Released: March 2019

Director: Jesse V. Johnson

Rated R

Run Time: 96 Minutes

Distributor: Well Go USA

Genre: Action

Cast:
Tony Jaa: Payu
Celina Jade: Xian
Iko Uwais: Jaka
Scott Adkins: Collins
Michael Jai White: Devereaux
Tiger Chen: Long Fei
Jeeja Yanin: Mook
Michael Bisping: Joey

In the arena of the independent action film, there’s a name you really should start paying attention to, if you haven’t already:  Jesse V. Johnson.  Basically starting out as a stuntman/coordinator, Mr. Johnson has since made a name for himself directing action movies.  While some of the first movies that he’s directed really weren’t that good, he’s made a bit of a comeback in the past decade.  Savage Dog, while not perfect, made me pay attention to the kind of action that he brings to the screen.  After that, he teamed up with Scott Adkins again with Accident Man and The Debt Collector, both of which released in the same year, and both movies were absolutely fantastic.  Most film directors will have a film that defines their career.  George Lucas had Star Wars, Francis Ford Coppola had The Godfather, and Ridley Scott had Alien.  For Jesse V. Johnson, that movie could very well be Triple Threat.

Triple Threat opens as a group of mercenaries attack a small compound in Indonesia to rescue their leader, Collins.  During the attack, Jaka’s wife is killed and the entire camp is blown sky high.  Later, two former members of the mercenary group, Payu and Long Fei, are trying to raise money through illegal fighting so they can regroup and take out Collins’ people.  They team up with Jaka and try to plan their next move.  Meanwhile, a billionaire’s daughter, Xian, is attempting to rid the local city of a ruthless crime syndicate when a hit is put out on here and Collins’ group takes the contract.  There’s something to be said for a story that likes to keep things as simple as possible.  It’s not the most original story, but it keeps things moving really quickly and doesn’t deviate.  I, like many other action fans, have been waiting for this one for a long time.  When it was first announced along with the cast that was going to be involved, my hype level skyrocketed.  Not only was Triple Threat worth the wait, it blew my expectations right out of the water.

Let’s talk about the cast that Mr. Johnson rounded up here.  Anybody who is a dedicated action/martial arts movie fan will recognize the names that Mr. Johnson brought together.  Scott Adkins plays the merc leader with ruthless accuracy.  Scott Adkins is probably the most well-known of indie action stars.  He’s worked with everybody from Jet Li to Jackie Chan.  The guy has some serious screen presence and knows how to be intimidating, which he is in this film.  Michael Jai White plays Collins’ second in command and is clearly having a bit of fun playing a bad guy.  Mr. White is one of the most underrated action stars that America has to offer.  Not only is he an amazing martial artist, he’s a pretty damned good actor to boot.  Jeeja Yanin makes an appearance as Mook, and while she doesn’t have the most screen time, she still makes an impression and I think she’s phenomenal.  I don’t think Tony Jaa really needs an introduction.  If you have the slightest interest in martial arts movies, you’ll already know who he is.  Tony has come a very long way since Ong-Bak.  Not only has he improved in terms of acting ability, he’s also developed quite the sense of humor.  Most people may not know who Tiger Chen is, and for that I would suggest watching Man of Tai Chi.  He’s worked on a lot of movies including training Keanu Reeves for The Matrix movies.  He hasn’t done a lot, but I think he’s got real potential here.  Iko Uwais is another awesome actor.  He’s an expert in silat and he’s made some of the best action movies I’ve ever seen.  He plays Jaka, whose wife was killed in the opening attack in the film, so he sets up a plan to get revenge.  He’s a damn good actor.  Celina Jade plays Xian, but she’s not just another pretty face.  While her character isn’t trained in the martial arts, she’s got more than enough charm and personality to match.  When it comes to ensemble casts, Triple Threat is one of the best.

