rstef1

Brave New World isn't a bad movie but it suffers from some of the same faults that I found in the Tom Holland Spiderman films. Once Peter Parker gets the new Spidey suit from Tony Stark, it can almost magically do whatever the writers need it to do in any predicament. So too can Sam Wilson's wings provide the necessary deus ex machina to get out of every dangerous situation: Create a shock wave when hit? Absolutely!; Fire shards of knife-like vibranium? You betcha!; Fly at supersonic speeds to combat jets? Why not!!?? Cut through the strongest steel like it was butter? Naturally!!!

This kind of lazy writing undercuts the heroism of the lead character to the point where the writers have to address it by having Sam constantly fretting that he is no Captain America because he doesn't have super powers like his predecessor. He's right. I'm just not buying him being the hero that Steve Rogers was.

Maybe it is superhero fatigue, but I just couldn't get emotionally involved with these characters the way I was with the heroes in Phases 1 -3. There seems to be something missing here. The acting is fine, most of the CGI is acceptable (if somewhat excessively used), pacing was good enough, but the writing is off. At least they brought this one in at under 2 hours.

Question: What do you get when you mix elements of Aliens with Terminator 2; substitute schlocky director Bruno Mattei for talented director James Cameron; eliminate any charismatic actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton and replace them with unknown, no-talents; and do it all on a budget? Why you get Shocking Dark of course!

You can call it Terminator II and Bruno can call himself Vincent Dawn, but a turd by any other name will still smell bad. The only redeeming features of the movie are that the creature suits are somewhat amusing and there are some howlingly amusing moments of bad lines and bad line readings to accompany them.

Great film to watch while drinking, otherwise it's a chore.