Critical is a series of examinations about media in popular culture. It's an explicit look, which means those who don't want key plot points revealed to you should likely avoid continuing. Critical does not even know what the word spoilers MEANS.
Prey is, quite honestly, a goofy concept. I joked the other day that the concept of a cloud of sentient nanobots is just too bizarre to believe in, while cloning dinosaurs and earthquake machines was perfectly acceptable, but that's honestly the truth. My brain can logically accept that dinosaur dna could theoretically be obtained from mosquitoes in amber, and the idea that natural disasters can be caused by man-made machines is a bit Super-villainy for my tastes, but it's not outside the realm of believability. But a swarm of nanobots just crosses the point where my brain can no longer pretend this is possible.
Mind you, I am not entirely opposed to the concept of the nanobots presented early in the book. If I accept the Smoke Monster on Lost (which probably isn't really a cloud of nanobots [at least, I don't think it is, but who the hell really knows?] but the idea of a floating smoke that can produce images on its surface is the same general idea) then I can accept Prey's swarms, and I do. Had the book ended with the descent into the Nest and the destruction of the swarm, I'd probably think more highly of this. But instead, it veers off into Body Snatcher territory, with a "benign swarm" taking root inside of people and controlling their actions. Sorry, do not pass Go, do not collect your credibility.
On the other hand, I finished the 500 page book in two days, so I can't claim that it isn't a fast read, and while it's not believable like Jurassic Park (relatively speaking, of course), as a thriller it's got merit. The idea of man being hunted by his own creation is an oldie but a goodie and although some characters are basically Red Shirts that is kind of the point of a B-level monster tale, so that is easily forgiven.
If you have a day or two to kill, you could certainly pick worse.
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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Critical: Gantz
Having finished Gantz, I can only call it a flawed effort. Back in September, I referred to it as all sorts of f'd up, and that was only after having watched the first volume. Having seen them all, I can proclaim the entire series is monumentally f'd up (if the thought of a character threatening to desecrate a corpse, only in more graphic terms, is intrinsically offensive to you, this probably is not something you would enjoy watching). But being f'd up is not necessarily a bad thing, as there are plenty of series that pull off that sort of thing by compensating with likable characters and an intelligble plot.
At its heart, Gantz is about the redemption of Kurono (or, if not an actual redemption, it's about his growth from an immature, insensitive pervert to someone people actually look up to) and on that level, it works quite well. Comparing Kurono from the first episode to the Kurono seen in the last 3 episodes is like comparing night and day, and I went from despising him at the beginning of the series to actively cheering him on by the end; quite an accomplishment. It's a believable arc and it would almost be enough for me to recommend the series on the basis of that. However...
The series is flawed in numerous ways. For one thing, at the start of the series, Kurono IS despicable. He cares for no one but himself, and his mind is pretty a stereotypical teenage male's, and it takes a long time to even reach the point where you don't actively want him to get shot in the face. In addition, the majority of the characters are either just as despicable as Kurono (the mafia guys, the biker in the verbally abusive relationship with his wife, the wily veteran who happily lets people get slaughtered if it furthers his own goals), borderline retarded (the old lady and her spoiled son, the majority of people in the 3rd game), or simply pacifists beyond all reason (I understand an aversion to killing, and wanting to resolve a conflict peacefully, and that is to be commended, but only up to the point where self-defense is necessary; once an alien has murdered three people right in front of you, talking MIGHT NOT BE AN OPTION). And all of those characters spend what seems like hours and hours arguing and debating; the series could easily have between a third and half its runtime excised and all the main plot points would still hit their marks. There are a few decent characters, mainly in the second half of the series, but you have to sit through most of the show to reach that point, and even then there is still too much talking. Finally, the ending is a Gainax Ending, and those always suck. I don't mind endings that leave open questions, but there is a major difference between leaving a two-hour movie open-ended and leaving a 9.5 hour tv-series without ANY resolution. Once you hit a certain threshhold, you need at least some type of closure, and with Gantz, you get none.
One final point caveat; there is definitely for kids only. It's full of violence, gore, cursing, and sex. None of it bothered me, but it's definitely over the top in every aspect, and could easily offend.
At its core, it's a good idea, but the presentation just wasn't what I was needing. If some of the elements had been skewed just a little bit differently, and the "arguing the room" episodes shortened dramatically, this would have been good. As it is, however, it's just not. Not really recommended.
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At its heart, Gantz is about the redemption of Kurono (or, if not an actual redemption, it's about his growth from an immature, insensitive pervert to someone people actually look up to) and on that level, it works quite well. Comparing Kurono from the first episode to the Kurono seen in the last 3 episodes is like comparing night and day, and I went from despising him at the beginning of the series to actively cheering him on by the end; quite an accomplishment. It's a believable arc and it would almost be enough for me to recommend the series on the basis of that. However...
The series is flawed in numerous ways. For one thing, at the start of the series, Kurono IS despicable. He cares for no one but himself, and his mind is pretty a stereotypical teenage male's, and it takes a long time to even reach the point where you don't actively want him to get shot in the face. In addition, the majority of the characters are either just as despicable as Kurono (the mafia guys, the biker in the verbally abusive relationship with his wife, the wily veteran who happily lets people get slaughtered if it furthers his own goals), borderline retarded (the old lady and her spoiled son, the majority of people in the 3rd game), or simply pacifists beyond all reason (I understand an aversion to killing, and wanting to resolve a conflict peacefully, and that is to be commended, but only up to the point where self-defense is necessary; once an alien has murdered three people right in front of you, talking MIGHT NOT BE AN OPTION). And all of those characters spend what seems like hours and hours arguing and debating; the series could easily have between a third and half its runtime excised and all the main plot points would still hit their marks. There are a few decent characters, mainly in the second half of the series, but you have to sit through most of the show to reach that point, and even then there is still too much talking. Finally, the ending is a Gainax Ending, and those always suck. I don't mind endings that leave open questions, but there is a major difference between leaving a two-hour movie open-ended and leaving a 9.5 hour tv-series without ANY resolution. Once you hit a certain threshhold, you need at least some type of closure, and with Gantz, you get none.
One final point caveat; there is definitely for kids only. It's full of violence, gore, cursing, and sex. None of it bothered me, but it's definitely over the top in every aspect, and could easily offend.
At its core, it's a good idea, but the presentation just wasn't what I was needing. If some of the elements had been skewed just a little bit differently, and the "arguing the room" episodes shortened dramatically, this would have been good. As it is, however, it's just not. Not really recommended.
Read more...
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