Disney and Beyond Friday Feature - Star Wars Battlefront 2 Controversy

In today's Friday Feature, I give my opinions on the #Battlefront2 Loot box controversy.

Spider-Man Homecoming Review

I’ve been a Spider-Man fan for as long as I can remember, growing up watching the 90's cartoon on Fox Kids.  My generation of Spidey fans has also been lucky to see several big-screen versions of the character, albeit some being better than others.  With Spider-Man now firmly in the MCU fold, it's time for another outing.  And this one has definitely got my spider-sense tingling.  In a good way.

For those of you that have been living in a cave, Spider-Man Homecoming picks up where the Captain America: Civil War airport fight leaves off, with an excited Peter Parker (Tom Holland) longing for another shot with the big leagues.  Instead, he’s left cleaning up after street thugs, when he stumbles across weapon dealers using alien tech.  Eventually, he encounters the ring-leader, Adrian Toomes, AKA The Vulture.  Then it’s down to the usual superhero fair.  Except this time, the plot is handled incredibly well, with a good balance of small, subtle scenes mixed with the high octane action sequences that we've come to love with the MCU.  It's nice to finally see something different with Spider-Man.

Tom Holland is probably one of the standout performances of the year so far. The casting directors over at Marvel always do a fantastic job when casting iconic characters.  They certainly haven't disappointed here.  Despite two prominent Avengers being in the movie, Spider-Man is never overshadowed.  Again, it seems that they've found the right balance between established characters and the new ones.  In fact, all of the young actors are handled very well and it's nice to see the director coming from a small production into something so big, and yet, managing to hit the ground running.

As great as this film is, nothing can ever be perfect.  There are a few niggling things in this, but nothing too distracting.  Sometimes the action sequences have a little too much shaky cam, which makes it hard to focus on what's actually happening in the scene.  Also, it would've been nice to see Spider-Man doing a bit more of the acrobatic hand-to-hand fighting that he's known for, rather than relying on a vast array of gadgets.  I can see why they’ve opted for the gadgets, but it's always good to watch a nice punch-up.  Having said that, the action sequences are still very enjoyable and incredibly well thought out, particularly the sequence involving the Washington monument, which is just amazing.  As is the scene with the ATM robbery.

Overall, this is a fantastic return to form for the Spider-Man franchise.  Not since Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2 has it been so enjoyable.  It's funny, quirky, with a great cast of characters that I can't wait to see again. There really isn't much in the way of negative comments that can be said about this film.  I highly recommend that you go and see it and I'm very excited for the next one.

            

Until next time… To infinity and beyond!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge – Review

Pirates of the Caribbean and I have a very long history.  One of my earliest memories of the property is being absolutely terrified by the very popular dark ride in Walt Disney World.  In 1988 the animatronics were so lifelike, the explosions so real, it scared the hell out of me.  I won't lie, at thirty-three years old, it still makes me nervous.  However, that didn't stop me getting excited back in 2003 when the first Pirates of the Caribbean film hit the cinemas.  I loved the fast paced, swashbuckling adventures of the rum addled Captain Jack Sparrow and the lovelorn Will Turner. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the first three films, even if the pacing of the third was a little off.  

Now, it’s taken me a while to get around to it and after much deliberation, I finally got to see the fifth instalment of my much-loved Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge, or Dead Men Tell No Tales if you're reading this in the US.  After the very disappointing fourth instalment, my level of expectation for a fifth film was set pretty low.  But having seen the trailer, I thought I would give the franchise one last chance to redeem itself.  After all, I loved the first three films and invested many hours of enjoyment watching them on DVD.  Needless to say, it wasn't the best, but it certainly wasn't the worst.

For those of you that don't know, Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar's Revenge sees Henry Turner (Brenton Thwaites) on a quest to find the magical Poseidon’s Trident in order to release his father, Will (Orlando Bloom), from the curse of the Flying Dutchman.  Along the way, he joins forces with scientifically minded orphan, Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) and his dad’s one-time frenemy, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) — who also happens to have an evil Spanish ghost (Javier Bardem) after him.  The plot itself is pretty straightforward and the film does well to connect itself to the original trilogy, thankfully only making a passing reference to the fourth film.  My only criticism is the fact that it tends to jump from one set piece to another without much exposition in between.  This leaves the plot feeling a little thin and underdeveloped, especially with the long-running time.  However, it's by no means boring. 

The set pieces themselves are true to the franchise in their epic scale and slapstick comedy nature, with one of the best being the bank heist towards the beginning of the film.  Full credit goes to the directors and the stunt team for that one.  The cast again were brilliant in their roles and it was nice to see the reappearance of Will Turner, even if it was only a brief scene.  It's a shame that he couldn't be in it more, as it would be awesome to see Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp back together again. In this one, the sidekick role falls to Henry Turner played by the Australian actor, Brenton Thwaites, who does a fair job considering the big shoes that he is expected to fill. But again, it's Johnny Depp that steals the show, as he effortlessly slips back into the role of the lovable rogue, Captain Jack Sparrow who saunters around the screen as though he never left it.  The newest cast members seemed to gel well with the old.  Kaya Scodelario's character is probably the better of the two, with the actress delivering some well-timed one-liners.

In all, I thoroughly enjoyed the film, even with the few niggling issues that it has.  Some of the characters seemed a bit pointless; the Royal Navy officer played by David Wenham being a prime example.  He does a good enough job, just never really gets the chance to do much.  Also, for a swashbuckling movie, it has very few swordfights. Having said that, it definitely exceeded my expectations, if only marginally, and in my opinion, it was a good start to bringing the franchise back to form. 

Thank you for reading my review and please do leave your comments and thoughts below, as I would love to hear what you guys think.  Until next time… To infinity, and beyond!