Reviewing - The MCU: Phase Three (Part 2)
The Infinity Saga comes to an epic conclusion as Phase Three takes the MCU to new heights. Spawning four new superhero franchises and continuing four others, this phase never forgets what keeps the audience coming back: stunning action scenes, hilarious gags, and a commitment to character beneath it all.
The Best: Avengers - Infinity War
The Worst: Captain Marvel
This is Part 2 of a two-post series reviewing the entire Third Phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To read about the Phase Three films prior to Avengers: Infinity War, check out "Reviewing - The MCU: Phase Three (1)".
Avengers: Infinity War (*****)
In which a big purple guy gets sick of all the shenanigans that have been going on recently and puts everyone in their place
This is it. This is what we’ve been working towards since 2008 – or at the very least since 2011 when we first got a glimpse of the first Infinity Stone in Captain America’s first film. This is a movie that incorporates 8 separate characters that have previously led their own movies (or trilogies). A movie that packs Iron Man (with War Machine), Captain America (with Winter Soldier and Falcon), Thor (with Loki), Star Lord (with Groot, Rocket, Drax, Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis), the Hulk, Black Widow, Dr. Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Vision, Scarlet Witch, and at least half a dozen other well-known characters into one awe-inspiring, jaw-dropping blast of a blockbuster.
From the moment this movie starts, you know something’s different. As the movie logo fades in, it’s not the traditionally triumphant Marvel theme, but a low, foreboding note accompanied by a distress call from an Asgardian refugee spaceship. The movie starts bleak and stays like that all the way through, though there are still more than enough laughs sprinkled in to cut the tension and give us a moment to breathe or just enjoy watching some of these characters meet for the first time. What I love about this movie is how it defies convention. In a normal superhero movie, we meet the superhero, and then the bad guy comes in with some wicked plot. The bad guy gets real close to achieving their goal, but they usually make one fatal mistake or oversight, and our hero comes soaring back in the nick of time to stop them. A plethora of superhero movies (not just in the MCU) follow this model, but Infinity War creates one of its own. This movie follows a model where our heroes try to do something, and it fails. So they try something else and it fails. So they try something else, and something else – and every time they fail, their failure becomes more and frightening because it means the villain is getting closer and closer to their goal. There are multiple moments where the good guys are within inches of victory (Parker and Stark pulling off the glove, Maximoff killing Vision, Thor stabbing Thanos, etc.) and I found myself holding my breath, until it was our heroes – not the villain – who made a mistake or oversight, causing everything to catastrophically tumble apart. It was both refreshing and terrifying.
What I also love is that some of our heroes had to sacrifice something they never thought they’d sacrifice, paralleling the villain in a really interesting way. Star Lord and Scarlet Witch both had to murder the person they loved most (and though both were foiled, the people they loved still ended up dead). Thanos too had to give up the one person in the universe that he loved (although I’m willing to debate whether or not he really ‘loved’ her). Doctor Strange flipped this on its head in a way by first promising to save the Time Stone over the lives of Stark or Parker, and then going back on his word. As he says that this was “the only way”, I’m really excited to see how this plays out in Endgame.
Thanos was a powerful and horrifying villain, in that he never seemed more than irritated by our heroes. The characters we’ve come to love over a period of 10 years throw everything they have at him, and he mocks us all in his final battle with “All that – for a drop of blood.” Our heroes couldn’t hold a candle to the might of this mad titan...and what’s worse, he lacks the one thing we as an audience take for granted in our villains: an unexpected weakness. His henchmen may fail, and he may find himself taken by surprise, but every time he is on screen, he takes charge, removes those in his path, and then takes another step towards his ultimate goal. We’ve seen villains countless times before, but even Darth Vader was defeated in his first film appearance.
So let’s talk about the most significant part of this film. It’s one thing to let a villain win. Villains do that all the time – Scar became king of Pride Rock, Davy Jones killed Jack Sparrow, Doctor Octopus decisively defeated Spider-Man back when Tobey Maguire was still around. But there’s something different about Thanos’ victory. Sure, the scale of his victory is ludicrous in scope. Half the universe is wiped out. That’s a big deal. But more than that, he wins – and then the movie ends. There’s no consolation, no justification, no moment of “don’t worry, things are gonna turn around.” It just ends! The final words in the film are Captain America saying “oh, God”. All we’re left with is hopeless devastation. Think about “The Empire Strikes Back”, which similarly ended with the hero being defeated. We still got a small consolation – Luke gets a robot hand, he’s not alone, and the movie ends with a shot of he and his friends looking out into space while the triumphant end-credit music plays. It’s bleak, but there’s a lot of subtext hinting at a brighter future. Here, Thanos wins, half the universe dies, and for the last painful minutes of the film, our heroes just watch in horror as it happens. And then the credits roll. Wow.
