Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Review: A Triumphant End.

The Guardians of the Galaxy are among my favourite heroes in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Vol. 1 was a fantastic introduction to these characters, and I believe that Vol. 2 is one of the most underrated MCU films.
So, obviously, I was very excited to watch Vol. 3, especially because I had genuine hope that it would be better than a lot of the more recent MCU installments, which I have felt pretty lukewarm about.
I am happy to say that this hope was well founded because Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a triumphant ending for the characters we have come to know and love ever since Vol. 1, all the way back in 2014.

The ending for each Guardian feels fitting.

Directed once again by James Gunn, the movie follows Peter Quill’s Starlord (Chris Pratt), Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper), Groot (Vin Deisel), Nebula (Karen Gillan), Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff), who are living at their home base of Knowhere.
After an attack from Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) leaves Rocket clinging to life, the Guardians must band together once more.
Seeking the help of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the group seek to track down Rocket’s creator the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), to find a way to save him.
Each of the Guardians gets their time to shine in this movie, with standout moments for each of them.
In particular it was great to see how much Nebula has changed from the first film, how the friendship between Drax and Mantis has progressed, and how different Gamora is from her future counterpart, along with how this affects her relationship with Quill.

It would have been easy to go a cliche route with Quill and Gamora’s relationship after *Endgame* but I am glad they did not.

The biggest standout of all the Guardians, however, is Rocket, with a large part of the film focusing on his backstory, with constant flashbacks.
Given the number of these flashbacks, it would have been easy for the film to feel disjointed so it is a testament to the writing and the directing that it all flows seamlessly.
It felt like Vol. 2 was slowly transitioning the main character among the Guardians from Starlord to Rocket, and Vol. 3 continues this in excellent fashion.
Rocket’s story is so good in this movie that I actually almost teared up at one point, and this was a scene with multiple CGI characters so that is saying something about the quality.

Prepare for Rocket’s backstory to destroy you emotionally.

Alongside Rocket, the main villain of the High Evolutionary also stands out.
The guy is a fantastic example of how to do a purely evil villain with no redeeming qualities right.
And, hey, the High Evolutionary being so evil makes it even more satisfying when the Guardians fight his goons in numerous excellent action sequences, including a gripping one-shot corridor fight that is one of the movie’s highlight scenes.

The corridor fight is the MCU’s best fight scene in years.

Another thing to highlight is just how dark this movie can get at times, with a lot of cruelty to animals so there is that to be aware of.
That does not mean the film is devoid of levity; this is a Guardians of the Galaxy movie, after all.
There are plenty of feel goods moments and humor throughout.
Speaking of the humor though, I do have to say that it thankfully does not ruin any potentially emotional scenes, like it did in Quantimania and Love and Thunder.
Not everything about Vol. 3 is so great though because, if the film has one issue then it is definitely Adam Warlock.

Adam Warlock’s presence in the movie felt more like an obligation than anything else.

His addition to this film honestly felt entirely unnecessary to me.
Not only could he have been any other character and the plot of the movie would not have changed, but his actions also seemed pretty contradictory at times.
It feels like James Gunn intended for him to have a big role in Vol. 3 but then he got fired and rehired and, in the time in between that, he came up with a different plot for the film but was obligated to keep Warlock in because of the Vol. 2 post credits scene.
Apart from Warlock, though, I would say that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a great film with a triumphant ending for its characters.
It is easily the best MCU film since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 127 and 128 Review: Humor and Intrigue.

