Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 40

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Two brothers, fledgling plumbers from Brooklyn, are transported to a world where a giant fire-breathing turtle aims to take over the neighboring kingdoms.

This could’ve been really bad—worse than the universally-hated 1993 abomination—but thankfully all those involved with writing this did what was expected of them. Some awkward dialog moments, but that’s to be expected in a kids’ movie. Stuffed full of references to the games, and why shouldn’t it be? There’s probably more than a hundred Mario games out there, and most of them are pretty good, so there’s plenty of lore and jokes to be made about it all. The franchise earned the right to disperse endless fanservice. The references didn’t get too metatextual: the strongest expression of that was when Mario was playing an actual Nintendo itself, or when they showed the Donkey Kong/”Jumping Man” arcade game in the diner scene. Weird, but it worked.

Everyone acted in character: Mario was determined and plucky, Luigi was scared but loyal, Princess Peach was dutiful and helpful, even when the situation called for her being an insulting grump, Toad was…I don’t know, cute?

Kids’ movies always feature a falling-out between the protagonist and an ally at the bottom curve of the 2nd act, right before things rise to the climax, but that thankfully didn’t happen here. As of right now, the Tomatometer (the “official” critics’ ratings) are at 58%, while the audience rating is at 96%. Critics always have to expect a thing to be something else.

Arcane

Conflict between the scientific aristocracy of Piltdown and the harsh underworld of Zaun intensifies.

I watched this on recommendation from Critical Drinker, and I have to say it was a worthy follow. There was some really thoughtful and complex story writing here, but the cyberpunk-lite depiction of the Zaun characters was too over the top. Everyone is always overly-angry with someone for one reason or another, or there’s an emotional betrayal or even just an everyday interaction that has to get ratcheted up. Amygdalas is spinning out of control and it gets to be too much after a while. That’s not to say the Zaun folks don’t have their sane moments, but that’s where things get tolerable. There’s more nuance whenever you see the Piltdown characters interact.

I’ve spent too much time on the negative part; it’s really a good series otherwise, because the story and world are compelling enough that it overshadows the nihilism and mental freakouts. Gorgeous animation and design. It didn’t seem like the story was completely wrapped up by the end, so I’d like to know how it all turns out.

Vesper

On an Earth where the ecosystem and plant life hostile to humanity, a young teenage girl befriends an artificial human slave.

Although I’m sure there are more out there, I haven’t seen any movie with the genetically-mutated plants and organic/plant-based technology as a story element, since the G.I. Joe: The Movie from 1987. Because of that I think this should’ve been a series, so the story to go deeper into all of that. Vesper’s weird Etch-a-Sketch CRISPR editing console, or whatever that thing was, was only shown for all of maybe five minutes when it really deserves extended coverage over a few episodes.

I really didn’t see any need for the uncle to be the typical dystopian white male sexual pervert in a leadership position, and I actually think his character works against the story. Vesper is a little too angelic, and making Jonas a sympathetic character who wants to help her but has limited resources would give her another moral dilemma to struggle with when she steals from him. Vesper feels a little too perfected: she already has the ethical fortitude of an adult. Yeah, she’s smart and had to grow up quick, but for Pete’s sake give her something to figure out besides the plant stuff and what to do with Camellia.

I might make Vesper’s parents’ backstories a little more meaningful. Mom and Dad could have been part of a eugenics program at a Citadel to produce more intelligent humans with each generation. They and other families had a falling out with the whole idea because of how the Citadels treat the commoners: Dad is injured in a revolt with armed anti-eugenic sympathizers and Mom could only escape by joining the Pilgrims. On the practical level, it would explain Vesper’s high intelligence and interest/ability in biohacking, but there’s more opportunity for antagonism. You could have some conflict between Vesper and Dad because he basically ruined their entire family life because of their beliefs, and put Mom in danger. Additionally, Mom’s running away wouldn’t be taken lightly by Vesper and she’d be regarding the mysterious Pilgrims with hostility as well as curiosity. The movie would have to figure out a way for Vesper to follow the Pilgrim’s for the conclusion other than…just following them out of nowhere. I should be a writer.

Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness

Earth-616’s Dr. Strange and the mysterious, universe-skipping America Chavez must stop the Scarlet Witch from wreaking havoc across the multiverse.

This movie had its moments but it’s ultimately a huge mess. The writers involved with the post-Thanos MCU didn’t think the whole multiverse concept from the comics through a whole lot, so it got real complicated, real fast, and this movie just really screwed with it too harshly. I don’t know if it was because Kevin Feige (the MCU’s creative director) cracked the whip for the writers at the espresso machine to produce more froth more quickly or whatever, but likely that was the case. I’d like to think writers would be more cautious.

Anyways, right from the first between-universe chase scene in MoM, we have a case where if the protagonist used the particular power or approach that sort of just worked a little more, they would’ve succeeded. But, nah. Then you have the fact that Dr. Strange and Co.’s mystical powers, and the Scarlet Witch’s powers for that matter, are basically limitless, you’re left wondering why the mystic arts folks don’t just barrage her with a bunch of those teleporter circles to cut her up and send pieces of her body everywhere. Wong did it before (by accident) when fighting Cull Obsidian…so just do that, but do it more and harder, because she’s more powerful. But the story needs to happen, so everyone is made stupid.

Gattaca

To travel into space, a sickly man assumes the identity of a disabled but much more gifted one.

A hidden science-fiction gem that only got recognized well after it made a mediocre run in the theaters. Every story is a mystery, but this one leaned heavily into the “who will blow his cover and how?” plot point, and the subsidiary “who committed the crime?” dilemma.

There was one scene where I felt genuinely anxious about whether the antagonist would figure it all out, as the narrative arc was in a place where it could go either way (usually if the threat is early in the story, it’s a bait and switch).

I found the twist to be a little stretched. Vincent and Anton should’ve recognized each other, but I’m thinking that they never actually met during the whole investigation until the scene where Vincent/Jerome walked into Anton at his desk. Still, Vincent should have known who he was when he first saw him, and I don’t think he did. Anton was even surprised Vincent didn’t recognize him.

CHAPPiE

In crime-ridden Johannesburg, three gangsters and a hapless robotics engineer attempt to guide a repurposed policing robot, loaded with an advanced AI.

Almost a remake of Robocop mixed with the innocent playfulness of Short Circuit. This is a somewhat rare example of an indispensable use of CGI. It’s not likely that this would be very convincing unless the whole movie was traditionally animated. With the state of real-world technology now, you couldn’t have a full-bodied humanoid robot be really sell the idea of an advanced robot police force, so you’d really need an actual robot, which doesn’t exist, or a very realistic computer-generated robot, to sell the narrative effectively. Yeah, you could make the whole thing traditionally a hand-drawn animated thing, but that would feel like another story altogether. Image Engine did a good job with the animation, too, because I wasn’t taken out of the universe at all with any of the scenes involving Chappie. You actually start to feel for the guy in some scenes.

Elysium

A factory worker with radiation poisoning gets a cybernetic upgrade to assist him in reaching the orbiting ringworld of Elysium, in hopes that he can be cured.

I have a 100% unfounded theory about this movie’s production. They really wanted a white dude to play the protagonist to sell Obamacare to general American audiences. Popular support for Obamacare’s precursor, Romneycare, wasn’t great, and even though the Affordable Care Act had already been signed into law before this went into production, there was no way media gatekeepers were going to let one of Obama’s greatest accomplishment look like garbage and not-universal-healthcare.

