#Lots of plot for shows & games don't catch my fancy...

[tkdbyumes]

Finding a fandom to join is hard nowadays...when you finally do find smtg you like, it turns out the fandom is either dead, inactive or too small there's barely any crumbs...

[obeymehasinfluncedmythoughts]

Poly!Mc Sending Nudes to Brothers

Yeah. This one is nsfwish. If you are under 18, please don't read. Also a little ooc?? Idk. And lucifers has like a plot but that just fell off I guess. I do that a lot I think?

Thanks for all the support on my last post 🥰 I really appreciate it.

Lucifer

He usually knows what to expect when he gets a texts from someone.

If it's Mammon, it's trouble, Asmo, it's probably a complaint, and if it's Belphie it's somewhat a mix of both those things.

You are a little more unpredictable, but he chalks that up to the fact he didn't spend millions of years with you.

(And, to be fair, for not spending all that time together he does know you well.)

Just not well enought to foresee this sort of picture showing up in his messages when he's in public with Diavolo.

He didn't think you'd be into this sort of thing, and he didn't think you'd just spring it on him at a meeting with the prince of hell.

Of course, he's not against it.

He's just going to make you pay for it when he gets home.

(^Which is why you probably won't even get a response, only that little seen checkmark to keep you on the edge of your seat.)

Mammon

This could go multiple ways depending on the scenario you catch him in.

If he's at home, in his room, it's rather simple. You can expect him to be at your door within a few minutes.

(^There might be some sort of rant regarding how risky your actions are but that's about it.)

If he's not in his room, or just not home in general, you're going to receive a flurry of confused text that flip between protective and horny.

He's very confused on how to feel.

You'll eventually get a call that reflects this, and probably last at least thirty minutes before he just decides to come join you.

Leviathan

Sending him a nude at anytime, anywhere will basically recieve the same result: a blushing envy demon.

He doesn't know how to respond. Sure, he's seen it in games and shows, but he's never done it himself! Not with you either!

Levi isn't aware if he's supposed to respond with one of his own, or just go to your room, or...?

Honestly if he wasn't so embarrassed he'd just ask you, but he's rather insecure about these things.

The reply you get is incredibly simple and confusing.

"Thanks."

Satan

Kinda just replies to it like any normal message.

(^Responses vary, but are usually to the point and lacking that sarcastic flair Satan sometimes uses.)

If he's feeling playful, or perhaps just isn't able to reach you soon enough, you might actually get a picture in return.

Be warned though, he's a huge tease and completely aware of this fact.

(^He did learn from the best afterall, but thankfully he isn't as bad as Asmo)

One of the better brothers if you want to play a back and forth game with.

Asmodeus

Also loves to play a game of back and forth

He's a lot more advance then Satan is, which can be a good thing, or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

Totally likes to send nude photos and censor them with little stickers to tease you

Might even have old pictures on hand to send you and see if you notice the differences between his current self and the past.

Honestly this is why he sometimes wears fancy lingerie out.

(^If Asmo is anything, it's prepared!)

Loves calling you to tease you while he's in public!

Bastard, bastard man.

Beelzebub

Might just respond with a picture of whatever he was doing at the moment.

"Do you want me to come over?"

(I'm not entirely sure if he gets the concept. Like yeah, he understands having pictures of people you love, but if you just want him, say it! He'd much rather be with you then be sexually frustrated staring at a picture of you!)

Won't really send any nude photos of himself as a reply even if he has the chance.

Belphie might though if they are together.

Belphegor

Is a big fan

He's opposite to Beel in this aspect.

(^Like, he loves you, but being the avatar of sloth has its downsides. Especially when it comes to being able to spend time with you. Doing something like this, something that can be saved forever, makes him feel a lot less guilty. It's as if he gets to see you more then he actually does, and he thinks he can make up for some lost time by reciprocating.)

Sometimes his responses are snarky, but playful enough for you to know he doesn't mean it.

If you're both at home, he'll usually just tell you to come upstairs.