Do you actually come to a movie like this for the story?  No.  You come to a movie like this for the action, and boy does this movie deliver.  With the talent involved here, there’s no absolutely no way that you wouldn’t take advantage of that.  Jesse Johnson gives each of these folks a chance to shine, whether they are playing a good or bad guy.  The fight choreography is handled by none other than Tim Man, whose previous work includes Accident Man, Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, and Kill ’em All!.  This guy knows how to put together a fight scene and the fights in this film are second to none.  There’s not much in the way of wire-work, at least as far as I can tell, so it’s all grounded in reality.  But Tim really allows each actor to take advantage of their particular style: Tony Jaa’s Muay Thai, Tiger Chen’s kung fu, Iko Uwais’ silat, Scott Adkins’ Taekwondo, and so on and so forth.  There are so many fights that I could pick from that are amazing, but I’m going to pick only two:  One: The fight between Tiger Chen and Iko Uwais.  It’s not entirely one-sided, but man does this one hit really hard.  The other one is Scott Adkins vs. Tony Jaa.  This is the one that a lot of people have been wanting to see for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint.  Tony and Scott match each other blow for blow and it is one of the more spectacular fights that I’ve seen recently.  I would absolutely love to see these guys take each other on again.  Mr. Johnson’s approach to action is one that I find to be refreshing.  He  doesn’t let the camera get in the way of the action.  He keeps it close enough so we can see the actors, but he keeps it back enough so that the action is easy to see.  This is definitely a violent movie and Mr. Johnson brings a lot of grit and grime to the proceedings, but keeps the tone light enough so that it’s not bleak and dreary.

There are a few minor nitpicks that I have with the film, however.  For one, certain actors like Ron Smoorenburg and Jeeja Yanin don’t get enough screen time, but you can only do so much with a 96 minute run time.  The overall plot and story is pretty basic.  It’s not bad, but it is one that we’ve seen before.  The only other thing that I can really say is that when the film finally ends, you’re left wanting more, and I mean that in a good way.  You get a lot of great stuff here, but you really don’t want it to end.  It’s one of those action movies that you really want more of and that’s a testament to how incredible this film is.  Jesse Johnson has crafted what could possibly be an iconic action film.  It’s well-paced with tons of hard-hitting action and a sense of humor.  When it comes to the whole East-meets-West deal, Triple Threat gets it right and then some.  If you’re a big fan of action movies, Triple Threat is essentially required viewing.  It’s incredible in every single way.  Currently, Triple Threat is available on VOD with a DVD/Blu-Ray release following in May.  Check it out.  It’s definitely worth your time.

My Final Recommendation: See it.  See it now.  See. It. Now. 9.5/10

Released: February 2012

Director: Lauren Montgomery

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 75 Minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Genre: Action/Animated

Cast:
Kevin Conroy: Batman/Bruce Wayne
Tim Daly: Superman/Clark Kent
Susan Eisenberg: Wonder Woman
Nathan Fillion: Green Lantern/Hal Jordan
Carl Lumbly: Martian Manhunter
Michael Rosenbaum: The Flash
Carlos Alazraqui: Bane
Paul Blackthorne: Metallo
Phil Morris: Vandal Savage

While most people would look at comic books and comic book movies as mindless entertainment, nothing could be further from the truth.  A lot of the time, many of these comic stories generally have some form of social commentary that deals with certain situations during a particular year or decade.  Sometimes, a story deals with drugs, aids, being gay, or whatever certain people are going through.  What these stories allow is for audiences to identify with characters and situations that may seem familiar to them.  Other times, people just want to escape into a full on fantasy story to escape the harsh realities of every-day life.  Some of the finest stories in comic books don’t necessarily deal with political issues, but rather social and personal ones.  For example, The Death of Superman takes a look at what a world would look like without hope, which is what Superman brought to the world.  While these stories are fiction, they’re often a reflection of our consciousness and what we hope to be.  This is why people read comics and watch these movies.  This is also why Justice League: Doom is one of the most significant and important DC animated movies to come along.

