Dark Souls II - Top 10 Hardest Bosses - No's 5-1

So, now its time for Part 2 of my look at my pick for the top 10 hardest bosses in the action role play game, Dark Souls II.

And with that let's gear up, grab our swords and shields and take a look at the top five...

5. Sir Alonne 

So, at No.5 is this guy, Sir Alonne, who is the main boss from the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC and he wears samurai armour and wields a massive katana, so when you step into his arena, you know you are in for a painful fight.

As for what makes Sir Alonne so tricky, its the fact that the guy has quite a fast moveset and he has the ability to stun and parry you, something which no other boss in the game can do. Sir Alonne also has some sneaky moves, especially one where he can impale you with his blade, which is buffed with dark magic and it blazes red afterward, which will allow him to inflict greater damage afterward. Now I have to say that his impale move drove me crazy simply because he can actually hit you with it even if you are not dead on centre of his target, which to me was basically cheating!

Now similar to quite a few of the other bosses on this list, I seriously struggled with this guy when I summoned the two NPCs to fight him as he of course has much more health and inflict less damage on with NPC summons, which is common rule of thumb about summoning.  So, I think the problem there is that the fight becomes too chaotic to deal with at this point and to beat him you are better off going it alone (or alonne even!). The key to fight for me was basically time your rolls to evade his thrust attacks and three strike pattern and just dodge out of the way of his impale attack as well as you can and get your strikes in between his attacks and he will eventually go down.

So, Sir Alonne is no picnic but out of the three bosses in what is unquestionably the toughest DLC of the game he is still the easier of the other two, who will be coming up on this list quite soon!    

4. Ancient Dragon 

At No.4 is the Ancient Dragon, who is also a massive beast of a dragon, who is actually an optional boss and doesn't become hostile until you attack him but if you do, watch out as this guy can prove to be a real challenge to beat and for me was one of the hardest bosses in the regular game.  

The Ancient Dragon actually appears in the Dragon Shrine area and is integral to the story to an extent as he will give you the Ashen Mist that will let you enter the memories of giants to collect their souls and this ultimately will let you attack and defeat Vendrick (yet despite all this these events are optional!). So, basically you can either choose to take the ashen mist and leave, or stay and try and fight him.

And if you do stay to fight, the Ancient Dragon will soon let you know he's unhappy by performing a series of devastating fire attacks that can wipe you out unless you have good fire defense or a good pair of running shoes! However what is even more devastating here is when he flies and comes back down make sure you aren't anywhere near his feet or he will totally flatten you with one shot! Not only that but he has the highest amount of health of ANY boss in the game, so again it will take alot of patience to take this big mother down.

So, I personally found the best way to deal with the AD is to attack his front feet while he is stationary on the ground and he breathes his fire breath outward and if you are under his feet you will be safe from his fire attacks. This will take a big of patience and running away from his aerial flame attacks and getting yourself in position before you can attack again. Also its best to equip armour with high fire defense or a ring that provides good fire protection as well as a weapon that is buffed with lightning of sorts as the AD is weak to lightning in particular.

So, overall the Ancient Dragon is definitely one of the hardest bosses in the game and well deserving of his place here in the top five.

3. Blue Smelter Demon (aka Smelter Demon 2.0)

Now these next two bosses on the list are essentially the same boss but they feature at different stages in the game and they are both pretty similar in terms of their attacks as well as their difficulty, so it was tricky to decide, which one was tougher. So, I have decided to put this one first, which is of course the Blue Smelter Demon, who follows on from his first counterpart, the Smelter Demon.

Now, chosing between these two was pretty tough as they are both VERY tough bosses but I had to put the Blue Smelter Demon in this spot because he is slightly easier to deal with but only fractionally! The BSD himself features in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC. 

As for the actual boss himself, the Blue Smelter Demon is a big guy with what can only be described as a butthole faced giant in hefty armour and the difference between Blue Smelty and the regular one is that Blue inflicts magic damage where as the regular Smelty deals fire damage. So, here you fight Blue in an circular room and he will attack you with a large greatsword that inflicts blue magic flames. Blue lashes out at you with his greatsword with a series of slashing attacks aswell as a plunge attack and he can also buff himself up to inflict even greater damage and can also send flaming magic and he also has an AoE attack (Area of Effect) that knock you back and take quite a bit off your health.

And what makes this fight so difficult is trying to evade Blue Smelty's slash attacks within the confines of the arena without getting hit, so if you are playing as a melee character it can be pretty tough to move in and get your strikes and pull back before Smelty attacks you again. The timing of his attacks is supposedly also slightly varied over his flamey counterpart although it was hard for me to spot any real difference. But generally speaking the real killer attacks here are his vertical and horizontal slashes that can inflict major damage and if you get caught in the blast of his AoE attack this can also finish you off if you are low enough in health.

So, for me the strategy here is to try and again time your rolls to evade his slash attacks and then get your hits in once he has just finished his attack, if you are a sorcerer then its possible to also finish off Smelty with dark magic, which he is apparently quite weak to. So, you can keep your distance to make things that bit easier aswell if you use ranged attacks as a sorcerer, however melee is definitely the tougher option here.

So, the Blue Smelter Demon is a very tough retread of an already very tough boss and as such deserves a place on this list although I can't help but think the game makers were getting a bit lazy with this one as they decided to put in another of the same boss, which they also did with the underwhelming Dragonrider boss. However, this is still a very tough boss fight and one worth putting on the top five list.

2. Smelter Demon 

So, at No.2 is the original Smelter Demon, who is virtually identical with the exception that he inflicts fire damage instead of magic. Smelty here is actually an optional boss that features in the original game and by heck he is one of the toughest boss fights I've have had the misfortune of ever trying to complete and must have taken me near 100 goes before I finally got over the finish line!

So, why is the Smelter Demom taking the runner up spot? Simply because similar to his Smelty 2.0 counterpart, he is a very difficult boss that uses a series of slash attacks and what makes this boss that bit tougher is that you fight him in an even tighter room where you have less space to evade his attacks making this hands down one of the toughest fights in the game.

And the Smelter Demon has very similar attacks to the Blue Smelter as I mentioned he uses horizontal and vertical cleave attacks, he has a plunge attack aswell as AoE attack if you get too near him, you can get caught in the blast and in some cases it will finish you off! Smelty also inflicts somer serious fire damage, which can seriously wipe you out with ease especially as you fight him in such an enclosed area it really is difficult to evade his attacks.

