My Thoughts On The Lions

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Post-Endgame Marvel Rankings

Now that Marvel has wrapped up the first chapter of the MCU it's time for a rankings update. I've also been slowly working through the movies with my wife (it's interesting to watch them again with someone who's only seen some of the movies once) so I'm getting a chance to revise my opinions of these movies in light of later events. This will be a work in process because it's going to take a while to comment on each and I'm not finished rewatching the movies. I'm also leaving the previous rankings below for reference.

Post-Raganarok rankings:

1a.Captain America: Civil War
1b. Guardians of the Galaxy
1c. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
1d. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
5. Avengers
6. Iron Man
7. Thor: Ragnarok
8. Doctor Strange
9. Iron Man 3
10. Spider-Man: Homecoming
11. Avengers: Age of Ultron
12. Thor
13. Captain America: The First Avenger
14. Ant-Man
15. Iron Man 2
16. Thor: The Dark World
17. The Incredible Hulk

Post-Endgame:
1. Avengers: Endgame
It seems almost unfair to rank this #1 because it relies so heavily on the previous movies, it's kind of like saying the season finale of your favorite show is the best episode when it only works because of all the groundwork laid by the previous episodes. Still, it has the best moments of any of the films, the most emotion, and pulls off an impossible task almost flawlessly so I think it has to be at the top.

2. Avengers: Infinity War 
This is a bit like Endgame in that it depends on the previous movies heavily, but that's a common theme from Avengers on. The movie moves at breakneck speed and seamlessly blends characters from different movies together (Thor and Rocket being the big surprise there). Thanos is the most compelling villain produced by the MCU. And, of course, there's that ending.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
This is the best of the solo (yeah, I know Black Widow and Falcon are in it) movies. I love the techno-thriller vibe and the reveal of HYDRA and the Winter Soldier's identity. The action is excellent. Chris Evans continued to show why he was perfectly cast as Steve Rogers. Falcon is also great in this, Mackie took a character I didn't particularly like in the comics and made him one I love onscreen.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy
"So, basically he's an idiot?"  Not a quote from this movie but it's going to be hard not to think of it whenever I watch it again. This group of characters wasn't even together in the comics until the same year Iron Man came out. It should have been too ridiculous for the screen but instead it was awesome. It raised the bar for humor in the MCU, for good and ill, and it's approach sent ripples through the MCU and beyond. And who would've suspected the most versatile character introduced in the film would be a raccoon?

5. Captain America: Civil War
Heroes fighting heroes is so common in the comics it's a cliche but it was new for the MCU.  It's also a little hard on the fans because while the airport battle is excellent the final fight between Cap and Iron Man is intense and somewhat traumatic. As with Winter Soldier, I like the mores serious espionage-flavored vibe of the movie and how it makes good use of the events of Age of Ultron. It also seamlessly introduces Spider-Man and Black Panther and makes great use of both which seems to me to be an underrated accomplishment. I do find it slightly annoying that the heroes refuse to stand up for themselves when blamed for the things that have happened on their watch, even if some of that is keeping with the character development of Stark.

X. Thor: Ragnarok

X. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

5. Avengers

6. Iron Man

X. Doctor Strange
Having recently watched this again I forgot just how good it is. The story manages to feel different than Iron Man despite the similarities in origins between the two characters. With it being an origin story the villain doesn't get a lot of time but he strikes me as being one of the more reasonable and sympathetic of the Marvel villains, he really does think he's saving the world. The inversion of the standard final epic battle is an enjoyable departure from the norm. I was surprised by how much I liked the Ancient One and Wong is one of my favorite MCU supporting characters.

10. Spider-Man: Homecoming

X. Avengers: Age of Ultron
There is a lot of good in this movie: Ultron and his army (especially his first appearance, wonderfully creepy), the Hulkbuster armor, the party scene, Vision, and Hawkeye getting to really do something and have a bit of the spotlight ("No one would ever know..."). There's also a lot of questionable stuff: Hawkeye's family, the Banner-Romanov romance, the weirdly confusing birth of Ultron, the dodgy special effects in the first scene, and the logically questionable way they kill off Quicksilver. It really feels like Whedon needed someone to reign him in, but I think that's always been a bit of a problem for him as a director. The final result is uneven and makes me feel like they wasted potential opportunities.

X. Black Panther

X. Ant-Man and the Wasp

12. Thor

13. Captain America: The First Avenger

14. Ant-Man

15. Iron Man 2

X. Iron Man 3

20. Thor: The Dark World
The second Thor movie isn't exactly bad, it just is lacking any truly memorable or cool moments. Marvel was shifting towards more humor here but a lot of it wasn't well done and some of it was pretty lame, like basically everything with Darcy in it. Malekith is flat and uninteresting. The plot doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense (is Asgard in space or another dimension?). Thor's supporting cast is largely wasted, except for Loki who was already so popular he was basically a co-star. It's hard to believe this was written by the same guys that wrote Winter Soldier, Civil War, Infinity War, and Endgame.

21. The Incredible Hulk
This is technically an MCU movie but was produced by a less confident Marvel trying to figure out how to make these movies work. It's also in the weird position of being sort-of-but-not-really sequel to the previous Hulk movie. The Hulk action is pretty good and Hulk himself looked fine until we realized they could do much better in Avengers. Ed Norton is okay as Banner, it was no loss to have him replaced.

