FRESH FROM THE THEATRE: The Amazing Spider-Man

After you watch this movie you are going to think two things:

1. This is part of a pissing contest among writers and directors, one said "I can make a better Spider-Man then the first series!" and one replied "I dare you!"

2. And you are going to feel sorry for the movie, because it has something to which it can be compared to - if it hadn’t, it would be far better.

The review is going to contain spoilers!

The Amazing Spider-Man

Peter Parker has to grow up with his Uncle Ben and Aunt May, because his parents had to disappear. During his teenager years Peter looks for answers, something that will link him to his parents and he finds his dad’s suitcase. He gets curious and finds a file in it with a formula on it along with a photo of another scientist friend of his dad’s, Dr. Curt Connors.

The doctor had been searching for Dr. Parker’s formula for years, seeing that he has lost one his arms and hopes to be cured with the reptile gene. Peter gives up the formula and Curt turns into the lizard man. His joy in being this creature blinds him and he believes that this will be a cure against every disease, not realizing that it only makes things worse and has unexplanaible side effects on the healthy. Spider-Man stops him just in time and those who were infected with the Doctor’s serum were saved. Spider-Man, even though still a vigilante, starts to be recognized by the people as a hero.

Biggest problem I had with this movie was the random causeless number of spiders that show up without any explanation totally unexpectedly and for no apparent reason at all – other than to remind you that he is supposed to move like a spider…

Here is an example, my brother has arachnophobia (well… almost everyone in our family), but growing up Spider-Man was still his favorite, because after that one bite we NEVER have to see these spiders again! I was all for the transformation, I didn’t even mind the google search on spider-bite side effect (because I can close my eyes for those 10 seconds if I don’t like spiders), but when we have that kind of training montage, where Peter tries out what he can do, that random spider shot – of a spider with colors that you wouldn’t generally encounter in a city – was that necessary? I mean really, as far the story goes, couldn’t we live without that? It was just off. Peter isn’t obsessed with spiders or anything and since all his movements and fighting technique resembled that of a spider far more than the old version – I liked that – you really didn't need to keep reminding us which animal bit him!

Another foolish scene reminded me of Mathew Buck aka Filmbrain (click on the picture to see Mathew's reviews!), another critic on thatguywiththeglasses.com: at Oscorp Gwen brings up a hologram of the tree of life, out of which we see about 20% and even that is a big tarantula… hmm, symbolism much? The movie is already called SPIDER-Man, why couldn’t we see the rest of the hologram? Never mind…

Another thing, just like my siblings, I have my own phobias as well, as I discussed in my Elektra review (click here to read it!), one of them being reptiles. You might ask why would I be so stupid to go see this movie in the theatre when the antagonist is called "The Lizard"... you are not far off, except that in the comics Dr. Connors looks more like a crocodile then an actual lizard and even though he was different it didn't bother me much in the movie. Altogether it brought me joy that I didn't have a panic attack but it was a bit foolish that even I missed the real deal when I saw the little CGI lizards and thought "... That is not how a lizard moves". I also missed his tongue, one trademark that never misses from his appearances in the comics. Besides that I just loved it when he came up from the sewers wearing his lab coat! It was so cute!

"The Untold Story"

I have been thinking very hard on what that means. I too was hesitant and objected that this is pretty much the same origin story as the first one, so what did it refer too? Seeing that I did like this movie very much I decided that this refers to Gwen, even though it probably referred to Peter’s father being someone important (as the extra scene after the credits showed). However I was looking forward to their love story because Gwen liked Peter from the beginning and that dragging and drooling over Mary Jane who already has a boyfriend, so we have to wait for her like a gentleman and so on was just BORING! Not the first time around of course, in the movies it was nice, but for the writers to bring it up again… nah! The only way I can see it happen is if they bring in MJ during the sequel and then they get together at the end of the trilogy – otherwise please don’t! To mash her into the last movie would be a really really really really bad idea! Think of Spider-Man 3, or X-Men: The LastStand or The Dark Knight Rises even! (click here to read my review!) You want to smash in too many things to create something great and you just end up with disaster! 

Mostly I loved Gwen. I love Emma Stone really, and she delivered very well.

On that note another thing I dug was Flash Thompson: he was great! At the end of the day Flash is a person with feelings too, yeah he is a bully but I never liked how the previous movie just put him out to be a jerk and ended that subplot very quickly. I always liked that Flash turns out to be a fan of Spider-Man and just another one of the guys. There is another comic where he is a pretty significant character and I always loved that because he has so much potential and the other movie completely ignored it. Then again, it had a right to because mainly the biggest difference between the two movies is that in the first series Peter grows up really fast. By the time of the second act he is already in college. But this movie stays in high school and Flash was a part of their life in high school mostly, so there is a good explanation. And although I dug the adult Peter, in his essence what makes Spider-Man such a hero to all the reading youngsters is that he too is just a boy – the lesson of great responsability kinda gets dumped on him – but he still makes the best of it. Therefore I also translated the untold story into his actually fruitful relationship with Flash and what happened to him between that time before he moved out from Queens and after getting his powers.

There is also a scene where Dr. Connors talks about Norman Osborn and I loved that! Everybody knows who he is and the sole mentioning of his name is so powerful on its own that it brings a presence with itself! You don't need a dumb cameo to know that Norman will indeed still come up in our story and even the people who haven't read the comics know the Green Goblin by now and we are looking forward to it. But to be honest, when I read that Denis Leary would star in it I thought he was going to be the Green Goblin! :P Speaking of, another fantastic performance!

