, although given how stupid some of the people act in this movie the superior officer behavior is reasonable this time around.

“I don’t care if I’m on fire! I’ll kick your ass”

Finally, the one aspect the film does mildly well is characterization. Despite there never being a feeling of raising action, the characters have some meat to them. Motivations come across as reasonable, even if the action they do goes against their characteristics. A good amount of time is focus on Lok Man-wah turmoil of where his loyalties lies, and tackles that part well. Focusing more the relationship he made in both world rather than morality within them. Doing a fine job getting across he doesn’t know what world he belongs in. Another thing the film does well is make you question the outcome of the movie. Adding enough twists to it climax that makes the climax slightly more interesting than the entire movie before it. There’s some good to be found within the messiness of melodrama, and stupid characters.

Simon Yam presence in the film is enjoyable, and delivers a solid a performance. Without strong material, Yam in the movie rarely comes off as the character he’s portraying. However, he is able to make his character not come across as bad as he is. Yam delivers the right amount of emotion in every scene he’s in preventing scenes from being too melodramatic, or over the top no matter how hard the direction, and screenplay want to them to be. He eases through the film no problem as a leading man. Making sure there isn’t a weak scene he’s in, even when no action is abound. For a non martial artist, Yam performances in the few choreographed fight can trick you into thinking he is one. His gunfights here on the other hand will the lack action choreography he’s capable of like in films like in John Woo’s Bullet In the Head (1990).

Roongguang Yu plays villain Lu Chan Feng pretty well. Standing toe to toe to Simon Yam in terms of acting. The only downside to his performance is the closer it reaches the end the more over the top he acts. Going from acting somewhat subdue of his character to eventually becoming absurd. Both Christy Chung, and Eileen Tung whom play Simon Yam love interest, and the supportive character. They do fine in their roles, but only Christy Chung gets much meat in her material. She’s allow to express a wider range of emotion for her character. Another thing that helps is, like Yam, she underplays the more melodramatic dialogue to make it better than it is. Aside from them, there is Cherie Chan Siu-Ha who either is too melodramatic, or over acting. Plus, her sporting an afro out of nowhere for the rest of the movie prevents her from being taken seriously.

Seriously, what is up with that afro

When it comes to the action they are the only thing that somewhat stand out, but not by much. The fight sequences are good, though end as quickly as they start. Given that Simon Yam isn’t a martial artist the lack of them makes sense. In terms of choreography, Yam doesn’t do anything impressive. His fight sequence in the beginning of the movie has him making quick usage of his props to take care of three men. No high flying moves, or elaborate counter moves are to be found in this, and the other fight scene. It’s impressive that Yam looks convincing doing them.

Unfortunately, these short skirmishes are the only time the action tries to be above your standard fare. Gunfights on the other hand are very simple with the cover, and shoot approach to them that tend to make gunfights boring. Benny Chan tries to remedies these by having bullets piercing make sparks fly when in contact with anything, and makes explosive look a lot more deadly than they actually are. One example involves a shootout at a port, and the films villain throw a grenade at some police officers shooting at him. This grenade is point blank next to some officers, and yet when the grenade explodes, the police officer don’t blow up into pieces, nor do they seem harmed by it. Other gunfights aren’t as silly, though the lack of creativity are consistent in them all. Like the one where Simon Yam simply goes to a warehouse, and kills a dozen men simply flailing around the guns he’s dual wielding instead of incorporating anything that would make Yam looks like an expert gunmen. Doesn’t even bother to dodge, or duck while being shot at either. Sure, I’ll buy every bullets miss hitting Simon Yam in this warehouse shootout, but he’s capable of much more. Same with Benny Chan when it comes to filming action sequences. Only thing left to comment on is the music is not effectively used during the romantic scenes giving the vibe of a cheesy romance drama. Music during everything else is fine if unremarkable.

Yep, whoever is in that car is dead. Right?

Man Wanted doesn’t stand out in any special way. If it wasn’t for the fact it starred Simon Yam, and was directed by Benny Chan I would have definitely would have given this a missed. As an actor, Simon Yam has appear in better action films, and the stuff here doesn’t make use of his commitment as a actor. Having Yam perform more simplistic fight scenes, and gunfights than what he usually does. Benny Chan as a director knows how to space action sequences in his story, and understands what makes good pacing. Unfortunately, this film shows even he who occasionally make films better than they should be can’t make up for all it shortcomings. As hard as the whole production tried, it still came out average.

