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MaryRoeRussel
Reviews
Biohazard: Death Island (2023)
A fun love letter to fans of the series.
I've tried to keep this as spoiler-free as possible.
On the more negative side, Rebecca didn't do much in the movie, and neither she or Claire really actively fought in the final battle, which kinda sucks. The facial animations look very stiff and limited, and I do take some level of issues with the character models, since Jill is ripped straight from RE3make with no signs of what happened to her in RE5 (no traces of blonde or longer hair, no chest scarring, etc.), so even the T-Virus excuse for her looking the same doesn't entirely hold up. I mean, it does kinda suggest that she looks the exact same in 2023 as she did in 1998, which is a full 25 years later, and slow aging or not, that just doesn't make sense. Additionally, there's really no excuse for Claire and Rebecca to look so young since they were never infected before but still look like they're in their early 20s even though they should be a decade older than that. Frankly, Rebecca seems to look even younger in this than she did in Vendetta, and I can only assume that it's because they're using a potential model for RE0make, because there's no other explanation that makes any sense. Some of the voice acting is really stiff at times, too, and both certain lines and shots look like they were made specifically for the trailer as opposed to being organically inserted into the film. Finally, while I'll speak more on him positively, I do want to note that the main villain (Dylan) has no explained reason for singling Jill out the way he does.
On the more positive side, through the bulk of the movie, no one is really nerfed. Claire's on her A-game and is just as badass as ever, and Jill is unambiguously the film's main character and heroine. This is especially notable given how the series has sidelined its leading ladies for about a decade now. Claire's more hot-tempered personality is shown, which is pretty nice. Also, Claire and Rebecca have a really cute moment together at the end that I am entirely sure was thrown in for Chamberfield shippers. It's true that facial animations weren't great, and sometimes, I also noticed that some characters hold guns in awkward poses, but legitimately every other part of the animation is spectacular. The fight choreography is absolutely insane and well-done. I did complain about the age related parts of character models, but other than that, everything looks great. The details in the designs were truly wonderful. And while I did highlight some of the voice acting as stiff, for others (such as Leon and Claire especially), it's phenomenal. I also want to specifically highlight the new licker design because it looks grotesque and intimidating, and that's exactly what I want out of B. O. W. Designs. The visuals in general are stunning, and it can be truly seen in certain close-ups on weapons and characters. Finally, while I did complain about Dylan not really having a reason to single out Jill, literally every other part of his writing is spectacular. He has an understandable backstory and motivation and even makes solid points detracting from the main characters, and it looks like that is going to influence them in the future. Finally, the best point I can make about the film is that, at the end of the day, it feels like it was made for fans of the series, and I can really appreciate that.
Friday the 13th Vengeance 2: Bloodlines (2022)
A decent watch for fans
By no means a perfect film-far from it, in fact. This might be the worst performance I've specifically seen Sanae Loutsis give, which I'm willing to cut her some slack for simply based on her age, it just stood out in contrast with many of the others in the film who give solid performances. (Not a dig at Loutsis specifically, just that this movie wasn't her best.) The effects are shockingly good for the budget the film had, the camerawork is solid for the most part, and the kills were brutal. The biggest issue was definitely the script, both in story and some dialogue. The film often feels like it's struggling to tell a full story. The pacing is wildly inconsistent, ramping up and dying back down at several points. It introduces a lot of characters who, while are nowhere near survivor material, at least seem far more important than they actually end up being, and in some cases, get killed off only to be replaced by a character with the exact same role, making it feel much more like padding than anything else. Characters are introduced late in the film with no purpose other than upping the body count, which feels slightly cheap, and some of them suffer the aforementioned issue of feeling like they're going to be at least somewhat relevant only to be killed off five minutes later max. The dialogue often feels jarring and peculiar given the serious presentation of the film, and many of the character choices both in and out of universe feel lackluster. Ashley waiting in the cabin for several minutes while her father is struggling, doing nothing, is a prime example of this. As well, certain things feel wildly inconsistent within the story, such as Angelica seemingly dying but then being revealed to be alive, despite the fact that what happened to her not only *would* have killed someone else in the film, but actually *did* kill someone else within the film.
However, this movie should still be praised for being a labor of love. Sub-par acting and bad writing are par for the course with the Friday the 13th movies, and here it was done on a fraction of the budget, which definitely helps its case. It has a lot of fun in its runtime, which is more than can be said for some other films in the series, too. It definitely feels like a wrapping up point, I frankly don't see how a third one could be made, but given the status of "professional" releases to streaming services now, the fact that it was able to tell at least a semi-full story is still a godsend and makes a strong case for indie films in general. Above all that, making a movie is an incredibly difficult process that can be thankless and unrewarding at its worst, so the fact that this could be made at all is something truly magnificent. After all, even a bad story is better than one never told. In the words of Sam Raimi, the worst thing a filmmaker can do is make a boring picture. This definitely wasn't boring, so with all those merits, it's still a worthwhile watch for any fans.