Part 1 of this essay is here.
I don’t want to rank these movies for you. What’s the point? You’re just going to incredulously point out that Guardians of the Galaxy should be higher or derisively sneer that Iron Man 3 should be lower. Make your own damn list. Instead, I’m going to talk about my impressions and insights (such as they are) regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies up until now.
I don’t want to rank these movies for you. What’s the point? You’re just going to incredulously point out that Guardians of the Galaxy should be higher or derisively sneer that Iron Man 3 should be lower. Make your own damn list. Instead, I’m going to talk about my impressions and insights (such as they are) regarding the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies up until now.
In very broad strokes, I liked all of them, and moreso than
any of the previous Marvel movies, with a few exceptions, as you’ll see below.
This giant-ass list of entertainment media contains only one genuine false
start and one really sour note, both of which were recent TV properties.
Everything else has been overall quite pleasurable to watch, and as a fan with
an understanding of the different storytelling mediums and how they might
dictate the way a story is presented, it has been fascinating to watch the MCU
origami-fold 35, 50, even 75 years’ worth of stories into the essential beats
and elements for a film series. Some things get added, some things get taken
away, and many things get re-purposed or streamlined. But the ends have
justified the means in nearly every instance.
More to the point, let me say that, judging movie for movie, the MCU movies that I liked the least--out of all of them--I liked way better than I liked Spider-Man 3. Or X-Men: The Last Stand. Or Elektra. Or Daredevil (the Affleck version). Or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Or all three Fantastic Four movies. So, if you need a barometer by which I'm grading these things on, let the above movies stand as your negative integers. I talked about this clear line of demarcation earlier in the year as part of a long diatribe on Super Hero Fatigue.
More to the point, let me say that, judging movie for movie, the MCU movies that I liked the least--out of all of them--I liked way better than I liked Spider-Man 3. Or X-Men: The Last Stand. Or Elektra. Or Daredevil (the Affleck version). Or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Or all three Fantastic Four movies. So, if you need a barometer by which I'm grading these things on, let the above movies stand as your negative integers. I talked about this clear line of demarcation earlier in the year as part of a long diatribe on Super Hero Fatigue.
The other thing that these movies have done is to create a sub-genre
unto themselves: “The Marvel Super Hero Movie.” I know it seems like a thin
distinction, but perhaps the best thing that the studio did was to figure out
how to translate the Marvel Comics style of storytelling into movies. That now-famous
quote from Feige comes to mind about how Captain America: Winter Soldier isn’t
a super hero movie; it’s a Cold War spy thriller that just happens to have
super heroes in it. That aesthetic going forward, especially in Phase 2 and
Phase 3, really set them apart from the Distinguished Competition, who have
been trying, with limited success, to replicate their previous successes with
Batman and Superman. I say this genuinely and without any acrimony whatsoever,
because I love those characters, but Marvel has simply beaten Warner Brothers
to the punch in nearly every way—with notable exceptions, like 2017’s fantastic
and long overdue Wonder Woman.
Meanwhile, Marvel’s movies have forged complex relationships with one another, fueled by secondary and tertiary plotlines that eventually converge into Avengers movies. We get to see these heroes at their best, and also at their worst, and sometimes, they are more on point in their civilian guises than they are saving the world in their battle suits. Such as always been a key ingredient to the Marvel storytelling formula. Heroes with problems. Relatable, undate-able, and debatable—these guys aren’t always right. They make mistakes, bad calls. Tony Stark in particular has to carry the weight of several Silver Age scientists who screwed up, but Marvel Studio has deftly given Stark an ego the size of Avengers Mansion so he can handle it when he has a mega-setback (like, say, Ultron, for instance). They are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and they are also wonderfully broken in the ways that make them fascinating characters to watch. Some of the best scenes in all of the Marvel movies happen with no high-flying punching, just people sitting around a table, talking, or better yet, standing up and arguing.
Meanwhile, Marvel’s movies have forged complex relationships with one another, fueled by secondary and tertiary plotlines that eventually converge into Avengers movies. We get to see these heroes at their best, and also at their worst, and sometimes, they are more on point in their civilian guises than they are saving the world in their battle suits. Such as always been a key ingredient to the Marvel storytelling formula. Heroes with problems. Relatable, undate-able, and debatable—these guys aren’t always right. They make mistakes, bad calls. Tony Stark in particular has to carry the weight of several Silver Age scientists who screwed up, but Marvel Studio has deftly given Stark an ego the size of Avengers Mansion so he can handle it when he has a mega-setback (like, say, Ultron, for instance). They are Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and they are also wonderfully broken in the ways that make them fascinating characters to watch. Some of the best scenes in all of the Marvel movies happen with no high-flying punching, just people sitting around a table, talking, or better yet, standing up and arguing.
