The Inhumans Marvel/IMAX
- Thread starter Turtletrekker
- Start date
Hmm, not too bad to start out... but the slo-mo in the opening chase was pretentious, and the girl who was supposed to be running for her life had the body language of someone out for a casual jog.
Medusa's hair animation in the bedroom scene was actually quite good. It sold the idea of what her hair can do quite well, and it included a bit of subtle, constant movement that I wish they'd kept up throughout. (As I suggested, they could've achieved a bit of that effect just by blowing the odd puff of air at her hair.)
The music is quite good. It's by Sean Callery, who also does Jessica Jones (as well as Bones, Elementary, and others).
The subplot with the space agency people seems pointless so far, though. And by this point, it's hard to believe that anyone in the MCU would be so skeptical of bizarre phenomena as Tom Wright's character is. Was this material in the IMAX version? It feels like the sort of thing that was designed to be expendable so it could be cut out of the shorter version.
How come the living movie projector with the circular eyes projected an image in a widescreen rectangular format? It wasn't even IMAX ratio!
The head-shaving scene was kind of brutal, but it was undermined by the use of a standard electric razor. They're on the Moon! Where did they get one? Couldn't the prop department have whipped up something a little more Kirbyesque?
Also, the Inhumans are oddly knowledgeable about life on Earth, talking casually about cars and buses -- although just moments earlier, Black Bolt was confused by a smartphone. Not very consistent.
Most of the actors are at least okay, but Isabelle Cornish is not very good as Crystal.
I can't believe they included the Inhuman who's a living door!
Those comlinks are neat. They wrap around the wrist or straighten, and they unfold into smartphone-like screens. I think these are my favorite fictional comm devices since the Earth: Final Conflict globals.
I'm still not sure why we're supposed to be rooting for the snobbish royals who defend an oppressive caste system and are bigoted against humans. Okay, Maximus has done a few nasty things, but his methods aside, his cause seems more just than theirs. The royals haven't done anything benevolent or helpful to anyone but themselves, aside from Triton's one abortive attempt to help the Inhuman girl.
Also, if the police know Black Bolt has dangerous superpowers, why just process him like a normal prisoner instead of immediately calling in the feds? I think SHIELD is currently inactive again, but there must be some protocol in place for dealing with rogue enhanced people under the terms of the Sokovia Accords.
All in all, it's not as awful as I'd heard, but it's very uneven and has issues. And it definitely needs more Lockjaw.
Medusa's hair animation in the bedroom scene was actually quite good. It sold the idea of what her hair can do quite well, and it included a bit of subtle, constant movement that I wish they'd kept up throughout. (As I suggested, they could've achieved a bit of that effect just by blowing the odd puff of air at her hair.)
The music is quite good. It's by Sean Callery, who also does Jessica Jones (as well as Bones, Elementary, and others).
The subplot with the space agency people seems pointless so far, though. And by this point, it's hard to believe that anyone in the MCU would be so skeptical of bizarre phenomena as Tom Wright's character is. Was this material in the IMAX version? It feels like the sort of thing that was designed to be expendable so it could be cut out of the shorter version.
How come the living movie projector with the circular eyes projected an image in a widescreen rectangular format? It wasn't even IMAX ratio!
The head-shaving scene was kind of brutal, but it was undermined by the use of a standard electric razor. They're on the Moon! Where did they get one? Couldn't the prop department have whipped up something a little more Kirbyesque?
Also, the Inhumans are oddly knowledgeable about life on Earth, talking casually about cars and buses -- although just moments earlier, Black Bolt was confused by a smartphone. Not very consistent.
Most of the actors are at least okay, but Isabelle Cornish is not very good as Crystal.
I can't believe they included the Inhuman who's a living door!
Those comlinks are neat. They wrap around the wrist or straighten, and they unfold into smartphone-like screens. I think these are my favorite fictional comm devices since the Earth: Final Conflict globals.
I'm still not sure why we're supposed to be rooting for the snobbish royals who defend an oppressive caste system and are bigoted against humans. Okay, Maximus has done a few nasty things, but his methods aside, his cause seems more just than theirs. The royals haven't done anything benevolent or helpful to anyone but themselves, aside from Triton's one abortive attempt to help the Inhuman girl.
Also, if the police know Black Bolt has dangerous superpowers, why just process him like a normal prisoner instead of immediately calling in the feds? I think SHIELD is currently inactive again, but there must be some protocol in place for dealing with rogue enhanced people under the terms of the Sokovia Accords.
All in all, it's not as awful as I'd heard, but it's very uneven and has issues. And it definitely needs more Lockjaw.
I kind of have to wonder if so much of their stuff being great means that people are being overly critical of stuff isn't quite up to that level.
It's actually not the complete train wreck disaster I was expecting. Some of the writing and acting has been a bit wonky, but not absolutely horrible. Iwan Rheon's accent did slip a few times.
