Godzilla (2014) MOVIE REVIEW

        

Since I'm typing this on mobile, maybe I should follow this new format from now on.

The thing that I loved about this movie is the secrecy. Granted I didn't watch all of the trailers and the sneak peeks out there, which is why I think the surprising elements of this movie payed-off for me.

This is no doubt the biggest incarnation of the monster ever, and the most intimidating of all. We're not talking about guys in rubber suits destroying cardboard buildings. Forget the giant nuclear ugly-looking STD infected-looking Iguana that attacked New York in 1998. No, we're talking about THE CGI Beast unleashed in his fullest, that is if the movie requires him to. 

Which brings us to the bummer-part of the film, there's just NOT ENOUGH GODZILLA in this movie. A lot of teasing in these film that you're hoping to pay-off. But, you really have to wait until the last 20 minutes of the film to see what we all came for. 

The teasing just became so irritating to the part that the film sets up to this big climatic-like scene, and us, the viewers, NEVER GET TO SEE THAT SCENE. It's like teasing a baby a candy, but instead of handing the candy to the baby, the teaser ate the candy instead and continues to taunt the baby.

Granted Godzilla had more screen time in this film than in the original 1950's film, but its just wasn't enough. So Godzilla had like 15-17 minutes screen time in this 2-hour long film. Where did the moive spend its remaining tim for? The humans, of course.

Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston did a great job on bringing us a phenomenal performance of the film. He is easily the best character of the movie. But, he really isn't the main star. And like Godzilla, he only had a short screen time.

Because in reality, it was his character's son who is the main star of the movie, played by Kick Ass' Aaron Taylor-Johnson. He's a fantastic actor and he really did his best to make his 2-dimensional, emotionless character a little bit relatable and realistic.

Overall, the actors of this movie did an excellent job on their performances. But there it wasn't really enough to get us fully invested with the characters they are portraying.

The film focuses more on the human element of the story and did a great job on telling THE realistic take if such events occured. And when climatic scenes finally sets foot, it does pay-off. I don't really want to go to details on what the climatic scene looks and feels like, you're just gonna have to see it yourselves. 

        

Godzilla offers us the bigest and meanest interpretation of the famed monster ever. But with his incredible size, is the small amount of screen time he gets. Granted, the film is a really good disaster movie with a realistic taste to it. But, be warned, this isn't the Kaiju movie you're expecting.

(+)Good Disaster movie Excellent actors/performancesGodzilla!That climatic scene

(-)Passable charactersToo much teasingShow us the fight, PLEASE!

A

Godzilla, in cinemas now.

"The Amazing Spider-Man 2" MOVIE REVIEW

The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it's action-packed, drama-heavy, (one of) the best teen-rom chemistry and pure comical adventure. Put them altogether and it's quite a mess.

I must say this one of, if not, my most anticipated movie of 2014. Been waiting for this sequel since the first movie came out in 2012, but before we proceed to my review of this film, let me first discuss my thoughts on the first film.

The Amazing Spider-Man was the re-boot of the franchise that came out way back in 2012. The film had an excellent cast, a good story with a really good twist to it. I ended up enjoying the movie, thinking this is the superior Spider-Man movie. But for some reason, the film isn't staying on me on home video. I started to see the flaws of the film that bothered most of the film's naysayers. 

First off, while the film did have clever fight scenes, but none are as memorable as the ones we've seen before. The film also brings up many question we all hoped will be all answered, but most aren't, which serves its purpose to build up for future sequels. And, the film is just too gritty and dark for Spider-Man. I get that they're trying a more realistic and practical approach to Spidey and even if they delivered well, it just feels odd the more you watch it. 

Now that I have covered the first film in three paragraphs, we now proceed to the matter at hand. 

Right off the bat, let me say that this is the coolest looking movie I've seen so far this year. By any means, the film is a lot more colorful than the first one. This film feels alot more confident about being a Spider-man movie, whereas the first film tries to live under the shadow of Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. It almost feels like a re-boot of a re-boot. It doesn't feel like a sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man at all, until someone mentions Dr. Curt Connors and the trouble he caused as Lizard. 

