Video Game Review #160: Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn

PlayStation 4

Nostalgia Factor:

This is a relatively new game that, until now, I had never played before. Don’t expect nostalgia to factor into my review. I first heard of Horizon Zero Dawn around the time it came out. It was being compared favorably to the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild for the Switch. Both titles were game of the year contenders in 2017, although most reviewers handed that title over to Zelda. Still, though, it put Horizon Zero Dawn on my radar as a game that I would have to check out as soon as it went down in price, which it did in late 2018. I was able to get the full game, plus the Frozen Wilds extra content for less than 20 bucks. I’d call that a major win!

Story:

This game takes place in a future where most of mankind has been exterminated by an unknown apocalyptic event. Mankind still exists, but they are clustered into small, primitive tribes located around the globe. Dangerous machines that resemble dinosaurs and other animals (like horses) roam freely, attacking any human they come into contact with. The game doesn’t come right out and say what happened, but we are left to assume that these machines are responsible for humanity’s demise.

Horizon: Zero Dawn’s main character is Aloy. Aloy was raised as a child by a man named Rost. For unknown reasons, Rost and Aloy are shunned from the Nora tribe and rejected as outcasts. As a young girl, Aloy explores some old ruins and uncovers a “Focus”, which she clips to the side of her head. I’ll go into greater detail as to how the Focus works later on, but it does allow her to scan things around her and it also assists her in hunting animals and evading machines. As an adult, Aloy learns that she can gain acceptance into the Nora tribe if she can pass “the trials.” Naturally, she passes them. But as the trials are coming to a close, a rival tribe commences an attack on the Nora. One of the attackers has a Focus similar to Aloy’s, and Aloy can detect that they are attacking the tribe because they want to kill HER specifically.

After fighting off the attackers, Aloy is fully accepted into the Nora tribe. Not only that, she is anointed the new seeker of the Nora, which grants her the power to leave Nora tribal grounds in order to uncover the reason behind the attack. On her journey, Aloy gets pulled into many different quests and side quests. She basically travels around, helping people and doing good everywhere she goes. By the end of the game she becomes this almost legendary figure that people revere.

The ultimate goal of her quest is to discover the reason behind the attack, which Aloy does. I won’t spoil too much, as most of the fun in this game is in its discovery. But suffice it to say, its complicated and it has to do with Aloy’s mysterious past. Not only does Aloy have a complex history behind her, you also uncover more and more of what happened to the world and why it is the way it is now.

Gameplay:

Before I ever had the chance to play this game, I had heard it billed as an RPG. I don’t agree with that. Final Fantasy is an RPG. Dragon Age is an RPG. Knights of the Old Republic is an RPG. Would you call Infamous, early Assassin’s Creed, or any of the Batman Arkham games RPGs? No. This game reminds me a lot more of the latter than the former.

Horizon Zero Dawn has a giant game map, and I mean GIANT. You have the main quest to complete, but your journey consists of so much more than just doing the main quest. Peppered across the game map are all kinds of things to check out. There are loads of collectible items, like old coffee mugs (which people seem to be fascinated by in the future), flowers, and Banuk figurines. There are waypoints that reveal large chunks of the map at a time. There are Tallnecks, which are basically some kind of dinosaur/giraffe machine hybrid. There are several of these scattered across the map, and they contain lots of useful data if you can manage to scale them and hack into them. There are hunting lodges, where you undergo trials that help you hone your hunting skills. There are cities. There are tradeposts. There are hunting grounds where you can stalk certain types of machines if you are in need of parts. There are campfires, which work as save points. Bandit camps to destroy. I’m sure there is even more stuff that I am forgetting about, too. Suffice it to say, there is stuff on the map EVERYWHERE.

When you are not exploring or collecting things, you are either taking on side quests for other game characters, or you are working on completing the main mission. This isn’t an uncommon thing in games these days, so most people should know how this works. You can accept multiple quests at the same time. There is a menu that allows you to select which quest is your “priority” quest highlighted on the map. While working on one quest, you can still work on others at the same time. These quests don’t expire, either, so you can work on whatever quest you want whenever you want. My strategy was to take care of everything in my immediate area at one time. So I’d do all the quests and collect everything around me before moving on to the next game area. That made my progress in the game very slow going, but what can I say? I like to be thorough.

The game’s combat took me a while get used to, but once I did get used to it it became second nature to me. You only have two types of spear attacks, the quick and weak attack or the slow and powerful attack. My strategy for most enemies pretty much stayed the same the whole game. Use a heavy attack, roll out of the way of the counterattack, use a heavy attack, roll, heavy attack, roll, heavy attack, roll, so on and so forth. It almost never fails. Some enemies can’t be taken out in this manner, however. There are flying enemies that require you to shoot them down with your bow. There are also other heavily armored enemies that you have to shoot with your bow in order to destroy pieces of its armor, which make it more vulnerable to physical attacks. Scanning each enemy with your focus highlights each enemy’s vulnerable spots, as well as its elemental weaknesses.

