Hey, I figured you'd be putting up a review on this movie after seeing an ad for the Blu-ray and 4K Ultra special steelbook case editions.
I agree with a LOT of your points here. As much as I liked it (it wasn't stellar, but it was mostly fun), it is absolutely NOT the "Film That Saved The MCU". Not by a LONG shot. In fact, I look at it as a breather or reprieve from the stream of mediocrity that Marvel Studios has been selling us. The reality still remains that the Multiverse Saga is pretty much a trainwreck; looking at what's to come, even calling this chapter anything to do with the Multiverse actually doesn't make any sense to me at this point. The act of desperation that is Kevin Feige shoehorning Dr. Doom as the new big bad along with "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" becoming "Avengers: Doomsday" is really the final nail in the coffin. I agree with you that Kang should've been recast after the Jonathan Majors snafu; Kang was the personification of the Multiverse in the first place, his character was basically an "at anyplace at anytime" entity in the source material.
I'll admit, Chris Evans' role was a surprise to me for a few moments. I knew his face and actually thought he might've been some variant of Captain America, so I was momentarily confused when he ignited into flames; I never saw either of the Fox Fantastic Four films, though I did remember seeing Evans as Johnny Storm in a lot of the promotional material. And yeah, that profanity-laced rant killed me -- no way would Steve Rogers be caught saying ANY of that. Hilarious with a capital H.
Elektra's response to Daredevil's death... to me it came off as she's long moved past the loss, but your take on it DOES make perfect sense to me; the less Jennifer Garner is reminded of Ben Affleck and the first Daredevil film, the better. Hell, even Affleck himself hated that film. Me and many of my friends found it a real lackluster film after the first Spider-Man film came out; it was basically an afterthought.
Gambit... ehhhh, not much to say. Costume was pretty accurate, and he had maybe one or two lines that cracked a smile from me, but really not that memorable.
Blade was a big surprise for me, and though I haven't seen Blade: Trinity, I somewhat got that jab he took at Deadpool. A friend of mine mentioned that Ryan Reynolds played a character in that film, so I can sort of see the connection. But looking back, Wesley Snipes' appearance in the film does remind me of an article I recently read: the article's title referenced one of his quotes in Deadpool & Wolverine, which was "There's only one Blade, and there's only ever gonna BE one Blade". I think it was a tongue in cheek article, as it covered news of the MCU's Blade film being effectively indefinitely delayed. Snipes wasn't mentioned anywhere in the article save for the quote and his appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine, but the title of the article was clever.
The whole "turn your head in the mask" thing... FULL agreement with you there. As far as the first four Batman films are concerned, I'll admit I never really paid attention to this costume flaw when I was a kid, but looking back, it really does look like an intentional move on the part of the designers, and NOT in a good way. No wonder why Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney looked so clumsy during fight scenes in the Batsuit. A design flaw that did NOT need to become a trend all the way up to The Dark Knight; looking back, it's really inexcusable. However, I won't deny that seeing Hugh Jackman put on that cowl in such a fashion with that quiet choir reaching a crescendo was a legendary moment; the showroom erupted into cheers and whoops, though one of my pals looked like he was at a loss for words for a few moments. I pretty much saw it coming, though -- the very first teaser for this film had one of those "best friends forever" necklaces as it's main image, with one half resembling Deadpool's mask and the other half resembling Wolverine's mask. I don't think Marvel Studios would put such an image out as promotional material so early and then turn around and not have the cowl in the film. Considering how so many Marvel fans wanted to see Hugh Jackman in that cowl, especially after the first images of him in the classic suit, I don't think they'd be able to handle the backlash. Like, at all.
Lastly, Cassandra Nova... no sympathy for her from me either. Letting her live was a BIG mistake for sure. But her powers were just fucking terrifying; this lady is the personification of the word "mind-fuck". Probing someone's mind by literally driving her fingers through someone's skull? And God-DAMN, the way she basically skinned Johnny Storm alive -- and I mean she REALLY SKINNED HIM ALIVE -- that ain't comedy superhero film material, no sir. That's fucking DARK, like "The Joker's demented sadism" dark. For someone who looked so young, she made me pretty uncomfortable for most of the film. I never read any Marvel comics with her in them, and my only knowledge came from when I saw she was the villain leading up the film's release and the fact that her character looked a lot like Charles Xavier. But still... Charles was more of a mentor, a teacher, a civil rights leader in a sense. If Cassie Nova is this way in the source material, I can DEFINITELY see the kind of rifts between her and Charles. Very disturbing and sadistic villain for this kind of film.