Finally, this is not necessarily part of their plan, but
because of their aggressive schedule it’s worked out in their favor. Having
three movies a year gives Marvel a tighter turning radius than other studios
and super hero properties. It allows them to make corrections on the fly—relatively
speaking—regarding inclusion and representation. I think Marvel has done an excellent
job of folding these concerns into the movies and letting them stand on their
own merits, rather than asking to be noticed with press releases. More studios could
take a page from this practice. Show, don’t tell. Make Shuri from Black Panther
a cool character and more people will want to see Shuri again. Because she’s
cool, see? It’s not hard to do in a universe where people have lasers coming
out of their faces. Make cool characters, and then tell good stories. That’s
certainly the Silver Age and Bronze Age ethic from which most of these films
are derived.
Here are my talking points and take-aways from the MCU
projects, all of which I’ve watched at least twice, and some as many as ten
times. Skip over any shows or movies you haven't seen, because I cavalierly discuss plot points that you may not want to know. Spoiler alert.
Phase 1
We didn’t even know there was a “Phase One” until they
started talking about “Phase Two.” Looking back on these early movies, you can
readily see that they had an idea in place, even if it look a while longer to
get up to speed.
2008
Iron Man
Still very watchable for a number of reasons, most of them
related to Robert Downey, Jr.’s brilliant performance of Tony Stark. He carries
the movie—he really has to—and comes out of it both better and worse in the
end. The suit tech has this veneer of believability to it, like using the
repulsors in his gloves to stabilize his flight. And the updating of his
origin—while sticking really close to it—was just the thing to bring the fans
in. Bonus for the Stan Lee mis-cameo as “Hef.” By 2008, Stan had been in all of
the Marvel films from other studios, and so it was a bit overplayed, but Tony
mistaking him for Hugh Hefner was very funny.
And it was very cool (at the time, really forward thinking) to use Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" for the closing credits. Stark playing AC/DC and wearing old metal band shirts is another reminder that he's really one of us, the kids from the 1980s, much as the actor himself wasn't much other than we were in those teen comedies he played in.
The Incredible Hulk
I wish this had been Ang Lee’s Hulk movie. What a pleasure
it was to not have to sit through the Hulk’s origin (using a montage in the
opening credits, borrowed from the TV show of the same name). Let’s just cut to
the chase, literally, as Banner’s hiding out in South America and looking for a
cure. They threw a lot of stuff into this movie, but the biggest puzzle piece
they re-arranged was the idea that Banner was looking for the Super Soldier
serum. It was a nice shortcut that served as a dog whistle for comic book fans
in the audience—all 40,000 of them—to signify that this was, in fact, the
Marvel Universe, just different. A lot of people thought this movie was
mindless, but frankly, a lot of Hulk comics were slugfests, too. The movie ends
with a teaser about The Leader, but I don’t think we’ll ever see that
particular villain until Hulk’s rights gen unentangled from Universal.
And as much as I love Ed Norton, watching Mark Rufalo take
over for the Hulk, physically, has been great. His involvement in the
character’s arc has been a positive all the way, and I think it’s because he
got to play both sides of the character.
2010
Iron Man 2
People frequently list this at the bottom of their Marvel
rankings, but it holds up much better the second time around, and in hindsight
with what’s gone on since. At the time, a Russian ex-convict being a brilliant
computer hacker was stretching the bounds of credulity; but in 2018, it now
makes perfect sense. Whiplash was always one of the many B-Grade villains from
the Justin Hammer stories, and it was nice to see him re-imagined as a blunt
instrument/ex-Soviet terrorist who actually gives Iron Man some trouble.
The best thing about this movie is the introduction of Black
Widow. Scarlett Johansson took a cheesecake role and leaned into it, playing
the seductress and the ass-kicker with the same aplomb. Later she would get to
do more than just pole-swing around a bunch of stuntmen, and this is when her
character really takes off. Don Cheadle as Jim Rhodes was another inspired
choice, and he’s a much better foil for Downey, Jr. to play off of, and their
chemistry is noticeable. Another quick shout-out to Stan Lee being mistaken for Larry King this time around.
2011
Thor
Probably the best decision Marvel made in this period was to
make use of good directors with an affinity for the source material. Kenneth
Branagh is the unsung hero of the first Thor movie, putting the emphasis on the
High Court Drama and inter-family squabbling that is such a rich part of Shakespeare’s
plays; his work with the Bard’s body of work is largely what made Branagh’s
reputation as a director and an actor. The other best decision, geekily
speaking, was giving us a glimpse of Hawkeye, character I never dreamed would
be realized in a film.
This movie, I think, is probably the closest to a standard "super hero" movie, a structural hold-over from what had come before. There’s an economy of
scale here that drops Thor into a small town in the desert, stripped of his
powers, and so of course, the appearance of the Destroyer would seem epic by
comparison, only it's not, really, is it. The final scenes felt a little cheap, almost rinky-dink. That’s not to say
it’s not a fun movie, mostly because of Hemsworth, but subsequent uses of Thor
had the spectacle that was missing from the inaugural outing.
