Wirxaw

I believe there's a good movie in there somewhere. Like there's a heart, the heart in the right place. Asking the right questions, giving the right answers, making the right point. At its core, at its basis - this iteration of Superman is indeed the best.

Unfortunately - that core is buried within layers and layers of.... detritus. Rot. Filth. Of modern cinema and culture. It's like at the core - the production wanted this to be an honest to god Superman movie. And they did everything they could to appeal to those... uhm... fans. Granted that it looks ugly, petty, tasteless and much less cool than the good days of Iron Man, Avengers or Dark Knight(or, let's be honest, even Green Lantern - yes, I said that) - but I can't deny that DC needs some blood flow, some personality, some bone to its... key member. It tried hopelessly countless times, countless iterations and attempts - yet it couldn't find a face to carry its cinematic universe. And now they went all in. Now or never. If this doesn't make you a supe fan - ... well, that just means that you are a healthy human.

Now on to the rotten layers. The first one is perhaps debatable, because it's kind of one of the movie's strengths - its amount of characters and action scenes. Because if Man of Steel was just... toys punching each other through CGI, with far too anime-like battles that just do not translate to live-action - this Superman actually has some diversity of CGI superpowers. And that alone makes it a head above most superhero movies, especially standalone. They kind of made a non-standalone standalone movie. So I'll give them props for that, it was the right choice to make, but...

Well, now really to the rotten parts. So - that amount of characters and "lore dump" is far too big for an origin story. Of course, it's not like people should expect superhero patricide for the sake of superhero patricide for the umpteenth time, but to build something - you need to start with a foundation. And while I have mentioned that there is some foundation, some basis, some good core in here, unfortunately it's not solidified - it's just dumped into diluted cement. Maybe some ultra nerd who's into comics - would lose their mind over seeing some niche nonsensical comic detail. But anyone else would cringe at best, or be downright disenfranchised at worst. I mean, if they gave Green Lantern or Catwoman so much flak back then for creative liberties and directional choices - then could I please have Man of Steel back? At least that punching made "some" sense.

Next - the presentation. Again, very contrast to Man of Steel - now they tried Guardians of the Galaxy. Except for... the writing, the taste, the style. The entire movie is super positive, with silly jokes and gags and a ton of characters rarely do something more than comedic relief. And in the right setting - it works. Shrek, same Guardians, maybe even Justice League for what it's worth. Not here though. You can't take the movie seriously when it shows a disaster that people shoot on their phones. Because right the next moment the movie tries to picture Superman as super caring, saving every, and I mean every worthless god damn life. It's like on one hand it takes the notes from Man of Steel, but on the other - it twists and just inverts them. And while Superman has done quite... disturbing things if your brain is still intact in the past - it's like the producers decided that they have to one up the previous incarnation. And the result is probably as dumb as Quantumania. And that's saying something.

Finally - the politics. One would think that inventing an imaginary conflict for Superman to assert himself over is very much in-character. But the direction... the details, the characters... It's very clear that the producers had a "very" clear agenda. And yet they wonder why does the movie perform bad internationally. I won't go into details, but it's ironic how a super sunny, super contrast color-graded Superman has to stoop to... Red Sparrow for writing clues. Just another layer of rot on a movie that could've been.

And, almost forgot - the dog. It's in the trailer anyway. But that alone is worth at least -2 stars for me. It was... painful to watch. I'm sure there are probably nerds happy about it, and generally ladies wowing over a cute pupper, but... for god's sake... it's one more layer of emersion. In a movie that tries to establish a character, a franchise, a setting - that thing wasn't necessary. Many things were, but not that. And, ahem... there's worse to come.

So, in the end... I heard a lot of praise for actors and for the movie, I came with high hopes, and to an extent - they were met. I can see parts of what others see in this movie. Unfortunately - I do not see a DC revival in this. They may try, they have to. And the fans would support them. But this foundation is rotten. What goes around comes around. People may be blinded by all the orchestrated effort of fanbaiting - but the reality is that this is just another movie of marvel phase... whatever came after 3. This isn't Nolan. Or Snyder. This isn't Raimi.

I know it's technically directed by Gunn, and the comparisons to Guardians are logical. But either he lost his touch, or he just couldn't do better with what DC has. Can't ask a pastry chef to roast some beef. Which is sad, because as I said - there is good in this movie. If they had kept to the basics - the character growth, the sidekicks, the reasonable action scenes for reasonable purposes, and had cut off all the stupid mutt parts, let alone the political defecation... It could've been good. A proper Superman revival. Return to form, as the slur goes.

But that's not it. And if in some years, after plenty of sequels, plenty of gloating - people would notice the deterioration, I would remind them that I saw it from the beginning. There's only so much money that can be milked out of the desire to milk, instead of making art. Until then - I tip my hat to Lex.

I am a big fan of the original. I have no idea idea about the source material books. And I was a huge skeptic of the 2014 sequel. But even I was disgusted by this nonsense when it premiered. According to IMDB - I even thought it was 6\10.

Well, six years later, after the premiere of the... half-decent adaptation of the original HTTYD - I rewatched the whole trilogy just to... clear that bad aftertaste of the adaptation, and maybe get a new perspective on the trilogy from the height of the age.

I don't need to mention the qualities of the original, and I have to admit that I have reconsidered the sequel. For all intents and purposes - now it feels like a sequel, crafted by the same writer, with the same characters and new challenges. I had my doubts before, because of the creative liberties that it took, but all in all - they mostly make sense within the context of the franchise.

