Superhero Action Film Review: X-Men First Class

X-Men: First Class was the prequel to the 2000s X-Men movies that took place in 1962, showing the early lives of Professor X and Magneto before the formation of the X-Men.

It created a surprising relationship, with a young Charles Xavier, who receives the codename Professor X in this film, discovering a young Mystique, who goes by the name Raven and had shapeshifted into the former's mother. Charles reveals that he can read minds and Raven reveals that she can change shape, Charles lets Raven clandestinely stay at his home, and the two essentially grow up together. It is a huge departure from the comics as well as established film continuity but works within the story of this film.

It also once again shows the early life Magneto, born Erik Lensherr, in the Nazi internment camps. The film reveals a tragic event as he is being tested for his powers of magnetism. That event sets up the villain of the film, Sebastian Shaw, who is played brilliantly by Kevin Bacon. When Erik tracks down the villain as an adult, he becomes acquainted with Charles Xavier.

Alongside Magneto, Professor X, and Mystique, the other prominent mutant featured is Henry McCoy, a mutant named Beast. The core four seek out other mutants to form a proto-X team, originally on behest of the American government. One of the young mutants on the team is Alex Summers, also known as Havoc, who is the brother of the future X-Men team leader Cyclops. Other mutants include Angel, a woman with retractable wings, Darwin, a young man who can evolve his body to suit any environment, and Banshee, a young man who can create sonic waves with his voice.

Shaw also has his own team of mutants, including a teleporter named Azazal, a tornado-creator named Riptide, and a telepath with diamond skin named Emma Frost.

The actors are fantastic in their roles. Jennifer Lawrence is fantastic as Mystique. She gives a much nuanced performance, showing a kindness mixed with hurt that makes her turn to team up with Magneto as seen in the original X-Men in 2000 make a lot of sense. Nicolas Hoult also gives a fantastic performance as Beast, showing his embarrassment over his mutation yet displaying the intelligence for which the character is known. The best performances come from the actors that portray Professor X and Magneto. James McAvoy is fantastic as Charles Xavier, showing the character's compassion yet displaying an ego that would be dampened in his later years. Michael Fassbender is likewise excellent as Erik Lehnsherr, showing the hurt he endured as a child and the rage that came from that. The two latter actors work great together, showing a great comraderie that really shines on the screen.

The only real downside is that the film does have timeline contraditions. The less-spoilery contraditions include the fact that Magneto and Professor X meet much later than their previously stated meeting as teenagers in X-Men, Moira MacTaggert is now an American CIA agent rather than a British nurse as shown in X-Men: The Last Stand, and Emma Frost is an adult here whereas she is a child over a decade later in X-Men: Origins Wolverine. 

Any timeline issues aren't enough to bring down the film though, as X-Men: First Class is actually one of the best films of the original live-action X-Men saga.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

X-Men

X-Men (1992 video game) Review

Marvel Multiverse

Marvel One Shot: Agent Carter Review

Spider-Man (1982 video game) Review

Superhero Action Horror Film Review: Blade

Blade was the film that started the modern Marvel film era and was also the film to usher in the modern superhero era in general. X-Men, released in 2000, is regarded today as the catalyst for the superhero film boom of the 2000s, but Blade, released in 1998, was the film that truly laid the groundwork for what was to come.

Blade is a daywalker, a human born to a mother who was bitten by a vampire while she was pregnant. His mother died giving birth to him, but he survived, gaining the strength of a vampire. However, he does not have a weakness to silver or garlic. He does have the bloodlust, however, which he keeps at bay by drinking a serum developed by Abraham Whistler. The latter found him when he was a teenager, after he was overcome with the need to drink blood after he hit puberty, and taught him to keep his bloodlust at bay.

Now, Blade hunts vampires while searching for the vampire that killed his mother while drinking the serum to keep himself human. On his quest, saves a hematologist named Dr. Karen Jenson who was bitten by a vampire and uncovers a plot by a rogue vampire to take over the world.

The film is very much a 1990s action film, with corny moments of comic relief, the mix of hip-hop, techno, and alternative rock in the soundtrack, and the late-1990s era computer-generated imagery mixed with practical effects. However, there are some things here that give a glimpse of the superhero films that will follow in the next decade. There are some pieces of cinematography that will feel familiar to fans of the later X-Men or Spider-Man films, such as the closeups following liquid flowing through the film's mythical artifact. The choreography of the fight scenes are also top notch, setting the bar for films to come, and remaining among the best parts of the film.

The other part of the film that makes it hold up despite its occasional 90s cheese is the performance of its actors. N'Bushe Wright was great as Dr. Karen Jenson. She was a genuinely strong supporting female character that used her expertise to help Blade and she had the strength to follow him on his mission. Karen also wasn't a love interest, although the chemistry was definitely there. She is the best female supporting character I have ever seen in superhero media. Today's attempts to make a strong female character could take some notes from this film. 

Most importantly, Wesley Snipes was excellent as Blade. As with Robert Downey Jr. with Tony Stark ten years later, this was inspired casting. Wesley Snipes embodies the character so fully that he is Blade. If the Blade reboot ever gets off the ground, there will definitely be big boots to fill.

Blade is a classic film that jumpstarted the modern superhero boom and it deserves its reputation. It has some of the pitfalls of the 1990s cheese that came before it, but it is few and far between. The acting of Wesley Snipes, the fight choreography, and the cinematography make up for any shortcomings. You can already see all of the things that fans came to love in the superhero films of the 2000s in this film. It is well worth watching, especially if you are a fan of turn-of-the-millennium Marvel films.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 5 review

Spider-Man (2002 film) review

Animated Superhero TV Series Episode Review: X-Men '97 - Season Two: Episode 5 - Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs

We are now one episode past the four episode drop that Marvel gave reviewers and influencers the preview the second season, so everyone is now on the same page as far as foreknowledge of the plot goes.

"Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs" is a title parody of the 1989 film Sex, Lies, and Videotapes. In the episode, Wolverine gathered up subjects of the Weapon X program for a mission regarding that program. The gathered mutants included Maverick, Sabretooth, and Lady Deathstrike. Wolverine also brought Morph along with the others on the X-Men's jet to the lab where it all started. They soon learn the island has been overtaken by the brood, which turns the mission into an Aliens level horror scene. Now, no one can trust each other, aa the brood might be nesting inside their bodies at any moment.

Last season, Magneto pulled the adamantium skeleton right off of Wolverine while he was conscious. He now has to fight with bone claws, a handicap that his team quickly notices. Fans of the comic know what happens after Wolverine loses his adamantium, and I won't spoil that here. However, I will say that X-Men '97 managed to deliver in that arena, and also managed to do so with a nice twist that fit into the situation into which the episode puts the mutant X team.

