Reaction & Review | Wonder Woman

 

Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a movie from 2017. That movie is "Wonder Woman".

Now, I should admit something before I even get into this movie. I am not the biggest fan of Wonder Woman, as a character. In fact, out of all the Justice League members, I find her to be the most bland of the group. I could get into Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and the Martian Manhunter. But anytime that Wonder Woman is involved, I just never find her to be, in any way, interesting. That being said, I do happen to remember last year when I covered the Captain America movie from 1990, I said, just about, the exact same thing about Cap. And I ended up kinda liking that movie, so I was able to appreciate him more as a character. Wonder Woman can also do the same thing tonight, as I take a look at her outing that came out some years ago.

I also know that this movie is, essentially, a part of DC's own Cinematic Universe. Which also includes films such as "Man of Steel", "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", "Aquaman", and "Justice League". I'm pretty sure I'm missing something else, but I honestly don't care. And the reason why I don't care is because I am not a huge fan of the concept of Cinematic Universe's anyway. Because then, it gives more of a reason for superhero films to continue existing. Thankfully, it looks like DC and Warner Bros. have slowly backed off from this. Marvel and Disney, on the other hand, well...all they're doing at this point is just beating a dead horse until fans eventually get sick and tired of their films. Which a lot of people have already grown sick and tired of anyways. However, fanboys will continue to keep beating off to their shallow Cinematic Universe movies, and keep claiming them as "The best Marvel movies to date". But I'm getting WAY off track here by talking about my distaste for Cinematic Universes. I should just be focusing on this movie.

Now, I've heard a lot of good things about this movie. So, I may be in for a treat here. But then again, I also really enjoyed "Man of Steel". It had a few problems, but I was still able to overlook them, because the movie was really good. And, as I mentioned earlier, I didn't care for Captain America until I watched the 1990 movie, and I ended up kinda liking it. So, if this movie can do the exact thing, then I think this thing is going to end up being a really good film. However, I am also prepared for this thing to suck, if it ends up turning out that way. I'm hoping that it doesn't, but there is that slight chance that this thing could be a massive turd. So really, let's just see if thing ends up being any good. And 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 "Wonder Woman".

9 minutes later

OK, guys, my history with Wonder Woman is a little bit muddy here, but I'm gonna try to explain this. So this backstory involving Aries, the God of War, that we were just told ended up with Zeus creating this island, far away from the rest of the world. Is this the reason why men are not allowed on Themyscira? If so, then that's kind of a stupid reason. I mean, OK, I get that you don't want Aries and his army to discover where the amazons have been hiding, but that's not still a plausible reason as to why men shouldn't be allowed on Themyscira. It just seems a little bit odd to me, but hey, I guess maybe that was just a rule that the amazons created for themselves. I may be wrong on that, but until this movie explains that part, then that's what I'm sticking with.

5 minutes later

OK...I didn't know that Wonder Woman's bracelets were powerful enough to cause a knock back of that magnitude from a sword strike. That was certainly cool.

20 minutes later

All right, you know, I wasn't totally sure what Diana was going to do at first, and it seems-oh wait, no, she's falling to her death.....OK, never mind, she's still holding on. Well, I gotta give Diana some props there for holding on. She certainly is a trooper.

18 minutes later

So wait, Diana is actually going to entrust her sword and shield to this random lady, whom she's met all of, what, 10 minutes or so? I understand that Diana is still trying to get accustomed to our way of life, but it just seems a little bit irresponsible to me that she would let this random woman hold on to her most powerful weapons. I mean, I'm pretty sure that her mother would throw a huge fit if she found out about something like this, you know?

10 minutes later

OK, I kinda liked that little battle of languages between Diana and Sameer. And I guess, apparently, Sameer doesn't really know the ancient Greek language. That was sorta cool.

14 minutes later

You know, guys, as cool and as awesome as this is with Wonder Woman crossing No Man's Land, I think it would kinda suck if one of these German soldiers was lucky enough to shoot one of her exposed legs. I mean, granted, she's doing an awesome job on holding off all these bullets and bombs, but I still think it would kinda suck if at least ONE of these bullets managed to hit her weak spot. I understand that it's all trivial, and stupid, but it's just something that I kinda noticed, you know?

19 minutes later

OK, I have a bit of a stupid question here. It's probably nothing, but I'm gonna ask it anyway. So, Trevor's deciding to go undercover as a German soldier. And he's currently talking with Dr. Poison. How the fuck does she not recognize what Trevor looks like? Barring that, does Trevor not realize that if any German soldier recognizes his face, then he could be under some serious shit? It's very possible that at least ONE person at this gala recognizes Trevor's face. So again, I'm gonna ask this, how the hell does Dr. Poison not know what Trevor looks like? I'm really curious here.

3 minutes later

All right, I gotta another question, and it's actually a serious one this time. Does anybody not notice that there is a sword hiding behind Diana's back? There's no way in hell anyone could notice that and go "Oh, well, that's just part of the dress". No, that thing is fucking noticeable! Now granted, Diana could probably take care of herself, but it just seems really stupid to me that nobody would notice the striking hilt that's behind Diana's back. I just wanted to mention that.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Wonder Woman". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Well...that was certainly a lot better than what I was expecting. Um...what to start with first?

I guess I should start with something that I brought up earlier. Now earlier, I had mentioned that I was not the biggest fan of the character of Wonder Woman. I said that she was the most bland of the entire Justice League. But I never really went into depth as to why I'm not a fan of her, and I should probably start with that. Really, the only reason why I don't care about Wonder Woman, as a character, was because I didn't care for her backstory. I never really found it that compelling. When I compare it to other superhero backgrounds such as Superman, Batman, the Flash, and Green Lantern, just to name a few examples, I never found Wonder Woman's backstory to be very interesting. How she was this amazon warrior that resided from a land that's only inhabited by women. And over the years, my reasoning for my disinterest of Wonder Woman mostly still held ground, because whenever I would watch episodes of "Justice League: Unlimited" that would focus on her, I still never found her character to be interesting. However, I will say that, in certain aspects of me watching DC's direct-to-video animated films, I have grown to like the character a little bit. When I say that, I mean that her portrayal in those certain movies made me like her character. For example, I really liked her in "Justice League: War". Which was an adaptation of DC's new launch of comics that were tied into the New 52. I know a lot of people didn't really like the New 52 comics, and, admittedly, I haven't really read much of them, but I did really like her in that particular film. So, on the whole, I can say that, while I don't really care about the character of Wonder Woman, I can really like her, depending on her portrayal in certain mediums. And as for this movie, her debut live-action film, I can say that this thing was fucking great. It really is one of the better main title superhero films I have seen in quite a long time. Now, mind you, this movie does have it's problems. However, I am able to say that this movie made me really appreciate the character a hell of a lot more than I originally did before.

