Novastream Issue 21

The new heroes cement their roles in the modern epic.

Words by Mark Halyday

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the eighth core instalment of the Lucasfilm juggernaut and the third entry to the fictional universe of Force users since Disney opened their chequebook in 2012. It’s broken more records and collected more dollars than anybody dares to count but to the legions of superfans – the more than 70,000 people that identified as Jedi on the Australian Census – it is more than a tentatively anticipated tentpole blockbuster. Much more...

Rian Johnson jumps in the director’s seat for his first time and all the prerequisites are ticked: the scrolling titles, epic score, lots and wipes and such all carry across seamlessly. The more original moments come from the story point of view, and just how much the director of a middle chapter has to do with such things are anybody’s guess. Yet The Last Jedi can stand on its own story confidently without endless backwards referencing or foreshadowing to future instalments. It is one whole chapter of an epic.

The mystery of Rey’s parents is solved. It was deliberately toyed with by Disney since before the first trailer and now we are at the end of the road. As great sci-fi twists go it was no shock, but in a world of mass forums putting every scenario on the table it was always going to be one of them. The delivery was a little reductive but it was satisfying in the moment.

Here’s wondering if the ninth episode may renege on that reveal after luring the audiences into a false sense of security. Doubt it, but perhaps…

The more interesting development was the connection between Rey and Kylo Ren. Not the literal psychic connection – that’s an ages old means to an end to have estranged characters communicate – but the way the script fosters their relationship as more than hero against villain. The tease of Ren turning good and Rey turning bad were both played beautifully – playing into the ‘grey’ shades of the film as a whole – before throwing the characters back to extremes of their respective sides.

the film pushing beyond the previous finale allows for a bold chapter with no guidelines.

Kylo Ren has completed his ascension to Star Wars villain. The series knew nothing could come close to the iconic Darth Vader and wrote that into the fabric of the character. The aspiration and the conflict were vital parts of understanding Kylo Ren and now he is no imitation of Vader – as Snoke so clearly was for Darth Sidious - he is his own thing. And adding both Han Solo and Luke Skywalker to his kill list is as impressive of a villain the Star Wars universe may ever know.

But aside from the bigger picture stuff there is a largely entertaining movie to be found filled with fleshed out characters, mixed motivations and epic battles. The movie existed in three parts – Rey, Luke and Kylo Ren in one corner, Finn and Rose in a second and the rest of the gang in another. Most people think they bought the ticket for the first patch but it’s all three unified – the mythos, the childlike spirit and the battles – that keep them coming back for more.

All the cast are a dream, naturally. Daisy Ridley is a phenomenon. Adam Driver blurs the line between character and actor beautifully. Mark Hamill resembles nothing of the kid from A New Hope and that’s entirely the point. The late Carrie Fischer is inarguably epic.

For all the money for special effects and world class actors it comes back to story. Star Wars is a compelling story of a young man turned bad and a son that would thwart him, only for that son to go on and nurture The best narrative choice this sequel series has made an evil even more sinister. Lucasfilm is sidestepping was the fall of Snoke. His deliberate allusions to Darth with an ordinary girl and a reformed Storm Trooper Sidious teased a deeper history and wider purpose but something tells me that the company will round so to kill him before any of these things could be things back to the Skywalker family tree sooner rather extrapolated sets the scene for a more daring finale. than later.

The Force Awakens was criticised for mirroring A New Hope closely – it is the classic hero template after A lot of careful hands guided this film to be a two all - and while The Last Jedi clearly reflects on Empire billion dollar baby on ticket sales alone, before DVD Strikes Back there is also a lot of Return of the Jedi sales or apparel licensing or piñatas or action figures in there too. Rey trains with Luke and tries to sway or Lego Death Stars or theme parks or any of that jazz.

