TENET Review (Minor Spoilers)

With so much of the world under quarantine and a pandemic continues to reshape our lives constantly, films seen in theaters is becoming a luxury now and one such film is trying to get those butts back in, with the ambitiously tense and complex grounded sci-fi spy thriller Tenet, a new film from the one and only Christopher Nolan as writer/director on this one.  This was the most anticipated new (mostly original) film from Nolan to be released worldwide near the end of 2019, before the pandemic literally crash everything related to the media industry.  Made on a budget of $200+ million and shot all over the world, the excitement for this film came from the mysterious marketing and the reliably intense, hard hitting 6-minute prologue that premiered in IMAX to provide filmgoers more concrete reasons to check the film out.  It was exciting, tension done well, the visual introduction of time dilation (the disruption of time and space of objects), and a rescue operation gone horribly wrong.  Now with the film being out throughout the world and approved states for re-opened theaters, does it measure up to the buildup of the marketing and previews provided throughout last year or does it fall short from some of his more entertaining and satisfying films from his filmography?  Let’s investigate the flow of time itself, and rewind to the very start of this mission.

We start in an opera house performance, around Russia as a terrorist action takes place and forces the country’s special force teams to move in, while in secrecy, another team slips into the action. Lead by the Protagonist (John David Washington) and his spec-op team, to infiltrate the situation and extract a sleeper agent with info and access to supposedly plutonium.  The mission goes sideways in numerous ways and introduces a bullet that can go reverse in time by a mysterious life saver with a red tin in a backpack, as well as his team being compromised by double agents.  The Protagonist kills himself, despite being tortured and under duress at the hands of the Russian agents, only to awaken in the middle of nowhere learning of the pill being a fake cyanide capsule that only induces a coma, not death.  He is informed of a mission that will take him through the flow of time itself called Tenet, an assignment that requires him to figure out how a ruthless and efficient Russian operator is going to bring about the end of the world through Inversion (the reverse flow of time itself).  This sends the Protagonist on a world spanning adventure to discover the true intentions of Tenet and save the world from a delusional villain that wants to bring it to an end.

This seems like a complicated and twisty road of espionage and action, but it becomes so much more than that through its eventual twists/turns that are accustoms to Nolan’s narratives as usual.  In this case, it is the concepts of time loops and the fatalism of causality to ensure the loop is maintain, no matter the cost, told through the traditional James Bond style adventure with a sci-fi element to literally shake things up.  It spends the first half establishing the mechanics and conflict of the film before the second half ratchets it up and goes bonkers with some of the most inventive, jaw dropping action set pieces devilishly crafted on film.  But what seems like a slick yet coldly crafted adventure reveals its humanity by the very end in such a disarming matter, that it makes the entire film work as a whole, despite the few major missteps that make it stumble in getting to its overall point of this mission.

The real star of the show and a good reason to see this on the best screen and sound setup possible is the absolutely creative and well-crafted action set pieces featured throughout the entire film that escalates in a way that works and entertains exceptionally well on their own.  You have the fantastic cold opening of the opera house siege that kicks things off, some down time to explain the mechanics and world build, then you ratchet it up by going completely crazy with it.  This is worth experiencing cold for sure but the manipulation of proven cinema/editing tricks with the genius way it is crafted with a blend of practical and VFX/Optical quality to make it look seamless really shows the budget being well spent and on the screen.  When you have an actual cargo plane being crashed into a building for literally a comic relief moment, that’s how big in scale and scope these sequences become, especially when they flip it around in a way that is truly a spectacle in of itself.  On a pure action scale, it delivers on that front and then some, proving once again to truly create spectacle that is unmatched by many filmmakers working today. 

Where it stumbles in the areas where in his other films were more entwined to the main plot because it didn’t sacrifice too much of it, character development and structured arcs for at least the principal characters that matter in this adventure.  The interactions with Protagonist played by John David Washington and Katherine "Kat" Barton played by Elizabeth Debicki should have emotional weight to it but due to the choppy editing and stilted dialogue, it falls flat by its eventual conclusion and makes the most sense to criticize from those that were able to see this film.  As for Debicki as Kat, she does an admirable job with a thinly developed yet emotionally relatable female character trapped between freedom and love for her son, which she conveys effectively enough.  Where one of the emotional arc does come through as clear as day is with the complicated yet endearing friendship between The Protagonist and Neil played by Robert Pattinson, whom has a mysteriously good chemistry with the lead and they work together on numerous missions until one moment redefines it in a way that not only provides the emotional core of this tale, but does so in a way that really elevates the entire adventure for the better.  As for the villain Andrei Sator played by Kenneth Branagh, he is delightfully switching between intriguingly menacing to cartoonish evil in such a way that he wouldn’t feel out of place in a proper Bond film.  Ultimately, the film is carried and held together by its few yet effectively handled dramatic moments but mostly by the purely mad spectacle on display that provides most of the entertainment from this film, even if the emotional core of it isn’t quite as strong as his previous endeavors.

Now for the performances in general, we start with Washington as the Protagonist or CIA Operative assigned mysteriously to accomplish this mission. While he is mostly playing a stoic archetype for most of the film, he definitely holds his own and provides the anchor for the audience to project themselves for the narrative.  The standout of the cast is Robert Pattinson as Neil, who provides a ton of charm and personality to a supporting role only to end up being one of the only emotional beats that resonates from start to finish that elevates the whole film.   With Debicki as Kat, she portrays a woman being torn between protecting her son and wanting to break from Sator’s control over her life, providing the human element to the villain’s world which is decent enough to move the plot forward but isn’t given enough screen time and handled poorly to resonate with the viewers.  As for most of the cast, Branagh as Sator is just having a ball playing a vicious villain and there are at least 2 actors here that are in character roles with one (Aaron Johnson of Kick-Ass! Fame) disappearing in a character that is not “Captain Price” of Modern Warfare game series.  The cast in general is great, provide their unique qualities to the characters despite the writing feeling sparse for some of them, and ultimately fit the archetypes they play as in the film.

