Godzilla (2014) redux review

Rather morbidly, despite absolutely loving Rogue One, I really enjoyed taking that film apart in my redux review, and so I wanted to go back to another film I loved, and dissect it. And as it just so happens, it was three years ago today that I went to the IMAX to watch my favourite film of 2014, so what the hell, let's tear Godzilla to pieces. Unlike my Rogue One redux, I won't be trying to hold back the spoilers, so if you haven't seen Godzilla, good lord go correct that now, and with that out of the way, the plot summary:
Here's what you need to know; Joe Brody has long suspected that the cause of the nuclear disaster that killed his wife was covered up, but when he and his son Ford return to the site in search of answers, they learn the terrifying truth. Something huge is about to be revealed, as forces far older and more powerful than they could possibly imagine emerge from the depths of the Earth, forces humanity is powerless to stop.

Godzilla makes a difference in it's opening titles; as the nuke tears up the islands, and the screen is blasted white, the title fades in slowly, particles fall from the top of screen, as if to invoke the idea of ash or debris, and the distant, echoed sound of screaming people can be heard, this few seconds says so much about the film, the invoking of ash or debris is to invoke images of natural disasters; Volcanoes, Earthquakes, which is aided by the people screaming, conveyed a sense of terror and tragedy that would come from such a disaster. It's an incredibly subtle touch, but it's one I noticed even back in the IMAX, and it does a fantastic job of setting up the film's tone. Plus, that intro reel with the archive footage and the fucking awesome music was great, and sets up the Monarch story line in the film, showing Godzilla being nuked in 1954. It's then that we get the first of a few homages to other films, this time it's Jurassic Park, as a helicopter flies over a dense jungle, only accompanied by ominous and unsettling music. It's at this point that we are introduced to one of the film's major themes, and it's something that can be easily missed; the detail that the miners dug up the MUTO's thinking they'd found Uranium. In a broader sense, it was Man that woke up the MUTO's, two of the film's major themes are the Arrogance of Man and the Insignificance of Man, Man waking up the MUTO's is down to his Arrogance, the miners disturbing their spores caused the male MUTO to wake up and start burrowing for Janjira, otherwise it's safe to believe that they'd have stayed dormant. The Insignificance is also something that can be observed here, as they walk through the cave among the enormous bones, bones that belonged to a creature that no doubt completely dwarfed humans, but that's something we'll get back to. Joe Brody serves to give the events of the film emotional weight, as the Janjira plant is destroyed, and he is forced to seal the door, before saying a crushing goodbye to his doomed wife. This is a heavy scene, you can't help but feel that immense sadness as Joe sees his wife on the other side of the door, she's two feet from him, but he's completely powerless to save her, and the film excellently conveys that hopelessness. When you next see Joe, he lives alone in an apartment littered with books and newspapers, the walls are covered in newspaper clippings and posters on scientific subjects like echolocation, the only thing missing it red string to tie it all together. Over the years Joe has clearly let his grief and guilt drive him insane, but at the same time his situation is entirely understandable, as if he wants to find any reason his wife is dead that doesn't fall down to him. What makes Joe such a great character is that motivation, he's a crazy truth seeker, but at the heart of his crusade is a simple desire to understand why his wife is dead, while the only other thing he has in his life, his son, now has his own family, and doesn't want to drag them into his crazy conspiracies. These are two characters that handled an incredible loss in two different, but entirely understandable ways, one trying to forget it and leave that pain behind, while the other has let that pain consume him and drive him insane. At the heart of Godzilla is that personal story, one that starts with Joe's wife dying, and ends with Ford being reunited with his wife, through this personal drama we are shown an apocalyptic scenario, and that emotional anchor adds a huge amount of realism to that apocalyptic scenario.

As Serizawa summarises in the film's best line, this film represents a conflict between Man and Nature, and that becomes very evident in the Janjira quarantine zone. The city is eerie, devoid of humans, and slowly being retaken by the land, overgrown with plants, and inhabited only with animals like wolves, a subtle signifier that Nature is going to win in this battle with Man. Meanwhile in the plant Man continues to meddle with Nature, studying the MUTO as it grows, inadvertently letting it become a threat to humanity's existence, because of not just scientific curiosity, but arrogance, a belief that the situation was under control, when it so massively wasn't. And when we get our first really good look of the MUTO, that arrogance and our actual insignificance is perfectly encapsulated, as Ford looks up in amazement at the massive creature climbing up out of the pit, and its true size is revealed. The film has several of these shots, with humans in the foreground, and the Kaiju in the background, to show the audience how small they are. It takes a good half an hour before the film even gets to something that can be considered a flaw, and that is the moment Joe dies. I said in my review of the film that his departure causes the film to lose a lot of its emotional weight, with every scene he's in before that serving to make us attached to this character, only do just have him die. On a lot of reflection however, it actually makes sense, a lot of film follows the idea that Man is insignificant, that larger forces are at play in the world, and that we are relatively unimportant. Joe's death fits right into that theme, as human life is so fragile, Nature can take away lives with ease, and Man cannot stop that, Man cannot stop a Hurricane or Earthquake, Ford cannot stop Nature from taking his father from him, and Joe being a character we have become attached to, it's almost like a reality check, that in the real world people we love can and will die, and that that's beyond our control. So while on the surface Joe's premature death is disappointing for the audience, on a deeper level, it serves this film's themes excellently. Let's jump ahead to Hawaii, and check out a visual metaphor, a close up of a lizard, with Soldiers in the background not paying it any attention, it's a clever reversal, as now we see a creature that is tiny and insignificant to us, just as we are tiny and insignificant to the Kaiju. It's in Hawaii that I have my only flaw with the film; and like the Joe Brody death, I understand what it means, but I have a much harder time justifying it. Keep in mind that when a disaster happens like an Earthquake, you never see the disaster itself, usually only the aftermath on the news, much like you only see the aftermath of the Honolulu fight, destroyed buildings, displaced people, and news coverage showing glimpses of the fight itself. It's realistic that we don't see the destruction as it happens, but even I will admit it always disappoints me to see the build up, the MUTO causing chaos at the airport, and seeing Godzilla coming, the spines, the tail, the immense size. The shot in the terminal as the explosion rips through the airport is immaculate, as you see the MUTO, the fireball tearing up the airport, as people in the terminal stare in panic and terror, screaming, before a foot comes down, and the thud from that foot silences every other noise. The panning reveal of Godzilla is so awesome, I tear up every time, the film gets you so excited to finally see Godzilla throwing down, and then it cuts away. Even I'll admit that that was bullshit, the film deliberately leading you to expect a brawl, then taking it away and not giving you anything. In fact I think the film would have benefited from actually having at least a bit more there, maybe a taste of what the fight is like, to really get people excited for the finale, a free sample to get them really worked up, props to the film for being brave enough to not give us a thing, but it was disappointing.

Now let's jump ahead to one of my favourite scenes in the film, one I brought up in my review of the film, the Golden Gate Bridge scene. The scene starts out somewhat foreboding, with the bridge partially obscured by rain and cloud, and everything appears fine, with the police aiding people along the bridge, and the kids on the bus getting all excited by the military presence on the bridge, but like the foot in the airport, everything comes to a stop with a single noise, a distant roar. Godzilla's spines emerge from the fog, ploughing towards the warships under the bridge, but they stop before impact. Godzilla's spines already look big in this scene, but then it's quite excellently revealed that that's just his tail, as the much larger spines on his back start lifting the Warships out of the war, like they're toys. In the panic, several ships fire their missiles, that go off course and hit the bridge, but before the bridge takes more fire, Godzilla rises, blocking the stray missiles, and casting a literal and metaphorical shadow over the people on the bridge with his sheer size. When I think of the Lovecraftian horror of Godzilla I always think of this scene, because there is no better example in the film. Godzilla may be simply an animal, but to us, to Man, he might as well be a God, a creature that casts humanity into complete insignificance with his very existence, when Godzilla attacks the Golden Gate Bridge, it's just one great shot, after another, after another, as the people on the bridge, and by extension the audience, bears witness to the enormity of the monster. The camera is always kept at ground level, and Edwards uses extreme low angles, and deliberately keeps Godzilla's entire form out of the shot, to impose a sense of scale upon the audience, and to enforce that Lovecraftian terror in them. The children are screaming as Godzilla destroys the bridge, put yourself in that position, a few dozen people at least were just killed by a creature so impossible and monstrous, how scared out of your mind would you be. How oppressive would the feeling of insignificance be as you looked up at this God, it would be enough to drive you mad. Also notice how ineffective the bridge is at stopping his progress, in the battle of Man and Nature, the bridge and Godzilla, Godzilla, and Nature, wins. Like a Hurricane, Man's creations are not safe from Nature's forces. As the scene goes on, and fighter jets start falling from the sky, Nature's assertion of dominance over Man is only made more pressing. So far Man has done nothing constructive; he's inadvertently woken up a MUTO, he's failed to contain the MUTO, and all his military might has failed to stop the MUTO, but why stop there, why not break out the nukes. On the surface it's a predicted response to the situation that you know is going to fail, but once again, there's more going on beneath the surface. Riding the line of Man vs Nature again, it's that a nuclear response is entirely predicted that is the problem, Man can't just let Nature do its thing and sort itself out, he wants to believe that he has power over the situation, because he is arrogant, and he thinks that he can assert that dominance he thinks he has using his most powerful weapon, only so far all he has done is fuck things up, and that trend will continue. Now rather than the Nuke a safe distance away from the city, it's buried right in the middle of the city, where it can kill thousands of civilians, with no guarantee that it will even bother the Monsters.