The film features Peter Parker, played by Andrew Garfield, who is at the prime of his career as Spider-Man. Granted, the actor never looked 19-20 years old to me or to anyone at the theater, but he has perfectly portrayed a young man who has to deal with his double life as an ordinary college kid and superhero, even if life gets more "complicated". Andrew Garfield IS THE quintessential live-action Spider-Man. This is probably one of the biggest praise I could give to this movie.

Emma Stone's Gwen Stacey is also another hit in terms of acting and as a well written character. Thank goodness she's more than a damsel in distress, and even on a few occasions she is the hero, which makes her even more likable as a leading actress and probably one of the best in all comic book movies. 

The chemistry between Peter and Gwen are actually better than ever. We're talking about some really good teen romance chemistry that has ever been put to screen. There on and off relationship might be one of the reasons this movie drags up a bit, but you just can't get enough of seeing this two together on screen. 

Jaime did a good job portraying Spider-Man's super stalker, Max Dillion. Who then falls victim to an accident which will transform him to the electrifying freak show Electro. Serving as the main antagonist of the film, Electro has showcased his power, and by that, I mean he's absurdly powerful. He has imposed a real and great threat not only to Spider-Man but to the entire island of New York. Seriously, this guy puts whatever Lizard has up against Spider-Man to shame. 

Another great performance was from Dane DeHaan as Harry Osborn. He's definitely a better Harry Osborn than James Franco, seriously. And, him turning into the Green Goblin? Way different beast than William Dafoe. This guy is definitely killing it. 

The film does have some iconic fight scenes. Especially the fight scene at Times Square, were Spider-Man and Electro head on the battle of full on power and character, as both characters are portrayed perfectly in the scene and the collision was just brilliant. And, they are really colorful and brighter than ever, not like the first film where you could barely see the light. 

The film's story itself, however, feels bloated, not because it had too many characters, but it had too many plots. The film is goes into different directions, from one plot point to another, it's just all over the place. Sometimes it forgets the importance of each plot points to the point that things just fall short in terms of execution. 

Take the villains for example. This film is two hours long, and with three villains you feel like that length of time should be enough to cover the buildup of each villains. But nope, Rhino was only in the movie for like four minutes, Electro somehow completely disappears from the film in certain point in time and Venom had more screen time in Spider-Man 3 than Green Goblin did here. 

And as I have mentioned earlier, this films does drag. With all these drama, tension and build up, it's really hard to not miss Peter put on that Spidey suit and do his Spidey stuff. It would have been all good all these fillers captures our interest so we wouldn't realize that it is killing our time. But it's hard to not notice that almost have of them are repetitive. 

Would it be better if Peter and Gwen just break up in the first film and this film had Peter struggling to win Gwen back, instead of the on-and-off again route they went that is undeniable cute but repetitive? 

And with all this time killers, it's really disheartening to see the villains be underplayed. Taken, they are really good villains and they are well portrayed, but there's just not enough explorations to these characters to make us invested to their sudden twisted faith. At one point they are troubled souls and in a blink of an eye they are full on hateful super villains, no questions asked. Where's the buildup to these characters? Give us time to actually believe they have good reason to hate Spider-Man.

But with all these troubled build up do come together perfectly in the third act. The film just became more exciting during Spidey's last fight with Electro and then everyone just had chills when Green Goblin comes to take down Spider-Man. The "final fight" was thrilling, even if it was horrendously short. 

And talk about build up, we all know why certain characters that could have been in the movie, shouldn't have been in the movie are in the movie. That is their purpose was to build up for future sequels. This film also feels a bit like Iron Man 2, the film strays away from the actual story to focus on a buildup that contributes nothing to the story, as if the movie would have been better without it. That's marketing crap, you know, when you show 75% of the film in trailers? 

And yes that one scene we all knew coming. Even though we've read it in the comics, even though if it was hinted many times in the trailers, when everything came down, it still hits you hard like the first time. Especially if you're unfamiliar with the comics or trailers, I can hear people at my theater crying and I teared up a bit. Yes, this is the first time it happened in any comic book movies to me. It was a bit different, but perfectly portrayed, yet it still hits you in your gut, really hard. 

