6 - Tuesday, October 21, 2014

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

6 - Tuesday, October 21, 2014 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

The timelessness
of theater

I,

few nights ago, to
break up an evening
spent studying for
midterms, I queued the next
episode of one of my favorite
shows to
binge watch
on Netflix,
"Mad Men."
About half- r
way through
the fifth sea-
son, there's
a scene that KATHLEEN
takes place DAVIS
with no
significant
purpose, not much character
development and lasts only
about a minute, yet it left me
thinking fordthe remainder
of the episode. The heavy
drinking, heavy smoking
Don Draper goes to a play in
New York City with his sec-
ond wife Megan: The camera
pans over the audience, men
clad in well-fitting suits,
women in beautiful dresses
and gaudy jewelry. A cigarette
smoke haze hangs through
the theater (it is the 1960s
after all). However, one
thing eerily caught my
eye as being incongruent
to the scene taking place
50-odd years ago: the play
the Drapers watch has no
set, the actors wear black
and collapse on the ground
when not speaking, mir-
rors several plays I've seen
in this modern millennium
I considered modern and
experimental. As the episode
moved on and the play is bare-
ly mentioned again, my mind
kept wandering to that scene.
"Mad Men" never makes
mistakes of bringing anachro-
nistic things to the set or sto-
ryline, which means the plays
of stripped-down nature I've
seen aren't as progressive as I
thought, but rather have been
around for quite some time.
More than so many other
art forms, theater has been
able to maintain a sense of

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lessness in the way that to forget "She's the Man" is
r forms of entertainment just a reworking of Twelfth
been unable to. Let's Night, written in 1601. For
k back to the beginning: one of the most iconic play-
ancient Greek theater wrights in modern day to
ie of the first traces of have died nearly 400 years
rtainment still relevant ago is astounding, but the
y in its influence, even universal themes and tropes
:e most basic structures we see embedded in his
ie art form. The set-up of works make a strong case for
ern amphitheaters, the why these pieces of art are
nes and narrative struc- still relevant today.
s we see utilized in mod- Kurt Vonnegut had his
imes and arguably the master's thesis rejected for
of theater itself are just the argument that every story
te of the influence the can be traced back to only
ks have bestowed upon eight different archetypes,
irtistic community. Give but isn't there some sort of
'ne person who wasn't pleasure in this idea? We can
gated to read Eurip- sit in a theater and watch
"Antigone," "Medea" a show that's unknown to
)edipus" in an advanced us, yet simultaneously find
ish high school class - comfort in its familiarity,
e quintessential Greek allowing us to feel the same
as- but until then I'll emotions we had reading
be blown away that copies "The Taming of the Shrew"
e novels written in 400 in English class, going to a
are read, distributed and performance of "Kiss me,
ormed with a frequency Kate" with our moms or
modern playwrights drool watching "10 Things I Hate
About You" at a middle school
sleepover.
Technological advance-
ments have changed the way
Ve're eased theaters create their sets or
the ways they help the audi-
ck to reality, ence understand their point
better, but when stripped
king the art down the theater has not
changed much. It comes
ick With US. down to recycled storylines
with fresh dusting off, the
basic human wants and emo-
tions that exist within all of
here's no use in discussing us and have since the begin-
ter's influence without ning of man that make every
itoring Shakespeare, born visit to the theater familiar,
64 and who has inspired yet fresh. In a way, it's the
merable "In the Park" timelessness that's the draw,
or theater series, which allowing us to get absorbed
popped up all over the into the drama, or the com-
d. His works are still edy, or the sadness, yet when
g produced with such the curtains close ye're
uency that most children eased back 'torealiy, taking
w the story of Romeo the influence of art back with
Juliet before they can us. And that in and of itself is
heir shoes. These works a beautiful thing.

