The Marvels

★★★1/2

Mild Spoilers

Directed by Nia DaCosta
Written by Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik

I’m not going to do a synopsis for this one, but instead I will just point out that there will be two “new” key characters that you wouldn’t know about if you haven’t seen Wandavision or Ms. Marvel on Disney+. Three, if you also haven’t seen Captain Marvel, which should obviously be mandatory viewing since this is kind of a direct sequel to that one. You don’t really have to watch the other two shows since it’s pretty common for superhero movies to introduce new superheroes anyway. But Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) is such a lovable, charming character even in this one that I’d recommend checking out Ms. Marvel as well.

Now, the movie. People are going to go to town on this one, because unfortunately it has issues. The whole movie felt choppy and rushed, like it had been edited to hell. It makes for a breezy, undemanding watch, but I thought it undermined some dramatic moments that could have been great scenes if given enough screen time to permeate. There are also some cosmic pseudo-science nonsenses that glossed over some plot resolutions. In comic books, this is par for the course, but with cynical audiences nowadays, prepare to hear a lot of b****ing and moaning about why it didn’t “make sense”. I was already hearing it from the bros sitting behind me after the movie had ended, who said that the answer was because “they were women.” I mean, bro, why are you here, watching it then? I pity the sole girl in their group who had to pretend-laugh at their mockings. I might as well also mentioned that these idiots were also talking through the first half hour of the movie, which was something I never thought I’d ever come across again after I started going to first-day screenings. Apparently, the morons have finally spilled into my safe space.

I digress. Despite the issues, I thought this was a fun watch. The three leads did a good job, but Vellani was effortlessly the scene stealer. I really enjoyed the cosmic-space stuff - it’s similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy flicks but having to explore new planets makes the MC-Universe feels big. There’s nothing really too serious about The Marvels, which is really about three different but special women bonding during a silly space adventure. Their power sets are also a joy to watch even if they don’t make a lick of sense. It is also a pretty funny movie, especially one major gag of a set piece that everyone is certainly going to talk about a lot and spoil it in no time. (They are two; let’s see if you can guess which one I was actually referring to.) I would recommend it, especially for ardent MCU fans, but also warn that this is truly fluff and not a Marvel entry with huge consequences in the grand scheme of things.

Well, except for the end credits scene, of course.

P.S. Just wanted to point out my surprise of seeing Mohan Kapoor here, who plays Ms Marvel’s father, because he was publicly accused of sexually harassing a minor last December, but I’ve not heard or am able to Google any development on that story. It’s possible that they’ve already finished filming The Marvels and were in post-production when that news broke. I can see how it was difficult to cut him out of the movie if they ever had the intention to, because he was an integral familial figure in Ms Marvel’s life and appears in every scene that featured her family. It’s really odd that things like this kept happening to Marvel of late.

Secret Invasion

★★1/2

Mild Spoilers

Directed by Ali Selim
Written by Kyle Bradstreet, Beto Dantas, Jonathan Hirschbein, Matt McRee, Haleema Mirza, Jennifer Muro, Jovan Robinson, Brian Tucker, Michael Bhim, Brant Englestein, and Roxanne Paredes

S.H.I.E.L.D. (or is it S.W.O.R.D. now?) head honcho Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) returns from space to handle a sleeper Skrull agent named Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) who has gone rogue and started his own terrorist organisation. He reteams with former associate Agent Hill (Colbie Smulders) and Skrull ally Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) to stop Gravik, with some help from Talos’ daughter G’iah (Emilia Clarke) who has allied herself with Gravik’s cause. If you didn’t know, Skrulls are a shape-shifting alien race who can physically impersonate anyone, not unlike Mystique from the X-Men films.

Secret Invasion is a spy thriller (more Bourne than Bond) that looks like one, even feels like one, but isn’t in any way as clever as it wants you to think it is. There is a huge potential here to create a very gripping espionage tale where literally anyone could be a Skrull in disguise, but because of budgetary reasons and one hand-waiving excuse, a Skrull needs to remain in one identity for long durations, which is pretty baffling since some Skrull characters here are literally walking about with their most identifiable facade for any covert operatives to easily spot and pick them up or take them out. With that kind of ability, I’d be changing into multiple identities at all times and be virtually impossible to find. I know it makes Skrulls a little overpowered, but I’m sure there are clever solutions that can be concocted to level the playing field, e.g. a Skrull detector of some sort, or just Fury using his wits to sniff out imposters. Instead, what we have here is a weak spy series with a lot of logical problems that they didn’t even bother to hide with great production values, which it also didn’t have. The script was also pretty dire - some of the most cringey dialogues I’ve ever listened to. The series also felt like it had forgotten to edit its footages, with some weird reactions and movements from actors that should have been trimmed away. Like there’s one moment where the President of the United States (Dermot Mulroney) made an odd, out-of-place grunt, or when Fury was pointing his gun at someone and his other arm just briefly flailed about for no reason at all. I suspected that they were forced to artificially extend the series to six episodes and didn’t have enough coverage for it. There is also another big issue that I had with the series that I will rant about in the spoiler section below.