Rating: 5/10

Some Thoughts On: March Comes In Like A Lion (2016) Season 1

On March 25, 2018 I completed the first season of an anime called March Comes In Like A Lion (3-gatsu no Lion), and it was a slough of an anime to get through. As usual, these entries are simply scattershot thoughts on a anime series I completed. They shouldn’t be treated as a review, even if I do give the anime a rating at the end of these blogs. I should fix that, but future me shall worry about that.

In short, March Comes In Like A Lion is a about a professional shogi player named Rei Kiriyama working out life issues…for the first half that is. Eventually turning into something else in the second half that is just as equally mixed in results, but minus as many jarring tonal shifts. As a drama, when the anime decides to be one, it can be rather good at points. My favorite moments in the anime are easily the more human moments in the series. Simple scenes like Rei crying in front a kindergartner when attending to her wound while simplistic gets along across a lot proficiently. Granted that moment got spoiled when a character explains it, but it’s a moment I consider a good example of its drama.

This post ended up longer than expected, so some random gifs to liven up the wall of text.

Another one of my favorite moment includes when Rei sister goes over to his apartment for the second time, and have a discussion about love. Followed by a great analogy how the tension in the room makes Rei feels like he’s sinking deeper into the bottom of the ocean together with his sister. Moments like these where the drama is allowed to be absorbed, and not be ruined by the over the top comedy are what I felt March Comes In Like A Lion should have attempted to capture more off. During these moments, I found myself engaged, and invested by what the characters were going through in their life. By the way it depicted, and developed the characters, the anime mostly didn’t feel overbearing into making me feel a certain emotion. Characters acted over the top, but never bordered in making any of them comedic relief. Clearly doing its best in providing all the characters a fair depiction while never overlooking their less favorable aspects. Heck, even the series most dislikable character, Masamune Gotou, isn’t made out to be a typical evil adult that anime typically makes for teenage led anime series.

My favorite character of the anime, as far as season 1 is concerned, is Rei’s teacher Takashi Hayashida. He felt the most balanced character in the anime never hurting the tone, and when the character was used for comedic effect it worked all the time. Takashi is presented as a goofball teacher who cares for Rei’s well being. So whenever he’s on screen he isn’t hurting the narrative in any form. Even when a scene with Takashi is strictly use for comedic purposes it usually involves him helping Rei with school related activities, or giving him life advice. Unlike the rest of the characters, Takashi doesn’t hide any of his issues behind his profession. Being a blunt character in the best possible way.

The other character I liked a lot, even though she could be a bitch, is Kyouko Kouda (Rei’s sister). Whenever it delved into her past, understanding why she acts negatively towards Rei while not excused comes off as reasonable from the way it’s written. It’s a complex past, along with the complex way Rei, and Kyouko feel about each other when they interact. Yet, it didn’t turn into a trainwreck. Too often in anime doing the “water under the bridge” between two character with a troubled history feels unearned in getting a resolution. In March Comes In Like A Lion, I won’t spoil if the messy family bond get fixed, but what it did with it worked exceptionally because it didn’t use any manipulative writing tricks.

I know, this looks cool.

The series delves into depression without ever going in the realm of silliness. Doing well in depicting how depression is an ongoing cycle that’s difficult to break, even when given support. Now given this, using over the top comedy to contrast Rei’s current mindset against the world he lives in on paper is fine. In the first episode, there was a jarring tonal shift since most of the episode is somber. However, I allowed it a free pass so to say on the jarring shift because it wasn’t preceded by a heavily dramatic scene. Unfortunately, it the rule that when a well written, heavily dramatic scene is finished it should be followed by a over the comedic scene. Yes, it often kills tension, and counteracts the dramatic aspect of the series.

 

For example, my least favorite episode of season 1 is easily episode 6 since it’s simply Rei Kiriyama pitying himself, and monologuing about his troubles for about 14 minutes. Man, was this boring because Rei’s says a lot, and little of what he says during those 14 minutes is meaningful. After a barrage of drama ending the episode with Rei taking Hinata (a middle schooler girl whose Rei’s friend) to eat a burger would have been a fine place to end the episode. Before the closing credits showed up, the somber mood was slowly transitioning from the barrage of snooze inducing self-pitying dialogue into a more balance tone. However, there were still about 3 minutes left ruining a generally downer of an episode with a over the top comedy scene. The final impression left on me is that it was funny, despite the barrage of dialogue of Rei issues.

Another thing the comedy negatively contribute are pointless additions to the anime. I also blame some of these on director Akiyuki Shinbou who kept them in for no good reason. One of these pointless addition is giving cats monologues. What’s the point of spending any sort of screen time hearing (or reading for you sub readers) the cats constantly screaming being hungry. This joke loses its luster after its done the fifth time, but kept in because why not. I’m sure a anime series that is filled with the brim of characters tackling personal, life, and family issues really needs cats to scream about wanting food.