22. Captain Marvel
This is the only MCU movie I genuinely dislike. Carol Danvers is a flawless character and her journey consists of being awesome, discovering she was always awesome, and then becoming even more awesome. They pass up the chance on doing anything interesting with the main villain, waste an appearance by a previous villain, reduce a race of classic comic villains to a bunch of refugees, and do significant damage to Nick Fury. Also, the cat is stupid. The only real bright point is Talos the Skrull, he is extremely entertaining in this movie.

Thoughts on Endgame

Some thoughts on Endgame:

-This is an epic movie that uses every bit of its 3+ hour runtime. It doesn't move nearly as quickly as Infinity War did but that doesn't mean it's slow, it just feels like events that happened 30 minutes earlier seem like a very long time ago.

-The expectations for this film were impossible and it manages to exceed them. You can come up with some minor complaints, and there is one scene that I found very contrived that took me out of the movie for a bit, but the thing as a whole is as near perfect as a movie can be, especially one that has so much to do. It's immensely satisfying.

-It's not as funny as even Infinity War though there is plenty of humor. That's largely because the film wants you to feel the weight of loss in a universe that's lost half its population, and it's heavy. It's not dreary or depressing necessarily, just more serious.

-Besides just dealing with loss there are a lot of emotional scenes in the movie. If you are invested in these characters you're probably going to get choked up at least five times.

-The movie really celebrates and honors the past eleven years of the MCU. You might get confused if you don't remember everything exactly but you'll probably be able to follow along.

-The finale is probably the best thing the MCU has put on screen. There is so much good there and one moment in particular that I pumped my fist in the air and exclaimed out loud.

-Honestly, I'm a little worried about the future of the MCU, but this was a fitting way to end the first 11 years.

Endgame

Captain Marvel

Thoughts on Solo

I saw Solo this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. A two word review: "Surprisingly worthwhile." A few other thoughts:

-Some people complain this movie isn't necessary. What Star Wars movie after the first three has been?

-I've disliked some of the Disney Star Wars movies for trampling over the former stories, now discarded, in books and comics that I grew up with. Solo's origin trilogy sucked though, so no complaints here.

-The main thing for me is that there's very little to be annoyed with in this movie, and nothing that makes me want to scream at the screen like Rogue One and The Last Jedi (man, I HATE that movie).

-Alden Ehrenreich does a good job as the title character. He doesn't do a Harrison Ford impression but is definitely making an effort to be like Ford. I was quite satisfied.

-Lando is a lot of fun and could have used more screen time.

-There's a cool cameo near the end of the film.

-Shockingly, I would be up for a sequel, especially if Han and Lando had an adventure together.

Thoughts on Infinity War

It's hard to say too much about this movie without spoilers so this might be short and vague.

-One you need to know: This movie isn't a full story. If you remember, early on the plan was to film Avengers 3 and 4 together. When it was decided not to do that Marvel emphasized the idea that this wasn't necessarily one continuous story. That may have done a disservice to fan expectations, though it's probably technically true. This movie is very much like a jaw-dropping season finale that ends with a cliffhanger and leaves you desperate for the next season to start, so set your expectations appropriately.

-I've seen reviewers write that this movie is pretty demanding of fans as far as expecting you to know things. That's reasonably true. If you haven't seen Ragnarok, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Civil War, and Black Panther you're probably going to be slightly confused along the way.

-This movie should be called Thanos because he owns it, he's basically the protagonist and gets the most screen time. The CGI is really impressive and makes him into a character, not an effect. Josh Brolin said the other day when someone asked him which character he preferred playing, Thanos or Cable, he said Thanos because he was so amazed that you could see his performance in this hulking purple monster. It's amazing, and well worth the years of build up. As hard as it is to believe he's almost sympathetic. Some people complain about Marvel villains, they won't get any more ammunition from this movie.

-The interactions between the different sets of characters is a lot of fun and everything I hoped for. The only drawback is there's not more of it. The characters are also very consistent with their past appearances, especially the Guardians who feel like they stepped out of their own movie.

-The movie has a 2 hour and 40 min runtime and it flies by. That does mean you may want to take it easy on the soda though.

-There were a lot of young children in the showing I went to. While this isn't any more violent than other Marvel movies it feels more intense. I definitely wouldn't bring kids.

-That said, the movie is still very funny at times. There were a few lines that had the audience laughing so hard I couldn't hear the next line of dialogue.

-There are also more emotional scenes than in any other Marvel movie I can think of. There's one in particular between Thor and Rocket that brought everyone to tears and is the best thing Chris Hemsworth has ever done, it also makes up for the humor undercutting the drama in Ragnarok.

-There's no mid-credit scene and one post-credit scene. It does help set up the next movie a little, but unless you're reasonably familiar with the comics it won't mean much to you. So, basically, if you feel like you need to get out of the theater, go ahead because you might not understand it anyway.

-As usual, this will require a rewatch or two to determine my final ranking but it's hard to imagine putting it below any other Marvel movie, but it's such an achievement it's difficult to think of it as just a movie.