Green Lantern (2011)

Continuing with the hero theme for this month, we come across the Green Lantern, a human who, originally, was a railroad engineer who came across a green lantern, which had been crafted by a patient at a mental institution which was derived from someone who originally made a magical green flame into a lamp.


Yeah I didn't really follow the Green Lantern. In all honesty I didn't really follow any comics until recent years, and any comic characters I did follow was mainly Batman from the animated series, and whoever was in the animated Justice League television series.


And in this film, we follow neither of those characters, as we look at Hal Jordan, the character DC used for the Silver Age of comics. Here Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is chosen by Abin Sur's (Temuera Morrison) ring to become a new Green Lantern, a form of space police, you know, like the Judoon. The reason why Abin Sur's Ring (of Willpower) needed to chose a new bearer, was because a creature called Parallax (Voiced by the Highlander Clancy Brown) has broken free from a prison-like place, and is seeking revenge against the Green Lanterns and the Guardians of the Universe (The leaders of the Lanterns).


Okay, I'll start with the main problem I had with this film; the effects. Okay, some effects looked great, Parallax actually looked scary and threatening, while the Green Lantern's ring powers actually did look the way I expected them to be. Well, most of the time anyway. However, the rest of the effects, are bad. Seriously bad. The lanterns suit looks fake, the other Lanterns looked fake, the Guardians of the Universe looked fake, Oa looked fake! I just can't take the other characters or Oa seriously. Except for Tomar-Re (Geoffrey Rush). He was awesome.


Then there's the story. It just felt rushed and yet slow and disjointed at the same time. Jordan travels to Oa numerous times whilst Parallax seems lost, especially since he seems to go out of his way to Earth rather than destroy the greater threat, Jordan quits only to enlist then quit again before rejoining the Corps, Sinestro (Mark Strong) constantly whines that something needs to be done with Parallax, and then when he finally leads a group of Green Lanterns at Parallax, he effectively does nothing while they die. Then Sinestro convinces the Guardians that they need to create a Ring of Fear to combat Parrallax, despite the fact that using the power of Fear was what created this problem in the first place. And while I didn't follow the Green Lantern, I did for some reason recall a giant forehead villain, which turned out to be Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard). Introducing him as a major villain in this film felt out of place.

But in all honesty, this isn't really a bad film. I mean, I know from my extensive research (Five seconds on Wikipedia), Parallax wasn't a former Guardian of the Universe, he was in fact a parasite who had reality warping powers and originally used Hal Jordan as a host. Hammond meanwhile became a supervillain by exposing himself to a meteorite from outer space, instead of gaining his powers from Parallax. But hey, at least Hammond and Parallax in this film proved to be actual threats, Hammond himself killed quite a few people while being sympathetic at times, whereas Parallax consumed planets and pretty much killed everything in his path up until Jordan on Earth. People did complain about the design of Parallax being a cloud, but hey, at least this cloud actually did something

unlike this Goddamn cloud!

The acting meanwhile, is pretty much the fault of the script. No-one was bad per se, but it wasn't the best in the world. Again, I believe this was the fault of the script. People complain about Reynolds acting in this, and yet as we've seen in other films like 'Buried' or 'Smokin' Aces', he can pull off a great performance. Sarsgaard meanwhile does portray a great character, making us feel sorry for him as well as see his emotions as the power of fear slowly corrupts him. Everyone else...was okay, again.

Is this film the best? Oh no, far from it, but is it as bad as they all say? Well, no, not really, I don't see why people get so worked up over this. Maybe it's because I'm not that big a Lantern fan, so I wouldn't get that frustrated at certain changes. Like I said, it's not the best film, but it's certainly not the worst.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

And now we have come full circle. Christopher Nolan has released his third and final Batman film, Christian Bale has worn the cape for the last time, Anne Hathaway won't be wearing leather any time soon...or will she...hope so.

Anyway the most highly anticipated film this summer, if not the year (Though 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' is a high candidate for that), where mercenary Bane (Thomas Hardy) takes on Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), beating him down and taking over Gotham. I didn't really give anything away there, the trailers show us what Bane does.


Story wise, it is fantastic, yet bum numbing. At two hours forty five odd minutes, it's almost as long as Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' films. And it is justifiable. You have the villain's compulsory opening scene, his origin, what happened to Wayne since the last film, his recovery, Batman's return, the first fight against Bane, Batman's second recovery, Bane taking over Gotham, Batman returning, and the climatic battle. You can't squeeze all that in the normal hour and a half, or the run time that the previous films had.

