(film review) - Mortal Kombat II

What’s wild to me is that back in the ‘90s, they actually tried to make a Mortal Kombat movie, and at the time… we just accepted it. To be fair, it was definitely better than Street Fighter, but that still didn’t make it good. It was just the best of a bad bunch.

But back then, that was all we had. A bit like those early X-Men films in the 2000s—whether they fully worked or not, fans just had to take what they could get.

Then, a few years ago, they rebooted the franchise with Mortal Kombat, and while that film was definitely an improvement over the ‘90s version, I still wouldn’t call it amazing because it made some genuinely questionable choices.

This sequel though? Yeah, this is leagues better.

The film pretty much picks up where the last one left off. The tournament is finally here, and Raiden needs a new champion pr the Earth Realm will fall. Alongside Sonya Blade, they approach Johnny Cage, an actor who initially brushes the whole thing off after meeting the likes of Liu Kang, Jax and Cole. But once he’s dragged properly into the chaos, Johnny has no choice but to stop acting like a hero and actually become one.

And honestly, I had a blast with this film.

The plot itself is still pretty basic—stop the bad guys from taking over Earthrealm—but the difference this time is that almost everything else has been improved. The action is better, the pacing is better, the characters are more enjoyable, and the fight choreography is on another level compared to the previous film. The previous film kind of felt like an action film with fighting, where this one feels more like an action martial arts film.

Seeing classic moves from the games finally translated properly onto the screen was a genuine game-changer.

The dialogue is still cheesy in places, but I found myself laughing, chuckling, and fully enjoying the ridiculousness of it all throughout the film. The movie knows exactly what it is and leans into it.

The addition of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage was honestly perfect casting, especially with how they handled the character. He brings the exact kind of energy the movie needed.

The visual effects are solid, too. Not groundbreaking or Avatar-level spectacle, but they absolutely do the job. And there are loads of moments that reminded me of other cult classics and fantasy properties like Big Trouble in Little China, Game of Thrones and even Pennywise at one point.

There’s even a fake movie within the movie called 'Uncaged Fury', and honestly? I’d genuinely watch that. It is all the nonsensical and over-the-top action from a B-rated (I think it is called B-rated) movie, from the early 80s...almost like Dolemite Is My Name (see my review on that).

Overall, this is just a fun time. Good action, brutal fights, decent humour, solid performances and way more entertaining than the previous film. If you enjoyed the first rebooted movie, you’ll probably have a great time with this.

But if you’re expecting some deep, serious masterpiece… this definitely isn’t that.

(trailer review) - Mortal Kombat II

 

Up, Down, Left, Right, Finish Him! Mortal Kombat was that rival game for those who loved Street Fighter II. It has come a long way, too. The earlier film can be argued as a guilty pleasure, but was definitely better than the Street Fighter film (that one was so bad, Raul Julia had some iconic lines and made it good). The most recent Mortal Kombat film, though, whilst not amazing, was actually a really good and entertaining movie. Ultimately there was not much to the strange story, not many or any one-liners or quotables that I can remember, but some of the characters were introduced, and there were some decent fight scenes, but when it ended, I did think at the time, "that wasn't bad, a sequel would be nice", or something along those lines, but because I enjoyed it. And here we are, a sequel to a decent Mortal Kombat film, and the gang is back, and then some.

Grabbing Karl Urban from Lord of the Rings, Thor Ragnarok, Dredd, Star Trek and The Boys fame, is an absolute get, as it seems as though, having him play the actor Johnny Cage is superb casting, as Karl is an awesome actor. What I will say, though, seeing those other characters is nice and all, but what is happening? A little like the first movie, you are seeing all these different characters that appeared later in the games and although we may not be following the game's storyline at all (something I know little about and they could be making their own), or maybe loosely, what happened to the other guy in the first movie? There is a quick shot of him in the trailer, a blink and you will miss it, moment. Where is Sub-Zero? Granted, I have definitely forgotten what happens at the end, and he may likely be "dead", and maybe I need to watch it again, but this looks like a continuation, but the main character has been swapped out? Or is it, "Here comes a new challenger!" I dunno, I like the trailer, but is it all about Cage now? Regardless, some money has definitely gone into the sequel, and should this be just as good as the first one, we should have a decent time with it. Remember that frozen blood turned into a weapon,  something like that! The "Get over here!" is good and all, and expected, but that slice-a-man-in-half at the end is expected as it is a fatality, but we need a better trailer. Maybe, just maybe, some X-ray shots like in the games. That might be cool!