Two more things I loved: I have no idea where they got the actor who played Dr. Connors but I was driven to see him succeed, he steals every scene in which he appears. And I was especially fond of the fact that Peter had to steal Oscorp's technology to create his webs: it reminded me of the comics where Peter creates his own webs with a solution of various glues. I see why it was easier in the first series to give him this ability along with the spider-bite, and in that story it fit perfectly. But this one required it, seeing that it actually shows Peter for the geek that he is, so why wouldn't he create a way to use the spider silk compound developed by Oscorp? 

I have seen various critics and reviews and I understand what problem other people had. I am not trying to declare war on anybody or call them names, every critic is entitled to their own opinion. Also, I wouldn’t declare myself to be a critic, so I’m just saying, if you didn’t like it, it’s OK. I also noticed that I have mad pink-cloud like theatre-movie goggles: I always love something that I’ve just seen. Thankfully 90% of the time I also love it when I re-watch it. I hope this movie will be one of those too, also I liked the direction it was headed. You got me curious Spidey, where is this story going?

Fun facts! The sentence "with great power comes great responsibility" is actually never said in this movie, however Uncle Ben has a very nice monologue in which he of course implies this and I personally was so happy, because if I have to hear that sentence one more time I'm going to kick somebody! And I was also told that they wanted to show Oscorp towers in the background in the Avengers movie, but the production didn't finish in time - however, does this mean that Spidey might get to the next Avengers? Please Sony, please please be smarter then the idiots over at DC! Get onto the Avengers train! (click here to read my review!)

                    Spider-Man: "I'm gonna throw you out the window now. "

                    Gwen Stacy: "What?" 

Also, thankfully there was a 2D version with original language so I finally got to watch it without those dumb glasses (I wear glasses anyway, so it’s quite a bother), and it was great this way as well, so don’t go mad trying to find a 3D version! If not based on my review, go see the movie for one thing: Stan Lee's cameo. Oh dear God it was hilarious! It makes the 140 minutes of the movie totally worth your while!

Try to look at it as another writer's vision of how Spider-Man could be, not should be. You might not like the Ultimate Spider-Man comics, but then you can always read the old version or one of the many stories in which Peter appeared. This movie doesn't erase the old one from history! As you might have seen from by previous reviews, I pretty much like every comic based movie, even the shitty ones, because I always find and angle that makes it enjoyable, so go look for your angle!

_ _ _ _ _ _

Spider-Man / Peter Parker - Andrew Garfield

Gwen Stacy - Emma Stone

The Lizard / Dr. Curt Connors - Rhys Ifans

Captain Stacy - Denis Leary

Uncle Ben - Martin Sheen

Aunt May - Sally Field

Flash Thompson - Chris Zylka

If you must know, we are in love! 

FRESH FROM THE THEATRE: The Dark Knight Rises

Before we dig in I just want to say how sorry I am and that my prayers are with the friends and families of the victims of the Colorado shooting. I cannot imagine what would possess somebody to take someone’s… anyone’s life. It’s not fair and it is incredibly awful. I know that my words will not bring much comfort, however I am also deeply disturbed that the media was able to turn this into the idea that it is movies that make people sick like this. I mean, think about it: the people who shot Lincoln and JFK probably watched too much Batman, didn’t they? I can see the connection. But my anger is useless, for what I say has no importance. I honestly hope that one day justice will find those who take our loved ones away and that you’ll find closure. I really do.

I have just seen the new movie, but I wan’t to talk about the two prequels as well. I hoped to be done with the Marvel reviews by now, but it doesn’t look like it just yet, so let us discuss Christopher Nolan’s Batman.

Batman Begins

Bruce Wayne loses his parents and while trying very hard to turn off his pain he encounters a man by the name of Ra’s Al Ghul who teaches him how to use his fear for fighting. He returns to Gotham and becomes the Batman, a masked vigilante who fights criminals. Except Ra’s Al Ghul returns to him because he believes that Bruce betrayed him and his higher calling is to destroy the weak and the corrupt, but he is not doing so. He defeats the bad guys and people start liking him.

Thoughts? Good movie, but I didn’t like it. If you ever wondered how Batman learned to fight, how he came over his fear of bats, how he has the money and resources, how he trained to be this apparently unbeatable human being – then you’ll be satisfied as the movie is a very good origin movie that'll answer all your questions. Sort of like the cartoon Batman: Year One. Read further for the ’why’ I disliked the movie.

The Dark Knight

Bruce has to face off with his arch enemy the Joker: a lunatic genius who uses his talents to kill and destroy. During his mischiefs he kills off the only person Bruce is willing to give up his life as Batman for and also turns one of the most loyal and trustworthy people, Harvey Dent – a public defender, believer in the Batman - into a psichotic killer. Batman takes the fault for Harvey’s wrong doings, seeing that the people of Gotham need to believe in somebody, somebody who cannot be corrupted by the harm ways of terrorists.

Thoughts? I agree that Heath Ledger deserved an Academy Award for this performance, it was off the charts truly! Good movie, again, I didn’t like it, but totally worth watching, even without the other two. Also, "The Dark Knight"? What happened to "Batman"? I might be and idiot (it is still up for discussion), but I had no idea who the dark knight was. I had heard Batman be called the detective, flying mouse, masked vigilante and so on - the knight part totally escaped my attention. I thought dark referred to a state of mind, therefore I thought that this title referred to the Joker… yeah.

SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON!

(Go to the bottom of the page to see my total review without spoilers!)

