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The Hangover Part II (2011)
Pure garbage from beginning to end
Hangover Part II is a sequel, yet follows the exact same plot structure as the original. This time, dentist Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married in Thailand and invites the old gang to his wedding including Doug (Justin Bartha), Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Alan (Zach Galifianakis). After a night drinking at the beach with the Wolfpack gang and Stu's fiancée's brother Teddy (Mason Lee). The Wolfpack (excluding Doug) wake up in a hotel in Bangkok with no recollection to what happened the night before. They have to retrace their steps and find Teddy before the day of the wedding.
I hated my experience this film even more than I initially expected. Not to say that I loved the original Hangover, but at least I could understand the suggestive on-the-nose humour and what it was going for. The main caveat of the Hangover films is that you're supposed to like the main trio, but I don't like any of them - especially the character of Alan, who is just pretentious and annoying beyond belief. This time around, the comedy surrounds more raunchy sex stunts and rampant partying which doesn't interest or amuse me in the slightest here. I especially hate the homophobic stuff on display because it's wicked and just plain vile. There is a subplot about mobsters which use a chain-smoking monkey to do drug deals which goes completely nowhere and only sets up an action setpiece and the obnoxiously flamboyant caricature of Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong) returns for the sequel, but only becomes a major character later on.
Perhaps the whole Hangover trilogy might have more of a cultural impact in the U. S., and I as a British movie-goer found none of the gags in Part II funny and was quite frankly bored with it once I knew that it was going to be a complete rehash of the original. In all truthfulness, this and other Hangover films heavily panders to the American Pie demographic which is a culture of just drink, drugs and sex and nothing else. It's not smart, it's completely mindless, stubborn, sexist, and immature without doing anything else and I'm glad that these films aren't being made any more.
In summary I can't recommend this film to anyone at all unless you don't value your time on Earth. Go watch the original Hangover if you will, but there's much better buddy comedy films than this on the market.
I'd much rather watch Superbad 3 times over than Hangover Part II again and that's saying something. It is in my catalogue of worst films I've ever watched.
Green Street (2005)
A completely dumb film with bad morals
Let me preface this review by saying I don't like football (or soccer), but as someone from the UK I have been surrounded by football and fans most of my life.
You should enjoy a film irrespective of whether you like something or not.
That being said, Green Street is complete nonsense from start to finish and is astounding as to how one-sided it is in the view of football hooliganism. It almost feels like a passion project from the director (Lexi Alexander) as she was allegedly once part of a football firm herself. This film doesn't do a lot to show how negative of an impact football firm violence is, but instead revels in it. And that's much of why I hated this picture, among other things mentioned below:
Charlie Hunnam's accent is laughably bad, almost on par with Dick Van Dyke's notorious Cockney impression. That tied with the lead star being Elijah Wood (or Frodo from the Lord of the Rings trilogy) made watching this film all the more ridiculous.
Another gripe I have is that there's no sense of progression, it seems that Elijah Wood joins the firm and after no time at all is completely engrained in and enraptured by it. Throghout most of the film, he's not an outsider looking into this gang subculture, but a fabled legend amongst the people of Green Street.
My main point is the overall feeling you're supposed to get by the end of the film is this violence in Green Street is good, and that defending what you love with fistfights should be a rite of passage. I'm not saying that this film causes violence, but it is most definitely suggesting violence as an answer. Of course there are consequences to these violent acts, but most of the characters learn nothing from their actions and there is no sense of redemption or reflection by the end of it all.
In short, there are much better films centered around football hooliganism than this. If you haven't already, watch the Football Factory instead.
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Anniversary (2007)
A Flawed, But Underappreciated Remake
Tomb Raider: Anniversary serves as a remake of the original game, using the same gameplay mechanics and engine from Legend whilst also retaining what made the original game so appealing and wondrous.
Although Anniversary takes some creative liberties here and there, the game's main story and setpieces remain relatively unchanged from the original.
