Master WhoBruh
Cap
Truth to be told, MCU is formulaic and generic sometimes but It definitely has a few exceptions. The ones that have compelling stories and characterizations.
Infinity Countdown: WhoBob reviews every single MCU movies before Infinity War
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Master WhoBruh
Cap
Alright, it's time to discuss quite possibly my favorite superhero, next to Spider-Man. <3
Airdate: July 22, 2011
Directed by Joe Johnston
If there's one superhero origin movie that I find the most underappreciated is this one. Yeah yeah, some weak guy takes steroids and becomes a boy scout superhero but I always found Captain America to be more interesting than that. This movie is certainly not the best version of him because Russo brothers turned him into a much more complex and flawed hero but this one still did a great job at exploring what is Captain America and what It means to be one. My favorite superhero movies are the ones that explore the grey era of the world and not all heroes and villains are just good or evil for sake of it. But sometimes we do need a glimpse of hope and there are people that are just pure good and pure evil and this movie gets it well.
In some other superhero movies, making cliched good and bad guys would feel empty and bland but this movie worked out because the time they lived in was crappy. Wars damage people and break their spirit. Everyone fights for something and people need to survive this horrid event. They need a spirit and that's where Captain America comes in. This movie is all about making some ordinary boy named Steve Rogers and making him the symbol of hope, freedom and justice. This movie took place in World War 2, quite possibly the biggest war of all time. People are dying, there are sinister people trying to push their agenda with extereme violence and people lose their loved ones. It started off with some Nazi soldier named Schmid finding Tesessact, which plays a bigger role in Avengers. After that, we cut back Steve trying to get into war with everything he can. He even was changing his identity and the place he lived in to do that but people never accepted him because he had physical problems. That quickly explained how Steve Rogers to me and honestly I can relate to him in some level. I'm a weak person physically and I feel like I'm a loser at times because of that. Everywhere I look, people are stronger and taller than me and I feel inferior sometimes. I shouldn't feel like that but sometimes I can't help it. I survived so many diseases and injuries and I get tired of seeing the doctor everyday. Although part of the blame goes to how I treat my body badly sometimes. Steve Rogers gained my sympathy not because of the fact that he's weak and he is useless. He's weak but it doesn't let him stop the people that wanna do badly. He hates bullies hurting people and no matter how their backstories are tragic or their agendas are different bullies, are unacceptable. One line did kind of bothered me. He said he doesn't wanna kill people but when we are done halfway, he said when he could kill some Hydra agents. Yeah, that part was weird but still they are Nazis (and I'll fight anyone who says Hydra isn't Nazi because they are, no matter how their history predates Nazis and some of they have different goals for evil. But they have Nazi salutes with both arms, they want world domination, they are obsessed with science for weapons, they are racist, homophobic and sexist people. They are always meant to be Marvel's Nazi versions and you can't tell me otherwise), so they do deserve to die. Nevertheless, he's mostly good with heart and I wish that was with more people. Nobody is perfect, not even Steve but you can be a good person.
After Steve got into a fight with bullies, Bucky arrived just in time to save his butt. I always loved Steve and Bucky's relationship. Bucky is kind of a cocky and sarcastic person but he's always nice to Steve and he doesn't make him feel inferior. He does call out his stupid actions but that's what friends do anyway. After Bucky and Steve went in their ways, Steve met a doctor named Dr. Abraham Erskine and the doctor said he was definitely a good fit for the war. He finally became a soldier, sort of but he had to finish some exercises. He met Peggy Carter who was an agent and trained people and Steve had a hard time talking to her because he didn't really understand women. I already loved their relationship from that. Steve is kind of a shy and awkward dude and he wasn't exactly good with the words, especially on women but he does respect Peggy and Peggy likes the fact that Steve is just an honest, awkward and adorable dude. Although the sergent isn't exactly impressed by Steve, Steve did show off his personality. When the doctor threw a fake bomb, Steve quickly jumped into the bomb without realizing it was fake. He was already a great pick for the super soldier program. Erskine turned him into a super soldier but one of Nydra agents shot him and took one of the serums. We had our first chase scene which was super exciting. I loved that despite the fact that Steve could run so fast, jump high and be strong, he did hit his body in some places. He caught the Hydra agent and afters ome fight, he accidentally dropped the serum on the floor and he commited suicide. Now that super soldier serum was gone, the army couldn't make any more serums. And Steve was still disqualified from being a soldier. But his heroic efforts made it to newspaper and one person turned him into the symbol of freedom. The musical number "Star Spangled Man with a Plan" was probably the best description of Captain America. He wasn't chosen to fight in battles by the army again but his noble and heroic efforts made him a brand. A brand to give people hope and make them fight for their country. All Steve did was acting, fighting in stages and showing his goodness and strength. There were even Captain America comics released with the iconic cover of him punching Hitler in the face. The movie was very self aware that Captain America is kind of a bait for people to give hope and goodness but back to what I said, we need some hope in this world. If Superman shows us the best version of ourselves, Captain America is our courage for freedom. It could even be said that his comics did stop World War 2 for good. I can be wrong but nevertheless, we need people like Captain America to spread goodness and freedom.
Roger learned that Bucky was missing in action and he secretly went into the place where he was last seen with the help of Howard Stark and Peggy Carter. Howard Stark is very important to this movie because he made Steve's shield and he was the one that took him to the battle. Because of that, Tony had respect for Steve for a while and that played a huge part in the movies they were in. Steve managed to find Bucky and his team, they fought and Steve quickly ran into Schmidt who was Erskine's first test subject for making a super soldier. It worked but it altered his head and he turned into Captain America's the most fearsome villain Red Skull. Red Skull is your typical bad guy where all he wanted was world domination and spreading his agenda just like Captain America but unlike Cap, his agenda was pure evil. One let down I'll say about Red Skull was that he wasn't menacing enough. He was played well by Hugo Weaving but I wish Red Skull was more violent and sickening. Nevertheless, I didn't mind that he was some generic villain because If Captain America represent pure goodness, Red Skull present pure badness. He embraced the bad aspect of World because in order to feel more powerful, he believed he needed to be bad to achive that goal. Teserract is actually a good symbol to this whole theme of strength and weakness because that has huge power to Hydra weapons. Yeah, Tecessact is "space stone", not "power stone" but hey, it still works for your weapons!
Red Skull and his ally Dr. Zola escaped but Steve and Bucky managed to win the day and all soldiers returned to their base safely. Days later Steve became in charge, despite having no experience in charge. I do wish that aspect was explained in the movie because they did talk about how super soldier effects the cells but they didn't mention it effects people's mind. Well, they did mention super soldier altered Red Skull's body because of his pure evilness but yeah. Steve told Peggy he wanted to be her date and even accepted Peggy's dance offer but later, some lady kissed Steve and Peggy was pissed off to him because of it. That was awkward but definitely in character for Steve. Also you can't blame him, he has a beautiful face, shrug. Steve, Bucky and other soldiers attacked couple of more Hydra bases and even later they captured Zola but sadly Steve lost his friend Bucky. Zola gave up the place of Red Skull because unlike other Hydra agents, he wanted to live. Steve found Red Skull's base, Peggy made him get in the plane Red Skull took but before that, Peggy kissed Steve and that was the last time, she saw him
. Steve managed to stop Red Skull but corrupted by power, Red Skull was vaporized by Teserract and Teserract fell from the plane. Steve realized the plane was headed to New York and he had no time to land the plane safely, so he sacrificed himself by crashing the plane. Howard Stark found Teserract and Steve was found in our present time. After Steve woke up, he found himself in present and he met Fury. That moment was really sad because Steve just asked Peggy for a dance and now she can't dance with him anymore.
This movie was pretty great as an origin story for Captain America and while it's not as complex as Iron Man, this movie worked so well as being a simple story of good vs evil. The time they movie took place is important because without World War 2, Captain America wouldn't be as compelling hero as he's today. I had some nitpicks here and there with some of bizzare character choices and I wish Red Skull felt more scary and sinister but this was such a fun superhero origin about a man who wanted to stop bullies all around the world and bring peace.
MCU movie ranking:
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: July 22, 2011
Directed by Joe Johnston
If there's one superhero origin movie that I find the most underappreciated is this one. Yeah yeah, some weak guy takes steroids and becomes a boy scout superhero but I always found Captain America to be more interesting than that. This movie is certainly not the best version of him because Russo brothers turned him into a much more complex and flawed hero but this one still did a great job at exploring what is Captain America and what It means to be one. My favorite superhero movies are the ones that explore the grey era of the world and not all heroes and villains are just good or evil for sake of it. But sometimes we do need a glimpse of hope and there are people that are just pure good and pure evil and this movie gets it well.
In some other superhero movies, making cliched good and bad guys would feel empty and bland but this movie worked out because the time they lived in was crappy. Wars damage people and break their spirit. Everyone fights for something and people need to survive this horrid event. They need a spirit and that's where Captain America comes in. This movie is all about making some ordinary boy named Steve Rogers and making him the symbol of hope, freedom and justice. This movie took place in World War 2, quite possibly the biggest war of all time. People are dying, there are sinister people trying to push their agenda with extereme violence and people lose their loved ones. It started off with some Nazi soldier named Schmid finding Tesessact, which plays a bigger role in Avengers. After that, we cut back Steve trying to get into war with everything he can. He even was changing his identity and the place he lived in to do that but people never accepted him because he had physical problems. That quickly explained how Steve Rogers to me and honestly I can relate to him in some level. I'm a weak person physically and I feel like I'm a loser at times because of that. Everywhere I look, people are stronger and taller than me and I feel inferior sometimes. I shouldn't feel like that but sometimes I can't help it. I survived so many diseases and injuries and I get tired of seeing the doctor everyday. Although part of the blame goes to how I treat my body badly sometimes. Steve Rogers gained my sympathy not because of the fact that he's weak and he is useless. He's weak but it doesn't let him stop the people that wanna do badly. He hates bullies hurting people and no matter how their backstories are tragic or their agendas are different bullies, are unacceptable. One line did kind of bothered me. He said he doesn't wanna kill people but when we are done halfway, he said when he could kill some Hydra agents. Yeah, that part was weird but still they are Nazis (and I'll fight anyone who says Hydra isn't Nazi because they are, no matter how their history predates Nazis and some of they have different goals for evil. But they have Nazi salutes with both arms, they want world domination, they are obsessed with science for weapons, they are racist, homophobic and sexist people. They are always meant to be Marvel's Nazi versions and you can't tell me otherwise), so they do deserve to die. Nevertheless, he's mostly good with heart and I wish that was with more people. Nobody is perfect, not even Steve but you can be a good person.
After Steve got into a fight with bullies, Bucky arrived just in time to save his butt. I always loved Steve and Bucky's relationship. Bucky is kind of a cocky and sarcastic person but he's always nice to Steve and he doesn't make him feel inferior. He does call out his stupid actions but that's what friends do anyway. After Bucky and Steve went in their ways, Steve met a doctor named Dr. Abraham Erskine and the doctor said he was definitely a good fit for the war. He finally became a soldier, sort of but he had to finish some exercises. He met Peggy Carter who was an agent and trained people and Steve had a hard time talking to her because he didn't really understand women. I already loved their relationship from that. Steve is kind of a shy and awkward dude and he wasn't exactly good with the words, especially on women but he does respect Peggy and Peggy likes the fact that Steve is just an honest, awkward and adorable dude. Although the sergent isn't exactly impressed by Steve, Steve did show off his personality. When the doctor threw a fake bomb, Steve quickly jumped into the bomb without realizing it was fake. He was already a great pick for the super soldier program. Erskine turned him into a super soldier but one of Nydra agents shot him and took one of the serums. We had our first chase scene which was super exciting. I loved that despite the fact that Steve could run so fast, jump high and be strong, he did hit his body in some places. He caught the Hydra agent and afters ome fight, he accidentally dropped the serum on the floor and he commited suicide. Now that super soldier serum was gone, the army couldn't make any more serums. And Steve was still disqualified from being a soldier. But his heroic efforts made it to newspaper and one person turned him into the symbol of freedom. The musical number "Star Spangled Man with a Plan" was probably the best description of Captain America. He wasn't chosen to fight in battles by the army again but his noble and heroic efforts made him a brand. A brand to give people hope and make them fight for their country. All Steve did was acting, fighting in stages and showing his goodness and strength. There were even Captain America comics released with the iconic cover of him punching Hitler in the face. The movie was very self aware that Captain America is kind of a bait for people to give hope and goodness but back to what I said, we need some hope in this world. If Superman shows us the best version of ourselves, Captain America is our courage for freedom. It could even be said that his comics did stop World War 2 for good. I can be wrong but nevertheless, we need people like Captain America to spread goodness and freedom.
Roger learned that Bucky was missing in action and he secretly went into the place where he was last seen with the help of Howard Stark and Peggy Carter. Howard Stark is very important to this movie because he made Steve's shield and he was the one that took him to the battle. Because of that, Tony had respect for Steve for a while and that played a huge part in the movies they were in. Steve managed to find Bucky and his team, they fought and Steve quickly ran into Schmidt who was Erskine's first test subject for making a super soldier. It worked but it altered his head and he turned into Captain America's the most fearsome villain Red Skull. Red Skull is your typical bad guy where all he wanted was world domination and spreading his agenda just like Captain America but unlike Cap, his agenda was pure evil. One let down I'll say about Red Skull was that he wasn't menacing enough. He was played well by Hugo Weaving but I wish Red Skull was more violent and sickening. Nevertheless, I didn't mind that he was some generic villain because If Captain America represent pure goodness, Red Skull present pure badness. He embraced the bad aspect of World because in order to feel more powerful, he believed he needed to be bad to achive that goal. Teserract is actually a good symbol to this whole theme of strength and weakness because that has huge power to Hydra weapons. Yeah, Tecessact is "space stone", not "power stone" but hey, it still works for your weapons!
Red Skull and his ally Dr. Zola escaped but Steve and Bucky managed to win the day and all soldiers returned to their base safely. Days later Steve became in charge, despite having no experience in charge. I do wish that aspect was explained in the movie because they did talk about how super soldier effects the cells but they didn't mention it effects people's mind. Well, they did mention super soldier altered Red Skull's body because of his pure evilness but yeah. Steve told Peggy he wanted to be her date and even accepted Peggy's dance offer but later, some lady kissed Steve and Peggy was pissed off to him because of it. That was awkward but definitely in character for Steve. Also you can't blame him, he has a beautiful face, shrug. Steve, Bucky and other soldiers attacked couple of more Hydra bases and even later they captured Zola but sadly Steve lost his friend Bucky. Zola gave up the place of Red Skull because unlike other Hydra agents, he wanted to live. Steve found Red Skull's base, Peggy made him get in the plane Red Skull took but before that, Peggy kissed Steve and that was the last time, she saw him
This movie was pretty great as an origin story for Captain America and while it's not as complex as Iron Man, this movie worked so well as being a simple story of good vs evil. The time they movie took place is important because without World War 2, Captain America wouldn't be as compelling hero as he's today. I had some nitpicks here and there with some of bizzare character choices and I wish Red Skull felt more scary and sinister but this was such a fun superhero origin about a man who wanted to stop bullies all around the world and bring peace.
MCU movie ranking:
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
Behold, this is the movie that returned my love for superheroes and my first MCU experience ever.
Airdate: May 4, 2012
Directed by Joss Whedon
I watched this movie three times in my entire life and not once this got old for me. Is this a perfect movie? Nope. Is this such an epic blockbuster experience? Hell yeah! This movie has a special place in my heart because I literally watched this movie with my high school classmates in the school and I loved every single minute of it. It was awesome, epic, well-written, compelling and it shamelessly introduced me sexy male actors. This set up the golden age of Marvel superheroes. And we'll find out why.
Loki returned from Thor movie with basically an army of Chitauri and he got the spec. First superhero we see is Phil Coulson and yes, he's a bloody superhero. Watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after this movie. While S.H.I.E.L.D. was experimenting on Teserract, Loki opened a wormhole to one of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, took Teserract and mind controlled Hawkeye aka Clint Barton and Thor's friend Erik Selvig. Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson managed to escape but they needed help to stop Loki. From the beginning, this movie was already exciting. Loki was merciless and powerful and S.H.I.E.L.D. look inferior to his presence. Loki showed how to be a God and a bad one. During the first act; we are reintroduced to Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Natasha to make them meet each other and that was kind of the weakest aspect of the movie. It's definitely not bad. There has to be a bit slow set up for our characters to actually interact and make new dynamics with each other. So this did take 30 minutes for them to be cool with each other. Compared to more exciting and better dynamics of the characters, the first act felt a bit weak. Nevertheless, the pacing was done well.
We finally got the plot with Loki attacking a place to get a stabilizer for Teserract but it got S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention. There was a small moment in the scene where Loki asked people to neal and one old man didn't neal. Loki told the old man he's nothing like other guys and he told him there are always guys like him. This scene was amazing because it showed not only Loki's personality, it was the fact that Loki isn't some special snowflake he claims to be. He may be powerful but there are many people that wants power, attention and a dictatorship like him. Tony arrived just in time to stop him and Steve Rogers came to the party as well. They met each other and they quickly arrested Loki. This got Steve's attention because capturing Loki was so easy and It was obvious this was gonna be even a better conflict to see how truly menacing Loki is. On their way to Hellcarrier, Thor arrived to took Loki away and he tried to reason with Loki but Loki refused to listen to Thor. I love this scene because it continued the conflict between them and that made Thor's issues with Loki more personal. Loki is a villain that wants power and attention because he always felt like he was inferior to Thor, as a result, he became Thor's shadow until he couldn't take it anymore and he removed Thor from people he cared about. Even in this movie, he's such an interesting and sort of a sympathetic villain. Iron Man attacked Thor because Thor took away Loki without talking to them and they started to have a fight. Steve arrived to stop their nonsense fight and they captured Loki together. And things got worse for all of these characters but Loki. Loki was put in a cage and Natasha came to him to talk to him. Loki easily broke Natasha by making her confront her dark past of being a deadly assasin. Natasha was upset that Loki mind controled Clint because in the past, Natasha was noticed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Clint was ordered to kil Natasha. But Clint didn't and he gave Natasha a second chance to a better person. I liked that we got a bit of exploring to Natasha's past because she was basically jut a spy in Iron Man 2 and she got to do more in this movie. Sadly she was ruined by Joss Whedon in Age of Untron but we'll get to that later. Loki managed to manipulate Steve, Natasha, Nick Fury, Banner, Stark and even Thor. From the beginning of his intoduction, Loki has always been a liar and manipualtive son of a gun and this movie made us remember how amazing he was as a villain. A good villain should hit the heroes in the heart. Not just some world domination or destruction and Loki did just that with making S.H.I.E.L.D. so corrupted. We learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. was actually using Teserract to make more weapons and that started distrust with Steve, Tony, Thor and Banner. Steve started to attack Tony emotionally because he believed Tony only cared about himself and he was so arrogant to be a hero but Tony also knew that Steve was nothing but an experiment. Bruce started to be upset that S.H.I.E.L.D. made a cage for Hulk. This part was actually so disturbing because Bruce was always going to be feared by people but he also feared himself enough to commit suicide. Not a lot of people seems to be mentioning this part but It was very interesting to see suicide being briefly talked in a PG-13 movie. Hawkeye put an explosive arrow on Hellcarrier and it hit it pretty hard enough for Loki to escape and Hulk to be unleashed. The movie got so much fun but also thrilling once the heroes had their lives in danger as well as so many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Sadly enough Loki stabbed Phil Coulson but Phil managed to stop Loki for a while. Although Loki escaped and later Coulson died. UNTIL NOT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series. Coulson is amazing in that show. But this didn't really cheapen his death. He did die for a moment and Nick Fury used Coulson's death to push Avengers to put aside their differences and team up.
Thor and Banner were lost after their battle with each other and then Hulk falling Loki imprisoning Thor in the cage and Thor falling as well. Natasha had a fight with Clint but she managed to get rid of Loki spell on Clint. Tony and Steve put aside their differences and they left Hellharrier to stop Loki, as well as Natasha and Clint. Tony found out where Loki was gonna release Teserract and it was his new Stark tower. We got a cool scene with him and Loki about Loki managing to make the heroes feel weak and troubling to each other but Tony said that wasn't gonna help Loki from succeeding his plan. Villains will always fall when they break the heroes because they made them stronger. Not gonna lie, this movie is your typical good vs evil story with world ending stakes but the movie was aware of this and it was heavily discussed in its themes of power, heroism, god complex and much more. All of these characters were flawed human beings and Loki, the villain, knew they could be just as bad as him and that was why they were corrupted by someone who found himself above all human beings. Avengers was about bunch of people with experiences of danger in them making a bigger danger but also realizing how to fix this. Our heroes in the movie teamed up to put a stop to greater destruction. We finally got them being together once again with a great scene and a music. The climax started and it was a blast to watch. Even though this infamously influced other movies to have big climaxes, this movie built up its climax masterfully. Each heroes had a beef with Loki and they knew they had to stop him. The action scenes, the CGI and the music came together to create the ultimate movie experience and it was awesome. We even got some funny jokes without feeling out of place. Meanwhile the council was discussing with Nick Fury and they thought launching a missle was a good idea to stop the attack. While they were right, this meant death to so many innocent lives. Tony took Steve's advice and actually put others above himself to stop the missle and he did. Steve may have been harsh on Tony but he was right that Tony mostly cared about his glory and he wanted to live but this time Tony didn't care If he survived from this or not. He just sacrificed himself to save the city. Erik Selvig got rid of Loki's spell as well and Natasha and him used Loki's scepter to shut down Teserract. The heroes saved many lives from alien attack and Loki was stopped for good. They all were seperated their ways, Steve and Tony became friends and allies and Tony started tob rebuild his tower inot Avengers tower. AND HOLY CRAP, BLOODY THANOS IN POST CREDIT SCENE and the heroes eating shawarma.
This movie was nothing but a fun superhero experience. It discussed what it meant to be a superhero and how power can corrupt people with complex superheroes and a menacing villain. It was such a wonderful mix of both comedy and drama. There were even some small moments I didn't discuss like Coulson's inner crush with Steve and how that was relatable to my crush on Steve, shrug. Hulk punching Thor for sake of it and then Hulk smashing Loki made sure he didn't give a crap about puny gods and he was bad*ss, not the mention his CGI was good this time. I loved scene of some guy just playing atari because there had to be one employee that slacked his job. Clint throwing an arrow to Loki, then Loki catching but it exploding in Loki's face was a bloody great scene. Speaking of Clint, I was disappointed that we didn't get to learn more of him. He was mostly mind controled and that only helped Natasha's character growth but at least we learned a bit of him in Age of Ultron but sadly his character is so far not that compelling in this franchise outside of one scene in Age of Ultron. If I had some major complaint, those would be lack of Clint's development and slow first 30 minutes after Loki disappeared. This movie is still to this day one of my all-time favorite superhero movies and it was so successful we got plenty of good TV shows from MCU and more good movies after this as well.
MCU movie ranking:
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: May 4, 2012
Directed by Joss Whedon
I watched this movie three times in my entire life and not once this got old for me. Is this a perfect movie? Nope. Is this such an epic blockbuster experience? Hell yeah! This movie has a special place in my heart because I literally watched this movie with my high school classmates in the school and I loved every single minute of it. It was awesome, epic, well-written, compelling and it shamelessly introduced me sexy male actors. This set up the golden age of Marvel superheroes. And we'll find out why.
Loki returned from Thor movie with basically an army of Chitauri and he got the spec. First superhero we see is Phil Coulson and yes, he's a bloody superhero. Watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. after this movie. While S.H.I.E.L.D. was experimenting on Teserract, Loki opened a wormhole to one of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, took Teserract and mind controlled Hawkeye aka Clint Barton and Thor's friend Erik Selvig. Nick Fury, Maria Hill and Phil Coulson managed to escape but they needed help to stop Loki. From the beginning, this movie was already exciting. Loki was merciless and powerful and S.H.I.E.L.D. look inferior to his presence. Loki showed how to be a God and a bad one. During the first act; we are reintroduced to Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and Natasha to make them meet each other and that was kind of the weakest aspect of the movie. It's definitely not bad. There has to be a bit slow set up for our characters to actually interact and make new dynamics with each other. So this did take 30 minutes for them to be cool with each other. Compared to more exciting and better dynamics of the characters, the first act felt a bit weak. Nevertheless, the pacing was done well.
