Previously, on Angel, Angelus did some pretty clever work, with one key flaw, killing the Beast and almost taking Faith too. I had some respect for our evil friend, therefore. However, after watching this episode, it almost completely evaporated — thanks not only to some atrocious dialogue but also to David Boreanaz’s decision to overact insanely when speaking to the disembodied evil-Cordy voice. These scenes in particular were painful to watch, with the exception of when Cordy taunted Angelus with his coexistence with Angel, which was a nice point. Does an impressive, somewhat ancient vampire go to pubs to brag about how cool he is? I wouldn’t have thought so. His cunning plan to beat up some random shopkeeper until he told him who the Beast’s master was seemed just a little poor also.

While we’re talking about evil people, let’s briefly consider Cordy, or ‘the Beastmaster’ as everyone seems to have decided is a good name. Well, they managed to pick the Beast’s name, as well as the Powers that be, so they probably figure they’re onto a good thing here. I hope she turns out to be Loretta instead. I was shocked this episode to find out that while Cordy’s ‘evil’ voice is lame, the voice she used inside Angelus’ head is actually lamer.

But don’t think this week didn’t have it’s redeeming features. If you’d said the words ‘Faith’ and ‘Shower’ to me before watching, I’d have been awfully excited about this episode — especially if you’d also added ‘Willow’, ‘Fred’ and ‘Bubbles’. However this scene turned out to be something quite different, and gave a good, wordless insight into the struggles that Faith is dealing with. A lot of the best moments came from this struggle, as well as her relationship with Wesley, most notably in their heated discussion behind the demon pub. Continuity with their previous relationships with each other and with Angel was impressively maintained, and the characters benefited from it. Wesley trying to get Faith ‘in the game’ was an amusing inversion of Faith’s similar demands of Angel in season one’s ‘Five by Five’.

Gunn and Fred were vaguely interesting — I can’t work out whether their kiss was the first of a new relationship, or the last of their old one. Although I found Fred’s continuing dismay that she — a fairly weak mortal — wasn’t able to take down a centuries old vampire in close combat rather puzzling. Connor in a few scenes managed to show some charisma and interest — ironically this was always stymied by dull scenes with Charisma Carpenter. Was his self-inspection the funniest and most endearing side we’ve ever seen of him? I’d say so. Lorne continues to be a welcome, and uniquely happy presence, but with little character development so far this season.

The episode ended of course with a pretty impressive fight scene — one of Angel‘s best to date — that particularly dealt with Faith’s questions of who and what she is. In the end, this week we got an intense, emotional episode concerning aggression and control… spliced together with some of the most boring and cringe-inducing stuff the show has ever done.

Unfortunate, that.

About to go to bed feeling unproductive as usual, with not nearly enough time to sleep before I have to work again. Will undoubtedly sleep in my break tomorrow and possibly attempt to run away from the legions of Agent Smiths chasing me in Enter the Matrix. Why can’t I play Neo damn it? Actually my Gamecube isnt being played much at all, and I feel bad when I do. So many little projects I couldn be working on, and for the moment, not enough time.

In a few weeks things will return to some form of normality — meaning I will be working a mere six days a week! Im actually very stoked about this. Days off are brilliant things, although at the same time its not like I have anything better to do. Not really, except maybe find out where to buy some more Sweet Chilli sauce.

Sleep tight.

Well, it turns out that Windows 2000 can access the .Mac iDisk as well. So now I have yet another thing I can do while avoiding the endless grind of putting survey data in the computer. It’d be more fun except that they’re all a bit negative.

I’m reading the text of Arcadia as I need to review a play in detail for my ‘Writing Scripts’ assessment. It’s just as funny when reading, though I have a hard time getting the actors out of my head. A blessing in some cases, a curse in others…

Having decided that neither ‘Chosen’ nor Season Seven in general is a suitable end to Buffy, I’m now left with the task of working out where the show DOES end. The alternatives are:

Season 3: The show is therefore only a show about high school, but doesn’t really end on an important emotional note — the characters don’t really learn anything about themselves.

