Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019) review

In 2014, Disney released their then-latest live-action remake of one of their animated classics, Maleficent. The film served as a reimagining of the studio’s 1959 film Sleeping Beauty, but as the title suggests, the focus was shifted from the titular ‘Sleeping Beauty’ AKA Princess Aurora to its iconic villainess, Maleficent. However, instead of just simply maintaining the character’s villainous nature from the original film, Maleficent ended up going a radically different route and turned the character into a tragic anti-hero whose actions served as an act of revenge against those who wronged her while also forming a genuine mother-daughter relationship with Aurora. As you might have guessed, this new characterization didn’t exactly go over well with everyone, thus contributing to the film’s overall mixed reception. And yet, that didn’t stop it from being a massive hit at the box-office where it grossed over $758 million worldwide, effectively continuing the financial hot streak of Disney’s live-action remakes. Thus, half a decade after the original’s release, the ‘Mistress of All Evil’ (and yes, I will use that title in this instance even though this version of the character isn’t a villain) is now back in a new film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, albeit with a notable change in director. Whereas the first film served as the directorial debut of production designer Robert Stromberg, this film is directed by Joachim Rønning, who’s fresh off directing the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film with long-time directing partner Espen Sandberg (though, to be clear, this one is Rønning only). And while Mistress of Evil does continue to go with its polarizing heroic rendition of its main character, those who were fans of the first film will find this to be yet another solidly entertaining dark fantasy all bolstered once again by Angelina Jolie’s truly excellent turn in the title role.

It has been five years since the powerful Dark Fey Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) saved Princess Aurora (Elle Fanning) from the death-like sleeping curse that she had inflicted upon her as a baby due in large part to the motherly affection that she had developed for the young Princess. Since then, Aurora has dutifully served as the ruler of Maleficent’s kingdom, the Moors, and on one faithful day, her dashing suitor Prince Phillip (Harris Dickinson, taking over for Brenton Thwaites from the previous film) asks for her hand in marriage. Despite Maleficent’s objections over this due to her own past experiences with love, Aurora convinces her to travel to Phillip’s home, the Kingdom of Ulstead, and meet with his parents, King John (Robert Lindsay) and Queen Ingrith (Michelle Pfeiffer). However, this doesn’t end up going very well as Maleficent soon begins to feel threatened by Ingrith, especially after she claims that this union will result in her becoming the mother that Aurora ‘never had’. Thus, when Maleficent lashes out at this remark in a manner that seemingly curses King John into a perpetual sleep like she did with Aurora, she becomes vilified by Ingrith, who promptly begins to mount an all-out war against the Moors. During this time, Maleficent also ends up coming across other Dark Feys, led by the duo of Conall (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Borra (Ed Skrein), who find themselves in disagreement over this impending conflict. Whereas Borra is hellbent on wiping out humanity to save their kind, Conall believes that Maleficent’s the only one who can use her powers to unite the two sides.

One of the things that these Maleficent films have always excelled at is their phenomenal production design. Sure, just like practically every other recent live-action Disney remake of the past few years, they mainly utilize CG to craft their environment and the non-human creatures that inhabit it, but they still succeed immensely when it comes to bringing the truly unique fantasy world that they’ve created to life. Plus, when compared to the ‘arguably a bit too dark’ aesthetic of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (not counting its follow-up Alice Through the Looking Glass since it did, at least, brighten things up considerably), these two films manage to achieve a good mix between dark and atmospheric and bright and colorful. But just like the first film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil stumbles a little when it comes to its story. While it does notably have the benefit of not having to adhere to any specific bit of source material since it obviously did the whole Sleeping Beauty arc in the previous film, everything here is still rather basic in terms of plot. But perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this film is that there aren’t as many scenes with Maleficent and Aurora together, which I only bring up because the whole mother-daughter relationship between them was very much the heart of the first film. Thankfully, they aren’t separated for the whole film and the biggest scenes that directly involve the two of them are easily amongst its best moments. Plus, despite boasting a longer runtime than its predecessor (Mistress of Evil runs a little under two hours whereas the first was only an hour and a half long), the film still retains the solidly breezy pacing that served the first film nicely.

