Tag: superheroes

REVIEW: Captain Marvel

There has been a certain backlash to the whole premise of Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel movie, mostly from “men’s rights activists” and other anti-PC types, including some people I’ve talked to on social media. (Yes, Jack, I do mean you.) Some of it is because of the character concept of Carol Danvers, the titular Captain, as a feminist hero, especially in the wake of her punked-up reboot in 2012. But some of it has to do with the character herself more than feminism per se. For one thing, in Marvel Comics, Carol was presented as having an alcohol problem at least on par with Tony Stark’s. She was also one of Stark’s more heavy-handed enforcers during the 2006 comic arc CIVIL WAR.

There’s also the point that Danvers was created as a feminist hero during the 1970s, ironically as a “Supergirl” counterpart to the existing Captain Marvel, named Ms. Marvel. And while DC’s Wonder Woman has always been presented as an Athenian “peaceful warrior” personality, Carol has always been much more in-your-face. So when Captain Marvel’s lead actress Brie Larson made a point of asking why most of the reporters in her press tours were male and white, it seemed that Larson was even better casting than previously thought.

The other issue is that the history of the character in Marvel Comics is such a broken kaleidoscope – even more so than other superheroes – that even though Marvel is generally not prone to “retcon” prior history, the best thing to do would have been to take the basic character premise and start over from scratch, which is basically what writer Kelly Sue DeConnick did when she had Carol officially become Captain Marvel in 2012. And re-starting established characters is basically what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is for.

So: in the movie, Carol Danvers is an Air Force test pilot in the years before women were allowed to do combat missions. Her “wingman” is Maria Rambeau, who is kind of the Black Best Friend of the movie but is also a nod to the point that there are multiple characters named Captain Marvel. The thing is, the narrative is not that linear. If it resembles the Marvel Comics character in any way, it’s that. In fact, the story is kind of the reverse of a superhero origin in that Carol starts off superpowered and has to discover the normal person she originally was.

Otherwise, in terms of retelling the Hero’s Journey, Captain Marvel is no more innovative than Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. But that also means that there is not much unusual about a cocky, wisecracking protagonist discovering their full potential other than the fact that the protagonist is female. But that in turn means that there is really nothing to object to in this movie other than that fact. This also means that there doesn’t really need to be any other feminist subtext to the movie other than that very premise, and apart from deliberate placement of female artists on the soundtrack, there isn’t any. I mean guys, I’ve seen The Newsroom on HBO. I know what heavy-handed liberal propaganda looks like.

Besides that, the movie is worth watching for three points:

The presentation of the Kree-Skrull conflict, which is central to the Marvel Universe but was not depicted in the MCU before (even though Kree characters are in Guardians of the Galaxy);

The fact that this movie is sort of a “Year One” origin for Nick Fury, played as always by Samuel L. (‘The L Stands for ‘Motherfucker’) Jackson;

Overall, Captain Marvel is a movie with an active, heroic tone that deliberately stands in contrast to the shocking ending of Avengers: Infinity War and sets the stage for Avengers: Endgame, given that Captain Marvel is presented here as being the Marvel Universe’s equivalent to Superman. (The blue jumpsuit with red-and-gold trim doesn’t hurt.)

As an aside, this movie is set to make over $153 million in its opening weekend, and it was all my friends and I could do to get reserved tickets for a Saturday show. So I guess the MRA campaign isn’t working.

If nothing else, it’s worth seeing for the opening production crawl.

REVIEW- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

The main difference between DC and Marvel comics used to be that DC was a lot more invested in parallel universes. That started all the way back in 1956 when DC brought back The Flash but as a new character with a new costume and then sometime afterward re-introduced the Golden Age Flash as a separate character still living in a parallel universe from the main (Silver Age) Flash. They also used this to explain the vast power discrepancy between the Golden Age Superman and the contemporary Superman who could survive atomic bombs. This in turn led to a whole bunch of parallel universes until DC finally destroyed them with Crisis on Infinite Earths. For a while.

