Benjamin Szczegolski-Jacobs

A Poor Game. Clearly rushed, with cheap animations, that look worse than attempts this same franchise made back in the early 00s, dirty, muddy textures, a dull story with characters that aren't anywhere near as fun or interesting as those of the previous games, it's not deserving of your time and especially not your money. I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge most of the programmers, who work underpaid, tireless hours aren't at fault. The executives who think underpaying staff and not giving them time to complete the game is the best way to make profit are. It only has two stars rather than one because a lot of the new ideas, even if undeveloped and lack-luster in their current form, provide potential and show the spark hidden beneath the muck that is this game's execution. Dyna-Max, while a silly name and seemingly silly idea (giant Pokemon, really Game Freak?) actually has a lot of gameplay potential and while the pathetic difficulty means it doesn't really matter in the main game, it adds a lot of strategy to online and a better balanced game could have made brilliant use of it.

This film has flaws, (and if you aren't a fan of the way Snyder uses music and slow-motion, those problems are doubled) but the action is extraordinary, the plotline is a well thought out, well developed epic of biblical proportions and the emotional beats for all the characters, their development and their chemistry are wonderful. The run time may intimidate some, but being split up into parts (6 or 7 if memory serves), it's easy to take a break (or multiple breaks), and pick back up if it's getting too long for you. Again, in regards to action specifically, this may be the greatest film of its genre yet made. In short: For Snyder fans: you've probably already watched an loved this, if not, do so. For Non-Snyder fans: there's a lot here to love and its easy to take breaks between parts, so it's almost more like watching a miniseries. Some Snyder-isms may annoy, but the rest of the film should more than make up for it. Overall and excellent film that shows some of Snyder's flaws as a director, mostly his over indulgence at points, but his skills (most notably his action direction, which I can't can't praise enough), shine through even brighter.