Felt like something was missing. Maybe it was trying too much to be like John Wick or a Bruce Willis film. Either way, it was marginally enjoyable, with neither enough pure action or character chemistry to be entertaining on its own
Technically superior, but the story is a reconstruction of the first movie....only with more water. Unfortunately, the story in the first movie was already weak. I'm already afraid of the other movies.
meh. i genuinely think the writers have no idea what they're doing. there's a lot of "big moments" but i have no emotional attachment to them at this point. how do all the hosts feel about hale telling them to transcend? we haven't gotten nearly enough insight into how the hosts view this world, hell we don't even have a single host character to relate to in that aspect besides maybe william. everything happens because bernard magically saw it happen in his supersim. there's no explanation for why the world can't be saved, we just know it can't. we were wondering what was going on with christina, knowing this show would give some kind of twist, and there it is, she's "not real"... uh... okay? was i supposed to drop my jaw in awe? so what's the explanation for the people she interacted with earlier? why was hale visiting her? i guess that's a remaining mystery for the finale. i really don't care anymore...
That hour felt like 5 minutes! Bernard is Arnold. Dolores killed him. Ford made Bernard kill himself. Holy mindfuck! my head just exploded. Sorry, bad choice of words. And the MIB being a board member. He knew it all.
The first scene was just perfect. "Bernard, bring yourself back online", Maeve. I was on the edge of my seat.
Every theory has been confirmed, except for the William = MIB, which can also be said to be. He did say he was going to find Dolores and then the MIB appeared in the church, right after Dolores said "William?"
I knew Bernard was Arnold. I knew it. There was something about him that didn't add, especially that scene with Abernathy in ep 1. Those scenes with Bernarnold and Ford were perfect. I knew since the beginning Ford was just messing with him. He didn't even twitched when he saw the gun. And at the end, he even seemed concerned with Bernard, like he didn't want that to happen. I agree with Bernard, what kind of psychopath would give such a tragic backstory to a host? Well, our lovely Hannibal Lecter.
And the father of the year award goes to... Bernard! For his astonishing quote "Charlie,you're a lie". And Dolores killing Arnold, holy cow. Didn't see that one coming, although I get that's the reason why Ford told her that they weren't friends.
When they introduced the character of William I though that would be me, that he was just a regular guy with his regular problems but he's lost his shit. The only thing clear is that you don't call him Billy. He might slaughter you.
I think Ford's narrative involves Maeve, so that he can prove that the hosts are too dangerous to be used outside the park.
God glorious Anthony Hopkins: "Do you know what happened to the Nearthentals? We ate them". My greatest fear is to wake up and find myself in that creepy basement with Ford monologuing at me.
One thing I found pretty odd was Stubbs being attacked. Was it Ford? Create, kill, replace, repeat.
Get hyped for the 90-minute mindfuck of a finale!!!
William: Please Logan, even though I'm engaged to your sister, please help me take my sex robot home with me.
But how did no one notice Maeve and the doctor walking around the ENTIRE building!?
My fave episode so far. But I hate how submissive those two shithead were, esp Lutz. He wasn't even noticed when they went upstairs? wtf
[8.1/10] I think I’ve figured out my rubric for when I’m interested in what Westworld has going on, and when I’m liable to be bored. The more the show is focused on the park -- whether it’s the hosts making sense of their reality, or the guests exploring and growing immersed in it -- the more I’m on board. Those scenes tend to lean into what makes the show engrossing -- thought experiments about identity and sentience and moral questions about how we behave when there’s no rules.
But when the show is focused on the back end of Westworld -- in the form of corporate conspiracies and middle-manager backstabbing -- the more I’m ready to tune out. I’ve realized that none of the characters who are pulling the strings of the park really interest me.
Sizemore is a garden variety shitheel and his antics are as dull as they are intended to be outrageous. A cliched botched encounter with a romantic target-turned-surprise boss does nothing to help either him or Tessa Thompson’s introduction to the show. Theresa continues to be a stock character with a bad performance, between her run-of-the-mill, steely-but-wounded break-up with Bernard to her reheated pep talk to Sizemore. All the runaround and would-be palace intrigue of who’s going to be in charge of Westworld is a non-starter.