As for how to beat him, well the best way is again to time your rolls to evade his attacks and try and anticipate when he will launch into an AoE attack and you have to get your strikes in just after he has finished an attack and quickly back off. You can also however make the fight a fair bit easier if you use the pyromancy spell, Flash Sweat, which will withstand alot of fire damage, so if you have it, Id highly recommend using it. However I would also highly recommend that you NEVER summon for this fight, as Smelty can quickly finish off your NPC summon, leaving you to fight a stronger Smelty who can deal greater damage than if you fought him alone.

So, the Smelter Demon is unquestionably the toughest boss fight in the original game and if you are unfamiliar with his attacks and his fight then you are in for a real tough one in taking him down and he definitely deserves the runner-up spot on the list.

And so my pick for the toughest boss fight in Dark Souls II is....

The Covetous Demon

Only kidding! No, this boss is a real joke and the easiest in the game! ;-)

No, but this guy is the exact opposite...

1. The Fume Knight

Yep, at No.1 is the pick that most fans would choose for the toughest boss fight in Dark Souls II and they would in my opinion certainly be right and I have chosen the one and only Fume Knight, who appeared in the Crown of the Old Iron King DLC.

The Fume Knight...lovely guy I'm sure when he is in social company (ahem!) but when you enter his ashen arena and face him in battle, its a totally different matter. The Fume Knight is a brutal boss and a ruthless contest that takes some mastering as he is without a doubt the toughest boss in the game. Period.

So, what makes the Fume Knight so difficult? Well, quite a few things.

For starters and what would make this fight impossible to beat is that outside the Fume Knight's arena, there are four creatures known as Ashen Idols, which you MUST destroy before you go in to face him because what they do is regenerate his health when you attack him, making the fight literally unwinnable. So, what you do then is get items called smelter wedges and to jam them into the idols, which will destroy them and once they are out the way you can get then go in and fight Fumey.

As, for the fight itself, Fumey has two phases, the first is no joke by any means but is still the easier of the two, where he will attack you with two swords, a longsword and a large greatsword, which will begin to glow with fire as the phase progresses. In this stage, the Fume Knight will attack you with a serious of combos and also perform a vertical smash with his greatsword aswell as a backswing that can knock you off your feet. So, essentially this phase involves carefully timing your rolls to evade his attacks.

Now, the second phase however is where things get really hard and the Fume Knight ditches his longsword and fires up his greatsword with flames and he starts to deliver some very aggressive, frenzied combo attacks with his sword. In this stage he also performs a wide sweep with his flaming greatsword, which can inflict major damage. He also performs an AoE attack by stabbing his sword into the ground that unleashes a series of fireballs out toward you, which again deal alot of damage if you don't avoid them.

Its also worth noting that if you enter this fight wearing any piece of armour belonging to the knight, Velstadt (whom you also fight earlier in the game) the Fume Knight automatically go into the second phase of the fight right from the get-go. This is because in the lore, Velstadt defeated the Fume Knight (aka Raime) in a duel, which is something the Fumester never forgave him for, so if you wear Velstadt's gear, he might just be a tad peeved at you for it! The irony of it all is that Velstadt's fight is much easier than this one is!

So, as for strategy in how to beat the Fumester, well I SERIOUSLY struggled with this guy of course and it must have taken me near 100 goes or so before I nailed my first win over him. In the first phase, its a case of simply getting good at timing your rolls again to evade his combo attacks and heavy swings of his greatsword and getting your hits in when he has ended each attack and try and keep behind him as much as you can. In the second phase, its tougher to successfully avoid his angry combo attacks and I'd suggest keeper a bif of distance between him and you while he does them and definitely keep your distance when he does his sweep attack and the AoE one, so when he finishes them, move in and attack and back off.

I also found if you are a sorcerer you can use your spells at a distance and keep circling the arena and backing away from him as much as you can, however I had limited success doing this because it is too easy to get stuck in the corners using this strategy and when you do, the Fumester will have you for breakfast!

So, for me overall, I'd say the best strategy for this fight is try bring in just one of the two summons (usually I'd recommend Steelheart Ellie over the sorcerer Carhillion as she tends to last a bit longer) who will distract the Fume Knight just long enough for you to get your strikes in with the weapon of your choice. I personally in my second win against him, used the Greatsword to kill off Fumey with Steelheart Ellie managing to deliver the KO blow, which is funny because Ellie hardly deals out much damage and mostly tickles the Fume Knight!

And on my latest win against the Fume Knight, I found using even a battle axe was a good weapon against him and I just performed a series of strong attacks while again I summoned Ellie to distract him.  So, I'd suggest bringing in just one summons because its a good compromise in dealing out damage as with two, the Fume Knight will be stronger but with just one he will be just that bit weaker, so it will allow you to inflict a good amount of damage but also keep him distracted long enough to get your strikes in that will win the fight.

So, overall, The Fume Knight is a brutal boss, who is incredibly difficult to beat and until you learn his moveset and get used to his attacks, then you are going to be in a very tough battle against him. However for me, he's not only the toughest boss in the game but also the best aswell as his fight is pretty exhilirating overall and that's makes the best Dark Souls bosses is the ones that are a real challenge.

So, for these reasons the Fume Knight more than deserves his place at the top of the list as the toughest boss in Dark Souls II.

SIGN OFF

Right, so that's it for now and if you have read my list, I hope you have enjoyed it and please feel free to also leave a comment and say which bosses did you find the toughest in the game.

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

Till then its bye for now!

Dark Souls II - Top 10 Hardest Bosses Part 1 - No's 10-6

Right, so just for a change I thought I would do another top 10 list and this one will be on the toughest bosses from the action role play game, Dark Souls II, which I have been playing lately and have already completed. There are 41 bosses in total in the game (32 in the original and 9 from the three DLCs) and there are some of course that are way tougher than others combined in both the original game and also the three separate DLCs that came out not long after.

Now, I have to say that this list will be based on the difficulty level I found the bosses to be when I originally played the game, so that's why certain bosses Souls fans find tough or tougher might not be in here. 

So, with that all being said, let's take a look at the first five on the list from 10 down to 6....

10. Ruin Sentinels 

At No.10 are this dangerous trio of bosses, the Ruin Sentinels, who can prove to be quite a tough challenge to anyone, who is uninitiated with the game. The Ruin Sentinels are basically tall, skinny, long limbed and wear armour and have helmets with narrow slits for vision and they also just happen to be fast and very agile and do a ton of damage with their long halberds (I think that's what they are!).

