The Gravity of us by Phil Stamper (book review)

My next book review is on this fantastic debut novel by Phil Stamper - The Gravity of Us.

 

(source)

But first, to put this review into a little bit of context (who knows for how long this blog will be read), at the moment there is a huge amount of Worldwide press and interest on Civil Rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. So as this book is based on Nasa's current mission to Mars I wanted to point you towards the awesome book and movie titled Hidden Figures. This is a book and movie charting the lives of a group of awesome black women - Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson - who were Nasa's human calculators without whom the mission to the moon probably wouldn't have happened. I previously did a blog review here: Hidden Figures, movie review.

And to neatly go full circle, as most of you know we are heading into the last few days of Pride which of course didn't really happen because of our Covid19 lockdown - or as some like to call it a Queerantine - this will probably be the last LGBT title I'll get to review for Pride month.  

In this book we follow the life of Calvin, or Cal for short as his dad is also called Calvin. He has his whole life planned out, college, journalism studies, an internship with Buzzfeed and has been building his social media profile and polishing his journalism skills. He currently has 500,000 followers and does a weekly walk through of New York and what's happening. In the past he has covered local and national stories, politics and elections. He even broadcasts about the hugely popular Orpheus Project - NASA's mission to Mars. 

But then overnight his life is uprooted. His dad is chosen to be the 20th and last member of the Orpheus project and they have to pack up and move immediately. He has to abondon his plans, friends and worst of all his journalism ambitions as StarWatch the company that owns the rights to interviews and publicity for the Orpheus project has a gagging order in place. After a three day drive to their new home they land in the town that has been bought-up for the Astro-families the name given to the families of the Astronauts. Cal, in a moment of last defiance figuring his dad has only arrived and hasn't yet signed the papers and gagging order makes a final broadcast to his fans breaking the news who the final 20th member of the Orpheus Project is. All hell breaks loose as the press & StarWatch descend even before they have unpacked their car. 

Shortly after this mess Cal finds out everything isn't as cosy as StarWatch likes to portray, the other Astrofamiles and Astrokids are not perfect and StarWatch experiencing dropping ratings tries to create drama and excitement - they have full access to the houses of the Astrofamalies and with Cal's exposé they aren't very happy. Cal also meets Leon, one of the only other teen Astorkids in the area and they hit it off. What ensues is a sweet teen romance with enough intrigue and drama to keep you turning the pages.

Before I like to cover the pro's of a book I like to mention the negatives, but, honestly in this debut novel I found none. There is no mature content - the most that happens is two teens kissing so nothing unsuitable for a mature chilld or 12+ reader. One person does loose their life, so I suppose that is a trigger warning but there is not too much detail and the family affected leaves the story very quickly. The only one negative I have is the premise of the book is based on the lives of the family members of the astronauts so I would have liked to learn a little more about them, but that's really it.

The book is really well written and paced. The language is perfectly aimed at a teen market but also an adult that likes NASA, geeky, LGBT stories will also enjoy. It delves into the World of a teenager and their interaction with Social Media and the press. Cal's dad doesnt understand what Cal is messing about with online - it's not a proper thing/job is it? ... the mechanics of social media, online press, modern journalism and followers, I imagine this reflects exactly how today's parents think and misunderstand about the digital World today. As mentioned before the book has enough tension and drama that makes you want to continue reading. It's a throughly enjoyable read. There are two moments I love in the book;

Cal considers himself a fixer of broken things (part of his obsession with planning) but he is reminded that he cannot fix ever broken thing but he can makes things a little better.

Also in the early stages of Cal and Leon's relationship Leon is starting to talk a little about his depression and he realises that Cal wants to kiss him. He asks Cal not to kiss him to make him feel better but to instead kiss him showing affection at a later stage. 

I really enjoyed this book and give it a solid 9 out of 10 stars. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

John The Captain Ryan

 

Pride Month book review - Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell

Hi everyone,

As Pride month draws to a close I'll be posting a couple more LGBT book reviews, my latest is ...

Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell.

Pop on over to my Youtube channal and hear what I have to say ...

I give this book a 7 out of 10 planets.

I hope you enjoy it also. Don't forget to check out the first book in the Simon Snow Series - Carry On, my review can be found here:

Toodles

John The Captin Ryan

The Stand by Stephen King (book review)

Hi all,

Hope you are all doing okay during the great Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. 