Captain America: The
First Avenger
Director Joe Johnston, on the other hand, knocked it out of
the park. This is one of my favorite Marvel movies, despite a weak third act,
and for one simple reason: this was the only way to do Cap, and it was the
first time since the comics themselves in 60+ years that they got it right. Cap
starts out scrawny Steve Rogers and takes the Super Soldier serum and bathes in
Vita-Rays and out comes Captain America. Dr. Erskine is killed by Nazi
saboteurs and Rogers goes on tour as Captain America. But what gets him into
the war is the word that Bucky’s unit is captured. So he breaks them free and
joins their unit, the Howlin’ Commandos. What’s not to love? It’s a great
simplification of the story, and it’s really satisfying to watch Cap kicking
Hydra ass with Dum-Dum Dugan. Talk about something I never thought I’d see in
my lifetime. Chris Evans is pitch perfect in the role, easily one of my
favorite MCU characters, because he is instantly recognizable as his comic book
counterpart.
2012
The Avengers
I love this movie, from start to finish. It starts small,
gets weird, and then blows up at the end. We go from seeing one-on-one fights
and petty bickering—straight out of the Marvel Comics Standard Playbook—to an
epic, city-wide battle with civilians scrambling and Avengers as a team, coming
together to save the city, and this incredible tableau of fantastic violence
that is part of any good Avengers comic.
Joss Whedan knows what makes a good Marvel comic, having
written and read a ton of them himself, and easily the best thing he did with
the characters was beef up the role of Black Widow. She’s almost like Batman in
this first Avengers, solving problems, providing tactical support for the big
guns, and in general proving over and over again why she is on the team. Mostly,
the movie was proof of concept that not only could super hero movies work, but
that they would be accepted by a larger audience. Not just Spider-Man and the
X-Men, but a movie with Black Widow and Hawkeye on the team. That idea moved
the whole thing forward in a way that Elektra
and The Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver
Surfer never could.
Phase 2
These movies represent a lot of mid-points in various
character’s journeys, and while they are perhaps the most uneven of the lot,
they still hold up solidly under repeated viewings. Most of the playing pieces
were on the table at this point, fueling rampant speculation about Thanos and
it was around this time that the concept of “Super Hero Fatigue” first set in.
Also, here in Phase 2 is when the Grey Beards in comic book fandom began to
speculate that, despite the success of the first set of Marvel movies, they
were sure to be upended, hoisted on their own petard, and otherwise in danger
of screwing the pooch for bringing “Fill in the blank upcoming movie” onto the
big screen.
The one I’m talking about that had everyone doubting the
power of Marvel was, of course, Guardians
of the Galaxy. Honestly, I thought this would be the one. They’d pushed it
too far. Thankfully, I was proven wrong and those characters have become among
the most popular in the whole MCU. I was happy to shut my mouth after that, but
the Grey Beards, looking for a failure so they could cackle online and say,
“See!? I was right all along!” because we are our own worst enemies, they next
fixated on Ant-Man and were again
proven wrong.
2013
Iron Man 3
I like this movie more than I should, mostly because of director Shane Black. For all of the off-putting weirdness and the misfires of the fake
and real villain, Black working with Downey, Jr. is movie gold and this was no
exception. Black is not afraid to go cynical, hate on children, and bludgeon
Christmas to death as an ironic counterpoint to the horrible things happening
in his movies. Together, they brought
Tony’s arc-reactor (see what I did, there?) to a somewhat satisfying
conclusion, but left him wide open for future psychic trauma, as we will see. The misuse of the Mandarin was well-handled, meaning, as much as I would have liked to see the guy with ten rings on his fingers that each did something cool, building him as a political propaganda puppet (and explained just so) in the movie was a bold choice, and I think one that worked far better than if they'd grafted an actual Asian into what has since become a highly problematic character. I may be the only Iron Man fan that thinks that way, but let me ask all'a y'all this: would you rather the Unicorn? Remember, Iron Man has some of the dorkiest villains ever committed to pen and ink. Not a lot of primo choices, there.
Thor: The Dark World
I found this the weakest of the three Thor movies, but there
are a lot of people who would disagree with me based on a number of reasons
that boil down to personal preferences. Regardless, the epic scope of the movie
was sufficiently beefed up after The
Avengers, and Thor’s mass battle scenes were a lot more satisfying. Leaving
most of Asgard on the table and concentrating on Thor and Loki’s relationship
was a great choice, and one of the things that saved the movie.
It's not a stretch to suggest that Loki is the most
interesting, most well-developed, and most popular villain in the MCU, and
easily one of the most popular characters overall in the MCU. Tom Hiddleston
and Chris Hemsworth are going to go down as one of the best acting duos in the
first three phases. There’s a real rock star quality to the character even as
he’s shown failing at more than one scheme. But his role never devolves into
comic relief. Loki is too proud for that. This movie was the peak of
Loki-mania, and I think this is what saved the movie.
