Graphic Novel Review: NANJING: THE BURNING CITY

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army entered and seized the Chinese capital after the bombs fell and shook the walls of Nanjing.  In Ethan Young’s Nanjing: The Burning City two abandoned soldiers are trapped and desperate to find a way out of the city before they are discovered by Japanese soldiers.

In Young’s wartime nightmare the soldier Lu and The Captain are on a mission to simply survive but when they witness atrocities done to the people that they refuse to help a sense of honor and duty becomes more important to them than just simply surviving.  The characters go tremendous turmoil and tragedy as they think they get closer to freedom and an escape of Nanjing that crumbs around them.

Young’s black and white art focuses on visuals to move the story forward and it is truly a remarkable feat.  War has never looked so harrowing as it does in Young’s story.  This is a great graphic novel for readers who love these type of stories about characters trying to overcome unspeakable odds and human tragedy.

Film Review: MONSTERS: DARK CONTINENT (2014)

Ten years after the events depicted in the original film Monsters (2010) the “Infected Zones” have spread over the entire world creating a global epidemic.  In Monsters: Dark Continent (2014) the Army must put together a new type of soldier to combat the growing threat but the soldiers in this film who are sent into the Middle East to help stop the problem have more than just giant monsters to contend with as dangers lurk in every corner and in every shadow in this war film in which the giant monsters take a back seat to the insurgency of man. 

Written by Tom Green and Jay Basu this is a film that puts the audience right in the middle of the war in the Middle East.  The group of soldiers is made up of mostly rookies who have never spent a tour of duty facing the giants head on.  Leading the group is Noah Frater (Johnny Harris) who volunteers to go on yet another tour avoiding to return home to his family because the only war he knows how to deal with is on the battlefield.  But as he and his group of men go deeper into the trenches he soon learns that everything that he has ever known both in terms of the giant monsters and the human monsters that he’s used to fighting is about to be turned upside down.

As usual, the biggest problem with the film is the fact that the cast is huge and for the most part they are all cannon fodder.  Unlike the original film which was very intimate and focused on the two main characters for most of the running time of the film, this film has too many characters to get to know (at least until most of them are killed off).  The film also tries to use the monsters as a background element forcing you to follow the more human conflict in the film.  This tactic worked well for the original film where the cast is much smaller but here it seems like the monsters are a wasted element.  Now the monsters are seen more in this film than in the previous film but its more as a sense of “awe” and “wonder” but in a war film this is lost (at least until the cast is dwindled down to a handful of characters).

Directed by Green himself, the film is not an entirely bad film but it does lack the ambiance and awe of Gareth Edwards original film even as it opens the possibilities of future films set in a world of giant monsters.

Film Review: RE-KILL (2015)

It’s been five years since the Re-Animates (better known as zombies) outbreak and the world has tried to move on from the decimation of most of the world’s population.  It is up to the military’s R-Division to handle the Re-Animates when there is a problem and the film crew of Re-Kill (2015) to film it.  In a world where zombies almost out number humans the members of R-Division are task with keeping the public aware of the fight against the undead. 

Told from the perspective of a “live” television show (complete with commercials and ads) the program Re-Kill is all about getting into the mind of the soldiers on the front lines before and after their deaths in real life (as most of them die in combat).

The film is written by Michael Hurst and directed by Valeri Milev and it is a film that horror fans will enjoy.  It has enough horror, gore, and zombie action to satisfy even the most jaded.  Even the style of the “found footage” or “reality show” style won’t deter you from enjoying this film as it plays like a war film on zombie crack.  The make-up FX are excellent and the action sequences are fierce and numerous.

If there is one thing working against the films, it’s that you never really get into the heads of any of the soldiers except for maybe one but then that also works in the film’s favor as you never know who is going to live or die which is the element you want in a good horror film.  A film I recommend for fans of zombie films.