This anime can have some great visuals when it wants too.

From a directing standpoint, there’s also bolds words that appear on screen for comedic effects. These bold words, and some chibi character usage, work well enough in the comedic scenes. Aside from it being expected, if it wanted too, it could also use those bold word effect for something else other than comedy. Like empathizing how a character sees a shogi move as a devastating action. Cats screaming in English (or whatever language you’re watching it in) about wanting food doesn’t have multiple purposes for an anime that wants to be a good drama.

When it comes to direction of Akiyuki Shinbo it’s usually fine. I just wish it wasn’t as obvious at points in the anime when Shinbo felt uninspired, or disinterested in the material. One thing that isn’t consistent, besides the jarring tonal shift, are the visual analogies. They appear infrequently in the anime making their usage be more desired. The visual analogy work, like when Rei faces off against Shimada at his house, and seeing a visuals of strong currents rushing towards him while playing shogi gets across the intensity Rei feels in a match. If used more consistently it would have had a more consistent visual style for the entire season.

Another issue is a tendency to have dialogue be a deterrent to his visual storytelling. Like Rei seeing a nature program about Cuckoo birds, and learns how the Cuckoo bird surrogate parents keep feeding them even though they already out grew their nest. This is preceded by Rei’s backstory which I can’t get into because spoilers, ah. Now, when Rei saw the Cuckoo bird program, making a connection that how he saw himself by the impression he made was easy to connect. It was subtle, until the point Rei himself spells it out for the viewer. This happens repeatedly through the series. It works as much as it fails so it wavers in quality.

The writing is simply bad because it’s unfocus. While it does characterization well, it’s obvious it has too many characters, and doesn’t know what to do with them. There’s several supporting characters in the first half that are largely absent in the second half. Forgetting about them as easily as Rei has. Making it central theme about family sticking together in the first half ultimately feels hollow when it ends up nowhere. For about the last 6 episodes, it forgets that the central character should be Rei, and focuses on a character named Shimada for the majority of those episodes. Since it actually went somewhere meaningful forgiving the lack of a direction is forgiven. However, it’s not overlooked since even subplots, like one revolving around Hinata having a crush on a boy, and Rei befriending that boy simply just end despite how much time it dedicates to them.

Don’t worry, you don’t need context.

On the technical side of things it’s competent. There’s nothing impressive generally about the animation until it does a visual analogies for some memorable imagery. Voice acting in the English dub is good, and I needed it to get through episodes 6, and 11 because if I saw these two episodes sub I would have fallen asleep. Music is fine, but the first opening, and first ending song are by Bump of Chicken are pretty good. As opposed to the 2nd opening track of the anime that’s easily the weakest piece of music in the series, but then pulls a 180 with a song by Kenshi Yonezu called Orion which is great. Then again, that’s just simply the Kenshi Yonezu fanboy in me loving to listen to his stuff whenever it appears.

Aside from characters, and characterization everything else in the anime just feels competently made. It’s a messy type of competent where one moment it grips you, and another moment completely loses your attention. When it wants to be it’s a good drama without eliciting any emotion from the viewer with any cheap writing tricks. At it worse, it’s simply an overbearing comedy that deteriorates the impact of the drama with a lack of focus that can’t handle the many subplots it wants. However, it’s those good dramatic moments that got me through to the end. It’s those scenes that kept me coming back regardless of its subject matter because it was compelling. If it means putting up with a overall sloppy package of an anime I’ll more than gladly put up with the some of its parts for the good stuff. It is nonetheless a disappointing watch. Ain’t no changing that.

If I were to rate March Comes In Like A Lion, I would give it a 6 out 10.

 

Cinema-Maniac: G4: Option Zero (1997) Review

Action movies typically isn’t the genre people will go digging through for a good story, and Option Zero (1997) will remind some of why. Directed by Dante Lam, whom I consider to be China equivalent to Michael Bay, has been sloppy in the films I’ve seen him helm. A common problem with Lam films is starting off good, and losing steam as it goes on as so far every film I’ve seen from Dante Lam feels longer than it should be. Also just like Michael Bay thing for explosions, Dante Lam also has knack for making action sequences pop out from the screen. It’s a skill of his that can be seen in the film in one lengthy action sequence in Option Zero, but unfortunately the faults that plague his movies are more present here than his strengths in his feature film debut as a director.