Marvel really didn’t go for that sort of thing; for the most part, before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the use of other properties (like Spider-Man) by Sony and other producers, everything including the World War II history was in a single timeline. But for a few years, Marvel Comics came up with an “Ultimate” line of comics where their main heroes were re-imagined as different people (this is where they came up with the idea of casting Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury). The Ultimate universe eventually got re-absorbed into the main (‘616’) Marvel Universe, but the Ultimate Spider-Man, a black Puerto Rican teenager named Miles Morales, was popular enough to where they kept him in the main universe. All of this matters in that the premise of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has to deal with the merging of parallel universes, and the appearance of various other alternates like Spider-Gwen (Gwen Stacy in a universe where she got the spider-powers instead of Peter Parker), a 1930s Spider-Man, an anime Spider-Man and of course, Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.

So while the movie will do a good run-through of character backgrounds, it really helps if you’re already familiar with the comicbook source material, but then most of the people already wanting to see this probably will be. As the story goes, I am not sure why the villain they chose, as much wealth as he has, would be the one funding a dimension-crossing supercollider, but his motivation is at least plausible. Otherwise Miles experiences a not atypical hero’s story where once he finds his own spark, he realizes that “anyone can wear the mask.” Which when you think about it, is also the message of V for Vendetta. But that’s another discussion.

The important thing about this movie is that if you’re going to see it, do it soon because it NEEDS to be seen in a theater. The level of detail on the animation for this movie is just phenomenal. At least as good as the Lego movies. I’d heard that based on its win at the Golden Globes, it might be eligible not only for Best Animated Film Oscar but even Best Picture. I’m not sure about Best Picture, but Into the Spider-Verse definitely needs to be recognized as an innovation in film.

REVIEW: Deadpool 2

Deadpool 2 brings back most of the cast from the surprise hit movie: Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool), Morena Baccarin (his girlfriend, Vanessa), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), Karan Soni (Dopinder the cab driver) and T.J. Miller, whose mutant power is the superhuman ability to sabotage his own career.

As the movie starts, Deadpool and Vanessa decide to start a family. Unfortunately, this goal hits a minor setback. Despondent, Deadpool ends up becoming an X-Men Trainee (TM) under Colossus and tries to rehabilitate an angry preteen named “Firefist” with the mutant power of flame generation (and possibly insulin resistance). However, once they’re stuck together in Mutant Penitentiary, Deadpool has to save the kid from a gun-toting cyborg named Cable, played by Josh Brolin. (Yes, Deadpool calls him Thanos at one point.) And once it’s revealed that Cable came from the future to change his own past, it raises the matter of how a decision to treat others can have effects on the whole universe. This is important, because it comes up at the end of the movie.

One thing I like about the Deadpool series is that it goes against the tendency in how most superheroes are adapted to the screen. Comicbook characters are literally cartoons. Their appearance, including a mask, is central to their identity, which is why Bruce Wayne doesn’t just fight crime in his civvies. But when studios are making a comicbook movie with a big star like Robert Downey Jr., they want to show Iron Man with his mask off as much as possible, because otherwise they think its a waste of star power to show a costume when pretty much anybody could be in it. But the producers of Deadpool movies (including Ryan Reynolds) get Deadpool. They put little facial expressions on his mask and show him in costume as much as possible because that’s how the comicbook looks. Besides which, Deadpool with his mask off looks kind of like a statue that someone sculpted out of dried cow shit and painted with a coat of vomit. Or like an abortion that crawled out of the biowaste bin, then escaped the facility, then grew up. Look, you get the idea.

In any case, Deadpool 2 not only has the violence and profanity we’ve come to expect, but it also holds together as a dramatic story (eventually) and it happens to have the most badass action-hero soundtrack EVER.

