Genre: Superheroes/Supervillains

Deadpool (2016) – Film Review

/ Joe Baker / Leave a comment

Extremely meta, violent and hilarious from start-to-finish, ‘Deadpool’s first on-screen appearance is exactly what hardcore fans of the character would want from their favourite potty-mouthed anti-hero. Despite being made on a lower budget than the most superhero blockbusters, ‘Deadpool’ still manages to avoid the variety of issues that may come from this by having a ‘different’ kind of appeal for superhero fans.

Plot Summary: After the wisecracking ex-mercenary; ‘Wade Wilson,’ volunteers for an experiment to save his life from cancer, only to awaken superpowered and immortal… but also very ugly, ‘Wade’ begins to track-down the man who ruined his good-looks, and execute his revenge…

Despite the narrative being very simplistic, the story is actually surprisingly engaging. Giving the audience plenty of exciting action scenes, whilst still delivering on a decent romantic subplot between ‘Deadpool’ and his girlfriend, ‘Venessa,’ even managing to give the anti-hero a decent character arc by the end of the runtime.

Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller and Stefan Kapicic are all decent in their respective roles, with Ryan Reynolds, who, portrays the protagonist; ‘Deadpool,’ extremely well, also having a hand in the production process, being a producer on the film as well as having a large impact on the screenplay, and I definitely feel he is a big reason as to why the film works as well as it does, as it’s clear that Reynolds works very well with director Tim Miller, who, I personally know for his work on Netflix’s sci-fi/horror/action anthology series; ‘Love, Death + Robots.’

The cinematography by Ken Seng is nothing spectacular, but it does have its moments. In a similar way to the editing, the cinematography can even be used for a little gag at various points within the film. The original score by ‘Junkie XL’ or Thomas Holkenborg, best known for his work on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ and ‘Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice,’ really helps back up the exciting over-the-top tone of the film, combing a rock-like soundtrack with minor, almost dubstep elements, which works perfectly for many of the action scenes throughout the runtime.

The film also delivers on plenty of the meta jokes fans would expect from this character, having many references to Ryan Reynolds past career choices, other characters from the Marvel universe, and even past iterations of ‘Deadpool’ himself, which I really enjoyed. Unfortunately, due to the film’s smaller budget, the film can have some distractingly rough visuals. Having many action scenes with tons of CGI, along with plenty of explosions and gore effects. I found myself sometimes be taken out of the film through the overuse of these visual effects. However, on a more positive note, having a smaller budget than most superhero flicks is also often used for short gag by ‘Deadpool’ himself.

Of course, with a character as loud and over-the-top as ‘Deadpool,’ it’s always possible that not everyone would find the character so likeable and funny, as sometimes the constant bombardment of humour can be overwhelming, and in large doses, I could definitely see ‘Deadpool’ becoming very irritating for some. This is really one of the only complaints I have with the film, however, and after watching this film’s underwhelming sequel; ‘Deadpool 2.’ It’s fair to say I found myself missing the original, mostly for its originality and structure.

In summary, ‘Deadpool’ delivers on what everyone would expect to see from a film like this. It’s not perfect of course, but the film does always manage to be funny, gory and exciting throughout. Not landing every joke of course, but making the audience burst into tears with every joke that it does. Overall, a great comedy/comic book flick, and I really hope films, such as ‘Deadpool,’ ‘Logan’ and ‘The New Mutants’ (should it ever be released), continue to greenlit in upcoming years, as with how oversaturated the superhero genre is today, it could really do with some more variety, now and then. Final Rating: 8/10.

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Man of Steel (2013) – Film Review

/ Joe Baker / Leave a comment

Being one of the most iconic and beloved superheroes of all-time, it was inevitable that ‘Superman’ would come to life on the silver screen once again. This time from director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Sucker Punch), a director I’m not particularly fond of due to his weak focus on storytelling and overreliance on action and CG visuals. And, unfortunately, ‘Man of Steel’ is no exception to this.

Plot Summary: ‘Clark Kent,’ an alien who as a child was evacuated from his dying world of ‘Krypton’ and soon arrived on Earth, where he began living as a normal human under his newly found parents. But, when survivors of his alien home-world invade the planet, he must reveal himself to the world…

The main issue that I have with this film is that the filmmakers seem to not understand the character of ‘Superman’ very well, as the entire film is extremely bleak, dull and even somewhat dark. In addition to this, ‘Superman’ himself actually does very little heroic acts throughout the film’s runtime. Almost the complete opposite of the original ‘Superman’ from 1978. This is even seen in the colour palette, as the film mostly uses a dark blue and grey colour palette. But, when your superhero protagonist is supposed to be a symbol of hope and heroism, this is definitely not the direction to go.

Henry Cavill, Amy Adams and Russell Crowe all give decent performances throughout the film, but sadly they never really elevate to anything above acceptable. Henry Cavill is likeable enough as the protagonist but I always found Michael Shannon’s villainous incarnation of ‘Zod’ far more interesting. As he does a great job giving his character a motivation despite how sinister it may seem, as well as making him extremely menacing, very similar to his character in ‘The Shape of Water’ in many ways.