The best line in the film is said by Serizawa, and it isn't "Let Them Fight," like everyone say it is, it's what he says immediately before that, "The arrogance of Man is thinking Nature is in our control, and not the other way around." The core of this film's themes is perfectly summarised in that line, Humanity thinks it's top dog, when we, like all other things, are at the mercy of Nature, not the other way around, guns, tanks and bombs are useless against a Hurricane, or an Earthquake, or any other force of Nature, which is what Godzilla and the MUTO's are in this film. All those burning tanks and Helicopters floating down the river were useless against the MUTO, and all that Nuke has done is make the situation worse, now putting a few thousand more lives at risk, and aiding the MUTO's in their plans to reproduce. Then there's the infamous HALO jump scene; Where the highlight we are treated to is hellish and ominous imagery, unsettling and intense music, and a fantastic point of view shot of the Monsters. What I actually like more than that scene however is the Godzilla reveal we are treated to in the final act, so let's set the scene. The music calms, the camera slowly pans upwards, a tails moves slowly through the fog, as the music remains slow and minimal, a flash of lightning reveals the silhouette of Godzilla, the effect of the fog and lightning is to capitalise on the other worldliness of Godzilla, a cosmically horrifying creature. His face emerges from the smoke, and he roars; I'm sure I've said how much that roar scared me in the IMAX, and I reckon that was the point. The music stops, and the film explodes with the sound of his roar, an intensely loud, prolonged roar, right at the audience's' faces, one that instils an intense sense of panic, an immediate, metaphorical reality bomb for the audience, Man cannot compete with God, in fact Man really should just get out of way, because it's about to go down. What follows is an excellent fight between Godzilla and the MUTO's, one the whole film has been building towards, and that we finally get to see. Far from flashy and fast, the fight is slow, simple physics from how massive the monsters are, and it actually gives the fight a sense of beauty, as the hits are slow to build, but carry an effective impact. This isn't Pacific Rim, the fighting is not intelligent, it's animalistic, raw, it's swiping of claws and thudding of insectoid limbs, nor is the fighting flashy, again, the impacts or slow, but heavy, and the destruction is believable. Like the Lovecraftian horror and the Golden Gate, this fight has one fantastic example of why it works, and it's also my second favourite moment in the film, behind the Godzilla airport reveal; as the MUTO closes in for the kill on Ford, his face is illuminated by a blue glow. Just imagine me watching that for the first time, and completely losing my mind. The music starts to build as the glow, still dim and ominous, moves through the darkness, along his tail, up his back, a flash of lightning shows Godzilla revving up the attack, the music builds to its climax, and Godzilla irradiates the shit out of the MUTO's face. The build is perfect, and the payoff is immensely satisfying, as the MUTO is literally flawed by it, and the soldiers on the ground stare up in amazement, and one correctly uses the phrase 'holy shit', which is probably what I said in the IMAX, if I said anything at all, and wasn't completely giddy from the pure awesomeness of the Atomic Breath. I actually prefer that use of the Atomic Breath to the admittedly stupidly badass kill at the end, when Godzilla rips the MUTO's mouth open and breathes fire down the her neck, not going to lie, that looked painful, and it was a badass kill.

This is an area I know people will have different opinions on, but I thought Godzilla's ending was perfect. With the exception of the Nuke, which somehow made it far enough away to not level the rest of the city, I mean, for that the boat it was on would have to be going about sixty knots, not very likely is it. Ignoring that very sizable hole, Godzilla's ending is perfect. Keeping in mind how relentlessly the film has enforced the notion that Nature is the one in control, and that Man is ultimately unimportant, it's brilliantly ironic that in the film's final moments, as Godzilla returns to the sea, the people of San Francisco cheer for him and call him a hero. Despite the events of the film; the destruction of several major cities, the loss of probably thousands of lives, and property damage in the billions of dollars, Godzilla is still a hero, he saved us, or at least that's how we interpret it, because ironically, we are still too arrogant to get it, Nature doesn't care about the plights of Man. In that arrogance is the film's greatest tragedy, we simply cannot see the world as it really is, we assign so much meaning to ourselves and our lives, and even a God destroying a few cities is too hard for us to understand, instead this God saved us, rather than just acting on its instincts, and inadvertently kind of helping us out in the process. That in a way makes this ending somewhat bittersweet, as Man has not learned from this cosmic reality check, and the mistakes that led to this disaster will inevitably be repeated. But the world has forever been changed by this event, now it knows the truth about monsters, and must learn to accept that reality, even if it doesn't learn from the mistakes that woke him up in the first place. It's in that arrogance that you also find hope, the natural order has been restored, not my Man, but by Godzilla, a force that arose, not to hunt his prey, but to save us from monsters, and with that order restored, he returns to the sea, there goes humanity's hero. The hope comes with the notion that Godzilla is out there, that should another MUTO show up, or humanity make another huge fuckup, Godzilla will set things right, and in that sense he truly is a hero, so long as he's alive, there is a force that can protect the order of nature, and by extension, protect us insignificant little monkeys. This is something I want to see explored in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I want to see a post Godzilla world that actually shows how Godzilla has changed it, it'd be cool to see a sort of Godzilla religion, or to see the reality of their insignificance actually start to sink in, as morbid as that sounds, it would provide a very different look at Godzilla, in a world of people that either fear him or worship him, either way they see his size and power and understand that he is bigger than them, metaphorically. As the film ends, and Godzilla's spines vanish beneath the waves, the sea is calm, as is the world, now that the threat has been taken care of. But you, the audience, know that Godzilla is down there, just as Man knows of his existence now, a fact that will, despite being delayed by our arrogance, change our perspective on ourselves and the world.

Here's the part where I have to admit that Godzilla's not perfect, so yeah, it's not prefect, but I don't care. Joe Brody's death is premature, but that's the point, even if it's disappointing, and no amount of apologia will make the airport fight make sense, but that's seriously it, I can even ignore the reason defying nuke, because I love this film, and probably give it more praise than it actually deserves, but I don't care. Godzilla is a film I have now seen seven times, and each time I've loved it more, even if the initial blind excitement of seeing my childhood hero monster in the IMAX becomes a more and more distant memory. Sure I wanted to see Godzilla tear shit up in this movie, but it instead offered me something I wasn't expecting; showing itself to be a surprisingly intelligent and meaningful film, something I appreciate infinitely more than simple, mindless fun. Godzilla is, as I've said before, the Godzilla film I didn't know I wanted, and as you'd expect me to say, it's absolutely a must watch. 

Planes, Tanks, and Ducks

 Twas a lovely day, there I was, staring down the throat of the Goliath, it's face cold and still as glass, it's many, bladed wings motionless, and I thought, 'Shit, planes are cool.' A week or two ago I was at the RAF Museum in Cosford, and while I nephews were moaning about being bored, I was out looking for any excuse to stay just a little bit longer, because I just couldn't get enough. I had been to the RAF museum once before, and I loved it then, because tanks and planes were awesome, but I have since aged several years, and back then I didn't have a really nice camera, but what hasn't changed is tanks and planes, they're still cool as shit. What isn't cool is getting a nice looking knockoff Lego model of a Spitfire with a serious missing parts problem, or having to take photos of my nephews at a nearby garden centre rather than taking pictures of ducks and plastic dinosaurs, it's a step down from Cold War and WWII war planes, but it's the best I could do.

Prometheus movie review

Here's what you need to know; the crew of the Prometheus have been sent to answer the ultimate question, where did we come from. Following the breadcrumbs to a tiny planet in deep space, they hope to finally find out who created mankind, and to discover the true purpose of our existence. Their creators aren't what they were expecting however, and soon an ancient evil is unleashed on the Prometheus and her crew, it soon dawns on them that the search for our beginning could lead to our end.
Another Alien review, another bad shoehorning in of a tagline. I recently watched Alien: Covenant, and I still don't really know what to make of it, but my laziness meant that I still hadn't reviewed Prometheus, so here we are, making up for it while I get my head around Alien: Covenant. So with no further delay, the infamous kind of prequel to Alien, let's go.

Like Alien, Prometheus tries to keep it vague in its prologue, this time showing us a really pale guy drinking some nasty looking goo, then dying painfully and turning to dust. What is a really nice touch is how the title is slowly spelled out just like in the first Alien, even if CG DNA shit is way less ominous than the dark expanse of space. We then get an introduction to our two main scientists; Shaw and Holloway, as they dig around in a cave and find a cave painting that gets them all excited, but that's all a bit typical, so let's talk about the superb sequence where we are introduced to David, by far the film's most interesting character, as he keeps himself busy on the Prometheus while the rest of the crew sleeps. David is a fantastic character; he's a robot, yet he can think for himself, and is clearly trying to understand humanity, showing curiosity in human sentimentality, and trying to understand what makes him different from a human, while Holloway in particular throws a lot of Pinocchio allusions at him, underestimating David's pseudo humanity. Simply seeing him killing time on the ship, watching old movies, learning new languages, and grooming himself is really interesting, and he serves as a vessel for some of the film's larger questions. The crew has its highlights, but unlike the Nostromo crew from Alien, this crew is seventeen, which of course separates them into important people and Star Trek redshirts. Shaw is probably the most important character, a scientist with a near fanatical belief, and a huge amount of enthusiasm about finding the so-called Engineers, her character is also the most fleshed out in the film, as we learn about her past, the things that motivated her to this point, and deeper emotional problems that she has to deal with. This is a departure from Alien, whose characters were less developed, but relied more on the dialogue and sense of friendship they had with the rest of the crew, Prometheus also tries this, and is kind of successful. Janek's a pretty likable character, he has some great dialogue with his crew, and has an awesome speech before the final act that shows how intelligent he is, a point we'll get back to. really though the standouts of the crew are Shaw, David and Janek, the rest of the crew just don't have the same likability, level of development, or philosophical significance, Holloway is completely flat as a character, Vickers is good as the corporate woman, but that's all she is, and rest of the crew are either expendable or complete idiots. This is one of Prometheus' biggest problems; dumb characters, there's a scene where a bunch of people are all killed, painfully and in quick succession, and it's as if the film knows that they were completely expandable, in fact I don't know if any of them even had names. Then there are some characters that make really stupid decisions, like inquisitively approach a clearly hostile alien life form, that was fucking stupid, even the film's lead and eventual villain aren't above making dumb decisions, and dumb decisions wouldn't be a big problem if there was a rhyme of reason for it, but that's not always the case in Prometheus, and it's annoying, Prometheus also wants you to think that it's a smart movie, which really doesn't help.