Now, with that being said, let's get into the writing. Writing here is really good in lot of areas. As an origin story for Wonder Woman, it's great. It really took it's time in developing Diana's character here, and you really couldn't ask for anything more than that, when it comes to her origin. As for the plot itself, well, Aries, the God of War, created a war out of jealousy for humankind and wanted to see it's hatred. And through this war, Zeus was able to create an island for the amazons that would shelter them from the rest of the world. Which is the island now known as Themyscira. Although if that's really the case, then how come Trevor, before his plane was about to crash in the water, how the hell was he able to go through this, I guess, barrier for this island? Is that something that Zeus never thought about when he created Themyscira? It would make more sense if Aries somehow discovered the island and would be able to go through it with his power. However, if a regular human is able to go through this barrier, then what's to stop anybody else from discovering the location of this island? Mind you, we saw that the German soldiers were able to go through this portal with no problems. Don't you think that Zeus should've thought about that BEFORE he created that island? I don't know, but that's honestly just a minor issue that struck out at me. So anyway, when Trevor's plan crashes down, and Diana saves him, he basically says that there's a war going on, and Diana somehow thinks that Aries has returned. So, she ends up going with him to help bring an end to the war. So, on a narrative standpoint, it's really well done. Everything here, mostly, makes sense. You could probably find minor things to complain about such as when Diana was at this gala, apparently, NOBODY saw the hilt of the sword that was hiding behind her back. I'm still kinda baffled at that. This movie also tries to put in an anti-war message into it's story. However, unlike my other complaints I've had with movies trying to give out a message, this one does it in a subtle way. Because we are seeing the effects that it's having on Diana, as she's viewing the tragedies that were occurring during WWI. And the movie is not blatantly coming out and saying that "War is bad", it's just showing you the after effects through Diana's point of view. And it's done very well. I can also say that this movie doesn't really have a lot of humor. However, unlike a majority of the MCU movies where they have to shoehorn in humor, this movie is also rather subtle on it's humor. It's not trying to force itself to be funny. It's just telling a really good story, and it mostly does just that. The writing is really strong throughout most of it's runtime.

There are a couple of other things that stuck out at me, as I was watching the movie. One thing that really kinda bothered me was when, at one point, we see one of the gas bombs go off on this town where Diana and Trevor were at the night before. And when Diana arrives at this town, she's somehow able to go through the gas without coughing or feeling any side effects from the gas. As I stated earlier, my history with Wonder Woman is rather fuzzy, however, I do not recall Wonder Woman ever being immune to gas. I could maybe understand if it was Superman in this situation, because all he would be able to do is blow that shit out of there. However, with Wonder Woman, I just find that a little bit hard to believe. And I don't want to hear that she's a goddess, because that's just a cop-out excuse. So, if anybody could tell me in any situation where Wonder Woman is able to be immune to gas, please tell me. Otherwise, that just comes across as rather strange to me. Another thing that struck out at me has to do with characters. Now, I will start by saying that, when it comes to Diana and Trevor's relationship, it's damn near perfect. And the character development between the two is great. But when it comes to the supporting cast, such as Trevor's friends, I don't really care about any of them, because their characters are rather weak. We have Sameer, who was the guy that could speak a ton of different languages like Diana, save for the ancient Greek language. The only thing that we learn from him is that he loves to be an actor, but got dragged into the war. Then we have this Native American, and I'm going to assume that he is Native American, who has no real character in this movie. And then we have the Scottish Marksman. He can somehow see ghosts, and he can sing. Besides that, they're all really shallow, and have no real depth in this movie. And they mostly serve no real purpose in this film, other than just being there. I remember at one point, the Scottish Marksman was trying to shoot at this one German soldier from this window. But he never does this because, I guess, he sees a ghost or some such shit. So, Trevor ends up making an improv plan where he, and his other two friends, end up using this windshield as a platform for Diana to jump off from so that she can take out the German solider. And at that point, I was thinking to myself "Why the fuck did Trevor bring these people?" If this guy was suppose to be a skilled marksman, then why don't we see it for ourselves? Oh wait, no, I guess he sees some sort of ghost and that ends up stopping him from doing his job...sure. Makes a ton of sense to me. Beyond that, though, our supporting characters kinda suck. Our villains are really good, though. Especially the God of Truth. I won't reveal his identity for the sake of spoilers. I will say, however, that final fight between him and Diana was amazing, and I loved almost every minute of it.

So overall, the writing here is really strong, and it helps carry a great movie forward. Now, let's get to the acting. Being that this was the first live-action Wonder Woman film I've ever seen, I wasn't totally sure if they got the right actress. And being that this was the first time I've ever heard Gal Gadot act, I wasn't really sure if she was going to do the character justice. Well, I can say that, for the most part, she does a really good job. She's comfortable on camera, and she's able to give a performance that's really believable. Most of the other cast members do a really good job, too. That being said, the acting isn't great. I'm able to say that whoever played the Native American sounded really bored throughout most of the film. I can also say that some of the amazons from the first part of the movie sounded rather weak. However, I don't know if it was because the script they were given wasn't good enough, or if it was because of the noticeable accents that threw me off a bit. Mind you, Gal Gadot also has an accent, but at least she was able to act very well. Some of the amazon actresses, though, could've sounded a little better with a couple of more takes. The worst actress, however, goes to the actress that played Diana as a child. I've talked about this in the past, but most child actors really suck at acting. This little girl was no different. However, that being said, I have heard worse child actors in my lifetime, so I can't really say that she was the worst out of all of the child actors I've heard. So, I'm gonna give her a little bit of a pass, because she could only do with so much with what she was given. So overall, the acting is mostly good, however, some actors here and there could've done better.

Special effects are fantastic. There is a lot of CG in this film, and all of that looks really good. Especially towards the final fight between Wonder Woman and the God of Truth. That looked amazing, and it's probably one of the finer moments in this entire film. So, special effects, as a whole, are amazing. However, I could also attribute that to just being a big budget film made by Warner Bros. So, it would kinda make sense for this movie to look great with it's special effects.

Camerawork here is really solid, although I will say that there is quite a bit of slow-motion in this movie, and I'm only talking about during the fight scenes. And in a lot of cases, when you're doing slow-motion in fight scenes, you want to have a sense of balance of when to use slow-motion in fight scenes. Because if the only reason you have is that your fight scenes can look cool and stylistic, then that's not enough of a good reason. Because if your pacing is shit with these action scenes, then your entire movie will come to a screeching halt. And thankfully, this movie has a decent enough balance of when to use slow-motion for their fight scenes. And most of the time, it's whenever Diana has to jump, or block bullets with her bracelets. Now it's not all the time, but in most cases, it is noticeable, and you are bound to notice it as well. And you might think that this could come across as rather annoying. So, just to warn you ahead of time, this movie has quite a bit of slow-motion during action scenes. So it is there, on the off chance that you haven't seen this movie yet. Beyond that, though, camerawork here is really good. Lighting here is lit well. Sound-mix here is really good, and the music is also done really well, too.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Wonder Woman"? Absolutely, yes. This movie is fucking great. I went into it with low expectations, considering my disinterest for the amazon warrior, and it wound up being an amazing film. I consider this movie to be just as good as "Man of Steel". They both have their problems, but the positives from both of them are just enough to outweigh their negatives, and they both stand on equal ground as a testament to how good they really are. If you are a fan of superhero films, and you haven't had a chance to see this yet, then by all means, check this one out. In terms of live-action superhero movies, this thing stands damn near at the top of it. Now mind you, I am not a fan of the character of Wonder Woman, but this movie made me appreciate her that much more. And this thing is going to have a prominent spot on my DVD shelf. And I couldn't be fucking happier to own a copy of this movie for myself. Now...seeing as how I just mentioned "Man of Steel", I think I'm gonna go watch that next. Because it has been quite a while since I last watched that movie, and I'm kinda in the mood to watch it again. So, I'm gonna go do that. And this movie, as I just stated, will go straight into my DVD shelf.

