THE PROTECTOR

                                The Protector: Netflix Takes Turkey In Style..

Given mystical powers by a talismanic keepsake, a young man embarks on a quest to fight shadowy forces and solve a mystery from his past.
The protector is a superhero drama cum love story. It tells the tale of young Hakan Demir as he sets out on a quest to confront the ancient forces of evil, known only by their name; ' The Immortals'. The show is able to tell the story of this young hero and intertwine his Tales of heroism with those of his past, and the point of view of those sworn to serve him; The Loyal Ones.    One of the first things that jumps out at viewers is the casting. The characters where brilliantly chosen, regardless of the fact that the names are not mainstream neither are they household names, but first impressions they say matter. The first episode brought not only the story the show runner wished to tell, but also ensured that the story was presented by capable hands, actors who could keep the audience intrigued and engrossed in the show. Cagatay Ulusoy( Hakan) and Ayca Aysin (Leyla) ensured that the show was relatable and reasonably plausible as can be. Their onscreen performances was genius, it appeared as though there was a chemistry between them that the show sought to rely on to build the story, and it totally worked, so much so that viewers preferred their conversations as against other dialogues.
Hazar Erguclu( Zeynep) and Okan Yalabik( Faisal) were amazing in their own way. Okan Yalabik for one displayed the performance of a veteran actor, his composure, poise and elegance was only trumped by his charisma on screen. The way he reacted to situations, his conversational mastery can only remind you of none other than James Spader himself.
  Getting to the story itself, the show had a pretty unique concept to present. The idea of having a superhero whose powers were derived locally and from ancient days was ingenious, the idea of the Immortals at first seemed quite ridiculous, moreso as they were portrayed in some weak light, but then as the story progressed further, we realised that the weakness of the Immortals or their susceptibility to The Protector was what was going to make this a show worth watching. One aspect of the story that was however flawed( albeit in the first season) is the concept of the Loyal Ones. We have not understood the idea behind it, they are not what is expected of the foot soldiers of the Protector and it was quite surprising how easy it was to pick them off, not leaving out the Protectors themselves.

   The conflict is a pretty simple one, and surprisingly Netflix didn't do much in the way of diversifying the conflict element, neither did the show runner make the plot exceptional. The show was straight, and moved at the same mid tempo pace with which it started. It didn't offer much in the way of diversifying the conflict, there was basically no plot twist, and the general theme remained the same till the last episode. Where the show runner thought to twist the plot a little, it was predictable and thus didn't offer up much in the way of a classic reveal.
  One other thing that stood out about the show perhaps is the apparent lack of combat scenes, or at least a lack thereof with regards to frenetic fast paced fight scenes. Perhaps this was compensated for by the non-stop drama of the show, we don't know, but we would definitely have preferred at least some brilliant well scripted fight scenes.
  To wrap it up in a few sentences, it's a tvshow with heart, with a unique concept, and different take on the concept of heroism. It provides an insight into what making the choice to take on the responsibilities of protector entails. The constant battle between duties and love, allowed for a drama that dreams are made of. Even though we had expected that the conflict introduced in the very first episode would not be concluded in the first season, no one would have expected the crazy plot twist on which the show ended. At least viewers would agree that the last two episodes ensured that the show garnered the ratings it gets and the positive reviews the concept ought to get.
   We must also put it out there that the villain played his role with absolute dexterity. As much as the conflict was straight and shallow, the villain did however make us more interested in the development of the conflict, seeing as the villain himself had his reservations and idiosyncrasies, which interestingly sets up the show for a must see 2nd season, which we hope to see in 2019.
  We recommend this show to viewers out there for its ability to keep viewers engrossed, for its creative storytelling and for its rivetting dramatic presentations. Viewers may also want to pick it up for its apparent refusal to rely overly on CGI. We loved this aspect also.
Starring: Cagatay Ulusoy, Ayca Aysin, Hazar Erguclu, Okan Yalabik, Yurdaer Okur, Mehmet Kurtulus.
Created By Binnur Karaevli
FCA AppR: 8.1/10

VENOM

                                                Venom: Marvel's Story Without Heart
Journalist Eddie Brock is trying to take down Carlton Drake, the notorious and brilliant founder of the Life Foundation. While investigating one of Drake's experiments, Eddie's body merges with the alien symbiote Venom leaving him with superhuman strength.

