Reaction & Review | Digimon Adventure tri.: Coexistence

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we're continuing the "Digimon Adventure tri." series by taking a look at the fifth entry that came out in 2017. That movie is "Digimon Adventure tri.: Coexistence".

Now, as much as I'd like to say that I'm looking forward to watching this movie, I have noticed a bit of a pattern. You see, upon looking back at the "Digimon Adventure tri." movies I've covered so far, I've noticed that the quality in those movies have been a ridiculously mixed bag. You see, the first movie was really good. It helped set up the plot, and get familiar with our returning characters from the "Digimon Adventure" series. The second movie didn't really have much of a story, and yet it had that throwback to the first season of Digimon's writing. The third movie, while it did have more of a story than the second film, also had a ton of logic issues and story elements that didn't really make a whole lot of sense. And I say that, considering that I have been a fan of Digimon, and seeing how the story played out in "Confession" kinda hurt my brain a bit. The fourth movie definitely picked up on it's plot, while also keeping a nice balance with the throwback to the first season's writing.

So, you can kinda see where I'm going with this. These movies, so far, have not been as great as I thought they were going to be. We're now up to the fifth movie, and I have no idea where this one is going to lean towards, when it comes to the quality of the writing. It could be really good, because the previous entry, which was "Loss", was really solid. So it gives me faith that this movie is going to be just as good. However, it could easily dive right back into the mediocre quality that the second and third movie share. I have no idea. The only way I'm gonna find out if is thing is any good at all, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Digimon Adventure tri.: Coexistence".

7 minutes later

Did Mimi seriously just say that there are no Digimon that should've never been born? Yeah, I mean Devimon, Myotismon, and the Dark Masters were all just friendly Digimon. Of course they never had evil intentions when the DigiDestined first encountered them. They were all just happy-go-lucky Digimon that would've never harmed a fly. Good lord...I get what Mimi was trying to say, in regards to how Gennai told Meicoomon that she should've never been born, but it still sounded really stupid on Mimi's part.

16 minutes later

OK, as cheesy and as stupid as that pun was, it was still kinda sweet. Granted, I understand that not a lot of people are fans of puns, but I still thought it kinda worked. So, I gotta give them a little bit of props there.

19 minutes later

I think I may have found a problem with this movie, guys. And I'll talk about this later on in the review, but this movie's tone is rather sporadic. It hasn't really been consistent with what it wants to be. Mind you, the movie is still OK. It's just that I wish this movie was a little more consistent with it's tone.

2 minutes later

So Matt is afraid of ghosts...interesting. Granted, I don't remember him ever being afraid of ghosts when I was watching Digimon, but I guess you learn something new everyday, don't you?

11 minutes later

You know, guys, I find it kinda funny how Agumon seems to be the voice of reason over Tai, when it comes to Meicoomon. Especially when you consider up to this point that Agumon has done nothing in this movie, other than talking about food. I just find it a little bit odd that the leader of the DigiDestined is still getting thrown under the bus, even when he's in high school. Just thought I'd share that with you, guys.

3 minutes later

Holy shit, are they actually showing all of the digivolutions on-screen at the same time?! My god, they are. I complained about the pacing on the digivolutions in the previous film. And now, the filmmakers are actually taking that suggestion and putting it to actual use. You know what? Even though they're still showing the god awful CG models for the Digimon in these sequences, at least they're speeding up the process. And that's always a positive.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Digimon Adventure tri.: Coexistence". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Wow. Where the hell do I even start?

Actually, I think I know the perfect place to start. I'm gonna start with writing. Specifically, I want to talk about the movie's tone. I kinda brought it up earlier on in the movie, where it didn't know what it wanted to be with it's tone. It ranges from either being serious, to just being goofy and lighthearted. Now, I totally understand that Digimon usually had that sorta perfect balance. You could totally have serious moments in the show, while also staying true to being lighthearted when it needed to be. But you see, the difference between this movie and the TV show is that the TV show knew when it wanted to be either serious or silly. Now granted, it sometimes leaned towards being more silly than serious, but it still knew what it wanted to be, overall. This movie, on the other hand, has that problem where the moments of when it wanted to be silly just come right out of nowhere. Such as when the DigiDestined are stuck in the Digital World, which has also been wanting to get the DigiDestined out of it's world, which is a bit of a long story in of itself. But anyway, when the DigiDestined are sitting around together at a campfire, they are talking about what has happened to Meicoomon, and how Meiko herself thinks that she's lost faith in the possibility that she and her Digimon aren't partners anymore. And all of this is some really decent stuff, but then it gets broken up when Agumon starts talking about food. Well, to be fair, it was more of Tai bringing up something about sharing, which gets Agumon to bring up food. So that one I can sorta forgive. But the other example I want to bring up is when the DigiDestined are back in the real world. So, they are being chased down by the police, along with their Digimon. And to make a long story short, Izzy ends up putting the Digimon back in the computer world that he made back in the first movie. So now the police are interrogating them on what they did with their Digimon. And then Nishijima manages to turn custody of the DigiDestined over to him. And because they can't go back to their homes, what with reporters hanging around their homes, Nishijima decides that they should lay low for a while until this calms down. So, once they are together at the high school, now that it has been closed down for the summer, they decide to start telling ghost stories. Ignoring the fact that they found out that Meicoomon destroyed a power plant, and there are sightings of Digimon all over the world, they decide to tell ghost stories. And the only reason why I think this scene even exists is that because the DigiDestined have no idea what to do, now that they're in the real world again, they needed to do something to lighten the mood so that they don't get boggled down by what's going on with what's happening to their world currently. And while that may have been the intention here, it still feels really out of place to me. And that's why I believe the tone is rather inconsistent. And when I think about it, even the two movies I mentioned at the start of this, which were "Determination" and "Confession", knew what they wanted to be with their tone. But this movie isn't, and it does sorta bring the movie down a bit.