I also can’t be bothered to care about what conspiracy Elsie is uncovering, whether that means Theresa herself messing around with the programming of some off-the-books hosts or a mysterious third party posing as Arnold. The whole thing plays out like something from the usual conspiracy thriller textbook, with Elsie going alone to a creepy hideout, being attacked a hidden assailant, and getting stymied and put in danger just when she’s about to uncover the truth. It’s generic pablum and a big waste of time.
Even the two characters who gets the most focus and give the best performances in the “behind the scenes” portion of the show, have grown fairly dull by this point in the season. Ford is a less a character than a bundle of mysteries and cryptic hints at this point. As I’ve said in prior write-ups, Hopkins is a pro and can spin some of this straw into gold. But Ford is a character without weight at this point, there mostly to deliver exposition and throw out the occasionally navel-gazing bit of foreshadowing.
Sure, it’s mildly interesting to learn that those kids that various people have run into on the property are actually robotic versions of his younger self, and that the oft-spoken-of Arnold made host incarnations of Ford’s entire family, which Ford maintains both to preserve a connection to Arnold and to his past. But what does it amount to?
It amounts to another vague story beat to suggest that there’s something amiss with what Ford’s doing, without really delivering any answers and just having Hopkins skulk around and try to carry these scenes on his back. Even Bernard, who has his fingers in the most pies of the behind-the-scenes storylines, has reverted to being something of a cipher, with a nebulous desire to protect Theresa and the lingering pain of his dead son to motivate him, but a pretty dull progression on a scene-to-scene basis.
It’s hard to pinpoint what the pathology of all these back end stories and characters is. It may just be that, even in the context of a futuristic theme park, this half of the show comes off like a generic high-powered office drama. The characters aren’t sketched out well enough, or given anything but generic personas and motivations, to keep up the intrigue, and unlike the park-focused characters and storylines, it’s harder for that part of the show to rely on the coolest elements of Westworld’s premise.
Those are, namely, the twin concepts of robots becoming more complex while slowly gaining sentience and the exploration of the soul when human beings are given the chance to let their best or worst impulses run wild.
Theoretically, The Man in Black should suffer from the same problems without any of the benefits his fellow park-dwellers benefit from. He’s as much a bundle of mysteries as Ford is, and there’s not exactly a battle for his soul going on right now. But he has a few things in his favor.
First, he has a supreme competence and mastery of this world that marks him as unique relative to other characters. Second, he has the benefit of Ed Harris getting to put on a clinic as memorable blackhats go. And third and most important, he has a clear goal. We may not know much about the fabled Maze just yet, but we know that TMiB wants to find it, that he’s been in the game for a long time, and he’s searching for something deeper, something more meaningful, out of this experience. That makes him compelling, even when he’s mired in the same less-than-lucid mysteries the show seems to be promising.
But even he can’t match the glory that is Maeve’s story here, which is pretty handily the best thing the show’s managed so far. For one thing, it pulls the trigger on something the show’s been hinting at for a while now -- one of the hosts realizing what they are and where they come from.
The sequence where Lutz takes Maeve through the facility, set to the Vitamin String Quarter’s version of “Motion Picture Soundtrack,” is one of the most affecting in the show. The combination of the look on Thandie Newton’s face as Maeve witnesses the surreal sights of her entire world, her comrades and her being, in a state of being under construction, and her dreams being broadcast as ads, is tremendous.
But Maeve is able to take it all in relative stride, however much a shock it must be to literally meet your makers (or at least re-makers) and change who you are with a push of a button. There’s nice touches galore, like Maeve overloading when she reads her own speech patterns, or knowing how to manipulate Lutz’s jerkass workmate into keeping his big mouth shut.
There is something charming and capable about Maeve, one where she uses her skills to know what a person wants to finally get what she wants. The prospect of a host remaking themselves, of knowing what the real story is, and having some kind of plan, is the most exciting thing Westworld has offered since its inception.
When the show focuses on stories like those, which lean into the moral and spiritual awakening of these mechanical people, of the thorny moral questions about control and what makes us who we are, and about the animating idea of a place where people can let loose, for better or for ill, it is an engrossing, even thought-provoking show. When it focuses on a pack of pencil-pushers and clashing co-workers, it becomes like any other show, and leaves me wishing Westworld would stop with the office politics and get back to Westworld.
I don't see why they'd obey her, she had no way to force them...
