Watching The Expanse lately gives me a similar feeling to watching The Heroes back then: how little pieces in the universe start to blend and match with each other. The reverend Sorreont-Gillis invited runs a clinic that has to make deals with drug dealers... must be the same clinic where the guy who gave Bobbie her way to beach works at. And now Bobbie/Avasarala meeting up with the Roci crew. This episode has a tense action as well, very nicely done.
So much development we get in one episode. We get to see more of Avasarala with her two "aides". We get to see how Errinwright turns out to be still an ambitious, "ends justify the means", just right after he looked vulnerable earlier. There is a lot of pressure between them and Mao as well. We get to see Holden acts as righteous, grudge-filled captain. This is one of these times when I wished Miller was still alive to kick some sense to Holden - he's a good counter-balance.
There is a slight contrast here between Naomi and Holden: the Belter right to the core and the Earther who ends up as Belter survivor. If Dawes and Johnson fought for how they handle power, Naomi and Holden "fought" for how differently they see values in human's life. Holden dreams big and loves to play hero, but Naomi, a Belter since birth, knows the value of life on the ground. The refugee crisis on Ganymede Station is both emotional and powerful, as the big guy Champa touched his chest, gesturing a Belter's loyalty. It might be idealized as the other commenter has said, but it is the other extremes of previous episodes where a Belter would space out Martians out of hatred.
After the last, this was a great episode. The power politics during UN-MCR meeting was tense and Aghdashloo's Avasarala appears bold and masterful.
But the kick was the whole scene on Rocinante's attempt sneaking into Ganymede. "I know your type. Go save the world, if you think you can." That line and what happens after shows that we might like to play hero, but things may not go as well as we thought. Might seem wrong to let wrong-doings slip on our watch, but intervening it with our moral high ground on the top don't make things necessarily better. There's a wide gap between taking harsh life as granted and idealizing how that life should be.
It portrays perfectly how Holden and the crew has gone from your average ice haulers to someone who games on politics like Avasarala and the other. And yet, like the other commenter has said, "We aren't expected to take sides because each of the three groups [four if you count Holden] are simply humans trying to do what's best for their respective populations."
All of them are spun in this game of power, each with their own take on it - it is not too far off if some people may call The Expanse as sci-fi Game of Thrones.
"You were meant to go to a new sun." I love how this line describes the twist and turn, the way things go in unexpected routes in the whole episodes. From Nauvoo's repurpose to the Eros changing course.
Great pilot to set up the season. Tension between Earth and Mars thicken. The show plays the factions as rational actors with tactical decisions rather than forcing a moral dichotomy. Holden's crew opens the mystery box that had been the mystery in the first season. There's more character sharing stories and banters with each other. The crew starts to feel like a crew. There is one rather sped-up dialogue between Jim Holden and Naomi, and Mao's monologue about sacrifice also feels a bit too simplistic, but overall it's good.
Even if the plot is predictable, the performances of Bryan Cranston (Silas) and Essie Davis (Vera) were stunning that they're able to make up this whole episode, especially with the delivery on the last line. The rather unique brutalist-futurist blend architecture makes the set much more convincing; the tight apartment rooms, linear corridors, and stone walls make for an oppressive environment in a tense Earth where the drama blooms.
This review is for the episode "The Hood Maker". Trakt wrongly named the episode.
Not the strongest one to start the series with. It had some good ideas and a curious setting to develop with, but the world-building and the characters are unconvincing. Dialogues feel a bit artificial and the plot feels rushed to fit the one hour length.
It takes a while, but the show starts to tack on the story on this third episode, and it pays off. The interrogation scene was great, but it mostly stands out thanks to amazing performance by Greg Bryk as the interrogator/Lopaz. The way he talks so confidently is almost oppressive, and the doubt he cast to the team members makes me question the real motives behind the characters. Shohreh Aghdashloo as the United Nations officer Chrisjen Avasarala is also a highlight of this episode, depicting a strong yet doubtful at times woman leader and displaying the ambiguity of system-wide politics.