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 4

 

(OFFICIAL TEASER)

I do believe that the murmurs of superhero fatigue are dying down. A couple years ago, people were saying that people are suffering from Superhero fatigue, however, I always challenged that because although that was being said, people were still going out of their way to watch shows like 'Invincible' and 'The Boys'. But these are comic book shows that have seemingly created a shift in the mindset of people who were watching WB's DC universe with Batman, Superman and the like, along with Disney's Marvel, Ironman, Captain America and the like. The Boys is different. The Boys is dark humour. The Boy is gory and also, insanely weird, everything the two aforementioned franchises are not and this trailer proves that.

If you have been following the story of Billy Butcher, he is a man who is seeking revenge on those who are super-powered and he has recruited a team of people to do the same. Huey, Mother's Milk, Frenchie and the Girl. Now along for the ride is Starlight and they all plan on taking down Vought, the corporate business behind Superheroes and their main supe, Homelander who not only is becoming out of control but is seemingly coercing Billy's son into doing the same as him. This trailer shows that there is tension rising and the supes are rejecting their corporate overlords to be recognised as God's and maybe, just maybe...enslave those who are not like them. Sometimes a second trailer is needed but with The Boys, the storylines and the action is so greatly done, upon one trailer, I am already interested and involved.

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 4

I tell you what is interesting, there has been a lot of talk about Superhero fatigue, that people are tired of superhero movies, shows etc, it is everywhere. However, if this was correct, a show like this would not have the buzz and hype surrounding it. No, it isn't just the blood and gruesome kills. It is not the adult language or sexual content, it is the storylines. It is the drama behind the visuals. The Boys find a way to teach/say or even address issues other comic book shows and movies would not even dare to even think about. So with that said, there is a quality and execution issue and The Boys, three seasons deep and a spin-off show, Gen-V, does not suffer from that.

Numan is running for Presidency, Billy is dying, Homeland has his kid back and it also seems he is going to trial due to his behaviour back in the previous season, not to mention that large crowd of Homelander or Supes supporters. With new superheroes emerging as well, season 4 of The Boys seems as though it is going to take us on another 'The Boys' ride. If we are lucky, maybe, just maybe we will also have some people from Gen V come and join this season, especially when Homelander showed up in the last episode of Gen V. The showrunner behind this series knows what they are doing and they have not dropped the ball yet!

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 3

Yooooooo! Yoooooo! You know when one of your friend's greets you or get's your attention in this method and it's like they are really excited and bursting to tell you the hot scoop? Yeah, that!  I heard earlier today that there was a Season 3 trailer which dropped today, just a clip and low and behold, here we are and it looks great!

I did a Season 2 review you can find on here, but this is like, how long? 30 seconds or so? but if you have watched both season and is fully up to date ready for season 3, this trailer is bound to make you smile, bound to.  Well, I've been watching it from season 1 recently and you forget how good this show is, soo so good!  I am actually itching to watch this. One of a few shows I feel like i've been waiting for ever to watch.

Directed by Eric Kripke and starring Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Elisabeth Shue, Colby Minifie and Aya Cash

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(series review) [STREAMING] - The Boys: Season 2

So last year, we were taken aback by two major superhero TV shows.  You would have thought the world had Superhero Fatigue, but in all honesty, us superhero content lovers simply are not tired from the movies and many other TV shows there is out there, but we do want something different, something a bit more edgy, something more adult and we got it with Umbrella Academy season 1 and The Boys season 1.
Having looked into my crystal ball or having been told by a future version of myself that had travelled back in time, I knew to take up reviewing TV series and trailers because the year 2020 was going to be a colossal mess.  I only took that up around November of last year so, with that said, this review will be a little longer just to recap the events of season 1 which came months before I started.  I will try not to give away too many spoilers for those who still have not watched.

The world of The Boys is set in a world where Superheroes are real.  They are the ultimate crime fighters who do the jobs the police are unable to do or not quick enough to get to.  The main Superheroes, 'The Seven' are corporately run by a company called Vought who govern the Supes and all their actions.  They often tell the supes which crimes to stop and handle all media and media coverage to ensure every superhero is portrayed in a positive light.  Not a bad thing when your PR is handled, but when a supe accidentally runs through a young woman named Robyn, Hughie's girlfriend and tries to cover it up, Hughie is approached by William Butcher who gets Hughie on his side to help him take down the company Vought and all their Superheroes.

