Avengers Assemble may have been the movie that changed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but now we’re moving on to the film that really shook things up; Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
RELEASED: April 4th 2014 DIRECTED BY: The Russo Brothers WRITTEN BY: Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely PRODUCED BY: Kevin Feige STARRING: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Emily VanCamp, Frank Grillo, Samuel L. Jackson, Hayley Atwell & Robert Redford
As I said up top, Avengers Assemble changed the Marvel Universe and the landscape of cinema forever. However, it was Captain America: The Winter Soldier that really shook things up. First up, it took one of what was considered to be the less interesting Avengers, Captain America, and made him awesome. Second, it changed the dynamics of the way the fictional world saw and interacted with their heroes. Third, and most importantly, it really dove into its own unique genre, laying the groundwork for later films to go off and explore different branches of superhero storytelling. Sure, Iron Man was a techno-thriller, The Incredible Hulk a monster movie and Thor a cosmic fantasy, but at the end of the day, they were all still superhero films to some extent. Conversely, The Winter Soldier is a full-on action thriller that just so happens to feature a costumed hero as one of the central players.
We’ve reached the end of ‘Phase One’ in our Marvel Movie marathon, with the film that changed the game forever in terms of superhero movies, and finally saw, as the title will tell you, the Avengers Assemble.
RELEASED: 4th May 2012 DIRECTED BY: Joss Whedon WRITTEN BY: Zak Penn & Joss Whedon PRODUCED BY: Kevin Feige MUSIC BY: Alan Silvestri STARRING: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg & Samuel L. Jackson
While we all look back on Avengers Assemble (or just The Avengers if you’re outside of Britain) fondly, the truth is, the film does have some flaws. It’s got a bit of awkward pacing at times, especially during the central act, and sometimes certain characters, dialogue or props seem to be there just to force the plot along, rather than naturally fitting in to the story.
However, much of that can be forgiven due to the extraordinary feat the film pulled off in, well, assembling the Avengers.
RELEASED: May 7th 2010 DIRECTED BY: Jon Favreau WRITTEN BY: Justin Theroux PRODUCED BY: Kevin Feige MUSIC BY: John Debney STARRING: Robert Downey Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Jon Favreau, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke & Samuel L. Jackson
After Tony Stark reveals his costumed identity to the world at the end of Iron Man, his fame and popularity has increased exponentially, as he effectively ends war in the middle east and continues to prove he’s a different type of superhero than anything you’ve ever seen by taking his showboating to new extremes. However, his very presence invites challenge, as rival engineer Ivan Vanko sets out to destroy the Stark legacy for a long-forgotten family feud, and fellow weapons designer Justin Hammer vies for Stark’s weapons contracts and fame. Meanwhile, Rhodey and the government make a move on Stark’s cache of ‘weapons’, while Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. try to mould Stark into something that more resembles Avengers material, as Stark comes to terms with the fact that his arc reactor is killing him.
RELEASED: May 19th 2005 DIRECTED BY: George Lucas WRITTEN BY: George Lucas PRODUCED BY: Rick McCallum MUSIC BY: John Williams STARRING: Ewan McGreggor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz, Samuel L. Jackson, Christopher Lee, Peter Mayhew, Temeura Morrison, Matthew Wood & Jimmy Smits
The final entry in the Star Wars saga under the purview of George Lucas, Revenge of the Sith was presented with the unenviable task of rounding out and redeeming a less than stellar trilogy.
The film follows Jedi Knights Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the waning days of the Clone Wars, as they are called back to Coruscant after the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpetine by the new droid commander General Greivous. Reunited with their allies and loved ones, Skywalker and Kenobi must make efforts to end the war as decisively as they can, as the dark side of the force grows increasingly stronger.
Revenge of the Sith is definitely better than The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, but it’s not without it’s problems. For one, it’s an incredibly bloated film, as it feels as if on top of rounding everything out from the previous two films, it also is once again setting the majority of it up, as the last two films did such a poor job and this film is trying to make amends in every way it can.
RELEASED: May 16th 2002 DIRECTED BY: George Lucas WRITTEN BY: George Lucas & Jonathan Hales PRODUCED BY: Rick McCallum MUSIC BY: John Williams STARRING: Ewan McGreggor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Frank Oz, Samuel L. Jackson, Temuera Morrison & Christopher Lee
After The Phantom Menace reignited the Star Wars franchise in 1999, Attack of the Clones continued the story of young Anakin Skywalker three years later, with Star Wars mastermind George Lucas still taking writing and directing duties, this time accompanied by Jonathan Hales, who co-wrote the screenplay.
The second chapter in the prequel trilogy sees Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker, now a Jedi Padawan, reunite with Padme, who has finished her time as Queen of Naboo, and become a senator in the Galactic Republic. When her life is once more put in danger, the Jedi duo split up; with Anakin acting as Padme’s bodyguard and Obi-Wan tracking nefarious bounty hunter Jango Fett, which leads him to a discovery that could bring the entire Republic into a devastating war.
With The Phantom Menace being as mediocre as it was, you would think the prequel trilogy could only get better, but in terms of writing, you’d have thought wrong. Somehow, the scripting in this film is even worse than that of the previous entry, with shockingly awful dialogue, and characterisation that paints Obi-Wan as condescending, Padmé as someone with hybristophilia and Anakin as a total psychopath.
“I killed them. I killed them all. They’re dead, every single one of them. And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. They’re like animals, and I slaughtered them like animals. I HATE THEM.”
– Anakin Skywalker, hero and Jedi Knight
RELEASED: May 19th 1999 DIRECTED BY: George Lucas WRITTEN BY: George Lucas PRODUCED BY: Rick McCallum MUSIC BY: John Williams STARRING: Liam Neeson, Ewan McGreggor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ahmed Best, Ian McDiarmid, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, Pernilla August, Frank Oz, Samuel L. Jackson, Oliver Ford Davies, Hugh Quarshie, Terrence Stamp, Silas Carson, Keira Knightley, Ray Park & Peter Serafinowicz
After a sixteen year absence, Star Wars finally returned to the cinemas with The Phantom Menace, the first film directed by George Lucas in 22 years. And unfortunately, that shows. However, before we discuss the problems with this film (and there are several), we should first look at some of the great aspects that Lucas did bring back with him from his hiatus.
The film follows Jedi Knights Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, as they are assigned by the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic to resolve a trade dispute between the Trade Federation and Queen Amidala of the Naboo. In this adventure, they meet the clumsy Gungan Jar Jar Binks, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO and Anakin Skywalker, a boy whom Qui-Gon believes to be ‘the chosen one’.
Just looking at that synopsis, you can see that one thing The Phantom Menace does right is build up Star Wars lore exponentially. Whereas in Episodes IV-VI, we got a vague idea of how the Galaxy worked, for the most part, the focus was just on Luke, Han and Leia’s adventures. Here, we get to see everything: the Galactic Senate, the Jedi Council, the Outer Rim areas where Republic influence doesn’t reach. We get to see leisure activities like pod-racing, and inter-species relationships between the people of the Naboo and the Gungans. Flora and fauna is also shown in abundance. And (for a nineties film, anyway) it’s all pretty beautiful.