[starryjeekies]

hi! i was wondering if you could write about first date with e'ast/places they'd take you

A/N: oh I would love to!! I don't see that many elrings so when I do i get excited ^^ please show the boys a lot of love and if anyone who doesn't know e'last sees this, please look into them! [post writing notes holy crap my brain did not want to focus at all i’m so sorry this took forever to write]

Rano:

Ice Skating

Rano would love to do something fun and exciting! So if it was the season for it, he would take you ice skating first. You both would need the barrels or walkers to steady yourselves while you started learning for the first time and would laugh at each other when you fall. You would help each other up and encourage each other to keep going! His little giggles when you start to hold hands while skating would be adorable. By the end of winter, you two would finally get ahold of it after going on many more dates. Holding each other’s hands while you fly around the frozen lake would be a fantastic way to end the season.

Choi In:

Amusement Park

He would LOVE to take you to the fair/carnival/amusement park! All he wants to do is see you smile and laugh. He would definitely start off with the games, competing against you in the balloon popping and ring toss. If he won, he would most definitely give you the prize. If you won, he would pout until you give him a complimentary prize (ofc, a kiss). He would take you on the rides next, both of you screaming at the fast paced rides. Of course, there would be the cliché of the kiss at the top of the ferris wheel. He would end the night with funnel cake and a shake, sharing the two with you and letting you have the last bite.

Seungyeop:

Bookstore

Seungyeop being an extrovert was not something that I expected and I’m going to stick with that. I think he would prefer to take you to a bookstore to get to know you. You can tell a lot about a person by what they read. You two would split up at first, looking for something to catch your interest. You would accidentally meet up in a section and would smile at each other, guessing what you were looking for. Once you two finally found a book or two you would like, you would meet up and start reading. You two would ask each other about the characters, the plot, and get to see the way each other gets engrossed in a book.

Baekgyeul:

Restaurant

I think Baekgyeul is a little bit more of a traditionalist and would pick you up and take you to dinner. Probably wouldn’t go anywhere too fancy but would love when you dress up for him. He would probably be really shy when he sees how great you looks but will quickly give you his dazzling smile. Would definitely take you to a restaurant that serves the kind of food you like. Would take your recommendation on the best dish if you knew the menu pretty well. He lets the conversation flow, easily getting to know each other and talk about your interests and fun moments in your lives. At the end of the night, he’d pay for the bill, drive you home, and drop you off with a soft kiss against your cheek.

Romin:

Thrifting

This man loves his fashion, we been knew. I don’t think he would need to be fancy and buy expensive clothes all the time. So he would probably think it would be fun to go to a thrift store to see what you two could find! There would most definitely be a mini fashion show between you two. He would also suggest creating outfits for each other and trying them on for you both to laugh at how ridiculous or swoon over how hot you look. You would both be walking away with an outfit to wear on your next date together. He would be surprised but also delighted to see you wearing his outfit again.

Wonhyuk:

Aquarium

Seeing a bunch of cool sea creatures and gawking over them sounds like a great time to him. Even though he would possibly be scared of some of the more intimidating creatures, he would have your hand to hold the entire time. Walking through the tunnel of sea would be his favorite. Not only would he be able to see the small sharks and fish up close, he would also get to see how your eyes light up at the fish. His favorite spot was the wave pool where you can touch the rays because of how much you two giggled touching the dogs of the sea. He would also get you two matching overpriced seahorse plushies at the end of the date to commemorate it.

Wonjun:

Picnic

Wonjun is a huge romantic, I can see it in the way he talks to elrings. So when he knows it’s going to be a lovely day, he asks if you want to meet up with him at a park to go out on a date. He will make cute sandwiches, cut up fruit, pack drinks, and go all out with an actual basket and blanket. Your heart will burst when his smiles come out, bashful at your reaction. You’ll enjoy the nice day under the sun together, smiling and laughing about how cute you are and how smitten you are for each other. Definitely a date for the romance novels.

Yejun:

Drive in Movies

I’m specifically thinking of the traditional going to the big screen, buying snacks along the way, and talking the entire time through the movie about how bad it is. Yejun seems to be more of a casual dater, meaning he probably will prefer to become better friends through the dates and after going out for a while, see if he’ll develop feelings rather than going off of pure attraction. So being able to be comfortable around each other and taking the date easy causes a drive in, just the two of you, to be an easy going time.

[brachiosaurus-on]

Brachio, friend! Hello! How are you?

I know you are reading the High Republic books, and I have to wonder, has any of it given you the impression the Jedi of that time have a significantly different experience from the Jedi of the late Republic? I hear a lot of people implying that lately, but I don't quite buy it, and so I figured I would consult you.

