Revolution Season One: Children of Men

The penultimate episode.

The episode begins immediately after the last one and Rachael is tackled to the ground by Militia and her grenade thrown outside, five miles away Miles and his group have landed and make the rest of the way on foot. At The Tower it is revealed that Rachael has security clearance to enter and so she, Monroe, Randall and several other soldiers enter, this does not go unnoticed as the people watching them last episode arm themselves with weapons. Back outside Miles and his group find Aaron who tells them Rachael is captured and they have to get inside. Inside The Tower Randall tells them that it is immune to the Nanites and his workstation accesses the satellites in orbit to show him the whole world. He then tells Monroe that more weapons lie at level 12 and they all take the elevator down there.

Would have been great to have seen more of the world in Revolution

However the elevator stops on level 11 and the doors open but Monroe and the rest are attacked by the mysterious people carry weird grenade launcher looking guns. All of the soldiers are killed, Randall escapes in the confusion and Monroe and Rachael lock themselves in a reinforced room, Rachael tires to stab him with a knife but is quickly disarmed. Meanwhile outside Jason and Tom blow up the amplifier the Militia where using while the rest make a break for the door so Aaron can unlock it. He does and he, Miles, Nora and Charlie rush inside but Jason and Tom don't make it in time and a locked outside with the Militia.

Damn!

Inside Monroe and Rachael aren't killing each other but they continue to argue however Monroe finds the guns similar to what the group of people used but it is protected by reinforced glass. Rachael then has a Flashback one week before The Blackout and she and Ben are feeling guilty about the project and Rachael thinks they should have space from each other (stuck - up f***ing b***h). Outside Tom and Jason are captured however Tom is not too worried as he manages to raise doubts about Monroe's leadership to their guard who seems to listen.

"I've been in my tricky situations than this"

Inside The Tower Miles and the rest move more deeper into it but are soon pursued by the group with guns meanwhile Monroe tires to break the glass blocking the guns and Rachael refuses to help. Monroe says that he found out that he has a son and that he truly wants to just see him, this gets to Rachael who has another Flashback four months after The Blackout. Ben and his family have found a house and he is building a computer and powering it up with his pendant. Rachael is also there and expresses regret over what they created that have killed millions, Ben comforts her. Miles and the group are still running away from their pursuers and Aaron says that the code he created at MIT is what they used to program the Nanites and he should be able to use the backdoor in it to turn them off.

"Now I just need to build a TV and a DVD player"

Outside The Tower the guard who Tom was talking to earlier is convinced to overthrown Monroe and put Tom in charge, he frees Tom and Jason and leaves to find those who would join them. Miles and his group are attacked once again and are almost overwhelmed by their guns. Monroe and Rachael sees this on the monitors in their room and Monroe says the only way to save Charlie is to give him the code to the guns. Miles and Nora are separated from Aaron and Charlie, the latter of whom is trapped and almost killed but is saved by Monroe. Charlie is surprised and angry but Monroe takes off to find Miles and Rachael tells her to leave him, just then she, Charlie and Aaron are surrounded by the people with guns.

 

I wouldn't do that, the mess would be everywhere

Monroe manages to find Miles, who has a gun of his own, and says that they finally need to finish this. Charlie, Rachael and Aaron are escorted to another room filled with people and Grace is also there along with Dan Jenkins (Glenn Morshower) who was at The Tower the night of The Blackout. He says that he, his men and their families have been down he ever since The Blackout to protect The Tower and to make sure the lights stay off. He believes that humanity can't go back to the way it was when they abused electricity to make more advanced war (like with missiles or bombs) and proceeds to burn Jane's journal. Aaron almost begs him to stop saying that power would also mean medicine, fresh water and feeling safe again but is unable to stop Jenkins burning the journal. Grace says there is another reason and that turning off all the Nanites at once might burn the entire world and says that Rachael knew that.

 

"Fire is the only tool we need down here"

The quest to turn the power back on is almost at an end but I really shouldn't be surprised that there is quite a lot of opposition. First I really want to praise the action that was in this episode because there was a lot of it, the stand out being Jenkins's group and those guns that they have. Some of the most graphic and best action scenes where with them, like when they ambushed Monroe's group and exploded those soldiers and when they chased down Miles's group. Another standout is when Tom and Jason blew up the amplifier and the ensuring fire fight that followed was really cool as well.

 

"Must have weapons!"