Huge budget for a Blomkamp film, and there’s already Jodie Foster in the antagonist role. An attractive white dude in the middle of the Los Angeles slums where everyone is a mestizo just doesn’t make sense. He grew up there, too, as an orphan. They could’ve had Diego Luna, who was in a supporting role, play Max, but audiences didn’t know who he is. Sharlto Copley also could’ve played Max, but as with Luna, he’s an unknown and he doesn’t have the hunky demeanor Damon has. The actors that played the hacker and the plant supervisor look too much like villains, so they’re out. They tried to get two other white dudes, Eminem and the rapper-guy from Chappie, Ninja, to play the role, too. Ninja would’ve been a bad choice because he’s not attractive and has C-list drawing power in America. Matt Damon was the perfect choice if you’re targeting American audiences broadly: an A++ list guy with the muscles and blue collar, favorite son machismo to make the physical stuff believable. A baby face for extra sympathy points. Little to none of this idea I’m proposing is probably true but it’s suspicious that out of nowhere a foreign director gets a budget and star power in an industry that was 100% in religious enthrallment with Obama when he came to power. Anyways, the movie was okay.

Soul Blazer (video game)

A divine being is sent by the Master to free the inhabitants of Freil, after its king made a deal with the monster Deathtoll: a piece of gold for each soul.

The story was a lot simpler than I remember, maybe because the gameplay overall was shorter than most JRPGs from this era you would come across. A small number of supporting characters that are of consequence to the narrative; most are there to really advance you in the game in a practical sense. The story beats felt unusual, too, because you had to free the friendly NPCs before talking to them, as opposed to talking to them first and then going out and fighting, and often the two weren’t as tightly related as they were in Soul Blazer.

Though it fits with his divine origins, the protagonist/PC felt a little too detached, I think because he was silent. But you have Crono from Chrono Trigger, who was also completely silent but often visibly reacted to character interactions and events. There were plenty of interpersonal relationships, between deuteragonist and deuteragonists and Crono. The protagonist here in Soul Blazer—who I don’t think even had a name—was expressionless the whole time and there were scant deuteragonists.

Final Fantasy XIII (video game)

An ex-soldier gathers allies and fights against the Sanctum, the government of Cocoon, as they attempt to rid the world of a malicious alien force called the Pulse.

This had a strong story but it deserves a rewatch. The team splits off early on into different parties, so there’s multiple environments and stories to keep track of, and you can miss some nuances of the personal arcs because of that. The nature of the Pulse, the l’Cie and fal’Cie were explained well enough but it was rather abstract—easy to miss some crucial explanatory information interspersed in the scene.

Some great voice acting, though the American actress who portrayed one character (Vanille) was criticized for being a slightly-off Australian accent, but I think it fit her mysterious, childish/child-like personality.

Halo: Reach (video game)

A squad of genetically-engineered Spartan fight the allied Covenant forces as they invade the planet Reach.

Reach does for Halo: Combat Evolved what Rogue One does for Star Wars: A New Hope: they are both tragic prequels bring the story right into the first main story installment, the protagonist and nearly every deuteragonist dies, and they both involve a MacGuffin delivery in the story climax. The difference with Reach, though, is that those familiar with Halo lore know it’s a tragedy beforehand, because Reach getting glassed was already known.

The deaths in Reach are interesting because they parallel something about the person dying:

• Jorge-052, the largest Noble team member, died manually detonating the Slipspace engine and destroying one of the largest classes of Covenant ships
• Kat-B320, a communications, intelligence, and hacking expert, was shot dead while she was talking
• Carter-A259, Noble’s captain, literally went down with the ship (a Pelican) by ramming it into a Scarab
• Emile-A239, skilled in hand-to-hand combat, was stabbed by an Elite and his energy sword
• No one knows what happened to Jun-A266, the team’s stealth/sniper expert, though in later Halo-universe stories, we find out he made it off-planet
• Finally, Noble 6, the mysterious “lone wolf” player-character, died alone fighting Covenant forces on Reach’s surface as it was being glassed in a genuinely tragic final mission