The movie is filled with iconic shots, looks like Director Marc Webb learned a thing or two from Zack Snyder. He's also very attached to soundtrack of this film. He wanted the music that would feel as contemporary and kinetic as Spider-Man, and composers Hans Zimmer and the Magnificent Six has come up with the perfect soundtrack for the film. It surely isn't Zimmer's best work compared to others, but it's definitely a step up the previous score of the first film. This film is definitely a must-see in 3D, no questions asked. 

If you're expecting a mid-credit scene, just go when the credits starts rolling. It's just another marketing crap that doesn't really make sense. 

Final Verdict 

If there's one thing we've learned about The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is that whenever you make a sequel of something, you always go bigger. But sometimes, bigger isn't always better. If you can look past its obvious short comings and its messy buildup, this film can be something truly Amazing.  

It's disappointing I couldn't give this movie an A, because it doesn't deserve an A. However, I'm relieved that this film will never get my lowest grading. Because no matter how scruffy the story is, this movie is just visually amazing and I loved every single bit of its visual extravaganza and I just can't deny that. That's why I have to give them credit for that. 

You can check out my original fan-made poster I used for this review on my DeviantART account by clicking HERE. 

"Son Of Batman" MOVIE REVIEW

In celebration of Batman's 75th year Anniversary, Warner Home Video releases it's 5th Batman Animated installment, "Son of Batman". Now to the obvious question, is it any good or bad? 

The Review

To be quite honest, I couldn't really think of a better introduction for this review, and quite frankly I think there's not really much for me to say about this film. But let me say this right off the bat, I don't like this movie. But let me explain myself as we go along in my review. 

Son of Batman ventures into an unwanted escapade between Batman and his apparent son, Damien, the love child of Bruce Wayne and Talia al Ghul, and grandfather of the demon head Ra's al Ghul. Together, they must take down the assassin Slade Wilson/Deathstroke who has taken over the League of Assassins.

That looks pretty short because it is. With a running hour of more than an hour, there's not really much story to tell. The film itself is very straightforward, with almost no complexity and no plot twist at all. It did have a few minor plots that almost ended up being either lacking or pointless. I'm not really sure, which is to blame? the running time or the writer's lack of imagination.

Perhaps the best characters of the film are the titular characters, Batman and Damien, the new Robin. Batman is still the dark and brooding superhero we all remember from Justice League: War. Though certain turn of events puts Batman in a position that he may be familiar with, but under new circumstances. He must become a good father figure to his son Damien, but it's different from those of Dick Grayson, Jason Todd or Tim Drake, as Damien is his biological son, this time it's for real. 

Damien, on the other hand, faces the challenges of connecting himself to his father and others and toning down his characteristics of being a cold-blooded assassin with the idealism of perfect balance to the world, which he has honed from his grandfather. All of this to become worthy as the new Boy Wonder. 

The film has a concept so intriguing that it should have been good, and it was. The decent script that was written portrays the conflict from Batman and Robin fluidly. But like the story this film was based on, the script just doesn't get you interested. Granted it has a good story to tell, but overall it became very dull and dragging. 

Not to mention the adequate fight scenes. The film has more blood squibs than War, some are choreographed excellently, but none are breathtaking or engaging by any means. That Batman vs. Deathstroke started and ended with a couple of punches, and the loser was defeated pathetically quick.

The character designs aren't that bad, but they are just not growing into me. They just look ridiculous! Batman still looks goofy, those ears are just ugly. I always wonder what's wrong with the designs we had from Justice League: Doom. Just change the suits to their New 52 designs, no need to over exaggerate muscle toning and go real far with silly to stupid character designs just for the sake of looking different.  

Final Verdict

While I still stand by my position of not liking this film, I just can't seem to hate it. Granted, the film is terribly short, limiting the script, ludicrous designs and forgettable fight scenes, it's overall not a terrible film. Maybe the concept of Batman having a biological son and the boy's characteristics just isn't getting my interest, maybe that kept me from being disappointed to this flick. This was bound to be perfectly tolerable that is if you can sit to something that makes you bored.  

TOP 5 BEST Linkin Park Music Videos

Considered as one of the finest Nu Metal band of its time? Check. Is the one and only band (so far) to reach ONE BILLION plus views on YouTube? Check. Has (so far) sold over 60 million records all over the world? Check. Internationally acclaimed? Is the top rock band on facebook with over 61+ million fans? Grammy award winning? One of, if not, the best and biggest rock band of our time? Yes, yes, yes, yes. 

