Movie Review: Avengers: Endgame

Avengers: Endgame **** / *****

Directed by: Anthony Russo and Joe Russo.

Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely basics on comics created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and Jim Starlin.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes / War Machine), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange), Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa / Black Panther), Brie Larson (Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel), Tom Holland (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne / The Wasp), Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie), Rene Russo (Frigga), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Benedict Wong (Wong), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Dave Bautista (Drax), Letita Wright (Shuri), John Slattery (Howard Stark), Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One), Jon Favreau (Happy Hogan), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Natalie Portman (Jane Foster), Marisa Tomei ( Auny May), Taika Waititi (Kong), Angela Bassett (Ramonda), Michael Douglas (Hank Pym), Michelle Pfeiffer (Janet Van Dyne), William Hurt (Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross), Colbie Smulders (Maria Hill), Sean Gunn (On Set Rocket), Winston Duke (M/Baku), Linda Cardellini (Laura Barton), Maximiliano Hernandez (Agent Sitwell), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow), Hiroyuki Sanada (Akihiko), , Vin Diesel (Groot), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill/Star-Lord), Samuel L. Jackson (Nicky Fury), Lexi Rabe (Morgan Stark).

 

So, here we are finally. After 11 years and 21 previous films, we finally get to the Endgame. And even if we know this isn’t really the end – there is another MCU movie scheduled for release in July – and various others in stages of development, and numerous TV series either ongoing right now or coming in the near future. But it is the end of this universe as we currently know it – as the heroes who have been at the heart of this universe for the past decade will step aside in one way or another and make room for some new heroes – either ones we already know, some not. So there is a lot riding on this movie – which brings an end to a chapter in this series.

 

The major accomplishment of Endgame is that it someone manages to make this massive series, with countless characters, and 21 prior movies, feel like it was all leading to this one place. It has to somehow bring together everyone in one place, for one task and make it feel natural. That is no minor feat. It is the same trick that Game of Thrones is trying to pull right now in its last season with mixed results (the second episode of the current season was one of my favorites of the whole show – the third – the huge battle – was okay, but kind of a letdown). That writer/director Joe and Anthony Russo pull it off is something that cannot be dismissed. This is a huge logistical challenge, and they pull it off. They also manage to make what is essentially a three-hour movie based mostly on fan service, and turn it into a satisfying movie. This isn’t a standalone to be sure – you may be able to follow the major plot of the movie without much knowledge of what came before, but really, what would the point of that be?

 

And so, here we are. The Snapture has happened, wiping out half of our heroes, along with half of everyone else in the Universe, all because Thanos (Josh Brolin) thinks the universe would be better off with people living creatures in it. There are limited resources, and know, they can sustain everyone. That was where Infinity War left us, and pretty much exactly where Endgame picks up. I’m not going to get into spoilers here – not really – not because I’m that worried (the film made $350 million in North America in one weekend, so if you really wanted to see it, you have seen it – but mainly because if I started to explain the plot, I’d have to go on for 10 pages, and that is something no one wants. I think many people had many theories of how Endgame was going to resolve the wiping out of billions of lives – including heroes who we already know have upcoming projects with them in it – and while I won’t spoil it, I will say that while most of those theories turned out to be wrong in terms of specifics, they weren’t that far off either.

 

I mentioned Game of Thrones last season above, and I am reminded of that now – because essentially what Endgame is the second and third episode of that series’ last season merged together into a single film. The second episode of this season had all the surviving characters at Winterfell, knowing that the Night King was descending on them and preparing to fight, even if they all thought they were going to die. The third episode was the massive battle of Winterfell – where that fight actually happens. That is essentially Endgame – where the two hours is the surviving heroes at their most existential – trying to figure out a way to win, however slim the chances are, and the final hour being the massive battle we all know is coming. True, the second hour has what they call a time heist in it – which is just basically pure fun in the most fan service way possible. But there is more darkness in this film than most other Marvel movies – and not just in the way of Infinity War, which ended on a downer that we all knew was temporary – but something deeper and darker and more sustained than that. And unlike the Battle of Winterfell, Endgame doesn’t chicken out in the end in terms of who lives and who dies.

