The Social Network (Revisited) "Welcome to Facebook!"

Right, its post revisitation time and the post in question will be my review of the 2010 biographical drama, The Social Network that is based on the true life events of Mark Zuckerberg and his creation of Facebook and how it grew to become a worldwide social media platform.

So, after 8 years, how does The Social Network fair???  Well, let's take another look...

And yes, the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the film starts back in 2003 with 19 year old Harvard student, Mark Zuckerbeg (Jesse Eisenberg) who is dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara).  Mark returns to his dorm where he blogs about Erica and insults her, and he then goes on to create an on campus website called Facemash.  Facemash allows students to rate the attractiveness of female students from other campuses, which Mark accessed by hacking into the servers of the other houses and selecting student photos.  As a result of this the Harvard network temporarily crashes and Mark is put on six months academic probation.

Afterwards Mark is approached by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence) and their business partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) who ask him to work on their project which is a dating site called the Harvard connection, which Mark agrees to work on with them.  Mark on the other hand has another idea for a website which he calls Thefacebook, which is an online social networking website for Harvard students, which he presents to his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who provides initial fudning for the project.  The site soon becomes popular on campus with other students, however the Winklevoss brothers and Narendra soon find out and believe Mark has stolen their idea, and they approach the Harvard president to complain, Larry Summers (Douglas Urbanski) who is not interested in their complaint.

As the Thefacebook gains popularity on campus, Mark expands to other universities including Yale, Columbia and Stanford, which attracts the attention of Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) the entrepeneur who formed Napster (who was sleeping with a Stanford student at the time!).  Eduardo's girlfriend, Christy Lee (Brenda Song) then sets up a meeting for Mark and Eduardo with Sean, who expresses his vision for their company, which Mark shares but Eduardo doesn't and disapproves of Sean's attitude.

Mark then moves out to Palo Alto in California at the behest of Sean, who soon moves in with him to help and expand the company as Sean promises to put Facebook on two continents, meanwhile Eduardo is in New York trying to secure advertisement support.  The Winklevoss brother however while they compete in rowing in London they find that Facebook has expanded out to London and Cambridge.  After this the Winklevoss's decide to sue Mark for intellectual property theft.

However things aren't going so well on Mark's front either as Eduardo continues to show his disapproval of Sean whom he doesn't want to make decisions for the company, so he freezes the company's bank account, which angers Mark.  Mark however says he is willing to forget that as he has secured a $500,000 investment from an investor and he wants Eduardo to come out to sign papers.

However as Eduardo travels to the new Facebook office in San Francisco, he discovers that his interest shares in the company have been reduced from 34% to 0.03% and he decides to sue Mark.  And throughout the film there are sequences intercut from different depositions from lawsuits against Mark from the Winklevoss brothers and Eduardo, which soon culminates into the film's conclusion...

THOUGHTS 

The Social Network as a dramatisation of the creation of Facebook works surprisingly well as on paper it would sound difficult to somehow bring such a theme to life in a way that would fascinate an audience.  But thanks to the excellent screenplay from Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher's sharp direction the film works very well although it has to be said there aren't that many in the way of sympathetic characters in the film with maybe the exception of Eduardo Saverin and Erica Albright, Mark's ex-girlfriend.

Aaron Sorkin himself said that he was attracted to the idea of doing the story not from Facebook itself but from a paper that was written by Ben Menzrich called the Accidental Billionaires and it was the themes of jealously, loyality, friendship and betrayal of the story that inspired him to get involved.  Mark Zuckerberg himself had criticised his potrayal in the film as a cynical and pedantic youth, who created Facebook as a means for people to try and get girls, whereas he said he created Facebook as he enjoyed building things and it was a means to get his creative output across.  And when you look at Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal, you can see why Zuckerberg would have been upset!

PERFORMANCES AND NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section will contain spoilers!)
  
As for the performances they are excellent as the cast are all on solid form.

Starting with Jesse Eisenberg who while his rapid fire delivery has a tendancy to grate, he potrays the character if not accurately then he certainly shows Zuckerberg's ambition and desire to succeed in establishing his creation of Facebook, which would become a worldwide phenomenom.

Jesse also has plenty of good scenes to deliver from Aaron Sorkin's wonderfully rich screenplay such as in the scene during one of the depositions, a lawyer asks Mark if he has his attention.  And Mark turns to him saying "You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount.  The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing!  Does that adquately answer your condescending question?".

Then there is another scene Mark also expresses his arrogance and frustration to another lawyer and says "Ma'am I know you've done your homework and you know that money isn't a big part of my life, but at the moment I could buy Mt. Auburn Street, take the Phoenix club and turn it into my ping pong room!".

Eisenberg also shows Zuckerbeg in the film to have less than graceful social skills, even when he is talking to Eduardo, who in the scene where Eduardo tells him he got punched by the Phoenix, Eduardo says "But it was probably just a diversity thing" and Mark says "It probably was a diversity thing, but so what?".  And later Eduardo tells him he got to the second stage of the initiation process into the Phoenix house and Mark says "That's great.  You should be proud of that right there.  Don't worry if you don't make it any further."

Another good scene from Jesse is during a legal meeting with Mark and the Winklevoss brothers and their business partner, Divya Narendra and they become angry at Mark for how they percieve that he stole their idea. So, Mark angrily asks them "Do you see any of your code on Facebook?! Did I use ANY of your code?!" and he continues "You know, you really don't need a forensics team to get to the bottom of this. If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook!".  And Divya looks at Mark with contempt and says "I can't wait to stand over you and see you write us a cheque" and Mark while doodling on some paper says "No shit!".   

Then there is the scene where Mark is interviewing candidates to become coders for Facebook but they have drink a series of shots while they do it.

So, in the scene, Eduardo arrives and Mark explains to him what is going on "Every 10th line of code written, they have to drink a shot. And hacking’s supposed to be stealth, so anytime the server detects an intrusion, the candidate responsible has to drink a shot. I also have a program running that has a pop-up window appear simultaneously on all five computers--the last candidate to hit the window has to drink a shot. Plus every three minutes they all have to drink a shot!". So, Eduardo asks a very good question "Can I just ask, what part of intern's job do they need to do drunk?" and Mark sarcastically says to him "You're right. A more relevant test would be to see if they can keep a chicken alive for a week!" and Mark realising he has overstepped his bounds says "That was mean".  But then two of the candidates finish their hacking and put their hands and Mark goes over and checks their terminals and then says "Welcome to Facebook" to them both and shakes their hands.

Another good scene is when Mark calls Eduardo and is furious at him for freezing their bank account for the company. So, as Mark asks Eduardo "Did you freeze the account?!" Eduardo tells him "I had to get your attention, Mark!". Mark then frantically tells Eduardo "Do you realize that you jeopardized the entire company?! Do you realize that your actions could have permanently destroyed everything I've been working on?!". Mark then angrily continues "Without money the site can't function. Okay, let me tell you the difference between Facebook and everyone else, we don't crash EVER! If those servers are down for even a day, our entire reputation is irreversibly destroyed!"
    
However, Mark calms down and tells Eduardo "Wardo, we've got some good news. Peter Thiel has just made an angel investment of $500,000". Eduardo, surprised asks "What?!" and Mark continues "A half a million dollars and he’s setting us up in an office. They want to re-incorporate the company, they want to meet you they need your signature on some documents so get your ass on the next flight back to San Francisco! I need my CFO!". Eduardo, takes a moment and smiles and says "I'm on my way" and Mark proudly says "Wardo! We did it!".   

Andrew Garfield is also very good as Mark Zuckerberg's good friend and co-founder of Facebook, Eduardo Saverin, who is potrayed as a more sympathetic character than anyone else in the film, especially as he is potrayed as being screwed over by Zuckerberg.

Garfield has several highlights in the film, particularly his scenes with Mark and the depositions where he at time painfully recounts how he was betrayed by Mark and Parker. 

Then there is the scene where during Eduardo's deposition, he recalls his and Mark's first meeting with Sean Parker.  And in the flashback of the meeting, Eduardo, Mark and Christy wait patiently for Sean, who is running late, making Eduardo nervous and when Sean finally shows up, Eduardo looks at him and says "So, he DOES have a watch!".  Edurardo during his deposition then tells them "When he finally arrived it was a Sean-a-thon after that and he owned Mark from that point on".  And at the end of their meeting with Sean, Eduardo recalls "He picked up the check, he told Mark they’d talk again soon and he was gone. But not before he made his biggest contribution to the company" and it flashes back to the end of the meeting with Sean telling them to change the name to just "Facebook". 

Another good scene is when Eduardo arrives at Mark's new apartment in LA where he has already set up his base of operations for Facebook and Sean is onboard aswell. So, as Eduardo shows his disapproval of Sean, he has a private discussion with Mark.

So, Eduardo tells Mark of Sean "I do not want that guy representing our company!" but Mark is not listening and tells him "You gotta move out here, Wardo, this is where its all happening and I'm afraid you don't come out here, you'll get left behind". Mark goes on to excitedly tells Eduardo "Its moving fast than any of us would have imagined and Sean thinks..." and Eduardo interrupts "...Sean is not a part of this company!". Mark then tells Eduardo how they so many members in so many schools throughout the US and even in Europe" and Eduardo angrily shouts "I'm aware of that, Mark! I'm CFO!".

Mark then goes on to tell Eduardo that Sean has been setting up meetings all over town, which angers Eduardo, who asks "He's been setting up other meetings? Without me knowing anything about it???". Mark then says to Eduardo "You're in New York"  Eduardo then shouts at him "I'm in New York riding subways 14 hours a day, trying to find advertisers!" and Mark angrily shouts back "How's it going so far??!!" which silences Eduardo and he then says after a moment "What did you mean, "get left behind"?". 

Also during the scene where his jealous girlfriend Christy Lee rows with him and he gives her a scarf as a present she says "Since when have you ever seen me wear a scarf?!" and he replies "This will be your first!" after which she sets fires to the scarf puts it into a bin and tips it onto his hotel bed.  Then as Mark angrily calls Eduardo as he learned that Eduardo had frozen their account, Ed tells Mark "I had to get your attention, Mark!" and Mark continues to ramble angrily at him.  However, Mark then tells Ed the good news about their new investment. So, after Eduardo hangs up, Christy comes back into the room and asks if he is going to California and he says "Yes!  And I'm breaking up with you!".

Another good scene is when Eduardo during his deposition recalls the fateful business meeting at the Facebook 1,000,000 members party, where his business shares were diluted down to virtually nothing.  So, Eduardo in his deposition recalls "I didn’t know whether to dress for the party or for the business meeting so I kind of dressed for both" but he continues "But it didn't matter because I wasn't called out there for either one". So, the lawyer, Gretchen asks him "What were you called out there for?" and Eduardo says "An ambush!".

So, in the next scene, Eduardo reads the papers that he is to sign and looks shocked at what he sees, so he storms out of the office toward Mark, who is "wired in" doing some intensive software coding. Sean then tells Eduardo "Mark's wired in" and Sean angirly grabs Mark's laptop and smashes it onto desk and he shouts "How about now?! You still wired in???!!".  And going back to Eduardo's deposition he tells the lawyers how his shares in Facebook were diluted down to "0.03%".  

Eduardo then angrily confronts Mark over the shares and Sean, who berates Eduardo for thinking he was going to parade around in "ridiculous suits" and run the company. So, Eduardo yells at him "SORRY!!! My Prada's at the cleaners! Along with my hoodie and my "Fuck-You" flip-flops!  You pretentious douchebag!!".  And Eduardo finishes by warning Mark "You better lawyer up, asshole, because I'm not coming back for 30%, I'm coming back for EVERYTHING!". And as the security are about to escort Eduardo out, Sean gives Eduardo back his cheque for $19,000 which he invested into the company.  Sean however teasingly says "I won't it cash it in if I were you. I drew it on the bank account you froze" and Eduardo suddenly lunges at Sean as if to hit him, which sends Sean reeling back.  This draws a smile from Eduardo, who says "I like standing next to you, Sean. It makes me look so tough!".  

Justin Timberlake also puts in a good performance as the charismatic and cocky Sean Parker, who seizes his chance to get involve in Facebook and guide it to its success, although his partying and womanising eventually get's him into trouble. 

And Timberlake has his share of good scenes such as the one  where he first meets Mark and Eduardo is good where he woos Mark with his entrepenaurial prowess but Eduardo is less impressed and wary of him. 

So, in the scene, Eduardo says to Sean "Settle an argument for us, would you? I say it’s time to start making money from theFacebook but Mark doesn’t want advertising. Who’s right?". And Sean says "Neither of you, yet. The Facebook is cool, that's what its got going for it. You don't want to ruin it with ads because they aren't cool. It’s like you’re throwing the greatest party on campus and someone’s telling you it’s gotta be over at 11:00" which has Mark in total agreement with him.  So, Sean continues "How big it can get and how far it can go. This is no time to take your chips down. A million dollars isn’t cool. You know what’s cool?". And it cuts back to Eduardo at the deposition, who says "A billion dollars. And that shut everybody up!". Then at the end of the business meeting, Sean finishes by saying "Drop the "the". Just "Facebook". Its cleaner" and he walks out, leaving Mark gobsmacked. 

Another good scene from Timberlake is when Sean and Mark are at a nightclub in LA and they discuss the company.  So, Sean tells Mark about Napster and how he sees Facebook going "Napster wasn't a failure. I changed the music industry for better and for always. It may not have been good business but it pissed a lot of people off. And wasn't that what Facemash was about? They're scare of me, pal, and they're gonna be scared of you. What the VC's want is to say, 'Good idea, kid. The grown-ups will take it from here.' But not this time. This is OUR time. This time you're gonna hand 'em a business card that says 'I'm CEO... bitch.' That's what I want for you". 


Then there is the scene where Sean and Mark drive out to a business meeting in San Francisco, where Sean has Mark dressed in a robe and his PJ's. So, Mark excitedly asks "You sure about this?" and Sean tells him "You're twenty minutes late. You're gonna walk in there and say you overslept and didn't have time to get dressed. They're gonna pitch you. Case Equity is gonna pitch you. They're gonna beg you to take their money. You're gonna nod, you're gonna nod, you're gonna nod, and then you're gonna say, "Which one of you is Roth?" No, not Roth. Manningham. "Which one of you is Mitchell Manningham?" And he'll say, "I am." And then you say, "Sean Parker says, 'Fuck you,'" Walk out!".  So, Mark grins and walks up toward the building for the meeting. 

And last of all is the scene where Eduardo turns up at the million members Facebook party only to find out that he has been squeezed out of the company and Sean remorselessly ejected from the building after Eduardo has it out with them both.

So, Eduardo angrily says to Mark "Its like I'm not gonna a part of Facebook!" and Sean tells him "It won't be like you're not a part of Facebook. You're not a part of Facebook". So, as the security show up to escort Eduardo out, Sean goes up to Eduardo with his cheque and says "Here's your $19,000. I wouldn't cash it, though. I drew it on the account you froze". So, Eduardo makes as if to punch Sean but he pulls back at the last moment and Sean jumps back and after Eduardo leaves, he tells the onlooking staff "That’s it, that’s our show for tonight, people!". 



Sean then goes up to Mark, who is looking somewhat guilty over the whole situation and he tells Sean "You were kind of rough on him" and Sean says "Well, that's life in the NFL".  But Mark insists "Sean, you didn't have to be that rough on him!" but Sean tells him "He almost killed it!" and after a pause, Sean says to Mark "I'll send some flowers".  

Armie Hammer also provides an excellent performance as the two Winklevoss brothers, one of whom was acted by Josh Spence, who was a double for Tyler Winklevoss, and Armie's face was superimposed using CGI over Spence's to show they are twins. 

In their first scene Hammer get's a funny moment where the Winklevoss's outrow their competitors in a practice race and Cameron says "Is there anyway we can make this a fair fight?" and Tyler says "We could jump out and swim". Tyler also suggests "Well you could row forward and I could row backward" and Cameron tells him "We're genetically identical. Science says we'd stay in one place" and Tyler says wearily "Just row the damn boat!".

Another good scene is when Tyler and Cameron discuss with their business partner Divya, how Mark has shafted them and stolen their idea, once theFacebook is up and running.  So, in the scene, they remember that in the Harvard student handbook, it states that it is forbidden for students to steal from one another, so Cameron is determined to set up a meeting with the president to sort the situation out.

So, in the scene Cameron tells Tyler and Divya "My brother and I pay tuition at this school, we carry a 3.9 GPA at this school, we’ve won trophies for this school and we’ll be rowing in the Olympics for this school. I want a meeting with the goddam president of this school!". 

And then there is of course the scene where Tyler and Cameron meet with the Harvard president, Larry Summers and Cameron takes forever to make his point and Larry calls out to his secretary and says "Punch me in the face!".  And at the end of the scene as they leave Tyler angrily pulls the door knob off with his hand and says to the secretary "Whoops, I seem to have broken his 335 year old door knob!" and drops it on her desk. 
 And lastly there is the scene where the Winklevoss's discover that Facebook has expanded to UK universities after they lost their rowing race in Helney-on-Thames.  So, Tyler says to Cameron "I don’t mind that we lost to the Dutch today by less than a second. That was a good race, that was a fair race and they’ll see us again. What I mind-- and what you should mind --is showing up on Monday for a race that was run on Sunday. We tried talking to him ourselves, we tried writing a letter, we tried the Ad Board, and we tried the president of the University. Now I’m asking you. For the last time! Let’s take the considerable resources at our disposal and sue him in federal court!". So, Cameron finally turns around to his brother and Divya and says "Screw it!  Let's gut the friggin nerd!" and Divya, stunned, hugs Cameron and Tyler exclaims in delight "That's what I'm talking about!!". 

Rooney Mara also provides a good performance in her role as Erica Albright, and in the first scene of the film she argues with Mark when they are dating and she soon grows fed up and breaks up with him.  And she says "Its exhausting, dating you is a like going out with a stairmaster!".  And before she leaves him she says "You are going go on and probably become a very successful computer person, and you might think that you might go through life thinking girls won't like because you are a nerd.  But I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart that won't be true, it will be because you are an asshole!". 

And lastly Max Minghella is excellent as Divya Narendra, the Winklevoss brother's business partner, who rushes in on them while they practice rowing and tells them "I just thought I'd let you know that Zuckerberg stole our website!  He stole our website.  Its been live for more than 36 hours!". 

And during the deposition he talks about how "And Mark was the biggest thing on campus, that included 19 Nobel laureates, 15 Pulitzer prize winnners, two future Olympians and a movie star" and a lawyer asks who the movie star was and Divya replies "Does it matter?". 

And last of all there is the scene where are they have just learned that Mark "stole" their website and idea for Facebook, they sit around at discuss what to do.  So, Cameron asks "What, do you want to hire an IP lawyer and sue him?" and Divya angrily tells him "No, I want to hire the Sopranos to beat the shit out of him with a hammer!".  Tyler then tells Divya "We don't have to do that. We can do that ourselves! I'm 6'5", 220 and there's two of me!".   

