Author: Robert Greenberger

Luc Besson captured my attention with Léon the Professional in 1994 and since then, I’ve wanted to love everything he’s done, but the man is incredibly inconsistent so it’s as if every other film is worth a look. However, he hasn’t really scored since 2014’s Lucy. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets was a pretty misfire and now we have Anna.

The film, out now on disc from Lionsgate Home Entertainment, is another in a long line of admirable female empowerment tales. His French action-thriller has its moments, and a (literally) cheeky performance by Helen Mirren, but has a low-budget look and feel that never goes beyond the surface so every single character feels one-dimensional.

We are introduced to the latest find, Sasha Luss, a willowy blonde who can kick ass but pales in comparison to the far superior Atomic Blonde. At first, she is a down on her luck girlfriend to a drug dealing moron, but then gets recruited to work for Russian Intelligence, where she is trained to deadly perfection by Alex Tchenkov (Luke Evans), who then convinces KGB chief (or something, its unclear) Olga (Mirren) to take and use his new weapon.

Where the film succeeds best is its frequent time-bending storytelling so you only think you know what’s going on before they rewind and fill in some vital gaps. As a result, the story evolves and can intrigue you, but its utter vapidity and absurdness, staggers the imagination. Olga sends her into the field for a test with an unloaded gun and then we have the first of several high-octane set pieces that are too broad and comical to be taken seriously.

Along the way, she wearies of the life, and preferring to stay in at home with her model girlfriend Maud (Lera Abova) or find a way out of her career as a killer, undercover as a fashion model. She crosses paths with CIA officer Leonard Miller (Cillian Murphy) and he may offer her a ticket to paradise. Or not.

There’s a drabness to the photography, adding to a somber look with just flashes of color, usually Anna in various states of dress or undress. With the characters incredibly underwritten, a solid cast is given little to do except go through the paces and tick off the check marks. The action is either okay or over-the-top, unremarkable all around.

Such a weak state of affairs may explain is worldwide bomb at the box office, grossing under $30 million after a summer in theaters.

The film was released in an assortment of formats including Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD. Shot digitally, the native 2K high definition transfer is perfectly fine if as unexceptional as the film itself. The Dolby Atmos soundtrack is up to the task for every punch and tire squeal.

There are a handful of average special features including Dressing a Doll: The Costumes of Anna (8:06); Anatomy of a Scene: The Restaurant Fight (6:41); Unnesting a Russian Doll: Making Anna (13:57); and Constructing the Car Chase (5:40).

The zombie fad appears to be in its final days given the trickle of new novels, movies, and television shows. Another sure sign of its impending end is the arrival of satire, this time in the form of The Dead Don’t Die, a atar-studded comedy that shambled on and off the screen before you noticed it.

The film, out on disc now from Lionsgate Home Entertainment, should have been a laugh riot, a brilliant takedown of the genre., At least, that was the expectation that came with the pedigree: Writer/Director Jim Jarmusch, Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover, Rosie Perez, Carol Kane, and yes, both Iggy Pop and Tom Waits.

Set in a small town in west Pennsylvania, clearly an homage to the godfather of zombie films George A. Romero, the film starts off well enough but by the midpoint, shifts from comedy to action/comedy and loses its footing, decayed bits falling off with a thud.

While local farmers begin noting oddities, we’re told that Earth has shifted its rotational axis resulting in the birth of zombies, out for living flesh to consume. The battle for survival sets the stage for hilarity to commence. We certainly chuckle here and there, but Jarmusch never fully commits to poking fun at the zuvembi, not like the Zuckers did with the airplane disaster genre, and we the audience are all the worse for it.

We’re treated instead to chuckles, the occasional guffaw, and then loses itself and never recovers, leaving you deeply disappointed and dismayed. There should have been a lot more social satire interwoven with the genre spoof, but everyone plays it cautiously.

The film is out in the usual formats including a fine Blu-ray and Digital HD combo. The 1080p high definition transfer works just fine although not perfectly, much like the film itself.  The same can be said for the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Together, they make for a satisfactory home viewing experience.