Kylo Ren back to the light and ultimately fails where It seems too big to fail, but 2017 has shown a good Luke succeeded with Vader. When Rey arrives for the intellectual property improperly handled can still reap final act at the Resistance outpost she and Kylo Ren’s failure. mirroring of Luke/Vader is beyond Return of the Jedi.

And while there was originality aplenty throughout The Last Jedi is a great story. The Yoda cameo helped.

From the moment James Franco’s Tommy Wiseau enters the plot of “The Disaster Artist”, be prepared for hilarity to ensue. The Disaster Artist, coming to all Australian cinemas on December 3rd and select cinemas November 30th, is one of the best movies to come out in 2017.

climatic point in which Greg Sestero confronts Tommy about these things provides no further insight and is never properly resolved. This will leave audiences with a sense that they missed something, because there are no answers to Tommy Wiseau related questions.

These are the only hangs up to be found in an otherwise The story, which is based on the book by the same great movie and I maintain that no one else could have name, tells the tale of Greg Sestero (Dave Franco), a played Tommy Wiseau besides James Franco. Franco’s 19-year-old aspiring actor who meets the enigmatic Wiseau is shudder-inducingly good as he portrays Tommy Wiseau (James Franco) in acting class. They Wiseau’s antics with a fearlessness that Tommy would decide to attempt making it big in LA and when that be proud of. Despite being a comedy and with a heavy fails, they create one of the biggest cult movies in focus on Wiseau’s bizarre manners and mysterious recent history, The Room. ways, Franco plays him with a great amount of respect – In Franco’s eyes Tommy Wiseau is a hero. Because of If you are unfamiliar with the movie The Room, then this, the audience can’t help but like Franco’s Wiseau make time to watch it before attempting to view The and even more surprisingly, feel sympathetic to his Disaster Artist. Whilst Disaster Artist is made to be character. watched by someone unaware of The Room, there are so many references and direct quotes from that movie Dave Franco’s as Greg Sestero was also a wonderful that will completely fly over the head of someone choice. These brothers are so in sync for this movie who hasn’t viewed it beforehand. Frankly, without which only ads to Dave Franco’s sincerity as Greg knowledge of the cringe-worthy lines and lack of Sestero. Whilst Greg is often the normalising focus of continuity that suffocated The Room, then some of the movie with a somewhat standard career projectory the continual jokes from the Disaster Artist will make in comparison to Tommy’s zigzag of life, even he has his little to no sense. insane moments. This makes the partnership between Sestero and Wiseau much more understandable.

Also, long-time fans of Wiseau’s mysterious biography should not expect any answers from this movie, despite The Disaster Artist is compulsory viewing for anyone various teases. The movie never pins down Wiseau’s who has ever viewed The Room and wanted to know age or background and despite being a movie about more. It’s highly anticipated release is completely The Room, The Disaster Artist hazards no guesses into justified as it consistently provides comedy gold and how and where Wiseau came across the $6 million an interesting insight into the behind the scenes going The 17th chapter of the MCU. Words by Mark Halyday dollars to fund his poorly conceived movie. The on whilst filming The Room.

Thor: Ragnarok is the highly entertaining conclusive threequel of this branch of a solo superhero story, wrapping things in a nice little bow a la Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War while still propelling its best cast onwards to The Avengers and other characters’ stories.

More interestingly, it is the seventeenth chapter of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the three quarter point of the twenty-two episode story that culminates in 2019’s Avengers 4.

entity Satur that causes Ragnarok is realised wonderfully in the opening scene as a villain-ofthe-week with a bland plan to bring about the movie’s title. That he never colluded with Hela, that he was so easily foiled and that the end of Asgard was ultimately Thor’s decision with Satur a mere means to an end jolts the audience awake and stops the franchise from getting boorish and predictable. Thought the Winter Soldier was the villain of Captain America: The Winter Solider?