There are several different types of bows in the game, as well as different types of arrows. Regular arrows are good for hunting animals or killing humans. Hard point arrows are good for knocking pieces of armor off of the machines. Fire arrows set things on fire. Different bow types have different strengths and weaknesses. I am not exactly sure what these strengths and weaknesses are, as I fell in love with the Shadow Hunter bow and only used that one all game long. Other bows have different arrow types as well, but like I said I didn’t mess with the other bows so I don’t know what those arrows are.

There are also several other weapons in the game, but nothing I found quite as effective as the Shadow Hunter bow. I liked using the tripwire, which you can use to lure enemies into traps. There’s a sling that shoots electricity or freeze based projectiles. A machine gun like thing that fires shrapnel at enemies (which I never used because it sucked). One thing I didn’t discover until late in the game, that was actually quite useful, is a harpoon like gun that fires spears that are attached to wires that allow you to temporarily tie enemies down so you can whale away at them while they are incapacitated. A lot of the weapons in the game are absolutely useless, however. Stick to the spear, the bow, the tripwires, and the harpoon thing.

Basic game controls are very user friendly. Tilt the analog stick slightly to tip-toe, hold it sharply to jog, hold it after clicking L3 and you go into a full out sprint. Circle rolls, X jumps. Square crouches your character, which is useful for either entering tight spaces or trying to sneak up on an enemy unawares. The right triggers control your weak and heavy spear attacks. The other side will either draw your bow or pull up the weapon selection wheel. Clicking R3 brings up your Focus. If you’ve played, let’s say, a Batman Arkham game, Focus mode works similarly to detective mode. Things slow down, abnormal objects appear a different color. You can scan enemies to discover their weaknesses while in focus mode. You can uncover old audio or text logs by scanning them with the Focus. I mainly used it for discovering wildlife, which can be hard to spot regularly. The Focus plays a big part in this game, and I would encourage you to use it in order to make your life a little bit easier.

Climbing is easy as pie too. Most surfaces you can manage to run or jump up. Sometimes you need to take advantage of handholds in order to work your way up steeper inclines that you can’t climb normally. Just basically hold the direction you want to go, and the game does the rest. Every once in a while you need to hit the jump button to make your way over long gaps, but that is okay. The game holds your hand for these segments of the game. There is almost no challenge or risk of falling down when climbing around on things. Uncharted this is not.

The only RPG aspects of the game that I could find were that as you gain EXP, you level up and learn new skills and abilities. You buy and sell things to merchants. You equip your character with different weapons and armor types. You also pick up resources that you can either use to sell or to craft items. There is a conversation wheel that allows you to respond to conversations in different ways, not that it changes how the game plays out. I don’t think this is enough to categorize Horizon: Zero Dawn as an RPG, though.

Graphics:

One thing you can’t criticize about this game is its graphics. It is freaking gorgeous. The characters look great, sure. So do the enemies. But what really makes the game so beautiful is its world. It is large and expansive, filled with all kinds of amazing scenery and incredible effects. Many times while playing this I would climb to the nearest high object and just stand there, taking in everything laid out in front of me. Aside from your view getting blocked by a mountain or something of that nature, there is no limit as to how far you can see. It is hard to put into words just how incredible this world is.

That’s not to mention the game’s special effects. One effect in particular I love is when you walk through tall grass. You can almost feel it brushing against your sides as you control Aloy. I love when it is dark out and you are hunting machines, and all you can make out is the blue light that they emit. You know that some major carnage is about to go down, but it also feels so peaceful and serene at the same time. I love the water effects. I love how the machinery looks when you are exploring the old ruins. I love the constantly changing weather. It’s just really cool stalking around the game’s map in a torrential downpour when you can barely see three feet in front of you. One thing the game absolutely nailed was how harsh and unforgiving cold weather can be. The whipping wind, the snow coming down sideways, the thick sheen of ice that covers small bodies of water, Aloy’s breath coming out in great clouds of white. Most games just give you some snow and some icy patches on the ground and are like: here you go. It’s cold! Horizon: Zero Dawn really sells the cold weather like nothing I have seen before.

Visually, this game is a masterpiece.

Sound:

I’m not as excited about the game’s music and sound effects as I am by its graphics. The voice acting is good, even if it can be a bit stiff and wooden at times. The sound effects are all… fine. Nothing annoying, nothing out of place, but nothing particularly memorable either. The same can be said about the game’s music. I like the little jingle that plays after you complete a mission. I like the singing/chanting music when you pause the game or have to sit through a loading screen. Outside of those two songs, though, I couldn’t tell you anything else that was memorable about the game’s music.

Where I will offer praise is in the game’s atmospheric sound effects. Play this with your earbuds in. When it is raining, it sounds like you are in the middle of a rainstorm. When you are exploring an old, empty cave, the sounds echo and you can hear distant drips of water. The visuals of the game are already on-point. The game’s sound effects complete the puzzle of making this a truly immersive gaming experience.

