The Storm Unleashed

“Burn it! Burn it! Let no trace of it remain! Total annihilation!” there was a voice from my room, and I returned to check what was going on in there.

There, someone was jumping on the novels, Twilight and New Moon. It was Storm, the mutant from team X-Men. I remember calling for an emergency teleportation from the world of the comics to the human universe. The spirit board for mutants has been proven to be very effective. I actually wanted to call Rogue, but as I didn’t want to end up dead, I had decided to call for Storm, with Wolverine gone somewhere to find another origin story about him. Hugh Jackman was also not going to be happy in that case.

“Why is this not destroyed yet? The deal between vampires and mutants clearly say that all copies of Twilight and its sequels must be destroyed to bring peace between the two species. Wait! This world doesn’t count as mutant property, right?” she asked.

“Absolutely not” I told her. “You have been summoned here as part of the spirit board contact program which involves teleportation. You had given your name for teleportation through this temporarily created medium”.

“Yes, I did. I wanted to wander around this world which is quite popular in our dimension. I heard that you people got unity in diversity here. There, we are battling against each other. That Magneto is always causing trouble. Maybe you can take him through the portal and keep him here forever. I have also heard about the natural beauty here. We have destroyed most of ours by wars”.

“The exploitation of nature happens here too. It is a common thing. No, we can’t take Magneto unless you take a few of our politicians. The deal won’t make any difference though as the trouble still remains with no change. Unity in diversity still mostly exists” I replied.

“I need to go out and see your world. It is going to be a new experience” she said while walking out.

“Is that a cloud over your head? You are not supposed to cause rain inside the house” I reminded her.

“Oh! I am just very excited to see this new world. No problem, I will make it rain outside with thunder and lightning” she said.

“What? No! We are going out. Why do you want to bring rain now?” I asked.

“Okay, I can bring a twister. Would you like to have that instead? It is a sweet little thing”.

“I should have called for Mystique. What is wrong with you? There is no need for any destruction. The evil mutants are in your world” I assured her.

“Then, I can bring some sweet snow where we can start our journey by building a snowman here”.

“No! It is not supposed to snow here. The climate here is not like that. We only get simple rain here, but even that is not needed now because we are going outside”.

“I thought you needed some climate change when I was called. This is quite boring. I bring my climate everywhere and I keep changing them. This is no fun at all” she said in a disappointing tone.

“Wait a minute. Are those dark clouds on the sky yours?” I asked.

“Yes, they arrive when I am very angry or depressed. Heavy showers and tornado follows” she added.

“Do one favour for me. Go back through the portal”.

“But according to the terms and conditions of the portal which is made clear in the mutant world, I have to stay here for…”.

“Forget everything, just go!” I told her.

“Okay. Call me again when you really need a climate change. Until then, I will be in the television and the comics. Also make sure that you never call Jean Grey” she said while jumping back into the portal.

The portal closed and the spirit board reverted to its closed form. The dark clouds were still there, beginning the darkness from morning itself. The rain was strong all day and also throughout that night. Thunder and lightning were even stronger, but thankfully, the tornado never came. I guess that there was never really a chance to create one as she left too soon. I can actually look for a few lost characters inside the X-Men animated series and those old comics. May be next time, I shouldn’t look within X-Men at all.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.

***The images used in this blog post are from the Wikipedia pages of Storm and X-Men 2 and belongs to the owners of the works.

TeNy

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Spawning Better Sequels

There are only a few sequels which have managed to be better than the original. The list is rather bigger when we consider the older movies including Terminator 2: Judgment Day, but later it turned out that the sequels were just made to make use of the franchise name and earn for money. So, lets see some of those movies which released after 2000 as the interesting sequels. You needn’t agree to this, but you can always respect others’ opinion. Here are those sequels.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: With the oirigins of the great hero already established in the predecessor, this one develops nicely on what was there in Captain America: The First Avenger, and goes on to bring a thriller which is far ahead of any other Marvel Comics based movie featuring any superhero as the lead character. With Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson around, there is almost nothing that goes wrong with this flick of high quality. This one is not just about Captain America as you will understand; this is also not just a superhero movie, but much above that. [Read the full review here]

Hellboy II: The Golden Army: The second movie outshines the first by using the fantasy atmosphere to go with the demonic horror which is always in the background, waiting to pounce. Visually better looking, and having more of a mixed story, this one has a clear advantage over the original. I liked them both very much, but there are too many epic scenes in this one, which means that it is very difficult not to give this one the advantage. Guillermo del Toro continues making things better, and this one surely needs another sequel. The world is different now from the time this one released, and could go on to become the classic hit.

Avengers: Age of Ultron: I have loved The Avengers, and there is no doubt about that. But this sequel is clearly better, because it has a more thrilling story-line, which is why even without Loki, this works so well. This is how a superhero franchise should evolve, into something more than just blind action, as the movie brings a stronger idea along with adding stronger cast making some nice characters like Quick Sliver and the Scarlet Witch, the latter being the most stunning addition with Elizabeth Olsen joining the team. The action is also more stylish and having more power. Even though I watched this one in a smaller theatre, I felt the superiority. [Read the full review here]

X2: X-Men United: The second movie of the X-Men should undoubtedly be the best, even after so many years with the series standing at X-Men: Days of Future Past. This second entry is my all-time favourite, and the fact that it was followed by the worst X-Men movie ever, only makes its position better. The joining of the mutants is one interesting thing, and there are many others including the addition of Nightcrawler who might be the most interesting and the most admirable character ever in the history of the X-Men franchise. Unfortunately, he was not seen much around after that. It is a surprise consider the scope that the character had.

