Tag: Isabela Merced

Superman Review: Yet Another Superhero Movie.

Over the last few years, I have slowly been growing tired of the MCU formula.
I was, however, intrigued by the concept of a new DC Universe from James Gunn.
After how badly handled the last universe was, it needed new hands to shape it, and Gunn seemed like the right guy for the job with his Guardians of the Galaxy movies and The Suicide Squad.
The first film installment in the revamped DCU is Superman, starring David Corenswet as the titular hero.
The movie begins three years after Superman revealed his existence to the world.
In the aftermath of Superman preventing the invasion of another country from its hostile neighbor, Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) begins deploying every scheme he can to ruin the hero’s and destroy him.
With help from various other heroes, his dog Krypto, and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Superman works to uncover Luthor’s plot and save Metropolis.

Luthor will go to any extent to destroy Superman.

In terms of quality, Superman is, well, another superhero movie.
Given that Gunn is an MCU veteran, the film feels very similar tonally to various Marvel movies, with lots of humor during serious moments.
If you are not yet sick of this formula, you will really enjoy Superman.
If, like me, you have grown tired of the formula, your experience will be more negative.
However, I think it does Superman credit that, despite me being tired of the humor and tone, I still found myself enjoying the movie. 

There are some emotional scenes that are allowed to play out seriously.

For one thing, David Corenswet is great as Superman.
As a kid, I was never really a big fan of the hero.
I was more of a Batman fan.
Superman just seemed too perfect and one dimensional.
Corenswet sold me on the character, however, with his endless optimism, and the film actually does a great job of weakening Superman, making him more relatable.
Another highlight for me was Nicholas Hoult’s portrayal of Lex Luthor.
He does an excellent job of making me hate the petty narcissist.
But the big surprise for me was Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific.
I had honestly never heard of the character before I watched this movie but, after seeing it, I am more than on board for a potential Mr. Terrific movie. 

Terrific’s constant seriousness mixes oddly well with the lighthearted tone of the film.

Along with the fun characters, the movie also has plenty of feel-good moments, most notably between Clark and his parents.
The message is also good, mixing well with Superman’s optimistic outlook on life.
“You think everyone is beautiful,” Lois tells Clark at one point, and it really shows in this movie.
However, there is also some bad with the film.
As I said, I have long since grown tired with the constant humor during serious moments.
Superman unfortunately follows this formula for the most part.
Granted, I did chuckle a couple of times, and the humor is far from aggravating, but I do wish they toned it down a bit.
The CGI is also a bit iffy at times but that is to be expected with these kinds of films.
My biggest issue though is some of the subplots.
For example, there is this subplot with Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) which ties into the main storyline, and that just felt bizarre to me. 
Overall, though, Superman is still a pretty fun time.

I mean, the film has Krypto the dog. How could it be bad?

The performances are good, and it made me willing to see other superhero properities in this new universe, like the Supergirl movie which is coming next year.
I just hope the other films in this new DCU have different tones, and it’s not all just quippy humor.
We need some variation.

Alien: Romulus Review: Great Moments Weighed Down by Nostalgia.

Despite being the most renowned sci-fi horror franchise of all time, the Alien sequels have yet to live up to the excellence of its first two installments.
This was something I hoped would change with Alien: Romulus.
Directed by Fede Álvarez, one of the best horror directors working today, the first teaser for the film truly gripped me, getting me more excited for an Alien movie than I have been in years.
So, the first chance I got, I made my way down to the theater and sat down to watch it.
Unfortunately, I left that theater disappointed.
That is not to say Alien: Romulus is a bad movie, don’t get me wrong.
But the film is simply no better than the many average sequels which came after Aliens.
There are times when the movie is great, but those moments are undermined by a lot of bad.

Romulus starts off well, but its issues become more apparent as the film goes on.

Set between Alien and Aliens, Romulus follows a group of young adults who board a deserted research station.
Consisting of Rain (Cailee Spaney), her android brother Andy (David Jonsson), Tyler (Archie Renaux), Kay (Isabela Merced), Bjorn (Spike Bearn) and Navaro (Aileen Wu), this group attempts to find a way to make a better life for themselves, only to be met with a brutal fight for survival as they encounter the most dangerous creature in the universe.
Out of every character in the cast, the best are definitely Rain and Andy.
Their bond is the highlight of the film, with David Jonsson being particularly great as Andy.

Jonsson makes Andy endearing, awesome, and off-putting at different points throughout the film.

As for the rest of the characters, they are fine.
A lot of them are just there to die horribly when things go bad.
Speaking of which, these deaths are really gruesome, with a lot of horrifying practical effects.
The effects for the Aliens are also top notch.
They have been mostly CG for the past few movies, so it was great to see Fede Álvarez return the franchise to its practical roots. 

Turns out the Alien is much more threatening when it is actually on stage with the actors. Who would have thought?… okay, everybody already knew that.

Along with the practical effects, the set design is also phenomenal, as is the sound design.
The soundtrack is nothing special, but it gets the job done.
All of these settings combine to create some truly great scenes, most notably with the Facehuggers.
Romulus presents the Facehuggers at their most terrifying, while also adding to the lore of how they operate in fascinating ways. 

The Facehuggers have not been this scary since Aliens.

All of this is great but, as I said earlier, the movie is weighed down by many problems, chief among them being nostalgia.
Whenever a franchise gets rebooted nowadays, the writers will often have characters repeat famous lines from earlier movies, even when those lines make no sense in the context they are repeated.
Romulus is unfortunately no different.
There is an action scene near the third act which is tense, inventive and one of the best scenes in the film… but then they have to weaken it by having a character awkwardly repeat a line from Aliens.    

This scene would have been perfect without the unnecessary callback at the end.

The issues do not end there because, without giving anything away, the movie baits nostalgia using CGI for one specific plot point, and it was just awful.
It looked so bad to the point of distraction, especially compared to the many great practical effects throughout the movie.
And then we have the ending.
Oh, boy, that ending.
Going into Romulus, I had heard that the ending was nuts and yep, it definitely is, but not in a good way.
It starts off well enough, being sufficiently creepy.
However, as the scene goes on, the threat just becomes goofy.
It felt like I was looking at something from a cheesy Resident Evil game rather than something from Alien. 

The third act will be divisive, I think. Some people will enjoy it, while others, like me, will not.

I can appreciate Fede Álvarez taking a big swing with his idea for the ending, but it definitely missed for me.
Not to mention this final threat feels extremely similar to an idea from a prior Alien sequel which already failed.
It is a shame that Romulus has all of these issues because, like I said, there are a lot of great things about this movie.
Rain and Andy’s bond is a highlight, the practical effects are amazing, and a lot of the horror and action scenes are intense.
It is all just weighed down by eye rolling nostalgia bait, extremely poor CGI at times, and a third act which just feels goofy and honestly too far removed from Alien.
Overall, Alien: Romulus is still a good movie, but best to temper your expectations before going to see it.