Ahh... Linkin Park. With more than a decade of existence, this group never seizes to amaze their fans with their aggressive and chaotic music, that is also very easy to connect with, even if you're not an avid fan. And, with that long of time, Linkin Park has released more than 30 music videos. Today we pick the 5 of their best music videos and I yours truly, will give you the reasons why they deserve to be on the list. With that said, let's get started. 

5. Points Of Authority (Hybrid Theory, 2001) / Pts.Of.Athrty (Reanimation, 2002)

Two different interpretations, but it's still the same monster just with two different faces. Whether you prefer it to be in its classic Nu metal or it's 90s EDM remix or both (because why not choose both?), Points Of Authority will always be that one Linkin Park song you'd want to blast into your car and go drive to punch someone. 

One's live/studio footage and the other's a CGI-fest, but both videos are really good and awesome and I can't really pick one above the other. Plus we can't really have this list without a live/footage video and a CGI-fest one. So, I put them both together on the same spot, besides, they're just the same song. I'll have to let you guys decide on this one of which video is better, but for me they're both equally awesome. 

The live/footage version that came from their DVD Frat Party At The Pankake Festival.

The one made for the Reanimation version, was the only one of the two that was commercially released.

4. Lost In The Echo (Living Things, 2012)

This list won't be complete without Linkin Park's first interactive video. The video was co-directed by Jason Zada (Take This Lollipop) and Jason Nickel. Shinoda has stated that the video was made to "draw you into the world of the song".

For you to participate, you must go the official website of the music video, Lost In The Echo. You will then log into the website with your Facebook account, yes you will need one to participate. The site will then have access to your photos on your profile and use them in narrative that will concord to the storytelling of the video.  

The only real reason this never got higher on the list was because of its obvious errors and the lack of the band's appearance. 

 This is the non-interactive version of the video. So you can still watch it, even if you don't have Facebook (hooray!). 

3. Leave Out All The Rest (Minutes To Midnight, 2008)

Probably the cheesiest video of the list. Why? 'cause who would have imagined Mike Shinoda in an astronaut suit? On top of that, who would have thought that the band would make a video of them embarking on a Space Odyssey? But what really made this video so interesting was the narrative story behind it, and how it reflected so much to the song.

We see in the video that the band are doing their regular protocols on running their space ship. Chester, however, is the one who is being dramatic in his duties. of course, he's the one singing, but the question is why? We see him do his work with holograms like he's Tony Stark in space, goes with some argument with his crew/band mates, hangs out alone in dark places and he sits behind a giant window so he could see the stars and their destination. In all of those situations, you can tell what Chester's feeling through his actions and his facial expressions, guilt. At the end of the video, the band reaches their destination, which would also serve as their impending doom. So what does this tell us?

"When my time comes, forget the wrong that I've done..."

Don't you see it?

Highlight the text below

Chester killed himself and his crew/band mates by directing their spaceship towards the sun. He sits behind the giant window so he could see the sun, the yellow star, that will eventually kill them. 

It's just my theory behind the whole thing, but trust me, go see it for yourself. 

2. Numb (Meteora, 2003)

There are several reasons why this is considered one of, if not, Linkin Park's most powerful songs ever made. It has very catchy alternative tune to it. Lyrically, it is one of the most compelling lyrics you'll ever hear throughout the band's entire discography. Chester's power vocals also adds up to the experience. 

This video, was just spot on to message of the song. At one point, we were all teenagers trying to find their place in the world and in doing so, we disappoint a lot of our loved ones. Families, friends, you name it. We'e just kids who's trying to create the best image we can possibly make out of ourselves, to be the person we always wanted to be. But peer pressure and expectations prevent you from becoming that person. People will always see you as the kid who have shoes to fill in, even if you don't want those shoes, they will still try to make you.  

I am maybe getting a little personal here, but it's true. This is Linkin Park's most personal video ever and it definitely earned this spot. 

If watching this doesn't hit you hard, I don't know what will. 

