Wolf Warriors (2015)

The most 'MERICA Chinese movie ever made.

Directed by Wu Jing and released in theaters in April 2015, Wolf Warriors is a war/martial-arts film that takes place in modern China. Seargant Leng Feng (Wu Jing) is a marksman with the Chinese special forces. During an operation to take down a drug lord, Leng Feng disobeys an order to cease fire. While he saved the day, he endangered the lives of his comrades and is facing a possible court-martial. Colonel Long Xiaoyun recognizes Leng Feng gets results even if he doesn't play by the rules, so she recruits him to join the Wolf Warriors - the elite of the elite in the PLA. During this time, kingpin Ming Deng learns that his brother has been killed by Leng Feng and so he hires Tomcat (Scott Adkins) - a brutal mercenary with an appetite for destruction and a 100% success rate to help him seek revenge. Hunted by Tomcat, Leng Feng's first mission with the Wolf Warriors may be his last. I enjoyed "Wolf Warriors" for a number of reasons. Although the film is Chinese, it's something of a love letter to American action movies of the 1980s right down to the plot, action scenes, and characters. There's some particularly bad CG in this film which is contrasted with superb practical effects, big explosions, and spectacular action sequences. Ten minutes in and the movie probably has a higher body-count than most of the films you've seen in 2015.

 

Wu Jing

Another point in the film's favor is that it stars two of the world's best action stars Wu Jing (Invisible Target, Fatal Contact, SPL-2) and Scott Adkins (Undisputed 2, Undisputed 3, Expendables 2). Not only are both really badass martial artists, but they have acting chops to boot. Leng Feng is your typical 80's action hero - a loose canon who knows how to get things done and feels that bureaucracy gets in the way of taking down the bad guys. His higher-ups tend to paint him as untrustworthy, but he has the guts to do what no one else is willing to do in order to save the day. He's loyal to his country and his fellow soldiers, and he won't hesitate to sacrifice his life for the greater good if the situation calls for it.

Scott Adkins

Opposite of Leng Feng is Tomcat - a mercenary who fights only for money and who feels patriotism is a joke. In typical 80s action movie fashion, the villain is the complete antithesis of the hero and unlike in today's movie industry where film tries to humanize an evil foe and get us to empathize with him, Wolf Warriors does a superb job of portraying Tomcat as unquestionably evil. It's not the fact that he's a mercenary that makes him inherently so, but Tomcat by his own admission is willing to kill innocent people, start a war, and throw China into chaos just as long as he's getting paid. Not only are Wu Jing and Scott Adkins incredible martial artists, but they're great actors and they do a fantastic job playing off each other's character traits during their fight scenes.

The film has a large cast and there are a lot of great characters. It has shades of Predator (1987) in that there are a number of characters you get attached to because of their personalities and dynamics and you really feel it when someone gets killed - especially if they die while sacrificing themselves for a comrade. The film's score really drives home the epic manliness of many of these scenes. Two of my favorite scenes are when Leng Feng carries a fallen comrade over his shoulders as he dodges a hail of gunfire and when Leng Feng faces down an entire guerrilla army and dares them to cross the Chinese border.

The film has its flaws. The first 30 minutes can be a bit confusing as there are a number of characters and plot points introduced back-to-back-to-back. The movie does a good job of ironing out those wrinkles, but I was scratching my head quite a bit early on. There is a CG fight that pits the Wolf Warriors against actual wolves and it's so bad it's good. If you're not into war movies the film might not be to your liking. For me the film had everything I was looking for: great 1980s-style action, two of the world's best throwing down in a fight to the death, and epic manliness that American movies have been missing for a long-time. Wolf Warriors is available now and makes an excellent gift for action movie fans.

Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII

"The time has come to cleanse this world."

Final Fantasy VII (1997) is one of those rare games that needs no introduction. Forgive the cliche, but unless you've been living under a rock or you're a Millennial there isn't a gamer out there who doesn't know Final Fantasy VII. Not only was Final Fantasy VII instrumental in creating one of gaming's most profitable periods, but even today a whopping 18 years after its release it's still one of the most popular titles in gaming and the most successful Final Fantasy that Square-Enix (Squaresoft at the time) ever released. So it came as no surprise that in 2002, Square-Enix launched the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII project which spawned a number of spin-offs from Final Fantasy VII. Think of this as FFVII's expanded universe which included a CG movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, an anime, two cell phone games, a PSP game, and a PS2 sequel.

They will fight one last time.

