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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Company of Heroes 2 in Video Games
Jun 19, 2019
Fans of the real-time strategy World War II epic Company of Heroes were delighted when a full sequel to the game was announced. There was a bit of trepidation when publisher THQ was forced to sell off much of their assets to rival companies due to bankruptcy issues. Thankfully for the fans of the game and developer Relic Sega stepped in and acquire the franchise as well is provided to developers additional time to polish the game beyond its initial scheduled release.
For those that are not familiar with the series, the game task players to take command and construct various military units in an effort to seize key installations and strategic points, destroy enemy troops, and accomplish various strategic tasks. This is easier said than done as the enemy AI is extremely tenacious and adaptable and like battlefield situations, commanders are often forced to improvise and think on the fly one the unexpected happens.
This timeout the game is set in Russia and is told mainly through flashbacks during an interrogation of the disgraced Russian commander. Battles such as Stalingrad and other key elements of operation Barbosa are re-created and the initial battles are focused mainly on slowing the German advance as well as eliminating key resources that might be captured by the enemy.
As the game goes on, the weather becomes an new challenge as the fears Russian winter that proved to be so detrimental to the German forces is an element that must be contended with at all times. Players will not be able to send units on foot to capture very strategic elements or mission objectives without having them freeze to death. The solution to this problem is to have engineering units take a break from constructing buildings in order to create campfires. Players that are left out in the cold too long have a limited amount of time to reach the safety of a campfire or vehicle before they will freeze to death. Needing to ensure that the path to an objective is either stocked with appropriate amounts of fires or save for a vehicle to use is a key element to the strategic points of the game.
Being able to call in airstrikes as well as do more elaborate flanking maneuvers is definitely a high point of the game which adds to the strategy. You want to be very careful about massing your units in one place because to do so would invite an aerial or artillery barrage upon them. As in the previous games, players can take sanctuary in buildings which provides them ample opportunity to snipe at opposing targets. This is not without its limitations though as well-placed assaults including attacks with flamethrowers can soon turn the advantage into a disadvantage as troops may find themselves in a building collapsing around them.
Unlike other games of this type which are heavy on resource gathering to provide necessary funds for additional units, the game towards players points for capturing, holding, and destroying various strategic objectives. The better one does then the more units that will be made available to them. I really enjoy the heavy machine guns, mortar teams, and the cannon fodder conscripts squads, but what really makes the game shine is the ability to call in airstrikes and your armored units. As mentioned earlier about the difficulties in combat in the snow conditions. The game takes weather into account even to the point of providing hit points to the ice. An enemy that is attempting to bring across units supported by armor could be in for real surprise by strategically placed mine or a well-placed shell. Once at the ice becomes weak, then players can use this to their drainage to quickly dispatch units who fall through damage ice with a little bit of urging from their weapons.
Graphically the game shines and I really enjoy being able to use the mouse wheel to zoom into units and get an up close and personal look at them in action. Seeing them diligently go about their tasks be at construction or loading shells into their weaponry is not only beautiful to behold but adds to the sense of immersion. The sites of the game as well as the audio are spot on as key historical elements have obviously been paid attention to in the creation of this game. For example players talk about not seeing sugar in ages or how there are not enough weapons to go around and are instructed to simply head to the enemy and salvage what they can on the battlefield. There is also the element of brutality were troops are told that should you retreat from the enemy you’ll be shot and killed by your own commanders and that objectives must be completed regardless of the cost.
The game offers significant challenge to players of all levels and as such a skill level setting is in place which will allow you to try to find a happy medium for your style of play. There are also ample online opportunities for the game as not only can you play with your friends, you can create custom matches or to randomly assign matches which can pick you and other flesh and blood players up against the computer controlled opponents.
I especially like the ability to directly stream my gameplay to twitch TV as this is an element that we’re definitely looking to take advantage of in the future especially since live streaming is a key element of the upcoming gaming consoles as well .
The path finding in the game is very solid and although there are times when units can become a bit bogged down it is extremely minor especially for games of this type. The success or failure of missions relies solely upon your abilities as a commander. Sure there are times when brute force and overwhelming strength will ensure victory, but resources are at a premium on the Eastern front and players as mentioned earlier, often have to scrounge for resources from fallen soldiers on the battlefield. More than once I thought I was making short work of an enemy with a two-pronged attack only to have an extremely effective counterattack forced me into retreat and regroup mode. I learned during these times that having one unit feint toward an enemy locale wall flanking with two or more other units often worked out well. The enemy would be drawn to the one unit allowing me to get my other units behind them engaging enemy objectives for multiple sides.
This strategy works really well until you come across a machine gun nest and heavy armor which again forces you to improvise on the fly. Mortar and grenade units can do a good job at taking out a machine gun nest it positioned properly but I always found bathing area inflamed to be highly effective.
Regardless of what strategy you employ, Company of Heroes 2 is an extremely impressive and enjoyable game that not only provides plenty of enjoyment and excitement but shows that the series keeps getting better with each new installment.
http://sknr.net/2013/07/29/company-of-heroes-2/
For those that are not familiar with the series, the game task players to take command and construct various military units in an effort to seize key installations and strategic points, destroy enemy troops, and accomplish various strategic tasks. This is easier said than done as the enemy AI is extremely tenacious and adaptable and like battlefield situations, commanders are often forced to improvise and think on the fly one the unexpected happens.
This timeout the game is set in Russia and is told mainly through flashbacks during an interrogation of the disgraced Russian commander. Battles such as Stalingrad and other key elements of operation Barbosa are re-created and the initial battles are focused mainly on slowing the German advance as well as eliminating key resources that might be captured by the enemy.
As the game goes on, the weather becomes an new challenge as the fears Russian winter that proved to be so detrimental to the German forces is an element that must be contended with at all times. Players will not be able to send units on foot to capture very strategic elements or mission objectives without having them freeze to death. The solution to this problem is to have engineering units take a break from constructing buildings in order to create campfires. Players that are left out in the cold too long have a limited amount of time to reach the safety of a campfire or vehicle before they will freeze to death. Needing to ensure that the path to an objective is either stocked with appropriate amounts of fires or save for a vehicle to use is a key element to the strategic points of the game.
Being able to call in airstrikes as well as do more elaborate flanking maneuvers is definitely a high point of the game which adds to the strategy. You want to be very careful about massing your units in one place because to do so would invite an aerial or artillery barrage upon them. As in the previous games, players can take sanctuary in buildings which provides them ample opportunity to snipe at opposing targets. This is not without its limitations though as well-placed assaults including attacks with flamethrowers can soon turn the advantage into a disadvantage as troops may find themselves in a building collapsing around them.
Unlike other games of this type which are heavy on resource gathering to provide necessary funds for additional units, the game towards players points for capturing, holding, and destroying various strategic objectives. The better one does then the more units that will be made available to them. I really enjoy the heavy machine guns, mortar teams, and the cannon fodder conscripts squads, but what really makes the game shine is the ability to call in airstrikes and your armored units. As mentioned earlier about the difficulties in combat in the snow conditions. The game takes weather into account even to the point of providing hit points to the ice. An enemy that is attempting to bring across units supported by armor could be in for real surprise by strategically placed mine or a well-placed shell. Once at the ice becomes weak, then players can use this to their drainage to quickly dispatch units who fall through damage ice with a little bit of urging from their weapons.