Anthony Wong: See the wood on the ship? Emote more than that.

Option Zero follows the private lives of some of its key members of the HK police force known as SB, and how that affects their work in the field. It’s unfortunate that all these cops live very boring lives. For starter, when the SB officers aren’t talking about anything job related they are either talking about sex, or romantic relationships. In a movie that is just 11 minutes shy from being two hours this cycle of job procedural, sex jokes, and romantic drama dialogue wears you out. Aside from these things, there’s nothing the film characters choose to talk about. If a conversation seems like it’s going to break this cycle, it goes right back into its familiar routine.

Whenever Option Zero focuses on the SB officers doing their jobs all the task feel largely unrelated to one another in the overarching story. Capture a group of criminals dead or alive in a hotel, go chase after a criminal with valuable information, stop a gun deal, and finally protect someone important. Even if you spot the small connection, it doesn’t build up to the climatic action sequence in any form. A shootout that occurs in a container port 55 minutes into the movie, has a South Korean criminal, who evaded the SB officers in a previous action scene, killing off a major character only to have that same Korean criminal disappear for over 40 minutes before haphazardly just putting him in the climatic action sequence. You go almost half the film length without any build up towards that encounter, and when you do get to the climax there’s no confirmation if this South Korean criminal is the same that killed off a major character earlier. All the action sequences simply happen without the excitement one would hope these sequences would provide.

Now the meat of the film’s plot focus on romantic relationships. Initially, I was on board to see how the SB officers job would take a toll in their personal lives, and all it amount to was serviceable. It has too many subplots that get scatter around during the run time, half of which don’t even bother to get properly resolve. For example, there’s a love triangle in the movie involving our lead character Ben Chan (Julian Cheung), Chan’s current civilian girlfriend Kelly (Carman Lee), and Monica Leung (Monica Chan) who is basically Chan’s best friend. Monica who gets written like a third wheel, gets mentioned pretty early in the movie, and gets established as clearly having a crush on Chan. Leading to some interesting scenes like when Chan gets asked by Kelly if she’s the first person he’ll think about if he’s dying. Other times, it’s the soap opera treatment of “you never notice my feelings, or will you will never love me like I want you to”. This plotline, despite becoming the focal point of the movie as it progresses simply ends. There’s also no mention if Monica relationship with another character evolve into anything more romantic affecting another subplot by having no resolution.

Missing here is some cheesy music.

Other characters in the film also suffer the same fate of repetitive dialogue; talk about their job, talk about sex, and than talk about relationship to reiterate once again. Dialogue related to the SB officer work is purely exposition while anything related to sex is a jab at comedy. Unfortunately, the jab at comedy eventually stop to become the equivalent of a bad high school drama. Something gets brought up that appears to be a big deal only to be forgotten about over time. Like Chan’s partner Sing (Anthony Wong) having a things for boats, and not using that characteristic of Sing for anything even though a scene is dedicated to it, or the fact Sing wife possibly cheated on him is also dropped. The supporting characters are only here to provide some fluff to the story since it’s main plotline doesn’t have much to sustain itself during the runtime. Getting multiple scenes of characters simply hanging around each other like friends. Despite the length the film would go to provide characterization, even forgetting it’s an action film for half of it runtime, characters still come out feeling flat by the end.

Finally, the G4 unit finally pops up in the final stretches of the film, and it’s simply more melodrama. The part of this being a police unit that only takes in the best is expected dialogue, but after many melodramatic scenes it would be nice to return to its characters prioritizing something else on their minds besides love. It’s this circling around the same three topic that make these characters shallow. Without going in depth into what it chooses to talk about everything feels detached emotionally. The film can whatever amount of time it wants on developing it cast, but without adding, or evolving their plotline beyond their introduction the effort seems wasteful. It has it mind set on something, but doesn’t bother developing it to the best it can be.

Julian Cheung is our stiff leading man in G4: Option Zero. He’s unable to express much, even during the action sequences he even struggle to show the most basic signs of struggle. However, seeing Cheung being passable in a action scene is better than him trying to emote in the dramatic scenes. His delivery lacks any emphasis on emotion typically wearing the same expression from beginning to end. His other co-star like Alex Cheung Hung On also suffers from the same issues. However, since Alex Cheung isn’t on screen frequently he’s comes off as passable instead of stiff like Julian Cheung. Carman Lee, and Monica Lee fare a little bit better, though not by much. Their dialogue delivery as the emotional support, or unrequited love is what you would expect them to be. They’re fine, and unlike their male co-stars, can carry a scene by their acting chops.

