Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Has James Gunn Delivering Fans An Emotionally Satisfying Finale To His Breakthrough Sci-Fi/Action Trilogy

      Very rarely do blockbuster movie franchises end on a high note without doing a disservice to the films that came before it, but filmmaker James Gunn succeeds in beating the odds with Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 finally making it's way to theaters and delivering an emotionally satisfying finale to a ragtag group of misfit characters, who've grown to become a noteworthy staple for the MCU.

      Picking up where Vol. 2 left off and taking place after Avengers: Endgame, Vol. 3 has Peter Quill, (Star-Lord), rallying his team to save Rocket from an old enemy, as well as the universe in a mission that could potentially spell the end of the Guardians if not successful. With Vol. 3 marking the end of the Guardians franchise, Gunn wastes no time in raising the steaks here and delivers an emotional backstory to Rocket's character that's often tough to watch. Although nothing tops the first Guardians Of The Galaxy, Vol. 3 manages to comfortably surpass Vol. 2 with the story being a clever mixture of heart, laughs, and a poignant tale regarding both friendship and family. It's the ideal finale that fans wanted the franchise to have while establishing Gunn as being one of the strongest Hollywood filmmakers working today. 

      As far as performances go, Vol. 3's cast kills it with each actor and actress perfectly matching their counterparts to the point where both operate in sync with each other. Chris Pratt makes for an ideal Peter Quill/Star-Lord with the latter shown to be devastated over the loss of his deceased lover Gamora, with her reemergence conflicting with his governing of the Guardians. Zoe Saldana is equally terrific as Gamora's varient, now serving as the leader of the Ravagers. Saldana does a fine job of playing a hardened Gamora, who has no recollection of her past life with Peter's team, yet becomes conflicted with wanting to help them fulfill their mission while uncovering the truth about her past. Both Pratt and Saldana's chemistry remain spot-on with the audience feeling the depression that Quill's character experiences with Gamora not remembering their relationship. Dave Bautista and Karen Gillan are terrific as highly skilled warrior Drax, and Gamora's adoptive sister Nebula, whose slowly healing psychologically from the abuse and torment that she experienced at the hands of her father, Thanos. The rest of Vol. 3's cast give scene-stealing performances with Pom Klementieff being fantastic as Guardians member, Mantis, whose Quill's half-sister and carries empathic powers, with Bradley Cooper providing the films heart as the genetically engineered raccoon-based bounty hunter, Rocket, and Noah Raskin voicing the character's infant version. Along with the Guardians ensemble, Will Poulter is strong as Adam Warlock, a powerful artificial being created by the Sovereign to destroy the Guardians with Chukwudi Iwuji dominating as Rocket's evil creator, the High Evolutionary, who seeks to forcibly enhance all living beings into a "special race."

With Gunn returning to the directors chair, he keeps everything consistent in regards to quality and atmosphere while maintaining the same Zany style humor that dominated the previous  Guardians films and gave it such a warm experience for fans. As far as the action and violence goes, this is the darkest film in the series with Gunn showcasing several scenes that demonstrate a characters PTSD regarding his past experience, which includes both experimental and animal torture with the rest of the films Sci-Fi action being destructive. In terms of overall visual look, Guardians manages to avoid the criticism that recent MCU films have received with their effects looking rushed and unnatural. At 149 minutes, Gunn keeps things moving relatively steady with the story and characters being placed front and center. Like the previous Guardians, Gunn once again knocks it out of the park with the soundtrack consisting of catchy tracks including Radiohead's classic Creep, along with The Flaming Lips Do You Realize, and Reasons by Earth Wind & Fire that help establish the stories tone. With Vol. 3, Gunn delivers an experience for audiences that's as equally funny and heartwarming as it is visually stunning.