Graphically the game shines and I really enjoy being able to use the mouse wheel to zoom into units and get an up close and personal look at them in action. Seeing them diligently go about their tasks be at construction or loading shells into their weaponry is not only beautiful to behold but adds to the sense of immersion. The sites of the game as well as the audio are spot on as key historical elements have obviously been paid attention to in the creation of this game. For example players talk about not seeing sugar in ages or how there are not enough weapons to go around and are instructed to simply head to the enemy and salvage what they can on the battlefield. There is also the element of brutality were troops are told that should you retreat from the enemy you’ll be shot and killed by your own commanders and that objectives must be completed regardless of the cost.
The game offers significant challenge to players of all levels and as such a skill level setting is in place which will allow you to try to find a happy medium for your style of play. There are also ample online opportunities for the game as not only can you play with your friends, you can create custom matches or to randomly assign matches which can pick you and other flesh and blood players up against the computer controlled opponents.
I especially like the ability to directly stream my gameplay to twitch TV as this is an element that we’re definitely looking to take advantage of in the future especially since live streaming is a key element of the upcoming gaming consoles as well .
The path finding in the game is very solid and although there are times when units can become a bit bogged down it is extremely minor especially for games of this type. The success or failure of missions relies solely upon your abilities as a commander. Sure there are times when brute force and overwhelming strength will ensure victory, but resources are at a premium on the Eastern front and players as mentioned earlier, often have to scrounge for resources from fallen soldiers on the battlefield. More than once I thought I was making short work of an enemy with a two-pronged attack only to have an extremely effective counterattack forced me into retreat and regroup mode. I learned during these times that having one unit feint toward an enemy locale wall flanking with two or more other units often worked out well. The enemy would be drawn to the one unit allowing me to get my other units behind them engaging enemy objectives for multiple sides.
This strategy works really well until you come across a machine gun nest and heavy armor which again forces you to improvise on the fly. Mortar and grenade units can do a good job at taking out a machine gun nest it positioned properly but I always found bathing area inflamed to be highly effective.
Regardless of what strategy you employ, Company of Heroes 2 is an extremely impressive and enjoyable game that not only provides plenty of enjoyment and excitement but shows that the series keeps getting better with each new installment.
http://sknr.net/2013/07/29/company-of-heroes-2/
Kara Skinner (332 KP) rated The Robber Knight in Books
Sep 10, 2019
When you are fighting for the freedom of your people, falling in love with your enemy is not a great idea. Or is it? Ayla has to defend her castle and her people all on her own, with nobody to help her but a dark warrior she hates with all her heart.
Sir Reuben, the dreaded robber knight, has long been Ayla’s deadliest enemy. He has prayed on her and her people ever since her father fell ill, and she swore he would hang for his crimes. Now they are both trapped in her castle as the army of a far greater enemy approaches, and they have only one chance: stand together, or fall.
This book wasn’t bad, honestly. I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, and it had been awhile since I’ve read a medieval love story, so that was a nice change of pace.
The author is a historian, so there are a lot of little things in this book that you don’t see in a lot of other historical romance books. For instance,you can’t pull out arrows because there are often barbs attached to cause fatal wounds if pulled out. I did like learning about all of these facts. But sometimes Thier lets the historian in him gets the best of him, but more on that later.
Lady Ayla was a pretty interesting character. Headstrong and wise for her years, she is very noble and progressive. She has all of the makings for a great leader– with the exception of knowledge. I loved how kind and committed she was to her people and I love the fact that she has some spunk. I mean, if I’m getting robbed in the forest by this random stranger, then I hope I would swear him out too (of course, if I could beat him up and get away, then that’s even better, but Ayla doesn’t have much self-defense skills). But there were many times that she was annoying, like her insistence on being near battles, even before she started treating the sick. And how she tried to manage Sir Isenbard during battle. She had called on him for help because he was an experienced knight, and now she was questioning his commands and strategies in the heat of battle!
Mostly, though, I really did like Ayla. She defines the idea of nobility. With war inevitable, she’s willing to ride personally to the edges of her land to warn her subjects and she is always at the outskirts of battle to help care for the wounded. She invites everyone into the castle for their safety and rations herself as well as the others to conserve food. She’s even willing to corrupt herself to save her people.
Reuben is an excellent character as well, although it did take me awhile to like him. In the beginning he fell a little flat. It’s clear that he used to be a knight but something happened and now he robs people for his own greed. A near-death experience and being saved by Lady Ayla reawakens the humanity in him. And apparently also some depth.
In the beginning of the book he spends a lot of his time admiring his loot and laughing about his victims, who thought they had a right to steal from him. But that’s all he does. We have no real insight into his character or backstory until after he’s in Ayla’s care. Only then are there hints of a bad history where he had been arrested many times, been tortured, and had at one point been a member of respectable society. If it weren’t for the fact that I liked Ayla’a character and the plot so far, I probably would have stopped reading.
Thier is a writer who has really good potential in becoming a great romance writer, especially for historical fiction. The plots have some unique twists that are augmented by his knowledge of history and after Reuben’s character shaped up, he was an excellent love interest. But there is one huge problem with this story: the footnotes.
There are so many footnotes throughout most of the book that I feel like I’m reading a history textbook, which is not good when I usually read romance novels to take a break from homework. Not only are they distracting and unnecessary, but they are also rude and condescending. Sure, sometimes they were useful, like in explaining the references to the seven princes of hell. Another one was a pretty funny anecdote about how one of his readers had actually confirmed that lard burns and that burning arrows work because they had actually done it. There is also a lot of wit throughout the footnotes which is pretty amusing. But most of the time, they were annoying.
For instance, Robert Thier thought it was necessary to include a footnote about how witches were considered bad during medieval times. Seriously? Even if someone failed history, we know that witches are not considered fine, upstanding citizens. Or maybe he thinks all of us have been locked in our rooms with no books, internet or television for our entire lives and for the month of October we all miraculously fell into a coma so we couldn’t see the giant blow-up witch in the neighbor’s yard. And then we’d all wake up singing Christmas carols after the month long coma without a care in the world because this happens every year so we don’t know what a witch is. (I’m developing a conspiracy theory about how these strange comas was caused by witchcraft.)
Maybe Thier assumed that instead of us thinking Reuben was scared of witches when he wondered if Ayla was one, we just thought he was commenting on how much Ayla looked like Sandra Bullock.
And one of the footnotes was just plain offensive. Here is the line of text that the footnote is attached to: “Heel! Abominable villain! You dare defy me?” (page 74)
Now, here’s the footnote: “Sorry to disappoint the ladies, but this doesn’t refer to high heels. It is a medieval term for a very nasty person.”
Excuse me? Did you just assume that I thought it meant high heels and that would make me excited? What world do you live in?
Apparently he thinks “the ladies” are so dumb that we are incapable of taking context clues and we immediately think everything relates back to fashion. Maybe I didn’t know it meant “very nasty person”, but it’s pretty clear it’s a swear or insult of sometime, not a freaking Jimmy Choo. Does he just imagine us thinking high heel every time we hear the word?
“She broke his nose with the heel of her hand.” Oh. High heel!
“Heel, fido! I said heel!” Oh. High heel!
“It will take one or two days for your cut to heal.” Oh. High heel! (Because if he thinks we don’t understand the difference between uncomfortable footwear and an insult, then he probably thinks we can’t spell, either).
But hey, at least Robert Thier thinks women can memorize stuff, because the footnote links stop as the vocabulary is repeated instead of new terms being introduced.
Aside from the footnotes, I really do like this book, and I can’t wait to read the second part of it, which I’ll read soon. Thier still has a long way to go, but I think after he has more experience, he’ll write some great books.