Season 4: Ends with ‘Restless’, which is almost reason enough to stop the series here. The characters drift apart, then come together to defeat their enemy.

Season 5: Cons — highly crap for large stretches, with stupid things like Glory and those dumb knights running around. Pros — it does contain the death of Joyce, Spike’s backstory, and ‘The Gift’, which has that cool flashback-ey “Previously, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

I’m leaning towards 4, but 5 is a much rounder number.

This looks like Live Journal mark 2, and combined with TAOKJ season two, it really is the year of the sequel yet it’s been a rough transition back into the writing daily episodes thingy combined with a real work load this semester and a terminal case of laziness and a site manager who insists that everything be one long sentence which is a crazy choice of grammatical style that he’s picked but I think that I shall cope, but for now, I’ve stuff to do.

There’s a few things I really need to get out of the way first, otherwise this review will never get anywhere: Damn, Wesley is a great character. Well done to Alexis Denisof and the writers for making him the most real and believable character in the Buffy and Angel Universe.[ftn] The quiet speaking at the start. His discussion of love with Lilah. His moment of decision to save Angel, and knowing just who to call in to help. Brilliant stuff.

Now to the rest of it. Myeeeeeh. Evil Cordy is not really as much fun as the words look on paper. Let’s face it, when Cordy was schoolgirl-evil in season one of Buffy, she was great to watch. I really feel that perhaps this would have worked better if Charisma Carpenter had decided to play this as a twisted version of her former self, all bright and bouncy. There would be the risk of being a second Glory there — but anything’s better than Little Miss Soft ‘n’ Regular Speaking. Every scene she’s in makes me want to go to sleep, and as Connor tends to share them, I’m losing the enthusiasm I was building for his character. Not a terribly exciting twist at the end there.

I’ve handled the best and the worst, let’s look to the middle. Eliza Dushku makes a very welcome return as Faith. A more restrained individual than the one that we last saw, she retains her strength, while holding to some firm, incompromisable values. One of these is Angel, and her desire to save him — if she gets the chance then it’ll be a nice way to round off her character’s arc on Angel. She’ll have to try a bit harder than she did this week though.

We see a more clever and calculating side to Angelus this week — though sadly this is undermined slightly by his bungle with the sun. Still, I can imagine him deliberately ignoring the possibility that killing the Beast would return the sun simply because that’s what Angel thought would happen. But his plan to kill the Beast, get closer to the Beast’s master, and kill Faith into the bargain was a good one. His short phone call to Dawn was a nice touch also.

When not around Cordy, Connor was quite enjoyable — I liked the almost instantaneous crush he developed on Faith! It makes his subsequent baby-induced thrall to Cordy all the more tragic. This boy just seems to bounce around from one controlling liar to another.

Things to ponder… Is this still Cordy? Or just someone walking around in her body? And if she’s happy about the pregnancy, can we conclude that the bonking was part of her evil plan, and not in fact as bizarre as it initially seemed?

Footnotes

1. If I ever use the words ‘Buffyverse’ or ‘Jossverse’ you can kill me where I stand.

A Willow episode this week. That’s right, it looks like it’ll be more poor old Willow. Still hasn’t got over Tara. I sympathise with ratgirl in some ways. Willow did turn evil and attempt to destroy the world yet she’s still accepted as good. Ratgirl who pissfarts about being a little bit evil all the time is shunned and doesn’t get to hang out with the good guys at all. Andrew, who only went over to the dark side to pick up a few things and came back, is only in the group under sufferance, although this could be because he’s a nerd. While on the topic of Andrew, what was that phrase ‘weird with a beard’ a few episodes back about? His lame attempts to fit into the group are holding the season up as far as I’m concerned. Three nerds was a bit much but one seems about right.

Mind you, it’s not like Willow became powerful overnight. Ratgirl was a rat for a few seasons and it was during that time that Willow really increased her powers, so she’d must have got a fair bit of practice in during that time. Perhaps Willow has plenty of potential whereas ratgirl’s going to be crap forever.

