sure_man

I turn on the movie thinking it's 50-50 whether I'll like it or not. Mel Gibson is a plus going in, so maybe 70-30 in favor; although while Mel is trending towards paycheck Bruce Willis, he's still picking better scripts. Cynical burnout setup is somewhat clichéd, so downgrade to 60-40 or even 55-45. Soap opera home lives raises the question of whether I'm going to be using FF on the remote. Probably, so overall we're at 40-60. Action sequences raise interest a little but can't raise the overall 40-60. FF engaged, favorable odds downgraded to 30-70. Stakeout authenticity inappropriate for modern day attention spans and odds of giving it a thumbs up plummet to 10-90. FF again, 5-90 against. There is little wit and sophomoric, self-indulgent scripting and direction bleed remaining energy from not only the film but the viewer. Makes you wonder how you could've turned this blunder on in the first place. Wildly overrated with self-serving positive reviews. Well, there you go. In the end, the odds of this being watchable are down to 1-90, unless you've got absolutely nothing better to do. Terrible and a waste of time.

The trip is worth the wait. This is indeed a mystery and the threads doggedly pursued and revealed throughout the episodes weave together at the end. And, naturally, the reveal, while simple at one level, was something but thoroughly logical and satisfying - albeit it with some complexity and a little moral ambiguity. I liked it. I liked Harry's relationship with Sonya and their mature dialogues and understanding, both explicit and unspoken. Interwoven storylines like season four are much better than the emotive digressions of season three. This season was a far cry from the previous disappointing season three and a big improvement.

Although this was victimized by COVID, even after an impressive pre-release marketing campaign, the film is just not that good. A classic B-movie with an A-level budget, frenetic (bordering on incoherent) editing and a silly spin on searching for horcruxes (reference intended), the moebius strip time spin just didn't really work. Maybe the bonding agents are on the editing room floor somewhere, but I'm sure the book not based on the movie is much for fulfilling and illuminates the internal workings of the characters beyond "save my child" and "I hate life so I'm taking everyone with me". This is comic book level stuff for a work alleging to be of substance. The character motivations are ridiculously thin and cliched. Much of the monotone dialogue lacks punch and vitality. For all the pretension, this is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.