Sir Reuben, the dreaded robber knight, has long been Ayla’s deadliest enemy. He has prayed on her and her people ever since her father fell ill, and she swore he would hang for his crimes. Now they are both trapped in her castle as the army of a far greater enemy approaches, and they have only one chance: stand together, or fall.
This book wasn’t bad, honestly. I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, and it had been awhile since I’ve read a medieval love story, so that was a nice change of pace.
The author is a historian, so there are a lot of little things in this book that you don’t see in a lot of other historical romance books. For instance,you can’t pull out arrows because there are often barbs attached to cause fatal wounds if pulled out. I did like learning about all of these facts. But sometimes Thier lets the historian in him gets the best of him, but more on that later.
Lady Ayla was a pretty interesting character. Headstrong and wise for her years, she is very noble and progressive. She has all of the makings for a great leader– with the exception of knowledge. I loved how kind and committed she was to her people and I love the fact that she has some spunk. I mean, if I’m getting robbed in the forest by this random stranger, then I hope I would swear him out too (of course, if I could beat him up and get away, then that’s even better, but Ayla doesn’t have much self-defense skills). But there were many times that she was annoying, like her insistence on being near battles, even before she started treating the sick. And how she tried to manage Sir Isenbard during battle. She had called on him for help because he was an experienced knight, and now she was questioning his commands and strategies in the heat of battle!
Mostly, though, I really did like Ayla. She defines the idea of nobility. With war inevitable, she’s willing to ride personally to the edges of her land to warn her subjects and she is always at the outskirts of battle to help care for the wounded. She invites everyone into the castle for their safety and rations herself as well as the others to conserve food. She’s even willing to corrupt herself to save her people.
Reuben is an excellent character as well, although it did take me awhile to like him. In the beginning he fell a little flat. It’s clear that he used to be a knight but something happened and now he robs people for his own greed. A near-death experience and being saved by Lady Ayla reawakens the humanity in him. And apparently also some depth.
In the beginning of the book he spends a lot of his time admiring his loot and laughing about his victims, who thought they had a right to steal from him. But that’s all he does. We have no real insight into his character or backstory until after he’s in Ayla’s care. Only then are there hints of a bad history where he had been arrested many times, been tortured, and had at one point been a member of respectable society. If it weren’t for the fact that I liked Ayla’a character and the plot so far, I probably would have stopped reading.
Thier is a writer who has really good potential in becoming a great romance writer, especially for historical fiction. The plots have some unique twists that are augmented by his knowledge of history and after Reuben’s character shaped up, he was an excellent love interest. But there is one huge problem with this story: the footnotes.
There are so many footnotes throughout most of the book that I feel like I’m reading a history textbook, which is not good when I usually read romance novels to take a break from homework. Not only are they distracting and unnecessary, but they are also rude and condescending. Sure, sometimes they were useful, like in explaining the references to the seven princes of hell. Another one was a pretty funny anecdote about how one of his readers had actually confirmed that lard burns and that burning arrows work because they had actually done it. There is also a lot of wit throughout the footnotes which is pretty amusing. But most of the time, they were annoying.
For instance, Robert Thier thought it was necessary to include a footnote about how witches were considered bad during medieval times. Seriously? Even if someone failed history, we know that witches are not considered fine, upstanding citizens. Or maybe he thinks all of us have been locked in our rooms with no books, internet or television for our entire lives and for the month of October we all miraculously fell into a coma so we couldn’t see the giant blow-up witch in the neighbor’s yard. And then we’d all wake up singing Christmas carols after the month long coma without a care in the world because this happens every year so we don’t know what a witch is. (I’m developing a conspiracy theory about how these strange comas was caused by witchcraft.)
Maybe Thier assumed that instead of us thinking Reuben was scared of witches when he wondered if Ayla was one, we just thought he was commenting on how much Ayla looked like Sandra Bullock.
And one of the footnotes was just plain offensive. Here is the line of text that the footnote is attached to: “Heel! Abominable villain! You dare defy me?” (page 74)
Now, here’s the footnote: “Sorry to disappoint the ladies, but this doesn’t refer to high heels. It is a medieval term for a very nasty person.”
Excuse me? Did you just assume that I thought it meant high heels and that would make me excited? What world do you live in?
Apparently he thinks “the ladies” are so dumb that we are incapable of taking context clues and we immediately think everything relates back to fashion. Maybe I didn’t know it meant “very nasty person”, but it’s pretty clear it’s a swear or insult of sometime, not a freaking Jimmy Choo. Does he just imagine us thinking high heel every time we hear the word?
“She broke his nose with the heel of her hand.” Oh. High heel!
“Heel, fido! I said heel!” Oh. High heel!
“It will take one or two days for your cut to heal.” Oh. High heel! (Because if he thinks we don’t understand the difference between uncomfortable footwear and an insult, then he probably thinks we can’t spell, either).
But hey, at least Robert Thier thinks women can memorize stuff, because the footnote links stop as the vocabulary is repeated instead of new terms being introduced.
Aside from the footnotes, I really do like this book, and I can’t wait to read the second part of it, which I’ll read soon. Thier still has a long way to go, but I think after he has more experience, he’ll write some great books.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Tenet (2020) in Movies
Aug 28, 2020
Spectacular action set pieces done "in camera" (1 more)
Branagh and Debecki, both superb
Sound mix makes dialogue unintelligible (1 more)
In the words of Huey Lewis, "You're too darn loud"
Only Nolan and Schrödinger’s cat knows what’s going on.
Tenet is the long awaited new movie from Christopher Nolan. The movie that's set to reboot the multiplexes post-Covid. It's a manic, extremely loud, extremely baffling sci-fi cum spy rollercoaster that will please a lot of Nolan fan-boys but which left me with very mixed views.
How to write a spoiler-free plot summary? John David Washington (Denzel's lad) plays "The Protagonist" - a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he's on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about "Domestic Abuse"). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema 'splurge' gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his 'effects' for real and 'in camera', some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in "Inception" was crazy? You ain't seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film's ridiculously huge finale.
The 'inversion' aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes - one in particular in an airport 'freeport' - which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan's crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The 'timey-wimey' aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think "Oh, that's a sloppy continuity error" or "Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror". Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen "Aha!" moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with Tenet. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I'd go stronger than that... it's truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare's trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
- the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from 'Tenetis'! (that joke © David Moody, 2020);
- the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
- a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics... but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made "Inception" look like "The Tiger Who Came to Tea". There was an obvious 'McGuffin' in "Inception" - - ("These 'dream levels'... how exactly are they architected??".... "Don't worry... they'll never notice". And we didn't!) In "Tenet" there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as "future stuff... you're not qualified" that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Kat says "I don't understand what's going on" - darn right luv.
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word "Tenet"? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I'm none the wiser.
The manic pace of Tenet and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb's marriage problems from "Inception" or the father/daughter separation of "Interstellar". In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It's a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It's a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson's Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up - rather more un-glam that usual - as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan's regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it's Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it's a bit of a curate's egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It's a movie which needs a second watch, so I'm heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch... it's not likely to go down... but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/08/28/tenet-only-nolan-and-schrodingers-cat-knows-whats-going-on/ .)
How to write a spoiler-free plot summary? John David Washington (Denzel's lad) plays "The Protagonist" - a crack-CIA field operative who is an unstoppable one-man army in the style of Hobbs or Shaw. Recruited into an even more shadowy organisation, he's on the trail of an international arms dealer, Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh in full villain mode). Sator is bullying his estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki) over custody of their son (and the film unusually has a BBFC warning about "Domestic Abuse"). Our hero jets the world to try to prevent a very particular kind of Armageddon while also keeping the vulnerable and attractive Kat alive.
