And so, the end of 2014 is shaping to be a really intense
month. For me personally it involves some very serious family issues that I and
the rest of my family will be solving for years to come – but that is not my
point for now, let us speak about something else.
For one thing, the S2 of S.H.I.E.L.D. has really sped up its
pace. Just like S1, it is supposed to have 22 episodes; but unlike S1, which
generally sped up in later episodes, from “Yes Men” onwards, S2 has been
fast-paced from the start, what with the special effects, new guest supervillains,
and now aliens thrown into the mix. It also means that there is less character
development; Grant appears to have killed his family off at last – Angelus would
have been so proud – and is back in working for Hydra once more: so much for
the morally grey area. But then again, Skye has broken up with him...so Grant
is taking her to her father, the Doctor, who is also working for Hydra for the
moment. Yes, this tenuous cooperation between Ward, the Doctor and Whitehall,
among others, is supposed to show how selfishness never works-out in the end,
but so far? It is not very obvious to the audience.
While Ward is off working for Hydra once more, Raina had to provide
the back-story for the series, by introducing Skye – and the audience – to the
Kree. So far they are only in the background, depicted vaguely as ‘blue angels’,
but apparently they have created the Obelisk/Diviner as well as the underground
city that Coulson planned to blow up...and it doesn’t work. Not just in the
Marvel universe, where agent Mack was apparently taken over by some unknown
force (frankly, this hidden city beneath San Juan sounds a lot like a
Hellmouth, albeit a sci-fi one, with nuts and bolts), but also in the real
world, especially the wide-angle shots of Coulson and Morse as they walked
around the human city. Those shots were pointless and just aimed to eat-up
screen time, while Skye and the others first rescued Raina and then were
surrounded by Hydra’s planes.
As for the hidden city itself, so far it is a different
version of the Hellmouth – Whedon continues to work with the old favorites. So
far this place has cost S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Mack, and as Whitehall and agent 33
plan to shoot the S.H.I.E.L.D. airplane out of the sky, the cost may just mount
up.
Of course, agent 33 is another sticky point in S.H.I.E.L.D.
plotline – she had been brainwashed by Hydra after all, shouldn’t S.H.I.E.L.D.
try to recapture her and fix her mind? Apparently not, just as they did with
Donnie Gill earlier in S2; S.H.I.E.L.D. may have the better people, but Hydra got
the better technology.
And on another level, agent 33 is just a reason for Ming-Na Wen
to act out a bit – as long as agent 33 resembles agent May with a horrific burn
on her face (and a robotic voice, too), Ming-Na Wen can play her too. Fair
enough. Patton Oswald, who plays agent Keonig, broke the mold in a different
way: he plays several identical brothers at the same time.
All of this acting is quite fun to watch, but it gets old
after a while; hopefully, the next episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be more factual
and less CGI-intense.
And speaking of CGI, the film ‘Jurassic World’ has also
released its’ trailer. Oh dear.
As far as films go, JW seems to have problems from the
start; one of those problems are the featherless dinosaurs. JP3 had feathered
raptors already – JW seems to have done away with feathers once more: on the
velociraptors, on the ‘ostrich dinosaurs’ (probably Gallimimus), and etc – all of
the film’s theropods appear to be featherless, making the dinofans not happy.
And neither does the oversized mosasaur. These prehistoric
cousins of the monitor lizards were huge, 8-12 m on average, but JW monster is
bigger yet...for the purely dramatic effect. That, and to cash in, subtly, on
the SeaWorld scandals that involve killer whales: the scene where the mosasaur
eats a shark is certainly reminiscent of dolphin and killer whale feedings in
captivity...
Finally, the D-Rex. It is completely unnecessary. Back in
the earlier films, the ‘basic’ T-Rex and Spinosaurus already did a more than
appropriate job of nearly unstoppable giant monsters, with raptors being the
smaller and smarter version. Now, we got a dinosaur of a Frankenstein monster
running around...supposedly true to Crichton’s idea of a man-made creation gone
wrong. Fair enough, but JW (and JP) dinosaurs already are man-made creations;
you want natural dinosaurs, go outside and look at birds (pigeons, sparrows,
gulls, starlings, etc) – there go your dinosaurs! The D-Rex is unnecessary
elaboration on an already well-developed scheme.
And on top of it all, JW has a real-life scandal as well –
there are rumors that the film has utilized paleoart of other people without,
well, acknowledging this sort of thing. It is unknown exactly how much truth in
this rumor, but speaking of truth? Dinomedia already has problems. Ever since
Planet Dinosaur back in 2013, the TV dinosaurs were relatively lackluster and
outdated; JW is their new big chance to shine...and the film does not appear to
deliver, planning to show instead the same outdated featherless raptors, and
overlarge mosasaurs and the D-Rex. It is just sad, that is what it is.
And so, while agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are racing against
clock and Hydra to enter a hidden city, and JW is about to deliver yet another
monster-dino film, I leave you for now.
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