I haven't really talked about this much in my reviews for these particular movies, but I do want to make mention of the new DigiDestined member, which is Meiko. Up until now, I haven't really mentioned her much, and part of that has do to with my disinterest for her. Now, when I say that, I am not saying that I don't find her to be a bad character. But when compared to the other DigiDestined, she really feels kinda bland. Now that might have to do with the fact that she wasn't part of the group during seasons 1 and 2 of Digimon. So to have her as part of the group just felt kinda out of place to me. Now the other reason why I haven't brought her up much has to do with her Digimon partner, Meicoomon. And the reason why I haven't brought Meicoomon up much at all has to do with spoilers. But I think I can talk about her a bit here in this movie. So, as you've probably noticed in the review for "Loss", Meicoomon goes on a rampage, thanks to Gennai. And no, I'm not calling him Dark Gennai anymore, because it just sounds fucking stupid. But anyway, ever since Gennai told Meicoomon that she should've never been born, she starts going berserk and digivolves to another form. And with Meiko, she's been wondering why she was chosen to be Meicoomon's partner. Because she feels that she has let her Digmon partner down, because she hasn't been around her for as long as she wanted to be. Now the reason why she says that is because whenever she and Meicoomon are together, it's just like normal. But when they're separated, Meicoomon starts to become violent and becomes a monster. This is technically explained by Hackmon, who makes another appearance in this movie. And he basically explains that because of the "reboot", he believes that Meicoomon has gone through some kind of genetic mutation, and it may be too late to save her. And I'm giving you the condensed version, mostly because that if I talked about it anymore in greater detail, it would result in huge spoilers. But I will say that the issue definitely seems to be more focused on Meicoomon in this movie. And we do get more of a backstory as to how Meiko met Meicoomon when they were younger, and how Meicoomon first started to become violent. Now like I said earlier, I'm not really into Meiko, as a character, but I will say that her development in this movie is pretty good. It's just, for me, it was a case of too little, too late. But regardless, I know that there are others who will probably find Meiko more interesting than I do. As for everyone else, the only character who I can make mention of is Agent Himekawa. And I'll be honest, I really don't give a shit about her. The movie tries to make you care about her backstory. About how she wanted to save the Digital World and be reunited with her Digimon partner again. And I would probably care more about her, if she were more interesting. But she really isn't.

So, overall, I can definitely say that the writing in this movie is more of a mixed bag. While it's certainly not as mind confusing as what was shown in "Confession", there are still certain things about this movie that really brings it down a bit. And for me, it just ended up being kinda weak. Now, while I can say that the writing is definitely a step down again, the acting is still pretty good, for the most part. I have noticed that Tai's voice actor sounded a little stilted at times, but it's not something that most people will notice. Especially if you're not watching the English dub for these particular movies. However, if you have gotten into these movies up until this point, then you're not going to mind the acting for these movies. Everyone else turns in a pretty good showing. Nobody here really phones it in, so at least the acting is still consistent with what was in "Loss".

Animation here is still really good, as is the art style. It looks really beautiful and consistent with what was in the previous "Digimon Adventure tri." films. Now believe or not, I'm actually going to praise the digivolutions in this movie. Not so much the CG, because that still hasn't been fixed whatsoever, but more so the pacing of these sequences. You'll recall in my review of the previous movie where I bitched that the digivolutions had to be shown one at a time at a very slow pace. Not just because I had to see the god awful CG models of the Digimon, but because it took forever just to get all of the Digimon to digivolve. Well, somehow, from the previous movie up until this one, they actually showed all of the Digimon on-screen for their digivolutions. Which is fantastic, because if they had this same bullshit from the previous movie, then the pacing in this movie would've been dragged down to a screeching halt. Thankfully, the filmmakers learned their lesson and showed all of the digivolutions on-screen at the same time. I kinda wished they did this in the previous film, but hey, I'm happy to see some level of improvement. Because that shows me that the people who made these movies actually give a shit. Sure, the CG is still shit overall, but I guess we'll see if it's improved on the final movie or not.

Sound-mix is still mixed well, as is the music being pretty good. Overall, guys, am I able to recommend "Digimon Adventure tri.: Coexistence"? Only if you've been following this series of movies up until this point. Because, obviously, I can't recommend to any new viewers of Digimon, and I certainly can't recommend it to non-fans either. As for myself, like I said, this movie is certainly a mixed bag. It leans a little bit towards being rather weak, but it's still not as mind numbingly confusing as "Confession". So, I guess that's somewhat of a positive. And now, I have one more movie to go for this series. And I can't believe we're about to hit the home stretch. I certainly hope that it's going to be better than what was shown here, but considering that this series of movies has been so inconsistent with it's quality, that I am not having a lot of hopes of that happening. But still, like I said, if you are a fan of Digimon, and you've liked what you have seen with these movies so far, then by all means, check it out. As for myself...I think I'm gonna go watch something else. I think I'll go watch my copy of "Venom". Because, why not?

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we're taking a look at the final entry in the "Wishmaster" series. This movie came out in 2002. That movie is "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled".

Now, this movie, as I just stated, is the fourth and final entry in the "Wishmaster" series. And for some reason, this movie is not numbered, unlike it's previous entries. I have read up on some sites that title this movie as "Wishmaster 4: The Prophecy Fulfilled", and I have seen others that don't. Regardless of that, I'm just gonna leave out the numbering for this title, because that's what the title on the DVD states it as.

So, for those of you who haven't read my review of "Wishmaster 3", I'm just gonna state this here. The movie was really fucking stupid. The Djinn was nowhere near as interesting as he was in the first two "Wishmaster" movies, the characters were shallow and lifeless, and the story itself was kinda shit. And this is gonna lead me into talking about this fourth entry, because I kinda held off on mentioning this until we got to this point. You see, in my review of "Wishmaster 3", I talked about how Andrew Divoff, the man who played the Djinn from the first two movies, wrote his own script for "Wishmaster 3". And to make a long story short, it was turned down because it was too ambitious and expensive for the producers of "Wishmaster 3" to work on. Well, I do know another reason why they turned it down. You see, both this movie and the third film were shot back-to-back in the span of two weeks. So......no wonder they turned it down. I mean, how in the hell were they suppose to film something like that within such a short time? Furthermore, I'm wondering why exactly they had such a short time to film both movies? And this is why I stated back in my review of the third movie that I was worried about the quality for both of these movies, considering they were both shot back-to-back in such a short time.

Now, who knows? Maybe the fourth movie will pull off something good here, despite all of what happened during the filming for both this movie and "Wishmaster 3". But I really don't know if it will. The only way I'm gonna find out if this thing is in any way watchable, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled".

7 minutes later

Wait a second here. So this guy gives our main character, at least I assume it's suppose to be our main character, the same box from the third movie that contains the gem in which the Djinn resides in. Even though at the end of the previous film, the Djinn's gem was turned colorless after he died from the Sword of Justice. Are they going to explain that bit at all? I'm really curious, guys, because if this movie doesn't attempt to explain this plot hole by the time the movie's over, then I'm going to be left with a huge question that might never get answered. I'm certainly hoping that it does get answered at some point. But right now, we're off to kind of a bad start, guys.

