Legend of the Red Reaper (2013)

 

Aella is a Reaper, half-human and half-demon.  The Reapers are humanity's defenders against the threat of true demon-kind, though their own abyssal heritage makes them feared and distrusted by the people they seek to protect.  Many ordinary humans fear the Reapers for their superhuman strength and speed, and propensity for violence.

Aella is a particularly tortured member of her species.  When she was a child, her mother sold her to the demon Ganesh in exchange for the gift of eternal life.  Aella spent years being savagely tortured by Ganesh and his minions, before finally being rescued by the other Reapers.

Though caught between her two heritages, and scarred by her past, Aella must find new depths of strength and resolve when Ganesh exploits human weaknesses to launch the conquest of her home.

If the above precis sounds like fairly standard urban fantasy novel - half-breed who doesn't fit into either the supernatural or mundane world must become a champion to both - well, you're not far wrong.  The basic plot does indeed feel very much like a mash-up of that and Red Sonja; the latter of which has given the film its explicitly sword and sorcery setting and a regrettable amount of sexual-assault-based story beats.

Legend of the Red Reaper appears to have been a true passion project for star (and creator, and director, and co-writer) Tara Cardinal.  She apparently spent six years working to secure funding for the film, and worked equally hard to get it a significant distribution partner.  This latter quest proved too difficulty even for Aella, though, so the film got an independent release.  I salute her dedication, even if I do think the film falls well short of its ambition.

I also salute the production values she managed to achieve.  The costumes and make-up work is solid, and the fight choreography and execution is definitely well above the average for an independent production such as this.  I'm less a fan of the music, which I found a little bombastic and over the top, but it does at least seem competently composed.

Probably the only technical production aspect where I feel there is a notable flaw is in the acting.  Most performances I'd call 'adequate', but there's not really anyone delivering much better than that, and there are a few notable exceptions who fall well short.

The movie's primary failing, alas, is its script.  The dialogue tends to be rather purple and overwrought, which I suspect probably makes it harder for the cast to deliver convincingly and well.  Also, the film has uneven pace and structure.  In particular, it tends to dwell over-long on scenes, trying to make them seem epic and portentous.  Perhaps with defter writing, the film might have pulled this off.  Unfortunately, I found the execution rather heavy-handed and overly methodical.  Scenes tended to drag on past the point where their purpose had been achieved, leading me to sometimes feel impatient with them.

I wonder if Ms Cardinal's passion for this project was a factor in these flaws.  Often, writers need to be tough and cut stuff they love - I don't think this happened here.

Supergirl, Season 4 (2018)

 

Anti-Alien sentiment sweeps the United States, leading to the rise of a domestic terrorist group known as the "Children of Liberty".  Their leader, "Agent Liberty" wears a gold mask; this is not (he claims) to conceal his identity, but because the movement is about the message, not the man.

As the US government veers ever more toward repression of aliens and tacit support for the Children of Liberty, Supergirl finds her standing as a popular hero, and her working relationship with the Department of Extranormal Operations, becoming ever more untenable.

Fortunately, she has the loyal support of friends old and new, but will they be enough against this new threat, and in particular against the true mastermind behind it all: Lex Luthor?

Well, yes, of course ultimately it will be enough, because that is how superhero TV shows do and should work.  The real question is, "is the journey to Supergirl's inevitable triumph a satisfying one?".

And the answer to that is: "Oh, how I wish I could say 'yes'."  First, because Supergirl has many charismatic cast members who are clearly working hard to engage the audience with the story.  

Second, because the show ticks a lot of good boxes on the representation side.  The cast is definitely a bit lily-white, it is true, but (excepting the queer-baiting of the near-romantic closeness between Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor) they do well on the LGBTQ+ front.  They have both a lesbian character and a transgender one (the latter actually played by a transgender actor, which is appreciated).

Alas, the solid cast and the show's generally progressive credentials are undermined over and over again by the show's shoddily structured, shoddily paced plotlines, and awkwardly scripted dialogue.  For me, aatching each season of Supergirl has been an exercise in the frustration of wanting to like it even as it constantly irritated me with the clumsy, contrived plots and stilted character interactions.

Alas, with this season, that frustration has finally triumphed.  I will not be watching season five.

A World of Worlds (2020)

 

When an evil warlock conquers her magical planet, Commander Sofia Hayden sets out to find the legendary "Royal Four" in order to take it back.  Travelling to Earth, she finds Eric Wilson, who may be the reincarnation of King Zahyian Crehin, and the first of the Four.  Unfortunately, Eric has no idea what she is talking about, and even less interest in being dragged into some kind of magical war.

