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Monday, March 24, 2014

March Marvel Madness: X-MEN: FIRST CLASS

The founding of the X-Men is explored in this prequel (?) directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Kick-Ass). James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender are Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr, respectively. The two gifted mutants are brought together amidst the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. A nefarious inner circle, led by a mutant named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), attempts to influence the U.S. and Soviet Union into nuclear war, hoping to wipe out the human race. Despite a very personal vendetta against Shaw, Erik helps Xavier put together a band of mutants, including Xavier's adopted sister, Raven (AKA Mystique, played by Jennifer Lawrence) to counter the threat. The events of the movie will lead the two friends into different paths: Lensherr as the hateful Magneto, and Xavier as the hopeful Professor X.

I wasn't one of those fans who showed up to X-Men: First Class opening weekend. I nearly gave up on the long-running film franchise after X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, the overwhelming praise this film got compelled me to give it a chance. I really enjoyed the movie, but I could not for the life of me understand what X-Men: First Class was supposed to be. Is this a prequel or a reboot? There were too many design elements from the earlier X-Men movies- including footage and music from the first film- to be a reboot. And there were too many inconsistencies to make it a prequel. I really wanted to love it, but could not ignore the feeling the filmmakers were rather clumsy in coming up with a story in sync with the earlier movies.

As of right now, I'm still having trouble reconciling whether X-Men: First Class is a reboot or a prequel. Only with the release of Days of Future Past this May will that be resolved for me. Until then, it is only fair that First Class can be looked at on its own, as if no other X-Men movie existed.

By that criteria, X-Men: First Class is superb. It's From Russia with Love with superpowers. Vaughn's prowess as a filmmaker is on full display in the movie. The ensemble cast put together for First Class nearly trumps that of the original trilogy. McAvoy and Fassbender are a remarkable duo. Jennifer Lawrence is a standout as she takes the Mystique character to a whole new level. Henry Jackman's score for First Class is the best of the series.

Regardless of how Days of Future Past pans out, we can still have X-Men: First Class alone as the singular best X-Men film.

X-Men: First Class
5 out of 5 Cap Shields

Sunday, March 23, 2014

March Marvel Madness: THOR

Chris Hemsworth (in a star-making role) plays the title character, the prince of a distant world called Asgard, who is banished by his father, Odin (Anthony Hopkins), to Earth for his dangerously arrogant behavior. Thor lands in New Mexico and is discovered by a trio of scientists (Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgard, and Kat Dennings). Meanwhile, Thor's brother, Loki (Tom Hiddleston, in another star-making role), tricks his way to the throne and sets in motion plans to destroy his homeworld and eliminate his adversaries, including Thor. It is up to the Earthbound prince to learn what it takes to be a hero in order to gain his power back to stop him.

Thor, released in May of 2011, is still one of my favorite Marvel Studios productions. The movie is a throwback to the kind of fantasy films I grew up watching in the Eighties. Thor is what the Masters of the Universe movie would've looked like if it had a bigger budget. The film, directed by Kenneth Branagh (yep, the Shakespeare guy), never shies away from being fantastical or feels like it has to defend itself for being fantastical. It's a world you wish you were a part of. The art direction of Asgard is glorious, but the New Mexico town in the picture has an otherworldy charm of its own, too.

Branagh put together an amazing cast, with Hemsworth and Hiddleston creating iconic versions of their characters and Portman, Skargard, and Demming bring quite a bit of humanity to the film. In addition, Jamie Alexander, Ray Stevenson, Tadanobu Asano, and Josh Dallas are great as Thor's best friends. Bridging this movie with the Iron Man films is Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson.

The use of dutch angles in this movie is a bit overkill, but that doesn't take any of the magic away from it. Thor is an unabashed piece of fantasy that can instill wonder in an audience. That is a rare treat in this day and age.

