Crash Bandicoot (the 1st one!) review

Right, well I have not quite completed this game yet and at first I wasn't going to bother reviewing or playing it but I have since changed my mind, so this review will be on the cursed, infuriating and deeply frustrating original Crash Bandicoot game.

Yep, I have finally decided to go ahead and give this game a review after having completed nearly all of it as I have been playing it as part of the PS4 N-Sane trilogy that was released just last month.

Anyway so, get ready to tear your hair out and give this one a look....

STORY 

Right, I will say just a bit about the story so no spoiler warning this time round.  So, the game begins with the villainous Dr Neo Cortex (voiced by Clancy Brown) along with his assistant, Dr Nitrus Brio, who have created a device known as the Evolvo ray, which they will use to mutate animals and turn them into creatures with superhuman strength.  Together they both experiment on a bandicoot, Crash, who they intend to use as the leader of the animal soldiers.  Cortex then subjects Crash to the Cortex vortex in an attempt to control him, however it rejects Crash, who then escapes.


After this, Crash then decides to try and rescue another bandicoot, Tawna, a female, who Crash had grown fond of during their together in captivity.  So, from the beaches of N.Sanity island, Crash sets on his path to try and rescue Tawna and find a way to defeat Cortex but before he does, he must overcome a series of dangerous obstacles and enemies......

THOUGHTS

Well, the original Crash Bandicoot it has to be said remains the weakest of the three games in the N-Sane trilogy and not only the weakest it is also the HARDEST of the three games as well and as it goes it soon becomes a very frustrating experience.  Yet despite that however, the original Crash is still quite enjoyable and there is still some fun to be had here as you play as Crash and navigate through the dangers and a fair amount of the levels are quite manageable.  However the game's difficulty as it progresses soon becomes more and more unforgiving, which is where you will find yourself soon throwing the controller at the wall! 

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay, well its pretty similar to the other games as it would given that it was the game that started it all off.  So here, Crash will progress through a series of levels and he will have to run and jump over a series of obstacles that lie in his path whether they be enemies in human or animal form (or indeed something else!).  Crash has two available attacks to him, his first one is a spin attack that he can use to spin enemies off the screen and he can also jump on them from above.

Crash starts the game with five lives but he can gain more as he progresses either by breaking special boxes that contain an extra life (with Crash's face on them) or by breaking enough boxes containing wumpa fruit to gain 100 fruits, which will give an extra life.  Crash can also break other boxes with the good witch doctor, Aku Aku's spirit within them, which will provide Crash with temporary protection against enemies and if he breaks open three boxes then he will become invincible for a short period of time.  The Aku Aku mask and spirit will not prevent Crash however from dying in all circumstances as there are times where Crash will fall to his death or drown in water, which the good witch doctor cannot help with!   

Crash can also access secret areas of the game at times where he can find more boxes to break and once he finds them all he will collect a crystal for that level.  Further to this, Crash can also access other areas by collecting three icon tokens of Tawna, Cortex or Brio, which will take him to a bonus area where he has to break more boxes.  Other boxes can include checkpoints, Nitro and TNT explosive boxes as well as metallic boxes with an "!" symbol, which will materialise previously intangible boxes into being solid, which Crash can then break.

And lastly regarding the enemies, Crash will face a number of bosses throughout the game that will vary in difficulty level and will require certain tactics in order to defeat them.  Some of the bosses can be fairly tricky whereas as others can be dispatched pretty easily although it has to be said defeating the bosses can be a fair bit easier than the levels themselves!

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the graphics, well looking at them from the PS4 N-Sane trilogy perspective, the look great and the visuals here have been given a terrific overhaul as the game has been brought firmly into the 21st century.  The game was already pretty varied in its environments from the outdoor jungle to the tribal fortresses to inner areas of Cortex's labs but here they look even better with their graphic upgrade.  Crash and the other character models have also been very nicely updated and look better than ever, so overall this is a great visual overhaul to the original.

As for the music, well again it is scored by Josh Mancell and the score has been updated by the Vicarious visions team (the video game developer team behind the trilogy's release) and it sounds great and overall its a very good score.  And Mancell here has put together an excellent mix of jungle music for the outdoors levels aswell as some more foreboding sounding tracks for the indoor levels such as in Cortex's labs.  And the VV team certainly deserve much credit for updating Mancell's original score here and it stands out as one of the game's strongest aspects.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may refer to the odd spoiler in terms of the action of certain levels!)

As for flaws....yep, Crash Bandicoot has its share.

And to start off I think one of things that makes the game frustrating is its mixed level of difficulty as some levels are quite straight forward whereas others are insanely difficult and will leave you tearing your hair out!

And its funny how the game takes a sudden sharp jump up in difficulty from saying the earlier levels to the first really tough level "Native Fortress" where Crash needs to progress through a series of tough obstacles including moving platforms, bats, hostile natives, dangerous plants and lizards.  And by the time we get to the game's toughest level by far "The High Road" where Crash has to navigate a very dicey bridge with hardly any wooden boards and use a series of tortoises to bounce on to jump over the bridge gaps, its time to smash the controller and go spare!

Also after that there is the 2nd toughest level "Slippery climb" which is a nightmare that involves Crash having to make a treacherous climb leading him on his path toward his eventual showdown with Cortex .  This level sees Crash having to time his jumps carefully as he has to navigate a series of revolving platforms aswell as use large birds to jump over gaps, not to mention watch his footing on retractable staircases.  Yep, its a real bugger of a level that shows once again that this game is pretty unforgiving.   

Another issue is to do with the actual age of the game as its gameplay does feel pretty dated it has to be said with Crash's simplified running, jumping and simple attacks, it is pretty limited in what gameplay aspects its offers.  And this is something of a letdown in itself, especially as in the other two games you get a chance to pull off other moves such as the sliding attacks, body slam and you can even sprint.  So, in this respect you feel very limited as to what you can do, and when you want to pull off a slide attack or do a body slam, its annoying that you can't do it and this makes the gameplay pretty disappointing.

Then there is the issue with obtaining the coloured gems in the game as you have to go through six separate levels without dying once to just obtain all of them, which is pretty unfair given how bloody hard these levels are!  And so far, I've only managed to collect two of them as the other levels are a nightmare to get through without dying!

So, personally for me I think completing this game 100% would be nearly impossible given that you would not only need to finish all the levels but also gain access to all the secret areas, complete all the bonus rounds in order to obtain all the crystals and completing the time trials (where you are awarded relics) not to mention try NOT dying when collecting the coloured gems!  I mean have these developers actually played the game???  Personally whoever made this game was a grade A sadist and I'm sure there would be a long line of people that would personally love to give him a real kicking!

Another problem arises from the fact that most of the game bosses are pretty easy yet the actual game levels remain far tougher to get by, which in itself makes the gameplay feel a bit unbalanced and again it goes back to the game's mixed difficulty levels.  However some of the latter boses still provide a tough test especially Nitrus Brio, Cortex's villainous assistant, who repeatedly throws a mix of potions at Crash that either explode on impact or produce green blobby monsters, which Crash has to avoid.  And this is all before Brio then drinks a concoction of his own potions that mutates him into a giant muscly green version of himself, which Crash must try and avoid his powerful attacks and use a well timed jump attack to defeat him. 

And don't get me started on the final boss of the game, Dr Cortex himself!  This guy is a mssive pain in the ass and you need to try and dodge the the laser bolts he fires at you from his gun, which float around the screen at stages and if Crash contacts with them...well its curtains.  This must have taken me at least 100 goes or more and it remains one of the most infuriating parts of the game, still at least they were saving the toughest boss for last I guess.

And another problem I have with the game and indeed the N-Sane trilogy in general is the long loading times between levels as it takes a bit too long for my liking.  This is further compounded with the lack of a restart option within the level itself (unless you are doing a time trial then you can) especially if you are trying to collect one of the coloured gems as you need to do this without dying. So, in this case, if you die then you need to quit the level and go through the loading screen and then go back into the level and then wait for ANOTHER loading screen before you can start again!  So, basically the whole game can be very time consuming when it comes to loading screens.  