Taking place three years after the events of Final Fantasy VII and one year after the events of Advent Children, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII centers on Vincent Valentine, AVALANCHE member and former Turk. The world has survived the meteor incident and the Second Coming of Sephiroth. The people have undertaken the hard work of rebuilding their lives and the even larger task of rebuilding a world brought to ruin. The citizens of Kalm are having a festival to celebrate the three anniversary of the meteor incident or more specifically the miracle that saved the world from destruction. Rather than join the celebration, Vincent broods in isolation. Tortured by the demons in his past and his own inability to move on, Vincent's psyche has become his personal hell. Suddenly, a wave of violence sweeps through Kalm as mysterious soldiers descend on the small town and massacre its people by the dozens. However, these soldiers also kidnap a select few townsfolk for purposes that can only be nefarious. Calling themselves Deepground, this army is lead by a group of elite superhumans called The Tsviets and the enigmatic Weiss The Immaculate. Vincent swoops into action, his questions punctuated by a hail of gunfire. Will Vincent's battle against Deepground save the world or will he drag it into an even darker hell?

A lengthy summary to be sure, but to be expected of any game based on an RPG. When dealing with any Final Fantasy it's not just a question of whether or not the story is good, but a question of how well it's presented in a genre of this kind. Final Fantasy is an RPG, but Dirge of Cerberus is a third-person shooter which are considerably shorter, so the game's length is a major factor in story-telling. To his credit, Hiroki Chiba does a good job in condensing Final Fantasy VII's complex narrative, and expanding on Vincent Valentine's past. Chiba has introduced some interesting new characters in the form of the Tsviets, and surprisingly enough he's given them adequate characterization as well, but as much as I appreciated the story and characters as a Final Fantasy fan, they are not without their flaws. We learn more about Vincent Valentine's past, but much of what was explored here was already summarized in Final Fantasy VII. In DOC we get a larger picture of Vincent's past with Shinra, the origins of his hatred towards professor Hojo, and the love he had for Lucretia, but we don't learn anything we didn't already know apart from the how and why of the Protomateria that is in Vincent's possession which is essentially the super macguffin that Deepground are trying to get their hands on.

 

Those Tron lines...

As a fan of the franchise I enjoyed learning more about Shinra Incorporated's dirty little secrets - particularly the Deepground soldiers and I liked the Tsviets as villains, but when you get down to it i.e. speaking objectively and not as a fan, they aren't entirely unique. The Tsviets have some very cool designs, but they're basically bad Metal Gear villains. The Tsviets are essentially the Beauty and Beast Corps. of Dirge of Cerberus. Each has their own character trait (bloodlust, apathy, pride, etcetera) you've seen before with a tragic past which you've seen before. Hiroki Chiba is a competent writer to be sure, but it's clear that the game's length hindered his ability to flesh out the Tsviets and differentiate them from the villainous stables you see in many other games. That's not to say it's all bad though. Shelke the Transparent is a member of the Tsviets who gets a lot of character development and while it seems rushed - given that the game takes place over a few days - Shelke was a round, dynamic character who changed considerably over the course of the game.

Composer Masashi Hamauzu who has 19 years of industry experience brings his A game to Dirge of Cerberus. There are some very good tracks in this game which bring a different feel to each of the game's scenes and bluntly speaking will probably be the thing you remember most from the game. Japanese music icon GACKT also provides two songs for the game "Longing" and "Redemption" the game's ending theme, and as a huge GACKT fan parts of this game were mark out moments for me.

 

The art style delivers though.

Dirge of Ceberus won't win any beauty contests. While the PS2 was never a huge graphical powerhouse it did run some impressive games - this isn't one of them. Some of the environments in this game scream PS era with the framerate to match. Although the art direction is quite good with the Tsviets sporting some cool costumes. The environments, while not very detailed do resemble Final Fantasy VII at least aesthetically and it felt as though I was in Midgar all over again which was a big plus. Pretty much the only area where Dirge of Cerberus stumbles is in the actual "game" aspect. Dirge of Cerberus is a third-person shooter, but not a very good one. While the type of genre does make sense given Vincent Valentines weapon of choice, the gameplay is bare-bones and what's here barely holds together. There's very little strategy involved in the combat as it boils down to dodge the enemies' attacks and shoot them. The A.I. is virtually non-existent as enemies will rarely flank you and will often run directly into your gunfire. While they will sometimes hide behind cover, most won't. Groups of enemies will also stand by explosive barrels which make them easy pickings. The game doesn't get particularly difficult as you advance in the story apart from the game sending larger hoards after you. Vincent has a melee attack which isn't very effective, and in the time it takes him to kill an enemy with said attack the player could have shot him and moved on. Vincent can upgrade his signature weapon Cerberus with a scope, materia (magic), and he can change the barrel to increase damage or firing rate. Vincent also acquires a rifle and a machine gun, but I got through most of the game using the default weapon - thus making the upgrades and additional guns completely unnecessary. The boss battles don't require much strategy apart from dodge and shoot, but if you have enough items you can remove dodging from the equation altogether.

Dirge of Cerberus isn't a bad game, but it's just so by-the-numbers it doesn't do anything to elevate the genre. If you're a hardcore Final Fantasy VII fan, a GACKT fan, or both like I am then you'll probably get a kick out of this game. However, if you've never had a really strong connection to the world of Final Fantasy VII, I can't imagine why you'd ever play this. There are even some Final Fantasy VII fans out there who loathe this game. Personally, I felt it was an enjoyable experience despite its many shortcomings.

