Change Your Image
jjpete70
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
The Witcher (2019)
Nothing new to see here, move along....
The Witcher - early review
Minor spoilers
I am 3 episodes in and must say that I'm disappointed so far. I played Witcher 3, but never read the books. Still, I was excited for the series. I didn't mind the changes, cast-wise, etc. It is an adaptation and should be different. When film or television adapts a literary work (or comic book or video game), sticking too close to the source material is boring. I don't need/want it to be identical. But the changes should make sense for the new medium, should bring greater elements that are unique to the new medium.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with other reviewers that commented that too many elements seem B-grade. This is not "prestige" television.
It is perhaps that I am somewhat tainted by other things I've been viewing recently. I just finished watching The Expanse and Watchmen. I'm a couple episodes into His Dark Materials and have finally gotten around to watching Black Sails, of which I'm two seasons into.
The Good
I like Henry Cavill. Others have stated that they find his portrayal "wooden". Considering that the character is intended to be a classic stoic and his being a witcher is supposed to eradicate all feelings, I feel his acting is appropriate. It also should provide greater drama if/when he starts displaying unexpected emotions when he finally connects with Yennefer and Ciri.
I like Freya Allan as Ciri. She comes across as innocent and playful and curious in the beginning, then becomes scared, shocked, terrified by the things that happen around her as her story develops.
I'm going to withhold my opinion of Anya Chalotra as Yennefer for her portrayal based upon my comments below.
The other actors/characters feel like stock television, neither elevating the material they are given to work with, nor destroying the atmosphere of the show with poor ability.
The cinematography is excellent. The music fits nicely, but I certainly hope that Dandelion's bard songs improve in a hurry, because, oh boy, are they bad.
Speaking of bad...
The Bad
The dialogue. Ugh. It is booorring. No one says anything that is lyrical, carries portents, mysteriously foreshadows, or is funny. The actors try to deliver their lines to make them sound important, etc., but the words do them no favors. It is all so matter-of-fact or exposition.
The plotting. Strike Two. Since too many people want to compare this to GoT, I'll say The Witcher certainly shares one element with GoT, specifically, the final season of GoT. Things happen, one scene to the next, one episode to the next, that don't make any sense. Sudden time jumps undercut the actors portrayals and disrupt the natural flow of the plot. Characters emotions turn on a dime and come across as dishonest and unearned. The beats don't hit their notes right. It's like listening to someone play music you want to like, but the instrument is out of tune.
This is especially, cringefully, true in the case of Yennefer. I feel sorry for Anya Chalotra as she is betrayed by the scripts. She starts out very well as the deformed daughter of a pig farmer. She's bullied and cowed. It is apparent this has all she has known all her life. She feels no hope. All done very well by the naturally beautiful actor. Out of fear, panic, whatever, she unconsciously displays a magical ability. She's quickly scooped up by the Sorcerer's guild (you're a wizard, 'Arry).
She struggles mightily, cannot learn the spells, cannot control her emotions (which help control the spells), cannot seem to do the basic things tasked of her. Her classmates are given no personalities AT ALL. Here's the chubby one, here's the one who can't let go of her dolly, here's the black one. We're supposed to care which of these will succeed at sorcery and be elevated, but I struggled to keep straight which names were showing aptitude and which were on their way out the door. This is especially true when three are selected to, uh, not make it to the next level. Why these three? Why were they not good enough? What did they do wrong? Who knows? The show certainly didn't care, so why should we, which sucks ALL the life from what should have been a pivotal scene.
Lastly, Yennefer goes through a sudden, jarring personality change all within ONE episode. (sound familiar, Daenarys fans?) She's the poor, deformed, downtrodden thing in one scene, then suddenly she's strong, confident, has a sense of agency in the very next. And this is before she goes through her physical metamorphosis. (oh, it's because she got laid? Puh-lease) Also, there is no explanation, display of talent, or otherwise, that would indicate she should be elevated in "witch school". But is anyways.
