Monthly Archives: September 2022

TV

A Modern Cyberpunk Masterpiece

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I don’t play a lot of video games. Of the handful I have played, I only ever really got into one. But I’ll admit that I was interested when the game “Cyberpunk 2077” was being advertised. However, the game was full of glitches and bugs that instantly destroyed any hope of people getting into it. I’ve heard that they’ve released patches that help fix it, but the moment has past for the game. Having said that…an anime show based in that world was given the green light. Maybe the game sold enough copies to justify that decision or maybe it was an attempt to get more people interested. Regardless of what you might feel about the game, the show Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is a glorious show that can be enjoyed entirely on it’s own merits.

While Cyberpunk is the name of the franchise, you might need a reminder that it’s also the name of an entire sub-genre of Science Fiction. Projects from this genre are set in a dystopia with highly advanced technology but often focuses on the people living at the bottom of society’s hierarchy. Usually criminals who live morally gray lives. While violence and sex play big parts of the genre, another important aspect is an exploration of how the advanced technology affects people and how it has changed how people view themselves and their lives.

Obviously, this show is filled with a lot of violence. Technology is used by Edgerunners (also called Cyberpunks) to complete mercenary contracts. This often involves people using technology to give themselves more advanced weapons or tech-based abilities to give them an edge in combat. But in order to do this, the Cyberpunks’ body has to be physically altered. A common upgrade is an arm being altered where it opens up and pulls out some sort of firearm. That’s just one example of a Cyberpunk getting upgrades, or chrome, to change their body. Since a lot of Edgerunners have significantly added tech to their bodies, this does seemingly imply that sex isn’t viewed in quite the same way.

There are a couple of scenes towards the end of the show where the two main characters live together and are in a relationship. They are nude and that’s clearly shown on screen. But there is a sense of disinterest. While I’m sure these characters have had sex, we don’t actually see any of the characters having sex on screen. And when we do see characters nude on screen, it also clearly shows how their bodies have been physically changed. How the “skin” on top of their chrome probably isn’t actually skin anymore. This adds an interesting layer of analysis of how the characters and society of this world have altered life goals. Everyone is looking for a way to either join one of the powerful corporations that secretly run the city and move up the corporate ladder, or leave the city entirely. It’s an all in or all out mentality. But there is an interesting topic that connects these two sides and provides insight into what separates the criminals from the corporations.

In this show, there is a phenomenon called Cyberpsychosis. Over time, if anyone applies a significant amount of chrome to their body, it begins to affect their mental state. Some people have higher tolerances than others, and they can take a drug to manage early symptoms and delay the inevitable. But sooner or later, that person looses their grip on reality and they are triggered to go on a killing spree, often resulting in that person being killed in combat. This medical condition does shine some light on interesting details. Cyberpunks know that their time is limited and that Cyberpsychosis will eventually claim their lives. The goal of most all Cyberpunks is to make enough money to leave this life with their mind intact. But they often push themselves despite experiencing early signs of the condition, which more often than not speeds up the condition and takes them before they achieve their goals.

As for the people who are employed by the corporations of this world, they don’t really care about how this affects the Cyberpunks. They are mercenaries hired to perform jobs for them and all they care about is if it gets done as requested. They will even put the blame on the Cyberpunks themselves for being so addicted to tech or chrome and letting themselves be overtaken by the condition. But when you live in a world like in this franchise where even the average citizen has small amounts of chrome in their body, it becomes a necessity to survive. The risk needs to be taken because chrome is the only way they can become good at what they do and find work to change their lives. Not realizing themselves that the more chrome they get and the longer they are a part of the Cyberpunk life, the less likely it is they will be able to leave it alive.

So much of this world and show provides interesting insight into themes and idea that define the Cyberpunk genre. And the characters focused on in the show demonstrate just how heartbreaking and dangerous this kind of life can truly get. The main male lead, David, starts off as just a regular student. And while his mother is a paramedic that secretly supplies Cyberpunks with new tech/chrome, she doesn’t want her son in that life and has high hopes of him being a high ranking member of a corporation. But following the mother’s death, David is left with no alternative but to become a Cyberpunk. The main female lead, Lucy, was used for years by a corporation to achieve some of their darker and more illegal goals. But she escaped years ago and is a Cyberpunk in the hope of getting enough money to leave the city entirely. The two end up meeting and they form a romantic relationship.