As we get to explore Martian warship with its own dark red, brooding aura, and traverse through Ceres Station, it is clear that the show has a high production value, almost nearing the level of theatrical film.
It's far from perfect, especially for a pilot, but this sets the Star Wars tone far better than any Disney Star Wars movie could.
Having Dave Filoni on board as the director may have helped setting this as a Star Wars cinema that actually takes place in a Star Wars universe: recognizable alien species and creatures (rodians, ugnaughts, blurrgs), languages other than English ("Basics" in universe terms), in-universe lore consistency (Beskar steel, Mandalorian culture), settings, and practical effects that makes a lot of sense for Star Wars. Those important aspects that make Star Wars universe convincing can hardly be seen in the new Star Wars trilogy or its spinoff nowadays.
That said, the pacing is a bit awkward. There is not much hook, story-wise, to make the pilot intriguing - unless you're a Star Wars fan with familiarity with the gimmicks. The action leaves more to be desired. Cinematography is quite well-done however. The ending also picks up some interesting turn, in the hopes that it will develop to a story that delves into character's motivation and personal goals (something that Solo tried but failed), just like Lucas' Star Wars that we know.
Everything nicely wraps up. The problem is, it's too nicely wrapped.
I liked how the finale evoke Kovacs' word about Envoys: make friends with the locales, then leave them after a while. Kovacs leaving the city and leaving Ryker's sleeve is the most physical manifestation of this word: season ends, body ends, his story in the city ends.
However the episode seems to hangs too tightly on a typical blockbuster ending: the good triumphs evil after all. Mysteries are resolved, the "bad guys are caught", and our heroes won again. It's even complete with sacrifices, which a typical Hollywood ending usually requires, but not one that ultimately causes bittersweet moment that makes us reflect what the season has been all about.
The conflict with Reileen is too easily resolved. It alsmost seems like they attempt to make Reileen's motivation complex, something beyond a sisterly love or obsession, some sort of fable, that long age does not necessarily give one wisdom but a twisted view of the world (as they seem to take this theme with Bancroft). But it ended up as something weird, as it wasn't properly outlined. Perhaps it's due to factor that Reileen appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the season.
Not to mention that Kovacs' last moment with her was counterfeited thanks to his body double, which leads to the "heroes ganging up the baddies" moment explained above. Speaking of which, the theme that plays when Ava kicks ass simultaneously feels a little bit satisfying and completely out of place. We get to see how she rises up, but it is knitted in a very loose thread that makes the hard-boiled cyberpunk world Altered Carbon has built the whole season to a typical action movie.
The finale is disappointing, however I still hope for season 2 to come. Hopefully with something more engaging.
This episode gives Homelander a lot of spaces, and considering how volatile he is. it makes the episode running in high tension. However this pretty good tense seems to disappear into thin air once you finished the episode. I'm not saying that it lost its tense, it's just the bits of pieces presented seem to be saved for the finale--or, for the next season. Many things are left hanging in the episode, following prior episode. Which can be good if the finale is great, but it gambles heavily on that chance. Not to mention the promotional text, "the Boys learn this lesson the hard way" turns out to be only promotional. Some dialogues between characters seem to be forced and sped up to move the plot forward (ie. Hughie and Starlight) and it seems less convincing considering they had a great start. However credit is due to Karl Urban as he excellently portrayed the filled-with-grudge Billy Butcher really well.
It's decent and watchable, I guess. Like most anime adaptation, Bleach suffers from awkward pacing and very tight room for the characters to interact. Though not as bad as other adaptation, this live action still attempts to compress one long arc to a short 2 hours movie. It tries to give its own twist by giving closure to the plot, but they could have stayed with the cliffhanging ending instead (just like in the anime, letting Rukia go). As a result, key characters from the anime had to be introduced only to serve as background characters. They could have focused only on select few.
