Cee Gee Reviews: The MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

→ in
Tools    





My Revisit to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Written by Cee Gee

Back in 2015, I wrote a listicle rankling the Marvel films at the time and of course, a lot has changed since then. First off, so many more movies have come out since then. I believe Ant-Man had just come out when I wrote it. Another important factor that has changed a lot is. well.. me. At the time, I was a junior in college who probably thought he knew everything or regurgitated stuff he heard from other critics (i.e., Doug Walker the Nostalgia Critic).

Since then, I have graduated, taken film and television writing courses at NYU, and obtained my Master's in Creative Writing. I have learned so much more in that time and have gained a greater collection of knowledge and self-confidence and I want to apply what I’ve learned into these reviews. I’m excited to look at these films again to see if they either hold up as well as I remember or if my opinion has changed for better or worse.

Taking what I have learned, I will be structuring my reviews as follows:
  • A look at the Hero
  • An analysis of the hero's journey
  • A look at the antagonist/villain
  • The film's pros
  • The film's cons
  • Final thoughts and analysis of the film as a whole

After recently seeing Spider-Man: No Way Home, my girlfriend expressed interest in watching the other MCU films and I have happily taken on the task of showing them to her. I'll include her thoughts and reactions as a first-time viewer. Thanks to the easy access provided by Disney Plus (minus a few films like The Incredible Hulk and the first two Tom Holland Spider-Man films), I’m excited to jump back into the MCU and see it grow from the initial films into the juggernaut it is today!

I hope you join along as I cover and re-review the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Attachments
Click image for larger version

Name:	1ab6fa_35c56af095864703b2f57633ca4dbaff~mv2.jpg
Views:	84
Size:	188.8 KB
ID:	86188  



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
My Revisit to the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Written by Cee Gee

Back in 2015, I wrote a listicle rankling the Marvel films at the time and of course, a lot has changed since then.
Welcome to MoFo. Are you new here, or are you a returning MoFo with a new username?

Is your original "listicle" online?


I hope you join along as I cover and re-review the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
I'm not a Marvel movies diehard like some people here, but I enjoy the movies. I'm looking forward to reading your reviews.
__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.



I am new to MoFo! I just joined yesterday. I just started my own review site and am looking to get the word out there and engage other people in the discussion.

It is online! I would share a link but unfortunately, MoFo won't let me share links just yet! I need to get a few more posts and then I will gladly share! It only covered films from Iron Man until Ant-Man and my views on some of the movies have changed since then!



MCU Revisit: Iron Man

Review written by Christian Garcia


Only appropriate to start off this revisit with the film that started it all: Iron Man.

I was first exposed to Iron Man through the Marvel Legends action figures. The figures came with a copy of the hero’s origin comic book. My first time seeing him in action was in Spider-Man: The Animated Series. I thought the suit looked cool and it was cool seeing him in action but besides that, I did not know too much about Iron Man.

Side note: Both Spider-Man: The Animated Series and the Marvel Legends toy line were how I was exposed to most of the Marvel heroes as a kid.

When Iron Man was first announced, I thought it was cool he was getting his own movie but also didn’t have high hopes. At the time, superhero movies were not the big box office draw that they are today. There were the Sam Raimi Spider-Man films of course. However, for one Spider-Man film, there was a flop like Daredevil or Electra. So, it was a welcome surprise for fans when Iron Man turned out to be a big hit both at the box office and amongst critics.

I didn’t see it in theaters when it came, and I didn’t end up seeing it until many years later after Avengers was already out. The first Iron Man movie I saw was Iron Man 3 (more on that later). This movie has a lot of hype behind with many fans to this day praising it as one of the best of the MCU films. Does it live up to all that praise? Let’s take a look.

And beforehand, for the people who have not seen any of these Marvel films, yes, they do exist, I will also add a huge SPOILER WARNING! You have been warned!!





The Hero:

Tony Stark is a hotshot billionaire with a great IQ but an even bigger ego.

At the beginning of the film, Tony is arrogant and careless. He enjoys the fruits of his labor and spends his time partying without a care in the world.

The film does a great job explaining his back story through an introduction video played before a major Stark event. It tells you exactly what you need to know and doesn’t feel like a pointless exposition. The manner it is done is very clever as Stark’s ego is big enough that you would believe he would have such a video played at an event despite the world already knows who he is. It is a great introduction to a character for common movie-goers who might not have read the comics. When I showed my girlfriend, she had asked me who Tony Stark was and I told her to watch this scene, and afterward she had all her questions answered.

Although he is very arrogant, he still comes across as charming and funny. At times he can be very egotistical, he tops it off with a funny one-liner that keeps us coming back to him. A big part of this comes from the performance of Robert Downey Jr. (more on that later.)

But there is more to Tony Stark than just charm and ego. He lost his parents at a young age and without that guidance, he begins the film as still very immature. He believes strongly in his father's vision and does believe that what he is doing is for the greater good. It is not until he sees that the 10 Rings have been using Stark Industries tech for terrorism that his eyes are opened to the harsh reality. He is driven by his desire to protect people and changes his attitude by the end of the film to show a more mature and focused man working towards the greater good. It is the growth of Tony Stark throughout later films and the charm of RDJ's performance that makes Tony Stark, in my opinion, the best of the Marvel Cinematic characters and a great character to kick off the franchise with.


The Hero’s Journey:

Tony Stark begins the film as a hot-shot billionaire playboy with an IQ as big as his ego. He believes strongly in his father’s vision of Stark Industries of building weapons to protect people. He believes that what his company does protects people.

His life and journey change after he is kidnapped and held hostage by a group known as the 10 Rings. During his captivity, he befriends a fellow captive named Yinsen. They create an Iron Man suit to help them escape.

Their time together although brief has a profound effect on Tony. While talking, Yinsen describes Tony as “A man who has everything and nothing.” This as well as Yinsen’s parting words to “Not waste his life” change Tony and his journey takes on a new path.

When Tony returns home, he has a new lease on life. After seeing that his company’s weapons were used for war and terror, he decides that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons, which puts him at odds with his partner, Obadiah Stane. He also decides to create Iron Man, to use his technology for peace rather than war.

By the end of the film, Tony goes from an arrogant playboy to a mature and compassionate hero whose purpose is to use his knowledge and technology to help people. He evolves from his father's vision for Stark Industries and continues his legacy rather than ruin it as Stane believes he would. At the end of his journey, Tony is changed for the betterment of himself, the people around him, and the world.


The Villain

Obadiah Stane is Tony's father's old partner and the manager of Stark Industries. Stane ran the company after Howard Stark's death until Tony was of age. This is also explained in the aforementioned video introduction for Tony. Right away it is established why there would be tension between Stane and Tony. Stane had been loyal and run Stark Industries in accordance with Howard's vision and then he had to hand over control to Tony. That tension is escalated when Tony returns from his captivity and wants to shut down the weapons manufacturing division at Stark, something Stane does not want to happen as he and the company are profiting from it and he believes that Tony's new vision would ruin the company and Howard's legacy.

He is portrayed by Jeff Bridges who is at times unrecognizable in the role. Bridges put in a very good performance as a calculated and ruthless businessman. His obsession with seizing control of Stark Industries and getting his hands on Tony's arch reactor drive him to become more diabolical by the end of the film.

While my girlfriend and I watched, her disdain for him grew. Right before the climax, at what I thought was his most evil moment, my girlfriend reacted with great shock and anger at him, and I could tell she had really become invested in the film's story. I believe when you get a reaction like that from the audience, you are doing something right.

Is Stane one of the best comic villains ever? No. Would I consider him in the top tier of MCU villains? No.

He is the typical ruthless businessman-type villain. Greedy and power-hungry. Nothing we haven't already seen before and since. For the role that he plays as an obstacle in Tony's journey, I do believe he is still a solid antagonist. But while he is a solid antagonist, that does not make him the most interesting of superhero villains.


The Film's Pros
Iron Man himself

Easily the biggest pro of this movie and every Iron Man film is Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark. They are one and the same and that is what makes this character so great. Downey perfectly encapsulates the charm, the cockiness, and the emotional complexities that make Tony Stark the most compelling character than he is. He can be a cocky jerk but also be very funny and charming. He can be an intelligent tech wiz and other times be a drunk playboy. I am sure that Downey was able to apply the trials and tribulations from his own life into Tony's growth and his performance comes across as that of a man who has seen faced the toughest of demons and conquered them and came out better on the other side.

People should remember that Iron Man was the launch of Downey's comeback in film. Iron Man is not only about the redemption of Tony Stark but of Robert Downey Jr. Downey has always been renowned for his acting ability, but his personal demons troubled him for much of his life and at the time Hollywood was not as trustful of him. Director Jon Favreau even faced opposition from Marvel when trying to cast Downey for the role because of his troubled past. But Favreau was adamant as he was quoted saying, "The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye. He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark." It was this performance that reminded the world of the great talent that he is and that is why he was the best choice to guide these films along.

Looking to the Future

What has now become a standard that Marvel and even non-Marvel films have followed? The post-Credit scene. The movie had made illusions to S.H.I.E.L.D. throughout but after the credits Tony Stark comes home to find Nick Fury (played by Samuel L. Jackson) and Fury mentions the Avenger Initiative. This gave Marvel fans the first teaser for the Avengers finally coming to film.

Iron Man was not the first film to do a post-credit teaser. It had been done numerous times in other films before. Even other superhero movies had done it before like Daredevil and X-Men. However, before Iron Man, it was almost considered comical to have such a thing as movies like the Super Mario Brothers Movie had teasers for sequels that never saw the light of day. So, I'm sure audiences had a wait-and-see reaction to this teaser. Of course, they wanted to see the Avengers but after having so many sequel teasers that never paid off, they had a reason to be cautiously optimistic. This teaser is more important years later than it was at the time as it set in motion that Iron Man was only one part of a much bigger universe that was yet to come. It set in motion what has now become a traditional part of the Marvel viewing experience.

Supporting Cast

No hero can do everything on their own. Even a hero with as big of an ego as Tony Stark needs a helping hand now and then and behind the great Iron Man is a wonderful supporting cast.

I mentioned Yensen before as a great character whose impact on Tony greatly affects his journey. Another great character is Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. She is first introduced as his assistant, but we soon learn that there is more to their relationship than meets the eye. She serves as Tony’s conscious at times and the one to try and bring him back to earth when he gets in over his head. There are some touching scenes between them including when she helps him replace his arc reactor and a moment they have (or almost have) at the charity event. Their chemistry is great, and you feel the connection that they have. Tony respects her and knows that of all the people he encounters that she’s the one he can trust the most and sees her as more than an assistant. Pepper does a great job of not fully letting the audience know what’s in her head. We know that she does care for Tony but she’s not too quick to let us know to what extent. The real touching moment is when she gifts him the old arch reactor in a glass case that read “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart.” It is a touching moment that also plays an important part in the climax later. What’s also great about Pepper is that she’s not the typical female lead in superhero movies where she’s only the damsel in distress. For the most part, Pepper does a pretty good job keeping out of harm’s way aside from the climax and even then, it was not like she needed Tony to fly in and save her, and in a way her actions at one point save him. Pepper is a welcome addition to the MCU and her role in Tony’s life only grows as the films go on.

Another great supporting role is Colonel Rhodes aka Rhodey played by Terrence Howard. Before I go deeper, let’s address the elephant in the room, in later films Howard is replaced by Don Cheadle. Having watched Iron Man after having seen Avengers and Iron Man 3, I am more accustomed and do prefer Don Cheadle’s performance and believe he does fit the role better with his great acting and comedic timing. However, upon re-watching the first Iron Man, I do think that Terrence Howard put in a good performance and believe he would have been a welcome addition in later films. I thought he acted as more of the mature friend to contrast Tony’s reckless lifestyle although he could easily be swayed. I did feel their connection as friends and thought that Rhodes was a good support system for Tony. I do think that Downey and Cheadle have better chemistry as friends, but I thought that Rhodey was given a good introduction to the MCU. Other recurring characters like Happy Hogan and JARVIS also did well in their respective roles with JARVIS as the guiding voice for Tony’s experiments. Happy, played by director Jon Favreau, for the most part, takes a back seat as Tony’s driver although we see some of his and Tony’s chemistry and thankfully, we get to see more of Happy in later films.

The Film's Cons

While I still believe Iron Man to be a great film, it is not a perfect film. However, even the weakest part of this film is not that bad but something that could have been better.

I already mentioned in my analysis of the villain that while Obadiah Stane was a solid antagonist, he was not the most interesting of supervillains. At the end of the day, this is a superhero movie and the coolest thing about superheroes is seeing the villains they must battle and overcome. With Spider-Man, we got awesome villains like Green Goblin and Doc Ock. In X-Men, we got Magneto. Villains that had over-the-top looks and personalities that made us interested in them and disliked them and even sometimes feared them. Obadiah Stane and Iron Monger are sadly not one of those villains. They came across to me as a standard run-of-the-mill villain and did not leave much of an impact on me at all. Because of that, I was not as invested in the final battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger as I would have been for say Spider-Man vs Doc Ock. This leads me to another, and I believe bigger issue...

The biggest con of this film for me was the Third Act as a whole. The film's first two acts were done so well with Tony's backstory and captivity in Act 1 and then him becoming Iron Man in Act 2. With two very interesting acts built up, Act 3 felt a little underwhelming in comparison. Act 2 ends with a great escalation as Stane steals Tony's arch reactor to create his own suit. They built up Iron Monger as this big threat but when we finally see it, it is nothing more than just a bigger version of the Iron Man suit. It doesn't seem as threatening or like an enhancement to what Tony did and because of that, the stakes don't feel as high. What if he had been equipped with technology that Tony was not aware of which would force Tony to think of a creative solution to beat him? I believe that in the climax of any film, it is important to see the protagonist use what they have learned on their journey to conquer the obstacle and win the day. I don't believe we really saw that in this climax, and it didn't feel like a moment that brought Tony's journey full circle.

As the viewer, of course, we want Tony to overcome this enemy but given that so many other superhero movies had come and gone before this one, the climax was nothing that I had not seen before and fell flat as a result.


Final Thoughts


In conclusion, Iron Man is a great film that still holds up today. It was a great film to kickstart the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While I do believe that the issues that I have with the film are serious issues, they don't hinder my enjoyment of the film. I believe that most comic book fans watch these movies to see their favorite heroes on the screen. I know that I do. The best thing about Iron Man is Iron Man himself and they get plenty of him. Robert Downey Jr.'s performance carried through a great hero and a great product that got Marvel fans excited for what was next. My girlfriend came out of this film really liking it and looking forward to seeing more Marvel titles. It set off the events that would take the Marvel Universe to places we could not even imagine. If you have yet to see any of the Marvel films or have seen a handful and want to know where things got started, Iron Man, is a great place to start. It is a fun film that will draw you and keep you coming back for more.




I am new to MoFo! I just joined yesterday. I just started my own review site and am looking to get the word out there and engage other people in the discussion.

It is online! I would share a link but unfortunately, MoFo won't let me share links just yet! I need to get a few more posts and then I will gladly share! It only covered films from Iron Man until Ant-Man and my views on some of the movies have changed since then!
welcome to the forum!! by the way just let u know im a huge major fan of MARVEL.
not a fan of DC but i always RESPECT to people



MCU Revisit: The Incredible Hulk
Review written by Christian Garcia

Introduction:
Often considered the black sheep of the MCU films, The Incredible Hulk is the second film in the MCU and a film that has long since been forgotten.