Overall:

It took me a while to get into this game. To be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t even really like it that much in its early hours. Once I got into the groove, though, and figured out how the game worked, I never looked back. I mentioned in my Fallout reviews how I would always have a hard time turning those games off, because I was always wanting to complete “just one more” mission or uncover “just one more” location. This game is the epitome of that. There is SO MUCH to see and do on the game’s map. My intention would be to finish a mission and then go to bed. But after finishing the mission, there would be, let’s say, one of the game’s hidden flower collectibles nearby. I’d tell myself – okay, once you’ve collected this you need to turn off the game and go to bed because it’s late! I’d collect the flower and then I’d notice that there was a Tallneck nearby. Okay, I’ll go override this Tallneck, then it’s time for bed. Then I’d see there was a vantage point nearby, so I would go check that out. On and on it went. Before I knew it, an hour had passed and my wife would be in the bedroom, pissed that I had taken so long to come to bed.

The game is flat out fun. I honestly have a hard time trying to pinpoint one dull moment or one time that the game started to feel tedious or monotonous for me. Okay, maybe there are certain areas of the game where you have to listen to an endless number of boring audio files, but those areas are quite rare. When you are actually playing, the game is never boring. I can tell you right now that (spoiler alert), the game is going to get an A+. It is freaking brilliant. This isn’t to say, however, that it does not have flaws.

The characters. Aloy is a strong, admirable character that you really begin to feel attached to the longer you play the game. Rost is a good man. Sylens is a respectable and intriguing assistant character. And he is played by Broyles from Fringe, which is super awesome. But that’s it. None of the other characters in this game are memorable in any way. They’re just kind of flat and one dimensional, and pass through Aloy’s life in the blink of an eye. Outside of Aloy and (maybe) Rost, I didn’t feel an emotional connection to anyone in the game.

Also, the game has some pretty excessive loading times. In a game this big, it is expected that the load times might be a little long. That’s fine. But when you die, it takes forever to load. There are areas in the game that can be quite difficult, and you will find yourself dying quite often. You are going to be looking at a lot of loading screens. Keep a book or your smart phone handy, or your attention may begin to wander. It also takes a long time to load when you fast travel somewhere. Kind of defeats the purpose of FAST travel, but it is what it is. It’s certainly faster than walking, if that amounts to anything.

Normally I can go on and on when it comes to a game’s flaws, but I don’t have much else to say about Horizon Zero Dawn. The pros most definitely outweigh the cons. The characters aren’t great, there are a lot of boring audio logs, and the load times can be excessive. Those are the only faults I can find with the game. Everything else about it is brilliant.

My overall play time with Horizon Zero Dawn (DLC included) was somewhere between 72 and 78 hours. I can’t remember the exact number. But to me, that’s a lot! I thought the Fallout games and their 40 or 50 hour playtimes were a lot. The thing about Horizon Zero Dawn is that it doesn’t seem like I played it that long. Fallout dragged at times, and it often felt every second, every minute of its 50 hour play time. This game just breezes along. You really don’t feel like you have been playing for that long. I was stunned when I saw how long I had been playing. That, to me, is the mark of a great game. To play it for that long and to have the time fly by so quickly.

I can’t recommend this game enough to anyone who has a PlayStation 4. It is one of the best games I have played on the console. If you own a PS4 and haven’t played this yet, you need to fix that immediately! 

Final Score:

A+

If you liked my review of Horizon Zero Dawn, please check out some of my other reviews:

Uncharted: The Lost Legacy

Batman: Arkham Knight

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

Fallout 3

Batman: Arkham Asylum

2018 Movie Rankings: The Top 20

If you read my last blog post, you should know how this ranking works. If you didn’t read it, click >>here<< to check it out!

Anyway, we are moving on to the Top 20. What will take home the honors? Read on and find out.

#20

A Quiet Place – I heard all about this movie last year, like everyone else out there, but I never had the chance to see it in the theater. I checked it out from the library shortly after it came out and watched it with my wife. I figured that I would like the movie solely based on what I had read about the subject material. Turns out that it was even better than I expected. The movie does a great job at creating a tense atmosphere and keeping you on the edge of your seat. There were so many scenes in this movie that had my heart going a million beats per a minute. As much as I enjoyed this movie, I almost don’t want to watch it again because I know it will not have the same heart-racing impact on me the second time around.

#19

Menace II Society – About halfway through the year I was scrolling through recently added stuff on Netflix when I came across Menace II Society. It had been at least ten years since I’d last seen the film, and I didn’t remember a whole lot about it, so I decided to check it out. Right away the memories came flooding back. This film does a great job of forcing you to look at people in the hood as, well, people, and not just stereotypes. You care about them. I guess you could argue that O-Dog is a stereotype, but that is beside the point. Caine is a sympathetic character and the movie does a great job at making you worry about his well-being. Which, of course, makes the ending only that much more  tragic. A great and moving film.