Thor
4 1/2 out 5 Cap shields

Saturday, March 22, 2014

March Marvel Madness: IRON MAN 2

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark, the billionaire scientist who is also the armored superhero, Iron Man. He's also dying. The very technology that's keeping him alive is also poisoning him. Unable to find a suitable replacement element to power the reactor in his chest, Tony engages in reckless behavior, all in the public eye. That's when the sharks come circling. There's the U.S. government (who are desperate to get their hands on the Iron Man suit), rival industrialist Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), and Ivan Vanko (played by Mickey Rourke). A Russian physicist able to duplicate the arc reactor tech, Vanko seeks revenge on Tony for he and his father's deportation by Tony's visionary father, Howard Stark.

I thought Iron Man 2 was great when it came out in May of 2010 and I still stand by that. This is a really brave sequel. The film doesn't rely on what is expected a second film should do, which is deliberately make things impossible for your characters. Iron Man 2, instead, explores compelling and seriously refreshing scenarios in the wake of the final scene of the first movie. Plus, and most important, it retains all the fun of the first film.

Director Jon Favreau and the incredible cast make the Iron Man movie world a fun world to explore. RDJ and Gwyneth Paltrow continue to be an extraordinary duo. Don Cheadle trumps his predecessor, Terrence Howard, in the role of Rhodey. So, having more than one bad guy in a superhero movie is always overkill? Well, Iron Man 2 stimulates the super-villian team-up with two antagonists who's individual missteps give them a reason to unite and who's agendas ultimately destroy the alliance. Rockwell and Rourke both create unique characters to probe that trope. The film also opens the world with bigger appearances by Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Clark Gregg as Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, Phil Coulson, the addition of Scarlet Johanssen as fellow agent, Natalia Romanov, and many references to Howard Stark. Favreau may have had his hands full progressing Tony's character and opening up what would later become the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but Iron Man 2 doesn't show it all. It's as assured as the original film, and it is just as much a blast.

I did not understand the lukewarm response Iron Man 2 got when it was first released. I even looked back at some of the reviews. A common criticism: "More of the same." You say that as if the film was a Friday the 13th sequel (No offense to that franchise). Iron Man is a masterpiece. It's a work of art. If the sequel is just as much fun and imaginative, how is that boring repetition? "Cynical" is a word I found in a review. Are you sure you weren't referring to yourself? Remember near the start of this marathon when I was lamenting how spoiled the fanboy community had become? The reception of this movie was when I first noticed that.

Get over yourself. Iron Man 2 rocks.

Iron Man 2
5 out of 5 Cap Shields

Friday, March 21, 2014

March Marvel Madness: X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

X-Men Origins: Wolverine recounts the history of Logan (once again played by Hugh Jackman), by far the most popular character in the X-Men mythos: from boyhood in rural Canada; to fighting alongside his crazed, animalistic half-brother, Victor Creed (played by Liev Schreiber); to his days as member of a team of mercenary mutants; to the Weapon X program that gave him his indestructible skeleton and claws; to finally losing his memory. There is also a doomed romance along the way between our hero and a schoolteacher named Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins).

I wrote a short review of this film when it was released in May of 2009, saying this prequel felt more like an X-Men history lesson than a motion picture. Five years later, I stand by that assessment. I watched it again recently, and I still feel like I'm being schooled than entertained. The film moves from one defining moment in Logan's life to the next like some sort of highlights reel. The reveals of the mysteries surrounding his past, which had so much tease in the first two X-Men movies, are pretty weak. There are no build-up to those moments. They're just tossed in front of the audience without any weight to what's being shown. Another thing that hasn't changed: the visual effects are still terrible. Terrible. Not since Ang Lee's Hulk has computer-generated imagery in a big Marvel Comics movie look so amateurish. Between the effects and emptiness of the movie itself, Wolverine follows the previous X-Men film and the Fantastic Four sequel in this trend of 20th Century Fox cutting a lot of corners just to increase profit.

