Reviews

Art: 10/10 Acting: 8/10 Cinematography: 10/10 Action: 10/10 Plot: 8/10 WorldBuilding: 10/10 Visual Effects: 10/10

Normally i would rate a series this good a 9/10, because there is still room for improvement. But i have to give it a 10, because very few shows are this good in their freshman season. As a writer I'm also inclined to rate this lower out of sheer jealousy, because the idea of "sleeves" is an identical conceit to the moral problems of another sci-fi i wrote and i wish i could have been the one to do it first--however, i cannot argue with a satisfying and successful execution of this concept.

This series is essentially about a freedom fighter who protested the corruptibility of immortality, being reborn in a future where his battle is already lost to solve the murder of an obscenely wealthy man who is still alive, because the technology exists to transfer and back up human consciousness between bodies, aka "sleeves". And it does a damn good job about exploring the political and economic implications of this technology, the resulting cultural divides, and poses a lot of moral and ethical questions. Beyond that, the colors and art for this series are SUPERB, easily some of the best VFX and cinematography of any series in recent memory that rivals even some of the most expensive blockbusters--with a great deal more emotional depth, its not just some mindless action romp. Again, i have to mention the color, because the color theory they use is downright beautiful, this is exactly the cyberpunk show we have all been waiting for. It also dives deep into nihilism and the darkest bits of human nature, exploring what it does to peoples minds or egos when the super rich can fuck a prostitute to death so long as they have the cash to pay for a new body.

That said, i would love to see them dive even deeper into the moral and philosophical questions next season. There is also one key gripe i have with a bit of fridge logic: I know that all the extra sleeves for the lower class come from death row inmates, but there seriously has to be a shortage unless they're actively printing bodies or the upper class is encouraging people to commit serious crimes en masse and get put on ice. I hope they will address this, because it is the one key plot point that doesn't add up.

The first season was surprisingly great. I thought with such a premise as this, it would undoubtedly be a trainwreck, but i was pleasantly surprised, i even felt the need to tell people how good it was after watching that epic season 1 finale. However it has only gone downhill from there to the point where after just 2 seasons it is a steaming pile of crap that i am no longer emotionally invested in. It started out as one of the few genuinely scary shows on TV, with its depictions of moloch and purgatory as the especially thrilling and well done parts. However it seems that over time, the talented crew of writers and animators that made the first season so great have been replaced by rank amateurs, and what was once poignant and well done is now campy and cringeworthy. Even the VFX are just... bad. Like at points almost scorpion king level bad. Pandora and the hidden one are the worst thing this show has ever done, and that includes that weird turning Ichabods witch fiancé evil for no apparent reason thing. And they celebrate it, as if the weird stupid shît they have done since their first season is something to be proud of. Like speaking to the hologram of thomas jefferson while doing a completely unnecessary nonsense crossover with bones, of all things. Why on earth would you want to remind people of that godawful mess? Let alone treat it like its one of your selling points?

I have a suggestion for any viewer. Watch the show until John Noble leaves. Then stop watching there, so the entire show is not ruined forever.

When i saw the first season, i was entirely impressed. With the entire thing. The acting, the fight choreography, the visual effects and the cinematography, everything was just top notch. In fact it was so good, i wasn't sure they were going to be able to top it. Boy was i wrong.

I have just finished watching season 2. And i have to say, its better than any other property in the entire marvel universe combined. Not only did they manage to top that epic hallway fight scene from season 1 which will go down in top 10s for fight scenes until probably the end of time--they also threw in an even more brutal punisher prison fight scene, which is... Well i don't really know how to describe it but i was screaming from disbelief the entire time that it was even possible for them to capture so much carnage in a single scene and still stick to the realism. The fight choreography alone in this show makes it worth watching, but there is also the writing which is really amazing. It is definitely the most true to the source material in terms of every single character, from the kingpin, to frank castle, daredevils origins, everything. And the first season was bingeworthy enough, but literally every single episode in the entire second season ended with such a bang or a twist or something that made it so i couldn't resist watching the next episode, because it was just sooooo damn good.

I want to also point out if you have kids or are quite squeamish that this is a very adult show that, especially in the second season, shows some very graphic content. And is especially realistic with its depiction of it. Parts of it are meant to make you sick to your stomach. But it is not gratuitous like game of thrones, and it is not overrated or over-hyped with its badassery like breaking bad (which i honestly find to be quite boring). I just couldn't say enough about this show that would do it justice, because every compliment i could say is probably well earned. Generally i would end reviews with "but this is what i think they could have done better", but not this show. Honestly i have no idea how they're going to one up themselves next season, but i have faith in them to do so because they've done it outstandingly before.

