UNETIDA: "We shot nothing down"

Colonel "Whopper" Creedon, Deputy Director for Intelligence UNETIDA/UNPASID gave a statement to the press on Saturday citing that on Friday September 21st, "a calibration test of Annihilator Five one of our secret orbital defence platforms may have accidentally initiated a misfire."

"This is not uncommon," offered Creedon. "However we assure you that during all calibration, the weapons are facing away from the planet and the moon. We can safely say that we shot nothing down, no satellite, space junk or space craft."

Creedon continued, "Concerning the recent media reports in the news media about a 'Yellow and orange ball'; we are quite sure this was just old space junk in a slowly decaying orbit that was just then finally coming to a planet fall. It's pure coincidence that this just happened at the same time as our calibration."

Creedon offered no explanation to reports of a flotilla of UNETIDA naval assets leaving port from HMNB Clyde under the command of Captain "Harpoon" Dutton, KBE seen heading out to sea in the direction of the 'trail of light' seen on Friday.

Let us re-imagine - Total Recall

I about as much wanted to see this remade as I did another of Paul Verhoeven’s movies - Robocop, but for different reasons. Robocop is the singular greatest movie of all time and it should never be remade because nothing can be better than it period. Total Recall [1990] on the other hand is a guilty pleasure of sheer nonsense that entertains more because it’s indeed so daft it’s great and why try to do better than it as Phillip K. Dick’s original story was just as daft?

Colin Farell is our brain-fucked hero this time around and seems like a sad and pathetic character which keeps him more in line with Dick’s source material. He works at a factory in London making robot soldiers without questioning the need for millions of them like a good little boy. However he lives in Australia and instead of the nightmare that is today’s air travel he has a comfy “Fall” a sort of vertical bullet train that takes him from London [part of the United Federation of Britain] to The Colony which seems to be the entire Australian continent. These are also the only inhabited regions of the planet, the others having fallen to the ravages of nuclear war during the century. Fed up with the nature of his boring and predictable existence he goes to Rekall to have a more exciting memory implanted but unbeknown to him he already has exciting memories – those of his real life – or is it?

Underworld’s Len Wiseman does a terrific casting job with the ladies by adding his wife Kate Bekinsale as well as Jessica Biel who are suitably distracting from the many holes in this hokey plot. On the other hand Brian Cranston with a ridiculous hairpiece is easily the hammiest I’ve ever seen him as the UFB Chancellor Cohaagen who wears his body armour over his suit and leads from the front, literally. I also question Bill Nighy as the master rebel genius, whose appearance was foreshadowed throughout the whole movie to the point where the audience was "huh?" when he appeared. I must also mention Harry Gregson-Williams superb score that hopefully will lead him on to impress us all with a bit more varied set of projects now that his career with Tony Scott is sadly over.

While the design of the movies set pieces are quite extraordinary, a sight to behold, sadly the movie’s physics are even more laughable than your average sy-fy channel movie. Even when you try to fathom what could possibly survive long enough to build the Fall’s ‘track’ that close to the Earth’s flaming core [let alone drill thousands of kilometers from both ends and assuming that the different tectonic places the exit points are situated would never move again!] you would assume that knowing that halfway through the journey you experience weightlessness and a subsequent complete gravity reversal - wouldn’t it be prudent to wear magnetic boots or at least adhere yourself to a solid surface? Sorry I love sci-fi but that treats people like idiots.

Final Verdict: This new 2012 version while deeply flawed, still is almost as entertaining as it’s progenitor. It’s a convincing chase movie with dazzling special effects, daring stunts and solid performances from it’s leads. However it lacked the charm and the wit which made the original, while dated now, what it was. Total Recall 2012 will be forgotten in 20 years but even then we will still be saying “Get your ass to Mars!”

Colonel Creedon Rating: ***

There is only one RoboCop

Yes I've seen the photo. If you haven't seen it, then you will have to look elsewhere for it because I will not be throwing any kind of support behind this new "RoboCop".

Paul Starship Troopers Verhoeven crafted a outstandingly violent tale of a man who became a robotic Judge Dredd melded with Dirty Harry and armed only with a simple set of 3 rules and a machine pistol redefined justice for cinema goers in 1987 and it cannot be remade.

To think that a violent science-fiction movie is all RoboCop is however then you've either not seen it enough or it's been to long since you've seen it [the third option - that you've not seen it is literally a crime around here]. You see - RoboCop is set in Detroit for a reason - the same reason that the city is not thought of in glamorous terms even today, a place of little prosperity, high unemployment and urban crime. The movie explores the gamut of humanity; emotion, immortality, greed but most importantly - identity.

RoboCop was also a satirical look at some elements of Reaganomics but especially the rise of media that can all too easily be used to sway or even change public opinion. A brewing World War III is mentioned briefly by a newscaster on a channel that later uses 60 seconds of airtime to advertise a family oriented nuclear destruction themed board game.

RoboCop is my favourite movie of all time. I've helped fund the statue they're erecting in Detroit and I own three different DVD copies [above] containing different cuts, different qualities and presentations in different aspect ratios just to experience everything in different ways and analyse it even more than I have done so with my religion - Star Wars. The reason for this is because I know that each time I look upon something so undeniably perfect in every way I find answers to many of my own questions.

While I enjoyed the Brazilian move Tropa De Elite which he directed, I do not believe that José Padilha has the talent to make little more than a shadow of the the original RoboCop as even The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner himself could not make even a passingly good sequel to the original in 1990. It is because of this that I will not see this 'remake', so I care nothing about the Dark Knight-esque, G.I.Joe 'accelerator suit' inspired new RoboCop design, nor do I care to be informed about the latest Robo-rumours from your favourite websites.

I choose not to comment further on RoboCop [2013] because for me it will be as if it doesn't exist.

Links from IGN

The Bourne Legacy? No, The Bourne Miscalculation

Once director Paul Greengrass and therefore Matt Damon stepped away from this otherwise brilliant franchise which had a rare consistency of excellence from the first to the third movie, my serious interest waned. It picked up slightly when I discovered the usually splendid [if not tad too over-exposed right now] Jeremy Renner would be stepping forward not as Jason Bourne, but as Aaron Cross another “creation” of the secret government project that created Bourne. Pair him with a cast including fellow Oscar-worthy actors Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton and this just might be something to see.

