Sunday, August 10, 2014

Marvel Movie Rankings

I finally saw Guardians of the Galaxy. My review for that film will be up shortly. However, this has led to a revision in my ranking of Marvel movies. Here we go (with trailers, of course).

1. Captain America: The Winter Soldier: A perfect mix of drama, spy movie tropes and superheroics, Winter Soldier is the only Marvel film with no defects. Yes, I know that's a bold statement; but I think this movie deserves it.

2. The Avengers: Joss Whedon's ensemble film is great, although it runs out of steam near the end.

3. Guardians of the Galaxy: A fun, action filled movie that comes close to topping The Avengers.

4. Iron Man: The film that kicked off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it suffers from a dull villain. However, Downing puts in such a great perform - and script is pretty good - that it doesn't matter.

5. Captain America: The First Avenger: The best origin story of the MCU, Captain America has some minor pacing problems, but is a fun ride. And Chris Evens completely inhabits the role.

6. Iron Man 3: I really liked the MCU take on the Mandarin and Extermis. The final battle is a rehash of IM2 and the whole "remote-piloted suit gag" is a huge cheat. Still, not a bad film.

7. Iron Man 2: Mickey Rourke's weird performance is actually a fun part of this movie. Also, the Black Widow's introduction to the MCU is welcome. But the finale is just dull CG nonsense.

8. Thor: Some good action sequences, good designs for Asgard and Tom Hiddleston's Loki are offset by bored Natalie Portman, who drags down the entire film.

9. The Incredible Hulk: It has the elements of a good movie - cast, story, a director who has some skill at action movies - but never gels. And the MCU take on the Abomination isn't that interesting. Plus, whatever happened to the Leader?

10. Thor: The Dark World: Natalie Portman is even worse, the story is dumb, Kat Dennings is not as funny as she (or the filmmakers) seems to think she is, the villains are lackluster and lacking understandable motivation...nothing works very well. There are good performances from Hiddleston and Helmsworth; but not enough to make up for the film's failings. This movie sets the floor for the MCU.

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