16 minutes later

OK, I have a question. So the Djinn, who has been disguised as a lawyer by this point, is talking to this guy on the phone. I want to make mention that this guy cannot hang up the phone due to the Djinn's magical will, or something like that. And he's cutting his own face off with this knife. As cool as this all is, why are the people behind the glass frame not stopping this? Instead of taking a chair or something, and smashing the glass into pieces, they're just gently banging on the glass with their fists. Why are they not just busting through the glass with something heavy to try and stop this guy from cutting himself? Guys, I understand it's a horror movie, but nobody can be this fucking stupid. It's really starting to bug me, and.......oh, and now he just shot himself with a gun. Seriously, guys, the logic in this movie is starting to hurt a bit.

19 minutes later

Wait, wait, wait. Let me see if I understand this. If the Djinn doesn't fulfill this third wish before this hunter kills Lisa, then the prophecy can't be fulfilled. Mind you, the Djinn can't grant this wish of hers unless if it's "real" love. So...does that mean that the Djinn is suppose to develop feelings for her now? Seriously?! What the fuck happened to just fulfilling the prophecy like he was suppose to do in the other 3 movies? Guys, the writing in this movie is starting to become shit, and any hopes of this movie getting better is already fading fast.

18 minutes later

OK, I have another question. Does the Djinn not realize that the hunter is still out on the loose? You know, the same hunter that's suppose to kill Lisa, the one who awakened the Djinn in the first place? Why is he not going after him? Why is the Djinn wasting time like this? I thought he was suppose to be cunning and witty. No. He's just dragging this movie down, and it's really starting to depress me.

19 minutes later

What the hell happened to this series, guys? This series started off fun, and I was really getting into these movies. But this fourth movie comes along and becomes complete, utter garbage! And at this point, I am just counting down the minutes until this pile of shit is done.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled". I'm gonna shut this garbage off...OK. God, that ending was shit. What the hell do I even start with? Well, when in doubt, start with the writing.

I have a theory about something. And mind you, this is all just a theory, so you have to take it for what it's worth. I am convinced that this movie was never meant to be a "Wishmaster" movie. I refuse to believe that somebody penned this script and thought that this would be a proper sequel to the "Wishmaster" franchise. I believe, at one point, this was meant to be a psychological horror movie. In a way, I would say it kinda falls in line with "Audition", if "Audition" were written by incompetent retards. Speaking of which, I found out that the people who wrote "Wishmaster 3", and this movie, were written by different writers. In case you're curious, "Wishmaster 3" was written by a man named Alex Wright. And "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fufilled" was written by someone named John Benjamin Martin. What's the difference between these two writers? Well, in Alex Wright's case, he just wrote a really stupid movie. And you know what? For all of the faults and logic issues that "Wishmaster 3" suffered from, at least it felt kinda like a proper sequel. It wasn't written well, but at least it felt like it belonged in the "Wishmaster" franchise. Mr. Martin, on the other hand, didn't feel like writing a sequel to "Wishmaster 3". He wanted to write his own movie. The only thing that was slapped onto his script was the "Wishmaster" name onto it's title. And after watching this, it really feels like, as I just stated, that this movie was never intended to be a "Wishmaster" film. In fact, I don't think Mr. Martin has even watched a "Wishmaster" movie in his life. Because if he did, then, at the very least, he would've explained how the Djinn makes a comeback in this movie. Now, if you didn't read my review of the third movie, I spoiled that the Djinn dies from the Sword of Justice. And afterwards, the gem loses it's color and goes completely gray. And because of that ending, I was wondering how exactly the Djinn would be resurrected in this movie? Well, guess what? This movie has no explanation for that. So, during the beginning of the movie, Steven, who is the lawyer that the Djinn possesses in this movie, gives our main character, Lisa, a gift that has a box. And what do you know? It's the same box that was in the third movie. How exactly he got a hold of this box is anyone's guess. And it also has the same gem that has the Djinn sealed inside of it. So, even though the third movie clearly shows how the Djinn dies and the gem loses it's red color, it's back in this movie all pristine and intact. No explanation on how it pieces itself back together. It's there because fuck you, that's why. The Djinn is back again, despite being killed in the previous film, because fuck you, that's why. In fact, if I were lazy enough, I would just answer all of these questions that this movies poses as fuck you, that's why. However, I am not going to do that here. I'm gonna talk about why this movie is so fucking terrible.

Our characters are all shallow and lifeless. Our main character, Lisa, has no fucking personality to her. Which is saying a lot, because Diana, which was the main character in the third movie, didn't have much of a personality either. But at least she had some kind of a backstory, as cliche as it was. What's Lisa's conflict in this movie? Well, her husband, Sam, got into an accident and cannot walk again, thus he is stuck in a wheelchair. Now the movie doesn't really explain what kind of an accident he got into. My guess is that he got into a motorcycle accident, because he and Lisa were riding together in it at one point. And the only reason I say this is because, at one point, Lisa comes home with dinner and notices the motorcycle that was mostly covered in a tarp. She covers the rest of it up because it reminds her of her time with Sam before he got paralyzed. Now, I would probably care more about Sam, if he was in any way likable. However, this movie doesn't even do that here. Because Sam really only cares about one thing, which is sex. But because he's in a wheelchair, he can't have sex anymore. I should probably explain this a bit. So, at the beginning of the movie, he and Lisa bought a house. And as soon as they get inside, they start to bang each other. Why? Because I guess that's the first thing couples do when they move into a new house. I wouldn't have known that, but I guess you learn something new everyday, don't you? Anyway, so it cuts to 3 years later, and now we see Lisa trying to support her husband while he's in a wheelchair. And his personality and presence doesn't make him likable. Because he's in a wheelchair, he thinks that Lisa is having an affair with Steven, the lawyer. Not only that, but the only thing that he can think about is having sex again. But because he can't do that, he can't "love" Lisa like he use to. What the fuck kind of logical reasoning is that?! You can still totally love somebody, even if you have a disability. Sure, you might not be able to have sex anymore, but that's not a reason why you can't stop loving somebody. Never mind the fact that he could still love Lisa for her charm and personality. Not that she has much of one to begin with, but let's just assume. You know, there's plenty of reasons to love somebody, even if you have a disability. But no. He only cares about sex, and everything else about Lisa can go fuck itself. Oh, but wait, it gets better! You see, when Lisa is at dinner with "Steven", she wishes that Sam could walk again. So the Djinn grants her wish, and Sam's in total pain because of his legs acting up. And then later, when he is walking again, he STILL feels like a fucking unsympathetic person, because he thinks that Lisa is cheating on him with Stephen. Never mind the miracle that he can walk again, no, he doesn't care about that. He still feels like he can't make it work with Lisa, because he thinks that she's found someone else. And that he is an afterthought to her. And when Sam eventually does come to his wife's aid towards the end, I still didn't fucking care about him, because he was just an unsympathetic prick who only cared about sex. And really, no other character in this movie is even worth caring for because they were all that shallow and lifeless.

