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IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! HALO Legends

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So a few years ago this new sci-fi franchise got started. It had some interesting ideas based on established literature and the first entry did a lot better than anybody could have expected. It spawned a couple of sequels that really didn’t measure up to the original but people really ate it up anyway and there were a couple of spin-off projects, too. Then, somebody got the bright idea to get Japan involved, and some of the best material ever associated with the franchise, as well as some mediocre disappointments, became collected into a series of shorts called… the Animatrix. No, wait, sorry, I meant HALO Legends.

Okay, that might be a little unfair, there are actually big differences between HALO and the Matrix. One’s a movie franchise, the other’s an X-box franchise. One’s based on shoddy poorly-written post-modern philosophy while the other cribs notes from Larry Niven and Robert Heinlein. One’s got a rabid fanbase of diehard fans who won’t brook any dissention against their beloved universe, and the other’s got a rabid fanbase of diehard fans who won’t brook any dissention against their beloved universe AND will teabag you if you don’t play the game as much as they do while calling you queer and saying how good your mom was last night. And when the collection of anime shorts was announced, one fanbase considered it a worthy addition to and refreshing change from the established material, while the other fanbase… well, let’s just say the words “RUINED FOREVER” were screamed more than once across the Interwebs. But how is the end product of HALO Legends? I’m going to go blow by blow and it might take a while, so grab a drink or other refreshment if you’d like.

Origins begins the project with a two-part history of the HALO universe narrated by Cortana, ranging from the Forerunners’ attempts to sterilize the Flood to mankind’s expansion into the stars. In another interesting parallel with the Animatrix, this is a rich, comprehensive narrative that is unapologetic in its characterization of mankind and his many follies. However, it belies the lack of this sort of substance within the game itself. It forms the spine of the games’ stories, but most people just want the meatier parts. I’ve seen at least one review of this bit saying it “needs more explosions.” Anyway, the challenge for the rest of the shorts is to take these concepts, these characters, and move in new & interesting directions.

This art really needs to be seen to be believed.

The Duel is not only interesting, it’s visually stunning; I’ve never seen anything quite like it. I’m not entirely sure how the visual effect of this short were achieved. I think the animation was CG but I can’t be sure, as the different patterns and shifting colors seem to have a life of their own. It’s like a muse blowing onto an oil painting, and the brushstrokes moving of their own accord in response. Underneath this artistic achivement is a story both lush and lurid told from the other side of the great war than engulfs the HALO universe. The Covenant always seemed more interesting than the games might have allowed them to be, but this casts them in not only a deep, nuanced light, but a very human one. It’s not easy to establish empathy for a character in so short a timespan, but The Duel does it very well, and the fact that the protagonist is a hostile alien makes the work all the more impressive.

When Homecoming began, I couldn’t help but smile not only when the SPARTAN not only doffed her helmet, but also at the sight of the tiny stuffed bear hanging from her armor. When you’re sauntering down one of HALO’s many metal corridors gunning down aliens, you never stop to think of the cost necessary to put a soldier like a SPARTAN there. Like The Duel, it humanizes an element that lacked that nature in the games; but in this case and by way of extension, it’s the player’s character that gets depth and emotion. While leaving the main character of a shooter an empty vessel for the player to pour themselves into makes sense, I can’t shake the feeling that just a glimmer of this sort of storytelling would elevate the games to a much higher level than the one they currently occupy. The story of HALO, Origins’ expounding notwithstanding, is a touch on the forgettable side; Homecoming is anything but.

Putting the “1337” in elite.

While those entries add some serious depth to the stories, Odd One Out takes the HALO universe in an entirely different direction. It’s just here to have some FUN with things. In this case, SPARTAN 1337, who may well be the Deadpool of this franchise, gets a powerful monster thrown at him by the Prophet of Truth, seen here as King Zarkon’s cantankerous little brother more than a diabolical yet eloquent if cryptic space-pope. (Crap, I think it’s rubbing off…) Even 1337’s astounding and manly heroism can’t beat this threat into submission alone, but thankfully he crash-landed on a planet that might be populated with characters from Dragonball. HALO’s done a lot of things, but this might be the first time the universe has made me laugh out loud in genuine humorous glee. I think it was 1337’s impressive introduction to the little kids that had me rolling; that, or the sight of his legs sticking out of the maw of a tamed T-Rex.

Prototype has some techno-geek fun with the idea of the UNSC developing a Macross or Gundam-style combat suit and unleashing it against the Covenant. The man inside the suit could have been a bit more interesting, but it’s still delivering more story and characterization than the games usually do. While it’s no Homecoming, it’s also not bad in the slightest, though it did signal a steadily declining trend in story quality as HALO Legends wore on.

As ambivelant as I felt about The Babysitter, this is still a poignant image.

The Babysitter is more typical HALO fare. It’s trying to tap that Starship Troopers/Band of Brothers vein and stabbing the wrong part of the arm a couple times before getting it right. While it’s nice to see an ODST story, if it were a touch more original it might make the Helljumpers seem like more than just a sci-fi send-up of Easy Company. Like Prototype, it isn’t necessarily bad, just nothing terribly outstanding especially when compared the earlier entries. And if you don’t see the big plot twist towards the end coming a mile away, you should read & watch more stories.

Don’t think HALO fanboys go completely unloved in Legends. Appleseed director Shinji Aramaki puts SPARTAN 117 through his paces in The Package. Once again, this bit can’t objectively be called bad, as there are no technical issues to speak of and it looks somewhat impressive in its execution. I was reminded of the CGI used by Skywalker Studios, particularly in the opening of Episode III of Star Wars. However, let’s leave that comparison behind before I start drawing more parallels between franchise characters and get angry emails from HALO fans saying that their beloved Master Chief would never slaughter children. Well, not human children anyway. He can kill as many Covenant kids as he wants, after all they’re different from us, right?

Think about it. Master Chief could be Darth Vader without the asthma.

All in all I feel relatively the same way towards HALO Legends as I do towards the Animatrix. It’s done some of the best storytelling in the franchise and lets some of Japan’s premiere visionaries take a Western narrative concept in new directions. Unlike the Animatrix, this is front-loaded with quality entries and the original stories and fun factor slowly peter out towards the end. Which is not to say that the latter bits are unwatchable by any stretch, they just don’t do as much with this universe or its characters. By all means, if you’re interested in this franchise, some recent successful science fiction or the work of the attached anime studios, queue this up on Netflix. I have to say the two hours watching this was probably more fun for me than playing HALO for two hours. As unoriginal as some of the entries feel, at least none of them ever tried to teabag me.

Josh Loomis can’t always make it to the local megaplex, and thus must turn to alternative forms of cinematic entertainment. There might not be overpriced soda pop & over-buttered popcorn, and it’s unclear if this week’s film came in the mail or was delivered via the dark & mysterious tubes of the Internet. Only one thing is certain… IT CAME FROM NETFLIX.

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Splice

January 28, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 2 Comments

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When I was growing up I would hear of stories, movies or episodes of television that were touted as ‘not for the faint of heart.’ They promised thrills and surprises aimed at an adult audience, one that could handle the nature of the material. Not that they wouldn’t have nightmares afterward, mind you, just that they could handle those nightmares. Had Splice come out in such a time, it definitely would have been called not for the faint of heart. I’d go one step further, though, and say it’s not for the slow of brain, either.

Have you ever seen scientists acting or treated like rock stars? That’s the best way to describe Clive and Elsa. Iconoclastic, brilliant and possessed of the particular kind of crazy that makes advancements in modern science possible, they’re splicing together designer organisms for the benefit of a major bio-tech firm interested in the next big pharmacuetical breakthrough. Recent success has shown them the potential of splicing human DNA into the mix to provide clues for things like curing cancer and growing organs. Their sponsors, fearing a moral backlash, put the kibosh on that idea. So Clive and Elsa do it anyway. The experiment starts going awry almost immediately, but does result in a viable organism. Her name is Dren.

