Adaptations

16 Great Things about ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 2

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In my last article about The Rings of Power, I talked about my 15 favorite things about Season 1. Here – in no particular order – are my 16 favorite things about Rings’ second season. Be warned that this list contains spoilers for not only Season 2, but also future events in the series, and the Lord of the Rings as well.

*All pictures in this article are the property of Amazon.*

1. Sauron’s Death

Season 2 opens with a flashback to Sauron trying to take command of Middle-Earth’s orcs following Morgoth’s fall. Unsurprisingly, the orcs (and Adar) don’t take kindly to being told that they’ll be sacrificed to achieve Sauron’s goals, so they express their displeasure by stabbing Sauron a few hundred times until he explodes, turning the surrounding terrain into a winter wonderland.

Many fans of Tolkien’s works have decried this scene for contradicting Sauron’s character (he tries to reason with the orcs, where he dominates them in the books with fear and terror), but I think this scene is a clever look at Sauron’s journey as a character. Originally, he was a being who loved order and perfection, but during his time as Morgoth’s servant Sauron was corrupted into being willing to enslave, torture, and kill others to get what he wanted. With Morgoth gone, some of Sauron’s original goodness is poking through, and this scene shows him at the halfway point between the good spirit he was originally, and the hate-filled tyrant of the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Despite contradicting Season One of Rings’ (Adar said that he killed Sauron after the latter experimented on so many orcs; here, he and the orcs kill Sauron before those experiments begin), this prologue is a great way to open the season.

2. Sauron’s Rebirth

Something never elaborated on in Tolkien’s works is how Sauron creates a new body for himself each time he was killed, saying only that it took Sauron longer and longer with each subsequent death. Rings lets us see how the process might have gone: after being killed by the orcs, Sauron slowly rebuilds himself from a few drops of blood, taking the lives of insects, rats, and eventually people before he can finally create a new body for himself and resume his quest to conquer Middle-Earth.

What I like about this scene is that, compared to everything else we’ve seen of Tolkien’s world onscreen, this is something out of a story by H.P. Lovecraft: we’re watching the birth of an abomination from the dark, moldy depths of the earth, something that doesn’t belong to the natural order of things. And while this putrid mass of cancerous growth may look weak and frail, it’s still one of the most powerful and evil things in existence. And in a nice nod to Tolkien’s mythology, the whole sequence ties into his recurring theme that evil cannot create new things, only corrupt what has already been made: where Sauron could once manifest a beautiful form before his fall, now he is forced to take life from others to create a body for himself, one that may seem normal, but is only a mask to hide the evil within.

3. Choose Good

Sauron may have created a new body for himself, but he is now at the lowest point of his entire existence: he’s lost his position as Morgoth’s right hand. He has no armies to command, he’s been exiled from his home in Valinor, and his dreams of creating a perfect, orderly world are in tatters. But being humbled presents him with an opportunity to realize what he’s done and turn his life around, something that he seems to seriously consider when he comes across a group of refugees, one of whom unknowingly offers him the chance to leave his destructive path and choose a new, better one.

Later, when talking on a ship, the same man gives Sauron a brief, but perfect summary of what it means to turn from evil and become good:

I like to imagine that this meeting isn’t due to chance, but actually an act of fate: in The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf told Frodo that Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, and that Frodo was also meant to have it. During the events of The Hobbit, Gandalf and Thorin seem to have been guided to meet each other in Bree, which ultimately led to the Quest of Erebor and the death of Smaug, saving Middle-Earth from his wrath.

With all that said, I believe that Eru subtly guided the old man into meeting Sauron and inspired him to say the right things in hopes of helping the fallen Maiar find his way back to the light… but, alas, Sauron chooses instead to be a big meany butt and be evil (and confirming that he was lying to Galadriel about trying to redeem himself in Season 1).

Had Sauron listened to the man and chosen differently, the fate of Middle-Earth would have been very different, indeed.

4. Rhûn

If there’s one thing The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion has in common, it’s that we don’t get to see a world outside of the standard European fantasy environment (tall mountains, forests, castles, and the like). That’s why it’s such a delight in Season 2 that we finally get to see the deserts of Rhûn – the homeland of the Easterlings – on screen for the very first time.

While we don’t get much outside of rocks, dead trees, barren canyons, and lots of sand, it’s great to finally see something other than European climates, and remember that Middle-Earth is so much bigger and varied than what we’ve seen in Tolkien’s books.

5. Celebrimbor

Though he had an important role to play in Season 1 of Rings, where he forged the three rings of the Elves, Season 2 is where Celebrimbor gets to come into his own and shine as one of the most famous elves of the Second Age. As the descendant of the famously fiery and temperamental Fëanor, Celebrimbor is an elf who doesn’t desire fame, power, or ruling others, but only in creating beautiful things and trying to undo the mistakes of his ancestor… a desire that makes him him all-too vulnerable to Sauron’s manipulations.

While he has all the qualities of being a noble hero like Gandalf, Aragorn, and Galadriel, Celembrimbor is unfortunately like Isildur and Bromoir: beings who fight and strive to do what is right at great personal cost, but who’s tales are told as tragedies by those who come after them. Celebrimbor’s a noble and kind-hearted elf, but his determination to make his mark on the world has catastrophic consequences for the world at large.

Yet, his noble intentions, determination to do what is right after realizing he’s been lied to and deceived by Sauron, and only wanting to do good makes him endearing and likeable. Like Diza, he’s an elf you’d be happy to share ale with at a tavern after a long day’s work.

6. Celebrimbor’s Anvil

It’s only onscreen for a few seconds, but when Celebrimbor is doing some paperwork in his office, sharp-eyed viewers will see that he uses a tiny anvil as a paperweight, implying that the mighty Celebrimbor, greatest Elven smith of the Second Age, has a good sense of humor. Plus, the image of noble and graceful elves going through the effort to craft, shape, and forge an itty-bitty, widdle anvil is hilarious. Why haven’t we gotten this thing as an officially licensed collectible yet?

7. The Hammer and the Crown

Middle-Earth has its fair share of historical objects that Indiana Jones would be happy to track down, and ‘Rings’ has two big ones in Season 2: Fëanor’s hammer, and Morgoth’s crown.

While fans who have only watched the films or seen the show can understand that these are important artifacts, readers of Tolkien’s works will get the most enjoyment out of seeing the hammer forged the most beautiful objects in all of creation (the Silmarils), and that crown that was worn by the most evil being who will ever exist (and that held the aforementioned jewels in its spiky embrace). Both go a long way to help make the world of Middle-Earth feel ancient and lived in, and that they played huge parts in changing the course of history long before the show began.

8. The Nameless Thing

One of the most fascinating parts of Tolkien’s world are the nameless things: eldritch horrors that live in the deepest, darkest fissures deep beneath the mountains of the world that are even older than Sauron. They are only mentioned briefly in Tolkien’s works, but are apparently so frightening that even Gandalf refuses to describe these abominations after encountering them when pursuing the balrog after their fall into the pit of Khazad-dûm. Season 2 gives us a glimpse of one in the form of a giant, grotesque worm-thing that tries to eat Isildur and Arondir before being sliced up from the inside and being (presumably) turned into nameless thing-burgers for dinner.

Is this a scene that doesn’t really add anything to the overall plot? Yes. Could it have been cut out without any effect on the story? Yes. Is it cool to see one of the most mysterious, dark, and vicious things that Tolkien ever wrote about? Heck yes.

9. Mirdania Sees Sauron’s True Form

One of Tolkien’s smartest decisions in writing The Lord of the Rings was not describing what Sauron looks like: he’s an unseen evil, a force so powerful and so dreadful that you don’t even have to be anywhere near him to experience the power of his malice. And despite having more screentime in Rings of Power than both the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films combined, Rings has never shown Sauron’s true form, only his armor from the First Age and the disguises he wears to interact with others.

The closest we get to getting a glimpse of Sauron’s true form is when one of Celebrimbor’s assistants, Mirdania, accidentally enters the unseen world and sees Sauron as he really is (without realizing who she’s looking at), the experience shaking her to her core… but we don’t see that. All we get is Mirdania describing a tall being with pitiless eyes and skin made of flames. By describing the moment, but not showing it, Rings follows Tolkien’s example by leaving it up to the viewer’s imagination to visualize what Sauron’s true, malevolent form must look like.

One last little twist about the scene: after Mirdania describes what she saw, who’s the first one to comfort her? Sauron himself.

10. The Raid on the Temple

One of season 2’s strongest storylines is showing Numenor’s gradual downfall. While season 1 hinted that the greatest kingdom of Men in Middle-Earth was starting to crumble from within, season 2 brings this rot out into the open as a power-hungry Ar-Pharazôn begins his campaign to take control of the island empire and persecute those loyal to the Valar, the elves, and their ways.

The one scene that perfectly embodies Numenor’s descent into evil is the raid on the Faithful’s temple. Starting off as a peaceful funeral ceremony bidding farewell to all who died on the mainland in the last season, it devolves into Pharazôn’s sniveling weasel of a son – Kemen – gleefully interrupting the ceremony and announcing the destruction of the temple, destroying sacred artifacts for the fun of it, and then emotionally manipulating Isildur’s friend Valandil into starting a fight to justify using lethal force against the faithful, ending with Kemen stabbing Valandil in the back.

This scene, more than any other in the series, showcases the cruelty and moral rot of Numenor. What’s more chilling is that there are no orcs here, no supernatural monsters or ancient evils emotionally manipulating everyone present. It’s just humans being evil to one another, and it’s arguably scarier than any demon Tolkien could conjure up. And the worst part is that this is only a taste of the evil that Numenor is going to unleash upon Middle-Earth at large in the years to come.

(As an aside, I think there’s a very good chance that Kemen will end up being one of the Ringwraiths: Tolkien’s writings strongly imply that at least three Ringwraiths were of Numenorian descent, and it’s easy to see Kemen being nasty and power-hungry enough to accept a ring of power by Sauron. And if he wants to take the throne of Numenor, only to be denied, then Sauron might offer to make him a great lord and promise him a kingdom of his own to rule… Angmar, perhaps?)

11. Sauron’s Deceptions

One of Sauron’s greatest strengths is his ability to deceive and manipulate almost anyone he encounters, including the smartest, wisest, and most powerful elves in Middle-Earth. Yet, the books are vague about how he does this beyond his ability to take fair forms and cast illusions. While most of his manipulations in Season 2 follows the pattern of narcissists abusing others (lovebombing, gaslighting, ignoring boundaries, victim blaming, etc.), we get to see Sauron’s supernatural abilities at work when he conjures a vision of Eregion to subtly trap Celebrimbor. Like the holodeck from Star Trek, Celebrimbor can walk around in this vision, touch things, interact with other elves, and continue his work… completely unaware that the real Eregion is being bombed into rubble by orcs.

This illusion is a fascinating demonstration of Sauron’s power and his ability to deceive others, and makes you wonder how he’s used this ability on others throughout his time in Middle-Earth: It’s one thing to resist lies and flattery, but it’s much harder to resist when the very world around you is a lie and you don’t know it.

12. Who’s Will Is Stronger?

So often in fantasy stories, dark lords and evil-doers have all the power and all the advantages over their good counterparts, including the willingness to do whatever needs to be done to achieve their goals. But Celebrimbor gets a moment to prove that the good guys can be equally as strong-willed: shackled to his desk and unable to stop Sauron from taking the rings that he will use to enslave men and create the ringwraiths, Celebrimbor realizes the only way he can get free is to cut off his own thumb so he can slip through his shackle. But doing so means that he will never again be able to use a hammer, an anvil, and a forge to create things. Celebrimbor’s Eru-given gifts of forging and creating will be forfeit, and his dreams of making Middle-Earth beautiful will be gone.

Knowing all that, Celebrimbor still cuts off his thumb.

While gruesome, this is one of Celebrimbor’s best character moments: when everything is on the line, he is willing to give up his life’s dream for the chance to stop Sauron and save others. While it is, unfortunately, all for nothing in the long run, never let it be said that Celebrimbor did something most of us wouldn’t have the courage to do.

13. Celebrimbor’s Death

Celbrimbor’s death is one of the more gruesome in Middle-Earth media: tortured by being shot repeatedly with arrows from Sauron himself, threatened with supernatural means to ensure he doesn’t die, and then being impaled with a spear through the gut before finally dying, it’s a gruesome spectacle. Yet, one thing that’s puzzled me ever since watching it is why Sauron cries after Celebrimbor’s death. He wouldn’t see Celebrimbor as a friend, nor would a being such as himself be frightened at a prophecy that his rings will one day destroy him. So why the tears?

After mulling things over, I’ve come to think that the reason Sauron cries is because he’s realized he’s crossed the point of no return. All throughout Season 1 and 2, Sauron says that his greatest goal is to heal Middle-Earth of the hurts he helped inflict upon it. Yet, when staring at Celebrimbor’s corpse, Celebrimbor’s words cut through all the lies he’s told himself:

“I go now to the west, blown forth on a wind that you can never follow.”

I think Sauron realized that Celebrimbor was right: After all he’s done, and after all the times he’s rejected the chance to turn away from evil, it now hits Sauron that he can never go back to Valinor, his home. If he did, the Valar would imprison him, find him irredeemable, and thrust him into the void to join his master in endless darkness.

