Thor (2011)

Title: Thor

Year: 2011

Director: Kenneth Branagh

Rating (by MPAA): PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence

Official Synopsis: The epic adventure "Thor" spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth. (marvel.com)

Official Page

Official Trailer




STEPH SAID

Rating: 

Review:

No substance. That is the reason behind the low rating. It was a watch like any other action movie: little plot, flat characters, fights and flashy colors. The movie didn't have many, long battles, or dramatic scenes, or comedy fillers, or much character development. I really can't tell on what were the two hours wasted. This movie was definitely made, only as a prequel to The Avengers. Thor is going to be in The Avengers, so the audience need to know who he is, and where he came from. And that's what the movie is. “This is Thor; this is Loki. You'll see them in The Avengers”. That's it. The movie didn't have any other purpose.

There wasn't much of a story to tell. Thor is banished to Earth and loses all his powers. Within two days’ time he recognized the wrong of his way and becomes a worthy man. Loki on the other hand became villainous within two days’ time, with no apparent goal or purpose. He may have said it was to prove his worthiness to Odin, but he has lied so many times before I doubt that was his real intention. Two hours, and two days, served to only “develop” the personality of a flat character, Thor (see below); and to ignite a fire within Loki. 

Most of the characters were flat, including the title character. Thor is a bratty prince who is banished from home to learn a lesson. There, I explained who Thor is in one sentence. Definitely a flat character; there is nothing else to him. Jane, Erik, and even Odin are also flat characters, able to be described in one sentence. What you see is what you get. (In fact, it was really weird to see Natalie Portman acting as a love-struck teenager hiding behind the face of a scientist.) The other characters are even more flat, if that is even possible. Thor's Asgardian friends, his mother, and Darcy are in the movie to fill space. 

Loki was the only character that had some substance, that was a round character, and thus, was interesting. You thought you knew what he was up to, and then he'd surprise you by doing the exact opposite. I still don't know what his intentions were and are. He is so good at deceiving people that I don't know what to expect from him. He could seem a conflicted bad boy with a sensitive heart – I bet most girls think (wish?) this – but I don't think he is that simple.

In the end, Thor exists to have another character in The Avengers, to span their horizons. And, as we will see, to have a villain good enough to round up a bunch of people with superpowers. There is no other reason to it. The movie in itself was a plot device. Looking at it in the light of the whole MCU, I can let slide a plot device. But, seeing as it is a stand-alone movie, it is just a waste of everyone’s time.

Marvel's Jessica Jones

Title: Marvel's Jessica Jones

Season: 1

Broadcasting Station: Netflix

Official Page and Netflix's Page

Official Synopsis: After a tragic ending to her short-lived super hero stint, Jessica Jones is rebuilding her personal life and career as a detective who gets pulled into cases involving people with extraordinary abilities in New York City.

STEPH SAID
Rating:

Review:

Stupid is too little a word to describe Jessica Jones, both the character and the TV series. I’ve used stupid so many times that it has lost all its meaning  I changed to rubbish in honor of David Tennant’s British English, but I still feel like a need a stronger word to describe this series.

Yes, the acting is really good, still Jessica Jones has many problems, and the biggest one is Jessica herself. I can’t believe that the most annoying character in the series was the one to express the simplest yet most powerful truth of the whole series. “Would this Kilgrave cat have hurt any of you if Jessica Jones hadn't pissed him off? […] Each of his atrocities can be traced back to her.”

Every problem in this season could have been prevented if Jessica were smart enough. For example, she knew that Kilgrave’s effect lasted 12 hours, so she should have left Hope in her house for 12 hours until the effects wore off. Just like she did with Luke later on. She was free from Kilgrave’s influence ever since she killed Reva and she hadn’t noticed. She needed a big reveal, ten episodes in, to know it. Jessica had Kilgrave unconscious after he had proven that Hope was to be released. She could’ve killed him, but instead decided to tie him up and make a call. She was also knocked unconscious by the weakest character in the series, which meant that Kilgrave got to Hope first, after her release from prison. Jessica had Kilgrave eating from the palm of her hand and decided to screw that and torture him into confessing, something that was obviously never going to happen. And so on and so on.