This is cinema at its biggest and boldest. Nolan has taken a cinema 'splurge' gun, filled it with money, set it on rapid fire, removed the safety and let rip at the screen. Given that Nolan is famous for doing all of his 'effects' for real and 'in camera', some of what you see performed is almost unbelievable. You thought crashing a train through rush-hour traffic in "Inception" was crazy? You ain't seen nothing yet with the airport scene! And for lovers of Chinooks (I must admit I am one and rush out of the house to see one if I hear it coming!) there is positively Chinook-p*rn on offer in the film's ridiculously huge finale.
The 'inversion' aspects of the story also lends itself to some fight scenes - one in particular in an airport 'freeport' - which are both bizarre to watch and, I imagine, technically extremely challenging to pull off. In this regard John David Washington is an acrobatic and talented stunt performer in his own right, and must have trained for months for this role.
Nolan's crew also certainly racked up their air miles pre-lockdown, since the locations range far and wide across the world. The locations encompassed Denmark, Estonia, India, Italy, Norway, the United Kingdom, and United States. Hoyte Van Hoytema's cinematography is lush in introducing these, especially the beautiful Italian coast scenes. Although I did miss the David Arnold strings that would typically introduce these in a Bond movie: it felt like that was missing.
The 'timey-wimey' aspects of the plot are also intriguing and very cleverly done. There are numerous points at which you think "Oh, that's a sloppy continuity error" or "Shame the production design team missed that cracked wing mirror". Then later in the movie, you get at least a dozen "Aha!" moments. Some of them (no spoilers) are jaw-droppingly spectacular.
Perhaps the best twist is hidden in the final line of the movie. I only processed it on the way home.
And so to the first of my significant gripes with Tenet. The sound mix in the movie is all over the place. I'd go stronger than that... it's truly awful (expletive deleted)! Nolan often implements Shakespeare's trick of having characters in the play provide exposition of the plot to aid comprehension. But unfortunately, all of this exposition dialogue was largely incomprehensible. This was due to:
- the ear-splitting volume of the sound: 2020 movie audiences are going to be suffering from 'Tenetis'! (that joke © David Moody, 2020);
- the dialogue is poorly mixed with the thumping music by Ludwig Göransson (Wot? No Hans Zimmer?);
- a large proportion of the dialogue was through masks of varying description (#covid-appropriate). Aaron Taylor-Johnson was particularly unintelligible to my ears.
Overall, watching this with subtitles at a special showing might be advisable!
OK, so I only have a PhD in Physics... but at times I was completely lost as to the intricacies of the plot. It made "Inception" look like "The Tiger Who Came to Tea". There was an obvious 'McGuffin' in "Inception" - - ("These 'dream levels'... how exactly are they architected??".... "Don't worry... they'll never notice". And we didn't!) In "Tenet" there are McGuffins nested in McGuffins. So much of this is casually waved away as "future stuff... you're not qualified" that it feels vaguely condescending to the audience. At one point Kat says "I don't understand what's going on" - darn right luv.
There are also gaps in the storyline that jar. The word "Tenet"? What does it mean. Is it just a password? I'm none the wiser.
The manic pace of Tenet and the constant din means that the movie gallops along like a series of disconnected (albeit brilliant) action set pieces. For me, it has none of the emotional heart of the Cobb's marriage problems from "Inception" or the father/daughter separation of "Interstellar". In fact, you barely care for anyone in the movie, perhaps with the exception of Kat.
It's a talented cast. As mentioned above, John David Washington is muscular and athletic in the role. It's a big load for the actor to carry in such a tent-pole movie, given his only significant starring role before was in the excellent BlacKkKlansman. But he carries it off well. A worthy successor to Gerard Butler and Jason Statham for action roles in the next 10 years.
This is also a great performance by Robert Pattinson, in his most high-profile film in a long time, playing the vaguely alcoholic and Carré-esque support guy. Pattinson's Potter co-star Clemence Poésy also pops up - rather more un-glam that usual - as the scientist plot-expositor early in the movie.
Nolan's regular Michael Caine also pops up. although the 87-year old legend is starting to show his age: His speech was obviously affected at the time of filming (though nice try Mr Nolan in trying to disguise that with a mouth full of food!). But in my book, any amount of Caine in a movie is a plus. He also gets to deliver the best killer line in the film about snobbery!
However, it's Kenneth Branagh and Elizabeth Debicki that really stand out. They were both fabulous, especially when they were bouncing off each other in their marital battle royale.
So, given this was my most anticipated movie of the year, it's a bit of a curate's egg for me. A mixture of being awe-struck at times and slightly disappointed at others. It's a movie which needs a second watch, so I'm heading back today to give my ear drums another bashing! And this is one where I reserve the right to revisit my rating after that second watch... it's not likely to go down... but it might go up.
(For the full graphical review, check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/08/28/tenet-only-nolan-and-schrodingers-cat-knows-whats-going-on/ .)
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Prometheus (2012) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
After nearly 2 years of waiting and rampant speculation, director Ridley Scott’s science-fiction epic Prometheus has finally arrived. The project initially started as a prequel to Alien, and in doing so got the attention of the Alien fan community. After the last two sequels and two disastrous Alien Versus Predator spinoffs, this fan community was eager for the director who started the series to bring the series back to prominence. However, hopes were dashed when it was announced that Prometheus would not be a prequel but instead a standalone film that “shared” DNA with Alien. As production of the film developed under very tight conditions, fans could only speculate as to the nature of the film even when leaked photos and eventually trailers seem to indicate more than a passing connection to the Alien franchise.
The film follows the story of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), who in the late 21st century makes a startling discovery with her boyfriend Charlie Halloway (Logan Marshall-Green). Their discovery leads to an extremely expensive expedition to an unknown area of space aboard the state-of-the-art research vessel Prometheus. The eclectic but talented crew of experts along for the ride are under the stern watch of Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), who has been appointed by the Weyland Corporation to oversee the expedition even though she is highly skeptical about the expected goals that set the crew on the journey.
Holloway and Shaw believe that a series of paintings they discovered at several archaeological sites throughout the world indicated that ancient man had been visited and guided by beings from beyond the stars and that said beings may very well be responsible for engineering humanity as well.
After a journey of nearly 2.5 years the crew arrives at the star system depicted in the paintings and soon find themselves exploring a temple-like structure on an otherwise desolate and apparently lifeless moon. Despite the misgivings of the crew, when the true nature of their expedition is revealed upon their arrival, Shaw and Holloway are vindicated when remains of alien life forms and other technology are discovered by the crew.
Their initial exploration cut short due to a violent storm, the crew returns the safety of the ship to wait out the storm, save for two members of the team who remained at the temple after becoming lost. A series of events follow which soon indicate that not only are there hidden agendas at play but that the crew has stumbled upon a discovery that they are ill-prepared for.
Bizarre and horrific revelations and events follow which cause the crew members to question their motivations and the expedition’s purpose as well as examine their place in a much more complex and dangerous universe, where their petty human concerns and conflicts now seem much more insignificant.
It would be very difficult to go into further detail with spoiling key elements to the film. Suffice it to say that there are some real twist and turns along the way as well as some thrills and action that keep things moving along nicely as the film makes its way towards the conclusion. But, yes, Prometheus does have a very clear connection to the Alien films.
Scott had said that he wanted to do something epic in scale and in that he has, for the most part, succeeded. Shot using the latest 3-D technology, the film is amazing to watch. The opening sequence, as well as some footage of the ship in-flight, are truly gorgeous to look at and the amazing attention to detail not only on the alien world but on the ship itself is truly spectacular.