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 | TMNT

 

Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2007. That movie is "TMNT".

Now, a little bit of background on my history with the Ninja Turtles. You see, unlike most people, I didn't grow up with the Ninja Turtles cartoon from the 80's. And the big reason why was because I wasn't born back then. So, I didn't really know anything about that particular cartoon until around the mid-to-late 2000's. I did watch the first 3 live-action movies, but that was YEARS ago. It wasn't until 2003 when they started airing a new Ninja Turtles series on the FoxBox, and I really enjoyed all 5 seasons of that show. Season 6 wasn't that great, and season 7 could've been longer. But overall, the series was pretty good. I also watched a little bit of the 2012 Ninja Turtles cartoon on Nickelodeon, and what I watched looked OK. And as for "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", well...let's not talk about that series.

So overall, my history with the Ninja Turtles has mostly been positive. Speaking of the 2003 cartoon, as I was watching it one year on the FoxBox/4Kids programming block, they started airing trailers and ads for this movie. And I didn't really know what to think of it back in 2007. All I knew back then was that they were showing a new Ninja Turtles movie, and it was the first time since "Turtles 3" that they had gotten a theatrical release. And considering how bad "Turtles 3" was, well, it had been quite a while. And even with the ads I saw for the 2007 movie, I ended up forgetting about it, even after it was being shown in theaters. Now, when I was scheduling what movies to review for this marathon, I was thinking about reviewing a Ninja Turtles movie. But, you see, I didn't really have many options available to me. Like I stated earlier, I had seen the first 3 live-action movies, I've seen "Turtles Forever", I've seen the live-action reboot that they made in 2014, I've even seen the crossover movie that they did with Batman. So, my options were very limited. But that's when I remembered that this movie existed. And, you know what, I guess it's finally time to see if I missed out on something good here.

Now, I can tell you one thing I do remember about this movie. Not only was this the first Ninja Turtles movie that had been theatrically released since 1993, it was also the very first Ninja Turtles film to be fully rendered in CG. So, I'm a little curious to see how their first outing in CG turned out. Now, I've also heard mixed things about this movie. I've heard people say that the film's OK, others call it crap, and I've even heard a couple of people say that the movie is pretty good. So really, I have no idea which way this film is going to swing for me. I'm hoping that it ends up being pretty 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 "TMNT".

12 minutes later

Oh yeah...I seem to remember that costume that Raph was wearing in that Smash Bros. clone that came out for the Wii almost a decade ago. At least I finally get to see it in some context. Granted, he's just a third-rate version of Batman. But still, at least he gets the job done.

17 minutes later

OK, this has been bugging me for a while now. So, early on in the movie, we've been told that these monsters that were released 3,000 years ago by this warrior king have still been causing havoc and destruction to this very day. I have a big question about that. Where the fuck have these monsters BEEN for the last 3,000 years? Because if they have been causing destruction since they were released, don't you think that we would've seen, like, ruined cities and towns that these monsters have laid wasted? Better yet, if these monsters are still around today, then why the fuck hasn't the news reported on this? Don't you think that would get some kind of worldwide media attention? I don't know. Perhaps maybe it's just me that's noticing these issues. I'm kinda hoping that we'll get an explanation as to where these monsters have been. But as of right now, that plot hole is going to continue to bug me throughout this entire movie.

19 minutes later

OK, I have another stupid question that I'm probably not going to get an answer to. So, the portal that was opened 3,000 years ago is located at Mr. Winters's tower. And Donnie just said a moment ago that the monsters are going to come through the portal and the world will be lost to them within 24 hours. Even though we've already seen 10 of the 13 monsters that Mr. Winters's warriors have been trying to locate and capture, along with the assist of Karai and the Foot Clan. So again, I'm gonna ask this. Where the fuck have these monsters been hiding throughout these 3,000 years?! If they went through the portal with Mr. Winters back then, then that means that the monsters have already been in our world for that long. I know I'm asking the same question twice now, but this shit is starting to bother me, and I really don't know if this movie's going to get any better from here.

7 minutes later

I think I may have found another problem with this movie, guys. And yes, it is something NOT related to the monsters, actually. This film doesn't really seem to be focused properly. And now, we're getting this confrontation between Leo and Raph, and I'm gonna be honest with you guys, I'm really not feeling anything out of it. It just feels so out of place, what with this story going back and forth between the Nightwatcher and the issue involving the 13 monsters. It just seems off to me, you know?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "TMNT". Let me shut the movie off here...OK. What to start with first? Well, I guess I can start with this. I can easily say that, out of all the Ninja Turtles films that I've seen, this is by far the weakest film. I would probably say that it ranks lower than the 2014 live-action reboot, but it's still at least a bit better than "Turtles 3". Which isn't saying a whole lot, considering how bad "Turtles 3" was, but I should quit stalling and get into the review proper.

Let's start with the writing. Now, there might be those who are reading this, and have probably never seen a Ninja Turtles movie or TV show, or have never read any of the comics. And if you haven't done any of the above, there's one thing that always connects with the Ninja Turtles. And that is their main nemesis, which would be the Shredder. In just about almost every film, the turtles would always fight the Shredder in some capacity. And as for the cartoons, that focus on the Shredder would mostly remain the same. Now, mind you, I'm basing the latter off of the 2003 cartoon, since it's the only Ninja Turtles show that I've seen in it's entirety, so I'm not sure how much of a focus it was when the Shredder was involved as the main enemy. But for, like, most of the 2003 show, the focus on Shredder was never lost. The only exceptions would be season 4 and "Fast Forward". Season 4 mostly focused on a character by the name of Agent Bishop, while "Fast Forward" never really focused on the Shredder at all. So yeah, the Shredder is basically what most fans would think of, when you're working with a story involving the Ninja Turtles. Now, the reason why I bring this up is that the Shredder doesn't make any real appearance in this movie, outside of a cameo he had in the prologue. Instead, it focuses on a new story involving our main antagonist Mr. Winters. However, calling him an antagonist is a bit of a stretch. Because he's not really presented as a villain in this movie. He's out to capture these 13 monsters that he had released 3,000 years ago after he obtained the power of immortality. I'm gonna talk about that issue involving the 13 monsters in a bit. But anyway, he's trying to capture the 13 monsters so that he can send them back to their world, and thus undo the process of him not being immortal anymore. And to do this, he also located and brought back his Generals, who had fought side by side with him all those years ago. They were turned into stone after Mr. Winters obtained immortality, and because he has lived for long, he has his own empire, and was able to locate all four of his Generals thanks to April O'Neil. He brings them back to life with his own technology so that they can help him capture the monsters. Which then turns into a scuffle when the Generals find out that they won't be immortal anymore if they retrieve all 13 monsters, and thus they kidnap Leo as a substitute, which then leads to the turtles, along with, Splinter, April, and Casey, having to do battle against the General's and the Foot Clan in order to rescue him. Now, I will say that the concept for this story is perfectly fine. Because you want to switch it up and not have the Shredder be involved in it like a lot of stories involving the Ninja Turtles do. So, I am willing to say that, as a concept, the story sounds rather interesting.