Prometheus, despite the bad characters, actually is, at times, a smart movie; David's introduction aboard the Prometheus is a really interesting sequence, the central point of the story is a middle finger to evolutionary theory, and the questions that come from that are really interesting, questions involving the meaning of life, what life even is, and how easy or hard it is to create life. As the film goes on, more questions arise, like what motivated the Engineers, and what made them change their minds, what was their true nature, and the nature of the mysterious black goo that's everywhere in this film. The film is also loaded with less philosophical questions, like what was the giant head, or the mural and crystal, what really happened to the Engineers on the planet. These are all good questions, and it's great to see a film that challenges its viewers as much as this one does, and not give them the answers, but there is one question I have, which is what does this film have to do with Alien. Having seen Alien: Covenant, I know at least part of the answer to that, but on its own Prometheus does a terrible job of being a prequel; taking place nearly thirty years before Alien, on a different planet, not telling us anything about the origin of the Alien, or the reason the Space Jockey was on LV-426. For that reason I don't see Prometheus as a prequel to Alien, but more simply as a standalone sci fi horror film. On those grounds, it's much easier to forgive Prometheus' shortcomings, and appreciate what it gets right. One such thing is the visuals, which are stunning, Prometheus has some truly incredible visual effects; the sets are huge and beautiful to look at, the creatures all have a great sense of tangibility to them, in fact you'd be amazed at what things actually weren't CG, I certainly was, and the shots that are obviously CG look great too, even the curveball ending shows off some stupidly good visual effects. Ridley Scott's directing is also completely mesmerising, something I noticed while watching it at my friend's house for the first time, the wide shots are serene, the incorporation of CG has been done very thoughtfully, and the film as a whole is just incredible to look at. The more violent scenes are intense and up close, and Ridley Scott really knows how to show off those great sets during the less violent scenes. Is it better to look at than Alien, not even close, but Prometheus is absolutely beautiful looking, in all regards. Its less deliberate pacing might be an improvement for people who thought Alien was boring, and while Alien was definitely leaning more in the direction of horror than sci fi, Prometheus is very clearly more sci fi than it is horror, again making it quite the departure from Alien. As a result Prometheus is less disturbing than Alien, it has its own version of the Chestburster scene, and that's fucking vile, but overall Prometheus will definitely stick in your head with its philosophical questions, rather than the unsettling, disturbing atmosphere and imagery of Alien.

Prometheus is a flawed movie with some great ideas; the questions it asks you to think about are great, and the fact that it doesn't give you the answers is very bold for a film like this. It also comes with amazing directing, beautiful visual effects, and a provocative story and characters. Sadly that's also where it starts to fail, and where this actually pretty intelligent movie becomes really dumb; with disappointingly hollow characters who make ridiculous decisions, and an eventual villain that also makes ridiculous decisions, it really says something when the most interesting character in the film is a robot. With the failings of Prometheus in mind however, Prometheus is a completely enjoyable sci fi film, it's great to look at, and has an interesting story. What you expect out of Prometheus will ultimately determine what you think of it, know going in that this film does not tie into Alien like the label of prequel would suggest, and Prometheus is actually a decent film that's worth a watch.

Alien movie review

Here's what you need to know; much to their annoyance, the crew of the Nostromo are mandated by Company Policy to investigate a mysterious signal coming from a barren, isolated world in deep space. But when they arrive on the planet, they find something more ancient and disturbing then they could possibly imagine, and when their disturbing find finds itself aboard the ship, they soon realise that escape is no longer an option, and that in space, no one can hear you scream.
You know I couldn't resist typing that. Alien: Covenant is coming, and I was recently at a friend's house, him suddenly fainting prevented us from watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, so instead we ate shitty takeaway and watched Prometheus, the infamous kind of prequel to Ridley Scott's 1979 film, Alien. I actually enjoyed Prometheus a lot, and picked it up on Blu Ray almost immediately. I already had Alien on Blu Ray, so to get myself in the mood for Alien: Covenant, I'm watching the two Ridley Scott directed films in the series.

Alien might be a bit jarring to get into at first, since the first six or so minutes are almost totally silent of diegetic sound, with only the odd musical cue here and there. While this is a great time to realise that this film is fucking gorgeous to look at, it is a sequence that drags on, and while it is fitting given how slow this film is, that initial period of literally nothing happening can be a bit boring. The film gets a bit of life in it when the crew of the Nostromo are awoken from stasis; the film does a stellar job of putting you in the same boat as the crew, as at this point, both them and you have no idea what's going on, and I now realise how bad that sounds, it's not, I swear. The crew in this film are actually pretty cool, it's a small crew, which means you don't have any people who are there solely to die, this is a huge plus for the film; each crew member is distinct from the rest, both visually and in terms of personality, and the introduction you get to them, all gathered eating food and chatting and bantering with each other, makes them all fun and likable characters that you can get behind. You know what's coming, but because the film is so good with its ensemble, it really works at milking that tension, as no one character looks most likely to survive, if any do at all, so when shit gets real, and they start dying, it's pretty intense. That leads me onto something that can be seen as a flaw, but depends on how you look at it; Alien is a very slow film, the first six minutes is nothing happening, and the Alien itself doesn't really show up for a good hour, obviously people wanting to see this Alien tearing shit up, or to see the Alien at all for that matter, will be bored by this. I on the other hand love it; the first half of this film is so incredibly slow, with a lot of character interaction, and no Alien, but this stretch of the film has one of my favourite scenes, and is a brilliant example of how to build tension. The first time you see the mysterious source of the signal, it's in near total darkness, there is no sound, no movement, just a still, silent shot of the source of the signal, and it's one of the film's most chilling and effective shots. As they near the source, the music builds slowly, and the true scale of the thing is revealed, and it's really unnerving. The multiple looks you get of the Nostromo itself do a great job of selling the size of the ship, and it's all very eerie to just see it floating in space. When Alien wants to be creepy, it's creepy as shit, as scenes on the planet are very ominous and alien, while the scenes aboard the ship are dark and claustrophobic, the whole film just has creepy vibes, and with the empty, dead planet, and the massive ship with only seven crew, conveys an effective sense of isolation. It's clear that Alien does creepy really well, but what it excels at is tension, in the film's second half, when you actually have the Alien, and it's picking off the crew one by one, the creepy atmosphere of the Nostromo and the constant, looming threat of death on the entire crew makes the scenes when death comes really tense. When these scenes play out, you know what's going to happen, and you realise who's getting it this time, but the film doesn't give you that release, it lets that anxiety simmer as you anticipate the moment the tension finally snaps, and someone dies. It's at these moments the film gives a slither of payoff with a little glimpse of the Alien, the film wisely never gives you a really good look at the thing, feeding on a fear of the unknown, a need to see, to understand this creature, that never gets satisfied, the creature instead remains a mystery, a frightening mystery.

What glimpses you do get of the Alien make for a rather fucked up image, and not just in a literal sense. The Alien is monstrous to look at, lacking eyes, sporting a nasty set of teeth, and oozing and dripping slime, and it has a smaller mouth inside its mouth, which is pleasant. The guy who designed it, H. R. Giger, worked in the style of what he called 'biomechanical' and you can see this in the Alien. There's a sick elegance to its design; with its smooth, eyeless head, its stringy, tendony mouth, and parts that more closely resemble pipes and tubes than anything organic. While it's shaped vaguely like a human, there's an unnatural quality to it, one that comes across even when you can't see the whole thing. In the less literal sense, what makes the Alien truly frightening, in addition to its nasty appearance, is the concepts it's very existence plays with; for example the way it reproduces, the way it kills you, and what it does with your body, obviously I won't go into specifics, but there's just something fucked up about the Alien, the allusions in these details are suitably unpleasant, and that face hugger is scary, like seriously fucking scary. Despite having a very disturbing creature, Alien is, as I said before, gorgeous to look at; the sets have a great retro sci fi look to them, which I love, with the more alien looking environments looking very Giger biomechanical, they too are great to look at, but they're nasty, as you'd expect. Ridley Scott's directing is also great, the shots are wonderful to look at, and the directing couldn't do a better job of drawing you into the film's world, investing you in this Alien's misadventures, and in the Nostromo crew's fight for survival. The Nostromo itself looks really cool, and the model work still looks amazing, even coming up on forty years later. It's model work like this that can truly be appreciated, as I have said many, many times, models and props used in the right ways will beat CG every time, and this film is a great example. It is here however where the viewer becomes important, which is something I realised on my third viewing of the film; Alien is a film that essentially must be watched in the dark, with the sound turned up, and with no distractions, watching this film at night, on Blu Ray, and with your phone off is how you'll learn to love this film, once you're in the right mindset, this film becomes completely engrossing, and while some of the Alien stuff looks a bit silly when you think about it, if the film has you by the end of the first hour, those silly things are terrifying. Then there's of course the ending, in the spirit of the tense, claustrophobic monster hunt the film offers, the ending throws a curveball at you that is really well done, and firmly cements the Alien in the realm of nightmare fuel, as there is literally no escape. I didn't even mention the scene, but if you've seen the film, you know the scene, it's a vile scene, and it's a great example of how well this film can get under your skin, because it is genuinely sickening. I also didn't mention the music, which is also great, and does a great job of setting up an ominous, unsettling mood that is carried throughout the film.

