Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition Review

            Of all the films that were due for release this year, Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice was probably the one that I anticipated the most.  Man of Steel was a film that I absolutely despised but the prospect of seeing Batman and Superman on the big screen for the first time was too good of a selling point for me not to ignore.  It also helped that the trailers for the film looked really good and promised sprawling, epic fights between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel, ending with a climactic battle with a big bad in Doomsday.  Unfortunately, the critical reception to the film was overwhelmingly negative and you’ll be hard pressed to find someone that isn’t a complete D.C. fanboy to give the film a glowing review.  Everyone seemed to agree that the first 10 minutes or so were good along with Ben Affleck’s performance as Batman but that the film as a whole was a boring, incoherent mess.  This, coupled with some personal problems, resulted in me deciding to pass on seeing the film and just wait for the inevitable directors cut to come out. 

Earlier this week I was able to see this version of the film.  And, despite all the negative receptions to the film, despite all of the crap talked about, despite having nearly all the major plot points being spoiled for me, somehow it was far worse than I ever imagined.  The Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition is perhaps one of the most boring and lifeless big budgeted summer blockbusters that I have ever seen put to film and fails spectacularly on nearly every level.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.  The film starts during the climax of Man of Steel with Superman and Zod brawling and destroying half of Metropolis.  After his building in the city is destroyed and killing several people he knows, Batman decides that a creature with as much power as Superman needs to be destroyed.  At the same time, through an overly complicated series of events, Lex Luthor begins to taint the public’s perception of Superman as well as push Batman to kill Superman. 

If there is one positive thing that I can say about the writing of this film, it’s that the initial setup is very well executed.  When you look at what happens in Metropolis at the start of the film, particularly with one child caught up in the mix, you see that not only are Batman’s motives justified through Superman’s actions but that the whole thing affected him on a deeper, personal level and was a brilliant character moment that kind of blew me away.  In fact, most of the stuff that deals with Batman is all around pretty good.  The intro that shows the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents is probably the best version of it ever put to film and Ben Affleck really did defy my initial expectations as the Caped Crusader.  Jeremey Irons performance was simply perfect and may actually be the best live action version of Alfred.  His condensing demeanor and dry sense of humor had me laughing every time he dropped some negative remark about Batman and his life choices and I hope that future Batman films take full advantage of this.  On the same note, Superman is actually pretty good in this as well.  He still isn’t great and it’s obvious that the filmmakers still have trouble deciding what to do with him but he is a big improvement over the version that was portrayed in Man of Steel.  In this film he actually goes out of his way save people instead of endangering them and they really do a great job of establishing why it is he has a beef with Batman.  Unfortunately, the film manages to piss away this otherwise great setup with a film that is not only needlessly grim, but just boring.   

The first major problem with the film is Lex Luthor.  Ignoring the fact that this version of the character has nothing in common with its comic book comic book counterpart, the character has far too big of a role in the film and the vast majority of it has little to contribute to the overall narrative of the film beyond needlessly padding out the runtime.  For example, the character is revealed towards the end to be one who pushes Batman into fighting Superman, mainly though the manipulation of a former Wayne Enterprises employee who was hurt during Superman’s fight with Zod in Man of Steel.  Unfortunately, from a writing standpoint it makes no sense as to why they would include this subplot when Batman’s motivations are made abundantly clear the prologue section of the film.  Supposedly he’s also trying to defame Superman through these actions as well but outside of making him mope over the fact that he can’t always save everyone for a few minutes it really doesn’t have any effect on the character overall.  In fact, the only meaningful things that the character contributes to the plot overall is the importing of the kryptonite rock, the kidnapping of Martha Kent, and the creation of Doomsday and just about everything else involving this character could have easily been cut from the film.  In fact, the creation of Doomsday just adds another problem to the overall narrative of the film.  If, for example, Luthor knew that Batman would more than likely kill Superman, why did he create Doomsday to begin with?  Why did he start the whole thing without a way to take Doomsday down himself?  Better yet, WHY IS DOOMSDAY EVEN IN THIS MOVIE?!?!?