Regardless, the action is quite well choreographed as an anime adaptation. It's better than Rurouni Kenshin trilogy (which gets worse each series), and the big sword Ichigo wields looks heavy enough (something Kenshin didn't get right). The acting is really good, but they are not supplanted with a good writing, resulting in some awkward dialogues. The use of music could be better too as sometimes it seems like they had to force the funky rock music to every scene (reminds me of Berserk 2016 anime). On a more positive note, I like the way they did the ending even though they had to give closure, as it effectively closes the movie while still opening possibilities for a sequel, though it might have lacked the grim tone the original has (Rukia has to deal with the execution in the original).
The first time I knew that this film will feature Apocalypse I feel like I've already disappointed: it's not the time yet to feature one of the most ferocious X-Men's supervillain.
What I watched seems to confirm my suspected disappointment.
This IMO film can actually be good, but there are two problems. In the case of supervillain, he mimics the mistake of Avengers Age of Ultron: the super indestructible god-like villain was defeated in the most anticlimactic way.
The villain's introduction was too rushed. The development of the conflict was too rushed. The villain's demise, too, was too rushed.
This is especially so considering Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) is an ultimate villain who can turn dozens to dust just by flicking their fingers and build a pyramid just by twisting their hands. In the end he just became "just another crazy guy who wants to end the world (like we don't have enough of them, dammit!)."
In terms of the focus of the story, the film also mimics the mistakes of the Captain America Civil War: the title of the movie is not that connected to the focus of the story.
In the Civil War, the issue should've been Sokovia Accords. In Apocalypse, the issue should've been the threat of destruction of the world and fulfillment of Apocalypse's ambition.But the movie don't let us understand why Apocalypse has such a big ambition. We also do not see any kind of motives that led the Four Horsemen (Magneto et al.) to decide in following Apocalypse.
Even for Magneto, who has the most obvious reason, the way they outline the story makes Magneto a character with unstable, undecided personality. All the destruction and threat was subsided anticlimactic-ly with no repercussion at all (seriously, how the hell the world forgives Magneto just like that, when we were shown earlier how he became a fugitive?). This also downplays the impact of Days of Future Past's ending.
This film feels like it's leaning to become some sort of closure to Bryan Singer's X-Men reboot. And just that.
There are inauguration of old characters with new faces: Storm, Cyclops, Jean Gray, Nightcrawler. Alexander Shipp replaced Halle Berry, Tye Sheridan replaced James Marsden, Sophie Turner replaced Famke Janssen, etc. And of course James McAvoy / Patrick Stewart, Michael Fassbender / Ian McKellen.
Through this film, it looks like Singer is saying that this is the beginning of a reboot of the new world of X-Men. New stories are coming. And for that reason, so many subplots are built here.
Unfortunately, just like what happened in Civil War, this means that the film's initial premise (Apocalypse's threat) can be replaced by any kind of villains which does not change the story at all.
Originally written in 29th May 2016 https://www.facebook.com/xaliber/posts/10153652249883543
Released in the same year as Ocean's 8, this heist movie takes a more grounded approach to all-women heist group. The premise is simple: what would widows of deceased criminals would do to survive after their husbands' passing? Yet it is executed masterfully.
Where other heist movies aspires to get the money for fun and wealth, they do it for survival. No need to be said that it's a crime thriller movie.
The all-women cast was performed very well; despite characters not interacting to each other in intense, dialogue-laden moments, every characters are very well established. Part of it is thanks to great performances, especially Viola Davis' (Veronica). The all-women cast was also utilized to its maximum potential, making the characters being women matter: going through the hardships a widow of a criminal would do.
The movie attempts to portray a violent-ridden Chicago through glimpse of tension: police brutality, interracial marriage, and facades of "minority empowerment" (that is more than meets to the eyes). Characters are introduced quite plenty but not underused. Smallest details matter.
There is a rather expected twist towards the end, but the way it ends up was done in unexpecting way. In a heartbreaking moment, Veronica decided to kill off her husband that she's been mourning all the time, that she's already went without her husband anyway. Considering the way the women's attempt on survival throughout the movie, the way the twist was done ascend "empowerment" to a completely different level.