Hulk is one of my favorite Marvel characters. I had the action figures for the Ang Lee film back in 2003. Despite never actually having seen the film, the figures made me a big enough fan that I bought the book The Hulk: The Incredible Guide by Tom DeFalco. That book contained a complete history of the Hulk. From his original designs to his history and storylines. It was this book that first made me aware of the Avengers. I remember thinking how cool it was that Hulk teamed up with Thor and Iron Man. It was this book that got me more interested in Marvel's heroes and got me buying the Marvel Legends figures that would make me the fan I am today.

Whenever Marvel films are discussed, The Incredible Hulk is usually not one of them. Most reactions typically range from being meh to I didn't waste my time. Is this movie as bad as everyone says? Does it deserve its place in obscurity? Let's take a look.


The Hero:
Bruce Banner is a renowned scientist who is on the run. An experiment gone wrong left him exposed to lethal levels of gamma radiation. But instead of killing him, it created the rage-fueled monster known as the Hulk.

After fleeing to South America, Banner tries to keep a low profile and maintain control of his anger while trying to find a cure to rid himself of the Hulk once and for all.


The Hero’s Journey:
The film begins with Banner trying to meditate. He is hiding out in South America from Lieutenant General Ross. He is shown studying martial arts and meditative breathing techniques to control his anger. The film has a counter that shows he has gone 158 days without incident. He works a job at a soda bottle factory and communicates with someone by the name of Mr. Blue, trying to find a cure for his condition.

The opening minutes of the film are the only sense of calm that Banner is allowed to have as the rest of the film has him constantly on the run. The opening moments allow the audience to feel sympathy for Banner and see him as a man who is just trying to maintain a stress-free life for the betterment of himself and others. After accidentally slicing his hand at the factory, a trace of Banner’s blood ends up in a bottle that leads to his cover being blown later.

A clever Stan Lee cameo drinks out of the bottle and Ross tracks Banner’s location. He sends a team led by Emil Blonsky and Banner tries to escape. He ends up cornered in the bottle factory where he is attacked by a gang led by a fellow employee who he had a confrontation with earlier. The attack leads him to lose control and transform into the Hulk. With his incident streak broken; Banner escapes.

Banner is given a moment of calm when he returns to the US and reunites with his ex-girlfriend Betty Ross. Their reunion and time together are the most light-hearted moments of the film and the only time where Banner’s life has a sense of calm and comfort. However, that moment of calm is not to last as they are ambushed by Ross yet again. Banner once again transforms into the Hulk and escapes with Betty. This leads to one of the best moments in the film, where Hulk and Betty are hiding in a cave and Betty tries to calm the beast down. It's a touching moment and one that shows that there is more to the Hulk than destruction.

They hide out in a motel and reunite. They attempt to have sex, but Banner’s blood pressure begins to rise, and they must stop. This is a sad moment that conveys the burden that Banner carries with him not even being able to get intimate without the risk of hurting the ones he cares about. They made their way to New York and get in touch with Mr. Blue where he finally gets an opportunity to test Mr. Blue’s cure and possibly rid himself of the Hulk. Betty tries to argue that he may be able to control the Hulk, but Banner is adamant about ridding himself of the beast. He sees the Hulk as a burden that he wants gone rather than get it under control.

Ross tracks them down again which leads to the film’s climax where Banner must become the Hulk to take down the Abomination, created by Ross. They battle it out and Hulk defeats Abomination. The Hulk shares a final look with Betty. This is a sad moment that highlights that so long as the Hulk exists, he cannot have a normal life with the woman he loves. But it also gives a sign of hope that shows that Betty was right that there is part of Banner still inside the Hulk. The film ends with Banner meditating and showing he has learned to control the Hulk.


The Villain:
Emil Blonsky is a special-op hired gun who is recruited by General Ross to capture the Hulk. He is fascinated by the Hulk and his power. After a confrontation with the Hulk at Culver University left him brutally injured, he has himself transfused with Banner's blood and turns into the monster, Abomination.

He is a very one-dimensional villain. His motivation is just to beat and capture the Hulk. There is not much to him other than that. As Abomination, his design is cool and threatening looking but he is not much more than another Hulk. He doesn’t seem to be that much stronger than Hulk as he is simply outfought and easily beaten by the Hulk. His role as the antagonist is also not very strong either and he is more of a final obstacle.

General Ross plays more of an antagonistic role as he wants to capture Banner so he can harness and weaponize the Hulk for the military. His beliefs put him in conflict with both Banner and Betty and make for a more interesting dynamic. But Ross is not a physical threat to Hulk and more of a thorn in his and Banner’s side. The weakness of both villains does hurt the film in a way as they are not very memorable. Although I did find myself strongly disliking Ross, Abomination left little effect on me. Making for another wasted villain in the MCU.


The Film’s Pros:
The Cave Scene

The best moment of the film is when Betty and the Hulk are hiding out in a cave during a thunderstorm. The thunder and lightning freak out the Hulk and Betty tries to calm him down telling him it’s only the rain. It’s a touching moment made even better when Hulk listens and sits down next to her. It shows that Bruce is still inside the Hulk, and he can be controlled. This scene alone makes this film worth seeing and even could work as a short. It captures the human and tragic side of the Hulk under all the rage and chaos.

Edward Norton
While look-wise, Edward Norton is not who I would imagine as the Hulk, he does a fantastic job as Bruce Banner. I have been a fan of Edward Norton as an actor from his roles in American History X and Primal Fear. His performance in Primal Fear showed that he is more than capable of playing a man with multiple personalities which in the case of the Hulk is similar. Banner's journey is interesting as he is trying to maintain calm while constantly on the run in the most stressful situations possible. He is an innocent and burdened man who knows of the monster within him and does his best to keep it under control. Norton gets that conflict across very well and I find myself sympathizing and rooting for him throughout the film.

I would have loved to have seen Norton's Banner interact with the rest of the Avengers in later films and it's a shame that he doesn't stick around. While Mark Ruffalo does make the role his own and does a great job, one can wonder how different the dynamic of the Avengers would be with Norton.


Betty Ross
Bruce Banner’s world is filled with stress and chaos and the only bright light in his world is his girlfriend, Betty Ross. She is the perfect counterpart to the Hulk. While the Hulk brings chaos and pain, she brings Bruce calm and peace. She is warm and caring and is the only one Bruce can turn to. When she comes face to face with the Hulk, she doesn’t run away in fear. She tries to help him and protect him. The scenes with her and Bruce are my favorite parts of the film and where the dramatic moments really shine. Liv Tyler plays Betty, and she does a great job. She brings warmth and calm to the cold and chaotic world of the Hulk. Her performance shines, and she is one of my favorite supporting characters in any Marvel film.


The Film’s Cons:
Doesn't feel like an epic film
The story of the Incredible Hulk is an interesting tale like that of Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story of a man who turns into a monster and constantly trying to get his monstrous side under control. The idea and complexities of Bruce Banner are fascinating to see unfold but the medium of film limits the storytelling potential. The Incredible Hulk would have worked better as a television show. The episodic structure of TV allows more time to let characters develop and let the audience get to know them. Hulk could have worked the same way as Daredevil did on Netflix.

My recent viewing of this film was not in one sitting. I watched it in bits and pieces, and I noticed how each bit could have worked as an episode. The opening with him in Rio could have been the pilot ending with the Hulk about to appear and get fans to tune into the next episode to see what unfolds. This film doesn’t allow the viewer or the characters to catch their breath. The slow moments they have don’t last long before jumping right into the next chase or battle scene. Imagine an episode dedicated to Banner and Betty in the motel formulating a plan. The climax felt like an epic season finale with the last scene of Banner meditating as a teaser for the next season. Would it have been as big of a success as Daredevil? Who knows but there was potential. I am aware that there is a She-Hulk show being made for Disney Plus. Hopefully, they can do what wasn’t done with Hulk and turn out a more interesting product.


Final Thoughts:
The Incredible Hulk, while not an incredible film, is still a solid film. Norton's performance as Bruce Banner is great as he captures the essence of a guy who's fighting to control the beast inside and is constantly on the run while trying to achieve inner calm. The film should have been called Bruce Banner or Banner as it really is more about Bruce Banner than the Hulk. It's a film after both viewings that left me thinking, well that was good. Not great but good.

So why does this film always get ignored when discussing the other Marvel films?

Well, the sad truth is, while it is a solid film, many and much better and more memorable films have come and gone since so it's been lost in the shuffle. The glaring reason this film is ignored is that it does not feel like part of the Marvel Universe. It feels more like a separate standalone film. As a standalone film, it’s good but as a piece of the MCU, it’s insignificant.

I did not bother showing my girlfriend this film as there was really no reason to. The actor is switched out in later films so there’s no reason to get attached to Norton’s Banner as good as it is. Also, the events that happen in this film do not affect the MCU. Nothing that happens here is ever followed upon in any other Marvel film. The only piece that really connects it to the MCU is the post-credit scene with Tony Stark but even that is only loosely followed upon. The film is more of an isolated incident rather than an important piece of a long-term storyline and as a result, this is the movie that most people skip when looking at the MCU.

It is not a must-see film by any means, but it does more right than its contemporary and is the best attempt at a Hulk film. It is worthy of at least one viewing and a film that is deserving of a little more love than it gets.




MCU Revisit: Iron Man 2
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction:
What is considered by most Marvel fans to be the worst movie in the MCU: Iron Man 2. Is it as bad as everyone says? Let's take a look.

Given that this is a sequel and we've already established who Tony is in the first film, I am going to skip right to the hero's journey.

Hero’s Journey:
Tony is dealing with a lot of consequences resulting from his choice to reveal his identity at the end of the first movie.

• He relishes the celebrity that comes from everyone knowing he is Iron Man, but he is also facing pressure from the government who wants his technology and is casting doubt that he can protect people as he claims.

• He is being slowly poisoned by the palladium that he uses to power his arc reactor and Iron Man suits. As Jarvis states, the device keeping him alive is also slowly killing him.

• He relaunches the Stark Expo which brings up harsh feelings towards his father, Howard that messes with his psyche.

• On top of that, a man from his father's past, Ivan Vanko (played by Mickey Rourke) appears seeking vengeance.

All these mounting pressures and the certainty of death cause Tony to act out irrationally which leads to a drunken confrontation between him and his best friend Rhodey.

Tony is forced, by S.H.I.E.L.D.‘a Nick Fury, to confront his issues and find a way to fix his problems. After getting unexpected words of encouragement from his father, Tony creates a new element to fix his heart issue and saves the day, with the help of Rhodey who has his own suit as War Machine.

I mentioned in my Thor review how a common and tired trope is having to watch a character wallow in self-pity when they reach their lowest moment. Unfortunately, we have to sit through that here. And it is not entertaining to watch. Tony goes on a drinking binge at his birthday party to cope with his seemingly terminal condition. Tony becomes very unlikable in this moment swearing he knows what he is doing and acting like a jerk to the people who want to help him. I understand that Tony Stark is stubborn and has an ego but in the last movie, he was able to do so and still be likable. Here he comes across as immature. While the image of a drunk Tony Stark sitting inside a giant donut in the iron man suit is funny, this journey with the heart condition feels like an unnecessary detour that slows down the movie significantly.

The idea of a superhero coming to terms with their mortality and something holding them back has been done before and much better. I believe the storyline with Tony's heart giving out is an interesting idea. It reminds me a little of Spider-Man 2, when Peter was losing his powers because of the mounting pressures of being Spider-Man. It was a good take on how the pressures of being a hero and doing the right thing can take their toll. I think the issue, in this case, is that while the issue with his heart affects Tony it does not affect Iron Man. What I mean by that is that it does not affect Tony in battle. When Tony first fights Vanko, it doesn't affect his performance at all, and he is able to defeat him. (More on Vanko later.) If it tied in more to the other plot threads of the film, it would have worked better. As is, this thread could have easily been cut from the film and would not have affected anything.

The Villain:
Ivan Vanko (also known as Whiplash) is a Russian physicist who swore revenge on Tony Stark for the actions of his father that left Vanko's father disgraced and penniless. Vanko's father worked with Tony's father, Howard on the project for the Arc Reactor but was deported after Stark found out he had ulterior motives.

Vanko at the beginning of the film is shown building his own arc reactor to build a suit like Stark's Iron Man suit. His design was very cool, and he looked like a threat. Mickey Rourke is a pretty good choice for the role as he puts in a good performance and had momentum at the time having just come off the success of the movie The Wrestler.

Vanko attacks Tony at the Monaco Grand Prix. However, he is defeated and sent to jail. This is the immediate problem that hurts Vanko's standing as a villain. The fact that he is beaten in their first encounter makes him feel like less of a threat to Iron Man.

In many superhero movies, the introduction of the villain usually results in the hero defeating them but just barely doing so. For example, when Spider-Man first encounters Doc Ock he barely wins the encounter thanks to an assist from Aunt May. But even so, Doc Ock is not beaten decisively. He drops Aunt May which causes Spider-Man to save her and he escapes. He still looks like a threat because Spider-Man was only able to best him but not defeat him.

The idea is that Vanko was limited by the technology that he had compared to Stark and if he had more advanced technology that he would have won. But for me, as soon as Tony bested him here my reaction was, “Well that was easy.” After that, I did not really care about what happened with Vanko next or even feared for Tony’s safety when he teams up with Hammer later. The concept of Whiplash is a cool idea. Another person who can create what Tony created is a good idea for a threatening villain. But the fact that he is bested so easily kills him right off the bat.

But another issue with Vanko is that he is not an interesting character and is very one-dimensional. He just wants revenge on Tony and that’s what drives him. There’s no depth or complexities to him. Of course, that is not entirely his fault but more on that later. But what we do get with him is not very deep or interesting and he falls very flat as a villain. Even though Obadiah Stane was not the most interesting of villains, he at least served a purpose in Tony’s growth. Vanko does not really serve many purposes in Tony’s dilemmas in the film besides a physical obstacle to overcome but even then, he’s not even focused on enough to be that.

The Film’s Pros:
Black Widow

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow is one of the most popular characters in the MCU and one of my favorites. I first became aware of her in The Avengers and thought she was an awesome character and empowering female character. I forgot until I went back to watch this that this was her debut movie. She debuts as Natalie Rushman, to seemingly be a new eye-candy assistant. We get a glimpse of the real her when she flips Happy. But by the climax of the film, we get to see her really spring into action. While it is great to see her in action, there isn't as much in the film as we get in later Avengers films and in her own movie. But for the few moments that we get, it's awesome.

War Machine
Fun fact about me, I was introduced to War Machine before Iron Man. War Machine appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and I always thought he was so cool. To be honest, in terms of design, I always preferred War Machine's design to Iron Man's. I thought with the extra artillery he looked more intimidating. So, when they teased the appearance of War Machine in the first movie, I was excited. When we finally got him and got to see him in action, it was awesome. Don Cheadle plays him this time around and as I said in the review of the first film, I do believe Cheadle puts in better performance and has great chemistry with Downey. His comedic timing is great, and we see more of it in later movies. And although it isn’t very long, it is cool to see him and Iron Man battle side-by-side


The Film’s Cons:
Ivan Vanko..or lack thereof...

I mentioned before that Ivan Vanko falls flat as a villain but that is not entirely his fault. The main issue that hurts him as a villain as well as hurts the film is the fact that we barely see him. I looked it up and Iron Man and Whiplash have a total of about 6 minutes of shared screen time. That is right, 6 minutes of screen time in a movie that is 2 hours and 5 minutes long. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder but too much absence makes one forget and that’s exactly what happened here.

