Kill Bill Vol 1 "You didn't think it would be that easy did you?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, since its June, I figured I would do another post and this one will be a revisit of an older one I did ages ago for Kill Bill Vol 1. I also recently rewatched Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2, so figured it would be a good idea to do a revisit of the reviews. 

So, with that said, let's take another look at this movie and see how it is 22 years on from its release...

And the usual is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!  

STORY  

So beginning with a bit more about the plot of Vol 1, which starts with the blood spattered "bride" (Uma Thurman) who lies on the floor of a church in El Paso Texas, after her groom to be and her friends have been ruthlessly gunned down, by her former lover Bill (David Carradine) and his team of assassins, the Deadly Viper squad (Lucy Lui, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen and Daryl Hannah).  Just before Bill puts a bullet in his bride's head, she tells him that she is pregnant with his baby.  

The story then cuts to four years later where The Bride arrives at the house of one of the Viper squad, Vernita Green (Vivica Fox) where they both engage in fierce hand to hand combat, which is interrupted by the arrival of Vernita's young daughter, after which they both stop fighting and talk.  The Viper gang has since been disbanded and now Vernita lives a more ordinary suburban life and Vernita persuades the Bride into having a knife fight at night.  Vernita however then tries to kill the Bride with a gun hidden in a breakfast cereal packet, but the Bride manages to dodge the bullet and kills Vernita by throwing a knife into her chest, which the daughter witnesses and the Bride apologises for doing so in front of her and if she still feels angry about it later in life, she will be waiting. 

The story then shows in flashback that the Bride had indeed survived the bullet, as she lies in a coma for four years in a hospital and one night one of the Viper gang, Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah) tries to kill her by using a lethal injection, but is called off by a phone call from Bill.  One night the Bride suddenly awakens from her coma, just before a hospital worker, Buck (Michael Bowen) enters with a trucker and offers him to use the Bride for sex (for money of course) only then for the Bride to spring to life, killing the trucker and then Buck, after which she steals Buck's truck.  

The bride then travels to Okinawa to find the legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzo (Sonny Chiba) and she asks that he make her a sword, which he eventually does after she drops Bill's name.  After a month or so, Hanzo finishes the sword and the bride leaves with it, to start her bloody revenge against the Deadly Viper squad, starting with O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) who is by now the leader of the Tokyo yakuza and she follows them to a Japanese restaurant.  

What ensues is a very bloody (not to mention very spurty!) fight sequence as the bride takes on O-Ren's bodyguards, her crazed 17 year associate Gogo Yubari (Chiaki Kuriyama) and also the "crazy 88" who are O-Ren's hit squad, and ultimately O-Ren herself who she faces in the film's final confrontation....

THOUGHTS  

Kill Bill for me personally is easily one of Quentin Tarantino's best films, as it is a brilliant combination of different styles of film, from action to thriller, to western, to eastern to anime and Volume 1 really pulls the viewer into that world straight away with its dazzling and violent imagery.  And the film opens in such a dramatic way with the bride panting heavily as we see her bloody face as Bill stands over her he wipes her face before he puts a bullet in her head it sets the tone of the film perfectly as we know already its a revenge tale and its going to get very nasty pretty quick.     

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning; this section contains spoilers!)

Moving onto performances, the cast are all on excellent form here. 

Starting with Uma Thurman who gives a terrific performance in the main role as the Bride and she must go through just about every emotion there is an actress during both films, but in Volume 1 she is also for the most part very stern, steely and focused in her quest for revenge despite one or two moments where she allows for the odd bit of levity.  

Thurman has several highlights throughout both Volumes and one of the first scenes that comes to mind is the one where she wakes up from her coma, she looks down at her stomach at a wound where presumably her aborted child was taken from, and she screams and sobs uncontrollably.  Its a great moment in Uma's performance and the most distressing moments in the film and for that brief moment the Bride has to deal with her grief all at once, before she is interrupted, by the sleazy hospital worker, who has profited from her inert body for sex.  

This also does of course lead into the moment where the Bride kills the trucker and then stabs Buck and jams his head in the door and slams it several times and she notices the tatoo of his name on his knuckles and she says "Your name is Bud, right?  And you came here to fuck, RIGHT???!!!" before finishing him off.   

Uma also get's some good lines as the Bride such as the scene where climbs into Buck's truck and looks at her inert feet (one thing I have to say is Uma has ugly feet!) and she says to herself "Now wiggle your big toe" and then she narrates "As I sat in the back of Buck's truck, trying to will my limbs out of entrophy I could see the faces of c**** that did this to me and the dicks responsible!".

Another good scene for Uma is at the start where the Bride engages in an intense fist fight with Vernita and they have to stop the fight when Vernita's daughter arrives home from school.  And after they talk in the kitchen and Vernita tries to kill the Bride, who kills her with a knife, the daughter walks back in, impassive, the Bride says to her "It was not my intention to do this in front of you, for that I'm sorry.  But take it from me, your mother had it coming!  If later when you're all grown up, if you still feel raw about it.... I'll be waiting".  

Then there is the moment where the Bride narrates and says of O-Ren who was one of the assassins at the chapel that day. So, the Bride narrates "Four years ago she played her part in the massacre of 9 people in El Paso, Texas.  But she made one fatal mistake.  She should have made it ten!".  

Another good scene is where Uma as the Bride get's to show a little of her human side where she travels to Okinawa to meet Hanzo and Hanzo asks why she came and she said she is here to meet "Hatori Hanzo" which sends a shiver down Hanzo's spine.  And the two of them talk in Japanese and the Bride says "I need Japanese steel!" and Hanzo says "Why do you need Japanese steel?" and the Bride coldly says "I have vermin to kill!" and Hanzo "You must have some big rats if you need Japanese steel" and Bride says "Huge!".         

Then there is her great fight scene against the Crazy 88 where the Bride slices and dices O-Ren's men and as she deals with the last one, who is a small guy, terrified, in a fun moment she cuts down his blade and grabs him and bends him over and whips his butt with her blade yelling "THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR FUCKING AROUND WITH THE YAKUZAS!!!  GO HOME TO YOUR MOTHER!!!". The Bride then addresses all the maimed Yakuza who groan in pain and lie in their own blood and she yells to them in Japanese "Those of you are still alive, you can live but leave your limbs with me! They belong to me now!".   

David Carradine is especially good as Bill, the man himself, who has a world weary charm but also shows that he's a killer and a vicious bastard through and through.  You never of course see Carradine in Vol 1 as you only sees his hands and hear his voice and Carradine's voice really lends a weighty gravelly tone to the character, which works perfectly.  

Carradine's best scene comes where he talks with Elle on the phone, whilst she is at the hospital ready to kill off the Bride.  And Carradine get's some good lines in the scene where Bill says to Elle "Y'all beat the hell out of that woman, but you didn't kill her.  And I put a bullet in her head and her heart kept on beating.  We've done alot of things to lady and if she ever wakes up, we'll do whole lot more.  But one thing we won't do is sneak into her room in the night like a filthy rat and kill her in her sleep.  And the reason we won't do that thing is because.... that thing will lower us!".    

Lucy Liu is also great as the deadly and foxy O-Ren Ishii, and her best scene is where she stampedes down the table in her conference room and beheads one of her impertinent associates (complete with blood fountain spurting!) and calmly tells her people that if you have problem with her, tell her so, before she shouts "So if any of you sonsabitches has anything else to say NOW'S THE FUCKING TIME!!!".  

Later on Lucy has a good fight scene with Uma, as O-Ren and the Bride engage in battle, also before the Crazy 88 arrive we hear the sound of their motorcycles grow louder from the distance after the Bride has killed off a handful of O-Ren's bodyguards.  And O-Ren smiles and says to the Bride looking down from her balcony "You didn't really think it would be that easy did you?" and the Bride smiles back saying "You know for a second there, I thought it would".  And O-Ren says "Silly rabbit!" and they both say together "tricks are for kids!".   

Sonny Chiba is also very entertaining as Hattori Hanzo, once a great swordswith, who vowed never to make another sword again, and now spends his time as a Sushi chef, arguing with his suborindate employee.  And his scenes with Uma are fun to watch, especially when she first arrives in Okinawa and he demands he assistant to get the Bride some sake, who says he's busy, and Hanzo sighs saying "Lazy bastard!  Get your ass out here!".  

And later when Hanzo shows the Bride his collection of swords and she takes one of them out of its sheath and he says to her "Funny you like Saumrai swords... I like baseball!" and he throws a baseball at her, which the Bride slices in half with precision.  And the Bride then reminds him that her vermin is a former student of his and "given the student you have a rather large obligation!" leading Hanzo to quietly go over to the window and writing Bill's name in the frosted window before telling her "You can sleep here.  It will take me a month to make the sword.  I suggest you spend that time practicing".  

Vivica A Fox is also very good in her role as Vernita Green, one of the Bride's would-be killers, who left her for dead at the chapel and the Bride later confronts at her home. 

So, Fox has some good moments in her sequence that include the one where Vernita after she stops her intense fight with the Bride asks her "Would you like some coffee?" and the Bride says "Yeah". So, they go into the kitchen where Vernita makes coffee and says "I suppose its too late to accept an apology" and the Bride says "You supposed correctly". So, Vernita says "Look, if I could go back in a machine and changes things I could but I can't. All I can tell you is that I'm a different person now". So, as they talk, the Bride asks her "When do you want to die?" and Vernita says "How about tonight bitch?" and the Bride grins and says "Splendid!". 