Berserk (1989 - Ongoing)

 

Don't ever get on Guts' bad side.

Written and illustrated by mangaka Kentaro Miura, "Berserk" is a Japanese comic set in a dark fantasy word inspired by medieval Europe. The story revolves around a warrior named Guts with a tragic past: born from a dead woman and raised to be a mercenary by caretakers who were a little too into the kids kind of tragic past. Over the years, Guts grows up to be a brutal and terrifyingly strong warrior who people soon call the Black Swordsman. Guts later joins up with a group of mercenaries called the Band of the Hawk who are led by a charismatic figure named Griffith and his 2nd in command the warrior maiden Casca. Griffith feels that the three are connected to a strange destiny by a mysterious (see evil AF) object called the Behelit.

That ain't no ordinary MacGuffin son.

Over the years, Guts becomes close to his allies as they travel the continent, righting wrongs, and committing a few along the way until their exploits catch the attention of demonlords called the Godhand. These horrifying fiends wield powers just short of absolute, and they have taken an interest in the Behelit and Griffith. What follows is a tragedy unlike any you've ever seen before as Griffith sacrifices his comrades to the Godhand in exchange for the power to bring destiny itself under his thumb - irreparably scarring Casca and Guts in the process. Broken, beaten, but far from dead, Guts takes up his sword once more and nothing, not destiny or even god will stop him from making Griffith pay.

Not even Cthulhu will sate Guts' appetite for revenge.

There is a lot that I've glossed over due to possible spoilers. It may seem like I've already revealed quite a bit, but the first chapter of Berserk takes place years after the summary I've just shared. In addition, what is technically Berserk's prologue is an entire arc. While manga fans have a habit of calling everything under the sun "epic", Berserk truly is epic in every sense of the word. Not only is the story long (having been in serialization since 1989), but the world this story is set in is immense with a variety of kingdoms, each having their own cultures and meta-religions. The cast of characters play host to a variety of personalities, ideals, and even personal short-comings which the manga doesn't hesitate to show us. It's captivating to see how characters develop overtime especially when their beliefs clash with those around them. There are few if any flat characters to be found here as they are always growing, always changing sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Oh so much worse.

Unspeakable evil, thy name is Griffith.

Berserk is a manga of contrasts and we see this throughout. In the art department we see breathtaking scenery and landscapes right out of Tolkien, together with European inspired castles and towns, but we also see hellish creatures and nightmarescapes that you would swear were taken right out of Clive Barker. In terms of themes, the manga addresses camaraderie, but also isolation and the effect the two have on people. There is even dichotomy between objects of worship as spirits in nature which are typically good, strive to maintain peace and order in the natural/supernatural worlds while on the other hand, the absolute god of Berserk is an entity of evil.

The manga also explores whether or not humans are fundamentally good or evil and so we see characters who are capable of admirable acts of heroism, but we also see characters capable of some of the most horrific acts you've ever seen in a comic. I'm no social justice warrior, but I've seen characters do things so terrible that if I were to describe them to you, you would flee from this room in horror, disgust, or both. Even though seinen (adult comics) are known for having graphic content, Kentaro Miura could give Go Nagai a run for his money with some of these chapters. Make no mistake, Berserk wears its genre with pride. Whether or not it should is up to the reader.

That's not even the biggest one Guts has killed this week.

As mentioned before Berserk is home to a large, dark fantasy world and with that in mind it's no surprise that our heroes come across an assortment of fantasy creatures like trolls, fairies, elves, titanic sea monsters, phantoms, demons, and the like. Creature designs range from nauseatingly grotesque to awe-inspiring. There is an OCD-level of detail in these panels and some of the more questionable design choices aside, Miura's artwork is superb.

Guts always has time for the kids.

Let it be said that Berserk has its heartwarming moments which will sometimes come from the least likely person; Guts. If you've ever read Berserk you know that Guts is one of the most badass characters in fiction - period. Even if you've never read Berserk you know his name. Yet despite what Guts has been through, and despite how many people & monsters he's killed, he can be surprisingly tender towards children and understanding of adults, always taking the time to help people emotionally and psychologically - even if he doesn't want to. The characters in this manga left such a strong impression on me that it motivated me to keep reading even if I had to slog through some [really] graphic content.

Tis but a flesh wound.

Since 1989 Berserk has spawned more than 30 volumes, an anime series, three OVAs, and two video games: Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 and Berserk Millennium Falcon Arc: Chapter of the Record of the Holy Demon War for the Playstation 2 in 2004. It has a large following and it may be one of the extremely rare cases where the mainstream has yet (yet) to ruin a great title. It has its flaws, but overall its a fantastic title especially for those into dark fantasy stories. There's some great stuff in here, but be warned. It's a very "trigger happy" manga so just know what you're getting into.