Avengers: Endgame

Dir: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

2019

*****

After 21 films, the 21st being the first half of this grand finale, Avengers: Endgame is probably the most anticipated film ever made. The fact it knocked Star Wars: The Force Awakens from the biggest weekend opening proves as much. However, money isn’t everything, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is one of the most successful films of all time on paper but I really wasn’t that impressed. Avengers: Endgame however exceeded expectations. I didn’t read too much about it after Avengers: Infinity War because I didn’t want to know anything about it until I was sat right there in the cinema but there were fundamentals everyone knew. We knew where the last film left things and it wasn’t a great stretch of the imagination to know that the Avengers would try and put things right, it was only how they achieve this that was the only mystery. If the film had started right where the last had finished it would have lost something I feel, so thankfully it doesn’t. It is no secret that Endgame marks the end of a chapter in the MCU, so instead of simply carrying on, and with a lengthy three hour run time, Marvel indulges both the fans and themselves. If you’ve been a casual viewer of the Avenger films so far then you might not have understood all of the film and would certainly have overlooked many little tid-bits of nerdy goodness. This one is most certainly one for the fans, not only of the MCU but of the comics also. It also references much of the chat that the films have stirred over the years, from cheesy one-liners to the tightness of Captain America’s trousers, particularity around his derriere. You need to have seen pretty much every one of the 21 MCU films in order to fully understand, and more importantly enjoy the film to its full capacity. It’s truly a wonderful time to be a nerd. It is very hard to review Endgame without revealing spoilers but what I will say is that everything the fans could hope to want, the fans get – with added extras. Like I said, expectations were high, we have now grown to expect high quality from the series but the stakes couldn’t have been higher with this, the conclusion. Marvel excel in that they give the original fans what they want while also pulling in fresh viewers. In endgame each character is given his or her special moment and many popular aspects from the comics are explored that had been missing to this point. The team attempt to save the day, I won’t reveal whether they managed or not, but you can probably make an educated guess. You could say much of the film is predictable in many respects (in terms of rules and structure), with a few nice surprises thrown in. A couple of twists are also now expected in a Marvel film and Endgame leaves the best till last. Somehow the film manages to shock its audience by doing exactly the thing that makes the most sense, again, and after 20 films they still make it work. This is incredibly clever. The film is essentially made up of three chapters, and each one is as glorious as the next. The three chapters are also a comic fan’s dream come true. The first chapter explores a what if scenario, What if? being Marvels version of DC’s Elseworld, where each character and situation is thrown a What if? scenario. It has led to some amazing works, some of which are explored here, with a few extra brilliant (and a few bizarre) ideas thrown in for originality. The second chapter explores the MCU and everything that has led to this point. It addresses the highs and the lows of the series so far and ties everything in a neat little bow. So in some respects the first chapter is for the comic book fans and the second chapter is for the film fans. The third chapter really is for everyone. No matter who your favorite character is within the MCU, they are all given their chance to shine. I remember that scene in the middle of the first Avengers film where Iron Man, Captain America and Thor have a tussle in the woods and it was magic. It was bettered when seeing the Avengers together again in New York fighting against Loki and his army and then again teaming up in the beginning sequence of Age of Ultron. I personally always liked the scenes where the gang are all having down-time together, joking and having a drink, but combine all these scenes, multiply by a thousand, and you still won’t have the enormity of scope or entertainment value that the final scene in Endgame has. The word epic doesn’t seem to do it justice, this is a decade and 21 films in the making and every single shot has been thought over for hours by a team of passionate creatives. Even if you have no interest in comics, superhero films or the Avengers, you cannot deny the vast achievement here. It really does feel like the impossible has been achieved – and not because certain special effects were not available until now – but because finally a group of people have come together and have understood comics and the characters within them. Take away all of the special effects and the big names and the huge budgets and you are still left with amazing scripts and intelligent writing. A couple of mistakes have been made over the ten years and 21 films but each one of these has been addressed, corrected and more than made up for. Marvel could have taken the easy option on this one but they didn’t, they gave themselves something of a tricky puzzle to solve but solve it they did. I found the film to be remarkably cliché free and although the MCU will continue, Marvel have done something that no other studio have ever managed – to actually complete a superhero franchise. I will always hold 1978’s Superman as my favorite ever superhero/comic book film but what Marvel have achieved goes beyond anything that has come before and I doubt it will ever be matched. The level of quality and quantity is unprecedented, and Endgame is one hell of a grande finale.

