Phantastic Finale! (Spoilers)
I was one of those frustrated fans who checked this board constantly after the initial announcement. I said things like 'it might not live up to expectations,' "it will most likely suck," yada, yada, yada. I am happy to say I was wrong. Dead wrong.
I knew going in the effects would be subpar, but overall, this was one emotionally epic experience. If you're like me, it might feel a little jarring at first because we are seeing things digitally, but after the first 5 minutes, you should feel better. As the film progresses, it shows that David Hartman is learning the craft. I can forgive some of the angles and early decisions. I know this didn't start out as a film, so it lacks a bit of film-making cohesiveness, but that's forgivable.
Reggie's performance was spot on. It was great to see them hearken back to the old days with him playing the guitar and working on music, but what really strikes me are the multiple timelines and dimensions. It was such a clever way to tell the story and it makes for an terrific climax.
Mike also had some wonderful scenes. I was happy to see him as much as we did. I love how he explains the bag plague and those cool elements from Roger Avery's script. It was the perfect way to incorporate mass destruction on the budget they had. It really goes to show that they can make something epic out of this franchise if someone just gave them some money.
The Tall Man. He's still terrifying after all these years! I worried he wouldn't have a big role and his dialogue would be limited, but he was in it enough for me and his dialogue is as powerful as ever. It was nice to see how they incorporated The Lady in Lavender as well. I thought she might be featured a little bit more, but c'est la vie.
As for the new characters, I thought Chunk repeated himself a lot, but overall, I enjoyed everyone.
There are flaws... For instance, how come Chunk doesn't wear a breathing mask on the Red Planet while Reggie and Mike do? Why is Reggie looking for Mike when he just left him behind in the space gate at the end of part 4? How is Jody back?
I can look past some of the fimmaking flaws and poor cgi because this is one of the first live-action feature films the man has made. Let's give him a break. Plus, we really didn't have to get this film at all. We all owe David a big thank you for convincing Don to let him do this. They did the best they could with what they had and that's all that matters. Personally, I wasn't satisfied with Oblivion's conclusion. I wanted to see one final battle and I got that.
8/10