The assortment of special features proves, perhaps, more disappointing than the film itself, since they are all very short, avoiding any depth, analysis, or background for the curious. We have  Bill Murray: Zombie Hunting Action Star (1:21); Stick Together (2:47) where the cast praise their director; Behind the Scenes of The Dead Don’t Die: six-parts — Zombie Tai Chi (0:55), Growl Practice (0:18), A Spin Around the Set (0:32), Craft Services (1:00), Undead Symphony (2:16), and, Finger Food (0:22).

Flash Crossover Crisis: Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot
By Barry Lyga
320 pages, Amulet Books, $13.99

I’ll stipulate upfront that Barry Lyga is an old pal from his days at Diamond Distributing. I’ve delighted to see him become a successful YA novelist and here, he brings his two worlds together in the latest of Amulet Books’ series of novels based on the CW shows. Lyga has been writing books based on The Flash, mining the show and the comics it is based on for a satisfying blend.

This novel is actually the first chapter that, as the title suggests, will involve not only Team Flash but Green Arrow, the Legends, and Supergirl. What could possibly require so much firepower? Well, let’s start with the arrival of speedster refugees from Earth-27 and their oppressors, the Crime Syndicate of America. Harassing the residents of that world is Anti-Matter Man (a one-off foe from the JLA-JSA team-up in Justice League of America #47-48), a seemingly mindless creation from the anti-matter universe of Qward.

See? You definitely need to know your DC lore to fully appreciate the Easter eggs scattered throughout the novel. Thankfully, Lyga pauses to explain al the television continuity references, especially as they relate to characters and previous episodes.

Now, if the CSA isn’t enough of a problem, Joe West and Dinah Drake, Black Canary, are on the hunt for crimes seemingly perpetrated by the Bug-Eyed Bandit, but they also encounter Irwin Schwab. Yes, Barry has managed to integrate Ambush Bug into the narrative and it makes the reader chuckle.

Readers need to pay close attention, because the story here and in his previous trilogy, are set in a splinter reality, one where Flashpoint didn’t happen so, for example, Dig’s child is still a girl. It’s a neat way to offer up the same flavor of adventure without messing with the still-evolving television continuity. The temporal mechanics of this splinter reality and it’s own multiverse may give you headache so best not to think too much about that but focus instead on the story.

There’s plenty of rising action, plenty of fighting with Ultraman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, but what’s real interesting is the hidden, growing menace posed by Owlman. We get this through Earth-27’s James Jesse, who is not the Trickster, but deathly afraid of the costumed criminal.

If Lyga could have done anything differently, it would have been to to focus more on the characters, their personalities, and their interactions. He does this with Joe and Dinah but it just made me want to see more.

This YA novel is a good, easy read and if you enjoy the series its based on, then you’ll have a good time here. You can expect the second installment in 2020.

Unsurprisingly, these successful shows have inspired their own spin-off series in various forms, the latest being the Crossover Crisis trilogy by Barry Lyga. I was given a chance to have a look at the first book, The Flash Crossover Crisis: Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot, thanks to Abrams Books and its imprint responsible for the book series, Amulet.

So, as with everything else I’ve ever reviewed, let’s start with the design! I really like the way this book looks–it isn’t a graphic novel, it is a YA novel, but it has the pizzazz of a graphic novel. I learned that César Moreno, the cover illustrator, has an extensive background with producing covers and posters for comic book series, so it makes sense. He also has done the covers for several other The Flash series novels that Lyga has written, so he definitely knows his stuff.

The inside of this book seems as though it was put together just as carefully. Although the Flash has the big name on the cover, the inside of the cover is Green Arrow’s forest green. Every page of the actual story has a lightning bolt design, with the beginnings of chapters dominated by lightning bolts radiating from the chapter number. This is used to great effect during the climax of the book when the design is switched up a little (the normally white page is colored black, while the design and words still stand out in gray and against a white text box, respectively). The care in design is also evident in the “To be continued…” teaser page, where the lightning bolts rush across the page, as if the Flash has just run by, already onto his next adventure.

