Scott Wheeler

The ambitious Acradia Cinematic Universe falls prey to the same mistakes the sequel trilogy of Star Wars does in that the goal was to finish the series; not make a good film. The beginning was cliche, and what makes it worse is sometimes the characters are actually self-aware of the bad writing and will address it in an attempt to make it okay (The first instance being toby makes a joke about the brakes). It was irking and felt a little insulting. Characters would frequently ask why something was happening or why a character was doing something as if the writers were being held at gun point to quickly wrap up the series in a trash bad with the non-essential dialogue being their only piece of creative liberty, as if to openly complain to whoever oversees their work. This continues throughout the entire movie. Things would happen, and the only explanation was a verbal excuse, but nothing leading up to it. [REDACTED] is broken? Nope, here it is. Why? Because. This thing need me to explode with it. Why? Because. The plot as a whole contained a large sum of very beautiful plot devices and ideas that COULD have worked and left the audience in awe if they were just stitched together properly. I believe a big part of why it al felt so clunky and awkward was due to the limitations the movie set on itself in the way of runtime. I also believe that this movie would have been amazing if it was a two-part movie and had time to breath, giving room for characters to develop and grow. Any weight of any major story beats or character development are quickly lost in the pacing of the movie. It felt so rushed it left me and my wife asking "is that it?" It felt as though they were trying to tush past the beginning to get to the important part they wanted to, but in actuality, they rushed through the entire movie. Not only that, but it played out in the way a child would describe a dream they had ("and then this happened, and then this person did this, and then..."). There was no time for the audience to feel the weight of the results and actions of the characters, and left me not caring about what ended up happening. They end up cheating the cost of all the emotional 'buildup' and consequences by the end anyways so nothing matters. But we'll talk about the end... ---SPOILERS AHEAD--- Now the END. I was already deep within the depths of my own personal hell at this point so nothing really mattered to me, which could definitely be the mantra by which the writers lived by. It was so obviously hinted that Tobes was going to die. Now i was surprised at first that they actually had the balls to kill him off, but those were quickly sucked back up into the body of the ugly beast that is this movie. With time being introduced at the end for no reason, it drops the weight of any character deaths or development throughout the entire series... the whole series! Nothing matters anymore. For some reason Jim has Toby find the amulet instead of him, but wasn't it established that the amulet CHOSE Jim? And that throughout the entire series the choice of the amulet was extremely important because it was done by design, not accident? Honestly it felt like such a long reach and a slap in the face. The theme of bearing the weight of a hero is also tossed aside as he tosses this onto Toby. I wanted so dearly to love this movie, but in the end, it is simply a poorly written film. It showed that some people cared but it did not carry into the writing.