But, of course, the biggest highlight of these films is the continuously excellent work by Angelina Jolie in the title role. Even if you aren’t a fan of how these films eschew Maleficent’s villainous characterization from the original Sleeping Beauty, there’s no denying that Jolie perfectly nails the role in every possible way. She obviously has the look down, excellently maintains the character’s classic mannerisms, and in the context of these films, has a solid on-screen camaraderie with Elle Fanning that impeccably illustrates the strong relationship between Maleficent and Aurora. It is this relationship that has arguably made Fanning’s take on Aurora superior to her animated counterpart, and this is well-reflected in the sequel thanks to a noticeably matured turn from Fanning performance-wise. Another key returning player from the previous film is Sam Riley as Maleficent’s raven confidante Diaval, and while the character does get somewhat sidelined in the same way that the film doesn’t have a lot of scenes between Maleficent and Aurora, Riley still excels at making Diaval a fully endearing sidekick. Speaking of sidekicks, the film also makes the wise decision to downplay Aurora’s three pixie caretakers; Knotgrass (Imelda Staunton), Thistlewit (Juno Temple), and Flittle (Lesley Manville). In retrospect, I admit that I may have been a bit harsh on these three in my review of the original Maleficent back in 2014, but I still stand by what I said about how they ended up being one of the weaker aspects of that film due to them being portrayed as far ditsier than their animated counterparts. Sure, the trio of Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather had their silly moments (e.g. their squabble over the color of Aurora’s dress), but the first Maleficent arguably went a bit too far with their humor in its attempt to show that Maleficent was a far better caretaker for Aurora than they were. Thankfully, that’s not as big of an issue this time around because while these three do still maintain their bumbling personas, they don’t play as big of a role in the story this time.  

There is one notable change regarding the returning cast of characters, however, as Harris Dickinson takes over the role of Prince Phillip from Brenton Thwaites due to scheduling conflicts for the latter. Thankfully, this change doesn’t affect the film in any notable way as Dickinson has solid chemistry with Fanning and it also helps that Phillip has a larger role in the story this time (even if it’s still a generally minor supporting role) whereas Thwaites’ Phillip only appeared in two major scenes near the tail-end of the previous film. As for new characters, the biggest addition, of course, is Michelle Pfeiffer as Phillip’s mother and, subsequently, the film’s main antagonist, Queen Ingrith. And while it would’ve been nice to have some more scenes where Pfeiffer and Jolie interact with each other directly (if only for the opportunity to see more of these two iconic actresses together onscreen), Pfeiffer brings a great commanding presence to the role that fits nicely with the backstory and motivations that she’s given. Finally, closing out the new cast of characters is the duo of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ed Skrein as Maleficent’s fellow Dark Feys Conall and Borra. Both are natural fits in their respective roles, with Ejiofor being the noble leader and Skrein being the fierce warrior. However, you may be surprised to learn that Ejiofor doesn’t factor into the film as much as its marketing may have implied to the point where Skrein arguably ends up having more screen-time than him.

As I’ve been alluding to throughout this review, the overall reception of these Maleficent films is primarily dependent on one’s views of their radically different portrayal of the title character. Thanks to her role in the original Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent has consistently been regarded as one of the greatest villains in a Disney animated film. In contrast to that, the Maleficent films make her the main character of the story and portray her in a generally more heroic manner. Thus, if you’re not a fan of this characterization, you’re better off sticking with the original Sleeping Beauty and various other bits of Disney media that maintain her villainous status; in fact, you’ll probably wonder why this sequel decided to go with the Mistress of Evil subtitle even though it isn’t an accurate descriptor for this iteration of the character. But for those who were fans of 2014’s Maleficent, you’ll be pleased to know that this film does continue to maintain many of the aspects that made its predecessor such a big hit with audiences. Its visual effects and production design are still second to none, Angelina Jolie continues to prove why she was born to play the title role, and it’s easy to appreciate these films’ commitment to their female-led narratives. The only major downside to this film is that it doesn’t provide as many heartwarming moments between Maleficent and Aurora as there were in the first film, which is why I admittedly wouldn’t call Mistress of Evil a ‘superior sequel’. Ultimately, though, this does not prevent the film from being yet another solid live-action outing from Disney.