Early in the film, the android David (Michael Fassbender) is seen going through his various routines on the ship as the crew sleeps in suspended animation. His various activities range from monitoring the crew and their dreams, to watching old movies and studying ancient languages and keeping an eye on the ship systems. All that seems fairly routine, but it is his skill with a basketball that was fascinating and establishes the complex and dynamic character that he portrays.
This introduction underscores the diversity of the crew. We are given bits and pieces about all of them to help them stand out from the usual stock characters in this type of film. While we are not given as complete a background set up as I would’ve liked, little touches such as Capt. Janik (Idris Elba), insisting upon celebrating Christmas as well as the crew running side bets, help to underscore that these are people we can easily relate to, just doing their job in extraordinary situations. This was something that Scott mastered in the original Alien, giving you average Joe’s who had to deal with extraterrestrial horror.
I mention this because Prometheus is not an action film, nor is it a horror film. I wonder if perhaps this film had not had the production costs that it does, if it would be better suited for fall release. I say this not as a criticism of the movie, simply to emphasize the fact this is a movie that requires thought, something your typical summer blockbuster doesn’t. Scott does not lay it out on a plate for the audience and say “Here it is, take it.” He presents a story filled with questions, and instead of giving you answers, gives you even more questions as the film goes along.
At first, this was more than a bit frustrating as I wanted answers to questions I’ve had since seeing the original Alien back in 1979. I wanted to know more about some of the plot lines and characters as well as certain situations that were in the film. At one point the captain shares some very important information. I asked myself how this piece of news was arrived at, as certainly a discovery of this magnitude would have been a very interesting scene. However much like the film’s premise, faith is an underlying and key component. Just as the characters discuss and act based on faith, or lack thereof, audience members asked to have faith in the storyline and the sequence of events that lead up to the finale. There will be those who will be unwilling to do so and will be quick to find fault with the film, cast, and plot. But I hope there will be more who accept that they are seeing the first part of a larger journey and understand that there are things that they are meant to know, as well as things hey are not meant to know and in time more may be revealed.
Scott has indicated that he would like to do another film in the series and scuttlebutt indicates the studio would very much like to entertain thoughts of a trilogy. I would certainly like to see this, as would a few of my fellow critics. Following our screening, three of us stood around discussing aspects of the film, trying to figure out what it really meant and how it connected to the Alien series as well as potential future films in the series. If nothing else, this movie will spark interesting conversation.
As the days have passed since seeing the film I’ve appreciated it more and more with each passing day. Scott could have taken the easy way out and given a straight up prequel to Alien complete with all manner of monsters and CGI creatures on the loose wrecking havoc upon a crew of unfortunate victims. Instead he opted to take a much larger look at life, the universe, and our place in it and wove a complex and open-ended framework that not only provided fantastic entertainment but also provided an opportunity for intelligent conversation and introspection.
From the incredible visuals to the engaging and enjoyable cast, Prometheus is a refreshing and enjoyable film and an extremely welcome and much-needed addition to the alien franchise.
The film follows the story of Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace), who in the late 21st century makes a startling discovery with her boyfriend Charlie Halloway (Logan Marshall-Green). Their discovery leads to an extremely expensive expedition to an unknown area of space aboard the state-of-the-art research vessel Prometheus. The eclectic but talented crew of experts along for the ride are under the stern watch of Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), who has been appointed by the Weyland Corporation to oversee the expedition even though she is highly skeptical about the expected goals that set the crew on the journey.
Holloway and Shaw believe that a series of paintings they discovered at several archaeological sites throughout the world indicated that ancient man had been visited and guided by beings from beyond the stars and that said beings may very well be responsible for engineering humanity as well.
After a journey of nearly 2.5 years the crew arrives at the star system depicted in the paintings and soon find themselves exploring a temple-like structure on an otherwise desolate and apparently lifeless moon. Despite the misgivings of the crew, when the true nature of their expedition is revealed upon their arrival, Shaw and Holloway are vindicated when remains of alien life forms and other technology are discovered by the crew.
Their initial exploration cut short due to a violent storm, the crew returns the safety of the ship to wait out the storm, save for two members of the team who remained at the temple after becoming lost. A series of events follow which soon indicate that not only are there hidden agendas at play but that the crew has stumbled upon a discovery that they are ill-prepared for.
Bizarre and horrific revelations and events follow which cause the crew members to question their motivations and the expedition’s purpose as well as examine their place in a much more complex and dangerous universe, where their petty human concerns and conflicts now seem much more insignificant.
It would be very difficult to go into further detail with spoiling key elements to the film. Suffice it to say that there are some real twist and turns along the way as well as some thrills and action that keep things moving along nicely as the film makes its way towards the conclusion. But, yes, Prometheus does have a very clear connection to the Alien films.
Scott had said that he wanted to do something epic in scale and in that he has, for the most part, succeeded. Shot using the latest 3-D technology, the film is amazing to watch. The opening sequence, as well as some footage of the ship in-flight, are truly gorgeous to look at and the amazing attention to detail not only on the alien world but on the ship itself is truly spectacular.
Early in the film, the android David (Michael Fassbender) is seen going through his various routines on the ship as the crew sleeps in suspended animation. His various activities range from monitoring the crew and their dreams, to watching old movies and studying ancient languages and keeping an eye on the ship systems. All that seems fairly routine, but it is his skill with a basketball that was fascinating and establishes the complex and dynamic character that he portrays.
This introduction underscores the diversity of the crew. We are given bits and pieces about all of them to help them stand out from the usual stock characters in this type of film. While we are not given as complete a background set up as I would’ve liked, little touches such as Capt. Janik (Idris Elba), insisting upon celebrating Christmas as well as the crew running side bets, help to underscore that these are people we can easily relate to, just doing their job in extraordinary situations. This was something that Scott mastered in the original Alien, giving you average Joe’s who had to deal with extraterrestrial horror.
I mention this because Prometheus is not an action film, nor is it a horror film. I wonder if perhaps this film had not had the production costs that it does, if it would be better suited for fall release. I say this not as a criticism of the movie, simply to emphasize the fact this is a movie that requires thought, something your typical summer blockbuster doesn’t. Scott does not lay it out on a plate for the audience and say “Here it is, take it.” He presents a story filled with questions, and instead of giving you answers, gives you even more questions as the film goes along.
At first, this was more than a bit frustrating as I wanted answers to questions I’ve had since seeing the original Alien back in 1979. I wanted to know more about some of the plot lines and characters as well as certain situations that were in the film. At one point the captain shares some very important information. I asked myself how this piece of news was arrived at, as certainly a discovery of this magnitude would have been a very interesting scene. However much like the film’s premise, faith is an underlying and key component. Just as the characters discuss and act based on faith, or lack thereof, audience members asked to have faith in the storyline and the sequence of events that lead up to the finale. There will be those who will be unwilling to do so and will be quick to find fault with the film, cast, and plot. But I hope there will be more who accept that they are seeing the first part of a larger journey and understand that there are things that they are meant to know, as well as things hey are not meant to know and in time more may be revealed.
Scott has indicated that he would like to do another film in the series and scuttlebutt indicates the studio would very much like to entertain thoughts of a trilogy. I would certainly like to see this, as would a few of my fellow critics. Following our screening, three of us stood around discussing aspects of the film, trying to figure out what it really meant and how it connected to the Alien series as well as potential future films in the series. If nothing else, this movie will spark interesting conversation.
