All posts by Hyperyaufarer

While some were charmed by Trevor’s batshit nature and likeness to the most unhinged of Grand Theft Auto players, some felt Rockstar went overboard with his characterisation and pushed him a little too far into unlikeable douche territory with Grand Theft Auto 5. To be honest, many gamers call out various GTA protagonists for nabbing spots on their most hated protagonist lists but GTA 5's Trevor seems to be the most consistently controversial. At his best, players called him generally unrelatable and not particularly likeable, while players who truly hated him cite his relentless rage and attitude as grating and borderline off-putting enough to put the game down entirely. While his unstable nature can be entertaining at times, some players took issue with his more mean-spirited scenes and how far the writing pushed his over-the-top antics and randomness.

The Joker's (Heath Ledger) rampage in The Dark Knight is seemingly concluded when he's captured by Batman (Christian Bale) and, we can assume, taken to Arkham Asylum. Yet The Joker's terrorist acts throughout the film end up having far-reaching consequences for Gotham City, namely his success in corrupting District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). The Clown Prince of Crime not only facilitated Dent's downfall, he killed Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), forced Batman to kill Dent, and consequently compelled him to take the blame for Dent's rampage, in turn going into hiding. Beyond this, eight years later in The Dark Knight Rises, Bane (Tom Hardy) finally exposes the truth of Dent's actions, in turn throwing Gotham's justice system into chaotic disrepute just as The Joker initially intended. And finally, we see Bane release the prisoners from Blackgate Penitentiary and, presumably, Arkham Asylum, which one assumes would most certainly include The Joker himself - who, for obvious reasons, didn't appear in the sequel. On the balance of victimisation and overall plan success, The Joker absolutely triumphed over Batman, and there's a fair assumption he's still out there, somewhere. Though let's be honest - a villain like The Joker isn't going to stay quiet for long, so he'll be left to Bruce Wayne's Batman successor, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), to deal with.

The first Incredibles movie ended with supervillain The Underminer (John Ratzenberger) showing up to wreak havoc throughout Metroville, at which point the titular superheroes step in to stop him. We didn't get to see the outcome of this battle until Incredibles 2 finally released an entire 14 years later, and though The Incredibles manage to stop The Underminer from destroying city hall, they don't actually prevent him from escaping - with a ton of money, no less. The heroes disable the villain's gigantic drill tank, but he nevertheless flees with all the money he siphoned from Metroville Bank in tow, and by film's end he's never caught. More to the point, while The Underminer didn't destroy Metroville, he did cause a ton of damage, enough that the government shuts down the Superhero Relocation Program, leaving the Parr family without a financial leg to stand on. The Underminer messed up the city, ruined The Incredibles' reputation (temporarily), stole a ton of money, and got away scot-free. If that ain't winning on the balance of circumstances, what is?

Similar to Frankenstein, Re-Animator tells the story of an eccentric medical student called Herbert West who desires to cure death itself. Using his own concoction, West administers a potion to recently dead tissue in order to reanimate it. But after the resurrected corpses run amok, West seeks help from the very same people who condemned his work. Re-Animator has a tight script, funny dialogue, and great visual effects. However, it's Jeffrey Combs' performance as West that keeps the whole thing together. Combs has a such a knack for sci-fi and horror, he's starred in five HP Lovecraft adaptations, including this one. Although the Californian actor's' bulging eyes naturally make him look like a maniac, he plays the deranged West with absolute sincerity. Even though he's belligerent and cantankerous, he feels like a real character since he sounds genuinely confused when his peers are disturbed by his experiments. In the hands of a lesser actor, Herbert West would come across as trite and cliched. But with Combs at the helm, West has become one of the most memorable characters in all horror.