Demon's Souls Remake Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, its time for another review and this time its a hybrid of sorts as it is based on a previous one I did last year for a game. However, the game itself has since been remade and was an exclusive release for the next gen console that is the PS5 and the game is Demon's Souls. 

Now its been no secret that the PS5 has been extremely hard to purchase due to high demand and short supply mainly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the supply of component parts needed to create the consoles as well as other tech gear e.g. graphics cards or mobile phones. However, I was able to finally buy a PS5 last week and since then I purchased the remake to check it out at last.  As for the review I will still largely use my original review content and expand on it in to cover the aspects of the updated remake version, which was developed by Bluepoint studios.

So, with that said, let's take a look and see how the remake fairs in comparison to the original...

And as I will mention a bit about the story of the game, the usual is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY

So to save time on me typing the story synopsis, here's a decent size snippet of it from Wikipedia

"In ancient times, Boletaria was attacked by a being called the Old One due to the abuse of forbidden Soul Art magic, with the world being almost lost in a magical "Deep Fog" filled with soul-eating demons. The Old One was eventually lulled into slumber, saving Boletaria and populating the damaged world with special humans called Monumentals. In the game's present, Boletaria's ruler King Allant has restored Soul Arts and consequently awoken the Old One and its demon army within the fog. Boletaria is now being consumed by demons, with those humans without souls turning into insane monsters. Players take the role of an adventurer entering the fog engulfing Boletaria. After being killed, the player wakes up in the Nexus and meets a benevolent demon called the Maiden in Black, as well as various other characters.

Now bound to the Nexus until the Old One is returned to slumber, the player travels to five regions of Boletaria, killing the powerful demons controlling those areas and absorbing their souls to increase their power so they can face King Allant".

THOUGHTS

Well, after a seven month wait from its initial release, I am pleased to say that the Demon's Souls remake is an excellent update to the original PS3 classic game, which sees the game get an impressive visual overhaul with 4K graphics thanks to the PS5's enhanced graphics. However, the gameplay mechanics of the game also remain faithful to the original game too and are also keeping in with the spirit of the other Souls games. In short, if you enjoyed the other Souls games, then you are sure to enjoy this update remake also.

GAMEPLAY 

Now this section will be quite big of course and I will split it as usual like my other game reviews into sub-sections below.

MOVEMENT

Starting with movement, the game follows much the same system as the Souls games that succeed it with a third person perspective view that can be rotated 360 degrees to see the character face on or from behind. The player can also do the usual actions such as attack, run, sprint, walk (of course!) and in addition that was never included in the other Souls games, your character can even climb up ledges! This was expanded a little in the remake as at certain points in the game, your character can vault over walls although this is pretty limited in its use. 

CHARACTER CLASSES AND STATS

Next is of course your character classes and stats, which are of course very important and have a big impact on your overall progression throughout the game. Starting with classes, you have 10 different types to choose from that include a warrior, knight, magician (sorcerer in the sequels), priest (cleric in the sequels), hunter and a wanderer and these can be either male or female. These classes will all have their own individual characteristics that are determined by their stats and these can be altered as you progress through the game and this will also grant them usage of different weapons, spells and other items in the game.

As for the stats, similar to the other Souls games you have a set number that are much the same that include vitality, endurance, strength, intelligence, luck, magic and faith. Vitality, endurance and strength are pretty much self-explanatory whereas other stats such as intelligence affect the amount of spells magic spells you can hold and the magic stat determines the power, which increases as you level up that stat itself. Faith is also much the same in that when you level it up you will gain access to more slots and it will boost the strength of offensive miracles or also increase the requirements needed to use these miracles.

There are also some additional stats that would feature in the other Souls game too such as luck, which boosts your item discovery from fallen enemies as you can increase it. And of course there is dexterity, which is used to handle certain weapons that requirement more refined skill to use such as spears, bows, halberds or katanas.

And before moving on, its worth mentioning of course that these stats are leveled via the NPC known as the Maiden in Black, who appears in the game's main hub, the Nexus, which I will mention in a bit. 

WEAPONS

And this brings us onto weapons and there are plenty of weapons to be found in Demon's Souls just like in the other games in the series and some of these appear in the other Souls games too. And the remake largely keeps the original weapons intact with little new weapons added.

So, similar to the Dark Souls trilogy, you have different classes of weapons such as straight swords, large swords (which are the equivalent of great swords in the sequels) spears, hammers (including clubs I think), bows (including crossbows), katanas, daggers, curved swords (that inflict bleed damage) and axes. And these weapons all have varying requirements when it comes to strength and dexterity although I don't think they require intelligence or faith like some of them do in the Dark Souls trilogy.

There are also a selection of shields in the game too, which you character will use for defense and to block attacks (as you do with a shield!). Again there are different classes of shield such as small, standard and large with a mixture of wood, leather and metal shields with varying degrees of resistance and effectiveness for physical and elemental damage. 

You can still of course use these weapons even if you do meet the requirements for them but it just means, like the DS trilogy you cannot use them effectively until you meet those requirements. However some of these weapons, especially weapons such as large swords, can be used if you meet the dexterity requirement for them and will allow to use them two-handed with most strength weapons proving most effective being held with two hands anyway.

As for the remake, they did add two new weapons which are the ritual blade and the reaper scythe as well as the hoplite shield. The ritual blade is a large axe (although it does look more like a large machete than anything else!) which can be found used by the skeletons in Shrine of Storms. The reaper scythe is a polearm weapon, similar to the great scythe in the other Souls games. Both of these weapons however cannot be upgraded.

ARMOUR

As for armour there is actually a surprisingly small amount of armour sets in the game with just 18 in total to be found and every class has their own individual set. The armour sets can range from very light for characters such as magicians and hunters to the more heavy sets worn by knights and priests. Again the weight factor of the sets will also impact on your equipment load as you will fat roll (i.e. roll slowly) if you are wearing a heavier and don't have sufficient endurance to wear it. 

COMBAT

As for the combat again it is very similar to the following Souls games in that your character uses a mix of defense and offense when taking down enemies with a weapon and shield. You can also as a caster (mage or priest) use spells to take down enemies at range or use a bow or cross-bow to do the same. The game also introduces the parry and riposte system where you can use your shield deflect an enemy's attack and follow it up with a deadly finishing move and addition to this you can get behind enemies and backstab them.

The remake version of the game has enhanced versions of the riposte and backstab attacks, which are altogether a bit more brutal looking in their execution! However, these attacks actually remain faithful to the original take down methods of the original game. 

THE NEXUS

And then we get to what is the game's central hub, which is known as the Nexus and is like Firelink Shrine in the sequels (or Majula in the Dark Souls II) where your character can level up their stats (via the Maiden in Black) talk to other non-playable characters (i.e. NPCs) and purchase items and upgrade weapons. The Nexus also features what appear to be five headstones that allow the player access to different worlds that are the main playable areas of the game but in order to access them you need to talk a specific NPC (the Monumental) to do so.

NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS (NPCs)

Then there are the NPCs, who like in the other Souls games can help your character along the way and offer different things such as the Nexus blacksmith, Ed, who can upgrade your weapons and purchase weapons and other items form. There is also an NPC, Stockpile Thomas, who can store items and weapons for you if you become over-burdened with your equipment load and this can happen quite often in the game as you pick up items throughout. Then there are NPCs you can purchase spells or miracles from that you find as you travel through the worlds and you can also trade boss souls with them for additional spells/miracles.

Then of course we have the Maiden in Black, who levels up your character and she also plays a pinnacle role in the end of the game but I won't say much more than that! Plus I cannot forget to mention the one and only Patches, who features in just about EVERY Souls game (bar Dark Souls II that is!). Patches if you don't know is basically a sneaky and untrustworthy merchant, who will screw you over at any given opportunity but can later on sell you stuff that is of good use such as healing items, arrows and rings.  

CHARACTER AND WORLD TENDENCY

Another key aspect of the game is to do with your character and world tendencies.

Starting with character tendency, this affects your character directly based on your choices throughout the game to either help NPC's or kill them or invade online players and kill them. So, essentially you will have either a black or white tendency with the black tendency it reduces your health to 45% and your attack power is increased as an invading black phantom.  White tendency however will increase the player's attack power in Soul form and it will also increase your attack power as a blue phantom (i.e. where you assist other online players to fight bosses).

As for the world tendency, this directly affects the difficulty level of events that take place in the game's different worlds and are specific to that world. So, essentially if you stay in human form and keep dying then this will lead toward the world tendency turning black, which in turn strengthen enemies HP and attack power but they will end up dropping more souls when they die and you will have a better chance at obtaining rare items. Your character's maximum HP will reduce in Soul form also, which can makes thing very challenging indeed! There will also be more black phantoms of standard enemies that appear at different areas in that world as well to challenge you.

As for white world tendency, enemies will have less HP and attack power and will reduce the chance of dropping rare items but they should still provide health items when they are killed. Your attack power is also increased when in soul form and can go up in increments based on how white the world becomes.

SOUL AND BODY FORM

And this brings me onto the two different forms your player can take, which are soul and body form as both these forms have different effects on gameplay.

Starting with soul form, the player will have reduced health but they can as previously mentioned have more attack power in this form based on your world tendency as it will be more if it is white and less if black. They will also appear more ethereal than they would in body form and one benefit also is that they make no noise when they move around. When you are in body form however you will have full health but you will do less damage than in soul form and you will also make audible noise when you move.

ARCHSTONES 

Another key aspect of the game are the archstones, which your character will use to travel between the different worlds and the Nexus and there are often more than one to be found in each world. Each world will begin with one each but as you defeat bosses, more will appear as you progress and they can allow you to checkpoint your progress in the worlds as you make your way through them. You can also use what is known as shards of archstone, that are the equivalent of your homeward bone from Dark Souls that can return you to the Nexus at any time.  

ENEMIES AND BOSSES

Moving onto the enemies there are is plenty of variety here with no shortage for your character to fight against that range from your low level scrubs that are the dreglings up to red eye knights. There are also some really annoying enemies called fat officials, who are appear in a couple of the worlds who armed with whips or axes and can throw fireballs at you. However in the remake, they decided to redesign the officials a bit by giving them warty skin! There are also plenty of monster/creature type enemies such as giant bugs, rockworms, gargoyles, man centipedes, storm beasts and of course your typical rabid dogs!

