V reviews: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2

Finally the busy weeks are over. So to celebrate it, last Sunday I went to the movies with a few friends for the latest Marvel movie spectacle: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2.
And... it was an amazing thrill ride!

Is it as good as the first one? Yes and no.
But let me explain, while trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum.

Yes it's good: The comedy

If there's anything that I was doing during the movie, it was laughing my ass off.

Groot's innocent antics, Drax' oblivious and loud humor, Rocket's and Star-Lord's bickering and Even Mantis' innocent child-like humor was all good. And all of the visual comedy. Oh my god, this movie is just so hilarious!

Yes, it's good: The character development

Since most of the characters were already properly introduced, this time we had time for character development.

Yes, some characters get more development than others (it IS a big cast), but nearly everybody had their moment. Star-Lord has bonding time with his father, Gamora has her issues with her "sister" Nebula, Rocket has his moment with Yondu (of all people), Drax even has some moments with Mantis and even Groot has (although VERY minor) a bit of a growing-up phase.

I just wanted a sister!
That's why I'm going to kill you!

Yes, it's good: Emotional moments

I can't talk too much in detail about this, due to this topic being very spoiler-heavy.

But there are some REALLY emotional moments in this movie. Some of the last scenes even brought me to tears. It's heartbreaking.

Yes, it's good: The main villain

Yeah, surprise! The villain is actually pretty good! There was some confusion at first on whether it was going to be one of the Gold People, the Ravagers, Thanos, Ego himself or somebody else.

But I think most people familiar with the Marvel comics and saw a bit of the trailers, you were pretty sure how this one was going to turn out. And I confirm: Your suspicions are correct.

And I find it to be pretty good, and pretty much honest to the comic book incarnation as well.

Good guy or bad guy? Who can tell?

Yes, it's good: Many nods to the fans

First off: A few great cameo's, including Stan Lee (obviously). I'll keep the rest vague, because seeing the cameo's will trigger some sort of "YES!" from the Marvel fanboys.

But one Cameo character that appeared along Stan Lee did trigger a "What the?" from my friend and I, since we thought this specific character was part of the Fantastic Four Universe (and thus part of 20th Century Fox). But according to sources, it was part of the same deal that allowed Fox to use Negasonic Teenage Warhead in Deadpool and allowed Ego to be part of this movie (who apparently is also a part of the F4 universe).

Oh, and err... the rumors are true: David Hasselhoff HAS a role in this movie. How and what, I'll leave that part a secret.

Yes, it's good: So many mid/after credits sequences

One tip when you go to the theaters. Sit down until the last credit has rolled. There are SO MANY mid/after credit sequences. Some are simple fun stuff (like the dancing groot scene from GotG 1), others are setting up the third movie (yes, they WILL return - confirmed at the end).

Also fyi, try reading the actual credits. There are a few fun nods in the text as well.

Not that good: The overall story

If you start to think about it, the story is kind of predictable, it doesn't make a lick of sense from time to time and there are quite a few plot-holes. So much in fact that I think Honest Trailers is going to have a field day with this movie.

But does it really drag this movie down? No. Or did you forget that it was exactly the same case for the first movie? The first movie had lots of plot holes as well. And the more you thought about it, the more you could see that a lot of the story didn't make any sense.

But it was a fun thrill-ride none the less. And thus the same goes for this movie. Though if I do have to compare the two stories, the first one is more action-focused, while this one is more character-focused.

To quote the Honest Trailer for the first movie:
"It's best not to think about it too hard".

Not that good: The Golden people

The Sovereign is their race, but err... yeah: They kinda suck. These golden people are mostly there to provide some sort of threat and comedic relief. The most annoying part? They're kind of confirmed to return in the third movie via the after credits scenes (the less, the better).

Not that good (or is it?): 0 connection to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While the first GotG movie had an explanation of the Infinity Stones, this movie literally has 0 connections to the rest of the Cinematic Universe (not even a Thanos cameo). No, there's not even a reference or set-up in the mid/after credits scenes. This REALLY is a movie that (kind of) stands by itself.

But in all honesty: I didn't mind. It's a bit of a breather to not have scenes forced upon us to set up future movies (like the Thor bathing scene from Age of Ultron).

"What do you mean, I'm not in this movie?"

Overall: Just as good as Volume 1

Overall, I had the feeling that this movie was about as good as the first one. But it doesn't surpass it. And while I feel it didn't need to surpass the first movie, there may be people of the opinion that it had to.

If people complain about this movie, it's mostly because it's not that "fresh & new" as the first movie, or that they expected it to have more action and less bla-bla. But I personally didn't mind..

If I had to score it, I'd give it an 8/10. It's no masterpiece, but it IS really good and I'll gladly welcome a third installment.

And yes... I'll go finish my anime reviews now. Until then, V out.

V reviews: Ghost in the Shell, the Live-Action movie

So after lots of doubting, This evening I finally went to see the ScarJo movie of Ghost in the Shell. This mostly because I'm a fan of the original movies and Stand-Alone-Complex tv-series. And I felt like I had to say SOMETHING about the movie.

And boy, did I need to have to say something.

