CAPTAIN AMERICA CIVIL WAR: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

Everything has been leading to this, ever since Chris Evans said to Robert Downey Jnr, “Put on the suit, let’s go a few rounds” it’s been all building to this. After destroying a good cross-section of New York, taking out the University of Greenwich, a massive shootout over Washington DC and dropping a European city out of the sky it’s all resulted in The Avengers being made accountable for their actions. However when a 90 year old virgin and a billionaire narcissist with a hard-on for shiny metal can’t see eye to eye, the big question is, which side will you choose? 

When Captain America’s new team of Avengers cause an international incident that results in a lot of collateral damage, it becomes the political straw that breaks the camels’ back and all superheroes need to become accountable to a new government initiative. But when the team can’t see eye to eye about how to move forward, the team fractures and some of the best actions scenes ever committed to film ensue. However whilst all of this is happening, the Avengers may not realise that they are being manipulated behind the scenes.  

Continuing the story and stellar work of Captain America The Winter Soldier, The Russo Brothers keep the storytelling tight and well-paced with some nail-biting action sequences and organic humour that was noticeably absent from the marketing of the film. One of the big concerns that a lot of people had, was that this film would not be a Captain America film but rather Avengers 2.5, or as Anthony Mackie once referred to it, Avengers 3.8. It’s understandable considering that Joss Whedon struggled to balance so many characters in Avengers Age Of Ultron, plus shoe-horn in the set-up for all the solo movies, thankfully The Russo Brothers have managed to balance all of the characters and give each one their own moment in the film. Most importantly, the film still focuses on Chris Evans’ star-spangled Avenger and his relationship with life-long friend Bucky along with his love/hate relationship with Tony Stark. 

Some real highlights of the film is the inclusion of some of the new characters such as Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther who’s presence is energetic and exciting plus makes you all the more eager for his standalone film. We also have the return of Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man who brings the humour and has some awesome scenes ripped straight from the comics and every fanboys wet-dreams. Of course the “elephant-spider” in the room is the inclusion of Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It will probably surprise many people just how much screen time Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has, this is not a quick glorified cameo, he has nearly thirty minutes of interaction with the rest of the Marvel characters both in and out of costume. This is a version of Spider-Man that we’ve sorely needed for quite some time, gone is the mopey angst-ridden versions of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, and instead we get a teenager who enjoys having his powers and acts like a kid. To see Spidey finally interact with members of the Marvel Universe genuinely brought a tear to my eye. There’s some great interactions between him  and Stark, whilst his fights with other members of The Avengers is everything my nerdy inner-child could have wanted. 

Going back to existing characters though, The Russo’s really know how to reach the heart of these characters, with Black Widow being given some more kick ass scenes like she had in The Winter Soldier, to really fleshing out newer characters such as Scarlet Witch and Vision. The most impressive feat though, is that they have given us not only the best version of Spider-Man, but the best version of Tony Stark, with Robert Downey Jnr just giving his all in this film between being justified in his actions, but totally torn apart by his choices. He nails so many lines throughout the film that shows Iron Man to be more than just a quippy smart-ass. 

As always, the villains are short-changed because unless your name is Loki, Marvel are not really committed to giving villains much development. However, in this case, the film really excels because the focus is on the heroes and their conflict. Instead of the team quipping whilst fighting an otherwise faceless army, we have hero pitted against hero, we know their backstory, we have an emotional connection with these characters which makes the battles a much more invested experience. 

Now before the DC fanboys get up in arms, it is inevitable that every review is going to compare Captain America: Civil War to Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice and honestly, let’s face it, it’s a fair comparison. They are both two films released within a short space of time that features superheroes fighting one another instead of the villains, it’s the same way that we would compare Armageddon to Deep Impact, or Dante’s Peak to Volcano, it’s just a thing you have to do. Now there’s a hundred and one different ways we can compare these two films: fun versus grim, payoffs versus letdowns, heroic versus, well whatever the f*ck was going on in Batman V Superman. The one thing I will choose to focus on is the fact that the characters in Civil War take the time to talk to one another before throwing punches, and this is such an important thing because instead of just pontificating, it paints the reasons for why these characters come to such loggerheads and that makes us as an audience feel so much more invested in what happens in this film. 