So, Vernita suggests they meet at midnight and dress in all black nearby her house and she says "I have to make my daughter her breakfast". So, the Bride says "Bill always said you were the best he'd ever seen with an edged weapon" and Vernita grins and says "Fuck you, bitch! Bill never qualified that such, so you can my kiss ass, Black mamba!". The Bride teases her and says "Your choice of weapon? You can stick with the butcher knife if you want" and Vernita smiles and says "Very funny bitch! VERY FUNNY!" and we hear a gunshot fire, as Vernita hid a gun in a cereal packet, which misses the Bride, who then throws a knife at Vernita, which hits her in the chest and she falls down dead.  

And lastly Daryl Hannah also is very good in her brief role as the evil and sly Elle Driver, who wears and eyepatch on one eye and her character appears more in Volume 2.  And after seeing Daryl give some pretty so-so performances in films from the 1980s such as Roxanne, and Wall Street, what she does do really well in this film is ham it up, and shows that she is in her own way a capable actress.  

Hannah only really has one scene in the film which is a memorable one where Elle attempts to kill off the Bride while she is in her coma in hospital but Bill phones her and calls it off.  So, in the scene Elle stands over the Bride's inert form in hospital and says to her "This is my gift to you" as she is about to inject poison into her but her phone goes off and she says "For fuck's sake!" and she answers it to hear Bill on the other end. So, Bill tells Elle "We're going to abort" and and Elle shouts "Oh, you don't owe her SHIT!" and Bill says "Will you lower your voice?!" and Elle says in a hushed tone "You don't owe  her shit!". So, after the call Elle says to the inert Bride "I bet you thought that was pretty fuckin funny didn't you?!  Word of advice, shithead.  Don't you ever wake up!".   

DIRECTOR 

As for Quentin Tarantino direction wise I don't think he has made a better film as his mix of skilfull camera work, and brilliant use of Japanese anime, and superb photography from Robert Richardson all add up to a visual treat for the viewer. Tarantinto took upon himself to make the decision to split Kill Bill into two films to avoid cutting any scenes out of the film(s) themselves and this is certainly one of the tautest films he's made in his career.  

MUSIC  

As for the music, Tarantino skillfully chooses some great tracks for the film starting with Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang", the cheesy but highly effective use of the theme from "Quincy".  I also can't forget to mention the catchy 5, 6, 7, 8's "Woo-hoo" which is annoying but at the same time it is also strangely quite enjoyable.  In general Tarantino has a like for 1970s funk music, and plenty of it permeates throughout the whole film, abd he uses it very well, especially tracks like "Ray Fan Ray" by Isaac Hayes in the anime scene with O-Ren killing one of her targets as an assassin.  Naturally Tarantino threw in the theme from the "Green Hornet" during the scene where the Bride drives the streets of Tokyo as she follows O-Ren and her entourage.  And lastly there is of course the track "Battle without honor or humanity" by the Japanese musician, Tomoyasu Hotei, which became very popular as a result of the film and is used well in the slo-mo scene of O-Ren and her bodyguards walking into the restaurant where the Bride will later do battle with O-Ren and her men.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section contains spoilers!) 

Getting onto the flaws of Volume 1.... well its a great film so overall nothing too glaring but what I would say is from a character point of view, what the bride has to endure is pretty horrendous, and Tarantino seems almost delight in putting his characters through the unbearable and the downright harrowing.  This is perfectly highlighted in the scene where the Bride is being used for sex whilst she lies in a coma in hospital, which is quite horrific in itself and it again it kind of highlights a rather mysognistic tone to the film, which could be levelled at some of Tarantino's other work.  

I also felt in a way that the Bride's character was less likeable in the first film and more difficult to relate to as she is largely more as a remorseless killer than anything else, who is consumed with revenge and its only in the scene where the Bride meets with Hanzo in Okinawa we get to see some of her charm start to emerge.  Volume 2 would however go on to address this but in a way it does serve to potentially alienate some viewers.  

Another concern could also come from the level of violence in the film as it is pretty OTT in terms of the blood as in the big bloody fight scene with the Crazy 88, its almost like the actors were fitted with sprinkler attachments so the blood could fly anywhere at all!  Despite that though Tarantino does somewhat succeed in making it all entertaining and overall it isn't too disturbing to watch but the Crazy 88 bloody battle is certainly not a scene for those with a weak stomach. 

Tarantino also skilfully cuts between colour and black and white once it starts to get really bloody (and then back again) and he amusingly uses the catchy song "Nobody but me" by the Human Beinz, which undercuts the harshness of the violence onscreen, which again highlights Tarantino's maxim that he sees violence as a form of entertainment. 

You could also argue that in the hospital scene where the Bride kills the man who pays to have sex with her and then the hospital ward worker who effectively pimped her out, its surprising the cops weren't ever called to the scene. I mean it was presumably during the night when this happens but the Bride does spend 13 hours in the hospital worker's truck, so if they wanted to conduct a police hunt for her, she wouldn't be too difficult to find! Especially if she wasn't able to walk by this point if they discovered her there. In the end though, it is just a film.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Kill Bill Vol 1 is a terrific film from Quentin Tarantino and one of his very best works with a great mix of visual style and content as well as a great performance by Uma Thurman as the Bride. The film also has some great action scenes, which were cordindated by renowned choreographer, Yuen Woo-Ping (who did the Matrix films) and a great soundtracks featuring many memorable tracks. So, after 22  years, this is still a great film and well worth checking out as well as one of Tarantino's greatest achievements.

So, I will rate Kill Bill Vol 1:

10 out of 10     

So, that's it for now and I will be back soon with Vol 2.

Until then its bye for now! 

 

Get Carter "Take me back to London!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, just before the month ends, I figured I'd do another post and this is actually a revisit of sorts of an old one from over 10 years, which is on a film I watched recently, Get Carter starring Michael Caine as the proverbial Jack Carter, a villain who is out for personal revenge.

So, I will expand on the sections as usual and add in some more details since the old post is quite well...old! So, with that said, let's take another look at this classic crime thriller...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So, the film starts in London where the main character, Jack Carter (Caine) who is a gangster who works for organised crime bosses Sid and Gerald Fletcher (John Bindon and Terence Rigby) visits his home city of Newcastle to attend the funeral of his brother, Frank.  Carter's real motives of returning to Newcastle are actually to find out how Frank died as he believes the circumstances of his death from an alleged drunk driving accident are somewhat suspect.  

After attending the funeral, Carter starts to try and find out some answers as he visits a racecourse to seek out an old acquaintence, Albert Swift (Glynn Edwards) who evades him.  However Carter at the racecourse bumps into another old acquiantence, Eric Paice (Ian Hendry) who works as a chauffer but he refuses to tell Carter whom he works for.  Carter then follows Eric to a country house, which belongs to a crime boss, Cyril Kinnear (John Osbourne) where he burst in on Kinnear while he plays poker.  Carter however learns little and he leaves only to be warned by Eric not to cause trouble between Kinnear and the Fletchers.

Back in town at the bedsit where Jack is staying he is confronted by some of the Fletchers men who want Jack to go home and stop snooping about, however Jack fights them off and chases one of them, Thorpe (Bernard Hepton) and captures him.  Jack takes Thorpe back to his bedsit room, along with one of Frank's acquaintenaces, Keith (Alun Armstrong) who has been helping him keep tabs on anyone looking for him.  Jack then intimidates Thorpe into telling him who sent him and Thorpe gives the name "Brumby" whom Jacks knows as a businessman, Cliff Brumby (Bryan Mosley).  

Jack pays Brumby a visit but he discovers that Brumby knows nothing about him, so Jack leaves, believing he was set up.  On returning to the bedsit Jack, Edna (Rosemarie Dunham) the landlord, tells Jack the gangsters came back and took away Keith, and in attempt to keep Edna quiet, he seduces her and they spend the night together.  The next morning, two of Jack's associates from London turn up who have been ordered to take him back, but Jack forces them out of the bedsit by pointing a shotgun at them.  Jack then meets up with his brother Frank's mistress, Margaret (Dorothy White) but he refuses to believe what she has to say about Frank, and at that point the two henchmen turn up again, but Jack evades him.  

Jack then pays a visit to Keith, who has been beaten up by the London gangsters, and Jack then pays him some money in compensation, but Keith is furious and as Jack leaves, he shouts at him how Frank warned him about Jack's reputation and that he even had an affair with Frank's wife.  As the gangsters catch up with Frank again, he manages to evade them again as he is picked up by a mysterious woman named Glenda (Geraldine Moffatt) whom he met at Kinnear's place.  Glenda takes Jack to meet Brumby who tells him that Kinnear was apparently behind his brother's death and he offers Jack £5,000 to kill Kinnear, who is looking to take over Brumby's business, but Jack refuses and walks out.  On the way Glenda picks up Jack and they head back to her flat where they have sex.

While at Glenda's flat, Jack watches a pornographic film, which includes Margaret, Albert, Glenda and a young girl named Doreen (Petra Markham) who earlier in the film was revealed to be Jack's niece, this leaves Jack saddened and angry.  Jack then out of fury nearly drowns Glenda while she has a bath and he asks if she knows who the girl was and he reveals to her that the girl was his brother's daughter.  Jack then forces Glenda into the boot of her car and drives off toward a ferry port where he parks the car and travels over the river to find Albert.  

Jack then finds Albert at a bookies and he questions him and Albert tells Jack that he told Brumby that Doreen was Frank's daughter.  Brumby then showed Frank the film which incited him to call the police on Kinnear, and as a result in order to keep Frank quiet, Kinnear sent his men to kill him, which included Eric, after this Jack kills Albert by fatally stabbing him.  

Jack is then attacked by the London gangsters, including Eric who has informed Gerald Fletcher of Jack's affair with his girlfriend, Anna (Brit Erkland).  Jack kills one of the gangsters, Peter (Tony Beckley) while the others push the car with Glenda still in the boot, into the water and then escape.  Jack then goes back to confront Brumby and in a fit of rage he beats him and then pushes him off the multi-storey car park to his death below.  