Sure, it’s difficult to give this film full marks for such an ending when you remember this is only Part 1 of a 2-part cinematic conclusion to the narrative arc the MCU has been telling for a decade. It makes sense that this film would end on a cliffhanger, as most first-part-of-a-two-part-finale movies do. But here’s why I want to give it full marks.
Aside from Dr. Strange’s mysterious comments that hint at the idea this route is the only way to victory, we are given virtually no information that would tell us how our heroes are going to get out of this.
The movie ends with an air of hopelessness – we do not see the heroes rally together to begin planning their counter-attack.
In many two-part movies, there is a central goal of the hero/villain that has only partly been achieved by the end of the first film (think of Dead Man’s Chest or Mockingjay, for example). Here, the villain’s ultimate goal has already been achieved.
I honestly walked into Infinity War expecting a cliffhanger, but nothing like what I received. I figured that Thanos would badly beat our heroes and be well on his way to acquiring all six Infinity Stones by the end of this movie, but nothing more. As I watched Thanos gather the stones one by one, my stomach sank down into my feet. There’s no way, I thought – he can’t get them all – the heroes must stop him somewhere...
This movie did the impossible. It jammed a million-and-one well-known characters into one film, began the conclusion of an eighteen-film ten-year narrative arc, told a compelling and plot-twisting tale, and set the stage for an unpredictable second half – all in one movie. I can’t wait to watch Endgame!
Ant-Man and the Wasp (***)
In which Baskin Robbins plays no role whatsoever
Ant-Man seems to be the hero who brings us back to Earth after a jaw-dropping event, like the fall of Sokovia or the Decimation of Avengers: Infinity War. When you look at him that way, he does a great job. We’re able to put the massive stakes of the previous film aside to look at a smaller, more everyday-sort of superhero. I think this film was a minor improvement on the last film. There’s enough funny bits with new characters like bad guy Sonny Birch, FBI Agent Jimmy Woo, and our heroes Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne that Michael Pena’s character doesn’t steal the show anymore – though he’s still undoubtedly my favourite.
I want to make a prediction about the inevitable third Ant-Man flick...spoiler alert. When they finally rescue Janet, she makes a comment about she underwent some sort of ‘evolution’ in order to survive for as long as she did. To my knowledge, I cannot recall a hero who described their own transformation as an evolution. To me, there’s just something sinister about the term. It implies she’s beyond human now or above the rest of us. Sure, most superheroes are “beyond” human to some extent, but I was just getting a vibe that she’s going to end up as a bad guy in the next film. Time will tell, but that’s what I think is going to happen.
Although the movie was fun to watch and I walked away happy, it’s taken me weeks to actually sit down and write this review, which unfortunately says something about the film’s forgettability or lack of significance. There’s an end-credits scene that ties into Avengers: Endgame, but for the most part, I’d say this is a movie that’s safe to skip. It’s fun, but certainly not “essential viewing.”
Captain Marvel (**1/2)
In which a woman with superpowers decides Earth is probably good, departing for outer space and leaving behind a cat that eats Rubik's cubes
Stan Lee created many of the heroes of the MCU: Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Ant-Man, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange. He passed away at the age of 95 before this film was released, and to honour him, Marvel Studios replaced their usual star-studded opening logo with a revised version that included dozens of shots of Stan Lee throughout the MCU. I thought that was really nice, and a terrific way to say goodbye to one of the most important figures in the history of the company.
Captain Marvel wasn’t a knockout hit in my opinion, but it was definitely a satisfying introduction to a character that will supposedly play a major role in the next film, Avengers: Endgame. This is not the first girl-power film of its time, nor is it the first girl-power superhero film either (Wonder Woman came out two years ago at this point). That said, Carol Danvers still does a great job of telling a fun story while inspiring young female viewers to be superheroes in their own world.
The opening act was a little confusing and otherworldly (more and more I see the MCU shifting narrative focus from Earth to the outer reaches of space), but it wasn’t long before Captain Marvel crash-landed in our world in the year 1995. From that point forward I was totally invested in the story, wondering when Carol’s amnesia would wear off and trying to piece things together along with her. Seeing Nick Fury and Phil Coulson was terrific – Fury gets more of the spotlight, and it’s fun to see him as a younger, more upbeat character. Both were digitally de-aged for the movie, but I think it was a bit more noticeable on Coulson. The story ended much the way I thought it would, but it was still a fun ride. Brie Larson is fun without being wacky, and the plot is predictable without being boring. What I’m really looking forward to is seeing her in Endgame.