First off, is it good or bad? The answer is: neither. It's certainly not a bad movie. The visuals are spectacular (even the haters have admitted that), and the music score is really good (they even included some of Kenji Kawai's tracks on the soundtrack). And yes, the world building and character designs are really good.

But the major problem of this movie has (outside of the whitewashing issue)... is the story.

Problem #1: Whitewashing? Does it matter?

Look, first off: If there was any franchise in anime history where it doesn't matter what ethnicity its main character is, it's Ghost in the Shell. The body is a full cyborg, and the author had already confirmed that the Major's looks were based on western models. So her having a Caucasian look-and-feel is pretty normal. Same goes for Batou. And looking from that perspective, a lot of the casting choices were spot-on!

ScarJo is in my eyes a perfect Major, and while I was skeptic of the translation of Aramaki and Batou, the movie incarnations (Takeshi Kitano and Pilou Asbæk) put down really accurate performances.

But even if I'm perfectly able to defend the casting choices, I do get where the criticism is coming from and the criticism is 100% legit. If enough Asian-Americans (and Asians in general) were being cast in (big) Hollywood movies, the casting of GitS wouldn't really be that much of an issue. But the opportunities for Asian actors are so slim, most of them are just getting annoyed by "the next big missed opportunity". And it shows everywhere. Have you taken a look at the list of Oscar nomination for Asian Actors? Don't... it's depressing.

Also, the story twist about the major's origin? That's not helping. That's only putting oil on the fire (*facepalm*).

Problem #2: Cramming too much in one movie

This movie is an homage to the original Mamori Oshii movie, but it also takes in elements from Stand Alone Complex (both the ending of the first season as well as the Individual Eleven arc - of all things) and even takes in some story elements from Arise (WHY Arise of all things)? And if that wasn't enough, it tries to mix those and broadening up the scope so people can understand the movie (thus removing almost all of the symbolism the original was known for).

What we're left with is... mediocre. It's not bad, really... It's just not anything good either.

Problem #3: Obvious script rewrites

It may be because I'm a writer myself, but it's sometimes really obvious to see where the script rewrites start happening (either that, or it's just a little TOO obvious).

The scenes that rely on previous source material tend to be well made and thought-out. But when the movie tries to be its own thing (thus script rewrites), it falters. And the moment the rewrites start happening is exactly in the second half. The moment the major is captured by Kuze. From that point onward the story went downhill fast.

And while the first half of the movie was exciting and interesting and genuinely made me wonder where the criticism came from, the second half made it pretty clear.

Problem #4: Mixing the Puppet Master and Kuze creates plot holes

The Puppet Master was an amazing antagonist. Kuze from Stand Alone Complex was an "okay" villain (who made great action scenes). So why mix those? The reason why the Puppet Master was a feared enemy and great hacker, was because he was an Artificial Intelligence. Everything he did against humanity was from the point of view that it wasn't a human being. Making the villain suddenly turn into a "discarded human" is not only stupid, it creates a lot of plot holes. Talking about the plot holes sadly enough would spoil the movie, so I'll shut my mouth here

Not to mention, it does tremendous injustice to both the original Puppet Master AND the original Kuze.

Problem #5: Cutter is a horribly boring antagonist.

Oh, is this a spoiler? I mean: you could see it from the first look of his face, right? It pretty much screamed: "I am evil! I am evil!" The only things missing were a curly mustache and a comically evil laugh... and a monocle!

And when you boil it down, his entire plan didn't make much sense to begin with. Not to mention the execution of his plan. The more you start to think about it, the more your head is starting to hurt because of the amount of stupid in it.

Problem #6: Section 9 is underused.

Though, this is a minor issue. I kind of expected it, since the existence of Section 9 in the original movie was kept to the bare bones minimum as well. The characters of Section 9 were only really fleshed out in the Stand Alone Complex and Arise series.

And while it was fun for a fanboy to see this movie's incarnation of Ishikaya (the beard!), Togusa and Saito, it was still a crying shame to see them being so underused.

Heck, during the first mission debriefing, Chief Aramaki gives orders to the Major, Bato and Togusa. The rest of the Team IN THAT ROOM get no orders whatsoever. They basically don't exist for the chief!

And boy, Togusa. I could go on a rant for how cut away Togusa is to almost non-existent. But I guess that was already obvious from the footage that was leaked in advance. So I didn't have much expectations for his character.

Is it all bad?

No, not at all! The visuals are AMAZING! I was often just gawking at the screen at the visuals and world building used. The sound is great! And the many references to the original movie were great to look at from a fanboy's point of view.

And one addition I did like was Batou's eyes. At the start of the movie, Batou has normal eyes. But due to the story progress, he has to shift to his cybernetic eyes. And it makes sense in this story structure. It really helps to sell his character. I know it's totally not fitting with the source material. But let's face it. If you would see Batou's face with the cyber-eyes, you'd be freaked out by his appearance. Again, it helps sell the character to a broader audience.

What would I score it?

A 6,5-7 out of 10. It's not bad, and as a fan of the franchise as a whole you SHOULD go and watch it. But it's not good enough to rewatch anytime soon. If anything, we'll have forgotten this movie exists with a year or two.

Long story short (tl;dr): A good looking movie where the story could've been a lot better.

That's it from me now.

Until next time, V out.