What makes the whole Lex Luthor narrative problem even more infuriating is that it could have been solved with a simple rewrite or a few tricks in post-production.  Lex Luthor fears what Superman could do so he gets the Kryptonite.  Batman catches wind of this and wants it for himself.  Luthor realizes he no longer has the Kryptonite and creates Doomsday to take Superman down so he can serve as the third act monster that unties the heroes together.  How would that have been so hard?

It’s not at all helped by the fact that the film is very grim with an unexpectedly high body count.  Iconic characters like Jimmy Olson and Mercy Graves are unceremoniously killed off in very grizzly fashions with little to no acknowledgement of their legacy in comic book history.  Perhaps what threw me off the most, however, was just how high of a body count Batman had under his belt.  I had heard beforehand that Batman killed a few people in this film but I had always assumed it was similar to the way he “killed” people in the Dark Knight films; where the deaths were either ambiguous or brought on by the actions of others.  HOLY.  MOTHER.  OF.  GOD!  WAS.  I.  WRONG!  He massacres people by the dozens in any way he can.  He uses machine guns, grappling hooks, missiles, his fists, guns and even a wooden crate at one point.  And those that he doesn’t kill he effectively marks for death by branding them with a bat and making them a target for a good shanking in prison.  And I cannot lie.  This really bothered me as a Batman fan.

One of the core rules of Batman, (or at least the modern one), is that he does not kill people.  It is the one line that he refuses to cross because he knows that once he crosses that line he is no better than those he hunts.  While I am aware that this hasn’t always been the case, for a long time it has been and is often a key component between Batman and his relationships with fellow heroes and villains.  What we have on display in this film, however, is that Batman is in fact no better than those he hunts.  In fact, the argument could be made that Superman’s beef with the Bat might actually be more than justified given just how much brutality is on display here.  While he doesn’t quite go into Crazy Steve territory, he gets dangerously close and if this is the direction that they’ll continue with the character I’m not sure I want anything to do with it.

Now all of this could be forgivable is the film was any fun.  Plenty of films have poor narratives and character writing but they can sometimes get away with them by the sheer amount of spectacle and humor that they throw on screen.  But Batman V. Superman offers none of this.  Say what you will about Man of Steel, (lord knows I have plenty to say), but it did offer some pretty cool action sequences that really showed how destructive and over the top a battle between kryptonians would be.  But this film offers none of that.  Outside of one admittedly kick ass fight involving Martha’s kidnappers, not a single action sequence shows any kind of imagination or manages to thrill.  At least half of the film passes before we get our first action scene that amounts to a boring car chase between Batman and Luthor’s goons and then we have to wait another hour before we finally get our battle between the two characters for the first and last time.  Unfortunately, all it amounts to is Batman using some kryptonite gas on the Man of Steel before pounding the crap out of him with his fists and grappling hook and offers none of the imagination or spectacle that was on display in either Man of Steel or The Dark Knight Returns animated film.  And quite frankly, if an animation team working with maybe a tenth of the budget can do a better battle between Batman and Superman that the big budgeted film version something is very wrong. 

Likewise, the final battle with Doomsday is completely unmemorable.  While it is cool to finally see Wonder Woman on the big screen for the first time the fight itself is completely unremarkable.  The whole thing consists of Wonder Woman going after Doomsday with a sword while Batman runs from its heat blasts, as it cuts back to Superman grabbing one of Batman’s kryptonite spears and taking to Lois and utterly fails to choreograph/animate an interesting battle and I found myself wondering if this was really made by the same man who did 300.   

From what I have been told, the theatrical version of this film was an incoherent, boring mess of a movie that appeared to be the negative antithesis to the MCU and any good comic book films that have come out over the past decade.  This Ultimate Edition isn’t quite that.  It is a coherent, boring, mess of a film that appears to be the negative antithesis to the MCU and any of the good comic book films that have come out over the past decade.  The film does have an admittedly good start but is bogged down by a pointless subplot with Luthor, fails to give us any decent action scenes and is just so grim without any real point to it.  I hated Man of Steel when it came out three years ago but this film registers little to no emotion with me.  The whole thing bored me to tears and by the time the credits rolled I was just glad it was over. 