The book is set up in something of a comic book format: although it’s primarily in text, we still get things like “the story thus far” in the beginning, a teaser for the next volume, and so on. These are also nice touches and makes the book easier to pick up for readers new to or not very familiar with the Flash.

A strength the book has is easing readers into the Flash’s universe. I’m more familiar with the Flash in his animated ventures, so I appreciated the economic explanations for things that appeared to be tied in with both his and Green Arrow’s respective live-action shows. Towards the climax, there were a couple of new elements introduced quickly that I had trouble keeping up with, but not being too familiar with either live-action show, I’m not quite the target audience for this story. I imagine that a fan of the related shows wouldn’t have this problem at all.

Nonetheless, I found the story a fun venture–it really does feel like a comic put to text, keeping the usual vigor and excitement, with an unfolding mystery that I could imagine as a regular comic story very easily. It involves mirror universes overlapping, with different villains (who are seen as heroes in their brutish worlds and are identical to certain heroes in our Flash and Green Arrow’s world) appearing in Central City with the help of a dimensional rift, along with thousands of multiverse refugees. They are harbingers for even bigger troubles in both this and presumably later books in the trilogy.

The Flash and Green Arrow in Legends of Today

This isn’t the first time the heroes have lent each other a hand, either! (‘The Flash,’ “Legends of Today”)

Although that is more or less the main plot, there’s also a lot going on in B and C stories that also have to do with the alternate worlds interacting to some extent. The story never flags and it never feels overwhelming, either: it seems that, for the most part, action-heavy or high-tension moments are balanced with just as important, but more leisurely-paced chapters. Leisurely compared to the Flash’s normal pace, of course. To be honest, it’s what I would consider the “B” story–featuring Brie Larvan’s bees and her brother–that has me the most intrigued for the next two The Flash Crossover Crisis books. There’s something about those robo-bees! The multiverse villains also tease a bigger story that will come to a head for the patient that makes you want to stick with things, not to mention the book’s actual teaser which names Supergirl as a player in book two.

One thing I noticed and appreciated was that Lyga does not appear to talk down to his audience. The book is officially classified as YA by Abrams and Amulet Books. Sometimes this means that existing stories are repackaged and reduced to the simplest terms. Lyga does not seem to be afraid of challenging his target audience and regularly throws high school vocabulary in as well as high school math (to his credit, he takes the reader through the math as succinctly and clearly as one probably can, though it still filled me with dread because, you know, math). He is also great at presenting examples to explain these ideas, again, without talking down to the reader. He just nudges them along. It’s a hard thing to balance, but Lyga manages it.

Another upside–or possibly downside, depending on how you look at it–of this book is that I found it a relatively fast read. As I said earlier, I found it as vibrant as reading actual comics, and sat down with it in the same way, reading it in just two or three longish sessions. A recurring thought was that if the book was a comic, I would already be waiting for the next issue to continue the story. I was glad I didn’t have to wait for that! (Although, of course, I have to wait for the next book in the series.) The upside is that there are several other Flash books by Lyga to tide a reader over while waiting for the next The Flash Crossover Crisis, as well as a related Supergirl series by Jo Whittemore.

All in all, this was an enjoyable book that reminded me why I had liked the Flash so much when I was actively watching Justice League or other DC property-cartoons that featured him. Although the Green Arrow was also in these shows, I don’t recall paying much attention to him, and I now feel like I ought to go back and give him a fair shot; he seems like an interesting character as well.

I also think this would be a great book for reluctant readers, as well as regular readers in its target audience. As I said, I like that it doesn’t talk down to its target readers, and it’s exciting enough that I think readers won’t mind having to look up a few words or suss out a concept on their own. (I only hope that I’m not the one a kid asks about the math!)

The Flash Crossover Crisis: Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot by Barry Lyga will be hitting bookstore shelves on August 13. It is currently available for preorder.

Join Barry Allen, Oliver Queen, and the rest of Team Flash and Team Arrow in an all-new adventure from author Barry Lyga. Crossover Crisis: Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot is the first in a trilogy that finds our heroes facing a crisis that could end not just their universe, but all of them.