Finally, when we are at a stage with the Marvel films where we could justifiably say that they run the risk of getting stale, The Russo Brothers change up the Marvel formula.  They go huge in the middle with an airport fight sequence that’s been teased in all the trailers, but no amount of fanboy drooling and jabbering can truely express just how cool it is, then in the final act, they go dark and intimate. The final act almost plays out like a horror movie and the stakes are at the highest they have ever been to the point where you don’t know if these characters are really going to kill each other. In a cinematic world where “bigger” is always consider “better”, The Russo Brothers just proved that when you make it just about the characters, you can have a truely emotional response to seeing heroes going at one another. 

Overall, with great pacing, genuine character interactions that justify the fights that occur throughout the film and one of the most nail-biting hand-to-hand fight sequences between two of the biggest characters in the Marvel Universe, you get more than your money’s worth when you buy your ticket for this film. Please don’t download a sh*tty video camera copy of this film, it really needs to be seen on the big screen. Keeping the film focused on Captain America but still introducing us to a whole host of exciting new characters, Phase 3 has never looked more exciting. 

Captain America Civil War gets Four and Three Quarter Stars out of Five (or Four and Three Quarter jaws, that I was constantly picking up off the floor.) 

THE JUNGLE BOOK: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

It’s the classic collection of Rudyard Kipling stories that was later transcribed into a Disney masterpiece about a young Indian boy who spent his days in the jungle being manipulated, abused and borderline sexually harassed by all manner of animals. Now putting those thoughts aside, it’s undeniable that Disney’s 1967 version of The Jungle Book is a right of passage for anyone growing up on Disney. I guess the big question is, why create a live-action version of something that many think is a near-perfect classic? Money. Well, also because they can, but the money aspect certainly seems to be an incentive. Thankfully though, Jon Favreau’s delve into the jungle is worth, well, all your money. 

If you read the books, or seen the animated film, then you know the story: Little man-cub Mowgli is forced to seek out his own kind after an anthrophobic, pyrophobic tiger known as Shere Khan makes it his personal mission to skin the young orphan Indian boy alive. Along the way he meets a whole barrage of colourful characters including a con-artist bear, a creepy hypnotic snake with the voice of Scarlet Johansson and some gangster/jazz-loving apes just to name a few. 

The film itself, although completely unnecessary, works on every level.You have photo-realistic talking animals that just populate the scenery in every shot with special effects that would put Life of Pi to shame. Favreau has also just composed every shot to look like it was ripped straight from the novel itself, you could literally take a screenshot from any scene in this film and hang it up on your wall. However close your eyes, and the film is equally as beautiful thanks to an absolutely stellar voice cast that includes Bill Murray as the ever-lovably Baloo, Ben Kingsley as the noble black panther Bagheera, a sultry Scarlet Johansson as the slithery Kaa (full disclosure, I suffer from a major case of Ophiophobia, but knowing that it’s Johansson, makes it a creepily arousing fear - inside voice Chris dammit!) The standout voice actor is of course Idris Elba as Shere Khan who just does villain so well it should be illegal. Of course, the most impressive casting has to go to young Neel Sethi, who plays the young Mowgli, his interaction with the animals (who weren’t really on set) looks and feels so authentic and this kid will make you believe when he’s scared, will make you smile when he’s having fun, and will make you tear up - no matter how old you are. 

Now if there was going to be one complaint about this film, and I wouldn't really call it a complaint, more like a little niggle; is that the film does have two musical numbers ripped straight from the Disney classic. There’s nothing wrong with these songs, they just feel a little out of place considering the rest of the film doesn’t seem to be committed to being a musical. It doesn’t detract from the film, it just takes you out of the film for a brief moment and reminds you that this is replicating the animated classic when it should function as it’s own beast. 