Over the course of the show, we see how Lucy slowly retreats from being a Cyberpunk while David gets more chrome and pushes himself closer to Cyberpsychosis. Lucy is still secretly working on trying to make sure she and David don’t get killed in the hope of leaving the city, while David is ironically risking his life in order to achieve that same dream. And while we are introduced to David first in the show, an argument can be made that Lucy is the real protagonist. In addition to seeing David’s deterioration as a viewer, we also see it from Lucy’s perspective. We feel the emotional turmoil their entire lifestyle inflicts on them, on everyone in this world to some extent. How conforming to the what this world requires from the average citizen forces them to slowly lose their humanity. But what’s interesting is that while this society does force them down this route, it is also partially due to their own choices. It brings up another discussion of just how much control one has over their life in a tech-based world like this.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners is an excellent anime that shows us how cool but also dark the Cyberpunk genre is. The characters we follow in the show better demonstrate the effects the tech-based dystopia has on it’s citizens. It’s a world with no happy endings, but one filled with heartbreak. We want these characters to achieve their goals and their dreams, but the world around them keeps taking from them and altering their lives, to the point where nothing seems recognizable anymore. Yet it’s a show that people should watch and revisit for many years to come.

Movie Reviews, Movies

Review – Clerks III

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In 1994, the movie Clerks would silently jump-start Kevin Smith’s film-making career. It was a solid first film with humor on a very relatable level that garnered a loyal audience. Over a decade later and Clerks II was released. It has its fans and a handful of important moments for Dante & Randal. Aside from that, it really isn’t talked about much among Kevin Smith fans and usually not in high regard. Now nearly a decade after that film, the third film that has been teased for a few years has finally released. Dante & Randal are the owners of the Quick Stop and still running it. But when Randal suffers a heart attack, he gets motivated to make his own movie. That movie ends up being – you guessed it – the first Clerks.

Obviously, this movie has some meta humor. Which can be seen in the trailer. But if your concerned that the humor is mostly focused on that, you can rest easy. The vast majority of the meta jokes are in the trailer. Even then, they are spread out appropriately and do fit in considering the context of the story. As well as the overall directing & writing style of Kevin Smith. I think at this point people know what to expect from one of his films. And loyal fans of his work will be well rewarded with easter eggs and references to Smith’s past projects.

It might have been nearly 30 years since we first saw Dante & Randal, but both of the actors still know these characters very well. Jeff Anderson is so familiar with the character Randal that just his facial expression or a quick reaction is enough to get laughs. And you can tell he is enjoying the story his character gets and puts in the effort. We get a lot of the classic dialogue you expect from this kind of movie, a character talking about movies & Hollywood as just your average guy. Now Brian O’Halloran makes a return as his character Dante and he is just as good as he’s ever been. His frustration and more straight man-like reactions to certain things is just as entertaining.

But in regards to Dante, this does bring up a noticeable criticism. There are a couple of more dramatic focused scenes early in the story that aren’t quite hitting the mark. One in particular is when Dante goes to a cemetery. When you see it play out, it feels more like he’s demonstrating what to feel in the moment, but not actually feeling it. Or at least not enough for me to truly invest in the moment. And the musical score, while soft, is sort of trying to push you to have that emotional investment. So there are a couple of moments like that in the first half. But then there is this one scene towards the end that makes up for that several times over. Without giving too much away, Dante initiates a drunken confrontation while filming one of the scenes. No music, no jokes, but Dan acts like never before and you feel how intense and serious he is as it happens. It’s probably the best scene of the flick and it kick-starts the climax.

The drunken confrontation elevates the rest of the movie to the dramatic level it needs to be at in order to end strong. And it’s during this climax that you really start to look at yourself. This movie does get you to look at your own life in a similar way. Where you’ve been, where you are, and where you hope to be in the future. And the meta humor does actually support that and feeds into the more serious moments some of time. This movie is sort of a demonstration of how Kevin Smith himself has changed. Maybe not significantly, he’s still fundamentally the man we know. But changed enough. While visually the movie could have more variety in how it is shot, the actual story takes a surprising extra step. The way the climax starts off is something that needed to happen and is expected. But how it ends was actually kind of surprising. However, it works and does keep that movie at that dramatic level.