That said, the film started with a bit of odd pacing. Some supposedly emotional moments could be cut a bit shorter. 30 minutes pass and it's all good though.
Very worthy to be watched.
Interesting premise, good set up that makes the world's atmosphere. However the plot is kind of messy. Ending seems to take weird direction just to wrap the story.
I liked this the most out of 3 Blade Runner short movies. Such a short piece but displays Wallace's erratic personality the best. It also sets the tone of BR2049 forward - life and death, real and unreal. The fast whimpering the Replicant made moments before he followed Wallace's order is a very nice, subtle touch.
This movie tries to be an adaptation of the original manga by adapting the whole story while at the same attempts to put Takashi Miike's original twist. It fails at both.
It should've been obvious that you can't adapt manga spanning 207 chapters long to 141 minutes movie. To compensate this, Takashi cuts story arcs and make his own plot direction, which is normal and can actually be done well. However he still attempts to give (multiple) nod(s) to the original manga, which makes the movie ended up as nerd-fest references but jumbled mess of plot.
Characters come and go. Itto-ryu becomes villains of the week. Some characters remain alive as a nod to the manga but left unseen/unexplained (i.e. Magatsu). Even the main protagonists and villain (Manji, Rin, and Kagehisa) aren't given enough time to explore their relationship and quest(s) for revenge. Takashi's attempt at portraying dialogues between Rin and Kagehisa ended up as merely manga reference that wasted 5 minutes rather than taking that as a plot point. Shira's appearance at the end come out of nowhere, interfering with the original plot Takashi has been building up, which seems to serve nothing but another reference to the manga.
Takashi actually cuts and wraps at the important points in the manga where he tried to develop his own story. But he seemed to hesitate frequently in continuing to develop his own story. Philosophical banter between characters, especially between Manji and Shizuma Eiku which seems to be adapted straight out of the manga, felt hollow. The ending feel forced with typical shonen manga-like resolution. He should have focused on the original plot he intended to develop, or, if he wanted to adapt faithfully to the manga, should have taken one small arc instead of compressing all those at one stroke.
The fights are well choreographed as per Takashi usual, especially in Kagehisa fights in which the weight of his weapon can be felt by the audience. This is no small feat considering Rurouni Kenshin's adaptation, with Sanosuke looked like swinging plastic sword. Casts are great. However they can't save Takashi's Blade of the Immortal from measly, boring 2 hours run.
The ending was beautiful, with Rick reflecting on his memories with Carl and the kind of society they wanted to live in together. However such sweet ending was not built on top of strong father-and-son relationship that would have made the ending more cathartic. It was instead built on the on-going pretext of tense, violence, and betrayal.
Which, on one hand, resulted in climactic "mercy triumphs" theme that this season has been playing around (while still not completely fulfilling its potential). On the other hand, such weak development, overshadowed by other subplots, yearns me for more--for a more personal development between Rick, Negan, and Carl that could have been. The fast-and-loose resolution to the conflict that the season has been building instead downplayed all the hate and grudge between characters (minor and major) to forcefully pull that sweet ending in one episode.
Disappointing it maybe, hopefully this finale is a sign that Walking Dead finally put to rest the "conflict between communities" that they have played for several seasons, and start a new, different arc in the next.
This is not a conventional Batman animation. This is a Gurren Lagann styled anime (in terms of its ridiculous fun and gigantic mecha - yes, mecha is huge part of this anime) with Batman characters.
The aesthetic is beautifully done. The art is stylistically gorgeous, the character design is impressive, the animation is very smooth (both the main 3D animation and the hand-drawn animated parts), the camera works is dynamic, and the music makes the mood (mostly - some aren't quite good but the last battle theme hypes it up). The action is well-done: very fast but does not let audience lose track of the kinetic movement. Combat between characters (instead of the mechas) can have more screen time, but for what it's worth, it's great. This anime is really a spectacle.