The Dark Knight Rises

Bruce puts the suit down for over eight years, when a series of unfortunate events occur, all related to a mercenary by the name of Bane. He tries to investigate, but no matter what angle he approaches, he always runs into a Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman – a burglar for hire.

Bruce is set on putting on his suit again, because Gotham needs the Batman once more. Commissioner Gordon is in the hospital and the police are hesitant in believing anything he says, because he always chose the Batman’s side, while the people of Gotham consider him a murderer who took away their precious Harvey Dent. Bruce decides to face Bane, except he too is a disceple of Ra’s Al Ghul, from the League of Shadows, and he knows his true identity, and just like in the comics, Bane breaks Bruce’s back. After putting Bruce in a prison somewhere, he goes back to Gotham to destroy it forever – to carry on Ra’s Al Ghul’s work. Bruce conquers the last of his demons, a doctor in the prison heals his back and is revealed Bane’s weakness – his mask. Bruce gets back to Gotham but only when he is about to defeat Bane – SPOILER ALERT! – he has to face Talia, Ra’s Al Ghul’s daughter, who disguised herself to get a hold of Wayne Enterprises. Bruce is helped by Gordon and in the end he is in time to take the bomb set to destroy Gotham out of the city, but with it he too dies.  – END OF SPOILERS.

Thoughts? I loved it, I cried in the end, then I had to smile from the bottom of my heart, I was truly touched by it and it is true, you should see it in the theatres! But then my brother called it "Plot-hole: the movie". And yeah, he was completely right… I have so many bad things to say about it, let’s go in order:

SPOILER FREE ZONE! 

(You’ll be warned again, when I am discussing more thoroughly the third movie.)

- First problem is the one I had with all the movies: Christian Bale is a very good Batman, but he is an awful Bruce Wayne. There is this line that Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers, saying that he saw Mr. Wayne’s fake smile and that is how he realized he was the Batman. Bruce DOES NOT SMILE ONCE IN THREE MOVIES! Yes, Batman is a very dark character but the only, ONLY reason why people don’t know the true identity of his is because Bruce Wayne is one of the most cheerful and giving, outgoing people alive in Gotham! All the charity events and dinners where he is supposed to pretend to be agains the idea of Batman fall flat because he doesn’t fool ANYBODY!!!

This is going to sound awful, because there is really no comparison and although I am the only female who is not attracted to him, the only person who nailed Bruce Wayne was George Clooney. YES, Nolan, I went there! Clooney, awful Batman, wonderful Wayne: he has this reassuring smile and kindness to him that all the other Bruce's lack. The only time Michael Keaton came close to it was in the second movie when he reveals himself to Selina (Michelle Pfeiffer) so he can help her, care for her. That is it. I love the cartoons and the comics because Bruce is such a great character, there is no need to kill him off for Batman to exist – very wrong approach.

 - Batman… close you goddamn mouth! All the time he is in that ridiculous suit he keeps his mouth open and it looks stupid! Did the rubber suit press so hard on your skin? What is happening there?!!

 - In the first two movies we are given this Rachel character who is supposed to be Bruce’s love. Not only did I not feel any chemistry among the two, but there wasn’t any either. I felt that Katie Holmes played a boring love interest and then Maggie Gyllenhaal played Katie Holmes. Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Well it wasn’t! And when she dies in the second movie, I literally could not care less. ALSO Bruce channels his anger from his parent’s death, so wouldn’t he only become stronger after losing Rachel? NOPE! He puts the suit down, bye-bye new forms of anger management! There are so many girls that simple fall for Bruce/Batman, and their love is so sincere and deep, really this character was just a really bad choice – and when they do channel the comic love interests, they put too many in one movie. Lovely.

 - SINCE WHEN DOES GOTHAM LOOK LIKE THE ISLE OF MANHATTAN?
- Another biggest problem is that in all the movies we have this darkness that enhances Bruce's pain, but in this one basically everything except for the first act is set in day light! I don't like it! Did they realize that they paid to much for it to go to waist by not being seen in the dark? I didn't get it! Also there is a chase scene where Batman enters a tunnel in daylight and when he exists it is dark out... what? Seriously? NOBODY noticed that?!

 - Bane was NOTHING like the way he is supposed to be! Bane has a green colored venom which he turns on to turn superhuman – WHERE THE HELL WAS THE VENOM? In this movie he already had super strength, how? Why? He cannot be superhuman without anything being injected in him, or if it already was, why weren’t we told about it? The whole movie gives us flashback’s on Bane’s story – implying that we’re supposed to care – yet we never really find out anything about him… Not to mention that he had the voice of a law professor from Harward… I understand that he has a very high levels of intellect and is a sort of genius, but it sounded awful! Not to mention that it is not a coincidence he has a spanish accent in every cartoon! Why British? I did like the mask though, because at least it covered Tom Hardy’s awful face.

 - Nestor Carbonell, the mayor, has one of the most beautiful voices in history and for some reason they changed it to a high pitched sissy that makes him look like and idiot!

 - I didn’t like Anna Hathaway for a very long time. She starred in The Princess Diaries which was the adaptation of my favorite book and it was an AWFUL MOVIE!!!! God it was so bad I need to puke!!! STILL!!! And I only saw it once, years ago! But, a couple of years back she starred in a biographical movie of Jane Austen’s life, Becoming Jane, and she was wonderful. I changed my whole perspective about her and I was looking forward to seeing her in this, even though many people objected that she wasn’t sexy enough. Actually my only objection was her suit… It’s stupid, I seriously don’t get how they get to ruin Catwoman’s suit in EVERY SINGLE ADAPTATION. Mostly because she is trying, or is supposed to try to keep her identity secret, at which she fails multiple times with this costume. So even though my brother found it weird that there was really no back story to her and that we are supposed to just guess, I liked her very much! She did not disappoint!