REVIEW: Avengers: Infinity War

The titles of Marvel movies are often misleading. For example, Civil War was promoted as Captain America: Civil War, when it could just as easily been promoted as an Iron Man sequel or an Avengers movie, since Iron Man was just as central to the story as Captain America, and it was his actions that ultimately led to the destruction of the Avengers team. And now that Thanos is making his long-awaited move, bringing in the Guardians of the Galaxy, Asgardians, Wakandans, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man and all of the (former) Avengers, what we are calling Avengers: Infinity War would be just as well called “Thanos Vs. The Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

Guess who wins.

As fans know, the unifying arc of the Marvel movies since at least The Avengers is that Thanos is a demi-god level threat who has been collecting various “Infinity Stones”, some of which are possesssed by Marvel heroes. When all the stones are together, their owner has absolute control of space and time. Thanos seeks this power in order to restore balance by killing half the population of the universe. Apparently nobody told him about condoms.

Other good titles for this movie would be:
“The Search For A Thanos CGI That Doesn’t Suck”

“The Scriptwriters Don’t Seem To Like Star-Lord For Some Reason”

and “They Can’t Kill That Guy, He’s Still Under Contract”.

I waited until my friends were available to see the movie with me, so by now, most people are either aware of the ending or have been spoiled somewhat. The ultimate doom of the piece is greatly undermined because, A, we already know there is going to be a sequel, and B, anyone who knows about the original source material knows that a device that can control the universe and time can also reverse any changes made with it, which is how the comicbook story was resolved. But the major difference between a comicbook universe and its movie adaptation is that comic companies can use fictional characters and resurrect them without regard to age or death, whereas movie producers have to deal with real-world factors. For instance, Marvel Comics has had Steve Rogers quit being Captain America on several occasions (sometimes replaced by Bucky or Sam) but he usually comes back to the role. But even if Chris Evans wanted to play Captain America forever, Captain America is supposed to be at the peak of human athletic ability, and no one can be that buff past their early 30s. Whereas Robert Downey Jr. could conceivably play Iron Man (a normal human whose powers come from technology) well past the age of 50, but his star power has already made renewing his contract too expensive.  This is going to reset the universe, but not in the way that would happen in the comics.

So as both a comic reader and MCU fan, my approach to all this is a bit “meta.” Avengers: Infinity War was directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, who did my two favorite Marvel movies, Civil War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. (The best MCU movie verges between those two, Black Panther and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, depending on my mood.) There’s a lot of great dialogue and good acting (especially from Chris Hemsworth, remarkably enough). But I can’t say it’s the greatest Marvel movie. Others have pointed out that (despite a strong performance by Josh Brolin) Thanos has a severe problem as a villain, which I will address when I have more time to think about it. The major problem with this movie is that it’s the least stand-alone of all Marvel movies, and necessarily incomplete. It’s basically 95 percent awesomeness, and 5 percent …….

REVIEW: Black Panther

It is testimony to the Pulp roots of the superhero genre that in Marvel Comics, the most technologically advanced nation on Earth is a traditional African kingdom that has never been colonized by whites, and no one considers this unusual.

The Black Panther character was introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Captain America: Civil War, and while he wasn’t the center of the action, Chadwick Boseman set the stage with a formidable portrayal of Prince T’Challa, seeking justice after the death of his father. This leads to the Black Panther solo movie, in which T’Challa formally claims the throne of Wakanda.

I had mentioned in my review of Wonder Woman that while Wonder Woman may be a feminist icon, the movie wasn’t precisely a feminist film, because the character had not grown up under patriarchy.  The nation of Wakanda poses a similar issue with regard to race.  The main drama in Black Panther comes from T’Challa’s would-be usurper, the mercenary code-named Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), who in his character depicts the contrast between being African and African-American.  Killmonger’s personal history also brings up a state secret of Wakanda: in the MCU, in order to keep “colonizers” from exploiting the country’s wealth, the kings of Wakanda hide their country’s technology and use holograms and other tricks to convince the West that Wakanda is an (ahem) shithole country.  But this means that Wakanda is not using its resources to address the civil wars and refugee crises of its neighbors.  Right now, politicians in the United States and the European Union demonize immigrants and refugees from “developing” countries as being not only a threat to national security but the traditional way of life.  The fact that this issue is posed by a movie with an almost entirely black cast is the most subversive thing about the film, from both a left-wing and right-wing standpoint.