Alien is a film I'm glad I've finally come to truly appreciate, and what you think of the film will depend on the mindset you have going in; if you're up for a gory monster film in space, then you will be bored out of your mind, but if you fancy a slow, deliberate, finely crafted film, with masterful use of tension and a palpable sense of anxiety, few films I've seen can even come close. That pacing will push some people away for sure, but if you're patient, and let the film take you, you'll get something that is creepy, intense, disturbing, and fantastic, Alien is definitely worth watching.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 spoiler review

I've seen Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 three times now, and I've had plenty of time to marinade on this film which, while still inferior to the first film, is certainly better upon reflection. And since there are undeniably parts of this film that I love just as much, if not more so, than the first, and I like to talk spoilers, I think I fancy telling my real, uninhibited thoughts on the film, and what I thought was weak, and what I thought was absolutely awesome. It should go without saying that I will soon completely ruin this film, so if spoilers bother you, now's the time to stop reading and go watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, let's go.

Just like Guardians, Guardians Vol. 2 opens with a flashback, this one in 1980, and it serves as our introduction to Ego, who is later revealed to be the film's villain. First up, Kurt Russell looks really young in this flashback, just something I thought was worth noting. But I do take issue with this flashback, the flashback in the first Guardians of the Galaxy was outstanding; as a very young Peter watches his terminally ill mum die of cancer, before being abducted by aliens, it's a really emotional scene, and it gives a superb setup for Quill, who becomes a really emotionally weighted character because of this scene. This scene does an alright job with Ego, a super charming space man with some mysterious ulterior motives, but obviously that's a bit less hard hitting than a kid watching his mum die. Another problem I take with the scene is how it effectively ruins Ego; what this scene shows us is him planting weird, alien looking plants on Earth, which is suspicious as shit, ever more so when he talks about it covering the whole universe or something like that. If it was a more normal looking plant, like a flower, it might have been less obvious, but as it stands, that's a really suspicious alien plant. Like I said in my review though, the film immediately picks up with the Guardians killing what the Lego set calls the Abilisk, and in a brilliant subversion of expectations, rather than showing the fight, we are treated to an adorable dance sequence with Groot, I'm sure there's people out there that might hate that lack of a big fight, but I think most people, myself included will be too oblivious, just like tiny little Groot. Something else this intro sets up very nicely is the relationship between the Guardians, as Rocket mocks Drax for having sensitive nipples; it's clear that the relationship still has a few kinks, as their teamwork skills still aren't great, and some egos are still clashing with others. There is a great moment however where Groot tries to eat a bug, and Rocket stops fighting the Abilisk to tell him to spit it out, quite metaphorical of what I said in my review, that despite always killing baddies and getting rich, they're all still trying to be good parents for Groot, it's adorable. The film's fantastic sense of humour remains strong as the Gold people chase them through an asteroid field, and the crew bicker and lob snark and sarcasm constantly, meanwhile the ship battle itself is pretty cool, with the Milano avoiding teleporting boulders while being shot at by a pack of Sovereign drones, before they leave the field, and some unknown force decimates the remains of the Sovereign fleet, which was cool. I said in my review that here's where the film slows down, and that's true; the humour's still there, but the film is completely lacking in any sort of action for a good while past this point. I get that the film needs time to set things up, setting up Ego, Mantis, Yondu, Sylvester Stallone, all before the film picks up speed again. That, as you'd expect, takes a bit of time, and while I usually wouldn't see such down time in the first act as a negative, coming off the first film; which had fantastic, almost seamlessly fast pacing, this extended period of just character development is really jarring.

That's easily the film's biggest flaw, in a complete reversal of what the first film managed to do, this film really takes it slow in setting up its characters and story. This huge amount of character development pays off massively in the final act, but until that pay off, you're just left confused that a sequel to such a fun film could be so slow, it's good character development, but it can, and does, drag on. Some of that great character development does however include a few great character scenes; the scene were Quill makes a light ball is really good, since it's pretty daft to watch, but it's also really sweet, given that earlier he talked about seeing the other kids playing catch with their dads, in that scene he realises that he now has that, which, again, is really sweet. The scene with him and Gamora dancing is also really good, as Gamora lets her guard down a bit, and the scene from the trailer where Mantis outs Quill wanting to bang Gamora is every bit as funny in the film as it was in the trailer. One of my favourite scenes in this stretch of the film, and in fact one of my favourite scenes in the film, is a scene with Drax and Mantis; it starts off funny, as ever, with the dreadfully honest Drax calling Mantis hideous, before Drax mentions beauty being internal as well as external, and bringing up his daughter. Drax says that mantis reminds him of her, since she is, as Drax says, innocent. It's here that this scene becomes really emotional, as a stone faced Drax sits there, and Mantis feels his feelings, and suddenly breaks down and starts crying; it's a beautiful way of conveying that Drax is a really emotionally damaged character, and it was such a pleasant surprise, it actually brought a tear to my eye. I mentioned that Nebula is also more important here, and it's here that we learn why she's so bad shit nuts and why she hates Gamora, as we learn how Thanos would force her and Gamora to fight, and how he would mutilate her when she lost, what I didn't mention in my review was that this film does get a bit morbid, and by a bit, I mean really, viscerally morbid, and it adds a lot to a character I never cared much for in the first film. And seeing Gamora and Nebula reconcile their hatred for each other is some good shit. One of my favourite elements of the film was what Rocket and Yondu were up to; the scene in the forest with Rocket taking on the Ravagers was your familiar cocktail of comedy and action, as he completely humiliates them singlehandedly. It's when him and Yondu are thrown into a cell together that things get more complex, and where one of the most emotional elements of the film starts to build up. As Rocket and Yondu talk, it become obvious that Yondu's actually had a pretty rough past, and that the reason he gives for not delivering Quill to Ego might not be entirely true. Later it's revealed that Yondu knew what Ego was doing, and that he couldn't let Quill suffer the fate Ego had in mind for him, which puts Yondu in a very unusual, and very emotional place as a character. During the final battle, we see a time where Yondu was teaching young Quill how to fire a blaster, which is such a subtle touch that some people might not even think it a big deal, which it is; in that one second, every time Yondu's ever been lenient or forgiving to Quill is given a whole new context, and Quill realises just what he and Yondu meant to each other, that despite being a douchebag space pirate who kidnapped him as a kid, Yondu was the closest thing to a dad Quill ever had. It's such a fantastic piece of character development, and it makes Yondu's fate even more heart destroying.

The scene with Yondu and Rocket slaughtering the Ravagers was also really awesome; we see that magic arrow like we've never seen it before, fucking annihilating what's probably hundreds of pirates, flying all over the place and completely shredding them, while Rocket blasters the stragglers and Groot gets some really satisfying revenge.  The music is perfect for this scene, as it's all just so daft and entertaining, seeing a pair of complete badasses hard at work. The moment in particular when the arrow kills the lights, before shredding the Ravagers in the dark is some beautiful imagery, and I absolutely adore it. What follows is a really bizarre sequence with wibbly wobbly space time, which is so fucking funny, I just love it, it's so funny, and a really good piece of character development as Yondu confronts Rocket, and the two realise they're not all that different. What this blossoms into is a pair of scenes, and they're that kind of scene; a kind of scene that just puts whatever film they're in on a new level, first up is the Rocket scene. When Rocket couldn't tell Gamora where Quill was, the pain was real, and when Rocket shoots Gamora to stop her leaving, that seals the deal; it's such an amazing scene, in fact, after watching Guardians 2, Rocket is my favourite character by a mile, because of this scene, because the tears were brought, the image of a completely emotionally defeated Rocket watching as the Ship's door closes in front of him is something I can't get out of my head. Then of course is the moment Yondu dies, which holy shit, that's morbid, like really morbid, Quill has to watch that, just imagine how horrible that is, Quill now realises how much Yondu cared for him, and now he is powerless while he suffocates and freezes in the vacuum of space, fucking hell, that's rough. The Ravager funeral at the end is amazing, Kraglin finally breaks, which is a really powerful thing, as is seeing the Ravager fleets come to see off their fellow captain, even after they exiled him for breaking the code, it's a visually stunning, and completely soul crushing send off for one of this film's biggest surprises, and I love it. Quill's speech was good, still having a pinch of humour, but clearly prioritising the feels, as he says goodbye to his space pirate dad. And I obviously couldn't say what it was, but in my review I said something about the last shot of the film; it's a close up of Rocket's face at Yondu's funeral, does it not blow anyone's mind that CG can now convey such subtle emotions, like the look in Rocket's eyes, seeing that tear roll down his face killed me, I adore it so so much, but it's painful to look at, seeing my new favourite character so broken.