 

Endgame is a huge movie in every way, and what’s most surprising about it is that it works as well as it does. It works better than Infinity War did for me – that film felt like it was trying to pummel be for nearly three hours, and while ultimately, it is a fine film, it’s little more than that. Endgame goes farther, and is a truly fun and moving experience. I’m not going to overstate this movies importance – some users on Twitter who have claimed this is the peak human achievement of all time have taken care of that. But it is a film that sets itself a huge task, and then remarkably achieves it. It is a satisfying way to end this chapter of the MCU – which has had its ups and down over the past decade, but has mainly been a lot of fun. It’s better than most of them, but not all of them – but it’s a fitting way to not say goodbye – since the series isn’t ending – but at least, See you later.

Movie Review: Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Infinity War *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo.

Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely based on comics/characters created by Stan Lee &

 Jack Kirby and Jim Starlin & George Pérez & Ron Lim and Steve Ditko and Joe Simon.

Starring: Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / Hulk), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Benedict Cumberbatch (Stephen Strange), Don Cheadle (James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine), Tom Holland (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa / Black Panther), Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Falcon), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / White Wolf), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Peter Dinklage (Eitri), Benedict Wong (Wong), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Dave Bautista (Drax the Destroyer), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Vin Diesel (Groot), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Benicio del Toro (Taneleer Tivan / The Collector), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Chris Pratt (Peter Quill / Star-Lord), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Letitia Wright (Shuri), Winston Duke (M'Baku).

 

Spoiler Warning: This film has already made so much money, and I’m writing a review a week late, so I cannot imagine I’d actually be spoiling anything for some who would care. Nevertheless, consider yourself warned.

 

So this is where the last decade of Marvel movies – 18 before this – has been leading up to. In a certain sense, you could argue that Avengers: Infinity War is the biggest movie of its era, and perhaps ever made – simply because it has taken so long, so many movies to lead up to this one point – and then because in the movie itself there are multiple storylines with a few dozen characters all brought together in various ways. If you want to look at the movie in that light, you have to admire its sheer scale – the logistical achievement involved in bringing this altogether into something resembling a movie with a coherent storyline. For the most part, the movie actually works to – for those of us who have followed along until now, the film is fun to watch. It has more than its share of flaws to be sure – but this is probably about as good of a movie that can be made when you crash all these characters together into one behemoth movie.

 

The movie finally makes Thanos (Josh Brolin) into a real character, instead of being the CGI bad guy who pops up for a cameo in credit stingers – and despite all the other characters in this film, he is the closest thing you’d come to having a main character. He’s actually a fair good villain by Marvel standards (which isn’t saying much) – like Eric Killmonger in Black Panther, Thanos actually has a plan and a point-of-view that makes him interesting. You can even see his point – even while you disagree with the way he goes about doing things. Basically, Thanos is collecting all the Infinity Stones – which up until now have been little more than MacGuffins referenced in every film – and if he can get all six, he will be virtually unstoppable, and be able to carry out his plan of wiping out half of the universe’s population. Brolin’s performance in the film is pretty good too – he doesn’t go for bombast – his performance is quieter. He doesn’t necessarily like what he’s going to do, just believes it is necessary. He would be an even better villain if he didn’t look so silly - he is a giant, purple CGI monster, and after a while you get used to him, but he does look kind of ridiculous.

 

The movie ties together various storylines of different subsets of the Avenger – and the Guardians of the Galaxy – trying in their own individual ways to stop Thanos. This makes for some interesting pairings – so Thor spends a lot of time with the Guardians for example, although they eventually splinter into two groups as well, and Iron Man and Doctor Strange square off in a contest to determine who can be the most obnoxious, and most of the rest rally around Vision, because he has one of the Infinity Stones at the start of the movie, to try and stop Thanos from getting it.

 

I have never been more confident that I was right all those years ago when I said that these Marvel movies are essentially a large scale TV show with a couple supersized episodes per year. This movie makes almost no effort to catch people up who haven’t been keeping up with the various storylines – although to be fair, it really isn’t that complicated to figure most of it (the purple guy wants the stones, everyone else doesn’t want him to have them, etc.). The directing duties here go to Joe and Anthony Russo – who also made Captain America: The Winter Solider (my favorite Marvel movie) and Captain America: Civil War, which was also quite good – although, like everyone else, I remember the wonderful airport fight sequence more than anything else. They are a good choice here – they keep all the different narrative balls in the air, and do a good enough job with the action sequences (even if nothing approaches that airport scene). The movie runs a long time, and yet it is consistently entertaining.