The only saving grace is the cast. Jackson is the reason to watch this, and Olivia Coleman stole every scene she was in as a British clandestine operative Sonya Falsworth. Ben-Adir also happens to be in the Barbie movie that is currently in theatres, and it’s interesting that we get to see an actor doing two very different roles in the same span of time. I enjoyed Mendelsohn, Clarke and Smulders, but their roles are criminally limited.

I would only recommend this for die-hard MCU followers. This one is easily the weakest of the Marvel streaming entries to date.

I HAVE ONE SPOILER-Y GRIPE

Here’s my gripe: Fridge-ing Maria Hill and also Talos. But it’s not really just the idea of it, but the execution, no pun intended. These are pretty important figures in Fury’s world for decades and you’d expect a lot more care in the way their deaths had been handled, and provide a more satisfying dramatic impetus for Fury to stem out Gravik and his operations. But there’s just no impact being felt from their deaths, with a pretty nonchalant Fury who seemed strangely ambivalent towards the abrupt departures of his most trusted allies. Just a few shots of Fury getting, er, furious or upset would have been enough, but all we got were a bit of frowning and grimacing. It’s either an odd creative choice, or (I really hate to say this but) just plain ineptitude.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

★★★1/2

Mild spoilers

Directed by Peyton Reed

Written by Jeff Loveness

Quantumania is frustrating. Ant-Man has always been about the little guy (even the movie mentioned that repeatedly), but like the big boys he now has to handle a universe-ending threat of his own. (It even tries to ape Aquaman’s gonzo visual aesthetics, likely in an attempt to also achieve a similar box-office result.) But that makes Quantumania feel just like a formulaic Marvel entry instead of the fun “palate cleanser” (a term used by Paul Rudd himself) that many of us are reluctant to admit we needed, even as we griped about how inconsequential the Ant-flicks were.

Other problems:

Too many characters, a very smart villain that started doing stupid things near the end, the sorely-felt absence of Luis and his compadres of X-Con Securities Consultants, and the jettisoning of that wonderfully snappy editing style from the earlier films.

However, all is not lost.

The cast is fantastic. Jonathan Majors is the standout here, and his performance alone is worth the price of admission. Kang is absolutely menacing but also interestingly complex. I was fascinated by the level of gratitude expressed by the supposedly ruthless multiversal conqueror towards his savior, when he had absolutely nothing to gain from doing so, except a tiny sliver of what’s left of his humanity. Pfeiffer was given more to do this time, and her scenes with Majors were electric and made you forget you’re watching a superhero flick. Rudd, Douglas, and Lily are reliably good in spite of the limited material they had to work with.

I also liked that they pitted the main supervillain of the entire Multiversal saga against the most bottom-ranked Avenger, lower than even Hawkeye. This created a palpable sense of danger, where for the first time in the series of Ant-films you don’t feel that any of the characters are safe, by simply having the villain being way out of the heroes’ league by a million fold. There were a few times I thought, “they might actually be doing it.” A major cull to set the path for future Ant-Girl/ Stature/ Stinger Cassie Lang. The stakes in Quantumania certainly felt a lot higher this time round.

I know it should have been obvious just from the title alone, but I didn’t know the movie was set almost entirely in the quantum realm. I don’t watch trailers, so this was a genuine surprise for me, which worked in favour of the film. The other thing I wasn’t expecting wasn’t the identity of the big star cameo of the film, but that they made the person do something a little more sinister than just the usual jokey schtick cameos are expected to do.

Speaking of cameos, there is another one that seems to be getting mixed opinions, but I thought it was really funny, and the one where the aforementioned has a scene with Cassie Lang got the biggest laugh from me.

