gogul1

Big fan of the TV series. Their Christmas Special in a yearly tradition for me. When this film first released I missed it in the cinema. So as soon as it came out on DVD I nabbed it assured I was in for another 90 minutes of Royston Vasey madness. Sad to say I was disappointed. The opening scene put me immediately on edge. If it had opened as per the tv show and then led to the Meta cross-world jumping it may have not been such a terrible ride but to cold open in the real world didn't sit right with me. We should have at least had time with the regulars before shaking up the formula so starkly. As it is, it took me nearly 20 years to finish watching it. So finally decided to give it a full watch and there were some actually humorous bits but overall felt rushed and strangely empty. The sound design didn't help as it made everyone's voice sound a tad "off" (like everyone was a little "squeaky"). The editing also felt a little strange, like nothing had time to breath. I was actually interested in the 17th century scenes and felt if this had been a LoG anthology film with the "meta" story as a wraparound it wouldn't have been too bad. I accept they don't want things to get stale and wanted to try something new but this was a step too far IMO. Not enough Royston Vasey and their mad dark world (which is what we want).

It's definitely an acquired taste and even hardcore fans will struggle to adjust to it.

NRNS3 has some of the best Hong Kong Style action from a western based movie we'd up to this point (1990). Both Keith and Loren step up in terms of their ability to deliver great action but they were never really good actors. The script doesn't help them out much though, it's full of clichés, one liners and dialogue that feels like it was written by a non English speaking person. But all of that plays second fiddle to the real star of the movie. The Action/martial arts choreography. Insanely this has some of the best fight choreography outside of the Hong Kong action movie world (up to the point in 1990). Kicks, blocks, punches, twists, backflips and basically everything you can imagine is incorporated into the fight sequences. The final fight between the two brothers and the main bad guy Marko is pretty awesome (if you can ignore the stunt guy in the blatantly awful white wig that is). It's one I have revisited a few times because it really is that good. I do think if they had focused a little bit more on giving the main characters believable dialogue (and possibly a few more acting lessons) they could have had a stone cold classic on their hands but a lot of it feels rushed and just an excuse to get to the next fight sequence. Also... the soundtrack is fairly bad. It genuinely brings the rating down a star because it feels so generic and the synths date it terribly.

But gawd damn there's some fun to be had with this movie. If you were to watch it as part of a bad movie night you may be surprised by just how hard it goes with the action. If not for that it would have easily made into an episode of BOTW by redlettermedia on Youtube.

Anyway, yes, if you go in expecting awful acting and great action you'll definitely be satisfied.

Based on the comic-book story of the same name, The Crooked Man has some nice touches here and there. But it's inability to convert a 2D story into a 3D live action movie holds it back. I was all on board for a smaller story focusing on a single tale and so was quietly optimistic for this release. There are some nice touches and atmosphere in places which should be commended (with the Blind Priest being the absolute standout character by a country mile). Sadly I think it sticks to the source material a bit too much with dialogue that reads better on a page than it does hearing it spoken out loud from the mouths of real people. Some awkward CGI is expected and there are some nice practical effects in here but it only had to really nail one thing... the look of Hellboy... which it failed at miserably. There were times when I was distracted by his makeup and the stilted portrayal didn't do much to justify this being a HELLBOY movie. Replace him with a generic agent and not much changes. There was even a part where he was stood near some light coming in from a window and the light shone through the prosthetic nose exposing his real nose underneath (like the had a septum piercing that was missing). There were also creases in the suit sometimes that looked completely un-natural. They could have easily given him a black t-shirt to help mask it up but for some reason they refused to do it. Again there are some nice ideas on show and when they are in the church the film does start to get interesting but there isn't enough for me to outright recommend the film. They also show too much of the crooked man as well which sort of reduces his threat level after a while.

If you love the Crooked Man comic-book and would like to see how it would play out in live action then look no further, but if you wanted a good meaty hellboy film with a new charismatic lead then you will be sorely left wanting.