MCU (Phase 2)

Phase 2 is my favorite MCU phase. Yeah, I know, it's a weird opinion, but this really was when I was the most engrossed in the franchise. I like how these movies experiments with genre, with Winter Solider being a thriller, Guardians being a sci-fi comedy, Ant Man being a heist flick, and Iron Man 3 being a Shane Black film. I love how these movies deconstruct the concept of a superhero, while slowly trickling in lore on the Infinity Stones. My only real issue is its order, particularly Civil War not being included.

Iron Man 3: I know this movie is a bit divisive for a certain twist involving a certain type of fruit and I'll get to that, but I really like how risky and subversive Iron Man 3 is. Tony Stark doesn't spend much time in the Iron Man suit, rather he's stuck without it for a lot of the movie's runtime, and even in the final battle, he spends his time hopping from suit to suit. Not only does this perfectly fit his arc of overcoming PTSD and the message that the person is Iron Man, so the suit he's in, but it allows for a ton of great action scenes where Tony is forced to think on his feet and defeat bad guys in creative ways. Not gonna lie, these is probably some of the MCU's best action! As for the Mandarin twist, as someone who doesn't read the comics, I thought this was a brilliant misdirect that fits the movie well, lends an interesting perspective on the topic of terrorism, and actually manages to be funny (looking at you, Ralph Bohner). I also love how Iron Man 3 genuinely feels like a Shane Black film in its action, witty writing, and subversive nature. So many MCU films feel similar to one another, so I like movies like this and Ragnorok that truly feel like the product of their directors.

4/5 Stars

Thor: The Dark World: This is my least favorite MCU film, mostly just because it's so boring. The visuals are bland, the writing is dull, the villain is paper-thin, and the worst part is that this isn't a movie that should be boring! It's a space adventure with epic battles, Loki dying, and dimension hopping, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about any of it. This isn't even a bad movie, there isn't really much bad writing or effects, it just feels like a lot of nothing. The only actor who seems to be having fun is Loki's (as a result, he has the best scenes), but otherwise, The Dark World encapsulates my biggest problems with the MCU: It doesn't feel like it's trying to be an actual film with any cinematic merit, it feels like everyone involved was just sleep-walking through the whole production to make another addition to the MCU. And it's a shame because I love pretty much every other movie in this phase!

2/5 Stars

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Until Avengers Endgame came out, this and the original Avengers were my favorite MCU films. As the franchise gets more out there and magic-driven in the future, I'll have more complaints about the MCU's overwhelming usage of CGI, so I have a real soft-spot for how grounded this film is. It's a paranoia thriller about government surveillance as doubting the values you thought were unequivocally true that just happens to feature super soldiers. The action setpieces are some of the best in the series, with Cap constantly being separated from his shield, and the tone manages to be really intense, partly thanks to the horrifying main theme for the titular soldier. I like that SHIELD, Black Widow and Nick Fury got some extra focus outside of just Cap, yet it never feels like he's not the focus of the film. His relationship with Bucky is compelling and leads to an emotional and satisfying climax, and the movie as a whole really warmed me up to the character, to the point where he's now my second favorite Marvel superhero (second to Spider-Man). Out of all of the Russo films, I think Winter Solider is still their most well-made and it holds up phenomenally well today.

5/5 Stars

Guardians Of The Galaxy: 2014 was an amazing year for Marvel, because if Winter Solider wasn't good enough, we get this film. I didn't care about the Guardians before I watched this film, I didn't even know who they were, but James Gunn managed to make me fall in love with these five dorks in a single film. There's so much I love about Guardians Of The Galaxy, the bizarre sci-fi aesthetic is super fun, the cast has great chemistry, the action is enjoyable, the writing is hilarious, and the soundtrack is just plain excellent. I also love how separate this film is from the MCU aside from the Infinity Stones scene, it feels like its own standalone comedy/sci-fi adventure in the same wavelength as Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy (my favorite book of all time by the way). There's just so much heart and love put into every single frame of this film, and it feels like James Gunn's true passion project. It's funny, it's entertaining, it's easily one of the best MCU films to date.

5/5 Stars

Avengers: Age Of Ultron: Age Of Ultron is an underrated gem and I think there are a lot of great aspects to it that are worth mentioning. I like how every character gets an arc (though not all are that good), with Hawkeye getting the respect he deserves, Black Widow getting the first hint at her backstory which will hopefully be fleshed out in her own movie, and Iron Man dealing with a villain of his own creation. The action scenes are insanely fun, from the big Hulkbuster fight to the fast-paced South Korea chase to the big Battle Of Sokovia which doesn't top the original's final battle but manages to give us a lot of moments of the heroes actually trying to save people. There's a lot of fun banter and cute character moments scattered throughout, Ultron's a pretty alright villain, and there's a shockingly large amount of set-up for future movies. I think it suffers from being a bit too light and breezy, especially compared to the trailers, but I still found myself enjoying Age Of Ultron for what it was, a fun last hurrah for the Avengers before the events of Civil War.

4/5 Stars

Ant Man: I've always been pretty split on the first Ant Man movie, so I'll start with the positive stuff. The shrinking action is some of the most inventive and fun in the MCU, Paul Rudd is a charismatic lead, Michael Pena is hilarious, I love how it tries to go for a heist genre, and there's a general sense of fun to the whole film. It's not too long and the perfect movie to just tune in to while it's on TV. However, it also has the same problem as The Dark World, it doesn't go all that far with its premise. They could've gotten Edgar Wright to direct this film or they could've leaned super hard on the genre shift, but Ant Man just feels like your standard MCU film with an incredibly forgettable bad guy. I didn't even realize it was supposed to be a heist film until someone pointed it out to me! And honestly, I have zero idea why this is the end of Phase 2. Unlike Far From Home, it's not really a denouement to the events of the last Avengers movie, and it's a decision that I'll never understand. It's a solid and fun MCU movie, but it's not one of the best, nor is it phase-ending caliber.

3.5/5 Stars

Captain America: Civil War: Yes, yes, I know this isn't technically a "Phase 2" film, but this is my review and it just fits in so well here! Iron Man 3 and Winter Soldier delved into these warring characters and Age Of Ultron set up the Sokovia incident, so this movie fits in perfectly as the culmination of all these movies. But semantics aside, Civil War is an amazing movie. It manages to introduce Black Panther and Spider Man, give them and the whole other Avengers cast time to shine, and still focus on Iron Man and primarily Cap. It has the same tense vibe as Winter Solider, boasts one of the series' most unique villains in Zemo, has some of the series' best action, and gives us a compelling exploration of the fallout of Age Of Ultron's events. However, I think more than any other MCU film (except maybe Infinity War), this one feels a lot like an episode of a serialized TV show, as it doesn't really have a concrete start or end. Civil War doesn't quite stand on its own, even if it as an installment in the MCU, it's an absolute banger.

4.5/5 Stars