The episode has a strong theme of trust, which is tenuous at best with this ragtag bunch of mutants which are usually at opposite ends of team-ups. The brood quickly causes that tenuous bond of trust to break, and actions by the people on the team cause it to fray even further. Trust will definitely have to be re-earned after this episode, and it will be interesting to see if that is even possible.

"Weapon X, Lies, and DVDs" had fight scenes were fantastic, the animation is top-notch as usual, and the score once again impresses. The story acts as a bit of a break from the time travel shenanigans of the season, yet it is a necessary episode as it addresses a momentous event that occurred at the end of last season and has been largely avoided until this point. It isn't the best episode of the season, but it is still a fun episode.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

X-Men

X-Men (1992 video game) review

X-Men '97 season 2 episode 6 review coming soon

Marvel Multiverse

X-Men (1992 video game) review

Blade review

Limited Run Games Announces Marvel Maximum Collection

Limited Run Games has announced their newest Carbon Engine release, the Marvel Maximum Collection. It will be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and Windows.

It contains seven classic games that were licensed Marvel games for arcade, 8-bit handheld and home consoles, and 16-bit home consoles.

The biggest of these is Konami's X-Men arcade game. Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge for Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, and SNES, Captain America and the Avengers for arcade and Genesis, Captain America and the Avengers for NES, Spider-Man/Venom: Maximum Carnage for Genesis and SNES, Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety for Genesis and SNES, and Silver Surfer for NES are icing on the cake.

There is no release date set yet for the Marvel Maximum Collection. It's still only early 2026, so chances are that it will be released later this year.

The only game that I wish they had on there that hasn't received a current-gen port through emulation is the 32X game The Amazing Spider-Man: Web of Fire. Maybe that will be released in DLC. Here's hoping.

Arcade Beat 'Em Up Game Review: X-Men

X-Men is an arcade beat 'em up from 1992. It is one of approximately ten arcade games in that genre developed by Konami in the 1990s

It is the only video game which has character designs based on the animated pilot X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men. The playable character roster includes Cyclops, Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler and Dazzler. The fact that the character designs are taken from the Pryde pilot actually works well for the game because those designs were based on some classic art from the comics, albeit sometimes in different colors such as Dazzler's jacket being brown instead of blue. Some of the designs are great for comics fans, such as Wolverine in the brown and tan colors given to him by the Marvel Comics artist John Byrne.

As is usual for Konami beat 'em ups of the era, the sprite work is superb. The pixel art really does resemble its source material to a tee. The animation is great here, with expressive movements that bring each Marvel hero to life as well as the animated series it is based on. The backgrounds are also well designed, perfectly bringing the world of the X-Men to the pixelated world of 1990s arcade games.

The music was always excellent in the classic Konami arcade games, and X-Men is no exception. The music captures the atmosphere of the Marvel universe fantastically. The sound effects also compliment the music. They also fit into the game world well, as they range from the mundane fight sound effects to futuristic sounds when the game veers from comic logic into science fiction territory, which is often.

The plot is simple. The X-Men have to defeat their archenemy, the master of magnetism, Magneto. He is once again trying to upend human civilization and is sending many mutants that are on his side after the X-Men. There are many classic X-Men villains that appear in this game. The villains that appear the most due to their non-human nature are the mutant-hunting robots known as the Sentinels and the X-Men-hating cyborgs known as the Reavers. The former should be familiar to most X-Men fans as they appeared in one of the best X-Men movies produced by 20th Century Fox, X-Men: Days of Future Past.

Other enemies that appear in the game are classic X-Men villains. Many should be familiar as they have appeared in various X-Men films. These mutants include Mystique, Pyro, Blob, the White Queen Emma Frost, and Juggernaut. The small Sentinels in X-Men: Days of Future Past were based on the nearly indestructible Sentinal-descendant known as Nimrod from the comic of the same name. He appears in the game in his full glory. The other villains never appeared in the films, but they have crossed the paths of the X-Men in the comics many times. These two villains are the Living Monolith and Wendigo.

Although he isn't a playable character, the benefactor of the X-Men, Professor X, appears in the game when he is kidnapped by Magneto. As it is based on the Pryde of the X-Men pilot, it's only natural that when Charles Xavier is captured, Kitty Pryde would be captured as well. This culminates in a tense final boss battle against the master of magnetism himself.

X-Men is a fantastic arcade game that brings the world of the X-Men circa the 1990s to life in a bombastic fashion. Although the Pryde of the X-Men animated television pilot was never picked up for a full series, the choice to use the character models for the game was a wise decision. The pilot had looks for the X-Men that were pulled from classic comics but were rarely seen outside of them, including Wolverine's classic brown and tan suit. As an X-Men fan, it was fun to see these designs in action in a video game. The sprite and background art are fantastic, the music and sound effects are top notch, and the beat 'em up formula is Konami at its best. Any fan of arcade beat 'em ups owes it to themself to try this game at least once. It's truly astonishing.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

X-Men

X-Men: First Class review

X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 5 review

Marvel Multiverse

Spider-Man (1982 video game) review

X-Men '97 Season 2, Episode 5 review

Action Game Review: Spider-Man

Spider-Man was an action game by Parker Brothers that was developed by one of the earliest female video game designers, Laura Nikolich. It was the first video game based on a Marvel Comics character and it was the first Spider-Man video game.

  
Spider-Man scales a building while defusing bombs set by his iconic enemy, the Green Goblin. The limitations of the Atari 2600 actually worked in favor for the game, as he doesn't climb up the wall but uses his webs to swing vertically and diagonally. This gives it an authentic Spider-Man feel and differentiates it from Nichibutsu's Crazy Climber, which was still fresh in the mind of gamers as it had only been released two years earlier.

However, its age and console limitations also limit the amount of sound produced. There is the whoosh of the web, clacking of the Green Goblin's glider, and explosion from the bombs. Beyond that, there is a neat chiptune track that plays at the start of the game. The limited sound doesn't really hinder the game that much, all things considered, as it's a classic arcade formula that works for the time period of the game's release.

Spidey has to avoid criminals that move randomly through the building, can be seen in windows, and can be captured. He can also capture them upon contact. There's an additional challenge due to the fact that the criminals in the window will cut Spider-Man's web if they come into contact with it. However, the web slinger can prevent himself from losing a life by slinging a web before he falls too far down the screen.

As Spider-Man gets higher up the building, he can defuse bombs set by the Green Goblin. The bombs are black until they change to red when they are about to explode. If Spidey defuses a red bomb in time to prevent its explosion, he will gain more points than the bombs that remain black. 