Before Avengers: Endgame
I have no idea how this movie is going to play out.
For many of the films in the MCU in the past, I could have given you a rough idea of the plot even before I saw the movie. Before seeing Thor: Ragnarok, I could have told you after watching one trailer that Hulk and Thor were going to team up and fight their way off of a strange Guardians-of-the-Galaxy-esque planet – that the chief villain, Hela, would be vanquished in some way or another that likely involved a lot of punching. I also could have told you that Thor and Hulk would definitely survive – as they were already slated to appear in Avengers: Infinity War. Even if they hadn’t been officially announced as appearing in that upcoming film, I still would have assumed their survival on the basis of their significance within the MCU. I wouldn’t have predicted the fall of Asgard or the Thanos appearance in the end credits. The MCU is great in a lot of ways, but one natural drawback of having such a planned-out universe is that the audience knows in many cases what’s coming next. We knew in many of the past movies that certain actors were required by contract to come back for eight more films or something like that.
Endgame is truly the end of the line. So many of our favourite actors’ contracts are up, which means this very well could be the end for them. Personally, I am currently convinced that Captain America is going to die. Some are speculating that Thor or Iron Man will be the ones to pay the ultimate price, but here’s why I think it’s going to be Steve Rogers. First of all, Chris Evan’s contract is up, and he recently tweeted in a semi-farewell-speech style that it had been an honour to play his role for as long as he had. Secondly, Captain America is the “purest” or “noblest” of our heroes. Where Tony Stark or Thor have failed morally, Rogers’ actions have arguably always been in favour of the greater good. He’s the noblest hero, so his sacrifice will hit the hardest. Thirdly, I am incredibly doubtful that the MCU will give up their own granddaddy – Tony Stark – so easily. It already seems through Spider-Man: Homecoming and Avengers: Endgame that Stark is beginning to take the role of super-hero-mentor, and I have a feeling that this is the direction his character will be headed next. If Tony dies, who Peter Parker look to when he is eventually and inevitably resurrected? My last point on the “who will REALLY die” question is that of the three prime heroes (Stark, Rogers, and Thor), Thor is the least important. He’s great, don’t get me wrong, and my opinion of him has skyrocketed in his last two appearances. But if he dies, the only people who will mourn will be the original Avengers. Few others will care about his loss, which means killing him off wouldn’t add a whole lot of dramatic depth to the story of Endgame. Sure, he might die anyway, but I don’t think he will, and I also don’t hope he will. I’d love to see Thor stick around a bit longer and help the Guardians in their adventures, or perhaps play a part in one of the other newer heroes’ stories.
Getting back to my main point – I have no idea how Endgame is going to play out. I know without a doubt that Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Black Panther, and all the others who were decimated by Thanos’ snap will return. But I don’t know what it will take to make this happen. Our heroes can’t simply punch Thanos a lot and vanquish him. This isn’t a matter of stopping the bad guy’s evil scheme – the scheme has already been accomplished. Our heroes need to UNDO what has already happened. The only way that I can imagine to do this is time travel, which I’m fairly certain will play into the film. But here’s the problem with time travel. If our heroes undo the Snap, won’t they also have to undo everything that will occur in Endgame to make this possible? If you invent a time machine to go back in time and kill Hitler, then you will grow up in a world where Hitler never existed – and then why would you build a time machine in the first place? And if you never build the time machine, how can you kill Hitler? Time travel is notorious for such paradoxes, and I’m not sure how Kevin Feige and the team of the MCU plan on getting around this. We MUST undo the Snap – but we cannot do it at the expense of character development and growth. You just can’t.