Let’s finally get into the aspects of the film where it completely shines the brightest, with some of the most talented and hardworking people in a film production, the technical aspects starting with the cinematography and editing of the film.  This was shot by Hoyte van Hoytema (worked with Nolan on Interstellar & Dunkirk) and edited by Jennifer Lame (worked with Noah Baumbach on numerous films as Editor), and their expertise is on display especially with the expansive, natural look of the film along with the solid and energetic pacing on display.  The film was shot on 70mm and as usual, creates a grounded look to the action and locales that comes across reliably well, as it had with Hoytema’s previous work with Nolan on his other films that have used the format.  As for the editing, the action beats are handled extremely well in pacing out the intense moments with tension, related to the way time flow works with the film’s premise, even though where the flaws occur on the awkward, fast cutting for the dialogue exchanges specifically with Protagonist and Kat.  Despite how gorgeously shot the film is and the action beats being expertly handled in pacing and effect, the dialogue scenes are the most inconsistent of the editing process as they range from clear, concise to incoherently disjointed and too rushed to feel the emotional weight of the performances, which undercuts the impact of the interactions between the Washington and Debicki that makes it hard to really convey any form of romantic development to make the last parts of the film land emotionally.  Other than those flaws, both elements of the way the film is shot is still exceptionally handled and is a truly gorgeous film to watch on a quality screen (no doubt, this film truly pops even better on a true cinema IMAX screen). 

As we have already explored the action beats of the film in conjunction with its narrative along with the way the film was edited and shot, let’s dive into the most controversial and contentious aspect of the film being the overall sound design of the film.  For the soundscape of the film, it is very visceral and hard hitting that gives the action beats quite the punch reliably on par with his last few films.  This does at times, muffle the dialogue in quite a few scenes where crucial information of the plot or character motivation does fly by pretty quickly (this is prevalent to the scenes where the characters wear O2 masks for the scenes in the Inverted Dimension).  However, the film excels at conveying the story through the visuals and the sound design outside of dialogue issues, hits hard and powerful when it comes to the action sequences.  With a decent sound system or an IMAX screening, you will get the most out of the film and it is of the opinion that the issues with the sound design is subjective overall in this regard, but for the viewer it was suitable to what was going on and was done to make the world sound natural and grounded, which can be a problem to those not used to this approach to sounds in a Nolan film.

Finally, we have to mention the fantastic and wonderfully crafted soundtrack from Ludwig Göransson, hot off his celebrated work in Marvel’s Black Panther and Star Wars: The Mandalorian.  This is once again, another truly astounding collection of work that truly feels tailor made for this film and conveys the mystery as well as intrigue of a Bond Adventure with a Sci-Fi bent mixed in.  The use of electronic synthesizers and orchestra pieces for the quieter moments give the film a defined and unique musical identity that feels fully realized and works so well with the pacing of the film that it adds to the strengths of the film as a whole.  His ability to define a story through music as well as the characters in it are still of top quality here, with some of the notable qualities on display from his previous work.  This is Göransson’s finest work so far and continues to prove his talents with an exceptional score that truly enhances and gives so much energy to many of the scenes in this film, proving once again the importance of music in film.

At last, we should finally end where it begins with Tenet.  This is one of the more twisty and surprisingly unconventional spin on what is a relatively straightforward globetrotting spy adventure in the veins of an outlandish Bond film mixed with a unique take on the conventions of time travel.  What gives the film its obvious strengths are the inventive and wholly jaw dropping action set pieces that truly are stunning and amazing to watch, with so many moments of incredible “how did they do that?” popping up in a positive matter as well as exceptionally crafted that challenge even the best in the genre of films.  The performances are reliably strong from everyone in the cast, with a stoic yet determined performance from Washington and the show stealing performances going to Pattinson and Branagh for their respective roles.  While the character development is pared down and told mostly visually, the film does hide its humanity at the very end but lands mostly effectively despite the underdeveloped chemistry between Protagonist and Kat making their end point feel hollow in the final moments.  This is truly a uniquely crafted spy adventure with Nolan’s signature touch to it and for the most part, a spectacle worthy of praise despite coming up short in areas that matter for a film to resonate beyond the surface level reactions to it.

Score ⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tenet is a spy adventure spectacle on par with some of the most entertaining and enjoyable Bond adventures of old, but with a unique take on the Sci-Fi elements of Time Travel that give make it different from many of the films of this genre.  The performances are fantastic from everyone involved with 2 standout characters and outside of the dull and ineffective chemistry connection between Protagonist and Kat, everyone plays off each other rather well.  The story while it lands realtively well by the end and surprisingly hits hard in the most unexpected way, it can be a bit heady and twisty to a fault that will require at least 2 viewings to really grasps the motivations and arcs of the principal characters.  However, the extravagant and exceptionally crafted action set pieces are the real highlights and evolves the familar cinematic tricks of action in a way that truly is intense, hard hitting, and clearly done in such inventive creative ways that makes them worth seeing on the best screen with sound systems possible.  This is made all the more effective with the flawed yet still meticulously crafted sound design that amplifies the moments with its fantastic score from Göransson and the action.  Overall, this is definitely a blend of the style of a blockbuster action film with the elements of a sci-fi genre troupe with a complex spin to it the provides some of the finest action set pieces yet in the genre and breathes some loving life to the outlandish styles of a Bond style spy adventure.   