There are also hybrid-human enemies such as mind flayers, who are essentially octopus headed magicians that can deal out some pretty nasty damage, shadow lurkers, who are like ghostly spirits that deal out magic damage and of course we have armoured skeletons, who can really mess you up with their falchions (i.e. a curved sword that deal heavy bleed damage!). So there are certainly plenty of bad guys here to keep you on your toes and will test you throughout the game.

There are also another type of enemy in the game that appear as red phantoms and they can interrupt your progress at different times in the game. The phantoms will vary in challenge as you progress and their presence can also be affected by the world tendency of the game as they will often appear more if you have a black world tendency than white.

Boss wise there are plenty on display here and they of course will allow the player to regain their body form if they were in soul form when the boss is defeated. The bosses will of course drop a high number of souls as well as their own soul, which can be traded with the magician or priest NPC's for special spells/miracles. Bosses also come in different types such as humans and monsters and there is plenty of variety on display here in the game in that regard.

The bosses definitely vary in their challenge level and I have to say that most of them are pretty easy in comparison to the rest of the bosses found in the Dark Souls trilogy but some of them are pretty interesting in their design all the same.

RINGS 

Then there are the rings in the game, which just like in the other Souls games, grant the character different abilities and resistances and they can equip two at a time. There are 26 rings in total in the game and as a few examples there is the Cling Ring, which can be used to boost your HP when you are in soul form and the regenerator ring, which slowly recovers your health over time. Other rings also include the Thief Ring, which enables you to become harder for enemies to detect, Ring of Magical Sharpness, which boosts your magic power but also lowers your magic defense and the last one I will mention is The Ring of Herculean Strength, which boosts your equipment load similar to Havel's Ring in the sequels.

WEAPON UPGRADE STONES

Next we have the stones used for upgrading weapons and there is a big variety of stones to be found throughout the game that all have different properties and can add various effects to weapons such as infuse them with fire, magic, bleed or poison.

There are too many to mention here to go through them all but the two primary types of stone you will use in the game are hardstone and sharpstone and they can fully upgrade your weapons from its base level up to +10. These types of stone however are the basic upgrade paths and will not add any additional elemental effects to weapons.

Starting with hardstone, this is used to upgrade weapons such as straight swords, axes, hammers, bows and even shields and they come in different varities that are shards, large shards, chunks and pure stone (maxes out the weapon to +10). So, basically hardstone would be used to mainly upgrade strength based weapons as opposed to dex based ones. As for sharpstone, this is used to upgrade weapons such as spears, curved swords, katanas, daggers and rapiers, which are all pretty much dexterity based weapons. Again similar to hardstone, sharpstone comes in varieties of shard, large shards, chunks and pure stone.   

CONSUMABLE SOULS AND ITEMS

And last of all for the gameplay section, I will mention a bit about the consumable items in the game as well as souls that you can collect throughout. To start with the consumable souls, these are often found on dead bodies and will range in the number of souls they give you from as little as 200 up to 10,000 souls. These are very handy for boosting your souls count when you might be low and want to purchase items or even uprgade weapons or level up.

As for the consumable items there are plenty also to be found in the game and primary ones are for healing your health but some can also be used to cure status ailments such as poison or toxicity. The healing items vary from the smallest, which are Crescent Moon Grass alway up to New Moon Grass, which completely restores your health. As for the status healing items there are three usable ones here that are Widow Lotus that cures the plague, Royal Lotus, which cures poison and Soldier Lotus that cures bleeding.

Other consumable featured also help restore your magic power and there are two such items that can do this that are Fresh Spice and Old Spice. Fresh Spice will only recover a small amount of your magic power whereas Old Space will recover a larger amount of it. These items can also be purchased from different NPC merchants in the game.

EQUIPMENT LOAD

And lastly in the gameplay section, I will mention more about equipment load as already mentioned, your character can become overburdened by the load that they carry as they pick up items throughout the game. However, you can offload equipment to the NPC at the Nexus called Stockpile Thomas, who will hold your equipment safely for you. However, in the remake, a neat change that has been added is if you are danger of being overburdened, the game will allow you to move any items that would do so to storage, so it can be retrieved at a later date. This is a nice change from the original's rather inconvenient way of forcing you to drop items to or leave them behind due to your equipment burden.

GRAPHICS 

Finally moving onto the game's graphics, well its safe to say that the orignal Demon's Souls graphics were easily the most dated looking of all the Souls games, especially given as it was initially released on the PS3. However even by PS3 standards, the graphics are still a bit behind the times but I guess this might have come down to the budget limitations available to the developers at the time.  

However, this is not a problem in the remake as the graphics are simply stunning in their richness and detail as the environments all look fantastic as they have been given a huge 4K upgrade over the original's dated looks. In fact the game comes with two modes, a performance mode targetting 60fps and a native 4K mode, which runs at 30fps. Character models also look excellent too although I would still say their facial animations looks a bit weird an unnatural at times. Regardless of this though, they still look very impressive.

You also have access a number of visual filters that give the game a different look as the standard look of the game is pretty dark alot of the time, particularly in the Nexus. However, the visual filters allow players to make profiles for the game that appear more bright or vivid, which can prove useful especially in a darkly lit area in the game. 

So, overall the visuals are very impressive in the remake and it does show off the PS5's graphics capapbilities very well indeed.

MUSIC

As for the music, the game features a pretty good score by Shunsuke Kida and it is largely very orchestral and features choral sections also very much like the Souls scores that would follow it but I would still say that the Dark Souls trilogy's music scores were far more memorable than this one here. Regardless of that though there are still some good themes here that include the themes for the bosses, Armour Spider, Tower Knight and my favourite is Maiden Astraea, which is quite different from the rest of score and is easily the real standout of the soundtrack.

As for the remake however, the score has been re-orchestrated by American composer, Bill Hemstapat, who recorded the score with a 75 piece orchestra. The remake score however doesn't bear a great deal of resemblance to the original although some themes do have a familiar sound to them but for the most part, the score is quite different to the original as it is more grandiose sounding in its orchestral arrangements. However, I actually prefer the original score myself as it has more charm to it as I think some of that is lost in translation to the remake one. Regardless of this though, its still a pretty decent score and suits the tone of the game well for the most part. 

FLAWS

So finally moving onto the flaws section. Does Demon's Souls Remake have any? Yep it does but I have to be fair to some of these flaws I will mention as this was the first game in the Souls series, so its only fair to expect that they would need to iron any of the issues featured here in future games.

Anyway with that said, I would begin by saying that one thing that is a bit annoying and a drawback is to do with the equipment load system, which is inferior to the Souls trilogy's. And the reason why is because you can only carry so many items before you get the annoying message "you cannot carry this item. It would overburden you" comes up! Now, the way to deal with this would be either drop the item to pick up the other one, or head back to the Nexus deposit your items with the NPC that stores them for you, Stockpile Thomas.This however has been alleviated somewhat in the remake by allowing items to be automatically moved to storage when you do become overburdened, which does neturalise this criticism to an extent and is a nice change.  

Another issue is to do with the World Tendency concept, which if you are new to the game then its something that might trip you up as it did in my first playthrough of the original (which the save file got corrupted for, so I had to start a 2nd playthrough to finish the game!). And the main problem with this is if you stay in body form and keep dying, the world tendency will turn black as mentioned in my WT section and the enemies become stronger and harder to kill and your max health is reduced in soul form. So, this is a real pain in the asss if you get stuck in such as situation and it can also force to deal with an extra bunch of in-game invaders who also have more health! So, in short you really need to take care when you play this game at first and if in doubt, just stay in soul form to avoid this trap.

Something else that bugged me in the game was to do with how the Maiden in Black keeps changing her position every time you travel back to the Nexus and given it is a pretty big place, its easy to lose track of where she is! I mean one minute she's at the bottom of the stairs and the next she is right up the top where you can't see here without running around or she might sitting down in a crouched pose! So, I wish they would have limited the amount of positions she can move to when you travel back to the Nexus to make your life just that bit easier to find her and level up.

Another problem found was to do with the lack of archstones at times in the game, which can cause much frustration in certain areas, particularly in the Tower of Latria world, as I had found myself having to do a massive runback from the second archstone to try and progress through the swamp area and up the top. However, when I did this one time, I was killed en-route to the top by a gargoyle and another time I carelessly jumped off a lift taking me up, which meant I had to start all over again! So, the lack of archstones really does force you to be extra careful in these areas, which can also be pretty challenging.

Then there is of course the issue relating to the sheer amount of upgrade stones throughout the game as there simply too many to choose from and they are quite confusing in what some of them even do! In fact I think overall there are 16 different types of stone to be found in the game, which is too many if you have ask me and serve more to confuse the player than help them.

Another thing that might also be a big problem in the game is that there is no forgiveness system like there is in the Dark Souls games, where you can be pardoned for your sins if your accidentally attack an NPC either in the Nexus or in the worlds. And if you make this mistake that means you are pretty much scuppered with dealing with that NPC, so if you e.g. unwittingly attack the magician, Freke, then he will refuse to deal with you and will try and kill you instead, leaving you no choice but to kill him. So, if you are a mage then that's you pretty much screwed!

I also noticed in the game that there are certain weapons that cannot be upgraded, which I found a bit annoying such as the crossbows and certain shields like the leather ones. Now I can sort of see the point of not necessarily wanting to upgrade a leather shield but a crossbow?! I mean come on! A crossbow can be a pretty essential weapon in the Souls series and to not allow it to be upgraded is frankly ridiculous! So, I'm not sure what the game director, Hidetaka Miyazaki's logic was here when he made these upgrade decisions in this game.   

Another issue I have, which is specific to the remake version is to do with killing the crystal lizards in an area, because in the original game and other Souls games you could just reload the game from the menu and the crystal lizards would reappear. However, in the remake, you cannot do that here as you need to travel back to the area to reset it, so you can kill the crystal lizards you missed. This is an annoying change especially when it comes to having to kill the surrounding enemies over and over again and probably one of the poorest changes in the remake. 

Another remake issue is to do with the new recording of the NPC dialogue, which has been altered somewhat and feels like its lacking some of the character and personality in the original. A prime example of this is the character, Boldwin the blacksmith at the Nexus, who was a grumpy Scotsman in the original game but here they've made him more amicable sounding. So, instead of his grumpy sign off of "You come back alive! I need your business!" its now "Do come back alive. I need your business" which makes him sound more submissive and wishy washy! 