However...that all gets knee-capped with one issue that's been on my mind throughout this entire movie. And that is the issue involving the 13 monsters. So, as I stated earlier, Mr. Winters and his Generals were doing battle against another army 3,000 years. And throughout this battle, Mr. Winters found a portal to another world. And once he found a way to open the portal, he became immortal. But with that power, he also lost his Generals. Basically, they were turned into stone. But he also unleashed 13 monsters from the portal. Now, here's where all my issues with these monsters come into play. Throughout this 4 minute prologue, we get a narration from Laurence Fishburne as he tells the viewer about the Ninja Turtles and what happened 3,000 years ago. At the very end of this prologue, he states that the 13 monsters, after they were released, have still been wreaking havoc and destruction to this very day. I want to make that point abundantly clear: They have been causing massive amounts of destruction throughout the world for 3,000 years. If that's true, then why haven't we heard ANYTHING about them in modern times? If they have been causing so much destruction for so long, then why haven't we seen any of this happen? You would think that within 3,000 years, they would be the primary focus, because of their endless destruction. But no, everything just looks like normal in the present day! No armies have tried to stop these monsters within this period of time. And if they have, then I guess they all failed, but we don't get any confirmation of that. Also, why is it that they are all specifically located in New York City? If they have been in New York City all this time, you would think that would get even MORE attention, because I don't think that's something any normal person would ignore. And I don't want to hear the excuse of "Well, New York City is the largest city in the world" BS, because even a small fraction of New York's citizens would have noticed something like that! Plus also, if these monsters have truly been wreaking havoc for so long, then don't you think New York City would've been the perfect place for them to cause massive amounts of destruction? It would sound like it, but I guess that didn't happen either. And another thing that bothers me is that if nobody has even heard a wink about these monsters in New York City, then where the fuck have they been hiding this entire time? Mind you, all of the monsters are in New York City, because that's where they have been getting captured by the Generals and the Foot Clan. So I have to ask again: Where, in New York City, have the monsters been hiding this entire time? Were they hiding around subway trains? Maybe they were in some barren part of New York City that I have not been made aware of. Guys, this issue involving the 13 monsters bothered me throughout the entire film. If this movie did not state that they were still causing destruction throughout these 3,000 years, then I would've not had much issues with it. However, because of that one line, it stuck out at me. And if you go into it like I did, then it's going to stick out at you as well.

Now, setting aside that plot hole, let me talk about the characters. In terms of the 4 main turtles, all of them are pretty much in character. What I find funny about this is that most of them have side jobs. For example, Donnie is working as a customer service tech at the lair, Mikey's working as an entertainer for children's birthday parties, and Raphael has taken on the role as a vigilante. In Raph's case, because they have defeated the Shredder for good, I guess, he still wants to fight bad guys, while Donnie, Mikey, and Splinter do their own thing. As for Leo, he was sent to Central America by Splinter so that he can train to become a better leader for his brothers. Which, I don't really know why. Because if you have defeated the Shredder once and for all, then why go all the way to Central America to train? I'm rather curious about that. In fact, I don't really believe the Shredder was suppose to be gone for good. Because towards the end of the film, Karai kinda, sorta teases a sequel hook where the turtles would fight an old enemy again. However, considering that this movie came out 15 years ago, at least at the time that I'm writing this review, that sequel has never come to pass, and probably never will. One other thing I want to mention with the characters is Leo. OK, so I mentioned a moment ago that he was sent out to Central America to train so that he can become a better leader for his brothers. And you know, Leo's character in this film reminds me a lot of what he went through in the 2003 cartoon. Specifically, season 4. Without going too much into spoilers, in season 4, Leo was on this depression state where he thinks that what happened to him and his family towards the end of season 3 was his fault, and would dread to think of what would really happen to them had things ended badly. And so, he beats himself up so hard that he tries to focus himself on becoming a better leader for his family. And that's the same kind of thing I feel here. However, the difference between this movie and that season of the show was that Leo actually developed his character throughout most of that season. This movie tries to do that here. However, I don't really feel that same kind of drive from him. It just feels kinda empty, because I guess something happened to them when, or after, they defeated the Shredder, but we don't really know. All we know is what we got out of them from this movie, and it just feels kinda weak and empty. And if this thing WAS suppose to tease a sequel, then I would be more than welcome to it, because I think it would've fleshed some things out. However, like I said, I kinda have my doubts on that ever happening.

Now, there are going to be those that'll read this and will think that I'm probably just thinking way too deep when it comes to my issues involving the 13 monsters. And I could totally see why you would think that. However, these are issues that I had with the film. And because of those issues, I was not able to enjoy this movie as much as I wanted to. Others are probably not going to think about that kind of stuff. Especially children, but I'll get more into that when I get to recommendations. So, with all that said, the writing here is rather weak, and it could've expanded on so much more. But with that out of the way, let's get into the acting. For the most part, the acting here is pretty good. Almost everybody turns in a rather good showing, save for one. And that is whoever voiced Karai. I don't know if it was because the actress had a thick accent, or if it was because she didn't know how to emote properly, but her acting was just terrible. It really sounded like she wanted to express an emotion for Karai, but didn't know how, or when, to do it. And it just comes off as incredibly stilted and robotic. And it stands out, because I honestly thought she was going to get better the longer Karai was in this movie. However, she didn't. And she easily turns in the worst showing out of this entire cast. Aside from her, everybody else did a decent job, so I can at least give the actors some praise there. Overall, the acting was pretty good in this movie, save for whoever voiced Karai.

Now we get to the animation. Now, seeing as how this movie was marked as the first time the Ninja Turtles were rendered in CG, how does the CG hold up? By 2007 standards, I would say that this looks really good. I could totally imagine that this is what New York City would look like when rendered in a CG world. And as for the animation itself, the characters, and the way that they move, look mostly decent. The turtles, themselves, look pretty good, too. Granted, they don't look amazing. However, for the standards of 2007, and the fact that this was the Ninja Turtle's first outing in CG, they don't look too bad either. I would easily that the model for Splinter looks great in CG. The monsters, and the Generals, look really good, too. The human characters, though, look a little bit stilted. At least, when they are moving their mouths to talk. However, that might just be me nitpicking there. Overall, I can say that CG in this movie looks pretty good. At least for the standards set for CG animation back in 2007. Now, if I tried to compare it to today's standards, I would say that this movie looks a little bit dated. However, you would have to be foolish to try and compare something that came out 15 years ago to today's standards. But anyway, the CG in this movie looks pretty good.

