TV Review: Legends of Tomorrow (Season 3)

*This review contain a few spoilers*

Click here for the YouTube review, with more spoilers

While “Legends of Tomorrow” has always been a mixed bag, season three adds a few new characters and just goes full throttle on the silliness, making the drama lose some of its impact, but helping to strengthen the bond between the Legends.

Before Thor did it in “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Legends of Tomorrow” transformed their characters into marginally inept heroes that throw out more punch lines than punches. The pure stupidity of the Legends transforms minor issues into massive threats. Taking selfies with historical figures, sneezing while wielding shrink rays and total ignorance are the type of dumb mistakes that set the stage for the weekly time crisis that the Legends must fix after making things worse. As the team becomes more reactive to bigger threats, thing improve…especially as the cast begins to gel.

This is some great chemistry with the Legends, and there are some funny moments. Just about everything Mick says, Ray’s overzealous optimism, Nathaniel’s psychedelic trips and Martin and Jax switching bodies lead to some strong humor. While a few characters leave the show this season, new members are added. Zari, who is just barely inspired by the Isis character from the comics, takes a while to find her place with the team. It’s not till the time loop episode that she makes a connection with the crew and the audience. Kid Flash joins the show late, but makes an impact, and just seems so happy to be there that it becomes a joy to watch him. The return of John Constantine to the Arrowverse was a pleasant surprise, and the fact that he joins the cast next season is welcome news. One thing that didn’t work was the temporary addition of Earth-X Leonard Snart. His personality is too different from the Earth-1 Snart, but not unique enough of new attitude to add anything to the show. Plus, the fact that he wasn’t sticking around made it feel like a waste of time getting attached to him.

The plot for this season starts off by completing brushing off the “broken time” cliffhanger from season two, and wrapping it all up in just a few minutes. It takes a long time before the true threat of Mallus is introduced, and even then it’s a slow reveal and connecting the events up to this point and tying them into his big plan, reducing the urgency of this season. There’s also a subplot of the Legends bumping into their ancestors that never pays off. Also this season, the historical figure cameos were hit or miss. Blackbeard and Helen of Troy were some that mostly worked, while Elvis and young Obama never really connected. The show had more success with its movie homages, with the E.T. tribute being the standout.

Once season three settles into its new status quo of not taking itself seriously, it becomes a fun ride. The behind the scenes maneuvering of big bad Mallus weakens his appeal, but he’s enough of a threat to seem like maybe the Legends can’t defeat him.

Season’s best episode: “Crisis on Earth-X, Part 4” (Episode 8): Even though this is the finale of the “Crisis on Earth X” crossover, it’s still a “Legends of Tomorrow” episode. While there was some great action, the death of Professor Stein was a huge gut punch of emotion.
Season’s worst episode: “Aruba-Con” (Episode 1): After almost completely ignoring season two’s cliffhanger, we move on to team becoming more inept than ever.

**1/2 out of *****

Movie Review: Blockers

A slightly new twist on an old concept, the film unofficially known as “Cock Blockers” is amusing, occasionally very funny, and surprisingly full of heart. What works the most here as far as the comedy is the interaction between the three adults leads. There is some funny dialog between these increasingly desperate characters, nothing particularly memorable, but good in-the-moment humor. When the movie goes for the more over-the-top physical comedy, it’s more hit or miss. They seem to be trying too hard and forcing the humor. While you wouldn’t expect it, there are some emotional beats that ground some of the insanity and really feel sincere. This is especially impressive with the fact the adult characters are essentially just caricatures. All three pull their weight, but Ike Barinholtz’s Hunter is the standout. The three young female leads play their roles much more down to earth. They feel like three real teen best friends, and play down the “sex teen comedy” aspect. This helps their story arcs, and possibly more so, helps sell their parents’ story arcs.

*** out of *****

Movie Review: A Quite Place

An interesting concept, filled with many tension-filled sequences that will keep you on the edge of your seat. This is a smartly put together film that assumes the audience can fill in the blanks as to what’s taking place. There’s no exposition here. Only newspaper clippings and a few handwritten notes explain how things got the way they are. The story drags in a few places, primarily due to the lack of a plot. It’s just the day to day lives of these survivors. It’s interesting to see how innovatively they’ve learned to keep safe, but you’re constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Once it does, the last portion of the film is almost nonstop tension. Even when it looks like the threat is over for now, they’re right back into the fire. The acting is strong, and so much is conveyed by the use of only facial expressions. The score does a fantastic jog of ramping up the intensity. The effects are excellent, and the alien creatures are well designed and look real. The pacing is a bit strange near the end and they resort to a few cliché’s like jump scares, but these are small complaints.

**** out of *****