Wow. This is just terrible. There's no other word for it other than that.
Firstly, the casting is just plain awful. Diversity for the sake of diversity takes its toll yet again, with people being cast into roles with the wrong ethnicity for that particular part. This is even more insulting considering the fact that the world all of this takes place in, already has tons of diversity in it to begin with. Don't shove it in where it doesn't belong!
Storywise... ooh boy. So much has been changed. And look, I get that book adaptations need certain elements changed in order to better fit a visual medium. And some changes they made, are fine. But let me just list some things that are completely wrong:
The whole concept of the Dragon. The show opens with a very brief description of who the Dragon is. The Dragon is the reincarnation of a male Aes Sedai who broke the world in ages past. Concise, but true. Good enough. But then they go on and say that this reincarnation could be either male or female? That makes no sense at all! The Dragon has to be male, because he's the reincarnation of a male Aes Sedai, and he will break the world a second time, just like he did before.
Finding the Dragon. Nobody knows who the Dragon Reborn is. People find out because he starts fulfilling the prophecies written about him just by being born in a certain place and on a certain time. That's how Moiraine narrows it down to the Two Rivers, by finding out about some young people there that fit those criteria. In this adaptation, all Aes Sedai have some sort of spidey sense that can pinpoint the Dragon. Lazy writing at its best.
The world itself. It should be winter, due to the Dark One's grasp increasing on the world. This is a big plot point, which causes visible distress with pretty much everyone, affecting their doings and thoughts, and in this adaptation they just dumb it down to "something drove the wolves down the mountain". It's spring in this version, and birds can be heard in pretty much every scene.
Characters not acting the way they should. Nynaeve is much too serene, Moiraine isn't serene enough, Egwene is much too mature, Perrin is much too jokey, Mat isn't jokey enough and much too responsible, and so on.
Characters' backstories changed to completely change their personality even further. Mat suddenly has abusive parents. Perrin, who is consistently described in the books as a shy, awkward, careful, peaceloving guy, not only has a girlfriend in this adaptation (his finding his first love in Faile Bashere later on is also a huge plot point that they dismissed by doing this), but he murders her in a fit of blind rage. Nynaeve is suddenly a "lost child", just so they could add her to the possible list of nonsensical Dragon candidates. Because suddenly the Aes Sedai spidey sense doesn't work anymore. Rand and Egwene having a full on sexual relationship while they're supposed to be a coming-of-age story that never works out for them.
Forced edginess. Nudity and sex scenes, while sparse, are shoved in your face so forcefully that you can just tell one of the producers saw Game of Thrones and told the script writers to shove "some of that" in there.
There is a LOT more wrong with this cesspool of an adaptation in terms of story, but those are some of the big ones. Also just overall bad acting and bad CGI. The CGI looks like a videogame from the mid 2010's.
I really wanted to like this, but no amount of goodwill can save this absolute mess of a show.
This is it folks, this is peak television. What we have here is one of the most gut wrenching and masterfully crafted episodes ever brought to screen. Absolutely fucking phenomenal with career best performances from Murray Bartlett and Nick Oferman. Holy shit this will stick with me.
As much as I wanted to like this movie, and ESPECIALLY not wanting to throw shade on Dave Bautista, I'm afraid the words of none other than Macbeth are the most fitting as far as a review of this enterprise goes:
A.O.D. is but a walking shadow, some poor players
That strut and fret their two and a half hours upon the stage
And then are heard no more: It is a tale
Told by idiots, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
That having been said, the REAL shame here is, that, with just a little bit of re jiggering, and a little less stupidity on the part of any one of the panopoly of characters, and, this could have not only been an epic movie, but, possibly a even a (2 or 3 movie) franchise!
Any movie that starts from the jump with nekkid zombie stripper ta ta's is a go for me, just on the "Hmmm, I ain't seen THAT before factor alone. Now, throw in Siegfried and Roy's zombified Manticore' , and, you're going to hold my interest. Add super quick and agile "rage zombies, and a mix of your usual suspect "shufflin' and bitin' " zombies, as well as a full auto Drax the Destroyer, and a crew of mangey former tier one operators, who served their country honorably, but per current SOP, were promptly shat upon by the country that they so dutifully served, then, give them a chance to for once not just even the score but come out ahead, and, you HAD the basis for a pretty decent horror adventure flick.
But then SOMBODY had to go and try to grow a brain, perhaps thinking they could be "edgy", and, instead of delivering a fun, intelligent live action "Walking Dead" (first few seasons only), they decided to suck all the common sense from EVERY characters brain, and then have each one of them suddenly go mute at the most inopportune times, when a word, a note, or even a cryptic whisper, could keep someone from becoming zombie snackos'. Now add to that mix, a teenaged girl with one of the most full blown cases of narcissistic personality disorder ever witnessed on film, and have her played by an actor who every time she opens her mouth you just want to backhand her and send her to her room with no dinner. But, she's also a master of either guilting her father (team leader Scott Ward) for doing something she later admits "he had to do", or, forcing him to let her accompany the squad, (to "rescue the aforementioned STUPID friend) by threatening to run off and do it alone anyway, which is a certain one way trip. So, welcome to mercenary baby sitting, Z/A style.
All is not lost though as there are some nice bonding moments between Zen "man some of the shizz I've done" Vanderohe, and newbie merc / safecracker Ludwig Dieter, especially when it is discovered he doesn't even know Zombie 101 basics. Raul Castillos' "Mickey" who at first seems to be either a You Tube poser, or just a bit crazy, then actually turns out to be an honorable guy. Samantha Joe's "Chambers" is a formidable street fighter, but, sadly , her heroic last stand is wasted when in the end, she got a case of the mutes, when she could have saved the entire crew with a shouted warning.
