Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 94

Simulation Theory Issues #3, #4, #5 Review

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Okay, I didn’t think I would end up reading the final three issues of “Simulation Theory” by Curt Pires and Darryl Knickrehm, since the first two issues weren’t exactly engrossing. But they are free on my Kindle Unlimited subscription, and I ended up giving in to the temptation of finding out how things end in this sci-fi dystopian universe.

Here’s a quick recap – Issues #1 of “Simulation Theory” follow Ash, a young woman who joins “The Verse,” a virtual reality where people reside while their bodies are stored in cryo chambers. Ash is soon chased across the virtual world after her friend is “murdered,” leaving her with a mysterious encrypted box that holds damning secrets implicating Tim Irwin, the co-creator of “The Verse.”

The artwork remains the same – unimpressive, with a dull color palette that doesn’t do justice to the wild far-fetched plot of “Simulation Theory”. Ash is chased around by a bunch of cyber warriors who look like they are from the Dune universe for the encrypted data. Luckily, she manages to meet Solidad, the person she was looking for in issue #2, and the two try to figure out how to retrieve the encrypted files and defeat the bad guys.

It’s the usual “corporate greed versus humanist heroes” theme that dominates the comic book series towards the end. However, author Curt Pires does surprise readers in issue #4 with a dark twist of the horrifying corruption plaguing “The Verse.” If nothing else, the plot serves as an interesting think piece on the absurdity or viability of virtual reality as a definitive solution to the rising number of human-made problems in the real world.

Since the series is only five issues long, the creators rush through the story with a lot of clichés, failing to establish Ash as a memorable lead. Everything simply falls into place for the protagonist to expose the shocking crimes being committed by the co-creator of “The Verse” in the end. Despite its predictability, issue #5 turned out to be an engaging finale, and a lot more exciting than the rest of this comic book series.

I would recommend “Simulation Theory” only if you’ve run out of interesting titles to read and are really interested in reading futuristic fiction books about people living in the metaverse.

Simulation Theory is also on Kindle Unlimited.

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LSD 2: Love Sex Aur Dhokha 2 Review – OD’s on Drama

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

When “LSD: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha” came out in 2010, it was as unique to Bollywood’s drama genre as “The Blair Witch Project” or “Paranormal Activity” was to the realm of horror movies. However, director Dibakar Banerjee’s 2024 sequel, “LSD 2: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2,” is a chaotic follow-up in the LSD filmverse, which packs the screen with so many details that my brain hurt within the first fifteen minutes. If you’re a fan of reality television shows, particularly “Bigg Boss,” you might find the film far more entertaining than I did. Despite Dibakar seemingly wanting to satirize and give a giant middle finger to reality shows, social media, and influencer culture, the plot in the first half unfolds more like a salute to them, with the satirical elements feeling more real (and annoying) than comedic, acerbic, or witty.

Just like the first “Love, Sex Aur Dhokha,” LSD 2 is an anthology of three stories written by Dibakar Banerjee, Shubham, and Prateek Vats. The first two stories focus on transgender characters. In some sense, the screenplay of the first story is actually pretty brilliant. It follows Noor (Paritosh Tiwari), a transgender woman participating in a reality show called “Truth ya Naach” (Truth or Dance), which is a mashup of popular TV shows “Nach Baliye” and “Bigg Boss.” Dibakar Banerjee gets the settings and reality TV interactions spot on! But it made me feel like, “Hey, if I wanted to watch cat-fights on Bigg Boss, I would just watch Bigg Boss. I don’t need a movie about it.” (Useless fact: I do not watch Bigg Boss.)

Paritosh Tiwari is excellent in his portrayal of Noor, who is hungry for attention and validation and would do anything to win the reality show. Swaroopa Ghosh plays Noor’s mother, who doesn’t completely accepts her male-to-female transition, but comes on the reality show in an effort to help Noor’s ratings. What’s more spicier for TRPs than some live mother-daughter drama? However, Noor’s story ends abruptly before the focus shifts to the next protagonists, leaving you just wondering, “WTF?” It wasn’t even very interesting to begin with, and it doesn’t even get a coherent end? Okay, thank you, not.