In my opinion, this is the moment where the last piece of good in Sauron dies. From here, he will fully embrace evil to achieve his goals and abandon any attempt to kid himself that he’s doing this to help others. Celebrimbor may have died here, but so did a tiny, flickering spark of light that will never be re-kindled.

14. Adar Turns Back to the Light.

One of my favorite storytelling tropes is when a villain sincerely and truly repents of their ways and turns their backs on evil. That’s why one of my favorite scene in all of Rings – tied with Sauron being offered the chance to turn from evil, as described above – comes with Adar turning back to the light.

Having obtained Galadriel’s ring, Adar seems poised to use it as a weapon to turn the tide in his war against Sauron and finally defeat him once and for all… but that’s not what happens. Though exactly what happened isn’t shown, it’s logical to assume that Adar’s mind was healed by Galdriel’s ring, making him realize how much evil, death, and destruction he had caused since beginning his quest to create a homeland for the orcs. But instead of giving into despair and hopelessness, or telling himself even more lies to cover up the pain as Sauron did, Adar instead chooses to pursue a path of peace.

While his quest for redemption only lasted a few minutes, Adar holds the unique distinction of being the only true villain in Tolkien’s universe – whether in books, films, games, and TV shows – to sincerely repent, something that Sauron, Saruman, Grima Wormtongue, and so many others never did.

While his ultimate quest to have the orcs live in peace was doomed to never succeed, I hope Adar can return in future seasons (due to Elves being able to reincarnate in Valinor if they are killed), and become of the good guys fighting against Sauron.

15. “Dwarves!”

Dwarves!

16. Sauron vs Galadriel

In Tolkien’s writing, an interesting paradox is introduced regarding Sauron: Despite his overwhelming power, strength, and innate magical abilities, he always loses whenever he gets into a physical fight with someone. That trend is played with at the climax of Season 2, when we get our very first scene of the Dark Lord going toe-to-toe with an opponent onscreen when he fights Galadriel for the 9 rings of power. For the majority of the fight, Sauron easily has the upper hand, toying with her mind and easily deflecting her blows before finally defeating her with a stab from Morgoth’s crown, and taking the 9 rings.

While I enjoy the fight for being able to see my favorite fictional villain getting to show off his fighting skills (and using Morgoth’s crown as a weapon is an ingenious and clever idea), I also like how the fight shows that even if Sauron defeated Galadriel, destroyed Eregion, and got his rings, he still lost: Galadriel escapes, and his potential ally and slave will instead be a thorn in his side for the rest of his days, giving hope, comfort, and aid to those who fight against Sauron, and will be one of the major players in his final and permanent defeat.

Sauron may have won this battle, but though it will take centuries for it to happen, he has ultimately lost his war to enslave Middle-Earth, and Galadriel escaping is just the first of many twists of fate that will finally lead to his final and ultimate defeat.

That’s it for Season 2, which I think is a big improvement over Season 1; come back in 2027 when we’ll take a look of my favorite moments from the third season of ‘The Rings of Power’.

15 Great Things About ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’ Season 1

/ Imperfect Glass / Leave a comment

The year is 2017 and Amazon has just announced that they’re going to create the very first TV show set in JRR Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, one that will chronicle the Second Age, the downfall of Numenor, the creation of the rings of power, and the early years of Sauron’s war to enslave Middle-Earth. And to top off that bombshell announcement, the show is going to run for five seasons and be the most expensive TV show in history. With almost unlimited production resources, being set in one of the most famous fantasy series ever created, and having legions of fans of said series, the stars were aligned to create one of the biggest hits television has ever seen.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

After the release of The Rings of Power‘s first season, reception was, to be generous, mixed. Critics found the writing to be subpar, and fans in particular were not happy with the many liberties taken with adapting Tolkien’s work, including turning Galadriel into a bloodthirsty warmonger, the Harfoots being unlikable pricks who leave their injured to die (and then later laugh at said deaths), and Elves and Dwarves having mixed ethnicities, among other things.

As a die-hard fan of both the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit film trilogies, I thought season 1 of Rings of Power was average at best. It had some good bits, some bad bits, but nothing truly awful or great, and I quickly forgot most of it after the season concluded. Recently, though, I re-watched season 1 to get ready to see season 2, and I was surprised to find that I enjoyed it much more than the first-go around. Here – in no particular order – are fifteen of my favorite things about The Rings of Power: Season 1.

NOTE: For those who haven’t watched the show, or have but haven’t read Tolkien’s books, this article contains big spoilers for the first season of Rings of Power, as well as what will happen in future seasons; you have been warned.

1. The Prologue

It seems to be a cosmic law that if you have a movie or a TV show set in Middle-Earth, you’re going to have a spectacular prologue, and Rings continues that tradition. Where the New Line films began with the Battle of the Last Alliance, and the Hobbit films showcased the downfall of Erebor, Rings gives us the first age of Arda, showcasing the beauty of a world just before everything was ruined forever. We get our first-ever glimpse of Valinor, home of Middle-Earth’s gods and the elves, the destruction of the Two Trees, the briefest glimpse of Morgoth, Sauron’s master, the war to overthrow him, a hauntingly beautiful shot of Sauron in his armored form, and the ending setting up Galadriel’s quest to hunt him down, which will be her singular focus for the entire season.

This prologue is Rings is at its best, the one sequence that matches the epic scope of the New Line films. And it’s not just the big moments that make the prologue as epic as what’s come before, but little things, too: we see the giant Eagles being defeated in battle for the very first time, and the elves expecting a quick victory against Morgoth, but finding themselves sucked into a war that lasts centuries, cleverly paralleling our own history where overconfident nations gleefully expected wars to be over in weeks, only to find themselves in bloodbaths that lasted for years, leaving their armies and populations shattered and broken.

2. Adar

Long known for being, ugly, snarling beasts with cockney accents who can be killed by a single hit from any weapon, Rings bucks that trend by giving us what I think is the the most interesting orc in any Tolkien story: Adar, one of the first orcs ever created by Morgoth. But unlike a lot of monster prototypes, Adar isn’t a savage, feral, barely-sentient beast with British teeth: he’s an orc who still strongly resembles the elf he was before being tortured and warped into something foul.

It’s not just Adar’s ruggedly handsome looks that make him stand out, but his character: While he does horrible things, psychologically torments others, enslaves innocent people, and commits ecological genocide, Adar doesn’t want to conquer the world, make himself a god, or wipe out other civilizations; all he wants is for his fellow orcs to have a safe place to live that they can call home, and enjoy life like any other being.

Adar is the best kind of antagonist: while he does horrible things, they’re in pursuit of a goal we can understand and even sympathize with. And on top of that, he’s a noble villain, one who was once good, but apparently believes he can’t come back from what he’s become; for all his desires to help his fellow orcs, he’s likely too mentally broken from Morgoth’s tortures and torments to think he can come back and be healed. Or worse, he’s given up and doesn’t care anymore.

With this complex morality and fascinating history, and the fact that he actually accomplishes his goal by the end of the season, Adar is easily the best character in the show.

3. Míriel

When she’s first introduced, Míriel – acting queen of Numenor – comes off as a pretty standard ‘noble ruler of a doomed kingdom’ archetype with a mixture of good traits tempered by a hardness one expects of someone trying to deal with the decline of a powerful kingdom. But what I like about Míriel is that, despite her pride and hardness, she is a good person who is trying her best to deal with knowing that Numenor is heading for certain doom, and is willing to put herself in harm’s way to save others, even peasants who are far beneath her in the social hierarchy. And even after being blinded trying to save some of those people, she refuses to give in to despair and grief. What she lacks in physical strength and powers, Míriel makes up for with her strong will, willingness to risk herself, and willingness to help even the lowliest of people.

Yet, for all her noble qualities, Míriel is a tragic figure: a leader with the best of intentions who is fighting to save what good remains in her failing kingdom, but like a sand castle being hit by the relentless assault of the waves,her quest is ultimately doomed, turning her into a tragic hero worthy of being included among Tolkien’s many doomed heroes.

4. Arondir

Perhaps no other character created for Rings of Power caused as much a stir among fans of Middle-Earth as Aronidr, a dark-skinned elf assigned to watch over the Southlanders. Now removed from the accusations of him being walking ‘woke’ propaganda, Arondir ties with Adar as my favorite character of the series: he’s an elf skilled in war and a master of the bow, but without the jokes and easy-going nature of everyone’s blonde-haired, pointy-eared elf from the Woodland realm.

Yet, Aronidr is not a dark, brooding, or miserable character; beneath his firm exterior lies someone who cares deeply for others, and will go to any lengths to save the people he has been charged to watch over. While Legolas is the Elf you want who is aloof and easygoing, Arondir is the one you want watching your back when fighting those who want to take your life and everyone and everything you love.

5. The Lindon Elves

Rivendell and Lothlorien may be tied when it comes to the most beautiful Elven realms in Tolkien adaptions, but in my opinion, Lindon takes that honor. From the gorgeous outfits its residents wear, to the autumn-colored forests in which they live, and the breathtaking halls of trees, Lindon is arguably Elven society at its peak, a society that lives in peace with itself and nature; if Valinor wasn’t an option, Lindon would be the one place in Middle-Earth I’d love to live in.

And yet, the beauty of this realm is tinged with the knowledge that it will soon begin to fade as the Elves’ influence and ability to stay in Middle-Earth begins to wane. Having their leaders seek to stop that from happening gives both Gil-Galad and Elrond a strong, understandable motivation for their actions in the season. If I were lucky enough to live in such a beautiful place, I’d want to save it, too!

6. Elrond and Durin’s Friendship

I have a confession to make: I’ve never really cared for the Dwarves in Tolkien’s world. I’ve found them to be too noisy, proud, and boastful for my tastes, similar to how a cat person can grudgingly tolerate a big, bouncy dog, but ultimately would rather prefer the quiet independence of a feline. But with that said, the biggest surprise of Rings for me was just how well done the friendship between Elrond and Durin is handled.

Unlike a lot of fantasy friendships between different beings that are pretty straightforward and easy to summarize, the relationship between Elrond and Durin is like a rubber band constantly snapping back and forth: Elrond and Durin go from being best buddies you can see going on camping trips together to Durin never wanting to see Elrond ever again, to the two of them realizing they’re pawns in a bigger game and unsure if their friendship can even survive. And when things get too rough, Disa is there to throw cold water on the two and calm things down.

The relationship between the three is a refreshingly complex triangle that is like any other friendship in real life: it’s never completely smooth sailing, full of back and forths between anger, disappointment, not wanting to hurt one another, and ultimately wanting to do what’s right for each other. In a mythology that places such a high value on friendship, it’s a delight to see one this complex.

7. Disa

Joining the list of Rings’ best newcomers is Disa, Durin’s wife. Like the rest of her kind, she’s tough, formidable, refuses to be intimidated, and not accommodating of those overcome with foolishness and pride. Yet, she’s also wonderfully generous and welcoming, even to beings from different races. You easily get the impression that while most Dwarves would glare at you out of the corner of their eyes, Disa would be the first to come up, shake your hand, and eagerly offer to give you a tour of her kingdom and all its wonders.

While Adar may be wonderfully complex, and Arondir is someone you’d want to have your back in dangerous territory, Disa is the one newcomer in Rings that I’d be more than happy to invite over for dinner. Heck, I’d love to watch a miniseries of her vacationing around Middle-Earth and visiting the Shire, Minas Tirith, Lothlorien, and other famous landmarks just to see how she interacts with everyone who lives there. She really is that delightful.

8. Numenor

While the show’s portrayal of Numenor isn’t as grand, awe-inspiring, or majestic as how it appeared in the Silmarillion (to me, it looks more like an overgrown, sprawling Mediterranean favela than the dwelling place of the most advanced, powerful, and mighty human kingdom in the world), Numenor has slowly grown on me, especially with its Byzantine/Mesopitamian design, blue, bronze, and gold color scheme, and some truly beautiful locations that do sell the island’s proud history. And while Numenor may not be the pinnacle of human technology and culture as depicted in the Silmarillion, the show does nail the atmosphere of a proud nation that sees itself as superior to everyone else, yet is decaying from within due to isolationism, nationalism, and moral rot. While Numenor may have been more beautiful thousands of years in the past, it is now a shadow of what it once was, both physically and mentally, and the show captures that very well.

9. Isildur Ruins Ontamo and Valandil’s Lives

We’ve all seen it before: Someone is trapped in a job they don’t like, don’t want, and would do almost anything (short of starting thermonuclear war) to get out of. Eventually they decide to get out, no matter what it takes, and if that includes getting themselves fired, so be it. That’s the path a young Isildur takes in Rings: Wanting to get out of the Sea Guard to follow his own calling as a member of the Faithful, Isildur purposefully makes the unforgivable mistake of letting go of a rope, which gets him kicked out as he wanted… but what Isildur didn’t count on was two of his closest friends, Ontamo and Valandil, getting kicked out with him.

Cruel? Definitely, but I like how Isildur, instead of getting a clean break, now has to deal with the guilt of getting his two friends being shown the door because of his own actions, especially when it was Valandil’s dream to join the Guard for years, if not decades. Rarely do we see characters purposefully screw up, only to have their closet friends suffer because of it, and I’m glad Rings explores that here.

