MCU (Phase 4)

With Phase 4 of the MCU having officially started, it's time I started posting my reviews of the movies as they come out. I have my own individual reviews of the TV shows so I won't include them here:

Black Widow: Black Widow finally gets a movie! This was a decent MCU film that gives Natasha more depth than ever before, exploring her past in some interesting ways. It's obviously a set-up to introduce Yelena as the new Black Widow, and I really enjoyed her. Florence Pugh's acting was great, and Yelena ended up being a super lively and likable character. The villain Dreykov is slimy and despicable like no other MCU villain to date, and he really made me want to punch him in the face. And the action is as solid as it's always been. However, Black Widow suffers from some serious wasted potential. The opening about Natasha and Yelena being sent to the Red Room and sterilized is one of the most haunting scenes in the MCU, but the movie never gets this dark again. There's all these references to Natasha's Budapest mission being this tense, epic, and morally complicated event, but it just sounds like a much more interesting movie than the one we actually got. And then there's the smaller stuff, like Taskmaster's depiction and general lack of screentime, Melina's sudden shift in allegiances, Red Guardian's whole thing about fighting Captain America only to not bring it up during his fight with Taskmaster, the whiplash-inducing tone shift from grounded spy thriller to generic quippy Marvel movie, and the fact that many fight scenes feel like they end way too quickly. There were so many interesting routes this movie could have taken, so much potential and possibility for a different and darker approach to the Marvel Universe, but it just went for the bare minimum, like so much other MCU stuff these days. I don't way to say I hated Black Widow, it was still a very enjoyable film, but it pains me knowing it could have been so much more.

2/5 Stars

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings: Now this is a good MCU movie! I tend to not like the MCU's origin stories due to how formulaic they can get (looking at you Doctor Strange), but Shang-Chi manages to feel oddly fresh. It uses flashbacks to depict Shang-Chi's past, not unlike Deadpool, but I think the flashbacks here are a lot more evenly spaced out so it never feels like the pacing slows to a crawl. The Xu family drama manages to be really compelling, and the characters are all really great. Simu Liu is super charismatic as Shang-Chi and Tony Leung's Wenwu is a fantastic tragic villain, but I liked the whole cast, as well as the cameo appearances from Trevor (Iron Man 3), Wong (Doctor Strange), and that guy who tells Spider-Man to do a flip. I also really liked Shang-Chi's friendship with Katy, it's the kind of supportive platonic relationship that can be just as interesting as your standard romantic subplot. But while the story is already pretty good, Shang-Chi absolutely shines with its action. This film is stuffed to the brim with fantastic fight scenes, all of which are uncharacteristically well-framed with long takes and wide shots so it's never unclear what's going on. Brad Allan has choreographed some of my favorite action films and he did a great job with Shang-Chi, with the fights managing to be both intricate and gripping. The bus fight in particular might just be my new favorite MCU fight, but the beautiful bamboo fight at the start, the tense scaffolding fight, and the multiple battles with Wenwu were also great. Shang-Chi also looks beautiful, especially many of the scenes in Ta Lo, and while it has a big CGI final battle, it's so bombastic and over-the-top that I couldn't help but love it. And if all that wasn't enough, I did really like the soundtrack too. It all adds up to a really strong origin story made even better with some of the best action in the entire MCU. I hope Marvel takes hints from Shang-Chi, this is how you do superhero action.

5/5 Stars

Eternals: Okay, this movie was an absolute mess. It's easily the worst MCU movie to date, and that pains me because I was really looking forward to Zhao's take on the franchise. But before I completely trash on it, I'll start with the positives. Eternals looks really good. Zhao's cinematography is fantastic and her usage of natural locations really adds to the visuals, and the action is shockingly brutal. The characters use their abilities in unique ways and you can feel the impact of their attacks, not unlike the DCEU films. The final battle between the Eternals is legitimately fantastic. I also think the cast is really solid, and hands down the most diverse in the MCU to date. However, that's all I really have to say as far as good things go. Eternals tries to tell a cosmic-scale story in the course of less than three hours and it shows, it's overstuffed as hell. The script is clunky and dull, filled with boring exposition and the characters stating the themes outright. It's filled with telling and not showing, with too many character moments happening off-screen for me to really care about them. Speaking of which, there are too many characters, and I never grew to care about any of them. Cast members come and go, and it doesn't really feel like anyone has arcs. The villains aren't great either, with the Deviants just being CGI fodder for the Eternals to fight in action scenes and nothing more. I think this could have worked leagues better as a TV show, giving its ideas and characters more time to develop, but even with a longer runtime, there are still some very stupid moments (the Hiroshima twist, Sprite's crush, Starfox). But most of all, it still feels like the film is struggling with clashes between Marvel and the director Chloe Zhao. The dull color grading clashes with Zhao's naturalistic aesthetic, the jokes clash with the movie's otherwise serious tone, and you can tell whenever Zhao or Feige has the helm. But worst of all, Eternals is just plain boring. And if you know me, there's nothing worse than a film being boring. I get if you admire its ambition and like it more than MCU films like Black Widow or Ant Man 2 for sheer scale and potential alone, but the fact that much of this movie had me rolling my eyes really hammers home my opinion on it: Interesting ideas, awful execution.

1/5 Stars

Spider Man: No Way Home: No Way Home is a miracle. This movie should not have worked. With all these characters from and references to prior Spiderman films, NWH could have been an overstuffed fanservice-y mess. Instead, it makes pretty much all of the Spider Man movies prior to it even better in retrospect. Tom Holland's Peter Parker completes the arc that was set up by the first two films and accepts the responsibility that comes with being Spider Man, no matter the cost. All five villains have arcs (except maybe The Lizard), with some in particular like Green Goblin and Electro actually being improved in this movie. Willem Dafoe is absolutely terrifying as Osbourne here, and Electro is much more likable now that Jamie Foxx is allowed to just be himself. Of course, we also have Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield back as their respective Spidermen, and they too have arcs that tie up the loose ends left by their movies. Garfield is especially great here, his energetic performance is a testament to how good of a Spider Man he could've been with better writing and directing. But even with all the villains and heroes, NWH makes sure to keep its focus on the MCU cast. Tom Holland is still the main star here, his chemistry with Zendaya's MJ and Jacob Batalon's Ned is still fantastic, and Marisa Tomei's Aunt May gets a lot of moments to shine. The action is fantastic, the comedy is funny, and the emotional moments hit hard. This is a dark film, Peter really suffers in NWH, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I want to wait a bit to see how I feel in a few months, but No Way Home is a shockingly fantastic movie that has easily become one of my favorite MCU films.

5/5 Stars

And this is where my reviews of the MCU movie end. Read this post to get the full story.