Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

In all honesty, The Winter Soldier wasn't one of the two films I was looking forward to seeing this year.  But since its enforced hiatus, Agents of SHIELD has been really good, so I was really wanting to know how the latest movie fit in.

I've not been aware of anything else that the Russo brothers have done, and, apart from the sequence on the ship at the start of the film which gave me a headache because the camera was all over the place, the direction was fine.  Nothing particularly fancy or inventive, but not ham fisted either.  Just fine.  However, the direction was probably helped by a great story.

I'm certainly not a Marvel fanboy, though I have recently been sucked into this Universe.  I guess that may make me slightly biased, but I've probably only been sucked in due to the, generally, great quality of the films.  With that in mind; I thought the plot couldn't really be much better.  It hit all the right points, tied in nicely with Agents of SHIELD, answered the questions I had, raised new ones, subtly referenced the other Avengers films and even Pulp Fiction!  Sure there were a few plot fail moments, but they can be easily forgiven.

For their part, the cast all hit the right notes too.  Chris Evans has the right chiselled jaw to be the all American hero and the chops for all the action too.  He may be becoming typecast as a superhero, but while he’s doing it, he’s doing a grand job.  Scarlett Johansson reprises her Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow role and is just as kick-ass as she is in The Avengers; very good.  Joining these two is Anthony Mackie (took me ages to figure out why I recognized him: The Hurt Locker, 2008; The Adjustment Bureau, 2011) who becomes a significant ally as The Falcon.  He’s fine, but doesn’t seem as natural in a full on sci-fi actioner such as this.  Surrounding the main three is an impressive array of talent including Toby Jones, Cobie Smulders, Robert Redford, and of course Samuel L. Jackson.  Also good to see Alan Dale pop up again, clearly it’s been a while since he was onscreen as a high-ranking pulling-the-strings character.

Naturally, a film such as this is heavy on the special effects, and they are top-notch, as would be expected from ILM.  I can imagine there are sequences that were done digitally which could have been done in camera, though you don’t notice at all.  The only obvious moment was the youngification of Captain Rogers, but I thought it looked superb; perhaps not the Winkelvii from The Social Network, but better than Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy.

I think the only Henry Jackman score I’ve heard would be X-Men; First Class, but I can’t remember that at all.  I felt that this score was equally subtle to the point of absence; I’m sure it worked perfectly within the movie, but I didn’t notice it at all.

I thought Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a great adventure and terrific fun.  A great cast which work well together, interesting story and great production all round, continuing the Marvel Cinematic Universe trend.  But, well, you know, that’s just, like, er, my opinion, man.

Iron Man 3 (2013)

With the success of Marvel cranking out superhero after superhero movie it’s becoming increasingly difficult to remember the chronology of all these films.  Though after a brief search on the interwebz I did find this nice infographic.  This just leads up to The Avengers, and it is in the aftermath of the events in New York that Iron Man 3 begins, and we find Tony having recurrent nightmares and panic attacks following his fall from the wormhole.

To be sure, it’s a vast improvement on Iron Man 2, which had an hour of meandering before Fury finds a bored Tony; this is despite the fact that there isn’t as much Iron Man action as I might have expected.  Not a problem though as the story works well within itself and there is certainly never a dull moment.  We see a Tony who is as resourceful out of his suit as he is in it.

Guy Pearce is reassuringly brilliant as Aldrich Killian, as is Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery aka The Mandarin.  Both bring their A-game and lead Tony Stark a merry chase.  Of course RDJ continues to prove that there is no-one else who could embody Tony Stark and is still the ideal mix of cocky, suave and action hero.  Pepper Potts also has quite a major role in this outing, Gwyneth Paltrow has made this character her own; and she has seriously worked out for this film.

I’ve only seen Iron Man 3 the once and as I was concentrating on the plot I didn’t notice the direction too much, which tells me that it was capable without being spectacular.  Shane Black has only directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (which I’ve not seen) before this, so maybe it’s too soon to know what kind of director he’ll be.  DOP John Toll has been fairly active and has helped bring the likes of Braveheart, The Last Samurai and Cloud Atlas to our screens; so I guess Iron Man 3 was in safe hands as far as lighting/camera goes.

Another solid entrant to the Marvel Movie Universe; fun, funny and very entertaining.  But, well, you know, that’s just, like, er, my opinion, man.

The Avengers (2012)

The Avengers (or to give it its stupid title Avengers Assemble) is one of the most entertaining films I have seen in quite a while. Managing to avoid the pitfalls of making a ensemble film, Joss Whedon has managed to weave together the heroes and personalities from several great films into a tapestry of non-stop action, which never-the-less still has a heart. It is also more jam packed with humour than a lot of comedies I’ve seen.