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I agree with a LOT of your points here. As much as I liked it (it wasn't stellar, but it was mostly fun), it is absolutely NOT the "Film That Saved The MCU". Not by a LONG shot. In fact, I look at it as a breather or reprieve from the stream of mediocrity that Marvel Studios has been selling us. The reality still remains that the Multiverse Saga is pretty much a trainwreck; looking at what's to come, even calling this chapter anything to do with the Multiverse actually doesn't make any sense to me at this point. The act of desperation that is Kevin Feige shoehorning Dr. Doom as the new big bad along with "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty" becoming "Avengers: Doomsday" is really the final nail in the coffin. I agree with you that Kang should've been recast after the Jonathan Majors snafu; Kang was the personification of the Multiverse in the first place, his character was basically an "at anyplace at anytime" entity in the source material.
I'll admit, Chris Evans' role was a surprise to me for a few moments. I knew his face and actually thought he might've been some variant of Captain America, so I was momentarily confused when he ignited into flames; I never saw either of the Fox Fantastic Four films, though I did remember seeing Evans as Johnny Storm in a lot of the promotional material. And yeah, that profanity-laced rant killed me -- no way would Steve Rogers be caught saying ANY of that. Hilarious with a capital H.
Elektra's response to Daredevil's death... to me it came off as she's long moved past the loss, but your take on it DOES make perfect sense to me; the less Jennifer Garner is reminded of Ben Affleck and the first Daredevil film, the better. Hell, even Affleck himself hated that film. Me and many of my friends found it a real lackluster film after the first Spider-Man film came out; it was basically an afterthought.
Gambit... ehhhh, not much to say. Costume was pretty accurate, and he had maybe one or two lines that cracked a smile from me, but really not that memorable.
Blade was a big surprise for me, and though I haven't seen Blade: Trinity, I somewhat got that jab he took at Deadpool. A friend of mine mentioned that Ryan Reynolds played a character in that film, so I can sort of see the connection. But looking back, Wesley Snipes' appearance in the film does remind me of an article I recently read: the article's title referenced one of his quotes in Deadpool & Wolverine, which was "There's only one Blade, and there's only ever gonna BE one Blade". I think it was a tongue in cheek article, as it covered news of the MCU's Blade film being effectively indefinitely delayed. Snipes wasn't mentioned anywhere in the article save for the quote and his appearance in Deadpool & Wolverine, but the title of the article was clever.
The whole "turn your head in the mask" thing... FULL agreement with you there. As far as the first four Batman films are concerned, I'll admit I never really paid attention to this costume flaw when I was a kid, but looking back, it really does look like an intentional move on the part of the designers, and NOT in a good way. No wonder why Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney looked so clumsy during fight scenes in the Batsuit. A design flaw that did NOT need to become a trend all the way up to The Dark Knight; looking back, it's really inexcusable. However, I won't deny that seeing Hugh Jackman put on that cowl in such a fashion with that quiet choir reaching a crescendo was a legendary moment; the showroom erupted into cheers and whoops, though one of my pals looked like he was at a loss for words for a few moments. I pretty much saw it coming, though -- the very first teaser for this film had one of those "best friends forever" necklaces as it's main image, with one half resembling Deadpool's mask and the other half resembling Wolverine's mask. I don't think Marvel Studios would put such an image out as promotional material so early and then turn around and not have the cowl in the film. Considering how so many Marvel fans wanted to see Hugh Jackman in that cowl, especially after the first images of him in the classic suit, I don't think they'd be able to handle the backlash. Like, at all.
Lastly, Cassandra Nova... no sympathy for her from me either. Letting her live was a BIG mistake for sure. But her powers were just fucking terrifying; this lady is the personification of the word "mind-fuck". Probing someone's mind by literally driving her fingers through someone's skull? And God-DAMN, the way she basically skinned Johnny Storm alive -- and I mean she REALLY SKINNED HIM ALIVE -- that ain't comedy superhero film material, no sir. That's fucking DARK, like "The Joker's demented sadism" dark. For someone who looked so young, she made me pretty uncomfortable for most of the film. I never read any Marvel comics with her in them, and my only knowledge came from when I saw she was the villain leading up the film's release and the fact that her character looked a lot like Charles Xavier. But still... Charles was more of a mentor, a teacher, a civil rights leader in a sense. If Cassie Nova is this way in the source material, I can DEFINITELY see the kind of rifts between her and Charles. Very disturbing and sadistic villain for this kind of film.