The Last Of Us Part II (Spoiler Review)

Revenge can be a never-ending cycle with the sole purpose to provide nothing but pain and misery to others.  As the saying goes, “To seek revenge, you must dig two graves”, and yet the game conflicts with that very thematic point, which lies at the heart of the major dissent and intensely provided critiques at one of the few major releases this year in the video game industry, a sequel to the beloved and widely acclaimed post-apocalyptic adventure tale from Naughty Dog, The Last Of Us.  After 7 long years of struggles behind closed doors, developers being churned out from the insane “crunch” culture, divisive feelings towards the story in the game among developer teams resulting in last minute changes to the script and game design, we finally have the game in our hands and this review comes from a gamer that has 100% the game and platinum it over the course of a week.  Let’s get right into it with the story itself (spoilers ahead, for those that want to go in fresh, despite being out for a month now).

To better explain this viewpoint, the style of subverting genre troupes and deconstructing character types down to their core is literally the inspiration for this tale.  This has been done successfully in the past (the best examples with films that convey this creative aspect, Once Upon A Time In The West and Apocalypse Now) where they tear down the very foundation and notion of the genres they are a part of, while providing a tale that fits this storytelling purpose succinctly with characters that are unique but go against the very notions of who they are, be it heroes and villains.  This viewpoint is necessary to consider why it ultimately fails here in The Last Of Us Part 2.  This is a story that had established characters set in their ways and those come with conceived notions that might need to be acknowledged and taken into consideration when going into a continuation of this world with these characters.  That is all undone by the convenient contrivances that drive the inciting incident of this tale.

It picks up 5 years after the end of the first game, with Joel (Troy Baker) and Ellie (Ashley Johnson) not on speaking terms over the events that transpired in the Firefly Hospital.  She and her lover Dina (Shannon Woodward) go on patrol for Infected and Hunters with their BFF Jesse (Stephen A. Chang).  On that same day, Abby (Laura Bailey) with her group of companions from the WLF (Washington Liberation Front) are on a mission to track down Joel himself.  Owen (Patrick Fugit) expressing concerns, airs on the side of caution with his concern with Mel (Ashly Burch), his pregnant girlfriend despite having a fling with Abby.  Taken back by his lack of passion for this mission, takes matter into her own hands goes to track them down.  After some time, Abby comes across Joel and Tommy (Jeffrey Pierce) on patrol as she is about to be eaten by an infected through her reckless actions.  They rescue her and find the WLF unit in time to get to safety.  What is a moment of reprieve and comradery, turns into a ugly scene of spite and vengeance as Abby mortally wounds Joel with the WLF group beating Tommy unconscious while Abby takes a moment to build up her rage, as she tortures Joel to death with a golf club.

During this time, Ellie and Dina are bonding with each other out of the winter storm ravaging the area, conveying their feelings and love for each other on a warm couch and some pot.  As soon as the storm dies down, Jesse finds them to inform them of Joel and Tommy missing from the patrol count.  They head to the last known spot where they would hold up and as they clear the rooms one by one, Ellie finds the room where Joel, Tommy, and the entire WLF hit squad are there to subdue her as Abby deals a final, definitive blow to Joel’s head.  They leave the witnesses alive, as it seems Abby was only interested in taking her vengeance out on Joel and has Ellie knocked out.  That is just the first 2 hours of the game and already people are not taking it easily if the playthrough streams are a good indication of the reception to this inciting incident.

Let’s pause and establish this point, Joel’s death is not the problem here, it is the setup and execution of that plot point that many players are not only disliking intensely over but it downright makes no sense and feels conveniently written out of character for this revenge story to take place.  To provide your first name and town to a bunch of strangers after rescuing them, it feels out of left field in idiocy and contradicts Joel’s cautious approach to strangers akin to what we saw in the previous story.  Now, the counter for that is time softening Joel up but it feels disingenuous in its execution to convey that and feels rushed to get to our revenge plot and the new characters we will follow for the majority of the game. It doesn’t help that the legacy characters are still efficient in combat and cautious in the flashback sequences, further questioning the creative choices made with these two characters.  With that established, let’s get into the meat of what will be how the game flows from narrative to game design.

This motivates Ellie to hunt them down with Dina joining initially to track down WLF and Abby for their pound of flesh.  What this does, it opens us up to the only open level section that shows the promise of what this game could have been more of, if the time and focus was put into that aspect instead of its narrative.  Essentially, you have to travel from point A to B for the majority of the gameplay runtime and it takes a while before we get to the first major plot points during this revenge tale over the course of 3 days.  As we progress further, Ellie eventually takes out her anger and vengeance on those responsible, yet it completely takes a toll on her as she is completely lost in the dark without Joel as pointedly brought up in different musical interludes.  It builds up to the most controversial and divisive part of the story and that is, the awkward and deflating showstopping switch to the second perspective of this tale, Abby.

We jump back to her perspective around the end of the first game 5 years ago, we see Abby younger and without her massive gains bonding with her father Jerry (Derek Phillips), a surgeon that has been the leading researcher to the vaccine that has been long sought after during the first game through Ellie.  Unfortunately, Jerry establishes to Marlene (Merle Dandridge) that the mutation is connected to her brain stem, meaning a full dissection of it from the host.  This means killing Ellie in the process and once Joel learned of this through Marlene, went into a rage and decidedly killed many of the Fireflies including Abby’s father and Marlene.  This is the reason Abby goes all the way to Wyoming, tortures Joel and kills him, to all of a sudden feel that this was enough and lets Tommy and Ellie go.  This is where her storyline begins for the second half of the game.