Another example of this comes in the form of needlessly changing the dialogue from the original with the worst offender being the Maiden in Black's dialogue when you finish leveling up your character. And in the original, the Maiden at this point would ask "Art thou done?" but they changed it to "Art thou finished?" in the remake! Now, this to me is totally pointless and adds nothing to the game whatsoever other than maybe annoy or irk some fans of the game, who would also feel these choices are largely pointless. 

I also felt that some of the sound effects in the game where a bit off and overblown sounding and as an example, casting certain spells such as soul arrow sounds more like you are firing a laser gun than doing a spell cast in a not so futuristic setting! Then there is the Storm King boss, who sounds more like a giant whale than anything else and this is a bit of a naff change. So, yeah I felt the sound effects in places definitely could have been a bit better,

Another issue and one of the more disappointing aspects of the game is how just easy most of the bosses in the game are to defeat. I mean the final boss of the game, King Allant, who is essentially a large grub is ridiculously easy as you can even just finish him off with magic spells without even going anywhere near him! There are still a few tricky bosses in the game but to finish it all off with a "boss" that has zero challenge to him, is pretty disappointing. Although at least with the remake, they kept the difficulty level quite consistent with the original game overall.

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So to finally sum up, Demon's Souls Remake is an excellent update to the original game and its enhanced, stunning visuals really show off the PS5's graphical abilities. The gameplay also remains as enjoyable as the original and with a few tweaks here and there, it gives the game a more modern feel to its combat, which is a good thing. 

There are a few issues however with the gameplay here and there and the sound effects and some changes to the voice acting are a bit annoying and disappointing in places. However all that aside, Demon's Souls is still an excellent upgrade to the original game and if you are lucky enough to get a PS5, then its certainly worth a look to anyone, who fancies giving the Souls games a try.

So, I will give Demon's Souls remake a rating of: 

9 out of 10 

OK, that's it for now and I will be back with another review next month.

Till then its bye for now.

Umbasa!  

Bloodborne Remaster: Will it ever happen???

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right, well just for a change I thought I would do a topical post of sorts and the subject of the post will be on the action role play game, Bloodborne, which was made by the creators of the Dark Souls series and later, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, FromSoftware. 

And Bloodborne is often regarded as one of the greatest video games of all time with its superb combat and challenging boss fights, it was one of the great highlights of the PS4 generation. However, its a game that isn't without its problems on a technical and visual level, which I will get into more below and is the main aspect of this post as Bloodborne has had numerous issues in this regard.

So, this all begs the question (and the title lol) when will Bloodborne ever get a remaster??? Well, I certainly don't know the answer but let's take a look at this subject anyway as it has been of much debate between fans since the game's release. 

BLOODBORNE ON RELEASE AND AS IT IS JUST NOW 

When it first came out on the Playstation 4, Bloodborne was heralded as a great game and it certainly was with its amazingly imaginative visuals, creative boss design and its fast paced intense combat. However on its release, Bloodborne had its issues such as uneven frame pacing, which causes a visible stuttering in the image, not to mention long loading times that disrupted the flow of the game greatly when moving from area to area. It also suffers some visual aliasing (the appearance of jagged lines in graphics) which gives them a rough unpolished look.  

The game's director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, himself had said that he wanted to make them as detailed as possible in its design in relation the works of H.P. Lovecroft, the game was inspired by. This is in itself probably brought its own compromises in terms of the game's performance when it came to framerate as FromSoftware went for a 30 frames per second cap. This in itself was not as much an issue as the uneven frame pacing that game would suffer from as mentioned, somewhat hurt the fluidity of its performance. Frame pacing itself is the time it takes between displaying frames and smooth frame pacing should occur at the same time interval, however if it doesn't, this is where you get noticeable stuttering in the image. 

Now, Bloodborne as it stands is definitely playable and its locked frame rate of 30 fps even for me is certainly not enough to stop me from wanting to play it as it remains as addictive and enjoyable as it did on my first playthrough (as I have played this game about 50 times already!). However at the same time, its a great pity that the game couldn't have been optimized at a later date by FromSoftware and patched to achieve 60 fps as this would greatly have increased the game's response time and visuals, not to mention it would better its fast paced combat. But as of yet, we are yet to hear anything from either Sony or FromSoftware regarding a remaster or patch of any kind to improve its performance. 

UNOFFICIAL 60 FPS PATCH 

However, as things are just now, there is an existing patch that has been developed by a data miner and Twitch streamer, Lance MacDonald, who managed to create a patch based on the PS4 Pro patch for Dark Souls III, that enabled him to run Bloodborne at 60fps. The only real compromise here is that Lance had to reduce the resolution for the game to 720p as opposed to its standard 1080p resolution as he was unable to achieve this any other way. This also highlighted the deficiencies of the original game engine and how it was locked at 30fps and there appeared to no way around it. However, Lance's great work on patching the game to 60fps, really did show what was capable with the game and instantly made the game appear an even more enjoyable experience and how it was meant to be played. Lance's patch is also freely available for download and use but it does require a hacked PS4 to run it on. 

BLOODBORNE ON THE PS5 

As for Bloodborne on the PS5, there was much anticipation from fans as to whether the game would get an 60fps boost once the next gen console would come available. However on the release of the PS5, this unfortunately turned out not to be the case as Bloodborne still ran at a locked 30fps with the same problematic frame pacing we had seen in the PS4 release. This in itself was a big disappointment, particularly as it really showed itself as another great incentive to purchase a PS5 console. However that was hardly problem given that the PS5 has been extremely difficult to get since its release due to the global shortage and the Coronavirus pandemic's impact of the microchip manufacturers worldwide, who create the chips used in the PS5 consoles.  

SO WHY HASN'T BLOODBORNE BEEN PATCHED OR REMASTERED???

Well, this is the big question and I myself and others can only guess as to why. 

However based one or two sources, I do have some ideas as to maybe why Bloodborne never has been patched or remastered (although this is just pure speculation). 

The first possible reason was hinted at by the Digital Foundry Youtube channel, who did a video on Bloodborne in recent months as they suggested it could be to do with the possible complexities of re-opening and compiling the existing code, which would require extensive testing to ensure any new improved patch wouldn't break the game. This almost certainly would require FromSoftware to come back in to do the work to patch the game as a developer from what I've heard, they use a method of hard coding the framerate into the game and have game events tied to a specific framerate also. And without the developers being able to patch it to unlock the 30fps framerate, it wouldn't really be possible to do it any other way. 

Another possible reason is just maybe FromSoftware were approached by Sony to patch the game and maybe they could not come to a contractual agreement to do the work necessary. This might boil down to FromSoft not getting sufficient payment to do the job but again this is just pure speculation and frankly there has been no evidence to suggest this was ever the case. 

And last of all, another possible reason could be perhaps it is just not the correct time as of yet to do a remaster or patch of the game given that FromSoftware are currently working on their latest game, Elden Ring, which had new footage released just last week and is due out next January. So, until Elden Ring itself is released and patched and possibly any DLCs are published and out of the way, Bloodborne will be just left on the backburner.

SO, WILL IT EVER HAPPEN??? 

Well, this is certainly one question I can't answer as it remains unknown when either FromSoftware or Sony will return to Bloodborne to update it. However until then you can only hope that Bloodborne will one day get the visual upgrade it deserves and until then, any issues aside, it still remains a great game and a joy to play and let's hope in the not so distant future, we can get that upgrade to enjoy it even more. 

So, that's it for now and I hope you enjoyed this post as it is something a bit different and more topical.

So, until the next post, its bye for now and may the good blood guide your way!

Game Review - Judgment

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, its time for a new review and this will be of a video game I have recently finished playing, which is the action adventure video game, Judgment, which is a spin-off of the Yazuka games series. I haven't played the Yakuza games but I had seen some videos of this game on Youtube and was intrigued by them, so thought I would give it a go. 

So, with that said, let's take a look at the game and see how it stacks up...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD (BUT NOT TOO MANY!) 

STORY 

So, I will quote a bit of the plot from Wikipedia below to save time on typing (lol!).

"Defense attorney Takayuki Yagami investigates and successfully clears hospital worker Shinpei Okubo of the murder of patient Koichi Waku. However, Okubo is arrested shortly thereafter for allegedly murdering his girlfriend. Guilt-ridden, Yagami resigns from his law firm. Three years later, Yagami becomes a private detective in Tokyo's Kamurocho district and accepts investigation requests with his partner, ex-Tojo clan member Masaharu Kaito. A serial killer has been murdering yakuza members in Kamurocho and removing the eyes of the corpses. Yagami accepts a murder case concerning a Matsugane clan captain, Kyohei Hamura, who is suspected of killing a Kyorei clan member using the same methods. Yagami proves Hamura's innocence, though he suspects that he is working with the killer that Yagami dubs the Mole...". 

THOUGHTS 

Judgment is a very entertaining action game, which tells a really good and intriguing story that keeps you playing and guessing as to what is going on and who is really behind the killings. The characters are also very well drawn out with Yagami, a former top defense lawyer, who now works as a private detective and feels guilty after he defended a man, who then went on to murder his girlfriend. Yagami however is not only good with his mind but also with his fists as he often takes own many of the street gang thugs and Yakuza to be found in the fictional Tokyo district, Kamurocho and is helped by partner, Kaito, a former Yakuza, who was expelled from the Matsugane family. At the heart of the game is a man, who is determined to get to the truth and will stop at nothing until he gets it (sounds familiar lol!).

GAMEPLAY 

As for gameplay, I will cover it in sub sections below as per usual. 

MOVEMENT

Starting with movement, your character Yagami, who you play in the third person perspective, can walk, run and climb and jump over obstacles and during chase scenes, you will use quick time event button choices to allow Yagami to evade things in his path when chasing someone. Yagami can also tail someone in the game and in those instances, he can find certain spots that he can crouch behind to stay out of sight of his target before resuming his tail.

COMBAT 

Combat wise, Judgment inherits a similar combat system found in the Yakuza series, where Yagami exclusively uses hand to hand combat and can perform a series of combos on his enemies, which can be street thugs, Yakuza members or the main game bosses. Yagami can also choose between two different fighting styles, crane-style, which focuses on fighting enemies in groups and tiger style, which deals with fighting individuals. Yagami can also pick up objects to help him deal greater damage to enemies such as bicycles, traffic cones and advert signs (yep ad signs!) which can be triggered by a quick time event button press.

Yagami will also have access a number of consumables that can boost his attack power that even give different effects such as fire and lightning to his combos that last only a limited while. Yagami can also be helped in combat situations by Kaito and without giving the plot away, he has another couple of associates who can help him in combat too. 