If I were to give a single piece of advice when it comes to Splice, I’d say go into it without any expectations. The movie’s plot, characters and structure pull the viewer in and carry them along while teasing their mind with questions of morality and scientific advancement. It doesn’t necessary spoon-feed you answers, but it doesn’t assume you don’t know what’s going on either. It’s the kind of movie that rewards, rather than punishes, higher thought aimed in its direction. It’s one of those movies you’ll be thinking about after you see it, and any revulsion you feel will probably be aimed at the subtleties of the subject matter rather than the movie itself. This isn’t a cheap, knock-off creature feature, folks. This is thoroughly cerebral and deeply disturbing science fiction.

Something made a nummy noise, and it wasn’t Clive or Elsa.

Director Vincenzo Natali provides the movie with its very careful pace and nuanced mood. It’s clear that in telling this story, he not only wants to entertain, he wants to raise questions. And the questions end up being as shocking as the entertainment. How much is science being held back by old ideas and antique sentiments? While the motivations of Clive and Elsa’s superiors might be rooted firmly in finances, the impetus for their reluctance to back the scientists up is framed in the notion that “there would be a moral outrage.” As much as the duo extol the virtues and potential benefits of their work, it’s unfortunately true that champions of ‘decency’ and religion would be inconsolably enraged and disturbed at the very idea of using human material in designer organisms. The movie, however, never really addresses this issue and keeps its focus tightly on our pair of protagonists.

Sarah Polley and Adrien Brody play Elsa and Clive as very smart people with bright ideas and disapproving superiors, forced to go rogue and underground to make those ideas come to life. But over and above their idealism and intelligence is the fact that these are very much people, with all that entails. Sure, they’re brilliant, attractive and have great attitudes, but they’re also flawed human beings with neuroses and insecurities. A lot of movies in this vein can dial down the human element to emphasize the monstser or monsters in play, but Splice doesn’t do that. It never feels like a firm line is drawn with one side of the argument in the right while the other is wrong. It’s left up to us to decide, and at the same time, we’re presented with the question of Dren.

Beautiful and disturbing at the same time, like a lot of stuff on DeviantArt.

For all of its highbrow ideas and good characterisation, this is still essentially a monster movie, and what a monster we have! Dren’s evolution happens before our very eyes, and without speaking a word she conveys volumes of emotion and information. As she matured I was reminded of the otherworldiness of a young Milla Jovovich in the Fifth Element, with the ways Dren moves and interacts with the world around her. This feeling is deepened with the subtle blending of great acting on the part of Delphine Chaneac and CGI never overwhelms the humanity of the actors. Dren is, like her ‘parents’, a very human creature, but is also so inhuman that it’s always quite clear we’re dealing with something different, something curious and intelligent… something thoroughly dangerous.

I’ve tried my utmost to avoid spoiling anything, because Splice is a movie best served without preamble or preconception. Like I said, leave your expectations at the door when this one starts. Unlike a lot of modern movies out there, it doesn’t hesitate to engage the mind while simultaneously entertaining and occasionally horrifying the senses. It never plays its odd elements for cheap scares, and disturbs in a way that’s much more David Cronenberg’s The Fly than anything dreamt up by Wes Craven or even Stephen King. It’s a superlative piece of work, probably the best science fiction film I’ve seen since Moon, and definitely, definitely worth a place on your Netflix queue.

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Lady Death

January 21, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 1 Comment

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Not every adaptation has to be 100% accurate in its translation of the source material. I mean, honestly, how would the Lord of the Rings film trilogy had been helped by the presence of Tom Bombadil? In spite of his absence, the films are faithful to the spirit of the books, encapsulating the epic journeys of the Fellowship and the struggle to overcome the forces of evil. I bring this up because Lady Death suffers from a problem entirely different from missing a couple incidental characters. It’s missing just about everything that made the original enjoyable.

Lady Death got her start in the now-defunct CHAOS! Comics, the brainchild of Brian Pulido and the late Steven Hughes. She was initially cast merely as the eye-candy head-girlfriend of flagship character Evil Ernie, but proved popular enough that she got her own stories in the form of several mini-series and the occasional unrelated but not-unwelcome ‘swimsuit’ issue. Her story was that of a young girl named Hope who had the misfortune of being labeled a witch in Mideval Europe. Burning at the stake, she cries out to anyone or anything that can save her, and Lucifer answers. Hope has no desire to suffer in Hell has she did in life, but is told by Lucifer that she will never go free as long as living men walk the Earth. Hope’s answer is to hook up with a renegade eldritch blacksmith and vow to kill every single human being on the planet just to stick it to Lucifer. Now there’s a female empowerment story for you!