Also I didn't expect Tom and Jason to be captured but I am glad they did because Tom is finally, finally doing the take over of the Monroe Republic! He has always been a master with words and using the situation of many soldiers doubting Monroe to his advantage. I wonder what he'll do with the Republic, will he make peace with Georgia because of the time he has worked there or still make war? Either way I am looking forward to seeing what he will do and it is a shame we only have one more episode this season to find out. Speaking of Monroe I wonder if he will find out what Tom has done before the season is over. I also actually like the one on one time he got with Rachael and that in the end they actually teamed up together for a short. We also got a big confrontation set up between him and Miles so I am really looking forward to watching that!

 

Lets all follow Miles's lead!

We also got some more secrets on the Nanites and the possibility that they could destroy the world, now that was quite the shocker at the end. However I don't think this will dismay Rachael from turning them off because she is just that single minded. We also have the reveal of the group that guards The Tower and I have to say that they aren't crazies they are doing what they are doing for non - selfish reason but Aaron does make a good point too. I guess next episode Charlie, Rachael and Aaron are going to have to fight through them all to turn the power back on. Also fifteen years underground? I wouldn't be able to do that.

 

Now that is really cool entrance

There isn't much I dislike about this episode because Rachael was alright this time I just really found her annoying in the Flashback when she wants space from Ben, again she is trying to make herself the better person in every argument or conflict when she obviously isn't. Also once again her journey is shown to be for the most selfish of reasons because if there is the possibility of destroying the world, however small, why still go through with it? This just shows that she really isn't one of the good guys because she honestly doesn't care who she kills if they stand in her way or prove her wrong (stuck up whore!)

 

"Monroe leaves us for one second and now the camps on fire"

Overall this was one really great episode and setup for the finale and I really liked almost everything about it. Rachael was a tad annoying and Miles, Charlie and Aaron didn't play much of a significant role however Aaron did have a small reveal that his code was used for the Nanites, that was cool and I am sure Miles will have a larger role in the finale.

 

SCORE: 9/10

 

Highlights: Tom gaining the Monroe Republic

                   All the action scenes in The Tower

                   Sets up for a lot of events and problems for the finale

 

Let - Downs: Rachael and her Flashbacks

                      Miles, Charlie and Aaron didn't have that large a role in this episode

 

 

The great screenshots of the episodes where provided by the great site Screencapped. You can look for yourself from the link below;

 

 





http://screencapped.net/       



Film Review: X Men: Days of Future Past ( MAJOR SPOILERS!)

Thought I'd fit in a review before going on to part two of my Resident Evil rant, and what better film is there out right now to review than X Men: Days of Future Past. Now I am going to really talk about this film in detail and that means SPOILERS.

This film follows a story set in two timelines; the first set in a dystopian future were Mutants and Humans who could potentially have a mutant child are at the brink of extinction by the near invincible Sentinel robots while the second is set in 1973 America just before the Sentinels were ever created.
Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) is the one who is chosen to go back in to the past because of his healing abilities and he must convince a young professor Xavier (James McAvoy), who is in a state of depression after many of his students and teachers are killed in Vietnam, to team up with a young Magneto (Michael Fassbender) who betrayed him in X Men First Class. Together they must stop Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence) from killing the Sentinel creator Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage) that, after being murdered by a mutant, gained sympathy and support for the Sentinel Program. However that is not all, Mystique is captured shortly after the murder and it is her DNA that it used to eventually upgrade the Sentinels to their invincible form in the future.
Meanwhile in the future the X men team led by older Professor Xavier (Patrick Steward) and Magneto (Ian Mckellen) must guard Kitty Pride (Ellen Page) from the Sentinels while she is using her powers to transfer Wolverine to the past.

Now I have read the comic that this film was inspired from and even though there are quite the few differences it is a really faithful adaption that is, in my opinion, the best X Men film to date. The biggest difference that this film has to the comic is that they send Wolverine back instead of Kitty Pride and even though I was very, very slightly disappointed when I first saw it in the trailers it worked really well in this. The reason why I was disappointed was because Kitty Pride is played by the great Ellen Page who is like perfect in everything she has been in (take X Men Last stand for example; no matter what anyone said about that film she was great in it), so in this she only seen in the future segments. However if they did send someone else back I am glad it was Wolverine because Hugh Jackman IS Wolverine, he has probably one of the most iconic roles ever and I can think of no one else to play the part than him.
Another reason I why I think this film is such a great adaptation is because this film is directed by Bryan Singer; director of X1 and X2 and worked as producer and writer for First Class, so this is like the return of the one who gave who the best X Men films (though The Wolverine is also great as well).

