Category: My Favorite Franchises

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10 – Guardians of the Galaxy

I remember when Guardians of the Galaxy first came out.  Nobody except those who knew the comic books had ever really heard of the characters.  I was a casual fan of the source material, and so I’d heard the names Star Lord, Drax, and Rocket Raccoon before, but I had no idea who they were or what their stories were.  Marvel had to have been taking a huge risk using the characters.  But at this point, Marvel was pretty well on top of their game.  They seemed to have the golden touch.  They pulled it off, and before you knew it, Gamora, Groot, and even smaller characters like Yondu and Nebula became just as well-known as the big three, Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.

First, there is the phenomenal cast.  The leader of the team is Peter Quill / Star Lord, played by Chris Pratt.  Pratt was that pudgy guy from Parks and Rec, but he surprised everyone when he came to the screen all ripped and sexy.  There was Gamora, played by Zoe Saldana, who people knew from her parts in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and also the new Star Trek franchise.  Nobody had ever really heard the name Dave Bautista before outside of professional wrestling, but he nailed the part of Drax the Destroyer.  Then, finally, there was the CGI pair of fan favorites, Rocket and Groot, voiced by gigantic Hollywood superstars, Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel.  Throw a couple of other major actors into the mix like Glenn Close, John C. Riley, Benicio del Toro, and Michael Rooker, an you have yourself a stellar cast.  Even the film’s bad guys like Ronan the Accuser, Korath, and Nebula, played by Lee Pace, Djimon Honsou, and Karen Gillan were given sufficient attention.

Next, there was the smart script.  It made getting to know these unknown character a priority, but it was done smoothly, as part of the story, not as a clunky exposition dump or multiple drawn-out origin stories.  It all felt very organic and natural.  Guardians of the Galaxy was a good movie first, and a superhero movie second.  The story was tight and cohesive, the pacing was quick but not rushed, and the aesthetic was unique.  Even the film’s general color pallet was unusual with a lot of purples, pinks, and greens, and yet it totally worked.

And though this was not the first MCU film that mentioned infinity stones, this movie went a long way to describing what they were and why they were important to the MCU’s overall story arch.  Even though it seemed completely detached from the rest of the MCU franchise, it was so important to the tapestry of the existing movies.  There is a reason why the first three phases of the franchise are called the Infinity Saga.  I mean, sure, there was the Aether from Thor: The Dark World, but that was a nebulous liquid that didn’t resemble any kind of stone.  Here, we got an actual stone, and we identified what it was.   This movie, as it related to the bigger story, brought things closer to the main bad guy, who only had a few minutes of screen time, Thanos, played by Josh Brolin, and his goal to collect all the infinity stones.

This movie got so many things right.  It had action, it had humor, and it had adventure, not to mention a little bit of romance.  It had family, it had heart, and even several deeply dramatic moments that were surprising.  When the movie started, we had no idea who these characters were, and by the end, we really cared about what happened to them.  And we wanted more.  So hats off to Marvel for pulling a rabbit out of a hat and catching lightning in a bottle yet again.

As I’m thinking about which characters were my favorites, I’m finding it is hard to choose.  They were all so unique and they all had their cool moments.  Rocket and Groot were really great, but so were Gamora and Drax.  But I thin, overall, I’d have to go with Star Lord.  He is a cheeky rogue who learns the value of being part of a team, a leader, and a good guy.  Oh yeah, I can’t forget the incredible soundtrack.  So cool!!!.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. The fight between Star Lord and Gamora where they meet Rocket and Groot
2. The group’s induction into prison.  Pratt looked pretty sexy without his shirt on.  Just sayin’.
3. Groot starting off the escape plan early, throwing everything into chaos.
4. Every time Drax took something someone said too literally.
5. The explanation of the infinity stones by the Collector.
6. The standing up scene where the Guardians officially become a team and agree to attack Ronan to get the stone back.
7. The Nova Corps forming the giant net to prevent Ronan’s ship from landing on Xandar.
8. The scene where Groot saves everyone by creating a protective cocoon with his branches.  “We are Groot.”
9. Star Lord distracts Ronan with a dance-off, and the climax where the Guardians come together to hold an infinity stone.
10. The aftermath where their criminal records are expunged.  “I have a family.  They’re alive because of you.”