Lighting is also really good. There's not too much darkness, considering that most of this movie was set during nighttime. But then again, New York City hardly ever sleeps, so you can totally expect the lighting to come into factor here. Sound-mix here is mixed well. The music is rather forgettable. The score is fairly generic, as is the soundtrack. Nothing about it is going to stand out at you, but at least it's serviceable.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "TMNT"? I would say that if you have kids in some capacity. Whether you have children of your own, or if you have a niece or nephew, and they are fans of the Ninja Turtles, then yeah, I could totally recommend it to them. Because most children are not going to notice the issues I had with the movie's writing. If you, yourself, are a fan of the Ninja Turtles, then chances are, you have already seen this, and you might already own it on DVD or Blu-ray. However, if you haven't seen it yet, then I could maybe recommend this thing as a rental. Because of the issues I had with the writing, it's not something that I could recommend you go out and buy a copy of. And for those that are not fans of the Ninja Turtles, or have never seen any of the movies or TV shows, or have read any of the comics, then I would personally just skip it. It really is just for fans of the Ninja Turtles. Or again, if you have children in some capacity that are fans of the Ninja Turtles, then that's really the only way I could recommend this movie to you. I, personally, am not a die-hard fan of the turtles, so I'm probably not going to give this movie a second viewing. And that's kind of a shame, because I really wanted to like this movie. I wanted it to be amazing. Unfortunately, it just fell kinda short for me. Now...as for myself, I do have one other movie that's sitting on my DVD shelf that involves the Ninja Turtles. And that movie is "Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". I'm gonna go watch that, because that movie was fucking awesome, and I'm still kinda in the mood to watch a better movie involving the turtles.

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam

 

Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm checking out a movie from 2010. That movie is "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam".

And with that title alone, I have summarized the entire plot of this movie to you. We have Shazam and Superman teaming together to take on Black Adam. Now, you would think that this is all what this movie's going to offer, however...that's not really the case, and I'll get to why in a second. I should mention that I had forgotten that this movie even existed right up until last year, when I stumbled upon it at one of my local video stores and I decided to pick it up. I mean, after all, it was a DC animated movie that I hadn't seen yet, and I had to pick it up based on that fact alone.

Now, there's something about this particular movie that peeked my interest. According to the back of the DVD case, it advertises 3 extra short films as bonus features. So upon noticing this, I decided to do the scant bit of research on this movie, and I found out something rather interesting. You see, this DVD was released as part of the "DC Showcase Original Shorts Collection". Which were basically featured as short films that were released as bonus features on plenty of other DC's direct-to-video animated movies. And I found out that this movie, the one features Superman and Shazam fighting Black Adam, is only about 24 minutes long. Now this is important to note, because in order for a movie to be covered for Reaction & Review, the minimum runtime for any movie has to be at least 40 minutes long. And I was thinking about booting this movie off the schedule when I found out about this.

However...there is a way for me to cover this movie. You see, I went ahead and checked the special features for this DVD, and there is an option where you can watch all four short movies in one go. Basically, it'll feature the main title film, "Green Arrow", "Jonah Hex", and "The Spectre". And all of this will hopefully combine into the 63 minute runtime that this DVD was advertising. So basically, I'm gonna be covering what's essentially an anthology film of sorts. So, this will prove to be very interesting. I'm certainly hoping that all 4 short films will end up being good. But the only way I'm gonna find out for myself, 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 "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam".

3 minutes later

OK, I gotta dumb question here. So, I'm going to assume this is Billy Batson. Why is he living in such a barren apartment? He only has, like, a few shirts with the exact same color, he has plenty of open space in his apartment, and...OK, and apparently he has rats living with him as well...interesting. I didn't think Billy had this much empty space in his apartment. It just seems really odd to me.

6 minutes later

OK, I wasn't expecting the Monument Tower to completely collapse onto Black Adam like that. That was certainly cool.

6 minutes later

You know, guys, I am going to say that this movie, well short movie anyway, has some really solid animation. But every time that I'm seeing a CG vehicle of sorts being thrown looks hideous. Like, this is some REALLY ugly-looking CG, too. I understand that this has been kind of a problem with these direct-to-videos DC films, but this scene is solidifying that. I'm hoping that the other short films won't have this sort of problem, but somehow, I'm not holding any hopes for that.

4 minutes later

All right, I have another stupid question. So, Black Adam just destroyed this dam, which is causing the flow of water that's heading towards the city. Superman has tried all of twice now to use the terrain around him to stop the ongoing stream of water, and failed on both accounts. Why doesn't he just use his freeze breath to stop it instead? I mean, it would make much more sense to try and freeze the water instead. At least, to me, it would make the most sense.

2 minutes later

Well...I guess Superman's not as stupid as I thought he was. Apparently, he DID use his freeze breath to stop the water. Well, at least the movie was smart enough to address that, so I gotta give the writers some credit there for addressing my complaints.

9 minutes later

So, the Spectre can make mannequins come to life and make them like zombies...all right. That's sorta cool. And these, I guess, zombies look kinda creepy, too, I gotta say.

4 minutes later

OK, guys, you know, as cool as this all is, I'm kinda hoping we get more of a story here. Because, so far, this story hasn't really gone anywhere, and I'm hoping it picks up soon.

3 minutes later

Wait, that's it? That's how this second story ends?! That was anti-climatic as shit! Seriously, that second story sucked. I'm kinda hoping the other two short films are better, because that second story really sucked.

7 minutes later

All right, guys, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that this story is already a huge improvement over that shitty second story. But then again, I do like Green Arrow as a character, so there is that. The bad news, however, and I didn't think that this was possible, the CG is worse here than what was in the first story. That is a feat in and of itself, guys. I just wanted to mention that.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam". And holy shit, was that last story ever so good. I'm gonna go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. I'm just gonna say this now, the best story of this collection was easily "Jonah Hex". And I'll get to why a little bit later on. But for now, I should get into the review proper.

I'm gonna start with writing. And I'm gonna approach the writing in a similar fashion to when I reviewed "Memories" a couple of years ago. I'm gonna start with the weakest story of the bunch, which was "The Spectre". I will say that it did start off kinda interesting. Because we had this story about this guy named Jim Corrigan, who is a detective that is investigating a movie producer's death. And it turns out that it was the Spectre that was behind it all. Now, when I was watching this short film, I thought this movie was going to take a different approach. Because, where the other three stories each followed a different superhero, I thought that we were going to follow the Spectre as a villain. And that we would to get to see how Corrigan was going to take down the Spectre once he tracks him down. However...that's not really the case. And I'm gonna have to spoil this story, because it didn't really make a lot of sense. Basically, Corrigan IS the Spectre, and he's basically killing off these movie producers because...reasons, I guess. And that's all he does throughout this entire short. Which isn't really an interesting story, but I'll get to why in a second. Now, I will say that his powers are kinda cool. I kinda like how he can turn inanimate objects, such as mannequins, into zombies. I thought that was really cool. And I also liked how he was able to turn this car, that one of the movie producers was driving, into it's own version of Christine. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, "Christine" was one of the many films that John Carpenter made, which was about a killer car. I don't know anything else beyond that because I haven't seen "Christine" yet. But I am, at least, familiar with that car. Back on to my point, though. So, the Spectre turns this car into a killer, and basically kills this other movie producer. And that's kinda it. Oh, and there's a twist that happens towards the end of that short, but it really doesn't work, and I think I know why. And this is gonna be a running theme for this entire anthology, because the runtime on most of these short films are what holds these movies down a bit. Also, I'm not totally sure if this story in particular was trying to parody either the noir style of films or Grindhouse. I'm not totally sure, because the movie was kinda uneven on one of those two genres. But anyway, this story ended up being complete shit. There was no character development whatsoever, and it just ended up being a waste of time.