Which now brings me to talking about the Djinn. Oh dear heavenly fuck, the Djinn in this movie...so, let me try to explain this one. So, you know that big prophecy that he was suppose to fulfill? You know, the prophecy that he was suppose to unleash his fellow djinns on Earth and, basically, unleash Hell along with it? Well, there's something that's stopping him from doing that. You see, Lisa makes her third wish. What is this third wish? Well, she wishes that she could fall in love with Steven for who he really is. Which catches the Djinn's attention, because this is what he needs to fulfill his prophecy. But there's a problem with that. He doesn't know how to. Because he realizes that he can't fulfill this wish, unless he lets a human fall in love for real. And so he tries to figure out what love is. Oh, and there's something about a hunter that is going to kill Lisa, because she's made her third wish. And if this hunter kills Lisa, then the Djinn is fucked over because he can't fulfill the prophecy. I had no idea that something like that was suppose to happen, what with a hunter appearing if someone makes their third wish, but whatever. Now, this journey for the Djinn to discover what love is like is fucking stupid as hell because it's a complete waste of time. Not just because of this ridiculous concept, but because there is a hunter on the loose that's after Lisa. So, rather than trying to prevent this hunter from killing her right at the start, he's at a strip club for...reasons, because I guess this is a way to discover what love is for the Djinn. And this scene goes on for way too long. In fact, I will say that this movie suffers from some terrible pacing, because not only does the Djinn waste time at this strip club, he also wastes time fighting a bodyguard that goes nowhere. On top of that, when he does eventually fight the hunter that's after Lisa, the fight itself drags on for way too long. Not only that, but the fight scene itself is poorly choreographed. I have seen fight scenes done better in the early seasons of Power Rangers that were not this bad. But anyway, setting aside the poorly choreographed fight scene, the Djinn developing feelings for Lisa makes no fucking sense. I say this, because the Djinn was suppose to fulfill this prophecy about unleashing Hell on Earth. Oh, but he can't do that because he starts to develop feelings for her. So if that's the case, then why didn't he develop feelings for the other 3 main characters from the previous films? What makes this woman so different from them? Oh, she wished to fall for "Steven" for who he really is? Well, that's apparently enough for the Djinn to go "Oh wait, I might have to rethink this, because it's not true love". Mind you, the only wish that he couldn't grant would be something involving killing himself, as he stated in "Wishmaster 2". Now, all of a sudden, he has trouble granting this wish, because it's not real love and that he's going to do the right thing by letting her fall in love for who he truly is. Fuck that garbage! What the hell happened to the Djinn that was granting wishes in the previous 3 movies and didn't care about their consequences of what they wished for? I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Djinn in this movie has been reduced to being a pussy. And that is sad and tragic for me to say, because the Djinn from the first 2 movies was fucking awesome. Even in the third movie, the Djinn had some level of charm. Not here, though. He's a fucking pussy in this movie. And that is a fucking shame, to say the least.

Now...I'm gonna try to move on from the writing, because I've said plenty about it as is. What about the acting? Well, unfortunately, between filming the third movie and this one, the acting took a nosedive into almost being terrible. I say "almost", because the only actor who puts in any kind of effort is John Novak, who reprises his role as the Djinn from the previous movie. But even he kinda phones it in here because the script is so fucking terrible. I'm surprised that he was barely able to make this dialogue work, considering the script that was given to him. As for everyone else, nobody else put in any kind of effort. Which is saying something, because the 3 previous movies had acting that was really good. None of it was great, but at least there was effort put into those movies. But just about everyone in this movie didn't even try. So, I can easily say that the acting is the worst I've seen from the "Wishmaster" series.

What about the special effects? Well, I will say that the special effects are not too bad. They're not great, and they're certainly a downgrade from what was in the previous film, but it's not too bad for what it is. The blood effects are still really solid, the costuming and the makeup effects on the Djinn look really fucking good. But then again, most of the latter effects were carried over from "Wishmaster 3". So, on that end, I can at least say that the special effects are fine. Again, they're not as good as what was in the previous film, but it's still passable for what it is.

Camerawork here is pretty good. Lighting is lit really well. Sound-mix is mixed competently. The score is actually pretty decent, too. I would actually say it's on par with what was in the previous 3 movies. So, at least we have a consistent score that works for this movie.

So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Wishmaster: The Prophecy Fulfilled"? Fuck no. This movie is fucking garbage. And if THIS is how this franchise ends, then that is nothing short of sad and tragic. If you want to get into the "Wishmaster" series, then stick with the first two movies. And if you enjoyed those enough, then MAYBE I could recommend giving the third movie a watch. Even though I personally didn't care for "Wishmaster 3", at least there are some things there that fans of horror movies could really get into. But this fourth movie? No. Avoid this piece of shit. It is not worth your time, and it certainly does not feel like a proper "Wishmaster" movie. This movie can go fuck itself! And, you know, it kinda makes me yearn for a fifth movie. Because I read an interview online that Andrew Divoff would love to come back for a "Wishmaster 5". If they did that, and they actually got writers who know what they're doing, then I think it could be great. Because it would be really sad if this franchise ends on this shitty fourth movie. But, hey...at least I got the first two movies on DVD. And I'll be definitely be watching them next month, what with Halloween being right around the corner and all. But as for 3 and 4...those two movies can piss off. Especially that fourth movie.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Digimon Adventure tri.: Loss

 

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we're continuing this run of the "Digimon Adventure tri." series by taking a look at the fourth entry that came out in 2017. That movie is "Digimon Adventure tri.: Loss".

Now, as has been the case with the other "Digimon Adventure tri." films I've covered last month, I don't know very much about this movie. I can tell you what I do know about it. I know that it's going to pick up where it left off from the third movie. And thanks to the ending of "Confession", the DigiDestined are back in the Digital World after it's been "rebooted". And I could go into great detail about that again here, but I've said plenty about it in my review of "Confession". If you do want to know, just go read my review for that movie.

The only other thing I do know about this movie is that, out of all 6 movies from the "Digimon Adventure tri." series, this one has the shortest runtime. It's only an hour and 18 minutes long. Which, compared to the previous film I covered in the "Digimon Adventure tri." series, which was "Confession", that movie had the longest runtime of an hour and 42 minutes. So...I'm not entirely sure what this movie's going to do with such a short runtime. But you know what? I've seen plenty of movies that have this rather short runtime. A real good example would be a majority of DC's direct-to-video animated films, and most of them wound up being really good with such a short runtime. So, I do have plenty of hopes that this movie is going to be, possibly, really good. But the only way I'm gonna find out, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Digimon Adventure tri.: Loss".