Avengers: Infinity War

Dir: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo

2018

*****

I ordered an extra-large portion of popcorn before watching Avengers: Infinity War and it was definitely the right decision, although maybe I should have bought two. It seems every new Avengers film is ‘the best yet’ and Infinity War is certainly no exception. I’ve pondered the film I only watched yesterday and I’ve been honest with myself – I have calmed my giddying excitement and still I believe it is the second greatest superhero/comic adaptation ever made (no one will ever better Superman 1978 in my heart). Since 2008 Marvel Studios have managed to adapt some of the most outlandish characters and scenarios and make them believable but I think for the very first time, ever, they have captured the pure essence (craziness) of the comic book with Infinity War. Civil War was great, a new chapter in superhero/comic adaptation movies but it is nothing compared to this. I love everything they do but this time Marvel really have brought their comics to life without compromise or complication. It’s everything comic book fans have ever wanted but never in a million years thought they would ever see – and more. It really isn’t that long ago when studios – and some fans – would suggest the very idea of having a man in a robotic suit, a God and a talking tree in the same film wouldn’t work and that some things can only exist properly within the realms of the comic book, but Marvel have proved them wrong. I remember the excitement when Nick Fury turned up at the end of 2008’s Iron Man but even then it felt like a tease, a hopeful wish that you took with a pinch of salt, indeed, many superhero/comic adaptations have been touted since and have fallen by the wayside. The Russo brother’s film kicks bottom. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely’s script – that is loosely adapted  from Jim Starlin's 1991 comic series "The Infinity Gauntlet" and Jonathan Hickman's 2013 "Infinity" comic, comes together perfectly, with each character – all sixty-four – having their fair share of action. Not one character is lost in the background, some may only feature for a few minutes but each one serves a purpose and is recognised. We’ve had eighteen films worth of character development, now its time for said characters to do what superheros do without any nonsense. By now it is no secret that Thanos is coming, he wants all of the six Infinity Stones to become the most powerful (and destructive) force in the universe. His intentions don’t quite match anyone else’s. The Infinity Stones have featured heavily up to this point within the MCU and all of the films – particularly the few released in the couple of years previous to Infinity War – have led to this point. We first saw The Space Stone (also known as the Tesseract) in Captain America: The First Avenger. After Cap got hold of it and Tony Stark recovered it, it was stolen by Loki who caused all sorts of mischief (of which he is the god of) with it in the first Avengers film. The Mind Stone, which was housed in Loki's staff until Avengers: Age of Ultron is now in Vision’s forehead – indeed, Stark and Banner’s knowledge, Iron Man’s computer and The Mind Stone all come together to make Vision. The Power Stone, first seen in Guardians of the Galaxy, is under control of the Nova Corps. The Reality Stone (also known as the Aether) was first seen in Thor: The Dark World and was placed in the care of the Collector. The fifth stone, the Time Stone (also known as the Eye of Agamotto), was revealed in Doctor Strange and is under his protection in Kamar-Taj. The whereabouts of the sixth stone, the Soul Stone, was unknown up to this point and its big reveal is one of the film’s highlights. As Thanos plunders the galaxy, he meets pretty much everyone in the MCU as they scatter and form separate groups. These little team-ups are a dream come true for fans and an exciting new element to the films. The cast is astonishing, not only do we have Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Don Cheadle, Tom Holland, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Dave Bautista, Zoe Saldana, Josh Brolin, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Pratt, Idris Elba, Benedict Wong, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper and Gwyneth Paltrow reprising their roles, you have Benicio del Toro, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, William Hurt, Kerry Condon, Peter Dinklage as a new addition to the cast and a couple of very pleasant surprises. After a decade of speculation, the film keeps you guessing from beginning to end and none of it is predictable. I guessed maybe two out of a hundred revelations but that’s about it. I’m struggling to think of another film that has this amount of excitement. The excitement levels never fall either, it’s amazing how they kept it going as they did for over two and half hours without it becoming convoluted and over-complicated. It takes the audience through every single emotion, our heros are super but we know they are all vulnerable in their own separate ways, so the outcome is always a mystery. Its excitement comes with real suspense and, for the first time, a real darkness. Marvel’s signature humor is alive and well – with some of the funniest moments so far in the MCU – and its balance between the two is unique. It shouldn’t work but it does. It’s amazing that a film with a walking, talking tree in it could be taken serious at all, but Infinity War proves that a film can be funny, exciting, dark and sad at the same time as being superiorly inventive and more intelligent than any action film has been before. Thanos is a big bulky super villain but he is just as fragile as our heroes. I don’t think a super-villain has ever been as complex before and we certainly have never seen the world from a super-villains perspective before, at least not quite like this. It’s a shame his chin looks like a scrotum though. The film is full of high points but the climax is something else. The eerie contemplative silence that fell upon the packed cinema I watched it in was like nothing I’ve witnessed before, it was the power of cinema at full force. People who dismiss superhero films and comic book adaptations as blockbuster nonsense really are overlooking something special and are missing out. Imagine mixing The Godfather, Indiana Jones, Superman, James Bond and Star Wars together – the result might look something like this. It doesn’t feel like a film, it feels like an event, I’m clearly giddy with excitement but I don’t think I’m exaggerating. The cliff-hanger ending is torturous, it’s going to be a long wait until the next film but with nineteen films now in the MCU, a re-watch of them all should help me pass the time. Poor old DC. If someone who works at 2000AD is reading, please take note, a 2000AD universe of films is totally possible, so get on it.