This is a comedy ahead of its time, and perhaps had it aired decades earlier it would have aired in English on adult swim and no one would have been able to tell a difference in the comedy. It is certainly that absurdist kind of parody you find so often nowadays, but its got its own charm to it, its all parodies of the Japanese attitude and culture, samurai swords and seppuku, duels over ridiculous things or and really really overdramatic sense of sentiment or honor. Basically the entire series is about a guy who is basically just really really horny and perverted who is just unlucky enough to be chosen to save the human race from an alien invasion by playing a game of tag with a sexy alien girl, only to accidentally propose to that alien girl, and have her fall obsessively in love with him and try to move in with him and bring just a whole shitstorm of crazy alien shenanigans to rain down upon his life and the lives of everyone around him. He is often chasing other women, who often violently hit him with blunt objects and then he gets electrocuted by his fiancé, often within the context of some other crazy stuff going down like a giant penguin attacking the city or dinosaurs being pulled through a rip in time or a romanic couple of mind melding pear which possess the body of two dudes and constantly tries to express their passionate love through them. Or a sentient flower who threatens to kill himself. The comedy potential for this show is limitless, and thats not even the best part, which is the ridiculous supporting characters, from the handsome, self obsessed samurai who is in denial about how much of a pervert and a coward he is, to the shy yet violent man hating shinobu, to the troublemaker flying imp baby who always manipulates girls with his cuteness to the bipolar paranoid nutjob who can suck peoples youth out through a kiss but always feigns innocent.

And as someone who is not especially into anime, or love stories, this is one of my favorite for both. Because over the course of the show it becomes clear that Ataru actually feels something for Lum but he always denies it and she is always super clingy and trying to get him to admit it and its pretty adorable, but also hilarious.

This show is basically "the tomorrow people" with witchcraft instead of teleportation powers. Its got all the same problems, too. Pîss poor acting and a concept with a lot of potential being squandered on the actors with abs instead of the actors that can actually, you know, act. Thats why it will only last a season before getting canceled. And its not that the whole colorful VFX style of it wouldn't be cool if it wasn't constantly undermined by horrible delivery, contrived and unnatural writing, and just generally all around cringeworthy stuff. "Hashtag stalker mom?" Hashtag kill yourself. Hashtag a character who says hashtag anything shouldn't ever be a main character of a television show, ever. Hashtag a writer who writes that for a show shouldn't have a job in Hollywood, ever. Are you seriously that desperate to be relevant that you need to make the main character a whiny brainless piece of human garbage, because your target audience are apparently all whiny brainless pieces of human garbage? This feels more demographic pandering than one of those terrible nickelodeon shows which try desperately to be relatable for America's youth. I find myself rooting for the villains, because they're the only ones with decent acting chops and a face i don't immediately want to punch. All of the main characters should die. All of them. And then all of the other characters should become main characters, and that will be the only way to save this series.

The high rating is mostly for the artwork, which is spectacular for a network television show; least of all MTV. The matte paintings are very well done and so are the sets, and overall the show is very visually beautiful. The cast is too, which is part of why i expected to be disappointed by this show, the fact that they stacked the cast in the first episode with just a bunch of awful actors with abs straight out of twilight or something. But i was pleasantly surprised when they almost all got killed off in the second episode. The characters that are left are definitely worth developing, the acting is not that amazing, but i expect that there is a very good chance that the show will get better as it develops.

The shows take on magic is kind of unique and it has its own rules and history, and as far as i can tell, the universe is pretty well developed even for a seedling show. I don't accept the fact that they're just called to a quest because this tree just feels like risking its own death and a demon invasion just to make sure the people around it are worthy to protect it. That seems ridiculous. But overall i will say the way this television universe is laid out is probably the best thing about this series and it is pretty fun. The villains are not very diverse in their fairly typical singularly minded evil bad guy kind of way. But they are quite visually interesting and the special effects are great, the way they behave and their powers work seem to take on a life and style of its own. The hybrid orchestral / electronic soundtrack is nice too and it gives it a very interesting feel. Overall as far as a mood and style and visual spectacle, it nails it, but the plot and acting is mediocre. So it is still enjoyable to watch, but i will wait until the rest of the show catches up with that better production quality before i get excited about it. It needs something to set it aside from just any old fairy tale.