15 minutes later

You know, guys, even though the story hasn't really gone anywhere yet, I am liking what is here so far. Once more, it's going back to that time during the early portions of season 1 of "Digimon Adventure" where the DigiDestined were getting use to the Digital World with their Digimon companions. Granted, it's basically sorta rehashing what "Determination" did. But I will say that I am liking it a little bit more here than how "Determination" handled it. Just thought I should share that with you, guys.

15 minutes later

So...Machinedramon just came back. That's sorta cool. Kinda hoping that the movie will explain how he came back to life after the "reboot". But I will say that it is sorta cool to see him back again. So, I guess that's kind of a positive.

5 minutes later

All right, I know this is a trivial thing to be bitching about, but I'm gonna bring it up anyway. So, do you happen to remember back during my review of the first "Digimon Adventure tri." film where they opted to pronounce Gennai's name like the word "Get", but replacing the "T" with an "N"? Well, now this movie's decided to pronounce his name like it was in the TV show. You know, like the word "Gem", but replacing the "M" with "N". Again, I totally understand it's a trivial and stupid thing to be mentioning, but I would like it if these movies were a little bit consistent on how they should pronounce Gennai's name and stick with it. That's all I'm asking for.

17 minutes later

You know, guys, out of all the things I was expecting from this movie, Gennai licking Sora's face like that was not one of them. That was rather disgusting. And really creepy, too.

5 minutes later

So, now MetalSeadramon is back also. You know, as cool as it is to see these references from the first Digimon series, I'm left wondering as to whether or not the rest of the Dark Masters are back, now that the Digital World has been "rebooted". Or if Dark Gennai just wills it or some shit like that. I'm really curious if the movie's gonna give some kind of explanation about their reappearances, but I have a funny feeling that I'm not gonna get an answer to that.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Digimon Adventure tri.: Loss". I'm gonna shut the movie off...OK. Well, I guess I should go straight into writing.

I will start by saying that, when compared to the previous two "Digimon Adventure tri." films I covered last month, this one is certainly an improvement over those two movies. Because "Determination", as I've stated previously, was much more laid back and didn't have much of a story. While "Confession" did have more story development, it kinda suffered from logic issues that brought the film down a bit. This movie, however, has kind of a mixed balance between the two films. Because, while it does have that throwback to when the first Digimon series had that corny writing and sorta cheesy acting, it also has a pretty good story to boot here. And unlike "Confession", where it had logic issues and story gaps that didn't make a whole lot of sense, this movie doesn't really have much of that here. It's able to tell a consistent story, for the most part. And we do have a better continuation, unlike the previous film. Now, I will say that this movie is nowhere near as good as the first "Digimon Adventure tri." film, which was "Reunion". But it's still able to stand out on it's own, without having too many problems here to bring the movie down. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that this movie has it's problems, in terms of writing. There are a couple of minor things, such as when Meicoomon keeps repeating to herself that Meiko left her behind in the Digital World, and that kinda got annoying after, I think, the fifth time that she said that. I could be totally wrong on that count, but it was kinda noticeable to me. The other thing has to do with the conflict that happens between Biyomon and Sora. Now, as I made mentioned before, since the Digital World was "rebooted", the Digmon have lost their memories and can't remember their companions anymore. And most of them act differently towards their human companions. Some of them are skeptical, one of them is afraid that they might eat them, and some of them get use to them pretty quickly. And then we have Yokomon, which is Biyomon's pre-digivolution stage. In this movie, Yokomon/Biyomon acts like a complete jerk to Sora, because she obviously doesn't remember being Sora's partner, but Sora does. And for a majority of the movie, she keeps telling Sora to leave her alone, even though she can't really be apart from her. And it does kinda get annoying after a while. But eventually, she does slowly start to warm up to Sora when she keeps thinking about how she and Sora were, and probably still are, partners. So, while it does kinda get annoying after while, it's not something that's going to turn you off from the movie entirely. It's just something that you kinda have to get use to after a while.

But now, I want to move on to the biggest problem I have with this movie. And it has to do with the character of Gennai. Or Dark Gennai, as the movie now wants to call him. First off, on a minor note, I still find it odd that the movie decided to go with how his name was pronounced in the Digimon TV series, even though the first movie decided to pronounce his name differently. I don't know why the writers decided to change the way his name is suppose to be pronounced NOW, considering that this is the fourth film in this series. But hey, I'm not going to harp on that issue too much. But I do want to talk about how his character is written in this movie. So, somehow, someway, there's this guy named King Drasil, who has corrupted Gennai's mind and has turned over to the dark side, and he's now called Dark Gennai. Because, you know, that's somehow suppose to sound edgy and cool. When really, it just sounds fucking stupid and cliche. But again, that's just another minor issue. So anyway, we're told this by a Digimon who goes by the name of Hackmon. Now, we don't get to see any of this happen, as he tells Nishijima, who's been trying to find out where Agent Himekawa has disappeared to this entire movie. So, we're just suppose to assume that this has all happened, even though we don't get any kind flashback or backstory as to how Gennai was corrupted. It's all just exposition. Now, this plot point could be further explained within the next two movies, but I do feel it is a little bit of a cop-out, because we could've gone in depth about how this King Drasil character corrupted Gennai into becoming evil. But, oh well, I guess that's something that's going to be explained in the next movie or so.

Now I want to touch upon how Gennai-oh, my bad "Dark Gennai" is written in this movie. Now...this might sound like a weird thing to say, but I want you to imagine if you took the character of Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars and you make him sound like a rapist. And no, I'm not kidding about that. That's the first thing I thought of when I was listening to his dialogue. He basically sounds like a shittier version of Emperor Palpatine, if you made him sound more stupid and like a rapist. And I can prove that, because, as I made mention earlier, he licks Sora's face, which is already creepy by it's own standards. And as he has Meiko trapped on the boat and blocks her escape, at one point he says to her "Oh, don't worry. It'll all be over soon". You know, that would be the kind of shit a rapist would say. Now, what about the comparison with Emperor Palpatine? Well, as Meicoomon tries to free Meiko from Dark Gennai's grasp, Dark Gennai says that there's more than one way for a Digimon to digivolve, other than by a Digivice. And that's when a Digimon gets so angry, they start to digivolve at will. And at one point, I swear to God I'm not kidding about this, he ALMOST quotes Emperor Palpatine when he says to Meicoomon to let the anger flow through her, so that she can digivolve. I almost thought that this movie was going to do down that route in which they would reference a famous line from another movie. Because I know that season 2 of Digimon did this at one point where one Digimon quoted an infamous line from "A Few Good Men". However, that didn't quite happen here. But I will say that it's incredibly noticeable, especially if you're someone who has seen the original trilogy of Star Wars movies.