      Some of the key themes explored in Vol. 3's story include teamwork, perseverance, and courage with Quill's team working together to save Rocket regardless of what challenges lie infront of them. Here, Gunn prioritizes giving more insight to Rocket's background including relationships with childhood friends that places the audience on the hook emotionally with his character arc. Along with making Rocket's backstory central to the plot, the script also tackles Peter's character being devastated by the loss of Gamora with him showing visible heartbreak and frustration towards her not remembering anything regarding their past. Gunn supplies the film with a healthy amount of the franchises trademark juvenile style humor, which includes a clever usage of the MCU's first F-bomb. Although the new film is the darkest of the trilogy, the themes that made the series feel so personal to audiences regarding friendships and family come into strong focus here and serve as being the heart of the story with it also marking the series most mature entry.

       While it may upset fans that the franchise is coming to its long-awaited end, they'll be pleased with the way it goes about wrapping things up. As a film that's meant to bring the Guardians Of The Galaxy franchise to a fitting close, one can't imagine a better finale to the series than the one that Gunn presents here with the newest installment being tremendously fun to watch while packing an emotional punch. Not only is Vol. 3 the best one since the first, it's one of Marvels strongest films to come out of its most recent phases with it recapturing some of the lost magic. In retrospect, fans couldn't ask for a better conclusion to James Gunn's remarkable superhero space franchise. 

Final Verdict: A must see for Marvel fans.

Images Courtesy Of Disney

Renfield Delivers A Sizable Bite But Will Leave Audiences Entertained Yet Feeling Underwhelmed

      When one imagines a camp-driven horror comedy that's centered around the character of Dracula, there's no better fit for the role other than eccentric thespian actor Nicolas Cage. Add to that, a bold twist to the traditional story regarding Dracula's loyal servant Renfield and what audiences have is a clever concept with bankable stars that's extremely difficult to miss. What audiences end up getting however, is a reasonably fun yet somewhat underwhelming horror-comedy blend that works just well enough to entertain audiences, despite never fully utilizing it's concept to maximum potential. 

     In this modern reimagining of the classic Dracula tale, Renfield has Dracula's decades-long henchmen and fellow inmate at the lunatic asylum, longing for a new life away from the Count given the latters various demands, and the endless amount of bloodshed that comes with them. Renfield boasts a catchy concept along with the proper bizarre actor to play Dracula (Nicolas Cage), yet it quite often leaves something to be desired. As a modern monster tale that's focused around the character of Dracula and his loyal servant, the filmmakers provide an experience that works as being cheesy, strident, and ridiculously funny to watch although the end result never seizes the opportunity to completely capitalize on its catchy concept nor make the most usage of its whacky main star in a role he's perfectly suited for.

      Much of Renfield's energy as a fun comedic spin on the Dracula story comes from the casts enthusiastic performances with the latter consisting of popular A-list stars like Cage, Nicholas Hoult, and Awkwafina. Hoult does a terrific job with carrying the bulk of the film as Dracula's loyal servant, whose desperate to extricate himself from his toxic master. He conveys all the right mannerisms required to play his character, and shows a redeemable side to Renfield despite the horrific commands carried out at the request of his master. Cage brilliantly hams it up as Dracula with his presence being delightfully fun to watch despite feeling a bit minimal in comparison to Hoult and Awkwafina's screentime. Despite this, Cage eats up the scenery with him playing the role with the necessary amount of camp demanded while having an absolute blast in doing so. Awkwafina impressively holds her own against both as New Orleans Police Officer, Rebecca Quincy, whose struggling to do the right thing while serving under a corrupt police department as well as being Renfield's love interest. The actress not only hits all the right notes with her character but displays surprising levels of emotion that not just suits her character, but adds a touch of family drama to the story. The rest of Renfield's cast consist of strong character actors who deliver terrific work like Ben Schwartz as Teddy, mob enforcer and son of matriarch mob boss, Bellafrancesca, with Shoreham Aghdashloo as Teddy's powerful mother, Adrian Martinez as Rebecca's co-worker Chris, and Brandon Scott Jones as Renfield's support group leader, Mark.