The one main advantage that an Avengers film was always going to have was that it didn’t have to explain the genesis of any of its characters. Thanks to some great films over the years we know what an arrogant playboy Tony Stark is, we know how Steve Rogers became Captain America and why a Second World War soldier is still just as young today, we know the relationship between Thor and his brother Loki, and we know that there’s some weird blue energy than ties them all together. The flip side of this was balancing all these characters out, giving them all enough screen time to shine, and making them all connect in a believable way. And Joss Whedon did it perfectly.

A lot of the humour comes from Robert Downey Jr who once again demonstrates that only he could play Tony Stark; and while his relationship with Captain America, Thor, or Mark Ruffalo’s excellent portrayal of Bruce Banner isn’t the heart and soul of the film, it’s these connections that help make the film so enjoyable. Tom Hiddleston is fantastic as Loki. I know a lot of people thought his performance in Thor was really good, but in all honestly I didn’t really think it was that noticeable, but here he is superb. In film of great acting talent, Tom’s is perhaps the standout performance.

The action of course is all tremendous. I saw this in 2D, and couldn’t see how 3D would have made it any better. The final part of the film is non-stop action (actually most of the film is), but it was never boring or repetitive, and the camera moves were fluid enough so that it was never confusing. I also liked the several little Joss Whedon touches that really made the film his. For example I thought that the shuttle that the Avengers fly had more than a passing resemblance to Serenity; and there were also quite a few quick zooms and jerky focusing like in Firefly. On a different note, I thought Loki’s helmet must have been modelled on Hellboy!

Great cast, great action, great story, great film. I’m sure there is a lot more to discuss, but 1) I’m sure other people will do it anyway, and 2) I want to see it again so that I can notice more detail!

Great Odin's Raven! It's Thor

On the face of it, the premise of the God of Thunder fighting some Frost Giants, falling to Earth, falling for Natalie Portman, destroying some enormous robot thing and becoming an ally of humans is rather silly. Then you remember this is a MARVEL comic book, suspend all disbelief and really rather enjoy the film!

King Odin rules the Æsir in their city/world of Asgard. Many years ago there was a war between the Æsir and the Frost Giants, which spilled on to Earth where both were regarded as gods. When the Æsir finally won, the Frost Giants were defeated on their home world and Odin took the source of their power; this was kept secure in Asgard.

Years later, now Odin’s sons Thor and Loki are grown up, there is an attempt by the Frost Giants to reclaim the source of their power (a mysterious blue-glowy box). Thor (who was about to be crowned king) sees this breach of palace security as an act of war by the Frost Giants, and flies off to Frost-world to confront them, thus re-igniting an old war. On his return to Asgard, Odin punishes Thor’s hot-headedness by banishing him to Earth. He also separates Thor from his hammer, Mjölnir, until he is worthy to wield it once again.

If you’re confused by this plot synopsis, then imagine how difficult it must have been to interpret this onto film. I think that the writers do a very good job in condensing a lot of exposition from Stan Lee’s comics into a reasonably coherent introduction to the universe of Thor, Asgard, and Frost Giants. Kenneth Branagh also does very well with what can be considered his first real blockbuster. The realisation of Asgard and Frost World (don’t know it’s real name) are truly epic and stunning: Asgard is very golden, with a lot of greenery and waterways, Frost World is very stark and barren, but no less grand. Branagh’s direction also shines through in the script, as some of the lines are very pseudo-shakespearean; (he also seems to like filming at jaunty angles every now and again).

                                                             Asgard is stunning

Arguably the film really gets going upon Thor’s arrival on Earth as he is thrust into unfamiliar situations; “How dare you threaten the son of Odin!”. Obviously Chris Hemsworth was cast as Thor for his physique and Norse-ishness, but he manages to breathe enough life into his character so that he isn’t just a muscle-bound warrior, there is a little more depth to him. Natalie Portman is good enough as the love interest (particle physicist Jane Foster); though the romance between Thor and Jane is fairly shallow, and Portman doesn’t have the opportunity to shine as she does in Black Swan. Stellan Skarsgård adds a bit more history to the Earth story, and intrigue (if you wait all the way to the end of the credits). Odin is a character that Anthony Hopkins really got to grips with, he was wise, kingly, forceful and looked like he really enjoyed himself (plus he got to wear a gold eye-patch; Emilio Largo would be jealous!).

I thought the film was very enjoyable. I wasn’t expecting an amazing story, or in-depth character acting. I was looking forward to a cool cinematic experience with grand settings, a guy with a big hammer and some SHIELD intrigue; and that’s exactly what I got. But then I could have said that about Iron Man 2, and that was slightly disappointing. Thor is back to the entertainment quality of the first Iron Man or Spider-man. I saw it in glorious 2-D, and at several points I found myself thinking “What advantage would 3-D offer over this?” But that’s an argument for another day.