Gav_tH Reviews

The Vance Institute (2023)

Effective Horror

[9/10 · 14 August 2023]

(Full disclaimer: I did a few days on this shoot as a production assistant, so I may not be completely impartial. Having said that, I've watched - and occasionally been involved with - quite a few Hex Studios shoots over the years, and this definitely stands out as one of their best.)

The Vance Institute benefits hugely from a smart and efficient script, which does an excellent job balancing the characters and keeping up a quick pace. Little time is wasted, as the film effectively builds the tension during the opening before suddenly (and quite dramatically) escalating the stakes.

Some brilliant design work in the sets and costumes really sell the premise, and Tom Molloy's effectively sinister subversion of a "self help guru" dominates the film, leaving a sense of dread hanging over every scene. The strong cast are served well with a particularly effective ending, with quite a few unexpected conclusions to the character arcs.

As much as I enjoyed the film, I would definitely have preferred to see the film in full colour. Having been on set during filming, I know how striking the visuals were - particularly the red tracksuits - and I would have loved seeing that colour on screen. This could simply be a matter of personal preference, though, as the monochrome visuals are strikingly bold and lend the film a 'classic horror' feel.

If you enjoy psychological horror and dark subject matter, then this is definitely worth a watch.

Tenchi Forever!: The Movie (1999)

The most touching, emotional and beautiful piece of animation I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

[9/10 · 12 May 2005]

And I'll stand by that to the death. For not only does it result in the culmination of several years of character development (Universe continuity), it ends this continuity in the most fascinating way possible. This movie works on so many levels that I find it virtually impossible to see anyone who cares in the least about these characters not being moved by this movie.

To some people, this wont be flawless. Many might bicker over the absence of their favourite characters and how they are reduced to cameos (Kiyone, Mihoshi, Ryo Ohki, and Noboyuki are completely overlooked - and arguably wasted - in their "roles"), but for me Tenchi Forever succeeds by using it's cast appropriately. It doesn't pull out any contrived sub-plots to keep the other characters have equal screen-time - instead, it focuses on the central cast, keeping the background characters around but never overshadowing the main cast. This time, not only are we given a fascinating insight into Noboyuki/Yosho, we finally have the culmination of the Ryoko/Ayeka/Tenchi triangle which has been such a highlight of the series. Ryoko and Ayeka are portrayed so beautifully and endearingly here that it is impossible not to pity them - when Ayeka breaks down in a toilet halfway through the movie, it's quite possibly the most moving moment in all of Tenchi's long history. The chemistry between the two not only demonstrates their subtle, underlying love for each other as friends, but also their mutual respect and understanding - their need to comfort each other during such a crisis. This is such a moving portrayal that it is impossible to fault. Tenchi is wonderfully portrayed in his most interesting predicament yet - for the first time, he is no longer the flawless hero of the OVA, but a deeply flawed individual who loves Haruna but is frustrated to the point of snapping and almost mentally breaking down.

And unusually, considering Sakuya's detestable appearance in Tenchi in Tokyo, the new character of Haruna is a beautifully written, sympathetic girl who has collapsed to the brink of her sanity and is clinging to her last hope of happiness - despite knowing she will ultimately die because of it. Not only is her character strongly written, she meshes brilliantly with the existing cast, and instead of hating her for her abuse of the characters, she comes across as a truly sympathetic individual and it is hard not to feel moved by her desperation.

The sex scenes were a concern for me - but in actuality they serve the characters immensely, being tender and emotional. The characters of Tenchi and Haruna are beautifully portrayed in these scenes, and Haruna's need for Tenchi is portrayed all the more convincingly. The slow build of these moments is one of the film's strongest areas, and the chemistry between Tenchi and Haruna is flawlessly revealed.

In a word, this movie is beautiful. There may be insignificant flaws - the animation is in the jarring Tenchi in Tokyo style, which is somewhat less fulfilling to the traditional style, and the pacing is occasionally awkward - characters can disappear for long stretches, with tender scenes involving slow build of emotion being followed without any change in tone by a jarringly light scene, but this is all irrelevant. These flaws should be overlooked, because they in no way affect the emotional impact of the finished production, which is as close to perfection as I can conceive Tenchi ever being with it's multi-genre structure. Unbelievably for the continuity often regarded as the least emotional, it blows the OVA right out of the water, and never even attempts action or spaceship sequences - instead, it only focuses on the core cast members. Fans who only like the series for those sci-fi and comedy moments will be deeply disappointed, but for those of us fortunate enough to have fallen in love with these characters, this movie is quite possibly the best thing we will ever see, and for us, it is the strongest representation Tenchi has ever had. It's majestic, beautiful, and the best experience in anime I have ever had.

This wont satisfy everyone, but it will satisfy the people who care and love the characters. For them, this movie will be perfect. To me, this is without question the perfect ending for Tenchi Universe.