Overall, The Jungle Book is a fantastic family matinee film with beautiful visuals, comforting voices, clever humour and tense action sequences that everyone should enjoy - although if I put my parent-hat on for just a moment, I will admit that there are a few scenes that the really little ones might find a little frightening if for no other reason than for just how real and raw everything looks in this film.     

The Jungle Book gets Four and a Half out of Five Stars (or Four and a Half confusingly sexy snake scenes that really conflicts with my intense fear of snakes - inside voice Gooch!!) 

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER'S WAR: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

It's the unnecessary prequel/sequel to a movie that no one originally wanted. Admittedly, I haven't seen the original, but honestly, I don't think you're missing much by just watching this. The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a story of an Ice Queen who, in one of the most extreme cases of post-natal depression forms a child-soldier-militia just because and then chooses to do nothing for seven years whilst the Snow White story happened in the first film. Yeah, it’s one of those kinds of films…

The film has a strong cast with three of Hollywood's strongest leading ladies and Chris Hemsworth, who I imagine got paid more than all three women combined to do another contractually obligatory shirtless shot and just be a Thor-like badass. However the real stars are the three leading ladies with Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain being awesome in their respective roles. You have Charlize being just stunning in every scene, you have Blunt being cold-hearted-resting-witch-face the whole way through the film, and you have Chastain being a bad-ass but just mangling a sometimes Irish/sometimes Scottish accent. As a matter of fact she and Hemsworth almost seem to be competing for who can do the most confusing accent with Hemsworth sounding at times like Thor, at times Australian and other times a weird Scottish/Irish hybrid... 

As far as the film goes, it's a safe movie with safe humour and safe action where there are countless disposable extras to pick off whilst the near indestructible-Liam-Neeson-in-Taken-level leads seemingly die in nearly every scene only to actually survive to the point where sometimes they can't be bothered explaining how they actually survived said death traps. 

The special effects are admittedly awesome and everywhere in this film to the point that I can only assume that's why the film couldn't afford a full seven Dwarves and a Snow White. Now if rumours from behind the scenes of the first film are true then it's no wonder that the film is not shy about avoid Kristen Stewart and her one facial expression, but once again, the big story is the casting of the dwarves and the typical Hollywood "Tall-Washing" of the casting choices. Sure Nick Frost and Rob Brydon are great in their roles but there's no denying that these roles could have gone to Peter Dinklage or.... or... I don't know, is that guy from the old U2 music video still alive? 

Overall, I can't really tell you if it's better or worse than the original but it is a perfectly acceptable piece of escapism for its one hour and fifty-four minute runtime. If you are hoping for lots of Charlize Theron and Emily Blunt action be warned that the trailers are incredibly misleading with regards to how much screen time to expect. But the will they/won't they/they definitely will chemistry between Hemsworth and Chastain is certainly worth it, if not a little infuriating with the lazy reasoning behind will they or won't they...

The Huntsman: Winter's War gets Three out of Five unnecessary Stars for an unnecessary prequel/sequel whatever the f*ck this is.   

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER: REWIND REVIEW:

With Captain America Civil War only a few weeks away, it seemed like an appropriate time for a Rewind Review and look at the film about a ninety-year old virgin who’s paranoid conspiracy theories actually turn out to be true and has to evade his former employers. At a time when stocks in Captain America were at a questionable low, two brothers did the near impossible and made an earnest justice-seeking boy scout one of the most interesting and exciting comic book characters on the big screen. Zack Snyder, you may want to take note. 

Whilst trying to adjust to the modern world, Avenger Steve Rogers kicks ass and takes names for S.H.I.E.L.D. until his mentor and general badass boss Nick Fury is gunned down in front of him. Whilst on the run with the help of his only “friend” Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. the Black Widow, Steve soon discovers whole new and deceptive layers to S.H.I.E.L.D. that shakes the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe to it’s very core.  