As the film begins, we see Batman and the Justice League take on the Royal Flush gang during a heist in which the gang is stealing diamonds.  After Batman takes a massive beating, the Justice League eventually prevails.  Afterwards, each hero leaves and Batman, while bruised and beaten heads back to the Batcave to recuperate.  However, a mysterious figure appears and takes some information from Batman’s computer.  Afterwards, each member of the Justice League comes under attack and nearly destroyed.  As it turns out, the information that was stolen was Batman’s contingency plan in the event that one or all of the members of the Justice League would go rogue.  The people behind the attack is a group of super-villains known as the Legion of Doom, led by the immortal Vandal Savage.  While the story in Justice League: Doom definitely goes into the whole “save the world” bit that we’ve seen so many times before, what’s most significant about this story is that Batman had the foresight to come up with a plan should any Justice League member, be it Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, or even Superman himself go off the reservation.  In the real world, especially in that of politics, we have a system of checks and balances and a separation of powers to prevent one person from taking absolute power.  What would happen if a group of remarkable and extremely powerful individuals such as the Justice League decided to go down a much darker path?  How would we be able to counter something like that?  That is the question that the Tower of Babel series of Justice League comics asked.  The story here is remarkable that deals with issues of trust, betrayal and accountability.  It’s also good because we get to see the Justice League at some of their lowest points, before they come back to beat the bad guys.  This is one of the best stories in the DC universe, as far as I’m concerned.

The Justice League has seen a large number of members of the years, but the most important ones here are Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Cyborg and Superman.  Each villain in this film was chosen to be the antithesis to the corresponding hero.  Bane to Batman, Star Sapphire to Green Lantern, Cheetah to Wonder Woman and so on and so forth.  Each villain has a very personal connection to the hero that they are targeting.  The only villain here that feels somewhat out-of-place is Vandal Savage, a 50,000-year old immortal from the dawn of mankind.  He’s served as one of the most powerful super-villains that the Justice League has ever encountered, but I don’t think the film-makers really took advantage of the character.  Granted, he was used as a replacement for Ra’s Al Ghul from the original story, but he strikes me more of a back-ground villain.  That being said, he’s very intimidating, mostly due to the fact that he can’t be killed, at least by any normal means.  The voice-acting in this film is fantastic.  You have Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly reprising their roles from their respective 90s shows, and they haven’t lost their edge.  Nathan Fillion plays Green Lantern(and he would continue to do so for a number of films).  Michael Rosenbaum, who was known for his role as Lex Luthor in the Smallville television series plays a hero this time around: The Flash.

If you want action, you’ve come to the right place.  Justice League: Doom is pretty much packed, but it leaves enough room for character and story development.  That’s not an easy thing to accomplish in a film that runs less than 80 minutes.  There’s big explosions everywhere and enough hand to hand combat that fight movie buffs will appreciate.  The art-style and animation is really top-notch.  The music score is fantastic as well.  The film is well-paced and it’s extremely well-written.  Despite the fact that Justice League: Doom goes to some fairly dark areas, it’s not without a sense of humor.  There’s some pretty solid one-liners and quips from everyone.  Overall, the production values on Justice League: Doom are pretty damn good.

The Death of Superman was an important story for Superman, and the Tower of Babel story is no less important.  It brings things down to a more personal level and how it affects those around the central character or characters.  Justice League: Doom is one of the most mature and powerful Justice League stories ever written, and I would love to see it adapted into a live-action film if Warner Bros. would pull their collective heads out of their ass and put some effort into making a really solid live-action DC universe.  As it stands, the DCEU that was created to compete with Marvel’s universe, is pretty much dead.  You don’t need to have all these movies interconnect with each other directly to have a compelling universe.  While DC and Warner Bros. have made a bit of a turn-around with their live-action films with Wonder Woman and Aquaman, their animated movies are leagues above and beyond what their live-action counter-parts can achieve right now.  Do I recommend Justice League: Doom?  Very much so.  It’s entertaining, thought-provoking, and powerful.  Definitely check it out.

My Final Recommendation:  Here’s hoping that Batman doesn’t have any information on MY weaknesses.  9.5/10

Released: November 1984

Director: Jeannot Szwarc

Rated PG

Run Time: 125 Minutes

Distributor: Tri-Star/Warner Bros.