1. What I've Done (Minutes To Midnight, 2007)

THIS SONG/VIDEO IS BUSINESS. At the height of their career where Nu metal seems to be dying, if not, dead. Linkin Park faces the greatest question of their career that every other band of the same genre had come to face, where to go next? Korn, Slipknot and Deftones went alternative metal. Limp Bizkit was still rap metal, but their sound leaned more towards the rock side. So, what's Linkin Park going to do?

Get a new producer, change their image, change their logo, change their sound completely. Thus, Minutes To Midnight was born. Of course they still have aggressive tracks like No More Sorrow and Given Up, of course they still rap rock with Bleed It Out, but the album in its entire just sound different from their previous releases. It's almost like it's not the same band anymore, even if it is still the same band with the same band members.

But thankfully, they manage to introduce their new image with the masterpiece that is known as the first single off the album, What I've Done. Even if you don't like the album, you can't deny that this is a great song.

The song and it's video became the best way to re-introduce themselves to the world of music. With its apocalyptic themes, melodic lyrics and classic alternative structure that connects perfectly to the video that is the very meaning of the word doomsday. It showcases a really cool performance of the band, but the highlight is really the footages of the most daunting and scary real life events of mass destruction, corruption and world domination. If you could sum up the world at its darkest hour with a footage of a rock band's performance, this is that video. 

No words. Just, no words... 

So there you have it, I hope you guys enjoy this list. Be sure to stay tune for Linkin Park's TOP 5 Worst Music Videos. 

Honorable Mentions:

Papercut

Breaking The Habit

Waiting For The End

Castle Of Glass

"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" REVIEW

The Review

So, you want a Marvel movie with a star studded cast, a promising story, but in a lazy-written script filled with impractical and out of placed comedy and grand, but dumb action? Well if you want Iron Man in it go check out Regular Man a.k.a. Iron Man 3. But if you're looking for those things in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, then you're looking at the wrong movie. Except for the first part though, this film has a star-studded cast, but we'll get into that latter.

The movie is a plot heavy joyride, filled with conspiracies, conflict within the organization S.H.I.E.L.D. and Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, stands in between the conflict. Steve Rogers, who still is trying to figure out his place in this world, must act on this war even when things get a little more personal on his side. The synopsis is a little complicated to tell, as there are many things that is happening in this film, and you surely don't want to miss any of those. The action in this movie... is PERFECT. It's not just any other superhero movie action sequences, they are more than that. It's like the action sequences is a love child of everything awesome and cool about the fight sequences from the 007 movies and Bourne movies. Its griity, grand, epic and over-the-top and everyone will love it. Just like the very movie itself, it doesn't entirely feel like a superhero flick, it also feels like a political thriller, which in some ways it is. 

As far as cast and acting, PERFECT as well. Chris Evans just out did his own performances from The First Avenger and The Avengers and has made his best performance as Steve Rogers/Captain America yet. When not in action, he's really nice, cool and very well mannered as well (kids, don't put your feet on top of the dash) and very sensitive and dramatic as well, as how one particular character puts it. But when he's on the action, he's ON the action. He is the Anti-Terminator in a star-spangled outfit, he is unstoppable with or without the shield. By the way, that shield, boy it is brutal. Have you played as Captain America in Marvel vs. Capcom games? yep, that kind of brutal. He's still THE star-spangled man with a plan, and he gets better in time (or as the movie progresses). No matter if he's on the field of battle or his on the field of his apartment, he's a very like-able and relate-able character. Because honestly, everyone is a little lost on the inside. Also, there is a lot of Easter eggs here, let's see how many did you catch. 

The other cast members did an excellent job as well. Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce, who did a pretty good job as the senior head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Comic book fans and/or even ordinary movie goers might like where this movie is taking his character. Scarlett Johansson is still a fine Black Canary, it doesn't matter if you think someone could pull off the better than her before, what matters is that she owns as Black Widow. The latest addition, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon also did a great job in his role. He's the lesser Captain America, he's a hero, but he's no super soldier, and his bonding with Steve Rogers just makes both characters more human, especially when they both discuss about getting back into the world.  

So far, I only have VERY few gripes about this film. One is that I don't get to hear that score from The First Avenger by Alan Silvestri. Well, we get to hear a small portion of it at the beginning of the film, but it's pretty much understandable why they did a new score for this film because tonal wise, this movie is a little more aggressive and gritty and that cheesy 1940s influenced theme just won't fit. 