After this Jack sets about to complete his revenge by settling the scores with everyone who was involved, which soon leads the film into its climax...

THOUGHTS 

While it wasn't too well received on its release, which was in part due to poor promotion at a time which saw the British film industry in a state of a decline, Get Carter since has become a real classic and deservedly so as it stands as one of the best British crime thrillers in modern cinema.  And while the story is nothing too original in itself, its execution is superb and the film has its share of memorable scenes.  

The film also was a real development from previous British crime movies in that attempted to portray a more gritty and realistic depcition of the British crimeworld and of the onscreen violence.  Hodges also researched into the Newcastle crime scene of the time and he also used several hundred extras, all of whom were real locals from the city itself, which helped give the film a very naturalistic feel.

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers!) 

As for the performances the cast are all great here.

Starting with Michael Caine, who is superb in his role as the vengeful gangster Carter, who suspects foul play over his brother's death and is determined to find out what really happened.  And Caine plays Carter with a dry sardonic wit as well as a somewhat cruel indifference towards the violence he commits and even sees in the film.

Caine also has some great dialogue in the film as well and there many examples, such as the scene where he first meets Eric at the racecourse and he takes off Eric's glasses and he says "You know, I'd almost forgotten what your eyes looked like.  Still the same.  Pissholes in the snow!".  

Also there is the scene where Jack pays a visit to Cliff Brumby's house, Brumby demands Jack to tell him who sent him. So, in the scene, Brumby says to Jack "Bloody well tell me who sent you!" and Jack replies "You're a big man, but you're in bad shape.  With me its a full time job.  Now behave yourself!" and he proceeds to punch and slap Brumby who tries to swing at him and he collapses into a chair.  

Caine also has an amusing moment where he seduces Edna the landlord to keep her quiet about the London gangsters paying him a visit at her bedsit. So, Edna asks Jack "What makes you think I won't call the police and tell them about a fella planning to use a gun" and Jack smiles and says "You wouldn't do that" and Edna asks "Why not?" and he says "Because I know you wear purple underwear". Edna then looks a bit fearful and asks "What?" and Jack says to her "Think about it!" and he tears open her top to reveal her purple bra underneath. 

Another memorable scene is where two of the London gangsters enter Jack's bedsit room while he is having sex with Edna, the landlord, and he then stark naked, grabs his shotgun and forces them to leave the bedsit as he says "Now then, take me back to London!".  In this scene there is also an amusing old fashioned sign hanging over the bed Jack and Edna are sleeping in which says "What would Jesus say?".  And later as he is about to leave in his car, Jack says to Enda "I'm going to sit in the car and whistle "Rule Britannia!" and Edna asks him will he come back and he says "How can I stay away?!" as he heads for the car and drives off.  

Another great moment in Caine's performance comes when he watches the porno film, which includes his niece, Doreen, and he sits tearfully for a moment before he angrily get's up and confronts Glenda and he nearly drowns her in the bath.  And in the scene when he nears the bathroom he asks Glenda if his brother knew about the film and Glenda asks "You're brother??? What are you talkin about!" and then Jack storms into the bathroom yelling "YOU LYING BITCH!!!" as he nearly drowns her.  So, in the scene Glenda gasps for breath as Jack pulls her up and she tells him she only knows the girl's first name and Jack says "Well her last name is Carter.  That's MY name!  And her father was my brother and he was murdered last Sunday! Now get in there and get dressed!".  

This is followed by another good scene where Jack meets with his old acquaintence Albert Swift, who tells him everything, and as Jack pulls out a switchblade knife, Albert begs with Jack not to kill him. o, in the scene, as Albert finishes his confession, Jack asks "Is that everything?" and Albert nods, so Jack takes out his knife and says "Well, that's it then!" and Albert panicked says "For Christ's sake!" and Jack says "You KNEW what I'd do, didn't you, Albert?" and Albert tearfully says "But I didn't kill him!" just before Jack stabs him and shouts "I KNOW you didn't kill him!  I KNOW!!".

Then there is the scene where Jack confronts Brumby at the multi-story carpark and beats him up as he learned about the film Doreen was in and how Frank found out about it. So, Jack punches Brumby in the chest and says "You shouldn't have shown the film to Frank!" and Brumby winded says "I had to! Its the only way I could get at them!" and Jack punches him again and says "You shit!". Brumby then says "They would have killed me!" and Jack says "They killed my brother instead!!" and punches him again. Jack then angrily asks "How would you feel if it were your own daughter getting poked in that film?! EH??!!" and he punches Brumby again and says "Slags like your Sandra, can get away with it, can't they?!" and he punches him again. Jack then angrily says "The Doreens of this world can't, CAN THEY?!" and he punches Brumby again and throws his body off the carpark roof, which crashes into a car below.  

And last of all is the scene where Jack finally chases down Eric to a quarry on the shoreline and he forces Eric to drink down a bottle whiskey, similar to how his brother Frank was killed. So, Jack says to Eric in the scene, who is exhausted from running away from Jack, "STAND UP!" and Jack says to Eric "I think you need a drink!" so he takes out a bottle of whiskey and says to Eric "Go on, have a drink!", so he tosses the bottle to Eric who says warily "I see you've still got your sense of humour!". So, Jack points to Eric and the bottle and says "I want you to drink ALL of that! Go on!" so he begins to force the bottle down Eric's throat and he shouts "DRINK IT!!!". Jack then angrily asks "Did you all have a good laugh when he was drinking it down??!! Did you all pass the bottle when the car went over the top??!!!" and he then takes his shotgun and holds high above his head and shouts "GOODBYE ERIC!!!" and smashes it down on Eric's head. We then cut to seeing Eric's body lie on a mine cart as its carted up on a conveyer line higher up and Jack laughs to himself, finally content with his revenge.   

As for the other performances, Ian Hendry is excellent as the gangster Eric Paice, who works for the crimeboss Cyril Kinnear.  Hendry himself was in poor health at the time of filming as he struggled with alcoholism and was also resentful of Caine's success as an actor. Hendry himself later died in 1984 at the age of 53.  

Hendry has some good moments in the film such as the scene where Eric confronts Jack at the ferry port and he yells at Jack "You're bloody finished, Jack!  I've bloody finish you!" and Jack replies "Not till I'm dead, Eric!".  And Eric goes on "You've still got your sense of humour!  Shall I tell him how I finsihed you off, Jack or will you, Con?". So, one of the gangsters, Con (George Sewell) says "He's told Sid about you and Anna!". So, Eric says "He didn't believe me at first, then Peter told him!  But do you still think you'll fancy her when Gerald's through with her face and that?!" and as his men push Glenda's car into the water he says to him "Jack!  Your car needs a wash!". 

John Osbourne is also very good in his role as the crime boss, Cryil Kinnear, and his main scene is really good where he plays poker just as Jack bursts into the room, and Kinnear with a dry cynical wit says to Jack "You see how it is, Jack, you just can't get the material!" and he proceeds to taunt one of his players, Harry, during the game, who ends up losing and says to him "I haven't won, have I??! You see that?? Old Harry thought I was having him on!". Also in the scene, Kinnear offers Jack a drink, so Glenda, get's him one in a small glass, so Kinnear tells her "Glenda, you don't offer a drink to a man like Jack in one of those piddling glasses, get him a bottle!". So, after Jack takes the bottle, he sits with Glenda, who flirts with him for a bit, so Jack then get's up to leave and Kinnear asks "You going, Jack" and Jack says "Must, things to do" and Kinnear cooly says "Of course, well drop in anytime". 

Alun Armstrong also makes his screen debut as Keith, one of Frank's acquiantences and he delivers an excellent performance.  Keith's character however soon falls foul of Jack's gangster associates who beat him up, and Jack later pays him a visit at Keith's flat, as Keith lies flat out on his bed, battered and bruised.  

So, I will mention the scene where Jack denies that he knew the gangsters would come back and he gives him some money as compensation. So, in the scene, Jack enters and sees a battered looking Keith lying on his bed and Jack asks "They hurt you?" and Keith says "No. You bastard! You knew they would come back!" and Jack says "No, I didn't". Keith then says "My girlfriend is coming down from Liverpool tonight, nice surprise, isn't it??!!".  Jack then says "OK, OK. I want to square things with you" and Keith asks "How?" and Jack takes out some money and Keith says "Stuff it!". Jack then takes some money out anyway and says "I'm sorry. Look here, get yourself a course in karate" and he leaves with Keith yelling at him "Frank always said you were a bloody shit and he were right!  You even screwed his wife didn't you?!  The poor bastard didn't even know if the kid was his!!".  

Geraldine Moffat is also excellent in her role as the seductive Glenda, who Jack ends up having sex with and later its revealed she was in the porno film with Doreen. 

And Moffat has a good scene where Glenda picks Jack up in the car and she says "I bet you didn't know you had a fairy God mother did you?!" and she drives him real fast up into a multi-story car park to meet Brumby. So, in the scene Jack asks "Alright, princess, where are we going?" and she says "Oh, to the demon king's castle of course!". Jack then asks as Glenda speeds her car up a multi-story car park "How, did you know where I was?" and Glenda tells him "You were seen parking your car. The demon king waved his wand and I was dispatched to bring you to him. Lucky for you, I waited". So, Jack then says "He must have been pretty sure I'd come" and Glenda says "Oh he was, he told me a magic spell that would make you come!" and Jack asks "What is that?" and Glenda says "We're there now!" and Jack says "Thank god!".     

Tony Beckley and George Sewell are also both excellent in their roles as the two London gangsters, Peter and Con respectively, who arrive to try and take Jack back to London and they share a good scene when Jack, naked, turfs them out of the bedsit, by pointing a shotgun at them.  So, in the scene Con says to Jack, "Put it away Jack, you know you're not gonna use it" and Peter laughs and says "The gun he means!".  