I personally did struggle with the Ruin Sentinels myself quite a bit on my initial playthrough although it is definitely recommended to summon the NPCs (non-playable characters) that can help you in this fight, which can make it quite a bit easier. However, the Ruin Sentinels can still make life difficult for you even with summons as they have quite varied attacks and thrust and swings, spin attacks and even shield throws (which I don't think I've seen them do when I played against them).

The best strategy for taking them down I would say is to defeat the one up top first before dropping down and taking on the other two and if you have your summons you should eventually be able to ware them down. Oh and its nice of the game to include them later on as standard enemies when you reach Drangleic castle. Thanks game!  

So, yeah the Ruin Sentinels do pose a threat in the game and can give you quite a few headaches before you are able to take them down, so they deserve their place at No.10.

9. Elena, the Squalid Queen 

At No.9 is this lovely lady (ahem!) from the DLC, Crown of the Sunken King and Elena has been known to give many a player a real headache and I may say that initially I struggled against her quite a bit. 

As for Elena's attacks well she has a mix of dark magic attacks aswell as using her large staff to hit you, which can dish out quite alot of damage. Not only this, Elena can also summons skeletons to fight you that have poison damage and worst of all she can also summon one of the previous bosses in the game too, Velstadt, a knight who can clobber you with his big hammer! Elena can also teleport at will and infuriatingly enough can spring up behind you and kill you off if you are not careful.

So, the best way to beat her is to use the NPC summons as they will be able to distract her and keep her off you although she can wipe out the summons with relative ease at times and she will be helped alot by Velstadt, whom she can summon more than once in the fight, so even if you kill him, she can bring him up again! Its also key to keep an eye on her attacks and what she is doing and not lose sight of her as that is when you can get in real trouble.

However, I do have to say that she can become alot easier to deal with when you get more used to the game, so while she is tricky there are certainly tougher bosses out there, so while Elena is no joke, she does sit nearer the top of the list at No.9 for that reason.

8. Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon

So, at No.8 is this big guy, who appears in the Crown of the Sunken King DLC, Sinh the Slumbering Dragon. Sinh basically feels a bit like a retread of the Black Dragon Kalameet that appeared in the DLC for the original Dark Souls except not quite as challenging but all the same this guy can still pose a sizeable threat.

The reason why Sinh is tough is simply because of his varied moveset of aerial sweep attacks, toxic fire breath (yep he can kill you will toxic aswell!) not to mention his ferocious swipe attacks on the ground. And to top it all off, Sinh's skin is hard as...well dragon scales, which can do significant damage to your weapons and cause them to degrade and break with ease, so you need to keep ontop of monitoring your weapons health or else you could be use a blunt one against this guy! One thing about this boss that really annoys me also is that he flies around ALOT so it makes it difficult to get your attacks in most of the time!

I also think its best to summon for this fight because Sinh can be pretty overwhelming to take on your own with his attacks, so its best to shoulder the burden with your NPC buddies and make sure you equip a back-up weapon and repair powder for the damage his scales can do to them. 

So, overall Sinh, the Slumbering Dragon is definitely a tough test and one of the trickier DLC bosses in the game and very much earns a spot on the list.

7. Vendrick

At No.7 is old King Vendrick, who is believe it or not, an optional boss in the game despite the fact your character is supposed to be the one that takes his place you'd imagine you really HAVE to fight him. Such as it is though the actual fight with Vendrick is no joke whatsoever and does require quite a bit of patience in order to beat him.

Vendrick himself however at this point in the game has become hollow (a zombie like creature with no memories or purpose for those who don't know what that is) and when you find him he wanders aimlessly around an undead crypt dragging his sword with him. And one of the trickiest things about the fight is being able to actually engage him in combat as he has extremely high defenses, which can only be broken down by claiming the souls of giants, which involves going elsewhere to get them.

As for why the fight is tricky, well the reasons as threefold, one: this fight is fought in near darkness, as you taken on Vendrick in the bottom of a crypt for the (un)dead, so it can be hard to keep a bead on his every move. Two: Vendrick has an extremely high level of HP (health points), so even when you can attack him it will take quite a while before you can wear him down and finally kill him. And three, Vendrick's sword is very big and can deal MASSIVE amounts of damage and he can easily one-shot you if you are not careful!

So, the best way to deal with Vendrick I found was to time your rolls and stay behind him and get your strikes in just after he has finished his attacks and rinse and repeat that approach and it will be time consuming but you will eventually get there.

So for me, Vendrick is definitely one of the tougher bosses in the game as most of the optional ones can prove to be trickier in Dark Souls II and this is certainly the case with him, so he deserves his place on this list.

6. The Gank Squad 

So, at No.6 is another trio of bosses, the Gank Squad, or as they are individually known, Ceraph the Explorer, Afflicted Graverobber and Ancient Soldier Varg and these guys are essentially 3 NPC invaders disguised as bosses but three very tricky ones at that.

As for the make-up of the fight, Ceraph is the weakest of the trio and he usually stands around the back of the fight area, shooting great arrows at you and if you decide to attack him, he will come at you with a rapier sword. The Afflicted Graverobber however, the second most dangerous of the NPCs is easily fastest of the three and sports two katanas and can easily mess you up with them and deal much bleed damage. Lastly is Varg, who wears Havel armour and shield (Havel was a character from the first game) and he carries a massive dong-shaped weapon called a dragon tooth, which can deal brutally large amounts of damage that could two-shot you easily and if he does his chain attack from the back, you are finished.

So, basically to cope with this fight you can either summon two NPCs to help you, however I always found I struggled more against these guys by summoning as the trio's health pool is stronger and takes more time to try and kill them off especially if your two summonees are wasted. So, I would actually suggest taking them on solo and also be prepared to do ALOT of running round in circles to avoid them and stop and deal out your hits when you can and if you are a caster (sorcerer, pyromancer or cleric) this fight can be a whole lot easier as you can fire alot of ranged attacks at them from afar.

So, overall I would say this is certainly one of the tougher boss fights in the game and it while its not one of my favourites, they certainly earn a spot on the list for the challenge they can provide.

SIGN OFF

OK, so that's it for part one of my list and I will be back soon with Part 2.

Till then its bye for now! 

 

Doctor Who - The Greatest Show in The Galaxy Review "Junk mail that talks back!"

Well, its time for yet another post and this one will be a new one again with new content (on a roll here!) and I will be reviewing a story from the Sylvester McCoy era of Doctor Who, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy.

So, how does this serial stand up after 30 years???  Well, let's take a look and find out.