We finally got the plot with Loki attacking a place to get a stabilizer for Teserract but it got S.H.I.E.L.D.'s attention. There was a small moment in the scene where Loki asked people to neal and one old man didn't neal. Loki told the old man he's nothing like other guys and he told him there are always guys like him. This scene was amazing because it showed not only Loki's personality, it was the fact that Loki isn't some special snowflake he claims to be. He may be powerful but there are many people that wants power, attention and a dictatorship like him. Tony arrived just in time to stop him and Steve Rogers came to the party as well. They met each other and they quickly arrested Loki. This got Steve's attention because capturing Loki was so easy and It was obvious this was gonna be even a better conflict to see how truly menacing Loki is. On their way to Hellcarrier, Thor arrived to took Loki away and he tried to reason with Loki but Loki refused to listen to Thor. I love this scene because it continued the conflict between them and that made Thor's issues with Loki more personal. Loki is a villain that wants power and attention because he always felt like he was inferior to Thor, as a result, he became Thor's shadow until he couldn't take it anymore and he removed Thor from people he cared about. Even in this movie, he's such an interesting and sort of a sympathetic villain. Iron Man attacked Thor because Thor took away Loki without talking to them and they started to have a fight. Steve arrived to stop their nonsense fight and they captured Loki together. And things got worse for all of these characters but Loki. Loki was put in a cage and Natasha came to him to talk to him. Loki easily broke Natasha by making her confront her dark past of being a deadly assasin. Natasha was upset that Loki mind controled Clint because in the past, Natasha was noticed by S.H.I.E.L.D. and Clint was ordered to kil Natasha. But Clint didn't and he gave Natasha a second chance to a better person. I liked that we got a bit of exploring to Natasha's past because she was basically jut a spy in Iron Man 2 and she got to do more in this movie. Sadly she was ruined by Joss Whedon in Age of Untron but we'll get to that later. Loki managed to manipulate Steve, Natasha, Nick Fury, Banner, Stark and even Thor. From the beginning of his intoduction, Loki has always been a liar and manipualtive son of a gun and this movie made us remember how amazing he was as a villain. A good villain should hit the heroes in the heart. Not just some world domination or destruction and Loki did just that with making S.H.I.E.L.D. so corrupted. We learned that S.H.I.E.L.D. was actually using Teserract to make more weapons and that started distrust with Steve, Tony, Thor and Banner. Steve started to attack Tony emotionally because he believed Tony only cared about himself and he was so arrogant to be a hero but Tony also knew that Steve was nothing but an experiment. Bruce started to be upset that S.H.I.E.L.D. made a cage for Hulk. This part was actually so disturbing because Bruce was always going to be feared by people but he also feared himself enough to commit suicide. Not a lot of people seems to be mentioning this part but It was very interesting to see suicide being briefly talked in a PG-13 movie. Hawkeye put an explosive arrow on Hellcarrier and it hit it pretty hard enough for Loki to escape and Hulk to be unleashed. The movie got so much fun but also thrilling once the heroes had their lives in danger as well as so many S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Sadly enough Loki stabbed Phil Coulson but Phil managed to stop Loki for a while. Although Loki escaped and later Coulson died. UNTIL NOT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series. Coulson is amazing in that show. But this didn't really cheapen his death. He did die for a moment and Nick Fury used Coulson's death to push Avengers to put aside their differences and team up.
Thor and Banner were lost after their battle with each other and then Hulk falling Loki imprisoning Thor in the cage and Thor falling as well. Natasha had a fight with Clint but she managed to get rid of Loki spell on Clint. Tony and Steve put aside their differences and they left Hellharrier to stop Loki, as well as Natasha and Clint. Tony found out where Loki was gonna release Teserract and it was his new Stark tower. We got a cool scene with him and Loki about Loki managing to make the heroes feel weak and troubling to each other but Tony said that wasn't gonna help Loki from succeeding his plan. Villains will always fall when they break the heroes because they made them stronger. Not gonna lie, this movie is your typical good vs evil story with world ending stakes but the movie was aware of this and it was heavily discussed in its themes of power, heroism, god complex and much more. All of these characters were flawed human beings and Loki, the villain, knew they could be just as bad as him and that was why they were corrupted by someone who found himself above all human beings. Avengers was about bunch of people with experiences of danger in them making a bigger danger but also realizing how to fix this. Our heroes in the movie teamed up to put a stop to greater destruction. We finally got them being together once again with a great scene and a music. The climax started and it was a blast to watch. Even though this infamously influced other movies to have big climaxes, this movie built up its climax masterfully. Each heroes had a beef with Loki and they knew they had to stop him. The action scenes, the CGI and the music came together to create the ultimate movie experience and it was awesome. We even got some funny jokes without feeling out of place. Meanwhile the council was discussing with Nick Fury and they thought launching a missle was a good idea to stop the attack. While they were right, this meant death to so many innocent lives. Tony took Steve's advice and actually put others above himself to stop the missle and he did. Steve may have been harsh on Tony but he was right that Tony mostly cared about his glory and he wanted to live but this time Tony didn't care If he survived from this or not. He just sacrificed himself to save the city. Erik Selvig got rid of Loki's spell as well and Natasha and him used Loki's scepter to shut down Teserract. The heroes saved many lives from alien attack and Loki was stopped for good. They all were seperated their ways, Steve and Tony became friends and allies and Tony started tob rebuild his tower inot Avengers tower. AND HOLY CRAP, BLOODY THANOS IN POST CREDIT SCENE and the heroes eating shawarma.
This movie was nothing but a fun superhero experience. It discussed what it meant to be a superhero and how power can corrupt people with complex superheroes and a menacing villain. It was such a wonderful mix of both comedy and drama. There were even some small moments I didn't discuss like Coulson's inner crush with Steve and how that was relatable to my crush on Steve, shrug. Hulk punching Thor for sake of it and then Hulk smashing Loki made sure he didn't give a crap about puny gods and he was bad*ss, not the mention his CGI was good this time. I loved scene of some guy just playing atari because there had to be one employee that slacked his job. Clint throwing an arrow to Loki, then Loki catching but it exploding in Loki's face was a bloody great scene. Speaking of Clint, I was disappointed that we didn't get to learn more of him. He was mostly mind controled and that only helped Natasha's character growth but at least we learned a bit of him in Age of Ultron but sadly his character is so far not that compelling in this franchise outside of one scene in Age of Ultron. If I had some major complaint, those would be lack of Clint's development and slow first 30 minutes after Loki disappeared. This movie is still to this day one of my all-time favorite superhero movies and it was so successful we got plenty of good TV shows from MCU and more good movies after this as well.
MCU movie ranking:
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Iron Man 2 - C+
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
I have to admit something, I walked out of The Avengers out of boredom after ~90 minutes, and was shocked that it was still playing when I went to pick my brother up from it much later.
Are there any MCU movies that are less than 2 hours long?
Are there any MCU movies that are less than 2 hours long?
Master WhoBruh
Cap
you can always take a break from watching the movies after the halfway is over honestly.EmployeeAMillion said:
the incredible hulk, thor, thor: the dark world, ant-man and doctor strange are less than two hours and guardians of the galaxy 1 is just about two hours. but they are not really mcu's most memorable work, except guardians of the galaxy and ant-man. so I do reconsider you to rewatch avengers. it has slow 30 minutes but after that, it gets action-packed and compelling.
make sure to watch some of other movies I recommended too
Master WhoBruh
Cap
Sorry for the delay. I have been very busy yesterday. Today, we are finally ending this trilogy.
Airdate: May 13, 2013
Directed by Shane Black
Gotta say that this movie is truly underrated. There are lovers of this movie but also those who considers this to be one of the weakest of MCU. To me, this wasn't a perfect movie in any means or a shockingly amazing movie but a pretty great movie about Tony Stark. First Iron Man movie was amazing because it introduced one of the lesser popular Marvel superheroes and it made him awesome and interesting. Second one was a big disappointment because all of the aspect in it were good and thrilling ideas and a potential for Tony becoming a more complex character but they were barely used for sake of a bland storyine and not enough of Tony Stark's development. This movie combined what made the first movie so awesome and the ideas of the second movie with Shane Black's style in it and a dark tone. And I gotta say this was a great way to end this trilogy.
It started off with Tony monologing about us creating our own demons and his Iron Man suits blowing up and we went to 1999 where Tony met Maya Hansen who worked in a program called Extremis, a program that heals disabled people and later Aldrich Killian who himself is a disabled person and the head of A.I.M. company. Stark told Killian to wait in the rooftop because he said he would come there in minutes but he didn't show up. And then we are in 2013 and Tony was recovering from his near death experience in Avengers movie. He hadn't been sleeping for a while and the only thing he was doing was making more Iron Man suits. From that scene, you can tell Tony's not doing okay. And then Tony and Rhodey was at the bar and while Rhodey was talking about him becoming from War Machine to Iron Patriot funded by A.I.M., Tony suffered from anxiety attack after one ofhte kids talked about New York. The whole near death experience thing not only effected his mental health, it drove Tony to be more obsessed with his suits. This movie did a great job that the consequences in Avengers stayed. That movie wasn't just "we stopped the bad guys, everything'd back to normal yay" at the end and I was happy for that to be included in the movie. I felt like Tony needed to suffer a bit more to make us care for him because that barely felt like a thing in Iron Man 2 and Tony was slowly dying from poisoning. Not only that, this movie explored themes of PTSD and anxiety. Even though those were kind of forgotten in the third act, this movie had time to delve into Tony's PTSD and anxiety attacks. There isn't as much superhero movies that deals with PTSD, so this movie felt freshing from that aspect.
We were suddenly introduced a guy named Mandarin who is Tony's greatest foe in the comics. I don't know too much about Mandarin but I did read his first story in Invincle Iron Man series by Matt Fraction and I thought he was a silly and narcisistic but also a threatening villain. I do need to finish that series tho but my country hasn't released the last volumes yet and I was just getting interested in Mandarin becoming a foe to Iron Man again GRRRR. Getting off-topic here. Oh right, Mandarin showed up in the screen and he started threatening USA president. Meanwhile Pepper Potts was running Stark Industries and she met Killian. Killian started to explain to her what A.I.M. had plans for human brain development but Pepper rejected it because it sounded more like them building human weapons. Well she wasn't wrong. Pepper came home to check on Tony (it also seems like Tony and Pepper are married because they did act more like husband and wife in this movie) and she saw that Tony has been more obsessive and tired. Even to the point that Tony started having nighmares about his sacrifice in New York and then one of Iron Masn suits attacked Pepper. That concered Pepper and Pepper left the bed. I really felt bad both both Tony and Pepper in the scene. Dreaming these nightmares must have been awful to Tony and while Pepper knew that, she was also upset that she couldn't do anything about it. Hours later, Happy was spying on some dude that he didn't feel good about him in Stark Industries. And that dude started to glow and heated up. HUMAN TORCH, IS THAT YOU?????? Joking, he turned into a weapon for an attack planned by Mandarin and he blew up and Happy got injured from that. Tony found out about this and he was pissed off anbout it and he gave Mandarin his home address, so he could fight with him. When I first saw that scene, I thought Tony was being an idiot but then after realizing it, Tony did suffer from PTSD and insomnia, so he wasn't thinking clearly. Plyus his friend almost died, so nobody would feel rational in that situation. Tony came back to home and Maya Hansen, whom he met at 1999 party, showed up to protect him. Pepper was also there to confront Tony's questionable decisions. All of a sudden Mandarin attacked his home. Luckily Pepper and Maya escaped but Tony was getting so much damage from this attack. That action scene was amazing. It felt thrilling and the stakes were raised really high and personal for this movie. I even felt more excited than I was in the first two Iron Man movies. This might have even been the most action packed Iron Man movie yet and I loved it. Tony managed to stop the terrorists but he lost control of flight and he crashed into California and people assumed he died during the attack. He lost his suits and his home, the guy was even considered dead. Things haven't been this crappy for Tony.
After this, the second arc of the movie mostly focused on Tony without the suit. And I gotta say this movie never lost its momentum. I usually don't like when superheroes are stripped away from their powers. I can see the appeal in it because it focuses on how superheroes would act without their powers but it's also kind of uninteresting because this is literally a superhero movie. I wanna see some superheroes doing some cool action and exciting stuff. That does sound a bit childish but that's the appeal of superheroes. When they are removed from their powers, the stories become slow and bland. This movie used the idea of superheroes without superpowers for its full potential. It wasn't just Tony losing the powers that he liked. He was becoming more obssesed with him being as Iron Man and that was very unhealthy for him, especially after Avengers movie. So getting rid of his suits was a great thing for his development but that didn't stop from more Iron Man suits for the third act. So there was enough Iron Man in the movie and Tony Stark without Iron Man. You can also say that in the second movie but I didn't give much crap to Tony in that movie Here, I rooted for him to stop Mandarin.
Tony found a place to charge his last Iron Man suit but the kid that lived in the place found him and he was shocked to see Iron Man in his garage. I would feel same way If I found out Robert Downey Jr. in my garage IF I HAD ONE. The kid's name was Harley and he was actually good in the movie. He was bit irritating at times but kids are always irritating so and we learned a bit more about him. He was smart for his age just like Tony and his father left him 8 years ago and he was dealing with bullies in his school. You can already tell he did resemblance Tony a bit here. Not so much with the bulling, more about him and Tony both being smart at their young age and Tony's father was also kind of distant from him, same way Harley's father was to him. Tony's father did leave him but still. Tony and Harley started to investigate one of older terrorist attacks from Mandarin. The invesitgation aspect of this movie is important because it showed that Tony isn't really useless without his suits. He's not powerful but he used his brain to uncover the mystery of Mandarin. I love superhero stories like that because superhero characters shouldn't be just powerful with their gifted abilities. They should have experiences and intellect to solve their issues and this movie knew that. Tony found a memorial in the attack place and he realized there were only five shadows but dead people were six. It was revaled that the bomber was still alive and he was the same person that attacked Happy. Tony and Harley met the bomber's mother to know more about him and then one lady detective showed up to arrest Tony but then she started to glow too. We gto some hilarious bits from Tony and the lady, even some meta joke about cheesy one liners. Tony stopped her but hen the bomber showed up to take Harley hostage. Tony gave Harley a devicve to stop bullies and he used it on the bomber to get rid of him and it worked. Tony and Harley parted their ways, Tony suffered from another anxiety attack in a car he took and he talked to Rhodey that he was alive but he needed his username and password to uncover A.I.M.'s Extremis project. NITPICKING TIME!!! I love you Rhodey but what kind of person would have a password named "warmachinerox"? That is such an easy password to be hacked man and you are way smarter than ths. The joke was funny but still that irritated me. Going back to the plot, Tony discovered Extremis project had sideattecks pf people being blown up. In onder to cover that incident up, A.I.M. used the subjects to attack places and make them look like some terrorist named Mandarin made those attacks. Meanwhile, Maya told Pepper that Killian might be working for Mandarin and she needed Pepper to solve this but then Maya turned out to be a double agent for Killian and Killian kidnapped Pepper.
Tony headed to Maimi where Mandarin's base took place there but WHAT A TWIST? Mandarin was just some actor on drugs named Trevor Slattery. Okay, I both loved and didn't like that twist. I loved it for being a commentary on making Asians or Middle Eastern villains as typical terrorists for American heroes to battle and to be fair, Mandarin is part Chinese part Britisih villain in the comics. So I appreciated that this was nothing but a fake out and a clever punchline of stereotyping different races as the worst criminals. At the same time I was let down by this because Mandarin was srt up to be really powerful and cunning villain for Iron Man and then it was revealed there wasn't anyone Mandarin, he was just a fictional character for cover up. That did kind of lowered my hype for the third act and what was even worse was that Killain told he was Mandarin and he wasn't even that great of a villain. Tony was captured by Killian and Maya and Killian revealed that this whole Extremis program was meant to take humanity into a next step of evolution. Holy mother of X-Men. That was actually not a bad motivation for this movie's big bad Killian. It makes sense since Killain was a disabled person before and now he looks healthier and ever since the fall of Thor, Loki and aliens, humans looked so inferior to them. Hell, he actually mirrors. Tony in a way. Tony had been building more Iron Mans as weapons for another threat and Killian was doing the exact same thing with creating human weapons. I just wish I'd care more about Killain himself. I'd do that If they focused more into his struggles with being a disabled person and not just "Tony left me in that rooftop alone for hours" and the infamous shoutout "I AM MANDARIN".
Killain hacked Rhodey's Iron Patriot suit and he took it to kidnap the president who was in an airplane. Tony and Rhodey managed to escape from Mandarin base, Tony's suit was charged and came to him. Tony headed to the airplane but Killian already took the president. One of his bombers blew up tho and 13 people fell from the plane. We got a memorable action scene with Tony saving those people from dying and then we got a nice gag of Tony's suit hitting a truck but then it was revealed Tony wasn't in the suit at all. This movie had pretty good humor without being forced into our throats. And we started our big climax with Tony sending all of his Iron Man's suits to stop Killian. The stakes kind of lost some of its momentum but it still stayed personal for Tony and the whole sequence of Tony wearing all kinds of Iron Man suits was so much fun. Perhaps even the most exciting moment in all of Iron Man movies. Rhodey saved the president and took Iron Patriot to leave the place. Tony came across to Pepper who was injected by Extremis virus but then Pepper fell into the fire. Killain revealed that he was Mandarin all along and he was hit by Pepper. That was a bit funny but an anti-climactic way to kill him. Tony told Pepper to tone down the suits and he blew every single of them blew up. Tony got rid of Extremis virus from Pepper and he even got his arc reactor to be removed. Things were finally looking up for Tony and he's always be Iron Man, even without the suit. If this was Tony's last appearence this was satisfying enough storyline to end his arc of being a superhero. And we got a lulzy post credit scene of this all being a story told by Tony to Bruce but Bruce fell asleep. I love you Bruce.
There were things that definitely could have improved from this movie. A more compelling and less laughable villain and I wish some sutff like Pepper still having Extremis virus in her and Tony struggling with PTSD at the end stuck around because this movie did seem kind of pointless, aside from Tony's development but this movie was a great character driven movie than a story driven movie and to me, characters matter the most, even if the story isn't great at certain points. We needed more of that in Iron Man 2 and this movie gave us a great storyline for Tony dealing with his identity issue and anxiety. It had a good balance of seriousness and humor and it was an exciting ride from start to finish.
MCU movie ranking:
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: May 13, 2013
Directed by Shane Black
Gotta say that this movie is truly underrated. There are lovers of this movie but also those who considers this to be one of the weakest of MCU. To me, this wasn't a perfect movie in any means or a shockingly amazing movie but a pretty great movie about Tony Stark. First Iron Man movie was amazing because it introduced one of the lesser popular Marvel superheroes and it made him awesome and interesting. Second one was a big disappointment because all of the aspect in it were good and thrilling ideas and a potential for Tony becoming a more complex character but they were barely used for sake of a bland storyine and not enough of Tony Stark's development. This movie combined what made the first movie so awesome and the ideas of the second movie with Shane Black's style in it and a dark tone. And I gotta say this was a great way to end this trilogy.
It started off with Tony monologing about us creating our own demons and his Iron Man suits blowing up and we went to 1999 where Tony met Maya Hansen who worked in a program called Extremis, a program that heals disabled people and later Aldrich Killian who himself is a disabled person and the head of A.I.M. company. Stark told Killian to wait in the rooftop because he said he would come there in minutes but he didn't show up. And then we are in 2013 and Tony was recovering from his near death experience in Avengers movie. He hadn't been sleeping for a while and the only thing he was doing was making more Iron Man suits. From that scene, you can tell Tony's not doing okay. And then Tony and Rhodey was at the bar and while Rhodey was talking about him becoming from War Machine to Iron Patriot funded by A.I.M., Tony suffered from anxiety attack after one ofhte kids talked about New York. The whole near death experience thing not only effected his mental health, it drove Tony to be more obsessed with his suits. This movie did a great job that the consequences in Avengers stayed. That movie wasn't just "we stopped the bad guys, everything'd back to normal yay" at the end and I was happy for that to be included in the movie. I felt like Tony needed to suffer a bit more to make us care for him because that barely felt like a thing in Iron Man 2 and Tony was slowly dying from poisoning. Not only that, this movie explored themes of PTSD and anxiety. Even though those were kind of forgotten in the third act, this movie had time to delve into Tony's PTSD and anxiety attacks. There isn't as much superhero movies that deals with PTSD, so this movie felt freshing from that aspect.
We were suddenly introduced a guy named Mandarin who is Tony's greatest foe in the comics. I don't know too much about Mandarin but I did read his first story in Invincle Iron Man series by Matt Fraction and I thought he was a silly and narcisistic but also a threatening villain. I do need to finish that series tho but my country hasn't released the last volumes yet and I was just getting interested in Mandarin becoming a foe to Iron Man again GRRRR. Getting off-topic here. Oh right, Mandarin showed up in the screen and he started threatening USA president. Meanwhile Pepper Potts was running Stark Industries and she met Killian. Killian started to explain to her what A.I.M. had plans for human brain development but Pepper rejected it because it sounded more like them building human weapons. Well she wasn't wrong. Pepper came home to check on Tony (it also seems like Tony and Pepper are married because they did act more like husband and wife in this movie) and she saw that Tony has been more obsessive and tired. Even to the point that Tony started having nighmares about his sacrifice in New York and then one of Iron Masn suits attacked Pepper. That concered Pepper and Pepper left the bed. I really felt bad both both Tony and Pepper in the scene. Dreaming these nightmares must have been awful to Tony and while Pepper knew that, she was also upset that she couldn't do anything about it. Hours later, Happy was spying on some dude that he didn't feel good about him in Stark Industries. And that dude started to glow and heated up. HUMAN TORCH, IS THAT YOU?????? Joking, he turned into a weapon for an attack planned by Mandarin and he blew up and Happy got injured from that. Tony found out about this and he was pissed off anbout it and he gave Mandarin his home address, so he could fight with him. When I first saw that scene, I thought Tony was being an idiot but then after realizing it, Tony did suffer from PTSD and insomnia, so he wasn't thinking clearly. Plyus his friend almost died, so nobody would feel rational in that situation. Tony came back to home and Maya Hansen, whom he met at 1999 party, showed up to protect him. Pepper was also there to confront Tony's questionable decisions. All of a sudden Mandarin attacked his home. Luckily Pepper and Maya escaped but Tony was getting so much damage from this attack. That action scene was amazing. It felt thrilling and the stakes were raised really high and personal for this movie. I even felt more excited than I was in the first two Iron Man movies. This might have even been the most action packed Iron Man movie yet and I loved it. Tony managed to stop the terrorists but he lost control of flight and he crashed into California and people assumed he died during the attack. He lost his suits and his home, the guy was even considered dead. Things haven't been this crappy for Tony.
After this, the second arc of the movie mostly focused on Tony without the suit. And I gotta say this movie never lost its momentum. I usually don't like when superheroes are stripped away from their powers. I can see the appeal in it because it focuses on how superheroes would act without their powers but it's also kind of uninteresting because this is literally a superhero movie. I wanna see some superheroes doing some cool action and exciting stuff. That does sound a bit childish but that's the appeal of superheroes. When they are removed from their powers, the stories become slow and bland. This movie used the idea of superheroes without superpowers for its full potential. It wasn't just Tony losing the powers that he liked. He was becoming more obssesed with him being as Iron Man and that was very unhealthy for him, especially after Avengers movie. So getting rid of his suits was a great thing for his development but that didn't stop from more Iron Man suits for the third act. So there was enough Iron Man in the movie and Tony Stark without Iron Man. You can also say that in the second movie but I didn't give much crap to Tony in that movie Here, I rooted for him to stop Mandarin.
Tony found a place to charge his last Iron Man suit but the kid that lived in the place found him and he was shocked to see Iron Man in his garage. I would feel same way If I found out Robert Downey Jr. in my garage IF I HAD ONE. The kid's name was Harley and he was actually good in the movie. He was bit irritating at times but kids are always irritating so and we learned a bit more about him. He was smart for his age just like Tony and his father left him 8 years ago and he was dealing with bullies in his school. You can already tell he did resemblance Tony a bit here. Not so much with the bulling, more about him and Tony both being smart at their young age and Tony's father was also kind of distant from him, same way Harley's father was to him. Tony's father did leave him but still. Tony and Harley started to investigate one of older terrorist attacks from Mandarin. The invesitgation aspect of this movie is important because it showed that Tony isn't really useless without his suits. He's not powerful but he used his brain to uncover the mystery of Mandarin. I love superhero stories like that because superhero characters shouldn't be just powerful with their gifted abilities. They should have experiences and intellect to solve their issues and this movie knew that. Tony found a memorial in the attack place and he realized there were only five shadows but dead people were six. It was revaled that the bomber was still alive and he was the same person that attacked Happy. Tony and Harley met the bomber's mother to know more about him and then one lady detective showed up to arrest Tony but then she started to glow too. We gto some hilarious bits from Tony and the lady, even some meta joke about cheesy one liners. Tony stopped her but hen the bomber showed up to take Harley hostage. Tony gave Harley a devicve to stop bullies and he used it on the bomber to get rid of him and it worked. Tony and Harley parted their ways, Tony suffered from another anxiety attack in a car he took and he talked to Rhodey that he was alive but he needed his username and password to uncover A.I.M.'s Extremis project. NITPICKING TIME!!! I love you Rhodey but what kind of person would have a password named "warmachinerox"? That is such an easy password to be hacked man and you are way smarter than ths. The joke was funny but still that irritated me. Going back to the plot, Tony discovered Extremis project had sideattecks pf people being blown up. In onder to cover that incident up, A.I.M. used the subjects to attack places and make them look like some terrorist named Mandarin made those attacks. Meanwhile, Maya told Pepper that Killian might be working for Mandarin and she needed Pepper to solve this but then Maya turned out to be a double agent for Killian and Killian kidnapped Pepper.
