Author: dtm666

I ramble about things.

MOVIE REVIEW – Highlander II: The Quickening (1991)

Highlander was a cult hit in 1986 and seemingly ended with no room open for a sequel… but in 1991, out came Highlander II: The Quickening, a film that would end up being somewhat reviled due to its controversial changes to the lore of the first film. It came such a running joke that the producers would eventually put together a “Renegade Edition” that some saw as damage control, but clearly the only to control this kind of damage would have been to not release the film in the first place.

On a personal note, Highlander II would actually be my first exposure to the franchise and… yeah, listen. Only having fleeting knowledge about the Highlander lore and then discovering that all these Immortal beings are actually aliens from another planet is kind of a hard pill to swallow. I could only imagine those who had seen and adored that first film would have felt at the sequel’s utter dissection of its predecessor’s lore. The later Renegade version would remove all references to planet Zeist or outer space, retooling these immortal beings as being sent from Earth’s distant past… a distant past of an unrecorded period where we had time travel technology and laser-based weaponry. Honestly, trying to fit this in within any context of Highlander lore is an exercise in futility and having this be ignored by other films and television series that would come along afterwards is probably for the best.

With all that having been said… I don’t dislike Highlander II as much as others do. As a part of the larger Highlander universe, it’s an odd piece of the puzzle that doesn’t quite fit… but taken as its own thing, this is one of those films that you know is pretty bad, but you can help but admire the absurdity of the whole thing. And I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t things to like about this film.

Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery reprise their roles from the previous film and pretty much continue where that relationship left off being Ramirez lost his head. Michael Ironside’s General Katana is pure ham and is absolutely beautiful. Not quite as imposing as the Kurgan, but the glee in the misery he brings is absolutely infectious. The few sword fights and action sequences are actually quite well done and I can almost admire the grander setpieces that the film attempts to depict, even if most of it takes place in perpetual darkness. And of course, there’s the bombastic orchestral soundtrack by the great Stewart Copeland, which sounds great even if it’s saddled with a largely bad movie that’s taken down by a largely terrible script that the cast tried as best as they could to make the most of what they were given.

If you’re going to watch Highlander II, get the Renegade Version. It changes a few plot details here and there, but also the editing is a bit tighter and some things are moved around here and there so that the whole thing simply make more sense. It’s still not a good movie and ultimately a completely superfluous entry in the Highlander legacy, but if you just want a bad movie to take the piss out of on a late night, you could do far worse than this.

MOVIE REVIEW – Highlander (1986)

1986 saw the release of Highlander, a film that not many people saw domestically but was a hit overseas and has since become something of a cult classic that has spawned several films and series that fail to live up to the standards that made the initial film great. And while it may seem rather dated by today’s standards (the 1980s-style soundtrack and special effects, as good as they are for the time, doesn’t help matters here), it does hold up rather well in terms of its story and action.

For the most part, I enjoyed the sword fights tremendously, with each battle becoming more intense as the stakes become higher. The non-linear aspect of the story – alternating between the present day and flashbacks of the past – was almost baffling, but never gets confusing and the two compliment each other rather well.

Highlander also offered an interesting view of immortality; its high points and its tragedies. Whereas we would always wish to be able to live forever, these immortals do live on, carrying the burden of watching friends and family die, as well as having to deal with being an outcast to the mortal world. It’s something that reflects greatly on Connor and something that is sadly lost in later entries.

Overall, Highlander is a perfect starting point (dare I say the only thing worth watching in the franchise) for those who are interesting in checking it out. If you can get past the eighties-ness of the whole deal, you’ll find a surprisingly deep and rather enjoyable film. Recommended.

WWF Buys WCW… And Somehow Loses.

It’s over.

After a long, hard-fought battle, the World Wrestling Federation has outlasted its rival promotion World Championship Wrestling and bought off its remains, putting an end to the storied rivalry in years and giving Vincent K. McMahon the sports entertainment monopoly he’s always wanted.

It was tight in the beginning. WCW Monday Nitro started in 1995 and went head to head with WWF during a time when the show was an hour long and ran a bunch of bad matches and stories featuring largely cartoonish gimmicks.

And then Scott Hall and Kevin Nash jumped ship to WCW, wrecked havoc (in more ways than one), and formed the New World Order with a Hulk Hogan who had gone bad in an effort to change his stale act. And for the first time in a good long while, WCW was on top of the world, beating the WWF in the ratings, pay-per-view buys, and other areas that the geeks would consider important. The WWF struggled, but couldn’t quite nudge.

