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Reviews
Castlevania (2017)
All style, no substance, and an offence to intelligence
Disclaimer: While I'm an avid gamer, I won't be judging this show for how well it adapts the source material, the Castlevania series of video games. Instead, I'll judge it by how well it stands of its own - as any honest reviewer should.
Mixed feelings about this one. Castlevania has some of the best visuals I've ever seen in an animated show, great action scenes, overall nice atmosphere. If that's all a show needs to be good, I'd give Castlevania a 10/10. But here's the thing: it's NOT enough. There are also things like story, plot structure, pacing, acting, characters... I'm sorry, fellow video game connoisseurs, but I have to say that Castlevania has some serious problems with those.
The premise of the show is as simple as it is dumb, but much could've been forgiven if the story that followed was developed and - more importantly - presented in a sensible manner. That didn't happen. Pacing is horrible - at times the show seems to drag on for no reason. There's a lot of filler, while the better parts seem to be compressed. The characterization of characters (the acting) and their choice of actions (the plot) are often idiotic to the point that it's distracting and immersion-breaking. The show is incredibly stupid and devoid of nuance, like it was deliberately made in such a way that even a five-year-old could understand it - a needless concession, considering the absolutely-not-family-friendly content of the show.
You know how when you're watching a really cheap, badly made live-action TV show, you'd sometimes think to yourself: "Gosh, that's so stupid. Why would they do that?" in regards to the writing decisions of the show-runners? That's how I felt about the entirety of Castlevania. Obviously, not every story can be (or needs to be) a Shakespearian work of art with deep philosophical undercurrent. But there needs to be at least some substance, a meaning, something, anything for the brain to latch onto. As it stands, Castlevania only has pointless filler, designed to carry the events from one action set piece to the next. And it's not the 'turn your brain off and enjoy'-kind of situation, either - the show is too slow and too pretentious for that, and there's no tension to keep you engaged.
The overwhelming praised this show has received is really surprising. I've seen people describing it as 'the best animated video game adoption'. Really? Are we really so desperate that we gobble up any soul-less piece of fan-service, as long as it doesn't outright butcher the source material? 'It's based on a video game' is not a valid defense, nor is it a valid excuse for the show being so stupid. For crying out loud, I've seen actual games that can rival the very best of movies, TV shows, and even literature when it comes to quality of writing and direction. There is absolutely no reason for us to be content with something as low-quality as Castlevania.
Action scenes and visuals are the only redeeming qualities of this show. Perhaps it is enough of a reason to watch it, but I suggest lowering your expectations quite a bit, unless you want to feel intellectually-offended.
It Comes at Night (2017)
A good movie that fails
I want to preface this review by saying that I don't have a problem with horror movies that don't scare me. My general expectation is that if something is in the movie, then it has to 'work' and make a point. That's it.
What we have here is definitely not a horror movie in the traditional sense of the word. It mostly consists of drama that is *enhanced* by horror. There is some frightening imagery, but no jump scares - thankfully. Sometimes intense music played during sequences that didn't contain any horror, which was confusing. Horror elements in general are very subdued here, the focus is on uneasing the audience as opposed to outright scaring it.
Horror can be used to tell a story in a different way, from a different perspective, to hint at what the characters are feeling without explicitly showing it, and so on. The makers of the movie do this to great effect, but the core elements of the story are not very good, so the effort is wasted.
The opening arc is actually done well, it sets up the world and the characters perfectly. We are shown how dire the situation is, and that it brings out the brutality in people. The general tone of the movie is rather grim.
There were very few actors, and the sets were also few, bare, and claustrophobic. This instilled the feeling of isolation, further enhancing the horror aspect.
About halfway through I started to get a feeling that something wasn't quite right, that something really bad was going to happen. As trite as that may have sounded, it actually goes in line with what I explained previously: it's what the characters are feeling. Unfortunately, plot development got slower and slower as the movie progressed, and when it finally reached the climax it turned out predictable and underwhelming.
And then the credits rolled, leaving me confused and disappointed. It genuinely seemed as if I only watched half of the movie, since many of the critical plot points were not explained by the end. Some movies try to purposefully confuse the audience as a mean to unnerve it. Here it works on a basic level, but since the plot doesn't go anywhere, it actually makes the general impression worse. The drama aspect wasn't good enough to carry the entirety of the movie on its own. As a result, plot holes significantly detracted from the experience.
Overall, the movie was definitely not boring to watch. In fact, I'd say it's pretty good, if only the buildup wasn't wasted by the lack of payoff. I can recommend this movie is you've got some time to kill, if you're interested in unconventional movies, or if you want to see what works and what doesn't in a movie. Otherwise - skip it.
Savva. Serdtse voina (2015)
Awful production and offensive messages
This is the first animation that was imported to Ukraine from Russia AND fully voiced in Ukrainian. Before, we used to only get subtitled versions of Russian movies and TV-shows (though, one might wonder why are we importing anything at all, considering the war). So, despite being understandably cautious, I was expecting something at least half-decent. Russians aren't at all that bad at making animations and movies ― I've watched a lot of them and I've found some very worthy ones.
In "Savva", however, we can clearly see politics bleeding into the territory of art. The result of such process is a piece of not art, but barely concealed propaganda, a product of Russian brainwashing industry. The most prominent example of it is the animation's portrayal of villains ― hyenas, which were painted* in blue and yellow, Ukrainian national colors. Symbolism of this is beyond obvious, it's practically screaming 'Ukrainians are evil'. At this point I was surprised this was even allowed to reach theaters in my country.
Also, one of the voice-acting stars who voiced Ukrainian version of "Savva" was Vladimir Zelensky, an actor and a TV-series director known for his anti-Ukrainian attitude and offensive statements. His photo was even featured on this animation's posters. I hope you can imagine in which way this fact influenced my impressions of the title.
The parts of it that are not trying to plant a toxic idea in your subconscious aren't good either. A pile of random ideas crumpled together, the execution of which is pathetic. Some people might like background music, but to me it seemed like a wasted effort. The story is not interesting, in fact, it's barely even there.
All in all, I'd say "Savva" is just bad. It's poorly made, and it's harmful to your mental health, unless you count brainwashed as a natural state of mind (you WILL get brainwashed, eventually, if you subsequently watch this, or the likes of it). So, please, do yourself a favor and stay away from this atrocity. You'll thank me later.
* ― there's this speculation that they weren't originally supposed to be like this. In the first teaser (03.03.2011) hyenas were shown to be green and yellow, instead of blue and yellow. However, we have to judge the product by its final state.