The struggle against the Falling Devil continues in Chainsaw Man Chapters 127, “Save the Asa”, and 128, “Main Dish”, with Tatsuki Fujimoto delivering plenty of great humor and intrigue, as usual.
Starting with Chapter 127, I quite liked its title, “Save the Asa.”
It serves as the perfect parallel to Chapter 102, “Save the Cat,” especially when we consider what happens.
The chapter begins strong, with what appears to be a POV panel from the Falling Devil’s perspective, as she uses her power to shoot Asa out of the apartment building she was sheltering in.
Barely holding onto a dislodged section of the apartment building, Asa is then confronted by the Falling Devil, who promises her a peaceful fall if she closes her eyes, a clear lie considering all those others who fell were eaten alive by Devils.
Still, Asa is so effected by the trauma brought on by the Falling Devil that not even Yoru shouting at her can bring Asa back.
The trauma of remembering Yuko, Cambron and the evil orphanage lady is too much for Asa, and she closes her eyes, accepting her fall.
As she falls up to her fate, Asa does have one regret, that she never did something with someone but before we learn what that something is the probable someone shows up, as Denji jumps up to Asa in his Chainsaw Man form and grabs a hold of her.
Denji is shocked to learn that Asa wants to fall and, upon realizing that Asa’s trauma is causing her to ascend quicker, tries to make her feel happy by telling her to think about dogs, ice cream, and cats.
The cats suggestion was clearly not a good one, however, sincce Asa’s trauma is directly related to cats.
Denji then tries to convince Asa life is worth living, even if it has bad moments.
His words show just how similar he and Asa are.
Both have had happiness in their lives but it always seems to be cruelly taken away from them.
Denji, however, says he is willing to continue to eat the crap burger of life because he has something he is looking forward to.
Asa is clearly being won over by Denji’s compelling speech so she asks him what he is fighting for.
I was expecting Denji to give some kind of emotional answer, like Nayuta.
I was not expecting (but honestly should have been expecting) Denji to say that he wants to have sex.
And so the chapter ends with this moving moment transforming into one of hilarity as Asa screams out a disgusted “Ew!”
This then leads into Chapter 128, “Main Dish” where all of Denji’s work to calm Asa down have failed because she is now disgusted with him.
Denji tries to explain to Asa how sex is great, only for this to confuse Asa because, as she screams at Denji, “No woman in existence would want to have sex with a guy with a chainsaw sticking out of his head!”
Denji being Denji, this accusation that he will never have sex causes him to hilariously fall into despair, causing him and Asa to fall up into hell.
Denji wakes up on a Devil food dish with an unconcious Asa and attempts to make a break for it, quickly escaping from the slug-like devil, only to be confronted by the Falling Devil at one of the escape doors.
The Falling Devil again shows some leniency by offering to let Denji go but he refuses to leave Asa… or leave her ass, at least.
The Falling Devil calls Denji a pervert but any incoming attack from her is prevented when she is suddenly attacked from behind by none other than the imposter Chainsaw Man who has finally made his reapperance.
For me, the imposter showing up does confirm his identity to be the one who revived Denji in Chapter 126.
As for who the imposter is, in my opinion, the main suspects are again Haruka Iseumi, Seigi Akoku and the Kobeni clone.
Haruka was shown to be following Denji and Asa earlier, Seigi seems to have a similar posture and size to the imposter, and the Kobeni clone looked to have similar shoes to the one who saved Denji.
Whoever the imposter is, they advise that the Falling Devil will kill any invited Devil who does not partake in her meal by dawn, supposedly meaning that Denji only has to survive until then to succeed in saving himself and Asa.
So it looks like Asa and Denji will now have to work togethor if they want to live to see the next day, which should be exciting to see play out.
Chapters 127 and 128 are great additions to the Chainsaw Man story.
They offer great humor, with the Denji wanting sex joke in Chapter 127, and great intrigue, with the imposter Chainsaw Man finally making his return in Chapter 128.

Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku Review: The Yin and Yang of Embracing Strengths and Weaknesses.

I remember seeing the first trailer for the Hell’s Paradise anime months ago.
It was a fantastic trailer, perfectly highlighting the mysteries of the story, without a line of dialogue from the characters.
Despite being interested, I still held off from reading the manga, until watching the first three episodes of the anime, developed by Mappa.
After loving those episodes, I binged the entire manga in three days and was rewarded with a great story that presented a compelling mystery, charismatic characters, some of the most well thought out action I have read, and brilliant artwork from the writer, Yuji Kaku.

*Hell’s Paradise*‘s artwork provides both a lot of beauty and a lot of darkness.

Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku is set in Edo Period Japan, and follows the story of Gabimaru, a ninja who has been captured and set for execution, yet longs to reunite with his wife.
A chance to reunite with her comes with the arrival of Yamada Asaemon Sagiri, an executioner who arrives with the offer of a pardon from the Shogun himself.
The only catch is that, in order to obtain this pardon, Gabimaru will have to travel to a mystical island, from which none have returned alive, to obtain the Elixar of Life for the Shogun.

To reunite with his wife, Gabimaru travels to this dangerous island.

Gabimaru and Sagiri will not be going alone, however, with ten other death row prisoners being sent, with the pardon being available to only the one criminal who retrieves the Elixar.
As for the rest of them, they face death from the executioners sent with them to the island, to monitor them.
However, the criminals and executioners soon find they have much bigger problems to worry about than each other, as the island’s mysterious inhabitants begin picking them off, forcing them to band together and learn the ability known as Tao to survive together.

The executioners and prisoners having to work togethor creates a lot of great bonds between them.

Tao is Hell’s Paradise’s main fighting mechanic and I was constantly marveling at how well Yuji Kaku incorporated it into his fight scenes, with many characters learning the technique quickly, while others learned slower in various triumphant moments.
Speaking of the characters, the ones in Hell’s Paradise have to be some of the most charismatic I have read in a while.
There is, of course, Gabimaru and Sagiri who, as the main leads of this story, grow a lot over the course of it, with numerous relizations they have about themselves creating plenty of development.
Side characters such as Yuzuriha, the brothers Chobe and Toma, Nurugai, Shion, Fuchi, Tenza and Senta are also all fantastic but I don’t have time to discuss all of them, so I will focus on my favourite side character, Tamiya Gantetsusai.
He starts off as a warrior valuing only his own glory and legacy, yet slowly changes until, by the end of his story, he becomes much more humble due to the influence of his assigned executioner turned friend Fuchi.
This results in an ending for him that is probably the most emotionally impactful, alongside Gabimaru’s.

Gantetsusai’s ending is subtle yet moving.