Genre: Action/Fantasy

Cast:
Faye Dunaway: Selena
Helen Slater: Kara Zor-El/Supergirl
Hart Bochner: Ethan
Mia Farrow: Alura
Simon Ward: Zor-El
Peter O’Toole: Zaltar
Mar McClure: Jimmie Olsen
Peter Cook: Nigel

In the pantheon of DC superheroes, Superman reigns supreme as the original and most iconic superhero ever created.  As the last survivor of the doomed planet Krypton, Kal-El a.k.a Superman, was sent to Earth by his father Jor-El.  Over the years, DC comics has provided Superman not just with enemies like General Zod, Brainiac and Darkseid, but also with allies like Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and various other superheroes.  One of those other superheroes was none other than Kara Zor-El, better known as Supergirl.  She first appeared in 1959 as Superman’s cousin.  The character has since become an important part of DC’s line-up of superheroes, in part because it shows that Superman wasn’t the only member of his family to survive Krypton’s destruction.  Giving Superman someone that he can actually relate to gives the character a whole new dimension.  Kara Zor-El has appeared in many stories in the DC universe over the past 60 years, both in print and in film.  While the character can be seen in the most recent Supergirl tv series and several animated films, she had a bit of a rocky start in the films due to the 1984 live-action film starring Helen Slater.

Supergirl opens in the lost Kryptonian city of Argo as young Kara Zor-El is talking to Zaltar where he shows her the Omegahedron, a spherical object that powers the city.  After using the Omegahedron to make a creature, the creature tears through a nearby window that sucks the Omegahedron through it.  Using his magic wand(as it can only be described), Zaltar seals the breach, but is confronted by Zor-El, Kara’s father.  Wanting to retrieve the Omegahedron, Kara steals a ship and takes off after the object.  On Earth, a witch, Selena finds the sphere and decides to keep it for herself so she can rule the world.  Oh, boy.  The story here is pretty much non-existent aside from what I just described.  The plot is so all over the place, you can scarcely figure out what’s going on.  So, Kara shows up on Earth with the intent on saving her people from certain death, but she enrolls in a nearby school, despite the fact that she’s obviously smarter than everybody there.  So much for urgency, I guess.  The film’s villain, Selena is intent on dominating the world by…hypnotizing a local park worker.  Right.  There is no overall plot thread that should be tying all this shit together.  Instead, what we’ve got is a bunch of random scenes that are just that….random.  The story is an incoherent wreck.  I like the fact that we get to see surviving Kryptonians, but after Kara leaves, we never see them again.

I have to give credit where it’s due.  The casting in the film is really good.  You’ve got legendary actors like Peter O’Toole and Faye Dunaway just hamming it up and Mark McClure returns as photographer Jimmie Olsen.  The surprise here is Helen Slater as Supergirl.  Even though Peter O’Toole and Faye Dunaway seem to know that they are in a bad movie, Helen plays it as straight as she can.  This was the actor’s first movie and while her performance wasn’t revolutionary, it was very earnest and endearing in many ways.  Peter O’Toole was a legend in the film industry before he died.  I think he knew what kind of movie he was going to be in when he took on the project, so it looks like he’s having a blast.  Faye Dunaway is something else here.  I don’t hate her performance.  In fact, I thought it was very entertaining.  Faye plays the character so over-the-top that if the character had a mustache, she’d be twirling it with glee.

Let’s talk about the visual effects.  I’ll be honest:  There’s a lot of interesting stuff that’s happening here, visually.  There is a scene in which a shadow demon is attacking the school that Kara’s attending, and the practical effects there are pretty decent.  There’s a moment in which Kara grabs a light pole, charges it with lightening and beats the demon back with it.  The effect is cheesy for sure, but it’s still pretty entertaining.  The sequence that takes place in the Phantom Zone is actually pretty.  We’ve never really seen what the Phantom Zone looks like until this movie, and it’s strange, but it still has an interesting look about it.  The final confrontation at Selena’s castle is pretty nifty too.  However, it’s all for nothing because the direction in this movie is really bad.

While I think that there is good stuff in this film, especially the music score by the late Jerry Goldsmith, I’m afraid that the bad stuff outweighs the good.  While I enjoyed the performances from O’Toole and Dunaway, their talents are wasted here.  There was also no reason for Kara to attend school on Earth, especially since the lives of her family and people were clearly at stake, but the film throws that out the window.  Kara attending school almost killed the movie outright.  It was slow, plodding and didn’t really go anywhere.  I get that Helen’s character was a “fish-out-of-water” kind of character, so some of that was to be expected, but the school moments ground the movie to a halt.  While some of the set designs were pretty cool, the costumes for the citizens of Argo City were terrible.  Supergirl’s outfit was really the only good costume, and they got it right…except for the fact that she somehow has it when she gets to Earth.  No explanation is given for how she gets that outfit.  While I said that some of the visual effects were interesting, they weren’t very good.  You have some very obvious blue-screen effects happening, especially in the last battle where Supergirl is being tortured by the demon.  It’s awful.  That being said, it’s still better than having the same shot of Supergirl flying at the screen over and over again.  Not only that, the film ends pretty abruptly.