And then comes this... abomination. Straight off the bat - it feels like a spin-off. Like it was made by different people, even written like a fanfic from the wrong places. Alas - it's the same Dean. Dean DeBlois. Who wrote the original, the sequel, the adaptation.

I just... I don't get it. The original was literally hand-crafted. Every scene, every frame was like a clip to Powell's gorgeous sound tracks. And the sequel tried to match that for the most part.

This isn't the case with Hidden World. Nothing here feels hand-crafted. Not a single scene feels like it was designed to be emotional. Unless it's an underhanded provocation that makes no scene. Previous movies had dramatic scenes, touching scenes, heroic and glorious scenes. There is none of that here.

I can understand the synopsis. The idea of "another fury" was hinted at even in the sequel, and there's only one way to develop the characters after part 2. But why do these characters, who aren't kids anymore, who were legal age enough even in the sequel, who lived through... well... a lot - behave like... some podunk, third-rate TV drama material?

Why does a series called "How To Train Your Dragon" suddenly introduce the *migrant crisis* as the main narrative element? I mean, come on, it's in the name. The entire concept of the series is about Dreamworks' Stitch. Designed by Sanders, with all the same quirks and goals. What does "migrant crisis" and "Lilo and Stitch" have in common? For crying out loud - even the latter's adaptation didn't go that far, and they tried!

I know that many people are cherishing this absurdity. Maybe their tearducts are on short notice, or they have forgotten how to use their brain, or they do not have any idea about what made the originals... original, or they just thought "well, if DeBlois thinks that this is where it ends, then so be it"... Or maybe they were gaslit.

Ignoring the senseless narrative, assuming that "to hell with it, you want to kill the franchise, there are worse ways to do it"(Disney be my witness) - the problem is that this movie is bad on its own. Previous movies had a soul, a plan, a structure. Even the sequel's characters were there to make a point. Which they did.

But here - all the supporting cast are acting like buffons that haven't aged a day, that have been made more useless than ever. Like it's some... Sponge Bob or something. It's like... imagine you are playing a game. You start with a couple of skills. You are hitting your first boar. Obviously you aren't a hero. Then you get a quest to get the mount skill, you go through an epic cutscene that teaches you how great mounts can be - and later, at a higher level, you do new horizons of content, with more skills.

Well, this movie has it reversed. Everyone is in full purples and behaving like they have... 1 skill now, instead of 2. Where there were moral choices, leadership decisions - there's now only the traits of bad writing of "X happened then Y happened" instead of "X happened, therefore Y must happen". The entire appeal of the movie is... well, on the poster, and in the title. You sit through all that nonsense(and the nonsense begins at the first minutes and doesn't stop) just to see... what was advertised. You wanted to see it since the sequel. But suddenly the movie ends about as abruptly as it began and you are just wondering - where have you made the wrong turn. Like you are playing an RPG, you have built the right character, you have picked the right plot points, you have beaten the final encounter, you are ready for the good stuff. And then you watch the ending and suddenly realize "oh, I have forgotten to do that side quest, or I misclicked that lore choice" and you just facepalm, because the entire journey no longer makes any sense.

Most bad movies can at least be honestly bad. You may like them for being "so bad that it's good", you may despise them. But then there is a caste of movies that intend to gaslight you. To make some kind of cult of people who "got them" and turn them against all the naysayers. Like Prometheus or Tenet, just to name a couple. People would defend these movies against all reason, because they are somehow on the same wavelength with the authors(or at least that's what these people believe).

And that's what saddens me the most about Hidden World. It tries to do the same. Except for instead of some plot twists or absurdity of the lore - it wants to use emotions to gaslight people. It wants people to feel bad about thinking against this "glorious conclusion". And that's not how a good franchise is supposed to end.

After watching the first season of Vox Machina years ago - I didn't... feel like it deserves a second thought. So I forgot about it, and only now have cared enough to watch the new seasons.

And I maintain my impression, the show is just so... average. Nothing to severely criticize, nothing to praise. With all the screentime in the world, the ultimate story is just that... a filler. A filler based on the natural D&D filler. Nothing good comes out of D&D. Classics, but not cult-classics. That's what D&D legacy is for - to do the setting justice.

Perhaps the three main ways to describe Vox Machina is: "cute korean animation", "plenty of body humor" and "D&D setting".

But there is no specialty to the animation, like Arcane. I hate that show passionately, especially for how pretentious it is, but I have to admit that it had "strengths" that this diluted slop doesn't have.

There is no good story. How I wish for DotA: Dragon's Blood to go on, but they've managed to tell an incomparably better story in 24 episodes of the same korean animation of the same length... than this by now 36-episode slop can not "get to the point".

Music is good, Neil Acree is a Blizzard legend, but his music here is more thematic, almost trailer-like.

The show is like a snack. You enjoy consuming it, realizing that it's not some delicacy to like or dislike, but just a daily grub. Like Simpsons.

And on top of that, season 3 seemed to force ideology. I could forgive one pair of characters, who were hinted at before, and one relatively "original" character - but they went further. On purpose. Trying to write ideology not where it makes sense, but where it can fit without raising too many alarms. But there is no forgiveness for that. Two seasons they knew how to keep it diverse, but civil, then someone gave them the order, and forever marred this show, which otherwise could deserve a 7.

So, again, do not be fooled by the empty positive praise. There's nothing to praise here. It can only be consumed. And it's not the worst thing to consume.

Although one personal note is that I couldn't help but feel like Vax is like an old Sokka from Avatar. Maybe it's the character, maybe the animation. That alone meant more to me than any D&D tropes.