But WCW proved two things; they had one good idea and most of their top stars were old guys from the WWF’s prime years in the eighties. Eventually, people got tired of the nWo gimmick and clamored for something new… and that something new came from Stone Cold Steve Austin feuding with Vince McMahon. Suddenly, people were hot for WWF again to the point where WCW was suddenly feeling left behind.

In an effort to gain back their dominance, WCW made stupid mistakes. They ended the streak of their hottest star, Goldberg, and went back to the nWo well one time too many. They hired one of the creative minds behind the WWF’s recent run and they ended up with the same stuff that was on the other show, which begs the question why anyone would want to watch second-rate WWF television on the WCW show when they could just watch RAW. They let four talented wrestlers leave for the competition. They brought back the two guys responsible for the company’s woes to try and liven things up again, only to fail miserably and harder than before.

And these are just scratching the service.

Eventually, the heads at Time Warner decided to sell the thing off and then someone else decided to cancel all the WCW shows, leaving Vince to come in and buy his competition. He might not have the shows, but he has the trademarks, the titles, and some of the stars… but not the big guns. No Goldberg, no Steiner, no Jarrett or anyone like that… well, they got DDP… that’s something, I guess, right?

So this is it… WWF is the only show on television right now… and how do they celebrate this big milestone?

They make Shane the new owner of WCW and have Steve Austin turn on the Rock to join forces with Vince McMahon.

The next day, a friend of mine who had been watching wrestling since the 80s was so upset by this turn of events that he swore off wrestling forever. We’ll see if he actually means it… but if that’s the case, then I wonder how many other people would feel the same way. More to the point… how many people who used to watch WCW until the very end – still feels funny saying that – are actually going to make the jump to WWF?

I was not the biggest WCW fan in the world; the old guys and the constant nWo stuff killed it for me… but it was the place for great wrestling. And there used to be this mentality that WWF was more focused on the entertainment aspects while WCW was more about the sport… something that wasn’t readily apparent the first time around when you had a bunch of old guys in the main event.

So two shows with two different styles… and one goes away… does the one show get the other audience or do they go away?

One thing’s for sure; this acquisition could very well make this whole WWF vs. WCW thing a reality… even if it feels half-assed

COMIC REVIEW – Stone Cold Steve Austin (Chaos! Comics Miniseries)

In 1999, the World Wrestling Federation did a deal with publisher CHAOS! Comics to produce a bunch of comic book based on their various WWF Superstars. This included a Undertaker series that lasted several issues, along with a few one shots based on Mankind, Chyna, and The Rock. None of these comics have anything to do with wrestling, but rather take these characters on zany adventures outside their comfort zone. Undertaker fighting actual demons… Rock dealing with fixed fights… Chyna doing bodyguard work for other people… that sort of thing.

And then there was the Stone Cold Steve Austin miniseries… yes, a miniseries that lasted four issues… and once again, this has nothing to do with Austin delivering Stone Cold Stunners to other WWF Superstars or giving beer baths to Vince McMahon, but rather we’ve got Austin in the role of mysterious stranger coming into a Texas town owned by a less-than-honest Texas owner doing bad things. Your classic modern-day western of sorts… except instead of mysterious strange, you have Stone Cold Steve Austin, who has the ability to command a small crowd of townspeople fearing for their lives to give him a Hell Yeah whenever he calls for it. It’s simply amazing.

I mean… hell, when you think about it, the story itself is rather pedestrian and uninteresting. There’s a certain mystery surrounding someone who was run out of town, but that’s secondary to Austin beating up thugs and not selling a damn thing. They throw attack choppers and biker gangs his way and he blows through all of them. This would have been fine for a one-shot, but four issues is stretching it and there’s only so many ways you can depict Stone Cold opening various cans of whoop ass and stomping various mudholes through many asses before it gets a bit tiresome.

There’s a reference to The Corporation – the faction headed by Vince McMahon – but don’t expect any other WWF talent to actually show up in these books. I guess there was no artist on earth who would dare draw HHH and his big gonzo nose. Speaking of which, the art is alright. The action bits are well depicted, seeing Stunners on the drawn page look somewhat impactful, and the layouts are fairly clean by late-90s comic standards.

It’s not exactly a great comic by any means. The joke pretty much runs itself through the dirt about two issues and by the time you reach the end, it’s just… eh. That said, if you ever wanted a comic about Stone Cold Steve Austin being a total badass who’s nigh impervious to pain, then this is the book for you. They’re an amusing curiosity if nothing else, but not much more than that… which more than sums up the entirety of the WWF/CHAOS! Comics partnership if I’m being totally honest.

Spider-Man Unlimited… meh.

So I liked the Spider-Man cartoon that’s on Fox. I think it does a good enough job of adapting some of the more popular comic stories onto the small screen with its own little continuity and it has a pretty catchy theme song. Almost as catchy as that classic Spidey tune from the old cartoon from the 60s or something.