I, of course, will watch the remainder of Season 1 and may append this review in the future. It took me 4 episodes to really get hooked by Black Sails, so maybe this is similar.
Otherwise, I cannot recommend this to anyone who is not already a fan of the books or games. This is not appointment television. It is not laughably terrible, but merely a serviceable entertainment.
Arrowhead (2016)
Inspired by Moon & District 9
But none of the brains of either. There were certainly moments where things teased deeper elements, motivations, but then were fumbled and dropped.
The story:
A resistance fighter is freed from prison with his old commander and given a final job, with the reward being the rescue of his father from execution.
The job goes wrong and the fighter is stranded on a desert moon. But there's something out there, there's something wrong with the environment. Our protagonist starts to experience the effects of his new surroundings as he works to save himself.
He finds other crew members of the crashed ship, but their motivations are not fully explored or explained. One has a relationship with our protagonist, but is only explored for about 20 seconds of dialogue.
Elements of time displacement and body displacement are introduced.
A computer moves the plot and our protagonist along through the story.
Hints are dropped to keep things mysterious, but the story twists are a stretch or too convenient.
The actors perform well with what they're given, but it's very little. Especially true of General Hatch.
There are plenty of quality seeds in the story but they never really grow into anything.
It's a quality production for the limited budget, but the screenplay could've used a couple more drafts to tighten it up and strengthen the characters.
Conclusion:
The plate looks delicious coming out of the kitchen, but ultimately the taste is pretty bland.
Kill Command (2016)
Predator...meet Terminator
The special effects are top-notch. Robot designs are diverse and detailed.
The plot leaves something to be desired. The setup is threadbare and tests our suspension of disbelief. It then starts pursuing something interesting, but never develops it. Instead it becomes a linear escape-or-die exercise. Some meager attempts at character development, then back to the explosions.
Not much suspense, the film relies on a few jump scares, humans behaving stupidly, and some fun firefights.
A couple of the actors stand out, the rest are on loan from central casting.
Final conclusion: Okay entertainment, just leave your brain out of it.
ARQ (2016)
Unique time-loop film
Live, die, repeat. Sound familiar. But instead of aliens, what if it's accidental science, a crime, freedom fighters, a menacing corporation?
Includes love triangle, betrayal in multiple forms, and a wonderfully slow reveal of the clues to what's going on.
It keeps your attention, wondering how the protagonist will move forward through an endless repeating time loop. With some fairly good writing and great performances, it is an entertaining flick.
The not-so-good. Due to the challenge of being consistent when dealing with time travel/loop movies, plot holes open easily and are resolved with sudden shifts in character's behavior/motivations/actions. There is inadequate explanation as to what's going on outside (think 10 Cloverfield Lane) and not all characters are given any depth.
Final conclusion: a worthwhile viewing
Infini (2015)
Very enjoyable, but not enough character development.
While some of the budget shortcuts are obvious (hey, we've seen this hallway a dozen times already), they spent the money where it counts. The performances are mostly excellent, but the actors weren't given enough to do with the characters. They were given diverse motivations and hinted at interesting backstories but then very little time was spent exploring them. It was just all a tease. The film would've been better had it not felt the need for excessive chasing and fighting. I preferred the psychological tension versus the physical threats. The film didn't trust its audience. They had the potential for a great brainy sci-fi film, but felt it necessary (investors maybe?) to add some cheap action.
Final conclusion: Worth checking out
Spectral (2016)
Excellent production values, excellent setup, lousy payoff
As other reviews have noted, it's heavy on the cliche's. The characters are cardboard, but not the flimsy type, a thicker, deeper cardboard. Looking past that, the film kept my complete interest (no checking phone or surfing while watching) for the first 3/4ths. But then it completely slides off the rails. It's kinda like the writers got stuck, couldn't come up with a smarter way to end it, looked at the remaining budget and said, "Let's Michael Bay this sumbish."
Final conclusion: Meh