All of these characters I have mentioned are compelling and I find it to be a testament to how good Hell’s Paradise is that their camaraderie is so believeable, despite the main conflict of the story really only taking place over a few days at least.
What helps these characters and their fight sequences shine is also the combination of great themes and artwork.
The theme of Hell’s Paradise is the acceptance of strengths and weaknesses, yin and yang, with this theme being key to many of the events and imagery in the manga.
This imagery is especially great, with Yuji Kuko delivering many breath taking panels showing off both the beauty and horror of the island.

The artwork of warped buddist statues and monsters highlight this yin and yang conflict quite well.

However, despite having plenty of positive things to say about Hell’s Paradise, I will not act like it is perfect, since there were a few issues I had.
The first of these is in regards to character deaths.
There are a few times in this manga where characters have emotional deaths that affected me, only for those feelings I had to vanish when the character is revealed to have survived.
Granted, I did like these characters so was pleased to see that they lived but, at the same time, some part of me wished that they had stayed dead so that the emotional weight of their deaths could be kept.
That being said, this was not a constant issue, as Yuji Kaku still followed through on many other tragic deaths across the series.
Although, there are a couple characters that were clearly introduced as canon fodder for the final battle.

While some characters introduced later in the story shine, others were probably introduced just to die.

Another minor issue I have is that there were a few plot points introduced that did not amount to much.
In particular, there is one moment where Jikka makes a pretty shady offer to two characters, only for this to amount to pretty much nothing.
While these were issues I had with the manga, they were nowhere near significant enough to dull my enjoyment of this otherwise fantastic story.
Hell’s Paradise is a manga with an interesting story, and great characters and fight scenes, supported by brilliant art work and compelling themes of ying and yang.
It is already among my favourite manga and I will continue watching the anime, hoping Mappa can keep up with the quality of their adaptation so far.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 126, Food Fight Review: A Mysterious Saviour.

There was a theory going around after Chapter 125 of Chainsaw Man that it was not Denji fighting the Falling Devil but the imposter Chainsaw Man.
The supposed evidence for this theory was that Denji’s laugh sounded different but I found this incredibly unlikely.
Sure enough, the opening pages of Chapter 126, “Food Fight”, shoots down the theory quickly.
The chapter begins with the Falling Devil fighting Denji off temporarily, before telling him that there is no need for them to fight because all she needs to do is drop Asa Mitaka into hell and then she will leave.
This causes Denji to fight even harder, all to protect his “ex-potential girlfriend” as he humorously calls her, confirming his identity as Denji and not the imposter.
Annoyed by Denji’s actions, the Falling Devil unleashes her trauma power upon him, causing Denji to remember the deaths of Aki and Power; the trauma of their deaths making him fall up into the air.
It was good to see Aki and Power again, even if it is just in a brief flashback of their deaths.
The Falling Devil attempts to go after Asa again, only for Denji to drop down from the sky and attack her, having used his chainsaws to cut through his brain, cutting off the Falling Devil’s trauma attack.
Denji then begins to eat the Falling Devil, deliriously shouting that he wants to eat corndogs from france, while continuing to shred his own brain.
This leads to the Falling Devil shouting, “I am not a corn dog!” while Denji is eating her, in an almost full-page spread.
I said it once and I will say it again: Tatsuki Fujimoto is the most insane author I have ever read.
Only a warped mind like his could come up with something as ludicrous as a Devil complaining about being eaten like a corn dog, and make it work.
Further proving Fujimoto’s creatively dark mind, the Falling Devil then allows Denji to eat her, only to burst out of his stomach, ripping Denji in half and allowing her to continue her hunt for Asa.
It is then that a mysterious figure approaches Denji and slices their hand, giving him enough blood to regenerate and continue the fight.
This mysterious saviour then says, “Chainsaw Man… I still need you to fight.”
There has been a lot of speculation about who this unseen person is, with many thinking that it is Yoshida.
However, much like the theory about the imposter being the one to fight the Falling Devil, I find this theory to be unlikely.
Yoshida is already a shady character so hiding his face does nothing.
If this was truly Yoshida then I think Fujimoto would just show his face to add to the mystery of what his intentions are.
Therefore, I think this has to be another character but who?
Well, it makes sense for this person to be from the school, since that is where Part Two is focused.
This rules out any girl character from the school because the mysterious figure is wearing pants and the girls at the school all wear skirts.
So there are three unaccounted for male characters, who are all part of the Devil Hunter Club.
There is Haruka Iseumi, Seigi Akoku and the Kobeni clone.
Of these three, I find Haruka and the Kobeni clone to be the most likely candidates.
Haruka has been shown to be following Denji and Asa recently, and the Kobeni clone looks to have shoes of a similar colour to the mystery person in previous chapters.
Maybe whoever Denji’s saviour is could also be the Chainsaw Man imposter?
We will have to wait and see.
In any case, right after the scene where Denji is revived, we get the final page of Chapter 126, where the Falling Devil finds Asa still stuck on the roof.
Asa and Yoru will definitley need to trust each other if they are to have any hope of surviving the Falling Devil but Denji showing up might just give them an edge.
I am excited to potentially see the War Devil and Chainsaw Man forced to team up.
It could also lead to Asa and Yoru learning that Denji really is Chainsaw Man.
The possibilites are endless and, even then, I am sure Fujimoto will find a way to deliver things we never expected, as he always does.