And when Divya compels Cameron to tell him why he refuses to sue Mark, Cameron says "Tyler might say it sounds stupid.  Because we are gentlemen of Harvard!  This is Harvard where you don't plant stories and sue people!".  So, Divya snaps back "You thought he was the only one who thought was going to sound stupid?!".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Direction wise David Fincher does a terrific job here as he gives the film a dramatic edge and has a great understanding of the story material and in doing so creates a film with vividly drawn characters.  The Social Network isn't one of Fincher's more visually flashy films but it still maintains the kind of greenish tint that some of his other films has, especially in the deposition scenes, which gives the film the distinctive style that separates Fincher from other filmmakers from a visual aspect. 

As for the music score for the film, it was composed by Trent Reznor (the man behind industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross and it is excellent overall and has some great tracks in it and given that it is all electronic, it suits the tone of the film perfectly. The score also went on to win an Academy Award the following at the Oscars and even though it is an unusual choice by the industry's standards, its certainly a fine choice and something different than the usual orchestral scores we are used to in most Hollywood films.  

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

Flaw wise how does it The Social Network fair up?  Well it does have one or two.

To start with, perhaps one of the main one's is the potrayal of Mark Zuckerberg himself, as he is potrayed as a pedantic, arrogant little dick, and as such it is hard to empathise with him, especially as he ends up screwing Eduardo out of the company.  Although Zuckerberg is seen to show some remorse toward shutting Eduardo out of the company in the scene where Eduardo finds out and he says to Sean that he didn't have to be so rough with him.  Almost in a typical dramatic storytelling fashion it also sets up Sean Parker as a bit of a villain and Eduardo as the good guy and with Mark stuck somewhere in between the two, who's real loyalty is to the company he has created. 

And by doing that is seems to make a bit of a mockery of the real life facts of the story of Facebook and in a way you can understand why Zuckerberg himself was not happy with the arrogant potrayal of himself on screen.  And perhaps Sorkin tries to show Zuckerberg to be a bit of a nerd who has very little social skills and it appears to be a departure from the real life Zuckerberg who give seminars and goes on chat shows to talk about his invention, something which you can't see the jumped cinema version of himself doing.

Another issue to do with Aaron Sorkin's screenplay and even though it is wonderfully written, it is however also guilty of being excessively verbose and you feel that the characters, especially the Winklevoss's could arrive at their point long before they even make it!  This is well highlighted in the scene where they talk to the Harvard president whom even says "Please, arrive at the point!" as he's even thinking the same thing as the audience i.e. GET ON WITH IT!!! 

Another problem is also Jesse Eisenberg's rapid machine gun fire delivery as there are one or two scenes where you actually struggle to make what he says, such as the one where he is testing for new programmers and he all has them drink shots intermittently during their test.  And in the scene where he parrots on about how he hacks into the other house servers to take the photos of every students to create Facemash its very hard for the non-programmers (i.e. the rest of us!) to follow as he quickly yaps on about Pearl, Metatags, etc etc. 

Another issue I have is how can Mark be so stupid as to blog about his hackings while he does them!  As the Harvard server network crashes, he has even left a trail of breadcrumbs for the Harvard staff to find out who was behind it all!!  So he hasn't gone out of his way to cover his tracks very well has he???!  But then again he was only 19 and a bit drunk so hey-ho.

It also has to be said that the film certainly does lean heavy on the party cliches seen in the college/uni movies with scantily clad girls, lots of booze and rowdy behaviour although in reality, Zuckerberg claimed none of that really happened, and he and his team more just worked really hard. So, obviously in that respect, Fincher had to take a certain cinematic licence with this, otherwise had it been as Zuckerberg described, it would have been a very boring film!   

And last of all is the scene where Sean gives Eduardo a $19,000 cheque for the amount that he put into the company but of course Eduardo, in retaliation for Sean's interference with the company, freezes their account.  Now, I'm fine with Sean giving Eduardo the money back to an extent, but it does make you wonder if Mark had even spent that money at all?! It would suggest that the $19,000 had just been sitting idly in that account all this time given that Sean had been setting business meetings "all over town" as Mark at one point puts it. Also would the 19,000 bucks last them that long over the summer given the costs for hiring out a place in LA, the cost to run it, not to mention costs to run their computers, servers???  It would certainly run out pretty quickly I'd say! 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So to sum up, The Social Network is an excellent dramatisation of the events behind the creation of Facebook and it is very well written, directed and has some really good performances, particularly by three leads of Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. 

And yes it is supposed to be largely fictitious in its depiction of what actually happened according to the real life people involved and there are also times where Aaron Sorkin's screenplay get's a bit too excessively verbose.  However if you can forgive all this, then The Social Network is still definitely an excellent film well worth a look, which remains a compelling watch as it was on its first release.

OK, so that's it for now and I will see you soon with another post.

Till then, one agan, its bye fer now!  

Doctor Who - Frontios "Tractators!! I've seen them!"

OK, time for a new review on this blog and I have chosen to do a Doctor Who story, which I have recently watched for the first time, which is Frontios from the Peter Davison era of the show. 

So, after nearly 35 years how does Frontios hold up???  Well, let's take a look.

And yep the usual warning is coming...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So it begins on the planet of Frontios, where some of the last remnants of humanity are struggling for survival. Frontios is also often ravaged by meteor showers that are orchestrated by an unseen enemy, which is also responsible for the disappearance of some prominent colonists.  And the colony leader, Captain Revere, during an investigation, is eaten up by the ground and his body disappears.  This is witnessed by Security Chief Brazen (Peter Gilmore) who decides to cover up the captain's disappearance as dying of natural causes.  As a result of this, Brazen informs Revere's son, Plantagenet (Jeff Rawle) that he will be the new colony leader. 

Meanwhile, the TARDIS is forced to land on the planet of Frontios as it is dragged down by gravity and the Doctor and his two companions, Tegan (Janet Fielding) and Turlough (Mark Strickson) on exiting the TARDIS are caught in the bombardment of meteors. The Doctor, who was at first insistent that he wouldn't get involved with helping the colonists (as it is deemed to violate a cardinal rule of the Time Lords) then decides to go ahead and help as he gives medical assistance to some colonists members.

The Doctor, however insists that he need better light to operate in, so he get's Tegan and Turlough to go and get better lighting from the TARDIS but the two of them discover that the TARDIS's inner door is stuck, so they can't access the lighting equipment they need.  Tegan and Turlough instead with the help of one of the colonists, Norna (Lesley Dunlop) obtain an acid battery from the research room to power the lights.  On the way back however, another meteor bombardment occurs, which seemingly destroys the TARDIS with only the Doctor's hatstand remaining.

Plantagenet then orders the Doctor's execution but Turlough manages to save his life by brandishing the hatstand like a weapon (as the colonists clearly don't know what it is!). Plantagenet later tries to attack the Doctor with a crowbar but he suffers a heart attack before he can and the Doctor then manages to save his life by using the battery.  However, Plantagenet himself is soon dragged under the ground by an unknown force.

The Doctor, Tegan and Turlough soon go underground to find out what is behind all this and discover an alien race, the Tractators are responsible, who insectoid creatures, who have incredible powers over gravity.  Turlough also had previously encountered the Tractators on his own home planet and as such has a nervous breakdown when he re-encounters them, as he shared a horrible "race memory" of an attack by the Tractators.

And so from here, the Doctor must find a way to stop the Tractators from causing more damage and havoc and if possible, a way to restore the seemingly destroyed TARDIS....

THOUGHTS

Frontios is something of a hidden gem in the Peter Davison era (well for me anyway) as it is easily one of his most enjoyable and solid stories. It also helps of course that it has a very well written script by Christopher H. Bidmead, who had previously written another two fine stories, Logopolis (Tom Baker's finale) and Castrovalva (Peter Davison's debut).  Bidmead himself however initially refused to write in a monster for script as he felt they always looked cheap on the show but he came up with the idea of the Tractators from the fact that his apartment was infested with woodlice and dancers were hired to actually wear the Tractator outfits.

PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes as such this time round!)

As for the performances, they are all very good here as the cast are in fine form.

Starting with Peter Davison, who is excellent once again here as the Doctor and he has a good command over the role by this time and plays him with a sense of boyishness yet also real authority when it matters. 

Peter also get's some good lines in the story but for the sake of typing and time, I will only mention one scene (shocker I know!) where the Doctor decides to help out the colonists. So, one of the colonists, Range is grateful to the Doctor for his help but the Doctor warns him "I'm not helping, officially. And if anyone happens to ask whether I made any material difference to the welfare of this planet, you can tell them I came and went like a summer cloud!". 

Janet Fielding is also very good here again in her role as Tegan, the Doctor's feisty companion, who at this point was nearing the end of her run on the show and her following story, Ressurection of the Daleks, would be her last.  Still, Janet does as well as she usually does in her role here even if she isn't given quite as much to do here as she has in the past.

Mark Strickson is excellent here also, as the Doctor's other companion, Turlough and he delivers his best performance here and his character is given the most he has ever had to do in this story as Turlough relives the trauma he lived at the hands of the Tractators, who invaded his home planet years ago. 

And I will mention one of Mark's scenes where Turlough encounters the Tractators again and he is heard screaming in terror and soon runs out toward Range and Norna and shouts "Tractors!! I've seen them!!". And he then later tell Range and Norna "My home. Tractators. I've seen all this before. They were there, waiting. Destroying us from inside. Once, long ago, on my home. We remember them! The people of my planet will never forget!  Tractators! Once, long ago, my home was. An infection!".


As for the guest cast of the story they also provide very solid performances.

Starting with Jeff Rawle as Plantagenet, the new leader of the colony, who takes over after his father, Captain Revere mysteriously disppears underground, is very good in the role and plays him at first like a spoilt brat, who takes a disliking to the Doctor but soon comes around after the Doctor saves his life. 

Peter Gilmore is also pretty good in his role as the officious security chief Brazen, who tries to cover up the disappearance of Captain Revere as death by natural causes and he tries to mantain control over the situation throughout the story.  Lesley Dunlop is also good in her role as Norna, who is the daughter of the scientist, Range and she helps out Turlough and Tegan throughout the story aswell.   

William Lucas also provides a fine performance as the scientist, Range, who helps out the Doctor throughout the story. In fact Lucas's casting had a tragic reason behind it as Lucas replaced an actor, who was previously cast in the role of Range, Peter Arne, who was murdered. 

WARNING: THIS NEXT PARAGRAPH REFERS TO A BIG SPOILER!!

And last of all is John Gillett as the Gravis, the villainous Tractator, who leads the other Tractators and is responsible for the disappearance of the colonists and is essentially the only real villain in the story, who controls the other Tractators but without him they are harmless. So, it is actually the Gravis's hunger for knowledge and also to dominate the galaxy by turning Frontios into a large spaceship in order to spread the Tractators terror.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Ron Jones, does an excellent job here with the story as he paces it out very well and given it is a four part story, it is the perfect length for any Doctor Who adventure, so it never outstays its welcome here.  Jones himself had already directed three stories from the Davison era, which were Black Orchid, Time-Flight and Arc of Infinity and would later go on to direct two from the Colin Baker era, which were Vengeance on Varos and Mindwarp.

And lastly moving onto the music score, Paddy Kingsland provides a rather leisurely sounding one for the story, which isn't entirely inappropriate to the tone of the serial but at the same time is perhaps a bit too fluffy and light aswell. However, there is something reassuringly pleasant about Kingsland's scores and they are rarely bad or offensive, so this is certainly one of his better ones.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws...well yeah OK, Frontios isn't quite perfect.

For starters, I had an issue with Plantagenet as a character, as he is pretty pig-headed when it comes to realising that the Doctor is in fact trying to help him and the colonists.  Yet, despite the Doctor giving medical aid to the colonists, Plantagenet at one point, gives an order to have the Doctor killed!  But of course its only when Plantagenet suffers a heart attack (after attempting to attack the Doctor no less!) and the Doctor saves his life that he finally comes round to realising the Doc is no menace and is here to help.

Another daft thing is the scene where Turlough uses the hat stand from the TARDIS to save the Doctor from being killed, as he brandishes it like a weapon and the colonists have no idea what it is and just assume it is a weapon!  I mean they are obviously not very bright when it comes to realising what hat stands are in the first place!  It also made of wood and surely they should realise that it is just a tall object carved out of wood and as such not a proper weapon!

I also felt that when the Doctor discovers that the TARDIS has apparently been destroyed during a meteor bombardment, he didn't look that phased or worried about it, especially given that it is his permanent home!  So, rather than a more alarmed reaction such as "Oh, no! The TARDIS has been destroyed!" its more a "Oh, the TARDIS has been destroyed. Ah well, never mind!".  And for me that remains one of the lazy moments in Peter Davison's performance here, which is certainly worth of being mentioned as a flaw.

And last of all is of course the Tractators themselves, as they are pretty ridiculous looking and not too convincing as menacing aliens given of course that is another case of men (or women) in rubber suits!  The movement of the Tractators however isn't too bad at times but there are still some laughable moments with them, particularly when (SPOILER!!) the Gravis is subdued near the end in the TARDIS and it simply conks its head on the console when it is! Its pretty silly to say the least!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, in summing up, Frontios is a very enjoyable story from the Peter Davison era and it certainly is one of the strongest of that time. The story is well written by Christopher H. Bidmead and it features some interesting supporting characters and as well as solid performances by the regulars, particularly Mark Strickson, who is given alot to do here as Turlough and the supporting are all very good also.

And yeah OK it does have some plot niggles here and there and yes, the Tractators are also pretty silly looking alien creatures that are basically dancers in rubber suits.  However, if you can forgive all that, then Frontios is still a very solid Doctor Who story that is well worth checking out.

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

Till the next one, its bye for now! 

Batman Arkham City Review (Revisited)

OK, so this post will be a re-write of a re-write, as I had already reviewed the post on my tennis blog before I transferred it over to this blog where I reviewed it again. So, now its getting its 3rd lick of paint this time round!

So, the post in question is of course the critically acclaimed video game, Batman Arkham City, which I am currently playing on the PS4 just now, so I figured I would update my review on it.  And after 7 years, just how does Arkham City stack up??? Well, let's take another look and find out...

And the usual warning applies....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the story begins with Bruce Wayne (voiced by Kevin Conroy, who previously did Arkham Asylum) being captured by the villanous Hugo Strange (Corey Burton), and left at the mercy of the prison population of Arkham City.  Arkham City itself is a section of Gotham City that has been closed off and populated by the low life, criminals and other villains that inhabit or inhabited Gotham.  Wayne is left to the limited mercy of the Penguin (Nolan North), but he manages to escape and climbs to the rooftops where he contacts his butler Alfred, who sends him a package with his batman suit.  Wayne puts on his Batman outfit and then scouts Arkham City to try and locate Catwoman (Grey DeLisle) who has been captured by Harvey "Two-Face" Dent (Troy Baker). 

Batman soon finds Catwoman and rescues her from Two Face who he ties up over a pit of acid and leaves him there, but at this point a bullet is fired at Catwoman, which misses.  Batman then scans and analyses the trajectory of the bullet to where it came from, and soon finds out that the Joker was behind the assassination.  Batman on tracking down the Joker finds out that his arch-villain has been infected with a compound known as Titan that is slowly killing him, and Joker captures Batman and straps him to a chair, wired up to a drip which Joker has injected his blood into Batman.  Joker then kicks Batman through a window, who now has to try and find a cure, as he too will die if he doesn't. 

Batman then tries to locate Freeze, who he believes may have the cure for the Titan virus, but after a battle between the two, Freeze tells him there is no known cure, but there is one hope that if he can mix a compound which he created with an old foe of Batman's, Ra's Al Ghul, then he might have a chance to survive.  In the meantime Hugo Strange is planning on using his Titan compound to wipe out the population of Arkham City, which he calls Protocol 10. 

So Batman has to both try and find the cure for the Titan formulae and stop Protocol 10 from happening...

THOUGHTS

Batman Arkham City is an excellent follow up to the acclaimed Batman Arkham Asylum, and it features a great cast of villains and colourful characters. It also expands on its predecessor in many ways with the player now getting to play not just as Batman but also Catwoman too. Batman also get's to take on a variety of enemies such as the Penguin, Hugo Strange, Mr Freeze, Harvey "Two-Face" Dent and the Mad Hatter.  Batman also has access to bunch of new gadgets as well as the ability to carry out a number of different melee attacks on his enemies, which I will elaborate on in the gameplay section.     

GAMEPLAY 

Gameplay wise, Arkham City is great, as the controls are very easy to use and the combat system is great as the Batman's combos in hand to hand combat have been enhanced and like in Asylm he gains experience points which allows him to upgrade his attacks, stealth skills as well as upgrade other things like his armour and equipment. 

Batman also faces some stern tests combat wise in the game as well as there are several game bosses and the enemies also get tougher as you go on as some of them heavily are armoured, some also have knives, stun batons and even shields.  And in these instances Batman has to either deploy a powerful series of combo attacks to take them down or attack them from behind in order to disarm the foes. 

Batman also can make good use of his stealth skills throughout the game as he can sneak up on baddies and incapacitate them by employing a chokehold or simply knocking them out from behind, or even diving on them from above or in some instance Batman can pull them through wooden walls to perform a takedown.

The game also features some new gadgets as well for Batman such as smoke pellets which allow Batman to take cover when he is under fire from enemies, a remote electric charge (REC) gun which Batman uses to charge up motors temporarily as well as stun enemies.  Gadgets from the previous game are also enhanced with more upgrades such as the cryptographic sequencer which is used to unlock security coded doors can now be used montior shortwave radio channels.  The line launcher can now also be used as as a tightrope to allow Batman to move to other areas e.g. rooftops and Batman can even use it to change direction during flight. 

Batman can also movement wise also use his cape to glide around the city and the game features a new move, the dive bomb where Batman can use his body and his cape to dive down to gather more speed to move faster around the city.  Batman also as usual can utilise his detective vision mode in which he can see through walls and look for clues to crimes as well as monitor the reaction status of his enemies. 

And as I mentioned, you also get to play as Catwoman, which is no bad thing in itself as she is a rather sexily rendered character(!) and she too also has her own combos for hand to hand combat as well as gadgets for self defence and her whip.  Catwoman's playable campaign is somewhat smaller though than Batman's is but it still presents enough interest to give it a go. 

GRAPHICS 

Graphics wise the game also looks stunning and the environments are vast and quite varied as well as you can literally spend hours and hours running and moving around the city from the rooftops inside buildings as well going underground into the sewers. The game also blends in Batman's detective mode vision quite nicely aswell as the change between his normal vision and detective ones are pretty quick.  

The characters models by today's standards are a bit dated and cartoon looking but they are still quite impressive with Batman cutting a muscly and imposing figure and in a similar vein to Arkham Asylym, Batman's suit sustains more wear and tear as well as a few scars for the dark knight as the game progresses due to his many fights with the thugs of in Arkham.  The other character models are also pretty good and the game's cutscenes are also very impressive and again the game makes use of the bullet time effect when Batman finishes off his last opponent when he takes on multiple enemies at once.

VOICE ACTING 
 
The voice acting here is top notch, with Kevin Conroy giving a fine performance as Batman, and he always voices the dark knight with such great confidence, although at times he does make Batman sounds quite arrogant.  Mark Hamill also makes a great return as the demented and villainous Joker, and plays the character with usual amount of insane glee and viciousness.  It also highlights what a good actor Mark Hamill really is, and how underrated he is as a performer, whether he is on screen or behind it. 

The other voice actors are also very good, such as Nolan North as The Penguin, David Kaye as James Gordon and Corey Burton as Hugo Strange.  The plot throughout is also really compelling and it keeps you interested in what is going on, and it helps with the voice acting being of such a high calibre. 

MUSIC 

And another one of the game's strengths is its music score which is superb and was composed by Ron Fish and Nick Arundel and it features many dramatic passages which perfectly suit the tone of the game and it also has a terrific main theme for the game as well.  The score does closely mirror Hans Zimmer's scores for the Christopher Nolan Batman films in places but it also provides its own style as well and it ranks easily as one of the best video game music scores out there. 
  
FLAWS 

As for the game's flaws.... well as good as Arkham city is, there are still one or two frustrations here and there. 

For starters is the dive bomb move is a pain in the ass to get right and you have to try and get it right as you will really need it for the fantasy sequence where Batman enters the dreamworld created by Ra's Al Ghul, in which Batman has to dive bomb following the visual outline of a path and if you do it wrong you will die over and over and will have to start it again.  So it remains one of the biggest annoyances of the game in trying to get that move right although once you do its not too bad but for me personally it took ages to get right! 

Another thing is whilst the game's environments are huge and very impressive they are almost too big and you can literally spend about half an hour after Batman has finished a mission or fighting a game boss that you need to spend forever getting to your next location.  As an example one mission has Batman do some fighting underground in the subways of Arkham and afterwards he has to spend forever running to reach ground level again and then to find his next destination!  Arkham origins actually went by some way to fix this issue by allowing Batman to perform certain drop offs using his Bat plane (or is it the Bat as it was called in The Dark Knight Rises??) on auto pilot but this only for specific drop off points however.

The game also feels pretty padded out and flabby in comparison to the tauter pace of Arkham Asylum
and there are always a number of obstacles in Batman's way before he can get to one of his main objectives. Such an example is when you try to access the museum where the Penguin is but he has it locked down, so Batman has to locate three jamming devices that prevent Batman from using his cryptographic sequencer to hack the electric security locks. And this is alll becomes pretty tiresome and time consuming very quickly!

I also think its safe to say that Arkham City is a game that takes its time to shift into gear, as it does feel a bit sluggish to begin with but it does very well once it get's itself into shape.  However, it has to be said that the game could have been a bit tauter in terms of its pacing and the single player campaign is just a bit too long.   

And lastly there is the issue similar to the previous game, is to do with the repetitive moments where Batman has to stealthily take down armed enemies by hiding overhead on gargoyles or inside vents or underneath the floors. And these sections are also a bit tedious as they are often repeated throughout the game with the Joker and Penguin having their men monitored, so when one of them is knocked out by Batman, the bosses alert their men and also threaten them at the same time!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So, to sum up, Arkham City is an excellent follow up to an already excellent game in Arkham Asylum and overall it does a great job at expanding on the previous game by adding a lot more gadgets, combat moves and upgrades for Batman.  It also has a big array of enemies for Batman (and Catwoman even) to fight throughout and the gameplay overall is very solid. The game's graphics are a little dated looking by today's standards but they are still great for their time and the music score is easily one of the best I've heard for some time and the cast are also all on top form.

And yes, the singler player campaign is a bit too long and padded out but if you can forgive that and one or two other niggles then there is still much to enjoy here with Arkham City and it remains a very enjoyable and gripping follow-up to Arkham Asylum.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back again soon with yet another post.

Till the next un its ciao for now! 

Hellboy II: The Golden Army "Glasshole!"

OK, its post revisitation time, as I have decided to re-look at one of my posts from a few years ago and this one will cover the sequel to Hellboy, which is Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

So after 10 years, how does this film still hold up??? Well, let's take a look....

And the usual warning is coming up...

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So the story begins with Professor Broom (John Hurt briefly reprising his role) back in 1955 who tells an 11 year Hellboy a story about war between man and magical creatures and how masters of the Elfland forged a golden army of indestructable mechanical warriors and used it to wage war against humanity.  However after humanity was devastated by the army, the Elfland king, Balor out of guilt calls a truce with the humans.

The story then moves forward to the present day where Balor's son, Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) declares war on humanity and seeks to find the three pieces that will form the crown that controlled the golden army.  Nuada finds one of the pieces at an auction and kills everyone there using carnivorous creatures called tooth fairies.  Nuada then confronts his father, King Balor for the second piece which Balor refuses to give to him as he doesn't want to start a war against the humans, which results in Nuada killing his father and taking the second piece.  However Nuada's sister, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton) flees with the final piece.

Meanwhile Hellboy (Ron Pearlman) is having trouble with his girlfriend Liz (Selma Blair) and with the BRPD having to remain under cover.  However during investigating the auction slaughter, Hellboy is attacked by the tooth fairies and he manages to fend them off and reveals himself to the outside world, effectively blowing his cover.  At the same time Abe Sapien (Doug Jones) accidentally discovers that Liz is pregnant and Liz swears that Abe should never tell Hellboy.

As a result of Hellboy's actions, the BRPD superiors are furious and send another agent to take control of the operation, Johann Krauss (voiced by Seth MacFarlane) an ectoplasmic medium.  Krauss now in charge tracks the tooth fairies to a troll market, which is a large city hidden underneath the Brooklyn bridge.  Whilst at the market Abe stumbles upon Nuala who happens to have the map that leads to the Golden Army and Abe falls in love with her.

However Nuada's sidekick, Mr Wink (Brian Steele) attacks Hellboy but is ultimately killed as Wink is diced through a grinder, which causes an enraged Nuada to unleash an elemental forrest god, which Hellboy kills.  However the public at this point are not happy with Hellboy as they see him as a freak and Nuada reminds Hellboy that humanity will reject him.

Later on Nuada tracks his sister to the BRPD headquarters due to the fact they have a magical bond with one another.  Nuada once inside the headquarters confront his sister and engages in combat with Hellboy and critically wounds him with his spear and with that he takes the final piece of the crown from Nuala and they leave together.  Abe however is unable to remove the spear from Hellboy and instead they decide to travel to the location of the Golden army which is in County Antrim in Northern Ireland.

On their arrival they meet a goblin who tells Liz that the spear can be removed from Hellboy and he takes them to the angel of death who tells Liz that if Hellboy lives, humanity will be doomed, and it is up to her to decide and Liz decides to remove the spear, which the angel of death does.  And from here Hellboy, Liz, Abe and Krauss go on to confront Prince Nuada and try and stop him from ressurecting the Golden Army....

THOUGHTS 

As a sequel to the original, Hellboy II: The Golden Army is arguably an even better film than the first one and it remains as a highly entertaining movie with plenty of laughs, actions and drama.  The film also appears to have a slightly more overt comedic tone to it and in a way it helps boost the film's appeal that it is fairly light hearted.  The film also has a more mythical feel to things this time round rather than the Nazis and science experimentation from the first film, this one is more based on folklore and it even echoes in ways Del Toro's critically acclaimed Pan's Labyrinth.

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

Performance wise the film is again pretty good overall.

Starting with Ron Pearlman who once again is great in his role as Hellboy, the wise cracking, red skinned demon who despite his appearance is the good guy.  Pearlman has plenty of highlights in the film and as a few examples for starters there is the scene where Hellboy is confronted by Krauss as to what his flaw is and Krauss teases Hellboy by saying "Are you threatening me?  Because I think I can take you!" and Hellboy standing not too far away, weighing himself on a scale steps off it and walks over to Krauss and he says sarcastically "Sorry I didn't hear you from all the way over there!".

And as Krauss taunts Hellboy further and says he has one fatal flaw, Hellboy shouts at him "WHAT'S MY FLAW???!!" And Krauss tells Hellboy "You're temper. It makes you sloppy, clouds your judgement..." and Hellboy suddenly smashes Krauss's glass helmet with one punch, which causes his ectoplasmic gas to fly out and Krauss seemingly appears to die by collapsing and his suit shrinks till its empty.

This leaves Hellboy, stunned and he sits down and says to himself "Damn!" but then one of the locker doors suddenly opens right in Hellboy's face and he says "Oww!" then all of a sudden the locker doors keep opening in Hellboy's face and body (one of which makes an indent of his face!).  Then eventually the ectoplasmic gas flies out and forms into the body of Krauss, who tells Hellboy "You see you're temper, Hellboy. You better control it before it controls you!" and he walks off singing in German leaving Hellboy to say to himself "Glasshole!".  

Then there is the scene where Hellboy and Abe get drunk and Abe admits he is in love with Nuala, as Hellboy catches him listening to a love song and he asks Abe "You fell for the Princess?!" and Abe explains he never known anyone like her before.  So, Hellboy says to Abe "You're in love. Have a beer!" and he hands him a beer from his six pack but Abe says "But my body is a temple" and Hellboy says "And now its an amusement park.  Have a beer!".

Another good scene is when Hellboy takes on Nuada in combat at the BRPD HQ as Nuada holds his own sister at knife point and he warns Abe and the others "I will kill you, Abraham ... and anyone else if that is necessary!".  And then Hellboy walks in, still a little drunk, who says "Well, why don't you start with me?  You're royal ass-ness!".  And Nuaua asks him what his weapon of choice will be and Hellboy lifts his big stone hand and says "Five fingered Mary!".

And later as Hellboy takes on Nuada again, because Nuada and Nuala are physically linked, if Hellboy kills Nuada he would kill Nuala along with him, so Hellboy says to Abe "I'm not gonna kill him, Abe.  But I'm gonna kick his ass!". Then as the two men fight, Hellboy ducks underneath the giant turning cogwheels, which a part of the machinery that awakened the Golden army, and as he reappears he shouts to Nuada "Hey!" and he steps up onto one of the cogs and says "Some ride, huh?!". And as the two of them continue to fight, Hellboy finally defeats Nuada and get's him on the ground and says "Sorry, pal...I win...you live!" and takes the crown (that controls the Golden army) off Nuada's head.

And last of all is the scene at the end where Hellboy and the others are set to leave County Antrim where Manning has finally arrived.  And as Manning asks "What is going on?!" Hellboy says to Manning "I quit!" and he hands over his giant gun but a second later comes back and takes it and says "On second thought...I'll keep this!". Then after, Hellboy and Liz discuss where they should live now that they have quit the BRPD and that Liz is pregnant and Hellboy says "Maybe we can find a place with a yard. It would be great for the baby".  However Liz corrects him and says "Babies" and Hellboy, looks surprised and mouths "Babies???" and Liz holds up two fingers, leaving Hellboy stunned. 

Selma Blair does pretty well in her role as Liz, Hellboy's pyrokinetic girlfriend, even though it has to be said that Selma isn't the best actress out there but she does a decent job here (and she looks pretty nice with that haircut here!).  And Selma does also have some good on screen chemistry with Pearlman as Liz and Hellboy may make an extremely unlikely couple but somehow it seems to fit. 

Selma does have some good moments such as the scene where after Krauss has just arrived at the BRPD HQ, he uses his teleplasty abilities to revive one of Nuada's remaning tooth fairies. So, the tooth fairy once revived points angrily at Hellboy and mutters something and Krauss translates "It says you're rude, brutish and not very bright" and Liz looks up at Hellboy and says "Wow!". 

Then there is the scene after Hellboy shoots the giant forrest god, Hellboy is berated by the public, who hold him responsible for what happened and Liz defends Hellboy, who gives in and says let's go home.

So, in the scene at home Liz tends to a cut on Hellboy's cheek and when she daubs some wool on it, he whinces but Liz holds his head and says "Hey, you did a good jon out there" but Hellboy feels bad because even though he killed the forrest god, people still don't like him.  So, Liz says to Hellboy "I don't want you to freak out ...I'm gonna ... leave for a little bit. I need time to think" and Hellboy says to her "Why don't you just do you're thinking here? I'll be real quiet! I'll get rid of the cats!".  Liz however says to Hellboy "Red, why are you with me? Do you need everyone to like you? Everybody? Or am I enough? Think about it" and she kisses him on the forehead and leaves the room.

Another good scene is when Liz has a meeting with Manning and Krauss over going to Northern Ireland with Hellboy to confront Nuada in order to save him (and at this point Abe has the final piece of the crown that Nuada needs to ressurrect the Golden army).  However Manning and Krauss refuse to let Liz and Hellboy go as they have been ordered by Washington not to.

So, Liz in the scene, frustrated with Krauss and Manning says "Well, I won't let him die!" and Kurass says "Agent Sherman, may I remind you that I am the leader of this team!".  And Liz before she leaves says to Krauss "There is no doubt about that, sir. That is what you are, Dr. Krauss. And if ever you were human, that time is long gone!".

Then there is the scene where Liz takes Hellboy to Northern Ireland and the angel of death prophesises that Hellboy will doom humanity if he survives and she will sufferer worst of all and Liz emotionally says "I'll deal with it, now save him".  The angel of death then says "It is done.  Now give him a reason to live!" and he disappears but not before dropping the spear tip that Nuada had stabbed Hellboy with.  So, Liz quietly says to Hellboy, who still lies limp "Listen to me ...You have to get up ...You have to get up ...Because you gonna be a father" and Hellboy looks up and says "I'll become a father??".  

And last of all is a scene near the end of the film (SPOILER!!!!) where Liz takes the crown of the Golden Army just as Hellboy is tempted to wear it saying "All that power..." Liz says "Don't even think about it!" and melts it with her pyrokinetic abilities.

Doug Jones is excellent as Abe Sapien and he this time he takes full credit for both Abe's physical and vocal presence as the aquatic humanoid with psychic abilities.  Jones has some good moments as well such as the scene at the BRPD headquarters where there are many agents experimenting and trying to contain some wild monsters and the BRPD director Manning says to Abe "What's going on???" and Abe says "Oh its Friday!".

Then there is the scene where Hellboy, Abe and Liz survey the scene of the slaughter at the auction and Abe researches on the tooth fairies. So, on the radio, Abe tells Hellboy "They are toothfaires. Third century, the Black forest feed mostly on calcium: bones, skin, organs. But they do go for the teeth first. Hence the name toothfaires" and Liz says "I bet you they don't leave money either!".  However at this point, Abe bumps into Liz and his hand touches her stomach and he reacts in surprise and says "Oh, my God, Liz!  You're pregnant!" and Liz says in surprise "No, I'm not!" and Abe tells her "Yes, you are!".

Then we have the scene where a drunk Hellboy, hears the sound of music nearby at the BRPD HQ and he enters the room where it is coming from to find Abe playing what sounds like the song "Can't smile without you" by Barry Manilow.

So, as Hellboy opens the doors to the room, Abe quickly switches tracks using a remote over to a classical music track but Hellboy notices Abe holding a CD behind his back. So, Hellboy asks Abe "What's that?" and Abe awkwardly says "Oh, this? Its just the remote" but Hellboy points toward Abe's hands and Abe says "Oh, this..." and Hellboy takes the CD from him and reads it "Popular love songs?".  Hellboy then reacts in surprise and asks Abe "Abe, you fell for the Princess???" and Abe says "She is alone in the world. I wanna help her. I need to care for her!".  Hellboy then tells Abe "You're in love. Have a beer" and he hands Abe a beer but Abe tells him "No, my body is a temple..." and Hellboy insists "And now its an amusement park. Shut and drink it, will you?!". 

This is then followwed by the scene where Abe get's drunk with Hellboy and as they drunker Abe stumbles to get some beers from the fridge and says drunkenly "This is the last one!".  And Hellboy drunkenly talks fondly of Liz and says "She's it, Abe.  I would give my life for her... but she also wants me to do the dishes!" and Abe says "I would die and do this dishes!".

Luke Goss (best known for being in the pop duo, Bros) is also pretty good in his role as Prince Nuada, the deadly Elfish prince who is determined to wage war against humanity by taking control of the indestructable golden army.  Most of Goss's highlights come from the physicality of his fight scenes which are very impressive and Goss himself trained with Jackie Chan to master Nuada's fancy moves.

Goss's introduction to the film is also very good where Nuada pulls off some athletic moves and shows his sharp swordsman skills and he turns to his sidekick Mr Wink and says "They're over there. I bought them today. I haven't fed them, at all. I will go up first, you will follow. And remember Mr. Wink, don't be shy".

Another good from scene from Goss is where Nuada faces his father and tries to persuade him to reactivate the Golden Army and his contempt for the humans "The humans... the humans have forgotten the gods, destroyed the earth, and for what? Parking lots? Shopping malls? Greed had burned a hole in their hearts that will never be filled! They will never have enough!".  Nuada then says to his father "I returned from exile to wage war and reclaim our land, our birthright. And for that I will call upon help of all my people. And they will answer! The good, the bad..." and he holds up a crown piece that would partly revive the Golden army" and Nuada finishes "...and the worst!". 

Nuada's father then says that Nuada has gone crazy and Nuada muses grimly "Perhaps I am. Perhaps they made me so". So, Nuada's father says to Nuada that he has no choice but to have him put to death and Nuada says to his sister, Nuala "And you, sister, are you at peace with your king's verdict?" and Nuala says "I am, my brother. I am" and Nuada gravely says "Then very well. Death it is!".

Then there is the scene where Nuada breaks into the BRPD and he finds Nuala in the library and he searches for the book she has hidden the final crown piece in.  So, Nuada says to Nuala "It's in one of the books, and I will find it!" and he starts to look through the books on the shelves "Blue ... You've always looked so beautiful in blue!" and he throwns the book down and looks through more "Blue. Poetry. Love. Found and lost. Only words!" and he drops another book and he says determinedly to Nuala "I will find it!".

And then in the following scene, the agents and Abe enter the library to find Nuada with Nuala and Nuada grabs Nuala and holds her at knifepoint.  So, Nuada warns Abe "I will kill you, Abraham ... and anyone else if that is necessary!" and Hellboy then enters and drunkenly says to him "Why don't you start with me, your Royal Ass-ness!" and Nuada asks him "And your weapon of choice?" and Hellboy raises his big fist and says "Five-fingered Mary!".  So, as the two of them fight, Nuada asks if Nuala will give him the crown piece but she refuses.  And as Hellboy turns his back on Nuada, he stabs Hellboy in the chest with his spear and he tells Hellboy "You may have mused in the past "am I mortal?". You are now!". 

Seth MacFarlane also provides an amusing vocal performance as the ectoplasmic medium that is Johan Krauss and Seth clearly has much fun with his character's German accent.

And Seth's notable scenes include the one where Krauss taunts Hellboy and says to him "You will learn to obey me, follow protocol and stay fock-yused at all times!" which prompts Hellboy to say "That word "fock-yused" with your accent?  I wouldn't use that!".

Krauss then tells Hellboy that he knew Hellboy's adopted father, Professor Broom, which angers Hellboy, who warns Krauss "Hey, gasbag! Stop it!".  Krauss then says to Hellboy "Are you threatening me? Because I think I can take you" and Hellboy, trying to contain himself, walks threateningly over to Krauss says "Excuse me? Sorry, I couldn't hear you form all the way over there".  Krauss then says "I think I can take you, because you have one fatal flaw" and Hellboy says "I wanna hear it" and Krauss laughs and says "No, you can't take criticism" and Hellboy says "Try me". Krauss then teasingly taps Hellboy on the chest and says "Can't take it!" and Hellboy finally snaps and shouts "WHAT'S MY FLAW???!!" and Krauss tells him "You're temper! It get's the better of you. Makes you weak! Makes you vulnerable!" which prompts Hellboy to punch Krauss's helmet, which cracks open and all his gas flies out and his suit collapses and shrinks down.  

So, Hellboy sits down in shock and says to himself "Damn!" but then Krauss uses his ectoplasmic nature to repeatedly hit Hellboy with the locker doors.  Krauss then finally reforms his body in gaseous form and and he says to Hellboy "There we are. Your temper, it makes you sloppy. Try to control it, Agent Hellboy. Before it controls you!". Krass then cheerfully walks off singing in German, leaving Hellboy to frown and says "Glasshole!".  

Another good scene is when Krauss decides to help Liz and Hellboy go to Northern Ireland to confront Nuada. So, Krauss tells Liz "You say I'm not human anymore, but you're wrong. I understand your pain all too well. A long time ago I lost the woman I loved. It was in fact the source of my present misfortune. I will tell you about it one day. But for now the tactical advantage is ours! Consider this - the prince lacks the crown piece, and without it his army poses no threat".  So, Liz asks Krauss "So, we have clearance then?" and Krauss tells her "Liz, screw the clearance! We will take that plane!" and Liz smiles. 

And lastly there is the last scene of the film where Hellboy, Liz and Krauss pepare to leave Northne Ireland and they all tell Manning, who has just shown up, that they all quit the BRPD.  So, Krauss says to Manning " Dr. Manning, suck my ectoplasmic schwanzstucker!" and walks off. 

Jeffrey Tambor is great in his reprised role as the BRPD director, Tom Manning who has a tough time trying to control Hellboy's antics.  And in Manning in one scene expresses his annoyance to Abe ""Undercover." Can't he get the meaning of the word? I mean, we are still government-funded, we are still a secret, although a dirty secret, if you ask me. Officially, we-do-not-exist. So, you see, that's the problem when we get these!".  And Manning shows Abe a photo of Hellboy posing giving a "peace" sign "And he posed for this one, and gave an autograph. I suppress each photo, cell phone videos, they cost me a fortune, and then they show up on Youtube... God, I hate Youtube!".

Another good scene is when Manning advises Hellboy, who is on his way to the scene of the auction massacre to stay out of sight from the public and to persuade him to do so, he gives him some rare Cuban cigars.

So, Manning says to Hellboy "I know you dream of the outside world, but trust me, it's not that great" and then he presents a case of cigars to Hellboy "These on the other hand, are good...Cuban" and Hellboy looks at them longlingly.  Manning dangling them essentially like a carrot, says to Hellboy "Being seen...bad".  Manning then says "I confiscated a box of these. I get you some more. But you got do me a little favor. Tonight out there, you have to be very, very..." and Hellboy says "Discreet".  So, Manning hands over one cigar to Hellboy, who says "Like a shadow..." and he then says, to get another "Like a shadow in the night" and Manning gives another.

And lastly there is the scene where Manning and the others are awaiting the arrival of Krauss to the BRPD to oversee things and keep an eye on Hellboy after he made himself go public.  So, Manning tells Hellboy and the others what he knows about Krauss from a file he holds "His name is Johann Krauss" and Hellboy, warily says "Krauss?? He sounds German".  Manning then reads from the file "He is a top man in ectoplasmic research. Comes highly recommended from our European liaison". Manning smiles to himself and says "Liaison, I love that word, don't you?  Its so hoity toity!". Manning continues to read "No fingerprints. No photos.  Dossier says and I translate "he has a nice...open face".  And then we see Krauss descend in the elevator and the others all gasp at his appearance as we see Krauss in what appears to be almost a diving suit and has a glass helmet for a face and Manning reacts in shock and says "Oh, my God!".

And lastly I will mention Anna Walton who provides a nice performance as the Princess Nuala who falls in love with Abe although ultimately its a tragic and rather doomed relationship.

But I will only mention one of her scenes for space on this already big post(!) and its the one where Abe awkwardly speaks to Nuala in the library at the BRPD HQ. So, Nuala in the scene reads from a book as Abe enters and she says "I borrowed this book. I hope you don't mind" and Abe says to her "No, no, please. This is your home now. You are safe here". Nuala however tells Abe "My brother will find me. He always does" and Abe says to her "How could he? Our location is highly classified secret".  Nuala however says "Yes, but I know it now, which means that he does too. We are twins. Even as children a link has bound us, one to the other. Something I cannot explain".

Nuala then says to Abe "You were very brave, vouching for me. How did you know I am not the enemy, bringing me here" and Abe tells her "Maybe from what you were saying now. From intuition...maybe a link...".  Abe then rather awkwardly says to Nuala "Normally I'm able to read up this quite quickly, but I've never met anyone like you" and Nuala says "Nor I like you" and then share a little awkward moment of silence and Nuala then says "Good night, Abraham".

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC 

Finally getting onto the film's director, Guillermo Del Toro does another excellent job here and once again he confidently handles the film's action and also provides a nice mix of fun, suspense and drama.  Del Toro also does well with adding the elements of fantasy to the story and it gives the sequel a different feel than the first film.

Its a pity however that Del Toro will not return to direct the long-awaited next Hellboy film, which will actually be a reboot of the series that will instead be directed by Neill Marshall and will be given an R rating instead of Hellboy's PG-13/12 rating. Nor will Ron Pearlman return to the role of Hellboy either for that matter, which is also a pity in a way as he was perfect for the part.  

And lastly the music score by Danny Elfman is quite good but in typical Elfman style it is a bit too loud and overbearing at times as he scores can tend to do.  However its still a pleasant enough score, which is well suited to the tone of the film with its elements of suspense, drama and of course comedy. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

So as for Hellboy II's flaws........... well there isn't anything too major to moan about but there are one or two minor niggles.  First of all I felt that the scene where Hellboy and Abe get drunk that whilst it is funny when they sing Barry Manilow's "Can't smile without you" together its a bit cringeworthy and all of sudden we've stepped out of the Hellboy film into some kind of weird music video!  And it certainly is the one moment in the film where the movie does not benefit from its usage.

Another issue I had was to do with the scene where the tooth fairies attack Hellboy and Abe and they nibble at them only a little bit but the expandable agents on the other hand get eaten whole!  And it seems a bit strange how the tooth fairies will attack Hellboy and Abe so little, basically because they are the main characters in the film!  So, its basically like the whole Star Trek TV show thing of the expandable Enterprise crewmembers, wearing the red outfits, end up getting killed off! 

I also found it strange why the public would turn against Hellboy so quickly, just after he destroyed the forrest god, yet he was the one that saved them all from it in the first place! Its a pretty daft scene in itself, and serves to highlight I guess that they see Hellboy just as a freak that can't be trusted, yet the guy does everything to save everyone from being killed by whatever evil supernatural forces are out there!

Then there is of course the whole concept of Liz's pyrotechnic abilities, which is a perfectly fine ability to have within a superhero film but my main gripe is, how does Liz's clothes not burn off when she uses her fire??! Not unless she is fitted with special fireproof clothing, or she has the ability to control the fire in a way that doesn't burn up clothes, which is impossible in itself but at the same time probably the only real way (within the context of the film!) it would be the case.

And lastly there is the scene where Liz prepares to leave for Ireland in one of the BRPD's planes without the clearance from Washington. Now, yeah OK I accept that Liz would go over her superiors heads in order to save Hellboy, but I did find it daft that they would start up the plane before they got on it, as the noise of it is pretty defeaning and would easily serve to alarm the BRPD team! 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So, that's it for my re-look at Hellboy II: The Golden Army which is even better than the original film as it is a very enjoyable follow up, featuring a fine cast on good form, solid direction by Guillermo Del Toro, amazing sets and visuals and also a pretty good score by Danny Elfman.  Its just a pity that Del Toro and Ron Pearlman won't be returning for the next one, which will be as I said, a reboot rather than a sequel but we will just wait and see how that one goes. 

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back soon with another post of sorts.

Till then, its bye for now!

Batman: Arkham Asylum Review

OK, so we are into May now (can't believe its May already!) and I figured it was high time I did my first post of the month and the post in question will be a game this time for a change and the game in question will be Batman: Arkham Asylum. 

Now this game was first released back in 2009 on the Xbox, PS3 and PC but I am currently playing the remastered version for the PS4 (which has been labelled as Return to Arkham Asylum) so I figured this would be a great time to review, as I'm pretty sure I have done so before.  So, after 9 years from its original release, how does it fair?  Well, lets take a look....

And as I will mention a bit about the story, the usual warning is coming up....

SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the story begins with the Joker being apprehended by Batman after attacking Gotham city and as as a result, he is taken to Arkham Asylum, while escorted by Batman (who believes the Joker has allowed himself to be caught). However, its not long before the Joker manages to escape (with the help of his girlfriend Harley Quinn who overrides the security) and makes his way through the facility, having also paid off one of the guards, who kidnaps Commissioner Gordon.  The Joker soon threatens to detonate bombs around Gotham city if anyone tries to enter Arkham, which forces Batman to work alone to defeat the Joker.

Batman then tracks Quinn to the medical facility, where he is exposed to the villainous Scarecrow's toxins that make him hallucinate and see images of Bruce Wayne's dead mother and father and he is then forced to evade Scarecrow in a nightmare dreamscape, which he eventually does to come out of his hallucination. Batman then manages to rescue Gordon and then goes after the Joker again only for him to release Bane, another villain, who has tremedous physical strength due to his body being injected with a venom drug but Batman manages to subdue him.  Batman then learns that the Joker intends to create large quantities of the venom drug, so he can create an army of superhuman henchmen.

And so its up to Batman to try and put an end to the Joker's nefarious plan once and for all.....

