We have only three major comic book movies (and by major, I mean the big two, Marvel and DC) coming out this year but the fact that our line of thinking is "only three" shows us just how far this genre of film, and the source material as a result, has come since the genre really took off in 2008 with the academy award-winning
The Dark Knight and the launch of the esteemed Marvel Cinematic Universe. There was a time when we would consider our selves lucky to have just one comic book movie come out in a year, and even then there was a huge chance that the one comic book movie would deviate from the source material just so it could be "taken seriously" by the general audience. Years ago, if someone told me that there would one day come a year where not only would there be SEVERAL comic book films released but two of them would be team-up/crossover films (
Batman V Superman and
Civil War in 2016), I wouldn't believe you for an instant. Anyways, these are my thoughts and prediction on what 2015 has offer.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Before I begin on what I think about this film from what we've seen so far, let me quickly give my thoughts on it's predecessor. No, not
Guardians Of The Galaxy, I'm talking about the 2012
Avengers film. The popular thing for anyone to do is jump on the bandwagon and re-state the popular opinion but I have to be honest, while it was by
no means a terrible film, I found it to be highly over-rated. Some will try to invalidate my opinion by accusing me of being a biased DC fanboy but not only is that not true but
The Avengers' competition,
The Dark Knight Rises, didn't live up to expectations either.
Why didn't I like it as much as everyone else? My opinions have more or less remained the same as in
my original review of the film from 2012, but to sum it up, while I praised the film for how it maintained the continuity of the previous films, the interactions of the characters, a mostly stellar cast, brilliant visual effects, the fight choreography and much of its humour (though not all of it), I felt that the film was heavily flawed. The problems I had with it include the fact that the "team-up" was inexplicable and it didn't require a team at all (as a matter of fact, all it took to end the alien invasion was Tony Stark and a missile), the alien invasion itself felt like a re-run of
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, the Hulk was treated as a joke, Loki (despite the villain being a god) was not a threat and neither were the aliens, and much of the films plot points were left completely unexplained (as to how exactly Banner was suddenly able to control the Hulk and how the Avengers were able to communicate long distance during the invasion).
With that being said, I have to say that I am cautiously hyped for
Avengers AU. From what I've seen in the trailer,
AU appears to be fixing many of the problems I had with the original. The villains in the original may not have been a threat but how better to improve upon that than to have Ultron (one of the Avengers' greatest adversaries in the comics) as the villain! The aliens may not have been a threat but, from watching the trailers, I'm getting the feeling that if the Avengers don't defeat Ultron in this film then there will be an all out apocalypse in the MCU.
When I first heard James Spader's voice as Ultron, I disliked it because it didn't sound anything like what I've always imagined he would sound like but, since watching the second trailer, the voice has grown on me. There is a certain bone-chilling creepiness to Spader's tone ("I
'm going to tear you apart,""
I'm want to show you something beautiful: EVERYONE SCREAMING!") and, even though Marvel Studios doesn't exactly have the best track record when it comes to the villains in their movies (Loki aside), I think Ultron has a reasonable chance in possibly becoming one of the greats.
Another impression I got from the trailers was that this film is taking itself and its characters (even the Hulk!) a lot more seriously than the original without completely losing the trademark Marvel humour we've come to expect. Hopefully, Joss Whedon won't disappoint a second time.
ANT-MAN
This was a movie I was really looking forward to. While the direction it was going in seemed to be very questionable and unlike the source material, I remained enthusiastic. It was clear from the beginning that Edgar Wright had a vision. Wright is a talented director when it comes to action-comedies and I completely trusted where this film appeared to be going. The announcements of Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Patrick Wilson as Crossfire did nothing but fuel my anticipation, as I am a fan of both actors.