SPOILERS COMING UP!

- So there is this Blake kid, who is an orphan… oh gee, I wonder who he will be! We discover that he has another name, "Robin"… no, no, no, no, NOOO!!!!!!! His name is DICK GRAYSON or any other versions were available, Robin is a kind of bird after which he got the name of his hero identity, his name is NOT Robin!!! If the sole purpose of this was so that the dumb viewer knew who he was, then make other implications, shows us scenes where he plays with birds, or anything, for god’s sake this is so idiotic! Also, there was no need to imply that he is Robin, seeing that the people who take over the bat suit are always believers in the cause that the world needs superheroes. Throughout the whole movie Blake proves himself, he cares for Batman, he changed his life, all his ambitions are there, why was there need to play this stupid card? I don’t get it.

 - My brother’s biggest problem was that Batman is incapable of putting down the suit – he just can’t, it’s like an addiction. Spider-Man might, that is fine, Captain might, he lost a lot; but Batman never will. And to that I’d like to add that there is a part of the movie where Alfred leaves him, saying that he will not sit back and watch him die. To that I’d like to say that even though Batman might put down the suit, Alfred would never, literally NEVER leave him, so that was dumb too.

 - I really liked though the twist with Talia. During the movie I was thinking really hard, did Ra’s Al Ghul have a son? Did he have kids? Wait he did, who was it? And the moment before revealing herself I realized – Oh, my God! Talia! It was truly awesome and Marion Cotillard was a great choice!

But we know very well that Ra’s Al Ghul has a pool that can revive people and yet Talia dies and we are told that Ra’s definitely died! There also was this totally useless love scene between Talia and Bruce, and I would’ve liked far more an ending where Talia is revived by her dad and that she is with child (as there is a story line where she gives birth to Batman’s son, the next Robin). Also Talia loved Batman, that was her one weakness, her kryptonite – she could never bring herself to fight him, even though he was his father’s enemy – because she loved him. There was no sign of that and she was even capable of choosing ass ugly Bane over Batman?! What the heck?

- Then we have these scenes where Bruce is trying to escape the prison where Bane put him. In all the flashbacks, where we see the only kid who did escape, the kid isn't wearing a rope, while Bruce did and the rope looks like it always holds him back at the time of a big jump. But no, there was a spiritual explanation: only if he fears death/fears falling will he succeed. I'm pretty sure that is not how it works. Not to mention that Bane left him in that prison to rot away while he watches the destruction of Gotham on TV - instead the inmates cure him and he escapes. Not a very good plan there Bane dear! Oh yeah, and wonderfully Bruce got to Gotham from that prison at the end of the world in about three seconds... Yeah OK!

 - Bane’s death is stupid. Not to mention that his mask almost breaks and he is unable to put it back together, while when Talia touches it twice fixes it. OK, Bane you're an idiot for a super genius!

 - Bruce receives a plane from Mr. Fox, which the latter called "The Bat”… why would you call it that, are you retarded? This plane looks like a freaking box, it doesn't even have wings! WHAT KIND OF BAT MOBILE OR PLANE DOESN'T HAVE WINGS??!!

 - Nobody believes Gordon about bad guys being in the sewers, even though Gordon is the hospital because he was beat up in the sewers, and this isn’t about believing him or not, he is the freaking Commissioner!! Also, did the mayor die? There was that scene where it looked like something blew up behind him, did he really die?

- Last and biggest problem is that Ra's legacy was to destroy a corrupt city. Gotham was indeed corrupt, but we start off with 8 WHOLE YEARS of peace! Crime is over, this city doesn't need a Batman and Talia comes to finish her father's legacy? For what? Go find another city, for example where Lex Luthor resides at the moment... I don't get why, WHY would you insist on destroying this city where Ra's' predictions have already been crushed to the ground? The only way for Bane to prove that people are corrupt is when he breaks criminals our of prison! Oh no, criminals are corrupt? No way!

- However, my favorite scene: I always loved Batsy and Catwoman's relationship. They both have so many sides and their constant fight with their selves is so compelling and touching. During the whole movie I just wanted one kiss where they are both in their suits, just one that resembles the great comic scenes - and I got it! It was so cute!

FINAL THOUGHTS, No spoilers!

Looking at the movies, the third was more of a sequel of the first one. I see the structure it wanted to have, but trust me, the second movie can be skipped, even though it is the best one out of three. If you are looking to have fun, or you just want a conclusion to the trilogy, you should really check it out. But just as the X-Men: Last Stand or as Spider-Man 3 was a failure, as far as story goes so is this one. But for some reason people don’t seem to notice it, so whatever. I’m about to head out to see the new Amazing Spider-Man, afterwards we’ll talk about the old ones too! Coming soon!

Oh, and for your information:

What's Next On My Marvel List? (Movies) Captain America

I wanted to discuss a couple of movies before we get to the smash hit that is "The First Avenger".
Now, I consider these honorable mentions, you need to know that I haven’t actually seen these but I have seen a review of them:

Noah Antwiler Spoony – Captain America

The first two starred Reb Brown, who is a well known action star of total rip-offs of action movies (one of them was a Predator rewrite, because one wasn't enough!). These two are especially awful. The first has nothing to do with the comic. Steve is and ex military who is already the size of Hulk, but his deceased dad’s scientist buddy talks him into using the super serum. But it is totally useless. Also this movie is the slowest thing ever recorded on tape. There is just one fight scene and that is… not a fight scene really. But you should really check out Spoony’s review. (Click on the picture to see it!)