...and only a spectacle, mostly.
The premise is very interesting, the setting also has potential, but the story falls flat. The ensemble cast of characters don't let much build up and especially character developments. This is particularly felt with the villains - there are plenty of them, but none of them seem to have a point aside from being Joker's henchmen (especially when it's revealed that they are mind-controlled... they are practically pawns). The last 15 minutes feel dragging. I'm fine with nonsensical fun with the monkeys and the bats, but it feels like they seem to be there just for the plot to drags needlessly. The Joker twist is kinda forced too.
The anime manages to engage me in the course of 90 minutes, thanks to the impressive feat of animation. Expect nothing much more than that, and this will be a nice, different watch in your spare time.
At first I have doubts because of the shaky start and the uninspiring fights with the grunts, especially in the catacombs tunnel: flashy gun-kata choreography that is not sufficiently captured by bad camera works (why the continous wide shot?) that cannot capture the kinetic action and typical cliched henchmen who bring fist to a gunfight (and chasing Wick in an open space - at least the henchmen in the first film had reasons not to injure the crowds). Such a missed opportunity when other films that focused on flashy gun-kata-esque action can provide dynamic camera works better (i.e. The Raid, Equilibrium).
The action with other assassins however are more well-filmed, especially with Cassian. Camera tries to capture the speed nicely, with occassional zooming out to break the tense. Despite of that, like the henchmen fights, the fast-paced, skull-crushing action still lacks impact--lacks the "oomph" that makes each blow feels painful to the audience.
Punches, stabs, and cracks were designed (through sound and camera and I guess choreography) in a rapid succession, that when the ultimate killing blow finally strikes, it doesn't feel sastisfyingly impactful. It feels like just bodies after bodies to get rid off; which may represent what Wick has in mind as he murders the seemingly endless assassins, but for the audience, it makes Wick's struggle for survival feels trivial. Particularly so since the film decides to give supposedly grievance injuries to Wick for handicap - cracking bones, deep wounds - but Wick's fast and easy recovery as the plot progresses make those handicaps feel trivial.
That said, John Wick films are still one of the better ones in gun-kata(-esque) department, an action genre not many filmmakers seem to want to tackle. The universe is also interesting as a comic book film. But Chapter 2 doesn't live its full potential. Hopefully the setup for next sequel can spice it up much better.
Still as eccentric as the first season, this season starts out with similar spectacle and embezzlement. The plot paces faster than the first, however there are still scenes that feel a bit little dragging, like they're still playing out with David's mind as he goes. The writing can be weak at times, like the part where David meets with Syd again. David felt it was just like yesterday, but for Syd it's been a year. There can be so much tension in their relationship, but it is simply resolved with a sex in astral plane. As a pilot episode, this episode doesn't fare too well. But still intriguing at very least.
Fantastic visual. Immersive world-building. The two quickly establish Altered Carbon as the classic cyberpunk series. However, as in seem to be common among cyberpunk TV/movie adaptation, the season pilot could've worked better on the narrative. The world building is impressive (e.g. in dialogues showing corporation looming over public facility) but the story itself isn't quite engaging. The episode hooks me up instantly to the world but I feel some kind of disconnection in the characters - there seems to be something troubling Takeshi but there's not enough reason to care about his struggle. Action is nice tough, especially the bar scene.
Ground to earth, humane episode. It's interesting to watch this after 15 Million Merits as 15MM attempted to take it in macro scale with the issue of infinite distraction, The Entire History of You takes it very grounded with the issue of privacy/surveillance. It's really an interesting inversion between the two theme. Usually it's the reverse.
Technology is intertwined with daily life, people interact with them convincingly through, and I like the bits of airport/government surveillance shown up briefly. Characters aren't as nuanced as the The National Anthem, however it progresses necessarily and believable "just enough' to the issue it tries to bring up: trust, memory, and relationship. The ending resonate a lot with me and left me pondering of the circumstances. It gets it "just right", however there's room for improvement. This is a science fiction drama and a very worthy theme to revisit some time later.
