Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021) movie review

Overall verdict: 9/10

The Good: Captivating visuals, intense action, dynamic camerawork, top notch visual effects, witty energetic dialogue, decently paced,  near perfect portrayal of comic book characters, great acting.

The Bad: repetitive background music, lacks thematic depth of previous Zack Snyder movies.

***********Review***********

ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE is the version of 2017’s JUSTICE LEAGUE without the notorious reshoots and rewrites. Longer, prettier, and more cohesive, it is still very much the same movie in terms of the story’s broad strokes. Superman has died saving the world and a deadly alien warlord known as Steppenwolf seizes this opportunity to commence his conquest of earth by tracking down 3 powerful artefacts known as the Motherboxes. Meanwhile Batman, racked with guilt for his part leading up to Superman’s death, hopes to atone for it by gathering a team of super powered individuals to combat this looming threat. 

 To go into the controversy surrounding 2017’s Justice League and the journey leading up to the release of ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE would require a whole separate article or several. Hence this review will only be about this movie and how it holds up on its own. The answer to that is “very well”. It holds up as a definitive sequel to 2016’s BATMAN V SUPERMAN, taking place immediately after the tragic events of that movie with a slow burn almost mystery style build up before Steppenwolf makes his first appearance. 

Meanwhile we are slowly introduced to the 3 new heroes: the Aquaman aka Arthur Curry, the Flash aka Barry Allen and Victor Stone aka The Cyborg. Structurally the movie is split into 7 chapters and I love how this mimics the experience of reading a comic book series issue by issue. The build up is a nicely paced one balancing the looming threat of Steppenwolf with the separate character plot threads. Just as it starts to overstay its welcome, we are thrown headlong into the first of many action scenes. 

Zack Snyder is in his element here! The action is intense with dynamic camerawork and amazing displays of power. Visual effects are used a lot but thanks to the masterful color grading and stylised lighting, they look very good. Steppenwolf himself is amazing in motion, a true beast of a villain brought to life by some of the best CGI work in a movie to date thanks to WETA Digital studio. One of Steppenwolf’s earliest sequences that stood out was the Amazon warriors defending a motherbox against him. 

Where one of Joss Whedon’s rewrites in 2017’s JUSTICE LEAGUE made the Amazons’ fear of Steppenwolf and his parademons a plot point, this version returns the Amazon women to the fearless fighters first seen in 2017’s WONDER WOMAN. Though clearly outmatched and overwhelmed, the valiant Amazon women fought with such strength and resolve in a style harkening back to Snyder’s 300. 

 At just over 4 hours, Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE is split into separate chapters, mimicking the experience of reading issues of a comic book series. Though the first and second chapter do jump around a bit as it does with introducing and fleshing out different characters, the plot threads come together as one cohesive whole once the heroes are all gathered by the third chapter. Every hero has their chance to shine, their own personal arcs, fleshed out and developed very well, taking full advantage of the long run time. 

Dialogue and interactions are done with that sense of wit and energy befitting the work of academy award winning scriptwriter Chris Terrio. Thanks to that, Ben Affleck’s Batman, Ezra Miller’s Flash and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg are the real standout performances. Affleck portrays a Batman that is uncannily close to his comic counterpart, having abandoned his more extreme violent methods seen in Batman V Superman. 

The way he talks, the body language, his leadership of this new team of superheroes, straight out the comics. Now Miller’s Flash is living proof that you do not need overt jokes and slapstick humor to be funny. Instead of being portrayed as this bumbling comic relief, Barry Allen is smart, witty, still a little awkward but in a charming sort of way. His expressiveness sells every scene whether lighthearted or tragic. 

And finally Ray Fisher. His role got the most cut out of it previously but here it is al restored. Taking cues from the more tragic Cyborg character originally conceived by writer Marv Wolfman, Vic Stone’s origin story, angst and troubled relationship with his father are played out perfectly by this amazing actor. 

 That is not to say that the other 3 heroes of Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Superman turn in weak performances no. It is just that they have less to do in the plot. Diana is the emotional pillar of strength that the team rallies around and Aquaman is the cynical gruff foil to The Flash’s idealistic personality. Superman is in the movie for even less but his presence is a strong one with his return, reunion with his loved ones and journey of rediscovery is very emotional. But once the action ramps up, it is these 3 who deliver the most on the larger than life epic action. 