Filled with bold choices from the film’s twists to the hiring of The Russo Brothers, who’s only other film credit was the deplorable You, Me & Dupree; these bold choices paid off in big ways with one of the most exciting Marvel films to date. With nail-biting action sequences, organic humour that is neither quippy or forced and a strong support cast that includes Samuel L Jackson, Scarlett Johansson and veteran actor Robert Redford, The Russo Brothers gave us a tightly paced 70’s-style political-thriller encapsulated in the comic book genre.  

Now credit where credits due, The Russo Brothers did the near impossible and made Captain America an interesting and engaging character by upping his power levels and making him a real meat and potatoes fighter with some fights that really make you feel it in the guts. At times the fights are so intense that you can be forgiven for thinking that some of the key cast may not get out of this film alive. But getting back to Captain America, this is the Cap that comic book fans have been waiting to see since Chris Evans was cast. For once, we were given a Captain America who was a genuine formidable force, and for once, wasn’t treated like the butt of a joke. Going forward I was hoping this trend would continue, but personally I felt that Joss Whedon regressed the character in Avengers Age Of Ultron as soon as he opened his mouth in his first scene. Fingers crossed The Russo Brothers improve on the already stellar work that they established here with The Winter Soldier when Civil War hits the big screen.       

Of course building on the theme of characters, The Russo Brothers finally did interesting things with characters that were aching for some character development and character moments. Samuel L Jackson finally got a big action sequence and proved why Nick Fury is a character to be respected with a car chase sequence that would make Jason Bourne proud. Now I’m not wanting to sound like I’m Whedon bashing, but The Russo Brothers managed to do more character development for Scarlet Johansson’s Black Widow in one simple car driving scene than Whedon was able to do in two Avenger’s movies. We were also introduced to Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, who basically played, well, another version of Anthony Mackie, but still an awesome addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  

Besides the strong cast, the tightly choreographed action sequences, solid pacing and some surprising twists (although there are some less surprising twists) one of the other incredibly strong elements is the score by Henry Jackman, the man who brought us the music to Kick Ass, Big Hero Six and X-Men First Class. All his scores are a riff on high end heroic action movies of the past, but he does them in a way that is thrilling to listen to. He has modernised the sound of Captain America plus gave us excellent scores to identify us with Nick Fury and The Winter Soldier, which has some of Hans Zimmer’s Joker theme mixed with a real Trent Reznor industrial soundscape.  

Of course the film isn’t perfect. The twist with Nick Fury’s resurrection was seen about half a second before he died, which feeds once again into the theme of Marvel being afraid to kill off a key cast member. Meanwhile the third act battle echoes the previous endings of The Avengers, Thor The Dark World, Guardians Of The Galaxy and even Avengers Age Of Ultron with the “death from above” trope where something ominous floats in the sky ready to destroy a whole city or the entire world whilst the heroes effortlessly dodge insurmountable odds of bullets, debris and death to save the people below. To be fair, this is probably more indicative of blockbuster’s in general than just a Marvel-thing, but you could be forgiven for thinking there is a thing called “Marvelsplosions.” The other thing that is a bit of a stretch is the patience and timing of Hydra’s ultimate plan: I mean let’s think about it for a second, Hydra have laid dormant in S.H.I.E.L.D. and infiltrated every aspect of the organisation, they have this algorithm that can identify future threats, plus they have a sleeper-cell assassin known as The Winter Soldier yet have done nothing until now. Seriously, why didn’t they use The Winter Soldier to take out Tony Stark before he created Iron Man? Why didn’t Hydra pull the plug on Captain America before he was thawed out? Why let The Avengers form in the first place? I mean I’ve heard of playing the long game, but when you really think about it, they are taking the piss. 

Negatives aside, Captain America The Winter Soldier is one of Marvel’s best films to date with tight pacing, tight action, and a more serious tone that’s still capable of providing genuine laughs throughout the runtime. With so much goodwill being brought over from this film and reviews for Captain America Civil War being incredibly positive, it is clear to see that with The Russo Brothers, Marvel’s cinematic future is in safe hands.   

Captain America The Winter Soldier gets Four and a Half out of Five paranoid ninety-year old virgins that’s a total GILF (I went too far didn’t I?) 