Just as he doesn't have to capture the criminals in the windows, he also can just avoid the exploding bombs. However, capturing criminals and defusing bombs will refill Spider-Man's web fluid. If this fluid runs out, Spidey will fall off the building and lose a life. The amount of web fluid left in his web shooters can be seen via a red indicator bar at the lower right of the screen.

At the top of the building, Spider-Man has to stop Green Goblin's plan. He has set several small bombs as well as a large super bomb. Spider-Man has to stop a set number of enemies and bombs until the super bomb has its fuse lit. Once Spider-Man successfully avoids the Green Goblin and defuses his super bomb, the level ends. 

Because it is a game from 1982, the point of the game is to earn as many points as possible, as it is designed like an arcade game. Once the Green Goblin is defeated, Spider-Man will have to climb a building with faster enemies and bombs. The levels continue until Spider-Man loses all his life.

Spider-Man is a solid first outing for Marvel's resident web head. The arcade-style gameplay is fun and challenging, and the use of his webs and web fluid is well thought out and works perfectly in sync with the source material. There are limited sound effects and music, as the latter is restricted to the beginning of each level. It's not a classic, but it's not a dud. You can still a fun time playing it for a quick game fix today. That's the real test of time, and Spidey definitely passes the bar. 'Nuff said!

Final Verdict:

3½ out of 5

Spider-Man

Spider-Man (2002 film) review

Marvel Multiverse

X-Men First Class review

X-Men (1992 video game) review

Action-Adventure Review: Guardians of the Galaxy

The Guardians of the Galaxy, long a niche comic team, gained a large following after being adapted into films. Because of this, it is only fitting that it would get video game adaptations. The Eidos-Montréal version of Guardians of the Galaxy was a high-budget game that is based on the same crew made famous by the James Gunn Marvel Cinematic Universe trilogy. 

It was released after Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series, but is set before it, in 2014. The Telltale game also followed the characters from the films, with elements mixed in from the surprisingly even weirder Marvel Comics version of the characters. That meant that the game had a tough act to follow, especially following the promotional material that made this take on the Guardians highly anticipated.

This action-adventure adaptation has a lot going for it. Unsurprisingly, it features the characters from the film trilogy, which have become the most loved version of this group of anti-heroes. However, it also pulls from the comics, giving the team's leader, Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, his half-Spartax background and featuring the genetically-engineered Adam Warlock two years before he was featured in the third Guardians of the Galaxy film.

The characters all have abilities that are gained and expanded upon as the game progresses. Star-Lord uses a laser gun and jet boots, Gamora, a stoic green female uses her skills of fighting with a knife and scaling rocky surfaces, Rocket, a sarcastic genetically-engineered racoon, uses his expertise in explosives and demolitions, Groot, a living tree who can only talk using his name with various inflections, uses his roots to lift the team upwards and make wooden bridges for the team to cross, and Drax the Destroyer uses his vast strength to fight and to pick up and throw objects.

The characters are all well portrayed, and it is a treat to watch them go from misfits thrown together to a fully-developed team that truly care for each other. It also features a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy that has yet to appear in the films, Nikki Gold. She has been reimagined as the daughter of Peter's former love interest, a Kree Nova Corps member named Ko-Rel.

However, this game falls into the same traps that befell countless Marvel Comics video game adaptations in the past. The gameplay is decent enough, featuring the shooting mechanics expected by a character such as Star-Lord mixed with a time-limited command system to allow the powers of the rest of the team a chance to shine as artificial intelligence-controlled backup characters. However, the stage layouts aren't varied enough to mitigate the simplistic gameplay, making going through the game feel like a chore after a while.

The story was interesting enough to get me to continue the game, however, and the fact that the voice acting was fantastic helped as well. There are a lot of 20th century hit songs in the game as well, which can be played on the Guardians ship, the Milano, or as a boost to morale while in battle. I enjoyed the use of pop hits in the first two films, so it was a lot of fun to see that atmosphere continue here.

Guardians of the Galaxy isn't a perfect game. It has gameplay that can get repetitive after a while, but the story, voice acting, and music makes up for it. It isn't a must play by any means, but if you are willing to go through stages, especially in the middle of the game, that can feel a bit generic, it could be worth playing through once just to experience the story.

Final Verdict:
3 out of 5

Jessica Jones: I Want Your Cray Cray Music Video Review

Spider-Man (2018 video game) Review

Adventure Superhero Trade Paperback Review: Captain America - First Vengeance

Captain America: First Vengeance was an 8-part Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-in comic by Marvel Comics that was collected into a trade paperback. It takes place in 1944. Captain America and the Howling Commandos, assisted behind the scenes by Howard Stark, infiltrate the base wherein the Red Skull is holed up with the space stone-powered tesseract. This is an event that takes place in Captain America: The First Avenger. However, that story is saved for the film, and the meat of the story is told in flashbacks from the 1930s to 1944, detailing the events leading up to The First Avenger.

A flashback details how Steve Rogers having tough times in his childhood led to him becoming the man worthy of getting the super soldier serum and taking the name of Captain America. The strength he gets from his experiences serves him well as, in 1944, he jumps out of an allied plane towards the Nazi stronghold that holds the villainous Red Skull.

On the opposite end of virtue are flashbacks of Johann Schmidt becoming a part of, and then infiltrating, the Nazi party. He is shown to be a cold, calculating man who kills anyone who stands in his way. He spares very few people, but the German scientist Arnim Zola is one of the lucky few. Zola was supplying the Nazis with huge mechanical suits of armor, but Schmidt was only interested in improving humankind, not augmenting it with technology. After watching "What If... Peggy Carter Were the First Avenger?", it's fun to see the parallel between Howard Stark's Hydra Stomper and Zola's mechanical augments.

The comic also shows how Johann Schmidt and Steve Rogers would cross paths, with Schmidt forcing Abraham Erskine, a scientist doing research on improving the abilities of humans, to come back to Germany after he tried to flee with his wife and son. Schmidt made Erskine create a super soldier serum, and Rogers repeatedly went to army recruitment offices in the hopes that he could serve his country in World War II. As shown in the film, they were both given the serum, with drastic differences in the results.

Other flashbacks detail how Howard Stark creates his shield made of vibranium, a metal that absorbs kinetic energy, which he says his employees discovered in deepest Africa. This is another instance where it is interesting to read this after the Infinity Saga has ended because Black Panther demonstrated a whole city made of vibranium as well as nefarious men from the west that seek to steal it. Since Stark sent his cronies to Africa, it's very likely that they stole it themselves with or without Stark knowing how they did it. Stark is a morally grey character, so either is as likely as the other.

It was also fun to see Peggy Carter infiltrate Hydra by serving as a servant girl named Eva so that she could get close enough to Erskine to free him and take him out of Germany. Agent Carter short showed how she has no fear to complete missions and the Agent Carter television show showed how she was skilled in speaking with different accents and disguising herself to complete her mission. Carter is one of my favorite Marvel characters, so it was fun to get her backstory as well.

