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The Dark Knight Rises Review

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I don’t mind saying that I struggled putting this film review together; there are so many people who have already seen The Dark Knight Rises – a film which is now being called the ‘motion picture epic of the summer’ that almost very little remains to be said. As such I was left with a dilemma; do I re-trod old ground of other reviewers, do I try to fill the gaps left by the countless other reviews without giving the plot away or do I try to find a fresh perspective to describe this incredible movie?

The Dark Knight Rises is the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s epic Batman trilogy; a set of films disparate to any other superhero movies previously seen. Looking at the Avengers and Iron Man films of recent generation it is easy to forget that comic book films formerly prided themselves on suiting their primary audience (which were children) opting for jokey style film making and humour. Caped Crusader (and Bond) films especially were synonymous for focussing on the gadgets rather than on the characterisation. However thank heavens for Mr Nolan, (himself a fan of the Batman comics) because fortunately for us he hadn’t gone through the whole Peter Pan thing – he actually grew up, and as such brought the film bang up to date in a massive, grimy and brutally honest way. Over the past two movies (and equally in this movie) you have villains that actually scare you (The Joker portrayed  by Heath Ledger was actually psychotic) and when we talk about crime syndicates we actually see about the dark and dismal pits of crime corruption where you can trust no one. Written by David S. Goyer, Jonathan Nolan and Bob Kane what we have here in The Dark Knight Rises an incredible master class in film making, fantastic acting from all performers and an astonishing end to perhaps the best film of the summer.

It has been eight years since Batman vanished into the night, turning, in that instant, from hero to fugitive. Taking the blame for the death of D.A. Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the Dark Knight became a fugitive sacrificing everything so that a law which Dent wanted to pass would go through. For a time the lie worked; officers fought with vigour and criminal activity in Gotham City was crushed under the anti-crime Dent Act. However the arrival of Bane, a masked terrorist with incredible strength and will power and who threatens to crush Gotham city brings Batman out of retirement for one last battle. Oh yes and the arrival of a sexy cat burglar too. The stage is set.

Watching this film I was trying to remember the last time I saw so much emotion in a superhero film. Christian Bale easily carries his part as both billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne and as the Dark Knight. Gosh that man has got so much talent. You can tell he gave the role everything, from the visceral fight scenes to the moment to moment realities with his butler Alfred (played impeccably well by Michael Caine) you just can’t help but believe him and in his cause. When Batman does show up – it is incredibly exciting. Equally well played is Tom Hardy as the super-villain, aptly called Bane; a slab of muscle and brutal killing power, every appearance on screen just makes you think something bad is going to happen. Anne Hathaway plays the part of slinky, sexy cat burglar Cat woman. She carries her role well and for the most part is easy on the eye and provides some much needed breaks between the bloody and dark tone of the rest of the film.

And what a dark tone it is – a vision of near apocalyptic catastrophe that quickly swishes through the near 3 hour running time with action, explosions, suspense and twists and turns in spades.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives a terrific performance as the young, idealistic police officer, Detective Blake, and there are some excellent role reprisals from Morgan Freeman and even Liam Neeson.

It is sad to think that this is the ‘reportedly’ last Batman movie under Christopher Nolan’s direction. I don’t believe his movies will be forgotten for quite some time. Bearing in mind the amount of money this film has already made at the box office – it is doubtful that we have seen the last of the Caped Crusader one can only hope that the future iterations will be as good as this.

If you havent seen the final instalment in the Batman Trilogy make it your aim to do so – it is a fantastic film.

Verdict

9.5/10

The Amazing Spider-man Movie Review

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The Amazing Spider-man catapults onto movie screens with a direction, new actors, a re-buffed script, and some would say darker story-telling than its predecessor, but do these facets make the film more of worthwhile return to the franchise or does this reboot deserve a boot to the chops?

