At Darren's World of Entertainment

Wednesday, 28 October 2015

The Last Witch Hunter: Film Review

Cast: Vin Diesel, Rose Leslie, Michael Caine, Elijah Wood
Director: Breck Eisner

Mixing up a bit of Harry Potter, some of Men In Black co-existence and Vin Diesel's trademark gruffness, The Last Witch Hunter is a CGI genre fest that could have set up an interesting universe.

Diesel is Kaulder, who managed to slay an all-powerful Queen Witch back in the Dark Ages and staved off the unleashing of the Black Death. But in doing so, the Witch cursed him to be immortal, preventing him from joining his slaughtered family.

Now in the present day, an uneasy truce exists between witches and Kaulder, the Last (and only) Witch Hunter. However, when Kaulder's long time friend and watcher Dolan the 36th (played as the sole exposition deliverer by Michael Caine) is mysteriously offed, Kaulder uncovers a conspiracy to resurrect the Witch and her plans for world destruction.

With the usual Diesel acting flair, The Last Witch Hunter remains a film that could have been so much more, and one which proffers so much potential for a wider universe and tapestry.

Steeped in a mythology that has a depth but little breadth thanks to endless exposition, and touches of Supernatural the TV series, Eisner's managed to pull together a film that's not quite sure what it wants to be. Channeling a mismatched buddy cop vibe when Diesel's Kaulder teams up first with a new Dolan (Elijah Wood), who's clearly out of his depth when it comes to tackling matters and then a mortal enemy of a witch (played by Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie, who brings some light and spunkiness to the proceedings), the film struggles to balance its seriousness with its attempts to throw in some truly laughable dialogue and one-liners.

Shrouded in darkness, the action sequences never really deliver any real punch as this sub-par Buffy The Vampire Slayer rip-off continues - and not one set piece stands out. Although he struggles with the more emotive parts of the film, Diesel's watchable enough (and even the makers of the film are smart / silly enough to give him a fast car to prowl around in as a nod to his famed character) but wandering around like Blade and dipping into his own memories, complete with boggly eyes doesn't really further the plot at all.

While the CGI is clearly where the money has been spent on this B-movie and the evocation of the witch's world is a relatively intriguing one that could have done with some more depth to flesh it out. Our very own Rena Owen makes a strong lead as the head of the Witch's council but has little to do except deflect Misfits and This Is England star Joseph Gilgun's barb that they look like "a horrible band from the 80s". It's this kind of under-writing that plagues the film that aims for low-hanging fruit and succeeds; supporting characters are barely sketched so that when the emotional moments come, they fail to land properly.

All in all, The Last Witch Hunter is not campy enough to be a classic and not strong enough to resonate. It ends with the promise of more films to come, but one hopes that the only prophetic part of the title of The Last Witch Hunter proves to be the word "last".

Rating:

Sony's PGW Conference is here!

All the big announcements for the coming year are here at Paris Games Week - here's Sony's media briefing for you to enjoy!

Tuesday, 27 October 2015

Dior and I: DVD Review

Rating: M

Released by Madman Home Ent

Haute couture and myself don't mix.

In fact, as I write this, I'm in an old T Shirt with holes in it and a pair of short longs. So that should give you some insight into my view of fashion - but Dior and I gives a tantalising look at the making of Raf Simons' first collection for Dior back in 2012.

As ever with fashion pieces, time is of the essence and there are levels of pressure which wax and wane - but the doco never loses an eye for the fashion itself and the tensions between Simons and Dior.

It won't appeal to everyone but fashionistas will lap up this sumptuously shot and carefully executed doco, which revels in the fashion, gives you an insight into a world you've never seen and will no doubt having you heading to the shops for a spree.

PlayStation VR hands on demo

PlayStation VR demo

Once Oculus Rift, now PlayStation VR.

Either way, it matters not, because over the long weekend at the Armageddon Expo, there was chance to be part of a demo for the headset and some of the properties which are coming to it, thanks to PlayStation NZ.

Needless to say, the queue for this all weekend was pretty full on, and it's easy to see why.

2 demos were on offer - one a space shoot-em-up game called E-Valkyrie, which induces a degree of dizziness as you scale the space heights. However, I was given a demo of a level of a game called The London Heist.

Firstly, the headset.

I'm a glasses wearer, so the idea of a headset on top of glasses, much like 3D glasses, does little to enamour me. However, it's incredibly light, fits snugly and comfortably over the top and is adjusted to ensure there's no light from outside coming in. Once the initial steam up of the glasses was over, 2 PlayStation Move controllers were thrust into my hand and I was told the demo would begin.

It's immersive to say the least - and once it begins, it's totally likely to envelop your world.

Sitting in a white van, hurtling along a freeway, with a fellow guy, it's clear (also from the title) that I've been involved in some kind of robbery and this is the getaway. The guy next to me looks like a Hitman who's been at the pies, and speaks with a cockney accent that Michael Caine would be envious of. He warns me of future people coming to get us - and that's when things change.

But not because of the shootouts, but because of the depth perception.

Using the move controllers, which become my hands (actual floating hands) I can grab stuff in the car - a takeaway cup suddenly becomes able to be grabbed, though I can't sip at it. Throwing it at the driver in frustration, he calls me a mug. My mentor from Playstation tells me I can open the car door by using the buttons to grab at the door handle. Laughing nervously, I open the door, and suddenly, I am aware of a world behind me, a speeding freeway, the back of the van, the tread of the tyres; it's all suddenly apparent and it's incredible.

E-valkyrie

There's no time to relax though as speeding motorbikes with people shooting at me and my mate show up. I thrash my hands in front of me, and punch the van's window out, shattering it into a thousand pieces as it flies past my eyes. And then the shooting begins. I grab a gun, open the glove box and load it up, using the move controller's switch to repeatedly fire.

The London Heist is essentially a shoot-out and it ends once a massive black truck speeds up, opens its doors and lets loose with a massive cannon, but the experience is a brief but unforgettable one.

It's incredible how immersive the world is and how much I adapt to it within; once the headset's removed, I've forgotten how many people are around as I've actually been locked in my own world.

It's a light set too, though if I'm honest, I worry about how alienating a social experience it can be - imagine a room full of players with these sets on would look, with nobody talking, nobody reacting. But at the same time, the potential for it and the ease in which it's executed is obvious. If PlayStation could link in with a triple A title, say the likes of Battlefront, the potential for a fully immersive experience is limitless. While the graphics of London Heist are fairly rudimentary, pleasantly executed and seamless, they still feel early generation, like there's more to come.

Based on my first hands-on demo of the former Oculus Rift and now PlayStation VR, there's a heap of possibilities, a world that lives beyond; and the potential for domination is easily obvious to see.

Let's just see where the future goes from here.