With Renfield's directing, Chris McKay does a decent job of bringing the world of Dracula to life while giving it a modern day approach. Although the films overall look feels standard, McKay goes to the extreme with the amount of blood shown in the film with the violence intentionally being executed in comical fashion. Audiences are treated to numerous volcanic blood spurts including limbs and intestines being torn and spilled out. While the violence is presented as being over the top, it serves to reinforce the stories monster elements. At 93 minutes, Renfield is fast-paced and moves briskly while never being long enough for audiences to get bored. While there's nothing remarkable about McKay's directing, he delivers the appropriate tone for the story while doing a noteworthy job of blending the films horror and comedy elements together smoothly with neither overlapping. 

      When it comes to scriptwriting, Renfield's story ranges as being serviceable with its straightforward narrative regarding Dracula's henchmen trying to part ways from his toxic master while learning that garnering enough support will bring contentment. Other key themes at play within the films story are corruption with Awkwafina's character struggling to be a good cop in an increasingly corruptible environment, loyalty as Renfield must choose between obeying Dracula or making a change for the better given that his character experiences loneliness while serving under Count until meeting Rebecca. With Dracula's inclusion, one expects his character to be front and center to the story with a powerful arc established for his character. Sadly, that isn't the case here as he feels a bit shortchanged in terms of screentime with Renfield providing the heart and soul of the story along with Rebecca having a bigger role. As a whole, Renfield's writing gets the job done in delivering the type of film that audiences expect to see, but there's very little here that doesn't feel as if it's been lifted from other films with character beats and subplots introduced feeling familiar in addition to Renfield's characters narrative device being done to death in other stories. With a film that includes Dracula as a  key central figure in the story, it's disappointing that the writing surrounding him feels rather underwhelming.

      Despite its misgivings, the film is at its most effective when focused on Hoult, Cage, and Awkwafina's characters with the latter serving as its saving grace when the others aren't around. As a story that's meant to deliver campy fun while throwing a slick modern day spin on the mythology of Dracula, Renfield offers up a satisfying gory experience with Cage's corny performance being the sole reason to see it. It's a shame however, that audiences aren't given more of him. 

Final Verdict: Watchable mainly for the performances of Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult.

Images Courtesy Of Universal Pictures

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Delivers High-Rolling Success

     It can be seen as being an enormous undertaking with taking a tabletop role playing game and transforming it into cinematic form given the previous attempt at doing so with  2000's Dungeons & Dragons. That one ended up being such an astounding critical and commercial misfire, that fans unanimously choose to pretend it never happened. Thankfully, that wasn't the only attempt at bringing this world to the screen as Paramount Pictures takes another shot at bringing the popular game to the big screen with their newest effort, Dungeons - Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, finding the correct balance of humor, excitement, and heart to craft a crowd-pleasing piece of entertainment that both fans of the game, as well as general audiences can enjoy. 

      Dragons plot has a common thief (Chris Pratt) and a band of unlikely adventurers embarking on an epic quest to retrieve a long lost relic. However, their journey ends up going dangerously awry when they encounter dangerous villains. Honor Among Thieves plot stays true to the game that inspired it, while finding a way to cinematically adapt its story in a way that the 2000 film couldn't do. The new film gives audiences a story that's engaging and straightforward, along with a colorful batch of characters who are likable. What could've easily ended up being another major disappointment for devoted fans of the fantasy board game, turns out to be a genuinely pleasant surprise that's epic, exciting, funny, and sincere in its desire to do right by its fans and source material. 