A World of Worlds began as a series of four 'episodes', which basically covered the plot outlined above.  This 'movie' (it's actually about fifty minutes of new content, followed by the original 'episode 1' to take it up to around 75 in total) follows on from that.  I'm not going to summarise its plotline any further since whatever I write would make it sound far more coherent than the disjointed series of vignettes that actually comprise the film.

To get the basics out of the way up front: this is a bad film.  The acting varies from poor to dire.  The script mostly consists of characters yelling exposition at one another before engaging in badly choreographed fights.  Characters appear and disappear from the narrative with about as much logic as in Tommy Wiseau's The Room.  The effects are bargain basement stuff.  It ends - after only fifty minutes, remember - on a transparent cliffhanger for the next film, and is in no way a complete work on its own.  There's really nothing to recommend it as a work of entertainment.

Which is something of a shame, since as far as I can tell, this is a genuine passion project for the creator, Barry Gaines.  If you look up the full credits for A World of Worlds on IMDB, you will find Mr Gaines's name appearing no less than eight times.  He produced, directed, wrote, shot, edited and cast the film, as well as coordinating the stunts and appearing  on screen in a minor role.  He clearly worked long and hard to turn his creative vision into a sort-of film, and he has since managed to produce a sequel (A World of Worlds: Rise of the King).  I admire this dedication, and I wish it had resulted in a film I could genuinely praise.  Alas, it most definitely does not.

Arrow, Season 7 (2018)

 

Five months after being exposed as Green Arrow and sentenced to life imprisonment, Oliver Queen tries to maintain a low profile in Slabside Maximum Security Prison.  This isn't easy, of course, not least because his most recent nemesis, Ricardo Diaz, is still out there and trying to kill not just Oliver, but also all his friends.

Arrow has always been a show with a tendency to dwell over-much on the grim and angsty, and while it would perhaps be unfair to call this seventh season the worst offender in that regard, it is certainly no better than most of the previous seasons.  I'll admit my patience for the show's predilections in this regard has grown very thin.  I thought it worked early on, where overcoming some of his emotional issues was an aspect of Oliver's slow evolution from "lethal vigilante" to "actual superhero".  But at this point, he - and for that matter, many of his team - are making the same mistakes they've been making for six years already.  Or - and this is worse - not making those mistakes, only to be punished for trying to be better people.

I mean, I didn't like season six of the show, but at least Oliver had things go wrong because he wouldn't trust his friends, rather than because he decided to trust all the wrong people.

Season six of Arrow was also unusual because it was the only one - other than the very first - where Oliver and his allies were left with their primary adversary still at large.  Unfortunately, Ricardo Diaz is the least interesting antagonist the show has ever had.  The writers seem to have belatedly realised this during this season, but they wait way too long to actually deliver on an interesting alternative, and then have to rush that storyline to conclusion.  The main plotline of the season frankly feels a bit of a mess.

One innovation of this season that I did quite like, however, was the replacement of the frequent 'flashback' sequences with 'flash-forwards' instead, where we see a dystopic future in which Oliver's son works with Oliver's old allies to try and save Star City from a threat that the Arrow team are inadvertently creating in the current day.  This at least was a fun way to freshen up the show's dynamic, and I enjoyed seeing the future versions of some of the core characters, as well as the resulting increase of screen-time for characters who are not Oliver Queen.  The broader cast of Arrow has always been one of the show's main strengths, and it's nice to see them given more room to play.

It's not enough, however, to make me change my now long-standing opinion that the best time to quit watching Arrow is at the end of season four.

Ninja Assassin (2009)

 

Europol agent Mika Coretti has been investigating money-linked political murders. Over time, she comes to believe that the murders are all committed by a secret clan of highly-trained ninja: the Ozunu.

Mika's superiors are understandably sceptical of this theory.  How could such an organisation remain undiscovered for so long?  A good question, but this is of course a movie - and a very silly movie, at that - so Mika's theory is right on the money.

The young Europol agent soon finds herself top of the Ozunu Clan's list of assassination targets.  Fortunately for her, however, one member of the clan has become disgusted with their cruelty, and turned against them.  This young man, Raizo, rescues Mika from the Ozunu's first attack.  The two begin to work together against the ninja clan.  But who can they trust to aid them in their struggle?  Someone at Europol must have tipped off the Ozunu ...

I've already alluded to the fact that this is a very silly movie, but it really bears repeating.  This is a very silly movie.  Very, very silly.  Now, I don't on principle have an issue with that. Zipang! is a gloriously over the top bit of supernatural ninja action nonsense, and I've thoroughly enjoyed it every time I've watched it.  But Zipang! is a light-hearted film.  Meanwhile, every ridiculous moment of Ninja Assassin - and it has a lot - is presented without any sense of awareness of its inherent goofiness.  And also without any sense that events in the film should at least be internally consistent and coherent.