Captain America: First Vengeance is a great comic that adds a backstory to the events of Captain America: The First Avenger. This is very welcome as the film was a lot of fun, but the explanation of how Steve Rogers became Captain America and how Johann Schmidt became the Red Skull came and went so quickly. Even after the Infinity Saga, this is one comic that still fits nicely in the sacred timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Final Verdict:
4 out of 5

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Action-Adventure Television Series Episode Review: Agent Carter - The Blitzkrieg Button

In the fourth episode of Agent Carter Peggy and Jarvis get in contact with Howard Stark while the SSR continues their investigation of him.

Peggy Carter and Edwin Jarvis deal with black-market smugglers in order to get in touch with Howard Stark, who is still successfully avoiding capture by living off the grid.

Peggy keeps Howard from being caught when she discovers agents are covering even his better-hidden residences. Because of this, she has to sneak Stark into her apartment despite her landlady's extremely strict rule restricting men above the first floor.

Meanwhile, Captain Dooley leaves Jack Thomas in charge as he goes to Germany to get information by talking to the Nazi killer in charge of the concentration camp at Finow, the same place from which their two deceased suspects hailed. He is scheduled to be executed via the electric chair, so Dooley leaves quickly in order to get there in time.

The SSR looks through Stark's inventions, which leads to a humorous scene where Peggy stealthily takes pictures of Stark's confiscated equipment with the pen camera Stark invented while two scientists keep setting themselves on fire. 

Peggy and Howard turn her apartment into a dark room for developing the film she took at the SSR, while Peggy goes downstairs to have lunch with Angie, the waitress at the diner Peggy frequents and who is her only female friend. When she returns to her apartment, Stark reveals that one of the photos is of a weapon he called the "blitzkrieg button" that destroys the electrical grid of an entire city.

Sousa, an agent who was injured in World War II, conducts an investigation on his own. However, because of his disability, he is looked down on by Jack and the rest of his colleagues. Sousa investigates a homeless veteran from the pier.

Thompson comes in and offers the man a bottle of liquor, and he gives Jack the information, which disappoints Sousa as he was trying to respect the man for being a veteran but he fits the homeless stereotype instead. He tells the agents that a fancy man and a woman were involved. He tells them that she had dark hair, inching the investigation closer to Peggy. 

The double investigations in the United States and Germany are interesting because the US investigation pointed towards Peggy, and the German investigation took them closer to Howard Stark. 

On top of that, Howard told Peggy to prevent the destruction of the power grid which led to a great heist scene. Jarvis and Peggy work great as a duo, and I'm glad Jarvis is getting more to do. I also loved the twist on who the real villain turned out to be. It honestly caught me off guard, in a good way.

"The Blitzkrieg Button" was one of the most fun episodes of the run so far. It also included a Stan Lee cameo, which added to the fun. One of the best parts of the episode was Howard Stark's return. Dominic Cooper is always great at bringing out the smarmy charm of the Howard Hughes-inspired character, and he certainly doesn't disappoint here.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Agent Carter Season 1, Episode 3 Review

Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter Review

Animated Superhero Action Streaming Series Episode Review: What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?

What If...? is an animated version of the Marvel Comics title of the same name. It offers alternative events to those portrayed in the sacred timeline of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The first episode shows what would happen if Peggy Carter was given the super soldier serum.

The episode is narrated by Jeffrey Wright, who portrays Uatu the Watcher. The Watchers are a race of aliens that watch and record events in the universe without interfering. They were previously seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 getting information from a man known as the Informant, played by the late great Stan Lee. If Marvel Studios brings Uatu into live-action, I hope they continue to use Jeffery Wright. He has a commanding, yet soothing voice that fits the character perfectly.

Oatu explains that just one different decision is enough to cause a new universe. In this case, the Nexus point that creates a new timeline is when Peggy decides to stay with the military men watching the super soldier experiment rather than going to the viewing area upstairs. This causes Carter to notice the man with the bomb that was meant to distract the crowd. It causes him to detonate it before, rather than after, the experiment. This leads to Steve Rogers getting shot, which left the chamber without an occupant. Knowing that doing nothing would cause the experiment to be a failure, Peggy enters the chamber. Howard Stark pulls the lever, despite the objections of Colonel Flynn. The experiment was successful, giving Carter a taller, more muscular physique.

This leads to a dustup with the colonel, who feels the experiment was a failure because the serum went into a "girl", which is what would likely have happened in the United States in the 1940s, and reminded me a lot of the excellent Agent Carter television show.

She is finally convinced to go out into the battlefield by a still skinny and short Steve Rogers, who is recuperating in physical therapy. As she is not being touted out into USO shows, she managed to take the mind stone within the tesseract to Howard Stark.

This leads to a fantastic sequence where Peggy busts the Howling Commandos, including Steve's friend Bucky, out of their prison cell. When the Captain and the Commandos fight their way out, they are joined by Steve in a Howard Stark-designed, tesseract-powered, mechanical suit dubbed the Hydra Stomper. It was fun to see this early Iron Man suit designed by the elder Stark, and its inclusion made sense as, in the main timeline, Howard had said that he was restricted by the technology of his time.

We then get a scene as 1940s music plays over a montage of Captain Carter's accomplishments, as well as those of Steve Rogers in his Hydra Stomper suit. 

The most fun part of this episode was the ending, as Captain Carter's showdown with the Red Skull didn't go anything like Captain America's. Red Skull truly showed Captain Carter just what his organization meant with the name HYDRA.

I'm glad that Marvel is willing in phase four to show events that differ from the main timeline films. With Marvel slowly building up to the weirdness levels of the comics, we're really past the halfway point now, and it's brought us some truly great things. Captain Carter is a fantastic character that I hope we see a lot more of in the Marvel Cinematic Universe moving forward.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Agent Carter Season 1, Episode 1 Review

Action Television Series Episode Review: Agent Carter - Time & Tide

In the third episode of Agent Carter, Peggy settles into her new apartment at a ladies' only residence while still investigating the Leviathan and trying to stay one step ahead of her co-workers at the Strategic Scientific Reserve.

The SSR investigated the license plate that was pulled from the 10-ton ball of concrete and metal. After running the plates. they discovered that it was registered to a vehicle owned by Howard Stark.

They bring Jarvis in and interrogate him, but both he and Peggy have to pretend that they don't know each other. Jack Thompson, the SSR's best interrogator, reveals that Edwin Jarvis was found to have committed treason. He threatens to deport him and arrest his wife. The latter causes him to break his cool demeanor.

