Reviews

I loved the original Road house. It was one of my favourite movies growing up. Of course a sensitive thing to reboot a classic like that, but honestly, I just liked that they tried. Especially because Gyllenhaal is in It, which I thought was a very good cast.

And, to my surprise, they actually did a really good job. They modernised It a bit to make It stand on Its own more and not "just" a 1:1 retelling. They also took a different approach. It's really more the "yeah, I knock you down" kind of vibe, where the original was just as much about the people. I didn't mind that more simplified approach. It was done well. And Gyllenhaal really delivered in this role. I liked the build-up of his character, the mystery of his history. Which makes you think he doesn't like violence and then learn he's just afraid of himself because he loves violence so much.

But, I have one big issue with It. If the bad guy only wanted the land and get them out of the bar, what stopped them from just burning It down in the first place? I feel that's a huge plot hole in the writing that brought the rating down.

Also the cast of McGregor Is sort of funny I guess, but men, he really couldn't carry this role. I didn't like what he brought.

The first 6 episode season was near perfect. The world they create Is epic and offered a plethora of opportunities to explore in this zombie post-apocalyptic world.

So, super excited for season 2 of course. You have all these opportunities to pursue and what do we get? A son gets shot in a hunting accident and staying at a farm. Right, ok. That's the best you can do?

The worst part of season 2 is the character development and the writing. It's more like a tea-party soap with a zombie theme. It just doesn't create that same sense of realism.

Also I'm just not very interested in the main characters. Often all I feel Is, sure, die. If that's how you think. There's no realism you'd even survive If you behave like that. They do so many silly things.

I.e. They send 2 people to get stuff, Lori panics right after for no apparent reason and she decides to go there too, alone. Of course reading a map while driving, hitting a zombie, crashing and o o o, what a suspense.

Or silently entering buildings knowing the zombies respond to noise, so It's just easier to knock before you go In. It is full with all these silly things you wouldn't do.

I have no sympathies for the main characters with only a few exceptions (I.e. Daryll, Dale). But 1 is even a bigger jerk than the other.

So, yes, disappoint with S2 comparing It to S1. At times so annoyed by the writing and timing of things I almost decided to just stop watching. But of course, the need to know what will happen next trumps that. Hershel enters the stage, a nice positive Also because the make-up department and production level is just top-notch. So 3 thumbs up for their work!

Season 3 started out quite decent actually, only to fall in those same traps again in the second half. Dumb decisions, weird plot developments, stretched out storylines and no sympathies for most of the characters. Michonne enters the stage, that's a nice surprise. So It wasn't all bad.

Somewhere, just before the end of season 3 I gave up though. It just wasn't like the first season anymore and I was getting quite sure now It wouldn't get better. Too many annoyances to still enjoy It.

But, now, many years later, I'm binge watching It again with my wife. She loves It, although she's also experiencing the same things. She's just a bit more forgiving than me I guess.

So, finally, I've made It to season 4 :-) And what do you know? It's the best season since S1 because they now finally start to behave like humans in a zombie world. They now knock before entering buildings to name 1 of many things they finally start to utilise. It took them 3 seasons to figure that out. Hershel dies and adds to the drama and seriousness of the world, since they approach everything so serious without much humour, you have to make It gritty like that.

Their more logical human nature and consequence of their actions now starts to create more character immersion. The way they die is still a bit odd at times though.

Season 5 is surprisingly even better than S4. The conflict on what's right or wrong, the things they do, the chaos, the psyche, the doubt and after Hershel's dead in S4 there's more good people dying. Not that I like that, but that's exactly the point. It makes you feel It's more "real" and nobody is safe. You get more immersed.

Season 6 continues in this form. More of the same, but mostly good stuff. A bit repetitive by now though. And the ending is quite weak.

Leading into S7 though, wow! Now we're talking. That first episode, even though It's very stretched out, Is like Game of Thrones red wedding style. Now we're talking. This is tense, dark and sickening, but men, It's so immersive and intriguing. It's not pleasant, they are on the other side of things now and you can just feel the pain.

