PWN1001

12
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 OCTOBER 1, 2020
Time to revisit the Universe
PHOTO | MARVEL/TNS
Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy stars, from left, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Vin Diesel as the voice of Groot, Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, and Chris
Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord.
By Chris hewitt
star triBune
(Minneapolis)
It has been 15 months since
the last entry in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe, (MCU),
“Spider-Man: Far From Home,”
and it could be much longer for
the next.
That’s the biggest gap between
Marvel Studios movies
since the 23 months between
“The Incredible Hulk” in 2008
and “Iron Man 2” in 2010. With
the announcement Wednesday
that the already-delayed Nov.
6 release of “Black Widow,”
starring Scarlett Johansson,
has been pushed back to May
2021, we’re looking at another
nearly two-year wait for the
movies in which superheroes
bicker and save the planet from
maniacs.
The MCU has been responsible
for plenty of bad trends,
including the omnipresence
of superhero movies and the
dedication to fan service over
storytelling. Too many Marvel
movies worry less about coherent
narratives than cramming
in characters and story
lines from the comic books.
But the MCU has been responsible
for worthwhile
trends, as well. “Black Widow”
will be a rare movie that centers
on a female superhero, something
Disney-owned Marvel
Studios also did with “Captain
Marvel” and has been laying the
groundwork for since Scarlett
Johansson’s Black Widow debuted
in “Iron Man 2.” Her
popularity undoubtedly fueled
rival Warner Bros.’ decision
to give Wonder Woman two
of her own films, the latest of
which, “1984,” was postponed
to Christmas.
The Marvel series has also
been fairly inclusive, with juicy
roles for Samuel L. Jackson,
Don Cheadle, Tessa Thompson
and others. “Black Panther,”
with its cast of top-notch talents,
made the late Chadwick
Boseman a star and gave an entire
community the heroes it had
deserved for decades, while also
providing gifted Ryan Coogler
a big stage on which to direct.
The MCU has lagged on behind-the-scenes
women. So far,
a co-credit for Anna Boden on
“Captain Marvel” is the only
sign that women also make
movies. But that will change
with the next two projects, Cate
Shortland’s “Black Widow”
and “Eternals,” which stars
Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani,
Gemma Chan and Brian Tyree
Henry and was directed by
Chloe Zhao. Zhao is known —
barely — as the director of “The
Rider,” a beautiful drama that
killed on the festival circuit and
nowhere else.
That may point to the
best thing about the Marvel
movies. Producer Kevin Feige
has taken chances on directors
whose records give no
indication they’ll be good at
staging explosions in space,
with one bunch of special-effect
characters battling another.
In addition to Zhao,
Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”),
Boden and Ryan Fleck (“It’s
Kind of a Funny Story”) and
Destin Daniel Cretton (“Short
Term 12”) have basically gone
straight from making movies
about three people chatting on
a porch to movies where the
world might end.
For complicated and boring
reasons, not all Marvel characters
are part of the MCU —
the rights to the X-Men, for
instance, have belonged to another
studio — but they’ve still
released 23 movies in 12 years,
and from the perspective of
someone who’s more a fan of
good movies than comic book
movies, many are worth another
look.
“Guardians of the Galaxy”
(2014)
A sense of fun has not always
been evident in Marvel
movies, but it’s all over my
favorite, powered by the wideeyed
charisma of Chris Pratt as
Star-Lord, the I-get-no-respect
Rodney Dangerfield of heroes.
It’s the loosest MCU movie,
the funniest and arguably the
one that is least concerned
with how it fits with the others.
“Guardians” characters have
been integrated into the other
films but they’re at their best in
this entry, where they let their
freak flags fly.
“Iron Man” (2008)
How long ago did the MCU
launch? So long ago that
the trailer actually mentions
Myspace as if it were a cool
thing. Robert Downey Jr. genuinely
is a cool thing as the title
character, giving the no-contest
best performance in any
of these movies. Glib, sly and
brainy, his Tony Stark is a millionaire
jerk whom Downey
makes endearing.
“Black Panther” (2018)
We don’t even know yet
how many movie careers were
launched or given a boost by
Coogler’s swift — if typically
overstuffed — empowerment
adventure. Letitia Wright and
Winston Duke have snagged big
parts as a result of it and Michael
B, Jordan, Danai Gurira and
Lupita Nyong’o have moved
into different realms.
“Thor: Ragnarok” (2017)
A case could be made that
Taika Waititi, an Oscar winner
for writing “Jojo Rabbit,” is
the best thing to happen to
the MCU. Another director
plucked from the world of lowbudget
movies (“Hunt for the
Wilderpeople”), Waititi didn’t
worry much about the previous
movies in the “Thor” series,
choosing to turn the third one
into a speedy, funny romp that
has some of the energy of the
Indiana Jones franchise. And
the hits keep coming; Waititi is
writing and directing the next
“Thor,” too.
“Ant-Man” (2015)
Paul Rudd has been in many
movies that rely on his charm to
bail out a dumb script, but the
“Ant-Man” films show how he
can exponentially improve an
already sharp one. He’s wry and
winning as the title character,
whose superpower (getting
tiny) is sort of embarrassing.
And Rudd isn’t even the most
delightful person in the movie.
That would be screw-up sidekick
Michael Pena.
“Captain America: Civil
War” (2017)
This let’s-get-all-the-heroestogether
adventure benefited
from coming on the heels of
DC’s horrendous “Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice.”
The “Captain America” entries
feel unique because of
the Norman Rockwellesque
quality of Chris Evans’ character,
but he’s balanced here by
Downey’s ironic sensibility and
by the addition of a brand-new
Spider-Man: Tom Holland.
Whom Iron Man insists on
calling “Underoos.”
“Captain Marvel” (2019)
A feminist comic book
movie? Sure. This one’s all
about an accidental superhero
(Brie Larson) who literally
spends the movie discovering
who she is and in what ways she
is powerful. I hope they come
up with a worthy villain for
the next “Captain Marvel,” but
this one succeeds by exploring
something few caped-crusader
movies care about: its protagonist’s
humanity.
Looking for past issues?
Find them on weeklynews.net