Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Canon-Strike VI: Marvel Cinematic Universe

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Oh I had forgotten about the car stuff! That was like Fast and Furious in the Marvel universe. I loved that whole sequence.

    Comment


      Originally posted by Brad View Post
      Felt same way about Captain Marvel mind. Miserable old sod that I've become.
      Nah That's a totally fair observation.

      Great example is when Nick Fury uses a bit of sellotape to fool a fingerprint scanner; they did the exact same thing in Ant Man. That was the height of lazy scripting.

      I liked Captain Marvel, and if it was your "in" to the Marvel movies, I think it'd be a really fun movie. I also liked how it had a female lead and an interesting underlying message...


      ... the idea that you don't have to judge your worth by the bar other people set for you.



      ... which, while it wasn't very subtle, is a good message for kids.

      But yeah, the franchise has become a bit formulaic and it felt the most evident in that movie.

      Comment


        I would make the case that the movies were formulaic from the start and, if anything, there is far greater variety to be found in them now than there has been in previous phases. Even the first two movies (Iron Man and Incredible Hulk) share many of the same beats and basically come down to the hero fighting a version of themself. Captain America was much the same but the setting gave that its uniqueness. Most of the early character movies follow a very similar set of beats.

        While many of those beats still haven’t changed in some of the newer origin stories (Ant-Man and Black Panther too, even though it’s not an origin story exactly), there is much more variety to be found in the structure, tones and settings of the more recent batch of movies. Guardians v2, Thor Ragnarok, Black Panther, Captain Marvel all show greater differences from one another than I think Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man 2 etc do. Thor shares a load of those same early beats but its tone does set it apart in other ways but, even still, I’d make the case that those movies share more by way of formula than the current crop do. They are ALL formulaic to an extent but I don’t think they got any more formulaic from the one that was baked in right at the start with Iron Man.

        Edit: I don’t even know why I’m making the point, like I’m some kind of know-it-all on formula. If anything, I wished Guardians 2 was MORE formulaic because it would have at least given the movie an anchor so what do I know? Nothing, that’s what.
        Last edited by Dogg Thang; 23-04-2019, 19:33.

        Comment


          Again, I echo this.

          The origin stories in MCU are formulaic insofar as all origin stories are - they portray how the hero gets their powers, how they learn to use them, and how they take down a threat.

          The settings and tones are, on the other hand, rather different. In fact, the MCU has a lot of different tones, themes and styles. You have straight-up origin stories (Iron Man), heist movies (Ant-Man), redemption movies (Thor), ensemble pieces taking out a Big Bad (Avengers), revenge films (Civil War), friendship/family films (Civil War, Gv2), intrigue films (Winter Soldier), comedies (Ragnarok), etc etc.

          Very few Marvel films feel the same to me, or lack distinctiveness. Most of them have something unique about them.

          Comment


            Originally posted by Dogg Thang View Post
            They are ALL formulaic to an extent but I don’t think they got any more formulaic from the one that was baked in right at the start with Iron Man.
            Not quite sure the point you're making, though; even if the more recent movies try to deviate a bit from the formula while largely still following it, they're always going to feel a bit staid because we've seen them so many times. That's kinda why I said that Captain Marvel would be great as someone's "in" to the franchise.

            I enjoyed Captain Marvel; however, when I came out of it, I felt a bit like I currently do with Game of Thrones - kinda happy that it's "over" soon and I get some mid-to-long-term closure on the episodic story.

            Comment


              The point I was making is just that you said the franchise has become a bit formulaic as if it’s something that has recently happened or wasn’t evident right at the beginning whereas, personally, I feel there are more deviations from their formula now than there ever were. That’s all.