Resident Evil 4 Remake Review: Among the Greatest Action-Horror Games of All Time.

We are living in an age of horror video game remakes.
This year alone, we have had the Dead Space remake, which is pretty spectacular, if you ask me, and a Silent Hill 2 remake has been announced.
Then, of course, there is the recently released Resident Evil 4 remake, which is not only the most beloved Resident Evil game but one of the most beloved video games of all time.
It served as an inspiration for countless other games.
However, despite knowing this, I never got around to playing the original Resident Evil 4.
The most I did was look up a few clips of the gameplay to see how it had inspired Village.
So this was an opportunity for me to play an updated version of it to see why the game was so lauded.
After playing it, I can say that I get it.
Resident Evil 4 is a fantastic experience from start to finish with a good story and characters, exhilarating gameplay, and a few terrifying moments.

The opening of the *Resident Evil 4 Remake* makes one hell of a first impression.

You play as Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) who, after the events of Resident Evil 2, was unwillingly recruited by the US government to become one of their top agents.
After the President’s daughter Ashley Graham (Genevieve Buechner) is kidnapped and taken to a village in Spain by a cult known as the Los Illuminados, headed by Osmund Saddler (Christopher Jane), Leon is sent to rescue her.
On his mission, Leon encounters many colourful characters, such as the shady yet charasmatic Luis Serra (André Peña), Leon’s even shadier acquaintance Ada Wong (Lily Gao), Saddler’s devout follower Ramon Salazar (Marcio Moreno), and, of course, a friendly merchant (Michael Adamthwaite) who we buy from and sell supplies to and upgrades out weapons.
The story of Resident Evil 4 has a classic B-movie feel to it, while also carrying a feeling of seriousness that is key to the other Resident Evil remakes.
The game juggles these two tones effortlessly, providing a fun story for the player.

It’s constantly funny how Leon reacts to a lot horrifying situations with cheesy one-liners.

What is even funner, though, is the gameplay, as fighting against wave upon wave of Las Plagas infected villagers never became dull, with numerous ways of taking them out.
I found shooting one in the head to stun them, and then running forward to deliver a roundhouse kick, knocking them and any surrounding villagers to the ground, to be the most entertaining way of dealing with these waves.
This technique will not work with all enemies, however, so you will have to be constantly managing your ammo, herbs, and other supplies to be prepared for each possible encounter.
Such becomes particularly nerve wracking when the game truly gets into the horror Resident Evil is known for.
There is the Verdugo fight, and the remake original section where you play as Ashley running away from Plagas controlled suits of armour.
The most terrifying part of the game, however, is the Regenerators, where my panicking lead me to constantly missing their weak points, which then lead to me constantly dying against them.

The Regenerators are by far the most terrifying enemies in the game.

Speaking of dying, this happened quite a few times on some of the bosses, most notably Salazar, who must have killed me at least ten times.
It was satisfying to finally defeat him but easily the most satisfying boss of the game for me was Major Krauser (Mike Kovac).
He destroyed me in my first attempt against him but our roles reversed in my second attempt, where I destroyed him, after learning from my failures.

Krauser is undobutedly the best boss in the game, in my opinion.

Honestly, the only boss that disappointed me in this game was the final one, although that may be more my fault than the game’s.
I still had an RPG in my inventory so I used that to pretty much one-shot him.
However, an argument could be made that I should not be able to one-shot the final boss in the first place because then there’s no challenge.
Another issue I have is how the escorting Ashley segments play out sometimes.
From what I hear, the remake did this much better than the original but there were still some frustrating moments, like a cannon section where Ashley kept going into a death loop.
A criticism I have also heard many people bring up is Lily Gao’s performance as Ada Wong.
And by “bring up”, I mean harass her online because people are terrible.
In my opinion, there was nothing wrong with Gao’s performance.
Sure it wasn’t fantastic but she got the job done.

It is absolutley unacceptable how Ada Wong’s voice actress is being treated. If you don’t like it, fine, but don’t harass people over it.

One criticism I do find to be entirely legitimate is the recent addition of microtransactions for weapon upgrades.
It was pretty scummy of Capcom to add these only after all the positive reviews had come out, and it is extremely difficult to get the ticket used to upgrade the weapons completley without paying up, which is a shame for me because I have never bought a micotransaction and never will.
They are a predatory practice, designed to manipulate you into paying up in a game you have already bought, and sometimes they are even outright gambling.
Microtransactions have no place in a Resident Evil game, (or any game really, if you ask me).

“What are you buying?” The Merchant asks. “Not a microtransaction,” I say.

This problem aside, I found the Resident Evil 4 Remake to be a truly fantastic game that lives up to the hype of the original.
It provides a fun story with likeable characters, along with fantastic and sometimes terrifying gameplay.
I hope Capcom continues to do remakes of their older Resident Evil games so I can play updated versions of ones I never have previously, like Code Veronica for instance.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 125, Apple Thief Review: A Polite Primal Fear.