I feel like the all bad episodes and dumb characters' decision are made only for this last episode. This episode highlights the quality of Carl's leadership and the supposedly possible scenario of Carl as Rick's substitute. Or, as Negan said himself, "one of [the] top guys."
However all that seems to fall flat with the impending doom of Carl, as a walker somehow has bitten him on the stomach. Which is a major let down. We've seen him this played out with a lot of characters before: Dale, Hershel, Glen. The most interesting part from Walking Dead is the dynamics between Rick and the other characters who serve as his more rational mind. All those characters are dead though, and every time one of them get to bite the dust, we get to see Rick turning either to a desperate version or "Ricktator" version of himself. With the preview for the upcoming episode, it seems like TWD intends to play the "Ricktator" persona again. Which is getting boring after a while.
Aside from Carl, there are only two other characters worthy to mention. One is Maggie, where we see her trying to maintain a leadership position. This has been an interesting take, especially seeing her relation with Jesus. There is a lot of Rick we've been seeing from Maggie in the last two seasons, and her hatred towards Savior is rightfully understandable seeing what happened to Glenn. Jesus never experienced this sort of horror, and so he always tries to play it humane and safe. Seeing the two play along is a nice one.
The other is Eugene. Previous episode seems to attempt to establish Eugene as an opportunist, craving for attention "loser" type. Despite the worst from episode 7, it got a very good portrayal of Eugene. However this episode flips that good development around and give back Eugene a sense of "good heart". It is questionable direction especially after a very good take on Eugene before, though I'd guess it is a plot point to somehow give a way for Gabriel to return to his friends. TWD did this a lot to their characters only to make way for plot, just like what happened to Daryl too often.
As for the other characters, there are really no interesting thing to mention. This episode feels like just another "buildup episode" TWD has been going on lately. Too often. A lot of things happen at once, characters barely take meaningful action, only waiting and kiting in an attempt to build something for the next episode(s).
I think that's one of the thing been plaguing TWD lately: too many setups. It results in weak characters, dumb decisions, and overarching senseless plot. As a mid-season finale, I have to say this one is disappointing
Unbelievable setting (empty hotel with only a handful few staff) which is kind of excused in the end (I'd guess technical limitation lays out the plot). Very slow plot build up. Could've made an interesting horror suspense (almost no jumpscare) but the execution is pretty poor. Very bad narrative style (everything has to be said out loud by the characters). Overall poor acting. Decent CGI for Indonesian film.
There isn't much to be watched aside from seeing pretty girls in sexy maid outfit, especially Shandy Aulia who got some good shots. Unlike most Indonesian horror, they don't really sell the sexiness, but somehow it's the most noticeable in this long 2 hours film.
Finally a decent episode. Part of the reason this episode works better than previous episodes is because it focuses on one arc (Ezekiel and Carol story). It makes the episode less jumbled and give the characters some breathing space.
The beginning starts out rather unconvincingly, but as the episode progresses they finally show some stakes at the life of character (Ezekiel). No more tricks: life could actually mean something. However, in contrast to this, bunch of lives of The Kingdom fighters hardly mean anything in this episode. They got slaughtered, and there was a brief flashback about them with their families, but they were really faceless. It feels like they're just a plot point for the main character (Ezekiel). The only meaningful death here might be Shiva, the pet tiger. Her death proves well not just because it's the closest to one of the main character, but because they have enough screentime and not just jumbled in the beginning of the episode.
But both The Kingdom fighters and her death is an important plot point to get to the most important point of this episode: the arc of Ezekiel. It shows that it only takes a front stage, a speech, and confidence to make "some guy" to be a thing he is now: a leader. The intro with him, starting as a just your ordinary Joe going to dressing room, to be a king complete with attributes, play a lot with the idea of dramaturgy - what matters is your front stage, not back stage.
