Jedi: Fallen Order

So I played through the campaign of Battlefront 2 first, and I thought, "Oh, that wasn't that bad, I enjoyed that". Then I played through Jedi: Fallen Order and it just put that entire game to shame that it changed the way I looked at it. I think if I had written the Battlefront 2 campaign review first, it would have been more forgiving, but in comparison to this game, its just mediocre.

Jedi: Fallen Order for me came out of nowhere. I don't pay attention to video game news as much as I do movie news so the first time I heard of this game was through the awesome trailer that dropped I think in 2018. While it was a little bit disappointing that they continued to shove stories into the time frame between Episode 3 and 4, a timeframe I think that has been done to death and we need to move away from it as soon as we can, I still thought the game looked awesome and I'd have a good time.

The result was that I had a great time... for the most part...

Jedi: Fallen Order has you playing as Jedi Apprentice Kal Kestis (voiced and motion captured by Cameron Monaghan). Kal survives Order 66 and is hiding out as a junk collector on a planet called Bracca.

But when two Imperial Inquisitors come to look for Kal, he must go on the run to avoid detection, torture, and death by the Empire.

Now I had heard about Inquisitors from people talking about the cartoons, but I never saw them in action. They might be the best and the cheapest way to wriggle out of the story stipulation that Darth Vader is the only force user left after the Purge in Revenge of the Sith. For those who don't know, they are essentially Jedi Hunters commissioned by the Empire who look for people like the hero of this game.

Kal quickly joins a group of mercenaries aboard a ship called the Stinger Mantis, one of them includes a former Jedi named Cere Junda (voiced and motion captured by Debra Wilson). Cere tells Kal that she is looking for a Jedi Holocron with the location of force sensitive children around the galaxy. She recruits Kal to join her to find the holocron and rebuild the Jedi Order to stop the Empire.

The two of them are joined by a four armed pilot by the name of Greez (voiced by Daniel Roebuck) and they go on an adventure across multiple planets looking for clues left behind by a former Jedi Master, Eno Cordova (voiced and motion captured by Tony Amendola). All the while, they are being hunted by a zealous Inquisitor called the Second Sister (voiced and motion captured by Elizabeth Grullon).

The main drive of this game is the story. Whereas Battlefront 2's campaign runs in parallel to the stories of the movies, Fallen Order understands that not every Star Wars property needs to prominently feature known characters from the trilogy or other properties. With the exception of three characters, two of them very minor, these are all new characters who do not, and will never connect to any of the movies, and probably not any TV shows. Instead the story focuses on Kal and his personal journey as he develops his powers in the force and reconciles his survivors guilt after Order 66 and its done really well... for the most part.

This is going to be a common theme with this game in that it does so many things so well that it almost hurts to mention the things that don't quite make the mark. The story is very personal, and it expands into planets and worlds that expand instead of restrict the world of Star Wars we live in. And any mention of previous characters is very minor and probably to the benefit of the story.

However, because its a video game and the new thing with video games is to avoid too linear storylines and keep things open world, the story gets a little fractured by the fact that you're traveling from planet to planet so frequently. The story feels a little disjointed at times and moments that should have emotional impacts get kind of undercut by the fact that you gotta go and do another level or get something else to really feel that impact. It doesn't happen all the time, but for some reason, this game had you traveling a lot and it would have been better to have a planet be an individual stop for quite a bit of time. As it is, you go back and forth from each planet a lot that it feels odd.

But when those emotional moments happen, they for sure happen. The game has a complete story that could (and should) have a sequel, but doesn't necessarily need to. I got attached to the characters in this game and loved the direction they went with each of them. There were a few characters that were underdeveloped or thrown in for unknown reasons, but every underdeveloped character is made up for with really well done characters like Kal, Cere, and the Second Sister.

This game does a good job at developing its characters and building up suspense to be fully expanded when you beat those level bosses. And the truth is, this is not an easy game, so when you beat bosses, it doesn't just feel rewarding from a story perspective, it feels rewarding from a personal gameplay perspective.

So overall, the story is pretty incredible. It delves deep into interesting characters, brings you to new (and old) worlds and lets you explore them, expanding, not restricting the lore, and overall it feels very fulfilling when you finish this story because its done well. There are a few detours that feel unnecessary, but overall its a great time.

The game play on the other hand takes some getting used to. Now if you've read previous video game reviews, you'll know my expertise is not gameplay mechanics. I don't know what is good, what isn't, all I know is my experience playing the game. With Battlefront 2, it was very familiar that it felt cheap. With Fallen Order, it was difficult almost to the point of being maddening.

I think when a lot of people heard about this game, they thought it was going to be a recreation of The Force Unleashed. A game that came out where it might have been difficult for two seconds and then you end up being able to wail on everyone with incredible and unlikely force powers.

Fallen Order is very different. Not only is it very different in the game play mechanics, most likened to Dark Souls where you have to be cautious of when you block, when you dodge, and when you attack, but it also limits you on how powerful your Jedi actually gets. So much that when you first start, you are the one getting wailed on for quite a bit of time. It makes upgrading necessary, but it also forces you to learn the game play mechanics to have the best experience, otherwise you'll be like me where you're playing levels over and over again because I kept on dying. But overall I liked this limitation and difficulty. The Dark Souls-like game play is an unexpectedly perfect mode to play a Star Wars game, and while I will talk about the downside, the game feels rewarding.