Nora Arnezeder is believable as Lilly, The Coyote, even if she does let little miss prissy teen smack her around a bit, for helping another of Kates IDIOT friends do something stupid, that, in the end, does not bode well for the entire team. Tig Notaro I guess is OK, especially since she was a last minute "digital" substitute for Chris D'Elia, who was unceremoniously cancelled and erased from the movie due to misconduct of the sexual kind. It's not seamless, but, it's not distracting either. But, she too, got hit with the idiot stick at the last minute, and, her indecision literally was catastrophic. In BOTH their story arcs, Snyder chose to plagiarize, er, uh, be "inspired" by ENTIRE SCENES from "Aliens", then "edgily" flip the script, by declaring opposite day at their individual conclusions.
The longest walk of shame, IMO, goes to Bautista's character Scott Ward, for being either too blind of just plain dumb, to not see through the machinations of neither his Japanese Benefactor, nor his henchman sent along to fulfill the ACTUAL goal of the "heist". But, in his defense, a couple hundred million dollars tax free, can buy a mighty dark pair of rose colored glasses, and, even though he can't see the forest for the trees, nor, apparently when the passion fires of his former flame have burst into a bonfire. Her end was so telegraphed, that even as it occurred, you weren't really shocked, just saddened. Just as his end, and the way it came about, had one waiting for the sound track to cue up Alanis Morrissette, but, perhaps they couldn't get a music clearance..
ONE final chance at redemption comes in the form of the epilogue with Vanderohe, and, it could have played out the epic revenge scenario, but, alas it was not to be, and he, along with any chance at a sequel, was D.O.A.
So, in conclusion, I don't dislike this movie for it's short comings, but, because of it's unfulfilled potential. It didn't necessarily have to be all happily ever after, but, as you watch it, and the idiocy starts leaking out of the characters, see if you can glimpse the great movie that COULD have been.
This episode was ahead of its time.
Wonderful Finale for a great series. I cried. A lot. A LOT.
The perfect ending. :)
What can you say about the farewell of a show that has meant so much to so many people?It is the kind of event that you can only judge to some extent because at a certain point the "love letter to the fans" that Craig Daniels wrote draws you in emotionally and you end up loving it. I guess I deserve to give this show the best tribute I can. Let me start here, I am a big fan, and all my life I have been bullied and never had very many friends. The last few years have been especially tough for me and I have struggled with very intense things that have led to some very serious actions, to say the least. I have grown up with these characters as part of my life and throughout my life they have served as friends when I had no other ones. The last few years these characters have been there for me and seeing them grow has helped me grow. A show that means so much to me had to finish perfectly or it all would be ruined. I sat down already teary eyed knowing that they would be gone from my life in an hour. The episode delivered great laughs, but it delivered a lot more. The episode delivered very intimate moments that were much needed. Plot lines that begun throughout the show came to a good conclusion and old stars returned with perfect timing. It was a sweet, beautiful, amazing, perfect love letter from the amazing cast to all of it's fans. I must admit that I was in tears seeing how much the characters had grown since we first visited this little town of Scranton Pennsylvania. The story line of the friendship between Dwight and Jim is particularly heart- warming. Every character ended up just where they should have and the final shot was perfection. "Sometimes goodbyes are a *****" but this perfect love letter softened the blow. The show will be missed, but it did end perfectly.
This episode received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. Greg Daniels was nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and Ben Patrick, John W. Cook, and Rob Carr were nominated for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (Half-Hour) and Animation. David Rogers and Claire Scanlon won for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series, marking the fifth win for The Office at the Emmys overall and the series' first win since 2009.Rogers and Scanlon also won an ACE Eddie award for Best Edited Half-Hour Series for Television.
Modern Family does what's best in comedy: subtle awkward situations that make you laugh uncontrollably, even though if someone sees the same scene as you, they will never get why and how it's funny. You can't judge Modern Family based on some episodes seen sporadically, no, you'll have to go from the start and watch all of it, for the comedy to become apparent to you.
Really enjoyed this. A fun movie. Yes, it's over the top and a bit ridiculous but I liked it.
Whoever gave this less than a 10/10 probably misclicked because they tears fogging their vision. Absolute masterpiece even if it doesn't follow the game canon!
wish i can just skip the russian stuff (this review also applies to real life)
Not the best movie from the series but still enjoyable. Especially seeing the old and new generation together is nice.
After about 6 minutes. That's all i could take. Holy bad acting and over the top. Very pain full to watch
I'm not sure how i'm gonna keep watching the show without the world's best boss Michael Scott :(
The last hug by Pam with Michael. Damn so intense. Rollercoaster episode.
The whole cast was really well chosen, but Malek...Oh, Malek did just a phenomenal job here! He really shows his caliber as an actor, absolutely worth seeing!
Much like many other people, I don't ever think I'll ever be able to express how much Harry Potter means to me. This was a great reunion and it felt like a return to childhood :,)
What an amazing final season!
Lucifer started very strong but soon became repetive and boring with its cop procedural, while the more interesting celestial stories were always sidelined.
This last season loses the cop procedural and focuses on finishing character developments and perfect send offs. It was very emotional but I want to commend the writers team for this almost perfect ending!
Brilliant sound design, although a little unbelievable that those characters would have been so quiet all those times lol
hate to see this show end. I've been watching these guys so long that it felt like I was losing personal friends. I will miss these guy's.
RIP
The show is dead
