Tag: Andy Serkis

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Review: A Stunning Exploration of Grief.

All of us, in some way, have experienced grief.
Whether it be over the loss of a family member or friend, grief is part of the human experience.
There are many ways we can deal with this grief, both healthy and unhealthy.
Yet, I have not seen a video game explore the concept in such a profound way before as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
With many AAA games falling below the mark recently, AA studios have risen to the challenge to fill in the quality gap.
Directed by Guillaume Broche. Expedition 33 is the latest video game to fill in that gap. 

The world will have truly gone mad if this game is at least not nominated for Game of the Year.

Set in an alternate universe, the island of Lumière is facing certain oblivion.
Every year, a mysterious gigantic figure, known as the Paintress, paints a number upon her monolith.
The people that age then disappear in an event known as the Gommage.
With the Paintress counting down, it will not be long before everyone in Lumière has passed on   
And so, every year, a group of expeditioners are sent out to kill the Paintress, so that the people of Lumière can hope to grow old again. 
The game follows, you guessed it, Expedition 33 on this mission.

“She’ll never paint again,” a character states, perfectly summarizing many of the character’s goals.

On the journey is our main character Gustave (Charlie Cox), his adopted sister Maelle (Jennifer English), the intelligent Lune (Kirsty Rider), and the optimist Sciel (Shala Nyx).
They are also joined by a mysterious former Expeditioner named Verso (Ben Starr), his hilarious friend Monoco (Rich Kebble), and the giant friendly creature known as Esquie (Maxence Cazorla).
Together, the seven travel across the land, befriending Gestrels and fighting Nevrons in numerous fantastic battles. 
Expedition 33 is a turn-based game, and it is already one of the best in the genre if you ask me.
Every character feels unique to use with their various different skillsets.
Not only that, but the dodge and parry mechanics are riveting.
There is a lot of challenge in getting the timing down for certain bosses strikes but, when you can parry an eight-hit attack you feel like a god.

It feels very similar to the boss fights of Elden Ring, in that way.

Speaking of the bosses, they are all mostly excellent, as are the soundtracks accompanying them.
This is made all the more impressive by the fact that the game’s composer, Lorien Testard, had never worked on a video game before.
This is a common theme with Expedition 33.
Many of its developers are newbies to the industry, with a lot of them having been discovered by complete chance.
This makes the existence of Expedition 33 nothing short of a miracle, and I would highly encourage you to look into the history of the game just to see how it all came to be. 
Much like the composer, the game’s main writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, had also never written for a video game, and this makes the excellence of her writing all the more inspiring.
The reveal of why the Paintress does what she does is excellent and perfectly set up throughout the narrative.
That narrative also does a fantastic job of building up the characters, especially Maelle and Verso, who are already among some of the most morally complex characters in video games.

I am going to remember Maelle’s journey for a while.

And then there are the themes.
As I stated at the beginning of this review, Expedition 33 is a game that centers around grief and what it can drive people to.
This results in multiple emotional moments, the standout of which is the ending.
No spoilers here, but it had me questioning the morality of characters in such a way that I have not experienced since the ending of the original Last of Us. 
It is an ending I have already seen multiple debates about online, arguing over which character, if any, made the right decision. 

Expedition 33‘s conclusion really makes you think.

As of right now, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is my game of the year. 
The gameplay is enthralling, the music is spectacular, and the writing delivers an emotional and beautiful message about grief.
I cannot wait to see what Sandfall Interactive does next in the gaming world.
If their future titles are anything like Expedition 33, we may have another legendary studio on our hands.   

The Batman Review: Forging a New Identity for the Bat.

Matt Reeves is a fantastic director.
Of the films of his that I have seen, there has not been a single one I disliked.
By far my favourites among his work are the two final installments in the Planet of the Apes trilogy, Dawn and War, which I consider to be one of the best trilogies of all time.
So, when I heard that he would be directing The Batman, I was sure that the caped crusader was in good hands.
After having seen the film, I can say with certainty that this suspicion was correct.
The Batman is an amazing film and my second or third favourite Batman film, coming behind The Dark Knight and either ahead of or behind Batman Begins.
The film follows a Batman, who has been fighting crime in Gotham for two years at this point, when a serial killer calling himself the Riddler begins murdering prominent politicians and leaving clues for the Batman.  
To catch the Riddler, the caped crusader is pushed to his breaking point, leading to a questioning of the very way he conducts himself.