Way back in the International Assassins Arc of Chainsaw Man Part One, we met the Darkness Devil.
This terrifying entity was the first Primal Fear Tatsuki Fujimoto introduced us to; a Devil so powerful and created from a fear so primal that the Devil itself had never experienced death.
There was no reasoning with the Darkness Devil.
If it wanted you dead then you were probably dead, which is why it is so weird to read Chapter 125, “Apple Thief”, and see the Falling Devil being so unusually polite.
Well, as polite as a Devil can be, anyway, as the chapter starts with her brutally gathering ten eyes and four ears for her dish, after which, she goes to a supermarket like any average shopper would.
We then see her engaging in an oddly respectful talk with a staff member, who she has made fall up to the ceiling.
The Falling Devil asks the worker if she has a variety of apple that goes well with human flesh, a question which honestly got a chuckle out of me because how does the Falling Devil expect this woman to know that.
As for the worker, she is too terrified to respond, until the Falling Devil assures her that she has no intention of killing her unless attacked.
After leaving the shop, the Falling Devil remembers she forgot an ingredient, again, just like any regular shopper, only the ingredient she forgot is a human head.
Displaying more bizarre yet disturbing politeness, she asks if anyone is willing to spare a head.
It is then that a group of unwilling volunteers arrive, as a group of Devil Hunters take on the Falling Devil with sniper rifles.
They reduce her to a pile of limbs and guts but, being a Primal Fear, this is naturally not enough to kill the Falling Devil, who says she would rather avoid meaningless slaughter, before asking for a head again.
She only kills the attacking Devil Hunters and destroys much of the surrounding area when they attack her again but she seems to do this fairly reluctantly since she sighs beforehand.
Again, it is quite bizarre to see this powerful Devil act polite while killing and mutilating people left and right.
It is also quite interesting how the Falling Devil seems reluctant to hurt anyone outside of her goal to serve up some people as food for the Devils, including Asa and Yoru.
Speaking of those two, with the head now in her hands, all the Falling Devil needs to do is make Asa fall and then her dish will be complete.
Before she can do so, however, Denji finally shows up, ripping through the Falling Devil and accusing her of stealing apples… you know, as opposed to all of the murder and mutilation she just committed.
Denji has his priorities straight, although that is nothing new for him.
Another thing that is not new for Denji is being sliced up into pieces while he fights.
Good thing he’s basically immortal.
Unfortunately, so is the Falling Devil, as she seems completley unfazed by Denji ripping her apart, as she complains this is the first time that she has been on the menu, which is the end of the chapter.
I wonder if this is Fujimoto foreshadowing that Chainsaw Man will eat the Falling Devil, thereby erasing the fear of falling from humanity?
Although, if this does happen then it could have a lot of unintended consequences, since I would argue that a fear of falling actually helps out humans a great deal.
As for Denji finally showing up to fight the Falling Devil, there is a theory going around that this is actually not Denji but the Chainsaw Man imposter who killed Yuko.
While this is possible, I doubt this is the imposter because we saw Nayuta convince Denji to go fight a few chapters ago.
Most likely, Denji will have to team up with Asa and Yoru to defeat the Falling Devil and then whatever Primal Fear comes next.
All in all, “Apple Thief” was quite a short Chainsaw Man chapter but one with interesting characterization for the Falling Devil.
It also ended on a great cliffhanger, which has me excited for Denji and the Falling Devil’s fight going forward.

John Wick: Chapter 4 Review: Action Fatigue.

John Wick has been the highlight action franchise of the past ten years.
The first film, released in 2014, was surprisingly good and revitalized Keanu Reeves’ career.
The franchise has been going strong since then, with each sequel being a solid addition.
Well, four years since Chapter Three, Parabellum, released, we finally have John Wick: Chapter 4.
The movie has received plenty of praise from critics and fans alike, with many calling in the best in the franchise, although I do not think I would go quite that far.

Despite the film having some truly fantastic moments and characters, there are specific issues that hold it back, for me.

Chapter 4 once again follows Reeves as the titular John Wick who, after somehow surviving falling from the top of the Continental in the previous movie, goes to war with the High Table with the help of the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburn).
As for Winston (Ian McShane) and Charon (Lance Reddik, may he rest in peace), they are also suffering from the fallout of Parabellum, as they are left at the mercy of the Marquis, Vicent de Garmont (Bill Skarsgård).
Desperate to hunt down and kill John, the Marquis enlists the help of the blind assassin Caine (Donny Yen) and a hunter who goes by Mr Nobody (Shamier Anderson), while Winston advises John to challenge the Marquis to single combat to earn his freedom.
The characters and world building of John Wick continue to be strong in this fourth installment, with John having the best narrative arc since probably the first movie, and Caine and Mr Nobody being fantastic characters who I would be excited to see more of.

Caine in particular is stellar, with Donny Yen presenting excellent dramatic weight, comedic timing and, of course, stunt work.

As for the action, it is, as expected of a John Wick movie, absolutely incredible, just like it was in the past three films.
Once again directed by Chad Stahlenski, the action of John Wick: Chapter 4 is undoubtedly some of the best in the entire franchise.
The stuntwork, the cinematography, the editing; all of these are glorious and combine to create truly terrific action.
This culminates in one action set piece in the third act that takes place entirely in an overhead shot, which I would argue is the best action scene of the decade.

