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LttP: The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Please mark any spoilers past where I am.
- Thread starter Kinsei
- Start date
- Status
...you... you knew that right? I mean...
Am I being played?
SPOILERS:
Thanos
OTHER SPOILERS:
It's a running joke stemming from this.
Once again, love your write-up. I find that I'm rewatching (mostly) the movies as you talk about them. I'll pull the movie up, and watch sections that you discuss (which invariably leads to watching the entire thing).
Will agree with the others that your take on the Thor-Iron Man fight ignored the fact that they're both very immature characters, driven by ego and bravado. It takes the mature one (Cap) to put an end to it.
Shaanyboi's post pointed out something I'd never noticed before, with each Avenger handling Loki in their own way. Though one of my favorite scenes in the movie has always been Black Widow beating him at his own game.
You're heading into what some consider one of the best movies of the MCU. The thing is that others consider it one of the worst. So, yeah, this will be very interesting.
Oh, and I agree that the one-off was largely...meh.
Will agree with the others that your take on the Thor-Iron Man fight ignored the fact that they're both very immature characters, driven by ego and bravado. It takes the mature one (Cap) to put an end to it.
Shaanyboi's post pointed out something I'd never noticed before, with each Avenger handling Loki in their own way. Though one of my favorite scenes in the movie has always been Black Widow beating him at his own game.
You're heading into what some consider one of the best movies of the MCU. The thing is that others consider it one of the worst. So, yeah, this will be very interesting.
Oh, and I agree that the one-off was largely...meh.
Orbis Tabula
Member
Just chiming in to say that I love these write ups. You're making me want to go rewatch all the movies again. Especially Cap1, since I thought it was pretty good, but my girlfriend hated it. We've got a few years between now and our last viewing, and I always love seeing how our opinions change as time goes on and the movie digests a bit.
And, seeing as that description also perfectly describes how the two of us felt about Iron Man 3, I'm really looking forward to that review.
And, seeing as that description also perfectly describes how the two of us felt about Iron Man 3, I'm really looking forward to that review.
StarCreator
Member
Stumbled upon this thread recently and it's very refreshing to revisit the MCU this way. It's crazy to think how Iron Man was a Hail Mary gamble for the company as a whole and now we have 2-3 movies a year coming from this universe. Loving the write ups and I seriously can't wait until you see The Winter Soldier and Civil War.
I've actually never seen this. No idea why it was cut. It's not like these movies have to obey a time limit.
I've actually never seen this. No idea why it was cut. It's not like these movies have to obey a time limit.
Iron Man 3
Opening with the song Blue, huh? I guess we're throwing subtlety out the window on this one.
If there's an Iron Man 4 I hope we don't get yet another war profiteer villain. Sure the personalities of Killian, Hammer, and Stone are different but their goals are pretty much the same damn thing. I do appreciate them making him super-human though. It's like a Metal Gear Solid villain and a Resident Evil villain had a baby and it's great. He's not very good at hiding that he's an evil rapey piece of shit is he? Right after he left Stark Industries Pepper should have turned to Happy and had him banned from the premises.
Our secondary villain this time is a woman and huh, this is the first time in the MCU a woman has been a (kinda) major villain. Weird that it took until the seventh movie for that to happen. I guess I'm just used to the comic properties I'm kinda familiar with having a lot of female villains (Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Mystique, Scarlet Witch, Domino, etc) Anyway, she's pretty much the standard mad scientist who won't let pesky ethics and morality stand in the way of her research and that's all there really is to her. The "twist" that she is in cahoots with Killian is easy to see coming a mile away. I suppose her infatuation with Tony's big brain does serve a purpose, but it's an incredibly minor one and it wouldn't have been hard to write around if she wasn't in the story.
I'd like to think I'm pretty lax about suspending my disbelief when watching a movie, but this movie managed to strain me to my limits. You really expect me to believe that none of the dragon people had any qualms with what Killian was doing? Even if they were totally okay with it, not one of them thought to try and make bank by going on the national news and showing off their dragon powers? They could have gotten book deals, exclusive interviews, appearances on talk shows etc, etc. If they were morally defunct enough to go along with his plan then they should have no problems selling him out for that sweet, sweet cash while also being lauded for bringing the Mandarin to justice.
I don't read the comics but even I can tell that this is not how they handled the Mandarin in them. This is absolutely a Hollywood thing to do. What was the Mandarin like in the comics and how did fans react to his portrayal in this movie? I think it's a decent joke stretched out way too long. Two interrogations were way too much and he really didn't need a third appearance at the end.
Were all fo the suits during the final battle from various Iron Man comics over the years? I get the feeling that they are there to give comic fans some fanservice in order to quell the backlash they would get from the way they handled the Mandarin.
Fuck the vice president (I'm probably on a list somewhere now). This asshole was willing to send the world into chaos and for what? So his daughter wouldn't have to spend a life in a wheelchair. Even if prosthetic limbs don't exist in the MCU this guy is still a total prick. During the scene where we see her she seems perfectly happy and even if she wasn't she's a child. She can grow up to live a perfectly normal and happy life just like a lot of people in wheelchairs. The way this guy acts you'd think she was dying or something. It makes me wonder if he's doing it for her or if he just wants the (in his mind) perfect family. I've actually met people like that and it pisses me off so much.
So the last new major character is a kid? Shit. The way he kept triggering Tony's anxiety attacks was so annoying and it cast a negative shadow on him whenever he was on screen. This kid is what, middle school age? He should know better. He was kinda cute when he tried to guilt trip Tony into taking him along to Malibu and the actor wasn't awful. At least he wasn't all bad.
Pepper not being in this movie all that much was a shame. I'm really starting to like her. I was really excited when she became a dragon lady but then she winds up cured by the end. I really thought they were going to make her a new hero.
*Sigh* What could have been.
After Iron Man 2 I figured Iron Man 3 would be a buddy cop-esque movie with Tony and Rhodes teaming up for the majority. While Rhodes did get some great moments (His login is one that stands out for me) I was left wanting a whole lot more. At least make him an Avenger or something. I think I remember seeing him in a commercial for Civil War so I'm glad this isn't the last I'll be seeing of him.
Like I said back at the start, there was no subtlety involved in the foreshadowing of Tony's mental state in this movie. I am glad that the events of The Avengers had a lasting effect on him and I'm wondering if that will apply to Thor and Steve in their phase 2 movies as well. Characters growing over the course of all the movies instead of just the ones based on them may wind up being alienating to newcomers seeing as by the end of phase 3 there will be (according to Wikipedia) 22 movies but as someone who plans on watching them all (I'm already in too deep) I really appreciate it.
After the way I expressed my dislike of the fight against Rhodes in Iron Man 2 and Thor in The Avengers you may be expecting my to absolutely rail on Tony's decision to give the Mandarin his home address, but I get it. Alongside the effect nearly diyng in space had on him, he had just seen a friend in a coma who might not pull through. He was angry and scared at the same time which lead him to lash out and do some stupid shit. I can really sympathize with that. Of course it blows up in his face since that's how things normally go when you make choices in that state of mind.
I really like the fight he has with the dragon lady in Tennessee. I feel like that's the most vulnerable Tony has been since the cave before he created the Iron Man prototype back in the first movie. Since then whenever he went into battle he always had the suit on, or it didn't take too long for it to get to him, but here it was just him and a super human. It was great seeing that Tony didn't need all of those weapons to survive a fight, he is perfectly capable of getting by using his wits and the environment.