      One of the key components that makes the board game such a fun experience for players is the role playing aspect of it with pure dedication being demanded in order to bring believability to the games scenario. The same applies here with Dragons cast delivering performances that are not only stellar, but completely convincing with each actor and actress being on-point. Chris Pine makes for an excellent lead as former member of the Harpers and bard, Edging Darvis. Pine's performance is a brilliant combination of seriousness, humor, and emotion as a father desperately trying to get back what was lost. Sharing the screen with Pine is Michelle Rodriguez whose equally charming as Darvis friend and barbarian, Holga Kilgore, who acts as a surrogate mother for Edgin's daughter, Kira, and was banned from the Elk tribe. Pine and Rodriguez showcase terrific buddy-movie chemistry with the rest of the cast backing them up with strong work. Hugh Grant is perfect as ambitious con artist Forge, whose a former member of Edgin's crew and has been taking care of his daughter Kira. Chloe Coleman impresses as Edgin's 14-year-old daughter Kira who falls under the sway of Forge following her father's imprisonment. Rege-Jean Page excels as Paladin Xenk Yendar along with Justice Smith as half-elf magic sorcerer Simon, Sophia Lillis as tiefling druid, Doric, and Daisy Head as Red Wizard Of That, Sofina.

      With Dragons directing duo, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley do a fantastic job of finding the right balance of comedy and adventure that doesn't allow them to fall into spoof territory. There are certain scenes shown which give off a Lord Of The Rings feel including an epic bridge sequence that screams comparisons to that of Balrog's in The Fellowship Of The Ring. The story is full of tons of fantasy action violence shown, which includes swordfighting, crossbows, and magical battles largely consisting of life-or-death moments that lead to lots of death and destruction. At 2hrs & 14 mins, Dragons remains steadily paced with the film allowing ample time for its plot and characters to grow without compromise. The soundtrack is full of many exciting and thrilling tracks that compliment the films bold action, while also being appropriately emotional when focusing on key characters and plot points. Overall, Thieves directing duo does a remarkable job of bringing the popular role-playing game to the screen and doing so with clear enthusiasm and love for its universe and its characters. 

     In terms of themes, loss plays a significant role throughout the story with the death of loved ones, possessing guilt, trusting others, greed, and getting back what's lost also being at play. Despite these themes, the film is first and foremost an adventure story with teamwork being heavily encouraged here. Although the main characters are essentially thieves, they're shown to be loyal to each other while also helping others rather than just themselves. The female characters are shown as being strong-willed and capable of doing things on their own with the films romantic elements being reduced to brief flashback sequences showing what was before tragedy struck. Edging's character is presented as being a thief who wants to regain the family he lost with bringing his deceased wife back to life in addition to rescuing his daughter from the clutches of Forge. As a whole, Dragon's script appears to be well-rounded with each character receiving just the right amount of character development with the humor never feeling excessive, but cleverly sprinkled throughout the story to give off a feel good vibe that's in contrast to the high serious tone of Lord Of The Rings.

      Whereas the 2000 Dungeons & Dragons adaptation often felt like it lacked the devotion of both its cast and crew to make it work, that isn't the case here as Honor Among Thieves ensemble and creative team give their absolute all in making it work. It's tremendously fun, extremely faithful to its source material, and evenly balanced in regards to its tone with the end result being a highly honorable effort that amounts to being a high- rolling victory for fans of the game. 

Final Verdict: A must see for fans of the game or those looking for a well-crafted yet goofy adventure.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Delivers A Super Worthy Adaptation Of The Classic Video Game

      

      It's been nearly 30 years since audiences we're last treated to a live-action film adaptation of the popular Nintendo game, Super Mario Bros. The previous attempt became such a huge critical and commercial misfire, that Hollywood strayed from revisiting the popular video game universe until now with Universal Pictures The Super Mario Bros. Movie, producing a more faithful adaptation of the classic video game this time in animated form. If one found themselves to be tremendously disappointed by the failed 1993 film, they'll be happy to hear that the newest iteration is the exact opposite and more true to its source material despite its plot feeling generic.

      The plot for Super Mario Bros. has Mario and Luigi with the help of Princess Peach, preparing to square off against the all-powerful Bowser to thwart his plans from conquering the world. The newest adaptation of the classic Nintendo game is what the fans have been waiting decades to see, and promises a fresh new cinematic start for these characters. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is exciting, funny, unapologetically charming, and rightfully heartfelt in providing a solidly well-crafted comedic adventure that's fueled with fan-focused devotion. 

