Dennis Donohue (Dense)

A return to the amazing story-first narrative -driven Final Fantasy series. It’s beautiful, the story is encapsulating, and the new battle mechanics don’t require a phd (and they don’t get in the way!). Overall, it’s really a masterpiece. The music is perfect, the scenes are breathtaking, and the story breathes life into every encounter. The character-driven story unfolds around you as you advance, and (unlike other games in this genre) you actually start caring for characters. And not just the main characters, either, NPCs, side quests, they all have personality and charm, and the world building is second-to-none. If you are a fan of RPGs, especially formerly ‘turn-based’ games, you can also choose to run the game in story mode, whereby the battles are adjustable different and enjoyable without the need to learn complicated button entry. Really mature and amazing entry into the FF series. Maybe the best FF of all.

What an amazing ride. Wow. SPOILERS AHEAD. Whereas Infinity War was a pulsating caffiene rush from beginning to end that could leave one shaking from the adrenaline dump, Endgame was an emotional walk home after a long night out. The character endings were so well done and the arcs so well-defined (Natasha, Rogers, Stark) that they all felt realistic and drew heavy emotional turmoil from me. The Marvel whimsy was on full display with Thor's character, and he really did steal every scene he was in. The choice of having the Hulk as a combination of Banner and Hulk was a great choice, and allows for the viewer to relate and empathise with that character much more than in past movies. Ant-man was also a character put there almost solely to provide the whimsical slant to the movie, and it was almost universally successful. Rocket was in true form, and his rare quips that were sober were shocking but well-placed. I think the amount of well-written character interactions was surprising and what made the movie so enjoyable. The action was always going to be there, the suspense as well. But in this film we got all of that on the back of character arcs that really defined the characters, interactions that allowed relatability and empathy, and loss that actually felt heavy and felt grief-worthy. Stark's arc was immensely successful, from the intial scene(s) where he was basically humble due to failure then after being saved by Carol with the blow-up at Cap, to the snippy quips at the cabin, to the chats with Pepper about throwing the schematics in the lake, and then through to the time heist and into the ending. It was such a successful and relatable arc. I actually had tears in my eyes when Pepper spoke about him doing a good job, and that it was his time to rest. Not to mention, the bits where Stark met his father while heisting the tesseract were so very interesting and heartfelt. Captain America is always a difficult character to write, as his boyscout-like rule following, and ever optimistic attitude makes him seem unrealistic and non-human. Add to that, the Civil War film fallout that forced Cap to go against those aforementioned personality traits, and the character was a bit hard to place and hard to define. This movie secured his heart, added some much-needed whimsy to his arsenal, and provided some of the most wow-inducing fighting when he harnessed Mjollnir against Thanos. That battle scene was one for the ages. The Ronin bits were actually well-written, but because there wasn't a lot of attention paid to Clint, they did feel a bit forced and therefore the scene with Natasha and Red Skull could have been slightly better, as the viewer was left wondering if the sacrifice would be 'recieved' by the stone if they were fighting over it, etc. It ended perfectly though, and the whole thing had emotional weight to it. I thought that the Thanos parts were far less rewarding than his parts in Infinity War, mostly due to the change in motive (which forced the viewer to back out of any empathy, in order to gain universal approval of his eradication, which is understandable, but a bit disappointing after the character arc in Infinity War). Overall, it was such an outstanding experience. The crowd were all outspoken, and even after 3 hours, the film didn't feel too long, which is some kind of miracle with all of the purposely slow parts and the amount of drama involved. Call-outs to comic books and former films (Hail Hydra, Ronin, "I can do this all day", hydra in the lift, cheeseburger, Proof that Tony Stark has a Heart, etc) never felt forced, and added an extra layer of discovery which also sent waves of reaction through the cinema I attended. Tony Stark's last words were so iconic. It really carried weight. Overall, one of my most favourite cinema experiences. What an experience it was.