So, since we have that story out of the way, what about the rest of the films? I'm gonna save the main title film for last, and I'm gonna quickly talk about both of the other two short films. I'm gonna start with "Green Arrow". Green Arrow's story is a very straight-forward plot. We have Green Arrow, who is trying to meet with Black Canary at the airport. And he is going to try and propose to her, once meets her. But then, our story kicks in. Which involves a villain of his known as Merlyn, who he, along with his gang, are trying to assassinate this kid, who's basically royalty, because she is a queen. And throughout this entire story, Green Arrow ends up protecting this kid, while trying to go through the many sections of the airport. And the story here is perfectly fine. There's no stupid ending, and our characters are rather likable. I mean, OK granted, it's not something that's going to set the world on fire, but it is a rather decent story. Part of the reason why is that, as I stated earlier, I like Green Arrow as a character. I do remember watching some episodes of "Justice League: Unlimited" where it featured him in certain episodes, and they were really good. So, I did enjoy that story quite a bit. But then we come to what is, at least in my opinion, the best story of this anthology, which is "Jonah Hex". I think part of the reason why I like this story so much is that it's basically a Western. And you guys know how much I really enjoy Westerns, so I was able to get into this story no problem. Basically, this story involves our title character, who is after a killer known as Red. Red ends up getting killed by this whore, and her two henchman, and they end up dumping the body shortly afterwards. And Jonah Hex is there to collect the bounty from them. The only real negative to this story is that, as I stated earlier, the runtime is just far too short. Now, I will say that the ending of this story was awesome. I just wish that it would've been longer. And it kinda makes me yearn for a full length animated film dedicated to this character. Because there is so much here that they could work with. And I'll be honest, I didn't really feel like I was watching something that came out of the DC Universe. I felt like I was watching a completely different genre of film that was animated by Warner Bros. I hope that, someday, we do get an animated film dedicated to "Jonah Hex", because this story was just that awesome, even if the story was very short. So yeah, I can easily say that "Jonah Hex" was the best short film from this anthology.

But now that I've gotten all of those other films out of the way, let's finally talk about the main feature short film that this DVD advertises on the front cover. How does this film fare out? Well, this entire short film is basically an origin story for Billy Batson becoming Captain Marvel, or Shazam as DC would later stick with because I think there's some sort of legal issues involving the name "Captain Marvel". But I'm not gonna get into that here. And I will say that the origin story here is perfectly fine. It does a really good job on developing Billy Batson's character, as he ends up being the most likable character in the entire film. As for Black Adam, we do learn a little bit about him, as he use to inherit the powers of Shazam, but later ended up abusing it's power, and thus he got banished to another dimension. And so, the wizard Shazam ends up giving the powers to Billy Batson due to his good nature as a person. Now while all of that works fine with it's given runtime, it also sacrifices character development for Black Adam. I mean OK, yes, we do get to hear a little bit of Black Adam's background, but I kinda wish his character was a little more fleshed out. By itself, Black Adam's character ends up being kinda flat. And had this film not got stuck with a short runtime, then I think it would've been great. Now, mind you, this short film isn't bad by any means, it's just that it could've been so much more. I think if this movie were given a longer runtime of around 70 or 80 minutes, then we could've gotten a potentially amazing film. And I do know that there is a live-action film dedicated to the character of Black Adam, which I believe is gonna star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson as Black Adam, in the works. I don't know if it's STILL in the works, or if it was post-poned, I don't know. But that it is what I've heard. But anyway, that's just me talking about a live-action movie that hasn't existed as of yet. Still though, what we got here for this story is still rather solid. It's just, again, the one thing that brings most of these short films down is the runtime. I say 'most', because the only one that works really well with it's short runtime is "Green Arrow". That story had a perfect runtime, and I don't think you could've done anything else to stretch that story any further. But as for the others, they could've definitely benefited from being longer. Especially "The Spectre". I really think that you could rewrite that entire story, and give us something else that would've been much more interesting rather than just kill a couple of movie producers, and call it a fucking day.

Now, beyond all of that, the stories here, minus "The Spectre", are still really solid in their own right. But with what I've said about these short films given runtime's, it also could've done more. Now, what about the acting? Well, this is one thing that I can totally give all four short films. The acting in all of these shorts were fantastic. There are two noticeable voice actors I have to make mention of. One of them is George Newbern. He reprises his role here as Superman from both "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited". And he still does an amazing job here. The other noticeable actor that I have to make mention of is the actor who plays as Shazam, the wizard. He is voiced by legendary actor James Garner. And when I was doing the small amount of research going into this movie, I found out that this was, sadly, James Garner's last role before he had passed away. And I will say that he does a really solid job here, for the short time that his character is in the movie. And that goes for everyone else. And I'm even going to include Steve Blum, for the very, VERY short time that he's in this anthology. Specifically, he has a few lines in the Green Arrow story. And thankfully, they're all very short. Because if he had any longer roles, I probably think that he would've dragged that story down a bit. But beyond him, the acting from everyone was great, so I can't really say anything bad about most of the acting, because it was just that good.

The animation for these short films is really solid, the art style is great, and the color palettes are used very well. All four of these movies look really good, and that's something that DC and Warner Bros. really excel at, when it comes to these direct-to-video films. However...that being said, there is also something else that is very consistent with a lot of these movies that I have seen. And that is the usage of CG. Oh boy...where the hell do I even begin with this one? You know, I've commented in the past on how bad the CG looked in most of these direct-to-video animated films, but this one, I swear to god, has some of the WORST CG ever implemented into these films. And all of it has to do with the vehicles. I don't know what it is with these particular animated films, but it seems like DC and Warner Bros. always fuck up on the CG vehicles. I thought it looked really bad in the first story, which was "Shazam!", because the two instances in that story were when Billy Batson had to travel underground in a subway train. And the CG subway train looked fucking hideous. And it didn't get any better when we get to see Black Adam throw vehicle after vehicle at Superman. Now, I really thought that was the worst of it when it came to the CG for that short film. But somehow, "Green Arrow" actually topped itself by presenting even WORSE CG. And it happens during a scene when Merlyn is shooting arrows at Green Arrow, as he's hiding behind one of those long roller cars that you see people driving around at airports. And that vehicle looked so awful in CG, that it stands out, and it stands out like a motherfucker! The CG for those two short films looks so bad that it would've been laughed out of a PlayStation 1 cutscene. That is a terrifying thought, especially considering that these short films came out in 2010. Hell, the CG would've looked terrible if it came out in the year 2000, much less 2010! So...yeah, the CG is fucking shit, and I'm still shocked that this is still a problem that DC and Warner Bros. haven't figured out yet for these animated films.

Sound-mix is here is really good. Music, at least for the score, works really well. My favorite score in this film has to go to "Jonah Hex" once again. But that might be because most of it is something that I would hear out of a spaghetti Western that would've come out in the late 60's to early 70's. So yeah, the score here is really good overall, with "Jonah Hex" edging itself out a little bit.

So, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam"? Um...I would say that if you're someone who is new to these DC direct-to-video animated films, and you want to start off with some of their shorter films, then sure. I could recommend it to those people. However, if you own the short films that were also released on many of these direct-to-video animated films, be it on DVD or Blu-ray, then there's not much of a reason for you to get this, unless if you want to see the main feature short film that's advertised on the front cover. Otherwise, I would probably just skip it. However, seeing as how I don't have any of these short films on the direct-to-video animated films that I own, I think it was still worth getting. Especially knowing that 3 out of the 4 four films from this collection were really good. Again, with the one lone exception being "The Spectre". However, every other short film is still worth watching again, and I'm happy that I'm able to own this film for my DVD collection. Now...seeing as how "Jonah Hex" was so good, I'm kinda in the mood to watch another Western. Let's see...I think I'm gonna go watch my copy of "The War Wagon". That one is a really good Western, so I'm gonna go ahead and do that.

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 | Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

 

Welcome, one and all, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Yes, guys, this will be the second time that I end up doing a themed marathon for this series. And this is a marathon that I did last year, so I figured why not do it again? Once more, for the next two months, I'm gonna be dedicating this marathon to covering comic book related movies. And I'm gonna kick things off with an animated film from 2013. That movie is "Iron Man: Rise of Technovore".

Now, this film is gonna be a rather unique experience for me. Because, as some of you probably already know, I am a fan of most of DC's direct-to-video animated movies. I believe that they are some of the better things that DC and Warner Bros. have put out for quite a few years now. But then I happen to remember that Marvel also put out their own direct-to-video animated movies. And what's strange about all this is that a lot people don't ever really seem to talk about them as much. They usually just focus on whatever fad movie that gets put out by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A recent example of that would be "Spider-Man: No Way Home". Of course now that I've typed that example, it's probably gonna end up being very dated long after this review gets put out. But, oh well, I don't really care. Point is, I don't see a lot of people ever mentioning Marvel's animated movies, but I'm gonna change that by taking a look at one of them tonight.

Now, I know several things going into this movie. The first thing is that I know that this movie was made by Madhouse. And Madhouse usually puts out some awesome-looking movies and TV shows. I'm curious, though, as to how they'll be able to handle translating their animation with a Marvel Comics property, such as Iron Man. That will be rather interesting to see. The second thing I know about this movie is that, according to one source I read up online, this movie is somehow a tie-in with "Iron Man 3". Now, I should mention that I haven't seen "Iron Man 3" yet. And considering how average "Iron Man 2" was, I'm still not that interested in checking out the 3rd installment. So, any comparisons with this movie to "Iron Man 3" are going to be completely irrelevant. Also, I don't know even know if that source I read about how this thing ties in with "Iron Man 3" is accurate or not. But again, I'm not gonna worry about that when I start watching the movie.

The other thing that I do know about this movie is that it's premise is kinda similar to a DC animated movie that I've seen before. Now before I explain which movie I'm referring to, I should probably explain the premise for this movie. From what I've read on the back of the DVD case, the plot involves Iron Man, who is on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. after Rhodey is killed by an attack from whoever killed him. For those of you who read comic books, or have seen "Iron Man 2", then you probably already know him as War Machine. And the only ally Iron Man has in this movie is The Punisher. And, as I stated, they're being pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. along with Hawkeye and Black Widow. Now this plot-line, at least to me, is kinda similar to another DC animated movie called "Superman/Batman: Public Enemies". To give a brief synopsis of what that movie was about, Superman and Batman were on the run after they killed another DC villain called Metallo. And President Luthor enlisted help from superheroes to track down Superman and Batman after he put a hit on them. And that's what this movie's premise kinda reminds me of.

Now, even though this movie's premise sounds kinda similar to Public Enemies, that might just be me nitpicking here. Because that's just something that I was thinking about when I read this movie's plot synopsis on the back of the DVD case. I'm still hoping for this movie to be really good. And hey, I do like Iron Man as a character. And I also like The Punisher, too. So to have them team-up together in this movie sounds really cool. I'm not sure if this movie's gonna end up being any good, but I am gonna find soon enough. And 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 "Iron Man: Rise of Technovore".

6 minutes later

OK, I have a bit of a stupid question here. So, this Howard satellite is suppose to detect trouble before it can take place, and prevent it from happening. So...what exactly defines as "trouble"? Does he mean terrorists attacks? Does he mean mass shootings? Or maybe something minor like a random thief who steals mundane shit from everyday people? I understand that it sounds like a very minor point, but the way that Tony described how the satellite works sounds incredibly vague because "trouble" can mean almost anything. I'm kinda curious here.

13 minutes later

So, I kinda have another question. If Tony ends up finding this kid, who wears this technological organic suit, what the hell he is gonna do to him? I ask this because Tony's only going after him for when he killed Rhodey. Is Tony going to have a plan when he finds him? Because it worked out "so well" the first time he tried to fight him. So, what the hell is he gonna do when he finds this guy again? I'm really curious here because it sounds like Tony, at his current state, doesn't really know what the hell he's doing.

6 minutes later

OK...I was gonna ask if Tony did that on purpose. He probably could've just gently flown towards Pepper's side, but no. He just had to ruin Pepper's sunbathing by causing a huge splash to get her attention. Whether it was intentional or not, it kinda makes Tony look like a bit of a dick. Just saying.

10 minutes later

OK, that was a pretty cool way for Iron Man to destroy all of those Mandroid robots. That was pretty awesome.

20 minutes later

You know, guys, I totally understand that this movie is trying to make our villain sound mysterious with his awkward dialogue. But it's really not working. And I'm gonna try to explain this once the movie's over.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Iron Man: Rise of Technovore". And we're closing out with some really...strange vaudeville-like music. O...K, I'm just gonna shut the movie off here...all right. Well...what to start with first?

I may as well start with writing, because that makes the most sense. So earlier, I brought up about reading an online source that states that this movie supposedly ties into the third Iron Man movie. However, because I haven't seen it, I don't know how much of that is true. But I will say that this movie ties in FAR more into the first movie. Specifically for one character, which would be Ezekiel, our villain for this movie. Now, he technically has a full name. However, I'm not going to reveal what his last name is for the sake of a plot twist that happens a little bit into the halfway mark of the film. I'm gonna give you his first name, and that's it. Because if I go any further on this kid's backstory, then it's going to result in me talking about spoilers. Now, as for his plan, Ezekiel wants to destroy all of humanity so that he can replace it with his own vision. And to do this, he has to use Stark's satellite, which was the Howard that I brought up earlier. And when he controls that, he can takeover other satellites and computers. Now, even though that sounds like a decent idea, Ezekiel's character, however, kinda sucks. So, I brought up earlier about how his dialogue was awkward. Well, for whatever reason, he talks with this philosophy dialogue that just makes him sound really stupid. I guess, in a way, it was trying to make him sound like he was an above-it-all character. And I'm not talking about him acting snobbish or anything like that. But it really didn't do anything for me, because his dialogue was kinda shit when he does speak in philosophical nonsense, and his personality was rather one dimensional. On top of that, I mentioned the technological organic suit that he wears, which is what lets him hack into other machines. Sounds really cool, but I have a question about that. Where the hell did he obtain this suit? I don't believe it was ever truly explained. The closest of an explanation that we got was when the Punisher was about to kill this one guy, who was selling weapons to terrorists, Iron Man stops Punisher from killing him so that he can get answers from the weapons seller. And the reason why was that he was the last person that did business with Ezekiel. But I don't believe it was made clear as to what exactly he sold to Ezekiel. So there is that issue. By the way, speaking of the Punisher, he's barely in this movie at all. As I made mention, Iron Man meets up with him, and they end up discovering something more about Ezekiel. Again, I'm not gonna spoil what they discover about this kid. And then after that, they leave to escape Hawkeye and Black Widow. And when they do that, Iron Man leaves, as does Punisher. I believe that the Punisher is in the movie for roughly around 10 minutes. Which is rather disappointing, because I really liked the Punisher in this movie. Sadly though, he gets the short end of the stick. So, oh well, it is what it is.