Sadly no. This was a failure. While I felt the action scenes were somewhat adequate, well timed and choreographed and I was pleased by the level of automatic gunfire and loud noises; I felt overall that the movie was devoid of the tension and suspense that made the previous entries in the franchise what they were. Performances from the aforementioned Oscar-class cast were ho-hum at best for which I lay the blame firmly at the feet of director Tony Gilroy who proved he should really just stick to writing as he's damn good at that instead. 

Gilroy probably had a greater understanding of the whole somewhat meandering plot of the series since he actually wrote everything! Sadly he just wasn't able to coherently let the rest of us mortals watching know just what the hell he was trying to do. The plot device that this was a different perspective on some of the same events, a greater clandestine level behind the scenes of the already clandestine world created in the original trilogy was utter shit. It was so convoluted that it lacked the cohesion to be entertaining when the action started and at that point vanished up it’s own arse.

At some point along the way I think they knew they had actually lost their way and it seemed like an afterthought to add certain elements of the previous trilogy including mentioning Jason Bourne and showing photographs of Matt Damon to “remind” people what they were watching. Some movies do this in an effortless way that makes perfect sense, but this movie was hitting you over the head with them as if to say – “but look here is what happened then, only now it’s now, do you see what we’re trying to do?” – yes I could eventually I guess but at that point I was beyond caring. I woke up when the flaccid and unconvincing “evil super-agent” introduced only 20 minutes before the ending died wonderfully ridiculously along with my enthusiasm for more of this.

Final Verdict: Avoid it, watch the other three instead for proper entertainment – THAT’s Bourne’s legacy, not this nonsense.

 Colonel Creedon rating: **

The Expendables explode again in The Expendables 2

You’ll all remember my rave review of the original The Expendables in 2010. The brainchild of Sylvester Stallone, the movie brought some down on their luck 80’s/90’s action stars together with a few new friends like Jason Statham to kick ass on a made-up tropical island. The movie was to say the least, absolutely fucking fantastic but criticisms were Stallone's skewed direction and that while  that it should have been a tongue-in-cheek cheesy action movie - parts of it took itself a bit too seriously. One scene that was totally out of place was an attempt to introduce a serious emotional depth to Tool, Mickey Rourke’s character while was flawlessly delivered by Oscar nominee Rourke, it had no place in a movie that should have essentially been a balls-out auctioneer where the only dialogue that should have been spoken would use gunfire and explosions as punctuation.

If you’re a misguided individual who thought that the element I described, was what made the movie, you missed the point of the movie itself. The majority of criticism levied against Stallone’s effort was because of that. Thankfully Sly listened to my criticism and got Simon Con Air / The Mechanic West to helm. West proceeded to dispense with any cohesive message like Rourke’s “loss of humanity and atonement” speech replacing the void with a mortality lesson and even more testosterone into the cast just to blow shit up with far less yapping - and naturally it worked.

While the dialog is a regurgitation of all the stars previous roles put together by a group of trained monkeys and at best it’s basic plot makes the A-Team seem as deep as Inception, the sheer goose-bump inducing awesomeness of seeing so many screen-heroes together at once lets you ignore that. I laughed and cried tears of pure joy at the sight of Stallone, Schwarzenegger and Willis waltzing through an airport on screen together literally shooting the heads off bad-guys as they make their way to exact retribution on evil Jean Claude Van Damme while delivering dry one-liners as Chuck Norris supports them from above like some bearded guardian-angel ninja . That is a truly most wonderful moment in cinematic history and the movie itself, one of the most enjoyable I’ve ever seen.

The opening scene of The Expendables 2 was a protracted tantric orgasm of incredible action, death, destruction, dismemberment, vaporisation, guns, rockets, armoured vehicles and of course ridiculous one-liners and the movie rolls like that until the end taking only a few small breathers for exposition but really it was just so your own heart rate would go back to normal or so that you'd not die of adrenaline poisoning. The level of clichéd utterly predictable trademark Hollywood violence, scored once again by Brian Tyler, combined with the sheer nonsense surrounding various action stars appearance [and disappearance] and melded with the artistic beauty that Simon West previously showed us in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider was a recipe for true celluloid magic.

Final Verdict: Oh joyful perfection

Colonel Creedon Rating: EXEMPTION GRANTED

Seven years?

I guess that if this was my first post back then today is a seventh Birthday of sorts for Whopper's Bunker. 

I'm reliably informed by many people, people who've either had or read blogs regularly that seven years is a long time to maintain one when looking at average blog lifespans. While I can't obviously say I post every day or even with the frequency that I used to, I guarantee that while it may be slow, there is no intention of wrapping things up on my part.

Thank you to all those who have contributed ideas for content and read and commented this year. More to come.

Colonel "Whopper" Creedon

The Dark Knight has Risen

 

Batman, The Dark Knight of Gotham is here for this third and final outing under the direction of Christopher Nolan. The wait was long, punctuated by the usually glossy hype that surrounds a movie of this calibre. With the first two instalments of Nolan’s Batman trilogy being heralded as being among the greatest movies of all time, the pressure was certainly on the British director to deliver a fitting end to such an amazing saga, a trifecta of intellectual depth, superb action and astounding technical achievement. Thankfully Nolan delivered all, in spades.

Uniquely, The Dark Knight Rises is as much a sequel to Batman Begins as it is to The Dark Knight before it with a multitude of threads in this intricate celluloid tapestry being woven together in one spectacular whole. Here Bruce Wayne must now face his mortality in a way that he hadn’t faced it before and must regain the physical and spiritual connection with Gotham City he possessed before his fall from grace. This fall of course itself a lie borne by his greatest ally Jim Gordon, but not for much longer. Now a haggard and limping social recluse, Wayne has all but forgotten the Batman as Gotham has achieved an almost Utopian level of lawfulness. However a new threat seeks to raise an army to wrest control of the city to a truly nefarious end. The Dark Knight Rises explores many themes but chief among them is that “anyone can be Batman” something that has been cemented throughout the trilogy.