Supposedly the overwhelming negative reception has caused Warner Brothers to realize that they need to rethink the way they do these films.  The Justice League film, for example, is apparently set to have a lighter tone then BVS due to the extremely negative reaction to the film.  Ben Affleck, who was visibly upset at the reception of the film, is promising a Batman film full of sardonic, dry humor and is determined that the project will not move forward until the script is perfect, release dates be damned.  Warner Brothers has also decided to restructure the way it goes about making the films, creating the DC Films Division that will be headed by DC writer Geoff Johns and Warner Brothers Executive Vice President, Jon Berg, so it is obvious that they are at least taking steps to fix the errors that have been made.  However, only time will tell if they have taken the correct steps.

So until next time, please follow the site, like the Facebook page, follow me on twitter and come back next time.  Until then, let’s just hope that Suicide Squad proves better.  

Now I Write on the Nerd Hub!

            Well everyone, it’s time for an announcement.  Today I have officially joined The Nerd Hub, a group that deals with all things nerdy be they video games, comic books, movies or T.V. shows, they cover it all.  Every month I will be contributing at least one article a month to the site as well as helping them promote their articles and vice versa.  It’s an exciting new prospect and I cannot wait to see how it unfolds.  Give their site a look, read a few articles and give the Facebook Page a like and lets all have fun with this stuff.  Until next time, give both our pages a like, follow our sites and twitter accounts.  Let’s all connect in this world.

Trey's Take On Facebook Page

The Nerd Hub.org

The Nerd Hub Facebook Page

Trey's Twitter

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Resident Evil 7 Demo

            Well everyone, E3 is well and over but sadly, as per usual, I wasn’t able to cover as many things as I wanted to.  This was due to a combination of personal obligations, work commitments, and laziness and procrastination.  But after the last article involving Mass Effect: Andromeda, I wanted to end things on a more positive note.  To that end, let’s talk about the teaser for Resident Evil 7.

            The Resident Evil series is one that I cannot help but have mixed feelings on.  I understand that they are a staple of the survival horror genera, but the vast majority of them don’t hold up all that well.  The first three in particular had god awful voice acting, camera restrictions and crappy controls that were more frustrating than anything else, frequently employed genera clichés to an infuriating degree and contained plots that just got more and more ridiculous as time went on.  Resident Evil 4 wisely discarded all the Umbrella Corporation/Zombie baggage and told a much more interesting, self-contained story with a likeable cast of characters, interesting monster designs and far more fluid controls.  Then Resident Evil 5 managed to piss away all the good will the previous game had bought, turning the whole thing into a generic action game and disposing of most of the horror elements.  And Resident Evil 6…. was just terrible on every level.  There were also a number of other spinoff games but to be honest I could never be bothered with them and from the looks of things none of that actually matters with this game anyway.

            What is both fantastic and possibly frustrating about this demo is that it doesn’t actually seem to have anything to do with its predecessors in plot or gameplay.  There doesn’t appear to be any zombies, no Leon, no Chris Redfield, no Jill Valentine and no Umbrella Corporation.  If anything the game is taking notes from P.T., Outlast and Amnesia: The Dark Decent in style and presentation.  The characters you play as are apparently unnamed people who get locked in a haunted house and try to escape as things prevent them and that’s about it.  You explore this house through two different perspectives at different times and the result is something that is truly unsettling and disturbing.  It doesn’t rely on jump scares or quickly moving monsters to scare you.  The horror here is a bit subtler and if you rush through the demo you might just miss it.  As you go through the house you’ll notice that a lot of things about it are a bit off and as you move around things change.  For example, the whole house looks as if it hasn’t been used in decades yet it has relatively freshly cut meet just sitting around hallways.  In the distance you will hear noises but it’s hard to tell where it’s coming from and what exactly it is.  At other times your character will turn his head and look back only to find that several objects in the room have moved in dramatic ways with no indication as to how or why they moved.  At other times you’ll catch a glimpse of something disturbing but will disappear before you have a chance to get a good look.  Above all else, this demo understands that it’s what you don’t see that is the most frightening and plays that card to full effect.

