Am I the only one who’s starting to panic about Age of Ultron?
I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been
following the Avengers sequel that closely. I saw that trailer from a while back that had
Iron Man’s take on the Hulkbuster, and I’ve seen a few posters, and I
kinda-sorta know who’s set to appear in it.
But the details are lost on me, and that’s the way I want it. An air of mystery is still appreciable --
even if the movie does just ultimately boil down to “punch lots of bad guys”.
But man oh man, I can’t help but worry. There’s a lot of hype (and money) riding on
this thing, and it’d be way too easy for it to fall apart in any number of
ways. What if it’s just pure
stupidity? What if it’s just no
fun? What if it can’t deliver on the
spectacle? Yeah, the Marvel movies have
had one crazy-long hot streak, but every streak has to come to an end. When is it going to happen? I don’t know.
But what if it’s this one? The
one movie that matters most?
More recently, there’s been something on my mind:
have all the Marvel movies secretly sucked?
It’s weird.
I don’t have any attachment to comic books or the heroes bouncing around
in them, but it seems like these days the best way to get me in a theater seat
is to play something from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s practically a cycle at this point: a new
movie comes out, I go see it, I enjoy it, and then come back to Cross-Up to
post a glowing recommendation. I’m
practically a sycophant -- a stooge that might as well be Stan Lee’s puppet.
Just how far am I reaching when it comes to these
movies? It’s hard to know for sure, but
I have a really bad hunch. Part of me
thinks that I like the Marvel movies because I just get swept up in the fever;
all the hype and spectacle and cool guys doing cool things makes me more likely
to offer my praise and overlook the flaws.
That’s kind of a given with any story (explosion density aside), but have
the Marvel movies won me over because they’re genuinely good? Or because I’m amped up by them when I walk
out of the theater?
Right now Captain
America: The Winter Soldier is not only my favorite of the bunch, but
wormed its way into my top ten favorite movies -- by nudging The First Avenger just enough to the
side to slot in. I did two
separate posts analyzing
the movie, which seems a little much for something starring a guy dressed
like an American flag. Did I praise it
so much because I’m a Cap fanboy?
Because the movie dulled my senses?
If I saw it again today, right now,
would I be so kind? Or would I go on a
rant that not even a
CinemaSins video could match?
I guess the most important question to ask is
this: what do the Marvel movies do well?
My answer to that question, I suppose, is that
they’re pretty hype. Not hyped up by
marketing (though they technically are), but what happens in them is so
exciting that it makes awesomeness practically routine. It’s a given that Cap and the Winter Soldier
are going to duke it out, but the movie presents it -- the multiple encounters,
of course -- in such a way that it’s always a thrill to watch. Same goes for Guardians of the Galaxy, albeit on a different, more comedic
axis. Even if Thor: The Dark World had its problems, it’s still got a ton of good
moments in it. I can’t think of a movie
in the MCU yet that’s made me say “Well that sucked” or “Just skip this one,
you’ll be fine”.
I tend to read deeply into the things I consume,
because I’m me and I need to put this big head of mine to good use. But even if you aren’t, there’s always the
fact that the Marvel movies -- even if they have faults, and even if they’re dumb
-- are fun. They’re there to take ALL OF
THE MONEY, sure, but they’re also bumping around (and succeeding routinely)
because they’re here to try and make people happy. You can’t really compare it to something like
Michael Bay’s Transformers, because
“jokes” aside, it feels like a product of and bringer of misery -- just
something churned out by a machine with no sense of romance.
We live in a world where Marvel’s
greatest rival (one struggling to
create its own cinematic universe) is rumored and assumed to have a “no-jokes
policy” baked into its movies.
Meanwhile, the Marvel movies are free to do pretty much whatever comes
to mind. They can try to be funny. They can try to be dark. They can try to be smart. They can try to be thoughtful. Do they succeed all the time? I don’t know; maybe they’re just that good at pulling the wool over our
eyes. But damn it, we can count on the
MCU to give us heroes fighting villains.
Even if it’s not a Shakespearian effort, maybe sometimes all we need is
simple fun. Maybe all we need, every
once in a while, is a chance to see heroes rolling out -- and a reminder that
heroes are all around us.
I don’t know what the answer is. And that’s why I’m making a call to action
for you readers. The question is simple,
so answer it if you dare: how good are
the Marvel movies? All suited
up? Then you know what comes next.
Ready?
Set…comment!
And that’ll do it for now. See you next time. And…please
don’t let Age of Ultron suck. My heart can’t take it.