Unless I'm mistaken now that Ant Man and the Wasp is out and about in theaters, the Captain Marvel is the next Big Deal in the Marvel Universe. I feel like I need something else before we get to that. Unless the Captain Marvel is less universal than I'm thinking it's going to be.
Whup. Got ahead of myself there.
Ant Man and the Wasp is a lovely little romp. A fairly generous sorbet of local trouble to wash a little bit of that OH GOD EVERTHING IS GOING TO DIE out of your mouth before we jump back into it. Rudd is delightful. Evangeline Lily is p awesome. Michael Dougles is cantankerous. And Michael Pena is funny. You know, more of what you enjoyed about the first movie.
Nice. It was a nice fillum.
There's just the one mid-credits teaser to contend with this time.
As much as I'm enjoying everyone over here going apeshit for England in the World Cup - if you haven't heard, IT'S COMING HOME - I am OUTRAGED that Ant Man and the Wasp has been delayed for a month because of the World Cup.
The Marvel Captain Marvel is a weird property. The original dude is, uh, a dude and is otherwise fairly unremarkable. For that matter, the distaff counterpart then known as Ms Marvel wasn't any more popular. Both were kept in their own comics mostly to keep the copyrights in the Marvel stable.
At least until earlier this century. The Kree Captain Marvel died a death (allegedly but for real this time) and the once Ms Marvel eventually takes the name for herself. (Ms Marvel as a title is assumed by a new person, who is having a good success in the comics and will no doubt someday make it to the real big time.)
As such, there's no real singular through line or really solid identity for Captain Marvel - at least not as far as I can tell. Not like there is for the other Marvel Captain of America. Carol Danvers has been portrayed differently by different writers and with different motivations depending on the overarcing plot in which she appears.
So, it's almost a relief that Kevin Feige and the writers and directors of the MCU Marvel's Captain Marvel and Carol Danvers do a top to bottom rekajiggering of all of it. There's a lot of familiar stuff but thankfully the MCU Marvel's Captain Marvel is p much her own person not necessarily related to anyone else. And this is a very good thing.
Now then. After something like Infinity War the First and the anticipation for Infinity War the Second, Captain Marvel doesn't reach that level. Honestly, I don't think anything Marvel has done can match what that was about. But as a singular, relatively stand alone feature that had to drag you through a character's origin? Yeah, it's p good.
I got to see Captain Marvel about 2 weeks ago with our daughter and really enjoyed it. I thought as a stand alone film it was as good as any other Marvel movie with the exception of Ragnarok and Black Panther. It was better than loads of them.
I watched it a second time with Sou today as she was keen to support a female lead Marvel movie. I have to say, I enjoyed it even more the second time. Sou really enjoyed it and felt like it was a better portrayal of a female super hero than had ever been done before, more realistic is what she said. She was so impressed she watched the credits at the end to see who the writers were and said they were pretty much 50-50 men/women.
I would watch this film again tomorrow, which says a lot I think.
What really helps set Captain Marvel (the movie) apart from the other movies (whether in MCU or not) is that it's more about kinship than it is about relationship. Most of the course of the movie is the buddy cop thematically and how Carol worked or got along with the people in her life and no romantic entanglements. Nobody anywhere laments that missing element from this origin story.
Marvel's The Avengers: Infinity War part 2: The Endgame
Well. It was a movie.
I happened to watch two things today that were, I guess, somewhat prescient. I won't reveal what they were openly. We'll see how I feel by the time I finish posting whether or not one or both end up behind spoiler tags. I'd rather try and get through this without it if I can. But, I probably won't because some of what I feel fits snugly inside at least emotional spoiler territory if not actual direct plot space.
There's approximately one quarter to one third of the movie that I wasn't a fan of. Most of the disfavor is pointed right at one character and the balance is directed to another. But both are sort of wishy-washy very nerd(rage) opinion with how the characters were developed up to and now through this point.
The rest of the movie is p solid. I will say in the movie's favor two things we've been waiting almost the whole time for did happen - both performed by one character.