Amir Mokri‘s cinematography throughout the film is mostly very generic cinematography for an action blockbuster, having far too much hand-held camera at points as well as shaking around constantly and utilising many quick cuts during the action scenes, making them even more difficult to follow. The film also uses many artificial zooms when ‘Superman’ is soaring through the sky, which I personally think looks abysmal.

The original score by Hanz Zimmer is easily my personal favourite element of the film, while being nothing new for this composer. Zimmer really brings his ‘A’ game here, and creates an exciting and uplifting score which sometimes really makes-up for the lack of heroism and use of bright colours in the film. I would say this soundtrack is up there as one of my favourite scores by Hans Zimmer, for sure, even playing over my favourite scene in the film when ‘Clark Kent’ learns to fly as ‘Superman’ for the first time.

However, many of the film’s action scenes don’t help the film, as the action within the film ranges from extremely entertaining, as the superpowered characters battle brutally for the fate of the planet. To sometimes being incredibly overwhelming, with constant explosions going off and CG buildings being destroyed left and right. Many of these action scenes don’t even feel very real, due to the enormous barrage of CG effects we get within them, or as ‘real’ as they can be, anyway.

In summary, ‘Man of Steel’ is a mess of a superhero film, as it almost feels like a ‘Batman’ sequel more than a ‘Superman’ film for most of its runtime. Relying very heavily on a dark colour palette and a bleak more ‘realistic’ feel. Alongside the generic cinematography and bland acting. The original score, a few actions set pieces and the occasional attractive visual, are really all the film has to offer to superhero fans. Hopefully, this iconic superhero will have his chance to grace the skies with another outstanding instalment soon. As for ‘Man of Steel,’ though, it’s a disappointing superhero outing. Final Rating: low 4/10.

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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) – Film Review

/ Joe Baker / Leave a comment

A superhero film like no other, ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ is an extremely entertaining animated adventure, filled with plenty of humour, heart and exciting action scenes throughout its runtime. All displayed through some stunning illustration-like animation which looks as if the audience was thrown straight into the colourful pages of a ‘Spider-Man’ comic book, giving every location, character and even movement/action it’s own unique visual flair.

Plot Summary: When Brooklyn teen ‘Miles Morales’ obtains strange new abilities, he soon finds himself in an unusual situation. Encountering the beloved superhero, ‘Spider-Man,’ alongside many other spider-people from multiple different dimensions, as New York City begins to collapse in on itself when a super-collider attempts to merge the other dimensions into its own…

From the opening scene of the film through to its closing credits, it’s very clear that the filmmakers behind ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ have a great love for this character, as the attention to detail throughout the film as well as the sheer amount of references to ‘Spider-Man’s long history and his enormous list of villains. The film feels like it was made for the fans, by the fans, and does a great job at expressing it.

When it comes to the cast, Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee Steinfeld and Mahershala Ali are all fantastic as their respective characters. Whether they are the villainous antagonists, or the iconic heroes we all know and love, they all give very charismatic and ranged performances, with Liev Schreiber personally being true stand out for me, portraying the villain; ‘Kingpin,’ almost as brilliantly as Vincent D’Onofrio did before him in the acclaimed ‘Daredevil’ series. Soon becoming one of the most intimidating antagonists ‘Spider-Man’ has ever faced on film. I also have to give the hilarious ‘Spider-Ham,’ portrayed by John Mulaney, an honourable mention, purely for the cartoonish and over-the-top nature of his character, which always had me laughing many times.

The animated cinematography within the film also helps back-up the incredible animation, as the film is brimming with beautiful shots throughout, many of which contain large amounts of movement as characters soar across New York City. The original score by Daniel Pemberton is also fantastic, as the soundtrack (similar to the film itself) is very unique and filled with style, blending tracks that sound as if they should be from different films entirely into one modern-day superhero flick, which is surprisingly very effective.

Even though the animation style is without a doubt one of the best elements of the film purely through its striking visuals, the action scenes throughout the film are also very impressive. Matching many of the actions scenes you’d see in your standard live-action blockbuster perfectly combined with the film’s varied colour palette and comic book style, creating many memorable and exciting moments. My personal favourite being the action scene in ‘Aunt May’s house, containing a variety of characters all in one singular small room. This is also when it becomes very clear that each version of ‘Spider-Man’ has their own completely distinct design, movements and personality, with the clear example of this being ‘Spider-Man Noir,’ portrayed by Nicolas Cage, as the character is always seen in black and white and delivers all his dialogue intensely, almost like a parody of ‘Batman.’

My only issue with the film is the lack of time some scenes are given within the narrative, as for example, some characters not from ‘Miles’ reality discover that certain people are alive/dead in the universe they have now arrived in, as this could’ve been a really interesting piece of characterisation if done well, as well as adding another emotional scene to the film’s story. Unfortunately, however, most of these moments are skimmed over, mostly due to the film’s very fast pacing.

In summary, ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ is some of the most fun I’ve had in a cinema, an absolute visual treat for the eyes alongside its original story, phenomenal animation and fantastic original score. The film truly becomes an amazing experience for any comic book or film fan. I highly recommend this one, especially if you’re a ‘Spider-Man’ fan like myself, as this is without a doubt the web-head’s best film to date. Final Rating: 9/10.

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