Now the upside of this is, eventually, when I upgraded and got better at the game, it felt very rewarding. There wasn't instant gratification which I think a lot of games do these days. This one makes you work for it and you have to strategize how you're going to approach an enemy that is giving you trouble. Are you going to go no holds bar with your double bladed lightsaber, or are you going to dodge at attack at the opportune moments. I really enjoyed how satisfying this game became.

Now the problem with it, especially when it comes to bosses is, I was replaying bosses so many times that I started to think about why I was facing these bosses and how it connected to the story probably more in depth than the game intended and it kind of interrupted the flow of the story.

I can think of one boss that I had particular trouble with that I actually did a lot of thinking on to realize that he's kind of pointless and just a placeholder for a boss on one of the planets. I actually started thinking of new ways to utilize this character and it poked a hole in the conciseness of the story writ large. It didn't ruin the game as a whole, but it is a good example of what to expect when you're playing this game. Even on regular difficulty, it gave me some trouble, and while its rewarding, it will hiccup the story.

Overall, I really like the direction they're taking with games like Jedi: Fallen Order. One thing worth noting is that unlike other Star Wars games of the past, with few exceptions that are mostly aesthetic, this is a pretty linear storied game with very little character customization. Outside of your lightsaber customization and clothes, you can't make many changes to the character and you will reach the same conclusion no matter how many times you play the game. Now some people might see this as limiting, but I see it as them giving the reigns to story tellers and incorporating good game play. It can be frustrating, but its rewarding and for the most part masterfully comprehensive. It's a good step for Star Wars games and while I liked elements of Battlefront 2, I think we'd be much better off to have the Star Wars video game franchise head in the direction of Jedi: Fallen Order rather than Battlefront 2.

But those are my thoughts on Jedi: Fallen Order. What did you think? Was the game difficult for you or am I just bad at video games? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films, TV shows, and video games I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Battlefront 2 (2017) (Mainly the Campaign)

Happy New Year!

As usual, things have been pretty hectic so writing these posts have not been as frequent, however, I just made a list of things I want to get written before the end of January, either because I watched (or in this case, played through) them in January, or they're hold overs from Christmas Break. We'll see how many I get through but I thought I'd start with a relatively easy one.

Battlefront 2 came out in 2017 and is the second Star Wars video game to come out since the restructuring of Star Wars canon. In case you're not aware of what happened, when Disney bought Lucasfilms, they put out a blanket statement that the movies and The Clone Wars TV show were the only things that were considered canon and everything was moving over to Legends. I think this hit the video game community hard because a lot of the best stories of Star Wars outside of the films came from the video games.

Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight, Rogue Squadron, and the Force Unleashed all created really rich characters in the Star Wars universe and those characters were beloved by fans. So for Disney to say that they weren't canon was a hit for fans so I think a lot of us were waiting to see what kind of video games they'd come out with.

Well the result was not heavy on story and instead they focused on an old reliable in the Battlefront reboot. It is an on the ground war fighter game that had very little story and just gets you back playing in the world of Star Wars. The first Battlefront was a fine enough game and people enjoyed it for a first go, but were definitely expecting something more in their next game. Well very quickly, EA released Battlefront 2 and this time it would have a campaign and was supposed to be a more expansive game then the first one.

The result was met with mixed reviews. There was a story, which I will get to, but it was very short, there was no return of the notorious Galactic Conquest, where it was less of a story and rather a giant military campaign across the galaxy. Furthermore, the game was disliked because of its loot crate system and its a ways by which you earned heroes and other elements of the game.

Personally, I waited for quite a bit of time to get this game because aside from a real story, it seemed like the same game. You play as foot soldiers in combat, you fight to win battles. It was good in Battlefront 1, there was nothing really new worth paying 60 bucks for. And then the news about the point system and the loot crates made me have no interest in this game whatsoever. When I finally got it (for a lower price), I figured out my worries were right and the game is pretty much the same. Aside from some new hero characters like Rey, Finn, and Keylo Renn, the game feels very much the same and if you have the first one, you have the second one already.

That is, except for the story.

The story has you take control of an Imperial special forces team starting just before the Battle of Endor during Return of the Jedi. You play as Iden Versio (voiced and motion captured by Janina Gavankar), the commander of Inferno Squad, an elite covert Imperial infiltration team.

Initially, Inferno Squad is tasked with carrying out a secret contingency plan of the Emperor in the wake of his death at the end of the Battle of Endor code named Operation Cinder. But after some time, the team realizes the evil of the Empire, changes sides, and joined the Rebellion in the battles leading up to the surrender of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic.

But you don't just play as Versio, you also play as some of the classic heroes from the original trilogy like Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando as they participate in battles leading to the end of the Empire. Part of why I enjoyed this campaign was because it incorporated stories that take place after Return of the Jedi that the films wouldn't be able to do unless they were willing to do them without Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. These are the days and months directly after Return of the Jedi and portray these heroes while they're still young, bringing about the New Republic and squashing remnant Imperial forces.