And last of all is this question....why the hell didn't Crash learn to swim???!!  I mean the guy (or bandicoot) could easily probably learn to and even at the start of the game we see him washed up on the shores of N.Sanity island (which suggests to me he probably could swim).  However for the sake of an extra obstacle, Crash whenever he hits water, simply drowns and that's it!  And its not until the 3rd game (Warped) that Crash dawns scuba diving gear and get's some underwater levels to do but prior to this its just daft to have him simply drown.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, the original Crash Bandicoot is an entertaining game that is packed with plenty of platform action and if you like a stern challenge then this game is definitely for you.  However, its dated gameplay and frustrating difficulty level are what hold it back from being great and in that respect it lags behind the better sequels.  However it also has to be said the game still deserves its credit and without it we wouldn't have had the sequels in the first place, so its still worth playing but just be prepared to hurl the controller around the room if you do!
 

OK, so that's it for now and I'll be back again soon maybe before the end of the month with another post.

Till then bye for now!

Road House (revisited) "I thought you'd be bigger!"

Right its time for a bit of post revisitation as I have been roaming through the archives of my blog for one to do redo and I figured I would give my original post on the action film, Roadhouse, another lick of writing paint (so to speak!).

So, let's take another look at this cheesy action flick and see how it fairs nearly 30 years on....

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the film starts with well known professional bouncer or "cooler" Dalton (Patrick Swayze) being recruited by businessman Frank Tighlman (Kevin Tighe) who owns a bar/club called the Double Deuce in Jasper Missouri.  Frank is having problems in cleaning out the unwanted elements in the bar as fights break out every night and he intends to invest money in the place to renovate it, so he needs Dalton's help keep the place running trouble free.

When Dalton arrives in town, he takes a lodging at a local farm and he soon finds out the town is under control of the corrupt local business magnate, Brad Wesley (Ben Gazzara).  As Dalton starts work in the Double Deuce he dismisses some of the corrupt employees, which soon causes unrest with Wesley as several of them were connected through him, one in particular being his cousin, Pat (John Doe) who was the bartender.  Wesley then sends some of his henchman to intimidate Dalton into giving Pat his job back, but Dalton fights them off and sustains a knife wound.  Later Dalton goes to the hospital where he meets a doctor, Elizabeth "Doc" Clay (Kelly Lynch) who gives him stitches and after they talk they develop a friendship and soon become romantically involved.

Wesley later invites Dalton to his mansion where he offers him to work for him but Dalton refuses, after this Wesley then punishes the club's business by preventing the liquor from being delivered as he sends his thugs, whom Dalton manages to fight off with help from his friend and mentor, the aging cooler, Wade Garrett (Sam Elliott) who arrives on the scene.

Meanwhile Wesley also as part of his intimidation tactics decides to punish the local businessmen in town, who all owe money to Wesley as part of his extortion rackets, and he does this in an effort to try and sicken Dalton into leaving town.  Wesley one evening shows up at the double deuce with his men, including his main henchman, Jimmy (Marshall Teague) and he has them fight Dalton and his bouncer staff along with Wade for his own amusement, but then he calls it off after a while and he warns Dalton things aren't working out.

The following night, Dalton who is now enraged by Wesley's muscling tactics to get him to leave town, argues with Elizabeth who shows up at his place at the farm and during their row there is a loud explosion as the farm house is destroyed, but Dalton manages to rescue the owner, Emmett (Sunshine Parker) just in time.  Dalton then spots Jimmy fleeing the scene on a motorcycle and he jumps him and they engage in an intense fist fight, which ends with Dalton killing Jimmy by ripping his throat out with his bare hand.

The following day Dalton while at the bar receives a call from Wesley, who gives him an ultimatum that either Wade or Elizabeth will die and he must choose who and he hangs up on him.  At this point Wade stumbles into the bar who has been badly beat up by Wesley's men, at this point Dalton decides to give in and leave town with Wade and take Elizabeth with him.  As Dalton goes to the hospital to convince Elizabeth to leave she refuses as she is sickened by Dalton's own violent behaviour and that he is no better than Wesley.  Dalton then goes back to the bar to find Wade has been murdered as he has been stabbed with a knife in his chest, which Dalton tearfully removes and he sets off in a vengeful rage to confront Wesley for the last time.....

THOUGHTS 

There is little doubt that while Roadhouse is incredibly cheesy, it is also a very entertaining film as well and its perhaps because it dares to be so cheesy that it actually works really well.  The story is of course nothing original, as its basically like a good old fashioned western (sorry that should be modern!) with the new cowboy (i.e. Dalton) coming to town to sort out the bad sherriff (i.e. Wesley) with his girl, Elizbaeth at his side.

Dalton of course is a far more intellectual and sophisticated cowboy so to speak in that he is also a philosophy graduate and he uses his brains as well as his brawn to resolve situations.  Wesley on the other hand is more like a childish bully who insists on having everything his own way and he takes great sadistic pleasure in toying with townsfolk and the local businessmen as well.  And Wade Garrett is the good old fashioned, charming and genial cooler, who is old but still has a few teeth left and knows how to fight.

And while the film wasn't a big success on its release and it wasn't criticallty well received it has over time become more popular and has gained a cult following since.  And to this day Road House even pops up as references in popular culture and in television shows such as in Family Guy, as the main character Peter Griffin is often shown in some scenes where he will kick someone and say "Road House!".    

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section may contain spoilers and strong language!) 

Performance wise Roadhouse isn't too bad overall as the cast all put in fairly solid performances for an action flick.

Starting with Patrick Swayze who gives a likeable performance as the cool headed tough guy, Dalton who goes to town to clean things up.  Swayze has several highlights in the film and he does really well in the film's fight scenes, especially the fight scenes in the bar and the main fight he has with Wesley henchman, Jimmy.

Swayze also get's some good lines as well such as the scene where he first briefs the bar staff on how he will run things and he says to them "If someone get's in your face and calls you a cocksucker I want you to be nice" and one of the staff asks "Isn't being called a cocksucker personal?" and Dalton says "No its two nouns combined to illicit a prescribed response!".  And one of the other bouncers ask "What if someone calls my mother a whore?" and Dalton says sardonically "Is she?!".  Dalton then continues and tells the staff "I want you to be nice until its time NOT to be nice" and one of the bouncers asks "How will we know when that is?" and Dalton says "You won't, I'll let you know.  You are the bouncers and I am the cooler.  You just watch my back and each others and take out the trash".
 
Swayze also nicely deals with Dalton's weary but good humoured attempts at hearing the same thing being said about him that for the line of work he is in that "I thought you would be bigger!".  And this is said to him by Frank and later by Elizabeth and in particular when she says it to him while she treats his wounds he just laughs and says "Gee, I've never heard that before!".   

Then there is the scene where Dalton confronts some of Wesley's thugs as they try to enter the bar and he says to them "Sorry we're closed" while a band plays in the background and the placed is filled up with people dancing.  So, the thug asks "Well, what are all these people doing here?" and Dalton replies "Drinking and having a good time" and the thug says "Well that's why we are here" and Dalton grabs his boot, which has a concealed knife and says "You're too stupid to have a good time!!".

Another good scene is when Dalton talks to Elizabeth in a heated exchange where Elizabeth warns Dalton that he shouldn't underestimate Wesley as he doesn't know him.  However, Dalton angrily says "Bullshit! I know exactIy who Brad WesIey is. I have seen his kind many times. He keeps taking and taking untiI somebody takes him. It's obvious nobody here can stand up to him!".  And Elizabeth asks him "But you can stop him??" and Dalton tells her "Brad Wesley picked me. And when he did he fucked up! I am onIy good at one thing, Doc. I never lose!".  

And this is followed by Dalton's fight with Jimmy, who taunts by saying "Prepare to die!" just as they are about to fight and Dalton angrily says "You are such an asshole!".  And after they fight and well...Dalton wins by ripping out Jimmy's throat, he drags Jimmy's body into the river and shouts out to Wesley, who looks out across the river and Dalton yells "WESLEY!! FUCK YOU!!!".   

Ben Gazarra is also really good in his role as Brad Wesley, the town's leader who controls all the business and he tries to intimidate Dalton into leaving.

Ben also has some good moments in the film, such as in the scene where Wesley invites Dalton around to his mansion and we hear some cheesy 80s music play in the background as his girlfriend does aerobics, and he yells "Will ya shut that shit of???!  I can't listen to that crap!  Its got no heart".  Wesley then starts to taunt Dalton by bringing up his troubled past involving a self defence killing and Wesley says "Dalton, I have a cousin in Memphis. Tells me you killed a man down there. Tells me you said it was self-defense at the trial. But you and I know that isn't so, don't we?".  And as Dalton starts to become visibly angry, Wesley says "Relax.  Relax. Tell me, if I owned a bar and I wanted to clean it up, how much would it take to get you to come work for me?".  Dalton then simply stands up and says to Wesley "There's no amount of money" and he walks out angrily.   