Abby is a top soldier along with her buddy Manny (Alejandro Edda) in the established and formidable WLF army, as they take part in the ongoing war against the Seraphites (Scars for short) with Issac (Jeffery Wright) leading the WLFs.  Abby has very little qualms of what she did to Joel, while the others are noticeably shaken by what she did, besides Manny.  She eventually learns of Owen’s disappearance and his traitorous actions against one of his comrades, resulting in her going after him.  Abby eventually runs into the Scars and is captured, only to be rescued by 2 outcast children named Yara (Victoria Grace) and Lev (Ian Alexander).  Despite saving them, she leaves them on their way, which only now inspires remorse and guilt to motivate her choice to be better than just a hired killer.  As Ellie is consumed by her revenge during her journey, Abby goes on an adventure of reflection and eventually redemption of who she is to finally desire to be a part of something bigger than a pawn in some turf war in Seattle.

This leads into the story overall, as it takes place over the course of 3 days in Seattle from 2 different perspectives, with a big time jump to conclude the tale at the very end.  However, it is also told from one full tale into the next one with interspersed flashbacks to provide exposition and context to the story told here.  This leads to a very laboriously slow and plodding pacing that can feel like its dragging at times and padded out in awkward ways, mainly due to the disjointed structure of the plot at play.  Where the story really suffers is the wildly inconsistent and contrived actions of the characters to move the plot along in a very disingenuous matter that was not a problem in the previous outing.  You have characters leaving items for others to find in convenient spots or time frame to get them to the next plot point, as well as being told what others are doing while you are on your own journey, to not consider possibly seeing what Tommy was doing during his war path in Seattle.  It is not helped by the abusive use of plot armor that makes what the characters go through incredulously moronic and unbelievable at times, whether it be Ellie and Dina surviving numerous death traps or Abby coming across Joel and Tommy by sheer coincidence.  All of these issues literally diminish the threatening and dangerous world surrounding these characters to a degree where certain plot beats come across as predictable and unearned (a continuing problem during Abby’s storyline).

This leads me into why Abby’s storyline falls flat as a result of these issues as well as how it utilizes a few retcon elements to make it fit parallel to Ellie’s story arc.  It is understood that the writers and directors decided to make one of the doctors that Joel murders as Abby’s motivation for revenge, however she never truly feels conflicted or even shown to be shaken by her attaining revenge at all.  A piece of dialogue or even utilizing the dreams sequences to showcase that small hint of remorse or hollow pain would have endeared her better to players and shown her to be more than just a meathead soldier with an eventual heart of gold.  This was to be offset by the inclusion of Yara and Lev as the defacto companions for Abby and her eventual redemption arc that comes across as rushed and out of left field.  It doesn’t help that she comes across as standoffish and blunt as a character at times, which makes her a bit unlikable as a protagonist especially towards her love interest and other “friends”.  Her supporting cast are given barely any screen time to understand or feel for their actions at Jackson against Joel (outside of Owens), especially with 1 quarter of the group gets killed off screen by Tommy and the Scars.  As for Lev and Yara, they are only there to humanize Abby especially as their conflict only exist to give Abby some direction in the story, despite ultimately feeling like surrogate replacements for the Joel/Ellie dynamic intentionally.  This is not exclusive to this character, as Joel and Ellie are completely deconstructed and changed as characters to fit this revenge/cycle of violence narrative being told here.

Ellie is a completely blank slate of a character, with only a few hints of the snarky yet likable teen we grew to care about in the first game.  It doesn’t help that she barely has anything insightful to share as a character, whether it be with Dina or Jesse, or on her own especially in dealing with the lost of Joel and her emotions towards seeking revenge and justice.  This showcases how uninteresting she is as a lead character without a strong supporting cast to bounce off of.  While all of this is supposed to be conveyed by the written journal entries, this shouldn’t be learned through reading but shown to us visually and the game’s narrative direction doesn’t seem concern to really showcase that during her journey outside of the few moments that do this and actually work emotionally to make her still interesting to follow along.  This is exasperated by the dull and uninteresting supporting cast for her in Dina, Jesse, and eventually Tommy as they interact in a friendly or confrontational scene throughout the story.  The flashback scenes with Joel were the few bright spots of the story that really recaptured the magic of the first game in a different light that was engaging and challenging, like a proper sequel should be. This is all completely rendered mute and hollow by the end, with her final decisions that define the most argumentative aspect of the game, its conclusion.

By the end, Ellie is compelled by Tommy out of spite (which is another contrived way to hammer the point home) to go back and finish the job in Santa Barbara where Abby/Lev headed towards, after Abby (in a very tense cat and mouse confrontation against Ellie) left Ellie and her friends for dead to find the regrouped Fireflies.  This leads into an overlong epilogue that introduces a new group The Rattlers (literal Slave Traders), a sequel setup for Part 3, and ultimately subverts the typical conclusion of a revenge tale that renders the journey pointless with Abby being given a chance at redemption with Lev and Ellie left with literally nothing except the road ahead from a revenge unfulfilled.  It really ends on a bleak and relatively destructive end for both sides that was meant to mirror the different ends to the paths they have chosen for themselves.  This is a clear case of understanding the direction and choices made to get to that point, but the way in which it was executed is highly questionable and falls flat emotionally as it literally repeats the same point of the wrongs of vengeance over the course of its 23-hour journey.  This was a messy narrative as a whole, overloaded with contrivances in character motivations and actions along with plot armor being used constantly with characters, a bloated pacing that really weighs the story down, mainly in the second half, literally 3 plot-lines worth of sequels shoved into one game, the new cast ultimately are forgettable, pointless, and fail to really matter in the narrative overall, and ultimately an underwhelming disappointing choice to take the hardest road possible to make a sequel to a tale that probably didn’t need a continuation in the first place.

