Reaction & Review | Stan Lee's Mighty 7

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're closing out this marathon with something kinda unique. It's an animated pilot film from 2014. That movie is "Stan Lee's Mighty 7".

Now the story behind this movie kinda goes back a ways to 2003, as originally, this particular team was called the "Super Six", and they were gonna have their own animated series produced by DIC Entertainment. Now for those of you too young to remember, DIC was the company that produced quite a number of cartoons in their day such as "The Super Mario Bros. Super Show" "Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog", "Captain Planet and the Planeteers", and the original English dub of "Sailor Moon". Now mind you, there's a *lot* more than what I could name off of, but those are the ones that I do remember from them the most.

But getting back on topic, that "Super Six" series I mentioned never made it to airing. Don't really know why, exactly, but regardless, it never happened. Then in 2010, the "Super Six" was renamed as "Stan Lee's Super Seven" thanks to companies like Archie, A Squared Entertainment, and POW! teaming up and made the newly made Stan Lee Comics. However, due to a legal issue involving a toy manufacturer with the same name, that being Super7, the name was eventually re-changed to what it is currently with "Stan Lee's Mighty 7".

Now here's where it gets kinda interesting. See, the Hub Network managed to acquire the airing rights to the pilot movie in 2013 and it was gonna be aired on their network the next year, which it was. Now as I was reading the plot summary on the back of the DVD case, I noticed a particular line where it said that this film is the first of a "fantastic trilogy". Now I looked it up to make sure if the other movies actually existed. And guess what? They don't. Why? Well, thanks to the Hub Network being changed to Discovery Family, those movies never made it to airing, even though they were supposedly finished. So whether or not they will actually see the light of day in any form is up in the air, really.

But with that said, I'm curious to see if this movie will actually be any good on it's own standards. I'm hoping that it is, which will then lead me to wonder if we missed out on a potentially amazing series. I don't know if that's gonna be the case or not, but there is only one way for me to find out. And that 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 "Stan Lee's Mighty 7".

3 minutes later

OK, guys, I'm just gonna say this right now, the flash animation here looks OK...and then I see the character's moving their bodies and their mouth movements as they talk, and it just looks really awkward and disjointed. I'm hoping, maybe, it'll get better as the movie goes on, and perhaps maybe I'll get use to it, but right now, it just looks really off-putting to me.

11 minutes later

Guys, I would love to tell you that I care about these characters, but so far, I haven't been given much of a reason to care about anyone here outside of Stan Lee. Hell, I don't know even remember their names, so far, but I'm hoping that'll change later on once I actually get to know who's who, eventually.

8 minutes later

So, guys, good news and bad news here. Good news is that we're finally getting some establishing names for our characters, thanks to Stan Lee. Bad news, though? I still don't really care about any of these characters yet because they're all still kinda vapid and shallow at the moment. But at least getting some establishing names is baby steps, I guess.

13 minutes later

So Micro, upon discovering that the ocean is made up of salt water, he puts water from a toilet into a cup and gives it to the fat one for him to drink. You know, of all the toilet humor I've heard of involving shit, that is honestly the most disgusting thing I've seen. Just...what the fuck, man?

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Stan Lee's Mighty 7". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Well, where do I start with here? I guess I can say that this movie, on it's own standards is just barely average. I wouldn't call it horrible or anything, but it really is nothing ultimately special, even if it's coming from Stan Lee himself.

Let's start by talking about the biggest issue with this movie, which would be it's writing. To start with, I think I know why this movie never got an expanded upon with it's planned trilogy. Now I gave you the reasons as to why in regards to behind the scenes, but I may know another reason why this movie never got anything beyond it. See, when you're doing a pilot film for a television series, your main goal is to sell the viewer on it's premise. Give them a reason to make you want to watch the show beyond it's pilot. And unfortunately, I don't really think this movie did a very good job of that because this story just feels like a very generic superhero story that we've seen played out many times beforehand and doesn't really stand out. The only thing that makes this team unique is because you have Stan Lee's name on the cover. That, and he's also in this movie, not just as a cameo this time. Though I'll talk more about him later when I cover acting.

I want to talk about the characters next, specifically, I want to talk about our new team here, the Mighty 7. Now seeing as how we're working with a superhero team, you want to establish who your characters are, their powers, their personalities, and something resembling an interesting backstory. Well, of the four requirements that I mentioned, there are only two of them I can say that they establish well enough. And those are the characters and their powers. And in terms of the former, they don't really get their superhero code names until a little over the 20 minute mark of the movie. However, what holds these characters back is the other two missing requirements. Their personalities are all shallow and vapid, and though they do have something resembling backstories, it doesn't really feel like there's enough here to make you want to care about these characters.

To give you guys a couple of examples of this, one of the characters in this movie is called Lazer Lord. I know he technically has another name, but I honestly don't remember it all, so I'm going by what he's given by Stan Lee in this movie. So anyway, Lazer Lord's backstory is that he was supposedly framed for a murder that he says he did not commit. In which, I mean he murdered some professor and the one who apprehended him was one of our other heroes known as Strong Arm. That backstory of his is *never* expanded upon again in this movie after they show a bit of it through a flashback. So you never really know if he actually did kill somebody or not, which I thought they were going to at least have that explained, but sadly, nothing ever comes from it.

As for our other heroes, we have Micro, who's basically this movie's version of Ant Man/The Atom, and Kid Kinergy, who possesses psychokinesis, and they both grew up in an orphanage together and eventually had to steal for a living. Roller Man is a victim of war who basically ran off after being one of the only survivors against the Taegons, who are basically just an army of lizard people. Lady Lightning, who's basically just a female version of the Flash from DC Comics, was kidnapped as a child by thieves and forced her to steal stuff for them in exchange for her freedom. It's never really said on how she actually got her powers, but that can also be said for just about all of the other heroes in this movie. There's also Silver Skylark, who's the only character in this movie who doesn't have anything resembling a backstory. It's implied that she has an interest Lazer Lord, but it doesn't go beyond that here. Her main gimmick is that she can fly. That's it. If you really want to stretch it, she could be considered to be this movie's version of the Falcon. But again, that's really only stretching it.

So yeah, while most of these characters do have something resembling a backstory, it's just not enough backstory to work with. Now granted, it is possible that more of their backstories were expanded upon in the other sequels. But seeing as how they have never been released, I don't really know if that's the case or not. So I'm never gonna know anything else about these characters unless, maybe, I actually cared enough to look up their comics online. But after watching this movie, I really don't feel the need to look into these character anymore than this movie, seeing as how they're all pretty generic, both in personality and their powers being rather unoriginal.

I could also say that this thing suffers from a rather short runtime as well. This thing clocks in at only just over an hour long, and I feel like it doesn't really cover enough material here. OK yes, you got our heroes and you also got our villains, both of which are very generic and forgettable. The Taegons, like I said, are essentially just lizard people looking to invade and conquer. And then you have the U.S. military on Earth who are lead by an equally boring General who also doesn't have anything resembling an interesting personality other than leaving a teaser at the end that he'll crush the Mighty 7. Which, that probably would've had some substance, had those two other sequels not been put on the shelf. But since they are, it really means absolutely nothing.

So yeah, writing in this movie is incredibly mediocre. There's nothing about it that stands out, other than having Stan Lee's name on it. And speaking of which, I'm gonna go straight into acting next. And I have to talk about Stan's performance in this thing. You see, unlike his cameos in a lot of Marvel's movies, this one has it where he has more than one line, and it shows. His performance in this thing is very one noted. He doesn't really give out much of a range in his voice. Now I can't necessarily blame him for this because Stan Lee is playing himself in this movie and it's possible that he probably didn't have much to do with the writing itself. But it gives me the impression that Stan's at his best when he's either giving out one line or not saying anything at all. That being said, I wouldn't really say he's the worst actor in this thing. The worst actor, sadly, has to go to Michael Ironside. He plays a character named Xanar, who's the leader of the lizard people, and he easily phones in the weakest showing. His talent in this movie is completely wasted, and I suppose he only signed on for that easy paycheck. Which, if that was the case, then congrats to him. He really didn't have many lines here, and I imagine that he only had so much to do with the script he was given. Regardless, he's easily the weakest actor in this movie.

The rest of the acting, though, is actually pretty good. Despite not having a whole lot to work with for their characters, most of everyone else did a decent job in trying to give some kind of life to their characters. So if anything else, I have to at least grant them that.

Let's talk about the animation. And I'm going to say that some of the animation here feels...a little bit off. I talked about it a while back, but the animation and the mouth movements of our main characters felt off to me. And the reason I thought that is because it looked a little unfinished. I'd say the mouth movements are the worst, because most of it doesn't entirely match up to what the characters are saying. Now I wouldn't say that's prevalent of the whole film, but I would say a good portion of it does look that way. And it's gonna stand out to you, especially if you're looking for it like I did. If not, then it might not be as noticeable to you as much. But when you first see it, you could definitely notice it. Same goes with some of the movements, especially when a character runs. Because the running animation looks awkward and I don't know if that was intended for every character to run like they do, or if that was just the animators cutting corners there. I don't know. But like with the mouth movements, it is something that you might also notice and whether you get use to it or not is obviously up to you. Most of the animation isn't bad, a lot of it, aside from certain moments, is animated decently enough. So I'm not gonna say the animation is wholly bad, it's just something that you're either gonna get use to or you're really not.