And then, there's Ego. I may have alluded to him being the film's villain in my review, but yes, Ego is the villain, with an evil scheme to destroy the universe and literally rebuild it in his image. Ego's a likable guy at first, cranking up the charm to try and win Quill, while keeping a secret that all he needs him for is more light to begin his 'expansion,' remember that plant from earlier? well it turns out he wasn't kidding about it covering everything, he wants to terraform every planet in existence, and he's using those plants to do it. It gets grim when you learn that he's actually had thousands of children, and that he's killed every single one of them, because none of them carried his genes, his 'light'. Ego's a pretty awesome villain, like I said in my Rogue One redux, Krennic can justify genocide for his perceived greater good, in that sense, Ego is exactly the same, the Expansion must happen, and how many of his own children are murdered in the process is irrelevant, how fucking evil is that. But then he goes and ruins everything for himself, by letting slip that he put the cancer in Quill's mum's head, Guardians 2 went there, and Quill's response is very bit a violent and rage fuelled as you'd expect, he snaps out of Ego's trance, and immediately draws his blasters and just starts ripping shit into Ego, firing probably dozens of times, and tearing him to pieces. Ego's a god however, so that doesn't kill him, we get a pretty clever cameo, and then Ego goes full dick, forcibly taking Quill and beginning the Expansion. The fight against Ego is now on, and eventually they're in Ego's core, trying to destroy his heavily protected consciousness, before the gold people show up and make things even more difficult. There's a brief throw down with the gold people that's wrapped up with the Shin Godzilla laser back attack, and there's a really funny Mary Poppins joke. I said this battle was more epic, I said that because unlike the ship battle from the first one, with thousands of ships in combat above the city, Guardians 2's final battle is a small group verses a planet; a living, intelligent, super duper evil planet. a very cool looking evil planet too, and the scene where his Kurt Russell putty thing walks out, and slowly forms from a humanoid shaped mass of light back into Kurt Russell is a really cool effect, one of the coolest this film has to offer, up there with Rocket and Yondu's magic arrow. The fight does actually kind of lose me however when it becomes the Superman Zod fight from Man Of Steel, as Kurt Russell and Quill and is new god powers start throwing each other around and pummelling each other. It makes sense from a story perspective, as Quill realises the truth about himself, and embraces the light in order to destroy Ego. But it looks daft, and not in a good way like all the other daft things in this film, it actually feels a bit out of place, and I very much get a less is more vibe from it. The fight's end however is badass, as an effectively crippled Ego pleads with Quill to spare his life, and Quill, in a more meaningful and family friendly manner, basically tells him to go fuck himself. In that moment Ego reminds you how good a villain he was, as the reality finally dawns on him, that his Expansion has failed, and that after millions of years of being immortal and alone, his own precious progeny is now going to kill him, it's ironic, and it makes Ego seem kind of pathetic, which is fine, he's a dick.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is definitely harder to get your head around than the first one, the film suffers from a much less seamless pace, failing to be as consistently fun as that first film. But when the film's character development finally pays off after that wonky pacing, I'd actually argue it's better than the first one, as it brings the feels harder than the first one ever could. I'd still say it's not as good, Guardians of the Galaxy is more fun, but after a third viewing and a few days of thinking, I've realised that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 offers something different, something more meaningful. Now I have no doubt in my mind that if this film's pacing was as seamless as the first one's, it would have left that first one in the dust, but really, I guess to expect that is to expect perfection, and that's just not fair. I enjoyed this film more than I thought I did, and I'd still very much recommend it.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 movie review

Here's what you need to know; riding the success of their battle against Ronan, the Guardians of the Galaxy are busy getting rich and keeping the Galaxy safe. But when one of their jobs doesn't go to plan, and puts them in the sights of the Zealous Sovereigns, a mysterious man comes to their aid, a man claiming to be Quill's father. Now in the company of Ego, Quill feels he has finally found family, while his friends start to fear that Ego isn't entirely what he appears, and that somewhere beneath the surface is something far more sinister.
I watched it, I watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, and having loved the first film, I was understandably excited to see the sequel. Having watched the sequel however, I found my expectations being, how do we say, challenged, that nebulous enough? cool, let's go.

Like the First film, Guardian of the Galaxy Vol. 2 opens with a flashback to the 1980's showing us a bit more of Quill's mum, and introducing us to Ego. This intro however has nowhere near the emotional weight of her death in the first film, in fact it doesn't really have any emotional weight, it does nothing more than set up a bit of Ego. Fortunately we are then treated to a much, much better intro with the Guardians taking on a squid monster thing, while Groot dances adorably to Mr. Blue Sky, before we are treated to a very entertaining Ship battle. The Guardians get a very good reintroduction in this film; now closer together than in the first film, they're still shooting shit at each other, and bickering about petty things during life or death situations. Quill is still the reckless, shit talking pirate he was in the first film, Rocket hasn't changed much either, which is good, while Drax and Gamora are just as likable as they became in the first film, and get a lot more laughs in this film, Drax in particular, who went from a kind of wooden character in the first film, to a character who's consistently funny for most of this film. The only character who's seen any massive change is of course Groot, who's now a baby, and he's every bit as adorable as you'd hope, perhaps more so, as he's not just small, he literally is a baby, and the rest of the Guardians are all trying to be good parents for him, while also killing baddies and causing trouble. Something I was very happy to see was the new emotional layers put on the characters in this film, Nebula is much more prominent in this film, and her hatred of Gamora is explored extensively, and it's actually really interesting, and pretty heart wrenching, even if Nebula is still a cheesy character, just like before. Drax also gets some serious development in this film, one scene in particular, where he's talking to Mantis, that's some really hard hitting shit, and it's fantastic. Yondu also returns, as does his Ravager underling Kraglin, and they are one of the film's best changes. Yondu is much more important to the film, and to Quill as a character, and as the film goes on, and his history and relationship with Quill is explored, he becomes a truly fantastic character. He also has some fantastic scenes with Rocket and Groot, and like the end of the first one, you can truly feel Rocket's sadness, as his character also gets the treatment, and there's a few times in this film where Rocket just looks broken, it's horrible, but in the best way it could be. Ego is a tricky one to describe, since the trailers don't really give you that much on him, but he's certainly more developed and interesting than Ronan was, and the conflict he brings in this film is some top notch stuff. And while he's Kurt Russell for most of the film, when the film's finale kicks in, and he takes on his larger forms, it's really cool to look at. New players provide descent supporting roles, Mantis has a cute thing going on with Drax, while a Ravager with the best name ever has the best name ever, Kraglin also has some good scenes, especially in the film's second half. The Gold people all over the film's trailers however aren't really in the film that much, very much like the Ravagers in the first film, they're just a faction that keeps getting in the way at certain points in the film, sad thing is genetically perfect golden pricks lose to space pirates every time.

So far all good, but now we get into flaws, sadly, this might take a while. After the fantastic ship chase in the film's opening, the film slows right down; in the first Guardians they were never on a planet too long, before hopping to the next planet or having a battle, that kept the plot moving at a great pace, and made the film really fun, Guardians 2 however has done the complete opposite. After the ship chase, the majority of the crew spend the rest of the film on one planet, and don't get into any major action until the finale, sure that gives time for development, but the sad truth is sections of the film are just boring, the film has lost the sense of adventure in the first one, and it's not as fun. While Quill, Gamora and Drax are chilling with Ego, things actually do happen with Rocket and Groot, and for a lot of the film, that's really where the enjoyment lies, as Yondu and Rocket stage a daring breakout, and bond in a very enjoyable and sombre way. A lot of the film's humour is also largely in these sequences with Rocket and Yondu, which is really entertaining, but by comparison, the slow, dramatic character building with Ego is just boring. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 is only fifteen minutes longer than the first film, but it definitely feels longer than that, and that's really not good. Fortunately the film picks back up in the final act, as the Guardians reunite and save the Galaxy again, while it's not a Star Wars esque ship battle like the first film, the final showdown is still really entertaining, and actually funnier than the first one, and I'd reckon it's actually a bit more epic than the first one too, on a side note, there's a scene in the final battle that reminded me so much of Shin Godzilla, only it was done better in my opinion. Easily the best part of the final battle, and the best part of the film in fact, is the feels, because when shit goes down, and everyone's having a really bad day, it's genuinely fantastic, again, Rocket is a standout in this film, and, no specifics of course, the last shot of this film is one of the most heart destroying things I've seen in a film, definitely the most heart destroying thing I've seen this year. Like the first film, while being emotionally wrecking, it's also funny, though maybe not as funny as the first one overall; Rocket and Yondu are great, Drax actually gets a lot of humour, and Rocket and Star Lord are still shit heads, but overall, when the film gets so slow and, honestly, dull, with Ego, it detracts from the film in terms of how funny it is. Somewhere where the film is on par is of course the visual effects, this is a beautiful film, Rocket and Groot look as convincing as they did before, and like the first one, the film is stunningly colourful, there's literally never a dull moment, as the film is always popping with vibrant colours. The action is still really fun, the throw down in the forest with Rocket and the Ravagers is great, and the massacre on the Ravager ship is fantastically violent, and a lot of fun. And, same as before, the film has a stellar collection of songs that always seem to fire up during the more intense scenes, usually because of Rocket or Groot, which is really funny. The song list however isn't as memorable as the first film, but it still has its shining moments, Southern Nights and Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang in particular.