Four weeks ago I started learning about creating and editing videos ... here's my second, a book review of an old favourite of mine The Stand by Stephen King

I give this book a rare 10 out of 10 planets.

Alas Babylon (Book review)

Hi all,

Hope you are all doing okay during the great Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. Three weeks ago I started learning about creating and editing videos ... here's my first attempt, a book review of an old favourite of mine Alas Babylon by Pat Frank written in 1959.

I give this book 9 out of 10 planets.

John Cunningham-Ryan

The Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera (Book review)

Hi all,

I'm back !!! but with a little change up, I've been learning how to make video reviews and here's my latest attempt.

This is an awesome book and I hope you agree. I gave it a rating of 8 out of 10 planets.

John Cunningham-Ryan

As Brexit looms, let’s look at WHEN the BBC banned Star Trek The Next Generation

 Yes, you read that correctly … I used the word WHEN … not if or maybe … It already happened.

Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilisations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!

EXCEPT the BBC weren’t willing to boldly go with us.

Episodes of the Original Series had been banned (those with torture or difficult story-lines involving children - remember it was the 1960's) but this was the first time an episode of The Next Generation was banned...

(source - IMDB)

Stardate 43510.7

(Season 3, Episode 12 – On High Ground – original airing should have been in 1992)

This episode see the Enterprise at Rutia IV and getting heavily involved with a violent civil war. Lieutenant Commander Data notes that the Irish Unification of 2024 was an event that resulted in the creation of a single unified nation-state controlling the entire geographical island of Ireland. This unification came about due to the use of terrorism rather than peaceful acts to bring about political change.

We need to look at this in context. The "Troubles" were still ongoing and since 19th October 1988, when the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, issued a notice under clause 13(4) of the BBC Licence and Agreement to the BBC and under section 29(3) of the Broadcasting Act 1981 to the Independent Broadcasting Authority prohibiting the broadcast of direct statements by representatives or supporters of eleven Irish political and military organisations.

(source - NY Times)

The BBC were not alone, such a ban also existed in Ireland from 1981 - 1994. The logic was to not give those groups a voice on the airwaves to defend the use of violence. Both the BBC & RTE got around this on the news by having a voice over segment if someone like Gerry Adams was on, but many interviews and documentaries could not be aired (or in some cases not even made). Born in 1976 one of my abiding memories is the 9 o' clock news reporting on yet another bombing, revenge attack, punishment beating or killing by both sides. We all knew the names of the different groups, the areas and streets where the action was happening but couldn't really comprehend what was going on. When you're ten you don't really understand what's happening and unfortunately you even become immune to the daily announcements. More than 3,500 lost their lives, 52% of them were civilians. Whichever side of the conflict you lie on, I think we can all agree it is a dreadful part of our history. Some families are still waiting for the remains of their loved ones to be found.

But this doesn't answer why the episode was banned, it didn't fall under the censorship ban of not giving terrorists a voice on the national airwaves so I wonder what the BBC was afraid of, the idea of a unified Ireland or the fact it (fictionally) came about due to the use of terrorism. And now the old adage the more things change the more they stay the same.

If you are under 20 years of age and you see a picture like this, you wouldn't be blamed for thinking it was a photo from Russia or Israel. But you'd be wrong. Are we going to see British army on duty like this on the island of Ireland again - hopefully not.

But to get back to the topic and let's give some props to journalists and the job they do. It most cases they want to tell the important stories and those involved with television programming and planning want to bring us the viewer a wide variety of ideas and shows. It doesn't matter if some of us don't like it, you can always switch station. BBC staff at the time staged a one-day strike in protest that the BBC's independence was being undermined and we still see today where the press is being curtailed. 

(source Gerardela Fistiniere)

But I wonder if a disastrous Brexit happens, coupled with the growing force of right-wing politics across Europe what other freedoms will be curtailed. At least with the advent of technology and the internet we can see what we want even if the established broadcasting companies refuse to air controversial shows. It's still a sad state of affairs when a geek's daily fix of Star Trek is limited due to some stupid small minded ideas. In the same way that schools across America are refusing to teach LGBT history, will schools in the UK stop teaching children about the different European cultures and faiths? Will the right-wing conservative xenophobic agitators win or will the UK figure a way out of this mess before they start down a path of cutting themselves off from the rest of the World, because if they get far enough down that path they may not be able to backtrack.

In conclusion, it's a mess and if it leads to the British Army enforcing a border that nobody wants on the island of Ireland ... well all bets are off.

John The Captain Ryan.