Well yes, but also HYDRA 2.0 and Robert It’s certainly the best Thor movie by a long Redford’s murdery Helicarriers. Thought Thor: stretch – they will be incontrovertibly ranked Ragnarok would feature Ragnarok, the Norse as Ragnarok, the original, The Dark World. The apocalypse of Asgard? Well yes, but only to kill reason it excels is that the movie is more self- Thor’s unknown evil sister Hela via Part 1 of aware and the studio is more conscientious Planet Hulk. of it’s previous pitfalls. The original’s mix of pompous and circumstance with fish-out-of- Ah yes, Hulk. The Jade Giant. The Green Goliath. water silliness was a soft success that could not In the nitty-gritty paperwork side of things, be outright repeated without inducing sequel Marvel owns the majority of its characters sans cynicism, so The Dark World went full Norse the ones noted here. Fox owns the X-Men and with more Asgard, more royalty and more lore. Fantastic Four, and formerly owned Daredevil Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor delivered before the rights reverted to Marvel. Sony a four hour epic too far astray from what Disney owns Spiderman but shares him with Disney were promised when they bought Marvel and in an attempt to salvage his sullied reputation. the edit was brutal. What remained was an The Hulk’s rights have reverted however there Brittany Treadwell on overcomplicated revenge flick with an Infinity is a clause in perpetuity (forever!) that states the thea standalone Hulk film, Stone shoehorned in for good measure, but not movie Universalabout will distribute without a few saving graces. and it’s badof business for Disney to give Universal worst movie all time, all that money. But how does this affect the fans The Room Ragnarok picks and chooses what it wants and this movie? to be. It’s still got a studio-sanctioned cameo from Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, The second act of Thor: Ragnarok is Thor cast out but it’s early in the piece and quick, if a little from his world. Could have been anywhere, but disorientating and redundant. It knows Thor especially due to the parallels with the original, and Loki are the stars of the show and quickly it best be bombastic. Planet Hulk focuses on dispatches Anthony Hopkins’ Odin and Natalie Hulk leaving Earth for Sakaar and becoming the Portman’s Jane Foster to accommodate. The Odin champion of a battling arena. There’s pieces about death was done quite well – as a consequence to humanity’s resentment to Hulk and the big guy’s Loki’s scheme, Frigga’s death in The Dark World dislike of Bruce Banner, but maybe not given the and a kickstarter for Ragnarok. To die in Norway gravitas it deserved. But it’s the bones of Planet surrounded by family was a nice touch too. In Hulk, no doubt about it. The fact that Thor is the contrast, Jane’s absence is given a throwaway line throughline of the entire film doesn’t take away with even less poignance than either Avengers any of the character development afforded to the movies due to her character’s overwhelming giant green rage monster. uselessness. Natalie Portman is not a bad actress – in a perfect world she could be a next-gen Thor The team-up is a raging success, and suddenly similar to the comics – but this role was always the Thor trilogy could almost be seen as a trio of an impediment to original storytelling. duos. The original is Thor and Jane, the sequel is Thor and Loki, and the threequel is Thor and But before any of these chess pieces are moved the Hulk. Thor is such a textbook hero, a soldier film jolts the audience out of whatever formulaic similar to Captain America, that he needs these affair envisioned. The fire-demon-monster- contrasts to enhance him. In this viewing pattern

Jay Cook looks at this month’s feel good flick

Wonder is a lovely hart-warming coming of age film; so don’t let Julia Roberts’ appearance be a reason to not see it. It’s an intricate story that on one hand weaves in and out of growing up, then on the other deals with looking different. It perfectly pulls at the heartstrings and manages to leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

The story revolves around Auggie (Jacob Tremblay), who is born with Mandibulofacial Dysostosis or Teacher Collins syndrome. Simply, Auggie has some facial deformities of which surgery has gotten him to the point he’s at now. It’s hard not to stare at first, but as mentioned in the film, you get used to it really quickly. But that’s not to say the horrible people that live in the world make it even harder for him to live with it, kids can be so cruel.

