Mad Max Fury Road Review

I did not get to see this movie until the Monday after it opened, so I had seen the reviews. I knew I was going into a great movie, but it truly did not disappoint. For those of you that have not seen it yet, go see it. For those of you that have, go see it again.

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Characters

I thought going into the movie that the action was going to stick with me, but what has really stuck with me is the characters. It is tough to pick a favorite. Nux, played by Nicholas Hoult, is a great character with a great arc through the movie. His character goes through a great transformation during the movie and really enjoyed him. Furiosa, played by Charlize Theron, is another great character. A true warrior who does what needs to be done. She has some powerful scenes in this movie both in physical battles and in emotional struggles. A great fight scene with Max too. Speaking of our titular character, Max really plays a minor role in the movie on first look, but thinking about it more Max is really us in the movie. When he learns things we learn things. We know as much of the situation as Max. Although Max does have more post-apocalypse skills then us. Very clever and I liked Tom Hardy's portrayal of him. I was not surprised that these characters were good, because I have liked these actors in other movies before, but Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Splendid, was really surprising. This is the same actress that is in Transformers Dark of the Moon as the Meghan Fox replacement. She was powerful in her scenes. Her role called for her to be bold and she was. I could seriously go on with more amazing characters, but that would take too long. Just know you are going into  movie with great characters.

Action & CGI

George Miller has decided to upstage every CGI loving current Director out there and make one great action movie with minimal CGI. I would describe the action as a kid playing with his Hot Wheels in a sand box. Excellent chase scenes with crazy unique vehicles. The action is so very real. My favorite George Miller quote about this movie is around how technology has changed in the 30 years since the last Mad Max. What about technology has changed? That CGI makes every thing easier and possible? No. That digital cameras are so cheap now he could put them anywhere to get the shot and not have to worry about them breaking. That is awesome. That is a Director who understands what it takes to make a great action movie. This whole movie could have been shot in front of a green screen, but it wasn't. People are actually doing the stunts in the desert for this movie, which is crazy. This movie's action is going to hold up great for years. When there is CGI in this film, it is excellent too. The sand storm, seen in the trailers, looks so great and feels real. Furiosa's arm is great too. If you did not know from the trailer, she is missing her arm and has a mechanical arm. You show this movie twenty years ago and everyone would think that Charlize Theron did have a left arm. George Miller is in full control of all the stunts, action, and CGI in this movie and it really pays off.

Fast Points

• Saw the movie in 3D, it was cool, but it takes my eyes too long to adjust to truly enjoy it. If you can handle 3D, I would see it in it. 
• The whole religion behind Immortan Joe and his followers, the War Boys, is amazing world building. Spraying chrome on their teeth and yelling witness me, super crazy and helps make for terrifying villains 
• I love that you cannot tell if this is a reboot, sequel, prequel, or whatever. It is just a Mad Max movie and it super entertaining. Too many labels for movies in Hollywood. This is just a kick butt movie. 
• Even though this is just an action movie with one big chase scene, I really feel like I need to see it again to fully appreciate it. 
• I am not completely sure why this movie was rated R. I don't remember a lot of bad language in it (Captain America approves of this). It is violent, but not bloody violent or gory. It just feels like a border line R to me and I was expecting more of a Terminator 2 level R movie. Nothing wrong just pointing it out. 
• Finally, I want more movies like this....

Final Verdict: A

A must see action adventure with great character and an amazing world. Don't miss this in theaters!

The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Review

After completing the very first Zelda game, it seemed only natural to play the newest (not counting remakes/releases) Zelda game out on the market... A Link Between Worlds! Well that and because I have a 2DS and it is ranked as one of the best on the system...

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How long does it take for me to beat a game? Well it took me since I finished my The Legend of Zelda review until now to finish this game. Moral of the story... when you get old you get less and less time to play video games.

Story & Dungeons

This is not an extremely deep or epic story, but it is a good one. A sorcerer invades Hyrule and starts turning people into paintings and is after Princess Zelda. Your job is to save Zelda and get back the paintings, which are hidden in the mysterious and mirrored world of Lorule! Very simple, but I liked simple in this case. It is a game on a mobile gaming device and I really felt that I could just pop in and play for a couple of minutes or a hour or two and either way it didn't hurt the story or make it confusing what is going on.  

Dungeons are a key part to the story in A Link Between Worlds (like most Zelda games) and they are very good in this game. Most dungeons you need a specific weapon for and they really use the weapon well in each dungeon. With all the weapons there are in this game, it helps to have specific dungeons for a weapon to showcase it.

Weapons & Special Abilities

A Link Between Worlds brings a new debate to weapon ownership... buy vs rent. In this game you are not finding all the main weapons in dungeons/castles, you are given the option to buy or rent. I feel like Nintendo decided that they need to teach children around the world about the age old debate of buy vs leasing, because that is exactly what the decision feels like. I found myself asking and thinking "This weapon is needed for this dungeon, but am I really going to need it afterwards?", "I could just rent every weapon right now and just save my game a ton and I will save so many Rupees!!", "I love this weapon, I going to buy this weapon." This is a fun feature, but really in the end there is no debate because this game just throws out the Rupees. You can easily buy every weapon when needed (this may not be true in Hero mode).