Critics can be forgiven for thinking that this is an ‘all too soon’ reboot for perhaps one of the best loved comic book superheroes of a recent generation. On one hand you had the excellent depiction of Spider-man by Sam Raimi with Tobey Maguire providing perhaps an over innocent and goofy Peter Parker / Spider-man. On the other hand though one could argue that the last series of movies became stale, that there were missed opportunities and that it had definitely run its course. However, Marvel was not ready to throw in the towel and who could blame them; Spider-man had made a lot of money for the studio and undoubtedly put them back on the map. Whatever you may say about reboots it is fast becomingHollywood’s tool-of-choice, especially where successful franchises are perhaps on the way out. For the creators, it’s a handy shortcut and for audiences it is an opportunity to see a new vision of a beloved character. Let’s just hope Harry Potter doesn’t have a reboot any time soon.

I wouldn’t have liked to have been in the head office of Marvel Studios when they came up with the plan to do this reboot. Approaching this movie was going to be a one shot gun; they knew they were either going to re-energise the title or kill it. Restore the hope to millions of spidey fans, or destroy it. They were going to have to throw nothing less than the kitchen sink at it and it shows. Fortunately end result is a film that manages to tread a fine line between being respectful to the original source material and Sam Raimi’s creation whilst bringing something new to the table and, at the same time is genuinely fun and exciting to watch.

Andrew Garfield, steps into the role of Peter Parker / Spider-man. This iteration no longer goofy, hapless or over exaggerated; this Peter Parker is actually smart, stands up to bullies even before he gains his super powers and typical of the ‘Twilight generation’ is always brooding and staring into space. His central love interest here isn’t girl-next-door Mary Jane Watson, but the equally intelligent Gwen Stacy (played by the gorgeous Emma Stone). New to this film is the working on Parker’s history with his parents. Although we are introduced to them only briefly it is their abandonment of Peter which creates a deeper shading of the character not previously seen in the previous carnations.

It’s worth saying at this point that the dynamics between Emma Stone’s character and Andrew Garfield work really, really well. They somehow manage to take the awkwardness of high-school love and make it fun and intense. Sometimes it’s not even what they say it’s what they don’t say. An unforgettable moment involves Peter and Gwen on the top of a roof with Peter trying to explain what has happened to him. ‘I’ve been bitten,’ he stammers. She leans in close with her slow husky whisper: ‘So have I’. Peter grins like a cat that has just got the cream. Now ask yourself what more do I need to say than that?

Everyone should know the plot of Spider-man by now and if you don’t, go and see a Doctor and find out where you have been for the past 10 years. Peter Parker gets bitten by a spider and whilst not gaining the extra 6 hairy legs, finds he embodies all of the positives of spider traits such as sticking to walls having extra perception (spider sense) and increased strength amongst other things.

The problem here is that Sam Raimi really did the bite and the transformation well. After the bite, we get the usual scenes of Peter’s realising he has extra powers, and events transpire that inevitably transform him into your friendly neighbourhood wall-crawler. Director Marc Webb does his best to make these sequences fresh and come at it from a new angle but try as he might you know that you have seen it before. Whilst there are some genuinely original and comic book moments, it’s hard not to fold your arms and sigh as you wait for the movie to get on with things. I also found that this version just seemed to lack that excitement that Peter had actually unlocked something special that was going to change his life or that his life actually needed to change.

Raimi’s creation had webbing ‘secrete’ from Parker’s wrists, however in this much more realistic and truer to the comic book version you see Parker develop the web shooters himself through trial and error. This version of Spider-man is also a lot grittier; every now and then he does something unpredictable which errs on the mentally serious side and you find yourself harking back to Maguire’s goofy jokey Spider-man and you are glad that you are watching this. Far from Raimi’s ideas of super quick healing, this Peter Parker goes home black and blue from bruising; when he gets cut he bleeds and even gets injured to the point where he has to rely on fellow citizens to help.  There are some nice nods towards Raimi’s creation here and there as well, such as the wrestling ring which makes an appearance.