I also don’t know what’s going to happen to the other characters who were killed BEFORE the Snap. Heimdall, Loki, Gamora, and Vision are all characters of relative significance who were killed by Thanos in various ways. Heimdall is certainly going to stay dead, but as for the rest? I have no idea. I hope Loki is permanently dead because to leave him here is to have successfully given a satisfying ending to his story, but Loki has faked his death too many times to count. Gamora’s death was impactful and seemingly irreversible, but it seems odd to picture the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie without her. It would certainly be a bold choice to do it without her and have Peter Quill struggling with life without his true love, but I doubt it’s a choice Marvel will take. Vision could certainly stay dead (if for no other reason than we don’t really care about him too much), but the writers of Infinity War seem to have laid a groundwork for his resurrection too. He’s a robot, for one thing. You can always bring back robots. Also, considerable work had been done in Infinity War to separate Vision from his Infinity Stone – perhaps enough to make it possible for him to survive without it. Summed up – who knows who’s coming back. Personally, I hope that all four of the above characters stay dead. This will give the writers room to introduce us to new characters, and will keep the gravity of Thanos’ impact intact. If our Avengers undo the Snap and bring back everyone Thanos ever defeated, it will essentially make the entire conflict “no big deal”. If a mad titan can wipe out half the universe and our heroes can fix it (maybe at the cost of one or two big stars), then what future threat could realistically have any weight at all? I know that the Snap will be undone, but Thanos needs to have left a scar on the world of the MCU in order for us to have some semblance of danger going forward. Thanos won in Infinity War, but there needs to be some aspect of permanence to his actions.
So as I wrap this up, let me solidify my predictions. Captain America will die, but Tony Stark will live. The Snap will be undone, but Vision and Gamora will return as well. Loki and Heimdall will remain dead. The Avengers will defeat Thanos through some sort of time travel, but I don’t know how they intend to do it. Any time travel theory I’ve seen or come up with leaves us with a paradox. Thanos will die. I will cry. And Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff will finally get together.
I’m seeing Avengers: Endgame tonight, and I couldn’t be more excited. This is what I’ve been waiting for for over ten years. I never even dreamed that a movie like this would be a possibility – and now I have a ticket to see it in my pocket. Marvel Studios have done the impossible, and I’m super excited. I can’t wait to tell you what I think of it.
Avengers: Endgame (*****)
In which the rich weapons-crazed billionaire, the ex-skinny guy, the scientist with temper problems, the fifteen hundred year old god, and a few others get sick of the purple guy's shenanigans and put him in his place
Boy, was I wrong.
Walking out of the movie theatre at 1:30 in the morning, I felt like I was in a state between not-quite-dreaming and not-quite awake. Part of that was certainly due to the early-ness of the morning, but it was also due to the strange relief that began to surface in the moments after the credits began to roll. In the words of Frodo,
“It’s done. It’s gone.”
I don’t mean that the MCU is finished, but the MCU as we know it is certainly gone forever. Thanos has been defeated, but the world has been irrevocably changed – and I love that. The days where our characters could find a piece of the world untouched by the actions of heroes are long behind us. I mean, half the universe was decimated – and then five years later, that half returned. That’s huge. Think of the impact that would have on an everyday person. Even if you’d never even heard of Iron Man, you would know the pain of “the Snap” – and the joy (and confusion?) brought by the day the fallen were avenged.
That’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? Sure, everyone would rejoice at getting to see their fallen loved ones again, but this is far from a clean landing. What if someone lost a spouse and then remarried in those five years? What major world-changing decisions have been made by governments across the planet that now must be undone? If the assets of all those who were decimated were distributed amongst the living, how can you give those back to them? Don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying for a second that this wasn’t the best way to fix things. I’m just saying that the “Unsnap” will create plenty of interesting problems on its own.
Let’s talk about all the things I got wrong. First of all, Captain America didn’t die – I mean, he’s out of the picture, but he’s certainly not dead. I totally got that wrong. I predicted that Vision and Gamora would come back, and at best I can only give myself part marks. Gamora did come back, but she alsodidn’t. I thought this was a really clever way to resurrect her character without actually resurrecting her. Further, it sets up a really fun dynamic for her and Quill when they return in the next Guardians film. He’ll have to win her heart all over again, and that’s really cool. Bruce Banner and Black Widow did not get together after all. I really messed that one up, because Bruce Banner seems – physically – well past the possibility of romantic entanglement. Also Black Widow’s dead. So there’s no way that can work.
Now for my biggest mistake of all – and arguably the film’s greatest triumph.
They killed Tony.