The announcement of Edgar Wright's departure came like a punch to the face. The only reason I had trusted this far-off interpretation of Ant-Man to begin with was because of Wright and his vision. Ever since Edgar Wright's departure, my expectations steadily began to drop. By the time Marvel got a new director, it was already late in the game. Not only had they barely started filming but then Marvel had to hire a new screenwriter to re-write the film. The decision to re-write the film is understandable when you hire a new director after the previous one leaves but it was when Marvel announced their refusal to delay the film that I had a problem with. This means that the
Ant-Man film will have to be rushed into the theatre as they would have to wait for Adam Mckay to re-write the script and they would have to film most of the movie.
(Someone tried to argue that the
Ant-Man film isn't being rushed because it has been in development for several years but, if that is your argument, you likely don't have a good understanding of what "in development" means as films are often considered "in development" before they are even greenlit)
The announcement that Patrick Wilson will no longer be in the film managed to lower my expectations even lower.
Since Wright's departure, it has become more and more apparent that the disagreement between Edgar Wright and Kevin Feige has to do with Feige wanting to throw characters like Agent Carter, Howard Stark and Arnim Zola into the films flashbacks rather than allowing Wright to make his movie. At first I wrote these off as simple rumours but, sure enough, a first look at the
Ant-Man movie prelude comic does in fact involve Peggy Carter training Hank Pym. Is all of this really necessary? Does the cast of
The First Avenger and
Agent Carter need to be involved in every single flashback to the twentieth century in the MCU? Couldn't they just wait until the following phase 3 films and TV shows before making these connections? Was it worth losing Edgar Wright?
And finally, the trailer was released. After the trailer has made me even MORE nervous for the film (if possible) as not only did the comedy and seriousness did not mix well at all. It felt like director Peyton Reed was going for a more serious tone but felt obligated to throw comedy in there, making the comedy feel out of place. The trailer has also made me concerned that Marvel is trying to formulaically turn every new and relatively unknown male super-hero they introduce on the big screen into Tony Stark. From what has been shown in the trailer, Scott Lang appears to basically be the exact same character as the comedic jerk, Star-Lord, except with a different motive and different technology in a different setting.
In conclusion, I am not expecting much from this movie. At
BEST, I am expecting it to be on par with
Iron Man 2. Hopefully this movie will be able to surpass my low expectations but, as of now, they are just that.
FANT4STIC
One thing the new
Fantastic Four movie seems to get right that the previous films completely missed is that the FF are scientific explorers more then they are actually superheroes. After decades of continuity, it is easy to forget that the FF didn't always embrace their abilities as super-hero celebrities in the comics and the upcoming film looks to take the FF back to their roots from the original comics, when they originally viewed themselves as freaks and were learning of their powers. The subplot of Reed Richard's searching for a cure for Ben Grimm would feel right at home in a film like this, judging from the trailer and what we've been hearing. It's interesting that the movie is using the scientific-curiousity side of the FF that the previous films lost sight of.
The movie is taking heavy inspiration from
Ultimate Fantastic Four, which I am okay with as that series was brilliant and remained up until an awful storyline involving
Taylor Lautner Namor.
There have been many complaints that the movie looks like it will be "dark and gritty" but, while the movie will probably have a mostly serious tone, I doubt it. I'm sure there will also be some fun moments with the character interactions.
I can understand why Fox doesn't want to call Dr. Doom "Victor Von Doom" but why did they change his name completely? Couldn't they have just went with his Ultimate name (Victor Van Damme)? I understand this is a contemporary take on the Fantastic Four but considering we live in a world of Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un, I don't see why Dr. Doom can't just be the ruler of Latveria instead of starting off as a computer hacker.
Over-all, I like most of what I've seen and heard from the film so far (though not all of it) but we haven't seen or heard much and I'll need to see more before having a solid opinion on how enthusiastic I am on the film.
RANKING
This is the ranking of how much I'm looking forward to each film from lowest to highest:
3. Ant-Man
Expectations: Low
2. Fantastic Four
Expectations: Medium to positive
1. Avengers AU
Expectations: High