Noah Antwiler Spoony – Captain America: Death Too Soon

The second one is… this is utterly embarassing but while doing my research I’ve come accross the fact that it was directed by a Hungarian director. This movie is an embarassment. My country already has a hard time being recognised for anything else then the f*cked up political situation of ours, and then there is this movie. It re-uses the same footage of the first one. There is a scene where the invincible Captain America RUNS AWAY FROM DOGS. He uses a trusty motorcycle, remember that from the comic? What? YOU DON’T? Hmm… I wonder why. Also, his unbeatable shield is a piece of plastic. Wonderful. Movie, you get a 10 out of 10! … on a scale of awfulness and incredible embarrasment as far as comic based movies go. But again, check out Spoony’s review! (Click on the picture!)

Doug Walker Nostalgia Critic – Captain America

That brings us to the third Captain America review, which once again, I haven’t seen, but the taste I got from the Nostalgia Critic was more than enough. However I find it important to mention that this one has the same origin story that the new one had: that is that Captain gets injected with the serum and he fights Red Skull. That is about it. It is just another silly excuse for a stupid movie. It has the feeling of a movie made in the late 70s when actually it was made in 1990!!! Captain is portrayed as a little loser who keeps tricking people with the SAME trick! Once he abandones an old man while stealing his car… wow! This man is my hero! Truly a wonderful tale. I do not think that it is worth checking out, because you would start crying – but the Critics review makes it seem enjoyable, so do spare 20 minutes and watch it!

Captain America: The First Avenger

As you have seen I have previously discussed parts of the complex formula that equals in the Avengers, so it is only right that we talk about Cap as well.

Steve Rogers is a fragile little creature with a heart and bravery of incredible measures. He has been trying to get enlisted in the army to fight in Germany during WWII. But his physical qualities make it impossible, until one afternoon a scientist hears about his dreams and decides to let him pass his physical so he can enlist. He proves himself over and over and finally gets the special serum that turns him into Captain America: the super soldier. In the background Red Skull obtains the Tesseract (a supernatural cube with immense energy) and builds weapons that’ll help him win the war. Captain is sent in, he defeats Red Skull, however he has a bomb with him and he lands with it into the ocean so it won’t damage everyone else – this resulting in him being frozen in an icycle under the sea until S.H.I.E.L.D. discovers him… over 50 years later.

Thoughts? First off the actor. Chris Evans was chosen for this role, and even though he delivered very well, I was not happy. I’ve heard a rumor that Jensen Ackles was among the possible actors and honestly, I would’ve been curious to see him. Chris Evans was a good choice because he delivered that shy-ish cuteness that Steve has. He is one of the most humble and caring people ever depicted by Marvel (except for the punching Hitler in the face part) and I needed someone who portrayed that. Chris was cute, I’ll give him that but realising that he is Captain equals in me giving up forever on the dream that they’ll make another Fantastic Four movie with the original casting (click here to read my review!). I know it wasn’t in the cards, but one can hope! And quite frankly I liked him far more in the Avengers; I’ve seen his potential and feared that it wasn’t fully released in this movie. It is a really good movie and I can’t think of any faults really. I am sincerely looking forward to the next one! 

What's Next On My Marvel List? (Movies) Iron Man and the Hulks

Iron Man

Tony Stark is a billionaire, having earned his father’s legacy: weapon building for the US army. But during one of his trips to the troops he gets abducted to build one of his own missiles for the terrorists. However, during his abduction his heart gets injured and almost loses his life, so he builds a small version of an energy device they developed back in the US, that will keep his heart bumping. He also comes to the conclusion that using the materials he was given for the missiles, he can build himself an armor that will be powered by the energy tube he perfected. He gets away and back to the US where he decides to shut down Stark Industries, after seeing what war his weapons were fighting. His right man, Obadiah goes mad over loosing power in the Industry, while Tony creates the perfect armor: Iron Man. They fight, he wins, Nick Fury shows up.

Thoughts? I really love this movie even though I always skip the first half hour. I just don’t care for it. I understand completely that he needed to get low to rise up. I also get that there is a need to tell the audience who he is, you can’t just start a movie with him already being Iron Man. But that doesn’t mean that I have to watch that unbereable first half hour. I like Tony because he is fun, he is an alcoholic and a playboy. He is the most unlikely person to become a hero, and yet he does: he had a great father and he was thought properly to cherish life – almost dying opened his eyes finally.

Robert Downey is a wonderful actor, he truly nailed Tony, even if to be honest I didn’t fancy the idea of him portraying the great hero at first. I liked to be proven wrong, in case of movies. Definitely worth checking out, it is the first episode of The Avengers series (read my review here!).

Iron Man 2

Tony has admitted being Iron Man and is now even more famous. He is head of a science depo where various projects are presented to the public. Among them Justin Hammer and his robots, a loser who is committed to defeating Tony; therefore he hires a genius scientist who is set on killing Tony – Ivan Vanko: he believes Tony’s dad stole his plans for the energy tube from his dad. But that is not all the trouble, Tony is being infected with a toxic substance that the energy batteries release into his budy. So Nick Fury gives him a hint that the formula for the energy source he has been looking for might already have been invented by someone else: his dad. But before this he loses all of his friends, Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes gets one of his suits and gets and upgrade to the War Machine. In the last fight they destroy the robots that Vanko created for Justin Hammer and also destroy Vanko.