I wrote before watching the movie that I couldn’t fathom the MCU giving up the one character who built the entire franchise. It would be like Disney killing off Mickey Mouse – he’s the one who started it all. I also wrote that it seemed Iron Man was beginning to take the role of a veteran mentor to our younger superheroes, Spider-Man in particular. Wouldn’t that be a good direction to take the character in? And yet here we are…and here he isn’t. The boldness of their decision is one that really forces me to pay them respect. We’ve been told that this film was the end of the line – that this would finish a massive story arc spanning twenty two films and over ten years. And yeah, I believed them, but I didn’t think they meant it as much as they actually did. They’re a corporation, after all. Making more money is the most important thing, and you can’t make money when you kill off your most beloved characters. But here, the MCU impressed me so much because they valued the finishing of a good story more than they valued keeping doors open. Finishing a franchise on a high note is such a difficult thing to do. Think of television shows that declined in quality as the seasons went by. Think of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, which still has yet to officially throw in the towel despite its increasingly embarrassing quality. A franchise that ends well is a rare treat in cinema, and the MCU had every opportunity to turn this film into a massive trailer for whatever’s yet to come. But they didn’t. They told a story, they told it well, and they finished it. That’s the greatest gift a fan can receive, even if it doesn’t always feel like a gift at the time. No one wants to say goodbye to Iron Man – but that’s why it’s so important to do it now. In the world of storytelling, it’s always better to leave too soon than to stay too long.
To everyone involved in bringing the MCU to life, thank you. You’ve done the impossible. You’ve taken the wildest dreams of young superhero fans across the world and brought them to life in a fully realized, richly detailed world. You guys made the Avengers. You told a story that I wouldn’t have thought anyone was capable of telling – and you told it with poignance, pizzazz, and purpose. From nothing, you built a sprawling cinematic universe with a single coherent overarching narrative. You are Iron Men and Iron Women, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Also Captain America lifted Thor’s hammer! Like, come on!! What’s better than that?!
Spider-Man: Far From Home (****1/2)
In which the rich weapons-crazed billionaire gives a lower-class orphan one of his weapons, only for the kid to give it away, and then get it back
First off, I don’t know why they decided to make this part of the MCU’s Phase Three. What better note to end on could you have than Endgame? If anything, this film is about new beginnings and carrying on the legacy of those who came before – that seems like a good start for Phase Four, if you ask me. It’s kind of like how they ended Phase Two with Ant-Man. Was it a bad movie? Not at all. Did it deserve to close off Phase Two? Certainly not.
Getting into the movie itself, I love where they took Spider-Man as a character. He’s still a lovable dork, which is so crucial. What’s more, he’s struggling to find his place in a world that’s suddenly devoid of the heroes that have held it up for so long – Iron Man, Cap, and Thor are nowhere to be found. Whereas the last Spider-Man film was about being a “neighbourhood” Spider-Man, this one was more about “stepping up” to a greater level of responsibility. I don’t think Spidey will be the ‘leader’ of whatever the next batch of Avengers ends up being (literally every other hero in the MCU right now is still pretty much more qualified than him – well, maybe not Ant-Man, but everyone else), but he’s definitely the most popular character, and that’s gonna take him a long way.
Mysterio was a really cool character. You can smell the sneakiness from a mile away, but that doesn’t make it any less fun when he casts off the sheepskin to reveal his true motivations. His illusion-laced scenes with Spider-Man are phenomenal. It’s slightly reminiscent of Doctor Strange, but more than anything it reminded me of old-school comic book covers, where they pack a lot of meaning into a single frame to get you to buy the book. Every second in Mysterio’s extended illusion bit with Spidey is laced with meaning, and that’s a lot of fun. Technically Mysterio counts as another Iron Man villain (Stark is really good at making bad guys out of thin air), but it was actually kind of cool to see how he tied in to what’s come before.
One bit that I really thought was cool was during the climax of the film when Spidey is trying to fight the army of drones without his webs. We see him pick up a large sign in one hand and hold some sort of weird mechanical device in the other hand by a short wire. In this moment, I think what Marvel was going for was trying to make Spider-Man the heir to the superhero throne. He’s using this sign as a sort of shield just like Captain America, and he hurls the weird mechanical thing just like it’s Thor’s Mjolnir. Given that his suit is courtesy of Iron Man, you’ve got a symbolic representation of each of the big three original heroes (sorry, Hulk) in one shot. I thought that was a really nice touch.
I don’t think this should have been in Phase Three, but that doesn’t change the fact that this was a great film and a terrific Spider-Man story. Oh, and the big twist in the end credits? What a game-changer. My brother Joel is skeptical about how that’s going to pan out in terms of quality storytelling, but when you keep in mind this was the fifth appearance of this iteration of Spider-Man and the eleventh film with Spider-Man in it overall, I think it’s high time for something as big as this. I think it opens the door for a Spider-Man story we haven’t seen onscreen before, and that’s exciting.
Oh, right, and J. Jonah Jameson came back, proving once and for all that there is a God above and He loves us very much.
This post was originally published on April 16th, 2019.