Quick Review : Metroid Fusion (Game Boy Advance)

It had been eight years since an entry in the Metroid franchise…but then, lo and behold, in 2002, we were gifted not one, but two, Metroid titles! Metroid Prime is the more popular/critically acclaimed, and for good reason…but Metroid Fusion for the Game Boy Advance is just as worthy of attention as the sublime Metroid Prime. Metroid Fusion is a direct sequel to Super Metroid, and also returns Samus (for the opening act) to SR-388, the world she explored in Metroid II.

Quick Review : Minority Report (2002)

This is the first (and last, so far) union of Steven Spielberg and Philip K. Dick…so it begs the question…how does Spielberg match up against Ridley Scott and Paul Verhoeven? The answer is…very well! Scott went for the more slow-paced, meditative adaption, Verhoeven went for the action-packed and ultraviolent adaptation…and Spielberg hovers somewhere in between. Of course, there’s no ultraviolence here, as it’s a summer blockbuster…and being a summer blockbuster, Minority Report seems confined by delivering action set-pieces and philosophical musings about justice and morality.

This will always look cool

It’s not an easy task, is it? Tom Cruise does fine as the main character, but just like Arnie in Total Recall, you can’t escape the fact that it’s Tom Cruise, running about doing Tom Cruise-esque things. Total Recall dove in head-first with the absurdity of having Arnie as the leading man in a philosophical story (by making it ultraviolent and full of one liners). Tom Cruise can’t help being Tom Cruise, regardless of his acting quality. Still, the story is strong enough and the philosophical musings profound enough to deliver an exciting thriller that delivers on the action set pieces.

However, my major gripe about Minority Report is that it’s about twenty minutes too long. By the two hour mark, you feel that the credits should be rolling…but there’s another twenty minutes left!

Hammy’s Rating: 3/5

Memorable Scene

Anderton and Leo Crow

Memorable Quote

‘Science has stolen most of our miracles’

Related Reviews

Click here for my Quick Review of Total Recall (1990)

Review: Spider-Man (2002) (The Amazing Spider-Man?)

“You don’t trust anyone, that’s your problem”

Some people would argue that the modern trend for superhero movies started with Blade (1998) and X-Men (2000). Those people have some good arguments, but I’d argue that the superhero craze properly began with Spider-Man (2002), which is celebrating its 15th birthday this year! Blade and X-Men were modest hits, but Spider-Man hit big. It was the first film to earn over $100 million in its first weekend, among other box office records. Yes, people may have been hyped for the more recognisable superhero (Spider-Man was/is more well known than either the X-Men or Blade), but there’s also another reason for its box office success: it’s a damn fine film, with unfortunate flaws that prevent it from reaching the heights that its sequel would grasp.