Tag Archives: scifi

Film Review : Iron Man 3

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Iron Man 3 PosterTony Stark, still stressed out from the events the occurred in The Avengers, picks a fight with a mysterious terrorist known only as The Mandarin. Stuff happens and he eventually wins.

I really enjoyed the first Iron Man film, it managed to be a witty counter-point to the dour hero cliché. Iron Man 2 was weakly plotted rubbish, but Tony Stark was the best part of The Avengers. So it is at least theoretically possible that Iron Man 3 could have been a fine film. Sadly, the film makers seem to have forgotten what made Iron Man so much fun.

First the good parts. Iron Man 3 is well put together and contains lots of fairly well directed action. Fans of things zipping around and exploding will not be disappointed. The acting is appropriate with Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin being a particularly entertaining standout.

The main problem with Iron Man 3 is the plot. The villain is suitably comic-booky, but his plan doesn’t really make a lot of sense and Tony Stark only gets involved for the most tenuous of reasons. This leads to a long sequence where Stark bonds with a kid who teaches him the real meaning of Christmas. Or something. I don’t know, it was pretty lame and saved only the kid actually being a pretty good actor. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments but the film jumps tone so often that it is had to make out what the producers were going for, action comedy or just gritty action. It is a little jarring.

Of course, it all comes to a suitably grand finale which might have been a neat surprise if it wasn’t spoiled in the trailer. At least Pepper Potts gets her own subplot, even if it goes nowhere. Also, Iron Man 3 contains the single most blatantly silly product placement I have ever seen, I hope Oracle paid well because they certainly got some screen time.

Iron Man 3 is not a terrible film, just a very forgettable experience. Recommended only if you like this sort of thing.

Film Review : Oblivion

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Poster for the film OblivionAliens arrived and tried to take over Earth. The humans beat them back, all-but destroying the surface in the process. Now decades later, a couple is assigned to look after the massive reactor plants producing the fuel required to power humanity’s migration. The fuel plants need protecting because some of the aliens are still around and seem pretty bitter about losing.

Oblivion is a decent attempt at an action sci-fi blockbuster. It is entertaining in all the right ways and gorgeous to look at. The design work is fantastic from the cool house in the clouds that the couple live in to the blasted landscape of the ruined Earth, to whatever process they used on Tom Cruise to make him look 20 years younger. It all looks impeccable.

You may not want to read the rest of the review, so I will just up front say that Oblivion is a decent film if you like this sort of thing, with a few lapses that prevent it from becoming really great. Oblivion really isn’t clever enough to avoid spoiling but if you really don’t want to know anything stop reading now…
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Review: Three Collections of Short Stories

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David Falkayn Star Trader CoverDavid Falkayn : Star Trader by Poul Anderson, compiled by Hank Davis
ISBN: 9781439132944

Swashbuckling David Falkayn and his diverse non-human crew travel the galaxy looking for trading opportunities to further enrich his benevolent yet non-too-scrupulous patron. Most of the stories involve the group meeting primitive civilisations and attempting contact which goes badly. The resolution will usually involve the traders figuring out some facet of the native’s culture or physiology that caused the misunderstanding.

I’ve never heard of David Falkayn before, but apparently he stars in a lot of Poul Anderson’s stories. This collection (edited and sycophantically introduced by Hank Davis) covers a lot of ground, from early works written in the 60 to quite modern stuff. The theme that the cultural differences between the traders and the groups they meet can be solved through knowledge and mutual understanding is solid, although some of the resolutions feel a little contrived and almost patronising. The best stories involve the crew interacting with superior cultures that have figured out something about humans that they are using as leverage.

Also, for an author that goes to great lengths to paint complex and sympathetic aliens Anderson sure writes some laughably sexist stories.

Recommend, but if you like this sort of thing.

Tales from Earthsea CoverTales from Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin
ISBN: 9781451768435

A collection of shorter tales set in the world of Earthsea, the storied archipelago setting of the Wizard of Earthsea novels the I devoured as a kid. These stories are not particularly linked to the main plot of the earlier books and stand alone nicely. Perhaps not Le Guin’s best works (they seem a little unambitious compared to her great novels), the writing still bubbles and flows like a cool stoney brook and it was a pleasure to dip my feet in again.

Recommend.