Agents of
S.H.I.E.L.D.
More than once I have referred to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as
“the Silmarillion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” It’s not necessary to
consume it to enjoy the main story, but for those who like deep dives into
obscure background material, this is that show. What they initially sold as a
spy drama with super heroes dropping in quickly pivoted away from that model
and became the place to lay out real estate and concepts that they could pick
up later in other projects; things like the Kree and the Inhumans. The
Darkhold. Ghost Rider (a GOOD Ghost Rider, not a Nick Cage Ghost Rider). All sorts of great things have played out in five
seasons. It’s one of my favorite shows on television, but I realize it’s
insider baseball for comic book nerds like myself.
2014
Captain America:
Winter Soldier
One of the best movies in the MCU, period. The Russo
brothers perfectly balanced the Cold War Spy elements with the absurdities of
super heroes and shadow organizations. And hey, best of all, we got The Falcon,
another one of my favorite Marvel characters. He made a great partner for Cap
in the comics and they are able to bond instantly as fellow veterans in the
MCU. So simple, so well-done. A great part for Anthony Mackie, one he really
seems to enjoy.
Also, Black Widow is all over this movie in a great way,
using her Cold War spy stuff to get the upper hand more than once. Oh, and hey—Batroc
the Leaper? Are you kidding me? What a cool way to use that iconic and also
very stupid character. But I think Robert Redford as the spymaster was the best
casting, clearly a more than passing acknowledgement of the Three Days of the Condor elements and
another great use of these cool actors. The MCU is for American character
actors what the Harry Potter movies were for British character actors.
Guardians of the
Galaxy
As I stated earlier, I thought this would be the one that
tanked. Mostly because of Rocket Raccoon. But I was wrong, and quite happy to
be so. That said, as enjoyable as it is, it’s a little too silly for me at
times and I think the humor doesn’t always work. I liked it. But I didn’t love
it like how some folks do. Pratt and Saldana are awesome together, and I was
glad to see their chemistry build in the second movie.
Still, I feel like this whole movie was Gunn’s audition tape and
sizzle reel for making a Howard the Duck
movie. That will be great, if they let him do it. Big if. Colossal if. Because Howard the Duck needs almost an R-rated sensibility to do the right way. Otherwise, why make it?
I suppose part of the popularity of this movie lies in the
fact that it’s a one-off. I mean, there’s nothing to connect it to the plots on
Earth, save the mutual threat of Thanos. As such, GotG is actually a weird on-ramp to joining the Marvel Cinematic
Universe in media res, as it were.
Granted, there’s probably only a dozen people in America who made this movie
their first MCU film, but I’ll allow it could happen. There are some people,
though, who aren’t big into comics and super heroes, but love space-pirate-based
Science Fiction, and this movie is certainly SF of the “Pew, Pew” variety. It
just happens to have a couple of super heroes (barely functional, but still) in
the space pirate movie. If there was ever a need for proof of concept regarding
the MCU, it’s this movie, right here.
This was also the first of the Marvel movies to trade on the
1980s nostalgia, another hand-waving sign that Generation X is helming and
lensing these movies for the 45-55 year olds in the audience. That’s not to say
that 1980s music (really, it’s 1970s music in the movie, but we were listening
to it back then, too) isn’t for everyone, but...okay, you know what? It’s not
for everyone. But in this case, the songs were a nice counterpoint to the
action on the screen, if a touch overdone and in a couple of cases, repurposed.
Marvel’s Agent Carter
This was one of their best projects and the reason for its
cancellation has never been fully explained nor was the half-assed explanation
satisfying in the least. Peggy Carter kicked ass for two full seasons, and even
got to re-unite with The Howling Commandos. It’s available to stream. If you
loved the first Captain America movie and you somehow didn’t catch this series,
go fix that right now.
I wish this series had found a wider audience. It had
everything that people praised Wonder
Woman for in 1017, and it did it in an 8-part series that was much sharper
in its commentary. Probably the best part of the show is the Howling
Commandos episode where Peggy re-joins them as not only an active member of the
squad, but as team leader, something she hadn’t been able to do until that
point. It was glorious, watching her finally get the acknowledgement in the
show that we’d been giving her since the first episode. Also, we get to see the Soviet program that trained the Black Widow agents (but only super nerds would know that).
2015
Avengers: Age of
Ultron
I think this movie suffers from two things: it didn’t meet
the unspoken expectations of its audience, who all seemed to say, “We don’t
know what we were expecting, but we weren’t expecting that,” and also you can
see the stress cracks from Joss Whedon dealing with his new Mouse-Eared
Overlords.
All that aside, it’s a pretty worthy sequel to the first
Avengers, made all the more interesting by the choice of James Spader to play
Ultron. He’s never not James Spader, and so it’s alot like putting Joker make-up on Jack
Nicholson. He’s still terrifying, even as he’s reading to audience members completely as Spader and not the
homicidal Vibranium-enhanced AI Android from Marvel comics that we all know and love to hate. Instead, he's playing the James Spader villain we love to hate. Am I splitting hairs? Yeah, so did the movie.
Avengers: Age of Ultron pays a lot of things forward, introducing
Klaw and Wakanda in one fell swoop, right alongside Vision, Quicksilver, and
Scarlet Witch. Lots going on. I went back and paid close attention to the Black
Widow trying to start a relationship with Bruce Banner and I really think a lot
of people had a knee jerk negative reaction to the idea of Natasha having any kind of
romantic entanglement. Unfortunately for the Internet, that was her character from the very
first page in her origin story; a seductive Soviet super-spy who uses any means
necessary to achieve her goals. Eh, to each her own, I guess. The George Perez-inspired slow-motion capture shots at the beginning and the end of the movie kept me more
than somewhat entertained.
Ant-Man
The second film in the “Will ‘Movie X’ be the film that
kills the Marvel Franchise” litany of “Well, I don’t know...I mean, it’s
Ant-Man...” nonsense. Especially with an outlier like The Guardians of the
Galaxy doing so well previously. I think people were nervous about the attempts
to work with writers and directors and actors known for comedic work. After
all, comics aren’t funny, right? Oh yeah, smart guy? Then why do they call them
“funny books?” Boom. Done.
Where was I? Oh, right. This heist-caper flick starring
former thief Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd. I know I sound like a broken
record, but I love this character so much. I always liked the one-off heroes
with really specific gimmicks. The Falcon. Hawkeye. Black Panther. Ant-Man.
It’s like The Marvel Cinematic Universe was made for me.
This movie was no exception. Rudd does an incredible job as
Lang, the former Do-Gooder thief who is just trying to make things right with
his daughter, his ex-wife, and her new husband, who just happens to be a cop. I
don’t normally like Michael Douglas, but he was great as former bad-ass Hank
Pym, now that he’s finally playing characters his age and not being creepy as a
sex object.
The only problem that some people had with the movie was the
sameness of the hero/villain set-up from Iron Man. That couldn’t be helped.
Tony Stark and Hank Pym were both scientists. They both made cool suits. They
both fought their mirror images, armed with tech they created, and often. I
think Ant-Man was different enough that it didn’t bother me any. But, then
again, I’m the hardcore fan.
Daredevil
I had no idea what to expect, other than the guy that was
the showrunner also did the first two seasons of Spartacus on Starz, and that went over pretty well, so what the
heck. I was not disappointed in the slightest. De Knight spent a long
time—hours of it—introducing Wilson Fisk and making us actually care about him.
Then, when he finally meets Daredevil, and says, “Take your shot!” and Fisk
beats him nearly to death in an inconsolable rage, we are reminded that “oh,
yeah, right, the Kingpin is a sociopath.” This first season, from its hallway
fight tracking shot in episode 2 to the long, slow burn to simply line up all
the pieces in a thoughtful manner, it really altered the tenor and scope of
what could be done with narrative TV and super hero stories. Bonus points for
actually letting us see Murdock and Nelson doing lawyer stuff.
Jessica Jones
If there was any doubt as to how “dark” the Marvel Knights
line on Netflix was going to be, Jessica Jones answered it and spiked the ball:
charcoal. Kristen Ritter has found her calling as the exceptionally capable and
exceptionally damaged private investigator and former super hero. Jones was a
more recent addition to Marvel Comics, but writer Brian Bendis wasted no time
in stitching her into the fabric of the world. Specifically, she hooks up with
Luke Cage. Now, in the comics, they end up together and having a baby. I don’t
think we are quite there yet. But when Luke Cage showed up in Jessica Jones, the Internet exploded.
Phase 3
By the time this was announced, everyone knew that there was
an endgame movie and it would feature the inevitable dust-up with Thanos. But
as the schedule got longer and longer, thanks to real interest in a Spider-Man
movie and an Ant-Man sequel, the timeline didn’t so much as lengthen as the
number of hurdles before we got to Avengers:
Infinity War have increased. I see this as a feature rather than a bug,
since we had a great many things to distract us while we waited for Thanos and
the Guardians of the Galaxy to come crashing down to Earth.
2016
Captain America:
Civil War
Why are the Captain America movies so good across the board?
I don’t know, but this one ticks all of the boxes. You’d think with twelve
heroes onscreen, squaring off against one another, plus the introduction of
Spider-Man and Black Panther, that the movie would feel crowded. Instead, it
moves with alacrity toward the inevitable conclusion and teases a couple of
great instances; namely, Cap breaking everyone out of jail, and the Wakandans
working on Bucky to get the Winter Soldier program out of his head. Both events
obviously (we presume) happened between movies, but that we know exactly how
these things played out is a testament to the quality of the writing where
Chris Evans and Captain America are both concerned. Some of the credit has to
go to comic book writer Ed Brubaker, whose excellent stories were the source
material for Cap’s (and Bucky’s) character arcs.
That super hero throw-down at the airport is, again, a
classic Marvel trope, expertly rendered, full of great surprises, like
Ant-Man’s embiggening, and of course, everything that came out of Spider-Man’s
mouth. Sony’s past attempts have done a good job of capturing one or two
aspects of Spider-Man’s character and pathos, but they never really got it all
in one place. With two scenes, inside of the Captain America movie (and a bonus
scene at the end), Marvel showed how Spider-Man could and should be done.
Doctor Strange
I’m on record as not being a big Benedict Cumberbatch fan,
mostly because I’m not a woman, but also because he has an oddly-shaped head
that I find distracting, but when he was cast as Doctor Strange, I had to admit
that at least from the point of view of his gargantuan cranium, it was a good
fit. Kudos, too, for taking the source material as created by Steve Ditko and
making movie-sense of it. Ditko frequently drew Doctor Strange off-kilter, and
in fact, many of his more strange and unusual characters (like Odd Man, a
one-shot deal from DC comics) used spatial distortions to frighten and confuse
enemies. Yes, Yes, Poindexter, they did the same thing in Inception. We get it. You spotted it. You’re very clever. Now go
sit down. Having Inception do the heavy lifting of establishing the
architecture of dreamscapes in such a way made it instantly recognizable and
something they didn’t really have to spend any time dwelling on. It was a smart
choice.
Points, too, for getting Dormammu into the movie and making
his head be a giant ethereal ball of flame. Take that, shitty Galactus from the
second Fantastic Four movie! I can’t wait for more Doctor Strange, and
honestly, I’d love a cameo from him in everything in Phase 4.
I wonder, since Doctor
Strange is so removed from the rest of the MCU, if this isn’t another weird
on-ramp to the Marvel Universe, alongside GotG. I’d like to think there’s a
gaggle of very confused Cumberbatch fans who came staggering out of the movie
on opening night, stunned, and said, “Well, I guess we’ve got to watch Thor,
now.”
Luke Cage
Sweet Christmas! Another of my favorites, done right, and
really done with the kind of agency and also gravitas that really helps his
origin rise out of the “black hero” trope that Marvel and DC both employed
during the seventies, when they tried the first time to be more diverse and
inclusive. In Marvel’s case, they copied the language of Blackploitation films.
Only, see, Luke Cage, hero for hire, couldn’t swear in the 1970’s. So, “Sweet
Jesus” became “Sweet Christmas.” You can guess what “flamin’” was a stand-in
for. Most of the “mature characters” in Marvel comics in the 1970s have their
own version of Cockney Rhyming Slang that is just hilarious in hindsight.
But we’re talking about Luke
Cage, expertly and deftly written to knowingly nod at the
Blacksploitational elements in his comic stories, but not imitate them. Update,
yes, but with the kind of verve and swagger that’s more New Jack City by way of Do
The Right Thing than, say, Super Fly.
Mike Colter plays the part like he’s born to it, and his supporting cast is
terrific all around. Also, the music is practically its own character, and
easily the strongest soundtrack the MCU has produced, hands down, no takebacks.
It’s a small thing, tiny really, but there is one scene in
the show where Cage appears, wearing blue jeans, the headpiece he wore during
the experiment that gave him his powers, and a yellow blouse that he found on a
clothesline. He takes a look at himself—the spitting image of Power Man in the
1970s, and says, “I look like a damn fool.” I haven’t laughed that hard at an
in-joke since Cyclops glanced at Wolverine, back in 2000, and said, “Would you
prefer yellow Spandex?”
2017
Guardians of the
Galaxy, Vol. 2
I don’t know if this movie was a home run, but it was
certainly an off-the-wall triple. Director James Gunn doubled down on
everything that worked in the first movie, and while the experience was
different, it was also kinda the same, too. The only character that got any
growth was Star-Lord, and it was forced upon him by the realization that his
father, Ego, the Living Planet, was actually a rampaging asshole. Go figure.
With a name like Ego, the Living Planet. I can't make this stuff up, folks.
I really think that the combined soundtracks are part of the appeal of these movies. This deliberate attempt to tap into the broader tapestry of pop culture (dig the Ramones album cover-inspired poster on the left) and the judicious application of certain songs in both the trailer and the movie should get partial credit for this particular franchise's continued success. I'm not going out on any limbs here when I say that was the best use of "Fox on the Run" ever in a movie. Sweet gets no love these days.
I really think that the combined soundtracks are part of the appeal of these movies. This deliberate attempt to tap into the broader tapestry of pop culture (dig the Ramones album cover-inspired poster on the left) and the judicious application of certain songs in both the trailer and the movie should get partial credit for this particular franchise's continued success. I'm not going out on any limbs here when I say that was the best use of "Fox on the Run" ever in a movie. Sweet gets no love these days.
Also, massive Kudos to Gunn for giving
us Ego, the Living Planet (take that,
shitty Galactus from the second Fantastic Four movie!) as well as all of the
original (and really damn goofy) Guardians of the Galaxy, like Charlie-27 (that's really his name) and Martinex, in a more recognizable
form.
Spider-Man:
Homecoming
This was one of the mid-stream-announced Marvel movies that
I was most looking forward to. I pinned my fanboy hopes on this movie not
sucking and I was not disappointed. Not just in the setup and execution of the
film, but in all of my fears being allayed by them doing everything the way I
thought they should do it. That doesn’t happen very often, but in this
particular case, I was so relieved.
Thor: Ragnarok
I loved this movie, but it’s a hybrid. Tonally speaking,
it’s about two-thirds Guardians of the Galaxy
and one third Thor: The Dark World. But the part that is a Thor movie at least focused squarely on the Loki-Thor-Odin triangle. Thor and Loki manage to patch up their differences, to both escape the garbage planet and reclaim Asgard, and then they don’t really, because
Loki will always be Loki. The Hulk, as he has been written in the comics for
fifty years, finally makes an appearance as the guttural-speaking brute who can
keep himself transformed so long as he keeps simmering. We finally get a
Valkerie (if not the Valkerie), which
is nice. Idris Elba finally has something to do as Heimdall. And Kate Blanchett
crushes it as Hela. Oh, brother, does she crush it.
Ironically, there’s more Kirby-inspired design in this movie
than the other two Thor films, though they did take a stab at it in the first
movie. And while Jack Kirby got his due credit, it would have been nice to see
a little bit more of his work represented. The Doctor Strange cameo sorta makes up for it.
But I mentioned before how Thor should have an epic scale.
This one has that scale, and as bookends to the movie, no less. If you didn’t
get a vicarious thrill out of the Mjolnir-Cam at the beginning of the movie,
then you’re dead inside and probably not the target audience for
these movies. Moreover, if the inspired use of Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” as
fight scene music didn’t move you, then I suspect you never played Dungeons and
Dragons as a teenager, which begs the question: how did we meet, again, exactly? Finally, Jane Foster was completely written out of the
story. This made me way happier than it should have. That story was going
nowhere, and their romance felt weirdly shoehorned in to the second movie, anyway. I like Natalie Portman, but not in this role. Don't worry about her. She's got Star Wars money. She'll be fine.
Iron Fist
From the first announcement that Luke Cage and Iron Fist
would be in the Netflix shows, I had two parallel thoughts: well, martial arts
are easy to do these days; they can’t possibly screw this up—and—holy crap!
We’re going to get a Power Man/Iron Fist team-up!
Well, I was wrong. At least, about one thing. They could
mess up Iron Fist, and did. It’s not that it’s bad—but it’s certainly the weakest of the
four Netflix series. Allegedly the show got the shortest amount of lead-in
time (this same showrunner also worked on The Inhumans—see below) and it
actually feels like a first draft script with a lot of weird redundancies that
a couple more passes would have expertly eliminated. It’s a shame, too, because
I loved both Power Man and Iron Fist as a kid, and when they teamed up, my head
exploded. I wanted this to be great, especially since I was the target
audience for this show. And I wanted to like it, and I tried to like it. There are certainly pieces of it that aren't bad, and I think the criticism was so vitriolic because the other three shows were so good. It just felt like a major step down in quality and tone.
Thankfully, Jeph Loeb has been listening to the massive
feedback. Iron Fist Season 2 is now at the back of the schedule, and they are clearly
driving for a Heroes for Hire team up. But Danny needs fixing, first. He’s got
a better showrunner and more lead-in time to get it right. If Into the Badlands can have a third season, there is no reason on Earth why Iron Fist can't be fixed so as to not suck.
The Inhumans
Well, here it is: the first real failure from Marvel since
2008. And it’s a total failure, too, from the casting on down to execution. It’s a failure
made all the more baffling because it didn’t have to be. This could have been
handled by the same team working on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and really should
have been) but for some reason, they wanted a mini-series and gave this thing
literally 3 months of prep time (as opposed to all of the Netflix shows, which
got 9-12 months lead-in time or more). Not only do the stitches and seams show
where they jammed this Frankenstein together, but the two greatest sins it
commits are (a) it didn’t even bother to link up with the detailed groundwork
laid out by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
over three seasons, and (b) from tone to execution, this feels like it was made
in the mid-1990s, back when producers would say, “Okay, we get it, she’s got
telekinetic hair, but that’s going to inflate the budget, so how about we cut
her hair off in the second episode?” and “hey, I get it, this is based on one
of those, whaddayacallit, graphic novels, or some shit, but no one is going to
care if we switch some of this stuff around. For example, do you know how cheap
it is to film in Hawaii?”
