holeeray

I'm a fan of the X-men franchise so a lot of this movie was difficult for me to digest. I figured this would be the case going into this movie so I tried to watch it with new eyes. They did a decent job of writing in layers and depth to the characters as well as the plot and I liked that they broke away a bit from the formula. The performances were decent and the soundtrack was well done. At worst, you get to see mutants showcasing their abilities and kicking ass for a good portion of the movie so I'd say it was worth the watch. All that being said, if you're a fan of the source material, you might have a bad time.

I find a lot of shows like this tend to get stale quickly or the stories use "forced" plot devices that bring you out of the overarching plot. Southland kept me interested though its story telling, character and plot development, as well as performances. Even the "filler" content of random traffic stops and routine that didn't directly involve the bigger cases were entertaining because they were layered in such a way to help you better understand the characters. I could honestly just watch another couple seasons of this show of the street patrols doing their daily thing and getting to know them.

This show had meaningful depth in many ways and I really wish we had a chance for more "resolutions". I'm pretty upset this show didn't continue (especially considering how the last episode ended), but I'm glad it was given the 5 short season it was. I have to compliment the performance of the actors in this series. Even the criminal extras were more often than not believable and well researched.

My only real complaints have to do with technical aspects like the camera direction and the odd dubbing in some scenes. I feel like the camera director got carried away with being a bit too "artsy" during some indoor scenes using weird focus and framing. That being said, I really liked the hand-held handling of the patrol scenes as it really drew me into it.