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The Killer (2023)
Pretentious, mostly boring
I was looking forward to this movie, but it was a disappointment. Clearly there was an attempt at being a sophisticated combination of action and psychological thriller, however it fell flat. Only one of the characters was interesting enough to generate an emotional response (and she was certainly not a main character). The incessant mental monologue from the main character was annoying. The story was ultimately uncomplicated and the ending was very unsatisfactory. And there were silly technical errors such as regularly using a suppressor on his Glocks, but what was shown was actually a muzzle compensator, which can actually make the pistol sound louder particular in close quarters, speaking about slowing his heart rate before a mid-range rifle shot to prevent deflection as the round went through glass, how he set up the mid-range rifle shot from concealment, etc. Definitely not recommended - there are far better examples of the genre out there.
Space Force (2020)
Awesome fun
If you're after some fun television, this is it. Some great satirical moments, good chemistry between some of the characters, and some funny storylines.
Reacher (2022)
Solid entertainment
Like the novels, you shouldn't expect amazing plots or excruciating attention to detail. But if you are looking for some good entertainment, this is it.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint (2019)
Disappointing
I've been playing this for a little over a week now, and whilst I was excited about it initially, I have to say that it is a real disappointment.
There are so many bugs. Most of them that I have encountered are not game-breaking, but they are immersion breaking. Crawling up to a pair of soldiers and going for a knife kill, resulting in the target and myself doing this weird overlapping leaping, where I was lying down but somehow suspended 1.5m above the ground, trying to slice the target, who would suddenly leap vertically 2m above the ground, and then we'd be bouncing around between each other for a couple of seconds until the second guy shot me dead.
Another example is the fact that the visuals of your gear loadout change from in game play to cut scenes, in strange ways. I'm wearing the Crye JPC plate carrier and primary weapon is an HK416. So for most of the game I appear to have 4 x HSGI Taco single mag carriers with my 5.56mm mags on the front of the plate carrier. Then in a cut scene it sometimes changes to either having 4 x long straight 9mm submachine gun mag pouches, to no mag pouches and a utility pouch on left and from memory a couple of pistol mag pouches on the right. Weird.
The bivouac system is stupid as well. You get to the location, select to set up your bivouac, and it goes to a cut scene of you setting up what looks like rope to tie down a tent, but there is no tent. You are sitting out in the open, with nothing around except maybe a smouldering camp fire, yet somehow you can magically buy new weapons and attachments and clothing in the store, swap out gear items, sell unwanted items, order cars, trucks or helicopters?!?!?! Ridiculous. Why not just make a small hut with a couple of the settlers or Outcasts in the hut, which would at least make it a little more plausible to conduct trading and get support.
Weapon attachments are poorly done as well. I purchased an ACOG TA31 and an Aimpoint T1 using in game currency, expecting to be able to put these on my HK416 assault rifle. But for some reason I can't. But I could attach the ACOG to a shotgun?!?! What the hell? For what reason would Ubisoft not allow me to add an ACOG of T1 red dot sight to my HK416, especially when they are marketing the game and mechanics as being realistic. An ACOG on a shotgun is nuts.
All of this is immersion-breaking, and is counter to the idea promoted by Ubisoft that this is a survival type game, you're on your own (until you walk into your main encampment and find there are 10 or so other Ghosts in the community hub area that you have to walk through to get to anything else!!!).
The story so far is ok, but the way the story is developed is poor. Voice acting is mostly wooden (it sounds like some of the voice actors were just bored or confused with what they were recording). The cut scenes are usually long winded, lack any sense of drama, and the facial expressions on the characters are flat. Lipsync is poor, and voices cut in and out, meaning if you have subtitles turned off (as I do to improve immersion) you can miss parts of the dialogue. Speaking of which, the dialogue is sometimes cheesy beyond belief.
Non-player characters in the wild react to you in bizarre ways, or alternatively don't react to you at all. I have walked right up to two individual Outcasts in the wild, and they don't even acknowledge my existence. No reaction to my presence in any way.
The helicopter camera and piloting controls are clunky.
The slip and slide thing on hillsides is something a lot of people complain about, but I like it. If you're out there in the wild on your own, taking care of where and how you walk is important. Sprained ankles, or falling and getting other injuries, is a real issue, and I like that this is in the game. If you just crouch before you walk down a hill, you can get down more slowly, but safely. However you can then apply this to walking down a 4-5m rock cliff, and somehow get down unscathed. Silly.
And why to suppressors reduce damage? They don't in the real world, and at least in Wildlands you could unlock a skill which eliminated this damage loss. Instead you have to be a totally different class in Breakpoint for this to work.
People are complaining about the microtransaction stuff, which honestly I don't care about. Have a bit of self-control and don't purchase stuff with real money unless you really want to, and almost everything you need in the game can be found in the wild or purchased with earned game currency. However I am concerned that the desire to monetise everything in the game has led to really poor choices around game design and gear and so forth. Like a Stetson hat which gives me more protection than an Ops-Core FAST ballistic helmet.
Overall I am very disappointed. There was so much potential in this game, but it feels like 30 different people with 60 conflicting ideas have all made their mark on the game, meaning that for every good idea/mechanic, there are two really bad ones. I definitely enjoyed Ghost Recon: Wildlands, so will continue playing this for the time being, but no way will I be paying real money for anything else associated with this game (like a Year 2 pass or such), and if you haven't already purchased the game I would recommend that you think twice.
Mile 22 (2018)
Pretentious dialogue falls flat
I was excited by the prospect of Mile 22, however it really let me down. Some of the action was ok, but the writing was poor, with much of the dialogue from Wahlberg being quite annoying. The characters were also pretty poorly constructed, and cliched.
Ocean's Eight (2018)
Disappointing
Despite a great cast, there was no suspense, no chemistry between the leads, music was average, and the plot line pretty basic.
Heat (1995)
Stunning, gritty, intense - one of the best films in decades
Wow. While the basic plot is nothing complicated, it is one of the most well executed movies of all time. The acting of everybody involved is superb. Every single key character is meaningful and presented in such a way that you become emotionally invested in all of them, good or bad. And the distinction between "good" and "bad" is very blurry line here - the main "bad" guy is intelligent, loyal, dedicated, gentle, insightful, respectful - all whilst being a ruthless criminal capable of delivering merciless high order violence at a moment's notice. The "good" guy is obsessive, emotionally dysfunctional, and incapable of seeing the train wreck which is his stepdaughter's life until it hits him in the face.
The visuals are fantastic, the music excellent. The scenes where Pacino and DeNiro interact really show these two actors at their best. And the action scenes are some of the most intense and realistic in any movie - the actors were clearly provided with outstanding training and choreography for these scenes.
In short, this is a masterpiece. Michael Mann at his absolute best.
Drive (2011)
Boring
I am all for a decent, thought-provoking action/drama, but this is not action, and it's not drama. It's just poorly acted, poorly scripted, boring rubbish. This movie is most suitable for navel-gazing hipsters who think the way the sunlight glints off the dew on a dog turd in the park reveals some kind of hidden artistic meaning. Bottom line: it's still a dog turd.
Lethal Weapon (2016)
Horrendous in almost every way
As a fan of lighthearted action series, I have to say this was a major disappointment.
There is little to no chemistry between the two lead characters and given the fact that it is supposed to be ripping off the original film series - which was all about chemistry between the leads - one wonders why they even bothered calling it Lethal Weapon.
The storyline in the first episode was forced and formulaic, and quite frankly boring.
Basically this is complete trash, and an insult to the original film series.
Man on Fire (2004)
Awesome tale of revenge
Brilliantly acted by all involved, simple but well played plot focusing on ruthless, calculating revenge at all costs. The way Denzel Washington's character carves up the "bad" guys is a sight to be behold, without him seeming like a bulletproof superhero. If you like a well thought out revenge story, where the lead character is not a Rambo-wannabee but a trained, calculating, intelligent, and totally ruthless professional, then this is the movie for you. The cinematography can be jarring at times, but is clearly used to drive home the emotions of a scene. Definitely a masterpiece in the full sense of the word.
Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015)
Disappointing rehash. Over-hyped
Over-hyped rehash. Another cute droid with the key to a lost Jedi who has disappeared because an apprentice betrayed him and turned to the Dark Side. Another desert planet. Another roguish Han Solo wannabe. Another prison break from deep inside Imperial/First Order held territory. Another cantina scene. Another Death Star-like planet killer which must be destroyed (and is, again right before it's about to destroy the Rebel/Resistance base planet). Another plan to destroy it which involves a small team of infantry destroying a shield generator. Another masked evil student of the Dark Side with a respirator-distorted voice (without the reverberating depth and presence of James Earl Jones's voice). Another mysterious shadowy super-evil figure scheming behind the scenes. More Jedi family intrigue.
Couldn't they come up with a better storyline than a mishmash of the previous story lines played out by some seriously pathetic characters?
Kylo Ren has to be one of the most anaemic petulant wimpy bad guys ever. So strong with the Dark Side of the Force, but he looks like he's about to break down crying if another character so much as sneezes in his general direction.
Finn is an indecisive useless waste of space, who still somehow manages to save the day without getting himself or everybody around him killed. Are we supposed to identify with his crisis in morality? If so it is so poorly acted that it comes across as less of an ethical struggle and more like generalised anxiety disorder combined with acute constipation and a fever.
The most interesting part of the entire film was when Rey makes instant bread by mixing a powder with water. Her character and her portrayal of the character is far better than any of the other main characters.
With all the interesting Star Wars fan fiction out there, the fact that the creators couldn't come up with something better than this is truly sad.