Marvel's Venom is a blockbuster movie without heart, it's a movie without beginning and an end, it's a movie without the necessary highs and lows, it's a movie without the required build up to the climax, and we conclude that it's a movie that is flat and without taste and class. But don't get us wrong, it is an out and out action movie.
Now lets get down to what marvel got right about this movie!
  Marvel did a marvelous job of casting Ton Hardy. Tom Hardy's onscreen performances as Brock were scintillating and smooth, he had the swag of an unstable character; exactly what the host of Venom is supposed to be.
We also loved the fact that the production team elected to go for an out and out action movie rather than a superhero love movie. The character of Venom is aggressive( although not as aggressive as Carnage), and violent and we are impressed with the aggressiveness and violence portrayed in this movie....that is about as much positive the movie offered up.
Everything the movie got wrong;

The Choice of Riz Ahmed as villain; Who made the choice of Riz as villain? The man is a top notch actor, he is brilliant on the job, his carriage is however that of a baby face, that of protagonist or a vulnerable support for the protagonist. His role defining performance in 'The Night Of ' perhaps should have highlighted his unsuitability for the role of villain in Marvel's Venom. The character carved out for Riz in Venom failed to utilise the exceptional talent of Riz Ahmed and we put all of the blame on the scout and the producing team. We rate the choice a solid 4/10 for choosing an unsuitable character for the role of villain and In the process destroying the credibility of the actor. Riz Ahmed, we are sorry for what they did to you.   Where is Character Development? Marvel's Venom was marked as the Origin Story of Marvel's apex Villainous Hero, and the producers and the scripting team made a total mess of the plot and theme, making the movie a total fail In telling the origin Story of Venom. Let me make a very clear comparison of what an Origin Story is in contradiction with what Venom is; Spider Man 1( Toby Maguire) is an Origin story. And it perhaps the best Marvel Origin story ever told. It captured the persona of Peter Parker, built on his follies and his strengths before proceeding to create his spider man alter ego cum super hero persona. Let me point in the direction of Captain America : The First Avenger, it did the same thing that marvel studios did with Spider man 1 and even did more in the field of developing the character of Captain America in one installment of the franchise than it did in Spider Man 1....Perhaps mention can be made of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, another brilliant example of an Origin story!
   How then did marvel fail with Venom? It's a tough question with a very simple answer ; 'rush job'.
Marvel tried to cram in a lot of action and detailed stories into the first installment without necessarily wasting resources on a lengthy piece of art. It came off as though the producers were telling us 'Venom is a One time thing' and we are deeply saddened. Regardless of the future or otherwise of the franchise, it may perhaps have been very prudent to not have made the fact so obvious even though we have the inclination that this is not the last we will hear of the Blue Monster.

Thus, we had a movie that failed to build up the character of Eddie Brock, and failed to give us a ride with the character of Venom. Venom had no testing phase with Eddie, neither did the creative team deem it fit to create a compelling personal conflict for Eddie and Mr Venom, not so awe inspiring yea!??.
  We further failed to be impressed with the way everything felt so convenient for the final hosts of the symbiotes, i.e Venom and Riot. It felt as though Venom was tailor made for Eddie Brock, while Riot wrecked all of the hosts it possessed on its journey to the 'rocket' and it's intended host, who could pilot it. Didn't it also seem ridiculous that while Riot found it necessary to be 'intelligent' enough to cross oceans to find a host by keeping the body it possessed working till it found another to possess, the unnamed symbiote failed to do same, but rather went on a wrecking spree? It's awfully convenient.
  We will conclude with the verdict that Venom was a movie without character development, lack of plot depth and a Weak conflict element borne out of a Weak Villain and a poor choice of character for villain. We were hard pressed to rate the movie B+ for action sequence and hardcore fight scenes and 18+ violence, but upon a closer inspection and to the trained eyes, the fight sequences were not too good, compared to the budget of the movie and the astonishingly good CGI in use. The fights were slow for Venom and when the choreographers thought to make it fast in Venom Vs Riot, it was outright messy and even the very trained eyes could not keep up with the ridiculous pace no matter how strained the eyes were. Plus who heard Annie reference Kryptonite? It was supposed to be funny, but it was outright annoying.
  This is an out and out action movie, but it's a total fail for an origin movie. It lacks buildup, it lacks heart, it lacks story and it totally fails in character development which is one thing an origin story needs the most. It's a movie I will definitely recommend to thrill seekers, to lovers of pure action, but to the devoted reader of comics, you may not be too impressed.