For every hero there is a villain, this new plot concerns the development of Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), experimenting with a serum that eventually turns him into The Lizard. It’s hardly different, in concept or execution, from Willem Dafoe as The Green Goblin complete with him hearing voices. Rhys Ifans does a terrific job with what he has, there just needed to be more in the script for him to do and say. It might also have been worth choosing a different villain to start with owing to the similarities that were bound to be drawn with the Green Goblin.

Despite the various differences, there are some solid key performances Sally Field does a really good job as Parker’s Aunt May and Martin Sheen deserves some credit because, even though I’ve read people accuse him of overacting, he does do a marvellous job as Ben Parker even when the script is thin. Somehow he manages to squeeze more emotional resonance than he has had previously.  Stan Lee appears too in a library scene that will be talked about for a while as one of his best cameos. Dennis Leary though has a character which barely touches on the surface.

When the red and blue costume make an appearance you feel like you are on familiar ground. The new suit which I have never liked has well and truly grown on me. The special effects are fantastic, perhaps never looking so good in 3D and well worth every penny of the extra price to get in. Whereas with the Avengers and Green Lantern movies you got the occasional scene in 3D here, Director Marc Webb treats you to long sweeping vistas of web swinging action. Explosions, debris, webs, it’s got the most 3D I have seen in a superhero movie so far with effects that actually work. When spider-man flies though the air in 3D you take a deep breath, when the camera does switch to 1st person perspective you go ‘wow’ these scenes are shorter than those seen in the trailer which is a shame but they still pack a punch for the eyes.

There are allusions to other characters in the Spider-man universe here as well which give the movie a larger sense of scale for example, you hear Norman Osborne mentioned and it will be interesting to see how he will factor into future movies. The story flows well throughout the entire movie but I found it was weighted kind of oddly with all the action seemingly occurring in the last half of the movie after Peter develops his skills. It is a great deal choppier than Raimi’s creation. However, here we have a Spider-man that’s more human than before and is perhaps just as flawed as the rest of us.  Watching this I didn’t feel like I was looking at a superhero, but a kid in a skin-tight suit that has no idea what the hell he is doing and is making it up as he goes along. It is the moments when there is nothing happening such as when Parker is dangling on a web playing a game on his mobile, or on a statue above the city when he takes a call from Aunt May and agrees to pick up some eggs that give insight to the character. This is what many people love about Spider-man; he is after all just a kid granted special powers and underneath the suit is someone still learning to fit in as well as grow with what he has.

My Verdict

I think Garfield’s work as Peter Parker and Spider-man is the glue that holds this film together. I know I am going to upset Maguire fans but Garfieldis a much better fit for this type of role. His portrayal of Peter is much more angst driven and is still growing and evolving even by the story’s conclusion. The film doesn’t even close with him working at the Daily Bugle he is still at school; therefore you just know there is more to come. I would not say that this film is a new Batman Begins or could even compare to that masterpiece. However, this Spider-man reboot feels like a fresh start; an origin story that can stand on its own or be the start of something even better.  It’s not perfect; weak script, choppy editing, flaws and moments that feel almost staged and even artificial.  But it is an optimistic start, a new direction and new promise. One last word to the wise – stay until after the initial credits…

8 / 10

The Amazing Spider-man Game Review

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Whilst The Amazing Spider-man Video Game may lack the all out ‘spit and polish’ of some premium titles it does bring something new to movie-game tie-ins of late; it is genuinely fun and exciting to play, is full of features and successfully regenerates the Spider-man franchise under software developer Beenox.

Excuse the pun but Spider-Man’s web franchise has been a bit of a sticky web in terms of quality and variety over the past number of years. When it has been good it has been great, but let’s face it when it has been bad, it has been crap. Beenox have been in-charge of the franchise since the highly acclaimed Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, a game that really showed what could be achieved when game’s developers who love the material actually put their minds into bringing the concept to life and who are willing to put in blood, sweat and tears so that new ideas become reality and that these ideas work well. It was for these reasons amongst others that Shattered Dimensions was so well received. Tragically though, the follow up – Edge of Time saw Beenox dropping the ball somewhat almost spectacularly by condemning our beloved wall crawler to confined spaces, changing the control system so that it was tricky to play and having a ho-hum storyline that did little to engage players.