 

Most of the problems with the movie were probably unavoidable. With this many characters, some were clearly going to get the shaft, and so it goes with people like Captain America here (truly, this series hasn’t really known what to do with him since The Winter Soldier – after establishing in the first two Cap films that this ultimate symbol of America no longer fits into modern America, it hasn’t done much with him). The series seems to want Downey’s Iron Man to learn and relearn the same lessons again and again – and carry the emotional weight of the franchise in many ways, but he’s too glib and jokey for that. An emotional lynchpin of this movie is supposed to be Zoe Saldana’s Gamora, but her solo storyline here doesn’t hit as hard as it should.

 

And the same is true for the ending of the film that many seem to thinking is daring and audacious, but to me seemed more like a cheap ploy than anything else. We know damn well that the end of this film isn’t “final” – if it was, then sure, it would be daring. The makers of the film are right now trying to do the Jon Snow death dance around the ending, but no one is buying it. And if the end of this film isn’t final, then what really are the stakes at play? I truly do want the next Avengers film – due a year from now (after Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel) to not do what I think it’s going to do – but I don’t see another way around it (I will gladly be proven very wrong in that regard).

 

In short, Avengers: Infinity War basically delivers on its promise on being a massive comics crossover in movie form – and is about as good of a film as it could be, considering all the things it has to do. I don’t think these films will ever quite be as good as the best one-offs in the series (the first two Captain America films, the first and third Iron Man films, Thor: Ragnorok, Black Panther) – but as pure spectacle and fun, the film works.

Movie Review: Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War

Directed by: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo.

Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely based on comic books by Mark Millar and Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.

Starring: Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Falcon), Don Cheadle (Lieutenant James Rhodes / War Machine), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Chadwick Boseman (T'Challa / Black Panther), Paul Bettany (Vision), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang / Ant-Man), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Tom Holland (Peter Parker / Spider-Man), Daniel Brühl (Zemo), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow / Crossbones), William Hurt (Secretary of State Thaddeus Ross), Martin Freeman (Everett K. Ross), Marisa Tomei (May Parker), John Kani (King T'Chaka), John Slattery (Howard Stark), Hope Davis (Maria Stark), Alfre Woodard (Miriam), Gene Farber (Karpov), Kerry Condon (Friday - voice).

 

You have to hand it to Marvel – and the various filmmakers – responsible for their larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. They are now 13 films – and 8 years - into this franchise, and the quality has been remarkably consistent over that time period. It’s easy to be cynical – and sometimes, I am – about the control that Marvel maintains over each of the films, which often seems to frustrate individual directors – sending more idiosyncratic directors like Edgar Wright off the projects, in favor of more directors with TV backgrounds, who will essentially execute the movies the way Marvel wants them to. Yes, there are differences in how the Russo brothers – directors of this and last Captain America movie – shoot compared to say Joss Whedon, who did the two Avengers films (mainly in terms of action sequences) – but not very much. This series really has become a big budget television series, with only two new, very long episodes per year. You turn up for these movies, pay your money, and like a weekly TV series, you know what you’re going to get before you sit down – and as long as Marvel delivers, you’ll turn up the next time as well. Remarkably, Marvel almost always seem to deliver. This cannot be easy – as Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice proved just a couple of months ago. That film was a giant, humorless, confused, overstuffed monstrosity, and has sent Marvel’s rival, DC, and company scrambling back to the drawing board to figure out how to make something better, less cumbersome next time. They could just watch Captain America: Civil War for that. The two films are very similar in many ways, as it ends up setting two superheroes, who should be on the same side, against each other for an epic royal rumble, and brings along approximately 10 other superheroes – some we’ve seen before, some we haven’t – along for the ride as well. Remarkably, it all works – and that’s because it’s building off many of those previous films, so that even though some characters aren’t in the movie very long, we know who they are, and why they are fighting. Most importantly, it maintains a sense of humor throughout. I’ll probably always have mixed feelings on the Marvel movies – because I don’t like how everyone seems to be copying them, with lesser results – but there’s no real denying that they deliver fairly consistently.

 

The story of Civil War pits Captain America and Iron Man against each other. After the fallout of what happened in Avengers: Age of Ultron – where the villain created by Tony Stark dropped a city, and the Avengers did what they could, saving many lives, but not all of them – and another tragic incident that opens this film, where the Avengers fight against another old foe in an Africa nation – leading to some more deaths – the countries of the world has had enough. They want to bring the Avengers under some sort of control – make them answerable to someone. Stark leads the charge on this – it was, after all, his doing that create Ultron, and his crime fighting may be costing him everything he proclaims to love. Others share his concerns, and quickly sign on. But Captain America doesn’t – he distrusts the government – any government – and doesn’t want to be ordered he has to do something he doesn’t agree with, or be ordered not to do something he thinks he should. This is brought down to a more personal level, when his old friend Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier – is the prime suspect in a bombing that kills some very important people, and needs to be brought in. Cap knows they’ll kill him – and wants to do anything he can to prevent that from happening. In order to do that however, he has to become a criminal.

 

So that’s the setup – and its one that makes sense because of everything that we’ve seen the Captain American and Iron Man go through so far in this series. One of the most interesting things about this series is how they have portrayed Captain America – a square jawed, old fashioned character who stands for everything America should stand for, who finds himself at odds with much of what America now stands for – the country has changed so much since his WWII days. He has seen SHIELD destroyed, and fought against a high ranking government man who wanted to commit mass murder. His stance makes sense. As far as Iron Man goes, he is tired and just wants his life back. He has done some horrible things – in creating his weapons, and in creating Ultron – and to a certain extent, doesn’t trust himself with the power he has – and doesn’t really trust anyone else either. His position also makes sense. And, for the most part, where the other superheroes come down on the issue – from War Machine to Falcon to Ant-Man to Vision to Scarlet Witch to the Winter Soldier himself – makes sense as well (Hawkeye and Black Widow do seem to kind of randomly choose sides, but whatever).

 

The movie introduces two new characters to this universe – Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther and Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, and both come off well. Black Panther gets far more screen time – as the film quickly sketches his relationship to his father, before they kill him, and his motivations for doing what he does. Black Panther will, of course, get his own movie in a couple of years, directed by Ryan Coogler (Creed, Fruitvale Station) – although Coogler is the best director who has ever been attached to a Marvel movie, so I’m practically dreading the inevitable “creative differences” press release. Boseman was the best part of two mediocre biopics – playing Jackie Robinson in 42 and James Brown in Get on Up, and he’s quite good here. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man only gets a couple of scenes – but he’s so good in them, and the portrayal of Spider-Man so fresh and fun – that it actually has me looking forward to his stand-alone movie as well (and thankfully, it seems like Uncle Ben is already dead – so hopefully, we get to skip hearing that story for the third time in recent years).

 

The action sequences are also really well handled. The big one happens at an airport, where everyone faces off against each other, and while it is fan service (like Iron Man vs. Hulk in Age of Ultron) – it’s still really well handled, a hell of a lot of fun (Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man responsible for much of that) that you don’t much care. The final showdown is much more small scale and intimate – and works all the better for it.

 

There are a few problems with the movie – of course. Marvel still has a villain problem. We’re 13 films in, and Loki remains the one truly memorable bad guy – and Daniel Bruhl’s bad guy here seems destined to join the ranks of Sam Rockwell, Guy Pearce et al in bad guys we completely forget about by the next movie. I also regret, a little, that we don’t get more of Captain America by himself. His first two stand alone movies are probably my two favorites of all the Marvel movies – and this one basically feels like another Avengers movie – slightly over packed, but still largely enjoyable. And perhaps it’s just me, but I can’t help but hope that sooner or later one of these Marvel movies explicitly address the homoeroticism in the air and have two male characters kiss – there are so many moments where Cap and Bucky stare into each other’s eyes for absurdly long periods of time, that you know if its was a man and woman, they would just get it over with and kiss already.

 

Basically, though, Captain America: Civil War works very well. It’s fun, fast paced and hugely enjoyable. It’s an example of this genre done right – and after the awful Batman v. Superman, it looks even better than it probably actually is on its own terms.

Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Directed by: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo.
Written by: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and Ed Brubaker based on the comic book by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.
Starring: Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow), Robert Redford (Alexander Pierce), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / Falcon), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Frank Grillo (Brock Rumlow), Maximiliano Hernández (Jasper Sitwell), Emily VanCamp (Kate / Agent 13), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Toby Jones (Dr. Arnim Zola), Garry Shandling (Senator Stern), Georges St-Pierre (Georges Batroc).