Because of Auggie’s deformity and the cruel world, his parents Isabel (Julie Roberts) and Nate (Own Wilson) decide to home school him until fifth grade when he enters the world and has to fend for himself. Despite the headmaster being possibly one of the most understanding, so much so it’s unrealistic, Auggie has three fellow pupils forced upon him by the principle to show him around. One of which is the bully, Julian (Bryce Gheisar) and one, Jack Will (Noah Jupe) who ends up being Auggie’s best friend but not without some complications along the way.

Based on the bestselling novel, Wonder is broken down into chapters each telling the story of someone in Auggie’s life. Starting with Auggie and his battle living with his deformities in addition to the constant bullying and stares at school. The story also puts focus onto his sister, Via (Izabela Vidovic) and her struggle with always being overshadowed as well as dealing with life as a teenager. It also touches on the story of

Julian, which gives an insight into why he is a bully.

What this film manages to do other that tell the wonderful story about the human spirit, how horrible growing up can be and what it’s like as a parent with a child with such differences; is how easily it pulls at the viewers emotions. Not only with Auggie’s struggles but also in the beautiful gestures of kindness from everyone around him. The story makes you think about your relationships with others, how you treat each other and how friendships can be so very important. That aside, imagine you’ve never had any friends and little social interaction other than with your family until your aged 11. Learning an entire set of life skills at that age in addition to looking different, only few in the world will ever know.

Leading the movie is actor Jacob Tremblay as Auggie.

This isn’t Tremblay’s first major film having performed by the side of Brie Larson (21 Jump Street, Kong: Skull Island) in the 2015 film Room. With a face covered in prosthetics to give the effect of Mandibulofacial Dysostosis, Tremblay manages to portray some real emotions through his tone and body language, as anything shown on his face would be lost. To see a young actor manage this level of performance is spellbinding and is a clear indicator Tremblay’s career will be a strong one.

Overall Wonder is a wonderful journey of selfdiscovery, finding a place in the world and looking past trivial things like a deformed face. It’s heartwarming, funny and a challenge not to shed a tear. And while Julie Roberts is in the film, her performance is watchable to the point that her motherly performance is relatable. It’s a film for all ages and one that carries some strong messages, an obvious choice as to why the original text is used in schools.

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CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS It was the night before Christmas, and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring not even a mouse Because all eyes were on the tele awaiting a story That would bring each families Christmas to its full glory

But what do our dear writers here at Novatream watch Which movie always makes their holidays top notch

Read on dear reader and I am sure you will soon find What makes our Christmas day one of a kind!

Jackie McTaggart I feel it in my fingers. I feel it in my toes. Christmas is all round me and it’s time to watch Love Actually over and over again sobbing like a maniac every time. For the few 1 or 2 percent that have not yet seen Love Actually, the story follows 9 plotlines with each character dealing with the chaos of life, love and Christmas. It’s a reminder that Christmas is a bit more than the craziness it can bring and sometimes love is worth fighting for. If the English wintery wonderland backdrop isn’t enough to convince you to watch it, you should know that Hugh Grant dances in it. Need I say more?

Jasmine Cottan If there’s one all-time film that I have to watch during the Christmas period, it would have to be the early 2000s remake of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas. As a millennial, I grew up watching this film, all the while stuffing myself with chocolate from my family’s advent calendar. This film is a timeless classic, a feel-good family movie and a must have in your DVD collection. It ticks all the boxes on what a Christmas film should be. It has slapstick comedy, highlights the true meaning of Christmas, but most of all it stars comedian Jim Carrey. Definitely a winner for me!

Marie-Claire Dunn My family goes in for traditions around Christmas. Christmas just isn’t Christmas without these things that we do. And this includes our movie choices on Christmas Eve. My brother and I started our own little tradition with The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Tim Burton classic Halloween/Christmas movie for children. We knew all the songs, did all the voices, and we tried, usually with success, to watch it Christmas Eve. And we were well above 10 years old when it started, but surely that is the mark of a good movie.

