Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 2×01 – ‘Shadows’ – TV Rewind

Originally published on Set The Tape

Following a shaky start the first season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. really came into it’s own in the last few episodes, with changes to the universe that means things could never be the same again for the show, and the characters. The premiere episode of the second season had a lot to live up to, needing to maintain the momentum and quality of the end of the first season.

Thankfully the second season manages to start with a bang, clearly setting itself apart from the S.H.I.E.L.D. that had come before. This isn’t a big government organisation with glossy secret bases and high tech equipment, this a group of agents out in the field with no back-up, and working out of an old facility, they even lack any transport more advanced than a car. It immediately feels like a bold new direction for the series, one with a darker tone, more grounded in the real world than the Marvel movies.

Despite this feel of being a more real world spy show the episode is packed with comic book moments to make fans happy. The opening scene of the episode brings back Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Dum Dum Dugan (Neal McDonough), and Jim Morita (Kenneth Choi) from Captain America: The First Avenger in a great flashback scene that shows them taking down a Hydra facility following the defeat of the Red Skull. The scene explores some of the beginnings of S.H.I.E.L.D. and even gives us an origin for the blue alien corpse seen in the previous season, all whilst introducing a new ‘Macguffin’ for the episode, a mysterious alien obelisk.

Back in the present Coulson (Clark Gregg) has assembled a team to track down the mysterious obelisk, which includes some interesting new faces. S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Isabelle Hartley (Lucy Lawless) and her mercenary team of Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) and Idaho (Wilmer Calderon) are an interesting trio, one that helps to inject some new energy into the group, especially Blood’s Hunter, who is the only one of the three to make it out of the episode alive.

The mission to find the obelisk unfortunately comes into trouble when they cross paths with comic villain Carl ‘Crusher’ Creel (Brian Patrick Wade), or as most readers would know him, the Absorbing Man. Capable of taking on the properties of any material he touches Creel proves to be a great villain for the team, one that presents a big enough challenge for the group yet doesn’t feel too overpowered. The moment that he picks up his iconic ball and chain is definitely one of the highlights of the episode.

The premiere also sees a new addition in the form of Alphonso ‘Mack’ Mackenzie (Henry Simmons), a mechanic who looks like he should be a field agent because of the sheer size of him. Whilst there isn’t a great deal of development for him in this episode he already seems like an interesting new character and is sure to develop over time. The returning cast also shine in this episode, with Coulson seeming incredibly comfortable in his new role as Director, taking a step back from field work and making the tough decisions from the base. Despite how good it is to see the character out on missions this feels like a much better fit for him.

We also get to briefly catch up with the traitorous Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), who is now a prisoner after betraying his former team. It’s interesting to have seen Ward go from the confident hero to dastardly villain, and now to something of a pathetic character. It will be interesting to see how this will play our over the season, whether this is some kind of act or if he’s as broken as he appears, and how this will alter his relationship with Skye (Chloe Bennet).

The best character development, however, is Fitz (Iain De Caestecker), who we last saw suffering brain damage at the bottom of the ocean. Left to wander the new base and occasionally help out in the lab he’s clearly not the man we saw in the last season. Despite the brain damage, and the physiological affects that it has had on him, the saddest part is the reveal that Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) isn’t a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore, and that Fitz has been hallucinating her the whole episode.

‘Shadows’ manages to maintain the quality that we’ve come to expect from the series whilst setting up some great new characters, an interesting new plot, and a whole new status quo of the team. A huge improvement on the previous season, and a great indicator of how things will be going forward.


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Marvel Action: Avengers #1 – Comic Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

Bringing the Avengers to IDW, the Marvel Action line aims to create an all ages experience for fans of Marvel, and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Writer Matthew Manning has assembled a team of Avengers from some of their most iconic members to tell a story that aims to create a book that kids and long time readers can enjoy without talking down to the audience. And issue one seems to be just that.

Combining together a bright and almost cartoon like art style, courtesy of the talented Jon Sommariva, the book tells an interesting little mystery, keeping the reader guessing right up to the final reveal on the last page. It feels like it’s a story that is aimed at a younger audience, yet doesn’t alienate an older reader by being too simple, or too silly.

The story follows Tony Stark, who is out enjoying an evening meal with his partner Pepper Potts, when he is attacked by a member of the villainous organisation Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M.. From here the story seems to follow this member of A.I.M. as he attempts to steal the Iron-Man armour, having to fight Avengers Black Widow and Black Panther in order to do so.

It appears fairly simple as to what has happened, but in the final page we discover that our expectations are completely wrong, and that Manning has managed to completely pull the wool over our eyes. The end not only goes against the readers expectations, but manages to introduce a whole new series of questions as to what’s going on, and where the story will go in the next issue.