The story follows Lara Croft, a British fortune hunter & millionaire who is hired by businesswoman Jaqueline Natla to recover the Scion, an artefact hailing from the rulers of Atlantis. Throughout her journey, Lara visits several key areas around the world and uncovers the mystery of the Scion and the lost city of Atlantis whilst competing with fellow fortune hunters and mercenaries.
The gameplay remains relatively unchanged from the previous game in the series Tomb Raider: Legend, however there is a heavier emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving rather than combat.
The lack of variety when it comes to combat is something to note. Most of the enemies you fight in early on in Anniversary consist of wolves, bears and gorillas - as well as the occasional boss fights throughout each location. The combat in Anniversary can become tediously frustrating, especially when the game introduces new creatures and bosses for you to fight.
When it comes to traversing levels in Anniversary, platforming is one of the game's weaker points - especially when Lara somehow messes up (i.e. Doesn't perform a jump correctly) and dies. This constantly happened throughout my playthrough and there were rare instances in which Lara would miss ropes directly in front of her or sometimes even scale a ledge and somehow glitch off and die. Some of these issues were also present in Tomb Raider: Legend however since the game was focused less on platforming, it was much less noticeable.
On the other hand, the puzzles are unique and require a lot of time and patience to fully understand and master. Take for instance the level in Greece known as St. Francis' Folly - that whole chamber personally took me quite some time to fully understand it all during my first playthrough.
Outside of the game's main story is Croft Manor, which primarily serves as a tutorial for new players to experiment with Anniversary's controls. However Croft Manor also tasks the player in solving a puzzle to turn on the water system and open a locked door. Out of all the Tomb Raider games I've played featuring Croft Manor, this one has to be my favourite appearance of the iconic locale.
Overall, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is a must-play game for new Tomb Raider fans. Despite the game's lackluster combat and often glitchy platforming controls, Anniversary was Crystal Dynamic's bold attempt to remake the beloved first entry to the series which was extremelly innovative to other 3D platforming games. I recommend this game to audiences who enjoy game series such as Tomb Raider, Uncharted, Prince of Persia and Assassin's Creed - as well as people who enjoy the adventure genre as a whole.
The Italian Job (2003)
An Archetypal, Generic Heist Film
The Italian Job follows John Bridger (Donald Sutherland) & Charlie Croker (Mark Wahlberg), who set up a team to pursue a heist of $35 million worth of gold in Venice. After the heist is successful, Steve (Edward Norton) betrays the group by taking the gold and killing John in the process. With the help of John's daughter & professional safe cracker Stella (Charlize Theron), the group must reunite in Los Angeles to reclaim the gold from Steve.
This film stands up on it's own as an archetypal, generic heist film. However, as a remake of the 1969 original, it is incomparable. For a start, most of the Italian Job 2003 primarily takes place in Los Angeles with a very small portion at the beginning taking us to Venice. And although there are some clear homages to the original such as with the scenes featuring Mini Coopers, most of the film has a modern Fast & Furious / Mission Impossible look and feel that the original didn't have to rely on to be successful
Also, I personally feel that Mark Wahlberg and Jason Statham were both miscast. Although both are perfectly fine in the roles that they are given, Statham should've played Wahlberg's character and vice versa.
Overall the 2003 Italian Job is a decent and rewatchable heist film with some good merits, but completely incomparable to the original film it's based on.
Assassin's Creed (2007)
Repetitive, Yet Interesting
Assassin's Creed was, and still is for the most part, a uniquely interesting experience that is unfortunately plagued with repetetive mission structures and ridiculous collectables.
The game is set in present day, and centers around a bartender called Desmond Miles, who is kidnapped by a multinational conglomerate known as Abstergo. The company want him to use a machine dubbed the Animus to relive the genetic memories of his ancestor, a 12th-century Syrian assassin known as Altaïr - who has to prove himself to his grandmaster by tracking down and eliminating 9 people.