Willow doesn’t appear to have done much mourning over Tara yet. She’s still hanging on to her memory as if she’s alive. I don’t why, it’s not like Tara was a very exciting character. Kennedy seems much more interesting despite coming on so strong. The bar scene seemed odd, with Willow defensive and confused and Kennedy flirting big time. Willow’s Tara this and Tara that all of a sudden, probably all the alcohol.

Despite this the end scene wasn’t too bad. Kennedy was confused about Willow switching back and forth being Warren sorry for Tara’s death and being Willow sorry for the feeling of betraying Tara’s memory by kissing Kennedy and having to let go of Tara.

Naturally, Kennedy decides the best solution is to kiss Willow, which sets everything right and they go have some ‘tea’. As for the others, Buffy’s fighting is still sub-par and I don’t think we can hope for Spike to die before the end of the season. I could have been worrying about Giles had I not seen a spoiler, and I feel sorry for him if no-one’s hugged him since he came back.

After last week’s dismal effort, the only way is up. Thankfully, it’s a big jump up. It’s back to the classic “I’ve got a big problem but I’m not going to tell anyone. I can solve it myself.” plots.

It’s nice to finally see the potentials are into some training, even if it is only Buffy training them. She drones on and on and on about trusting your instincts. Nearly ruined the entire episode by herself. She’s still into big speeches, and dramatic gestures. She just loves the attention. While Buffy goes on and on about being special, the potentials may have tuned out but the point is hammered home into Dawn very well. It looks like this will be a Dawn episode, but don’t switch off now in disgust, I’ve told the truth about this being a half decent episode so it’s worth watching until the end.

Back to the training. "This is the bar. If you’re unsure how to kill the bad guy and the rest of the gang has found nothing in the books then this is where you come. Just beat everyone up until someone tells you the answer. Trust your instincts." I’m glad the wrinkly demon isn’t as lame as I thought he was.

On to the crypt. “This is a crypt. Look out for vampires. Trust your instincts. Blah blah blah. Disturbing reference to my relationship with Spike. Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself and so on. Good luck with the vampire.” I guess it was too much for them to die to that vamp but at least now they have some practical experience.

The Dawn plot was in typical Buffy style. Here’s a new character with a problem. Buffy tries to scare her away with some incessant babbling about her own issues but the new girl wouldn’t give up that easily. Dawn manages to work herself up a lot about nothing. The others unknowningly insult her within her hearing range, except for nice guy Xander who is on her side. Time to run away.

Well, well well. It’s new girl again. I thought it was odd that she could dodge the vamp but since she’s apparently a potential she probably used those slayer reactions they keep talking about. Dawn’s very willing to go fight vamps. She’s must be confident in her non-existent slayer abilities. Obviously seen how easy it is for Buffy to kill vamps.

It’s all wrapped up nicely with a touching scene between Xander and Dawn. Dawn’s having some trouble going from an ordinary teenager to the key to a nobody to a potential and back to a nobody. Dawn doesn’t like being a ordinary but she’s relieved that she’s not a potential. The group’s still close despite recent tension and everyone focusing on their own issues.

On the comic side of things, Andrew’s inability to fit into the group gives plenty of chance for comic potential with some help from Anya. The whole Dawn plot was a great change from the previous focus on potentials and Buffy, making this episode nearly self contained and a relief from the serial nature of this season so far.

“Remember that thing about they share the same blood or whatever.”
“Yeah, I never got that.”

I’d like to start by declaring that I’m a big big fan, so there maybe a slight bias in this review. It blew me away when I saw it. Action films generally get the adrenaline up, but this one was so much more. It contained all the right ingredients that I like in a movie. Science fiction, action, adventure, kung-fu, a little romance and some religious overtones. These things alone don’t necessarily guarantee a great film as the plethora of bad sci-fi demonstrates, but they help. The special effects, plot and camera work really make it stand out above the rest.

It’s easy to see why it appeals to so many people. The main character is a computer nerd who finds out that the world isn’t real, learns kung-fu, gets some cool sunnies and a coat, dodges bullets and gets the girl. Sounds like every geek’s dream. It’s unfortunate that they then try to be cool by buying long coats and jackets, thereby devaluing the coolness of the long coats in general.