In this regard, Black Panther has the now-standard MCU post-credits scene, but this scene, in which T’Challa addresses the United Nations office in Vienna, isn’t simply an add-on Easter egg but the entire point of the movie.

I didn’t think that Black Panther was the most awesome movie ever – at this point in the MCU, all the super-tech didn’t impress me as much as the uber-rhinos and Hanuman warriors – but it did what it needed to do.

Show respect and bow down.

 

REVIEW: Justice League

When I was on vacation back East, my brother took me to see Justice League for its special Thursday night premiere on November 16. However I didn’t have access to my computer to post a review until I got home. So by now it’s hardly a secret that in this movie Superman comes back to life.

After Clark Kent’s funeral in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) and Diana/Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) form a working partnership, ending their retirement from superheroics and using Lex Luthor’s files to recruit additional metahumans to form a team against a threat that Batman is convinced is just around the corner.

The first two metahumans are surly drunk Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and the nervous-but-eager Flash (Ezra Miller). The third is Victor Stone (Ray Fisher), whose genius father used cybernetic parts to rebuild his body after an auto accident that maimed Victor and killed his mother. However this turned Victor into an inhuman cyborg with vast control over technology that sometimes controls him in turn. Moreover, the reason Doctor Stone could perform this operation is because he was using an alien artifact he called a “Change Engine” that turns out to be tied to Batman’s impending threat: Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds), an alien warlord who is so powerful that in an ancient age, he could only be driven off by a coalition of gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, at least one Green Lantern and a troop of humans who look suspiciously like the Men of Gondor. Steppenwolf’s power is tied to three Mother Boxes (including Cyborg’s Change Engine) that were dormant on Earth until Superman died, at which point they reactivated and beckoned Steppenwolf back. (While Steppenwolf has Mother Boxes, boom tubes and an army of Parademons, his connection to Darkseid is mentioned only once.)

Justice League brought back a couple of things that irritated me about Batman v Superman. The first was angry-yet-stupid Superman. After Steppenwolf beats up the team in their first encounter, Batman deduces that Cyborg can hook his Mother Box up to the Kryptonian biomatrix at Luthor’s lab in Metropolis, and put Superman’s corpse in to revive him. And in one of his best lines, Flash muses whether the revived Superman will be cool and back to normal or whether this will be like “Pet Sematary.” Well, the plan works, and sure enough, the result is more like Pet Sematary. Until Batman uses an unusual tactic to get Clark (Henry Cavill) back to his senses, Superman kicks ass on the entire team, not coincidentally destroying what’s left of his own ruined monument. It sort of makes sense that Superman is not in his right mind after revival, after all he’s been mostly dead all year. But still, it ties into the idea that people are supposed to be afraid of Superman. And that conflicts with a larger theme that is implicit in Justice League: Why do these guys NEED Superman, anyway?

I mean, Batman is the brains and the bankroll, Flash is at least as fast as Superman, Wonder Woman is about that strong, Aquaman is almost that strong, and Cyborg can do things with technology that haven’t even been quantified yet. There are a couple of good scenes that get to the heart of the matter. At one point Bruce tells Alfred (Jeremy Irons) that Clark was a better human than him. Clark had managed to fall in love, get a job, and live alongside regular people, something Bruce had never done. That and the influence of his foster parents made Clark more grounded than the antisocial Batman. Later there are a couple bits of dialogue where Diana confronts Bruce and brings up the notion that he is (in a passive-aggressive way) trying to get her to take over the team. And he responds that after Steve Trevor died, she withdrew from the world. She didn’t act as a public superhero, and basically hid her light under a bushel while Superman became a public figure. And she responds in so many words that when you’re placed in a position of leadership, and have to make decisions that could get people killed, at that point everyone is Steve Trevor.