This action scene alone makes *John Wick: Chapter 4* worth seeing in the theatre.

It reminded me a lot of a video game, which also makes me really want a John Wick video game, now that I think about it.
All of these fantastic features should have made Chapter 4 the best installment in the John Wick franchise, however, there are unfortunately a few things which hold it back.
One of these things is Keanu Reeves himself.
As I said, I loved the arc his character went through but Reeves performance in this film is probably the weakest in the entire franchise, with even simple sentences sounding wrong, which is a bad thing since simple sentences is all John Wick speaks in this movie.

Even the line, “I’m going to need a gun” sounds wrong coming out of Reeves mouth.

Along with this, Chapter 4 doubles down on many of the things that broke my immersion in previous installments.
John is still surviving downright impossible falls and civilians still do not react to people being murdered right in front of them.
Also, the more I think about what happens in this movie, the less relevant the events of Parabellum seem, since conflicts that were set up in that movie don’t really amount to much here.
But by far the biggest issue I had with John Wick: Chapter 4 is the action itself.
This may sound like a contradiction because I was heaping praise on the action earlier.
As I said previously, the action is spectacular, with great cinematography, stuntwork, etc.
My problem is that we got too much of a good thing.
The action scenes in this movie go on and on and on and on, to the point that I began to grow bored with it all, despite how well made it was.
I can only see so many people get shot or stabbed in the face before it becomes tiring, as psychopathic as that probably sounds.
I actually remember checking my watch a few times to see just how long the action had been going.

This Japan fight seemed to go on forever. It was fun to watch when the first few goons attacked John but got extremely tiring by the third or fourth wave of them.

So the issue was not the action itself but that it often went on for so long at certain points that I began to feel fatigued by it all.
I never thought that a movie could make me bored with constant action, yet John Wick: Chapter 4 somehow achieved this.
Despite these issues, though, I would still recommend the film.
The action, although sometimes overly long, is stellar, the characters are all compelling, the film is definitely the funniest in the franchise, and the ending is incredibly satisfying.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is definitely better than Parabellum, however, I am not sure where I would place it afterwards.
My opinion of this movie’s ranking may depend on what happens in the future of this franchise.
If future installements honor Chapter 4’s ending then it should be high up but if they do not then it will probably be on the lower end.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 124, Soup Review: Falling Deeper.

Chainsaw Man is back after its two week break, delivering another chapter which delves into the depths of Asa’s psyche.
Chapter 124, “Soup” picks up with Asa from where we left her, dangling from a street railing as she risks falling upwards because of a trauma attack brought on by the arrival of the Falling Devil.
Despite Yoru’s insistance that she hand over control of her body to save herself, Asa loses her grip and begins to fall upwards again, only for Yoru to yell at her to scream, “Nail Knife!”
This causes one of Asa’s nails to fly off and form a knife due to the War Devil’s power, and Asa’s focus on her pain allows Yoru to get back in the driver’s seat of her body.
Yoru then begins speculating on the identity of the attacking Devil, like many of us readers did after Chapter 122.
She speculates that it could be tauma, gravity, suicide, and others, before correctly deducing that it is the Falling Devil.
The Falling Devil being linked to trauma does make a lot of sense though because of the concept of falling deeper into trauma.
Asa nearly does this herself, as she remembers her dead cat lying at the bottom of a river, only for Yoru to cut their hand so the trauma will not cause them to fall up again.
This fails, as Asa falls up into an apartment building, with Yoru demanding that Asa stop being afraid of her and to trust her.
Asa hits back by pointing out all of the reasons she does not trust Yoru, ending by screaming that she cut her hand.
This builds into Asa explaining to Yoru what she is really afraid of, stating that she sometimes approaches people out of lonliness, only for something to go wrong and for her to end up alone again.
“Solitude and companionship… I’m afraid of both!” She shouts to Yoru and this explanation does hit hard because we have seen exactly why Asa is afraid of companionship time and time again.
She had companionship with her cat but he was murdered by the orphanage director.
She had just accepted Bucky when the class president tripped her, causing Asa to accidentally kill him.
Yuko became her friend, only to accept a deal with the Justice Devil and then go on a killing spree, before being killed by someone resembling Chainsaw Man (not that Asa knows that last detail).
She went on a date with Denji but she now believes he stood her up on their second.
Asa even allowed herself to get her hopes up about Yoshida liking her but he shut down this idea practically immediately.
And then there’s Yoru, the only one whose companionship she is forced to endure, who keeps threatening and hurting her.
Asa’s entire life really is a cycle of gaining and then losing those close to her through tragic means.
It’s why the Falling Devil is a perfect foil for Asa to face at the moment.
Not only does Asa have a tendancy to fall at the wrong times, like when her parents died and in the aquarium, but the trauma she has experienced from these events make her the ideal target for the Falling Devil’s attacks.
Speaking of the Falling Devil, the final scene of the chapter sees her entering a door into hell with a captured Devil Hunter; his nose, eyes and tounge made into a soup for a slug-like Devil with a bib to consume.
As the Devil Hunter is horrifically eaten off page, the Falling Devil states that the main course is almost ready, this course being Asa and Yoru.
It is interesting to note that the Falling Devil is directly targeting the both of them.
It would have been a bit of a coincidence for the two to stumble across an attack from a Primal Fear so this attack being on them makes a lot more sense.
The question is, why are they being targeted?
Yoru is apparently mentioned in the Nostradamus Prophecy, being called Mars, so would she not tie into the Falling Devil’s goal of shepherding “the world to the ultimate terror” as Fami said?
Unless the Falling Devil’s intent it stop that specific part of the prophecy?
I guess we will just have to wait and see why the Falling Devil wants Yoru and Asa consumed.
As for what will happen to the two of them, Asa will have to gain control over her trauma if she is to have any hope of defeating the Falling Devil with Yoru.
Yoru will also have room to grow by treating Asa better, probably with less death threats.
The real wild card in of all this, though, is Denji.
Nayuta did sense the Falling Devil’s arrival, and convinced Denji to go fight it as Chainsaw Man, which we have yet to see.
Maybe Asa and Yoru will be forced to team up with him to get the job done?
Overall, “Soup” is another great Chainsaw Man chapter, building up the conflict between Asa and Yoru well, while delving into Asa’s traumatised mind.