Anyhoo, I came out stunned. I’m not a Keanu fan and his acting here is hardly award worthy, but it suffices. It does have a nice contrast with the rest of the actors. His main expression is a mixture of surprise and disbelief, compared with Morpheus’s self belief and zeal. Admittedly, he does get hit with a few big revelations, but a little more range of expressions wouldn’t have hurt.

The script is definitely cult. There are a few standard cliches but these are mixed with some really cool lines. This results in nearly the entire movie being a series of quotes. Morpheus even gets thunder after some of his lines.

One of the enjoyable parts while watching it for the first time was the ambiguity of the good guys at the start of the film. Trinity kills a group of cops in the first scene and Morpheus’s instructions that the only escape is down the scaffolding seems crazy and delusional. These hardly seem like the actions of the good guys. Neo has to choose a side in a war he knows nothing about. Of course, when the agents stick the bug in his belly button, Neo’s already chosen his side. He wasn’t very keen on the establishment in the first place. This is where the lack of any idea of what the film is about helped. Although there are no shades of gray here, there’s plenty of mystery at the start.

The action and special effects are ground breaking. CGI has made a lot of progress recently and this is one of the best. The rotating camera and slow motion have been imitated many times demonstrating it’s success.

One of my favourites is the end of the sequence after Morpheus is rescued where Neo sees the helicopter about to crash and knows what to do. I get shivers down my spine from the excitement, or possibly because I watch it late at night in the cold. Neo is better than most action heroes, because he gets to perform super cool moves. Because he’s the one, he can do pretty much anything, unlike a lot of action movies where the hero does something lame or unbelievable at the end of the movie. It’s much more satisfying to have the hero using different physical rules.

One of the subtler effects is the different lighting effects. The matrix usually has a green tint to it. This is just one of the many touches that make this film great. Another of these is the very sad scene where Switch and Apoch die. They were given enough character to make you care about them. It was very sad for them to get so far and then die like that.

I’ll admit that this film has a couple of rough edges. Aside from Keanu, there are a couple of plot holes that weren’t fully explained, but I’m quite happy to gloss over them. Also, the matrix idea isn’t entirely original, but it’s very close. Some reviewers complained about this a lot but it’s nearly impossible to have a completely original sci-fi plot. There’s likely to be some sort of borrowing of ideas, even if it is only subconscious. I think it’s a fantastic idea and I don’t know if they’ll be able to top it in the sequel. One other problem I have is that there was a couple of irritating exposition moments where the term EMP was explained. I know the general audience is daft and needs to have these things explained to them, but I would have thought Neo would already know these terms. I’d like to see a 1940’s film where they explain radar or laser.

“I’ve got a Messerschmitt on the radar coming in fast”
“Radar?”
“Yes, it’s this new radio detection and ranging machine that we can detect stuff far away with.”

But these are minor points. This is a fantastic film that everyone should love and if someone hates it, beat them until they’re converted. Especially those reviewers who didn’t like it when it came out (a too far fetched plot was a common complaint), yet now say it is a classic and bag the sequel for exactly the same problem.

Sequels are always worse than the original, as anyone will tell you. Then they’ll sit there for a bit, before saying: “except for Empire Strikes Back… and The Godfather II.” Those two may come in a different order depending on the person’s relative geekiness. So it’s not a hard and fast rule — but often the creative minds who came up with the initial film just can’t quite find enough new ideas in time that will sit nicely in their created universe.

X2 doesn’t have this problem. Chiefly because, there’s a gazillion X-Men comics out there to choose from. If we ever see an X-Men film that’s short on ideas, then we’ll know that the script writers weren’t being terribly clever. That isn’t the case here. With a plot drawn in part from a classic old X-Men comic that I can’t seem to find the name of, X2 packs in a lot more plot than it’s predecessor — yet still manages, for the main, to juggle a crazy amount of characters, developing almost all of them nicely. This makes it hard to review, so I’ll just pick a few characters that particularly appealed, rather than cycling through all of those crazy mutants.