            As far as the general gameplay goes, if this demo is any indication then it will be a game that forces you to use a small number of items to move around wherever your characters is and find your way out of whatever situation you happen to get into.  The over the top arsenal that you had in previous games seems to be gone and shooting your way out is no longer be an option.  But for more on any of this we’ll have to wait until the game comes out and the game explicitly says that what is in this demo may not be a representation of the final game. 

            Overall, the Resident Evil 7 Demo is a pretty good way to spend an hour and easily the best thing that the franchise has put out in a long time.  It was suspenseful, scary, and, above all, did its job and makes me want to buy the game.  It was a great way to end my look at E3 and I can’t wait to see more of this game. 

            So until next time, please follow the site, like the Facebook page and follow me on twitter and let’s hope that these games prove to be as good, (or in some cases better), as the trailers and demos promoting them.

E3: Mass Effect Andromeda

            

The Mass Effect Trilogy is, without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite videogame franchises.  When I first got my hands on a copy of the first game it blew me away.  The sheer amount of space that you could explore was incredible and the characters were all immediately memorable.  It contained a universe full of deep and rich lore and told an interesting story, full of plenty of twists, tragedies and betrayals that immediately endeared itself to me.  Mass Effect 2 vastly improved the writing of the characters as well as the graphics and gameplay and was the first game I ever played that actually showed the consequences for the choices we made in a previous entry.  Mass Effect 3 managed to be an epic climatic end to the trilogy that, for the most part, ended the character’s story lines’ in satisfying ways.  That is, once the Extended Cut Ending was released and fixed that horrid ending that even to this day Mass Effect fans are still mad about.  But in spite of that horrible ending, the series is still a great one and one that I come back to every now and then and still greatly enjoy.  What a shame then, that the E3 trailer for the franchise’s latest entry has done nothing but piss me off.

            Now, before I go any further, let me make one thing clear.  What we do see of the game doesn’t look bad.  In fact, the idea of a game centering around a crew as they explore a completely unknown galaxy is the best idea that the franchise could have come up with and feels like a natural continuation of the series.  The problem is that the trailer on display here is so pretentious and so scattershot in presentation that it’s impossible not to hate.  The first and foremost problem with this trailer is that the developers put WAY too much of themselves into this supposed gameplay trailer.  A good chunk of it is the developers showing themselves draw and animate the various things that will supposedly be in the game and all but directly comparing themselves to great explorers and pioneers of the ages, making it sound as if they themselves had gone to the Andromeda Galaxy and are about to tell us how awesome it is.  While watching the trailer I found myself wanting to grab the developers by the throat and yell at them to stop pretending that they were making something that would change the face of humanity forever.  The whole thing is not at all helped by the fact the upcoming No Man’s Sky is promising to do this exact same thing and is due for release in about two months and is promising far more.

            What little we do see in the way of actual gameplay footage seems promising enough but as far as I’m concerned, it’s completely untrustworthy.  Everything about it just reeks of “Made for E3” material with most of it probably only ending up in the pre-title screen cut scene and not actually factoring into the game itself.  What actual, definitive gameplay we do see tells us absolutely nothing about how the game plays or what features it will have outside of the fact that it takes place in an utterly alien galaxy.  This is not at all helped by the fact that the trailer tells us nothing about the plot or characters.  We know that it takes place in this new Galaxy but nothing about what we will encounter in it or what quandaries the player will face.  We know that our new protagonist is another member of N7 and apparently has an Asari friend but that’s about it.  Now normally this would not bother me.  Developers are vague about their IPs all the time when the game’s release date is years away.  But this latest Mass Effect game is supposedly due for release in March of next year and the fact that the developers has released so little in promotional content for their own game is more than a little concerning.

