Jason Lam – The Concordian

Dragon Ball Z Super Broly reveals another side to newly redesigned villain

Explaining the origins of Broly, Goku and Vegeta: Dragon Ball Z Super Broly takes its time to illustrate their dramatic backgrounds. Establishing Broly as the main character, this movie places him in the spotlight, providing insight into the villain’s past and allowing the audience to justify his actions.

The original iteration of Broly was a straight up villain. He wanted revenge on the protagonist of the Dragon Ball Z series, Goku, for crying too much as a child, which made it impossible for him to sleep and led to his mental instability. Broly made it his sole goal to destroy Goku.

The new iteration of Broly is more of a tragic character, newly redesigned by the creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama. Already revealed earlier in the series, as a baby, Broly was exiled to a barren planet, where he was held captive and brainwashed by his father. His power was controlled, as it was greater than Vegeta’s father’s, the king of the planet where Broly was kept. The king feared a mutiny, which led to Broly’s father failing to rescue his son and ending up stranded there as well. Broly’s father then manipulates his son in order to exact his revenge on Goku and Vegeta. When saved, Broly is revealed to be much more than a big, heartless brute.

Toei Company, a Japan-based studio, did an amazing job bringing the television series to the big screen. Their techniques allow the film to shift between flat 2D and dynamic 3D animation, allowing for very detailed graphics in the background and in the main scenes. The fight between Gogeta—a fusion between allies Goku and Vegeta—and Broly was the highlight of this film, as it featured some of the best animated fight choreography. The energy attacks were well-represented with immense shimmering orbs to show just how powerful the fighters are.

In the movie theatre, the audience cheered when Gogeta unleashed the Stardust Breaker, which is a little easter egg throwback to Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn (1995). It was in this movie that Gogeta first used the technique to destroy his enemy. Goku exposed his shining silver hair and aura, better known as his Ultra Instinct Form, which not only increases his power tremendously, but does not require thought, giving them more time to attack. The Dragon Ball fan base was hoping Goku had finally mastered the form’s transformation to use it against Broly. This was the first time the creators have given the audience detailed transformations throughout the entire Dragon Ball series.

Dragon Ball Super: Broly is now playing at the Pepsi Forum and other select theaters. You can catch a new episode of Dragon Ball Super dubbed in English every week on Adult Swim, or buy episodes 1 through 78 on Blu-Ray and DVD at Sunrise Records.

Graphics by @spooky_soda

Despite bad screenplay, Tom Hardy is the perfect Eddie Brock

Venom, the first spin-off in Sony’s Spider-Man universe without Spider-Man himself, was hindered by an inconsistent tone and slow pace, despite a stellar performance by Tom Hardy.Venom tells the story of journalist Eddie Brock, played by Academy Award-nominated actor Tom Hardy. Following a scandal, Brock attempts to revive his journalism career by moving to San Francisco, where his girlfriend, District Attorney Ann Weying, lives. He begins investigating the Life Foundation, led by Carlton Drake (played by Riz Ahmed), who is secretly and illegally testing the relationship between humans and the alien species, the Symbiote.

However, when Brock comes into contact with one of the symbiotes, he acquires incredible superpowers and struggles to prevent the twisted being from controlling his body and committing murderous acts. This is how he becomes the anti-hero known as Venom. Drake also eventually bonds with another symbiote named Riot. In the comics, Venom has a reputation for being an ultra-violent character who bites people’s heads off. One would think a movie about a character as violent as Venom would be R-rated, but it isn’t. With Disney now owning Marvel, all movies must be PG-13, leaving out a handful of violent action scenes.

For a movie called Venom, there sure isn’t a lot of actual venom.

The symbiote only takes over Brock’s body 50 minutes into the movie and it happens too fast for the audience to see everything. The first real fight scene with Venom has him crack open a gas grenade, hiding his figure. Another fight scene, this time with Riot, goes by too fast for the audience to keep up. An R-rating could have solved this problem by giving the audience longer action scenes with more violence, while also showing Venom’s true nature. Additionally, Riot looks exactly like Venom—he is grey instead of black—making it hard to tell them apart during the fight scenes.

Another area where Venom falls short is the screenplay. As previously mentioned, the script takes too long to introduce the character and includes many forced gags. Several awkward moments in the story feel as though the scenes are supposed to make the audience laugh and make fun of Brock. This turns the dark comic book character into a goofball, hindering the tone the character is known for in favour of comedy.

The script is inconsistent, going from dark to humourous in every other scene, further preventing character development and simultaneously making you feel like you’re watching two completely different films.

However, where the movie really shines is Tom Hardy’s performance as Brock. For one, the character is a risk-taker. He went against his boss’s orders to ask a question that could destroy the Life Foundation. He ultimately paid the price for it; the Venom symbiote takes over his body, messes up his mind, convincing him to do bad things. Tom Hardy is the perfect Eddie Brock, as he balances his portrayal of a brave, demonic, alcoholic, crazy man. He understands Venom.

Riz Ahmed also delivers an excellent performance as Carlton Drake. Drake is a sadistic madman masquerading as an ambitious businessman who seeks to end all of the world’s problems. Ahmed balances these tones with ease and when Drake is taken over by Riot, he takes on another personality without overacting.

Overall, despite the bad screenplay, this is the movie to see for anyone looking for a better adaptation of Topher Grace’s Spider-Man 3 Venom.

Dragon Ball Z Super Broly reveals another side to newly redesigned villain

For a movie called Venom, there sure isn’t a lot of actual venom.

*** Venom is currently playing in theatres.

*
Venom is currently playing in theatres.**