And yep the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the story begins with the Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and his companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) are invited to the psychic circus on the planet Segonax. On arrival, the Doctor and Ace find that the circus itself is strangely empty with only a few stagehands around aswell as the Ringmaster (Ricco Ross) and the fortune teller, Morgana (Deborah Manship) and the only audience are a family of three, a father, mother and daughter, who are all stoic in personality.

However, the Doctor and Ace soon discover that they are infact supposed to perform at the circus and those that fail to entertain are killed. Not only that but escape is almost impossible as the circus is lead by the Chief Clown (Ian Reddington) who with a group of robotic clowns, round up anyone who tries to leave.  The Doctor and Ace while they are held captive by the circus members also meet up with fellow captives, Captain Cook (TP McKenna) an intrepid explorer and his companion Mags (Jessica Martin).

So, its from here that the Doctor and Ace must try and find a way to survive this circus from hell and discover who and what is behind it all....

THOUGHTS

The Great Show in the Galaxy is certainly one of Sylvester McCoy's strongest stories as it is a very good one that shows plenty of imagination and interesting characters aswell as a pretty sinister villain in the form of the Chief Clown. Its a story that really grabs the viewer's attention and it was a refreshing change from previous stories although it echoed a similar idea to the story from the same season, The Happiness Patrol, where people were forced to be happy all the time or else. But the whole idea of the the survival of the fittest as Captain Cook at one stage puts it, is what makes the story so intriguing overall and its example of showing the Doctor using his wits once again to fight for his and Ace's lives.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: Although there won't be too many notable scenes here I will still possibly mention a few SPOILERS!).

As for the performances they are all very good and its a solid cast all round.


Starting with Sylvester McCoy who by this time had really grown well into the role as Seventh Doctor and here he get's to show again the Doctor's bravery, wit and resourcefulness. McCoy himself even performs some magic in the story as he was taught by the magician, Geoffrey Durham (aka the Great Soprendo!) and its used later on near the end but I won't say anymore than that for now!

And Sly has his share of good moments in the story but I will try and only mention a few such as the scene where the Doctor meets with one of the occupants of the circus, Deadbeat (Chris Jury) who has been affected mentally by the events that have taken place in some way or other.

So, the Doctor stares at Deadbeat who appears to be in a trance like state and he says "Hello, Deadbeat. Fancy meeting you here. Small world, isn't it. It frightened you to see that eye, didn't it. It means the powers behind it are on the move again. Something happened to you here. You haven't always been like this. Did you try and find something out? Were you punished? Can you understand anything I'm saying? Well, there's one thing I do know, Deadbeat. You're not going to give me away to the others. Are you?" and Deadbeat shakes his head and says "I wouldn't" and the Doctor smiles and says "Lead on, Deadbeat!".

WARNING: BIG PLOT SPOILER COMING UP!

Then there is the scene where the Doctor is about to confront the real baddies, the Gods of Ragnarock, who he is forced to entertain to stay alive. So, just before the Doctor enters their realm he says "I must prepare for my entrance. Never keep your audience waiting! I'm coming. Open a pathway for me. Once small step for mankind, one great leap, or words to that effect!". The Doctor soon then appears in what appears to be an arena where he is face to face with the stoney figures of the Gods of Ragnarock.

So, the Doctor addresses them and says "And here we all are at last. I'm surprised you brought me here. It must be very difficult for you, trying to exist concurrently in two different time spaces. I know the problem myself. No wonder those memorial stones looked familiar. The Gods of Ragnarok, I presume!".



And this is then followed on by the scene where the Doctor asks the Gods "How many people have you destroyed, I wonder, before Kingpin was lured down here. Poor Kingpin. That's what you like, isn't it. Taking someone with a touch of individuality and imagination, and wearing them down to nothingness in your service!". The Doctor then says "Now let me see. You want me to..." and the Mum and Dad God figures say "Entertain us or die" so the Doctor grins and says "Predictable as ever, Gods of Ragnarok. As I think it's been said before, or was it after? Anyway, you ain't seen nothin' yet!".

Sophie Aldred is also very good in her role too as the Doctor's companion, Ace (and she looks pretty good too!) the plucky teenager, who in this story reveals she has a fear of clowns and is none too keen to head to the psychic circus and rightly so!

And Sophie has some good scenes aswell but I will only mention one of them for time which is the one near the start where the Doctor and Ace receive their invitation to go to the circus and Ace is less keen.

So, the Doctor says to her "Oh, Ace, I thought you'd be interested in going to the circus" and Ace glumly tells him "No, kid's stuff. I went once. Didn't even have any tigers. It was naff and it was boring. Apart from the clowns, of course" and the Doctor asks "What, did you find them funny?" and Ace says "No, creepy". The video advert that plays for the circus then suddenly talks back to Ace and asks her "Scared to take part?" and Ace taken aback says "No, of course not!" and the advert then says "If you are then go ahead, ignore me. I'll understand!" and Ace looks on disbelief and says "I don't believe it! Junk mail that talks back!".  So, Ace gives in and says to the advert "OK, junkbox you win! I'm not scared of anything!".

As for the supporting cast, T.P McKenna is by the far the real standout of the show here as he gives an excellent performance as the intrepid galactic explorer, Captain Cook, who appears to have some ulterior motives of sorts.

I will mention a couple of McKenna's scenes that include the one where the Doctor is trapped inside a cage with Cook and his assistant Mags and the Doctor is angry with himself for falling for it.

So, the Doctor frustrated says "Its a trap! I've fallen into a trap!" and Cook nonchalantly tells him "Yes, I know, old boy. Never mind. Have some tea. A very similar thing happened to me once, you know". The Doctor angrily however says "Why let me be trapped?! I could have saved you, Nord and Mags!" and Cook says "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Doctor. These circus chappies are pretty smart customers for all their let it all hang out mumbo jumbo!". Cook then tells the Doctor "Save your energy, Doctor. You'll soon see why. Anyway, all of us in here have developed a survival philosophy, which is why we welcomed you in". The Doctor confused asks "What is all this, then?! I thought there was a talent contest going on!" and Cook says "Well, yes, but in a way it's more like a survival of the fittest!".

WARNING: SPOILER COMING UP IN THE NEXT TWO PARAGRAPHS!

And then there is McKenna's best scene, which is also an excellent cliffhanger in part three where the Doctor, Cook and Mags all go on stage together to perform for the audience of three (i.e. the mum, dad and daughter).