Rating: 4/5

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) review

In the early 2000s, James Cameron acquired the film rights to the popular manga series Gunnm, also known as Battle Angel Alita. Created by artist Yukito Kishiro, it told the story of a young female cyborg named Alita who struggles to understand her past but then gradually learns that she comes from a line of powerful warriors with martial arts training. This nine-volume series ran from 1990 to 1995 and sold around 50 million copies during that time, later spawning several manga spin-offs and a two-part animated short film (or ‘original video animation’, as it’s referred to in Japan) in 1993 that was based on the manga’s first two volumes. And in 2005, it was announced that Cameron would be directing an adaptation of the manga alongside another project of his that was initially codenamed Project 880. Ultimately, though, the latter came first in 2009 and would go on to become the highest-grossing film of all-time, Avatar. And because of its success, Cameron decided to start developing sequels to his $2 billion-grossing blockbuster, resulting in Battle Angel being pushed back several times over the next few years. It wasn’t until 2016 when the project finally started to move into production, but by this point, Cameron was already well underway on directing the sequels to Avatar. Thus, a new director had to be found, and Cameron quickly found his choice in Robert Rodriguez, making this the biggest-budgeted film that the Texas-born director has ever made at around $200 million. But after nearly two whole decades of development, Alita: Battle Angel finally graces the big screen in a highly ambitious but still all-around engaging sci-fi adventure that is visually stunning.

The year is 2563. After a devastating war known as ‘The Fall’ left the planet in a state of total ruin, the people of Iron City struggle to survive in their harsh environment while floating paradises like Zalem loom large in the skies above. One day, while rummaging through the scrapyards full of Zalem’s trash, scientist Dr. Dyson Ido (Christoph Waltz) comes across the head and torso of a female cyborg whose cybernetic brain is surprisingly still intact. Ido then proceeds to give the cyborg a new body and calls her Alita (Rosa Salazar). Alita, however, finds herself in quite the predicament as she’s unable to remember anything from her past even when aided by Ido and a charismatic young man named Hugo (Keean Johnson) who shows her the ins and outs of Iron City. This begins to change, however, when Alita learns that Ido secretly moonlights as a member of Iron City’s elite faction of bounty hunters known as ‘hunter-warriors’. While helping him fend off a bunch of vicious cyborg assassins, Alita finally starts to remember that she comes from a line of cyborg warriors who were trained in the zero-gravity based martial art form known as Panzer Kurst on the planet Mars. This, along with the discovery of a more powerful cybernetic body that also originated from Mars, prompts Alita to become a Hunter-Warrior herself so that she can combat those who threaten the good people of Iron City. In doing so, she runs amok of Vector (Mahershala Ali), a businessman with ties to Zalem who promptly puts out a bounty on the girl who’s been putting a dent in his criminal operation.

James Cameron has noted that the film primarily serves as an adaptation of the manga’s first four volumes. As such, it’s safe to say that this film attempts to cover a lot of ground in its two-hour runtime and not every major plot-line or bit of character development that’s introduced here gets as much attention as they probably should. But aside from what the film does to set up future installments of this potential franchise, it does do its job when it comes to immersing you within this dystopian future. A lot of this comes from the overall handling of Alita’s origin story, which is arguably the best aspect of the plot as it does a nice job of showcasing her transition from innocent cyborg girl to confident warrior while also providing the film with some genuinely effective emotional depth. The biggest draw to the film, however, is its excellent visual effects. It’s been said that one of the reasons why the film took so long to get made was so that visual effects technology was advanced enough to properly tell this story, and it does indeed show in the final product. From the seamless integration of CG-based characters into a live-action setting to the truly visually stunning action sequences, this film boasts the amazing visual polish that one can expect from a James Cameron production. But, of course, it was Robert Rodriguez who was behind the camera for this one, not James Cameron, and while it’s quite arguably the most streamlined outing of his career, Rodriguez’s direction is still excellent, and he does provide the film with the same energy that’s defined many of his independently-produced directorial efforts.

