Marvel Pulls Some Strings

With summer approaching, I have a feeling there will be more to read on this blog. Thanks for sticking with me so far.

A string of highly anticipated films (to some) are around the corner. We have Mad Max: Fury Road, Tomorrowland, Jurassic World, Mission: Impossible- Rogue Nation, Terminator: Genisys, Fantastic Four and many others. The first film that sets the tone for a film filled summer is none other than The Avengers: Age of Ultron.

For those who haven’t seen the film yet, there are very minimal spoilers in this review. So no need to quickly exit out of your browser. Now, let’s begin.

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What Marvel is able to accomplish, which is really quite extraordinary, is to somehow tie different story lines together. When the first Avengers was announced, the hype surrounding the movie was one of the rarest forms of phenomenon. The concept in itself was so ambitious, it almost seemed unreachable; taking six beloved comic characters and having them interact on screen. With so many big characters in one film comes so many potential errors and we were lucky enough that the first one was done well for the most part. The film was campy fun and what’s great is that it was meant to be that way. It didn’t take itself too seriously.

With the first one being extremely successful, there is an immediate expectation for the following film. I will admit that after the announcement of Phase 3 films during the last San Diego Comic-Con, it was hard to keep my expectations to a minimum. The conglomeration of trailers and promotional clips for Age of Ultron didn’t help either. I was getting unbearingly excited and emotional.

Before Avengers: Age of Ultron hit theatres in America, it had premiered in several locations overseas. This made staying spoiler-free a bit of a challenge. On Thursday, April 30th, I was among the many people that saw The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Before watching the film, the biggest issues I’d heard about [the film] was that 1) it had too much going on 2) Ultron’s development and 3) the Hulk/Black Widow relationship.

Like all the other films in Marvel Cinematic Universe, I have many thoughts but I’ll mainly address these for the sake of keeping this entry organized.

Was the film too busy? Honestly, for me, no. If we are talking about the content, the only complaint I have about the content would be Ultron’s development which I’ll touch on further down. In the first film, it was exciting because we got to see how the characters interact for the first time and how they became a team. In this film, you get to see the characters interact after they’ve fought alongside each other several times before; they know each other. What’s great about seeing a tight knit team is that there’s a chance to see that tight knit team start to unravel. We definitely see both sides and for what’s coming in the next films, pay attention because it’s all part of the plan.

However, I can understand why there are complaints about the film being crowded. I apologize if I come off as pompous but being someone who has lived in the world of comics since childhood, I am used to the various story lines that seemingly overlap. It can be a little overwhelming and confusing to someone who isn’t too familiar on how things are written. However, like I said before, Marvel has the ability to eventually tie everything together whether it be tied together strictly in the Avengers films or indirectly tied to any of the other films in the MCU. For example, Ulysses Klaw (Andy Serkis) was in the film for no longer than 5 minutes but his appearance has some fans screaming. For those that don’t know, Klaw is a villain in the Black Panther comics; Black Panther is getting his own film set to be released in 2018.

Or you can take Neflix’s Daredevil, starring Charlie Cox. There have been several easter eggs revolving around what happens in the Daredevil comics throughout the show; however one that connects Daredevil to the Avengers are several newspaper clippings reading “The Battle of NY” which people are assuming it refers to the aftermath of the first Avengers film.

Coming back to this film, it is a very fast paced film. Seriously, you are thrust into the story. There is no build up whatsoever but it isn’t a big enough issue to go into a lengthy discussion. With it being constantly progressing, It’s easy to miss some foreshadowing for the upcoming Phase 3 films. With Vision being introduced (who looks fantastic by the way) and the infinity stones being explained, everything is being set up in such an ingenious way and it’s very exciting and sometimes nerve-wrecking to see Marvel slowly reveal what the future holds.

Did they do Ultron justice? Meh. I know a lot of people had issues with Ultron being one dimensional and I agree with them for the most part. Without giving too much away, I would have liked to see a little more of Ultron’s driving force towards peace. He was filled with such vengeance and in the comics he is but for those who don’t know who the character is prior to the films, it would have been nice to show more of why he was like that.

