X-Men: Days of Future Past (The Rogue Cut)

     I think this month's blog theme is "stuff I already should have written", so since I'm making a habit of being fashionably late, topic-wise, why stop now?   Today, I'm writing about last year's cinematic tale of Marvel's Merry Mutants -X-Men: Days of Future Past, and specifically about the Rogue Cut, the extended version released last month. 

   I freely admit to being an unapologetic fan of the X-Men film franchise to date.  The first film in the series, way back in 2000, kicked off the Hollywood superhero renaissance, and it probably can be argued that without the success of that film, the Spider-Man movies, the Dark Knight Trilogy, and the MCU and DCCU might have not come to pass.  It also launched Hugh Jackman's film career.  There's been about one film every 2-3 years, and I've enjoyed most of them, even the divisive X-Men 3: The Last Stand.  The only one that's been a miss as far as I'm concerned was the first Wolverine film, which was a well-intentioned but sloppy, undercooked mess.  There's a theory I've read repeatedly about these movies which runs to the effect that comic fans' opinions of the films depend on who their favorite mutant character is.  Mine is Beast, so I've been doing pretty well.  Cyclops fans, I understand your frustration.  Gambit fans, I'm sorry.  Cable fans, I don't know what to tell you.  Squirrel Girl fans...you're on your own.

  One of the things about the X-Men concept that I've always enjoyed are the real-world implications.  The entire premise of mutants walking among us, with amazing, dangerous, or even disfiguring powers, is a fascinating one, and set against a constant backdrop of fear, alienation, prejudice, isolation, or even simple lack of understanding makes the X-world more relatable than perhaps any other corner of major comic-dom.  The social undercurrent of the stories have fascinating ideological connotations and can serve as reflections on bigotry and hatred.  Questions of genetics and ethics abound, and at the core of these stories is a constant reflection on whether or not having powers (read: being different) is a blessing or a curse.

   The movies have done a great job at bringing forth the relevance of these issues, and have done so with an overall stellar cast, anchored by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen in the original films, and James MacAvoy and Michael Fassbender in the newer prequel films.  (I contend that Magneto, across multiple movies, remains Marvel's single best onscreen villain.  Which is not surprising, given that he's arguably Marvel's best villain in the comics, as well.)  What makes Days of Future Past remarkable, however, is that the casts of both series are brought together, yielding a pretty sizable roster of superheroes, but managing to make every character distinct and memorable - old faces and new.  It's nice to see the original Trilogy actors, most of whom haven't been around since 2006's X-Men 3, making a return, but they share their screen time with the younger faces of the more comic-book styled 'First Class' troupe, and the film balances the divisions nicely.

This isn't even the complete cast of characters, incidentally.

   The story comes from one of the more famous X-Men comic plots - surprisingly, only a two-issue arc, dating from 1981.  In that story, in a bleak future some twenty-odd years hence, mutant-hunting robots called Sentinels have conquered humanity and all but eradicated mutants.  A small band of X-Men survivors, alongside Magneto, continue to fight to stay alive, but their days are numbered.  Learning that the destruction of all they hold dear, and the launching of the worldwide Sentinel program, are triggered by a single moment - the assassination of a politician by the shapeshifter Mystique, Kitty Pryde's consciousness travels back into her younger body in an attempt to help the X-Men stop the assassination and prevent the horrible future from happening.   While Kitty is mucking about in the past, the remaining X-Men in the future fight their final, deadly battle against the Sentinels that have finally closed in on them.

   The movie takes that and runs with it, with the major change being that Kitty Pryde does not make the time jump herself, since due to the settings of the various movies, she'd not have been alive at the time of the assassination attempt - and thus, would not have a body to jump into.  So Kitty uses her powers to send Wolverine's consciousness, since only his handy-dandy self-healing ability can tolerate the strain, into the past to deal with a drunk and despondent Professor X, an incarcerated Magneto, a defeated Beast, and a vengeful Mystique.  Oh, and Richard Nixon. 

    As you may have gathered, I enjoyed the movie.  The cast is fantastic, all bazillion characters of it, and the array of powers is a treat to watch.  In addition to the old franchise stalwarts, there are two particular standouts: Evan Peters in a memorable turn as Quicksilver (yes, the same character from Age Of Ultron.  Long story, some other time), who forever redefines Jim Croce's 'Time in a Bottle', and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing as Blink, one of my favorite Marvel characters, and one whom I never thought I'd get to see on the big screen.  The effects are spot-on, especially the Sentinels, which are realized differently in both past and future versions, finally getting their long overdue onscreen appearance.  The script is well done, with humor that never tries to convince you how clever Witty Banter is, and the pacing of the movie is energetic.

