Best Marvel Movies

Effective today, "Hey everyone!" has officialy become the best quote of the year.

Captain America: Civil War trailer #2 has unveiled the most expected (or unexpected) appearance in any superhero movie -Marvel or DC- to date. Many believed he wasn't going to be in the film, while some others were skeptical on whether he would join. Thankfully, Spiderman is now among them.

I'm so pumped up!!

Ths brings me to today's entry: I would like to rank all Marvel's movies filmed so far, as we brace ourselves to enter phase 3 of the MCU.

Without furthe adieu, let's take a look at my review in chronological order.

Scenes like this are the reason why I like that this movie.
It feels realistic... Tony feels realistic

Iron Man (2008). Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges. Director: John Favreau

Post-credits scene: introduction of Nick Fury. Avengers Setup.

What I liked: This is the first MCU movie and it started off with a great foot. RDJ is both Tony and Iron Man. I just can't picture anyone else on the role. The plot development was good, the evolution was terrific, the villain was well setup, the flaws were properly handled, but more importantly, it all looked believable. The ending -"I'm Iron Man"- is maybe the best ending of any comic movie, period.

What I didn't like: There wasn't a single thing I didn't like in this movie. It's still one level under Batman Begins, but that's because you can't compare Goodfellas with The Godfather. Begins is simply the best comic movie ever made.

Ranks at: #2

Edward Norton doing what he does best

The Incredible Hulk (2008). Edward Norton. Liv Tyler. Director: Louis Leterrier

Post-credits scene: Tony Stark/Iron Man following up the Avengers initiative.

What I liked: Edward Norton as usual, shines. Hulk is closer to the comics. The story was good but not great. Overall a good setup for the Hulk.

What I didn't like: first of all, kudos to Mark Ruffalo for taking over and holding his own, but it just sucks that Edward Norton couldn't agree with Marvel to film the other MCU movies. Then, the movie kind of lacks drive. I don't know how to put it, but it felt a bit tedious at times, I think because some of the characters felt two-dimensional. It was like there was no motivation to push the plot forward.

Ranks at #11

For some reason, this just didn't work for me

Iron Man 2 (2010). Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke. Director: John Favreau

Post-credits scene: introduction of Mjolnir. Thor Setup. Best post-credits scene of MCU. When I saw that hammer, man I got scared...

What I liked: The post-credits scene is the best end scene of all MCU so far. The only other good thing was the introduction of Natasha Romanoff and Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper character.

What I didn't like: Eveything, except Agent Romanoff and Pepper. One of the worst, if not the worst films of the MCU. The main plot of Tony struggling to live was good, but the side plot of both villains was just terrible. Mickey Rourke is just wasted in this one. The Monaco Race scene was terrible. The final battle gave me a headache. Oh and the post-credits scene.

But, this did.

Ranks at #12




Thor (2011). Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston. Director: Kenneth Branagh

Oops !!

Post-credits scene: introduction to the tesseract and Loki's ability to mind control people at will. Avengers setup.

What I liked: great premise, great acting from main stars and support actors as well, great plot. You can't go wrong with Kenneth.

What I didn't like: this movie suffers the same spell Iron Man did. You can't really mention anything that wasn't likeable, but you just can't label it as a classic either.

Ranks at #7





Captain America: The First Avenger. Chris Evans, Hugo Weaving. Director: Joe Johnston

The First Avenger

Post-credits scene: Nick Fury setting up the Avengers movie. Best pump up post-credits scene.

What I liked: once again and similar to Iron Man, the choice of Chris Evans to play Captain America is simply perfect. The post-credits scene is awesome as well... it gets you so pumped up!

What I didn't like: This is one of those movies like TRON (1982) where you can't really say what happened or what was wrong, but for some reason you know it is not good. However there is still hope it will become a cult-following film, just like TRON did. In CATFA, I particularly felt that maybe the movie needed more: more action setpiece, more drama, more acting. Something seems missing and nothing makes it really stand over any of the other films.

Ranks at #10






The Avengers (2012). Ensemble cast. Director: Joss Whedon

Perfect

Post-credits scene: introduction of Thanos.