So I guess the Avengers only assemble to deal with threats that involve the whole planet? This whole Mandarin thing seemed pretty major so I guess that has to be it.
Tony really doesn't get gag gifts does he? Sure the booby bunny is funny but it's way too big. Those things have to be smaller so the recipient can conveniently "lose" it a week or two later.
"Tony Stark will return." No shit. Even if this movie completely bombed there's no way he wouldn't be in the second Avengers movie.
Overall I enjoyed this a bit more than Iron Man 2 but not as much as the first.
Agent Carter was the best one-shot so far. Yes, I'm extremely biased cause she's the best. No, I don't care. If this is the kind of stuff I can expect from the TV show then consider me hyped.
When the mission came in for ZODIAC I thought she was going after Ted Cruz, but then I realized the timeline didn't match up.
How is she now leading SHIELD when SHIELD wasn't SHIELD's name until some time after the first Iron Man movie?
So next up is Thor: The Dark World. I sure hope it's better than the first Thor movie.
Opening with the song Blue, huh? I guess we're throwing subtlety out the window on this one.
If there's an Iron Man 4 I hope we don't get yet another war profiteer villain. Sure the personalities of Killian, Hammer, and Stone are different but their goals are pretty much the same damn thing. I do appreciate them making him super-human though. It's like a Metal Gear Solid villain and a Resident Evil villain had a baby and it's great. He's not very good at hiding that he's an evil rapey piece of shit is he? Right after he left Stark Industries Pepper should have turned to Happy and had him banned from the premises.
Our secondary villain this time is a woman and huh, this is the first time in the MCU a woman has been a (kinda) major villain. Weird that it took until the seventh movie for that to happen. I guess I'm just used to the comic properties I'm kinda familiar with having a lot of female villains (Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Mystique, Scarlet Witch, Domino, etc) Anyway, she's pretty much the standard mad scientist who won't let pesky ethics and morality stand in the way of her research and that's all there really is to her. The "twist" that she is in cahoots with Killian is easy to see coming a mile away. I suppose her infatuation with Tony's big brain does serve a purpose, but it's an incredibly minor one and it wouldn't have been hard to write around if she wasn't in the story.
I'd like to think I'm pretty lax about suspending my disbelief when watching a movie, but this movie managed to strain me to my limits. You really expect me to believe that none of the dragon people had any qualms with what Killian was doing? Even if they were totally okay with it, not one of them thought to try and make bank by going on the national news and showing off their dragon powers? They could have gotten book deals, exclusive interviews, appearances on talk shows etc, etc. If they were morally defunct enough to go along with his plan then they should have no problems selling him out for that sweet, sweet cash while also being lauded for bringing the Mandarin to justice.
I don't read the comics but even I can tell that this is not how they handled the Mandarin in them. This is absolutely a Hollywood thing to do. What was the Mandarin like in the comics and how did fans react to his portrayal in this movie? I think it's a decent joke stretched out way too long. Two interrogations were way too much and he really didn't need a third appearance at the end.
Were all fo the suits during the final battle from various Iron Man comics over the years? I get the feeling that they are there to give comic fans some fanservice in order to quell the backlash they would get from the way they handled the Mandarin.
Fuck the vice president (I'm probably on a list somewhere now). This asshole was willing to send the world into chaos and for what? So his daughter wouldn't have to spend a life in a wheelchair. Even if prosthetic limbs don't exist in the MCU this guy is still a total prick. During the scene where we see her she seems perfectly happy and even if she wasn't she's a child. She can grow up to live a perfectly normal and happy life just like a lot of people in wheelchairs. The way this guy acts you'd think she was dying or something. It makes me wonder if he's doing it for her or if he just wants the (in his mind) perfect family. I've actually met people like that and it pisses me off so much.
So the last new major character is a kid? Shit. The way he kept triggering Tony's anxiety attacks was so annoying and it cast a negative shadow on him whenever he was on screen. This kid is what, middle school age? He should know better. He was kinda cute when he tried to guilt trip Tony into taking him along to Malibu and the actor wasn't awful. At least he wasn't all bad.
Pepper not being in this movie all that much was a shame. I'm really starting to like her. I was really excited when she became a dragon lady but then she winds up cured by the end. I really thought they were going to make her a new hero.
*Sigh* What could have been.
After Iron Man 2 I figured Iron Man 3 would be a buddy cop-esque movie with Tony and Rhodes teaming up for the majority. While Rhodes did get some great moments (His login is one that stands out for me) I was left wanting a whole lot more. At least make him an Avenger or something. I think I remember seeing him in a commercial for Civil War so I'm glad this isn't the last I'll be seeing of him.
Like I said back at the start, there was no subtlety involved in the foreshadowing of Tony's mental state in this movie. I am glad that the events of The Avengers had a lasting effect on him and I'm wondering if that will apply to Thor and Steve in their phase 2 movies as well. Characters growing over the course of all the movies instead of just the ones based on them may wind up being alienating to newcomers seeing as by the end of phase 3 there will be (according to Wikipedia) 22 movies but as someone who plans on watching them all (I'm already in too deep) I really appreciate it.
After the way I expressed my dislike of the fight against Rhodes in Iron Man 2 and Thor in The Avengers you may be expecting my to absolutely rail on Tony's decision to give the Mandarin his home address, but I get it. Alongside the effect nearly diyng in space had on him, he had just seen a friend in a coma who might not pull through. He was angry and scared at the same time which lead him to lash out and do some stupid shit. I can really sympathize with that. Of course it blows up in his face since that's how things normally go when you make choices in that state of mind.
I really like the fight he has with the dragon lady in Tennessee. I feel like that's the most vulnerable Tony has been since the cave before he created the Iron Man prototype back in the first movie. Since then whenever he went into battle he always had the suit on, or it didn't take too long for it to get to him, but here it was just him and a super human. It was great seeing that Tony didn't need all of those weapons to survive a fight, he is perfectly capable of getting by using his wits and the environment.
So I guess the Avengers only assemble to deal with threats that involve the whole planet? This whole Mandarin thing seemed pretty major so I guess that has to be it.
Tony really doesn't get gag gifts does he? Sure the booby bunny is funny but it's way too big. Those things have to be smaller so the recipient can conveniently "lose" it a week or two later.
"Tony Stark will return." No shit. Even if this movie completely bombed there's no way he wouldn't be in the second Avengers movie.
Overall I enjoyed this a bit more than Iron Man 2 but not as much as the first.
Agent Carter was the best one-shot so far. Yes, I'm extremely biased cause she's the best. No, I don't care. If this is the kind of stuff I can expect from the TV show then consider me hyped.
When the mission came in for ZODIAC I thought she was going after Ted Cruz, but then I realized the timeline didn't match up.
How is she now leading SHIELD when SHIELD wasn't SHIELD's name until some time after the first Iron Man movie?
So next up is Thor: The Dark World. I sure hope it's better than the first Thor movie.
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah, about that...
I'm still behind the OP on this mission of LTTP MCU. Just finally watched Avengers yesterday. Overall I liked the movie. I'd probably put it near the middle of what I've seen of MCU so far. There was a lot of fighting and for the most part the movie just kind of seemed like a long chain of reasons for fighting to happen.