The film does manage to get a pass this time, thanks to Hugh Jackman's performance. It's fun to see Logan in different places character-wise. It's also cool to see that personality interact with those of other mutants, such as Taylor Kitsch's Gambit and Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool. That's right, kids, five years later and we're still waiting for that Deadpool movie. Liev Schreiber is great as Sabertooth. I blew him off when I first saw the movie, because it seemed to me Tyler Mane (who played Sabertooth in the very first X-Men) was dropped in favor of a bigger name. Now, I totally dig him. Creed is just seething with bloodlust and he loves it. He looks like (WWE wrestler) Randy Orton with muttonchops and claws. I think a better solo Wolverine picture would be one centered on the rivalry between he and Sabertooth. Jackman and Schreiber, respectively, have a great chemistry there. If Fox could have settled on just this one part of Logan's past- and have the balls to take these characters into R-rated territory- that would have been a film worth going wild over.

As of right now, we have X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is a rather slapdash movie. Hugh Jackman, nonetheless, gives it his all as the title hero, and takes the character into new places. That alone makes the film a adequate quick fix for X-Men fans.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
2 1/2 out 5 Cap shields

Thursday, March 20, 2014

March Marvel Madness: PUNISHER: WAR ZONE

In this film, Ray Stevenson plays a lone vigilante known only as The Punisher, but is really Frank Castle, an ex-military guy who's family was brutally murdered by the mob. Now, he prowls the streets of the big city with an arsenal that could make an NRA member piss himself. After accidentally killing an undercover agent, Frank decides to hang up his skull shirt. However, Frank soon finds he has to protect the dead agent's wife and daughter from a gangster whom he horribly disfigured, Jigsaw (Dominic West).

Punisher: War Zone is dumb as shit, but that's okay. As I mentioned before, I grew up with movies like this, so I'm rather lenient. Also, this is as close as we've gotten to a true film adaptation of Marvel's ever-popular anti-hero. Originally intended as a sequel to the 2004 film, The Punisher, Lionsgate eventually scrapped the idea, replacing Jonathan Hensleigh with Lexi Alexander as director, and deciding to reboot the franchise. Again. Ray Stevenson makes a pretty good Frank Castle, inside and outside. War Zone also goes back to the macho-driven action flicks of the 1980s, with its extreme violence, mobster caricatures, and flying fucks everywhere. In fact, it kind of closely resembles the 1989 version starring Dolph Lundgren. It starts out with Frank unloading on mobsters, features a couple of cops tracking him down, and even has our title character helping kids. The difference is- besides this Punisher actually having a skull on his shirt- Lexi Alexander brings together a grim, sweaty visual style that's also a bit on the cartoonish side to keep it wild and fun.

Punisher: War Zone is the less successful of Marvel's two reboots of 2008, but like The Incredible Hulk, it's a step in the right direction for the character. Just don't expect anything deep.

Punisher: War Zone
3 out of 5 Cap shields

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

March Marvel Madness: THE INCREDIBLE HULK

Produced by Marvel Studios and released the same summer as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, a scientist who, thanks to an accident involving gamma radiation, turns into a green, rampaging giant called The Hulk whenever he gets stressed. On the run for the last five years, Banner eludes a military leader named General Ross (William Hurt) and his mercenary, Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), while desperately searching for a way to control the raging spirit that dwells within him. However, Ross digs up an old army serum to turn Blonsky into the ultimate fighter, but results in the soldier becoming a monster himself. It becomes up to Banner to use Hulk to bring him down.

Now this is more like it. The Incredible Hulk is such a vast improvement over Ang Lee's overblown, whiny, bad acid trip version. Director Louis Leterrier (Unleashed, Transporter 2) offers up a straight-ahead adventure that's one part The Fugitive and one part classic monster movie. It benefits from being anchored by an earnest performance from Norton, but the rest of the cast is fine, too. Especially Roth. Unlike Ang's take, this film is gladly steeped in Hulk lore, with references to both the comic book and the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno TV series. I also love Craig Armstrong's score. For a guy who specializes in what you might call "chick flicks", Armstrong has no problem giving The Incredible Hulk some rousing music. The main problem with the movie is that the visual effects used to bring Hulk to life still fall a bit on the short side. They're not god-awful like in Hulk, but they're still not convincing enough, and it has a habit of taking one out of the picture. In fact, the fight between Hulk and Abomination at the climax of the movie looks more like a video game than a film.