Most of the powers were pretty cool although a few were a bit unclear. They didn't do a ton with it, but what little we did get with Medusa's hair was pretty good, definitely a lot better than what we saw in some of the early trailers. I know from what I've read online that Karnak's power is seeing and exploiting weaknesses, but it wasn't real clear in the episode what exactly was going on. It is kind of a weird power to try to portray so I can kind understand why it was a bit confusing. Crystal's powers were also a bit unclear, and I haven't read as much about here, so I'm still not clear exactly what they were.
Lockjaw was pretty cool, I hope he isn't unconscious to long.
I do agree that they could have made Maximus's motivations a bit to sympathetic, and didn't really give enough of a clear reason for why Black Bolt's status quo should be kept in place.
I do agree with Christopher that the space agency boss's attitude did seem a bit odd for someobody who lives in the MCU. After all the crazy shit that's gone down in the movies I wouldn't think it would be that hard to think that somebody would find it so hard to believe that there was something weird happening on the moon.
It's actually not the complete train wreck disaster I was expecting. Some of the writing and acting has been a bit wonky, but not absolutely horrible. Iwan Rheon's accent did slip a few times.
Most of the powers were pretty cool although a few were a bit unclear. They didn't do a ton with it, but what little we did get with Medusa's hair was pretty good, definitely a lot better than what we saw in some of the early trailers. I know from what I've read online that Karnak's power is seeing and exploiting weaknesses, but it wasn't real clear in the episode what exactly was going on. It is kind of a weird power to try to portray so I can kind understand why it was a bit confusing. Crystal's powers were also a bit unclear, and I haven't read as much about here, so I'm still not clear exactly what they were.
Lockjaw was pretty cool, I hope he isn't unconscious to long.
I do agree that they could have made Maximus's motivations a bit to sympathetic, and didn't really give enough of a clear reason for why Black Bolt's status quo should be kept in place.
I do agree with Christopher that the space agency boss's attitude did seem a bit odd for someobody who lives in the MCU. After all the crazy shit that's gone down in the movies I wouldn't think it would be that hard to think that somebody would find it so hard to believe that there was something weird happening on the moon.
Space agency girl kind of reminded me of Melissa Benoist crossed with Anna Torv (not a bad mix...).
They did a good job incorporating Hawaii into the show which made for a bit of change of pace for most of the Marvel stuff.
They did a good job incorporating Hawaii into the show which made for a bit of change of pace for most of the Marvel stuff.
I was wondering if that was supposed to be a wow moment in IMAX.
Still never bothered by it, to me the hair is no worse than the pan over Attilan or any number of TV FX but the point is moot now. buzz buzz
I was surprised they could get "hoof" out of that footage.
The razor did standout as being a bit out-of-place.
Good thing they landed someplace that speaks Attilan.
Not when she speaks but she's easy on the eyes and she looks right somehow. Some people are easier to buy as comic moon people than others but I guess that's subjective.
If they could only text! Poor Black Bolt...
Yeah, I thought they were making it interesting and debatable but then they seemed to just go into typical baddie mode. I suppose if they hire Ramsay Bolton you should expect Ramsay Bolton.
Knowing nothing about him It seemed oddly selective.
About what I expected: chronically mediocre.
While the production quality is acceptable for a TV show, I don't know what whoever it was was thinking when they said to themselves "hey, this'll play well in the cinema!" I can see why it got slammed in the reviews.
Not unsalvageable, but I don't think it'll be given that opportunity. Almost a shame since some of the actors (like the guy playing Blackbolt) did surprisingly well given the material, though others were bloody awful (the actress playing Crystal leaps to mind!) even by the already low standards of the writing. Like, daytime TV soap opera bad.
While the production quality is acceptable for a TV show, I don't know what whoever it was was thinking when they said to themselves "hey, this'll play well in the cinema!" I can see why it got slammed in the reviews.
Not unsalvageable, but I don't think it'll be given that opportunity. Almost a shame since some of the actors (like the guy playing Blackbolt) did surprisingly well given the material, though others were bloody awful (the actress playing Crystal leaps to mind!) even by the already low standards of the writing. Like, daytime TV soap opera bad.
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There's no need to impute sinister motives. More likely they just had high hopes that were dashed, whereas we've already had our expectations lowered by their advance reviews.
Elemental control -- basically the same power set as Avatar Aang or Korra. But I agree, they could've established it better. Basically her main power seemed to be telling Lockjaw what to do.
Really, the whole thing was slow to advance things, despite being loaded with expository dialogue. We didn't get much sense of their powers, they spent much of the thing lost in various parts of Hawai'i and not really doing anything, and it's still not clear at all what role NASA Felicity Smoak Wannabe is going to play in the series.
It looked like a hoof to me. Sure, I had the advantage of knowing Gorgon was in this show, but I didn't know right off that he'd be the one smashing the probe, and yet as soon as it happened, I thought, "That must be Gorgon's hoof." (But how did he do that outside the dome? Did he have a spacesuit that didn't cover his legs?)
The problem is that there isn't really anybody to root for. Maximus's cause is superficially just but his methods are cruel. The Royals are occasionally likeable but come off as racist, out-of-touch one-percenters defending their privilege. And the human characters are ciphers so far.