Thor: The Dark World: The difference between Thor and its sequel is rather very less, but as the former was just an origin story and the latter having more scope, it was easier to exploit the same as far as this movie is concerned. Actually, the use of Dark Elves and their leader Malekith is the highlight of this one, and the fact that most of the action is set not on Earth gives this one the visual advantage. Even when the setting shifts to Earth, there are some very nice scenes of battle. The dark matter called Aether is another thing that adds to the curiosity of the audience. [Read the full review here]

Instead, if we look at the movies which couldn’t do better than the original, there is a long list of them, especially with the number two, like Transporter 2, Insidious Chapter 2. Saw II, Shrek 2, Die Hard 2, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Blade II, The Chronicles of Riddick, Despicable Me 2, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and others. There are also those movies which come up with the curse of the number three, like Species III, Resident Evil: Extinction, Iron Man III, Transformers: Dark of the Moon and so on. Sequels are unpredictable, but they will make money almost every time!

***The images used in this blog post are from the Official Facebook Pages of these movies.

TeNy

The Wheel of Time

[The following is an excerpt from an unreal conversation at the non-existent Raven Vampire Training Centre and Museum]

Vampire Bat :: Do not touch the Wheel of Time, vampire apprentice.

Vampire Crocodile :: But I thought it was a Playstation Steering Wheel.

Vampire Bat :: Dude, this is a valuable vampire artifact. Uncle Dracula used it to travel through time to bite people.

Vampire Crocodile :: You mean it is a time machine? How does it work? So Uncle Dracula is still biting people?

Vampire Bat :: Uncle Dracula causes a butterfly effect on the space–time continuum that results in the creation of multiple alternate timelines which can only be altered by changing the source code as it is often the quintessence of the human soul, and the true effect of the same is often a bite which is rather lost with its duplication, but the result often shows in the long run.

Vampire Crocodile :: What does that mean?

Vampire Bat :: It means that I am watching too many science fiction movies. Can you just go and drink some blood instead of eating my brain? Zombies eat brains, not us. You should just attend more study classes.

[Gets a cup of Blood Shake].

You can’t escape the sands of time (Pic from PoP Movie official page)

There is that story of friendship that comes out of it, for there are two; science fiction and time travel – they have been friends forever. Even as I was first introduced into the same by H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, it was carried on by a few movies, and also a few video games which used such a concept. Well, even that save game option that we used in most of the computer games was also the same, because life rarely gives us a second chance otherwise. It had such significance in TimeShift which had stopping, slowing and even reversing time, one of them about which we were familiar with from the Prince of Persia franchise, and the adapted movie too; you can’t really miss out the Sands of Time, can you?

On the big screen, there is that 2002 version of H.G. Wells’ novel, the loose adaptation which was The Time Machine – it teaches about acceptance, that there are things that cannot be changed, even with such a grand possession such as a time machine, even as Back to the Future and its sequels had come up with the idea that it was easier to change the same as far as there is nothing done that is really stupid; and there is always the chance to do things some other way. It was also a really entertaining movie, and it also came up with its own versions. All of them surely needed those machines.

But a few others needed no machine. X-Men: Days of the Future Past does change the world a lot though, as things just get awesome for mutants and the planet. The Terminator did do that a number of times, three to be exact, defining the lives of humans as well as machines. Then there is Looper and Timeline, both following different paths. The Butterfly Effect had our protagonist going back in time to possess his former self for a very short period of time. Whenever he attempted to go back in time and set things right, they all misfired, and lead to those consequences which were even worse than how he wanted them to be.

It is the 2009 movie The Time Traveler‘s Wife that takes the situation to another level as the protagonist struggles with his powers which needs no machine or mutation. There is always the coming back in time to meet anoter onself. Our time travel adventures has now paused at About Time, which has its protagonist going back in time to set things right, but later realizing that he could live without it, and actually he doesn’t really change much with the going back to the past. Both the movies got Rachel McAdams as the beautiful leading lady, as Clare and Mary.

Live in the moment, so says About Time (From About Time official page)

All these movies tell one single story, abut the human desire to go back in time as set things right. All of us wishes to go back in time and change a few things which we should have done in a different manner, and we ends up believing that a different approach or act would have changed our lives for the good. There are too many things we did and said for which we repent, and from this part and our own deeds, there is no escape as it will continue to haunt us through time.

But then there is the question, the uncertainty if the same thing could have given us a better present, and the doubt should be there if our lives can be any better than it is now. The past haunts us, and may be it is time that we realize that it has no hope for us, and as the present lives with us and the future calls, may be the realization that there is no time machine or superpowers will help us more to face it rather than the realization that there are things that can’t be changed.

TeNy