Andrew426

I was one of the lucky few that knew who Kerr was prior to this film's release, and had watched the original Smashing Machine documentary. I'm glad a legend of the sport is getting a much deserved resurgence in attention thanks to this movie, and Dwayne does a great job portraying him, despite the age gap. The real Mark Kerr's cameo at the end of the film was the cherry on top, glad to see he's doing okay.

I went in expecting a pretty by the mil combat sports movie about a guy on top of the world who has to deal with his demons outside the ring (cage), and for the most part its what I got. That's not to say its bad by any margin, however, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I know contrarians will say that this is just an ego project from Rocky, but surely thats exactly what his last several films were, not this one! He actually TRIES for once and he's good! Not award-worthy, but good! No complaints from me.

However, I was surprised at how many scenes were copy/pasted straight from that original documentary. You could tell some of the dialogue was just verbatim from some of those irl interviews. I would have preferred the film to exclude those and

Fight choreography wasn't the best, either. Too many jump cuts in-between and you can never really get settled watching any fight scenes in the film, as they are over as quick as they start (I know Mark's real fights were like that, but I feel like they could have been portrayed a little better on film than this). A Prayer Before Dawn this is not. But that's not really the point. The point is Kerr's personal issues, his addiction to painkillers and his tumultuous relationship with his girlfriend.

Though Kerr had his faults with how tetchy he was at times, I have to side with my wife on this one. Emily Blunt's character was incredibly needy and it made it hard to sympathise with her. Your boyfriend is making huge money in a very dangerous and stressful profession and just came out of rehab and needs all the support he can get but because he's not paying full attention to you and being slightly passive aggressive due to withdrawals your going to keep freaking out on him? Perhaps in real life it was more complicated than that, but the film didn't do a very good job at conveying this.

It would have been interesting to see the unfortunate latter half of Kerr's fighting career be portrayed on film, but to be honest I don't think Kerr himself would have been too comfortable with that. All in all, im just glad hes living a happy life.

I was also pleasantly surprised at Ryan Bader's acting chops, too. Though Dwayne is front and center, it should be noted that Mark Coleman plays a pretty integral part of the film and Bader excels as a supporting character. I was surprised at how good he was in the role.

Bas Rutten, bless him, is playing himself from 25 years ago and I cant lie, he's looking a little old. That being said im glad they didnt cast someone else. They would never be able to match Bas' natural charisma.

And of course the champ himself Usyk appears, too which was fun to see. I also really liked the time-capsule aesthetic of 90's Japan. There's a lot to enjoy from this film, MMA enthusiast or not.

Overall, a predictable, but still really fun watch. Probably a 7 in general but I give it an extra star just for the novelty of it being about early MMA.

Atmospherically, this game is a 10/10. A small Showa-era Japanese village has been fully realized in-game, and the setting almost reminds me of the 60's Japanese horror film Onibaba with how the eerie remoteness of its setting is weaponized to full effect. This is a game you HAVE to play with headphones. It is very immersive.

Gameplay was unique in that it was primarly combat focused, but made the right steps to not end up like another Homecoming. Although i would have preferred more scares, what we got in terms of gameplay isn't all bad and a decent step forward. Just bring back some real psychological horror next time with some blood curdling setpieces, not just repeated encounters with reskinned monsters.

For what it was, despite not being particularly subtle, I enjoyed the story. Hinako was a great lead with a great actor at the helm. How the game starts with her leaving her abusive parent's house to just suddenly exploring the unusually desolate village where everyone had disappeared was classic Silent Hill. In fact, it even got a little scary at the beginning having to avoid these grotesque creatures through narrow corridors, but that was before I picked up a lead pipe and beat the thing im supposed to be afraid of into a pulp with ease.

However, the side-characters and the way they interact with each other didnt have that uncanny valley effect i was hoping for - exchanges felt more anime-centric in their delivery and a little corny instead of aloof. The Fox-masked guy was hard tonal whiplash for a Silent Hill game too, and felt out of place. All the otherworld sections for that matter failed to hold my attention, unlike the village itself.

Unfortunately the biggest flaw this game has is its lack of enemy variety and really interesting setpieces which I can only assume is due to budgetary issues.

Every enemy has a reskinned version of itself slapped together, sometimes multiple times, as a lame attempt to differentiate them. The mannequins were pretty scary at first, until i realized id be fighting them throughout the entire game. Even the scarecrows used the exact same animations when they really needed a new design.

Overall, it is refreshing to finally see an original SH game out after all these years that actually branches out and tries something new. Whatever comes next, im looking forward. Just make it scarier, please.

I love the uncanny valley Silent Hill 2 vibes this film has throughout. There is an overarching feeling of unease that dominates the entirety of this movie and it works masterfully.

I know its a little bloated, but I just cant bring myself to dislike this film. It's so creative and charming. I'll never get tired of the "trapped in a remote foreign institution" trope, and our main character unraveling this labyrinthine mystery with a horror-style backdrop is genuinely interesting. By the end of the film it almost felt like an epic grim fairytale of sorts.

There really isn't a movie I've watched quite like it. A lot will dismiss this as a worse Shutter Island, but I think it has enough going for it to stand on its own.