The acting is of course brilliant. Christian Bale delivers a great performance as a man who has lost the love of his love...um...whatsherface, then as a person who has to recover from that and being given the worst beating of his life, while Anne Hathaway delivers a great performance as Catwoman. Thomas Hardy delivered a great menacing performance as Bane, even if the voice did make it hard to understand what he was saying half the time. Supporting acts from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Freeman and cameos from Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy were great, however Michael Caine didn't have much screen time after being written out for most of the film, which was quite shocking. Marion Cotillard delivers a slightly better than bland performance as Miranda Tate.

The effects are stunning as well, the aerial scenes involving the Bat (A.K.A. the Batplane) and Bane's tumblers are truly the speaking point of this, as well as Catwoman on the Batpod. Um, to be honest I think that's everything. Terrific characters, great story, brilliant acting, fantastic effects, yeah, go see this film.

Well, okay, it's not everything I want to say. It's everything I can say without giving away spoilers. I now want to go over the stuff containing spoilers, so if you haven't seen it yet, leave this post now. If you want to read my more in depth view, please continue.

In all honesty, there was something missing from this film. If you look at 'Batman Begins', it was a good film, but not great. It set up the origin story to great effect, but it wasn't really a brilliant film. 'The Dark Knight' was, in my new trademark phrase, in-fu*king mense. It had everything really, brilliant villain/performance from Heath Ledger, terrific story, great action, it was a truly spectacular film. So, when you line the films up, 'Batman Begins' is...7/10, 'The Dark Knight' is 10/10, 'The Dark Knight Rises'...is 9/10.

Don't start sending me death threats like people did with the critics who gave negative reviews, I still think the film was brilliant, it's just, 'The Dark Knight Rises' lacked something which 'The Dark Knight' had. Let's just put this out there, I think it was mainly the villain. Yes, Bane was a fantastic villain, like I hoped the Christopher Nolan film has made the villain menacing again after the debacle in 'Batman and Robin', but Bane was less memorable than Heath Ledger's Joker. Heath Ledger's Joker, let's be honest, made 'The Dark Knight', he made catchphrases out of lines which shouldn't be catchphrases, like "Why so serious?", "Poor choice of words", and "And here we go,", whilst also having some of the most memorable scenes, such as Joker chasing the police convoy carrying Harvey Dent, the magic trick, and Joker gate crashing Wayne's fundraiser for Harvey Dent.

Bane's most memorable line in 'The Dark Knight Rises' (TDKR) was "Your punishment must be more severe", and that's mainly because it featured in pretty much every single trailer. Bane was a fantastic villain, but he was less memorable  And then there's Miranda Tate. Like I said this bit contains spoilers. Going into the film, Marion Cotillard was facing claims that she was in fact playing Talia al Ghul. Cotillard denied the claims, and this turned out to be 'TDKR's worst kept secret. Cotillard was in fact playing a dual role, she was Talia al Ghul, using 'Miranda Tate' as an alias.

While I went into the film ignoring these claims and seeing what the film throws at me, it did become painfully obvious that 'Miranda' was working with Bane when Batman defeated him and asked him where the detonator for the nuclear bomb was. Actually it was becoming more and more obvious that she was Talia since the film kept referencing Ra's al Ghul and the Legion of Shadows. Looking at it, Cotillard couldn't confirm she was Talia, otherwise we'd be watching the film all the while going "when's she going to betray them?", the producers behind the film were in a lose-lose situation; though they went with the better option.

The other thing, yes, this film was focusing on Bane and Talia, so there shouldn't have been that many references of the Joker. Then again Cillian Murphy reprised his role as Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow and the film kept mentioning Harvey Dent/Two-Face. Yes Bane released the inmates of Blackgate Prison, but I was kind of hoping that he'd do the same with Arkham Asylum (Though I do admit that that would most likely interfere with his control of the city). But, I did kind of hope for some reference to the Joker being out and about in Gotham, like, a burning smiley face, or some graffiti. It would have most likely been a two second clip, but to be honest, it probably would have made the film. Yes, they couldn't show the Joker because of Heath Ledger's passing, but like I said, something that referenced him, maybe even an actor hidden in shadow, that would have actually been brilliant for me. It's a personal thing really.

Apart from that, 'TDKR' did seem to be a copy of 'The Dark Knight'. Like I said 'Batman Begins' set up the origin story, and 'The Dark Knight' created a great anarchy feel to it. 'TDKR'...creates a great anarchy feel to it. Then again, Bane did only bury them underground, effectively only taking them out of the equation until later, whereas Joker didn't really care, he just found it more fun with the police trying to stop him. Joker's method kind of made the public feel more fear, because he was saying that the police couldn't help, no matter how hard they try, while Bane's method sort of gave less of an impact since the public knew straight away the police couldn't help them, except for a small resistance group.