Listening to the critics of Edge of Time and looking at the efforts put into what some would say the ‘all too soon’ reboot of the Spider-man franchise Beenox knew they had to up their game. Mentality wise, they had to approach this just like Marvel Studios were going to approach the movie – it was going to be a one shot gun; they knew they were either going to re-energise the title or kill it. Restore the hope to millions of spidey fans, or destroy it.

Games that successfully manage to re-create the magic of comic books and movies is no mean feat; superhero games especially have a hard time translating the mass of abilities with ease of control. With the exception of Rocksteady and their Batman franchise there are few others that actually do it well. Thankfully though, Beenox fulfilled what some would say is a tall order The Amazing Spiderman plays very well indeed, in places it is incredibly cinematic and having it linked so closely to a movie which is heavily anticipated does it no harm at all.

The story in The Amazing Spider-Man the video game takes place some months after where the movie ended. After the Dr. Connors’ incident, Oscorp Industries went on to create an army of robots that maintain peace inNew York, scanning and attacking infected life forms. Unfortunately Oscorp also continued Connors’ research into cross-species and in one of the opening stages these potentially walking infectious diseases attack and infect Parker’s high school sweetheart: Gwen Stacey and escape intoManhattan, infecting innocents on the way. This leaves Spider-Man with no choice but to break Connors out of prison and work together with him to come up with an antidote to cure the infection in the city and save his girlfriend Gwen.

Set in a free-roaming open-world you will protect innocents of the city, battle with the infected, come across and battle super villains, tackle muggers and other perps of criminal activity all with the ability to explore and swing to your heart’s content.

The mechanic feels great and both looks and works tremendously well. Out in the city whilst you are web-slinging the camera moves in nice and close, and there is this immense feeling of motion, propulsion, gravity, speed and not to mention impressive grace. Swinging through the city you can swing really low between traffic like the movie, you can also free fall and swing at the last second. If you have seen any of the previous Spider-Man movies, you’ll experience that same feeling Peter Parker did the first time he mastered his new abilities. Sometimes in the game you even hear the character whoop with excitement as he enjoys the rush of flying through the air. This helps bring the game to life and I thought a nice touch by the developers who obviously had the master of movement as one of their core angles for this title. It is something perhaps I might not get tired of for a while and in my view makes up for any lack of online multi-play which could have further benefitted this game.

Combat wise this title doesn’t disappoint either. Spidey can confront enemies head on or attack from the shadows. Much has been borrowed from the control method of the Arkham series of Batman games; a single button to initiate and carry out a combo which builds your combo meter with every successful hit, and when the spider-sense goes off around Spider-Man’s head, you know someone is about to attack you so you tap the reversal button to stylishly take them out.

I’ve heard some reviewers complain that it is ‘too borrowed’ from Batman (including the degradable suit) but how can you realistically complain when a formula works so well. It makes it easy to look like a superhero when you skillfully drop down above an unsuspecting enemy, web them into a cocoon and propel them to the ceiling. If you don’t fancy going down the stealth route then you can take them on one by one or in a group with webs and signature moves galore which can be upgraded. Very nice indeed.

New to this Spider-man game is the inclusion of Web Rush. By holding a shoulder button, time slows down and you go into Spider-man’s ‘eyes’ where you can look at and select locations you desire to zip-line to, interact with or attack. It’s an elegant way to get Spider-Man around quickly and in a room full of enemies it allows you to quickly see objects you can use to your advantage.