One thing I have to remark on is that I really think some of the silliness, especially of Tony Stark goes way too far. In particular when Loki pokes him with that spear and it doesn't do anything and Loki says "It doesn't usually do that," and Stark retorts with a dick joke. I get it. Tony jokes about things. Making Loki, the fucking guy who said what he said to Black Widow during this same movie say that and start that joke just fucking tore everything about him down. In one fell swoop it was all ruined. Well, there was that and Hulk bashing him around like a rag doll... ugh
My fiance watched it with me and we both felt like Hulk's turn was a bit weird. One moment he was chasing down Black Widow and the next he could turn his transformation on at a moment's notice and was all there. It felt a bit odd.
Hawkeye shooting big ass alien shit with arrows felt a bit out of place and strange, too. I'm not terribly familiar with his comic character outside of Matt Fraction's (amazing) run of it, so I'm not sure if he does it there too, but it really didn't seem right.
I did like that the group wasn't all hunky dory right away and they argued it out a bit, though some of the fights had some really flimsy reasoning behind them. OP pointed those out when he got there, too.
I'm also a bit hazy on Loki's actual reason for wanting to take over earth. Literally the only thing that dumpster fire of a movie Thor did right was Loki had a reason for his villainy, but here it just seemed like a guy who wants to take over earth. Was there more? Did I miss something? I felt like he'd have a moment of saying why in particular with his scenes with Thor but that didn't really seem to happen.
Cap was cool in the movie, but it does seem like they kind of ignored the whole guy out of his time period thing here. I watched that one scene someone else posted earlier and that would have really helped.
I didn't mind the new Hulk, though I do miss Norton. I suppose this guy probably fits in with the goofier Marvel aesthetic more than Norton would have.
Highlight of the movie was probably Loki and Black Widow's talk, honestly. Some great villainy there and trickery by Widow. Really, Black Widow is probably the highlight of the movie for me overall.
One thing I have to remark on is that I really think some of the silliness, especially of Tony Stark goes way too far. In particular when Loki pokes him with that spear and it doesn't do anything and Loki says "It doesn't usually do that," and Stark retorts with a dick joke. I get it. Tony jokes about things. Making Loki, the fucking guy who said what he said to Black Widow during this same movie say that and start that joke just fucking tore everything about him down. In one fell swoop it was all ruined. Well, there was that and Hulk bashing him around like a rag doll... ugh
My fiance watched it with me and we both felt like Hulk's turn was a bit weird. One moment he was chasing down Black Widow and the next he could turn his transformation on at a moment's notice and was all there. It felt a bit odd.
Hawkeye shooting big ass alien shit with arrows felt a bit out of place and strange, too. I'm not terribly familiar with his comic character outside of Matt Fraction's (amazing) run of it, so I'm not sure if he does it there too, but it really didn't seem right.
I did like that the group wasn't all hunky dory right away and they argued it out a bit, though some of the fights had some really flimsy reasoning behind them. OP pointed those out when he got there, too.
I'm also a bit hazy on Loki's actual reason for wanting to take over earth. Literally the only thing that dumpster fire of a movie Thor did right was Loki had a reason for his villainy, but here it just seemed like a guy who wants to take over earth. Was there more? Did I miss something? I felt like he'd have a moment of saying why in particular with his scenes with Thor but that didn't really seem to happen.
Cap was cool in the movie, but it does seem like they kind of ignored the whole guy out of his time period thing here. I watched that one scene someone else posted earlier and that would have really helped.
I didn't mind the new Hulk, though I do miss Norton. I suppose this guy probably fits in with the goofier Marvel aesthetic more than Norton would have.
Highlight of the movie was probably Loki and Black Widow's talk, honestly. Some great villainy there and trickery by Widow. Really, Black Widow is probably the highlight of the movie for me overall.
Mandarin is 100% different in the film, but comic mandarin would be a real stretch to make work. I think this movie is highly highly underrated. I think the bait and switch with Mandarin and Killian works quite well, and all of the bits of Tony exposed without his suits there to save him do a lot for the character imo. I don't know that I like it more than 2, I would say they're equal, but you seem a LOT more down on 2 than I was (or most people I knew...2 had a fairly 'that wasn't as good as I wanted it to be' level of reception when it came out, but I don't think the narrative of it being BAD started until later. It's not). Contrast it to 3 which I think most people found disappointing initially, but those that have given it a chance have grown to really appreciate.
Either way, Thor 2 is going to be highly forgettable, as cool as Thor is as a character if you didn't' like the first I can't imagine you enjoying 2 (I think Thor 1 is pretty entertaining, and all those characters you hated were charming and fun to me). But...Winter Soldier is coming.
Either way, Thor 2 is going to be highly forgettable, as cool as Thor is as a character if you didn't' like the first I can't imagine you enjoying 2 (I think Thor 1 is pretty entertaining, and all those characters you hated were charming and fun to me). But...Winter Soldier is coming.
They sort of retconned it so that the name was always S.H.I.E.L.D, and they just gave the name as "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division" to be annoying and hard to remember. They were mostly secret before Avengers. (One of the super non-canon comics had it so that they called it that because they thought Fury hated the name S.H.I.E.L.D. because he always used the full name so they insisted on using it, only for Coulson accidentally call it S.H.I.E.L.D. in front of him and Fury saying he liked it or something.)
Pretty sure OP's a woman.
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
As in, MCU? Because there's a lot of really, really, really bad non-MCU Marvel movies.
Ah yes, those were days. You would not believe the amount of nerd jimmies that were rustled in light of that twist. I myself was a bit disappointed that we didn't get the Mandarin given they had been alluding to the 10 Rings very often in the previous two IM films. Still, I thought it was a clever twist to the character and I thought it was rather funny.
Yeah, this generally becomes a recurring problem for me within Phase 2, especially in that the conflict in Thor 2 is basically an Avengers tier problem that should've needed their assistance.
Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh....
Also, make sure to watch the end credits of the next one shot (Hail to the King), Kinsei.
Monocle
Member
Loki alone makes it crazy entertaining. Elevates the whole thing.
Also, it was cool to see more of Asgard. And Thor's parents are pretty awesome.
Bless that chiseled jawline.
...you... you knew that right? I mean...
Am I being played?
That's Joss Whedon for you... also... you're going to HATE Age of Ultron.
Whoops. Sorry OP.
I don't think that's just Joss. That seems to be how they write anything around Tony Stark.
I didn't hate Avengers, though. It was going for big dumb superhero team up movie and I suppose it succeeded there. It was what it was.
It is. They made a short revolving around it that accompanied the Thor Blu-Ray a few years back.
Also, I liked the first Thor movie, even though it felt pretty underwhelming. It was a little fun at least.
Still, can't wait til you get to Cap1
I enjoyed Cap 2 but I have yet to get through this one, I fall asleep EVERYTIME
Scrooge McDuck
Member
They're probably dependent on Killian because they are prone to spontaneous explosion and he is the only person they know with the means to make the Dragon Gene stable.
Sad Affleck
Member
This is a fun thread. I'm very curious to read your post about Thor: The Dark World.
StarCreator
Member
The impression I had was that everyone would explode eventually explode without constant intervention, even Killian himself. So Stark was abducted because he could figure out how to stabilize it (proven by him "fixing" Pepper offscreen). Until then, everyone had to stay subservient to Killian or eventually die.
bananafactory
Banned
I'm excited for what comes after for the OP
Winter Soldier
Guardians of the Galaxy
Ant Man
Some of the best is yet to come
serenewarfare
Banned
For the record, it has been heavily hinted that there is a legit Mandarin in the MCU, we just haven't seen him yet.