That aside, in the action department they really need some better directing and plotting. The car chase doesn't look convincing at all with Rick and Daryl able to avoid a light machine gun shots and the absence of tense/feeling of being pursuit in the chase. There is also some stupidly inconvenient action that the characters should have thought up, like Carol shooting that damn car's tire if she doesn't want the car to go.
It's still okay-ish though, especially compared to previous disastrous episodes.
Everyone might not know how Balsa looks like but come on. A woman with spear dragging a boy around shouldn't be that common, right?
They used a distraction but we never get to see how a bunch of few people manage to distract a 300 person manhunt. There was an interesting hunt for Balsa by the elite force but it was cut short by deus ex machina. And after journeying far into the North, why the heck Balsa returned to the capital?
The episode is still not focused with so many events happening all at once. The shootout is still as bad as before (seriously, TWD should stop making shootout too often).
Too many stupid inconsistencies for people who are supposed to be experienced in combat and survival after all these years (Rick and co, and the Saviors.), e.g. leaving your badly shot friend alone in the middle of nowhere (where both walkers and humans could be a threat), planning absolutely nothing for the POW aside from "hey let's go to Maggie she knows this better", shooting in an open field with no cover at all, and the damned walkers tumbling down from hill--what the hell is this? You've survived from walkers for god knows how long and then suddenly you forgot how to handle this kind of thing?
On a more positive note, I'm looking forward to how they would handle Morgan. I can see the potential, though it should be better executed. Morgan went from a traumatic madman to a peace-loving hippie and then back to madman--some might say this is an inconsistency, I'd say TWD could build on this to show that Morgan never returned sane all along. I like the slight throwback to the events portrayed in Season 3, with Morgan saying, "everybody turns!" However at this moment TWD needs to portray this "never returned to sanity" Morgan more evidently, showing that his peace-loving might be a facade. As it is now it feels like he's an inconsistent character.
I feel a bit mixed about the return of the "familiar face" (Morales). The person yapped for a while only to be killed mercilessly. The conversation between him and Rick could lead to interesting possibilities - moral dilemmas and such - with Rick reminiscing the people they both used to know (Lori, Glenn, etc; especially Glenn as he was killed by Negan) and how the situation they faced made them the person they're not used to be. It falls flat, however, with the quick demise of Morales.
On the one hand it emphasizes the merciless trait Rick's group might have become. On the other hand, it's a waste of a character. It feels like Rick-Morales encounter wanted to be a Rick-Morgan encounter in Season 3, with both characters reminiscing the past, the common grounds they used to have, the vastly different situation they got themselves into, etc. It ends up only as a tease though, with Morales' death. Which is a shame. It's been long since TWD has a good protagonist-antagonist dynamics.
The distinct visual style and music throw you back to the late 80s-early 90s. With cars driving in the middle of night it's such a treat for people's looking for the outrun aesthetics. Albert Brooks and Ryan Gosling make interesting performance, with the eerie villainous vibe and stoic protagonist each.
However the film rests on a kinda shaky foundation.
One, It could work on the pacing a little bit more. Especially true in the first half of the film. They do not utilise the first 45 minutes to show maximally where the film stands strong - visual and music - instead they opt to portray relationship between characters in a very dragging way. Case in point: Gosling and Mulligan relationship. Both portray a not too talkative characters, especially Gosling. There are many possible ways to show the depths of interaction between the two, but the film chooses the worst, which is by showing scenes with inaudible dialogues and laughs overlayed by some corny romantic music. This is a huge missed opportunity to explore the performance of both actors.
Two, while the brutal violence is portrayed very stylistically, toward the end of the film it feels rather hollow. It is violence for the sake of violence, with thoughtless characters (who the hell ran into the ocean in a pursuit?), weak plot drive, and suddenly rushed pacing. This is very disappointing as the first brutality (after the fateful robbery) was done terrifically, with an intense atmosphere during the action.
Even for an arthouse action film (some other say neo noir thriller), Drive isn't that spectacular in this regard. Blade Runner 2049 (another film that features Gosling, still similar genre), though not without its fault, was done more masterfully.