Sound-mixing here is fine. The music is really kinda forgettable, if not just serviceable. That's really the best way I can summarize the score in a nutshell. It is what it is.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Stan Lee's Mighty 7"? Kinda, sort of. I would say that if you have children, or are associated with children in some way, then I would probably say yes. The movie's barely over an hour long, and if they're a fan of Marvel, then yeah, I would say go ahead and let them see this. However, I would probably only recommend it for children around 7 or lower. If they're older than 7, then they're probably not gonna enjoy this very much. Even if you're a fan of Marvel Comics yourself, there's honestly not much of a reason for you to watch this thing, unless you're a fanboy that absolutely must watch anything with Marvel's name imprinted on it. Other than that, you can really just skip this one. There's nothing interesting about the Mighty 7 themselves as a group, and I may have given this team a bit less slack if the other two movies were actually released. But since they're not, I can't find myself reading anything else about them or even giving this movie a second viewing. So yeah, this movie is very skippable, unless, again, you have children around the age of 7 or below. So now, I'm gonna go and watch a better movie. And seeing as how I wanted to watch a better movie involving a better team, I'm gonna go and watch "Justice League: Throne of Atlantis". That one is definitely really good and I kinda want to watch it again right now. So, that's what I'm gonna go do next.

And with that, guys, we come to the close of this year's installment of "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Modesty Blaise

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a British comedy from 1966. That movie is "Modesty Blaise".

Now, from everything that I was able to look up about about the character in question, Modesty Blaise started off as a comic strip from 1963. She then got 11 novels and 3 movie adaptations. And of those 3 that exist, this is the very first one of hers that I'm gonna be covering for this marathon.

As for the movie itself, I don't know very much about the plot. Although, from what little information that I could find, this movie is considered to be a very loose adaptation of the comic strip that this character is based of off. So chances are that this thing is gonna have very little to do with the character from the comic strip. That said, I care very little about accuracy to the source material, so long as the movie is entertaining. Plus, I've never read anything involving Modesty Blase, so I couldn't really pinpoint any inaccuracies, even if I wanted to do.

So now, I get to see if this movie is any good on it's own merits. I'm hoping that it is, but I won't know for sure yet, unless 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 "Modesty Blaise".

5 minutes later

O...K, I totally wasn't expecting that guy to blow up after ringing the doorbell with his umbrella. That totally caught me off guard! We're certainly off to an explosive start, guys.

19 minutes later

I just saw someone snap a mime's neck and then throwing him off a cliff. If that was meant to be funny, it really wasn't. In fact, it was kinda stupid and pointless, really.

18 minutes later

Guys, this is the first time in a long time since doing this series that I've ever had to admit something. I have no clue what the fuck is going on in this movie. Nothing is making any sense here. And the more that I continue to watch this movie, my brain is just going to sleep because the movie seems allergic to make sense of it's own nonsense. And the worst part about this is that I still have less than an hour and 20 minutes to go here until it's finished. This may, in fact, be very painful, guys.

20 minutes later

So, guys, we're over an hour into the film right now and I feel like I need to ask this. This thing is suppose to be a comedy, right? So when the hell does it start to get funny? I haven't laughed once since the movie started and my patience with it is starting to run thin. This movie is so mind-numbingly dull that I'm not even sure if I want it to be funny anymore. If it can produce one joke that'll genuinely make me laugh, or perhaps even garner a smile out of me, then this movie has already accomplished enough. I'm hoping that it does that, otherwise, I'm gonna be a little bit angry here.

12 minutes later

So those packs of cigarettes that Modesty and Willie had with them when they were taken into separate cars turns out to be colored tear gas. That's...a little creative. It still isn't really funny, mind you, but at least it's a little creative.

20 minutes later

Why the hell isn't this thing finished yet...? You guys seriously have no idea how boring this fucking movie is. And the fact that it's *still* going on is just making me question why the hell am I still watching this? There still isn't a single joke that has made me laugh yet and I feel like I'm not going to get that either. And I can't shut the film off because, as per rules for Reaction & Review, I have to watch the whole movie through until the end credits show up. There's still less than a half an hour to go and the end credits can't come soon enough. This is just painful, guys.

10 minutes later

Oh my god...the editing in that shot was terrible! OK, so we just had a scene where Modesty was using a custom-made bow and arrow that she Willie had built, and the arrow that she shot was nowhere even *near* to where it was suppose to be hitting the guy! How the fuck do you screw something up so easily and thought that it was worth putting in the movie? That is just...god, that was just horribly put together.

The Review

Oh, thank you fucking god, it's done! Holy fucking shit...well, that was "Modesty Blaise", guys. Let me shut this garbage off now...OK. Finally...now, I actually have to talk about this fucking movie. Oh...fun. Well, I guess, if you somehow haven't gotten the message yet, this movie was shit. Plain and simple. I don't know if it will reach the Bottom 5, because it's still very early in the year, but this one is already in contention for that unworthy prize.

Now, let's actually talk about the film itself here. I'm gonna start with writing. What fucking writing...? There is nothing here that I would constitute as a story that is worth even caring about. It is so shallow and nonsensical that I can't really pinpoint anything worth mentioning, other than Modesty, and her partner Willie Garvin, trying to retrieve some jewels from our main villain Gabriel. And that's just an abridged version of the whole plot. There's nothing else that I can say about the plot that I would try to struggle into trying to remember anything worthwhile. I haven't been this dumbfounded by a movie's plot since I watched "Fright House" a couple of years ago. And mind you, "Fright House" was shit in it's own right, but at least I was able to kinda sorta make sense of some of it. This thing, though, refuses to make any level of sense. And I probably would not have minded it as much if the humor was at all funny, and it really isn't.

Speaking of which, let's talk about the film's humor next. As I mentioned at the start of this thing, this movie is suppose to be a comedy. More specifically, it's suppose to be a spy comedy. And when you think of spy comedies, most people would immediately think of something like the "Austin Powers" movies. Now while this movie is nowhere near as raunchy as those films are, it is at least trying to be funny in it's own campy sort of way. Unfortunately, however, none of the humor really lands all that well. The closest that this movie got to me smiling a little bit is when during the beginning of the movie, some guy exploded after ringing the doorbell with his umbrella. And the only reason why that kinda worked was because it comes right out of nowhere. But beyond that, nothing else here in terms of humor is really all that funny. It tries, mind you, it's just not trying hard enough.

And that's where we come to the next problem with this movie: The runtime. This movie clocks in at just about 2 hours long. This thing felt so long, and so boring, to where the movie felt like it was going on for over 2 and a half hours long. It is that painful to get through. We have tons of padding here, which makes the movie all the more a chore to get through. Maybe if this movie were about 90 minutes long, it would probably be a bit more salvageable. It wouldn't necessarily make the movie good, mind you, but at least it wouldn't be as boring as it is currently. And it would also be less of a chore to get through, too.

As for characters, well, much like with the lack of writing, there are no characters here that are worth caring about. In fact, I could barely remember character names, outside of the ones that I already mentioned not too long ago. Modesty Blaise, William Garvin, and Gabriel. Everyone else I can just write off as filler because nobody else has anything resembling a personality or an interesting backstory. It's possible that these characters might've had more depth in the comic strip and in the novels. But as I've said before, movie adaptations of anything should stand or fall on it's own standards, and this falls flat on it's ass hard because it fails at being interesting in every way, both in it's characters and writing.

So yeah, that's the best way I can summarize the writing in this movie. It's slow, it's boring, it's painful to get through. And the humor just doesn't work here. Now yes, it's possible that you *could* get a laugh out of this movie, but that's gonna be a bit of challenge for you once you try to go through the whole two hours that this movie has for a runtime and not fall asleep through any of it. Trust me when I say that I struggled to stay awake and I almost couldn't do it. But, I kinda have to because that's just how I am when it comes to doing this series for you guys. But yeah, in short, writing here is terrible from just about every aspect.

Now let's talk about the acting. And I'm gonna say that, even though I think the writing here is terrible and the humor isn't really all that funny, I am willing to admit that the acting here is actually pretty good. I can see that just about everyone here is trying to work with what they've been given and it's a pretty decent effort. So, as much as I can slam the writing here for all of it's missteps, the acting kinda makes up for it. Not by much, mind you, but at least it's something resembling a positive.

Costuming here is pretty good, too. And when I mention the costuming, I'm mostly referring to any of the outfits that Modesty Blaise has to wear. Almost all of her outfits look pretty good. And while the effect of her changing into her outfits is nothing more than a standard jump cut, at least the outfits themselves are fine. So, I'm not going to harp on that issue too much. That said, I *do* want to mention that one bit of editing that was incredibly noticeable. As I mentioned earlier, Modesty was using a bow and arrow to shoot at one of Gabriel's guards to take him out. Now to give you guys an idea what the scene looks like, the guard is left to where our heroes are suppose to be and Modesty Blaise is aiming away from him. And this is where the awful editing comes in because, as soon she fires the arrow, the arrow is suddenly in the chest area of the guard. And again, Modesty was aiming the arrow *away* from the guard. She was not aiming at him when she was doing this. And yet, somehow, as soon as the arrow releases, it then suddenly shows up on the guard's chest. It's so badly edited that it almost comes off as being hilarious for all of the wrong reasons. And it makes me question on who, when they edited this thing, thought it was a good idea to greenlight that scene and no one tried to stop them? It just boggles my mind that they got actually away with it, too.

But other that, guys, the camerawork here is fine. Lighting here is also decent. Sound-mixing here is OK. The music here is, well...it's OK, too. Though I will say the opening song really kinda sucked. I don't really know how to describe it other than that. So yeah, the music here is just average at best.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Modesty Blaise"? No. There's no way in hell I can actually recommend this film to you guys. Not even for morbid curiosity's sake. The story is non-existent, as are the characters. The humor doesn't really work and it's an overall chore to get through. If you want to watch a better spy comedy, the only ones I can think of are the "Austin Powers" movies. Provided, of course, if you're into raunchy humor and all. But yeah, I would totally recommend those over "Modesty Blaise" any day. I know this character also has a couple of more movie adaptations, but to be honest, after watching this movie, I really have no interest in ever watching them. This thing put me off on ever giving the character another chance, and I'm not really gonna lose any sleep over it. Speaking of which, I'm gonna go and get some rest. Because this thing tried to put me to sleep and I need to shut off my brain as is. So, I'm gonna go do that next and hopefully I can be rid of the thought that I actually had to sit through this movie.