Did I mention Blink was in the movie?

   Best of all, the movie takes pains at its conclusion to right some of the wrongs of previous entries.  Yes, there have been some head-scratching continuity problems, both in terms of faithfulness to the comics, and in the movies' own timeline.  While the ending of DOFP opens up a whole field of questions, it does tidy up some of the more controversial moves of earlier films, especially X-Men 3, and features three 'secret' cameos that made a lot of fans very happy.   In this ending, Wolverine awakens to see the result of his actions in the past, including a very brief...perhaps five seconds long...shot of Anna Paquin as Rogue.

   So here's the deal: originally, most of the characters who survived X-Men 3 were supposed to appear in the dark future sections of DOFP.  (I'm including Professor X in that list.  Remember, *always* stay after the credits when going to a superhero movie!)  Kelsey Grammer was unable to appear in the fight with the Sentinels, so the script was adjusted to state that Beast had died pre-DOFP.  Rogue, however, was actually in the script and her scenes filmed - but when the movie was released, her entire presence was reduced to that brief shot in the epilogue.  She did receive high billing in the film for that appearance, though, and was included in the promotional marketing of the movie.  Director Bryan Singer did announce before the movie came out that Paquin was being excised apart from her cameo, with the explanation was that the movie needed to be trimmed, and she and her plotline was the major casualties.

They love getting Anna Paquin to do these sideways over-the-shoulder shots.

    Turns out, the deletion was a smart move.

 The recently-released Rogue Cut is an extended version of the film, some twenty-odd minutes longer, with Rogue's scenes (and a few miscellaneous other bits) restored to the movie.  As much as I like having Rogue back, it's immediately obvious why she was cut.  She doesn't appear - isn't even mentioned, in fact, - until well past the halfway part of the movie, and when she is introduced, the entire sequence feels like several of the characters got bored and needed something to do while waiting for the final reel to arrive.   At one point in the movie, Wolverine has a 'bad trip' in the past, leading his body in the future to blindly lash out, injuring Kitty.  In the original cut of the film, she works through it, and stays at her post, anchoring Logan in the past.  In the restored version, however, Kitty is injured much more seriously than previously thought, and Xavier, Magneto and Iceman execute a rescue attempt to break Rogue out of a mutant research facility housed inside the ruins of the X-Mansion so that she can use her abilities to absorb Kitty's and take her place as Logan's anchor to the past.

   The problem is, this doesn't really accomplish much besides getting Paquin into the movie proper.  She only has a handful of lines, and the rescue mission doesn't do much except move Iceman's final fate up by about twenty-five minutes, and render Kitty Pryde all but useless for the last act of the film.  It's actually a little awkward, with Kitty just crouching there in the final scenes bleeding while Rogue sits there, silently, in her place.  The restored version does offer an explanation for how the Sentinels find the X-Men's hiding place at the end, but to be frank, the original cut of the movie was sufficient.  Also, the whole rescue sequence is both oddly placed and paced, and it plays more like a side mission in an a video game than a necessary part of the plot.

    The other added scenes  are fine - a few bits of dialogue are moved around , and there's a little more fleshing out done, including the addition of an eyebrow-raising moment between Beast and Mystique, as well as an allusion to the Scarlet Witch (who is NOT meant to be the little girl we see in the original cut, by the way.)  These other extra scenes don't harm the movie, but the overall picture works just as well in the theatrical edition.  In fact, given the other cameos I referenced in the epilogue, in that respect having Anna Paquin appear only as she does in the original works just as well.  Had they not promoted her appearance ahead of time and given her prominent billing, no one would have been the wiser.

Just out of frame, screen right:  Kitty Pryde bored out of her mind and slowly bleeding to death.

   The Rogue Cut doesn't ruin the movie, or anything as dire as that.  It's nice to see the scenes, and to have the option to watch them as the way they were scripted to be seen, rather than as a special feature on the disk, but they don't add anything substantial to the finished work.  Anyone who really enjoys these movies should probably check out the extended version, but those who saw the theatrical cut aren't missing out.