Sonic X (2003–2006)

Not the Sonic you grew up with.

[26 May 2004]

There is a great deal of hype surrounding Sonic X, and to be fair I can see why. The use of the same art style featuring in the Sonic game series and using all of the regular cast from the Sonic series is a major plus point, and something that hasn't happened yet as far as all of Sonic's animated iterations have gone.

But sadly, this doesn't cover the fact that the series is severely lacking. While the series does feature the same animation style and characters directly from the games, it also loses the atmosphere of the series by urbanising the entire thing, contradicting the character personalities evident in the series - we're supposed to believe Sonic is fighting against urbanisation and loves natural beauty, living every day with freedom and adventure in mind, he's now also living in a rich mansion on the suburbs of a city with a young pre-adolescent named Chris.

While human characters have been evident in the series since Sonic Adventure in 1999, they've never been as overbearing as they are here. Over 50% of the regular cast is made up of humans (excluding the traditional Dr. Eggman), and the pace takes a serious drop because of it. There's barely anything traditionally Sonic here - Chris goes to school, where he talks with his friends, and the human characters have "adventures" with the Sonic gang. The pace takes a serious drop after the first episode because of it.

The first episode is perfect - blending amazingly fast animation with great character usage and wonderful set pieces - an action scene that continues for around 7 minutes is a wonderful way to kick off the series, and the humour and characters are all around for a purpose. It feels like a direct translation from the video game series. But then Chris is introduced, after the cliche of the characters being "sent to a new dimension", and the series grinds to a halt to develop Chris, and only Chris.

This is the series major fault. The emphasis is clearly on Chris and the humans, and never seems to be about the Sonic cast. None of them ever get a chance to develop. Chris's role is essentially that of Tails' - a young boy who aspires to grow up to be like Sonic, but the fact that he steals much of the other characters' charms leaves them as empty shells who are only background scenery to Chris's homelife. It's a terrible waste, and not only do the regular cast of Tails, Knuckles, Amy and Cream suffer, but also Sonic himself, who spends the series saving Chris with one-shot kill battles in the vain of the weak MegaZord battles of Power Rangers fame. This is a direct contradiction of the game series, where the focus is firmly on speed, and light-hearted adventuring. There is no room for Sonic to adventure, because he has been trapped in a household for a series, and in an unbelievably un-Sonic turn he spends entire episodes asleep on rooftops.

The series also serves as more of a nuisance than anything to Sonic fans, as it destroys the continuity and storyline of the games and instead creates an alternate version where events happen out of sequence. This will only serve to confuse new fans to the series, who will probably be fans for the wrong reasons supplied by this anime. As a series working on it's own merits, it's still poor for it's lack of anything actually happening - the characters talk for five minutes at a time with useless sub-characters, and without a spark of humour or charm the series just feels weak and dull.

It may feature all of the regular cast, but this isn't the Sonic we've known for the last 13 years. The series is dull, inconsistent, and at times features very poor and jerky animation, filled with aesthetic mistakes which suggest the series has been rushed out in order to simply make quick money, without offering anything new - the fact that the series adapts in-game storylines means there's literally nothing we haven't seen before as far as Sonic the Hedgehog goes, unless fans can genuinely bring themselves to care about Chris - a hard task, due to his consistent ways of stealing the limelight from every character.

Fans would be better sticking with the 1993 DiC cartoon Sonic the Hedgehog (or SatAM). While it may not be very accurate as far as storyline and characters are concerned, it translates the feel of the games almost perfectly - combining fast action in dark settings with light-hearted atmosphere and genuine character development. It may only be 26 episodes long, but it's a far superior animation on it's own merits alone, and a very fulfilling alternative to Sonic X.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

Severely under-rated - a very good follow-up

[8 May 2004]

I recently watched this movie in sequence with the original, and it was only then when I realised the equality of the two movies. It must be said that while the first movie was a very entertaining science-fiction movie, it was in no way flawless. Pointless side-characters, over-written dialogue and slow pacing are abound, but these are brushed aside due to the strong plot that held the movie together. This time, however, people went into the movie without realising that these flaws would still be present in the sequel.

Instead of taking in what they saw, expectations from the audience were simply too high. With all of the hype over the original movie, which was continually added on over the four year gap, the sequels had a lot to live up to in order to "beat" the original. People wanted something better than the original. And simply put, this isn't that.

Instead, this is exactly more of the same, and it's because of that fact that this movie was given such bad responses.

The movie is in actually very well thought out. The original had a very open-ending, but was also quite finished with in that all of the original plotlines were "resolved". This sequel, on the other hand, had the task of continuing this storyline without repeating the original movie - a trap many sequels fall into without creative flair. However, this movie does carry on the storyline in the most logical way - the stakes are raised immensely as things merely hinted at in the original are expanded and explained in logical detail. But here lies the problem of the Matrix sequels.