It’s bad enough that we barely see him but what makes it worse is that when we do see him, again, he is not that threatening and is beaten easily. I made the argument before that when Tony beat him in his first encounter they were going with the idea that he was limited by the technology that he had. But later, he teams up with Stark’s rival Hammer and creates these drones that are supposed to be a threat. So, with access to better technology, you would think now he would be a big threat that they were building towards, right? Nope.

In one of the most anti-climactic climaxes, Tony and Rhodey easily dispose of the drones. There is only one moment where it looks like Whiplash has them beat, but it’s not very long, and if you blink and you miss it. They immediately come up with a plan to combine their blasts that beats him, so he decides to set the drones to self-destruct and blows them and himself to pieces, making him look like a chump and making him one of the most wasted villains in the MCU.

Too Many Plotlines
The biggest issue that hurts this movie is that there are too many plotlines going on that are never fully fleshed out. The ideas that they have are interesting enough that they could have been their own films. Tony being a celebrity as Iron Man but also dealing with the pressures from government and rivals to take his technology could have been its own movie. Tony’s struggle with himself and who his father was could have been its own film. Tony’s issue with his heart giving out could have been its own movie. Ivan Vanko wanting revenge on Tony could have been its own movie. These plotlines could have been much more interesting and engaging had they been allowed time to be fully fleshed out. But in trying to combine all these stories into one big story, they aren’t given the time they need and fall flat.

This film suffers the same issue as Spider-Man 3. Too much going on for its own good and in its quest to satisfy all these plot points, it ends up satisfying none of them. As a result, the audience is forced to jump from plot to plot, try and keep up with it, and because it is not fleshed out, it is not that interesting and doesn’t keep them engaged. This is a real shame because these storylines have the potential to be very interesting. The storyline of Tony’s alcoholism in the comics is a popular storyline. The Demon in the Bottle storyline dives into Tony's struggle with alcoholism and how it affects his work as Iron Man and his mental state. Tony accidentally kills an ambassador as a result of his malfunctioning suit and begins drinking more to cope. It is a great tale of overcoming addiction and accepting help from others. Had it been made the focus of this film and they set aside the other plots, it could have made for a great story, especially in parallel to Robert Downey Jr’s history of overcoming addiction. But as is, it is a glass-half-full kind of story that doesn’t fill up in the end.

Final Thoughts:
In conclusion, Iron Man 2 is a film that had potential with interesting ideas, but it never followed all the way through them and falls flat.

Do I believe that this is one of the worst films ever? No.

Is this one of the worst superhero films ever? No.

Is this one of if not the worst films in the MCU? Yes. And there is a glaring reason why.

The biggest problem with this film and what puts it at the bottom of my list of Marvel films is that in the grand scheme of the entire MCU, nothing that happens in this film really affects it. You can easily skip this movie and not miss anything major. Aside from the recasting of War Machine or even Black Widow’s debut, nothing of great importance is set into place here. As cool as it is to see her, even the debut of Black Widow is not major enough that you need to see this film. You could just assume that Avengers was her debut, and, in a way, it would be better as she is used much better in that film than in this one. This film is the definition of a filler movie.

This movie’s place in the MCU is so insignificant that I did not even bother showing it to my girlfriend. I watched this on my own to give it another chance to see if it was as bad as everyone says and while I do not think it is one of the worst movies I have ever seen or even one of the worst superhero movies I have seen, it is the worst of the MCU films. It was a chore to sit through and although it was only 2 hours and 5 minutes, it felt longer. There was not enough interesting stuff to keep me engaged and anything that did have the potential to be interesting was never fully fleshed out. As a regular movie, it’s adequate. There are some cool visuals and Robert Downey Jr. is still great as always. But for a film that takes place in an epic universe, this film is an unnecessary pit stop that you can easily skip.




MCU Revisit: Thor
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction

Today I'm looking at Thor.

Marvel's God of Thunder was a hero I was always curious to see in film and was excited to see how his first venture would be. Thor, like Iron Man, I did not see when it originally came out. I saw it after seeing Thor kick some serious ass in The Avengers, so I got my wish for seeing Thor on the big screen and was curious to see how he held his own on his own.

The Hero
Thor is the God of Thunder and heir to the throne of Asgard.

Being a God, Thor has the same tragic flaw that many figures from Greek and Roman mythology had and that is hubris. Thor is a great and powerful warrior who has won many battles and is very proud of his accomplishments.

Thor can be charming and funny. He has a big personality, and it shows in how he interacts with people. With his God friends, he’s very rambunctious, always making jokes a great motivator when it comes to rallying his troops. When he brings Eric back from the bar, you can tell that they bonded and had a fun time together.

What really makes Thor a strong character is how he reacts when he’s at his lowest moments. One of the most common tropes I’ve seen in the film is when the hero is at their low point, and they sulk and wallow in self-pity. At times this can be annoying to sit through because the audience knows that they’re eventually going win the day and everything will be fine, and that period feels like pointless filler.

Thor is a character that even at his lowest moments doesn’t sulk for long. He accepts his fate as is, and then picks himself up and keeps going. The best example of this is in Infinity War which I’ll go into when I get to that film later. But this first movie does the same thing and does it well. After being told that his father is dead and that he’ll never be able to go back home. Thor doesn’t sit and pout. After Eric bails him out of S.H.I.E.L.D. captivity, they go to a bar and have a few drinks. He is smiling as he carries Eric back and then has a tender moment with Jane. He accepts his fate of exile on Earth and rather than sulk tries to make the most of it. Given that he is a god and in a weird way more is expected of him, he really rises to the occasion and proves his worth not only to the hammer but to the audience as well.


The Hero's Journey
As the film begins, he is very proud and very confident in himself, to a fault. His warrior bravado causes him to act without thinking of the ramifications and this flaw gets him into trouble. As he is about to be crowned King of Asgard, their enemies the Frost Giants attempt to steal back their source of power. Thor makes a very bold mistake in picking a fight that he shouldn't have, and it results in devastating consequences. His mistake shows his father that he is not ready to be a king as he does not think of how his actions will affect his people and lacks the proper leadership skills it takes to be a king. Thor and his father get into a huge argument which causes Odin to strip Thor of his powers and banish him to Earth.
Thor crashes onto Earth where he runs into (or in this case gets run into) Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman). At first, he is determined to find his hammer, Mjölnir, and return to Asgard. A crucial moment comes for Thor when he goes to retrieve his hammer and cannot lift it, coming to terms with the fact that he is not worthy. This is the moment where Thor reaches his lowest point, which is a moment any hero must face. Right after that, he is confronted by his brother Loki who (falsely) informs him that his father has died and that he is not welcomed home. After these two moments, Thor is humbled and begins to change. He accepts his exile and begins to embrace remaining on Earth, bonding with Jane.

This growth and change are one of the biggest strengths of the film and help establish Thor as a strong character. Many films have done the fish-out-of-water story and one of the mistakes they make is that the character refuses to adapt. Thor is thankfully not one of those characters. Even a moment, such as him smashing a glass on the floor when he wants another drink shows that he can adapt. When he is told that is not how it works, he does not argue, he just says okay and that he did not mean any disrespect.

This is crucial because at the beginning of the film Thor is arrogant to the point that he is almost unlikable which is dangerous territory. My girlfriend at first was saying, "Thor is kind of an *******." Thankfully his time on Earth and interactions with people show that he is a likable and honorable God.

His moment of truth is when he confronts the Destroyer and sacrifices himself to protect the innocent people on Earth as well as his friends. In doing so, he proves himself worthy of Mjölnir and regains his powers. It could have been easily botched and his proof of worthiness could have felt forced. Thankfully when that moment did come, I did feel that it was earned. My girlfriend did too as when Thor got his powers back, she got excited. Again when you can get an audience member to connect to your character and get a reaction like that, you are doing something right.


The Villain
Although Laufey was teased as the main villain for this film, the real villain is Loki. Had Laufey been the villain this section would not be longer than a paragraph.


Now if I were to write this about Loki throughout the MCU and on his own show, I could go on and on about how funny he is, how clever and interesting he is. However, I was shocked to realize that the Loki that we all know, and love is not entirely here in this film. Don’t get me wrong Tom Hiddleston is still great in his role and Loki is a great part of this film. But I didn’t realize that the Loki that we fell in love with didn’t show up until Avengers. I had to remind myself that well this movie is supposed to establish Loki as well as Thor so we can’t get him fully Loki yet. He is still full of tricks up his sleeves but after seeing him be very upfront with his trickery in the show Loki to see him being more reserved about it was a little odd.


But getting that out of the way, Loki is still a well-done and complex villain. He cares for his brother even though he goes against him. He even admits he never wanted to be king but just to be considered Thor’s equal. He gets a bombshell dropped on him learning that he was adopted and feels like he was only kept as means to an end rather than out of love and care. We do get hints of Loki’s trickery. My girlfriend correctly predicted that Loki let the Frost Giants into Asgard. Loki kills Laufey to reveal even more of his deceit and trickery and show that he doesn’t care who he hurts to get what he wants. The complexities of Loki are there as you can understand the reasons behind his actions and in a way, can sympathize with him until the end when he tries to wipe out all Jotunheim. And even in the final climax when Loki lets go of Thor's hand and is seemingly lost, you do feel for him when he lets go thinking that he gave up. Of course, after the credits reveal him to be alive and up to more tricks, you start to get the Loki you love.



The Film's Pros
Thor and Loki

The best parts of this film by far are Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki.

Hemsworth at first glance one would probably be quick to dismiss as just a pretty face. But Hemsworth proves in this film and later Avenger’s role that his acting brings the character to life. He is fantastic in the emotional moments and his face really helps you see the pain that he goes through at his low points. But he is also funny in this film. When he smashes the glass at the diner and just sits and smiles after. It's so subtle but very funny. Hemsworth of course also fits the physical description of Thor to a T. If I were to imagine Thor in film, this is exactly what I would imagine. It's the same feeling as seeing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine or Christopher Reeve as Superman, you don't see an actor playing a role, you see a comic book hero come to life. You don't see Chris Hemsworth as Thor, you see Thor.

Tom Hiddleston does an excellent job of portraying Loki both comedically and seriously. He plays a character who is very deceitful and always puts on a different kind of face to get what he wants. In the beginning, he is quiet, reserved, and supportive of Thor. Later, he is more devious and deceitful. One of his best performances in the film is when he is lying to Thor about his father being dead and his mother not wanting Thor to come home. I knew he was lying yet he was still so convincing, and I believed that he hated telling his brother that news when he really relished it. That is a level of performance that is to be admired and respected. It is because of Hiddleston's great performance and passion for the character that Loki is one of the MCU's most beloved characters to this day.


Asgard
The Kingdom of Asgard is the visual highlight of the film. The grand scale and design make it feel otherworldly. If one were to imagine the Kingdom of God like an Mt. Olympus-type world, this is what would come to mind. They do a good job of blending in the inhabitants with the world. It doesn't just feel like a bunch of people in weird costumes, it feels like people of their own world in their traditional garb. It has its own distinguished identity and makes it stand out from other locations in the Marvel Universe. A con that I also think is a pro is that we do not get to see that much of Asgard but I think because we don't get to see as much of it, it maintains a mystique to it. However, it is also a con because I love how cool Asgard looks and I want to see more of it.




The Film's Cons
The Frost Giants

Easily the worst part of this movie is the Frost Giants. I understand their purpose as a threat that calls Thor into action but once that's out of the way these guys are forgetful. They are not interesting at all, and their designs are not at all interesting or cool. They look too much like the White Walkers from Game of Thrones that whenever see them on screen, I can't help but make the comparison. They were so bland and forgetful that is probably why Loki being one of them is downplayed in later movies. Had Laufey been the main villain of the film, he would have been one of the lamest villains in the MCU. However, I see him as more of a means to an end rather than an important part of the tale. They are so insignificant to me that they do not even bring down the film that much. They're just there and then quickly disposed of.

Earth
While Thor's time on Earth is crucial to the story of his growth, Earth itself is not very interesting. While Asgard felt other-worldly, Thor's landing spot on Earth felt like he landed on the set of a movie rather than a real place. My roommate pointed it out and I noticed too but the location in New Mexico looked too much like a film set and it kept taking me out of the scenes. When the Destroyer arrives to get Thor and begins wreaking havoc, it felt more like him destroying a set than causing destruction in a real place. While I understand the concept of taking Thor out of the epic world of Asgard into regular-day Earth, they could have at least placed him in a spot that looked like actual Earth as opposed to a sound stage or a backlot. This doesn't hurt my overall enjoyment of the movie, but it is a noticeable distraction.


Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Thor is a good film that does a great job of building a character and taking elements of mythology and mixing them with modern storytelling to make a fun film. My girlfriend described it as "a great movie that really told the story of hubris and corruption of power and pride, and sometimes how it takes a change of perspective to see things differently," and I agree.

However, I don't think this is the best of the Marvel films or of the Thor films. I think in terms of character building and storytelling this film is very good. But if I were to imagine an epic Thor movie, this would not be what comes to mind. But it's also important to remember that that's not what this film is supposed to be. This film and Iron Man are both serving the same purpose. To establish the hero and give us a reason to root for them. When establishing the hero, the focus needs to be on the hero. And this film does a great job of focusing on Thor. Thor's growth by the end of this film got me excited to see him interact with the other Avengers down the line.

While I don't think it is in the top tier of Marvel films nor one that I will rewatch any time soon, I do think it's still a good movie that is worth checking out. In terms of building the MCU, this film is a solid first step in bringing the beloved God of Thunder to the big screen.




MCU Revisit: Captain America: The First Avenger
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction:

Today I am looking at Captain America! One of Marvel's most iconic superheroes!

I was first made aware of Captain America through the Marvel vs. Capcom games. His bright and colorful costume caught my attention, and he was one of the heroes I always chose. I remember getting an action figure of him that also came with Akuma from Street Fighter. Spider-Man: The Animated Series did a story arch about the Six Forgotten Warriors, and it was here I learned more about Captain America's story and first learned about the Red Skull.

When I heard that Marvel was going to do a Captain America film, I was excited to see how he would look on the big screen. Upon my first viewing of the film, I was not a big fan. I fell asleep halfway through and thought it was campy, corny, and boring. A few years later, I gave it another look and enjoyed it much more the second time around. Now upon my third viewing, does this film hold up? Let's take a look.


The Hero:
Steve Rogers is an honorable man who never backs down from a fight even if he knows he can’t win. As he always says, "I can do this all day." That never say die attitude is what makes Captain America an iconic role model.

He is not the biggest or the strongest, but he is tough and has heart. He begins as a scrawny, weakling with a lot of heart. He keeps getting beat up but never stays down. He wishes to join the army not to kill anyone but to stop bullies and to protect people. Once he is given the super-soldier serum, he becomes stronger and more agile. But even with his added physical attributes, he still maintains his moral core.

He always stands up for what is right and puts others before himself. His choices throughout the film are usually made for the betterment of others rather than for himself. He risks his life to save his best friend, Bucky. He makes a choice at the end of the film that he knows will cost him everything but will save the rest of the world and he stands his ground in doing so. His biggest pro is also his biggest flaw in that he is always putting others before himself and as we see in later films, the cost of that begins to weigh on him. Watching him deal with the consequences of his choices in later films makes him one of the most compelling of the Marvel heroes.


The Hero's Journey:
At the beginning of the film, he is a skinny young man with a list of medical issues that prevent him from joining the army. He applied 4 different times and was rejected each time. He meets Dr. Abraham Erskine who sees something in the young Rogers. He allows Rogers to enlist and keeps an eye on him.