INVESTIGATIONS AND TAILING

Another key aspect of the gameplay involves Yagami using his investigation skills to look for clues either at crime scenes or other areas when working a main story case or a side case. The player will have to hover over certain objects within one area and Yagami will scan them for clues, once he has looked over the required objects, his investigation will be complete. 

Yagami will also as part of his investigations, ask people different questions throughout the game in both the main story and side missions to obtain information. Based on which order you ask the questions, Yagami may also be awarded a skill point bonus in these moments but if you ask in the wrong sequence, you will miss out on the bonus. The game will also try and ensure you were paying attention as Yagami will at times have to recall information he had learned and you will be prompted for it. 

As for tailing, Yagami can tail suspects involved in crimes or other activities in both the main story and also the side missions. In this mode, Yagami must keep his distance from the person or they will become suspicious and turn round and look out for him, which will cause a suspicion meter to increase as the person grows more aware of Yagami following them. Yagami can also in some instances  use his phone to take pictures of the people he is following if related to a specific case e.g. one case involves Yagami to follow a female client's husband she suspects is cheating on her and Yagami must get a picture of him as proof. 

CONSUMABLES AND HEALTH  

Moving onto consumables, there are various ones to be found in the game that have different uses such as replenishing HP, boosting Yagami's EX gauge (to perform special attacks), boosting Yagami's attack power and also to increase item discovery when defeating enemies. As for Yagami's health, which is shown by a health bar on the HUD, it can be increased by gaining skill points but Yagami can suffer mortal wounds during combat, which will require him to use medical kits or to visit an underground doctor, who can treat him for these wounds. 

SKILLS 

As for skills, Yagami can learn different skills for combat as well as adaptive skills within his environment. Such skills for combat include different attacks for both the Tiger and Crane fighting styles, evasive moves to dodge attacks during fights. Other skills also include Yagami's ability to pick locks and use wires to open doors, so he can infiltrate different areas as well as increase his abilities to use a drone, which Yagami will use off and on through the game to spy on suspects to gather information. 

FRIENDSHIPS AND DATING EVENTS

Throughout the game, Yagami can also get to meet knew people, who he can befriend by doing them favours or helping them out in some way, which will allow him to form friendships with them. Further to this, Yagami can also through friendship also go on dates with women, which will involve texting them back and forth in order to meet up and eventually form a relationship with them.

ENEMIES AND BOSSES

And lastly in the gameplay section are the enemies and bosses in the game as Yagami will face a various number of enemies throughout the game. The enemies can range from street thugs, who Yagami often fight in groups and for the most part are quite straight forward, however as the game progresses, the gangs can become tougher. Then there are the bosses of the game, who can present a stronger challenge for Yagami as they larger health bars and more often than not, they will have at least two health bars that Yagami must deplete before defeating them. There are however mini bosses in the game, which Yagami can fight and on defeat, he will just get up and take his loss on the chin (literally I guess!) but the main game bosses will see Yagami die, which involves restarting the fight again. 

VOICE ACTING

As for the voice acting, well I played the game using the English voice option, so the accents are exclusively American and I know some of the English voice acting in certain Japanese games can sound a bit dodgy but overall here, they have done a pretty good job with a solid cast.

Starting with Greg Chun, who is excellent as Yagami, the former lawyer, turned private detective, who takes on a murder case, which goes way deeper than he expected and event links to his past. Yagami generally a pretty morose expression on his face but despite that, Chun actually makes Yagami quite likeable while serious, he does show that Yagami has a lighter side too. 

Crispin Freeman is also very good in his role as Kaito, Yagami's partner at the detective agency, who was a former Yakuza member, who was expelled from his family but now helps Yagami to try and solve the murder case in the main game. Kaito is a very ballsy, gung-ho character but basically a good guy in his own way and his brash yet likeable manner, adds a lot of colour to the game (especially the shirt he wears throughout!).

Fred Tatasciore is excellent too in his role as the intimidating Yakuza captain, Hamura, who is arrested for the murder of a Yakuza member and put on trial for it but there is more than meets the eye with him. Tatasciore actually replaced another actor in the role, who had criminal charges against them, which forced the makers to dismiss him and change the actor's likeness. 

Brian McNamara also is very good as Genda, the head lawyer of the law firm, where Yagami used to work before his resignation and he plays a key part in helping Yagami out during the murder case of the main story.

Cherami Leigh also provides a fine performance as Mafuyu, a lawyer at the chief prosecutor's office, who was once romantically linked to Yagami and as the game progressives, she tries to help Yagami with the murder case. Leigh herself would go on to voice the female version of V in the RPG action game, Cyberpunk 2077.

Steve Blum is also very good in his role as Higashi, a high ranking member of the Matsugane Yakuza family, who faces stern pressure from Hamura's brutal ways throughout the game and has torn loyalities toward his family and helping Yagami and Kaito.

Keythe Farley also provides a very good performance as Shintani, one of the lawyers that Yagami works with and defends the Yakuza captain, Hamura on his murder trial. Shintani however soon becomes involved in something deeper than just Hamura's trial, which later has dire consequences.

And last of all is Michael Gough, who also does very well in his role as Shono, an important research scientist who works for a centre that is trying to create a drug that will cure alzheimer's disease with the drug known as AD-9. 

GRAPHICS 

As for the graphics, the game looks great with plenty of good detail in the environments and the busy streets of Kamurocho are always lively with people walking around but there are also plenty of neon lights, traffic, reflections and shadows. As for the character models, they are also excellent although not quite lifelike, they still look very good as Yagami and the other characters all very well rendered. There are some rough edges to the graphics however here and there (well there was on the Xbox Series S version I played but maybe not so much on the other next gen consoles) which are often noticeable on windows and blinds. That aside though, Judgment is still a pretty good looking game.  

MUSIC

As for the music, the score was composed by Hidenori Shoji and it is pretty good overall as it sounds both quite modern but at the same time, it also has a noir feel to it, particularly in the moments where Yagami is tailing someone. The score also re-uses a couple of its themes for different parts of the game, specifically where Yagami is questioning someone or there is a fight scene. Overall however, this is a pretty good score and one that is well suited to the tone of the game. 

FLAWS

As for flaws...yeah Judgment does have some worth mentioning. 

For starters, I think while the game's story is a very good one overall, I did think the game ran on just a bit too long as there are a whopping 13 chapters in these game and each chapters is at least a couple of hours each. So, by the time I had finished my playthrough time was over 26 hours long, which is just a bit long winded for my liking for such a game. The story thankfully is pretty compelling overall but I just felt the game still could have benefited from being a bit shorter.

Another issue I had was to do with the repetitive nature of the combat, as the game overwhelms you with loads of enemies as Yagami runs through the streets, he frequently is forced to fight street thugs or Yakuza family members over and over again. So, it tends to get a bit tedious after a while, as you just want to get from A to B after a while without having to open another can of whoop-ass on more enemies! The same can also be said for the main game missions where Yagami has to infiltrate different places, he will again have to fight groups of enemies time and time again before he can reach his objective and again this can get a bit tiresome after a while as it is so repetitive. 

This is also brings me onto the side missions of the game, as there are times where the game also springs them on you at some inconvenient moments where again you just want to get somewhere but then the game presents with another side mission! One such example is where Yagami has to chase a floating object through the streets and if you lose it, you have to start all over again and I just happened to stumble on this side mission by accident, which I didn't really want to do in the first place. So, if that happens, you basically just have to reload the game and try and take a different route to avoid the mission.

Another problem I had was to do with the map system as reading the map can get a bit confusing from a directional standpoint, especially when you place a way point to get somewhere but following the map, you can too easily take a wrong turn and end up in the wrong direction entirely! You can get use to the map system after a while but at first it is pretty confusing.

WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!! 

And last of all on a plot note, I felt there are time where Yagami was being a bit too direct and confrontational with certain suspects before he had sufficient evidence in the game. Such an example was when Yagami goes to the ADDC to confront the research scientist, Shono, who is working on the drug, AD-9 to cure Alzheimer's. So, Yagami basically barges into the place, beats up the guards that oppose him and he corners Shono and tells him his theory that implicates Shono in the murder case Yagami investigates, without any proof whatsoever. So, for me there are times where Yagami just wants to intimidate his suspects to get a reaction but without actual proof its more just a waste of time. 

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Judgment is a very solid and enjoyable spin-off game from the Yakuza series, which tells a really compelling story that will keep you guessing and riveted to its end and the gameplay itself is fun with a number of different things you can do and not just the combat, which is also fun. There are some issues of course still as the game is very long and the combat can get a bit repetitive after a while with non stop hoards of enemies after you. 

However, if you are willing to forgive its shortcomings, Judgment is definitely worth checking out and I for one, will definitely be checking out the game's sequel, Judgment Lost, which should be out later this year. 

So, I will give Judgment a rating of:

8 out of 10 

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

Till then, bye for now!  

Cape Fear (1991) Review "You gonna learn about loss!"

 

 

 

 

 

OK, time for another post as we near June (can't believe its June already!) and this one will be a revisit of one of my older posts and it will be on the 1991 remake of the classic thriller, Cape Fear with the remake directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro as the villain, Max Cady. So, it will be the usual additional stuff to the post but I will try and cut it down just a bit more, so the performance section isn't too ridiculous like it usually is length wise!

So, after 30 years, let's see how the remake stacks up...

And the usual warning is coming...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!

STORY 

So, the film starts with Max Cady (Robert De Niro), a convict who has just been released from prison afer serving 14 years for rape and battery, seeks out his lawyer Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) and looks for revenge for Sam having put Cady away behind bars.  Sam was his defence lawyer at the time back in Atlana in 1977, but during the case, on seeing what Cady did to his victim, a 16 year old girl, he decided to bury a report that came back saying the girl was promiscuous.  And had Sam let this report be used, it might have seen Cady get off with a lighter sentence or be released.  Of course Cady has since caught on to this, and that's his main reason he wants revenge, for the suffering and pain he endured in prison.  

So, Cady starts a series of incidents to intimidate and get at Sam and his family, this starts with the Bowden's dog being mysteriously poisoned.  Cady also meets with a girl, Lori (Illeana Douglas) who is a county court clerk, who works with Sam, whom he has been seeing behind his wife's back.  Cady although appears to hit it off with Lori when they meet in a bar, he soon takes her back to his apartment where he brutally beats and rapes her.  On hearing of the attack, Sam goes to hospital and talks to Lori, asking her to testify, but she refuses as she knows how the system works, and she doesn't want to explain herself to a jury in court about how she came to be in a bar with Cady. 