#18:

Murder on the Orient Express (2017) – I came into this movie knowing absolutely nothing about the Murder on the Orient Express, either the book or the past versions of the film. The movie’s strong cast is what initially drew me to it. Plus my wife is a big Poirot fan, so I figured this was something we could watch together. We started watching, and –would you believe it- I actually thought that the movie was pretty great. There are fun and intriguing characters everywhere you turn. The plot is mysterious and keeps you guessing. The ending doesn’t let you down either. This movie definitely surprised me in a good way.

#17:

Black Panther – I knew almost nothing about the Black Panther when I watched this movie, but I did recall his brief yet enjoyable stint in Captain America: Civil War. The internet was abuzz with how good this movie was, so I expected it to be amazing. While I did not think it was necessarily the greatest superhero movie ever made, I still thought it was pretty dang fun. It took a while for the movie to really get rolling for me (I didn’t have much of an interest in the tribal politics stuff), but once it got going I was completely enraptured. Awesome special effects, a great supporting cast, and one of the best villains I have seen in a Marvel film. By the time the film was done, I was already hungry for more time in Wakanda.

#16:

Face/Off – I will admit that I had a tough time deciding between what should rank higher between Face/Off and Con-Air. It was a close call, but I gave the nod to Con-Air. Both are classic Nicolas Cage movies. Face/Off I thought was going to be a “serious” 90s action film like Die Hard or something, but it quickly proved me wrong. It is so over the top, both in its action and in its off the wall comedy that I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. Some things in this film are just so insane that I couldn’t help but admire it for its audacity. If you want to shut off your brain and lose yourself in mindless (and at times tasteless) fun, then this movie is for you.

#15:

Con-Air – This movie slightly edges out Face/Off, mainly because I recognize it as the “better” film. A big fun cast, outrageous characters, high flying stunts, a classic 90s soundtrack, and a Nicolas Cage hero you can really get behind. I miss 90s movies like this so much!

#14:

Boogie Nights – I have some really fun memories from my older days that I associate with watching this movie. While it is probably for the best to not go into them in great detail, let me just say that I have always been a fan of Boogie Nights. This is one of the first times, however, that I was actually able to sit down and watch the movie by myself. And you know what, I still thought it was great. I love the cast. I love the characters. The acting is superb, as are the set pieces that do such a great job transporting you back to the 70s. Usually I prefer movies with a bit more action, mystery, or drama in them, but Boogie Nights doesn’t need that to be great. I could watch these characters just sit around and talk for days on end. Awesome film.

#13:

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – When I first read the name of this movie, my initial reaction was “huh?”. The weird, long title alone was enough to pique my interest. Once I read what the movie was actually about, I knew I had to watch it. Three Billboards dives into all kinds of complicated themes. Justice, racism, revenge, forgiveness, redemption. The acting is what kept me interested. I am not a huge Frances McDormand fan, but her performance in this movie is very intense and believable. It would have been an absolute travesty if she didn’t win an Oscar for this role, which she did. Phew! This movie is worth watching just for her acting alone.

#12:

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure – When I was a kid, I would watch this movie over and over again. I had nearly the whole thing memorized. I could recite any line, tell you what was going to happen before it happened. I loved it. For some reason, this is a movie that never came along with me for the ride as I transitioned from child to adult. I went from watching this movie every single day to NEVER watching it for over 20 some years. That only made my 2018 viewing of this movie so much better. All the old jokes, all the visual gags, all this stuff I had forgotten about slowly came back to me as I watched. Honestly, it warmed my heart. Not only did my old memories carry the movie for me, I also was able to pay closer attention to the film as I watched, and I noticed a ton of things I had never noticed before. Maybe it is just  nostalgia speaking, but I really got into this movie and was able to appreciate it like I never had before. On the surface you may think that this is just some silly Pee-Wee movie. But really, it is so much more.

#11:

Deadpool 2 – I thought that the first Deadpool movie was only so-so. I had read reviews that the sequel wasn’t as good as the first one. As a result, I did not come into the sequel with high expectations. Little did I know that I would end up loving it! I don’t know what is so different about this one, but I found the jokes to be a lot funnier. Deadpool himself seems a lot more endearing this time around. I loved Cable, I loved the X-Force that was thrown together (Peter forever!), I love the whole time travel element to the film. The action scenes are top notch, and the story itself is clever and entertaining. I thought this was really excellent.

#10

Trading Places – I had never seen this movie before, but when it arrived on Netflix I read the description and knew that it was something I had to watch. It had a couple of actors in it that I love, along with a super interesting concept. I expected it to be a blast, and I was not let down. This movie is flat out funny. I’m not one who laughs a whole lot, but this movie got me several times. A lot of the film’s content probably would be scoffed at by today’s standards, but when you put that aside this is really a great movie. It’s crass and it may not necessarily be PC at all times, but it teaches a lesson about race and humanity and manages to be hilarious at the same time.