Thor: Ragnarok

Dir: Taika Waititi

2017

*****

Thor has been regarded by many as The Avenger’s weakest element. I disagree. I know many didn’t like Thor: The Dark World but I thought it was pretty good but it was certainly time for a change of direction. While the Marvel films have taken on a slightly lighter tone in Phase III of the MCU, Thor has always been quite serious. You can just about get away with anything in comics and as a child I never questioned why a God would be fighting alongside a giant green man and man in a robotic suit, it was what it was and what it was was cool. However, when making a more serious live action adaption that has to be unique as well as adhering to a bigger thread of continuity, it’s hard to work out where to place such a character such as Thor. I’m not convinced Marvel have ever actually 100% succeeded with this, at least not until now. The announcement that Taika Waititi was going to be the director of Thor’s third outing was met with excitement and confusion. What was Marvel thinking? I remember being shocked when I learned that Kenneth Branagh was going to direct the original Thor in 2011 but it sort of made sense due to his experience with epics and costume period pieces. It was less surprising when Alan Taylor directed the second film, not because of his film credits but because of his rich experience working in TV. Waititi has made a few of my favourite films of all time (What We Do in the Shadows, Eagle vs. Shark, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) but they were very low budget comedies. I was terrified when it was announced that Peyton Reed was announced as the Ant-Man director and that turned out brilliantly but Waititi seemed like a fantasy director. I’ve had serious conversations with other comic/film nerds about who our fantasy Avengers directors would be and I always say Lars von Trier – Captain America, Werner Herzog – Hulk, Alejandro Jodorowsky – Avengers, Andrei Tarkovsky – Guardians of the Galaxy, Takeshi Tikano – Iron Man and Stanley Kubrick – Thor. I guess I’m something of an anarchist, the MCU would go down in flames if I were in charge but Waititi directing Thor, could that really work? It turns out it was a genius idea. While Waititi didn’t write the story of Thor: Ragnarok he developed the tone and the style and the overall direction the characters should go. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense. While Thor: Ragnarok has a totally different tone to Captain America: Civil War, it does bring the colourful and otherworldly playfulness of Guardians of the Galaxy closer to the fold. It’s nice to get away from Earth too, like the comics do quite often. The film incorporates classic stories from across various different threads. It follows elements from Ragnarok – which was part of the Civil War story; the Surtur saga – which is classic golden age stuff from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby from the 60s; the Contest of Champions story – a favourite of mine from the 80s; and Planet Hulk – one of the greatest ‘What if’ scenarios Marvel have ever produced. It is the perfect amalgamation of Thor/Marvel through the ages and something the hard-core fans of the comics have always wanted. Ragnarok featured a clone of Thor, Contest of Champions saw Captain America, Talisman, Darkstar, Captain Britain, Wolverine, Defensor, Sasquatch, Daredevil, Peregrine, She-Hulk, The Thing and Blitzkrieg fight in a tournament against Iron Man, Vanguard, Iron Fist, Shamrock, Storm, Arabian Knight, Sabra, Invisible Girl, Angel, Black Panther, Sunfire and the Collective Man in a sort of pre-civil war story that was a bit like Planet Hulk’s Gladiatorial story but featuring the Elders of the Universe. While it is not quite the same as those comics, it certainly retains much of what made them exciting. You certainly don’t have to be a Marvel expert to enjoy the merge of ideas but it is lots of fun for those that are. As much as fans would want to see a pure adaption of Planet Hulk and World War Hulk, it wouldn’t fit into the bigger story and Marvel clearly know what they are doing. I never thought characters like The Grandmaster, The Collector, Surtur or Korg would have a place in the MCU, and I’m fine with the exclusion of characters like Beta Ray Bill for instance – it really could be far more confusing than it is. What Marvel has done is encourage a bunch of talented writer/directors from a cross section of genre and styles, to use their back catalogue as well as develop their own ideas. Apparently Ruben Fleischer, Rob Letterman and Rawson Marshall Thurber were in the running alongside Waititi for creative director. I’m not sure what they saw in either We’re the Millers, Goosebumps or Zombieland that made them think they’d be perfect for Thor but supposedly Waititi created a sizzle reel that won them over, even though sizzle reels are something that Marvel strongly discourage. He kind of broke all the rules from then on. Thor: Ragnarok is technically a comedy. Waititi keeps it authentic, adapts elements from the Golden age of Marvel, as well as the cool stuff they did in the 80s and the more modern works that brought fresh new ideas to the characters, and also tells it like it is. That is, he, the writers and Marvel finally admit that much of Marvel’s history/stories/characters are absurd. Thor is a ridiculous character who meets other ridiculous characters in ridiculous places in