            In the end, this trailer is just infuriating to me.  I hate how self-aggrandizing the developers are in this trailer.  I hate how what little we see are just a few snippets of gameplay footage.  I hate how it’s been over four years since the release of the last game and this is all that they have to offer.  But what I hate most is how much I hate this trailer.  I love Mass Effect and I want to love this game and I really wanted to like whatever BioWare released of it at E3 this year.  But they just aren’t giving me a lot to hope for here outside of vague promises.  And sadly my faith in the gamer industry requires a bit more then vague promises.

            So until next time, please follow the site, like the Facebook page and follow me on twitter and let’s hope that whatever I look at next shows a bit more promise.

E3 2016: Death Stranding

            Welcome back everyone to my look at the various games for E3 and Kojima has announced a new game!  And that’s all I can really say about it.  Just watch the trailer below.

            Yea.  Kojima’s first game since his departure from Konami looks like an odd one.  The only things that we can really infer from it are that it’s a game with Norman Reedus in the lead role, appears to be a psychological horror game and a spiritual successor to P.T.; the playable trailer to the canceled Kojima/del Toro/Reedus Silent Hill reboot, Silent Hills.  Beyond this, however, there really isn’t anything that I can say.  Kojima has been coy and cryptic about any details regarding the game so any definitive statement on what the game is, is impossible to write.  All we can say is that it looks like Kojima and company seem to be dipping back into the survival horror genre and I couldn’t be happier about it.  Let’s just hope that next time Kojima says anything about the game we get something a bit more definitive.

            So until next time, please follow the site, like the Facebook page and follow me on twitter and let’s see what else E3 has in store for us.

E3 2016: God of War

            Welcome back to my look at the games presented at E3 and holy crap!  After six years we finally an official look at the first honest to God continuation to the God of War series, (the prequels don’t count).  And the footage we have of it so far looks….

….well.  Allow me to use this highly inappropriate yet perfect metaphoric image from South Park to express my feelings on this.

            In all seriousness though, this is really cool.  The God of War series is, in my mind, a modern classic hack and slash series and not one that should have faded into obscurity the way it seemed to for a while.  What is so interesting about this gameplay footage is how much we can infer from it as it tells us so much and so little.  The aesthetics, for example, confirm the rumors that the game is in fact based around Norse Mythology with its obviously Nordic inspired setting, icy tundra environments, and a troll actually namedropping Valhalla during a fight featured in the footage.  Graphics-wise the game looks absolutely beautiful with the footage taking full advantage of the PS4’s capabilities as well as modern graphics technology.  Granted you have to take the graphics end with a grain of salt, given the game industry’s reputation with these things and simply because this is E3, but what we have on display here is some of the most graphically impressive stuff I’ve seen presented at the expo so far.

            As to how the game plays, it’s next to impossible to tell because I didn’t actually have a controller in my hand, but it seems to be taking the franchise in a different direction.  The various blades attached to Kratos’ in previous entries to the series are gone and seemed to have been replaced with a battle axe that clearly has some magical properties but beyond that it’s hard to tell.  The life bar appears to be gone as is any kind of apparent mana bar which is an unfortunate compromise for the time we live in but a manageable one all the same.  For reasons that I cannot comprehend, however, the game still seems to include quick time finishers; something that has always been a thing with the God of War franchise but has always been something that can unnecessarily complicate an otherwise by-the-numbers kill.

            On the story end it’s a little hard to tell just what is going here.  It clearly takes place several years after the end of the third game, with Kratos having survived impaling himself with the Sword of Olympus, (although considering all the other crap he has somehow survived that shouldn’t have come as a big surprise), and left the Greek setting and went north and apparently started another family.  He seems to have a loving if stern relationship with his new son and seems intent on teaching him what it means to be a survivor and a warrior; harsh with him when necessary but still patient with him and seems to understand that he is still a boy and I am very interested in seeing how this relationship plays out over the game.  Beyond that, however, there really isn’t anything that we can infer about the game’s story. 