    As I said, the ending of DOFP, with its timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly ending, raises a number of questions about the continuity of the franchise and implying any number of changes.  Next year, the First Class cast returns in X-Men: Apocalypse, set some ten years after the 'past' scenes of DOFP, so we'll get to see how the X-Men actually come to be a team.  Prominent characters who haven't yet been developed in the First Class world will finally be introduced  - Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Nightcrawler, Angel, and Psylocke.  Following that, in 2017, we'll see Hugh Jackman's final turn in Wolverine 3, which I suspect will answer a lot of the questions about the re-written time line that DOFP raised.   So when all is said and done, the X-Men franchise will consist of three interlocking trilogies (as well as at least two other standalone spin-offs) spanning fifty years of time and at least two distinct continuities.


    Not a bad deal, bub.

Prepare Yourself: Mortal Kombat (X, in particular)

  Continuing what appears to be this month's theme of being quite a way behind the eight ball on timing, I'm taking a look at the newest release in the ongoing series of so-violent-even-Tarantino-blushes video games, Mortal Kombat X.

   If you've read some of my previous entries, you'll know I'm not really qualified to review a video game from any  position of technical expertise.  So this is less of a look at the mechanics of the game as it is a general overview of an entry in a franchise which I've enjoyed, more or less, for some twenty-plus years now. 

    Mortal Kombat, or MK henceforth, is one of those franchises that makes me feel kind of old.  Not because of how long it's been around, precisely.  Rather, because of how I came to know it.  You see, once upon a time, not everyone had state-of-the-art super-speed streaming digital computers which could enable instantaneous gameplay with anyone around the world.  Some of us fogies who had to leave our homes to sample a video game often went to places which we, in the days of antiquity, called "arcades".  And that was how I first became exposed to MK.

   I'd heard of it, of course, before then, but my knowledge was limited.  But one summer down the shore, I would often spend my evenings in the arcade attached to the amusement park where I worked, waiting for my friend Bryan's shift to end so we could go order the greatest chicken wings in history.  As I waited for him, I'd saunter among the free-standing video games, and I found myself intrigued by the screens of backstory which would pop up on MKII while it was idling between plays.  And just like that, I became fascinated by what I thought was a really neat story of inter-dimensional invaders crossed with ancient Chinese mythology and a modern-day martial arts tournament.  The characters were simple, yet magnetic.  And my timing was good, because one day soon thereafter they wheeled in the brand-new MKIII game, and that was the end of that.

    So I spent more than a handful of quarters learning how to play both games, and was relatively decent with a few characters, though I would routinely get my butt kicked by Bryan and just about anyone else.  I think the janitor beat me once.  But I learned the game, at least.  I was never quite as keen on the insanely over-the-top violence - sometimes it was so gruesome as to be ludicrous, but often it just felt superfluous.  Certainly any game based on a concept like MK would need to be bloody, but I was really more there for the story and the fun of it.  Yes, I admit it - my favorite finishing moves were the Friendships. 

These were our original options.  They're still some of the best.

   The movie came out, and I loved it - I still do; it's surprisingly sincere for what is ultimately a somewhat loopy premise.  And when I went off to college, I got myself an old Nintendo and got the home versions for myself, playing all three games in the trilogy - and later, the expanded version of MKIII as well as the full all-encompassing Trilogy game.  I played them until I could beat each game with every character, at least once.  I got excited for the film sequel, but let's just say I didn't leave the theater with the same enthusiasm with which I entered. 

   Over the years, I've purchased each new MK game that's come out, and the quality of these games has been varied, to say the least.  Frankly, of the later entries, only the fifth game, Deadly Alliance, was really any good at all to my perspective, in terms of replay value, storyline, character selection, etc.  The games were repetitive, and each successive one put greater emphasis on steadily-intensifying graphic depictions of cringe-inducing violence and increasingly-difficult button combos.  I should mention that while I got good at the SNES on the first few games...well, that's pretty much what my skill level has remained, and it's how I still play.  Surprisingly that still works quite a bit.

  But the franchise became boring.  Stale.  Even a novelty game, MKvsDC, in which the Justice League crossed over with the MK crew, wasn't all that great.  So when MK9 was announced - actually just calling itself "Mortal Kombat", sharing the same name as the original, I was not terribly excited.  The developers took things in a different direction, though, and went back to the original story...really, that of the first three games...but hit a re-set button, changing the story and creating a brand new timeline revolving around the core characters.  This turned out to be a brilliant idea, jettisoning the evermore ridiculous storylines and forgettable characters of the later sequels and going back to basics, but with a new twist, ending in a rather startling conclusion.

   Which brings me to Mortal Kombat X, released a few months ago.  I mention all of this backstory because the best thing about MKX is that it has something going for it that the past six games or so really haven't:  it's different.  And in a good way.

All the old classics and some new faces.  And better graphics, I should add.

   All the staple elements are there, of course.  Most of the core characters, the same general moves, gameplay options, extras, etc.  And of course, the violence is perfectly up to snuff, you'll be glad to know.  But rather than retread the same concept as most of it the previous games had done, MKX builds on the new timeline of the prior entry, and actually takes the story forward.

    As MK9 was a re-set of the first three games, so MKX is sort of revisiting the plot of MKIV, at least in terms of broad strokes.  But to do it, the story jumps ahead twenty years, and now the heroes we've been following for so long are middle-aged, greying, and world-weary.  They are, however, still capable of kicking beaucoup derriere.  Real-world things have happened to them, and, to show that these are older and wiser characters, beards abound.  It's like there's a whole beardfest, actually - I'm surprised they didn't add in a Beardality option.  

   The main plot of the game revolves around the children of several of the classic heroes working together as a Special Forces unit, and are key in dealing with both the new emperor of Outworld, a rather interesting character with an Aztec theme, and in facing down Shinnok, who for the first time is actually not a complete dipstick of a character.  The older Kombatants are still facing down the consequences of the last game, which for some are quite literally the walking dead.  There's a nice balance between the classic characters and the new, and these novice additions are all welcome - none of them feel like the tired re-treads we were getting in previous sequels.  A few of the more popular characters from MKIV and MKV appear as well, though few of them are playable.

    The writing and voice acting are spot-on, and it feels like far more effort went into creating the story and dialogue this time than in any previous game.  Yes, it's still extremely silly at points, but it nails the characters we've come to know and love, and also creates well-defined, engaging rookies.  Johnny Cage has become a caring father and mentor, and it works well for him.  Raiden is becoming desperate and dark; Sonya is angry and bitter.  Perhaps the most striking moment for me, as a long-time fan, was seeing Scorpion, now restored to his humanity as Hanzo Hasashi, sitting down to tea with age-old nemesis Sub-Zero.  Watching these two inveterate rivals, now grizzled (and bearded!) attempt to make peace was a bizarre but fascinating scene.

    All in all, I've really enjoyed the game.  It's got most of my favorite characters from MKI and MKII, and it's just about as much fun as the earlier games were.  I don't bother with mastering chain combos, or online play, or anything like that.  MK for me has always been about letting off a little steam for half an hour and beating the snot out of overbearing demonic creatures with a fair amount of button mashing.  This game builds on the franchise's new strategy of going in a fresh direction, but still keeping what makes MK viable.  I'd recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the characters and stories of previous games.  I can't really tell you how it compares to the earlier entries in terms of advanced gameplay options, of course, but let's put it this way: if I can do it without a problem, anyone with more advanced gaming skills (including most seven year olds, not that they should be playing these games), should have no issue.

   It's very clear from the conclusion of this game that there's another sequel ready to be told.  And for the first time in over fifteen years, I actually find myself looking forward to seeing where it goes.  After all this time, MK finally has something new to do.

   I think I'll go play it some more.  Where the heck did I put that George Clinton soundtrack....?

REVIEW: Ant-Man: Go Small or Go Home

   ...and we're back, folks.  Sorry for the lengthy gap between posts, all of you who are so clearly hanging on the edge of your seats waiting breathlessly for my updates.

   So to kick off August, we're going to take a look at the last Marvel Cinematic Universe film of the year, which also happens to be the final film of the MCU Phase II: Ant-Man.  I know I'm a little late on this, but here goes anyway...

   

In the category of "Movies You Never Thought You'd See"

   Ant-Man was, from the start, an interesting topic for a film.  The character has never been as much of a headliner as the other characters who've thus far been granted movie franchises, but as we've seen, Guardians of the Galaxy pretty much tossed out the argument that the secondary or tertiary characters can't hold their own.   While Ant-Man has been an Avengers staple since the very first issue, his history is problematic...his own comic books have never done as well as his teammates, and some of his storylines have been somewhat controversial.   In the source material, Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man was a reluctant superhero, but one whose powers led him to decidedly unpleasant places, giving him frequent identity crises and turning him into a schizophrenic wife-beating jerk.  His successor, Scott Lang, was introduced in the late '70s, and made - for my money, at least - a more palatable character and more likable hero.

     The movie finds a nice balance between the two, establishing both characters in a way that allows for something resembling the comics continuity.  Pym (Michael Douglas) retires from active heroing in a flashback which makes up the first scene of the movie, and for the rest of the film, he acts as a mentor to Lang (Paul Rudd).   The Wasp, Pym's wife & sidekick in the comics, is largely absent from the film, and that absence is a major plot point.  Pym's daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who stems from Marvel's alternate-timeline Ultimate books, takes her mother's place in the film, though her role as superhero-proper is being saved for later films.  The villain of the piece is Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), Lang's first nemesis in comics continuity, who was rather short-lived and had no alter ego to speak of; here, he duplicates Pym's powers & technology to create a villainous identity as Yellowjacket, which in the comics was another of Pym's various superheroing identities.

    So the movie is something of a hodge-podge, regarding the source material anyway.  To be fair, Ant-Man's never really had the grandest of supporting casts.  His most memorable foe is probably Ultron - it was Pym, not Tony Stark, who was responsible for the creation of the demented robot in the comics - and without Ultron, the pickings are rather slim.  There are other foes they could have used - Egghead or Whirlwind come to mind - but there is no real Ant-Man arch-nemesis equivalent of Red Skull, Loki, etc.  Given how Ant-Man and his world have never been particularly well-known, though, the amalgamation of different elements works well enough for the film.

"Just to be clear, you just had the *one* identity, right?"

   The film does have a few weak points - for one thing, its plot does tend to be formulaic and predictable.  We know from the very beginning of the film exactly how the entire movie is going to play out, and like the rest of the MCU, there's very little in terms of nuance or depth.  Even given the advanced (and often weird) technology in play, the movie plays it safe and simple, and all the tropes are present...reluctant hero, grizzled mentor, theatrical villain, obligatory unnecessary romance, goofy bumbling sidekicks for comedy relief, action sequences at the appropriate moments, and references to the larger universe.

   My biggest complaint with the film has become a familiar one - once again, we have a cartoony, underdeveloped villain chewing up the scenery.  As much as I like Corey Stoll, I found his character to be over-the-top in delivery and vastly lacking in motivation.  There are the usual throwaway lines for the gratification of the kiddies to the effect of some kind of long-nursed bitterness, combined with irrationality brought on by the chemicals which allow for size-changing, but as per usual, the villain is not relatable, not compelling, and not even likable, as villains go.  Cross functions as a hammier version of Obadiah Stane from the first Iron Man film, but ultimately he's simply there to fill in the necessary 'bad guy' hole.  I'll grant that as Yellowjacket, he certainly looks cool, and would have made for a great action figure if Hasbro had been so inclined, but otherwise he joins a long list of MCU villains that are ultimately forgettable outside of their gimmicks.  This has been one of the biggest sticking points with me in the MCU, again and again - instead of developing the villains as well as the heroes, the movies just turn them into straight-up Silver Age throwaways.  Outside of Kingpin, and to a lesser extent, Loki, the MCU foes have been badly short-changed.

   

Yellowjacket - surprisingly, NOT a Spider-Man villain.

   Another thing which I found a little odd, but really wasn't anyone's fault, was that I kept feeling that Rudd's Scott Lang was somehow a long-lost brother of Chris Pratt's Star-Lord.  I suspect that's just the nature of hiring Paul Rudd, because his performance is pretty much what I expected to see, but it was a little strange hearing the dialogue delivered largely the same way.  There's a sequence when Ant-Man meets the Falcon, and as he tried to introduce myself, I couldn't help but hearing "Come on, ...Star-Lord?" from the beginning of GotG.  It's not a problem, just strange - and it's made more so by the eerie similarity between Rudd and Lilly in this movie, and Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard in Jurassic World.  They have the same demeanor, the same general look, the same questionable chemistry - heck, even the same haircuts.   Factor in Judy Greer's presence in the movie as mother-of-child-in-danger, and you start to wonder if Hollywood was having a shortage this summer on deep characterization, and had to spread the stock 'types' around the different studios.

     All that said, though, I actually really enjoyed the movie.  The pacing was good, and while the dialogue didn't really go deep, it managed to stay fresh and entertaining.  It managed to avoid that Whedon pitfall of  "Look, we're wittily bantering!"  There were some very funny bits that were well-timed and well-played, and the trio of clumsy criminals that assist Lang managed to be endearingly comical rather than irritating.  The film's soundtrack was well done, peppering a decent score with songs that fit the piece, and while there were ties to the broader MCU, the film managed to keep to its own story, making it accessible.  I've been hearing a lot of people who aren't generally superhero-movie fans liking this one, simply based on its humor and lack of need to have seen ten other films.