Another good scene is where his men, O'Connor come back having failed to intimidate and beat up on Dalton, and he punches one of them in the face and knocks him down "You know what I don't like about you? You're a bleeder!  You are a messy bleeder!  You have no endurance for pain!" and as he is helped back up he says "You know what you're gonna be fine and you know why?  Because I like you".  However then Wesley punches O'Connor in the face again, knocking him to the ground and he says "Get this piece of shit coward out of here!".

Then there is the scene where Wesley has his thugs demolish one of the town's businessman's car dealership business, and he says to Elizabeth "Well Elizabeth you better get Dalton out of here, because if you don't he's goin down, and I won't lose a second's sleep over it!".  Wesley then turns to the car dealership owner and he says to him "This is my town and don't you forget it!".

And lastly there is the scene where (SPOILER!!!!!) Dalton has his showdown with Wesley at his mansion and Wesley looks around for him in his trophy room and finds that Dalton has killed off most of his men.  And Wesley calls out to him "I see you found my trophy room, Dalton.  The only thing is missing from it is your ass!".  And as the two men fight each other, Wesley wearily tells Dalton "I thought it would be fun to fight you, Dalton.  I really did.  But right now I just don't have the time" and he takes out a gun but Dalton kicks it away and pins Wesley to the sofa he sits on and prepares to do his throat rip kill but ultimately he relents just before the local businessmen come in and finish the job.    

Sam Elliott is also really good in his role as Wade Garrett, the charming, aged cooler, who despite his age still can throw his fists.

Elliott has some good moments in the film, such as in the scene where he arrives at the double deuce to find Dalton being beat up by Wesley's men, and one of them says to Wade "You wanna fight dickless?!" and Wade says "Well I sure ain't gonna show my dick!" after which he hits the thug in the balls and says "I bet that hurts don't it?!".  And after Wade, Dalton and the other bouncers at the club fight off Wesley's men, the bar's resident band leader, Cody (Jeff Healey) introduces them to Wade Garret and one of the bouncers exclaims "Holy shit!" and Wade smiles and says "Exactly right!".   

Another funny line he has is when Wade dances with Elizabeth and after she leaves to go to the toilet, he watches her fine bottom wiggle as she goes and he says "That girl has entirely too many brains to have an ass like that!".  And in the same scene Elliott shares a good moment with Swayze when Wade confronts Dalton over the guilt he feels of his past when he had to kill someone in self defence.

So, Wade says to Dalton "I can't believe you're still draggin' that shit around with ya. It seems to me, you'd be a little more... philosophical about it. AND CUT IT THE FUCK LOOSE. You know, that fucking cu-... that girl never told you she was married. DID SHE? And when a man sticks a gun in yer face, you got two choices; you can die or you can KILL THE MOTHERFUCKER!". 

And lastly there is the scene where Wade tries to persuade an angry and frustrated Dalton to leave town after Wesley turns up the heat on him by enciting a fight in the Double Deuce and later trashing a local car dealer's business.  So in this scene, Dalton practices his punching against a wooden board in a barn and Wade comes in and says to him "Hey, mijo.  You're all fucked up aren't you?  Let's crank that thing up and head down the road. We can be gone by dawn, never see this place again".  However, Dalton refuses to and says "You can leave anytime you want to" and Wade sighs and says "Oh, shit, kid!" and Dalton then climbs up a rope to the top level of the barn and continues his practice hitting a punching bag.

So, Wade tries again and says "You don't need this" but Dalton while punching the bag, says "Don't tell me what I need!  If you want to go, then go, get the fuck out of here and leave me alone!".  And Wade says to Dalton "Yeah, you're right. I ought to stop telling you what to do. Maybe I ought to kick your ass!".  Then, Dalton suddenly spins round furiously and attempts to punch Wade, who firmly stops the punch with his hand.  And Wade says "No, we don't wanna do this. I wanna tell you something else. You taught me as much as I ever taught you. I Iove you, "mijo." I'll see you" and leaves. 

As for the other cast members, Kelly Lynch is not bad as Elizabeth, the doctor, who falls for Dalton and she was also a former lover of Wesley's.

Their first scene together is also quite a nice one when Elizabeth gives Dalton his stitches for his knife wound and she says as he leaves "You know for this line of work I thought you would be bigger!" and Dalton smiles and says "Gee! I never heard that before!". 

Kelly's best scene comes when Elizabeth argues with Dalton about staying in town and she says "But what are you gonna win? Who's this for anyway? Are you doing it for them? I don't think so. You think you're gonna save these peopIe from WesIey? Well, who's gonna save 'em from you?!".  And this is proceeded by a loud explosion as Dalton and Elizabeth run out to see the barn of Dalton's landlord has been blown up.

Kevin Tighe is also good in his role as the rather meek but ambitious businessman, Frank Tilghman who hires Dalton, and he get's a good line where he says to Dalton at the start of the film "I own a club called the Double Deuece.  It used to be a real sweet deal, but now its the sort of place where they sweep up the eyeballs at closing time!".

And later there is the scene where Frank along with the other local businessmen and Dalton talk over what they should do against Wesley after he gatecrashed the Double Duece the night before with his men.  And Frank says to Dalton "You scared him last night. Brad Wesley, he's not afraid of anything, right? Well, Iast night that son of a bitch was afraid!" but Dalton says "No, he wasn't". 

Red West as the character Red Webster also has some good witty moments in the film such as in the scene where after Red's auto parts business is raided by Wesley's men.  And in the scene Dalton asks how much Wesley takes and Red tells him "10% to start. Oh, it's aII IegaI Iike. He formed the Jasper Improvement Society. All the businesses in town belong to it".  So, Dalton asks Red "Does everybody pay?" and Red looks at Dalton as if he were stupid and says "Does a hobby horse have a wooden dick?!". 

Marshall Teague while he hardly gives the film's best performance as he essentially just plays the film's main henchman, Jimnmy, and as such just kicks ass and sets fire to things, he does provide some good moments as well.  And Teague's fight scene with Swayze in the Dalton vs Jimmy showdown remains one of the film's highlights, and Teague delivers the priceless line "Prepare to die!" followed by Dalton's reply "You are such an asshole!". 

And later during the fight Jimmy makes the hilarious confession that "I use to fuck guys like you in prison!" and later as he starts to kick Dalton's ass he says "Damn boy!  I thought you were good!" and Dalton says "Go fuck yourself!" and they fight on.  But as Dalton finally gains the upper hand in their fight, Jimmy then takes out his gun and says "I'm gonna kill you the old fashioned way!" but Dalton kicks the gun away and the "ends" Jimmy by ripping out his throat! 

Kathleen Wilhoite is not too bad in her role as the rather geeky bar maid, Carrie-Ann, who takes a bit of a shine to Dalton although of course nothing happens between and she later on reveals she has a pretty decent singing voice in the film.

Kathleen's best two scenes however are first up the one where Dalton first turns up at the Double Duece and surveys the chaos around him and he is nearly accosted by Morgan, who threatens Dalton and says "If you're not drinkin, then YOU'RE out!!".  And Dalton laughs it off and Carrie-Ann says to Dalton "Don't let him bother you.  Morgan was born an asshole and just grew bigger!".  So, Carrie-Ann asks Dalton "So, you got a name?" and Dalton says "Yeah" and Carrie-Ann impatiently asks "So, come on, what is it?!" and he says "Dalton" which prompts a big surprise from Carrie-Anne who excitedly gasps and says "Oh, my God!  Shit, I heard of you!".

And later there is the scene where Carrie-Ann visits Dalton the next morning at his place on the farm after his first day on the job as the DD cooler.  And Carrie-Ann giggles in the scene, prompting Dalton to wearily ask "What is the joke?" and Carrie-Anne says "Its no joke.  I just think I'm lookin at a dead man" and Dalton sighs and says "It seems everywhere I go, I hear that same joke!" and she tells him "Well, something tells me you bring it on yourself!".   

And lastly I will mention Jeff Healey, who provides a nice little performance as the blind guitarist Cody, who's band plays at the double deuce most nights.  Healey also get's some good lines in the film such as when Dalton first goes up to meet with Cody after their gig at the deuce and he quietly hands him a towel and says "You don't play too bad for a blind boy" and Cody quips back "Yeah and I thought you would be bigger!".