Tony headed to Maimi where Mandarin's base took place there but WHAT A TWIST? Mandarin was just some actor on drugs named Trevor Slattery. Okay, I both loved and didn't like that twist. I loved it for being a commentary on making Asians or Middle Eastern villains as typical terrorists for American heroes to battle and to be fair, Mandarin is part Chinese part Britisih villain in the comics. So I appreciated that this was nothing but a fake out and a clever punchline of stereotyping different races as the worst criminals. At the same time I was let down by this because Mandarin was srt up to be really powerful and cunning villain for Iron Man and then it was revealed there wasn't anyone Mandarin, he was just a fictional character for cover up. That did kind of lowered my hype for the third act and what was even worse was that Killain told he was Mandarin and he wasn't even that great of a villain. Tony was captured by Killian and Maya and Killian revealed that this whole Extremis program was meant to take humanity into a next step of evolution. Holy mother of X-Men. That was actually not a bad motivation for this movie's big bad Killian. It makes sense since Killain was a disabled person before and now he looks healthier and ever since the fall of Thor, Loki and aliens, humans looked so inferior to them. Hell, he actually mirrors. Tony in a way. Tony had been building more Iron Mans as weapons for another threat and Killian was doing the exact same thing with creating human weapons. I just wish I'd care more about Killain himself. I'd do that If they focused more into his struggles with being a disabled person and not just "Tony left me in that rooftop alone for hours" and the infamous shoutout "I AM MANDARIN".
Killain hacked Rhodey's Iron Patriot suit and he took it to kidnap the president who was in an airplane. Tony and Rhodey managed to escape from Mandarin base, Tony's suit was charged and came to him. Tony headed to the airplane but Killian already took the president. One of his bombers blew up tho and 13 people fell from the plane. We got a memorable action scene with Tony saving those people from dying and then we got a nice gag of Tony's suit hitting a truck but then it was revealed Tony wasn't in the suit at all. This movie had pretty good humor without being forced into our throats. And we started our big climax with Tony sending all of his Iron Man's suits to stop Killian. The stakes kind of lost some of its momentum but it still stayed personal for Tony and the whole sequence of Tony wearing all kinds of Iron Man suits was so much fun. Perhaps even the most exciting moment in all of Iron Man movies. Rhodey saved the president and took Iron Patriot to leave the place. Tony came across to Pepper who was injected by Extremis virus but then Pepper fell into the fire. Killain revealed that he was Mandarin all along and he was hit by Pepper. That was a bit funny but an anti-climactic way to kill him. Tony told Pepper to tone down the suits and he blew every single of them blew up. Tony got rid of Extremis virus from Pepper and he even got his arc reactor to be removed. Things were finally looking up for Tony and he's always be Iron Man, even without the suit. If this was Tony's last appearence this was satisfying enough storyline to end his arc of being a superhero. And we got a lulzy post credit scene of this all being a story told by Tony to Bruce but Bruce fell asleep. I love you Bruce.
There were things that definitely could have improved from this movie. A more compelling and less laughable villain and I wish some sutff like Pepper still having Extremis virus in her and Tony struggling with PTSD at the end stuck around because this movie did seem kind of pointless, aside from Tony's development but this movie was a great character driven movie than a story driven movie and to me, characters matter the most, even if the story isn't great at certain points. We needed more of that in Iron Man 2 and this movie gave us a great storyline for Tony dealing with his identity issue and anxiety. It had a good balance of seriousness and humor and it was an exciting ride from start to finish.
MCU movie ranking:
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
This movie did not age well at all...
Airdate: October 30, 2013
Directed by Alan Taylor
I remember enjoying the heck out of this movie when I first saw it and looking at back, I still found some enjoyment in this but dear lord, it was very generic and dull at some parts. If I had to pick the laziest MCU movie, it would be this one. Still a bit more fun than Iron Man 2 but that's not saying much when Iron Man 2 had good ideas with bad exectuion and while this movie's premise was alright, it didn't try to do something different. Thor has to stop some evil dude from killing all Nine Realms.
Just like the first movie, Thor: The Dark World opened with a backstory of Asgardians battling against Dark Elves with Odin's father was in the command and he was against Malekith. Jeez, the name is gonna be hard to remember. Malekith's plan was to use Aether (Reality Stone) to end Nine Realms. Sound boring enough? Yeah, because replace Darl Elves with Frost Giants and you get the same thing. It even had same "Odin isn't all good, he was a killer" but no explaination on that either. Again, those were all saved for Thor: Ragnarok. Back to present, Loki was put in prison, Asgardians were celebrating the end of their final battle after Thor destroyed the bridge between realms. Thor wasn't that happy because he still missed Jane Foster and that day was the day of alignment of Nine Realms (Convergence). Meanwhile Jane Foster was dating some another guy but it was obvious she kept thinking of guy. Why? Did you see Thor's abs? It was shown again for the movie, all glory to Thor's abs!!! Jane's date was interruped by Darcy. She dragged her for discovering something. While they found out some objects were coming back above portal in a warehouse, Jane Foster got stucked into one of the portals and she was infected with Aether. She came back to Earth 5 hours later, Thor came to Erth to check on Jane and Jane slapped Thor for not seeing her. Okay... Then Thor discovered Jane was infected, so he took Jane to Asgard. So this movie was pretty much Natalie Portman's character being dragged into a war. She was nothing but a plot device and that was disappointing. Not much character progession from her, it was just that she carried Aether in her. Thor's mother visited Loki's prison and Loki had an argument with her about him being lied to believing he was meant to be a king. Loki is pretty much the only amazing aspect of this movie Not even Thor was really interesting here. Loki carried the whole movie and I was happy to learn more about him and hşs dynamic with Thor was still top notch.
Malekith was awaken by Aether's power, Asgard suddenly got attacked by Dark Elves and Malekith came to take Aether which was inside Jane. This movie may be so generic but it was really fast paced and the visuals looked great, so this wasn't a total boredom in my eyes. Thor's mother managed to trick Malekith but that costed her life. We got some classic Asgard funeral and all I thought of is that this scene being so cool but meaning nothing to me. Thor's mother's death should have been a big deal but that happened so quickly and I didn't give that much crap about her before or the villain killing her felt that effecting because the villain was bland af. Odin put Jane in costody, so she can't leave Asgard and he told Thor to not leave Asgard but having no chance with Malekith, the only way to stop Malekith was to visit The Dark World. As a result, Thor released Loki because Loki knew the secret paths to get out of Asgard and he gave Loki his words to get revenge for his (foster)mother. We got a kickass chase scene with Thor, Loki and Thor's friends with some good running gag of people telling Loki If they doublecross him, they would kill him. Back on Earth, Darcy and her intern Ian tracked down Erik who went nuts after Avengers movie. I like that the consequences of vengers stayed but how they handled that with Erik was all comedic and that rubbed me in a wrong way. I really liked him in the first Thor movie. Here? He was you cliched "Look at that crazy scientist, he's nude in TV and he wears no pants, hilarious because intelligent people are insane!!!". I liked Earth parts of Thor but ever since Thor got his development on becoming a more mature person, Earth had no meaning anymore. Erik, Jane and Darcy were just there in the whole movie and what the heck Ian's purpose in this whole thing? I'm glad we got to see more Realms than the first movie because If we spent more time on Earth again I would be bored out of my mind.
Loki and Thor came across to Malekith and they made an act of Loki doublecrossing Thor and handing Jane to Malekith, so he can remove Aether from her. He did that successfully but Thor and Loki were too late for Malekith and Aether. Then we saw Loki sacrificing himself and Malekith's ship went to Earth, we got a typical world ending stakes and while that was sort of fun, I didn't care much about the conflict. Thor's mother's death and Loki's death should have been impactful but Malekith was so boring as a one-note villain, so the whole climax didn't feel earned at all. It was nothing but a big CGI fest. Thankfully CGI looked fine but still. Thor stopped Malekith and nobody cared. But wait, Loki is alive? AND HE GOT THE THRONE OF ASGARD??? We got a post credit scene of Aether given to The Collector because two Infinity Stones shouldn't be together. And another post credit scene with Thor going back to Earth and spending more time with Jane. Until Jane dumped her in Thor: Raganarok and we've never heard from her again.
Where to start, I don't even know. This movie was alright but that's it really. It was painfully average with some good actions scenes and some good jokes but a typical superhero story with no style or care put in it. No character development, no compelling villain or interesting side characters, except Loki. MCU's biggest flaw of being generic is so noticable in this movie. I wonder how different this would turn out If Patty Jenkins didn't leave for Wonder Woman. Honestly, I'm totally okay with sacrificing this movie's writing for a good Wonder Woman movie but Alan Taylor should have worked harder for this.
MCU movie ranking:
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: October 30, 2013
Directed by Alan Taylor
I remember enjoying the heck out of this movie when I first saw it and looking at back, I still found some enjoyment in this but dear lord, it was very generic and dull at some parts. If I had to pick the laziest MCU movie, it would be this one. Still a bit more fun than Iron Man 2 but that's not saying much when Iron Man 2 had good ideas with bad exectuion and while this movie's premise was alright, it didn't try to do something different. Thor has to stop some evil dude from killing all Nine Realms.
Just like the first movie, Thor: The Dark World opened with a backstory of Asgardians battling against Dark Elves with Odin's father was in the command and he was against Malekith. Jeez, the name is gonna be hard to remember. Malekith's plan was to use Aether (Reality Stone) to end Nine Realms. Sound boring enough? Yeah, because replace Darl Elves with Frost Giants and you get the same thing. It even had same "Odin isn't all good, he was a killer" but no explaination on that either. Again, those were all saved for Thor: Ragnarok. Back to present, Loki was put in prison, Asgardians were celebrating the end of their final battle after Thor destroyed the bridge between realms. Thor wasn't that happy because he still missed Jane Foster and that day was the day of alignment of Nine Realms (Convergence). Meanwhile Jane Foster was dating some another guy but it was obvious she kept thinking of guy. Why? Did you see Thor's abs? It was shown again for the movie, all glory to Thor's abs!!! Jane's date was interruped by Darcy. She dragged her for discovering something. While they found out some objects were coming back above portal in a warehouse, Jane Foster got stucked into one of the portals and she was infected with Aether. She came back to Earth 5 hours later, Thor came to Erth to check on Jane and Jane slapped Thor for not seeing her. Okay... Then Thor discovered Jane was infected, so he took Jane to Asgard. So this movie was pretty much Natalie Portman's character being dragged into a war. She was nothing but a plot device and that was disappointing. Not much character progession from her, it was just that she carried Aether in her. Thor's mother visited Loki's prison and Loki had an argument with her about him being lied to believing he was meant to be a king. Loki is pretty much the only amazing aspect of this movie Not even Thor was really interesting here. Loki carried the whole movie and I was happy to learn more about him and hşs dynamic with Thor was still top notch.
Malekith was awaken by Aether's power, Asgard suddenly got attacked by Dark Elves and Malekith came to take Aether which was inside Jane. This movie may be so generic but it was really fast paced and the visuals looked great, so this wasn't a total boredom in my eyes. Thor's mother managed to trick Malekith but that costed her life. We got some classic Asgard funeral and all I thought of is that this scene being so cool but meaning nothing to me. Thor's mother's death should have been a big deal but that happened so quickly and I didn't give that much crap about her before or the villain killing her felt that effecting because the villain was bland af. Odin put Jane in costody, so she can't leave Asgard and he told Thor to not leave Asgard but having no chance with Malekith, the only way to stop Malekith was to visit The Dark World. As a result, Thor released Loki because Loki knew the secret paths to get out of Asgard and he gave Loki his words to get revenge for his (foster)mother. We got a kickass chase scene with Thor, Loki and Thor's friends with some good running gag of people telling Loki If they doublecross him, they would kill him. Back on Earth, Darcy and her intern Ian tracked down Erik who went nuts after Avengers movie. I like that the consequences of vengers stayed but how they handled that with Erik was all comedic and that rubbed me in a wrong way. I really liked him in the first Thor movie. Here? He was you cliched "Look at that crazy scientist, he's nude in TV and he wears no pants, hilarious because intelligent people are insane!!!". I liked Earth parts of Thor but ever since Thor got his development on becoming a more mature person, Earth had no meaning anymore. Erik, Jane and Darcy were just there in the whole movie and what the heck Ian's purpose in this whole thing? I'm glad we got to see more Realms than the first movie because If we spent more time on Earth again I would be bored out of my mind.
Loki and Thor came across to Malekith and they made an act of Loki doublecrossing Thor and handing Jane to Malekith, so he can remove Aether from her. He did that successfully but Thor and Loki were too late for Malekith and Aether. Then we saw Loki sacrificing himself and Malekith's ship went to Earth, we got a typical world ending stakes and while that was sort of fun, I didn't care much about the conflict. Thor's mother's death and Loki's death should have been impactful but Malekith was so boring as a one-note villain, so the whole climax didn't feel earned at all. It was nothing but a big CGI fest. Thankfully CGI looked fine but still. Thor stopped Malekith and nobody cared. But wait, Loki is alive? AND HE GOT THE THRONE OF ASGARD??? We got a post credit scene of Aether given to The Collector because two Infinity Stones shouldn't be together. And another post credit scene with Thor going back to Earth and spending more time with Jane. Until Jane dumped her in Thor: Raganarok and we've never heard from her again.
Where to start, I don't even know. This movie was alright but that's it really. It was painfully average with some good actions scenes and some good jokes but a typical superhero story with no style or care put in it. No character development, no compelling villain or interesting side characters, except Loki. MCU's biggest flaw of being generic is so noticable in this movie. I wonder how different this would turn out If Patty Jenkins didn't leave for Wonder Woman. Honestly, I'm totally okay with sacrificing this movie's writing for a good Wonder Woman movie but Alan Taylor should have worked harder for this.
MCU movie ranking:
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
I could watch this movie all day...
Airdate: April 4, 2014
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
It's a bit funny when I thought this movie would take place in winter XD.
Just like Avengers, I watched this movie three times and each time this aged better and better. This movie made me love Steve Rogers/Captain America as a character, it made me appreciate MCU can tackle serious subjects and try out different tone and genres. This wasn't just a spy thriller. This was a great commentary on how USA is a flawed country just like every other country and themes of trust in your country, order and control in the world.
Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, was on his daily run and he came across to Steve who was also on his daily run and managed to outrun him each time. It introduced Falcon and the relationship between them already started off really good. Cap needs more friends <3. Steve was discussing with Sam on how he has been catching up to the world and Natasha arrived to take Steve for a mision on a ship. Steve started working for S.H.I.E.L.D. after Avengers and the mission was to rescue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from pirates and the plot started off really quickly. I love how this movie is really fast paced but it never felt so forced. We learned enough of Sam who got a bigger role in the movie and Steve's whole arc of being out of time and how the world felt different to him. And later we had amazing action scene with Steve and Natasha kicking butts. Shaky camera kind of bothered me but the action was thrilling enough, so I can let it slide. During the action scenes, Steve discovered that Natasha was taking S.H.I.E.L.D. datas from the ship and he didn't like that Nick Fury kept him in the dark. He want to Nick and started to talk about why he wasn't told about this. Speaking of Nick, I was so happy we learned more of his backstory. Nick was someone that has trust issues in the world. His father was surrounded by good people but also people that wanted to steal from him. That rubbed on Fury but that effected him even worse when someone shot his eye. Nick loves Steve but he didn't feel like he needed to tell him about the data and this was why. Nick told Steve that they were working on Project Insight. Three hellcarries would be linked to the satellites and they would take down any threat before they arrive. That bothered Steve because that just seemed like control. This was the big theme of this movie and that was the control of humanity as a whole. This works so well in a Captain America story because Steve lived in World War 2. Times where USA was battling against greater evil and they needed someone to give hope. Now that war was over, the world evolved into a more morally grey area. That's not saying that wasn't the case in World War 2 but it didn't matter much on that time because it was more about gaining freedom than controling the world. Nick called out on Steve about War because even then Americans did bad stuff in WW2 like launching a nuke to Japan but Steve knew that those bad actions stayed in them, so USA gaining control felt nothing like USA he knew. Again, that made sense because Steve lived in tough times and he kept seeing things black and white. USA and any other nation isn't like that anymore and Fury thought it'd be best to eliminate its targets before they do much worse. After leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. H.Q., Steve visited Peggy Carter who was old now. That scene was so emotional and brought tears to my eyes. After Steve was frozen and found in the future, he lost everything. His best friend, his team and his lover Peggy. So seeing Peggy again was so bittersweet to him. It was even more upsetting that they couldn't dance once. This movie was a big emotional roller coaster and little moments like this makes me love it even more.
Fury was unable to open the data Natasha gave it to him and that concerned him. He told his right man Alexander Pearce to delay Project Insight. Then Nick was attacked by Winter Soldier. Fury survived the attack and went to Steve's apartment because he couldn't trust anyone but Steve. Nick told Steve that S.H.I.EL.D. was compromised but their place was bugged, Winter Soldier shot Nick and managed to escape but after Nick was shot, he gave Steve the flash drive of the data they got in the ship. We also learned that Steve's neighbour was an agent that was protecing Steve. Nick was sent to the hospital but he was presumed dead. That really upsetted Natasha, Maria Hill and Steve, especially Natasha. I loved that Natasha showed more emotion in this movie because even in Avengers, she was basically a badass fighter but barely showed much emotion. I don't know If that was the intention but even her talk with Loki was a part of her plan to expose him. I felt like Russo brothers are the only people that truly understood that Natasha isn't just some amazing spy. She kept joking with Steve, she even tried to hook up Steve with some girls because Steve didn't need to be alone and she cared about him and she was sad about Fury's death because Fury was the one that gave her a second chance. Steve didn't trust anyone anymore, so he put the flash drive in a wending machine and he went to S.H.I.E.L.D. H.Q. to report Pearce. Steve told Pearce that Nick told him not to trust anyone but Pearce told Steve that he hired those pirates and then he made Steve a figutive for having information about Nick. Now we got some really intense fight with Steve fighting with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to escape H.Q. and man, he was so awesome in those scenes. The movie turned Steve into the ultimate fighter and I loved every second of it. Steve went to the hospital to take the flash driver but Natasha took it before him. They hid themselves to take a look at the driver but they had to be careful with that because many agents were looking for them. Steve and Tasha's friendship was so sweet and throughtful here. I loved seeing them developing a mutal trust on each other, as well as teaching each other from their experiences. They could have even ended up heing a good couple but sigh, Age of Ultron. They found a secret S.H.I.EL.D. base in New Jersey and Steve met Zola in an A.I. form. We got a twist that Hydra has been inside S.H.I.EL.D. the entire time and and Pearce was their leader. For someone that never read Secret Warriors run by Jonathan Hickman, that twist was a huge shocker to me and how they managed to do that was explained it made sense. I loved seeing Zola again and we got even some quick information on people that knew Hydra was inside S.H.I.EL.D. but they died beofre they told anyone and that storyline was carried in Civil War movie. S.H.I.E.L.D. found Steve and Natasha and they launched a missle to them but they survived thanks to Cap. They went to Sam because they couldn't trust anyone. We got a quick information on Sam's past and I was happy they had time to develop Sam's character in the movie. He was a pararescueman but he had to quit it because his friend died doing that job and that effected him but he couldn't let Steve and Natasha trying to take down Hydra , so he took Falcon suit to help them. Falcon, to me, is a friend we need but we don't deserve. Despite leaving his times as a soldier because of his friend's death, he had to help Steve and Natasha because he didn't want anyone else as friend to die again. Sam was caring and a hero in the entire movie. Even though he knew Steve for a little time, he knew that th world needed Steve, so he helped him Without thinking otherwise.
The trio began their dicovery on what was Hydra's plan. They learned form one of Hydra's moles that Zola made an algoritm that Hellcarriers were going to eliminate anyone who coıld be potential threats to Hydra. But then the trio was attacked by Winter Soldier and the movie kept going as an awesome action thriller. Steve had a great fight with Winter Soldier and dear lord, Winter Soldier was just brutal and dangerous. Steve accidentally took Winter Soldier's mask and he found out he was Bucky all this time. His best friend he thought he was dead ended up being a brainwashed soldier for Hydra. The trio was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra combo but they were rescued by Hill. Hill took them to a secret base and the trio found out Nivck Fury was alive. To be fair, thank god because MCU is nothing without Nick Fury (and Phil Coulson. Shaddup all of you.). Hill told the trio that the only way to stop Hellcarriers was to put three chips into each three Hellcarriers and they would be shut down together. Steve went to H.Q. and he warned people that S.H.I.E.L.D. was taken over by Hydra but he also told them he hoped he wasn't alone in the situation. now this scene was amazing and it told a lot on how a country that was against Nazims had Nazis grew in them. This was a great portrayal of how USA isn't that much of an American dream and it could be nightmaring filled with terrible people. You can clearly see that most of Nazis/Hydra agents in the movie were Americans. True that they were manipulated by some German agents but no excuse for them to act all evil. Nevertheless, some people did turn out to be good people. One dude that had the keyboard to launch Hellcarriers didn't do that because he wanted good in the world, even if that meant his death. This movie explored how people could be just awful but also there was still some hope left that some peole are better than we pictured them to be. This began the divide in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Pearce showed his true colors. And I personaly thought he was actually written well. Definitely not someone that is very memorable as a villain but I understood his goal even If it was evil. This movie made Hydra a bit more complex villain than just people who wanted world domimnation. The first Captain America movie was all about order and control but the second movie took a deep in those ideas and made them more compelling. As much as freedom is a good thing, it's not always good when it creates chaos to the world and Hydra knew that peole had to be controled, so they couldn't hurt each other anymore. Even if it meant to kill those who had potential to take down Hydra, Hydra thought what they were doing was the right thing. Checking on people makes them less dangerous and that is true sometimes. Nevertheless Hydra were still doing evil and Steve knew he had to stop them. I loved that regardless of how the world turned upside down for Steve, he still believed that the world could be in the hands of justice and peace without resolving it in murder of innocent lives.
We got a big climax of USA being in danger of total genocide but nevertheless, the climax was extremely awesome both visually and dramatically. Steve had to stop Bucky to save USA and even make him remember how he is. Meanwhile Natasha was undercover in H.Q. to release Hydra and S.H.I.EL.D. secrets to the world and Nick Fury arrived in time to make that happen. Both of these characters had great developments in the entire movie. In Avengers, all Natasha wanted was to right her wrongs because she was so ashamed of her past, now she released every single secret of her to the public and she knew that even if it meant the world seeing her bad side, she did it to make sure Hydra agents were taken down. Nick was broke by Pearce betraying him and keeping this hidden all this time, so it resulted in Nick killing Pearce and that felt really satisfying to see. Natasha and Nick both came out as great characters in the movie. Sam had enough time to be so amazing and I really loved his fight with Brock Rumlow, who later became Crossfire in Civil War. Steve and Brucky scenes in the climax tho, oh man, it got way personal. I really felt bad forh both of them because all Steve wanted ws to get his friend back but Bucky couldn't even remmeber him. Bucky shouting Steve was his mission but Steve giving up fight and being okay to be killed by him was acted so purely by Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan. Luckily Steve and others stopped Hellcarriers but Steve was inured badly. It turned out Bucky saved him and Bucky went hidden. Natasha was in the press of explaining that no matter what people would think of her past, she was ready to do the right thing at all cost. Fury said goodbye to the Steve/Natasha/Sam trio and Steve and Sam began to track down Bucky. Two post credit scenes of a Hydra agent called Baron von Strucker experimenting on Wanda and Pietro, as well as having Loki's scepter and Bucky visiting his memorial.
What can I say? After watching it three times, I still love this movie and I'll continue to do that. This basically turned Captain America into more than just an American boy scout. He was naive and out of time with barely having idea how the world works now but he was still a nobel, caring and honest man. Hydra became more interesting. Natasha and Nick Fury had great characterizations and Sam Wilson as Falcon was so awesome. I loved how it tackled on order, peace and control of the world and doing the necessary good and evil to acomplish that. Spy aspects of this movie were refreshing to see and Russo Brothers made this movie a great mix of Jason Bourne/James Bond type of movie. It was so emotional and really serious which is something MCU does need a bit more often, while having its usual epic entertainment. I wonder If Civil War will manage to be better or worse than this movie again but right now, this is my favorite MCU movie ever. This was the Captain America movie people needed. I love First Avenger with all my heart but this movie was complex, bittersweet and epic. I would even say this is one of my favorite movies ever. It's that good.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: April 4, 2014
Directed by: Joe and Anthony Russo
It's a bit funny when I thought this movie would take place in winter XD.
Just like Avengers, I watched this movie three times and each time this aged better and better. This movie made me love Steve Rogers/Captain America as a character, it made me appreciate MCU can tackle serious subjects and try out different tone and genres. This wasn't just a spy thriller. This was a great commentary on how USA is a flawed country just like every other country and themes of trust in your country, order and control in the world.
Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, was on his daily run and he came across to Steve who was also on his daily run and managed to outrun him each time. It introduced Falcon and the relationship between them already started off really good. Cap needs more friends <3. Steve was discussing with Sam on how he has been catching up to the world and Natasha arrived to take Steve for a mision on a ship. Steve started working for S.H.I.E.L.D. after Avengers and the mission was to rescue S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from pirates and the plot started off really quickly. I love how this movie is really fast paced but it never felt so forced. We learned enough of Sam who got a bigger role in the movie and Steve's whole arc of being out of time and how the world felt different to him. And later we had amazing action scene with Steve and Natasha kicking butts. Shaky camera kind of bothered me but the action was thrilling enough, so I can let it slide. During the action scenes, Steve discovered that Natasha was taking S.H.I.E.L.D. datas from the ship and he didn't like that Nick Fury kept him in the dark. He want to Nick and started to talk about why he wasn't told about this. Speaking of Nick, I was so happy we learned more of his backstory. Nick was someone that has trust issues in the world. His father was surrounded by good people but also people that wanted to steal from him. That rubbed on Fury but that effected him even worse when someone shot his eye. Nick loves Steve but he didn't feel like he needed to tell him about the data and this was why. Nick told Steve that they were working on Project Insight. Three hellcarries would be linked to the satellites and they would take down any threat before they arrive. That bothered Steve because that just seemed like control. This was the big theme of this movie and that was the control of humanity as a whole. This works so well in a Captain America story because Steve lived in World War 2. Times where USA was battling against greater evil and they needed someone to give hope. Now that war was over, the world evolved into a more morally grey area. That's not saying that wasn't the case in World War 2 but it didn't matter much on that time because it was more about gaining freedom than controling the world. Nick called out on Steve about War because even then Americans did bad stuff in WW2 like launching a nuke to Japan but Steve knew that those bad actions stayed in them, so USA gaining control felt nothing like USA he knew. Again, that made sense because Steve lived in tough times and he kept seeing things black and white. USA and any other nation isn't like that anymore and Fury thought it'd be best to eliminate its targets before they do much worse. After leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. H.Q., Steve visited Peggy Carter who was old now. That scene was so emotional and brought tears to my eyes. After Steve was frozen and found in the future, he lost everything. His best friend, his team and his lover Peggy. So seeing Peggy again was so bittersweet to him. It was even more upsetting that they couldn't dance once. This movie was a big emotional roller coaster and little moments like this makes me love it even more.
Fury was unable to open the data Natasha gave it to him and that concerned him. He told his right man Alexander Pearce to delay Project Insight. Then Nick was attacked by Winter Soldier. Fury survived the attack and went to Steve's apartment because he couldn't trust anyone but Steve. Nick told Steve that S.H.I.EL.D. was compromised but their place was bugged, Winter Soldier shot Nick and managed to escape but after Nick was shot, he gave Steve the flash drive of the data they got in the ship. We also learned that Steve's neighbour was an agent that was protecing Steve. Nick was sent to the hospital but he was presumed dead. That really upsetted Natasha, Maria Hill and Steve, especially Natasha. I loved that Natasha showed more emotion in this movie because even in Avengers, she was basically a badass fighter but barely showed much emotion. I don't know If that was the intention but even her talk with Loki was a part of her plan to expose him. I felt like Russo brothers are the only people that truly understood that Natasha isn't just some amazing spy. She kept joking with Steve, she even tried to hook up Steve with some girls because Steve didn't need to be alone and she cared about him and she was sad about Fury's death because Fury was the one that gave her a second chance. Steve didn't trust anyone anymore, so he put the flash drive in a wending machine and he went to S.H.I.E.L.D. H.Q. to report Pearce. Steve told Pearce that Nick told him not to trust anyone but Pearce told Steve that he hired those pirates and then he made Steve a figutive for having information about Nick. Now we got some really intense fight with Steve fighting with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to escape H.Q. and man, he was so awesome in those scenes. The movie turned Steve into the ultimate fighter and I loved every second of it. Steve went to the hospital to take the flash driver but Natasha took it before him. They hid themselves to take a look at the driver but they had to be careful with that because many agents were looking for them. Steve and Tasha's friendship was so sweet and throughtful here. I loved seeing them developing a mutal trust on each other, as well as teaching each other from their experiences. They could have even ended up heing a good couple but sigh, Age of Ultron. They found a secret S.H.I.EL.D. base in New Jersey and Steve met Zola in an A.I. form. We got a twist that Hydra has been inside S.H.I.EL.D. the entire time and and Pearce was their leader. For someone that never read Secret Warriors run by Jonathan Hickman, that twist was a huge shocker to me and how they managed to do that was explained it made sense. I loved seeing Zola again and we got even some quick information on people that knew Hydra was inside S.H.I.EL.D. but they died beofre they told anyone and that storyline was carried in Civil War movie. S.H.I.E.L.D. found Steve and Natasha and they launched a missle to them but they survived thanks to Cap. They went to Sam because they couldn't trust anyone. We got a quick information on Sam's past and I was happy they had time to develop Sam's character in the movie. He was a pararescueman but he had to quit it because his friend died doing that job and that effected him but he couldn't let Steve and Natasha trying to take down Hydra , so he took Falcon suit to help them. Falcon, to me, is a friend we need but we don't deserve. Despite leaving his times as a soldier because of his friend's death, he had to help Steve and Natasha because he didn't want anyone else as friend to die again. Sam was caring and a hero in the entire movie. Even though he knew Steve for a little time, he knew that th world needed Steve, so he helped him Without thinking otherwise.
The trio began their dicovery on what was Hydra's plan. They learned form one of Hydra's moles that Zola made an algoritm that Hellcarriers were going to eliminate anyone who coıld be potential threats to Hydra. But then the trio was attacked by Winter Soldier and the movie kept going as an awesome action thriller. Steve had a great fight with Winter Soldier and dear lord, Winter Soldier was just brutal and dangerous. Steve accidentally took Winter Soldier's mask and he found out he was Bucky all this time. His best friend he thought he was dead ended up being a brainwashed soldier for Hydra. The trio was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra combo but they were rescued by Hill. Hill took them to a secret base and the trio found out Nivck Fury was alive. To be fair, thank god because MCU is nothing without Nick Fury (and Phil Coulson. Shaddup all of you.). Hill told the trio that the only way to stop Hellcarriers was to put three chips into each three Hellcarriers and they would be shut down together. Steve went to H.Q. and he warned people that S.H.I.E.L.D. was taken over by Hydra but he also told them he hoped he wasn't alone in the situation. now this scene was amazing and it told a lot on how a country that was against Nazims had Nazis grew in them. This was a great portrayal of how USA isn't that much of an American dream and it could be nightmaring filled with terrible people. You can clearly see that most of Nazis/Hydra agents in the movie were Americans. True that they were manipulated by some German agents but no excuse for them to act all evil. Nevertheless, some people did turn out to be good people. One dude that had the keyboard to launch Hellcarriers didn't do that because he wanted good in the world, even if that meant his death. This movie explored how people could be just awful but also there was still some hope left that some peole are better than we pictured them to be. This began the divide in S.H.I.E.L.D. and Pearce showed his true colors. And I personaly thought he was actually written well. Definitely not someone that is very memorable as a villain but I understood his goal even If it was evil. This movie made Hydra a bit more complex villain than just people who wanted world domimnation. The first Captain America movie was all about order and control but the second movie took a deep in those ideas and made them more compelling. As much as freedom is a good thing, it's not always good when it creates chaos to the world and Hydra knew that peole had to be controled, so they couldn't hurt each other anymore. Even if it meant to kill those who had potential to take down Hydra, Hydra thought what they were doing was the right thing. Checking on people makes them less dangerous and that is true sometimes. Nevertheless Hydra were still doing evil and Steve knew he had to stop them. I loved that regardless of how the world turned upside down for Steve, he still believed that the world could be in the hands of justice and peace without resolving it in murder of innocent lives.
We got a big climax of USA being in danger of total genocide but nevertheless, the climax was extremely awesome both visually and dramatically. Steve had to stop Bucky to save USA and even make him remember how he is. Meanwhile Natasha was undercover in H.Q. to release Hydra and S.H.I.EL.D. secrets to the world and Nick Fury arrived in time to make that happen. Both of these characters had great developments in the entire movie. In Avengers, all Natasha wanted was to right her wrongs because she was so ashamed of her past, now she released every single secret of her to the public and she knew that even if it meant the world seeing her bad side, she did it to make sure Hydra agents were taken down. Nick was broke by Pearce betraying him and keeping this hidden all this time, so it resulted in Nick killing Pearce and that felt really satisfying to see. Natasha and Nick both came out as great characters in the movie. Sam had enough time to be so amazing and I really loved his fight with Brock Rumlow, who later became Crossfire in Civil War. Steve and Brucky scenes in the climax tho, oh man, it got way personal. I really felt bad forh both of them because all Steve wanted ws to get his friend back but Bucky couldn't even remmeber him. Bucky shouting Steve was his mission but Steve giving up fight and being okay to be killed by him was acted so purely by Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan. Luckily Steve and others stopped Hellcarriers but Steve was inured badly. It turned out Bucky saved him and Bucky went hidden. Natasha was in the press of explaining that no matter what people would think of her past, she was ready to do the right thing at all cost. Fury said goodbye to the Steve/Natasha/Sam trio and Steve and Sam began to track down Bucky. Two post credit scenes of a Hydra agent called Baron von Strucker experimenting on Wanda and Pietro, as well as having Loki's scepter and Bucky visiting his memorial.
What can I say? After watching it three times, I still love this movie and I'll continue to do that. This basically turned Captain America into more than just an American boy scout. He was naive and out of time with barely having idea how the world works now but he was still a nobel, caring and honest man. Hydra became more interesting. Natasha and Nick Fury had great characterizations and Sam Wilson as Falcon was so awesome. I loved how it tackled on order, peace and control of the world and doing the necessary good and evil to acomplish that. Spy aspects of this movie were refreshing to see and Russo Brothers made this movie a great mix of Jason Bourne/James Bond type of movie. It was so emotional and really serious which is something MCU does need a bit more often, while having its usual epic entertainment. I wonder If Civil War will manage to be better or worse than this movie again but right now, this is my favorite MCU movie ever. This was the Captain America movie people needed. I love First Avenger with all my heart but this movie was complex, bittersweet and epic. I would even say this is one of my favorite movies ever. It's that good.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
Announcement to be made.
This project of mine will be put in hiatus. Sorry for this happening.
Why?
Because of constant headaches and not getting enough focus on my one exam left. After I see Infinity War, I'll finish this project with Black Panther being the last movie to cover. I had to do this because I wanna see Infinity War with clear head. That's why I'm also gonna be absent for a week. Thank you all for understanding.
This project of mine will be put in hiatus. Sorry for this happening.
Why?
Because of constant headaches and not getting enough focus on my one exam left. After I see Infinity War, I'll finish this project with Black Panther being the last movie to cover. I had to do this because I wanna see Infinity War with clear head. That's why I'm also gonna be absent for a week. Thank you all for understanding.
Master WhoBruh
Cap
Master WhoBruh
Cap
so sorry for this delay. I had reasons. Yesterday I was gonna post a review but crappy things happened during that day and I just couldn't have time to deal with it anymore. Today was a bit better for me at least, so I'm ready to continue this countdown (yeah yeah, Infinity War has already been premiered but better late than never).
Airdate: August 1, 2014
Directed by James Gunn
Who would have thought this movie could have worked? But sure as hell it did. As someone who have never seen Guardians of the Galaxy in any other media or read Dan Abnett's cosmic Marvel saga in 00s I had no clue who the hell Guardians of the Galaxy are supposed to be. Even though I knew the reception of this movie, this was still a big surprise. They were such weird characters in a great way.
This movie started off different from other Marvel movies. It had a cold opening of the time in 1988 when we were introduced to Peter Quill as a kid. He was beaten up by bullies because he wanted to protect a frog and his mother was dying from cancer. He was listening to his mother's mixtape in a hospital and his mom called him to take her hand. Peter didn't and later his mom died. Peter ran away and he was abducted by aliens. Darn it E.T.! This perfectly set up how Peter as a character throughout movie and man, the first scene broke me, even if I knew little about Peter. Seeing his mother dying and then getting abducted must have been a horrendous situation. Then we went back to present where Peter is an adult. Now he called himself Star-Lord, lived with thefts called Ravagers and he went to some planet to get an object called Orb. He danced with some sweet music and you could already tell this was going to be a fun movie. I just loved that scene not just because it represents Peter still listening to his dead mother's mixtape over and over to remember her. It was a nice exchange in a superhero movie where all you see is your protagonist having fun in his job but unlike other protagonists in a superhero movie, Peter wasn't some heroic person. He was an outlaw like he said. He barely gave crap about trying to do something good. He just wanted to steal or collect some stuff and sell them to someone else. Bad for him tho because he was attacked by soldiers of Ronan, who was the villain of the movie. The movie was already fun from Peter dancing but the action scene with Peter escaping was so exciting. He went back to his ship and it was shown he had some company lady but then she opened a call from Yondu, the leader of Ravagers and the one that kidnapped Peter. Yondu wasn't exactly my favorite character of this movie but he was fun as some sort of bad guy who later did good. Yondu was pissed off Peter did this without warning him, so he put a bounty on his capture and decided to learn what Orb is. After that, Ronan, the leader of Kree empire and a partner of Thanos, was introduced and we were later introduced to Gamora, adopted daughter of Thanos, and Nebula, also adopted daughter of Thanos? Ronan sent Gamora to find Orb. Not a bad inroduction to any of these characters but It didn't excatly hype me up for these characters. Although Gamora and Nebula got more interesting as the movie went on. Thanos was also introduced couple of minutes later in the movie but he was just sitting in his chair, moving on.
Peter went to Xandar, the place that made a peace treaty with Kree empire after battling with them for so long. He went to a dealer to sell him Orb but then the dealer realized Ronan was looking for him, so he kicked him out. Gamora found Peter she kicked his butt to get the ORB. We were later introduced to Rocket and Groot and from the beginning I was loving them. I loved Groot being a sarcastic racoon, while Groot being just a silly walking tree. Rocket found out about bounty on Peter, so he attacked Peter. This was such a great way to unite our protagonists together because they literally started off them trying to capture something and/or each other. This created a funny but also entertaining action scene of them fighting with each other and of course they were arrested by Nova Corps. Now that Nova corps are a thing in MCU, I hope we get a Nova movie. Off-topic but even as a person who don't know much about Richard Rider as Nova, I wanna know more about him, so MCU better make that happen. They were sent to the most secured prison in the galaxy. We got some nice music scequence of them being turned into prisoners and some details on them. Peter is such a childish person, Rocket is engineered racoon, there seems to be more than one Groot and Gamore is daughter of Thanos and allies with Ronan but Gamora thought that selling Orb was the only ticket of her to be away from Thanos as possible. And of course, with a prison of people that had their friends and familes murdered by Ronan and Thanos, this wasn't so easy for Gamora. Gamora finally got to be a more interesting character as we learned a bit about her backstory. Her family was killed by Thanos and Thanos turned her into a living weapon. Just like Peter, Gamora had nobody in her life. Okay, Peter got Yondu but Yondu kidnapped Peter for being useful in theft and he always threatened him to hand him to Ravagers to eat him. Later Drax The Destroyer was introduced and he was this naive but a scary person for a reason. Just like Gamora, his family was killed, except Ronan was the one to do it and it was commanded by Thanos. So, when Drax wanted Gamora to die, I was worried for Gamora but Drax's action made sense and it made me connected to his character. Rocket and Groot met each other somewhere because it also seemed like they had nobodies until they met each other and they became friends. This movie has a big theme on family and that was refreshing to see this being tackled in a much more different way than Fantastic Four or Thor's troubled family. Each protagonists of this movie had lost someone or they had been alone. And their rational behaviours united them together and that made me see them as one bigt dysfunctional family. Because of their team up, they were able to escape the prison (except Peter who went back to get his mixtape and then escaped from ship) and it was nothing but pure awesomeness. Meanwhile they were still caring for themselves because Gamora told them she knows a place to sell it, so they teamed up only to sell Orb to split the money. Except Drax who wanted nothing but revenge for his family. They traveled to Nowhere to sell Orb. Man, I just love how this movie explored so many different locations in Galaxy and it felt like one big space opera. Of course, first two Thor movies had different planets but Guardians took a more depth into cosmos, thus we finally got to see more cosmic side of Marvel. As someone who loves space and aliens, this movie didn't disappoint me on that aspect, even if the main protagonist was a human (okay, half--human but more on that later.).
While they were waiting for the buyer, Guardians were having some innocent fun. Rocket, Drax and Groot went to see animal aliens fighting, while Peter taught Gamorra music and dancing. The moments here were really important because those minutes were just great character interactions and our characters enjoying themselves and learning to know each other more. Gamora and Peter's interaction were already turning into a romance and I was actually enjoying that. Of course, Gamora knew Peter making a move on her was kind of a bad move but then they heard of Rockt and Drax fighting. Man, this movie knew when to have some quality fun but when it comes to seriousness, it was just sad im a good way. It's hard to not feel bad for Rocket because all this time he had been called animal names but he was never asked to be made this way. He was drunk but Rocket feeling depressed for his existence and beinbg angry at Drax crushed me. Drax and rest of Guardians splited up. Peter, Gamora, Groot and Rocket met the buyer who is The Collector and he explained Infinity Stones to them and Orb was actually Power Stone. I really liked this scene and I shouldn't have but sometimes exposions are cool if they are short, understandable and look epic. This movie was the first to introduce the concept of Infinity Stones and this planted the seeds for rest of MCU movies.
One of The Collector's slaves used Power Stone in orb but they quickly killed her and destroyed The Collector's place. Drax, for being a stupid drunk hoe, called Ronan to kill him. Ronan showed up in Knowhere and attacked the place to find Gamora and get Orb. Guardians noticed that and Peter, Ganora and Rocket took some small ships to fight them. And man, the action scenes were on point. I love me some space ships battling with each other. It gave me Star Wars vibe but it didn't even feel like it was ripping off from that. Drax and Ronan started to have a fight and Ronan quickly won and he got Orb. Luckily Groot managed to save him. Meanwhile Gamora's ship was exploded by Nebula and she was slowly dying in cold space. Peter called Ravagers to get them but before that he gave his space mask to Gamora to keep her alive for a few seconds. Now that scene right there was so emotional and powerful for Peter's development. Before they went to battle with them, Peter still thought about gaining money from Orb, depsite the fact that Orb contains a dangerous weapon and Gamora felt this was so dishonorable for him. It made sense why he would act like it because he was raised by bunch of outlaws but Peter believed in goodness as a kid and saving Gamora's life proved that he could be worthy of a hero. Peter made peace with Yundo after talking about Ronan wanting to destroy Xandar and rest of the galaxy. Before that, Rocket was acting like a jerk to Drax for acting so stupid for a right reason but that disappointed Groot. Rocket told Groot to escape far away, so Ronan could never find themb ut Groot refused and he decided to stay to rescue Peter and Gamore from Yondu. And Rocket finally agreed to help him, as well as Drax. They attacked Yondu's ship and that was actually a really funny scene of Rocket threatening to blow up the ship with Peter and Gamora in it. Rocket is such a cruel jokester but that's what I like about him overall. Later Thanos ordered Ronan to give him Orb but Ronan betrayed Thanos, so he used Power Stone in Orb to destroy Xandar and Nebula dediced to help him, so she can be away from Thanos as well. And there you go with Ronan, a generic Kree emperor that wants to destroy the galaxy. What a let down he turned out to be because the characters had personal conflict with him but the villain himself wasn't interesting. Just like with first two Thor movies, the villain talked about how he wanted to get revenge on seemingly good guys. Ronan talked about the war between Kree Empire and Nova Empire and how he wanted to get revenge for what they did but we didn't get more about that conflict. It would have been more interesting if Nova Empire killed his people for something but that's it really. Even without that, Ronan wanted to destroy the galaxy, so he was already your typical bad guy. He's called Ronan the Accuser but all he seemed to do is accusing people for no reason. I know making leaders villains aren't that easy because most of bad leaders have power lust but they could have fleshed out his character to make him feel more unique but they didn't do that. I was so glad they developed Guardians but the villain was a bore. Still a bit better than likes of Justin Hammer, Abomination and Malekith and his design was cool but that's not saying much. At least he is gonna reappear in Captain Marvel, so he better have some development there.
Guardians finally had a conversation about them teaming up to save the galaxy and Yondu and rest of Ravagers agreed to help him, as well as Nova Corps. What I love about this movie and Guardians in general is that they are just a dysfunctional family. You could say they are space Avengers but I disagree. Yeah, they had issues with each other and later they reunited to save Galaxy just like how Avengers did in their first movie ubut the thing with Avengers was that those people were already heroes. Guardians were bunch of criminals but at the end, they learned to give a crap about each other and others and they united to put a stop to evil for good. The climax was really exciting with Nova Corps fighting alongside with Guardians, Yondu using his whistle to kill Kree warriors with an arrow, Groot sacrificing himself to save rest of Guardians, Gamora and Nebula having a small conflict, Star-lord's dance and the big epic scene of them using Power Stone to kill Ronan, who shall not be missed. We learned that Peter was half human, half something so powerful enough to keep the stone longer than rest. Nova Corps took Power Stone, Guardians left somewhere else to do a bit of good and bad. Nice credit scenes of baby Groot appearing and dancing and Howard the Duck voiced by Seth Green.
I gotta say this movie was still so much fun to watch again. it made me connected to cosmic Marvel, it was a mixture of both funny and serious movie and it introduced me to superheroes that I have never even heard of. And not the mention this movie was so much fun and that's part of MCU's charm. Sadly the villain sucked, so this movie didn't feel as interesting as it should have been. It had everything ending senario that MCU kind of stuck with that for a bit but the theme of family kept me going and the movie delivered such a huge popcorn fun.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
From now on, I review the movies twice a day, so expect the review of Age of Ultron on friday and oh boy, I can't wait to talk about that one.
Airdate: August 1, 2014
Directed by James Gunn
Who would have thought this movie could have worked? But sure as hell it did. As someone who have never seen Guardians of the Galaxy in any other media or read Dan Abnett's cosmic Marvel saga in 00s I had no clue who the hell Guardians of the Galaxy are supposed to be. Even though I knew the reception of this movie, this was still a big surprise. They were such weird characters in a great way.
This movie started off different from other Marvel movies. It had a cold opening of the time in 1988 when we were introduced to Peter Quill as a kid. He was beaten up by bullies because he wanted to protect a frog and his mother was dying from cancer. He was listening to his mother's mixtape in a hospital and his mom called him to take her hand. Peter didn't and later his mom died. Peter ran away and he was abducted by aliens. Darn it E.T.! This perfectly set up how Peter as a character throughout movie and man, the first scene broke me, even if I knew little about Peter. Seeing his mother dying and then getting abducted must have been a horrendous situation. Then we went back to present where Peter is an adult. Now he called himself Star-Lord, lived with thefts called Ravagers and he went to some planet to get an object called Orb. He danced with some sweet music and you could already tell this was going to be a fun movie. I just loved that scene not just because it represents Peter still listening to his dead mother's mixtape over and over to remember her. It was a nice exchange in a superhero movie where all you see is your protagonist having fun in his job but unlike other protagonists in a superhero movie, Peter wasn't some heroic person. He was an outlaw like he said. He barely gave crap about trying to do something good. He just wanted to steal or collect some stuff and sell them to someone else. Bad for him tho because he was attacked by soldiers of Ronan, who was the villain of the movie. The movie was already fun from Peter dancing but the action scene with Peter escaping was so exciting. He went back to his ship and it was shown he had some company lady but then she opened a call from Yondu, the leader of Ravagers and the one that kidnapped Peter. Yondu wasn't exactly my favorite character of this movie but he was fun as some sort of bad guy who later did good. Yondu was pissed off Peter did this without warning him, so he put a bounty on his capture and decided to learn what Orb is. After that, Ronan, the leader of Kree empire and a partner of Thanos, was introduced and we were later introduced to Gamora, adopted daughter of Thanos, and Nebula, also adopted daughter of Thanos? Ronan sent Gamora to find Orb. Not a bad inroduction to any of these characters but It didn't excatly hype me up for these characters. Although Gamora and Nebula got more interesting as the movie went on. Thanos was also introduced couple of minutes later in the movie but he was just sitting in his chair, moving on.
Peter went to Xandar, the place that made a peace treaty with Kree empire after battling with them for so long. He went to a dealer to sell him Orb but then the dealer realized Ronan was looking for him, so he kicked him out. Gamora found Peter she kicked his butt to get the ORB. We were later introduced to Rocket and Groot and from the beginning I was loving them. I loved Groot being a sarcastic racoon, while Groot being just a silly walking tree. Rocket found out about bounty on Peter, so he attacked Peter. This was such a great way to unite our protagonists together because they literally started off them trying to capture something and/or each other. This created a funny but also entertaining action scene of them fighting with each other and of course they were arrested by Nova Corps. Now that Nova corps are a thing in MCU, I hope we get a Nova movie. Off-topic but even as a person who don't know much about Richard Rider as Nova, I wanna know more about him, so MCU better make that happen. They were sent to the most secured prison in the galaxy. We got some nice music scequence of them being turned into prisoners and some details on them. Peter is such a childish person, Rocket is engineered racoon, there seems to be more than one Groot and Gamore is daughter of Thanos and allies with Ronan but Gamora thought that selling Orb was the only ticket of her to be away from Thanos as possible. And of course, with a prison of people that had their friends and familes murdered by Ronan and Thanos, this wasn't so easy for Gamora. Gamora finally got to be a more interesting character as we learned a bit about her backstory. Her family was killed by Thanos and Thanos turned her into a living weapon. Just like Peter, Gamora had nobody in her life. Okay, Peter got Yondu but Yondu kidnapped Peter for being useful in theft and he always threatened him to hand him to Ravagers to eat him. Later Drax The Destroyer was introduced and he was this naive but a scary person for a reason. Just like Gamora, his family was killed, except Ronan was the one to do it and it was commanded by Thanos. So, when Drax wanted Gamora to die, I was worried for Gamora but Drax's action made sense and it made me connected to his character. Rocket and Groot met each other somewhere because it also seemed like they had nobodies until they met each other and they became friends. This movie has a big theme on family and that was refreshing to see this being tackled in a much more different way than Fantastic Four or Thor's troubled family. Each protagonists of this movie had lost someone or they had been alone. And their rational behaviours united them together and that made me see them as one bigt dysfunctional family. Because of their team up, they were able to escape the prison (except Peter who went back to get his mixtape and then escaped from ship) and it was nothing but pure awesomeness. Meanwhile they were still caring for themselves because Gamora told them she knows a place to sell it, so they teamed up only to sell Orb to split the money. Except Drax who wanted nothing but revenge for his family. They traveled to Nowhere to sell Orb. Man, I just love how this movie explored so many different locations in Galaxy and it felt like one big space opera. Of course, first two Thor movies had different planets but Guardians took a more depth into cosmos, thus we finally got to see more cosmic side of Marvel. As someone who loves space and aliens, this movie didn't disappoint me on that aspect, even if the main protagonist was a human (okay, half--human but more on that later.).