IRON MAN 3: REWIND REVIEW:

With Captain America Civil War only a few weeks away, it seemed like an appropriate time for a Rewind Review about an unstable PTSD suffering billionaire who loves running around in a metal war suit who gets duped by a drug-addicted British actor and Guy Pearce because he left him on a roof top that one time. 

The kick off of Marvel’s Phase 2 projects and the immediate follow-up to one of the biggest record-breaking films of all-time that ultimately lead to every other studio trying to jump on the shared-universe bandwagon in the hopes of making Scrooge McDuck levels of money. Iron Man 3 certainly had some huge expectations resting on its’ heavy metal shoulders and with huge box office takings and critical approval, you could call it a success, but with some huge plot holes and a divided reception amongst fans, Iron Man 3 is a bit of a divisive mixed bag. 

I personally really loved this film. Shane Black gave it some really punchy humour, impressive action sequences and some great misdirections that lead to some genuine rug-pulling moments. Sure some people may say that the film is too much Tony and not enough Iron Man, but when both Tony Stark and Iron Man are Robert Downey Jnr I fail to see how this is a legitimate complaint. Downey gives his most layered performance of Tony Stark to date with the most funny and most vulnerable version of the character we’ve ever seen. Downey spits out Shane Black’s script that brings us right back to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and also reminds us of why Black is one of the most sought-after action movie writers of the last few decades. 

With better humour than Joss Whedon’s Avenger’s film, I almost would go as far as saying this is a more enjoyable movie than the 2012 super-blockbuster, sure there’s some more plot holes and non-sensical moments that The Avengers didn’t have, but I just feel that the humour works so much better here. The film also benefits from some great action set pieces such as the Air Force One plane rescue sequence, which looks fantastic, but serves no purpose to the film other than just looking cool. Plus the slight of hand approach where we discover the Iron Man suit was being remotely operated gives this film the edge over some of the bigger criticisms of the film. Speaking of slight of hand, after seeing the film for the first time that you must admire how well Marvel handled the marketing and the secrecy of the big Mandarin reveal. Sure some fans despise the handling of one of Iron Man’s greatest villains, but the fact that many people didn’t see it coming makes for one of the film’s better twists. And come on, Ben Kingsley kills it on both sides of his role: he can be absolutely terrifying as The Mandarin but hilarious as Trevor Slattery. 

Now as I’ve said, I don’t personally have an issue with the Mandarin reveal, admittedly I would have loved one final twist where we discovered he was playing possum as his Trevor persona and actually was The Mandarin all along, but I digress. The plot holes have been covered in countless other web series such as Honest Trailers, How It Should Have Ended, Cinema Sins, etc; so you should know most of them: putting on his only untested suit, not activating the House Party Protocol as soon as he gave out his personal address after threatening a terrorist, the weird grab-bag of powers the Extremist villains seem to have, blah, blah, blah. I agree that these things are all questionable issues with the story, but I don’t think that diminishes the enjoyment of the film. Some of the issues I have are probably a little more simpler: the “death” of Pepper Potts felt like a non-issue because you knew they weren’t going to kill her off, and with this hot on the heels of Agent Coulson being resurrected after his death in The Avengers, this just became a recurring theme in the Marvel films. Sure they have killed Quicksilver since Iron Man 3, but that honestly felt like a cop-out killing a character that has only just been introduced in the same film. Fingers crossed with Civil War on the horizon we shall have a meaningful death within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Overall, despite the completely unnecessary Christmas setting and the Lethal Weapon 2 climax, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 is thoroughly entertaining blockbuster film that has more unexpected twists and surprises than your regular blockbuster fare. If this is Robert Downey Jnr’s final solo effort as the Invincible Iron Man, then for my money, he’s gone out far better than most third entries in comic book movies. 

Iron Man 3 gets Four out of Five “Diplomatic Immunity” references that were clearly missing from this film’s climax. 

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

I really really wanted to like this film. The trailers didn’t fill me with much faith, but I honestly wanted to like this film. Unfortunately though, “Bitter Orphans With Daddy Issues Battle: Dawn Of The Computer Generated Kitchen Sink” is an absolute mess of a film. 