And also slightly later as one of the hotheaded bouncers, Morgan (played by Terry Funk) asks what the story with Dalton is.  So, Cody says "The story is, you fuck with him and he'll seal your fate!" only for Morgan to spit back "Oh yeah?  So far he hasn't shown me shit!".  Jeff Healey who had been blind for most of his life, sadly died years later from cancer in 2008.   

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

As for the director, Rowdy Herrington does a good job here in keeping the pace nice and tight and the action pretty thick and fast, and while its a no brainer of a film, he still knows how to keep the audience engaged in the action.  Herrington's directing career however didn't improve much after this as he went on to make poorly received films such as Gladiator (starring Cuba Gooding Jr) and Striking Distance (starring Bruce Willis) so you would have to say that Road House was the highlight of his career!   

And as for the music score, Michael Kamen provides the score and its a pretty good one it has to be said and it features his usual mix of orchestrations and electronic synthesziers along with electric guitar thrown in.  It actually still resembles the scores that he did for the Lethal Weapon series but its still a pretty good one given the cheesy standards set by the film.

Its also worth mentioning of course in regards to the other music in the film that Jeff Healey makes a solid contribution to the film's soundtrack also with his band (known as The Jeff Healey Band).  And Healey and his band play among other songs, two memorable cover numbers such as The Door's "Roadhouse blues" and also Willie Dixon's "I'm your Hoochie Coochie Man". 

FLAWS 

So, Road House, its a masterpiece without any flaws, right????  No, of course not, it has its share.  

And I would have to start off by simply saying that realistically the film is a load of utter tosh and is basically a lot of brainless fist fighting, which features some nice boobs in it as well and in both instances you would be absolutely right!  Road House is also hardly original or in any sense innovational, but then again in its defence, why would it be as it attains to be nothing more than an action movie. 

However the film's action also tends to highlight the lack of overall plot and there are also one or two cringeworthy moments in the film as well such as the scene where Denise, Wesley's girlfriend performs a corny strip tease in the double deuce.  This is often a scene I find quite cringeworthy to watch (even if the girl has a nice pair!).  Then there is the scene where Wesley has a loud house party where he invites girls back and some numpty who he loves because he dances like a complete dick (in fact the guy looks a little bit like a discount Nick Nolte!).  

And in terms of the story, one of the scenes I had a problem with is where Dalton's car is vandalised after his first night on the job as one of his windows has been smashed and a knife has been stabbed into one of his tyres, leaving Dalton to smile to himself.  Now, why in the hell did Dalton park his car out front of the bar???!!  Why didn't he just park it around the back of the bar and cover it up or something?!  Then it wouldn't be such an easy target for unruly customers to vandalise it!    

Another issue I had with the film was to do with Dalton's backstory regarding the self defence killing he was involved in back in Memphis, it is made reference to in the most superficial sense of the word and no more than that.  And what makes it that bit more vague is in the scene where Wade tries to convince Dalton to put it behind him or "cut it the fuck loose" as he nicely puts it and Wade mentions that "you know the girl never told you she was married!".  But, which girl is he referring to???  Its not Elizabeth surely as Wade had just met her, so it must be the girl Dalton was involved with around the time of the killing.  But again its just not that well explained.

In fact further to this point, it is suggested in the film that Elizabeth was in fact married to Wesley as she alluded this to Dalton but didn't mention, who she was married to simply that she "picked the wrong guy".  So, its kind of surprising that Wade would have known about this, or maybe it just comes down to the local gossip of the town and Wade had his ear to the ground already!  Either that or in Hollywood action films it is assumed everyone knows everyone elses business!   

I also thought the film's ending is pretty farcical and OTT (but again what do you expect I guess!) with (PLOT SPOILER) Dante ready to kill Wesley at his mansion but he let's him off the hook only to have the local businessman including Kevin and Red, shoot him dead, and they conveniently stash the shotguns away in time before the police arrive!  Not only that but the men all deny any knowlegde of anything that happened that would cause Brad Wesley to lie on the floor in a pool of his own blood, with mutliple shotgun wounds in his chest and we can imagine given that its a film the police will just sweep it all under the carpet and probably say "Aww forget it, he was an asshole anyway!".

So, again its the Hollywood machine producing another happy ending where logic, reason and all common sense go out the window and we are left with an ending that really insults an audience's intelligence, but hey it is only an action film after all!

Anyway, so that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Roadhouse is pretty much a mindless action movie, its loud, somewhat crass and full of broad humour not to mention some liberal doses of violent action and it also has its fair share of cheesy, cringeworthy moments.  However, despite all that its still a very enjoyable film and it has earned its cult status over the years and for me it remains one of those guilty pleasure films, which is worth revisiting every now and then, so for that alone its still worth checking out after 28 years and every time I see it, it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return once again soon with some post or other of some kind, not sure yet of course but it won't be another revisitation.

So, until the next one, its bye for now! 

Doctor Who - The 13th Doctor

Right, OK just as a different post I figured I would post up my take on the casting of the 13th Doctor in the sci-fi show, Doctor Who as there has already been tremendous controversy over the new choice of the lead part and that is simply because the new Doctor is going to be a woman.  Yes, for the first time in the show's history the Doctor will regenerate into a woman and change genders to show that not only is the Doctor a near immortal being he's also a unisexal one, too.  And it was just yesterday that it was revealed that the actress, Jodie Whittaker will take up the role once the current Doctor, Peter Capaldi finally hands in his TARDIS key at the end of the year's Christmas special.

Now just before I carry on I would just like to say that what I state here ahead is simply my own opinion and you are all of course entitled to your own.

So here it goes....well.....to be honest.... I am OK with the choice of a woman being cast in the role.  Its something that has been pushed for hard over the years for a woman to be cast in the role and well now we've finally got one and I think its maybe something that will hopefully help shake up the format of the show to give it a different perspective.

Now, the trouble is of course that this decision has split the fans right down the middle as there are fans who are for the choice and those, who are firmly opposed to the choice of a woman being cast in the role.  So, from here the show has created its own new divide and it will see some of the die hard fans of the show no longer watch it, whereas of course those fans who are more open minded to the idea of a female doctor will embrace the change.

The casting was of course done at the hands of the show's new incoming executive producer, Chris Chibnall, who had already worked with Jodie Whittaker on his series, Broadchurch, which also stars another previous doctor, David Tenant, so perhaps that's one of the reasons he cast her in the role as she was a familiar actress.  However there was also some speculation of course that an actress was cast to play the part due to pressure from the feminist lobby in order to do so, although to be honest I don't know how much truth is in that one myself. 

So, is it such a bad thing though for the new Doctor to be a woman????  Well, as I said I'm OK with the idea even though of course the Doctor has always previously been a man, it does seem a peculiar that he would suddenly change sex in one of his regenerations.  However the Master has already been played by a woman with Michelle Gomez playing the part of Missy (aka the Master) in the last few series of the show, so why not have the Doctor be one aswell.

Now I know that there will be plenty of fans that see this choice as a real bastardisation of the concept of the character and I can see where they might be coming from with that.  However I think to be fair to the actress, Jodie Whittaker, I don't think we should really judge her until we see her in action in the role.  So, I personally would have to say I think we should give the actress the benefit of the doubt before we judge how good she will be in the role and take it from there.

In fact it has to be said that this choice to change the sex of the role is actually enough for me to re-engage my interest in watching the new series as I have to admit myself I had kind of stopped watching and lost interest in the new series lately.  I personally am more a fan of the original show itself as I always perferred the original companions and characters and I prefer the storylines and scripts of the classic show to the new one, although I have nothing against the new series and it does feature some great episodes and some great doctors and companions.

The only problems I see with the part being played by a woman is that it might mess up some of the running continuity of the show with for example, River Song, who knew the Doctor as a man and was even married to him.  So, with that in mind, did River Song know the Doctor when she was a woman???  Or did she know the Doctor prior to this???  This is because I think (and I could be wrong about this!) didn't River know the Doctor also towards the end of his life life-span???  If so, does this not suggest that she might have known the Doctor also as a woman????  And just how many regenerations of the Doctor will be women in the future???  Who knows???  What we do know is that it will be interesting to see how the producers will tackle those questions in the future (or the past!).

Anyway, so that's my thoughts on the choice of casting the Doctor as a woman, I'm not against the idea and hopefully its not one that will kill the show and will take it into a new and interesting direction.  What we do know is that it has really split the fans down the middle and we are definitely going to see a backlash of sorts arise from this.  But in the end if they can still capture the spirit of the show with a woman cast in the role instead then that's what matters and I say let's give Jodie a chance before we judge her.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return another post soon.