The film seems to start off a few months after the first film. The consequences of that experience are still being felt, which is a nice touch. Jean Grey feels a little peculiar ever since ‘the Liberty Island Incident’. Wolverine’s off using the information the Professor gave him, Rogue and Bobby are starting a relationship, and Magneto’s still cooling his heels in his plastic prison. Something seems to have removed Storm’s dodgy Jamaican accent, too, which is a relief. Into this mix comes a man with a vendetta against all mutants, and the power to put it into effect — Major Stryker.

Director Bryan Singer presumably knows he’s onto a good thing with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine. The plot again runs fairly closely (though not exclusively) to his character, and we see him get uncomfortable hints as to his origins, which Jackman handles very nicely. Also, of course, his action is pretty insane — from the berzerking defence of the school to his later, rather more painful one-on-one battle.

Ian McKellen (The Lord of the Rings) is absolutely fabulous as Magneto. Given far more to work with than in the previous film, he uses it all, being regretful, vengeful, camp, sleazy and tempting at the drop of a hat. Every scene with Magneto is a joy to watch — especially his awesome escape from his prison. His cohort Mystique — played by Rebecca Romijn-Stamos — also gets much more to do — acting independently from anyone else she manages some impressive detective work. And of course any males in the audience will enjoy her that little bit more — especially when she spends some time imitating a woman that looks suspiciously like the stunning actor/model. That phrase — “actor/model” — needn’t strike fear in your heart on this occasion: Stamos actually gives an emotional, sexy performance, revealing a strong heart to Mystique as she talks with Nightcrawler.

Jean Grey gets some interesting things to work with, as she begins to become rather more than the slightly scared telekinetic she was in the first film. In fact, all the X-Men are far more confident here, presumably from having won the day at Liberty Island. It’s a nice development.

The ‘X-Kids’ — Rogue, Iceman and Pyro — get a bit more to do here, and are surprisingly enjoyable. Sadly their plotline fades out towards the second half of the film, meaning Rogue especially gets far less focus than Anna Paquin deserves. Iceman’s dealings with his family are nicely handled — to fit such a personal moment inside an action film is a peculiar but very welcome touch — and Shaun Ashmore does good work with Bobby/Iceman. Hopefully he’ll get to be an X-Man soon… Another potential X-Man is Nightcrawler, sympathetically played by Alan Cumming (Goldeneye), with one of the most useful mutant powers ever.

Stryker (played by Brian Cox) is a suitably irritating villain, who has an evil plan that actually makes sense. I mean it — if you had a good sit down, having seen the first film, and thought evil thoughts, I reckon you could come up with it yourself. This gives the film a much more solid foundation than it’d have if Stryker was just using ‘Huge Death Ray #2’.

I feel that I’ve hardly scratched the surface, and yet I’ve already babbled on far too long. This alone is surely reason enough to see the film — you definitely feel like you’ve gotten your money’s worth. Even if some bits are too corny, some too emotional and some a little cliched, there’s so much of it that there’s always something around the corner for you to enjoy more.

The direction — apart from making what could have been a messy jigsaw of a film into what feels like a cohesive tale — is also pretty exciting at times. Notable moments include Nightcrawler’s dynamic first scene and Magneto’s escape. In later parts there’s just a few too many corridors for my liking — but there’s a slight sense of claustrophobia to go with it that almost makes up for it.

This review sounds like a rave, and to some extent it is — I came out grinning the way I do from a particularly exciting Angel episode, or Bond film. The film’s major drawback, however, is that it doesn’t try hard enough in places to be more than that. The multitudinous character list and plot leaves little room for thematic depth, and one is left with a slightly hollow feeling at the end. X2 is deeper than your average action film — but it’s still straight character development rather than anything clever or philosophical. And it’s probably got one or two more endings than it really needs.

But it is immensely enjoyable, and shows tremendous promise for a series of movies to rival Bond for enduring appeal. With new mutants popping up all the time, there seems no reason why the saga can’t continue on film for many years.