As the days have passed since seeing the film I’ve appreciated it more and more with each passing day. Scott could have taken the easy way out and given a straight up prequel to Alien complete with all manner of monsters and CGI creatures on the loose wrecking havoc upon a crew of unfortunate victims. Instead he opted to take a much larger look at life, the universe, and our place in it and wove a complex and open-ended framework that not only provided fantastic entertainment but also provided an opportunity for intelligent conversation and introspection.
From the incredible visuals to the engaging and enjoyable cast, Prometheus is a refreshing and enjoyable film and an extremely welcome and much-needed addition to the alien franchise.
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Tenet (2020) in Movies
Jan 22, 2021
Due to circumstances we have all lived with now for about 8 months, that scarce need a word more said about them, this has remained only the second film I have seen at a cinema in 2020, following an early January viewing of The Rise of Skywalker. And it will probably be the last film I head out to see on the big screen for a while. This, naturally, breaks my heart. It does, however, place Christopher Nolan’s complex thriller into a very peculiar and memorable place in the collective psyche of film lovers.
For many it will have been the film that brought them out of lockdown number one into a world of slight hope that normality was returning. As it co-incided with my daughter’s birthday it became part of a treat day out that although socially distanced was my first attempt to do all the things I hadn’t done for a while; eat out in a restaurant, have a pint in a bar, and then see a movie. The experience, whilst still enjoyable and memorable, was tainted by how surreal and empty the world felt – the meal was in an half empty and cold Hard Rock Cafe, with no music and a smell of disinfectant; the pint was in a pop up outside bar that only took orders via a phone app in advance; and the movie was attended by six people, of which we were two, separated by not two metres but at least ten!
I have been in some screenings that were dead quiet before, but not for a film so anticipated and more or less mainstream. It was odd. Hats off to the staff of Everyman, Glasgow, however, who were exemplary in their courtesy, welcoming and safety precautions. It wasn’t their fault it was empty, and I applaud them for keeping the ball rolling at that time around the start of September. At least the sofas were comfy, the place was warm and the smell was still of popcorn and not domestos.
I had been looking forward to the film immensely. The hype and build-up to it had come with a lot of baggage, with rumours of production delays and script issues going back a few years. It was shrouded in mystery, with even the trailer being delayed until the very last moment and critics not getting to see it until a day before release, such was the fear of spoilers leaking out. My first concern, being so excited by the prospect of another time bending classic to join Memento, Interstellar and Inception in the ranks of “OK, what just happened” masterpieces, was that the sound during the trailers was very very low – if they kept it that low during the actual film I would demand my money back… I needn’t have worried…
Never in my life have I felt as if my eardrums were about to burst whilst watching a film! Literally, at times, Hans Zimmer’s powerful and emotive score was vibrating my testicles! Add to that the fact that a lot of the dialogue seemed mumbled and drowned out by it, and it made the first 45 minutes very difficult to enjoy. Was this horrendous sound mix a mistake? Or very much part of the plan to overwhelm the senses and confuse the brain? Was it part of the puzzle or a massive technical oversight? As almost everyone seems to have the same complaint about it, the jury is still out on that one…
And so, it took a little while for me to atune to the tone, regardless of how hard you had to focus to take in anything of what was going on. There was a point where I became certain I wasn’t going to like it – I braced myself for disappointment. And then… at a certain moment in a certain scene the penny dropped and so did my jaw, as the full realisation of where this was going, and how unique and mind blowing that concept was, finally kicked in. From that moment on it just got better and better, as the technical achievement required, let alone intelligence, to pull this off surpassed all previous levels of anything I can ever remember.
The “Wow” moments just kept on coming as the action, tension and intrigue kept rising to fever pitch. In the end, so profoundly bewildering were the potential possibilities of the plot and premise that I gave up trying to meet it intellectually and just allowed it to wash over me emotionally, knowing that repeat viewings would allow me to engage with it in that way later.
John David Washington as “the protagonist” is suitably neutral and unshowy in the role; threatening to be compared to Bond or Bourne, but never quite being either, as this world, despite it’s surface glamour and underground seediness feels much closer to DiCaprio’s suit wearing mind spy in Inception than either of those. For anyone who didn’t yet catch his terrific turn in BlacKkKlansman this may be their first encounter with him, and you’d have to say he has a very solid, dependable quality, without ever being starry or attention seeking. Watchable, for sure, but never chewing the scenery at the cost of the story – and surely that is why Nolan chose him.
Beside Washington is another excellent performance by the increasingly impressive Robert Pattinson. His role as the enigmatic Neil here grows on you minute to minute during the film, and afterwards you wonder if he wasn’t the best thing about the entire production… there is a subtlety of meaning in all his scenes that is only revealed late on, and demands a further watch or two to get every nuance from. He gives the impression he is entirely in control of the full meaning of the film and his own performance, so much so he strikes me as the pivot that would tip you either way on whether you liked the film or not.
And I have to admit not liking it is a valid option. You couldn’t possibly watch it whilst tired or in a bad mood, it is just too full on, bordering on oppressive at times. There are also a few supporting roles that I’m not 100% certain of, most notably Kenneth Brannagh as the seeming villain of the piece, Sator. His accent is a distraction, and it feels like a character you’ve seen him play before – fine in most ways, but nothing special – and I found myself wishing they had cast someone else in that role. Likewise with the less exposed Elizabeth Debicki – adequate, but not transcendent, as her character might have been with a more charismatic actress.
My overall impression was definitely affected by how much my daughter enjoyed it – she loves having a mystery to solve, especially if it involves time or some other sci-fi concept. The pleasure of it was chatting it over excitedly afterwards, to see if either of us had truly understood the full story, in the same way I remember doing with others about all Nolan’s concept pieces over the years. If you come to it being less than bothered about having to unlock a puzzle box then it may very well piss you off, to the extent you either just give up or sit back and enjoy the ride. However, I would assert confidently that it is worth the effort and will reward multiple viewings over time. Especially as more clues to its meaning are discussed and revealed.
One thing that can be said with certainty is that there is no other film like this that has ever been made. It feels different and beyond comparison in many crucial ways. The ambition of Nolan has to be applauded. I only wish he would go back and sort out that sound design before I get around to seeing it again.
For many it will have been the film that brought them out of lockdown number one into a world of slight hope that normality was returning. As it co-incided with my daughter’s birthday it became part of a treat day out that although socially distanced was my first attempt to do all the things I hadn’t done for a while; eat out in a restaurant, have a pint in a bar, and then see a movie. The experience, whilst still enjoyable and memorable, was tainted by how surreal and empty the world felt – the meal was in an half empty and cold Hard Rock Cafe, with no music and a smell of disinfectant; the pint was in a pop up outside bar that only took orders via a phone app in advance; and the movie was attended by six people, of which we were two, separated by not two metres but at least ten!
I have been in some screenings that were dead quiet before, but not for a film so anticipated and more or less mainstream. It was odd. Hats off to the staff of Everyman, Glasgow, however, who were exemplary in their courtesy, welcoming and safety precautions. It wasn’t their fault it was empty, and I applaud them for keeping the ball rolling at that time around the start of September. At least the sofas were comfy, the place was warm and the smell was still of popcorn and not domestos.
