Are Marvel Films Making Us Smarter?

Are Marvel Films Making Us Smarter?

It has become fun to bash the Marvel films.

There is no denying that despite increasing box office receipts and new records being broken with seemingly each new entry, the franchise has encountered mounting snobbery and cynicism from various critics and media outlets, as seems to be the nature with anything that is massively popular. A common criticism of the films is that they are overly reliant on prior stories with a particularly negative assessment from the New Yorker denigrating Infinity War as nothing more than a two-and-a-half-hour ad for the films that preceded it and those that will follow.

Others, such as a piece from Film School Rejects, have criticized the franchise’s adverse impact on storytelling, stating that the films’ proclivity for constantly teasing future installments with post-credit scenes reduces the impact the current stories are having. The mass genocide depicted during the conclusion of Infinity War was especially criticized as feeling inconsequential due to so many of the “deceased” characters having sequels already teased from their own respective film’s post-credit scenes. Additionally, the article criticizes how difficult it is for new fans to jump in thanks to the story being crafted in a way that requires seeing every prior film to completely understand the events depicted and fully reap the emotional payoffs.

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Ant-Man Review

AntMan Review

3 out of 4 stars (3 / 4)

In continued anticipation for The Avengers: Infinity War as well as the upcoming sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp, it seemed logical that Marvel’s Ant-Man was worth analyzing again. Although I hadn’t seen the film in several years, I remember enjoying the film a lot during its initial release and I’m happy to report that it holds up well upon a re-watch, however, I did come away with some new insights. With the slew of other films in the MCU portfolio, it would have been easy for Ant-Man to have been overshadowed by its more epic predecessors. Coming off the heels of the release of Age of Ultron during the Summer of 2015, Ant-Man was jarringly simple in scope as the stakes were nowhere near the grandiose peril demonstrated by its MCU predecessor. However, this simplicity is the film’s greatest strength and despite being less ambitious in some ways Ant-Man provides an oddly fresh experience that sets the film apart from the other MCU films.

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Thor: The Dark World Review

Thor The Dark World Review

2 out of 4 stars (2 / 4)

With the release of Avengers: Infinity War nearing closer and Thor: Ragnarok being one of the most recent Marvel Cinematic Universe releases it seems appropriate to revisit Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World directed by Alan Taylor. As this movie was released several years ago now I will be discussing some light spoilers in this review. Although it’s been some time since I last saw The Dark World I recall enjoying the film, but even during that time being aware that this was far from the best the MCU had to offer. I see now that during the time of its release I was still desperately chasing a high to replicate an experience resembling the first time I saw The Avengers and examining the film now I see that The Dark World is the worst film in the MCU to date.

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