The show ended on a cliffhanger, with Spider-Man and that Webb lady looking for Mary Jane in some other dimension or something… but rather than continue that angle, we got another Spider-Man cartoon… called Spider-Man Unlimited.

This Spider-Man featured Spider-Man going to another dimension – a Counter-Earth, if you will – and now he has to help some rebels fend off against some other villains while also having to deal with mutated versions of Venom and Carnage. Spidey also sports a new suit with a bunch of gadgets and… I’m not a fan. Spidey has had costume changes before, but this looks god-awful.

Spider-Man Unlimited is a good show on its own… good original storylines, decent animation, but it’s not the Spider-Man I know from reading the comics. While there are some familiar faces, they don’t always show their face, leaving our poor webhead to make friends with some new faces, who vaguely resemble some characters from the comics.

I’m not going to bash this cartoon because it doesn’t follow the roots of which it came from. It’s a good show, but it would have been a better show if Spidey ditched the hi-tech crap and stuck with his basic web shooters and proportionate spider strength.

Or at least came up with a better suit.

MOVIE REVIEW – Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)

For those who felt that the live-action Street Fighter movie was too much of a Van Damme movie and not enough of a proper Street Fighter movie, then perhaps Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie may be more to your liking.

When I first bought a VHS copy of this film, I bought it mainly for two reasons. It’s based on the popular video game of which I’ve played many times and I’ve always wanted to kick off my own collection of anime films… a goal that has fallen off the waysides as of late. I wasn’t expecting much – the Van Damme version wasn’t all that great of a film, although I’ll happily admit here that I do enjoy some of the cheese it provides… maybe I should’ve added that bit to the imdb review.

Turns out that the people behind the animated movie knew what they were doing and were more than willing to keep the movie faithful to the video game source it was based upon rather than try to craft their own narrative with all the players they were given. All sixteen fighters from Super Street Fighter II Turbo are represented – hell, they even snuck in a cameo by then-secret fighter Akuma as a background bit – and they’re all portrayed as close to as they should be. The fight sequences are also well-done and are a highlight of the film… as they should be in a movie called Street Fighter.

There were two localized versions of the film released: an unedited version (which is the version I saw) and a version edited for general audiences, which I assume mostly involves editing some choice words and some shots here and there. Neither version retains the few seconds of the Chun-Li Shower Scene where she bares all, which may disappoint all the perverts out there. But for the rest of you, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie does the games justice and is just a solid film in its own right. Well worth the watch.

MOVIE REVIEW – Hitman Hart: Wrestling With Shadows (1998 Documentary)

I had seen this film back when it first aired on A&E channel a year or so back and when I saw the VHS tape available for sale and had the money for it, I snapped at the opportunity to pick this up.

What started as a simple documentary about wrestling became a compelling drama, which pits the hero Bret Hart against the manipulative Vince McMahon. What results of this confrontation is one of the biggest controversies in wrestling history. And you know something? That wasn’t in the script.

What’s wrong with this film? It features real people doing real things, real backstage politics, and yet there is something about this film that makes it so dramatic… so exciting that it seems like it’s scripted. But any wrestling insider will tell that it’s no work… no storyline concocted… this is very real.

There’s an additional bonus on the VHS version; an additional interview with Bret Hart and filmmaker Paul Jay reflecting on the film and the events that have transpired since the events of Montreal and the film’s subsequent release. It provides a nice bit of depth and despair to the existing story.

This isn’t exactly the greatest wrestling documentary ever made (although some people will disagree), but it is one of the few which holds nothing back except what happens behind the curtain. A good drama in my view.

Revisiting THREE: A New Generation of Street Fighters

I remember going to the local arcade by the shopping mall, looking to see if there was anybody occupying the popular fighters during the day. And there it sat: THREE.

Why they went with THREE on the arcade banner and not Street Fighter III baffled me at the time, but looking back, I realized that the banner was a joke that Capcom went along with.

For years, people have been clamoring for a Street Fighter III and for years, we got anything and everything BUT that elusive game. In that time, there have been many countless jokes made about Capcom being unable to count to three when it comes to its Street Fighter games. The funny thing is that nobody at Capcom had a problem counting up to and beyond 3 when it comes to its Mega Man series. Maybe the problem is with Capcom’s arcade side of things, as now we seem to have a problem counting to 4.

Or maybe this is the last Street Fighter game for a good while… not counting the updates, of course.

I remember popping in a token into the machine, which had seen only a couple people play at most. I’d pick Ryu and then was astounded by the option to choose one of three Super Arts. Prior Street Fighter games and spin-offs gave fighters more than one super that were available at all times, so to restrict players to one out of three seemed like a step backwards, but then again, this was a “new” take on the property.

