Marvel Trilogies

Hey! I know its been a while, but college is happening. In honor of Avengers: Endgame coming out in 2 weeks from today, I'm gonna post some "quick" reviews about the 22 movies that have been released so far. I'm going to do it by "series", like the big three trilogies and the Avengers trilogy, and then I'll do a couple posts combining all the individual films or the films that have another movie coming out post-Endgame. There may be spoilers for every movie through Captain Marvel, but I'll wait a while to post my Endgame review so people have a chance to see it. Enjoy!

I’m going to start with the Iron Man trilogy. I think the second one sucks, and I know a lot of people share that opinion. It just seems rushed and not thought out. The villain isn’t very good, and I always get distracted when I watch it. I love the first and third movies though. The first one is such a good origin story and makes the Stark story continue in a very Stark-y way. Robert Downey Jr really set this franchise up for success with this movie and I think he's a massive part of the reason we've gotten 23 movies in 10 years. The third movie is very powerful and portrays mental illness very well. I think to make a superhero go through PTSD in such a large movie and franchise helped a lot of people. It's very stark (no pun intended) and very visible, and it shows that while he's super powerful and rich and whatever, money can't buy him peace of mind. 

The next trilogy is Captain America. I really like all of them, although Civil War is more like an Avengers movie than a Captain America movie. I think his relationships with the other characters are very interesting. I do think he needs to back down from a fight sometimes, especially with the Winter Soldier. I get why he is so desperate to help the Winter Soldier, as Bucky is his best friend, but he needs to chill a bit. Like Steve said in Civil War, “one mention of Buck and I'm a scared kid in Brooklyn again.” (that was paraphrased, I can't remember exactly what he said). If my best friend was the Winter Soldier, I'd probably stay away from him for a while. But I wasn’t born in the 20s or 30s and didn’t go through what he went through. I do think the evolution of his costume is cool. He starts out with the big star on his chest, the Avengers symbol on his arm, and of course his giant metal frisbee. During the giant fight in the airport during Captain America: Civil War, we see that he has taken the little Avengers badge off his arm. At the very end of Civil War, he drops his shield and walks away. During Infinity War, we see that he has also ripped the giant star off his uniform and has pointy arm things to fight with instead of his shield. I see this as Steve realizing he needs to do what's right and that being Captain America doesn’t always mean what he's doing is right. In doing so, he portrays the values of Captain America even better than when he was being that character. Basically, Captain America is part of Steve Rodgers, Steve isn’t part of Cap.

The last ‘independent person’ trilogy to cover is Thor. I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched these as many times as I've seen the other trilogies. Thor: Ragnorak is one of my top two Marvel movies and just one of my favorite movies in general. I absolutely love the humor and think it makes the beginning of Infinity War that much harder. The Dark World is one of my least favorite movies, and I think of it kind of like Iron Man 2. I get why it was made, but think we could've done without it. That being said, I have always really enjoyed the dialogue between Loki and Thor, and it very much reminds me of siblings. The first one is good and sets him up for some really good character development. A lot changes between Thor and Thor: Ragnorak besides the length of his hair. Thor gets much more humble, less Shakespearian, and seems to develop a real human personality between Thor and A Dark World

Then there’s the Avengers trilogy. The first one is great and beats the Justice League movie in every way. It shows how every group has to find their chemistry, and how it takes a while to do so, even when the world is at stake. Age of Ultron definitely gets hate, and it is kind of deserved. Pietro's character is barely developed before he's killed off. There are humorous parts of course, like every interaction between Clint and the twins and when all the male Avengers to lift the hammer post party. Overall it's fine but could've been better with some more character development. Infinity War is absolutely emotionally devastating if you're really into these characters like many people are, but the story isn't that great. I think they rely a lot on the emotional connection people have to these characters rather than forming a great storyline. It seemed like there would be a death/severe injury, a fight scene, death/injury, fight scene, repeat. I don't hate the movie and I was sad at the end, but in terms of telling a story, it isn't the best movie out there. 

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