The main character outside of the Animus, Desmond, is quite dull and boring when compared to his ancestor, Altaïr - who, although being just as dull, has had their story greatly expanded on in the future title Assassin's Creed Revelations. The rest of the cast aren't memorable enough to mention really, but we have Warren Vidic - the main culprit behind Desmond's kidnapping. And Lucy Stillman, Vidic's assistant who tends to initially hide her true identity to everyone.
Most of the gameplay takes place in the Animus - and the game is a typical open-world third person sandbox title. As Altaïr, you are able to explore West Asian cities such as Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and so on. Since the events of the Animus take place in the 12th century - you must rely on swords and throwing knives during combat, and horses to travel within the game's 'hubworld' - the Kingdom. The main missions of Assassin's Creed are initially locked away when you first begin the game, forcing you to start with some of the secondary missions - which are primarily made up of pickpocketing or interrogating NPCs, eavesdropping on conversations, Completing 3 / 4 of these during each memory sequence will give you the location of the target - and thus, will unlock a mission. Each main mission (excluding the first & last) focuses on assassinating a target with known affiliations to the Templar Order. The game can get quite repetitive, especially if you wish to 100% beat Assassin's Creed for achievements. Also, there are several collectibles scattered throughout the game such as flags to collect and unnamed Templars to kill.
A few times, the game will give you a break from the Animus and allow you to explore an Abstergo office that you are being held in. It is here you can access a terminal to read emails from your two captors - Warren Vidic and Lucy Stillman. As well as eavesdrop on their conversations about you. These parts of the game were quite interesting to me and reminded me of something like the Matrix with the complete ambiguity of the situation - something that Assassin's Creed games fail to do nowadays.
It is very hard for me to recommend this game to anyone, unless you are interested in simulations, the Crusades, the Templar Order or just a fan of the Assassin's Creed series in general.
Watch Dogs: Legion (2020)
Playable, Yet Unambitious
Watch Dogs: Legion is about as good as you'd come to expect from this series. It's not a bad game however, it is just really lazy and underdeveloped.
Gameplay wise, it is very much identical to Watch Dogs 2 however it implements new features such as multiple playable characters (known as operatives) and these characters will have their own routines that they will live out (or so it feels like at first glance). To recruit an operative, you can just go up and talk to them (help them with a problem or liberate a borough if they don't like DedSec) and they will give you a mission - usually go and collect an Ambulance or protect them from an assassination attempt. They will then return the favour and join your cause. Beforehand, you can check these operatives skills and abilities (for example hitmen can carry lethal weapons and are generally more maneuverable in combat, and doctors and police officers can give you access to restricted areas) However, once you upgrade your skills from the main menu, you will only need to use certain operatives throughout most of your playthrough. Making this mechanic interesting, but underdeveloped.
The game's main setting is London, the cultural capital of the world - home to many different walks of life. Which has unfortunately come to disarray after a planned terrorist attack occurs and is blamed on DedSec (the main protagonist faction of the Watch Dogs series), and the group soon disbands. It is up to you, and your operatives that you recruit and play as, to conquer London from Albion - a private, corrupt military group run by Nigel Cass (who soughts to bring down DedSec) and find out who set up DedSec for the terrorist attacks.
Just to mention in this review, the voice acting in Watch Dogs: Legion is on par with Bethesda games such as Oblivion and Fallout 3. And it feels that there are even less varieties of voice actors than in those games - most of my operatives speak with an Irish accent, and there's another large group that speak in Jamaican accents. Not to mention the dialects sound too over-exaggerated for a proud member of the British Isles, such as myself.
Additionally, the music in this game is nothing really to mention - it's primarily made up of UK Grime / Rap and Punk Rock. Again, not much in terms of variety.
If you ask me, I'd recommend this game only to people who are interested in the Watch Dogs series, sandbox games, open world environments. The recommended value of this game is around £20 - £25.