All an Ant-Man flick needed to do (for me) was to be entertaining. Despite some story directions that didn’t work and some other quality issues, I think it did the job, and there are a few but enough of the good stuff here to at least warrant a watch. Some of you might disagree, but I think Quantumania has a slight edge over most of the Phase 4 films but not as good as No Way Home or Shang-Chi.

My thoughts on the mid and end credit scenes (SPOILERS):

I thought the Kang variants (army?) were quite goofy. The Empire Spoiler Podcast gang joked that it reminded them of the Eddie Murphy’s films where he played multiple characters. The one with a clip from Loki Season 2 was just a very short teaser that featured Loki, Mobius and Kang in a scene, but doesn’t seem like anything of consequence, or even exciting, other than the fact that it’s coming.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

★★★1/2

Before I proceed with my assessment, there are two things that need to be mentioned.

One, with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther 2 team, led by returning director Ryan Coogler, has an unenviable task of continuing the franchise without their star lead. Should they recast, and if not, how are they going to explain the absence of such a popular character as King T’Challa, the Black Panther? For that, I’m truly grateful of the work and effort they have done here, to honour Boseman in a movie that also needed to be popcorn entertainment.

Two, that many of us are still mourning two years after. Boseman’s friends and colleagues were probably already working on the sequel when it happened. They needed an outlet for their grief, and the film needed to reflect that in some ways, and it did. The tone of the film was more sombre and darker than the first. Grieving fans would also be expecting and appreciative of an acknowledgement of his loss in the film. The film was successful on this part.

These two components should be enough to make a great Black Panther sequel, taking into consideration the circumstances, and it has been for many people. I was saddened by what has happened, and I do feel with the rest of you. The movie is a great tribute to the star, and I am glad that everyone is loving it immensely.

So it might be irksome to hear any criticisms about the film. And I do have a few, despite my admiration and appreciation of what they have attempted to do. Apart from the great craftsmanship and work done by the crew behind the camera, the actors have all done exceptionally in front of it. Angela Bassett, Tenoch Huerta, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Lupita Nyong’o, Florence Kasumba and many others did amazing work here. It seemed unfair that Letitia Wright had to shoulder the burden of the lead role and all the expectations and responsibilities that come with it. She is a real champ for pushing herself the way she did in this film.

But I wished Marvel would have given the team more time to come up with a tighter and more coherent story, because the end product felt like a patchwork of mismatching tones and intentions. It started off promisingly; it looked like we were getting a character exploration on Shuri, that we get to understand her as a character of her own, what makes her tick and what drives her. But then Marvel has to Marvel, so several new characters needed to be introduced and set up for future use, including comic book favorite Namor, who even got a lengthy flashback while Shuri only had brief wordless cutscenes from earlier films. Then we have Riri Williams here to promote her upcoming Ironheart series, and the return of (or a dropped-in-out-of-nowhere character if you’ve never seen The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Disney+ series) CIA director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine because they needed people to remember who she was when the Thunderbolts movie rolls out. There are some character moments for Shuri during the Talokan scenes, but it wasn’t enough. She has always been a peripheral character in all the films she has appeared in. Wright and Boseman did a great job establishing their relationships, but it was still surface-level stuff. Shuri desperately needed a Wandavision-like backstory, or like a flashback to her childhood with T’Challa to flesh out her relationship with her brother a little more, so that her grief would be a little more understandable, relatable and impactful when it culminated close to the finale. I find it puzzling that her arc was painted in quick and broad strokes, while the fish guy got more time for nuances.

I could be wrong about this. I was wrong about films like The Batman, The Dark Knight, and a few others, where my feelings changed for the better upon second viewing. But as it stands right now, and as much as I appreciate the work of these wonderful people who poured their hearts into this film, the movie still felt bloated and uneven at least to me, and I wished they had tightened the story a little more, and find a more coherent way to inject in all the future project tie-ins, if that is even possible.

But of course, the real burning question on everybody’s mind is:

Is Black Panther: Wakanda Forever better than Thor: Love and Thunder?

Yes.

And thus ends Phase IV of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Thor: Love & Thunder

★★★1/2

Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Taika Waititi and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

We are already way past the point by a few movies where making a synopsis for a Marvel film would inevitably spoil any other Marvel film that came before that you haven’t seen. I will only say that this one takes place after Avengers: Endgame (2019, #22 film/show) and not Thor: Ragnarok (2017, #17 film/show). And I don’t think a synopsis like “after the defeat of Thanos, god of thunder Thor goes on adventures with the Guardians of the Galaxy to find new purpose in his life after seceding his throne to Valkyrie, but returns to New Asgard to find a reconstructed Mjolnir in the hands of a new master, ex-girlfriend Jane Foster” is going to be of help to any newcomers. Yes, the MCU has literally become homework.

To the initiated, Thor: Love and Thunder is the direct response to the enthusiasm over Ragnarok’s revision of the Thor sub-franchise, meaning more Flash Gordon-esque goofy, irreverent humour and Thor behaving like a buffoon while saving the universe. I wasn’t a fan of that in Ragnarok; it was enjoyable and refreshing, but I’ve always preferred the space regal drama. So it’s amusing to now see people complaining online about the very thing they enjoyed and wanted more of from Ragnarok and wanting Thor to go back to the Branagh version, which they also once said was boring or going stale. Personally, I still think this is the right direction for Thor since there really isn’t a more compelling direction that they could go with the character that will appeal to mass audiences. The other inevitable move would be to end the run of films and put Thor on the bench with the other reserves like Hulk and Hawkeye.

Love and Thunder is still a fun and funny film. I won’t deny I didn’t have a few LOL moments, especially with a pair of animals and an unexpected (to me) cameo from an actor I’ve always liked. Christian Bale was great as Gor the God Butcher albeit underused, unsurprisingly. There are touching moments, and even cleverness in parts. Nice to see Natalie Portman return to do something more than just ogle at Hemsworth’s pecs.

Some complaints. The plot felt pretty inconsequential, especially when you are made to feel unsympathetic towards the beings who are under threat in this story. Some people complained about the story being a “fetch quest” akin to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Many movies have been fetch quests, and I have no issues with that plot contrivance, except when it feels like an afterthought. There’s a difference between characters being motivated to advance to Point B, and simply being told to go to Point B for no compelling reason other than because the story needs to progress.

That said, I don’t think the sky is falling on the MCU. The Marvel movies have always been entertainment for mass audiences that occasionally elevates above expectations in terms of storytelling and acting performances. Unfortunately, Love and Thunder isn’t one of those occasions, but it is still an expectedly enjoyable outing.

Originally published on my Facebook page, here.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

★★★1/2

Medium-level spoilers

Directed by Sam Raimi
Written by Michael Waldron

For those who were complaining about Moon Knight being meandering, fret not, because the MCU theatrical division is back with its 28th outing that is jam-packed with all the razzle dazzle that you’ve been missing from its more contemplative and episodic brethren from Disney+. But is that a good thing? Straight out of the gate, we are plunged into a multiversal action set piece involving new MCU character America Chavez, Doctor Strange and… the monster from Edge of Tomorrow? There is a mysterious and powerful threat at play, so Strange seeks help from incumbent Sorcerer Supreme Wong, and also Wanda Maximoff, who may be the only person powerful enough to stop it.

Overall, it was a bit of a muddle. It doesn’t know whether it wants to be a Strange-Christine romance, a buddy-sorcerer movie with America, or Wandavision 2. With only a two hour runtime, they should have picked one story thread to focus on. As a result, none of the major plot threads have a satisfying enough of a conclusion, especially Wanda’s.

As a Sam Raimi joint, this felt too reined in. I was anticipating cackling demons, Dutch angles and morbid humour sometimes involving his brother Ted, but there were only very rudimentary Evil Dead-ish references that were oddly sapped of his trademark cheesy humour. His Spider-Man films were way more Raimi-esque in comparison. I don’t understand why you’d hire someone like Raimi and then shackle him.

What about the multiverse parts, you say? They did have some good fun with it. Those who have been speculating some things about the movie is going to enjoy what they see. Exciting though the implications may be, but this is the multiverse we’re talking about here. Things can still very much change if you think about it. But I was surprised by how little they did with it. At the end, I was like, is that it? Five movies in and still no signs of Kang, or Mephisto.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still a fairly enjoyable flick. The first Doctor Strange film remains his best outing to date, and I really loved how innovative and clever that one was. I like Multiverse of Madness more than Black Widow and Eternals, but No Way Home and Shang-Chi remain the best of the Phase 4 films.

Originally published on my Facebook Page, here.

Required viewings: Doctor Strange and Wandavision. There are mentions of events from Infinity War, Endgame, and No Way Home, but they aren’t as integral to the main story as the other two.