The movie takes a slightly different tack from a plot perspective. Instead of looking to get one over on Old Scratch, Hope undergoes her transformation and training for a more straight-up showdown scenario, the plan being for her to overthrow Lucifer and reign in Hell as a slightly less prickish potentate. The intent was to make Lady Death a little bit more of a ‘positive’ heroine instead of an anti-heroine. At least, that’s my understanding. While the concept alone takes away from some of the uniqueness of her character, it doesn’t dilute her symbolism. A woman consistently and thoroughly screwed over by men taking up arms to overthrow a male oppressor is still in keeping with Pulido’s original concept. While Lady Death can face challenges or even defeat, she never, ever plays the victim.

We miss you, Steve.

The same cannot be said for the rest of the source material. Pulido and Hughes were never afraid to veer into camp territory occasionally, and more than once you’ll catch Lady Death enjoying the slaughter she visits upon those in her path, sporing one of Hughes’ trademark grins. The movie’s masters, on the other hand, seem to have drained all of the life and joy out of Lady Death’s character along with her skin color. While playing her as more of the stereotypical stoic anti-hero might seem more fitting of the character by virtue of her name, both Brian Pulido and Neil Gaiman would tell you that a character named Death need not be… well, dead.

A big part of this major flaw in the movie comes from the era in which Lady Death was born. You see, in the 90s there was a trend of comic book protagonists who had some connection to the afterlife, be it J.O. Barr’s resurrected avenger The Crow or Todd MacFarlane’s anti-hero-from-Hell Spawn. While J.O. did it better than just about anybody else, there was no shortage of pretenders to this genre and the concurrent explosion of dark, edgy entertainment just about anywhere you looked. The explosion of the goth subculture seemed to have a lot of young people dressing in black and extolling the virtues of these damned heroes. Lady Death, in retrospect, seems to have had purpose that was two-fold, at least while she was under the control of CHAOS! – bring a much-needed female protagonist into this mix, and take the piss out of the genre at the same time by letting Lady Death enjoy being an infernal vixen of might and destruction. She never seems to enjoy anything she does in the movie, and the whole thing suffers as a result.

I could do better line work than this. And I suck.

It also suffers from some of the choppiest animation I have ever seen. I’ve indulged in more than my share of both anime and US-grown cartoons. ADV Films usually distributes anime, but don’t be fooled by the emblem on this thing. This is nowhere near as good as Evangelion or Berserk in terms of art or execution. The whole thing feels rushed, like it’s more the result of a high-schooler’s Lady Death fan-fiction brought to life than the concerted effort of a serious animation studio. And if it were based on a fanfic, there’d be a bit more titillation going on. A big part of Lady Death’s appeal has been her look and the way she casually flaunts her sexuality, even if the art that followed in the wake of Steve’s unfortunate passing dialed down the nihilistic glee that was just as much a part of her character as her skimpy outfits. But the lackluster nature of this animation means that there isn’t much enjoyment to be had looking at her. Add some flat voice acting, a plodding story pace and a total lack of originality to the mix and you have about a hundred minutes of completely wasted time.

Don’t take this review as a condemnation of Lady Death. On the contrary, even after a few reboots she still functions as the rare female protagonist in comic books who isn’t over-sexualized or completely undermined by the presence of males. Sure, she’s fun to look at, but her exploits are usually just as much fun to read. Seek out her books if you’d like to find out more about her, but as for the movie, skip it. Your time would be better spent finding some of that fan-fiction I mentioned. Especially if it crosses over with, say, Vampirella or something.

…Apparently, this is a canon crossover. …AWESOME.