For instance. for the first eighty-odd minutes of the film, the Ozunu ninjas just wreck everyone they come across - except Raizo, of course, but he is himself an Ozunu ninja.  And then we get to the grand finale and the bad guys need to lose, so suddenly all you have to do is beat them is turn on the lights.  Ninjas rely on stealth and darkness to make their kills?  Sure, seems legit.  Ninjas suddenly forget even the most basic combat skills if you fire a few flares?  Not as plausible.

The "ninjas need darkness" thing is also seems to me to be a dodge that the film uses to cheap out on fight choreography.  It relies a lot on "everything goes dark and there's lots of people firing randomly and screaming".  This is not as exciting as the film seems to suppose, frankly.

Overly serious and under-exciting, Ninja Assassin didn't hit the mark for me.

The Flash, Season 5 (2018)

 

Barry Allen - AKA "The Flash", the superhero with superspeed - and his friends are back for another year of villain-fighting adventures in this fifth season of the show.

Their jobs have just become a little more complicated, however, with the arrival of Nora West-Allen, Barry's time-travelling daughter from thirty years in the future.  Nora came back in time to meet her father - he disappeared in 2024, while she was still a baby - and is now stuck in her own past.

If that wasn't enough, Team Flash discover that Central City is now threatened by mysterious killer named Cicada, who is systematically hunting down and murdering metahumans.  Our heroes are quickly on Cicada's radar, and their first encounter goes very poorly.  The new villain can drain metahumans of their powers, courtesy of a strange, lightning shaped dagger.

How do the team stop Cicada?  And is the mysterious killer actually the biggest threat to their safety, or is there something even worse on the horizon?

When it began, The Flash was a breath of fun, fresh air against the dour grimness of parent show Arrow.  That didn't last, however, and by this fifth season it is frequently every bit as po-faced and miserable as its progenitor.  The characters tend to be a bit more free with the quips, and the show continues to have some fun with giving actor Tom Cavanagh a new version of the same character each year.  This time he is Sherloque Wells, the version of himself from Earth-221.  But overall there's definitely a strong shift to grim and glum, with lots of time spent on characters lying to or shouting at each other and being miserable about things.  Frankly, it's a bit wearisome.

Then there's the villain(s).  I like that Cicada is not a super-speedster.  And in principle the "big twist" they take with the character could be interesting.  But I don't think they come off very well.  Far better, I think, to have pulled the change-up earlier in the season, rather than with only a relatively small number of episodes to go.  This would have allowed the post-twist version of the villain more time to become established and would also have created better resonance with the Barry-and-Nora family drama plotlines.

A bigger issue than either of these, though, is that Barry Allen may be the fastest man alive, but he frequently also seems to be the dumbest.  He's continually outmanoeuvred and (temporarily) defeated by people who he should by rights be able to beat in a literal nanosecond.  And sure, I get that you want your villain of the week to seem like a credible threat for at least part of the episode, but maybe don't continually doing it by the lazy mechanism of having your hero repeatedly make the same fundamental mistakes.

Ironically for a show about a man with super-speed, The Flash feels like it has run out of momentum.

Enter the Dragon (1973)

 

Lee, a highly proficient martial artist and instructor from Hong Kong, is approached by British Intelligence.  They want him to attend a high-profile martial arts tournament on a private island owned by a businessman - and suspected crime lord - named Han.

Shortly before his departure, Lee learns that the man responsible for his sister's death, O'Hara, is Han's bodyguard on the island.  The mission now has a personal element.

Fighters from all over the world are attending the tournament, most notably an indebted American gambler named Roper and his old friend Williams, who is a Vietnam veteran.

It turns out that Han runs the tournament as a way to find dangerous men of a flexible moral nature - men exactly like Roper, for instance.  He's also smart enough to quickly sense an enemy hidden among the crowd of fighters he has assembled.  Things are about to get even more dangerous for the men enrolled in the tournament.

Enter the Dragon is the film that made Bruce Lee a bankable star in the west, but was unfortunately made only shortly before his untimely death.  By the time it was actually in cinemas, he had already passed.  

In watching the film, it is easy to see why Lee made such an impact with audiences.  He's not technically a great actor, but he has tremendous presence on the screen, and incredible physical intensity.  Hong Kong audiences were already well aware of this, of course, but this was the first time the English-speaking world had been given a real chance to experience it.

Now, the film isn't likely to win awards for its storyline, which is pretty uncomplicated martial arts hokum.  It's also not going to win many points for his gender awareness: apart from Lee's sister, who exists purely to die, the female characters exist largely to remove their tops.

That said, however, the film does what it does very effectively.  Footage of Hong Kong is well-used in setting the scene and providing ambience, and the fight scenes - choreographed by Lee - are well-constructed and staged.  They're nowhere near as extravagant as modern action day films like those the Marvel films, but they're also done without large amounts of CGI and an immense crew with high tech gear.  They also make good use of varied environment and structure, with the climactic battle in a room full of mirrors being particularly memorable.

One interesting thing about the film's script is that the ending has a slightly downbeat tone.  While the good guys do win (surely it's not a spoiler that Bruce Lee is ultimately triumphant?), the aftermath of the final conflict does not have the triumphant air you might expect.  It puts more emphasis on the cost of the victory, physical and otherwise.  That's - at least for English-language films - an unusual choice, and one that I think works quite well to give the film some extra gravity.

Deservedly considered a classic of the martial arts scene, and a film that aficionados of the punchy-kicky should certainly seek out.

The Legend of Vox Machina, Season 1 (2022)

 

Destruction wrought by an unidentified beast brings adventurers from all over the land, looking to claim the reward for its destruction.  When all the reputable such groups are promptly and gorily slain by their quarry, the task falls more or less by default to a seven self-centred mercenaries who go by the name 'Vox Machina'.

Having hitherto been motivated primarily by their love of fighting and alcohol (and the gold needed to buy the latter), the group are almost as surprised as everyone else when they not only survive their first encounter with the beast - a mighty dragon, no less - but discover within themselves a spark of altruism they never knew was there.  They seek out the creature once more, taking their first uncertain steps on the path to becoming heroes of the realm.

The Legend of Vox Machina is an animated show based on the events of the first series of Critical Role.  For those who don't know of this show, it is a long-running livestream of people playing Dungeons & Dragons.  The notable thing about the group in question is that they are all veteran voice actors (and sometimes also live action actors).  All seven players, plus Matt Mercer, who runs the game, have charisma to burn.  They also share a strong camaraderie.  These factors have contributed to earning Critical Role an enormous fan-base and considerable commercial success, and they certainly don't hurt The Legend of Vox Machina, either.

Another factor in Critical Role's success - and which also benefits this show - is Mercer's meticulous depth of setting lore, memorable supporting characters - both antagonistic and helpful - and intricately structured stories.  I think he asks his players to make too many unnecessary die rolls during the game, but I can't fault his ability to create over-lapping, mutually interacting storylines that pay off big as they reach their conclusions.  How much of this is fully pre-planned and how much is extemporaneous, I don't know.  But I don't think it matters over much: whether its down to meticulous preparation or clever improvisation, or a (most likely) mixture of both, Mercer's storytelling is very strong.

One thing that I must note about this show is that it is an adult cartoon.  It is most definitely not intended for all ages and contains horror elements, as well as nudity, gore and a lot of bad language.  This definitely won't be to all tastes.  And in my opinion, the show does sometimes verge into the puerile by including crassness for its own sake.  It never got to the point where it put me off the show, but it may do so for others.

Asterix versus Caesar (1985)

 

When two members of their village are captured by the Romans, the Gauls Asterix and Obelisk - along with their canine companion Dogmatix, who may honestly be the brains of the operation - set out to recover them. As always, Asterix has the magic potion to help him deal with any resistance they might encounter. Obelisk, of course, has no need of the potion, having fallen into a cauldron of it as a child and being permanently blessed with the immense strength it confers.

Finding the missing two villagers will not be easy, however, as they have been shuttled around the Empire.  Asterix and Obelisk follow their trail first to North Africa, then to Rome itself, where the intrepid adventurers must take on the role of gladiators in order to save the day.

This was the first Asterix film in nearly a decade, after 1976 offering The Twelve Tasks of Asterix.  It represents a return to the 'classic' formula of the series, and therefore lacks the idiosyncrasies of that film. It's based on pre-existing Asterix comics, rather than being an original story, and it doesn't acknowledge that is is fiction, or break the fourth wall.  

One innovation it does introduce is to give Dogmatix a more significant role.  While the brave white pup has appeared in the previous movies, and even helped the heroes out of a jam in Asterix and Cleopatra, he definitely never got this much screen time or attention, before.  While this change was likely motivated by the character's popularity, that does not in any way make it a bad idea.  This film's "Dogmatix in the sewers" sequence is one of the few Asterix movie scenes I remember from my childhood.

This film also has the best animation of any Asterix film to date: presumably it had more time and resources behind it, as well as another decade of development in animation technology.

Despite these positive elements, though, I wasn't a huge fan of it.  One negative way in which it returns to the classic formula is that the Gauls come across as rather smug and over-confident.  It's a nice change of tone when Asterix temporarily loses his magic potion and can't just win every fight without breaking a sweat.  The pacing also feels off: it tries to pack a lot of scenes into its mere 74 minute run-time, with the result that many sequences felt under-developed and rushed, to me.

Ultimately, probably only one for fans of the comics.