The Wachowski brothers made a critical mistake in creating two movies in such a short time span. Instead of focussing on one, many storylines have been strewn throughout both movies in order to keep enough material rolling. Only one sequel should have been crafted at a time. I can't really comment on Revolutions after only one showing, but if my memory serves me well it was very weak compared to it's older brothers - it definitely does deserve the criticism it recieved, as it felt tired and uninspired. But if people had not known about a third installment, the chances are that they would have been far less critical of Reloaded. As it is, no one was sure what to make of the middle part of this trilogy.

And it definitely is the middle part. It carries on the storyline from the original, but leaves itself open for the third movie. Exactly as the second Lord of the Rings movie did. But because Reloaded can't stand all that well as a stand-alone movie, that may be why so many people felt cheated. In reality, it's simply doing exactly what it says on the tin - being the second part of the trilogy.

After watching in sequence with the original, it's clear neither is perfect. Both are let down by poor dialogue, awkward pacing, unnecessary philosophies (which are interesting, but could be far less overbearing), and have too many unneeded characters. There's nothing wrong here that wasn't wrong in the original - except perhaps a totally unnecessary and very terrible Xion Rave sequence, which plays out like an MTV video and features soft pornography (designed seemingly only to appeal to a modern youth demographic). Perhaps this one scene was responsible for killing enjoyment while watching in the cinema).

As it is, this movie is a good follow-up. The story is carried on logically, the action is just as gripping (though fight choreography could be better at times), and the pace is consistent. Despite massive complaints about the over-the-top special effects, there is nothing wrong here - the fight scenes play out at exactly the right length. On repeated viewings, most action sequences lost their touch, but because the fights are so long here, they remain just as compelling every time through, and new details can be picked up on every time. The only exception to this rule is a Neo vs Smith fight which starts off wonderfully, but eventually ends up trying to be too "cool" in favour of being logical, as Neo rips a telephone pole from the ground in order to fight his nemesis. Now that was unnecessary.

The effects themselves are all fantastic - the CGI flows seamlessly with the on-screen action and the lighting is simply perfect - a direct follow on to the style of the original.

Taken as light entertainment, with deep undertones for those who want it, this movie is very much a triumph. Yes, it could have been better in many places, but so could the original. This movie is simply more of the same. It doesn't try to improve on the original's flaws, but really it doesn't need to. It's just the way a sequel should be.

Dragon Ball GT (1996–1997)

Fine follow up to DragonBall Z

[8 February 2004]

There are many complaints against DragonBall GT. Many people complain about the lack of characters who get things to do, the lack of favourite characters from the first two series, and the mix of styles from the first two series. The first DragonBall was a very comedic show that centered around Goku growing up as a child, while DragonBall Z introduced many new characters, evolved the existing ones and took itself a lot more seriously. Both shows worked fine in their individual styles, but did feel slightly contrasting next to each other.

DragonBall GT is also disregarded by many fans, as the series original creator did not work on this series other than having the job of character consultant.

But looking past the complaints, and regarding it as a series in it's own right, DragonBall GT is very fine. The first step it takes is noticeable - reducing Goku back to the state of a child. The second is probably more noticeable - reducing the regular cast list to only 3; only two of which were favourites from DragonBall Z. In later episodes, an all new fourth party is also added - Gil, a robot who swallowed the Dragon Radar from the original series - unfortunately, he generally slows things down, but at least there has been innovation, which is commendable.

What this series does - and very successfully, it's worth noting - is consistently merge the comedic DragonBall with the action-laden DragonBall Z. Everyone is a winner here, even if their favourite style is not featured as much as in their favourite of the two original series. Reducing Goku to a child was a sensible move, as it allowed fans of the original who drifted during Z's adult-Goku to become interested in the series with the character they knew and loved again. The series utilises it's license to the fullest - resurrecting Emporer Pilaf from the original series (noticeably absent from DragonBall Z), and recreating the importance of the DragonBalls (who were generally merely aesthetic in DragonBall Z). The series also introduces the character of Pan - who showed a lot of potential at the end of DragonBall Z. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the show, Pan does take up a lot of the screen time, but her character is a direct descendant of Bulma from the original series (despite family tree relations), with the role of 'growing up' given to Goku in DragonBall and Gohan in DragonBall Z.

The series is not perfect, however. Early episodes are generally unengaging, with sometimes uninteresting villains and often farcical situations. The early episodes seem to focus mostly on the DragonBall style over the DragonBall Z one - and because of this the series feels alienated to those who have only experienced DBZ (which is probably a large percentage of the fanbase). Animation has dropped noticeably in quality from DragonBall Z - feeling a bit more 'clunky' and hard-edged. Character re-designs are generally awful; Vegeta starts off the series with a moustache, Gohan's glasses now dominate his face, Trunks has been given an odd suit that really can't be categorised, and Krillin is almost completely unrecogniseable from the first series.

On a redeeming note, though, some character redesigns are good - Pan's costume suits the feel of the show, and Bulma looks exactly the same as in DBZ, save a few wrinkles. Goten also looks great as the skinny teenager, and his role is well written. Hercule also looks much better than expected with a bald patch.

Fans of DBZ will be disappointed that many of the characters are left out of the action - Gohan, Goten and others seemingly never get to fight at all, or do anything of utmost importance. Krillin is annoyingly underused, but he was becoming like that in DragonBall Z as well. Yamcha, again, is noticeably missing. And most surprisingly, Vegeta gets considerably less screen-time in DBZ - though of all the supporting cast, he probably does the most, so it's not all bad.

So what is DragonBall GT? It's a decidedly mixed bag - many good features, and many bad. But as a series in it's own right, it is very good, and a few steps above many other action animes that have all action and barely any substance. The light humour adds a lot, too, and feels very much a part of the DragonBall continuity. And because of the linked styles from the first two series, which works very well in the later episodes, the series really does take on a new perspective, and truly does feel like a DragonBall series. It's not perfect, but for fans of the series it's more of the same - repetitive fight after repetitive fight, with Hercule throwing in some overused (but still welcome) cameos here and there.

A good follow up, if not perfect. Definitely worth investing in if a fan of either original series - or if DBZ left you begging for more - which it did for many people.

The Beach (I) (2000)

A weak movie, but decent enough to hold up

[4/10 · 7 January 2004]

***This summary may contain ~SPOILERS~, depending on how strict you are on the term. I hope this warning keeps in with the IMDb guidelines. I don't want to ruin the story for anyone. That said, you have been warned***

~

There are a lot of good things to say about The Beach. As a novel, the book is apparently very well thought out and interesting. Unfortunately, despite a strong beginning and some standout acting, the big-screen adaption of The Beach fails to deliver a believable or strong story, yet holds up as an average, enjoyable movie.

I can't comment on the book, though I like what I have heard. Going by the screenplay, however, we follow Leonardo DiCaprio's character (very convincingly played) through his journey from Bangkok to a new home on and island resort. The premise is fairly simple, but is given some depth due to many subplots and character relationships. Many of the characters are likable, and Robbie Carlyle's appearance is fantastic and well directed. The film definitely has it's merits, and it's ability to build up tension throughout is a very commendable feat of it's director - there is definitely some haunting imagery through here.

However, I find I couldn't enjoy The Beach as much as I had hoped to. It is hard to tell just what sort of film The Beach actually is. At times, the story dips into farce with scenes that come across as unintentionally amusing - many things are hit and miss. For example, a CG sequence with a pixilated DiCaprio is very overdone, and kills a lot of the tension in the sequence. Moments like these not only feel out of place, but they ruin the general atmosphere of the movie and make it feel uncertain of what it wants to be. At times, I had the impression of it being a parody of itself, and yet, in others, there are moments of genuine tension and horror, with fantastic imagery and symbolism.

Most of the movie lives and dies by it's characters. Throughout most of the second act, many characters are developed, and it is this development that keeps the movie strong, as the movie changes slowly in it's tone from a light-hearted, easy going film to a dark thriller. The film definitely has character - something lacking from many films today - and it is this atmosphere and character that drives the movie forward.

The Beach isn't a horrible film, but I wouldn't say it was a favourite of mine. Apparently many characters were cut from this adaption, and as such that may account for some of the movie's poor plot progression. I am interested enough to read the novel due to watching the movie, but as a movie itself The Beach is weakly scripted and at times mis-directed. The dialogue is a tad overdone - DiCaprio's philosophy is intriguing, but doesn't seem to match up to the character we see on screen.

Despite all of it's flaws, The Beach does hold up and manages to drive it's journey to a definite conclusion - and does manage to stay entertaining. Personally, I think the movie could have been edited better. In my opinion, a few script redacts would have added to our ability to believe the story - the opening, while very impressive, is rather weak, and it's hard to believe any characters could act so impulsively. The script does feel unfocussed.

Despite a fairly sketchy script and these occasional missteps, The Beach manages to tell an intriguing story of a man who seeks for more from life, and because of this the viewer manages to stay interested. There are a few commendable moments, and performances are generally well-given all round. The production values are high and it shows - the set pieces are elaborate and beautiful. I feel many characters are underused - especially the supposed villains of the piece. But, all of these flaws can be easily overlooked if you simply sit back and enjoy what is there instead of what isn't. Despite wasted potential, I think The Beach is a decent, if not great, movie. It's not a life-changing experience, but watchable, definitely.