What I liked: everything. This is a movie that can rival with Batman Begins (or The Dark Knight for that matter). Of course, it gets a lot of help from its individual setup movies for each superhero, regarding that it doesn't need major character development for anyone. But still, just because you have a dream team, doesn't mean that you will win a gold medal. That's when one must give all credit to Joss Whedon.

What I didn't like: Agent Coulson dies. Also, the post-credits scene. I think they could have done something better. The post-post credits scene was hillarious.

Ranks at #2




Iron Man 3 (2013). Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce. Director: Shane Black

Oh come on man, I had just finished cleaning!!

Post-credits scene: Tony thanking Bruce for listening to his story.

What I liked: Tony appearing as human and as humble as he can be. Guy Pearce as usual shines.

What I didn't like: Mostly eveything. This movie is not bad per se. My issue with it, is that it should have been called "TONY STARK 3" instead of Iron man 3. The movie is all about Tony and there is barely any Iron Man in it. There are like 829 suits, none of them worn by Tony -well except for the famous #24, and the final battle is won by Pepper. It just kind of lost me when Killian kidnapped the President. Also, the Mandarin was wasted, completely wasted in this. I will repeat: it's a good movie, but it doesn't honor the name Iron Man 3.

Ranks at #8




Thor: The Dark World (2013). Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman. Director: Alan Taylor

"You know, my ex-husband was a Jedi Knight!"

Post-credits scene: introduction to The Collector. Setup for Guardians of the Galaxy.

What I liked: Thor and Jane Foster.

What I didn't like: The film has no substance. It's all style but the inside is just empty. Some of the dialogue is cheesy and at times it feels like the movie is running on autopilot, meaning it's completely predictable. Malekith was wasted and there is no character development; he ends up coming across as one-dimensional. It seems like there was little to no effort or thought put in filming this.

Ranks at #9




Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Chris Evans, Scarlett Johanson. Director: Joe Johnston

"Before we get started, does anyone want to get out?"

Post-credits scene: Avengers Age of Ultron setup. Introduction to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

What I liked: It's a  sequel better than the original. You don't see that pretty often. Captain's character development grows even more -if you couldn't think that possible- and you can definitely understand why he has such a huge role in the Avengers, arguably the most important role, even over Nick Fury. Chemistry with Black Widow as a teammate, also grew up substantially. The plot is great, the thrill that passes by every minute is fantastic, and you can really feel the sense of being a hero that Steve Rogers has. This film raises the bar in the MCU.

What I didn't like: Nothing, but it's no Avengers or GOTG

Ranks at #6



Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista. Director: James Gunn

Post-credits scene: The Collector "collecting" himself at his office after the explosion, including a cameo appearance by Howard The Duck.

The Best Marvel Film so far

What I liked: The perfect MCU movie.

THIS is the film that Star Wars: The Force Awakens should have been.

When you have five complete random characters, played by five random actors, mold together, blend together, come together and pull off such a hillarious, well developed, clever and overall, well done film, you know you have done the perfect MCU movie.

It's funny, it's witty, it's robust, it took liberties only when needed and left unanswered questions only when it made sense (contrary to The Force Awakens, that consisted of a 2-hour movie that kept leaving unanswered questions, interrupted by some Harrison Ford cameos).

The chemistry was superb, the villain was incredible, the script was terrific. Heck, it's so good, it's better than The Avengers! Even the post-credits scene is perfect!

What I didn't like: Nothing.

Ranks at #1





The Avengers (2015). Ensemble cast. Director: Joss Whedon

Avengers! A...... (What was Cap going to say?) 

Post-credits scene: Thanos vowing he will collect the infinity stones himself.

What I liked: A great sequel. Deep character development, while also increasing the tension between them that justifies both the need of a new Avengers team and the conflict that will arise in the next film. The movie carries on the MCU theme from phase 2 to phase 3, in a perfect way.

I like the way they brilliantly coped with their struggles and how the team felt "forced", leading to each member kind of running away on their own, with Hulk simply taking the plane to who knows where, Hawkeye staying with his girlfriend, Thor heading back to Asgard again, Quicksilver dying. They may be heroes but they have emotions and feelings. This humanization was wonderfully executed (not sure if the term applies for Thor... is he human?)