Christian Bale’s performance is as good as he’s been giving throughout the series which sadly means he hasn’t evolved a great deal himself. This is a pity as The Fighter proved what an incredible actor he can be. Bale was outdone once again by Gary Oldman who portrayed a much older Gordon now wrestling with his conscience at the terrible burden of lies he bore. Joseph Gordon Levitt shone as Blake, a streetwise cop whom Gordon makes a detective and to whom he transfers much of the footwork he’s unable to do himself. Anne Hathaway, initially regarded as a strange choice for Catwoman, without even so much as a purr made us all but forget Michelle Pfeiffer’s shiny PVC catsuit from Batman Returns. In fact she nailed it so delectably perfectly that there have been numerous calls for her to take her character into her own movie [undoubtedly to fare better than Halle Berry’s misguided crime against film]. Tom Hardy bulked up for his role as the imposing Bane, the menacing anarchist. Despite sometimes being somewhat difficult to understand he lent a powerful performance to the legendary “Knightfall” saga Batman villain, “the man who broke the bat”.

Supporting them, another Inception alumni, Marion Collitard whom I genuinely dislike as an actress, yet wasn’t too put off from her admittedly ‘above standard’ performance here. Matthew Modine, another actor I care quite little for portrays Foley, Gotham’s chief of Detectives and while his character is not one we should be impressed with, I have to say kudos for Modine for a great interpretation. Returning for his final time, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Batman’s answer to “Q” from James Bond, lending credence to the oft asked “Where does he get those wonderful toys?” and provides The Dark Knight with his most impressive vehicle yet, The Bat. However it was Michael Caine who really stepped it up this time around as Alfred and delivered something no less than Oscar-worthy proving that unlike some of the latest efforts from peers Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley it is Caine that truly deserves to be called a “Sir”.

While sadly due to the London Olympics, I was denied a comfortable chance at witnessing Rises in Imax, but it was easy to spot at which points Nolan chose to switch to the extraordinary format adding to the immersion of the world he created as he did with Inception before it. There was some extraordinary CGI work done for a movie that while fantastical, is fused with the modern reality. The camera glided over Gotham and the scale of the troubled city was clearly established, albeit with some reality bending CGI [those exploded bridges aren’t really that long according to Constance]. 

To aid in the crafting of Gotham and to aid in a cohesion of design quality, Nathan Crowley returned from the previous two movies to lend his production design talents transforming Pittsburgh into a modern and realistic Gotham City. While he had collaborated with the excellent James Newton Howard for the previous instalments, Hans Zimmer was left to his own devices for the final instalment and it shows. Unleashed and solo, Zimmer has a tendency to go off the musical rails and while an excellent score in its own right, it lacks a cohesion that Newton Howard obviously brought to the fore.

It’s often the case in Hollywood where the third movie of a franchise isn’t as good as the others but this movie series has had the benefit of the same production value and creative team for all of them and it shows that there was no creative expense spared for the grand finale of this spectacular saga. If I was to level any criticism at it, I would have to say that it did indeed run a little too long at 165 mins, The Dark Knight had it right at about 150 mins, still epic but that quarter of an hour can make all the difference and there's a few bits that could have been shaved from the middle. It may hold true that when compared with the others in other ways, that Rises is not the best of the three but when you’re talking about movies that are as close in quality as these three Batman movies then it is still a sublime manifestation of an extraordinary creative effort made whole and produced a true genre-defining movie that transcends everything one hoped.

 

Final Verdict: Stay away from this if you don’t like epic movies over 2.5 hours long and want your super-heroes to ever seem real, because this is what this movie actually does.

Colonel Creedon Rating: *****

RIP Neil Armstrong 1930-2012

There are important men, great men and then there are men who define history for the rest of man. On July 20th 1969 NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong became one such man when he set foot on the moon. His "one small step" is considered by many to be the most notable event in human history.

Godspeed on your final journey Neil... ...and thank you.

Stomper takes command

Following his senate confirmation last week  the new UNETIDA/UNPASID Director Lt. General "Stomper" Santorno took command at a ceremony at UNHQ on Monday morning. It was attended by members of the UNSC, The UN High Commissioners for Paranormal and Extra-Terrestrial Affairs and multi-national officers serving with both UNETIDA and UNPASID.

Henderson [R] presenting the UNETIDA flag to Santorno [L]

Rear Admiral "Smokestack" Henderson who had been serving as Acting UNETIDA Director, presented the general with the his organisations command flag. Colonel "Tucker" Reid UNPASID's Director of Training as the most senior remaining UNPASID officer after a series of unfortunate events last month, also presented Santorno with the UNPASID command flag, a symbolic gesture that will see the general unite both directorates.

In his first speech to the assembled UNETIDA and UNPASID personnel, Santorno assured that despite what his appointment represents, it was his mandate that the missions and operations of each unit would be given the same attention that they have always deserved. The general offered that while there will be some change, he hopes that the directorates can make those changes work for the better to ensure the ultimate success of "keeping the world safe from things it's not ready to believe in".

Santorno praised the work of Air Vice Marshal "Albatross" Davenport III in strengthening UNETIDA and upgrading the policies and technology while he served as director. The general had also words of praise for Rear Admiral "Smokestack" Henderson whom he said had to take command of the directorate during a difficult time during it's scrutiny. Santorno said he had asked Henderson to remain with UNETIDA/UNPASID in a senior leadership role, an offer the admiral has accepted along with a nomination for his second star from POTUS.

Santorno said that he was deeply upset by the events that decimated the UNPASID leadership, but was especially saddened by the passing of Major General "Skullcrusher" Shaw whom he considered a close personal friend. He said that Shaw had shown tremendous devotion to the UNPASID mandate and promised to do his best to bring the same level of zeal to the counter-paranormal cause. He also vowed to use all the resources at his disposal to investigate the events that lead to Shaw's death and the death and disappearance of other senior officers.

Santorno closed by telling the assembled personnel that he, and the senior staff would be meeting with the UNSC on Wednesday 22nd of August to finalise the appointments of a fully integrated unified command staff and begin discussions for a permanent amalgamation of UNETIDA and UNPASID as it is clearly the best way forward for both. "For now" he concluded "It's business as usual."

"No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day" - Ron Howard

I awoke Monday morning to find a shocking message on my phone from Mr. V, telling me that one of my top five favourite motion picture directors Tony Scott was dead. I was devastated as this was both awful news and completely unexpected.

