FinFan

If you're looking for an action and "turn brain off now" film, just don't watch it and spare us the 6-7 hearts review.

I for one, am very tired from 500$m crap like Indi Day and Marvel's poop. So I was very excited to watch this one.

This one is more like Spielberg's Encounters from the Third Kind. It's more about the characters in the film and the amazing journey they go through. It's mostly about the human behavior that will make you think.

While it's not an End of the World aliens movie like Battle: Los Angeles, it still offers great amount of military presence and plenty of stuff that's going on.

So if you actually want to care about an intelligent movie and use your head - go. Otherwise, go watch an X men.

Highly recommended for some audience 10/10.

2-feb-2017 edit: Just came out on Bluray and I saw it again. Definitely keeping my rating.
Watching again at July-2023, excited towards Dune II : Excellent. Excellent film. So called plot-holes listed here are negligible when the overall product is really thoughtful and masterfully crafted.

Hated it.
As simple as that.
Terrible way to take the series to. I mean it's not as bad as the prequels, because the acting is quite all right, but it hits so many bullshit moments where I was facepalming every other scene it's unbelievable.

Damn, it must really suck to have been snapped while being on a plane.

Pros:

• First and foremost, props to its ambition.
• There are major goosebumps, as well as emotional, moments.
• The acting is top notch. And especially the people who need to be top notch, are really top notch.
• The action has fantastic ideas at play.
• The amount of cameos in this film is unbelievable. Spoiler: Loved the fact that Jarvis from Agent Carter got a cameo!
• It celebrates the MCU in a good, and sometimes also very clever, way.
• The right characters are highlighted.
• A good score, and finally some more musical continuity.
• The villain is still great.
• It wraps up in a very satisfying way. Characters whose story ends here, get a great wrap up.

Cons:

• The first hour is a little hard to get through. It's very dialogue heavy, which in itself isn't a problem, but the Russos aren't good at directing long sections with just dialogue, while keeping you interested. And when that's a problem, you also start to notice the slow pacing, as well as flavourless direction of those scenes.
• The time jump feels like a lazy way to force inorganic changes into the story (e.g. The Hulk & Banner issue, a big plot point in the previous film, has been solved off screen; or the Civil War conflict that has been sort of resolved now, neither one of those feel earned. )
• The choreography and editing of the action aren't good. Moreover, the action that involves a lot of CGI feels weightless.
• Not a fan of the direction they took with Thor. They made him a tragic, but badass hero in the last film. I get that he's sad in this film, but did they really need to turn him into a joke again, like Thor: Ragnarok so annoyingly did?
• The time travel mechanics in this film don’t make enough sense. As a result, the continuity of the MCU is fucked now, because of the huge plotholes in this film. If half of the population is now 5 years older, do we just have to assume that the entirety of Peter's school got snapped? Do we have to assume that all the important Wakandans that play a future role in Black Panther sequels got snapped? What about any of the tv shows that are loosely (although not as loose as once before) connected? Also, how come we can't bring back anyone who died? If a past Gamora, Nebula and Thanos can come to the future, then why can't we bring back Natascha, Gamora, Pietro, Vision, etcetera? Also, going forward, anything that goes wrong can now be fixed with time travel (as long as they don't place restrictions on the Pym particles). It's issues like these that make a lot of time travel movies fall apart, and Endgame is no different.

6/10

In Captain Marvel, I didn’t like the main character, but I thought the movie around her was quite solid.
Black Widow is the exact opposite: I quite liked the two leads, but the movie surrounding them doesn’t really work.

Pros:
- Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh are easily the most entertaining part of the film.
- I liked the first act. It feels like Cate Shortland is trying to do an impression of a Jason Bourne movie. It’s fairly humourless, the cinematography is bleak, and the score is intense. It has a tone that no other MCU film has.
- The action (minus the final battle) is fairly well done. As per usual, less editing would’ve made it better, but at least it feels weighty.

