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dave_maguire
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The Marvels (2023)
Not Marvel-ous, but not terrible
So I had to write this, albeit probably too late to care review, after just watching the film this weekend. Like most people I wasn't really excited about this movie so didn't watch it at the cinema, largely as I just don't really care about most of the main characters in the film, and also had heard all the negative talk about it so wasn't expecting it to be any good.
However I have to admit that it's not actually that bad an entry really! Maybe it's simply cos I came in to the film with incredibly low expectations or not I don't know, but it was a short, fun adventure movie, the three leads played well off eachother, with Iman Vellani standing out and carrying most of the movie in my opinion. It also surprised me in that it made me like Monica Rambeau a bit more than I did in Wandavision, which I didn't expect.
Don't get me wrong, that's all I can really think to say in a positive way about the movie, and be aware before watching - this film is not anything special.
Is it the saviour of the MCU? No,
Does Nick Fury's character seem to have any after effects from the secret invasion show? No?
Does it explain how Monica can breath in outerspace without a spacesuit? No.
Are her superpowers explained at all? No.
Does Brie Larson make Captain Marvel any more likeable? Not really.
Can you name the villain in the film without googling it after watching the film? Nope.
I could go on with this, but it's more fun if you make your own list! But if you're a Marvel fan then I'd definitely say to give it a watch, It's a million times better than Love & Thunder - which I know isn't really a statement...!
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Thank you James
So I think we can all agree that, with the exception of Spider-Man NWH, Post Endgame Marvel has on the whole been pretty poor, with some movies in particular standing out - Eternals and mostly Thor love and thunder (possibly the worst film I've ever seen in general) in particular as being terrible. Phase 5 had an underwhelming start with Ant man who chose to introduce "the big bad" Kang, only to seemingly kill him off straight away, in order to introduce a load more Kangs as the actual bad guys or something (???) but I was cautiously optimistic that with James Gunn in charge of the team he has directed from the start, we may get back to the old standard, and I'm happy to report that it WAS!
The whole cast puts in a fantastic performance with it feeling more like an ensemble movie rather than star lord, and the others. I won't run through the whole plot as I'll save that for for your viewing pleasure, but the film centres around the backstory of Rocket, which I've seen a few reviews complaining about the content of this as it centres around animal cruelty, however if you know anything about the character, or indeed have watched ANY other of the previous guardians movies, you will know Rocket has a horrific origin so I'm unsure of the complaints. (Also speaking of dumb complaints - I've read reviews complaining that all the team does all movie is argue and fall out with eachother... that's what happens in EVERY guardians film?! They fallout, but make up and succeed together, like the family they are.) Anyway back to the story, the flashbacks tell how he was experimented on by the high evolutionary in his quest to create a perfect race while the team rush to save his life after an encounter with Adam Warlock. This would be where my first down point of the film comes, purely as I felt the character was somewhat of a letdown and didn't really have a place in the plot and is just a "hired gun" character. Will Poulter does well with it, but there is no screen presence of the character we know from the comics and is just more of a man-child in the film - though I will say this is explained in the film. The soundtrack is cracking, the set pieces are great, and there are several great action scenes, one in particular at the end where every team member gets to show their skills off. The writing is also great again with everyone having some good heartfelt dialogue at times, and also lots of comedic moments, with Dave Bautista being on form with some hilarious one liners throughout the film (take note Taiko - THIS is how you do humour...) The high evolutionary is a great villain, and does so without being one who shows much of a physical threat, I thought Chukwudi Iwuji's performance was maniacal, unhinged and imposing, and basically had more of a threat than Kang did.
Overall this was a fantastic film but somewhat bittersweet that it's the end of the story for this team, I would love a fourth film with these again but the ending pretty much confirms this is it for them.
With regards to the future MCU as with most guardians films, it doesn't really fit in to an overall narrative for the MCU, though let's me honest, there hasn't really been one since endgame. So it worries me that it's on to the Marvels movie, one which I don't anyone is really looking to seeing, to bring the narrative back and give us some kind of overall plot that we are headed to. But looking at the timeline for phase 5, it looked a bit all over the place so who knows what will happen.
But regardless - go watch this!
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Not as bad as the early reviews
So I'd seen articles saying that hits film had received the lowest score for a marvel film, but was sure this couldn't be correct - after all, we've all seen Love and Thunder haven't we!
So I went in with an open mind and upon finishing the film I was left with an unsure feeling about the film. Ant man is great character and I've enjoyed his films and appearances so far in the MCU, and all of these have been quite lighthearted, which makes me feel that the more I think about it, the more I feel that he is the wrong character to introduce the "new big bad" into the MCU. Don't get me wrong, given the setting I'm not sure who else could, but the tone of the film is more serious as a result of it, which doesn't seem to fit an Ant man film.
It not without its good points of course, Paul Rudd is.... Paul Rudd, and that's never a bad things and he plays the plays the part great yet again, and some of the supporting cast are good also, Michael Douglas was bearable for a change, and I found Evangeline Lily to once again okay the Wasp well. Thee were some some action scenes in it and I found the CGI landscapes seemed to be visually stunning in places, and even though it maybe wasn't all great, to say this film was largely based on green screen, overall it was good.
Unfortunately the film was let down by a few things, pacing being one of them as it is all over the place, which causes this to film to drag...a lot, especially in the middle section. There are also a few plot holes and issues that let the film down also. Many surrounding Janet:
1. We were told she was alone in the quantum realm, yet she evidently spent years in there fighting a maniacal tyrant..... this never came up in conversation when she was home? Even when they decide to farm quantum particles at the end of the last ant man? Heads up might've been nice for Scott?
2. If you're helping Cassie (who is apparently now also a technical genius???) build a machine to study the realm, maybe point out the dangers of it before she does something like this - don't tell her it's an empty realm then have a go at her for building it.
3. When you're IN the realm and your family find out something is going on - tell them! None of this "trust me" "there is no time" crap!
Also, I was under the impression, and could be wrong out this, that the suit protected the wearing when shrinking/enlarging, so I'm unsure why Scott and Cassie can take their helmets off, mid battle also, and it not affect them?
Unfortunately for me, the main issues were the villains. M. O. D. O. K was never going to be an easy villain to show in live action - unfortunately some characters don't transfer well from page to screen, such as Galactus, so he was never going to look great, but it was the portrayal of him what was more annoying as, despite being feared as a hunter by the locals, he was purely played for laughs through the whole film. He was done better in the Avengers game! But for me the worst one was Kang! I guess the credits scenes show this character was somewhat of a red herring regarding being the "next Thanos threat", but this guy couldn't even lace his boots! At no point did we get any indication of his power or threat level, and gets beat rather easily by a regular human man who "talks to ants". I honestly expected some of the main cast to be killed in order to put across the threat level but no, everyone is fine - no trouble! Even after Scott and Hope seemingly get trapped in the quantum realm - oh hang on, let me just turn the machine back on... sorted!
