obvious spoilers for CASTLE ahead... not as obvious spoilers of the series finale
Ok, maybe I'm being a little harsh... but after last night, I certainly was in no mood to hold back my embattled feelings.
I don't know why, but for whatever reason, I started thinking about "A Bug's Life" and how some of its dialogue fit my feelings perfectly.
But first a little background:
Castle has been around so long that I almost can't imagine my life without it. Monday nights at 10pm are going to be very empty now. Especially with the news "Blindspot" is moving to Wednesday night at 8pm... yes, NOW it moves to another night when there's no more competition.
Maybe I should rephrase and say I can't remember Monday nights in the spring and fall without this show. Conceptually, it was brilliant. A mystery writer finds a new muse in an up and coming NYPD homicide detective and "thanks to his friendship with the mayor" he is allowed to come with the NYPD on cases so he can do research for his new Nikki Heat book series.
Wow, thinking back on that, I really miss those days... when it was just muse/kick-ass detective and writer... it was Castle and Beckett before Caskett.
I don't know when I had this thought- if it was in season 1 or 2, but I was thinking how I REALLY hope these two don't become a couple. Mainly because it's so predictable- all the shows and movies freaking do it.
Here's the crazy thing: with time, I warmed up to the idea so much that I couldn't have the show without Caskett... I mean, I was dying for them to declare their feelings for each other and begging for weeks that they get married after that horrendous cliff-hanger finale a couple years ago.
It was a triple-whammy: Grimm, Castle and Sleepy Hollow all had cliff-hanger endings that year and they involved someone being stuffed in a coffin or being presumed dead.
"Sleepy Hollow" hurt me so bad that I go the cliff-notes version of how Ichabod Crane and his "left-tieunt" escaped their coffin and purgatory and never watched the show again. And getting the buzz about how it got cancelled, I'm happy I did because that heartache, I couldn't bear.
"Once Upon a Time" hit me hard Sunday night- now this... so I hope "Agents of SHIELD" doesn't make it another triple whammy. All are ABC shows, so obviously I am going to be super pissed with the network for allowing all these shenanigans to pass.
Anyway, back to Castle... the writing and the characters are so good and memorable and they stay with you... seriously, this is a great show that I will remember forever.
Not only did it deserve better, but us fans deserved better than the raw deal we got out of it.
When we enter into a show or book series or movie or anything- there's always an unspoken contract of trust. We have the reassurance our heroes will ultimately triumph, the villains lose and at least the protagonist has a happy ending of some kind.
"Allegient" was the last time this contract was broken- and I am still not over it [and the movie is a year away].
This betrayal seems 10x worse.
Granted, it was going downhill for a little while. Oddly enough, Caskett had been married for only a few weeks, but the show had become like an old married couple that was trying to reinvigorate their love life... and Season 8 was a colossal failure in the Caskett department.
I guess you could say that maybe the show was doomed from the start. We knew Caskett was getting together. We knew that Beckett was obsessed with finding her mom's killer and she was never going to stop. This show loves its conspiracies, so obviously once we found out who killed Beckett's mom, that couldn't be the end of that story arc.
Although if I'd written the show, it would have ended a lot sooner- before the whole LockSat thing. Caskett would have gotten married when they were meant originally and that'd be it.
Season 8 suffered because of all the time Castle and Beckett spent apart- Beckett being a complete cliché of herself- not letting the case of her mom's murder go and "shutting Castle out to protect him"... so she pretended that she needed a break from their marriage and put distance between them. And of course Castle being like the loyal puppy he is trying to win her back.
I was so pissed when she walked away that I screamed at her- I burned with rage towards her for nearly a month because of this.
Another quote from "A Bug's Life" fits this situation perfectly- specifically on how the writers let this happen.
But as for the finale itself, here are my issues:
1) it was too dramatic
This show has its share of comedy and drama- but when the drama outweighs the comedy, I can't stand it. it freaking kills me. Pretty much anything having to do with Beckett's character arc- I hated- because the show moved away from what I liked about it.
Last night- from start to finish, it was non-stop drama. And the last two minutes destroyed me because I was ready to calm down and relax, but there was one final twist
2) it was too unbelievable
I know this is fiction, but you still have to have a believability.
Truth serum in the Harry Potter world- I can understand that. This does not exist in real life. And if it didn't, it isn't THIS potent.
At least make it look like you're struggling with it- don't just spill all the secrets... at least when Barty Crouch Jr. [see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"] was spilling secrets, he made it seem like it was a difficult thing to resist.
And a ceiling so magnetic that it disarms you of your firearms... ridiculous!
Also, I thought for LockSat would be Vicrom or some other character we knew for longer than 10 minutes... that was disappointing
3) it was MESSY- literally and figuratively
I know they only had a week to hash at this finale, but c'mon!! they could have done this so much cleaner. And I'm not talking about all the blood or potential casualties involved.
