Thoughts on The Avengers: Infinity War

The Avengers: Infinity War does exactly what is needed for the MCU franchise. It brings all heroes together against a terrible evil. The Thanos character is interesting and adds more dimension to the film as a more developed villain. He is evil but he has a method to his madness. It didn’t have as much heart as other MCU movies but it is still entertaining and sort of sad. It is recommended for any MCU fan.

Thor The Dark World-review

After being such a fan of the first Thor movie and The Avengers it was hard not to have very high expectations for this movie. While visually interesting and action packed, it seems to be fairly unoriginal and struggles to be humorous- which is not appropriate.  It is at least entertaining for the most part. It comes off like an obvious attempt at a cash grab from Marvel instead of anything necessary to bridge the gap before the next Avenger’s film.

In Asgard, Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston, is imprisoned for his crimes from the events from The Avengers. Thor, played by Christ Hemsworth, is fighting off enemies in the Nine Realms.  Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, has been trying to find Thor for the past two years.  Jane becomes infected with a powerful primordial force called Aether that Dark Elves are attempting to get back for a world conquest plan.

Thor The Dark World feels familiar in a lot of ways.  The actors feel like they are going through motions and don’t seem to try anything new.  The villains look like space-faring versions of Hellboy II: The Golden Army’s Elves. There are scenes that seem to be taken right out of the Animatrix.   Kat Dennings’ character, Darcy, is painfully unfunny. Every time she was on screen I felt like yelling. “Who invited you?” The brotherly back-and-forth between Loki and Thor is welcome to see again but is sadly few and far between.

The movie is fairly predictable and adds nothing to the Marvel universe; it’s just a colorful filler-movie.  Though the action is somewhat fun, the story between those scenes isn’t enough to drive this film forward. They try to create tension between Jane and Sif but it doesn’t go anywhere. Plus, there is never an explanation as to how exactly Loki takes the throne of Asgard.  It seems like he’d have to contend with Odin and pretty much the entire army of Asgard that knows he is a criminal.  Why didn’t we see that?

It also makes very little sense that these movies should even exist after the making of The Avengers.  For example, why do these heroes not have the assistance from other heroes on their team? If a group of alien Dark Elves attacked earth I am sure S.H.E.I.L.D would be first to show up with some help for Thor.  These solo movies just become more obvious as an attempt to milk the series for more money.

As a whole, Thor The Dark World is not terrible.  It is visually appealing and a fun action film that is worth a rental at the very least.  However, seeing it in theaters is not necessary.  Thor The Dark World will not be winning any awards or be deeply connected to the next Avenger’s film.  If anything it is more connected to Guardians of the Galaxy.  It is a fine movie but pales in comparison to the first film, which was such a smarter hero story.

Iron Man 3- review

Iron Man 3 is the sequel to the blockbuster hit Iron Man 2 and the first movie to revisit the characters after The Avengers crossover.  This time the director is Shane Black, who had a hit with Robert Downey Jr. with the film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.  The movie is fairly dull and predictable.  Sadly, the tone of it is so mismanaged that it should have been called Tony Stark Adventures rather than Iron Man 3.

Tony Stark/Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., is having panic attacks and is having trouble sleeping.  He has built many new Iron Man suits and is trying to build a new life with his girlfriend Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.  When a terrorist hurts one of Tony’s former bodyguards he makes a threat that effectively puts him in the crosshairs.  Can he find out who this new threat is and save himself as well as those that he has sworn to protect?

For a movie called Iron Man 3 there is a not nearly enough Iron Man in this movie.   Tony spends a great deal of time running around like he was in a spy movie.  The times he does get in the suit he is climbing out of it just as fast or showing us that he is controlling it remotely- so there is no real danger.  The movie does not even seem to care that the focus for movie is all over the place, not allowing for real character development.

The movie does not have a strong sense of threat.  A very predictable twist comes about halfway through the movie and contains such a colossal hole that the writers should have discarded it the second it was brought up.  The movie barely even touches on the events of The Avengers movie save for the fact that Tony now has panic attacks on occasion.  Even when Tony’s loved ones are threatened you know they are going to be okay.  There is no reason to care if the filmmakers won’t make situations that create risk for the characters.

Iron Man 3 is a mediocre movie; a feature that no longer resembles the last two films.  The movie is fairly dull and involves too much dialogue that unfortunately does not seem to include character development.  If you are desperate for a superhero movie there are much better ones coming in the future.  I would wait for this to come out on video if you are a fan of the series. This film seems to be a swing and a miss for the Marvel Universe.

The Avengers-review

It wasn’t until recently that I had heard of a movie like this. The Avengers takes the plot threads and characters from essentially four different films and combines them to make one big blockbuster.  The care of Joss Whedon’s script and careful direction, make this movie a great way to start the ride of summer blockbusters for 2012.

The Avengers team, comprised of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawk Eye, band together to stop the otherworldly, Loki.  His plans are to take over the world by unleashing an army of bizarre space creatures onto planet earth and extend his iron-will over humanity.  Only by working together can the team of heroes find hope to defeat such a menace.

The characters are written with the same care as the movies that preceded them.  Captain America, played by Chris Evans, is still a kind-hearted, star-spangled, knight in shining armor.  Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., is still a hilarious smart ass.  They all have fallen into their familiar roles very well.  I particularly liked Mark Ruffalo’s newer take on Bruce Banner.  He plays the role more frightened and vulnerable then Eric Bana or Edward Norton did. His take on the role reminded me a lot of the late Bill Bixby on “The Hulk” television shows.

The script is top notch.  There are fist-slamming moments of action intercut with wit and humor, which make a long movie seem to go by rather quickly.   Loki is a hilariously haughty villain.  It makes for some dynamic pieces of dialogue between him and the other characters, many of which are not used to such a bizarre yet powerful entity. 

There is no way that you have to watch ALL the movies that came first, which I thought was smart.  This movie gives you a taste of each character’s back-story, and allows you to piece it together yourself.  It showed a lot of care, and for a summer superhero movie, that sometimes is a tall order. 

The movie is a ton of fun.  I recommend staying until after the credits to see the extra footage.  I would definitely say you should go see this movie.  If you are at all a fan of any of the Marvel comics’ movies that make up the Avengers, you will enjoy this movie as an unofficial sequel. Otherwise, you’ll enjoy the fresh action and humor of “The Avengers”.