Also, the whole mulitiverse Kang situation doesn't entirely make much sense to me - so "He who remains" was worried of what would come if he got killed, which we all assume was this Kang we saw, who advises that he needs to get out of the realm and warned of what would happen if he didn't, but now he got killed, all the other variants, who banished him for trying to kill them all, decide now that Humans have killed him, they should kill the humans??? Huh?? What?? It really makes no sense?! To me, Kang would be better served just being the antagonist in the Loki series instead.
So as always, it's sometimes easier to point out negatives than positives so it probably sounds like I hate this film, it's not perfect, but it's better than some of the more recent efforts.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
A nice tribute, but not much else.
The passing of Chadwick Boseman was a terrible tragedy however this film addresses this and deals with it in a respectful manner. I've seen people complain that T'Challa "Just died off screen of an illness" however I don't see a issue with this, after all Captain Marvel died of Cancer in the comics years ago so, whilst it's not named as the illness, I don't think it was a problem to have a "real world" reason.
What I did have an issue with was the Wakandan Tech. In the first movie Everett Ross is shot, and they stick a bead in his body which keeps him alive because - reasons! In this one we have Shuri 3D printing synthetic Heart shaped herbs to recreate the Black Panther. I'm not a scientist, but I don't see how you can create a herb with the same nutritional values on a 3d printer - certainly not one that has magical properties?! Even moreso when all the herbs were destroyed in the previous film so how would know what was in the herb to start with?
But I digress.... Unfortunately the film massively suffers to the missing T'Challa, I never really took to Shuri in the first film and feel that she is not a strong enough character to be a able to carry the film as a lead - whether this be due to Letitia Wright's potrayal or the writing, something just didn't work for me with her.
Angela Bassett however was great and showed real emotion and passion in every scene she was in, I also enjoyed Tenich Huerta as Namor and found him to be one of the better antagonists in a marvel film of late, and would like to see him again in future projects. And as always the supporting cast were great, even if we could've done with more Okoye and M'Baku.
What I could have done with a lot less of was the abundance of characters included purely to world build and set up future projects. Lets start with Everett Ross - for starters I'm not sure how someone so quintessentially british as Morgan Freeman managed to get this role given how awful his american accent is, but he has no need to be in this film and is purely there to setup the Thunderbolts with Valentina Allegra de blah blah - no need for any of these scenes they were in at all and completely took you out of the story. The other who had no need to be in this film was "Riri" - What an annoying character! Whiny, sarcastic, arrogant and a vocabulary just full of "Damn" and "Aw hell no's". I actually thought i was watching Jaden Smith's character from The Karate Kid! Riri who could've been subbed in for any scientist, is technically intrical to the plot after creating a machine to find Vibranium, though quite how she did this is a mystery to me when she appears to be working out of an abandoned garage. But has also managed to create a variant of an Iron Man suit, complete with an arc reactor? I understand Tony Stark built this, in a cave, with a box of scraps, but how on earth did she accomplish that!?
All of this world building leads to an unecessarily long run time and the film's pacing suffers because of this and there are sections of the film that really drag, and even after this time you still feel you haven't seen much of the main cast.
The final battle is your typical third act fight, where after a devastatingly tragic attack, the heroes suit up, in some awful new costumes for Okoye, and a very strange looking IronHeart suit, to fight off the evil villians. The fight with Shuri and Namor is quite viceral and brutal, however you are immediately taken out of it when Shuri is stabbed right through her stomach with a spear. For a second I actually wondered if they were going to kill off most of the main cast, however she is comfortably able to fight on and show no after effects - even being able to wear a top showing her midsection in the final scenes with no sign of the wound - not even a sratch?!
The film ends with a touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman and a beatiful song by Rhianna which will leave a lump in your throat and a tear in your eye. People have spoken about what will happen in Black Panther 3, however given how the film ends, I don't know that there will BE one as I can't see where the franchise goes next.
All in all, not one of the best Marvel films released, hopefuly with the end of phase 4 comes the end of the disappointing releases. (Spiderman NWH excluded) It's a worry that the quality of the MCU has dropped ever since the Infinity War saga. Hopefully Quantumania will put them back on track.
Though that being said at least it's not a awful as Thor: Love and Thunder!
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Absolutely thorful
I love Thor - maybe an unpopular opinion but the first Thor film is one of favourites in the whole MCU. The fish out of water comedy elements were great and Chris Hemsworth shone with these comic moments. Thor got funnier as the movies went on but still retained a serious edge to the character. Then Taika Waititi got hold of the franchise to tell a story of loss and pain with ragnarok, and turned him in to an all out comedy foil - And this is much the same as that movie. Don't get me wrong, I did laugh at some bits, but then immediately thought this is ridiculous. I know people clearly like him but in my opinion Waititi has no place being involved these films, if Gorr hasn't butchered your god, then pray to them that he is never allowed near the franchise again!
Thor is an absolute idiot in this film, you can never tell if, in his serious moments he is actually being serious, or acting that way within the character. He also somehow gets in to a love triangle with mjolnir and stormbreaker???? With the exception of Portman the film is full of annoying characters to be honest -
Valkyrie - never looks bothered about what she's doing in the film and doesn't even take part in the last battle cos "she might get killed", despite talking to Jane earlier in the film about how she wants her Viking death so she can get to Valhalla????? Speaking of Valhalla, Sif makes an appearance so she can instantly be dumbed down and not understand how you get in to he place - even I know how to get in to it!!
Korg - time has come and gone for him and he is just annoying now, constant interrupts the serious moments and just has no point in being in the film.
Overall it's just a very boring story, there's no real plot, Thor finds out someone is murdering gods, and just goes to kill him.... Synopsis done, that's it! Way too much filler in the film and pointless scenes just to drag it out far longer than it needed to be. I had also heard that Gorr is the best MCU villain since Thanos.... not the Gorr I saw - he's barely even in the film! I did find his shadow powers visually impressive, but overall though he was quite underwhelming, and didn't really understand the ending - which was also underwhelming.
Don't get me wrong, thee are some good elements to the film, there are some excellent set pieces, the cinematography is great at times, Natalie Portman is the best part of the film and I found she has a very compelling story during the film, and there are some genuinely tender moments between her and Chris Hemsworth when the film allows. And the goats are funny.... You'll see.