It was like what happened in Bambi- we get traumatized by whatever shots were fired and so on...
then the next scene immediately after it's all sunny and happy and cheerful- as if it's supposed to take our mind off what JUST happened.
Now for "A Bug's Life" to do its thing...
Seriously- I want to ask the writers this question... they want me to believe that everything's magically okay... or was the final scene a hallucination of the dream scenario that'll never come to pass?
The least they could have done is make it more cut and dry. Like someone calling for an ambulance or something...
the suspension of belief was WEAK- not just the final couple minutes but the whole show. No villain is THIS invincible or intelligent that they're always 10 steps ahead of the good guys.
So how the series (season 8) and beyond ended:
Andrew R. Marlowe started the series and ran it for several years. After he left, the show just plummeted into depths of mediocrity it could not dig itself out of.
Whether or not they were also the ones behind firing Stana Katic and Tamela Jones... I don't care... I'm going to blame them anyway.
Gotta blame someone, might as well be them.
I mean, this isn't as bad as "Gilligan's Island" (where they never get off the island) or "Lost" (they were dead the entire time!... and I actually laughed at that cuz that should've gone off the air ages ago).
But for me- maybe the worst finale I'd gone through since "Merlin"... I'm still not over that, by the way.
[Side-note: I've read two Richard Castle books- I think the first Nikki Heat book and one other- both were great reads. I hope I get to check out more]
Date: August 10, 2013
Location: Pocono Movieplex
Time: 11:55am
Party: 2 (my sister and I)
Director: Thor Freudenthal ("Diary of a Wimpy Kid")
Type: YA, book-to-movie adaptation, sci-fi/fantasy, adventure
Length: 106 minutes (+3 previews)
Cast:
Percy Jackson- Logan Lerman
Grover Underwood- Brandon T. Jackson
Annabeth- Alexandra Daddario
Clarisse- Leven Rambin
Luke- Jake Abel
Tyson- Douglas Smith
Chiron- Anthony Head
Mr. D[ionysus]- Stanley Tucci
Hermes- Nathan Fillion
Polyphemus (voice)- Robert Mallet
Previews
2 new, 1 old
The third preview was for "Catching Fire"... the same I saw during "Now you see me"... not that I mind seeing another trailer, but I heard that they released a new one recently.
(Btw, they just announced the other day that "Now you see me" is getting a sequel... to which I say, just as long as it still includes the four horsemen and Mark Ruffalo, I'm a happy camper)
First up was for the next installment of "The Hobbit" trilogy.
And it looks like Orlando Bloom is back to resume his role of Legolas
:happydance:
Then was the sequel for "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs".
I hadn't seen the original yet, but I dunno, there was something awfully intriguing about it. Supposedly the main character and a couple other people are going to find themselves in a land of creatures made of food.
I'm sure if my dad say it, he'd immediately blame it on drugs, as he does with a lot of things that don't make sense.
But they had a monster called "Taco-dile Supreme... apparently a killer taco.
I'm sorry, but that sounds AWESOME!!
...I wouldn't go as far as say I'm attracted by shiny objects, but I get a real kick out of the little things in life. Things that, by definition, are just "crazy enough to work" for me.
For the record, we were the only ones in the theater until at least 10 minutes into the movie. One or two people who brought a kid.
You hardly noticed they were there.
Faithful to the Book? Not So Much
Based on the look of trailers, I thought my greatest worry was that the movie wouldn't have the same feel as "The Lightning Thief." Heck, the slow motion and special effects looked like they might be a little goofy, as if they were thrown together like a cheesy Syfy Channel original movie.
Way back when "The Lightning Thief" was coming to theaters, I bought the first book and thoroughly enjoyed it. Much to my chagrin, I was unable to find "Sea of Monsters" for several months because, apparently, everyone else had the same idea. I did pick up "The Titan's Curse" and "Battle of the Labyrinth," but refused to read them until getting the next book in sequence.
Being a huge fan of Greek mythology, I devoured the book series.
I haven't reread the books since, so I knew there was a lot I wouldn't remember about this story.
In the long run, it will affect my rating somewhat because I like movies to be close to their work of origin.
While "The Lightning Thief" made a handful of chance to key plots points (the 2nd pearl's location being at Nashville rather than the St. Louis Arch; the lightning bolt coming from Luke's shield instead of Ares' backpack; Grover staying behind in the underworld instead of Percy's mom; location of the final battle scene occurring AFTER returning the lightning bolt)...
The only things in "Sea of Monsters" true to the book were the surprise ending, the origin of the barrier protecting Camp Half-Blood and the location of the Golden Fleece. Most of the time, they hit the right locations, but different things happened.