Robots the Recent AI CoverRobots : The Recent A.I. edited by Rich Horton & Sean Wallace
ISBN: 9781607013181

Now onto the hard stuff – a recent collection of robot tales. Usually these compilations are a mixed bag but I have no complaints about any of the stories, which are nicely varied but uniformly excellent. Most of the works are straight forward yarns (robot detective stories, thrillers, etc), with a sprinkling of the more experimental stuff that is usually skippable but works well here. There is lots of thoughtful and exciting writing on display.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing.

Film Review : Rise of the Planet of the Apes

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A medical researcher working on a drug to help the brain repair itself finds himself raising a super smart chimp called Caesar from infancy. Although the researcher has the best of intentions events conspire to take Caesar from his home and Caesar must learn some hard truths about humans.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Poster
Nobody really needed a prequel to Planet of the Apes but if one had to be made then at least they put some effort into it. The story is well told, if a little formulaic for the first half with bland stock character humans (well-intentioned scientist, evil corporate executive, etc) but the apes are fantastically rendered. Caesar is portrayed with vigour and sensitivity that the other characters lack and the film comes alive when it follows him.

The best part of the film occurs about halfway through, where Caesar is locked up with a bunch of other apes and must learn to survive. This sequence, almost entirely without dialogue, is impressively staged. The special effects are likewise excellent throughout.

The main problem with Rise of the Planet of the Apes (apart from the mouthful of the title) is that it starts and ends too early in its story. Although the film tries to inject some pathos with the scientist’s family, ultimately all we want is to see some damned, dirty apes. Then once the apes finally get around to rising, the film ends just as things are getting interesting. The original Planet of the Apes could be read as a commentary on race and class, Rise of the Planet of the Apes has its moments but refuses to hammer home any particular point.

Maybe I am asking too much of my ape-related entertainment, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is highly recommended anyway.

Book Review : Saltation by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

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ISBN: 9781439133453 – publisher’s site

The cover art from SaltationSaltation proudly mentions that it is part of the Liaden Universe® series of novels. I haven’t read anything else set in the Liaden Universe®, but it is apparently a thing worth mentioning, with a loyal following. Also apparently (not that anything in Saltation mentions this), this particular book is a prequel – actually the second of two prequels. This explains but does not excuse some of the shortcomings of this fairly terrible book.

Saltation is the story of how Theo Waitley becomes an interstellar pilot. Theo is a fairly standard underdog character from a mixed and slightly eccentric background. The story opens with her having just left home to journey to the prestigious pilot school on another planet. Being a pilot is a serious business, pilots have fantastic responsibilities and need reflexes and skills that require years of training. So pilot school is basically a cross between Top-Gun and Hogwarts, run along military lines to weed out any slackers.

Sounds exciting doesn’t it? Wrong! I almost came to believe Saltation was a writing exercise designed to make the premise as boring as possible. It is like the authors wrote an exciting but flabby 700 page novel then their editor wisely cut out the boring chapters but accidentally sent the wrong stack of pages to the printer! Whole chapters are concerned with Theo sorting out her luggage. She meets and has long, inconsequential conversations with various minor characters who are never seen again.

It is not uncommon for scifi novels to devote some time to explaining the setting and the various bits of technology lying around. Saltation manages to spend a lot of time introducing devices that play no part in the plot, and then name drops various alien races and technologies without explanation.

All this is maybe forgivable, but Saltation has bigger problems. Theo Waitley is not an engaging lead character. She has no flaws to overcome, and suffers no particular hardships until late in the novel. It is mentioned several times that she is not well liked by the other students, but for good reason and I didn’t like her either. Theo is too perfect. It turns out she is a natural pilot, a natural fighter, a natural dancer, a natural athlete, as well as having an impossibly mysterious, handsome, and well connected older boyfriend, friends in high places, fantastic job offers and the ear of all the staff at the school.

It is as if the first Harry Potter book was called Hermione Granger and the Perfect Attendance Record. I don’t think I have ever read such a dull book.

In the closing chapters things finally start to happen and Theo gets kicked out of school for literally being too good. Of course she immediately gets perfect job as a pilot and things slowly start moving. But only at the very end does anything actually happen, and even that is just to set things up for the next book.

Maybe, maybe, maybe this all makes sense in the context of the other Liaden Universe® books. I certainly won’t be hunting down the rest of them to find out.

Not recommended.