Anthony Wong in the film best action sequence

My favorite character in the movie was Sing, and that’s because Anthony Wong was playing the character, even in a lesser effort in terms of acting, is still far memorable than any of his co stars. He’s the most believable with his performance encompassing his middle aged, slightly overweight, physical appearance of a veteran officer. Wong unique appearance easily makes him stand out among the more physically fit looking cast. By becoming Sing, Anthony Wong provides the film only moments of good drama, and comedy since he bothers to mold the weakness of the script into a strength. Easily being able to do the drama, the comedy, and action side of his role convincingly. Unlike the script, Anthony Wong found a way to balance the different tone into his performance never feeling out of character in anything he does. Anthony Wong is the only actor in the film who gives a good performance despite the weak material he was working with. There’s also a cameo from Michael Wong whom starred in the previous two installments of this franchise. His appearance adds nothing to the movie. There is one other actor, Paul Cheng Jang Bong whom plays a South Korean criminal who acts as a sorta-foil, but his performance is onenote leaving little to add on.

The film’s best action sequence is easily a lengthy shootout in a container port. It’s the only action sequence that feels inspired, and where the action choreography shines. Asides from keeping the action movie, the gunplay here in particular have more emphasizes in bullets piercing the background. In this container port action sequence, there’s a very brief shotgun bout between a SB officer played by Anthony Wong, and a Korean criminal that’s easily the highlight of the sequence. Not only do both characters barely miss each other, but quickly have to evade each other gun fire in from a close range. If the film had more dynamic gunfights like this brief shotgun bout than it would have been worth sitting through 40 plus minutes of characters moping around about love, or death worth it. Aside from this container port shootout, the action sequences are sub-par, even the climax itself doesn’t high end things on a high note.

Option Zero is a messy movie that will leave action junkie, or anyone craving a good story unsatisfied. There’s not enough to the story to keep events interesting, and the action sequences only once rises above your average action movie from China/Hong Kong, but even it’s one good action sequence won’t keep you around. Anthony Wong is the one positive G4: Option Zero has to offer, and that’s only when he’s onscreen. Being an example of melodrama, romance, and action not coming together like it should. 

Rating: 4/10

Cinema-Manic: Savage Dog (2017) Review

There was a time where straight to home video action films were the absolute worst the action genre could provide. Nowadays the notion hasn’t changed, but there’s been a steady rise in quality thanks to talented filmmakers knowing what to provide to its audience, and without it feeling like a cheap cash grab. One actor in the forefront in these straight to home video action movies is Scott Adkins. An actor who appears in some big budget movies in bit roles like Doctor Strange (2016), and The Expendable 2 (2012), but is mostly stuck in lower budget efforts. The trait most of these lower budget efforts share is Scott Adkins always work with competent directors whom also share his desire to make the best possible film despite their limitations. Sometime they work as mindless entertainment like with Ninja 2: Shadow of A Tear (2013), and Close Range (2015), while duds like El Gringo (2012), and Eliminators (2016) being just as common in his filmography. One thing his film can be counted on for is supplying good action sequences, and thankfully Savage Dogs falls into the category of Adkins better films.

Adkins: “They won’t release me until I improve my acting.”

Savage Dog is set in 1959 Indochina, following Martin Tilman (Scott Adkins), who is due for release from Den-Dhin-Chan labor camp run by Vietnamese warlords and European war criminals, but the corrupt forces running the jail will do everything in their power to keep him locked down. Telling a simplistic story in its heart, but aiming higher than it could achieve. The first half of the film focuses more on developing characters, and trying to tell a story about finding a purpose. Using the first half purely as buildup to eventually rein in the carnage the second half of the movie will be dedicated too. While the sentiment is admirable, the execution is simplistic on all front. Characters are typically shady, and money hungry all in the effort to evade consequences for betraying their country. It sounds like these characters have depth to them. In actuality, that’s about as far is it goes for developing most of it characters whom just meant to add to Tilman body count. It easier to root for our ex-British officer whom is hunted down by his own country when one of your villains is a ex-Nazi. Also, characters reiterating multiple time their all ex whatever of a certain country helps too.

In spite of a runtime of 94 minutes, the pacing is generally slow, but works in service of the movie. This does negatively affect some aspect of the story, like Martin Tilman romantic relationship that is meant to be the dramatic core of the film doesn’t work. Most of the bonding between Tilman, and his lover is glossed over. The other aspect of Martin Tilman that is tackle somewhat well is Tilman looking for purpose in his life. Evolving from his introduction into a satisfactory character arc. Aspects of Tilman past are kept limited, and to the point. Supporting characters are fine. Isabelle (Juju Chan) arc revolves around her believing in the good of people, and keeping that belief. She doesn’t grow beyond her introduction, and mostly serves the role of just being the love interest. One other positive could be Isabelle doesn’t become a damsel in distress, but at the same time it means she becomes useless to the story after the first half of the movie is done.

The only other character left to mention is Valentine (Keith David) whom also serves the film narrator whenever needed. Out of everything in the writing, Valentine narration is easily its biggest fault. Whereas the previous faults mention contributed somewhat positively to the bigger picture, Valentine’s narration could have been entirely removed. Sometimes stating the obvious, and sometime summarizing the purpose of a scene in a couple of sentences. For example, when there’s a scene of Isabelle, and Tilman relationship becoming more romantic, Valentine tells the audience exactly what they’re seeing. Same with when Tilman is brutally fighting as a bouncer against some unwelcome guest, and Valentine’s states (paraphrasing) that something savage has awaken within Tilman. Quite insightful in stating the obvious. Most silly of all, is given the fate of Valentine’s character he’s basically narrating from beyond the grave leading to some confusion. Sure, revealing the death of Valentine’s character could be considered a spoiler, but given his only purpose is get to killed, and provide pointless narration it’s better to have you prepare beforehand about that odd narrative choice.

So, this is Colonel Sanders with a clean shave.

Lastly, the second half of the film is where it finally picks up. Seeing Tilman embraces his anger, and seeing him kill a dozen, or so people like a one man army is it biggest strength. Narratively, the first half did a competently enough job to make this action onslaught satisfying. The hero is easy to root for, and the villains are easily detestable. Unfortunately, the first half is a hindrance with very little interesting things happening. Since the material never raises to the level it wants, die hard fans of Scott Adkins movies, or action junkies can endure the rough first half, but the average viewer isn’t as likely to stick around. For those who stick around will receive everything they could want from a lower budget action film starring Scott Adkins, even if it takes a while to get there.

Scott Adkins takes the lead as Martin Tilman. In terms of acting, Adkins takes a wholly serious role. Unlike his usual film, his cockiness that he portrays in some of his roles is absent here. Removing part of his charm that can be found in El Gringo (2012), and Accident Man (2018). When wholly serious, Adkins limited range of acting shows a lot, especially in the first half. Struggling to displays the years of violence, and yearning for a purpose Tilman is meant to have. Some of Adkins weak acting is hidden by having him participate in some fight sequences in the first half where believing Adkins is a expert fighter is easy to accept. Believing Adkins is a lost soul of sort is a pill not as easy to swallow. However, in the second half of the film, Adkins improves as the stunt work, and action sequences he’s good as performing become more prevalent than his dramatic chops. Adkins lack of strong acting chops is forgivable since the second half highlights his strength better.

Supporting cast on the other hand come off as decent. For instant, Juju Chan whom plays Isabelle does good all her dramatic scenes. It’s night, and day how easily Juju Chan can emote in her delivery compare to Adkins. However, she’s also quite a capable actress able to work within Adkin limited dramatic chops to make a scene work better than it should. Just like the rest of the cast, the only issue I have with her acting is it’s mostly one note. Keith David whom plays Valentine delivers a good performance. He’s able to be more loose since his character isn’t as serious compare to everyone else. However, his best part of acting is when he’s narrating, giving some power to his narration, even if it’s ultimately pointless.

Finally, the cast of evildoers themselves. Vladimir Kulich is easily the best actor among them, though because of bad writing he reiterates the same dialogue multiple times throughout the film. He performs the role of a ex-Nazi without hamming it up, or being cartoonish. Marko Zaror plays another one of the baddie, as well as being the only other person, besides Cung Le, who can stand evenly with Adkins. Performance wise, both Zaror, and Cung Le are mostly one note. Cung Le has to come across as intimidating while Zaror somewhat has to give off a similar vibe. They do decently since they aren’t required to express much in their characters like Scott Adkins.

Explosions make Adkins sleepy.

When it comes to action, Savage Dog tries to be more realistic than Adkins usual film. Just a bit so the usual high kicks, and more elaborate martial art fight sequences Adkins is known for are tone down. Yet, don’t become a detriment to the action sequences. What partially makes up for this is sometime seeing gore within the action sequences. There’s isn’t a lot of gore, but when seeing the sight of a man face getting blown off by a shotgun at point blank range in a close up shot, or seeing Adkins decapitate someone’s head what gore it has truly satisfies. Not to forget some of the gore special effects are surprisingly good despite the film obvious, limited resources.

The fight sequences in the film are easily the standout of the film. They make up a majority of the action bits. Fight sequences in the first half are entirely one sided having Adkins easily beat whoever he’s fighting. Adkins fight are more of a bare-knuckle variety mostly punching his opponent with maybe the occasional kick. Just when you think you’re tire of seeing similar looking fight scenes. The second half allows Adkins to fight tougher opponent on two occasion. One of them is against Cung Le who gives Adkins a good beating. Unfortunately, the fight between Cung Le, and Adkins ends anticlimactically. Granted, the way it ends makes sense in context, but it just strange it chooses this moment to go against action movies norms.

The final confrontation between Adkins, and Marko Zaror is also a good one. It’s the only time in the film where Adkins has to overcome a foe whom has the upperhand in a fight. Unlike previous fights, the “realism” is slightly more removed here whenever both Adkins, and Zaror trade blows with knives. It doesn’t end the film on a bang since nothing elaborate is done in the film, but it does provide the film final moment of gore before ending which is probably one of the best moments in Scott Adkins career.

How much get can I get for this head?

The other action set pieces typically have Adkins blowing holes into peoples with guns, and barely getting hit with bullets non-stop. Gunplay is more interesting than your average action movie with Adkin seemingly being quick enough to dodge gunfire regardless of what gun is being used against him. Seeing someone get shot is made satisfying when seeing blood squib explode in small amount. Only negative to the action sequence requiring Adkins basically taking out an entire army at their base is the low budget here becomes the most apparent. Throughout the movie, the small budget is concealed well enough, but this particular set piece instead of seeing dozen of men go after Adkins at once you likely see at most 3, or 4 go after Adkins. It doesn’t feel like Adkins took out an entire army. However, that’s a small complaint against it. Jesse V. Johnson knows how to crafts, and capture action satisfactory.

Savage Dog ambition is never met, but is far better than your average straight to home video action film. Offering a refreshing setting, solid acting among the cast, and some good action sequences with the rare moments of gore to enjoy once the carnage kicks in. It’s a not a film I would give a general recommendation since it’s faults easily can ruin the experience for an average viewer. At 94 minutes, for fans of action cinema craving for another solid flick, or fans of Scott Adkins this is recommended to check out.

6/10

Cinema-Maniac: Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 (1968) Review

The first Outlaw: Gangster VIP film was a very pleasant surprise the first time I saw it. I’ve never heard anything about it, nor ever seen any promotional material going into it. It’s this blind viewing experience that made me discover quite the hidden gem of a Yakuza film. Now, considering the fact I knew this was a franchise, and the ambiguous ending for the first movie I still consider the first entry a great standalone feature film. It was open enough where a debate towards the outcome of it conclusion could be considered valid. This sequel had a tall order to follow, and for the first act at least, it was doing a good job building on the foundation the original film laid out. However, after the first act was done it reverted back to the same familiar structure, and plot points that could be found in the original, just less potent this time around.

I’m here to audition for the one arm swordsman role.

Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 continues the story of Goro (Tetsuya Watari) who wants to put his dark past behind, and live an honest man’s life. This is a direct sequel so knowing what happens in the first film is a blessing, and a curse. A blessing in the since Goro is a developed character could be even more fleshed out. Seeing him interact with people in this film holds greater significance with a better understanding of Goro from the previous movie. For the first act, this sequel serves up being a good extension to the franchise. Seeing Goro for the first time in his life attempting to be an honest man, and seeing him struggling through that is compelling. The same also applies to him attempting to stay committed to his new lifestyle no matter the difficulty given to him. It’s also the best part of the movie since Goro is shown tackling, and failing to overcome new challenges as a straight man. If the film expanded further on this than the foreseeable events later on in the story would have packed some kind of a punch.

Another positive to the film is the subplot revolving around Goro, and Yukiko (Chieko Matsubara) attempting to make money to take care of fatally ill friend Yumeko (Kayo Matsuo) is potent. Unlike the other plot threads within the sequel, this feels the most potent in its effort to tell another good story in Goro life. It’s not a rethread of something that happened in a previous movie, and it offers some kind of continuity that when the subplot ends it is actually meaningful. This subplot also leads to the best dramatic scene in the film, but unfortunately saying more than that would require spoiling it.

There is one area where this sequel somewhat does better than the original, and that’s fleshing out Yukiko. She still isn’t given much to do, but her contribution to the story adds something to the story. Without Yukiko, certain scenes discussing love wouldn’t work. So yes, by simply having Yukiko exist, and be the love interest the film discussion on love doesn’t come off as phoned in. Other than that, expect the same song, and dance for the rest of the material.