I guess to give a gage on its goodness - better than Ultron but below both Infinity War (#2 spot) and the original Marvel's The Avengers. It was a great big balancing act (no pun hashtag thanos) that I think only the Russos could have pulled off, but ultimately I think there was too much to work with. Does that mean I think there could have been a third movie or could this one have been cut down? I dunno. There were some shenanigans I could have done without (that aren't related to my issues with character characterization).
So. Here's some stuff I'm going to stick behind a spoiler like I mentioned earlier.
One of the things I seen't today was the first Iron Man. Damn if that movie still doesn't hold up. It's a tightly told story - not without flaws - but still very very solid. Being reminded of the beginning of Tony's journey was a great way to set the mind for how he came to his destiny. If you've unspoiled this, you have only yourself to blame.
I thought for sure it'd be Cap to sacrifice himself, if needed, to the Stones or the Universe or whatever, however in a final fight against Thanos. Of course it was Tony. In some nice symmetry, it was probably always going to be Tony.
Also behind the spoiler I have to talk about the other person who had a great arc through the movies. Oddly prescient that one of the three videos I watched in a series was about Black Widow. Okay, kinda two of the three, but in one she's mentioned along with the others. The series of videos is kind of an anthology from various youtube critics and their favorite scene(s) in the Marvel Universe: One Marvelous Scene.
With the things I seen't that helped put me in a certain mind space, let me tell you about the things I didn't like.
Frat Boy Depressed Fat Thor.
I'm actually p nerdraged about that. I guess it's sort of to be expected since the serious King's Son Thor wasn't working cinematically. Thor's first movie was just okay and Thor's The Dark World was one of the disappointments. When they retooled after the success of Guardians I guess it was inevitable that we'd get something like Ragnarok. A great big joke that kept being told with only some serious bits in between. That continued p much unabated here in Endgame and looks like it's going to only get more wacky with the Guardians team ups.
And I guess sucked through the wake of that we have the other character I'm not sure about: The Hulk. For whatever reason, the Hulk just doesn't work on the big screen. I can't exactly pin down what's always bugged me about how they try to make it work and fit with a team at the same time. It just does.
The last thing that bugs me: The rekajiggered timeline. Like, how the fuck is that even going to work. Especially for the characters we actually see who got unsnapped. They are as they were five years ago only it's now. Now being 2023-4? Or is "five years later" some other comic book fuckery and it's still 2018-9? And now that we already knew that Peter Parker is back - with his classmates going to Europe. It looks like all the people he knew got snapped along with him. Unless we're looking back again at a de-elasticized time line.
Those are the fridge things that are keeping me from liking this movie more.
And that's in a movie where Captain freaking America both calls out AVENGERS ASSEMBLE and wields Mjolnir.
I mislike disagreeing with my borther, so I won't. But, rather, I have a different perspective.
As a non-spoiler intro, I want to say that Endgame isn't only a sequel to Infinity War. More than that, it's a coda to the MCU films to date and a love letter to the fans whether they are fans of the comics or just the films themselves. The rest of this spoiler filled review is coming from this perspective
The Love Letter
This movie is so full of call backs to previous films and shout outs to comic books. I'll admit that these things fully worked on me as a big fat fanboy. From "On your left" to "Hail Hydra" and, of course, "Avengers Assemble!", I loved how the movie acknowledged those fans who have thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the entirety of the MCU and comics. I can see why some would see it as fan-service, but there's nothing wrong with that. Fan service can be a great thing and it was incorporated into the movie pretty naturally and respectfully.
Captain America
He's quite simply my favorite Avenger. He's always been a good man, willing to lay his life down in the defense of others. Which is why is "getting a life" at the end of it all is a special character turn for him. The Cap after the "Five Year Gap" is still a hero, but he chooses to serve by counseling a post-Snapture group of survivors. He doesn't appear to be an active Avenger, unlike Nebula/Rocket, War Machine, Captain Marvel, Okoye and Black Widow. He's not part of the mission meeting, but rather comes in after the meeting is done. He does not appear to be the leader of the Avengers, anymore. Black Widow appears to fill that role now.
