Details: Released in 2017. Over two hours long. Stars Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr.
Spider-Man returns and we finally get a look at the kind of Spider-Man movie the Marvel movie machine would make. Before getting into specifics, I’m going to say that Spider-Man: Homecoming is a good movie that takes a very slightly different take on the character as compared to the prior Spider-Man movies.
If your buying a ticket for this movie, then you should be well aware of the reason you want to see this movie: the action. Everything else is tertiary, supplemental, not that important.
There are a number of plots going through this film. They are all pretty bare. The acting is standard action movie fare; no one’s taking an academy award home for this movie. Maybe special effects.
But the action… man, that action. I’ve read a number of reviews comparing this film with other films and the consensus is that the action is some of the best, if not THE best of the Marvel movies. And they’re right. The entirety of this film consists of five set pieces: opening terrorist scene, Bucky taken in, Bucky breaks out, airport scene, and the final scene with Iron Man. Every action scene is amazing and it’s wonderful to see the Russo brothers continue their brand of action cinematography from the last Captain America movie. It’s visceral, suspenseful, and funny. There are lots of special effects being thrown around, especially in that airport scene, and yet it keeps the audience’s attention. Something Star Wars: Episode One could not do.
Worthy of mention are the two new superheroes being introduced: Black Panther and Spider-Man. I found their inclusion not as amazing as other reviews make them out to be. Black Panther is a great addition, but he doesn’t get a lot of screen time without his mask. Spider-Man is also great and the actor they picked is spot on. However, it’s clear they threw him into the movie the moment they got the rights to him, probably sometime after the majority of the film had already been filmed. Spider-man is not essential to the story.
Score: 7.4/10 Fun movie. Well worth the ticket price. Do not bring people who hate superhero movies and action movies. This is not for them.
Details: A little under two and a half hours long. Stars way too many people.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is not a bad movie. Unfortunately, it isn’t a great movie.
Age of Ultron brings nothing new to the superhero movie genre. It is the same thing all over again from the first Avengers movie. Where the first Avengers movie was the first time you got to see a superhero team movie, this movie does not bring anything new. It brings the old rehashed themes and action from the other movie.
That’s not to say the action isn’t fun or great. It is fun. It is great. But it’s more of the same.
Actually, there are too many jokes in this movie. I read a lot about how Marvel is never going to be as dark as Nolan’s Batman, but it would be nice to have a little bit of that in the film. For instance, Daredevil was pretty dark and I think it’s the greatest thing out of Marvel in the last few years.
Score: 6.2/10 Bored of this film. Captain America: Civil War should have replaced Avengers: Age of Ultron. This film also suffers from being released right in the shadow of the juggernaut that is Mad Max. Can’t wait to watch that film. I’m sure this movie will make a fortune in the box office and merchandising, but I had a horrible feeling of deja vu akin to watching the Star Wars prequels. This movie was probably targeting children under the age of thirteen.
Additionally, in defense of Joss Whedon, I’m sure he had plenty of awesome ideas he wanted to implement. Unfortunately, for a big hundred million dollar movie like this, I’m sure the Disney/Marvel corporate overlords had a lot of overbearing creative input on what this movie should be and what boxes need to be checked for merchandising, franchise-building, Hollywood politics, etc. I hope Ant Man doesn’t suffer because of the interference of the corporate overlords.
Muse Bank 