Re-stumbled onto Infinity War (AKA, the pre-game)

‘We are in the Endgame now’, said Dr Strange, even though creators swore that the title of the final instalment of Phase 3 from the MCU had not been mentioned in the previous films. They are liars and we love them for it.

In preparation, me and my friends went back and watched ‘Avengers Infinity War’ for the third time and I can honestly say, it could not have been a better movie considering what it was. As always, I will start with the negative, yes the one. The main complaint is that with so many heroes, no one got enough screen time and that is true. Captain America hardly got any lines in but that is what is so amazing about the MCU, he didn’t need to because his actions spoke millions: ‘I'm not looking for forgiveness, and I'm way past asking permission’, is a sum of the 'Civil War' outcome and ‘We do not trade lives’ is his moral code in a gist. Five lines was plenty for a movie with 28 superheroes. He also got a magnificent scene, where the puny human from Brooklyn, born in 1918, resists the mighty titan with his bare hands. I swear, I got goose bumps. Plus, Endgame will take care of limited screentime, as most of the additional Avengers were erased and only the six original Avengers (and Antman and War Machine and the Racoon) were left to fight. And if things go the way I think they will, the Endgame will do justice to Steve Rogers.

There were a couple of details which were the utmost celebration of what the MCU has achieved and I would like to point them out. First one is the emotional turmoil it placed our superheroes in and how we all empathised. Thor had to witness his people get slaughtered, his best friend (and last) sacrifice himself and his brother choked in an impromptu act of kindness. So he is hurt and pissed and deservingly gets the best shot at Thanos out of all the Avengers. But he should have gone for the head. Then, both Peter Quill and Wanda Maximoff have to fight every inch of their being and kill the people (or robots respectively) they love for the greater good. And once they manage that unimaginable task it is undone in seconds. Still does not mean I forgive Peter Quill for FUCKING UP the whole universe, but you know, I empathise. After the life-ending snap, many last words were a knife through the heart; Black Panther say ‘this is no place to die’ as he gets erased from existence and Peter Parker turns to dust in the hands of Iron Man, who felt guilty enough as it was about this kid he took into his care, but he now has to watch him die, essentially. It was all heart breaking.

On the subject of Peter Parker, everything about this Spiderman is compensation for the Emo and Hipster Spidermans of the past. He is a movie nerd and a millennial, hence the pop-culture references, but possibly the best (and unlikely) version of a teenager you can get. He is so innocent and selfless it does not even cross his mind that an alien attack is diversion enough for him to disappear. He perfectly translates his ‘small scale’ vigilante duties to the Infinity War scale by saying ‘You can’t be a friendly neighbourhood Spiderman if there is no neighbourhood’. I’m sorry, even though that quote has the word ‘Spiderman’ in it, it is proper deep. Later on, his spidey sense, just like Mantis’, warns him about what is to come, a detail that made me love the Russo brothers just a tiny bit extra. And lastly, my favourite detail, in the middle of the scariest fight of his life, he takes a moment to rejoice about being an official Avenger. He is as likeable as he should have been three Spidermans ago.

Spiderman is a major Marvel character and perhaps doing him justice is what was expected. However, what the MCU will be known for is taking characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy and making them superstars. I am not saying anything original here, but I think we need a moment of appreciation for the MCU and James Gunn in particular for making them such standouts, that within a second of ‘The Rubberband Man’ playing, we knew who was coming up on screen. That is not a small feat and it just goes to show how ironclad these characters are in everyone’s mind.

And it is time to address the Titan in the room, and that is the best worst, villain since Christopher Nolan gave Batman a sore throat. Thanos is the balls (and that is not a reference to his chin, although it could be). He is not your typical villain with equal power to the hero, but with cruel intentions; he has the six infinity stones that control the universe. He can make half of existence disappear with the snap of his fingers. He is so strong, we ignored the fact that Iron Man’s suit is now essentially the Green Lantern ring (Wait, is this a crossover episode?), because it didn’t really matter anyway. And apart from that, he has suffered, he is dedicated and there is an argument behind his actions. He has seen his own planet deteriorate because of overpopulation and he is aware that there are finite resources in this universe. He has therefore decided to take it upon him to ‘bring balance to the universe’. He is probably a vegan too. Of course, he is also an emotionally detached, murderous maniac, which is what I would be if I was vegan as well. But we see him ache for Gamora, we see him show some recognition, even maybe admiration, for the selfless defenders, their effort, determination and self-sacrifice. He is not likeable, but he is surely more likeable than his skinny son, Ebony Maw; I think I literally cheered when he got his ass ‘Alien’ed. I recognise that  Thanos is obviously worse than one of his mere helpers, but he is given more character and played by Josh Brolin. I am glad Brolin also plays Cable, because otherwise I could see me mourning his loss from the MCU. And my friends would rightfully kill me if I shed a tear for Thanos.

But the most important thing that made this movie a success, was the dynamics. The Russo brothers kept enough track of the progress so far, to know who had met whom and who had heard of whom and some of those unlikely pairings were the best entertainment in the MCU. Namely Peter Quil and Thor, Peter Quil and Iron Man, Iron Man and Dr Strange, Hulk and Bruce Banner and Iron Man and Captain America. I know the last pair did not interact, but considering the 'Civil War' aftermath we needed Tony Stark to hesitate before calling Steve Rogers. How do you make that phone call? What a beautiful human moment.

Why is this that big a deal? Because this is not just the final installment of Phase 3; it’s the final instalment of all three phases. It is possibly the biggest movie event to date, certainly comicbook-wise. There is nothing more anticipated, nothing of more pop-culture importance. I’ll say it even if no one else does, it is more important than Game of Thrones. Why? Because there are more years of investment, an extra three to be precise, and most importantly this is our nerdom payback. We were mocked and we relied on paper drawings and movies worthy of the mockery we faced to get our dose of nerdiness. And then the MCU transformed this silly, childish, fictional world to the epitomy of Hollywood, getting everyone from the hottest actors to Oscar winning actresses involved. It got niche directors into the mainstream, it incorporated other movie genres and most importantly, it gave spandex-wearing characters three dimensional personalities. So I thank you Marvel, I trust you and I welcome the shock and tears (and funny puns) that will surely make the Endgame a celebration of the superhero genre.

Stumbled onto hope for DC Extended Universe

Lots of things happened this week, good things for my professional development and mental health. Lots of good, grown up stuff. And then I watched Shazam and realised I barely cared about grown up stuff.

A quick sum. A wizard is getting too old and weak to contain the seven deadly sin monsters who had wreaked humanity in the past and needs to pass his magic powers on to a worthy ‘champion’. During his search he stumbles onto a lonely, rejected child who is not deemed worthy at the time. He is never deemed worthy, actually, and therefore becomes the villain. Sorry if that was misleading. But then he meets this other child, this boy who lost his parents, a loner, a runaway from foster homes and he becomes the champion. And if he says ‘Shazam’ he turns into a tall, handsome Zachary.

This movie was brilliant. I was a bit biased as Zachary Levi is one of the most likeable people in Hollywood and I have recently re-watched the second season of Marvelous Mrs Maisel, where he was perfect. And so much better than stupid Joel. But I had a much stronger counter-bias which is that DC has pretty much fucked up all of its superhero movies in the DCEU. Therefore, I can safely say that I have a balanced opinion about this movie and all should agree. The humour was fantastic, light and immature, as it should be. Extra points for keeping the original costume regardless of how ridiculous it looked in the year 2019. Characters were very, very likeable, meaning the main character, the foster siblings and the foster parents. And Santa Claus. Look out for the little sister, who is going to melt your heart from her very first scene.

And all the ‘comic book’ stuff were ‘comic book stuff’. Yes, the villain and the wizard do not get a sufficient back-story and are charicature-esque. But I mean, how much back-story can you give a white-bearded wizard to make him relatable without spending seven books, eight movies, a play, two prequels (to date) and multiple unnecessary tweets? And the villain looked like he had a difficult childhood; how would I have enjoyed his defeat if he was relatable and I felt bad for him? I hope this is not a spoiler, I mean even for Avengers: Endgame we all know Thanos has to lose, right? Right? He has to. If he doesn’t, I am quitting the movies. All of the movies. Okay, maybe the seven deadly sins could have been better (much better) CGI-d or taken a note out of Fullmetal Alchemist and had more character, but mehh, they were way too ugly anyway.

And the big surprise of the evening was that this was an emotional movie. Emotionality was always lurking in the background, the protagonist is a delinquent foster child with a good heart, his best friend is a foster child with a disability, they are outcasts and bullied at school; that is all there. But it is shoved down your throat, begging you to focus on how unfortunate and scarred the protagonists are, as in some other, uhum, movies. But when the time is right, emotionality hits you in the face. Followed by some beautiful, immature, funny scenes.

So is this hope for DC? Did they finally get it right or will this just be an exception to the Snyderisms we have had to put up with? A friend of mine suggested that the movie was good because of the lower budget. As Shazam is not a famous superhero, there was more creative freedom, more room for risk. I hope that is not true. I hope they finally sat down at DC’s fortress of solitude, their Batcave, their headquarters, pinpointed what Marvel did well, hired James Gunn and will now reboot the universe. And while I mourned for Battfleck, and will do so until the superhero genre is fully saturated, I welcome this change if it comes with Shazam and his aesthetic in the Justice League.

Let me also put this out there, while I love Disney and all it has done for superhero movies, this could easily turn to a Lex Luthor situation with Disney having full control over blockbusters and us mainstream viewers depending on (1) whatever mediocracy they put out and (2) Oscar’s season. Part of it is already happening. As much as a liked Captain Marvel, it was not Winter Soldier. It was not a love-project for someone, it was not an original perspective. It did not need to be. From the 34 characters that will be or be referenced in Avengers: Endgame, she was the only one we had not met; of course we would watch her movie. We would watch her movie even if she wore a helmet that looked like a chicken’s head. Again, kudos for original costumes. How am I talking about the MCU again? Shazam deserves better. Shazam was awesome. Pretty decent soundtrack too.

It is good for us to have some healthy competition among the comic book movie giants, trying to out-do one another. We will get the better movies, more thought-out scripts, interesting directors and justice for Batman. I will be so disappointed if this ends up being an unexploited, momentary genius, but on the bright side, I will always have things to complain about on this blog. Bright side for me, that is.