Till the next one its bye for now.

Jaws (revisited) "Smile, you son of a bitch!"

Right, its post revisitation time and this un will be on an old classic blockbuster, in fact its one of the original blockbusters and the film in question is of course Steven Spielberg's classic thriller, Jaws.

So let's give this modern classic another look and see how it has faired after all this time....

And even though we all pretty much know the plot, for the sake of it I figured I dish out the usual warning anyway....

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, it all starts in the quiet seaside down of Amity Island where a rouge great white shark swims the waters, and a young girl Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) is killed by the shark while take a skinnydip in the water.  After this the town chief of police, Martin Brody (Roy Schneider), alerts the town mayor Larry Vaughan (Murray Hamilton) of the danger, who is largely uninterested as he is more concerned that the tourists come to town as they are town's main source of income, and also goes as far as asking Brody to cover up his autopsy report on the girl as a "boating accident" rather than a shark attack. 

Despite Brody's warnings and the mayor's negligence to do anything about it, a young boy is killed in the water by the shark, after which a bounty is put out, which brings in a whole bunch of greedy fishermen who want the prize money for killing the big fish, but despite their best efforts, they fail to kill the shark they were looking for and instead catch a "tiger" shark as identified by an expert from the Oceangraphic institute, Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfus) called in by Brody, who helps him try and locate the shark. 

However despite their best efforts, on 4th of July, Amity's busiest day of the summer, the mayor insists the beaches stay open, which leads to yet another shark attack, where a young man rowing a boat is capsized and then killed by the shark.  Finally Brody convinces the mayor to hire local veteran fisherman, Quint (Robert Shaw) to hunt and kill the shark.  Brody also persuades Quint into bringing along Hooper to help out in their quest, but of course Quint being a stubborn old school guy takes umbrage to the young college boy upstart in Hooper.  And the rest of the films sees the men embark on their dangerous journey to find and kill the rouge great white shark.....

THOUGHTS 

Jaws is without doubt an absolute classic thriller, and is easily one of Steven Spielberg's best films, it was the film that announced his career and he effectively invented the summer blockbuster with this one film as well.  And even after 42 years, Jaws is still as effective as ever, as a piece of suspense it is nearly second to none, Spielberg adds in as many cheap frights as he can, and I'm sure the audiences back then would have been jumping out of their seats. 

But the film definitely works best when we don't see the shark, particularly early on in the film in the opening scene where the first victim Chrissie Watkins is being violenty pulled back and forth in the water by an unseen force, as well as the scene with the two fishermen using a pound of roast to attract the shark to shore, which it takes as bait and attacks the men.

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

As for the performances, this is where the film scores big as the cast are all on top form, particularly the three lead actors.

Starting with Roy Schneider who is great in his role as Chief Broady, who is burdened with having to deal with the shark situation on Amity island. 

Roy has plenty of highlights that include the scene at the beginning of the film where he wakes up and looks outside to see where the kids are and he tells his wife, Ellen, they are playing out back.  And Ellen says "In Amity you say the yaaard" in a Boston accent and Brody mimics her accent by saying "They're in the yaaard, not too faaaar from the caaaar!  How's that?" and Ellen says "Now you sound like you are from New York!". 

Then there is the scene where Broady nervously monitors the beach whilst his family are with him and he notices something bob ontop of the water, which turns out to be an old man swimming with a cap on.  And the old fella walks over to Brody later and says "You don't go in the water at all, do you chief?" and Brody replies "That's some bad hat Harry!".  Which later came the name of the production company belonging to film director Bryan Singer (admittedly I have to say its a crap name!).        

And also the scene where Brody after a tough day decide to get drunk and he invites Hooper around for dinnner.  And after Hooper sits with them, Brody say to Hooper "Why don't we get another drink and cut that shark open" his wife, Ellen, says "Martin, can you do that?" and Brody replies "I can do anything I'm the chief of police!".   

Another good scene for Schneider is where Brody and Hooper try to convince the mayor into closing the beaches.  And Brody says to the mayor "If you open the beaches on the 4th of July it will be like ringing the dinner bell for Christ's sake!". 

Then there is classic moment where Broady throws out some chum markers to lure the shark (chums are basically a mix of fish, bone and blood).  And as Quint tells Hooper to steer the boat and go "slow ahead", Brody says to them "I can go slower ahead, why don't you come down here and chum some of this shit!".  However at this point the shark suddenly rises out of the water without warning, and Quint nervous flinches and backs slowly into the living quarters of the boat and says to Quint the classic line "You're gonna need a bigger boat!". 

And of course there is penultimate scene near the end where Brody faces off against the shark and he throws a compressed air canister into its mouth and he fires his rifle at it as it closes in on him and he says that classic line "Smile you son of a bitch!".  And well I won't give away the next bit but you can guess what happens.....!  

Richard Dreyfuss is also great as Hooper, the youngest of the three men and an expert from the oceangraphic institute, who could almost be spoilt and bratish in his manner, as he comes from a wealthy background, but ultimately Hooper is far more sussed than just about everyone else in the film. 

And Dreyfuss has his fare share of great moments such as the scene where he examines the remains of Chrissie Watkins and he angrily refutes the coroner's report and says "Now this wasn't a boating accident!  It was no propeller, no coral reef and it wasn't Jack the ripper!".  And Hooper takes a moment and washes his face and then he looks up at Brody and says "It was a shark!". 

Then there is the great scene where Hooper tries to convince the mayor into closing the beaches after they find the wrecked remains of a local fisherman's boat.  However the mayor refuses to listen, so Hooper gives up by saying "Right that's it, Martin!  I'm not staying here listening to a man, lining up to be a hot lunch, I'll see you later!" as well as "I think I am aware of the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you in the ASS!  Now there are either two ways you can deal with this, you are either gonna kill this animal or cut off its food supply!". 

Then Hooper makes a last ditch attempt to convince the mayor and says to him "Mr. Vaughn, what we are dealing with here is a perfect engine, an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution. All this machine does is swim and eat and make little sharks, and that's all. Now, why don't you take a long, close look at this sign".  And Hooper points to a vandalised billboard sign showing a shark fin popping out the water and Hooper says to the mayor "Those proportions are correct" but the mayor scoffs at Hooper and says "Love to you prove that, wouldn't ya?  Get your name into the national geographic!" and he shakes his head and walks off, leaving Hooper to laugh out load in dispair.  

Dreyfus also shares a good albeit tense onscreen relationship with Robert Shaw, which was mirrored in real life, on account of Shaw's competitive nature and heavy drinking.  And one of their funny scenes comes when Hooper thinks he's caught the shark, but whatever it is get's away and Quint puts him in his place, which leaves Hooper pulling faces behind his back!  And he mocks Qunit by putting on a pirate voice "Aye aye, Jim boy, arrr!!" and then he impersonates the American comedian and actor, W.C. Fields by saying "I don't have to take this abuse much longer!". 

Then there is the seen where Hooper and Quint have a little moment where they bond as they show each other their inuries from encounters with fish in the waters.  And Hooper opens the top of his shirt and shows him a faint scar on his chest and he says "You see this?" and Brody says "What is it?" and Hooper tells him "Mary Ellen Moffat.  She broke my heart!" and he bursts into a fit of laughter.  And afterward, Brody notices a tatoo on Quint's arm and asks what it is and Quint "Oh, that's just an old tatoo I had it removed" and Hooper butts in and says "Don't tell me, don't tell me. "Mother!" and he bursts out laughing again. 

And then there is the scene where, Quint begins to admit defeat as he has run out of ideas on how to kill the shark, so finally asks Hooper what he can do with this gadgets and items to kill the shark.  So, Hooper takes out a harpoon needle and says "Well, I think I can pump 20 cc's of strychnine nitrate into him, if I can get close enough".  And Quint looks at the needle and asks "Can you get this little needle through his skin?" and Hooper says "No, I can't do that.  But if I can get him close enough to this cafe, I think I can get him in the mouth or the eye....".  However, Brody interrupts and says "That shark will rip that cage to pieces!" and Hooper shouts back "YOU GOT ANY BETTER SUGGESTIONS???!".  

Robert Shaw is also great in his role as Quint, the old veteran seaman, who runs the task of hunting down the rogue shark that terrorises Amity island. 

Shaw has plenty of great memorable moments also that include his first scene is great where he introduces himself memorably by scraping his fingers down a blackboard during a town hall meeting. 