I had been looking forward to the film immensely. The hype and build-up to it had come with a lot of baggage, with rumours of production delays and script issues going back a few years. It was shrouded in mystery, with even the trailer being delayed until the very last moment and critics not getting to see it until a day before release, such was the fear of spoilers leaking out. My first concern, being so excited by the prospect of another time bending classic to join Memento, Interstellar and Inception in the ranks of “OK, what just happened” masterpieces, was that the sound during the trailers was very very low – if they kept it that low during the actual film I would demand my money back… I needn’t have worried…
Never in my life have I felt as if my eardrums were about to burst whilst watching a film! Literally, at times, Hans Zimmer’s powerful and emotive score was vibrating my testicles! Add to that the fact that a lot of the dialogue seemed mumbled and drowned out by it, and it made the first 45 minutes very difficult to enjoy. Was this horrendous sound mix a mistake? Or very much part of the plan to overwhelm the senses and confuse the brain? Was it part of the puzzle or a massive technical oversight? As almost everyone seems to have the same complaint about it, the jury is still out on that one…
And so, it took a little while for me to atune to the tone, regardless of how hard you had to focus to take in anything of what was going on. There was a point where I became certain I wasn’t going to like it – I braced myself for disappointment. And then… at a certain moment in a certain scene the penny dropped and so did my jaw, as the full realisation of where this was going, and how unique and mind blowing that concept was, finally kicked in. From that moment on it just got better and better, as the technical achievement required, let alone intelligence, to pull this off surpassed all previous levels of anything I can ever remember.
The “Wow” moments just kept on coming as the action, tension and intrigue kept rising to fever pitch. In the end, so profoundly bewildering were the potential possibilities of the plot and premise that I gave up trying to meet it intellectually and just allowed it to wash over me emotionally, knowing that repeat viewings would allow me to engage with it in that way later.
John David Washington as “the protagonist” is suitably neutral and unshowy in the role; threatening to be compared to Bond or Bourne, but never quite being either, as this world, despite it’s surface glamour and underground seediness feels much closer to DiCaprio’s suit wearing mind spy in Inception than either of those. For anyone who didn’t yet catch his terrific turn in BlacKkKlansman this may be their first encounter with him, and you’d have to say he has a very solid, dependable quality, without ever being starry or attention seeking. Watchable, for sure, but never chewing the scenery at the cost of the story – and surely that is why Nolan chose him.
Beside Washington is another excellent performance by the increasingly impressive Robert Pattinson. His role as the enigmatic Neil here grows on you minute to minute during the film, and afterwards you wonder if he wasn’t the best thing about the entire production… there is a subtlety of meaning in all his scenes that is only revealed late on, and demands a further watch or two to get every nuance from. He gives the impression he is entirely in control of the full meaning of the film and his own performance, so much so he strikes me as the pivot that would tip you either way on whether you liked the film or not.
And I have to admit not liking it is a valid option. You couldn’t possibly watch it whilst tired or in a bad mood, it is just too full on, bordering on oppressive at times. There are also a few supporting roles that I’m not 100% certain of, most notably Kenneth Brannagh as the seeming villain of the piece, Sator. His accent is a distraction, and it feels like a character you’ve seen him play before – fine in most ways, but nothing special – and I found myself wishing they had cast someone else in that role. Likewise with the less exposed Elizabeth Debicki – adequate, but not transcendent, as her character might have been with a more charismatic actress.
My overall impression was definitely affected by how much my daughter enjoyed it – she loves having a mystery to solve, especially if it involves time or some other sci-fi concept. The pleasure of it was chatting it over excitedly afterwards, to see if either of us had truly understood the full story, in the same way I remember doing with others about all Nolan’s concept pieces over the years. If you come to it being less than bothered about having to unlock a puzzle box then it may very well piss you off, to the extent you either just give up or sit back and enjoy the ride. However, I would assert confidently that it is worth the effort and will reward multiple viewings over time. Especially as more clues to its meaning are discussed and revealed.
One thing that can be said with certainty is that there is no other film like this that has ever been made. It feels different and beyond comparison in many crucial ways. The ambition of Nolan has to be applauded. I only wish he would go back and sort out that sound design before I get around to seeing it again.
Paul Kellett (118 KP) rated Lifeform in Tabletop Games
May 1, 2019
I demoed this at Fan Boy 3 in Manchester during the Kickstarter campaign and was really excited to get to try this out.
So, what is the game?
Basically, it is Alien: The Board Game. A highly thematic one against many survival game where some of you play the crew of the mining ship Valley Forge trying to escape the clutches of an unknown alien killer before the ship self-destructs. Sound familiar? You bet, and it captures the tension of that well-known film perfectly.
I arrived part way through a game and Tristan kindly gave up his seat to let Me jump in. I basically new nothing about how to play, having only watched a couple of demo videos earlier in the week but with a crib sheet in front of Me explaining the card icons and a quick run down of what you can do in a turn, it didn't feel overwhelming and I was able to take over quite seamlessly. The game was close to the end and the alien player had already taken out most of the crew and was set up very nicely to ambush the rest of us. It wasn't long before the ship was adrift with just one deadly occupant...
How does it work?
We played a basic game, so some of the more meatier options were not included and we just had the simple task of gathering enough equipment and escaping in the shuttlecraft.
In the full game, players will be assigned personal objectives like downloading the ship's log from the data core or gathering specific equipment. This will add much more depth to the game as each player will be striving to achieve these goals as well as trying to avoid the alien and reaching the escape shuttle.
In the simple game however, we just had to focus on escaping. To do this, you need to collect the equipment tokens that are arranged in various rooms on the board. These are then placed on a track at the side of the board in various slots for coolant, energy cells, weapons, space suits and halon canisters. Most of these tracks have a minimum number of tokens needed before you can attempt to escape and any extra will grant bonuses like drawing extra cards or gaining a flame thrower.
In your turn, you get to perform one action so the downtime is minimal and the turns fair zip around the table, often before you've had a chance to take a breath and plan your next move.
All the actions are played from the cards you have in your hand, so you feel the tension of needing to get somewhere but having to wait until you draw a card that lets you run through multiple rooms.
Drawing cards. Now there's a thing. The ship's self destruct has been activated (naturally) and you only have 30 minutes until the ship blows up. Each time you choose to draw more cards into your hand, you slide the marker up the track, closer to the big bang.
I can't say too much about what the alien player can do as I didn't get to study that side of things too much but it certainly has some devious tricks up it's sleeve.
The alien player starts with two standees on the board. They look identical besides a little coloured sticker (this will be a set of symbols in the final game). He also has a corresponding set of tokens next to his player board and he will choose one of these to be the alien. The other standee (or standees, as later in the game there is the chance to get a third standee out) is a decoy so the crew, essentially seeing these as blips on their trackers, never know which is the real threat until it's too late.
There is a nice twist here, as, after making a kill, the alien player get's to reset his tokens and choose again which one will be the decoy and which will be the real killer. The alien player can also choose whether the kill was silent, offing the victim quickly and cleanly, or whether it is a nasty, brutal affair with lots of screaming. If the latter, then the other crew members hear this and all have to make a panic move into an adjacent room. This can be really useful if the crew are about to pick up equipment or possibly achieve an objective (I'm not sure if the personal objectives will be common knowledge or not sat this point).
The alien has various little trackers it can use from hatching more eggs letting it increase the amount of cards it holds, to taking control of the android on the crew which will then get placed on the board and follow a programmed track, killing any crew in it's way until it gets to the escape shuttle where it will start sabotaging various systems.
The alien also gets to place terror tokens and power out tokens on the board. If you enter a space with a terror token, you have to draw a card from the terror deck and these are always bad. A room with a power outage is dark and you can't run through it, you must stop your movement there. Other bad things can happen in the dark too.
What if I die?
Another neat thing this game does is avoid player elimination by cycling the crew. In our game, there were two of us controlling two characters each and when both of My characters died, I took one from the other player so we had one each. When that character was also killed (yes, I was not doing well...), rather than being forced to sit out the rest of the game, I could choose one of two secondary roles to play.