Carter pretends she lost the missing car report, which caused Chief Dooley to chew her out and make her apologize to Thompson, a huge misogynist. 

Peggy Carter was originally going to let the revelation go unsaid, but decided she didn't want to have anything further to do with Jarvis until he told her why he was charged with treason. He revealed he did it to get a Jewish person away from the Nazis and that Howard Stark used his influence to save both the Jewish person Jarvis tried to save as well as Jarvis himself. This improved her opinion of both Edwin Jarvis and Howard Stark.

After she's satisfied, Jarvis and Peggy head to the docks to look for a ship that is reportedly connected to the theft of Howard Stark's inventions. They find dangerous inventions, but not the nitromene. Not wanting to let the inventions fall into the wrong hands, she has Jarvis disguise his voice to phone in an anonymous tip about their location.

Meanwhile, one of Peggy's co-workers is killed along with the man that he was bringing into the SSR office, which only tightens their resolve to bring down Stark. 

Meanwhile, Peggy decides to work on her personal relationships as she finally confided in the waitress who had been trying to be her friend while a new resident named Dorothy Underwood moved into Peggy's apartment building.

Tide & Time is another fantastic episode. The action is once again fantastic, as is Peggy's quick thinking against men that are much bigger and stronger than her. The reveal of some of Edwin's background makes Jarvis a much more sympathetic character, and the dynamic between her and Peggy is quickly becoming one of the best parts of the show.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

Agent Carter Season 1, Episode 2 Review

Agent Carter Season 1, Episode 4 Review

Action Superhero Film Review: Spider-Man 2

The second film in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy was more Peter Parker's story than Spider-Man. It also had a fantastic, realistic portrayal of Doctor Octopus that influenced the comics as much as it was influenced by them.

Peter Parker is having trouble balancing his real-world identity with that of his superhero identity as Spider-Man. He has trouble making appointments, such as classes at his university and his new job as a pizza delivery man. He loses the latter and is close to being expelled from the former.

On top of this, his best friend Harry Osborne is convinced that Spider-Man killed his father. Also, Peter and Mary Jane are still infatuated with each other, but Peter doesn't want to tell her that out of fear that she would be attacked by Spider-Man's enemies if they discovered his secret identity, as had happened to his Aunt May via the Green Goblin.

Peter tries to remain friends with MJ, but his time as Spider-Man is making that difficult as well. She is following her dream by acting in plays, however, Peter can't manage to make it on time due to his web-slinging alter ego. This isn't helped by the fact that an usher, played by Raimi's friend Bruce Campbell in his second cameo in the trilogy, won't let him in due to his tardiness.

All of this stress causes Peter to have, as he put it in No Way Home, a web block. This causes him to lose the ability to properly control his powers. This leads to a humorous scene where he has to use the elevator in costume since he can't swing through the city.

One of Peter's scientific idols, Otto Octavius, invented a device that gives him four extra metallic arms so that he can work in environments that human hands can't touch. He can control the device by thinking as he has a neural link to the device that is wired through his spine to his brain. The arms have sophisticated artificial intelligence, so he equipped a neural inhibitor to keep the AI from influencing him. 

Unfortunately, his inhibitor chip is burned out during a failed press exhibition. Octavius tried to control a ball of energy composed of an abundance of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen named hydrogen-3, or as Osborne put it, the power of the sun in the palm of his hand. Spider-Man manages to turn off the device holding the tritium, however, before he managed to pull the plug, Rosalie Octavius, the wife of Doctor Octavius is killed.

Doctor Octavius, himself, is injured during the aborted demonstration. He is taken to a hospital where the doctors try to cut his metal arms off of him. However, the AI resists and attacks the hospital staff. This scene is made in the style of a horror movie, with which director Sam Raimi is well acquainted having directed the original Evil Dead films.

After this, the arms gain control of Otto's mind. The AI takes Otto's pain of losing Rosalie as well as his life's work and magnifies the hatred he feels. He then becomes a villain which the Daily Bugle names Doctor Octopus.

The AI convinces Doc Ock to continue his experiment, even though the rational side of his mind thinks that the experiment as well as his mechanical arms should be away from humanity at the bottom of the ocean. Doctor Octopus uses his mechanical arms to break into a vault at a bank to gain money for his experiment. However, he is stopped by Spider-Man. Unfortunately, because Peter's Aunt May was screaming, Doc Ock chose her to hold captive in order to get the police to hold off on attacking him.

Peter eventually becomes frustrated with his double life, ditches his spider suit, and stops being Spider-Man. This has positive effects by allowing him to get to his university classes on time. He also makes it to Mary Jane's play. However, Mary Jane is betrothed so she isn't receptive to his attempts to get her to date him.

As for the visual effects, Doc Ock's AI-controlled mechanical arms look fantastic clawing up the side of buildings. It's amazing this was done with practical effects. In the versions that are 4K, or 3840 x 2160 pixels, even the computer-generated imagery in this film looks fantastic. My favorite scenes are the fire-damaged building where Peter, as himself, rescues a young girl, the scene where Doc Ock threw a car through the window of a cafe, as well as the final battle with Doctor Octopus.

The actors put in a fantastic performance. Tobey Maguire delivers a great performance as the struggling Peter Parker. Kirsten Dunst is also fantastic as Peter's love interest Mary Jane Watson, who is tired of him standing her up all the time. 

James Franco is also much better than he is credited for as Harry Osborn. He believes Spider-Man killed his father, so he is angry at Peter for taking pictures of, and defending the man he considers his enemy. His anger at Peter builds up throughout the film, as more of Harry's life falls apart, and I think Franco handled it well. He began with a friendly demeanor, then as he lost his family's money by funding Osborne's experiment he got angrier, then he bubbled over when he thought he was losing his girlfriend Mary Jane Watson to Peter. Like his performance as a grieving son in the first film, I found Franco's acting much better than I had originally thought before a rewatch.

Another that I originally disliked was how Aunt May, portrayed by Rosemary Harris, became cold to Peter after he told his aunt the truth about him letting the man who killed his Uncle Ben. However, like James Franco's performance at the end of the first film, I see this much differently now that I have suffered loss myself. Now I actually like that aspect, and I feel that Rosemary Harris once again put in a fantastic performance as a grieving widow who was dealing with a nephew that she felt was heading down a dark path. 

J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson and Alfred Molina as Otto Octavius are both standouts in this film. J.K. Simmons provides some much-needed comic relief in this otherwise serious story. His Jameson is so pitch-perfect that it feels just like the character so much that it is like J. Jonah Jameson himself jumped out of the comic books. In contrast, Molina delivers a fantastic performance, both as the friendly Otto Octavius and as the villainous Doctor Octopus. His performance was so good that his portrayal of Doc Ock is one for whom you feel sorry because he is a tragic villain with two personalities due to an invention he created to help humanity. Like the Green Goblin in the first film, I feel that Doctor Octopus was squandered in the trilogy as he was one of the characters who only appeared in one film. Also like the Green Goblin, however, this was thankfully rectified when Alfred Molina's Doctor Octopus appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2019.