After the long exploration of the plot, let’s talk about gameplay finally and here, it’s pretty much the same as the first game but with some minor improvements and embellishments that are appreciated.  It is essentially a Survival Horror adventure game with an emphasis on exploration and different combat/stealth scenarios interjected in between the narrative elements of the game.  For the positives, the gameplay elements that work with stealth and exploration are solid, especially with the inclusion of prone stance as well as environmental hiding spots that isn’t a crate or crouch level object (grass/foliage and water).  The gunplay only gets improved, once you upgrade the characters and their arsenal to really open up options to tackle many of the scenarios with overwhelming odds.  The satisfaction of utilizing the environment to gain the upper hand, quick time precision of headshots or powerful rounds that can tear a person in half, and even manipulating the infected/clickers to go to town on the WLF and eventually Rattlers is truly riveting moment gameplay that provides most of the high quality aspect of the game overall and elevates it as a whole, despite the lackluster story weighing it down.  If there were any negatives, it would be the way the game handles the dodge mechanics as it always seem to be spotty at best and unreliable against multiple enemies, actually getting the player killed unwittingly for not getting the timing right.  Other than that, the gameplay is still enjoyable to go through overall.

This should bring us into the level design of the game, as each of the environments actually varied between the open urban landscapes of shops to the suburban ruins of outskirt Seattle.  Each area is provided with multiple options to approach it, whether its through exploration, stealth, or combat scenarios as there are never no one correct way to handle enemies or get to the next point in the story.  That was when the game sparked to life and really provided the necessary enjoyment needed to progress further into the game.  If there is only one negative aspect, it is tied into the story as the final moments really causes a cognitive dissonance between the killings done by you, with the ones that happened in the story, which further contradicts the very point it is making of the futility and destructive nature of revenge.  Despite that little quibble that further adds to the issues in the story, the gameplay is solid if a bit familiar to the first game with only a few improvements made and introduced, but no more than build on the components that wasn’t broken in the first place.

The final positive aspect of the gameplay is the insane amount of options for accessibility provided to those with any form of disability to play the game at their most convenient and comfort.  This is the most comprehensive feature of a game that has ever been implement into this title and another upcoming exclusive, which is worthy of being applauded and appreciated by the developers for being genuinely inclusive (despite the story feeling otherwise about its use of it).  From visual to audio cues, along with changes to the combat elements, no one would be left out if any gamer is interesting in checking out the game. This is something that had to be mentioned and commended, no matter the views on the story itself.

While the gameplay is solid all around with very little to complain meaningfully about it, the graphics are the real stars of this show and boy, it is quite a looker.  Having played it on the PS4 Pro, it is an absolute stunner with its native 2K resolution to 4K upscale through checkerboard method (akin to Horizon: Zero Dawn) to attain a high-quality graphical look for the game overall with proper options to fine tune the HDR to look absolutely amazing.  The details in the environments along with the interactions to it are nothing short of astounding, coming close to what Next-Gen looks like for the gaming community in general.  This is about as good as its going to look on the these aging consoles and it delivers on this promise perfectly.  That being said, there were a few oddities and quibbles with the graphic aspects of the game.

The issues found in the graphics are mostly minor with a few oddities that stood out, starting with the occasional bug and glitches.  There were a few times when the game wouldn’t interaction with a drawer or object due to how fast the animations were moving.  There were also moments of backgrounds disappearing for a split second, taking the player out of the experience but it only happened randomly on occasions.  Where the personal oddities come in, are the over the top graphic ways of showing the kills, as they start out real and disturbing to eventually coming across as outlandish over the top in a B-grade gore horror film stylistically, that looked all the more funny as the same NPC soldiers/cult followers look the same after a while.  Anyway, despite those minor issues, the graphics are top notch and stellar overall.

Lastly, we get to the sound design of the game which is stellar throughout the game, from the hard-hitting impacts of the violent hits/shots to the stellar musical composition from Gustavo Santaolalla who builds on the first game’s notable score to craft new pieces that work extremely well with the newer characters.   Despite how cheesy and goofy the death growls and name calling comes across eventually (very stilted deliveries and odd ways to cheaply make you feel bad about what you’re doing),  the sound effects are brutal in all their high quality bits.  The guns sound beefy and each hit comes across hard hitting through the soundscape, especially on a surround sound setup.  The score from Gustavo Santaolalla is reliably fantastic, despite the repetitive use of some of the familiar themes or ultimately generic industrial ambient tracks that take up the more tense moments of the game.  It has a few new cues to serve as themes for the newer characters, which helps to make their scenes have some emotional punch to them, despite the very choppy and weak dialogue at play here.  Not much else to explore except, the sound design is absolutely stellar in this game from the infected providing some much needed suspense to the brutality of violence being enforced by the heavy hits from each gunshot or blow provided to an NPC.

