X-aminations ahead, Captain America: Brave New World and Review Round-Up.
X-aminations Ahead
The "we'll choke their rivers with our dead" publishing strategy continues in books on sale in April of 1997, padded out by me playing catchup with a few things that slipped through the cracks from preceding months.
Here's how it all shakes out:
Uncanny X-Men #345
Sabretooth & Mystique #1-4
X-Man #28
Imperial Guard #1-3
X-Factor #135
Hulk '97
Wolverine #114
Prophet/Cable #1-2
X-Men (vol. 2) #65
Cable #44
X-Men (vol. 2) '97
Generation X #28
Gladiator/Supreme #1
X-Force #67
Excalibur #110
Deadpool #6
X-Men Unlimited #15
X-Force & Cable '97
Captain America: Brave New World
While not as bad as some of the reviews would suggest, this is definitely in the lower tier of MCU films. It is undone in part by being more of a sequel to one of the least MCU entries than a Captain America movie, and in part by being chopped up and put back together to the point that the seams are very obviously showing.
I can appreciate tying up narrative loose ends as much as — if not more than — the next person, but turning this movie into the vehicle to close off the "Samuel Sterns becomes the Leader" tease of 2008's Incredible Hulk while introducing Red Hulk effectively makes Captain America a guest star in his own story. I know Marvel can't make an "official" Hulk solo film without looping in Universal (who still own the rights to solo Hulk movies), but Thor: Ragnarok is proof there's ways to make a Hulk movie inside another movie without shortchanging the other character.
The inclusion of Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder — reportedly a latter addition to the movie — seems like an attempt to balance the narrative scales in Cap's favor, but that character is instead indicative of just how much the story got rejiggered in post-production (to say nothing of the fact that he's not really snake-themed and doesn't resemble the comic book character at all). Aside from the fact that Sidewinder doesn't really do anything — you could lift him out of the story and very little would change — it's telling that he only ever appears in scenes alongside Cap (because it was all filmed after everyone else went home). And for as much as the visual effects in places are top-notch (the way Red Hulk looks like a Hulked-out Harrison Ford is legitimately impressive), there are at least two scenes (the Leader's final confrontation with Sam and Sam talking down Red Hulk at the very end) which are clearly taking place in front of a greenscreen background dropped in over whatever was there when the scene was originally filmed.
It's not all dire. Most of the action scenes are top-notch, taking advantage of Sam's Falcon wings to give him a fighting style different than Steve Rogers. Red Hulk does look really good (and while I don't know why Harrison Ford apparently needs the money, he does give it his all). As out of nowhere as "Bucky is running for Congress" is, the scene between him and Sam is lovely, and a reminder their relationship has a fun evolution across the last three Cap movies (something that often gets obscured by the intervening MCU chapters). And Anthony Mackie remains deeply charming and charismatic as Sam — I would love to see him take the lead in rebuilding the cinematic Avengers.
It's just too bad he didn't get a better movie to headline.
Review Roundup
Me and Adam Reck reviewed another frustrating issue of Uncanny X-Men, in which everything not involving the Outliers remains deeply confounding.
And in the latest "Snap into Marvel", I took a look at Captain America's falcon, Redwing. Who is a vampire.
What Else?
What I'm Watching
The trailer for Andor season 2 trailer just dropped, and it looks banging. Though I don't love that apparently it's going to be released in four three episode chunks across four weeks.
What I'm Reading
This sums up the current state of the country pretty aptly.
Back in 2017 or so, during this fuckhead's previous administration, someone on a Simpsons facebook page complained that too many of the jokes being made had a liberal viewpoint, and that any conservative posts/comments didn't get many "likes" and were often slammed or sometimes deleted. The overwhelming response (from the page's administrators and its users) was that if you call yourself both a conservative and a Simpsons fan, then you're completely missing the point of one of those things.
ReplyDeleteI think the same thing applies to the X-Men. Unfortunately I'm sure there are far far too many men who voted for the destruction of the country while also learning all the wrong lessons from an aggressively feminist and inclusionist book.