This film is often considered not just the best Spider-Man film, but one of the best superhero films. I think I'd personally place this second to Spider-Man: No Way Home as the best Spider-Man film, but it definitely deserves its praise as one of the best superhero films ever. The actors are great, and the effects mix practical and computer-generated imagery really well. In particular, the scene where Spider-Man saves a subway train and the New Yorkers help the injured, maskless Spider-Man, is an iconic moment in film history. It advanced the philosophy of the first film, "when you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us". The film influenced Spider-Man films, and superhero films in general, and still does to this day. This is definitely a must-watch. Like the first film, I recommend the remastered and upscaled 4K Blu-ray and digital releases for both people who have never seen it before as well as those who see it as a rewatch.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

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Action Superhero Film Review: Spider-Man

It's been over twenty years since the first Spider-Man film that starred Tobey Maguire. However, this Spider-Man, who Marvel retroactively named the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man to differentiate him from Tom Holland's Spider-Man, is getting a lot of publicity because he reappeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. Because of this, I thought it would be interesting to watch Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy to see where the twenty-first-century Spider-Man films began.

The storyline follows the comics for the most part, as a bullied teenager named Peter Parker gets bitten by a spider, gains spider abilities, and uses a red ski mask to hide his identity. He aims to make money wrestling as the Human Spider. However, the fight announcer, played by the incomparable Bruce Campbell, does not like that name and calls him Spider-Man instead. Peter is happy and more than a bit cocky when he wins the money until his Uncle Ben is killed by a man he let get away. After that, he follows Ben's advice that "with great power comes great responsibility" and designs a proper superhero suit to use his Spider-Man persona to help the people of New York City.

As was noted in No Way Home, this Spider-Man differs from the comics in a major way. Unlike any other version of Spider-Man that came before, the genetically-modified spider that bit Peter gives him the ability to shoot webs from his wrists. Other versions of the hero make the web fluid which shoots out of a wrist-mounted device called a web shooter. This leads to the iconic scene where Peter tries many wrist actions and verbal commands to learn how to shoot the webs, including a shout-out to the other Captain Marvel.

Spider-Man has two enemies in the form of a direct threat and an indirect threat. The first is the father of Peter's best friend, Norman Osborn, who owns a company that develops technology for the United States military. The second is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson, the man who buys photographs taken by Parker and uses them to print stories claiming Spider-Man is a menace.

When the board of OsCorp sells the company to a rival and fires Norman in the process, Osborn uses a jet-powered glider developed by his company and becomes the villainous Green Goblin. The Green Goblin has a suit and mask that still looks threatening today. However, it's a shame they gave him a mask as the man who plays Norman Osborn, Willem Dafoe, has a very expressive face that is squandered by covering it up. This is the main reason they chose to have Norman break the mask in No Way Home.

Both of the men, Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn and J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson, are so good in their roles that Marvel didn't feature either character in Spider-Man films until the Tom Holland version of Spider-Man appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On top of this, Peter Parker is in love with his next-door neighbor, Mary Jane Watson, who is played wonderfully by Kirsten Dunst. He is afraid to ask her out, so his best friend Harry Osborn asks her instead and becomes her boyfriend. Peter never loses his interest in her, however, leading to the wonderfully memorable and iconic moment where Peter, as Spider-Man, saves her life and then gives her an upside-down kiss in the rain.

There is another iconic moment with Mary Jane, where the Goblin drops a trolley with children and Mary Jane from a bridge. The Goblin did a similar thing with Gwen Stacy in the comics, however, things work out much better for MJ. The shot with Mary Jane falling reflected in the eyes of the Spider-Man suit still looks fantastic and gave me goosebumps even on a rewatch.

The New York citizens rallying behind Spider-Man and shooting rocks at the Goblin is something that is a common thread in the Raimi films and will be expanded on in great fashion in the next film in the trilogy. The words of one New Yorker sums up Raimi's Spider-Man philosophy well, "when you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us".

Raimi's films are the last, as of the time this review was posted, live-action films that portray Aunt May as an elderly woman, as she is in the comics. Rosemary Harris plays the part well, especially in the scene when the Green Goblin attacks her in the bedroom of her apartment when she prays to God to "deliver us from evil" as the Goblin laughs maniacally.

The shots that are done with practical effects still look amazing. Some that are done with computer-generated imagery, especially the part where the pumpkin bomb rips off half of Spider-Man's mask, still look great as well, except for the shots where Spider-Man is swinging from his webs quickly through the city. These have a bit of a dizzy-inducing quality, however, that has been alleviated in the versions that are in 4K, or 3840 x 2160 pixels. These transfers remastered and upscaled the film. Sony did a great job there, as the film has never looked so good.

When I first watched the film, I thought that James Franco, as Harry, showed bad, wooden acting at the end of the film. However, after suffering from many losses myself, I now see that this was intentional. Harry was grieving so he felt numb. He spoke completely without emotion because he felt that his world was ripped apart. This is the major aspect that I originally felt hindered the film, but looking at it with a fresh perspective, I see it as the cold, emotionless words of a man seeking revenge. Which, I'm sure, is exactly what Raimi was aiming to do.

Sam Raimi's Spider-Man still stands up remarkably well more than two decades later, except for a regrettable scene where Peter uses a homophobic slur when he taunts the wrestler Bonesaw McGraw, played by the late great Randy "Macho Man" Savage. While it does set up Harry's turn from friend to foe, Raimi's Spider-Man follows films like 1989's Batman, where a fantastic villain only appears in one film in a series. Thankfully this was finally changed when Dafoe's Green Goblin returned in No Way Home in 2021. I highly recommend watching this film for the first time or watching it again, especially in the fantastic 4K Blu-Ray and digital versions.

Final Verdict:

4 out of 5

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Action Television Series Episode Review: Agent Carter - Bridge and Tunnel

In the second episode of Agent Carter, Jarvis gives Peggy Carter a place to stay in one of the residences used by Howard Stark for his romantic liaisons.

Agent Carter and Jarvis still need to find the nitromene. She uses her talent in accents to pretend to be a health inspector as she searches milk trucks for the dangerous substance with a vita ray detector she kept from her disastrous first attempt to get her hands on the nitramene. 

This causes her to come at odds with her fellow agents at the Strategic Scientific Reserve, as they work through the ten-ton ball of metal and rocks that used to be a building as well as a bumper from Howard Stark's car. Jarvis disposes of the car since it would be full of vita radiation, which would link it to the building implosion.