Glynn Edwards (who was best known for his work in the TV show Minder) is very good in his role as the shifty Albert, who was also in the porno film involving Doreen. 

So, I will mention some of Edwards main scene where Albert confesses to Jack his involvement in the film and also how Frank was killed. 

So, in the scene Albert tries to do a runner on Jack as he tries to climb over the wall behind the bookies but Jack pulls him down. So, Jack says "You can't run from me, Albert" and Albert defeatedly says "I know. For Christ's sake, give us a fag", so Jack gives him one and Albert admits "I didn't know who Doreen was, I just thought she was another bird". Jack then asks "Who killed Frank?" and Albert heistates and Jack warns him "You wanna be dead, Albert?" and Albert says "Last Sunday, Eric and a few of his boys took Frank and stuffed a bottle of whisky down his throat. After that, they drove him off in a car". Frank then asks "Did Eric know Frank was my brother?" and Albert says "Yeah" and Jack asks "What did he say" and Albert says "Good". Albert finishes saying "Afterward, they drove him off in a car" and Jack then asks "Is that everything?" and Albert nods and Jack produces his flick knife and says "Well, that's it then". So, Albert now terrified pleads, "For Christ's sake! For Christ's sake!!" and Jack says "You KNEW what I'd do, didn't you, Albert??" and Albert pleads "Yeah, but I didn't kill him!" and Jack says as he stabs Albert "I KNOW YOU DIDN'T KILL HIM! I KNOW!!" and Albert slumps to the ground dead.  

And last but far from least is Britt Ekland as Jack's girlfriend, Anna, who is the wife of one of the Fletchers.  

Ekland doesn't appear much in the film but she certainly makes a memorable impression in her main scene where she indulges in some kinky phone chat with Jack (very nice!) which is interrupted by her husband, Gerald, who asks her "What's the matter you got gut trouble or something??".  And Anna says "No, darling, just doing my exercises" and then quietly says goodbye to Jack, who meanwhile is sitting in the bedsit, with Edna moving back and forth in her rocking chair throughout the scene.  Ekland herself at the time of the film, was reluctant to take the part as she didn't want to do a nude scene but was financially struggling at the time in her life, but later admitted she was glad she took the role.  

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Getting to the director, Mike Hodges does a great job here with Get Carter and throughout he keeps the film moving well and it rarely ever drags.  Hodges also makes great use of many of the locations in Newcastle with the most memorable being the Trinity square car park, which was used in the scene where Jack meets with Brumby and he later kills Brumby there as well.  The car park itself has since being demolished back in 2010.  Hodges also perfectly captures the grimy and realistic tone of the period and the setting, as well as taking a more realistic view of the British criminal underworld.  

The film also has a unique and very memorable score by Roy Budd and the title theme to this day is instantly recognisible and he makes good use of Indian tabla drums throughout the score. The score itself is pretty sparse in its use but it is pretty effective when its heard. Budd himself would later go on to score films such as the war films, Wild Geese, Sea Wolves and also Who Dares Wins. 

FLAWS

As for flaws, well Get Carter doesn't that too many but there are one or two. 

For starters, you could argue that Jack really is in a precarious position right from the start of the film before he even goes to Newcastle because he is already having an affair with his boss's wife, Anna. So, on top of pissing off his boss by cheating on the missus, he also decides to stick his nose into the affairs of Kinnear's crime family as well. So, yeah as the film progresses, you can see even if Jack survives all this and carries out his initial plan to escape his gangster life with Anna, its bound to fail as Fletcher would be ceratin to catch up to him.

Further to this, its also pretty apparent that Jack didn't do a very good job at covering his own tracks with his affair with Anna, as clearly Eric knew about it as did the Fletcher associates, Peter and Con. So, ultimately this got back to Fletcher simply due to Jack being pretty inept at hiding his affair, otherwise, maybe he could have got away with it.   

There are also one or two confusing moments such as the one with the scene where Jack threatens a woman as he looks for Albert but we don't know who she is or anything. We do see her make a phone call in the next moment of the film as Jack heads to the bookies to find Albert but that aside, her appearance in the film makes little sense.

And last of all is not so much a flaw but a very weird curiosity in the film where we see an old man in a bar in Newcastle at the start, who is seen drinking and he has six fingers on his hand! Now, this really is a strange one and something that is again left unexplained, unless he just happened to be born with a strange difficiency that gave him six fingers in real life, or maybe the director decided to give him an artificial finger to make him stand out more! Its hard to say but this really is a bizarre one in the film itself.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Get Carter remains a great crime thriller classic of its time and it features a great performance by Michael Caine, where he really made a departure from his usual roles to play a pretty ruthless villain. The supporting cast are also really good as well particularly Ian Hendry, George Osbourne, Brian Moseley and Gerladine Moffatt. The film also has a memorable and unique score by Roy Budd with a catchy theme tune and the film is very well directed by Mike Hodges, who makes great use of the grimy locations within old Newcastle. So, with that all said, I can highly recommend Get Carter, which is way superior to the dreadful remake some years later starring Sylvester Stallone and remains one of the great modern crime classics of its time.

So, I will rate Get Carter

9.5 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back sometime next month.

Till then bye for now!  

Doctor Who - Genesis of the Daleks - 50th Anniversary Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, as I recently watched Season 12 of the original show of Doctor Who on Blu-ray, I thought I would do a revisit my review of one of most acclaimed stories from that season and indeed the Tom Baker era, Genesis of the Daleks. So, as this story is now also reached its 50th anniversary, I thought I would take another look at aswell and add a few bits here and there.

So, with that said, let's take another look at this classic from the original series...

So, the usual is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So the story starts with the Doctor being intercepted by the Time Lords while he is traveling to space station Nerva (from the earlier story in the same season "The Ark in Space").  The Doctor meets with a Time Lord (John Franklyn-Robbins) who tells him that he is on the planet Skaro, and gives him the mission to either stop the development of the Daleks, or change their genetic make-up to ensure they don't become evil creatures to which the Doctor accepts.   

The Doctor is soon joined by his companions, Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) as they look at their surroundings, which is a barren desolate war ground, as the two warring races on the planet, the Thals and Kaleds, have been engaged in a thousand year war.  The Doctor, Sarah and Harry arrive in a trench and soon attacked by a group of Thals, but the Kaleds soon come to their rescue, however Sarah is left for dead in the trenches, and is soon found by a group of Mutos (Kaleds who are mutated and were banished from the kaled dome).  Sarah is later captured by a group of Thal soldiers who take her and one of the mutos, Severin (Stephen Yardley) for slave labour in the Thal dome.    

Inside the Kaled dome, the Doctor and Harry are taken for interrogation, and the Doctor has his belongings confiscated, which includes the time ring, given to him by the Time Lord, which let them return to the TARDIS.  The Doctor and Harry soon stand witness to the unveiling of the first prototype dalek at a presentation given by the scientific elite's leader, Davros (Michael Wisher).  The Dalek armed with its weapon is about to kill the Doctor and Harry, but one of the scientists, Ronson (James Garbutt) intervenes in time to stop it.

Later, Ronson meets with The Doctor and Harry in the prison cells, where he admits his concerns over the dalek project, and how Davros has created a monster with no morals or conscience.  The Doctor and Harry escape from their cell with Ronson's help, as they agree to reach the Kaled councilors and express their concerns and insist they shut down Davros's research.

However Davros's personal guard and security commander, Nyder (Peter Miles) has his spies discover of Ronson's treachery and also of the council's decision to investigate his work with the daleks.  On this basis, Davros decides there is no alternative but to destroy the Kaled race and the dome, as he makes a journey to the Thal dome with Nyder and gives them a formula to destroy the Kaled dome.

The Thals agree to use the formula and the Doctor along with Harry arrives in time to free Sarah from the labour prison before the rocket is launched, but he is too late to stop the countdown, as the Thals launch their rocket and Kaled dome is destroyed.

Meanwhile Davros exposes Ronson as a spy and has one of his daleks exterminate him, and with 20 new daleks in place, Davros uses them to infiltrate the Thals dome and exterminate them.  Back in the Kaled bunker the Doctor and his companions are captured by Nyder and Davros interrogates the Doctor, realising that he is from another planet and time, he forces the Doctor to reveal his knowledge of the Daleks defeats and how they can be avoided, which is recorded on tape.

And from here the Doctor must try and find a way to stop Davros, destroy the dalek force and prevent them from evolving into the most evil dominant species in the universe, if he can....

THOUGHTS 

There is no doubt that Genesis of the Daleks stands easily as one of the very best Doctor Who stories of the original series and indeed all time. The script is brilliantly written by Terry Nation, and the setting is great, a thousand year war between two warring races, and from this war the daleks are born.  And with the new hard hitting style of the show under the producer at the time, Philip Hinchcliffe, Genesis here shows the perfect mix of suspense and drama.

Terry Nation shows his affinity for fascism in Genesis as well, as the Kaleds are dressed in very Nazi-esque uniforms, and the Elite, lead by Nyder, are dressed in almost SS type clothing.  And he would later on use similar themes in Blake's 7 where the human population are controlled by the Federation, a fascist regime, who show ruthlessness to those who opposed them.

The Daleks themselve are brilliantly introduced into this story and the concept of their creation is really well devised, with the daleks having been born out of mutations, and in one scene Ronson shows the Doctor and Harry a screen room where the Dalek embryos are grown, and Ronson grimly tells them that is the future for the Kaled race. 

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section my contain spoilers!)

Getting on to the performances they are all top notch.

Starting with Tom Baker as the Doctor, who by this time had started to grow into his role. In fact this story was recorded as the last one for that season even though it was broadcast 4th with Revenge of the Cybermen being the final aired serial for that season. In fact to correct that further, Terror of the Zygons was in fact the final story recorded for Season 12 originally but it was held back as the opener for Season 13 later in August of 1975. 

In the early stories everything is still pretty dramatic, but Tom still allows for a few moments of humour here and there in the story and he has his share of great scenes and these include the one where the Doctor asks one of the elite Kaled officers, Tane for a cup of tea.  And in the scene as Nyder leaves, the Doctor says to Tane "Good. Well, now he's gone, any chance of a cup of tea? and Tane looks outraged and barks "WHAT??!!".  And the Doctor continues "Or coffee. My friend and I have had a very trying experience. Haven't we had a trying experience, Harry?" and Harry offers up "Very trying, Doctor!".  

And Tane sharply says to them "Step into the security scan!" and the Doctor says "What no tea?!" and Tane sternly says "Let me point out to you that you have no rights whatsoever. I have full authority to torture and kill any prisoner who does not comply absolutely with my orders. That is your first and last warning!" which leaves the Doctor with nothing else to say to Harry but "No tea, Harry". 

Then there is the scene where the Doctor addresses the Kaled council members at a meeting as he warns them about the Daleks.  And the Doctor delivers a fine speech which goes "Some of what I will tell you relates to events in the future. Not only on this planet but also on others whose existence you don't even know of. But my knowledge is scientific fact. Now, Davros has created a machine creature, a monster which will terrorise and destroy millions and millions of lives and lands throughout all eternity. He has given this machine a name, a Dalek. It is a word new to you, but for a thousand generations it is a name that will bring fear and terror. Now undoubtedly Davros has one of the finest scientific minds in existence, but he has a fanatical desire to perpetuate himself in his machine. He works without conscience, without soul, without pity, and his machines are equally devoid of these qualities".

Then there is the amusing scene where the Doctor and Sarah along with Harry make their way back to the Kaled dome via the subteranean tunnels.  And Sarah says to the Doctor "Listen, I've been down tunnels before and I've just had a rather nasty thought" and the Doctor says "Really?" and Sarah says "Yes.  Suppose there is something waiting for us in there" and the Doctor says "That is nasty. Better not tell Harry, he's gone first".  And in a later scene, the Doctor, Sarah and Harry emerge out of the shafts into the same room where Davros and Nyder are and Davros greets them saying "Welcome back!" and the Doctor turns to Sarah and says "You were right, Sarah, about there being something nasty waiting for us!".

Another highlight from Tom is in his scene with Davros where he pleads with him to stop the development of the daleks, and as he realises he is looking at a madman, he grabs Davros's one hand.  And in the scene the Doctor says to Davros "Order the destruction of the incubation section!" and Davros says "Destroy the daleks?!  Never!" and the Doctor presses the button that turns off Davros's life support system, which causes him to wilt physically.  And the Doctor warns  Davros "I'm warning you, Davros, next time that switch stays pressed, now give the order!" and Davros says "Even if I do this, there will be no escape for you!" and the Doctor says "I'll take that chance, now give the ORDER!".

And lastly there is the scene where the Doctor is faced with dilemma of destroying the Daleks by detonating the incubator section and he asks Sarah if he is doing the right thing.  And the Doctor says to her "Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it. The Daleks cease to exist. Hundreds of millions of people, thousands of generations can live without fear, in peace, and never even know the word Dalek!".  And Sarah tries to convince the Doctor that he should and if here were dealing with a disease of some kind he wouldn't hesitate, but the Doctor is still hesitant and he says to Sarah "But I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks!". 

Next is Elisabeth Sladen, who is great again as Sarah Jane-Smith and she displays Sarah again as being a strong independent women, who in the scene where she is placed in the Thal labour camp, organises an escape attempt to climb up the rocket scaffolding. 

And to kick off Liz's scenes I will mention the one where she weakly tells the others with her, Sevrin and a young Kaled soldier after having finished a shift of loading for the rocket that they must try and escape.

So, Sarah says to the others "We have to do something now. If we work another shift, we won't have the strength to take any kind of action". And the Kaled soldier asks "What do you mean?" and Sarah says "I mean we have to get out of here" and the Kaled says "So we get out into the rocket silo. Where then? The only other exit goes out through a command point, and that's going to be crawling with Thal troops!". Sarah has an idea and says "There is another way. The scaffolding. It goes right up to the nose cone of the rocket. Now, if we could get up there, then there's a chance we could get out onto the surface of the dome". Sevrin however is not so keen and says "That scaffolding is so high" but Sarah tells him "Its the only way. Its our only chance". 
  
Although later on the Thal soldiers capture her, and one of them takes a hold of her arm and kicks her feet away underneath, dangling her off the side of the rocket, and he says "I hear that people who fall from great heights are dead before they hit the ground.  I don't believe that.  Do you??". However, the soldier relents and lifts her back up onto the platform and tells her "You're going back to work. In a day or so, you'll wish I had let you drop. Right, get over!".

Then there is the scene where Doctor is about to destroy the Dalek embryos in the incubation section by wiring it with explosive charges and he holds two wires in his hands. Som the Doctor tells Sarah "Just touch these two strands together and the daleks are finished!" but he pauses and asks Sarah "Have I done right?" and Sarah says to him "To destroy the Daleks?! You can't doubt it!". However the Doctor then asks Sarah "Listen, if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?!". And Sarah firmly says to him "We're talking about the Daleks, the most evil creatures ever invented. You must destroy them. You must complete your mission for the Time Lords!". 

However the Doctor is still not sure and he looks at the two wires in his hands and says "Do I have the right? Simply touch one wire against the other and that's it" and Sarah pleads with him "Then why wait? If it was a disease or some sort of bacteria you were destroying, you wouldn't hesitate!".  But the Doctor still ponders "But I kill, wipe out a whole intelligent lifeform, then I become like them. I'd be no better than the Daleks!" and Sarah says to him "Think of all the suffering there'll be if you don't do it!". 

Ian Marter is also great once more as Harry and for once is actually shown to be a bit more adept at dealing with the action and situations, and a bit less clumsy as he was before.

Other good moments from Ian include the scene where the Doctor, Sarah and Harry near the start of the story wander around the wastelands and find dead bodies and mixed equipment.  And Harry observes the equipment "Radiation detector and a gas mask. The two things don't go together, do they?" and the Doctor says "It's like finding the remains of a stone age man with a transistor radio" and Harry jokes "Playing rock music!". 

Then there is the tense scene where the Doctor stands on a landmine, which appears to be inactive but it is situated unsteadily and runs the risk that it could go off so Harry uses some rocks to prop up the mine so the Doctor lift his foot off.  And in the scene the Doctor says to Harry "Harry, I'm standing on a land mine.  If I move my foot, it might detonate it" and Harry says "Don't move your foot!" and the Doctor says "I won't!".

And the Doctor then tells Harry to back up once he has wedged some thin pieces of rock underneath the gap but Harry tells him "No, Doctor, you'll have a better chance if I hold it firm" and the Doctor says quietly "Come on, Harry, don't be difficult" and Harry firmly says "Don't you argue, Doctor!".  And Harry tells the Doctor "Now just lift your foot very, very gently" and the Doctor does so and nothing happens and the Doctor relaxes, smiles and looks to Harry and says "Thank you, Harry" and Harry says "My pleasure!". 

And last of all is of course that rather unintentionally funny scene where the Doctor and Harry wander through the caves to reach the Kaled government HQ and Harry get's his foot caught in a giant clam. So, after the Doctor manages to prise open the clam and release's Harry foot and the Doctor asks "One of Davros's experiments!" and Harry exclaims "Magna peloris!" and the Doctor asks "What?" and Harry says "Latin" and the Doctor says "Never mind the Latin. Let's have a look at your foot!". So, the Doctor examines it and says "Nothing seems to be broken. Its incredible" and Harry frustrated asks "Why is it always me that puts a foot in it?!". 

As for the guest cast members Peter Miles is great as the conniving and manipulative Nyder, Davros's right hand man, who is kind of like Davros's Goebbels and utterly loyal to his core.  Miles has some good moments in his performance, particularly where he tells the Doctor what Mutos are "Mutos are the scarred relics of ourselves.  Monsters created by the chemical weapons used in the first century of this war. They were banished into the wastelands where they live and scavenge like animals".  And the Doctor says "In otherwords genetically wounded?" and Nyder says "Your views are not important". 

And later on in the scene where Nyder approaches Gharman (Dennis Chinnery) and pretends to be on his side by showing his concerns over Davros's ruthless ambitions with the Dalek project.  And Nyder says to Gharman "You know that I have served Davros faithfully for many years. I've never questioned anything he has ever done. But he has become a megalomaniac. He's ready to sacrifice everything and everyone, including us, just so that the Dalek project can be completed!". 

Then in the following scene Gharman meets with Nyder in private and he tells him his concerns in full and that he hopes to get some more men to back him up, which Nyder goes along with briefly.  And Nyder says to Gharman "Right, I'll try and get some of the military Elite on our side. Who can you count on?" and Gharman says "Kavell, Frenton, and Parran, but there'll be more soon, I'm sure of it!" and Nyder all of a sudden loudly says "Thank you!  That what I wanted to know!" and then out of nowhere Davros appears and says to a shocked Gharman "That information will prove most helpful!".

 

Last of all is the scene where the Doctor, Sarah and Harry capture Nyder as he leaves the big meeting with Davros and all the military and scientific personnel and they follow him. So, in the scene, the Doctor disarms Nyder and asks "Now where do you think you are going?" and Nyder says "Davros is lost, so I'm getting away while I still can" and the Doctor says "Oh, somehow that doesn't ring true!". So, the Doctor then asks "Where is that tape recording you took?" and Nyder says "Its in a safe in Davros's office!". 