Skip this show. I’m serious. You gain nothing by seeing it,
and you lose nothing by omitting it. And if anyone tells you, "Oh, it's not that bad," you punch them in the throat and unfriend them on Facebook. Because they are wrong, so very wrong.
The Defenders
It’s not fair to cast this mini-series as “the Avengers of
the Netflix MCU series” but that’s kinda what it was, only not really. Sorta.
Kinda. I don’t know. The biggest problem with the show is that the timing of
the series didn’t quite match up regarding villain development. The Hand, an
ancient criminal organization that fought both Daredevil and Iron Fist, was the
engine driving the storyline, which is about extracting dragon bones from under the bedrock
of New York City. The process would have caused the city so suffer massive
seismic distress that would have brought it tumbling down, but the Hand doesn’t
care, since it would have the dragon bones it needed. Not bad, but as a story
goes, it’s both too epic and not quite epic enough. It could have used a lot
more Vincent D’Onofrio and a lot less Sigourney Weaver, a statement I never
thought I’d make in print.
As a story point, people are going to look back on The
Defenders with fondness, since it presents connective tissue into everyone’s
second and third seasons, and also manages to get some key players into the
room together. I’m looking at you, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. For my money,
I’d take Knight Wing Investigations right alongside Heroes For Hire, if both
are on the table, and why wouldn’t they be? The Defenders goes into conspicuous
contortions to get those two in the same room together. There’s no other reason
other than to have them team up.
All that aside, it's okay. It's not awesome. There are parts of the series that are great. Scenes in every episode that are just awesome. But it doesn't hang together as well as it should. Those great scenes feel like padding, which isn't fair, because among other things, they establish these characters getting to know one another despite vast differences (Danny and Luke, for example).
The Punisher
This Netflix series was an add-on after Jon Bernthal tested
so well as the Punisher in season 2 of Daredevil
that they sort of had to make a spin-off. Now, I am not a big fan of this
character. Written well, he can be entertaining in small doses, but he’s very
rarely written well. The reason for this lies in the Punisher’s origins. Not
his character origins, but how we got to him in 1974, shooting Spider-Man with
a gun on the cover of the comic book.
Marvel was floundering in the 1970s. We didn’t know it at
the time, but the Silver Age was over and they were really trying to keep up
with the rapid changes in the world. So, they took a lot of cues from movies.
Shang Chi and Iron Fist were attempts to slipstream behind the martial arts
movie craze. Luke Cage was the attempt to borrow some cool from Blacksploitation.
Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk and Spider-Woman were trying to emulate Wonder Woman’s
success as a feminist symbol for the Women’s Lib movement. And The Punisher?
Well, he’s straight up a costumed reworking of Charles Bronson from Death Wish.
He hunts the people who killed his family. With a gun. Back in 1974, this was
very radical stuff. Heroes didn’t use guns and they didn’t kill. Not back then.
Google the Punisher movies. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Yeah, they
all suck green donkeys. The reason is simple: what’s unique and special by
omission in comics is woefully commonplace in the movies. He shoots criminal
with guns? Get in line, Frank Castle. Everyone shoots everyone in the movies. You
can’t feed beef back to the cow. That’s how you get Mad Cow’s disease. Or, if
you prefer, shitty Punisher movies.
So, I told you that to tell you this: Netflix finally got it
right. This series isn’t about him killing people. It’s about how he got so
messed up—and now that we know more about PTSD, unfortunately, in modern combat
veterans, this story bristles with meaning and nuance, something that was
always lacking in every other movie version of the character. You won’t believe
how good it is. You may still not like it for its subject matter, but you will not-like-it way less
than any of the other Punishers that you totally hated. That sounds like I’m
damning it with faint praise, but I’m really not. There’s a great story in
there, but it starts in Daredevil, Season 2 and you need that before you watch
the series. Not a chore, I promise.
2018
Black Panther
It’s easy to like this movie; it’s got everything going for
it. A likeable and engaging cast, from the heroes to the villains (Andy Serkis
retuning as Klaw is awesome), some cool spy-drama throwbacks that are half Captain America: Winter Soldier and half
Luke Cage, and the coolness of
Wakanda, in all its splendor (I’m totally including Man-Ape when I say this). This is also
a more intricate back story than the set-up we got in Captain America: Civil War—which, it turns out, did some of the
heavy lifting for this movie by giving us the short-hand origin story. I can’t think of another movie franchise which is
able to chain-link its heroes in such a way as to introduce them in a couple of
scenes in one movie and then spin them off into an entire film all their own
the following year. That kind of thing has never been done before, but they did
it with two different characters in the same damn movie, both times with great end results. No small accomplishment.
Oh, and for the record, I want an armored war rhinoceros. I
think that would effectively end them being poached if we gave them armor and
taught them to charge their attackers. That whole scene felt like an outtake
from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I say that in the nicest possible way.
Part 3 coming Tomorrow.