On a related note, I also like how, later on, Isildur acknowledges what he did and, instead of trying to make amends with words or deeds, lets Valandil hurt him instead (which can be seen at 5:58 in the clip above). Painful, yes, but it shows Isildur’s willing to feel pain if it means helping a friend emotionally heal (and as an added bonus, while Valandil does let go of his anger afterwords, it’s still not enough for Isildur to get back into the Sea Guard, forcing him to find another way to get back in).

10. The Creation of Mordor

One of the biggest surprises in Rings was seeing the creation of Mordor: while how that happens sounds silly no matter how you write it (a magic sword is used to unlock a dam to release water into a trench that flows into a volcano to make it erupt), there’s no denying that the eruption of Mt. Doom itself, the pyroclastic flow, and subsequent destruction of the Southlands, is awe-inspiring to watch. The filmmakers clearly took full advantage of the show’s big budget to make the most spectacular eruption they could (as well as the apocalyptic aftermath) and succeeded.

While the story behind Mordor’s creation could have been simplified (perhaps the sword could have been used to make the volcano itself erupt without the need of any dams), there’s no denying that the creation of Sauron’s realm is a visual treat, and one of the highlights of the season.

11. The Southlanders

When watching Rings again, I was surprised to see that, for all the big battles, state-of-the-art CGI, and fancy sets, the best part about the series is the thread of the Southlanders and their fight to save their home from Adar and his orcs. Confined to the borders of pre-eruption Mordor and watched like prisoners by the elves for the crimes of their ancestors, the Southlanders have a hard lot in life, a life only made harder by an invasion of ruthless, bloodthirsty orcs seeking to destroy everything they have.

In hindsight, I think Rings might have been better received if it focused exclusively on the Southlanders and their struggles. We all know about Galadriel, Elrond, Gil-Galad, Elendil, Isildur, Ar-Pharazôn, and Sauron, and what roles they’ll play in what’s to come, but the Southlanders have no great leaders or legendary figures among them. They don’t have magic, larger-than-life kings to lead them, or even decent weapons: they’re ordinary, everyday people who are forced to fight against evil when vastly outmatched and outnumbered. And unlike the aforementioned heroes and villains, Bronwyn, Theo, Waldreg, Rowan, and the other Southlanders have no plot armor to protect them. Any one of them can die at any time, and many do.

In a way, the Southlander’s story feels like the one most faithful to the spirit of Tolkien’s works, a story of ordinary, everyday people who have to confront unimaginable, overpowering evil. Their struggle is the most relatable, grounded, and believable part of the series, and they give us a unique perspective on Middle-Earth that we haven’t seen before, a perspective that the Middle-Earth franchise needs more of going forward.

12. Only Blood can Bind

One theme Tolkien uses throughout his work is that being evil sucks: you may be powerful initially, but inevitably you’ll destroy yourself – both physically and spiritually – and the subplot of Waldreg and the other Southlanders pledging their service to Adar fits this theme perfectly: While everyone who fought back loses much, those who survived escape with their lives and the hope of a better life. But every single person who submits to Adar – save Waldreg – ultimately loses everything, including their lives. Their corpses are cast aside and forgotten, left to rot under the falling ash of Mount Doom. Even the mere act of submitting to Adar requires great pain and sacrifice, as Rowan found out the hard way.

The deaths of the fallen Southlanders serves as a cautionary tale about serving evil: Evil may promise you the power to get what you want, but requires you to sacrifice everything (including your soul), takes delight in hurting you every chance it gets, and when you’re no longer useful, will toss you out without a second thought.

13. The Stranger

I don’t like the Harfoots or their story in Rings; in my opinion, the show would have been better cutting out these annoying little pricks and giving the other story threads more time to grow and develop. (It’s quite telling that many viewers reported rooting for the Mystics when they set fire to the Harfoot’s camp.) However, that dislike doesn’t apply to the other big character in their story thread, the Stranger. Say what you will about Gandalf (it’s very clearly him) arriving in Middle-Earth thousands of years before he did in the books, but Daniel Weyman does a wonderful job bringing him to life as an incredibly powerful, but confused being who doesn’t know who he is, what he’s capable of, or what he’s meant to do. He’s like a big, powerful puppy who just wants to help and doesn’t have a malevolent bone in his body, but could easily kill you by mistake as easily as he could grow fruit on a tree to save you from starvation.

The Gandalf we all know from the Third Age is frequently grumpy, serious, and intolerant of foolishness, but this but this Gandalf is warmer, kinder, supportive, and not yet worn down from opposing Sauron for thousands of years. I hope we get to see more of that warmth as the series goes on.

14. Sauron

When I first read about Rings of Power, the biggest question I had was how they were going to portray Sauron. One of Sauron’s greatest strengths in the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit is that, for all his power, strength, malice, and cunning, he’s almost always off-screen. He’s an unseen eldritch horror that everyone – even the orcs that serve him – are afraid of, and making him a regular character in a TV show risked losing that malice. Thankfully, I think the first season of Rings handled Sauron well. Aside from a brief glimpse of his armored form in the prologue, it isn’t until the end of the last episode that his disguise as Halbrand is cast aside and his true identity revealed.

In my opinion, the most interesting part of Sauron in Rings is the exploration of his motivations: He claims that he wants to rule Middle-Earth in order to bring order and healing to atone for his actions while serving Morgoth, but it is never answered if his claim is genuine, or just another lie. Furthermore, did Sauron come to care about Galadriel, or did he want to slowly corrupt her so she would end up serving him in his later conquests? Was Sauron truthful about wanting to settle down in Numenor and live a simple life as a blacksmith? And for that matter, did Eru nudge Galadriel into encountering Sauron in the hopes that she might persuade him to turn from his self-destructive path? The show provides no answers, leaving viewers to come up with their own conclusions, keeping in line with Sauron being a master lair, deceiver, and manipulator who’s true motivations are known only to him.

15. “I’m Good!”

This moment gets on the list not because of its emotional impact, or masterful storytelling, but because of just how narm-filled it is. Instead of having Gandalf silently and powerfully cause the three Mystics to explode into magical butterflies (?!), he has to proudly announce that he is, in fact, good! It’s the most unintentionally funny moment of the series and always good for a chuckle.

While The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power continues to be decisive among viewers and lacks the pop-culture impact its far more famous predecessors did, I still think there’s plenty to like and admire in its first season, as well as the second. Come back next time, where we’ll take a look at what I think are the best parts of the sophomore season of Amazon’s flagship series.

Favorite Moments: The Exploding Vampire Baby

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We all have our favorite moments in movies, books, and games, moments that stay with us long after the story is over. This column is my attempt to examine my favorite moments and see why they stick with me.

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The Movie: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2

The Scene:

Why It’s Great:

In these troubled times, we all need a break from the horrors and fear of life. There are many ways this can be done: Meditation, exercise, mindfulness, and knowing that, no matter what problems we face, they can be overcome in the end. But most doctors, if asked, would say that the best way to relieve stress is to watch vampire babies explode when tossed into bonfires.

You don’t need to know the context of why said baby is being chucked into a roaring fire, only that we watch a freaking vampire baby exploding, and that the actress chucking the baby puppet is trying her hardest not to laugh, turning this 4 second clip into comedy gold.

My 30 Favorite Moments From The Jurassic Park Saga

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Last year marked the 30th anniversary of Jurassic Park, one of the most important, and influential movies of the 90’s. With stellar performances, a great story, amazing visuals, and a breathtaking musical score, Jurassic Park remains a timeless classic that is as enjoyable and thrilling today. While it would be customary to do a retrospective of the film (albeit, a year late), the recent announcement of an upcoming seventh film gave me the idea to go through the series and list my favorite moments from all six films up to this point.

30. Finding Eric’s Camera

Anyone can relate to parents wanting to save their child from danger, but Jurassic Park 3 has a great scene that emphasizes the fear that the Kirbys have about their missing son. While traveling through Isla Sorna’s jungle, the group finds the parachute that Ben and Eric used for their ill-advised tour, along with Eric’s camera, allowing them to see what happened leading up to the crash. It’s harrowing seeing Eric and Ben’s horror at realizing that they’re going to crash, and moving seeing Amanda clutching Eric’s life preserver, powerless to stop something that already happened.

Then, to make this scene even more harrowing, we get a very effective jump scare of Ben’s decomposing corpse. While the Jurassic series often pushes it’s PG-13 rating, it’s surprising that something this gory made it into the finished film (and inspired a lot of fan theories about what happened to Ben; the current consensus is that he died from internal bleeding due to injuries sustained from the crash and rapidly decomposed in the tropical climate.)

29. Alan!

The Jurassic series has had its ups and downs over the years, and Alan’s dream of a velociraptor talking to him in the third film has been touted as the series’ worst moment. Yet, I’ve always loved it: it’s logical that Alan would have nightmares about what he went through on Isla Nublar, and I love the humor of seeing a dinosaur casually talking to him (complete with its claws holding onto the seat in front of it), and it’s impressive how the filmmakers managed to make the animatronic lip-synch Billy’s voice (its tongue even moves!). It may be a goofy moment, but I like it.

28. Escape From Malta

Leading up to ‘Dominion,’ I had hoped that we would get scenes of dinosaurs running amok in urban areas, but, alas, the Malta sequence is the only part of the film that embraces that idea. Still, it’s not a bad scene, and I especially like the climax, which features Owen racing after Kayla’s plane as it takes off while being pursued by two Atrociraptors. We’ve got a very effective ticking clock (the plane taking off), a dangerous threat (two tireless raptors who can keep pace with a motorcycle), and a clever way of getting rid of them once Owen’s onboard (letting the sliding motorcycle knock the last one out of the plane and into the ocean). Great stuff!

27. To Free or Not To Free

One of the most dramatic moments in any story is the point of no return, a line that, once crossed, is impossible to undo, and ‘Fallen Kingdom’ has a great one: with all the dinosaurs at the Lockwood Estate at risk of being gassed to death, Claire has to choose whether to set them free, or leave them to die. As Owen says, if she pushes the button to free them, there is no turning back. Then, in a subversion, Claire chooses to let them die… only for Maisie to then free them, dooming humanity to having to live with carnivorous dinosaurs running about and eating people, cementing her as the greatest force of evil in the Jurassic universe.

‘Fallen Kingdom’ is admirable for willing to break the saga’s status quo, but this moment is the one that truly separates the ‘Escaping from a dinosaur infested island’ era from ‘Dinosaurs running amok all over the planet’ era in a way that cannot be undone, and the film’s to be commended for having the courage to go through with it.

26. Return to the Visitor’s Center

Over the years, I’ve come to appreciate how Jurassic World does its own thing instead of trying to be a remake of Jurassic Park, a rarity in all the legacy sequels we’ve gotten over the past several years. But there’s a moment where Zach and Grey come across the ruins of the original visitor center from the first film, and what follows is a nostalgia-filled trip back through time as they go through the rotunda, the dining room, and then come across those famous goggles and the very same jeeps that Alan and co. rode in when they first arrived at the island.

While this scene may be fan service, it’s fan service with a point, giving the kids a way to get back to the main park. And as someone who was only seven when the first movie came out, I had a lump in my throat going back to where it all started. World set out to tell its own story, but it didn’t forget what came before, and that it’s okay to visit the past every now and then.

25. The Indominus Rex Breaks Out Of Its Paddock

When introducing a new villain, any story has to give them a big moment to prove how dangerous they are. Jurassic Park had Rexy breaking out of her pen, destroying a car, and eating a lawyer. Jurassic Park 3 had the Spinosaurus tear a plane to shreds and kill a T-Rex, and Jurassic World’s introduction to the Indominus showcases not only its strength and power, but its intelligence: it not only lured people into its pen by making them believe she escaped, but also deliberately waited to eat the security guard, so as to let him realize how he was already dead and couldn’t do anything about it. Even better is that we get to see Owen’s resourcefulness is by having him douse himself with motor oil to make the Indominus find him unappetizing, cementing his status as a smart, no-nonsense guy, and a worthy heir to Alan Grant as a dinosaur expert/action hero.

While this scene does have quite a few lapses in logic, it’s a memorable introduction to the series’ newest apex predator.

24. Claire Escapes The Therizinosaurus

When compared to the first, second, and even third films, the Jurassic World trilogy was light on horror, especially Dominion. But this scene more than makes up for it, where Claire comes face to face with the Therizinosaurus, a truly bizarre dinosaur that looks like the offspring of Freddy Kruger and a demented ostrich. Half-blind and hyper-violent, this plant eater acts like a slasher villain, slowly and methodically walking after Claire as she scrambles to reach safety, knowing full well that if the thing catches up to her, she’s dead. Unfolding without any dialogue, and scored by a haunting drone, this is chilling stuff.

23. Indominus Rex vs Ingen Soldiers

Despite the series as a whole being about the conflict of man vs dinosaur, the Jurassic series has surprisingly few scenes of humans actually fighting dinosaurs. Taking inspiration from ‘Aliens,’ this scene showcases how such an encounter might go, and while things would have gone differently if the soldiers had rocket launchers, high-caliber rifles, and the like, it still shows us just how dangerous the Indominus is; so much so that, after this scene, the goal is no longer to contain the beast, but to evacuate the park before it can kill anyone else.