   The cast was fine - it was a little strange to see Michael Douglas in a movie like this, and even more strange to realize that he's getting old...and with each passing year, resembling his father more and more.  He does a decent job with Pym, giving him more sincerity and depth, as well as evidence of a violent temper lurking beneath the surface, than a less experienced actor might have done.  Rudd and Lilly are both serviceable in their roles; with Rudd I find you get two options, Goofy Paul or Sincere Paul, and we get mostly the latter here, which works well enough.  Lilly's not bad, but I don't feel she had as much to work with as the script could have given her.  Bobby Cannavale has a supporting role as a police officer who's also dating Lang's ex-wife Maggie (Judy Greer); Lang & Maggie's daughter Cassie is played by Abby Ryder Fortson, who manages to be cute and charming without being cloying.  Falcon (Sam Wilson) has a small role to play, showing off his moves and new suit which were barely featured in Age of Ultron, and there are brief cameos from Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter and John Slattery as Howard Stark - as well as two other cameos in the end-of-credits bumper for Captain America: Civil War, the next MCU offering.

She may be able to get Wasp powers, but she does NOT have jungle-running-in-high-heels power.

     Where the movie truly shines, however, is in the special effects and action sequences.  Ant-Man's forays into the microscopic are fantastic, with ordinary sights and sounds magnified and everyday things like a bathtub faucet becoming enormous terrors.  The hordes of ants that respond to Ant-Man's commands are really well-rendered, and while they do come off as creepy at points, they're mostly cute and helpful, and play a pivotal role in the movie.  There's a sheer exuberance to the powers in this movie that reminds me a lot of the thrill we really only get from Spider-Man on the big screen, and an enthusiasm for those powers which can be incredibly useful in a fight, or an escape.

   The powers come into play most effectively in the fight between Ant-Man and Yellowjacket in the last reel, as some very clever editing creates jumps between the miniature world and the real one, allowing for some sequences that are both cool and hilarious - everything from a fight inside a briefcase to the best use of Thomas the Tank Engine I've ever seen in a battle.  That, I think, is probably the best thing about the movie...that in this day and age of CGI everywhere, it manages to bring something fresh and unique to the screen.  It's nice to see something different, and given that this particular element is key to the movie, it's gratifying to see it work so well, and to be so much fun in the process.

"Do you wanna build an anthill?  It doesn't have to be an anthill."

   I don't see Ant-Man getting a sequel; he's not really a franchise character, and while the movie's done fairly well at the box office, it's a low-earner by MCU standards.  That's fine, though, and I don't know that I need to see another solo movie, given how we already know Ant-Man and the Wasp will be appearing in Phase III of the MCU movies.  Given the high-profile departure of Edgar Wright, the original director of the film, just prior to principal photography, I have to wonder how different the movie might have been had he stayed on...maybe a little wackier and offbeat, perhaps?  He does retain writing & producing credit, at least, and there are parts of the movie in which you can feel his influence, but I can't help but think the movie might have been a little stronger and more individual had he stayed on to helm it all the way through.  Alas, we shall likely never know.

  So with this, the generally lackluster Phase II of the MCU is done, and in thinking about it, especially in regards to Ant-Man, I've come to realize something.  I find that the entries which I tend to like the best are the 'firsts'.  Each one of the franchise-starters - the first Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant-Man, Daredevil - and the first Avengers - are the better-made or more enjoyable works.  The movies I've liked less - or flat-out disliked - have been the sequels and spin-offs, Winter Soldier being the exception  - though it was specifically designed to be a movie with a very different sensibility from its predecessor.  It seems to me that each new entry starts out with its own identity, and isn't really burdened by the continuities of prior entries, because at the outset each film more or less stands alone and can function as an actual, contained, artistic work.  (The first Avengers was something of an exception to this as it did draw on other films, but it was the first time there was an actual blending of the other franchises.)  Getting these stories out the door in a novel way is where Marvel excels.  Where they drop the ball, though, is in taking the stories further, as they've largely lacked consequence, broader development, or greater depth.   So that gives me some hope for projects like Doctor Strange or Black Panther, but I'm not too sanguine about things like Civil War or the continued tediousness of Agents of Shield.  I'd rather see new entries, which is why I'm perfectly happy with Ant-Man being a stand-alone picture.  It's better to enjoy the movie for what it is, rather than worry about it being a cash-cow leader for the next installment of a corporate brand.

   Because sometimes, it's better to think smaller.


FINAL RATING: 7 PAWS (OUT OF 10)