Jessica is just so idiotic and ignorant! Kilgrave’s parents said he was going to die so they injected him with an experimental virus that could prologue his life and all she thought to say was “So you infected him?” in an accusatory tone. She’s supposed to be resourceful yet she lets Kilgrave deceive her in every turn. And she is followed everywhere she goes. She’s resourceful but she can’t even get an address right or a doctor to stich her up when her ribs are broken. She’s resourceful but she can’t get herself locked up in maximum security even after delivering a human head to a police officer. She’s resourceful yet Kilgrave escapes due to a cut wire.

Kilgrave and Jessica’s relationship is also questionable. She hates him because he made her kill someone (even though, as he mentioned, all he said was take care of her, not kill her). I believe this made Jessica romanticize their relationship. And she turned all her guilt for Reva into hate for Kilgrave. He gave her the opportunity to escape, the opportunity she had, apparently, been waiting for since the first day. She had it and decided to contemplate the street and do nothing. Thus, I believe Kilgrave is not as evil as Jessica tries to make him. At least at first he isn’t. I’m not saying he’s good. I’m just saying he’s not evil either. He is in the gray area. It was Jessica who turned him into the monster he was at the end. 

The “plot” was so thin that the writers had to recur to lots and lots of fillers to make 13 50-minutes episodes. However, they didn’t even create full blown plots. They only managed to introduce characters that talked enough to consume time. Like the drug addict that turned out to be the spy, (I saw that one coming). Like the annoying twins that served no purpose. Ruben’s death could’ve been replace by an unnamed character and the effect would’ve been the same. And Robyn does nothing but complain about her brother through the whole series. Hope did nothing but kill her parents in the first episode. Hope was actually Jessica’s frustrations personified. She was an ideal. Therefore, she was not needed. Luke, was kind of cool, I admit. But again, did nothing for the plot of the series. Hogarth and her story was the only proper subplot, yet it was unrelated and unnecessary to the story. I know Simpsons will turn out to be important, but so far nothing. The only sub-story I enjoyed was Jessica and Trish’ origin story. That was a worthy subplot. That should’ve been the primary story: Jessica as a teenager, living with Trish and being kidnaped by Kilgrave. Yet, they reduced that plot to a couple of scenes.

People probably like Jessica Jones because is different, but different doesn’t mean good. She drinks hard and has powerful sex, but that’s all she really does. Well, that and whine about her crappy life. She’s considered good because she wants to help people but people without superpowers do more every day than she ever did in this TV series. Think of cops, firemen, caregivers. The only persons Jessica helps is Trish, because they are sisters, and Hope, because Jessica sees herself in Hope. And no Daredevil cameo? Come on! This series turn out to be so bad, that not even David Tennant’s performance could save it.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Title: Iron Man 2 (2010)

Director: Jon Favreau

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence, and some language

Official Synopsis: In Iron Man 2, the world is aware that billionaire inventor Tony Stark is the armored super hero, Iron Man. Under pressure from the government, the press and the public to share his technology with the military, Tony is unwilling to divulge the secrets behind the Iron Man armor because he fears the information will slip into the wrong hands. With Pepper Potts and James "Rhodey" Rhodes at his side, Tony forges new alliances and confronts powerful new forces. (Paramount Pictures) 

Official Page

Trailer




STEPH SAID

Rating: 

Review:

This movie didn't make progress or build on its predecessor. The overarching plot is the same as Iron Man: someone Tony knows takes Tony's ideas and tries to improve them by creating a “better” suit, but ends up getting his butt kicked by Tony. The "development" of Tony and Ms. Potts' romantic relationship leaves them in the exact place they were in the first movie. And, the main villains Hammer and Vanko, felt like one-dimensional evil characters that only exist to make Stark the hero. The few differences this movie has with Iron Man-- like the name of the villains, the presence of SHIELD, or War Machine-- didn't add anything new to the story. (After all, Tony could've found out about his father's plans on his own.)