James Garbutt as the Kaled scientist Ronson is also very good and at times you feel sorry for his character as you realise he has good intentions but ultimately he is sure to be doomed.

And Garbutt has some good moments too that include the scene where Ronson expresses his concerns over the Dalek project to the Doctor and Harry.  And in the scene Ronson says "You see, we believe that Davros has changed the direction of our research into something which is immoral, evil. You see, the Elite was formed to produce weapons that would end this war. We soon saw that this was futile and changed the direction of our research into the survival of our race. But our chemical weapons had already started to produce genetic mutations".  

And Ronson continues saying "Now Davros, he believed that there was no way to reverse this trend and so he started experiments to establish our final mutational form. He took living cells, treated them with chemicals and produced the ultimate creature. Come with me!".  So Ronson leads the Doctor and Harry to the incubation unit where he shows them a screen door containing inside the Dalek embryos.  And Ronson says to the Doctor "Now this is what the Kaleds will become" and the Doctor and Harry look and see something green slithering and making growling noises and Ronson grimly says to them "That is our future!" and the Doctor quietly says "You've got troubles!". 

Guy Siner, who plays the young General Raven, gives a decent account of himself, although his main scene is a bit over the top when he angrily shouts about how they will defeat the Thals.  

 

And Raven in the scene rants "When victory is ours, we'll wipe every trace of the Thals and their city from the face of this land!  We will avenge the deaths of all Kaleds who've fallen in the cause of right and justice, and build a peace which will be a monument to their sacrifice!  Our battle cry will be, "TOTAL EXTERMINATION OF THE THALS!".

 

And lastly I will mention the scene where the Doctor and Harry manage to escape their cell with the help of Ronson and make contact with tribunal members to persuade them to stop Davros's development of the dalek project. And in the scene, Raven who attends the meeting and informs the Doctor that there is word of Sarah being held captive by the Thals and they are using slave labour to work on their rocket they intend to use to destroy the Kaled dome. 

 

So, in the scene Raven says to the Doctor "The thals are using prisoners to load their last great rocket" and Harry asks "Rocket?" and Raven says "They think they'll win the war with it. What they don't know is that no matter how powerful their rocket, it cannot penetrate our protective dome! Only a matter of months ago, Davros perfected a new substance which has the strength of thirty foot thick reinforced concrete!". The Doctor then interrupts him and says "Never mind about all that, can you help us to find Sarah?" and Raven says "One of my agents could lead you into shafts underneath the Thal city" and the Doctor says "Oh good, good" and Raven warns him "But after that you're strictly on your own!".   

Stephen Yardley also does well in his role as the sympathetic Muto, Sevrin, who helps out Sarah when they are captured.

Yardley's most notable scene is his first where Sevrin and one of his fellow Mutos, Gerrill find Sarah unconscious in the wastelands.  And Sevrin says to Gerrill "She's beautiful. No deformities, no imperfections" and Gerrill says "She is a norm!  All norms are our enemies!  Kill her for what she has done to her kind!".  However Sevrin refuses and says "No, why? Why must we always destroy beauty? Why kill another creature because it is not in our image?!" but Gerrill angrily says "Kill her!  It is the law. All norms must die!" and he produces a knife and says "And if you won't, I will!" and the two of them struggle but are interrupted by patrolling Thals who shoot Gerrill who tries to escape, leaving Sevrin and Sarah to be captured. 

As for Harriet Philpin as the Thal girl, Bettan, she does well here and she does have some notable moments in the story even if her character is a bit underwritten.

But I will for time only mention one of her scenes and its her first one where after the Doctor has been captured by the Thals, is released by them just after they have victoriously fired their rocket and destroyed the Kaled dome. So, Bettan asks the Doctor, who sits solemnly "Did you have friends in the Kaled city" and the Doctor grimly says "Yes. Two people very dear to me. I sent them into that holocaust".

Bettan then asks the Doctor what he will do now and he tells her he will start again to find a way to stop the daleks being developed. So, Bettan puzzled asks "Daleks?" and the Doctor tells her "Yes. Machine creatures Davros is developing. Monsters" and Bettan says to the Doctor "Davros? No, you're wrong. It was he who told us how to destroy the Kaled dome. His only interest is in achieveing peace!". The Doctor then tells Bettan "Let me tell you something. The Kaled government was on the point of stopping Davros's experiments, and rather than let that happen, he helped you to destroy his own race!". Bettan then says "You'll never convince my people of that. Davros is a hero" and the Doctor somberly says "Yes, for how long I wonder?". Bettan then says to the Doctor "I must go. Under the general amnesty you are free to leave whenever you want" and the Doctor quietly says "Thank you".   

Tom Georgeson is also very good in his role as the Kaled scientist, Kavell, who joins Gharman in his revolt against Davros's ruthless development of the Daleks.  And Tom has some good moments too that include the one where Kavell quietly tells Ronson he knows that he helped the Doctor and Harry to escape their cell.  

And in the scene Kavell says to Ronson "Does Davros know the prisoners have escaped?" and Ronson says to him "I don't know what you mean.  The prisoners are in their cell" but Kavell tells him "Well, I have news for you. They've reached the city and made contact with the leaders whose names you gave them".  And Ronson looks surprised and asks "How do you know?" and Kavell grins and says "There is some advantage in being in charge of the communication system. All we can hope for now is that they convince the leaders that Davros' work here must be ended" and Ronson hushes with desparation "They must!  They must!". 

And last but by no means least at all is Michael Wisher as Davros, the megolamaniacal creator of the Daleks, who is simply magnificent as one of the show's most memorable villains. 

And despite the physical limitations that Wisher had as Davros, as he was encased in a half Dalek chair, and he only had the use of one hand (with the other curled into a limp state) his vocal performance is sheer perfection, as he produces the perfect mix of megalomania, hysteria and controlled manipulation. Its certainly one of the finest performances you will ever see on the small screen (or big screen even!).

Wisher has various great moments in the story (and plenty of shouting ahead with plenty of caps locks!) and to start off there is the scene where Davros does a demonstration of his prototype Dalek, who is about to exterminate the Doctor and Harry but Ronson interrupts and turns off Davros's power switch for the Dalek, leaving the crippled scientist in a state of fury.

And Davros says to Ronson "You dare to interfere! You have the audacity to interrupt one of my experiments?!" and Ronson anxiously says "But it would have destroyed them!" but Davros with rising anger shouts "So you think the saving of a worthless life more important than the progress we have made? My creature showed a natural desire, an instinct to destroy, and YOU INTERCEDED!! YOU WILL BE PUNISHED FOR THIS!!".

And one of Wisher's best scenes is where Davros interrogates the Doctor on his knowledge of the Daleks, and he says to him "Now, you will tell me the reason for every Dalek defeat. With that knowledge I will program them, with that knowledge they will know their mistakes and how to avoid them, with that knowledge there will be no defeats! WE WILL BEGIN!".  And the Doctor pleads with Davros saying "Davros, if I tell you what you want to know I will betray millions of people in the future.  I can't do that!" but Davros angrily shouts at him "But you can!  You will tell me!!  You will tell me!!  YOU WILL TELL ME!!".    

Also in the scene where the Doctor asks Davros if he would have created a virus that would kill all life, would he use it and Davros admits he would.  And Wisher here delivers a chilling speech as Davros says "Yes. Yes! To hold in my hand a capsule that contains such power, to know that life and death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb, enough to break the glass, would end everything! Yes, I WOULD do it! That power would set me up above the gods. AND THROUGH THE DALEKS I SHALL HAVE THAT POWER!".

And in the next moment Nyder knocks out the Doctor and asks Davros "What do you want done with this?" and Davros says "For the moment he must be kept alive. He has knowledge that is vital to our future, and I will drain every last detail of it from his mind!  And then, he will learn the true meaning of pain!".  

And last of all there is the scene where Davros makes a final plea to the Kaled scientists and personnel who are against him.  And Davros angrily says "Do you believe that I would let a lifetime's work be ended by the will of spineless fools like you?!  You have won nothing!  I allowed this charade to be played out for one reason only. To find those men who were truly loyal to me and to discover those who would betray me!  We, I shall GO ON!!".  

 

Lastly there is the scene where the Daleks become self aware and start the production line process for the Daleks without Davros's orders. 

 

So, Davros says as he sees a light come on a panel "The automatic dalek production line has been started. I gave no such order. Who did?" and a Dalek says "I gave the command". Davros then turns to it and says "You will give no such orders unless made by me. The production line is to be halted immediately! Obey!" but the Dalek says nothing and Davros shouts "OBEY!" but the Dalek does nothing and Davros says to Nyder "Nyder..." and Nyder goes to switch off the production line but is exterminated by a Dalek, who says "The production will continue!". 

And this is followed by the Daleks showing greater signs of self awareness and their evil nature coming to the fore as they continue to ignore Davros's orders and they even exterminate his scientists. So, Davros pleads with the Dalek as they corner him "For the last time, I am your creator, you MUST, YOU WILL OBEY ME!!" and the Dalek says "We obey no one! We are the superior beings!". And Davros finally realising the monsters he has created, makes a last ditch attempt to hit the self destruct but the Dalek orders his extermination and we hear Davros let out an agonising scream.   

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

In terms of the direction David Maloney, a regular director with the show, well he rarely puts a foot wrong here, as he keeps the mood of the story as intense and brooding as you could hope for. Maloney himself was no stranger to directing some of the show's best classics such as The Talons of Weng Chiang, The Mind Robber, the War Games and The Deadly Assassin. So, overall this is right up with Maloney's best work on the show without any doubt.     