22. The Raptor Jump Scare

In my opinion, this is the best jump scare in the Jurassic series. By showing Sarah looking outside the shed and not seeing anything, you expect that it’s safe for Kelly to get out of the shed… only for a raptor to nosedive into the hole seconds later. I still remember jumping in my seat when that happened, along with most of the audience!

21. The Ringtone of Doom

I’ve written before how much I love this scene, and it remains Jurassic Park 3’s most clever moment: by having Eric hear the jingle from his dad’s phone, he thinks his parents are nearby, and turns out to be right, leading to the two groups being reunited, only to realize that no one has the satellite phone… at which point it goes off again, revealing that the phone is inside the Spinosaurus’ stomach, and that said beast is patiently watching the reunion.

This is a brilliant moment because at this point the audience has forgotten about the satellite phone and thinks that Paul Kirby still has it, only to realize with the others that he doesn’t. Having the jingle be so cheerful happy and uplifting also creates a funny contrast to the dire situation, making it the icing on a great scene.

20. The Spinosaurus Destroys the Plane

Built up as the new super-predator of the franchise and successor to the T-Rex, the Spinosaurus needed to make a big first impression, and boy did it ever. Not only does it frighten off two battle-hardened mercenaries (and their booking agent), but it survives being rammed by a plane, and then tears the plane apart like it was made out of cardboard, forcing Alan and the others to run for their lives. It’s a great introduction to the power and strength this beast has, and shows the audience that this newcomer is just as fearsome as the rexes who came before it.

19. Retrieving the Bone Sample

One thing I wish the Jurassic series did more often was lean heavily into the horror angle of humans trying to escape dinosaurs, something that primarily happens only in the first film. Fallen Kingdom comes close, though, with an opening scene that’s not only a great way to start the movie, but also is an effective mini-horror film in its own right. Not only is it … *groan* … a dark and stormy night, but the deaths are so unnerving. Not only do we not see the submarine crew’s deaths, leaving the horrifying details to our imagination (according to the junior novelization, the submarine was swallowed, meaning they were going to die screaming in the Mosasaurus‘ stomach), but then the radio operator, who just narrowly avoided being left behind to die, then gets eaten alive by the Mosasaurus, too. These deaths prey on our primal fears of being eaten, and very well to boot.

18. The Dying Apatosaur

For a series focused on dinosaurs attempting to eat humans, and humans trying not to be eaten, there aren’t many moments of the two interacting that doesn’t involve violence. This is one of the more touching moments, if a sad one; as any pet owner can attest, when an animal is hurt, you just want to help it, even if all you can do is just be with it as it dies, as Owen and Claire do, and in the process, Claire realizes that the dinosaurs in the park aren’t just attractions to be used for profit, but living beings, starting her journey from a typical money-focused executive to dinosaur advocate.

17. The Boat Attack

While the actual climax of Jurassic Park 3 is… not as exciting as it should have been, there’s no denying that the boat attack scene beforehand is a great way to wrap things up: having a battle on a boat during a storm at night was a nice chance of scenery from the visitor center of the first film and the San Diego chase in the second. The tension of Alan trying to call Ellie is great, and Paul Kirby gets his chance to shine by risking his life to draw the Spinosaurus away from everyone else, letting Grant drive it away via a flare gun, nicely echoing how he distracted Rexy with a flare in the first film. The whole scene is arguably ‘3’s best scene, and a good way to wrap things up and send the Spinosaurus off in style.

16. Nighttime Visitor in San Diego

Like so many others, I had high hopes that Dominion would have dinosaurs roaming through forests, parks, and neighborhoods, where panicked ordinary people would fight to survive against prehistoric predators. What I didn’t know is that the the scene of the Bull T-Rex wandering through a neighborhood at night was the best we were ever going to get.

There’s something so eerie about seeing this enormous dinosaur walking through the empty, silent streets, and it’s easy to imagine the terror of someone going out for a late-night walk, only to come face to face with this thing and not knowing what to do. And then we get to see an ordinary family dealing with a dinosaur in their backyard with shock, disbelief, and screams of terror.

While the Rex’s subsequent rampage through the streets of San Diego is fantastic, I prefer this scene for its more intimate, quiet, and intense atmosphere, and how it serves as a bittersweet reminder of what Dominion could have been.

15. The Death of the Brachiosaurus

If you want to get the tear ducts flowing in a story, kill off a beloved animal. Nowhere is that more true than this, the saddest scene in the entire Jurassic series, and the only time I almost cried. After the exhilaration of seeing Claire, Owen, and Franklin managing to escape Nublar before it’s engulfed in lava, we’re suddenly hit with seeing a Brachiosaurus arriving at the docks just a minute too late. What makes it worse is that she clearly knows that humans are friendly, and all but begs for them to come back and save her before she’s engulfed in smoke and fire. And to twist the knife in as deeply as possible, ‘Kingdom’s director, J.A. Boynetta, confirmed that this is the exact same Brachiosaurus Alan, Ellie, and Ian saw when they arrived on the island in 1993. She was the first dinosaur we ever saw, and now she’s the last one we see as Isla Nublar is destroyed. She was there for the beginning of Jurassic Park, and the was there for its end, in the saddest possible way

14. Jurassic Park’s Ending

After all the action, the horror, and the struggle to survive, Jurassic Park ends not with a bang, but with a quiet, thoughtful scene of everyone in the helicopter as it flies away to safety. Not a word is spoken, yet so much is said: Hammond reflects on the death of his dream, Alan realizes that he doesn’t dislike kids anymore, and then, looking out on the pelicans outside the helicopter, the film reminds us that, even though dinosaurs don’t belong in our world, their descendants live on, all backed by a wonderfully quiet, almost lullaby-like piece of music by John Williams, and a flight into the sunset. A perfect ending to a near perfect film.

13. Alan, Ellie, and Ian Reunite

In a movie filled to the brim with dinosaurs, it’s surprising to me how one of my favorite scenes in Dominion is when Ian, Alan, and Ellie reunite for the first time in almost thirty years. As a kid who fell in love with the original movie back in the day, seeing these three again is like reuniting with friends you haven’t seen for decades, and discovering that they still get along well and are as charismatic and charming as ever. And it’s amazing to think that this, to my knowledge, the ONLY time in a theatrically released legacy sequel where all of the original protagonists come back, are played by the same actors, and share the screen at the same time, something that the Matrix, Indiana Jones, and even Star Wars series couldn’t pull off.

12. Hammond Realizes that his Dream is Dead

Jurassic Park is full of scenes that you don’t care about when you’re a kid, but that hit much harder when you’re an adult. Remembering Petticoat lane is one of them, and arguably hits the hardest, as it’s Hammond’s turning point in the story. Here, he explains why he made Jurassic Park in the first place, and in the process shows who he really is as a person: Someone who isn’t interested in money, but a dream, and who still believes it can work despite everything that’s happened. But then Ellie points out that despite all the technological marvels at John’s command, the park has still failed and people are dying as a result. The resulting silence from John – done so beautifully by Richard Attenborough – sells that no matter how badly he doesn’t want to believe it, he realizes that Ellie is right: his dream isn’t going to work, and people are dying because of his mistakes. This is the moment that John’s dream truly dies… and he turns away from trying to save it, and focuses only on saving as many lives as he can.

This is, in my opinion, one of the most moving scenes in the entire series, and one of its best character moments, all set to a beautifully bittersweet lullaby courtesy of John Williams.

11. Hammond’s Dream Comes True

What if Jurassic Park was a success? It’s an idea that fans tossed about for years after the first movie was released, and World lets us see exactly how it would turn out, and it’s a blast! Seeing the park fully operational, the visitor’s center being open, the getting a brief glimpse of Rexy eating a goat, kids playing with baby dinosaurs, and above all, showing everyone having a wonderful time is a heartwarming way to show that John Hammond’s dream did come true, and it was everyone he could have hoped it to be… even if it’s not going to last.

10. Roland Tembo vs the Bull

Though it takes a while for him to appear, Roland Tembo establishes in his very first scene that he’s a no-nonsense, experienced hunter who has faced the most dangerous beasts nature has to offer. But it isn’t until late in The Lost World that Tembo truly demonstrates that experience with the bull T-Rex. Alone, and wielding only a tranquilizer gun, he demonstrates how he has nerves of titanium as he shoots the bull, then calmly backs away while reloading as a very pissed off dinosaur starts after him. If I was going onto a dinosaur-infested island and had to choose only one person to take with me, Tembo would be my man.

9. Hearing the T-Rexes roar

As an 11 year old kid, I was the perfect age to go see The Lost World in theaters, which I did with my friends after celebrating my 11th birthday (complete with Lost World-themed paper plates, cups, and the like), and the one thing I was looking forward to most was seeing the T-rex again. And just like the first film, The Lost World takes its time before revealing the island’s apex predator, letting us stew in anticipation. And then this happens:

I remember freezing up when I heard that roar in theaters and realizing that my favorite dinosaurs were about to show up. As an adult, I still love this scene, and consider it the best ‘oh shit’ moment in the series: we know the T-rexes are coming, and they’re pissed.

8. Attack on the Trailers

Matching the intensity of Rexy’s attack on the cruisers in the first film was always going to be a tall order, but The Lost World lives up to it with two Tyrannosaurs attacking Ian and Co’s (very cool) trailer. But the Rexes aren’t attacking with the mindless determination of animals wanting food: the Rexes are attacking the trailers as payback for Ian and his companions seemingly kidnapping their child. The dinosaurs effortlessly overturn the back half and then shove the trailers off a cliff, showing how even humanity’s most advanced machines and vehicles are no match for the destructive might of two of nature’s most terrifying predators. Then, after Eddy’s heroic efforts to save his friends, they come back and kill him in the goriest death in the series, capping off one of the most intense and nail-biting scenes in the franchise.

7. Hammond Says Goodbye to Jurassic Park

As a kid, you love Jurassic Park for the dinosaurs. When you’re an adult, you still love the dinosaurs, but you also learn to love the human characters and their journeys, and none of them have a stronger journey than Hammond. He starts out as a cheerful, good-natured, and naive businessman before realizing that his dream was never going to work, and that people have died because of it. While he’s wise enough to accept this and work to save as many lives as he can, the end of Hammond’s journey is, for me, the saddest moment in the film, and the series as a whole: On the precipice of being evacuated to safety, John stops to look back at the park he’s spent so many years creating. And like his realization that it wasn’t going to work after talking with Ellie, Richard Attenborough conveys Hammond’s regret, heartache, and grief without a single word, all backed up by John William’s beautifully bittersweet music, and the quiet call of the Brachiosaurus. It’s so wonderfully, beautifully heartbreaking.

6. The Philosophical Discussions about the Park

Much has been written over the years about the World trilogy’s attempt to engage in philosophical discussions about the ethics of breeding dinosaurs and playing god, but those efforts were doomed to fail. Why? Because the first film has the best philosophical debate about those issues. Up to this point, everyone is still in awe at what they’re seeing at Isla Nublar, yet there are hints everywhere that not everything is as perfect as it appears: from Grant and Co. escaping from the science ride, to Ian pointing out that life cannot be controlled, and how the raptors are more intelligent than they should be. Then comes lunch, where Hammond’s endless enthusiasm and eagerness to open a park full of dinosaurs for people everywhere to enjoy, runs into its first real test as Ian, Ellie, and Grant make excellent points that maybe this isn’t such a great idea, and that it might not have been better to do it in the first place… and with the benefit of hindsight, we see how all of them are right.

One other reason I like this scene so much when watching it with adult eyes is Hammond telling Gennaro that everyone in the world has the right to enjoy seeing the dinosaurs. This solidifies that he is not a greedy man who only wants money, but to really share something wonderful with others. If only we had more entrepreneurs and CEO’s like that in both fiction and real life.

5. Two Generations Against the Giganotosaurus

One of the biggest draws of Dominion, was seeing two generations of Jurassic survivors meeting each other, and it lives up to the hype. And unlike so many other ‘two generations meet’ scenes in other legacy sequels, there’s no competition or competing with each other: Both the Park and World generations get along just fine, and their first scene after meeting each other for the first time is to team up to survive being stalked by the Giganotosaurus. Everyone gets a moment to shine, from Owen and Claire getting into hand-to-claw combat with the Giga, to Alan pulling Ian to safety, and Ian facing the beast head-on to buy the others time to break into the outpost. Dominion may not be that great of a film, but this scene is so much fun.

4. Rexy’s Breakout

From the moment Hammond gleefully tells Alan and Ellie that Jurassic Park has a T-rex, the audience is left waiting for it’s appearance; if a Brachiosaurus is brought back to life so beautifully on screen, how will the T-rex be handled? We have to wait for that moment to arrive, but the buildup is never frustrating or annoying, and the closer we get to the rex’s appearance, the more excited we become. And then, when we finally see the poor goat, we know the moment’s here, and the film doesn’t disappoint: if the introduction of the Brachiosaurus inspired awe and wonder, than Rexy (the name given to the Rex by the fandom at large) inspires terror and fear at seeing one of the most powerful animals to ever live walking the earth. And her attack on the cruisers is a masterpiece of tight editing, outstanding sound effects, phenomenal CGI, and a complete lack of music, showing us what would would really happen if humans came face to face with such a dangerous animal.

