The nearly insurmountable success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
at this point is a bit difficult to understate.
An 18 film hot streak doesn’t exactly mean quality lacks
variance however, so before watching the Avengers metanarrative come to a head,
let’s look back on the best and slightly less than best of the MCU up to this
point, starting with…
Thor: The Dark World
Blandness incarnate. A film so thoroughly unremarkable and
forgettable that the mere act of watching it would be excruciating were it not
so competently crafted and executed so as to ultimately be so average.
The film suits the purpose of putting Thor in an obstacle for 2
hours, with very little else of worth accomplished, falling back on the weaker
elements of the first movie rather than truly progress the character forward,
yet still contains just enough spectacle and worthwhile performances from its
likable leads to be passable.
On its own, that might be enough but from the pedigree that
it was coming from, “Thor: The Dark World” is easily the most disappointing entry
of its entire mega franchise.
Iron Man 2
If “Thor’s” first sequel was the creative incarnation of
lacking ambition culminating in a harmless yet disappointing experience, “Iron
Man 2” is the other side of the coin.
The great elements are spectacular yet are juxtaposed by
baffling plot decisions that spiral the whole thing into a giant anticlimax
that makes the entire movie feel like a meandering waste of time in hindsight.
The only reason it doesn’t land below the substantially
better rounded “Thor: The Dark World” is because on top of its more ambitious
elements being more memorable than the entirety of that film, this one also has
an excuse for its disappointment, being an infamous example of executive
meddling from Marvel executives outside of the film division more concerned
with shoring up their upcoming ambitious and eventually groundbreaking crossover,
for which there was no prior playbook written for.
At the very least, the gamble proved to be a success, given
the success of the MCU and the experience fueling Favreau to later make the
stupendous 2014 indie feature “Chef.”
Spider-Man: Homecoming
Unpopular opinion time.
“Spider-Man: Homecoming” is a fun and mildly diverting film
featuring a solid lead and one of the best villains of the MCU in the form of
Michael Keaton’s The Vulture but is ultimately disposable and paling in comparison
to other film’s of the setting as well as other films featuring its titular
character.
While the high school themes work for a unique experience in
the moment, it does little to engender confidence in the future of the brand
considering where its corporate overlords want to take it in relation to how it
should be naturally evolving.
Despite not being the deepest or complex “Spider-Man” or MCU
film however, it ultimately gets the job done better than its messier and less
ambitious contemporaries in the MCU.
Thor
While the “Thor” franchise has always struggled the most out
of the core Avengers titles, its debut still put forth a lot of potential that
it has only barely scratched the surface of.
Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespearean sensibilities assemble a
family drama with genre flair that may have set a precedent for the franchise
that had to be abandoned but nevertheless served as an excellent character arc
designed to humanize the godliest hero of the universe by bringing out his
humanity and producing a villain that has only recently been surpassed in terms
of memorability for the series.
The Incredible Hulk
Playing into the psychological torture of a man not in
control of his own body and stripped of everything that he holds dear
regardless of whether he can resolve the issues that have destroyed his life, “The
Incredible Hulk” is rather quaint compared to what the franchise has gone on to
achieve but is easily one of the most underrated.
The chase is thrilling and the animalistic characterization
of the Hulk remains one of my favorite interpretations of the character on top
of Ed Norton’s self loathing laden interpretation of Bruce Banner still being
my favorite take on the scientist that has made accepting Mark Ruffalo hard up
until the last few years.
Guardians of the Galaxy
A solid pulp science fantasy romp that probably gets a tad
too much praise for breaking the strictest of genre conventions to a genre it
doesn’t particularly conform to.
Nevertheless, while the irritation of hearing people proclaim an okay space opera is the “best superhero movie ever made” despite lacking
many identifiers with the genre can wear, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is an undeniably
infectious good time that at least easily trumps 2 of the 3 previous “Star Wars”
movies of the last 3 years.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
While the sophomore outing of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes may
have a fair bit of clunkiness attached to it, it nevertheless epitomizes the
raised bar of quality provided by Kevin Feige’s enterprise. Great characters,
exciting set pieces, and a unique performance by James Spader as an underrated
villain.
The movie may be a bit more bloated that it intended to be
but still manages to mildly satisfy while tantalizing with what was to come in
the future as the best phase of the MCU to date.
Iron Man
Similar to “The Incredible Hulk,” it’s hard to believe how
quaint a movie that upended the entire genre feels in hindsight but “Iron Man’s”
foundation of a strong well cast lead undergoing a powerful thematic arc
continues to prove why it was a powerful ground on which to lay the sprawling
epic of a Cinematic Universe ahead of it.
Despite an awkward climax, its lean, to the point, and
earned its legacy for a reason.
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