I realize that a lot of those stories they're telling in novelizations and I guess it means I'll have to start reading some more, but there is something about a visual medium like a video game or a television show that I think could have been done a lot better.

There are politics and intrigue that could be portrayed in the lead up to the New Republic, factionalism in the crumbling Empire that this game really only scratches the surface of that could be amazing to see play out. I understand that Disney and EA probably thought that those stories in the direct lead up after the Return of the Jedi would be incomplete without characters like Luke, Leia, and Han, but I point to The Mandalorian in proving that belief false. Battlefront 2 is another example of how Disney is still not totally confident in their handling of the source material and they're not sure if we're going to like Star Wars properties unless they blast Luke, Han, and Leia at us. But even in their own game they're wrong about that.

Whether some of the character drama and their expansion of the Star Wars mythology was intentional or not, I really liked the utilization of Inferno Squad as an elite force of the Empire, even as its coming to the end. At the beginning of the game, Versio and her squad mates believe in the Empire and fight to keep it alive.

I apologize if its spoiling anything but its easier to discuss this game with no preconceived notions of spoilers, and there are still things I won't discuss that won't be spoilers, but the big one is that they eventually turn over to the Rebellion and help out. While I would have liked to see the opposite side of things and maybe put some humanity into the foot soldiers of the Empire just following orders or lied to by propaganda, it was good to have these characters see the errors of their ways and eventually fight side by side with the known heroes, even if it feels gratuitous at times.

Its interesting because at times, the game feels very much like it is well written and expands the lore of Star Wars, and sometimes it just feels like its checking the boxes to make it profitable and run parallel with the known story. In that way, it feels very confined in a world where business interests can't let it go too over the top. We can't let some of these imperial generals or commanders be too over the top because that might contradict the end goal of the empire finally falling at the battle of Jakku which they've set in stone. But again, I do find myself caring for Iden very much.

So much that it was fun to jump straight into her story 30-some years after the events of the first campaign into Resurrection, the DLC and continuation of her story. Something really funny of note before I go onto that is that I played these one after another and never really thought at any point they were going to connect to the movies because the movies had all come out and connecting it to a video game that not that many people played would be silly. But I guess there were some theories that elements of the new movies, notably Rey's parentage, would be connected to this game. That seems silly now, but I do understand that in retrospect, anything was possible, especially after The Force Awakens, which Resurrection takes place somewhat during.

And again, its half gratuitous, half well done. It has one foot in parallel with the events of the movies with a scene where you play as Kylo Renn, but a lot of it is focused on Iden and her daughter Zay, and when the story is centered on her and her fight against her former squadmate Gideon Hask (voiced and motion captured by Paul Blackthorne)

The game doesn't do anything in explaining the origins of the First Order (I guess that's all done in the books) but it incorporates them in and creates a pretty personal story surrounding this character you do get attached to, especially by this point in the narrative.

So much that I'm pretty bummed it seems like this story isn't being continued. Even though the story ends on a seeming cliff hanger of Iden's daughter being sent on a secret mission by General Leia herself, there doesn't seem to be any DLC that I know of in the works for a third part.

I imagine they may wait until The Rise of Skywalker is in circulation to incorporate the story from there, but even in the story that they have given so far, it just seems like none of this is planned, it just being winged.

Instead of letting artistic directors take the stories where they want to go, the video games AND the movies need to link up with a larger story that seems to be driven by producers and executives who want to make sure the world is consistent.

I don't believe there is a consistent story meant for Versio and her family because it is driven by the story of the movies and any deviation needs to be properly sanctioned because it goes into a vault of canon that is being securely monitored. I want to do a longer post about how this, not Rian Johnson or JJ Abrams, was the problem with the movies, but its a consistent problem of not having a consistent vision, and not understanding that the Star Wars universe is huge.

So is the Battlefront 2 campaign good? Sort of, but the parts where it is good, I don't think it truly knows it is or at the very least those elements are being underappreciated.

The most interesting parts of the story weren't just the fact that you got to play as Han Solo at Maz Kanada's bar for some reason, it was the relationships between Iden and her father, a hard line general in the Empire. It was discovering that even in death, Palpatine had a plan for his Empire (even if it was conceived before the executive big wigs at Disney knew Palpatine was coming back).

The most intriguing parts were when we were able to discover more of this expansive galaxy far far away and not be handcuffed by, "WELL WHAT ABOUT THE MAIN CHARACTERS".

I'll probably expand on this more in my overarching Star Wars franchise post, but the greatest part about The Rise of Skywalker is the position Disney is in that they no longer really have to be beholden to the existing properties anymore. They can go nuts and create movies that occur years before or after the existing movies. And I'll say it, they can even have movies that take place during the existing movies and never touch on the events of those movies because it is a GALAXY far far away. Its okay for two things to happen at the same time without those things affecting one another.

I'll talk about that a little more in my next Star Wars video game review, but the overall thoughts I have on Battlefront 2 as a whole is that I would not pay full price for this game. The game play is exactly the same as its predecessor and the story, while it has its moments of greatness, really handcuffs itself to corporate profit driven interests. I hope we don't get a Battlefront 3, not for a long time, and if we do, its really got to distinguish itself from the rest and bring something new, both in the regular game play, and the story. Otherwise, it just feels like EA is gouging us for money because we like the brand.

