Fantastic Four First Steps: Worse Than The Trank Version?

The Fantastic Four take their first steps into the MCU but it is more like a crawl.

Of the great war between Marvel and DC this summer I would say that even though both sides produced bad offerings, this was the losing side. By the skin of their teeth Superman won.

Whilst Superman has elements that are straight up bad, yes I am looking at you Jor-El, the Fantastic Four feels boring and badly paced. The first act which features a lot of family time placed in the film to establish who the Fantastic Four are, feels like filler as the film is trying to stretch out time before Galactus, Ralph Ineson, and Shalla-Ball, Julia Garner, show up. During this opening act we don’t get much focus on the groups origins beyond a few lines of dialogue and a demonstration of each’s power, the film assumes you know who they are and know the story, which goes against Feige’s claim of it not being homework. The montage tv style way the film opens is jarring and a bad creative choice as well.

This is not to do with the opening act but a broader concern, the Sixties aesthetic, quickly becomes irritating over the course of the film, the time period itself plays in very little it is purely an aesthetic choice, especially as the Fantastic Four themselves have advanced tech. If that level of shallow period choice appeals to you then you may enjoy this yet.

As for the characters, I was wrong, Joesph Quinn is a good Johnny, he is not the ladies man that Chris Evans was two decades ago, but he is still charming and fun, and Ben, Eben Moss-Bachrach is the heart of the film. You have to separate the fact that Moss-Bachrach hates Israel, yes I know he has Jewish roots, particularly when Ben’s Judaism is a big part of the character. Ineson as ever is a giant cast in a small role, he manages to make Galactus menacing and threatening in the way he should always have been presented. Then you get to Shalla-Ball, they said there was no issue with her being Galactus’ Herald over Norrin Radd as there was a comics history of it, however, they rewrite her entire comics origins so that doesn’t hold much weight. She also has a Rose Tico moment wherein she takes away from Johnny’s heroic sacrifice. However, that aside the character does feel more human and grow on you over the course of the film and has far more range emotionally than Sue, Vanessa Kirby, but we are getting there. Reed, Pedro Pascal, is a shell of former incarnations, he is shown as an anxious geek, who would rather cry than take charge. At no point does Reed lead the team and any claim to the contrary is just a lie. Sue is by far and away the worst character in the film for several reasons, firstly you have the fact that she is simply characterised as a mother and from the moment she is pregnant that is what defines her, this is one dimensional. Secondly you have her personality, which whilst in keeping with pregnant women, she is hormonal, just comes across as though she is in a constant state of Greta Thunberg levels of how dare you. She is a girl boss and is actively abusive towards her family, there is a scene in which she says to Reed him being himself is a problem. If you or anyone you know is in a relationship where one partner says to the other that them being themselves is the problem and that they have to be something else then they need to leave that relationship. There is also no chemistry at all between Kibry and Pascal

Moreover, the birthing scene and no I am not talking about when Sue gives birth to Franklin but rather the final fight with Galactus wherein Sue manages to defeat him by herself whilst making pregnancy noises, not only is this an I am woman here me roar girl boss moment, as the male characters are all effectively useless, but also incredibly cringe.

Two final points to hit home before we tie this up. The CGI on baby Franklin, is noticeably bad and distracting and secondly this film does not tie into the MCU in any meaningful way, there are moments wherein you go ah this is where they are going to show up in the MCU but no. They do not enter into the MCU at any point. Moreover, the post credits scene is a jangling keys moment wherein Doctor Doom, Robert Downey Jr, takes baby Franklin. It is not an epic moment but rather a short scene of Sue reacting, there is no dialogue from Doom, the costume doesn’t look great, and there is no broader implications imparted. Fans of the comics will know that Doom is going to use Franklin in the same way he used Owen Reece in Hickman’s run however normies will be left going who’s that and why is he taking the baby.

Overall, as I sit here and write this I begin to see more and more flaws with the film.

1.5/5

Pros.

Ben and Johnny are charming

Shalla-Ball grows on you and Galactus is cool

Cons.

The style and aesthetic is hollow

Sue is one dimensional and abusive

Reed is weak and barely has anything to do

The post credits scene is a letdown, and does not build hype for Doomsday

The film does not bring the FF into the MCU

The CGI is quite bad in places

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Thunderbolts: The Future Of The MCU

Summary

The New Avengers are formed.

So going into this film I expected it to be bad, I had heard things about the film I did not like beforehand and I thought it would be on the same level as Brave New World.

However, after watching it I found it to be quite a delightful film with a similar feel to the Guardians films. Would I say something so dumb as to say the MCU is back? No because one good film does not fix the countless other problems the franchises is currently facing.

