Welcome, one and all, to the "Video Game Movie Marathon" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2013. That movie is "Bayonetta: Bloody Fate".
Now, for those of you who don't know, this movie is an adaptation of the very first Bayonetta game. Which, at the time that I heard about this thing, I wasn't even aware that it was a movie. I thought it was, like, an OVA that was adapting the Bayonetta games into a mini-series. But no, it's an animated movie. And I thought it would be perfect to cover for this marathon.
Now I should mention that I loved Bayonetta. I played the original incarnation of this game way back when it was only available on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I've heard negative things about the latter version, however, I don't know how much of that is true. But anyway, I played it on the Xbox 360 and I loved it. I then played Bayonetta 2 on the Wii U, and I loved that as well, even though it was a tad bit easier than the first game. And I would love to say that I care about Bayonetta 3 being released on the Switch, however, I'm still waiting for more interesting and appealing games to appear on that system that isn't some half-baked port that retards will pass off as "new" for the Nintendo Switch. Until that happens, the Nintendo Switch, at least to me, is still nothing more than some half-baked console that mostly relies on ports.
But setting aside my grievances about a system that I don't care about, I'm really looking forward to watching this movie. Because, as I said, I really enjoyed the first Bayonetta game. And I'm rather curious to see what exactly this movie is going to do when adapting a game like this. I have no idea if it's going to be any good, but I am hoping for it to be. And the only way I'm gonna find out if this 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 "Bayonetta: Bloody Fate".
8 minutes later
Well, guys, I think I have run into a pattern with some of the movies that I've covered for this marathon. And that is that the music in this movie, at least so far, is lifted directly from the games. And I rather like it when a video game movie goes to that kind of detail. It just feels right to me, you know?
10 minutes later
Wait, did Enzo just call him "Rodan"? No...his name is pronounced as "Rodon". I know this, because that's how he pronounced his name in the game! And what's funny about this is that his name is spelled "Rodin". I know it's probably just the accent, and I'm probably commenting about trivial bullshit, but it just doesn't sound right to pronounce Rodin's name as "Rodan". That just sounds fucking stupid as hell.
11 minutes later
OK...I didn't know that Bayonetta's guns could break that easily. I don't think they ever did THAT in the game. But then again, it has been a while since I last played it. So maybe it's just something that I forgot about, but I still don't recall her guns being able to break that easily. But if they did, then I guess you learn something new everyday, don't you?
6 minutes later
All right, seeing Bayonetta using that chainsaw like that was actually pretty awesome. Then again, the chainsaw was one of the more fun weapons in the game. So, to see it being utilized here was a very nice touch.
6 minutes later
You know, guys, I have been having a problem with this movie's dialogue being lifted from the Bayonetta game not having much of an impact. That time, it actually did kinda work. I will talk more about that when the movie's done, though.
9 minutes later
All right, I think now might be the time to mention this as any. The animation in this movie is amazing. This is some really-awesome looking animation. Especially for both Bayonetta's hair and the angels. It really does look amazing in this movie, guys.
10 minutes later
You know, guys, even though I'm still not a fan of how they pronounced Rodin's name in this movie, he is still very much a badass in this movie, as I just saw him destroy a bunch of angels with, I think, a pink laser beam of sorts. It was still really cool, though.
The Review
Well, guys, that was "Bayonetta: Bloody Fate". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off...OK. Well...what to start with first? I guess I should say that this movie is gonna be a bit tough for me to review. Because what works here really well also kinda falters a bit with it's choices. Allow me to explain.
I'm gonna start with the writing. The writing is kind of a mixed bag. Being that this is an adaptation of a video game, you kinda have to take certain liberties with what you're adapting. Otherwise, your movie is gonna end up being a bit bland. One positive I can definitely say about this film's writing is that it's much better structured, when compared to the game's story. Because, for those of you who've never played Bayonetta, one of the problems that game suffered from was that it's writing was all over the place. It really didn't make much sense, especially if you were a newcomer that was going into that game for the first time. Because there was a LOT that went on in that game. And if you were to try and follow everything that went on in that game on your first playthrough, chances are, you would be totally lost on a lot of things. Such as the child character Cereza, and how's she's connected to Bayonetta. Or the backstory involving the Lumen and Umbra Sages, and how Luka's father was investigating them as a journalist. Speaking of which, the only way you know more about the backstory involving the sages is if you collected journal entries for Luka's diary. Because they mostly provided more background and lore about what happened 500 years ago involving the sages. That is, if you ever bothered to collect and read them. And if you didn't, well, then that's your own fault for not understanding the backstory. But anyway, this movie was actually able to flesh out what the game didn't do, and it actually does it very well. Our characters are very fleshed out and you do care about them as the movie goes on. In fact, this movie, for the most part, is a very faithful adaptation of the Bayonetta game. And that's really cool to see, because, it does fix the glaring story problems that the game suffered from, and it fleshed out a lot of details that were absent from the game. Most of everything here makes sense to where you don't feel like you're lost and confused. This movie does a very good job in fixing that problem, and you're able to understand just about everything that goes on in this movie.