It's failure to impressed may not be unconnected with the fact that the concept of a Villainous Hero is one that is difficult to develop and bring to the screens. Perhaps it may be easy to animate in a series, but ridiculously difficult to bring to the big screens with limited time. A perfect example of outstanding success is Professor Snape in Harry Potter. His character success is down to long planning, ingenious back story and an incredibly amazing mastery of storytelling.  But then again J.K. Rowling is a literary Genius that Jeff Pinker or Scott Rosenberg aren't.
With a budget of 116 Million USD, it has received generally negative reviews from critics and we also find some negative things to say about its script and inconsistent tone, although we must still have some words of praise for Tom Hardy's performance. The movie has however grossed over 829 million USD worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2018 and set several box office records for the month of October.
Starring Tom Hardy, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, Reid Scott.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Produced by Avi Arad Matt Tolmach Amy Pascal
Written by Jeff Pinker and Scott Rosenberg
 
We here will give it a shaky  FCA AppR of 7.3/10 for action and thrill.

THE INCREDIBLES 2

               The Incredibles 2: A Triumphant return for Disney's Superhero family.
Everyone's favorite family of superheroes is back in "Incredibles 2"--but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of "normal" life. It's a tough transistion for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack's emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again--which is easier said than done, even when they're all Incredible.
  We had waited for so long for the sequel of this movie and when it finally came, boy did it hit us with brilliance. The strong points of this movie is that it has the strengths of the original prequel and has done some improvements. The movie stayed true to the original animation concepts, the character design remain practically the same save for some few CGI upgrades. It is a noticeable improvement as the characters moved well, the fight sequences were smooth and conversation/ dialogue simulations were smooth and In sync.

Perhaps the only fault we have with the movie is the strength of the conflict, the lack of plot depth and the simplicity of the storyline.we must still mention thag even though The story was lacking in depth, the storytelling was amazing,  the back stories of each character made for a compelling watch. The message behind the story, pushing out the female lead sent a subtle message that the feminists out there would definitely appreciate; and while we are not overly impressed with the choice of the message, we can at least relate with the humour and the humour seeing the stronger sex struggle with coping with family duties. Returning to the conflict, the villain seemed a little too obvious from immediately the Hero legalisation campaign was offered to the family. We knew it had to be one of the two either Winston or Evelyn Deavor, and we were spot on in our prediction. We also noticed the fact that the heroes never returned to the case of the Underminer. It felt a little off that the villain who cost them their lives will be let off the hook throughout the duration of the movie. It didn't go well.
   Baby Jack-Jack had to be the secret weapon of the movie. The big reveal of his power or powers so to say had to be the peak of the movie. His conflict scene with the raccoon was epic, was hilarious and it was overall entertaining. So whereas the Big Villain reveal was anti-climactic, the super power reveal of baby Jack-Jack had go be the climax of all climax.
The conflict was weak, and the conflict resolution was weak as well. The villain was the crux of all problems. The villain's weakness transferred itself to the movie and made the movie weak. The characters were definitely stronger than the villain  and thus it weakened the conflict element. The fight against the villain was boring. In fact the movie deserved a better villain and conflict than it got. The movie was just a message to the world nothing more than that. 

