Friday 29 November 2013

Batman: Arkham Origins - Review

The main interest in this prequel is seeing Gotham's villains and heroes before their prime, inexperienced and young as well as giving some of Batman's lesser known villains their time in the spotlight. The assassins premise i find genuinely interesting and the game seemed set on it's story with the eight master killers hunting down Batman for Black Mask's fifty million dollar reward. It's a shame then that after a linear but decent opening involving a breakout at Blackgate prison the game nosedives into what feels just like a remake of Arkham City and Asylum.

Some of the map from Arkham City is cloned here albeit with a Christmas makeover, whilst the game mechanics and controls are shamelessly exactly the same. Raft lassoing, steam dodging, pulling down walls and floors, gliding across the city, interrogating thugs, hostage saving, being poisoned, being mind controlled, following blood trails, all fun admittedly but the same fun most players have had in two games already.

Instead of exploring the assassins themselves and inducing an atmosphere of being hunted the game falls back on the same villains it has before. Often in incredibly cheap and familiar ways it spends most of it's time with Penguin, Joker and Bane which whilst we would expect to see them in some capacity starting their criminal careers, we were lead to believe the focus was on Black Mask and his assassins. Perhaps this is just the marketing of the game accidentally proving inconsistent with the actual plot or perhaps due to the game wanting it's own big twist, as Arkham City had, it deliberately mislead it's audience. Something Arkham City didn't have to do and yet still had a better story than the one portrayed here.

That's not to say Origin's story is bad, it's just nothing remarkable.There are some nice moments such as the first confirmed sighting of the Batman, the increased banter and conflict between Alfred and Bruce or some of the Joker's origin details, most of which are taken from The Killing Joke, so they're good albeit not original. It's just a waste that it spends so much time on these characters we've seen before and have been explored thoroughly already. Six of the eight assassins appear as boss battles, some of which are no more than glorified QTE's or regular thug fights and two of the assassins are completely omitted from the central story and reduced to side mission quests.  The only exceptional encounter is with Firefly and that's the penultimate stage of the game. You don't feel at all like Batman has a bounty on his head which makes me wonder why they gave so much attention to it in all the trailers.

Maybe this was only a disappointment to me but i wanted to see Black Mask and the assassins developed and explored. Batman has arguably the best rogues gallery of any superheroes and yet we remain fixed on the Joker who's been so overdone at this point it's just depressing. That said, some of the heroes do get more fleshed out origins like Jim Gordon and Alfred but overall the game feels indecisive, mixed and unsettled. It improves in the second half but it takes far too long to get to this point and by the time the game has picked up the pace it's essentially over.

Another Joker story was the safe option, there's no denying he's the most interesting character, it just would've been nice to explore someone else for a change.
The gameplay itself works well enough, though the sense that there's too much city and too few grapple points becomes apparent fairly quickly. Travelling through Gotham just isn't that fun and with a much bigger map it can easily feel like a chore. Then there are the multiple reasons why every ordinary citizen is at home which is a missed opportunity for a livelier Gotham and yet again gives a feeling like you're playing one of the previous games where the streets are only ever populated with criminals.

The game is also quite glitchy, there's some bad interaction detection on climbing and breaking walls, grappling more often bugs out whilst bodies sometimes unnaturally glide into or through surfaces. The gameplay that stands out has already been shown off extensively in all the advertising for this game and is the bare minimum you'd expect for a sequel.There's about two new gadgets and the crime scene reconstructions, whilst enjoyable, new and interesting, there's very few of them. 

There's nothing inherently wrong with Origins because it's based on far superior games, but there's lots of minor missteps that detract from the enjoyment. For example, the upgrade system is trying to follow an electronic bat-computerised theme, the downside is this makes all the menus cold and clinical. There's almost no indication of when you choose an upgrade so it's not satisfying to do and you lose the incentive to level up. Then there's the early levels hunting Penguin again who has this awfully voiced irritating English assistant acting as a make-shift Harley Quinn whilst you go through tedious industrial looking levels situated on a boat. It's not memorable and the only good ideas are ones we've already seen.