Version 3.0
Member
I see over in the Civil War thread and elsewhere, people ranking the MCU movies and putting Iron Man 3 near the top. What the heck? I re-watched it recently, and I still think it was easily the worst of the Iron Man movies, and maybe even the worst MCU movie. It had its moments and was enjoyable (I loved the silly twist on the Mandarin), but boy, did it have more than its fair share of problems.
The absolute worst was how it treated War Machine / Iron Patriot. It's inconsistent and ineffectual. Let me sum up:
1. It mocks him for getting repainted and renamed. Now that was good, and it was great how they came back to it a couple more times.
2. On his first encounter with a lava person, he just gets touched on the arm with a hot hand and - klank - instant paralysis. Why?
3. When they get Rhodes out of the suit, lava man just gets right in and not only does it work, he's a pro at running it. Why? Can just anyone use the suit?
4. No, apparently not, because they then put the President into it and he can't control it. They seem to have it on remote and fly him around in it. How? No explanation.
5. They hang up the President in the suit, with him still unable to work it.
6. Rhodey climbs onto it, touches its hand and it shoots a repulsor blast to cut the chain. Rhodey can externally make the suit work by touch? What?
7. Then he gets the President out, gets in and now it works again, so he flies away.
What. The. Fuck. You'd need at least 3 no-prizes to explain this shit away.
The lava people are pretty dumb, too. Their power is fine, if dull - they're hot and heal well. Killian is also super fast and strong, but the others give no indication of that. I guess that's just an old trope - key bad guy is always a cut above his lackeys.
But these are supposed to be ex-soldiers. They don't act very patriotic - no apparent problems with stealing War Machine, kidnapping/killing the President, or fighting national hero Iron Man to the death. They're practically mindless drones, all exactly as evil as Killian. They don't act like they're held hostage to their power, which would at least be a partial explanation. They almost went there with the first exploding guy...and then didn't.
It was also irritating how underpowered Iron Man was, the whole film. Tony took out one bad guy - the woman he killed with a gas can. As Iron Man, he only KO's a few humans, no lava people. And though it was cool how his suit flew around in pieces, it was offset by how weak it was that it fell to pieces every time it was on screen. And then, they pull the rug out on what would've been a super-cool finishing move, when Tony sticks it on Killian and blows it up. But it doesn't work, so we get the ridiculously stupid Pepper KO. Ugh. Just ugh.
In fact, the action scenes on the whole were poor.
I liked Killian as a villain, and even his plan to be the ultimate war profiteer. And the characterization was strong with all the recurring cast, and that's the most important thing, and what's really driving the whole universe.
But the movie as a whole wasn't up to par, particularly due to the lack of the "super" part of superhero.
The absolute worst was how it treated War Machine / Iron Patriot. It's inconsistent and ineffectual. Let me sum up:
1. It mocks him for getting repainted and renamed. Now that was good, and it was great how they came back to it a couple more times.
2. On his first encounter with a lava person, he just gets touched on the arm with a hot hand and - klank - instant paralysis. Why?
3. When they get Rhodes out of the suit, lava man just gets right in and not only does it work, he's a pro at running it. Why? Can just anyone use the suit?
4. No, apparently not, because they then put the President into it and he can't control it. They seem to have it on remote and fly him around in it. How? No explanation.
5. They hang up the President in the suit, with him still unable to work it.
6. Rhodey climbs onto it, touches its hand and it shoots a repulsor blast to cut the chain. Rhodey can externally make the suit work by touch? What?
7. Then he gets the President out, gets in and now it works again, so he flies away.
What. The. Fuck. You'd need at least 3 no-prizes to explain this shit away.
The lava people are pretty dumb, too. Their power is fine, if dull - they're hot and heal well. Killian is also super fast and strong, but the others give no indication of that. I guess that's just an old trope - key bad guy is always a cut above his lackeys.
But these are supposed to be ex-soldiers. They don't act very patriotic - no apparent problems with stealing War Machine, kidnapping/killing the President, or fighting national hero Iron Man to the death. They're practically mindless drones, all exactly as evil as Killian. They don't act like they're held hostage to their power, which would at least be a partial explanation. They almost went there with the first exploding guy...and then didn't.
It was also irritating how underpowered Iron Man was, the whole film. Tony took out one bad guy - the woman he killed with a gas can. As Iron Man, he only KO's a few humans, no lava people. And though it was cool how his suit flew around in pieces, it was offset by how weak it was that it fell to pieces every time it was on screen. And then, they pull the rug out on what would've been a super-cool finishing move, when Tony sticks it on Killian and blows it up. But it doesn't work, so we get the ridiculously stupid Pepper KO. Ugh. Just ugh.
In fact, the action scenes on the whole were poor.
I liked Killian as a villain, and even his plan to be the ultimate war profiteer. And the characterization was strong with all the recurring cast, and that's the most important thing, and what's really driving the whole universe.
But the movie as a whole wasn't up to par, particularly due to the lack of the "super" part of superhero.
They do explain most of that. AIM, Killian's company, is behind the Iron Patriot rebrand, they make that clear. That means they modified the software and applied backdoors to let them operate it and have control of it, probably even gain control of it without having Rhodes out of the suit, which is exactly what happens. Tony uses War Machine's login credentials to then connect back into AIM's system through it and find Killian's videos.
The suits also have mechanical parts that can be operated externally over the movies, so I didn't find Rhodey knowing where to push it to open it up again or fire a repulsor that unreasonable. Tony can operate parts without the full suit on or Jarvis controlling it, so there's a way to manage individual parts of it for sure that's probably gesture based or has some internal/external physical input. Other than that, I don't know what to tell you, they don't dwell on the mechanics too much and just thinking a little bit about it, the suit being a thing at all makes 0 sense.
I did have problems with that, and was my first issue with the movie straight up coming out the theater. You get they are unstable, but they painted them as pretty mindless. Without one or two of them doubting Killian or thinking he is going too far with his plan, especially because they are vets, it's not a good look and reduces them to very little. That was a big problem for me.
Well, I know people don't like Tony not being on top of his game, but a lot of that has thematic purpose and I think they do well with it to the benefit of the story. The Iron Man suit falls apart because Tony himself is falling apart. The whole movie is about him putting himself back together, but more importantly realizing that these specialized suits don't define him and the best contingency for whatever unpredictable issue the world will face is him, and his smarts. I also disagree with your criticism of the action scenes, some were fantastic. Tony dealing with mercs outside of the suit grows him as a character, it doesn't make him worse. The airplane rescue scene is my favorite Iron Man action scene and is probably his best in any movie. I don't know if you caught that in the cinema in a big ass screen, but it was amazingly well done.
I think the movie is definitely up to par if you are willing to listen to what it has to say. It's a good story and a good subversion of several superhero cliches. It does falls to some of its own, but being a Shane Black movie it pushes it over the edge with little touches of humor and style unique to this movie within the larger continuity. I understand why it is a little divisive, and it's far from perfect, but it has a lot of qualities that people who put it down as the worst miss very often in my opinion. It's a curveball, and I think that's what makes it stand out.
Version 3.0
Member
I know AIM did the Iron Patriot "upgrade", but they never mentioned anything along the lines of a "backdoor", they only used that point to allow Tony to watch videos of lava people exploding. If they did have a backdoor, which would be perfectly fine, (the same thing happened with Hammer Tech in IM2), there's no reason it would be activated by a lava person touching the suit - they'd just take over like Vanko did. They'd also not need to cook him out of the suit. It's just dumb. Also, I never buy the "it's all sci-fi so who cares?" excuse. Good fiction still follows rules.