The second story begins with a grisly, graphic scene of a victim of sexual violence found in the bushes by cops. Soon, we learn about the fate of Kullu (Bonita Rajpurohit), a transwoman who is a metro employee. The storytelling is fragmented between Kullu’s life and her boss’s (Swastika Mukherjee) activities. Her boss attempts to help Kullu, but as more facts emerge in the sexual assault case, she is forced to rethink her actions. While this was an interesting attempt at perhaps highlighting how a ‘savior complex’ can go awfully wrong, the plot was neither entertaining nor did it pack a punch. The found-footage style screenplay only makes it worse, because it didn’t warrant that style and could’ve been shot in a straightforward manner. The background music does little to help make things more interesting, and I kept reminiscing about the first “Love, Sex aur Dhoka” title track, a super catchy song sung by Kailash Kher.

By the time the third story rolled in, I lost complete interest in watching “LSD 2: Love, Sex Aur Dhokha 2,” but still pushed on to see where things would go. The third one is a cynical look at Gen Z kids who spend most of their lives live-streaming, with their eyes glued to screens. It also takes a dig at the metaverse, ending the tale in a weird, cringe-worthy virtual reality sequence, with the protagonist finding a final escape in the virtual world from life’s chaos. Even though the stories do have some interesting themes, their execution culminated in an exhausting viewer experience for me. Watch it if you enjoy unhinged reality shows and screens packed with a whole lot of information overload.

You can stream the film on Netflix.

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Hit Man Review – Fake Assassin Act Thrills Until Love Kills the Fun

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Gary Johnson is a professor who works for the police part-time. His job? He pretends to be a hit man for people looking to hire a contract killer and then works to get them arrested on intent-to-murder charges. He might be the most professional pretend hit man in town, but things get out of hand when he starts to mix up his personal and professional lives after getting too involved with a gorgeous woman who wants her husband dead.

Directed by Richard Linklater, “Hit Man” stars Glen Powell as protagonist Gary Johnson. He has also co-written the story with Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth. “What you’re about to see is somewhat a true story inspired by the life of Gary Johnson”—the almost 2-hour-long movie opens with this simple disclaimer, promising viewers the allure of reality mixed with some fiction. The opening scene sees Glen Powell in nerdy glasses and a boring haircut, delivering a spirited lecture about Nietzsche’s quote: “The secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously!” An amusing irony to set the tone, as Gary himself lives a rhythmic, repetitive life until his part-time job with the cops gives him the chance to play a hit man instead of the back-end guy.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that the makers think giving Glen Powell a nerdy professor look would make him seem “forgettable,” a requisite for his undercover job, because it needs him to not be memorable to anybody. His good looks are evident, regardless of nerdy clothes, so we have a Superman-Clark Kent thing going, where with glasses Gary is plain, but without them he is so debonair that both women and men would line up for a date with him. Of course, Gary decides to give the gig his 100 percent, so he keeps changing his look depending on the client he is supposed to be playing a contract killer for and the make-up team for Hit Man does a brilliant job at giving Glen Powell some really diverse personas. That’s what made the first half so fun—it involved Gary taking on multiple personalities, meeting dozens of desperate people looking to get rid of someone in their lives. Each encounter ends in an entertaining police mug shot of the client after they implicate themselves while talking to Gary.

Adria Arjona plays Madison, a beautiful young woman whom Gary becomes infatuated with when he pretends to be Ron, a suave hit man she hires to get her husband killed. So instant is Gary’s crush that he ensures Madison doesn’t implicate herself and instead convinces her to walk away from her troubled marriage. Soon, Madison contacts Ron, aka Gary, again, and the two begin a passionate affair. Even though Gary tries not to get personal with Madison, he soon finds himself embroiled in a criminal mess due to her actions.

While Glen Powell gets to portray a bunch of pop culture icons while pretending to be a hit man, the most fun one being his “American Psycho” imitation of Christian Bale, Adria Arjona tries (emphasis on tries) to channel her inner Salma Hayek as the sexy Madison who loves the idea of dating a bad boy like Ron, who in her head is a seasoned killer. Unfortunately, Glen Powell and Adria Arjona’s onscreen chemistry is lukewarm—it’s not bad, but Glen definitely had more fireworks with Sydney Sweeney in the romantic comedy “Anyone But You.” Not just that, the romantic subplot with Madison bordered on being cringe and didn’t match up with the expectations set by Gary’s personality in the first half. The makers, of course, cleverly try to sell his inconsistencies in personality by convincing us that Gary simply chooses to adopt a personality that lets him have the most fun, in this case, Ron, who gets to date a femme fatale like Madison. However, Madison’s character is far too basic and cliched and Adria Arjona doesn’t sell it well.

If I had gone into “Hit Man” blind, I would’ve never guessed it’s a Richard Linklater film, whose last directorial (also available to watch on Netflix) is the vastly different animated flick “Apollo 10½,” a nostalgic sci-fi ride to the 1960s. “Hit Man” also gets a lot of its cinematic elements right: the cinematography is engrossing, the narration is crisp, the background music is an eclectic mix that blends well with the plot. However, the last hour feels out of sync with the first act of the film, and the climax is far too contrived, even though it should appeal to those who love a “happy ending,” even if the characters don’t necessarily deserve it. Overall, “Hit Man” is an entertaining enough film about a goody-two shoes professor moonlighting as a fake killer.

Rating: 6 on 10. You can stream Hit Man on Netflix.

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The Boys Season 4 Episodes 1-3 Review

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The Boys are back, but it feels like someone stood up in the pitch meeting and said, “We have to amp up the gore, add more diversity, and include queer representation”—because some of the new sub-plots feel contrived as hell. Episode one of season four just wasn’t as fun, although it does get better.

If you remember, Season 3 of “The Boys” ended with Butcher failing to kill Homelander, who then took off with his son Ryan. Titled “Department of Dirty Tricks,” episode one of Season 4 starts with Victoria Neuman running her political campaign for the Vice President’s post, while Hughie (Jack Quaid), Mother’s Milk (Laz Alonso), Kimiko (Karen Fukuhara), and Frenchie (Tomer Capone) are on a mission to gather intel at the same venue. Butcher, however, gets sidetracked with his own agenda: he wants to bring Ryan to his side and save him from Homelander’s clutches. As Butcher continues to cause trouble for the group due to his personal vendettas, Annie, AKA Starlight (Erin Moriarty), and Mother’s Milk are keen on kicking him out of their squad. Meanwhile, Homelander is on a mission to rebrand himself and launch Ryan as the next big superhero, all while continuing to terrorize and bully those who work with him.

For those who haven’t seen “Gen V,” a spin-off series set in the same universe as “The Boys,” there are several fleeting references to events that unfolded in “Gen V,” so you should consider watching the show. It’s an entertaining series and will definitely give you a lot more context on certain conversations that take place between the characters in Season 4 of “The Boys.” You’ll keep hearing “Godolkin University” being mentioned in this season, that’s the university exclusively for Supes and serves as the setting for “Gen V”.

The primary focus of Season 4 continues to be Butcher and his group’s attempt to kill Homelander and curb Victoria Neuman’s rise to political power. However, Homelander has his own plans to remain invincible and ropes in the help of Sister Sage (Susan Heyward), who is supposed to be the world’s smartest person. The first three episodes of the season pack in a lot of politics, violence, blood, and gore, with a major subplot involving the rivalry between Homelander fans and Starlight fans.

A lot of the subplots feel contrived in the first three episodes, especially a potential romantic subplot involving Frenchie and a new character. However, one character who does emerge as earnest is Cameron Crovetti’s Ryan, who isn’t sure if he wants to take on the burden of being a superhero, especially with an overbearing father like Homelander who expects him to treat regular humans like bugs. Ryan is torn between living up to Homelander’s vision and Butcher’s offers for a truce and a life away from his megalomaniac father. Anthony Starr remains intimidatingly evil as Homelander, whose mere presence puts everybody around him on edge, and that tension is still palpable on the screen.

Since there are five more episodes to go in the season, it remains to be seen if things will get more exciting. At this juncture, it does feel like the story is getting dragged out and a lot of the familiar characters feel repetitive. However, Eric Kripke and team manage to inject plenty of hilarious, weird, bizarre, and gory moments to keep it entertaining enough for fans to come back for more. So, buckle up—this season might just be the wildest ride yet.

You can stream “The Boys” on Prime Video.

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Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc – Ep 6 Review

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“If you clear your heart and mind, even fire feels cold.”

As if training with Obanai Iguro and Sanemi Shinazugawa wasn’t excruciating enough, Tanjiro and Zenitsu begin to panic just by listening to Stone Hashira Gyomei Himejima’s regimen. Zenitsu hilariously passes out after Himejima simply runs them through the tasks they are expected to accomplish.

Titled “The Strongest in the Demon Slayer Corps,” episode six of the Demon Slayer Hashira Training arc mostly focuses on Tanjiro and the junior slayers doing their best to survive the quests set by Gyomei Himejima—a bulky, scarily intimidating man who is almost always near tears and evokes similar emotions in those facing him. His training expectations are so absurdly high that some of the slayers think he is bullying them with impossible goals as a sadistic measure. This isn’t a far-fetched theory, considering how Sanemi Shinazugawa dismissed Tanjiro after trying to kill him out of anger in episode five.

For many fans who have no doubt been wondering what the demons are up to and why they’ve been conspicuously absent in the episodes so far—we finally get a glimpse of Muzan Kibutsuji himself, in his Infinity Castle no less. While the slayers have been working tirelessly to prepare for the inevitable battle with the demons, Muzan has been meticulously looking for Nezuko.

Overall, this episode of Demon Slayer was comical and entertaining. It reunites Tanjiro with the boisterous boar-head Inosuke, who, as always, continues to be extremely competitive. Given the title, I was actually hoping for some flashback story to Himejima’s past, but his screen time is surprisingly short in this episode. Instead, we get funny sequences of the slayers struggling to keep up with his training, with Zenitsu being a total hopeless mess. However, in the end-credit scene, Tanjiro announces the next episode as “Gyomei Himejima The Stone Hashira,” so maybe we will get his backstory in the upcoming episode.

You can stream the series on Netflix, CrunchyRoll and JioCinema.

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Simulation Theory #1 & #2 Review

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

Remember “Second Life,” that expansive virtual reality platform that was a metaverse before metaverse became a thing? The comic book series “Simulation Theory” by Curt Pires and Darryl Knickrehm explores a similar concept but takes it up a notch by setting the story in a dystopian future. In this fictional universe, the real world is a mess, so most people inhabit a virtual reality called “The Verse.” Their bodies are preserved in cryo chambers by the corporation that owns it. However, it’s not the utopian escape it is made out to be.

Issue #1 of “Simulation Theory” introduces Ash, a young woman who still inhabits the real world, is deep in gambling debt, and gets beaten to a pulp by debt collectors. The comic series starts off on a violent, tense note, which will definitely draw in many readers. An ex-boyfriend working for “The Verse” offers Ash a chance to start over in the virtual reality world, but when she accepts the offer, she’s not prepared for the new misadventures that await her.

I didn’t like the art style in “Simulation Theory.” Not only does it look somewhat unappealing, but it doesn’t complement the far-out sci-fi themes of the plot. It might have suited a psychological horror series more. The illustrations aren’t captivating, which makes the comic book series less exciting, at least for me. Additionally, the whole virtual reality aspect of the story feels underutilized in the first two issues, not just plot-wise, but also visually. For example, the art style in “By A Thread,” another sci-fi futuristic comic book series by Comixology, is the kind of style that would have made “Simulation Theory” much more exciting for me to read.

Based on the first two issues of “Simulation Theory,” the plot feels thin and formulaic, with many details not making sense. Ash, except for being a woman, is like a stereotypical lead from action movies—a bad-guy type who always gets into trouble, can’t stay in a committed relationship, and is always looking for a quick way out of problems. I don’t think I want to read the next few issues—it’s a five-part series—even though “Simulation Theory” is free to read on my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Rating: 2 on 5.

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Inside Out 2 Review – Brings Back Joy, With Ennui On The Sides

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Riley has just turned thirteen, and as if grappling with puberty weren’t complicated enough, her two best friends drop a bombshell: they won’t be in the same school anymore! Enter Anxiety, Ennui, Embarrassment, and Envy—new emotions that come with puberty—who must now share Riley’s head alongside Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust, introduced in the hit animated film “Inside Out” from 2015.

Created by Kelsey Mann, Meg LeFauve, and Dave Holstein, “Inside Out 2” is an entertaining follow-up to the original, with much of the original voice cast reprising their roles. Amy Poehler returns as Joy, the primary emotion influencing Riley’s choices, while my favorite remains the wide-eyed, blue ball of Sadness, voiced by Phyllis Smith. Anger (Lewis Black) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling) are just as unhinged as before.

This time around, the plot follows Riley (Kensington Tallman) as she tries to impress senior players to make the hockey team and make new friends in the new school term. However, Riley’s actions are steered by Anxiety (Maya Hawke), whose character design looks straight out of The Muppet Show – an orange, crazy eyed being with a wildly annoying ponytail. Envy (Ayo Edebiri) is a cute variant of Disgust, but she is smaller and maybe a little bit cuter. Adèle Exarchopoulos gets to be cool kid Ennui, who loves lounging on the couch, and like her name – is a bored teenager who is constantly on her phone. Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) is a big shy pink guy, who looks like Sadness’ cousin, and keeps to himself. However, the new emotions kick the old ones out of headquarters, so the seniors (Joy and her squad) must find a way back to save Riley from acting out due to the changes puberty brings.

To capitalize on the nostalgia factor of “Inside Out,” the writers introduce an adorable character named Nostalgia, who accidentally steps into Riley’s head for a few seconds. After all, what do 13-year-olds have to do with nostalgia? That emotion is for later years, so Nostalgia is quickly shooed away by the others. Even though Nostalgia isn’t a dominant emotion, viewers will find themselves reminiscing about the first movie, as this sequel follows a similar plotline. Joy and her friends get lost in Riley’s mind again and must find a way back to headquarters to ‘fix’ everything.

If “It’s okay to be sad sometimes” was the primary lesson and theme of the first film, the follow-up has interesting things to say about anxiety—the definite villain in every adult’s life, and, according to “Inside Out 2,” every teen’s too. Maya Hawke’s Anxiety loves to imagine worst-case scenarios and pushes Riley into actions based on insecurities about her future. One of the best scenes is when Anxiety pushes away Joy and the other emotions to take over Riley’s personality. The older characters scream, “You cannot just bottle us up,” but Anxiety realizes that’s a great idea and bottles up all the other emotions to take the driver’s seat—an excellent metaphor for not letting fears dominate one’s life.

“Inside Out 2” is funny, familiar, cute, and all things nice, though it does get a little boring in parts, especially during scenes of the emotions trying to find their way back. On the bright side, Riley gets more scenes than before, allowing us to see her bumble through teenage problems while playing ice hockey and doing her best to impress her coach.

If you liked the first one, “Inside Out 2” is a worthy sequel.

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Occupant – Short Horror Film Review

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A father reads a twisty bedtime story to his daughter before giving her a goodnight kiss and tucking her in—a rather sweet start to the short horror film “Occupant.” However, the quiet evening takes a dark turn when the father senses an ominous presence in the house.

Written and directed by Peter Cilella, “Occupant” is a crisp four-minute film shot from an outsider’s perspective, as if someone is watching over the protagonists. The camera angles help set an eerie atmosphere throughout the short runtime. The opening father-daughter moments serve as a great contrast to the bizarre events that follow.

“Occupant” immediately reminded me of Tyler Czajkowski’s “Disguise,” an independent short which is based on a popular Reddit story and deals with a similar premise—a person steps out at night to investigate strange noises in their house. With just four minutes to work with, “Occupant” isn’t able to deliver significant scares but does end with an intriguing eerie twist.

While not an out-and-out horror movie, the film serves as an interesting metaphor for how everyone is completely replaceable. You can watch the film on YouTube.

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Under Paris Review – Splashes into Shark-Filled Chaos

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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Fifty years later, Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel “Jaws” continues to inspire filmmakers to create their own terrifying versions of the shark attack horror story, although Steven Spielberg was the first to make a direct adaptation of the novel. The 2024 French film “Under Paris” (Original title: Sous la Seine) is nowhere near as anxiety-inducing as Spielberg’s “Jaws,” but it’s got plenty of sharks and a spectacularly far-fetched ending that makes it worth a watch for genre fans.

Directed by Xavier Gens, who co-wrote “Under Paris” with Yannick Dahan and Maud Heywang, the film stars Bérénice Bejo as Sophia Assalas, a marine scientist keen on cleaning up the earth’s oceans. The story opens with Sophia and a group of other scientists monitoring a shark named Lilith that displays an extraordinary growth spurt. Lilith turns murderously violent after a scientist pokes her for a sample, killing most of Sophia’s team. Three years later, when Lilith mysteriously turns up in the Seine just days before Paris is set to host the Olympics, it’s up to Sophia and the Seine Police to stop the shark from causing a bloodbath. However, an environmentalist group led-by Mika (Léa Léviant) has other plans for Lilith.

“Under Paris” delves into the classic “man versus nature” theme, highlighting the worrying pollution of the oceans while also mocking woke environmentalists. In fact, it’s hard to say if it was intentional or not, but Xavier Gens and his team mock a whole lot of things in the tale. Unfortunately, the humor runs thin in the script, which isn’t even as serious as it wants to be. All those looking to pit humans against killer animals and monsters need to start taking notes from Takashi Yamazaki’s “Gojira -1.0” / “Godzilla Minus One” which came out in 2023, on how to make an entertainingly larger-than-life saga.

Among all the elements of the film, what “Under Paris”/“Sous La Seine” gets perfectly right is its timing – the release was timed just weeks before Paris’s turn to host the Olympics triathlon, and in the movie, too, the murderous shark enters Paris waters the week of the triathlon. Sophia Assalas and the police urge the mayor to consider canceling the event before the shark threat is neutralized, but the authorities, of course prioritize profit over human lives. In real life, many French citizens have been protesting the staggering costs of hosting the Olympics, especially the billion-pound plan to clean up the Seine. Some protests have even planned to defecate in the Seine as an act of protest, a hilarious piece of news that’s been all over the internet. So, the plot in “Under Paris” timely channels public sentiment by ruining the triathlon with a murderous shark in the fictional film.

Choppily paced, the 1 hour and 44-minute thriller packs in some tense suspense here and there, but overall, isn’t as terrifying as it could’ve been. Much of this is due to the makers rarely showing Lilith, making one wonder if they didn’t have the budget for the special effects team. However, the cinematography charmingly captures Paris as a city, which looks a lot more romantic than it really is, especially along the Seine.

There’s a lot of focus on the human characters in “Under Paris”, but none of the actors are entertaining or memorable enough to hold your attention. Bérénice Bejo as Sophia Assalas is a clichéd character: a scientist scarred by her past who, for no real reason, finds herself with the cops during their mission to stop Lilith from going berserk. Thanks to the one-dimensional characters, you cannot help but root for the sharks to take over the world. So, if you, like me, end up cheering for Lilith the shark and her kind, the climax will leave you satisfied – it’s epic, exaggerated, but really cool.

Rating: 6 on 10. Watch “Under Paris” on Netflix.

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Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors – Dive into Qin Legends

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)

In 1974, one of the world’s largest necropolises was discovered in China: a grand mausoleum housing over 8,000 terracotta warriors built for the country’s first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, the founder of the Qin dynasty, to protect him in the afterlife. Fifty years later, archaeologists continue to piece together the artifacts and secrets buried at the site. The 2024 Netflix documentary “Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors” offers a brief but interesting guide for viewers who aren’t familiar with the history and legends surrounding the discovery.

Directed by James Tovell, the 1 hour and 17-minute documentary takes viewers to the Lintong District of Xi’An, China, where the massive archaeological site is located. A string of historians, archaeologists, and experts discuss the history and significance of the mausoleum, which has helped historians differentiate some myths and facts about Qin Shi Huang, who unified all of China for the first time. With only one definitive historical text chronicling his reign, the artifacts uncovered in Lintong indicate that several accounts that sound like lore must have been true. For instance, Qin Shi Huang is said to have used thousands of prisoners to build his grand mausoleums, and several chains found at the site strongly hint at the presence of shackled laborers used for construction work.

As the historians talk about the turbulent Qin dynasty in “Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors,” the documentary also re-enacts dramatic snippets from Qin Shi Huang’s life, making it much more interesting to watch. The actors who play historical figures, from Qin’s sons to his political advisors, are fantastic in their fleeting parts. Historians, of course, remind viewers that much of what happened after the emperor’s death cannot be proven. We are talking about events that took place over 2,000 years ago. However, there’s no doubt about the power, influence, opulence, and oppression prevailing during the emperor’s regime.

If you’re a history buff who isn’t too familiar with China’s history but would like to know more, “Mysteries of the Terracotta Warriors” is an excellent starter documentary. Director James Tovell spiritedly captures the hard-work, excitement, and dedication of all those working at the archaeological site and their passion to uncover stories the world thought was lost to them.

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