It’s really hard to explain the plot of this movie because this is not a movie, this is several movies all vacuum-sealed into one overly long two and a half hour runtime. The first half of the movie feels like four or five different movies with their own looks and styles that don’t even feel like they fit together. There’s the Batman story which is dark and gritty and receives the most screen time, then there’s Lois Lane investigating something that honestly leads no where, then there’s Jar Jar Luthor acting all creepy and weird on a f*cking pantomime level that just begs the question of why anyone would ever even trust with a pack of gum let alone military secrets. Then there’s the mysterious Diana Prince who just shows up from time to time, no explanation, no backstory, she’s just there. Then of course, there’s this guy called Superman who seems like a complete after thought and has to use his superhuman abilities just to fight for what little screen time he is given. Just to add to all the narrative confusion, we have these dream sequences that are often jarring and non-sensical to say the least. We even have a dream sequence within a dream sequence with little to no context for whenever any of them show up. 

The main cast do what they can, but besides Affleck, do not really have much to do. Henry Cavill plays a sometimes mopey, sometimes sad, sometimes angry, never content version of Superman, and his alter-ego Clark Kent is nearly non-existent in this film. For a guy sharing top-billing in this movie, you sometimes forget that Superman is even in this film. Gal Gadot has some brief moments and could easily have been written out of the film entirely if there hadn’t been such an emphasis in cramming as many Justice League members as possible into this film. Then there’s Amy Adam’s Lois Lane, who solely exists in this film to do stupid things so that Superman can save her - when are they going to finally write a good Lois Lane character? Ben Affleck’s Batman (and Bruce Wayne) are good, not great, but good. I wouldn’t compare his performance to Christian Bale’s Dark Knight because it really is an apples and oranges comparison, but for all those fan-boys claiming that this was going to be the definitive comic-book Batman, they’re going to have to wait. It’s a good Batman, but not a comic book Batman; he’s no more of a detective than Bale’s Batman was and this representation is more akin to the Arkham Knight video games series than the comic books, though he does have one incredible fight sequence in the film. Then there’s Lex Luthor, another camp version of a beloved villain that should be so simple to get right, yet seems so hard to do if these films are anything to go by. He’s such a transparently evil character that it’s amazing that he isn’t continually breaking the fourth wall so that he can wink at the audience.

With so much going on in this convoluted mess of a movie you still have a whole series of supporting characters that are under-utilised and ultimately forgettable. You have Holly Hunter’s Senator Finch who’s one-woman crusade to make Superman accountable for his actions is never resolved or acknowledged once she has left the screen. There is also Tao Okamoto in a thankless role that is almost exclusively silent and pointless. We have Australia’s Callan Mulvey as generic villain number 2, you have Scoot McNairy as who gives a f*ck. We have Diane Lane and Laurence Fishburne back as Superman’s mum and Clark Kent’s boss respectively; Diane Lane is there for the sole purpose of giving out the worst advice the mother of a superhero can possibly deliver and Laurence Fishburne seems to be playing a completely different version of Perry White from when he played him in Man Of Steel. Then there is Jeremy Irons, probably the best thing in this movie. He’s completely underused however his brief back and forth between himself and Affleck’s Bruce Wayne are a real highlight of the film and something that makes me even more eager for the solo Batman movie.  

There are some good elements to the film: the visuals are often beautiful, Batfleck is a dependable Batman with some real potential, the fight sequences are well orchestrated and highly stylised, but one of the most important things missing is context. Quite often there is no explanation for what people are doing, or how they got there, or why they are doing what they are doing. The film just expects you to buy in to a lot of material with very little to connect a lot of it together.