Ender's Game, War of Gifts (book review)

This is a graphic novel based on the Ender series of novels by Orson Scott Card. This is Book 2 in my 52-weeks, 52-books challenge.

I have already written a review of Ender in Exile and there was also a movie based on Ender's Game made in 2013 staring heavyweights Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley. I enjoyed the movie but it was received poorly by the public, yet it grossed over €110 million in the box office so there seems to be some discrepancy there!. The books are very enjoyable even though the author - IMHO - is an ass and a homophobe. Much has been written about him and there was an organised boycott of the movie by many LGBT groups (who happen to be fans of science-fiction) 

But, I'll blog more about that later. To concentrate on this novel, I'm sorry to say it is a very pale comparison to either the movie or any of the popular books written about Ender Wiggins. This publication includes 4 stories (previously published in separate comics) based on events in the books;

Recruiting Valentine - a short ditty about how Peter, Enders brother recruited their sister Valentine to manipulate people. This is a poor story that doesn't even come close to explaining the complex relationship between all three siblings and/or how dangerous the oldest brother Peter actually is.   

War of Gifts - This story is a lot more interesting, following how a recruit - Zeck - gets to battle school and his struggle with his faith (beaten into him by his zealous father). In Battle school nobody is allowed to practice their faith in a public manner. This story is a lot more interesting, I don't remember it in any of the books (but there has been quite a few) but dips it's toe into the World of today - celebrating Christmas without any secular references, a challenge in schools all the time. In this story there is an interesting social question being asked - a recurring theme in all of Orson Scott Card's work - and it sits well in the middle of this novel. It reminds us of the struggle that people with strong faith have in the World of today and also the evil side of the zealots. Even though Zeck isn't a perfect student, in fact he is dreadful as his vow to never hurt anyone goes against everything the school is drilling into the students, Graff the head of the school refuses to send him home to be beaten by his father. 

Mazer in Prison - this tells us of how Admiral Mazer Rackam was sent on a very long space journey - in real time it takes decades but due to space-time-travel is only five years for him. This allowed the International Fleet to keep him on-ice as an asset to fight against the Formics in the future. Hyrum Graff (a lieutenant with many masters) had been tasked with the responsibility of finding a fleet commander with the same traits as Mazer. Mazer was eventually coerced into helping but managed to convince the I.F. to allow Graff full autonomy at the school to find a proper replacement for him. This story is really good and helps summarise the relationship and work that Graff and Mazer are doing (and why). This part if the story is interspersed throughout so it's good to see it all together, one advantage of a comic is to extract a part of the story and make it more coherent and understandable.

League War - tells the story at the end of Ender's Game just after the genocide of the Formics by Ender (and his army). We get a further look into the psyche of Enders siblings and how manipulative his older brother Peter is. It explores how the graduates of command school will now return to an Earth that is on the brink of World-Civil-War. All the graduates including Ender will be in huge demand to lead the nations of Earth to final victory. With the use of the newsnets Peter (aka Locke) and Valentine (aka Demosthenes) publish several essays to first start war and then create a tentative peace. Peter manipulates Valentine into taking part, he enjoys the politiking, Valentine hates it but can't complain about the eventual outcome. But, it's a small window into Peter's World and the best story in this anthology. It could have gone a little further to bait the readers interest into reading the novels.  

   

Over all, this graphic novel is poor. Without prior knowledge and understanding of the Ender universe these 4 separate stories would mean nothing. These comics could have done a really good job of introducing new (and younger) readers to the Ender universe but fail. Whilst I've been a huge fan of Marvel for years these comics are a pale comparison to the novels, they bring nothing exciting and the art work is poor. The best page of artwork is the cover of Mazer in Prison, the rest is forgettable. In this case just stick with the books and avoid any of the comics. This graphic novel only earns a rating of 4 out of 10 planets, one of the worst reviews I've ever given.

John The Captain Ryan

Bird Box (movie review)

Netflix scores yet another huge success with Bird Box, with 45 million viewers streaming in the first week from it's release on 14th December 2018. (no spoilers)

 

(picture source) 

The Basics:

Bird Box is a 2018 American post apocalyptic thriller directed by Susanne Bier. The movie is based on a book of the same name by Josh Malerman which I've just bought in my local INDEPENDENT book store (Wexford Book Centre). Check out this great interview from the author here.