Before we move on to my other gripe, here's an aspect of the film that I couldn't find anywhere in it, the comedy. Yes, there is humor but surprisingly no dumb and out of place comedy in it. I am not sure if there is no joke, there is a joke only that it's not funny enough, or it is funny only that I'm just too focused on the bigger picture. I'm just sayin'. 

My other gripe is none other than the Winter Soldier himself. First, his character is a badass, he is the Terminator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it is just impossible to take down this dude. He didn't get you with a grenade launcher, he will just stab you instead. If you get in his way, don't bother running, you're already dead. But because of that, he feels more of a plot device than an actual character. It might be understandable for the kind of situation he's in, but there was very little time to establish him as still a human being with all of this shenanigans going on. Even then, the limited time span made the confrontations between him and Captain America restricted, even if it looks like they're just going to kill each other eventually, it feels like they could do more with some emotional gravitas as they go down the big revelation. It's not like you didn't see it coming anyway, thanks trailers (sarcasm).  

Final Verdict

So let me ask you again, do you still want a Marvel movie with  a promising story, but in a lazy-written script filled with impractical and out of placed comedy and grand, but dumb action? If you still do, then go see Iron Man 3, if you don't then good for you, 'cause now we have Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Not only this movie surpasses its predecessor in every aspect, but also every other Disney/Marvel flick out there. Yes, I think this movie is better than The Avengers, there I said it. Why? Because this movie proves that you don't have to be a superhero ensemble flick to be the better Marvel film. You just got to have a really great source material, add in an original and superb story to it, fill it with the right characters and you will have an action packed superhero/political thriller film with a story and action that will blow your mind. This is definitely the Marvel solo flick that deserves a billion dollar mark and a recognition as one of the best Marvel movies or CBM ever. This is the game changer of MCU Phase 2 and the best of the series as well, let's see Guardians Of The Galaxy and Avengers: Age of Ultron top that. 

"Captain America: The First Avenger" - LATE MOVIE REVIEW

The Review

If you're going to make movies for several Marvel characters which will eventually have (almost) all of the most recognizable characters team up in the very first superhero ensemble flick, it's only practical you make a movie about the leader of the group itself, Captain America. Growing up seeing re-runs of the 60's cartoon back at the early late 90's and early 2000's when it still a routine for small kids to catch Saturday morning cartoons. Until you started reading Captain America comics as a teenager, you really have no idea who Captain America is and what it's like to be a part of his universe. Consider this film an introductory of the character to the wider audience who's lazy enough to even pick up a comic book. Because knows heaven we shall never speak of the 90's disaster movie which stared what's-his-face-again as the titular character, it's best dive into this film instead. 

We start off with Steve Rogers, played by Chris Evans, a young man with a purest heart of gold who wanted to give his life to serve his country during the heat of World War II. The only problem is, Steve is tiny stick even thinner than a regular BBQ stick, you might feel pity to skim through his medical record. But then a government doctor, Dr. Albert Erskine, played by Stanley Tucci, has offered Steve a chance to serve the military, as long as he volunteers to undergo an experiment which would give him peak physical strength, speed, agility and a chance to look more like Chris Evans in his best days and less like Christian Bale from The Machinist. Now the man named Captain America has emerged. America's walking flag sent to every dangerous missions of the war wielding a powerful vibranium steel shield that gives the sport Frisbee and whole new name. With new found abilities, a superhero status, Steve Roger's wishes has been fulfilled, but his life will never be the same. 

Reading that, the movie itself sounded patriotic and inspiring, which at times it is. The movie itself has a very fun story to tell. The World War II setting sets it apart from the previous Marvel movies at that time. But if you're looking forward to a war movie with comic book characters in it, you have another thing coming. The movie by any means, is a treasure hunt film, much like the Indiana Jones movies. One of the key plots is the Tesseract, a (or the) Cosmic Cube, which is being used by Nazi's science division, H.Y.D.R.A. under the leader ship of the film's main antagonist, The Red Skull, played by Hugo Weaving. When our characters start fighting over the possession of the Cosmic Cube, the film itself steps away from the usual war film formula, as if these certain events takes place behind the public's eye. People knew who Captain America is, but they kinda didn't knew what he does. The action scenes are grand and epic in its scale, but damn are they cheesy. Captain America infiltrates a H.Y.D.R.A. prison and sets free and mob of US soldiers held captive without being spotted while doing so? That's something. The film has some crazy ups and downs when it comes to tonal variation that should have been done really well if not for the writing that wasn't thought through, it's kind of a bummer to be honest. 