#9 

The Return of the King: Extended Edition – Last year, the local theater by my house played all three extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies. I was super excited when I heard the news, as I never had the chance to see any of them on the big screen when they first came out. Unfortunately, I forgot that they were doing this and I missed the first two in the theater. When it was down to Return of the King, I made it my goal: I HAD to go see this on the big screen before I missed my chance forever. I couldn’t find anyone to go with, as the movie is four plus hours long, and my wife had to be up early the next morning. For the first time ever, I went to theater by myself to watch a movie. It ended up being a terrific experience, though. I’ve always liked Return of the King, but I’ve never gotten as “into” it as I did this time around. I was riveted by the movie, soaking in every little detail, everything I may have missed on previous viewings. The movie flew by, too, and didn’t seem like it was four hours long at all. I’ve never enjoyed Return of the King as much as I did on this viewing. Great movie, great experience too.

#8

Star Trek: First Contact – I love First Contact, but when I put it on I expected it to become a “background” movie since I have seen it so many times in the past. That happens a lot when I watch something that I’ve seen a bajillion times before. For whatever reason, it didn’t happen here. In fact, the movie pulled me in and I ended up enjoying it as much as I did the first time I saw it. I can’t stress enough how much I love the Next Generation cast, it is one of my favorite casts for any show ever. They are all at the top of their game here. The story is great, the action scenes are some of the best Star Trek has ever seen. The movie packs an emotional wallop too. I actually teared up a little bit at the end when Picard had to say goodbye to Lilly. What the heck? I never cry. As a Trek fan, this movie is great. I think people who don’t even like Star Trek could get into it too. In my opinion this is the finest Star Trek movie that has ever been made.

#7:

I, Tonya – Admittedly I didn’t think much about this movie when I first heard about it. I grew up in the 90s and I had seen Tonya Harding on the news and read about her in the paper. I didn’t think a movie about her was really that necessary, or would even be entertaining at all. Turns out, I was wrong! I liked this a ton. The movie isn’t just a straight up biopic, there is a lot of humor in it. That helps. At the same time, the film has a serious side and shows you a lot about Tonya’s upbringing and why she grew up to be the way she did. Combine that with its excellent acting, great musical score, and the fact that the movie actually makes figure skating seem interesting to a guy like me, and you have a winner. Epic movie.

#6:

Coco – I’m not big on kids movies, but ever since I saw the first trailer for Coco I knew that it was something I would have to check out. I waited till it hit Netflix and then dove in. From beginning to end, the movie is great. Sweet, touching, sad, funny, all at the same time. The plot of the movie is actually pretty darn clever, and I like how there are twists that throw you off track and keep you guessing. This isn’t just a movie you can turn your brain off when you watch it, it really makes you think; really makes you use your mind. I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, and actually wanted to turn it on and watch it again when I was done, which never happens! I didn’t, however, because I didn’t want the movie to lose its magic the second time around. This is a movie I would recommend to anyone, whether you are a fan of this type of movie or not. If you don’t like Coco, you have no soul.

#5:

Thor: Ragnarok – I have never been a big Thor fan, plus I had read mixed reviews of this movie. I didn’t expect much when I started watching it, but just five minutes into watching the movie I knew I was going to love it. Everything you want in a comic book movie, Thor: Ragnarok has. Fun characters, big fight scenes, amazing special effects, good music, and a sense of humor. This movie does not take itself too seriously at all, and it is so much better for that. This movie is all fun without any superhero brooding or doom and gloom. Not that there is anything wrong with some doom and gloom, it just didn’t have a place here. I had a great time the whole way through this movie and never even came close to getting bored once. It probably would have gone down in the ranks as my favorite superhero movie ever if I didn’t happen to watch a certain something else a short time later.

#4:

Lady Bird – I’d read the critical accolades this movie was getting and decided to give it a shot. Obviously I loved this movie as it ranks so highly on my list. The titular character, Lady Bird, is very relatable to me for some reason. We are very different people, but I understood her on some level or another. This movie has it all. It is funny when it wants to be funny, sad when it wants to be sad. It hit all of the right chords with me. Despite this being not my favorite genre of movie, I couldn’t help but fall in love with it. The characters are great and the acting is even better. I really cared about everyone in this film, even though we barely get to spend any time with them. The movie is only an hour and a half, and a fast one at that. When it ended, I couldn’t help but want more Lady Bird in my life.

#3:

Avengers: Infinity War – As a Marvel fan, this is the movie I’ve been waiting for. It’s got a giant cast - basically every superhero introduced in the MCU so far. It’s got a big, formidable villain. The stakes are high. You can tell right away by the movie’s dark introduction that the bar has been raised. Actions feel like they have real consequences this time around. The good guy isn’t guaranteed to win, and that is super awesome. You are on the edge of your seat the whole movie. The feeling of dread I felt in my gut as I watched the film is something that few movies have been able to replicate. Everything about this movie is terrific, and as if that wasn’t enough – it gets even better when you watch it a second time through. I mentioned earlier that Thor: Ragnarok would have been my favorite superhero movie of all time, if it wasn’t for something else. This movie is that something else.

