Date: Sunday April 28, 2019
Location: Cinemark Theater at Stroud Mall
Time: 12 noon
Party: 3 (my mom, sister and I)
Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo
Cast:
(oh god... so many...)
Tony Stark/Iron-Man- Robert Downey Jr.
Steve Rogers/Captain America- Chris Evans
Thor- Chris Hemsworth
Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow- Scarlet Johansson
Clint Barton/Hawkeye- Jeremy Renner
Bruce Banner/The Hulk- Mark Ruffalo
Rocket- Bradley Cooper
Pepper Potts- Gwyneth Paltrow
Rodey/War Machine- Don Cheadle
Scott Lang/Ant-Man- Paul Rudd
Nebula- Karen Gillan
Thanos- Josh Brolin
Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel- Brie Larson
Peter Parker/Spider-man- Tom Holland
Doctor Stephen Strange- Benedict Cumberbatch
Peter Quill/Star-Lord- Chris Pratt
Gamora- Zoe Saldana
Groot- Vin Disel
Drax- Dave Bautista
Mantis- Pom Klementieff
T'Challa/Black Panther- Chadewick Bosman
Sam Wilson/Falcon- Anthony Mackie
Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier- Sebastian Stan
Okoye- Danai Gurira
...if I forgot ANYONE, I'm really sorry... it's a lot to remember...
Duration: 181 minutes (+ 7 minutes)... ok, the last LOTR movie was 3 hours and 21 minutes... so this movie wasn't nearly as long as that, but it came close...
Opening Commentary
I was actually trying to hold off on doing this as long as I could... but considering I had a dream last night where I attempt to tell one of these people how great they were in these movies, the time is about right to do it... admittedly, it's been a weird past couple of weeks and I'd been in a weird state of mourning between a lot of different things in my work life and personal life and this movie added a bit on a top of that...
However, I will try my best to go into this movie without spoiling anything... as much as there are some things I really do want to go into, that will be a separate post. It's something that will need to be done... after all, I did invest a lot of time and money into keeping up with these movies since 2010. It's a big investment monetarily as well as emotionally. And above all else, it's difficult saying goodbye. I will still see Marvel movies (I'm already looking at Spider-Man for sure), just not every single one. It'll be all about the characters involved.
As for seeing the movie itself... I feel kinda lucky I got there that first weekend. Granted, this theater is has a couple dozen movie houses, so they're able to show it on multiple screens. But the fact the first 2 shows were sold out and we had to wait to see the 12 noon showing, yeah, that tells you all you need to know.
We went into the theater and literally sat there for 90 minutes waiting for it. The one big negative I take away from this... they are pumping music through the speakers so it's not completely quiet, but it's the same program played on a loop... at least 5-6 songs they played several times... they do this "Noovie" thing before even showing commercials and trailers and that didn't even come on until T-15 minutes. It's just a pet peeve of mine to have things repeated. Come the third time, I just put on my iPod. I got through Side A of "Abbey Road" before the screen turned on-- it was a good way to kill time for sure.
Trailers... yeah roughly 17 minutes of trailers on top of an already long movie... at least we did bathroom breaks before all this cuz there was no point in the movie where I could have left and come back without missing anything
"21 bridges"- not only written/directed by the Russo brothers, but it stars Black Panther himself, Chadewick Bosman. Kudos for them putting this guy into position to make more great movies. I just hope this was a good movie. Supposedly, this is about trying to hunt down a cop killer and they have to close the 21 bridges leading in and out of the city to do so. It's also very current and topical and if it's well-received, will stir up some good conversation.
"Hobbs and Shaw"- I already voiced my opinion on the Fast & Furious series... pass!!
"Godzilla: King of the monsters"- my dad loves Godzilla movies, so he'll probably want to see this one. Supposedly 17+ monsters have risen and are threatening mankind and they want to bring Godzilla to take care of them. Particularly the alpha. All the while, they're playing some version of "Somewhere over the rainbow"... don't know why, but it got me a little choked up. Somewhat of a weird music choice, but this haunting rendition oddly worked...
"Dark Phoenix"- the more I see trailers for this, the more I think I might be interested in seeing it... Jean Grey has always been a tortured character and it really goes all in.
"Men in Black: International"- yeah, I don't think this necessarily needed a remake. And another nod to Marvel- it has Thor and Valkyrie (Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson) teamed up as H & M... it did have some funny jokes, though...
"Lion King"- first time I'm seeing a proper trailer for this... it looks AMAZING... wow, this is gonna be a great year for Disney movies
"Star Wars- the Rise of Skywalker"- this was a teaser trailer really... but considering how the Last Jedi ended, the title confuses me a bit... unless it turns out that Kylo Ren lied and Rae really is related to someone we knew from the original trilogy.
The other night, I saw Return of the Jedi for the first time since Luke came back in the previous movie... it was a little strange... also the fact Luke's Jedi powers seemed to have grown exponentially between episodes V and VI...
The Main Event
Again, as spoiler free as I can manage... but I'll give the basic details...
We catch up with the Avengers remaining immediately following the events of Infinity War. And some of them got a rawer detail than others about the people that were lost... I just had to say "that's not fair!"...
As shown in the trailers, Captain Marvel joins them and those remaining get to finally rectify the way the previous movie ended... my only question was... why couldn't they have just added these 10 minutes to the end of the previous movie? Maybe the ending of the previous movie wouldn't have been as somber...
Then we catch up with everyone left 5 years later... you see those words come up and I'm thinking "whoa"... it kinda knocks the wind out of you.
