RageLite review - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

The game evolves for Sherlock Holmes as he plays the Game of Shadows

Sherlock Holmes proved a decent success for Warner Brothers, so naturally a sequel was inevitable, it was fast-tracked by the studio and was released in 2011. It was about as successful as the first one commercially but there was a slight drop in critical response, with a 60% rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to the 70 the first one got? Where did this one go wrong? Did it go wrong? Here’s my take:

Young Adult Month: The Divergent Series: Allegiant

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and think about it no more

It’s Young Adult Month!

We come to the end of the road for the Divergent series: The Divergent Series: Allegiant

The Divergent movies had never been box office smashes, which makes the move of increasing their budget with each release perplexing to say the least, but here we are, Allegiant had a $140m budget at its disposal, given the box office returns of the other 2 films, it would struggle to break even if it matched them, and it didn’t. The film earned $170m at the box office, resulting in a net loss and the planned follow-up instalment to be tossed in the garbage. I know there were talks of TV movies and mini-series but the actors involved in the films didn’t care and these ideas have largely been scrapped now.

Here’s the weird thing though, usually when it comes to making a 2-part movie adaptation, you film them back-to-back with a joint budget to save costs then release them about a year apart to allow for editing. This movie wasn’t released like that, and you might argue there’s a reason for it. Anyway, the film was critically panned with a dismal 12% Rotten Tomatoes Rating with an average critical score of 4.1/10, audiences too seem to have had enough, giving it only a 41% audience score with an average of 3/5

I know I’ve been pretty detailed in my synopses anyway for this series, but again, major spoilers for both film and book, as I’ll try and summarise both.

Young Adult Month - The Divergent Series: Insurgent

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and think about it no more

It’s Young Adult Month!

Yay, we’re continuing with Divergent movies. I suppose I made it clear during the last one, but I’ll reiterate. The Divergent books are overlong and bloated with character choices that don’t make any sense. The plot rips off tropes from other, better books, and there’s nothing in this series that isn’t done better somewhere else. That said, the plot of the books is fairly solid and when they get the characters right, they get it right, the dialogue is another thing entirely.

But enough about that, this is the Divergent Series: Insurgent

Pre-production for this film had begun before the first film was even out, which allowed it to release only a year later. This implies Entertainment One clearly had confidence in the success of the first one, confidence that was rewarded to an extent with Box Office Receipts. The director of the first film was still working on that film, so it was announced the new director would be Robert Schwentke, the director of R.I.P.D. (oh god, that’s not good), who went on to produce Allegiant as well (great…) With a larger budget of $110 million to work with, the film was absolutely blasted by critics, gathering a meagre 28% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an 5/10 average score, and an audience rating of 58% with an average 3.5/5, it earned slightly more at the box office with $297.3m, but compared to the other two franchises, Hunger Games’ sequel made more than double that with only a slightly larger budget. The Scorch Trials made slightly more but on about half the budget. But to business, what is this film really like?

Young Adult Month - Divergent

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call

Hunger Games

Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

We’re apparently going in order of success as we enter the Divergent series

Divergent had 4 movies planned, but the 4^th movie was ultimately scrapped after the 3^rd one failed to deliver at the box office. I wish I could say I was disappointed but having read the books, all I have to say is that they are so f*cking boring!

Released in 2014, the movie made $288m on an $85m budget, making it less successful than the least successful Maze Runner movie. It’s not great news on the critical front either, with a 42% Rotten Tomatoes rating with an average score 5.4/10, but it did have an impact with audiences, with a 69% rating and 3.8/5 average score.

#2 - Batman: Arkham Origins (Reupload)

Not sure how this review ended up deleted but here's a reupload of it

Before I start, I want to clarify. Batman Arkham Origins is not a bad game, per-say. But in my honest opinion it’s an ok-good game that exists in a franchise where that’s not good enough.

A little background: games starring superheroes is a not a new franchise but until the Arkham games came out, none of them really felt right. From Superman getting easily beaten by basic weapons, to team games where everyone loses health every time they take a hit. Not to mention the complicated systems of combos and super-moves. There have been a few Batman games in the past, including a Batman Begins game and several based on Batman: The animated series. None of them felt quite right, partially being restricted by their respective franchise

Out of the shadows came Batman: Arkham Asylum. Boasting the writing talents of Paul Dini (writer of the award-winning Batman: The Animated Series episode Heart of Ice) and the voice actors Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin, all veterans from Batman: The Animated series.  Unlike that said series. This was a much darker story, featuring the Joker committing on screen murder, dead bodies at every turn, and a far more gritty surroundings.

It was a huge success, it took (an element I hate in many games) and made it exciting, it took strategy, but not so much that it was highly complicated, and the surroundings were beautiful. Obviously a sequel was planned: Batman: Arkham City. Batman: Arkham City took everything that made Asylum great, tweaked it by adding new moves, gadgets and the like, and put onto an open world environment. The story, still penned (at least in part) by Paul Dini, and with return of most voice actors (with Tara Strong doing a good stand-in for Arleen Sorkin, and Mark Hamill reprising the Joker for what he said would be the last time, it wasn't the last time) Arkham City expanded on the roots of Arkham Asylum in all the right ways. It still looked lovely, was packed with references, and the story, while somewhat cluttered was a good one.