Cons:
- The story itself isn’t that interesting. The themes and main mcguffin are oddly similar to Captain Marvel, though it’s not executed as well. The villains also fail to make an impression.
- This movie really loses its identity as it goes along, to the point where it turns more into a generic Marvel movie as it goes on, and eventually a generic action blockbuster by the third act. Everything gets way too big and bloated for its own good.
- Not a fan of the Russian accents, they sound very tacky. Just let everyone speak with a normal American accent, I can look past the fact they’re Russians. Besides, they even had a story based reason to ditch the Russian accents entirely.
- I found David Harbour quite cringeworthy in this.
- The main characters are protected by strong plot armour. Most characters should’ve been killed 3-4 times based on the things that happen during the action scenes. This isn’t even a ‘suspend your disbelief, it’s an action movie’ situation, it gets really ridiculous, to the point where it’s almost Fast and Furious level.
- The pacing is a bit inconsistent, you really feel it slowing down during the second act.

Finally, I want to address that I already find the use of Nirvana songs in movies like these quite distasteful, but the cover that's used during the credits literally sucked all the life out of the song.

4.5/10

I was absolutely loving the episode, until Ty — a child — casually walked out of the Orville, no authorization required, he literally just opened the door and left. That broke the episode, for me, even more so when you consider that was a crucial plot element for the big, shocking twist to be revealed. I can't believe Brannon Braga, a Star Trek: TNG veteran, wrote something as atrocious as that.
Everything else about this episode was utterly excellent and this would have been a sci-fi masterpiece, if it all didn't depend on that one badly written scene.

Just watched the first two episodes, and am finding it hard to relate to these ultra rich 0.1% teens with first world problems and cardboard cutout parents. Implausible. Indeed all the characters seem to be predictable stereotypes so far, and it feels like every 3-6 minute scene could have been slashed to 20 or 30 seconds without loss of plot or art.

And WTF is up with the opulent wealth that every character in this show is wallowing in. The world they portray of rich parents without real world problems (or day jobs apparently) frankly pisses me off. It's like the 99.9% of us who live in the middle and lower classes, and who actually must watch our money, don't exist. Rich ass white writers is what it smells like to me.

Anyway, I'll give episode 3 ten minutes, but if something doesn't become relevant, interesting or believable soon, then I'm done.

[7.7/10] Another really entertaining episode. This is more explicitly doing Bewitched and 1960s sitcoms, and there’s a lot of sheer entertainment to be had from a riff on tropes of odd couples trying to fit into their idyllic neighborhoods.

I also appreciate the recognition of classic sitcom tropes and how they’d evolved in the subsequent decades. That goes beyond just the different decor in Wanda and Vision’s home. We see them walk outside and go seemingly on location, beyond the confines of a single set. We also see many more people of color populating their white picket fence town. It’s small details, but they add up to show change.

The notion of Wanda trying to impress Dottie, the queen bee of the neighborhood (Emma Caufield, aka Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), and Vision to get in good with the neighborhood watch, so as to further their joint initiative to fit in works as a great premise for the episode. There’s a lot of humor to be wrung from off-beat Wanda trying to fit in with the Stepford-esque ladies under Dottie’s purview, and awkward square Vision accidentally fitting in with the guys of the watch.

What’s more, the set piece of the two of them trying to pull off a magic act at the local talent show, where Vision is functionally drunk due to some literal gum in the works, and Wanda has to work to make people think it isn’t magic, is fantastic. There’s a great, frantic energy to the whole routine, and both Olsen and Bettany play it to the hilt.

This was also a great episode for stray lines. The running gag of people chanting “For The Children” in unison brought a lot of yuks. The poor mustached man from the prior episode going “That was my grandmother’s piano” when Wanda turns it into a wooden standee was a solid laugh. And one of the housewives in the audience asking “Is that how mirror’s work?” when Wanda uses them to try to explain Vision’s phasing hat trick had me rolling in the aisles.

But it’s not all laughs. There’s more horror at the edge of the frame that’s done quite well. The presence of an airplane that’s visibly Iron Man’s colors seems to shock Wanda as revealing that something’s wrong here. When Wanda assures Dottie that she doesn’t mean any harm, Dottie says “I don’t believe you,” in genuinely frightened tones, while a strange voice cuts through the radio, causing her to break a glass and bleed fluid that likewise breaks through the black and white color scheme. It’s another superbly done unnerving moment.

There’s also some interesting lines that have double meanings that are quickly glossed over, like their new friend saying “I don’t know why I’m here,” seemingly referring to the garden party, but also suggesting she’s been wrapped into this fantasy world somehow and doesn’t know why. There’s a lot of little bits of dialogue that work like that in this one, and it’s fascinating.