IT CAME FROM NETFLIX! Prince of Persia

January 14, 2011 / BlueInkAlchemist / 6 Comments

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Translating a story from one medium to another can be a tricky prospect. Video games in particular have had a rough time getting comfortably adapted from their interactive medium to non-interactive means of storytelling such as book or movies. Some seem more inclined for this sort of translation than others on concept alone – fighting games, hack-and-slashers, etc. Platforming games seem an unlikely candidate for adaptation, probably because most people remember how awful the Super Mario Brothers movie was. And yet, that’s how we got Prince of Persia. A PS2 platformer that was arguably the best in its series, Sands of Time, has become a major motion picture.

The eponymous prince, Dastan, is a former street urchin adopted by the old king due to his uncharacteristic sense of fair play and justice. Circumstances throw his lot in with the princess of a blessed kingdom who has the charge of defending a magical artifact with powers over time itself. The king’s brother and vizier, whom nobody seems to think might be a bad influence despite the nature of the advice he gives, wants the artifact for himself. What follows is an adventure story that looks to tap the same vein as successful and even classic flicks like Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Mummy, and for the most part pulls it off.

What sets Prince of Persia apart from its video-game predecessors is the basic building blocks of its storytelling. While it is unashamedly playing in the same sandbox as Theif of Baghdad or Disney’s Aladdin, the game pretty much did the same thing so the aesthetic is instantly familiar. There’s also the fact that the game itself, Sands of Time, had a solid narrative, an interesting and well-rounded main character, real chemistry between its leads and lots of fun gameplay underscoring the story points. This being a film, we need to swap out the game play for something else, and Prince of Persia wisely adds more characters rather than relying on special effects, gimmickry or blatant sex appeal.

It’s not overly blatant…

Which isn’t to say Jake Gyllenhaal or Gemma Arterton aren’t sexy. Because they are both damn sexy. I mean… damn. On top of the hotness factor, though, is some careful characterisation and really cracking dialog which keeps it right in line with its source material, even if it goes in an entirely different direction in terms of what the MacGuffin ultimately does and where it came from. Ben Kingsley as the vizier does a good job in not only being menacing but at times pulling off a few moments where you can start to understand how he’s pulling the wool over the eyes of the other characters, even as we with our thousand-foot view of things can see his villainy as being a tad obvious. And isn’t it always cool to see Alfred Molina in something? I mean, let’s put it in troper terms: we’ve got Donnie Darko and Io on the run from Ghandi, and the only person who might kind of be on their side is Doc Ock. How is that not a winning combination?

As much as I would have liked to have seen Oded Fehr or Omar Sharif in this, the cast does acquit itself quite well. A lot of criticism has been levied at this movie for ‘whitewashing’ the setting and while a more diverse cast more in line with the ethnicities of the area would admittedly lend the tale more weight, at the same time I can’t fault the movie for going for a lightness of tone. This is an adventure romp based on a puzzle-platformer video game, not an epic looking to become the next Lawrence of Arabia. It certainly doesn’t take the liberties 300 did with how Persians look and act, and the accents sounded somewhat consistent (if vaguely British for some reason) instead of the situation we had in The 13th Warrior where Omar Sharif’s legitimate accent is supposed to sound like Antonio Banderas’ Spanish accent. The nature of the cast doesn’t cripple the movie, as it relies less on authenticity than it does the cast’s chemistry, combined talent and attractiveness. Because… damn.

Yeah. I’m down with this.

Video game movies have had a rough time. They’ve ranged from vaguely mediocre to downright abyssmal. Prince of Persia is the first adaptation of a video game in recent memory, and perhaps ever, to ascend beyond the level mediocrity to something that’s legitimately good. The adventure feeling is consistent, the storytelling’s decent, it moves at a good pace and it goes some places you may not quite expect, making it a refreshing change from the likes of Uwe Boll and even Michael Bay. I’m not going to say anything about the ending, which some people may not have appreciated, but I felt it was in keeping with the nature of the story and it took me by surprise, so I have to give the movie props for that. It’s a good time, a fun little yarn, and I say you could do a lot worse by queueing it up. And even if you’re not glad to see a good video game movie or interested in a story of an urchin prince working with a snarky princess to keep a magical item from the clutches of an evil mastermind, you’ve got Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton to look at for about two hours, and, well… DAMN.