Joseph Stuckey

As a diehard 40k hobbyist I was really excited to explore this part of the universe. Rogue Trader did not disappoint in the least. Incredibly voice acting and soundscaping. Right from the first five minutes I felt immersed in the world and soaked up every side conversation, every scrap of lore I could find. Characters are distinctly written and feel both human and inhuman at the same time; something critical to the 40k setting. My RT felt more like a flexible agent of himself rather than someone following an alignment rail or locked into dogma like a space marine, which was very refreshing. Combat is crunchy and tactical - I recommend playing on daring to feel the weight of your decisions. Normal difficulty is a little on the easy side once you get the combat flow and spend some time reading your abilities and attributes. I played as a commissar and felt it was pretty accurate to lore. We even get the "Shoot your homies for a stat boost" ability. A+. Spectacular storytelling experience, I can't wait for the DLC. (Also props for fixing Marazhai's romance - hilariously, his relationship is dom/sub and the choices were either of those were flagged in reverse up until it was patched.)

It could have been a great movie. But what do you do with a character whose development happens over the course of a seizure? Lucy is a static character who goes from panicking antelope to a supergenius pseudohero within minutes. I did not feel invested in any of the characters - many of whom felt inconsistent and particularly throwaway. The star quickly becomes stale and the writing jumps the shark very quickly. She almost channels Nancy Botwin from Weeds with her ability to do just about anything she wants and have everyone just go along with it blindly. I understand the premise of the show is that she is extremely powerful and hyperintelligent, but eventually it makes her boring and unrelatable. It's a shame because Scarlet Johansson is a brilliant actor whose talent I couldn't appreciate in this one dimensional role. Too much psychopath in one movie for me, and the characters with compelling personalities take too much of a backseat. Nice special effects though. I can at least appreciate that. But did they run the bydget so tight they couldn't afford to translate the opening scenes? Come on... Near-miss. Scratches a sci-fi itch if you just want action and cool fx.