This week, we have guest blogger Jamie Burton from Board of Dice. Jamie has graciously loaned me his words for a great new post. Show him some love.
Thought on the MCU so far.
This past weekend I watched (well, re-watched) all of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe up to this point in preparation for Captain America Civil War.
Starting from the very beginning with Iron Man, it was refreshing to take a look at how the films have grown since Nick Fury showed up in Tony’s house to tell him about the Avengers initiative.
The first few were super hero-y, to put it in a word. Yes, technically all of them are, but it was Captain America: The First Avenger that really broke that mould. It was a WW2 movie first, and a super hero origin second. It used a lot of tropes of the genre, from the general grittiness of the visual to the marching montages.
And then Avengers came around and really changed everything. Many more qualified people have spent hours analysing and talking about exactly why Avengers is “really that good” so I won’t go into many details. Suffice it to say, the MCU might have technically began with Iron Man, but it really began with The Avengers.
Given that I have just rewatched these films in order in a short period of time, I’d like to give my opinion on the “Best to Worst” as well as a brief line about what I think of the movie. So, without further adieu:
Jamie’s List of MCU Movies, Best to Worst
2. Guardians of the Galaxy - It is difficult not to place this one at the top, and only loses out to Avengers due to what that one started. Guardians has an amazing sense of humour, and the five main characters have an insane level of chemistry. The “12 per cent of a plan” scene in particular has what I consider to be the best extended dialogue scene in the MCU.
3. Iron Man 3 - Take Tony Stark, remove him from his OP suit for most of the movie and give him real, genuine problems to deal with. This, plus the humour and fanservice orgasm ending, makes for a great film. It’s a buddy cop film on steroids. And, while it pissed a lot of people off, I enjoyed the hell out of the Mandarin fake out.
4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier - The movie in particular suffers from the biggest “Why not just call in X” of the franchise, but while watching you hardly have a chance to notice. It’s a Bourne-style spy movie with Cap, where you get to see him adjust to a new style of combat and war.
5. Ant-Man - The one that wasn’t supposed to be good. How could it be? It’s such a crazy concept! But it pulled it off, partly by not taking itself seriously. It does have a more super hero-y vibe to it, but at its heart, it’s a heist movie. Doesn’t hurt that it is funny, too. I do wish we could have seen the Edgar Wright version, however.
6. Avengers: Age of Ultron - Hawkeye kills this movie. He was overlooked the first time around, but they made it up to him in spades here. Ultron himself is the best Dr. Doom on the big screen, as well, not that he had much competition. I like the way it was able to introduce side characters into the big picture without things getting too crowded. All in all, it is just a damn good time. Language!
7. Captain America: The First Avenger - Number seven was a toss up between this and the next, but I feel as though Cap is a better movie for many of the reasons stated above.
8. Iron Man - Tony’s first adventure did a lot of things right, and it is hard to find a lot of faults. It isn’t this far down the list for being bad, just that the others I enjoy more after watching them all back to back. That said, it does get mad props for getting all of this going.
9. Thor - There are going to be a few movies on here that I refer to as “half-good” in that half of the movie is good, and Thor is the first to fill that slot. I like Asgard, and the look into that side of things, but Thor on Earth is kind of dull. This one, at least, gave him more reason to be here.
10. Thor 2 - This one, on the other hand, is made worse for every scene that takes place on Earth. What could have been a fun romp through the other realms instead took too much of it’s run time to focus on Jane Foster. The villains weren’t anything special, either. But the parts that do take place in Asgard are fantastic. Heimdall steals the show on this one, but there’s a special place in my heart for Lady Sif and the Warriors Three.
11. Incredible Hulk - This is the defining “half-good” MCU movie, where the line is split at the halfway part of the movie. The opening in Brazil might just be the best Hulk-out in the MCU so far, and the one on the university campus is great too. Too bad the movie slows down after that and never really recovers. The ending fight in Harlem just feels like a chore to watch now.
12. Iron Man 2 - Why Whiplash? This is an example of one character bringing down an entire film. IM2 had a lot of good ideas. Don Cheadle is a better Rhodes, Tony’s drinking while dying is a great plot point. Justin Hammer is cringe, but it makes him a great opposite to Tony. Black Widow’s debut is awesome, and probably the only time you see hr actually being a spy. But the overall feel is brought down by a weak motivated villain (while the villain with better motivations is pushed to the sidelines) and what I’m assuming was a lot of producer interference. IM2 is an Avengers trailer, and while that was the shit before Avengers came out, upon rewatch, I didn’t enjoy it any more. That said, I did enjoy drunk Tony, in the suit, being a total idiot at his birthday party more this time around. At least Iron Man 3 was able to pick up a lot of the slack and deliver a better movie.
There we have it, my complete list as of right now. Some may swap positions before I even hit post, so they aren’t set in stone. The MCU has been a pleasure to watch unfold, and I look forward to what is to come. Civil War opens on Friday (in North America), and I am eagerly awaiting is. Where will it place on the list? Who knows!
Follow Jamie on Twitter @TheJamesBurton
Follow Jamie on Twitter @TheJamesBurton
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