wiseguyro

Don't believe the very negative user reviews you'll read. Trust the critics on this one.

While you can find fault with a couple of things here and there, this is a gripping, suspenseful, bloody action movie.

It's well shot, it has strong characters in the brother-sister duo(the dog is also pretty much a lead), a gorgeous setting, and a new, interesting take on the Predator(a precursor to the modern ones, this one is a bit more primal).

I saw The Predator(2018) in a theater. It was mediocre. Wish I could have seen this one on the big screen instead.

I had to bring up Crank because the similarities are definitely intentional: this is an R rated, single syllable titled, hyper violent, potty mouthed action movie with an English lead. Though it would have served it better to really go for the extremes the same way Crank did.

It's entertaining enough, with a script that had some fun ideas and turns, but most of the good stuff was underdeveloped. Probably would have fared better with a better director. Still, the cast is good(always fun to see Stanley Tucci) and the action is decent.

For the less than 90 minute runtime, this is a pretty enjoyable waste of time.

In summary, humanity chooses 13 champions from all of history to battle 13 gods from all the pantheons(though mostly Greek and Norse gods, which is a slight disappointment) so that they don't get exterminated, in an arena filled with all the gods and all the historical figure cameos you can think of.

Important note: if you're getting excited about watching the fights, stop right there! This is much more about the setting, the characters (a lot of backstory flashbacks) and the spectator discussion/reaction, than about the fights themselves.

This is a middle of the road anime, featuring every type of anime cliche, quick and weirdness you can think of(horny grandpa Zeus, ultra-busty Aphrodite, surprising table turns during fights, forced sentimentality, 10 minute fights stretched to 2-3 episodes, on screen character titles, etc), as well as looking like it was born out of a mix and match process from other titles(anime or not).

You get the mythical characters from the Fate series, the arena fighting of many, many series (let's mention Dragon Ball), but given we're talking humans vs. Gods with high stakes, this feels more like Mortal Kombat, I even swear one flashback sequence of an episode was an homage of sorts to Attack on Titan(the imagery is too close to it to be a coincidence), and so on.

The animation is so-so, the story is blah, but there are some nice themes/ideas explored here(one example being the pairing, for a fight, of a god that thinks he's born perfect, with a human that has spent his life and afterlife trying to get better at something), but nothing gets to be expanded, it's all just on the surface.

At times, I felt they specifically tried to do a parody, but a lot of times that feeling gets undercut by other elements. If they had leaned into that aspect more, it would have been a better overall experience. As it stands, this is not a complete waste of time, but if you want something that will thrill you, there are many other, better titles to choose from.