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Where is your review of IM3?
I just....I dunno.
I remember last year, being just about the only one explaining how The Avengers was really not that great, and how basically all of the Marvel movies have been decent at best, so now that suddenly everyone's switching teams...I just pulled back from making a big *** Told You So review.
It was what it was, which is a regular Marvel movie. They really are, all the same. Just different flavors. And they're all more or less the same stretch between being too upbeat and popcorn for it's own good, and having just enough really good, grounded ideas, that you can feel the better movie it wanted to be, always. Half a step or so up from a Transformers thing, with a few, great, disconnected moments scattered around.
That's about it.
I don't know what people expected. There will never be a Marvel TDK, because that's not the type of movie they ever want to make.
They do darkness with the floodlights on. *shrug*
Let your anger flow.
I see your point, and I know what you've been saying, but I thought Avengers at least was a step above this type film. Cap and IM2 didn't have much darkness, but Thor had a little in it, and IM 1 and Hulk certainly had a smidge, but I agree with your darkness/floodlight analogy. Wholeheartedly.
Is that Disney? Or just a lack of Nolan on Marvel's side? Because we know Bats was, and Supes appears to be on that same plane, is that the Nolan effect, or are DC comics just that much darker than Marvel comics?
I think it's just the fact that Iron Man set the foundation in 08. Ever since then, every one of these has been in that mold of punchlines and PG pretending to be adult and make sure they all feel like it's the same world and setting up for some...thing in the future.
You can't do that. Look at LOTR: The Two Towers. The first half of that movie is trash. Almost everything outside of Iron Man has been like that first half of Two Towers. They've been been leaning on hype and hope and anticipation for the future. And when you do that, by default, you're kinda saying **** the present and the past. Look past all the issues, cuz something is coming. That's what Lost did for half a decade. With these Marvel movies, that was been The Avengers. It was okay if none of them were as good as the first Iron Man, because those after credits scenes were what it's really all about.
They didn't waste Red Skull or undermine the film. He's in the present now, so Avengers....The Earth stuff with Thor wasn't stupid. He ran into SHIELD, so Avengers....Incredible Hulk doesn't exist anymore? Doesn't matter. Avengers....Iron Man 2 was terrible? It's okay...Black Widow and Nick Fury--Avengers.
When they hired Kenneth Branagh and instead of a Shakespearean tragedy, it was that...that's was a sign. Even The Avengers was a lot more upbeat and soft than I would've expect from Joss Whedon. I mean, it's the most cheery, bubblegum thing, outside of Dr. Horrible, that he's done. and he did get his moments in, but there's just that layer of genericness. When it came out, I just thought of Avengers as a not terrible Transformers 3. Cuz that's what their aim is. And I'll admit...I almost talked myself into thinking...okay...Shane Black...that's a dark director. Maybe he'll get the training wheels off. But not really. He got more body bags than we're used to, but in the very first scene, I knew...okay, this is still the Marvel way.
I can't say it's Disney, because all of them were like this. All of them want to sell to kids, women and grandparents. So all of them are basically PG movies, that get worried when they go too long without a joke or get a little too PG-13.
I think it's Spider-man. This is how Spidey did things, and that was the last successful comic book franchise, before Marvel's stuff started. *mind you TDK hadn't come out when they got the ball rolling in 06* But Sam Raimi is a master at keeping that balance. Shemping. And even he only managed it for 2 movies. And he didn't have to sell out villains and plotlines and stakes until the 3rd movie. That's what's really killing the Marvel films. Iron Man 3 wasn't the end of anything. It was just another Iron Man flick until the next thing he's in. Every Marvel movie has sold out except for the first Iron Man...I guess you could make a case for Captain America, even though the ending undermines the movie almost as much as recasting Banner killed Incredible Hulk.
The worst thing that happened to these Marvel movies is the Avengers Initiative. I have no doubt that left to his own devices, Kenneth Branagh could've made a really special Thor film. The Asgard stuff was really good for what it was. It's just the Earth/SHIELD/Hawkeye stuff that forced in, that was trash. Iron Man 2 might've been something, if you didn't KNOW they were holding back the real bad guy for IM3. And if they didn't shove in the Black Widow and Nick Fury stuff. And if they didn't have to hold back on Tony going full alchy cuz they needed him right for Avengers. Incredible Hulk just proved that they had no plans at all for it, except that they just wanted the character out there to use in the big teamup.
And because of the big teamup cemented for 2012, all of these movies had to get squeezed out right on time, no matter what.
I'm not saying they're really bad...except Iron Man 2. I'm just saying, this is why I haven't really cared much about all of these since I finished watching Thor. That's it? That's it. That's all they really wanna do. And maybe, just maybe they'll breakthrough somewhere and rise above. But I really doubt it.
They're good. That's all. Chris Nolan was an artist with a blank check, free reign and a huge character with an amazing past and rogue's gallery. These guys are all mercs told to paint inside the lines, so it'll be easier for the next guy to pick up where they left off. I think it just seems like they're doing big things, because DC and Warner's are so terrible and there's nothing else really to compare this thing to.
If TDKR hit how it was supposed to hit, it wouldn't even be a conversation. If there was any other game in town, it'd be easier to put these down. But there isn't. This entire Marvel Universe thing happened between TDK and TDKR, so they got to be the only comic book movies coming out for half a decade.. If your computer's not that great, but it's the only one you've got...and you're never around better ones, then it ain't so bad.
Just realized I wrote a lot and didn't even start to review IM3.
I'll put it like this...these are just better, classier Michael Bay movies, that are well casted, but forever handicapped. And Iron Man 3 was a big opportunity to break out of that mold, but nope. They are who I thought they were. And that's perfectly fine, but real regular to me.
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