However, I tend to not let that try to hamper my enjoyment of The Incredible Hulk too much. Let's not forget, with a sense of fast fun, respect for the character, and good acting, this movie makes Universal's gargantuan 2003 version look- wait for it- puny. Marvel took the Hulk back and made the movie they wanted to make. Sorry, Edward. I love ya and respect ya, but Marvel were in the right. It's their character, and they had a game plan for their movies. Which brings us to one of the most positive legacies of The Incredible Hulk: for the first time ever, a character from one comic book movie appeared in another. In this case, Robert Downey Jr. cameos as Tony Stark from the film Iron Man, released just a month before. It was a small, but strong declaration of intent. Marvel Studios, in just their second movie, were already looking toward some pretty big things.

The Incredible Hulk
4 out of 5 Cap shields

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

March Marvel Madness: IRON MAN

Greetings, True Believers! Welcome to March Marvel Madness! Every day this month, I'll be looking back on a theatrically-released movie based on the characters of Marvel Comics. It's all to commemorate the April 4th release of the next Marvel film adventure, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

As we've seen the last few days, Marvel was in a bit of a slump with their movies. A bit? From summer 2004 to Summer 2008, there were seven movies based on characters published in their magazines, and- despite some being financially successful- they all sucked. None of them clicked with fans, and the critics were not impressed. Why? Because the studios licensing these characters just didn't understand the material. All they really did was ape X-Men's and Spider-Man's model for success and/or pander to mainstream audiences by either contemporizing the characters or downplaying certain aspects of the books. It looked like comic book movies were quickly running out of creative juices. Marvel was the company leading the charge for superhero movies (Its chief rival, DC, released only three movies during this period, only one of which was both a critical and commercial hit), but with this many consecutive strikeouts, they- and the genre- seemed doomed.

Well, as the old saying goes, you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Marvel's first feature as a film production company could not have come at a better time. Not only would it set the tone for the new studio, but it would change superhero films forever.

It... is... I-ron Man!

Produced by Marvel Studios and released in May of 2008, the film stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, a brilliant but self-centered weapons manufacturer. While in Afghanistan selling his latest invention, he is wounded and kidnapped by a group of terrorists. Along with a wise scientist, he is forced to build his captors a WMD. Instead, Stark creates an energy device to not only keep his wounded heart beating, but to also fuel a suit of armor which enables him to fight back and escape. Tony makes it back home to his trusty assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his faithful driver, Happy Hogan (played by the film's director, Jon Favreau), his buddy, Lt. Col. James Rhodes (Terrence Howard), and A.I. butler, JARVIS (voiced by Paul Bettany). He begins to reconsider his life, and creates a new suit for the benefit of mankind, but his business partner, Obediah Stane (Jeff Bridges), has other ideas for Tony and his new creation.

Iron Man is a triumphant picture. Period. A lot has been said about how much this film rocks, so I'll say this: The film has the utmost confidence in itself, and that is because it is made by people who believe in it 100%. Obviously, Marvel believed in it, because it's their character. But now, they're the ones calling the shots. They no longer have to try to convince the majors their comics are cool to moviegoers. They were able to recruit the best talent who also believed in the picture. That included an adventurous director in Jon Favraeu, and it is his confidence in Iron Man that led to casting someone like Downey as Tony Stark. And the rest is history.

I started reading the comic book at the same time Aliens, Predator, and Robocop were coming out, and I thought the idea of Iron Man would make for an awesome movie. I would have to wait 20 years to see that, but it was well worth it. Iron Man may have been just the beginning of something extraordinary, but, all by itself, it is a daringly original superhero adventure that continues to be one of the best action movies ever.

Iron Man
5 out of 5 Cap shields