            All in all, this gameplay demo has me really excited.  I’m excited to see Kratos’ story continue.  I’m excited at the prospect of killing new monsters.  I’m excited to see a new gameplay style in this new game.  I’m salivating at the prospect of battling Norse Gods.  But most of all, I am so glad that the God of War series is back in full force and I cannot wait to get my hands on this game whenever it comes out.

            So until next time, please follow the site, like the Facebook page and follow me on twitter and….

“Carry we who die in battle

Over Land and Sea.

Across the Rainbow Bridge to Valhalla

Odin’s waiting for me!”

E3 2016: Battlefield 1

            Well everyone E3 is officially underway and what I’ve seen so far, (through the internet like everyone else sadly), is pretty promising.  Granted you have take everything that’s presented at E3 with a grain of salt, given all the sketchy promotional practices that the industry is infamous for, but for the first time in what feels like a long time I’m deciding to be optimistic and let some of the hype settle into me.  To that end, over the next week or so I’ll be posting a number of new posts that will highlight some of the games that I myself am interested in, be it part of a franchise or a new IP from a talented developer and give my general thoughts on it and the franchise as a whole if applicable.  To that end, let’s talk about what is probably the most highly anticipated game of the year, Battlefield 1.  

            I think it’s safe to say at this point that the initial trailer for Battlefield 1 got everyone hyped for the game in a way that the FPS genera hasn’t in what seems like a very long time, with said trailer garnering more like than any other YouTube video in history.  And to be perfectly honest, when I first saw it, I was right along with them.  The World War I setting is a fresh, new idea in a genre that had stagnated and seemed content to rehash the same dull and dreary modern war setting over and over again and seemed to promise to reinvigorate the genre in a way that we haven’t seen since Call of Duty 4.  But then my skepticism began to set in, primarily because the trailer in question didn’t show any actual gameplay footage and was all pre-rendered CG material.  Then the other day they released an actual gameplay footage trailer and……

…...it looks okay.  Not great.  Not bad.  Just okay.

            You see, the problem with the FPS genre is that once you’ve played one you’ve pretty much played them all.  Sure, the jump from WWII to the modern warfare setting in Call of Duty 4 was different and new when the game was first released but by the time Call of Duty: Ghosts rolled around the whole thing had worn itself thin and people were really getting sick of it; hence the insanely positive reaction to the trailer to a game that literally takes combat back a hundred years.  Unfortunately for me, I’m old enough to remember a time where games like this were commonplace.  Let me make one thing clear before I continue; World War I games were never a mainstream thing.  Before Call of Duty 4 came out in 2007 and turned the entire genre into the modern shooter, it was primarily dominated by World War II games, starting with Medal of Honor back in 1999 before burning out with Call of Duty 3 back in 2006.  But in that seven-year period you couldn’t go into any gamer scene and blink without a WWII game coming into play at least once and, for better or worse, Battlefield 1 looks very much like one of those WWII shooters.  You have machine guns being shot by single infantrymen while standing, shotguns blasting their way through buildings, war torn towns and locations that could have only existed in pre-1950s Europe, and a dull, washed out, grey color pallet that seems to revel in just how dreary and depressing it is.  While these are all things that may seem fresh and new to a modern audience that primarily grew up playing present set first person shooters, these are all things that I saw in abundance over ten years ago and feels to me more like a nostalgic callback to those times as opposed to something fresh and new.

            However, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing as the game still looks pretty good.  You have trench fighting, hand-to-hand combat, assaults on towns, tank battles, and shooting blimps out of the sky in old fighter planes.  The game simply looks fun.  It’s just that, when all is said and done, I still can’t help but feel like it’s some relic from the early 2000s that somehow snuck its way onto the modern FPS scene.  But, in spite of my cynicism, that’s actually more than enough for me.  With all of these modern shooters flooding the market for the past nine years, I am more than willing to welcome a change that harkens back to a time when this genre was still fairly new to me and the responsibilities of adult life were still a good five years away and I think I’ll be picking this one up.  Congratulations D.I.C.E.  You officially have me interested in the FPS genera once again.

            So until next time, please follow the site, like the Facebook page and follow me on twitter and let’s see what E3 has in store for us.