Review: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe issue 1

I know MOTU isn't for everyone, but I grew up with the toys, the cartoon, and comics.  I first started collecting the toys when I was in the hospital as a 3 year old after my burn accident.  Apparently (though I don't remember it) one of the times they took me out of my room for one of my treatments (which were unpleasant to say the least) balling I screamed at my dad that I wanted Beastman.  Why I screamed that, I don't know, but he got me the Beastman action figure, and almost everyone who came to visit brought me a He-Man figure of some sort.  I built up a nice little collection of them!  Since then the toy company has periodically tried to bring them back, The New Adventures of He-Man in the 80's, a new cartoon, toy and comic in the early 00's, and now they have a line of "collectors" action figures, and starting the 4th of July, a brand new comic returning to there original publisher, DC comics.  It has a bit of competition, as I thought the 2002 comic was hands down the high point for the franchise.  So how does the new comic stack up?

Well, first I'll look at the art.  Often art can make or break a comic, and in this case it's very hit and miss.  It's not terrible, but it's not consistent either.  There are a few gorgeous pictures of Beastman in the issue, including one really stand out splash page.  The art however changes from one panel to the next, and some pictures are real angular and lacking detail.  The first couple pages (the dream sequence) are out right terrible.  Another thing to note is the redesigns on the characters.  Some of the colors are changed, some have new oddly segmented armor, and almost all of them seem to have random patches of scale mail armor added, and all I can say is WHY?  If you are going to do redesigns, at least do GOOD redesigns (see the 2002 comic).  It's no surprise that the best picture in the book is Beastman who's design unlike the rest is almost unchanged.  On the the plus side however, the cover is spectacular, and about as iconic and quintessential He-Man as you can possibly get.  If only the rest of the book had stuck stayed on par with the cover and the pictures of Beastman.  A few small bits I did like, the basic design of "woodsman" Adam, and the brief look we get of his father (apparently Randor??  though I could be wrong)  Oh, and the COMPLETE over haul of Teela into a generic blond in a metal bikini?  Are you KIDDING ME?  What lame brain came up with that?

Now, onto the story, which ironically, can ALSO make or break a comic.  While it is nothing stand out here, we're on much better footing then the art.  The basic gist is that at some point, Skeletor won, and somehow erased everyone's mind, leaving Adam thinking he's a lowly wood cutter with no memory of being He-Man.  This starts to change however when he has dreams of his former life, and sees a mysterious falcon in the woods.  This spurs him on a sort of self identity quest, and he attempts to leave his forest, only to run into Beastman who is apparently supposed to prevent him from leaving-- battle ensues!  Nothing complicated, and not great, but it does have a sort of classic fantasy feel to it, and better, it allows a reader to follow Adam and discover the world of Eternia for the first time through his eyes, making this extremely accessible to someone new to the world.  Apart from that though, this is just a small piece of the story, and I can't give a more detailed and thoughtful review until I've read a few more issues, and get a clearer picture of where they are going.  Over all a solid, if not exactly stellar opening to what COULD be a very promising story.

Final Grade - 3.5 out of 5 stars

Review of Prometheus

FINALLY saw Prometheus.  Very interesting movie.  While I loved it, it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea.  Unlike most big budget summer flicks these days, not everything is spelled out.  Some pieces of info are only given in fleeting, blink and you'll miss it moments.  Some pieces you have to figure out by putting the other pieces together.  And some pieces you are just left to guess at.  This is a movie you have to think about to make sense of, and in the end, some of what you take away will only be interpretation.  I really enjoyed the ambiguity, but some will hate it.  For my money, it lets me play a part in the making of the story.

Acting wise, no one really comes across as a stinker here, there are a few who come across a bit bland though.  Shaw is certainly capable, but no where near as compelling as Sigourney was in the mostly comprable part.  That might be more in her character though then the actor.  Her love interest was really flat though.  Fortunately there are also a few really stand out performances.  Michael Fassbender is the obvious show stealer as the ships android David who has a sinister agenda.  Charlize Theron as Vickers also turns in great work, even if her character is a written a little on the nose.  My top pick though goes to Captain Janek played by Idris Elba (you may remember him as Heimdall from Thor.  He has a much smaller part, a sort of blue collar esque captain of the ship who contrasts all of the more scientisty types and corporate folk.  He puts an amazing amount of heart into his small role.