Almost as if this Thor Freudenthal dude didn't want to follow the book at all.
But after rereading the synopsis of the book on Wikipedia, I'll probably end up giving it up to "apples and oranges."
I will like certain things in both versions and pick and who did it best.
A Word for the Cast
With one exception, all the key players returned for this movie.
Pierce Brosnon was replaced by Anthony Head as the centaur camp leader Chiron. (It was a little odd, but kinda nice, to see Mr. Head in a nicer role. Unlike [the future King] Arthur's father in the BBC series "Merlin"... the ending of the series is still very bittersweet after all these months).
But the so-called "star power" was restored by casting Stanley Tucci as Mr. D (a.k.a. Dionysus). Don't get me wrong, I love me some Tucci. He's a great guy, but I didn't think they needed him just for the sake of having a professional actor on set.
The way I remember Mr. D in the book, he was scrappier, feistier and copped a helluvan attitude. Instead, they have him wise-cracking, not fully remembering names and passing off Annabeth's suggestion to find the Golden Fleece as his own idea.
Did you really need to play into that cliché, guys?
I didn't get why Alexandra had to dye her hair to play Annabeth. Was she described in the book as being blonde? Didn't they think the continuity would have been nice between the movies?
Although I love the character Tyson in the movie, I can't help but feel he was nothing like that in the book. I certainly don't remember him having any degree of eloquence in his speech.
I will, however, give a nod to two newcomers:
Leven Rambin as Clarisse- I mentioned her briefly in my "Hunger Games" review. Again, really cool to see Lily Montgomery ("All My Children") in such a strong role.
...although I can't shake the feeling that all the props Clarisse got for all her quests was added just to make her Percy's biggest demigod rival...
and Nathan Fillion as Hermes...
sure, they didn't introduce him as a jogger on the beach, but after taking a minute or two to take everything in, I had to agree their method worked just as well.
The only negative I can draw was that he was only in ONE scene in the entire movie...
I'm a HUGE fan of "Castle," love that show.
I tacked Robert Mallet at the end there because he played the 7-foot tall Blackwood henchman Drudger in Guy Ritchie's "Sherlock Holmes"... good performance here as well, even if it is just his voice doing all the work.
The Story
Spoilers ahead... unless of course you read the book
No matter how many ways they mistepped or took liberties and whatnot, what ultimately matters is that they kept to the main points.
- Percy finds out he has a half-brother, Tyson, who is a Cyclops
- We find out that Luke and Annabeth arrived at Camp Half-Blood under attack and their friend Thalia died in the altercation. Zeus turned her into a tree, which powers the barrier, protecting the camp from humans and enemy mythological creatures.
- The Golden Fleece is the only thing that can save Thalia's tree, which has been poisoned
- Clarisse is chosen to go on the quest, but Percy, Annabeth and Tyson make their own way
- They meet up with Hermes, who gives them gifts to get them to the Sea of Monsters.
- They arrive on Polyphemus's island where they rescue Grover and retrieve the Golden Fleece
- Luke and Percy have another third act battle where Percy's party eventually comes out victorious.*
- The Golden Fleece not only heals the tree, but revives Thalia
*The battle worked out completely differently
In fact, it had me worried that they'd completely resolve the plot here and they wouldn't bother with the rest of the movies.
But seeing as it's made so little at the box office so far, I'm a little worried about whether they'll get the chance... "The Titan's Curse" was my favorite book in the series.
I suppose they needed the finale to be so big and pull out all the stops, but they went too far in certain places. Especially with the clichéd "almost ending" of Annabeth getting killed by the manticore... really wasn't necessary.
Part of a review on Wikipedia comments that it is CGI heavy and there are "worse sequels"... another commented that fans will be unhappy with liberties taken like with the original.
Not entirely true. I accepted, often gladly, the differences between "The Lightning Thief" and its source material. They didn't take nearly as many liberties as they did here.
Final Words
By the end of the movie, I'd taken my grain of salt and accepted that some of the differences made for just a good a story. The mythology shook out the way it should have and in some areas, they were quite clever with the storytelling.
Like the idea of Hermes, messenger of the Gods, running a UPS-type business and also loved the fact the two snakes on his staff, the caduceus, had personalities.
oh sorry...
NERD ALERT!!
lol... even if I only took one class in college, I pride myself on knowing quite a bit about Greek mythology.
But every now and then, I double-check myself to be on the safe side.
What else can I say?
I did have fun watching the movie, had a good time getting back to some great characters I enjoyed reading about, and hopefully I'll get to see more of Thalia along with Apollo and Artemis in the film adaptation of "The Titan's Curse."
Rating:
As a fan of the book- B
The movie itself- A-
Total- B+
