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Reviews
Shiti Hanta (2024)
Great Adaptation! Decent mixture of quirky comedy and hard-boiled seriousness
This is the best adaption I've seen so far. A good amount of action sequences without robbing the fact that Ryo Saeba is actually an expert marksman first (unlike Jackie Chan's adaptation). The pervertedness of Ryo was just right. It did not come off as annoying or interferes with the story (sometimes it does in the anime).
As for the story, it felt superficial. Not enough screen time was given for the emotional beats to hit when Makimura died. In the anime, he died in episode 5. So his relationship with Ryo and maybe Saeko was more established. So when he died, the emotional beats hit more. Even though it has many flaws, in the end of the day, it's a great action-flick and fun to watch. Definitely recommend it if you want to turn your brain off and relax.
One thing that didn't sit well with me was that this movie felt like a pilot episode of Netflix series (why would the opening credits start after nearly 20 minutes into the movie?) I'm wondering if there's going to be Netflix series sequel following this. Hopefully there is. For me, all the flaws would be forgiven if it's actually a prequel to a 8-13 episode Netflix series because it makes sense then.
Also, Ryo Saeba doesn't harbor his iconic anime-look in this movie. He never wore his sky-blue blazer. They went with his manga-look, a trenchcoat.
Other than this adaptation there's 3 more:
1) Jackie Chan's City Hunter (1993)
2) Mr. Mumble (1996)
3) Nicky Larson et le parfum de Cupidon (2018)
3 Body Problem (2024)
Decent BBC-like adaptation, but too toned down
I've read the whole english version of Remembrance of the Earth's Past trilogy before watching this show. Never watched the Chinese version. When writing this, I'm only up to episode 6.
Overall, it's a decent adaptation. Not a direct adaptation. Characters were set up decently. The pacing is similar to the first book. However, it wasn't as emotionally gripping. Emotional beats were subtle, like BBC shows.
The huge flaw of the series is that young-Ye Wenji encounters were not heavy-handed compared to the novel. In the novel, many people (I think mainly were CCP members) she encountered were selfish petty despicable hypocrites. And she went through a lot and saw the dark side of humanity firsthand, not just the Cultural Revolution scene in the trailer. Thus, made me sympathized her decision and her action to protect that decision. I hate the "humanity" in her eyes with her when reading.
That segment was too tamed. It wasn't intense enough to make me lose faith in humanity to the point that I sympathized her decision.
I hope the upcoming season or seasons would be less tamed and more intense.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
A so-so sci-fi adaptation of the 1st Half of Seven Samurai.
After the first 30 mins, I started to ask myself, "Did I see this before?" The answer was "Yeah! It's Seven Samurai!"
As an adaptation of the classic, it was quite disappointing. The whole movie was basically the recruiting of the samurais. The pacing was good. Even though it was more than 2 hours long, it didn't feel that way. However, it lacked exposition on characters' backstories, except for Kora's. The other "samurais" backstories were given through dialogues.
I don't know how a movie that's more than 2 hours long have touched so little on characters' backstories. If the "samurais" backstories aren't as important for now, as in it will be divulged later on like squeezing toothpaste, then why make the recruiting process so long?
And this is only half of one movie. Knowing that, the climax felt forced. It felt like it was forced in so part one could end in a high note.
Netflix should've released this as one movie instead of splitting it into 2 parts. It might've made more sense and a much better movie. But for now, at least we still have Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, even though it's in black and white.
Yu yu hakusho (2023)
Decent adaption, but too short for it to be satisfying
First of all, I'm a fan of the YYH anime, so was hard for me to not compare this mini-series to the anime. The story changes made was understandable to me. Especially, when it was obvious that Netflix wasn't going into the Dark Tournament saga.
There are some things this mini-series fail to deliver. I believe it was due to it being 5 episodes. One of YYH anime's highlights was the resonating backstory and motivations of the main antagonists, which the anime builds up as the story moves forward. But this mini-series failed to do that. They tried to do a quick retelling of younger Toguro's backstory with just few minutes of dialogue during the last episode. But that's weak. I think younger Toguro's backstory itself deserves one whole flashback episode. It might've made the climax battle and ending more emotionally impacting. In other words, in order for me to care about the deliverance of a tortured soul, I need to get to know the tortured soul first. If not, I won't care and don't know how to care about the deliverance. And again, this mini-series was just 5 episodes, maybe that's why they're forced to only use dialogue.
I wondered if this series was meant to be a one off and season 2 was never considered. It seemed to wrap up so nicely. Hopefully, it performs decent enough for a season 2. I want to see how Netflix would do Sensui (this antagonist is so emotionally scarred that he 7 personalities inside him). Please make at least 8-10 episodes if there's season 2, like One Piece or other Netflix original series.
Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)
Great 1st half of a horror movie!
I was expecting a full-fledged solid horror that delivered the breathtaking suspense I experienced when playing the free version of a FNAF 3. However, this movie failed to deliver.
In the first half, it does kinda delivered that suspense like in the game, but after that, it's more like a mystery. I assume there's probably easter eggs or call backs to the lore. If there was, I completely missed it because I'm not familiar with the lore.
In short, I was expecting a survival-of-the-night horror, going on for 5 nights. But this wasn't that movie. Willy's Wonderland felt more like the FNAF game than this one. Maybe if I'm familiar with the lore, I might see something different.
Also, what happened to the theme that plays when the power is out?
The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)
Ambitious attempt, but fell flat
I think the "stories" are decent. It captured some elements of Gothic Horror and weaved in a decent way. However, the main characters (the present day Usher bro&sis and the 6 kids) are unrelatable and extremely unlikable. It's watching 8/9 (including the past CEO) jerks getting poetic justice and bunch of today's postmodern social statements. But does that constitute a satisfying overall story? It didn't for me.
Not enough time was spent to build up the Usher kids. There weren't any redeeming factors written in that made me care about them. They were just a bunch if generic stuck-up brats who were a byproduct of bad fathering. They keyword is "generic".
This show builds on the foundation of "sins of the father" theme. And it continuously beats the audience heads with it. In my opinion, if the "father" was shown to have fought with with everything he got to save the kids and unable to prevent their deaths, then succumbed to his ultimate fate in the end, it might have been more emotionally satisfying.
Overall, I think the show's vibe felt cynical. And because of the cynicism, it wasn't satisfying. Bly Manor delivered a satisfying ending. This show did not.