Film Review: A Good Day to Die Hard

"We're not a hugging family." - Jai Courtney

In the beginning, John McClaine was just an average guy, an off-duty cop caught up in a crazy situation that just got worse and worse. And that's pretty much the story of his life, but each new movie in the Die Hard series tried so hard to one-up their respective predecessors. It was originally just McClaine stuck in a single building, taking out bad guys one by one. Then they took it to the airport. Then they took it to an entire city. Then they endangered an entire nation. So naturally, the only thing left is the world itself.

This fifth film in the series takes John McClaine to Russia, to deal with his son. Then everything hits the fan, and action ensues. When the action hits, it's incredibly loud and hard-hitting. In the first act, there's a car chase that's just loaded with cars flipping, flying, smashing, and crashing all over the place; the mass carnage is incredible. Plenty of shootouts and fights follow that. It ultimately leads to a final showdown at the end, featuring some of the most beautiful (and gratuitous) slow-motion explosions and window-breaking stunts ever filmed in an action movie.

However, the action is also quite rough, thanks to frequent use of a bouncy camera work and choppy editing. As great as the car chase is, I couldn't help but to feel a little lost, since the film seemed to string endless crashes and explosions together without showing the actual geography or progression of the chase.

Similarly, I was also a little lost with the plot, at least in the beginning. The story has some twists that makes things clearer toward the end, but it's still a very incredulous story with massive plot holes that suck up all the logic. The best that can be said is that the film tries so hard to bring John McClaine back into the spotlight, and develop some chemistry with his son, which not only makes for some of the film's more amusing moments, but also sets things up for a potential "next generation" of Die Hard. You know, the same kind of stuff they tried to do with Indiana Jones 4. I was also pleased to see some definite nods to the original Die Hard film; you'll know them when you see them.

As mentioned above, the film looks really rough with the camerawork and editing, and it can be nerve-wracking. I couldn't shake the feeling that this film is basically more of the same as most other action films of today, thanks to this erratic style. Acting is fine and dandy: Bruce Willis started off pretty dry, but eventually tapped into that playful John McClaine energy as he went along, and turned out to be a fun watch. Everybody else fulfills their roles fine enough. Writing has a few bright spots. This production has fine and dandy sets, props, costumes, and special effects. Music is alright; expect to hear the same kind of tune as the first film.

Best recommended for diehard Die Hard fans, and action junkies.

3.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Marginal | Film: Pretty Good)

Writing Prompt: Visualizing Settings

At today's writing group, we were given a choice between two possible prompts:

1. You realize you have been dreaming.  Recreate your dream in detail on paper.
2. Pick a place of interest, visualize it...what makes this place vivid for you.

Point here being to exercise one's ability to use details, descriptions, atmosphere, and any number of other techniques to immerse the reader into a given setting.  For dreams and places of interest, or fantasy worlds, this can be especially difficult or challenging, so the more details given, the better and more real it seems.

For this exercise, I opted to dabble in one of my own novel ideas.  I've always toyed around with the notion of writing a cyberpunk story, maybe even in connection with a fantasy series.  So, here's what I came up with, using option #1...
--------------------

                I jerked awake with a start, and a single, jarring thought repeated itself in my head:  people don’t dream in the Stream.  It’s physically impossible:  the mind connects to the Stream, engages the neurons, making sleep impossible even though the body is still.  I had spent a good three hours in the Stream, actively finding the links and clues to the Mega Therion project.  I wasted a good hour in the Everwar game, just to make contact with the user Lightning_Shark.  I was active the whole time; sleep was impossible.

                There was no mistake:  I did indeed have a dream while connected to the Stream.  I had a definite subconscious experience.

                Reaching behind me, I yanked out the plug from the base of my neck, and I fumbled out of the stasis chair toward the monitors.  Touching the screens, I pulled up the session recordings; I saw my recorded interactions across the Stream and in the Everwar instance.  The last ten minutes were completely blank, as if I didn’t even exist.

                Cursing at the machines, I resorted to the old-fashioned way of recalling my vision.  I scrounged the den for paper and a pen, and I tried to recall everything, before they faded from my memory.  Even with hardwired cerebral implants, dreams never persisted long in memory.

                After leaving the Everwar game, I remember sliding across the Stream, my consciousness racing through the invisible networks and clouds that laced across the entire world.  All the data, the glowing visual grids, and high-resolution sites, whizzed past me in a blur of unreal light and color.