But those are my thoughts on Battlefront 2. What did you think? I'm interested in when you got the game. Did you get it from the start and watched it unfold, or did you do it like I did and played it when all the outrage calmed down? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films, TV shows, or video games I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!

The Peanut Butter Falcon

The Peanut Butter Falcon falls into that small categories of small low budget films every year that I happen to catch the trailer for while perusing through Youtube and actually end up seeing. I think I was like a lot of people that were charmed by the concept of the movie and when it showed up in the menu of the plane I was on, it seemed like a decent choice after seeing all the big budget films I've really been interested this year.

The Peanut Butter Falcon focuses on a young man with down syndrome named Zak (played by Zack Gottsagen). Zak lives in an assisted living home and is looked after by a social worker named Eleanor (played by Dakota Johnson) and dreams of becoming a professional wrestler as he watches old video tapes of his hero, Salt Water Redneck (played by Thomas Haden Church).

After escaping from the assisted living home, Zak finds an unemployed drifter down on his luck named Tyler (played by Shia LaBeouf). After some initial hesitation, the two actually connect really well and form a friendship in the fact that they're both sort of on the run.

Tyler agrees to take Zak to the training camp run by Salt Water Redneck, and the two start this Mark Twain-esc odyssey. Meanwhile, Eleanor is out looking for Zak, intending to take him back to the nursing home.

The main appeal of this movie is how kind spirited it is. You do feel the genuine friendship between Zak and Tyler and there is a really great philosophy imparted on how people treat the mentally challenged. The highlight is Tyler's viewpoint on treating Zak like a regular person and the contrast with others who at best treat him with kids gloves like Eleanor does, or treat him with contempt like others.

The great thing about the film is the environment. The two main characters have to avoid using traditional means of transportation, so they travel through cornfields and by makeshift boats. The result is that the audience is exposed to a lot of beautiful landscapes in North Carolina. I'm not very familiar with the area, but the movie portrays a southern culture that I don't think gets portrayed enough. If you've ever seen the show Bloodline, I would say that is the closest thing to the environment being portrayed in The Peanut Butter Falcon and I like it when new aesthetics can be utilized effectively like they do in The Peanut Butter Falcon.

One last thing that was really enjoyable about the film was the performances from the three characters with the most screen time. Zack Gottsagen actually has down syndrome, but he provides a really great performance, especially opposite Shia LaBeouf. The dynamic between the two only works if these two do a good job and they did. Dakota Johnson is also really good in it. I think Dakota Johnson is probably going to be the most accessible character for most people because while she is a very good character, she is the one that probably sees the most change from the start of the movie to the end. She eventually becomes a little bit more than an observer and arm candy for Shia LaBeouf, but I still enjoyed her performance, even if her character wasn't fleshed out as clearly as I would have hoped.

Now I think there are a couple of missteps with the film but nothing that absolutely ruins it. The movie clocks in just over 90 minutes and while I'm always for movies that are concise, I think I would have personally liked a little more. There's kind of a funny scene where Zak and Tyler run into a blind man who baptizes them pretty randomly. It's a funny odyssey-like interaction, one that doesn't really tie into the main story besides providing them transportation, but I wouldn't have minded more random encounters like this because I like these characters. I wouldn't have minded seeing them do more.

The other aspect of the film is kind of a criticism, but its more unnecessarily inserting rationalism into a film. There's an interesting exchange between Tyler and Eleanor where Tyler basically tells her that they're going to continue this journey no matter what. And because we've spent so much time with Tyler and Zak, we don't want their journey to end so we're supposed to side with Tyler. But if you didn't have that background, like Eleanor didn't have, all she'd see was a creepy dude that keeps on hitting hanging out with a half naked mentally challenged patient of hers. This is kind of part of why Eleanor isn't as strong of a character as I wish she would have been because we're supposed to just write her off as a naive college educated woman instead of a professional who is responding rationally to a weird situation. And then she falls for the gruff drifter because this is a movie.

Again, it doesn't destroy the quality of the film because I know that it's a movie there's supposed to be a suspension of disbelief in situations like that, but it is strange.

The movie also ends kind of strangely. Its kind of spoiler but they do make their way to the wrestling school and interact with Thomas Hayden Church's character.

It includes some odd characters, some kind of ridiculous moments, and a really rushed ending.

Again, it's not terrible, but the first act of this movie is a lot more polished than the third act because where the first and second act did a good job establishing the characters, their relationships, and saying something about the treatment of mentally challenged people, the third act kind of stumbles through it where it introduces the mean spirited people but in a very clunky and rushed way. So much that the movie just ends and it seemed like there was more but the movie ran out of money and just sped its way to an ending.

It's tough because I do like the movie and overall approach and message its trying to deliver. LaBeouf, Gottsagen, and Johnson give a great performance, and the movie is heart warming. But I feel like it could have been 15 minutes to a half hour longer and it would have fleshed out the movie out just a little more.