Now, it’s unusually hard to get my brother in the same room as the rest of us, since he doesn’t live there anymore and has much more important people to see. So, what was a team bonding event for me and my brother has turned into family Christmas movie night and although The Nightmare Before Christmas has ceded to a far more father-friendly Die Hard and Home Alone, the spirit of the event is very much the same, only a good deal less musical in nature. But a Die Hard musical…man, what an idea!

Brittany Howarth It used to be The Santa Claus until my mum was outvoted. So, what would a dad and three children chose to watch on Christmas Eve? What else, or should I say ‘who’ else, then The Grinch. And after the hustle and bustle for car spaces and wrapping paper, it’s great to remember that Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

Supergirl, The Flash, Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow unite to battle Nazis!

Did the crossover live up to the hype?

Words by Mark Halyday Crisis on Earth-X is the four-part crossover concocted by the CW to boost ratings for its four DC shows – Supergirl, Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow – and hopefully lure some viewers to their new webseries Freedom Fighters: The Ray. It’s certainly the most ambitious project this year and only one studio on the film side even comes close to the amount of characters and the complexity of story that this mega-story attempts.

of Tomorrow and the third crossover spent the bulk of time introducing their first season-long enemy and playing out the origin story of main characters Hawkgirl and Hawkman. Last year was the crossover’s potential most fully realised, with these three teams pulling in Supergirl to battle alien invaders the Dominators in a story more entertaining than the big-budget Justice League.

How could they top it this year?

The CW’s crossovers began unassumingly in the second season of Arrow, way back in 2013, as a backdoor pilot to The Flash. In 2014 the network enjoyed cross-pollinating the sibling shows with guest appearances on each show, but none so clear as the Flash V Arrow and Captain Boomerang standalone episodes in episode eight of each season. After the runaway success of The Flash (pun intended) the CW ordered Legends

While the Dominators were pulled from space a la Supergirl this season’s Nazi villains were pulled from an alternate Earth, a major theme of The Flash with a splash of LoT. It also featured dopplegangers – a trademark of The Flash that has lapsed over to Arrow out of convenience for the writers. Most of the main characters and most of the audience has an idea of what’s going on due to smaller adventures on individual shows.

For the sake of brevity the crossover focuses on the main players from each show – Kara and Alex from Supergirl, Oliver and Felicity from Arrow, Barry, Iris and Caitlin from The Flash and Sara, Martin, Jax and Mick from Legends of Tomorrow.

The narrative throughline focuses against these three against two(ish) Nazi leaders and without that determination the house of cards would have come crumbling down.

The plot itself is quite standard, even if retreads a little from last year’s crossover. The teams converge – this time for a wedding rather than a call to arms – and some key players are abducted, then these characters reunite with everyone else and a megabattle ensues. That may be an oversimplification, but it adequately summarises both Invasion! and Crisis on Earth-X. What separates the difference is the time afforded to romance this time around – Barry and Iris’ big moment, the question of a wedding looming large over Oliver and Felicity and the new fleeting romance between Sara and Alex. Supergirl’s sister is this crossover’s secret weapon, stepping up for her plate for her first journey to the multiverse

to deliver a fun storyline about a one night stand that furthers her own character’s journey without dragging down the crossover.

In fact nobody really dragged down Crisis on Earth-X in any way, shape or form. The many supporting characters from all the shows flit through – Cisco and Wells have the best mediumlevel roles, Quinten and Winn’s dopplegangers were menacing supplementary antagonists, Team Arrow cruises in for a hot minute and all the Legends fill up the final battle accordingly. It was a shame to see Kid Flash shipped off-screen again but The Flash seems to be repositioning Barry at the centre of all things and focusing less on the ensemble of speedsters around him. The Atom was also severely underused, especially considering Brandan Routh’s star power and time spent on Arrow, but regrettably the cast was already looking mighty full.