Cap is tired, he’s still going to step up to the fight when needed. But when the fight is over, he’s ready to “get a life”. I’ll discuss more about the timeline later, but for now I want to focus on his decision. Cap clearly discussed his plan with his best friend, Bucky before jumping into the time stream to return the Stones. Bucky says he’ll miss him, knowing that Steve isn’t coming back. Or at least not coming back in the way they all expect. Bucky is also okay with Sam assuming the mantle of Captain America. Bucky, the White Wolf, has enough of war.
Iron Man
Ever since the first Avengers film, we knew that Tony is capable of laying his life on the line to defend others. His sacrifice at the end of the movie isn’t surprising that he was willing to make it, but rather it is augmented by how much he was sacrificing. It wasn’t just his life, but it was the life he would have had with his wife and daughter. It was the one condition that he had for taking on the Time Heist and ultimately it was the one thing he had to give up in order to save the very thing itself. Tony needed to be at rest and perhaps he was before the Time Heist was conceived, but once he learned that there was a way to bring everyone back, he could no longer rest.
Thor
The greatest lesson that Thor ever needed to learn was humility and he had done so time and time again. But, now he was brought lower than simply being humbled. Thor had failed and more than that, had suffered a trauma that was greater than he had even anticipated. “What else do I have to lose?” he tells Rocks in Infinity War. He finds out he had a lot more to lose. He allowed this failure to define him and to shape him for the next five years.
I found his state to be totally relatable, finally. I could never relate to being a god who had to learn how to be humble. But, man, can I relate to depression. I get it. And sure it was played for laughs, but even then it fit with his character. Thor uses humor as a defense (or at least since Ragnarok). I’m not saying that they didn’t turn Thor into a comedic element, of course they did. But, they also used that to inform the trauma that he was feeling. It worked for me.
Hulk
I’m ambivalent about this one. I really do like HULK SMASH, but can understand if it gets a little one-note for the character. It does define the Hulk (not Banner) in almost every film, even Ragnarok. I’m not completely sure that Banner really has accepted the Hulk. He seems to have integrated the physicality of the Hulk, but not the all-consuming rage and fury. He’s not complete, even though he may be as complete as he actually wants to be.
Hawkeye
I really like Jeremy Renneer and I like the character. But, I don’t have much else beyond that.
Black Widow
I am going to miss Nat. I really am. I am not crazy that they went and killed the only female OG Avenger. After all, “fridging women” is coined from the comic books. Nat was suffering post-Snapture. She kept wanting to do more, even though that there might not have been enough to do in the new world. Perhaps she felt she had not done enough (could not do enough) in Infinity War. Or perhaps there was no other way to absolve the “red on her ledger”. Nevermind that she probably had done that the last two times she saved the world. In her mind, she could never find redemption until Vormir.
The Timelines
The time travel rules in Endgame as I understand it are (1) the past cannot be changed and (2) changes in the timeline create alternate timelines (realities).
Based on this, we can assume that every timeline visited by the Avengers as part of the Time Heist results in an alternate reality. Some are barely unchanged from the MCU Prime reality, others have to be wildly divergent.
Here’s the best I can summarize what I believe happens after Cap returns the Stones.
Asgard 2013
Assuming Cap returns only seconds after the Aether is taken, he probably injects Jane Foster with it before Malekith comes looking for it. As such, Frigga probably still dies and events are likely to continue as before. There is a hiccup where Asgardian soldiers had to chase down Rocket and 2013 Thor lost his hammer for a hot second. But, these are likely not significant changes.
New York 2012
Even if Cap returns the Scepter (not just the Mind Stone) and the Time Stone, there are significant changes in this timeline. First, Loki is out there somewhere with the Space Stone (Tesseract). He will get up to mischief. Second, a good number of Hydra agents inside of SHIELD believe that Cap is part of the conspiracy. Third, 2012 Cap has reason to believe Bucky is still alive. All of these things are enough to result in a very different timeline than MCU Prime.
New Jersey 1970
As an addenda to this, the New Jersey 1970 timeline probably doesn’t result in too big of a change. Maybe Pym ends up quitting SHIELD earlier when he sees someone stole his Pym Particles. But, probably little else will change.
