Superhero films - 2019

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And so an era ends.

Avengers: Endgame is the 22nd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and it wraps up the story hinted at for several years and which finally exploded in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War - the saga of the Infinity Stones and the pursuit of them by the alien villain, Thanos. This film concludes that story and also makes lasting changes to the MCU and a number of its primary leading characters.

The Story: After the devastating events from the end of Infinity War - the "decimation" when half of all life has been simply "snapped" out of existence - the remaining Avengers on Earth have been assessing the damage and seeking Thanos, the one who caused all of the destruction, in order to see if what had been done could possibly be undone. Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) are attempting to get to Earth from their failed attempt to stop Thanos on his native Titan. Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), having received Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) distress call, returns to Earth to join the Avengers as well. The group is devastated is learn that their hopes of reversing the damage are impossible and they are left to deal with their loss seemingly without hope. Time passes and an unlikely series of events gives them a far-fetched way to get back most of what they have lost, leading to a fantastic quest and a climactic battle to end all battles.

So, how was it?

Oddly enough, for a film continued from Infinity War by the same writers (Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely) and directors (Anthony and Joe Russo), Endgame has a significantly different flavor to it. It seems to have lost quite a bit from the excision of the characters wiped from existence at the end of Infinity War. Though the original Avengers team remains, they seem gutted by the loss of Sam, Wanda, Vision, and Bucky. One would expect a feeling of loss, but they seem more as if they are practically crippled. By the time we first see them, it is nearly a month after their loss to Thanos and while perhaps that has set in, they simply don't seem like the team we knew. Perhaps they were still not recovered from the events of Captain America: Civil War as well, a point that Tony brings up when he and Steve/Captain America (Chris Evans) are reunited.

No one would have been surprised that the story would have to go to fantastic lengths to seek to reverse the already fantastic elements where Thanos (Josh Brolin) had wiped out half of all life in the known universe. But the use of time travel (everyone knew that was bound to be a factor) felt like "jumping the shark" a bit. One of Marvel's strengths has been that their characters at least started out as being somewhat believable. In theory, a man could make a mechanical suit which could allow him to fly and shoot missiles and energy weapons. In theory, men could be physically enhanced by exposure to performance-enhancing drugs or radiation. In theory, there could have been some basis for the Norse myths by humanoids using otherworldly technologies. But as time has gone by, the limits of our credulity have been pushed just a bit more in every film. Now we have sorcery, people who can manipulate their size, and alien races. But time travel has always felt like an area where science-fiction was invading its way into fantasy for convenient storytelling. Though it was about the only way the story could go, the sacrifice of anything being permanent now, seems like it takes something out of this world we've invested so much time in.

Many people have drawn comparisons between Endgame and Infinity War. In my personal opinion, the characters were better portrayed and the storytelling was better paced in Infinity War. It's simply better. While Infinity War seems like a thrilling, compelling story, Endgame seems like a patchwork quilt of subplots and scenes woven together to get us to where the storytellers wanted us to end up. That being said, I give them credit to the fitting send-offs they gave us for the two most important members of the MCU - Tony and Steve. I had made some predictions about these two and they actually came up with more fitting destinies for these foundational characters than I had. Bravo.

Some people have complained about the fan service in the final throwdown at the film's end, but they are just wrong. This film was all about fan service and there were so many wonderful moments in that climactic battle that I think it was handled perfectly.

There are also people who have complained about the depiction of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) in this film. They are absolutely correct. If Hemsworth is too bored playing Thor as something other than a clown, he should move on to other projects. The character was handled badly in Thor: Ragnarok, well in Infinity War, and badly here. Let's hope the next time will be a step up.

If one is a fan of the MCU or just Infinity War, Endgame is necessary viewing. My only sadness is that while the MCU will doubtless continue, I can't imagine them equalling this body of work. I wish them luck in proving me wrong.

- JC

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So, Marvel has released their first female-starring superhero film since Elektra (2005). While I didn't think Elektra was that bad, the majority of people have dissed it, along with Daredevil (2003), for years. It has been surmised that this made Marvel gun-shy of female-led superhero films. But the success of DC's Wonder Woman (2017) may have bolstered their courage.

Marvel has tried jumping the gender hurdle for years in the comics arena. While they have quite a number of strong female characters in their pantheon, nearly all are co-stars in their books - Storm and Jean Grey of the X-Men, the Invisible Woman of the Fantastic Four, Black Widow and Scarlet Witch of the Avengers, and so on. But Marvel had no female equivalent of its main characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, and Spiderman. Frankly, even at DC, Wonder Woman stands out nearly as a fluke. Sure, they have their other popular female characters, but so many are derived from male precursors - Supergirl, Batgirl, Mary Marvel, etc. While I don't read the comics as I did in my youth, I'd noticed an attempt in the past few years to elevate the Carol Danvers version of Captain Marvel to a position of prominence. With her look, backstory and power-set, she seemed like a logical character for them to promote in this way. But fans can be particular. And the "Mary Sue" problem of introducing a female character who seems impossibly strong and courageous strains credulity and is a bit insulting to fans who see long-time favorite characters shoved aside by what seems like a brash newcomer. I think it's possible that some of the surprisingly vile complaints about Captain Marvel that we are hearing now are a perception of a character essentially being crammed down our throats.