One other issue I have with writing has to do with the appearances of Machinedramon and MetalSeadramon. Now, while it was sorta cool to see them in this movie, it kinda reinforces my point about what I brought up in the previous film. Because, when the "reboot" happened, these two Digimon show up. In fact, a little bit of a spoiler here, ALL of the Dark Masters appear in a flashback at the beginning of the movie. So does this mean that my point about what happens in the "reboot" actually comes true? Does that mean that if Machinedramon and MetalSeadramon are back, does that mean then that Puppetmon and Piedmon are back, too? What about the other Digimon I brought up, such as Myotismon and Devimon? Are they brought back to life, too? I don't know. On the other hand, I did remember that Dark Gennai did summon them on his own will. It might've been through the distortions that have happened in this movie, or what have you. I have no idea. It doesn't really make a ton of sense. However, it's not something that's going to ruin this movie for you, unless you were tied up with all the issues I had with "Confession". But I will say that this movie doesn't really have a lot for you to shut your brain off, because there aren't really a whole lot logic issues in this movie, unless you really think about all that has happened so far with this series of movies.

Beyond those issues, though, the writing is still decent enough, to where you can overlook most of the minor problems that this movie has. What about the acting? Well, similar to the other 3 "Digimon Adventure tri." films, it's mostly the same kind of acting that you get from those previous movies. In fact, I will say that, thanks to this script, the acting is certainly more on point in this movie. Because, in the previous two "Digimon Adventure tri." films, the acting ranged from the actors sounding like they aged a bit, to one actor phoning it in, which was whoever voiced Nishijima. And I will say that Nishijima's English voice actor definitely improved here. I'm not totally sure why he gave such a lackluster performance in "Confession". Maybe he just had an off day when he was recording his lines for that movie. But regardless of what happened, he certainly got better here. And the rest of the acting is certainly the best that we have gotten so far. So, you know what? Props to the cast who gave it their all for this movie.

Animation is still on point, as well. The art style is consistent with what was in the previous films, and it still looks great here. And as much as I would like to say that the CG still looks absolutely hideous here, as has been the case with the previous films, I'm not going to do that here. What I CAN talk about is the pacing on the digivolutions. You see, I understand that there a lot of people who watched the original Digimon series, and had to watch the digivolutions while listening to the English theme song quite a bit as it went on. But at least there, there were moments where they had to cut back on the time in how long it took for the Digimon to digivolve. Mostly because of TV standards, but that's beside the point. Point is, it was handled a little bit better in the show. In this movie, towards the end of the film, it took almost 5 minutes for most of the Digimon to digivolve to their Mega forms. And I wouldn't have that much of an issue with it, if I didn't have to keep looking at the god awful CG for most of that time that the digivolutions took place. Now this could've been fixed with one of two ways. The first would be to cut back on the time on how long it takes for the Digimon to digivolve into their Mega forms by showing all of the Digimon that were going to digivolve for this battle. What I would do is show all of the Digimon that were going to digivolve on one screen, so that we can see them Digivolve at the same time. Now yes, you would still have to see the terrible CG models of the Digimon, but at least it would cut back on the time much quicker. The second way to fix this problem would be for something that I brought up much earlier. Instead of seeing them digivolve again, we could've saved that time by filling it in with the backstory on how Gennai became corrupted, and how we get to see King Drasil be able to do this. But no. The movie thought it would be a better idea to show the digivolutions one at a time. Which ends up taking way too long, and you would be reminded that yes, the CG is still awful, and this movie wanted to showcase that for the viewers in case you didn't see it the first time. Now...beyond the terrible pacing for those sequences, animation, barring the terrible CG, is still really good.

Sound-mix here is fine, as is the music. Ultimately, guys, am I able to recommend "Digimon Adventure tri.: Loss"? If you've been following the "Digimon Adventure tri." movies up to this point, and you've enjoyed what you've seen, then yes, I can totally recommend it. In fact, if it hasn't been made clear enough, this movie is certainly better than "Determination" and "Confession". The only reason why it's not above "Reunion" is because it was written better, and, to me anyway, it would be very difficult to overcome how good "Reunion" was. But still, I can totally recommend this movie, as long as you have been keeping up with this series of movies. It's certainly a step-up from the previous two films. And because of this, I have a little more faith that the other two movies are going to be just as good, if not better. However, I'm not going to know that for sure, until I get around to watching them. But, for now, I think I'm gonna go watch something else. Let's see...I think I'll go watch my copy of the "Street Fighter" movie from 1994. Why? Because I'm kinda in the mood to watch something that's cheesy, yet awesome at the same time.

Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell

Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we're taking a look at the third entry in the "Wishmaster" series. It came out in 2001. That movie is "Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell".

Now, if you haven't been following what I've covered last month, let me bring you up to speed. Last month, I reviewed the first two "Wishmaster" movies, and I really enjoyed both of them. The first movie was amazing. And the second film, while kinda flawed, is still really solid. And I liked both films enough to where I could recommend both of them. We're now up to the third film in this series, and I'm a little concerned about the quality for both this movie and the fourth film. But I'm gonna get more into that when I start to cover the fourth movie. For now, I'm just gonna focus on this one.

As for "Wishmaster 3", I don't know anything about the plot, outside the fact that the Djinn returns to cause havoc and fulfill his own prophecy. Now, as I was doing the scant bit of research I did on this movie, I found out something rather interesting. You see, as I made mention in my review of "Wishmaster 2", Andrew Divoff, the guy who played the Djinn from the first two "Wishmaster" movies, does not reprise his role here. However, he WAS suppose to return for this movie, and he had written a completely different script for "Wishmaster 3". Basically, his script involved the events surrounding Y2K, where it would have stuff such as an American warship being attacked by a missile from Asia, and how the UN would be attacked by creatures that appear from out of nowhere. And, I will say that, it does sound very fascinating. However, due to creative differences with the producers of "Wishmaster 3", they turned it down, because they felt like his script was too ambitious and expensive for them to work on. And when Divoff read the official script for "Wishmaster 3", he HATED it. So much so that he left production shortly afterwards. Which is how we ended up with a new actor now playing as the Djinn for both this movie and the fourth one.

Now I don't really know if that's going to be a detriment to this movie, seeing as how Andrew Divoff hated what was in the official script. But I'm gonna consider this a minor issue, because opinions can, and always have been different from person to person. I might find something here in this movie that I'm really going to like. However, I could totally see this thing flying way off the fucking rails and completely sucking. But the only way I'm gonna know if this thing is gonna be any good or not, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell".