(picture source)

The film follows a woman, played by Sandra Bullock, who, along with a pair of children, dubbed Boy and Girl, must make it through a forest and river blindfolded to avoid supernatural entities that take the appearance of their victims' worst fears & regrets that cause them to die by suicide. The only people who do not succumb to these affects are people who are insane. Bird Box starts out like M. Night Shyamalan's 2008 movie The Happening - an unseen entity drives people to take their own lives, plunging society and the World into chaos but the similarities end there. 

(picture source)

We are immediately introduced to Mallory (Sandra Bullock), frankly being a bit of a bitch, she is really mean and stern towards her two children and explaining they will be taking a long, dangerous journey and they must do exactly what she tells them. With half the movie being flashbacks (which get a little jumpy at times) we learn how the World and Bullock got to where it is, that is, a World of cruelness and little love. For me as soon as I learnt:

1. This was a post apocalyptic story and 
2. My all time fave author Stephen King was a huge fan; 

I knew I'd be watching it fairly quickly and it didn't disappoint.The hubby also loved it.

   (source - Stephen King's Twitter)

As the story barrels along with a frightening river raft journey you can't help being reminded of the amazing Meryl Streep movie The River Wild, although it's not quite as manic, making the journey blind folded is still heart stopping at times. Sandra Bullock is brilliant and diverse, just looking at her filmography you immediately are drawn to Gravity, The Heat and The Blindside to mention a few of her recent successes. She is also fantastic in this movie. 

For me the rest of the actors are people I do not know except for B.D. Wong (most would recognise him from his role as Dr. Huang in Law and Order SVU and from Mr. Robot). Wong plays the token gay character in the movie, that, of course, dies quickly; (as we know it's a much abused lazy homophobic movie trope). 

Anyway, not to give too much away, for lovers of thrillers, a little bit of horror (but not gory and disgusting), a great story that pulls you and the characters on a great journey (actual and metaphorically speaking), well directed and great acting this is a must see. The ending is great (much better than the Happening) and if you're a fan of indie productions and/or Sandra Bullock you won't be disappointed either.

I give the movie an 8 out of 10 planets (it looses a planet for excessive use of flashbacks and the other for the killing of the gay character in a lazy hollywood trope) but this is my personal opinion and overall shouldn't take away from your enjoyment of the movie.

John The Captain Ryan.

Happy Death Day, The First Purge and Doomsday (movie reviews)

How do Happy Death Day (2017), Doomsday (2008) and The First Purge (2018) measure up in the jam-packed horror genre?

The horror genre of today covers a vast array of movies, from the silly teen comedies of scantily clad females running UP the stairs instead of out of the house, to the psychological horrors like The Babadook (review here), the killer clowns (see Terrifier in previous link also) to the hack and slash horrors like (Jig) Saw and gothic horror like The Lodgers - filmed in Wexford of course. Gone are the days of the classic Hitchcock horror, suggesting more than it shows with the likes of The Birds or Psycho. 

Anyway, to get to the reviews, let’s start with Happy Death Day.

The plot is simple and un-original, basically it’s a teen comedy-horror based on the Groundhog Day classic. It follows a college student – played by Jessica Rothe who is murdered on her birthday and begins reliving the day over and over again, at which point she sets out to find the killer and stop her death. It had huge success in movie theatres, so much so a sequel has been announced for February 2019 Happy Death Day 2U.

Whilst unoriginal, it’s still a great premise and the lunacy of trying to avoid the same mistakes brings a laugh each time. The imaginative ways in which Theresa "Tree" Gelbman is killed each time is sometimes gruesome but always entertaining. It’s a well written screenplay that keeps you guessing all the way through. On several occasions we think she has solved the situation to be hurtled back into the scenario again. Eventually she solves who is trying to murder her – or does she???

The comedy is very good making the movie a hit with teens – similar to the style used in the Scream movies, starting all the way back in 1996 – and lightens the mood. An old Shakespearean trick that still works today. The sound track by Bear McCreary is also really good and makes the movie for me. McCreary stated that he wanted "a schizophrenic, dual personality, with light-hearted comedic scoring on one end, and genuinely terrifying soundscapes on the other" and it definitely works. Bear is also the creator of the soundtracks for the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica and the Walking Dead.

In summary, it’s a fun horror movie, not too gruesome (e.g. Saw) written well with a good soundtrack. I give Happy Death Day an 8 out of 10 planets.

The First Purge.

I’ve always loved the premise of The Purge movies, a small glimpse into a World without law and order. What would the great U … S … of A be like without civilisation and rule of law? It’s a stark picture we are presented with and from an anthropological point of view an interesting one. There have been many conversations about the premise on line. 