Mon, friend! Hello! I'm well, thanks! How are you? I hope you don’t mind that I turned this answer into a bit of a rambling meta.

So, the short answer is no. Their experiences are a little bit different due to the circumstances outside of the Order being different, but I wouldn’t say that their experiences are significantly different until the Clone Wars start. The philosophy and culture within the Order is the same, and I can easily see the characters trading places or recognizing each other as Jedi. The biggest difference is the fashion.

I think that this perception may come from big differences in how they are presented.

The scope of the story is different. High Republic gives us a broad scope through several points of view; the Prequel Trilogy gives us a narrow scope through only a few points of view. The Prequel Trilogy only includes what’s relevant to either the fall of the Republic or Anakin’s fall (which eventually become intertwined themselves), and has a small cast of characters. High Republic has many concurrent and overlapping plots and subplots with twice as many main characters. The scope and focus of the stories are very, very different. You may have heard that High Republic suffers from having too many characters, which is valid, but the upside is that we get a very full picture of what’s going on around the galaxy.

The audience’s perspective is different. High Republic is told from the perspectives of Jedi who love the Order and enjoy the lifestyle. The Prequel Trilogy is told largely from the point of view of Anakin, who does not find the lifestyle fulfilling.

The structure of the story is different. The prequels are very plot driven and most of the story happens during important events; we see limited exposition, resolution, and downtime between major events. High Republic spends a lot of time in characters’ heads before, between, during, and after important events. There’s a much fuller picture of what these characters are going through and how they’re reacting to it.

The explanations of Jedi philosophy and internal workings of the Order are different. High Republic is very direct about explaining Jedi philosophy and internal workings, taking time to elaborate for the audience. The films primarily use Yoda to explain Jedi philosophy; Yoda does not elaborate and is intentionally indirect to encourage the audience to think for themselves. The films show some internal workings but are rarely explicit.

It’s also worth mentioning that the trilogies show us more ideal Jedi because they’re establishing & introducing the audience to what the Jedi actually are and using narrative foils for Anakin’s story. Because High Republic doesn’t have this burden, they have more freedom to write more relatable characters (slutty Elzar rights) with more common flaws.

Scope

In High Republic, the story is about the Jedi working with the Republic, all of the Republic. We spend time with everyone, and I mean everyone: not just the main characters, but the side characters, and the background characters too; the worldbuilding is very detailed. We see plenty of Jedi with differing skillsets, opinions, experiences, and the story gives the audience breathing room to get to know them. They have many moments that are irrelevant to the plot, but tell us more about the characters themselves. We bounce between several Jedi Masters, who each play a different role in the Order, several knights who each have a different experience, and several padawans who are at different stages in their training. We have a broad view of the Order. We also get into the heads of the Chancellor, the Nihil, different politicians, diplomats, civilians, scientists, business people, reporters, an event coordinator, I could go on; aside from the Nihil, characters outside the Order are working with the Jedi and operating in good faith. We also know that the heroes are in a game that they can win, we know that both the Order and the Republic survive this era.

The Prequel Trilogy gave us the same huge galaxy and world building, but we saw most of it in the background. It’s extremely focused on the plot and Anakin’s character; if it’s not relevant to the fall of the Republic or Anakin’s fall, it’s not included. Even some things that were very relevant to the fall of the Republic were cut in favor of things more relevant to Anakin. Because it’s mostly about him and we don’t get the perspectives of other Jedi very often, we have a narrow view of the Order. We only spend time with Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Mace, and Yoda even though there are plenty of diverse Jedi in the background that we never meet. We see diversity within the Order, we know other Jedi are doing other things in other places, but we don’t interact with them until Order 66, when they become relevant to the story. We rarely meet other characters outside of their interactions with the main characters. The outside perspectives we see are Sith Lords, Padmé, other politicians, the Naboo, the Kaminoans, bounty hunters, crime lords, and a few civilians. Most of the characters outside the Order are working against the Jedi or operating in bad faith. We also know that the heroes are playing an unwinnable game, the Order and the Republic will not survive this story.

