“Is it warm here or is it just me?” I almost said to someone
online. In either case, both would be true since Tennessee is getting a bit
warmer. It’s not a “summer-warm” since it there are times winter creeps up.
Here’s hoping I can enjoy my small vacation from work, Nashville, and anything
else.
Today, I’ll be talking about Mass Effect: Paragon Lost which
was released in 2012. I’m still on my Mass Effect fix, so watching this anime
sort of hit the spot. I’ll get to why I said “sort of” later. This movie was
produced by Bioware, Funimation, and T.O. Entertainment. It was made to tie
right into the Mass Effect universe by focusing on James Vega, one of Commander
Shepard’s companions from Mass Effect 3. Freddie Prinze Jr. reprised his role
as James Vega from the game and he was apparently the only one to do so
here. Critically, the movie isn’t
regarded too well but that didn’t stop me from checking it out.
SYNOPSIS
The movie starts out right after the destruction of the
Normandy SR-1. Vega and his team is sent to the colony on Fehl Prime to help
the colonists fight off a part of the Blood Pack. Vega and his squadmates
struggle for a bit but are able to take down the gang. Afterwards, Admiral
Hackett orders Vega and his team to stay at the colony and build up its
defenses. Two years later, the Collectors come to the colony in order to take
its people. Lives are lost and many explosions happen as Vega and what’s left
of his team do the best they can to save Fehl Prime. Considering what “fehl”
means in English, let’s just say it doesn’t turn out too great for James and
his friends.
From left: Wolfwood from Trigun, "Random Female Woman, Guy Gardner, Billy the Blue Power Ranger, and "Bland McBighuge". Yeah, I said it!
So, what did think of this full-feature presentation? I have
to say that I’m pretty torn on it. It’s not that good but it has its moments. I
thought the voice acting was fine. Freddie Prinze Jr. does try to show a
different side to Vega here than what we saw in the game. The other actors were
fine but it was noticeable when characters form the games showed up with
different voices. Admiral Hackett was the biggest one I noticed. Also, this
thing can get violent. The games didn’t shy away from being for adults and the
movie doesn’t either. Also, the story, while bland, had an interesting ending
for those who may not have played the game yet.
Dang, these Collectors must have hit the gym or something...
I did like most of
the animation here. The action was pretty cool especially toward the end. Some
of the character designs were also good. Seeing the Mass Effect universe show
up like this was a little jarring but I got used to it. I’m not a big fan of
anime but I do like most anime properties. Plus, I like animation in general. The
animators took some liberties with certain races like the Collectors and the
krogan but that is artistic license, after all. I wasn’t bothered by those
things. There were other things to be bothered with.
As for negatives, there are a few. The story was okay but really
lacking. If you’re looking for an anime that is action-packed, this might hit
your spot. If you’re looking for more than that, you’ll be disappointed like I was. The story is pretty
much akin to things like the Alien
franchise or the Predator franchise. In other words, “a lotta folk gonna die!” Unfortunately,
it’s not well written. Basically,
James Vega teamed up with Billy from Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, “Random
Female Woman,” Guy Gardner, “Hot asari who isn’t Liara,” and Wolfwood from
Trigun. That team would probably be cool if they weren’t stuck in this movie. For
a movie that is supposed to help us know James better, it really fails at that
since we rarely learn anything about him here. I think we learn more about him
in the game than here.
"Oh, don't mind me, I'm a guy who kind of may be the reason the Collectors came here," Messner sarcastically says. Seriously, screw this guy!
Another thing that felt weird here was how James himself was
portrayed. Even though he was voiced by the actor from the game, his character
and personality felt off. I wonder if the writers for the game were heavily
involved with the writing of this. I’m not sure if they were or not. James was
far from my favorite companions but I did like him in Mass Effect 3. Here, he’s
just “Bland McBigHuge.” The rest of the characters here also felt a little
bland for the most part. There were also
times where the animation was a bit bland for my tastes. I wasn’t a fan of the computer-generated stuff
here either. It didn’t’ mesh well with the 2-D animation.
Wow... talk about artistic license.
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