A lot of the reviews mention mental health and how deep this film is, well for me this is mixed. One the one hand the way the film treats Bob/Sentries, Lewis Pullman, mental health with him having a split personality as a superhero was well done, as was the depiction of domestic abuse we see when we see his childhood it was much better done than in Moon Knight for example. However, on the other hand, the film is not all that deep in its commentary on mental health, as Yelena’s, Florence Pugh, journey of needing to atone for what she has done was never fully explored beyond just being a loneliness issue. Moreover, there is a sequence near the end of the film wherein the whole team goes into the Void, the evil form of Sentry’s mind, and we don’t explore the trauma of the other team members. I think it would have been worth the time to have looked into Walker’s, Wyatt Russell, trauma of losing his wife and kids a bit more as it would have helped round the character, but alas it was a missed opportunity.

Outside of mental health talk I think the film does a lot to balance the heroic and the goofy, with each character having both. Red Guardian, David Harbour, is often the comedic relief but the film also gives him a number of great fatherly speeches wherein you can see how much he cares about Yelena and he risks his life constantly to help her. Walker too has a number of heroic moments such as shielding the team from bullets during the Limo escape scene. This is important as the MCU wants you to hate Walker after the events of Falcon and the Winter Soldier but this film does a lot to show him as a hero and to show he is not a villain. If the film was being reductive and simply wanted to show a lot of the male characters as sad pathetic losers for you to laugh at, as some have said, then they would not give them moments like this.

I would argue that Pugh is probably the least served member of the cast as whilst she is the focal point of the film, she is not really centre focus, with that being Bob, Bucky, Sebastian Stan, and the broader ensemble. Whilst I liked the father daughter scenes with Pugh’s character I thought how the film depicted her depression just felt like a cliché and had little depth to it. The scenes in which they talk about her first test are similarly repetitive rather than really pushing anything forward. I wouldn’t say any of this was due to Pugh’s performance rather the material she has been given.

This film shames Brave New World in that it takes its empathy ending and actually does it well. So for those of you who don’t know at the ending of Brave New World Falcon, Anthony Mackie, talks down Red Hulk, Harrison Ford, and defeats him through empathy and by appealing to the side of him that loves his daughter. This was terrible and makes little sense in the film, whereas here it makes sense why they need to go into the Void to get Bob back, they cannot beat Sentry in a fight, they try and get beaten, the only way they can win is to go into Bob’s mind and help him with his trauma, narratively it makes sense and works.

My main criticism of the film would be Val, Julia Louis Dreyfus, who is playing a cartoonish villain. She is being impeached and yet she thinks sending all her mercenaries to fight each other and then destroying bases linked to her doesn’t make her look evil, then you have how she treats her assistant and uses people. For a film about nuance she is not given anyway. Also the Trump or perhaps Tulsi Gabbard comparisons are incredibly on the nose and irritating.

Overall, a good Marvel film that feels like something you would have got pre-Endgame. Whilst not perfect it is a welcome step in the right direction.

4/5

Pros.

The tone

How it deals with Bob and his personalities

The team and the team dynamics

How it sets up things for later in the MCU

Cons.

Walker and Yelena could have done with more depth

Val is a horrible character and really should be written off at the earliest opportunity

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The Desperate Doctor Doom Debacle

Written by Luke Barnes

In this cinema issues article we are talking about the reveal of Doctor Doom in the MCU and the casting news.

So as we all know Robert Downey Jr. is back in the MCU playing Doctor Doom. This news has divided a lot of people, for me personally I am mixed to trepidatious on it. However, before we go any further I just want to address the milk toast folks that go ‘oh MCU fans are toxic they are judging something before they have even seen it’, as their brains slowly trickle down their backs. The whole point of casting reveals is to generate buzz and attention be that good or bad, the whole point is to get people talking so by going oh you’re toxic for talking about it negatively, even your big daddies over at Disney would tell you to shut up.

That said let’s get into it.

I think the biggest issue with the casting is that it ruins Tony Stark’s sacrifice in Endgame and yes I know it won’t be the actual Tony Stark but rather a variant Doom/Iron Man Hybrid. However, to a lay audience they will just go ‘oh look it is Iron Man’ I thought he was dead, and so it will mean people will be both confused and then asking why is he a villain and killing his friends, to a basic understander of the franchise it could almost ruin the character entirely. Though I imagine Marvel Studios will go to great lengths to show how he is not Tony Stark, we may never even see Downey Jr’s face.

From that you have the fact that this Doom will not be the Victor Von Doom that people want, it is a Tony Stark variant, meaning that the actual peasant to ruler Doom may never appear in the MCU. This then means that a character a lot of people were looking forward to has been abandoned for the cynical ploy of getting Downey Jr back. Also it means that the Fantastic Four will have a different origin story as if this variant is from their universe it will be that their Tony Stark went bad, rather than Von Doom existing as a contemporary and even friend in the early days to the Baxter clan.

Personally, I think the best thing that could happen would be that the Tony Stark variant either never takes his mask off and is in fact not a variant and it is Downey Jr playing Von Doom, or that the actual real Von Doom usurps power from the Stark variant at the end of Doomsday and then becomes God Emperor Doom going into Secret Wars.

