Arrow- Tough guy internal monologues and intense Rocky-esque training montages are just two of the many problems plaguing this DC hero show. I admit, I’ve never been one for comics, so my knowledge of the Green Arrow is incredibly limited. However, I’ve been yearning for some action oriented T.V. of the American persuasion, and with reckless abandon I sat down to watch Arrow. The trouble is, Arrow is a cynical and haphazard attempt at bringing the DC universe to television.
One cliche after another, followed-up by characters who are dragged along by the plot in a forcible manner; that’s Arrow in a nutshell. Characters boil down to the love interest, the goofy best friend, a grizzled war vet who has seen things MAN, and the delinquent 17 year-old. Each and every face is a painful reminder of how not to write characters. Most egregious of all, Arrow comes of as little more than a Batman rip-off. There’s a corrupt city. Our hero returns home to seek vengeance on those responsible. He’s from a rich family who has a hand in the city's politics and economy, thanks to their suspiciously Wayne Enterprise-like corporation. With the aid of his family wealth and fighting experience gained in a land far to the east, Arrow strikes. Though he may not have super powers, he’s a vigilante out for justice and a capable one at that. He’s a bit of an anti-hero, but covers up his true identity with the ruse of being a millionaire playboy.
If that doesn’t sound like Batman, you’re hopelessly daft.
Bad writing aside, it is an action show, so how does it fare in that regard? Miserably so, failing to satisfy the base visual desire required. The first episode contained some rather exhilarating parkour and hand to hand action but that fades away instantly in favor of something more standard.
If you forgo writing in favor of action, then you’ve better have something that pops. A unique style of combat or visuals would work. Arrow lacks such a thing, and because of that, it fails in all aspects.
Orange is the New Black- In recent months Netflix seems to have been participating in some sort of arms race. Emmy level shows such as House of Cards and Arrested Development are the most publicized, but there are several other Netflix original shows including, Weeds creator Jenji Kohan’s, Orange is the New Black.
Much like Weeds, OitNB is a dramedy centered around not only a female protagonist, but an almost all female cast. Seeing that it’s set in a women’s prison, this should come as no surprise. Still, I have to applaud the uniqueness of such a thing. Sadly, once you actually meet them, many are crude stereotypes at best. Black prisoners are mostly loud and in your face. Hispanics have an attitude and are a tight-nit “family.” There’s also the hippie from California who heads the prison’s yoga class and ran a weed farm before serving time. Forgetting racist implications, this is a prime example of bad writing. It’s been done approximately 1.8 billion times before and therefore not the least bit original.
Eventually backstories are revealed, but far to little and far too late. Even if some of them are rather good. When you do finally get to know them, they drastically improve. Prison may be an easy setting for sympathetic characters, well at least once their sob stories are told, but even so I was impressed. So often when you think of convicted criminals, the thought of the world’s worst people come to mind. While this is true in some cases, it’s not so across the board and OitNB conveys this quite well.
As far as the comedic aspects go, it’s a rather mixed bag. Some characters like Crazy Eyes are hilarious, while others are nothing more than forgettable. This hit or miss quality left me rather confused at first, I wasn’t sure what I was watching. I could tell they were trying to make me laugh but it wasn’t always happening. And when the drama was being played up, I was mildly engaged. By the sixth episode or so this is no longer the case and both fronts are improved.
Do I recommend Orange is the New Black? Sure, it’s enjoyable. I am however worried about longevity, doubly so thanks to Weeds’ abysmal quality after the third season.
Dredd- Sometimes I watch a movie and wonder, what just happened? Not in the sense that I was confused by the set of events. I’m simply shocked numerous people and millions of dollars were spent on something so nonsensical. As you may have guessed, Dredd is one such movie. It’s a stringing of pointless happenings set in an underdeveloped dystopian world, all for the sole purpose of excusing incredibly senseless violence and gore.
The kicker is there really was potential within the setting. The concept of a dystopian police city-state that spans from Boston to D.C. is interesting and even rather topical courtesy of the NSA scandal, court case controversies such as the George Zimmerman trial, and Anonymous’ November 5th protests Yet, creativity is overshadowed by lackluster action, which makes the hour and thirty minutes spent watching this garbage even less pleasurable.
There are characters in the sense that there are actors and actresses being filmed, but most are devoid of any distinct personality. Dredd is a mess, and I highly suggest you avoid it all costs.
Star Trek: Into Darkness- Recently I’ve been on a bit of a visual novel kick and this has led me to some truly remarkable pieces of complex sci-fi. In fact, I even have a review of one at Plus10Damage. Then there is Star Trek: Into Darkness, a much more easily accessible bit of sci-fi. What I mean by that is it’s not very deep, which is by no means a bad thing, because I actually rather enjoyed the film.
Firstly, Benedict Cumberbatch was terrific as, well I suppose I better not say for spoilers sake, but I assure you he was a delight to watch. Although even as someone who has never been a fan of Star Trek I thought the twist was obvious. As for the rest of the characters, most of the crew was as dull as a box of rocks, but Cumberbatch, Pine (Kirk), and Quinto (Spock) managed to keep things interesting. Fortunately the others were relegated to the sidelines so much that I half-forgot they were there. Well other than Bones, whose over-acting was an annoyance. Karl Urban was clearly trying to pay homage to the original character what with the whole “I’m a doctor, not a physicist” shtick, but after about five minutes it felt tiresome and out of place.
Back to what made the film work though. Things were much more contained this time. It didn’t jump around the galaxy too much and the majority of the action felt like one appropriately extended scene rather than a bunch of schizophrenic nonsense. We met the characters and then got straight to the action and sci-fi goodness, which lets face it, that’s what we came for.
By no means is it a perfect film, and I’m still not too keen on J.J. Abrams, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
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