Scott was born in England in 1944 the younger of three brothers, Frank Scott died of cancer in 1980 and his surviving sibling is acclaimed director Ridley Scott. Tony followed in Ridley's footsteps with regards to his education and initially wanted to become a painter, but the success of his brother making TV commercials made him change his mind and he joined Ridley's outfit.

Scott made a commercial for Saab in the early 80's which showed one of the high performance cars racing a fighter jet. This caught the eye of famous producing duo Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer who convinced a reluctant Scott to direct their little fighter plane movie. Top Gun went on to gross $176m cementing the producing careers of Simpson and Bruckheimer, making a star of Tom Cruise and catapulting Scott to the A-List of Hollywood action directors.

Scott directed the Beverly Hills Cop sequel for Simpson and Bruckheimer which became one of 1987's highest grossing movies. In 1990 he directed the big-budget successful racing movie Days of Thunder working with Simpson, Bruckheimer and Cruise again and gave the scoring job to German composer Hans Zimmer who had begun to make a name for himself as well. A year later Scott saved the ailing career of Bruce Willis after his Hudson Hawk disaster by directing him in The Last Boyscout, a personal favourite of mine, written by Shane Lethal Weapon Black.

In 1993 Scott directed what many regard as his crowning achievement. It is to say the least one of the most memorable movies of the 90's and furthered the career of it's quirky writer Quentin Tarentino perhaps more than it did Scott's. The $13m True Romance featured a star-studded cast including Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, James Gandolini, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Tom Sizemore, Brad Pitt and Val Kilmer and another score by Hans Zimmer. While a critical success, the movie was a box office failure at the time.

Before the end of the decade Scott directed both of what I think are is best movies. Again for Bruckheimer and Simpson, Scott directed the supremely talented Denzel Washington and the legendary Gene Hackman at the very top of their game in one of my favourite movies period - Crimson Tide. The submarine thriller was acclaimed as a war-movie with a difference as it excited intellect as well as a lust for action. It was nominated for 3 Academy awards for editing and it's score won a Grammy for Hans Zimmer.

Scott re-teamed with Jerry Bruckheimer [producing solo now following the death of Don Simpson] and working again with Gene Hackman, directed the sublime spy-action-thriller Enemy of The State with Will Smith. Here he began working with Hans Zimmer's protégé Harry Gregson-Williams who continued to score all subsequent movies of the director's career. Despite portraying the efficiency and technology of US government intelligence to science-fiction proportions, nonetheless Enemy of The State was a thrilling and exciting chase movie that was a box-office success.

At the turn of the century Scott's career took a turn that I wasn't overtly happy with. 2001's Spy Game is the last of his movies that I added to my optical disc collection. I would describe it as a little more realistic spy movie than Enemy of the State but despite good performances from Robert Redford and Brad Pitt, it's overall not as exciting as his previous offerings. The decision to not make any effort to either age [or youth] the characters over the course of the 16-year span of the plot is one that vexes me to this day.

2004's Man on Fire was also a well produced revenge thriller with an exceptional performance from Denzel Washington, but I felt that the pacing of the movie overall was more than a little off and not all the bad guys were killed at the end, but Washington's character was. Despite changing Tarantino's bleak ending to a happy one for True Romance, Scott chose not to do that here, using the book's non-Hollywood ending and ultimately failing.

Scott choose to adapt two true stories into movies before the untimely end of his career. The first was the 2005 unconventional biopic on the life of Domino Harvey, the English born daughter of actor Lawrence Harvey who became a bounty hunter in L.A. Starring Kiera Knightly, the movie was both critically and commercially unsuccessful. I would regard it as "unmemorable". The other movie was Unstoppable, loosely based on the CSX 8888 incident in Ohio in 2001. Once again starring Denzel Washington as an almost retired railroad engineer, this time paired with a cocky rookie Chris Pine who have to do their best to stop a runaway train. This movie would be a commercial success in 2010 and the last movie Scott would direct.

Scott's other movies included: The Hunger ['83], the thriller Revenge with Kevin Costner in 1990 and The Fan a sports-themed psychological thriller with Robert DeNiro and Wesley Snipes ['96]. Scott also directed Déjà Vu, a misjudged science-fiction movie again with Denzel and produced by Bruckheimer and the 2009 remake of the 1974 movie The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.

Scott had become a prolific producer and executive producer in his late career mainly for television but for many movies, especially his own and those of his brother. Among such projects were Man on Fire, Domino, The Company, The Taking of Pelham 123, Numb3rs, the 2010 The A-Team movie, The Pillars of the Earth, Unstoppable, The Grey and Prometheus. He had over a dozen projects in different stages of pre/post production including Top Gun 2!

Scott was nominated for 5 Emmys winning one along with the other producers of The Gathering Storm in 2002 and was awarded the Michael Bacon Award at the BAFTAs in 1995.

I must admit to being somewhat angry. I cannot condone suicide as a course of action in this case. At the time I write, it has not yet been established if a rumoured diagnosis of terminal, inoperable brain cancer was the cause of Scott's decision to jump off Vincent Thomas Bridge over Los Angeles Harbor at lunchtime on Sunday. However illness or not, his apparent "decision" shows a clear disregard for those he has left behind especially his 12 year old twin boys who must now grow up with this social stigma.That said, if I can respect the acting talents of such reprehensible individuals as Mel Gibson and Tom Sizemore, I can most certainly respect the work of Tony Scott although I may not be able to respect the man. 

I read in an obituary on Fox News that Ridley Scott later directed "more and bigger hits than his brother and earned a level of critical respect never achieved by Tony Scott. "Gladiator" won the best-picture Academy Award for 2000 and earned Ridley Scott one of his three best-director nominations; Tony Scott never was in the running for an Oscar, and critics often slammed his movies for emphasizing style over substance." - and that's why I liked him. Why is that a bad thing critics?

While those facts can't be disputed I would argue that Tony's quality of work is more consistent than his brother's. Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down and Gladiator [I don't like Alien] may all be superior movies to any of Tony's but that's really about it. Ridley's G.I.Jane and Black Rain are as good as anything his brother has done but when Ridley screws up critically or commercially he does so in earnest and more royally then Tony ever did. Kingdom of Heaven, Matchstick Men, Robin Hood, A Good Year and don't get me started on Prometheus...