Ultimately, whilst it is nice to have Downey Jr back, the cynical ploy could add to the MCU’s woes in the long term.

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Iron Man: The One That Started It All

Iron Man is a Marvel Comics superhero film directed by Jon Favreau. The plot sees billionaire weapons dealer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), get captured by terrorists who use his weapons. This leads Stark to rethink his business model, it also leads to him becoming the superhero known as Iron Man.

This is were it all began, this was the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and likely without it, said universe might not have happened at all. This film was responsible for setting up one of the most complex characters in Marvel’s shared universe as well as for setting the tone for future adventures.

Personally, I enjoy that this and other early MCU films, pre full Disney, had more of rough around the edge’s kind of charm. A bit more adult and far less of the incredibly safe content that would come later.

Downey Jr. gives the performance of his life, resurrecting both his career as well as the character of Iron Man who had fallen out of mainstream popularity long ago. The life and energy that Downey Jr. brings to the role is truly extraordinary and would very hard to replicate with a different actor.

Overall, a very enjoyable film, the best Marvel film to some, and in my top 10 for sure.

Pros.

Establishing the world

Robert Downey Jr’s performance

The humour

The rough around the edges feel of it

Cons.

A weak forgettable villain

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Captain America Civil War: The World’s Most Bloodless War

Captain America: Civil War is a superhero film in the MCU directed by Joe and Anthony Russo. The plot sees the Avengers become torn as the US government wants to bring in new legislation that will force heroes to register with them and be subject to government oversight. So, rather than move to a different country that didn’t have said legislation, the superheroes get angry at one another and have a fight.

I think this is probably the worst of the three Captain America films, mainly because he is side-lined in favour of an ensemble and this is basically just an Avengers films. Many people have a soft spot for this film as it was the first film to introduce Spiderman (Tom Holland), to the MCU, but upon rewatching said introduction feels gimmicky.

Baron Zemo (Daniel Bruhl), is one of the weakest villains in the MCU, yes he has strong motivation, but his character is ignored for the most part in favour of superheroes battling in the street, so he feels underdeveloped. It is an interesting twist to see a villain’s plan work, before Infinity War obviously, that helped the film to feel fresh.

My main issue with this film is how bloodless it is. It is called Civil War, my question to you is it a war if no one dies? I know they like to play it safe but come on, you couldn’t even kill off one of the pointless side characters, to make matters worse they tease a death with War Machine (Don Cheadle), and then don’t follow through.

Overall, more spectacle than substance, a bloodless waste of a potentially good Captain America film.

Pros.

Watching the superheroes fight is cool for 10 minutes

It introduces some fun new characters

Cons.

No one dies

The villain is forgotten about and barely used

It is dumb, so very dumb

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Avengers Infinty War

There will be mild spoilers here so if you want to go into the film fresh, watch it then come back and read this.

Avengers Infinity War is the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Focusing on the heroes as they try and stop Thanos, (Josh Brolin), in his quest for the Infinity Stones. I’m first going to talk about my issues with the film then get into the positives later. The film begins straight after Thor Ragnarok then cuts to the invasion of New York. During which sequence we get an incredibly needless scene with Peter Potts, (Gwyneth Paltrow) which feels incredibly out of place; with the beginning as a whole feeling poorly paced. Furthermore, the villains of the film are woefully underdeveloped with the Black Order being a prime example of this; the only interesting member is Ebony Maw but, even he is barely on screen. The main villain Thanos, (Josh Brolin) seems far too overpowered during the film, making the Avengers efforts to beat him seem pointless: as he is more powerful than them in every way; thereby making certain plot lines redundant. An example of this is Thor’s arc, focusing on Thor, (Chris Hemsworth) forging a new weapon to kill Thanos. This plot line is bad for two reasons: the first is that it ignores the plot of Thor Ragnarok, with him no longer needing a weapon to harness the Oden Force as it’s within him. The other issue is that it’s pointless, the audience knows that Thanos is collecting the infinity stones, which could easily undo any damage done to him by an axe, even if it is magical, so the whole plotline feels like a waste of time. As for the positives of the film, it is incredibly well shot: with the Edinburgh fight scene being superbly shot. The visuals are stunning throughout, with a lot of varied worlds that all look satisfyingly unique. The characters are all treated very well with plot arcs from various films being tied up nicely here. The most satisfying of which is probably Tony Stark’s, as he realises that this is the fight he’s been worrying about ever since Age of Ultron. Robert Downey Jr, (Tony Stark/ Iron Man) sells the emotional delivery especially towards the end of the third act. The interplay between the characters feels genuinely real and, will be a delight for fans of the MCU. The ending is outstanding being the best of any Marvel film, as it hits with raw emotion that it is guaranteed to leave an impact being simply game changing. There is a post-credits scene at the end of the film which dramatically ups the ante for the next instalment. Overall a very solid Marvel film, most likely one that will soon be in everyone’s top 5.
4/5
Reviewed by Luke