After having no success with the police, Sam decides to hire a private eye, Claude Kersek (Joe Don Baker) to follow Cady and maybe catch him in the act, although ultimately Cady makes Kersek at a local diner, and Kersek confronts him and tells him to leave town, but Cady refuses.  Meanwhile Cady approaches Sam's daughter Danielle (Juliette Lewis) at school and tries to charm her around in his favour, in doing so he puts his hand around her, gets her to suck his thumb erotically, and he kisses her before leaving, Dani then panics and runs off.  

Soon after Sam gets Kersek to hire some guys to do a "hospital" job on Cady, involving two pieces of pipe and a bicycle chain, however during the attack, Cady turns the tables and viciously beats them.  Cady then goes one better on Sam by hiring a top lawyer Lee Heller (Gregory Peck), who Sam shortly after the botched attack approaches to make an injunction on Cady, only to find that he was pipped to the post by his enemy.  In court it is revealed that Cady recorded a conversation between himself and Sam, as Sam threatened Cady to leave town or he will be hurting like he never dreamed.  As a result of the hearing, Cady gets a restraining order filed against Sam, and Lee petitions the ABA (American Bar Association) ethics comission to have Sam disbarred.

Sam now desparate turns to Kersek for help in trying to get rid of Cady, Kersek suggests that Sam fake his flight out to his hearing, and instead steakout in the Bowden household for Cady to come in and shoot him in what he sees as justifiable self defence.  However Cady is one step ahead again, and mysteriously makes his way into the house where he kills Kersek and the house maid Graciella (Zully Montero) by garroting them with piano wire (which he had taken from the Bowden's piano). 

Sam and his family then decide to flee to their houseboat and travel up to Cape Fear in hope of escaping Cady.  However tenacious as ever, Cady follows them to their location by strapping himself to the chassis of the Bowdens' Cherokee jeep. And soon enough on the houseboat, during a violent stormy night, Cady confronts them for the last time, intent on exacting his full revenge on Sam and his family... 

THOUGHTS 

Most remakes of course fall flat on their face, but thankfully Cape Fear isn't one of them, with Martin Scorsese at the directorial helm, it certainly wouldn't do that.  I also actually prefer it to the original version, as I think the Bowden family in the original version of Cape Fear where a bit too goody goody and clean cut.  In the remake, they are a dysfunctional family, who have tried to make some amends, but Sam has had a past history of womanising, Leigh of course is the frustrated housewife and Dani is the shellshocked, lonely teenager.  It doesn't make for a particularly happy image of the American family, but it certainly makes it more interesting to watch than a clean cut cardboard cut out family.  

What doesn't change so much of course is the depiction of Max Cady, as Robert De Niro plays in an not entirely similar but not disimilar way to Robert Mitchum, although Scorsese did say he use Mitchum's character from the Night of the Hunter as more of an influence.  As Cady in the remake is more like a demented preacher at times than just an ex-con, and he regularly quotes passages from the bible to Sam in their various meetings.  

Its the ultimate irony, that in Cady's eyes that he thinks he is some sort of angel sent to do God's work, and at the end of it all, he thinks he will go to heaven, despite his brutal violent nature.  Although if you think about it, in a strange way Cady was trying to save Sam from himself, with Lori for example, he exposed the fact he was seeing Lori behind his wife's back.  If Cady hadn't intervened, Sam's deception no doubt would have carried on, but its almost like Cady is the moral adjudacator who prevents it from carrying on.  It leads onto that bizzare but true line from Cady to Sam at one point when he says "You could say I'm here to save you".    

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

Performance wise the cast are all excellent here with solid efforts all round.

Starting with Robert De Niro, who is great as Max Cady, the ex-con, who is released from prison after a 14 year sentence and is hellbent on seeking revenge over his lawyer, Sam Bowden, who had essentially shafted him.

And De Niro has his share of great scenes and it would be impossible to list them all, so I will mention just a few as this review is big as it is lol.

So, the first scene I will mention is the one where Cady follows Sam to his car after his squash session with Lori. So, as Sam gets in his car and puts the key in the ignition, Cady suddenly pulls the key out of it and says to Sam "Free as a bird apparently! You go to wherever with whomever. That sort of freedom couldn't get a fella into a trouble, what do you think?" and Sam says "I kinda would like my keys". So, Cady then introduces himself and shakes Sam's hand and says "Max Cady" and he continues "14 years since I held a set of keys" and he gives them back to Sam. So, Sam says "Well you look good, healthy" and Cady says "Thank you because its a struggle stay healthy in the joint. But you wouldn't know about that would you?". Sam then asks him "So, what brings you to New Essex?" and Cady says "Oh, the climate. Oh boy, the South! I'm thinking of settling right down here in New Essex, counselor!". Sam then starts his engine and says to Cady "Well, you took care of yourself, Mr Cady" and Cady says "You too". However as Sam starts to drive off, Cady says under his breath "You gonna learn about loss!" and Sam stops his car and call out to Cady and says "What??!" but Cady has already walked back to his car.

Another good scene comes when Cady pulls up his car next to Sam on the street and he says to him "Afternoon counselor" and Sam impatiently asks him "What do you want, Mr Cady?" and a few teenage school girls walk past him at this point and Cady eyes them up and says "Hmmm hmm! They're great at that age, aren't they? All those discoveries ahead of em". Cady then says to Sam "You're lucky counselor. My own daughter, she don't even know me, her mother told her I was dead, which in a way I was".

Sam then tries to reason with Cady and realises that he has suffered but Cady just laughs dismissively at him when Sam tries to blame it on the judge instead. Cady however says "Best I remember they were just doing right by their jobs" and Sam says that he did his best and Cady could have been handed a tougher sentence. So, Cady looks at Sam and says "I learned to read during my stretch. First "Spot goes through the farm" then "Run away, bunny" then law books mostly and he continues "You know after I discharged you, I acted as my own attorney? Applied several times for an appeal". Sam however finally asks "OK how much do you want, Mr Cady?" and Sam says "How much money?" and Cady points to his car and says "Counselor! Do, I look destitute to you?". 

Sam then suggests he is open to discussion on compensation and Cady asks him "What is the formula for compensation, sir?" and Sam suggests "How about $10,000 in cash?" and Cady looks a bit insulted and says "Do I? Well...let's just break that down!" and Sam says "No, that was just a number off the top of my head" and Cady continues "No, let's just break that down. Let's say 20,000, let's say 30,0000, let's say 50,000. 50,000 into 14 years I guess that's what about 5000 days and that's about 10 dollars a day! I mean that's not even minimum wage! That's not to say anything about the family I lost, the respect I lost. I really don't think you understand what we're talkin about here. 14 years!". Then his beeper goes off and Cady says to Sam "Oh, gotta git! I'm late for another appointment" and he drives off.

Then there is the great scene where Cady meets and charms Lori in a bar and gets her drunk where we see how charming Cady can be when he wants to be and flirts with Lori but also hints at the truth of his background. 

So, in the scene as Lori tells Cady about Sam standing her up, she asks a bit about Cady and asks "Now, its my turn. Where are you from?" and Cady smiles and says "Where am I from? You're gonna love this! I'm from Georgia state correctional facility" and Lori bursts out laughing and Cady can't help but laugh a little too. Cady however confirms what he said "You think I'm joking, that's the truth. I just got released from prison". Lori laughs even more and recovers and says "Oh my God! This is the way my day has been turning out!". 

Lori then tells Cady a joke about a married man who went to prison for killing his wife with a chainsaw "chopped her into 52 pieces!" which prompts laughter from Cady. Lori then asks "What did you do?" and Cady jokes "Well, I hacked my wife into 52 pieces!" and Lori says "Well, I'm quite a small person so..." and Cady jokes "Well maybe I could hack you into 40 pieces!" and he laughs. Lori however curiously asks "No, but what did you do? Seriously?" and Cady jokes in a female voice "No, but what did you do?!". Cady then tells Lori "Well, there was this protest march on a nuclear power plant. And so when they came to arrest us, this macho sheriff got a tad rough with the lady behind me, so I popped the little bastard. So, they gave me a little time for it". So, Lori tells Cady she is drinking sea breezes and hopes he can afford them but Cady teasingly says "You gotta stay sober. Because if you ain't sober, you're taking your chances because I am just one hell of an animal!" and Lori then grins and says "Oh, yeah? Do tell!". 

Then we have the scene where Cady drops by the Bowden house and talks to Leigh as he gives her Leigh's dog collar and he soon reveals who he is to her. 

So, as Cady hands over the collar, Leigh tells him "Our dog...he passed away" and Cady says "Aww shame. Man's best friend and all. Woman's too!" and Leigh smiles a little and Cady says "Even if I close my eyes I can picture him. Big, white, shaggy, plays at your feet while you finish up those pesky little sketches!". Then it dawns on Leigh who Cady is and she says "Oh, you're Max Cady, aren't you? You know you better get the hell out of here before I call the police!" and Cady tells her "I'm not doing nothing. I'm just giving you your dog collar back, I'm not on your property". 

Leigh then angrily asks Cady "You want to look around, Mr Cady?! Take a good look!" and Cady looks at the house and says "Nice house" and Leigh angrily says "It is a nice house. You satisfied now?! You've seen it? Or is there gonna be more? Oh, there will be more, Mr Cady because you won't stop until your happy!". Cady then tells Leigh with a smile "How can I happy, Leigh when you're not happy" and Leigh smirks and says "You don't anything about me!" but Cady tells her "I know what I see, ma'am!". 

Leigh then tells Cady "You know, I've been waiting to see your face and what you look like but now that I see you...you are just repulsive!". Cady then says "I understand, I'm not your type. All that prison made me coarse. Guess I'm covered in too many tattoos huh? Unfortunately there isn't a whole hell of a lot to do in prison except desecrate your flesh! But it didn't have to be this way if your husband hadn't betrayed us both. We might have been happy, Leigh!".   

Another good scene is when Cady is beaten up by the guys Sam hired through Kersek but Cady turns the tables on them and beats them up instead. So, as Cady finishes beating on them, Sam hiding clatters into something and hides behind a dumpster.