Wonder Woman is the closest thing to a morally perfect character in the DCEU, but even she doesn’t see herself in Superman’s role. Superman is specifically referred to as a beacon of hope in Justice League at least once. The problem is that that description could fit Superman in almost any other DC movie before BvS (including Man of Steel) but it’s at odds with the themes of BvS, in particular the idea that Superman is an alien, godlike being who is a figure of fear, or at best awe. This is why the government in BvS had plans to stop him (and Doomsday) with a nuke, and why in Suicide Squad Amanda Waller and her allies were able to present their project on the rationale of being able to stop Superman (or a similar threat) in case he kidnapped the President. The best analog to Superman in Marvel Comics in this regard is Captain America, the Golden Age hero that every costumed hero since has tried to emulate. And that’s because Captain America always does the right thing, even if it means going against the authorities. In Captain America: Civil War, the movie makes it clear that world governments would have good reason to monitor and regulate metahumans, but it also makes it clear that if the US government is against Captain America, then it’s the government that’s in the wrong. Whereas in the Snyderverse, Superman isn’t the world’s greatest hero because of his spirit or inspirational presence. He’s the greatest hero because he is the most powerful being on Earth who hasn’t decided to become a supervillain, apparently because he lacks the initiative.

The assumption of many fans is that Superman is like this in the DC Extended Universe because Zach Snyder is a devotee of Ayn Rand (his production company is called Atlas Entertainment). I have addressed this subject at great length. In any case Snyder, along with scriptwriter Chris Terrio, wrote the original story for Justice League and was directing the movie until the tragic death of his daughter forced him to quit work on the film. Somewhere in this process Joss Whedon got put in (allegedly because test audiences found Snyder’s first run film unwatchable) to co-write the script, and ended up taking over direction as well (even though Snyder is still listed as sole director). As most other reviewers have pointed out, this has resulted in a disjointed and uneven film. It’s sometimes hard to tell where Snyder ends and Whedon begins, but for the most part Justice League is very much a Zach Snyder film- ponderous direction, muted colors, overcast skies and way too much CGI. There is however one scene that seems unquestionably Whedon’s: in the Big Boss fight, Superman has to help Cyborg contain an energy explosion, and when it throws them back, these two characters – who up to now have been MORE grim and serious than Batman – lie back and laugh. And they joke about it. I just couldn’t imagine something this relaxed and good-natured in Snyder’s work up to this point.

Moreover, the earliest previews for Justice League (mostly released before Whedon stepped in) showed Jason Momoa and Ezra Miller having so much fun playing their characters that it gave me the impression that DC was trying to change the direction of things.

At least once in Justice League, Batman says that his drive to form the team (and later, to revive Superman) is an attempt at redemption on his part: Batman almost killed Superman because he had the wrong idea about him. I get the impression that Justice League is a similar quest for redemption on the part of DC’s movie team. It doesn’t exactly work, because the script makes clear that Zach Snyder (and/or Chris Terrio) still doesn’t get Superman. Ultimately, though, Justice League is in the same class as Suicide Squad:  a grim and muddy Snyderverse project that, thanks to bright performances and some last-minute script doctoring, ends up as a patchwork monster that somehow manages to live.

Oh, and I mentioned that Justice League brought back two of the things that irritated me about BvS. The first was Mean Superman. The second was Jesse Eisenberg’s irritating dingbat version of Lex Luthor. Fortunately he appears only very briefly and at the very last scene after the credits. So teasing the next movie with an end-credits scene is one of two things that the DCEU learned from Marvel Studios. The other of course, is hire Joss Whedon to write and direct your movies.