Those who have crossed the threshold of death and returned to tell the tale describe a bright light, a warm embrace, or a peaceful out-of-body experience. They speak of seeing their loved ones, or at least feeling a familial presence, and of an end to physical pain. A Buddhist might recognize such a moment as an end to dukkha, the universal suffering that comes with material existence, and finding something like nirvana. To cast aside the everyday, selfish needs of the body and be greeted by another realm beyond the known is a common theme in fantasy, and “Destiny 2: The Final Shape” explores this in its own way.
The original “Destiny,” released in 2014, begins with the arrival of the mysterious Traveler — a silent spherical machine god with the ability to terraform planets, bestow magical powers, and usher in an age of technological prosperity for the civilization it happens to favor in a given era. Centuries later, a small flying avatar of this Traveler, called a Ghost, finds a human skeleton in the rusted remains of what was once a car in Old Russia. The Ghost resurrects this pile of bones, and the player’s created character is born: the Guardian, a deathless human with the capacity to wield the Traveler’s Light. And with no memory of their former life.
A lot has happened in the near-decade since “Destiny” came out. Change is the great constant, and we roll with it, but every so often, we pause and take a minute to reflect on where we’ve been and what it’s all meant. And if you’ve spent thousands of hours playing the same video game across careers and births and losses and various world-altering events, that game is bound to accumulate meaning. “Destiny” and “Destiny 2” have had their ups and downs, and I’m not sure someone playing the original story campaign in 2014 would recognize, say, the acclaimed “Witch Queen” expansion in 2022 or the divisive “Lightfall” in ’23. It’s not the same game it was in 2014 or 2017. Nor are the people who play it the same audience they were ten years ago.
This is true for the game’s large cast of non-player characters, too. Commander Zavala, voiced by Keith David in the late Lance Reddick’s stead, is having a crisis of faith, feeling abandoned by the god he’s served for centuries. Ikora Rey (Mara Junot), a student of both death and resurrection, has grown world-weary and suspicious after so much loss and betrayal. Crow (Brandon O’Neill), formerly known as Prince Uldren Sov before his rebirth as a Guardian, wrestles with the tension between who he once was — and who he murdered — in a past life, and how best to do right by the people around him in the present. Finally, Cayde-6 (Nathan Fillion), the lovable rogue Uldren killed back in 2018’s “Destiny 2: Forsaken,” is alive again despite the loss of his Ghost (and therefore the Traveler’s gift of immortality).
Cayde remembers what it was like to die and return to the Traveler’s Light, he says. He remembers the warmth, the peacefulness of that place, and being reunited with Sundance, his Ghost. The Traveler doesn’t speak to us in “Destiny,” but our Ghosts do, and Cayde believes it’s all connected anyhow: the Guardians, their Ghosts, the Traveler, the Light. Separateness, in other words, is an illusion; we’re all one. This belief alone is our common ground with the Witness (Brett Dalton), a many-armed god seeking to dominate and control all life in the universe.
We look for comfort and meaning in the familiar, finding certain patterns and shapes over and over — in nature, in mythology, in art. And “Destiny” is a big, gloriously weird tapestry of hard sci-fi and fantasy, inspired by everything from “Star Wars” and “2001” to “True Detective” and ancient Mesopotamian myth. Often, the game can be pretty opaque, while other times it’s a little obvious and simplistic in how it presents its concepts. (This is a saga of concrete Light and Darkness, after all.) But its final conflict is straightforward enough. A titan of smoke and shadow has imprisoned whole civilizations within its hivemind, bending victims’ wills to whatever purpose it sees fit and turning their bodies to stone. Humanity is its next target, it’s here, and the power of the Traveler is our only hope to stop it.
In last year’s expansion, the Witness tore a great triangular hole in the Traveler, and “The Final Shape” takes place almost entirely inside it. This leads to a plane of reality called the Pale Heart, a “surreal domain of memory,” according to the in-game map of our solar system. Cayde and his mentor once swapped theories for what might be inside the mysterious machine floating above the Earth. “Nothing,” said Cayde-6. To which his mentor countered: “Everything.” And he was just about right. The Traveler’s interior is cosmically, impossibly vast. Still, its terrain is also familiar to players who have played the original “Destiny” or the original “Destiny 2” campaign (which has been inaccessible since 2020). For some developers, this would be a ludicrous swing. But Bungie has been building worlds for a long time, and these environments are breathtaking in a way that “Destiny” hasn’t been since I first laid eyes on the European Dead Zone and Nessus seven years ago. The studio’s artists have set a new bar for themselves with the Pale Heart, a place I suspect I’ll be spending a lot more time in as the year goes on.
If “Lightfall” was a mess of proper nouns that lacked context, “The Final Shape” is a narrative triumph by comparison, doing its very best to bring closure to a decade’s worth of questions, conflicts, and player expectations. Where it stumbles on occasion is in its nature as a living game that unfolds over time. Some of the big story beats count on you having played the 2017 Red War campaign, or “Forsaken,” or the ongoing seasonal missions. And it strikes me as odd that some of the best moments in the “Final Shape” quest take place after you’ve beaten the campaign proper; the final fight against the Witness didn’t unlock till four days after the expansion, when the most hardcore players finally cleared the new six-person raid. But maybe that’s par for the course with a game like “Destiny 2” or “The Elder Scrolls Online,” where the developers aim to not only tell a story but to forge a hobby that people will dedicate thousands of precious hours to — and, on occasion, feel as though their time has been well spent.
I was surprised by the relatively low cost of victory, given how “Destiny 2” began with the Red War and “Forsaken.” There’s a heroic death I saw coming, and yet another character’s sacrifice reverses it almost immediately, leaving the status quo more or less intact. The Earth is safe and sound; the Tower and the Last City still stand; the Traveler and its Ghosts endure. I had a hunch we would lose at least one of these, especially once Cayde brought up that the Guardians’ oath is all about sacrifice in the name of the greater good.
The writing and performances shine throughout; David, Fillion, Junot, and O’Neill are brilliant in their portrayals of grief, even in a world where the dear departed can return from the afterlife for one last hurrah. There’s a tongue-in-cheek quality to “Destiny,” and Cayde in particular has always been one to lighten the mood, but the “Destiny 2” of today is a game that fully believes in itself. And, even though this closes the book on the Witness, there’s plenty of life and mystery left in Bungie’s shared-world shooter.
“It’s going to be very fun to play,” a “Destiny” developer told me in mid-2013, months after the first game’s unveiling. For nearly ten years, that claim has held true, with levels like the Vault of Glass raid, the Prophecy dungeon, the “Witch Queen” boss battle, and now the 12-player “Excision” mission taking the game to new heights. Shooting monsters with your friends is invariably a good time. There have been some dark periods, and players have come and gone. My interest has certainly waxed and waned over the years. But “Final Shape” feels fresh and inviting in a way that the series hasn’t since — well, since Cayde’s death in 2018.
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The Regime (2024). Created by Will Tracy. Starring Kate Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts. Synopsis: An authoritarian regime is about to unravel. Follows a story of one year within the walls of its palace. US release date is TBA.
The American Society of Magical Negroes (2024). Written and directed by Kobi Libii. Starring Justice Smith, David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan. Synopsis: Aren is recruited into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance. Debuts in the US on March 22nd, 2024.
Housekeeping for Beginners (2024). Written and directed by Goran Stolevski. Starring Samson Selim, Mia Mustafi, Dzada Selim. Synopsis: A queer woman is forced to raise her partner’s daughter who herself doesn’t want to be a mother. US release date is TBA.
Expats (2024). Created by Lulu Wang. Starring Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo. Synopsis: A look at the personal and professional lives of a tight-knit group of expatriates living in Hong Kong. Debuts on Prime Video on January 26th, 2024.
He Went That Way (2024). Directed by Jeffrey Darling. Written by Evan M. Wiener. Starring Jacob Elordi, Patrick J. Adams, Zachary Quinto. Synopsis: A journey of curious tensions and bonds between two and at times three interesting characters all on their own path. Debuts in the US on January 12th, 2024.
American Star (2024). Directed by Gonzalo López-Gallego. Written by Nacho Faerna. Starring Ian McShane, Thomas Kretschmann, Nora Arnezeder. Synopsis: An assassin on a final assignment in Fuerteventura, to kill a man he has never met. When his target is delayed, he finds himself drawn to the island, people and a ghostly shipwreck. Debuts in the US on January 26th, 2024.
The Three Musketeers — Part II: Milady (2024). Directed by Martin Bourboulon. Written by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière (based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas). Starring François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Eva Green. Synopsis: D’Artagnan is forced to join forces with Milady to save Constance, who was kidnapped before his eyes. But as war is declared and Athos, Porthos and Aramis have already joined the front, a secret from the past shatters old alliances. US release date is TBA.
The Bikeriders (2024). Written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer. Synopsis: Follows the rise of a midwestern motorcycle club as it evolves over the course of a decade — from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s way of life. Debuts in the US on June 21st, 2024.
IF (2024). Written and directed by John Krasinski. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Steve Carell, John Krasinski. Synopsis: A young girl who goes through a difficult experience begins to see everyone’s imaginary friends who have been left behind as their real-life friends have grown up. Debuts in the US on May 17th, 2024.
Dune: Part Two (2024). Directed by Denis Villeneuve. Written by Denis Villeneuve and Jon Spaihts (based on the novel by Frank Herbert). Starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh. Synopsis: Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Debuts in the US on March 1st, 2024.
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024). Directed by Mark Molloy. Written by Will Beall, Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten (based on characters created by Danilo Bach and Daniel Petrie Jr.). Starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton. Synopsis: Detective Axel Foley finds himself drawn back to the opulent environs of Beverly Hills to investigate the untimely demise of a long-time confidant. US release date is TBA.
Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). Directed by Mike Mitchell and Stephanie Stine. Written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger. Starring Jack Black, Viola Davis, Awkwafina. Synopsis: After Po is tapped to become the Spiritual Leader of the Valley of Peace, he needs to find and train a new Dragon Warrior, while a wicked sorceress plans to re-summon all the master villains whom Po has vanquished to the spirit realm. Debuts in the US on March 8th, 2024.
Civil War (2024). Written and directed by Alex Garland. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons. Synopsis: In the near future, a team of journalists travel across the United States during a rapidly escalating civil war that has engulfed the entire nation. Debuts in the US on April 26th, 2024.
The Great Performances of 2023
Matt writes: In our annual Great Performances feature, I joined my colleagues in writing about a particular actor whose work I found extraordinary: namely Abby Ryder Fortson, whose portrayal of the title role in Kelly Fremon Craig’s masterful Judy Blume adaptation, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.” was my favorite performance of 2023.
Chaz Ebert’s Top 10(-ish) Films of 2023
Matt writes: RogerEbert.com publisher Chaz Ebert unveiled her own picks for the year’s best films in a Top 10(-ish) list that actually contained nineteen films, beginning with a three-way tie for the #1 spot: Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Ava DuVernay’s soon-to-be-released “Origin.” You can view the trailers for each of her picks here.
Free Movies
My Dear Secretary (1948). Written and directed by Charles Martin. Starring Kirk Douglas, Laraine Day, Keenan Wynn. Synopsis: A romance novelist appoints a would-be writer as his secretary. Although she is initially dismayed by his work ethic and playboy attitude, they begin to fall in love.
Watch “My Dear Secretary”
Home Town Story (1951). Written and directed by Arthur Pierson. Starring Jeffrey Lynn, Donald Crisp, Marilyn Monroe. Synopsis: After failing to be re-elected, politician Blake Washburn returns home and becomes editor of the local newspaper. When he notices the influence the paper has on the public, he uses it to appeal to potential voters in the next election.
Watch “Home Town Story”
A Dangerous Summer (1982). Directed by Quentin Masters. Written by Quentin Masters and David Ambrose. Starring Tom Skerritt, Ian Gilmour, Giselle Morgan. Synopsis: When a crummy hotel burns down in Australia, the American co-owner tries to find out whether or not the fire was deliberately set or just an accident.
Watch “A Dangerous Summer”
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