A five minute appearance by actor Colin Donnel in the Arrow special as Earth X’s Tommy Merlyn/ Prometheus was a great shoutout to fans that believed he would be resurrected as the big bad for Arrow season five. It’s always nice to know the showrunners are reading the comments section.

Here’s something to consider: why did Eobard Thawne return and why was he wearing Harrison Wells face? While Kara and Oliver got Nazi dopplegangers The Flash tended to an old foe, the Earth-1 Reverse-Flash that should be dead despite resurrection and death in Legends of Tomorrow.

The justification was sloppy and the payoff didn’t ring true, further pushed to the limits by Tom Cavanagh portraying the villain rather than Matt Letscher. Cavanagh is a brilliant actor already on the payroll for these episodes so his inclusion was economical, but from a storytelling point it was ultimately useless. If the Reverse-Flash were completely dropped in favour of another evil Speedster, for instance the one-off guest star the Rival, the story would be the same and a hallowed character could be saved for a better day.

The episodes all looked stunning. The opening montage where everybody RSVPs to the wedding is played for laughs and is a quick way of introducing all these teams to Crisis on Earth-X, especially as it featured fan favourite King Shark for the precious few seconds. Each episode consisted of a fight scene and while all were sufficient none could top the epicness of Nazis invading a wedding.

The penultimate mega-fight in the final episode gave a fatal blow long-foreshadowed both on

Legends of Tomorrow and Crisis on Earth-X to Martin Stein, one half of the superhero Firestorm.

It was a surprisingly heartfelt moment with lasting implications that is so rare in these spectacles.

While a lot of the narrative focus deservedly went to Franz Drameh’s Jax the few lines afforded to Caity Loitz’s Sara broke my heart. If and when Legends of Tomorrow is discontinued in favour of Titans here’s hoping the CW finds a home for her, more than likely on Arrow.

While both Russel Tovey and Wentworth Miller brought LGBT superheroes to life in order to advertise a new animated series for the CW Seed their role within the story was minimal. It was an odd plotline that brought a bit of humanity to Earth-X but felt a little bit Thor-in-the-hottub at times.

Crisis on Earth-X separates the elaborate and impressive CW DC universe from its rivals and continues to be must-see television, even moreso than the individual show’s premieres. With Black Lightning and Titans added to the fold next year this space will become even more crowded, so expect something more minimal after two, arguably three, bombastic mega-crossovers.

Thank you CW & DC.

Marvel shopped around its 60 episode Defenders combo to TV and streaming sites Netflix was still Marvel’s Runaways is the promising limited relatively new to the original content game. The series from executive producer Jeph Loeb, Head deal was beneficial to both parties. Hulu probably of Marvel Television. He’s also got a credit on cut Marvel a generous deal to get the same street Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter and Inhumans cred – an immediate equaliser – to their biggest on ABC, Cloak and Dagger and in-development rival.

New Warriors on sister channel Freeform and all the Defenders series on Netflix. So why diversify But what about the actual show? Runaways further and broadcast Marvel’s Runaways on is spurred by the strength of its young multicultural cast and their Gen-Z lens on life. The Hulu? core six are childhood friends that drifted apart Tone is the obvious answer. The MA15+ Defenders following the death of one of their group, only audience is different to the family-friendly ABC to all witness their parents try to kill someone series, which is different again to the young-adult in a dungeon behind a secret passage. Why were Freeform or Hulu. To place these series on the they trying to kill this girl? To give her life force same network would be jarring despite everyone to one of the girl’s grandfather. Why this girl? sharing the same fictional universe. Plus, when Because she was trying to leave a culy. There’s a Is this the best new show of 2017?