As it stands, The Peanut Butter Falcon is gonna make you feel good and sometimes that's all you need. Something about the trailer and some of the moments and content of the film makes it feel like it should be more than that in my opinion. I think there are a few things that could be improved to make the film more memorable, but again, you're not going to have a bad time at all if you watch this film.

Check it out if you get the chance and I challenge you to watch it without breaking a smile.

But those are my thoughts on The Peanut Butter Falcon. Are there films from 2019 I missed and should be prioritizing for 2020. Let me know! Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for Reading!

The Witcher (season 1)

So for the sake of being upfront, I haven't played through any of The Witcher games, nor have I read any of the books. I started The Witcher 3 on PS4, but I didn't feel like I had enough time to really delve in the way I wanted to. This is its own whole fantasy universe that needs an attention span that I only have from time to time. Unfortunately, that attention span is really needed in this show, otherwise its just going to come off as a mess.

The Witcher follows the story of a mutant monster hunter named Geralt of Rivias (played by Henry Cavill). Geralt is a solitary guy wishing to hunt monsters for payment, hang out with his horse Roach, and be left alone.

But all around him, there are happenings going on in this high fantasy world. The politics of kings, queens, princesses, wizards, mages, and other high fantasy elements you can think of.

The season is split among three story lines. The first is obviously The Witcher, Geralt, crossing the continent, looking for work and dealing with people's prejudice of Witchers as mutated freaks. I didn't realize until I started getting caught up on The Mandalorian yesterday that Geralt's story is not too different from The Mandalorian, as a stoic merc for hire, who begrudgingly takes on the help of others and his soft side is revealed.

The other story lines include that of Ciri, Princess of Cintra (played by Freya Allen). A series of events in the first episode sends her on a journey of her own that honestly is the more boring parts of the show.

And then there's the mage Yennefer (played by Anya Chalotra) who potentially has the most interesting story arc throughout the show. She starts in really humble and throughout the show finds her way through this fantasy world, creating her own destiny and finding her own challenges.

The main problem with this show is that it doesn't have a concise handle on the passage of time. Because almost all of these characters have magical abilities, they don't age the same way normal people do, therefore there's no way to tell how much time has passed between episodes and even when they say, "Boy its been decades hasn't it?" It doesn't feel like that much time has passed because each story almost seems like its on its own timeline that travels at a different pace.

This is also paired with the fact that the show doesn't take much time to really explain the rules or background of this world. Now there is an element of that that I like with this show, and I'll talk about that in a little bit. But the downside first is that unless you've played the games or read the books, you have to be paying really close attention to the explanations of whats going on in this world and why certain things are important. Also, especially in the first few episodes, the timeline is not totally clear, so you're trying to figure out the history of this world while some characters are at a point where something has happened and others are not. There's a part of me that wants to go back and watch the first few episodes to see if they make more sense, but I shouldn't have to do that.

I also started watching this about the same time I was watching The Mandalorian and I saw a lot of similarities between the two shows.

The difference is that The Mandalorian has 9+ movies that shape the world around the show so its cool that we can go off on some random dude doing his own thing.

The Witcher doesn't have that foundation.

Now, I do think the Witcher sets itself apart in going for the same type of show as The Mandalorian rather than just trying to be Game of Thrones. The Witcher is part of a push from Netflix to capitalize on the gap Game of Thrones left of having a high fantasy show. Instead of just copying Game of Thrones, The Witcher almost does the opposite, leaving the political factions very vague and having the main characters play tertiary roles and definitely not the kings and queens of the political game of thrones. I think in the long run that will be really helpful to this show whereas other Fantasy shows will try to recreate that political environment. I just think the show would do itself a favor by taking a beat, explaining the world a little bit more, and letting audience understand the world we're living in a little bit more.

But while we're talking about the good things. The three main actors do a pretty good job keeping us engaged and in the story. I feel like if Henry Cavill wasn't good at what he does, I would have said "thanks but no thanks" after the first episode. Instead he takes the character of Geralt, who I've found in the past to be kind of bland, and make him interesting and complex.

As mentioned before, Anya Chalotra stands out as Yennefer, but probably because she has the most unique and complicated role.

The show has already been renewed for a second season (which is not surprising to anybody, I think Netflix is banking on this show being a cornerstone of their programming in the future), and I imagine I will re-watch the season once season two comes out. Luckily the episodes are pretty easily digestible. Maybe it was just the Christmas break, but I wiped through those episodes pretty quickly. They're pretty fast paced, even when they're just explaining things.

Also, the fight sequences are really well done.

When you look at Henry Cavill, you don't think he's a guy that can move all that fast, but he does the fight choreography almost seamlessly and its a lot of fun. And it's not just Cavill that does a great job keeping the action fast paced and bad ass.

On a side note, I'm just gonna put another word out there for my guy Henry Cavill. He's already been done dirty by DC for not having him come back as Superman, it's good to see he's being properly utilized.

When I first saw Cavill as Geralt, with no real conception of who Geralt was, I thought he looked kind of silly with the white haired wig. And while I still have moments where I know that's clearly a wig, it still works because he creates a good character that was really cool to watch.