The most worrying thing is, after seeing what phase four has given us so far, I really worry where the MCU is headed as there doesn't seem to be any overarching story arch going on with these films, there was one scene in Shang chi about the rings, but the rest of the credit scenes just seem to be confined to their own movies. I honestly don't know where they are going, and with the last four films being very "cosmic" based, I'm not sure what is going to happen with Black panther next.
Anyway, rant over so in closing I'll say, if you like ragnarok then you'll love this film, if not then maybe best to wait till it's free.
Eternals (2021)
Felt like an eternity
So the third film in the next "phase" for the MCU and, after being massively underwhelmed by black widow, and enjoying Shang chi, but feeling it didn't seem like a marvel movie at all I was slightly concerned as I'd seen the early reviews about this film and how it hadn't been well received, I didn't really have a great knowledge of the Eternals characters from the comics, but had a basic idea about who they were but wanted to go in with an open mind and be my normal Marvel fanboy self.
However, right from the off this film just didn't grab me, and two and a half hours later (though it felt a LOT longer) I still felt no connection to these characters or any feelings towards any of them. Don't get me wrong, there are good things in this film, and it didn't bother me that they gender swapped some characters from the comics or ticked the ethnicity boxes with the castings, but the negatives are what stand out more for me. The cast was great, but I found a lot the acting to be pretty poor in this film, James madden starts off very wooden and does punt get much better throughout, and Gemma Chan looks terrified in every scene she's in (it also annoyed me more than it should that they cast her in another role since she'd already starred as Minerva in captain marvel). Salma Hayek is hardly in the movie and Angelina Jolie is very much a background character who mainly stands around staring in to space. The characters don't seem that interested in the film, which makes it hard to invest yourself in it, and also the global extinction event of earth "birthing a celestial" is so huge that at no point do you think it's actually going to happen, this sort of thing would have worked better as an overarching story for the whole phase rather than being crammed in to one film - also, if the celestials created the Eternals, why did they give them the powers and capabilities to kill them?!
Understandably there had to be a lot of exposition to give you the knowledge of these characters but even the flashbacks and action sequences aren't interesting because they are just a standard faceless enemy that they are fighting in the deviants, who you aren't given much information on other than a couple of lines about their origins, but nothing about why they've suddenly reappeared despite being wiped out hundreds of years ago, and why the "big bad" deviant can suddenly take on the powers one Eternals that he kills?
Overall I just found this film to be very slow and dull and I really wanted to like this film but couldn't. But I worry for the new film projects that they seem to be teasing, especially with the mid-credits scenes for black knight (that well known and beloved marvel character), yet they are wasting moon knight and she hulk on Disney+ series when I feel these would be much better movies.
And one last nail in the coffin for this film - that mid credit scene - firstly, pip the troll is some of the worst CGI I've seen in a while, but mostly - Harry Styles? Really? If this is the one direction the MCU is going in then count me out.
Black Widow (2021)
Ultimately disappointing
Let me start by saying I really didn't want to to hate this movie, Black Widow is a fantastic character and one of the most popular ones in the MCU, who always had the intriguing backstory the people wanted to hear about. But unfortunately this film just doesn't do the character justice, especially as a send off for her.
The film is best described in one word "Meh". At no point did I really feel invested in this movie, and that mainly felt due to it being a prequel, so you knew she was in no danger at any time, even when she is the room with all the other widows near the end.
The film tries to be smarter than it is and emulate the winter soldier, which is admirable, but doesn't come close unfortunately. There are far to many unanswered questions in the film too - for example, the plot revolves around widows who, in response to Natasha leaving the organization of her own free will, are now being mind controlled but a drug, including Natasha's "sister" Yelena, who manages to be injected with the antidote and thus tries to bring down the Red room with Natasha, whilst being chased down by Taskmaster...
- Who developed the antidote? Don't know
- Who gave it to the black widow who dies at the start? No idea.
Why did Yelena send Natasha clues to meet up, only to try and kill her when she meets her at the safehouse? Who knows?
- Why is Taskmaster.... well why is Taskmaster! I'll come to that shortly...
The supporting cast of characters are okay, Yelena is a good character and played well, and there are some good scenes between the two, the Red Guardian unfortunately starts off well enough in the flashback scene at the start of the film, however once we cut to present day he is played as the idiot comedy relief for the rest of the film. I won't try and turn this in to a sexist debate, but the film has about 3 males in it, and none of them are really portrayed well, and Mileena is just there really, she has no character development and is shown to be a fairly evil woman who has developed the mind control drug, tortures animals at her own farm, yet get no comeuppance in the movie. Other than Yelena I can't say I really warmed to any of the others.
Now, on to the villans....
Dreykov - the big bad russian boss of the red room. Who should play such a role that would require a strong russian accent? Who better than Ray Winstone.... Now, I'm not saying he's a bad actor, but the only accents I feel he can comfortably pull off are "cockney", and "cockney". Whilst he does have screen presence, his scenes were just painful to watch as he had such a bad accent you couldn't take him seriously! The character is barely onscreen so you get no real idea of his threat level and why he is such a bad man, which in fairness is well pointed out by Natasha during their scenes at the end, however the fact that he has somehow got some pheromones that stop the widows attacking him is ridiculous - step back a few metres and shoot the guy!
And now we come to (Sigh) Taskmaster... one of the most anticipated villains in the Marvel catalogue - Antony Masters, a mercenary who possesses photographic reflexes and that allow him to mimic any fighting style and has bested many of Marvel's best - nope! Not this one! This one is no other than a mind controlled woman. Given the obvious reveal of who this is, this wouldn't be so bad if they had actually used a female stunt woman for the him instead of clearly having a man do all the scenes! I don't know if this was done to throw people off for the reveal or not, but it was so infuriating! I was really looking forward to seeing how Natasha would use her skills to beat "him" in the end and was ultimately massively disappointed.
Overall I feel this film was a story that just didn't need telling - aside from Yelena none of the characters in the film will be seen again in the MCU, and no one will care about that either. I for one would have much rather have seen an origin story about how Black Widow and Hawkeye and how he was sent to kill her but changed his mind and ultimately convinced her to switch allegiances, and explored the Budapest reference.