 Epic is exactly what Zack Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE is! It delivers in all respects, concluding a journey started in 2013’s MAN OF STEEL while still leaving enough room for any possible future expansions. The only area where I might nitpick a couple of short comings (and this are very minor nitpicks too) is in the often repetitive sounding music by Tom Holkenborg and that this movie is not as thematically deep as Snyder’s past movies. It does dip in to some questions on the morality of exercising absolute power in Cyborg’s case but that’s about it. 

 Beyond those nitpicks, I adored the grandiose almost operatic feel of this movie. Yes it is long and I feel that length is appropriate for a movie of this scale. However if there was just maybe a Cyborg origin movie before this, the movie could have easily been trimmed down to a more comfortable length. Nonetheless, This is “Lord of the Rings” for superhero movies. A true visual feast! I loved every minute of it and I would happily watch ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE again and again just to unpackage all the little details in there. Or at least until my HBO GO subscription expires. 

***********Review***********

Entertainment: A

Story: A-
Acting: A

Characters: A

Music: B-

Replay value: A

"Brains": B-

Robotech II: The Sentinels (1988) OVA movie

Overall verdict: 6/10

The Good:  Decent character design, good voice acting, more natural character interactions, serves as an intriguing pilot movie, nostalgic revisiting of classic characters.

The Bad: inconsistent artwork, horrible pacing, over use of repeated animation, some questionable new designs.

***********Review***********

ROBOTECH II: THE SENTINELS was meant to be the start of a new series following the adventures off the ROBOTECH: THE MACROSS SAGA characters on an expedition mission the the far reaches of space. 

A myriad of reasons caused production to be halted and only less than 3 episodes worth of material was ever completed. Despite the various setbacks, Harmony gold edited the remaining completed material into a 75 minute feature meant to bridge the gap between the first and second Robotech sagas. 

Following the defeat of the giant Zentradi armada, the remaining Zentradi have joined forces with the humans to build a massive vessel, the SDF-3. They intend to reach the home-world of the Robotech Masters, the masterminds behind the Zentradi invasion, and establish peaceful relations with them. 

Thanks to the truncated nature of the completed animation, the movie is split into two story arcs. The first takes place around earth. As the heroes of the first Robotech war prepare for their interstellar voyage, new heroes try to earn their place among those chosen for the expedition. 

Here we are introduced to the hot headed Jack Baker and the intelligent and spirited Karen Penn. Re-introduced are the characters from the Macross saga like Rick Hunter and Lisa Hayes, who are in the midst of planning their wedding. Fans would no doubt get a kick out of seeing their favorite characters, older but instantly recognisable as the same people they knew and loved.

The second story arc takes place around Tirol, the home-world which the Robotech Masters abandoned to search for the lost protoculture matrix, leaving their old, sick and young behind. 

The invid led by the dreaded Regent (husband of the Regiss) takes this opportunity to launch an all out invasion of Tirol. Amidst the decimation, an aging scientist called Cabell and a familiar looking man named Rem try to survive and carry on their research.

As expected, the earth scenes featuring the recurring macross saga characters are pretty much all talk and no action other than a combat simulation at the beginning.

 Most of the action takes place during the Tirol invasion scenes. Thankfully the voice actors put up an excellent performance and the script keeps the dialog very natural preventing the slower scenes from feeling dull.

Many fans have lamented the lower quality animation but really, the artwork is no less inconsistent than what was in the original series and the animation is actually on par with the The Masters season. It is sub par for a movie but one must remember that Robotech II The Sentinels was produced as a TV series. 

While there are scenes with better than usual animation, such as the opening sequence with Jack Baker and Rick Hunter flying their Alphas, there are also a lot of animation short cuts, repeated animation to pad out the run time, and even unfinished animation.


Another common complaint is the altered character designs for the returning Macross saga characters. Keep in mind that this show takes place 8 years after Macross saga. Eight years can do a lot to someone's appearance especially characters like Rick Hunter and Lynn Minmei who went from teenagers to full adults. 

If anything, the changes in appearances of said characters gives a sense of realism of the series, showing that characters do not remain immortally young unlike other TV animated shows.

Visual changes aside, the music was also changed for this movie. There is much more reliance on synthesiser music which can be a mixed bag. This style is great for fast paced scenes, or scenes involving the alien invid. Outside of those, the music sounds like something out of a generic video game. 