I have apparently been living under a rock for years, because I didn’t even know that there were books based on the DCTV CW shows; that was silly of me. Of course there are books based on those shows. I mean, even Teen Wolf had books. Anyway, the Crossover Crisis series will feature characters from The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow. Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot focuses primarily on Team Flash and Team Arrow and has a mystery in each city. In Star City, a serial bomber somehow connected to Brie Larvan is terrorizing the city, while in Central City, a dimensional breach has opened and thousands of refugees from Earth 27 are pouring through, fleeing Anti-Matter Man, who has rendered their planet uninhabitable.

Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot reads just like an episode of The Flash with one key difference – Flashpoint never happened. All of the characters are perfectly recognizable; I can picture them clearly and hear their voices in my head. There’s not a lot of introspection or exposition, but in a book like this where we already know the characters, they’re really not necessary, and I don’t think the book is lacking because of it.

The writing style is simple, and this is a quick, easy read, but it isn’t dumbed down. I imagine it’s much like reading a script for one of the shows. Also, as someone who is familiar with both shows but hasn’t watched in quite some time, I wasn’t lost or struggling to figure out who was who or what was going on. There is backstory peppered throughout, and for people who are caught up, it might seem a little redundant, but for someone like me, it was very helpful in allowing me to follow along. I really liked the story and am completely intrigued by the concept of the alternate timeline – I kind of hope that comes up at some point in the series.

Fans of The Flash and Arrow who are looking for more adventures with these characters will like this book. It was rather an enjoyable read. I’m looking forward to the next books in the series!

——-

Crossover Crisis: Green Arrow’s Perfect Shot by Barry Lyga is published by Amulet Books and is currently available wherever books are sold.

*I was provided with a copy by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.*

By Barry Lyga

320 pages, Amulet Books, $13.99

I’ll stipulate upfront that Barry Lyga is an old pal from his days at Diamond Distributing. I’ve delighted to see him become a successful YA novelist and here, he brings his two worlds together in the latest of Amulet Books’ series of novels based on the CW shows. Lyga has been writing books based on The Flash, mining the show and the comics it is based on for a satisfying blend.

This novel is actually the first chapter that, as the title suggests, will involve not only Team Flash but Green Arrow, the Legends, and Supergirl. What could possibly require so much firepower? Well, let’s start with the arrival of speedster refugees from Earth-27 and their oppressors, the Crime Syndicate of America. Harassing the residents of that world is Anti-Matter Man (a one-off foe from the JLA-JSA team-up in Justice League of America #47-48), a seemingly mindless creation from the anti-matter universe of Qward.

See? You definitely need to know your DC lore to fully appreciate the Easter eggs scattered throughout the novel. Thankfully, Lyga pauses to explain al the television continuity references, especially as they relate to characters and previous episodes.

Now, if the CSA isn’t enough of a problem, Joe West and Dinah Drake, Black Canary, are on the hunt for crimes seemingly perpetrated by the Bug-Eyed Bandit, but they also encounter Irwin Schwab. Yes, Barry has managed to integrate Ambush Bug into the narrative and it makes the reader chuckle.

Readers need to pay close attention, because the story here and in his previous trilogy, are set in a splinter reality, one where Flashpoint didn’t happen so, for example, Dig’s child is still a girl. It’s a neat way to offer up the same flavor of adventure without messing with the still-evolving television continuity. The temporal mechanics of this splinter reality and its own multiverse may give you headache so best not to think too much about that but focus instead on the story.

There’s plenty of rising action, plenty of fighting with Ultraman, Superwoman, Johnny Quick, and Power Ring, but what’s real interesting is the hidden, growing menace posed by Owlman. We get this through Earth-27’s James Jesse, who is not the Trickster, but deathly afraid of the costumed criminal.

If Lyga could have done anything differently, it would have been to to focus more on the characters, their personalities, and their interactions. He does this with Joe and Dinah but it just made me want to see more.

This YA novel is a good, easy read and if you enjoy the series its based on, then you’ll have a good time here. You can expect the second installment in 2020.