It's really too bad, because with just another minute or two of screen time, they could have established the guy who exploded at the Chinese Theater and the guy who exploded in the little kid's town as dissenters to Killian's cause.
Sure, I get that Tony being a mess is the theme, and I have no problem with that. Also, I agree that stressing that it's Tony and not the suit that is really important is great - notice I didn't complain about his scenes, it's the poor showing of the suit(s) that was too bad.
But that can still come across without gimping the suit. Look at the other two movies. Tony fights tanks and jets in 1, all those drones in 2, and the suit looks rightly very powerful. But in both movies, the suit ultimately isn't powerful enough, and it's Tony's brain that triumphs.
Oh, you're right about the air rescue, that was excellent. Maybe I should've said "combat" rather than "action".
I don't want to make it sound like I hated it. The MCU movies are all good. Some just have more holes than others, and I think IM3 is one of those.
Thor: The Dark World
So the movie opens on the titular Dark World and it's already disappointing. There are so many interesting things you can do with Darkness in a visual medium like film and this is what they went with? I was expecting an actual Dark World where the only light we see is from the dancing flames of torches and the bright flashes of lightning and so on, but what we got was a canyon with some sort of brown filter over it. This thing is in the title of the movie so it should look amazing. Even if it was like this in the comics that doesn't matter. These are called adaptations for a reason.
We're also introduced to our villain who has about as much character as a paper plate. Seriously can you tell me anything about Malekith other than his appearance? He spends the whole movie basically going LIGHT BAD, DARK GOOD and other drivel. I do appreciate that the dark elves have their own language and we have to read subtitles, but there was nothing of substance to read. He also looks really stupid. Did they really need to try and make it obvious that Christopher Eccelston was playing him? He would have looked so much better wearing one of the masks that the basic dark elf mooks wear.
Speaking of those mooks, they were legit terrifying! Those masks with their hollow eyes were fantastic and went a long way to making them feel like proper monsters. It's funny, these simple masks made them a lot more scary than the try-hard Algrim. They were so creative and then decided to go with one of the most generic monster/demon designs. Why? Algrim had no personality too so there's no point in talking about him any further.
Oh, the human trio from the first movie is back. I am SO HAPPY to see them /s. Darcy still sucks for all the reasons I mentioned in My Thor write-up so I won't be talking about her. New guy had no personality so I won't be talking about him.
Jane has a weapon that will bring about the end of countless species in the universe trapped inside of her slowly killing her. Why this sounds like an excellent plot device to show character development and growth, doesn't it? There's no way they will mess this up, right? Of course they did, it's Thor: The Dark World after all. How does the aether affect her? OHHHHH she gets SPOOOOOKY visions, but that's it. There's no internal struggle, no attempting to stop it on her own, no nothing. This thing could kill everyone and everything she's ever know and loved and she does what? Sits around and waits for other people to make decisions for her. There's no scenes of her trying to control it (Even if it failed it would be good to see her try), no scenes of her trying to figure out how to get it outside of her (She is a scientist after all), and no scenes of her contemplating whether or not she should even fight to get it out of her instead of just throwing herself into the sea (They know it creates a force field when she is about to be harmed, but there's no indication that it could create an air pocket). There's nothing there.
Erik should not have been in this movie at all. This is a guy that knows things about SHIELD that are most surely confidential, and they just let him be sent to a mental institution in the U.K? I don't think so. They'd be sending an agent in to get his ass out of there ASAP so he doesn't spill the beans on them. Where the hell was SHIELD during the finale anyways? A punch of portals to other planets open up in the sky and they, along with the other superheroes, just go "nah, Thor's got this."? That's complete bull. If you're going to do a shared universe then you have to make sure that all of your stories make sense when inserted into the shared universe and not just the major crossovers.
There is one good thing about Erik in the movie. The scene where he says "Thank God" after Thor tells him that Loki is dead is legit hilarious.
Thor's Warrior friends are in it too, but you should just go read my thoughts on them in my Thor write-up. I still can't remember anything about them other than what is in that write-up.
The relationship between Thor and Loki is the one place this movie actually shines, so it's a shame there's so little of it. The scene where Thor goes to let Loki out of prison and we get a peek behind the curtain to Loki's true feelings for a small moment was great. They did a fantastic job at selling the two of them as brothers during the escape from Asgard to the Dark World. I totally want Loki to narrate a day in my life. Just saying.
During Loki's "death' scene I was thinking that this would have been a good ending for the character, dying not doing some noble thing for redemption, but rather for simple revenge, but then I realized that this movie isn't good enough for that. I suppose I'm disappointed that Loki will be the villain of Ragnarok, but if Malekith is indicative of the quality of the other Thor villains maybe I should be glad.
And so we come to the final boss fight and it does something I like. You and Malekith get transported to various arenas you've fought in throughout the game (with a nice throwback to the first game!) similarly to the Zant fight from Twilight Princess. In doing this you, the player, are reminded of any struggles you had leading up to this point and see just how much you've improved. While it would have been a bit better if Malekith used moves from the other bosses when you were in their arenas, this was still a ni- Wait, this isn't a video game. The final battle was just ridiculous. Something like that just doesn't work in film.
The aether and the tesseract are part of a set of six magical MacGuffins, huh? It probably wasn't the best idea to tell the guy that has no qualms keeping sentient beings prisoner in his collection that you're keeping one in Asgard. Just saying. I assume that this collector guy is from Guardians of the Galaxy?
This has dethroned the original Thor as the worst MCU movie. I really want to like the Thor movies. The mixture of Norse mythology and science fiction is really fascinating but the movies somehow make it dull.
The one-shot was interesting. The real Mandarin seems like an actual threat and I'm interested to see what they do with him if they make and Iron Man 4.
I'm torn on the reveal of Hammer's sexuality. on the one hand it's awesome that he's a gay villain that didn't fall into any negative gay stereotypes, but on the other hand having it revealed in a one-shot and not an actual movie make sit feel a bit cheap. It feels like they were trying to throw a bone to people disappointed in how straight the MCU is, but all it does is highlight how there are no visible LGBT characters in the movies. Without this one-shot there's no way you would know Hammer is gay in Iron Man 2.
Next up is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I hope I enjoy it as much as the first.
So the movie opens on the titular Dark World and it's already disappointing. There are so many interesting things you can do with Darkness in a visual medium like film and this is what they went with? I was expecting an actual Dark World where the only light we see is from the dancing flames of torches and the bright flashes of lightning and so on, but what we got was a canyon with some sort of brown filter over it. This thing is in the title of the movie so it should look amazing. Even if it was like this in the comics that doesn't matter. These are called adaptations for a reason.
We're also introduced to our villain who has about as much character as a paper plate. Seriously can you tell me anything about Malekith other than his appearance? He spends the whole movie basically going LIGHT BAD, DARK GOOD and other drivel. I do appreciate that the dark elves have their own language and we have to read subtitles, but there was nothing of substance to read. He also looks really stupid. Did they really need to try and make it obvious that Christopher Eccelston was playing him? He would have looked so much better wearing one of the masks that the basic dark elf mooks wear.