While they were waiting for the buyer, Guardians were having some innocent fun. Rocket, Drax and Groot went to see animal aliens fighting, while Peter taught Gamorra music and dancing. The moments here were really important because those minutes were just great character interactions and our characters enjoying themselves and learning to know each other more. Gamora and Peter's interaction were already turning into a romance and I was actually enjoying that. Of course, Gamora knew Peter making a move on her was kind of a bad move but then they heard of Rockt and Drax fighting. Man, this movie knew when to have some quality fun but when it comes to seriousness, it was just sad im a good way. It's hard to not feel bad for Rocket because all this time he had been called animal names but he was never asked to be made this way. He was drunk but Rocket feeling depressed for his existence and beinbg angry at Drax crushed me. Drax and rest of Guardians splited up. Peter, Gamora, Groot and Rocket met the buyer who is The Collector and he explained Infinity Stones to them and Orb was actually Power Stone. I really liked this scene and I shouldn't have but sometimes exposions are cool if they are short, understandable and look epic. This movie was the first to introduce the concept of Infinity Stones and this planted the seeds for rest of MCU movies.
One of The Collector's slaves used Power Stone in orb but they quickly killed her and destroyed The Collector's place. Drax, for being a stupid drunk hoe, called Ronan to kill him. Ronan showed up in Knowhere and attacked the place to find Gamora and get Orb. Guardians noticed that and Peter, Ganora and Rocket took some small ships to fight them. And man, the action scenes were on point. I love me some space ships battling with each other. It gave me Star Wars vibe but it didn't even feel like it was ripping off from that. Drax and Ronan started to have a fight and Ronan quickly won and he got Orb. Luckily Groot managed to save him. Meanwhile Gamora's ship was exploded by Nebula and she was slowly dying in cold space. Peter called Ravagers to get them but before that he gave his space mask to Gamora to keep her alive for a few seconds. Now that scene right there was so emotional and powerful for Peter's development. Before they went to battle with them, Peter still thought about gaining money from Orb, depsite the fact that Orb contains a dangerous weapon and Gamora felt this was so dishonorable for him. It made sense why he would act like it because he was raised by bunch of outlaws but Peter believed in goodness as a kid and saving Gamora's life proved that he could be worthy of a hero. Peter made peace with Yundo after talking about Ronan wanting to destroy Xandar and rest of the galaxy. Before that, Rocket was acting like a jerk to Drax for acting so stupid for a right reason but that disappointed Groot. Rocket told Groot to escape far away, so Ronan could never find themb ut Groot refused and he decided to stay to rescue Peter and Gamore from Yondu. And Rocket finally agreed to help him, as well as Drax. They attacked Yondu's ship and that was actually a really funny scene of Rocket threatening to blow up the ship with Peter and Gamora in it. Rocket is such a cruel jokester but that's what I like about him overall. Later Thanos ordered Ronan to give him Orb but Ronan betrayed Thanos, so he used Power Stone in Orb to destroy Xandar and Nebula dediced to help him, so she can be away from Thanos as well. And there you go with Ronan, a generic Kree emperor that wants to destroy the galaxy. What a let down he turned out to be because the characters had personal conflict with him but the villain himself wasn't interesting. Just like with first two Thor movies, the villain talked about how he wanted to get revenge on seemingly good guys. Ronan talked about the war between Kree Empire and Nova Empire and how he wanted to get revenge for what they did but we didn't get more about that conflict. It would have been more interesting if Nova Empire killed his people for something but that's it really. Even without that, Ronan wanted to destroy the galaxy, so he was already your typical bad guy. He's called Ronan the Accuser but all he seemed to do is accusing people for no reason. I know making leaders villains aren't that easy because most of bad leaders have power lust but they could have fleshed out his character to make him feel more unique but they didn't do that. I was so glad they developed Guardians but the villain was a bore. Still a bit better than likes of Justin Hammer, Abomination and Malekith and his design was cool but that's not saying much. At least he is gonna reappear in Captain Marvel, so he better have some development there.
Guardians finally had a conversation about them teaming up to save the galaxy and Yondu and rest of Ravagers agreed to help him, as well as Nova Corps. What I love about this movie and Guardians in general is that they are just a dysfunctional family. You could say they are space Avengers but I disagree. Yeah, they had issues with each other and later they reunited to save Galaxy just like how Avengers did in their first movie ubut the thing with Avengers was that those people were already heroes. Guardians were bunch of criminals but at the end, they learned to give a crap about each other and others and they united to put a stop to evil for good. The climax was really exciting with Nova Corps fighting alongside with Guardians, Yondu using his whistle to kill Kree warriors with an arrow, Groot sacrificing himself to save rest of Guardians, Gamora and Nebula having a small conflict, Star-lord's dance and the big epic scene of them using Power Stone to kill Ronan, who shall not be missed. We learned that Peter was half human, half something so powerful enough to keep the stone longer than rest. Nova Corps took Power Stone, Guardians left somewhere else to do a bit of good and bad. Nice credit scenes of baby Groot appearing and dancing and Howard the Duck voiced by Seth Green.
I gotta say this movie was still so much fun to watch again. it made me connected to cosmic Marvel, it was a mixture of both funny and serious movie and it introduced me to superheroes that I have never even heard of. And not the mention this movie was so much fun and that's part of MCU's charm. Sadly the villain sucked, so this movie didn't feel as interesting as it should have been. It had everything ending senario that MCU kind of stuck with that for a bit but the theme of family kept me going and the movie delivered such a huge popcorn fun.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
From now on, I review the movies twice a day, so expect the review of Age of Ultron on friday and oh boy, I can't wait to talk about that one.
Honest Slug
Ink Lemonade hurts me.
Guardians of the Galaxy 1 and 2 are the best Marvel movies by far imo. Both I'd give a 9/10.
Master WhoBruh
Cap
Here it is. The long awaited review of this.
I remember being hyped as hell for this one. It was the first MCU movie that I was waiting to be aired and the first superhero movie I've seen in theaters. And I remember loving so much of it, maybe even more than the first Avenger itself. After thinking more into it, it wasn't as amazing as I once remembered and I saw first Avengers again and reminded myself why I loved that movie in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I actually still liked this movie in a way but this wasn't that well-written and it came out as a bit mess.
Airdate: May 1, 2015
Directed by Joss Whedon
So what exactly did this movie do wrong? Honestly I didn't think this was as badly-written or poorly made as some people made it out be. It has a great theme called humanity and I think that's an important theme in a superhero movie. Our protagonists are heroes in their own way but there's no way they aren't flawed or they didn't do bad things to achieve that goal or their projects didn't end up hitting them in the face. This theme was explored nicely for the most part but the problem was that this movie felt all over the place and some parts of it just felt like it was setting up a bigger picture for MCU but it didn't mash well into the movie. Lets explain why it didn't completely do the job great.
The movie started off with Von Strucker, last remaning leader of Hydra or that's what the movies think and some people didn't watch Agents of S.H.I.EL.D. I'll shut up. trying to experiment on people with Loki's specter in Sokovia and Avengers arrived just in time to stop him. Just like the first movie, Avengers started off with a bang and the action kept entertaining me. We got some nice character interactions and some jokes here and there. Captain America managed to stop Von Strucker but none of Avengers saw the twins, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, coming. They were introduced in post credit scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and while I sort of liked them in this movie, I didn't like how they were set up. That's one thing to not make them mutants because no mutants allowed in MCU (yet) but it felt so wrong to see them siding with Hydra, the Nazi science division, to get revenge on Avengers. I know they were villains once and their reasoning for attacking Avengers made sense but for goodness sake, their father, Magneto, was jewish and they were jewish too. I would perfectly accept if they were brainwashed by Loki's specter but seeing supposedly jews that have a holocaust survivor father voluntering Nazis was just wrong. I didn't know their history on comics before but after knowing, that was disrespectful of their origin and Whedon and Fiege should have reconsidered this decision to make their origins different. I know I ranted a bit too much on it but it had to be brought up. Moving on from this, Wanda mind controled Stark to bring up his worst fear and that was him seeing all of his friends being dead. I liked this concept because It was good seeing Tony still trying to recover from PTSD of the first movie and seeing him fearing for his friends made sense for him to do something about it. Another related thing is that Tony brought up his robots to protect people in Sokovia but Sokovia citizens threw tomatoes at him. Okay, I know why some people wouldn't trust Avengers but it felt weird seeing it so sudden with barely build up to it. It's just a minor nit-pick. Of course, the twins continued to attack Avengers, as a result Hawkeye was injured but they managed to stop all Hydra agents, Tony got the spectre and the twins were gone.
Avengers returned to their home bases and Barton was recovered. Stark started to talk to Bruce about how Tony's vision felt real and it would happen sooner than later. So Tony decided to make an A.I. with Bruce called Ultron and mix him with Jarvis to make sure Ultron is the one that would save the world this time, instead of his friends. Tony didn't wanna bring this up to people yet and he started to work on it with him for days. As some of you know, Ultron wasn't really created by Tony, it was Hank Pym, original Ant-Man, that built him, so it was sort of disappointing to find out Tony was the one to build him but I can let it slide because it still fit in his character. After Iron Man 3, he promised to tone down the suits and start a better life for himself, so he decided to make robots to make sure they would save the world. Tony wanted to retire but he still cared about saving lives, why get rid of that? Instead of Tony, A.I. would do all of his work and that made sense. So I appreciated how they used Tony to build him, even though I wish it was Hank Pym with Tony helping him. Days later, they were almost complete with A.I.. Meanwhile Avengers came together to celebate their victory. It was nice seeing Hill, Sam and Rhodey in the party, kind of shame Sam didn't get to do much in the movie tho. Bruce and Natasha started to flirt with each other and I started to feel awkward. When did this happen all of a sudden? Bruce and Natasha having feelings for each other? I know Natasha was the person to recruit Bruce to S.H.I.E.L.D. but I never felt they had some sort of connection and they barely even interacted in the first Avengers movie. Here it all seemed like Joss Whendon just wanted some romance, so he created this mess. I know Natasha and Barton being a couple would feel predictable but predictability isn't bad if it makes sense. Natasha and Barton had a history together and I wish this movie would explore that and develop feelings for each other. Fine, it didn't need to be romance if they saw them as partners but why Bruce and Natasha? We'll get to how they set them up and how it was bad is coming later. Avengers started to hang out with each other more with them trying to hold Thor's hammer. I actually loved this scene so much. I know being lighthearted and humourous can be a flaw in MCU but sometimes it works when it highlights the characters and make them feel more human. I liked that nobody was able to life it because they were unworthy. Steve almost lifted tho, just saying. When all of that was happening, Ultron was born and he delved into Internet to learn. And he was terrified with results. Jarvis, Tony's first A.I., tried to calm him down but later Ultron attacked Jarvis and started to attack on Avengers. Many people saw Ultron as a weak villain in this movie and while I kind of disagree, I definitely agree that the whole set up of him becoming a villain was rushed and most of the time he was talking all villainy, so I didn't happen to care for him as I should have been. Now I get his motivation for it, he watted to destroy humanity because that's only path for peace and he was right. That makes Ultron an interesting villain to Avengers and a part of a good theme in this movie. He hated humanity for their sickening crimes and he hated being a slave to them but like I said, he happened all of a sudden and because of the awkward pacing, lack of sympathy and him making jokes sometimes, he didn't end up being a menacing villain. I actually loved him a lot more in Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes cartoon and that was because he felt scary and he had a slow but a good build up. I kind of wished we'd see him saving lives first, later being invested in destroying it. That being said, he had a good voice and he was more fun than most of MCU villains at that time.
Ultron started to attack on Avengers and that was pretty awesome to see, not gonna lie. Ultron escaped the tower and found the twins to plan evolution. Another weird evolutionary plot because WHERE ARE MUTANTS WHEN YOU NEED THESE PLOTS? It definitely felt weird to see two supposedly mutants who aren't mutants to side with a robot for evolution but that's the closest thing to X-Men, besides inhumans becoming more like mutants in MCU lol. We learned a bit about Wanda and Pietro's backstory and why they wanted Avengers dead. It was because their home was bombed and it was Stark's bombs that made it happened, so they have a reason to kill them. Yeah, other Avengers didn't do that but they sided with Tony, so. Ultron and the twins went to Africa to find Earth's strongest metal called vibranium to make him a better body. They met Ulysses Klaue, aka Klaw, to get some of that sweet vibranium. Klaw found the vibranium from a place called Wakanda but he was attacked when he stole it. Avengers went there to stop them because Tony knew where they would find vibranium. Ummm, Tony knows vibranium is in Wakanda but nobody else does. How did he know that information and why didn't he tell anyone? We'll never know. Also this was the first set up to Black Panther and I didn't notice that until I saw Civil War and Black Panther lol. Avengers attacked Ultron and the twins, as a result Klaw's hand was cut by Ultron and Wanda gave each Avengers a vision of their fear, loss and regrets. Except Tony. And Barton who got sick of mind mind control because the dude had enough with that crap. While there's one aspect of Hawkeye I didn't like in the movie, this movie was the best usage of him. I likd that he was sarcastic and more of a slide of life character than rest of Avengers. He was tired of being like anobody and he wanted to prove he's worth something. Well, that wasn't explored as much but still that's the closest characterization of Hawkeye we'll ever get. Maybe Avengers 4 will fix that and give us more Hawkeye's characterization and even some of his past? Please? In their visions, Steve saw his regret of never being able to be with Peggy and his life being taken away. Thor saw his people's death and Infinity Stones, Natasha saw her childhood and her becoming an assassin. Last person to be nind controled was Bruce and that turned him into an uncontrolable Hulk.Tony noticed that and he stopped fighting with Ultron and brought Hulkbuster to stop Hulk.Now that scene was really awesome to see. Seeing Hulkbuster and tht fight against Hulk was so much fun and it made us see how much of a threat Ultron could be. Well, Wanda did that but still. I loved the fight but I walso felt bad for Hulk after being out of mind control and seeing how he wrecked the place and endangered innocent lives. Tony knocked him up tho, sad Hulk.
After their defeat, Avengers went to a safe house. Well, that was a quick transition from having some quick action scenes to slower and calmer moments. Even during the theaters I felt the shift in pacing felt rushed. It was like they saved most of character interactions and developments for a brief moment of slow pace and it felt unevan and weird. Avengers had a mix of both slow pace and fast pact but neither arrived that quickly. Even in the party scenes, Ultron's development happened too fast. So the dafe house was where Hawkeye stays and it was revealed that Hawkeye has a family! Yeah, that was what the heck? I get what they were doing, they wanted to make him more relatable by making him a simple family man but it came out of place and it was like giving him a family would make him a more compelling character. It wasn't. And It was like they really had to remove the concept of Natasha and Barton romance for sake of Natasha and Bruce romance. Speaking of Natasha/Bruce, here we go to one of the worst aspects of MCU movies ever. We got to learn morea bout Natasha's past, isn't it great? We learned that she was trained to be an assassin and she hated killing innocent people. Shouldn't that be an interesting backstory? Yeah but they ruined all of it with thefact that Natasha was sterlized, so she can't have babies. And she found herelf monster because of her crappy past. Look, Whedon can stay the her monster line was all related to her being an assassin. And just like similar failed ideas of this movie, I understood what he was going for. Natasha felt herself as a monster for killing people. But why add sterlization into that? What was the point of giving us that info? To hook her up with Bruce because he can't have babies too? He said the same thing and the next thing you are gonna say Bruce felt himself as a monster too and you are right but WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE BOTH OF THEM NOT BEING ABLE OT MAKE BABIES? Just to mke them smooch? That's awful romance. Heck, even setting the romance up just because both of them felt monsters wasn't good to begin with. No relationship is perfect but a good relationship should be partners finding best versions of each other. Yes, both of them seeing themselves as bad people makes them sympathetic towards each other but that's not healthy romance. If the point was to show them as an unstable couple, I would understand but that wasn't the point and that was why the relationship failed for me. Another bad thing about this was that this movie's theme was that even good people can be bad and they failed on Natasha's character badly. Not the mention that scvene feels more messed up since Scarlett Johanson, actress that plays Natasha, was pregnant during that scene. And people say why is Joss Whedon so hated. That's why, people. Meanwhile Steve and Tony started to have an argument about saving lives and how much they can do this now. That scene was actually good because it not only set up their conflict in Civil War movie, they had a good interaction on their idealogies about what it means to be a hero. Plus Steve ripping the log in a half was super sexy, shrug. Then we saw Nick Fury again, this time and encouraging the team. I like seeing Fury as a supporter of the group and while his appearence was short, it was good seeing him again.
So Avengers left the safe house to find Ultron, except Thor who teamed up with Erik Selvig to have a vision quest to see what was his vision saying. And here we have another out of place plot, except it shouldn't be. It served almost nothing to the plot and it was only there to set up Thor: Raganarok and Infinity War, althrough Thor's information on Infinity Stones didn't need to have a plot because that wasn't the plot of Ragnarok and it wasn't even necessary to set up destruction of Asgard. Thor could have left to check on Asgard because Loki started to rule. And Thor could have learned more about Infinity Stones in Infinity War. Also this was the last time we saw Erik, press F of rpay respects (he's not dead but he's written off without a trace). Ultron started to build a new body for evoltuion with vibanium and Mind Stone taken from the spectre. Wanda got in contact with the stone and saw what Ultron was planning and she didn't like it. Ultron's plan was to destroy all of humanity and replace it with betterspecies . Avengers found Ultron and started to fight with him. They took the new body, Wanda and Peter betrayed Ultron but Natasha was kidnapped by Ultron. Tony realized that Jarvis was okay, so he wanted to bring the new body into life with Jarvis because this time they wouldn't do wrong. He convinced Bruce but other team members stopped them until Thor arrived and discovered that Tony's plan works. They created Vision, an android that understands life better than anyone. He managed to lift Thor's hammer and we all got wet. We finally arrived to the big climax where Sokovia was used by Ultron as an astroid to extinct humanity. While the climax was so much fun, I didn't feel as emotionally invested as the first Avenger's climax and I know it feels like I compare this movie with the first one but I felt like this movie could have been much better at the story than the first Avengers. Bruce managed to rescue Natasha and he was turned into Hulk by Natasha cuz Natasha kissed him. Again, not a good romance. They fought and saved as many lives for a while, even Rhodey as War Machine and Fury came with S.H.I.E.L.D. to rescue lives and stop Ultron robots. That was also the last time we saw S.H.I.E.L.D. on the big screen. During the fight, Wanda started to blame herself for this and It was understadable why she felt that way. I felt like she was the only new character that got some character focu, aside from maybe Vision because Pietro was just there and Ultron wasn't that interesting. Hawkeye gave her a speech on superheroing and that was probably the best scene of the entire movie. Clint finally shined as a character and it was great to see Wanda quitting blame on herself and starting to be a hero. Sadly Pietro died and that pretty much added bonus to Wanda's character. What a waste but eh, Pietro was much better in X-Men universe. They managed to get almost everyone to safety, although I felt like the movie should have addressed some lives the team couldn't save besides Pietro because that was a big plot point in Civil War. I get this movie wanted to have some fun but It would have been better if it didn't feel like a victory. They saved the day but not everyone. Finally the team stopped Ultron for good and how they did it was honestly underwhelming, except Wanda and Vision's scenes of them killing him. Those felt good. So Thor left Earth to find out more about the stones, except he didn't in his next appearence in MCU, Hulk left Earth because people hate him now, Tony took a break from Avengers to have a life, Steve and Natasha set up a new line of Avengers. And one end credit scene of Thanos doing everything by himself.
Yeah, the more I saw it and thought about it, this is one of the weakest entires of MCU. That doesn't mean I didn't like it. I liked it but I didn't find it good of a movie. It was a fun popcorn experience that had good character interactions and humor but it had many issues with a weird pacing, out of place sequences, some characterizations being written badly, Ultron's development being rushed and your typical world ending stakes with not enough interesting aspect of it. Maybe I was being too harsh on it because this movie had a good theme of humanity and I felt like I didn't properly explain at some of the issues I have with this one. But the movie should have been important to me and It didn't feel that important. It benefitted Civil War but the movie didn't benefit itself enough.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Damn, I got tired from writing this review. Ant-Man should be more fun to discuss.
I remember being hyped as hell for this one. It was the first MCU movie that I was waiting to be aired and the first superhero movie I've seen in theaters. And I remember loving so much of it, maybe even more than the first Avenger itself. After thinking more into it, it wasn't as amazing as I once remembered and I saw first Avengers again and reminded myself why I loved that movie in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I actually still liked this movie in a way but this wasn't that well-written and it came out as a bit mess.
Airdate: May 1, 2015
Directed by Joss Whedon
So what exactly did this movie do wrong? Honestly I didn't think this was as badly-written or poorly made as some people made it out be. It has a great theme called humanity and I think that's an important theme in a superhero movie. Our protagonists are heroes in their own way but there's no way they aren't flawed or they didn't do bad things to achieve that goal or their projects didn't end up hitting them in the face. This theme was explored nicely for the most part but the problem was that this movie felt all over the place and some parts of it just felt like it was setting up a bigger picture for MCU but it didn't mash well into the movie. Lets explain why it didn't completely do the job great.
The movie started off with Von Strucker, last remaning leader of Hydra or that's what the movies think and some people didn't watch Agents of S.H.I.EL.D. I'll shut up. trying to experiment on people with Loki's specter in Sokovia and Avengers arrived just in time to stop him. Just like the first movie, Avengers started off with a bang and the action kept entertaining me. We got some nice character interactions and some jokes here and there. Captain America managed to stop Von Strucker but none of Avengers saw the twins, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, coming. They were introduced in post credit scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and while I sort of liked them in this movie, I didn't like how they were set up. That's one thing to not make them mutants because no mutants allowed in MCU (yet) but it felt so wrong to see them siding with Hydra, the Nazi science division, to get revenge on Avengers. I know they were villains once and their reasoning for attacking Avengers made sense but for goodness sake, their father, Magneto, was jewish and they were jewish too. I would perfectly accept if they were brainwashed by Loki's specter but seeing supposedly jews that have a holocaust survivor father voluntering Nazis was just wrong. I didn't know their history on comics before but after knowing, that was disrespectful of their origin and Whedon and Fiege should have reconsidered this decision to make their origins different. I know I ranted a bit too much on it but it had to be brought up. Moving on from this, Wanda mind controled Stark to bring up his worst fear and that was him seeing all of his friends being dead. I liked this concept because It was good seeing Tony still trying to recover from PTSD of the first movie and seeing him fearing for his friends made sense for him to do something about it. Another related thing is that Tony brought up his robots to protect people in Sokovia but Sokovia citizens threw tomatoes at him. Okay, I know why some people wouldn't trust Avengers but it felt weird seeing it so sudden with barely build up to it. It's just a minor nit-pick. Of course, the twins continued to attack Avengers, as a result Hawkeye was injured but they managed to stop all Hydra agents, Tony got the spectre and the twins were gone.