Also the elf princess chick is hot. Like too hot. Like i don't like that her best character trait is that she's totally bangable. It detracts from the plot.

They blew up a bigger death star. They had an angrier Darth Vader impersonator. they had a bigger emperor palpatine with a more opaque hologram. unsurprising family ties for the villain were introduced poorly in the end. The Jedi had fewer places to seek refuge. One of the light sabres had an extra saber thing. A droid carries vital information that is critical to their success, but this time it rolls.

Overall this movie was completely sub-par and unoriginal. Everything was recycled from the old movies, and i can count on one hand what wasn't:

This time an ex stormtrooper was a main character Jabba the hut was replaced with a short alien version of Edna Mode Lightsabers somehow give people vision quests now At one point someone confuses how the force works Kylo ren throws light saber temper tantrums

When i found out George Lucas had a script that was all original and they tossed it out and said fück that, it made a lot of sense because this is really just a terrible shitshow with 2 and a half hours of pandering lip service to the original series. if you came to have your fanboy jollies jerked off (i'm not a fanboy which is probably why i was unimpressed) then this is the movie for you. if you were looking for original characters, exciting or intricate plot, or an original story, look elsewhere. This is not the movie you are looking for.

Why i didn't give this 0 stars, and perhaps the only good thing about the movie, which is sadly not enough to make even a decent movie, was because their matte painters did such an excellent job. The visuals, especially in the ruins of the spaceship and on the surface of the new deathstar are very grandiose and well composed. But that is the only saving grace of an utter piece of cråp. And likely the VFX department was not paid even nearly fair enough wages compared to the billions they're set to make for shitting on the entire star wars franchise. If you're going to exploit visual effects artists to make a worthless screenplay marketable you damn well better give them stock options you Disney taint sucking hackjobs.

I had high hopes for this show after how good the first season of daredevil was, and i have to say they were definitely met. Finally, a female hero that isn't some idealized 2 dimensional mary sue "strong independent woman" stereotype. In fact what this show does so well is show how hollow that stereotype is, on the outside jessica might be strong, but on the inside she is fragile and self loathing, on the outside she might be independent, but on the inside her foundation is crumbling and she can barely keep it together without help which she never asks for and constantly pushes away. Its a show with raw emotional depth and superpowers, and those two are so very rarely seen in combination.

But i think the most fantastic aspect of Jessica Jones is its portrayal of Kilgrave, the purple man, as he deals with the spoiling and moral corruption of getting everything he wants, all the time. I've recently considered why there aren't enough, or really any shows on TV that explore the darker side of aspiration, what people are willing to do with limitless resources and power and what that does to a man, and this is something this show tackles extremely well. At face value Kilgrave is a jealous sadistic manchild who gets everything he wants so he wants the one thing he can't have--but peel a layer deeper and its clear he wants to lose. He wants to flirt with danger, have a genuine interaction that isn't everything he demands, only he's so far removed from even knowing what that looks like that it becomes a sociopathic game of chess trying to extort free will out of someone when he already has control over peoples, well how should i put it--less than free will.

And everyone likes to talk about the sensationalist PC aspect of it that deals with rape but the issues that it touches on go so much further that to the very idea of liberty and freedom itself. Personally in my own life i was locked up for 3 years unconstitutionally, and they tried to control my free will, tried to torture me into making certain choices, but no matter how hard they tried they could never violate me in the way that kilgrave does to people with ease which makes the implications of his power so much more unsettling. And the idea that jessica herself is this force of nature with super strength and even Luke cage is all that and bulletproof skin--and all that and anyone or anything else she throws at him could be immediately under his control with a word--makes him all the more untouchable, which becomes a moral hazard for all of his countless atrocities, which are equal parts sadistic and creative.

Ultimately the character development gets a 10/10 from me, and the plot gets a 9/10, the special effects were ultimately secondary to what was most impressive about this, but they weren't bad by any means, perhaps a 6/10. the cinematography also gets a 10/10, especially whoever did all the color grading, as you can even feel the color purple creep into subtle parts of the urban jungle as if to suggest kilgrave--or someone under his influence--is waiting around any corner. And the action was not as good as daredevil but ultimately satisfactory, lets say, a 7/10.

It is an amazing show, but please, do not watch this and talk about the supposed points it makes or dialogue it starts about "rape culture", or whatever. It makes no such points and you are an obnoxious douchebag.