Ultimately, this is a good movie, even bittersweet in some areas. It’s not a flawless movie, A few dramatic scenes early one aren’t quite hitting the mark. There might be a few jokes that won’t land for certain viewers. But a lot of the jokes do land. And the dramatic stuff that works is some of the best in any of Kevin Smith’s projects. It’s self-reflective for the director but also gets the viewers to reflect on themselves. I would argue this is the best of the Clerks movies. But even if you don’t agree, this is certainly worth the wait.

Comics

A Look Back on Guardian Devil

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The 1990s could have been better to Daredevil. Not to say that there was some good work with the character, but there was a noticeable decline. Daredevil was considered one of the less popular characters during the majority of the decade. But then, Marvel decided to create the Marvel Knights imprint to focus on breathing new life to a handful of characters. With art by Joe Quesada and the story from Kevin Smith – yes, the same guy behind movies like Clerks & Chasing Amy – Daredevil was brought back into the spotlight. “Guardian Devil” made people care about the character again. But now that so much time has passed, is it worth reading?

Here is a brief breakdown of the story. It starts with Karen leaving Matt a letter. She decided to take a job on the west coast. Shortly afterwards, a young girl comes to Matt with a baby she gave birth to despite claiming she is a virgin. But a mysterious man behind an unknown organization is also after the child. While the mother claims that her child is destined by God to be Earth’s savior, the man claims that the child is the Anti-Christ. Matt is left paranoid and conflicted on what to do and his mental state begins to deteriorate. That is the non-spoiler version, so from this point on, you’ve been warned.

Let’s start easy with the art. It’s decent. Honestly, there isn’t much else to say beyond that. I’m familiar with some 90s artwork so I know it was better than some other titles from the industry. But ti isn’t really special compared to today’s artwork. It’s for the best that we don’t spend too much time on the artwork. Kevin Smith is a good writer, but when it comes to comic books, he is known to often make controversial decisions. And we’ll get to that shortly. But I do want to address some of the strong points as well.

By the final issue, it is revealed that the super-villain behind this whole affair is Mysterio AKA Quentin Beck. This is a genuine surprise, considering he’s often associated with Spider-Man. It’s revealed that Mysterio has Cancer and since that diagnosis, he’s been working on what he calls his swan song. Researching Daredevil/Matt, manipulating people to set-up the story and use his expertise in special effects to help sell the lie. All to mentally torture Matt and force him to kill Mysterio. Yet when the moment finally comes, Matt doesn’t do it. He criticizes him for never coming up with his own plans, getting his scheme ideas from other villains. This leads Mysterio to take his own life. You could make an argument, that based on how the scene plays out, Matt could be at fault for basically talking Mysterio into such an act. But once you realize just how much destruction he brought down on Matt, his friends, and so many other people, we can let Matt use the Batman Begins loophole of not actively saving the villain.

That actually ties into one of the larger themes of the story. Part of the focus is on Matt’s faith and how he often struggles with it. There are parts of the story where Matt does come off a bit as being extra broody. But other characters do point out to him the silver lining of events and what he does in general. And those facts do help ground Matt and make him realize what’s important and why what he does is needed. This could be seen as the story subtly undoing the 90s mindset of how dark superheroes should be. But instead of making fun of how extreme those tropes can get, it points out the reasons why heroes are heroes in the first place. It helps reconnect Matt with his sense of purpose.

But going back to the dark stuff, there are a couple of things in the story that haven’t really aged well. And unfortunately, both center around Karen Page. She does end up returning to Matt during the story. But during a scene at a church where Bullseye goes on a killing spree, Karen jumps in to protect Matt and is dealt a death blow. Pretty much turning this into a “fridging the girl” trope. In addition to the death of such an important character, she discovers she is HIV positive and during an argument with her, Matt blames that on her being a junkie and sleeping with “God only knows who and how many people” in his words. Yea…this is a character that Matt has loved and been in a relationship with for years. And he tells her that she and her reckless behavior are to blame for getting the disease.