I enjoyed Tony Scott's movies for his adhesion to a frenetic but not nauseating camera style which seemed to focus on the depth of action rather than just the surface. His kinetic, choppy editing is very different from Michael Bay's but I like it for similar reasons. I also like the fact that most of my favourite movies of his end in a shootout and that's pretty much how I know my life will end, I only hope it's as dramatic.

Goodbye Tony

Operation Watchtower Aug 7th 1942

If they didn't know beforehand, every Marine leaving boot today knows about The Battle of Guadalcanal. It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against the Empire of Japan and a defining campaign in Marine Corps history that began on this day 70 years ago.

The Island of Tulagi, with smaller neighbours Gavutu and Tanambogo were assaulted by some 3000 Marines who met fierce resistance from the Japanese occupiers who were outnumbered more than 3 to 1. In 48 hours 122 Marines there were killed but the Japanese lost over 800 men.

1st Marine Division commander Major General Alexander Vandegrift landed ashore Guadalcanal at 09:10, August 7th 1942 with 11,000 of his men and while he met with less resistance he was quick to capture a small unfinished Japanese airfield at Lunga point. This became known as Henderson Field, the focus of months of fighting in the campaign as the Japanese made several failed attempts to retake it.

In December 1942, the Japanese abandoned efforts to retake Guadalcanal and evacuated their remaining forces by 7 February 1943 in the face of an offensive by the U.S. Army's XIV Corps, conceding the island to the Allies.

Today I salute the 60,000 allied troops who landed in the course of the campaign of which 7100 lost their lives, as well as the bravery of their 36,200 opponents of whom some 31,000 were killed fighting with honour.

Santorno tapped as new UNETIDA/UNPASID Director

After an emergency UNSC meeting on Tuesday evening, SECDEF Panetta was asked appoint a 3-star officer to take command of UNETIDA and UNPASID which would for the time being be operating with a single command staff. Yesterday morning, after meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the SECDEF submitted a list of names of viable candidates to POTUS. It was a short list, a list of one - Major General "Stomper" Santorno, U.S. Army [Ret.].

Major General "Stomper" Santorno, U.S. Army [Ret.] as Director of UNPASID in 2006

General Santorno was chosen for his extensive history with both UNPASID and UNETIDA. In 1982 Captain Santorno's special operations team had an encounter with what was described by Santorno in his report as "not alive, but not dead". Later in 1987 as an operations officer with 1st SFOD-D [Delta Force], Major Santorno was awarded the Silver Star for rescuing his unit from what he later discovered were extra-terrestrials. Due to his experience and the fact he had been exposed to both vicious undead and a belligerent extra-terrestrial force, and lived, he was recruited into UNPASID to bolster their special operations group and where he supervised training and survival methods.

Maj. Santorno returned to 1st SFOD-D for the invasion of Panama in 1989. After serving in the Gulf War in 1991 he requested to return to UNPASID who gladly accepted. Briefly, Lt. Col. Santorno was assigned as the Deputy Special Operations Commander for UNPASID until he was asked to serve as the military advisor to the UN High Commissioner for Paranormal Affairs until 1993. 

Lt. Colonel Santorno lent his considerable expertise, this time to UNETIDA as he served as the agency's Deputy Special Operations Commander until 1995 when he was promoted to colonel and was elevated to UNPASID's Special Operations Commander. In 1997 Col. Santorno shifted sideways to command UNETIDA's special operations before receiving his first star and assignment as UNETIDA's Director of Operations in 2000.

From 2002 to 2003, Brigadier General Santorno served as UNETIDA's Chief of Staff until an untimely command reshuffle during which the french Deputy Director of UNPASID was called into service with NATO and Santorno replaced him. Upon promotion to major general, Santorno was made director of UNPASID a post in which he served with distinction until his retirement from the Army in 2007.

Rather than depopulate the fish of North American rivers or buy a boat, Santorno spent his "retirement" as the Extra-Terrestrial and Paranormal Activity Advisor to the National Security Council of the Bush administration. Since 2009 he has been serving as both an Extra-Terrestrial and Paranormal Security Advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon in times of need.

Major General Santorno's awards include: the Army Distinguished Service Medal, The Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star [with two oak leaf clusters], The Defense Superior Service Medal [with two oak leaf clusters], the Legion of Merit [with two oak leaf clusters], the Bronze Star [with combat distinguishing device and two oak leaf clusters], the Purple Heart [with oak leaf cluster], United Nations Special Service medal [with 4 bronze stars], Combat Infantryman's Badge, Master Parachutist and Military Freefall Parachutist badges, and both the Special Forces and Ranger tabs.

General Santorno's reinstatement to active duty is rare but not unheard of. In 2003 SecDef Rumsfeld recalled the former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command, General Schoomaker out of retirement after three years to serve as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army until 2007.

General Santorno is known for making allusions to the fact that he's related to Jimmy "No Fingers" Santorno a Mafia crime boss known for having no fingers and punishing those who crossed him with the same fate. The general is apparently not above threatening diplomats with "an introduction to cousin Jimmy". It should be noted that neither Army CID or the FBI have ever reported evidence to support the generals claim. 

President Obama's nomination for Santorno's assignment to UNETIDA/UNPASID and promotion to lieutenant general requires confirmation from the U.S. Senate. This is something that the SecDef and JCOS feel would only be a formality or they would not have forwarded his name.

UNSC Emergency Session deals with UNPASID crisis

An emergency session of the UNSC took place last evening to discuss the UNPASID command crisis. In light of the fact that all senior flag or general officers assigned to UNPASID are now dead, missing or in military custody, it was proposed by the UN Military Staff Committee that UNETIDA command should assume control of UNPASID operations.

This decision was facilitated by the fact that traditionally, UNETIDA and UNPASID operations have often overlapped due to public ignorance of what constitutes a paranormal occurrence or an extra- terrestrial encounter. As both organisations remain highly secretive about such events it’s likely this relationship can be taken advantage of to soothe the current crisis. In fact, according to analysts, UNETIDA also have a superior mis-information model that could be used to shield the public against supernatural and paranormal threats such as those against the [according to one delegate] "idiots who are digging up vampires graves in Bulgaria."

It was raised that while the tragic incidents "appear" to be accidental, the unprecedented coincidence of the events could not go without reference to the fact that they seem to have occurred immediately before the Special Investigation Committee finally published the report the began last October. It was also motioned that UNETIDA itself was also subject to the report but had no similar incidents.