In the challenge mode you can play as the assassin Deathstroke who was overhyped in all the trailers and then given shockingly little time in the actual game. Oddly though he doesn't kill anyone when you play as him. Let me just restate that, DEATHstroke the ASSASSIN doesn't kill anyone in this game...or how about breaking into the GCPD and tightrope walking above a crowd of SWAT Officers. Officers who don't even flinch if you drop down amongst them and walk right up to their faces. It's little details like that which combine to produce an ultimately underwhelming experience.

I really wanted to like Arkham Origins but in truth it's one of the laziest sequels i've come across. If you're desperate for more Batman and already have the two previous games then Origins relieves a certain itch i suppose, but if you're expecting anything different from the previous games you'll be disappointed.

Friday 22 November 2013

Gravity - Cinema Review

Gravity is a harrowing desolate breath of freezing fresh air for space-based astronaut antics. It focuses on the simplest and not even the most dramatic ways space can so easily kill you. The biggest threat throughout the film is simply drifting off into the abyss and it makes every scene a nail-biting tightrope act to watch. If the film is weak in any areas i would say it's the necessary routine opening that wastes no time but does have to lay the net of false security in order to pull the rug from beneath you later.

Rather than compare Gravity to other space-faring features it reminds me more of a film like 127 Hours, which for those unaware is similarly spent in isolation with gradual creeping danger albeit on relatively solid ground. The basic premise is simple enough in Gravity, where a standard operation becomes hazardous due to accelerating debris crossing paths with our three person crew. Cut off from support, safety and well...everything,  the protagonist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) clings to fellow crew member and astronaut veteran Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). Dwindling oxygen supplies, the next impending storm of debris and simply having a firm grasp on something man-made in the inky swallowing blackness become the priorities of survival for these two.

As a primarily two person show, particular mention must go to the acting from both Bullock and Clooney who play off each other as newcomer and veteran incredibly well. The writing from Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron is also solid for the most part and works well amidst the pacing of reflective silence and dramatic desperation that the film swings between. Incredible as the exploits are in the film, they never divert into unrealism and whilst i'm not experienced enough to know if Gravity portrays space accurately, it seems to handle it's own physics very well and it really feels like these fragile people are adrift amongst tiny rafts of safety in this endless vacuous cosmos.

The atmosphere of isolation is potent and can be really chilling especially in the latter half of the film. The Earth is a constant giant looming reminder of life and yet feels so impossibly far away for the essentially crippled astronauts trying desperately to limp through space to safety. The visuals are appropriately stunning in both their majesty and bleakness, detail and desolation. I've not seen a great amount of space films and those i have are highly regarded titles such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Moon which both capture the isolation of space very well in their own way. That said Gravity should definitely be considered within their orbit as an intensely personal and close gripping drama unique in it's focus on (or lack of) location as we see just how empty the great surrounding emptiness really is.




Friday 8 November 2013

Gutless (Part Two)



The rain lays heavy on the greyed ruinous town. I try to wash down the sweet with savoury in the hope of alleviating the sickness. More than the ten pound cinema ticket my initial idiotic indulgence cost me. It’s not a revelation that the cinema prices are ludicrous but my appearance is also becoming absurd and the tumour swells in pain as I trudge towards another supplier. Water flows past me down the street as if willing me to turn back and forget this foolish notion. I’m on the brink of overdosing but I’m spurred on by the illness in all its degrading decadence.

They already know my preference as I enter and a deep shame simmers inside me as they hand me the stuff. Even the potato shards taste like they’re made of yeast and starch and the groaning patchwork sky gazes down on me with disappointment. The traditional British meal starts to taste like cardboard and the side order has substance like soft mushy shit. It’s not an appetising contrast and the desecrated meat tube falls apart in my mouth.