Even now, over thirty years after it was released, the scene is as powerful now as it was then; Rexy’s breakout is the scariest scene in the franchise, one of the greatest film scenes of the 90’s, and arguably one of the greatest dinosaur scenes ever put to film.

3. Rexy vs the Giga

As the climax and supposed end to the Jurassic saga, Dominion needed to go big for its climax, and it doesn’t disappoint, featuring a showdown between Rexy and the Giga in Biosyn’s courtyard surrounded by a forest fire, while the two generations of survivors try to escape and get to safety.

While this finale is similar to the climax of World, we have the added bonus of seeing Alan, Ellie, and Ian in action once again (love that shot of the three of them standing before the Giga), and what’s at stake: If they all fail to escape with Dr. Wu, any hope of stopping the locusts are lost, which means that they will eat the world’s wheat, leading to mass starvation across the globe. But they make it, the Giga is defeated, and Rexy, having fought her last battle, is allowed to finally retire and live out her days in peace in the Biosyn sanctuary. Yes, there are some issues with the scene (the camera work isn’t the best), the Spinosaurus doesn’t show up like many fans wanted it to, and the Giga doesn’t deserve the death it gets, but gosh dangit, I’m a sucker for dinosaur vs. dinosaur fights, and seeing Jurassic’s longest-lasting dinosaur, three of its best characters, and the spectacular arena all at once still makes this a fun scene.

Plus, as an added bonus, the film solidifies that while Rexy may be old (at this point in the films she’s 34, where the oldest known T-Rex in real life was 30), she can still win fights against younger, stronger opponents by using her wits and cleverness instead of brute strength and speed.

2. Rexy vs the Indominus Rex

When we’re kids, we all have our favorite characters from books and movies, and one of the greatest pleasures in life is having those same characters come back when we’re adults and be as awesome as they ever were. Jurassic World has one such moment near the climax, where Claire has run out of options to stop the Indominus Rex: soldiers didn’t work; a helicopter assault didn’t work. Trained velociraptors didn’t work, and now she has only one, final, desperate option… releasing Jurassic World’s T-Rex. And this isn’t some random T-Rex; this is Rexy, the same T-Rex from the first film, coming back after 22 years to save the day once again.

There are scarier moments in the Jurassic series, more majestic moments, and more moving moments. But none of them are as fun as this; The last time I had seen Rexy, I had been in grade school. Since then, I had gone through grade school, high school, and graduated from college, and as I watched her emerge from the darkness of her paddock to the shouts and cheers of the audience – mine included – all those years just melted away, and for four glorious minutes I was seven years old again, watching my favorite childhood dinosaur saving the day once more, and it. Was. AWESOME.

But what could top this, the most awesome moment of the series? Easy…

1. Welcome to Jurassic Park

29 years. Six movies. Countless video games, and one animated series has produced so many incredible moments in the Jurassic Park franchise, but no scene is as famous, iconic, and above all, awe-inspiring as the moment that started it all… the moment we finally see a dinosaur.

For the very first time, we had a photo-realistic, computer-generated animal on screen, and it is completely believable. Not only is the visual effects, music, and acting of this scene great, but it has something more important: the all-consuming awe of seeing something impossibly beautiful, to the point where even Ian, the cynical nihilist, can’t help but smile in wonder, all building to a crescendo when Alan, Ellie, and John see dinosaurs roaming the Earth for the first tine in 66 million years.

Every sequel in the series since has tried to re-capture the awe and wonder of seeing dinosaurs, but nothing can top this, my favorite scene of the Jurassic saga, one of the greatest movie moments of the 90’s, and one of the most famous in cinema history.

For extra fun, here’s a breakdown of all the characters, dinosaurs, locations, and vehicles featured in the list:

Films with the Most Moments:

Characters Who Appear the Most:

Dinosaurs Who Appear The Most:

Movie Environments that Show Up the Most:

Vehicles That Show Up the Most:

The Type of Weather In the Scenes:

The Time of Day in the Scenes:

Comparison of Scenes That Have Dinosaurs vs No Dinosaurs:

Thus, if I were to take the data from these graphs, plug it into an AI script generator, it would probably come out with a story like this:

Alan Grant, Ian Malcom, and Claire Dearing – along with a group of expendable mercenaries – journey into the jungles of Jurassic Park between the events of the first and second film with a fleet of planes carrying a lot of jeeps. While on the island, they have to endure repeated attacks by Brachiosaurs, Apatosaurs, and Parasaurolophus’ as they are stressed out by rampaging Tyrannosaurs, Spinosaurs, and velociraptors. Eventually, the island is engulfed in fire, and Alan, Ian, and Claire escape in a helicopter and decide that it really isn’t worth it to keep coming back to islands filled with dinosaurs.

Favorite Moments: The Vanishing of S.S. Willie

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We all have our favorite moments in movies, books, and games, moments that stay with us long after the story is over. This column is my attempt to examine my favorite moments and see why they stick with me.

***

The Video

Why it’s great

January 1rst, 2024 marked one of the most monumental days in pop culture, as that was the day that Mickey Mouse, one of the most famous animated characters in history, passed into the public domain… Well, the version of him that appeared in ‘Steamboat Willie,’ at least. While every version of the mouse that came after is still under Disney’s lock and key, everyone is now free to do whatever they want with Mickey 1.0, and people are already doing what they do best: creating cheap horror movies that turn a beloved children’s icon into a blood-crazed killer.

One video, though, takes the unique route of turning ‘Steamboat Willie’ into a found-footage horror documentary. What I adore about this video is that, unlike countless horror films and shorts, it doesn’t rely on gallons of blood or jumpscares, instead using mystery and the unknown for its scares. Like the Norwegian camp scene from 1982’s ‘The Thing,’ we see the aftermath of something horrible and are left to imagine what horrible things happened on the S.S. Willie. As the old saying goes, what you don’t see is scarier than what you do see, and your imagination can come up with horrors far more terrifying that anything CGI can create.

Why Morbius is the greatest film of all time

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April 1rst, 2022 will be remembered as the day when the human race reached its peak, for that was the day when Morbius was released in cinemas worldwide, earning over a trillion dollars within a week and an astonishing 302% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from both critics and audiences. North and South Korea ended their decades-long feud as border guards abandoned their posts to go watch Morbius; police officers and criminals put aside their differences to sit side-by-by side in theaters, and families depleted their life savings, their children’s college funds, and sold their houses and cars to buy enough tickets so they could see Morbius thousands of times.

I, too, am one of those who fell under Morbius’ spell: ever since the film was released on home media, I have spent 23 ½ hours a day, every day, analyzing Morbius. Existing sorely on Morbius-themed popcorn and Morbius energy drinks, I have pored over every single frame of Morbius, analyzed every word, the camera angles, the use of color and framing, stopping only to sleep for fifteen minutes and spare a few seconds every now and then on other articles for my site. But all my efforts have paid off, as I have concluded that Morbius is the movie of all time, a movie that will still be watched and celebrated hundreds of years from now. The elderly, on their deathbeds, will ask their loved ones to play Morbius again so that they can depart this life watching the living vampire declare, “It’s Morbin’ time!” and children will frolic and play with actors in Morbius and Milo costumes in Morbinland theme parks.

While I will not live long enough to see that joyous future, my work spreading the word of the morb is not yet completed, for there are six people on Earth who think that Morbius is really a mediocre vampire superhero film. Thankfully, I am here to show them the light and prove that Morbius is the greatest film in history by comparing it to the previous greatest film of all time: Citizen Kane. For decades, snobby film critics and the Hollywood elite have beaten into film students and the common folk that Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time, a most laughable claim if there ever was one, and a claim that I will now show to be 100% false by comparing the two films in several categories, such as the title, poster, plot, main characters, side characters, antagonists, conflict, cinematography, special effects, music, best scene, ending, and cultural impact. You may think this will be no contest, and you’re right: Morbius is going to win by a landslide.

To begin, let’s do a quick summary of both films:

1. Morbius is a 2022 film directed by acclaimed Swedish filmmaker Jorge Daniel Espinosa that follows the saga of a doctor-turned vampire as he struggles to remain his humanity while battling to save New York City from his best friend who has also turned into a vampire.

2. Citizen Kane is a 1941 film directed by a frozen peas spokesperson that follows the saga of why some old dead guy liked a sled so much.

Let the battle begin!

Title:

A movie’s title can sometimes make or break a picture, for it has to grab perspective viewers and give them an idea of what the film is about. Good examples include, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, The Towering Inferno, and Sharknado. Compared to these evocative titles, both Citizen Kane and Morbius are lackluster: Citizen Kane implies that the story is about some citizen named Kane, and Morbius gives no clue what it’s about. But by being similar to ‘morbid,’ it suggests something dark, yet mysterious, resulting in a curiosity that draws people in to find out what it’s about.

Winner: Morbius

Poster:

Citizen Kane’s poster shows some guy looking down at a woman. There’s no hint about what the movie’s about, and the marketing team had to resort to telling us that the movie’s terrific and everyone loves it! But ask any literary agent and they’ll tell you that a great story doesn’t need anyone to tell you it’s terrific, and doing so is a sign that the creators know their work isn’t actually terrific.

Morbius’ poster doesn’t resort to telling you how terrific it is: it shows instead uses a stylish teal and black color scheme, and the image of a man who’s both a man and a snarling man-beast to instantly grab your attention, informs you that a new Marvel legend has arrived, and uses the color red on the title, hinting that whatever is going to happen, there will be blood. Citizen Kane, by comparison, does not have blood, which is why it fails.

Winner: Morbius

Plot:

Citizen Kane’s story follows some reporter named Jerry as he tries to figure out why a dead guy said ‘Rosebud’ just before he died and what kind of man he was. Jerry eventually gives up, never learning what ‘Rosebud’ means. Man, what a loser.

Morbius’ story follows doctor Michael Morbius, a genius doctor who has dedicated his life to helping mankind. One day, while experimenting on a cure for his rare blood condition, he unknowingly transforms himself into a vampire, granting him extraordinary powers, but at the cost of constantly needing human blood. Worse still, his childhood friend, Milo, has also become a vampire. With time running out before he permanently loses his humanity, Morbius must fight to not only stop Milo, but the darkness within.

Winner: Morbius

Main Character:

Citizen Kane’s protagonist is Charles Foster Kane. He was once a nice little kid before becoming really rich and taking over a newspaper and getting an ego the size of a planet and subsequently ruining all the friendships and relationships he ever had before dying alone and reminiscing about a sled.

Morbius’ protagonist is Michael Morbius. Unlike Kane, he is a good man who strives to help those around him, and even when he is turned into a vampire and given extraordinary powers that would allow him to dominate and destroy everyone around him, he refuses to use those powers and tries to get rid of them while simultaneously trying to save his lifelong best friend from the same condition, and a government determined to hunt him down for a murder he didn’t commit. And throughout it all, Morbius constantly tries to do the right thing, no matter the cost to himself, making him not only a hero for our time, but the hero of all time.

Winner: Morbius

Side characters:

Citizen Kane’s side characters are boring. How many of them have become staples in pop culture? Can you name any of them off the top of your head? No? I thought not. Pfffft.

Morbius’ side characters, however, are a complex and wildly interesting bunch. Among them are:

*Morbius’ research assistant, Martine, who’s willing to work with Morbius even after he’s turned into a vampire, and also sacrifices her life to give Morbius the strength he needs to defeat Milo, only to then be resurrected as a vampire herself.

*FBI agent Simon Stroud, a tough, competent, yet fair man who owes his life to Morbius for the artificial blood Morbius invented, which is what allowed him to survive being wounded in Afghanistan. Yet, tragically, he has to hunt down Morbius, seeking to bring him to justice. But unlike so many other fictional, power-hungry or by-the-book agents, Stroud doesn’t compromise his morals to accomplish his goals.

*Alberto Rodriguez, Stroud’s partner, who appears to be nothing more than your typical, bumbling comic-relief sidekick, having no comprehension of feline behavior or how litterboxes work. Yet, he is surprisingly brave and unfazed at the prospect of facing off with a vampire, and shows no fear when the time comes, proving he’s far braver than most mortal men.


*Dr. Emil Nicholas, who helps sick children and acts as a surrogate father to Morbius and Milo, trying to be kind and understanding to both, but unconsciously favoring Morbius, with tragic results.

*Nicque Marina, who only appears a few times as a reporter for the Daily Bugle, who is clearly infatuated with Morbius (making her an audience surrogate for everyone on Earth), but who is dedicated to telling the truth and doing her job.

*Nurse Kristen Sutton, a kind and well-meaning nurse who’s brutal death at Milo’s hands made me cry harder than when Jack turned into a corpsicle in Titanic.

Every face in Morbius, no matter how briefly they may appear, is so memorable that they put every other supporting cast in every movie ever to shame.

Winner: Morbius

Antagonists:

Citizen Kane has only one antagonist: Kane himself, who, while pursing wealth and power, alienates everyone around him and ensures he’ll die alone, the fool.

Morbius faces not only the government during his cinematic journey, but also Milo, his best friend. Though crippled by a rare blood disease that leaves him weak and barely able to walk, Milo is fabulously rich and has helped fund all of Morbius’ work into curing their condition. Yet, when he takes the cure that turns him into a creature of the night, Milo goes on a blood-drenched rampage through the streets of New York City. But despite his viciousness, Milo still genuinely cares about Morbius and wants him to embrace being a vampire, too, so they can be best buddies forever and eventually take over the earth, complete with awesome castles, capes, and being suave, sexy creatures of the night.

Winner: Morbius

Conflict:

Citizen Kane’s conflict revolves around what ‘Rosebud’ means. Can you imagine anything more boring?

Morbius’ conflict centers around Michael Morbius’ desperate attempts to hold onto his humanity after becoming a vampire, while simultaneously trying to stop Milo’s rampage though New York City. Success will mean having to kill his best friend, and failure will mean losing his humanity and leading to the deaths of countless people.

Winner: Morbius

Cinematography:

In the cinematography department, Citizen Kane is surprisingly good, featuring complex camera moves and excellent cinematography with many memorable shots that have stood the test of time.

Unfortunately for Citizen Kane, Morbius’ cinematography is the gold standard for all films forever: besides being in vibrant color instead of boring black and white, Morbius has lots of pretty shots of New York City, highlighting man’s achievement in taming his environment, allowing him to create grand settlements filled with millions of people living peaceful, happy lives. But these shots subtly reminds us that if Morbius doesn’t stop Milo, all of these people will die, giving each shot a subtle menace and dread.

Plus, the film is a masterpiece of a wide and varied color palette, from the 80’s inspired credits, to the white, green, and orange subway, to the aforementioned colorful cityscapes. Plus, thanks to advanced filmmaking techniques, Morbius has many shots of Morbius flying through the sky, fighting Milo in slow motion, and plunging through a half-built skyscraper, shots that the salesman of frozen peas couldn’t even dream of using. And to cap it all off, there’s this awesome shot of a menacing green hallway at night with a vampire hopping around.

Does Citizen Kane have a spooky, green hallway at night with vampires hopping around? Didn’t think so.

Winner: Morbius

Special effects:

Citizen Kane‘s creepy bird is certainly memorable.

Morbius is filled to the brim with breathtaking computer generated images that allow actors Jared Leto and Matt Smith to do feats that are physically impossible, such as displaying enhanced strength, flying through the air, using echolocation, battling through a half-built skyscraper, and even summoning thousands of bats to aid them in battle. Could Charles Kane summon bats to help him battle his enemies on the campaign trail? I think not.

Winner: Morbius

Music:

Can you hum a single tune from Citizen Kane? Yeah, me neither.

Morbius, however, has a swelling, heart-stirring soundtrack, but nothing can top the auditory masterpiece that is ‘Off The Meds’ by EKSE, with it’s timeless, heart-wrenching lyrics:

‘I poop my answer, yes,’

‘Have sex!’

‘Poop my pants’

‘Poop my tent’

Sorry, Bernard Herrmann, but your noble efforts have been morbed!

Winner: Morbius

Best Scene:

To it’s credit, Citizen Kane does have a few memorable scenes that have endured throughout the years, like him talking before a poster of himself, clapping furiously after humiliating his wife like the bastard he is, him whispering, ‘Rosebud’ before dying, and the revelation that Rosebud is a sled.

Trying to pick the best scene from Morbius however, is more difficult than when Hercules embarked on his 12 labors. While I was tempted to go with the now-legendary scene of him saying, “It’s Morbin’ time!” and morbing all over Satan while on top of an erupting volcano, I ultimately chose what will surely be remembered as the greatest scene in movie history: Milo dancing.

Why is this scene the best scene ever? There are many reasons:

1. It has a shirtless Matt Smith doing pushups.

2. The architecture and look of the room, complete with black and white marble, mustard-colored curtains, and ‘color-inverted zebras being shot at by arrows’ wallpaper.

3. The joy of seeing a crippled man finally gaining a perfect, disease-free body and celebrating being able to move pain-free without the need of a walking stick.

4. The music, with its timeless lyrics, such as, ‘I poop my answer, yes,’ ‘Have sex!’ “Poop my pants,’ and ‘poop my tent.’

5. Milo’s dance choreography, which puts every musical ever to shame. Somewhere in the afterlife, Fred Astaire is weeping at both being able to see such talent, and grief that he was not able to live up to Milo’s standards while he was still alive.

There is no competition: Milo dancing is pure cinematic gold. When I one day depart this mortal coil, I want to watch this scene on repeat, with the last words my dying brain ever hears is ‘poop my tent’

Winner: Morbius

Ending:

Citizen Kane ends with Jerry mulling over everything he’s learned about Kane, coming to the conclusion that he doesn’t have a clue what Rosebud means and gives up, presumably to go home and cry while gulping down ice cream to soothe the pain of his failure as both a reporter and a man. And as he’s no doubt eating his way to type two diabetes, we, the audience, see Kane’s belongings being burned, including his beloved sled, Rosebud. That’s kinda sad, I guess.

Morbius ends so heartwrenchingly that I can barely type this without tears staining my keyboard: Despite all his efforts, Morbius is forced kill his greatest friend and end his rampage of destruction before flying off with his bat friends to an unknown future, leaving us to wonder if he has held onto his humanity or given in to his inner vampire… but the mid-credits teaser sequence, in which Morbius teams up with the Vulture – Spider-Man’s greatest, most famous, and most dangerous foe – reveals that he has indeed fallen to the inescapable grasp of evil, and that the noble doctor is no more.

Such power. Such gravitas. Not even Shakespeare himself could craft such a heart-wrenching tragedy.

Winner: Morbius

Cultural impact:

Citizen Kane’s lasting impact on pop culture is to allow professors at film schools to feel special by telling their students over and over that Citizen Kane is the best film in human history. Too bad they won’t be able to do that anymore!

Morbius’ impact on pop culture is difficult to determine, only because it’s been a year since it came out, but all reliable sources say that no other film or franchise will ever have as great an impact on human culture. The output of Morbius merchandise, fan art, fan videos, clothing, theme parks, happy meals, shampoo, and Halloween candy has surpassed Star Wars, Jurassic World, LEGO, and every franchise ever, and will doubtless continue to grow in popularity for centuries to come.

Winner: Morbius

Conclusion:

When we compare the winners in each category, it becomes clear that this is no contest: Morbius clobbers (or should I say, morbs) Citizen Kane in every aspect. Kane, once the pinnacle of cinema, is no longer the king, or even a pretender to the throne. Morbius has come and morbed all over Kane, and is now the king of the mountain, the zenith of humanity’s creative endeavors, and the greatest film of all time, bar none. This movie is what God created us for; our time to ascend to the stars and take our place alongside our peers throughout the cosmos has come, for we have proven that we are worthy of joining them with the cinematic tale of a doctor-turned vampire, leaving Citizen Kane to fade into dust, as it rightfully should.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pop some more Morbius popcorn and watch the movie for the 9,528th time. Because it’s just that good.

Resident Evil: The Films Ranked

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To close out my analysis and summary of the Resident Evil movies, here’s my own personal ranking of each film in the series, starting from the least enjoyable and working its way up to the most enjoyable.

6. Resident Evil

It has three good scenes and two great musical pieces, but no amount of production values, music, or cool sequences can save a generic zombie film with the Resident Evil brand slapped onto it at the last minute. This is a Resident Evil film in name only, and is the most disappointing overall.

Favorite Scene: The laser hallway

Favorite Shot:

5. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

The Final Chapter feels like the first draft of a script written by someone who wants to end the series on their terms without caring about what came before. Not only is the story filled with retcons that don’t work, it also suffers from disposable characters and awful editing that makes the movie physically painful to watch. However, the film does have some good ideas, some gorgeous post-apocalyptic scenery, and the surprisingly effective ending saves the movie from being a complete failure.

Favorite Scene: The ending, where Alice is given Alicia’s memories and sets out to continue fighting the undead.

Favorite Shot:

4. Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Of all six films, Apocalypse is the one that feels like the most faithful adaptation of the games, due to following the basic story of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, complete with corresponding characters, monsters, and Nemesis himself coming to life via fantastic practical effects. Plus, LJ – while a walking stereotype – is a welcome source of comic relief. Unfortunately, Alice is at her worst here, acting like a smug high schooler who thinks she’s the toughest girl around and doesn’t give a shit about anyone but herself, going out of her way to steal everyone’s thunder for her own glory.

Favorite Scene: Nemesis attacking the STARS members and sparing LJ

Favorite Shot:

3. Resident Evil: Retribution

Retribution is in the unenviable position of being a commercial for The Final Chapter, and rewatching it knowing that all of the plot points it sets up will never be fulfilled makes it a bittersweet experience. However, it does has a lot of fun action sequences, the greatest variety of locations from any of the films, and the ending is still the best in the series.

Favorite Scene: That awesome cliffhanger ending

Favorite Shot:

2. Resident Evil: Extinction

The most original film of the series, Extinction is a satisfying, post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-style daylight horror film set almost entirely in a desert wasteland, a setting that has never appeared in the games. Coupled with good action sequences, a fantastic third-act fight against Dr. Issacs, and a great soundtrack, it’s a fun film that succeeds at carving out its own identity while staying true to the Resident Evil spirit.

Favorite Scene: Carlos’ sacrifice

Favorite Shot:

1. Resident Evil: Afterlife

The best film of the series is a blast, starting with an exciting assault on Umbrella headquarters before turning into a perfectly-paced siege film with plenty of memorable action sequences, including a fight against the Axeman, who’s my favorite monster from the games, and like Nemesis, was brought to life perfectly, and finishing with a duel against Albert Wesker, the most memorable character in the series. While the cliffhanger ending does prevent the movie from being self-contained and acting as a satisfying series finale, the rest of the film is a great watch, and I always enjoy watching it again and again.

Favorite Scene: The battle between Claire and the Axeman, which is my favorite scene of the entire series. The water, that massive axe, the music, all of it is just perfect!

Favorite Shot:

What We Can Learn From The Resident Evil Series: A Summary

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Imagine that the year is 2001, and you’re off to see Peter Jackson’s adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. You love the books and can’t wait to see them brought to life on the big screen! You get your popcorn, take your seat, eagerly wait as the lights go down… and then watch a movie that follows a bunch of characters you’ve never heard of as they infiltrate a fortress never mentioned in the books. None of Tolkien’s characters appear, and while a few monsters do menace the heroes (orcs, uruk-hai, and a warg), the story ultimately has nothing to do with his books.

How would you feel after the movie was over? Probably infuriated that you got something that has a passing resembles its source material but is more interested in showcasing the writer’s own ideas than the story you paid to see. That’s what the Resident Evil films feel like: a series of movies that had a mountain of material to take inspiration from, but chose to go its own way for better or worse. And while the films were critical failures, they were financial successes, going on to become – for a time – the most successful live-action video game movie franchise, and the most financially successful horror film series in history.

But no matter their financial and critical success, the Resident Evil films were always destined to be B movies meant to provide lots of action and thrills with little to no philosophical musings about the human condition or discussions of morality. And by that criteria, the films largely delivered on what they set out to do, thanks to three things:

1. All the films have simple stories with clear, achievable goals for the characters.

2. They take the basic idea of the games (zombies get lose and have to be stopped before they infest the world) and expand on it (zombies get lose, take over the world, and have to be stopped before the human race is wiped out) in a way that feels true to the spirit of the series, allowing fans to see characters and monsters from said games in new and unique scenarios.

3. They have lots of unique action sequences featuring monsters and characters from the games, sometimes re-created shot for shot.

Yet, for all their success, the films don’t quite reach the height of what they could have been; they suffer from an overarching story that feels disjointed and held together with staples, duct-tape, and Elmer’s school glue when viewed back to back, due to said story being made up film-by-film as the series went along. And while all the elements for great action movies are present, the biggest obstacle holding the films back boils down to one thing: Alice, the main character.

For all the anecdotes listed above, the Resident Evil films have another, unofficial distinction: they’re the most expensive fan-fiction story of all time in that they follow an original character throughout her adventures in the Resident Evil universe. And like poorly-written fan-fiction, said character is a black hole sue whom the entire universe revolves around. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is either:

1. Trying to kill or capture her.

2. Taking orders from her or trying to save her, often at great risk to themselves.

3. Admiring how awesome she is.

Furthermore, Alice is extra-special in-universe because she’s one of only two people in the world to successfully bond with the T-virus without any side effect, the other being Angela from the second film. But then Alice gets a one-up on Angela by becoming the only person on Earth to get psychic powers, and then she gets an army of clones who also has psychic powers, and then she defeats the Umbrella corporation and saves the human race from extinction, sacrificing her life in the process, only to return to life, making her a modern-day Jesus (if Jesus went around killing zombies with guns and psychic powers, that is).

But did you notice something about that description? The established characters from the games – Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, Carlos, Albert Wesker, etc. – have almost no part to play in the fight for humanity. While they may shoot guns and kill zombies, they’re reduced to supporting characters, only existing to help Alice accomplish her quest. If they get a moment to do something cool that has nothing to do with Alice, she’ll swoop in and steal that moment (see: Jill trying to save Becky, Claire trying to defeat the Axeman, etc.).

While she has her sympathetic moments, and ultimately goes from being an unlikable jerk to a heroic clone trying to save the human race, there’s no escaping the fact that Alice is the biggest problem with the Resident Evil films. If she had been replaced with, say, Jill Valentine, and not gotten any special powers, we would have gotten a series that went like this:

Jill Valentine – a cop with the Raccoon City police department – teams up with her allies to fight off a zombie apocalypse, only to learn that their employer, the Umbrella corporation, is responsible for the outbreak. Armed with nothing but guns, their wits, and their determination, Jill, Claire, Chris, Barry, Carlos, Nicholai, Sergei, Leon, Ada, and newcomers Luther, LJ, Rain, Chase, and Betty roam the apocalyptic wastelands, trying to stop Umbrella and save the human race, eventually having to team with their arch-nemesis Albert Wesker in a final, desperate assault that leaves them just narrowly managing to save the human race and destroying Umbrella once and for all, allowing Jill and her friends to begin rebuilding a ruined world.

Doesn’t that sound like a great story? If we had gotten that, it’s my belief that the series would have been better recieved by both fans and critics. But instead, it was foiled by a newcomer who shoves everyone else aside so she can be the messiah. And in that lies the one lesson the ‘Resident Evil’ films offers to writers:

When adapting a franchise from one medium to another, stay true to the spirit of the source material while keeping the focus on established characters instead of newcomers.

While things will inevitably be changed in any adaptation, writers need to still present the story fans come to see. Tell the story from the original book, show, or game, respect said story, and use new ideas and new characters to compliment and support the original, not overshadow it.

Viewing the Resident Evil films years after the series concluded was a fascinating experience for me: I can’t think of any other series adaptation that has good production values, a real sense that the filmmakers were trying hard and learning from their mistakes, but still runs the gauntlet from awful to fantastic (in a B movie way). Most frustrating is that there was always the feeling that the films were always a few inches away from reaching their full potential, and it does happen a few times! Most of the action sequences – save those from the last film – are a lot of fun, the post-apocalyptic world is well done, the monsters are mostly great, and, despite all the changes made, it really does feel like a Resident Evil story come to life… it’s just not the one we should have gotten.

In the end, despite its missteps, the Resident Evil film series mostly accomplishes what it set out to do, in my opinion. It started weak, gradually got better, reached its zenith, then fell flat on its face at the end, but managed to get to its feet and cross the finish line. If you’re a fan of action movies, zombies, horror, and video games, I believe they’re still worth a watch. But most of all, they’re an important reminder that when we, as writers, are adapting someone else’s work, we’re stewards for that story. It is up to us to faithfully adapt it as best we can and respect it, even when we have to make changes. If we deliver a faithful and respectful adaptation, we’ll not only delight long-term fans, but introduce others to a world that they’ll want to explore, guiding them towards the original books, games,and stories, ensuring that a beloved story will earn a new generation of fans and be kept alive for years to come.

What We Can Learn From The Resident Evil Film Series: Part 6 – ‘The Final Chapter’

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It’s the evening of January 26th, 2017. Five years have passed since ‘Resident Evil: Retribution,’ and two friends and I leave the theater, where we were the only people to watch the premiere of ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.” As we enter the lobby, one of the theater employees asks us how it was. I tell him about the film’s ludicrous mistakes, continuity errors, and how it wants us to care about all the newcomers, like Bearded Man, Blue Shirt Girl, That Guy With The Skull Sword, etc., and how it so desperately wanted me to feel sad when Blue Shirt Girl is chopped into mincemeat via a giant fan, despite the fact that she had been on screen for maybe two minutes and I knew nothing about her.

The longer I talk, I realize just how absurd everything is that’s coming out of my mouth to the point where I laugh at realizing I’ve watched one of the worst films in recent memory. Now, having watched the film for the first time in six years, I’m surprised to find that the passage of time has softened my views and made me realize that ‘The Final Chapter’ isn’t bad: it’s hilariously awful.

Join me now as we take a look at the comedic masterpiece that is ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.’

What does the film do well?

It has a cool armored vehicle

Post-apocalyptic films frequently show humanity creating wicked-looking vehicles to help them survive in the wastes, and ‘The Final Chapter’ features a particularly cool mobile command tank equipped with missile launchers, miniguns, hidden compartments for storing motorcycles, nasty spikes, and the ability to communicate with Umbrella headquarters. Granted, all this firepower can’t kill someone driving away from it in a straight line, but it’s still a cool design that almost single-handily destroys the tower Claire and her fellow survivors have taken in, and is a worthy adversary for them to take on in a fight.

It has two memorable villains

Despite being sliced to bits in ‘Extinction,’ we get not one, but two Dr. Issacs in ‘The Final Chapter’: One is a clone who’s an insane religious fanatic, and the other is is the original Issacs, the calm, collected CEO of Umbrella ultimately responsible for the T-virus outbreak, making him the main villain of the entire saga… and unlike other greedy CEO’s, he’s a shockingly good fighter who can hold his own against Alice thanks to some nifty implanted computer technology that lets him dodge bullets, predict what his opponent is going to do, and even heal him after a grenade blasts out his torso, and would have killed her if she hadn’t used her wits to win.

It has the triple-barreled shotgun from the video games

The post-apocalyptic world is a great place to utilize awesome weapons, and what’s better than a sawed-off shotgun? A sawed-off shotgun with three barrels! It may not survive past the movie’s halfway point, but it’s still a cool gun that gets a decent amount of use.

It goes back to where the saga started

‘The Final Chapter’ takes place almost entirely within Raccoon City and the Hive, the locations of the first two movies. For the final film in the series, coming back to where the story began not only gives the story a chance to revisit old locations and reveal new areas within them (such as the cryogenic chamber and that sweet office located beneath the Hive), but to also let the audience reflect on how much has happened since Alice woke up in that shower stall so many years ago, and how she’s changed since her quest to destroy Umbrella began.

It brings back one of the characters from the previous films

Aside from Alice, Wesker, and Issacs, the only returning character from the previous films is Claire Redfield, who is now the leader of the survivors based in Raccoon City. She may not have much to do other than run, shoot guns, and accompany Alice into the Hive, but it’s nice that Alice gets at least one ally from the previous films to help her out, including helping her take on Issacs at the climax.

It gives the Umbrella Corporation a clever motive for everything they’ve done

The biggest revelation of ‘The Final Chapter’ is that instead of the viral outbreak being the result of corporate sabotage and greed, the outbreak was done on purpose: After realizing that Earth was heading towards global catastrophe due to climate change and societal breakdown, Issacs decided to release the virus to ‘cleanse’ the planet so that Umbrella could repopulate it afterwords.

While it may fall apart upon closer inspection (see the entry below on retcons), this revelation not only shows how cold and heartless the Umbrella corporation really is, but also reveals that Issacs is the main villain of the entire series, a man responsible for the murder of billions of people. And shockingly, the plan is… logical. While it’s a horrific, immoral plan that no sane person would dare go through with, it does make sense on a cold, logical level. The best villain plans are ones where the viewer pauses and wonders if they might have a point, and this revelation is an excellent example.

It concludes the series, yet still has an open ending

Unlike so many other franchises (especially horror) that claim to have final chapters, ‘The Final Chapter’ actually follows through on this promise in a clever way: Alice manages to release the airborne antivirus, which will cover the globe and destroy all the zombies, monsters, and undead, saving humanity. The only problem is that it will take years for this to happen, giving Alice plenty of time to continue roaming the earth and killing monsters.

This is a great example of the ‘And the Adventure Continues’ trope: It concludes the series’ story, but lets our imaginations run wild at all the adventures Alice will have as she roams the world (assuming she isn’t eaten by those three bat-things seconds after the screen cuts to black).

What could have been done better?

It could have edited the film so it didn’t look like a 2000’s music video

Here on Imperfect Glass, the focus is primarily on story and characters instead of production values and the physical aspects of filmmaking, but I’ll make an exception to say that the editing on ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ is awful.

If there was ever a film to showcase why ultra-fast editing with handheld camera shots should be permanently done away with, ‘The Final Chapter’ is it.

It could have not made so many retcons (that don’t work)

Beyond the awful editing, ‘The Final Chapter’ is most notable for featuring numerous retcons that alter the saga’s storyline all the way back to the first movie. While retcons are not a bad thing in and of themselves and can add new and exciting ideas to enhance past events, none of ‘The Final Chapter’s retcons work. At all.

1. In ‘Retribution,’ the Red Queen had taken over Umbrella, gone homicidal, and wanted to wipe out all life on Earth. But in ‘The Final Chapter,’ she still works for Umbrella and wants to help Alice save the last remaining human survivors by bringing Umbrella down.

2. The Red Queen states that she cannot harm an employee of the Umbrella Corporation, forgetting that she killed everyone in the Hive in the first movie. (maybe they were independent contractors?)

3. In ‘Retribution,’ Wesker made it clear that he broke Alice out of Umbrella Prime in order to give her back her psychic powers so she could help him defeat the Red Queen and save humanity. But in this movie, the Red Queen tells Alice that Wesker only pretended to give Alice back her powers, and that his plan was actually a trap in order to kill her and everyone else.

This plan makes no sense. If Wesker really wanted to kill Alice and everyone else who could stop him, then here’s what he needed to do:

-Go with his strike team to Umbrella Prime.

-Plant the explosives and follow team into Umbrella Prime.

-At the first opportunity, abandon the strike team and head back to the surface.

-Detonate the explosives to destroy the facility and kill everyone in it, including Alice.

-Head back to the Hive, enjoy alcoholic beverages, and play Mario Kart 64 to pass the time while waiting for the T-virus to finish wiping out all life on Earth.

4. The aforementioned retcon of Umbrella purposefully releasing the T-virus is a great idea… but the first film clearly shows that it was released in the Hive as an act of sabotage, and subsequently released into the open by idiotic Umbrella operatives. ‘Extinction’ showed that Umbrella was trying to find a way to control the zombies and stop the outbreak instead of just waiting for the virus to do its thing, ‘Afterlife’ had Umbrella kidnapping survivors to use them as test subjects to make even more powerful zombies, and ‘Retribution’ had the Red Queen-controlled corporation trying to wipe out all life on Earth (despite the Red Queen wanting to save humanity).

To be generous, it is possible that while Umbrella high command knew of the plan, their underlings and armies of clones didn’t and were trying to contain and control it, but why make all those clones in the first place? And why would Issacs make not one, but two clones of himself? And if Wesker is part of Umbrella high command, why would he stay awake for the apocalypse and run around instead of staying asleep with everyone else? Wouldn’t Issacs have wanted to keep him under instead of risking Wesker betraying him?

5. The second film established that Charles Ashford created the virus to save his little girl from dying, but this film says that it was actually a man named James Marcus who discovered it to save his daughter from dying. So who was it that ultimately created the T-Virus?

6. Alice says that the US government nuked Raccoon City when it was clearly the Umbrella Corporation that fired the nuke in an attempt to keep the virus under control (and again, if they had purposefully released the virus, why bother trying to contain it?).

7. It’s stated that the T-virus is airborne and infected the world in days after escaping Raccoon City… but at the end of the film, it’s said that it will take the antivirus years to spread to every corner of the globe via the same method. Yes, it traveled faster with jet planes, but it’s still airborne. Furthermore, it’s been established in every film so far that the T-virus is spread via bites from the undead; if the T-Virus is airborne, everyone in the series should have been infected by the end of the second movie and turned into zombies.

It could have brought back the characters from the cliffhanger ending of the last movie and removed all the new ones

Arguably the most exciting idea from the end of ‘Retribution’ was the thought that Wesker, Alice, Leon, Jill, and Ada would join forces to save humanity in ‘The Final Chapter’ after an awesome fight at the White House.

It doesn’t happen, and the battle we want to see is already over when the film starts. Like ‘Alien 3’ and ‘Terminator: Dark Fate,’ which both killed off some of their most important characters in the opening minutes, ‘The Final Chapter’ kills Leon, Jill, and Ada (and presumably, Becky) before ‘The Final Chapter’ even starts. They’re never seen, never mentioned, and Alice doesn’t even mourn Becky, who she fought so hard to save in ‘Retribution.’

Now, while killing off beloved side characters can and often is a bad idea, it can work: Focusing a story entirely on the main character and their attempts to overcome grief and loss while trying to save others is a powerful story idea and give us even more reasons for us to care for them. That could have worked with ‘The Final Chapter,’ had it focused mainly on Alice. Problem is, the film introduces a horde of new characters to work with Alice, and none of them are memorable. We have:

1. Doc, the group’s medic, Claire’s boyfriend, and a traitor who works for Umbrella

2. Post Apocalyptic Leather Guy Who Hates Everyone And Has A Goofy Skull Sword

3. Blue-Shirt Girl

4. Bearded Guy Who Never Talks

5. Guy From Issac’s Tank

6. That Other Guy

The climax of a story is not the place to introduce hordes of new characters: You don’t have time to do it well enough to get the audience to care about them, and the purpose of a climax is to see the characters who have gone on a journey reach its end. We’ve invested time following them and want to see how their story ends. Introducing one or two new characters can be pulled off (Denethor from The Return of the King, for example), but writers need to focus on resolving the journey of those who have come this far.

It could have made Wesker the main villain

As if things couldn’t be more disappointing, Wesker, the suave, smug, and oh so fun to watch villain from ‘Afterlife’ and ‘Retribution,’ is butchered in ‘The Final Chapter.’ Instead of being the ultimate bad guy who everyone has to work together to even stand a chance of defeating, he’s an incompetent adversary who spends the movie giving the Red Queen orders, preparing alcoholic drinks like a James Bond villain, and eventually resorts to waking Issacs up to stop Alice, all because Wesker failed to close a door hours before Alice got even close to Raccoon City.