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Not as bad as all the hate it's getting
Like most kids who played the arcade games I was looking forward this movie, and was gutted to have to wait nearly a month after its release to watch it in the UK, I finally managed to watch it this weekend, but had already seen the YouTube videos sneaking around and despite trying to avoid spoilers got the view that the movie was a bit of a letdown by most reviewers... Still I wanted to watch it so did and I have to say, overall I enjoyed it. Sub zero has always been my favourite character in the game so it was good to see that he was going to play a prominent role in the movie, and even if it isn't as big a part as a the trailers would have you believe, he is by far the coolest character (no pun intended) in the film and has the best scenes in the movie overall, partly due to the talents of Joe Taslim. The movie gets a lot of hate as it talks about the mortal kombat tournament, but doesn't have one in it, however it has become evident since it's release that this is a"prequel" and that there is a trilogy planned for mortal kombat. I was interested in how this would work out in line with the games given some of the deaths in the film but it is clear that the writers have decided on their own lore so this may well not follow the games, which isn't THAT bad a thing. But as I say I enjoyed the film, the bulk of the characters are entertaining and well acted, Kano in particular is another highlight of the film and had me laughing out loud to a lot of his dialogue. The fight scenes as expected are all exceptional and the special effects are great too, and who doesn't love a good "fatality"!
However the film is not without its bad points and the main one revolves around the films protagonist, Cole Young, a pointless new edition to the mortal kombat lore. The film basically serves as his original story, which really could've been swapped for any one the main characters from the the games, such as Liu Kang who is woefully misused in the film as some sort of mentor tasked with finding earth realms greatest warriors....despite not finding ANY of them and only meeting the gang because Kano knows where the temple is?! Cole is also somehow inserted in to the scorpion/subzero story now as the last decendant of Hanzo Hasashi's bloodline, and Raiden informs him it has been foretold that someone in this bloodline will basically lead earth realm to victory in the tournament. However, the film doesn't expand on why Hanzo's bloodline is so important, and even when he appears at the end of the film, he gets his revenge, then just leaves?! I didn't really understand Cole's power either, it's supposed to be awakened by him protecting his family, but it seems to be more brought on by simple plot device, and he just seems to grow some sort of body armour that absorbs power, much like black panther, but only for one fight against Goro,and then this never happens in he next fight?? Oh, and gets some knives too??
I do think the film sequel would be better off without him, especially as they tease Johnny Cage for it and, given how little Cole commands the screen, he could well just get lost in the background of the heroes - maybe he gets killed off at the start to show the villains power? I'm intrigued to where they go with the next movie and how many more characters will be introduced, I'm no massive fan and don't know much about the lore, I've heard of Reiko, but not Nitara but wasn't too fussed with them being in the film as they were basically there for fatality fodder, but was a little disappointed to see Goro killed, and Mileena also as it would've been interesting to see a meeting between her and kitana.
All in all, it's an enjoyable film if your a fan, but if you're an Uber fan who's expecting to see a carbon copy of the first game you'll be disappointed, but let's be fair, a film just about the tournament might not have been that easy to pull off straight away with all the extended lore nowadays - as much as I love the 1995 film, the tournament made no sense! No main characters lost a fight, and Shang Tsung just kept changing the rules?! Also, there a simple reason I've not mentioned him in this movie, he's just not that interesting villain, and we can all agree that he'll never better Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's version!
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (2021)
Mighty sucks
Like any fan of the original movies, I was apprehensive about how it would work turning the mighty ducks franchise in to the villains, but my love for and the nostalgia of the films made me give this a watch.
However I was right to worry, after 6 episodes, which incidentally was the best one purely cos it had the old ducks in, I still don't feel anything towards any of the new characters, I can't even name any of the team other than Evan and Nick, who I must admit has some good comedy moments, but this is the problem with this show, the original was about a rag tag group of friends who all stuck together and wanted to play hockey, but had no support or guidance, this team is just made up of people from the archetypical groups shown in all shows set in USA schools, and thus you have no camaraderie between the kids, hell, the "daredevil" kid and the "good looking" one haven't had any screen time other than standing in the back of the shots, and the Goldberg knockoff clearly has no interest in playing real hockey at all! At the least popular girl and the nerd had a LITTLE bit of a storyline together. But you need to feel engaged with there kids to get to like and then root for them and you just don't. They have no real motivation to be on this team other than a platform for Evan to play hockey - none of them can even play hockey, and we don't even see them getting better, they just randomly win a match against the hawks, who for some reason have gone from an Uber successful team the ducks beat, to the worst in the league?? The mother also is just not well written, I have no issue with the actress, but the character is just annoying. The only good scenes are with Bombay in it, and sometimes then you just want it to get on with it so that he becomes a coach again - we all know it's gonna happen again so just do it, there's 4 episodes left and he's just got officially involved, and I actually don't really want the team to win as again there is no connection to them with the viewers - there's a reason why the highest rated episode is the one with he old ducks in it..
And finally, what's with the name? Game changers? What are they changing about the game? It should be called "Mighty ducks - Don't bother" but that may be taken too literally from an advertising sense...
Disappointing.
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Stop reading this and go watch it!!
I loved this film!!!!
10 years down the line, plenty of great films, and a few duds have led to this moment, and this film doesn't disappoint at all - well done to the Russo brothers for another great marvel film.
Despite the huge cast the film does a good job of balancing the story between all the heroes, though more Cap and black Widow would've been nice, aswell as being able to give plenty of screen time to Thanos in order to flesh him out, which is done brilliantly so we learn more about him and his motives behind his actions, which are not just a random "Wants to destroy the world" plot. He may actually be a better villain than Loki (Controversial?).
The interactions between the different factions within the films are fantastic and are in keeping with the marvel-ous (Couldn't resist that one) sense of humour that runs throughout the MCU. I wondered whether every single previous screenwriter had been involved with how their characters would interact as none of them seemed to act out of character to their previous films, unlike for example Ragnarok, where I found Thor to be "written" completely out of character to the previous films, but here he is back to best. His interactions with the guardians at the start is by far my favourite exchange in the whole movie. The film is truly packed with fun, sadness, action, and quite a few shocks, which despite the spoiler warning, I will not spoil everything for you all.
However - I guess "spoiler warning" for the rest of the review...
Obviously despite my 10 rating there are elements that could've been better in my opinion and a couple of plot holes. For example Vision explains they need to destroy the mind stone, but why didn't doctor Strange think to destroy the time stone, then there would be no way for Thanos to get them all?
I felt sorry for Vision in this film as, anyone who knows anything about Marvel will know that he was going to die in this film, and I felt he has been quite underused in previous films so can't see him coming back, so it would've been nice to have seen him go out in a blaze of glory, saving Wanda for example, instead of being injured through the whole movie and not doing much else. A sorry end for a quite interesting character.
I also felt a little letdown by the Black order, I can see why Thanos only loved Gamora as his other "Children" were pretty poor, with the exception of Ebony Maw who I was sorry to see go. I expected a lot more from them, I especially expected some to survive this film.