And as for the incidental music, by the regular composer, Dudley Simpson, again there are some great passages of music, especially in the scenes with the daleks being introduced and overall he produces here one of his best scores for the show.  And by this time Simpson had gotten away from the cheesier sounding incidental music he scored during the Pertwee era and in the early Baker era he started to introduce a far more intense and dramatic sound for the show, which works just great.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may also contain spoilers!)

As for Genesis of the Daleks flaws.... well the story has a few but nothing too glaring or serious but it does have to be said that one or two of the cliffhangers are a bit weak, such as in episode two where Sarah falls from the rocket scaffolding and the picture is freeze framed, it makes for a pretty duff one.  Then there is the one at the end of part three where the Doctor is zapped by electricity when he attempts to sabotage the Thals rocket but I think a better climax would be when the Doctor looks on in horror as the Kaled dome is destroyed by that rocket and he says "And I sent Sarah and Harry in there!". 

Also there are one or two cheesy inclusions, one of which is the uninentionally funny inclusion of Davros's "destruct button" which has the words "Total Destruct" written on it in the scene where he dares the scientists to destroy his work.  And it serves as unintentionally funny moment in an otherwise pretty dramatic and intense scene.

The inclusion of the giant clam is also really daft, as it is yet another crappy looking prop in the show, where Harry get's his foot caught in it, and the Doctor feebly uses a big rock to hit the clam and force it to let go of its grip on Harry.  However when you think about it, the Doctor is just further forcing the clam's jaws shut, making Harry's life more difficult until the Doc breaks off a stalagmite and uses it to prise the clam open. Its another laughable moment in the story that serves as an unintentional laugh and you even see later on the Doctor telling Sarah and Harry to be watch out for them as they head their way back to the Kaled dome, yet in the scene the clams aren't even moving!

Another issue with the plot was to do with Sarah being exposed to toxic radiation during her time being held captive by the Thals and as she is forced to do manual labour to load up the Thals rocket with explosives.  And clearly you see how weak Sarah looks as she is affected by radiation and it makes you wonder how she didn't actually end up dying from exposure to it!  And when the Doctor turns up to save her, she suddenly becomes animated and springs to life like the radiation effects never existed!

You could also argue that by the end of the show that the Doctor really hasn't accomplished anything with trying to prevent the Daleks from turning into an evil race, as they still will grow into the evil scumbags that we have come to know in the series, so you could aruge from that point of view the story was a waste of time!  However that doesn't stop it from being a classic does it?!  Nah.

Then there is the moment where the Doctor faces his moral quandry over wiping out the Daleks as he holds the two wires with which all he has to do is touch them together to detonate the incubation room the Dalek embryos are in. However Gharman enters and saves the Doctor the bother by telling him that the Kaled scientists and personnel have won and defeated Davros in their power struggle. However...Gharman doesn't even seem to notice what the Doctor was about to do by holding the wires to set off the explosives to wipe out the Dalek embryos! Its like Gharman never thought to ask "Wait a minute? What's that you are holding there in your hands?! What are you up to??". Basically this guy really isn't that inquistive it has to be said!  

WARNING: BIG SPOILER COMING UP!!!

And last of all I find it a bit strange how Davros somehow did not find a way to encode or ensure that the Daleks would end up not obeying his commands as they (SPOILER!) turn on him at the end of the story.  And its here where Davros finally realises that he has made a dreadful mistake in creating them without a moral conscience but only just a little too late it has to be said!  So in the end, Davros, despite his genius intellect really is a prize numpty! 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So in summing up, Genesis of the Daleks still remains one of the great classic stories in the show's history and its a story that has just about everything with a great script, a great villain and great performances particularly from Michael Wisher, who delivers the performance of a lifetime here as Davros.

And yes the story has its niggles of course, which I've already mentioned above but they are totally outweighed by the story's good points and this remains one of the very best stories the original series had to offer, which is still great after 46 years.

So, I will give Genesis of the Daleks:

10 out of 10 

Right, that's it for now and I will be back soon with the final part of this season which will be on the 5th story, Revenge of the Cybermen.

Until then its bye for now!

Lords of the Fallen Version 2.0 Review

 

 

 

 

 

So, this is actually an update post for a change and not so much an actual revisitation (well it sort of is I guess!) as I take another look at the action RPG, Lords of the Fallen, which I've recently replayed again afters its latest 2.0 version, which has seen a lot of changes since the game's initial release in October 2023.

So, with that said, I will use most of the original review below but add and change a few things as well as I take another look at this RPG and see how it fairs in 2025...

PREMISE

So, rather say anything about the story of the game, which for once I won't I will instead go over the premise of the game. So, the game essentially is similar to Dark Souls in that uses swords and sorceries but the twist here is that you can go between two different worlds, one which is called Axiom, which is the realm of the living and the other is Umbral, the realm of the dead. So, throughout the game your character must traverse between both worlds and fight many dangerous enemies before finally reaching your goals, which will vary depending on which ending of the game you go for.

THOUGHTS

On its initial release, Lords of the Fallen had a lot to live up to the high standards of the Souls games and even its counterpart, Lies of P, which has received much acclaim since its releae. However, Lords of the Fallen has not enjoyed the same level of acclaim and had left many gamers frustrated at its uneven difficulty and its technical issues, which cannot be ignored or denied as the game's performance is pretty stuttering particularly on Xbox but even so on PS5 although it it is a bit better on that console.

That said however, despite the criticisms of the game, Lords of the Fallen has in its latest version 2.0, seen a lot of improvements in terms of its balance of difficulty and enemy placement as well as some quality of life changes. This has made me enjoy the game a lot more this time round as I returned to it with a somewhat renewed sense of vigor (also the currency of the game funnily enough!) as it feels more like the game it should have been on its release.

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, I will split this section into the usual sub-sections as I always do for video game reviews.

COMBAT & WEAPONS

Starting with the combat, Lords of the Fallen uses a third person perspective similar to the Souls games and does the usual mix of regular and strong attacks, along with shield parries and even kicks, plunge attacks and critical attacks, where you can stun an enemy with a strong attack behind, which will allow you to perform a finisher attack. Similar to Bloodborne, you also have a rally system of sorts where when entering Umbral you will lose some health but on attacking enemies you can go get it back as you strike them, however if they attack you, then that white health (or withered health as its known) will disappear and you will need to use a healing item.  

As for the weapons, there is plenty of variety here to choose from as the player has access to the likes of short swords, long swords, axes, spears, halberds, flails, daggers as well as bows and crossbows and you also have the option to dual wield weapons. You will also have access to catalysts that are used for casting spells and come in different varieties for casting the three types of spells of radiance, umbral and inferno, which consists of holy, magic and fire respectively.

AXIOM & UMBRAL REALMS

As for one of the key concepts of the game, it is split into utilising two different worlds, Axion, the realm of the living and Umbral, the realm of the dead, which the player can access the Umbral realm via their umbral lamp. And in order to progress the game, there will be times where you need to swtich between the two different realms to access areas where you might not be able to access in Axiom, you need to switch over to it Umbral to access unseen paths or climbs unseen ladders that will come apparent when you switch.

There will also be what's called umbral entities in the Umbral realm, which you need to destroy as they will block you path otherwise. And although you can enter Umbral whenever you want, you can only exit umbral by finding certain exit points ot reseting yourself at a checkpoint. The Umbral realm will also have its own enemies, which appear as ghostly figures that will attack but as you remain in the realm, the enemies will become more present and stronger, so its dangerous to remain in that realm for too long. Its also worth noting that when you die in Axiom you will be transferred into the umbral realm and when you die there, that's you properly dead and you will lose your souls (or vigor as its known).

UMBRAL LAMP AND SOUL FLAYING

Another key item of the game is your umbral lamp, which will let you character traverse between the two worlds but it also can be used to gain access to platforms or unlock umbral entities that block your  path. You can however also use the lamp for attacking enemies and using a technique called soul flaying, which will force an enemy briefly out of their body allowing you to attack their soul-like form, or you can even pull their form over a cliff, which when the enemy will recover its normal form, they will fall off the cliff, which is alot of fun to do! ;-)

RADIANT, UMBRAL AND INFERNO SPELLS

In the game, it uses three different types of magic for players that want to play as a caster, so you have the choice of radiant, umbral and inferno magic. Starting with radiant spells, they are very similar to miracles in the Souls games, where offensive spells will deal holy damage and resemble lightning and laser like beams, however you also have healing radiant spells that restore your hp. As for the umbral magic, this is more akin to like regular magic in the Souls games which has a blue light to it and is a mix of projectiles, magic weapons and weapon buffs. And lastly are the Inferno spells, which are basically pyromancies from the Souls games and again features mix of offensive projectiles and fire infused weapon buffs or damage buffs.

VESTIGES AND VESTIGE SEEDS

Another key aspect of the game are the use of its checkpoints, which are known as vestiges but they are somewhat sparsely found throughout the game and there will be long stretches of the game before you can reach your next vestige. However, as a way around this, you can use what is called vestige seeds, which you plant in areas known as flowerbeds, which will become visible when you see your umbral lamp glow. The only issue here is though, you can only plant one vestige seed at a time, so you need to be careful with your usage of them.

CHARACTER STATS

As for character stats, they are again quite similar to the Soul games, where your character has six stats to choose from to level up their character. So, the stats are strength, which you can level up to use strength based weapons, agility, which can be used to wield skill based weapons, endurance, which affects your stamina levels and equipment load. The other stats are vitality, which determines the amount of health your character has and also effects your equipment load, Radiance, which is used to increase your ability to use radiant spells and weapons and lastly there is Inferno, which is used to boost pyromancy spells as well as umbral ones. An important secondary stat also worth mentioning is called Mana, which is basically like your focus points bar in the Souls games and determines the amount of spells you can cast at one time, which can be replenished with the use of items called mana stones.

CHARACTER CLASSES

Moving onto the character classes, you will have a similar mixture to what you see in the Souls games of knight classes, warriors, sorcerers, pyromancers, hunters and the most difficult class, the condemned, which starts off with the lowest points of any class. So, you can choose between these different classes when you start the game and you can also later respec your character if you want to rejig your stats to fit your character. There are also four classes that can be unlocked Dark Cursader, Lord, Putrid Child and Radiant Purifier.

XP AND VIGOR

Another aspect of the game is the use of XP (or experience points) which you will gain when you kill enemies, you will gain vigor, which is similar to souls in the Souls games, which is your currency for buying items or leveling up your character. Also similar to the Souls series, if your character dies then they will lose all their vigor and they will need to pick it up afterward they have respawned at the point where they died last, but if they fail to get it and die again, the vigor will be lost forever. Your required vigor level will also go up each time you level up your character but overall the level requirement remains quite low as I get up to 11,000 vigor per level after I had finished my first playthrough but then the vigor gained from enemies is also lower than you find in the Souls games.

ENEMIES AND BOSSES

As for the game's enemies, there is reasonable mixture of humanoid and monster enemies to be found throughout the game, which will vary in challenge from easy to pretty difficult and areas can quite often become overwhelming to deal with as there plenty to be found! As for the bosses, again there is a variety of humanoid and monster bosses to fight and some of them can be very challenging whereas others can be pretty easy although initially the difficulty was inconsistent originally, these bosses in version 2.0 are for the most straight forward with a few exceptions.

THE EMPTY MIRROR

Another new(ish) inclusion, which was actually included in an earlier patch (patch 1.14 I think) is the ability to change your character's appearance. This however isn't as easy as it sounds as you need to obtain four items first, three of which are glass shards and then a reversal dagger, which you can buy from the Umbral merchant, Molhu at the Skyrest bridge. However, once you do get these items, you use them at the mirror founds at Skyrest and then you can change your character's gender, features etc to something different. 

RESPEC (REBIRTH CHRYSALIS)

You can also respec your character via the use of an item called the rebirth chrysalis, which you can obtain from Molhu at Skyrest bridge. You can then give the chrysalis to Pieta, who will facilitate your respec similar to how she upgrades your Sanguinarix for HP recovery. 

NPCS & SKYREST BRIDGE

And last of all, I will mention the NPCs in the game and there quite a few to be found here and there are some that will have their own quests that you can follow throughout the game. Some of the NPCs you will find are at the central hub of the game, which is known as Skyrest bridge, where you find NPCs such as Exacter Dunmire, who will give you a series of tasks to complete, Pieta, who can boost your character's healing item's potency and number of usages known as a Sanguinarix and Gerlinde, who is a blacksmith, who can upgrade your weapons. There are also other characters, who act as merchants such as Stormund, Theikh Ihir and Winterberry found throughout the game, who also have questlines to follow.

GRAPHICS

As for the graphics, the game itself looks very impressive and it features a good mixture of environments that have plenty of good detail in their surroundings and the game also has a good colour palette as it offers some nice vivid colours in areas, which is a nice welcome to some of the more dreary coloured games out there. The character models are also pretty good in the game although they are not the very best out there as there are better ones but they are still good enough.

The game however does suffer from significant performance issues on console and my Xbox Series X version, has serious frame rate dips at different areas and as the game has been patched, it runs even worse at times than it did when it was first released! So, not sure if that is to do with just poor optimisation or are the Xbox consoles just not up to the task of running this game (which does use the latest Unreal 5 engine). It most likely will be the game is just poorly optimised by its developers, which is a shame as these frame dips are pretty significant and do impact on the game's performance quite badly at times.

Update: as for the PS5 performance, having bought the game for my PS5 recently, the performance is a bit better on this console but there are still some noticable dips that impact performance but not quite as bad. I also had a PS5 Pro for a short time (but couldn't stand its noisy fan!) and on this, LOTF ran pretty well with very few frame dips. Overall though, the game looks pretty good but still has its faults technically speaking, which is a letdown.

MUSIC

As for the game's soundtrack, it was composed by American composer Cris Velasco and Norwegian composer Knut Havenstroup Haugen (who composed the 2014 similarly named game) and overall its great with plenty of variety in its themes. The score definitely does have some standout moments such as the boss fight themes for Pieta, The Hushed Saint, the Skinstealer, the Lightreaper and even the main theme of the game itself is very good. So, overall I was quite impressed with the score's variety of styles and at times it sounded like I was listening to a mix of Souls games, The Matrix and even Doctor Who. So, the score is definitely one of the game's strongest aspects and one of my favourite scores from any video game.

FLAWS

As for faws...yes Lords of the Fallen does have some worth mentioning but some of these issues have been addressed in my update here.

For starters the game's difficulty level is very inconsistent at the best of times and it has to be said this game has hands down one of the HARDEST first main bosses ever in Pieta, as I was stuck on her two or three days alone! I mean this boss is way too hard for the first boss of the game and clearly the developers haven't heard of the concept of progressive difficulty and thought "Sod it! We'll just put a really tough boss first!" to mess with players.

UPDATE: However in Version 2.0, Pieta's difficulty has been greatly reduced and you can now defeat her more easily making the fight more accessible and far easier for the player to progress to the Skyrest bridge hub area. So, this for me was a welcome change given just how brutal she was when the game was originally released.  

The game is also very guilty of having way too many enemy ganks as you try as you often have to resort to running through areas, otherwise you will get massacred by a slew of enemies. And this is particularly bad in the umbral world areas where there are enemies such as reapers that carve you up or ravenous fascinators, which are basically mimics that are invisible and chunk most of your HP (if not all of it!) when try pick up what seems to be an item. So, as the game went on, I did find myself getting frustrated with the endless ganks and it was a game that managed to out Dark Souls II, Dark Souls II in its gankage.

UPDATE: to be fair, in the latest 2.0 update, the enemy ganks are more manageable and they don't chase you to the ends of the earth like they used to, which makes life a lot easier. The game still does feel a bit BS towards the end in the final area of the game, Bramis Castle, in terms of enemy gankage but that aside its not too bad.

Another of course relates to the limit checkpoints in the game as there are very few vestiges to be had in the game with only or two tops in each area. However you can of course use your vestige seeds to plant a seed in an umbral flowerbed and use that as a temporary checkpoint but you can only place one at a time and be careful that you don't run out of any as you progress although they are only 1200 vigor each, so its not too bad in that respect. However, part of the issue I have with this is to do with the HUD display for how many vestige seeds you have, as the number is not clearly displayed and somewhat hidden behind the icon for it, so its easy at times to forget you need to go back and buy another seed.

Another issue I had with the game was the disappearance of the one of the key merchants in the game, Thek-Ihir, who sells cures and resistance balms for different ailments such as poison, bleed, fire or ignite build-up as well as other useful items. However, at a certain point late on in the game (once you fight the boss in the Empyrean area) he will disappear forever and you will never be able to purchase his items ever again!

So, I found this to be a really stupid decision on the developer's behalf, because it means you then need to try and farm these items off specific enemies instead, which is nowhere near as handy or straight forward (although some of the salts can be easily farmed right enough). This forces you to stockpile these items before he effectively disappears and the fact there isn't even an item you can obtain to access his shop items similar to the bell bearings in Elden Ring for merchants, is frankly, a truly dumb decision made by the developers, which they STILL haven't resolved over 18 months later!

Then there are also some frustrating issues to do with the layout of the areas, as you can easily get lost in certain areas after a while and one such area for me was Forsaken Fen, which is a poison area and it took me forever to get through that area alone! I also spent alot of time running around trying to find an entrance into the Revelation Depths area, which you access via the Sunless Skein area but again the access point is far from obvious or easy to find. So, this game is definitely quite frustrating when it comes to navigating its confusing areas.

Further to this previous point, I also found trying to access the Saintly Quintessences a real chore as well, which are used to boost the amount of charges your Sanguinarix can be used to restore your HP, as the game really sends you on a wild goose chase to find them! So, more often than not, you need to enter Umbral and wander around forever to locate them in different areas but in the end, I just wish they made them more accessible to find.

And then we have the issue of the enemy variety as there is simply not enough enemy variety in the game here and you will have seen pretty much the same enemies in each area over and over again as you progress. There are one or two new enemies included in the later areas but overall in the final areas of the game, I was just seeing the same old enemies and its a pity the developers got lazy with their choices here as more variety would have been a good thing.

And lastly there are of course as I mention earlier in the graphics section, the technical issues with the game as it has some horrendous frame rate issues, where the frame rate literally at times slows down to a snailcrawl and even other times, the screen froze completely! And one of the worst glitchy areas in the game for me was the central hub, Skyrest bridge, which was frequently jittery and stuttery and quite frankly there is no excuse for releasing a game in this state and the developers really should have devoted more time to this one rather than put it out as the buggy mess it is and adopt the "we'll patch as we go!" attitude but sadly this game is just one example of a recurring theme these days with new game releases.

UPDATE again with the PS5 version, the stutters aren't as noticable or frequent as the Xbox but they are still there and after all this time, its still pretty frustrating this hasn't been addressed properly by the developers.

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Lords of the Fallen Version 2.0 is a noticeable improvement over the original game and adds better balanced difficulty and more forgiving enemy placement as well some new features, some of which were added in previous versions. There are still some technical issues and yes there are still some issues with the game (like STILL no option to access Theikr Ihir's items after he disappears!). However despite these issues, Lords of the Fallen 2.0 is a much improved version of the game and well worth checking out now if you haven't already.

So, I will rate Lords of the Fallen 2.0:

8.5 out of 10

So, that's it for now guys and I will be back soon with another post.

Until then, its bye for now!