TheDragonTrader

Blue Eye Samurai is fun and impressive but also inconsistent and Hollywoodian. Its flaws are not necessarily problematic if you don't think twice about its structure, characters, and plot.

Firstly, the production and art direction should be praised, as the series features solid animation that doesn't let a thing like logic get in the way of a cool visual. The cast is well-suited for their characters, and their voice acting is well-executed. The score by Amy Doherty is epic and atmospheric, yet the snippets of anachronistic music are an acquired taste. Overall, this series is lots of fun to watch.

But digging deeper into the story uncovers that it misses some crucial opportunities.

Blue Eye Samurai is a cliché tale of revenge by an outcast. Its first episode promises to spin this out in new, exciting ways. But the series never matches the quality of its first impressions - although it's never tedious.

What follows is several filler episodes of fun and games. It wastes an entire episode on a break-in that could have been summarized in 5 minutes. Meanwhile, Mizu (the protagonist) repeatedly recovers from an ungodly number of fatal wounds, and antagonists poof in and out of existence at any place when the plot needs them. Oh, and what's up with all the unnecessary nudity?

The most problematic flaw, however, is that the Wikipedia page of the actual events depicted in its final episode is more interesting than what the series did with it. Season 1 culminates in a predictable confrontation with a routine moral message.

Still, I am thirsty for more samurai action. After all, who can resist such mindless fun?

Although it pretends to unveil something profound, She Came to Me is a surprisingly average feel-good comedy. Meanwhile, its shallow dialogue and problematic plot aside, it is still charming and funny, likely because of the well-suited cast.

This movie has several different storylines that eventually get tied together. However, this is done in ways that require increasing suspension of disbelief. In addition, they mostly keep existing next to each other without much interaction. There is no clear message - if there is one at all.

But mostly, there are too few opera scenes. The movie starts on it, then makes a point out of the Tugboat-witch opera, and then forgets about opera entirely until the finale. In short, it has too many loose ends, which makes the search for a consistent thread not worth the audience's time.

That is not to say She Came to Me isn't funny or charming, but it again can't choose whether it wants to be mostly one or the other. Comedic scenes are needlessly interrupted by emotionally intense moments. The result is an uneven, bumpy viewing experience. At the same time, the story dallies on beats that were already abundantly clear several scenes earlier.

Yet the protagonist trio is thoroughly well-cast. Peter Dinklage gets to bask in discomfort and to nearly cry out "woe be me". Anne Hathaway is hilariously pushed into a nervous breakdown, but her character never develops character. Marisa Tomei sets down the most down-to-earth witch ever put on screen. They're never out of touch with the script or each other.

Overall, She Came to Me is as average as they come: amusing but nothing to get enthusiastic about.

James Mangold is no master of blocking, and show-don't-tell is not his forte. However, he does have lots of fun with the material. The Dial of Destiny is farfetched, action-packed, and witty. Also, the score by John Williams makes up for many of its flaws.

It should be noted that the Dial of Destiny is indebted to video games that were themselves indebted to the original Indiana Jones movies. Some moments feel, stylistically and action-wise, like moments from the Uncharted or Assassin's Creed games. That's not bad, just odd.

Especially the de-aged scenes get stuck in this uncanny valley because the special effects aren't perfect - although well executed. Overall, the overreliance on CGI makes all action scenes feel somewhat synthetic. Notably, the chase through Tangiers slightly resembled the chase for the scrolls from the animation film The Adventures of Tintin. Again, great fun, but odd.

Of course, the plot is cliché and farfetched - as it should be. Yet where the old movies left some of it to mysticism and left its characters with their feet on the ground, this one culminates in a concrete Marvelesque finale. Still fun. But is it really better than aliens?

I said it once. I said it twice. And I'll say it again. The Dial of Destiny is thoroughly enjoyable, but odd.

And finally, post-colonialism makes us wonder: does it belong in a museum?