The film itself has a pretty interesting cast. Chris Evans did a good job playing both Steve Rogers before his transformation and Steve Rogers as Captain America. You are fully convinced of his performance as a small New Yorker who doesn't want to get his new found status into his head and a character who wants to keep his pure heart until the end his days. But even with star studded cast, somehow no one really stood out to me other than Evans himself, though he didn't really steal the movie. Doesn't mean the film had bad acting though, I'm just saying.

The score composed by Alan Silvestri fits perfectly for the tone of this film, it's not Hans Zimmer/John Williams/Danny Elfman' level by any means, but still pretty epic and patriotic. The special effects are passable, but the set pieces are very astonishing. The editing, my gosh, the editing though, is friggin' lazy. Who edited this film? Looks like someone didn't bother to have a second look. 

The Final Veridct

The concept of Captain America himself is patriotic, heroic, epic and super cheesy. But Captain America: The First Avengers wears them like the titular character's armor and shield that not only made him look silly, but also iconic. Even if it's lacking, this is the Marvel movie that has a pure heart in it, like its titular character.

"Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher" - MOVIE REVIEW

Synopsis

Punisher is taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody after interfering in a top secret mission. In exchange for release, Punisher and the Black Widow are teamed up to take down the terrorist arm dealing organization Leviathan who plan to auction stolen S.H.I.E.L.D. technology

The Review

Truth be told fans everywhere don't have much faith when it comes to Marvel's animation department. Their collaboration with famed Japanese animation studio Madhouse is no exception.  So far, this collaboration has released four TV anime series under the label "Marvel Anime" which includes Iron Man, Wolverine, X-Men and Blade, all received with mixed reviews. Their first direct-to-video release however, Iron Man: Rise of Technovore, didn't have that much praise, with most criticism focuses on it's dull-written script, dumb dialogues and the fact that it's dragging in time which makes the audience TechnoBORED (get it, no?). The question still remains; are these projects made for Anime fans or Marvel fans? Hopefully Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher could give us an answer, if not, THE answer. 

The biggest praise anyone could probably give this film is its animation style. Even if you still prefer western animation, the famed anime style fits perfectly for this action-packed adventure. With its fluid animation and  spectacular character and setting designs, you can just simply look past the fact that some characters make a few weird facial expressions on a few occasions and marvel at the ink and colors that fills up the screen.

The film has a pretty interesting voice cast; Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) as Black Widow and Brian Bloom (The A-Team, Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths) as Punisher, did a pretty good job on their respective roles, but in movies like this voice casting don't stand out that much. 

The movie itself has a solid intro, putting both title characters upfront and gives them chance to shine with only just the first 8 minutes of the film. That bad-assery goes on as the movie progresses, it's a toss coin when it comes to the question of who is the better lead and that's a good thing. However, the film went unconventionally slow as it goes from point A to point B. Certain plot elements are being shoved up to are throats to death, just to keep you reminded on how they are relevant to the situation at hand. We are also introduced to some characters who was just there for the sake of either having a comic relief character or just simply to have a time-killer scene. The first few action sequences are top-notch gritty and entertaining though I do see a pretty obvious changes, the subsequent fights scenes just gets cheesier, and cheesier than ever.The Punisher shoots someone in cold blood, and that blood glowed neon red. Yes, it glowed neon red. Not only that, The Avengers came down to the scene (at the climax) along with neon light-trails as if they were teleported like Power Rangers or something. 

Final Verdict

Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher is probably the most fun and entertaining Marvel animated movie in a long time. It's action packed, the lead characters owned the show like they should, it gets cheesy at times and gets slow in between but it has a pretty entertaining story and a well written script. It's definitely a film that is made to satisfy both Anime fans and Marvel fans. Here's hoping for a better future installment for Marvel Anime.