Perspective

In High Republic the audience is spending a lot of time with the Order and mostly seeing things from the Order’s point of view; we bounce between several different Jedi who all find the lifestyle fulfilling in different ways and the story is about all of them. The primary viewpoint characters have a broad, positive, perspective of the Order. When we’re reading from Elzar’s point of view we see his satisfaction when he uses the Force, how much he cares about others, how much he gets wrapped up in his own issues; when we’re reading from Stellan’s point of view, we see how much he loves teaching, how much he relaxes when he gets a chance to teach, how much he loves Elzar, how much he cares about the Order, how he wants to help; with Bell, we see how much he loves his master, we see him grieving, we see him reach these milestones where he figures out what it means to be a Jedi and how it frees him from his pain. The main characters actively participate in the Order’s community. Even when the characters are frustrated or upset with the Order or other Jedi, we know that they still love them because we’re in their heads and we get the characters’ full train of thought.

In the Late Republic, the story is told mostly from Anakin’s point of view. We see his frustration with the Order, his longing to be with Padmé, his desire for more power, his love overshadowed by his attachment. We see Anakin’s respect for the Order clouded by his disillusion (spurred on by a Sith Lord) and we don’t see him look outside his own perspective. We see him finding the lifestyle unfulfilling and not committing to it. The primary viewpoint character has a narrow, negative perspective of the Order. Another big thing is that Anakin is a Jedi who didn’t grow up in the Order and doesn’t have that inherent trust in the community, so we the audience don’t have complete trust in the Order. We see more of Anakin’s point of view than we do of Obi-Wan and Yoda who do reflect a positive experience. In the films, we’re in the room with the characters, not in their heads. We have to deduce what they’re thinking and how they’re feeling; we do not have the characters’ full train of thought.

Structure

The High Republic books have much more spread out pacing. There’s more exposition and we’re already familiar with the characters before they’re thrown through the narrative and then we spend more time with them afterwards. We get their reactions to major events and we see them struggle through recovery. The Jedi in High Republic have time to catch their breath, they are not moving from crisis to crisis the way the Order is in the Late Republic, and we are shown the time in between crises.

The prequel trilogy jumps right into the plot. We’re introduced to the characters briefly and we get to know them as they move through the plot. We don’t see much aftermath of major events, and we don’t see the process they go through to recover. They move from crisis to crisis and we do not see the time in between.

Here’s a summary of the different structures: High Republic shows us Reath, Bell, and Stellan all grieve in different ways and come to terms with their grief, but the prequel trilogy shows us neither Obi-Wan nor Anakin coming to terms with their grief over similar losses.

Explanation

The High Republic authors explain the philosophy of the Jedi more explicitly within their stories; they’re very direct. They also elaborate on what they’re saying for the benefit of the audience. I speculate that they do this to clear up some misunderstandings...

In the films, George Lucas prioritized concision and used Yoda to inform the audience; Yoda speaks in riddles to encourage the audience to think about what he’s saying. He speaks indirectly and without elaboration. 

If you don’t have a background knowledge of Buddhism (or at least mindfulness), it’s not terribly difficult to misinterpret the prequel trilogy because there’s so little explanation. It’s also a little difficult to balance that within a film and there’s more room to do it in the novels.

Internal Differences within the Order

The most significant internal difference is the fashion: High Republic Jedi have fancy formal robes in addition to their day to day robes. My personal headcanon for why this is different is that as time went on and the golden age faded, the Jedi became busier, and didn’t have as much time for the fashion anymore (which is tragic, I love the concept art for their fancy robes) and by the time of the prequels we see it only in the Temple Guards, or the Order decided to dress less extravagantly to show greater humility.

We get descriptions of different career paths within the Order. This is probably where it seems most different from the Jedi in the Late Republic, but I don’t see any incompatibility. There’s nothing in the prequel trilogy or TCW to contradict the existence of these career paths, and in fact I’d say there’s evidence to support their existence. I’ll write a separate post about these because it’ll make more sense with examples and this is already quite long.

There are some other things that are different, but based on external factors. There’s one line about how Jedi don’t get killed in the field often, masters aren’t killed leaving a padawan behind, that it’s just not something that happens. I think it’s supposed to tell us about the time period, but then it happens at least 3 times, so I personally take it with a grain of salt. There’s one bit about how lightsaber dueling is primarily exercise because no one else carries a lightsaber and no Jedi would ever fight another (apparently Anakin missed that memo) but this is consistent with the culture shown in the prequel trilogy when they’re blindsided by Dooku’s betrayal.