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League

Welcome, ladies and gentleman, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, we're celebrating a milestone of reaching 300 episodes of Reaction & Review. And holy shit, what a milestone it is! I am shocked that I've made it this far with this series, but you know what? I'm damn proud of myself and to anyone who has kept up with these reviews all this time.

And since we've reached a milestone, I wanted to find a movie that would do two things for me. One, it would have to be something that I'm personally really interested in watching. And two, it would also have to fit into the current marathon I'm doing, which is "Tales of Longbox". I almost thought about putting "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" as my 300th episode, but ultimately, I chose something else. So with that mind, tonight's movie features my all time favorite DC superhero, and it also came out last year. That movie is "Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League".

Now for those of you who may not happen to remember, several years ago, I reviewed an animated film called "Batman Ninja". And I really enjoyed it for the most part. Some people, from what I've read, were put off by the animation and it's art-style, however, I was able to overlook that because I really enjoyed the story and seeing how Batman was able to adapt to the settings of Edo Japan.

So now, we have it's sequel, which I'm honestly surprised got a sequel at all. And I'm not saying that as a bad thing, because, like I said, I really enjoyed "Batman Ninja" and to see this thing get a sequel is actually really cool. Now from what little I remember about this movie, it features a group known as the Yakuza League, which I'm going to assume is suppose to be this movie's version of the Justice League.

Beyond that, though, I don't know about anything about the plot to this thing. I'm hoping for it to be really good. In fact, I kinda want it to be amazing, seeing as how it's the 300th episode and all. But I really won't know for sure if this movie will be good or not unless I do one thing. And that's for me to shut up so I can push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League".

4 minutes later

O...K, I was wondering why they were calling it a "Yakuza Hurricane". I thought that was just a fancy name for a typical hurricane. But no, there are actual Yakuza members coming out of the dark clouds of a hurricane. And they're all wearing jetpacks, too, from I'm seeing right now. I gotta say...that is certainly something you don't see every day.

8 minutes later

All right, this is starting to bother me slightly now. Why is every member of the Yakuza League I've seen up to this point look really pixelated when viewed up close? Either this is just an issue with my TV, or this is just a really odd design choice that I'm not totally sure I'll be able to get use to. Either way, it's really starting bug me a little bit.

6 minutes later

So, in this universe, Superman is the leader of his own syndicate family, which includes this version of the Justice League and it's Yakuza members. That is really fucking cool and it makes me all the more interested to see this version of Superman in action. I'm really looking forward to that.

14 minutes later

You know, guys, I'm really liking how this movie is introducing it's own world building through this sort of pop-up book style. I would try to explain it further about the nature of how this world was created, however, I would be delving into spoilers here and it's better that you just go watch it for yourself if you really want to know. But again, I do like how it's being presented. So there is that.

5 minutes later

So we're now getting an 80's style anime theme introduction featuring Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and Red Hood. Dude, this looks fucking awesome! Guys, this alone is worth the admission of seeing this movie and I'm really kinda loving it now because of that. Granted, the movie does have couple of issues but this sequence alone is making up for all of that, which is really fucking impressive in my eyes.

3 minutes later

Oh, and Diana apparently also has an anime intro of her own. Granted, the song here is more melodramatic in tone rather than the upbeat zaniness of the Batman introduction we got a few minutes ago. I will say that it is at least a decent song, if nothing else.

13 minutes later

So, guys, do you happen to remember earlier when I mentioned that "Yakuza Hurricane" near the beginning of the movie? Well, I actually get to see how it's done. They're being shot out of a huge minigun while the Flash is running around it causing a tornado in which they're flying out of it towards the Earth reality above the sky. Don't worry, I'll try to explain it later when I get to covering this movie as it kinda makes more sense there.

15 minutes later

So let me if I understand this. The Superman that we know gave Batman a pair of, I guess, iron knuckles that are filled with kryptonite just in case the day came when Superman went nuts. And in this case, he used it to defeat the Superman of the alternate world of Japan. You know, as cool and as interesting as that sounds, it kinda makes me curious as to why he never used this sort of weapon against him in that "Injustice" movie I reviewed a few weeks back? I know I'm commenting on something very trivial, and the answer is because it's in a completely different universe, but I'm still not quite over how stupid that movie was, writing wise. It's just something I wanted to comment on is all.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Holy shit, where do I begin here...? I'm gonna tell you, guys, going into this movie, I kinda expected that I would like it. Because, as I mentioned before, I really liked "Batman Ninja" and I figured this movie would be more of the same kind of enjoyment that I got out of the first movie. Well, not only did I get that, I actually wound up really enjoying it even more than I was originally anticipating. This movie is damn near fantastic. And again, this movie came out in 2025, a year in which a lot of mainstream movies looked like shit, but this movie actually ends up diamond in the rough. That's how great this movie really is.

So with all that said, let's dive right into this movie here and talk more about it. I'm gonna start with writing, and the first thing I want to talk about is the movie's tone. Now, in the first "Batman Ninja" movie, the tone in that movie was mostly taken seriously. Now when I say that, I don't mean it was taken in the tone of something like Christopher Nolan's Batman films, I mean that it felt more grounded in it's setting. Yes, the movie's premise was still absolutely ridiculous, in which you have Batman and his allies fighting Joker and his crew in feudal Japan while adapting to the style of how it was like to fight back during that period of Japan, but it still took itself seriously despite all of that. Not that it was necessarily a bad thing, far from it, but in terms of it's tone, while it had some goofy ass moments, it still took itself seriously, despite the overall premise being rather ridiculous.

This movie, however, has a certain charm to it in which I haven't seen from a whole lot of movies, especially ones that came out in 2025. It's a similar kind of feeling back when I watched the 1960's Batman movie with Adam West. It knows when to have fun with itself. Now it's not a full blown comedy, unlike the 1960's Batman movie, but it still has a really good balance of when it wants to take itself seriously and when it wants to have fun. The filmmakers knew, going in, that this premise is ridiculous as all hell and they ran with it. There is no way in hell that they were going to keep it on the same grounded tone levels that the first movie went through, and I'm glad that they went the extra mile here with it's premise. Because had they actually attempted to keep it on the same serious tone that they did with the first movie throughout the whole thing here, it would've absolutely destroyed this movie. I mean, you have the Justice League in this movie acting like members of a Yakuza syndicate of their own families while you have Batman and his allies trying to stop them while also trying to restore the space time continuum. If that's not a premise that you can't have fun with, then you really shouldn't be writing superhero movies to begin with. Though that's just my own personal opinion on that bit.

But yeah, I should probably try to talk about the movie in a little bit more detail here. So, it actually takes place a day after the events from "Batman Ninja" where, apparently, the islands of Japan have vanished off the face of the Earth. Batman notices it because he realizes that he may have had altered the timeline after what happened in the previous movie. And as for the whole "Yakuza Hurricane" and why Yakuza members are just dropping out of the sky from a dark cloud, well, apparently, the islands of Japan, which is also the same parallel universe from the previous movie, are floating in the sky. And the weird thing is, only Batman, Robin, and Nightwing can see it because they were the only ones that went there during the time that they were in feudal Japan. Normal people like Commissioner Gordon or the Gotham police can't see it because they never experienced going into the past like the others did. Apparently, the parallel version of Japan is caught in the space time continuum which causes Batman and Robin to go there while Nightwing and Red Robin deal with the incoming Yakuza members coming out of the "Yakuza Hurricane".

Now I could go further along with this, but like I mentioned a little while ago, I would be delving into spoilers if I talked about how this parallel world of Japan was created. And believe me, I'd rather not spoil something that big. Like I said earlier, you can go watch the movie for yourself to know how it was done. That said, I really do like how the movie's world building is implemented here. It gives you the idea of how each member of the Yakuza League runs their family syndicates and how they got their powers in these universes. Essentially, guys, this movie is basically it's own version of an Elseworlds tale. I mentioned it in a previous review of mine a long time ago, but an Elseworlds story is where you can take established, well known characters from DC Comics and make up your own stories and settings where it wouldn't exactly work in the main canon timeline of the DC Universe. This story is just that and, like I said, it takes these well established characters, puts them in a new setting and goes all out with it's ridiculous premise.

Now like I mentioned earlier, not everything here is exactly perfect. For starters, I want to mention the Joker for a moment. Because he appears in this movie after he saves Batman from an attack by Kuraku, who is the Yakuza League's version of Superman. And after a brief chat between Batman and Joker when they get back to Gotham City, Joker leaves and is never seen again in this movie. Which leaves me a little confused because I thought Joker was gonna come back near the end of the movie to be the main villain, along with the rest of Batman's gallery of villains from the previous movie. I say this, because during the opening credits, we get to see all of the villains like Gorilla Grodd, Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Two Face, and Deathstroke. And my original thought was that they were going to be fighting against the Yakuza League in this movie at some point. Well, a little bit of a spoiler here, aside from Joker and Harley Quinn, they're not in this movie at *all*. Which kinda makes me wonder why you would have these villains in the intro to begin with, unless you wanted to remind the viewer that they were in the first movie. Which, if that was the case, then they didn't exactly do a great job there. But even with that, I'm kinda happy to see Joker not take the spotlight *again* as the main villain because, like with many other people's issue with Joker, I'm really kinda tired of Joker taking the spotlight in which he doesn't always need to.