The issue also introduces the rest of this new Avengers team, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and Thor, as they execute a mission to take down Madame Masque and the U-Foes, a group of villains that have been hired by A.I.M.. Whilst the mission is short it manages to introduce the three heroes in a good way, showing their personalities pretty well, establishing how they will be acting in the book going forward, particularly Thor, who is clearly shown as a more fun-loving version of the character.

The art-style suits the book well, and each of the characters gets a great new makeover by Sommariva, who takes these iconic characters and gives them relatively small visual tweaks. The designs are clearly their characters, yet stand out well as being their own versions. For example, Captain Marvel sports her iconic costume, but has a more segmented armour look, rather than a simple fabric. She’s instantly recognisable as Captain Marvel, yet looks different enough from her regular comic counterpart for this to be clearly the Marvel Action version.

With a lot of mystery set up within this first issue I’m excited to see what happens next, what the villains are really up to, and what other characters are going to turn up, and what interesting new designs they might have. Marvel Action: Avengers has been designed to be accessible for people of all ages, and as such is a nice easy read that is sure to appeal to both casual readers, and long time fans.


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Star Trek: Insurrection – Throwback 20

Originally published on Set The Tape

Star Trek: Insurrection is the first Star Trek film that I remember seeing in the cinema. Having grown up watching various incarnations of the franchise on BBC2 in the evenings, and having seen the previous films I was very excited to go see my first Star Trek movie. However, when I left the cinema I found myself feeling somewhat deflated about the experience; and nothing much has changed over the last 20 years.

To be fair, there isn’t really anything hugely wrong with the film. The story is fine, the character moments are on the whole very good, and there’s an interesting central moral struggle for the Enterprise crew to grapple with. What it doesn’t do, though, is feel like a movie.

Star Trek: Insurrection would be a perfectly reasonable two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but having followed the massive success of Star Trek: First Contact it doesn’t even feel like it’s in the same league. Having researched a little into the making of the film I think there are a number of reasons for this.

The biggest reason for the film not being as good as its predecessor is the fact that Paramount Pictures set out to make a film with a much lighter tone than the last. Considering how dark Star Trek: First Contact is both visually and tonally it’s not hard to be different, but it seemed like the studio set out on this path without any clear indication of the type of story they wanted to tell.

A number of writers were brought on board the project, including  long time Star Trek alumni Michael Piller and Ira Steven Behr, to provide treatments. The story went through a number of changes, ranging from Romulan plots to Picard (Patrick Stewart) as a renegade who would have killed Data (Brent Spiner) at one point in the film. From what I have read it would appear that the finished film was something of a compromise, with several writers, producers, and cast members all bringing input to the final piece. Despite this, the story ended up being quite good, but lacked the ooph that a feature film needed.

The final plot sees the crew of the Enterprise being sent into a region of space known as the Briar Patch, to the idyllic home of the Ba’ku people – a race who possess the secret to eternal youth – to rescue a team of scientists that were secretly studying the Ba’ku, after Data appears to have gone berserk. When it transpires that Starfleet want to remove the Ba’ku from their planet in order to harness the secret of their youth, Picard and his crew must go against orders to save them.

The moral questions raised by the film are fairly good – ‘Is it right to destroy 600 lives to save billions?’ – and the effects that the planet have on the crew are interesting and varied, and in some cases a lot of fun. The scene in which Geordi (LeVar Burton) gets to see a sunrise with real human eyes for the first time in his life is an incredibly touching moment, especially for long time fans of the character.

Despite this, there are still a few things that the film does wrong. The villains feel too one dimensional and ‘evil’. The comedic moments feel a little forced on occasion. There’s a huge lack of much needed action. And the pacing is just too slow. Personally, one of my biggest complaints is the fact that they cut out scenes that would have explored Worf (Michael Dorn) having recently had his wife murdered.

Star Trek: Insurrection is Star Trek spread too thin, a story that ticks all of the boxes but doesn’t try to excel in any particular way. The cast are great, as always, and the sets and visual effects are good, but never reach the levels of Star Trek: First Contact for emotional punch or visual flare. A competent Star Trek story, but not a good Star Trek film.


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The New Mutants – 2019 Preview

Originally published on Set The Tape

Originally slated for a 2018 release, The New Mutants was pushed back to an August 2019 release with little to no explanation, though the recent Disney acquisition of Fox may explain some of this.

Directed by Josh Boone, The New Mutants stars Anya Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin/’Magik’, Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair/’Wolfsbane’, Charlie Heaton as Sam Guthrie/’Cannonball’, Henry Zaga as Roberto da Costa/ ‘Sunspot’, Blu Hunt as Danielle Moonstar/’Mirage’, and Alicia Braga as Cecillia Reyes.