Ultimately, though, one of the most talked about aspects of this film is how it brings the title character of Alita to life. Actress Rosa Salazar portrays the character via motion-capture and the film maintains a key artistical aspect of the manga by giving Alita large anime-style eyes. However, this decision was initially met with skepticism when the first trailer was released, with many pulling the ‘uncanny valley’ card when describing how it looked in a live-action context. And yet, as is the case with any film’s marketing campaign, this first trailer was clearly released before most of the visual effects were finished, and I can assure you that the larger eyes look far more natural in the final film than what they initially seemed. Simply put, Alita is another excellent addition to the growing cavalcade of mo-cap created characters, and Rosa Salazar shines in what will surely be her breakout role as the sympathetic, badass heroine. The other big standout of the cast is Christoph Waltz, who gets some solid character development as well through some gradual reveals regarding Ido’s past and how it connects him to Alita. Salazar also works well off Keean Johnson as Alita’s love interest Hugo, even if his character arc is sometimes waylaid by everything that the film tries to cover over the course of its run-time. Everyone else in the film admittedly plays more of a supporting role by comparison, though they’re all solid as well. This includes, but is not limited to, Ed Skrein as Zapan, an extremely cocky cyborg bounty hunter who’s a constant thorn in Alita’s side, and Jennifer Connelly as Dr. Chiren, a scientist who works for Vector but also has a deeply personal history with Ido.

As I’ve probably made it clear in the past, I don’t have a lot of history with manga and anime, meaning that I don’t have the same connection that others do with franchises like Dragon Ball or Ghost in the Shell. And this was certainly the case with Alita: Battle Angel, as I went into this film without any prior experience with its source material. Ultimately, though, this scenario didn’t have any sort of effect on what I found to be a solidly entertaining sci-fi adventure. Granted, I wouldn’t necessarily call it ‘perfect’ because it does feel like it’s trying to cover a lot of ground when it comes to setting up its world and characters despite it being only two hours long. In other words, the amount of story material that’s introduced here could practically be enough to fill at least two whole films. However, that doesn’t mean that what’s there doesn’t make for an engaging story that boasts some gorgeous visuals and excellent action sequences. And thanks to an excellent performance by Rosa Salazar in the title role of Alita, this lavish sci-fi action flick about a cyborg girl from Mars who was trained in martial arts does indeed have a genuine heart to it. Thus, while Alita: Battle Angel is perhaps a bit too ambitious for its own good, this Robert Rodriguez/James Cameron collaboration is a visual spectacle unlike any other. Obviously, I can’t say much about whether this film does complete justice to its source material but considering some of the most infamous live-action adaptations of popular manga and anime like Dragonball: Evolution, I think that this one will fare much better with fans of the medium.

                                                                    Rating: 4.5/5       

Deadpool (2016) review

When it comes to the vast array of characters within the equally vast expanse of the Marvel universe, one major fan favorite has been the character of Deadpool. Created by Rob Liefeld in 1991, mercenary Wade Wilson, better known as the ‘Merc with a Mouth’, has been one of the most popular Marvel characters amongst comic book fans, primarily due to his comedic nature and frequent instances of breaking the fourth wall. However, when it comes to Deadpool’s appearances in live-action films, he didn’t start off on the best of notes. He first appeared in 2009’s ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ played by Ryan Reynolds, who was actually referenced by Deadpool himself once in the comics, prior to the film’s release, when describing his appearance. But while Reynolds was certainly a good choice in the role, the character was ultimately screwed over big time in that film as the writers did away with pretty much everything that made the character who he is in the comics. After appearing briefly in the opening action sequence, Wilson is then revealed to have been experimented on by Colonel William Stryker and turned into ‘Weapon XI’, a mutant possessing the abilities of other mutants that the character obviously didn’t have in the comics. And to make matters worse, the ‘Merc with a Mouth’… had his mouth sewn shut. So in short, the writers completely butchered one of Marvel’s most popular characters in his big-screen debut, becoming one of the many problems of that ill-fated X-Men spinoff. And for a while after that, despite rumors of a Deadpool spin-off film, it didn’t seem like the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ would get a chance to redeem himself on the big-screen.