Of course, there are some areas in which this title falls short of the mark and whilst they are not in my opinion deal breakers (because they are common issues found in most open world games) they do detract from what would otherwise be a quality title. Firstly, whilst the model for Spider-Man is exceptional, there are ten times as many average looking character models in the game. So many people just look the same bar a few palette changes here and there and many sound the same or say the same things. This equally goes for many of the adventures you have around the city. The first time you stop a robbery and hear Spidey deliver a cool line like ‘Stay frosty’ you are going to be excited and the second time and the third but by the time you take out your 15th armed robber who looks or sounds the same or has stolen exactly the same car, stopping robberies wont be high on your agenda. There’s a lot to do in the life of Spider-man but be prepared to repeat these missions over and over again; you’ll hear the same one-liners from Spidey and help the same police officer over and over again. That’s one of the things I think LA Noire got right; each of the side missions were individual crimes in their own right. This is an area for improvement for any future titles. Secondly, Spider-man falls foul of another typical issue of open world titles which is of graphical dexterity. Some of the surfaces especially those which are indoor just lack that spit and polish and look gaudy up close. I found this more noticeable on the Xbox version than on the PlayStation 3 but really, should it be there at all? There are also some niggling camera issues especially when you are in combat or adopting a stealth approach to attacking enemies. Sometimes you’ll find yourself backed into a corner that brings almost certain death and inevitably, some frustration.

On the PlayStation 3 you can play with the PlayStation Move. Now before you get images of two motion controllers in your hands flicking your webs acrossManhattan, think again. You hold a navigation controller or regular controller in your left hand and then the PlayStation Move controller in the right.

Basically, the Move puts a cursor on the screen and gives you a more accurate way to Web Rush or fire webbing. That is, rather than cycling through your options with the right analogue stick you can now just point. Flicking the Move also does an immediate Web Retreat. Whilst it works o.k. and has some novelty value I found it by no means a necessity. I played through the game with normal controls and never actually felt like more precise aiming would greatly help me or make the game any easier; in fact using the move controller just made my arm tired for all the wrong reasons.

The Verdict

With stunning visuals, decent enough storyline and lets not forget incredible web-slinging, Spider-man might not be the best game but is probably one of the best movie tie-ins of late. Fair play some of the missions get repetitive and some of the graphics are rough around the edges but The Amazing Spider-Man is still fun to play and gets me really excited when I think about the movie release next week.

8.5 / 10

Max Payne 3 Game Review

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What would you do if you came home one day to find your beloved family murdered by a bunch of psychos? Become a manic depressant? Turn to drink? Drugs? Not rest until you had hunted the scumbags down and wiped them off the face of the planet? Well, Max Payne did all of the above. Now, after a lengthy nine-year hiatus and with the franchise firmly in the hands of Rockstar Games – proprietor of titles such as Red Dead Redemption, the Grand Theft Auto series and LA Noire, – Max Payne is back, gulping painkillers down like no tomorrow and killing his foes softly and…erm, not to mention slowly. But has the wait been worth it?

Rockstar Games have built a solid reputation in creating games of high calibre. Just look at their back catalogue. They don’t release a game without it being tested to extinction, they flourish in building deep storyline arcs and cinematic traits in all their titles, and in nearly all their games, they invest highly in intricate details. Plus, they’re unafraid of raw violence. Max Payne 3 might not rank as their best title to date – let’s just get that out of the way – but let’s also be clear, it doesn’t fall too wide of the mark.

The quality in Max Payne 3 shows from the moment you load up the disc. Faithful to the original game, it starts at the end and rewinds to the beginning. Strong cinematics give you a taste of what his world has become introducing you to some of the main characters with real vigour and energy. Max is now a reluctant bodyguard charged with looking after a millionaire’s family who like to live fast, and die young.

The in game graphics are superb

Looking at the screen as the sequences unfold, you can’t help but take pleasure in the quality of the animation and Rockstar’s trademark dialogue. If you enjoy movies, you’ll find it draws parallels with movies of its genre – the chromatic aberrations and the dialogue between characters where key words appear on screen – there are flavours here of ‘Man on Fire’, ‘Miami Vice’,  ‘Wanted’. ‘Domino’ and ‘Lethal Weapon’. Oh, and not forgetting ‘The Matrix’.

