Tony Jaa's The Protector 2 Teaser

Good news, guys: embedded below is the official teaser trailer for Tom Yum Goong 2, also known by the English title The Protector 2, sequel to one of Tony Jaa's best films (nothing, in our opinion, has topped Ong-Bak). You can learn more about the film, which is nearing completion, from those informative folks at City on Fire.

Book Review: Dexter in the Dark (2007)

This is actually a review of the first three books in Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series: Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Dearly Devoted Dexter, and  Dexter in the Dark. In regard to their similarity to the Showtime series based on the character, the first season is loosely based on the first novel, but other than that the books and show are separate story lines with distinct canons. Is one better than the other? Without a doubt, I can easily say I prefer the TV show. The writers masterfully create a suspenseful plot that constantly builds towards a climax. But, in each of the novels that I've read, I'll find myself around 2/3 of the way through without feeling much tension at all, wondering how Lindsay is possibly going to be able to write a complete story in the remain pages. I'm frankly quite amazed at how little can happen over the course of 300 pages (now approaching 1000 pages after 3 novels).

Another difference is the character of Dexter. Though largely similar in both media, there are big differences. While Showtime Dexter seems to grow more human-like with each season, Lindsay's Dexter mostly retains his psychopathy. [Note: Let us recall that a psychopath is not "a crazy person who hurts people without remorse." Rather, a psychopath's defining characteristic is a diminished capacity to feel emotion and to empathize with others.] TV Dexter treats foster father Harry as his main guide and companion while book Dexter has a greater emphasis on the "Dark Passenger." The latter becomes a central problem in Dexter in the Dark, as the Dark Passenger leaves Dexter, essentially robbing him of his essence and making him seem rather emasculated. And in taking away that essence, Lindsay took away what is appealing about Dexter. It is reminiscent of a piece I read in Entertainment Weekly, which criticized some cop show I don't remember the name of because the main character was perhaps too flawed and not all that good at his job. The author asked the question, "Would we be as interested in a show like Breaking Bad if it was about the 6th best meth cook in Albuquerque?" Without the Dark Passenger, Dexter loses what makes him interesting. But more than that, it makes the Dexter the man simply a conduit through which the Dark Passenger operates; it seems that the title character should be about the demon rather than the possessed.

Not at all unlike the TV show, Dexter's foster sister Deborah is superbly irritating, even more so. When every one of her sentences is laden with profanity, tension is lost because at no point does she seem more excitable than any other. It is all but impossible to feel any built up tension if there is no where to build it from.

Character development in the novels also is fairly weak. While the show allows us to see the supporting characters in scenes absent Dexter, I don't recall this occurring in any of the books. We lose the richness they offer to the Dexter world and they become little greater than extras.

As such, I cannot recommend Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, even to those who are fans of the show. It strangely feels like one is reading a fan-fiction, one by the time you reach the end feel that it is not about the "real" Dexter.

XBOX 360 Review: Splinter Cell: Double Agent (2007)

SC:DA was Sam Fisher's foray into the next-gen era. Was it any good?  Well, the most noticeable jump in quality is in graphics; the impression left on me was reminiscent of how I felt when I first saw the reveal trailer of the original Splinter Cell. The game play and animation remained largely similar to Chaos Theory, at least in most circumstances. Sam shows us the versatility of his skill set in various, short-lived, situations. You control him building land mines, hacking emails, skydiving, and swimming. Strangely, though, this doesn't seem to break up the monotony, which I didn't feel in any of the previous games. There are two reasons for this:

1. The missions are the shortest they've ever been.
2. Almost half of the game is spent at the JBA headquarters.

And being slightly monotonous, it was hard to feel the climax of the story; indeed, major plot events largely had no built-up anticipation and caught me by surprise. One thing that kept me interested in the story, though, was Sam's relationship with JBA member Enrica Villablanca. Was he just seducing her as part of the mission or did he actually have sympathy for her? But even this aspect of the story isn't fully developed or resolved. To be sure, there are several dramatic parts not seen in the other games and this is an improvement in the series. But for being a game with multiple outcomes based on player decisions, these happen seldomly and only really change one major element of the story. The ending (or endings) itself was disappointing and left too many loose ends and questions.

One of the other features worth mentioning is the return of the Mission Rating system from Chaos Theory. Unfortunately, it seems to provide more of a hassle than benefit, especially for those struck with the Curse of Completionism. Previously, the ranking system made a bit of sense: your rating would decrease for obvious blunders such as getting identified as an intruder or setting off alarms, but would also provide some added challenge by prohibiting lethal attacks if one wanted a perfect rating. DA goes overboard on this. Sam's bread-and-butter tactics, like shooting lights and and knocking out guards, now incur a penalty, as do breaking locks and forcing hacks of keypads. Though it may seem cool by forcing the player to essentially become a ghost, in practice it is an exercise of saving the game after every minuscule action and nearly endless trial and error. Trying to get past multiple guards in well-lit rooms has more to do with luck than skill. All of this works against having an engrossing gaming experience by reminding you that you are limiting the tactics in your toolbox for no other purpose than getting a "100%" to display on a screen.

In sum, SC:DA for the XBOX 360 was not my favorite entry into the series. Not that it is a bad game, but having nearly impossible expectations for 100% completion somewhat lowers replay value. Strangely, having missions where it's conceivable to make it through without being seen makes it much too easy if one decides to use a gun. Thus, there are really only a couple of ways to play.

Stay tuned. I will finish off our Splinter Cell review series with a comparison between the XBOX 360 and PS2 versions of Double Agent.

Finest Fights: The Defender (1994)

For almost two years, Finest Fights has brought you a carefully curated selection of action cinema's best battles. Perennial favorite Jet Li returns in this installment, lifted from the finale of The Defender (1994).

This is not a particularly good Jet Li movie, but the conclusion is fairly wicked. All that stuff with the gas reminds me of the final boss in Rise to Honor, always a good thing to be reminded of. Speaking of which, why not?