During training, Rogers meets Colonel Chester Phillips (played by Tommy Lee Jones) and Agent Peggy Carter (played by Hayley Atwell). Phillips dismisses Rogers due to his small stature, but Erskine and Carter see the heart that he has. He throws himself in front of a dummy grenade during training to protect others and Phillips begins to relent. Erskine selects Rogers to undergo the Super Soldier experiment. They have a touching conversation the night before, where Erskine warns him about what the serum did to Johann Schmidt and makes Rogers promise him that no matter how strong the serum makes him, to always be a good man.

The next day, Rogers undergoes the experiment and becomes the Super Soldier and right away puts his new attributes to the test as an assassin infiltrates the demonstration, kills Erskine, and attempts to steal the last vile of the serum. Rogers makes chase and eventually foils the man. Rogers makes headlines after this and is made into a war hero known as Captain America and tours the country in a colorful costume. He is not satisfied being just a stage show act and wants to do more. While performing another one of his shows, he is heckled by servicemen and comes to grips with what he's doing. He learns that his best friend Bucky is MIA and refusing to leave his friend to die, goes on how own to rescue him. He infiltrates HYDRA's headquarters and rescues Bucky and his unit, comes face to face with the Red Skull, and returns as a hero.

Afterward, he assembles a team with Bucky and other soldiers, and they take down the remaining HYDRA locations. Unfortunately, during one of their missions, Bucky falls off the train during battle and is lost. Rogers is crushed by the loss of his best friend but does not stay down for long. Like Thor, Rogers is the kind of hero that even at his lowest moments does not stay down for long, picks himself up and keeps going. He leads an assault on HYDRA's stronghold and has a final confrontation with the Red Skull. After Red Skull is defeated, Cap must make a tough decision he knows will cost him his life but save millions of other lives. He bids his love, Peggy farewell, and makes a date for a dance before presumably plunging to his doom. Again, making a choice for the betterment of others rather than his own self-interest.

The film ends with Cap waking up in modern-day New York and discovering he has been asleep for 70 years. A result that will weigh on him heavily in future films.



The Villain:
Johann Schmidt, aka the Red Skull, (played by Hugo Weaving) is the head of HYDRA, the special weapons division of the Nazi Party. Being one of Hitler's confidants, Schmidt had more ambition which led him to Dr. Abraham Eskrine and his Super Soldier Serum. Schmidt ends up testing the serum on himself but since it was not yet perfected, he suffers devastating side effects from it that left him disfigured and gains him the name, the Red Skull.

The film begins with Schmidt finding the Tesseract which he believes will give him the power to win the war and rule the world. Schmidt is driven by his ego and ambition for world domination. At first, he is acting on behalf of the Nazis but once he discovers the power of the Tesseract, he believes he has outgrown being behind Hitler's shadow. He demonstrates the power of the Tesseract on three Nazi commanders and vows that he and HYDRA will rule the world.


The Film's Pros:
Chris Evans

Chris Evans makes Captain America come to life. He captures the kind nature of Steve Rogers and fits the physical description of Captain America. When I watch this film, I don’t see Chris Evans playing Captain America; I see Captain America.

He shows the toughness of Captain America and the vulnerability of Steve Rogers. When Steve is at his low moments, you feel it and sympathize. He is not comical like Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark or Hemsworth’s Thor, but he doesn’t need to be. Captain America is more of the straight man and the ultimate good guy. He brings the role model aspect of Captain to life and makes the viewer want to get behind him.

This film is a great redemption for Evans, who previously worked with Marvel in the less than Fantastic Four movies. It is nice to see him get another chance to be a superhero and he knocks it out of the park. In recent years I have become a fan of his work. His performance in later Marvel films as well as in films like Knives Out really shows what a talented actor he has become.


Peggy Carter
Peggy Carter is one of the best female characters in the Marvel Universe. She has the same tough, never-say-die attitude that makes us and Steve fall in love with her. Her introduction is great where she punches out Gilmore Hodge for mocking her British accent and for making misogynistic comments. When watching this with my girlfriend, she cheered at her actions and as the film went on grew to love Peggy. She is not a damsel in distress and can fight her own battles. Even when Steve saves her, she chastises him claiming she had the shot.

She is also a great support system for Steve. She encourages him telling him he is meant for so much more. When he goes off to rescue Bucky and his unit, she goes with him and helps his cause. After Bucky is lost in battle, she comforts Steve and reminds him that Bucky made a choice to be there for him and that Steve needs to honor that.

What makes her a great love interest is that she and Steve have great chemistry. Their first interaction is touching when she makes fun of him for not knowing how to talk to women and they talk about dancing and finding the right partner. Their chemistry makes the ending even more gut-wrenching when Steve must bid her farewell knowing he will likely perish. But instead of a tearful goodbye, they make plans to meet up and have a dance. It is a touching moment that becomes more heart-wrenching when he wakes up 70 years later with the last line being, “I had a date.” My girlfriend reacted with “Aww that’s so sad.”

Peggy would go on to have her own show and deservedly so. She is an empowering character that held her own amongst a group of men and at times towered over others. She is great support for Steve and helped make him the hero that he becomes.


The Film's Con:
The Red Skull

Like Obadiah Stane, Schmidt is a good obstacle for Captain America to overcome. He represents a threat to the people that Cap is sworn to protect and must be stopped. He fills the role of the classic supervillain that wants to conquer the world. However, while he fits the role of that antagonist, he does not bring much more to the table. He, like Stane, does not make for an interesting villain and is even less interesting than Stane. He is a more run-of-the-mill type of villain. He does not really pose much of a threat to Captain America either. Without the Tesseract, he felt like someone that Captain America easily could have beaten. He and Captain America do not interact that much throughout the film so there is no rivalry built between them. They have one interaction when Rogers is rescuing Bucky but after that, they do not see each other again until the climax. The climax itself is not that bad but again, when these two came face to face, it is not that epic.

Red Skull took the same super-soldier serum as Cap, albeit a less perfected version that left him disfigured. But that felt like something that was going to factor in later and it ended up not amounting to anything. If they were going to include that factor, they should have given him the same strength and agility that Captain America had and made them evenly matched physically. Cap using his newfound strength and agility against someone who had the same enhancement for years would have made for a more interesting rivalry. They should have fought one on one, with no weapons, and after seeing that he could not best Rogers, then resort to using a weapon, acting both cowardly and villainous. Or they could have revealed a weakness in the Red Skull that came from the serum before it was ready and factored into his defeat. Had they fleshed this out more, Schmidt would have made for a stronger villain and rival.

As is, Red Skull is more of an obstacle for our hero to overcome rather than an interesting villain that we want to see be stopped. He does not leave much of an impact on the film and results in another weak villain in the MCU.


Notable Mention:
CG Tiny Chris Evans

In my last two viewings of this film, I found myself laughing at the first site of Steve Rogers. CG has been better-perfected in years since this film, so I won't rip on it too much. This is not even the worst use of CG in a film that I have seen. Older films have used CG for worse results so again this is not a major problem that hurts the film in any way. This does not hinder my enjoyment of the film at all and in a way adds more enjoyment since it always makes me laugh.


Final Thoughts:
Captain America is a fun comic book adventure film that holds up well. Like Thor and Iron Man, it does a great job of setting up the hero and establishing who they are and why we should care about them. His adventure for the most part is fun to watch, aside from the weak villain, and it does a good job of bringing the iconic hero to the big screen. This film was the final piece of the puzzle to build to the long-awaited Avengers film, and it did its job very well. I would not call it one of my favorite Marvel films as I believe the later sequels are much better and take what’s established here even further. But for what it is, it is a fun film that comic book fans and moviegoers will enjoy and have them coming back for more.




MCU Revisit: Marvel's The Avengers
Review written by Christian Garcia

Today I am reviewing The Avengers. The long-awaited Marvel cross-over fans had dreamed of. This film turns 10 years old this year and for me personally, it is surreal. I remember being in my junior year of high school and going to see it in theaters and loving every second of it. It was the movie everyone was talking about, and its box office success speaks for itself. Ten years later, does this film still hold up?

Let's take a look.

For this review, I will be formatting it a little differently than my previous reviews. Seeing as this is a cross-over film and that there are multiple characters that are focused on, the Hero section will be changed to the Avengers section. Furthermore, the hero descriptions will be kept brief seeing as the heroes already had their own films to establish themselves (aside from Hulk, more on that). I will also be focusing the Hero’s Journey section on their journey as a team rather than focusing on their individual journeys. I will most likely keep this format when I get to the later Avengers films (aside from Infinity War; more on that when I get to that review.)


The Avengers
Iron Man

Billionaire, philanthropist, playboy Tony Stark. Stark created the Iron Man suit as way to use his great intellect and technology for the betterment of the world. A man with great passion for others while also having a great ego that can be both helpful and a deterrent.


Captain America
After being frozen for 70 years, Steve Rogers returns to the world as Captain America to do what he has always set out to do: save it. He always strives to do what is right and what is best for others.


Thor
Son of Odin and God of Thunder, Thor returns to Earth to stop his brother Loki once again and to bring him home to answer for his crimes against Asgard and Earth. After his previous adventure on Earth, Thor holds it in high regard and will stop anything and anyone who threatens it or gets in his way of protecting it.


The Hulk
Bruce Banner is a renowned and respected scientist who was exposed to dangerous levels of gamma rays in an experiment gone wrong. As a result, he turns into the rage-fueled monster known as The Hulk.

A notable change from the standalone film, The Incredible Hulk, is the fact that Bruce Banner is now played by Mark Ruffalo. Ruffalo does a really good job in capturing the essence of Banner as a man who has been fighting within himself to achieve inner calm. We don't see the Hulk right away and Banner does his best to maintain his composure and prevent the "Big Guy", as he refers to his alter ego, from appearing. However, despite his best efforts, the Hulk cannot be contained for long.


Black Widow
Natasha Romanoff, known as the Black Widow, is one of the most renowned spies in the world. Trained originally as an assassin, Romanoff (first introduced in Iron Man 2) proves to be a valuable member of the team with her excellent fighting skills and her great dry wit. Her friendship with Clint Barton is one of the strongest elements of the film and one that establishes her and Hawkeye as valuable members of the team that the audience invests in. She is a badass in every sense of the word and an empowering female force that is to be reckoned with. Her introduction in the film right away establishes what she is all about. My girlfriend cheered her on throughout the film watching her kick some ass and showing that females can be badass heroes too.


Hawkeye
Clint Barton, known as Hawkeye, is an extremely skilled archer and one of the best agents at S.H.I.E.L.D. He is first introduced in Thor but only briefly. Here he gets more screen time to showcase why he is one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s best. He is so useful that Loki brainwashes him in the beginning of the film and uses his great skills to his advantage. He proves to be a tough opponent for the Avengers but once he is freed from Loki's control by Natasha Romanoff, he joins them in their fight to stop Loki. His skills as well as his strong friendship with Natasha make him one of the stronger Marvel characters who would eventually get his own show.


The Avengers' Journey
The Avengers' storytelling approach is different from the previous films. Where the standalone Marvel films focused on establishing the hero to the audience, Avengers takes those established personalities and has them work off each other. Avengers is not only a clash of heroes but a clash of personalities.

Steve Rogers’ wholesome and honorable personality comes into conflict with the more egocentric personality of Tony Stark and creates a natural rivalry. Thor’s honorable God personality gives him and Rogers a common ground while his confidence makes him a good foil for Stark. These are three well-established personalities that play off each other beautifully in terms of creating conflict and comedy. The first battle between Iron Man and Thor is fun to watch not only because of what they can do physically but also with how their personalities clash. They both are trying to do the right thing but their means of doing so are where the conflict arises and that is a theme that carries throughout the film.

When the Avengers have Loki at S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, the conflict raises as they all have different ideas on how to deal with Loki. Rogers is all about following orders and is wary of what Loki’s true intentions are. Stark and Banner are more worried about what Fury is hiding from them. This skepticism gets into Rogers’ head, and he decides to investigate on his own. Thor believes he is the best choice to handle Loki and to do it alone. Rogers and Stark discover that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to weaponize the Tesseract. This leads to a big argument amongst them bringing the tension to a boiling point. Loki’s plan was to have the tension boil over and lead the Avengers to destroy each other, using the rage of the Hulk. They get so caught up in their argument that they are caught off guard by the ambush from the brainwashed Barton and army of Loki supporters. The attack brings out the Hulk and forces the heroes to spring into action. Thor goes after the Hulk while Stark and Rogers work to fix the ship and keep it afloat. This leads to a great battle between Hulk and Thor. The ensuing chaos leads to Loki’s escape, Thor being launched off the ship, Hulk going AWOL, and the death of Agent Coulson.

Agent Coulson’s relationship with the Avengers was brief but one that impacted them, nonetheless. He and Tony have interacted the most as he appeared in both Iron Man films and their relationship was that of Tony throwing jabs and Coulson no-selling it. Coulson seemed to have more of a relationship with Pepper Potts as they are revealed to be on a first-name basis at the beginning of the film. Coulson is seen fanboying when he meets Steve Rogers and mentions his vintage Captain America cards. These interactions while brief, left an impact on the Avengers enough that Coulson’s death gave the team the push to come together to take down Loki once and for all.

The final battle in New York made for an epic climax and brought a great showcase of each hero. My girlfriend was very into the final battle thinking how cool it was and cheering for moments and getting emotional for others. Iron Man's sacrifice to bring the nuke into space had my girlfriend on the edge of her seat. She was convinced that Stark was going to die sacrificing himself and had a whirlwind of emotions. She was relieved when he survived and got a good laugh after they decided to grab Shwarma after the battle. The climactic ending was a great payoff for a film that had been four years in the making. I remember thinking it was incredible the first time I saw it, and I felt the same way watching it again.


The Villain
Loki, adopted son of Odin and adopted brother of Thor, returns to conquer his brother’s beloved Earth.

After being thought dead at the end of Thor, and revealed to be alive in the post-credits, Loki returns with a vengeance. He has made a deal with the Other, leader of the Chitauri, to get them the Tesseract in exchange for their aid in him conquering Earth.

In my review of Thor, I mentioned that the Loki that we all know and loved was not entirely present in that film. Well, he is here and in full form. Loki is full of wit, deceit, and trickery. While it is always fun to see him interact with Thor, it is even more fun to see him interact with the other Avengers, especially Tony Stark. Their battle of wits and ego adds to the great comedy of the film. Their talk before the final battle in New York is a highlight of the film. It's fun to watch Loki meet his match in the game of egos.

Loki feels more threatening in this film as he is more ruthless and cutthroat. He makes for a fun and likeably hateable villain. My girlfriend hated him throughout the film and by the end was hoping to see him die. When he kills Agent Coulson and then drops Thor out of the Hellicarrier, my girlfriend screamed obscenities at the TV. I noticed my girlfriend being more invested in Loki as the villain than any of the other villains so far. She was creeped out by Red Skull and didn’t like Obadiah Stane but this was more of a hatred for a villain. She wanted to see him get stopped and get justice. A reaction like that is a sign of a well-done and interesting villain.

Looking back through the Phase One films, I noticed that the villains thus far were weak.
They were not the most interesting villains and not memorable. They served more as antagonists than supervillains. Loki is the first one to feel like a villain and because he stood out amongst the others, he has gone on to become one of the more popular characters in Marvel.