While this show does provide some answers for fans, no one else but fans who have watched the original series would be able to understand it. Furthermore The Sentinels concludes rather abruptly; actually showing the SDF-3 leaving earth would have been a much more fulfilling conclusion but given the limited resources available, this is also not unexpected.

Despite the valiant effort of the creative team, Robotech II: The Sentinels loses points for its abrupt ending, inconsistent story and mediocre animation for a movie. It serves as a decent enough teaser for any fan looking to follow the rest of the unfinished tale in the Robotech novels or comics. 

For fans of Robotech, watching Robotech II The Sentinels would be like returning to visit a family that one has not seen in years. It is a quick simple visit to catch up on old times and marvel at how much they have changed over the years, nothing more nothing less.



***********Review***********

Entertainment: B-
Art: C-
Animation: C

Story: C+
Voice Acting (English): A 

Characters: B

Music: B-

Replay value: B-
"Brains": D-

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) movie review

Overall verdict: 6/10

The Good:  great special effects, detailed monster designs, touches on deeper themes, retroactively creates a shared universe

The Bad: unlikable characters, bland plot, repetitive music, cartoonish fight scenes, mediocre acting from main cast

***********Review***********

GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS has the honor of being the only “sequel” to exist in the Millennium era of the long running Godzilla franchise. Taking place a year after the events of GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA, Tokyo SOS sees the return of not only fan favorite Mothra but of late actor Hiroshi Koizumi reprising the role of Dr Shinichi Chujo from the 1961 movie MOTHRA.

With the Mechagodzilla named Kiryu undergoing hasty repairs in preparation for Godzilla’s return, Mothra’s fairies, the Shobijin, appear to Dr Chujo, his grandson, and his nephew Yoshito, with a warning that using the bones of the previous Godzilla in the construction of Kiryu was an affront to the natural order of the universe and if the bones are returned to the sea, Mothra would take Kiryu’s place as Japan’s defender.

Of course the Japanese government is reluctant to give up the one weapon capable of defeating Godzilla, and have much less faith in Mothra’s capabilities. As Godzilla returns to wreak havoc, those capabilities will be put to the test alongside an increasingly unstable Kiryu that is still haunted by its memories of its death back in 1954.

In its overall premise, TOKYO SOS shows a lot of potential. It goes back to the “humanity’s sins returning to punish them” theme that was prevalent in the first Godzilla movie. It also promises an exploration of two common contrasting reactions to disasters: faith in the divine (embodied by the fairies asking for japan to trust in Mothra) and a pride driven reliance on human capability and self determinism (embodied by the government’s refusal to scrap Mechagodzilla).

 Where the film could have delved deep into these themes, deconstructing both or showing how they can coexist hand in hand, it instead drops the ball in favour of cliched storytelling and characters.

Rather than continuing the previous movie’s character development, those already shallow characters are ditched in favour of new though much less likable characters. Our main protagonist is Yoshito Chujo, a hot headed mechanic in the Kiryu maintenance team. He had a quirk for understanding machines more than people and.....that’s about it. 

The movie sets up a relationship triangle between Yoshito, former mechanic turned pilot Azusa, and another arrogant male pilot Akiba which.....goes no where. You get a couple of scenes involving fiery male tension and that’s it. Not much in the way of resolution other than an arc about how our lowly mechanic wins the respect of the glorious pilots (an arc that was already done in GODZILLA AGAINST MECHAGODZILLA). 

In terms of acting, the older actors do a much better job. Almost as if the younger actors portraying the young adult characters, especially Azusa, were hired more for their looks than ability. The characters they portray come across as generally unlikable with only Yoshito having some redeeming qualities.

Visually, this movie upholds the standards set by its predecessor: beautiful imagery, detailed miniatures and monster suits, near flawless visual compositing. It also upholds the flaws, retaining the overly choreographed cartoony battles and the stiff movements of the monsters.

What I appreciated the most of GODZILLA: TOKYO SOS, was how it and it’s predecessor GODZILLA AGAINST MEGHAGODZILLA is the first Godzilla movie to retroactively establish a proper “shared cinematic universe” by bringing in old Toho movies like MOTHRA and WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS as part of its continuity. This stands in contrast to the Showa era and heisei era Godzilla movies which were just sequels to each other and not actual “shared” cinematic universes in the way we know them now.

Other than that this movie is a mixed bag for me. For every positive such as the special effects, the shared universe lore building, and a return to the darker themes of the original GODZILLA movie, there are equal number of negatives in the cliched storyline, unlikable characters, and cartoonish fights.