So, the plot. In previous movies The Purge (2013), The Purge Anarchy (2014) & The Purge Election Year (2016) we follow a 12 hour period where all law is suspended and crime up to and including murder is allowed. A huge business has sprung up around Purge Day with, of course, the wealthy being able to afford to barricade their homes and by any means necessary keep their families safe. This has the knock on effect that the poorer neighbourhoods suffer the most, with the most crime, damage to property and horrible acts of violence being experienced by the people in these areas. It’s a different concept of the rich get richer and the poor get poorer except it’s a social experiment of the rich living and the poorer dying.

So, let’s get into the First Purge. We get to see the genesis of this great social experiment. America's third political party, the New Founding Fathers of America, comes to power and conducts an experiment: no laws for 12 hours on Staten Island. No one has to stay on the island, but $5,000 is given to anyone who does. So, straight away we see this is aimed at the poorest in society. Help us with our experiment (you might die, be raped, mutilated etc) and we will pay you. The participants are fitted out with cameras and GPS locators.

Different groups band together to help each other. The local drug dealers stay also, some to Purge the competition and others end up helping some of their friends and family in the community. NFFA members Arlo Sabian and Dr. May Updale are heading up the project. Half way through the experiment, the statistics and viewing isn’t going as planned so Sabian orders trained mercenaries (very well equipped) to start killing. Dr. May realises what’s happening and seals her own demise. (thus laying the foundation for the government’s heavy handed involvement in future movies). 

The nitty-gritty! My favourite part about this movie (strangely enough) is the story - how the Purge came into existence so most viewers don’t really care about that. It relies on lots of killing by people wearing masks. Nothing original there. It also employs the cheap tactic of characters jumping out of nowhere but it’s done well enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. The soundtrack is completely forgettable.  The stand out character is Skeletor – a drug crazed lunatic who is interviewed at the start of the experiment and plans on “Purging” his demons. He pays a pivotal role in the story. If you liked the other Purge movies you will like it but I give it a lack lustre 6 out of 10 planets.

Finally, my favourite of all three – an oldie but a goodie – Doomsday (2008) 

Anytime there is a British production of a horror / post-apocalypse / dystopian theme this is enough to get me interested. Think of Children of Men or ITV’s The Last Train (1999) or BBC’s Survivors (2008) and you know what I’m talking about.

Take note - this movie is rated R and it well deserves this label. It’s violent, bloody and gruesome with bad language, torture, cannibalism and sexual content, so it runs the whole gauntlet. Don’t watch it if you’re not into it. Be Warned !!!.

The plot - The film takes place in the future in Scotland, which has been quarantined because of a deadly virus. When the virus is found, 27 years later in London, political leaders send a team led by Major Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) to Scotland to find a possible cure. This is a great creation both written and directed by Neil Marshall,who has had a massive career directing other great movies like Dog Soldiers and The Descent and to top it all he is also an episodic director for Game of Thrones. Watching Doomsday you get a similar feeling you do watching 28 Days Later – an eeriness in recognising the locations and the feel of a British production but this is no Coronation Street.

The team, instead of finding a cure find a huge gang of cannibals with awesome fighting skills, and a viciousness to match the zombies in Train to Busan. Most of the team are killed with the couple remaining being tortured for information to help the cannibals break the quarantine. The movie then segways into Sol – the leader of the cannibals, played by Craig Conway who was also the main crawler in The Descent, is an extremely violent and hardcore character – changing tack from his information gathering torture to attending a party/BBQ where one of the captured team is the main course. 

This part of the movie is not for that feint-hearted but the music, special effects and visceral displays are fantastic. A much better example of what happens when the rule of law is suspended (Purge take note). The costumes are amazing, the make-up is brilliant and the staging is huge. This isn’t a pretty movie and is unapologetic in it’s mish-mash of genre’s but if you can get over that I think you will enjoy it. “It’s a wild, bloody ride at its core and it’s incredibly easy to enjoy the film” (source).  

The acting is solid (Rhona Mitra, Craig Conway & Andy McDowell take a bow) all the way through and the special effects and especially the car chase at the end is brilliant. As the movie is a little predictable and it’s a bit of a mish-mash, I still give Doomsday a solid 8 out of  10 planets.

Fini For Now.

John The Captain Ryan

Venom (Movie Review)

Venom is a great re-imagining of another Marvel classic. 

(source)

Another trip to the Arc Cinema in Wexford, where the staff are lovely and the premises are spotless and comfortable (and wheelchair friendly to boot).

This has been a much awaited movie and whilst getting mixed reviews I really liked it. The criticism, some of it warranted (unoriginal storyline, Disnefied down to a 15 cert & Venom character not being bad enough) still doesn't detract from the main positives of the movie for me.

  

But to start with ... the plot:

Journalist Eddie Brock begins looking into a shady businessman, whose experiments into alien symbiotes (i.e. creatures that have to bond with another being to survive) are putting innocent people in danger. However, in the course of his investigations Brock becomes infected with one of the symbiotes, quickly realising it possesses sentience and striking a deal with the creature now sharing his body – well kind of. They become VENOM. But you have to say that in a husky voice in your head.

In a formulaic manner, they attempt to quash the evil and win the day. This is where the movie lets us down. The original character of Venom wasn’t such a good guy so Marvel fans are annoyed and rightly so, I think the creators, so used to bringing us stories of good vanquishing evil, didn’t know what to do with the Venom character so fell back on the usual movie trope. However, the sci-fi and fantasy nerd is a much more discerning movie goer, we’ve shown how we don’t necessarily want the usual movie trope, Sin City and Deadpool come to mind so the creators dropped the ball here.

 

HOWEVER ... DUM DUM DUM ... If you are not an aficionado of the Venom comics or Marvel universe this will not matter to you. Without this prior lore knowledge the story line is fine and as Venom is a stand-alone movie, you need not have seen the other 100 movies based in the Marvel Universe to enjoy it which is another plus.

The comedy is very good and lightens the movie somewhat. The scene when Venom says hello to Brock when he is brushing his teeth is laugh out loud stuff and the timing is also brilliant. Before Brock figures out what is happening the conversations in his head are hilarious.

The Cast.

Tom Hardy stars as Eddie Brock, and he also voices the symbiote, effectively playing two different interlinked roles in the same movie. He does a brilliant job and the start of the story where he is coming to terms with his new parasite is very funny, although it does take too long getting anywhere.

Michelle Williams also stars as lawyer Anne Weying, Eddie’s girlfriend, who becomes a different version of Venom herself in the source comics. There will be a sequel, although it will be the story of Carnage rather than a Venom 2 (I think) but I’m looking forward to more of Anne’s story.

Rounding off the main cast Riz Ahmed plays villain Carlton Drake, the real baddie who wants to destroy the earth. Another plus to note, Marvel/Sony has  again considered representation and not whitewashing the whole cast. 

The Nitty-Gritty

The music is amazing with Eminem dropping the soundtrack. Even the end sequence (you will watch because you need to see the final scene) marries the soundtrack with some fab artwork – kind of like a symbiosis of Venom tentacles and Rorschach drawings. Cool stuff.

(source)

The special effects are stunning and the fight sequences are brilliant – exactly what we have come to expect from Marvel, still outshining DC by a mile. There is a chase sequence which is great, Venom on a motorbike and the baddies all driving massive black suburbans. 

Whilst the chase scene is a really entertaining and fast paced addition, it’s a little bit unbelievable that a motor bike couldn’t get away from a few 4 wheel drives. In reality of course in a city full of traffic the motorbike is king. But it is a cool bike so what the hell – it’s a Ducati Scrambler, here are its stats. I WANT ONE!

Chase scenes are much more realistic when proper bikes are used and if you’re a bit of a motorbike fan like me you appreciate when directors use real, honest, proper fast bikes in their creations. One of the most exciting chase scenes to ever grace our screens, IMHO are in The Matrix Reloaded – Trinity on the Ducati 996 – at its time and still the 996 is one of the fastest most viciously accelerating bikes to every be built. The 996 has propelled numerous riders to victory of the years. (read more here)

Tying it all together in a nice little bow

I’m going to tentacle hurl an 8 out of 10 planets at Venom. Even though the movie has problems with the storyline, you’ll still come out of the cinema with a smile on your face that will overshadow the bad bits and you’ll remember the funny bits especially. It was too slow getting into the meat of the story, but, in its defence, it’s hard to tell the origin story in a shorter time. With nearly 40 minutes left on the cutting floor which would have made the movie an 18 cert, I hope we get some of them back in an Directors Cut on the bluray release. This could probably propel the movie to a 9 or even 10 out of 10.

John The Captain Ryan