We also see and hear some loud thumping, played for laughs in the “move the beds together” scene (another wink toward classic TV changes), but also witness it used for legitimate scares. There’s some frightening imagery when the man emerges from the sewers in a beekeeper outfit and more “Who’s doing this to you, Wanda?” calls are heard, especially when Wanda uses the power to rewind the tape. The advent of a pregnancy is an interesting development, and the arrival of color with their kiss is some great effects worth.

I’m nursing a theory that this is all part of Wanda coping with the loss of Vision, feeling sick or afflicted and unwittingly creating this fantasy world out of some kind of grief, wrapping more and more people into it. Whatever the answer, color me appropriately intrigued by the mystery, charmed by the pastiche, and appropriately disturbed at the hints of something deeply wrong with all of this.

Well, @balazs955 inspired me to leave a comment that this episode is just another disappointment. >70% of this episode was full of pathos and preceding weeping, terribly written and acted as (almost) always when STD gets emotional. What makes this even more absurd is that half of the weeping was pointless, as most of the crew decides to join the mission at the end.

Another strong offering from Jonathon Frakes, however this one is not entirely without its flaws. It shines in the character interactions but seems to stumble over some of the plot points.

• The whole Airiam story would have been far stronger if we had actually gotten to know her previously to this. I was delighted that we were finally given answers as to just what she is, so it seems an odd move to remove her now. I particularly liked the view of her memories just hanging out with Detmer and the other bridge crew. WE NEED MORE BRIDGE CREW. They are often more interesting than the main cast.
• Speaking of Airiam, her end didn't make much sense; she's wearing an EVA suit! Why disable the helmet? Why not just get blown out into space and them beamed into Discovery's brig until they can sort out what's going on with her?
• The Spock/Burnham stuff was electric here. Their discussion in her quarters was quite magnificent. His accusations towards her brought up things that viewers themselves have been voicing in the way her character works. It highlighted just how much work her character does need to fit in as a more natural crew member (the galaxy does seem to revolve around Michael Burnham), and I hope this is the beginning of it.
• The Spock/Stamets scene was surprisingly compelling too. We see a gentler side of Spock, in contrast to the aggressive side he showed with Michael.
• I noticed that Michael made no move to help Nhan, who was suffocating to death in the room with her.
• Kadis-kot!
• The evasive flight through the minefield didn't seem to be having any of the effects the crew seemed to think it was.
• Major Star Trek VI vibes when they arrive on the Section 31 HQ.
• Airam shutting down was straight out of Terminator 2. Great stuff!
• "Hit it." Pike needs his own show.

They should just cut every scene with this worst ever character dr. smith!

Omg I am so disappointed.
I had high expectations.
He took his helmet off WTF!!!!!
Where are the grunts?? I only sa elites.
It’s notebable that the dint researched the original ip.

Again Hollywood took an ip and did there own cheap thing with it. To get maximum money out of it. With less effort. generic story writing. Human on human
Baby sitting a human girl. Do I need to go on?

Only plus point is the look of the Spartans
Action it self is good.

Everything else is bad generic cheap writhing.

Sabine getting stabbed by lightsaber: I am fine, tis but a flesh wound.
Ahsoka on top of ship in space: This is fine, I am going to do some acrobatic jumps in space, fall back on the ship and prevent the enemy from blowing us up using my lightsabers.
Ahsoka falling on the ocean: Well, I am dead... Time for some memberberries and time travelling!

Mike Myers is back, baby! And so is his raunchy humour, with which he gracefully graced us, through Austin Powers, a couple of decades ago (man, I'm old!). It's not world shattering, by any means, but the series premiere landed some sweet lame jokes. And I'm sure the guest stars will only make this show better/worse.

I'm glad Mike Myers is writing and starring (a lot!) in his own show. Netflix will probably just cancel it, but I expect a ton more dick jokes to cum while that doesn't happen.

Big Dick's Half-way Inn!

Wanted to see what all the buzz was about... I've watched 5 episodes and got bored out of my mind. Feels like it's targeted for teenagers.

It has a very simplistic take to it: ultra-hyper-dramatization of very basic concepts and bad behaviors of a minority of people. Reviews say it raises questions about society and politics but does not provide arguments or details either way. The stories are sometimes interesting but lack any depth and in the end, it's the idea that counts, or so they say. Just presenting basic questions with no details and some vague/weird drama only makes people argue and thus promoting the series. I find it pretentious.