ridiculous scenarios. Waititi’s film embraces the nonsense and the nostalgia and makes a fun film out of it. It fits perfectly in the MCU, right in-between Guardians of the Galaxy and Infinity War, while balancing the tone of Guardians and Civil War. Thor and Hulk took a backseat during Civil War, it is only right we be told why they were absent and what they were doing and Ragnarok is a pretty good excuse as excuses go. Thor’s character had become stale and a little one dimensional, it makes sense that he develop and it makes sense that he lightens up following his time on Earth with the other Avengers. Loki has also had time to mature and reflect and finally we have a significant development of The Hulk – rather than Bruce Banner. Waititi’s tone is a mix of neon sci-fi and soft-focus fantasy and it works perfectly. The humour and banter between characters works surprisingly well, which won’t win everyone over but is something that the franchise needed in my opinion. He’s brought a lot of his own style to the mix but the classic comics are there as well as other sci-fi influences, the work of Harry Harrison immediately springing to mind. Thor is a bit like Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China, as Waititi puts it "What's the version of Thor just wanting to get his truck back? He's the one looking at the world and bringing a certain sarcasm and irony to this cosmic landscape." It totally works for me. This is about as authentic as the space/fantasy side of the classic comics gets. They have achieved everything I never thought they could all in one film. I thought the idea of Guardians of the Galaxy was unfilmable but that is nothing compared to what they do with Thor. The best part of The Avengers was when Hulk threw Loki around Stark Towers and that is what Waititi and co have given us more of. Korg is one of the dullest, most boring characters ever created by Marvel but he is now one of my favourite characters in the MCU and I can’t wait to see more of him in Infinity Wars. Cate Blanchett’s Hela is easily one of the most interesting villains the MUC has had so far, her character built from the brilliant Jason Aaron’s Hela and Gor from Thor: God of Thunder. She looks as she did in Aaron’s comic but Blanchett gives her her personality. Likewise, Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie almost steals the show – which is really saying something given the strong competition. I’ve never thought of Valkyrie with much regard, there are so many different versions of her, none of which have ever really stood out, but Thompson’s take on the character is brilliant and I can see her being a key player in the new Avengers. Much has been said of the absence of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster but in my opinion the franchise is better off without her. She didn’t bring anything to the Thor films, the romance between her and Thor stunted the stories and she clearly had no love for the part anyway. He’s a much more interesting character without her and other characters can now develop. I’m not sure the MCU ever needed Kat Dennings in the first place and Stellan Skarsgard will return I’m sure, it just didn’t make sense to involve his character here. My biggest gripe, and it is quite big, is that my favourite Lady Sif is missing. Not a bad thing as it turns out regarding the story but only if she returns to the franchise in the near future – if she doesn’t I’m out. Thor and Hulk – the two Avengers no one ever knows what to with – make a great double act and raise a surprising amount of laughs. Certain scenes had the entire cinema I was sitting in roar with laughter, something I would never had expected but loved when it happened. None of the humour is forced either, it’s all very natural and remarkably casual. Waititi has said that around 80% of the script was improvised and with a director like him such an idea actually works for the best. It’s a sci-fi, fantasy, super-hero, action romp with all the entertainment you could hope from such a film. The sets are either retro-pop – the kind you’d find in any Jack Kirby classic, and utterly gorgeous fantasy landscapes that reminded me of Simon Bisley’s Slaine comics from the 90s mixed with the Sistine Chapel. The film is full of brilliant electro-synth riffs and opens and closes with Led Zeppelin’s amazing Immigrant Song which I dare say will now be known as Thor’s theme tune. I saw so much of what I love about comics in it, I saw a big franchise taking a risk and I saw cinema changing the formula for a change. This is evolution. I don’t think I suffer superhero movie fatigue as much as most people because I watch heaps of other films from various different genres and so far Marvel haven’t made a bad film. I think lessons were learned from Iron Man 2 and since then it’s just got better and better. I’m sick of trailers giving away too much, I’m sick of little independents getting overlooked and I’m sick of other franchises (DC, Star Wars) copying Marvel but I’m certainly not sick of the MCU, with each of their films outdoing the last, always moving onwards and upwards and evolving. I would argue that instead of taking over, Marvel is paving the way for new ideas and aren’t just an inspiration for superhero/comic adaptations but cinema as a whole. At least film makers are now actually reading the comics they are turning into films, which they certainly weren’t doing in the 80s and 90s.