I will say something about this movie's story that kinda intrigued me. Seeing as how this movie had more of a tie-in with the first Iron Man movie, I was left wondering why couldn't this movie be "Iron Man 2" instead? I ask this, because I felt like what was in "Iron Man 2" was not that great. At least, to me, it wasn't. Now, there are a couple of reasons why I know it wasn't. First of all, this movie came out around the same time as "Iron Man 3" did. And also, Rhodey was being introduced as War Machine in the second film. So there is that. But I honestly think that if this movie wanted to be it's own version of "Iron Man 2", I would retool a couple of ideas. The first one would be to rewrite Ezekiel's character in a way that didn't make him sound flat and boring. Now, you can totally keep the plot twist involving his background. But it would've helped if his character had more of a personality and didn't make him sound like he was speaking in riddles all the time. Secondly, I would find a way to reintroduce Rhodey as War Machine. Better yet, have some sort of a prologue in showing how he can operate an Iron Man suit. Because, if you recall my review for "Iron Man 2", I questioned on how the hell Rhodey knew how to operate an Iron Man suit with almost no troubles whatsoever. It just seemed kinda odd to me. Maybe this movie, if it wanted to be "Iron Man 2", could've worked in something like that. Now, mind you, I'm just theorizing about bullshit that has nothing to do with the actual movie, but I feel like this thing, had it redone a couple of things, could've worked as sort of an alternative for "Iron Man 2". Not just because I found that movie to be rather average, but I honestly feel that, when compared to "Iron Man 2", this movie is miles better than what we got in "Iron Man 2". Now, I don't think this movie is better than the first "Iron Man" movie by a long shot. However, it could've worked as a better sequel to "Iron Man 2". But rather than me drone on and on about that topic, I need to get back to talking about this movie. Now, as for our characters, barring Ezekiel, are written rather decently. Again, I feel as though that the Punisher got the short end of the stick in this movie for not being in it for too long. Iron Man/Tony Stark is OK at best. Pepper Potts was probably my second favorite character, next to the Punisher. I kinda wish we got THIS Pepper instead of the one for "Iron Man 2", but again, I'm not gonna dwell on that issue any longer. As for the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, well, I really didn't give a fuck about most of them. Hawkeye and Black Widow are just there, and Colonel Nick Fury is as boring as he was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Again, I've only seen a handful of the MCU movies, so maybe he got better in different films, but he was easily the blandest character in the entire movie.

So, writing is pretty good, if you look at it from a certain perspective like I did. As a film by itself, it's OK. None of it is great, but it's certainly better written than was in "Iron Man 2". Now, let's get to the acting. I opted to watch the English dub of this movie, and, for the most, the dub is pretty solid. However, I do need to question one voice performance in particular. And that is Matt Mercer's portrayal as Iron Man/Tony Stark. Now, I would like to say that Matt Mercer is a pretty good voice actor. He has a decent vocal range, and he knows how to act. However...I'm not totally sure if he was the right person to voice Tony Stark. Because when I was listening to his performance as Tony, it just felt a little bit off to me. I don't know if it was the voice direction, but I felt like, at times, I was listening to Matt Mercer speak, rather than him giving out a voice for Tony Stark that would make him sound unique. Now this is, in part, due to me being kinda spoiled. Because I have seen Robert Downey Jr.'s performance as Tony Stark so many times that I feel like his voice is perfect for that character. Now, I am not saying they should've gotten RDJ to voice Iron Man for this movie. That was never going to happen. However, I felt like they could've cast somebody else that sounded close enough to RDJ. Because if this thing was suppose to tie in with "Iron Man 3", then they could've found somebody that sounded like RDJ to make it sound consistent. However, I don't know if that was the case, and they just decided to give the role to somebody new. I have no idea, but it is what it is. And mind you, Mercer's performance in this movie isn't bad per se, it just felt kinda off to me. But regardless, he does a decent job in this movie. Everyone else also did pretty good, too. And even though I didn't care for Ezekiel's dialogue, the actor voicing him did a rather decent job, given the script that he was given. So overall, the acting is good for what it is.

Animation in this movie is fantastic. But again, this was made by Madhouse. And just like every other project I've seen that they worked on, they pulled off some awesome-looking animation for this movie. The art style is really good. And I mentioned earlier that I was curious on how exactly they were going to take a Marvel Comics property and make it work with their animation style. Well, I can easily say that they pulled it off brilliantly. Most of the character models, when it comes to the well known Marvel Comics characters, look very close to how they looked like in the live-action movies. In fact, now that I think about it, Madhouse also had a hand in making a couple of those Batman short movies that they did for "Batman: Gotham Knight", and they were able to nail down the design for Batman really well. So, I guess maybe I was worried about nothing after all. But anyway, as I said, the art style is really good. The usage of color palettes are very good. There is also usage of CG., and that's also pretty good, too. What I'm more surprised by is the fact that they had to use very little CG on the Iron Man suit. I honestly thought they were going to implement a ton of CG for that. But shockingly, they used very little for that. There might've been one scene where they had to turn the camera while Iron Man was frozen. But beyond that, most of everything else for CG is used towards the end of the movie, and for some shots involving moving trees and certain robots for other scenes. Other than that, the CG is pretty good. It's not great, but it's certainly better than how a lot of 2D movies would utilize CG for their movies. And also, the 2D animation is great.

Sound-mix here is mixed properly. The score is, honestly, something that you would hear in the first two "Iron Man" movies. It's not as good as their scores, but it's certainly decent for what it is. Although there is one song that I thankfully stopped just as the credits were popping up, and it sounded kinda...odd. It sounded like a vaudeville piece, and it just seemed very out of place for me to hear that in the ending credits. Beyond that, though, the score is decent.

Ultimately, guys, can I recommend "Iron Man: Rise of Technovore"? Um...I would say if you were a fan of the "Iron Man" movies, then sure. I could recommend giving this a viewing. Now again, this thing is nowhere near as good as the first "Iron Man" movie. However, I would say that this movie serves as a better alternative sequel to "Iron Man 2". Well, at least, to me it does. However, I could be here all night about that subject. As for the movie itself, I would say that if you're looking for a different kind of Marvel movie that's not the same old, tired, Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, then by all means, check it out. It's certainly worth watching, at least, once. I don't know if it's something that I would watch a second time, but for what it is, it's decent. And that's really the best I could ask for. Now...as for myself, I think I'm gonna go re-watch the first "Iron Man" movie. Because this movie kinda made me interested in checking out that film again. Plus also, it's still the best MCU movie that I've seen. So I'm gonna go do that, and as for this movie...well, I'll have to think about whether or not it's worth viewing again.

And 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.