However, despite all the time that has passed, a sentiment remains about fixing things. And this is brought into motion because Ant-Man comes back after being MIA... I did not see the most recent Ant-Man movie, so I was completely lost about the events that transpired. (yeah, I'd seen all of the movies but this one and it wound up being the most crucial detail... go figure!)
And the solution is... wait for it... TIME TRAVEL...
pretty much every pop culture reference is made in relation to this and I cheered when "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" was among them. Love that movie.
One fascinating turn of events... Tony Stark's role in all this... back with the Ultron saga, he was the one who wanted to "build a suit of armor around the world" and everyone thought he was crazy... he's the only one who isn't really into this because he'd actually moved on and found his happy ending. But Captain America, who still never got over losing his past (after being defrosted and after these 5 years), is the one pushing for this chance at fixing things. It's almost like Civil War all over again where both of them take different sides on an issue and it's because Tony wavers in his position that the events follow as they do.
Ultimately what we get from all this... those who have followed these characters after all this time know and understand why they decide to take the actions that they do... and actually, that's the theme for the entire movie.
CGI comes into play a lot in these movies, but they really upped their game with physical transformations whether it's Tony being emaciated after being stuck in space for 21 days or what happens to Thor 5 years later (why they did that- I think it was strictly comic relief and Tony getting to finally use that Big Lebowski reference he'd been saving... I remember RDJ being on the red carpet, talking about how Jeff Bridges is "The Dude" and his son Indio had no idea what he was talking about)... it also made me think whether Thor and Aqua-Man have more similiarities than I realized. I got a very similar vibe and I'd only seen Aqua-Man in the Justice League movie.
So with this movie... not going into great detail...
I actually looked at my phone 3 times throughout the movie to try to gauge time stamps and I think I managed to get each hour perfectly.
Hour 1- finishing off the previous movie, catching up with the characters, establishing where they are and getting the plan together
Hour 2- Time travel and putting those plans into action
Hour 3- the final epic battle with ALL the characters and the epilogue
In this respect, the three hours really didn't feel that long at all. At least not to me.
Much of this movie is fan service- it rewards the fans who saw all the movies because we get to revisit moments from previous films. And the dialogue makes dozens of references to previous movies. I think YouTube had a video that showed all 300+ Easter Eggs in this movie that harkened back to the previous ones.
And all things considered, I got nearly all of the references and it felt empowering. Almost like following a book series and it's transitioned to the big screen and I get things that other people don't because I read the books. (Also a double-edged sword because I'm upset when things from the books are omitted or completely changed).
These characters (and the actors playing them) are so well established that none of their actions are surprising at the end of the day.
I liked how they focused more on Nat and Hawkeye's friendship. Instead of getting a few hints in the first few Avengers movie, they really get a lot of screen time together. I'm still hoping that they shoot a prequel where they really show what happens in Budapest. I just know they were both there and they "remember it very differently." There's so much call for a Black Widow movie, but why not have a movie with the both of them, their different bios and how their paths inevitably cross. Plus, as much as I wanted them to be romantically involved, they're not and it'd be good to see a movie with a male and female working together and it doesn't have that romance. Because romance more often than not ruins these things- particularly in TV shows. Castle and Blindspot are among several that went down or lost viewership because of that.
Of course the time travel thing isn't completely foolproof and one extra stop needs to be taken by Tony and Steve... where they go, I really had no clue about, but it was a really special scene for both of their characters. (This is also where Stan Lee makes his cameo).
One moment that happened made me think about "Heart and Souls" where RDJ makes a comment "It's been an emotional time for us all"... in the movie, he's the "corporeal being" that 4 departed souls use to complete unfinished business. The emotional exchange that happens makes sense for that particular person, but with him conveying the action, it's more than a little bizarre. Especially he had encountered this character a number of times throughout the movie and he happens to be connected to someone's unfinished business.
The final battle is pretty insane... all the battles really are and they all get to a point where the actions more or less blur together... but like with the previous movie, it's absolutely painful how difficult Thanos is to kill... every single split second is crucial. And Doctor Strange mentioned how it was 1 chance out of 7 billion (it was some huge number- I forgot exactly what that they can win)... he wasn't kidding.
I also got to thinking about Harry Potter and how that movie ended... and Snape's comment to Dumbledore when he reveals that Harry must face Voldemort when he's at his weakest... saying with sarcasm how he was raised as a lamb for slaughter.
It made me also wonder if certain characters were entrusted with the full truth of what would happen with this movie or these movies, just like J.K. Rowling told Snape what happened with his character. Apparently, that was true for at least one person.
Yeah, everything in this movie happens exactly as it is meant to. Even how it ends and who makes it and who doesn't. I accept that there was a reason for all of it. I even said at the end of my post on Infinity War that I'd be ok with things ending a certain way...
but it is nice to see character arcs finishing as well as small hints of future movies.
There are no post-credits scenes. But it's just as well.
I'd like more Marvel movies... I just don't want all of them to build to a massive climax like this again. Not because it's emotionally taxing, but it's just a massive committment and I'm ready to move on.
I revisited a bunch of the movies leading up to this... admittedly, I started getting sick of them... but after this, I was happy with the conclusion, but it's very bittersweet at the end of the day.
It'll be a while before I watch anymore. But I know I at least have to rewatch Spiderman before the new movie comes out (plus I need subtitles to catch EVERYTHING going on- those first 10 minutes were going so fast, it gave me a headache) and Doctor Strange (cuz I got it for Christmas and still haven't watched it- I saw it in the theater ages ago and it's time to revisit that)
Grade: A
(pretty close to perfect, but I can't quite give it an A+... even if its length is justified, it's still an unnecessarily long movie)
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