William Butcher has a personal vendetta against Vought and their superheroes, especially the leader of The Seven, The Homelander.  The Boys (the series title name) refers to a group of people led by William (Billy) and consist of Mother's Milk and Frenchie.  As The Boys discover that Vought may be behind some nefarious activities involving a formula called 'Compound V' they find on a supply run carried out by the Supe known as A-Train, The Boys do their best trying to take down Vought and expose their foul play.  Hughie meets a lady named Annie and they begin to form a friendship, but when Hughie kills a Supe and other incidents start to occur with members of The Seven and they begin to come to light, all hell breaks lose and The Seven start to close in on The Boys, including Annie, who is also a Supe.

As Billy Butcher gets closer to achieving his now life long mission of taking down The Homelander, Billy gets confronted by a revelation which reinforces his new motivation and pushes him in a new direction whilst still trying to take down Vought.  An organisation called 'The Church of the Collective' poach The Deep by way of Eagle the Archer and they proceed to try and help The Deep with his problems but things become increasingly difficult when a new member of The Seven named Stormfront enters, who is an instant hit with the fans of The Seven pushing The Homelander aside.  Whilst Stormfront has her own past, with help from The Boys, Billy continues to try and expose Vought for their crimes and with the introduction of a newer and younger Supe, heads start to explode as Billy gets closer and closer to the truth which leave The Boys in a head-on confrontation with not only the new and very powerful Stormfront, but also, The Homelander.

I've tried my upmost to try and keep this review as spoiler-free as possible and with the nature of this show, it is difficult as there is soo much going on at any one time with different story-arcs for characters and the situations presented.  A few flashbacks here and there and whilst you might think one person is the main enemy, another rears it's head, then another, then another.  In some cases you are routing for the bad guy and in other cases, the "good" guys seem just as bad as the bad guys with parallels that mirror specific characters, almost identically like, you are to choose the lesser of two evils.

There is a lot of character development with a lot of the characters as the seasons go on whilst some characters remain a mystery.  Season 2 also introduces a host of new characters with background stories that further the plot and over-arching story arch that pushes The Boys into season 3 and beyond.  The acting is superb by Karl Urban, Jack Quaid and Erin Moriarty, but the prize goes to Antony Starr, hands down, as a very complex character with lots of layers.  Whilst other actors such as Laz Alonso and Chace Crawford is also great supporting cast, the delivery of their characters along with the main cast help push the story along with ushering along the completely absurd scenes and situations in the show making them seem more credible and at times, grounded.  The secrets, the lies, the mystery, it is ALL there, but most of all, this show is NOT for the faint hearted.  The blood, the guys, the profanity, it is all there.  If you want something different and more adult which is up your comic book alley, the The Boys will definitely be for you.

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 2

(Official Trailer)

(official teaser trailer)

(second trailer/first look clip)

(first trailer)

How many trailers, guys??? HOW MANY!?!  At this point it's literally a Copy + Paste effort!
This trailer though, is definitely the business and if you wasn't involved already, there is a strong possibility that you are now, unless you simply don't care for it.

You see, the superhero/comic book genre is somewhat over saturated and if we are going to keep with the genre, we DO need to have a fresh spin on it and last years, The Boys from Amazon, was JUST THAT!  Along with Umbrella Academy from Netflix, Amazon hit this one clean out of the park and although grittier and and more violent than Umbrella Academy, this show's storyline was also great to get into.

This trailer gives you SOOOO much more with what is going on in this season and without trying to repeat myself, Homelander and Stormfront don't seem to be seeing eye-to-eye, but whilst Homelander is after Billy Butcher and The Boys and trying to raise his son (remember from previous clips/trailers), Huey is still with Starlight and it seems as though The Seven is fractured.  A-Train running away from Huey rather than just killing him...interesting and Billy has a plan to get back his wife.  Early September is too long away...lol.  Umbrella Academy season 2 was brilliant. I'm just hoping this one is too or at least as good as the first season.

Directed by Eric Kripke and starring Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso,  Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Elisabeth Shu

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 2

Official Teaser Trailer

(second trailer/first look clip)

(first trailer)

Ok, so I'm not sure how many trailers they want to release for this thing but this one says OFFICIAL teaser whist the first one was a official teaser, trailer...anyway, this one looks a whole lot better and gives us FAR MORE of what is going to be happening in this second season.