The build-up to the revolution is of course what we all hope for, but they can't deliver. The season finale is a bit of a mess, especially with that built up anger. And It's a sign, because Season 8 is just terrible. What were they thinking? The writing is so bad! And the logistics don't make sense. The whole weapons and ammunition thing was always a mess to be honest, but now It's about numbers (people). A big theme now apparently, which party has the numbers to win. And the numbers go all over the place like It doesn't matter. They just write without thinking with parties and roles that don't need to be there, actions that are simply retarded and therefor just a drag to watch.

Luckily It picks up again in S9 with a decent level. A bit of a reset, some refreshment in the story helps a lot. It feels like the next stage in their life with some new dynamics. Halfway now. It's good, but as always, the second half Is always a bit of a letdown. So fingers crossed.

It's all hits and misses with this show. Entertaining, sure, most of the time and with certainly good peaks, but men, also such lows.

So, what made Justified so cool? The backwoods characters, great acting, a fierce but just Raylan with some anger management issues charming the wrong (and hot) women. It was just a superb show. Sad It ended, so happy to hear of this continuation.

Yet, what do we get? A domesticated sweet Raylan that fights characterless bad guys in a new environment of woke focused baloney.

His (real) daughter is not convincing at all! She's just annoying. It's that 101 bad "family" writing "24" and "Breaking bad" also managed to do and Is far from how their characters would behave in a real-world situation. So, the whole reason Raylan wants to change is already unbelievable.

Then we get a love story that has zero chemistry at all and contradicts everything Raylan has shown so far as a character. It's all about wokism again instead of making a real impact by creating something believable and realistic. It's the whole character combo that doesn't make sense at all. My colored wife agrees. So, It's not about that. It's just highly annoying If an agenda gets pushed instead of telling a proper story.

There's also no context at all that Raylan may be tired and has therefor changed. It just happens.

The "bad guy" actors play well, but the writing of their behaviour and the complete randomness of things just doesn't give much purpose or drive to the whole storytelling. It's just bad writing.

Everything what made Justified different and special has been replaced by a run-of-the-mill B-level cop show from the 90's.

The real story they are telling: the world is changing to an inclusion society. Not based on merit, just on a superficial ideal that achievement doesn't matter, but It's all about appearance. You see, even Raylan, a white man of power, can change to the complete opposite and now likes women that are totally different. That's life, right? We are all a blank template and have the ability to become something totally different If we want to? Character doesn't exist, just looks?

Well, thanks for that exhilarating message. I'm a different man now. All you achieve with this BS is the opposite actually. Just pure annoyance. At least tell a proper story with meaningful characters to make your "change". It's so forced upon It's just sickening.

And I love everybody, gay, fat, black etc, I honestly don't care how you "look", It's all about content, are you a nice person or not? That's what It should be about. And yes, that includes equal opportunity, but still based on skill and merit. Maybe we're some way of to achieve that, but crap like this is not the way you make a change. It's only what makes you look weak and purely suggestive instead of making a meaningful point.

I had high hopes for this one after all the raving reviews & ratings. The beginning is very one-liner driven, to set that "cool vibe", but I had a hard time getting into It. It was pasted on a bit too thick. Maybe It was also because "one-liner" is too much credit and It's more "one-word" driven, mostly "Yeaaah" in a slow fashion.

Sure, sort of cool, in a way only Keanu can do It, but It didn't grasp me in the way It should. It was all a bit too empty and simplistic in dialog and storytelling. It lacked something catchy.

And then the action started. Initially sort of cool, but nothing we haven't seen before in earlier Wick's. Too be honest, I thought the first fighting scenes were a bit lacklustre and had some technical quirks I noticed in flow and continuity.

Then past half way of nothingness suddenly stuff started to happen that tickled my interest. The action scenes became more creative and definitely including some next-level stuff. Man, some scenes, like the top down scene and the car dancing on the roundabout was kind of epic in visuals. What let It down was the amount of falls, crashes and hits Wick endured and was still dancing around. I mean, sure, you can exaggerate somewhat in a movie like this, but this was insane. It takes away all credibility of Wick and the franchise to be honest. Especially because all the bad guys endured much less to be knocked down.