But as for other characters, I probably should mention the other Yakuza League members. You have Green Lantern, who's also gender-swapped in this movie. There's not much else to her than that, other than being accompanied by kinda shitty music almost every time she's in action. Though I'll get that later when I cover music. The Flash is basically kind of a cocky asshole. So essentially, he's Sonic the Hedgehog if he amped up the cockiness by 10. Aquaman in this movie is somewhat full of himself when he shows off his strength and abilities, especially when he's fighting Batman underwater. Superman is probably my favorite of the group as he showcases more personality here than how he's usually shown as a typical boy scout that comic writers sometimes usually go with. Though it really just depends on the writer. But yeah, I love this version of Superman and he's damn impressive here.

The only one that is sorta unique is Wonder Woman. Well...not really. See, in this movie Diana isn't called Wonder Woman here. She's just called by her first name and she's the only one of the Yakuza League who doesn't follow the methods of how the other Yakuza League members operate. She's more on the neutral ground who wants to do what's right and help out Batman to stop the other League members. There is also Harley Quinn who, like I mentioned earlier, is one of the only villains, along with Joker, who's also in this movie. And she somehow has more screen time than Joker. And she also develops some kind friendship with Diana in this movie after Diana saves her from Kuraku. It's decent for what it is. And I will say that, much like with Joker, she's not in this movie for too long and she's actually kinda funny in a couple of moments here, too. So, I'm willing to give Harley a bit of a pass here since she's more tolerable than some previous incarnations of her that I've seen.

Overall, guys, the writing here is absolutely solid. While it does have a couple of minor flaws, most of those can be overlooked as the movie itself is incredibly entertaining, both in it's story and action. And as someone who usually prefers having substance added to their action movies, this one definitely nails it. And adding onto all that, the acting here is really solid, too. Just about everyone here puts in a 110% percent. The only one that's gonna be seen as rather polarizing is Batman's voice. The actor who voices him in this English dub goes by the name of Joe Daniels. And I would love to tell you about his acting filmography, but I can't. Because any information that I tried looking up about him almost seems nonexistent. The first thing that came up was a drummer for some band that I've never heard of with the same name. Which I don't think is the same guy. So I can't tell you anything about him unfortunately. What I can say about his performance in this thing, though, is that it sounds very flat and wooden. At least, in the beginning anyway. I could tell that this guy was trying to sort of match the voice of Roger Craig Smith, since he was the one who voiced Batman in "Batman Ninja", but it doesn't exactly work here. I will say, though, later on he does try to mellow out his performance a little bit. But the first time you hear it, you're gonna be totally thrown off by how he tries to make Batman sound here. Just letting you guys know ahead of time of what to expect from him.

Now let's talk about the animation. And, oh boy, this one is gonna be a bit of a challenge here. So, first of all, I should let you guys know that this movie was made by the same studios that made "Batman Ninja". So most of the character designs and 3D models that were from that movie are carried over into this one. At least for characters such as Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Alfred, and Joker. Their models are the exact same as they were there. But now we have the Justice League here, and in different roles too. So how do they look? Well, in terms of designs, they look really fucking cool. Granted, I'm not sure why they made Green Lantern a female here, but I can forgive it because there have been different times where Green Lantern was female. An example would be Tangent Comics, where back in the late 90's, DC kinda re-envisioned some of their more iconic characters with completely new backstories. And one of them was a female version of Green Lantern. So I'm totally fine with it here, even if it does sound kinda odd.

So yeah, the designs of the characters, conceptually speaking, look great. However, there are a couple of things that I need to touch upon. First of all, most of these new designs look rather pixelated. And at first, I thought it might've been an issue with my TV, considering that I've talked about odd pixellation before when covering certain animated movies. However, after getting a closer look, I realize that most of these designs were intentional. It's especially noticeable up close because you'll notice the lines on the side of their faces looking really rough. And it's something that you're either gonna get use to, or it's gonna throw you off completely. And it's a similar situation when I talked about the animation in the first movie because some people weren't really fans of how it looked, animation wise, and I totally get why they would say that. Personally speaking, I thought the animation was fine there, though some of the criticisms were totally valid. This movie's no different. The animation is roughly more of the same, though I feel like they definitely improved on the animation looking a little bit less stiff than how it did in the first movie.

Getting back to the character designs, there are two characters in particular who are gonna stand out at you in a rather negative way. The first one is the Flash. For the most part, the Flash looks perfectly fine...until you see his wooden hat. The wooden hat looks wildly pixelated on the sides of it. Now it's not as noticeable later on, but the first time you see, it will most certainly throw you off. The other character who stands out negatively is Aquaman. Mainly, his facial hair. The problem with it is that looks overly detailed to a point it looks like ugly pixelated shit. And it's a similar problem to when I talked about how Gorilla Grodd looked in the first movie. But after I watched it again some time ago, I noticed that his design wasn't really that much of an issue because it wasn't as overly detailed as I remembered it from watching it the first time. This movie, though, Aquaman's facial hair looks *awful* when rendered in CG. It looks so jumbled together that it makes it look overly detailed and ugly as shit. And as far as I can think of, I didn't recall seeing any facial hair in the first "Batman Ninja" movie. And if I did, it didn't look nearly as bad as it did when they decided to add facial hair to Aquaman.

But overall, minus those two quirks, the animation is really good, and the character designs are, like I said, really fucking cool. The color palettes are also really good, too. In fact, it's just as good, if not better done here than in the first movie. Which is great to see. Sound-mixing here is also really good. The music, for the most part, is really good...except for anytime that Green Lantern is in action. I don't know what kind of music she's accompanied with while she's in action, but it sounds like utter dogshit. I don't know if it's suppose to be something like Japanese dubstep or some really shitty sounding techno music, but either way, it sounds awful. And I don't know why they felt compelled to give her such awful music, especially when she's not the most important aspect of the movie. But overall, the music here is still great. Especially that 80's sounding anime theme song that plays during one of the part of the movie. And the joke that follows after it is hilarious as hell. So yeah, music here is mostly a positive.

So, guys, when everything is said and done, can I recommend "Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League"? Oh, hell yes, guys. This movie is awesome. Now mind you, it's not exactly something that's gonna stand up to par with other Batman movies such as the 1960's Batman movie or "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm", but it's still a really solid movie on it's own standards. Now being that this is a sequel, I would recommend that you check out it's predecessor first before you watch this movie, just so you'll have a better idea of what's going on. But still, if you can find a copy of this movie anywhere on a physical format, or if it's running on some streaming service, go ahead and check it out. Assuming, of course, you've already seen "Batman Ninja". If not, do that first before watching it's sequel. I was a little skeptical of buying a physical copy, because it was going for about $20 at Walmart. And I know some people aren't exactly chomping at the bit to pay that much for a brand new movie. So if you want to wait for a price drop or, again, find it on some streaming service first, then that's totally cool. As for myself, I'm totally happy with my purchase because I would not have known how awesome this movie was if I didn't pick it up to begin with. So yeah, this movie will definitely have the prestige and honor to be added to my DVD collection. And now that I've mentioned other great Batman movies, I'm gonna go watch one of them right now. I think I'm gonna watch..."Batman: Under The Red Hood" next. I haven't seen that one in a while and I feel that it deserves another viewing for me. So that's what I'm gonna do next once I get done with this review.

And with that, guys, that concludes the 300th episode of Reaction & Review. I'm hoping, maybe, I'll get to reach 400, but we'll just have to wait and see for now. Until then, guys, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a film from 2014. That movie is "Captain America: The Winter Soldier".

Now for those of you who may not happen to remember, a couple of years ago, I reviewed "Captain America: The First Avenger" and I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a really solid origin story for Captain America's debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And since I enjoyed that movie very much, I've been really looking forward to watching it's sequel, which is what I'm gonna be covering tonight for this series. Now I should let you guys know real quick, in case you're not aware, I've already seen "Captain America: Civil War" a long time ago, so it's ineligible for this series. And I personally have no interest in ever watching it's fourth entry "Captain America: Brave New World". So as far as I'm concerned, this is the only film in the Captain America lineup that I haven't seen yet.

As for what I know about it going in, well, I already know that it involves Bucky Barnes being the Winter Soldier, and he somehow has survived from between the time from "Captain America: The First Avenger" to this one. So, as far as plot details go, I don't know much else beyond that. I'm kinda going into this one as blind as I can here. I know that people have claimed this particular movie to be the best MCU movie ever made, which I take that with a grain of salt because I'm personally sick and tired of hearing that crap every time a new movie came out within the MCU, because fanboys, at least at the time anyway, would jerk off to whatever new movie that's released and claim it as "the best Marvel movie to date". Thankfully, I don't hear very much of that anymore nowadays, seeing as how the MCU is basically just a shell of it's former self pretending to still be relevant.

But anyway, setting that aside, I really am hoping for this movie to be great. And if is, then yeah, this movie has already accomplished that feat. But I won't know for sure yet unless I shut up and I play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Captain America: The Winter Soldier".

20 minutes later

OK, I have a question here and it really doesn't have much to do with the movie itself, but I want to ask it anyway. So, Steve is watching old archived interview footage of Peggy Carter, who was Steve's love interest in the first movie. I'm also aware that she had her own miniseries called "Agent Carter". Was that show even any good? I'm only asking because, as far as I'm aware of, it really had little to no impact on the MCU as a whole. Was she even that popular of a character to warrant her own show? Again, I know it has nothing to do with the movie itself, but I'm just asking because I'm sorta curious about that.