Speaking of those mooks, they were legit terrifying! Those masks with their hollow eyes were fantastic and went a long way to making them feel like proper monsters. It's funny, these simple masks made them a lot more scary than the try-hard Algrim. They were so creative and then decided to go with one of the most generic monster/demon designs. Why? Algrim had no personality too so there's no point in talking about him any further.
Oh, the human trio from the first movie is back. I am SO HAPPY to see them /s. Darcy still sucks for all the reasons I mentioned in My Thor write-up so I won't be talking about her. New guy had no personality so I won't be talking about him.
Jane has a weapon that will bring about the end of countless species in the universe trapped inside of her slowly killing her. Why this sounds like an excellent plot device to show character development and growth, doesn't it? There's no way they will mess this up, right? Of course they did, it's Thor: The Dark World after all. How does the aether affect her? OHHHHH she gets SPOOOOOKY visions, but that's it. There's no internal struggle, no attempting to stop it on her own, no nothing. This thing could kill everyone and everything she's ever know and loved and she does what? Sits around and waits for other people to make decisions for her. There's no scenes of her trying to control it (Even if it failed it would be good to see her try), no scenes of her trying to figure out how to get it outside of her (She is a scientist after all), and no scenes of her contemplating whether or not she should even fight to get it out of her instead of just throwing herself into the sea (They know it creates a force field when she is about to be harmed, but there's no indication that it could create an air pocket). There's nothing there.
Erik should not have been in this movie at all. This is a guy that knows things about SHIELD that are most surely confidential, and they just let him be sent to a mental institution in the U.K? I don't think so. They'd be sending an agent in to get his ass out of there ASAP so he doesn't spill the beans on them. Where the hell was SHIELD during the finale anyways? A punch of portals to other planets open up in the sky and they, along with the other superheroes, just go "nah, Thor's got this."? That's complete bull. If you're going to do a shared universe then you have to make sure that all of your stories make sense when inserted into the shared universe and not just the major crossovers.
There is one good thing about Erik in the movie. The scene where he says "Thank God" after Thor tells him that Loki is dead is legit hilarious.
Thor's Warrior friends are in it too, but you should just go read my thoughts on them in my Thor write-up. I still can't remember anything about them other than what is in that write-up.
The relationship between Thor and Loki is the one place this movie actually shines, so it's a shame there's so little of it. The scene where Thor goes to let Loki out of prison and we get a peek behind the curtain to Loki's true feelings for a small moment was great. They did a fantastic job at selling the two of them as brothers during the escape from Asgard to the Dark World. I totally want Loki to narrate a day in my life. Just saying.
During Loki's "death' scene I was thinking that this would have been a good ending for the character, dying not doing some noble thing for redemption, but rather for simple revenge, but then I realized that this movie isn't good enough for that. I suppose I'm disappointed that Loki will be the villain of Ragnarok, but if Malekith is indicative of the quality of the other Thor villains maybe I should be glad.
And so we come to the final boss fight and it does something I like. You and Malekith get transported to various arenas you've fought in throughout the game (with a nice throwback to the first game!) similarly to the Zant fight from Twilight Princess. In doing this you, the player, are reminded of any struggles you had leading up to this point and see just how much you've improved. While it would have been a bit better if Malekith used moves from the other bosses when you were in their arenas, this was still a ni- Wait, this isn't a video game. The final battle was just ridiculous. Something like that just doesn't work in film.
The aether and the tesseract are part of a set of six magical MacGuffins, huh? It probably wasn't the best idea to tell the guy that has no qualms keeping sentient beings prisoner in his collection that you're keeping one in Asgard. Just saying. I assume that this collector guy is from Guardians of the Galaxy?
This has dethroned the original Thor as the worst MCU movie. I really want to like the Thor movies. The mixture of Norse mythology and science fiction is really fascinating but the movies somehow make it dull.
The one-shot was interesting. The real Mandarin seems like an actual threat and I'm interested to see what they do with him if they make and Iron Man 4.
I'm torn on the reveal of Hammer's sexuality. on the one hand it's awesome that he's a gay villain that didn't fall into any negative gay stereotypes, but on the other hand having it revealed in a one-shot and not an actual movie make sit feel a bit cheap. It feels like they were trying to throw a bone to people disappointed in how straight the MCU is, but all it does is highlight how there are no visible LGBT characters in the movies. Without this one-shot there's no way you would know Hammer is gay in Iron Man 2.
Next up is Captain America: The Winter Soldier. I hope I enjoy it as much as the first.
Yeah, The Dark World isn't... great. Definitely the weakest the MCU's been so far.
sol_bad
Member
You have to take into consideration that the finale most likely took no longer than 30 minutes, maybe a bit more or a bit less. SHIELD and Tony Stark don't have an propulsion technology fast enough to get them there on time. I mean you see in Iron Man 3 after his house is attacked and he sets the suit to autopilot, it takes him half a day or more to get to another state within America. He leaves his house morning/midday and crash lands in the snow at night time.
As for Thor seeking out help, we know he is a "God" and he deals with stuff like this all the time, he has never sought out human help before so why would he start now?
I've been under the impression that SHIELD has agents around the world.
Thor 2 is definitely pretty fucking weak. It's a really pretty movie, there's a lot of really nice design. But yeah, it just falls completely flat and doesn't live up to any of its potential.
Thor seems to have ignored the entire point of his arc in the first movie, and yet again, goes against his father's wishes and recklessly picks a fight which bites him in the ass.
Jane, as you said, should've gone through way more of a terrifying transformation in this movie. Hell, if it took her over and Thor was forced into maybe even having to kill her, Phoenix style, that atleast would've been something. Even if he found a way to save her, there would atleast be something to connect with or sympathize with for Thor beyond his mother dying.
As for why SHIELD didn't show up, I'm less bothered by. That whole finale tales place over, what, 10 minutes? It's not like Thor or Jane or whoever would even necessarily have the Avengers or Nick Fury on speed-dial.
Same thing with Iron Man 3 - the point was that the army wanted to solve the Mandarin crisis themselves after New York. The invasion made them look inept compared to the Avengers. And with the Vice President actively impeding any progress, and with the president only missing over the course of afew hours (and with no reason necessarily to believe he was even still alive), it still works out fine that they do this by themselves.
But yeah, Thor 2... not a good movie.
Thor seems to have ignored the entire point of his arc in the first movie, and yet again, goes against his father's wishes and recklessly picks a fight which bites him in the ass.
Jane, as you said, should've gone through way more of a terrifying transformation in this movie. Hell, if it took her over and Thor was forced into maybe even having to kill her, Phoenix style, that atleast would've been something. Even if he found a way to save her, there would atleast be something to connect with or sympathize with for Thor beyond his mother dying.
As for why SHIELD didn't show up, I'm less bothered by. That whole finale tales place over, what, 10 minutes? It's not like Thor or Jane or whoever would even necessarily have the Avengers or Nick Fury on speed-dial.
Same thing with Iron Man 3 - the point was that the army wanted to solve the Mandarin crisis themselves after New York. The invasion made them look inept compared to the Avengers. And with the Vice President actively impeding any progress, and with the president only missing over the course of afew hours (and with no reason necessarily to believe he was even still alive), it still works out fine that they do this by themselves.
But yeah, Thor 2... not a good movie.
IndoAssassin
Banned
IM3, TDW, TWS Where are the Avengers?
Civil War, Why are the Avengers in a CA movie. Why are they now doing team-ups? GAF always so controversial lol.