Besides some of the cast I have already mentioned above this film has a very wide variety of mutants and Humans from the comics, some with a more larger role than others. In the future for example we also have Storm (Halle Berry), Warpath (BooBoo Stewart), Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Bishop (Omar Sy), Colossus (Daniel Cudmore), Blink (Fan BingBing) and Sunspot (Adan Canto). All of them have some great fight scenes with the future Sentinels and the cast was just perfect however since the majority of the film takes place in 1973 we don't see as much of them as I would have liked. Especially Bishop who is one of my favourite mutants because my favourite mutant power is absorbing kinetic energy which is his power and I would have wanted to see more of it (also why Sebastian Shaw is my absolute favourite mutant).
We also get some other great cast in the past besides the ones I have mentioned above as well like young Beast and Quicksilver (Evan Peters) who is a stand out in this film. When they break Magneto out of the Pentagon and we see Quicksilver take out all of those guards in slow motion was just so funny and damn cool. It is a shame however he is not in it for too long and the same can be said for Havok (Lucas Till) who only gets a small cameo.

As for the Sentinels they are portrayed really well in this film whether it was their past versions or their future versions. The ones in the past look more like the Sentinels that have been used in various X Men media and even looks like we can even build them today. As for the future ones they really seem like unstoppable killing machines thanks to their bio - mechanical armour that changes to adapt to any mutant they are fighting. So good job with these Sentinels, a really good portrayal of one of the X Men's most popular foes.

There are tons of action in this film to please any fan who wants to see a lot of mutants fight with their powers from the battles in the future to Magneto lifting an entire stadium over the white house. But there is also a good mix of great interaction from many of the cast like when the two Xaviers meet and the young Xavier trying to stop Mystique, this film is something that I think can please any movie goer.

However one thing that does annoy me in this film is that most of the mutants from First Class were just killed off, off screen. This includes Banshee, Emma Frost, Angel, Riptide and Azazel - all killed off and used for Trasks experiments before this film. It is a shame because the end of the First Class sets the former four as a major team with Magneto and Banshee in the comics was a major X Men. 

Now I will now touch on the end of this film and its after credits scene, so even though I warned you before I will say it again that this next part will contain MAJOR SPOILERS!

In the ending of this film we see Wolverine return to the future but the world now seems to be at peace and he is now a history professor at the X Mansion. We also get the return of both Cyclops and Jean Grey because the events of X3 has now never happened. To be more precise the events of X1, X2, X3, X Men Origins Wolverine and The Wolverine has never happened. This is because this film takes place shortly after First Class and from the newspaper that glorified Mystique saving the President I am guessing that mutants are now not hated as much in this new timeline so maybe Magneto never set the events in motion in X1.
Now I am not saying that the previous films are now not worth watching all I am saying that Wolverine has now created an alternate timeline, the events in the previous films did happen but only Wolverine is aware of them. I think they have done this for two reasons;

1. It is almost like they have rebooted the series but they don't have to recast any of the characters, they can now create a new series of X Men films but without completely redoing the entire story. Also this way they can keep on using the cast and characters from this film and Days of Future Past.

2. They wanted to get rid of the some of the events they were not satisfied with in a way that could please the fans, like X3 for example. Now I know X3 got a lot of negative feedback however I did enjoy it overall because it did have some good points e.g. Ellen Page and Beast, but I will admit they messed up the Phoenix saga and needlessly killed off Jean, Cyclops and Xavier. At least now if they set any more films in the new future that Wolverine is in we will have those characters back.

So props to Bryan Singer because not only has he erased the events of X3 he even did it to his own films and that must have took guts. But I will say again those films are still worth watching because the series has not really rebooted and they are important and play a part in the overall story arc, especially in the future events in Days of Future Past.

Now I don't know about any of you but I am really psyched for the new X Men film because of the after scene credits which features one of the most deadliest foes the X Men have ever faced; En Sabah Nur - Apocalypse. I won't go in to too much detail of Apocalypse but lets just say that he is possible the first mutant ever with almost unlimited powers. We also get to see the Four Horse Men in the background for are his loyal mutant followers. I have read that the new X Men film takes place with the young generation of X Men which is good because we from 1973 I think there is around fifty years until the new timeline to cover. Also I read that we will see a young Cyclops and Jean Grey so that is great as well, I hope Wolverine is in it even if it is just a cameo.

So that is it for my review, it is the best X Men in the entire franchise and sets up the future for a new series of films. It is only just below perfect because some mutants that I wanted to see more aren't and previous mutants from First Class are kill off screen.

SCORE: 9/10