Personally, I would place Supergirl in the “so bad, it’s good” category.  It is an objectively bad film.  But it’s a film that did put forth some effort despite its low budget of $35,000,000.  It’s very obvious.  So…who do we blame for this mess?  Is it the actors?  No.  Is it the director?  Yes.  What about the Salkinds, the producers?  Yes.  I don’t know how this movie got the green light.  Jeannot is not the worst director in the world, but he wasn’t the right person to direct this film.  If you’re going to do a film about a female superhero, I think you need a woman to direct it.  I felt a slight undercurrent of misogyny in this film.  The way that women are portrayed in this film isn’t particularly flattering, especially the teenagers.  The character of Kara Zor-El is supposed to be a teenager, so that would have given teenage girls a superhero that they could identify with, but this movie completely butchers it and opts to rely on tired cliches, stereotypes, and sexism.

1984’s Supergirl was so poorly received that some people thought that it was partially responsible for Kara Zor-El being killed off in the comics in 1985 with the Crisis on Infinite Earths story-line.  While there have been several Supergirls in the comics afterwards, Kara Zor-El wouldn’t return as Superman’s cousin until 2004.  When your movie is bad enough to get a superhero killed in the comics, you really screwed up and Jeannot Szwarc screwed up big time.  This is the kind of movie that would’ve killed a director’s career.  Between Jaws 2 and this, Jeannot hasn’t directed a memorable movie since.  In fact, he’s been relegated to TV shows.  Is Supergirl worth checking out?  I think it is, if only to see what kind of train-wreck it is, but it’s not entirely disposable.  Helen Slater was perfect as Kara Zor-El and some of the effects and action sequences were okay.

My Final Recommendation:  I sentence Jeannot Swarz and writer David Odell to the Phantom Zone for 5 years to think about what they’ve done.  5/10.

Released: September 2007

Directors: Lauren Montgomery/Bruce Timm

Rated PG-13

Run Time: 75 Minutes

Distributor: Warner Bros.

Genre: Action/Animated

Cast:
Adam Baldwin: Superman/Clark Kent/Dark Superman
Anne Heche: Lois Lane
James Marsters: Lex Luthor
John DiMaggio: Toyman
Ray Wise: Perry White
Adam Wylie: Jimmie Olsen

While I’m not what you would call a big comic book reader, I did get around to reading The Death of Superman.  This story about Superman’s death and subsequent resurrection had an enormous effect on fans around the world.  It’s not the first time that DC had actually killed the character, but it was the first time that the death of Superman had real emotional weight and serious consequences.  The story not only took on what it would take to actually kill Kal-El, but also in how the world would respond to such an event.  People got real emotional about the character not realizing that DC had an ace up their sleeve, The Reign of the Supermen.  Some people thought that it was a gimmick, and a lousy one at that, but the impact that the story had on the comic book industry in general was felt for years.  The impact was so much that people were wondering whether or not that such a story could be made into a movie.  Ideas were getting thrown around for the better part of a decade, but nobody really knew how to do it properly.  Now, most people would look back to Zack Snyder’s Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice film as the first attempt at bringing The Death of Superman to life.  Here’s the thing, though:  It wasn’t.  The first crack at the story was back in 2007 with the animated film, Superman/Doomsday.