Thoughts? I loved it because Downey finalled chanelled into the Tony I love in the comics. The funny one liners, the alcoholism that is brought on by a bit of depression. It is wonderful, in the first movie we get to know Tony, how everything he knew got crushed because of that dreadful experience – how he almost died. The director played close attention to make sure that this perfectly layed ground work gets built on. There is a feeling that he is trying to get rid of everyone on purpose – he knows his time is running out once again, there is a hurry to find a solution. Also War Machine was a really good addition. You can see that everyone in the making of this movie cares about their viewers, about the fans, about the comic! Every line, every scenary is perfectly thought through. And, above everything else WONDERFUL Scarlett Johansson as the Black Widow! Big-big hurray! In the comics the Black Widow appeared for the first time in Iron Man, so it was a wonderful idea to bring her in, seeing that Iron Man was the first episode that, as I said above, presented us with the Avengers initiative. It is a good movie, personally I’d rather watch this one, instead of the first, and I am looking forward to the third, but if you do decide to get into it, make sure to check both of them out!

Hulk

Scientist Bruce Banner gets exposed to gamma radiation during an experiment. However, when he was young, his father experimented on him and it is thanks to that that he survived. But there is a side-effect to it: whenever his heart pumps up, his adrenaline spikes and he gets angry, he turns into an undefeatable green monster. There is only one thing that can calm him: Betty Ross. She is (in this version) his ex-girlfriend, who still obviously cares for him, even though their relationship didn’t work out. Turns out Bruce’s father is still around, although he was assumed to be dead, and is quite proud of the experiment he created, even if Bruce hates him for it. His dad too is a sort of freak that feeds on electricity, Bruce defeats him and runs away, worried he will harm Betty if he stays around.

Thoughts? OK, first off I hate reptiles, as you might have gathered from my Elektra review (click here to read it!), and Bruce’s dad uses them in the title montage, so I hated that. I basically haven’t seen the beginning, I had to have my eyes closed. However I do have this vivid picture in my mind where the younger version of his dad is holding a lizard in his hand and a needle in the other – needles being my second phobia - so the movie starts off great for me! Second, I really don’t know what critics and the viewers disliked in this movie, I can only guess that is was Bruce’s dad. He was played by Nick Nolte and gotta tell you, my biggest problem with him is that I can’t decide if he is mad or just a really good actor. He has played the same – mad-like – character for a good couple of years now. Anyway, getting back. Hmm… WHAT A SHOCK, but I genuinely love this movie too. I never cared much for the Hulk, however the love between Bruce and Betty totally got to me. I find Bana and Jennifer Connelly to be a perfect casting choice. There is this beautiful scene where the Hulk is running fiercely towards Betty but he slows down and just the bare touch of her hand, her caress calms him down. It is truly one of my favorite movie moments of all time. It makes the whole movie worth every second of it!

The IncredibleHulk

Weirdly, even though this movie isn’t a direct sequel, it didn’t use the formula of the new Amazing Spider-Man, where they restarted from the very beginning. No, here they automatically assumed that everyone who cared, already saw the Eric Bana version, or they simply know who the Hulk is. And that is highly appreciated! They brought us a really good story because of it.

Bruce is gone. After his last transformation, he put Betty in the hospital and has run away to never hurt her again. Also Betty’s dad sends him away, which is stupid, because he spends the whole movie trying to find him. You see in this version Bruce was already a scientist for the army, so General Ross sincerely believed that the Hulk was US property and he wanted to get it back. During his search he came across a soldier, Emil Blonsky, who wanted a taste of what hulk is about. However Bruce has found someone on the net who might have a solution for his sickness so he goes back to New York where he accidentally runs into Betty. The Hulk is forced out of him once again, but this time he escapes with Betty – he needs to find this scientiest before the army arrests him. Although the antidote might work, Bruce is forced to change because Blonsky has gone rogue and he is the only one who can defeat him. In the end General Ross realizes that too many people have died because of his obsession and that the Hulk is not a weapon – it’s a disease. Bruce runs away once again and that is where the Avengers pick up the story.

Thoughts? Initially I was afraid that Ed Norton won’t be the kind of nerd I am looking for, but he proved me wrong, and I was relieved. However one thing bothered me more then anything which is Tim Roth. Don’t get me wrong, he is a really good actor, but Tim Roth is Tim Roth. There is a scene where him and William Hurt are walking and - Tim Roth doesn’t walk like a normal person, he walks like Tim Roth: his leg is bended a bit, his shoulder is brought down, he actually looks like he is limping while leaning over something. He is supposed to be this wonderful soldier, top of the line, best of the best... and you can't stand up straight? And I swear, if that scene alone were cut, the movie would’ve had one less fault. Second problem was a bit of an error I believe, plot wise. As I mentioned before, General Ross finds Bruce by the side of Betty’s hospital bed and in a rage sends him away – so he does leave, feeling guilty. But then Ross goes mad over trying to find Bruce. Why did he just arrest him in the hospital? I didn’t get that. He knew he was going to find him there, where else would he be? It would’ve been easy, I am pretty sure the hospital belonged to the army too. So that was a bit off. Also there are good villains and stupid ones, General Ross was clearly a stupid one and that is why I hated Tony Stark’s cameo in the end of the movie. Tony approaches Ross with the idea of the Avenger initiative, which is a terrible idea! Why Ross? What ever did he do in this movie to deserve to be cosulted on something so important? So he can go all crazy again, trying to find Bruce for the 1000th time?
Apart from all that, again, my main concern was Bruce and Betty’s relationship, and boy have the actors delivered! Honestly Ed Norton and Liv Tyler where a beautiful combo. I was moved, sincerely touched by the amount of love these two shared. It was mesmerising. Bravo! As far as their scenes go, I just might rewatch this movie a thousand more times!
I want to say check it out, but I believe that in some remote corner of the screenplay writer’s head, he did intend for this to be a sequel, so even if you don’t watch them one after to other, be sure to watch the first version too!

