(series review) - The Penguin

 

The Penguin is a show that stars Colin Farrell, a character from his short but electric performance in the film 'The Batman'. This series tells the story of The Penguin's rise to power within Gotham City and how he has an elevated status by the end.  The series introduces a few mob families and gangs but other than that, I do not think this show would be a MUST-SEE if you were watching 'The Batman' and then went onto 'The Batman 2' (or whatever they plan to call it) feeling like you missed out on something huge and major. With that said though, if you do not watch this show, ultimately, you HAVE missed out on something HUGE and major, which is the brilliant storytelling, acting and rise of one of Batman's many rogues gallery villains and the part he plays in Gotham amongst the cities crime families and seedy underworld. The Rise of the Penguin.



This is not a show for kids, not to say there is much nudity or sexual content, but there is violence and swearing involved with a few gruesome deaths. The show delivers a gangster-style story of essentially, rags-to-ritches, or at least as the story is told. I jest a little, but when you watch this show, you will learn of the many many truths and half-truths Oswald Cob tells throughout the season. How Oswald manages to stay one step ahead in some situations or slither his way out of others. Oswald demonstrates how he thinks on his feet and will always have an idea to get one up on someone, even if it means doing terrible things himself.



This show introduces a few characters that help us understand the kind of person he is and has grown to be. Without going into any spoilers whether or not you have seen the trailer, there is an old person introduced in this show that shows us one side of Oswald and there is a young person also introduced in this show that shows us another side. These two sides give the audience something to relate to helping us to feel some warmth towards the character, so although you will watch the show and you might gravitate towards Os and start to like him as a person, the show will show you the reason why this character is the villain and why you should not root for him at all. 



In short, this show is simply amazing! It is the character development you could not get in 'The Batman' movie with a two-hour run time. It is great acting from great actors executing great dialogue in some really intense scenes giving us great storytelling. Two of my favourite scenes occur in the same episode and involve one woman talking to two different women at two different times and the scenes had me on edge as I did not know what was going to happen to either woman. The crime world represented in Gotham is not candy floss and gum drops, people can die or will die at the drop of a hat, so these two scenes really had me flip-flopping thinking, "They are gonna die. No, they are going to get spared. No actually, they are going to die. Actually, they might come out alive". One thing I will say is that I knew someone was going to die in this show and I was absolutely correct on who that was and although you do not see it coming, the entire series has already told you that nobody is safe and anybody can die and if you are paying attention to the show, all the clues are there.

As I stated in my episode one review, "Matt Reeves directed a great film with a great story and great actors. From that film, the character ' The Penguin', played by an unrecognisable Colin Farrell, was simply amazing", so it will be interesting to know if Colin will be back in the sequel to 'The Batman' as there are talks of 'The Joker" also having a spin-off show and that he might be in 'The Batman' sequel. Personally, I do not want a Joker in the sequel and would like to see other Batman villains from his huge rogues gallery as he has lots of enemies to choose from, let us see someone else. I feel like, just because he is Batman's main villain, it doesn't mean we need to have him in every iteration of a Batman IP. It is like The Spider-Man IP, always having the Green Goblin as an example and this time around, Sony/Marvel used Mystero in the second "Home" trilogy of Spider-Man movies. I loved that. There are more compelling characters to explore.

There really is not much more to go into about this show other than (and I will tell you this so you do not get your hopes up) Batman is not in the show, so if you are expecting to see the caped crusader, you are fresh out of luck. I feel this helps to keep the focus on The Penguin and his story rather than Batman coming in and the show called 'The Penguin' becomes all about Batman. She-Hulk from the Marvel Television show had that same issue when Daredevil came in and nobody would stop talking about that episode, totally disregarding the rest of the show and how different and good it was (obviously subjective as I know that show has fans of the Marvel movie franchise hate it). The Music, and the special effects are all great. We are given characters with layers in a world that expands just the movie. If there is ANYTHING I would have liked for this show, would be the mentioning of other characters, just to open the world a bit more. This could be from news articles or news broadcasts with smalls details alluding to something going on in Gotham pertaining to other possible characters. It is bad enough we will think and speculate, this person is a Doctor Hugo Strange or this person is a Dr. Johnathan Crane, but other than that, this show was excellent and I will definitely recommend it. More spin-offs like this, please. Excellent work.

