Film Review: The Wizard (1989)

Video games are more than just games. They can be a sport. In the 1980s, it might sound laughable and silly. Now, 30+ years later, and those Starcraft tournaments in South Korea are no joke. Some players have an uncanny knack for winning--they are wizards.

The Wizard is a cute little yarn about a kid with special needs named Jimmy (Luke Edwards). His parents undergo an ugly divorce, so he wants to run off to California. He winds up doing so accompanied by his brother Corey (Fred Savage). Along the way, they befriend a girl (Jenny Lewis). When it becomes apparent that they need cash to move on, the trio discovers that Jimmy is a bonafide video game wizard, and they push themselves into a tournament.

My interest to see this movie stemmed from some recent video game history videos I stumbled across on Youtube (as such, it comes as no surprise to me that this movie is loaded with Nintendo propaganda). The Wizard has the distinction of being the first time any American had ever laid eyes on Super Mario Bros 3--prior to this, the game had been released and played all over Japan and it was rightfully hyped as a masterclass platformer. Couple that with a memorable "so bad it's good" scene where a rival kid shows off the Power Glove, and the film becomes a kitschy time capsule of Nintendo's highs and lows by the end of the decade.

If this movie was strictly about games and Nintendo, I would have been more invested. And this could have been easy for the film if it focused strictly on the tournament. Alas, it treats it as an ends rather than a means. Without indulging in the specific characteristics of what defines Jimmy as a "wizard," we're left with a rather lame melodrama about kids running away and avoiding adult problems. Right from the start, the film shoots its credibility in the foot as the two brothers somehow cross Death Valley without dying. To say nothing about the useless subplot in which a bounty hunter chases after these kids (with bumbling antics to ensue).

I see what the film's doing though. So-many years after movies like Rocky and The Karate Kid successfully showcased underdogs (and kids) building themselves up to become champions, The Wizard carbon-copies the plot structure expecting us to care about these lost underdog kids before proving themselves in a major championship. It doesn't really work because most of the film is more interested in showing how Jimmy is emotionally tormented (and is bullied in at least one scene) and exploring the trauma that makes him clam up as he does. But it does so in the framework of a chase film--one that seems cheaply shot all across California (and possibly Nevada or Utah, it all looks similar).

What's really odd about this flick is that the adult actors inject their performances with way more energy and camp than the kids, who play it pretty straight and serious. It becomes tonally weird--stiff in some places, goofy in others. Most of the money seems to be put in the few scenes that do feature video games, but it still amounts to nothing more than a room full of cheering kids in front of three or so screens. The film is competently shot and edited, for what it's worth. Every time an emotional moment is warranted, an 80s rock ballad kicks in, and I found it quite annoying.

I would have been six when this came out, and if I saw the film then I might have enjoyed it just fine. Even with an enthusiasm for the 80s and gaming culture, I can't really get invested in this as an adult--there's simply not enough gaming involved, and the actual meat of this story just doesn't work.

Oh, and those final championship scenes with Super Mario Bros 3? I was really distracted by how poorly these kids played it. Jimmy hesitates way too much and he could have gotten the warp whistle way earlier than the castle level. In fact, all these kids sucked at it. When I was ten, I could have pwned them all. For all that goes, here's a guy who beat most of the game in 10 minutes--he surpassed the scores in the movie within 30 seconds.

Also, screw the Power Glove. It's so bad.

4/10

Video Game Review: Maneater (2020)

So, they made a game where you play a shark. Cool!

Maneater is a small, short, single-player open-world RPG where you control a bull shark from cradle to grave. This isn't any old shark--its mama was caught and slain by a particularly brutish fisherman, whose antics are captured in cut-scenes that resemble a reality TV series. Left alone and disfigured, your shark has to eat everything it can until it grows and evolves into a vicious killer. Inevitably, you will have to face Scaly Pete again and take revenge.

The story is pretty sparse and does little to cover up the fact that you are indeed playing a shark that rampages all over beaches, boats, and docks to slaughter hundreds of innocent people. From a moral standpoint, the game is rather troubling (and can mere revenge really justify such an angsty, nihilistic power fantasy?).

But hey, if you overlook that aspect, the game is an absolute hoot. And it's easy to forgive the violence given how cartoony, colorful, and over-the-top this game becomes. Once you get past the opening phases and level up the shark, you'll reach a point where you can confront bigger predators of the sea. With enough chaos, you'll eventually attract hunters--if you overcome them, you unlock upgrades that can turn your shark into a more evolved monstrosity (including upgrades offering bone armor, electric teeth, or poisonous attacks--so much for biological realism). Boss fights become challenging, but the game rarely felt insurmountable. In a good ten, twelve, twenty hours, you can potentially max out your shark, beat every enemy, and finish every quest.

The things you do as a shark are rather limited--in each area, you're given tasks that must be fulfilled to satisfy certain requirements to unlock more of the story. Most of this amounts to simply eating a bunch of fish (or humans, *gasp!*). Exploration takes the edge off of the combat as you scour a lot of odd places, tunnels, and sewers for collectables. The open-world aspect of the game is what attracted me the most, and I found it modestly satisfying--but I can't deny that it has the potential to become repetitive and droll (but thankfully it's short and small compared to many other games).

Fighting as a shark is a hit-and-a-miss. It can be immensely fun (albeit frantic) to leap over boats, crush their hulls, and eat their gun-toting occupants. It's a lot less satisfying to fight other fish, gaters, and whales though. One particular Orca was an absolute pain even with full upgrades. The biggest issue is that your attacks are always one-dimensional--with your teeth. Maybe your bone fins and crushing weight can help, but it's easy to lose your prey if they swim out of the path of your jaws. You will need to keep swinging the camera around to track your surroundings and keep yourself from becoming hunted.

Few minor glitches introduced a few small headaches to the experience. Game crashes and frame rate drops can happen. If you're hunting for collectables, there is a chance the game won't count something (although trophy hunters should be aware that opening the gates between areas counts towards the trophy--it's not explicitly stated anywhere, I just found out first-hand when I opened a gate and the thing just popped). The biggest shortcoming to this game is, simply, it's shortness. Once it's done, there's little incentive to go back and revisit it (although this can be said about many open-world titles).

What I like the most is, simply, the flow of the game and how satisfying it was to skim the waters, eat some prey, and explore a cute little bayou. I overcame a few challenges, but they weren't all that terrible and the game takes very little time to master and complete. It all looks slick and the sound quality is decent. It's good fun for a few good days. If you like the open-world RPG type games, and have no qualms about playing a predatory animal, then this would be a fair recommendation. When it's on sale, that is.

7/10