THOUGHTS

There is little doubt that Arkham Asylum is an excellent action adventure game, which received widespread acclaim on its release and rightly so as the game's action and gameplay are both gripping and very entertaining.  And here we get perhaps one of the most faithful adaptations of Batman that we have seen in which the Dark Knight takes down his enemies without killing anyone and he doesn't have a ridiculously husky voice or use some sort of voice synthesizer to conceal his identity!  The game also features a good variety of enemies for Batman to face, which doesn't stop with the Joker or Harley Quinn but also features plenty of others such as Killer Croc, Victor Zsasz, Bane and Poison Ivy.  So, there is plenty of variety on display here with the game for sure.    

GAMEPLAY

As for the gameplay it is easily one of the game's main strengths as the gameplay is very simple intuitive to learn and the game's movement system is very fluid and allows for the player to make quick, fast movements and actions during combat.  And Batman can carry out a number of moves as he does all the usual stuff you'd do in these games such as run, jump, crouch, shimmy and with the use of his cape, he can also glide through the air from great heights. Batman can also throughout the game remove vent covers, so he can crouch and move through vents that will take him through to other rooms. Batman can either do this by wrenching them off, or if there are alot of enemies nearby, he will remove them gently and place them aside.    

Moving on to the combat side of things Batman can carry out a series of moves such as combo attacks, where Batman can string together a series of strikies against his enemies, which he can build up as he progresses and the combat is very free-flowing as Batman can move quickly between his opponents.  In addition to this Batman can also counter-attack during his combat against enemies as well as stun them into submission, which comes in handy when he takes on bad guys with melee weapons, such as knives.  Batman can also perform silent takedowns as he sneaks up behind his enemies and incapacitates them.

As for Batman's armoury and gadgets, this is easily one of the most varied aspects of the game, as Batman has a whole load of gadgets at his disposal. To start off with, there are Batman's batarangs, which, he can throw to temporarily knock down his enemies or to even hit control switches from a distance. Then there is his grapple gun, which Batman will use regularly to grapple onto higher ledges.  Another is explosive gel, which Batman can use to blow up weakly structured walls or floors to gain access to other areas. Then we have the Batclaw, which Batman can use to attach to vent covers to remove them, or he can use it to grab enemies to disarm or stun them temporarily.

As for a few more more gadgets that appear in the game there is the cryptographic sequencer, which Batman can use to hack into door panels to open doors or to disable other devices and functions within the asylum. The line launcher is another item, which Batman can use to traverse to other areas that can't reach by jumping or even by gliding.  There are are also multi-batarangs, which are available in two's and three's, which Batman can throw at once to disable two or three enemies at once.  Sonic batarangs and remote batarangs are also available, which Batman can use to take control of the prisoner's collars and also to control the direction of the batarang remotely.

Another aspects of the gameplay is Batman's experience meter, which allows him to collect points after numerous achievements such as securing a room or area by knocking out all the enemies. However Batman can collect experience points for other things also such as picking riddles left by the Riddler, breaking the Joker's mechanical teeth sets and also collecting the Arkham interview tapes of various inmates. And the more points Batman collects, it will allow him to unlock extra upgrades, which can relate to his combat and armour capabilities aswell as obtaining more gadgets and upgrading them.  

And last of all for the gameplay is the Detective Mode, which is another key aspect of the game, which involves Batman using a sort of night vision that provides him with contextual information, which highlights objects such as destructable walls and removable grates. In this mode, Batman can also use it to scan a room for how many enemies are there and if they armed or unarmed aswell as their emotional condition (e.g. calm, nervous or terrified).  Detective mode can also be used to solve puzzles and investigate footprints for clues.

GRAPHICS

As for the game's graphics, well they are excellent and in the PS4 remastered version, they look better than ever before. And the game's environments are fairly varied, even though of course you do get a mostly dreary blue colour tone for most of the game but they are nicely detailed with plenty of texture to areas right down to what the characters wear. As for the character models, well it does have to be said that they don't look that realistic and do appear a bit dated in comparison to what we have today but they still hold up fairly well.

MUSIC

Moving onto the game's music score, it was composed by Nick Arundel and Ron Fish, who both do an excellent job here in composing a score that plenty of drama, mood, tension and atmosphere and couldn't be more suited to the game itself. Arundel and Fish would then go on to score this game's sequel, Arkham Asylum, which is an even better and more richer score than this one!  So, overall this is a very impressive score and one that is perfectly suited to the tone of the game.

VOICE ACTING

As for the voice acting, its pretty much top notch as it features an excellent voice acting cast, who all give fine performances.

Starting with Kevin Conroy, who is easily one of the very best voices of Batman out there, as his Batman has none of the ridiculous raspiness of Christian Bale or the voice synthesized nonsense of Ben Affleck but instead Conroy just uses his natural voice to great effect, which perfectly exhibits Batman's commanding nature. 

Conroy usually also plays Batman as being a little bit arrogant at times, which does allow for the odd moment of humour in his portrayal at times.  And there are one or two lines that highlight this, such as the one where one of Batman's allies, Oracle asks Batman how he managed to build a secret Batcave on Arkham island and Batman replies "Hey, its me, remember?!". Although what we would really liked Batman to have said at this point was "BECAUSE I'M BATMAN!!".

Another one is when Harley Quinn evades Batman and tries to drop an elevator on him and he dodges it and after he get's a call from Oracle. And Batman tells her "I'm OK. I just met Harley and she tried to drop an elevator on me" and Oracle asks him "Did it work?" and Batman almost with a grin says "Of course not!". Then there is another line where Batman knocks out some thugs that were holding a policeman captive and the cop asks Batman if he is OK and Batman tells him "I eat punks like this for breakfast!".

Mark Hamill next up is also great in his role as the Joker and its actually hard to imagine few actors play the role better than he does here, as he sounds like he is relishing every line!

And Hamill has his share of good lines and scenes in the game but there are too many of them to mention outright here and quite a few of them are indeed even the "Game Over" cut scenes where the Joker and other villains gloat over Batman when he has died or failed to save someone. And one of my favourite lines of the Joker here is when he gloats at Batman and says "Played you like violin and cut your strings! Nighty night, bats!". 

And then there is another scene near the start where the Joker is wheeled into Arkham Asylum on an upright stretcher. And one of the cops angrily says to him "You killed 20 of my friends!" and the Joker laughs and says "Only 20?! I better tried harder next time and try and make it a hundred!" and he laughs maniacally.

This then followed by when the lights go off, Batman grabs ahold of the Joker, who laughs and says "The night is young, Bats. I still have a trick or two up my sleeve. I mean, don't you think it's a little bit funny how a fire at Blackgate caused hundreds of my crew to be moved here!". And the corrupt guard, Boles, who holds him at gunpoint shouts "I told you to be quiet!" and the Joker in a menacing voice says to him "Oh Frankie, you really should learn to keep that fat mouth of yours shut. It'll get you into trouble!".

As for the other voice cast members worth a mention are Arleen Sorkin, who is great as Harley Quinn and she is perfect for the role vocally speaking and it would hard to imagine anyone play her better here on a voice acting level. Tom Kane is also pretty good in his role as Commissioner Gordon, who is taken hostage earlier on in the game by Quinn.  And last of all is Kimberly Brooks who is very good as Oracle, who is also Commissioner Gordon's daughter, who was in the comics formerly Batgirl but she was later confined to wheelchair after she was paralysed after the Joker shot her years ago, whilst kidnapping her father.  So, in this game, Oracle is confined to a wheelchair and she provides Batman with information throughout the game via radio.

FLAWS

As for flaws....well yeah Arkham Asylum does have some.

To start, one of the issues I had was to do with the lack of variety in Batman's hand to hand combat moves, as you are limited to basically performing a series of combo attacks, takedowns, silent takedowns and counter-attacks and that's pretty much it. And it took until the game's sequel, Arkham City, for them to expand on Batman's combat moves but here it does feel a bit simplified and limited in terms of what is available.   

Another issue is to do with the whole thing of Batman using gargoyles overhead to hide from armed enemies below him, as this is an often repeated thing in the game and it actually becomes a bit too reptitive after a while and tedious. This basically forces Batman to deploy stealth tactics to sneak up and subdue his armed enemies, either that you can glide attack them by gliding down and knocking them to the ground, after this Batman has to knock them out.  But the fact remains that these sections repeats themselves just a bit too much for my liking.

I also have to say that despite Mark Hamill's excellent performance as the Joker, there are times where the Joker's constant humourous gloats and jibes at Batman do get a bit samey and tiresome after a while, as he seems to be able to follow Batman's every move around the whole of Arkham asylum and indeed the island itself!

There is also at times an awful amount of backtracking in order for Batman to reach other areas that he needs to get to. As an example there is a part in the game where Batman has to leave the Botanic gardens section of the asylum and head back to the sewers where he will face off against Killer Croc and that in itself is one BIG backtrack!  Of course, Batman will have to take down some of the Joker's men enroute in the process, which will slow you down a little and although that does provide a bit of an obsctacle of interest, you still feel there is still alot of unecessary backtracking going on.

And last of all I found there were one or two strange little graphical glitches in the game, such as when Batman beats up his enemies close to a wall and you will see leg or hand go through it (which I think is term known as clipping!).  And why also when Batman knocks out his enemies, do they always put their hands up to the side of their face???! It seems to be a pretty weird move for them to always make but when they are knocked, they always appear to do it!

Anyway that's for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Batman Arkham Asylum is an excellent action adventure game and after nearly 10 years it is still as good as it was on its release. And the game does very well thanks to its excellent performances, graphics and music score, not to mention its great combat and movement system for Batman aswell as all the gadgets that he has available to him and the game's environments are also pretty expansive, so there is plenty to explore and look at.    

And if you are a gamer and enjoy your third person action games, then you should definitely give this one a go.

OK, so that's it for now and I will be back hopefully soon with another post.

Till then its bye fer now!