The Last of Us HBO Review: When Change is Best.

The Last of Us is my favourite video game of all time.
However, in recent years my opinion of its continuation has been rather rocky.
First there was The Last of Us Part 2 which, while I loved the gameplay, I thought the story was so poor that it made me lose interest in playing it again all togethor.
Then there was The Last of Us “Remake”, which seemed like an overpriced remaster to me than anything else.
Because of these issue I was having, I was a bit skeptical of how The Last of Us’ HBO adaptation would turn out.
Granted, there were plenty of signs that it would turn out great.
Not only was the creator of Chernobyl, Craig Mazin, behind the project but The Last of Us is also a video game that lends itself really well to be adapted into a cinematic format.
After watching the entire first season, I can say that I should have had more faith because the show is a fantastic adaptation of the video game, with plenty of excellent changes.

The best part of *The Last of Us* adaptation is undoubtedly how it diverges from the original game in interesting ways.

Created by both Mazin and Neil Druckmann, the director of both Part One and Two, the story is almost the same as the original game.
Twenty years after the Cordyceps fungal infection jumped to humans and brought about the apocalypse, ruthless survivor Joel Miller (Pedro Pascal) is working as a smuggler, alongside his partner Tess (Anna Torv).
Wanting to get a car to search for his missing brother Tommy (Gabriel Luna), Joel accepts a deal with Marlene (Merle Dandridge), the leader of a revolutionary group known as the Fireflies.
The deal is to escort a spunky, foul-mouted teenager named Ellie (Bella Ramsey) through the infected landscape to safety.

So begins the characters’ journey across a desolate America.

However, when this plan goes awry, and Ellie’s immunity to the Cordyceps Infection is revealed, Joel has to escort her across the country.
As they journey, the two fight off infected, likewise ruthless survivors, and slowly begin to grow closer as a father and daughter.
This father and daughter bond is the heart of The Last of Us so the creators of the show had to get it absolutely right when casting Joel and Ellie.
Thankfully, they did an excellent job with the casting, as Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey bring new depth to the characters.
I will say that I was a bit unsure of Ramsey when starting the show.
I knew from seeing her in Game of Thrones that she could act but the prior performances of hers I had seen never screamed Ellie to me.
Then I saw her first scene in the show and I felt like a fool because she absolutely nails her portrayal of the character.

Ramsey’s first scene was enough to convince me that she was the perfect choice to play Ellie.

These great portrayals of the characters are very faithful to the original game, for the most part.
Oddly enough though, this show is at its best not when it is following the source material but when it is doing something different.
In fact, I would say that the best episodes of the show are the ones where this is the case.
Episode Five, “Endure and Survive”, gives the characters of Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Montreal) a completely new and interesting backstory, while also concluding on a much more explosive fight.
Episode Nine, “When We Are in Need”, expands on David’s (Scott Shepherd) character through showing how he runs his group as a manipulative cult leader, while hinting at his sickening past, making him a much more disturbing character than in the game.
Best of all though is Episode Three, “Long, Long Time,” which gives Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett) a completely different, much more emotionally engaging story, which actually rivals Joel and Ellie’s story across the season.

I did not expect Bill and Frank’s story to be this good before watching it.

Honestly, it was when the show actually recreated the game beat-for-beat that we got less interesting episodes.
Take Episode Seven, for example, “Left Behind”, where everything is pretty much the same as the game, except for a downgraded final attack, resulting in an episode that I felt like I had seen before because, well, I had, and was thus less interested.
This is not the only issue with the season because the final episode, “Look for the Light”, goes by so fast that it feels a little short.

I feel like the finale would have had more impact if certain scenes had more time to breath.