Directing wise, the beginning feels a little rushed, but then things settle out a bit, giving a little uneveness to the pacing, but nothing too bad.  The art direction is among some of Ridley's best, and stands up well with the likes of Alien, Bladerunner, and Legend.  This is MUCH better then the last Ridley Scott film I caught, Robin Hood.

Then it all comes down to script.  Wow.  Like I said before, this is a film you really have to work at, and in the end you even have to come up with some of the answers yourself.  The film is very interested in themes of religion, though it does hide some of this.  We learn (on Christmas no less) that the "Engineers" who presumably genetically engineered all life on Earth, 2000 years ago decided to destroy humanity, but some terrible catastrophe prevented them from doing so.  Hmmmmmm, what could have happened 2000 years ago that would upset our creator???  The script I think is going to be the sticking point.  I loved it.  It doesn't DIRECTLY tie in to the Alien movies, but it does reveal more of the mythology...  IE we still don't know how the Aliens got on the planet in Alien (this takes place on a different planet, with presumably a different though similar ship, but it DOES tell us more about who the beings are that presumably created the Aliens, and we learn us too).  This is a different story, but the connection is still there.

Over all, I think a 4-4.5 out of 5 stars is in order, with the caveat that some people will absolutely HATE this movie due to it's drenching in ambiguity.  I'm just not one of those people!

P.S.  If something is coming right at you to squash you, don't keep running forward, run to the side!!!  Classic hollywood blunder!

Review of the Avengers

It's been a long time since i've written a movie review, and I know Avengers has been out for a week now, but still I felt like puttin up my thoughts.

I'm going to have to buck with popular opinion on this one.  Now, don't get me wrong, I still liked it, but it sure doesn't top out the Marvel Movie Universe films for me.  I think it actually goes toward the bottom, above Iron Man 2, but below the rest (that's right, I even place The Incredible Hulk above this).

Okay, let's get the painful stuff out of the way first.  My biggest issue, and I admit that there's not much that could be done as it's pretty much the very nature of the film, is there are so many characters that none get explored very much, and the story is particularly flat.  It goes something like this, Bad guy (Loki) shows up with generic "plan" to conquer or something.  Bad a$$ (Nick Fury) forms team to stop bad guy.  The team can't get along, and there squabbles enable Loki to....um.....further whatever it is he's doing.  Then all hell breaks lose, but the team comes together to save the day.  That actually makes it sound even more complicated then it plays out!

The nature of the Marvel universe has always been one of flawed super heroes, and they make a go of it here.  Perhaps it's an attempt at "drama" but the way it comes across is several caricatures that all have an issue of some sort, and they all try to "work them out", I.E., an hour and a half of grown men (and a woman) bickering until the big showdown!  Also of note, the utterly BLAND music.  Terrible score!

Okay, now to the good stuff!  While the characters are underdeveloped, and the story is by nature shallow, all the actors come across fairly nicely.  If you've seen the other Marvel Movie Universe films, the characters work for the most part.  While they are undeveloped in this movie IF you've watched the others, they work just fine.  Even Scarlett Johanson is okay acting wise here, and I usually don't care for her (HATED her in Iron Man 2).  I think the director probably gets credit there for pulling good performances all around.  On special note is Bruce Banner/The Hulk.  He comes across as the only actual "character" in the film as opposed to a caricature.  They really cracked the Hulk, which 2 films down already shows him to be a hard character to figure out.  The action, expertly done.  You can actually tell what's going on.  Great special effects, and good dialogue.  Seriously, Joss Whedon was born to write dialogue, and his skills shine through on that one!  The film also has something lacking in a lot of movies these days, fun!  So many films are so dower these days, and a sense of fun is a real breath of fresh air!

So, final score, 3.5 out of 5 stars!

On a side note, here is how I rate the Marvel Universe films from best to worst.

Thor
Iron Man
Captain America
The Incredible Hulk
The Avengers
Iron Man 2 (a long way below the rest)