That's actually a good way to describe Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, it has its good moments, and they're great, but it's just not as memorable as the first film. Its characters are considerably more developed than before, and when the film wants to be emotional, it's even better than the first one, while the comedy is about on par overall. The problem is that the film lacks the epic space adventure story of the first one; with a huge section of the film taking place on a single planet, and having considerably less humour than the actual space adventure shit with Rocket and Yondu, which is where the film's enjoyment comes from for a considerable while. I still love what works in this film, but not all of it works. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 still has its moments, and for them, I'd recommend it, but it's not as good as the first one.

Guardians of the Galaxy movie review

Here's what you need to know; after being abducted into his new and adventurous life as a Ravager, Peter Quill can't seem to keep himself out of trouble. His latest job gets messy however when he finds that his treasure is sought after by several people, including the genocidal war monger Ronan. Now stuck with a motley crew of bounty hunters, an assassin and a no nonsense nut case, Quill finds himself in the position of being one of the only things between the galaxy and Ronan.
2014 had some great movies; Godzilla, Edge of Tomorrow, Paddington, Planet of the Apes, somewhere in there is a film called Guardians of the Galaxy, a film in the famed MCU, and one of only three films I've seen in the MCU, which I'm not proud of. It'll be four soon enough though, and I'll never turn down an excuse to watch a film I love.

Guardians of the Galaxy takes an unexpected turn right away, with an intro that's very devoid of humour, and is instead filled with a deep sense of tragedy, for a film filled with laughs and badass action, it's very odd to start in such a sombre place, but it works, as we're immediately given a reason to care about Peter. Then of course the film does a complete U-turn and a significant time jump, and we are introduced to an older Peter, who still has a working Walkman somehow. It's also here that the film establishes it's heavily comedic side, as Quill dances and sings his way through perilous ancient ruins. That intro really helps to establish Quill as a likable character; after suffering a tragedy, and then having his whole universe literally turned on its head, he comes from a very emotional place for the audience, while watching him use a nasty looking rodent as a mime microphone is stupidly funny. Over the course of the film, Quill remains its main focus, as he slowly becomes friends with his fellow Guardians, and finds purpose in stopping Ronan, and they manage to find trouble everywhere they go. The rest of the crew is significantly less developed than Quill, just an observation though, not a negative, and the majority of them are every bit as likable as Quill. Gamora is a very stoic character for most of the film, and she likes swords and knives. Her backstory is certainly grim, and her motivations are understandable, but it's only really in the film's final act that Gamora really becomes a likable character, while the rest of the film shows off her proficiency in combat and her ability to make funny remarks. Equally skilled in fighting and remarking, but even more wooden, is Drax, a character with another tragic backstory, but who's lacking in crucial departments, that being said, like Gamora, he does grow on you throughout the film. That just leaves Rocket and Groot, and while one of them is literally wooden, combined, they are easily the film's greatest strength. Rocket is amazing, he's the funniest character in the film by far, always armed with a witty remark, a plan, and a ridiculously big gun, when the action goes down, he's about a vicious as a Raccoon can get, but what's really surprising is the emotional weight in his character. At a few points in this film Rocket breaks down, and underneath the snarky, crazy inventor bounty hunter, you see a very damaged and troubled rodent, and towards the film's end, you genuinely can't help but feel his loss. Next to Quill, he's the best character in the film. Groot meanwhile is much simpler; he's a big, somewhat simple minded tree, with a very limited vocabulary, and an immense heart. There's one instance where I can spoil I think, when he gives a girl beggar a flower, which is really sweet. But to sum up what I really love about Groot, I can't spoil it, but he does something in the film's final battle, and when he's done, he pulls a face that is, no word of a lie, the funniest thing in the film, it's just amazing. While the film's leads are pretty damn good, the line up falters in supporting characters; Thanos is in one scene, pretty minor for the biggest baddie in the MCU, while Ronan is a pretty hollow villain. Yondu is admittedly pretty cool, because it's Michael Rooker, while Nebula is played by one of the things that made me stop liking Doctor Who, no bias there then.

Part of what makes Guardians of the Galaxy so enjoyable is its humour; the film is oozing with the shit, it comes from all of the characters, besides the villain, and is prevalent for the entirety of the film. Rocket and Quill give the film it's best laughs, with Groot, Gamora and Drax not far behind, Peter Serafinowicz from Shaun of the Dead and John C. Reilly are both in this film, you know where that leads. But that comedy doesn't detract from the film's more emotional scenes, which Quill and Rocket get the bulk of, and those emotional scenes are really good, proper heavy stuff, the ending in particular really pulls at the heart strings, as does Quill's abduction. Guardians of the Galaxy tells a fun story, the film doesn't pass on any excuses to hop around the Galaxy, and always throws an action scene at you just in case the comedy wasn't entertaining enough; the throw down in the prison is fantastic stuff, a good blend of laughs and fast, exciting action, while the final battle against Ronan is like something out of Star Wars. It, like a Star Wars finale, mixes a ground, or rather, ship battle, with a huge battle above the surface with fighters and massive ships. There's also a tone shift about half way through the film, which is actually done really well, it doesn't slow down the film's more entertaining elements, but it does greatly help in developing the friendship between the Guardians, and gives their friendship and actions more purpose. It's now I should probably mention the visual effects, which are, as you should expect, outstanding. Rocket and Groot are CG, but you really don't care while you're watching, it's very comparable to Paddington in that respect, with how well done the CG on those two is. The Various places they visit in their quest all look phenomenal too, and are a good variety of nice looking planets, a shitty looking prison and mining colony, and an eerie and atmospheric dead planet, as well as the suitably dark and sinister Kree ship, contrasted by the bright and colourful look of Xandar. This is again reflected in the designs of the various alien things, with the nasty look of the Necrocraft, and the even nastier look of their pilots, contrasted by the equally abstract, but much nicer and more colourful Nova fighters, while the Milano and the Ravager ships are just great, something about the design of the Milano just appeals to me, maybe the brilliant orange and blue paint, or the elegant, organic shaping of its wings, it's striking angles, something just really works. A nebulous, non specific and blind praise is also in order for the film's music, which is, once again, fantastic; the film's list of songs is extensive, and there honestly isn't a bad one, there's some David Bowie, Raspberries, Norman Greenbaum, Jackson 5, Blue Swede, and of course others, and they certainly add to the film's fun factor, as The Pina Colada Song kicks on during a prison break, or Cherry Bomb kicks on while they all gear up for the big battle, does it all make sense, not really, but it's a lot of fun, and the great music is something you'll certainly remember.

Guardians of the Galaxy is the kind of film I honestly can't imagine someone not liking, since while it does have flaws, I'd say in its weak villain and supporting characters, the film is just too much fun to not like. It's funny, exciting, has the best talking CG hairball this side of Paddington, excellent visuals overall, a stellar song list, and at times it can really deliver some emotional clout. Its central characters are all good, even if one or two are on the weak side, and it's climatic final act has me struggling for a superlative I haven't already used. A film that can hold all of these elements together and balance them as well as this one does always makes for a hugely enjoyable watch, and Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception, it's definitely a must watch.

Call of Duty: WWII trailer thoughts

So, the new Call of Duty has a reveal trailer now, this should be good. I haven't done my thoughts on a trailer for a while now, and I'd usually think Call of Duty wasn't worth the effort, but things have changed. First, some set up for the main event, everyone remembers the trailer for Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, and as you can see, its like to dislike ratio is a bit abysmal, in fact it's worse than the trailer for Ghostbusters, which I found astounding, since Ghostbusters, I thought, was only slightly better than the garbage pile I thought it would be. Infinite Warfare, on the other hand, is a game I think deserves less hate than it gets; sure the multiplayer was the same tired old crap, but behind that dead horse I always tend to find the campaign to be of a very high quality, always a completely serviceable little five hour romp. Despite Infinite Warfare being so Sci Fi that it wasn't really Call of Duty anymore, it still had that very high level of polish that all CoD campaigns have had, and was, in itself, a decent Sci Fi adventure. And as far as roots go, turning a war game into a Sci Fi war game makes more sense than turning a war game into cops and crooks; you might as well give them credit for trying something new with the formula. Battlefield 1 however changed the game in a way Hardline never could, opting to return to a historical war setting, and selling in huge numbers, though it still lost to Infinite Warfare. The real tragedy is that Battlefield 1 and Infinite Warfare both killed Titanfall 2, which is easily the best game of the three. Now following Battlefield's lead, Call of Duty is also going back to a historical war, and judging from this trailer, it's going in hard.