A shootout in a nightclub demonstrates all that’s good about bullet-time – moving from cover to cover in slow motion, flying through the air delivering headshot after headshot to save a woman from being kidnapped,  shooting a vehicle’s tyres so it has to stop or taking out foes while you dangle helplessly from a helicopter. It’s scenes like this that make you semi-orgasmic and pleased you bought this title.

Max Payne is simply a badass with badass guns and badass quips, even when he takes painkillers to restore his health. Having lost everyone he cared about in his life, he really couldn’t care less and is ‘damaged goods’ with inner demons – a reluctant hero who would be happier doing other things.

As the storyline develops, it is hard not to be engaged with Max and the struggle he gets drawn into. And wow! What a struggle he has on his hands…or rather, you have. Max Payne 3 will prove to be one tough game for some players and some levels especially can be hugely frustrating. Enemies are just so numerous and hard to kill, leg shots won’t do it, chest shots won’t always do it and if they have head gear expect to expend a whole clip. Even when enemies go down, they will fire a last few rounds to take you down with them. Now, some will argue that my criticism is unfair, after all, a game where enemies fall to the ground like dominoes would quickly become boring and let’s be honest, Max Payne himself only needs a handful of painkillers to restore his entire health. However, when some guy you have shot point-blank in the chest gets up a few seconds later and comes running at you, and delivers a head shot that means you have to restart, excuse the pun, but it is a tough pill to swallow.

It’s flaws like this that start to creep in, and the longer you play, the more apparent they become. Painkillers are few and far between and the checkpoints are unevenly and unforgivingly spread which means if you die, you will often have to redo entire sections again, and with the game as challenging as it is you can expect to die more than once.

Because of this, frustration quickly sets in. I think the programmers realised this because if you die in a section too many times the game will restart you with extra painkillers. It’s a weird compensation, especially thinking you may have to die a good number of times to get it. The steep difficulty curve also means that to survive you are forced to engage bullet-time more often and then entire stages just become a repetitive matter of slowing things down and holding out long enough behind cover.

It’s also a shame too, that unlike the original game, Rockstar did not build in some kind of bullet-time reward system so that you could increase the length of time you could enter slo-mo. I can’t help thinking it was a bit of a missed opportunity. However, if you do manage to stick with it ,you are rewarded with a dark and deep storyline full of betrayal and deceit, not to mention some of incredible set pieces.

In multiplayer, Max Payne 3 delivers excellently too. At first you’re limited to straight death-match and team death-match modes and it all feels slow and a little second-rate, but prolonged play provides benefits.

Bullet-time makes all the difference, with its use balanced by the same post-slow-mo movement issues as in the single-player game, and by the fact that it also affects line-of-sight targets, not just your character. Gain enough kills in the boot-camp scenarios, and you can also join in a Gang Wars mode. This sees two teams running through objectives in a themed mini-campaign. It’s another example of a game that can start off on the wrong foot, but that works hard to turn your initial impression around.

My Verdict
Max Payne 3 might not be Rockstar’s best work to date, but it probably is the best example of its genre. What Rockstar brings to Max Payne 3 is style, personality, cinematics, gritty rawness and an exciting and memorable experience. Max Payne 3 might not be perfect and might be frustrating as hell. But one thing’s for sure, it packs a mean punch and, despite its flaws, is a quality title

9/10

THQ ANNOUNCES DARKSIDERS II COLLECTOR’S EDITION FOR EUROPE

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THQ announced today that a Darksiders II Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.

The Darksiders II Collector’s Edition will include The Limited Edition version of the game as well as a life-sized replica Death Mask with display stand, a unique Shadow of Death armour and scythe set with enhanced stats, a digital copy of the Darksiders II sound-track and a hard-cover Darksiders II art book. The Collector’s Edition will be available in limited quantities as a pre-order item only and is anticipated to sell for around £79.99.

In UK & Ireland the Collector’s Edition will be available from GAME, HMV, Amazon, Play.com, Gamestop and other select retailers as well as the THQ.com store.