There seems to be no end to Lego films featuring pop culture’s greatest heroes and villains. Out now from Warner Home Entertainment is Lego Batman: Family Matters, featuring the Caped Crusader (Troy Baker), Robin (Scott Menville), Nightwing (Will Friedle), Batgirl (Alyson Stoner), and Batwoman (Tara Strong) facing off against the Red Hood (Jason Spisak), Scarecrow (Steve Blum), Wizard ((Ralph Garman), Penguin (Tom Kenny), Killer Croc (Nolan North), Riddler (André Sogliuzzo), Solomon Grundy (Fred Tatasclore) and Two-Face (Christian Lanz). What more could a kid want?

The movie is released in numerous packages but the target viewer will want the Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD combo pack with the bonus Mini Ultimate Batmobiel (84 pieces).

Writer Jeremy Adams takes Under the Red Hood and modifies it for the younger audience. Given the title, you know there will be a lot of focus on the Batman Family, and these are the best moments in the 79-minute production. The action is fine, but overall, it’s a so-so production compared with the fresh, cheeky previous productions.

There are quips, asides, breaking the fourth wall, but it all feels too familiar. The story, directed by Matt Peters, moves along fine enough, but just doesn’t excite the viewer.

The movie looks fine in Blu-ray, at the 16×9 aspect ratio, with good colors and crisp images. The Dolby Digital soundtrack is up to the match, capturing the colorful biffs and pows. There are no special features given the target audience’s obvious lack of interest in such content.

There’s little original about John Wick the character or the film series, so the reason he is a smash success action hero is all due to Keanu Reeves’ performance. Derek Kolstad created the man in the black suit and his dog, overseeing the direction of the three films although the latest installment, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, required four screenwriters: Kolstad, Shay Hatten, Chris Collins, and Marc Abrams. That’s never a good sign.

We pick up exactly ten minutes after John Wick Chapter 2, with our hero on the outs with the High Table. He’s on the run with a $14 million bounty on his head and few willing to associate with the “excommunicado” man. Wick is not without resources and manages to get out of New York, using his sole “Get out of Jail” free card.

As he leaves the Big Apple, the Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon) arrives to admonish Winston (Ian McShane) and Bowery King (Laurence Fishburn) for their own culpability in Santino’s (Riccardo Scamarcio) death. They have a week to resign their posts or face the consequences.

Wick, meanwhile, winds up in Casablanca seeking guidance from an old friend, Sofia (Halle Berry), presents his marker, and is guided toward the Elder (Saïd Taghmaoui). There, promises are made, sacrifices made, and the tables are set for the action and mayhem to begin in earnest. Before long, we’re back in New York and the tension increases.

While there are shifting alliances throughout, you gain a greater sense of the loyalties Wick has earned through his career, finally allowing us some greater insight into his background. It’s always great to see Reeves and McShane together, such a cool vibe set against the New York City Continental.

By the film’s end, the status quo has shifted and the table is et for chapter four, which the current box office suggests is inevitable.

With Berry and Anjelica Houston (as the Director), the female quota has increased, just not sufficiently. This is an old school male dominated world of violence, with a dollop of spiritualism, that makes it feel antiquated. Things move briskly and the action set pieces are high-octane – and plenty of fun to watch. As we learn more about this world and the rules of engagement, we’re nicely drawn in deeper, making us want to learn more, a testament to Kolstad and director Chad Stahelski, who has now helmed all three films for a consistent look and feel.

John Wick: Chapter 3 is out now from Lionsgate Home Entertainment in a variety of formats including the Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD combo pack. The AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1 is marvelous to watch, from the dim interiors to the brilliant desert. It has nicely captured the color palette, surpassed only by the superior Dolby Atmos audio track.

