i think what’s most baffling to me about tog 2, is that the first film already laid out the thread for the sequel. all they needed to do was follow though and expand. yet, they completely bypassed that though line, not for something better or more interesting, but rather something so unconvincing, unnecessary, and silly, that it’s making me wonder what, exactly, the people behind this franchise think the draw is.
because the ‘why’ of their immorality was never it. and watching as the film sloppily contradicted and undermined its own premise with patchy pacing, uneven tonality, a shockingly insipid twist, and a shallow, nothing of an antagonist that did little more than slink in and out of the narrative while reciting tepid lines of cartoonish villainy, i couldn’t help but wish i was watching the sharper, more coherent film that was trapped in the shadows of this one.
a film that would have focused on quynh’s return as a sympathetic antagonist, picking up on the pieces they teased in the first film and enhancing the narrative by exploring her rage and grief and adjustment to this new reality; how that reshaped her relationships with the guard now. i wanted to see andy, joe, and nicky grapple with the return of their old friend, who is not quite the same woman, because she is enraged and lonely and in so much pain that she’s determined to tear down the world and them too, if that’s what takes to satiate her hurt, but still someone they love. i wanted to see how nile (and to lesser extent booker) who’ve been sharing this woman’s distressingly furious dreams, felt as they were faced with haunting figure of their nightmares made flesh. how she upended nile's new worldview because if this can happen to quynh maybe it can happen to her and what does that mean? how despite all that she still wants for quynh to be okay, if only for the peace of the others. i wanted to know how andy handled the guilt, relief and love (because in this version there would be no weird hays code no homo-ing of their obvious romantic relationship) as she is confronted with a quynh who feels abandoned and betrayed and wants little to do with her and the mortal world at large—andy’s ‘endless war’. i wanted to watch a film as evocative and emotionally resonant as the first, which was not without it’s own issues, but at least tried. not this flaccid mess that was so preoccupied with flaunting typical popcorn flick aesthetics and overlong action sequences (with few exceptions, like during quynh's fights with andy and nile) that it let the characters and relationships they’d so beautifully built up before, just fall to the wayside.
because what, actually, was the point of any of this? the world building that wasn’t, the new immortals with zero emotional impact (didn’t mind tuah but he didn’t need to be immortal, and disco’s lame ass absolutely didn’t need to be a thing at all) whose existence only eroded the scope of the immortal life/journey, and the story itself?
i've already gone into how badly nile was done in another post, but imma say it again because i truly can’t believe it. how did she go from the heart of the fist film to a magical totem in the second? all so some yt lady can be shoved into the story oh please. and what’s more is my girl was largely ignored outside of that and given nothing to work with that was in service of herself. she got exactly one second to react to her new power and then the end. what????
why was booker’s arc so cyclical and shallow? and framed as a worthy sacrifice when it was nothing of the sort. why were joe and nicky so much in the background, especially when it came to quynh. it’s like the writers forgot that they knew and cared for her too. because in what version of this movie does them not even having an opinion of her return make any sort of sense? just so lazy and disingenuous.
especially when i think of of how quynh's & andy's reunion was so measured and sanitized and abbreviated. all that tidy talking around their relationship and what they actually mean to each other, that was actually just shameless homophobia. it was as if the studio thought if they'd fully acknowledged the depth of these women’s romantic feelings, that they had been a couple and not simply friends, the film would've collapsed upon itself. which it sort of did, but definitely not because of some lesbian implications. if anything their relationship was one of the few moments of emotional resonance, it just wasnt enough. and i hate that i wasn’t even surprised, that i was initially so taken by the fact that quynh was out of the sea and they were even having a conversation at all to see the lack for what it was. because the representational disparity of gay relationships, even between men and women, has always been obvious. from narrative perspective to audience investment. and you don’t need an advanced degree in lesbianism to tell, just one glance at ao3 will tell you that lol. but here, because that connection went unaddressed, even as i enjoyed watching their chemistry and tension, i couldnt help but feel that something was missing (how did they go from feuding to flirting???????? why skip over that?) that their reconciliation felt less like a revelation and more like a paltry appeasement.
and that’s the film in general. an overindulgence in uninspired action sequences at the cost of character work and development.
but it’s not all bad. i think the actors—van especially who was exhilarating to watch every time she appeared onscreen—elevated the material to the best of their ability. injected heart and intrigue and even fun, where they could. but there’s only so much even the most talented actors can do with an underwhelming, uninspired script.
and obviously i didn’t expect it to be exactly what i wanted because that would be impossible (and what fic is for) but i did expect, at the very least, some cohesive and thoughtful storytelling. not a showy, superficial mess that flattened its characters into vessels for a sequel that shouldn’t have been necessary and might never see the light of day.
You are ai or what, i can't understand what is on picture beside you moon and chacha
I definitely didn't send you here, no no no, thats wrong dimension im sorry
Not like i can just teleportate you all now, my powers are low, so just be quiet okay? Don't make any sound here and CLOSE YOUR EYES!!!! Even if they find you they wouldn't able to do anything if you don't look at them lmao
