Marvel Fourth Batch

 "Thanks, I'm also a youth pastor"  Jimmy Woo in Ant Man and the Wasp.

                                                                        (Spoilers below)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

The third official Avengers film was perhaps the most anticipated MCU film to date.  At the end of the first Avengers films there was a quick glimpse of Thanos and he appeared in a few scenes of Guardians of the Galaxy as a figure to be feared.  The MCU has built nicely to this crescendo by using the six infinity stones as MacGuffins in several of the other films.  I have a hard time keeping track of which is which throughout the series though Infinity War does a pretty good job of keeping us in the know.

Narratively, the film has an enormous job as Thanos needs to obtain all six stones while interacting with and mostly defeating various Avengers and Guardians throughout the galaxy.  The Avengers are teamed up in interesting ways based on where they are located.  For example, Tony Stark and Doctor Strange, who have similar personalities interact with each other and then are joined by most of the Guardians team which makes for some hilarious dialogue with Peter Quill, who is nowhere near as smart as them but thinks he is.  Each team has goals, mostly involving protecting one of the stones that Thanos does not have. 

The Russo brothers and screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeeley (who had all directed and written the last two excellent Captain America films), take over from Joss Whedon and deliver a film with a scale as gigantic as the cast. The story is set in space, on several planets and ships, New York, Wakanda, and Scotland.  This helps sell the idea that the threat posed by Thanos is universal.

The opening of the film sets the grim tone picking up with a quick shot of Thanos’ ship attacking Thor’s from the end of Ragnarok, to a black screen of a call for help.  A long tracking shot establishes that Thor is already beaten up and Thanos is completely in charge.  With Thanos’ defeat of the Hulk (with the help of the Power Stone and his superior fighting skills) the Russo brothers establish just how scary this fellow is.  The deaths of Hemdale and Loki are both sad and leave a permanent imprint on Thor who has already lost so much and is helpless to stop it.  Hulk’s beating creates a lasting effect on him as well as Banner cannot summon him when he most needs it, although it is used to a comedic effect.

With this tone it is clear the Avengers are going to be lucky to win any battle.  The fight sequence in New York leaves an uncomfortable amount of destruction, though it seems much less for spectacle than in Age of Ultron.  The cinematography is much better than in Civil War and Winter Soldier which sometimes used sped up film.  Strange notably is in full command of his powers now whereas even at the end of his film I felt he had a lot to learn. 

The surprise ambush of Wanda and Vision in Scotland feels like one of the many references to Aliens in the film.  Lance Hendrickson’s character was attacked by the queen in much the same way and the sequence is uncomfortably intense. 

There are a lot of scenes in the film in which one Avenger is about to be killed to then only be saved by the surprise appearance of another in a portrait like shot with their theme.  Captain America gets one in the prior scene in which he comes out of the dark now with a beard.  During the Battle of Wakanda there are a few with the most notable being the arrival of Thor (comically standing next to Rocket and Groot).   

Oddly, even though I knew it was a two-part story, I did not try to guess the plot before seeing it and thus did not realize until the late into the Battle of Wakanda near the end that Thanos was likely to win this war.  When re-watching the film I realized Thanos is the protagonist of the story since the film focuses on him pursuing a goal and the many obstacles he has to go through to fulfill it and he gets a peaceful utopian moment at the end of the film.  Thanos’ principles are put to the test in a moving scene that the Russos manage to make work despite the surreal setting.  Thanos’ murder of Gamora is carefully staged to show that Gamora is willing to die to prevent, not help Thanos get the Soul Stone.  Of his two “adopted” daughters, Thanos clearly favors Gamora and has no problem torturing Nebula. 

Josh Brolin brings a lot of strength yet pathos to Thanos.  It is a performance modulated over two films as we see a smart, powerful character determined to accomplish his goal and willing to be as ruthless as possible but also doing it with a sense of purpose.  It is not easy to create a fully dimensional character from inside a large body and purple skin that is made up largely of special effects but Brolin pulls it off.  The other cast members all give their usual solid performances with two notable standouts.  Mark Ruffalo gets to play a new side of Banner who is dealing with a Hulk who is going through PTSD.  Ruffalo adds a comic tilt to it but there is a lot of anguish underneath.  Chris Hemsworth excels in a scene in which Thor he is processing all his recent losses but tries to laugh them off.  The scene manages to be both sad and funny when Thor delivers the line about his pain fueling his rage but it leads him to make a critical mistake at the end of the film.

The Wakanda scenes, coming so soon after Black Panther was released (I saw it only about a week before seeing this) were welcome.  The Battle of Wakanda provides the spectacle of two armies fighting in an open field that was well established in The Phantom Menace but bungled so badly by focusing on Jar Jar’s clumsy antics.  T’Challa does not have a lot of to do but his leadership plays a big role in defeating Thanos’ attacking army.

Steve Rogers and Natasha play small but pivotal roles but their main arcs are saved for the next film.  I expected Stark might die in this film especially as he leaves Earth while getting cut off from Pepper and the trip to Titan feels like a last stand.  When Tony was stabbed by Thanos, I figured it was the end but Strange gets him a stay of execution by turning over the Time Stone.

The final sequence in which people disappear is tragic as large numbers of people start randomly turning to ash.  The most impactful is when Peter Parker, who is still young, starts to fade and Tony, who has already seen almost everyone around him disappear has to react to it.  I did note that the original Avengers survived so expected that in the next film they would be the ones to save the day.  But in their biggest battle to date the Avengers lost and we had to wait for a full year to see how it was resolved.

