Jump to content

cookie

Cookie Does Requests or Whatever (Cookie's Corner Y6) - Unlike Garfield, this thread doesn't hate Mondays

By cookie, in Create A Year Of Movies (CAYOM)

Recommended Posts

cookie Global Phenomenon

cookie

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, Spaghetti said:

Whatever happens, I accept my fate. If it doesnt work, I know I've had a lot of other strong hits. If it does, then that's out answer.

 

Either way, the time is nigh.

 

I am ready for your judgement, @cookie, and I stand with my head held high no matter what happens. Come hell or high water.

Not to distress you more or anything, but my review will probably take another hour or two.

 

(I swear, this is not an intentional troll)

Edited by cookie
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


cookie Global Phenomenon

cookie

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

Spark: A Hero's Promise

 

Spoiler
 
 
 
1
Spoiler

 

Where does thy begin with this one?

 

Hmm... let's start at the beginning:

  • Spark: Rising is a film I misjudged in my initial viewing. I gave it a B+, saying the first half is much stronger than the second, and while it still rings true that the first half is superior, I think in hindsight the overall package is one of the best blockbusters CAYOM's yet produced. Maybe I got so caught up in the Spark/Voltron rivalry at the time it kinda affected my grade a bit.
  • Spark: Homeward and it's... uh, interesting development is well documented, and while the final result isn't great, it's superior to the trainwreck it once was. Sorry, people who think Venchyllenhall is superior. He still sucks.
  • Spark: Beyond the Sky... yeah, sorry, I don't get why this is ranked higher than Homeward. It's just kind of a mess. And maybe the worst death scene in CAYOM. Why you gotta do Chiwetel like that?

 

Which brings us to the final chapter in what is still CAYOM 3.0's most iconic franchise. Does it tie the knot or does everything just unravel as we get to the finish line?

 

So remember when I made this slightly inflammatory post?

On 6/5/2019 at 12:15 AM, cookie said:

I'll be very curious to see how this gets reviewed.

Well, now the chicken's coming home to roost.

 

I'm not gonna comment on the word count because that would make me a hypocrite, but I do want to comment on the film's structure. If my Scavvies movies bite off more than they can chew — not that that is unfair criticism, I'm just saying if that idiom should apply to those, it should definitely apply to this.

 

(If the above paragraph makes me sound petty or jealous, I apologize. The intent is mainly to lead in to my larger point.)

 

I think the main issue is that, for a film that should be very concerned with wrapping up threads that have already been established, it introduces a few too many new elements in order to make that happen, and some of it are stretching it in terms of necessity. The entire detour in the first act becomes a bit too much, and while I love me some Scrooge McTennant his character is mostly extraneous, especially since he was never in any of the previous films. In fact I honestly think the entire Altren subplot is what causes a lot of the unnecessary bloat, especially since it ends up distracting from larger mainstays getting more satisfying wrap-ups, even in a movie that crosses the three-hour mark.

 

In fairness, juggling as many balls in the air as this movie does was never going to be easy, even without the extraneous bits. In terms of three-hour finales it doesn't feel as tightly knit as something like Return of the King or Avengers: Endgame, mostly because those movies worked with a three-act structure that kept their many elements running smoothly alongside each other. A Hero's Promise is more of a movie with four or even five acts, and so a lot of subplots either wrap up early or come in late — which isn't a deal-breaker, but it makes keeping track of everything a bit more difficult.

 

It honestly remind me of Green Lantern Corps last year where the entirely extraneous segment with Letitia Wright and Idris Elba, no matter how much I love them both, could've been cut out and the story would've been tighter for it. With that said, I still gave Green Lantern Corps a pretty positive grade in the end because it managed to entertain in spite of its bloat... and by this point @Spaghetti is probably hyperventilating so I'm going to cut to the chase and say that this film in spite of its flaws succeeds... for the most part.

 

I've been disappointed with the previous two Spark movies mainly because they lack the magic and wonder the first movie had, on top of their messy plotting. This one doesn't reach the first movie either, but it's the closest I've seen any of the sequels come so far, even if it shares a few of its predecessors' flaws (though nothing that actually made me go WTF like part three).

 

The various subplots, scattered as they are, are all executed serviceably at worst and some manage to stand out and become endearing little mini-stories on their own, prime example being the Perthena/Neshianu relationship. The main trio remains as fun as ever (though I'm still bummed Aera ended up with the short end of the stick. I was hoping she'd be a dark horse in this after getting shafted in part three. There is one moment that's bound to be a huge crowdpleaser, but it's not enough), I like the internal conflict Xevarre has the closer she gets to her victory, and Altren and Tennant... are again extraneous, but not terrible.

 

It did make me miss Ezen, Katherine and Beatrice, since they worked as parental figures for Alex to bounce off of, but them being absent is part of the theme of being thrown into an unstable situation with no one really able to guide you, and Alex's sibling-esque relationship with Mevino helps alleviate the gap a bit. I think Naryiani's (god, I'm never going to remember these names) redemption arc ends up half baked with both movies factored in, especially since she seems to just change state from Beyond the Sky to A Hero's Promise. Kozar is another victim of the extraneous arcs hampering the mainstays' character development — ever since Homeward I've felt his entire arc of tragedy and forgiveness was underdeveloped and now it gets sidelined by a new subplot of him feeling inadequate when his girlfriend/wife is the one doing all the hero business. It's an example of a subplot that comes in too late to really stick.

