Peter Taranaski

For me personally, a mixed bag. The Chadwick Boseman/Black Panther memories and thoughts were all good. There were some good performances here too such as Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Danai Gurira, Michaela Coel. Letitia Wright seems to do the best she can with the cluttered character development in this film, The film is strangely slow in places and her character is torn in all directions without it given air until they settle on the "revenge" plot. This makes her unsympathetic but then there is character growth. Some people criticise the decisions that Wakanda (Angela Bassett) makes in the film, but she has lost a son and she is not Black Panther, she does not share his worldview or the revelation that the bad guy might be right in the first film. The scenes where she chastises the French are badass. I kinda like the Mayan design, it is rather dark and murky (as you would expect) but the world-building feels a little off. I had difficulties which to me seemed like big plot-holes. I appreciate the kind of "honour" of Namor, but am uncertain that giving the Wakandas a week to get annoyed made much sense, it is unsurprising they would retaliate. The final battle on the boat is just woeful, the CGI isn't the best, its an uninspiring scene. I get it, it would have been worse underwater (see Aquaman), but it was not very satisfying. For angry fish-people Aquaman is actually better in terms of pacing, dialogue, special effects and fun, though I concede it is a much simpler film. Wakanda forever feels like it is juggling too much, the rewrites probably hurt it.

A few hours in and I am enjoying it. I will talk about it and cannot escape comparisons to LFD series. Similar to the LFD games it loses some stars and gains others for various reasons. I quite like the gun variety, how they shoot etc, melee and all that; they behave quite differently to each other. People are complaining about picking up mods and they being stuck on your gun and then you change. I'm fine with it, I'd be bored to tears if I had the ultimate gun and mod combo for all the campaigns. The characters (so far haven't unlocked all) seem pretty good; there's not quite the same casual banter as LFD (particularly 2) but enjoyable enough. I've only played solo though and the ai needs work. I was set on fire and then downed, the ai did not revive because of the fire, but then proceeded to let me die there when the fire went out. It likes to shoot you up a bit as well haha. Graphics are good, love the detail and there is fire everywhere. Will say zombies and characters in general do not quite possess the weight of characters from the other game,. You are slicing through butter rather than cheese. The only time you really feel it is when you are knocked back by exploding z. I prefer the heavier, more realistic feel. The zombies (or ridden whatever they are called) are pretty similar to LFD though not quite as good...so far there is not as much that can down you, though love their variety of hunter. Theres probably more I can say but will leave or for now.

Magical in every sense of the word. Age of Resistance manages to not only have the spirit of the original film but expand the world it is in massively and in a way that makes sense. If puppets are not your thing, I am uncertain if this will convince you but you should try nevertheless. Like Game of Thrones it goes big on the number of characters, politics and motivations; and also like Game of Thrones it succeeds. Where it differs to that show (apart from puppetry) is that it is High Fantasy, the fantasy is very fantastic and the whole thing is permeated with a kind of unique joyful weirdness that only Henson can bring. Saying that there is a crucial logic to everything in the show and it just gets better and better. This is not a show for young children, there are some pretty distressing bits in it, even moreso than the film. Like a friend of mine says, this is how the Star Wars Prequels (and sequel trilogy) should have been done; it is respectful of what is established and brings great ideas, dialogue and plotting to an idea which is epic in scale.

'I am mother' is a fairly small-scale implementation of a sci-fi concept that many would have seen before, but to mark this out and hold it against the film is missing the point. It has some nice visuals. Mother herself looks and moves great (the less cgi the better in my book). The acting is pretty good too and the atmosphere, set pieces and set design is very good indeed. It hints at a lot of things and doesn't explain everything. That is how it should be; the film sets its scope and leaves the rest to the imagination. This will doubtlessly frustrate some people who love epic sci fi creations brimming with lore and building but it is a two hour film that trims the fat and sets its sight on ethics and the concept, and these it does quite well. I recommend. A good entry for sci-fi and quite a high bar for Netflix films in general.