I don’t want this and yet I need it like I need air. The silver screen icons seduce me in memory with fantasy six-pacs and heroic physiques totally impossible to me. I curse myself for all the good it does and try to imagine myself with an appearance like them. Fantasies are all I have now.

There’s nothing more than crunchy shrapnel in the bottom of the paper, I finish the pork pole unsatisfyingly as its mild tang prods and pokes my catatonic taste-buds. I lose myself in the swirl of this pathetic cone of crap. I think about leaner, healthier times, before the addictions before the need for such meagre primitive fixes. I’ve gone too far this time, I’ve taken it all much too far. I am Jabba The Fucking Hutt. 

The film of my life would end there, but life is so upsettingly far from a film. I arrive home and sink into my own sweat and seething ulcers. The chair strains under my influence and I pitch pointless prose into the ether. I wipe the residue from my neck and feel like dying here. I want to beat myself to death and fall underneath myself into the endless dark judgeless abyss. The tumour groans and swells as usual and I pray I could cut myself clean but life isn’t necessarily progress, and my life is decidedly downhill.

This is the end, I need something to work towards and mundane normalities won’t satisfy. Filling in forms can go fuck themselves. I’m going to become the silver screen icons, I’m going to purge this tumour from my mass. I can’t stomach my own stomach so I’ll beat myself into abstinence. I’m going cold turkey from cold turkey and everything similar. There will be no part three…

Friday 1 November 2013

Thor 2: The Dark World - Cinema Review

Thor 2: The Dark World faced overwhelming odds; post-avengers hype and one of my phenomenally bad moods. I sat seething for a long while at my mistakes in the timing leading me to reluctantly attend a 3D showing. Kevin Bacon's increasingly humourless twattery only irritated me further and i was not in the mood for the mythical exposition with which the film opens. That said, anyone entering a showing of Thor expecting anything other than grand Lord Of The Rings style fantasy worlds and lore will not enjoy this film.

There is a lot more suspension of disbelief required in the Thor films than arguably any of the other avengers and the contrast between grimy, grey London and the transcendental Asgard is more than a little jarring though perhaps intentionally so. The first Thor film left me feeling a sense of forgettable mediocrity where Loki was a far more magnetic personality than the titular hero.  It seems i was not alone as Loki features significantly in the sequel. He provides some much needed humour and underlying tension as well as rightfully dictating the film's major plot twists. His subtle menacing psychosis, damaged backstory and hypnotic unpredictability were the highlight of the film and the makers did well to recognise his appeal and bring it forward. Unfortunately this still leaves me preferring the villain to the hero of this series which is surely not the intention.

A good effort is made to remedy Thor's potential blandness through his romance with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster. The film tries admirably to give her purpose beyond love interest and her parallel scientific storyline is at least relevant to the cosmological shenanigans at play during the film. Though in trying to make her fit into every scene she spends a good amount of time unconscious which isn't really exploring the character.

The new villain Malekith sadly comes off as archaic and one-dimensional and whilst he is built well enough as this imposing, dangerous figure, it bears very little meaning overall when he becomes just another thing to hit with the hammer. The actions scenes are suitably groundbreaking (literally not conceptually) and they bring a fair amount of spectacle to what should be a spectacular film but ultimately there is little tension for a character that can be smacked through mountains and survive.

The film peaks about half-way and whilst promising a potentially very experimental climax with the equinox of different realities it doesn't use this set-up for anymore than random teleportations which is a little disappointing but still spices up the fight scenes. There's nothing flagrantly broken or confusing with Thor 2 but there's very little remarkable as well. There are plenty of nice moments usually involving Loki or the comical juxtaposition of Thor in our mundane little world and for a film with so much grandiose fantastical majesty it does well to not take itself too seriously. I prefer Dark World to the first film but Loki remains the dominant presence and the main pull that brought me to see it. Everything else felt somewhat like a novelty or maybe that's just my bad mood.