And in the scene Hooper makes his offer to the townsfolk to kill the shark and says "You all know me, you all know how I make a livin.  This shark, swallow you whole. Little shakin', little tenderizin', an' down you go. And we gotta do it quick, that'll bring back your tourists, put all your businesses on a payin' basis. But it's not gonna be pleasant. I value my neck a lot more than three thousand bucks, chief. I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten. But you've gotta make up your minds. If you want to stay alive, then ante up. If you want to play it cheap, be on welfare the whole winter. I don't want no volunteers, I don't want no mates, there's just too many captains on this island. $10,000 for me by myself. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing!".

Also another great moment is where Quint confronts Hooper on their first meeting and says to him "When you got a 5000 dollars net, you got 2000 dollars worth of fisherman. And along comes Mr. Whitey, by the time he's finished with that net, it looks like a kiddy's scissor class has cut it up for a paper doll! You got city hands, Mr. Hooper. You've been counting money all your life!". 

Then there is of course the scene where Quint is about to set sail with Brody and Hooper and in a jovial mood he spouts out some dirty limericks and silly songs, some of which include "Here lies the body of Mary-Lee, died at the age of 103, for 15 years she kept her virginity!  Not a bad record for this vicinity!".  And of course there is the song "Farewell and adieu to fair Spanish ladies, fairwell and adieu to you ladies of Spain!  For we've received orders for to sail back to Boston. And so nevermore shall we be seeing you again!".   

And later when onboard the boat where Quint puts Hooper in his place again by saying he doesn't know what bit through his fishing line.  And Quint says to Hooper "Gamin' fish eh? Marlin? Stingray? Bit through this piano wire?!  Don't you tell me my business again!" and Hooper says "Quint, that doesn't prove a damn thing!" and Quin says "Well it proves one thing, Mr Hooper, that you wealthy college boys don't have the education to admit when you are wrong!". 

And perhaps the film's best scene and one of its highlights is undoubtedly of course where the men sit around at night in the cabin of the Orca (Quint's boat) sharing jokes, and Quint gives his chilling account of his experience of being one of the crewmates onboard the USS Indianapolis, during the Second World War, which was attacked by the Japanese, which left the survivors in the Pacific ocean at the mercy of sharks. 

And Shaw's delivery of this scene is perfect as well as chilling and perhaps the best line is where he tells Brody and Hooper: "Sometimes that shark look right at you.  Right into your eyes.  You know the thing about shark he's got black eyes, lifeless eyes... like a doll's eyes.  When he comes at ya, he doesn't seem to be livin.  Until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and the ocean turns red".  And Quint finishes by telling them "So, eleven hundred men went into the water, three hundred sixteen men come out, and the sharks took the rest, June the 29th, 1945.  Anyway... we delivered the bomb".  

Also in regards to the supporting cast Murray Hamilton is also excellent as Mayor Vaughan, who is determined to keep the beaches open despite the dangers in the waters of Amity. 

Hamilton also has some great moments such as the scene where the Mayor persuades Brody to change his report on the first shark attack in order to cover up the death to avoid any impact on their business for the summer.  And in the scene the Mayor says to Brody "Martin, it's all psychological. You yell barracuda, everybody says, "Huh? What?" You yell shark, we've got a panic on our hands on the Fourth of July!". 

Then there is the scene where Hooper arrives on the island just after the fishermen have caught a tiger shark, and Hooper suggests they cut it open to ensure it killed the boy, Alex Kitner.  And Vaughan says "Listen fellas, this is hardly the time or the place to carry out some sort half-assed autopsy on a fish!  And I am not going to stand there and watch that thing cut open and see that little Kintner boy spill out all over the dock!". 

And another good for Murray is where Hooper tries to convince Vaughan to close the beaches and Vaughan looks up at vandalised billboard poster for Amity showing a shark's dorsal fin.  And Vaughan says pointing at the poster "Brody, sick vandalism!  That is a direct mutilation of a public service announcement!  Now I want those paint happy bastards caught and hung up by their busker browns!".

And lastly Lorraine Gray, who is the weakest cast member but not by much as she is still pretty good here as Brody's wife, Ellen, its just her performance is overshadowed by those of the three leads. 

And Lorraine has some good moments such as the scene where Brody berates his young son, Michael, for sitting out in his birthday present, which is a new dinghy boat which is tied up to a pier.  And Ellen says to Brody in defence for her son "He is not out on the water, he is in a boat!  I don't think he'll ever go in again after what happened yesterday!".  But then Ellen who holds a book on sharks that Broady had with him, looks through and sees a picture of a shark ramming a hole into the hull of a small rowboat and she slams the book shut and yells "Michael!  Did you hear your father?!  Out of the water, now!  NOW!!".       

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Getting on to the director, Steven Spielberg did a stellar job with Jaws and he created the perfect mixture of suspense and thrills and throughout the film there are some great moments where he has the audience jumping out of their seats, namely the scene where Jaws pops out of the water or where Hooper finds the remains of a fisherman underneath the waters.  Spielberg also keeps the film's pacing real tight throughout and also employs some great visual moments as well such as the scene with the dolly zoom shot of Brody witnessing the Kintner boy being killed in the waters. 

Spielberg himself throughout the production of course endured many problems as it was primarily shot at Martha's vineyard out in Massachusetts but the scenes sea shot at sea proved to be the most problematic.  The shoot at sea had numerous troubles such as passing ships getting into shot, cameras being soaked with sea water not to mention the hydraulic fake sharks rarely worked, which is often a anecdote told by Dreyfuss himself that tannoy announcements were made around the island saying "The shark is not working!".  On top of this Shaw's heavy drinking cause much friction between himself and Dreyfuss  and the actors themselves were regularly seasick during the sea shoots. 

So, in spite of the film's turbulent production, Spielberg here still managed to produce one of his best efforts here and directorially speaking there only a handle full of films he directed as well as this one in his career. 

And of course I can't forget to mention John Williams music score, which is simply superb and it really brought him to prominence as he won his first academy award for the score.  And its incredible to think how tinkly two ivory notes would prove to be so effective and overall its such a great score its one you can easily listen to on its own without watching the film.  Yep, its that good.     

FLAWS (Warning this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws...... well Jaws maybe a great film but, yes it isn't quite perfect.

And to kick off I'd say one of the main flaws is of course the shark itself, as once its unveiled the film's great suspense that was built up before is now nullified by the appearance of this totally unconvincing rubber creation.  And the shark itself is clearly too big in proportion, and it looks ridiculously fake, although Spielberg does make very effective use of the underwater footage of real sharks, shot by an Australian shark expert couple Ron and Valerie Taylor. 

And the shark itself does let the movie down in places, and toward the end it shifts from being a gripping thriller to being ridiculously over the top, with the shark blatantly rising out the water to crash onto the boat's transom, so it can eat Quint and Brody.  In reality of course, there is no way sharks would deliberately prey on humans, as they are largely terratorial creatures who stick to their own environments, and despite the fact that yes there have been many reported shark attacks over the years, sharks themselves largely live off a diet of other marine life such as sea otters, seals and sea lions and they don't deliberately hunt out people in the water!

It also has to be said that the ending of the film is also a weakness as Spielberg at the time wanted a big ending that would have the audiences screaming and on their feet, and the idea to actually blow up the shark was and is quite ridiculous.  There is no doubt the fact that while the end is farcical it is also quite entertaining, and yeah ok you can't but help feel when Brody finally shoots the compressed air canister the shark has in its open jaws, when the sharks explodes, it is a crowd pleaser (the sound accompanying the shot of the shark as its remains sink into the water is actually taken from Spielberg's debut film, Duel, when the truck at the end goes over the cliff). 

It also has to be said that the film also probably didn't do sharks as a spieces any favours either, if anything it demonised sharks in the public, and it would take many years later before the myth behind sharks, being monsters, would itself explode.  Peter Benchley, who the wrote the novel the film is based on, later said he deeply regretted writing the novel when he saw the impact it had on the species as the film appeared to legitimise shark hunting. 

The film also paved the way for its inferior sequels, although Jaws 2 was the best of the three of the films (it would have been even better if the shark ate the screaming teenagers in it!) but by the truly awful Jaws 4: The Revenge, the sharks suddenly took on the concept of revenge and that they had to hunt down the rest of the Brody family!  Yeahh ok!!  Surely by then they should have taken note of the concept of horror-thriller sequels is not a good idea!  Although Michael Caine has frequently since said he only took up the part in Jaws 4 in order to help buy a new house for his grandmother (so at least his fee went to good use!). 

And lastly on a plot point the one big flaw that stands out is just why is Mayor Vaughan such an idiotic asshole???  I mean it takes four deaths for this man to finally sit up and take notice that the town has a serious shark problem on its hands, yet he wants to cover it up as long as he can in order to bring people to the beaches for their money.  But surely this guy should have had more common sense rather than continue to let people die on the island!  In short, he's a dick.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Jaws to this day is still a masterpiece of modern cinema, it hits all the right notes (even musical!) and it rarely sets a foot wrong (except of course for the fake shark!) as it is brilliantly acted and directed and it features one of the most memorable scores in film.  And any niggles it may have are greatly outweighed by its great qualities and for me it remains essential viewing.

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

Till the next un, its bye for now!
  

Crash Bandicoot Warped (PS4) review

OK, time for my next (and well, last) review on the Crash Bandicoot PS4 N-Sane trilogy, which is on the 3rd game in the series, Crash Bandicoot: Warped.  So nearly 20 years on after its original release for the PS1, how does it fair???  Well, let's take a look....

STORY

Well, I will say just a little bit about the story (so no spoiler warning needed really) but basically the game takes place right after the events of Crash Bandicoot 2 with the ruins of the villainous Dr Cortex's space station, crash landing on Earth and releases an evil entity called Uka-Uka, who is Aku-Aku's evil twin brother.  Uka Uka joins forces then with Dr Cortex and the also evil, Dr Nefarious Tropy and they plan to gather powerful crystals scattered across time and use their energy to enslave the Earth.  So, its up to Crash and his sister, Coco, to stop them reaching the crystals first....

THOUGHTS

Well there is little doubt that CB: Warped is the best of the first three Crash games as it was a fun mix of platform action and also to a lesser extent puzzle solving as Crash has to do his usual to collect some crystals and fight off various enemies throughout the game.  The game also features a number of new moves and features that add more fun elements to the gameplay and the level of difficulty this time round is far manageable than the first game and to an extent the second as well.

GAMEPLAY

Moving onto the gameplay, well it primarily remains the same as the first two games with Crash's usual movements of running, jumping, crawling as well as his spin/slide attacks and his body slam, which is used to open the locked crates containing wampa fruit.  Crash also starts off with five lives and he can gain more by breaking enough wampa fruit boxes to collect a hundred fruits that will give an extra life.  This is one area in which the game has improved over its predecessors in that it is much easier to gather extra lives thanks in part to its easier difficulty level.   

This time around though Crash has a few new moves that include a double jump that allows Crash to jump greater heights to reach higher platforms.  Crash can also use a new prolonged spin tornado attack, which also helps move over greater distances and bigger gaps between platforms.  And lastly in what has to be the best new feature is the Wumpa canon that fires out wampa fruits that can be used to destroy enemies as well as the boxes throughout the game and it comes in particularly handing for those hard to reach boxes that can be found in the game.

Crash this time round also in addition to this on-foot levels also has some where he enters a bike race and must come in 1st place in order to obtain the crystals.  Crash also has some levels where he flies in the skies in a fighter plane during World War I and must take down a series of planes in order to gather the crystals.  Crash at times also has moments in levels where he must jump up and cling onto reeds(???) and traverse through certain areas where he must use his spin attack to rid enemies.     

Also different to the previous games instead of Crash using a series of warp rooms to gain access to the levels, he instead uses a time-twisting machine to gain access to the 25 levels that are in the game, which are split into five separate hubs.  This also features in addition to five levels per hub, a game boss for Crash to defeat and the difficulty of the bosses increases as the game progresses.  Once, Crash has collected all 25 crystals and defeated all the games bosses then the game is completed although there will be additional challenges in order to try and complete the game with a 100% rating.   

And further to the last point in order to get 100%, the game also features a number of gems and coloured gems for Crash to collect throughout the game, similar to Crash Bandicoot 2 where Crash will obtain a white gem for breaking all the boxes in a level.  However accessing all the colour gems can be difficult and may require Crash going between different levels to access hidden areas that will enable him to collect them.  Another collectable item are relics, which can be gained by Crash completing a time trial run of each level ahead of a required time to beat in order to acquire the relic.  Once, Crash has all these then the game will be 100% complete and he get's his gold star (well OK the gold star bit isn't true!).

Also new to the game this time round is that Crash's sister, Coco, has some playable levels of her own that feature her riding her pet creature (don't know what it is!) through the Great wall of china in order to collect the crystal.  Coco also in her other levels uses a jet ski on the waters above Atlantis to gather crystals and break boxes, while she to avoid such obstacles as pirate bombs, hostile rowers and of course sharks.  And lastly, Coco also has a level where she takes to the skies in a fighter plane during World War I in Europe.  

And lastly the enemies this time around are again similar to before with its mix of animals such as snakes, monkeys and frogs, which if they jump on you will kiss you and turn themselves into a prince and Crash into a frog.  The humans enemies are also pretty varied in their different forms from mad scientists, Arthurian knights, genies, to two-headed lab assistants of Dr Cortex that use a big club to swing at Crash.  This also provides one of the funniest death scenes where the assistant clubs Crash and sends him flying, slamming right against your TV screen!  Some of the futuristic levels also feature robots and mechanical foes for Crash to defeat before he can move on.  It also has other enemies too such as Egyptian mummies, which feature in the levels where Crash navigate his way through Pyramids. 

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the game's graphics, well going by the PS4 version, yet again the game here get's a great visual overhaul as the graphics look terrific and the environments once more look colourful and nicely detailed.  The game's appealing mix of 2D side scrolling moments and 3D make for a nice mixture in the graphics also.  The character models are still very cartoonish of course but they also look pretty good in their updated forms.

And lastly as for the music, it features another score by Josh Mancell, which is again pretty good and quite catchy, too with its main theme.  The score is also quite varied sounding in part due to the different variety of levels and Mancell has created tracks that perfectly suit the tone each level and overall its another fun, pleasant score to listen to.

FLAWS

As for flaws....well out of the first three games I'd say that Warped has the least amount of flaws but there are still some niggles.

And for starters one of things that bugged was to do with levels where Crash or Coco don't actually die but they end up losing a life anway.  This is especially the case in the levels where Coco rides the waves on her jet ski where she ends up colliding with a pirate bomb that destroys her boat but it leaves her still alive, looking cross with her arms folded.  The fact that she is still alive for me negates the whole idea of you losing a life, so surely in this case you shouldn't lose a life unless Coco herself is killed.

This is also the same in the levels where Crash pilots the fighter plane and his plane is destroyed by gunfire damage by hostile planes but he parachutes out at the last second, so again he doesn't lose his own life, so why should you lose one yourself in the game!  It doesn't make such in that regard, if they die, then you lose a life, but if they don't then why bother??! 

You could also argue that at times perhaps the game is a little bit too much easier than the previous ones even though it is a welcome change as the first two games could be hugely frustrating at times.  However you feel it would have been even that little bit better if they struck a slightly better balance of difficulty rather than make just a bit too easy, even though the game still has its tricky moments especially when you need to try and navigate the skull and cross bone moments of the levels.  Also the coloured gem parts of the levels can be quite difficult also in the game, where Crash has to overcome a series of tricky obstacles to claim a silver gem, so yeah OK the game certainly isn't always that easy.  

I also felt that the game had some tedious levels in places particularly the aerial ones where Crash and Coco have to fight against World War I fighter plane pilots.  Thankfully these levels aren't all that difficult but I think the game could have done without these missions as they just feel a bit slapped on and do somewhat detract from the overall quality of the other levels.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, Crash Bandicoot: Warped is easily the most enjoyable of the first three games and indeed of the N-Sane trilogy.  The game's graphics are on par with the other remastered games and its fluid controls, fun gameplay and above all its platform action are what make it such a great game.  The levels are also pretty varied and they feature decent challenges even if at times some levels feel a bit too easy.

So, if you are fan of the original PS1 game then you will definitely enjoy Warped's PS4 remaster, which plays much better than its predecessors and remains a fun packed experience that is worth checking out.

OK, so that's it for now and I will return again soon with a different review of sorts.

Till then, its bye for now.

Crash Bandicoot 2 - Cortex strikes back (PS4) review

Ok, once again its time for a review of something and this time its on another game (or games really), which has recently been released on the PS4 and that is the Crash Bandicoot N-Sane trilogy. This features the first three Crash games that were released on the PS1, Crash Brandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex strikes back and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped.

