After four films and four directors, I’m getting pretty optimistic about the Mission: Impossible franchise, although still not enough to go back to the original show. But, if you were to compare Ghost Protocol to other film fourths this year, like X-Men: First Class and Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides, I think you’d agree with me that it’s pretty amazing this movie came out as fresh and fun as it did.
It’s hard to do stupid smart. I know that, because Saints Row 2 did stupid stupidly. Saints Row: The Third does stupid in a way that would make idiot savants jealous. Yes, this is not my strongest opening to a review, but don’t let that deter you from engaging in the bizarre, incredible fever dream that is this latest entry in an unlikely franchise.
The Third Street Saints are huge now. They’re media icons, the biggest celebrities in the world, with their own clothing line and everything. As the game opens, they decide to rob a bank – wearing masks of themselves – with an actor who is going to play them in a movie. The heist goes bad, then crazy. Without giving too much away, the Saints end up in the town of Stillwater, desperate to take over and take down the local gang who would dare stand up to them.
Doing so includes the most ridiculous list of activities I’ve seen in a GTAIII-style game like this. You’ll be flying hover bikes and shooting lazer guns in no time. Repeatable side missions include a murder gameshow and a “destroy everything with a tank” mode. One of the earliest story missions has you recruit a permanently auto-tuned pimp by rescuing him from a BDSM club and escaping on gimp-driven rickshaws. Yes, this is exactly the game you don’t want ending up in the hands of young children.
What’s crazy is that it all works. Every aspect of the gameplay is fun, even a weird wrestling match towards the end. Driving and gunplay are both totally acceptable, and become ridiculous as you upgrade your character. Volition address everything with the exact right amount of seriousness, and the story is definitely more of the short and sweet variety than the drawn out, GTAIV style. Even your created character, who can be male or female and speak in seven different voices, somehow becomes identifiable and endearing. Sure, I just made my guy look like Samuel Jackson from Pulp Fiction, but when I changed him, it just felt wrong.
I really don’t want to write too much about Saints Row: The Third. If you thought something like GTA: San Andreas was fun, but too restrained, check this shit out. If you’re still on the fence, let me just tell you one more thing: Burt Reynolds is in here. After a certain point, you can call him up and he’ll come and hang out with you. Any time you want. Case closed.
How much do you like the number three? 2011 was a weird year for video games because, well, usually we’d have new consoles by now. The Xbox 360 turned six in November. The first Xbox was only four when it was replaced by the 360. This unnatural long life meant that a lot of franchises that started this generation are putting out the final parts of trilogies that just wouldn’t have happened in generations before. In fact, only one game on my list isn’t a sequel, and I think that speaks more to the state of the industry than my taste. Maybe not.
I wasn’t as engaged with music in 2011 as I have been the past few years. Without all the busywork of being a student, the time I spent listening to music declined. So I was a bit surprised to see that I had over 50 albums to choose from for my list. More surprising is that a number of my favorite bands released albums that didn’t even crack the list. No Radiohead! No My Morning Jacket! What a brave new world we’re living in.
Normally, this is where I’d list honorable mentions, but there are way too many for it to be worth a damn. It doesn’t help that I didn’t hear a few of the year’s greatest albums until they started popping up on other peoples’ best of lists, and as such haven’t given them the time they deserve.
With that depressing disclaimer out of the way, let’s get on with it.
It’s kind of silly to review an MMO, but I have put quite some time into Star Wars: The Old Republic, and I’d like to talk about it. For the record, I played in the two big beta weekends and have a level 35 bounty hunter on the live servers, which means I’ve completed the first act.
Bethesda is among the most ambitious developers in gaming. Time and time again, they try to deliver on the impossible: An open world, brimming with life and opportunity, that a player can interact with however they want. It’s been a few years since they brought their brand of entertainment to the Elder Scrolls universe, having spent the last five years in the desolate wasteland of Fallout. Now fantasy is back with Skyrim, the closest Bethesda has ever been to their objective.
Director Jason Reitman is kind of, sort of becoming an auteur. Through four films now, he’s told unique, character-focused stories full of wit and darkness. Young Adult‘s Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) follows in the footsteps of Nick Naylor, Juno and Ryan Bingham as a character deeply set in her ways, forced to confront the one thing that could actually change her life. Like those characters, Mavis stands in juxtaposition to the world around her. But her arc is much darker and less sympathetic than you might expect.
Mavis is a marginally successful author of a young adult fiction series. She didn’t actually create the series, she just ghost writes the latest entries in it. As she starts work on her latest novel, she immediately begins procrastinating and opens her email. There she finds a message from her old boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) announcing the birth of his daughter. Mavis interprets this as a sign that he wants her to save him from his wife and newborn and run away together. So she leaves the big city and heads home.
Before she can get to Buddy, Mavis runs into another former classmate, Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt) at a bar. Matt is a fat geek who was badly beaten by a group of jocks who thought he was gay in high school. They may not have gotten along in high school, but now the have a mutual love of alcohol and a mutual hate of their hometown. What they do not agree upon is Mavis’ crazy plan to win back Buddy. Chaos ensues.
Much emphasis is put on Mavis’ daily life. We see her sloppy home, her daily rituals, her writing process. Every day begins with a swig of Diet Coke. Her writing is inspired by crappy teen TV shows and eavesdropping. When necessary, she can clean up too. Clothes shopping, hair pieces, makeup, manicures and pedicures are all utilized to turn her into a super model, to make her stand out in her town of limping Patton Oswalts and poorly-bearded Patrick Wilsons.
By the end of the movie, it’s explained why Mavis is the way she is, why her plan made sense to her. But that actually makes her a less likable character. The big speech at the end is actually hilarious, because it’s the opposite of what I wanted to hear. That’s what makes this movie great, I think. It plays with your expectations, to a degree. Diablo Cody is the writer, but this feels nothing like Juno. It’s much more sincere, and bleak.
But it’s not Up in the Air. I think of all the Jason Reitman movies, this one is the hardest to like. It simply lacks the charm his first three movies had. But this film’s rawness makes it good in its own right. The three leads all give terrific performances, making it all the more enjoyable. Reitman is one of my favorite directors right now because he keeps growing as a filmmaker. This is a worthy step forward.
