I have to be careful with this review. It is a favorite of millions. I also see the DNA in it that allowed for one of my favorite shows, The Big Bang Theory to thrive. Maybe it is a product of the times and my life, but there is nothing good about this show that makes sense.
Not because of the way they made her look badass, but because of her devotion to the belief of what she was doing. When she found out that things were not as she was told, she followed the letter to ensure things didn't happen to someone else like it happened to her.
I wanted to make sure I spoke about Anya Taylor-Joy's performance. It was incredible. Chef's kiss. Here, she makes the rest of the cast look like a high school performance. I am not saying they aren't good, they just look bad compared to Anya.
I know next to nothing about him other than he is from Austria, was a bodybuilder before an actor, and as an actor did a lot of actions movies. Oh yeah, he was also Governor of California at some point while I lived there, I think.
The fighting was a lot of fun. I think they also knew it was fun because they created these fighting pits and I just loved doing those trying to pull off these multi-kills. The mini cutscene they did for the multi-kills did get old quick when it happens a lot, but it was still cool to watch.
I enjoyed us all working together, mainly Carter, to achieve the roles, but I think the requirement to grind for 10000000s of resources to make one item quickly got in the way of fun. It could have been a second job to keep the base up and running.
This book is well written, but full of things that do not fit a spy story. There isn't even a spy in it, which really is frustrating when the description on the book is "espionage." There is an anarchist who commandeers the story even being a single threaded and dumbly written character.
This is a wild story. Something that I don't think would work these days with the cost of things now compared to even 10+ years ago. I also can't imagine have a friend group so strong that people fly each year to go play tag. Mainly because I have never lived anywhere long enough
Let's start with the acting/writing. I legit felt like I was the 90s of Mortal Kombat. They even call it out with "No one wants to see an old man doing karate poses" when that is all he does. There is even this over the top choreography moment between Johnny and Baraka that looks more like a dance
I think Milly Alcock does a great job in her role though. I don't have an issue with her role or how she plays it, but the writing was miserable. The amount of cliché, tag lines, one-liners that are way off the mark, and just lazy characters is kind of miserable.
I had never thought of Jake Gyllenhaal and Henry Cavill working together, but they were outstanding. They played their roles so well that it did feel like they had been doing movies together for a long time. They have great chemistry together in a brotherly fashion.
What I really found interesting was conversation about the legality of planning said assassinations. Between the code of military ethics, A.K.A. the Liber Code, and NATO's Article 51, the idea of self-defense, there is a lot of weird wiggle room that the CIA and DoD operated in.