Avengers returned to their home bases and Barton was recovered. Stark started to talk to Bruce about how Tony's vision felt real and it would happen sooner than later. So Tony decided to make an A.I. with Bruce called Ultron and mix him with Jarvis to make sure Ultron is the one that would save the world this time, instead of his friends. Tony didn't wanna bring this up to people yet and he started to work on it with him for days. As some of you know, Ultron wasn't really created by Tony, it was Hank Pym, original Ant-Man, that built him, so it was sort of disappointing to find out Tony was the one to build him but I can let it slide because it still fit in his character. After Iron Man 3, he promised to tone down the suits and start a better life for himself, so he decided to make robots to make sure they would save the world. Tony wanted to retire but he still cared about saving lives, why get rid of that? Instead of Tony, A.I. would do all of his work and that made sense. So I appreciated how they used Tony to build him, even though I wish it was Hank Pym with Tony helping him. Days later, they were almost complete with A.I.. Meanwhile Avengers came together to celebate their victory. It was nice seeing Hill, Sam and Rhodey in the party, kind of shame Sam didn't get to do much in the movie tho. Bruce and Natasha started to flirt with each other and I started to feel awkward. When did this happen all of a sudden? Bruce and Natasha having feelings for each other? I know Natasha was the person to recruit Bruce to S.H.I.E.L.D. but I never felt they had some sort of connection and they barely even interacted in the first Avengers movie. Here it all seemed like Joss Whendon just wanted some romance, so he created this mess. I know Natasha and Barton being a couple would feel predictable but predictability isn't bad if it makes sense. Natasha and Barton had a history together and I wish this movie would explore that and develop feelings for each other. Fine, it didn't need to be romance if they saw them as partners but why Bruce and Natasha? We'll get to how they set them up and how it was bad is coming later. Avengers started to hang out with each other more with them trying to hold Thor's hammer. I actually loved this scene so much. I know being lighthearted and humourous can be a flaw in MCU but sometimes it works when it highlights the characters and make them feel more human. I liked that nobody was able to life it because they were unworthy. Steve almost lifted tho, just saying. When all of that was happening, Ultron was born and he delved into Internet to learn. And he was terrified with results. Jarvis, Tony's first A.I., tried to calm him down but later Ultron attacked Jarvis and started to attack on Avengers. Many people saw Ultron as a weak villain in this movie and while I kind of disagree, I definitely agree that the whole set up of him becoming a villain was rushed and most of the time he was talking all villainy, so I didn't happen to care for him as I should have been. Now I get his motivation for it, he watted to destroy humanity because that's only path for peace and he was right. That makes Ultron an interesting villain to Avengers and a part of a good theme in this movie. He hated humanity for their sickening crimes and he hated being a slave to them but like I said, he happened all of a sudden and because of the awkward pacing, lack of sympathy and him making jokes sometimes, he didn't end up being a menacing villain. I actually loved him a lot more in Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes cartoon and that was because he felt scary and he had a slow but a good build up. I kind of wished we'd see him saving lives first, later being invested in destroying it. That being said, he had a good voice and he was more fun than most of MCU villains at that time.
Ultron started to attack on Avengers and that was pretty awesome to see, not gonna lie. Ultron escaped the tower and found the twins to plan evolution. Another weird evolutionary plot because WHERE ARE MUTANTS WHEN YOU NEED THESE PLOTS? It definitely felt weird to see two supposedly mutants who aren't mutants to side with a robot for evolution but that's the closest thing to X-Men, besides inhumans becoming more like mutants in MCU lol. We learned a bit about Wanda and Pietro's backstory and why they wanted Avengers dead. It was because their home was bombed and it was Stark's bombs that made it happened, so they have a reason to kill them. Yeah, other Avengers didn't do that but they sided with Tony, so. Ultron and the twins went to Africa to find Earth's strongest metal called vibranium to make him a better body. They met Ulysses Klaue, aka Klaw, to get some of that sweet vibranium. Klaw found the vibranium from a place called Wakanda but he was attacked when he stole it. Avengers went there to stop them because Tony knew where they would find vibranium. Ummm, Tony knows vibranium is in Wakanda but nobody else does. How did he know that information and why didn't he tell anyone? We'll never know. Also this was the first set up to Black Panther and I didn't notice that until I saw Civil War and Black Panther lol. Avengers attacked Ultron and the twins, as a result Klaw's hand was cut by Ultron and Wanda gave each Avengers a vision of their fear, loss and regrets. Except Tony. And Barton who got sick of mind mind control because the dude had enough with that crap. While there's one aspect of Hawkeye I didn't like in the movie, this movie was the best usage of him. I likd that he was sarcastic and more of a slide of life character than rest of Avengers. He was tired of being like anobody and he wanted to prove he's worth something. Well, that wasn't explored as much but still that's the closest characterization of Hawkeye we'll ever get. Maybe Avengers 4 will fix that and give us more Hawkeye's characterization and even some of his past? Please? In their visions, Steve saw his regret of never being able to be with Peggy and his life being taken away. Thor saw his people's death and Infinity Stones, Natasha saw her childhood and her becoming an assassin. Last person to be nind controled was Bruce and that turned him into an uncontrolable Hulk.Tony noticed that and he stopped fighting with Ultron and brought Hulkbuster to stop Hulk.Now that scene was really awesome to see. Seeing Hulkbuster and tht fight against Hulk was so much fun and it made us see how much of a threat Ultron could be. Well, Wanda did that but still. I loved the fight but I walso felt bad for Hulk after being out of mind control and seeing how he wrecked the place and endangered innocent lives. Tony knocked him up tho, sad Hulk.
After their defeat, Avengers went to a safe house. Well, that was a quick transition from having some quick action scenes to slower and calmer moments. Even during the theaters I felt the shift in pacing felt rushed. It was like they saved most of character interactions and developments for a brief moment of slow pace and it felt unevan and weird. Avengers had a mix of both slow pace and fast pact but neither arrived that quickly. Even in the party scenes, Ultron's development happened too fast. So the dafe house was where Hawkeye stays and it was revealed that Hawkeye has a family! Yeah, that was what the heck? I get what they were doing, they wanted to make him more relatable by making him a simple family man but it came out of place and it was like giving him a family would make him a more compelling character. It wasn't. And It was like they really had to remove the concept of Natasha and Barton romance for sake of Natasha and Bruce romance. Speaking of Natasha/Bruce, here we go to one of the worst aspects of MCU movies ever. We got to learn morea bout Natasha's past, isn't it great? We learned that she was trained to be an assassin and she hated killing innocent people. Shouldn't that be an interesting backstory? Yeah but they ruined all of it with thefact that Natasha was sterlized, so she can't have babies. And she found herelf monster because of her crappy past. Look, Whedon can stay the her monster line was all related to her being an assassin. And just like similar failed ideas of this movie, I understood what he was going for. Natasha felt herself as a monster for killing people. But why add sterlization into that? What was the point of giving us that info? To hook her up with Bruce because he can't have babies too? He said the same thing and the next thing you are gonna say Bruce felt himself as a monster too and you are right but WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO HAVE BOTH OF THEM NOT BEING ABLE OT MAKE BABIES? Just to mke them smooch? That's awful romance. Heck, even setting the romance up just because both of them felt monsters wasn't good to begin with. No relationship is perfect but a good relationship should be partners finding best versions of each other. Yes, both of them seeing themselves as bad people makes them sympathetic towards each other but that's not healthy romance. If the point was to show them as an unstable couple, I would understand but that wasn't the point and that was why the relationship failed for me. Another bad thing about this was that this movie's theme was that even good people can be bad and they failed on Natasha's character badly. Not the mention that scvene feels more messed up since Scarlett Johanson, actress that plays Natasha, was pregnant during that scene. And people say why is Joss Whedon so hated. That's why, people. Meanwhile Steve and Tony started to have an argument about saving lives and how much they can do this now. That scene was actually good because it not only set up their conflict in Civil War movie, they had a good interaction on their idealogies about what it means to be a hero. Plus Steve ripping the log in a half was super sexy, shrug. Then we saw Nick Fury again, this time and encouraging the team. I like seeing Fury as a supporter of the group and while his appearence was short, it was good seeing him again.
So Avengers left the safe house to find Ultron, except Thor who teamed up with Erik Selvig to have a vision quest to see what was his vision saying. And here we have another out of place plot, except it shouldn't be. It served almost nothing to the plot and it was only there to set up Thor: Raganarok and Infinity War, althrough Thor's information on Infinity Stones didn't need to have a plot because that wasn't the plot of Ragnarok and it wasn't even necessary to set up destruction of Asgard. Thor could have left to check on Asgard because Loki started to rule. And Thor could have learned more about Infinity Stones in Infinity War. Also this was the last time we saw Erik, press F of rpay respects (he's not dead but he's written off without a trace). Ultron started to build a new body for evoltuion with vibanium and Mind Stone taken from the spectre. Wanda got in contact with the stone and saw what Ultron was planning and she didn't like it. Ultron's plan was to destroy all of humanity and replace it with betterspecies . Avengers found Ultron and started to fight with him. They took the new body, Wanda and Peter betrayed Ultron but Natasha was kidnapped by Ultron. Tony realized that Jarvis was okay, so he wanted to bring the new body into life with Jarvis because this time they wouldn't do wrong. He convinced Bruce but other team members stopped them until Thor arrived and discovered that Tony's plan works. They created Vision, an android that understands life better than anyone. He managed to lift Thor's hammer and we all got wet. We finally arrived to the big climax where Sokovia was used by Ultron as an astroid to extinct humanity. While the climax was so much fun, I didn't feel as emotionally invested as the first Avenger's climax and I know it feels like I compare this movie with the first one but I felt like this movie could have been much better at the story than the first Avengers. Bruce managed to rescue Natasha and he was turned into Hulk by Natasha cuz Natasha kissed him. Again, not a good romance. They fought and saved as many lives for a while, even Rhodey as War Machine and Fury came with S.H.I.E.L.D. to rescue lives and stop Ultron robots. That was also the last time we saw S.H.I.E.L.D. on the big screen. During the fight, Wanda started to blame herself for this and It was understadable why she felt that way. I felt like she was the only new character that got some character focu, aside from maybe Vision because Pietro was just there and Ultron wasn't that interesting. Hawkeye gave her a speech on superheroing and that was probably the best scene of the entire movie. Clint finally shined as a character and it was great to see Wanda quitting blame on herself and starting to be a hero. Sadly Pietro died and that pretty much added bonus to Wanda's character. What a waste but eh, Pietro was much better in X-Men universe. They managed to get almost everyone to safety, although I felt like the movie should have addressed some lives the team couldn't save besides Pietro because that was a big plot point in Civil War. I get this movie wanted to have some fun but It would have been better if it didn't feel like a victory. They saved the day but not everyone. Finally the team stopped Ultron for good and how they did it was honestly underwhelming, except Wanda and Vision's scenes of them killing him. Those felt good. So Thor left Earth to find out more about the stones, except he didn't in his next appearence in MCU, Hulk left Earth because people hate him now, Tony took a break from Avengers to have a life, Steve and Natasha set up a new line of Avengers. And one end credit scene of Thanos doing everything by himself.
Yeah, the more I saw it and thought about it, this is one of the weakest entires of MCU. That doesn't mean I didn't like it. I liked it but I didn't find it good of a movie. It was a fun popcorn experience that had good character interactions and humor but it had many issues with a weird pacing, out of place sequences, some characterizations being written badly, Ultron's development being rushed and your typical world ending stakes with not enough interesting aspect of it. Maybe I was being too harsh on it because this movie had a good theme of humanity and I felt like I didn't properly explain at some of the issues I have with this one. But the movie should have been important to me and It didn't feel that important. It benefitted Civil War but the movie didn't benefit itself enough.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Thor - B+
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Damn, I got tired from writing this review. Ant-Man should be more fun to discuss.
Master WhoBruh
Cap
You all know the drill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpPx7E27Bc8
IT'S ANT-MAN TIME BABY.
Airdate: July 17, 2015
Directed by Peyton Reed
It's kind of weird that nobody, outside of comic book fans, seems to be heard of Ant-Man. Ant-Man (Hank Pym) and The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) are the founders of Avengers. Heck, Hank Pym was the one that built Ultron in the first place and sad stuff happened afterwards. After Age of Ultron movie, I've heard of this movie from my friend but I don't recall being that interested to see this. I mean we all care about a character named Spider-Man but Ant-Man? So he's just gonna shrink and we are gonna watch his shrinking adventures? Yes, sir. But we aren't gonna watch Hank Pym as Ant-Man. There's another Ant-Man character in the comics and that is Scott Lang, the movie is all about him but they did a pretty good job at introducing an unpopular character and making him popular. Perhaps not as popular as Guardians of the Galaxy right now but still.
The movie had a cold opening of a 1989 flashback and we were introduced to Dr. Hank Pym, a brilliant scientist who created Pym Particles that shrinks Ant-Man suit. Around that time, Hank Pym stopped working for S.H.I.E.L.D. but S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to replicate Pym Particles and Hank Pym was so pissed off about it that he smacked one of the workers of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the head. Pym said as long as he lives (I wonder If he's gonna die in Ant-Man and the Wasp for that, please don't kill him off.). We learned a bit about Hank Pym from the opening. He's someone that used to do good for the world with his Ant-Man suit but now he saw that his tech can be a threat If it gets in hands of others. We went back to the present and we were introduced to Scott Lang. A thief, excuse me, a burglar who spent some time in prison and he finally got out. His final day was him fighting with a dude as a goodbye. Man, I thought prison wasn't supposed to be friendly, I thought prisoners were supposed to try to murder each other! Scott met his pal Luis who is still a thief and he tried to offer Scott another theft but Scott said no because he wanted to redeem himself and provide for his daughter named Cassie. Unfortunately, despite being an electrical engineer, Scott couldn't work as an engineer, so he started to work on a stand but later he got fired for his criminal record. Then he sneaked into his daughter's birthday but his ex-wife and her new husband stopped him. His ex-wife said if he really wanted to see his daughter again, he'd have to provide for her. As a result Scott had no choice but to steal again. I love Scott as a character already. He's clearly someone who wanted to stop making his past mistakes but nobody gave him a second chance to do so, so he started to make the same mistake for his daughter. He's not some rich playboy or an experiemental boy scout or a doctor or a God or a spy. He's a screwed up man who tried to be better but circumstances didn't allow him to. Meanwhile we went back to Hank Pym, whose company was taken from a scientist named Darren Cross and his daughter Hope van Dyne worked for him. Cross introduced Pym and the military a new suit named Yellowjacket which he would sell it as a weapon but Cross wasn't able to correct his own shrinking particles yet. Pym didn't like that one bit, so he set up a plan to make Scott steal Ant-Man suit, so he can steal Yellowjacket suit for him. Hope was also in this plan but Pym refused to give her Ant-Man suit. Scott found out from Luis and his friends about some old man was having lots of money in his home and he wasn't there. So during night, they went there to steal it. Scott managed to steal it but all he found was Ant-Man suit. He was disappointed by it, yet he took the suit, wore it and he got shrunk. Hank Pym contacted with Scott and implied that he made Scott steal the suit. As a result, Scott took the suit off and brought back the suit to Pym's home but he was arrested by cops. Scott's ex-wife's husband was so disappointed by him for wasting his second chance. Scott was taken to see his lawyer and it was none other thank Hank Pym! Hank Pym talked to Scott about giving him an actual second chance because all Scott wanted was to make things right with his daughter. Hank Pym clearly saw a lot things in him with Scott. Someone that was a lew down by his daughter, so he wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen to Scott. That made Hank Pym a much sympathetic character because he still cared a lot of about the world but he didn't exactly know how to solve world problems. He made bad decisions and that led to a bigger danger. That's a lot like Hank Pym in the comics and in Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes cartoon I've talked about. Although I wish there were certain things that were used for his character just like in the comics but we'll get to that later.
Pym freed Scott from prison with his ants and he explained that Scott has to steal Yellowjacket from Cross because Scott was a brilliant burglar. Of course, Hope didn't like that he was gonna be the one to wear Ant-Man suit and steal it, despite her knowledge of the building and Cross. In fact, she was the one that called the cops to arrest Scott. That was a dick move from her but it made sense why she did it. Which brought to us to talk a bit about Hope's character but before that, we gotta talk about some funny and entertaining scenes of Scott trying to understand Ant-Man suit, learning to fight better from Hope and talking to ants. So getting back to Hope, Hope was upset that Hank Pym still lied about her mother's actual death and she left the home for it. Hope's characterization of this shined here. She was disappointed by her father for not trusting her enough and always lying to her face. Hope was like Scott's daughter if he didn't make thing right with his daughter before. Scott explained to her that her not wearing Ant-Man suit had a reason. It was because her mother, Janet shrunk to atomic level and beyond that she couldn't grow more, she did that to save USA from a missle, so that was why Hank didn't want her to take the suit because he feared that'd eventually happen to her. I usually don't like this trope of people lying to their closest ones or keep them away from dangerous business to keep them safe but I thought it worked here because Pym was traumatized by his wife's death and he didn't want same thing happening to her. That was why Scott was picked because he was expandable. Although you can say that that was a bit cruel for Hank because Scott had a daughter and If he shrunk to atomic level or died in hands of Cross, she wouldn't see him again. And you are right but nevertheless Hank would do anything to keep her daughter from danger. Neither Scott and Hope refused to do this job from knowing the danger Scott was gonna face. I liked the parallels between Scott and Hank as a I mentioned. I don't even think this was in the comics that Scott and Hank had dynamic of two screw up dads and I was glad that was a part of the movie.
Scott finally mastered Ant-Man suit and his first heist was to steal a tech for their actual heist from an old Stark building but it turned out it was the new Avengers H.Q. and Falcon noticed Ant-Man suit. The duo fought together and even had some funny dynamic with each other. Scott managed to steal the tech and they went to Scott's company to steal Yellowjacket suit. And they had help from Scott's funny friend Luis and his funny friends. Okay, they kind of made me laugh a few times in the movie, I can't complain. Hank and Hope got into building but Cross noticed them and Scott, so he managed to stop Scott from stealing the suit and Cross was gonna sell the suit to Hydra. Oh, Hydra still continued in the movies after Age of Ultron, my bad. We got to explore some of Cross' character but honestly I didn't care that much about him. He wasn't a bad villain but I couldn't find myself caring for his situation. I got that he worked for Pym and eventually he looked up to him but Pym let him down and Pym particles was driving him insane. But idk, I wish there would be some sort of a better reason why he wanted to sell the suit to bad people than being let down by Pym. Maybe it was because of just Pym particles but why didn't those drive Hank Pym insane? Iirc, Ant-Man helmet was keeping his mind safe but I was disappointed by how the villain was written to be just someone that was disappointed by his boss for not selling Ant-Man suit and wanted revenge. There was even some comprasion to Pym and Cross but Pym didn't seem to be effected by Pym particles. I'll say that I wish they'd stay more true to Hank's character in the comics to make the villain a bit more compelling because Pym turning insane by Pym particles is important to his character arc. He became mentally unstable that he was banned from Avengers team, he built a robot to stop it, so he can get back to Avengers but when he had a mental breakdown he smacked Janet with Yellowjacket suit and name and he was banned from Avengers again. As a result, Pym felt more bad about the situation and how he treated Janet in the situation,Janet divorced him, everything went bad for Pym and eventually Pym drove himself to suicide but he recovered from it and made himself a better person. I didn't read old comics but that's Pym's history and I found that aspect of his in the comics to be interesting. What he did in the past was so wrong like building a dangerous robot and smacking Janet one time but he felt pain and he wanted redemption and after rewatch, I wish that aspect was included in the comics. Definitely not him smacking Janet but him being a mentally ill person and Pym particles making it worse to the fact he drove her daughter away from him and being depressed about it. I know that'd be a bit too much in a fun universe but MCU tackled serious issues like PTSD, Nazism and suicide before. If they inject some of more seriousnes sinto Pym's character and Cross' character, I felt like Cross would have been a more interesting foe and a perfect mirror to Pym (or Hope for being disappointed by Pym), as well as making Pym a bit more broken. I'm not saying we should take away fun stuff in the movie because this is freaking Ant-Man but that's also my issue with MCU sometimes. I wish they would be more complex and serious in some of their movies. Don't get me wrong, I still liked Hank in the movie but I didn't like Cross much, not even after he wore Yellowjacket suit.
As a result, Scott managed to escape but Cross already took the suit. Hank was shot by a gun but Hope was there to save him. Scott's friends made it alive. Lasly Scott went after Cross to stop him. Cross wore the suit and Scott and Cross started to fight. Scott managed to stop Yellowjacket for a while but he got arrested before he took Yellowjack. Later Yellowjacket attacked Scott's ex-wife's home and took his daughter. If we started to talk more positive about the movie, I liked that the situation was global but stakes and overall climax didn't feel big or convuluted. That provied more interesting and enjoyable action scenes, as well as more personal for Scott. Scott fought with him and finally he shrunk to atomic level to stop him and it worked but he shrunk more and more that it felt like there was no hope. That scene was really emotional and breathtaking ftom great visuals. Thankfully Scott found a way to grow himself and he hugged his daughter afterwards. Then finally Scott redeemed himself in front of his ex and her husband and he hooked up wth Hope. Hank realized that there'll always be something that will take away his tech but now he started to rely on his daughter to keep them safe by giving her Wasp costume and in the last end credit scene, Sam and Steve found Bucky but there were some issues they were facing, so Sam informed Steve about knowing Scott.
I'll say that I wish there would be a bit more depth into this movie but I still really liked this as a good movie for protagonists deserving redemption in their lives and it's always good to see a different style injected in a MCU movie. This was a heist movie and it made it so much fun and well-written. Scott, Hope and Hank turned out to be really great characters and I can't wait to see Ant-Man and the Wasp to see them more.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Thor - B+
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpPx7E27Bc8
IT'S ANT-MAN TIME BABY.
Airdate: July 17, 2015
Directed by Peyton Reed
It's kind of weird that nobody, outside of comic book fans, seems to be heard of Ant-Man. Ant-Man (Hank Pym) and The Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) are the founders of Avengers. Heck, Hank Pym was the one that built Ultron in the first place and sad stuff happened afterwards. After Age of Ultron movie, I've heard of this movie from my friend but I don't recall being that interested to see this. I mean we all care about a character named Spider-Man but Ant-Man? So he's just gonna shrink and we are gonna watch his shrinking adventures? Yes, sir. But we aren't gonna watch Hank Pym as Ant-Man. There's another Ant-Man character in the comics and that is Scott Lang, the movie is all about him but they did a pretty good job at introducing an unpopular character and making him popular. Perhaps not as popular as Guardians of the Galaxy right now but still.
The movie had a cold opening of a 1989 flashback and we were introduced to Dr. Hank Pym, a brilliant scientist who created Pym Particles that shrinks Ant-Man suit. Around that time, Hank Pym stopped working for S.H.I.E.L.D. but S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to replicate Pym Particles and Hank Pym was so pissed off about it that he smacked one of the workers of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the head. Pym said as long as he lives (I wonder If he's gonna die in Ant-Man and the Wasp for that, please don't kill him off.). We learned a bit about Hank Pym from the opening. He's someone that used to do good for the world with his Ant-Man suit but now he saw that his tech can be a threat If it gets in hands of others. We went back to the present and we were introduced to Scott Lang. A thief, excuse me, a burglar who spent some time in prison and he finally got out. His final day was him fighting with a dude as a goodbye. Man, I thought prison wasn't supposed to be friendly, I thought prisoners were supposed to try to murder each other! Scott met his pal Luis who is still a thief and he tried to offer Scott another theft but Scott said no because he wanted to redeem himself and provide for his daughter named Cassie. Unfortunately, despite being an electrical engineer, Scott couldn't work as an engineer, so he started to work on a stand but later he got fired for his criminal record. Then he sneaked into his daughter's birthday but his ex-wife and her new husband stopped him. His ex-wife said if he really wanted to see his daughter again, he'd have to provide for her. As a result Scott had no choice but to steal again. I love Scott as a character already. He's clearly someone who wanted to stop making his past mistakes but nobody gave him a second chance to do so, so he started to make the same mistake for his daughter. He's not some rich playboy or an experiemental boy scout or a doctor or a God or a spy. He's a screwed up man who tried to be better but circumstances didn't allow him to. Meanwhile we went back to Hank Pym, whose company was taken from a scientist named Darren Cross and his daughter Hope van Dyne worked for him. Cross introduced Pym and the military a new suit named Yellowjacket which he would sell it as a weapon but Cross wasn't able to correct his own shrinking particles yet. Pym didn't like that one bit, so he set up a plan to make Scott steal Ant-Man suit, so he can steal Yellowjacket suit for him. Hope was also in this plan but Pym refused to give her Ant-Man suit. Scott found out from Luis and his friends about some old man was having lots of money in his home and he wasn't there. So during night, they went there to steal it. Scott managed to steal it but all he found was Ant-Man suit. He was disappointed by it, yet he took the suit, wore it and he got shrunk. Hank Pym contacted with Scott and implied that he made Scott steal the suit. As a result, Scott took the suit off and brought back the suit to Pym's home but he was arrested by cops. Scott's ex-wife's husband was so disappointed by him for wasting his second chance. Scott was taken to see his lawyer and it was none other thank Hank Pym! Hank Pym talked to Scott about giving him an actual second chance because all Scott wanted was to make things right with his daughter. Hank Pym clearly saw a lot things in him with Scott. Someone that was a lew down by his daughter, so he wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen to Scott. That made Hank Pym a much sympathetic character because he still cared a lot of about the world but he didn't exactly know how to solve world problems. He made bad decisions and that led to a bigger danger. That's a lot like Hank Pym in the comics and in Avengers: Earth's Mightest Heroes cartoon I've talked about. Although I wish there were certain things that were used for his character just like in the comics but we'll get to that later.
Pym freed Scott from prison with his ants and he explained that Scott has to steal Yellowjacket from Cross because Scott was a brilliant burglar. Of course, Hope didn't like that he was gonna be the one to wear Ant-Man suit and steal it, despite her knowledge of the building and Cross. In fact, she was the one that called the cops to arrest Scott. That was a dick move from her but it made sense why she did it. Which brought to us to talk a bit about Hope's character but before that, we gotta talk about some funny and entertaining scenes of Scott trying to understand Ant-Man suit, learning to fight better from Hope and talking to ants. So getting back to Hope, Hope was upset that Hank Pym still lied about her mother's actual death and she left the home for it. Hope's characterization of this shined here. She was disappointed by her father for not trusting her enough and always lying to her face. Hope was like Scott's daughter if he didn't make thing right with his daughter before. Scott explained to her that her not wearing Ant-Man suit had a reason. It was because her mother, Janet shrunk to atomic level and beyond that she couldn't grow more, she did that to save USA from a missle, so that was why Hank didn't want her to take the suit because he feared that'd eventually happen to her. I usually don't like this trope of people lying to their closest ones or keep them away from dangerous business to keep them safe but I thought it worked here because Pym was traumatized by his wife's death and he didn't want same thing happening to her. That was why Scott was picked because he was expandable. Although you can say that that was a bit cruel for Hank because Scott had a daughter and If he shrunk to atomic level or died in hands of Cross, she wouldn't see him again. And you are right but nevertheless Hank would do anything to keep her daughter from danger. Neither Scott and Hope refused to do this job from knowing the danger Scott was gonna face. I liked the parallels between Scott and Hank as a I mentioned. I don't even think this was in the comics that Scott and Hank had dynamic of two screw up dads and I was glad that was a part of the movie.