If you combine the first trailer and the first look clip, with this trailer, it seems as though Homelander has declared war on Billy Butcher and The Boys whilst also trying to raise a child AND deal with a Newcomer to The Seven.  This season might be more about Homelander and how he deals with his personal vendetta against The Boys and the actions from the past season.  It seems as though The Boys will be doing all they can to outsmart the powered individuals as well as take them down.

It's been a good week as not only did this new trailer drop but so did Umbrella Academy and I'm ALL FOR IT!  Let's just hope the second seasons of both shows are as good as the first as they do bring a different spin on this over saturated market.

Directed by Eric Kripke and starring Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso,  Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Elisabeth Shu

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 2

(first trailer)

During this pandemic, I have been struggling to keep up with the amount of shows I can be watching or binging on.  It's mad because, there is soo much but I don't want to just watch a show just to watch a show, if you know what I mean.  I tried hunters, but I simply didn't care for it.  But now that we have an actual date for this, I am actually looking forward to it.

As I have previously stated, the first season was good and I really enjoyed it and with the twist at the end, caught me off guard.  But this trailer seems to show some animosity between Homelander and the new recruit Stormfront (from Homelander of course) and the last trailer showed him with what seemed like a young Homelander, son...it will be very interesting to see what happens in this season of The Boys when it drops in September.  Once again, Amazon did well with this one.

Directed by Eric Kripke and starring Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso,  Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Elisabeth Shue

(trailer review) - The Boys: Season 2

What's mad, is this show! Who knew that this show would be similar to 'Umbrella Academy' but a bit more adult and raw.  Blood and guts everywhere, swearing, nudity, sexual themes and some cold blooded kills from what we thought were great heroes to look up to and enjoy like a Captain America or Superman, except some of these "superheroes" are simply NO GOOD!

The first season was good and I really enjoyed it and with the twist at the end.  What I will say is that I am definitely looking forward to this season 2, the sequel...and the clips we see in this video and what this season 2 may have for offer, is nothing more than intriguing.  Amazon did well with this one.

Directed by Eric Kripke and starring Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso,  Chace Crawford, Tomer Kapon, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Elisabeth Shue

(film review) - Star Trek Into Darkness

I was thinking to myself just now, 2009? I'm sure I did a Star Trek 2009 review!? So, I went trekking through my archives and never found it. Needless to say, you probably saw what I did there, lol, but that isn't why I mentioned it. I saw Star Trek 2009 and it was such a refreshing retro futuristic film that if you know what I mean, then, you know what I mean.

Just to give an idea of the film.

The film starts with Chris Hemsworth (Pre-Thor) as the first officer, George Kirk of the USS Kelvin, sustaining heavy attack by a Romulan ship in which commander Nero (Eric Bana) is searching for Spock and sends the USS Kelvin into oblivion just after George manages to rescue the crew by sending them to safety and his pregnant wife Winona who is about to give birth to James T. Kirk. Years later, reckless yet intelligent Kirk joins starfleet and meets up with emotionless Spock, has a bar punch up along the way, an allergic reaction, becomes a major pain in the ears for Spock who ejects him off the ship onto some 'any' planet and then manages to catch up with Nero by using the gas clouds of titan as a cloaking device eventually and...yeah, Kirk saves the day and everyone cheers. Needless to say, I found the film extremely sexy! There was just too much going on in the film.

This new film continues the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and his adventures on the Starship Enterprise to boldly go where no man has gone before and the film starts with Captain Kirk and Dr. 'Bones' McCoy (Karl Urban) running for their lives as they try their hardest not to be killed by the primitive civilisation who dwell on the planet they are observing. After violating the Prime Directive in order to save Spock's (Zachary Quinto) life, Kirk is demoted by Admiral Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and has been reduced to first officer of his own ship.

After a meeting is held in regards to a former starfleet agent going "rogue", the meeting is attacked by said rogue agent in which Kirk and his crew are assigned by Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) with the task of hunting rogue agent down. However, they find out that rogue agent, John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) is currently hiding on the Klingon homeworld of Kronos in which no starfleet ship may go near without igniting a full scale war between the federation and the klingon empire.