      Much of Mario's effectiveness as a faithful video game adaptation comes from the voice performances of its all-star cast, who demonstrate clear excitement and dedication towards playing their iconic roles. Though initially considered to be a controversial choice for the role, Chris Pratt makes for a worthy Mario despite not using a thick Italian accent to play the part. Pratt is convincing as a struggling plumber from Brooklyn, whose accidentally transported to the world of the Mushroom Kingdom. Charlie Day is perfectly casted as Mario's timid younger brother Luigi with both actors sharing strong chemistry. Anya Taylor-Joy is terrific as Princess Peach, ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom and Mario's love interest. Joy presents her character as being strong-willed and determined to defend her kingdom against King Bowser. Jack Black steals the show as Bowser, king of the Koppas, who plots to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom by marrying Princess Peach. Black is hilarious in the role with his surprise song "Peaches" destined to become a major hit next award season. Seth Rogan surprises as the powerful anthropomorphic gorilla, Donkey Kong, whose also the heir to the throne of the Jungle Kingdom. Adding to the films level of fun is Keegan-Michael Key as Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad, who aspires to go on his first real adventure, along with Fred Armisen as Donkey Kong's father, King Cranky Kong, whose the ruler of the Jungle Kingdom, and Sebastian Maniscalco as Mario and Luigi's former boss from the wrecking crew, Spike.

      When it comes to the films style of animation, Illumination proved to be the perfect animation studio to design the universe for Mario world with directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic presenting the story with stunning animation that's vibrant, and brings the Mario universe to the screen in a way that feels immersive and larger than life. The fantasy action violence presented is family-friendly though has bits that include the use of magic and characters fighting with various powerups resulting in explosions. There is one sequence shown in which a character is tortured by magic along with another being pursued by zombie skeletons. At 92 minutes, the film remains fast-paced with the first overall story playing out more like a thrill ride, while still allowing time for both plot and character development. The soundtrack does a fine job of honoring the games classic themes, while weaving together with the films newer compositions to deliver an incredibly upbeat feel that includes iconic 80's tunes like Bonnie Tyler's Holding Out For A Hero. With bringing the Super Mario Bros. to the screen, the job for any filmmaker is to bring the games universe to life for the audience to experience in film form. In that regard both Borvath and Jelenic succeed in doing so while incorporating fun bits including sound effects which are lifted directly from the games to further drive the audiences nostalgia with playing them.

      Some key themes in Super Mario Bros. that allow it to have a tremendous amount of heart are siblings looking out for each other, feeling small and insignificant with the desire to do something big, fulfilling ones dreams, unrequited love, and heroism that's demonstrated by the Mario Brothers and Princess Peach. The Mario's are portrayed as having a great sibling relationship with dreams of doing big things with their careers as plumbers. With their relationship, the audience see's how both siblings look out for each other with Mario having the stronger character arc of the two. Princess Peach is shown to be a strong leader of the Mushroom Kingdom with her prepared to defend it against Bowser while simultaneously catching feelings for Mario. Whereas her character could've easily ended up being a typical damsel-in-distress, Peach is presented as being smart, strong-willed, and not needing men to do things for her. King Boswer steals the show with him not just providing the film with the correct type of villain required, but surprises with the amount of humorous bits his character possesses. 

      Although the story is serviceable at best, it's the nostalgia of the game along with the fleshing out of its key characters that help the film overcome the scripts shortcomings and ultimately make it work. For fans of the video game, this one will leave them feeling hugely satisfied due to it being jam-packed with Easter eggs, and the dedication put forth by its voice cast who approach the source material with the utmost amount of respect and dedication. For audiences as a whole, The Super Mario Bros. Movie provides an enjoyable experience for the whole family.

Final Verdict: SEE IT

Images Courtesy Of Universal Pictures