Okay, today I will review the 3 films that are in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been released. I will review them in the order of the movie universe not when the films where released. Please read the full review. Thank you.
Iron Man
When this movie came out I was not a fan of Iron Man. I had recently read Marvel's Civil War, in which I did not support Tony Stark in any way. So I was actually pretty mad to hear that this "dumb" hero had gotten a movie when one of my favorite hero's of all time, Captain America, had not gotten a chance in modern times to be on the big screen. So I heard all the people online saying it was a great movie and I was like, "Yeah, right." But finally I saw the DVD of Iron Man on the shelf of a friends house and I was like, "You like this movie?" And of course I was told it was great but I was like, "Yeah, I'll take a rain check on that." So finally I just told myself I had to watch it to get it out of my system... and of course I loved it. And now I have of course done further research on Iron Man and am a very loyal fan. But I just had to tell you how I came about watching it because I wasn't even a fan of Iron Man, in fact I almost hated Iron Man and yet this film made me be probably one of his most loyal fans. So I really hope I didn't bore you with my life's history... ;). Anyway now for the review.
The Story:
When I first watched this I couldn't believe at how much they built each character, especially Tony Stark, through the course of the film. This movie is very much of a journey movie, through one man's mind of how to become a true hero. I loved how they portrayed Tony Stark as a "Man who has everything, but nothing."
Tony Stark/Iron Man:
Robert plays, no, is Tony Stark in this film. He does the character so well I am at loss at what to say... except that I finally saw a parallel of Tony Stark, everyone knows he builds his suits, but it seems to me that every time he builds his one of his suits he builds his own character, and that seemed to me to be the main attraction of this movie. Of how this man, turns himself into a hero.
Pepper Potts:
Gweneth does a wonderful job at playing Pepper. Also, I loved the story which was not really used in the comics, the story between Tony and Pepper, which is one of my favorite things in this movie. Gotta love their banter!
James "Rhodey" Rhodes:
Terrence does an okay job with Rhodey, but I honestly didn't like him in this part nearly as much as Don Cheadle who later replaced him in Iron Man 2.
Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger:
Jeff Bridges was not bad as Stane and I actually thought he did good in his villain role. He made the character very believable and interesting as well. I would have actually liked to see more of his character but oh well.
Closing Thoughts:
All of the other cast did excellent in their respective roles and I enjoyed each a lot. But I will say, one of the best non main characters was Shaun Toub who plays Dr. Yinsen. I think in this film his character was the man who actually made Tony think for once in his life, and ultimately made Tony Stark, Iron Man. This movie is one of my most favorite CBMs.
My Rating:
8 1/2 out of 10
Iron Man 2
The Story:
Most agree that this movie could have been better. I'm no different. It could have been better, in my opinion. But it was still an awesome movie! I think the main problem that I had with this film is the choice of Whiplash as a villain. Well, as how big they played him up to be. I would have liked it more if Whiplash had have been just a thug from Hammer, trying to kill Tony Stark. Also, as a villain I would have liked it if they had Crimson Dynamo as another little villain. To concentrate on a story that had no comics linking and didn't help the film universe that much was part of the down fall of Iron Man 2. Still I really enjoyed the movie and I would say that it was an excellent sequel. I loved all the additions to the cast and I will review each respectively.
Tony Stark/Iron Man:
I still love Robert as Tony Stark/Iron Man. He just does it so well. I am truly amazed. Again, I love how Robert makes the character build himself again and again every time he builds a new suit.
Pepper Potts:
Gwyneth again does an amazing job with Pepper, although I thought it was sad that most of the time through the movie Tony and Pepper where mad at each other and so not as much witty banter... but oh well, maybe next time.
James "Rhodey" Rhodes:
I loved Don Cheadle as Rhodey. I was a bit mad at first with his casting because of continuity but he was such an improvement over Terrence Howard as Rhodey, I didn't mind a bit. He made the character much more of a military man than Howard and just did a much better job at being a good friend of Tony's. And Cheadle was awesome as War Machine!
Justin Hammer:
When they said they where going to make him younger and more Tony's age, I thought that was an awesome idea. He really does an amazing job at being funny, and you really sympathize "sort of" with his character because of him feeling that he's over shadowed by Tony, and finally seeing his chance to become a new "Tony Stark" he takes it, only to realize he by doing so he let out a mad man.
Ivan Vanko/Whiplash:
Ivan does a wonderful job with this character I wish we could have seen more of him, and I wish he could have played a bigger character, such as Batman's joker. Still he did a very good job with this character, even though I wish the character had have just been a random thug hired by Hammer, to kill Iron Man.
Natalie Rushman / Natasha Romanoff/aka:Black Widow:
Scarlett does a good job with this character... it's too bad we really didn't see her very much, as a main character...
Nick Fury:
Some hate Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury and some love it. I don't mind it but I don't love it. Personally, he does a good job of doing the ultimate version of Nick Fury, to the 616 Nick Fury he has no comparison. But that's not necessarily bad. I loved in ultimate comics Nick Fury's relationship to Peter/Spiderman and I do not mind them doing ultimate Nick Fury for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Closing Thoughts:
I have to address this so here it goes...
Action:
I didn't really talk about the action in Iron Man because there hardly was any action. Still the film had very well done CG. But Iron Man 2 in no way suffered from any lack of action, what ever the first film missed in action 2 made up for it... I thought the final battle with Whiplash might have been a bit longer, and I would have liked it better if after Iron Man and War Machine had finished of the Hammeroid attack, Whiplash and more Hammeroids came and had War Machine take on all the Hammeroids while leaving Iron Man alone to battle Whiplash. But oh well, I actually liked them working together, kind of a teaser to the Avengers.
Everyone else in the film did a great job and really in my opinion made this movie just as special as the first did. Even though it made some mistakes, I enjoyed it because it was a really fun and good movie.
My Rating:
8 out of 10
The Incredible Hulk
The Story:
Despite very bad box office performance, this film was a truly an incredible film. Using the credits to tell Hulk's well know origin was a very interesting and good way to do it. It didn't leave out the origin but yet it skipped right on to the good stuff. I loved all the characters in this film and really made you sympathize with Banner. To me this film took the best of what I loved about Hulk and put it all into one film. Now lets look individually at the cast.
Bruce Banner / Hulk:
I'm at loss at what to say about his performance except incredible. To me Edward Norton is the Robert Downey Jr. of the Hulk. He portrays of how Banner thinks, his fear of the Hulk hurting people, his love for Betty, and his final understanding that he can't run away from it any more and must try to use his curse for good.
Elizabeth "Betty" Ross: Liv does an incredible performance herself. Her love for Bruce, her understanding the Hulk, and her anger for her Father, who keeps hunting Bruce.
Emil Blonsky / Abomination: Roth does an okay job for a villain, I liked how he kept searching for more power thinking he deserves it, and for his hate for Banner who he feels doesn't deserve the power.
General Ross: William Hurt does this character justice as well. Ross hates for Bruce because Ross feels Banner stole the love of his daughter from him, and his hate grows even more after the creation of the Hulk.
Closing Thoughts: I loved all the rest of the cast which did an excellent job as well. I also especially enjoyed Lou Ferrigno voicing the Hulk, I nearly cheered, when he said Hulk's famous line, "Hulk SMASH!" Although I thought the movie could have used a bit more action still, the action was great when done and I loved Hulk's closer look to the comics. A very good movie highly recommended.
My Rating:
8 out of 10
Be sure to check out my reviews of Thor and The First Avenger: Captain America in 2011!