Overall, I think there is a lot to like about The Witcher Season 1. It's not perfect by any means and it's a little rough, especially in the first three episodes as you are bum rushed through character and world introductions. But it is definitely a show I want to have a second season. I want it to have the time to flesh out the world a little more, help me understand it the way I'm sure people who played the games do, and it feels different enough for it to not be a total Game of Thrones rip off, even though that's its business purpose on the Netflix docket.

To be clear, it's not even close to the first season of Game of Thrones, but I think the thing that will benefit it in the future is that it isn't trying to recreate Game of Thrones. It is its own thing, and us fantasy nerds are probably gonna end up eating it up.

Again, there's enough here to make a second season interesting and I don't think Netflix is going to let this show be bad. There's a lot of change that is happening in the streaming worlds and Netflix needs a hit like The Witcher.

Is it going to be that hit? It remains to be seen. I like it so far, even though its a little rough getting off the ground. I hope they correct the mistakes of the first season in the second and we have a good fantasy show on all the big streaming services because I don't see that as competition, I see that wins all around.

But those are my thoughts on The Witcher. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for future films or tv shows I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!

But those are my thoughts on The Witcher.

The Mandalorian (Season 1)

And here it is folks, the main reason a lot of people subscribed to Disney Plus and after today why a lot of people are going to unsubscribe until Season 2 comes out.

A little bit of commentary on Disney Plus before I start up this review. I do think it is interesting that besides this show, Disney Plus's whole strategy of selling its streaming service is nostalgia based. Sure, there are a couple of other "originals" out there, but none of them had as much clout as The Mandalorian. I mean I don't think anybody is going to get the service for the sole purpose of watching the High School Musical Series or the Live Action Lady and the Tramp movie. Those people are in for the Disney Nostalgia trip. But some people will get the streaming service for the Mandalorian. And yes, I know its not even an original, but there is something about this show that feels a little bit different. I do get the feeling the streaming service might lose some subscribers after today (the final episode) and only get them back when something as unique comes out, because this show, while based on the Star Wars property, feels new.

One other disclaimer, I haven't been reviewing Star Wars movies or any other property (except maybe the Clone Wars series) on this blog because I have been a Star Wars fan since I was a child. I've really loved everything Star Wars related and I have yet to find something I really have hated, and that includes The Christmas Special. My opinion might be a little bias, but I'm hoping to insert my opinions on Star Wars more... because we all know that's what we need right? But seriously, I think this show for sure warrants some critical thought.

The Mandalorian takes place after the original trilogy (New Hope, Empire, and Return of the Jedi). The timeline is a little fuzzy but honestly it doesn't matter. People have been guessing about 5 or so years after Return of the Jedi, but honestly it doesn't matter much.

It follows a bounty hunter many refer to as The Mandalorian. He has a name but honestly, I think it's a little cooler when he's just the man with no name who never takes his helmet off because it is the Mandalorian "way".

There is a little bit of backstory to this guy, but for the most part, the show centers on him collecting bounties and being an all together badass.

The one snag though is that in the first episode, he comes across a unique bounty that sets the course of the series in motion.

The Mandalorian picks up a bounty from an Imperial Warlord (played by Werner Herzgog).

The thing that I like about this character worth noting is that they appear to be hiding in the aftermath of the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi.

It gives the feeling that the Empire has been fractured and now there are warlords trying to keep the Empire alive, which in the Legends cannon is a really interesting dynamic that Disney would be wise to look into in the future because it is interesting.

But back to the main story, Mando goes on this bounty mission and finds the target. It is an unexpected target to say the least. Now this might be considered a spoiler, but A) Its revealed in the first episode so you're not missing much if this gets revealed, and B) its been all over the internet, its hard to miss.

It's Baby Freaking Yoda.

Of course it can't be Yoda because Yoda died in Return of the Jedi, but its a species like Yoda and it doesn't really have a name so obviously we called it Baby Yoda.

On a side note, this character had the possibility of being annoying, pandering, or just not well done at all, but there is a reason he's gained so much popularity. Besides the fact that he's just really darn cute, he's just used well as a bit of a mcguffin, but also just a plot mystery. Every time you see him, after you're done saying AWWW, you wonder what he could be, who he could be, and it fuels the drive to keep watching.

The rest of the show is very much the Mandalorian surviving the remnant of the empire, other bounty hunters, and other threats all with this little adorable puppet hanging out with him.

And the result is kind of amazing.

At first it was a little hard to put my finger on exactly why this show worked so well, but after a couple of episodes (the first few episodes in my opinion are the weakest and that's not saying much because they're still really good) I started to realize that this is the first Star Wars property that doesn't rely on really anything from the original trilogy to sustain itself.

Obviously the aesthetics, the costumes, Empire, Yoda's species remain the same, but there are no known characters in this series. It's not like Lando pops up and says hi to everyone, these are all new characters living and breathing in a universe we've become very familiar with by this point, and this is the first time Disney seems to be having some fun with it.

The majority of the show takes place on the out rim and it follows the criminal underworld of the Star Wars universe. None of this is shaping the course of the movies and it doesn't need to. It's just a single bounty hunter, doing bounty hunter jobs, and making his way in the galaxy.

