Good heavens! I guess I really dropped the ball on posting to this site lately. I've been pretty busy over at my other blog, though, as I've been listening to more and more music. Still, I have been getting to a few films this year, and I plan on talking about a few more before the end of the month.
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So, after a considerable theatrical hiatus, the MCU finally returns with a film that may not really feel like a Phase 4 starter so much as a displaced Phase 3 filler with Black Widow. While I suppose there are a few implications for future Marvel films, it's mainly a stand-alone feature designed to provide more of the title character's origin and be a solid send off for Scarlett Johansson, resulting in a decent action film that doesn't really raise the bar for MCU.
To break it down, it's a lot like Winter Solider, with Black Widow's past and present merging together for a story about how the spy training center she started called the Red Room is still active. So she gets back in touch with her former Russian fake-family spies that were once part of a sleeper mission in the US in the mid 90s before they had to leave and return to the Soviet Union. From there, it follows a lot of familiar beats from most other MCU films: heroes fight each other for a bit, there's some chase scenes, a few awkward jokes, and an explosive finally that ruins an enemy base (but it's a flying one this time!). The "my family is broken" melodrama gets laid pretty thick, and the story wants to try and throw a few plot twists, but does so pretty clumsily, as they mainly serve to shift the tension like a roller coaster, rather than be any kind of enlightening reveal.
For what it's worth, it's not a bad film, especially with David Harbour really selling his Old Communist Dad Hero persona (probably in an effort to get into a good superhero movie, for once). Mrs. Johansson isn't too bad herself, but one wonders if she isn't a little tired this time around. Overall, a decent summer MCU popcorn action-comedy romp that does just enough to not feel stale. A bit like some nice, warm leftovers from a Thanksgiving dinner.
After a year or so of delays, we finally got to see the latest in Bond's escapades, this one being the 25th film overall, and Daniel Craig's 5th. What we get is an interesting mess of a movie, but I suppose the Bond films have always struggled in one form or another. However, by the end, I definitely felt that this was the end of an era, as Craig's version of the character has really gone about as far as it can go.
As expected with this era of Bond, the story picks up kind of where Spectre ended, with Bond enjoying some downtime with the girl he walked away with on the bridge, Madeleine. However, when their pasts comes back to haunt them, causing Bond to think he was betrayed, he literally puts her on a train and disappears. Five years pass, and Bond is enjoying a vacation when Felix Leiter of the CIA suddenly shows up with a new concern regarding a DNA-based artificial disease that Spectre had been developing in the background. From there, Bond jets around the world, hitting Cuba, Norway, London (of course), and an obscure, contested island on the Japan/Russian border. And of course, Madeleine is involved, as well as the last movie's villain, Blofeld, though in more of a supporting role.
While Spectre felt maybe a little underwhelming by keeping things relatively simple and straight-forward, this movie almost feels like it's trying to do too much. We don't even really see the main villain show up until half-way through, nearly showing up out of the blue. I also felt the pacing was pretty clunky. Some parts, such as the scenes in Cuba, blow by so quickly it can be hard to keep track of what is going on and why. However, the movie also takes its time to establish Bond's emotional stakes with slower scenes that maybe drag a little too much. This is easily the most romantic a Bond film has ever been. Much of these concerns mostly disappear, though, as the final act seems to bring the different parts together in a decent way, and you see Bond (with some help) infiltrate the villains base with a good mix of stealth, action, and endurance.
While Spectre had a pretty classic vibe, making me think of the Moore-era films at times, this one feels more like a Brosnan-era film, with the more nuanced acting from Craig, a greater sense of stealth-action, and some contemporary political intrigue in there for good measure. Overall, it's a fun film, and certainly tries to bring Craig's era to a dramatic close, but I don't think that it's as good as Casino Royale or Skyfall. Still, it will be interesting to see where the Bond franchise goes from here.
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If you're thinking this one is out of order, that's because it is. I saw this one before Shang-Chi (though I will get to it in the next article). That being said, I doubt I'm really missing much by taking these slightly out of order. To be honest, this one is probably the most skippable Marvel film in quite a while.
Eternals is another jaunt into the cosmic side of the MCU, focusing on a handful of the titular alien superheroes who have been sent to Earth to deal with the Deviants, and nothing else (thus explaining their absence over the past several films). However, as they begin to integrate with humanity, they discover that there is more to this people than meets the eye. Then, when one of them is killed and their entire understanding of who they are gets up-ended, they are forced to grapple with who they are and what they choose to do, regarding the fate of the human race.
Unfortunately, the movie doesn't quite handle all of this very well. Part of the problem is the ensemble cast. While they aren't terrible, they really aren't given a lot of screen time, resulting in some thin characters that imply more depth, but never really get there. The attempt at an epic philosophical melodrama is there, but when paired with the standard Marvel stuff, like action scenes and character-driven humor, it can't quite put the pieces together, resulting in a clunky pace and some exposition-heavy dialogue just to make sense of the thing.
I will say I did like some of the scenes, and the movie does have some great special effects. I really quite like the main character's aesthetics, with the circle-heavy effects on their powers, really giving a divine, mathematical vibe. The Deviants are also well designed, looking quite feral and powerful, until they evolve and start complicating the plot in bad ways. However, I don't think this one will be remembered well in the long run, though the teases for the future do have some interesting implications.
For what it's worth, I have seen Dune, and will get to that as well in the next article. I wasn't sure how many movies I was going to see this year, but I guess I ended up catching a handful. I don't think I'll be doing a Top 5 again, this year, but I'll probably still do an Anticipated list. We'll have to see. In the meantime, I need to get back on the ball for writing articles for this place!
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