                Then, the dream initiated.  All that color and light coalesced, condensed, and rezzed into some tangible form.  It all solidified in front of me, transforming into a huge, colorful, luminescent dragon.

                What was it that Lightning_Shark told me? Mega Therion meant “the Great Beast.” Was this the Mega Therion project that I was seeking?

                No way was I prepared for this.  I waved my hands to bring up my GUI in my shell, but I couldn’t move fast enough.  The beast opened its mouth and a set of bright neon teeth bore down on me.

                With a loud electric crack, my shell was breached.  All the firewalls, codes, and programs fell away from me, their red letters appearing like blood.  With gut-wrenching alarm, I realized I was vulnerable.

                For what felt like an eternity, it was quiet; it was the deepest and most penetrating silence I ever experienced.  It was dark all around me; the deepest and emptiest darkness I ever knew.  The light and voices of the Stream were gone, and I was alone.  Disconnected from the World Wide Web, I never felt more alone than this.

                Then, something rezzed at my feet.  Millions of pixels appeared and spread out, until it made up a prairie.  It was a vast, lush, green field with hills in the distance that rose up before my eyes.  The sky was drawn in over my head; a beautiful and vast vista of blue atmosphere and glowing orange clouds.

                This was more than a mere sim.  This was not just another virtual reality.  The data here was light-years ahead of what current technology could accomplish.  Data for all other virtual realities were simple:  inputs for sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and superficial sensations merely piped in to the mind, making the users believe what they saw was real.  It was a world drawn for us on the fly.  This, however, was an entire world drawn before me in full, and I was able to tread through it.  Every byte of data became an atom in this sim, to build up the grass at my feet, the air against my skin, the clouds gracefully flowing above me, and the smell of the fresh cool wind in my nostrils.  This world was not merely rezzed; it was as close to real as it could be.

                I had to stop and touch the grass, brushing my hand against the myriads of blades.  Living so long in the city, I never realized that real grass could feel so stiff, and yet so smooth and cool.  Plucking a blade up from the ground, I saw that it split cleanly from its base, just like a real blade of grass would.  Holding it up, I watched as the gentle breeze carried the grass blade away.  Physics were always easy to emulate in a sim, but this felt even more complex than mere vectors and velocities.  There had to be programs in place to make the air currents flow so naturally, and to make the grass grow like it was real.  How much deeper could this sim go? Did it have its own weather systems? Was there a day and night cycle? Was there a life and death cycle for all the living grass, and all the other simulated organisms?

                Watching the grass blade drifting in the wind, I watched as something else rezzed before my eyes.  Pixilated tiles floated along the wind and built up a form in front of me, starting at the ground.  The tiles formed a pair of sleek, slender legs, walking coolly towards me.  The tiles continued to build up, forming hips, an abdomen, breasts, arms, and shoulders.  When the head materialized, I beheld a tall, beautiful woman with smooth, graceful movements.  Pixels cascaded from her scalp, flowing with the breeze to form a long length of silky black hair.

                Treading on the grass, the woman stared at me with her stark, black eyes; they had a thin blue ring that glowed brightly.  The more I regarded her, the more curious I became.  Was she a real user, like myself, or was she an artificial intelligence? She seemed to embody the manners of both.

                I stopped writing about the dream, when I realized that I had forgotten the rest of it.  It took a few moments to compose my thoughts again, and I remembered one final detail.  This woman, so graceful and seemingly-perfect, uttered just one word to me.  I remembered watching her soft lips moving, but I couldn’t hear her speaking.

                For the days that followed, a new obsession took me over, because the dream left so many questions unanswered.  I had to go back to the vivid green paradise.  I had to find this woman again.  Above all, I had to find out what it was she told me.  I had a feeling that the words she gave me were important.  Little did I know that the words she spoke would affect our future in terrifying ways.

Video Game: Impressions of the I Am Alive Demo

Truth be told, I got this game mixed up with The Last of Us, coming out this summer.  Regardless, I was certain I heard of I Am Alive before, and as a post-apocalyptic survivalist sim of sorts, I wanted to give it a try.

Playing this on the PS3, I thought the game looked pretty gaudy.  I'm sure the monochrome graphics are an artistic effect, which is neat, but doesn't hold a candle at all to games like Fallout 3.  The biggest issue I saw was that the shapes and textures seemed rather blocky and rough, and were not smooth at all.  You might think that would befit a game like this, but even a rough and gritty game can be smooth, highly-detailed, and well-rendered; this was not.

