Tag: Marvel

Details Emerge on What Ben Affleck’s Standalone Batman Script Was About Andddd I Want That Movie Instead

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Indiewire – In a new interview on MTV’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast, cinematographer Robert Richardson reconfirmed Affleck’s Batman script was finished and not exactly beloved by everyone involved in the film’s development. Richardson was hired by Affleck to film his Batman standalone film…

As for what Affleck’s script entailed, Richardson revealed the Batman franchise was going to Arkham Asylum to dig into Bruce Wayne’s own insanity. The cinematographer said Affleck’s film would have showed “the darker side of Batman,” which is quite the statement given how brooding Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of the superhero was in his “Dark Knight” trilogy.

“Well, [Affleck] was going more into the insanity aspects,” Richardson said. “So I think you would’ve seen something a little darker than what we’ve seen in the past and more into the individual, who was inside Batman — what element may be sane and what element may actually not be sane. So he was entering into a little more of the Arkham, as you know, he’s going into where you keep everyone who was bad, everyone that shifted and Batman. And so that whole aspect was sort of, it was very fascinating to go to the darker side of Batman.”

Give me *that* movie. What the hell Warner Bros? Its like these studios and DC Comics just cannot get out of their own way. Now I don’t want to shit on the yet to be released Robert Pattinson Batman movie because who knows it could be awesome, but this Affleck script sounds way more interesting than rebooting Batman for the third time in a decade.

It’ll be hard to ever top The Dark Knight, which for my money is arguably the greatest superhero movie ever made because it doesn’t rely on CGI and dozens of characters.

At its core The Dark Knight is a crime thriller with a heavy focus on psychology and mental health. As much as I loved Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale’s version, I really enjoyed Ben Affleck’s take on the character. He was a much angrier, morally ambiguous, jaded, and more violent version of the Batman than we’d ever seen before.

Now who knows the real story behind why the Batfleck is no more, but there was always drama around his standalone film. Maybe starring, writing, and directing was too much for Affleck or maybe he said to hell with it when he realized he didn’t actually have the creative freedom he thought he would. Either way this movie was on life support for a long time before he officially retired as the caped crusader in January. This movie sounds like it could have been incredible though. Similar to The Dark Knight‘s exploration of psychology and mental health, but taken to the next level with the physical embodiment of Arkham Asylum. Theres just so much meat on the bones and so many directions they could have went with that entire idea. I literally own The Psychology of Batman book so I may be a bit biased in my opinion, but I know for a fact that we could have seen something seriously compelling with Affleck’s script. Not even just with the criminals, but with Bruce Wayne himself. You obviously have to be pretty fucked up to lurk around city rooftops at night fighting bad guys while dressed like a BAT. The Batman movies have never really explored that too much other than the typical backstory of Bruce’s parents being murdered in front of him. Batman Begins delves into that a bit, but its more of how he became Batman whereas this could have been why.

After the flame out that was Justice League, it seems DC has decided to explore individual stories in standalone flicks that aren’t actually connected. We’ve got the upcoming Joker coming out later this year, which is already getting some early Oscar buzz, and that movie reportedly will not be connected to the larger DCEU at all.

I don’t expect this Pattison Batman role to be teaming up with the Justice League any time soon either.

The problem DC always had was they were continuously rushing projects along despite poor vision/execution. They seemingly thought they could just slap together a couple of movies and catch up to Marvel despite the MCU’s painstaking, carefully laid plans. People forget that Marvel released five movies over the course of 4+ years before teaming everyone up in The Avengers. And to be honest, 3-4 of those movies kind of stunk. If The Avengers didn’t completely nail it we could have seen the MCU shuttered a LOT quicker than originally anticipated, which is why Thanos isn’t even referenced until Thor.

Whereas DC released Man of Steel in 2013, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 and then Wonder Woman in 2017, immediately followed up by Justice League five months later. World building this was not. It didn’t help that Man of Steel never even made hint of a larger world of heroes and then 3 years later it turns out Batman has been running shit for years right across a literal bay of water from Clark Kent so that always came off as a shoddy retcon. Oh and that movie made the unforgivable decision to cast Mark Zuckerberg as Lex Luther and had one of the most ridiculous convoluted plots with the dumbest turning point (which Snyder still defends) that I can remember seeing in a movie.

Batman vs Superman could have been so so good. The trailer and the visuals taken out of context from that movie are still gorgeous. Just the perception of Bruce Wayne that Superman is actually evil and he needs to destroy this god-like figure to protect the world is so intriguing.

Especially after 40 years of Superman being portrayed as this Eagle Scout who flies in to save the day. Buttt the movie itself was a microcosm of the DCEU’s overarching issues and ended up being kind of a mess.

Wonder Woman was actually pretty good and was probably the only reason Justice League faired as well as it did. Except Justice League was another disaster in terms of vision and execution. In a vacuum its fine, I watched it on a flight and it kept me entertained, but it jumps around, its dark then its humorous, the villain was terrible and forgettable, and it seemed more like a comic book artist’s wet dream than a major movie studio’s tentpole franchise. Obviously a lot of that is likely due to the film having to switch directors midway through production after the death of Zack Snyder’s daughter. Ironically enough The Avengers mastermind Joss Whedon took over, but this movie was an amalgam of bad ideas thrown together skating by on IP alone.

So I’m holding out hope that DC has seen the error of its ways (Guys, not everything has to have a connected universe) and the casting of Pattinson has potential because he’s actually been grinding away as an indie character actor for the last decade. Who knows what direction Reeves will go in, but its tough not to wonder what could have been with Affleck giving it one more go.

Top Gun, Jay and Silent Bob, IT: WE GOT TRAILERS GALORE TODAY!

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We have received oodles and oodles of sweet new trailers today and this week as a whole. Fun fact, one time Papa Giorgio walked into my room in college and looked at me laying in bed with my laptop and said “…you’ve been watching movie trailers all night again haven’t you?” What can I say, I am a sucker for a great trailer. Its how shitbombs like Terminator Salvation and Medellin trick Joe Sixpacks like me into seeing their mediocre flicks. Heres hoping these movies don’t suck!

Top Gun: Maverick

I don’t know what to expect out of this movie. Its usually not a great idea to make a sequel to a movie THIRTY THREE YEARS after the original, but I’ll give it a go. Plus, there was a suspicious absence of Jon Hamm shown in this teaser so color me curious. Probably should’ve just went to space tbh.

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

LETS. GO. This isn’t what I truly wanted, which is Clerks 3, but its the next best thing so I’ll take it. Jay and Silent Bob were staples for anyone in their late 20s to early 30s. Just good old fashioned raunchy comedy and gratuitous bullying of celebrities in cameo roles. This reboot looks to be completely aware of how ridiculous the fact that it even exists is, which is a great start for a satire like this. I’m excited for this one.

IT 2

Soo I still haven’t watched the first IT if we’re being honest. It’s been recorded on my DVR for several months now. Why haven’t I watched it? Is it because I’m a giant puss and don’t want to fear for my life every time I go in the basement to do laundry? Who’s to say…

Supersize Me 2: Holy Chicken

Supersize Me is still one of my favorite documentaries because of how preposterous of an idea it was. The guy destroys his body and decimates all his vital signals in a MONTH just through McChickens and Big Macs. Not crack or booze. Cheeseburgers. That movie still just makes me hungry though and if you disagree you are a liar or a vegan.

The Red Sea Diving Resort

Captain America is back in his first post-Marvel role and he is teaming up with MY GUY Daario Naharis. Also shoutout to Netflix for completely flipping the film industry on its head. It used to be a death sentence for actors to go from the big screen to the small screen, but now A list actors do it without a second thought. That of course allows me to see movies without having to leave my couch and for a monthly fee thats *still* cheaper than a ticket to the movies.

A Score to Settle

Nicolas Cage long ago embraced the typecast role of unhinged characters. And he does it damn well.

Good Boys

So this has been out for a while, but they just dropped a new trailer so it technically makes the cut. Simply put, this movie looks hilarious. Basically Superbad with middle school kids, which makes sense since Seth Rogen is prominently involved in this one.

E3 Convention: Everything You Missed and Whats Coming Up in the World of Video Games

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As much as we blog about the Bruins, and the Patriots, and grown men beating the hell out of each other in the octagon; at the end of the day I am an unabashed nerd. You may have picked up on that from the 20+ Marvel movie reviews we did this year or the 2,500 word dissertations on each Game of Thrones episode. Well, the highlight of every nerd’s year was this week with the annual E3 Convention showcasing all the latest and greatest in the world of video games. The Electronic Entertainment Expo is something on my bucket list as I’ll need to make the mecca to Cali for this event one year. Without further ado, here’s everything you may have missed from the conference.

Halo Infinite

I’ve had an on again off again relationship with Halo over the years due to its platform exclusivity. Back in the days of the original Halo I was a PS2 guy so I would play in my buddy’s dark basement with the chunk black controller. Then I got an Xbox360 and played Halo 1/2 remastered and Halo 4 (3 got lost in the shuffle). Then I moved onto PS4 out of spite after I got the red ring of death so I have not played a Halo game in a minute. So needless to say I don’t know what the hell is going on here, BUT if this game continues to look as awesome as it does already, I could be tempted to pick up the Xbox 5 or whatever the hell Project Scarlett name they ultimately call it.

Platform: Xbox One, Project Scarlett

Release Date: Holiday 2020

Final Fantasy VII Remake

I didn’t get into Final Fantasy until FFX, but obviously FFVII is one of the most popular games of all time. This remake is something they have been talking about for YEARS with it first being announced back in 2015. So while I’m not particularly hyped for it, it looks beautiful and is a great opportunity for people like me to play a classic updated.

Platform: PS4

Release Date: March 3, 2020

Marvel’s Avengers

This is a game that I’ve been very cautiously optimistic about because its a perfect concept for a video game, but there have been so so many bad superhero video games over the years. I know Spider-Man was a massive hit last year and the recent Batman games have been well reviewed, but I still cringe just thinking about the old N64 Superman game or anything that has to do with the Hulk. Theres been next to no information available about this game, but we got our first trailer at E3 this week and I like what I’m seeing. Sure it looks a little wonky because the studio didn’t want to pay the licensing rights to use the actual actors, but other than that it looks pretty awesome so far. What’s most exciting about this game is that we’ll have an ever expanding roster of Marvel characters allegedly. I don’t believe the Marvel movie rights of who they could and couldn’t use applies to video games, but even if they did, don’t forget that Marvel just re-acquired the X-Men. Plus they don’t have to worry about the overarching movie storylines so we could get characters like the Punisher, Daredevil and maybe Deadpool dropping in? But that might be something they tackle in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 instead…

Platform: PS4, Xbox One, Stadia, and PC.

Release Date: May 15, 2020

Pokemon Sword and Shield

This is something I am stoked for as I haven’t bought a Pokemon game in years, but have been quietly watching from the sidelines. I basically got to a point where I refused to buy another iteration of the Game Boy (because I’m an adult damnit) so I have been waiting, and waiting, for Pokemon to finally enter the world of 3D open world platform gaming. That has arrived with the introduction of Sword and Shield. Not to mention they’ve got a gigantic direwolf looking dog with a sword in its mouth? Just take my money right now.

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: November 15, 2019

Cyberpunk 2077

BEND THE KNEE TO YOUR ONE TRUE KING, KEANU REEVES. I have to say I’m a bit of a Keanu hipster since I’ve been pumping his tires since I first saw The Matrix in 1999. The Matrix, Point Break, and John Wick are some of my favorite movies. It seems like out of nowhere Keanu has become the most beloved man in America and I totally get it (especially with all the stories of his generosity), but it is weird to see a guy I’ve been stanning for years all of a sudden become a mega celeb. Anyways, Cyberpunk looks pretty sweet. Its important to note that this footage shows exactly *zero* gameplay so lets not get too excited. We’ve all fallen for that too many times with Fallout 76, Destiny, Anthem, and No Mans Sky that show incredible hype footage only to release a subpar game.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Release Date: April 16, 2020

Fallout 76 (again)

Speaking of the most panned game of the year, Bethesda is doubling down on the half-assed cash grab they put out last year. For a franchise as beloved as Fallout that relies on single player experiences, open world exploration, character development, and in depth storylines to release a multi-player online only skeleton of a game was heresy to most fans. Well Bethesda said how about we add a battle royale Fortnite mode! Guys lets just accept the L and start working on Fallout 5.

Platform: PS4, Xbox One

Release Date: Coming soon…

Dragonball Z: Kakarot

I’m 30 years old and I still love Dragonball Z. Hell I’ve even debated getting a DBZ tattoo, so needless to say I will be picking up this little gem. Dragonball games have been pretty hit or miss over the years and Dragonball Fighter Z looked pretty slick, but I couldn’t see myself playing a side scrolling fighting game for that long. So for an RPG that looks awesome though and focuses on the storylines that we all (read: I) remember so fondly? Swipe. Swipe.

Platform: PS4, Xbox One

Release Date: Early 2020

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [unnamed sequel]

LETS GOOO. Breath of the Wild is truly one of the greatest games of all-time. It created a massive open world that you could literally do anything and everything. Infuriatingly frustrating at times, but fun as all hell once you figured out what you were doing. So to hear about a direct sequel to the first open world Zelda game has me sweating. I had heard rumors that Nintendo was going to re-use the Breath of the Wild engine so they could pump out a sequel quicker, which I am more than ok with. Use the exact same mechanics, reskin the game to create some new maps and environments, and give us some new storylines and we are in business. Unfortunately there was no release date given whatsoever so this game could be a ways off…

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: Currently “in development”

The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening

I missed a lot of the earlier Zelda games as I was a bigger Sonic, Mortal Kombat, and Pokemon guy before getting baptized by fire with Majora’s Mask. So games like Link’s Awakening were never really on my radar, which was originally a Game Boy title. The graphics of this updated version are gorgeous and the gameplay is clever as hell where it gives you the same Game Boy birds eye view with an updated flair. Very excited to check this one out.

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: September 20, 2019

Luigi’s Mansion 3

This is another franchise I missed entirely since I never had Game Cube or Wii. I’m still shocked that Nintendo hasn’t opened up an e-shop to download, or at the very least rent, some of their former classics. I know they did it on Wii and as Papa G says, Nintendo basically just tricks people into buying the same game 4 times. While I did miss the first two Luigi Mansions, I’m sure I’ll be able to figure it out. Either way this looks like another entertaining Nintendo romp and gives Luigi some much deserved shine.

Platform: Nintendo Switch

Release Date: “Available in 2019”

 

 

 

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Captain America: Civil War

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Captain America: Civil War (2016) is one of my favorite Marvel movies and I think a lot of people agree with that sentiment. My worry going back and watching Cap 3 for the first time in years was that it would just be me remembering another OK movie through rose colored glasses because of the incredible airport scene. Fear not, despite yet another convoluted villain character, this movie still kicks ass all these years later. As it should, considering this movie really made up for the disappointing Avengers 2. They should have called this movie Avengers 2.5. It also has the distinction of giving Captain America hands down the best complete trilogy in all of the MCU. Iron Man 2 and 3 leave much to be desired. Thor 2 was not great, and Guardians 3 is TBD. Now lets get to it!

Oooooh I love cold opens.

It’s 1991 and Winter Solider is back. It seems like he’s being tortured by the Russians, but after a series of code words uttered wake him up you see he’s basically a brainwashed spy for the Russki’s. They send him out on a retrieval mission and he whacks someone driving a caddy and takes some blue goo from their trunk. Title card.

We cut to Scarlet Witch, Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon scouting out a scene in Nigeria for a mission which quickly turns into an all out firefight

“Wanda, just like we practiced,” Cap says to Scarlet Witch, implying the training thats been taking place before this.

But, wait its not just some faceless mercs, it’s Crossbones who is already an established villain apparently, but someone I again had to look up to remember his story. For anyone thats forgot like me he played Brock Rumlow in Captain America 2 as a sleeper cell agent for HYDRA. Welp Crossbones tries to suicide bomb Cap, only to be temporarily stopped by Scarlet Witch, who in an effort to levitate him to safety accidentally blows up half a building.

And thats how you get the Sokovia Accords.

Holy christ they CGI’d Tony Stark’s de-aged face onto a teenager’s body.

Tony Stark gets confronted by a woman who blames Stark for her son’s death in….you guessed it, Sokovia.

And thats how you get the Sokovia Accords.

The Secretary of State drops in on Avengers HQ to lecture the team about all the collateral damage they’ve caused with literally no repercussions.

It raises an interesting question though, what gives the Avengers the right to operate with “unlimited power and no supervision,” as the Secretary puts it?

We are introduced to Helmut Zimo, who is another HYDRA agent on a mission. Zimo is torturing another old Russian general. When he asks how Zimo found him he directly references the gigantic Wiki Leaks dump Black Widow did at the end of Winter Soldier.

This is where the split between the team members of the Avengers begins. Tony Stark the rogue “genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” immediately opts to surrender his rights and sign the Sokovia Accords. This basically gives the Avengers the United Nations for a boss, which military lifer Captain America is just unwilling to do. It’s quite the role reversal we see here and drives the wedge between the team when half of them sign and half of them don’t.

Sokovia Accords ceremony gets bombed to high hell and King T’Chaka, of one Wakanda, is killed in the blast, which we will learn later leads to the introduction of another hero.

But who would bomb the Sokovia Accords? Oh well the news immediately identifies the culprit as one Bucky Barnes. That took 5 minutes, but sure. We’re then introduced to the first incident with the Sokovia Accords exposing why it’s such a pain in the ass. By not signing the document, Captain America isn’t allowed to interfere so he and his crew are officially outlaws at this point.

Cap going to help his friend out turns into Cap aiding and abetting a wanted terrorist realll quick though. He nearly gets out of it unscathed too until a goddamn Black Panther drops out of the clouds to stop them. United Nations sanctioned War Machine joins the party and congratulates Cap for now being a criminal before all three are arrested. Oh and we learn that Black Panther is in fact King T’Chaka’s son, T’Challa.

“I’m not getting that shield back am I,” Cap asks.

“Technically it’s the government’s property,” Black Widow shoots back.

This movie has a lot of parallels to X-Men 3: The Last Stand. As bad as that movie was it’s how this storyline could very easily turn, with the world calling for the eradication of Mutants and the Mutants fighting back. Here we have Tony trying to stave off “something worse” than signing a document.

Hey look its Zimo who somehow works for the government and is the exact guy interrogating Bucky Barnes. K? Zimo uses an EMP to knock out all the power in the building so he can say the code words to turn Bucky back into the Russian spy he was back in 1991. But, before we get into that, maybe War Machine can explain what the hell happened with that EMP?

Bucky is in brainwashed mode yet again and nearly kills everyone before Cap is able to knock him out before he can escape. He snaps out of it and explains to Cap how he got his brain scrambled again and what these guys might be looking for exactly.

“Because I’m not the only Winter Soldier,” Bucky says as a flashback shows exactly what that Blue Goo was from the opening of the movie. A group of psychos Bucky refers to as the most elite death squad in Hydra history were also injected with that serum, but they all seem to be pretty unhinged.

Tony Stark is officially given an assignment to bring in the rogue Avengers, but without half their team, Hulk, and Thor to back them up it’s time to do a little recruiting.

We head to Queens to meet the best Peter Parker ever put on film, who Tony quickly takes a liking to and invites him to Germany for a little project. Cut to Hawkeye who’s come out of “retirement” to bust Scarlet Witch out of house arrest, which takes a little duel with Vision to do so. Black Widow recruits Black Panther and Cap hits up Agent Peggy’s niece (whom he also macks on) to get back his shield and Falcon’s  suit. And to round out the crew we got a starstruck Ant-Man meeting Cap and the rest of the rogue Avengers.

Paul Rudd should be in every one of these movies from here on out.

Tony and his crew of War Machine, Black Widow, Black Panther, Spider-Man, and Vision show up to shut that shit down. Let the Battle Royale begin.

Most of it’s all fun and games with some cheeky one liners, ya know except for Rhodes getting paralyzed. Other than that though, it’s all a pretty good time before Cap and Bucky escape and head to Russia to figure out WTF is going on. HYDRA winter soldier death squad, sleeper cell evil scientists?

The rest of Cap’s crew is on lockdown in the “max security underwater super pokey” as Tony describes it. He seems to be realizing this whole Sakovia Accords thing may have been a bad idea.

Tony learns of Zemo and with a tip from Falcon heads to Berlin, which don’t ya know is exactly where Bucky and Cap are headed. Zemo finds the old HYDRA lab in Berlin and locates the other winter soldiers saved on ice.

In a change of heart Tony realizes what Cap has been trying to do this whole time and joins forces with him.

Now this is where this movie gets weird. We finally see those other winter soldiers, but Zemo has already killed them all? So this whole thing was all a ploy to get the Avengers here? Bombing the UN, framing Bucky Barnes, killing innocent people for what?

“An empire toppled by its enemies can be rebuilt, but one that crumbles from within, thats dead forever,” Zemo says.

Zemo plays the security cam footage of Tony Stark’s parents not actually dying in a car crash, but getting straight up murdered by Bucky Barnes all those years ago. And it turns out Captain America knew the whole time.

Welp, there goes Tony’s renewed alliance with Cap and Buck. Blind with rage Tony will stop at nothing to kill Bucky now, even if it means going through Cap. After some serious hand to hand combat, it seems like Iron Man is in some deep shit, but with a blast from his goddamn chest piece Tony blows off Bucky’s metal arm.

Turns out Zemo’s family was killed in the shitshow that was Sokovia. Knowing he couldn’t kill the Avengers himself, he plotted to have them destroy each other. Black Panther apprehends Zemo before he can kill himself meanwhile Cap and Ton continue to beat the hell out of each other. Cap gets the upperhand and Tony drops a real heart wrenching quote that forces him to leave his shield.

Captain America goes full rogue and busts his half of the Avengers out of super max prison and leaves Tony with a promise, and a flip phone, that if he ever needs him he’ll be there.

Mid credits scene: Cap and Bucky are in Wakanda as Bucky decides being frozen once again is the best thing for everyone until they can figure out whats up. Oh and these guys have quite the technology don’t they?

Post credits scene:

This movie absolutely holds up and is one of the best of the entire MCU. It doesn’t really advance the overall plot of the Infinity Stones or the impending threat from Thanos, but this is a popcorn flick to beat all popcorn flicks. Captain America: Civil War is like when you finally get to open all your presents on Christmas Day and play with all your toys at once.

Final Rating: 9/10

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Ant-Man

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The300s MCU

Image result for ant man movie poster

After a pretty hit-or-miss slate of movies throughout Phase 2, Marvel ended the epoch on a really good note with 2015’s “Ant-Man.”

To be honest, I had no idea what to expect from this one – not only because Hank Pym wasn’t really one of my guys growing up, but even more so because the MCU had my emotions all mixed up at the time. The studio’s second phase started off with clunkers like “Iron Man 3” and the second Thor movie, only to follow that up with two of their best ever in the second Cap movie as well as “Guardians of the Galaxy.” Then, I was absolutely disgusted with “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” which was released just two months before. (Seriously, it has to be my least favorite MCU film. I still think Papa Giorgio was being a bit ambitious with his 5.0 rating.)

Ant-Man was great, though. It truly was. Even though, as I mentioned above, I wasn’t really an expert on the storyline growing up, I was cautiously excited solely for the fact it starred one of my favorite actors/humans ever in Paul Rudd. I may actually love him more than I do some family members, and I can’t remember the last thing I’d seen with him I didn’t enjoy. So good start there.

Image result for paul rudd ant man

Then, we were also treated to the absolute GEM that is Michael Peña (more on him later). And we also got an extended cameo from Tip Harris – aka T.I. (yes, that T.I.) – along with a star-studded supporting cast that included Michael Douglas, Evangeline Lilly, Judy Greer, Wood Harris, and Bobby Cannavale.

In typical MCU fashion, the movie was obviously going to sprinkle in the funny, especially with guys like Rudd and Peña leading the way. Fortunately, though, it wasn’t overkill. The humor was placed perfectly throughout the story, and I was grinning pretty much the whole film.

As far as the action goes, there wasn’t really any actual “fighting” at all until the very end. But still, there were plenty of unique shots of what life would look like from the perspective of a man the size of a freakin’ thumbtack. For example, here’s what the poor guy had to go through after trying on the suit for the first time and discovering its insane abilities:

And there were plenty of shots like this, too:

Not mindblowing stuff, but pretty cool nonetheless. At least it’s not something you see everyday.

For those who need a refresher on the actual movie itself, here’s a (kind of) quick rundown:

We start off with a flashback to 1989, where we see Hank Pym (Douglas) walking into a small meeting of the minds at S.H.I.E.L.D., which includes Marvel legend Peggy Carter, and we find out that Pym is pretty pissed off after finding out people were trying to replicate his work. Apparently, he had been hiding the secret stuff that allowed him to change his size, because he knew how dangerous the technology could be in the wrong hands. He then resigns and says, “As long as I’m alive, nobody will ever get that formula.” So that’s that.

Back to present day, where we see Scott Lang (Rudd) getting his ass kicked in some sort of weird prison goodbye ceremony, only to then be escorted out of the gates and right into the van of his good pal, Luis. This is where we first see the on-screen magic between these two and are introduced to the comedic genius of Michael Peña, who plays Luis. From the get-go, the dude had me roaring almost every time he was on the screen, absolutely stealing the show at some parts. Peña is pure gold in this one. GOLD.

Image result for michael pena ant man

After getting fired from Baskin-Robbins when his manager discovers his criminal past,  Lang visits Luis’s apartment, where two of  Luis’s buddies, Dave (T.I.) and Kurt, are sitting at the table, looking all shady. Come to find out, they’re interested in having Scott help them with a “score,” a request which Lang immediately rebuffs. Luis then explains to the other two that while Lang is technically an ex-con, he was actually arrested for hacking into a company which stole millions from its customers (called Vista) and somehow distributing the funds back out the deserving folks. Lang then calls himself a “cat burglar” and not a robber, trying to look as non-criminal as possible.

Over to Pym Technologies, where we see a much older Hank Pym, who is apparently no longer running the very company which bears his name. His daughter, Hope van Dyne (Lilly) is also present, along with quite possibly the most douchey character in MCU history, Darren Cross. Apparently, this guy Cross was Pym’s former protégé whom is now responsible for running the company. Cross is obsessed with continuing Pym’s research, which Pym kept hidden from him, and is miffed that he was lied to about the whole Ant-Man thing. Come to find out, Cross was able to get a hold of the formula and introduces his own miniature “hero” idea: Yellow Jacket. He also lets Pym know about his plan to sell the technology to those who want to create an army of miniature super soldiers.

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Sure, he was an A-hole, but that suit is DOPE.

Pym tries to reason with Cross not to pursue the tech any further, and he especially warns against selling it as a weapon. Cross doesn’t care, some even more douchey guys with money show up, and Pym’s not a happy camper. However, apparently he and Hope, who serves as Cross’s second hand, have been conspiring to stop Cross behind his back for a while now.

We then see Lang show up to his daughter’s birthday party, an event at which he is NOT welcome by anyone besides his disgustingly adorable daughter. Not only is he being shunned for being an ex-con, but he also realizes he needs money, and he needs it fast. At which point, he goes back to Luis’s place to ask about that “score.”

Cue the first hilarious Peña rant recap of the movie:

Lang accepts, and they go to rob the house. Come to find out, though, they’re not robbing a safe full of money – and even more importantly, they’re not just robbing any old house. Once Lang breaks open the safe, which is actually a room, we see the Ant-Man suit sitting there, which he quickly grabs and books it out of the house. We also then see a shot of good old Pym watching Lang rob his house, which seems a bit odd at first.

I already showed you what happens when he tries on the suit, which causes him to go right back to Pym’s place and “return it.” Upon leaving the house, who else is there but the cops, right? Boom. Back to jail for Mr. Lang.

OK, we’re getting a bit long here, so time for a Peña-style recap of the next chunk of the film:

  • Pym pulls a fast one, tricking the cops into thinking he was Lang’s lawyer in order to try and get him out of jail.
  • We find out that Pym had actually planned the entire thing, down to his house being robbed, because he’s been following Lang ever since finding out about his story. He then forces Lang to use the suit to escape prison.
  • After waking up at Pym’s house, Lang first meets Hope, who is nahhht a fan.
  • Pym explains to Lang why he’s there. Hope remains pissed off because she wants to do it herself. Pym seems really dead set against that whole idea for some reason. Lang tells him to call the Avengers. Pym says he’s spent his whole life trying to keep his tech away from the Starks and anyone associated with them.
  • They talk about a plan to infiltrate Pym Technologies and destroy Cross’s plans.
  • Then begins a whole training montage of Lang learning how to be Ant-Man, which is basically the MCU’s version of “Rocky III” minus the beach.

During this time, we also see Cross discover how to finally shrink organic matter without killing it. So that’s not good. And we get to see Lang fight Falcon when attempting to steal a piece of tech from the Avengers facility:

Lang also convinces Luis and the boys to help them with their plan. We also find out that Pym has been keeping Hope away from danger the whole time after losing her mother Janet (aka the original Wasp) in a mission years ago. And this is actually super important. Apparently, in order to diffuse a Russian (because of course) bomb, she had to shrink down to sub-atomic levels and enter the Quantum Realm, which had never been done before. Pym says it’s “a reality where all concepts of time and space become irrelevant as you shrink for all eternity.” He never saw her again and has spent his life trying to get her back. (He had previously been lying to Hope and saying it was a plane crash that killed her mother. *Cue heartwarming father-daughter healing scene.*)

And off to Pym Technologies…

A lot of stuff happens inside and outside the facility, everyone escapes (including Cross), and the building itself basically implodes as everyone is getting away. Lang follows Cross, who throws on the Yellow Jacket suit and becomes super tiny himself, all the way to Lang’s daughter’s house.

As Cross is holding Lang’s daughter hostage, Lang decides to take the leap and go sub-atomic to get inside the Yellow Jacket suit and destroy Cross. He’s able to do so, but he also almost gets stuck in the Quantum Realm forever. Lo and behold, he finds a way out, and with both Cross and the tech destroyed, the movie is basically over. (Pym also walks in on Lang smooching with Hope at the very end, setting up the future of the franchise. The first post-credit scene also has Pym showing Hope the Wasp suit he’s been hiding in the basement for years. SPOILER ALERT: She becomes the new Wasp.)

Image result for the wasp lilly wings

Again, I had a blast watching this one the first time, and I had almost just as much fun watching it again. Rather than making it your typical “good guy vs. bad guy” cookie-cutter super hero flick, the MCU seemed to be more interested in creating an origin story that was simultaneously a redemption story for a new and really fun character.

Kudos to Feige and Co. on this one.

Final rating: 7.0 out of 10.

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Avengers: Age of Ultron

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I have a hard time coming to terms with this movie. Avengers: Age of Ultron is a strange crossroads for the MCU. The film has some great moments and sets up a ton of what is to come in Phase 3, but just tends to stumble over itself constantly with some laughable choices and poor pacing. Even though it is the 11th movie in the MCU, it is the first direct sequel to The Avengers which obviously comes with built-in expectations. Here’s a quick re-cap for those that need a refresher.

Avengers: Age of Ultron suffers from the same problem as most of the Phase 2 films. They all sort of feel like filler. Phase 1 was able to build excitement from the promise that we were about to see all our heroes on the big screen together for the first time. Flash-forward to Phase 2 and we have more of a “been there, done that” mentality. I’ve seen them assemble, so now what? Phase 2 promised us a new direction, the lead up to the Infinity Stone plot line. So what do our heroes do in the meantime? The answer is, not much.

Ultron in itself is a plot device designed to stall. You have a self-made threat, created by Tony that is the newest danger to the existence of mankind. James Spader does fine with the character, but Ultron’s presence alone is just a stop-gap until Thanos shows up. The Infinity Stone plot line is at least front and center, with several references to the stones encountered so far and Thor claiming this all isn’t happening by chance and that there must be someone manipulating them from afar. Very astute observation, Thor.

The film does give us some new characters, most notably Vision and Scarlett Witch. Vision, who is essentially a demi-god, is a solid addition to the team. The character is played by Paul Bettany, who is best known in the MCU as the voice of Jarvis. It is kind of crazy to think just how well thought out things are behind the scenes at Marvel. Kudos.

There’s a ton that bothers me in this movie though. Thor’s lightning pool scene. Quicksilver dodging bullets all movie long to just get a shot a thousand times and die. Hawkeye having a wife and kids just hanging out at home. All things designed to distract us that this plot isn’t really advancing.

It’s tough to follow up one of the most successful movies of all time in The Avengers. Director Joss Whedon famously exited Marvel Studios after this film because it stressed him out too much. Luckily at this point we were only a year away from Captain America: Civil War, which is essentially Avengers 2.5 and feels like a more natural place to take these characters after the events of the first Avengers movie. Overall, Ultron is very meh.

Final Rating: 5.0 out of 10

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Guardians of the Galaxy

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Very rarely does something just appear out of the ethos the way Guardians of the Galaxy did back in 2014. Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe really took off, I had major doubts that Iron Man could work as a film. At the time, it felt like we were reaching too far into the barrel and pulling out heroes that didn’t warrant their own movie. I mean, before knowing what we know now, the casting of Robert Downey Jr. and seeing the finished product, who the hell out there was clamoring for an Iron Man movie? I never in a million years thought we’d get beyond that surface level of superheroes, i.e. Superman, Batman, Spider-Man. Fast forward six years to the release of Guardians, which in my opinion was the exact moment comic book movies showed us what they could be if given the time and space to flourish.

Please take a look below if you’d like a bit of a refresher on the brilliance that is Guardians of the Galaxy.

So now that you’re caught up, where do I begin?

It is so rare for a virtually unheard of IP to come out of nowhere and become such a hit in pop culture. Guardians of the Galaxy did exactly that in the summer of 2014. I remember reading online years before it was released that Marvel was planning on bringing some of their lesser known heroes to the big screen. When Guardians was announced, I did some research into it because frankly I had no clue what it was even about. I remember seeing things that said the ensemble featured a talking Raccoon, a gigantic tree that only said it’s own name, and a human by the name of Peter Quill. Needless to say, I thought this movie was going to tank. “There’s absolutely no way this thing could work!” “They are getting so unbelievably desperate.” For those keeping score at home, I was completely wrong once again.

Guardians of the Galaxy felt immediate. It’s the first movie set in space since probably Star Wars where the world felt lived in and already established. The roles were brilliantly cast. I never suspected Chris Pratt could be a leading man and yet here we are several years removed and he’s one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. Rocket Raccoon and Groot went from “sounds horrible on paper” to being plastered on every toy, action figure, and coffee mug inside your local Target. And how about that damn soundtrack? James Gunn took some of the best songs from the 70s and 80s and made them the backbone of a film set in a far off galaxy and they somehow all work perfectly. The soundtrack naturally shot to #1 on the Billboard charts for several weeks.

Guardians of the Galaxy was the first movie to come along in the MCU that made me completely forget about the MCU. I suddenly stopped caring about what The Avengers were up to and wanted to see the continuing adventures of Star-lord and Company. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Avengers, but Guardians showcased exactly what comic book movies could do if they tried something different. To this day it sits in my top three in the MCU.

Final rating: 9.5 out of 10

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier was released on April 4th, 2014. Coming off two of what I consider giant letdown films in the MCU, I was praying to god that this movie wouldn’t stink. The Avengers was wildly successful in teaming up all our favorite heroes, only for Phase Two to split them back up into individual roles and bringing us pretty much back to square one. After whatever the hell Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World were, I was starting to become a bit skeptical that this series was finally starting to lose steam. Boy oh boy was I wrong.

The film starts off with Steve Rogers out for a brisk morning run in Washington, D.C. He’s constantly lapping Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie) who can’t match Cap’s speed. After a brief rest, Wilson tells Cap he works at the VA and that he’s a former soldier himself and asks Cap to stop by at some point, which Cap agrees to. Black Widow pulls up in a car to tell Cap he’s needed for a mission and they take off.

Somewhere overseas, Cap and Black Widow are in a military jet and discuss the mission at hand. They need to board a freighter that is operated by SHIELD that has been taken over by pirates. The freighter contains key information that is critical to SHIELD that Black Widow is tasked with recovering, unbeknownst to Captain himself. A large fight ensues with Cap rescuing the hostages and them barely escaping alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ7y3pEjNUI

A little pissed that he wasn’t told about the true nature of the mission, Rogers returns to D.C. to confront Nick Fury at SHIELD headquarters. He’s still a bit untrusting after the events of The Avengers and doesn’t fully believe SHIELD has the right intentions, regardless of what they claim. Fury explains to Rogers that times have changed and he better get with the program if he is to remain apart of SHIELD. In a show of good faith, Fury let’s Rogers see what SHIELD is currently working on: Project Insight, which is essentially three massive Hellicarriers that are tasked with eliminating threats before they even happen.

After Rogers takes off, Fury tries to review the data obtained by Black Widow and is denied access. Questioning why he was overridden, he begins to suspect that something is going on behind that scenes at SHIELD and he becomes a bit suspicious. He brings his suspicions to Secretary Pierce, the political figurehead of SHIELD played by Robert Redford. Pierce tells him theres nothing to worry about (sure Redford, whatever you say).

We’re then given what is one of the best scenes in Marvel cinematic history. Watch and enjoy.

Fury’s escape is then stopped by The Winter Soldier himself and he barely escapes just in the nick of time.

We cut to Rogers entering his apartment, only to find Fury sitting there listening to some old records. He is badly injured, and warns Rogers that he shouldn’t trust anyone and that SHIELD has been compromised. Fury gives Rogers the data that Black Widow obtained. Just then, Fury is shot through the walls of Roger’s apartment by The Winter Soldier.

At the hospital, Fury is pronounced dead in front of Cap, Black Widow, and Maria Hill. Black Widow asks Rogers why Fury was in his apartment and he doesn’t truthfully answer. Cap is then summoned to SHIELD headquarters to speak with Secretary Pierce. Taking Fury’s advice, he hides the flash drive of information in a vending machine in the hospital before departing. At his meeting at SHIELD, Pierce not so subtly accuses Cap of knowing more than he is letting on, and labels him an enemy of SHIELD. On Rogers way out of SHIELD headquarters, he’s ambushed in yet another amazing scene from this film and the MCU as a whole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUpvwMLHdUE

After his escape, Rogers returns to the hospital to retrieve the flash drive only to find it missing, but luckily taken by Black Widow. They then travel to an Apple Store together (groan) to try and unlock a bit more information. They uncover a secret military installation in New Jersey where Captain was originally trained. Underneath the base, they discover a hidden room that is filled with antique computers and technology which is revealed to be recreation of Zola from Cap 1’s brain? (Yeah, this is the one thing in this movie that has me a little confused) Computer Zola pretty much tells Cap and Black Widow that HYDRA has been infiltrating SHIELD for the last half a century. Just then a missile strikes the base, destroying it and nearly killing Cap and Black Widow.

After another run in with the The Winter Soldier, it is revealed that he is in fact Bucky Barnes, Steve’s long thought dead best friend. They are captured by HYDRA agents and taken to Pierce. In transit, Maria Hill is discovered to be posing as one of the HYRDA agents and busts them out of captivity. She brings them to a secret base, where we see Nick Fury, alive and well. He faked his own death because he wasn’t sure who he could trust (Sure, whatever, i’ll let it slide).

The World Security Council shows up to SHIELD headquarters for a demonstration of Project Insight. Captain America gets on the loudspeaker and announces to all SHIELD employees that HYDRA has taken over, with Pierce being their leader. Gunfire ensues as the employees quickly take sides. The Hellicarriers are launched and Cap and Black Widow attempt to take back control, with The Winter Soldier waiting for them on board. Cap is convinced Bucky remembers who he is, with Bucky trying his hardest to not let on that he’s right. The Hellicarriers are destroyed and as they are crashing, Bucky saves Cap and places him along the shoreline before he walks into the proverbial sunset.

SHIELD is disbanded after the dust settles. Fury burns his eye patch and heads to Europe to track down more HYDRA bases, Maria Hill takes a job with Stark Industries, and Cap and Wilson set out in search of Bucky.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is the exact moment in the MCU for me that things went from good to great. It is living proof that the stand alone films still work, even after Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World pretty much stunk up the place. The film almost felt like a Bourne movie, as opposed to just another cookie cutter entry of a Marvel film. To this day it remains one of my favorite films in the series.

Final verdict: 9 out of 10

New X-Men: Dark Phoenix Trailer Drops. Will This Be the Last X-Men Before Inevitable Marvel Reboot?

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If we’re being honest I’m pretty bummed about the inevitable reboot of X-Men now that Marvel owns the rights to the mutant characters. For better or worse I love the X-Men movies. Some are incredible like X-Men 2 and Logan. Some are god awful like X-Men 3 and Wolverine. I enjoy all of them though. So it’ll be bittersweet when Kevin Feige ultimately takes this crew out back and puts them out of their meandering misery. It’s bittersweet because we’ve seen great achievements by this cast including the first time we saw them all in X-Men: First Class, but we’ve also seen some pretty big misses in X-Men: Apocalypse. So in my brain I know Feige will probably create a better, if nothing else more cohesive, X-Men universe, but it’s still a bummer to see this franchise get rebooted AGAIN. But, hey they rebooted SpiderMan three times in 10 years and they wound up with the best Peter Parker ever put on film.

Now back to the trailer itself. It looks pretty crazy so I’m excited for that…but X-Men has a history of creating amazing trailers for pretty mediocre films a la Vinny Chase in Medellin.

Seriously just look at the Apocalypse trailer again.

That movie looks incredible. Yea, well it was not incredible. It was a convoluted mess and a waste of one of the best actors of our generation in Oscar Isaac. It currently has a 48% on Rotten Tomatoes and 52% on Metacritic. It does somehow have a 7/10 on IMDB though.

So I’m cautiously optimistic for this one though, especially because of the source material. The Dark Phoenix saga is one of the best comic book stories of all time and they completely bungled it with that disaster X-Men 3. The main problem with X-Men over the years has been inconsistency in their vision and convoluted storylines.

It looks like it could very easily go down that path with what looks like a potential Mystique death at the hands of Jean Gray. But that would be too obvious to put in the trailer right? Right?

Either way, I’ve been over Mystique for a while now. They cast a completely unknown Jennifer Lawrence in First Class, a year before Hunger Games made her a superstar, and she was great. In every X-Men movie since though she’s looked less and less interested in even being there. So if Jean Gray offs her in the first 20 minutes of Dark Phoenix I will not shed a tear.

As long as we get ALL the Fassbender.

Dark Phoenix is set to release on June 7th, 2019…barring any more delays.

PS – Are we ever gonna get the forever shelved X-Men movie starring the other Stark girl; The New Mutants? Or we just gonna let that one die on the vine despite looking pretty much done? IMDB lists the release date as August 2, 2019, but it’s already been pushed back almost 2 years at this point. Theres even been whispers through the grape vine that New Mutants could just be released straight to Hulu whenever it does come out. Yuck. So I’ll believe a firm release date when I actually see it with my popcorn and Mountain Dew in the theaters.

The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind Presents – Thor: The Dark World

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More than any other Marvel film, the first two Thor movies require so much explanation right out of the gates. Theres definitely a lot going on, but it’s never a great start when the first 5 minutes of the movie require an Anthony Hopkins voiceover to explain the background. Especially after we’ve already met Thor and the whole crew just 2 years prior.

I haven’t watched Thor 2 since I saw it in theaters in 2013. All I remembered about this movie was that all kinds of stuff got destroyed in London. Thats it.

Before we get into the review though I have to point out one thing. THANK GOD THEY FIXED THOR’S EYEBROWS. I mentioned it in my review of Thor 1, but it’s something that bothered me for a decade because I could never quite put my finger on what it was.

Thor 1

Thor 2

Okay now that thats been addressed we can move on amicably.

So we begin with Loki being sentenced to a lifetime of prison in the Asgardian tombs for his crimes in Thor 1 and The Avengers.

Thor drops into save the day on another battle that his team is fighting for some reason or another. Apparently after the bifrost was destroyed (its fixed now) all the other realms rebelled for some reason so the Asgardians are trying to get all nine realms to bend the knee once again. In a common theme in this movie, it doesn’t really matter why.

Back on Earth Jane (Natalie Portman) is in London investigating science stuff (again doesn’t matter why) when she stumbles upon a rift in dimensions of some sort. Gravity is all wonky and they discover a wormhole of sorts when they throw trash, bricks, and car keys into the portal only to have them disappear entirely. Jane then gets sucked into one of these wormholes and comes into contact with a dark force. Doing so appears to have awoken the Dark Elves that Thor’s grandfather banished so many years ago.

It’s only when Thor goes to talk with Heimdall and asks about Jane do they realize somethings wrong; Heimdall can’t see her. So Thor bombs down to London to check on her. When the cops show up and try to arrest Jane for trespassing she goes Super Saiyan and nearly blows the guy away. Unsure of what the hell is going on Thor takes her back to Asgard for help. Odin recognizes this dark force as the Aether, which his voiceover from the beginning of the film explains how the Dark Elves weaponized thousands of years ago.

“Their leader, Malekith, made a weapon out of that darkness, it was called the Aether. While the other relics often appear as stones, the Aether is fluid, and ever changing. It changes matter into dark matter, and seeks out host bodies, drawing strength from their life force.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; Asgard has the absolute WORST security in all of the MCU. In each of the Thor movies a villain sneaks into Asgard somehow undetected and sets off an explosion. In. every. single. movie. In this instance, one of the Dark Elves poses as a prisoner being transported to Asgard Jail. Anddd about 10 minutes later this Dark Elf breaks out (with an explosion) and starts a full scale prison riot.

“It is as if they resent being in prison,” one of Thor’s warriors hilariously quips.

Heimdall spotting an invisible ship trying to sneak into Asgard and taking it down with a nothing but a couple of daggers is low key the best scene in the movie.

Thanks to the prison riot distraction the Dark Elf faux prisoner is able to knock out the Asgardian castle’s defenses so Malekith and his army can roll right up to the front door. He’s looking for the Aether, which currently lives inside Natalie Portman.

Now in return for helping hide Natalie Portman from Malekith, Thor’s mom is rewarded with a sword through the back. Thor chases Malekith and the dark elves out of Asgard. With their defenses destroyed Oden opts to wait for the intruders to return leaving Asgard and its people as sitting ducks.

Thor doesn’t exactly agree with his father and concocts a plan to use Jane as bait to draw Malekith out of hiding. With the bifrost closed and the Tesseract locked away, Thor needs a little help sneaking off Asgard.

Quick aside: Scottish actors have an absolute lock on these Viking roles as the Mrs. sniped Game of Thrones actor Clive Russell as one of Oden’s Asgardian generals, who is best known for playing the Blackfish.

I understand that Viking culture is Viking culture, but there are a lot of similarities to Game of Thrones in this movie. Welp, turns out the director of Thor 2, Alan Taylor, has also directed several episodes of Thrones. Small world.

Anyways, with a little help from Sif and the Warriors Three, Thor is able to get off Asgard alongside Loki and Jane.

Back on Earth: Another annoying thing about this movie is that Professor Erik Selvig is legitimately crazy the entire movie, running around naked at one point before getting arrested,

only to become completely normal again in the final act of the movie. The only explanation given is his quip “I’ve had a God in my brain, I don’t recommend it” and him throwing out a bag of prescription pills he’s been popping. I guesss Loki’s mind control from The Avengers is having some residual effects, but I don’t know. Again, doesn’t really matter why.

Time to science.

Now that Thor and Loki are on the Dark World, they need to defeat Malekith and destroy the Aether. Loki breaks out some A+ trickery in the final 30 minutes here stabbing his brother and chopping off Thor’s hand as a ploy to catch Malekith off guard as he pulls the Aether from Jane. (This whole movie has a very X-Men 3: Dark Phoenix vibe to it and thats not a good thing.)  Except it doesn’t really work. Malekith takes the Aether and jets while Loki dies protecting Thor, or so we’re led to believe.

Stuck on this random Dark World with no way home Marvel introduces the most blatant deus ex machina that I’ve ever seen. Remember that random portal Jane and friends were throwing trash into in the beginning of the movie? Welp it’s a direct gateway from London to the random Dark World cave that Thor and Jane are in right now!

It’s not really until the end of the movie that I even understood what Malekith’s motives are and why the final battle is in London. Basically all nine realms are converging and when that happens it’s like a massive solar eclipse. It also gives him the opportunity to bring darkness (destroy?) all of the realms at once. Bringing it back to the heyday of the dark elves, who actually ruled the universe before Thor’s grandfather defeated them. Well the center point for this whole convergence is Greenwich, London.

I’m shocked they didn’t go with the Powerman 5000 soundtrack for the final scene of the movie when worlds literally collide.

Final battle between Thor and Malekith ensues. Thor defeats the bad guy and contains the Aether.

A nice twist at the end though as Thor goes to tell his father he will refuse the throne and as he walks away we see that it is actually Loki posing as Oden!

Mid credits scene: We are introduced to The Collector for the first time and it’s revealed that the Aether is in fact an Infinity Stone as Sif leaves it with him for safe keeping.

Post credits scene: Thor returns to London for some smooches. Thor will return.

Final Rating: 6/10

This movie isn’t bad per se, it’s just a bit nonsensical at times and overall forgettable. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston’s likeability are the only thing that really redeem the movie because the plot is confusing, the villain is a faceless bore, and the motives of everyone involved are murky. But due to the brilliant rapport of Hemsworth and Hiddleston the movie is a decent way to kill 2 hours.

Up next in The 300s Marvel Cinematic Rewind is Captain America: The Winter Solider!