Morag and Vormir 2014
This is the biggest change for a very simple reason. No Thanos in this timeline. Thanos 2014 goes to the MCU Prime 2019 timeline and dies there. As does his entire army. What does this mean? Even if Quill wakes up in time to beat Korath to the Power Stone, there’s no Gamora to try to take the stone away from him on Xandar. Rocket and Groot might still be there and maybe all three of them end up in prison and meet up with Drax. But, it is unlikely that they will form a new version of the Guardians. It’s not even clear what a non-Power Stone possession Ronan will do. The biggest change is going to result in the most unknowables.
Captain America ????
All we can say with certainty is that Cap didn’t return to the time platform as scheduled, but does show up as an old man on a bench to hand the shield to Sam. He says he stayed in the past (or at least “a past”) and lived a life. But how exactly, isn’t clear. Was it an alternate timeline that he created by staying in the past? Was it a different dimension altogether? Was it something else altogether? We can’t really say. And I don’t want to really say. Because a Cap that is willing to go back in time and let everything proceed as before is unfathomable to me. This Cap has to be willing to let Bucky suffer decades of torture. This Cap has to be willing to let Hydra take over SHIELD. This Cap wouldn’t be the Cap I admire. In my head canon, this Cap found a way to be an active hero and still have a life. This Cap, after retirement, found a way to travel back to the MCU Prime 2019 timeline to hand the shield off to Sam.
I'm ing that poast even though I ain't clicking the spoiler, 'cause I haven't even seen Captain Fucking Marvel yet, let alone Avengers Motherfucking Endgame. Just because it heartens me to actually do both without worrying either will suck.
Oh, and because it's wei fucking yau.
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"Her eyes in certain light were violet, and all her teeth were even. That's a rare, fair feature: even teeth. She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction." - Eleanor of Aquitaine
wei yau is v smart and I agree with everthing he says. The only difference is in matters of degrees. While I'm giving the Marvel's the Avengers the Endgame a solid B, his grade is a little higher.
I enjoyed the things he enjoyed for p much the same reasons. I just had issues with a couple of things.
I got caught up with some of my speculation and didn't address the same things you did. I may ponder it some, but I think you're on the right track.
I think the school trip to Europe is something they do for kids who have been snapped back. As a way of showing them how the world changed post-Snapture. And the fact that this group includes MJ and Ned isn't that big of a coincidence since Hawkeye and Ant-Man also lost like their while families at once.
I finally got to see it and read the reviews here. I agree with a lot of what has been said. Especially this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by wei yau
As a non-spoiler intro, I want to say that Endgame isn't only a sequel to Infinity War. More than that, it's a coda to the MCU films to date and a love letter to the fans whether they are fans of the comics or just the films themselves.
There is a fair amount I can forgive in the movie because of that.
I would say I enjoyed Infinity Wars more, but that this was a pretty good end to a long list of movies.
My biggest complaint was
it was too slow/long, but they did have a lot to fit in there. I suppose I could have done with a lot less of the first 60-90 mins.
I think I agree with Bort that it's about a 'B', but I do need to see it again.
There are soooooooooooo many little nods to past movies in there. I enjoyed every one I caught.
Though everyone/thing is still reeling from what they're calling in-universe "The Blip," the Spider-Man takes a good deep breath of regular life. Stakes are stakening and all Peter wants to focus on is being your Friendly Neighborhood level Spider-Man. But People keep dragging him off to bigger adventure(s).
What's to enjoy: Tom Holland. I liked Tobey McGuire as Peter-Man. Not every movie was great, but I always thought he was a good choice. Kinda the same about Andrew Garfield. He was fine choice - but I disliked the movies. But Tom? He's note perfect. The scripts he's getting are perfect. There's nothing not to love about that. (Except for the Movie Sin of ALWAYS REMOVING YOUR MASK.)
Peter's supporting cast: Especially Ned, his man in the chair. Kind of the Samwise of the gang. Not that Peter needs the help being tied to his peers or his neighborhood or being grounded. Being a teenager (or acting as one) keeps that duality alive by itself. But it's good that he has a "regular" friend who's in on the deal.
Much ballyhooed for being the non-ginger MJ Watson, Zendaya is a wonderful contrast to the mostly nerdy squares of Peter and Ned. I'm digging her as MJ. She and Tom have a great at being awkward kids new in love chemistry.