So, as they step on, Cook announces "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, but before we start I would like to make one small request from stage management. A special lighting effect!" and Mags looks on in horror and says "No!". Cook then asks "Could you perhaps give us that old devil moon effect?" and a crescent moon suddenly shines down on the rig, causing Mags to shriek in terror "No! No!" as she begins to snarl and fall to her feet as she sprouts fangs and claws and becomes a werewolf. So, Cook menancingly says to the Doctor "You really were extremely stupid this time, Doctor. I told you she was an unusual specimen. The growling, the snarling, reaction to the moon. Surely you should have guessed?!!".

Cook then continues and says to the Doctor "I hate it when this happens. She can't control herself, of course, and like all her kind she'll destroy whatever comes in her path. Which, I'm afraid, in this case has to be you!". This prompts the family to all give the act a score of 9 and Cooks rants on "This circus is only the half of it, you see, old chap. These hippy fellows weren't quite so dumb as they look. Did you come here just for the fun of it? Well, some of them did, but they're all dead!".  And as the Doctor tries to evade Mags's attacks, Cook keeps her at bay using a whip to hold her back from him. So, the Doctor while trying to avoid Mags shouts "You're meddling with things you don't understand!" and Cook then shouts back "No, Doctor, YOU are! Once you're out of the way, I shall make my deal with the powers that be, whoever they may be!".

Ian Reddington is also excellent in his role as the chief clown and he manages to create one of the show's most sinister and creepy villains for which Reddington produced his own little visual flourishes, which really add to his performance here.

Reddington's dialogue is a mixture of creepily gleeful comments where he greets visitors and acts to enter the circus and he points and waves people in and says "This way please!". However he also has some very sinister moments too, such as the one where Ace tries to leave the circus at one point and she is surrounded by the Chief Clown and his robot clowns as the CC has spotted Ace is wearing an earring she had taken from a dead body earlier. So, the Chief Clown asks her "Where did you get that earring?" and Ace asks "Are you a robot too?" and the Clown says "No" and Ace says "Pity" and Chief Clown sinisterly asks her "Tell me where you found it?!" but Ace manages to get away and the Chief Clown then says to his robots "After her!".

Ricco Ross also does pretty well in his role as the circus ringmaster although I'm not entirely sure what the writers were thinking when it comes to the ringmaster doing a rap as he introduces the acts to the audience every time!  However, despite how cheesy that aspect of it is, Ross just about manages to pull off the rapping somehow!

And to give you one example of the sort of stuff that Ricco says in his ringmaster raps, there is his scene at the very start of the story.  So, the Ringmaster raps "Now welcome folks, I'm sure you'd like to know, we're at the start of one big circus show. There are acts that are cool and acts that amaze. Some acts are scary and some acts will daze. Acts of all kinds, you can count on that, from folks that fly to disappearing acts. There are lots of surprises for the family at the Greatest Show in the Galaxy! So many strange surprises, I'm prepared to bet, whatever you've seen before, you ain't seen nothing yet!".

Deborah Manship is also pretty good too here as Morgana, the circus's fortune teller, who in reality is having serious reservations about how the circus is being run.

And Debora has some good moments too but I will for time only mentione one, which is where Morgana is being bored to death by the young Whizzkid, who has shown up at the circus and is a big fan of the show. So, as Whizzkid prattles on, Morgana is keen to get rid of him and says "Would you like to be getting along inside?" and Whizzkid, amazed asks "You mean I can go in, just like that?" and Morgana gives a fake smile and says "Yes, Go right now, please!" and Whizzkid excitedly says "Oh, wow!" and he goes in leaving Morgana rolling her eyes in dispair.

Jessica Martin also does very well as Mags, Captain Cook's companion, who has something of a dangerous hidden secret which we find out about later on and Jessica looks pretty cute in her outfit I have to say and has a pretty cool 80's hairdo here!  

NEXT PARAGRAPH ALSO REVEALS SPOILERS!

Chris Jury is also pretty good in his role as Deadbeat, who's real name is later revealed as Kingpin and was a circus master that arrived on Segonax in search of power but on finding it, it drove him mad.

And I will only mention one of his scenes where Deadbeat finally snaps out of it mad mode as he places a small blue eye onto his medallion, which restores his memory as Kingpin while Ace is struggling against the robotic ticket conductor.

So, in the scene, Deadbeat says "I remember now!" and he shouts to Ace "Its beneath the cap!" and Ace shouts "What is?!" and Deadbeat shouts "Knock its cap off!" which Ace does and asks while struggling "Now what?!" and Deadbeat tells her "Bellboy put a button on that says Request Stop. Press it!". So, Ace with some struggle manages to hit the button, which sends the conductor haywire and Deadbeat shouts "Now stand back!" and Ace crawls away in time just before the conductor blows up. So, Ace, says to Deadbeat "Now we're getting somewhere! You really are Kingpin, aren't you?" and Deadbeat says "Yes, thankfully. But no one is safe until we get this...(holds the medallion) back to the Doctor!".

Christopher Guard does pretty well too in his role as Bellboy, who is responsible for creating and maintaining the clown robots for the circus but he too is tormented by goings-on there and he ends up losing his girlfriend, Flowerchild to the robots. In fact Guard himself in his outfit looks across between Adam Ant and Matt Bellamy from the rock band Muse!

And I will mention only one of Guard's scenes, which is the one where Bellboy starts to remember what happened to him and the rest of the circus as his memories have been suppressed by the traumatic events he'd been through.

So, Bellboy tells the Doctor and Ace as he tries to remember the past "Yes, some of it's coming back now. Not all of it. He was Kingpin. He was the one who persuaded us to come here. There was something he wanted, something he knew about. And we all trusted him, and..." and the Doctor offers "Something went wrong?" and Bellboy tells him "Yes, something went very wrong! Its this place, it does things to you". So, the Doctor says "And a friendly hippy circus was turned into a killing trap" and Bellboy says "Yes. Even our own kind. That was after Kingpin was no longer Kingpin. Something went. Something went with him...".




Gian Sammarco is also very good as Whizz Kid, an innocnet yet annoying fan of the Psychic Circus and his naivety ends up getting himself into big trouble.

So, I will mention quickly two of Gian's scenes, first off the one where Whizz kid bores Morgana near to death with his admiration for the circus. So, Whizz kid excitedly says to Morgana "It must be awfully exciting working for the Psychic Circus, Morgana. Particularly when you did your tour of the Boreatic Wastes. I think that most of your admirers would agree with me that that was one of your finest ever gigs. Well, in so far as you can tell from the posters...". Morgana at this point has had enough and says to Whizz kid "Would you like to be getting along inside?" and Whizzkid a little surprised asks "You I can go in, just like that?" and Morgana in her fake Russian accent says "Yes, go right in please now!" and he says "Oh wow!" and goes in leaving Morgana rolling her eyes at him.