10 minutes later

You know, I have to ask why aren't the cars that aren't police vehicles pulling over? I ask this, because there's a bunch of shady police officers in their vehicles trying to chase after Fury, and almost none of the other passerby vehicles are pulling over to the side! Normally, whenever you would see or hear police or even an ambulance coming towards you, the most logical thing you could do is pull over to the side so that they can pass by you while they're on pursuit. I'm guessing that's either just a normal thing in Washington or the people there are just rock stupid to get themselves unintentionally involved. Just my own theory, really.

11 minutes later

OK, that is a really creative way to hide something in the vending machine. How exactly Steve was able to hide it in there is anyone's guess, but still, it is a rather creative hiding spot.

8 minutes later

Well, guys, I know this is probably a moot thing to bring up, but the fact that Steve Rogers was able to take out about...ten soldiers, maybe, I wasn't really counting, all inside a single elevator is pretty fucking awesome, I gotta say.

30 seconds later

Oh, and he also just jumped out of the window from a high building while landing shield first onto the pavement. That must've fucking hurt, which I think is also a moot point to bring up, but still. That shit must've hurt like hell.

15 minutes later

So Hydra was the reason why S.H.I.E.l.D. was created in the first place to create war and fabricate history to it's own will so that people will eventually give up their freedom in exchange for security. That is honestly kinda frightening in hindsight seeing as how corrupt S.H.I.E.L.D. has been for so long. But yeah, I never would've known that about S.H.I.E.L.D. until just now.

16 minutes later

OK, that was really sorta creative in how Natasha used her phone to record her voice as a distraction for the Winter Soldier. That was really cool.

19 minutes later

You know, guys, I wasn't exactly sure if I wanted to ask this or not, but seeing as how he's on screen currently, I'm gonna go ahead and ask this. When did Falcon get his suit? I'm only asking this because I don't exactly remember if they even explained that at all. Granted, it doesn't really the ruin the film at all. In fact, it's been great so far, but I am a little curious about it because I just felt asking it is all.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Captain America: The Winter Soldier". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. Wow, um...where to even to start? Well, I mentioned earlier about how fans and fanboys of the MCU would rate this as, quite possibly, the best MCU film ever made. They've also claimed that for a lot of other MCU movies that came out afterwards until "Avengers: Endgame", which again, I take that with a grain of salt. Because I've seen movies like the first "Guardians of the Galaxy" film and I personally wasn't really impressed by it. And that's me being nice about it, mind you. I could be a hell of a lot harsher towards it, but I'm not going to do that here. But anyway, this movie is one of those "best movie Marvel movie to date" movies that fans have claimed. And I am gonna say that this is one of the very few times that they're right. This movie is really great. Now mind you, I wouldn't put it above the first "Iron Man" movie because I've seen it so many times already, but I would probably put this one in my top 5 favorite films from the MCU. So at least there is that.

So anyway, why don't we actually go ahead and start this review off as usual with the writing. And the first thing I need to talk about when covering a film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe is how humor is handled here. I'm willing to say that, for the most part, the humor is kept to a minimum. While there are a couple of jokes here and there that kinda suck, it doesn't put a damper on the film as a whole. What you're watching is essentially a political action thriller. And a very well written one at that, too. Everything here will keep you interested in what's going on as most of everything makes sense. At least for a movie based off a comic book anyways. Now I have never read the Winter Soldier storyline arc from the comics, but I will say that, after watching this, I'm kinda interested in checking out the comics to see how those stories pan out for themselves.

Speaking of which, I do need to apologize about something. See, earlier, when I was talking about what I knew about the movie going into it, I said I knew about Bucky Barnes being the Winter Soldier in this movie. And I need to apologize about that because that's actually a big spoiler for the movie. In fact, they don't reveal that until well over an hour into the movie. Now I know some people will probably not care about this, especially fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, who have been exposed to the internet and were spoiled about this already or they were big fans of the Captain America comics and knew what to expect going in. However, I still felt kinda bad for spoiling it here because if you're someone who's never seen the films, or have never read any of the comics, you probably wouldn't know about that kind of detail. And I feel like one of those assholes on the internet who likes to spoil movies that people were interested in watching, and they were exposed to massive spoilers, intentionally or not. So again, I feel the need to apologize about this because I accidentally spoiled it without even thinking about it first.

But yeah, setting that aside, like I said, the writing here is great. The characters in this film are very well written and likable. The relationship between Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanov is very good here. They kinda hint at a romance between the two, however, nothing is pushed beyond that. Most of the film is about them being on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. Well, Hyrda acting as S.H.I.E.L.D. anyways. And of course, they're also being pursued by the Winter Soldier. Now I could obviously talk more about this, since I accidentally spoiled who he was before watching the movie, however, I'm not gonna go beyond that because I really do believe that it's better you watch the rest of the film yourself. Well, actually, I would say you go watch "Captain America: The First Avenger" first before you watch this just so you have a better idea of Captain America, as a character, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So yeah, guys, writing here is great. It's very strong and knows what kind of genre it wants to be, which is great to see. The acting is also really good, too. Everyone was given enough material to work with to perform to the best of their abilities, which includes everyone from the main cast such as Chris Evans, Scarlet Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson. The latter in which he sounds he more subdued, though to be fair, of the few times I've seen him in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it kinda fits his character, so I'm willing to let it pass. The supporting cast also does a really good job, too. So I'm pleased to see everyone turning in a great showing.

Special effects are kinda what you come to expect from a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie. The CG, the pyrotechnics, and costuming, specifically on Captain America and The Winter Soldier is really good. The fight choreography is also just as good, too. All of the action feels intense and it looks like it would hit hard, as I've commented earlier with Captain America and him jumping out of a building and landing on his shield. But yeah, all of the action sequences are great. And overall, the special effects are really good.

Camerawork here is also really good. Lighting here is lit perfectly fine. The sound-mixing is top notch. The score here is also really good, too. It's nothing amazing, though, I could also say that about a lot of the MCU films with scores that feel a little bit samey. Not all the time, of course, but most of the time anyways. That said, what is here for music totally works here. So I'm not about to say that it sucks or anything.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"? Oh yes, absolutely, guys. This movie is amazing. As a sequel to the first movie, it definitely lives up to being just as good, if not better than it's predecessor. On it's own standards, it's really good, too. I would, again, recommend that you watch the first Captain America movie before watching this one. If you're already an MCU fan, chances are that you're already seen this movie. It's pretty cheap to get a copy of it, and of course it's also on Disney+, if you actually have a Disney+ account anyways. I personally don't care about Disney+, but that's just me. I'm perfectly happy with my physical copy of this movie and I'm honored to have it be added to my ever growing DVD collection. Now...since I keep mentioning the first Captain America movie from the MCU, I'm gonna go and watch that again right now, because this movie made me want to go and rewatch it again just so I can be reminded of how good the first movie was.

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm gonna be covering a movie from 2019. That movie is "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines".

I'm gonna be perfectly honest with you guys, I know almost next to nothing about this movie. The only bits of information that I know of is that it's another one of DC's direct-to-video animated films and that it also came out as part of a combo pack which features "Wonder Woman: Commemorative Edition", which is the 2009 animated film I reviewed last year in my previous "Tales of the Longbox" marathon. Although the version I reviewed then wasn't the Commemorative Edition, it was just the standard version that I had reviewed. I've long since traded that version of the movie in for this combo pack, which has both that movie and this one that I'm going to watch for this series.

Really, guys, I don't have much to say for an introduction here other than that. I'm hoping for this film to be good, and, so far, Wonder Woman has a pretty good batting average for me when it comes to her films. I know someone might bring up "Wonder Woman 1984", however, I have not seen that movie yet so I can't comment on it. I'm just gonna focus on this movie for now and see if it's 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: Bloodlines".

7 minutes later

OK, guys, I know continuity in the DC universe can vary in different timelines, but this is the first one where I can think of where Wonder Woman has to fight her mother, Queen Hippolyta, in order to leave the island with Steve Trevor. It's possible that she may have had to do that in the comics, but still, it's new to me she has to fight her mother of all things.

9 minutes later

OK, I have a question here. So throughout the time that Diana's been staying with Vanessa and her mother, Vanessa has slowly transformed her lifestyle from being a regular teenage girl to, almost, becoming a goth chick. Has Diana not even told Vanessa's mother about how much her daughter's physical appearance has changed? I get that Diana probably wouldn't understand it, seeing as how she's still getting used to our culture and all, but I really think she should've at least noticed the signs of how much Vanessa's appearance has changed. Just something to consider is all.

5 minutes later

So one of the villains of this movie is Dr. Poison...interesting. Last time I saw her was back in the live action movie from 2017. That's sorta cool. I'm curious to see how this movie will actually handle her here.

10 minutes later

All right, I have another question here. So, as I've mentioned once or twice beforehand, I'm not exactly the biggest expert when it comes to Wonder Woman, but how exactly did she get her invisible plane? I'm asking this mainly because they're introducing it here in this movie, and she's not flying it I should mention, so I'm curious as to how she originally got it? I always believed it was some kind of secret technology made by the Amazon's. Granted, I know the Amazon's aren't exactly known for being the most technological group out there, but it's just something that I never quite understood about Wonder Woman's invisible plane. Just curious is all.

3 minutes later

So Vanessa's new identity and form in this movie is that she's now known as Silver Swan. And judging by her appearance and fighting style, she's basically the Falcon from Marvel Comics, only with more mechanical attachments to her body. That's...interesting. Not exactly creative, mind you, but at least it's something a little unique that makes her stand out.