And then there’s Wesker’s death. In the games, it takes Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar fighting Wesker to the point of exhaustion inside an erupting volcano in Africa before using two rockets to blow off his head while Wesker was submerged waist-deep in lava to finally kill him for good.

In ‘The Final Chapter,’ Wesker bleeds to death after his foot is cut off by a door.

It’s hard to imagine Wesker dying any more pathetically, short of choking to death on a pretzel; as a refresher, Wesker survived getting his brains blown out in ‘Afterlife,’ and then survived an explosion powerful enough to destroy a city-sized subterranean complex. Having him die in such a laughable manner is insulting to the character. To be fair, killing off such a powerful villain is always a hard task, doubly so if writers have had them survive impossible odds in the past. But while a memorable death scene can be the most satisfying moment of a story, a laughable death scene is memorable, too, but for all the wrong reasons.

It could have had a more memorable final boss fight

The finale of ‘The Final Chapter’ has Alice fighting Issacs to get the antivirus, then running to the surface to release it. While it works fine as it is, it would have been more gripping if Issacs had been replaced by Wesker, and their final fight wasn’t in the laser hallway, but something similar to how Wesker is fought and killed in Resident Evil 5. While putting a volcano underneath Raccoon City wouldn’t make sense, having it take place in an area similar to one of the final boss fights of Resident Evil 6 would work equally as well.

Plus, if the film had brought back Chris, it would have been an opportunity for him to punch a boulder into lava. Goofy, yes, but it would have been a guaranteed crowd-pleaser. But most likely for budget reasons, the final fight is a simple fistfight in the laser hallway from the first film. It works, but feels like a missed opportunity.

Conclusion

Even now, all these years later, it’s still shocking to see how the final chapter of Anderson’s saga fell flat on its face. While it does have some good ideas, and manages to have a good final few minutes, it’s not enough to save the film as a whole. But what about the series as a whole? Join us next time when we examine all six films at once and see what conclusions can be made about the series and the lessons it offers to writers about writing video game movies.

What We Can Learn From The Resident Evil Film Series: Part 4 – ‘Afterlife’

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The third entry in the Resident Evil film series, Extinction was supposed to be the end of the franchise: by the end, we saw how Alice was going to go wipe out Umbrella’s last remaining executives, had learned that a cure for the vaccine could be created, and realized that there was hope things would finally turn out well… but box office money has a funny way of undoing even the most conclusive endings, three years later we got Resident Evil: Afterlife, kicking off a new trilogy of movies.

Taking place a year after Alice awakened all her new clone buddies, Afterlife follows their assault on Umbrella’s Tokyo headquarters and Alice’s subsequent quest to find her missing friends. Let’s see what worked – and what didn’t – in our fourth journey into the world of the undead.

What does the film do well?

It’s closer in spirit to the games

By the time Extinction arrived in theaters, many fans of the video games complained that the film series had little to do with them aside from having characters and monsters, and the most bare-bones interpretation of the plots. ‘Afterlife’ seeks to remedy this by bringing in more elements from the games, such as having Wesker be much closer to his video game counterpart, having more monsters (the Manjini, Axeman, and zombie dogs from Resident Evil 5), as well as bringing back Claire and introducing her brother, Chris Redfield, and including a location from the game as well (the ship from RE5, albeit highly modified for the film). Though the film still follows it’s own story, it deserves credit for bringing in more elements from the game.

The opening act is an excellent introduction to the villain

While the assault on Umbrella’s headquarters acts as an action-packed way to get the story and showcase Umbrella’s well-deserved beatdown, the sequence also serves as an excellent introduction to Albert Wesker, chairman of the Umbrella corporation, and the only individual in all of Tokyo who can face off against Alice and her clones and win. And not only that, but he escapes, kills all the clones by destroying Umbrella’s headquarters, and then takes away Alice’s powers, leaving himself free to continue frolicking about and do Umbrella-related shenanigans. And all of that within the first 18 minutes of the film!

https://youtu.be/b6hPkQT73c0

It’s a great way to show how dangerous and powerful Wesker is, setting up the film’s final confrontation.

It takes away Alice’s psychic powers

One of the main problems with the previous two Resident Evil films is that Alice becomes too powerful, easily overshadowing everyone else in the series – including the villains and people from the games – and making her a god-mode sue. Thankfully, Afterlife remedies that by having Wesker take away Alice’s powers before the end of the first act, making her (in theory) a normal human again. In the words of TVTropes: “Wesker beat the Sue out of Alice. And for everyone who wanted to see that moment? It. Was. GLORIOUS.”

It has a celebrity survivor who doesn’t have an ego

Like the films before it, Afterlife features a large cast of new characters who mostly exist to become zombie fodder, and among them is Luther, a former pro basketball player. But despite his pre-zombie fame, he doesn’t expect any special treatment or privileges because of it, and even laughs it off at one point. He’s a nice guy, and a great example of a celebrity character who doesn’t let fame get to their head.

It gives the characters a concrete goal

Afterlife continues the series’ trend of giving the characters a clear and concrete goal to strive for: in the first, it was escaping the hive before it was permanently sealed, in the second it was escaping Raccoon City before it was nuked, in the third it was reaching Arcadia, and here it’s… to reach Arcadia. So while it may be repeating what came before, the revelation that Arcadia is a boat and not a town is a nice touch (and then the further revelation that it’s a mobile Umbrella research lab is another nice twist, too, so that just reaching the finish line doesn’t mean everyone is automatically safe and sound).

It has two ticking clocks

Like the previous films, Afterlife once again gives the characters a ticking clock, but ups the ante by having two of them: after we’re introduced to the prison where most of the film takes place, we see a zombie digging around underground, telling us that this seemingly impenetrable fortress won’t stay that way for long. Then the Axeman shows up, and now Alice and the others not only have zombies to deal with, but a monster who’s immune to bullets and can break down the doors keeping zombies from rushing in. Twice the pressure, double the drama!

It has a funny expletive

As I’ve written before, cursing can be funny when it’s done sparingly. ‘Afterlife’ has a particularly amusing moment where Bennett steals Alice’s plane and flies away, only to seemingly plunge to his death, leaving Luther to yell, “That’s right, bitch! Fuck you!”

Not only does Boris Kodjoe do a great job delivering the line, but it’s darkly funny that no one is sad to see Bennett face his seemingly imminent demise.

It has an awesome monster fight

Afterlife brings in one of the most memorable monsters the Resident Evil games in the form of the Axeman, a towering monstrosity of a man who wields a freakishly huge axe that can cleave someone in two with a single stroke. Not only does this guy look exactly like he does in the game (a big plus), but he’s also reinvented to make him more threatening: where the Axeman from the game is a slow, lumbering brute who can take a ton of damage, the movie makes him a monster who can not only kill you in one hit, but also run after you as well! To balance this out, the Axeman doesn’t have the durability his game counterpart has, meaning that if you get the right weapon – such as a shotgun – and hit him in the right spot, you can take him down with a single shot, giving the characters a fair chance in a fight against him. To further sweeten the deal, his big fight takes place inside a shower room drenched with falling water.

The slow-mo can be cheesy, but it’s an awesome fight with an awesome monster (and awesome music).

It gives Wesker a counter to his superpowers

Wesker is the easily most powerful character in the movies, even moreso than Alice: he’s not only an expert hand-to-hand combatant, but can dodge bullets, survive wounds that would kill a normal person, and even survive a nuclear bomb blast a point-blank range! But while his power level approaches that of a god, Afterlife wisely balances this out by forcing Wesker to constantly consume human flesh to keep his T-virus under control, making his abilities a case of powers at a price: he can do incredible things, but if he slips up, it will cost him everything.

It brings one of the best scenes from the games into the movie

It may be pure fan-service, but it’s fun to see one of Wesker’s fight scenes from Resident Evil 5 become the final fight of Afterlife.

Say what you will about just copying something from one medium to another, but it’s still a great way to show how hard Wesker is to put down. And to top it off, the end features Chris and Claire pumping Wesker full of lead by shooting him approximately 17 million times. It’s not enough to kill him, but boy is it satisfying to see villains get reduced to hamburger to ensure they can’t come back

It spares Luther

Luther is the most likable character in the film, which makes it a shame to see him get dragged away by zombies in the sewers… which makes it a treat when Afterlife decides to be merciful and spare him at the very end. In a series full of interesting side characters getting killed off left and right, it’s refreshing to see one survive to the next movie.

It gives Bennett a moment of sympathy

Bennett is not a sympathetic or likable person. He’s selfish, rude, and arrogant, willing to kill and abandon his companions to save himself, making his final comeuppance very satisfying. But before he becomes Wesker chow, his selfishness and smugness melt away for just a moment when, in the face of death, he whimpers that he just wants to go home. In this moment, we see that beneath all his arrogance and selfishness, Bennett is a sad, tired man who just wants things to go back to the way they were before the T-Virus outbreak. It’s not enough to redeem him, but it does make him just a little more human, and a little more relatable.

What could have been improved?

It could have turned Alice into a truly normal person

One of the best things Afterlife does is have Wesker take away Alice’s powers. The problem is that Alice is still capable of taking on crowds of zombies, jumping over six feet high to kick a monster in the face, swing through the air like Tarzan, scoring hits on zombies with revolvers while falling to the ground, and kicking falling shards of glass into zombie dogs. While it makes sense that Alice would still have the knowledge and experience gained from the previous three films, it would have been more better to see her struggle with the limitations a normal person would have facing zombies and undead monsters, which would make her victories all the more satisfying.

It could have explained why the world is no longer a desert wasteland

Extinction made a big deal about how the T-virus was turning Earth into Tatooine by killing vegetation and causing bodies of water to dry up. Yet here, a little over a year after the events of the previous film, there are giant glaciers, sprawling forests, and enough water to solve all of the southwestern United State’s drought problems. While this could be hand-waved by saying that Alice was able to create the antivirus the White Queen had mentioned from the previous film, it’s still a huge stretch to go from a world that’s a barren desert to a world that looks pretty normal.

It could have dropped the video logs completely

After escaping Tokyo, Alice starts recording video logs as she hunts for Arcadia and other survivors. But after arriving at the prison, she stops making them and they’re never mentioned again. It would have been better to drop them completely and invest the freed-up time in more character moments.

It could have had a better reason why the prison group doesn’t trust Chris

In the film, Chris is kept locked up in the prison because nobody trusts him and believes that he’s there for a reason. Problem is, that flies in the face of all logic. If you have a man who says he knows a way out of your safehold surrounded by thousands of zombies, and you’re trying to get to your one refuge from said zombies, it makes more sense to see what he has to say. Besides, the other survivors outnumber him and have guns in case he tries anything.

It could have given Bennett a better reason for his betrayal

When Bennett learns that the APC – the group’s would-be escape vehicle – will need at least a week to fix, he responds by pulling out his pistol and killing Angel, and then stealing the plane to fly to Arcadia. The problem is, this makes no sense. Bennett is a selfish jerk no doubt, but he has a way out of the prison, and a path to safety. Killing the one man who can repair the vehicle is too much; perhaps if he had lost patience and demanded that Angel have them all draw straws and fly away in the plane, and then get turned down, it would have made sense for him to snap and kill Angel. As is, Bennett’s decision to murder someone feels too sudden and too illogical to accept.

It could have let Claire kill the Axeman instead of Alice

One of the more egregious moments in Apocalypse was when Alice stole Jill Valentine’s victory against the zombie dogs in Racoon City’s grade school, and here she does it again: after Claire struggles against the Axeman and almost kills it, Alice literally runs in and delivers the killing blow. Having original characters steal canon character’s moments of glory is a big no-no.

It could have had a more conclusive ending

As like all the films that came before it, Afterlife ends with a cliffhanger: Not even a few minutes after stopping Wesker, freeing all the prisoners on the Arcadia, and having a moment to just relax and feel safe, Alice and her allies now have to contend with a fleet of Umbrella VTOL’s bearing down on them, led by a brainwashed Jill Valentine.

Unlike the three cliffhangers that have come before – which were hopeful or promised that our heroes would do something awesome – here the odds are so heavily stacked in Umbrella’s favor that there’s no way Alice and the others could possibly stop them. A cliffhanger implying that things will eventually work out for the heroes is acceptable, but one that implies that the bad guys are going to win is just an unpleasant way to end the story, as it gives the audience a feeling that everything the protagonists went through was ultimately for nothing. It might have worked out better to have Alice broadcast her message of hope, and then end the film there, leaving us with a satisfying conclusion, and moved the arrival of Umbrella’s forces to the next film.

Despite just pointing out how many flaws Afterlife has, it still remains my favorite of the series: the action is engaging, the visuals are great, the pacing is pretty much flawless, the elements from the games are well-translated to the screen, and there are no slow or tedious moments. It’s an action film that delivers on what it sets out to do, and I’d be happy to rewatch this one again and again. In my opinion, it’s the best film of the series… but unfortunately, it’s not the last. We still have two films to go, so check back in next time when we take a look at Resident Evil: Retribution.