Imagine making a movie that has such big stakes, but make it so nobody cares about any of the characters.
Jean Grey - Yawn, she struggled with controlling her powers, controlling her emotions. Some part understandable but I felt no emotion.
Professor X - Acts like a Villain for the first half of the film.
Mystique - Shouldn't have hired Jennifer Lawrence, she couldn't handle the make-up. Attempts a death scene but leaves no emotional impact.
Quicksilver - Has some of the most iconic scenes in comic book films and they don't give him his scene. Gets injured early on and just disappears until the end of the film.
Storm - Was just there to do damage.
Beast - The only character with correct motivation and you somewhat understand why he feels the way he does. Just feels like bad casting personally. Hoult is just too youthful and skinny for beast.
Cyclops - His character is just completely centred around Jean. Feels like we never get to see just Scott.
Nightcrawler - Where does this come from, he just become a murdering psycho and the build up just seems too out of character for him.
Magneto - Probably the best performance, character flipped sides very easily considering his motivation for wanted to kill Jean.
Jennifer Chastain/Aliens - Why, what, who, what, why.
Good scene - Using their power to fight over control of the helicopter
Bad Scene - Every single one with Jennifer Lawrence
Not only is Endgame the most ambitious movie Marvel has made, but it also is the grandest. Even more so than Infinity War. No other movie can utilise the emotional ties that have been embedded within our hearts over the build of 11 years. And boy does it use them well. Stringing together scene after scene of nothing but impactful tension in the third act. But this doesn't leave the other two boring or bland. It allows these parts to build off of the aftermath of Infinity War. Never once was I bored, or felt like I was sitting there for three hours. For the action is no letdown, lovely dynamics are interwoven for a fantastic spectacle.
I don't want to say much, but it is hands down the best Marvel can offer. It is not Infinity War, Part II. It's something much better, the true culmination of everything and I do mean everything. The fan service here is through the roof and done so damn creatively. Not one thing feels hammered into the story. Even some major elements in its plot stem from the smallest details of previous movies I would have never seen coming. Taking even lesser liked fragments and stringing them into a more meaningful poetic story than the original movie would have ever told.
Using style and grace to tell this bold epic is strong with this movie. Gone are the golds and purples of Infinity War. And in comes a bleak atmosphere with hope lingering yet far. Visual storytelling is a bit lacking, but that is not what you come here to expect. You have been supported with all the exposition you need in previous movies. Since this is the case, it must be judged as a singular part of a series.
The themes in this movie are unity, utilisation, and more importantly; revelation. Kevin Feige has given this movie a lot to work with through these themes and has finally made his magnum opus.
Yes, there are a few hiccups. But that's to be expected. Captain Marvel was not given her full potential again sadly. But worked well with what was given. There is an amazing moment within the third act that truly gives her and a certain cast of characters time to shine. Plus the time it takes to leave out is a bit jarring. Not to mention, that to me Thanos seemed less threatening than in Infinity War because of something that happens. Still great impact by Josh Brolin of course.
Everyone will cry. Everyone will laugh. Everyone will leave sad yet satisfied with this amazing conclusion to the MCU so far. It's no Dark Knight, but then again, that was more drama than superhero epic. But this is modern hero gold. Here is the Holy Grail of superhero cinema.
9.6/10
8/10 After second viewing - Hype obviously had its hands around my neck I admit. Review doesn't meet my current thoughts about the film
Check here for my rankings on the MCU:
https://trakt.tv/users/corruptednoobie/lists/my-mcu-rankings?sort=rank,ascCheck here for my 2019 movie rankings that I've seen:
https://trakt.tv/users/corruptednoobie/lists/best-to-worst-2019-movies-so-far?sort=rank,asc
Before I give thoughts on the show, first let me explain the episodes/season number mix-up. The original Spanish release of this show is only 3 seasons total. Netflix decided to turn 3 seasons into 5 parts, and they turned the first seasons 15 episodes into 22 (by cutting down the runtime to 45 minutes rather than 65).
So season 1 on Trakt is equivalent to part 1 AND 2 on Netflix (though Netflix has 22 episodes compared to 15 on here - but it's the same content, the episodes are just edited shorter on Netflix).
Season 2 on Trakt is equivalent to part 3 AND 4 on Netflix. On Netflix, both parts are 8 episodes each, and those correspond perfectly with the 16 episode season 2 on Trakt.
Finally, season 3 is the only one that actually matches up the epsiode numbers exactly on here and on Netflix - though it's called part 5 on Netflix.
Now some thoughts on the show: this is a hard show to recommend or talk about. The first heist (season 1 on here) is very good, and it's some of the best heist/crime TV you'll see. I was hooked from start to finish (despite some small plot holes or unbelievability). 8.5/10
But after the first heist, things go downhill VERY quickly. The rest of the show is based around one more heist, and for the most part, it's an entertaining watch. But what was a pretty well written show, suddenly becomes a badly written show, filled with character inconsistencies, plot holes, and a whole new level of unbelievability. The first 8 episodes of what is season 2 on here (part 3 on Netflix) is pretty good. But the 8 episodes that come after are not so good. Overall, it's an entertaining watch, but a HUGE step down compared to what came before. Season 2 gets a 6.5/10.