Making things harder, Peggy has to test every woman who works for Stark's competitor for vita radiation, while also having to rid herself of anything that contains vita radiation. If she recognizes someone, she can't say so as it would prove she was at the scene of the implosion. Instead, she uses her wits and once again proves that she is a better agent than the men she works under.

That's not to say the men are incompetent, as they employ torture tactics to get the information that they need, a method that was unfortunately common at the time.

Meanwhile, a waitress named Angie tries to make friends with Peggy, but she is busy with her job, revealing a major drawback in her work.

A fun aspect of this episode is the Captain America radio show, which portrays Captain America in a virtuous voice and Peggy Carter, or "Betty Carver", in an overly sexy female voice.

Carter and Jarvis track down the nitramene, and the men transporting it. They try to get information about the organization behind the nitramene theft, Leviathan. The truck crashes into the ocean, causing a huge implosion. Jarvis and Peggy then have to flee the scene.

Meanwhile, the man's accomplice runs down the road tied to a chair, where he is picked up by the SSR. He reveals that he was tied up by a woman matching Peggy's description, leading them to get closer to discovering her secret investigation.

Bridge and Tunnel is a fantastic episode full of mystery and intrigue with a bit of humor mixed in. It's a fantastic episode that proves just how much fun Agent Carter was and how much of a shame it was cancelled before its time.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

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Comedy Pop Music Video Review: I Want Your Cray Cray

"I Want Your Cray Cray" was a song that Trish Walker, a character played by Rachael Taylor, was said to have recorded in the early 2000s in "AKA I Want Your Cray Cray", the seventh episode of the second season of Jessica Jones. 

To promote the episode, Marvel released the full-length song on iTunes and released an accompanying music video on YouTube. The song was created in the style of an early 21st-century pop song and the lyrics were purposefully simple and repetitive both as a parody of 2000s pop songs and because the song was said to have prevented Trish Walker's attempt at a career comeback in Jessica Jones.

They succeeded in making a song that was cringy yet catchy, which could be said for many of the 2000s-era pop songs it parodies. The music video is the preferred method of experiencing this song, as it is created in the style of the popular VH1 music video series, Pop-Up Videos. Throughout the video, comments about the song, Trish, and her mother-manager Dorothy, would pop up on the screen in text bubbles. They were even accompanied by a "pop" sound effect like the one heard in the VH1 series.

The music video is a nice accompaniment to the episode, as well as to the Jessica Jones series as a whole. The comments that pop up throughout are perfectly reminiscent of those in Pop-Up Videos, such as mentions about the movements made by Trish and comments about the backup dancers. The popup comments about Trish Walker's substance abuse and Dorothy Walker's use of her daughter to help her own social life fit within the story of the episode and within the overarching story of the series. 

"I Want Your Cray Cray" is a fun supplement to the Jessica Jones web series. The song itself is a tongue-in-cheek parody of early 21st-century pop songs, with a catchy melody and repetitive lyrics. The music video is the preferred method to experience the song. It has oversexualized women making provocative movements, which emulate early 2000s music videos. It's the VH1 Pop-Up Videos parody that is the main joy to be had in watching the music video. It's a pitch-perfect imitation of VH1's popular series with text bubble comments that vary between humorous for the sake of being humorous and humorous expansions on the show's lore. It's well worth watching for fans of Jessica Jones, fans of the formerly Netflix-exclusive side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or just fans of the weird Marvel Comics character Patricia Walker, aka Hellcat.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

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Marvel One Shot: Agent Carter Review

Hawkeye episode 1 review coming soon

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Agent Carter Review

Before she became the co-founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter received a Marvel Studios One-Shot. This was a format for ideas that didn't warrant their own film. They have been used for humor, to fix continuity issues, and as springboards for television series. It's the latter use that Agent Carter falls under, as it acts as both a sequel to Captain America: The First Avenger and as a prequel to the Agent Carter television series.

After the end of World War II, women returned to their status as homemakers. Those who didn't were ridiculed for continuing to work in an all-male environment. Peggy Carter was expected to leave the Strategic Scientific Reserve, however, homemaking was not in her nature. She was a better agent than the men in her office, but they kept getting field work while she was forced to act as a secretary.

When a late-night call comes in, she is the only person in the office. Peggy saw it as an opportunity to prove herself, so, going against regulations she goes out in the field to take care of the mission alone rather than relaying the message to the men in the office.

Haley Atwell was one of the best parts of Captain America: The First Avenger, so it was great to see the story of her hard-hitting heroine continue onward after the apparent death of Captain America. The storyline and fight choreography are top-notch and make the best out of the smaller budget given to the One-Shots. It is no wonder why an Agent Carter television series was greenlit, as this was and still is, one of the best One-Shots ever released.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

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Action Television Series Episode Review: Agent Carter - Now Is Not the End

This review was originally posted on the McMurray Internet Channel website on December 10, 2018.

The first episode of Agent Carter picks up after Captain America: The First Avenger at the end of World War II. Agent "Peggy" Carter of the Strategic Scientific Reserve is still trying to cope with the loss of her love interest Captain America while finding herself in a world that is becoming ever more hostile to her life as an active field agent at a time when men are returning home from war while women are laid off from the jobs they had during wartime to return back to their expected roles as wives and homemakers.

Her former war ally Howard Stark, a wealthy inventor, founder of Stark Industries, and the best civilian pilot she had ever seen, finds himself sidelined from founding S.H.I.E.L.D. and in trouble when the United States government. Congress believes that he had staged a break-in at his secret vault so that he could sell his most dangerous weapons on the black market. With no one else he could trust, Howard Stark turns to Agent Carter, granting her the services of his butler and driver Edwin Jarvis, so that together they could retrieve his weapons and clear his name.

The first weapon, and the most dangerous, is the formula for an experimental implosion device, molecular nitromene. It uses the same vita radiation as used in Project Rebirth, the top-secret government program that created Captain America. Stark and Jarvis want Peggy to try to get the formula back before the thieves can weaponize their own version.

The short runtime of this season, with only 10 episodes, did a great deal for it, since the episode manages to introduce the main characters exceptionally well while still maintaining an action-film level of excitement as Agent Carter and Jarvis rush to keep Stark's implosion device from the hands of the mysterious Leviathan. By the time the episode reaches its conclusion, it hardly feels like it has been on for even half its 42-minute runtime, and the conclusion leaves you wanting more. Thankfully, in the era of Blu-rays, Hulu, and binge-watching, that's easily accomplished.

Final Verdict:

5 out of 5

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The Winter Soldier Comes To Avengers On November 29

Avengers, the action game by Crystal Dynamics, is getting an update on the 29th of November. This will add Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, to the game. It will also add the cloning lab, a new Omega-level threat.