19 minutes later

OK...that was kinda funny, in the way that the Djinn uses the voices of both Diana and her teacher to make it sound like they're fucking each other. I wasn't expecting that.

17 minutes later

Guys, I just saw someone die from burning when her files went up in flames. And while it certainly was a decent kill, I've seen these kills done better in the previous two "Wishmaster" movies. I'm certainly hoping that the kills are going to improve as the film goes along. But, so far, I'm kinda unimpressed.

7 minutes later

Wait a second here. So the woman from earlier that was killed by the Djinn's fire was just being confirmed by Diana to her other three friends. Has it not been announced to the other students at this school that someone was killed last night? I understand that it could've been written off as an "accident", because, obviously, the people at the crime scene have no proof that it was the Djinn's wish that killed her. But the very fact that it hasn't been publicly announced yet is rather disturbing.

10 minutes later

I swear to God, guys, these fucking attempts at jump scares are getting worse. I really wish this movie would knock that shit off, because every attempt at these has gotten really stupid. And I kinda hope I don't see any more of them in this movie.

2 minutes later

OK...you know what...that actually is rather nasty. Just seeing this chick vomiting to death after attempting to lose weight is...rather sick. So far, it's the best the kill in the entire movie. It's not great...but it's certainly kinda gruesome.

12 minutes later

Thank Christ, that idiot is dead. I was just waiting for him to die in the most painful way possible. At least my wish kinda came true on that. So hopefully, the movie will actually get better from here.

11 minutes later

Wait a fucking second here. So because Diana's friend has been nearly killed to death by rats, the angel that is possessing her boyfriend's body says it's too late for her. Yet earlier on, he healed Diana's arm after her hand caught fire by trying to touch the Sword of Justice. Why can't he do the same for this other woman? She might still be alive. I think you could, maybe, heal her so she can have her body back! You know, guys, the writing in this thing is starting to hurt my brain and it's beginning to depress me a little bit.

The Review

All right, well, that ending was kinda sappy. Well, guys, that was "Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell". I'm gonna shut the movie off...OK. Wow, um...I gotta say, that was certainly...disappointing.

I need to start with something that I brought up very early on. I talked about how Andrew Divoff was suppose to return for this movie, along with a completely different script he had written for "Wishmaster 3". And when he read the official script after his was turned down, he hated it, and basically left the project. After watching this movie for myself, I think I kinda know why he left. And I have a theory as to why. Now, mind you, this is just a theory, so you have to take it for what it's worth. I believe, part of the reason, why he left was because of how the Djinn was written in this movie. OK sure, he's back granting wishes to anyone with their darkest desires, and he's still trying to fulfill his prophecy of unleashing Hell on Earth by granting the person who awakened him 3 wishes. Which, OK, it's totally cool that we still have that here. But here's where I have to interject here. In this movie, the Djinn is written like a psychotic stalker. And that's not how the Djinn was. OK sure, there were moments in the previous two films where the main characters from those two movies would have visions of the Djinn in where he's about to kill someone, or he's already killed his next victim through one of his many wishes. However, I wouldn't consider that stalking, because the two main characters from the previous movies were the ones that awakened him, thus is the reason why they have visions of him. And while the same applies here with our new main character, Diana, the Djinn kinda takes it up a notch by becoming this fucking stalker who's desperate to try and find her so that he can fulfill her 3 wishes. Which is a stark contrast, when compared to "Wishmaster 2". Because in that movie, the Djinn was patient, partially because he was in prison. He was in no real hurry to grant as many wishes as he could, up until at a certain point when he realizes that he needed to grant around 800 more wishes. Well, from that film to this one, that concept was apparently scrapped, so he just has to grant Diana's 3 wishes and that's it. There's no set amount of wishes that he needs to grant in order to get to the 3 wishes he needs to make for Diana. And he becomes especially demanding when he's trying to get Diana to grant her third wish. And while that was sorta the case from the previous two films, in which he was kinda demanding to grant the main character's third wishes, it was nowhere near to this fucking extreme. Especially at one point, he does something in this movie that I didn't think was possible. At one point, when Diana and her boyfriend, who has been possessed by this angel, they attempt to get away from school campus by car. And somehow, the Djinn is able to catch up to them by running, despite the fact he's a mystical being, and the fact that the car was going pretty damn fast. So how he was able to catch onto them by car on foot still leaves me baffled. But honestly, that's a very minor problem in the long run. But regardless, I can easily say that the Djinn is nowhere near as interesting as he was in the previous two "Wishmaster" movies.

I don't normally ever get to talk about this in my reviews, but I want to talk about consistency. And it mainly has to do with how the Djinn is to be defeated. Now, in the first movie, I talked about a twist towards the end of the film, in which the Djinn is sealed back into it's gem by undoing the entire movie. Now, while I may have given away what happens, I didn't say HOW it happened. That part I'm still going to leave for you guys to watch. But I will say that if you did watch the first "Wishmaster" movie, and you saw how that twist plays out, you could maybe attribute that to just sheer dumb luck that it actually worked. And I could totally see why you would think that. But regardless, it still made some level of sense. At least, to me, it did. In the second movie, the way the Djinn had to sealed back into it's gem was for someone of a pure heart to read off a certain incantation. Which, admittedly, sounds kinda stupid. But to be fair, it was never really established in the first movie on how to truly seal the Djinn away. And again, the reason why he was sealed away in the first movie was out of sheer dumb luck. Well, at least that's what I would go by, if I were looking at it from a different viewpoint. But anyway, the idea of the Djinn being sealed away from an incantation kinda makes sense. Granted, the main character didn't exactly have a pure heart, but, oh well, it still worked, regardless. So with all that in mind, how does the third movie handle this? Well, in this movie, Diana has to use a weapon known as the Sword of Justice. How does she even get this sword? Well, when she's making her second wish, she wishes for an angel of heaven to come by to help her defeat the Djinn. This happens when the angel possesses her boyfriend's body, and uses it to fight off the Djinn. And then this angel tells her that she's not ready to use the Sword of Justice because...reasons, I guess. No seriously, there's not a single explanation as to why she's not able to use this sword to defeat the Djinn. He just tells her that she's not ready to use it because fuck you, that's why. That's literally the only explanation I can come up with is because fuck you, that's why. Also, why does it have to be a sword? Why exactly can't it be an incantation like it was in the previous film? Does that mean, then, that once the Djinn has broken out of it's gem, it has to be sealed back in a different manner? I understand that the people who wrote this movie didn't think that far ahead, but I have a functioning brain, and the people who wrote this movie don't. So I guess consistency is not within this movie's playbook. Plus also, bit of a spoiler, when the Djinn does get killed by the sword, the gem loses it's color and, I guess, disappears. Which begs the question on how the hell he returns in the fourth movie? I don't know. But I'll find that out in a couple of weeks.