The New Mutants shifts its focus away from the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters and the characters that we know, and will tell the story of a group of young mutants that are struggling to survive in a world that hates and fears mutants.

The New Mutants has promised to change the tone of the X-Men universe, leaving behind the bright costumes and super heroics that the franchise is known for, instead choosing to embrace horror; an area of the X-Men universe that has been explored many times in print, but not yet on film.

Josh Boone and the cast are already a good indication of this change, with a director best known for the drama The Fault In Our Stars, and actors from The Witch, Stranger Things, and Game of Thrones a sign that Fox are willing to embrace a different feel for the film. Fox chairman and CEO Stacey Snider has said that the film is less of a superhero piece and more of “a haunted house movie with a bunch of hormonal teenagers”, crediting both One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and The Shining as inspirations for the project.

The New Mutants were the first ever spin-off team based around the concept of additional mutant super teams at Marvel Comics, debuting in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 in December 1982, written by Chris Claremont. The team would go on to prove popular enough to merit their own ongoing title that would last for several years. Over the course of this initial run all of the characters that feature in the film made appearances. The book has returned a number of times since this original run, with many of the characters going on to reappear.

The fact that Fox is taking advantage of these spin-off characters is a great source of comfort for X-Men fans, especially with the increasingly confusing continuity of the main series. With the X-Men films having become so bogged down in their own interweaving stories and conflicting chronology it will be a great relief to have an X-Men project that manages to stand on its own.

Yes, Deadpool existed as its own entity, but it acknowledged these inconsistencies and changes in the other films (though with a sly wink) in that it reminded viewers that this was just another part of a larger, more confused whole.

With The New Mutants rumoured by the director to be the first part of a trilogy, hopefully it will manage to remain separate enough from the rest of the films not to be damaged by association. It’s entirely possible to include connections to the larger universe without interacting with it in any real way; just look at how Legion managed to be a part of the X-Men’s world whilst still being its own entity.

With a cast of some of the best up and coming young actors working in film and television at the moment, a director who has proven that they can deliver an effective film about teenagers in extraordinary circumstances, and a trailer that genuinely sent shivers down my spine, let’s hope that The New Mutants delivers on its promises and gives the X-Men franchise the end that it deserves with Fox before Disney takes creative control.


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Godzilla: King of the Monsters – 2019 Preview

Originally published on Set The Tape

Following the success of 2014’s Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards, Legendary Pictures quickly began work on a franchise set within the same universe. With the surprise inclusion of Kong: Skull Island and a post-credits scene that promised huge things to come, the excitement for Godzilla: King of the Monsters was huge even before the first details of the plot began to emerge.

With only a few months to go until the monster movie hits cinema screens and with a number of trailers having already been released, the hype for horror director/writer Michael Dougherty’s (Trick ‘r Treat, Krampus) ultimate creature-feature has reached fever-pitch.

Set a few years after the events of the first Godzilla film, Godzilla: King of the Monsters sees the shady kaiju-colossus-hunting government agency Monarch go up against a series of new giant creatures that begin to terrorise the world. The list of enemies will be well familiar to fans of the classic Godzilla films, including the likes of Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah.

On the other less-CGI hand, the film’s human cast include Vera Farmiga, who plays Dr Emma Russel, a scientist who has figured out a way to communicate and possibly even control the giant Kaiju monsters. When she and her daughter Madison (Stranger Things‘s Millie Bobby Brown) are kidnapped by ‘a mysterious organisation with their own plans for the creatures,’ a rescue mission is mounted to bring them home. The cast also boasts the likes of Charles Dance, Sally Hawkins, Ken Watanabe and Ziyi Zhang.

The story details are still very thin on the ground. We don’t know if this mysterious organisation that kidnap Emma and Madison are Monarch or another group, but we do know that the film will be exploring the history of these creatures. The trailers and the film’s viral marketing have teased ancient temples where the monsters were once worshipped and how they may have helped to shape our own cultures.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters is the first time that many of these new Kaiju will be seen within the Legendary universe. The designs that have been revealed for the modern reinterpretations are absolutely stunning. Mothra looks beautiful and elegant and is the closest to a real-life moth that we’ve ever seen her. Rodan is stunning, covered in burning magma, his flight tearing cities apart in his wake. King Ghidorah, Godzilla’s greatest foe, is gigantic and terrifying.

We all know that the giant monster fights are the big reason why people tune into a Godzilla are the monster fights; and this film promises some of the biggest to ever appear on screen with Godzilla and Mothra fighting side by side once again to combat Ghidorah and Rodan, and possibly more. It is currently scheduled for release in the UK on 31 May 2019.


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