It's currently on sale for Black Friday. You can pick it up for half-off at Best Buy.

Adventure Superhero Film Review: Captain America: The First Avenger

This review was originally posted on the McMurray Internet Channel website on December 9, 2018.

The first film of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, chronologically, did an excellent job of maintaining an exciting story that never felt bogged down by the world-building elements. These elements, such as the Tesseract retrieved from Odin’s Vault and the shield made from vibranium, fit right into the story without feeling out of place.

The film follows Marvel’s oldest property for which they retained the film rights at the time. The film follows Steve Rogers, a sickly thin boy from Brooklyn in the 1940s. When the United States joins the Allies in World War II, Steve Rogers is a man, but his frail sickly body prevents him from being enlisted. He tries to enlist five times with five different addresses, but he is marked 4F – unfit to serve – at each examination. His childhood friend “Bucky” Barnes warns him to stop falsifying his information in trying to enlist, as it is a criminal offense that could result in prison time.

Steve ignores his friend’s advice and is caught during his next attempt to enlist. Thankfully, he was caught by a German scientist named Dr. Erskine who recognizes that Steve is a good man who wants to enlist, not for the satisfaction of killing, but to prevent the Nazis from bullying the world as he has been bullied his entire life. Steve becomes the second person to be given Erskine’s super soldier treatment after a Nazi soldier named Johann Schmidt was given the treatment prior to the point when Dr. Erskine fled to the United States. The treatment amplified what is inside people, turning Johann Schmidt into the villainous Red Skull and turning Steve Rogers into the virtuous Captain America.

Captain Rogers proves that he is more than a marketing tool when he saves his friend Bucky, and soldiers from other Allied units, from deep within enemy lines.

Red Skull has been building up Hydra within the shadows of the Nazis, an organization named after the Greek legend. The group is intent on taking over the world, including Nazi Germany, and imposing the Red Skull’s rule over all of humanity. To combat the Red Skull, Captain America forms an elite group named the Howling Commandos from a group of rescued soldiers, including his friend Bucky Barnes.

He also has help from Agent “Peggy” Carter, of the top-secret war agency the Strategic Scientific Reserve, or SSR, who develops feelings for Steve Rogers over the course of the film. Her character will later be further developed in her titular short film and television series, but Agent Carter already shows herself to be a fantastic asset to the SSR here, as she kills the driver of a car from many meters away.

The film is a fantastic adventure and a modern take on the adventure serials of the 1940s, much in the same vein as Raiders of the Lost Ark before it. It remains one of the best films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is well worth watching at least once, if not multiple times.

Final Verdict:
5 out of 5

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What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger? Review

Open World Action-Adventure Mega Review: Spider-Man

There have been many great Spider-Man games over the years. However, Insomniac's Spider-Man changes up the mix a bit, with a more experienced Spider-Man, playable Mary-Jane Watson and Miles Morales stealth sections, and a mix of iconic and lesser-known characters in Peter Parker's rogues gallery. 

Spider-Man uses the mechanics from the Batman: Arkham games with the addition of climbing on walls and webbing. It is this final factor that makes the game really enjoyable and sets it apart from its inspiration. It is really fun to web up thugs, and super enjoyable to swing around town. Swinging is the mechanic that will make or break a Spider-Man game, and this one delivers. It also adds a mechanic to make Spider-Man's swinging zippier. The zip web is thrown in front of Spider-Man, causing him to zip forward. Spider-Man also makes new gadgets as the story progresses which can be used in combat. It's fun to use the web bomb to web up enemies and then use the concussive blast to throw them back and stick them to walls.

The Arkham mechanics work well because, in both the game and the comics that inspired it, Spider-Man is a lot like Batman. He is also a genius that makes gadgets and has a suit lined with electronics. For the things that Spider-Man doesn't have, such as a bullet-proof suit and a grappling gun, Spider-Man makes up for it with a healing factor and his web shooters.

Alongside the Spidey missions are story beats where the plot switches to the Daily Bugle reporter Mary Jane Watson and the teenage coder Miles Morales. As she is Peter's on again, off again girlfriend, M.J. Watson is in close contact with Spider-Man, and as a reporter, she proves invaluable in finding evidence. Stealth is the key in these sections of the story, as both characters have to get in and out of situations without being caught. These sections are a controversial part of the game, but personally, I enjoyed them a lot. I just wish there were more M.J. stealth sections, not just because Miles Morales got his own game by Insomniac, but also because they are more fun. Once M.J. gets the ability to shock enemies unconscious, the stealth sections become quire enjoyable.   

The story sees Peter Parker working for Otto Octavius working on mechanical arms for people who lost their own. As time allows, he also helps his Aunt May, who works at the F.E.A.S.T. shelter. The charity, founded by a businessman named Martin Li, is so named as it provides resources for food, emergency, aid, shelter, and training.

In addition to his obligations as Peter Parker, he also patrols the city as Spider-Man. This version of Spider-Man takes its Batman inspiration further as he works with a contact in the police department. Yuri Watanabe is a great addition to the Spider-Man lore, as she is a wonderfully complex character and not just a cookie-cutter police chief.

Fans of the comics and films will be happy, as the story includes Spidey staples such as Kingpin, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Electro, Rhino, Scorpion, Black Cat, Taskmaster, and Norman Osborn. It also has lesser-known villains such as Mr. Negative, Shocker, Hammerhead, Silver Sable, and the obscure villain, Screwball. Mr. Negative, in particular, is a very compelling villain that I hope makes it to the big screen someday.

The presentation is excellent. It has moments of cinematic action, which are very reminiscent of the Uncharted series. Many are quick-time events that provide precise button pushing, but the prompts stay on screen for a while, so, thankfully, they aren't a challenge. The visuals are quite realistic, even in the original PlayStation 4 version. The textures and models in the remastered version are improved and sometimes changed, especially Peter Parker who is completely redesigned. The former actor for the face of Peter Parker, John Bubniak, has been recast to Ben Jordan (no relation to the paranormal investigator). This was done to better match the facial performance capture of Yuri Lowenthal. Both versions are excellent. I, personally didn't notice a difference in the facial movements of either actor, but your perceptions might be different than mine. The rest of the actors are excellent as well, especially Watanabe's voice actor, Sumalee Montano. Her vocal performance helps a lot in making Yuri Watanabe a compelling character.

Insomniac's Spider-Man is Spidey's best game so far. With great visuals, interesting characters, fantastic voice acting, fun cinematic staging sequences, and cinematic music, it is worth playing both for people who are fans of the comics and films as well as people who only have casual knowledge of the web-slinger. 

Final verdict:

5 out of 5

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