***********Review***********

Entertainment: B+

Story: C-
Acting: C+

Characters: C-

Music: C+

Replay value: B+

"Brains": C+

Terminator Dark Fate (2019) movie review

Overall verdict: 8.5/10

The Good: Bold new plot directions, awesome action, great music, real emotional connection to the characters' stories, builds on the underlying themes of previous movies

The Bad: some action pieces too dark, rehashes chase plot of previous movies, some sub par special effects in places

***********Review***********

Terminator Dark Fate is the true follow-up to Terminator 2 Judgement Day. It expands upon the underlying themes that were developed over the course of Terminator 1 and 2, particularly in blurring the lines between increasingly human-like machines and increasingly inhuman-like people. Combining deep themes, well developed characters, and intense no-holds-barred action, TERMINATOR DARK FATE hits every right note with me and my expectations of a good terminator movie.

We all have the power to change our fate, but no one ever said anything about improving our fate. The focus is back on Sarah Connor, whose fate had changed following the events of TERMINATOR 2 JUDGEMENT DAY. With Skynet now erased from existence, the future is rewritten into one where John Connor serves no purpose. In the opening moments of this movie, John is terminated along with any hope Sarah had for a happy life.

Seeing her now, masterfully played by Linda Hamilton, it’s sad. I could feel her emptiness, going day to day, living for the next anonymous tip off about a new terminator, preparing for the next battle. Her eyes weary with age contain both an intense fire, yet a hollowness. Seeing her now, and looking back at that carefree young woman riding down the street on her scooter back in 1984. It’s tragic.

The second character of note is Carl, a terminator who had completed its mission and, of its own free will, overcome its violent programming to integrate perfectly with human society and a family. Carl is exactly how I envisioned “Uncle Bob” would become if he had lived from T2. Almost perfectly human with free will, making his own choices, able to blend in, caring for others, starting a business etc. The evolution of machine into becoming more human-like was a strong theme from the first 2 terminator movies. 

Sarah and Carl present two sides of the same coin. Both are soldiers “programmed” for a mission. Both had lived for their mission and when the missions were over what next? In a more meta sense, they are both the sole survivors of a reality that no longer exists.

But enough of them. They are the supporting cast to the new main duo of Grace the protector and Dani the new future resistance leader. I love Grace and the glimpses of the new Resistance, or at least the faction Grace is from (it’s hinted that in the new future, there are different resistance groups, showing a less united mankind). What desperation would drive humanity to willingly turn fellow humans into cyborgs themselves to win the war? I am reminded of the quote “beware when fighting monsters that you yourself do not become a monster”. Again another theme carried over from T2.

I love Dani too. I would dare say Dani is how I would have liked John to be in Terminator 3. Where even in present day without any training, we already glimpses the leadership qualities, resourcefulness and fighting spirit that would eventually turn them into the main inspirational symbol of the resistance.

The action set pieces courtesy of DEADPOOL director Tim Miller are bigger than ever before going from cramped interiors to a freeway chase to an aerial battle to even underwater! It is intense! Though at times the scenes look a little bit too dark (as in literally not lit well enough) but perhaps that was to mask certain CGI effects considering this movie didn’t have that high a Budget compared to other modern blockbusters.

I think my only other gripe is the Rev 9. I never got that sense of dread that I got from the t800 in T1 or the t1000 in T2. Heck I even felt the Tx from T3 was a bigger threat. The concept of a liquid metal covered robot endoskeleton that can operate as separate entities seems borrowed from the “TXA” in the terminator novels (as is the concept of cybernetic enhanced human protectors), and the rev 9 got taken out way too easily each time it was in battle. Yes it kept coming back but really if it weren’t for Grace needing stimulants to prevent her body from shutting down she would easily dispatch it each time it showed up.

Nitpicks aside, I enjoyed TERMINATOR: DARK FATE. It was more emotional than Terminators 3 through GENISYS, it felt most in line with the themes set up through the first 2 movies, the action and accompanying music by Junkie XL were perfect. Most importantly, I want more from the new status quo. I want more stories about Legion and the future war under Dani’s leadership, I want more stories about Sarah, and I sincerely hope we get them.

***********Review***********

Entertainment: A

Story: B

Acting: A-

Characters: A-

Music: B-

Replay value: A-

"Brains": B-