"All proceds will go to keeping the same actor to play the Hulk." 

- by Doug Walker as Chester A. Bum (click here to see his review of The Avengers!)

What's Next On My Marvel List? (Movies) Fantastic Four 1-2, Daredevil and Elektra

The following movies are a bit underrated, but I love them, so let us review:

Fantastic Four

Reed Richards is a scientist and his crew: his best friend Ben Grimm, his ex Sue Storm and her brother Johnny Storm are planning to find new energy sources. A powerful wealthy man by the name of Viktor Von Doom, Sue's current boyfriend, finances their trip to space  where they are exposed to a radiation storm that alters their DNA, giving them powers. Reed becomes Mr. Fantastic: all his muscles and fibers turn to rubber. Ben, also known as the Thing, has body that has turned into rock. Sue's capable of turning invisible and create force fields. Johnny is capable of lighting himself on fire. And lastly Viktor, who is also a skilled scientist and a sorcerer and he owns a powered armor, although in the movie it is displayed that the most part of the armor is part of his body. The four move into Reed's home, so he can scientifically understand what has happened to them and in the end they have to fight Viktor who has completely gone insane and is hungry for power.

Thoughts? To be honest with you, I only came to learn about the Fantastic Four through this movie. I immediately fell in love with Reed and his relationship with Sue. I could share Ben's sadness over becoming a monster and although I've found Johnny to be extremely annoying in the movie, in the comic he is a lot younger and therefore his foolishness has an actual cause. So if I had to recast I'd make Johnny younger, otherwise I know Jessica Alba got bad reviews, but for the second movie, hence will discuss that later. I have heard that people didn't like the last fight scene, that it was a bit of cliché, that nothing happens. Well... THEY ARE SCIENTISTS!! To be honest with you, I was even surprised there was any fighting at all: I would not have missed it. They are just discovering themselves, finding ways to cope with their situation and so on. My biggest problem was that I was scared of Doom, when I wasn't supposed to be while in the end when he fully becomes himself: nah! Nothing. 

Anyway, this movie is definitely one of my favorites. I have madly fallen in love with Ioan Gruffudd and I'm quite scared that one day a bit better re-casted version will come out where he will be replaced... but I guess that's Hollywood for you!

Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer

Sue and Reed are trying to get married, but their plans are always interrupted by the stupid Earth seeking salvation. During their latest attempt a mysterious Silver Surfer shows up from the skies with incredible powers. But is he good or bad? Sue thinks there is more to it. And as a matter of fact, we find out that he has been forced by the evil Galactus, destroyer of planets, to prepare planets for him to be eaten up. His planet too had been destroyed. However the Surfer's mystical powers healed Doom and he is back to fight them. During their fight, Sue dies, but is saved by the Surfer who decides to face up to Galactus and kill him.

Thoughts? Yes, this second one was really bad. First of all they seriously don't do anything, no credit can be given to them. The only fight scenes have Johnny in them, who we already knew was a good fighter. Doom? Really? Yes, he is a favorite evil character BUT healing him? Of course you wanted to show off Julian McMahon's perfect bone structure, but really? That was dumb. Jessica Alba's hair was too blonde, almost freakishly, but the others where perfect, they resembled the comic characters perfectly. The story needed help on the action and entertainment part, however I was touched by the sincere love between Reed and Sue. And most importantly I felt that they were really a team and a family. They live in that building together and yet in the first movie it didn't feel like they even know each other. Is this one silly? Yes, undoubtedly it has it's faults. But they are still some of my favorite comic heroes and therefore I love this movie just as much as any other.

Daredevil

A young boy is blinded by toxic waste and works to enhance his other senses. When he grows up, Matt Murdock, a successful attorney, servant of the poor, uses his abilities to fight crime in the night. Unfortunately   this life of his destroys every chance of a normal social life. But he does meet one special girl, Elektra, the only one who can fight him. The two fall in love, but Matt's obsession with bringing down the biggest mod boss in their city, Kingpin - who sends Bullseye after them, which ends in both Elektra and her father's life. Matt defeats both of them, and is shown hope that maybe Elektra has survived somehow. 

Thoughts? After this movie's director's cut came out, it received a high praise and was recognized as a better movie. Though I did not find that to be the case. Being the girl I am I was upset that the whole romantic kissy-kissy stuff between Matt and Elektra got cut. F*ck you director Mark Steven Johnsson!! No fair. It was substituted with a story, a case Matt was working on as an attorney. Maybe this story was more appealing to the comic lovers, but one of my favorite comic couples is Daredevil and Elektra, their struggle and all the barriers they had to knock down to be together is truly touching. I do see why the director's cut appealed more to the people, but I did not see the necessity in cutting them. Also, movies tend to forget about the sometimes cooky costumes of the villains in the comic books, think of Dr. Ock in Spider-Man 2, he had a stupid raincoat! Here, just the same, I loved Bullseye, I just wish he had an evil costume that matches Daredevil's. The story is awesome, the actors nailed it I think, great casting, and just the same way as DC is thinking about re-using Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern, I honestly think a sequel was in the cards for Ben Affleck... until this happened:

Elektra

"Elektra the warrior survives a near-death experience, becomes an assassin-for-hire, and tries to protect her two latest targets, a single father and his young daughter, from a group of supernatural assassins."