I may be alive, but how do I get down from here?!

As far as the gameplay goes, I was surprised to find that the game is not combat-intensive as I expected.  In fact, the game grounds itself heavily in reality, focusing more on how you actually move across the ruined city and deal with situations, rather than shooting your way through everything.  You probably spend most of your time climbing structures and traversing through perilous terrain.  As you do so, you spend stamina; the less you have, the more likely it is that you'll fall to your death or pass out or get yourself killed.  You recover by resting or eating.  I got to admit, that's a pretty handy mechanic for simultaneously gauging your physical progress and providing a basis for a more realistic health management.

When I finally came across bad guys, there was no real combat involved.  The character has a gun, but no bullets, so I had to rely on bluffing my way through.  Holding the gun up, attackers stop approaching, and I can push them off of ledges if I have to.  I acquired a machete, which I figured would allow me to pull off some decent melee moves on other enemies.  When confronted by a pair of blade-wielding bad guys, I found myself disappointingly powerless.  Combat moves proved to be clunky and slow; I was murdered quite quickly.

After this short exchange, I think I got the gist of the game.  It's a noble effort, for its artistic design, and the way it tries to put the player in the middle of a ruined city and make you feel like you're really struggling to get by.  The problem here is, it really is a struggle, and I imagine it could be nerve-wracking dealing with hard obstacles and enemies everywhere you go.  From the reviews I see, the levels are linear, checkpoints seems a little screwy, and the game seems to crash on occasion.  On the PS3, I thought the graphics and controls were merely passable.

Certain players might appreciate this game, but given its issues and the mundane (possibly annoying) gameplay, I'd only recommend trying the demo first.

Video Game Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

"The more things change, the more they stay the same. Boundaries shift, new players step in, but power always finds a place to rest its head." - Lance Henriksen

At the time of this game's release, I was still open to experiencing all manner of gaming, and I was caught up a bit in the hype of things.  I primarily got this game because a few friends of mine were playing on it, so we could all get on and play war with each other.

Then, I watched as a massive onslaught of other military shooters flooded the market.  In the few short years that followed, I watched as Battlefield 3, Call of Duty:  Black Ops, MAG, Homefront, and the third Modern Warfare game filled up the shelves, along with God-knows-what.  I couldn't help but to regard them all and ask myself, come on, how many ways are there to fight a war? I think playing Modern Warfare 2 made me realize that I have a certain ambivalence toward military shooter games; even though they all offer unique stories and experiences, they all kinda run together and look alike.  Meh...

Regardless, Modern Warfare 2 is not a bad game at all, and it's not too hard to see the appeal in playing it, even if it is just another military shooter.  The game is fast, intense, and enthralling.  Playing the campaign, it runs through a gauntlet of challenging levels that allow you to witness the whole world erupting in all-out war from multiple points of view.  Across multiple levels, you get to infiltrate remote enemy bases, run undercover operations, rescue prisoners, save hostages, chase down bad guys, fight against a massive hoard of militia, and ultimately fight off an invasion on American soil.  While vehicle driving is limited in this game, you do have access to a decent arsenal of oodles of guns with oodles of fancy attachments and scopes, and plenty of destructive gadgets and drones and whatnot.  As promised, the game plunges the player into the worst-case scenario of the modern world, and allows you to use 21st century weaponry to experience...modern warfare.

Playing the story mode will be linear and straightforward.  It's what you get if The Hurt Locker, Quantum of Solace, The Rock, Red Dawn, and probably a bunch of Tom Clancy novels were cobbled together.  The story has an interesting narrative that tells the overall story across multiple viewpoints and characters; what the game lacks in emotional resonance, it makes up for with its intriguing politics, a few standout characters, and the sheer scope and ambition of the story.  Chances are that the story will resonate more with those who've played and enjoyed the first MW game (I have not, so some things probably go way over my head).  Despite all its intrigue, I find it a little hard to suspend disbelief at times.

But wait, there's more! You can shoot even more bad guys in Special Ops mode:  a bunch of missions you can play with specific objectives to try and challenge yourself.  It allows you to play either solo, or with friends on co-op mode.