One of the society satires i enjoy is South Park which most of the times present quite a complete picture about a topic with multiple perspectives and arguments. Compared to South Park at that, Black Mirror is kind of showing you only what the main character(s) see.

The very end is a little disappointing. Nancy didn't wind up with who wanted her with. While the kids got over 11's sacrifice a little too quickly.
The show is like a book I couldn't put down. But I think the end could have been better. Hopefully there's a season 2 to give answers about what we were left with.
11 some how communicating with Mike is what I expected but
instead we got left with it being teased that I guess Will has monster slugs in him. Which could have even taken over his body.
That was haunting and creepy. So hopefully we do get some answers and maybe even 11 brought back some how. Either way if Mike wasn't going to wind up with 11.
Nancy not with Jonathan in the end was pretty annoying. "Oh cool, she got me another camera, I will just be alone taking pictures of stuff."

Well I've run out of ways to bag this rancid mug of hot garbage juice, so I will recommend two amazing shows you could watch instead.
The Expanse and The Orville. Both of which have worst episodes better than the best episode of this waste of 45 mins a week.
(As with Aeron, and probably many others I am only watching this cause I'm a completionist and have Nutflux anyway which at least lets me watch in 2x speed)

Everyone's so worried about Section 31 being out in the open, just like that, but no one snaps knowing this was the first time ever we saw littering aboard a Federation starship?

Russo face should be way more fucked up wtf

The effects aren't going to sit well with millennials and today's jaded audiences, but if you look passed that there's a wonderful fantasy tale here.

THIS SHOW IS STARTING TO SUCK REALLLLLLY QUICK! Remove Kwan's side story and every other side story and focus on master chief's story. People watch halo to watch master chief, not all these dumb ass side stories.

Kwan: Take the helmet off, they'll notice you. Kid takes helmet off and holds it. There is no way they can see the helmet when he is holding it....... dumb.

I do not like the "new" cortana. Stop fixing shit that ain't broke.

Unimpressed with the "build up" to the covenant attack. THIS ALL SEEMS SO DAM CHEESY!

MASTER CHIEF SHOULD HAVE NEVER TAKEN HIS HELMET OFF!

Dam Liberal Hollywood has to make every white role an ethnic one. So old!

If you take the most obnoxious, self involved, dumb party girl and put her in a TV show, you'd have this. It's just one long story of her whining and doing the absolute dumbest things humanly possible. The ongoing and pointless dialog with an imaginary dead man feels like a filler and doesn't add anything to the story whatsoever.

2 episodes in and I'm ditching this

what a stupid show. Hollywood/Disney outdid themselves on showing their stupidity on this one . waste of file time and money.

Ahhhhhh i’m so happy they are not shying away from the tough conversations on what it means to be Captain America in this decade. I love symbolism in storytelling and there’s no stronger symbol than that shield, and the way they have used it as a vehicle and representative of the different American identities (good and (really) bad) has been incredible.

Steve Rogers, John Walker, Sam Wilson and Isaiah Bradley all represent sides of the US that co-exist, and John Walker being the effective Captain America for most of this show isn’t accidental - he’s the side of America that’s most present and salient right now (in the world off the screen), but ending the show with Sam Wilson carrying that shield - and going through all the issues that that might bring up - is as powerful a message as any - one of hope and of what the US should aspire to be. Steve Rogers is no longer enough, Steve Rogers is the American Dream - Isaiah Bradley the American Reality - and Sam Wilson is both. This show, and all of Captain America’s storyline, is about so much more than just men in spandex and they’ve done a fantastic job taking it even further here. Glad Marvel is still delivering after so many years, makes me proud to be a fan!

EDIT: I changed my mind. Looking back, I liked this show more than I say I did. The cast are fun and likeable, even if I never fell in love with their characters.

Hey, everyone, I made it! I got through my least favourite Star Trek show for the first time after numerous attempts. And I have to say, I didn't completely hate the journey.

But, this is how it ends? That's it? What a thoroughly disappointing way to finish things. The finale introduces some random new plot elements that really don't work and just come out of nowhere (Tuvok's disease and the Chakotay/Seven relationship - which did have some hints but they were completely from Seven's imagination, so this feels jarring), and worst of all we get no proper resolution to so many things.