I realized last night that the fundamental mistake the show made was making the Royal Family the protagonists. They work better as morally ambiguous foils to more clear-cut heroes. If it had been up to me, I would've had the main characters be Earthborn Inhumans (like Kamala Khan!) who were brought to Attilan by Black Bolt and who objected to the caste system and strict regimentation they found there, surprising the Royals, who thought they were doing something benevolent and hadn't really thought about it from a non-elitist perspective. And then maybe they get caught up in Maximus's coup and some of them side with him while others flee with the Royals to Earth, and both groups of NuHumans try to keep their respective Attilan Inhumans' excesses in check, or something like that.
I was right:
http://www.cbr.com/inhumans-new-footage/
All the stuff with NASA Felicity, err, Louise (Ellen Woglom), was not in the IMAX version, which explains why it felt so extraneous.
Maximus's scenes with the Genetic Council and Crystal were also added. Which means the IMAX version left out some important story- and character-building scenes but left in all the pointless stuff with Karnak wandering in the woods. No wonder it was so poorly reviewed.
http://www.cbr.com/inhumans-new-footage/
All the stuff with NASA Felicity, err, Louise (Ellen Woglom), was not in the IMAX version, which explains why it felt so extraneous.
Maximus's scenes with the Genetic Council and Crystal were also added. Which means the IMAX version left out some important story- and character-building scenes but left in all the pointless stuff with Karnak wandering in the woods. No wonder it was so poorly reviewed.
Honestly, while the opening scene didn't wow me in any version, it did look much better on the big screen. The zoom in on the guns, etc. seemed less pretentious somehow. The girl's running was noticeably bad in either version, though. Honestly, I keep going back to the io9 IMAX review that basically described this show as one in constant existential crisis not sure if it's a movie or TV show. I thought that would die down once it got off the big screen, but not quite.
Yeah, the NASA stuff was rightfully cut. It didn't contribute to the first two episodes and was just set up for later. The only thing we see is her look of surprise when the rover gets destroyed. I don't think she even speaks.
But the Genetic Council stuff was essential to the story. One of the scenes was even in the trailers. I have no idea why they were cut.[/QUOTE]
When it comes to the Inhumans attitude toward humans, I'm wondering if perhaps their time on Earth will eventually lead to them bonding with some regular humans and changing the caste system once they get back to Attilan. Maybe that will end up being Louise's role in the overall arc, she could be the one who gets them to reconsider their attitudes.
Well, that wasn't great but it certainly wasn't as bad as the Internet Hate Machine made it seem. I agree that if Maximus weren't such a douche about it, he would be the one with the sympathetic position. However, it's hard to sympathize with him given his means and it's hard to sympathize with the Royals due to their attitudes toward mere humans as well.
Maximus was great, but Isabel Cornish's performance as Crystal is probably the least convincing of any MCU performance to date. Lockjaw was amazing. I see the Louise character as the potential Bridge character between this show and Agents of SHIELD. Some of the dialogue was painfully bad, but there were some real seeds of a potentially great drama buried under the surface.
I've seen a few comparisons to Agents of SHIELD and that's a fair bar to compare it to. Given that we've only seen the pilot movie for Inhumans, I would have to give the nod to Agents of SHIELD simply on the strength of the characters. In the Agents of SHIELD pilot, the characters were generally likable, if a little quirky and you were rooting for them as well as well as rooting for things to work out favorably for antagonist Mike Peterson, the future Deathlok. Compare that to the characters on Inhumans, where it's really genuinely hard to know who to root for. I mean, we know who are supposed to be rooting for, but they have yet to convince me as an audience member who is in the right, Maximus' means notwithstanding.
Maximus was great, but Isabel Cornish's performance as Crystal is probably the least convincing of any MCU performance to date. Lockjaw was amazing. I see the Louise character as the potential Bridge character between this show and Agents of SHIELD. Some of the dialogue was painfully bad, but there were some real seeds of a potentially great drama buried under the surface.
I've seen a few comparisons to Agents of SHIELD and that's a fair bar to compare it to. Given that we've only seen the pilot movie for Inhumans, I would have to give the nod to Agents of SHIELD simply on the strength of the characters. In the Agents of SHIELD pilot, the characters were generally likable, if a little quirky and you were rooting for them as well as well as rooting for things to work out favorably for antagonist Mike Peterson, the future Deathlok. Compare that to the characters on Inhumans, where it's really genuinely hard to know who to root for. I mean, we know who are supposed to be rooting for, but they have yet to convince me as an audience member who is in the right, Maximus' means notwithstanding.
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Except for Lockjaw. He's a good bizarro doggie.
It was a disguise. He's seen carrying the boots when he goes into the ocean.
The full moon in midday when Black Bolt arrived in Hawaii honked me off even more than the fact that pilot was recapping itself to death at that moment, making it clear it was made to air as two separate episodes and not one continuous piece (a perfect mirror of Discovery). And then we saw another full moon at night at the end of the episode. Come on! It's the moon! How is it this hard to know how it works on the most basic level?
"Heroes" was worse when it came to the scientific capabilities of the Moon.