You know, I don’t know who this movie is for? It’s not for kids because it’s far too dark and brutal. It’s not for general audiences because they have too many alienating references to very specific mythology from the comics without feeling the need to explain any of it. And I really don’t think it’s even for Batman or Superman fans, let alone the hardcore DC fans because Zack Snyder just plays loose with the characters to the point where he’s almost showing complete and utter contempt for the audience and the characters. Seriously, the guy claims to love comic books, but I think he may be confusing the word love the same way an abusive husband confuses the term love. He presents Superman in a way that is so distant and disengaged from humanity that it’s a wonder that he bothers saving anyone at all. I don’t think that Snyder doesn’t understand Superman, I think he just downright despises him. 

Zack Snyder is great at adapting comic book movies, just look at the painstaking recreations that went into Watchmen and 300, but here that has proven to be his downfall because instead of doing a straight adaptation of a single story, he has cherry picked moments from two of DC Comics biggest storylines. The first is obviously The Dark Knight Returns and the second I will not mention because this would truly spoil a large element of the film, however if you’ve seen the trailers, you can probably guess. The big issue with cherry picking elements from beloved stories means that you can never have the same impact as the original story because you are lacking the context and other essential elements that make those classic stories complete. For example, the recreations of keys scenes and dialogue from the infamous fight from the end of The Dark Knight Returns loses all impact because we don’t have the 40 year relationship that Batman and Superman that gives reason to such a brutal fight. This film delivers a very flimsy pretext for the two coming to blows, I mean sure we want to see them fight, but not when the fight could have been resolved through a 30 second conversation. 

Snyder should be applauded for his visual flair and pushing for some great costumes lifted straight from the comics, but he has once again proven himself to be an all style/no substance kind of guy. On top of the very jumpy and jarring narrative, Snyder also feels the need to, well not explain anything. Look, I agree that we should never just spoon-feed an audience but there are huge plot holes the size of the hole that was left in Metropolis from the first film. Plus, if you’re one of those people who were hoping Snyder would have taken on board some of the criticism thrown at Man of Steel, then you’re sure to be disappointed. The opening sequence tries to contextualise the destruction of Metropolis from Bruce Wayne’s perspective, but this seems completely unnecessary. Personally, I can buy in to Batman not trusting Superman based on the events of the previous film, he didn’t need to be in Metropolis on the day to come to this conclusion. Plus for those of you unhappy with Superman’s penchant for killing, then Superman’s first scene in the movie is like a big middle finger from Snyder to those critics. You’ll know the scene when you see it, the only thing missing was Zack Snyder popping up on screen and saying “Sorry folks, I didn’t learn a thing.”  

Overall, I really did want to like this movie, but there are so many poor narrative choices that all the pretty visuals cannot save. Disliking this movie does not make me a DC hater, but as a fan of comics in general, DC, Marvel or otherwise; all I can say is that I am disappointed. With plot holes everywhere, storylines that are dropped and forgotten about and a director who seems to be trolling us when he says he understands the characters and is staying true to canon; I just hope that something can be salvaged from the DC Cinematic Universe. In a year when DC released Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman on the big screen, it just may be the Suicide Squad that redeems the DC brand. 

Batman V Superman: Dawn of the Kitchen Sink… I mean Dawn of Justice gets Two out of Five angry, mopey, bitter battling orphans. 

NETFLIX DAREDEVIL SEASON 2: SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:

You know my favourite part about this latest season of Daredevil was hearing this tune and seeing those hypnotic crimson visuals knowing that when they were over that i would be seeing brand new content. Thirteen hours of back to back binge-watching later, and I had instant buyers remorse because I know I have another 12 months until I see something new again. 

The Man Without Fear is back for his second season and Netflix do not disappoint as they crank the show all the way up to f*cking eleven by being more bloody and brutal than the last season. With the Kingpin in jail, the other gangs and criminal empires fight to try to gain a monopoly over Hell’s Kitchen. Daredevil has managed to keep most of the gangs in-check, however things are about to get a whole lot more complicated with the arrival of The Punisher; a vigilante who would rather put a bad guy in the ground than see them spend a second behind bars. Borrowing some of the themes and progressions of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, we can now see that the actions from season one have lead to more extreme measures being invited into the world of the series. 