This brings us to where this review stands and before playing the game, it is easy to outright dislike it mainly for focusing on the story being told here.  Having now gone through it with the other elements working in tandem with each other, they are all top notch to solidly well made, but it is all in service of a revenge tale that is rote, dull, and ultimately confused as to whose story matters more.  As a video review title sums it up nicely,  this is a game “at war with itself” in justifying its existence to continue the first game as well as paving the way for future installments but in the hardest and most destructive way possible that unwittingly undermines and diminish what came before, specifically in the deconstruction and damaging transformation that both Joel and Ellie go through in the flashbacks and how the story wraps up.  The gameplay in the moment is great, graphics are phenomenal in their detail-oriented environments and animations that feel lifelike at times, and the sound design is sharply on point with how brutal and impactful the violence is.  Where it really falters, is the plodding, disjointed narrative at play here that ultimately fails to answer a question that has been on the mind for some time now, was this a story worth being told? To further continue the characters we grew to love, no matter how destructive it was to them.  The personal answer to this question is unfortunately no.

SCORE: ⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Last Of Us Part II is a continuation of the beloved and memorable first outing that provided an emotionally unique spin on the tired but true post-apocalyptic tale with a duo that we all grew to love and care for by the end of that tale.  This is the complete opposite of what that game explored (first game revolved around love, this game revolves around hate) but unfortunately meanders on a newer cast of characters and aspect of the world that fails to resonate on any deeper level or connective tissue to the legacy characters’ journey, retcons and makes creative decisions to fit this revenge tale in a disingenuous way especially in the relationship with Joel & Ellie along with their actions in the previous title, and its slow and plodding pacing with the time jumps bogs down some really great moment to moment gameplay in action and stealth, a gorgeous showcase of graphical quality this late in the PS4 console, and a superb sound design to make those violent delights hit hard.  It is mostly a frustrating experience as the elements of something special are there, but the lack of a cohesive vision in the plot and characters overall during making this game shows in the main release, which made it an ambitious creative risk that ultimately failed to stick to the landing and is viewed in the same veins of sequels that warp the intentions and success of its predecessor to take the hardest road to continue, when there were better ways to make a continuation work in tandem with its previous outings.

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker Review (2019)

(It feels like ages since we had a proper review, the explanations is from changes in life and work having me take on more responsibilities and cut down time for me to express my thoughts in a coherent or concise matter.  Well, with a new year, I hope I can make some more changes and keep connected to storytelling in films, TV shows, and video games.  Without further ado, my full-on review for Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker.)

We are still feeling the aftermath of the fan divide and brand damage dealt to Star Wars as a whole, no thanks to the visually stunning but shallow, and severely flawed Episode VIII: The Last Jedi.  It seems the destructive nature of that film on fans and viewers is coming into fruition with everyone returning for the supposed finale to the Skywalker Saga (retconning hard to fit with the other entries).  However, there is that lingering hope that it can come together and provide enough connections to tie it to the other films in a meaningful way, along with reliably getting entertainment with its fast, zippy pacing and action set pieces that is expected from J.J. Abrams’ approach to the series.  So, does this film provide a proper and enjoyable finale for the film series, or does the haphazardly confusing and conflicting nature of the production and film itself provide yet another finale dud to bookend 2019?  Let us jump back into a galaxy far, far away about 1 year after The Last Jedi and look at the story itself.

Taking place about a year after Luke sacrificed himself to save the Resistance from complete destruction at the hands of the First Order, our heroes are now in hiding, rebuilding their forces and strength along with searching for a hidden threat manipulating the events of the galaxy for a final showdown.  Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), newly supplanted Supreme Leader of the First Order, leads an assault on a settlement and slaughtering the entire village to retrieve an ancient Sith Artifact known as the Wayfinder.  This takes him to a planet beyond the outer rims called Exegol, where he is confronted by a mysterious dark figure completely manipulating Ren through his extraordinary hold of the Dark Side of the Force.  It is a severely decaying Darth Sidious AKA Palpatine (Ian Mcdiarmid) who convinces Ren to seek out the last Jedi Rey (Daisy Ridley) and kill her for his necessary plans to retake the galaxy with his slowly recovering Dark Empire to be reborn.

Back in the Outer Rims, we follow the prominent members of the Resistance Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and Finn (John Boyega) as they are gathering recon on the latest schemes and war plans of the First Order on an ice world.  They are contacted by a mole within, that provides documents and details on the First Order’s next target acquisition on a desert planet called Pasaana celebrating with a traditional lively festival through a former Rebel general, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).  Meanwhile, Rey is finishing up her trainings from General Leia (Carrie Fisher, CGI Edited and Body Double) and instructs her with what she knows of her school days as a Jedi Apprentice.  Rey feels a disturbance in the force, involving Kylo Ren and sets off to seek out the hidden evil behind him by searching for an artifact that will lead her to the source of the Sith power.  This leads all of our heroes on a race to find the puppet master behind all of this conflict, leading into a journey of friendship, sacrifices, love, and closure to this story for many of the newer and legacy characters in a galaxy far, far away.

Where to begin, this is yet again a story that wants to take into account what happened previously yet toss out many of the damaging elements JJ Abrams did not like at all from The Last Jedi and the result is a conflicting, exhausting fetch quest that provides some closures that are meaningful but ultimately are flat and frustratingly disappointing overall.  The positives are the time spent with the characters interacting with each other, that was when the film took the time to breath and give them a chance to bond by providing some needed character development that has been touch and go for 2 films now.  It unwittingly tarnishes and dilutes the mainstay iconography and themes that tied the original/prequel films together, especially with the random yet unexplained revival of Palpatine.  The moments that work are literally tied to the original trilogy with at least half of them working quite well with the chaotic storylines and the others not committing to actual consequences at all.  This is inherent to the fundamental flaw with this film, attempting to play it safe yet ultimately failing to really go in interesting and new directions at all.