As to why SHIELD wasn't there, you'll get your answer in the show.
Civil War, Why are the Avengers in a CA movie. Why are they now doing team-ups? GAF always so controversial lol.
As to why SHIELD wasn't there, you'll get your answer in the show.
sol_bad
Member
They do, but to organise a proper defensive measure within 30 minutes? We don't even know what technology each division has.
I agree with almost every one of your criticisms of Thor 2 (except for the SHIELD thing, but other have addressed that). I still put Incredible Hulk as the worst of the MCU, but that's because it has no plot. Thor 2, on the other hand, committed another horrible sin by being wholly uninteresting.
Easily one of the best final battles in the MCU, though, which is funny.
Oh, and the Loki-Thor relationship continues to be a highlight of the MCU. I assume you're watching these on Blu Ray. There's an extra on Thor 2 about the brothers. It's very much a marketing piece, but it does show how well that story works. Also, I think it's that relationship that made Branaugh the right choice to direct the first film.
Hopefully the different focus of Ragnarok helps it overcome the complete misfire of Dark World.
Easily one of the best final battles in the MCU, though, which is funny.
Oh, and the Loki-Thor relationship continues to be a highlight of the MCU. I assume you're watching these on Blu Ray. There's an extra on Thor 2 about the brothers. It's very much a marketing piece, but it does show how well that story works. Also, I think it's that relationship that made Branaugh the right choice to direct the first film.
Hopefully the different focus of Ragnarok helps it overcome the complete misfire of Dark World.
ShinoguTakeruKoeru
Member
To this day, I wish the original planned final attack for Thor had made it into the final film, where he channels lightning from all 9 realms to strike down Malekith.
You know, as a God of Thunder and Lightning does.
Is there a link for this?
ShinoguTakeruKoeru
Member
I know I didn't read it, it's either from the Empire Magazine podcast episode that was a spoiler special, or the film's commentary on disc. All I know for certain is that when I heard that they switched the final attack because they wanted to involve Jane more, I was like FGHTJFJGFJHAGJHRJTKHASDFHDAS.
StarCreator
Member
As mentioned, you're at the point in the MCU where Agents of SHIELD has spun up, which gives a little insight at just how bureaucratic that agency can be. It isn't required material and certainly demands a bigger time investment than simply watching the movies alone, but I've been enjoying the show, even though its peak was definitely in the second season (the third wraps up this coming week).
The show is, however, designed to be watched in realtime with the movies, and I would suggest stopping at only slightly after the midway point of season one (Episode 16) if you had not watched The Winter Soldier by then, as the tie in makes no attempt at hiding spoilers for the movie.
The show is, however, designed to be watched in realtime with the movies, and I would suggest stopping at only slightly after the midway point of season one (Episode 16) if you had not watched The Winter Soldier by then, as the tie in makes no attempt at hiding spoilers for the movie.
ShinoguTakeruKoeru
Member
I mean, I'm not against the concept of "Oh hey, let's have everybody have a hand in the final conflict" but literally half of the final fight is Jane and Friends running around London with portal tech while Thor is flying around with Malekith. We already had that. Thor needed an actual Big Moment against the Bad Guy, The Guy Who Killed His Freakin' Mom, and in the end the most noteworthy thing that Thor does in single combat in this movie is spin his hammer to beat a CG rock monster in one blow.
Hmm.
Beren the Empty-Handed
Member
Yeah, The Dark World is the low point of Phase 2. It needed better editing and less Midgard. And for Jane to be interesting.
It has a lot of problems.
It has a lot of problems.
serenewarfare
Banned
Watching Thor 2 and then Winter Soldier. Such a dramatic difference in quality.
Yay!
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Before I get to the movie itself, what is up with this poster? The way Fury and Natasha are posed is so weird. Why are they tilted like that? Anyway, moving on!
Movies are often compared to roller coasters as there's usually that bit of build up before everything really gets going, and I have to say this movie absolutely nailed not only the sense of excitement for what's to come, but also the excitement of the climb itself. Looking around to get a new view of things as well as seeing the ground slowly get further and further away. Steve's talk with Sam was a fantastic way to open the film. It gets across the info in that cut scene from The Avengers, introduces a cool new character, and by the end we find out what Steve has been doing since The Avengers all without coming across as an exposition dump.
Speaking of Sam, I totally didn't expect him to become a hero at all. I like to think I'm pretty good at picking up on these things before they happen, but this completely blindsided me (In a good way). in hindsight I really should have seen it coming though, Sam is basically a modern day Captain America in terms of his good deeds. Had the two switched dates of birth I could totally see him being the one selected for the super soldier program (That is if we ignore the racism back then). That's not to say that Sam Wilson is a black Steve Rogers, he's not, but rather that the strength of their moral character is about the same. In other words, I totally wish they were both real so we could be pen pals. What? If they were real there's no way in hell that I'd go anywhere near NYC.
I find it interesting that despite there now being four flying super heroes in the MCU, only two of them share the same method (and that's only because Tony designed both suits). This leads me to ask about the twins in the post credits scene, were they created specifically for the MCU? I ask because they seem way too similar to Pietro and Wanda to be comic characters if the diversity in their flyers is anything to go by. Since Marvel doesn't own the film rights to X-Men I have to wonder if this is their way of trying to get two of them into the MCU without actually putting them in the MCU and thus not breaking any licensing agreements. I'd prefer just a yes or no answer to this question but I'm not going to be mad out or anything if you say "Oh they're <insert super villains here> that managed to destroy a few planets in the comics!"
Due to Natasha's shady past along with her being a spy I wasn't expecting her to be the one to team up with Steve, but it works really well. While there are some trust issues between them early on due to the hostage extraction mission on the ship, it thankfully doesn't last too long. The two of them make really cute friends and the way he's constantly trying to set up Steve for a date added a ice bit of levity to a movie that is mostly serious.
She remains a total badass, even going up toe to toe Bucky who doesn't mess around. I love the way they handled her in the climax. It would have been pretty easy (and expected on the part of the audience) to have her board one of the carriers but instead they went the much better route and incorporated her being a spy into it. Without her they never would have taken down the head of Hydra (cut of one head blah blah blah) and that's awesome. It just goes to show you that it takes many different types of skill sets to try and bring down an evil organization.
Speaking of different skill sets, oh my gosh Agent Hill is awesome. I did like her back in The Avengers but due to the focus being pretty much squarely on the titular team I didn't really talk about her in my write-up. While we obviously don't get much in the way of backstory due to the circumstances in which we see her, there's some really great things we can infer. Fury clearly has a lot of trust in her since she's one of the ones he told about Hydra and she took command with ease so she's clearly high up on the totem pole. If she's not a prominent character in Agents of SHIELD I will be very sad.
I don't have much to say about Frank Grillo's character aside from the fact that I couldn't place my finger on who the actor was. It was bugging me throughout the entire film until I went "Oh yeah, he's the one that made the second Purge movie good!" right as he died. This slightly amused me.
They really went as far as they could (aside from showing you the autopsy in graphic detail) to make you think Fury's death was real, huh? When it first happened I figured that there's no way they'd kill him off outside of an Avengers movie, but they got me through their persistence. They got me dammit! That man sure can take a lot of punishment, huh? At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he was set on fire from head to toe and made it out okay.
Another thing that just doesn't seem to die is hydra. The way they managed to survive after their defeat in WW2 is super messed up. I really pity Dr. Zola. While it's true that you have to give up some of your humanity in order to become immortal without going through severe depression, he just took it to a whole new level. Someone giving up their body and living confined to this one room for decades in order to push an ideology is a scary thought.
Bucky being the titular Winter Soldier was pretty easy to see coming. There's foreshadowing and then there's "Hey this is the upcoming twist", they opted for the latter in this movie. That's not to say everything they did with Bucky was obvious. I thought they were going to have the feel good happy ending where Bucky gets his memory back and both he and Steve are reunited. This makes me very curious as to how they'll handle this in Civil War. I doubt Bucky will appear in Age of Ultron, but I don't see how they can have him out there with Steve searching for him and still manage to set up the titular Civil War.
Seeing Steve at his lowest unsure of what to do talking to Peggy was so sad. I didn't expect to almost tear up watching a super hero movie.
It's funny, this movie feels more like a set up to Civil War than Age of Ultron. With the way things play out in this movie it makes total sense why he would oppose the registration act.
This has dethroned the first Captain America as my favorite MCU movie, and it may have dethroned The Incredibles as my favorite super hero movie period (although I'll have to watch both back to back to truly judge). Civil War is now my most anticipated Marvel movie.
So next up is our first new franchise of phase 2, Guardians of the Galaxy!
Before I get to the movie itself, what is up with this poster? The way Fury and Natasha are posed is so weird. Why are they tilted like that? Anyway, moving on!
Movies are often compared to roller coasters as there's usually that bit of build up before everything really gets going, and I have to say this movie absolutely nailed not only the sense of excitement for what's to come, but also the excitement of the climb itself. Looking around to get a new view of things as well as seeing the ground slowly get further and further away. Steve's talk with Sam was a fantastic way to open the film. It gets across the info in that cut scene from The Avengers, introduces a cool new character, and by the end we find out what Steve has been doing since The Avengers all without coming across as an exposition dump.
Speaking of Sam, I totally didn't expect him to become a hero at all. I like to think I'm pretty good at picking up on these things before they happen, but this completely blindsided me (In a good way). in hindsight I really should have seen it coming though, Sam is basically a modern day Captain America in terms of his good deeds. Had the two switched dates of birth I could totally see him being the one selected for the super soldier program (That is if we ignore the racism back then). That's not to say that Sam Wilson is a black Steve Rogers, he's not, but rather that the strength of their moral character is about the same. In other words, I totally wish they were both real so we could be pen pals. What? If they were real there's no way in hell that I'd go anywhere near NYC.
I find it interesting that despite there now being four flying super heroes in the MCU, only two of them share the same method (and that's only because Tony designed both suits). This leads me to ask about the twins in the post credits scene, were they created specifically for the MCU? I ask because they seem way too similar to Pietro and Wanda to be comic characters if the diversity in their flyers is anything to go by. Since Marvel doesn't own the film rights to X-Men I have to wonder if this is their way of trying to get two of them into the MCU without actually putting them in the MCU and thus not breaking any licensing agreements. I'd prefer just a yes or no answer to this question but I'm not going to be mad out or anything if you say "Oh they're <insert super villains here> that managed to destroy a few planets in the comics!"
Due to Natasha's shady past along with her being a spy I wasn't expecting her to be the one to team up with Steve, but it works really well. While there are some trust issues between them early on due to the hostage extraction mission on the ship, it thankfully doesn't last too long. The two of them make really cute friends and the way he's constantly trying to set up Steve for a date added a ice bit of levity to a movie that is mostly serious.
She remains a total badass, even going up toe to toe Bucky who doesn't mess around. I love the way they handled her in the climax. It would have been pretty easy (and expected on the part of the audience) to have her board one of the carriers but instead they went the much better route and incorporated her being a spy into it. Without her they never would have taken down the head of Hydra (cut of one head blah blah blah) and that's awesome. It just goes to show you that it takes many different types of skill sets to try and bring down an evil organization.
Speaking of different skill sets, oh my gosh Agent Hill is awesome. I did like her back in The Avengers but due to the focus being pretty much squarely on the titular team I didn't really talk about her in my write-up. While we obviously don't get much in the way of backstory due to the circumstances in which we see her, there's some really great things we can infer. Fury clearly has a lot of trust in her since she's one of the ones he told about Hydra and she took command with ease so she's clearly high up on the totem pole. If she's not a prominent character in Agents of SHIELD I will be very sad.
I don't have much to say about Frank Grillo's character aside from the fact that I couldn't place my finger on who the actor was. It was bugging me throughout the entire film until I went "Oh yeah, he's the one that made the second Purge movie good!" right as he died. This slightly amused me.
They really went as far as they could (aside from showing you the autopsy in graphic detail) to make you think Fury's death was real, huh? When it first happened I figured that there's no way they'd kill him off outside of an Avengers movie, but they got me through their persistence. They got me dammit! That man sure can take a lot of punishment, huh? At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he was set on fire from head to toe and made it out okay.
Another thing that just doesn't seem to die is hydra. The way they managed to survive after their defeat in WW2 is super messed up. I really pity Dr. Zola. While it's true that you have to give up some of your humanity in order to become immortal without going through severe depression, he just took it to a whole new level. Someone giving up their body and living confined to this one room for decades in order to push an ideology is a scary thought.
Bucky being the titular Winter Soldier was pretty easy to see coming. There's foreshadowing and then there's "Hey this is the upcoming twist", they opted for the latter in this movie. That's not to say everything they did with Bucky was obvious. I thought they were going to have the feel good happy ending where Bucky gets his memory back and both he and Steve are reunited. This makes me very curious as to how they'll handle this in Civil War. I doubt Bucky will appear in Age of Ultron, but I don't see how they can have him out there with Steve searching for him and still manage to set up the titular Civil War.
Seeing Steve at his lowest unsure of what to do talking to Peggy was so sad. I didn't expect to almost tear up watching a super hero movie.
It's funny, this movie feels more like a set up to Civil War than Age of Ultron. With the way things play out in this movie it makes total sense why he would oppose the registration act.
This has dethroned the first Captain America as my favorite MCU movie, and it may have dethroned The Incredibles as my favorite super hero movie period (although I'll have to watch both back to back to truly judge). Civil War is now my most anticipated Marvel movie.
So next up is our first new franchise of phase 2, Guardians of the Galaxy!
OrangeAtlas
Member
Great write-up as per usual. Glad to see everyone's hype didn't spoil too much of the movie for you.
As for the twins questions, they are in fact the Maximoff's. There are certain loopholes in the movie rights that let multiple companies have access to characters simultaneously if they're equally associated with multiple brands. Wanda and Pietro can be used by both Fox and Marvel as long as Fox never mentions they're Avengers and Marvel never mentions they're mutants (though Marvel has retconned them in the comics in recent years to be in their favour). There are a few other characters that fall into this criteria such as Kingpin back in the day, though I'm pretty sure Sony gave Fox permission to use him in the Daredevil movie.
As for the twins questions, they are in fact the Maximoff's. There are certain loopholes in the movie rights that let multiple companies have access to characters simultaneously if they're equally associated with multiple brands. Wanda and Pietro can be used by both Fox and Marvel as long as Fox never mentions they're Avengers and Marvel never mentions they're mutants (though Marvel has retconned them in the comics in recent years to be in their favour). There are a few other characters that fall into this criteria such as Kingpin back in the day, though I'm pretty sure Sony gave Fox permission to use him in the Daredevil movie.
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