[precursor-ao3]

Jazz music from a noir film plays in the background. I approach you in a dimly lit alleyway, wearing a black trenchcoat and fedora, eyes hidden behind dark-tinted sunglasses. I check my surroundings before lighting a cigar, taking a long drag before slipping you a fat stack of Benjamins. Wisps of smoke drift out of my mouth like phantoms or some fancy shit like that. Smoking's bad kids don't do it. I peek at you from under my glasses and ask you, "How do you write? Got any tips and tricks?"

I accept your bribe and silently judge you for poor taste in tobacco products.  Vape life is best life, and I whisper, “Mad clouds bruh,” before asking you if you’ve ever been slapped in the face with 500 dollars.  Assuming the answer is “No,” I proceed to give you your first experience. *slap*You’re welcome.So! Tips and tricks with writing. 

1. Download Evernote on your phone and whatever you write on at home.  It’s a cloud-based app that makes taking notes during random smacks of inspiration on the go super easy.  If a line or an idea hits me at work harder than $500 in cash to the face, I can type it up and it automatically gets synced with “home base,” allowing for easy copy + paste transfer to a word doc. 

2. Use Dropbox in the same manner, but save your rough drafts/outlines/bigdickdocs in folders.  Also cloud-based, and it makes writing/editing in multiple locations easy.  And…you know, hard drives fail.  Dropbox, in the last 3 years that I’ve trusted it with thousands of hours worth of work, has not.  Unlike my father.  He’s failed me more than Dropbox.  #DeadBeatDadJokes3. Join the Fanfiction Reddit.  Lots of community posts for betas requests, beta offers, more “tips and tricks,” and there’s even a Discord to get involved in. I can safely say I wouldn’t have been able to develop half of how much I have without those folks; specifically one person in mind - @tafferling.  Read her stuff.  It’s great.4. Personally, I like to use Text-To-Speech to edit.  Balabolka is my favorite application for this, as having your work read back to you can help catch a lot of errors and make things flow better. 5. As for the writing itself, I have a very long and complicated process.-Take obsessive notes and write down one-liners as they pop into mind.-Research every note taken within the fandom until eyes bleed.-Take more notes.-Keep notes posted on left side of monitor while writing, and inject written one-liners, scenes, ideas, etc. into chapter as you go.- “Transcribe,” dialogue/cutscenes in the game (or whatever you’re writing about) during periods of writer’s block; you’re still making progress, but through busy work.  Re-watching certain things may actually help break through said writer’s block.-Keep track of chronological order of events as per fandom wiki; or have a solid plan/explanation in place if you decide to break them.-Take.  More.  Notes.-Form a general outline that you feel generally good with, and accept the fact that it’s going to change at least 50 more times before the fic is complete. I usually do this by making chapter titles with bullet points under them.  Sometimes I insert important events from the fandom or ideas/scenes/etc. just to keep track of it all.-Plot main events and let things blossom in between as they will; but also refer to original outline to reinforce that the timeline is being honored.-Edit until eyes AND ears bleed.-I’m probably missing a few steps, but my brain has been so viscerally damaged by trying to put the steps of my work into…words.  #NoSenseMadeBut hopes it made sense?I also think it’s very important to not beat yourself up about your early works.  My first fic, while I take pride in the complexity of the plot and “not being a typical crossover,” is definitely flawed beyond what you’re used to seeing in Deviant Behavior.  Even the early chapters of Of Steel and Stardust, my main work, need some reworking.  Writing is all about trial and error.  You cannot learn from mistakes without making them, and taking constructive criticism gracefully. Other than that, I can’t stress how important it is to interact with your readers.  I have met all three betas of mine (@mjrgenmatt, @elegantn7, and @celestiellie) through two fics I have written, and they’ve become great friends in the process.I hope this way-too-long answer to your question helps.  TL;DR: Take lots of notes, edit until you have a bloody mess in front of you and possibly a migraine, and don’t be a dick and ignore people who are trying to help/show enthusiasm for your work. Precummies out. 

[movienotesbyzawmer]

August 21: Mission: Impossible II

(previous notes: Mission: Impossible)

Not gonna lie, this is without question the Mission: Impossible movie that is remembered most unfavorably by me and, I'm pretty sure, everyone else. My recollection is that they tried SO SO SO SO HARD to make an action movie for Today's Kids; I'm typing this with the title screen of the 4K Blu-ray blasting its turn-of-the-millennium neo-metal version of the classic theme with Tom Cruise running in front of a wall of flame and it's just like come on. Is there even must fun spycraft in this? The first one promised lots of gravely furtive glancing, world-class makeup disguises, and dazzling gadgetry. Did this movie's director John Woo replace those with just way way way too much shooting and chasing and sexy vehicles? That's how I remember it but it's been a couple of decades.