Season one was honestly one of my favourite shows of last year, admittedly I am rather biased because Daredevil is one of my all-time favourite characters just behind Spider-Man. This season just does everything all the more confidently. Charlie Cox is more confident and comfortable in his role as Matt Murdoch and his vigilante alter-ego, to the point that sometimes he looks like he’s been lifted straight from a John Romita Jnr panel. The fight sequences are even more complex than before with two new and completely different hallway fight scenes that will leave you completely slack-jawed come the end of each nail-biting sequence. 

Of course it goes without saying that the Punisher is the real standout of the series. Sure some people may think that he looks like a hick with an army jacket, and admittedly it took me a little while to get Shane from The Walking Dead out of my head, but Jon Bernthal brings the intensity that makes this the closest realisation of The Punisher to date. The show drip feeds his origin story to us whilst each episode is elevated by his presence. Whether it be stabbing a hundred prisoners with a shiv, blowing rock-melon sizes holes through gangsters, to taking a power drill to the foot like a champ, and debating Daredevil about his methods that actually makes you want to take his side in an argument, Bernthal delivers. And Bernthal is Punisher now. 

The first season had essentially one key story thread running throughout, however this season really focuses on world-building, not only the Daredevil Universe, but also the extended Defenders Universe. As a result we have three to four different storylines running throughout, if this was a movie it would feel very cluttered, but it’s all balanced pretty well to the point that when all the stories merge towards the third act you don’t really realise or appreciate just how many balls they had juggling in the air. However the one thing you can definitely credit this season for his how well it develops character’s story-arcs to the point where everyone, main or supporting, are moving in new directions as we head into the third season. The showrunners have confidently set-up for the third season and the inevitable Punisher spin-off series. 

The show continues to build both the action scenes and the crime procedural elements, including the law aspects; something that was definitely missing from the Affleck Daredevil film, but once again, that's the opportunities afforded to a television series. Matt Murdock's character is developed just as much as his crimson alter-ego however, it does make you wonder how he is even considered a "competent" lawyer, let alone a "good" one. His commitments to beating the living bejeezus out of everyone even remotely affiliated with crime sure must be a great workout, but the poor guy is late for everything and misses really important things such as opening statements for Nelson and Murdoch's court cases, along with cross-examinations, closing statements, etc;

For lovers of the first series, you'll be happy to know that almost all of the supporting characters from season one are back; sometimes for brief cameos, sometimes for even longer running times than the previous season. Regardless of any supporting character's duration on screen, each one serves an incredibly important purpose to the story which once again reinforces how tight the scripting for this show is. Some may complain about the pacing for Daredevil being uneven, but I would argue that the pacing is exactly what it needs to be. Without the quiet, slower moments in the series you would suffer from sensory overload, especially if you are a maniac like myself who watched every episode back to back without a break - including toilet breaks. 

I always felt that the first season was pretty much perfect, and even though season two is an incredible step up from the its debut, it isn’t perfect this time. Without giving too much away, there are one or two loose ends that really should have been tied up this season. One character’s fate is almost spelt out in the last episode of the season, especially if you know that character’s mythology, so that felt a little predictable. And the final Punisher reveal was a little underwhelming, especially considering some of the promo material that featured him in full costume, but that isn’t to discredit all of the awesome Punisher moments throughout the season.

The weakest link is probably Elektra. Don’t get me wrong, Elodie Yung is stunning and physically capable of the action scenes, and she’s 100 times better than Jennifer Garner’s interpretation of the character, but she still doesn’t quite feel like Elektra. Her motivations at times feel flimsy and instead of the cold, calculating silent assassin, her appearance here is more of an impulsive spoilt brat who gets off on killing. Once again, it’s an improvement on Garner, but was the one character that easily needed the most development.  

Overall, with new costumes, new heroes, new weapons, new enemies and new threats, this is the part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that excites me the most. While film often glosses over the finer details of a story due to time constraints, it’s the Netflix series that prove that they can flesh-out the characters and situations, yet still keep it as entertaining, if not more thrilling than it’s cinematic counterparts.  

Daredevil Season 2 gets Four and a Half well deserved, but bloody and beaten Stars.