My go-to weapons were the Hookshot and Ice Rod. Hookshot was really helpful against the shield wielding foes and useful against all foes. The upgraded Ice Rod really helped when I was really surrounded by enemies (aka the Treacherous Tower). I found myself having these two equipped for as much as possible in the final castle.

I briefly commented above, but there are a lot weapons in this game, maybe too many. Example, I did not really use the bow at all in the game. A classic weapon like the bow could have been featured a little more. I don't think it takes away from the game by having too many weapons, I would prefer having the opportunity to really use all the weapons.

Wall-MERGING really EMERGES as a great new feature (I am too funny)
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I loved the merging with wall feature in this game. They really hit it out of the park with this new feature. Annoying enemy coming at me... merge into wall. Not sure where to go... merge into wall and run around. It is such a fun new feature to play with. I would see cliffs and would make note of them to find how to merge to a wall to get there. Puzzles were a lot more fun with this ability too. It makes you think about not only where you need to go, but how to get there. I would be very happy if this feature made a return in another Zelda game.

Rapid Fire

• I am a huge fan of the look of this game. Instead of going for super realistic, which the 3DS cannot handle, they went with the more what I consider cartoony look, which the 3DS handles great. There is nothing wrong with the cartoony look. Bad realistic is the worst thing ever in games. Play to what your system can handle and that is what they did here.
• Huge shout out to the compass in each dungeon! Without you I would have been a mess. I am not a fan of search dungeons for treasure that could or could not be there. 
• Although I own it on Game Boy Advance, I have not played A Link to the Past (I know I need to play and will in due time). Those that have will probably enjoy this game even more since it has the same map as Link to the Past.
• Since I own a 2DS, I cannot comment about the 3D experience in the game. I can tell the part that it would be used and I am sure it is nice.

Final Verdict: A

Great gameplay, good story, great visuals, and great wall merging make this a must own for 3DS owners and all Zelda fans. 

Avengers: Age of Ultron Review

I, with the rest of the US, saw Avengers: Age of Ultron this weekend. Here is my review! There are some spoilers in the review. You have been warned!

Ending of Phase 2 

I wanted to start with what I think really holds this movie back... The fact that it is part of a SET Marvel Cinematic Universe. If you couldn't tell from the bolding and uppercase lettering, set is a key word there. The first Avengers we had no idea where we were going. There was going to be more movies, but really we were just part of the ride. Multiple superheros are getting together in one movie and it worked great. I remember being in the theater during the opening scene being like "Wow this is really happening." Now that it is happening a second time and I know where everyone is going, it takes the some of the charm away. We know Iron Man and Captain America are going into a Civil War against each other. We know Thor is going into a movie that could be really bad for some other worlds. We know that there are two more Avengers movies that are going to be huge. Nothing could happen in AoU that could take my mind away from that. At no point was I like "Oh wow Thor is not going to make it" or "This is it for Iron Man." Looking back at it, this movie ends with a lot of cool open ended questions, like where is the Hulk. This could have been Han Solo in carbonite level question, but he know they are coming back.

"Watch the Language"

Just like the first movie there is a lot of funny moments in the movie. The whole bad language inside joke throughout the movie is excellent. There were a couple of laugh out loud moments in the theater I was at. Superhero movies cannot be too serious (see Man of Steel) because they are meant to inspire and cheer us up. It also helps make the character much more real. You can connect with the characters that make jokes and that we have inside jokes with. I have read some people hate on Joss Whedon for all the one liners he puts in his works. I love them and if you love them then you are going to like this movie. To be honest, I think the jokes have stuck with me more than crazy action scenes/fights. 

Age of Scarlet Witch

I wanted Ultron to be a great villain. He had great lines, but really at the end of the day he wasn't much of a villain in this movie. Yes he is the one with the world destruction plan they are trying to stop. Yes he was menacing. But without the Scarlet Witch, I am not sure he would have made it far. He kind of failed... a lot and at everything he tried. For an AI he did not do a great job evolving and learning from mistakes. I think Ultron the villain suffered from all the set-ups to future MCU movies. It is really too bad, because they have a good baddie here. 

Quick Points

• All the action scenes in the movie are on par with Avengers. 
• Hulk Buster vs Hulk was a lot of fun. I thought it was going to be a re-tread from Avengers, but it wasn't
• The final battle seemed a little rushed to me. Rushed in the sense of it quickly started. It seemed like one second we are in this part of the world, the next second we are somewhere else, and then BOOM climax final battle.
• Love all the Avengers characters old and new. Marvel is truly great at casting. 
• Black Widow and Hulk? I thought Captain and Black Widow were going to be a thing after Winter Solider and their chemistry, but that was after all the Black Widow and Hawkeye stuff from the first Avengers. The MCU is not going for a love triangle they are going for a love pentagon!
• Not a fan of the random Thor story here. Feels really out of place, but...
• Shout out to Thor for someone somewhere in the MCU being like "Why are all these stones showing up?"
• I wonder if we are going to look back on this movie and wonder if this movie was needed in the MCU. Lots of set-ups to future movies, but what did it change?

Final Verdict: B

Solid super hero movie with great action, funny moments, but suffers from being a middle movie in the MCU and under using Ultron.