(trailer review) - Captain America: Brave New World

 

First of all, that first teaser trailer was quite delicious. We saw Sam Wilson, now with the title of 'Captain America' due to the events that took place at the end of 'Avengers: Endgame', but we now see Thaddeus Ross being played by Harrison Ford (RIP William Hurt) as the President of the United States. We see Isaisah Bradley as some kind of sleeper agent, now that he has been brought out into the light due to the events of Falcon and the Winter Soldier and it all seems to be orchestrated by some shadowy group pulling all the strings. A little like Hydra being deeply embedded into Shield and the government. 
This trailer on the other hand, not only gives us more of what we got before, but damn, the move-set from Sam Wilson the new Captain America, is on levels where it seems as though his upgrade and upgrades have enhanced his skillset to the point he thinks he can take on a Red Hulk? That aside, this trailer is awesome!

The first trailer was good but this one is so much better. We see Isiah Bradley in prison because it is likely after the events of him "attacking" the president and whilst it looks like Sam Wilson is trying to protect the president, it seems as though the president does not seem to care about the possible assassins or sleeper agents that might be around him because he can turn into a Red Hulk!? A Shadowy man in a hat looks like he is behind it all, but near the end, you actually see the hand in the sea which was from the Eternals movie. I feel like so many people have been crying about how the hand has not been mentioned in recent Marvel stories, so here it is. Let's see what this storyline is all about as this is definitely giving me a "who can you trust" vibe, something Secret Invasion should have done and Marvel thumbled that terribly. That Shockwave line, was amazing. Cutting the vehicle into two, was amazing. That aerial shot flying past the naval ships was amazing. Marvel needs to stick this landing as well as Thunderbolts and maybe, just maybe, the fans will come running back and all is forgiven...only if they stick this landing.

(film review) - Venom: The Last Dance

What I will say first and foremost is that, Tom Hardy and his portrayal of these two characters are what has made these Venom movies entertaining. If you are around my age and know anything about the Venom character and where he came from, you will know it was from out of space, it latched onto Peter Parker as Spider-Man and Spider-Man had access to all these advanced powers. When the Venom symbiote was disgarded, the symbiote latched onto Eddie Brock and Eddie had all the agility and 'spider-man-like' powers going forward. The Symbiote was an entity all by itself, but what sold the character for many (or at least myself anyway), was his proximity to Spider-Man, how he was bigger, faster and stronger than Spider-Man whilst also being able to avoid Spider-Man's Spider-sense making him a formidable foe. The Spider-Man animated series from the 90's showed me that, especially as I never read the comics. The love for Venom is HUGE, so many thought the character would only work if Spider-Man was involved in the movie some how, but Tom Hardy is the person who has made it work. I would say the first movie did really well because it was the curiosity that led to people wanting to see a Spider-Man villain movie without Spider-Man and how it would work along with the love for the character. The second movie was ok, but not as good as the first and felt a little lackluster because Carnage is a serial killer and very villainous, so to have his character toned down took away from the movie and ultimately, the movie did not have Spider-Man in it. This third and final movie or at least, final with Tom Hardy, well...it is not terrible, it is not great, but then, were any of them great?

After the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Eddie Brock and Venom are "taken back to their universe" and Eddie is now on the run. Wanting to clear his name, Eddie decides to travel across America to clear his name but when the King of all the Symbiotes Null realises he can be released from his prison by killing Venom and Eddie and harnessing the matrix bond they have created, Null sends out a hunter to track them down. Eddie and Venom must find a way to clear his name and also not get caught by the hunter which will free Null and who will destroy life on Planet Earth 

It is entertaining. The story is lackluster but when you are watching a venom movie, it is more of the fighting scenes and banter you are looking for rather than anything else. Null is a forgettable villain, the hunter is terrifying and in regards to anything else, it is a short film that drags a little but is still fun but also pointless. The film almost feels like it was made to make a trilogy movie set more than anything because a lot of the stories scenarios felt forced and some were out of place. There was a scene where a character turns up in the movie and the whole scene felt forced and pointless although you understood why they did it at the time, it was still a bad decision, you knew it going in, and it turned out exactly how you thought it would.

In regards to the music, nothing special, the acting was fine, the special effects and tight scenes were really good, but other than that, the film is definitely nothing to write home about. I felt like Stephen Graham, a brilliant actor, was wasted. Certain story plots were telegraphed and ultimately, obvious. There is a scene with a family which felt a little forced, but although I enjoyed the dynamics personally, it also felt pointless being in the movie.

Would I say to go and see this, probably not and that is simply because you really do not need to waste your time if you think there is going to be a connection to the MCU, a connection to a wider Spider-verse or anything remotely exciting going forward especially as it is the last from Tom Hardy. But if you want to see Tom Hardy and this character, what they are getting up to this time around and you also want something fun, go for it. Like I said, it is entertaining, but not trash.