And lastly there is the scene where Whizzkid meets his end as he steps into the circus and the Ringmaster introduces him to the trio audience "Now welcome, folks. I'm sure you'd like to know we've got a brand new act for your circus show. Now welcome please with all the warmth you can, the Psychic Circus' greatest fan!". So, Whizzkid innocently walks and with much excitement says "This is the most exciting day of my life. My dream come true. I'm standing in the ring of the Psychic Circus!". And then we see the trio audience of the father, mother and daughter all hold up cards that say zero and the next thing we hear is a clasp of thunder and we cut back to see all that remains of Whizzkid are his charred glasses.

Daniel Peacock does well too as Nord, a performer who drives a pretty cool bike to the circus but soon finds out like the others its all down to the survival of the fittest.

And I will mention just one of Daniel's scenes and its the one where Nord turns up on his bike at a snack stall where he get's off to check out his bike. So, Ace impressed by Nord's bike goes up to him and says "Need a hand? I reckon it could be a stuck valve" but Nord rudely tells her "Get lost!" and Ace says "Its a great bike" and Nord warns her "Go on, hop it, before I get angry!". Ace however continues to try and help and says "Well, if you don't want to save yourself some time, then it's up to you. Course, it could be a valve..." but Nord turns to her and says "I've told you, girl, get lost! Or I'll do something horrible to your ears!". And when the Doctor asks a little later if Nord will give himself and Ace a lift to the circus he rudely turns them down and shouts "No one rides with me! For I am Nord, vandal of the roads!". 

And last of all are the trio of David Ashford, Janet Hargreaves and Kathryn Ludlow as the Father, Mother and Daughter respectively who are all very good in their respective roles and we soon find out in time who they really are! And the three of them provide suitably creepy performances as the family are all very stoic and convey very little emotion and basically complain about the poor quality of the acts throughout.

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

Moving onto the director, Alan Wareing does an excellent job here with the story as he keeps pacing nice and tight throughout although being a four parter, the story never really lags and is just the perfect length. So overall Alan serves the story very well here and he even provides one of the voices of one of the Gods of Ragnarock in the final episode.

As for the music score it was written by Mark Ayres and it is an excellent one, which is again very much synthesizer based like all the scores where during the John Nathan-Turner era of the show. Ayres score however here has plenty of atmosphere to it aswell as a sense of mystery and it definitely stands out as one of the best scores from the McCoy era and it easily puts Keff McCulloch's cheesy efforts to shame.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws...yeah The Greatest Show in the Galaxy despite its title, still has some.

For starters I find certain aspects of the plot a bit confusing in places, most notably is the one where the Ringmaster uses a device on Captain Cook and Mags, which appears to be some sort of mind control, which causes Mags to scream. However, its never really properly explained as to just what the Ringmaster was actually really doing with that device and we are all just left to guess what it is but my guess would be mind control, unless of course I missed something in watching the story.

Another issue is to do with the scene where the Doctor uses the medallion to deflect the Gods laser beams back at them but if you notice the beams are bouncing all over the place, so basically what is there to stop those beams hit the Doctor himself?! However this is never a problem for the Doc here as the beams seem to just bounce around him rather than actuall hit him but even by the Doctor's standards, it seems a bit unlikely that he would be invulnerable to being hit by a flurry of laser beams! And it also has to be said that the computer effects (or Quantel effects I think) look pretty naff and cheesy here too!

I also felt that the character of Whizzkid was a bit pointless, the young geeky teengaer, who is a big fan of the circus and of course of Captain Cook, whom he bores to death later on aswell as the fortune teller, Morgana. Basically this kid is just used as an excuse for some canon fodder later in the story and while he might be a little sympathetic due to his innocence and his death is even memorable (in fact its the most memorable bit for me from when I originally saw it all those years ago back in its original broadcast!) he's basically just a redundant character.

And last of all is of course the Ringmaster's rapping...yep its pretty cringeworthy isn't it??? To be fair, Ricco Ross who plays the Ringmaster does what he can with the rapping and that he's African American, he makes the rap a little better but its still a pretty daft inclusion in the story. And I don't know if it was added to reflect the popularity of rap and hip-hop music around that time but either way its certainly an aspect of the story that didn't need to be there.

Anyway so that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy is undoubtedly one of the best stories from Sylvester McCoy's era as the Seventh Doctor and its premise is quite imaginative and intriguing with a circus employing a survival of the fittest method and the story also has one or two pretty good twists in it. The cast are also all on good form with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred as good as ever and they share a nice chemistry together onscreen and the supporting cast are all very good, particularly T.P. McKenna as Captain Cook, who is the real standout here.

And yeah there are still some niggles with the story and yep that Ringmaster rapping is a bit cheesy to say the least but if you can forget all that then this is still a strong story and if you haven't seen it yet, it worth a look.

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

Till then its bye for now!

Ant-Man and the Wasp Review

OK, so this is the second of my Marvel film reviews and this one is on the latest Ant-Man movie and sequel to this first un, which is called Ant-Man and the Wasp.

So, is it any good???  Well, let's take a look...

And yep the usual warning is coming up...

SOME PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD BUT NOT TOO MANY!!

So, the story begins with Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) who is under house arrest after having been captured by the FBI when he was involved in a skirmish with the Avengers. Despite having only two days left of his sentence under house arrest, Lang has a strange dream involving the wife of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) leading him to call Hank to tell him about it and not long after he is abducted by Hank and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly). Hank believes that Lang's dream was an actual message from his wife, Janet (Michelle Pfieffer) who believe is still alive and trapped in the quantum realm, which Lang himself had visited in the first film. So, together they work to try and devise a way to create a tunnel that will lead into the quantum tunnel to rescue Janet.

So, in order to achieve this, they need a special part needed to make the tunnel stable, which is in the hands of a black market dealer, Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) who double crosses them rather than make a deal when he realises the potential wealth in Hank's research. Hope then dawns her Wasp outfit and fights Burch's men and retrieves the part but before she can leave she is incapacitated by a quantumly unstable woman, Ava Starr aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) who takes the part and also Hank's miniature lab.

Hank reluctantly approaches one of his old colleagues, Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) which he had a falling out with, to help him locate the lab but all is not what it seems with Bill and its from here that they must work together to find a way to save Janet from the quantum realm and retrieve the lab...