This in isolation is bad! Even looking at it from the context that Matt is being mentally tortured and manipulated doesn’t really make it better. Also…this does point out a serious issue in their relationship. Karen’s letter to Matt back in the first issue highlights how she is always going to feel indebted to Matt. Keep in mind, she did sell Daredevil’s identity for a fix. And he forgave her for that, yes. But he doesn’t forget that kind of thing. So Karen always feels like their relationship is based on him letting her back into his life. That he is more in love with the idea their relationship can triumph over any problem, including the ones she causes. They were constantly breaking up and getting together, each time showing their relationship is pretty toxic and destructive.

To this story’s credit, this part of the story is indirectly called out. Black Widow has shows up throughout the story but has an important conversation with Matt in the final issue. She points out to him that he seems to harbor an unconscious hatred for women in his life. His mother left when he was a kid, Karen sold out his secret identity, Typhoid Mary dated him only to get close and attack him. These are just a few instances of Daredevil’s troubled love life. This doesn’t really excuse what he said, but he is pushed to try and do some soul searching. But since this is the closest we get to him being called out for that statement, that problematic moment still has a sour tone to it. But is it enough to ruin the entire story? Speaking for myself, no. I’ve seen comics handle the HIV/AIDS topic far worse from this same time period. At least Matt’s attitude is called out to a certain extent.

With that out of the way, I do enjoy this story despite the major flaws. Although this isn’t a story that I want to have a physical copy of. But I can understand if a group of people have ended up hating how this story aged. Reading it once is probably enough for those looking to get caught up on Daredevil comics. But they should read the other comics from Daredevil’s second volume for a treasure trove of stories. And I think that’s the best praise I can give “Guardian Devil”. Good enough for the time to lead to other beloved stories featuring the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen.

Film Editorials, Movies

The Universal Truth of Falling Down

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One bad day. And that’s apparently all it takes. All that’s needed to turn a good, law-abiding citizen into a hard criminal. For friends and family to turn on them. And on the surface, this Joel Schumacher film appears to confirm that claim. All the things that the main character, William “Bill” Foster, happens over one day. But if you actually pay attention to the story, you’ll find that the movie is saying something different. Something else that shows just how things went so bad for Bill Foster.

The movie begins one hot day in Los Angeles in the early 1990s. The heat & noise of a traffic jam early in the morning pushes Bill to leave his car and walk all the way to his destination. But it isn’t until he arrives at a convenience store that he snaps. Enraged by what he claims is an over-priced item, he assaults the store owner and damages a large amount of his inventory. But he pays for hid drink and leaves. From there, he beats a bit on a couple of gang members. And when those gangsters fail to take down Bill later and get hospitalized themselves, he takes their guns. He holds up a fast food place when he’s a few minutes late for the lunch menu. The bigoted owner of a surplus store mistakes Bill as an ally for his Nazi beliefs and ends up being killed by him. Bill damages a construction site, scares an old man into a heart attack, and eventually dies by a cop shooting him at the pier.

I know this all sounds kind of insane. But if you watch the film and listen to how he justifies his actions, you might be inclined to be on his side. He talks about how prices are gauging people and he stands for his rights as a consumer. The gangsters provoke him by denying him the simple right of simply passing through to his destination. He’s not even five minutes late for the breakfast menu and is frustrated when he keeps getting told no. He points out to the old man how the country club is taking up space for a few people when it could be better served to the general public. A lot of Bill’s rants and dialogue do speak to how needlessly complicated and cruel our society can be. Especially when it comes to the day-to-day and common things we might not even think twice about. The narrative from this viewpoint gives us a guy who was fired after years of loyalty, constantly running into situations or people making his life harder, and all he wants is to see his daughter on her birthday. There is a lot about this character that we can connect with and understand where Bill is coming from.

But then the other narrative rears it’s head. The one that shines a light on the flaws of Bill as a character and how he frames himself. Yes, it is true that he is on his way to his daughter. But she lives with his ex-wife. Yet he refuses to actually recognize her as a former wife. He constantly calls her home, making her feel threatened and fearful. And it is through her we understand that Bill has a history of anger issues that have on occasion come close to him hurting her but always fell short. While that is good for her, it does show that there was always rage hidden under the surface. Building up until it boils over like it has during the events of this movie. And we do get to see one instance of him forcing his wife and daughter at a younger age do a few things despite her saying no to him through home video footage. Showing that while he views his marriage as something good, there are issues that he chooses to ignore.

