Ryan Christiansen

It's good, but the issue is, and it's a HUGE one... there is no protagonist. There is no one good to root for. The Aliens are evil. Wendy is evil. Kirsh is evil. Boy K is evil. Morrow is evil. etc Any good souls like Hermit, are essentially weak, constantly apologising (ugh), spineless, and irrelevant. Exactly who do we root for when the cast of characters is so gross? It makes it a bit boring to watch.

I used to think Superman was the strongest and greatest superhero until I watched this movie. The movie presents Superman with some of the biggest threats to humanity created by Lex Luthor. The movie underscores how Superman is incapable of killing someone, anyone, even if they are darker and more evil than Hitler. At any point Superman could dismantle Lex Corp, which is precariously balanced between two buildings. However, Superman let's this evil stir because he is too empathetic to stop it. The director fortifies this message by making sure that he saves a squirrel in danger during mass chaos. Pretty hokey. I have never seen Superman presented as being so weak and so compromised as a superhero. At one point, Luthor takes his dog and Superman's only recourse is to essentially yell and scream. In fact, Superman screaming, yelling and whining throughout the movie are a recurring theme. Whether he is interviewed by Lois, or being beaten by metahumans, or when Lex takes his dog, we get to witness a barrage of him yelling and stomping his feet. That aside, the plot focuses on metahumans attacking and trying to kill Superman. They also reside in some alternate Universe that Luthor created. Yes, aliens attacking Superman with scenes in some alternate Universe that Luthor created. Um, how are we supposed to relate to any of this? There's also some subplot, I guess, where Gunn wants to politically link the Israeli and Palestinian war. Superman is protecting Palestine (obviously not called that in the movie) while the evil Jews and Netanyahu attack it (again, obfuscated by different names and faces). For example, a brown "Palestinian" boy who is about to be gunned down in broad daylight by a bunch of presumably white "Americans" and "Israelis" is saved by Green Lantern as he then flips over (and flips off) the white army guys' trucks. Yes, subtle. The whole thing is a mess. Dark. Unrelatable. Boring. And worse, emphasising how weak Superman is by virtue of him being a prisoner to his own empathy. I was so looking forward to this movie. It is, by far, the worst Superman movie I have ever seen. The best is still Superman II with Christopher Reeve.

A girl that can't beat up 4 male armed guards and overpower all of them. That's how it starts. I know our current Zeitgeist we are in is all about how women can do everything men can do... but they can't. Can we please stop this trend of having female action figures who can overpower every man they meet. It's irritating. Unless they have superpowers, in armed combat, a trained man against a trained woman will result in the woman losing every time. Enough already.

This has little remnants of Star Trek. The fact that they slapped the name on the move to perhaps get more attention is sad. Section 31 leans more into espionage, action, and morally ambiguous storytelling rather than the traditional Star Trek themes of exploration, diplomacy, and idealism. It is not recognisable as part of the Star Trek franchise. Moreover, this new, and hopefully temporary, trend of masculinising women to make them like men is bizarre. From fight scenes where petite women in make-up and painted fingernails are flipping men over and bashing their heads in, to casting them in combat and military scenes, it's all just so silly. A petite Asian woman with little muscle mass unrealistically overpowering larger, stronger men in brutal fights ignores basic physics and biology, making it feel more like fantasy than grounded action. But ... she's not white, so I guess that's a tick for the diversity check box. I miss the original franchise so much. My favourite was Voyager with Captain Janeway: futuristic technology in a unique position thrust out in the Delta quadrant. Roddenberry envisioned Star Trek as an optimistic exploration of philosophical questions on sentience, epistemology, ontology, and metaphysics, rather than a Star Wars-style action franchise. Hopefully, one day, a bold writer and casting team will stay true to that vision. We don't need DEI or Star Wars; we need Star Trek.

There is something going on in our current Zeitgeist, perhaps gaining momentum with 'Game of Thrones', where the more violence on screen the better. I watched episode 1, and when they shot a young teenage boy close range in the head, after the previous scene where a bunch of school kids watched a man get run over by their bus, I was out. I get that many young men enjoy this level of violence. And I get that each producer/writer tries to outdo the previous with more shocking, disturbing and violent scenes, but the level of violence and disturbing scenes is really over the top. I take no pleasure in watching a young teenager being tortured and then shot in the head. What a species where we are where this is our evening entertainment.

Just finished season 4... oh my god. End it already. It just keeps dragging on. 8 hours in season 4 with no closure on really anything. New writers please! Can we get some closure on this already.

B O R I N G. That essentially sums it up.

Season 2: It is no longer science fiction - it's turned into a fantasy franchise like Harry Potter. It has magic wizards called 'Q' that are omnipotent, and watchers that are like guardian angels, etc. I think Rodenberry would be rolling in his grave to see what they have done to his franchise. It's like they used the writers on the DC Comics or Avengers movies. And then on episode 5 of Season 2 they celebrate bashing a police officer and the hero's are actually the illegal immigrants who get to try to cross the border again, I was gobsmacked. And the idea that [spoiler alert] Q, the magical wizard, simply can no longer just snap his fingers to change destiny, but instead now has to pretend he is a therapist to plant doubts in Picards ancestor is all just so goofy! I gave up after this episode.

The first episode was beautiful and heart-wrenching. And like every good romance you want them to fall in love and be togerher. But at the end of the first episode you realise - that's it... They actually ended it with the two never falling in love. It's horrible and sad and that's where they leave us, and the story and the main characters are never seen again! And the second episode is so banal. Jump to the modern day and the white guy falls in love with a black guy with the woman from the first episode - now an old lady - is homophobic and still dealing with her history... yada yada yada. It's two COMPLETELY different shows in one... almost like the writers were thinking, "well, if they don't like this period piece, let's try a completely different story in modern day." What??? It had such beautiful potential, almost like the movie Maurice, but then just fell apart. It's usually a good idea in writing to not "kill off" the protagonist.

Absolutely love it. Loved season 1. Loved season 2. And so far season 3 is just as awesome. Just great writing all around.