The movie may have been an epic fail had it not been for the few incredible fight scenes and the great amount of humour imbued into this. It kept us interested, it kept us wanting more and it left us smiling and laughing. It's the stuff dreams are made of, and it would have perhaps been in the running for animated movie of the year had it not been for the anti-climactic ending to the movie.
   A good movie, superb humour, great action / fight scenes, not too great conversation, weak plot, weak conflict and zero character development( we are not complaining, as this is a sequel).  It is a family movie, and I will recommend it to every one, both young and adults. The adults will love this for the message while the young will enjoy it for its humour and fight scenes.
  Starring Holly Hunter, Craig T Nelson, Sarah Vowell, Huck Milner and Samuel L Jackson.
Produced by Nicolas Paradine Grindle and John Walker.
Directed by Brad Bird
Production Companies Walt Disney and Pixar Production company.
With a Budget of 200million USD and a box office mojo of 1.240billion USD, the movie has done more than enough to currently rank as the 4th Highest grossing movie of 2018, and the 2nd highest grossing animated movie of 2018, and the 15th highest grossing movie of all time. These are incredible numbers for an animated movie and we are deeply pleased with the job done by the company and the production team. We must mention that it's successes at the Box Office is down largely to the massive success of the prequel and the anticipation the company created by waiting for near over 6 years before releasing a sequel.  The movie itself is not as great as we would have hoped. But all in all, it's a great watch and a Hollywood success story.
 We at FCA will give this one a solid  FCA AppR of 8/10 for humour, content, action sequence and overall character design improvement.

BLACKKKLANSMAN

                  BlackKklansman: A Contender for Movie of The Year?!    
In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs, Colorado police department. Stallworth is initially assigned to work in the records room, where he faces racial slurs from his coworkers. Stallworth requests a transfer to go undercover, and is assigned to infiltrate  the local Chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
  BlackKklansman is a Biographical Comedy drama telling the incredible true story of Ron Stallworth, his trials and tribulations as the first black man employed as a cop in Colorado Springs Department, as well as his meteoric rise to hero status
 The brilliance of this movie lay in the story, the message and the timely presentation of the message, with the movie enjoying theatrical release on 10th August 2018, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist Unite the Right rally. The movie has received wide acclaim and we are very much inclined to agree with critics on this one. The acting performance of John David Washington and Adam Driver is of particular note. Both delivered top notch acting and exceptional on screen performance from a male character in the calender year.

    Mention must also be had of the creativity employed in passing the message the movie sought to convey. The plot theme and the storyline are just brilliant. The conflict element is complex and created in the most elegant fashion conceivable. Fans loved the fact that the story wasn't made one told from the perspective of the black populace. The creative acumen of the producer saw through the need to tell a strong story against racism rather than telling a strong Black story, and we are very much taken with the work. Telling a strong story with a message against racism meant that the two sides of the divide had to be ably represented in the argument, and this the movie really captured in aces. Telling a true black story would have meant weakening the racist divide of the movie, and that would have weakened the plot, we surmise. However choosing to represent the white populace in the fight against supremacist tendencies meant that the story being told was one with a united stand against supremacist preachings.
The conflict element in the movie being diversified also meant it kept viewers engrossed and hanging to every word and every dialogue in the movie. What we really liked was the decision to tell the story of an average black man and the dangers he faced with racist elements, without necessarily telling an all black Vs white story. It took creativity, great storytelling and an amazing direction to achieve this. At the beginning of the movie, the conflict element presented sedmed a little obvious, with a white Vs white divide, plus the black lives matter campaign, and we could easily throw our weights behind the Blacks and hate the whites at the wrong side. But with the introduction of the Supremacists, and the revelation of moderation on the side of the whites, it meant that we and our protagonists were faced with an enemy they could unite against and one common enemy that must be taken down for the unity of the Nation.

Being a true event, the way the conflict was sought to be resolved cannot be credited wholly to the creative team or the writer, however we must still state the obvious; that the way the conflict was resolved was brilliant, it was stupendous and the efforts of the actors( Driver and Washington) must be commended. The decision to create drama effect meant that a lot of things had to change and some few changes were added. For instance the events depicted occurred in 1972 rather than 1979. Whereas also mention must be made of the fact that the KKK bombing never happened, as same was only added by Lee for Dramatic effects.
 If you were going into this one expecting a lot of violence, you will be disappointed as the conflict mainly revolved around principles, convictions, beliefs and what people will do to protect or promote them. Having said that, the presentation of the characters as passionate about their beliefs meant there were a lot of relatable characters and that even made the movie more compelling to watch.