#2:

The Silence of the Lambs – I’ve seen this movie a ton of times in the past and I have always appreciated it for being such a great film. I don’t know what happened this time around, but when I watched it in 2018 it completely blew me away. I have always liked it, but it was like I was seeing it in some kind of brand new light. The acting is terrific. The plot of the movie is sensational. The music is top notch. But what really made this movie great for me was in its tone. There is this intense undercurrent of dread that follows you from the second the movie starts until the end credits start to roll. I really felt it this time around, and it made the movie so much better for me. I was riveted. Add everything up, and this is almost a flawless movie. I could easily make a case for this being my favorite movie of the year.

#1:

Bohemian Rhapsody – When I first heard about this movie, I wasn’t too excited about it. “Oh, a Freddie Mercury movie? That’s nice.” Then I went on with my life. Even on my way to the movie theater to see this, I wasn’t very excited. That all changed once the lights went dark and "Somebody to Love" started to play. I’ve been a fan of Queen’s music for a long time, and that song combined with the movie’s opening visuals really got me in the mood to watch this. After that, the movie had me in its grasp. I loved everything about it. The cast is great. Rami Malek does a sensational job as Freddie Mercury, and deserves all the accolades he has received for the role. The guy who plays Brian May does a great job too. As a Queen fan, of course I loved the movie’s soundtrack. Almost all of my favorite songs made the cut. The only glaring omission I could think of was You’re My Best Friend. Not only is the soundtrack great, but the situations in which the songs are played are perfect and fit what is happening onscreen. I know that the musical performances in this movie are not “real”, technically, but the cinematography really made me feel like I was there. I’ll never get to see Freddie Mercury perform in concert, but now that I have seen this movie at least I now have some idea of what would have been in store for me. I have to say that the Live Aid performance at the end of the movie may very well be the best single scene I have witnessed in a movie, EVER. Movie magic at its finest.

Freddie Mercury himself is a very intriguing character. I like how the film balances getting to know him as an individual versus getting to know him by his stage performances. There is no denying that he was a brilliant performer, and as I watched I couldn’t help but admire his talents. He was a special individual, and I can only imagine that his bandmates and close friends probably looked at him with a god-like reverence.

I found out after I got home from the theater that a lot of events of the film were fabricated. While it would have been nice to get a more accurate representation of Queen’s rise to power and Freddie Mercury’s life, it still didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the film. I rocked, I laughed, I cried, I soaked it all in. Bohemian Rhapsody was my number one viewing experience of 2018.

Ranking Every Movie I Watched in 2018, Part One

2019 is here, which means it is time for my annual year-end movie ranking! Each year I make a list of every movie I watched during the calendar year, and then at the end of the year I rank these movies from my least favorite to my most favorite viewing experience. Worth noting: these aren’t necessarily movies that came out during the year, just movies I happened to watch that year.

I have been doing this ranking for years and years now. If you want a link to past movie rankings, visit my blog index, located  >>HERE<< and read on to your heart’s content.

To be quite honest with you, I get sick of writing the same thing over and over again each year, so I have decided to do things a little differently this time around. Rather than do a straight up numbered ranking, I am going to break each movie down into five different categories: the ones I can’t remember (I probably was dozing off or multi-tasking while watching and didn’t pay any attention to them), the ones that were bad (not necessarily BAD movies per se, but movies I didn’t enjoy watching for some reason or another), the ones that were meh (not terrible, but not great), the ones that were good (I did enjoy), and then the cream of the crop, the Top 20. The only ones I will talk about in great detail are the Top 20, otherwise I am just going to throw an extremely brief description of my viewing experience next to each film.

Got it? Good. Let’s go.

Can’t Remember:

Wind River – Jeremy Renner is a gruff outdoorsman trying to solve a murder. That’s all I remember.

High Tension – I’ve seen this movie once before, a long time ago. This time watching it I multitasked and didn’t pay any attention to it while it was on.

Hostiles – Cowboy movie with Christian Bale. That’s all I remember.

The Invitation – I got nothing.

The Cloverfield Paradox – Same.

Orbiter 9 – Dude, totally the same!

Spirited Away – Multitasked and didn’t pay attention. I need to watch this again because I always hear how it is so good.

The Iron Giant – Seemed reminiscent of Pete’s Dragon, from what I remember (which isn’t much).

Silent Hill – Decent movie that I’ve seen a few times before. Wasn’t really paying attention to it this time though.

The Shining – Great movie, I just wasn’t paying attention when I watched it this time around.

U-Turn – Ditto.

The Land Before Time – I started playing on my phone as I watched this. The “big emotional moment” early in the movie didn’t have an impact on me because of this, and I stopped paying attention shortly thereafter.

Extinction – This movie features copious amounts of running and hiding from things with guns. I think.

Bad:

Hannibal – Try as I might to like this movie, it will never be The Silence of the Lambs. Not even close.

Dunkirk – More like Dull-kirk, har har har.