The film’s story is ultimately a failure from the start with the return of the iconic villain, Emperor Palpatine, negating the tragic yet gratifying victory earned by the OT characters at the end of Return Of The Jedi.  However, it speaks to the main issues that is amplified in this film, being the overuse of mystery boxes and unanswered yet vague explanations on certain characters/events that take place.  We never learn how he came back, survived being atomized, and even raised an entire nation of Star Destroyers all on his own.  This is ramped up with newly introduced characters of Zorii Bliss (Kerry Russell) and Jannah (Naomi Ackie), while interesting don’t have much to do in this story and only serve to get our characters to the next plot points rather than being actual, fleshed out characters operating in their own worlds that interweave into the main cast’s stories naturally.  Kelly Marie Tran (a very charming person but not given good material to work with) played the annoying side character Rose Tico and she has been relegated into the background as nothing more than exposition dump (a role dumped on numerous characters in this entry, not just her).  The problems are made even worser with the way the film ultimately ties it all together near the end.

It is one massive fetch quest for 2 hours until we get to the overloaded and ultimately underwhelming climax that commits to giving half hearted answers with little payoff or satisfaction earned in the major retcons taken to get the characters from A to B.  We learn about Rey’s backstory that ultimately reinforces the story beats from previous entries in a very loose and contradictory way, as well as her character suffering very little struggles outside of whatever the plot calls for her to finally be challenged that undermines her interesting beginnings and provides a very contrived, yet low key disrespectful close to her arc in relations to the Skywalkers.  Speaking of which, the Skywalkers are completely background story lore at this point, serving very little story purpose throughout the film other than cheerleading for Rey or yet again providing a similarly dumb finale to Leia as a character, like her brother Luke.   It all accumulates into a rushed redemption arc with Kylo Ren, getting into a lame physical group scuffle with The Knights Of Ren, and overpowered contrivance in force powers that undermines the very nature of that power to fit its rather dull and circular plot.  It comes across as highly produced fan fiction that should not have been made in the first place.

Let’s get into the principal characters of the film, starting with the heroes themselves.  Rey played by Daisy Ridley is still giving her best at times but there is a clear sense of apathy that has creeped into her performance, especially near the end of the film.  She is essentially the lead character of this story with everyone else relegated to unimportant sub plot filler or background noise and she has trouble carrying the entire film with her fine but relatively unremarkable performance here.  While an answer is given to her backstory and she does have moments of vulnerability that is refreshing to see, it doesn’t negate how OP she really is in this story and how so much of the conflict is resolved easily in her favor, even when she clearly is exerted or pushed as a character.  This will be a reoccurring theme but while Ridley does what she can with a character on one speed, she is clearly done with this role and that feeling of apathy in the role is felt throughout the film.

The rest of the heroes can be relegated as one offs as they literally have little to do in this film, with so much ground to regain and cover.  Finn played by John Boyega is completely wasted as a cheerleader for Rey with a dropped romantic subplot with Rey and being possibly force sensitive to give his character manufactured purpose to existed in this story.  Poe played by Oscar Isaac has been retcon to be more of a roguish character, which gives his character some semblance of inner conflict but only serves to get the rest of the cast to the next plot beat and nothing more meaningful than that.  As for many of the OT characters, they are just glorified comedy relief like C3P0 (Anthony Daniels), cameo appearing plot devices like Lando Calrissian, or just background dressing like R2D2 (Hassan Taj and Lee Towersey) and even Chewbacca (Joonas Suotamo) despite having his own subplot that ties mainly to Rey’s character arc.  Yeah, with so much going on and an intense focus on telling a complete storyline with Rey/Kylo Ren along with giving time for the heroes storylines to tie into it, you can see how so many of them, even the ones not mentioned here had very little to do in this film as characters.

The big one that has to be discussed separately is of course, Princess Leia’s final hoorah, using spliced footage and alternate takes of Carrie Fisher from The Force Awakens.  It is used well enough to not be too obtrusive to the story being told here, but it does feel awkwardly shoe-horned into this outing in weird ways.  It gets even odd with many of the characters that interact with her, coming across as exposition dumps from a few of the side characters and even Rey as well.  They also had to retcon her into being a jedi of a sudden, to rectify the lack of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who really only appears in a cheerleading cameo scene and bolts out faster than you can say hi.  They even had to throw in a bit of girl power by having her beat Luke in a training duel but the important point to make is the writers having to have a Jedi Master train Rey as a way to explain her new abilities, powers, and her being well versed/trained in the force.  So yeah, the Skywalkers are literally footnotes in this story, contradicting the importance of them in the very title.

Let’s get to the baddies for this one, as they are the few characters that actually do shine in this film.  Adam Driver as Kylo Ren/Ben Solo really does his best with the shallow material at work for his character, with his mask reforged and further developing his connection with Rey as the most interesting aspect of this story.  While there are moments between him and Rey that do resonate and hit the beats needed to be invested, it only happens occasionally in lieu of the fetch quest that dominates the majority of the run-time, which gives him very little to do until the plot calls upon him to resolve his story arc in some really cringy, contrived ways.  Palpatine played by Ian Mcdiarmid is clearly having a rollicking good time giving a menacing evil performance, supported by the touched up classic look from Return Of The Jedi as well as his explosive use of the force.  Unfortunately, he is very much one note and his finale is very underwhelming as well as feeling cobbled together from different versions of this battle.  There is also Richard E. Grant as Allegiant General Pryde providing a suitable villain role that should have clearly been the reoccurring heavy for this trilogy and then Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux being made into a comic relief villain that ultimately gets a twist to his character, only to be concluded in such a laughable way that it comes across as unintentionally funny.  Those were the characters and as you can see, there was so many of them and only a handful were given time to feel fleshed out or have an arc to follow.