“I’m Vengance” is the perfect beginning point for Batman’s growth as a character in this movie.

This time around, Batman is played by Robert Pattinson, which was a controversial choice at the time of the announcement because most movie goers knew him just as the guy from Twilight, not knowing that he had proved himself as an accomplished actor in many films since then.
I will admit, I was one of these people, until I saw him in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, where he gave one of my favourite performances.
This made me excited to see him play the Batman and I think he absolutely nailed it, convincingly bringing out a side to the Batman we so rarely see in his movies.
So far in this review, I have been referring to Batman as the caped crusader, but in this film he is definitely embodying his little-seen title of world’s greatest detective, even if he does make mistakes.
Most audience members seem to love this take on the Batman, yet I have heard some criticize the fact that we don’t see much of Bruce Wayne, or rather, the persona of Bruce Wayne that Batman uses to hide his identity.
This is, however, clearly intentional, as Batman is entirely dedicated to his crusade, even to the detriment of himself and his relationship with others, leading to what I believe is the greatest Batman arc put to film.
How Batman’s ideology changes from the beginning of the film to the end is just phenomenal writing. 

For those disappointed that we don’t see the Bruce Wayne persona in this movie, we may see it in a sequel.

It is not just Batman, however, because the other characters are just as stellar, most of all Paul Dano as the Riddler.
Honestly, I have never really liked the Riddler as a villain.
He always seemed just too goofy for me to take seriously, and he was such a nuisance in the Arkham games.
Yet Paul Dano and the script he is working with turned the Riddler into a chilling villain that creeped me out right from the first scene he was in.

The Riddler’s first scene in The Batman made me go from, “the riddler is a joke” to “well, now I need to check every corner of my room when I get home to check that there isn’t a deranged serial killer hiding somewhere.”

Zoë Kravitz is fantastic as Catwoman and has great chemistry with Pattinson’s Batman.
Likewise, Jeffrey Wright works well with Pattinson, creating a fun partnership between Jim Gordon and Batman.
Andy Serkis also does well with the few scenes he has, especially one emotional moment between him and Bruce.
Then there’s John Tuturro as Carimine Falcone, who I did not expect to get as much screen time as he did, yet was so glad that he got it because I loved his performance.
Finally, there’s Colin Farrell, who is completely unrecognizable as the Penguin, to the point that I’m pretty sure we were all shocked when we learned it was him. 

Colin Farrell’s casting as the Penguin was the most suprising to me, until I saw how he looked in the trailers and movie. Phenominal make up prostetics and acting.

Essentially, ever single actor in this film, from those with big roles to small, do an excellent job.
This is all helped with excellent cinematography, action, and a gripping score by Michael Giacchino, in a move that is over three hours long when including the credits.
I know a movie is great when it has such a long runtime, yet I feel like barely any time has passed when it ends, which is exactly what happened to me when watching The Batman.
Another common criticism I have heard though, alongside the lack of Bruce Wayne, is that the third act feels out of nowhere and unnecessary.
While I do see where these criticisms are coming from, I felt that this third act was entirely necessary, providing some great commentary on real world issues, while also tying into Batman’s arc flawlessly

The third act really defines this Batman’s journey as something great.

As for my own criticisms, there is one I do have that appears to be shared by the majority of viewers.
This is that there is a certain cameo in this movie that feels quite unneeded and almost as if it was just there because the studio demanded it.
Not that this cameo kills the movie in any way, it just feels unwarranted and I would personally like it if future sequels focused on something else.
Another minor gripe I have is a few plot holes I realized when watching the film, most prominently one to do with the Penguin’s fate but, again, that is just a minor thing.
Otherwise, this movie is amazing. 
The Batman is a gripping film with the best Batman character arc put to the screen and I cannot wait for more.