So, Cady looks up and calls out to Sam "Counselor?! Counselor?! Is that you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!". Cady all blooded then goes to pick up his cap and he stands over the men he's beaten up and says to them "I ain't no white trash piece of shit. I'm better than you all! I can out-learn you. I can out-read you. I can out-think you. And I can out-philosophize you. And I'm gonna outlast you. You think a couple whacks to my guts is gonna get me down? It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than that, Counselor, to prove you're better than me!". Cady then quotes from a German poet, Angelus Silesius ""I am like God, and God like me. I am as large as God, He is as small as I. He cannot above me, nor I beneath Him be." Silesius, 17th Century!". Cady then slowly walks towards the dumpster and calls out to Sam "Counselor? Counselor?? Could you be there? Could you be there? I wonder if you're here?" but Sam says nothing and stays hidden. So, Cady eventually gives up and says "Aw fuck it! If you're here what the fuck's the difference? Fuck it!" and he throws away the lead pipe and walks to his car. 

And last of all is the scene where Cady has his final confrontation with Sam on the houseboat during a violent stormy night and after he has been set on fire by Danielle, sustaining nasty burns to his skin, he climbs back onboard and he points a gun at Sam and says "The people call Samuel J. Bowden!". 

So, in the next moment we cut to Cady back in the cabin holding Sam at gunpoint and he asks him in the style of a judge "You swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?!" and Sam warns Cady "Cady, someone's got to man the boat, we're heading into unprotected water!". Danielle then moves to do it and says "I'll do it, dad" but Cady points the gun at her and shouts "Sit, Danielle! Don't make light of your civic duty! You're the jury!". Sam then says "OK, I swear to tell you the truth, what do you want to know?" and Cady asks "Was a prior pre-sexual history ever prepared in connection with my defense?". Sam however hesitates to answer, so Cady hits him with his gun and asks "A prior pre-sexual was prepared. True?" and Sam says yes. Cady then asks "Could you tell the court what was the gist of this report?" and Sam stalls again "It was 14 years ago, I can't remember that" prompting Cady to hit him again.

Leigh screams and shouts at Cady "How can he answer you when you're hitting him like that?!!" and Cady turns to her and says "Cos he's perjuring himself, your honor, he knows full well what it said" and he turns back to Sam and shouts "Don't you??!". So, Sam admits "It said she was promiscuous and she had 3 lovers in one month" and Cady emphatically says "AT LEAST THREE! AT LEAST THREE! And did you show this report to the DA?" and Sam admits "No". Cady then says "I only discovered itafter I petitioned to represent myself but there it was in the court file! Six years into my sentence! What you care to tell the court why?! Would you care to tell the court why???!". So, Sam admits "Because I knew he raped her and brutally beat her!" and that it didn't giver him the right to rape her and he was a menace. Cady then yells at Sam "YOU WERE MY LAWYER! You were my lawyer! That report could have saved me 14 years!" and Sam says "You were probably right!" and Cady angrily shouts "You self righteous fuck!".  

And last of all is the moment just after this where Cady dementedly yells at Sam as he passes his own sentence against Sam's past actions. So, Cady shouts at Sam "I'm Vergil, Counselor and I'm guiding you to the gates of hell! We are in the 9th circle of traitors, traitors to fellow man, traitors to GOD! You sir are charged with betraying all three! And I find you guilty, counselor! Guilty of betraying your fellow man! Guilty of betraying your country! Guilty of abrogating your oath! Guilty of judging me and selling me out! And by the power invested me by the kingdom of God, I sentence YOU to the 9th circle of HELL!!! Now, YOU will learn about loss!! Loss of freedom! Loss of HUMANITY! Now, you and I will truly be the same, counselor!".

Nick Nolte next is excellent in his role as Sam Bowden, who acted as Cady's lawyer and Cady blames him for his imprisonment and is out for revenge. 

And Nolte has plenty of highlights and I will try and mention just a few again below.

Starting with the scene where Sam chats to fellow lawyer, Tom (Fred Dalton Thompson) about his first meeting with Cady after his release from prison and how Cady made an alluded threat about him "learning about loss". 

So, in the scene Sam explains his original case with Cady and he says to Tom "Tom, years ago in this case, I had a report on the victim" and Tom asks "It was a rape case?" and Sam says "Yeah, rape and aggravated sexual battery. I had a report on this victim and it came back that she was promiscuous and uh...I buried it". So, Tom looks stunned on hearing this and he asks Sam "Anybody else know it?" and Sam says "No, I didn't show it to the client, to the prosecution. But if you'd seen what he done to this girl..." but Tom still stunned at the news, mocks Sam and reminds him of his principles as a lawyer "Some folks don't have the right to the best defence, huh Sam?" and Sam defensively says "Of course they deserve the best defence! But if you had seen what he DID to this girl..." but Tom shakes his head and says "Buried the report!" and Sam says "If it was your own daughter, Tom..." and Tom says "Jesus, Sam!". Sam then sits down and says "But I see how he could know that. I mean he was illiterate. I had to read everything to him, the arrest reports, the affidavits. There is no way he could have known that". 

Another good scene is when Sam argues with his wife, Leigh over his phone call with Lori and she believes he is cheating on her. So, in the scene Sam sees Leigh stand outside as he talks to Lori, so he quickly hangs up and turns around to see her. So, Leigh tries to control herself and says "Well, I don't know what I hate more? That insipid tone or your stupid sophomore infidelities? Who was that? The girl that got beat up?". So, Sam tells her directly "Yeah, that was the girl that got beat up. Lori Davis, I told you she works at the county courthouse, she's a clerk" and Leigh asks him "And what? Your fucking her?". Sam then sighs and puts the phone back and says "Why is it every time I speak on the phone, you assume I'm fucking someone?" and Leigh says "That's why that psychopath chose her right?" and Sam tells her "Yes, that's right but I am not fucking her in any way". So, Leigh angrily starts slapping Sam and shouts "You son of a bitch!! Goddamn you, you son of a bitch!"

So, as they row loudly and their daughter, Danielle races to her room, turns on her music to drown them out and calls her friend, Nadine. Sam then tries to diffuse the argument by saying "Isn't this what Dr Hackett spoke about? Digging up the past? The relevant issue here is whether or not I have been messing around in New Essex and the answer is I have NOT been!". So, Sam sits next to Leigh and says to her quietly "Look, Leigh I'm scared. I think there's some animal out there stalking us and wants to hurt us in the worst way and that's got me frightened to death". Leigh then looks at Sam and says "You really are scared, aren't you? Somebody FINALLY got to you!". 

Sam then says "Look, Leigh, I think he beat and raped her because he knew she wouldn't testify because she knows the system, she works in it. She knows that'd she would be on trial and then because of that, you would assume something was going on between us and it would cause a rift. And that'd we'd be more vulnerable to him". Sam sighs then tells Leigh "Look, I'm glad we talked about this because now we can work together and beat that son of a bitch, the two of us as a team!". Leigh then gives Sam a dirty look and we cut to Sam lying on the couch downstairs as she clearly kicked him out of their bedroom. So, as Sam tries to get comfy on the couch, he complains to himself "Oh, this is great. This is something else! SHIT!". 

Another good scene is the one where Sam after Cady has a restraining filed against Sam as a result of the botched assault on Cady organised by Kersek, he goes to Kersek's office and asks for a gun. 

So, in the scene, Sam rushes into Kersek's office and he says urgently "Kersek! I need a gun! Do you have a gun?! I need a gun!" and Kersek says "OK, OK, I'll get you a gun, just calm down". Kersek asks "Do you know anything about guns?" and Sam admits "No, I don't believe in them. I never had one around the house" and Kersek says "OK, let me see your hands?". So, Sam holds up his hands and Kersek makes a few guesses and says "A snub nosed special. I can teach you how to use it, afterwards we can go out and shoot some trees" and Sam says "Great!". 

Kersek however then has a change of heart and says "Look, Sam, you have a gun and pull it on Cady, before you know it, its gonna dawn on you that shooting a man is different than trees. Next thin, you don't have my gun, Cady does". Sam however insists "No, but you're gonna teach me how to use it..." and Kersek "OK! OK! Best case scenario, you kill Cady dog dead. 15 years to life, you realise that, counselor?". Sam exasperated then sits down and says "Jesus! Its all fucked up, Kersek! I mean the law considers more of a loose cannon that Max Cady! Some big shit attorney has whipped the A.B.A. ethics committee into a frenzy! There's an emergency session is Raleigh over the assault". Kersek asks "How did they link that to you?" and Sam says "I went to warn Cady. I thought it was the decent thing to do. He was wired". Kersek then asks "This hearing, is it real important?" and Sam laughs "Only if I want to continue to practice law, yeah!".    

Another good scene is when Sam, Leigh and Danielle flee their house to head for the houseboat on the river to escape Cady and Sam is on the phone to the police. So, Sam says to the police Lieutenant (played by Robert Mitchum) "I've got Kersek's gun with me..and you're gonna find the piano wire that Cady used in the house. Yeah, I know how this looks. I know it. You're not supposed to flee a murder scene. Listen, Lieutenant, you may know this and you may not. In the law there's a thing called force majeure.It means an unforeseeable act of God. It cancels all promises and obligations. Legally speaking, all bets are off! You find Max Cady...and we'll come back!". Sam then hangs up and Leigh asks "What did he say?" and Sam tells her "He said we're fugitives" and Danielle asks "What does that mean?" and Sam tells her "It means we're doing something right!" and they get into their Cherokee and drive off without knowing Cady has strapped himself underside their jeep.

And last of all is the scene on the houseboat where Cady confronts Sam over his trial outcome and how he buried the report on the hooker he was sentenced over and how it showed she was promiscuous. So, in the scene Cady angrily asks Sam "I didn't know about the report until I petitioned to defend myself but I found in the court file, six years into my sentence but back in 77 you buried, counselor! What you care to tell the jury why?! WOULD YOU CARE TO TELL THE COURT WHY?!". And Sam looks to Leigh and Danielle and tells them "Because I knew he brutally raped her and beat her!" and Cady shouts "Talk to me I'm standing here!!!" and he hits Sam. Sam then shouts at Cady "Just because she was promiscuous that didn't give you the right to rape her! You bragged to me your already beat two prior aggravated rapes! You were a menace!". Cady then yells at Sam "YOU WERE MY LAWYER! You were my lawyer! That report could have saved me 14 years!" and Sam tells him "You're probably right!!". 

Jessica Lange is excellent also in her role as Leigh Bowden, Sam's wife, who has a strained relationship with her husband due to his past infidelities and is strained even more by Cady's torments.

And Jessica has her share of good scenes but I will try and keep it down to just a few for time, starting with the one where Leigh fights with Sam after he calls Lori and she accuses him of sleeping with Lori. 