dinosaur and an amneisa drug, X-ray goggles (Glowing like a disco ball doesn’t count) and a magical staff. This is a genre show that isn’t ashamed of itself but is still determined to look The cast are fresh and have developed a rhythm inward to the characters and their parents for the far earlier than a low of series, especially for newcomers. Faking It‘s Gregg Sulkin is the only conflict rather than an Infinity Stone. familiar face and he doesn’t overpower the show Runaways is only inching forward. Three in any way, shape or form. It’s good to see him land episodes in and everything is still covert and the on his feet. Nerd favourite James Marsters adds a team have yet to run away. The six are uniting lot of legitimacy to the series as a frustrated and out of necessity rather than desire and the core furious scientist. His Midas touch is worth every relationships are still miles apart. The main duo penny of his paycheck. And props too to Brittant has been established – loners Alex and Nico – Ishibashi knocking it out of the park. and there’s a love triangle off the to side between jock/engineer Chase, sheltered beauty queen It’s still early days and there’s a lot still to learn Karolina and Ariel Winters type social justice but this is looking good. After the failure of warrior nerd Gert. Rounding out our group is Inhumans and the divisive Iron Fist Jeph Loeb adopted younger sister Molly, who despite being needed a win. This is unequivocally that. Here’s treated as an invilad is the only one yet to display hoping the second season features a higher superpowers. episode count!

The sixth MA15+ Marvel-Netflix series fires off.

When a show is named after a specific person one can almost immediately assume that that person is going to spend a lot of time on the screen. Don’t expect this from “Punisher”, the latest ‘superhero’ offering from Marvel and Netflix. Punisher’s Marvel roots are only alluded to though, in a vague superherolike structure of the Punisher’s relationships with a rich boy who can finance him and a computer nerd who can point him in the direction of bad guys. This show will not give you a hero in a cape or fluorescent leggings, but rather looks at other definitions of the word. Enter Frank Castle/ Punisher, an American veteran whose actions in Afghanistan haunt him and the show itself.

are problematic when he so clearly is a grey area himself. The violence, that so often halts rather than informs the plot, is concerning in conjunction with America’s history of gun violence. It is clear upon viewing the Pilot Episode, why the Punisher’s release was continually pushed back, for at its core, Punisher is a glorification of violence. Perhaps this violence is meant to make the audience question the teachings of our armed forces but truthfully, it elongates episode time, and often holds no real relation to the show or any of its multiple plots and sub-plots.

This violence too is inexplicable due to holding no real meaning. Where the show introduces the Unlike it’s predecessor’s, the Punisher nor Punisher, he has already sought revenge for the Castle does not seem to value thought or words death of his family and has burned his Punisher but immediately instigates violence against his uniform. The heavy onslaught of violence that enemies. His clear lines between good and bad inflicts the first three episodes then, makes for

Words by Brittany Treadwell stilted and monotonous viewing. These three episodes are meant to serve as introductory but likely will vex fans of the comic books with its elongated who’s who of Castle’s life. Even to someone who’s first meeting the Punisher, these episodes are irrelevant and feel dumbed down; this is a real kick from Marvel who usually respects the intelligence of its audience.

dated from the 90’s or older, rather than something from 2017.

For its faults, the saving grace of this show is its intelligent structure, which serves multiple plots and sub-plots. The Punisher himself, will likely only show up when it’s time for an action filled car chase or for someone to be ‘removed’. This leaves the rest of the time to be filled with some genuinely There’s also some serious concerns with how interesting and timely questions about the armed women are represented here. The first living female forces and society’s treatment of returning soldiers. character doesn’t make an entry into the show until half way through the Pilot, a move which felt stale Overall, this latest offering from Marvel and Netflix and vaguely misogynistic. Whilst the character should be viewed outside of the ‘superhero’ and introduced, Agent Dinah Madani, often seeks to Marvel lens and instead should be viewed for its break these stereotypes and bring balance to a deeply humanising look at serving in the armed heavily male populated show, even Madani will play forces. Whilst the first handful of episodes are Damsel in distress to Frank Castle’s “hero”. This mediocre at best, the show gains momentum as it makes for some uncomfortable viewing and can continues, questioning what makes a “hero” in a make the audience feel they are watching a show world like our own.

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Alaisdair dives into Marvel’s latest Lego game, does it deliver?

It’s been four years since Lego games dived into the Marvel comics foray and while the first game gave fans who have been wanting to see The Avengers, Xmen and Fantastic Four all interact together a chance to see it without pesky film studios owning different properties, it went on to become one of the best Lego games made to date and with so many characters and things to do and collect along with so much replayability it is still on my PS4 and I do load it up when I find myself wanting some mindless fun. Finally we have the follow up Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 and while the Xmen and Fantastic Four are nowhere to be seen, we have the addition of the Inhumans, a full roster of Avengers and the Spiderman universe. While I did miss these characters the new addition of locations like Wakanda and a focus on the upcoming Black Panther movie and Thor Ragnarok, it is a solid sequel that changes the formula and unlocks new Marvel worlds that will no doubt become another massive hit.

The story revolves around the time travelling villain Kang who has created a city called Kronopolis by travelling through time and pulling various Marvel locations into the one area like Wakanda, Medieval England, New York and Khun Lun. You then get a random assortment of characters to team up and play your way through 20 story missions before heading into the open world part of this game once Kang has been destroyed. By using the element of time you can bring things in and out of the world with certain characters and cycling Groot through time from baby groot to adult Groot is a phenomenal power.

Speaking of Groot, the Guardians Of The Galaxy are a major focus of this game and while there are characters that are quite forgettable like Gamora and Drax, others like Groot, Rocket and Star Lord are beautifully animated and have some great quirks that will have you scrolling back to these characters over and over. In particular Star Lord has a mode in which he puts his Sony Walkman and plays a random song that will rope in any heroes or villains around you into dancing along.

Other characters you may not now with the likes of Ms.Marvel who can shrink down, grow to the a giant and turn herself into a ball, you can randomly mash buttons and watch her destroy any bad guys around you is incredibly satisfying.

A highlight from the first game were the Deadpool missions along with his room and computer used for cheats and unlocking red bricks has been switched up in the game to the Avengers mansion and we now get Gwenpool taking the reigns. For a DC fanboy like me, exploring all of these Marvel characters that I have never encountered before added something more to this game for me. Having the added element of time brings in a lot of different Spiderverse characters from different times and dimensions which kept Spiderman feeling fresh when you can switch to Spiderman 2099 who moves differently and has a different skill set for flying across the city. Visually this is the best looking Lego game made to date. I reviewed this game on the Nintendo Switch and the visuals in both handheld and docked mode are spectacular. The constantly changing environments through space and the beauty of Wakanda and the grit of Marvel Noire. The response when playing with the pro controller was always on point and I didn’t experience any lag. The only drop was when the level was finished and the game fades to a comic book collector card. There were quite a few times when this happened the lag made me press the Home button a few times to make sure the system hadn’t frozen. It is a minor annoyance and did get worse as the game went on, it would be interesting to see if the same thing happens in the PS4 and Xbox One version (seriously if you know please get in touch!)

Now that Lego Dimensions has met its timely death among the rest of the toys to life video games, it seems that Travellers Tale now can get back to bringing us great games like Lego Batman 3 and now this absolute gem that shows that games like this have a place in the gaming world in which multiplayer and online shooters are crowding the marketplace. If you are a fan of Marvel and open world adventure games, this is definitely worth your time, having it on the go with the Nintendo Switch platform only adds to the amount of hours I will be putting into this game. With a fun and engaging story with a twist to the beautiful graphics and character collection Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 exceeds the vision of the first game and gives us something to play over the Christmas break. Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is available on Playstation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

WATCH BRITTANY AND JACKIE’S VLOG FROM LAST YEAR VIA THE PLAYER ABOVE