This show doesn't get to the point fast. It poses the same boring philosophical questions that you would get if you spent 5 minutes thinking about what happens if robots gain consciousness. The acting is great but they intentionally scatter the plot all over the place just to keep the audience in suspense for some stupid plot twist. A "just ok" season 1 and boring season 2.
This is just pretentious crap. It thinks it is something more than it actually is.
This series is highly overrated. Except season 1, it has nothing. Poor plot, can ask hundreds of questions that have no answer. I think the people who love this series, are hypnotized by 'Nolan' name.
Started out as a very promising show. Unfortunately, the writers care only about suspense and action instead of thinking the story through. In the end, the plot is ridden with holes like a Swiss cheese, bending rules however they feel like at the moment, disregarding everything established before. Shame.
terrible show is this, waste of time.
Good old PSX days. It's probably going to suck though.
Recently Neill Blomkamp gave this interview where he said he missed out on a lot of career opportunities because he wasn’t ‘Hollywood enough’. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Gran Turismo feels like a total paycheck gig, it’s some of the most phoned in directing I’ve seen this year (especially because we all know he can come up with a creative vision if he tried). This looks like a Russo brothers movie (zero effort when it comes to lighting and blocking, every conversation is shot like basic coverage, its few attempts at flashy stylistic touches are stupid) and the score is aggressively bland. For a movie primarily aimed at teenagers it’s also surprisingly lacking in any edge, instead what you get is a very sanitized, plain version of the typical underdog sports movie with a lot of dumb, melodramatic moments. The racing sequences are fine (if a little brief), with the overediting making it feel more like watching Tiktok than an actual race. Again, say what you will about early Fast and Furious (I’m not a fan myself), but those movies did have personality. This is very corporate by comparison, it’s content waiting to be forgotten about.
3/10
It was just bad movie.
It's not for car racing enthusiast as it has many, dumb plot holes regarding racing.
it's not for people not interested in cars cause it's only about cars.
The only thing it is - it's Gran Turismo game and Nissan commercial. Nothing more.
The show wants to cover too much in just eight episodes, but it fails miserably. Too many characters, too many subplots, too many conflicts: Richter's fear, the love between Olrox and the knight, Maria and her father, the fight against the Messiah, Anette and her disconnection from her ancestors and her loss of Edouard. The viewer doesn't have time to focus on anything because they throw everything at the same time.
The only thing I cared about at least a little was Richter's plot and, although it was developed, it was not the best executed. The magic returns to Richter when he realizes that he has many people to protect. That trope is something we are tired of seeing, especially all those who come from consuming anime, consuming shounen to be more specific.
I was not interested in any character and I was even less interested in the antaognists. As usual, I remember that the first part of Castlevania did not shine for its construction of villains either. Who on the team thinks of making the vampires so one-dimensional and giving them so much focus? What is not attractive to the viewer is supposed to be kept on the sidelines.
It makes me laugh how they saved the worst for last: Alucard's appearance. It was not necessary to use the nostalgia card and even less so at a critical moment like that: right at the end when everyone is at their lowest moment and almost about to die. The way they executed those last scenes, Alucard feels like a Deus Ex Machina.
The action scenes were on point. Kudos to the group of animators and directors behind it. Castlevania has always had some of the best choreographed animated battles I've ever seen.
The first part of Castlevania was not something that was very worthwhile, but Castlevania: Nocturne disappoints even by those low standards.
I just binge watched this in a week and it has easily made my top 5 of all time favorite shows. A perfect series in every sense of the word. May Andy rest in peace and always be remembered for his brilliant portrayal of Spartacus. By the end, Ian had also claimed my heart as Spartacus. But Andy will always truly be the Spartacus in my eyes.
ahhhmm, idk how to feel about this one? it sort of felt a bit more awkward than it usually does, almost like a caricature of itself? seemed to be way more sex then there used to be for example. idk.
Jesus Christ, I was on the edge of my seat and cringing this entire episode. Can't quite decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Didn't need a whole episode of that to get the point across. Nothing happens until the last fifteen minutes. This could have been much shorter.
This is one of the worst episodes of the series
Just pure garbage like holy moly
This was a complete loss of time!
Nothing happened.
The Fuck thing was anoying why put it in every sentence?
Will watch the last episode but probably giving up on next season if there isn’t a big turnaround