So, in the scene, Sam hangs up the phone after speaking to Lori and we see Leigh who has a forced smiles on her face and she says with contained anger "Well, I don't know what I hate more? That insipid tone or your stupid sophomore infidelities! Who was that? The girl that got beat up?". So, Sam says "Yeah it was the girl that got beat up. Lori Davis, she works at the courthouse, she's a clerk" and Leigh asks "And what? You're fucking her? Interesting choice, Sam, calling from our bedroom phone". Sam then says "Why is it when I speak to someone on the phone you assume I'm fucking them?" and Leigh says "That's why that psychopath chose her right?" and Sam says "Yes, that's right but I'm not fucking her in any way". So, Leigh turns to him and furiously slaps him repeatedly shouting "You son of a bitch! Goddamn you! You son of a bitch!!".

Then there is the scene where Leigh is visited by Cady who drops by in his car and gives back her dog's collar sometime after the dog had died. So, as Cady hands over the collar, Leigh tells him "Our dog...he passed away" and Cady says "Aww shame. Man's best friend and all. Woman's too!" and Leigh smiles a little and Cady says "Even if I close my eyes I can picture him. Big, white, shaggy, plays at your feet while you finish up that pesky little sketches!". Then it dawns on Leigh who Cady is and she says "Oh, you're Max Cady, aren't you? You know you better get the hell out of here before I call the police!" and Cady tells her "I'm not doing nothing. I'm just giving you your dog collar back, I'm not on your property". Leigh then angrily asks Cady "You want to look around, Mr Cady?! Take a good look!" and Cady looks at the house and says "Nice house" and Leigh angrily says "It is a nice house. You satisfied now?! You've seen it? Or is there gonna be more? Oh, there will be more, Mr Cady because you won't stop until your happy!". Cady then tells Leigh with a smile "How can I happy, Leigh when you're not happy" and Leigh smirks and says "You don't anything about me!" but Cady tells her "I know what I see, ma'am!". Leigh then tells Cady "You know, I've been waiting to see what your face and what you look like but now that I see you...you're just repulsive!". 

Another good scene is where the Bowden's are steaking out at home in wait for Cady to enter, Sam reads the bible in bed with Leigh, who is trying to sleep but she is too restless. So, Leigh asks Sam "What are you reading?" and Sam show her the cover of the bible and she says "What? Did Kersek quit?" and Sam says "No, its just Cady said..." Leigh says "You want some answers. Me too. I'd like to just strong we are or how weak. But I guess the only way we'll know is by going through this". 

And last of all is the scene on the houseboat near the end where Cady confronts the family and Leigh tries to reason with Cady. So, Leigh tearfully tells Cady "Listen to me, Max, listen to me. You know, Max, since all this started, I've thought about you all the time. I've tried to imagine what it must have been like for you, all those years locked up in jail... I've tried to imagine you and even your crimes, and how you must have felt in those moments that you did them... See, I know about loss, Max. I know about losing time, even losing years. And I know it doesn't compare to jail, but I can understand. And I can share this with you. Because of that, whatever it is you've got planned, I want you to do it just with me... not with her... because... we have this connection!".     

Juliette Lewis is also great in her role also as Danielle Bowden, Sam and Leigh's teenage daughter, who is tormented by Cady also as he tries to turn her against her parents. 

And Juliette's best scene is of course the one where Danielle meets with Cady at school in the theatre and the two of them talk at first like he is her drama teacher but he soon reveals himself to her as they chat. 

So, in the scene Danielle walks up to Cady in the theatre, who sits smoking a joint and Danielle a little surprised says "You can't smoke grass in school" and Cady tells her "Privilege of the profession". So, Danielle says to Cady "When we spoke on the phone last night, you made a lot sense to me and I thought alot" and Cady tells her "Those are human truths, darlin and that's what its all about". Cady then notices the book she is carrying "See the book you have there? Thomas Wolfe? Its all about discovery, the inner voyage". Danielle then tells Cady about the ending of the book "I like the end with Eugene's journey, it was really mystical and like a pilgrimage". Cady however says "More like a cop-out if you ask me. But these were the facts of Wolfe's life, the novel is what you would call roman a clef. You know what that is?" and Danielle smiles awkwardly and says "Sure". 

Cady however then goes on to mention about another writer, Henry Miller and his trilogy of "Plexus, Nexus and Sexus" and Danielle says she never read it and Cady smiles and says "You're missing something!". Danielle however admits to Cady "Well you know what, I did read a little of Tropic of Cancer. But I had to sneak it off my parents shelf but his descriptions are pretty vivid I'd say". Cady then tells her "In one of his novels, I don't recall which, he described an erection as a piece of lead with wings on it" and Danielle surprised says "I didn't read THAT part!". Cady then tells her that of course not as she isn't allowed as her parents would let her and they deflect their issues onto her. 

However, this then get's Danielle thinking something is up and she says "Wait a minute? Where are you from?" and Cady says "Where do you think I'm from?" and Danielle says "I don't know" and Cady says "If I tell you, will you get mad at me?" and Danielle says "No" and Cady looks around the theatre and says "I'm from the black forest!". Danielle then asks "You're not the drama teacher are you?" and Cady smiles and says "Maybe I'm the big bad wolf!" and Danielle growing anxious asks Cady "Are you that guy that is hanging around the house? You're the one that killed my mom's dog?" and Cady says "You're mum's dog was killed? I didn't know anything about that. That's a shame, that a damn shame". 

Another good scene is where Sam enters Danielle's room and he asks her about her meeting with Cady and that she will go back to school tomorrow.

So, Danielle says to Sam "This isn't going to work you know. Locking us in, hiding us from the world" and Sam says "Don't be so dramatic, Danni!" and Danielle says "Making me stay out of school!" and Sam tells her "Well, you're going back to school tomorrow". Danielle then says to Sam "Why am I going back to school tomorrow? What are you going to do?" and Sam says "That is none of your concern, Danni". Danielle then says "Dad, he didn't force himself on me. I know you'd like to think that he did. But I think he was just trying to make a connection with me". Sam however sits down and says to Danielle firmly "No! There will never be any connection between you and Max Cady!" Danielle then goes silent and gives a strange smile and Sam suddenly asks her "Did he touch you?" and Danielle smiles and Sam says "Why are you smiling? I'm asking you a question, did he touch you?". Danielle smiles again and says "What?". Sam then grabs Danielle by the face roughly and angrily asks "Wipe that smile off your face! I'm asking you, did he touch you?!" and Danielle clearly frightened says nothing and Sam lets her go and tries to apologise but very upset, she yells at him "GET OUT OF HERE! GET OUT OF HERE!!" and Sam leaves. 

And last of all is the scene on the houseboat where Cady enters having incapacitated Sam and he says to Leigh and Danielle that Sam is resting up and he has taken Sam's gun. So, Cady asks Danielle "Danielle. Where's Sexus?" and Danielle says "Back at the house" and Cady says "Shame. I had hoped we could read aloud from it together" and Danielle tells him "Well, I memorized some for you" and Cady surprised asks "Did you? Well, I'm impressed. Which part was that?" and Danielle embarrassed says "The part...you know what part" and Cady clicks his tongue and says "I don't think you did your homework!". Danielle then becoming teary says "Yeah I did" and Cady asks "What parts were that? The good parts?" and Danielle more teary says "Yeah..." and Cady asks "Were you a good girl?" and Danielle almost in tears says "Yeah, I was. I knew you would follow me here". Cady then tells her "You know me pretty well, don't you, darlin? And you're gonna get to know me alot better too!" but then Danielle throws a pan of hot water over Cady and she screams "NO!!" at him but Cady doesn't flinch and asks "Are you offering me something hot?".

Joe Don Baker next up is also great in his role as Kersek, the private detective that Sam hires to tail Cady and later on they try to set a trap to kill him but it doesn't pan out.

And Baker has his share of good scenes but I will try and limit to just a few again and I will start with the scene where Kersek confronts Cady outside a diner after Cady pays for a breakfast that Kersek didn't order. 

So, in the scene Kersek goes out after Cady and says to him "Hey, Cady! Cady come here! I've been a real bad mood lately, that's a shame ain't it? You know what you could do to brighten my mood?" and Cady chewing on his cigar, takes it out his mouth and asks "No?" and Kersek says "Get the hell out of here!". Cady then smiles and Kersek continues "I don't just mean this town but the whole state. I don't wanna see, I don't wanna smell you, now leave!". Cady then toys with Kersek and says "I like to think...are you my friend?" and Kersek not amused says "No, I'm NOT your friend!". So, Cady says to Kersek "Oh, see I like to plan my comings and goings with friends but if you're not my friend, then I call that presumptuous, in fact I call that downright rude! Because I ain't your porch-baby, buddy!". Kersek then says "Oh, I'm sorry if I offended you, you white trash piece of shit!" and Cady mocks Kersek and says "Oh, you really shaken me up! I got the all round fidgets on that one and I'm shakin all over!". 

Cady then warns Kersek "Its not necessary to lay a foul tongue on me, friend. Things could get nasty, they could get out of hand and in an act of self defense I could do something right here, right now, you wouldn't like!". Kersek then warns Cady "Anytime you feel squirrely, just jump!" and Cady asks "You threatening me?! You threatening me??" and Kersek sarcastically says "You catch on fast!". Cady then tells Kersek firmly "Because I'm well within my rights to be here and you know it! If I stay here, what are you gonna do?". Kersek impatiently tells Cady "I don't give a rats ass about your rights, and you know what I'm talking about". Cady then taunts Kersek and asks "What are you a cop? Or were you a cop? Or were not good enough to remain on the force because that's the feeling I'm gettin here" and he smiles and says "I hope you enjoyed your breakfast" and he walks off.

This is followed by the scene where Kersek meets with Sam outside his law firm and Kersek says to him "Sam! I thought I'd catch you here. Well, that little smart alec made me" and Sam asks "What?" and Kersek tells Sam "Well, it wasn't my fault, he was looking to be covered". Kersek then says "You were right, there is a lot of cutsie-cutsie in that little prick, isn't there?!" and Sam says "Oh, I know. I told you!". Kersek then tells Sam "You know where he was this afternoon? At the public library readin"Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Friedrich Nietsche, this German philosopher that said "God is dead". Kersek then says to Sam "Look we can keep going this but its going to get awfully expensive, Sam" and Sam says "Look, I'm not so bothered about days, just stay on him a few more nights". Kersek then suggests "Look would you like to resolve the situation? Well, I've got a suggestion. There are a few men that can be hired by me. To do a little job on Cady, a hospital job" and Sam asks "What are we talking about here?" and Kersek says "Two pieces of pipe and bicycle chain!". Sam laughs dismissively in gets in his car to drive off and Kersek says "Sam, he wont be so scary after that!". 