Sure, actress Brie Larson, who plays Marvel/Carol Danvers, has been reported to have made some comments about feminism and gender/racial inclusiveness. (Or so I hear. Frankly, I care about the film, not the comments of an actor about matters outside of the film.) One can interpret Captain Marvel to be about female empowerment. But after seeing it, I didn't really interpret it that way.

Let's talk about the movie . . .

The story: We are introduced to the hero of our story (Larson) as "Vers," the newer recruit of a team called Starforce - crack military warriors representing the alien (to us) Kree empire, who are primarily engaged in a battle against their shape-shifting enemies, the Skrulls. She is often troubled, since she is an amnesiac who only has fragments of memories of her past. She appears to have a close relationship with her Kree mentor, Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), who is constantly challenging her to discipline herself against her impulsive nature and seems to intend to cast her in his own image - what he calls the "best version of herself." On a mission, Vers is captured by the Skrulls, and while they attempt to probe her mind for important information, the procedure triggers more of her dormant memories. She manages to break free from the Skrull vessel, but when she crash lands, she finds herself on Earth circa 1995.

While pursuing Skrulls on Earth, she is intercepted by agents of SHIELD, including Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). They are unbelieving of anything she says, until Fury witnesses photon blasts coming from Vers' hands and Skrulls assuming the shape of others in front of him. Soon after, they join forces as they pursue the Skrulls, discover more of their purpose on Earth, and Vers' past slowly comes to light as an integral part of the whole plot. We slowly discover, along with her, that her past is far from what she imagined and that many things she thought she knew were not the truth at all.

So, how was it?

Good points: It's fun. As you may hear other people say, it doesn't seem on a par with many of the other MCU films, and honestly that's a fair assessment. But to be fair, Whedon and the Russo Brothers are tough acts to follow. Co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck come to Captain Marvel from significantly smaller projects. Other directors tossed into the deep end of the pool like this have also struggled (except for James Wan, who apparently can do no wrong). So, while it may have trouble matching The Avengers, Captain America: Civil War, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War, it doesn't compare all that badly to some of the earlier MCU films or some of the smaller, light-hearted ones like Ant-Man or even Spider-Man: Homecoming. While watching it, I was reminded of elements from action films from earlier decades (appropriate for a film set in the 1990's) such as Top Gun, The Last Starfighter, and I Am Number Four. I found it fun, because I enjoyed the fights scenes in space, on the ground, in gyms, and on a train. I enjoyed the banter between Danvers and Fury. I enjoyed her catching up with her past with old friends. I enjoyed the Skrulls, after not expecting to. I enjoyed the cat which seems to have Cthulu in its belly (you just have to see it).

And in spite of what the haters say, I liked the development of Danvers' character. I didn't see the story as being about a woman resisting male dominance. What I saw, and what I think is in the actual script, is that Danvers was a person who had a lifetime of being told she couldn't do things, whether it was her father while growing up or as a young struggling military recruit. I don't think it was just that she was a woman. It was that she was a dinky, little, fair-haired, girl. Some of the static she got from people she might not have gotten if she'd been built like Ronda Rousey or Bev Francis. The battle she fought was much like that of Steve Rogers, the 98-pound weakling with the heart of a hero. And that is who this Captain is too. In the build up to the climax of this film, the big bad is telling her how she isn't strong enough to win while slapping her around. But, maybe, just maybe, we are all just as strong as what we are able to take and still rise.

Quibbles: As noted above, the story-telling isn't at the level of other MCU films. If presenting Captain Marvel was such an essential task, they really should have chosen a more established director. But they took a chance and it paid off like this - a bit of a mixed bag. The character development with supporting characters, most notably Law's and Annette Benings' characters could have been, and in my opinion should have been, developed more. While the relationship with Fury was nice and entertaining, some of it could have been dropped for the supporting characters related more to the protagonist's character arc. Some people have groused about the special effects and they did have a feel of what we would have expected to see in films from 15 years ago.

All in all, I enjoyed this film and welcome it to the list of MCU entries. Some of the hate it's gotten may also be that people have been waiting for Avengers: Endgame for a year and one can get resentful at a point. When you dangle a cookie out of a child's grasp for too long and then hand them a carrot instead, they may kick you in the knee. But so much of this is how you choose to look at things. I look at this film as an appetizer, much as Ant-Man and the Wasp was an after-dinner mint. I don't think it's essential viewing for Endgame, but I think it would help with introducing MCU viewers to the intergalactic world that Marvel is leading us to, as in the Thor and Guardians films.

