Quickie Reviews #13

Days of Future Past is better than First Class, I’ll say that much in its favor. While the original cast is woefully under-utilized, it tells a mostly successful time travel story while also serving as a sort of reboot for the franchise. It makes sense to focus on the character people most identify with, Wolverine, and put him with the “back in time” cast. I also understand why Mystique became such a large character, what with everyone’s obsession with Jennifer Lawrence. I still think Michael Fassbender’s Magneto is short-shrifted, but there are larger problems plaguing Days of Future Past that hold it back from being truly successful.

First, while the time travel aspect was done fairly well, it’s never a great idea to have time travel in your story. There are just too many loop holes that come up. But, having the same franchise with two different casts being separated by decades is a difficult problem to solve, so I understand why the writers went about it this way. I also think the change in writers was a welcome one. First Class suffered from some cheesy ass dialogue, like it was written by people that don’t have a love for these characters. Days of Future Past feels much more natural, though it can still fall into the melodrama trap that plagued the original trilogy. Peter Dinklage’s Trask also isn’t given enough to do, and kind of fades into the background during the climax of the film. Special shout out to Quicksilver, though. I loved his scenes in the movie, and this was a much more successful portrayal than in Age of Ultron. I thought the fight scenes in the future were badass, too. It’s always cool to see people with different powers working together. All in all, despite its story flaws and misuse of some of the original cast, Days of Future Past is a significant improvement over First Class, and serves as a great jumping off point for future films in the franchise. 

7.4/10

Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part One

I’ve never been shy about sharing my general “meh” attitude towards the Hunger Games franchise. I didn’t find the books to be particularly well-written or compelling, though the first was a fun read, if nothing else. The first movie was also fun, but there was too much focus on the “will they or won’t they” love triangle. The second movie felt like more than a re-tread, but only just. The twist was interesting, but didn’t really pay off at the end, with too much of a cliff-hanger being left. With all of that being said, Mockingjay Part One is just a crappy movie, in every aspect. The third book was far and away the weakest, with very little in the way of plot, and the movie is no different. In the pantheon of book to film adaptations that were stretched too thin, Hunger Games might stand supreme. Basically nothing happens in this entire movie.

Seriously, what’s the main story in Mockingjay Part One? You could make the argument that it’s about rescuing Peeta, but Katniss, our main character, does absolutely nothing to contribute to that plot line (except nag and complain). There’s a potentially cool scene at the end of the movie, where the strike team goes to rescue Peeta and it becomes clear that the whole thing was a trap, but we see almost none of that fight. Instead, we get to see Katniss being awkward in front of a camera. Katniss’ main through line is to raise the morale of the districts, which my acting teachers would describe as a “weak objective.” There’s very little action or measure for success when that’s your main goal. And the movie has an entire scene where they talk about the design for Katniss’ suit. I mean come on, you’re fighting a war and fashion is your top priority? Mockingjay Part One felt like what should have been the first twenty minutes of the final movie got stretched into two hours on its own. And that’s about as interesting to watch as it sounds.

5.1/10

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Season One

I remember when this show first came out, I was extremely trepidatious. I had recently seen the computer animated Clone Wars movie that led directly into the show, and I hated it. It was everything that I didn’t like about the prequels: lame jokes, recycled plot, and a kid friendly nature that just didn’t appeal to me. I also wasn’t huge on the animation style, having been a big fan of the traditionally animated Star Wars: Clone Wars mini-series that originally spawned the idea for the movie. But, after watching the first season of The Clone Wars, I was pleasantly surprised. There were still some things that annoyed me, but overall it was a great diversion from the film saga, and had a lot to offer in its own right. I never finished the entire series as time got away from me, but I’ve been hearing good things about Star Wars: Rebels, so I decided to go back through from the beginning.

The pilot episode of the show set a great tone, with a focus on Yoda and some clone troopers. I’ve come to really prefer this show’s version of Anakin over the movies, but I liked that The Clone Wars didn’t start with him and Ahsoka. The quality of the storylines varied throughout the season, and there wasn’t really a through line tying anything together (other than the over-arching Clone Wars). A main focus was the biggest thing that held season one back from greatness, because there were just too many episodes that felt like throw-aways, or that didn’t have a larger impact on the show. I did greatly enjoy the diversion episodes featuring other characters like Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, and a variety of clone troopers, but standalone episodes focusing on Anakin and Co didn’t feel very necessary.

The timeline of the show could also be confusing, as random episodes took place at different times throughout the Clone Wars. The finale even tied in directly to the movie, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense. It was cool to have them introduce season two’s main baddie in the finale as a bit of a teaser, though. Later seasons were more successful overall, but I remain very happy with season one of The Clone Wars and how it differentiated itself from the terrible movie. I just wish the droid soldiers weren’t all so stupid, it makes the battle scenes have less impact. Also, while I appreciated the show trying to make Jar Jar a cooler character, it didn’t work. I wish they’d have abandoned him the way that George Lucas did in the later films.

8.2/10