And somehow, this works perfectly to use some pretty good talent for small but important roles. Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Werner Herzgog, Bill Burr, Giancarlo Esposito, Nick Nolte, the voice of Taikia Waititi, the list goes on. But it never feels forced or distracting. They all feel like fleshed out characters in the Star Wars Universe and I love every minute of it.

The other really great thing about this show is that it plays out like a video game. The Mandalorian is your faceless hero that fights through the bad guys with almost god-like abilities, then, at least in the first few episodes, comes back to his home base and uses the money from his jobs to buy better equipment and better armor. The episodes also feel very episodic, like Mando is in an open world just doing side missions until the player is ready to continue the main quest.

And furthermore, it seems to expand the Star Wars mythology. Instead of saying, "Oh this is why this happened in the movie" The Mandalorian points to how huge the Star Wars mythology could be. This is where my inner nerd comes out because this show is rife with easter eggs, allusions to stories nerds weren't sure were cannon or not, and at the end of the day, it just does Star Wars right.

The episodes are not only video game like, they're reminiscent of old westerns or samurai films with the lone gunman or swordsman who holds himself to a code wanders alone.

My criticisms might be what this show might feel like to those not totally familiar with Star Wars beyond the movies. I think it's accessible, but I wonder if I am drawn to it because I know the Star Wars mythology so well. I'll be talking more about this in my next review, but I could potentially see this show being confusing if you don't know the rules of Star Wars or know the backstory. But at the same time, I haven't talked to enough non-Star Wars fans who picked this up randomly to see if its accessible or not.

I appreciate that the episodes are only 30-45 minutes long but I wouldn't have minded longer ones. I think the way the format is looking is that the episodes can be as long as the director wants them to be (within reason). In the future we could see 30 minute episodes, but also see hour to hour and 15 minute long episodes. Some of them really don't need to be longer than 30 minutes, other might need some more time.

I could also see the video game simplicity be limiting on how deep you could get with these characters. I think it works right now with introducing everyone and getting the feel for the show, but I could see the simplicity limiting the show, especially as it expands into more seasons, which its most definitely will.

I feel like I kept this review vague because I do think it's a show everyone should at least check out. There's a lot to like for a lot of people and it gives me a lot of hope for the future of Star Wars properties on Disney plus, but only if they keep expanding the lore, not restricting it.

I highly recommend it.

I'm probably going to do a commentary on the Star Wars films under Disney here before the end of the year, and there is a lot to talk about, but The Mandalorian is really high up there when it comes to the positives of Disney's 2015 acquisition of the Star Wars property.

Please, if you are not a huge Star Wars fan and you checked this show out, let me know what you thought. Was it accessible? Do you want to continue to watch this and other Star Wars shows because of it? Even if you are a fan of Star Wars, let me know what you thought! Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Ad Astra

I am liking this trend we're starting to see that one time a year we have a pretty unique science fiction film that defies the conventions of the mainstream science fiction films we get too often. These are not movies that are going to have a franchise or really make a whole lot of money, but they do go down as the more cerebral and under appreciated films of the year. Previous films in this category have included Annihilation, Ex Machina, Interstellar, Edge of Tomorrow, Snowpiercer, and others. This year, I think the underappreciated science fiction film award is probably going to go to Ad Astra.

The movie takes place in a "near future" where space travel is becoming more and more common and humanity is making its way across the solar system. It doesn't go too far with flying cars, or other science fiction tropes but instead creates a seemingly realistic future where technology is expanding and space travel is a huge part of that.

The movie focuses on Major Roy McBride (played by Brad Pitt), an officer in the United States Space Command. Roy is a pretty accomplished officer living in the shadow of his father Clifford McBride who led a team into deep space exploration of the solar system for signs of intelligent life, and never came back. Roy and the rest of Space Command believes that Clifford McBride is dead until a series of solar flares reach Earth and start causing major damage to space infrastructure and these flares seem to be originating from Clifford McBride's original exploration vessel.

Roy is recruited to travel to Mars and reach out to his father in an attempt to save humanity from these reoccurring solar flares. The mission is top secret, and takes Roy through a maze of futuristic intrigue and adventure to try and save his father.

So the truth is, this movie has a lot of ups and a lot of downs. The downs aren't movie ruining, but they are noticeable enough to talk about in a venue like this. I'll talk about the good things first.

I really like Brad Pitt in this movie. I think its easy to point to Brad Pitt as just another big name actor but its movies like this that remind us why he's there. Since he is the constant of the film and the movie centers on him, he carries it and keeps the film interesting, even if its just him hanging out by himself in a space shuttle for around 10 minutes.

When its not Brad Pitt monologing, which I will get to, the movie is a pretty interesting odyssey through space.

The really interesting thing about this film is the world that it creates around the characters. It's establishing a world where humanity is figuring out space travel, how the world might react if living on the moon was available, and kind of the politics of it all with a serious space force that is applicable to the world created.

The movie also takes a page from movies like Gravity and The Martian as it tells a story in a hyper-realistic scientifically accurate space. Imagine if Matt Damon and Sandra Bullock had to deal with space pirates or political agents. The movie by no means a huge action film, but it keeps the action pretty intriguing.

Also, Tommy Lee Jones actually seems to care in this movie.