              Comment


                I couldn’t even make it all the way through ant man! I got better things to do with my time. Like come on here and diss the stuff you all like

                Comment


                  Originally posted by Brad View Post
                  I couldn’t even make it all the way through ant man! I got better things to do with my time. Like come on here and diss the stuff you all like
                  Funnily enough, we stopped Ant-Man halfway though first time too. We came back to it recently in the run-up to Endgame, and I think that movie has pacing problems - once the action starts, it has some awesome ideas and action direction (if quite comedic). Taken as a whole it's good, but it definitely has a lull in the middle.

                  Comment


                    You guys cuss Rudd.

                    This is unacceptable.

                    Comment


                      I thought Homecoming and Ant-Man were fantastic!

                      Comment


                        Will be attempting to book tickets to an Atmos showing of End Game this Saturday. It'll start at 9pm. Fingers crossed!

                        Comment


                          Movie 19 - Avengers: Infinity War
                          It's hard to make any case that Infinity War isn't important to the canon of the MCU. In Marvel's best case scenario it was always the entire point of it. To be able to tell a tale across two movies and then continue beyond them is likely a staggering accomplishment that they can scarce believe is true. Despite featuring in the canon for an incredibly small amount of screen time, Thanos arrives and snaps up the Infinity Stones with an efficiency that begs the question over why it previously took him so long, all in an effort to accomplish that ending.



                          Was Infinity War a worthwhile pay off for nearly ten years of content?

                          Comment


                            I'm not sure that's the right question for pretty much the reason you give and for what we have seen across your thread (which has been an interesting journey!) - Thanos does it all in that movie and, for the most part, all the other movies are nicely self-contained. Infinity War definitely rewards those who have stuck with the movies but it wasn't required. There was no lack of payoff without it. So in that sense, I don't think the question of whether it was a worthwhile payoff is right because each movie has paid off on its own.

                            And it's interesting seeing that on this revisit in this thread. Even events that feel like they have a far wider reach or a greater setup have pretty much played out within their own movie, like Civil War for example. Who has even noticed that world-changing shockwave of what happened to Shield in Winter Soldier? While every movie has teased the next, there has never been a feeling that the movie you're watching wasn't finished. And Thanos was no more than a little teaser in every movie except for Guardians until Infinity War. And now looking back, I think that was part of the reason for their success because you could jump on at any point and, unlike a building TV show, if you missed a few episodes there was really no barrier to seeing the next one.

                            But anyway, I rewatched Infinity War about a week ago and it holds up remarkably well. I'm not sure how much people truly understand what a challenge of storytelling that movie is. It has enough characters that, divided among them, they should get no more than about 4 or 5 minutes screen time each and yet they manage to tell a very coherent story and give just about everyone something to do and make them essential to the plot. That's a miracle in storytelling right there. And bringing together all those varied tones, which had pushed even further away from each other in recent years? That's another miracle. And yes, it rewards that journey in almost every way.

                            I mean, Fast Five got there first but Infinity War is still a huge accomplishment.

                            We speculated on whether Hulk was meant to make an appearance given some of the dodgy Banner compositing at the end of the movie and the toys which depict him bursting out of the Hulkbuster armour. I still don't know. But on rewatch what did strike me is that, while Banner is badly pasted in, the Hulkbuster is not. So maybe it's just that they had the helmet down and decided they wanted to see Banner's reaction.

                            Comment


                              Yep, rewatches do fair well for Infinity War. I think my only sticking point for it is that process of wrapping up things so quickly, at the time it felt like the one mis-step was that it was all too clear that the films events would be undone in Endgame and that still robs Infinity War some of its weight. Having Endgame release at the end of Phase 4 would have been a wonderous thing to see unfold.

                              Comment


                                Movie 20 - Ant Man and the Wasp
                                He's not just small amongst the MCU heroes, he's small in terms of franchise impact too. The MCU's quietest and lowest running earning strand released it's second instalment with this film that takes place shortly before the Decimation. Ant Man tries to help Wasp and Pym whilst working around his house arrest.



                                What did Ant Man and the Wasp bring to the MCU?

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X