But then in July of 2014, everything changed when a clip of VFX test footage for the film was leaked online. Developed in 2012 by VFX artist Tim Miller, who Fox had hired a year earlier to direct the film, this turned out to be one of the rare cases in the film industry of a leaked product actually having a positive outcome, as the footage proved to be a big hit with fans. That enthusiastic response was what finally convinced Fox to go ahead with a ‘Deadpool’ film, with Reynolds once again returning to the role that he was pretty much born to play. Now obviously, ‘Deadpool’ is a much different kind of superhero film compared to A.) its fellow Fox-produced Marvel films and B.) the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While those films are always rated PG-13 and are intended for a wider audience, ‘Deadpool’ is decidedly a much more violent and crude entry in the superhero genre. So obviously, it’s an R-rated superhero film that revels in its violence, sex, and crude humor. And while some may have originally viewed this as a ‘risky venture’ for that exact reason, clearly that risky venture has paid off given the extremely positive reviews that this film has gotten from both critics and audiences and its record-setting $135 million opening weekend here in the U.S.. So with all of that said, does Deadpool, and for the matter Ryan Reynolds given his previous misfires in the genre, finally get the proper superhero film that they deserve? Well, to put it simply, yes they do. ‘Deadpool’ is an extremely fun superhero film that isn’t afraid to go places that other superhero films wouldn’t dare to go. And for the most part that does make up for a few of the film’s shortcomings.

As already noted, Ryan Reynolds stars as Wade Wilson, a mercenary from Canada who spends a lot of his time protecting teenagers from potential stalkers. One night, he meets an escort named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and the two end up in a relationship. However, one year later, the two learn that Wade has been affected with terminal cancer in multiple parts of his body. Looking to find any possible way to overcome his new affliction, Wade is approached by an Agent Smith-like recruiter (Jed Rees (And I’m not making a joke here. This character literally is referred to by that moniker multiple times in the film.)) who offers him a way to cure his cancer. Wade eventually accepts the offer and is then subjected to torturous procedures as part of the Weapon X program led by Francis Freeman AKA Ajax (Ed Skrein) and his partner Angel Dust (Gina Carano). While his cancer does end up being cured as a result of his newly gained abilities of healing, the process also ends up severely disfiguring his face and skin. Left for dead by Ajax, who tells him that he has the cure for his disfigurement, Wade survives and soon takes on the vigilante persona of ‘Deadpool’ as he tracks down ‘Francis’ for revenge. Things get a little more complicated when fellow mutants Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapičić and performed via motion capture by Andre Tricoteux) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) try to convince Wade to join the X-Men and Ajax ends up kidnapping Vanessa.

Fans have been clamoring for years for a proper Deadpool film and, more specifically, that it would be rated R so that it would properly represent the fan-favorite mutant on the big-screen. And in that regard, this film definitely succeeds in doing its title character justice. After the severe misfire that was Deadpool’s characterization in ‘Origins’, the character in this new film is very much the Deadpool that fans know and love. He’s constantly cracking jokes, particularly fourth wall jokes, and massacring his opponents in gory detail. The end result is one very hilarious film from beginning to end, with loads of great jokes as well as some pretty darn awesome action sequences that of course are much more violent than what we’ve seen in other superhero films. But while the film is very much a no-holds-barred R-rated superhero affair, admittedly it is a bit lacking in terms of being an actual ‘superhero’ film. The humor and action may be superb, but at the end of the day this is basically just a simple story of a man enacting revenge against the man who ruined his life. Sure the film may subvert and poke fun at the usual tropes of the superhero genre but other times it ends up doing those exact same tropes so it doesn’t completely succeed in lampooning the genre. Also I should probably note that while I did find the humor in this film to be hilarious, its generally crude nature (in other words, a whole lot of sex jokes) might turn off those who aren’t fans of this kind of humor. 