Tommy Lee Jones is a good example of an actor who was really prominent in the 80's and 90's, earned his accolades, and only appears in films if they really want to, or Disney, or some other studio writes him a huge check for a quick appearance in Captain America: The First Avenger.

I haven't seen Tommy Lee Jones really bring it in a while and its good to see him actually give a little bit of a crap in this movie.

They do some de-aging with some scenes that take place in the past and its done really well. And I loved how the movie portrays Clifford McBride as this young guy in archive footage and it builds up to him.

Overall, the movie has some really great father-son themes that always seem to hit me right in the feels so I will never turn down a movie like that if its done well. Ad Astra does it well for the most part.

One issue I had with the film is that no matter how great Pitt is in the movie, it does not really negate the fact that its a movie about a single dude going on a journey by himself through space with accurate gravity physics.

The movie has moments that feel really drawn out moments that go on for a little bit longer than I would have preferred. It also doesn't really give us enough time to get to know the characters outside of Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones. And I get it, its not really about Donald Sutherland's character, but if you're going to draw the movie out to almost three hours, I wouldn't have minded knowing a little bit more of the interesting world we're living in, the characters in it, or at least the characters that seem to mean the most to Brad Pitt, like his ex-wife played by Liv Tyler.

The movie also has Brat Pitt doing some inner monologues and its kind of weird. They eventually explain why he's doing it... sorta. But it feels weird sometimes that they insert these monologues.

I like how the movie feels very cerebral, but there might be some moments that just feel very drawn out.

Overall, I don't think I'd put Ad Astra above some of the other unique science fiction films I mentioned before, I like movies like Annihilation and Ex Machina more, but I like it enough to carry on this trend that I really like. I do recommend you checking it out if you haven't already.

But those are my thoughts on Ad Astra. What did you think of Ad Astra? How does it compare to the other unique science fiction films that have been coming out over the last few years? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should send in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can also get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for Reading!

Alita: Battle Angel

So I think I was like a lot of people in the world that really had no interest in seeing Alita: Battle Angel in theaters, or at all really. It's not that it really looked bad, it just wasn't anything I was interested in putting any money towards at all. So I ended up watching it on a plane and while there might some benefit to seeing it on an HD screen, I am okay with the fact that I didn't spend any money on this movie.

A quick disclaimer, I know that its a manga and no, I have not read it.

Alita takes place centuries from now in 2500 something and the world has been ravaged by war. The elites live in a floating awesome city that everybody wants to go to while everyone else lives in a crappy city down below, lazily called Iron City.

There a mechanic by the name of Dr. Dyson Ido (played by Christoph Waltz) finds the remains of a cyborg girl an builds a new cyborg body for her. When she wakes up, she has no memory of her previous life and Ido calls her Alita (played by Rosa Salazar).

The majority of the movie is her trying to figure out who she is, discovering the environment she's living in, and unearthing the corruptness of villains in Iron City, mostly in the entrepreneur Vector (played by Mahershala Ali) and Dr. Chiren (played by Jennifer Connelly).

The number one thing I appreciate about this movie is how ham it goes. This movie did not do well at the box office so that adds a level of intrigue to this movie, but I think they thought this was going to be the next big Avatar film and you can tell in the effort they put into it.

Some of it works. The visuals are great and everyone really seems to be committing to their character no matter how small or big the role is.

But the plot is so absurd and it commits so hard that its a little hard to really be invested by the end of the movie because its just so ridiculous and ends up border lining melodrama.

I think a part of it is due to the fact that the movie is adapting a manga. Again, I haven't read the manga, or a lot of manga in general, but I do know that because of the medium, it is allowed to go a couple levels above realism just for the sake of being awesome.

Because of this, the action sequences were really cool. There is an element of this movie that definitely thought they were going to get a sequel, so I don't think it reaches the levels of amazing it could go or wanted to go, but even for this level, its pretty cool in how unique and brutal it can get, especially since the majority of the characters are cyborgs.

The other reason this works so well is because the environment seems lived in and really unique from a lot of other movie universes out there. When I say I haven't read the manga, I don't mean that in a bad way, in fact I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to actually read this manga if I ever found it.

It's a pretty interesting world with its own rules, or systems, and I think I understand why people were so bummed it probably won't get a sequel.

2019 was just a weird year for movies in general. Sure you have movies like Endgame and Rise of Skywalker that everyone is going to see. But I can't think of too many movies that people came out saying I know you haven't heard of this property before, but you have to go see this one.

The top thing about Alita was its uniqueness and just different style in an environment where everything feels very similar and people aren't taking risks. I don't think Alita is a very good movie, but I do like risks like this to be rewarded and bummed when it doesn't. So I have a confusing feeling towards this movie. It's ridiculous and has a lot of issues, but at the same time the ridiculousness paired with the uniqueness is really intriguing and while its not my cup of tea, I would have liked to see where this movie could have gone.

And I think the fact that this review is pretty short says something about how much was actually memorable about this film. I remember cool costumes, cool fight scenes, and how seriously it took itself. Everything else was kind of meh. It was definitely trying, but it just didn't turn that corner to make it really memorable.

But those are my thoughts on Alita: Battle Angel. What did you think? Is there something I'm missing that was super important from the manga or something? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!