Well, bless Marvel, even with diminished attendance and reviewers increasingly booing their efforts, they just keep on working to build their little narratives, piece by piece, film by film. The latest installment of the soap opera of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directed by Julius Onah (whose most notable flick ’til now was the third CLOVERFIELD movie, the one that was on Netflix), picks up several ongoing threads from prior projects, including a few long-thought to be dropped, and seeks to provide some resolutions while moving other pieces forward towards the next big finale on the roadmap.
Following the events of the Disney+ series THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER, Anthony Mackie‘s Sam Wilson is now officially Captain America and continues to offer his support to U.S. military operations. One such operation’s success brings him and the new Falcon, Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez, bringing a charming enthusiasm to the proceedings), to the White House, where newly elected President “Thunderbolt” Ross (Harrison Ford, picking up for the late William Hurt) his putting on a big show meeting with world leaders who are all planning to sign on to a treaty regarding mineral rights at the giant Celestial that’s been hanging out in the Indian Ocean since THE ETERNALS. A sudden apparent assassination attempt throws a wrench into things — especially when the lead assassin was Sam’s guest at the White House, the forgotten Korean War-era super soldier Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly, reprising his role from THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER).
The filmmakers are working overtime to recreate the tense espionage thriller vibe of the Russos’ much-beloved THE WINTER SOLDIER, and they just about succeed; there’s a similar air of paranoia throughout, although it’s less about who you can trust and more about, who ELSE might wind up under the film’s secret mastermind’s mind control? The fights are well done, with several clear and engaging action set pieces on a less superheroic scale at the outset building up to a splashy, spectacular presumably mostly CG aerial battle (which made me glad I lobbied for us to hit the 3D showing) and ultimately the showdown we’ve all seen in the trailers: Sam Wilson, an ordinary man with a Vibranium shield and a wing pack, staring down one ton of red-skinned rage — a fight during which I honestly kept thinking, “Oh geez, how DOES he get out of this one?”
I would say the one thing that does play a little so-so for me is Sam’s “c’mon, man, let’s all get along” attitude — yeah, I know, that’s the character, but dude spends a lot of time trying to appeal to Ross’s better nature and trying to seemingly convince himself and Ross both that Ross is a better man than he gives himself credit for and that he’s really trying here. Mackie and Ford both play the material hard — and I think it works better with Ford than it ever would have with Hurt, I have a hard time seeing Hurt playing the vulnerability that Ford wields so well here (pulling from a well I last saw him draw from in the more devastating scenes of 2023’s final INDIANA JONES outing). But I do get a sense there were probably drafts of this, maybe even during filming, that were a little less kind to Ross given that really, most of what happens is the result of one big chicken of his coming home to roost. Not getting into THAT since it feels like spoiler territory; I will say, on the villain front, it’s always nice to see Giancarlo Esposito pop up to do his usual compelling sinister turn, here playing Sidewinder of the Serpent Society, though alas without a big silly snake costume, or even a more subtle bit of tactical snake gear. (During his first appearance there’s a really big dude Sam fights — played by Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, who I see was recently cast as Fisto in the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE movie — about whom who I thought, “yeah, that’s probably some OTHER guy who in the comics normally wears a silly snake costume,” and yeah, I guess he’s Copperhead.)
All in all, this was a perfectly entertaining bit of early evening superheroic conspiracy thriller action filled with primo performances, especially from Ford and Lumbly (a man who plays both joy and fear so strongly on his face you can feel it in your soul), and sturdy action that elevate it a notch above the slightly wishy-washy writing. If you’re still riding the MCU train, or remain at least curious where things are, I’d say it’s worth sitting down with.
While we’re talking MCU, the last two trailers in front of the movie were for the next two MCU flicks about which I’ll say this.
THUNDERBOLTS – First of all, I think especially after her guest antagonist role in the HAWKEYE series, Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova is my current favorite player in the MCU, so wherever she turns up, I’m there. And while this feels like it’s much more in the vein of the post-Warren Ellis run “let’s take the Thunderbolts and bash into a vaguely SUICIDE SQUAD shape” take on the title, the trailers do hint at one major trait of the original comics that they’re playing a bit off of: the notion that some the villains who were playing heroes in Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley’s original comics really did find themselves walking the road to redemption, found that living that hero lifestyle — even if it started as an act — was making them better people who wanted to do good. That last trailer really does make it seem like ultimately some of these players, despite their backgrounds, are looking for that same chance to walk in the light. Also: god I freakin’ hate the Sentry and hope this is a movie that’s about a bunch of “peak human strength-at-best”-level super-folks messing that dude up so bad that I never have to see him again.
FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS – Genuinely excited for this one, I think these characters and their milieu are finally in the hands of people who truly want to do right by Marvel’s First Family, and everything on display — from the beautifully retro-futuristic set design, to the wonderfully Kirby-esque take on The Thing, and of course the looming silhouette of Galactus in his magnificent silly hat — makes me wish Stan & Jack (and MOSTLY Jack) were here to see this. I almost don’t even care how this actually slides into the larger MCU narrative, but I’m sure this is another building block towards SECRET WARS (riffing on the Jonathan Hickman & Esad Ribic story from ten years ago, of course, rather than the comic with a toy tie-in from when I was three), and at the end of that movie two years from now, there will just have ALWAYS been a retro-futuristic Baxter Building in the MCU’s New York City, what are you talking about, no weird world-melding cosmic event changed the landscape and smooshed realities together and now suddenly some key people are back but they’re younger and different people now …