I decided to rewatch all the Marvel movies prior to Endgame. When I first saw this it was a throwaway origin story, now it's difficult to not see everything as stage setting which in turn renders Jeff Bridges bad guy as, at best, distracting but embeds everything else with a shimmer of excitement for what's to come.
All the other Marvel movies have previously been on the blog, so I thought I'd keep track of the rewatch here.
ReplyDeleteThe Incredible Hulk.
Still Shit. Interesting though, in hindsight and in comparison to DC's fails, to see how fast Marvel abandon stuff that clealy isn't working. Unlike Iron Man that is bound tightly to the later films this one has so much hanging that is completely ignored for the next twenty movies.
Iron Man 2.
ReplyDeleteAnother 'could have been fatal' universe building misstep as Marvel struggle to align their bigger idea with individual movie storytelling and the two fall over each other and land in a heap. Worth noting that this is attempted in the third film, not the first like The Dark Universe, and by the next film they stopped and changed tactic unlike DC who took 5 movies to figure this out.
Thor.
ReplyDeleteWisely steps away from the bigger picture in order to take it's time making a nonsensical idea of Asgardian Gods joining in with a bit of rough and tumble far more palatable in the grander scheme. Succeeds due to Branagh's keen understanding of pompous theatricality and the right timings to skewer it neatly.
Captain America: The First Avenger
ReplyDeleteA far more successful attempt at wedding the more successful strands of previous movies together. So the thing the bad guys are after, that's Asgardian. The notion of super soldiers comes from Hulk and the technology required to implement it is all Stark and Iron Man. All reminding you this film is built on bigger foundations, but none of it obscures Cap's central story. Which is unfortunate because Cap's story is still bland and stupid.
Avengers Assemble.
ReplyDeleteSets the tone for the intense level of bombast that viwers will come to expect from these things. Does this at movie 6, and everybody who has attempted to ape this set up since seems to have missed that point.
Thor: The Dark World
ReplyDeleteAn astonishing fumble of a movie and all of Branagh's work completely undone. Notable only for establishing infinity stones into the larger tale.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
ReplyDeleteIt becomes clearer watching back that whereas Iron Man movies are about Iron Man and Thor movies are about Thor, Captain America movies are about The Avengers with this one being about Nick Fury, SHIELD, Black Widow, Falcon and Bucky as much as it is about boring Cap.
Guardians Of The Galaxy
ReplyDeleteIn context of the greater whole this is an even more remarkable film. It does so much narrative heavy lifting that blows everything wide open - Infinity Stones, Thanos, Kree - all whilst balancing five main characters of its own and doing so with a deft agility.
Avengers: The Age Of Ultron
ReplyDeleteUltimately two hours of visual showing off padded out with attempts at giving each Avenger some emotional depth capped with 'oh and here's one of those infinity stones'. I remember this one being better than it is.
Ant-Man.
ReplyDeleteAnother that doesn't hold up all that well. Feels a bit of a rush to just get to the end and shout 'LOOK! QUANTUM REALM!' with a painfully shoehorned in Avenger encounter on the way.
Captain America: Civil War.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't even pretend to be about Captain America as it codas Age Of Ultron, whilst prequeling The Black Panther and throwing in an Ant-Man bit better than his own movie.
Doctor Strange
ReplyDeleteAll the characters are either rushed sketches or redundant placeholders, but all the action is balls out insane. I really like this one even if it does just amount to 'look another infinity stone'.
The Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
ReplyDeleteThe occasional mention of Thanos is the only nod to the bigger story as this casually romps off in it's own direction with a different pace and tone.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
ReplyDeleteA fun expansion on spidey's Civil War introduction. The most notable thing this brings to the larger tale is a sense of time with a surprise title card at the start announcing an eight year gap between events in Avengers Assemble and Civil War. I then spent the rest of the movie thinking unhelpful things like 'Peter Parker was only eight years old when a hole opened in the sky over where he lived and shat out giant aliens.'
Thor: Ragnarok
ReplyDeleteBy far the best so far of these movies. Visually astounding, properly funny, actual character development, and a careful placing of pieces ready for the beginning of Infinity War.
Black Panther.
ReplyDeleteAnother setup for Infinity War, this time establishing Wakanda and their Tech-Nol-Ogy for Infinity War's last hour. Which means because most of Black Panther's setup already happened in Civil War, the story here is just an excuse to get everybody to run round and kill some time.
The idea of this being a Best Picture Oscar winner is genuinely hilarious.
Ant-Man & Wasp
ReplyDeleteAnother with a lot of character's running about over something, this time a tiny building, with the most important bit of the story being a mid credits sequence at the end.
Captain Marvel
ReplyDeleteAvengers: Infinity War
ReplyDeleteNot an avengers movie, instead a movie about Thanos. And an extraordinarily lean and fast one at that.
Avengers: Endgame
ReplyDelete