Lastly, we come to season 3 (part 5 on Netflix). This season is just bad. Aside from the last 2 episodes, it's not good at all outside from a few decent moments. I've truly never seen a TV show deteriorate in quality so quickly and consistently as this one does, especially not when a show started off so great in the beginning. 4.5/10 (would be lower if not for the satisfying finale).
I'd recommend watching the first heist (season 1/parts 1 & 2) but unless you're really keen on being disappointed, don't watch any further. Fortunately it's not a long watch.
Got back from watching Ant-man and the Wasp. I really enjoyed this one. I loved how it was its own adventure and relatively self-contained in terms of the MCU. I actually really liked the original Ant-man a lot more than I thought I would when I saw it, so it's no surprise that the humor and tone of the sequel works for me as well. Paul Rudd definitely plays a solid Ant-man and I love me some Evangeline Lilly, who is the star of this one. Even the secondary characters of Ghost/Ava, Foster (and others) were pretty well fleshed out and had good backstories and development to them.
What really made me like this movie was that it had a very good "end game"/goal to strive toward (don't want to spoil it too much), so it made the adventure, journey and conclusion that much sweeter. It's definitely better than some of the other MCU movies where they just inject a rando bad guy trying to destroy the world for some nefarious reasons.
I definitely recommend checking this out if you liked the first at all. If you haven't seen the first, you'll miss out on a ton and not have a good idea of the what is going on emotionally and what is at stake. The original Ant-man is a great movie as well, so this just gives you another excuse to watch it :P
Easily the biggest superhero movie ever made. Every… single… one… of your favorite Marvel movie heroes come together to battle a villain bigger than they’ve ever faced before. Can any movie live up to this level of anticipation?
Well, speaking as a comic book nerd, when I finished this movie the word that kept going through my mind was “WOW.” What directors Joe and Anthony Russo have managed to pull off with this movie is remarkable. “INFINITY WAR” is the culmination of 10 years and EIGHTEEN other movies, with everything coming to a head in this film as the powerful purple bad-guy Thanos (played by Josh Brolin) attempts to gather all the infinity stones, (which if you didn’t know, are powerful gems that will allow him to wipe out half of the universe’s population.) All the superheroes, including the Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange and even Spider-Man will try and stop him. Needless to say, there’s a LOT going on. But, to avoid spoiling anything (and there are MAJOR story points that can be spoiled), I’ll stop there.
Here are some things I liked: I LOVED seeing all the heroes in the same movie. I was impressed with how the directors were able to get everyone at least a moment, and most of them get meaningful moments, in my opinion. But what’s even better is that each cool moment actually seemed to fit naturally as part of the story--nothing really felt forced. In this movie, the team-ups and character interactions are very often hilarious, sometimes emotional, but always in service of the story, something very important in a movie that is as long as this one is because you can’t waste screen time. "Infinity War" was very entertaining and had me feeling lots of different emotions. Finally, they really have a great villain in Thanos. He’s not a mustache twirling old-time bad guy. He has his reasons for what he’s doing and they are compellingly presented—plus, he’s powerful enough to raise the stakes to a level that justifies bringing all the heroes into the same movie.
But, there are a few things I should warn you some of you about… especially if you have younger kids. The questions I’ve been asked most often since seeing the movie is “Does someone die? And who?”. Obviously I’m not going to answer that second question, but the answer to question 1 is YES. And if you planned on taking younger kids, you need to be aware of that. Remember, we’ve spent years getting to know these characters, so if something bad happens to any of them it will be emotional for those of us who are invested in them. So be prepared. And the flip side of having all those heroes & actors in the movie, is that it makes it run longer, in this case 2 & 1/2 hours! Keep that in mind because you don’t want to miss the end of this movie--so plan your soda intake accordingly. And finally, you can’t just jump into the series in this chapter like you can with several earlier Marvel movies. You HAVE to watch at least some of the other Marvel movies…and the more the better. And finally, not everything is resolved by the end of the movie--it kind of leaves you feeling like you did the first time you saw "Empire Strikes Back" (but I mean that in a good way).
But those warnings aside, I LOVED “Avengers: Infinity War”. It was fun, funny, exciting, shocking and emotional. It was an epic payoff for all the time and investment I’ve put into the Marvel Cinematic Universe over the past decade. If you are excited about this movie at all, I believe you will leave the theater satisfied. I give this 4 out of 4 stars for Marvel movie fans. For everyone else… well, it really doesn’t matter because you can’t (and honestly, probably WON’T) see this movie without having watched other Marvel movies first.
And a suggestion: Go see it as soon as possible to avoid having the best moments spoiled for you—accidentally or otherwise.