Also, as no small point: The usual MCU beginning credits for Captain Marvel have been replaced with one showing photos of Stan Lee as a tribute to the man's life and the characters and worlds he has given us. It got the biggest round of applause I heard during the whole film. And Stan has a nice cameo in the film as well. They were touching moments - Stan detractors be damned. 'Nuff said.

- JC

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In previous reviews I've talked about how audience expectations have colored the way films have been received. Glass has suffered from this quite a bit. 2017's Split was a great little horror film, but the reveal at the end that it was actually in the same world as 2000's Unbreakable kind of broke the fan world. Like a few others that follow these things too closely, I picked up on the notes from the Unbreakable score softly playing at the end and remember my eyes widening in my head and the syllables "you've gotta be f*ing kidding me" spilling out of my lips even before we see David Dunn sitting at a barstool. So, undertandably jazzed about the whole thing, I've spent the past two years imagining where this story would go. Years ago, I even wrote a few chapters of a sequel to Unbreakable and plotted out much of the whole story, so this is something I'd given some thought. Obviously, others have thought about it too and as has been the case with other film franchises (Star Wars, the most prominent example) expectations were formed as to how this story would play out. Interestingly, the first 30 minutes or so of Glass seem to be right in line with what the audience would be expecting. But then things take a hard left turn and we are reminded that this isn't a Marvel or DC movie. This is an M. Night Shyamalan film and he has his story to tell and he doesn't really care about your expectations except to turn them on their ears.

The story: Kevin Wendell Crumb, aka "the Horde," aka "the Beast," (James McAvoy) has returned to his modus operandi of kidnapping pretty young girls and David Dunn, aka "the Overseer," as the public has named the shadowy vigilante, (Bruce Willis) has been searching for him. The two have a rather epic, though brief, confrontation which is cut short by the arrival of a large assembly of SWAT cops. They are apparently led by a doctor who knows a suspicious amount about the identities of both men and who has them hauled off to a mental hospital for "treatment." At the hospital where Elijah Price, aka "Mr. Glass," (Samuel L. Jackson) is also being held, Dr. Staple (Sarah Paulson) attempts to convince all of them that they are deluded and that no one, including them, has abilities that can't be explained as normal physical abilities. She is nearly successful in convincing David and Kevin, but Elijah, who has been faking catatonia, sees through her attempts to undermine them and orchestrates an alliance with the Beast and their escape. He further sets up a final "showdown" between the Overseer and the Beast as the climax to our story.

Good points: I, for one, appreciate Shyamalan's view of superhumanity as simply select people who have atypical enhancements that come from being at the extreme end of some curve of human abilities and the untapped potential of what the mind can do. It's attractive to think that being superhuman is actually just an aspect of being human. In fact, to a degree, it's even plausible. This may be exactly what Shyamalan wished to say. The performances of our leads are spot on. McAvoy has another field day as the Horde, seemingly shifting from personality to personality as if it were natural for him. (Imagine the out-takes...) Jackson does a wonderful job as the calculating mastermind who is the only one who really knows what all is going on and his only joy is from seeing his "creations" live up to their potential. And while some have complained that Willis doesn't do enough in Glass, his understated performance is perfectly in keeping with the depictions of his character in the past.

Spoiler warning: To address complaints about the ending of the film, I have to (stating the obvious) talk about the ending of the film.

Not so much my quibbles as talking about the disappointments of fans... While the first of the three acts of Glass essentially give the audience exactly what they expected to see, then Shyamalan "splits" off and tells the story he wants to tell of this universe he has created. The battle isn't really the extraordinary vs. the extraordinary, it's the battle of the ordinary to suppress the extraordinary (Shyamalan's twist). As Dr. Staple says as her shadowy society of normal people murder all three of our special people, "We are not meant to have such power." And while David and Kevin have their final confrontation, Elijah has manipulated the circumstances to achieve his master plan. They were simply his pawns, allowed to fight it out on camera so he could record it and broadcast it to the world. The secret is out. People can be extraordinary. It's natural for them to be. And the forces of conformity and mediocrity can't stop it. I think that is Shyamalan's message and I kind of love it.

The biggest complaint has been the way David Dunn perishes - drowned by faceless thugs in a puddle of water. I agree it's disappointing, but it shows how ironically silly his weakness (water) is. I'd like to point out that everyone thought Dunn had died by drowning in his youth, but he actually survived it. He could survive this if the storyteller wished it. Perhaps Willis didn't want to continue in this role (the man is 63). Perhaps Shyamalan entertained the idea of a universe with new emerging characters. Perhaps he just wanted to put the existence of this world out there and leave it for us to ponder on (or maybe just surprise us by coming back to it in another 20 years). But it's his story to tell and he can tell it however he wants. You don't like it? Write your own.

This more grounded take on superhumans isn't like a Marvel or DC story. And that's fine. We have Marvel and DC for that. I enjoyed Glass and this trilogy. The fact that it is different and subverts fan expectations is its strength and its reason for existing in a world where there are plenty of crowd-pleasing films that entertain but don't really have that much to say. Bravo.

- JC

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