The Film's Pros
Getting to finally see the Avengers assembled

Avengers was a project that was four years in the making and accomplished something not seen in the film at the time. Earlier and later attempts at establishing a cinematic universe made the mistake of focusing on establishing a universe and setting up for later films rather than establishing interesting characters. Marvel took their time with the standalone films to establish the heroes and get audiences invested. When the time came for Avengers, fans were ready to see their favorites interact on the big screen and they were not disappointed. The film is a great payoff to such a build and delivers everything fans had wanted to see. I had fun watching my girlfriend get excited when characters would meet for the first time. She got excited when Thor showed up and even more excited when he and Iron Man came face to face. The first battle between Thor and Iron Man is an awesome encounter and the shot of Thor, Iron Man and Captain America standing together in the woods is an image I always picture when thinking of this film.

And of course, the final battle in New York delivers the epic climax that was missing in the standalone films. It had action, drama, and even humor and had it all perfectly balanced. I remember being on the edge of my seat the first time I saw it in theatres, and it was fun to see my girlfriend have the same reaction experiencing it for the first time. I mentioned her emotional roller coaster when Tony flew into space to stop the nuke but there were also some great moments of humor. I got great joy at seeing her laugh at Hulk’s punch on Thor as well as Hulk’s smashing of Loki. The shot of the Avengers assembling in the climax is one of, if not, the most iconic shots in Marvel films and a surreal moment for me as the dream of seeing the Avengers on the big screen became a reality. It was an epic moment for Marvel fans and for moviegoers and the film that established superhero films as the big box office blockbusters they are now.


Looking to the future
After an epic film, Marvel tops off the epicness with the post-credit reveal of Thanos. For the average moviegoers, this was tame but for Marvel fans, this was awesome as Thanos is one of the biggest villains in the comics. For the time it was cool that there was a promise of more to come. Looking back on it now, it is a very significant moment for the future of the MCU. Thanos will go on to be the biggest and greatest villain in the Marvel Universe and it is surreal seeing his first appearance. I remember for the time; fans were not happy with his initial design which would thankfully be redone and refined by the time he would eventually show up. In the long run, it was the start of another great build and pay off but for the time, it was a cool promise that there was more to come on the horizon.


Hulk smashes Loki
Not much to explain here. The gif speaks for itself. This moment was so epically awesome and hilarious to watch. I laughed the first time I saw it and laughed even more while watching it again with my girlfriend. A simple but awesome moment that will forever be iconic amongst Marvel fans.



The Film's Cons
Not the best storytelling
To be perfectly honest, I really enjoy this movie a lot, so it was difficult to find something that I thought was bad. Of course, this film is not perfect, no film is, but the positive elements outweigh the negatives to the point that they are almost unseeable. But seeing as there are always flaws and imperfections to be found, the biggest one that I found was that the story does have some issues. Loki’s plan was not the smartest of plans. His plan was to get all the Avengers together so that they would destroy each other. It is a little hard to believe how he could not have seen the potential of this blowing up in his face, but again I don’t even consider it to be a serious issue that hurts the film in any way. Was it the smartest of plans? No. But then again, that is also the flaw that villains need to have to be defeated in the end.


Final Thoughts
Avengers was important for Marvel and for the film. It was the payoff to four years’ worth of build that led to significant financial and critical success for Marvel and elevated superhero films from corny disrespected works to epic blockbusters. It had done what had not been done before and did it successfully to the point that other studios would try to copy what they did. I was in high school when it came out and I remember it being the talk of the town. Everyone, even people who never read a Marvel comic in their life, went to go see it and loved it. As a fan of Marvel superheroes, it was the first time I had gotten excited about a film since Spider-Man 2, and it paid off and then some.

Ten years later, this film still holds up as the epic payoff and dream come true for Marvel fans. As a film, while not perfect, is still an epic experience from beginning to end. It has action, humor, drama, and enough going to keep your attention and have you on the edge of your seat. Getting to experience it again with my girlfriend brought back that excitement that I felt the first time seeing it and it was special to get to see her have the same emotional experience that I had. Avengers took what had been successfully established and made it into something even bigger. It is an important moment in the MCU that took it to another level and set up for even better things to come down the line. If you're a Marvel fan and have not seen it, do yourself the favor and assemble some friends, grab some popcorn, and strap in for a fun time.




MCU Revisit: Iron Man 3
Review written by Christian Garcia

Today I'm looking at Iron Man 3. This was the first and only Iron Man film that I saw in theaters, and I remember enjoying it enough that I saw it a second time and really liked it.

In the years since its release, the reaction to this film is a mixed bag. Some people like it okay and say, “well it's definitely better than Iron Man 2,” while others see it as a film that made a lot of stupid choices. I liked this film fine when I saw it but now looking at it again nine years later, does it still hold up? Let’s take a look.


The Hero's Journey

Following the events of the Avengers, Tony is suffering from severe post-traumatic stress and anxiety. He spends his days working nonstop on suits and cannot sleep. He keeps reliving what he saw in space and suffering from panic attacks. It is nice to see that the events from the Avengers do have lasting effects on him and it is also nice to see a superhero dealing with anxiety. As someone who deals with anxiety, I can relate to him. In today’s climate with mental health awareness being more prevalent, this was handled with good care and gives Tony Stark more depth. As a man who is sworn to protect people, this did a much better job of showing how that pressure can affect him than what they tried in Iron Man 2. Tony feels the same paranoia that everyone else is feeling, especially after Avengers, with the realization there are threats beyond Earth to be wary of. This is an arc that follows Tony throughout the rest of this film and future films that follow.

It also follows the idea of Tony paying for the choices that he’s made. His choice in the opening of ignoring Aldrich Killian comes back to haunt him as well as his one-night stand with Maya Hansen. His girlfriend Pepper Potts and his bodyguard Happy Hogan are both put into harm’s way, and he feels responsible. He does make the stupid (and yes, I stand by that wording) choice of giving the villain his home address and suffers the consequences.

The film does a much better job of juggling Tony’s inner struggles with the tangible goal of stopping the impending doom. The film takes time between trying to stop Killian and the Mandarin to have Tony confront his inner demons. Iron Man 2 had too much going on which led to good ideas not getting fleshed out properly. Here the ideas of stress and atonement are given the proper time that they need to be fleshed out and paid off and by the story’s end, Tony has grown more and better for having endured it all. At the end of Iron Man 2, it did not feel like much had changed for Tony but here he does change. He gets surgery to remove the shrapnel from his heart, destroys all his suits with the intention of scaling back his time as Iron Man, and promises to dedicate more time to Pepper. It is the first time since the first Iron Man film that we see Tony grow and mature and come out of the other side better.


The Villain
Aldrich Killian is the founder and CEO of AIM.

In the film’s opening flashback, he attempts to recruit Tony Stark into AIM but is left shunned and ignored waiting on the roof. The film takes the approach of judging a book by its cover as Killian’s initial appearance is one that is not threatening as he is disabled and is more sympathetic. My girlfriend felt bad for him in the opening when Tony leaves him waiting on the roof. It plays into the theme of atonement as what Tony thought of as ignoring another kook comes back to haunt him later. While the Mandarin was built up as the big threat, Dain is the one pulling the strings. He works with Maya Hansen and conducts many illegal experiments with her Extremis project that have disastrous results.

His next appearance shows he is cured of his disabilities and is more confident. He comes off as charming in his meeting with Pepper but still threatening that you feel that he has an ulterior motive. As the film progresses, his true colors are revealed, and he becomes colder and more vindictive. When Maya threatens to kill herself to save Tony, Dain shoots her himself without any hesitation. When Pepper falls and is presumed dead, he makes the remark “I would have caught her” rubbing salt in the wound of a heartbroken Tony.

Doug Walker once described him as “another ******* in a suit,” and while there is truth to that, I also do not think Killian is that one-dimensional. While comparisons can be made and there are some similarities, he is more interesting than Obadiah Stane and Justin Hammer. He is not just another greedy businessman that wants to best Tony Stark at his game, he wants to create a new War on Terror that he can control and manipulate while also conducting his Extremis experiments. While he of course is going to profit from it, he is also out for vengeance and goes to great lengths to torment Tony and Pepper, even injecting Pepper with Extremis.

Does that make him the best of the Marvel villains? Not really. Compared to later villains he does not stand out as much as Loki or Thanos but out of the Iron Man villains, he was the one that felt like the biggest threat.


The Film's Pros
The Climax

One of the biggest complaints I have about the first two Iron Man films is that the climaxes were very anticlimactic. The final battle in Iron Man was okay but nothing epic and the final battle in Iron Man 2 was short and anything but epic. Iron Man 3 is the film that finally got it right. There were stakes to the battle as they needed to stop Killian, save the President of the United States, and save Pepper while taking on an army of Extremis-fueled soldiers. Tony and Rhodey are outnumbered and don’t have any suits on hand which raises the stakes. It is topped off when Tony calls for backup in the form of the many Iron Man suits that he has been building. The shot of all these Iron Man suits assembling for the final battle is the epic climax that I have been waiting to see in an Iron Man film.

The final battle had drama and tension. When Pepper fell, my girlfriend gasped. When Pepper returned and finished off Killian, my girlfriend and I were both excited. I got the feeling that I was watching an epic conclusion to a comic book movie. It had action and drama that kept my girlfriend and me on the edge of our seats and had a satisfying conclusion. It was a great conclusion to the final Iron Man film and one that sent him out on a high note.


The Film's Cons
The Mandarin

The Mandarin is the biggest blunder of the film and one of the biggest botches of a villain in film since Venom in Spider-Man 3. The Mandarin is the most popular of the Iron Man villains and the fan reaction to his portrayal in Iron Man 3 was universally hated and it is easy to see why. I laughed the first time at the reveal but looking at it again 9 years later, it does hurt the movie quite more than I remember.

The Mandarin was built up great throughout the film. The videos and his voice made him so threatening and the first time I saw the film, I was excited to see him and Iron Man battle. When he threatens a hostage unless the president calls him and then kills the hostage anyway, it cemented his status as a threatening heel. He is the most interesting of the Iron Man villains as he points out the hypocrisy of the US’s actions but would go so far to the extreme that the audience also dislikes him. My girlfriend was yelling expletives at the TV when he shot the hostage in the head. He was the threat that Iron Man swore to protect the people from and was built up so well that it got me excited to see them finally come face to face.

Which makes it so disappointing when it is revealed that the Mandarin is nothing more than a drunk, goofy actor playing a role with the strings really being pulled by Aldrich Killian. I was not aware of the Mandarin comic book origins, so I was not as angry as most comic fans were. But nine years later, this does kill the vibe the film was following and seems more like a swerve for the sake of a swerve. While Ben Kingsley as Trevor is funny, you can’t help but feel cheated. Aldrich Killian is a fine villain, but the Mandarin was a lot more interesting and felt like a bigger threat. While I do find the commentary behind creating an icon of threat for the public to revile interesting, it kills the film's momentum. All that buildup for a weak payoff really hurts the film and I can understand why some viewers choose to dislike this film for that reason. At the end of the day, this is a superhero film and people want to see their favorite heroes and villains on the big screen. Those who wanted to see this villain on the big screen got cheated after a great build and while I may have found the initial swerve funny, it did not work to the film’s benefit.


The stupidest move done by a superhero
After Happy is attacked and hospitalized, Tony angrily sends out a threat to the Mandarin and gives him his home address. This is one of, if not, the stupidest choices ever made by a superhero. While I get that Tony is full of rage and not thinking rationally, this is still a stupid choice made ever stupider when he is caught off guard when the Mandarin’s forces attack and destroy his home. When the attack went down, my girlfriend said, “Tony you’re so smart in so many other ways but that was a dumb move.” Tony Stark is one of the smartest of the Avengers, but this was not his brightest moment. I can understand that it was probably a bad judgment call made from guilt and rage but even he admits later that it was a stupid mistake. I did not feel bad for him at that moment and just thought, “well what did you think was going to happen?”


Final Thoughts
Nine years later, Iron Man 3 still holds up and is a good movie. While it does have its problems and makes some very questionable and, at times, dumb choices, it is still an enjoyable experience. Tony’s journey throughout the film is more enjoyable to watch and shows the most growth in him out of any of the films. His inner struggles and outer struggles are handled with much better care in this film than in the previous film and it made for a fun and interesting film. It’s not perfect by any means and if the choices they made with the Mandarin are enough to turn you away, I can understand why.

But at the same time, this is not a film that should be as easy as dismissed as Iron Man 2 was. Iron Man 3 combines the charm and humor of Robert Downey Jr. with the inner torment of Tony Stark who is dealing with the heightening danger of the world he has sworn to protect. It continues the saga of Tony Stark and shows how the events of Avengers carry over into the individual heroes’ lives and for that alone it is a film worth checking out. It’s not a great film by any means but a good one that does enough right to balance out its missteps.




You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I haven't seen Iron Man 3 since it was in the theaters, but wasn't there a young boy who helped Tony fix his Iron Man suit? I thought he had more than just a small appearance, but you didn't mention him in your review. Am I mixing it up with a different movie?



I haven't seen Iron Man 3 since it was in the theaters, but wasn't there a young boy who helped Tony fix his Iron Man suit? I thought he had more than just a small appearance, but you didn't mention him in your review. Am I mixing it up with a different movie?
No, you're correct he is in this film. He's only in the film for the second act and then briefly mentioned in the end. I personally felt that his appearance didn't really affect Tony's journey that much. I remember thinking he played more of a role too before watching it again but for me personally it didn't feel that big



MCU Revisit: Thor: The Dark World
Review written by Christian Garcia

Introduction
Today I am looking at Thor: The Dark World.

The often-forgotten sequel that was given decent critical reception upon release but since the release of Thor: Ragnarok, has now been given more hate.

When I wrote my list of Marvel films back in 2015, I found this film boring and beyond forgettable. I quickly forgot it as soon as I watched it and for years it has been at the bottom of my list of Marvel films. In the years since I last looked at it, is this movie still as bad as I remember it? Or have I been harsher on it than it deserves?

Let's take a look.


The Hero's Journey
At the start of the film, Thor is fighting to bring peace and order to the Nine Realms. However, despite these great conquests Thor’s mind dwells on Jane Foster. He visits Heimdall to see how she’s doing. His father and friends try to tell him to focus more on being the next King of Asgard. Thor is conflicted between what he wants and what he’s destined for. His wants have changed since the first film. In the first film, he was all about being the best warrior and the King but his experience on Earth has humbled and changed him.

Another moment that highlights Thor’s growth is when he and his father argue over how to approach the Dark Elves following their siege and the death of his mother. Odin is full of rage and anger and is willing to risk the lives of every Asgardian to take out the Dark Elves. Thor is more concerned about his people and concocts a plan of his own. It was a major contrast to the scene in the first film when Thor and his father argue which leads to Thor being banished. Back then he was cocky and reckless, now he is thinking more like a King. This moment is also important in his journey because Odin’s reaction plays a major role in Thor’s choice at the film's end.

Against his father’s wishes, Thor teams up with his prisoner brother Loki and concocts a plan to bring Jane and the Aether to the Dark World and destroy it there. Although it does not go the way he planned, he willingly took the risk to protect his people. With Jane’s help, he defeats Malekith and the Dark Elves. In the final scene, he makes his ultimate declaration of independence when he refuses his destiny to be king choosing his freedom to follow his own path instead. This moment signifies how much Thor has grown and has become his own person (or God).


The Villain
Malekith is the leader of the Dark Elves.

He wishes to use the ancient weapon known as the Aether (also known as the Reality Stone) to return the world to a state of darkness.

And that's about as much as we learn about this villain. Like Laufey from the first Thor film, Malekith is a very one-dimensional villain. Until I rewatched it for this review, I did not even remember his name which shows how little of an impact he left on me. He's not interesting at all and we do not learn anything about him. He's just a bad guy who wants to do bad things. Very by the book and standard villain. The trope of plunging the world into darkness is the most cliche motivation for a villain and sadly nothing creative is really done here to at least make it interesting. He is easily the most forgettable villain in the MCU.


The Film's Pros
Thor and Loki team up

In my review of the first film, I said the two biggest pros were Thor and Loki. They had great chemistry and made for fun interactions. So, the idea of them teaming up in this film was fun to see. It was fun to see Thor outsmart Loki and even Loki admitted to being impressed by it. Their relationship is the strongest aspect of all the Thor films. Despite their differences and having been at each other’s throats, they do still have a level of love and care for each other. When they confront Malekith, they act out a clever plan to make them believe that Loki betrays Thor again. Although the plan doesn’t go their way, another moment that highlights their level of care for each other is when Loki sacrifices himself to save Thor. When Loki dies in his arms, Thor is saddened by the loss of his brother. Of course, at the end of the film, it is revealed once again that Loki is not dead and up to more trickery. But the time they spent working together shows how great they could be if they worked together.


The Final Battle
The final encounter between Thor and Malekith has some creative elements in it and took advantage of the idea of battling across portals that send them to different worlds. They build up the idea of the portals and inter-dimensional travel and it’s nice to see them take advantage of it. It leads to Thor having to get creative with his battle strategy such as figuring out where to throw his hammer. They make their way back to Jotunheim and even bring a frost monster back with them. It even gives us a funny moment where Thor takes the subway.

The final moment where they use the portal to crush Malekith with his own ship was kind of clever although admittedly anticlimactic. And on that note, while the final battle was creative visually, it did lack that epic feeling present in other films.


The Film's Cons
No feeling

The biggest issue that plagues this film is that it does not elicit any form of emotion out of me. When a film fails to draw any kind of reaction, there is a serious issue. I mentioned that while the climax was visually creative, it lacked an epic feeling. That’s because I was not at all invested in that battle because I knew how it was going to end and it felt like it was just going through the motions. That’s how the entire film feels. Like it’s just going through the motions. Even when Thor’s mother is killed, I felt nothing. The scene of her funeral while visually beautiful felt emotionally empty. When a film feels emotionally empty, you know you have a serious problem.

This film just feels empty and hollow. I didn't feel anything while I watched it and I didn't feel anything afterward. They say sometimes any reaction is a good reaction, but no reaction is worse than a bad reaction and I agree. This film did nothing to stimulate me emotionally and because of that, it falls flat. The story didn’t grab me enough to warrant any kind of emotional investment and did not take me for any kind of emotional ride like previous and better Marvel films have.


Malekith and the Dark Elves
Like the Frost Giants in the first film, Malekith and the Dark Elves make for another set of generic and forgettable villains. Their design is not very interesting and looks too like the villains from the first J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film. Their presence in the world felt so out of place that it took me out of the story at times. When the Dark Elves attacked Asgard, I kept feeling like I was watching something that belonged in The Mandalorian or another Star Trek film. Not Marvel. They felt like they were put here just to have villains for Thor to beat up. I remember the opening battle with Thor and his friends against the rock people and found that fit the world of Thor better than the Dark Elves. Honestly, I think the film would have been better if they just focused on Thor vs. the rock people instead of these generic, sci-fi reject-looking villains.


Final Thoughts
After watching this film again seven years later, I was surprised to have felt very apathetic towards it. For years, I always remember this movie being so awful and boring. My second time around, it wasn’t as awful as I remember it but at the same time, that’s probably because I came away feeling nothing towards it.

So, to answer my question from the start of this review, yes, I have been too harsh on this film. But that’s not because it’s better than I remember, it’s because it’s not even bad enough to warrant such a reaction. It did not feel like a chore to get through like Iron Man 2, but it also wasn’t like the Incredible Hulk where it had some value. This film is just there. It’s not spectacularly awful and it doesn’t really bring anything to the table that’s worth seeing. In my review of Captain America: Winter Soldier, I mentioned how it went above and beyond expectations of what people were expecting to be a filler film.

Thor: The Dark World does exactly what is expected and is the definition of a filler film. It does what it needs to do and that’s all. That’s why I didn’t bother showing it to my girlfriend in our watch-through. When describing it to her, her reaction was this, “I’m okay with skipping it if it gets me closer to the Avengers movie.” And that’s the best way to approach it if you’re going thru the MCU for the first time. It does not do enough good nor bad to leave a lasting impact. You don’t gain anything by having watched it nor do you miss out on anything by not having watched it and it’s the Marvel film that you can easily skip.




You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
No, you're correct he is in this film. He's only in the film for the second act and then briefly mentioned in the end. I personally felt that his appearance didn't really affect Tony's journey that much. I remember thinking he played more of a role too before watching it again but for me personally it didn't feel that big

Thanks for the info. I'll have to rewatch it when I get a chance.



Oh my god, so much work has gone into this. Loving this. I've only read the Iron Man 1 review, but looking forward to your review of the others.
__________________
Movie Reviews!!
--
Being John Malkovich



MCU Revisit: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction:
Today I'm looking at Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The film that most say caught audiences off guard by just how good it was and is regarded as the sleeper classic of the MCU.

Is this film as great as everyone says? Yes, it is.

When I first watched this film, I went in thinking it was just going to be a filler movie and nothing spectacular. I think most viewers went in with the same mentality and we were all shocked and happy to see a film that was much more than a filler film. I'm jumping the gun by saying this, but this is one of the best Marvel films and the film that started the upward trend of hit after hit with the films that follow it.

So yes, this is a great film but let's take a look at why this film is so great.

Also, before I get started, there is a big reveal in this film that I would rather not spoil for anyone who has yet to see it. So, if you're reading this and haven't seen it yet, STOP READING AND GO WATCH IT!!! If you choose not to do so, you've been warned...


The Hero’s Journey:
Steve Rogers’ journey in the film revolves around the main ideas of adjusting to life after service and trust. He tries to adjust to his new life in the modern world but finds great difficulty. He is forced to come to terms with the fact that the people he’s known and loved are gone.

He deals with the consequences of his continued path of selflessness. His inner struggle between doing what’s right for others and doing what he wants follows him throughout this film and later Marvel films. He tries to throw himself back into missions to keep him busy but even that proves to not be enough. He visits an exhibit on himself at the Smithsonian and later visits his love Peggy who is now older and withering away mentally. At the beginning of the film, he meets Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie, who has also experienced the difficulty of adjusting to life after service and they form a bond.

While on a mission for S.H.I.E.L.D., he discovers Natasha Romanoff has another agenda and later confronts Nick Fury about it establishing early on that Rogers will have a difficult time knowing who to trust. After Fury is ambushed, he sneaks into Roger’s apartment and tells him not to trust anyone before they are attacked. When Rogers is confronted by Alexander Pierce about the incident, he heeds Fury’s word and withholds information from him. This results in Pierce branding him a fugitive and forcing him to go on the run. He is joined by Black Widow and despite his initial resistance must trust her and they investigate the situation together, putting his trusting skills to the task.

Their investigation leads to the discovery that Hydra has secretly been recreated within S.H.I.E.L.D. and plans to use Fury’s Project Insight to create more chaos in the world with Pierce leading the way. They recruit Sam and try to take down Hydra together. Along the way, they encounter Hydra’s assassin, the Winter Soldier. The Winter Soldier took out Nick Fury and sets out to take out Captain America as well. They have an epic encounter where the Winter Soldier's identity is revealed...

If you've read this far and didn't hear my warning from before I hold no responsibility for the following spoiler. I'll even give you a courtesy warning...

. you’ve been warned...

In one of the best plot twists of the Marvel films, Steve discovers that the Winter Soldier is his best friend, Bucky whom he had believed to have been dead. The reveal of Bucky adds another layer of conflict to Rogers as he now wants to save his best friend. After this reveal, another reveal occurs when Nick Fury returns “from the dead” and they concoct a plan to stop Project Insight from taking flight and taking down Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D.

In the film’s climax, Rogers and Bucky battle it out on the Hellicarrier. Rogers refuses to fight his friend and tries to get through to him. Rogers completes his mission but as the Hellicarriers destroy each other, he falls into the river to his presumed doom. However, Bucky rescues him before disappearing. The film ends with Rogers, joined by Sam, deciding to go after the Winter Soldier with the hopes to rescue his best friend.

In the end, Rogers learns a valuable lesson about trust as he has formed a friendship with Black Widow and gives her his trust. He also learns that there can still be good inside ones thought to be too far gone. Bucky’s choice to rescue him gave Rogers hope that his best friend is still inside the Winter Soldier and can be reached and brought back. This newfound hope carries Rogers into the next film and gives him something to fight for that benefits the world and himself.


The Villain:
The Winter Soldier is a super-soldier assassin created by Hydra to carry out numerous heinous acts including taking out S.H.I.E.L.D. leader, Nick Fury.

James “Bucky” Barnes is Steve Rogers’ childhood best friend. He protected Steve throughout his life often saving him from bullies. In the first film, Steve saved Bucky from captivity by Hydra in World War II. Bucky joins Steve in the war effort to take down Hydra’s strongholds. However, Bucky falls off a train during one mission and is presumed dead.

It is revealed in this film that due to the experiments that Hydra conducted on him during his captivity, Barnes was able to survive the fall and was recaptured by Hydra. He is tortured, brainwashed, given a metallic prosthetic arm, and transformed into the super-soldier assassin that is the Winter Soldier. Under Hydra’s control, he committed numerous assassination and terrorist acts.

When his mask falls off and his identity is revealed, his first reaction is to ask, “who is Bucky?” Afterward, he begins to question his identity before he is shocked and tortured back into submission. In the film’s climax, the Soldier is determined to kill Captain America, while Steve tries to appeal to his friend. When the Hellicarrier is destroyed and Steve is sent into the river, Bucky is freed from his brainwashing and rescues his friend before disappearing. In the post-credit scene, Bucky is seen visiting his exhibit at the Smithsonian, trying to recollect who he is and now on a similar journey to Steve to adapt to the new modern world while also coming to grips with what he’s done as the Winter Soldier.


The Film’s Pros:
The Twists and Turns

The biggest strength of this film is its ability to build and maintain suspense and interest. It has the traditional characteristics of an espionage film with a lot of twists and turns around every corner. This is a film where the audience shares the feeling of anxiety with the characters. The characters are not able to stop and get their bearings for long as they are constantly on the run. We want to see the characters succeed and share their feeling of shock and awe when another twist is revealed. My girlfriend was caught off guard by all the twists and turns and it kept her interested as we watched. It felt like there was always another piece of the puzzle being given to us slowly. It felt like a Metal Gear Solid game with a number of conspiracies and plot twists. Thankfully unlike MSG 2, the twists and turns were easy to follow and explained clearly. It was not an overly complicated story but not a simple story either. It is one of the better tales of government conspiracies that I have watched as it kept me engaged and I did not know where it was going.

It starts off with things seemingly going as usual with Cap on a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission and doing the standard superhero duties. This is where the film could have risked coming off as a filler film. However, it is not long before questions begin to rise around Black Widow and Nick Fury’s motivations as well as that of S.H.I.E.L.D. The suspense heightens when Fury is ambushed and taken out. When Fury was attacked, my girlfriend was frantic again wanting to see him get out of trouble and questioning why the police were attacking him. Before his “death” he warns Captain America not to trust anyone. After Cap’s encounter with Pierce, he is labeled a fugitive and is now on the run from who he thought were his allies. My girlfriend was frantic when Cap was ambushed by the S.T.R.I.K.E. team in the elevator shouting “get out of there!” at the TV. The twists and turns continued when he and Black Widow discover Arnim Zola’s secret plan that recreated Hydra from within S.H.I.E.L.D. And of course, there is the reveal of the Winter Soldier’s identity that caps off (no pun intended) the twists.

The first time I watched it I was amazed at well they handled all these twists and turns and watching it a second time only confirms it. It was more than enough to draw the viewer in keep them engaged and take them for a fun and wild ride and makes for a great conspiracy story and a fun comic book film.


The Captain America-Black Widow Team Up
In my review of Iron Man 2, I mentioned that we get a small taste of Black Widow in action. As a result, she felt like a wasted character in that film. In Avengers, she is used much more and established herself as one of the mainstays of the MCU and it is thankfully the same result in this film. Black Widow is used to great lengths in this film. This was the closest to getting a Black Widow film before we did eventually get Black Widow. Scarlett Johansson once again knocks it out of the park as Black Widow and is a great foil to the play-by-the-rules boy scout that is Captain America. You don’t always know what her agenda is, but you can’t help but put your trust in her. Her pairing with Captain America is a great pairing and establishes a great friendship between the two that would last for later Marvel films. They have great chemistry as their personalities contrast but also complement each other. They make a great team for fighting but also make a great team comedically. The scene with them in the mall is a comedic highlight of the film with Natasha trying to get Steve to keep his cool undercover and is topped off with them sharing a fake kiss on the escalator to keep cover. It’s followed up later when she takes a light-hearted jab at him in the car about it being his first kiss in 70 years.

They are a fun pair to watch, and it is great to see more of Black Widow. My girlfriend was happy to see Black Widow in this film as she is one of her favorite Marvel characters. She would always yell for joy whenever she got to see Natasha kick some ass. Her inclusion in this film further cements her place as an empowering character that women and Marvel fans can get behind and gave more credence to the idea of her eventually getting her own film.


The Film’s Cons:
Needed more buildup of Cap and Winter Soldier's Rivalry

To be honest, it was quite difficult to find a major con of this film that hurts it so this is honestly more of a nitpick that could make an already great film even better.

The buildup of the Winter Soldier was significant. We only saw a glimpse of him running after he shot Nick Fury and he was cleverly kept in the shadows before his encounter with Cap which was awesome, and I would not change anything about it. However, the rivalry could have been taken up just a smidge had they had one encounter beforehand where the Winter Soldier bested Cap. It would have made him look like even more of a threat and would have given Cap something to prove in their next battle. On top of that, imagine how much more impact the reveal of the Winter Soldier’s identity would have had if that rivalry had been upped even more? It could have been a similar feeling to finding out Darth Vader was Luke’s father. Okay, maybe not that big but still. But again, this is just a nitpick for what is already a well-done work.


Final Thoughts:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is one of if not the best of the MCU films and one of the best superhero sequels ever made. It took what was established in the original and heightened it to new levels. It mixed the story of Steve Rogers’s struggle to adapt to the modern world with the suspense and action of a fun spy film. It brought more fun and intimidating villain with a great backstory and made what people would have written off as a filler film before Avengers 2 into a comic book classic. This film is at the top of many fan lists of the best Marvel films and it is easy to see why. It has a great and interesting story, great action, great characters, great character building, and enough twists and turns along the way to keep you entertained. It is a fun ride from beginning to end and gave our beloved Captain America a fun adventure to sink our teeth into. If you only kind of liked the first Captain America film and wanted something more out of it, then Winter Solider is what you’re looking for.

It is also an important film in the MCU’s history as it began the streak of great films that would take Marvel to the next level in terms of film quality and lead to a long streak of great films that would follow. If you’re following the MCU in order, this film is where it starts to kick-off to a whole new level of quality and only gets better from here on out.





MCU Revisit: Guardians of the Galaxy
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction
The next film is the 2014 sleeper hit, Guardians of the Galaxy.

I remember going into this film completely blind and not knowing what to expect. Most audiences had that same mentality. My girlfriend had the same mindset. It's easy to see why. This was unlike any other Marvel film at that time. This was not Captain America or Iron Man. At that time, the Guardians of the Galaxy while fan favorite of comic book fans, were not known to the public so they did not know what to expect. Looking at the film with no context is a movie with the funny guy from Parks and Recreation, a giant tree guy, a green girl, WWE wrestler Batista, and a raccoon carrying a machine gun. That description alone would make one go wtf.

But that lead to me, and most viewers being pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed this film. It was funny, it had a lot of action and one-liners, and everyone left the theatres loving it. It went on to become a big hit at the box office that summer and had a lot of hype behind it. It is still one of the more popular Marvel films to this day.

Looking back on it 8 years later, with the hype dying down, does this film still hold up? Is it still as great as I remember it? Let’s take a look.


The Guardians
Star-Lord

Peter Quill is a former Ravager, who now flies solo and gets into wild shenanigans. He operates alone and always looks to score whether it is for big bucks or with a woman. His greatest possession is his cassette tape player with a mixtape his mother made for him. At the beginning of the film, he witnesses his mother succumb to cancer. She asked him to take her hand but unable to look at his mother that way refused and watched her die instead. Immediately after he runs outside only to be abducted by Yondu and the Ravager Clan. His choice to not take his mother’s hand is one that haunts him throughout the film. As a result, he also chooses to remain a loner. His desire to score causes him to get caught up in the wild chase for the Orb.


Gamora
Adopted daughter of Thanos and adopted sister of Nebula. After Thanos killed half of her people, he took her under his wing making her into one of the most feared and hated assassins in the Galaxy. However, she no longer wishes to follow his ways and plots to betray him and Ronan and take the Orb that they seek and keep it as far from them as possible. She serves as the moral compass of the group and is the more mature one. She pushes the hardest to get the Orb to the Nova Corps in her quest to atone for her actions while serving under Thanos.


Rocket Raccoon
A genetically enhanced creature who collects bounties and commits crimes alongside his partner and friend, Groot. As a result of the repeated experiments, he has a very explosive personality and tends to hide behind quick quips and smart comments. He is easily offended whenever he is called rodent or vermin. He is closest to Groot being the only member of the team that can understand him and while he can seem to be verbally abusive towards Groot, he does care for him. At moments, he shows he cares for Groot the most and is very quick to protect him. He is very intelligent and has very strong engineering skills that he shows off throughout the film and proves he is an asset to the team.


Drax
Known as the Destroyer, Drax is a rage-fueled former criminal seeking revenge on Ronan for the murders of his wife and daughter. His race of people, the Kylosian, are naive and underdeveloped making him unable to grasp concepts like metaphors. This makes for great comedy throughout the film. He is both the brawn and at times comedic relief. His rage and power make him a great asset to the team although his impulsive nature and inability to think before acting is his greatest weakness.


Groot
He is Groot.

Groot is a hyper-intelligent, tree-like organism whose speech is limited to the phrase, “I am Groot.” He is Rocket’s partner-in-crime having aided him on many bounties and criminal acts. He acts as the innocence and comedic relief of the film. He doesn’t act out of malice but out of kindness. He follows Rocket’s lead and does whatever he can to help him out. Despite him only saying 3 words, he can make those 3 words so funny in the right situation. My girlfriend quickly grew to love Groot and found him cute and innocent which led her to a sea of emotions later in the film.


The Guardians’ Journey
The theme of Guardians of the Galaxy is of loners coming together to create a family. At the start of the film, the Guardians are loners onto themselves. Quill lost his mother, never knew his father, and was abducted into space. Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos, having been taken in after he killed her family and wiped out half her planet. Not wanting to see Ronan destroy a planet and kill innocence, chooses to betray him and Thanos. Drax’s family was murdered by Ronan. Rocket was the result of numerous experiments and because of this tortured existence chooses to lash out at others rather than make friends, aside from Groot. They have different backgrounds, yet they share the same status as loners; those who actively choose to remain alone. The Guardians are like the Island of Misfit Toys, those who believe themselves to not be desirable, meet others who feel the same way, and come together to form a family.

Quill’s journey as a loner is the focus. His loss of family and having been raised by Yondu and the Ravagers causes him to become a loner. He desires simple pleasure rather than connection. He admits later in the film to having slept with a variety of women from different planets and even goes as far as forgetting one was aboard his ship when he steals the Orb from Morag. But once he is imprisoned on the Kyln with the others, he begins to change. The first sight of change is when he intervenes and convinces Drax to spare Gamora’s life. While one can argue that he did so to get in on a big payday, he felt empathy for her and wanted to save her.

It is on Knowhere where the Guardians begin to come together as a group. Quill and Gamora talk about their pasts. She tells him about her history as Thanos’ daughter, and he tells her about his mother and how she loved to share her favorite songs with him. He plays her a song on his cassette tape, and they share a dance and almost share a kiss before Gamora’s assassin instincts kick in and she wards him off. They then witness a fight between a drunk Rocket and Drax. Drax insulted Rocket’s appearance and causes Rocket to go on a rant about his tortured existence. This moment gives the audience an understanding of Rocket’s history and how it shaped him and his personality. Quill chastises the group about how they’re always ready to kill someone 5 seconds after meeting and that that is why none of them have any friends. This is an important moment for Quill where his loner status continues changing, and he starts to take on the leadership role within the group.

After the ensuing battle with Ronan and Nebula nearly leaves her for dead, Quill makes a choice that ends his loner status for good when he sacrifices himself to save Gamora. He calls Yondu to come and find him and willingly gets himself and Gamora captured to save them both. Quill could have chosen to leave Gamora and remain a loner but instead, he cast that aside to save her, letting her in and letting that connection in. Back on Knowhere, Groot revives Drax, and he convinces Rocket to go save Quill and Gamora, with Drax joining them. They attempt to save Quill and Gamora, who they don’t know have already saved themselves by concocting a plan with Yondu to retrieve the Orb.

It is Quill’s speech aboard Yondu’s ship where the Guardians finally come together. He describes themselves as losers who have lost stuff but have been given a chance by life to “give a shit” and not run away. Here he chooses to care about others even with the risk of death rather than run away and remain alone. Each of his friends chooses to fight and possibly die alongside him. They started out as misfits looking to make a quick buck but upon realizing the power that the Orb holds and the threat it brings, they grow from only caring for themselves to wanting to protect the innocent. They were innocent at one point but after enduring hardship after hardship they became more jaded, yet they never lost their innocence. That kept innocence gave them empathy and that empathy is what turned them from misfits into the Guardians of the Galaxy, sworn to protect others.


The Villain
Ronan the Accuser is a Kree warlord who is tasked with obtaining the Orb, later revealed to contain an Infinity Stone, for Thanos. He agreed to give Thanos the stone in exchange for his help in destroying Xandar. Thanos even lent Ronan his adopted daughters Gamora and Nebula to aid in his task.


The Film’s Pros:
The Cast

The strongest attribute in every Marvel film so far has been their casting choices. Especially for their main heroes. That reputation only continues with Guardians. The ensemble cast for this film is perfect with the right balance of good acting and good comedy.

This film led to the launch of Chris Pratt’s film career and his performance shows why. He brings the great comedic timing that made fans fall in love with him on Parks and Recreation, but he also shines when it comes to the dramatic moments. His speech to the group before the final battle is one of the emotional highlights of the film and cemented him as a leading man.

Zoe Saldana brings her great acting talents to the role of Gamora and carries the emotional moments as well. Her moment with Pratt was another emotional highlight.

Dave Bautista plays Drax with great comedic timing getting across as a rage-filled man with dry humor and delivery. His dry humor made for a handful of laughs.

But the performance that steals the show for me personally is Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon. His voice acting is so good in this that I don’t see Bradley Cooper as a raccoon, I just see Rocket. The scene where drunk Rocket rants about not having been asked to be created is a great performance that makes you feel for him. And of course, Cooper also does great with the smart-ass comments and whit that he’s brought to other comedies.

The cast had great chemistry with each other and made for a team that kept audiences wanting to come back for more.


The Comedy and Music
While the opening scene is very dramatic, what the audience expects from a Marvel film, this film lets you know quickly afterward that this is a different kind of Marvel film. While previous Marvel films are more action and drama with some comedy sprinkled in there, this film is more of a comedy with action and drama sprinkled in. The opening scene with Pratt’s Star-Lord dancing to “Come and Get Your Love” tells the audience right away these are not your typical Marvel heroes. The film is chock full of funny moments. From Star-Lord trying to explain metaphors to Drax to Rocket asking Star-Lord to retrieve a man’s leg this film had me laughing a lot.

The other big highlight is the music. Quill’s mixtape is the soundtrack of the film and features a great blend of the 60s and 70s hits. The music serves as Quill’s last connection to the earth and his mother and is used to highlight important moments. Such as the use of “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” for Quill and Gamora’s scene as well as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough” for the final scene and of course a personal favorite of “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 5 with a dancing Groot. The use of music has become a song signature of the Guardians of the Galaxy as we would see more of it in the sequel and even with their inclusion in other films.


The Film’s Cons:
Another Weak Villain

If my description above of Ronan seemed brief, that’s because aside from what I wrote there, there’s not much else that we learn about Ronan in the film. He’s another one-dimensional villain who wants to use the stone to destroy a planet. His goal is nothing we have not already seen before, and we are not even given his motivation besides just wanting to destroy Xandar.

Although they try to build him up as an intimidating force to be reckoned with, we don’t get to witness him do anything that intimidating. When he gets the stone, he becomes more of a threat but even then, the real threat is the stone as opposed to Ronan. He felt more like a whipping boy for Thanos and even how he is beaten in the end makes him come across as the same.

While watching, my girlfriend kept asking which one Ronan was showing he didn’t leave any impact on her. He serves his role fine as an antagonist of being an obstacle in the Guardians’ way, but he doesn’t make for an interesting villain.


Final Thoughts:
Guardians of the Galaxy is an epic comedy with a great ensemble cast and a wonderful soundtrack that stood amongst the popular Marvel films and found its own identity.

Eight years later, this film still holds up as a Marvel classic. It’s a fun time with a great mix of action, emotion, and comedy. It established a new group of Marvel heroes who would go on to explode in popularity. The Guardians of the Galaxy went from a cult-classic comic to a major Marvel franchise. I remember after seeing it for the first time, I got excited to see when the Guardians would meet up with the Avengers. It was a welcome surprise hit and one of the best examples of don’t judge a book by its cover. My girlfriend went in thinking it was a weird setup and “wanted to get through it” to get to Age of Ultron. But by the end of the film, she had been through a roller coaster of emotions and found herself enjoying the film a lot.

Give this film a look if you haven’t already.





MCU Revisit: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction
Today I'm looking at the sequel to the smash hit The Avengers with Avengers: Age of Ultron.

When I wrote my rankings of the Marvel films in 2015, I put this film at Number 1. I remember being really excited about this film and it did not disappoint. I loved this movie after I saw it for the first time and thought it was the best thing to come from Marvel yet. Now looking back on it, I was definitely riding the hype wave as the movie had just come out at the time. I watched it again a few months later with my friends and I still loved it then. I have not watched it since then and a lot has changed. More movies have come out and I have changed.

After 7 years of more Marvel films, is this film still as great as I remember it? Let's take a deeper look and see.


The Avengers’ Journey
The ongoing theme throughout this film is confronting one’s fears. The Avengers are shown their greatest fears and it takes a toll on each of them.

Tony Stark’s arc after the events of Avengers continues with his paranoia of not doing enough and wanting to protect people. In Iron Man 3, he was having panic attacks thinking about what he saw in space in Avengers. Since then, he seems to have gotten his stress under control but that fear of a threat from outside their world still lingers in his mind. In the film’s opening, as he tries to retrieve Loki’s staff, he is shown his worst fear by Wanda Maximoff which shows all the Avengers dead except for him. The fear of an unknown threat inspires him to create Ultron to be a metaphorical suit around the Earth. Tony’s decision to create Ultron is an example of him letting his worst fear get the better of him. There’s a saying that when you fear something so much you end up manifesting it into reality and that’s what happens here. Initially created as a plan to protect the earth, Ultron decides it better to destroy the Avengers and the Earth. In trying to protect the world from his fear, he wound up creating one.

Captain America’s fear is of the unknown. He is back in his own time and is about to finally have his dance with Peggy but then she makes the comment “the war is over” and suddenly the room clears and he’s alone. As we saw in Winter Soldier, Cap has been struggling with adjusting to the modern world and feels as though he does not fit it. He always wants something to fight for or against to keep him going. This scene highlights his great fear of not having anything to fight for and therefore having nothing in his new home. For a man who has spent his life fighting for others, he has done so at his own personal cost. He sacrificed himself to save the world and woke up in a world that he doesn't fit into. Everyone he knew and cared about is gone and he is an island in himself. Even though he considers the Avengers friends, he still feels out of place and this scene where he is standing in the dance hall by himself shows how alone he truly feels.

Thor's biggest fear is the destruction of Asgard and his people. He like Tony wants to protect his people and the thought of not doing so terrifies him. For a prideful warrior and honorable God such as Thor, this breaks him because knowing that a threat is on the horizon and not being able to stop hurts him. However, he confronts his vision head-on and later in the film journeys to see the vision in full to see if there was something he missed that could help him out. He is the only one of the Avengers to do so and that choice to do so helps them out in the end.

Black Widow's nightmare actually gives a glimpse into her past. We witness her tormented upbringing as an assassin and the horrors she had to witness and endure. She is also racked with guilt over her past and constantly tries to run away from who she used to be. She is haunted by her past which is what drives her to keep fighting for what is right. In her mind, everything she does from that point on is to redeem herself yet her refusal to let go of the past makes that task of redemption seem impossible. For a character who always acts strongly in the face of everything, this is the most vulnerable that we get to see her. We also get a really touching moment with her and Banner where they plan to run away together after the fight is over. They talk about how they both have done horrible things and can never have a normal life. They are both alone in that aspect but that’s also what makes their connection strong and work. Some critics were not fans of the romance between them, but I felt that it worked. They are two people haunted by their past and holding back a harmful being within them and they are constantly trying to atone for their past. But their refusal to let the past go is what ultimately holds them back from truly being free.

These nightmare sequences are the most vulnerable that we see in all of the Avengers (except for Hawkeye who bested Wanda). Even though they are the world’s mightiest heroes, they are still people at the end of the day (technically not Thor who is a god, but you know what I mean). They have fears and pains just like the rest of us do. Showing our heroes at their most vulnerable takes the Avengers a step further in their growth. The first movie was great because we got to see them all come together, and it was fresh. Now that we have seen them together, the next step is to grow them as individuals and as a team and they do an excellent job with that here.

The highlight of the film is after they are beaten down and broken mentally, they go to Hawkeye’s farmhouse to hide and recover. We learn more about Hawkeye here where it is revealed that he has a family. The moments at the farmhouse are great because they give the heroes time to sit and reflect on their issues. This is the first moment for all these heroes where they can take a breath. They have had to endure conflict after conflict with very little to no time to sit and reflect. Now they are taking that time and it is helpful for them to confront their fears and figure out how to get back into the fight.

In my review of the first Avengers film, I mentioned that their motivations weren’t as strong. Their reason for coming together, in the end, felt forced and their reasoning wasn’t strong enough for me to buy into. This film fixed that problem and then some. Their motivations are clear and more defined and getting to see them at their worst only makes us more excited to see them get back up and be better after having endured it.


The Villain
Ultron is an artificial intelligence program created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner to serve as a peacekeeping initiative.

Ultron was created out of Tony’s desire to have a “suit of armor” around the world to protect them from any outer-planetary threat. However, upon his creation, Ultron looked through Earth’s history and deemed humanity to be the greatest threat to Earth. He believes that humanity won’t be saved if it's not allowed to evolve, and he believes the best way for it to evolve is for the extinction of the Avengers. He recruits Wanda, and Pietro Maximoff to assist him in his plans although he does not tell them of his true intentions of all-out genocide.

James Spader does the voice of Ultron, and he puts in a great performance. His cadence and delivery get across as that of an individual who knows a lot yet still understands little. He is intelligent and very intimidating. Spader brought a similar performance as Robert California on the Office where he came off as very smart but also scared people. However, like Ultron, instead of doing so for laughs, he does instill a sense of terror. The idea of someone very intelligent with radical ideas is scary. He is artificial intelligence, so he has access to all the information in the world yet the way he processes that information and absorbs it shows he still has a lot that he doesn’t understand. While you do not agree with his thought process, you can understand how he came to that conclusion. When you can have the audience understand the villain’s motivation, you have a strong villain. Also, another aspect that makes him interesting is the fact that he was created from the minds of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Two of the strongest minds of the Avengers. That gives him an advantage as he can think like them. However, it also brings weakness in him as he hates being compared to Tony Stark. When Ulysses Klaue tells him his way of thinking sounds like Tony Stark, he gets very offended to the point that Ultron cuts off Klaue’s arm.

Ultron is the first villain in a while to feel like a real threat. While the idea of an A.I. going rogue and wreaking havoc is nothing new, Ultron does so in a way that hammers home the message of manifesting one’s fears into reality. Tony feared a great threat to the world and in his quest to prevent it, he ended up creating what he wanted to avoid. Ultron’s actions in this film also do have lasting consequences that affect the MCU in later films. Although he is defeated in the end, his actions and the Avenger's response to them, plant seeds for future events that have major consequences for the Avengers and for the rest of the world.


Film’s Pros:
Barton’s Safehouse Scenes

As I mentioned earlier, the emotional highlight of the film takes place at Hawkeye’s safe house. After being broken down mentally and physically, the Avengers (minus Thor) take refuge at Barton’s safe house. We learn that he has a family that he chooses to keep a secret to protect. I said this is the moment where the Avengers are allowed to sit down and take a breath. After all the fighting they have endured, it’s nice to see them have moments that remind the audience that they are human. Natasha and Banner have their scene where they plan to run away together knowing neither can live a normal life and that they would rather do it together.

There is also a moment where Tony and Steve are talking and chopping wood. Stark makes the point about fighting to end the fight so they can go home. Rogers reacts to this by breaking a piece of wood in half with his bare hands. The line struck a chord with Rogers because he knows that even when the fight is over, he has no home to go to. Watching this scene again knowing that inner struggle Cap goes through, makes this scene more powerful. Rogers and Tony have very different ways of thinking and those differences make them work great but also slowly tear them apart.

The time at the safehouse is a great reminder that even the mightiest heroes are human and have flaws. They have fears and flaws just like the rest of us and watching how they deal with them and grow them is a great inspiration for the audience. It endears the Avengers to the audience more seeing them at their most vulnerable. It took them from a group of badass superheroes to being real people that we can get behind and root for. It takes the idea of being a hero to the next level. It was an important step in evolving the Avengers and a step that would carry them into later films.



Lifting Thor’s hammer scene
While the safehouse scene was the emotional highlight of the film, this scene is the comedic highlight. The last lighthearted scene before Ultron’s reveal has the Avengers just sitting down and talking and joking around. It’s a moment where the Avengers really feel like a group of friends. Their conversations lead them to a challenge where they each attempt to lift Thor’s hammer, Mjollnir. It leads to a funny montage where we see Hawkeye, Tony, Rhodey, and Banner attempt and fail at lifting the hammer.

However, the funniest part of the scene and the movie comes when Captain America takes a crack at it. It’s not a joke or a cheesy sound effect. It’s just a look. Cap makes the hammer budge just slightly and the look on Thor’s face is priceless. It’s a subtle look that always cracks me up every time I see it. Hemsworth captured the changed expression perfectly to such great comedic effect and it is easily one of my favorite moments in any Marvel film.


Wanda
One thing I enjoy about Marvel films is the introduction of new characters. Getting to go back and see where some of my favorite characters got their start has been a great treat. And one of the characters I’ve been looking most forward to seeing debut was Wanda Maximoff. Her introduction here is one of the best in the Marvel films and deservedly so for a character as powerful and important as she is. Elizabeth Olsen does a great job in this film and in later films and it’s fun to get to see her grow into the character (yet lose her accent along the way). She is first introduced as an antagonist to the Avengers and uses her powers to make them see their greatest fears. This breaks the team apart mentally and physically and establishes her as a force to be reckoned with. She honestly comes off as more of a threat to them than Ultron. She is so powerful and such a threat to them that it makes it even sweeter when she and Pietro join the Avengers. Unfortunately, Pietro’s time with them is cut short and his death plays a big role in Wanda’s arc which gets even more tragic as the films go on. Having watched later films and Wandavision, Wanda has become one of my favorite Marvel characters and it was great to see where she got her start.


Film’s Cons:
Predictable evil A.I. plot

While Ultron is a good villain, the plot of an A.I. going rogue and wanting to destroy the world is nothing we have not seen before. Unfortunately, they don’t do much different with it here and the minute A.I. is mentioned in the film you know exactly where it’s going to go. Watching the scene again where Tony convinces Banner to help him make Ultron, the minute they brought up using A.I. to do so I knew exactly what was going to happen. The A.I. was going to go bad and the whole thing would blow up in their face. What makes this recycled plot even more hurtful to the film is that it makes Tony Stark look dumb. While he’s not immune to making dumb decisions (cough..cough.. Iron Man 3.) this was a decision that felt out of character in a way and made him look bad. While I do understand the idea of him letting his fears get the better of him and him creating a problem in trying to make a solution, it still had me going, “come on Tony, you’re better than that.”

It also affects Ultron as a character because again the idea of an A.I. misunderstanding the intentions of man and deciding that man must be destroyed is a plotline that’s been done in so many other sci-fi films. It’s been done to a point that whenever A.I. is introduced in a film I groan and wonder how they have yet to think that maybe A.I. isn’t a good idea. And I had the same reaction to this film. Yet while the idea of A.I. is cliched and tired, Spader as Ultron still carried a good enough performance that I was interested in seeing how the Avengers were going to stop him. However, it would have been nice if they could have thought of a cleverer way of getting there.


Final Thoughts:
Avengers: Age of Ultron still holds up as a great sequel and a great Marvel film. It is still deserving of the praise given to it back in 2015. Getting to watch it and experience it with my girlfriend was a great treat for her and me.

Now is it still my number 1 Marvel film? No.

While I still think it’s a great movie, even greater films have come since. It was an important next step in the evolution of the Avengers and the MCU. It laid the foundation for future films to continue growing the MCU to greater heights. Later films would take what it laid out and improve upon it and really carry it to the next level.

Despite being lost in the shuffle of greater Marvel films that came later; Age of Ultron is still a great Marvel film that is worth checking out. From the opening scene onward, you get exactly what you want to see. The Avengers are in action kicking butt and saying some funny one-liners while doing so. It is full of great action, humor, and emotional moments that make it an all-around great experience. Give it a watch and see for yourself.




MCU Revisit: Ant-Man
Written by Christian Garcia

Introduction:
I remember having low expectations for this film when it was first announced. Not in its quality but I feared it would be the Marvel film to bomb at the box office and be the one that no one saw. I didn’t know much about the character and figured not many other people did either. The casting choice of Paul Rudd as the lead also had me scratching my head.

Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, I am a big fan of Paul Rudd and his work. I loved him in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and I Love You, Man, and many other of his films. I met him a few years ago at Comic-Con and he was the nicest and coolest guy ever.



At the time, I just couldn’t picture him as a superhero. All these elements had me worried if the public would actually go see this film. And then when it came out, I was never happier to be wrong in my life. Everyone I asked all had the same reaction: Ant-Man was good. When I saw it myself, I felt the same way. It was a fun and funny comic book movie.

I was excited to look back at this film and show it to my girlfriend who is also a huge Paul Rudd fan. Does this film still hold up? Let’s take a look.


The Hero:
Scott Lang is a former convicted thief who attempts to turn his life around and be a part of his daughter’s life.

He is a highly skilled engineer and thief. He usually stole from criminals and returned the money to the people they stole from. He was fired from his job at Vistacorp after discovering that they were stealing money from their customers. He broke into their headquarters and hacked their systems to return the money to the customers. He then broke into his former boss’ mansion and stole some items and then drove his car into a pool.

He served 3 years in prison for his crime. During his time in jail, his wife divorced him and afterward, he vowed to never get involved with a life of crime again so he could be a part of his daughter’s life. His criminal record makes it difficult for him to find work and he resorts to returning to his thieving ways. In the process, he meets Hank Pym and is convinced to take the Ant-Man suit; an advanced suit designed to shrink one down to the size of an ant while increasing their toughness, agility, and strength.


The Hero’s Journey:
The main theme of the film is second chances. Both Scott and Hank fight for second chances in life to make things right with their respective daughters.

Scott cares about his daughter Cassie more than anything. Every choice he makes throughout the film is in service to his goal of being a part of her life. At the beginning of the film, his ex-wife tells him to get his life in order, and then they will talk about giving him visitation rights. She tells him to be the hero that Cassie already thinks he is. After he is released from prison, he is adamant about not returning to a life of crime and turning his life around so he can be with his daughter. He even takes a job at Baskin Robbins to try and make child support. However, his criminal past gets him fired, and with nowhere else to turn he ends up going back to his thieving ways. Scott breaks into Hank’s house and unknowingly steals the Ant-Man suit. When Scott meets Hank, Hank promises to help him get a second chance to be with his daughter again. Ironically, the way of doing so is what Scott had vowed to never do as Hank put it “break into a place and steal some shit”. The plan goes array and Darren Cross ends up going after Cassie. In the climax, Scott risks his own life to save Cassie by going subatomic to defeat Cross. As he roams in the Quantum Realm, he hears Cassie’s cries for him, and it is enough to help him regain his senses and he figures out a way to return.

Hank’s relationship with his daughter Hope is strained. After the loss of his wife, Hank pushed Hope away while trying to figure out a way to bring his wife back. He blamed himself for her loss and became overprotective of Hope and wouldn’t let her be a part of his Ant-Man experiments. This caused a rift in their relationship as Hope felt he cared more about his experiments than consoling her after the loss of her mother.

Through their experience in the film, Scott and Hank do get their second chances and much more. Scott gets to be with his daughter while also gaining a new family in Hank and Hope. Hank gets his daughter back and a glimmer of hope in finding his wife after witnessing Scott return from the Quantum Realm. Both men got their second chances and came out better on the other side than they started.


The Villain
Darren Cross is the former protégé of Hank Pym who usurped him to become CEO of Pym Technologies, with help from Hank’s daughter Hope.

Hank took Cross under his wing, but their relationship deteriorated as Cross became obsessed with Hank’s Pym Particle. His obsession leads him to create his own version with the intent of weaponizing it. He creates his own version of the Ant-Man suit known as the Yellowjacket. He attempts to sell the suit to HYDRA and the Ten Rings but is foiled by Pym, Hope, and Scott Lang. He goes mad after his failure and tries to kill Scott and his family, even going as far as to threaten Scott’s daughter Cassie.

Cross from the beginning of the film has an unstable personality. He comes off confident in his work, yet you can tell as the experiments fail, that his frustrations grow. He’s a man who let his obsession poison his mind to the point that he doesn’t care who he hurts so long as he gets what he wants. He is a subtle mad scientist as he is not as over-the-top as say a Dr. Frankenstein. He is also reminiscent of Obadiah Stane. A man who is driven by greed and profit and is not afraid to stab anyone in the back to get his way.

He serves his role as the antagonist very well and does come off as a threat. However, as a villain, he falls in line with Stane. A good antagonist but not the most interesting villain. While we know his motivation as becoming obsessed with recreating the Pym Particle, we don’t really know why he became so obsessed with it. A little more background on him would have been helpful. What we get is enough to see the film through, but a little more information would have helped make him more interesting.


The Film’s Pros:
A Fun And Creative World
The best thing about the film that makes it stand out is its visuals and how it takes advantage of the ideas it creates. The idea of a shrinking man is nothing new and nothing we haven’t seen before but the way they take that idea and get creative with it makes this film such a joy to watch. When Scott first puts on the suit and falls in the bathtub and then goes between floors taking the mundane everyday items and making them into these grander worlds. Scott running inside the bathtub felt so epic. They do an excellent job of making the regular world seem so much bigger when Ant-Man shrinks down. It’s a great way of reminding the viewer that the world is so much bigger than we think.

The film’s climax takes place in Cassie’s room on a Thomas the Tank Engine train set. They cleverly cut to show the viewer how this epic encounter is taking place on a simple toy train set up in a child’s room. They make a child’s toy set feel as grand as if it were taking place at a real train station. It’s funny to see the dramatic build to the train hitting the Yellowjacket and then we see it just fall over as if a child were playing with it. It’s both funny and very clever.

The concept of Ant-Man opens the door for creative possibilities and Marvel Studios took full advantage of it and had fun with it. Seeing Thomas the Tank Engine involved in an epic superhero fight is something I never thought I would see and am so happy that I got to see. It makes me excited to see what other cool stuff they come up with for later Ant-Man movies. I would love to see how much further they can take this idea.


The Film’s Cons:
Needed More of Yellowjacket

I mentioned before that Darren Cross made for a fine antagonist but not the most interesting villain. As Barney Stinson said, “No one wants to see Bruce Banner, they wanna see the Hulk.” The idea of the Yellowjacket is a cool concept and the suit looked really cool. It would have been nice to get some buildup for it before the climax. We don’t see Cross done with the suit until an hour and a half into the movie with only about a half-hour left.

The use of Yellowjacket is like the use of Iron Monger in the first Iron Man film. The build-up to its reveal and when it’s finally revealed it’s not that much of an improvement on the Ant-Man suit. The only added enhancement is that the suit is made of titanium which forces Scott to go subatomic to take him down. It would have been nice to see a few moments with Cross in the suit to build it up as more of a threat to Ant-Man. Maybe Cross figured out a way to enhance the suit to give him an advantage over Ant-Man. Maybe Cross learned something that Hank didn’t that could be used to improve the Ant-Man suit. If they had just a few scenes of Yellowjacket showing off what he could do, it would have built up the rivalry between him and Ant-Man more and would have added stakes to the climax. While the climax itself did have stakes, an added rivalry would have made it even more epic.

As is, Yellowjacket is more of a physical obstacle for Ant-Man to overcome. Not a bad obstacle, but one that could have been more.


Final Thoughts:
Ant-Man is a fun and funny superhero film. Paul Rudd brings his great acting and comedic talents and made me a believer in him as a Marvel hero. Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lily make for a great supporting cast as well as Michael Peña who brings great laughs. The cast created another group of Marvel characters that I’m excited to see interact with the Avengers. The creativity that they use to make the world Ant-Man explores makes for awesome visuals and a fun experience. It was a pleasant surprise and a sleeper hit. If you’re looking to get a fix of action, cool visuals, and Paul Rudd, this is the film for you.