Then there is the scene where Sam meets with Kersek at his office in a state of desparation, he asks Kersek for a gun to defend himself against Cady.

So, in the scene, Sam rushes into Kersek's office and he says urgently "Kersek! I need a gun! Do you have a gun?! I need a gun!" and Kersek says "OK, OK, I'll get you a gun, just calm down". Kersek asks "Do you know anything about guns?" and Sam admits "No, I don't believe in them. I never had one around the house" and Kersek says "OK, let me see your hands?". So, Sam holds up his hands and Kersek makes a few guesses and says "A snub nosed special. I can teach you how to use it, afterwards we can go out and shoot some trees" and Sam says "Great!". Kersek then tells Sam "The first thing is you dont think of it as gun, just think of it as an extension of your fist, you reach and knock a man down! Boom!". 

Kersek however then has a change of heart and says "Look, Sam, you have a gun and pull it on Cady, before you know it, its gonna dawn on you that shooting a man is different than trees. Next thing, you don't have my gun, Cady does". Sam however insists "No, but you're gonna teach me how to use it..." and Kersek "OK! OK! Best case scenario, you kill Cady dog dead. 15 years to life, you realise that, counselor?".

Sam, deeply frustrated then explains that he must attend an emergency session that will deteremine the fate of his law career as a result of the botched assault on Cady and that Cady was wired when Sam threatened him prior to the attack. So, Kersek asks Sam "This hearing. Is it real important?" and Sam laughs and says "Only if I want to continue to practice law yeah!" and Kersek asks "Will Cady be there?" and Sam says "Oh no, Mr Cady is beyond reproach". Kersek then suggests "Cady is an opportunist. If he thinks you're gonna be out of town for two days that's gonna be as tempting to him as shit is to a fly! If Cady breaks into your home, he can be killed, justifiably. But he won't show unless he's real sure you're not gonna be there".

And last of all is the scene where Sam and Kersek steak out at Sam's home as they lay low and Sam expresses his concerns over their plan "You know what REALLY disturbs me, is killing this guy" and Kersek tells him "Well, you may have to". And Sam anxiously says "It makes me an abbettor, its also excessive force!". Kersek then tells Sam "Sam, the only excessive we could do to Cady is gut him and eat his liver! Well that MIGHT be excessive" and Sam says "Oh, for Chrissake's Kersek, I'm serious!". So, Kersek says to Sam "No, you're scared. But that's okay. I want you to savor that fear. The South evolved in fear; fear of the Indian, fear of the slave, fear of the damn Union. The South has a fine tradition of savoring fear". 

Illeana Douglas next is also excellent in her role as Lori, a young female courthouse clerk that Sam is friendly with and is later assaulted by Cady to get at Sam. 

And I will mention a couple of Illeana's scenes starting with her first scene in the film where after a game of squash together, Sam warns Lori that perhaps they should stop meeting each other.

So, Sam says to Lori "You know, we should stop doing this for a while" and Lori asks "Doing what? I mean we're not anything!" and Sam says "Yeah, I know" and Lori says "Yet! OK fine maybe you're right. Why does your wife mind?" and Sam says "Well, my wife doesn't know you exist, which is probably for the best!". Lori then teases Sam and asks "Why? Is marriage synonymous with deception?" and Sam tries awkwardly to explain his married situation in relation to seeing Lori. Lori however diffuses Sam a little by saying "I like hanging out with you! So, sue me! I mean you're funny and cute. And we talk about the courts and which judge is senile and which one wears a gun under his robe". 

Then there is the scene where Lori meets Cady in a bar and the two of flirt and chat together with Lori getting pretty drunk. 

So, in the scene, Lori is already pretty drunk and Cady smiles and says to her "You seem to be having a good time" and Lori laughs and says "I've been practicing!" and Cady says "For what? Falling on the floor?" and Lori says "A life of debauchery". Cady then asks "Debau what??" and Lori says "A life of debauchery. Its a three syllabyl word!" and Cady grins and says "Making fun of me? Its ok, no problem". 

So, Lori asks Cady where he is from and he explains he just got released from prison and Lori burst out laughing and says "Oh, my god! This is the way my day has been turning out!". Lori then says "It reminds me of a joke, you wanna hear it?" and Cady says "Tell me, liven up the night!". Lori then says OK. So, an unmarried woman...wait that's not it" and Cady teases her "C'mon, get the joke straight, darlin!". So, Lori then get's it right and says "An unmarried woman, meets a guy and he tells her he just got out of prison. "What did you do?" she asks and he says "I hacked my wife into 52 pieces with a chainsaw" which prompts racuous laughter from Cady. So, Lori continues the joke and says "And then she says "So, you're single?" and Cady laughs and says "That's even funnier!". 

Lori then asks Cady "What did you do?" and Cady jokes with her and says "I knew you were gonna say that. Well, I hacked MY wife into 52 pieces!" and he giggles and Lori says "I knew you were gonna say that! Well, I'm a small person, so maybe..." and Cady jokes and says "Well, maybe I could hack you into 40 pieces!". So, Lori then asks him "What did you do? Really?" and Cady tells her that he killed a sherrif who got rough with a woman on a protest march. So, Lori accepts his answer and says to Cady "Well, I'm drinking on sea breezes, so I hope you can afford them" and Cady tells her "Well, you gotta stay sober. If you don't stay sober, you're taking your chances because I am just one hell of an animal!" and Lori smiles and says in a flirty tone "Oh yeah? Do tell!".  

And last of all is Robert Mitchum who makes a small cameo appearance at the police Lieutenant Elgart. Mitchum of course appeared in the original 1962 version of the film as the main villain, Max Cady (as does Gregory Peck also in another cameo role).

So, I will quickly mention just one of Mitchum's scenes and its the one where after Sam fails to convince Lori to testify against, Elgart suggests loosely to Sam to use his family as bait to lure out Cady.

So, in the scene, Elgart says to Sam "Look, if this is something personal between you, the girl and Cady..." and Sam says "Alright, Lt, what are you implying?" and Elgart says "Only there are some things better handled quietly and not by the police". Sam mocks his suggestion and says "Cady is planning to rape my wife but its not your problem!" and Elgart says "I can't bust someone for planning to rape your wife! You're a lawyer, you know that damn well!". Elgar then suggests "The way I'd handle it. Just think of Cady as a tiger and get him out of the brush. How do you do that? You steak out a couple of your goats and hide in a tree". 

Sam is then offended by the notion that Elgart seems to imply that he should use his family as bait for Cady. So, Elgart backpedals and says "I am a law officer. It would be unethical of me to advise a citizen to take the law into their own hands. So, I guess you must have misunderstood me". Sam then sarcastically says "I guess I must have!" and he walks off to his car and Elgart a bit annoyed says "Well, pardon me all over the place!". 

DIRECTION

Finally moving onto the director, Martin Scorsese does a great job here with the remake as he notches the suspense and sense of unease very well throughout the film. Scorsese also makes great use of his technical skills as a film maker as he deploys a number of quick, fast cuts in certain scenes to heighten tension and he even uses film negatives at the start and end of the film as Danielle is introduced and the camera zooms out from her eyes and later at the end the camera zooms in. So, while its not one of Scorsese's greatest ever films overall, this is definitely still a strong directorial effort, which is easy to say given that his poor films are few and far between.

MUSIC 

As for the music score, it features the original score that was composed by the late great Bernard Herrmann, however the score was reworked for the film by the famous American composer, Elmer Bernstein and he does a great job with its re-score and it sounds great. The film's main theme itself is undoubtedly one of Herrman's most memorable from his career and it sounds great here in the remake as does the rest of the score itself.   

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

So, does Cape Fear have any flaws??? Yes there are some.  

For starters, I have to say it really bugs me just how Cady is so able to sneak in and out of the Bowden house undetected all the time and do some pretty intricate stuff like removing a piano wire from their piano (which he later uses to kill Kersek). And further to that, why does Cady have to go to the trouble of actually removing a piano wire in the first place??? Couldn't he just use another sort of wire or pick up something similar elsewhere rather than sneak in and steal the piano wire itself. 

Further to this point, Cady's ninja like stealth abilities really do become a bit preposterous when it comes to the steak out scenes with Sam and Kersek especially when Kersek uses Sam's fishing line to keep an eye on the patio doors. Basically, Cady must have found another way into the house e.g. maybe he tunneled his way in! Not only that but he has the lightning fast ability to disappear in his car in the blink of an eye when near the start of the film, Cady is seen staring at Sam from across the street in his Cadillac and he vanishes after a car passes by! So not only is this guy a stealth like ninja, he's also Harry Houdini, who can perform disappearing acts at will too!

It also bugged me as to how Cady knew to hire Lee Heller as a defense lawyer against Sam's arranged attack on him. This would suggest that Cady might even have bugged Sam's office to keep an eye on his communications within, which is pretty daft in itself as he surely would be seen by someone if that was case but then again he is stealthy ninja after all! However I still found a bit too coincidental that Cady would hire Heller just as Sam called up Heller to help him prosecute Cady.

And last of all there is the matter of Cady filing a restraining order against Sam, and in the order Sam is not allowed to come within 500 yards of Cady.  But regardless of this Cady still relentlessly pursues Sam in his house and to their house boat on the river, so isn't he violating the conditions of his OWN restraining order by doing this????  

And near the end of the film where Sam and Cady have their final fight on the shore of the river, and Sam hits Cady with a rock, Cady laughs dementedly and says "You forget about that restraining order, counselor??? You're well within 500 yards!!".  But Sam has spent all that time trying to get away from Cady, so obviously he isn't violating the restraining, its the other way round!  But at this point all logic goes out the window, and it is a Hollywood film after all I guess.

Anyways that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Cape Fear is an excellent remake of the original and it is very well acted by its cast and features solid direction from Martin Scorsese as well as fine sounding reworked score by Elmer Bernstein based on the original by Bernard Herrman. It does have some plot niggles however here and there but that aside, this is still a very entertaining and suspenseful film and a solid remake that is worth a look.

So, I will give Cape Fear a rating of:

8.5 out of 10 

So, that's it for now and I will see you in the next post.

Till then, bye for now!