As I'm not one to spoil movies for the viewers, I can only say that if you liked the first Star Trek 2009, you are going to absolutely love this one. The first film was just sexy. Considering how old school and futuristic the enterprise is, makes you appreciate what they were trying to do back in the 60's and to have the starship re-imagined from the outside in or inside out also makes you appreciate the future of things. Equipment, vehicles etc. Just everything was done in a old school way, like the TV series, but with modern imaginings of future concepts. This film continues this and basically improves on the first film in many ways other than character development. I found that the first film established the characters a bit more as this film didn't focus on much of the characters other than Kirk, Spock & Uhura. Even when Scotty got his screen time, meant that Sulu, Bones & Chekov didn't get as much time to shine. Not to say that it wasn't there, but not as much as the "main" characters.

Cumberbatch was awesome as the main antagonist and delivered a brilliant performance. Clearly stealing many of the scenes and just doing everything right! Peter Weller also did a great job and I can only say that his performance on top of Cumberbatch gave you the 'Bang for your Buck'.

But like I said before, if you liked the first one, I can not think of a reason as to why you wouldn't like this new one. The sound the starship makes going into warp is enough to send you into a frenzy. And without spoiling it, but the last few scenes involving Spock are absolutely priceless! Should J J Abrams do something similar for Star Wars, I'm sure he will capture the hearts of nerds everywhere!

Go watch if you like action, a touch of comedy and good over evil and sci-fi. If you don't like any of that, then your just boring, aren't you!

(film review) - Dredd

I am the Law!!!

Do you remember that line? I'm sure it was in the trailer for the original Judge Dredd. Delivered by the blue or was it, grey!?! I think, grey-eyed Sylvester Stallone, way back when, in 1995 just before, well, you know, when things started going a bit bleak for the actor. I mean, Demolition Man was a great film and Cliffhanger also, but other than the Rambo's and Rocky's, what else was there?

I couldn't tell you how old I was when I watched the first Judge Dredd, but I remember watching it with my mum and thinking, this film is rubbish. At that time I thought, meh. I barely knew about the comic as I had read 1 or 2 but the film was very lackluster for me. How many years later, with what I believe to be not much hype around a brand new film based on the same character, which is not a sequel, but as a reboot for possibly a new franchise, (most likely, as they would like to do a Trilogy) one would wonder, is this reboot necessary or better yet, was it all worth it? Well, I'll put it simply. This Judge Dredd movie makes the previous Judge Dredd look like My Little Pony. I'll explain.

Dredd is set in a future where the earth has been destroyed and has become a irradiated waste land known as cursed earth. Population is high and on the east coast lies Mega-City One which inhabits 800 million residents and has a crime rate of 17,000 crimes a day. In way of law enforcement "Judges" police the city by being Judge, Jury & Executioner, on the spot. On a routine shift, Joseph Dredd (Karl Urban) is tasked with evaulating a rookie Judge, Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) in becoming a Judge and investigate a 200-story slum tower block called "Peach Trees" where a ruthless drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) dwells who is responsible for the new drug sweeping the city called 'Slo-Mo', which slows the user's perception of time to 1% of normal time. Ma-Ma traps Judge Dredd and Anderson in the block and mark them for death in which both Judge Dredd and Anderson will need to now make a desperate attempt to bring Ma-Ma down and make it out alive.

Sounds like a horror story, right? Or better yet a computer game. It kinda reminds me of the Die Hard Triogy game which came out in 1996 where you had to work your way up the Nakatomi Plaza. I digress, but I'm sure you know what I mean. 200 levels until the end boss (drug kingpin) and 199 levels of enemies. Could you imagine how much sneaking around, bullets being fired, explosions, blood and gore there would be? Yes, this is THAT film. The 3D wasn't GREATLY in your face but it was decent enough and used effectively. I didn't get that funny feeling you (or just me) sometimes get between the eyes, but visually, I have no complaints. The cinematography is top-notch and even the slow-motion bit is used heavily, but not rinsed out to where you are bored of it. It's Stylish, it's bloody and it's also what Judge Dredd needed to be. The storyline is very linear and clear cut and the actors do a very good job. Karl Urban is a great actor and he seems to have nailed the Judge Dredd character as well as he nailed "Bones" from Star Trek. The posture, the mouth, the stubble, it's all there. If you like action, this film has your name all over it. And for me, what makes the film even more enjoyable is the simplicity of the storyline as well as the accuracy. You might not get that CLASSIC Sylverster Stallone 'I am the Law' line delivered the same way as he did, but then, didn't he take off his helmet!? And if you know Judge Dredd, Joseph never removes his helmet. Enjoy