I could take control of the ship's mainframe computer which would allow me to do things like open and close bulkhead doors, slowing the alien down, allow the other players to draw more cards and various other useful things.
Or I could play the ship's cat. This was the option I went for and it was great. I could distract the alien, destroy some of it's eggs (so reducing it's hand size), place additional equipment tokens on the board or assist the other crew by letting them draw more cards.
It was this that that actually gave us the win as it was looking pretty bleak towards the end, but the cat actually managed to guide the last remaining crew member to a flamethrower and distract the alien long enough to make our escape.
What do I think?
This game is superb. Easy to pick up, but very thematic and definitely very tense. The decisions can be easy at times, but then you will hit a situation where the alien has you cornered and you must make some hard choices.
As I said, the theme just drips off every part of this game like a slightly corrosive drool. Our game started off really well - we managed to quickly gather a massive chunk of the equipment we needed to escape but the alien had been cutting the power and placing terror tokens closer to the escape shuttle ready for our eventual arrival and by the mid-game, we were feeling trapped and the alien was using the ventilation ducts to spring out and take us down one by one.
We were down to one surviving crew member and the ship's cat who, as I already mentioned managed to lead the human to the safety of the shuttle and espace.
Just getting to the shuttle isn't the end, however, there is one last twist (as in all good stories). At around the mid-point of the self destruct track, the alien get's to pick a card which is his estimate on what point prior to the ship blowing up we will reach the shuttle. If he has guessed correctly, then as we leave the stricken mining vessel, we find out that the shuttle has one extra occupant...
We were lucky and the alien player had guessed incorrectly, but had he been right, then there would have been a final battle aboard the escape shuttle and we may have been sending some deadly cargo back to Earth...
I can highly recommend this game and best of all, there is an expansion that adds an AI deck and a whole other set of objectives for solo play. I had a quick look at this and it looks like it will make for a very tense and really exciting solo game as well as a cool multiplayer experience.
So, what is the game?
Basically, it is Alien: The Board Game. A highly thematic one against many survival game where some of you play the crew of the mining ship Valley Forge trying to escape the clutches of an unknown alien killer before the ship self-destructs. Sound familiar? You bet, and it captures the tension of that well-known film perfectly.
I arrived part way through a game and Tristan kindly gave up his seat to let Me jump in. I basically new nothing about how to play, having only watched a couple of demo videos earlier in the week but with a crib sheet in front of Me explaining the card icons and a quick run down of what you can do in a turn, it didn't feel overwhelming and I was able to take over quite seamlessly. The game was close to the end and the alien player had already taken out most of the crew and was set up very nicely to ambush the rest of us. It wasn't long before the ship was adrift with just one deadly occupant...
How does it work?
We played a basic game, so some of the more meatier options were not included and we just had the simple task of gathering enough equipment and escaping in the shuttlecraft.
In the full game, players will be assigned personal objectives like downloading the ship's log from the data core or gathering specific equipment. This will add much more depth to the game as each player will be striving to achieve these goals as well as trying to avoid the alien and reaching the escape shuttle.
In the simple game however, we just had to focus on escaping. To do this, you need to collect the equipment tokens that are arranged in various rooms on the board. These are then placed on a track at the side of the board in various slots for coolant, energy cells, weapons, space suits and halon canisters. Most of these tracks have a minimum number of tokens needed before you can attempt to escape and any extra will grant bonuses like drawing extra cards or gaining a flame thrower.
In your turn, you get to perform one action so the downtime is minimal and the turns fair zip around the table, often before you've had a chance to take a breath and plan your next move.
All the actions are played from the cards you have in your hand, so you feel the tension of needing to get somewhere but having to wait until you draw a card that lets you run through multiple rooms.
Drawing cards. Now there's a thing. The ship's self destruct has been activated (naturally) and you only have 30 minutes until the ship blows up. Each time you choose to draw more cards into your hand, you slide the marker up the track, closer to the big bang.
I can't say too much about what the alien player can do as I didn't get to study that side of things too much but it certainly has some devious tricks up it's sleeve.
The alien player starts with two standees on the board. They look identical besides a little coloured sticker (this will be a set of symbols in the final game). He also has a corresponding set of tokens next to his player board and he will choose one of these to be the alien. The other standee (or standees, as later in the game there is the chance to get a third standee out) is a decoy so the crew, essentially seeing these as blips on their trackers, never know which is the real threat until it's too late.
There is a nice twist here, as, after making a kill, the alien player get's to reset his tokens and choose again which one will be the decoy and which will be the real killer. The alien player can also choose whether the kill was silent, offing the victim quickly and cleanly, or whether it is a nasty, brutal affair with lots of screaming. If the latter, then the other crew members hear this and all have to make a panic move into an adjacent room. This can be really useful if the crew are about to pick up equipment or possibly achieve an objective (I'm not sure if the personal objectives will be common knowledge or not sat this point).
The alien has various little trackers it can use from hatching more eggs letting it increase the amount of cards it holds, to taking control of the android on the crew which will then get placed on the board and follow a programmed track, killing any crew in it's way until it gets to the escape shuttle where it will start sabotaging various systems.
The alien also gets to place terror tokens and power out tokens on the board. If you enter a space with a terror token, you have to draw a card from the terror deck and these are always bad. A room with a power outage is dark and you can't run through it, you must stop your movement there. Other bad things can happen in the dark too.
What if I die?
Another neat thing this game does is avoid player elimination by cycling the crew. In our game, there were two of us controlling two characters each and when both of My characters died, I took one from the other player so we had one each. When that character was also killed (yes, I was not doing well...), rather than being forced to sit out the rest of the game, I could choose one of two secondary roles to play.
I could take control of the ship's mainframe computer which would allow me to do things like open and close bulkhead doors, slowing the alien down, allow the other players to draw more cards and various other useful things.
Or I could play the ship's cat. This was the option I went for and it was great. I could distract the alien, destroy some of it's eggs (so reducing it's hand size), place additional equipment tokens on the board or assist the other crew by letting them draw more cards.
It was this that that actually gave us the win as it was looking pretty bleak towards the end, but the cat actually managed to guide the last remaining crew member to a flamethrower and distract the alien long enough to make our escape.
What do I think?
This game is superb. Easy to pick up, but very thematic and definitely very tense. The decisions can be easy at times, but then you will hit a situation where the alien has you cornered and you must make some hard choices.
As I said, the theme just drips off every part of this game like a slightly corrosive drool. Our game started off really well - we managed to quickly gather a massive chunk of the equipment we needed to escape but the alien had been cutting the power and placing terror tokens closer to the escape shuttle ready for our eventual arrival and by the mid-game, we were feeling trapped and the alien was using the ventilation ducts to spring out and take us down one by one.
We were down to one surviving crew member and the ship's cat who, as I already mentioned managed to lead the human to the safety of the shuttle and espace.
Just getting to the shuttle isn't the end, however, there is one last twist (as in all good stories). At around the mid-point of the self destruct track, the alien get's to pick a card which is his estimate on what point prior to the ship blowing up we will reach the shuttle. If he has guessed correctly, then as we leave the stricken mining vessel, we find out that the shuttle has one extra occupant...
We were lucky and the alien player had guessed incorrectly, but had he been right, then there would have been a final battle aboard the escape shuttle and we may have been sending some deadly cargo back to Earth...
I can highly recommend this game and best of all, there is an expansion that adds an AI deck and a whole other set of objectives for solo play. I had a quick look at this and it looks like it will make for a very tense and really exciting solo game as well as a cool multiplayer experience.