THOUGHTS

As a sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a very enjoyable film that continues the good humour that we had seen in the first one and the film's light hearted tone certainly is to its credit. The events of the film will also later tie in with the events of another Marvel film, Avengers: Infinity War but I won't say much about that here. However the film itself is ceratinly a laugh and characters are all very engaging and Scott Lang himself is a likeable superhero figure.

PERFORMANCES (No notable scenes as such but I may mention one or two moments from the film that might lean towards spoilers!)

As for the performances, they are all pretty good here.

Starting with Paul Rudd, who is excellent again as Scott Lang aka Ant-Man and he plays the part in a very engaging way and clearly Rudd is having great fun with the part and appears to enjoy delivering the fun dialogue.  We also get to see Rudd do some amusingly nerdy things in the film such as watch Lang under house arrest play his electric drum kit! Later on Lang dawns his Ant-Man suit once again but this time round he ends up using a prototype, which proves to be a little unstable and sees him at one point grow to massive size! So, overall Rudd does a great job again in the role.

Michael Douglas is also great again as Hank Pym, the former SHIELD agent and physicist who is determined to try and find a way to bring back his wife, Janet from the quantum realm. Douglas is also clearly enjoying re-playing the role here and he has plenty of good moments as he has a good rapport with Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly throughout the film.

Evangeline Lilly next up also makes a welcome return in her role as Hope, Hank's daughter, who this time around dawns a miniaturising suit and is known as Wasp and basically fights alongside Lang. Lilly also enjoys nice chemistry with Rudd in the film as Lang and Hope both previously were in a relationship, which in between the events of the first and second films, ended badly but they appear to patch things up as the film goes on.

Laurence Fishburne is also as good as he ever is here in the role of Bill Foster, who is an estranged colleague of Hank's and the two of them end up working together although it turns out that Bill is not all what he seems but that's all I will say for now! Overall, Fishburne does an excellent job here and you wouldn't expect any less of him.

Michael Pena reprises his role here also as Luis, Lang's former cellmate and now business partner in his security crew. Pena priceless in the film and he provides alot of comedic moments and I will only mention one where at one point, Luis and his fellow friends are captured by Sonny and his men, who inject him with "truth serum" although the man who does claims it isn't however Luis disagrees and says "This is definitely truth serum!". So as Sonny interrogates him over Lang's whereabouts, Luis rips into a fast-paced and long winded account of how he met Lang in the first place up until their present day! 

Randall Park is also great in his role as the FBI agent, Jimmy Woo, who keeps Lang under surveillance while he is on house arrest and Park has plenty of funny moments and at times he even steals the show.

Hannah John-Kamen also does an excellent job as Ava Starr aka Ghost, a qunatumly unstable woman who is desparate to try and find a way to cure her condition at no matter what the cost is. Hannah provides one of the more serious performances in the film and gives her plight a much needed dramatic weight to the story where things are usually pretty light hearted her story is a sad one.

Walton Goggins is very good also in his role as sleazy black market dealer, Sonny Burch, who tries to double cross Hank and Hope and its good to see him play a more three dimensional low level villain than the straight laced psycho he did in the latest reboot Tomb Raider film.

Abby Ryder Forston nicely reprises her role as Cassie, Lang's daughter who idolises her father and she shares a nice natural chemistry with Paul Rudd as the two of them play off each other nicely onscreen.   

And last of all is Michelle Pfieffer who is fine in her role as Hank's wife, Janet, who had been lost to the quantum realm and feared dead for years.  And it has to be said that after all this time and at the age of 60, Michelle is still looking mighty good for her age!

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Peyton Reed returns to the directorial helm for the sequel and he does an excellent job here as he keeps the pace of the film moving along very swiftly and is pretty confident at handling the action. Reed also keeps things nice and light hearted for the most part in the film yet never forgets to add in some more dramatic moments to add a bit of weight to the story.

Music wise Christophe Beck provides the score and its pretty good but I have to say at the same time I didn't find incredibly memorable but it served the film well and its tone was very well suited to the film. 

FLAWS

As for flaws...yeah OK there are some in the film but I won't really go into them too much here to avoid spoilers!

However what I will say is that perhaps the film is just a bit too light and fluffy at times in its presentation and there is plenty of humour which is always a good thing but perhaps the film could have benefited from balancing out the humour with the drama. Despite that though its still very enjoyable and engaging stuff but you could perhaps say that light nature does undercut it in some ways.

PLOT SPOILER WARNING HERE!!!

I also found it a bit daft how Hank was able to fool the FBI so convincingly by using a decoy of a giant insect to take Lang's place while Lang is helping Hank and Hope out. I mean surely the insect would have shown upon the FBI's surveillance cameras at some point not unless Hank had used some sort of special camoflague technique to give the impression that Lang is infact still there!

And last of all the film's ending (which I won't mention!) may end up confusing audiences somewhat unless they have seen Avengers: Infinity War because the events of that film tie in with this one however if you aren't totally clued into the whole Marvel cinematic universe you might just end up more baffled by it than anything else!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP 

So to sum up, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a very engaging and enjoyable sequel, which sees the cast all confidently resume their roles and in particular the trio of Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas all work really well together onscreen. The film is also backed up with some funny clever dialogue and amusing supporting characters as well as solid direction by Peyton Reed and good CGI effects with the miniaturisation to full size change effects all well done.

And it may still have some niggles here and there and just perhaps the overall tone of the film does lean towards being a bit too light at times but its still a very likeable film that ticks most boxes and its a well worth checking out.

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

Till the next one yet again its bye for now!     

The Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

So, its been a while since I've done a post on here, so apologies for that but I thought I would do a Marvel double bill, as I have just recently returned from visiting my brother down in the South of England where I watched a few Marvel films.

So, for this review I will be looking at one of the Avengers movies, Age of Ultron. Now I wasn't a big fan of the original Avengers film, Marvel Avengers Assemble, so how does this one fair? Well, let's take a closer look and find out...

And yep the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the film starts off with the Avengers team on a mission in the Eastern European country, Sovokia, as they raid a Hydra facility run by Baron Strucker (Thomas Kretchmann) who has been experimenting on humans using a scepter that was previously used by Loki (Thor's villainous brother). They soon encounter two of Strucker's test subjects which are Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) with Pietro having superhuman speed and Wanda having both telepathic and telekinetic abilities.  Strucker is soon caught by the Avengers team and Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) takes the scepter.