Thoughts? I totally just copied that from imdb, because I don't remember shit from this movie! Oh wait, I do: it has snakes in it. I am scared, more precisely snake-phobic and I am disgusted by them. I had to watch this movie with my sister, so she could tell me when to look at the screen and when not to. That is probably why I don't remember much of it, but what I do is this: Matt, Daredevil, had a cameo AND THEY CUT IT!! F*ck you! Why would you cut that? People hated that Elektra supposedly survived, and if she did, where is Matt? Of course they have very long history before they actually meet up, not to mention that there is a comic, in which they meet as college students, but this clearly wasn't it, so the only way they explained Elektra becoming who she is in the comic, was to part her from Matt completely: BAD IDEA. Really, they started a story which was similar to the idea of combining movies so you finally get the awesomeness of The Avengers. BUT WHY DID YOU CUT IT?? This is about the 100th movie that I enjoyed far more with the deleted scenes. And also, I loved that her costume was based on the comic instead of that new version in the Daredevil movie and I love Jennifer Garner. 

As far as actors and story go, there is nothing wrong with it. Elektra is not one of my favorites, also she is kind of a controversial character, since she is sometimes good, sometimes bad - and she is very much interesting. I just wish they would've dyed Jen's hair black and would've kept that scene. The movie is totally worth watching, especially if you like action and Jen. Otherwise, since it isn't crucial considering the big Marvel movie campaign, you can let this one pass, but if you do want to see it, GET the DVD and WATCH THE DELETED SCENES!!! 

What's next on my list? (Games) X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Let us finish the X-Men series. Seeing that I haven't grown up with the TV animation series and I do not like the new 'post-apocalyptic' Japanese version... it's just f***ing depressing and dark. I hate every movie-series that is set after the apocalypse. It might be that I do no believe in the apocalypse, but mostly I find that life after it won't necessarily be so incredibly... awful. We built our society from scratch, why couldn't we do that again? Anyway, let us move back to the game.

If you have been to my blog lately you might have seen that I just reviewed that movie version of the game: Why Should You Enjoy X-Men Origins: Wolverine In Spite Of Public Opinion. Now, I liked the movie and to top it off I find the game to be fantastic.
The story briefly is mostly the same, but it is filled up with a couple of comic-crowd-pleasing moments. For example Wolverine fights Sentinels, which is awesome!
Logan is in the future and he tells us his story, which he can't remember, but we need to know it. In the present day he is looking for his brother Viktor and while doing so he flashes back to their last mission in Africa, after which their roads parted.

The story: well it tries to be as accurate as it can to the movie, after all, it was made for it. But, as I said, it is filled with a couple more things: there is Mystique in it, the Sentinels, other mutants and scientists, after all, people do (or should) work for Stryker! As I said in my movie review, I liked the story and I felt like it's minor inconveniences were fixed this way.
The levels: Logan levels up while gaining experience from defeating (=killing) everybody. Of course the higher you get, the more points you'll need. You can get extra points by collecting the dog tags of some dead soldiers hidden in various corners of the levels. Actually, finding these soldiers was one of the things that excited me the most. Also, the higher the levels, the longer the life and rage line of Logan will be.
The mini-bosses: the easiest was probably to beat the mini-bosses before you encounter the Sentinels. Afterwards everything is damn hard. You get skills points which you spend to give Logan skills, obviously, and one is cooler than the other. Once you figure out what hurts them the most, beating them is quite easy.
The boss battle: your biggest enemy is Dead Pool, Wade Williams, now defeating him was incredibly hard. The technique is easy once you figure it out, however two problems were re-surfacing: Dead Pool's life line was re-charging way faster than Logan's, which meant if you spent too much time apart from him, he would get back all the power lost - but at the same time your rage bar doesn't get loaded up and defeating him with only blade cuts is literally impossible! Second problem was that there were a couple of glitches and if Logan fell off by accident, the same thing would happen as if he were knocked off: you would have to restart the level. In the second case, you are mad, but it were bound to happen, in the first time it's just f***ing infuriating that you have to restart when you are SO DAMN CLOSE because of a stupid glitch. So after the 13th time I finally got to defeat him and it felt GREAT!! So all that waiting and suffering actually paid off in the end.
Bonus: during the game you get to collect little statues of Wolverine's old costume known in the comics. If you fight yourself in the bonus levels you get to use the costumes during the actual story. That is pretty cool, because Wolverine's original costume is stronger than his tank top: I defeated Dead Pool with that costume.

What didn't work? The animation was wonderful on Logan and Viktor, because they were the only ones voiced by the actual actors, but that was no reason to make the others looked like hybrid humans with bulimia... Also there were a couple of scenes were Logan's arms were bigger than his head... that was a bit disproportional.

What worked? Logan did. All my life dreaming about being him, and playing this game I finally felt like being him. His blades cutting off arms and heads, ripping through kevlars and guns. Jumping like a fierce animal, having his senses, watching his body recuperate from being torn to pieces. It was truly wonderful. This is a game worth playing. It isn't very challenging, because his life bar fills up pretty quickly, it took me about 24 hours to finish, but if you don't want to stop and restart the level just cut s**t up, then you are in for a treat!

This game is truly awesome. It has been released for almost every console, make sure to check it out!