Dr. Strange

Dir: Philip DeGuere

1978

***

In the late 1970s, the CBS channel and Universal pictures made a deal with Marvel comics and set about developing some of their most popular Superhero characters into TV show hits. The produced a hit with The Incredible Hulk, which you'd think would be the hardest to adapt but not with the other three projects; The Adventures of Spider-man, CaptainAmerica and 1978's Dr. Strange. Spider-man and Captain America were fairly awful and a far cry from their comic book roots but Philip DeGuere's adaptation of the character was pretty faithful. Stan Lee has said that out of all of the TV shows, Dr. Strange was the one that he had been most hand-on with, the one he liked the most and the one that hurt the most when it failed. The ratings weren't good and CBS never picked it up for series, although many people blame the time it aired as the real problem as it went up against Roots which was the number 1 show of the time. The origin story was also criticized as being a little dull and a bit slow, which was an annoying comment, considering the criticism for the other failed Marvel adaptations were that they lacked an origins story and the character development was rushed. A lot of money was poured into the project and the special effects were cutting edge for the time, especially for a television program. The script was rather well written and the plot was intelligent. It was like a comic book movie but intelligent, grown up and a decent thriller in its own right. It had the all the right levels of sci-fi, suspense, intrigue and mystery about it and the casting was fantastic. I thought Peter Hooten made a great Stephen Strange and Jessica Walter was brilliant as Morgan Le Fay, an evil sorceress from the fourth dimension, who plans to invade planet earth through mind control, possession and walking around half-naked. It features The Nameless One, who is a little bit like Dormammu in the 2016 adaption, in a scene that is incredibly similar when compared. Clyde Kusatsu played Wong, Strange's companion, and I can totally see him as being a classic and much loved TV character. It even stars John Mills! Watching it is like watching a TV show that should have happened, most pilot films aren't that great, it really is a mystery why it was never picked up and I wonder whether it would have been, had it of come to the screen before Spider-Man and Captain America. It is amazing that it took almost forty years for Dr. Strange to have been adapted once more and it doesn't surprise me that it was a success. You have Marvel fans who love Marvel character and then you have Marvel fans who actually read the comics. You then have producers with nothing but money in mind who have no idea what the fans want, what is popular and what to do with all these things they don't understand. Luckily it is now working, now that actual fans of the comics are making the films. I'm not sure if Philip DeGuere was always a comic fan or not but he understood the character, knew what it was that made it popular with its fans and made the most authentic version he could with limitations and the best he had available. Okay, so it isn't perfect, but I think this good pilot could have become a truly great TV series.