Given how cool Wick has become and the following he has earned, the Special Features could have been better. We have quite a collection, with some better than others. We start with Parabellum: Legacy of The High Table (10:57)  as cast and crew talk the production, Excommunicado (9:44); Check Your Sights (9:55), all about the action; Saddle Up Wick (5:10); Bikes, Blades, Bridges, and Bits (6:35); Continental in the Desert (10:15); Dog Fu (8:04); House of Transparency (7:10); Shot by Shot (8:57) looks at the editing process. Theatrical Trailers, and Behind the Scenes of John Wick Hex (6:54

In a world where super-hero films rule the box office, you need something big and spectacular to attract attention. Legendary Pictures, which has cofinanced its share of heroic fare, has licensed the biggest monsters around: Godzilla and King Kong. They have dubbed it the Monsterverse and in Godzilla (2014) and King Kong: Skull Island (2017), they have sewn the seeds for these titans to mix it up for the first time in decades.

This summer’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters expanded that universe by giving us plenty of kaiju, introducing modern day audiences to Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. They are large and loud and ready to do battle with one another, sweeping mankind out of their way as mere impediments. It also sets up next spring’s Godzilla vs. Kong.

Given what we received, this never should have taken five years to make, ruining whatever momentum the reboot of the 1954 Toho classic, had.  At least they acknowledge its’ been five years and we see where our characters have been.

Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) remains with Monarch, working on locating and identifying the MUTOs, now called Titans. We find her now separated from her husband Mark (Kyle Chandler), who has isolated himself from the world, still mourning the death of their son Andrew. He remains a video chat away from daughter Madison (Millie Bobby Brown), who is with mom.

They’re on hand for not only the rebirth of Mothra, but the arrival of Alan Jonah (Charles Dance), an underdeveloped ecoterrorist with a fuzzy agenda. We know he wants control of the reborn Titans, but to what end is unclear throughout. Instead, Jonah is just a bad guy and casting Dance merely works as shorthand since he is given nothing to do.

When he abducts Emma and Maddie, Dr. Ishirō Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Dr. Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) convince Mark to rejoin Monarch and help. Jonah is after Ghidorah, slumbering in Antarctica and we learn he was never intended to be part of the monster eco system of eons past. An alien alpha monster, he is threat to Titan and Human alike.

Thank goodness they have Godzilla on their side, even though he gets beaten a lot. The other kaiju have their own battles with the three-headed creature or one another or military aircraft. Now, while the script is wretched, the battles are swell. If you grew up with these monsters, then you’ll be pleased. If all you know is the Pacific Rim kaiju, then see how it should be done.

There’s human betrayal and self-sacrifice, heroic and noble deeds done alone with a dash of redemption. But it’s all too little to give this the emotional heft it needed. Forbes recently complained about the film’s disappointing box office, ascribing it to monster fatigue, which is nonsense. One good monster a movie a year should be part of a well-balanced film diet, just one that nourishes the soul. The 42% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes tells you far more about the film’s failure to connect.

Writer/director Michael Dougherty, who shared script credit with Zach Shields, clearly loves these characters and once he was brought in to replace Gareth Edwards, put in a lot of thought. It just didn’t translate to the script, wasting a rich cast in lead and supporting parts.

The film has been released in the usual assortment of packages including the Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD combo pack. The 4K UHD version, not reviewed here, debuts HDR10+ along with Dolby Vision and HDR10 for improved dynamic rendering.

The 1080p high definition transfer is strong and crisp, capturing the scales and flames in their colorful glory. The Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio soundtrack is up to the challenge, letting the roars and explosions surround you while still letting Bear McCreary’s fine score clearly come through.

The extras are plentiful but unspectacular, much like the film. There’s an audio commentary from Dougherty, who demonstrates his affection and goals.

We then have four almost useless and too-short Monsters 101 — Godzilla: Nature’s Fearsome Guardian (1:01), Mothra: Queen of the Monsters (2:02), King Ghidorah: The Living Extinction Machine (1:32), Rodan: Airborne God of Fire (1:15). You learn more for the somewhat better Evolution of the Monsters — Godzilla 2.0 (8:40), Making Mothra (7:01), Creating Ghidorah (6:24), Reimagining Rodan (5:19).

The various set pieces are covered with Monarch in Action — The Yunnan Temple (6:59), Castle Bravo (6:19), The Antarctic Base (6:26), The Isla de Mara Volcano (5:56), The Undersea Lair (7:19), reminding you of how strong the set design was.