Spotlight – Dull-light? Eh, not as funny. I’m done with the dull puns.

Hereditary – Pretentious, boring, not scary one bit. I hate ambiguous endings too. It’s a no for me, dawg.

The Witch – Same! I actually did see this a few years ago and hated it. Decided to give it another shot in 2018. Nope, still hated it.

Lincoln – Overly long and mind-numbingly boring.

Rings – I expected this to be bad, and I was not let down.

Veronica – No. Just no.

Kubo and the Two Strings –  I watched this after just having watched Coco. Big mistake. This was dreadful and made little to no sense to me.

The Dark Tower – They turned one of my favorite book series of all time into THIS? THIS???

Terminator Salvation – I’ve seen this movie several times now and each time I expect it to get better. It does not.

Meh:

The Handmaiden – I liked the concept, but it was a bit dull.

mother! – Entertaining in a way, but it made no sense.

Arachnophobia – Liked this when I was a kid. Now it’s just... okay.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade – I almost could put this in my “can’t remember” tier. I multitasked as I watched this and missed half the movie. I’ve seen it before though, and I know I like it.

The Terminator – Same.

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army – Same x3!

Red Dragon – Better than Hannibal, but that’s not saying much.

The Fly 2 – The Fly 1 it is not.

The Grave of the Fireflies – The little girl was too whiny and annoying for me to feel a whole lot of empathy for, and isn’t that really the whole point of the movie?

Masters of the Universe – Good movie if I am watching it drunk or really stoned. Unfortunately in 2018 when I watched this I was neither.

American Psycho – Meh book, meh movie.

Dr Strange – One of the worst Marvel films. It is pretty to look at though!

The Godfather 3 – I didn’t hate it like most people seem  to, but yeah it doesn’t stack up to the first two.

Inception – A movie that I really wish I liked more, because the concept is so cool and it is so visually striking. I just… don’t.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – I liked this a lot when I saw it in the theater several years ago. Now, watching it on the small screen and knowing what happens in advance, it is not nearly as cool.

Mary and the Witch's Flower – Saw this in the theater. Great animation and an intriguing story line, but it sort of fell apart in the second half of the movie in my opinion.

Robocop 2 – Decent film, I guess. I made the mistake of watching it shortly after the original, however, and it only paled in comparison.

Brother’s Keeper – Interesting documentary if a bit boring in parts.

Prometheus – Not good or bad, this movie is just “meh”, and that is why it is here.

Annihilation – This movie got a lot of critical acclaim, but I wasn’t too fond of the ending. I like the concept of it as well as its visual style, so maybe my opinion of it will improve if I ever watch it again. UPDATE: I have watched it again in 2019. You'll have to see if my opinion changed or not in my 2019 movie ranking.

Cargo – OK, I guess, but a concept I’ve seen in movies and video games a million times in the last few years. Had a hard time connecting to it because of that.

The Road – I like the doom and gloom, but no subsequent viewings of this movie have had as big an impact on me as when I saw it the first time several years ago. Without that emotional oomph it is not nearly as good a movie.

Solo: A Star Wars Story – Probably a decent movie if I can get past the disappointment of how untrue this is to the Han Solo origin books I read when I was a kid.

The Incredibles – I want to like this series, but it’s never been anything more than just okay for me.

The Incredibles 2 – My opinion has not changed with the sequel.

X-Men – I remember this being better the first time I saw it.

Doom – I know this isn’t a good movie, but at least it is mildly entertaining.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – Saw this in concert with a live orchestra playing the music. Great experience, except for how distracted I was with how uncomfortable the small seats were for my long gangly body.

Scarface – I can see why so many people love this movie. It’s a good film, but a bit too drawn out for my tastes. I also found it hard to connect with the characters.

The Thing (1982) – Classic movie, I just wish I didn’t get bored and antsy about halfway through it every time I watch it.

The Hateful 8 – Long, slow, full of dialogue. Despite this, the movie didn’t actually seem that long. Interesting setup, and the characters in this film kept me interested in it. Was I crazy about it? No. But it was still decent.

Good:

Wonderstruck – A fun, wholesome journey. Nothing too special, but I enjoyed it.

Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon – Not nearly as epic as people make it out to be, but it is still a good film.

Logan – I’m not quite as ecstatic about this movie as most people are, but it is still pretty good.

Ready Player One – An entertaining movie, sure. But at the same time a huge disappointment after how amazing the book was. I need to watch this again in a few years once memories of the book have faded a bit.

Get Out – I understand that people like this because it is a socially important movie, but looking at it JUST as a movie, it is a fun film but nothing too outstanding.

The Girl with  the Dragon Tattoo (2011) – Probably the best of any of the Lisbeth Salander movies I have seen.

Jigsaw – Surprisingly entertaining. I thought this would be a mindless cash grab, but it was fun.

Texas Chainsaw – Interesting twist on the Texas Chainsaw story. This movie wipes away the events of all the sequels and acts as a direct follow up to the 1974 original. Surprisingly not trash!