Then there's Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, John Blake, where, like the Miranda Tate character, you just had one question in your head, "Why are you here?". Like Miranda Tate, he had a payoff; Miranda was Talia, and John Blake inherited the Batcave, whilst also...somehow knowing Wayne was Batman. The thing was, the John Blake character was surprisingly great, making you forget that he was a new character. And then they added a scene where John's full legal name was 'Robin John Blake', of course referencing the Robin character. But, it felt like they were building up to something, and then the second they revealed his real name they hit a brick wall, and then they turned a ninety degree angle to continue onto him inheriting the Batcave. It actually would've been fine if they kept out the bit revealing the legal name, but it just felt out of place.


Now, there's all this talk about them rebooting the Batman franchise so that they can incorporate it into a possible 'Justice League' film (Following the success of Marvel's 'The Avengers'), but with Blake inheriting the Batcave, I really don't see why they should. They should just continue the story with Blake, rather than reboot one of the most successful film series ever.

Again, don't be put off by my views here, the film is still fantastic, it's just missing the sparkle that 'The Dark Knight' had. Maybe my expectations were too high, seeing as how, well, it's 'The Dark Knight Rises', seeing as how it's the final film in Nolan's trilogy. But again this film is brilliant, it's not my favourite, but I not going to say "don't go see it", no, definitely go see it, it's still one of the best films this year, just don't expect it to be the best film of the year.

An Hour of: Lego Batman 2 DC Super Heroes

So both Lego and Batman are awesome, but what's better than Lego and Batman? Why Lego Batman of course! If you've been living under a rock, here's the basics of the Lego (Insert name here) games. It all started off with 'Lego Star Wars', which was truly a fantastic game, as was 'Lego Star Wars 2'. Then along came Lego Indiana Jones, the first Lego Batman game, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean, and Lego Rock Band. Now, while the games have been enjoyable, they had been starting to strain; 'Lego Pirates of the Caribbean' started to get boring around the third film, while 'Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7' just felt forced.


But there was something different with this game straight away; the figures are going to be voice acted. And, to be honest, that has breathed new life into this game. It makes such a change after hearing the characters say something other than "grunt" and "sigh" after all these years. It gives the...miniatures more personality, more emotion. And while I was disappointed that they could not persuade Mark Hamill to do the Joker again for the sake of Lego, they did get the Highlander himself Clancy Brown to reprise his role as Lex Luthor, which was pretty awesome.

And I do love how the Riddler is portrayed in this. Actually, before I get this started, I do love how all the characters are portrayed in this, how they are written, how they interact with each other. Especially the relationships between Joker and Luthor, and Batman and Superman, I love the relationship between them. The game appears to have kept their relationship to how we'd expect it, Superman respects Batman but can't help that his powers enable him to do everything better, whilst Batman also respects Superman, but he keeps up his isolated personality while being annoyed as to how everyone craves Superman. It also keeps the relationship between Batman and Joker.

Loading up the game we're introduced to Vicki Vale (Who does a news report for each level) announcing that Bruce Wayne is up against "some bald guy from Metropolis" (Reinforcing my belief that all bald people are evil simply because the rest of the world has hair). However the Joker (In typical Joker fashion) crashes the party with the Arkham choir group, including the Penguin, Harley Quinn, the Riddler and Two-Face, with Joker claiming the award for himself and mugging everyone else, including Lex's watch.

Batman and Robin, who has suddenly appeared from somewhere, then fly through the wall. Joker, Two-Face, Penguin and Riddler escape under the stage whilst Harley Quinn stays to be our first mini boss. First of all though I used this opportunity to get used to the controls once again, by beating up henchmen, collecting studs, saving a citizen in peril, destroying stuff and building things. Once we finally get to Harley, she's fairly easy to beat, you just throw your batarang at her three times.

Going under the stage we find the musicians are still playing. They are dedicated. You can destroy their instruments to collect more studs and to advance onto the Riddler mini-boss. Wow, I can only wonder what goes through those musicians minds after that. I mean, Joker, Two-Face, Penguin and Riddler leave these guys alone, and then Batman and Robin come down and destroy their instruments! They must think Batman is a real jerk now.

Anyway, Riddler decides to play hide and seek, so this is effectively a puzzle room. We need to get past a camera without being seen. This involves using the grappling hook, travelling across the platforms, and knocking over a box so that we can build a suit pad, giving us the sensor suit; allowing us to turn invisible and  to see other characters as skeletons. Upon getting past the sensor, we then come across a point where both characters have to use their grappling hooks to progress onto the next part.


Now it's here that I noticed something off with the A.I While I did the first one, I was expecting the other character, played by the A.I, to automatically go onto the other hook, since I recall the previous games doing that, to an extent. The A.I. did not. It was a minor thing, but annoying. Now, while I am going over the first hour of gameplay, I have played beyond that. And, the A.I is one of the worst I've ever seen. Even worse then Sheva from 'Resident Evil 5', at least she moved to the other place where you needed her to use the co-op function. In 'Lego Batman 2' (LB2), the A.I doesn't even fight, it just allows the henchmen or boss or whatever to attack it. There's a later level where Batman and Robin are separated, and you need to do something with each character to help the other to progress, however, you will find that when you swap characters, you'll be sent all the way back to the last point you swapped. Sometimes the A.I may follow you,  but it is generally useless most of the time.