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Character Posters

09 – Captain America: The Winter Soldier

So here we are, coming off of one of the least popular MCU movies, and going into one of the most popular.  This film introduces an awesome villain, who isn’t really a villain at all – The Winter Soldier.  Sebastian Stan is so cool, and pretty good looking, too!  The character of a brainwashed Bucky Barns is great because of his history as a good guy, the closest friend of Steve Rogers, Captain America.  Because let’s not forget, this is a Captain America movie.  Multiple heroes join the cast like Black Widow, Falcon, Nick Fury, and Maria Hill, along with a few other bad guys like Brock Rumlow, and Robert Redford playing Alexander Pierce. 

So, being a Cap story, the main baddies are all members of Hydra, an organization that seems to be the opposite side of the SHIELD coin.  I really liked how, as it is revealed whenever anyone says “Hail Hydra,” that several minor characters who we’ve seen in previous MCU movies, were actually evil agents masquerading as good guys, like Maximiliano Hernandez, playing Jasper Sitwell, Gary Shandling, playing Senator Stern, and even Toby Jones got to reprise his role as Arnim Zola.  Hydra is insidious because it makes you question where everyone’s loyalties lie.  Well… except for Captain America, of course.  He’s always a hero. 

This movie got so many things right.  It is really science fiction and fantasy rolled into one.  Clearly, they have incredible technologies that dwarf what we currently have in the real world today.  But it’s ok. We can buy into it because such things were established in the previous Captain America movie, which took place in the 1940s.  After all, what is a superhero movie without a little suspension of disbelief, right? 

So Nick Fury got to prove just how much of a bad-ass he is, there was emotional drama between Captain America and the Winter Soldier, as old friends who have now become complete enemies, fight each other.  There is some really great character development as we get to know Natasha Romanoff a little better.  And there is plenty of action and fight sequences.  The film’s climactic battle shows Cap and Falcon trying to take control of heavily armed helicarriers that have been programmed to murder several million innocent people all over the globe.  And the story was literally incredibly down to earth, and realistic, within the context of the world of super-powered heroes, something people really like about the very first MCU movie, Iron Man.  It really had a lot of great things going for it.  No, there were no gods with magic hammers, no giant green destruction monsters, and no geniuses with near magic suits of armor.  There were just guys with guns, really cool technology, and one guy with a vibranium shield.  And it was frickin’ awesome!

But all that simply adds to the real reason this was such a good movie.  It just had a really cool story.  You can have the greatest cast in the world, the best visual effects, incredible costume and set designs, but none of it means anything without a good story at its core.  There is intrigue, deception, betrayal, espionage, great acts of sacrifice, and amazing heroism.  This movie had it all.  And the thrilling action certainly didn’t hurt.  And even more than all that, it had an ending that left room for the story to be continued.  The characters all had new agendas set up that would lead them into future movies.  I love how Bucky leaves in the end, to find out who he is.

How many home runs can Marvel hit?  Well, as any fan of the franchise can tell you, it just keeps getting better and better.  And just as a side note, a lot of Marvel fans are really disappointed with the newer Phase Four movies, but I love them all.  These movies are so entertaining.  They just continue to feed into my love for epic stories.  It is a grand tapestry that just keeps expanding, revealing amazing new characters and incredible new stories.  This movie was such a fantastic addition to that larger picture.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Captain America rescues the hostages.  Fun banter with Black Widow.
2. The first attempt to assassinate Fury
3. The Winter Soldier catches Cap’s shield with his metal hand.
4. The fight in the elevator.  “Do any of you want to get out before we get started?”
5. Cap teams up with Agent Romanoff and the visit the Apple Store.
6. Cap and Black Widow interrogate Jasper Sitwell.
7. Cap discovers the hidden identity of the Winter Soldier.
8. Falcon’s battle around the helicarriers.
9. Jenny Agutter, playing World Security Council member, Hawley, kicking Pierce’s butt before revealing that she is actually Black Widow in disguise.
10. The destructions of the three helicarriers, and how one of them crashed into a building, forcing Falcon, without his wings, to leap into a flying helicopter.  So cool!!

Cast Images

Character Posters

08 – Thor: The Dark World

This movie is sometimes considered the black sheep of the early MCU films.  And I’ll admit, it isn’t as good as the other Thor movies, or as good as Iron Man or Captain America.  But it was still a good movie.  I mean, that’s like saying The Dark World wasn’t a 10 like some of those other movies.  Yeah, but it was still a solid 8, and that’s pretty good.  So I did a little reading to try to figure out why people seem to regard this one as inferior to most of the other films in the franchise.  And there were three things that were brought to my attention.  I’ll just go over them quickly to get them out of the way.

First, the main villain, Malekith, played by Christopher Eccleston, was a pretty lack-luster, bad-guy.  He was pretty cookie-cutter and unremarkable, just a warm body for Thor to beat up.  He had an uninteresting back story, a bit of a dull look, and luke-warm motivations.  Second, the questionable romance between Thor and Jane Foster, played by Natalie Portman, didn’t develop at all.  It started in an awkward place at the beginning of the movie, and ended the same way when the credits began to roll.  And finally, the main character, Thor himself, had no real sense of self-identity or purpose.  He spent the movie trying to discover who he was and what he was about.  This translated into how Chris Hemsworth played the character, and it showed.

But if you ask me, the good in the movie far outweighed the bad.  The action sequences were top-notch.  The great cast reprised the iconic rolls we remember from the first Thor movie and the Avengers, and even though the story was a little weak, it did a good job of setting them all up for their future parts in the great MCU tapestry.  Sometimes you have to have a movie that is part story and part set-up, if you want to have a successful franchise.  Not to mention, it did a fair job of furthering the MCU spanning story-line of the infinity stones.

My favorite part of the movie was Thor, himself, as he was supposed to be.  But coming in at a close second was Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston.  He was really the character with the most development in this movie, and it is part of why we have grown to love him as much as we do.  He has just as much personality as Hemsworth, and he knows how to use it.  Not only that, but the two actors have a great chemistry together.  They may not be brothers in real life, but you wouldn’t know it when they are sharing the screen.

Then there was Jane Foster and her circle, Darcy, played by Kat Dennings, and Erik Selvig, played by Stellan Skarsgard.  It was interesting what happened to Selvig’s character, in particular.  Because of how his mind was really messed up by Loki in The Avengers, he went a little crazy and wound up in a mental institution.  Darcy was annoying, as usual, but then again, she was supposed to be.  But another supporting character who was introduced was Richard played by Chris O’Dowd, Jane’s date at the beginning of the movie.  Honestly, he was charming and adorable.    And we had all the Asgardians reprising their rolls… all except one.  The actor playing Fandral changed from Joshua Dallas to Zachary Levi, the reason for the change being that Dallas had commitments on the TV show Once Upon a Time.

The climax of the movie was particularly thrilling as Thor and Malekith battle each other, falling back and forth between different planets.  And while that is happening, Jane and her friends use their scientific equipment to transport Malekith to Svartalfheim, where he is crushed by his own ship.  The battle was pretty epic, just like we have come to expect from a Marvel film.  It was exciting to watch.  So it wasn’t as good as The Avengers.  So what?  It was still good in its own right, and it did its job of furthering the Infinity Saga, and setting up the characters of Thor and Loki for what was coming in the future.  Haters say this movie sucked, but they’re wrong.  It was still a great watch.  Like I said, it wasn’t a 10, but hey, it was still an 8!

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Jane’s date with Richard.
2. Darcy shows Jane the inter-dimentional portal in the abandoned building.
3. Jane meets Odin and he tells the history of the Aether.
4. The Dark Elves attack Asgard and bad-ass Heimdall takes down one of their ships.
5. Frigga’s death scene and funeral.
6. Thor and Loki escape from Asgard.  Great banter.
7. Thor and Loki’s ruse to get the Aether out of Jane and destroy it.
8. Thor hangs his hammer on Jane’s coat rack.
9. Thor’s climactic battle with Malekith.
10. Thor tells his father / Loki that he isn’t ready to be King.

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Character Posters

07 – Iron Man 3

Somehow, this is the Iron Man movie I know the least about, though it is certainly just as good and thrilling to watch as the first two Iron Man movies.  It holds its own among the rest of the Marvel films and does a fantastic job of furthering the character arch of Tony Stark as a character, one of the greatest heroes of the MCU.  And not only does this movie give us exciting action sequences, incredible visual effects, and some great light-hearted moments of comedy, it also gives us some serious and dramatic issues that Tony has to deal with.  He now carries with him PTSD because of his experiences in The Avengers.  I guess almost dying alone on the far side of an interdimensional portal might emotionally scar a person.  How incredible is it that an action movie would think to deal with a realistic problem like that?

Once again, Robert Downey Jr. does an incredible job as Tony Stark.  Throughout the movie, he stays true to the unique character he has spent several films creating.  He is quick-witted, irreverent, and snarky, not to mention narcissistic, self-centered, and utterly brilliant.  The kind of guy you really like, even though you have so little reason to like him, but that’s because of his great sense of humor, his honesty, and his personable charm. 

Gwyneth Paltrow, of course, returns as the love of Tony’s life, Pepper Potts.  And Jon Favreau also reprises his role of Happy Hogan.  At this point, Pepper is running Stark Industries as its CEO, and Happy is head of security.  And I can’t forget Don Cheadle as the Iron Patriot, formerly War Machine.  And at one point, Stark has to team up with an unlikely ally, a young child named Harley Keener, played by Ty Simpkins, who helps Tony regain himself when he is at his lowest point.

And what would a superhero movie be without its villains.  This time, the main bad guy is Aldrich Killian, creator of Extremis, a treatment that turns people into fire monsters who can explode like bombs.  And some of Killian’s henchmen are Stephanie Szostak and James Badge Dale, playing the parts of Ellen Brandt and Eric Savin, survivors of the treatment.  Fellow evil scientist who works for Killian is the beautiful Maya Hansen, played by Rebecca Hall.   And finally, the Mandarin, or should I say, the fake Mandarin, Trevor Slattery, played by Ben Kingsley.  He was essentially a bit of comic relief in an otherwise action packed film.

But the movie had so much more than just great characters.  It had great scenes.  The action sequences were awesome and really built on the excitement of the previous two Iron Man movies.  One asked the question, what kind of a fighter would Stark be without his technologically advanced suits of armor?  And the climactic battle scene brought out a whole bunch of new a d varied Iron Man suits, all of which are remotely controlled by J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony’s AI personal assistant and caretaker, brilliantly voiced by Paul Bettany.  And their sudden appearance actually tied into the whole PTSD storyline, as Tony built them all as a way to escape the pain and anxiety brought on by the crippling condition.  The final fight put them up against all the Extremis enhanced henchmen of Killian.

It really was a great movie.  But one action scene really stood out to me as frickin’ awesome!  When a bunch of people are blown out of Air Force One, Iron Man saves them by flying around to collect them all in their freefall.  The civilians all link hands and Iron Man sends an electric current through them, forcing them to tighten their grips.  He then slows their fall enough to be able to drop them safely into water.  It was an incredible and well-done sequence with some top-notch visual effects.  Every time I see it, it makes me want to stand up and cheer for Iron Man’s heroism.  You know, I was never a huge Iron Man fan in the comic books.  But these movies have turned me into a big fan of Tony Stark, both in and out of the armor. 

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1.  Tony works on a new way to put on his armor by having pieces fly across the room to him.

2.  Tony tells Pepper about his PTSD and why he is spending all his time tinkering in his workshop.

3.  Tony’s house is attacked by the Mandarin’s forces.

4.  Tony meets Harley

5.  “Mom, I need to call you back.  Something magical is happening!”

6.  Harley convinces Tony to be Iron Man without the suit, and he infiltrates the Mandarin’s compound.

7.  Tony escapes Killian’s captivity / the banter with the guards.

8.  Tony rescues the crew of Airforce One.

9.  All the different Iron Man suits arrive at the final conflict.

10.  J.A.R.V.I.S. blows up mark 42.

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Character Posters

Iron Man 2

Robert Downey Jr. does it again!  I’ve already commented on how he was so perfectly cast as Tony Stark, how he was able to flawlessly embody both the man and the superhero, Iron Man.  And while I’m on the subject of casting, I’d like to mention how amazing it is that with only one notable exception, the major players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have all stayed with their roles for the duration of the Infinity Saga and beyond.  As I write this, the MCU’s phase 4 has just ended, and phase 5 is about to begin, and the only major character that changed was Edward Norton playing the Incredible Hulk in his first appearance, but being replace with Mark Ruffalo in all forthcoming films.

Here, we have a secondary character, at least he was at the time, Rhodey, played in the first Iron Man movie by Terrence Howard, was replaced by Don Cheadle.  Personally I have always been a fan of Cheadle as an actor, and I thought the change was a good one.  Howard didn’t do a bad job.  Cheadle was just better.  And we are introduced to a major superhero and fan favorite, Black Widow, played by Scarlett Johansson.  She has a fighting style that to my untrained eye, looks completely unique to her character.  It is like martial arts, but with a lot more body contact like aggressive wrestling, and a healthy measure of gymnastics.  The first time we see Black Widow unleashed was something like the first time we saw Darth Vader unleashed at the end of Rogue One, except that this came first.  She was totally bad-ass, and she looked good doing it!!

We also got two new villains, one of whom was pretty cool, the other, unfortunately, not so much.  Justin Hammer, played by Sam Rockwell, was so arrogant and so smarmy, that you couldn’t help but love him as a bad guy.  Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke, had the potential to be a really great baddy, but I don’t think he was written well.  He just got defeated a little too easily… twice.  The first time he attacked Iron Man on the race track in Monaco, we see that his electrified whips can slice cars up like cake.  But Iron man just grabs one of them, uses it to pull himself to Whiplash, and takes him down with a couple quick punches.  Then he tears out his mini-arc-reactor, and that was it.

The second fight, Whiplash’s drones seemed like more of a threat than he, himself, was.  When he came in, the skirmish lasted a very short time, and the villain was taken down with the single super-blast from the two converging energy beams.  I don’t know.  I just wanted the bad guy to seem more powerful and harder to beat.  At least he embodied the mentally unbalanced thing pretty well.  Maybe some of his questionable decisions could be attributed to that.  Still, he looked the part.  He was physically imposing and you could tell he was no weakling.

The one thing that never sat well with me, though it was visually cool to watch on the screen, was the new way Iron Man put on his armor.  So there he is, on the race track, and Pepper and Happy arrive in the car.  Pepper has the suit that is disguised as a briefcase.  So that means that the small briefcase-sized package should weigh the same as the fully deployed suit of armor, right?  She should not have been able to lift it.  OK, suspension of disbelief.

But overall, it was a great movie.  The casting was spot-on, the action was good, the introduction of new characters, including Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, was great, the acting was good, the visuals and special effects were stunning, the connections to the larger cinematic universe were amazing, and it was just a fun ride.  It might sound like I didn’t care for the film, but I really liked it.  The good far outweighed the bad.  Now, if I had to compare it with the first Iron Man movie, I think I liked the first one better, but when a movie is that good, it is kind-of hard to top it in the sequel.  At least we got to see Tony and Pepper kiss at the end.  Let’s just admit that it was something we were all wanting to happen.  The romantic tension between them had been growing since the first movie, and the build had been slow enough to be believable.  Kudos to director Jon Favreau for another successful addition to the franchise.

Top 10 Favorite Parts

1. Tony’s appearance at the Senate hearing.
2. The first appearance of Black Widow, when she takes down Happy in the Boxing Ring.
3. Whiplash destroys the race in Monaco
4. Iron Man’s fight with Rhodey at Tony’s birthday party.
5. Stark’s meeting with Nick Fury.  “Sir, can you please exit the doughnut.”
6. Justin Hammer presents the weapons to Rhodey.  The Ex-Wife.
7. Tony discovers how to create a new element to power his Iron Man suit.
8. Black Widow takes out the guards at the Hammer facility.
9. Iron Man and War Machine fight the drones in the garden at the Stark Expo.
10. Tony rescues Pepper from the exploding drone, then all the drones at the Expo explode as they fly away.