Yet again, it is Downey Jr.'s performance what carries this movie. This character comes naturally to him. Other 'pros' this movie has are the portable Iron Man suit, which was an unexpected surprise, and Black Widow. She was probably added to increase the number of female characters and she didn't advance the plot as much as you'd like her too, but it was still nice to have her. 

All in all is was a good movie. But, as a sequel, it wasted Iron Man's potential.

Marvel's Daredevil (2015) - Season 1

Marvel's Daredevil (2015) - Season 1

*This series is rated TV-MA*

Broadcasting Station: Netflix

Number of Episodes: 13

Official Synopsis: "Marvel's Daredevil" is a live action series that follows the journey of attorney Matt Murdock, who in a tragic accident was blinded as a boy but imbued with extraordinary senses. Murdock sets up practice in his old neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen, New York where he now fights against injustice as a respected lawyer by day and masked vigilante at night.

For more information you can visit the Official Marvel Page. To watch the whole first Season of Marvel's Daredevil head to Netflix.


Official Trailer




STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

Daredevil is definitely good. But, is it the best superhero series out there? Not really. 

First of all, the exposition of the first two episodes is terrible. If I hadn't been able to binge watch the series, I woudn't have watch it until the end. The first two episide have Matt and Foggy forcibly talking, and explaining their situation, to many different people in order set the scene. Also, we get to see scenes from Matt's past that help set the scene: his relationship with his father, how was his life without his mother, and how he adjusted to his knew blind life. However, in the first two episodes, and most of the third one, we don't have any clue about how Matt does what he does. If the audience doesn't know anything about Daredevil the character, they can think Matt can actually see and is just deceiving everybody. That makes it a little harder to relate to him as a person. Likewise, we don't know why he decided to become a vigilante, how he learned martial arts (his father is a boxer), what happened to Matt after his father died, or what happened to his mother. We don't even know who the villain is. So, in the beginning it is really hard to follow and enjoy the story due to all the unanswered questions.

On top of that, Karen is unbearable throughout all the series. She has this savior/spy complex. She believes she can take down an ubber rich/drug dealing/ trigger happy/ police controlling unknown mafia overlord all by herself. He controls the media, the police, the justice system, but she still believes she can write a pice of news and his whole kingdom will come crumbling down. In the end, I was even happy when one of the characters died because of her contant pestering. I thought she will finally understand who she is up against.

The series took off after the third episode, and the story began to unravel. We met all the villains, and find out about their collective plan. We, too, learned enough about Matt to relate to him. That's when the series draws the audience in, when it becomes very interesting. I appreciated how the main villain seem to be one step ahead of Matt all the time, yet he is the one damaging himself. He is the one that narrows the circle of villains and the circle of people who trust him. Though, that means that Daredevil didn't do as much to take down Kingpin as Kingpin did to himself. I also enjoyed the character Kingpin, his background story, and how he belives he is doing the right thing. In fact, in the beginning of the series Kingpin and Daredevil both stood on the same ground, for the same goal: to make Hell's Ktchen better. It wasn't until more than halfway through the series that Kingpin actually become the villain. That made it a little harder to see Daredevil as the “hero” and Kingpin as the “villain”.

If that weren't enough, the ending was anticlimatic; I didn't like it at all. It wastes two-thirds of its time in a legal battle, trying to teach the message that in the end legal justice is the best course of action, which contradicts Daredevil's core beliefs. Then, the series does yet another 180 degrees flip when Matt decides that the enforcement of the law is not enough, just as he already believed up to episode nine. On top of that, some personal relationships get a rushed make-up, so we could have a small scene of everyone happily drinking on the same table. And that is not all, because, in addition, the scene is not set for the next season. I don't know what to expect for season two of Daredevil.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the overall story quite a lot, mostly because of Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock and Toby Leonard Moore's Wesley. Both actors carry the weight of the series and move it forward, specially during the first half of the season. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have continued watching the series. Additionally, the fights! We definitelly need more three-minute-one-shot fights! The only thing that dampened my enjoyement of the series as a whole is Karen. Everything else on this review I can overlook. If I were to rationally and mathematically rate this season, the outcome would have been definitelly lower. But, I love Matt Murdock/Daredevil, and this darker take, along with Cox's performance (not the production of the series) makes him justice. Thus, the four stars.