Back to the level, we'll eventually come across a point where Batman needs to use the x-ray vision that the sensor suit provides him, on a section where the Riddler is hiding. This reminds me of one of the Riddler's puzzles in 'Arkham City', but I'll come back to that later. After finding him three times we get to fight Riddler who, like Harley, is quite simple to beat.

Moving on we come across a bit where we unlock Robin's acrobatic suit, which enables us to get to the upper level where Two-Face appears. He then annoyingly shoots at you while you help Batman get up. Using the Batman sensor suit to destroy some things beyond the two sensors, we unlock a bit for something which requires Robin to become bubbleboy. After taking on Two-Face, who was slightly tougher than Harley and Riddler, we see Joker at the top of the stairs.

We then take on Joker (Apparently Penguin got lost) who uses his patented joy buzzer against us. Again, fairly easy, but it does end differently since you need to use x-ray vision again to send Joker flying through a wall. Upon using the zipwire however we see Joker is making his escape. Oh there's Penguin!...oh, never mind. And that's the first level.

After seeing how stunning Gotham looks in this game, we come across Batman and Robin on top of the building, whilst Joker goes round in a circle in the water in his boat. Now, unlike the previous Lego games, albeit the Lego Harry Potter games, LB2 is open world. Again, it's referencing 'Arkham City' again, and, as stated earlier, it isn't the only one. LB2 does reference 'Arkham City' numerous times, from one of the opening into logos for Telltale and Warner Brothers, the x-ray mini-puzzle involving the Riddler, a news report later, and of course the open world, heck, even promotional posters spoofed 'Arkham City'. While this was used in 'Lego Harry Potter', it does still need some getting used to. The ghost studs returning to tell you where to go though is a big help. There are mini-boss battles as well in this open world, the first being Captain Boomerang as far as I'm aware,where they can be available for purchase upon defeat. This, really was a great addition I feel, it makes you want to explore the open world.

After collecting studs and changing Batman and Robin into the sensor and acrobatic suits, we can finally unlock the terminal which allows us to use Robin's helicopter. Yeah, in a Batman game I really want to use Robin's helicopter first and not the Batplane. Doesn't matter though since Robin crashes it a few seconds later due to a searchlight. So this level involves fixing his helicopter, and once again the level starts off with the henchmen beating up the already damaged vehicle. I suppose they think they can do more damage to the vehicles than the flesh and bone Batman and Robin.

And in this level, I really got annoyed with Alfred's voice. His cough and "excuse me sir" are to draw your attention to hints throughout the game, but they also come up to tell you when you can't do things, and they kept popping up telling me I couldn't destroy the shiny objects for the time being. Well, at least not until you unlock Batman's power suit, which is in a television trailer. For some reason. Anyway after blowing stuff up we can unlock Robin's magnetic suit, which allows us to climb up the building.


And this was one of the most frustrating bits of the game, since every single time I tried to go round a corner, Robin jumps, which means he drops back to the ground and I have to do it again. It took some getting use to, but eventually I got the hang of it. Which is good because it's so easy to drop off the ledges, meaning you need to climb again. Then again climbing up the side of the building was more fun than it should have been. After doing that and getting the bits for Robin's helicopter, we see a cutscene where Batman gets his batplane, and apparently the waters surrounding Gotham have sharks. Since when did the water surrounding Gotham have sharks? Wait...Gotham has the likes of Batman, Joker, Killer Croc, Mister Freeze, Ra's Al Ghul, etc, and my main complaint is about sharks............

Anyway we then enter a vehicle type boss battle, and it's really good, I can't really remember a boss battle like this since the old Lego Star Wars games. There have probably been vehicle boss battles in the other Lego games but I can't think of them right now. It is fairly straight forward, just shoot anything that moves. We then get another boss battle with Joker, this time on land, and this one is a lot more tricky, since it involves building things, aiming, and using suit powers, while not being helped by the AI and while being shot at by Joker's missiles.

And upon defeating the Joker and hearing that Superman had fixed the hole in the wall and had put the batboat back in the water, making Robin starstruck and Batman slightly annoyed, the hour is up. And this is a great Lego game. Sure, some of the mechanics, especially the partner AI, need some work, but apart from that this is a truly enjoyable game. The voice acting delivers some new and much needed humor, the characters personalities and attitudes are brilliant, the graphics are fantastic and the story is captivating. Is it the best Lego game yet? Maybe, but it's definitely a strong contender.