Continued from Part 1… my reviews of the MCU produce in (mostly) timeline order!
Thor: Ragnarok ⭐️⭐️ Eh. This wasn’t a bad film, it just wasn’t a good film either. It was good to get some more screen time on Thor and the Hulk – Thor tends to be pretty funny, and we don’t see much of the Hulk. But it still just didn’t hit the mark for me. It was all just a bit samey and predictable.
Ant-Man and the Wasp ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Considering this is a sequel it was remarkably good! The story was quite unique, the comedy was still there, character development was allowed and threats weren’t so ridiculous. Some bits were predictable, but overall I enjoyed it.
Avengers: Infinity War ⭐️⭐️ Big bad villian – worst we’ve ever seen – threatens all life in the galaxy, only our heroes – the Avengers – could possibly do something to save the world, they do all they can, and… it’s not enough. Is it just me that felt it was all a little… pointless? None of their actions affected what happened in the end. It was all just a joy ride with no conclusion. To be fair, I didn’t see the end coming – that they would be defeated and half the population would disappear, but I don’t feel like I was that shocked, I felt more like it was well lined up for the next movie, which just felt a bit cheap.
Avengers: End Game ⭐️ Someone with a troubled background became a hero and needed to prove themselves; a big bad monster – probably the worst the world has ever seen – threatened Earth; and a sudden need for them alone (or sometimes multiple heroes together) to save the entire world from disaster. It’s annoying when content is just copied and pasted from earlier, huh? I just wish these films had a bit more originality. The Marvel move panel clearly can come up with new ideas and good characters, but it feels like they’re choosing not to do that in the Avengers films.
Loki ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In the first couple of episodes I genuinely thought there might be a Doctor Who cross-over – it sounded like they were describing the Time Lords! But hey-ho that didn’t pan out… Not in a negative way though, it was a great series and I really enjoyed it! It was comedic, it was quite sci-fi, it really gave Loki some space to develop as a character. Looking forward to the next series!
What If…? ⭐️ I gave up with this after one and half episodes. To be honest, I didn’t like the sound of it from the series description, but figured I’d give it a go, but it just didn’t grip me at all. Having just heard the news of the new hero Kahhori coming soon in What If…? it has made me think I should give it another go.
Wanda Vision ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I had high expectations for this because so many people raved about it, and it was actually pretty good. It was a slow starter – I get the artistic side of it, and the character background of why you’d go through the sitcoms through the ages, but it just went on a bit long without more hints dropping in my opinion – the breakthroughs should’ve started a bit earlier. I liked the twists and turns and it did have you backing Wanda even in the reveals that she was essentially the bad guy. I was left looking forward to the next instalment of Wanda’s story.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – I know it’s not in-keeping with this blog, but I couldn’t bring myself to watch this. Looked way too alpha male buddy series and I couldn’t do it.
Spider-Man: Far From Home ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ If it hadn’t been for the twist, this would have been 3 stars at best, but it genuinely took me by surprise. It was going the same route of big bad evil threatening the world and only Spider-man could save the day. He was the unwilling hero, but it just felt all a bit teen-angsty. So I was glad when it changed up! It did get a little bit over-complicated with all the altered reality stuff, but overall it was still enjoyable!
Shang-Chi: Legend of the Ten Rings ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I really enjoyed this one. It was fresh, new ideas, a different culture and ancestry introduced. It didn’t particularly follow the Marvel formula – there was lots of comedic relief, and it didn’t end up with a world-threatening enemy. I liked the exploration of a hidden world mixed in with the modern world, and the fact it wasn’t all in the US. I liked that the Mandarin was back with a small role. It was all round pretty good, I think it was really well done.
Eternals ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Needlessly complicated and the ultimate “earth is at risk” movie. Granted there was a bit of a different spin what with the heroes being not-of-earth (though not for the first time), but it’s not enough to truly make it worthwhile. Also a stupid end to Ikaris. I don’t really get why some characters are “known” and others aren’t, or how Thor plays into it given the change of story half way through. As I said, needlessly complicated. I also hate how it ends. We do not need cliff-hangers with Marvel, we all know the next instalment will be an instant box office smash regardless. The characters were the one positive of this film.
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The trouble when they make the heroes the strongest and best is that they’re undefeatable, so when they end up falling out and fighting each other it becomes an issue (similar thing with End Game and the Avengers split…). I think this film was meant to be funny in parts – I definitely laughed a fair few times (and finally an after-credits scene that paid off!). A lot darker than other Marvel films. Still a bit overly complicated, but it was good!