As with previous films, the technical aspects are always of high quality usually but here we have to start with the cinematography and editing of this film.  This was shot by Dan Mindel and it is still a gorgeous looking film, especially seeing it on a premium screen as well as the use of locations and effective coverage of the real elements with the screen effects.  There are shots that exude the large scale of this story effectively well and the kinetic energy helps with the action beats, despite being a bit too much at times with the fast laser shots and CGI overload of the space/force driven battles.  Where the film is a mess is with the editing done by Maryann Brandon, as there is literally no sense of relief or moment to breath in the plot points or exposition as it keeps on moving fast, so much that it could actually induce a minor headache for how little time the viewer is given to follow along.  When it slows down for the character moments, it actually engages the viewers but anytime it zips from action beat to action best, it becomes a messy rollercoaster ride with no sense of coherence to enjoy from it.

Next up will be the art direction and costume designs of the film, as it is a space-faring adventure and you expect the best from the genre to be on display here.  At certain points, it does show some creativity in the festival sequence as well as the different planets we visit, despite mainly being under the First Order occupation.  However, the costumes seem to be the bare minimum, only covering the basic designs we have seen in previous films and are not quite as remarkable or unique as it was in previous films.  As for the planets, they seem to be nothing more than rehashed carbon copies of what we have seen before.  There is also a small number of aliens featured in the film that add to the universe in weird but funny ways, but it feels like they matter little to the whole war aspect along with the Jedi/Sith storyline that dominates the majority of the runtime.  Just like the story beats, it is content with rehashing or reinventing what came before and worked on through the art direction, costumes, and disappointingly minimal alien designs featured in this film.

The action set pieces are numerous and frantically stitched together, but not in a way that works in tandem to the story beats at play here.  They usually keep moving or being thrown into laser gun battles one after another, with only the occasional exposition break and maybe a short lightsaber scuffle with possibly only 2 of them that can be considered duels.  The lightsaber battles are underwhelming and disappointingly bland in their coverage, only going for more of the medium to close up shots throughout the main 2 duels that take place.  It dilutes the action beats to the detriment of the scenes and with the shoddy editing, makes it a bit of a convoluted mess to follow along.  This also the case for the gun battles as well as the space faring combat, which is mainly reduced to the climax of the film surprisingly enough.

This ties into the visual effects of the film as they are both spectacular and too weightless as well as overly ludicrously in the overusing of CGI to really feel too chaotic to enjoy.  The de-aging as well as the CGI doubles for Luke and Leia at younger ages are in use here and thankfully used sparingly for the scenes featuring them but feel a bit jarring to showcase them in the film’s overuse of flashbacks as the series has avoided using it until now.  As for the space battles, they are admittingly cool looking but feel a bit too cluttered and disjointed to follow along as we are not given time to see the pilots reactions to the battle at hand as well as feeling a bit lifeless to really appreciate the scale of the set pieces (this is the case with the Emperor’s big atrium setting with the faceless Sith all over the seating areas).  The rather mixed quality of the VFX is tied to the patchwork efforts felt in the editing, zipping between the actors on blue/green screen to the fast paced, sensor flickering space battles that take up the later parts of the film.  Technically, it is a rather chaotically mixed in quality but does not quite add up to a satisfying whole.

Lastly, the remaining elements of the technical direction to explore are Sound Design and Music with John Williams coming back for one last rodeo as the composer of this film.  All the familiar sounds are present throughout the film, the laser blasts to the hums of a lightsaber and a few moments of audio cues that are handled exceptionally well for the big moments of the set pieces.  This is in spite of the story/visual dissonance at play here but the sound team did a great job making the soundscape truly hit heavy and add to the excitement at times.  As for the score, Williams does a reliably good job bringing back the familiar themes of the score from all the films in this one and it is always a pleasure hearing him at work.  However, it does lack its own musical identity that the original and prequel trilogies were able to invoke well, but it highlights how generic and recycled the whole trilogy feels from the visuals to the musical sounds of this series.  From a sound design standpoint, it is exceptionally well made as usual and the music is great for fans but unwittingly highlights how much it lacks any memorable themes or musical beats that the other films were able to instill to their films.

What else can be stated without beating an obvious dead horse?  Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker is a chaotically inconsistent, messy blockbuster finale that does not quite end on a clean note and unknowingly damages the previous films before with its excessive use of retcons and rule breaking jumps in character arcs and plot logic in general.  Outside of a few notable action beats and character interactions that do work and provide some fun to the proceedings, it makes so much concessions to rectify the changes and dead ends brought about from Episode VIII: The Last Jedi that it suffers from having too much plot driven scenes with little time for the characters to be developed at all.  In a way, it feels like the summation of how misguided and clueless this trilogy of films has been from the moment it was bought from Disney and the numerous back and forth of finger-pointing blame, fan division, and numerous interviews to justify the poorly crafted script and committee driven filmmaking at work here just further makes these types of films antiquated nowadays.

Score ⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise Of Skywalker is a cynically made, mediocre close to the series on film.  Other than the competent acting on display with the hard-working quality work from a visual and sound design standpoint, it tries to satisfy the story beats that came before and ultimately provide a light fun adventure film that is driven by nostalgia and fan service.  It ends up doing neither well and ultimately repeats the mistakes of every blockbuster that ran into these problems as well, mainly the DC films that exhibit the same issues that ultimately sank those films quality wise.  It is ultimately a sad feeling to have, and not out of malice to state that this film represents what is completely wrong with big budget films in general and it really is a shame that a Star Wars film has to be an example of that viewpoint.