What I didn't like: Again, the post-credits scene. I think they could have done something better. Seems that Joss Whedon is not goot at post-credits scenes.

Ranks at #4





Ant-Man (2015). Michael Douglas, Paul Rudd. Director: Peyton Reed

Post-credits scene: Captain America setting up Civil War.

Kudos to both of them. Well done, master/mentor and student

What I liked: What a great film. When I read Paul Rudd had been cast as Ant-Man, and that Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) was NOT going to be Ant-Man, but instead handing Ant-Man to Scott Lang (Rudd), I thought to myself something along the lines of: "ay ya-y-ayy...." However the risk paid off very well, and Rudd surprisingly stole the show as Ant-Man while Douglas -as fresh as ever- stole the show as Dr Hank Pym. Evangeline Lilly was a terrific addition to the cast as well.

What I didn't like: While I rate Douglas' performance as Dr. Hank Pym at a solid 9/10, the reason why I don't give him the perfect score, is because I think they could have done more with his character, regarding his intelligence. Let's remember that according to several consensus, Hank Pym is the second most intelligent character in the Marvel Universe, even smarter than Tony Stark! I felt this should have been developed a bit more and make Hank Pym really show off his brilliance skills and abilities as a scientist.

Ranks at #5


Final Ranking:

#1: Guardians of the Galaxy
#2: The Avengers
#3: Iron Man
#4: Avengers Age of Ultron
#5: Ant-Man
#6: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
#7: Thor
#8: Iron Man 3
#9: Thor The Dark World
#10: Captain America: The First Avenger
#11: The Incredible Hulk
#12: Iron Man 2


SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS.

Spiderman films

Great actor, but terribly miscast in my opinion.

Five Spiderman films in less than ten years (with a sixth one announced for 2017) doesn't speak to good of how well has Spidey been treated by Hollywood and built up as a character. I like Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, and I think their S1 and S2 films rank as #1 and #2 respectively. Andrew Garfield also made a good effort. However, I still can't really buy neither Tobey nor Andrew as either Peter Parker or Spiderman, the same way I buy RDJ as Tony Stark/Iron Man, or Chris Hemsworth as Thor, or Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, or... Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Bat Man. For some reason, something simply doesn't add up and I believe the main reason is because the main character, Spidey our hero has simply been miscast.

Ranking of Spiderman films:

#1: Spiderman
#2: Spiderman 2
#3: Amazing Spiderman
#4: Amazing Spiderman 2
#5: Spiderman 3

(with Spiderman being a bit better than Iron Man 2)



Fantastic Four films

Suffer the same fate than the Spiderman films, with the added bonus that at least Spiderman movies had a decent script with somewhat of a decent plot. All three FF films have neither. The main error in FF films is the cast. Reed Richards, the brightest mind, the most intelligent character in the Marvel Universe comes across as a huge joke. Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman simply does not work. Only the Human Torch (played brilliantly by Chris Evans) and The Thing pull this one together. Other than that, it's a monumental flaw. As you can imagine, I am only referring to the first two FF movies. The latest reboot, is a huge piece of ...

Ranking of Fantastic Four films:

What a piece of....

#1: Fantastic Four
#2: Fantastic Four Rise of Silver Surfer
....
....
....
....
#2984298: Fantastic Four (2015 reboot)

(with Fantastic Four being toe to toe with Iron Man 2)



Ranking of the Best Marvel Movies:

#1: Guardians of the Galaxy
#2: The Avengers
#3: Iron Man
#4: Avengers Age of Ultron
#5: Ant-Man
#6: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
#7: Thor
#8: Iron Man 3
#9: Thor The Dark World
#10: Captain America: The First Avenger
#11: The Incredible Hulk
#12: Spiderman
#13: Iron Man 2
#14 Spiderman 2
#15: Amazing Spiderman
#16: Amazing Spiderman 2
#17: Spiderman 3
#18: Fantastic Four
#19: Fantastic Four Rise of Silver Surfer
....
....
....
....
#2984315: Fantastic Four (2015 reboot)



Cheers,

H