We then finish with a profile on Stranger Things’ breakout star Millie Bobby Brown: Force of Nature (4:08) and Monster Tech: Monarch Joins the Fight (8:36).

Perhaps the most interesting piece, and the longest, is Monsters Are Real (14:09) with Stephen T. Asma, author of On Monsters, tracing our fascination with monsters back to Gilgamesh; Liz Gloyn, University of London, Barnaby Less, Monsterverse Development, and Richard Freeman, Zoological Director, Centre for Fortean Zoology adding their own two cents.

The least useful piece is Welcome to the Monsterverse (3:44), where Less talks about the worldbuilding but there’s too little content and too many clips from the film itself.

We finished with two Deleted Scenes (5:03), the first a Mark Russell moment as we see his tortured state of mind and continuing sense of loss. The second is a fight between Emma and Maddie, ending with her realizing how the rest of the world is suffering from kaiju attacks. Either could have helped the film.

American Gods arrived on Starz with a stellar cast and terrific source material, the novel by Neil Gaiman. It had pedigreed producers in Bryan Fuller, who ankled his shot at Star Trek: Discovery to devote himself fulltime to this; and Michael Green, a superb writer with tons of genre credits. It was visually arresting, emotionally moving, and stunningly weird.

Then there’s the second season. Fuller and Green were jettisoned amidst problems with the skyrocketing budget that exceeded $10 million per episode and their increased deviation from the novel. When Starz finally settled on Jesse Alexander to showrun the season alongside of Gaiman, a novice at television production. They scrapped the first six scripts while Starz cut the order from ten to eight episodes to save money and delayed release marking two years between seasons. Kristen Chenoweth and Gillian Anderson left in support of the ousted producers so their roles needed to be recast.

What viewers received this spring was a mess. Plodding, dark, hard to decipher – pick your adjectives. It got to the point where you find yourself putting off watching it and doing so more out of loyalty to Gaiman and/or the novel than genuine affection for the show.

Out now as a three-disc Blu-ray box set (with Digital HD code) from Lionsgate Home Entertainment, the series does hew closer to the novel as the stakes in the war between the old gods and modern gods escalates.

It’s still a delight to watch Ian McShane, Orlando Jones, Emily Browning, and Pablo Schreiber play their parts. The guest cast was strong with the radiant Cloris Leachman, William Sanderson, Lee Arenberg, and Laura Bell Bundy among others.

And yet…

The concepts remain strong and the extra time compared with novel has allowed for characters to grow and evolve, but the pacing is deadly slow, scenes are too dark to follow, and the emotional intensity is lacking pretty much until the penultimate episode when a beloved character is dispatched. It’s been reported that McShane and Jones wound up adlibbing many of their lines, so much so that Jones received screen credit.

Ex-con Shadow Moon (Ricky Whittle) remains caught between factions, more confused than an active participant in the struggle. He also has to struggle with spending time with his dead wife Laura (Emily Browning), who has eclipsed him as an interesting personality on the series.

For a struggle of ideologies, ancestral memory versus current experiences, its often spoken of more than played out, much to my regret. It is nice, though, to have more than your typical assortment of Norse and Greek gods, and at least we have an international assortment that will send some scurrying to the Internet to learn more about. Episode six, as we watch the gods arrive in the New World, was perhaps the season’s strongest episode.

It would have been nice to have a mythology primer as a special feature. Instead, we have The House on the Rock: Setting the Stage (Patton Oswalt hosts a San Diego Comic-Con panel), The Second Coming: Neil Gaiman on Season Two (oh, the jokes we could make here), and Gods and Ends: Random Musing from the Cast, which could describe one or two of this season’s episodes.

The 1080p video transfer in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio looks nice and rich on a home screen. The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound is a fine match.

Stepping in to showrun season three, yes there will be one, is The Walking Dead’s Charles “Chic” Eglee, which finally will take us to the Lakeside portion of the novel. He and Gaiman, who is not a showrunner this time, have broken down the third season and even laid out plans for a fourth. So you may want to watch this as homework for better times ahead.