That reached and epic level on the stairs when he endured even more bad stuff. Sure, sort of creative and entertaining but also getting tedious and annoying at this point. It was that constant push and pull of silliness and cool stuff that made my mind go in all directions to finally settle on a 6. It was sort of entertaining, but It also is another excellent example that without proper storytelling and suspense any great action scene just feels empty.

To me the first Wick was still the revolution and the rest just went downwards with every sequel. Although this 4th one was better than the 3rd at least, in my book. The first one introduced that cool new way of closed pistol fighting mixed with martial arts. The 4th continued on that and delivered some cool scenes, but the rest just fell flat sadly.

The first few episodes were quite promising. I thought the initial cast was interesting. Especially Paddy Considine (the king) surprised me on how well he could carry the role. Milly Alcock was intriguing as well as Rhaenyra, the princess.

And then episode 6 happened. A 10 year jump with randomly some "older" cast, mixed with the same actors, nearly not aged at all.

From that point on I lost interest. Emma D'Arcy couldn't deliver as the older Rhaenyra and some of the other new cast also felt like a downgrade.

Not just that, It's also the moment that, considering such a long timespan the story takes place, you start to notice how one-dimensional the show Is. It becomes a bit soapy. GoT had a surplus in races, traits and storylines going on, all in a somewhat chaotic but inspiring cocktail to build up suspense and intrigue.

This still has the look and feel, but not the content.

It had a few highlights after that which made me somewhat come back to It, but I'm not super impressed. I hoped on a bit more, maybe not to the epic level as GoT, but a bit closer to It. I don't know what to think of It actually. The keyword that seems to come up is mostly "whatever". I guess, that's how I feel after watching this: a whatever show.

A well produced show that struggles a bit offering meaningful storytelling or developing plots, but gets saved by Paul Walter Hauser who's definitely the star of this show. Also Ray Liotta shines (RIP) in his role. Too bad that the relationship between him and Jimmy stayed a bit trivial and therefor flat.

This is the issue with the whole show. The FBI agents just wonder around, being stuck. There's not much context about the risk he's taking with the deal. Apparently he's stuck there once in with almost no help. Sure, It is what It is, but a bit more contextual information would have increased the tension then. Same with the whole deal with the guard and the mob he has relations too. In one scene he's about to die, the next It's all good and he still has time. It just felt a bit off in the storytelling here.

I also didn't find Taron Egerton that appealing and convincing as Jimmy connecting to Larry. I found his acting the weakest link.

But then the biggest let-down is how the hell did he catch Larry in the end? Because he knew he folded the clothes? The same confession Larry already made but gets dismissed as a confession under duress, now becomes valid because an undercover criminal heard him say It. Hearsay?

I'm sure there must be a valid legal reason that qualifies, but, again, I'd liked to have a bit more context here in "what" caught him. All we got was "you got him Jimmy" because he knew about the clothes. Maybe I missed something here ...

Anyway, good and entertaining show, but with some issues here and there. But Paul Walter Hauser truly made this show memorable.

The film-noir-ish Tokyo setting adds flair to this show. It gives It that unique vibe. Cast & acting is excellent. Especially knowing that many of them had to learn Japanese.

I find the characters and relationships interesting and I'm generally engaged in the story. It moves somewhat slow and the storyline is nothing special under that layer of flair though, but It's intriguing.

That changed mostly in the last episode, which really felt rushed suddenly with Samantha just deciding to trade all her cash reserves based on intel of a guy that she knew was really unreliable. Having been told a story of how careful, methodical and smart she Is that felt like a big let-down.

Then you see "why" they just wrote that in, just to tie story markers together with losing the character's credibility as a result.

Very disappointed ending of the first season. I hope they can manage better storytelling in the second season, because It has so many interesting ingredients.