Investigation Committee Chairperson Anna Scherzer of the Swiss Financial Markets Authority informed the Council that she had been authorised by Internal Oversight Services to reveal an abridged report to allay the fears against UNETIDA. During the meeting, the members of the Investigation Committee revealed some parts of the report they were responsible for compiling.

Rear Admiral Oliver Braithwaite III CBE, of the UK's Defence Intelligence revealed that UNPASID was involved in severe misappropriation of UN member funds taken from classified projects and funnelled into either projects which were cancelled by the council and in other cases, into the personal finances of UNPASID command staff. There was absolutely no evidence of any such activity within UNETIDA.

Deputy Director Sergei Sitnikov, of the Russian Federation's Federal Security Bureau outlined a great disparity between the amount of UNPASID weapons, equipment and supplies ordered and delivered when compared with those in use or decommissioned. UNETIDA had no such disparity despite a number of "unusual" requisitions from Acting Intelligence Director Colonel "Whopper" Creedon to aid in "home defence."

Most disturbingly, Cardinal Antoine Pascal, of the Roman Catholic Church led an investigative team to Peru to investigate the site of an incident which in 2010, UNPASID reported to the UNSC as a "training accident." The french cardinal reported that he discovered it was in fact a cover up after elite team of military chaplains, trained as “combat exorcists”, went rogue and summoned an ancient demon at a site that UNPASID subsequently napalmed into oblivion destroying several populated villages and scores of wildlife.

In defence of UNETIDA, Professor Wai Chen, of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that UNETIDA projects, while in almost all cases came in over budget, nevertheless have had a 96% success rate and their continued proliferation of alien technology can only benefit mankind.

Lt. General Andrew G. Kelly [USAF Ret.], a former NASA Astronaut, revealed that a number of UNETIDA operations over the past decade have resulted in the tragic death of some 2850 known military personnel, 1222 civilian casualties and have caused almost US$2.8Bn in associate collateral property/infrastructure damage internationally. However General Kelly deemed that these were unavoidable losses and only marginally outside acceptable limits when projected figures are analysed.

In final summary Mrs. Scherzer said she could see no reason at this time why the Military Staff Committee's recommendation should not be upheld and UNETIDA should not only to return to normal operations but is “more than capable of assuming control of UNPASID on a temporary basis if not permanent.”

After deliberations, the UNSC, based on the Committee’s assessment, agreed that they will wait until the complete report is published before making any permanent appointments or decisions but instructed UNETIDA to assume full operational control over UNPASID effective immediately for the time being. However a 3/2 vote was delivered to immediately request the Pentagon to assign a temporary OF-8 to assume military command of the organisations in light of the increased force size and responsibility that came with such a merge.

Spontaneous combustion leaves UNPASID leadership vacuum

Brigade General "Boogyman" Rojas, UNPASID's Director of Operations, who yesterday assumed temporary command of the directorate has reportedly spontaneously combusted and died. The incident appears to have occurred in a lavatory at the UNHQ in New York early this morning. It happened only hours before the general was due to represent UNPASID during a UNSC session where the report of the Special Investigation Committee would be issued.

There are few details available at this time but the Spanish air force officer [right] appeared to have answered a call of nature at approximately 08:45 EST and entered a male lavatory cubicle. While there, the occupant of the adjoining cubicle and another individual at the urinal reported a bright flash, some smoke and a scream.

The witnesses broke down the door with a fire extinguisher but were met only by the remains of General Rojas' shoes on the floor, a dark pile of ash in the toilet bowl and a smell "like sulphur." UNPASID agents investigated and tentatively identified the general from his jacket which still hung undamaged on the cubicle door.

Analysts have said that the council have now "shot themselves in the foot" by delaying requests for senior appointments to UNPASID as well as not making permanent appointments within the last nine months. The net result of this "shambles" is that there is now no one in the organisation who can assume command under its own contingency plan. Furthermore it would appear that the UN is also unable to deal with both this albeit unprecedented situation and the current Syrian conflict simultaneously.

The UN High Commissioner for Paranormal Affairs, Alberto Hov DiWafnae informed the press office that the operating forces of UNPASID were working from the Theta Protocol Manual which assumes that UNPASID command is out of communication and allows them to operate at battalion command level but with higher instructions and formation orders coming directly from the UNSC through the UNHCPA's office.

The UNSC have asked the Special Investigation Committee to delay their report publishing and are holding a high level meeting with the UN Military Staff Committee this afternoon to deal with the UNPASID crisis.

In other developments, a suicide note apparently left on the computer of Lieutenant Commander "Stingray" Hern, UNPASID liaison officer to the DOD whose body was discovered on Sunday morning, supports the cause of death delivered by the NCIS Medical Examiner.

UNPASID COS surrenders!

The Chief of Staff, currently temporary acting director of UNPASID, Rear Admiral "Piscine" Aguillard [left] failed to assume his duties at UNHQ this morning.

It's understood that Admiral Aguillard had his staff car re-route to the french consulate on 5th Avenue rather than proceed to the UNHQ for "diplomatic reasons".

The admiral's aide proceeded to the UNHQ 90 minutes later to inform the UNSC that the admiral had surrendered himself to authorities, admitting corruption and potentially treasonous activity.

Senior Colonel “Matsu” Lee, the UNPASID Director of Logistics and Assistant Chief of Staff did not answer a call to report as temporary director of UNPASID after Aguillard's surrender. Colonel Lee was apparently “recalled urgently” to China this morning due to what was described by the Chinese Ambassador to the UN as “a family matter”. He asked that the UN should not ask when the colonel will return to work and should appoint a replacement for him “to most likely be a permanent replacement.”

Brigade General "Boogyman" Rojas, UNPASID Director of Operations who was on site at UNHQ is understood to have been now been given temporary command of the directorate with the consent of the United States who has the power of veto over all non-P5 temporary appointments.

In other news, the crew and passenger of Gryphon 12, the UNPASID transport carrying Brigadier "Walrus" Jones to UNHQ, who were rescued off the Canadian coast yesterday have been interviewed at St. John's Coast Guard Base, Newfoundland. Investigators however have still not been able to ascertain any cause for the loss of the aircraft or Brigadier Jones. 