Return of the Living Dead – One of the best zombie films I have ever seen. Would rank higher if I didn’t succumb to the distraction of playing with my smart phone about halfway through the movie.

Ant Man and the Wasp – Certainly not the best Marvel film ever made, but it is an entertaining movie that is essential viewing before watching the Avengers: Endgame

Signs – One of M Night’s better films. Would rank higher if I hadn’t seen this 20,000 times already.

47 Meters Down – Entertaining movie about two women trapped in a shark tank in the ocean. It’s a lot of fun while you’re watching it, but there isn’t much to think back on after the fact.

Space Jam – I thought this was pretty dang fun, although I am sure I would have liked it a lot more if I had first experienced it when I was a kid in the 90s.

Man’s Favorite Sport? – Old Rock Hudson movie that my wife made me watch. I thought it would be lame, but I found it to be surprisingly entertaining.

Una – Fascinating movie, even if it isn’t necessarily “fun” to watch.

12 Years a Slave – Same, but this movie is a lot more well-made and grander in scale than Una.

Psycho – Horror classic that withstands the test of time.

Last House on the Left (1972) – An enjoyable 70’s revenge film.

The Shape of Water – Fun movie with an original concept. Its popularity is a bit overblown, but that doesn’t mean it is not still a great film.

The Whole 9 Yards – Not generally a genre I enjoy, but this was surprisingly fun.

The Hobbit: The Legendary Journey – I liked this movie more than I ever have in previous viewings, but it still pales in comparison to the original Lord of the Rings trilogy, in my opinion.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Same.

Stripes – I am not a huge comedy person, but I still thought this was great. I can’t believe it took me till 2018 to see this for the first time!

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – Saw it in 2017 and found it mediocre. I liked it a lot more the second time around, knowing what to expect coming into it.

Zombeavers – Zombie beavers may be a dumb concept, but this is still a pretty fun movie. It doesn’t try to be anything less ridiculous than it really is.

Water For Elephants – I mistakenly watched this while trying to find The Shape of Water online. To my surprise, I liked it and continued watching all the way to the end even after I realized my mistake.

The 13th –  One of the few documentaries I watched in 2018. Not only is it the best, it is also the most informative and eye opening.

The River Wild – This movie brought me back to the 90s like nothing else I watched in 2018. Pure, unadulterated, Kevin Bacony fun.

Baby Driver – Fast paced and highly entertaining. It has a great soundtrack and some really solid visual effects as well. Adrenaline junky popcorn film at its finest.

The Ritual – Really strong horror movie, although I didn’t find it very scary. The story and the twists are what kept me interested.

Tombstone – Classic movie with a great cast. One of the few westerns I enjoy.

Alien Covenant – Better than Prometheus in nearly every way.

Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom – I am sure that this is actually a terrible movie, but I had a lot of fun with it.

The Princess Bride – I didn’t grow up with this film, so I don’t have the same nostalgic memories about it that most people do. In past viewings of the movie I was unimpressed. This time around, however, I finally understood why people like it so much. I had a very fun time watching.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – Entertaining film that sets up the world of Harry Potter beautifully.

The Matrix – Haven’t seen this movie in its entirety since it came out in 1999. I was surprised to find that it still holds up and is just as fun nearly 20 years later.

Gone Girl – Saw this once before a few years ago. I had forgotten how good it was. Really got into it this time around.

Hellboy – Fun movie with a terrific title character.

Spider-Man: Homecoming – Loved it when I watched it in 2017. It wasn’t quite as good when watching it a second time in 2018, but it is still a great movie.

Into the Wild – This movie got off to a slow start for me, but once it hit its groove I really started to appreciate it. I became so interested in McCandless after watching this that I went out and read the book and many many internet articles about his life.

Hard Rain – I remember this movie from when it came out in the 90s. I expected it to be a cheesy and somewhat entertaining action movie. While it is true that this is indeed a cheesy 90s movie, it was a lot better than I expected.

Wild – Love this movie, and I think it has been in my top 20 the last few years. The only thing is that when you watch a movie so many times it starts to lose its emotional impact on you, and that is just what happened here.

Robocop – With a name like Robocop, you may come into this expecting something goofy or comical, but that is not the case. I love how dark and satirical this movie is. One of Verhoeven’s best.

The Fly – This is such a fun movie, and one of my all-time personal favorites. The fact that it just narrowly missed out on making the top 20 should tell you how strong the top 20 is.

That’s it for now! 

In my next update I will rank my top tier from #20 to #1! The top tier includes the following films. What movie will rank as my #1 viewing experience in 2018? Stay tuned to find out.

Trading Places

Bohemian Rhapsody

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

A Quiet Place

The Return of the King: Extended Edition

Face/Off

Boogie Nights

Menace II Society

Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

The Silence of the Lambs

Thor: Ragnarok

Lady Bird

Star Trek: First Contact

Black Panther

Avengers: Infinity War

Con-Air

Coco

I, Tonya

Deadpool 2

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure