Recruit A Team Of Heroes With Attitudes

Well, we've looked at all five films leading up the massive crossover film, The Avengers. The dominoes are lined up, the cogs in the machine are all aligned. We've waited four years. But is it a case of a coming together of the greats, or is there still some assembly required?

Before we get into that, let's go over the Avengers as a team in the comics: in September, 1963, Thor's arch-nemesis Loki tricks the Hulk into destroying a railroad track, which leads to Hulk's friend Rick Jones sending out a radio call seeking help, a call which Loki diverts to Thor, in the hopes of drawing him out. What Loki didn't expect was that the distress call would be answered by more heroes: Iron Man, Ant-Man and The Wasp. Together, they all defeated Loki and decided to become a team. And it took all of two issues to lose a member, in this case it was Hulk, who left because he realized his unstable personality was a source of great fear for his team mates. But a few issues later, Captain America would be found and he would become a long time member of the team. And the rest is history. A long and confusing history, especially with all the different Avenger teams.

Now, if you don't read comics and know little about them, you're probably wondering who the Hell Ant-Man and The Wasp are. Well, the answer is: they are two characters who had better appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the years to come, because they are great. But that's for another time.

For this film, our team is instead made up of Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, the only change in actors for this film, with Lou Ferrigno providing the voice for the Hulk himself), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), brought together by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), to take on Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his alien army. Also joining the fray is Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), a high ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agent, and we also see the return of Coulson (Clark Gregg), Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard) and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), as well as more voice-work from Paul Bettany as Iron Man's AI program, JARVIS.

And... well, OK, I pretty much described the plot right there. They come together, settle their differences and they fight some bad guys.

And you know what? I love every goddamn minute of this movie. From the moment Iron Man ended, I knew this movie was going to be monumental. After five movies, the anticipation just rose even higher. Every scrap of information relating to this movie pointed to it having enough momentum to actually be the greatest Marvel movie ever, to be something that would shape how Marvel's movies would be for ages to come. And considering how this came out in the same year as the currently-the-worst-film-I've-this-year-based-on-rankings Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance, it's almost like Marvel are trying not only to wipe away their embarrassment but overcompensate.

The aspect I love the most, the key to this whole film, is the blending of the different styles from the respective films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man's solo segment before the team comes together is hilarious but also sweet, since he's spending time with Pepper. Cap's is solemn and you can tell he's just begging to get back into the action, but there's also drama as he is a man out of time and that weighs heavily upon him. Thor appears later in the film but there's a strong dramatic tone with his first few scenes, especially those with Loki. And Hulk (well, when he's Banner) is funny, but darkly so and showing how he's grown accustomed to his surroundings. As for those who didn't have their own movie, Black Widow's segment is like something out of a spy movie, and it's funny, though Hawkeye doesn't get much of a back-story, if any at all (probably my only real nitpick with the movie, but that's only if I need to have something against it. The good heavily outweighs the bad, so much that the bad is virtually non-existent).

Acting-wise, everyone carries on their role and proves yet again why they have made these roles their own. Mark Ruffalo is the exception, but only in the part about carrying on the role, since he's taking over the role. And how does he do? He may just be better than Edward Norton in this role, and that's a mean feat! He's got Banner's sense of meekness down, and his sardonic wit. And he's also the first actor to actually “play” Hulk, as in, motion capture and such and DAMN! When Hulk smashes, he REALLY smashes! As much as I loved the Hulk in his previous film, he's a sight to behold in this and for anyone who thinks he can't hack it in another sequel, you will damn well apologize right now, because this movie proves that not only does he deserve another sequel, he NEEDS it.

Cobie Smulders is the only other major new player and I have to say at this point that I LOVE How I Met Your Mother, and I consider it the best show currently on TV, and I love her character in the show. And while she's not always on screen here, I loved seeing her here and seeing just how badass she could be. Also, now she shares something with HIMYM co-stars Alyson Hannigan and Neil Patrick Harris: working with Joss Whedon (more on him later)

Coulson FINALLY gets a bigger role, and he even reveals his inner fanboy about Captain America. Yeah, that guy keeps getting awesome.

But Hiddleston... holy crap, that guy borders on scary! I think it's his smile. That damn slasher smile... it's really bad when he smiles, it means he knows something you don't. And you never want that. While he was great in Thor, he's even better here and he made for a worthy adversary.

Now, Whedon. I love the man's work. Buffy, Angel, Firefly, all classics (though I have yet to see Dollhouse, because they haven't been released on DVD down here, which pisses me off. And I just found out we're not getting a cinematic release of The Cabin In The Woods down here, it's going straight to DVD. Well, it better bloody well be soon, justice must be served!)\

But while his direction is spectacular, his best work is in the script. I kept thinking “Oh that is so Whedon!” at some of the funniest bits, since they remind me of Buffy and Angel, like the deadpan way people snark at each other, or the random humor that takes a little tension out of the scene but not so much as to undermine it, but rather to get us to relax before the drops the hammer (no pun intended).

For example, in one scene, Tony's hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D's database and spouting off all sorts of information, and one thing he says (very matter of factly) “And that guy's playing Galaga and thinks no one can see him”. A few minutes later, we watch as a guy switches his screen back to a game of Galaga. Priceless.

Or this, I love this exchange:
Thor: He's my brother
Black Widow: He killed 80 people in 2 days
Thor: He's adopted

The timing of that, I couldn't help but crack up.

But I can't share my favourite scene for fear of spoilers. I will say this much: despite Iron Man being the funniest character within the movie, Hulk wins with the laugh-your-arse-off moment for the entire affair. It's towards the end. You'll know it when you see it, even though it's in that third act that Hulk gets even funnier.

And the action... oh Lord, is it ever sweet. There's gunplay, sorcery, tech, projectiles and good ol' fashioned fisticuffs. Sure, the battle at the end (not a spoiler, you so know there was going to be a huge one) is epic, and doesn't overstay its welcome, but it's the fight between Thor, Cap and Iron Man that I love the most. Egos clashing, power flowing, the darkness around them, the intensity, it's magic. Especially the end of it.

I could go on all day about it but since it's not out in America at the time of writing, it would be disrespectful of me to do so, since I'd run the risk of spoilers. But I'd like to end on this closing statement:

Everyone that was involved in this movie: you're not leaving. You will damn well come back and do a sequel, no ifs, ands or buts. I know most of you are under contract anyway, which is great, but the rest I don't know about. I know Joss has been offered the chance to direct again should it arise but it's obviously early days. Nevertheless, you can't leave. You all created magic with this film. I was never bored, never insulted and I now consider this the greatest Marvel movie ever.

Whether or not it will be the best movie of the year remains to be seen. As much as this film is an outstanding triumph, the Caped Crusader's next (and last for the live action interim) is its biggest threat. And Nolan always has a trump card. That being said, The Avengers has raised the bar for crossovers and team-up movies. Even if the Justice League movie gets off the ground, it will not be able to beat this. Marvel crafted this to perfection, taking it's time, letting things build up and putting in little clues here and there as to what was coming next. It resulted in a massive pay-off, one that will never be replicated, not until the next time this team is together.

Take all the time you need to, Marvel. You rewarded our patience and we'll happily wait again. Easily 4.5/5, richly deserved.

Well, that wraps up this week devoted to the Avenger film and its tie-in's. Hope you enjoy this movie as much as I did. And a little tip: once the credits roll, it begins with a montage of close-ups of the character's costumes and such, listing the actors for each respective character. After this, the traditional post-credits scene plays, hinting at what's to come (and my jaw dropped at the reveal of the figure who had their back turned to the audience for that scene). So, after that, you can leave if you wish, since there's nothing else after the next set of credits (yes, I stuck around, on the off chance there was some kind of teaser for Iron Man 3) but on the plus side, I got to hear a bitchin' new song from Soundgarden, called Live To Rise. I must have this song. And I will.

So, next week, got something big and special planned, and something completely different from what I've done before. But I won't be saying a thing until next week.

Has He Lost His Mind? Can He See Or Is He Blind?

Alrighty then, one more double tying into The Avengers and then on to the main event itself!

Today, we're looking at the genesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as its sequel. So, let's get into the high flying action of the Iron Man duology.

Now, I've reviewed a comic on Iron Man much earlier in the blog's history (the trade called Iron Man: War Of The Iron Men) but I never went into his origin story. Well, let's go through that now, shall we?

Iron Man was created in 1963 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Don Heck. Thematically, the Iron Man title was used to represent the Cold War and the idea of business tackling communism.

Tony Stark is overseas, observing how his new technology is aiding the American war effort, but is injured by a booby trap and taken hostage. His captors demand that he make weapons for them, but with the help of fellow prisoner Ho Yinsen, he constructs a suit to both make his escape and sustain his heart, after the heart became loaded with shrapnel.

The origin is perhaps one of the best of any hero in comics and to this day, remains the same, save for updating the war to the current day (the first film naturally has this event occur in Afghanistan). The one exception I can think of is The Invincible Iron Man, a straight to DVD film from 2007, in which he's in China trying to raise a city (I'll get to that one somewhere along the line).

So, with the first movie going with that for the first act, how does the rest of it go?

Well, after Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) gets back to America, he announces that Stark Enterprises is getting out of the weapon manufacturing game and he spends his time making better versions of the suit. Tony's partner, Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is not pleased about this change in plans, and decides to take things in his own direction. All the while, Tony's trying to prove not just to the world that he's making an effort to change, but his friend Jim Rhodes (Terence Howard), his secretary/love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and himself.

Going into the film back in 2008, I had little knowledge of the Iron Man franchise. I knew that Tony was one of the few heroes whose identity was public knowledge (though Marvel did kind of flip-flop on that) and that the suit was his means of escaping. Though the film did look really good based on the trailer, I still wasn't sure on how things would turn out. But here's my opinion in a nutshell: if The Dark Knight had not come out in 2008, this would have been my favourite movie of the year.

There is just so much to love about this movie. It's a wonderful mix of humor, action, drama and even the faintest hint of romance. Even with the changes between the comic history and the movie, they are changes that aren't done to the movie's detriment.

Let's start with the characters: I swear, it's like Robert Downey Jr. was born just to be Tony Stark. Even though the film doesn't really go into detail with Tony's alcoholism (often considered his Achilles heel in the comics), it's still present as is his desire for attention, over-confidence and dry sense of quick-wit. The man with a thousand one-liners, never missing his mark and always at the ready. RDJ's best role by far and he is an absolute joy. My absolute favourite part of the movie is this exchange, between a reporter (Leslie Bibb) and Tony:
“What do you say to your other nickname, "The Merchant Of Death”?”

“That's not bad.”

He says that without missing a beat. AND he manages to seduce the reporter, despite the fact that she's basically mud-slinging! He's like James Bond minus the spy part!

And his slight evolution from playboy to crusader is totally believable. I say slight, because he's still got ways to go, but that works. As does his attempts at being sincere with Pepper about how much he needs her. RDJ swaps gears within a second anytime he needs to and he's wonderful.

Speaking of Pepper, of any love interest in any comic book movie, she is the absolute best. She's independent, capable, confident, and funny. As a bonus (spoilers for the... what is it, six people who haven't seen this yet?), she DOESN'T get kidnapped AND she actually helps take down the villain! Holy crap, she's not a prop! Why has it taken this long to happen?! Why can't Mary Jane Watson be more like this?

Terence Howard's the straight man for this film, when Pepper's not on screen, and that totally works. Too bad he couldn't be War Machine, but hey, he was still a great supporter.

Jeff Bridges... holy crap, Jeff Bridges was a marvelous (no pun intended) villain. Cool and confident (yeah, this movie oozes confidence), even when going to the brink of insanity (“TONY STARK BUILT THIS IN A CAVE! WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!” Come on, you knew I was going to do it). And when he climbs into the Iron Monger suit... awesomeness ensues.

Action-wise, it blows (again, no pun intended) the competition away. Seeing the Iron Man suit in action, my jaw dropped the first time he flew. And even today, I'm still in awe of what they've achieved. Whether it's just simple flight, or taking on planes and hitching a ride on them, it's breathtaking.

Now, with me and my tendencies to find flaws, did I find any in this film? One. And it's a small one: over the closing credits, Black Sabbath's Iron Man is playing. That is awesome. However, it's instrumental. I was hoping for the original. Yeah, the lyrics may not play out well with the movie, but still, it's an awesome song. There, that's the only complaint, a tiny one.

Also, the changes I mentioned? There's only one major one: in the comics, Edwin Jarvis is the butler of the Avengers, and is kind of like Alfred, to an extent. In this movie, he's an AI instead, voiced by Paul Bettany. Am I bothered by this? No, because he has Edwin's dry wit and is extremely useful. Much like Edwin.

Oh, and Coulson. He's awesome. Nothing more needs to be said.

So, yes, I love this movie and I highly recommend it. 4.5/5. Oh and the scene at the very end of the credits? Amazing. Samuel L. Jackson's first appearance as Nick Fury and in that very short scene, he commands the scene. “I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative”. And with that, the game changed even more.

But how does Iron Man 2 stack up?

Six months after the end of Iron Man, in which Tony Stark has revealed he is Iron Man, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) seeks vengeance on Tony for what Tony's father did to his own. Meanwhile, Tony's dying from the arc reactor that keeps his heart going and is growing more and more reckless. He's trying to win Pepper over, but only succeeds in pushing her further away, as well as Rhodey (Don Cheadle stepping in to take over the role from Terence Howard, the only change in actors between the two films). Can they save him from self-destruction?

You know, I get sick of people who are like “it's not as good as the first, boooo!” And that goes for anything. To them I say: so, because it may not be super-special-awesome, it's automatically deemed crap? Piss off! You just don't appreciate what you've got. You just want more and more of everything, without even knowing what you want.

It's not AS good as the first, sure, but it's still damn enjoyable!

Of the new characters, Mickey Rourke is really good as lead villain, Whiplash. Able to take on Iron Man with just a couple of special whips, he amazes early on and always seems to have an ace up his sleeve.

Sam Rockwell as Justin Hammer, Tony's business rival and second villain of the piece, isn't as good as Whiplash or Iron Monger, but he's still pretty good. It's not his fault he gets overtaken by Mickey Rourke (and his “burd”. I love that bit)

Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow makes her debut, ready for The Avengers, and damned if she's not cool. I'm a huge fan of Scarlett (personal life choices aside) and for her to be a part of this world is wonderful, as is a bigger role for Nick Fury, who is hilarious.

Don Cheadle does a great job in the role of Rhodey, probably right on par with Terence Howard. And yes, he does get to be War Machine.

And that leads to the best scene of the entire movie. As Tony's at home, drunk as a skunk, and showing off his Iron Man capabilities to his party guests. Rhodey's had enough. He gets into one of Tony's suits, tells everybody to leave, and gets into a physical match with Tony. To the tune of both Queen's Another One Bites The Dust and Daft Punk's Robot Rock. HELL. YES. This is too awesome for words. Seeing the two of them just duke it out, at one point using gym equipment, is priceless. When it comes to action, I'm a huge fan of close quarter combat, and this does not disappoint.

I know I didn't mention much about Tony and Pepper for Iron Man 2. Well, pretty much everything from the first movie applies here, but with a huger development on their chemistry, which is magical. And it pays off, as we'll (or rather, you'll) soon see...

Another great thing both movies share: awesome music. Both of them start with a kickarse AC/DC song, with Back In Black in the first movie and Shoot To Thrill in this. Hot damn.

But there is one big flaw with the movie, and that's with the end, so there will be spoilers.

Now, Tony and Rhodey teaming up to take on drones, that's all cool, that's fine. But Whiplash in his own suit... it's just a little too similar to the Iron Monger/Iron Man confrontation from the previous movie. I mean, it's still cool but I was hoping for something a little different.

But still, I highly recommend this film. And not just because Coulson is still awesome. 4/5

And the scene at the very end of this one? Damned if it wasn't good.

Well, that clears the rest of the Avenger tie-ins. Next time, the main event itself.

Iron Man: Rage Against The Machines

(Please note: the following blog was originally posted on my old blog Why Yes I Am Quite Random, Why Do You Ask?, a blog I can no longer access for some unknown reason. This is being put at the start of each blog I'm uploading, in case anyone comes across the blog and accuses me of plagiarism. This is explained further in my introduction blog.

The following was originally posted on Thursday, November 17th, 2011 at 4:01 pm )

I wasn't going to do another comic book review so soon after X-Men: Second Coming but with this week being very busy in my work schedule, I've pushed my original plans back a bit and decided to once more dive into the comic realm with the few titles I've been reading when I've had the chance.

Today, the review is on Iron Man: War Of The Iron Men, collecting Iron Man Legacy #1-5 and the one-shot Iron Man: Titanium.

Since the one-shot has little if anything to do with the main story, I'll do a brief synopsis and review: in a story set before Civil War, Iron Man's locked in combat with a giant robot, which Tony says is reminiscent of a robot he has seen before, called Ultimo. During the fight, he's in communication with S.H.I.E.L.D's director, Maria Hill, about how to deal with the situation.

As a one-shot, it's good. The art is good, the characterization is true to what we know for Tony Stark and it could be seen as a tiny pre-cursor of things to come with Civil War (though obviously now it wouldn't matter so much, unless you haven't read it. If that is the case, you should do so, it's actually a pretty damn good story) with the idea of how far is too far when it comes to firepower and how do you measure success in the superhero world. It's not always going to be about being able to save life, limb and property and vanquishing the villain for good. Sometimes the best you can settle for is a low mortality rate, a couple houses gone and the supervillain running off to lick their wounds

But now, onto the main story: in the country of Transia, the Iron Man technology has been duplicated by persons unknown and being used in a civil war. Tony travels to Transia to track down the tyrants responsible, which leads him into conflict not just with Dr. Doom, Ivan Vanko and the Radioactive Man, but also the citizens of the country and the United States over the proper way of ending the bloodshed.

That's as far as I'll go for a synopsis, so as not to spoil. Written by Fred Van Lente and penciled by Steve Kurth, it's an enjoyable story. One of the biggest recurring themes of the Iron Man mythology is that of the Iron Man technology falling into the wrong hands or facing a rival version from one of Tony's enemies (usually, the Crimson Dynamo or the Titanium Man) and Tony questioning whether or not this is his doing for bringing Iron Man into the world. It's nicely handled here and Tony doesn't let himself fall into a guilt trip over it. Rather, he reacts much like we've come to expect: he gets a bit repulsor-happy and sets off to blast someone or something to smithereens until they give in. He retains his rapid-fire wit and never loses his cool, which is something I'm very glad the movies retain.

There's a real life parallel with Iron Man's interference overseas with that of the idea of Americans getting involved with struggles not related to them and people acting out on their own, often not thinking about how this reflects on the government's stance. But then, that's integral to Tony's character, with interpretations that he's just that altruistic (with great power comes great responsibility, y'know) or that it's more of an ego-stroker (quite valid, but who says it can't be both?)

Tony's supporting cast don't get very much to do, though, with Pepper actually in jail for a good portion of the story thanks to Tony's actions (since the government doesn't know the entire situation with the renegade Iron Men and assumes Tony's behind it in some way)

Finally, I just wanted to bring up one really damn good moment (slight spoiler): with his plans foiled, Dr. Doom says this to his royal biographer, in the calmest manner possible (Doom's nothing if not classy)”Plan number seven hundred and forty-six shall be tabled indefinitely. Make a note of it. I am moving on to plan seven hundred and forty-seven. Ready the Venom symbiote satellites.”

I just love how once his schemes go up in smoke, he just shrugs his shoulders and says “Well, that's one plan down, time to pull another one from up my sleeve”. Granted, he can still be prone to usual stock villain lines like “You'll rue this day!” or “One day, I will be victorious!” but to be fair, a lot of that is aimed towards his arch nemesis Reed Richards, so naturally it would get under his skin. But still, scenes like that paint why Doom is one of the best Marvel villains: he notes his failures, he moves on, and always has a contingency plan (in his case, his never-ending supply of Doombots and yes, one was present in this story.

So, all in all, a good story. Sorry for the short blog but I have a bit of catching up to do.