Scott finally mastered Ant-Man suit and his first heist was to steal a tech for their actual heist from an old Stark building but it turned out it was the new Avengers H.Q. and Falcon noticed Ant-Man suit. The duo fought together and even had some funny dynamic with each other. Scott managed to steal the tech and they went to Scott's company to steal Yellowjacket suit. And they had help from Scott's funny friend Luis and his funny friends. Okay, they kind of made me laugh a few times in the movie, I can't complain. Hank and Hope got into building but Cross noticed them and Scott, so he managed to stop Scott from stealing the suit and Cross was gonna sell the suit to Hydra. Oh, Hydra still continued in the movies after Age of Ultron, my bad. We got to explore some of Cross' character but honestly I didn't care that much about him. He wasn't a bad villain but I couldn't find myself caring for his situation. I got that he worked for Pym and eventually he looked up to him but Pym let him down and Pym particles was driving him insane. But idk, I wish there would be some sort of a better reason why he wanted to sell the suit to bad people than being let down by Pym. Maybe it was because of just Pym particles but why didn't those drive Hank Pym insane? Iirc, Ant-Man helmet was keeping his mind safe but I was disappointed by how the villain was written to be just someone that was disappointed by his boss for not selling Ant-Man suit and wanted revenge. There was even some comprasion to Pym and Cross but Pym didn't seem to be effected by Pym particles. I'll say that I wish they'd stay more true to Hank's character in the comics to make the villain a bit more compelling because Pym turning insane by Pym particles is important to his character arc. He became mentally unstable that he was banned from Avengers team, he built a robot to stop it, so he can get back to Avengers but when he had a mental breakdown he smacked Janet with Yellowjacket suit and name and he was banned from Avengers again. As a result, Pym felt more bad about the situation and how he treated Janet in the situation,Janet divorced him, everything went bad for Pym and eventually Pym drove himself to suicide but he recovered from it and made himself a better person. I didn't read old comics but that's Pym's history and I found that aspect of his in the comics to be interesting. What he did in the past was so wrong like building a dangerous robot and smacking Janet one time but he felt pain and he wanted redemption and after rewatch, I wish that aspect was included in the comics. Definitely not him smacking Janet but him being a mentally ill person and Pym particles making it worse to the fact he drove her daughter away from him and being depressed about it. I know that'd be a bit too much in a fun universe but MCU tackled serious issues like PTSD, Nazism and suicide before. If they inject some of more seriousnes sinto Pym's character and Cross' character, I felt like Cross would have been a more interesting foe and a perfect mirror to Pym (or Hope for being disappointed by Pym), as well as making Pym a bit more broken. I'm not saying we should take away fun stuff in the movie because this is freaking Ant-Man but that's also my issue with MCU sometimes. I wish they would be more complex and serious in some of their movies. Don't get me wrong, I still liked Hank in the movie but I didn't like Cross much, not even after he wore Yellowjacket suit.
As a result, Scott managed to escape but Cross already took the suit. Hank was shot by a gun but Hope was there to save him. Scott's friends made it alive. Lasly Scott went after Cross to stop him. Cross wore the suit and Scott and Cross started to fight. Scott managed to stop Yellowjacket for a while but he got arrested before he took Yellowjack. Later Yellowjacket attacked Scott's ex-wife's home and took his daughter. If we started to talk more positive about the movie, I liked that the situation was global but stakes and overall climax didn't feel big or convuluted. That provied more interesting and enjoyable action scenes, as well as more personal for Scott. Scott fought with him and finally he shrunk to atomic level to stop him and it worked but he shrunk more and more that it felt like there was no hope. That scene was really emotional and breathtaking ftom great visuals. Thankfully Scott found a way to grow himself and he hugged his daughter afterwards. Then finally Scott redeemed himself in front of his ex and her husband and he hooked up wth Hope. Hank realized that there'll always be something that will take away his tech but now he started to rely on his daughter to keep them safe by giving her Wasp costume and in the last end credit scene, Sam and Steve found Bucky but there were some issues they were facing, so Sam informed Steve about knowing Scott.
I'll say that I wish there would be a bit more depth into this movie but I still really liked this as a good movie for protagonists deserving redemption in their lives and it's always good to see a different style injected in a MCU movie. This was a heist movie and it made it so much fun and well-written. Scott, Hope and Hank turned out to be really great characters and I can't wait to see Ant-Man and the Wasp to see them more.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Thor - B+
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
hello there. Sorry that I haven't updated this list in a while, I got too lazy but the ride ain't over yet. Oh wait, wrong movie.
Airdate: May 6, 2016
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
I remember that I used to call this to be my all-time favorite MCU movie during my first watch and now that I've seen it again, that was changed entirely. Still this movie is one of my favorite MCU movies and It's definitely a great closing chapter for what have become a great Captain America movie trilogy. But that doesn't mean this movie is flawless. Lets find out.
It's cold opening again and this time, we go to 1991, where we see Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier being waken up by Russian soldiers (who work for Hydra? Weird considering Nazis and Communists can't get along but Hydra did shut themselves off from Nazis, yet they are still in a way Nazis, so?) and they gave him a mission to get a serum from a car. Bucky was obviously in pain but they used some words to activiate Winter Soldier since they brainwashed him. Then the movie went back to presdent where we saw new Avengers team led by Steve Rogers, aka Captain America to stop a biological terrorism attack in Lagos. Is it weird to call this a Captain America movie or is this just Avengers 2.5? Either way, it's both movies but it's not really a issue. I'm just pointing it out. It turned out Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones now, was the one to release the virus to the city. Captain America managed to stop Crossbones but he delivered Steve a message from Bucky and he tried to blow himself but Wanda stopped him from killing Steve but she threw him in a building with 11 Wakanda citizens. They were all dead, as well as Crossbones. I just wanna say that MCU really loves wasting their villains sometimes. Crossbones was so brutal in the movie and I expected him to be the villain of this movie but sadly he was wasted. At least he wore a supervillain costume, yay! Meanwhilşee Tony was delivering a speech in a college funded by him and a woman showed up after he finished speech and she told hm her son died in Sokovia attack and she put him responsible for this. As a result of Sokovia and Lagos attacks, Alex Ross (ayyy, isn't that guy who was the whole reason Abomination existed in The Incredible Hulk and why wasn't he arrested for this? If so, where's ::dolphin noise::ing Betty Ross? Are we still gonna forget she was Bruce's girlfriend? Okay, MCU. We can have our ::dolphin noise::ty Hulk/Black Widow romance.) told Avengers that they need to work with the goverment or they shut them off. Tony agreed with this because of how reckless he was with Ultron and now Wanda was reckless with her mission. Rhodey agreed because he worked for the goverment for years and he believed he trusted them. Vision agreed for being logical That's so A.I. of him
. Natasha also agreed, despite being the one to tell goverment to screw themselves. On the other hand, Steve refused it because after working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and how it betrayed him. Steve believed that people had agendas and everyone deserved their help, so if the goverment told them not to save people in some other countries, they'd just feel controled. Sam also agreed with that for working with Steve and how he trusted him. Wanda wasn't so sure about this situation. Clint, aka Hawkeye just retired for his family. I gotta say that the movie did a great job at estabilishing the characters' motivations on it and it was setting up a great conflict between them. Before this movie, everything was set up great in Winter Soldier. Although Age of Ultron didn't do it as properly since we didn't see anyone dying from Sokovia, aside from Quicksilver (thx FOX), tho that was a flaw in that movie and Tony's actions still had consequences. Even though I was mostly on Steve's side, I could still understand Tony's reasons for it and that was pretty important aspect of the movie. If you wanna make a great rivalry, make both characters reasonable and this movie did just that. Suddenly, Steve got a text that Peggy Carter died and he went to her funeral. Okay, that was pretty quick. IMO with this much of character, this movie's pacing was pretty good but during first 30 minutes some of scenes did happen to be rushed. It doesn't bother me as much but it was still jarring to see some situations happening so quickly and it felt like this movie was trying a bit hard to remind us this was still a Captain America movie at times. Tony's introduction was also kind of rushed after how Lagos situation was ended. Nevertheless, the movie did a good job at setting up the conflict. During the funeral, it was revealed that Sharon, the spy that protected Steve in Winter Soldier, turned out to be Peggy's niece. One disappointing aspect of this movie was that we didn't get enough of Sharon's feelings of Peggy's death and she felt mostly chill. I like Sharon but I felt like this movie didn't do a good job at portraying her character well and that carried on later in the movie. We also got our villain of the movie, Helmut Zemo, who found out the notebook that contains words to brainwash Bucky quickly.
Later on, we were introduced to King T'Chacka and Price T'Challa of Wakanda in United Nations to sign Sokovia Accords, which would give Avengers to USA goverment. Tony, Rhodey, Natasha and Vision already signed it but not others. During that happening, a terrorist attack happened and UN thought it was Bucky that did it. T'Chacka died and T'Challa swore to kill Bucky for revenge on his father. So UN went after Bucky, as well as T'Challa but Steve didn't want that to happen because he knew they'd kill him. This really showed that Steve was slowly becoming a vigilante than a goverment product and I really liked seeing more of that in this movie. First two Captain America movies were so solid for Cap but this movie made him a more flawed character, yet it was someone that you could still root for him. Meanwhile, Wanda was cooking and Vision was there to help her. Wanda talked about how she felt responsible for all of this. I was waitin for Wanda's characterization to be properly developed in this movie and the movie gave me just that. I really understood how she must have felt so bad about everything she has done. Working with Hydra, Ultron and then causing people to die. At the same time, she didn't wanna be feared by people anymore. Vision felt like it was no time for Wanda to go outside because people were still fearing on her and she was still dangerous but Vision wanted Wanda to wait for a better time to reintroduce herself to the world. Even though Vision wasn't allowing Wanda to go outside, mainly because of following Tony's orders, Vision wasn't entirely wrong. He was a dick about it but Wanda was dangerous and she did need more time to be accepted into society. But I'm with Wanda on her situation and I really wanted her to actually do something about this.
Steve went after Bucky and he found him but military found him as well. We got to see more cool action scenes with Captain America and Bucky
getting out of this situation, as well as finally seeing T'Challa in Black Panther costume. The entire chase sequence was just thrilling to watch and Black Panther's introduction was so cool. Meanwhile Unfortunately UN found them and they captured Bucky. Tony and Natasha arrived to check on Bucky as well and Tony was just pissed off to Steve. I loved seeing more tension between Tony and Steve and their dialogue was so engaging throughout the movie. That scene was a proof that even before their conflict went personal, they were bitter with each other. Zemo managed to get in the building and he pretended to be a doctor. He shut down electricty and brainwashed Bucky again. Zemo was already a great planner and oh boy, he was so enjoyable to watch. Bucky got out of his jail and started to attack people. Before he went to helicopter to escape, Steve grabbed the helicopter and stopped him. Me when I see Cap muscles:
WHY DIDN'T RUSSO BROTHERS LET CHRIS EVANS SHIRTLESS IN THAT SCENE? HE WANTED THAT BUT THEY REFUSED. IT'S A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!!!
I just lost my mind for a minute. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, muscular, strong and sexy Steve escaped with his boyfriend Bucky and his other boyfriend Sam followed them. That's my canon, shut up. Bucky told Steve that there were more than one Winter Soldiers and Zemo was actually after them. In that time, Hawkeye arrived in Avengers building to let Wanda escape. The whole fight between Vision and Hawkeye was so awesome and Wanda went pure bad*ss level towards Vision. She knocked him to the ground. He deserved it so. Even though we didn't get as much of Hawkeye's motivation on why he suddenly wanted to quit retiring and went by Cap's side, he was still a fun character in this movie. Sharon got Steve and Sam their weapons and during that, Steve and Sharon kissed and Sam and Bucky looked jealous (you thought that happy smiley faces were genunie?). WHY??? Totally not because I wanted Cap all mine. It just felt wrong to see Cap kissing his first lover's niece. I get that they both look around same age and Peggy died, so why not take Sharon? They did flirt a bit in Winter Soldier, fine. BUT! How Sharon and Steve would kiss each other after Peggy died? That felt such an injustice to Sharon's character, as well as Steve's. I don't care if it was in the comics. It was the biggest romance mistake MCU ever made and I don't know what were Russos or the screenwriters were thinking. They are better than this. Oh well, at least that was never mentioned in Infinity War. Lets keep it that way. Hawkeye and Wanda showed up and they introduced Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man to Steve. And of course, Scott was aroused by Steve so much that he couldn't stop shaking his hand or fanboying him. We all know this movie wasn't about some superhero fight. It was about people wanting to get laid by Captain America. God, I love this movie. Tony realized something needed to be done, so he recurited Black Panther and he found another superhero to join their battle and that's none other than SPIDER-MAN!!! RESPECT THE HYPHEN!!! Now as someone that finds shoehorned set ups for future movies to be tiresome, this worked out well imo. From the minute, Peter Parker had his entire characterization to be ready without having a need to talk about his uncle's tragic death like all the time. Yeah, it's an important history for him but I was happy for once Peter was Peter without reliving his history again because we already know it. I liked seeing Peter believing what needs to be done to save people and fix his mistakes and Tony was really impressed with this because Tony saw Peter in himself and that played a bigger part in their latter interactions. All of our superheroes (except Hulk, Thor and TV superheroes) came together on an airport to fight each other. Now this whole fight sequence was the most fun aspect of the entire movie Not my favorite but I couldn't stop having fun at this conflict. Although I'll say this was more of a small battle compared to an actual civil war but eh, the title of this movie sells. They fought and the interactions with the heroes were really interesting and funny. The fight lasted a while and then big changes happened. Rhodey got injured badly from Vision because Vision felt confused by this feeling between him and Wanda and Vision felt sorry for acting such a jerk towards Wanda. Natasha betrayed Tony for Steve and I was shocked to see Black Widow being a double agent again. Other superheroes, except Cap and Bucky were captured. Cap and Bucky went after missing Winter Soldiers before Zemo wakes them up.
During the hospital scene with Rhodey being checked on, Tony told Natasha they are gonna come for her becaause of her betrayal and Natasha just kept it cool, called out Tony acting like an egotistical again and she walked away. Okay, that was an cool scene. Tony found out that Bucky wasn't responsible for UN bombing or him being free, it was all because of Zemo and he went after Cap and Bucky to stop him. And rest of superheroes were captured in The Raft, a highly secured prison for supercriminals. And Black Panther went after Tony. Tony arrived to Steve and he told him he was on their side until Zemo arrived to make sure they became divided once again. Zemo's plan wasn't to use Winter Soldiers, they were already got killed. His e3ntire plan was to tear our heroes apart and he did by showing a video footage of Bucky killing Tony's parents and Steve knew this all along but he didn't tell him to keep him safe. As a result, Tony was pissed off to Steve and Bucky and he tried to kill Bucky and the final showdown began with a bang. Airport scene was amazing but this scene right here was where the climax happened. It was just a superhero fight and it felt so satisfying. It became so personal for Steve and Tony and when Steve finally defeated Tony, Steve gave up Captain America name. Nobody won in this battle and that finally tore Avengers apart for good. Zemo was the first MCU villain that wasn't Loki to finally break the trope of being a cliched supervillain. I was sad that we didn't see him in full costume and it was weird to see him not being a Hydra agent or Baron Zemo's son but he was really sympathetic. He lost his father, wife and kid during Sokovia attack and he blamed Avengers for this. He knew he couldn't kill them, so he wanted to see them killing each other or at least the idea of Tony and Steve built would be dead. And he succeeded. He was the first MCU villain to win, even if he lost his freedom by killing innocent people. But it was a fact that it was Steve and Tony that killed Avengers team up. Zemo just made sure it would happen. Black Panther realized that he was after the wrong person but he gave up on revenge and he stopped Zemo from killing him. This movie sold me on Black Panther as a character and it made me hyped for Black Panther movie. Tony went back to Rhodey for his recovery and he got a delivery from Stan Lee. Steve sent a message on how sorry he was and he wished things would be different between them but nevertheless he gave him a sellphone to contact with him just in case he needed him. And Steve arrived to The Raft to free his friends. In the two post credit scenes, we saw Bucky being frozen in Wakanda and Spidey using the gift Tony gave it to him.
Admittedly, this movie had more flaws than I didn't notice as much during my first watch but it still holds up as a great ending to Captain America trilogy. It was a thriller movie with great themes of revenge and flaws in superheroing and the movie felt even dark at some points. Steve's arc was completed from him being a symbol of American justice and freedom to a full vigilante hero mode. Tony had a great arc that made him more human and flawed. Superhero fight scenes were cool and the villain was great. We can all agree that Steve Rogers is one sexy guy that everyone wants to get him.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Thor - B+
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: May 6, 2016
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
I remember that I used to call this to be my all-time favorite MCU movie during my first watch and now that I've seen it again, that was changed entirely. Still this movie is one of my favorite MCU movies and It's definitely a great closing chapter for what have become a great Captain America movie trilogy. But that doesn't mean this movie is flawless. Lets find out.
It's cold opening again and this time, we go to 1991, where we see Bucky Barnes, aka Winter Soldier being waken up by Russian soldiers (who work for Hydra? Weird considering Nazis and Communists can't get along but Hydra did shut themselves off from Nazis, yet they are still in a way Nazis, so?) and they gave him a mission to get a serum from a car. Bucky was obviously in pain but they used some words to activiate Winter Soldier since they brainwashed him. Then the movie went back to presdent where we saw new Avengers team led by Steve Rogers, aka Captain America to stop a biological terrorism attack in Lagos. Is it weird to call this a Captain America movie or is this just Avengers 2.5? Either way, it's both movies but it's not really a issue. I'm just pointing it out. It turned out Brock Rumlow, aka Crossbones now, was the one to release the virus to the city. Captain America managed to stop Crossbones but he delivered Steve a message from Bucky and he tried to blow himself but Wanda stopped him from killing Steve but she threw him in a building with 11 Wakanda citizens. They were all dead, as well as Crossbones. I just wanna say that MCU really loves wasting their villains sometimes. Crossbones was so brutal in the movie and I expected him to be the villain of this movie but sadly he was wasted. At least he wore a supervillain costume, yay! Meanwhilşee Tony was delivering a speech in a college funded by him and a woman showed up after he finished speech and she told hm her son died in Sokovia attack and she put him responsible for this. As a result of Sokovia and Lagos attacks, Alex Ross (ayyy, isn't that guy who was the whole reason Abomination existed in The Incredible Hulk and why wasn't he arrested for this? If so, where's ::dolphin noise::ing Betty Ross? Are we still gonna forget she was Bruce's girlfriend? Okay, MCU. We can have our ::dolphin noise::ty Hulk/Black Widow romance.) told Avengers that they need to work with the goverment or they shut them off. Tony agreed with this because of how reckless he was with Ultron and now Wanda was reckless with her mission. Rhodey agreed because he worked for the goverment for years and he believed he trusted them. Vision agreed for being logical That's so A.I. of him
. Natasha also agreed, despite being the one to tell goverment to screw themselves. On the other hand, Steve refused it because after working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and how it betrayed him. Steve believed that people had agendas and everyone deserved their help, so if the goverment told them not to save people in some other countries, they'd just feel controled. Sam also agreed with that for working with Steve and how he trusted him. Wanda wasn't so sure about this situation. Clint, aka Hawkeye just retired for his family. I gotta say that the movie did a great job at estabilishing the characters' motivations on it and it was setting up a great conflict between them. Before this movie, everything was set up great in Winter Soldier. Although Age of Ultron didn't do it as properly since we didn't see anyone dying from Sokovia, aside from Quicksilver (thx FOX), tho that was a flaw in that movie and Tony's actions still had consequences. Even though I was mostly on Steve's side, I could still understand Tony's reasons for it and that was pretty important aspect of the movie. If you wanna make a great rivalry, make both characters reasonable and this movie did just that. Suddenly, Steve got a text that Peggy Carter died and he went to her funeral. Okay, that was pretty quick. IMO with this much of character, this movie's pacing was pretty good but during first 30 minutes some of scenes did happen to be rushed. It doesn't bother me as much but it was still jarring to see some situations happening so quickly and it felt like this movie was trying a bit hard to remind us this was still a Captain America movie at times. Tony's introduction was also kind of rushed after how Lagos situation was ended. Nevertheless, the movie did a good job at setting up the conflict. During the funeral, it was revealed that Sharon, the spy that protected Steve in Winter Soldier, turned out to be Peggy's niece. One disappointing aspect of this movie was that we didn't get enough of Sharon's feelings of Peggy's death and she felt mostly chill. I like Sharon but I felt like this movie didn't do a good job at portraying her character well and that carried on later in the movie. We also got our villain of the movie, Helmut Zemo, who found out the notebook that contains words to brainwash Bucky quickly. Later on, we were introduced to King T'Chacka and Price T'Challa of Wakanda in United Nations to sign Sokovia Accords, which would give Avengers to USA goverment. Tony, Rhodey, Natasha and Vision already signed it but not others. During that happening, a terrorist attack happened and UN thought it was Bucky that did it. T'Chacka died and T'Challa swore to kill Bucky for revenge on his father. So UN went after Bucky, as well as T'Challa but Steve didn't want that to happen because he knew they'd kill him. This really showed that Steve was slowly becoming a vigilante than a goverment product and I really liked seeing more of that in this movie. First two Captain America movies were so solid for Cap but this movie made him a more flawed character, yet it was someone that you could still root for him. Meanwhile, Wanda was cooking and Vision was there to help her. Wanda talked about how she felt responsible for all of this. I was waitin for Wanda's characterization to be properly developed in this movie and the movie gave me just that. I really understood how she must have felt so bad about everything she has done. Working with Hydra, Ultron and then causing people to die. At the same time, she didn't wanna be feared by people anymore. Vision felt like it was no time for Wanda to go outside because people were still fearing on her and she was still dangerous but Vision wanted Wanda to wait for a better time to reintroduce herself to the world. Even though Vision wasn't allowing Wanda to go outside, mainly because of following Tony's orders, Vision wasn't entirely wrong. He was a dick about it but Wanda was dangerous and she did need more time to be accepted into society. But I'm with Wanda on her situation and I really wanted her to actually do something about this.
Steve went after Bucky and he found him but military found him as well. We got to see more cool action scenes with Captain America and Bucky
getting out of this situation, as well as finally seeing T'Challa in Black Panther costume. The entire chase sequence was just thrilling to watch and Black Panther's introduction was so cool. Meanwhile Unfortunately UN found them and they captured Bucky. Tony and Natasha arrived to check on Bucky as well and Tony was just pissed off to Steve. I loved seeing more tension between Tony and Steve and their dialogue was so engaging throughout the movie. That scene was a proof that even before their conflict went personal, they were bitter with each other. Zemo managed to get in the building and he pretended to be a doctor. He shut down electricty and brainwashed Bucky again. Zemo was already a great planner and oh boy, he was so enjoyable to watch. Bucky got out of his jail and started to attack people. Before he went to helicopter to escape, Steve grabbed the helicopter and stopped him. Me when I see Cap muscles:
WHY DIDN'T RUSSO BROTHERS LET CHRIS EVANS SHIRTLESS IN THAT SCENE? HE WANTED THAT BUT THEY REFUSED. IT'S A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!!!