I have some minor quibbles.  It seemed a little forced for Gamora and Quill to declare they love each other right after kissing for the first time.  However, the scene in which Quill is forced to try to kill her to protect the location of the Soul Stone is suspenseful and somewhat emotional.  Again, the direction and acting make a fanciful scenario (a big purple guy holding a green woman turns has her half human boyfriend’s lasers into bubbles on a planet called Knowhere) both suspenseful and emotional by its commitment to the character’s dilemma.  Thanos toys with Quill as Quill hesitates, knowing that he could leave with Gamora at any time.

Given their history there should be tension between Bruce Banner and General Ross but nothing is made of it when they are in the same scene, even though Banner is played by a different actor.  A brief awkward greeting between Bruce and Natasha is all that is allowed given their prior near romance in Age of Ultron.  The new creative team may not have thought much what was in Whedon’s film and it could be explained by the time that has passed though, a video of Natasha calmed Hulk down in Ragnorok indicating she is clearly on his mind.

Infinity War narratively compares to The Empire Strikes Back of this series and a must see.  ****

Ant Man and The Wasp (2018)

The second Ant Man film, which came out a couple of months after Infinity War, feels like a light chaser after the heavy themes of sacrifice and loss in Infinity War.  Returning director Peyton Reed and co- writer and star Paul Rudd build on the familial themes established in Ant Man and deliver an adventure about Scott, Hope and Hank rescuing Janet Pym, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, from the Quantum Realm, where she has been trapped for 30 years from which Scott Lang had previously escaped.  Hope Pym has a similar suit and is now the Wasp with all of the Ant Man suit technologies but with flight added.  Of course, their task is complicated by the dual goals of fleeing authorities and fighting off gangster attempts to steal the technology and a challenge from a powerful young woman who is caught between the Quantum Realm and the outside world.

The film expands the shrinking technology to include Pym’s lab and cars, which he carries in a match box.  This leads to a highly entertaining version of a San Francisco car chase in which the cars shrink as needed in the climax.  It is extremely well constructed, timed and edited though it leads to Scott’s and Hope’s powers seeming less special. 

Michael Douglas, my favorite actor, is again a joy to watch as the brilliant but grumpy Pym.  Pym’s lack of personal skills is especially evident in the scenes with Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster, Pym’s former partner (and the name of Douglas’ character in Falling Down).  Hank’s emotional reunion with Janet in the climax carries all the weight you would want in a couple that has been separated so long (though how long it felt for Janet may be debated based on the events of Endgame). 

The presence of the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer paired with Douglas led me to think of how many leading ladies Douglas and Harrison Ford have both acted with.  I can think of Anne Archer, Annette Bening, Kate Capshaw, Glenn Close and now Michelle Pfeiffer.  Rudd and Pfeiffer also did a film in 2007 called I Could Never Be Your Woman which focused on a younger man romancing a slightly older woman.

Rudd is again delightfully well-intentioned but a little naive in this film as Scott, a man who keeps his cheerful disposition despite spending most of his adult life in trouble with the law.  The sequence in which the film explains the consequences of Scott’s foolish actions in Civil War and how he spends the time in house arrest is very entertaining due to the song and Rudd’s commitment to the silliness.

The film has no conflict between Scott and his ex-wife and her husband played briefly by returning Judy Greer and Bobby Carnivale.  Since their approval of Scott had been based on his being out of trouble with the law, I found that interesting, although they probably still appreciated his efforts to save Cassie in the prior film.

Abby Ryder Fortson is once again adorable as Cassi and serves a motivator for Scott a moment when he most needs it at the end of the second act.

Randall Park is hilarious as Jimmy Wu, an FBI agent in charge of Scott’s case.  Wu provides entertaining exposition on Scott’s situation and brings a comic twist to the determined authority character.  The final scene between them that hints at a slight infatuation by Wu, which Rudd reacts to beautifully with an ironic and amused expression.  I do not know how much was of Wu was on the page versus Park’s input but I am happy to see Marvel used him again in Wandavision.

Before watched the film, I was curious as to how the film could co-exist with Infinity War.  During the first act I wondered if all of these people simply had not disappeared as a result of Thanos’ snap or if somehow the snap had not impacted people in San Francisco.  By the middle of the film I had forgotten all about it.  The answer as the shocking post credits scene shows, it is right before.

The expository dialogue in the opening flashback is delivered with such sincerity by Douglas it makes the clunky structure work. 

A few other random thoughts I have on the film include:

Evageline Lily’s hairdo is a big improvement from her bob look in Ant Man.

The film shows the results of what I thought was an overly impulsive decision of Scott to go to Germany and fight on Captain America’s side

The sequence in the school is fun, along with Hank’s closing line.

I usually do not like it when sequels break up a couple that had just gotten together at the end by a first film and then spend the film bringing them back together.  However, by using the battle from Civil War it does not feel as contrived.

Scott can sometimes seem like an idiot, but I think this comes down to two things.  He is a normal fellow who is a little irresponsible, but is out of his depth with the deep scientific knowledge necessary to understand Quantum physics as are most non-scientists.  But the scene in which Rudd “plays” Janet is funny and a little tender.  Rudd also knows just how to play off someone saying something comical.  He underplays his lines but his eyes are alert so he is just fueling the moment.  The final exchange between Woo and Scott is brilliantly written and performed by both actors.

There is only one seen of Michael Pena’s Luis’ high speed exposition but it is a doozy, with Evangeline Lilly getting to do some lip syncing this time.

Peyton Reed has a comedic director’s sense of timing and knows just when to cut out of a scene. 

Once again Ant Man delivers the goods and also shows us a little more of the mysterious Quantum Realm.  I look forward to the next one.  ****