The Darksiders II Limited Edition will include the standard retail game along with a unique code allowing the purchaser the opportunity to download the game’s first single player downloadable content pack, Argul’s Tomb for free once it becomes available. All pre-orders of Darksiders II will receive the Limited Edition version of the game at no additional cost.

Darksiders II follows the exploits of DEATH, one of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, in an action-packed tale that runs parallel to the events in the original Darksiders game. This epic journey propels DEATH through various light and dark realms as he tries to redeem his brother WAR, the horseman blamed for prematurely starting the Apocalypse in Darksiders.

The original Darksiders, released in January 2010, received critical acclaim including the Best Fantasy Game 2010 award from IGN. Darksiders followed the story of WAR, wrongly accused of starting the apocalypse, on a quest to reclaim lost honor and take revenge on those who wronged him.

Want to check out the trailer? Of course you do – have a look below and don’t forget to give us your feedback!

 

The Amazing Spider-Man New Trailer Revealed

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The much anticipated new trailer for Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man has just been released to intense acclaim.

Hot on the heels of Marvel’s Avengers Assembled movie it seems there will be no let up to Marvel’s success this year.

I have personally seen the trailer and all I can say is wow. The first trailer looked intriguing, the second one…well it was just more of the same but this one seems to go a long way to perhaps showing what is in store for Spider-man and Marvel fans.

The film stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker / Spider-man with supporting turns coming from Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary, Martin Sheen and Sally Field.

The Amazing Spider-Man will hit 2D and 3D theatres from July 3rd, 2012 and is a fully-fledged reboot of the web-slinging franchise which promises a new story to be told from the previous Sam Raimi trilogy.

The film is directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay written by James Vanderbilt, based on the Marvel Comic Book by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad, and Matt Tolmach are producing the film in association with Marvel Entertainment for Columbia Pictures, which will open in theatres everywhere in 3D.

For those of you who don’t know – The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today and is troubled by all those angst’s that young people face.

Peter is also dealing with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father’s former partner. An elusive spider bite sets Peter on a different path exposing abilities he never knew he had and as he becomes a hero in the alter-ego of Spider-Man he is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

Fans have already commented on the fact that this iteration of their comic book hero has the fabled web-shooters as opposed to ‘organic’ webbing that used to secrete from the wrists of Sam Rami’s creation. Indicating that the Peter Parker of this generation is perhaps more  of a genius in the making. Personally I prefer the web-shooters to..erm anything organic and the suit looks better now too.

The Amazing Spider-Man will hit 2D and 3D theatres from July 3rd, 2012.

Have a look at the trailer below and don’t forget to give us your comments.

THQ CONFIRMS DEVELOPMENT OF SAINTS ROW: THE THIRD – ENTER THE DOMINATRIX

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Thank heavens April Fools day jokes are long gone – otherwise one could be forgiven for thinking this latest announcement from THQ Inc was a prank but isn’t.  THQ and Volition, Inc have announced the development of Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix, a standalone expansion to Saints Row: The Third.

Slated for an Augsty/ Septemberish release date on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, Saints Row: The Third – Enter The Dominatrix looks to take the award-winning, over-the-top action of Saints Row: and mix it up a little by throwing in super powers.

Executive Vice President of THQ Danny Bilson, stated in a recent press release “Faster than a speeding cyber jet bike, more powerful than a chromed-out SUV, able to leap flying aircraft carriers in a single bound… That’s the power you’ll find inside the Dominatrix. Use it for good. Use it for evil. Use it for whatever you want. As always in Saints Row, it’s up to you,”

With a franchise of reportedly more than 11 million units shipped globally so far, it looks like an incredible amount of fun for Saints Row fans and most importantly as it’s a standalone expansion will give users good reason to hold on to their copies and not trade them in just yet.