Now, while it's really cool to see that this movie is rather faithful to the game, I feel like, at times, it's a little TOO faithful. And that's where one of my problems comes in with this movie's writing, which is the dialogue. Now, I should make mention that this is only a problem IF you played the game. If you haven't, then all of the problems I'm gonna be discussing involving the dialogue are gonna be completely non-existent to you. However, it is something that I noticed, and it kinda stuck out at me. First of all, I should mention that when it comes to the dialogue, I'm not talking about dialogue that sounded stilted or poorly acted, but rather I'm talking about dialogue that is misplaced. In fact, this movie changes a couple of scenes from the game in different orders, and it's mostly only the beginning that they changed. Instead of starting out at the graveyard with Bayonetta praying, it actually starts out at a cathedral, where Luka is trying to take pictures of Bayonetta in action. Mind you, Luka doesn't originally appear in the game until a little bit later on. However, he plays a role right from frame one in this movie. In fact, he ends up replacing Enzo's role by having his car being smashed by Bayonetta instead of Enzo's. And as for Enzo, he really doesn't play much of a role in this movie, when compared to the game. Where in the game, he had a slightly more significant role in helping Bayonetta trying to find clues about her past. In this movie, though, he only has two sequences where he's sitting at a table at Rodin's bar. And yes, I'm gonna talk about that issue involving Rodin's name later. But anyway, Enzo's role in this movie is completely wasted, and he doesn't really serve much of a purpose at all. And to be fair, his role in the game isn't that much better, but at least he had more to do there. Anyway, going back to the dialogue before I forget about it, this movie, in some cases, lifts it directly from the game. Whether it's for story purposes or for jokes. For the story, it's not that noticeable. But for stuff involving jokes, it's almost the exact opposite. Such as when Luka makes references to female characters that have names from other Capcom games, it felt really fucking forced. Especially when compared to the game, in which he doesn't make those references until a little bit later on in the game. In the movie, he makes that reference near the beginning of the movie, and it doesn't have any real impact. The only time that lifting the dialogue involving jokes from the game actually worked was when Luka planted a tracking bug at Bayonetta's apartment. And it was shortly after Bayonetta and Cereza had taken a bath that Luka thinks that Bayonetta had a child. Which she doesn't, mind you, but that would be me talking about spoilers for both the movie and the game. And the dialogue that comes after that came from the game, and it actually did work, because the timing of it was actually sorta clever. Everything else, not counting for story purposes, doesn't work.
Now again, that's mostly an issue, if you've never played the first Bayonetta game. For people who have played it, it's definitely noticeable. And for me, personally, it sorta bugged me a bit. Now, since I mentioned the jokes a moment ago, I want touch upon the movie's humor. Or should I say...lack thereof. Because what's definitely missing from this movie that was in the game was the humor. Because the game's writing, even though the story was all over the place, actually had some rather sharp humor. And it was definitely funny in a lot of areas. But then again, the humor was also timed really well in the game. Here though...it really isn't. In fact, a lot of the humor in this movie is incredibly downplayed. And that's really quite a shame, too. Because that's one of the things that the game's writing did so well. And to see it missing here is definitely disappointing. One example that I wanted to see was during a bit in the game where Bayonetta was pointing her gun at Rodin and she said something, like, "How do you Americans say it? Oh yes. Bust a cap in yo ass..." Like, that was seriously one of the most missed opportunities that the movie could've capitalized on in terms of humor. And sadly, they didn't do that. Instead, they downplay the humor to a tee, and this movie definitely missed the mark when skipping out on the humor. But that honestly can also be seen as a minor thing, because again, it's only an issue if you've never played the Bayonetta game. Anyone who hasn't played it are not gonna notice the issues that I had with the movie's writing. In fact, a lot of these issues are very minor, and I'm only making them more of an issue because I've played the game. And it definitely stuck out at me as somewhat of a problem. And like I said, those who haven't played Bayonetta are not gonna notice it or even care. However, it definitely stuck out at me, so you just have to take it for what it's worth.