Neither the rescued passenger Captain "Watchtower" Park, senior pilot Flight Lieutenant "Jinks" Herrick nor his crew felt, heard or saw anything between normal operations on board Gryphon 12 at 00:10NDT Saturday morning and suddenly waking up in their life jackets in the Labrador Sea 29 hours later.

UNPASID woes continue

The aircrew of Gryphon 12, the UNPASID transport aircraft reported missing yesterday have been rescued at sea. The Canadian Coast Guard vessel CCGS Cygnus discovered the crew floating in their life preservers at 05.25 NDT. They were airlifted to CGS Base St. John's to receive medical attention.

Reports are that the four rescued were the three HS125 aircrew and passenger Captain "Watchtower" Park, Assistant Station Chief for London of UNPASID's Paranormal Action Command. There was no word or sight of Brigadier “Walrus” Jones or the Gryphon 12 itself.

Elsewhere, speculation concerning the death of  Major General "Skullcrusher" Shaw, Director of UNPASID continues. Speculation suggests that he had been previously asked by the Special Investigation Committee tasked with investigating irregularities in UNPASID and UNETIDA, to present details of his personal finances to them at a meeting scheduled for last Friday afternoon. The committee had also advised the general to have legal consul present. Inside sources speaking on conditions of anonymity say that the evidence thus far collected is most damning against some UNPASID officials and they are of the opinion that General Shaw took his own life rather than face personal humiliation and even prison.

To add to the tragic events, the body of Lieutenant Commander "Stingray" Hern [left] was pulled from the river Potomac in Arlington, Va. this morning.  

Hern was the UNPASID liaison officer to the U.S. Department of Defense. She reportedly left her office in the Pentagon on Thursday as normal. As Commander Hern had scheduled vacation, her absence was not noted. Her body was discovered by a Georgetown University rowing team. The DOD has declined to comment until NCIS have completed their investigation.

The temporary acting director of UNPASID, Rear Admiral "Piscine" Aguillard is expected to hold a press conference at UNHQ tomorrow morning.

Acting UNPASID Director missing

An UNPASID transport aircraft carrying three crew and two passengers including Royal Marine Brigadier “Walrus” Jones, [right] to the UNHQ in New York to report as temporary UNPASID Director has failed to reach its destination.

At 00:12 NTD radar contact was lost with Gryphon 12, 200 nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland. It has been determined that the RAF BAE HS125 aircraft did not have enough fuel to stay airborne beyond 02.30 and the RCN and the CCG have begun a joint air/sea search and rescue operation this morning.

UNPASID Chief Of Staff, Rear Admiral "Piscine" Aguillard will temporarily assume Brigadier Jones' duties and was sworn in as temporary acting director of UNPASID at midday.

It has also emerged today on a popular whistle-blowing website that Major General “Skullcrusher” Shaw, the UNPASID Director who was found dead yesterday; died from a self-inflicted gunshot to his temple. The website reports that it had been informed by an anonymous source that the generals staff became suspicious of his absence when he failed to appear at a memorial service for deceased UNPASID officers Colonel “Svarog” Tarasov and Major “Ghast” Giordano. It's understood that an aide to the general discovered his body at approximately 10:00 EST next to his Ivory-handled Colt Peacemaker.

Non-Cameron 3-D isn't good enough

DECLARATION OF REJECTION FOR MAINSTREAM THREE-

DIMENSIONAL CINEMATIC PROJECTION AS A VIABLE 

ALTERNATIVE TO TWO-DIMENSIONAL IN ITS CURRENT FORM

In April 2009 I witnessed Monsters vs. Aliens, the first movie to be directly produced in a stereoscopic 3-D format instead of being converted into 3-D after completion. It was quite remarkable. I remember reaching out with my hands attempting to touch several “floating” objects – my senses being completely fooled by the technology.

Just before the dawn of a new decade I witnessed the first mainstream modern 3D blockbuster, Avatar which applied this new stereoscopic tech to live action. With one fell swoop James Cameron redefined 3-D as he pioneered the next evolution of computer generated imagery and melded it with the 3-D technology previously reserved for children's animated movies. The care and attention to each and every detail, creature, character and environment was abundantly clear.  Graphically, Avatar was a masterpiece. A triumph of three dimensional projection technology that pushed the boundaries of cinema as we know it.

In the months, nay - years that have followed, we have seen a multitude of examples of movies that have capitalised on this emerging technology. Among those; Resident Evil: Afterlife, Underworld: Awakening and Prometheus. All of these movies, good or bad have had some extremely impressive set-pieces which took advantage of the extra dimension. However when compared to Avatar, they all sadly lack the same level of three-dimensional detail. The main overriding problem is that that the common 3-D movie throws things out at you, enhances depth and makes obvious vain attempts to surround your perception. It was however only Avatar that truly immersed me in the movie and made me feel like I was practically there inside it.

While I reject the notion of post-processed 3-D movies [with the obvious exception of Star Wars] I felt it was my duty as a progressive patron of both technology and the arts to offer singular unswerving support to true-3-D. After recently evaluating the examples that Hollywood has offered to us since Avatar, culminating with the 'flat' 3-D of The Amazing Spider-Man, I must admit that not a single one has come anywhere near the magic that Cameron wove.

The fact that I would have no issue with sitting down and watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon or Tron: Legacy and the like on my 2-D TV but could never watch Avatar [itself a 5-Star movie] in 2-D speaks not about the quality of Avatar but the lack of necessity to need only to witness the 3-D of the other movies. I feel no great overriding need to see these movies again in 3-D but I could never watch Avatar in 2-D.

I must therefore publicly declare, my withdrawal of total support for three-dimensional cinematic presentations and reduce support to a provisional basis which covers only the following instances:
(A) Movies which must be seen but have no 2-D presentation such as Underworld:Awakening, (B) 3-D conversions of religious imagery [the Star Wars saga], (C) Avatar 2 and all subsequent creations of James Cameron, (D) any presentation for which like-minded individuals explicitly request that it be viewed in 3-D and (E) force mejure.

This declaration will remain in effect from the date below, until such time as Hollywood begins to adopt the standards and practices employed by James Cameron and create visual imagery at least to 75% of the standard that he set in 2009.

Signed: Colonel "Whopper" Creedon, Mahon Point Omniplex, July 7th 2012

UNPASID Director found dead

Major General “Skullcrusher” Shaw, Director of the United Nations Paranormal and Supernatural Interdiction Directorate has been found dead this morning. The general’s cause of death is not known at this time, he was 55 and in good health.

