Rurouni Kenshin: Part 1

 

I watched this with Mick after seeing it mentioned on a stuntmen channel I follow. It gets a lot of kudos for replicating 2D-animated combat with all the verve and speed of the original, and as so far as I've seen, it delivers. It's based off an anime that's part cartoon, part historical fiction, and it's pretty good. It's basically The Last Samurai from a different perspective. 

The Last Samurai is about Tom Cruise's character just not liking America and getting away from it. Kenshin, in contrast, is about someone who loves his home country and struggles to find the best way to help it. Rurouni Kenshin translates to "the traveling samurai Kenshin", and is about a legendary swordsman learning to use his skill without the brutality he employed previously. It's not so much a rejection of war as it is an attempt to understand it, and to contemplate a world with less violence. It's pretty good. 

If you're an anime fan - that means if you've liked Naruto or Attack on Titan or Death Note or whatever - then you'll like this film. If you liked The Last Samurai, you'll like this film. If you like historical fiction or cool sword fights or handsome Japanese actors, you'll like this film. It's rated R for blood, so heads up, but it's not gratuitous. It's good!

WandaVision - Episodes 3 and 4

 

WandaVision is shaping up to be just as good as its film predecessor.

Source: Marvel

As Wandavision strips away the mystery, we find a sci-fi story tinged with horror. After a third episode of homages - this time to seventies shows like The Brady Bunch - Episode Four pulls back the curtain; set in the "real" world and revealing the conceit of the previous episodes. We see some old characters - Darcy Lewis from Thor and Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man - but also get a new eye in Monica Rambeau (pictured), who serves as the newcomer and audience surrogate. Marvel's mix of plot talk, character moments, and relatability is on point with her. 

Monica (Teyonnah Paris) and Jimmy (Randall Park) contemplate the mystery.

Source: Marvel

While little can be said without spoilers, the show is clearly building up to something, and is using its serialized form to build maximum suspense. Moments we couldn't bother with in film are drawn out to leave us guessing, and references to the wider world are thrown in like Easter eggs. The opening of Episode Four, in particular, gives us an on-the-ground perspective of a Marvel event that saddens and surprises, and the Wanda-centered main plot is slowly becoming gutting.

At almost halfway through its nine-episode run, WandaVision is shaping up to be just as good as its predecessors, and a good herald of what's to come.

WandaVision - Episodes 1 and 2

 After ten years of action-packed boomfests, Marvel's first Disney+ show is a slow-boil mystery that combines the best production possible with infectious leading performances. Source: Disney.

Wanda and Vision are superheroes; everyone knows that. And Vision is dead. Everyone knows that too. But the show we're presented with has him alive and well. And the story we're given is of the two of them as a married couple, not superheroes saving the world. Being so far from the norm, it can feel jarring, but the performances of the two leads and the slick, retro writing render it the same fun ride that Marvel always delivers. 

The premise of the first two episodes is charming; Wanda and Vision are a working man and a housewife in the 1950's; their problems are as simple as hosting his boss for dinner and dazzling at the local talent show. Paul Bettany (Vision) exudes a Dick Van Dyke charm, and Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda/Scarlet Witch) is his Mary Tyler Moore.  But as the episodes end we see a shift in the setting, and it seems like they won't stay in the Golden Age for long. Marvel is doing what they're always doing; using a genre and its trappings to keep their formula innovative. The fact that it feels like a breath of fresh air but also the same world we've always known shows how much this works. After ten years of action-packed boomfests, Marvel's first Disney+ show is a slow-boil mystery that combines the best production possible with infectious leading performances.

It's too early to tell much of the plot right now, but it has all the signs of being a good one. In a mystery like this, it's easy to think of solutions: they're stuck in a fantasy-granting machine, or all of this is a dream of Wanda's sad mind. But the show clearly knows what we're expecting and is making us work for it. It's not so easy to guess as that, for comic fans and casuals alike. With the new episode coming out Friday, we'll be able to guess more. But for now, all there is to do is sit back and wonder.

The first two episodes of WandaVision are now available to stream on Disney+

Legend of Korra Book 2 - 1-4

The odd middle child of the series. Wasn't the first season where we were all happy it was back. Wasn't the later seasons where they fixed everything and made it awesome. Just following up from the weirdness of season one and continuing the show's limp into "ehhhh"-level storytelling with flashes of brilliance and weird takes on things from the original. 

Good points - the show looks as awesome as ever. There's some gorgeous stuff with the bike chase and the spirits and the snow and the Water Tribe architecture. It's just beautiful. It's great to see Aang and Katara's other kids in action. It's great to see Katara. It's great to get into spirit lore. It's great to see the new characters 'cause they're pretty cool. And it's nice to see Varrick, who ends up a fun long-term addition to the franchise that works great. He's like Tony Stark meets Groucho Marx. Wonderful.

Bad things - Ehhhhhh, it's got a lot going for it, but we end up seeing more of the same problems from Season 1. The antagonists are all right, but not too complex, and they end up making the heroes dumber so they don't beat the baddies too quick. Not to hop on this train too fast, but the baddies from Airbender worked because they always had a real reference point, and then had some significant sympathy moments. Season 2's got all this great subject matter with spirituality and heritage and history and exploring the universe's lore a little deeper like a classic fairy tale. But it squanders it with mediocre character beats and a propelling character (Unalaq) who never really becomes complex. 

And the other prong in this bad decisions fork is how they start devaluing the original characters' legacies. Like I said back in the first season opener, the show feels satisfying 'cause it shows the original characters succeeded and have been honored for their deeds. It's very satisfying to see they've grown up and received the happy ending we, the audience, always knew they deserved. But then the sequel goes out of its way to devalue them. Firstly, Katara is nowhere to be found in the Civil War plot, even though she's always been a player in Water Tribe politics and is part of the ruling family. And then worse, they somehow make Aang out to be a bad father, like shamefully and neglectfully bad, even though loving his kids seems like it would be the easiest thing in the world for him. I also touched on this in the season one review, but Aang and Katara feel like they would be pretty good parents. They're very nurturing, they're great partners and friends, and they have positive role models all over the place. We've literally seen them parenting a kid. It would be one thing if they were like, "oh yeah, he gave Tenzin more attention 'cause he's the airbender and sometimes we felt left out." But this is like, serious levels of dysfunction. Like with the previous season, it's a decent idea that gets half-baked and poorly executed since there's two people doing the job of ten.

There's more stuff to go on but there's already too many words in this review. Next section!