"Who you callin'ugly?"
'Shadow of Mordor'
falls victim to tropes

eing adapted at such a
ying rate that it's easy

Davis is looking to do a musical

Familiar 'Middle- his family. Talion is captured
by ores and forced to watch
earth' setting fails as the throats of his wife and
son are slit by the Black Hand
to captivate of Sauron. We see a close-up
of his face as his own throat
By JACOB RICH is slit in turn. This kind of
Daily Arts Writer intense graphic violence per-
vades the entirety of "Mordor"
The following review contains which, like its open-world peer
no spoilers. "Assassin's Creed," relishes in
"Middle-earth: Shadow of "badass" slow-motion killings
Mordor" during combat.
should not "Lord of the Rings" is a vio-
be a "Lord of lent story, to be sure. Each
the Rings" Middle-earth: entry in the film series features
video game. Shadow of extended sequences of fighting
There is and war. But neither the films
a superb Mordor nor the books celebrate the act
open-world PS4, Xbox 1, PC of killing like the combat in
game here, Monolith Productions "Mordor" does; these absolutely
but it's brutal over-the-top executions
mired in would feel much more at home
aesthetic mediocrity. Much of in "God of War." This level of
this game's look, feel and nar- violence certainly has a place in
rative are either drab tr tonally vid ogames, but J"ot of the
ilappropiane. a * ' iifgI" Zmh hxof haFplace.
Take the introduction, for Brad Shoemaker of Giant Bomb
example. Through a series of intelligently said in his review
flashbacks, we are shown the that the game's violence has
brutal murders of Talion, a likely caused Tolkien "quite a
ranger of the Black Gate, and few rotations in his grave."
However, if you can get past
the game's ultraviolence, bor-
ing cutscenes and blatant shoe-
horning of popular "Lord of
the Rings" characters into the
Call:#734-418-4115 narrative, there is a lot of fun to
Email: dailydisplay@gmail.com be had here. "Mordor" elevates
itself above comparable open-
world action games with its
ingenious, much-touted Nem-
E CEesis system, which randomly
generates different enemies -
each with unique names, fea-
tures and traits - with each
THESIS EDITING. LANGUAGE, playthrough of the game.
orgaiation, fonoat. All Disciplies. The player is presented with
734/996-566 ormwiten@isetv.net a hierarchy of Orcs in Sauron's
army. Each "Uruk" captain and
warchief is randomly generat-
ed, but they take on distinctive
personalities and combat abili-
ties. They don't feel randomly
PURCH'ASED generated; each is animated
with incredible precision and
THE their often comical personali-
ties entertain throughout. No
"Lord of the Rings" property
BALL has put so much effort into or-
traying the savage culture of
the Orcs. I found myself eagerly
anticipating what the next orc
captain would say as we locked
blades. The Or dialogue is bet
ter than anything in the actual
Y .T? cutscenes.
Talion, now undead and
inhabited by the spirit of a
wraith, must kill his way to the
top - to avenge his family or to
save the world or something.
It really doesn't matter why;
you're going to have a lot of mor-
ally unaccountable fun doing it.
The combat is almost identical
to that of the acclaimed "Bat-
man: Arkham" series (it's likely

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shared technology, not theft -
Warner Bros. published both
games) and it's just as fun here.
The real kicker of the Nemesis
system, though, is the role of
death in the game. Death is
more meaningful in "Mordor"
than anything you've played
in the last 10 years outside of
"Dark Souls:" When Ores kill
you, they are showered with
commendations and promot-
ed within their ranks. They
become harder to kill and some-
times gain new abilities that
make them invincible to certain
damage types. It's a fun chal-
lenge, not an annoyance.
Around halfway through the
game, Talion gains the abil-
ity to "Brand" the ore captains,
which makes them fight for you.
It's a game-changer, one that in
essence lets you steadily build
your own massive Ore arm . It
sltgrp(tae flow enought~ ore
8hst thI~eeond half oft6 Aae
doesn't limp to the end.
Unfortunately, apart from
the impressive detail in the ore
captains, the game doesn't look
or sound all that great. It's cer-
tainly technically impressive
on PS4, but Mordor just isn't
that interesting of a setting; it
feels barren and dull even when
the setting moves south and
becomes greener later in the
game. The music is unmemora-
ble, consisting mostly of ambi-
ent celtic instrumental tracks
tied together. It would be much
better had they instead licensed
the film soundtrack. The
voice acting is also very stan-
dard, with Troy Baker ("The
Last of Us") and Nolan North
("Uncharted: Drake's Fortune")
phoning in their least memora-
ble parts yet. These guys are so
talented, give them better roles!
Apparently the soon-to-be
released last-generation ver-
sions of this game will have a
significantly neutered version
of the Nemesis system. If that
turns out to be the case, stay
away from those versions. The
Nemesis system is the reason to
play this game.
The enjoyment you will get
from "Mordor" is completely
foreign to the spirit of the "Lord
of the Rings" series, but that
doesn't mean it lacks value.
Perhaps if it were set in its own
unique universe, it would have
scored in the "A" range. Regard-
less, it's big, dumb, violent open-
world fun, like the kind you had
with "Mercenaries," "Assas-
sin's Creed" or "Far Cry." If that
sounds up your alley, you may
want to take a walk through
"Mordor."
Middle-earth: Shadow ofMor-
dor was reviewed using a digital
copy purchased by the reviewer.
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