General Shaw held a variety of assignments upon graduation from West Point military academy including the U.S. Army Rangers and served in Grenada, Panama and in The Gulf War. In 1992 then Captain Shaw was appointed to UNETIDA where he commanded a training company before transferring to UNPASID. Upon promotion to Major he was assigned as Chief of Security for the Central Demon Containment Facility in Antarctica and later commander of the elite Paranormal Threat Response Unit - Gamma based in Europe. From 2001 to 2003 then Lieutenant Colonel Shaw served as the Military Assistant to the UN High Commissioner for Paranormal Affairs. Later as commander of Counter Zombie Strike Team One in 2004, then Colonel Shaw prevented an outbreak at a secret medical research facility in South Korea. In 2007, then Brigadier General Shaw was assigned as Chief of Staff and later Assistant Director of UNPASID. He assumed position as Director in January 2010.

Shaw’s awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with combat distinguishing device, Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device and two oak leaf clusters, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Master Parachutists Badge and Ranger Tab. He is survived by his wife Cathy a metallurgist and twin sons Jason and Josh both cadets at West Point.

Alberto Hov DiWafnae the UN High Commissioner for Paranormal Affairs expressed his deep sadness at the tragic loss of General Shaw. “Great sadness is upon me this day to find that my trusted friend, the crusher of many bones and skulls is gone from us. He was a slayer of demons and a ghost-buster, not like in movie but of vengeance,” said DiWafnae. The UNHCPA said that this has been a tragic few days for UNPASID noting the passing of Colonel “Svarog” Tarasov in a road traffic accident and the apparent suicide of Major “Ghast” Giordano yesterday.

It is understood that UNPASID Assistant Director / Director of Personnel Brigadier “Walrus” Jones, will act as Director until a permanent appointment can be made.

A new beginning - The Amazing Spider-Man

Branded as pointless and unnecessary due to the original being only 10 years old, this version of Spider-Man was quite frankly just made because Columbia would’ve probably lost their option to the franchise if they hadn’t gone ahead with it. Many eyebrows were raised the day the word ‘reboot’ was announced. None of the original cast would be returning for this, there’d be no Sam Raimi [a good thing perhaps after Spider-Man 3] and it would essentially stem from new origin rather than a continuation of the previous trilogy. There was every reason to hate it and condemn it as heresy by those that adored the trilogy [or at least the initial installments]… but we can’t!

The Amazing Spider-Man is as different to Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man as Batman Begins is to Tim Burton’s Batman from ’89. They are almost entirely different movies, each presenting their own ideas of the character with their core elements completely intact. They are on a more simple level, products  of very different times. I think it’s perhaps somewhat unfair to compare them despite being ripe candidates for such obvious comparisons. If I was a better reviewer I could perhaps avoid that pitfall, but I’m not and I can’t, so apologies in advance.

This time around Peter Parker/Spider-Man is played by relative newcomer Andrew The Social Network Garfield and I think he’s as good a fit to Parker as Tobey MacGuire was [before his dance routine in Spidey 3 degenerated our perspective – shudder]. Garfield's Spider-Man is placed in a tale that matches far more closely the true comic-book origin of the hero than the original ever achieved. The movie’s female lead Emma Stone plays Parker’s true first girlfriend Gwen Stacy as opposed to the crazy universe created in the original where Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson was somehow Peter’s first love and this change alone corrected my most major issue with the original. Sally Field and Martin Sheen were drafted in as Aunt May and Uncle Ben and the casting of such renowned and respected actors highlight the importance that the director placed on these characters with regard to the development of Peter Parker. Rhys The 51st State Ifans plays Dr. Kurt Connors who of course becomes The Lizard. The first supervillian which this Spider-Man must face, but it’s Dennis Leary who puts in the best performance as George Stacy the determined NYC police captain, hell-bent on apprehending the vigilante menace that is our wall-crawler.

Spidey is easily Marvel Comics most renowned single character, and thus a very lucrative property for Columbia pictures. When Raimi announced he would be unable to complete a Spider-Man 4 in their time frame, Columbia announced prolific music video director Mark Webb [seriously that’s got to be a contender for ‘Irony of the Year 2012!’] would direct a reboot. Thankfully Webb, as many feared, was not going to turn The Amazing Spider-Man into the greatest music video of all time and had no intention of remaking Sam Raimi's movies. Webb presented a darker vision of the webslinger devoting more time to Peter’s early troubles and sense of loss as his parents leave him in the care of his aunt and uncle one night never to return. It was a brave choice for Webb to have Peter learn “with great power, comes great responsibility” gradually before being force fed the lesson - if strangely not the actual iconic line itself - upon his uncle’s death. 

Similarly to his other movie-realised super-hero brethren, Spider-Man's look resembles more the modern illustrations of the web-slinger and Webb was clearly influenced by Ultimate Spider-Man for elements of the movies visual style. The more modern costume certainly translated better on screen than the iconic one. I was also pleased that he chose to stay more truthful to original comic-book's "super-nerd" characterisation for Peter Parker who as in the movie constructed his own web-shooters delivering him away from the more 'mutant' territory Raimi seemed to be leading him down.

Despite Webb's obvious respect for the project and his clear vision to remain closer to the franchises genesis than Raimi did, overall the movie lacked the true raw emotional and charismatic power that is more deserving of such a classically tragic hero. The ability for a director to evoke that on screen is something that can be developed however, and if Webb brings us the sequel then I hope he can do better in that department. Unfortunately without it, he'll never surpass or even equal the majestic spectacle of Raimi's first two Spider-Man movies. I hope that Webb or his successor will reintroduce "Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man" and not just as a tag line.

To finish, I can say that it’s clear from the trailers that Webb shot far more footage that’s on show here and that there could even be enough to produce half of the now announced Amazing Spider-Man 2 in 2014 which will continue this particular franchise down a road that I can now say has a solid foundation.

 

Final Verdict: While not the most important super hero movie in a year where both the Batman trilogy finishes and Marvel climaxes it’s 6 year long Avengers advertising campaign, this is nevertheless a solid and worthwhile entry in the genre and the flash point of what I hope will be a franchise deserving of the character.

Colonel Creedon Rating: ****1/2