The biggest draw likely will be the multiplayer action, which I partook in for a while.  As I recall, it was quite easy to jump into the action, going through either team-based matches or free-for-alls.  The different maps offered numerous variances in strategy and advantages, while the games themselves were often gripping and unpredictable.  It can be surprisingly addictive to play through the multiplayer, steadily gaining experience points to level yourself up, and trying to longer and longer kill streaks to try and obtain special abilities.

If there's anything to complain about for the overall gameplay, it's that the game can be frustrating as hell.  I must have died a thousand times, usually shot or stabbed because of stupid mistakes or a stupid judgment on my part.  In multiplayer, it's to be expected.  In single-player, I found myself cursing at the AIs for being so relentless and smart.  Chances are that you might thrive on such challenges, but I found it pretty aggravating at times.  Having the entire screen turn red with blood droplets didn't help either, as it often obscured the entire view.  Oh God, the flash-bang grenades are even worse...

Regardless, the game is well-built.  It's not a particularly sharp-looking game, but it is loaded with highly-detailed levels and plenty of impressive texturing and particle effects.  The game moves very fast and smoothly, with practically no drag or performance issues.  I don't even remember ever having a crash with this game.  It utilizes a decent voice cast with quality acting and passable writing.  The game utilizes superb character designs, settings, and weapon selections.  It all looks quite realistic and detailed.  Music is pretty darn cool too.

For a military shooter, MW2 is good and it should be a must-play for fans of these types of games.  My only quibble is, I realized that this isn't my type of game.

4/5 (Entertainment: Frustrating | Story:  Pretty Good | Game:  Good)

Video Game: Impressions of the Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Demo

As a latecomer to the Metal Gear series, I'm certain that there's a whole universe in this series that I'm still totally oblivious to.  Having played Metal Gear Solid 4:  Guns of the Patriots, however, I was quite taken by the game's gorgeous graphics, its gameplay experience, its story, its concepts, and its endearing characters.  One of the biggest highlights was in watching Raiden in action.  Holy crap, every time that guy came onto the battlefield, it was like a beautiful flowing ballet of mass destruction and death.

So naturally, a game where you actually play Raiden had to be fun, right?

I'm not certain how much this demo represents the final product, but on its own merits, the latest game of the series - Metal Gear Rising:  Revengeance - is a totally different animal.  Whether you're a newcomer or an established fan, be warned:  this is not a stealth combat game.  This is straight-up fighting, on a level no different than Bayonetta or Vanquish (both of which were also developed by Platinum Games).  Many gamers have already expressed some disappointment over this demo, since it's a departure from the type of gameplay already established in Metal Gear Solid.

Upon doing some more reading, I've discovered that Metal Gear Rising is purposefully designed to be a separate and distinct saga than Metal Gear Solid, calling not only for a change in storyline and character, but also in gameplay style.  After all, Raiden was all about hack-and-slash action in MGS4, so it's only natural that MGR would provide more of the same.  However, this move will certainly alienate established fans, and I predict that the game will have a disappointing reception because everybody has been so used to the stealth combat in the Solid series.  I think what I'm getting at is that everybody will be complaining that "this is not a true Metal Gear Solid game"...well, duh, it's Metal Gear Rising, not Metal Gear Solid! It's all different!

I heard there was some bread that needed to be sliced...

The demo took me by surprise this way, to be honest.  Jumping into the virtual reality training sequences, I felt a little lost in the controls and the displays, but quickly found the controls necessary for some basic attacks.  Then, I was free to run through a street and take down some real bad guys.  I found that I could push through most of the fights with just one button, practically mashing it the whole time to cut my way through so many enemies and hardware.  There is a free-aiming option, which seems to offer a really cool way to control your blade and slice through things any way you want.  Unfortunately, I found this option unwieldy and limited in range.  It is a bit of a shame, because when it works, it seems to work beautifully, slicing off enemy scalps or cutting the legs off of Gekkos in dramatic slow motion.  More often than not, I found myself getting shot when I tried to use Blade Mode.

I ultimately had to give up on the demo with the boss fight with the robot tiger thing.  Unable to master the ability to parry, that thing was just kicking my butt, and nothing I did seemed to affect it.  I got the impression that the game's fighting requires more sophistication, concentration, and nuance to properly master, but I totally wasn't getting it.  I'm still a little lost as to how far the game's fighting controls extend; maybe there's more to it than Blade Mode and smashing the square button over and over again.  If so, I missed it completely, and chances are that it'll take some effort to master it.  I'm still debating whether it's worth putting up with or not.

Some other funny things to note:  bad guys don't seem terribly sophisticated, as I was able to run past a bunch of them without them ever noticing.  Managed to backstab some of them, but they never seemed to pay me any mind.

Other than that, it is a nice, slick-looking game with gorgeous graphics, sound, and relatively smooth gameplay (despite the quibbles above).  I've never been good at figuring out the plot of these Metal Gear games, but it looks every bit as dense and intriguing as MGS4.  Cut scenes looks to be rather long, but that's probably to be expected.  Overall, it looks like a lot of care and polish went into the game, but it is a different experience and I'm not certain if the combat is refined enough to make it work.

For now, I intend on waiting to see what reviews say.  Chances are that I might get this if the price drops low enough.  I think I'd recommend most players approach this game with caution, and try it before you buy it.

Video Game: Impressions of the Dead Space 3 Demo

Some five years ago, I demo'ed Dead Space...and hated it.  I personally found the game slow and clunky, and within minutes, I was swarmed by these darn scary monsters and I was totally powerless to stop them.  Understanding the game's core concept of dismembering the necromorphs in order to fully kill them, I regarded the onslaught of monsters and thought to myself, yeah, right, I'll never get past all this! The game was successful and it spawned a popular sequel.  Regardless, I was not fond of the gameplay, as it did not make me feel empowered.  Reviews indicated that the missions were dull and repetitive, so I felt I wasn't missing much.  And I never did bother looking at Dead Space 2, despite all the hype and positive reviews.

So now, there's a third game in the series, and it's opened with a decent amount of hype and positive reviews.  I'm not sure what possessed me to demo this game, but I decided to download it on the PS3 and give it a shot.

This place is suffering from low morale.  Maybe some redecorating is in order...

Despite my indifference toward the series, I got to admit that the Dead Space 3 demo is a lot funner than what I remember out of the first game's demo.  The gameplay and control scheme is smooth and intuitive enough to blast away necromorphs right off the bat.  The character still moves pretty slowly, but he doesn't feel as agonizingly slow or lumbering the way I remember it from before.  As you trudge through the oppressive snowy planetscape and make your way through a derelict space colony, necromorphs pop out unexpectedly from the ground and out of dark corners; they inhabit the bodies of the colonists, even going so far as having them shoot back at you (although the colonists are also your enemies, and will shoot you anyway).  So, there are enemies everywhere, monsters always coming out for some serious in-your-face scares, and there are occasional big-scale challenges to deal with.

Only problems I see are:  the game might still be really annoying for me personally.  Probably because survivalist horror was never my forte, and this game gets really intense with the survivalism.  I ultimately gave up on the demo during the big spinning drill scene; I'm sure I could have gotten through it fine and dandy, but with three or four necromorphs flanking me all the time while I tried to shoot at the out-of-control drill, I decided this was getting too annoying.  I'm certain that the rest of the game would only have even more nerve-wracking challenges and boss fights, which would probably be way out of my league.  In the end, I could still see myself getting annoyed at the character's slowness and the relentlessness of the enemies.  I'm sure the game would creep me out at certain spots too.

From what I could tell, it is a fine-quality game.  Graphics are pretty impressive, and the sound is incredible.  Controls are smooth and intuitive.  Levels appear linear and straightforward, but are loaded with some appropriately grungy-looking settings and props.  I'm sure the story for this game will be fine and dandy too.

As it is, Dead Space 3 is a good-looking game that (once again) thrusts the player into the middle of a harrowing struggle for survival in deep space against insurmountable odds.  The game features a co-op option and the ability to build custom weapons.  Chances are good that if you enjoyed the last couple of games in the series, or are a fan of horror survivalist games, then you'll probably be quite happy with this game.

Film Review: Samsara

Over the past few years, I became quite excited to see Ron Fricke’s latest film.  Having previously seen his beautiful cinematography in the Qatsi trilogy and Baraka, I figured that Samsara would at least offer a splendid and visually stunning experience.  I was just a little worried that the film wouldn’t deliver on the same level as Baraka.

Even though many viewers seem to favor Baraka over this, I found Samsara to have enough strengths of its own to stand out.  I’m still trying to figure out which of the two films I enjoy better.

On its own merits, Samsara offers a unique visual experience, as it explores many different countries and captures a plethora of exotic, unique, and inspiring sights.  The film takes us through temples, mountains, volcanoes, cities, factories, nightclubs, a prison, and other interesting places that I’d probably never see in a lifetime.  As usual, the film uses very solid, steady, and smooth photography to capture the settings and its people immaculately.  Some shots are quite impressive; one such shot that stood out to me occurred when the camera flew over a cityscape, while it was being time-lapsed, so it showed the city lights and cars moving really fast with smooth streaking lights, while the camera moved and passed over the skyscrapers.  There are plenty of other shots that utilize the time-lapse method, showing a sped-up view of things that makes the ordinary suddenly seem extraordinary.

What really pushes the film above and beyond for me will be its occasional moments of weird, wild, impressionistic imagery.  Key scenes that stand out to me include the shot of a man, shirtless and covered with tattoos, cuddling a baby gently and doting on him.  There’s some startling imagery of patients at a cosmetic surgery, juxtapose to scenes of a Japanese sex doll factory.  There’s a wild and energetic scene of Filipino prisoners doing a dance routine in the prison courtyard.  There’s a shot of some woman with a weird face mask and weird-looking eyes (just one of many odd portrait shots throughout the film).  The one key scene that really propels the movie above and beyond in my viewpoint would be the scene about forty minutes in:  in a nightmarish fashion, a man behind a desk suddenly smears clay all over his face and daubs himself with ink, until he appears ghoulish.  It’s odd stuff like this that not only invokes an emotional reaction and stirs the spirit, but also reveals the wild and unusual things in our world that we may or may not even be aware of.

At first, I really wasn’t sure what the point of these images was.  As it goes on, the film does string up some common themes of death and rebirth, and of human civilization.  It does so quite sublimely by putting the images together in a way that will make the audience put two-and-two together.  The title Samsara is Sanskrit for “continuous flow,” and that’s pretty much what the film does:  it continuously flows from one scene to another to allow for a continuous flow of thought and feeling.

With its expert craftsmanship, exotic subject matter, and a wonderful music score, Samsara is a strong piece of work, and is definitely worth a look.

5/5 (Experience:  Very Good | Content:  Very Good | Film:  Perfect)

Gods Among Men: Excerpt Chapter 10

[In the distant future, a race of super-humans have evolved, and have built a utopic city along the west coast of the U.S. called Theopolis.  It is protected by super-humans in an organization called the Panthron.  Troy Gaines wanted to become a Pantheon hero, so he was sent to investigate a potential threat to the city.  Accompanied by a rookie hero named Ohm, they followed their leads to the wasteland.  Deep in the desert, they accidentally came across a mine field, and were captured by a group of crazy bandits…]

When they were alone, Ohm relaxed in his imprisonment, and Troy remarked, “I never thought I’d end up like this…held prisoner by the carnival from Hell.”

“I’m sorry,” Ohm expressed. “I should have done something more when the mines went off.  I should have absorbed all that static energy, or rebuffed it, or something.  I don’t know, it just happened too fast, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“Don’t worry, this is how we learn.  Neither one of us could have predicted that the Carnival would be out here, with such an elaborate trap.  Where would they find the power for that minefield anyway?”

“It’d be easy to rig up a solar panel and a sensor of some kind.  They probably had a thermal-optic sensor set up that could see us coming, and it automatically set off the mines.  Even degenerate freaks like these guys could scrap it up from the ruins around here.”

After a moment’s reflection, Troy admitted, “You know, this is much more my fault than yours.”

Ohm waved his hand dismissively, “It doesn’t matter now.  We better stop worrying about the blame and think more about how we’re going to get out of here.”

Troy continued regardless, “There is a reason why I’m vulnerable to electronic discharges and energy fields…my power is not natural.  It’s purely mechanical.  I have no superpower of my own, just a teleportation device.”

Glaring at Troy through the bars, Ohm barked, “What?”

Taking off his vest and shirt, Troy revealed his teleporter.  He fingered the broken tubes, where blue fluid continued to leak out of it.  He remarked, “I paid a lot of money to an inventor in the wastelands.  He was probably the smartest man I ever met; he made this thing using every scrap of advanced technology he could scavenge.  It works so effectively, I’ve forgotten how vulnerable it is to physical damage.  Back at Skiapolis, Mandy took out the device’s recharger unit.  Physical movement usually regenerates its power pretty fast, but now…”

“Troy, if and when I get out of this damned cage, I’m going to kill you,” Ohm grumbled. “I can’t believe this…you really think you can join the Pantheon with some magical vest that makes you jump around as a ghost? What the Hell were you thinking? You’re not a superhero! Thanks to you, we’re both stuck out here in the middle of nowhere, with no backup, and we’re going to be killed by a psycho carnival! You killed us, Troy! This is all your fault! I wasn’t even supposed to be out here; I hate the wasteland!”

Ohm continued to rant and shout for nearly thirty minutes.  He finally ended the raving with, “You can take that teleporter of yours and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine!” He followed it up with a curt and vulgar curse.

Troy asked, “Finished?”

After a moment’s silence, Ohm replied, “Yeah.  I feel better now.  Got the hate out of my system.”

“Good.  For what it’s worth, I am sorry I got us into this, and got you involved in my own problems.  From what I can tell, my teleporter still works, it just can’t recharge.  Can you harness any electricity in this area and pump it into this vest.”

“Troy, if I could, I would pump 100,000 volts into your idiotic skull! The thing is, I can’t sense much power in this camp.  The solar panels these guys use are so dirty, I don’t even think they can power a wristwatch.  I don’t even think these people use electricity at all, they seem to make do without it.”

“What about all their cars? Or the taser that midget had?”

“Yeah, I saved a little bit of that taser’s energy when that little bastard zapped me,” Ohm informed. “It really isn’t much power, so I really want to save it for when we really need it.  I’m not sure how much power your suit uses, but I’m guessing it would only be enough for one quick jump.”

“I think you should harness more,” Troy suggested. “It takes a little more energy to transport both of us together.  And the more power I get, the farther I can go.”

With a sigh, Ohm warned, “We may have to consider the possibility that only one of us will make it out of here alive.  If it comes down to it, I expect that I’ll give you the energy, so you can make a clean escape.  You’d have to leave me behind, so I don’t weigh you down.”

Glaring at Ohm, Troy insisted, “I refuse to accept that possibility.  We’re both going to make it out of here.”

“Things can’t always go the way we plan, that’s a hard lesson you have to learn.”

“I’ve learned it, believe me.  But if it does come down to it, I won’t leave you behind.”

“Well, I appreciate the concern.”

“It’s more than concern.  You are a real Pantheon hero:  you should know that all lives are worth saving, and given the choice, we always choose to preserve life.  That is the prerogative that befits a hero, or a god.  For if we are gods among men, is it not our duty to protect each other, and our fellow men?”

“Yeah, I know,” Ohm said. “That’s why I’m trying to look out for your hide.”

“As I am looking after yours.”

“Well, I guess that makes us really swell partners after all.  But why you? What do you want to be a hero so bad? Do you really want to go down as some kind of martyr?”

“Not necessarily, but I’ll do what I have to.  Just like my father.  If it wasn’t for his sacrifice, I wouldn’t even be alive today.  Although, considering all the trouble I caused in the first place, I often wonder if he would still be around today if I was gone.”

“It’s funny how things work,” Ohm shrugged.

“Ohm...what is your real name?”

“Victor Henke.”

“Victor…you’ve never lived in these wastelands before, have you?”

“No, thank god.”

“I was born and raised in this desert.  A few hundred miles east of here, actually, in a small town just south of the Bread Basket trade route.  It was a wretched place, very run-down, and we were all very poor.  We had just enough to get by, but I used to spend endless hours staring at the lights of Theopolis glowing in the distant horizon.  I used to fantasize about being in the city, being a man of power, a man of wealth, and a man of respect.  I looked up to people like you and Link and Eva and everybody else, marveling at your powers and coveting them.”

“So, you went and bought your teleporter.”

“Yes, but not all at once, you know.  You remember that I told you about the man who invented this:  a very sharp and shrewd man.  He lived in the town with the rest of us, but he was mostly regarded with disdain.  Everybody thought he was just an eccentric lunatic.  My own parents thought he was dangerous, and told me to stay away from him.  But when I saw the teleporter he invented, and saw what it could do, I couldn’t resist.  I had to have it.  I did the only thing I could do best:  I gambled what little I had, hoping to double my money and earn just enough for it.”

“I didn’t take you for a gambler.”

“I was only fifteen at the time, so I really wasn’t supposed to.  In my foolish youth, I always feared my parents finding out about my vices, but I should have been worried about the men I was playing against.  I won nearly two thousand dollars in gold and silver from the wealthiest man in the area:  Bearly Buchanan, though you might recognize him as Buck.”

“Buck? As in, Buck the Red-Skinned?”

“Yeah.”

“You took money from the biggest, most feared gangster in the wasteland?”

“I won it fair.  I may have marked a few cards, but they were surely doing the same.  When it was clear that I had won too much from them, Buck gave me a stern warning.  He said that accidents will happen.  I didn’t listen:  I went straight to the inventor to buy his teleporter.  When I returned home, I found my family was taken hostage.  Buck’s men had them all tied up, and were demanding a two thousand dollar ransom.  It was money I had already spent.

“I only had one choice:  I had to release my family without Buck’s men seeing it.  So I made a distraction that drew them away, and I untied the ropes they had around my mother, my father, and my two sisters.  We all made it out of the house.  We didn’t make it out of the town.  Buck had men in the streets, patrolling around in cars.  We took a car and drove into the desert, but they followed us.  We were outnumbered and outgunned.  That was why my father had to make the choice between his life and our freedom.  He had me teleport my mother and sisters to safe spot, while he turned the car around.  He hit Buck’s vehicle head-on.  Neither one of them survived that explosion.”

After a moment’s silence, Victor said, “Sorry, man.  It must have been hard to witness that.”

“I think my father meant for it to be inspiring,” Troy reflected. “He knew who I was, and what I could have become.  We both knew that it was all my fault, because I was being selfish and greedy.  He taught me that only selflessness and sacrifice can make things right; I just wish I didn’t have to lose him to find that out.”

“Be grateful you actually knew your father long enough to miss him in his absence.  I never met my father.”

“The thing I learned from the teleporter itself is that everything in this world is transient.  It all comes and goes, and all I can do is take it all as it comes.  Yes, I am grateful for everything.  Even this moment:  as dire as it seems, at least we’re still alive.”

“Not for long,” Victor scoffed, regarding the corpse in the next cage.

Film Review: Ai no Mukidashi (Love Exposure)

“Being a pervert is just one way of life.” – Takahiro Nishijima

Truly a one-of-a-kind experience: this is a massive epic that weaves an impressively deep and invoking story, which includes the search for true love, coming-of-age themes, family values, kung-fu, cross-dressing, upskirt photography, perverts, religion, sin, fanaticism, and dangerous cults. Only in Japan...

You'd think that a four hour movie (yes, FOUR hours! To think the film was originally going to be six hours) would get tiresome, but surprisingly, Love Exposure never once drags. Somehow, it strikes a perfect pace, never too fast and never too slow. It'll have scenes that are so wild and crazy that they're hilarious. It also has scenes that are somber and poetic. Overall, the film takes its time to let the story and characters breathe, making the story and characters easily accessible and relate-able, and it does so without being boring or overdone.

You'd also think that this film could be cut down further, but strangely, the story actually benefits from its lengthy runtime, and uses up every minute of it. It goes through three, four, five or so different characters, all with their own crazy and insightful backstories, who inevitably collide and create interesting new plot complications. With so many issues at work with so many characters, the film creates many complex relationships, and uses them to weave a tight and dense plot. The manner in which this plot is presented makes it pretty easy to comprehend, allowing the viewer to fully understand one strand of the plot before diving into another. It's also very effective at getting the viewer to care about the characters, even if they are crazy or violent or freaks. With such an ambitious plot structure at work, the film manages to dig up some important themes regarding love, life, and religion, and possibly other things.

The film is shot and edited in an interesting manner; at times, the way it frames and puts images together reminds me a lot of an anime series. As such, it is a stylish film with purposeful composition.  The camera work can be erratic at times, appearing like a documentary, but not to a sickening degree.  Acting is pretty decent all around, and the writing is great. This production makes the best out of its utilitarian sets, props, and costumes. Music, while brusquely used, is strangely addictive and effective.

It's a long and crazy film, just as I expected, but it's also a film I couldn't stop watching, because its characters were so invoking, its themes so rich, and I found it so compelling overall.  For the casual audience, unless you're a total prude, I recommend at least giving this film a try.

5/5 (Entertainment: Perfect | Story: Perfect | Film: Very Good)