Superman/Doomsday opens as miners come across a mysterious alien bunker.  Confused at to what this thing is, the miners take a closer look at it when it opens and a large monster jumps out and starts killing everybody.  Shortly after leaving the mine, the monster goes on a rampage throughout the country-side while making its way to Metropolis.  Alerted to the impending threat, Superman faces down the monster known as Doomsday in an epic battle that ultimately leaves both the monster and hero dead.  After a period of mourning, even by Lex Luthor, the city is later relieved to find out that Superman is still alive, but is he the same?  Look, I’ll be the first to admit that turning The Death of Superman into a film wouldn’t be anything less than a monumental challenge, especially if you want to do it right.  I read the comic and subsequent novelization back in the mid-90s, so when this animated film came out in 2007, I was confused.  Where was the Justice League?  What about the 4 Supermen that showed up months after Kal’s death?  This animated feature is a total wreck.  Say what you will about Batman V. Superman, at least that movie had the decency to build up to the final battle with Doomsday.  Here?  They crammed so much crap into 75 minutes that none of it really works.  The only thing that this film gets right in terms of story is the fight between Superman and Doomsday.  That part was epic, but there needed to be a larger build-up to that, and it was handed to us within the first 25 minutes of the film.  The rest of the film goes into these nonsensical subplots that involve Jimmie Olsen quitting The Daily Planet to work for a sleazy tabloid paper and Lex Luthor cloning Superman to be his own personal assistant.  It was confusing, confounding, and irritating.  Don’t get me wrong, the movie moves at a brisk pace given its run-time, but there was absolutely no respect for the source material shown here.  By cutting a lot of the other stuff that included the Justice League, Superman/Doomsday completely undercut any goodwill that it would have garnered had more time been spent on it.

I will give credit where credit is due.  The film actually looks pretty decent.  The art-style is based on the look from the Superman animated series back in the 90s.  That was an awesome show, so I definitely dig the look of the characters and designs in this film.  Each character has their own unique look and design, from Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor to Doomsday, Toyman and Jimmie Olsen.  The animation is actually pretty good to, as well as the sound design.  The fight between Superman and Doomsday is the highlight of the film, obviously, but you could actual FEEL the pounding that Superman takes and delivers.  The final battle between Superman and his clone is also pretty good.  The action and destruction sequences are top-notch.  The music by Robert Kral is actually pretty good, too.  There was definitely effort put into Superman/Doomsday, but not where it needed it most.

The voice acting is another area in which the film does a pretty good job, although there are some folks who have been miscast.  Adam Baldwin(who will always be Jayne to me) voices Superman in this film, and…..he does well enough, but what he was given wasn’t particularly good.  He comes across as mostly wooden, and that’s a shame, because Baldwin is a very talented actor.  Anne Heche fares a bit better as Lois Lane, giving her almost the same kind of fire and attitude that Margot Kidder did way back in the day.  Ray Wise was fantastic as the overbearing Perry White.  James Marsters, though, wasn’t exactly the right guy for the role.  Again, talented actor, but he doesn’t have that suave/threatening tone that the character requires.  John DiMaggio plays the criminal Toyman, and he’s suitably creepy.  Notorious film director Kevin Smith shows up in a cameo as a grumpy bystander that was actually pretty funny.  Not a big fan of Smith, but that was pretty cool.

If you had no idea about The Death of Superman story-line, then I could see you thinking that this would be a good movie, but here’s the problem: The Death of Superman got world-wide attention, so it was very hard to escape hearing about it at least, even if you never read it.  The fact of the matter is, is that Superman/Doomsday is just not good movie and it is definitely one of the weaker entries in DC’s animated film line-up.  Now, they mostly got it right with the recently released The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen, but even those films weren’t perfect.  The Death of Superman is one of the most controversial and beloved story lines in comic book history, so there are going to be issues bringing this story to the big screen properly.  Here’s what I want to see:  A proper live-action adaptation of The Death of Superman.  In order to get it right, the story would have to be split into three movies, each one at about 2.5 hours each.  The first film would deal with Superman’s death and subsequent funeral, the second film would deal with the 4 Supermen, and the final film would deal with the destruction of The Flash’s home city and alien invasion from Mongul/Darkseid.  I imagine it’s possible for them to attempt it again, but it’s going to be quite a while before it does.

I think Superman/Doomsday is a passable animated film.  If, like me, you really loved the actual story, this movie is going to piss you off.  I don’t hate it, but I find it detestable that the film-makers would try and cram in so much material that some of the more important aspects of the story would just get left out.  75 minutes is not long enough to tell the entire story.  Is it fun?  It can be, with some pretty solid action and destruction, but some of the voice acting is a little suspect and the overall quality of the film isn’t where it needs to be.  The story took the worst pounding, though.  Hopefully, someone, somewhere will want to revisit The Death of Superman and actually make a live-action film that is worthy of the story.

My Final Recommendation: 6/10