I loved the ending of the film as it was true to the comics although I felt the choice of characters to "kill" off were a little strange as all the original Avengers remained alive, whilst the "second generation" all disappeared, Black Panther, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, all the guardians barring Rocket - all gone, despite already having announced sequels, so obviously you know they're coming back. I think it would've been interesting if for example Black Widow, War Machine or even Bruce Banner would've gone as there would've been more of an impact. But that's just my opinion on it. I also thought Starlord would've been kept around to atone for his mistake which led to it all.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
The force is NOT strong with this one
Like most crazy star wars fanboys I was really looking forward to this film - and the trailer looked like it might be a great follow up to the Force awakes, which despite the obvious parallels to A new hope, I really enjoyed. But unfortunately only 5 minutes in to the film I was already rolling my eyes and fearing the worst. The scene in question was when Poe (Evidently the greatest pilot ever known) drives out to the destroyer to speak to General Hux and, after his rousing response we get the old "Can you hear me?" joke - not funny the first time we hear it, and certainly not several minutes later when the joke is still going on. Unfortunately this misplaced humor is all too frequent in this episode (Reach out and feel the force - Oh, you don't mean with my hand? No Rey reach out like you did in the first film without any instruction!!!!)
Rian Johnson has to shoulder a lot, if not all of the blame for this. Why it seemed like a good idea to have someone else follow the story on astounds me as all the first film teased and built up is ruined in this one (EG: Snoke/Rey's parents) and leaves the trilogy in a worrying position for the last episode. This is the middle episode and should've left something for the final episode to deal with. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen in this film now. The end of the movie talks about how the story will inspire hope to the rest of the galaxy and feed the rebellion? How exactly? Being chased through space until you run out of fuel and then being picked off whilst you hide in a base whilst an old man distracts the bad guys whilst you escape isn't at all inspiring! if blowing up starkiller base didn't send people swarming to join the rebellion then how would this?
On to the cast.
By far the best scenes in the films are those involving the old characters, Carrie Fisher is fantastic in all of her scenes (Well, aside from the Mary Poppins scene - less said about that the better) and Mark Hamill is brilliant, despite how his character is written, And Chewie is excellent, if not criminally under used. I even enjoyed the Yoda cameo! However the young stars fail to grab my interest yet again. Poe constantly comes across as annoying and has no real depth to his character, and generally has no real impact on the story either. Finn at least has some sort of drive to him in this film by wanting to find Rey, yet his whole story arc is a pointless plot point which has no relevance to the overall story (I actually hoped he would sacrifice himself at the end of the film), what happened to him facing his demons from being a stormtrooper? This isn't even touched upon, except when he meets Captain Phasma, who again is a terrible character, why even bring her back? She is quite obviously this trilogy's Boba Fett - looks quite cool, but is actually pretty terrible! Even the scenes with Rey don't really endear me to her at all and she seems to go back and forth with her ability to use the force. Kylo Ren is explored a little more in this film and I would've liked to have seem more of his past with Luke as I thought this was the most interesting story in the film. But I'm not convinced of him as the big bad now, he seems constantly confused as to what to do and simply doesn't have that evil presence on screen. Darth Vader, whilst basically serving Grand Moff Tarkin still took no crap from folks, yet Kylo Ren and Hux constantly bicker with each other and neither convey any fear at all. It's like having the chuckle brothers being in charge of the first order.
Even though the film picks up a bit in the second half, overall as much as I hate to admit it, whilst not on prequel levels, this is one is one of worse Star wars films. Hopefully episode 9 restores some faith in the galaxy...!
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
My head is Thor
I went in to this film maybe a little too expectant, I love Marvel, love the Thor comic character, and love the way Chris Hemsworth portrays him on the screen. However, this film is COMPLETELY different to every other portrayal of Thor and it doesn't work. Thor's comedy has generally stemmed from his failure to integrate with humans on earth, when he was on Asgard he was this regal, well versed, humble, albeit slightly cocky character, yet from his first scene you can tell the film is taking a completely different route with him. And this is where the main problem of the film lies. For a film called "Ragnarok", which is basically about the death & destruction of Asgard, there is too much of a light tone throughout this film and WAY TOO much "comic" dialogue - I put that in speech marks as a lot of the one liners do not work and fall flat, and this is purely because of the sheer volume of them in the film. Comedy only works when there is a straight man to work off, yet nearly every character in the film is written the same and thus loses their individuality. This is such a shame as it causes the film to lose all impact on the sad or serious moments. Within the first 30 minutes Thor discovers the Loki is posing as Odin and, instead of being A: amazed he's still alive, and B: He's somehow banished his all powerful father, he simply laughs this off as a little joke Loki has played, then when they find Odin and he subsequently "dies" just before they meet Hela, who then goes on to destroy Mjolnir, there is no mourning period and before you know it we're on Sakaar being treated to no end of electrocution jokes.(Though isn't Thor the god of Thunder and can summon lightning?? Why would he be incapacitated by an electric shock?)It's such a shame that, as Thor has just lost 2 of the most important things to him, this isn't given time to sink in or be dealt with and is just glazed over with a quick childish argument with the Hulk.
It's not all bad though, I found once on Sakaar the film picked up somewhat. The Hulk/Thor fight doesn't disappoint, and there were a couple of nice character additions here, the Grandmaster was better than I thought he would be and wasn't too "Goldblum", Korg is probably the funniest part of this film and his comic lines do work well, I would like to see him return again. Hulk is fleshed out a bit more as well and we continue to see the internal struggle between him and Banner during the film. Another addition is Skurge who, the less said about him, the better..! Pointless, waste of time being in the film. Valkyrie is a strange character, I know she was completely changed from the comic books, but I don't think that the character is particularly well developed and thus I wasn't really invested in her at all during the movie. I also think the part quite easily could have been portrayed by Lady Sif, (who is strangely absent in the film despite the warriors 3 appearing??) And would have had more impact in the plot than the reasoning behind Valkyrie's self imposed exile. But the main plus point from the film, which is music to Marvel fan's ears, is Hela is a success as a villain, it has been a long time since we've had a villain to rival Loki (who FYI is wasted in the film and is getting a bit annoying now) but Hela is great, we got some development in to her character, albeit a little small, but I very much look forward to her appearing in Infinity War so we can hopefully develop her further.
So whilst it's not the best Marvel film, it's certainly not the worst by a long shot. I did enjoy it, it was just the constant barrage of jokes wore very thin very quickly and definitely detracted from the overall story.
But with all this said, my non fan boy friend loved the film....!
Doctor Strange (2016)
Strange left me feeling strange
So the next Marvel superhero makes his entrance in to the MCU, Doctor Strange is here, and I couldn't wait for it!
Being that many people, my self included aren't that well versed in the Doctor Strange lore the film is an obligatory origin story of how the brilliant neurosurgeon Stephen Strange goes from saving people on an operating table to become the "sorcerer supreme". The story wastes no time in getting on with the story and, after a short period where he demonstrates his brilliance in his profession he is involved in a car crash of his own making - let that be a lesson to keep your phone off when you drive folks - he struggles to find anyway to repair his hands through western medicine and goes off to find alternate healing in the east - and so begins the transformation to a sorcerer.
The visuals in the film as you'd expect from the trailer are stunning, with the world bending effects giving you a taste of what it would be like if LSD & crack had a baby. They convey the powers they are displaying very well, even if at sometimes you get a little confused. However on the flip side of it I thought the visuals for Dormammu were terrible and thought he looked awful - in fact he reminded me of Master Control from the original Tron film!? The cast is also very strong, with all the lead characters putting in brilliant performances throughout the film.
However, I left the cinema feeling somewhat "meh". The film was very strongly an origin story and, as a result I found the plot a little thin, and whilst the pacing of the film was good the pacing of the PLOT seemed a little strange at times. For example it is established at the start of the film that Kaecilius (A decent enough villain, but not involved in the film enough to be developed) is trying to contact the dark dimension, however he seems to take a break for a while to allow the ancient one to train Dr Strange up from nothing to a fairly competent sorcerer before he continues with his quest. Also Strange goes from being unable to conjure any spells to a master in very little screen time, now I grew up watching Rocky movies so you'll know I love a good montage! But all we get is a couple of clips of him stealing books from the library (Which is against the sorcerers ways) and also practicing spells from master sorcerer books that's he "not good enough to use" and "are forbidden to read" (which made me wonder why there weren't any sort of magic locks on them to stop anyone looking at them). I also found the comedy in this film just fell a bit flat. I'm not expecting it to be a laugh a minute movie but comedy and "witty banter" are a staple of the marvel films and all have worked well in previous movies, but some one liners & jokes seemed to miss their mark. I don't know exactly why this was but there weren't many people laughing out loud in the screening.
Unfortunately for the film as well it seems to fall foul of showing all the best bits in the trailers as aside from the fantastic opening battle there is very little else to show, with even my friend pointing out there appears to be more running away than actual fighting in the film, with his cape kicking more ass than the Doctor does.
The 3rd act seemed a little weak as well with Kaecilius outing the ancient one to Strange as a user of dark magic, only for her to appear in the very next scene with the mark on her head confirming this, which isn't really explained by her either, and almost makes you side with Mordo on his feelings. And the final battle just seemed a bit odd, and I was a little confused and surprised at how easily he manages to play Dormammu, who comes off as a bit of an idiot in the end. I Didn't expect him to be in it as much as he was and I really hope this isn't the only time we see him in the MCU.
So whilst there some good points and a lot in the film to enjoy I just found myself a little disappointed overall with it and, ironically enough left the cinema feeling a little.....Strange.
Suicide Squad (2016)
Meh...!
So whilst being more of a Marvel fan I in no way hate DC and, despite not really enjoying the past 2 DC films I still wanted to see this one, especially given the polar opposite reviews that it had been getting. And my feeling by the credits was "Meh, it was alright"..
Whilst the film wasn't the worst one I've seen, there was nothing in it to amaze me. It is clear that the film has had a lot of re-shoots and the editing of the film is pretty poor, with scenes jumping from one to another without any thought to the flow of the story - half of scenes from the trailers aren't even in the film either?!
The film seems to suffer in it's failure to deal with a big group of main characters, where the Avengers gave everyone similar screen time, only Harley and Deadshot get a lot, (And for some reason also have 2 intro's?) Will Smith is basically Mike Lowry as Deadshot and takes a lot of the screen time, but I guess he is the big name so you would expect so, whilst Margot Robbie also takes a lot of time, but is probably the most well known character so again you'd expect her to be in the foreground, and I enjoyed the flashbacks between her and the joker. But I did keep noticing that her voice/accent kept changing throughout the film though from the normal tone, to a randomly serious voice, to a "bubblegum" accent - but this might be down to her being crazy, which I thought was potryed well on screen. But aside from these two other team members just appear, Katana randomly gets on the helicopter before they leave and her back story is literally explained in 1 or 2 sentences by Rick Flag, whilst the other main culprit is Slipknot, who gets out of a van, punches a woman, then is tricked in to trying to escape and gets his head blown off?? What was the point in even putting him in the film? You just don't ever get to a point where you really care about any of the team.
I would've like to have seen more of the other characters developed, Captain Boomerang is actually quite funny but isn't on a great deal, and you'd easily forget that Killer croc is in the film. El Diablo was an intriguing character who'd I'd have liked to have seen more of but they decide to kill him off no sooner than he starts fighting.
The Joker doesn't really have a place in the film, he adds nothing to the plot really and is almost just an extended cameo to pay fan service - though again I guess you can't have Harley without him?? Interesting take on the character though, but just really appears to be a bog standard mob boss with green hair, nothing against Leto but I don't think the character is a patch on any of the previous incarnations.
The Enchantress is a strange character, and by strange I mean rubbish. Amanda Waller makes a big deal about how she can control her as she has her heart but she basically turns as soon as the film starts and after resurrecting her brother he saves her from getting killed straight after when her heart is stabbed?! Then after complaining to her brother that they humans now worship machines, not magic she decides to kill them all...by building a machine?! But this is also never explained any further as to what this machine actually is or will do to the world?! Really poor bad guy, her brother is pretty awful too, in both substance and visually, with the special effects looking awful especially in this day and age - it reminded me of a cross between Tron Legacy and Lawnmower man?! (And I don't even know how that's possible?!). Amanda Waller is a much more fearsome villain in the movie and is played very well.
Couple of other little annoyances/questions that I won't delve in to but which aren't explained.
-Who shoots down the helicopters (every single one of them..!) and keeps shooting at the soldiers? They explain that the Enchantress is turning men, women & children into mindless zombie kind of creatures so where are the guns?
-After spending the entire film avoiding fighting, why when Diablo decides to fight does he have to ask permission from Deadshot?
-How does Harley manage to cut out Enchantress's heart by just slashing her across the chest with a sword? Wouldn't she need to actually stab her and cut that out?
-Why does Harley Quinn go back to prison afterwards despite having her nanobomb disabled by the Joker?
All in all though not the worst film you'll see, but it's certainly not one of the best and don't expect it to make you any more excited about the Justice league films - DC has got a LOT of work to do to save the DCEU. Good luck Wonder woman!
Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Star Trek Beyond (Interesting)
Let me start by saying that whilst not a "trekkie" I really enjoyed the first rebooted Star Trek film and was interested in going to watch this new one.
What I hadn't reckoned on though was the change in writers, who's poor quality shows instantly, poor interaction, forced humour, awful pacing and general lack of plot (but full of holes)
It's not a terrible movie so I'll start with good, the opening battle (aka the trailer) is very watchable and the dissection of the enterprise is very impressive. There is a very heartwarming tribute to Leonard Nimoy early on and, unless it is just a huge coincidence also one to Anton Yelchin during the "absent friends" toast at the end. These were nice touches in the movie.
Unfortunately as with most reviews it's much easier to pick out the bad points so here goes. Whilst most of the main crew get plenty of screen time you never really bond with any of them, character subplots are raised then ignored - Kirk wishing to leave the Enterprise, Spock also wanting to leave to "repopulate his planet" and also his split with Uhura (Are they back together at the end?). New addition Jaylah tells how her father was killed by "Manas" whilst she escaped yet I'm pretty sure he wasn't even on screen before then so you have no idea who he is, and when the customary revenge fight happens it's awful - and she doesn't even get revenge as they just transport out of there and leave him!?
Scotty has also become one of the most annoying characters in the franchise now, clearly Simon Pegg has given himself more lines and tried to make himself a better character, but should spend less time spouting nonsensical science jargon and more time practice his Scottish accent - which isn't just saying "Lassie" in every line - They generally just aren't that interesting in this film.
Bones is probably the best character in the film as well as Chekov, which makes his passing even more tragic.
There's no sense of dread in the film as the crew never seem in danger at any point, every obstacle they encounter is instantly overcome by fixing this and rerouting that?! It really doesn't in- still any sort of fear that some of the crew might not make it, though I suppose they ruined that in the last film by killing off Kirk and bringing him back to life in the next scene..!
The biggest problem though is the awful "villain". His story arc is that he wants this all powerful weapon that is never explained aside from some "Ancients used it a while ago", to get revenge on the federation as when he was promoted from a soldier to a captain after his company got taken over by Starfleet, he gets disillusioned with it and ends up stranded on a planet and is "abandoned" by the federation.
Several issues with this stand out - He has the most amazingly effective fleet of ships you've seen on the screen (Despite the awfully ridiculous method in which they manage to destroy the entire fleet of them...!) and nearly succeeds in destroying the federation without even using the weapon, so at no point do you think he really needs the weapon in order to win. I don't even understand how it works - he plugs it in to a door at first, then later just turns it on?! Second of all he says he was abandoned by the fleet when he crashed on this planet, yet Sulu and Uhura find he has access to all the current federation database files and has also "rerouted" the distress signal that should alert star fleet, so it makes no sense that he wants to destroy the federation because they abandoned him when it appears that he had the tools/opportunity to get in touch with them anyway??
There are other little things that gripe me
-Why did the secret to prolonging life that Krall found turn him in to a weird looking monster?
-If Krall was previously a decorated star fleet officer, why did no one know what had happened to his ship when Scotty explains to Kirk about the Franklin? Would it not be on record that the ship was lost with the crew in this area?
-Whilst he may no longer need it, why would Krall never think to go look for his ship after he had crashed landed? Kaylah makes a point of cloaking it but surely he would know whereabouts he crashed?
-How come Scotty can only beam Bones and Spock one at a time "To be safe" but can suddenly fix the transporter to beam 20 people at a time 10 minutes later?
-Why did the plan to disrupt the swarm by interfering with the radio frequency suddenly change to "This will cause ships to just explode" instead?
-If this was indeed the plan and I missed that point then what was the point of Bones/Spock stealing ship in order to "confuse the swarm" if the ships were just going blow up anyway when the frequency changed?
-In fact hang on - why didn't their ship blow up too!?
-If they knew where Krall was going when he gets in to the space port why didn't a crew of security guards go with Kirk instead of leaving him on his own?
The more you think of this story and plot it appears to have more holes than a sieve!!
If you're a die hard fan then you will probably like this but if you're a casual fan like me you probably won't think it's any good, in my opinion it's easily the weakest of the franchise and overall I just generally found it boring!
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
A decent entry but not without it's faults
So after loving DOFP, circumstances (eg: Holiday)caused me to have to wait several weeks after the release date to watch this movie and before showtime I had heard mixed reviews, but with most of them leaning towards a poor one I went in without any expectations so that I may avoid any potential disappointments.
Now firstly let me say I wasn't disappointed, I found this film to be a decent enough entry in to the Xmen universe, certainly better than some other notable entries (Origns - I'm talking to you...). There was lots in this film that I liked, mostly as it seemed more loyal to the cartoon I watched back in my youth that I loved so much. There were plenty of characters involved in the film, comic book style action sequences and the always fun quicksilver scene, such a welcome addition to the xmen movies, and something that maybe points out one thing Marvel have done wrong with a character in their films...
The Weapon X "cameo" - I enjoyed this but think it would have been so much better had they not spoilt this in the trailer, it fitted well with the story and you knew you were going to Alkali lake so it would've been nice to have had the anticipation of whether you would see Wolverine, but it was done well done and I liked that this was all we saw of him. Now I like the Wolverine character but personally felt that the original trilogy suffered due to an overdose of Wolverine, yes he was the main character of the first films but none of the other characters got developed which I felt made the films suffer, this is why I liked that Cyclops had a much more prominent role in this film and enjoyed that it seemed to focus more on him and Jean Grey and his rise to becoming a leader of the X-men.
Now this wasn't the perfect film and there were bad points that I found to it. The pacing of the film was a little strange at times, it was a shame that Havok's death seemed to be almost glossed over "He was closest to the explosion" "Oh, I thought I got everyone" ..... "Oh well, never mind...!"
Bit of a shame as we never got to see the "Bad ass" he was made out to be in the previous outings. Speaking of deaths I did have a sneaky feeling there may be another one in the film and almost expected Mystique to die in the final battle, especially with her being built up as a hero all the way through the film, but then wondered if Quicksilver might perish when taking on Apocalypse on by himself - in another fantastic sequence, but this was not the case.
Whilst it was good to see a big cast, The horsemen seemed to just be "there" and with the exception of Storm (slightly) were not fleshed out - Angel is seemingly built up as some seasoned warrior and is introduced with a cage fight scene having just beaten the blob and having gone 10 fights undefeated (Which we don't see any of) before he meets nightcrawler where he promptly gets his "ass handed to him". Even in the rematch at the end of the film he still struggles to put up any kind of fight. Psylocke was just sat in a room with Caliban evidently as his bodyguard, and for no real reason just decides to join Apocalypse, though this may be to save Calibans life?? But it would've been nice to have spent a little more time giving them some character - especially in a 2 & 1/2 film.
My biggest problem though which I had ever since he was announced was Oscar Issac as Apocalypse. Whilst I have no problem with him as an actor I just never saw him as being that character and wasn't convinced of him at any point through the film. Apocalypse is a hugely overpowered mutant who has a deep booming voice and should be menacing and instil fear in to those he meets, yet Issacs is tiny and had too much of a softly spoken voice in the film and I just found he didn't fit the part at all., he just looked like one of the gang when stood with his horsemen. Now whilst I'm not saying he should've had the part instead, I think someone like the Rock, with his build, would've been more visually suited to the character, but that's just my opinion.
Whilst this does almost wrap the whole Xmen story up I do hope there is another one after this, they have after all teased the Phoenix saga again so can see this being the next big thing, though I think the next film will be too soon for this story to resolve as it will need fleshing out more first, but the end credit scene leaves a couple of potential movies, with a potential creation of X-23, or hopefully Mr Sinister as the next big bad.
But overall it's a good enough entry and I don't think it's as bad as some people have said, it's certainly not worthy of the 1's and 2's out of 10 that some people have given it??? But again it's the nods to the comics and cartoons which I liked about the films, with the scene at the end with the team in their cartoon costumes in the training room a brilliant way to end the film.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Hooked on a feeling...!
Well I've just got back from cinema and I have to say that I am definitely hooked on a feeling - and that feeling is that this film is awesome! Right from the first sequence you are hooked and instantly charmed by Peter Quill as he scavenges for an artifact - an opening act which instantly sets the light-hearted tone of the movie and witty writing makes this character one of the best of the Marvel universe to hit the big screen - even possibly surpassing Tony Stark...! The movie doesn't mess around and you're quickly introduced to the rest of the gang and that's where it ups a notch or two - the bickering between the characters is fantastically well written and continues to progress and develop all of the characters as the film goes on. The group dynamic between the 5 heroes is also brilliantly portrayed and by the end you really feel that the characters care for each other - most notably a tree and a raccoon! As with all the Marvel films the action sequences and special effects are great and, if you haven't already, then get your geek on because Thanos is in the movie! (Ooh! Aah!) I know there is already a sequel in the plans but I can easily see a trilogy for the Guardians already. Unlike most Marvel movies there is always a thought in the back of your mind that there are other superheroes out there, certainly in the phase two movies you can't help wondering where the other avengers are - but this film you completely forget about them and at times forget it is a Marvel film at all - it's actually a great standalone sci-fi movie! The casting for the film is spot on; Chris Pratt - never heard of him before this film but think he has a great future ahead of him, Zoe Saldana continues to show her acting talents, Bradley Cooper brings a soul to a gun toting Racoon, Dave Bautista uses all of his acting skills picked up from his wrestling days and Vin Diesel fits perfectly in as Groot (I am resisting any temptation to make a reference to wooden acting...). But credit should also go to Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser. Again a character not many would have heard of but he is not just some stock bad guy and we are given a small insight into his back story and I thought his calmly menacing presence throughout the movie was fantastic.
So I'm sure everyone who wants to see this film has already seen it so this review won't make any difference to you but if you haven't seen it and can't decide whether to or not, then get in your spaceship and fly across the galaxy to your nearest screening - it's fantastic! Great soundtrack too!!!!
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Much better..!
I've been a fan of Transformers since I was a kid and was overjoyed when they released the first one, and I loved it. The second one I felt was the poorest of the films so far - a view I'm sure is shared by many, still my hopes were high for DOTM and, whilst it didn't tick all the boxes was a step in the right direction for the franchise. So with all the hype surrounding this film, along with the much anticipated inclusion of the Dinobots I got caught with the inner child in me and began to get excited about the film - and I have to say I was not disappointed!
I won't type out the plot for you as I'm sure you'll be aware of it (The premise of "Human have something that the transformers need" is the same in this film as the rest) but I felt that basically cutting ties with the humans from the original trilogy was a great idea (there was only so many times you can hear "BUMBLEBEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" without getting a little annoyed). Also as we don't focus on the buddy relationship between Sam and Bumblebee in this film it allows us to get to know some of the additions to the autobot cast this time and get some sort of character development, even if it is only small, which we never had in the previous films and so never cared about any autobot other than Prime and Bumblebee, which was evident in this movie as when Ratchet is killed I can't say I was THAT sad about it.
The CGI in the film was fantastic throughout, and the transformers look great, Optimus Prime is at his best in the film having finally had enough of saving humans but still being treated as a threat. I found the humans in the film were surprisingly all well acted throughout, even Kelsey Grammar looked quite evil during the movie - much moreso than Patrick Dempsey. Although I was confused at Stanley Tucci sudden which from Genius, billionaire businessman to comedy element halfway through the film??
As for the bad guys in the film they were hit and miss as I had hoped of more from Galvatron after hearing he was in the movie, although after watching the film it is obvious that he is being foreshadowed as the villain in waiting. And after much was also made of "Stinger", and after the comical scene with Bumbebee I expected a better face-off against him at the end
However I thought Lockdown was a great villain, the ruthless intergalactic bounty hunter has a great presence whenever he is on screen and frankly found him more menacing than Megatron has been in all the previous 3 movies; aside from tearing Jazz in half in the first film what else did he do except get his ass kicked? (Granted he did "kill" Optimus..!).
And we can't have a review without mentioning the Dinobots really! I am torn between what to think about them as, on the one hand they all looked awesome and kicked some ass, but on the other hand I thought they were underused during the film – they're only in the film for about 10-15 minutes, and don't do much during that period. I felt that given how they were a major draw for this film they could've been in it more, or at least made more of a deal of during the film, if you miss one scene then you miss the only other reference to them in the whole movie.
Don't get me wrong, the film is not flawless and has a few issues, but for me most have followed the trilogy so I don't see them changing much – things like, why transformers seem to disappear from the scene during battles – we had endless scenes like that in DOTM and there is one scene in this with Hound near the end which made me wonder whether the others had gone for an Engeron shake or something!? And also, robot dogs? WTF???? But probably the one that confuses me most is, if they are robots "In Disguise" maybe they shouldn't all turn in to brightly coloured supercars, especially since they are now being hunted, especially when we saw one transformer who could turn into a lady (A very beautiful lady)in Revenge of the Fallen. But again, since I gave it an 8 I'm not going to dwell on these too much; I didn't go watch this because I thought it would win Oscars! I'm very much looking forward to watching the next one to see how/when/where the story will take us!
So in closing I would say, if you like Transformers then you will like this film. Don't base your decision on whether these reviews are good or bad, everyone had their own opinions- and they're all different!