Tony along with the help of fellow Avenger, Bruce Banner aka the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) discover an artificial intelligence inside the scepter's gem and decide to use it to complete Tony's Ultron global defence program. However, its not long before Ultron becomes sentient and believes that humanity must be destroyed in order to save the Earth and it attacks the Avengers at their HQ aswell as destroying JARVIS (voiced by Paul Bethany) Tony's AI. Ultron then retreats to Sokovia where he upgrades his basic robotic body and builds himself an army of robots and he also recruits the assistance of the Maximoff twins to plot the Avengers downfall and ultimately take over the Earth....

THOUGHTS

Well after the rather dull Marvel Avengers Assemble, Age of Ultron is a big improvement and is a thoroughly entertaining superhero film with a good cast of characters and a somewhat rather talktative villain in Ultron! And here the film starts off very well as we head straight into the action in Sokovia where the Avengers team attempt to capture Wolfgang von Strucker and its a great sequence that pulls the viewer in straight off. It also introduces some new characters such as the Maxmimoff twins, Pietro and Wanda with the latter having some incredible powers that will play a big part in the film itself.

PERFORMANCES (Warning: No notable scenes this time but the odd spoiler might be mentioned ahead!)

As for the performances the ensemble cast all give fine efforts all round. 

To kick off, Robert Downey Jr is great once again as Tony Stark/Iron Man, who is out to try and create a global defense program using Ultron but it ultimately backfires on him when Ultron turns sentient. Robert has his share of amusing dialogue and scenes throughout, which for the sake of saving ALOT of typing I won't mention here as such but I will mention that he does share a nice rapport with the other cast members and in particularly Mark Ruffalo as Tony and Bruce Banner are involved in trying to get the Ultron initiative to work only to screw it up!

Chris Hemsworth is also excellent once again as Thor, the God of Thunder, who by this time has blended in well with modern society and has been a long time Avenger. Chris also has an amusing moment in the film where he dares the other Avengers to try and pick up his hammer, which none of them are capable of doing...well except maybe one of them later on but I won't say who!

Mark Ruffalo does very well in his role as the mild mannered scientist, Bruce Banner, who just also happens to conceal a raging monster in him, aka the Hulk, i.e. the green muscly monster guy! And here the writers have decided to create an unlikely romance between Bruce and one of the other Avengers, Natasha Ramanoff (Scarlet Johansson) which kind of doesn't go anywhere much but its still nicely played by both performers.

Chris Evans again is really good as Steve Rogers aka Captain America, the perfect all American hero, who has superhuman strength and uses his powerful boomerang shield to take out his enemies and is the leader of the Avengers team.

Scarlett Johansson is also once again excellent as the sexy and deadly Natasha Romanoff, who here we get to learn a little more about her back story than in prior films. Natasha in this film also appears to develop a crush on Bruce Banner (or was her crush on the Hulk?!) in the film which doesn't really go that far but its still a nice addition to the film that doesn't do anything to its detrement.

Jeremy Renner also makes another welcome appearance as Hawkeye, one of the Avengers and a master archer, who has something of a different agenda in this film as he partly hides his private life from his other team mates but he's still very much part of the Avengers team. 

And of course there is James Spader, who does the voice of the main villain of the film, Ultron, an artificial intelligence that gains a robotic body and later builds an army of robots he intends to use to wipe out humanity. And Spader's voice work is excellent here although it has to be said that Ultron is easily one of the most talkative villains in the whole history of the Marvel films!

Next is Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen as the Maximoff twins, Pietro and Wanda, who has superhuman capabilities as a result of experiments with Loki's scepter and they are ultimately used as pawns in Ultron's game to wipe out humanity. The two actors both give good performances here and it has to be said though by the end of the film there will be a tragedy for one of them but that's all I will say!

Paul Bethany is also very good in his role as Tony Stark's AI, Jarvis but this time round, Bethany takes on a double role as he later plays the part of Vision, which is essentially Jarvis in the sentient form and we see Bethany wearing red paint and prosthetics over his skin for the role of Vision. 

And last of all is Samuel L Jackson who makes yet another appearance as Nick Fury, the former director of SHIELD who isn't given more than a cameo role this time round but his presence is always welcome in any film of course and here you are just waiting for him to appear at some point!

DIRECTOR AND MUSIC

As for the director, Joss Whedon does a very fine job with Ultron, who of course directed the first film but he kind of misfired on that one in my humble opinion. However here, Whedon has a better handle on dealing with the film's action and he paces the film out well and its fairly lengthy run time of 2 hours and 21 minutes actually flies by, which is much to the film's credit and Whedon's also.

As for the music score, Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman provide a good score here and its well suited to the tone of the film although I have to say its not the most memorable of scores overall but its fit for purpose and does what it needs to.

FLAWS (Warning: this section may refer to spoilers!)

As for flaws...yeah well Ultron does have one or two niggles.

For starters I think one of the main problems for me was to do with the fact that Ultron really isn't that menacing a villain and it comes down to him being just a bit too chatty! Now, I don't mean to diss James Spader fine vocal performance as Ultron but this villain is a definitely a prime example of a baddie who gives too much away and delivers truck loads of exposition for the audience. And there is even a funny scene in the film where Ultron has chatted too much that the Hulk decides to punch his lights out! So, on this basis I think Ultron really lacks much in the way of menace as a villain, which is a bit of a pity.

Another issue was to do with the whole concept of nobody being able to lift Thor's hammer as everyone out of the Avengers team tries to lift it but they have no luck whatsoever (well except one other character!). Its a fun scene in itself but its a bit daft to think that they any of them would have a chance to lift it any given that I presume only a God can lift it anyway!

Then there is the issue to do with Tony Stark using scepter's AI abilities to create his so-called global defense program "Ultron" only for it to backfire on him big time! Now, of course when you look at this situation its pretty clear that this film was very much Tony Stark's fault as his ambition was his own undoing here, which ended up in creating the villainous Ultron. And this of course would lead more significant damages to US cities when Ultron starts to wreak havoc!

And last of all this brings me onto the whole subject of superheroes and how much damage they create when fighting enemies yet NONE of them will be handed a huge bill for all the damages they have done to the cities buildings etc! And yet again this is well on display here with the Avengers having to fight off Ultron and his robot army and it actually hammers a city in the process! But of course being superheroes they will get away with paying the bill!

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to sum up, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is a very enjoyable superhero film, which saw the Avengers franchise get back on track after the rather mediocre Avengers Assemble and its a fun film filled with good characters, who all share a nice rapport with each other and plenty of good action. And yes there are still some problems here of course and Ultron himself it has to be said is a rather weak villain but that aside its still worth checking out.

Right, so that's it for now and I will return soon with my look at the new sequel to Ant-Man, which is Ant-Man and the Wasp.

Till then its bye for now!