They leave
me overall feeling indifferent and for some reason that bothers me more when it
comes to an artistic endeavor. And like I said with Black Panther with black
kids and black audiences and Wonder Woman with little girls and female
audiences, I do genuinely like that there is a universe of largely positive
characters that kids can enjoy and that audiences overall can grow with and
love. I just wish I felt the same and was as taken by them.
A real quick aside before finishing: regarding DC and any bias…. I
would hope my Smallville rant shows that I can be objective with DC properties
(though maybe my thoughts on Nolan’s Batman movies tipped the scale back in the
other direction tee hee though I could also throughout a possible Marvel bias
on the part of some fans who seem to give a free pass to anything in a Marvel
movie but would castigate the exact same thing in a non-Marvel movie) but
here’s some quick reminders: I largely hate Superman Returns (sorry, I really
don’t say that in a mean way at all, I tried so hard with that one), I hate
Green Lantern and while I guess I don’t outright hate Suicide Squad I can’t
call it anything other than a humongous mound of steaming dog crap! I
would probably rather watch any Marvel movie over those (with a few exceptions
like Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World…maybe the Guardians movies). And
though I do like Man of Steel I would say the Supergirl TV series has far and
away done a much much better job at capturing the spirit of Superman and his
mythology than anything in his current movies (and Returns).
Also, if I gave you the impression that I think Justice League is a good
movie then I apologize. It definitely is not. But I would (sorry)
put Infinity War and Justice League on about on the same level. Infinity
War is definitely much more competently made but the end result still leaves me
feeling about the same. They just have different types of problems
(though a couple of the same ones, I really don’t see much difference in Thanos
going from place to place to get a stone and Steppenwolf going from place to
place to get a box and from a story standpoint in and of itself I don’t think
either should get a free pass). That makes sense to me since its clear
WB/DC was trying very hard to model that after a Marvel movie (intentionally
copying a successful purely commercial property always yields great art).
Also, keep in mind I love Spider-Man and growing up I read just as much of
him as I did Batman. I still think the first two Spider-Man movies are
great (3 is terrible) and I would put those well ahead of most of the current
Marvel Universe movies. The point being
is that I think it’s the style I’m chaffing against, not the company or
characters. AND there are some Marvel universe movies I really
like! I do think the first Avengers is a great popcorn movie as you put
it (though that term has come to mean something ugly to me. Are
Nolan’s Batman movies popcorn movies? If so, I want more like
that. Does a popcorn movie mean light, breezy and not challenging or
thoughtful? Is there a relation between a movie’s intelligence level
and how much it is a popcorn movie?). But for sure The Avengers is a
great adventure! I think it got by in part on the innovation (I didn’t
even use the word novelty!) of the then budding shared cinematic universe and
seeing so many heroes together but it was extremely well done and exhilarating
and everyone had their moment and I would easily say it is an essential
superhero movie.
I do think
every Avengers/group movie since has merely tried to outdo it by adding more
characters and not a better story and I think that’s also a major problem for
me with Infinity War: that innovation is only awe inspiring the first
time. I get what people mean when they talk about the ambition of
Infinity War but just adding more characters and effects does not make it more
impressive to me. Yes, the brothers Russo film more actors and
effects each time. But it would be infinitely more impressive if
each (or at least some) of those characters had arcs as opposed to just
appearing and throwing a punch. Plus, Robert Altman already made the
huge ensemble thing with movies like Short Cuts!
BUT more positive stuff: I think the first Iron Man movie is still a very
good origin film! I think Winter Soldier is nearly great. It dips
at the end but it is overall very strong and DOES do some different things with
the formula. I’ve already spoken highly about Black Panther. I also
like Spider-Man Homecoming quite a bit and – while I don’t think it really
touches the original two Spider-Man movies (not crazy about the Stark scenes) –
I do think the current Spidey is the best. And I have nothing bad to say
about Ant-Man! That’s right near the top for me! And lest we forget
that the X-Men are Marvel properties as well and I still love X2 and I would
say Logan is a truly great film (and one where death and violence actually
means something)!
But if you
want a biased statement here goes: I love Wonder Woman more than any of those
movies I’ve just mentioned and I’m quite sure that when Wonder Woman 2 comes
out next year it will have a far more interesting and thematically rich story
than anything in Infinity War 2 or whatever it will be called!
So…that’s
all I got!
Quick Summation:
If I had to watch Infinity War or Justice League all the way through again I’d
probably pick Justice League just because it’s shorter (it also has a better score:
Danny Elfman beats Alan Silvestri every time!
Though strange that Elfman’s score for Age of Ultron was so unmemorable…hmmm…)!
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