16 minutes later

All right, I was sorta hoping that I wouldn't have to comment on this, but I feel like now is the time to bring this up. Why are there are so many shots of Wonder Woman's ass? I bring this up mainly because there have been a lot of shots where they show off her ass while in her costume. I don't know if this was an intentional thing or not, but it's just something that could be considered distracting. And it is a little bit, if I'm being honest here.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. So, where to start here? Well, I am willing to say that, despite a few minor things here and there, I actually did really enjoy this movie. Now mind you, I wouldn't say that it ranks up there with other DC animated films such as "Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox" or "Suicide Squad: Hell To Pay", however, that does not take away on how well this movie stands on it's own merits. It is a pretty good film.

Now with that said, let's actually get into it here by first talking about the writing. I want to start off with something that stuck out at me at the most. See, as I've already mentioned beforehand, I'm not really the biggest expert when it comes to Wonder Woman's mythos. I never really found her backstory very interesting when compared to a few other superheroes from DC Comics. So I don't really attune myself with her stories all that much. That being said, there is one thing I wanted to bring up in regards to her home of Themyscira. Now I'm not gonna try to spoil too much here, so I'll try my best to keep it to a minimum.

So after Wonder Woman's first fight with Vanessa as Silver Swan, she's taken to some place called Cale Pharmaceuticals, which was the company that Vanessa's mother formerly worked at. And as she's being taken into medical care, it's been revealed that the armor she has implanted in her is something of a virus that's slowly killing her from the inside. Diana believes that the only thing that can help Vanessa is something called a "purple healing ray", which is something that helped healed Steve Trevor's injuries from way early on in the movie. The only thing is, she doesn't know where Themyscira is anymore. So throughout a decent portion of the film, they're trying to figure out a way on how to get to Themyscira, which is where the healing purple ray comes from.

And it's here where I have to ask something about how Themyscira works. Now it's been stated in this film that once Diana leaves Themyscira, she's not gonna have any memory on where it's located. And I have to ask: Is that really something that happens in the comics? Where if you leave Themyscira, you're not gonna have any memory on where it is anymore? My original thought process was that it had been about 5 years after Diana left her home in order to pursue her own path with Steve Trevor, but I don't really ever recall if that was actually an established rule that was applied to Themyscira, or if that was something that's only established for this movie. I don't know, perhaps if I had read the comics, maybe I would've had a better idea on how Diana's home world actually works. I know it's only an all female island and that men are not allowed there, but that's all I know about it. Anything else is just something that I'm left in the dark on. So if anyone reading this can clarify that thing for me, please do. Because that's something that sorta bugged me as I was watching the movie.

That aside, I will say that our story here is pretty good. It sorta reworks Wonder Woman's origin story a little while also telling a slightly more original story. I say "slightly original", because it involves our other main character, Vanessa, who ends up being neglected by her mother when Diana comes over to stay with her and daughter. It then comes later to a point where Vanessa ends up doing some illegal shit involving our villains of the movie, who I will say are not all that interesting. I'll get more to that in a moment. But anyway, Vanessa herself ends up joining their side after an accident happens involving her mother and blames Wonder Woman for it. Now I would normally not like this sort of plot, where a character is having parent issues. And I state this, mainly because I've experienced that kind of shit involving Lara Croft and her father in the Tomb Raider reboot games. However, I will say that, unlike with Lara Croft, where they try to tell the same fucking story involving her having daddy issues again and again, this one is just regulated to just this one movie. So, at least there is that.

Our characters here are mostly really likable. Wonder Woman herself is pretty much what you would come to expect, as she is noble and caring, especially to Vanessa, even after the latter turns evil. Steve Trevor, while not as awesome as he was in the 2009 animated film, is still likable in this own way. Though admittedly, his comic relief in this movie isn't really all that funny. Especially when, again, you compare it to the 2009 film where he was just a charming, womanizing smartass. That said, the relationship he has with Diana is very good here. So, it's a little bit of a trade off that I'm willing to accept here. The villains, though, are really, *really* fucking bland and forgettable. Our main antagonist, Dr. Cyber, is not seen throughout most of the entire movie, aside from hearing her voice from a computer monitor. Dr. Poison is equally just as forgettable, since she really doesn't do much of anything here, outside of giving Vanessa her armor implants. Aside from that, the villains in this movie are incredibly forgetful. In fact, they're probably the most forgettable set of villains I've seen in *any* of the DC animated films I've seen up til this point. Which is a feat that I didn't think was actually possible, but here we are. This movie found a way to make their villains forgettable as shit.

So, overall, guys, the writing here is pretty good. Aside from a few things that aren't exactly great, such as the bland villains, I can certainly say that the writing here is mostly pretty good as a whole. As for the acting, most of it is also pretty good...minus Vanessa's voice actress. For the most part, she sounds rather stilted when delivering lines properly. I don't know if it was because of the script she was given or if she herself really kinda sucks at acting, but she was easily the weakest actress in this entire movie. The rest of the cast did a really decent job, though. So I can actually say that most of the acting is really competent here.

Animation in this movie is pretty good, though I will admit that there a couple of things I noticed about this movie's animation. The first thing is that some of the mouth movements feel a little stilted. And it mostly happens whenever characters aren't moving. Some of that felt a little wonky and awkward. Though really, that is just a minor problem if you were actually looking for it. The other thing, and I brought it up earlier, is when you get to see a lot of shots of Wonder Woman's ass whenever she's in her New 52 outfit. There are a *lot* of these and, like I said earlier, they can be rather distracting, especially when she's in battle. Again, I don't know if that was intentional on the animator's part and they just got really bored one day and decided to add those in for their own amusement or not, but overall, these shots are really distracting. That said, whenever she's wearing her more traditional outfit that she wears in the third act of the movie, you don't notice it very much, if at all. So I guess that's more of a positive if you're someone who's not into these sort of fanservice-y shots of Wonder Woman's behind.

Those two issues aside, the color palettes here really good, as they mostly do in a lot of the other direct-to-video DC animated movies. So that's always a plus. Sound-mixing here is fine, and the score here is also very serviceable. It's not memorable in any way, but at least it gets the job done.

Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, can I recommend "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines"? For the most part, yes. Especially if you're a big fan of Wonder Woman. If you're interested in checking this movie out, I would recommend that you get the combo pack that also features the 2009 animated movie. Or if you can find it solo on DVD or Blu-ray, go ahead and pick up a copy, as long it's cheap anyway. As for myself, well, I did say earlier that I traded in my older copy of the 2009 movie in favor of the combo pack which has both that movie along with "Wonder Woman: Bloodlines". And I don't regret it, personally. I really enjoyed this movie enough to want to hold onto. And since I do have the other movie on this combo pack, I'm gonna go and watch it right now because I'm kinda in the mood to watch it again after reviewing it for this series. So I'm gonna go and watch that next as soon as I get done typing this review up.

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 | Ghost In The Shell

 

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm checking out a sci-fi animated film from 1995. That movie is "Ghost In The Shell".

Now I mentioned this a long time ago, back when I reviewed "Assault Girls", I'm not the biggest fan of the "Ghost In The Shell" series. I tried watching one of the animated series back on Adult Swim. I even watched the 2017 live-action movie that some people bitched about for overly trivial reasons such as the main character being played by a Caucasian person. Even though the Major is an android and she can be whatever gender or race she wants to be. But even with that aside, the movie, for me personally, was just not that interesting. And so I continue to remain indifferent to the series.

Which then brings me to this movie, and it might also raise a question someone might ask. If I'm not a fan of the series, why am I even watching something that I'm indifferent to? Well, the answer is both long and short. The short answer is that I've never seen this movie. The long answer is that I've heard really good things about this movie. And it's also one of those films that revolutionized anime as being a cult following. Some people even rank it amongst other anime films such as "Akira", "Vampire Hunter D", "Metropolis", and "Perfect Blue" as being one of the pioneers of anime becoming popular over in the U.S.

And with it also being based on a manga, I can totally count it for this series, what with it being centered around comic book movies and all. So now, I get to find out if I'm gonna really like this movie and see if it actually earned the cult status that it did back when it first came out. And the only way I'm gonna find that 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 "Ghost In The Shell".

12 minutes later

So, let me see if I understand this. So they don't have any real information on the Puppet Master's age, sex, or background. Yet, she thinks they're from America because it's their first time in this country. How does the Major know that the person is American? OK yeah, it's their first time in Japan, but that could also apply to *anyone* around the world that isn't from Japan. So again, how does Major Kusanagi even know that the hacker is American? I'm not trying to poke holes in this story, guys, I just think we're kinda jumping to conclusions here without having any real information to work with.

20 minutes later

Sorry, guys, if I'm not saying a whole lot right now. This movie hasn't really given me much to work with. I will say, though, that I am rather intrigued on where this is going. So at least there is that.

20 minutes later

Once more, guys, I'm really sorry that I'm not saying very much. I know I should be talking more about it, but I'm kinda focusing more on the movie itself at the moment. So far, I am willing to say that the movie has been really fascinating, as has been the animation, which I'll talk about later when I get to reviewing it. I'm hoping I'll get more to say more about the story and such, but I'll just continue to wait and see for now.

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Ghost In The Shell". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off now...OK. Good lord, where do I even begin here...? I'm gonna say right now, guys, that this movie will be a rather tough one to review. Because while I admit that I did enjoy watching this movie, it also encapsulates why I'm not a fan of the series to begin with.

Let's start off with the writing. And that in itself is gonna be a challenge because I don't exactly know where to begin with here. I guess I should probably start by saying that the story here feels a little rushed. And part of that has to do with the film's runtime. This movie clocks in at about less than 80 minutes long and I feel that it kinda rushes itself in order to get to it's conclusion. I feel that it probably would've flowed better if it had been a little longer. Perhaps maybe another 15 or 20 minutes would've really helped it out. It also doesn't help that the pacing is rather uneven at times. Because there are scenes in this movie where it'll focus on the locations of the movie for minutes at a time, and, while it does look visually impressive, it also doesn't really add much to the story other than to fill time.