Not only this but there is a bit of cognitive dissonance with the ending, in my experience.
One thing that I appreciated about the show was how realistic it was.
Joel kills hundreds of people across the game but that is just not realistic to the real world, so they scaled it down for the show.
But Joel’s final decision requires him to become that killing machine so, when it happens in the last episode, it does feel slightly at odds to what came before.
Speaking of being at odds with what came before, it is really weird to watch those terrifying cold opens in the first few episodes, which expand on the nature of the Cordyceps Infection, only for that infection to barely feature in the latter half of the season.

The cold open of Episode One was a fantastic and terrifying addition to the show but it feels weird given the lack of infected later on in the show.

These problems are relatively minor to the show’s successes, however.
They adapted events from the game well and made some incredible changes to the original story.
You want to know how much I liked the changes?
I liked them so much that I am actually now open to seeing how they will adapt Part Two.
Who knows, they might actually make some changes that make me like the story.
As for the adaptation of the first game, though, it is mostly fantastic, being good enough to rank high up with other good video game adaptations, like Arcane and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners.
It will be interesting to see what is in for The Last of Us franchise going forward.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 123, Hors D’oeuvre Review: Introducing the Most Hated Chainsaw Man Character.

Following the release of Chapter 122 of Chainsaw Man, many readers threw their hats into the ring over what Devil the new Primal Fear that was introduced would be.
Most, including myself, speculated that it was the Death Devil.
However, Chapter 123, ” Hors D’oeuvre”, opens up by revealing that the arriving Primal Fear is actually the Falling Devil.
This answer probably should have been obvious since the Devil just made people fall to their deaths, and a fear of falling is something that pretty much all people have.
Just think about how we all throw out our hands up wildly to catch ourselves whenever we trip.
Of course, falling would be a Primal Fear.
There were actually a few readers who did guess the Devil’s identity but I am certain that absolutley none of these people expected that the Falling Devil would put on a chef’s outfit and start speaking French.
It’s so weird and, once again, only something that an insane mind like Fujimoto’s could come up with.
Let the man cook, I say.
Although, the Falling Devil’s method of cooking is a lot more brutal, considering that she says that she is, “visiting at the request of the resident’s of hell.”
While this is happening, Yoru is continuing to flee, screaming at Asa to snap out of it, confirming that Asa’s earlier suicidal thoughts were a result of the Falling Devil.
This is further confirmed when the Falling Devil seems to trigger a traumatic memory for Asa, which introduces the most hated character in Chainsaw Man.
Yes, even more so than Makima.
Asa flashes back to her time in the orphange after her parents’ deaths.
All she had left was her cat, until the woman who ran the orphange offered to give it a better life.
The woman essentially guilt trips Asa into handing the cat over.
It is in this moment that Asa shows how truly good of a person she is at heart because she informs the woman that the cat’s name is Cambron, and asks her to make him happy.
She throws away her own happiness for the sake of Cambron’s and this makes it all the more infuriating when the next scene reveals that the woman actually drowned Cambron.
A fellow orphan tells Asa that he and his friends saw the cat’s body at the bottom of a river.
When Asa confronts the woman with this information, she is coldly told, “Everyone here lost their family. You can’t be the only one with a family member. Isn’t that unfair?”
No, what’s unfair is tricking a vulnerable girl into giving you her cat so you can murder it and render her entirely alone, all because you were jealous that she had a family member when you didn’t.
It gets even worse when you remember that Asa’s mother died because she saved Cambron.
Not only does this rob Asa of the only family she had left but it also probably deepened her guilt by making her mother’s death feel pointless.
What an evil woman that orphanage director is.
I truly hope this character returns at some point so she can be on the recieving end of some much deserved justice.
Being killed by the Cat Devil would be true karma, for instance.
Getting back to the chapter itself, this traumatic memory Asa is experiencing plays right into the Falling Devil’s hands, as it causes her to suddenly fall upwards.
Asa is only able to stop herself from falling up into the sky because she grabs hold of a railing.
Many others are not so lucky, as the Falling Devil makes them fall up until they disappear into doors, which presumably lead straight into hell.
Given what happened during Denji’s visit there in Part One, I highly doubt anything nice happened to these people.
It would seem that that the Falling Devil’s power is only affecting those with traumatic memories, as she explains, “The lower the heart sinks, the higher the body falls.”
The chapter then ends with Yoru yelling at Asa to not be afraid because she cannot enter her body if she is, paying off the set up from the Bat Devil attack near the beginning of Part Two, where Yoru learned exactly this.
All in all, Hors D’oeuvre is a fantastic Chainsaw Man chapter, which does an excellent job of introducing the Falling Devil and delving further into Asa’s traumatic past.
As for what the future holds, this face off against the Falling Devil is clearly not going to be easy.
She is a Primal Fear, after all; a Devil which has never been killed, just like the Darkness Devil.
What’s worse, there may be more Primal Fears coming if a certain fan theory is to be believed.
This theory, posted by u/winddagger7, states that the seven prisoners who are set to die in the next week represent a Primal Devil travelling to earth, building up to the apocalypse.
However, this theory is too detailed to get into here so if you want to read it you can do so here.
In the end, whether this theory turns out to be true or not, we are certainly in for more insanity in Chainsaw Man and I am all for it.