With that aside, the writing here is pretty good as a faithful adaptation of the game. However, it also sacrifices humor and sometimes poorly executes dialogue that was lifted from the games in a couple of scenes. But with out of the way, let's get into the acting. Now, I did watch the English dub, and what I did like was that they got most of the actors reprising their roles from the games with the one lone exception being Enzo. Enzo's voice actor definitely sounds different when compared to the Bayonetta games. And while I will say that it's not as good as Enzo's original voice actor was, it's still decent for what it is. In fact, the entire cast here did a pretty good job with what they had to do. However, there are two things that stuck out at me. One of them has to do with the pronunciation of Rodin's name. Now the way they pronounced his name in the game is "Rodon". But in this movie, for whatever baffling reason, decided to pronounce it as "Rodan". Which sounds like one of the creatures from Godzilla. And I wanted to be sure about this, because as I was typing this up, I looked up one of cutscenes from the original game, and sure enough, they did pronounce his name as "Rodon". I don't know WHY this movie decided to pronounce his name as "Rodan". I don't know if it was an issue involving the dub, or if Funimation, again, had this issue in mispronouncing a character's name. But then again, they also mispronounced Lupin's name as Lu-pen back when I reviewed "Lupin the 3rd: The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure". So, I guess it's just par for the course with this dubbing company. Who knows? But anyway, there is one other thing that I noticed involving an inconsistency is when the angels talk. Because in the game, they spoke in this bullshit gibberish language that is inaudible. I guess it was suppose to pass itself off as angel language, but it still didn't really make a ton of sense. In this movie, they speak perfect English. I have no idea why that is, but it is rather noticeable. But honestly, I don't really mind this inconsistency, because I can actually understand what they're trying to say, instead of just using a made-up bullshit language from the game. Anyway, though, the acting is still pretty good, and the cast turned in a fine showing that is considered decent. So, kudos to most of the cast for trying, even if there were some things here and there that didn't make much sense.
The animation is fucking amazing in this movie. The art style here is great, and everything moves pretty smoothly for the part. The character designs are very good, and the color palettes are used very well. I honestly thought that this movie was animated by Madhouse. However, that is not the case. It is instead animated by a studio known as Gonzo. And from what I've seen, it looks really good, when it comes to the 2D art style. And the CG is not too bad either, but I do have to admit, there a couple of hiccups when it comes to the CG. One of them involves a shot here and there where Luka is piloting a helicopter, and the CG model on the copter looks like it might've been rendered out of a cutscene from a SEGA CD game. It looks THAT bad. I can also say that one of the angel bosses that you fight in the game was also rendered in CG. Which looks fine from a distance, but when viewed up close, it looks...kinda shitty. And I did say that the animation involving the angels looked really good, but I won't deny that one of the angel bosses looks kinda like shit. But that may just be me that noticed it. However, everything else involving CG looks great. So, I can at least say that the animation, for the most part, looks great for a movie like this.
Sound-mix here is mixed fine. The music is also something that was taken out of the Bayonetta games. But I will admit that it's only for a few scenes, and that's also a bit of a disappointment. But at the same time, it's not something that I'm gonna harp on this movie too much for. Because while I did like the music from the Bayonetta games, it's not something that's gonna be ultra memorable, either. At least, when compared to another video game movie such as "Halo Legends", where they recycled a bunch of music from the Halo games, and I'm more partial to that music rather than for Bayonetta. However, I am just comparing apples to oranges, so I should probably just drop that comparison all together. Anyway, the score here is perfectly fine for what it is, so I may as well just leave it at that.
Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Bayonetta: Bloody Fate"? I'm able to say yes, for a couple of different reasons. The first one is that if you've never played the Bayonetta game, then all of the problems that I discussed with the writing are not going to apply to you. You can go into this thing, and you would not notice the issues that I had with the film's writing, because I was mostly comparing it with the game. Speaking of which, if you're someone who has played the game, I can still recommend it, but I will also say that's not a completely perfect adaptation. Like I said earlier, the dialogue that is lifted from the games doesn't necessarily work with every scene in this movie. That, and the humor is definitely missing from this movie. However, if you're able to look past all of that, then this movie is still a very good adaptation of the video game. It may not have everything here, but what IS here is still pretty fucking good. And I'm quite happy to own a copy of this movie for myself, which will definitely have a spot on my DVD shelf. Also, if you've never played the first Bayonetta game, I would definitely recommend it, if you're into action games. You can definitely find the first game through a lot of different consoles, whether it's for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, or PC. Whatever you find it on, pick it up. It definitely is worth your time, provided, again, that you're into action games. In fact, I'm kinda interested in replaying the first game again right now. I have the first two games on Wii U, so I'm definitely gonna be doing that after I'm done putting this review together.
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.
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