Hawkeye ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this, it was kind of like a buddy comedy but a dad/daughter kind of relationship. I like the relationship that formed between Clint and Kate and that it started out as serious fan-girling and became the mentorship that Kate so wanted. I enjoyed that the only threat was to them and not to the whole earth, not even to the city – it’s refreshing in this franchise! Full of laughs and adventure.
Wakanda Forever ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a lot more of a sci-fi feel than I was expecting! And I don’t mean the tech – that’s obviously expected in these films!! The story is pretty interesting – it wasn’t all war and battle, though that was happening, there was more interesting stories unfolding along the way. I liked the introduction of another new world, it was done well and the characters were well introduced and portrayed. Plus the tributes to Chadwick Boseman were genuinely moving, and the after credits scene was actually really lovely – continuing the legacy of King T’Challa in his memory. I love that they’re including more cultural diversity – the talk of ancestors and the spirituality in Wakanda and Talokan is similar to indigenous cultures around the world that deserve more screen time and recognition, and its not just BIPOC actors, but fashion, language, hair styling, music and more. The whole film feels more inclusive, and I also like that the snipes at colonialism.
She Hulk: Attorney at Law ⭐️⭐️⭐️ I so want to like this show, but it just has so many bad points!! The whole breaking the fourth wall thing doesn’t pay off, I don’t think they commit enough to it here, so it’s more distracting than beneficial. The CGI is a bit off, again, distracting – She-Hulk looks more like a video game character than the main character made for a Marvel show (the CGI held up great for the fight between the Hulks on the island though…). There are after credits scenes after the first five episodes and then they stop. They try to connect the Me Too movement into it with talking about the struggles of women and empowerment, but it feel cringey and bit like an afterthought. The whole thing where Jen ends up outside her show and in the writer’s room is just weird. It is a kind of fun show and a neat idea I didn’t see coming, it just seems like production was rushed on it, the budget was gone by episode four so the quality just isn’t there, and the tone just keeps changing.
Ms Marvel ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lots of introductions of different cultures in the second half of the MCU, and it’s very welcome! This time, our hero is Muslim American/South Indian and it’s another mix of real life with a fictional side thrown in, but this time they include more real-life history by including the partition of India as a big part of the plot – it was done really well and very refreshing in a Marvel film! I feel like this show is for a teen demographic but it’s still really fun viewing for a 30-something – there’s teen angst, boy drama, parent drama, and then superhero drama thrown into the mix too. It felt original and quirky and I liked it a lot.
So my overall conclusion on the Marvel films and shows up to this point:
There are several films and series that I genuinely like in the bundle. I seem to enjoy the ones that get to tell the stories of characters more – I like it when they actually take their time with an origin story and give the character scope for development and time to just get to know them.
I really like the films that explore non-white, non-western cultures, whether they be real or fictional, and it looks like Marvel are doing more with that as the phases go on with the announcement of Kahhori (though I’m pretty disappointed it’s in the What If? series because that’s pants). It’s just refreshing to get a bit more diversity on screen (as in real diversity, not fictional!) and that counts for more female roles coming in too.
The lack of originality does really bother me. The way they sort of reference that in She-Hulk actually annoys me more because they could’ve been clever with it, but just obviously showed that the blockbuster dollar is what drives them through the whole KEVIN thing and joking about wanting her to be Jen and not She-Hulk to save money. Those things are obvious from watching, and when they could have won over skeptics they just rolled over and showed their hand instead. The sequels and Avengers movies are definitely the worst of it for me from the originality and screen-time perspective. All the films are too long, but that’s just cinema in general now.
I am maybe holding Marvel to an unfair higher account than is needed – I get that one of the points of cinema is telling stories for the sake of stories, and not everything needs a moral or a truth to be told. But it’s nice when that does happen – especially when so much money is pumped into it, it’d be great to actually have a return on that time and money spent in the franchise.
So there we go. Overall, Marvel has it’s place, but I feel they need to respect the viewer a little more than they currently are. Come up with some original ideas, give characters more time and space to develop, actually spend the money on good CGI and storyboards and writers, and don’t try to be too clever.
Just a re-cap of what my five ⭐️ reviews went to:
- Iron Man
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Ant-Man
- Black Widow
- Black Panther
- Loki
- Shang-chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
- Hawkeye
- Wakanda Forever
- Ms Marvel
Ellen Wiggins 