Black Panther is the latest Marvel blockbuster in the Disney Avengers universe. Here, it is a movie that has been getting allot of buzz for being the first black superhero-led movie in this universe. It runs a bit over 2 hours and, when it is done, it is up there near the top of the food chain for superhero movies alongside the likes of Winter Soldier and Avengers.
Black Panther follows the story of the Black Panther character following Civil War. Now that the excitement is over, he goes back to his people to be crowned king and also get his special panther powers. However, powerful threats to his isolationist kingdom of Wakanda are rearing their heads. A meta-criticism of the movie is that the results of the movie have been spoiled by the Avengers: Infinity War trailer.
As tends to be the case with the latest Phase 3 Marvel movies, the real issues in the movie tend to be from the past. Such as in Thor, the end of Dr Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, etc. the conflict is in people dealing with the mistakes and ambitions of their ancestors. Black Panther here tends to use Wakanda and the king as surrogates for dealing with poverty and suppresion.
Where it succeeds the most is it puts the plight of African people as the centre-piece of the story. However, as opposed to things such as Last Jedi's near constant passive-aggressive take on social justice issues, it manages to craft a blockbuster movie out of them. No-one is pushed as constantly incompetent or even wrong. Instead it treats the problems (racial impovershivement, sexism, etc.) as real grown-up issues with believable takes on them as opposed to cartoonish supervillains. The world it builds up, the backstory of the characters, etc. are all in the background but hint at greater mysteries that can be speculated or revisited.
My only criticism is the action scenes. They tend to follow the Hollywood trend of extreme close-ups too much, meaning that you lose your sense of place and time in a scene too easily. Leaving the camera a bit further away isn't a huge crime, but this movie doesn't let you appreciate the scope and agility of the Black Panther and the fights enough. In my mind, the action scenes should have been extended a little bit more to give them this time to breathe.
However, this is a minor complaint. This is perhaps a genre-defining film, proving that you can tackly heavy issues without resorting to putting the audience or history in a constant guilt-trip. In some ways, this a Social Justice Warrior movie done right.
5 out of 5 pantherific waffles.
Sunday 18 February 2018
Monday 12 February 2018
PS4 GAME REVIEW: NIER AUTOMATA (2016)
Nier Automata follows the story of some android soldiers. These androids have been tasked by the human race to take back the earth following an alien invasion (where humanity was forced to retreat). Here, you follow the story of a couple of these androids as they traverse the world and take the fight to the alien machines.
Nier is not a game you can talk much about the story. However, it is important to note that the story is very good. You are running around the world in a 3D action-hack n' slash gameplay. During this time, you meet an assortment of characters and interact with them in a variety of ways. The only downside is that some of the story-beats seem predictable at different stages throughout the game.
The combat is also very good. There is the standard combo-based combat, which shares more with bullet-hell type gameplay than Dark Souls and the like. There are also flying missions (old-school top-down style shooter) and a hacking mini-game (similar to the flying missions). However, if you just want the story, they have also included an auto-combat mode.
The world you are exploring is also very good. There are some weird invisible-wall style areas, however, where suddenly getting through or jumping over a small fence is impossible. Some of these areas would have done to have slightly more organic boundaries. The missions you do in the world are slightly fetch-quest like, but then you can just ignore them and go through the main missions.
All up, this game is very good. It definitely deserves to stand as one of the better games of 2017. My one desire for the sequel is if they could include local multiplayer somehow.
5 out of 5 glorious waffles.
Nier is not a game you can talk much about the story. However, it is important to note that the story is very good. You are running around the world in a 3D action-hack n' slash gameplay. During this time, you meet an assortment of characters and interact with them in a variety of ways. The only downside is that some of the story-beats seem predictable at different stages throughout the game.
The combat is also very good. There is the standard combo-based combat, which shares more with bullet-hell type gameplay than Dark Souls and the like. There are also flying missions (old-school top-down style shooter) and a hacking mini-game (similar to the flying missions). However, if you just want the story, they have also included an auto-combat mode.
The world you are exploring is also very good. There are some weird invisible-wall style areas, however, where suddenly getting through or jumping over a small fence is impossible. Some of these areas would have done to have slightly more organic boundaries. The missions you do in the world are slightly fetch-quest like, but then you can just ignore them and go through the main missions.
All up, this game is very good. It definitely deserves to stand as one of the better games of 2017. My one desire for the sequel is if they could include local multiplayer somehow.
5 out of 5 glorious waffles.
Monday 5 February 2018
MOVIE REVIEW: GODS OF EGYPT (2016?)
Gods of Egypt cannot call itself a good movie. At times it struggles to call itself competently made. However, there is some enjoyment to be found, with several areas going into the so-bad-its-good territory.
Gods of Egypt is about, well, the Gods of Egypt. The universe it builds is that the Gods are physically upon the mortal plane. Ra is pulling the sun across the sky, Osiris rules over man, etc. One of the gods, Set, usurps the other gods that are located on Earth and takes over Egypt with an army of monsters. It is then up to Horus to save the day, along with a thief called Bek who wants to save his slave lover from the afterlife.
The action scenes have drastic shifts in the quality of the special effects. However, they are mostly pretty inventive. Each god can transform and has some special power, and the fights reminded me of video game fights in the best ways. The world, with the gods being mortal and each having a domain, is also interesting.
Where the movie is let down, however, story and the dialogue. The story is cliche and the choice of dialogue and characterisation doesn't help things. A couple of interesting twists and turns would have been great. The acting also doesn't help, particularly the supporting cast (such as the thiefs lover).
All in all, however, this movie was a surprise. It was much better than expected and had competent action and story beats that made sense. It also followed the simple rules of storytelling (things that are set-up have a pay-off) so it didn't leave me feeling bored like Star Wars. With a bit more originality, it may have even ventured into being good.
2 out of 5 sandy waffles.
Gods of Egypt is about, well, the Gods of Egypt. The universe it builds is that the Gods are physically upon the mortal plane. Ra is pulling the sun across the sky, Osiris rules over man, etc. One of the gods, Set, usurps the other gods that are located on Earth and takes over Egypt with an army of monsters. It is then up to Horus to save the day, along with a thief called Bek who wants to save his slave lover from the afterlife.
The action scenes have drastic shifts in the quality of the special effects. However, they are mostly pretty inventive. Each god can transform and has some special power, and the fights reminded me of video game fights in the best ways. The world, with the gods being mortal and each having a domain, is also interesting.
Where the movie is let down, however, story and the dialogue. The story is cliche and the choice of dialogue and characterisation doesn't help things. A couple of interesting twists and turns would have been great. The acting also doesn't help, particularly the supporting cast (such as the thiefs lover).
All in all, however, this movie was a surprise. It was much better than expected and had competent action and story beats that made sense. It also followed the simple rules of storytelling (things that are set-up have a pay-off) so it didn't leave me feeling bored like Star Wars. With a bit more originality, it may have even ventured into being good.
2 out of 5 sandy waffles.
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