I liked it, but truthfully, I expected to like it more than I did.

On paper this should be the movie in the franchise I am most comfortable with. It's not a horror movie (the only project in the franchise that isn't actually horror, actually) and there is a distinct lack of gore and gross-outs. And for that reason it's the easiest of the movies to watch. But I think I had some problems with the script. Maybe the previous Evil Dead scripts had also problems, but you are more apt to notice them in a fantasy epic instead of a horror movie. For horror movies, plot-related dumbness actually goes with the territory. My expectations for fantasy are higher.

But it's not exactly a fantasy. It's also a cross between an action movie and a slapstick comedy. I think things were a little TOO slapstick for this specific franchise. I have not watched Ash Vs. Evil Dead yet, but I'm thinking the stakes have inadvertently been lowered by turning Ash into a rubber cartoon character who never really gets hurt in this one movie.

Let's talk about things I liked. The ending wasn't definitive, but it was a good place to leave things, appreciated more by me because the first two movies ended on cliffhangers. If this had been the last thing in the franchise ever I would have been fine with it.

I liked that Arthur and Henry embraced like brothers at the end. That is something out of a cheesy 80's movie and I approved of it.

It seems like Ash is a lot bigger of an outward jerk than he was in the first two movies. I certainly don't really care for the wallflower he was in the first Evil Dead movie, but the second movie sort of turned him into a wisecracking superhero without making him lose either his humanity or our sympathy to him from the audience. I think the second movie splitting the difference was the best version of the character.

Speaking of previous movies, they rebooted the first one AGAIN. Because I DID see the first one and I know damn well Linda wasn't played by Bridget Fonda.

I'll give that a positive review, but I expected it to be my favorite Ash movie, and it wasn't. ***1/2.