 

One wonders if the Spark franchise couldn't have used one more movie instead of having to wrap everything up in this one, but I'd again be hypocritical if I pretended to be Captain Hindsight. I still think that, for all its flaws, @Spaghetti has done something truly special with the Spark franchise, and I will myself admit I may have been too harsh on some of its elements (I still feel kinda bad for essentially breaking Homeward in half that late in the game, but what's done is done. Beyond the Sky is still the worst though and I stand by it... but it was written in three days because I blew it, so I do feel kinda bad about that one too).

 

And it's special because you can tell @Spaghetti cared. This series cannot be written by someone just half-assing it. It has heart, it has humor, it has drama, it has action and even a fair bit of suspense. The Spark franchise has a little bit of everything, and despite the flaws... it's been fun.

 

This review may seem more negative than it actually is to some (after this and Borassca, I hope that doesn't become a trend), and that's because the detriments were easier to elaborate on than the positives, but the truth is... good work, @Spaghetti. From a fellow space opera afficienado, let me give you a toast for taking CAYOM on this crazy ride. 

 

giphy.gif

 

B+

 

 

Final ranking:

 

  1. Rising
  2. A Hero's Promise
  3. Homeward (Egerton)
  4. Beyond the Sky
  5. Homeward (Gyllenhaal)

 

Edited by cookie
  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Ezen Baklattan Global Phenomenon

Ezen Baklattan

Posted
Posted (edited)
 

Honestly, I'm incredibly happy with this review. As weird as it sounds, maybe even happier than I would have been if it got a completely perfect score.

 


 

For one, let me start with this: I fully admit that I kind of bit off more than I could chew with this. It's not every franchise you see that adds so many characters and subplots in the final chapter. If there's one issue I had with bringing this "franchise" to life in CAYOM...it's that I wasn't sure if I wanted it to be a franchise in the first place. I had no idea where the endgame was gonna turn up after Rising, (Rising remains one of my most focused, sharpest works, IMO) and felt like by the time I had a stronger idea of the directions I wanted to take the characters, it was almost too late, hence why it feels like this film tries to pick up the slack by taking care of too many things that frankly should have been done in parts 2 and 3.

 

I'm not really gonna disagree with you on most of the smaller subplot points, but I respectfully disagree on Altren. I kinda intended her as a foil to Alex in that someone who only wants power over others, and how that dynamic plays out. Could have been executed a bit better, but a lot of characters were added to show off this larger scale (but again, you're right in that an extra movie wouldn't have hurt)

 

It's truly a BIG movie. Maybe bigger than I could have handled. Maybe thinking about it, the size isn't the problem so much as how it's all allocated. In a weird way, the big bombastic feel reminds me of a film from 2.0, Dawn of Oblivion. Some parts were undercooked and perhaps a bit overblown, but the vision, emotion, and splendor carries it through.

 

Looking at all of this, I think that Spark's iteration here definitely won't be the last. I legitimately want to turn it into something bigger, and the way this saga got kind of awkwardly shaped only points out how it can keep being improved.

 

Spark 4 is absolutely not a perfect film, and not even as strong as the vision that started it all, but it's a big, beautiful, messy, flawed little work, and I'm going to cherish how it turned out. I intended The Academy as a inspired product of Cloud Atlas, but in a weird way, see a bit more similarity here. Perhaps I got a little swept up in the whole thing. I tend to do that sometimes. But I'm not done with Alex Spark. Not yet.

 

Thank you so much for this, and thank you for the support on this journey. Even if parts weren't perfect, I'm so proud of this big, boisterous tale.

 

 

Edited by Spaghetti
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
4815162342 Global Phenomenon

4815162342

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, Spaghetti said:

Looking at all of this, I think that Spark's iteration here definitely won't be the last. I legitimately want to turn it into something bigger, and the way this saga got kind of awkwardly shaped only points out how it can keep being improved.

 

Oh shit

Link to comment
Share on other sites


cookie Global Phenomenon

cookie

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
32 minutes ago, Spaghetti said:
Spoiler

I'm not really gonna disagree with you on most of the smaller subplot points, but I respectfully disagree on Altren. I kinda intended her as a foil to Alex in that someone who only wants power over others, and how that dynamic plays out. Could have been executed a bit better, but a lot of characters were added to show off this larger scale (but again, you're right in that an extra movie wouldn't have hurt)

 

Spoiler
 
 
 
 
Spoiler

I think if there was another movie after this that dynamic wouldn't be seen as bloat to me, but given that the focus really should've been on Xevarre and the intricacies of the Soltarans at this stage, that power struggle ended up distracting more than it enhanced the conflict. That's just my opinion, though.

 

Edited by cookie
Link to comment
Share on other sites


Ezen Baklattan Global Phenomenon

Ezen Baklattan

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, cookie said:
Spoiler
  Reveal hidden contents

 

That's a fair point.



 

Writing this in the shadow of Avengers: Endgame also felt like it had some effect. (At least in terms of finale structure, I deliberately wrote the plot before watching EG so I could ensure it had it's own identity). It's not exactly like The Odyssey or LOTR where the endgame is set up immediately from the first film nor is it like the MCU, which had over 20 movies to map out its world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites








cookie Global Phenomenon

cookie

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, Spaghetti said:

@cookie any chance you'll beware the kitten holy today?

I'm currently reading Mass Effect, then once I've reviewed that will re-read Most Wanted Man so that I can get all my details in order. Unless something goes wrong I should be able to squeeze in Lumberjanes tonight.

Edited by cookie
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites












Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Guidelines. Feel free to read our Privacy Policy as well.

  I accept