However for this review I will be looking at Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex strikes back and we'll see after 20 years (yep its been that long) how it holds up in its PS4 visually overhauled version.

STORY 

So, to kick off I will quickly mention a little bit of the story, which won't really involve spoilers, so no spoiler warning for a change!  Anyway the story sees, the titular character, Crash Bandicoot (who is marsupial if you must know) who is abducted by the main villain of the series, Dr Cortex (voiced by Clancy Brown in the original game).  Cortex claims that he has turned over a new leaf and he wants to save the world and that he needs Crash's help.  So, Crash is sent into various parts of N.Sanity island to collect a series of crystals to contain the power of an upcoming planetary alignment in order to prevent the planet from being destroyed.

However, Crash's sister, Coco, remains suspicious of Cortex's behaviour and wonders just what his real intentions might be.....

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay well its pretty similar to the first game however, Crash 2 is a bit improvement over the original, which was a hugely frustrating experience to say the least as the controls and the level of difficulty left alot to be desired.  Here though, Crash here is sent through a series of warp rooms that contains portals that will take him into different locations on N.Sanity island where he will face a series of dangers but I will say more on that in a minute.

The main point however is for Crash to collect 25 crystals throughout the 25 levels in the game and 5 different warp rooms that contain 5 levels each and at the end of the 5 levels there will be a game boss to defeat before Crash can move on.  One of the main aspects of the game is of course to break open as many boxes as possible, containing wampa fruit (or apples I'd say!) and if Crash collects one hundred apples then he will get an extra life.  Crash also can access bonus rounds where he will be able to obtain more apples and boxes to boost his lives as well as deadly passage ways, which contain more boxes and jewels and they marked by a question mark.     

As for Crash's movement, it is similar to the first game where Crash can jump and perform a spin attack on his enemies either by running or jumping in the air.  This time around there are two new moves, the first of which is a body slam in which Crash leaps into the air and belly flops onto say a series of boxes that are otherwise sealed.  The other move (which I think is also the best) is the slide attack, where Crash can slide across the ground and ping enemies off the screen in a very amusing fashion!  Crash can also combine the slide with a jump that allows him to jump higher than he normally would, which is very useful jumping larger distances or for jumping to higher platforms.

Regarding the enemies of the game, they are pretty varied throughout and there are generally two types of enemy that can be dealt with either by using a sliding attack or by using the spin attack and in some cases the body slam can also be used.  The enemies however can either be animals, insects,  humans or indeed other creatures altogther!  However for the most part the enemies in the game can be easily dispatched and its more the game's mix of platforming that provides its more testing level of difficulty.

Other obstacles in the game that aren't actual enemies include explosive boxes such as TNT and Nitroglycerin, which can be precariously placed in the levels and if Crash mistimes his movement you will see him float as an angel into heaven!   The nitro boxes however can be detonated by boxes marked with an exclamation mark and these boxes are usually located elsewhere during or towards the end of a level.  There are also other marked boxes in the game such as the excalamtion mark boxes, which can be used to bring non-solid boxes into being touchable, so Crash can break them to gain more apples.   

In certain levels of the game, Crash can also ride a bear, which simply involves him jumping on the bear (after giving a rather pervy look to camera!) and the player controls the bear to make him avoid a series of obstacles while also crashing into the boxes strewn throughout the level.  Crash can also later use a jetpack in the deep space levels where he accesses a space station with zero gravity where again he has navigate his way past a series of traps and obstacles.

And lastly, similar to the first game, Crash also can receive help of the witch Doctor, Aku Aku, as his spirit is transferred into various boxes through the game and when Crash breaks the box containing the spirit, it produces a mask that floats around Crash to protect him from enemies.  And when Crash breaks open the box containing the Aku Aku spirit, it makes a cool "Ooga Booga!" sound when it does, which is great and one of my favourite things about the game.  However if Crash comes into contact with an enemy with the mask, it will cause the mask to disappear unless he picks up three masks in a row then this will make him briefly invulnerable to his enemies and he can dispatch them with ease and also break open boxes as he goes along.

GRAPHICS AND MUSIC

As for the game's graphics, well I will look at it from the PS4 stand point as that is the console I have played it on for the purpose of this review.  And it has to be said that the game's graphics look very impressive and they have been given an amazing looking overhaul from the admittedly pretty good graphics for their time of the PS1.  But here we get much richer, detailed environments and the characters all look great and the detail extends down to even the wamp fruit boxes that you can even see the fruit inside them as before this is something in the PS1 you would never have caught onto.  So, overall the game looks superb in its visual update.

Moving onto the game's music, well it is the same score, which has basically been remastered and updated and was composed by Josh Mancell, who does a pretty good job here and his theme for Crash is pretty memorable.  So, overall this is a very good score and it features many cheerful, upbeat and fun tracks throughout that suit the game's tone perfectly well.

FLAWS

As for flaws....well yeah Crash 2 does have some it has to be said.

And for me one of the most annoying things was to do with some of the controls and certain sections of levels where I found myself dying too easily.  And this would come down to silly things such as sections where Crash has to jump over an platform that has water underneath it and if you mistime it, then Crash will fall into the water and drown.  And it is far too easy to keep losing lives doing these bits, which can leave you tearing your hair out!  In fact why didn't Crash just learn how to swim??!

Another issue is probably to do with the at times inconsistent levels of difficulty as some levels are really tough but others pretty straight forward and manageable.  The main difficulties with the game simply come with its series of tricky obstacles and/or Crash having to backtrack over dangerous areas, so he can collect the final boxes that he needs to gain all the boxes in that level.  And because of all this it makes building up lives difficult in the game whereas in Crash 3 you can easily build up extra lives given that, well, the game's difficulty level is a fair bit easier. 

And further to this point there are also some really frustrating levels also, particularly the ones that involve Crash being chased by the big bear as he races his way through the level and breaks the boxes along the way.  However, Crash in these levels has to overcome obstacles such as dodging explosives and other animals such as lizards (who you can all too easily be killed by if you mistime your attack on them!).  Also in these levels, Crash can also fall to his doom as he can fall down big chasms if he isn't careful or get himself electrocuted by electric fences unless he does a slide move to get underneath them.  So, yeah these are the worst levels for me.

Another problem I found with the game and indeed with Crash 3 (I haven't played the first one yet) is that you are subjected to fairly long loading times in between levels either when entering or exiting a level.  So, this was for me a bit of annoyance as it would have been great if they could have found a way to speed up the loading times as I don't recall them being that slow on the PS1 but then again the graphics and architecture of that console are a far less sophisticated.

You could also argue that while the game has been given a complete visual overhaul, you can't but help realise that you are also playing a 20 year old game, so in that respect the gameplay mechanics do feel pretty dated.  So, while Activision and Vicarious visions deserve kudos for bringing the game(s) back here, you are still essentially playing a game that lacks the innovations of what has come since then in terms of gameplay and controls.

Another problem was to do with the use of the Aku Aku masks as you tend to get one after you lose a few lives to help you out.  However there are times where the distribution of these masks is a bit inconsistent and there are times where you feel you could really do with getting one of these masks but you don't even after losing a few lives.  And this was also noticeable during one of the game boss battles where it would have come in handy to get an Aku Aku mask to help out.

And last of all one of the biggest problems with the game for me was just how ridiculously EASY the last game boss is!!  I mean Crash 2 is a pretty tough game overall and you have to navigate through some very tricky levels to get to the final boss, which is of course Dr Cortex but your fight with him is just pathetic.  I mean all Crash needs to do is chase after Cortex in space using a jetpack and launch a spin attack on him three times and that's him defeated yet some of the other bosses were much tougher than that!  So, you think they could at least save the toughest obstacle for Crash to get through till the last but nope, its a stupefyingly easy boss fight!  Ah-well, hey ho, perhaps they were trying to make up for any prior frustration the game levels caused but its still ridiculous all the same.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So in summing up, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back is great fun and is a big improvement over the deeply frustrating original, which I have to admit I haven't even bothered to play on the PS4 yet!  Here we get a great mix of platform action, traps and dangerous obstacles for Crash to overcome, not to mention a very impressive visual overhaul for the PS4 as well as a fun soundtrack.

And, yes, the game is not perfect in part due to its inconsistent difficulty levels and some issues with the controls and one or two other gameplay irks.  However if you can forget all that then, Crash 2 is definitely a game you can enjoy and return to and it still remains a pleasure to play after 20 years.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return soon with my review of Crash 3 Warped.

Till, then its bye for now.

Ooga-Booga!!