His overall look was decent. I didn’t care too much for his “final form.” He was a lot more menacing when he was first “born.” The film character wasn’t as maniacal as I wanted. He laced his threats with humor but it wasn’t as scary to me. The more he spoke, the less intimidating he was. Maybe that has to do with James Spader’s voice. He has a nice voice.

Being completely honest, Age of Ultron is filler for me. It’s ultimately an introduction to what is coming in the next few years and if you’re not excited, you should be.

Hulk and Black Widow. I know I’m not alone when I say this: the relationship between Bruce (Hulk) and Natasha (Black Widow) was extremely forced. And no I’m not a Clint/Natasha shipper. One of my biggest issues with any film is the authenticity of certain elements. Obviously in this case, with the infinity stones and various other fantasy elements, what we know to be real is how the characters develop and interact. What’s great is when there are characters like these, doesn’t matter if they are from Earth or Asgard, you can relate to them in some shape or form. It’s fun to watch each Avenger interact with the each other. Hulk and Black Widow, I can understand why they connect: both characters feel out of control at certain times in their life. Romantically though, not so much. Maybe if there was more development in the first film. The only interesting interaction they had in the first film was The Hulk wrecking through S.H.I.E.L.D.’s air jet chasing Black Widow and that’s not considered sexy in my book.

I had known about the blossoming relationship prior to watching the film so I had braced myself. If I hadn’t known about it beforehand, the relationship would have ruined the film for me. So be forewarned if you haven’t seen the film. Their relationship is not organic whatsoever.

A little review of the production:

The cinematography was decent however Captain America: Winter Soldier definitely wins when it comes to the technique, how the film was shot. Though shots like this may seem cheesy but in all honesty, it looks like they took it straight out of a comic panel. And that’s a thumbs up from the fans. The editing could definitely have been better. What they omit from the script and what they chose to keep in the film affected the pacing. This resulting in some people thinking the film was too choppy or too rushed.

Props to the composer, Danny Elfman (the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy). The first Avengers score was composed by Alan Silvestri (Forrest Gump) and Elfman did a great job of incorporating the first film’s themes into the new themes. The CGI was, for the most part, decent. What was most impressive of the film was the on location parts of the film. For the film, they shot in various countries including London, South Korea, South Africa, and Italy.

The movie overall, I wasn’t at all disappointed with it; maybe it was because my expectations were low due to me being completely blindsided in the past X-Men United, Spiderman 3.  Good friends of mine who are Marvel fans, for the most part, weren’t disappointed either. I definitely think the negative critic reviews were fairly exaggerated. There are plenty of great things to say about the film. The infinity stones and introducing what they are used for, The Vision, quirky banter amongst the characters, and the introduction to the Inhumans (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch) and a little mid credits scene (none at the end) if you wait a couple minutes. If you go in wanting a fun film, that’s exactly what you’ll get and then some.

For those who aren’t familiar with the comics, get ready. Civil War is coming.

Keep That Amazing Fire

We all have heroes in our lives.
Celebrities dressed in glamour. Politicians polished in their suits. Family members despite their drama.

But for some, they prefer their heroes in tights.

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With The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron coming to theatres soon and Captain America 3: Civil War starting pre-production, I thought I’d purge what I’ve been holding in for the past few months. For those of you that don’t know, Spider-Man has been one of my heroes since I was four years old. My mother introduced me to the world of Marvel and I cannot thank her enough. The character Peter Parker/Spider-Man has inspired me and many others in so many ways.

When people discover that I am a Spider-Man fan, I get asked “do you prefer the original films or the rebooted films” almost every time. It’s a reasonable question don’t get me wrong. I don’t know about other Spider-Man fans but, to me, that is a very loaded question. I am at war with myself because with Spider-Man being so dear to me, I am excited beyond capacity but am also extremely critical. I won’t go too much into detail about the Sam Raimi trilogy or the Marc Webb Spider-Man films because we don’t have 78 hours, but I will say that there are things about each that I love and things that I would have changed Spider-Man 3.