   On the whole, this is a brilliant movie with excellent acting on the part of the cast. The production team have definitely scored an ace here with casting as the cast has brilliantly executed a masterpiece of a story. The work put into making this movie what it is is more easily discernible from the quality of conversations, the mastery of dialogue and conversational responses, the messages imbued in every series of sentences. This is a thought provoking movie capable of making even the most nonchalant viewer, engrossed. How Spike Lee has been able to use history to once again address present day topics is masterful and crafty. Some critics may feel the need to point out the fact that the movie is overtly political, but we submit it is not, it is intended to send a message to unite in the fight against racism, and to point at one very distinct truth, that not all white men are racists. We utterly agree with the conclusion, and add that as a matter of fact, being white doesn't make you racist, but being racist necessarily makes you white. This we feel is given backing by the superb and effortless performance of Adam Driver, whose effortless transition from diligent cop to white supremacist.
    The costumiers and the make up team have also done very good job here too. The moderation of cultural iterations of the time has to be one of the best I have seen from Hollywood in a very long time. It did make them cute too we must say.
   This is a movie we will most definitely recommend to connoisseurs of good dialogue, A list acting and award winning performances. The acting of Washington was of the highest quality, and we are very glad that he has stepped up his performances a notch from his exemplary showing in Ballers.

  Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Paakonen, Ryan Eggold, Paul Walter Hauser.
Produced by Jason Blum and spike Lee, Shaun Redick and Raymond Mansfield
Directed by Spike Lee
 With a budget of 15Million USD, it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and already won the Grand Prix. It has already performed more than it was expected to at the box office with an 87.1 Million USD gross.
 We will give this one an FCA AppR of 8.7/10

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP

           Ant-Man and The Wasp: A Weak Conflict for a Weak Villain!

  

Two years after Scott Lang was placed on house arrest because of his role in skirmishes between the Avengers in violation of the Sokovia Accords, Hank Pym and his daughter Hope van Dyne briefly manage to open a tunnel to the quantum realm, where they believe Pym's wife Janet van Dyne might be trapped after shrinking to sub-atomic levels in 1987. Because he also visited the quantum realm, Lang is now quantumly entangled with Janet and receives an apparent message from her. 

   A sequel to the 2015 Marvel movie, Ant man, the second instalment started off with the after effects of Scott's participation in the events of Germany and the apparent breach of the  Sokovia Accords, after which he was put under a 2 year house arrest. The concept was to present a hero under house arrest and trying to run a company as well as get by with everyday duties as a father, and the opening scenes were brilliantly brought to life.
The plot was good, not something excellent, but just good enough to thrill fans and viewers alike. Not a lot was put into telling the story or developing the concept, as the production team didn't really want to thinker a lot with the general concept, but rather chose to go little on creativity and hit more on Originality of concept.

 Where the movie failed in most parts was creating a compelling conflict, which in turn could have provided for a rivetting narrative. The creators forgot the first rule of telling a super hero tale, creating a strong and easily relatable villain. The production unit totally failed at presenting a villain the viewers could relate with or love to hate. Sonny Burch and Ava Starr(Ghost) just didn't feel like the villainous bunch that could keep the Hero engaged or even keep viewers glued.
   Plus mention must be had of the fact that the character of Ghost was pushed out too quickly, came off as emotionally unstable and she was a villain we knew was totally half and half, not someone who could go the distance. We did however love her combat scenes, her moves were natural and seemed to have really worked with a combat instructor. Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne on the other hand were totally in sync. Though it's to be expected, having done it once before, but their screen performances were brilliant.  Hank Pym once again delivered some brilliant tech. Even though we felt that some of the tech on display were rushed to the screens, regardless of the fact that there has been a 3 year break, it still felt rushed.  Janet Van Dyne finally got screen time. Her introduction towards the concluding scenes was refreshing and brilliantly timed. We did however feel that her final contributions to the movie was a hack. We didn't like it and it's overall effect on the movie.