I should probably address this series' exciting approach to director selection. The first one was directed by the legendary Brian De Palma, who brought us Carrie, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way. Whether or not this one worked out, the trend here seemed to be to choose a respected director with a certain cred that could be imported into the franchise. More on that as this series unfolds. I am now to press play.

Opening scene is about a scientist who injects himself with something while a voiceover teases us with I-already-forget-what.

Oh, he's pals with Ethan; they're on a plane together out of Sydney when some bad-guy shenanigans totally thwart the whole fly-to-the-destination-safely thing. But! It wasn't even Ethan! It was good-ol' makeup fake-outery! It was a heist to take the warn leather pouch that the scientist had.

This I remember - during the opening credits, the REAL Ethan Hunt is climbing somewhere impressive, all freestyle like. All the related supplemental marketing materials never fail to talk up Tom Cruise's penchant for doing his own stunts, but these don't look real.

He then receives a fancy techno-message in a very, very dramatic and action-movie-ish fashion, which is that someone flies a helicopter by his climbing mountain and fires a rocket near him containing message-glasses tech! The voice in the message glasses sounds like Anthony Hopkins. Is it Anthony Hopkins?

Anyway now he has to go to Spain to recruit Thandie Newton and here is where it's already starting to get way too the-style-of-John-Woo. There is a flamenco show and Ethan and TN spot each other across the room. There is SLO MOTION and SPANISH STOMPING and ACOUSTIC GUITAR, and THOSE TWO GAZING AT EACH OTHER. I tell you I do not care for it.

What happens next is TN proceeds to use fancy technology and lockpicking skills to steal a well-concealed necklace. Ethan tags along flirtatiously. She still tries to steal the necklace even though this Lothario, this smarmy but irresistible cad, is trying to distract her with his testosterone.

Ugh, I was very right to remember not liking stuff about this movie. Ethan fails to recruit her at the jewel heist, so he car-chases at her the next day! He calls her during the car chase to irritate/seduce her, and she's all "you'll have to catch me ha ha", and it ends in a nearly fatal crash and then they KISS. The director worked very hard to ensure the kissing was HAWT, and Ethan has now successfully recruited TN for both spy work and boinkage.

Anthony Hopkins! He is in the next scene! That really was him! How did I forget that he is in this movie. This scene where he meets with Ethan and fills him in on everything is effectively expository. But then after he knows what he's gotta do, he walks with INTENSITY and it is in SLOW MOTION next to a BURNING EFFIGY THING with ELECTRIC GUITAR MUSIC GOING ON.

0:33:40 - Oh now it's a little more what I like, with a montage about using spy tech to get Ambrose, the bad guy who was pretending to be Ethan on the plane in the beginning, to track TN. And to further assure us that there is techie-fun to be had, Ving Rhames returns to be that guy for Ethan's team. But there is also time in this sequence for shots of TN walking slowly and looking super pretty. You know, so she can seduce Ambrose. A flowing scarf figures prominently in this imagery. A John Woo Film.

I like that they tricked Ambrose into thinking he is so damn smart for tracking her down. I also like Ambrose's compound on Sydney Harbour, it is a bitchin property.

Scene just happened where Ambrose seriously menaces his friend and uses a cigar-clipper on his finger. Ambrose is a bad friend.

But then they're all at the horse race game, even Ambrose's injured friend, who we learn is named Stemp and who is spying on TN, and Ethan and VR are spying on them all. There are shots of TN doing sleight of hand to steal a tape from Ambrose's pocket and it's pretty good spy-shot stuff.

I guess I should mention that there's one more guy on Ethan's team of four, an Australian guy. I haven't caught his name, so he is Australian Guy now, and he is pretending to be an employee of the horse race game venue. He gets bullied by Stemp! We don't like Stemp!

The tape she stole, they watch it right away and it shows footage of what the virus (there's a virus problem at the center of this) does. It is effective, and a little shocking.

But then, this is surprisingly actually kind of well-conveyed - they made it VERY clear that the tape was originally in Ambrose's left jacket pocket, and they showed very clearly that TN returned it to the wrong jacket pocket, AND it's obvious a moment later that Ambrose knows it has been replaced in the wrong jacket pocket. Don't know why, but at least it's keeping us on top of this situation.