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Director: Louis Leterrier

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense action violence, some frightening sci-fi images, and brief suggestive content

Official Page

Official Synopsis: In this new beginning, scientist Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) desperately hunts for a cure to the gamma radiation that poisoned his cells and unleashes the unbridled force of rage within him: The Hulk. Living in the shadows--cut off from a life he knew and the woman he loves, Betty Ross (Liv Tyler)--Banner struggles to avoid the obsessive pursuit of his nemesis, General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt) and the military machinery that seeks to capture him and brutally exploit his power. 

Official Trailer




STEPH SAID

Rating: 

Review:

I don't know why people complain about this movie. To me it was quite enjoyable. Granted, I don't know anything about comic books, or about the Hulk. So maybe that is why I enjoyed it.

I had always seen Hulk (and I mean Hulk because I didn't even know the man's name) as a man that grew big and green whenever he became angry. But, I enjoyed that this movie presents the human side and the internal struggle of both Bruce Banner and The Hulk. 

The downside of this movie is the lack of future it has. Once you see this movie, there is nothing else to see about The Hulk. More movies could be made, but they would probably turn out as The Incredible Hulk: a bad guy becomes a gigantic monster that wants to destroy earth and Bruce Banner needs to turn into the Hulk to stop it. Also, I keep thinking that, if the army would have done their job correctly, we could have taken about 20 minutes from the length of the movie. On the plus side, the ending, including Tony Stark’s cameo, was unexpected and very convenient for what lies ahead.

Iron Man (2008)

Title: Iron Man

Year: 2008

Director: Jon Favreau

Rating by the MPAA: PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content

Official Synopsis (from marvel.com): 2008's Iron Man tells the story of Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor who is kidnapped and forced to build a devastating weapon. Instead, using his intelligence and ingenuity, Tony builds a high-tech suit of armor and escapes captivity. When he uncovers a nefarious plot with global implications, he dons his powerful armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man.

Official Trailer

STEPH SAID

Rating:

Review:

Honestly, when I decided to watch Iron Man I didn’t know what to expect. I had never heard of him. I had never watch a story that featured him. And, knowing only that Robert Downey Jr. was to play the lead role of this movie, I decided that I didn’t want to do anything with it. I was pleasantly surprised. Then again, when you don’t expect much, anything will be alright.

I enjoyed Iron Man's origin story: how he was created and what he stands for. The war, terrorism, and violence, and the harsh reality it presented struck a chord in me. It is such a delicate and sensitive subject, that I was impressed it was lightly used in this type of movie.

I don’t like Downey because he seems arrogant, and he lets it show in every movie I have seen him in. They haven’t been many, granted. But, turns out, Tony Stark is arrogant! I couldn’t tell if it was Downey’s arrogance, or his acting skills, shining through. At least, that’s what I thought at first. By the end of the movie, Stark underwent a change of heart. He changed enough for me to like him, and that is saying something. Ironically, Downey’s portrayal of Tony Stark became the part I liked the most about this movie.

On the downside, I didn't enjoy the overall ending. First of all, Ms. Peppers comes out of Stark Industries and takes as much time to call Stark as it takes Stane get to Stark's home. If Pepper had called Tony and tell him about what she find out, maybe the ending of the movie would have been different. Also, Obadiah creating another suit was too much, too fast. It took the genius Tony weeks to create the fully functioning Iron Man suit. The geniuses at Stark couldn’t crack the arc reactor. Yet, Obadiah created bigger suits in days. To make everything seem even more unrealistic, Iron Man seemed to beat Stane too easily, even though he was using the old arc reactor, and he didn't have any power left.

Irrelevant to the bad ending, I am, most of all, grateful for this movie’s success. It is the beginning of something huge. If this movie had not been a success, maybe we wouldn’t have The Avengers, let alone Guardians of the Galaxy, right now.