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Simonorman13
Reviews
Loki (2021)
Had high hopes
The MCU series I most looked forward to, Loki does it's best to play into the time bending multiverse and does a decent job as a cheeky explainer, but essentially ends up as a lack luster attempt at a "LOST" in the admin office of time and space. The premise of multiple Lokis borrowed very heavily from David Gerrard's sci-fi novella "The Man Who Folded Himself", and although equal in brevity and concept coverage, struggled to complete the effect due quite simply to poor casting choices. Honestly each character was underwhelming save Hiddleston and Wilson, who did very well with heavy characters to chew on, but even then it seemed they neutered Hiddleston's well established Loki in this series to bring him to the level of a paper-pushing mustachioed Wilson. The multiple Lokis had nothing notable in common (honestly this was a great excuse to cast near identical actors - how hard could it possibly be to find a female Tom Hiddleston?) and while. Di Martino.'s Sylvie was an intriguing character who was quite well played, the chemistry between the two Loki's was not enough to save the endless scenes of them pining for each other. If they had been more believable as parallel copies of the same being, this could have been easier to swallow. Many other characters hammed it up a bit too much for my liking, making it feel a bit rushed for completion. I hope the films that are now forced to connect from this series are more capable of lending to pacing and believability, expanding on the ideas set forth here but given the polish and pacing the MCU deserves.
Life Extended (2009)
Meh.
Decent, although I expected more. It seemed there was a fair amount of aesthetic consideration put into the film, but subtle annoyances, such as white on white subtitling (with tiny print - sometimes running concurrently with text graphics that you are expected to read also) and symbolic running from each of the interviewees made for less-than utilitarian choices for audience consideration. Interesting philosophies and somewhat cutting-edge knowledge was introspective, and the pacing and stylization did seem tuned to the subject matter. All in all, however, the filmmakers seemed to be trying too hard to appear sophisticated, and not trying hard enough to present a topic that should be captivating.