Other contemporary reviews of the movie have pointed to how Bill might also be subconsciously nurturing racist beliefs. Not nearly to the same extent as a Nazi store owner he comes across in the middle of the movie. But more along the lines of claims and statements that the average American might not realize could be based in racism. Like how he argues with a store owner of Korean descent about how much money the US has given to South Korea and that should justify him paying less for his drink. The fact he can’t even confirm how much the US has probably given South Korea can be read as one such claim/belief he might not even recognize as being racist. While I’ll admit there are instances in the movie that could be read as such, I’m not sure that’s the real reason instances like that are in the film.

Bill Foster is a man who thought his life would be great. Have a wife and a family with a good job that involves him doing work for the US military. But he is at a point at his life where he has been fired for a month. Yea, him losing his job doesn’t actually happen in the film. It doesn’t happen on the same day as all these other events. He’s been unemployed and has let the anger build up inside. And we get the idea that over his life, he has failed to recognize just how different the world around him is compared to how he thinks it should be. This has lead to him losing his wife and child and even having a restraining order against him. And at the beginning of the movie, when subjected to heat with no change of getting his car’s AC to work and subjected to noise drilling into his head, he finally decides he no longer cares about following the same rules and laws he has been following. All he has ever gotten out of life that way is a disappointing and depressing life. Why not do things the way he feels is right?

That’s why I think the character is not so much exclusively racist on a subconscious level, but more that he is ignorant of how life has changed around him. There is a scene where he sees a black man protest outside of a bank, dressed in a similar dress shirt and tie like Bill, who was denied a small loan. The sign the man holds show the reason they say he was denied, which was because he was “not economically viable”. Using real world experience and knowledge, we could probably guess this was a cover-up for a bank not giving him money due to his race. When the police take this man away, he sees Bill and asks him to not forget him, and Bill responds back with a respecting nod. I see this as revelation for Bill’s true motivation. He’s a man who sees himself as being screwed over by life in nearly every aspect. And him seeing another guy going throw similar hardship is something he takes as confirmation that he should keep doing what he’s doing. Literally fighting back and damaging places and people he views as abusers of their power that get in his way of his final destination.

This is where I talk about the man pursuing him, Sargent Martin Prendergast. As we get to know a little bit of his life, he seems to have been at the mercy of similar life hardships as Bill. Even a touch worse in certain areas. And while he starts off as seemingly mild mannered, he does gain more confidence by the end of the film. He doesn’t go as far as Bill where he tries and just destroy everything with no plan afterwards. But he does fight back against co-workers going against him, curses out his jerk of a boss on live TV, and finds the confidence to hit the streets once again after years of being behind a desk. He sees that his life is not what he wanted it to be. But he’s taking more appropriate actions to take control of what he can and make sure things go the way he thinks they should. Bill doesn’t have a sense of what is truly right. Yes, he yells about how much of a waste of space a country club is. But he yells this as a guy is suffering a heart attack right next to him. Unable to get his pills because Bill caused the cart carrying them to go into a lake. And he just smirks at him and walks away. Bill is a man who only understands his own anger and life and will justify it until he is confronted into realizing it differently.

And that’s what happens. The Sargent holds Bill at gunpoint at the pier. And it is at this point that Bill is forced to face the fact that today, he is the bad guy. He could decide to let himself be taken in and watch his daughter grow up behind bars. But he thinks about the toll and weight of something like that might have on her. So instead of doing what the law says is the right thing – the same body of laws he used to follow that lead to his current miserable state – he does what he thinks is the right thing. He tricks the cop into shooting and killing him, so that the money from his life insurance can be given to his daughter. His life is done no matter what, but Bill does what he thinks is the best thing for his daughter to hopefully have a better life than his.

This is a movie about a guy who sees himself as a victim. But his actions often contradict that by showing how narcissistic he is capable of being. And while that’s accurate, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some good points. There is a lot about our establishments and society that work against the average citizen like Bill that needs to be taken down and fixed. But that latter part is something that Bill overlooked during his trek across Los Angeles. And that is what we need to take away from this movie. Take down what is broken in our world but then replace it with something better. Bill was a man that life had left behind. Some of that was because life just changes naturally, it evolves. But part of that is also due to life not giving him a chance to realize the changes and adjust. So at the end of the day, Bill is the kind of guy we need to look in order to find a starting point of how to improve our own lives.