Also not-too-shabby is how they're doing the consequences of Ethan and TN fancying each other, except then she has to go and seduce Ambrose and that's uncomfortable and drama-making. In Ethan's defense, as well as Ambrose's, I am also in love with TN right now.

1:02:12 - Ethan disguised himself as Scientist, the dead one from the beginning, and I'm just saying I'm glad this movie is embracing the disguise-craft theme that was established in the first movie. Ooh, is the show like that too?

And then just as I've typed that, it turns out that Ambrose did an Ethan disguise (it was established by Anthony Hopkins that Ambrose was an IMF agent so he can do that stuff too) to trick TN into outing her intentions. They make it very clear that there is voice-fake tech with their disguises that involves a wire mesh thing stuck to the throat.

Next up is a heist scheme to break into a skyscraper where they're growing stuff about the virus, and it's a little bit of that style I liked so much in the last movie, with the added twist that Ambrose is somewhere else anticipating what Ethan's planning, and, I think, plotting a separate, way-better heist. They're still talking about it and the heist is happening and it is suspenseful! I totally like this more than I remember.

1:13:30 - Ethan is at the part of the heist where he's at fancy lab facilities with robot arms and AI voices and oddly no people. VR and Australian Guy are observing everything that's happening using technology and Australian Guy's helicopter, making it more suspenseful, but I also don't know exactly what's going on? We appear to be where Scientist originally injected himself, and Ethan is I think killing the virus while also somehow visualizing Scientist injecting himself.

But then that all goes away because a platoon of thugs in black burst in and are shooting at Ethan. It all quickly became an action movie with blazing guns and VR's tech van getting bombed.

In the fracas it's clear that one of the injector guns contains the last of the virus, and also gunplay might shatter it and make them all infected, so that's decent suspense. But also, the lighting in this bio-lab is like a nightclub, with inexplicably roving spotlights and neon accents that pop in 4K.

TN is in the mix, and she decides to inject the last of the virus into herself, and there's a dumb moment where it's like ETHAN YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO SHOOT ME WITH YOUR GUN and Ethan, Man of Ethics, does not do that. Instead there is more gunplay and Ethan jumps out a hole he made in the wall.

1:28:45 - We've moved to new location, a new compound, and it's on a guard-patrolled island and Ethan sneaks up on a guard and does a totally unnecessary body-flip martial arts move to take him out. I think he needs to steal the antidote from this compound so that he can save TN, who is somewhere else. He is visually passionate about this mission.

Ethan got caught sneaking in to this new compound by Stemp, and he did a whole grenade blowup thing but he still got caught. It's a trick, right? Yup, he put an Ethan mask on Stemp and a Stemp mask on himself and got Ambrose to kill Stemp. He realizes he just killed Stemp because of the finger injury, good job with that.

I am reminded that this movie is from the director of Face/Off, so I needn't have feared that the mask/disguise conceit would be forsaken.

But did he get the antidote? He must have. Sometimes when I'm typing notes I miss stuff, but he's now motorcycling away while VR and Australian Guy are providing support from their chopper.

This is now the vehicle-chase opera that I remember ending the movie so terribly extendedly. Much gunplay. Vehicles pirouette with violent elegance. Ethan can do such exquisite dances with his motorcycle and firearm. This climaxes in the ridiculous feat of Ethan and Ambrose riding their cycles at each other and jumping at off them at each other to finish the job sans vehicle. It ends as a tussle on the beach, and Ambrose has a knife that almost gets in Ethan's eye. The visual on that is striking. But it's no good, Ethan is too Tom Cruise for him. He gets the knife from him and DISCARDS THE KNIFE, and punch-kick-fights him a lot instead. Ethics.

Turns out Ambrose has a gun after all oh no. But then it turns out Ethan is standing by a sand-obscured gun somehow also oh good. He does a thoroughly storyboarded sand-kick-body-twirl gun recovery that ends like you'd guess.

So although there are some dumb things about this movie, I think it's better than I remembered. And having just watched the first one, I think it actually did a good job of having a story where you don't have to ignore a lot of stupidness. It's not like it's an especially good plot, but it didn't try to make you forget its holes like the first one. I still like the first one better, though.

(next: Mission: Impossible III)