Before I get into the characters, there's one other thing about this movie's writing that irritates the shit out of me. And that's the jump scares. You see, guys, one of the things that made the previous two "Wishmaster" movies unique was that it never relied on jump scares. At no point, did it ever play itself up in leaning towards a jump scare. It wanted to tell really fascinating stories, and it never followed the horror movie cliche of having jump scares. This movie, however, goes down that bullshit route that you see in a lot of horror movies. This movie, I swear to God, has about 5 or 6 different jump scares. And guess what? They all failed miserably. Which is not surprising, considering that jump scares are one of the laziest things you could do in horror movies. Now I am not saying that you can't have jump scares in horror movies. You can have them, as long as they're kinda, sorta, clever. This movie doesn't even know what clever means, because each time that they did this, it got progressively worse. And none of it was scary or clever in the slightest. In fact, I haven't seen jump scares done this poorly since I watched "Tourist Trap". The only reason why this movie edges out on it's jump scares was because "Tourist Trap" telegraphed it's jump scares so fucking poorly. Anyways, as for our characters, just about all of them are bland and lifeless. And I'm going to include the main character, Diana. In this movie, Diana is incredibly dull. Like, she really doesn't have much of a personality. The only thing that we know about her background is that when she was younger, her parents died in a car crash. Because, you know, that is in no way a cliche backstory. Other than that, she also has a boyfriend, who, for most of the movie, ends up being possessed by this angel. Speaking of the angel, as I made mentioned earlier, he is the reason why the Sword of Justice exists. So basically, if Diana didn't make the wish to summon this angel, then she would, probably, have no way to defeat the Djinn. Which, I consider this dumb luck more so than anything else, but I digress. Anyway, one thing that bothers me about the angel is how his powers work. And this is probably a minor issue, but I still want to bring it up. So earlier, I mentioned how Diana was unable to use the Sword of Justice because of fuck you, that's why. Maybe the movie was trying to rehash the idea from the second movie, in which Diana had to be of a pure heart to use this sword, but since the movie never mentions that, I'm going to stick with my answer of fuck you, that's why. Anyway, so when Diana tried to touch the Sword of Justice, her arm burned with fire, causing her to have massive burn marks. So the angel heals her by blowing on her arm and getting rid of her burn marks. I bring this up, because later on when one of her friends ends up getting her eyes and lips eaten by rats, she was still moving, if just barely. And rather than healing her because he's an angel, he says that it's too late for her, even though he had NO problem healing Diana's arm with relative ease. Why couldn't he save this woman's life, as well? Unless she was already dead, then he could've maybe saved her life. But on the other hand, she might've been already dead, so maybe I'm just reading too much into that idea.

Anyway, guys, the writing in this thing is a fucking mess. And I could be here for another hour talking about all of the problems I had with this movie's writing, but I've said plenty about it as is, so I'll just leave it with what I said. Now, what about the acting? Well, surprisingly, the acting is actually pretty good. Mind you, it's not great, but it's certainly not terrible. I want to make mention of the new actor who plays the Djinn, which is John Novak. John Novak does a pretty good job here. Granted, he's never going to replace Andrew Divoff, who mastered that role to damn near perfection, but Novak still did a decent job here. I kinda wish the Djinn was written better here, but I'm not going to fault Novak's performance here for that. I just think that if he had gotten a much better script, he could've done wonders. But, oh well, it is what it is. I will say that, at least, I'm not going to dread seeing him play the Djinn again when I get around to watching the fourth movie. But I'm getting off track here. The acting from the rest of the cast is halfway decent. So, even though they didn't really have much here to work with, they still turned in decent enough showings. And that's really the best I could ask for, when given a script that was kinda shit.

Now let's get to special effects. One thing that caught my attention on the back of the DVD case for this movie was that it stated that this film was the goriest installment of the franchise. And while I will say that the gore and blood effects are decent, they really feel like a massive downgrade. And that's saying a lot, coming from a movie was that was suppose to be the goriest installment yet. But you see, I stated it earlier, I've seen these special effects done better in the previous two films. My guess is that this thing was filmed on a slightly lower budget. And that might be the case here. But regardless, I still think everything involving blood, gore, and CG was done better in the other two movies. Now, mind you, none of the effects here are bad. In fact, as I stated, the blood effects are pretty good, the gore is not too bad, and the makeup effects and costuming on the Djinn look really damn good. Unfortunately, though, you barely ever get to see the Djinn in his true form. You see it once in the beginning of the movie, you see it once again halfway through the movie, and you see it one more time after the Djinn "dies" from the sword. And I'm gonna use the term "die" as loosely as possible, what with being a fourth movie and all. So overall, I can say that the special effects are fine. But like I said, I've seen them done better in the previous two "Wishmaster" films.

Camerawork here is pretty good. Lighting here is lit pretty well. Sound-mix here is competent. Music, in both score and soundtrack, is nothing ultimately special. But then again, the music in the first 2 "Wishmaster" movies weren't really memorable either. So, I guess, so far, it's par for the course. But it's still passable, so I can at least give the music a bit of a positive.

Ultimately, guys, am I able to recommend "Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell"? Oh God...I'm trying to think of a way to answer that. Um...if you were a fan of the first two "Wishmaster" movies, then...sure. However, I would find a way to rent this movie first. If it's on Netflix, Hulu, or on any streaming service that you can find it on, or if you can find it airing on TV somewhere, then watch it there. And who knows? Maybe you'll find something more out of this thing than I did. And if you liked it enough, then go ahead and find a copy of it somewhere. But personally, I would say just skip it. This thing is definitely a step back from the previous two films, what with it's messy writing, it's dull and boring characters, and special effects, while decent, were done better in the previous two films. And after watching this movie, I honestly would've loved to have seen what they would've done with Andrew Divoff's script of "Wishmaster 3", had it gone through. Because this movie was incredibly dull, and I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle watching the fourth movie. But I am going to hold out hope that the fourth film is going to be better. However...considering the information that I do know about that fourth movie, it's kinda doubtful. But again, I'll worry about all of that once I get around to watching that fourth movie. For now, though...I'm gonna go find something better to watch. I think I'll go watch my copy of "Tokyo Gore Police". Because why not? I kinda need to watch something better after dealing with this disappointment.

Anyway, with that, guys, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all in the near future. Peace.