Surprisingly out of all the different series about individual superheroes that feed into The Avengers, the Captain America films have become my favorite. I say surprisingly, because before the first movie, my limited experience with Captain America led me to believe that he was a little bit square – a little but too rah-rah American patriotism for my tastes – as he was created during WWII as a sort of propaganda character. Smartly, the first movie acknowledged Captain America’s birth by making the character himself a little bit of propaganda for the American public in the context of the movie – and having him be frustrated with that. The first film is also the only one of all of these Marvel films that had its own distinct visual look – using a slightly muted color palette to suggest an older film. The rest of the films, including this one, all look the same – in many ways all the films surrounding The Avengers have become a kind of big screen TV series instead of a series of movies. The last three films – Iron Man 3, Thor 2 and now Captain America 2 have all been directed either by TV veterans, or in the case of Iron Man 3 a second time director whose previous film was a low budget indie. Like a TV series, the directors of these movies basically have a visual format to follow and they stick with it. What makes Captain America: The Winter Soldier one of the best of these Marvel movies then is not the visuals – it looks like the rest, although it has a choppier editing style in the action sequences that I found annoying – but the story itself. These Marvel movies have essentially embraced their fantastic side – there really isn’t a sense in any of them that they are addressing something even close to the real world. But Captain America: The Winter Soldier actually does that – and in doing so has made the darkest, and most complex, of all the Marvel films surrounding The Avengers yet. No, it doesn’t go as dark as the Nolan Batman films – nor would I want it to – but I appreciated that the film actually seems to have something a little bit more on its mind this time around.

The film takes place in the wake of The Avengers, with Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans) still struggling to adapt to the new world he woke up into after decades frozen in ice. Pretty much everyone he knew is dead or dying, and he’s not sure where he fits into the new order. Early in the film, Captain America, alongside Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and SHIELD TAC team are sent to rescue a boat that has been taken over by pirates. Rogers thinks he’s just there to save the hostages – but Fury sent Romanoff in with a different mission – to gather all the intelligence on the boat. Rogers doesn’t like this – he doesn’t like leading a team where he doesn’t know that different people have different objectives. To try and calm him, Fury shows him the new project SHIELD is working on – a fleet of three huge flying ships, that will never have to come down, which will essentially police the world and are capable of gathering intelligence, and acting on it, nearly simultaneously. Rogers likes this even less. “This isn’t freedom, it’s fear” he tells Fury, deducing (correctly) that if you keep order by keeping everyone in fear, there really is no freedom. Fury doesn’t really care “We take the world as it is not how we want it to be” he responds. I won’t say much else about the plot except that eventually, Rogers and Romanoff – alongside new recruit Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie aka Falcon) have to go rogue – hunted by the government as enemies.

Directed by TV vets Anthony and Joe Russo, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an entertaining blockbuster from beginning to end. Evans makes a pretty much perfect Captain America – idealistic, charming, good looking, funny and a little out of sync with the times. He is perfectly matched with Johansson’s Black Widow – making her largest appearance in any of the Marvel movies so far. While he is an idealistic, she’s a cynic – willing to do just about anything if she believes in the cause. The two have great chemistry together, and watching this movie makes me wish that Johansson’s Black Widow would get her own movie – she may not have superpowers, but I’d watch her to just about anything. Samuel L. Jackson scowls through the movie the way only he can, although I am getting a little tired of Nick Fury – a little of him goes a long way. Anthony Mackie is fine as Falcon, even if I think the reason he has his name is more than a little ridiculous. Robert Redford is excellent as Alexander Pierce the Secretary in charge of the World Security Council – and someone you know almost instantly you shouldn’t trust. His casting is interesting, because normally we associate Redford with idealists like Captain America, but he’s more than adept at playing the opposite this time around. The title character, The Winter Soldier, is a rather one note villain – basically a killing machine – but then again, that’s the role.

I was impressed that Captain America: The Winter Soldier took the chance to address some real world concerns. Drone warfare is explicitly addressed throughout the movie, and there’s a moment late in the movie that seems to address the Edward Snowden scandal as well. I suspect the politics of the film will rankle some of the Fox News crowd, but who really cares. Perhaps Marvel felt safe in addressing these concerns because, after all, who could possibly doubt Captain America’s patriotism? Here, he reveals himself to be the nation’s conscience – the America we want it to be, not the one that it is.

Iron Man series feels played out a little bit – they are just repeating themselves there at this point, and need to find another direction to go if they are going to continue doing stand-alone movies with Robert Downey Jr.’s hero. The Thor movies are fun, but never for a moment believable. The Avengers was great as a hulking piece of entertainment – but I wonder if they can really pull it off a second time. But the Captain America movies are still top notch. I hope Marvel allows the other movies in this series an opportunity to get a little darker, a little more serious like they did this time. They’d be smart to, because the rest of the series is starting to wear a little thin.