The trailer opens with a radio speech that, from what I could find, was read by President Roosevelt on the 6th of June 1944, the day of the Normandy landings. This is a wonderful touch, and is hopefully a subtle signifier that this Call of Duty will at least try to convey the gravity of the war with sincerity. What follows is a beach landing that looks like it was ripped straight from Saving Private Ryan, it's violent, bloody, intense, it almost looks scary; it's such a departure from the more recent, more insane and bombastic Call of Duty campaigns that I can't help but love it, it looks horrible, which is the best thing that could be said about it. That beach scene really sets the tone, this is a trailer that seemingly wants you to know that this game isn't messing around; the violence is extreme, it's in your face, yet far from being loud, it's almost subdued by the music, which, in contrast to the intense, graphic violence, is very serene. WWII immediately seems to set itself apart from CoD's recent outings by putting a focus on the soldiers in this trailer, whereas Advanced Warfare was on Kevin Spacey rambling about Democracy and US efforts at regime change, Black Ops III was on the line between soldier and weapon, and Infinite Warfare was on look, space and shit. What should be apparent is that all of these trailers have set themselves on establishing the primary element of the game's story, be it the conflict, the themes, or the characters, hopefully WWII will be the same, since this is a very personal trailer; what sticks out to me is a scene that depicts a personal conflict, as one soldier asks for the number of casualties. Death is everywhere in this trailer; soldiers are gunned down by MG nests, blown up by tanks, picked off by planes, so on, so on, it appears that the age of cyber super soldiers is very much over, and this is a very refreshing change, and weird, given how I can remember when World War Two games went out of fashion. This is also a pretty radical change to the Call of Duty series itself, which ditched World War Two a full nine years ago, which makes me ask, how will this change things, mainly in the department of gameplay, vehicles, weapons, stuff like that, being an enthusiast for more historical war technology, I'm excited. WWII looks like it's tried to keep the cinematic nature of the series, but dumped the bombastic epicness of the recent games in favour of a more grounded story with a greater focus on the men in the war; why else would it open with a Roosevelt speech, this is a return to the roots of series, like Activision said; a blend of the newer games' cinematic elements, and the older games' grittier, intimately violent representation of the war. Unlike those older games however, WWII seems entirely focused on the European side of the War, which I personally find disappointing, maybe because I recently watched Hacksaw Ridge, who knows. On the plus side however, this does mean the story can be told with a tighter focus, similar to, for example, Black Ops, which remains my favourite Call of Duty game, even now. That story will hopefully be something special, because while I've enjoyed the last few CoD campaigns, and really enjoyed certain things about them, a good example of that being Black Ops III, none of the last few CoD games have really struck me a special, in the way a Bioshock game would be, or Like Spec Ops: The Line or the Uncharted series and The Last of Us, games that hit you on a very emotional and psychological level. Maybe I'm getting my hopes up, but I hope WWII is special, I hope that its campaign can be up there with Spec Ops: The Line as a fantastic campaign. Which is where my concern lies, since weirdly, I 'm always more drawn to the Campaign than the multiplayer, in fact I barely touch the multiplayer, but that's not just CoD, that's also Halo, the exception is of course Titanfall, because that game is fucking awesome.

Call of Duty: WWII's trailer actually gives me exactly what I wanted, which is hope that Call of Duty can actually pull off the move of being more than a fun little five hour time waster, can actually be something great, that people will remember even after Call of Duty 2018 and 19, and can breathe back life into this franchise that is undeniably dying. A lot of people do want to see Call of Duty die, but to be honest, I don't think it deserves to yet, I still think there's time for the series to find it's fire again, and hopefully with WWII, it's found it, and hell yes, I'll be picking it up. And on a finishing note, people are a lot more positive about this trailer than they were for Infinite Warfare, which is a good sign.

Blue Once More

 It snowed last night, in April, which I couldn't seem to get my head around, since just a few days ago I took advantage of the warm, dry weather to take some photos. Out the door at Eight o'clock in the morning, and not returning for many hours, I spent my time getting my knee muddy as usual, this time by sliding down a hill like the cover of Vanquish, and scouring every inch of the forest for only the bluest of bluebells. But since two and a half gigabytes is just not enough, I later rounded it out to a nice solid five during another bout of self loathing and paranoia, mostly with pictures of ducks, and the occasional Swan. I also tried my luck getting pictures of bats, since it was going dark, but they're illusive buggers.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story redux review

I said I'd do it; months ago, when pondering my recent cinema experience with Rogue One, I understood that doing a review like my reviews for Monsters and Godzilla would be difficult, but I wanted to do that, so rather than holding off, I did my review, and considered coming back to it later, once the Blu Ray was out, well here we are. Finally I can dive into Rogue One like I always wanted to, and go into more details on the things I thought the film got right, and wrong, and look more into some of the ideas the film plays with, thus completing the set of Gareth Edwards directed films. Plot summary is still in order I guess.
Here's what you need to know; after years of running from her family's Imperial past, Jyn Erso is finally hunted down by the Rebellion, who have a job for her. Information has surfaced regarding a new weapon the Empire has built, one that can destroy planets, and Jyn's father has suddenly re emerged with a message that could turn the tide of the war. Not knowing who she can trust, Jyn sets out to find her father and unearth the secrets of the Empire's planet killer, before it is used to end the Rebellion completely.

The film opens like a Star Wars film should, with a shot of deep space, following the familiar Long time ago far far way, but with no crawl, instead just a lone ship flying through some planetary rings, a ship belonging to the film's villain, Director Krennic. The intro sequence with the ship and the farm sets things up very nicely, with Jyn's hatred of the Empire being ignited by her mother's murder, and the scene sets up a very juicy concept with Krennic and Galen which we'll get to, as well as a clever visual bigging up of the Death Troopers, as one of them picks up a Stormtrooper doll, the symbolism is pretty clear. Something Rogue One really plays with, which is great to see, is the idea that the Empire is a real threat to the people of the galaxy, Stormtroopers are everywhere in this film, and on occasion the film shows you them searching homes and harassing people on the street. Saw and his crew are terrified of Imperial spies, as if they're literally everywhere, always watching, it's a palpable paranoia. The streets of Jedha are crawling with Stromtroopers, Imperial droids, and Imperial machines like the ATST, not to mention the Destroyer looming over the city, like a very big, very metaphorical oppressive boot. Krennic and Galen meanwhile embody another idea, that being the Banality of Evil; this is something I did a bit of homework on over my multiple recent viewings of the film, and hopefully I've got it right. Krennic and Galen are both with the Empire, an evil, oppressive force looming over the free people of the galaxy, and both are crucial to the development and construction of the Death Star, this is where Banality of Evil comes in. The Death Star is a weapon that can destroy entire planets, the Empire hopes that fear alone is enough to keep the galaxy in line, fear that resistance will be met with the full destructive force of the Empire's own planet killer, peace and order through fear. Krennic sees that as a necessary evil, a vital step in ensuring peace and order in the Galaxy, and he sees the evil of building and using a weapon capable of genocide as justified in pursuit of a greater good; Imperial dominance, and his personal success within the Empire. It doesn't matter how many people die because of the Death Star, they are a necessary sacrifice for the end goal, it needs to be done, for the betterment of the galaxy. Krennic can justify building a planet killer, Galen however cannot; Krennic can put aside his moral reasoning, while Galen sees the tremendous evil in the Death Star, he has retained his moral reasoning, and made the decision to lie to the Empire and deliberately design a flaw in the Death Star, one that could put right what he and Krennic have done. It's this plus his apparent need for recognition in the Empire that makes Krennic such a good villain in my opinion, and his finale is brilliantly poetic, while Galen is an interesting character in his choice to betray the Empire, and again, his finale is interestingly ironic. What's truly scary, and brilliant cinema, is a tiny scene that depicts Galen, Krennic and Lyra drinking socially; hammering home this Banality of Evil idea, when Krennic and Galen aren't building a genocide machine, they're normal people, Krennic isn't a Sith like most Star Wars baddies, he's just a normal person, and someone as casual as that, with no magic powers, being capable of committing such large scale evil, is genuinely frightening.

It's here though that we get into flaws, because even I can admit that this film isn't perfect. Jyn Erso has an interesting backstory; a fugitive who's dad is an Imperial scientist, and who was raised by a terrorist, these elements of the film are somewhat explored, with Jyn pretending Galen is dead, and the first time we see her in a jail cell is arguably symbolic not just of her criminal lifestyle, but of her internal struggle, of her attempts to escape her family's past with the Empire. This metaphorical prison is also played with with Cassian, but unlike Jyn, who has a prologue to set her up, Cassian just has a scene where he says he's been fighting the Empire since he was six. You can gather that the Empire killed his family, but the film never shows it, or tells it. Cassian is supposed to be this heroic figure, who lost something he loved, and decided to do something about it, but with so little development, he can only be judged on his actions in the film, and on that, he's a bit of a dick, I'll get to an interesting idea this applies to later, but Cassian just isn't a terribly interesting character. Neither for that matter is Bodhi; he's an Imperial who, like Galen, decided to make a choice to rebel against the Empire, but apart from that, he isn't much of a character, there's a scene where he is mind raped by a squid thing, and this scene is crap, it's so out of place in the film, it serves no purpose, and it doesn't develop Bodhi, I'll get to the mind raping squid later though. Chirrut is one of the film's better characters, since he's a badass warrior monk, it's just fun to watch him clean house with Stormtroopers, and his character serves a larger purpose; while the rest of the Galaxy has given up believing in hokey religions, Chirrut still hangs onto his belief in the Force, in a bleak, hopeless world, he's a tiny shard of hope, hope that the balance in the Force will one day be restored. This surprising amount of depth spills over to Baze Malbus, a character with a close friendship with Chirrut, that's never really explored. What's interesting about Baze is his perspective on the Force, like the rest of the Galaxy, he's given up believing that the Force can save the day, yet in Chirrut he sees hope, Chirrut even points this out, that Baze, while mocking him for his Force delusions, secretly hopes he's right, secretly hopes that the Force is real, again, it's a surprisingly deep concept, and while Bodhi and Cassian are flat, Baze is a walking tank, he's cooler by default. Meanwhile there's nothing bad to say about K2SO, he's just a cool robot, he says what he wants, when he wants, and while his heart is in the right place, he's very cynical and blunt. He does however have a problem that many characters have, that being a lazy introduction, Cassian, Chirrut and Baze all have this problem, and it's such a tiny niggling fault, that could have been fixed so easily, but instead it's either them or someone else saying their full names, and sometimes even their occupations, with seemingly no context or reason. It would have been so easy to fix, literally as simple as, for example, swapping the word 'Malbus' with 'here', Chirrut asking for Jyn's name before introducing himself, or K2SO apologising for man handling Jyn on Wobani. Instead it's another flaw to these characters, the majority of which are already really lacking in meaningful development, even with the deeper ideas they embody.