Voyager arrives back home and there's zero emotional payoff; we don't get to see their welcome back or any reunions with family and friends. Tom's father is on the screen when they make it back and doesn't acknowledge his son sitting right there. What's going to happen to the Maquis crew members now? B'Elanna gives birth but we don't get introduced to the baby or even find out what they name her. Seven asks to have the Doctor perform the procedure on her which will "unlock" her ability to feel the full range of emotions, but we don't even know if he actually does that. In just the previous episode, the Doctor declared his love for Seven but that's not addressed at all.

Instead, the final episode decides to spend its time on another dull Borg story that feels like it lacks any impact. Voyager has defeated these guys so many times now that it feels pointless for them to keep encountering them (and this time they have convenient future tech). Yes, it's nice to have Alice Krige reprise her role as the Borg Queen, but the episode doesn't actually do anything interesting with her. The entire bullheaded mission of future Admiral Janeway is dubious at best and depicts her as extremely selfish.

The entire show was a missed opportunity to do something interesting, and it chose to stay as safe as possible all the way through. Any time the series did do something good, it was forgotten about and not mentioned again (remember when Seven's nanites were discovered to be a cure for death? Sure would have been useful to do that again. Remember the previous episode when the Delta Flyer's communications were destroyed so Janeway transmitted a message through the deflector? Why hasn't that been used in the uncountable times communications were down?).

The show had some really good characters, though. The Doctor was the standout by a long way and the introduction of Seven was a good move. Captain Janeway is inconsistent in her actions and motives, but Kate Mulgrew was never less than fantastic in the role. I just wish everyone had some evolution across the show. Harry, Tom, Tuvok, Neelix, Chakotay: they really never changed their personalities (and this even applies to the Doctor and Seven). There's an argument that everyone became a better person, but I say that nothing about them actually evolved. The fact remains that I just don't care about characters like Tuvok or Chakotay, because they never felt like real people.

Still, it is an easy and entertaining watch and in the end it is Star Trek and delivers a lot of the storytelling and universe that makes me feel cosy. I just probably won't watch it again (hmm... maybe if it's given an HD upgrade and released on blu-ray). I know the show has a lot of fans and if you like it then that's great, but I don't think I'll ever quite understand why.

Oh no, we lost 11% of our energy reserves! Janeway's gotta give up coffee to save power, but using the holodeck is totally fine? (And apparently even more fine when that figure doubles.)

Convenient that Chakotay happens to have his medicine bundle even though his ship was destroyed in Caretaker, isn't it? I don't remember the Maquis crew members exactly getting a chance to salvage their belongings before that Kazon ship took their shuttle in the flank…

Based on the deck layout in Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force, Neelix turns left out of the mess hall right into a dead-end when he's heading off to argue with Janeway. Turning left got him out of the shot faster, I guess.

Someone in effects should have checked the script. Those nucleonic beams were very much not parallel to the ship's central axis.

OK, nitpicks aside, I'm of two minds on this episode.

On the one hand, it does a lot of great work establishing elements of the series that I really do love (if only for nostalgic reasons, in some cases). We get a hint of the Doctor becoming more independent ("A hologram that programs himself…"). We get jokes about Neelix's cooking. Tom is already establishing himself as a holodeck wizard of sorts (even if he does write his female characters like a chauvinist).

But we also get some of the bullshit. The whole premise is just a bit hokey, and the Neelix/Kes relationship is all the more awkward when you start the series already knowing that she's two years old and will be dead by age ten. (That kiss? So uncomfortable.)

Still, Voyager was my first Trek show. I can't help but like it despite myself.

Ah, Voyager.

I set myself a task of watching through the Star Trek franchise in chronological order, using the Star Trek Chronology Project as a guide. Since there is so much of it, I figured I would reach a point where I would struggle. So far, so good, but now I have to begin Star Trek: Voyager and from the off I'm feeling despondent.

I just don't like this show. It had a great concept - a Starfleet vessel lost on the other side of the galaxy, trying to get home - but was consistently a let down in every way. The potential was squandered at every opportunity, the writing always weak (especially compared to the incredible stuff happening on DS9 at the same time) and the characters incredibly bland. There was no sense of continuity or struggle. Do I even need to mention the heavy use of the reset button at the end of each episode?