I just lost my mind for a minute. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, muscular, strong and sexy Steve escaped with his boyfriend Bucky and his other boyfriend Sam followed them. That's my canon, shut up. Bucky told Steve that there were more than one Winter Soldiers and Zemo was actually after them. In that time, Hawkeye arrived in Avengers building to let Wanda escape. The whole fight between Vision and Hawkeye was so awesome and Wanda went pure bad*ss level towards Vision. She knocked him to the ground. He deserved it so. Even though we didn't get as much of Hawkeye's motivation on why he suddenly wanted to quit retiring and went by Cap's side, he was still a fun character in this movie. Sharon got Steve and Sam their weapons and during that, Steve and Sharon kissed and Sam and Bucky looked jealous (you thought that happy smiley faces were genunie?). WHY??? Totally not because I wanted Cap all mine. It just felt wrong to see Cap kissing his first lover's niece. I get that they both look around same age and Peggy died, so why not take Sharon? They did flirt a bit in Winter Soldier, fine. BUT! How Sharon and Steve would kiss each other after Peggy died? That felt such an injustice to Sharon's character, as well as Steve's. I don't care if it was in the comics. It was the biggest romance mistake MCU ever made and I don't know what were Russos or the screenwriters were thinking. They are better than this. Oh well, at least that was never mentioned in Infinity War. Lets keep it that way. Hawkeye and Wanda showed up and they introduced Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man to Steve. And of course, Scott was aroused by Steve so much that he couldn't stop shaking his hand or fanboying him. We all know this movie wasn't about some superhero fight. It was about people wanting to get laid by Captain America. God, I love this movie. Tony realized something needed to be done, so he recurited Black Panther and he found another superhero to join their battle and that's none other than SPIDER-MAN!!! RESPECT THE HYPHEN!!! Now as someone that finds shoehorned set ups for future movies to be tiresome, this worked out well imo. From the minute, Peter Parker had his entire characterization to be ready without having a need to talk about his uncle's tragic death like all the time. Yeah, it's an important history for him but I was happy for once Peter was Peter without reliving his history again because we already know it. I liked seeing Peter believing what needs to be done to save people and fix his mistakes and Tony was really impressed with this because Tony saw Peter in himself and that played a bigger part in their latter interactions. All of our superheroes (except Hulk, Thor and TV superheroes) came together on an airport to fight each other. Now this whole fight sequence was the most fun aspect of the entire movie Not my favorite but I couldn't stop having fun at this conflict. Although I'll say this was more of a small battle compared to an actual civil war but eh, the title of this movie sells. They fought and the interactions with the heroes were really interesting and funny. The fight lasted a while and then big changes happened. Rhodey got injured badly from Vision because Vision felt confused by this feeling between him and Wanda and Vision felt sorry for acting such a jerk towards Wanda. Natasha betrayed Tony for Steve and I was shocked to see Black Widow being a double agent again. Other superheroes, except Cap and Bucky were captured. Cap and Bucky went after missing Winter Soldiers before Zemo wakes them up.
During the hospital scene with Rhodey being checked on, Tony told Natasha they are gonna come for her becaause of her betrayal and Natasha just kept it cool, called out Tony acting like an egotistical again and she walked away. Okay, that was an cool scene. Tony found out that Bucky wasn't responsible for UN bombing or him being free, it was all because of Zemo and he went after Cap and Bucky to stop him. And rest of superheroes were captured in The Raft, a highly secured prison for supercriminals. And Black Panther went after Tony. Tony arrived to Steve and he told him he was on their side until Zemo arrived to make sure they became divided once again. Zemo's plan wasn't to use Winter Soldiers, they were already got killed. His e3ntire plan was to tear our heroes apart and he did by showing a video footage of Bucky killing Tony's parents and Steve knew this all along but he didn't tell him to keep him safe. As a result, Tony was pissed off to Steve and Bucky and he tried to kill Bucky and the final showdown began with a bang. Airport scene was amazing but this scene right here was where the climax happened. It was just a superhero fight and it felt so satisfying. It became so personal for Steve and Tony and when Steve finally defeated Tony, Steve gave up Captain America name. Nobody won in this battle and that finally tore Avengers apart for good. Zemo was the first MCU villain that wasn't Loki to finally break the trope of being a cliched supervillain. I was sad that we didn't see him in full costume and it was weird to see him not being a Hydra agent or Baron Zemo's son but he was really sympathetic. He lost his father, wife and kid during Sokovia attack and he blamed Avengers for this. He knew he couldn't kill them, so he wanted to see them killing each other or at least the idea of Tony and Steve built would be dead. And he succeeded. He was the first MCU villain to win, even if he lost his freedom by killing innocent people. But it was a fact that it was Steve and Tony that killed Avengers team up. Zemo just made sure it would happen. Black Panther realized that he was after the wrong person but he gave up on revenge and he stopped Zemo from killing him. This movie sold me on Black Panther as a character and it made me hyped for Black Panther movie. Tony went back to Rhodey for his recovery and he got a delivery from Stan Lee. Steve sent a message on how sorry he was and he wished things would be different between them but nevertheless he gave him a sellphone to contact with him just in case he needed him. And Steve arrived to The Raft to free his friends. In the two post credit scenes, we saw Bucky being frozen in Wakanda and Spidey using the gift Tony gave it to him.
Admittedly, this movie had more flaws than I didn't notice as much during my first watch but it still holds up as a great ending to Captain America trilogy. It was a thriller movie with great themes of revenge and flaws in superheroing and the movie felt even dark at some points. Steve's arc was completed from him being a symbol of American justice and freedom to a full vigilante hero mode. Tony had a great arc that made him more human and flawed. Superhero fight scenes were cool and the villain was great. We can all agree that Steve Rogers is one sexy guy that everyone wants to get him.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Thor - B+
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
here we go again...
Airdate: November 4, 2016
Directed by Scott Derickson
After successful Civil War, it seems like a perfect time to get back into good but not so amazing movies from MCU. After seeing it again, I felt that this movie was rather decent than amazing and there could have been so much better material here.
Kicking off with the villain named Kaecilius and his followers sneaking into Kamar-Taj, the home of mystic arts, and they went to a library to find a book. They quickly cut off one dude's head and escaped with it, as well as some missing pages of a ritual on the book. A person named Ancient One followed them and started to manipulate reality, which led to Kaecilius calling her hypocrite. I really enjoyed how we started off with some amazing action with Kaecilius and Ancient One and I was already enjoying Kaecilius as a character here. I always found him to be an underrated MCU villain and I liked that he wasn't some evil for sake of it during the scene and his relationship with Ancient One got more interesting as the movie went on. Meanwhile we first saw the main character, Stephen Strange, a really good doctor and he does everything to save lives of people but he came off as such an arrogrant and sarcastic doctor. That totally doesn't remind me of Tony Stark or Thor... Yeah, Stephen Strange was mostly just a doctor version Tony Stark and that was kind of disappointing to see another arrogant and (sort of) a rich character. Don't get me wrong, I still liked him in the movie and there were definitely some differences with him than Tony or Thor but idk, I just didn't feel that much uniqueness to his character as I wished him to be. Nevertheless, Benedict Cumberbatch is a perfect role for Doctor Strange. He has not only perfect looks as him but he portrayed the character so well. He talked briefly with his love interest, Christine and while their relationship wasn't that interesting to me, they were alright enough. Strange left the hospital and was on a road for a ceremony but he was crashed by a car and that injured his hands so badly that he had nerve damage. He could no longer fix his hands, thus making him leave his carreer as a doctor and he went to an argument with Christine, which led to him alienating her. Later on he found out about some guy who broke his legs that shouldn't have been fixed but they were fixed. He went to find him and the guy told him a place called Kamal-Taj where they fixed his legs. Strange gave up his fortune to go to Asia to find it and ne guy named Mordo realized that and he brought Strange to Ancient One, which was revealed her as a white woman. Now here's what bothered me about Ancient One being a white person. Look, I get what Scott Derickson did there, he wanted to avoid asian stereotyping, so he turned Ancient One into a white person but that just felt wrong. I thought Ancient One was already an interesting and complex character in the movie, so I couldn't even care less if she was a stereotypical asian male in the comics. There are not enough asian heroes/protragonists of superhero movies, so what the movie did to him was just insulting and disrespectful to the source material. Not the mention these other aspects made it worse. We have another sorcerer called Wong and he can be an asian but not Ancient One and the scene played out Strange finding an asian dude looking exactly like Ancient One from the comics but he turned out to be just a normal sorcerer, yet he still made him look stereotypical and how he handled the situation in the scene was just offensive. Luckily he admitted it was a bad thing to whitewash him but it was a mistake that could never be undone, what a shame.
Now If we are going to back to positives, Strange was so confused and pissed off that the heal of the guy's legs was some nonsensical magic crap but then Ancient One seperated his soul from his body and he sended Strange to some acid trip. That scene was just mind blowingly awesome. Imho this movie has like the best visiuals in a Marvel movie and the scene proved it. It looked so magical and trippy, kind of stuff that I wish the movie would make more but the scene was so much fun. Of course, because of Strange's disrespect, Ancient One kicked him out and Strange waited hours to be back in. Remember what I said Strange reminded me a bit much of Tony? Now here's a scene that actually made me interested in his character. Just like Tony, he was injured but unlike him, Strange lost his gift and the damages were so bad that he stopped being a doctor. He gave up everything and he already regretted how he treated Ancient One. He was so desperate to find a cure that he would do anything for it. Not the mention, I liked that he was guy that believed in realistic and scientific results but he didn't believe in magic or any of that crap because he was too close to biology than believing the impossible. Any of us would be in his shoes if we had some permanent damages and found a cure that is actually nonsensical and be pissed off about it. Mordo and Anicent One talked a bit about him, as well as Kaecilius planning on something dark. Ancient One talked a bit about how she didn't want another person in hands of dark magic but Mordo was surprised she would still trust him. That scene created a good dynamic between Ancient One and Mordo and I liked seeing Mordo looking up to Ancient One just like Kaecilius, except he had a moral compass about laws of magic and how that played out was so good later on. Because of Strange finally believing in magic, he waited to be back in Ancient One gave him a second chance. Strange trained with Mordo and Ancient One to learn some tricks like teleportation and making their own weapons, weirdly enough not much unique magic tricks or spells that I kind of expected to see like in the trip scene. Part of me was still enjoying the magic of the movie but I felt like there should have been more spells and weirdness to make the movie feel more wild. Strange met a person named Wong, who is guarding the library with mystical books from now on. I really liked Wong in the movie but I wish we'd see more development from him and most of his scenes with Strange being comedic was kind of a let down for me. Wong introduced Strange the library where he can learn all sort of spells and he found out "the eye of Agamotto", as well as Ancient One's book. He used the eye to bring back the missing pages from the book, used the spells on it and Wong told him not to do it. He told that this sanctuary protects the world from mystical threats like some evil dude named Dormammu and Kaecilius was the one that betrayed Ancient One to work with him. And there were three Sanctums in New York, London and Hong Kong that renerated a shield for the world. So they told Strange to not break the laws of nature. Knowing Strange, it made sense for him to not deal with this sorts of things anymore because he just wanted to fix his hands but suddenly Kaecilius attacked them.
Kaecilius came across to Strange and he talked briefly about his plan to bring immortality to the world. I still stand by Maecilius to be a decent villain in this movie. His plan actually made sense and he was not some evil for sake of it. It actually played out well with the theme of the movie. The movie was all about life and death (constant reminds of time, Strange's broken hands and him being a doctor and Kaecilius mentioning Ancient One staying this long because of dark magic). My only gripe with this was that I wish we'd see why this motivated him. That was why he wasn't such a memorable villain and the one that got criticized more than some others seemed to (his name doesn't help either but oh well). Ancient One mentioned he lost everything but we didn't see what he lost. Was it his career or his loved one(s)? I think he could have been handled better or be interesting if he was the guy that believed in doctors and they didn't manage to save his loved ones. Sadly it was just tell, not show kind of thing, which is ironic for a movie that spent too much time on visuals. Doctor Strange got injured by Kaecilus' attack and he teleported himself to the hospital he used to work. He found Christine to heal him but one of Kaecilius' followers attacked him in astral plane and he had no choice but to kill him. Strange was healed and he decided to confront Ancient One. This resulted in a really great character moment of him being a doctor and breaking the rule of saving lives to save himself. I think Strange is really great when he is making the hard calls and him dealing with moral dilemma because of it. Him and Mordo decided to trap Kaecilius in mirror dimension but that resulted in them becoming more powerful. The entire scene with mirror dimension was amazeballs. Once again visuals were on point and the entire sequence was big and exciting. Kaecilius finally caught Strange but before he kill him, Ancient One saved Strange and Mordo with dark magic. Mordo was so disappointed by Ancient One being just what Kaecilius said. Ancient One fought with Kaecilius but he stabbed her, as a result Strange brought her to a hospital but he realized Ancient One didn't want saving. Despite the ::dolphin noise::ty whitewashing, I found Ancient One to be a complex character. Someone who would break the laws to prevent mystical threats like playing with the nature or making herself immortal but the characters still called out on her hypocrisy, which resulted in her finally giving up her life. The moment between Strange and Ancient One was so sweet and I liked that Ancient One told Strange not everything's about him. That resulted in Strange's development to still be a helper, even if he wasn't a doctor anymore but he'd use extreme measures to do it.
Now we are in the climax of the scene with Kaecilius and his followers destroying Hong Kong to make sure Dormammu's dark dimension crosses over with Earth. Strange started to reverse time to save Hong Kong but that resulted in him breaking the law of playing with nature. He stopped time but Kaecilius realized it and he escpaed from the frozen timeline and fought with Strange but later Strange went to the dark dimension to bargain with Dormammu. Oh boy, here comes the memes. The entire scene was so amazing because Strange finally gave up his life to make sure Dormamu is stuck in a time loop, not the mention we went back to some of craziness of the movie. One disappointing aspect though was that I wish Dormammu's CGI would be more like his comic design.
but his CGI was so well done and so scary I can let it slide. Dormammu bargained with Strange to never release dark dimension to Earth and as a result, Kaecilius and his followers went to dark dimension to suffer. Strange made a joke and Wong laughed because why not? Once again, Mordo was pissed of that everyone around him just did nothing but break the rules, so he quitted being a sorcerer in Kamar-Taj. Strange returned the Eye but then he realized inside Eye, there was time stone, which gave Strange the ability to control time. One post credit scene was Thor coming back to Earth with Loki to find Odin and he met Strange and the other one was Mordo stealing the magic from the guy that his leg was healed because of it. If there's gonna be Doctor Strange 2, I'm definitely excited for it mostly for Mordo because his development from a moral compass to someone who wants to stop magic around the world was great and I hope to see more of his backstory later.
This movie was nothing but a visually stunning experience and a ton of fun but I felt like certain things could have been improved, whitewashing was a big mistake and the movie still reminded me of some of other MCU movies, so there's that. I'd recommend this movie but I no longer think it's one of MCU's strength's, especially considering other movies used Strange much better imo.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Thor - B+
Doctor Strange - B
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Airdate: November 4, 2016
Directed by Scott Derickson
After successful Civil War, it seems like a perfect time to get back into good but not so amazing movies from MCU. After seeing it again, I felt that this movie was rather decent than amazing and there could have been so much better material here.
Kicking off with the villain named Kaecilius and his followers sneaking into Kamar-Taj, the home of mystic arts, and they went to a library to find a book. They quickly cut off one dude's head and escaped with it, as well as some missing pages of a ritual on the book. A person named Ancient One followed them and started to manipulate reality, which led to Kaecilius calling her hypocrite. I really enjoyed how we started off with some amazing action with Kaecilius and Ancient One and I was already enjoying Kaecilius as a character here. I always found him to be an underrated MCU villain and I liked that he wasn't some evil for sake of it during the scene and his relationship with Ancient One got more interesting as the movie went on. Meanwhile we first saw the main character, Stephen Strange, a really good doctor and he does everything to save lives of people but he came off as such an arrogrant and sarcastic doctor. That totally doesn't remind me of Tony Stark or Thor... Yeah, Stephen Strange was mostly just a doctor version Tony Stark and that was kind of disappointing to see another arrogant and (sort of) a rich character. Don't get me wrong, I still liked him in the movie and there were definitely some differences with him than Tony or Thor but idk, I just didn't feel that much uniqueness to his character as I wished him to be. Nevertheless, Benedict Cumberbatch is a perfect role for Doctor Strange. He has not only perfect looks as him but he portrayed the character so well. He talked briefly with his love interest, Christine and while their relationship wasn't that interesting to me, they were alright enough. Strange left the hospital and was on a road for a ceremony but he was crashed by a car and that injured his hands so badly that he had nerve damage. He could no longer fix his hands, thus making him leave his carreer as a doctor and he went to an argument with Christine, which led to him alienating her. Later on he found out about some guy who broke his legs that shouldn't have been fixed but they were fixed. He went to find him and the guy told him a place called Kamal-Taj where they fixed his legs. Strange gave up his fortune to go to Asia to find it and ne guy named Mordo realized that and he brought Strange to Ancient One, which was revealed her as a white woman. Now here's what bothered me about Ancient One being a white person. Look, I get what Scott Derickson did there, he wanted to avoid asian stereotyping, so he turned Ancient One into a white person but that just felt wrong. I thought Ancient One was already an interesting and complex character in the movie, so I couldn't even care less if she was a stereotypical asian male in the comics. There are not enough asian heroes/protragonists of superhero movies, so what the movie did to him was just insulting and disrespectful to the source material. Not the mention these other aspects made it worse. We have another sorcerer called Wong and he can be an asian but not Ancient One and the scene played out Strange finding an asian dude looking exactly like Ancient One from the comics but he turned out to be just a normal sorcerer, yet he still made him look stereotypical and how he handled the situation in the scene was just offensive. Luckily he admitted it was a bad thing to whitewash him but it was a mistake that could never be undone, what a shame.
Now If we are going to back to positives, Strange was so confused and pissed off that the heal of the guy's legs was some nonsensical magic crap but then Ancient One seperated his soul from his body and he sended Strange to some acid trip. That scene was just mind blowingly awesome. Imho this movie has like the best visiuals in a Marvel movie and the scene proved it. It looked so magical and trippy, kind of stuff that I wish the movie would make more but the scene was so much fun. Of course, because of Strange's disrespect, Ancient One kicked him out and Strange waited hours to be back in. Remember what I said Strange reminded me a bit much of Tony? Now here's a scene that actually made me interested in his character. Just like Tony, he was injured but unlike him, Strange lost his gift and the damages were so bad that he stopped being a doctor. He gave up everything and he already regretted how he treated Ancient One. He was so desperate to find a cure that he would do anything for it. Not the mention, I liked that he was guy that believed in realistic and scientific results but he didn't believe in magic or any of that crap because he was too close to biology than believing the impossible. Any of us would be in his shoes if we had some permanent damages and found a cure that is actually nonsensical and be pissed off about it. Mordo and Anicent One talked a bit about him, as well as Kaecilius planning on something dark. Ancient One talked a bit about how she didn't want another person in hands of dark magic but Mordo was surprised she would still trust him. That scene created a good dynamic between Ancient One and Mordo and I liked seeing Mordo looking up to Ancient One just like Kaecilius, except he had a moral compass about laws of magic and how that played out was so good later on. Because of Strange finally believing in magic, he waited to be back in Ancient One gave him a second chance. Strange trained with Mordo and Ancient One to learn some tricks like teleportation and making their own weapons, weirdly enough not much unique magic tricks or spells that I kind of expected to see like in the trip scene. Part of me was still enjoying the magic of the movie but I felt like there should have been more spells and weirdness to make the movie feel more wild. Strange met a person named Wong, who is guarding the library with mystical books from now on. I really liked Wong in the movie but I wish we'd see more development from him and most of his scenes with Strange being comedic was kind of a let down for me. Wong introduced Strange the library where he can learn all sort of spells and he found out "the eye of Agamotto", as well as Ancient One's book. He used the eye to bring back the missing pages from the book, used the spells on it and Wong told him not to do it. He told that this sanctuary protects the world from mystical threats like some evil dude named Dormammu and Kaecilius was the one that betrayed Ancient One to work with him. And there were three Sanctums in New York, London and Hong Kong that renerated a shield for the world. So they told Strange to not break the laws of nature. Knowing Strange, it made sense for him to not deal with this sorts of things anymore because he just wanted to fix his hands but suddenly Kaecilius attacked them.
Kaecilius came across to Strange and he talked briefly about his plan to bring immortality to the world. I still stand by Maecilius to be a decent villain in this movie. His plan actually made sense and he was not some evil for sake of it. It actually played out well with the theme of the movie. The movie was all about life and death (constant reminds of time, Strange's broken hands and him being a doctor and Kaecilius mentioning Ancient One staying this long because of dark magic). My only gripe with this was that I wish we'd see why this motivated him. That was why he wasn't such a memorable villain and the one that got criticized more than some others seemed to (his name doesn't help either but oh well). Ancient One mentioned he lost everything but we didn't see what he lost. Was it his career or his loved one(s)? I think he could have been handled better or be interesting if he was the guy that believed in doctors and they didn't manage to save his loved ones. Sadly it was just tell, not show kind of thing, which is ironic for a movie that spent too much time on visuals. Doctor Strange got injured by Kaecilus' attack and he teleported himself to the hospital he used to work. He found Christine to heal him but one of Kaecilius' followers attacked him in astral plane and he had no choice but to kill him. Strange was healed and he decided to confront Ancient One. This resulted in a really great character moment of him being a doctor and breaking the rule of saving lives to save himself. I think Strange is really great when he is making the hard calls and him dealing with moral dilemma because of it. Him and Mordo decided to trap Kaecilius in mirror dimension but that resulted in them becoming more powerful. The entire scene with mirror dimension was amazeballs. Once again visuals were on point and the entire sequence was big and exciting. Kaecilius finally caught Strange but before he kill him, Ancient One saved Strange and Mordo with dark magic. Mordo was so disappointed by Ancient One being just what Kaecilius said. Ancient One fought with Kaecilius but he stabbed her, as a result Strange brought her to a hospital but he realized Ancient One didn't want saving. Despite the ::dolphin noise::ty whitewashing, I found Ancient One to be a complex character. Someone who would break the laws to prevent mystical threats like playing with the nature or making herself immortal but the characters still called out on her hypocrisy, which resulted in her finally giving up her life. The moment between Strange and Ancient One was so sweet and I liked that Ancient One told Strange not everything's about him. That resulted in Strange's development to still be a helper, even if he wasn't a doctor anymore but he'd use extreme measures to do it.
Now we are in the climax of the scene with Kaecilius and his followers destroying Hong Kong to make sure Dormammu's dark dimension crosses over with Earth. Strange started to reverse time to save Hong Kong but that resulted in him breaking the law of playing with nature. He stopped time but Kaecilius realized it and he escpaed from the frozen timeline and fought with Strange but later Strange went to the dark dimension to bargain with Dormammu. Oh boy, here comes the memes. The entire scene was so amazing because Strange finally gave up his life to make sure Dormamu is stuck in a time loop, not the mention we went back to some of craziness of the movie. One disappointing aspect though was that I wish Dormammu's CGI would be more like his comic design.
but his CGI was so well done and so scary I can let it slide. Dormammu bargained with Strange to never release dark dimension to Earth and as a result, Kaecilius and his followers went to dark dimension to suffer. Strange made a joke and Wong laughed because why not? Once again, Mordo was pissed of that everyone around him just did nothing but break the rules, so he quitted being a sorcerer in Kamar-Taj. Strange returned the Eye but then he realized inside Eye, there was time stone, which gave Strange the ability to control time. One post credit scene was Thor coming back to Earth with Loki to find Odin and he met Strange and the other one was Mordo stealing the magic from the guy that his leg was healed because of it. If there's gonna be Doctor Strange 2, I'm definitely excited for it mostly for Mordo because his development from a moral compass to someone who wants to stop magic around the world was great and I hope to see more of his backstory later.
This movie was nothing but a visually stunning experience and a ton of fun but I felt like certain things could have been improved, whitewashing was a big mistake and the movie still reminded me of some of other MCU movies, so there's that. I'd recommend this movie but I no longer think it's one of MCU's strength's, especially considering other movies used Strange much better imo.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Avengers - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Thor - B+
Doctor Strange - B
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Master WhoBruh
Cap
lol wut
yeah, I just can't finish a grodd darn list. Sorry for losing interest in this for a while but no worries. I finished my rewatch and I can say that at the very least, I finished da ranking. Sadly I won't be posting my reviews here anymore but here's the LINK of me posting my thoughts on last 4 movies there that I'm gonna update this week. Anyone who still wants to see my reviews can go there but those who want to see my final ranking, here they are.
But hey, who's gonna give a crap to something that was dead months ago.
anyway, thanks for those who followed this topic.
yeah, I just can't finish a grodd darn list. Sorry for losing interest in this for a while but no worries. I finished my rewatch and I can say that at the very least, I finished da ranking. Sadly I won't be posting my reviews here anymore but here's the LINK of me posting my thoughts on last 4 movies there that I'm gonna update this week. Anyone who still wants to see my reviews can go there but those who want to see my final ranking, here they are.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Black Panther - A
Avengers - A
Thor: Ragnarok - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Spider-Man: Homecoming - B+
Thor - B+
Doctor Strange - B
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Black Panther - A
Avengers - A
Thor: Ragnarok - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Spider-Man: Homecoming - B+
Thor - B+
Doctor Strange - B
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
anyway, thanks for those who followed this topic.
EmployeeAMillion
Season 12 Time!
https://i.imgur.com/outO2z7_d.jpglol wut
yeah, I just can't finish a grodd darn list. Sorry for losing interest in this for a while but no worries. I finished my rewatch and I can say that at the very least, I finished da ranking. Sadly I won't be posting my reviews here anymore but here's the LINK of me posting my thoughts on last 4 movies there that I'm gonna update this week. Anyone who still wants to see my reviews can go there but those who want to see my final ranking, here they are.
MCU movie ranking:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier - A+
Black Panther - A
Avengers - A
Thor: Ragnarok - A
Iron Man - A
Captain America: Civil War - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy - A-
Captain America: The First Avenger - A-
Iron Man 3 - A-
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 - A-
Ant-Man - B+
Spider-Man: Homecoming - B+
Thor - B+
Doctor Strange - B
Avengers: Age of Ultron - B
The Incredible Hulk - B
Thor: The Dark World - B-
Iron Man 2 - C+
But hey, who's gonna give a crap to something that was dead months ago.
anyway, thanks for those who followed this topic.
Master WhoBruh
Cap
now I'm sadEmployeeAMillion said: