Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
DIRECTOR: Joe Johnston
CAST:
Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper, Sebastian Stan, Neal McDonough, Derek Luke
REVIEW:
Captain America is an adequate, serviceable comic book superhero origin movie that doesn’t merit any scorn but also doesn’t generate overwhelming enthusiasm. Tying in with Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Thor, it’s the last of the Marvel comics movies introducing each of the individual Avengers who will be united onscreen in 2012’s The Avengers, and it’s debatable whether the Cap’n would have seen the screen otherwise. Despite his long-running existence in the comics (since 1941), Captain America is no longer considered among the top tier of comic book superheroes. Part of the problem is probably also that audiences and reviewers are suffering comic book superhero fatigue; with so many superhero origin stories hitting the screens, it’s hard to make them all stand out, and the fact that they all inevitably follow the same basic formula makes it start to seem generic after so many times. I enjoyed the film, but was mildly underwhelmed. The self-consciously titled The First Avenger isn’t a terrible movie, but it lacks the certain spark that set Iron Man above the pack. Continue reading
Green Lantern (2011)
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell
CAST:
Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Tim Robbins, Angela Bassett, Jay O. Sanders, Michael Clarke Duncan (voice), Geoffrey Rush (voice), Clancy Brown (voice)
REVIEW:
Green Lantern is passable entertainment for two hours of diversion for comic book movie fans who aren’t too demanding, but for anyone else—and probably even them—it’s generic and disposable. Continue reading
X-Men: First Class (2011)
DIRECTOR: Matthew Vaughn
CAST:
James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones, Caleb Landry Jones, Lucas Till, Edi Gathegi, Zoe Kravitz, Jason Flemyng, Oliver Platt
REVIEW:
Back when he wrote and directed 2000’s X-Men, Bryan Singer eschewed an origin story, jumping into the action with the X-Men already formed, deeming origin stories unnecessary and constraining. A decade later, Singer (who helped develop the story and served as producer here) and director Matthew Vaughn decided to tackle the ‘origin story’ after all, not only of the ‘first class’ of X-Men, but the friends-turned-enemies Charles Xavier/Professor X and Erik Lensherr/Magneto. While 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine failed to do anything interesting with its central character, Vaughn and company have righted that wrong here. First Class is easily ahead of The Last Stand, and might well top out X-Men and X2 for the best installment the series has produced so far. Continue reading
Thor (2011)
DIRECTOR: Kenneth Branagh
CAST:
Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Jaime Alexander, Josh Dallas, Tadanobu Asano, Clark Gregg, Rene Russo, Colm Feore
REVIEW:
Like 2008’s Iron Man and 2010’s Iron Man 2, along with this summer’s upcoming Captain America, Thor is one of various comic book movie installments introducing the individual Marvel superheroes who will be finally united onscreen in 2012’s The Avengers, but as Jon Favreau did with Iron Man, Kenneth Branagh is able to make Thor stand on his own as a superhero rather than letting his intro feel like a two hours Avengers preview. Continue reading
Iron Man 2 (2010)
DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
CAST:
Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jon Favreau, Paul Bettany (voice)
REVIEW:
Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 doesn’t surpass the first installment, and might fall short in a couple areas, but the sequel largely provides plenty more of the same to make it worthwhile summer entertainment. Continue reading
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)
DIRECTOR: Gavin Hood
CAST:
Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, Will.i.Am, Daniel Henney, Dominic Monaghan, Kevin Durand
REVIEW:
Prequels rarely avoid feeling unnecessary, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine isn’t an exception. The spin-off for the character embodied onscreen in three X-Men films by Hugh Jackman (who produced here) is not exactly a train wreck, but it’s a bit of a disorganized mess that doesn’t escape a feeling of generic, uninspired redundancy. Continue reading
The Dark Knight (2008)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
CAST:
Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts
REVIEW:
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL MENTION SPECIFIC ASPECTS OF THE FILM’S PLOT
With Batman Begins, his 2005 reboot of the Batman film franchise, hailed as bringing the Caped Crusader back to the screen better than ever, Christopher Nolan had the green light to proceed with the highly-anticipated sequel that came to be called The Dark Knight. For most fans, Nolan’s return to Gotham City was worth the three year wait. Batman Begins returned Batman to respectability; The Dark Knight takes this capital and runs with it, crafting what is easily the most ambitious and adult-oriented comic book superhero movie ever made. As entertaining as the likes of X-Men and Spider-Man might be, The Dark Knight is on a whole other level. Continue reading
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
DIRECTOR: Louis Letterier
CAST:
Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson
REVIEW:
Despite being a popular Marvel Comics property and a potential film franchise in its own right, The Hulk flopped at the box office in Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk, which was critically-praised but a dud with audiences. Rather than supply a direct sequel, Marvel decided to reboot the franchise, ignoring the previous film and kicking straight off with The Incredible Hulk, a more conventional superhero film, foregoing the more talky and introspective aspects that some critics appreciated about Ang Lee’s take but bored theater-going crowds expecting more “Hulk Smash” action. The result may please hoping for more action and “hulking out”, but alas this second attempt at bringing The Hulk to the big screen does not escape being mediocre and forgettable. Among Marvel’s fledgling crop of interconnected comic book movies, The Incredible Hulk is not up to the level of this same summer’s Iron Man . Continue reading
Iron Man (2008)
DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
CAST:
Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Jon Favreau, Paul Bettany (voice)
REVIEW:
Along with Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man is a member of the next generation of comic book movies that make their stories seem almost (not quite, but almost) plausible by playing it straight. Positive audience response is clear; Iron Man was the second highest-grossing film of 2008 before being overshadowed by the arguable crowned king of ‘comic book movies’, The Dark Knight , within a couple months. While Iron Man doesn’t pose a serious rival to The Dark Knight, in my opinion, the two franchises have a fair bit in common in the way they make their source material a little more down-to-earth and gritty than many of their predecessors. Continue reading
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
CAST:
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons, James Cromwell, Theresa Russell, Dylan Baker, Bill Nunn, Bruce Campbell, Cliff Robertson, Willem Dafoe
REVIEW:
With the third installment in Sam Raimi’s hugely popular Spider-Man series, one gets the sense that the franchise has either started to outstay its welcome, or needs to change some things for a possible fourth episode. Continue reading