Lots of rumours had been going around as to what the third iteration of the Arkham franchise would be, with rumours of have a silver age backdrop and including heroes like Superman. In 2013 we received news that a new Batman: Arkham game would be released that year. Later, to many people’s disappointment, it was discovered that Rocksteady, who were the developers of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, would not be working on it (as they were still in the process of creating Batman: Arkham Knight) instead, the task fell to Warner Bros. Montreal, who did the Wii U adaptation of Arkham City. Furthering the disappointing news was the fact that they’d chosen a voice actor for Batman who wasn’t Kevin Conroy. Also of note was that Paul Dini was not working on the story for this game. Batman Arkham Origins would serve as a prequel, detailing the origins of key relationships in Batman’s mythos.

OK, that was a lot of backstory, so on with the review. Spoilers ahead

Young Adult Month - Maze Runner: The Death Cure

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

An angry guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

So we finish the Maze Runner Trilogy with the Death Cure

2018 was a tough year for YA movies, 4 of them released (if you count A Wrinkle in Time, which your mileage may vary on) and 3 of them were flops, I’ll be covering all 3 of the others later this year, but for now, we look at the conclusion to the Maze Runner trilogy.

Whilst this film was successful, it did hit some production issues, including Dylan O’Brien being injured during a stunt and having to take a year off filming, delaying the film. The film hit diminishing returns upon release, whilst still successful, it made only $288m on its $65m budget. If there’s one thing Fox should be given credit for, it’s management on their budget. Overblown budgets on relative unknowns leading to financial flops are sinking films and I hope after the Disney merger, Disney still allows these mid-budget flicks to get produced. Critically, this film managed 42% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average 5.1/10, only a slight drop from the last but significant enough. The audience score is weirdly better at 60% with an average 3.5/5 score

Young Adult Month - Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

An angry guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

OK, here’s where all bets are off, welcome to Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. The funny thing is there’s not a lot of change when it comes to production, Wes Ball is still directing and the writer was… one of the writers for the first one (T S Nowlin, who may or not have been involved with Fant4stic, but his track record isn't great regardless) There was definite room for improvement, especially when it came to the writing but they were off to a decent start

And this film was given a larger budget to work with, $61m which means it can be a bit more ambitious. The film was successful, making $312m, but the critical reception, whilst poor to start with gets worse with each instalment, this one manages a disappointing 46% with an average 5.4/10, and a 54% audience score averaging 3.4/5

Young Adult Month - The Maze Runner

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

Because I’ve made a conscious choice to read the books from this point on, I’ve decided to change the order. The Maze Runner was a series of 3 books (I’m excluding the prequel books since they weren’t adapted) written by James Dashner and released between 2009 and 2011, and it’s Fox throwing their hand into the YA ring with the adaption of this franchise.

And it’s off to a mixed start, but with a silver lining of making over $300m on a $35m budget. Critically though, it holds a 65% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which just barely qualifies as fresh, with an average score of a meagre 5.9/10, it holds a similar audience rating of 68%, though with a higher 3.7/5 average. These would be the highest scores this franchise gets so let’s take a look.

Young Adult Month - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 2

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

Part 2 of Mockingjay was the least successful Hunger Games movie, earning $650m on it’s $160m budget. You could argue this was a souring towards YA movies in general, as both of the next franchises would see diminishing returns towards the end of their run, but it could also be the problem of splitting this book into 2 parts.

The critical reception was only slightly improved with a 70% Rotten Tomatoes rating with an average 6.5/10, the audience score went down to 66%, with an average 3.6/5.

Young Adult Month - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1

In the not too distant future, after a disaster takes place

A nerdy guy with Rage Issues, among the last of the human race

He was just a media nerd, he ranted a lot, it was quite absurd

But he was special for some reason, so bad men decided it was Rage Issues season

He’ll star in 3 movies, 4 if we squeeze him dry

He’ll go and join a rebel force, as he’ll slowly lose his mind

Now keep in mind, he’s just a guy, no different from you or me

So, he’ll have to learn how to survive, with the help of YA Movies

Franchise Roll call:

The Hunger Games

The Maze Runner

Diiiiiiiivergent

If you’re wondering how he posts his thoughts, and who he’s posting for

Repeat to yourself, it’s just a theme, and stop thinking any more

It’s Young Adult Month!

And we’re back with the Hunger games with Mockingjay part 1

With the success of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows being split into 2 movies, it was decided to do the same thing with Mockingjay. The thing is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a much longer book and it needed to catch up with details omitted from previous very long books. Hunger Games: Mockingjay is a medium sized book, and the previous films had been largely pretty good at not omitting major details from the book (going from the Dom’s Lost in Adaptation here)

So, it’s not difficult to see this move as a major cash-grab on the part of the studio. The difficulty comes in altering the structure of the story to fit this. I will admit that my thoughts on this have been changed slightly. Unlike the other 2 books, I have read Mockingjay, I happened to stumble across it relatively cheap so I do know where these films branch off from the books.

Still, the success was felt, the film earned over $750m at the box office on a $140m budget (a notable downgrade from Catching fire but still) but took a hit critically with now a 68% Rotten Tomatoes rating with an average 6.3/10 score and a 71% audience rating with an average 3.8/5 score. What does that mean for the film itself? Here is my take.