   

Ryan Reynolds’ comedic abilities made him a perfect choice for the role of Deadpool when he first took on the role all the way back in 2009 for ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’. It’s too bad then that he got screwed over in that film just as much as the character did. Now that Deadpool has finally been given a proper superhero film, Reynolds finally gets the chance to shine in the superhero film genre and proves that he was the perfect choice for the role of the wise-cracking mercenary. On the other side, though, Morena Baccarin is severely underused as Deadpool’s girlfriend Vanessa. While the two do have really nice chemistry, Baccarin spends most of the film as a damsel in distress for Deadpool to save at the end. It’s even more disappointing because her character is a superhero in the comics named Copycat. Maybe they’ll go that route for the sequel but here she’s just the pretty face that has to be saved. However, Deadpool does have a pair of memorable allies in the form of Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead or, as Deadpool puts it, ‘the only X-Men the film could afford’. Colossus had previously appeared in ‘X2’, ‘X-Men: The Last Stand’, and ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ but, with no disrespect towards Daniel Cudmore (who played the character in those films), the Colossus in this film is much more in line with the Russian metal man that fans know and love from the comics while Brianna Hildebrand makes quite a great first impression in what will no doubt be her breakout role as the character with one of the coolest names ever. T.J. Miller also gets some memorable one-liners as Deadpool’s best friend Weasel, who points out many examples of what Deadpool looks like with his face all disfigured (e.g. an avocado had sex with an older avocado).

But memorable protagonists come at the expense of some very, very forgettable villains. You know how a lot of people tend to criticize all of the MCU villains that are not named Loki for not being as memorable by comparison? Well, that doesn’t mean that ‘Deadpool’ is off the hook either because its villains are arguably the biggest weak link of the film. Ajax is basically just your typical evil British guy whose only real quirk is the fact that his real name is Francis and Deadpool constantly mocks him for it. Ed Skrein is fine in the role but the character really doesn’t do much to stand out amongst the other villains of the superhero film genre, even the ones that the internet tends to mock. The same can also be said for his assistant Angel Dust. Pretty much all that Gina Carano has to do in this film is just stand around, glare at people, and occasionally punch someone. Sure it may do well enough to highlight Carano’s MMA experience but that’s really about it. So like how the film occasionally slips into the same exact territory of the superhero films that it’s poking fun at, it too suffers from one of the most common criticisms that befall a lot of the films of the genre; dull villains. And as a result, the film ends up feeling a lot smaller-scaled than it already is. There’s not a lot of connections made towards the other ‘X-Men’ films which, while understandable given the film’s more hardcore style and tone, still would’ve been appreciated. I have the feeling, though, that we will be seeing Deadpool play a bigger role in the X-Men universe in future films.

Now despite the criticisms that I’ve gone over in this review, I want to make it clear that I did like ‘Deadpool’. It really is a very fun superhero film and the filmmakers do deserve credit for not flinching when it comes to giving the film a harder R-rated feel compared to other films of the genre. But at the end of the day, I don’t think it’s that big of a ‘game-changer’ as much as others are saying it is. Really, all it does different is just that; being an R-rated superhero film. Obviously, though, it’s the first big R-rated superhero film of this current era of the genre and because this film is definitely going to be a hit, that’ll most likely lead to more R-rated superhero films down the road. And I can tell that this is something that quite a few people will be happy with because let me tell you, I’ve seen quite a few reviews that have compared this film to the MCU films and have negatively referred to the latter as ‘toothless, watered-down mediocrity’. Well you may think that but at least those so-called ‘toothless watered-down mediocrities’ have more to offer in terms of plot, action set-pieces, and even villains. Some say that this film set the bar for this year’s slate of superhero films but at the end of the day I’m probably going to be talking about films like ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ more than this one when the year’s done. To make it clear, I have nothing against there being more R-rated superhero films. But just like how I don’t want to see darker superhero films for characters that aren’t meant for darker storylines, I don’t want to see certain superhero franchises get needlessly more R-rated just because that’s what certain fanboys want more of. Again, I really did like this film. I guarantee you that you’ll have a lot of fun watching it. But ‘best superhero film of all-time’ as some are saying? Uh-uh…

Rating: 4/5