Doctor Strange

Dir: Scott Derrickson

2016

****

Doctor Strange was never a comic I had much time for. I liked the character but I was more into the sci-fi elements and science of the superheroes/Avengers rather than the mystical. Apart from the ill-fated 1978 TV movie, Doctor Strange has troubled Marvel somewhat, with few people wanting to touch it and fewer people knowing quite how to adapt the idea to film. He has appeared in several episodes of the animated Spider-Man, Hulk and his own one-off feature length cartoon (Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme) but never with any gusto. The character has always been full of potential and finally in 2016 it has been realized. The changes to Doctor Strange's origins are slight and the character tweaks work so much better than in the comics. Conceived back in 1963 by Steve Ditko, the original story saw a brilliant and wealthy surgeon loose the use of his hands following a car accident. Dr Steven Strange then exhausted his life savings and all that he had on experimental procedures and medicines to no avail until he hears of an alternative. He hears of an ancient one who lives in Tibet that can cure anyone and anything and spends his last penny on flying there to find him. He is eventually taught the universes mystical ways and discovers far more than he had anticipated about the world and what threatens it. Instead of returning to medicine he becomes a Sorcerer Supreme and help defend the earth against magical bad guys. Scott Derrickson's version is much the same except for a few changes. Firstly, the ancient one is a white women instead of an elderly Tibetan man. Marvel were accused to a 'whitewash' with this casting decision but as co-writer C. Robert Cargill pointed out in interviews, they were damned if they did and damned if they didn't with this particular character as keeping him as he was could have seen people accuse them of racial stereotyping, and to be fair, a racial stereotype is exactly what he was. Doctor Strange is one of the many silver age comic characters that are particularly out of date. Cargill stated that they cast Tilda Swinton as the ancient one as the character didn't need to have a sex, it was unimportant, the actress would give the character an androgynous feel. I'm not sure how Swinton feels about that but I understand and agree with where he is coming from. She is described as having Celtic origins, fine by me, she's a great actress and is fantastic in the role. Strange's old nemesis Baron Mardo is given a maker over too, he is now much younger, black, has been stripped of his Baronhood (just call him Karl) and looks a lot like the brilliant Chiwetel Ejiofor. If you are so small minded you think that Marvel are somehow racist, or indeed too politically correct, his casting should balance things out and address your concerns, you also may like to know that Mr Ejiofor does a pretty good job in the role. The look of the original comic has been refined and the good Doctor has quite a panache about him. I've not always been a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch but I have to agree that he is perfectly cast in the role, I honestly can't picture anyone else doing as good a job as him, apart from maybe Robert Downey Jr. There are two baddies (three technically) in the film, one real and one not so real. The real one is Kaecilius, played by the great Mads Mikkelsen (my goodness he's come a long way since Pusher). Originally a student of Baron Mardo, Kaecilius is now an ex-student of the ancient one who wants to join with Dormammu, ruler of the dark dimension and the films not so real villain. The existential ideas and the mirror dimensions explored in the film are in tune with Ditko's interest in the philosophy of Objectivism. The changes, in many respects, keep the essence of his original idea alive. No cameo for Ditko though, he's above all that but I'm glad there is plenty of his in the film to enjoy and enjoy it I did. It's got to be said (and has been), Doctor Strange was a big risk for Marvel. He's not a big character unless you're a fan, most viewers and fans of the film are not comic readers and he will be fairly new to most of them. This is perhaps why Marvel made sure that the film would be particularly unlike the other films in the Marvel/Avengers universe. The Special effects are so good they make Inception look like a Mr. Men book but they're not overdone and they serve a very important purpose. Science takes a bit of a hit but then this isn't all about spirituality and magic either, it's got far more in common with philosophy than it has with and kind of mumbo-jumbo. It really is the thinking person's superhero film, with elements of horror/thriller thrown in for good (and mature) measure. The only thing that doesn't work as well is the humour but I can see huge potential once the Doctor meets up with certain people in the Avengers. The conclusion/finale is unexpected and quite thrilling in that it is unlike any superhero/comic adaption ending that has come before. There is no big fight as such, at least not a physical one, and things are actually fixed rather than destroyed. It's quite an inspiring bit of writing from the guy who wrote the overrated Sinister and the man who directed the worst of the Hellraiser/Urban Legend sequels and the horrible 2008 remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still and wrote the most pointless film ever made (Devils Knot, seriously, why watch it and not watch Paradise Lost instead?). Marvel have made the right decision once again, to be fair though Derrickson's visuals are amazing and C. Robert Cargill started out as a film reviewer, so I have a lot of time for both of them, they have made one of the year’s best blockbuster, so much so that the term blockbuster is probably a bit insulting. I agree with others who say that Marvel go from strength to strength but here, with their least known and most risky character, they've more than delivered, they have excelled.