Like many Spider-Man fans, I too was disheartened by the reboot announced in 2010. I didn’t necessarily mind Tobey MaGuire in the role, not nearly as much as some people on the internet, but after Spider-Man 3, well let’s just say that I was very emotionally compromised.

When Andrew Garfield was announced as the new Spider-Man, I remember the internet imploding. I remember the comments on the forums, some expressing their frustration and some positive and open minded. Some were expressing how Garfield was too slim, too attractive to be Peter Parker. Too British. My main concern was not of the trivial: my concern was how the character was going to be portrayed. You can have all the special effects in the world but without a story and without heart… all of that means nothing. I was anxious because with the Spider-Man films being so successful at the box office, my beloved character would possibly be in the hands of someone who pushed for the cash and not the heart of the story.

I had known who Andrew was because of several UK films that were very well received (Never Let Me Go, Boy A). He became more well known in America after starring in The Social Network. It was safe to say we had a very talented actor who seemed to be an alright guy but there is always fear in the back of your mind when it comes to a favorite character.

San Diego Comic-Con 2011 was when I was reassured.

He attended his ever first comic-con and I was beyond touched by what I saw. I wasn’t expecting to be reminded so much of myself: a young person so moved by a character that it was impossible to contain your emotions. You can see his excitement and passion emitting off of every word he spoke. His smile took up half his face, a smile as if he had a hanger in his mouth. You could tell he was nervous but it was wonderfully genuine. You could tell that he loves the character with every fiber of his being and that is something I fear cannot be replaced.

You might be wondering why I am spending my time writing about something that happened a few years ago. I’m getting to it, I promise.

Regarding the films, Spider-Man belongs to SONY and that has been a frustration to say the least because, pardon my bluntness, SONY has proved with The Amazing Spider-Man 1 and 2 that they never cared for the character.  The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was not critically received and I as well as many believe that that is because the production company rushed the film and its release in order to keep their rights to the character otherwise the rights would be reverted back into Marvel’s hands.

While this was playing out, exciting things have been happening at Marvel. It was confirmed that the Avengers films would be going the Civil War route in terms of the of the plot. This had many speculating if Spider-Man’s character would be involved considering he was a vital character in the comic crossover. The only problem was that SONY and Marvel Studios would need to come to some sort of agreement so that no lines were crossed.

In February 2015, Spider-Man fans were given wonderful news. We would be able to see Spider-Man fighting alongside the other heroes. Spider-Man was being added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I won’t go into the specifications of the agreement but let’s just say that SONY continues to be as greedy and money hungry as ever. However, to many, that excitement was short lived. We were blindsided with the news that Andrew Garfield would not return as Spider-Man and that the series would be reboot yet again.

I am still elated to know that the Spider-Man character will be involved in the MCU but I am deeply saddened and extremely bitter that Andrew was let go (it’s a little complicated). Captain America 3: Civil War is in pre-production and filming will commence within the next few weeks. Spider-Man is reportedly scheduled nothing less than a cameo and with that news, we know that casting for the new Peter Parker has been underway.

With SONY at the helm of the Spider-Man films, I can never be too excited in fear of being let down. I cannot begin to tell you the disappointment I feel towards the company and how they have chosen to handle my personal hero and I won’t. But I will say this:

Andrew Garfield, for the time and effort and wit and emotion and heart you have contributed into bringing Peter Parker to life, I can never thank you enough. Your passion was more than anything I could have asked for as a Spider-Man fan. And even though your journey as him was wrongfully short-lived, even if the films were not successful in their telling, you are the Peter Parker for me. You are the Spider-Man for me.

Andrew Garfield will probably never read this. And that’s okay. I just thought people should know that passion like that is very hard to be replaced. It’s something we don’t see very often in the world we live in. Everything is so disposable. So to whoever is reading this, I hope that you find that incredible thing that makes you feel like you’re on fire. And if you have found that incredible thing, I pray that it never gets extinguished.