  The special Effects and CGI had to be the strong point of the movie. It was nothing over done neither was it underutilised. It was just perfectly employed.  It was amusing the way everything in the movie could shrink.
   Perhaps now that we have gotten this arc out of the way, the Ant man can finally become a real super hero rather than a small time Robin Hood. The two instalments of the Ant man franchise has had him fighting on the lower scales of the Hero verse. It's time to write Ant man a story truly befitting of a Marvel great.
  All In all, a good movie with a somewhat slow start, but a strong finish.  Not rich with relatable characters, but the characters we have were colourful, they were enigmatic and they were brilliant at what they did. Ghost for one did deliver some really good piece of combat scenes. It's a great movie for both the young audience and the old folks, perhaps the quantum realm aspects may not be too relatable, but the battle on Earth was spectacular.
 Starring Paul Rudd, Michael Pena, Evangeline Lilly, Walton Goggins, Judy Greer, Tip Harris.
Directed by Peyton Reed.
Produced by Kevin Feige.
Written by Chris Mckenna
 FCA'S AppR 7.8/10

THE OUTLAW KING

                                  The Outlaw King:A Netflix Epic

   

After being crowned King of Scotland, legendary warrior Robert the Bruce is forced into exile by the English and leads a band of outlaws to help him reclaim the throne. 

The Outlaw King tells the story of Robert the Bruce, a Scottish nobleman who turns away From servitude to the English Crown and leads a guerrilla attack against the Crown.  

The movie being a historical tale didn't leave a whole lot of room for maneuverability or creativity, it was essentially about how well the story could be told to entice and engage the modern day audience, it has to factor in the story telling technique for the movie not to be a bore or at the very least, not to be another cliché, and boy did Netflix deliver on that aspect.

   David Mckenzie writing, directing and producing at the same time may have felt a little too much, but it also meant that the idea was developed and executed from one source, perhaps that accounts for the ease with which the story transitioned into the characters' lives, and ultimately into a brilliant on screen presentation. One thing we did like about the production was the absence of over elaboration. It's absence meant that the story kept true to its origins, there was no need in over emphasising on certain aspects such as dressing, attention to tactical warfare or over indulging the characters' emotional transgressions.

   Let's do a quick one on the story, plot and the conflict elements. The plot itself is pretty mediocre, drab and a little too bare for fans of creative works, however where the plot lacked depth and insight, the script writing more than made up for it in spades. At this point again, we must give credit to David Mckenzie for doing a diabolically brilliant job of making a marvel out of a regular tale. The way the story was crafted to develop with every passing moment was astonishing, the way the characters came into their role and developed with every passing moments of the movie is pure genius. As for the conflict itself, that's where we are most pleased. One would think that being a combat story or a war story, the strength of the conflict will be in the fight scenes, the combat simulations and the likes, but no, the conflict element here was more on the psychological and political plane. It did entail some elements of emotional conflict towards the midway part of the movie, but that was kept to the barest minimum and we are most pleased with the production team. The conflict is not complex, the plot is not rich in diversity, but the creative acumen of the team delivered something that an epic, deeply rich in character diversity and resplendent with rich acting.

   The cast for the movie were awesome, Chris Pine was brilliant at his role, and then, Aaron Taylor-Johnson was a good support cast for the movie. The performance of the rest of the cast even though not as amazing ad the first 2, they also delivered some top notch performances.

Perhaps the most entertaining aspect of the movie is the ending. We loved the humiliation meted out on the English forces, most especially after we saw the dramatic raising of the Dragon banner. It was amazing. We however did like that the team decided to leave out some details for the end Credit scenes. At the conclusion of the battle, one would have wondered what became of the Crown Prince or the Queen of Scots. But then...... End credits were for the first time in a while employed to the best effect. Impressive.

   Staring Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh, Billy Howle, Tony Curran, Callan Mulvey, Stephen Dillane and Alan Cooney.

Co-written, Directed and produced by David Mackenzie.

Fans definitely do have mixed reactions about this movie, but we at FCA have an opinion about this that we feel strongly about. The movie does definitely lack in plot depth, but it has storyline depth, it lacks creative flexibility and surely does not have a very strong conflict element. What this movie really has going for it is the storytelling and the A List performance of the cast. Plus, perhaps a little bit of the nostalgic scenes the movie served up in aces. 

Mention must also be made of the fight scenes, the simulation is well orchestrated, it didn't need to be over done ( being a historical tale), but you would do well to look out for the brute James Douglas. His combat performances had everything to make a movie great. He definitely does stand out though.  

  Overall a good movie that everyone with a bit of time should pick up and watch. We did like this one, and give credit to Netflix for telling a good story once again.