What's not to enjoy? Well, without going into spoilers - there are a couple of niggles that bug me. There are a couple of situations Peter is thrust into that I think didn't need to happen. He's given a gift from Tony, and because of super-techno-comic-magic of course it talks and one has to talk back to it - in a public setting and it causes shennanigans. And later in the movie Peter says a thing and it's worded awkwardly.
But all things considered, those are minor. It's a fine good film. Not a real sorbet as such, but there's some breathing room after the Big Deal.
There are two post credit scenes -one with Spider-Man and another with Fury and Hill. Neither are throwaways and tie directly to upcoming events.
You can't help but wonder if Marvel is sending a message of sorts, given their choice of Mysterio as a central character in Spider-Man: Far from Home. Those of you who are familiar with the comics know who Mysterio is, of course.
Mysterio is basically a con-man who spends the entire movie pretending to be someone that he's not. He gathers a base of supporters by exploiting their resentment over how they were supposedly "cheated" out of stuff that was "owed to them" by Tony Stark. Because they weren't entirely wrong, Mysterio was able to manipulate them quite easily.
After all, Tony Stark was spectacularly irresponsible at times. And he seldom took responsibility for his often poorly thought-out plans and actions. What's more, if this movie is to be believed, Stark did not always treat his employees terribly well -- and wasn't above taking the credit for ideas and inventions that were not actually his own.
So it's easy to see why some of his former employees would be more than a little resentful.
Mysterio's entire plan is to use lies and deception to make the masses love him. He doesn't care in the slightest that he's directly endangering millions of people in the process -- and at least some people surely died as a direct result of his actions.
So, he's a superficially charming sociopath who is good at reading people and telling them what they want to hear in order to gain their loyalty. He builds his base of support by appealing to the prejudices and resentment of people who (not entirely illegitimately) feel that they've been treated unfairly. He uses lies and deception to gain wider support. He manipulates the press into giving him lots of attention.
He's all about self-promotion. All of his "achievements" are lies. When challenged or questioned, he grows furious.
Oh, and when he loses in the end, rather than taking it with any degree of grace, he sets up a spectacularly mean-spirited form of "revenge" against the hero who dared to thwart him.
Does all of this not sound just a teensy bit ... familiar?
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
That's not something I wanted to contemplate. I kinda still don't want to. I mean. I'm mostly positive about Jake as an actor. He seems nice and weirdly enough, Quenton is at least intelligent and charismatic and even knowing he was going to be the bad guy, I wanted to like him.
You know. P much all the opposite things of who you're talking about.
I agree: Gyllenhaal was brilliant as Mysterio, and very likable. You really wanted him to be exactly what he seemed to be.
Regarding the Trump comparison, this may be an example of "Reality is Unrealistic."
Imagine that we could go back in time, say 5 years or so. Further, let's imagine that no one had heard of Trump.
Suppose that someone put out a movie in which a guy ran for President -- a guy who openly ran on a platform of racism and sexism; a guy who lied constantly and very obviously; a guy who openly invited hostile foreign powers to interfere in the election on his behalf; a guy who displayed the self-control and intelligence of a toddler; a guy who constantly displayed an almost total lack of understanding regarding even the most basic issues; a guy who had multiple credible allegations of sexual assault against him (and was caught on tape bragging about committing sexual assault); a guy whose entire strategy seemed to consist of name-calling and brazenly lying about both himself and his opponents.
The movie would surely be panned. Critics and movie-goers would complain that no one in their right minds would ever vote for someone so blatantly unqualified, so blatantly corrupt -- and such an obvious villain.
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“The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
While the evil bad guy wasn't the central character, you could very easily be talking about
V for Vendetta.
But then, that story was more about the allegory than a character study. But still. Your point survives because the President has stepped so fully into parody that making fun isn't an exercise in actually exaggerating what he says and does it's just copying it.
It was enjoyable. Pretty much standard Marvel stuff, so it was up my alley enough that I enjoyed it. Some good chuckles, some great effects and of course Mysterio.
But it didn't wow me like Ragnarok, Black Panther or any of the Avenger movies. So a second tier movie in my opinion and not even as good as Homecoming, though not far behind.
I also really like Zendaya as MJ. I didn't realise she only has 1 name on IMDB, cool