Other than Ryu and Ken, you have a cast of eight new characters. In a way, I was annoyed because that meant you had no old favorites to fall back on other than Ryu or Ken… but in a way, it actually makes sense. Street Fighter II had only three fighters making a return from Street Fighter I and this third game is supposed to denote a new generation. Shouldn’t there be more new faces to introduce to the pack?

So I play this new game and in a way, it’s familiar territory almost back to basics. Moves works as well as they did in past games, air blocking is gone, air hurricane kick is gone, only one level of super energy, and… wait a minute, why does that girl have three levels of energy and a much smaller meter? What’s going on here? Hold on, they’ve got a meter that shows me how many hits it takes to stun someone? Why would… HOLY SHIT! DID THAT SUPER SHORYUKEN JUST EAT UP HALF THAT GUY’S HEALTH?! WHAT THE FUCK?!

Street Fighter III was the same old Street Fighter game with a new cast of characters, a somewhat more fluid artstyle that was rougher looking and carried more grit than the anime-esque Alpha visuals,  and a new parrying mechanic that takes a while to master, but changes the dynamics of the game greatly. And I’ll be honest; I enjoyed the game quite a bit. It was nice to see a different looking Street Fighter game that didn’t just recycle the same Alpha sprites over again and there was a vibe to this one that I kinda dug.

The typical single-player experience gave you six random opponents for you to conquer before facing off against the final boss, Gill; a tall dude with blue and red skin wearing nothing but a loin cloth. This fucker was tough; his moves hit fast and hard, his reaction times were quick, and if he had a full super meter after getting KO’ed, he’d spring right back to life.  Clearly, this guy was an asshole that was hard as nails… but eventually, he was conquered and a high score was achieved… back when we cared for such things.

And then a year or so later, that SF3 machine was replaced with something else. I don’t remember what, but the game didn’t last long. I never did get to play the 2nd Impact upgrade in arcades, but I did play the Third Strike iteration during my wilderness years. A drastically different experience that no doubt felt like a considerable upgrade… but I’ve always had a fondness for the OG Street Fighter III. It might not have gotten the warmest reception at first glance, but I was just thrilled to get a different Street Fighter that actually felt somewhat different.

Revisiting The Original Street Fighter Game

Most people’s first experience with a Street Fighter anything was the second game. The one with eight World Warriors, special moves that took time to pull off, and made for some competitive battles between players. Even with that initial iteration, it’s easy to see why it became the basis for a much beloved fighting game franchise.

Of course, that is Street Fighter II, which denotes a sequel to a prior game.

The only other Street Fighter game that I knew of back in the day was the Street Fighter 2010 game for Nintendo that was featured in some comic book ads, but eventually, I’d come across that very first Street Fighter game and while my experience with it was brief, it stuck with me until the end of time.

We were at an airport one time and on the second floor, there was a rather modestly-sized video arcade section. I only had a couple quarters on hand to try some of the games; most of which were older games that I wasn’t too familiar with at the time and most of which I probably wish I sampled for the sake of saying that I played an actual [insert vintage arcade game here] arcade cabinet. But instead, my eyes were affixed on this one machine in general with a very familiar name.

Street Fighter.

But this one was different. This one had no roman numeral II on the marquee. And also, the game that was being displayed was not the familiar Street Fighter II game that I had seen before. It took a moment for my young mind to register that this was, in fact, not Street Fighter II… but rather the original Street Fighter I. Yes, the game does, in fact, exist. I’ve seen it with my own two eyes… and it bore the familiar set-up of six buttons (three punches and three kicks).

Being someone who had been on something of a Street Fighter kick, I couldn’t help but be drawn by this magical cabinet before my eyes. Ah man, I’ve got to give this thing a try… aw, but it takes two credits and that’s all I had… but still, it’s Street Fighter I. I’m never going to get this chance again. I rarely get out at this young age of 12. So I popped the quarters in and I start playing.

The game was primitive compared to its sequel. You only had one character to play with (Ryu) and your only option was to fight in Japan or USA. Naturally, I begin the quest in Japan, where I face off against a bald guy named Retsu and eventually get defeated by Geki, a ninja. And then there was a bomb. And then I had no more spare change and moved on with my life.

That’s about all I remember about the game.

I don’t recall if the game ever got ported over to home systems. The closest thing that I could recall was reading about a PC version of Street Fighter II that also came packaged with a DOS version of Street Fighter I, but that’s about the extent of it. It’d be nice to be able to play that game again someday.

We’ll see, I guess.

Later.