Goro: “Finally, someone who doesn’t put their arm through sleeves like me!”

The negative side of this being a direct sequel is a bigger of suspension of disbelief when viewing the film. Asking the viewer to overlook the fact that Goro met the same type of people, and similar events happened around him is quite a stretch. Another drawback is the inevitable boredom of that you’ve seen these same exact scenes, and same exact outcome in the previous film. Offering little surprises in the direction the story. Once you determine what exactly this sequel is going to rethread you’ll have less of a reason to be invested in it.

Perhaps the biggest drawback is the ending of the movie. Unlike the original film where its ambiguous nature could be debated in spite of there being sequels. Here, the ending comes off as more conclusive as you’ll see a bloodied Goro finally stopped moving, and lay down on the floor. The first time when I saw this kind of ending it left a good impression. I was willing to overlook the fact in the original Outlaw: Gangster VIP there was an entire franchise, but here, I simply can’t for the reasons stated earlier. It rethread too much material so expecting me to leave the movie with the same kind of meaningful experience is not earned.

Finally, Goro the Wise finally learned to properly put on a jacket.

Tetsuya Watari once again takes the leading role as Goro, and he does another good job in the film. It’s largely feels like a repeat of his performance of the first movie, but his portrayal is nonetheless still effective. His line delivery is commanding, and sincere at a moment notice. He’s convincing in the action sequences he performs with the psychical appearance to boot too. Yes, Tetsuya Watari still refuses to put his arms into his jackets just like the first movie in a good amount of scenes which is going to be mentioned as long as he does. Just like in the previous movie, his chemistry with the cast is on point again in this sequel.

Returning actors like Chieko Matsubara who plays Yukiko, and Shoki Fukae both whom play new character named Mori are dependable again. However, seeing them play their respective characters with little new to offer makes them easily fade into the background. Unlike Tetsuya Watari whose in the front, and center of not only the dramatic scenes, but also the action sequences allowing him to shine despite the rethread. Both Matsubara, and Fukae aren’t granted that luxury since they did little in the first movie, and here it’s no different.

New actors whom do appear in the movie have the drawback of playing similar characters already portrayed in the first film. Making any new actor who plays a similar character from the previous film seem like an imitation. The only bright side of the new cast is obviously Kunie Tanaka who plays Katsuji Nemoto, an underachieving yakuza with a grudge against Goro. His character is sympathetic without crossing into over acting. Unlike Goro whom once again fallen back into the Yakuza lifestyle, Tanaka plays a more dynamic character that is allow to mix it up how he interacts with Watari. While it’s unfortunate Tanaka didn’t receive more screen time in the film, he makes the most of what he is given. Everyone else though, I could hardly remember to be honest.

Now that I about it, nearly every time Goro puts his arms through his jackets sleeves he gets into a fight. Symbolic?

Following from the first movie, the technical aspect as still top notch, but not of the same quality. This time, Keiichi Ozawa takes over for the rest of the franchise. Like his actors, Ozawa feels too much like he’s impersonating Toshio Masuda (the first Outlaw: Gangster VIP director) style, tone, and just about everything. The one thing Ozawa maintains as his own is his lack subtlety in the drama department. Going as far in one scene to have a ray of light shine down on a dying character, and in another scene showing footage of an raging avalanche once Goro decides to go back to working in the Yakuza. You know, visual allegory to help hammer in the point of the scene you’re watching. The action sequences are once again good to witness. Some setpieces feel like a rehash of the original, but again, for a late 60s film the action sequences hold up pretty well. Music isn’t as memorable as in the first film, but is serviceable working favor of the movie. Though the climax lacks the impactful score found that made the first film end on a high note.

Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 is more of the same. The same characters, the same story, and the same themes. However, the acting, the action, and some of the new story beats are just as good, even if crossing into familiar territory diminishes their impact. I do feel this sequel while sadly a downgrade from the first entry is still not bad a movie. It’s positives overweighs the negatives, but viewing it for yourself is another story. For me, I was enthusiastic going into the film anticipating where the next chapter of Goro life would take him, and it wasn’t much different from the first movie. It left me disappointed by the time the ending title card came up, but one thing I was not was angry, nor did I felt like my time was wasted. Outlaw: Gangster VIP 2 has a specific goal of capturing the same magic of the original film, and it was a decent attempt at it. Succeeding in what it aimed to do, even if it wasn’t the homerun it was expected it to be.

Rating: 7/10