Enter the Dominatrix picks up immediately following the events of Saints Row: The Third with a story just as wacky and fun. For those of you not up to date with Saints Row, it is kind of like a mix between Grand Theft Auto and…erm something very very different. Put it this way, it has long been regarded as the guilty pleasure of gaming. Very tongue in cheek and serious at the same time, wrestlers, gangsters, guns and hitting people over the head with a huge bright pink dildo. This expansion sounds like it will add something very Matrixy to the mix and increase its longetivity.

More details and a first look at Saints Row: The Third – Enter the Dominatrix will be available this summer stay tuned to Frost for more details.

The Avengers Assemble – Movie Review

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It’s become almost traditional, if not formulaic, to kick off each summer blockbuster season with a superhero movie.

Over the years we have seen Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and even the Hulk take centre stage in their own films, so on paper at least, the coming together of these iconic super hero superstars in Avengers Assemble sounds like every comic book fanboy’s wet dream.

But does more necessarily mean more? Or have Marvel – who admittedly have done a terrific job so far in bringing their comic book pages to life – bitten off more than they can chew?

Well in one word, the answer is no. Like the childhood Christmas present that gets played with lovingly to near destruction once your get your eager hands on it, to see Marvel’s movie at long last is incredible, but at the same time is both brilliant in its script and in its execution. As such, just like that Christmas present, it keeps on giving and in the process provides ample reasons for fans of the comic books and films to rejoice.

A film nearly seven years in the making, fans have slowly, patiently, seen the formation of this film through the little clips that occurred at the end of the credits of each previous movie.

First you had Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jnr) being approached by Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson), then the story of Captain America (Chris Evans) and how he ends up taken in by SHIELD. There’s even Thor’s film, (the main role played by Chris Hemsworth) which in many ways sets up the plot for this movie and even clever references made in the last Hulk film. Each provided subtle clues towards where the plot arcs were going to lead.

After such a wait, no way was Marvel and director Joss Whedon going to disappoint fans. A superb opening set-piece puts the storyline and reasons for these characters coming together firmly in place. ‘The Tesseract’ (last seen in Thor and Captain America) is a cube of immense power that both sides are trying to unlock. However, it has opened a door to another world, which Loki (played truly impressively by Tom Hiddleston) comes through with his original intention of ‘ruling us all’. But worse than that, he’s brought a whole bunch of bad boys with him. Who else are going to put a stop to his plan other than the Avengers?

Indeed, as each of these superheroes could take on enemies of immense power, it has to be a near-on war to cause them to come together and Mr Whedon has no intention of holding back his vision of what a superhero movie should consist of.

Thankfully, Marvel did not go about this movie without getting the right funding in place, so nothing is watered down and all of the super powers, transformations and adversaries (of which there are hundreds) are embellished with as much attention to detail as if they were in their own movie. The end result is pretty much what you would expect from the comic book on screen and it has to be said some scenes are jaw-dropping. Avengers will probably set the standard for future superhero movies to come.

None of the special effects would work in isolation unless there were proper characterisations. Joss Whedon and the screen writers should be applauded for continuing to build upon each individual’s complexities; Tony Stark is still as brash and arrogant as he has ever been, Captain America still has the heart of someone who would sacrifice himself for others, but just follows orders. Only Mark Ruffalo’s interpretation of the David Banner / Hulk is different to his predecessors in that he is more edgy and unpredictable. I do have to say I preferred Ed Norton’s version, however Ruffalo does an excellent job nonetheless. New characters that open up in this movie are Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) which are both portrayed as brooding counterparts which hopefully further movies might build upon.

3D or 2D?

Watching this film in 3D provides just an average experience, which is a shame as they could really have done more to open up the experience and give it that extra wow factor. As it is, besides a few set pieces, I found it made little difference. 3D is a medium I feel should be pushed more, especially when it can really create some stand out moments for the audience when utilised well.

My Verdict

A great kick start to the summer blockbuster season and a fantastic movie in its own right. Cant wait to see what next is in store. Oh yes, that will be Spider-Man less than 8 weeks away. Don’t you just love summer?

9/10