FCA's AppR 7.5/10

CASTLEVANIA S2

                 Castlevania: Brilliant, artistic, Creative Genius and a visual beauty.

 
A vampire Hunter( Trevor Belmont), a Vampire/human hybrid(Alucard), and a magician (Sypha) battle to save humanity from utter destruction at the hands of Vlad Dracula Tepes, a depraved, revenge seeking Vampire leader.
The sequel to the largely successful and acclaimed Castlevania picked up from where the 1st season left off, albeit not immediately. The first episode immediately got us interested by re-telling the origin of the conflict, even though it needed no telling as it had been sufficiently told in the 1st season. Where it may have felt a little unnecessary, it did however serve to put a strong emphasis on the need for the conflict, it set the tone for the revenge crusade embarked upon by Vlad, while also revealing the human folly, even in the face of unknown adversity and threat.

   We loved how the Deats brothers being show runners for season 2 immediately without much ado introduced all of the principal actors for the season, creating enough heat and anticipation about the war that was about to be prosecuted. The introduction of the Vampire war room was nostalgic, the introduction of Isaac and Hector, humans amongst the Vampire War council immediately set the stage for two characters who needed to be developed in order to impact the show. Where this may have seemed like a very bold move, the script never really gave these two characters the chance to be properly developed.
    The story for the second season felt quite more developed and advanced than the first season. Viewers particularly loved how the story was built around Vlad, from the 1st season and then in the 2nd he took a back seat as newer, more relatable characters took centre stage. The introduction of Carmilla was particularly refreshing. She injected a new lease of life into the show, introducing a political angle into the show and that was really needed. It essentially created a multiplicity of conflict points, as the power struggle within the Vampire order gave screen time to other characters who in the absence of this conflict element, would have had very little screen time and little to no relevance.
    The plot remained basically the same, Vlad seeking revenge on human

ity, but the Carmilla angle and the introduction of the human elements within the Vampire order sort of created an avenue to tell a tale that was not only centred on violence and vengeance, but further introduced themes of loyalty ,betrayal, friendship, love and cynicism. The dilemma and character indecision on the parts of Isaac and Hector on the one part and Alucard on the other set up the show for some very brilliant dialogues; in all we can say that the scripting was above average, nearly superbly done even.
However, where the show really did impress the most is with regards to its fight scenes and the great attention paid to details. The fight scenes are very well choreographed and simulated. You could see the way one combat move culminated or resulted in another move or series of moves depending on how the initial move impacted. The fight scenes were bloody, and we maybe expected it seeing as it's even an adult animated show, but all the same, seeing it every time seem to bring that nostalgia you would get from playing the games or even watching an adult R Rated movie.
  The conflict in the end was not what we had expected, but we got a whole lot more than we expected. In fact, for the very first time, we felt that 8 episodes for the second season did not allow for more creative freedom. We would have loved to have Carmilla delayed playing her hands a little more, while also hoping for a lot of more screen time for Vlad and his generals. It did feel like only three characters got enough screen time and development; Carmilla, Isaac and Hector. Perhaps the decision to focus more attention on them is aptly captured by the end to the season. For while the conflict that was created in the 1st season was put to an end, the political power struggle introduced in the 2nd season survives, and the 3 characters will definitely be playing important roles in resolving it.
    A good show for lovers of the franchise, a visual beauty, Creative and artistic. Brilliant story telling, elegant fight scenes, amazing combat simulations and thoughtful conversations. The show's plot may have been a lot more critical and with more character and theme depth, we still feel the creators and show runners could have added a little more depth, and hopefully a 3rd season may solve the problem.
   There is really no reason why connoisseurs of good animation should not pick this one. In fact, it may be close to the top of my most recommended tv shows for the coming weeks and days. It's a thing of beauty seeing what the Deats brothers and Konami have achieved. We cannot also rule out the influence Netflix has had on this, as they had masterfully created the demand by teasing a big hit with a 4 episode first season. It turned out to be the right formular, and we applaud them and the creative team and all who are involved with this project.
  Richard Armitage
   James Callis
Graham McTavish
Alejandra Reynoso
Theo James
Adetokunboh McCormack
Written by Warren Ellis
Directed by Sam Deats
Produced by Adi Shanker
Created by Konami

FCA'S AppR: 8/10