In terms of it's story, it's about our main character, Major Kusanagi, and her band of partners, trying to track down a criminal hacker known as the Puppet Master, who basically can control the minds of his victims as they live out some kind of fantasy existence that's completely computer-generated. And I'm gonna say that this movie does present some interesting ideas, such as this where near the beginning of the movie, where Kusanagi and her team are tracking down a couple of guys in a garbage truck, and one of the drivers is telling this other guy about his girlfriend that he lives with. Only to discover, after he gets placed under arrest and is interrogation, he finds out that the life he was living for the last, I think, decade or so was nothing but a lie. The picture he had of the girlfriend turned out that she didn't exist. Which, the whole segment in itself is honestly really haunting because it presents the idea that your mind can just simply be altered like that and your memories can almost never fully recover. It really is one of the more interesting aspects that the movie presents itself with.

Unfortunately, those interesting aspects are very few here. The movie tries to be a sci-fi political thriller, which is fine, because that's what the series is mostly kinda known for. However, it also has to be interesting enough to where you can follow it and be engaged with what's going on. A good example of that would be something that I mentioned earlier, "Perfect Blue". The reason why that movie works as a thriller is because they actually keep you engaged with it's story and is also pretty easy to follow for the most part. This movie, however, tries to be more than what it wants to be. And I'm not gonna sit here and say that it does a really poor job or anything, but given that this film had a somewhat short runtime to begin with, there's only so much you can present your ideas with in such a short runtime. And even barring the runtime aside, most of everything else in this movie, apart from what I talked about earlier, doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, especially if you try to grasp all of it at once.

Now an argument could be made that you'd have to watch it more than once to fully understand it's story and it's themes. And that's not entirely a bad argument there, because I've had some experiences with a couple of movies that did that kind of thing for me. A couple of movies I can think of are, again, "Perfect Blue" and John Carpenter's "They Live". The latter was mainly more of a pacing issue than it's story, however, I didn't find that an issue on my second viewing of it afterwards. But again, the reason why those movies worked is because they were both really easy to follow. And with "Perfect Blue", I was able to understand most of it on my first viewing, and it really does get better on repeat viewings. As with "Ghost In The Shell", I can't do that here. Not just with this movie, but that goes for the animated series that I watched, along with the 2017 live-action movie. I can't immerse myself with this series because it doesn't really have much of anything for me to engage with. I've tried time and again with it, but nothing sticks with me about that series. Which is why I'm probably never going to be watching this movie again simply because I don't have that much of an interest in the "Ghost In The Shell" series.

So, as you can probably surmise, the writing here is a little bit underwhelming. Again, I want to stress that the movie itself isn't bad, it's just that it tries to do a lot within a short runtime, and what you're given doesn't entirely make sense. Maybe on another viewing it'll probably make a little more sense, but as with this series, I just can't engage myself in another viewing of it. So yeah, writing here isn't entirely my thing. As for the acting, well, I did watch the English dub for this film and I can say that it's fine for what it is. The only one that I have mixed feelings on is the actress voicing the Major here. She sounds rather, pardon the pun here,..kinda robotic. Now it kinda makes sense, seeing as how the Major is a cyborg and all, but part of me wonders if that was the intention given her direction for this dub, or if she's acting like she's just reading whatever's on her script. I'm not totally sure which one is more accurate, but honestly, I've heard far worse when it comes to dubs, so it's just something that you have to take for what it's worth.

Animation here is, without question, the best thing about this movie. Everything here flows beautifully, and the locations that you get to see in this futuristic world of Japan looks amazing. Color palettes here are also used very well, too. Both in character design and, again, the locations of Japan. There are also small cases of CG as well, however, they are very brief. And for 1995 standards, it's not too bad. It's not amazing, however, you would also have to be completely foolish to compare CG from the mid 90's to today. But yeah, animation as a whole is really good.

Sound-mix here is mixed fine. Music here is also another thing that I can say is a very big positive for this movie. Every piece of music here is atmospheric and really well done. And while I've complained about the pacing in this movie, I can say that the music will keep you interested. So it's a little bit of a double edged sword there, but still. The score here is great.

Overall, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Ghost In The Shell"? Well, if you're a fan of the series, then you've probably already seen this movie, and probably own it on DVD or Blu-ray. If you're not a fan of the series, however, I'm not totally sure if this movie would be a good starting point for you. I say this as someone who is also not a fan of the series. If you are really curious, though, I would say it could be worth watching at least once. As long as you're able to overlook the somewhat glacial pacing this movie has, then you might find a lot of enjoyment out of it. But as for myself, personally speaking, I can't say that this is something that I'm ever going to watch again. I've given this series multiple tries to win me over as a fan and all of them have kinda struck out. So I'm more than likely not gonna bother with the "Ghost In The Shell" series again anytime soon. It just hasn't really worked out for me. So with that in mind, I'm gonna go and watch "Perfect Blue" again. Because that, to me, is the best thriller I have ever seen and I kinda want it right now after mentioning it a little while back.

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 later. Peace.

Reaction & Review | Injustice

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to "Tales of the Longbox" here on Reaction & Review. Tonight, guys, I'm guys, I'm gonna be covering an animated film from 2021. That movie is "Injustice".

Now, I did play the video game that this movie is adapting from, which was actually called "Injustice: Gods Among Us". I didn't play it when it first came out, I actually played it quite a few years after it came out. Which is kind of a mistake on my part because when I attempted to find players I could play against online on my Wii U, I got no response from anyone online. And I know someone's probably gonna say that no one plays the Wii U anymore because the Switch is their holy messiah of Nintendo. But again, I also have to stress that I played it years after the game was originally released. And I am also aware that they released a sequel afterwards, which more people probably played and everyone stopped playing the first game shortly afterwards.

But yeah, regardless of my inexperience with trying to play the game online, I did kinda enjoy it and the story was really good, too. And then I learned that Warner Bros released an animated adaptation of the popular video game. Which leads me all the more curious as to how they handle it here. Now the only things I remember about the story of "Injustice: Gods Among Us" was that Joker killed Lois Lane, and Superman when all apeshit and destroyed the world and everyone in it. I'm not too familiar with the rest of the story beyond that since, again, it's been quite a while since I last experienced the story when I last played the game.

So now, I get to see how they handle the story here through animation and see if it's any good. I'm not totally sure if it is or not, but that's what I'm here to find our. And the only 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 "Injustice".

2 minutes later

Wait, so Clark believes that Lois is pregnant since he heard a heartbeat coming from her. Um...how does he know that? He never used his X-Ray vision to check and see if there was an embryo inside Lois's stomach. So how the hell does he know that Lois is pregnant? I'm not saying that he's wrong here, I'd just like to see some actual proof is all.

8 minutes later

O...K...so, you guys remembered when I kept mentioning that it had been quite a while since I last played the story of "Injustice: Gods Among Us"? Well, I was totally wrong about Superman being the one who killed everyone after Lois was killed. That was *all* Joker. Holy shit...

6 minutes later

OK, I have a question here and I know it's very trivial in the long run, but I gotta ask. When did Superman develop a five o' clock shadow? I'm assuming some time has passed already since the events of that horrific tragedy, even though we're not told how exactly much time has passed. I'm gonna assume it's been, like, a couple of weeks or so, so I guess it might've been enough time for him to grow a slight beard. I don't even remember if he even had that in the game or not, but still, seeing him get a five o' clock shadow looks a little off to me, you know what I mean?

4 minutes later

All right, guys, two things. One, I got it wrong in thinking that Superman had a five o' clock shadow. That was just odd shading on his face. And two, this little speech that he's making here is reminding me of that speech he made in "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace". You know, the one where he tried to get leaders all over the world to give up nuclear weapons for the sake of peace? This is reminding me of that, only this time, a child didn't ask him to do it for stupid reasons. Just thought I'd mention that.

17 minutes later

OK, now that's *two* kills for Superman, as he just killed Solomon Grundy. And you know what the strange thing is? I can't exactly blame Superman for that one, I blame that more on Harley Quinn because she's the one who caused all the cells at Arkham Asylum to open in the first place. Granted, it was sorta good intentions on her part, but still, she's also responsible for letting one of them die at the hands of Superman. So...good on you, Harley, for being fucking stupid as hell.

2 minutes later

Wait, so in this movie, Selina Kyle knows who Dick Grayson is and knows about Bruce Wayne being Batman. The latter I can believe, because I know in the comics, Bruce revealed his identity to her and the two of them ended up falling in love shortly after that, but I find it a little odd that she knows about who Robin is and also about Dick Grayson. But that's just me, personally.

8 minutes later

Hold up! Wait a fucking second here! So Superman just admitted that he's not a god, even though he, Wonder Woman, and a few others of the Justice League have been going around the world stopping missiles from killing people, blowing up other countries, and forcing world leaders to sign peace treaties. Oh sure, dude, you are *totally* not abusing your authority over other people in their countries and how they run. No dude, you are *truly* using your powers for good and that you're not gonna incite any people to fear you or raise up their pitchforks whatsoever! You are *truly* the hero that everybody looks up to! ...I'm sorry, guys, but there's a limit to how much Superman can overstep his bounds on how stupid he's being and acting right now. That was just a really stupid thing he just said there.

2 minutes later

So hold on a fucking second here! So, the Atom is inside Superman's mind right now with a shard of kryptonite that's making Superman stop in his tracks. Are you telling me that they could've done this at *anytime* during the entirety of the movie, yet, they let Superman dictate on how he should be running the world and also let one of their best friends and ally die in the process. I'm sorry, but this is fucking stupid beyond levels! I'm actually kinda pissed because this is something that they should've fucking thought about *long* time ago and would've prevented a lot more damage than what was already caused by Superman. Fuck this movie, man...

The Review

Well, guys, that was "Injustice". Let me go ahead and shut the movie off here...OK. God, where do I even start with this thing...? I'm a little torn, guys. Because, even though this movie was way more stupid than I thought it could be, I will say the final fight between the two Supermans, which was also a thing in the ending of the game, was actually really good. And what came after was also really touching, too. Granted, it's also something resembling a plothole, which I'll talk about in a moment. But despite that, even though I'm gonna be ranting against this movie for all of it's flaws, I will say that there is still some good stuff here. So I'm not gonna say that it completely sucks or anything, it's just way too fucking flawed for it's own good.

So with that, let's talk about the biggest flaw this movie suffers from the most, which is it's writing. The writing in this movie is just filled to the brim with so many plotholes and dumb moments that I could be here for hours discussing what went wrong with every scene in this movie. Now before I go any further on it, I am going to say that I'm not gonna be doing any comparisons with how the game's story played out. Because, one, as I've mentioned a couple of times already, it's been a long time since I last played out the game's story, so I'm not gonna be comparing what the game did better over this movie and vice versa. And secondly, this movie goes in a more different direction with it's story anyways, because this movie has certain elements that were not present in the game, which is what I expect from an adaptation. Adaptations of whatever you're adapting from should stand or fall on it's own. And this movie, unfortunately, really kinda stumbles in this area.

To begin with, let's start with the biggest plothole that sticks out at me. And it's the fact that the Atom can go into the mind of Superman with a small shard of kryptonite and basically mess with the Man of Steel. That part, I can kinda buy, because the Atom is capable of shrinking himself to really small levels. However, what I can't buy is the fact that nobody thought of this until they got to the Fortress of Solitude to enact this plan of theirs. Well...to be fair, their real plan was to get some kind of cannon from the Fortress of Solitude that would be able to stop Superman in his tracks. But still, the idea that they could get the Atom to shrink to small size while he holds a small shard of kryptonite to mess with Superman's mind is something that they should've done a *long* time ago.

Same thing with goes with the ending. As much as I did really enjoy the ending, it also makes you question why the hell they didn't think of doing this before Superman overreached his authority over the world is something that is incredibly baffling. The only thing I could think of as to why they let this happen is because maybe they didn't think that Superman, at the beginning, *would* be able to take it this far with how he's trying to police the world by stopping all wars from happening. But still, you could also argue that this is something that Batman, the World's Greatest Detective, should've thought about to begin with. I mean, the guy was able to defeat the entirety of the Justice League by himself in "Justice League: Doom" by learning all of the League's weaknesses and outsmarting them. How the fuck did Batman not use his brain here to outsmart Superman like that is something that really makes me question if, in this universe, he's just a half decent detective rather than being the smartest?

But that's just Batman. Let's talk about Superman in this movie. Now, in fairness, I can give his character some leeway here. Obviously, what he's doing is done with good intentions. He wants people to stop killing each other over war so that another tragedy like Metropolis won't happen again. That stuff is all well and good. However, he's obviously not thinking clearly with a lot of his actions. Like when he kills a lot of people at this dance club because most of them were dressed up similarly to the Joker. That is when even Wonder Woman, who's acts really stupid and is by Superman's side for most of this movie, realizes that something is wrong with him and eventually turns on him near the end of the film. So, as much as I can criticize Superman and his actions in this movie, I feel like a lot of that was done intentionally. I mean, I could go more into the stupid shit where he said that he's not a god, yet he's basically overstepping his bounds like forcing world leaders to sign peace treaties to end their wars. However, like I said, I believe this was done intentionally to show his flaws as a character. So I'm gonna give Superman a bit of a pass in this story.

However, I can't do the same with a certain other character: Damien Wayne, AKA Robin. Ever since I watched certain other DC animated films such as "Son of Batman" and "Justice League vs. Teen Titans", I've always had a certain amount of dislike for the character and they kinda ramp it up here where he's being an immature idiot. And the crowning achievement of him being an idiot comes when he accidentally kills Nightwing during the fight at Arkham Asylum. Which, when I originally saw that scene, I thought he just knocked him out cold. I didn't think him throwing his weapon at the side of Nightwing's head like that would actually kill him. But it somehow did, and it builds more of a distrust between him and Batman, even though that issue was already kinda resolved in "Son of Batman". But no, they undo it here by having Damien kill Nightwing and it just makes me dislike both him and Batman for this movie for undoing shit that didn't need to be undone.

So you're probably wondering if there are *any* likable characters in this movie? Well, yes, there are. I can name 3 of them. Catwoman, Mr. Terrific, and Plastic Man. The latter in which he has the most personality of the group. Catwoman is somewhat more level-headed when she goes into the batcave to calm Bruce down and just let his emotions out not as Batman, but as himself. That moment was really good. And then you have Mr. Terrific. Admittedly, I'm not too familiar with him other than he's suppose to be the third smartest guy in the DC universe. One scene in particular that I can remember with him is when Superman asks him to help get rid of guns. And Mr. Terrific counters him by saying that, well, are you gonna stop people from smoking, which causes cancer and kills people faster? Are you gonna stop people from speeding in their cars? He admits that he could help Superman get rid of most guns, but there would still be a way for people, good and bad, to get guns. So he declines to help him. I was gonna question why, later in the film, he had these special cameras with his insignia that is policing people all over the world, but then I realized that Superman probably forced him to make those him, and it was revealed that he was set up in a prison that is underwater. So I can forgive that sort of issue.

Guys, there is so much more that I could mention involving the writing, however, I would be here for an entire day talking about more flaws that this movie has. So I'm just gonna sum up to you guys by saying that the writing here is incredibly flawed. There is so much stupidity and plotholes that you could pile into a crock pot and still wouldn't be able to fill it all the way with. That said, I will say that the acting here is certainly really decent. It's not the best I've heard, in terms of acting from previous DC animated films that I've seen, but it is certainly not horrible either. Everyone turned in a fairly decent showing for what they had to work with here. So I can at least say that the acting here is fairly competent.

Animation here is mostly really good, though there are a couple of moments where the frames look a little bit wonky. One example I can think of at the top of my mind is when Nightwing is facing off against one of the inmates at Arkham Asylum. I don't remember which one, but it doesn't really matter. But yeah, there's a frame during the fight where it looked a little wonky and it sorta looked like an in-between frame rather than a finished one. But it's honestly a minor flaw as long as you're not looking for it like I did. The rest of the animation is really good. Sure, it's not on par with some other films I've seen in the DC animated lineup, though it's honestly just a personal thing, because I really enjoy a lot of these animated films from DC and there's a few that stand out to me that look really good. But it's nothing to take away from the animation here, as it most of it flows really well.

I want to touch upon the art-style, though, for just a moment. Because there's two characters, whose designs in particular struck out at me in a somewhat bizarre way. Both of which are Superman and Wonder Woman. With Superman, you can actually see the bone structure in his abs through his costume and it sticks out like an eyesore. It either means Superman's been hitting the gym or he hasn't been really eating enough to let his body be like that. Which, considering all the shit that he had to go through in this movie, I can kinda buy the fact that he hasn't really eaten much. Snarking aside, it's a rather odd design choice to give him, but I did sorta get use to it eventually as the movie went on.

However, that doesn't compare to Wonder Woman. Her arms look ridiculously muscular in this film! And they stick out way more than Superman's abs because every time that she shows up on camera, her arm structure looks so off-putting that it makes you wonder why the artists for this movie went with this sort of design choice? OK yes, I understand that this is a superhero movie. And it's common practice for a lot of superheroes to look buff and strong. However, with Wonder Woman, in every carnation that I've seen her in, whether it's the comics, the TV show from the late 70's to early 80's, or even the Justice League animated series, I've *never* seen her develop muscles of any kind. But this is the first time I've ever seen her with muscles, and it just doesn't look right on the character at all. She's strong even without muscles! So why give her this off-putting choice really doesn't make much of any sense. At least, to me, it doesn't.

So yeah, setting aside the odd choice of muscle structure for those certain characters, the rest of the characters look really good. And the color palettes are utilized really well, too. So, I can say, for the most part, the animation and it's art-style is mostly good. Sound-mixing here is good, too, as is the score. Neither is anything special, but at least it's competent.

Ultimately, guys, when everything is and done, can I recommend "Injustice"? It's a really tough call. I would maybe say that if you can overlook all of the plotholes that this movie has, you might be able to enjoy it for what it is. That said, I rather recommend you play the game that it's based on rather than this. At least the game is fun, even if the story there is sorta flawed, too. This movie, though, I just can't quite find it in myself to fully recommend as a purchase. I would say that if you can find it as a rental or on some streaming service, maybe sure. But that's the extent to where I can recommend it. I bought a physical copy of this movie, and I'm really disappointed in it. I wanted to like this. I really did. I thought it was going to be just as awesome as many of the other animated films from DC that I have seen. But sadly, that's just not quite the case here. Again, it's not the worst one out there, personally speaking. That honor, to me, goes to "Teen Titans: The Judas Contract". I doubt any DC animated film will reach the awfulness of that movie. But still, this movie isn't really good enough to hold onto for my DVD collection. Speaking of which, I do have plenty of other animated films from DC that I can watch and enjoy. And you know what? I mentioned "Justice League: Doom" earlier, so I'm gonna go and watch that next so that I can be a little bit more happier after having to watch this thing.

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 later. Peace.