Let's get back to the good shit again, and dive into Saw Gerrera. Saw Gerrera plays up one of this film's strongest themes, that being the line between good and evil, and how difficult it is to discern. The phrase 'Heroes of the Empire' is one I can't stop thinking about; since it's true, it opens the idea of if the Empire didn't lose the Death Star, they'd have probably won the war, Krennic's dream of peace though terror would be achieved, Galen would have been a hero, who's baby was used by the Empire to bring peace to the Galaxy, again ignoring the billions killed to get there. The film hints at this ambiguity with Cassian early on, which is a great scene, but this dynamic doesn't really come into its own until you see Saw Gerrera. When Saw shows up, it's pretty unsettling, his metal feet clunk on the floor, his walking is heavily laboured, his voice is strained and wheezy, something that's a bit jarring at first, admittedly, a bit weird. By far the best example is his breathing, as when Bodhi is taken to him, he breathes through a mask, and it's a sound that sends a shudder through Bodhi. The obvious implication kind of parallels Krennic and the Banality of Evil, the rebels have disowned Saw and his gang, seeing them as too fanatical and extreme, he, like the Empire, has a goal, a greater good, and acts of evil are permissible on the road to that good. When you see him, a lot of his body is machine, he has trouble breathing, and is completely paranoid, implying that his fight has been a long and very gruesome one, and at this point he has given up his moral reasoning, he and his crew are terrorists, and as seen on Jedha, they will gladly risk civilian casualties to hurt the Empire. This is, however, where we get back to the mind raping squid thing, that scene that does nothing for the film; as morbid as it sounds, I think this scene should have just been a torture scene. I say this since a torture scene would inherently have been more unpleasant, it would have reinforced the moral ambiguity of the film, since torturing someone is more evil than a squid, and it would have added to Bodhi's character, who's decision to rebel would have been met with cruelty. Really the only reason I can think of is it's too morbid for the younger viewers, but Star Wars has done torture in the past, shit, Kylo Ren tortured Poe in The Force Awakens, so why was the Squid thing even a thing. It would have had the same result from a character and story perspective, but would have added to the film on a deeper level. Cassian's speech before the final Scarif battle further cements this theme, as he admits that he and many of the rebels have done terrible things for the Rebellion, and have told themselves it was for a cause they believed in, weirdly though the scene doesn't stick out all that much, despite that confession being a bit of a big deal, probably since Cassian just isn't a very likable character.

It should be apparent that I like Gareth Edwards' films; I've reviewed all three of them, and am now dissecting his third and latest film. What makes Gareth Edwards's approach to directing so interesting to me is something can't fully determine, but I love him as a director. What worked so well in Godzilla and Monsters is the perspective; despite both films being epic sci fi scenarios, Monsters passes the more conventional sci fi route for a smaller and simpler personal story about two people crossing the exclusion Zone, it's a quiet, personal story, with no action scenes, and only the occasional encounter with an alien, this is perhaps a result of the low budget, guerrilla nature of the production, but it makes the film more special, more unique. Godzilla is considerably more epic, since it's about a Kaiju, but again, that personal story is at the core of the film, and Godzilla's presence is handled in an undeniably interesting way, which is why I describe Godzilla as the Godzilla film I didn't know I wanted. Gareth Edwards makes sure that the focus is clear in his directing, Godzilla, while only having ten minutes of Godzilla, masterfully shows the size and destructive force of him, and effectively conveys that film's most fascinating, almost Lovecraftian concepts. Rogue One is less elegant than Godzilla, but the DNA that made it work is still there, Rogue One's approach to Star Wars is grounded and visceral, the line between good and evil is blurred heavily, neither side has cleans hands, or clean helmets, a clever visual cue. The Force, while still a presence in the film, is kept very subdued, keeping happy and wonderful ideals subdued in the process, and runs in the same vein as the Kaiju in Godzilla, only replacing Lovecraftian horror with a fleeting sense of hope. Perhaps more so than Godzilla or Monsters, Rogue One has fun with the humanity of its characters, not in an emotional sense, but in a sense that they aren't superheroes, and while their efforts are invaluable to the War, it would still be going on without them, ultimately, as you see in the original trilogy, while the Rebels would have lost without them, they're only human, and they are ultimately forgotten in this larger conflict. Again comparing this film to Godzilla, Rogue One is very good at conveying scale; one of my favourite things in the entire film is a single shot in the Scarif battle of an ATAT emerging from smoke, it's a beautiful shot, and it conveys the same sense of wonder and horror that you get in, for example, the Godzilla reveal in the final act of Godzilla, with him emerging from smoke and roared so loudly that it was fucking scary in the IMAX. Speaking of wonder and horror, the Death Star eclipses a sun in this film, if that doesn't convey scale, I don't know what does, and it's symbolic of not just the Station's immense size, but of its ability to cast darkness across the galaxy. The film's depiction of the Empire is also in line with this idea, while it has a planet killing super weapon, it's also an occupying force, it's tyrannical towards the people under its occupation, that's something more personal and invasive than any planet killer, like I said before, nothing sells occupation and oppression of the people like a Star Destroyer hovering directly over the city.

The film obviously has a few big action scenes, all of which are different from each other. First up is the confined, violent confrontation between Saw's gang and the Imperial convoy. This is a great scene, as there's no insane big battle, it's a very contained little skirmish, and unlike most Star Wars battles, it's in a densely populated city, filled with innocent bystanders who, while battling the Empire, Saw has carelessly put at risk. This skirmish also features a tank, which is cool, because tanks are cool. The film further blurs the lines with a bombing run on an Eadu Imperial facility, which, like all bombing runs, and like the skirmish on Jedha, causes collateral damage. The film's big finale comes on the tropical planet Scarif, and is a mix of ground battles on the beaches of the planet, and space battles as a rebel fleet rains hell on the planet's defences. Like Godzilla, the film wisely puts its smarter ideas on hold to let the audience enjoy some action, some very enjoyable action. The ground battle is very entertaining and intense, as the tide is constantly turning, as ATATs get thrown in, followed by X wings, followed by Tie Strikers. Meanwhile a huge ship battle is being waged above the planet, with a rebel fleet facing off against Star Destroyers and the Shield Gate's defences, and Tie Fighters, lots and lots of Tie Fighters. Yet while the film is now prioritising being entertaining over being clever, this is easily the bleakest moment of the film, I mentioned this in my original review, how the film goes a bit Magnificent Seven in its final act, I loved it then, and I still love it now. Something I love even more now is the scenes with Tarkin and Darth Vader; Tarkin's addition in the film was one me and my friends weren't expecting, and what's amazing is how well they did it; since Peter Cushing's been dead for twenty years, we were somewhat stunned to see him back from the dead for Rogue One. The CG is stupidly impressive, but it's still CG, which does mean it looks a bit off, falling nicely into the uncanny valley, it's still worth saying though that this is the best recreation of a deceased actor that I've seen in a film ever, and his scenes are handled in a very tasteful and sensible way, even with the ethical issues of resurrecting dead actors with CG. One character not brought back with CG is Darth Vader, and while one of his two scenes is just ok, the other Vader scene is fantastic; it's possibly the scariest scene in Star Wars movie history, with Vader going after some rebels like a monster from a horror movie, it's possibly even the best scene in the film, and it's awesome.

I appreciate that Rogue One is not perfect, easily the biggest flaw is its characters, and the issue the film has with developing them. But by the final battle, those issues become negligible, when so much else about this film works. Gareth Edwards knows how to direct a film, and Rogue One is not an exception to his rule, it very effectively encapsulates it's more meaningful ideas, provides an interesting new way to look at things like the Rebellion and the Force, and has some seriously kickass action scenes, top that off with a bold and intense ending, and you have Rogue One; a film that is still my favourite film of last year, and is still a must watch. On a side note, I hope my old media teacher is reading, I reckon this very long, analytical review would be something she'd appreciate.

A head clearer

I've had a fun few days, again, lots of time trying to get thoughts of rampant self hatred and guilt out of my head, lots of time blaming myself for all the ills of my life and the lives of those around me. Over the years however, I've come to a few conclusions; one, I'd prefer to keep my emotional and personal troubles off this blog, because movie reviews and politics is more interesting and less sappy, plus I love talking about movies way more than talking about my feelings. Two, while I'm having emotional and personal troubles, I will find a calmer state of mind in certain activities, like photography, and blasting out my eardrums with music. And so, armed with my trusty D3300, off I went into the wild, in search of the perfect picture. On my quest I encountered many foes; aeroplanes, six foot deep gullies, monstrous excavating machines, a lake, and the encroaching, oppressive shroud of darkness. It was a fun quest, I always enjoy getting home and finding my knees covered in mud, what can I say, my faulty mind likes be to a bit adventurous.