I've never been able to get all the way through it before. When it was originally airing I stayed with it up until season 4 or maybe 5, then lost interest. I tuned in for the finale and don't remember much about it other than being underwhelmed. But I'm going to give it another chance here and see if I can make it all the way through.

'Caretaker' is a pretty weak beginning to the series. It sets up the initial concept and immediately makes everything feel very safe and ordered. Fortunately, it does have a pretty good cast but many of these good actors are given terrible characters to play. Captain Janeway is good, embodying many of the noble traits we'd expect of someone in charge and having a likeable command style. The holographic doctor is fun from the first moment we meet him. That's pretty much where the good stuff ends.

The characters we meet here are, more or less, exactly the same people they are going to be at the end of the show. Harry Kim will forever feel like an inexperienced kid on his first mission, Paris will attempt to be a cocky bad boy and never pull it off, Tuvok is a Vulcan and that's it, and Chakotay is pretty much the blandest man you'll ever meet. Torres has a bit of spark in her and will hopefully make her mark, but then there's Neelix who will remain the most annoying character ever to grace Star Trek. I guess Kes is there, too.

From the moment the crew are transported to the awful "farm" sequence on board the array, the episode just begins to fall flat and sit comfortably among the most basic of Star Trek tropes. All of the danger is manufactured and the aliens have uninspired designs. The Ocampa especially suck. There's a requisite scene where a rickety staircase begins to collapse. It's wrong to just blame everyone working on the show for these problems, by this point the franchise had done so much and it was following immediately on the heels of TNG, and they wanted to draw in fans of that series and let them feel some sense of familiarity. By the end of the episode we get a completely unbelievable situation as the renegade Maquis terrorists join the Starfleet crew, put on the uniforms and live happily together. Janeway makes Chakotay the bloody first officer... it's insane.

I read a fantastic idea online somewhere: the first season of this should have been about the original Voyager crew hunting down Chakotay and his Maquis crew. We would have gotten to know him as a villain and formed an attachment to everyone. Then, towards the end of the season, the Voyager crew who died here are killed and THEN Chakotay et al are forced through circumstances to join together. How much better, and so much more powerful, would that have been?

I will say one thing, though: the show has a gorgeous title sequence and theme tune.

Finally something actually happened after they dragged the season for absolutely nothing.

After four mediocre episodes in a row with three of them being filler, this episode is decent enough. Those previous episodes serve no actual purpose other than waiting for the plot to trigger itself by that call.

The dialogues in this episode could be better and so could the way the scenes are cut, especially for the first half. People seem too eager to join The Mando in his quest for the sake of moving the story. However the last 5-10 the minutes is quite watchable with enough tense. The brute killing in the last scene seems to suggest they're going with the "evil Empire" cliche, but I wish they could do better than that next episode.

It seems like the story just started to be set in motion and we will be left with more questions as Season 1 ends, which unfortunately seems to be Disney+ business model: just make cute Baby Yoda stuff for moms and Star Wars reference for dads, figure things out later in Season 2.

On positive notes, it's nice that they attempt to do more world-building like shocktroopers having signature tattoo, each Imperial province having their own insignia, and the Imperial warlord trying to convince people that the world is better with colonialism.

I got so nostalgic while watching this episode, reminiscing about Data and Tasha...
Already one of my favourite episodes from The Orville, this one was a beautiful take on the classic theme of love between a human and a machine. Where does the programming end and love starts? Truly an episode that will linger in our minds quite some time after watching it, there's a lot to think about.
On the downside of things, I was sad that we lost the chance of having Tom Selleck as a regular aboard The Orville.
They are, indeed, the weirdest ship in the fleet.

"Directed by Jonathan Frakes". Attaboy! You show 'em how it's done, Riker!

I actually like where this is heading, with all the Nazi-like humans. Sure, it's a cliché, an alternate universe where humans are a ruthless, merciless race, but it's still fun. Bonus: by having the story moved to an alternate universe, I can stop worrying that this doesn't feel like Star Trek, because it doesn't have to, now. That being said, I like where this sci-fi show is heading, it's definitely popcorn worthy.

The movie might be showing its age, or maybe I'm showing mine. The structure just felt off. The pacing was much too slow until the last quarter. There's something grating about Maverick's character—there's supposed to be, but I couldn't really find anything to like about him. And of course the romance is entirely unnecessary, but that's been a Hollywood problem since long before this movie (and still is).