Benz Eye View: Ms. Marvel

Welcome back to MCU Marathon, and we are now going to look at the next MCU TV series starring a new superhero named Ms. Marvel. Will she leave a memorable mark just like many of the past Marvel superheroes, or will she be just as good as Captain Marvel (that in itself is not a good sign)? Let’s find out in the next MCU show: Ms. Marvel.

Pros:

1.) I actually like Kamala Khan (played by Iman Vellani). I am not a fan of the fact that she loves Captain Marvel, but it is made up that she is caring for her family and friends. Despite the enemies going after her, she does not resort to killing them or treating them poorly; she is more selfless since she wants to make sure her loved ones are fine. This may make her a typical superhero, but at least it still makes her a good one.

2.) Throughout the show, there are animated sequences that go alongside the live-action sequences where it would be Kamala’s imagination or colorful text messages. These look surprisingly nice and it gives some identity to this show; it seems like something a teenage girl would make. I will give it to the show that this is pretty imaginative.

3.) The biggest thing that worked, for the most part, is the familial aspect of the show. The show spends plenty of time showing off Kamala spending time with her family, and despite their weird quirks, they are relatable and friendly. They all have chemistry and I buy that these characters are a family despite not being a typical type of family…

Cons:

1.) …Unfortunately, there are so many familial sequences that I hardly qualify this show as a superhero show. It is more like a slice-of-life young adult/teenage show that involves a superhero. There are surprisingly few super heroic sequences, and if that bothers you, that is going to be one of many reasons why you will hate this show.

2.) If you are a fan of Ms. Marvel from the comics, from what I have heard from the fans, you will hate many of the changes in her character. I do not know her that much, but one aspect about her I do know is that she is an Inhuman who has polymorph powers (think Mr. Fantastic). In this show, she has cosmic powers that can be polymorph (which is shown better in the last episode) as well as creating cosmic walls to be her shield or stepping stones, though the biggest change is that she got her powers from a bangle and that is because of something about her that I will not spoil, but let’s just say what she is a way to introduce a group of people into the MCU, and I do not like it one bit. Even if I ignore her comic book origins, I found her powers to be lame and many action sequences to be weak. Nothing about her power set and fights are creative or imaginative…

3.) …In fact, the biggest problem with this show is that the writing and the story are not imaginative or creative. This is a young adult show about a girl wanting to help people while trying to find out who she is; that sounds like the most generic young adult idea about a teenager ever except she is a superhero. While the characters are fine for the most part, none of them are interesting enough despite their actors doing decently in their roles. In addition, there are two villains going against Kamala Khan, and both of them are so poorly written with their terrible motivations (one of them had a decent chance, but she squandered it by some of her dumb actions) that they might as well join Malekith from Thor: The Dark World as two of the worst villains in the MCU. One last thing I will mention: there are a couple of issues in the show that conflict with the MCU because it does not add up to the universe as a whole (i.e., how does Kamala’s mom have a hard time believing her mother’s supernatural theories when she lives in a world with a Viking god and an alien that snapped half of the universe out of existence?). I have seen worse MCU-related media, but this show is at least as bad as Hawkeye in terms of writing, making it easy not to care.

Overall:

We got ourselves a new superhero named Ms. Marvel, and she is surprisingly not that bad. Kamala Khan is a sweet teenage girl who is a fan of superheroes (particularly Captain Marvel) and will protect anyone who hurts her friends and family. She is not a bad superhero… it is just a shame that her show is a terrible one. I feel sorry for her because she could potentially be a good superhero that many people would like, but not many people seem to care considering this has the lowest ratings in any Marvel show ever, and it is no surprise why. This does not feel like a superhero show, the changes to the character from the comics ticked off the fans and did not impress casuals, and the writing has very little creativity nor any compelling moments (even the dimensional world it sets up is boring). I do not mind seeing Ms. Marvel again (I actually prefer her and Monica Rambeau over Captain Marvel), but in the case of her show, it does not do her any favors, and I am pretty sure this GIF will be the casual audiences’ main reaction when they see her in The Marvels just like Wanda Maximoff’s boys in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness:

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Benz Eye View: Thor: Love and Thunder

Welcome back to MCU Marathon, and we are now going to look at the only Marvel superhero so far to have four films in his run in the MCU. Will the god of thunder have a tremendous fourth run that Iron Man and Captain America could not, or was it a good time for the other two heroes to kick the bucket before they overstayed their welcome, unlike Thor? Let’s find out in the next MCU Marathon: Thor: Love and Thunder.

Pros:

1.) Gorr the God Butcher (played by Christian Bale) is one of the best villains in the MCU so far. While he may not be as intimidating or frightening as he is in the comics, you will know that things are about to get serious when Gorr is on-screen. Christian Bale acts his heart out in this role, especially when something emotional is happening to the character. The downside is that he is not in the movie that much, but the few times that he is seen are the best moments.

2.) The music is noteworthy here because it is entertaining and rocky. While the songs do add some flavor to this movie (the filmmakers must have gotten some inspiration from James Gunn), the score in general is awesome when it becomes rock. It has a good start when the movie’s Marvel Studios theme is an epic rock version; it makes the few epic moments better than it needs to be. That makes sense since this movie is going for a rock-style visual motif.

3.) I actually found Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) to be more interesting here than in the previous Thor movies. For one thing, there is something happening to her that makes it extra conflicting for Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth). For another, she acts like a rookie who wants to be a good superhero, but she is unsure how to do it, which Thor helps out. She is more likable and exciting here, although what happens to her by the end, I did not really feel anything about it due to one certain con. Other than that, and a somewhat questionable reason how she can pick up Mjolnir, I like Jane as a Mighty Thor…

Cons:

1.) …It is just a shame that the same thing cannot be said about Thor Odinson himself. I talked about how Thor becoming a comedian in Thor: Ragnarok just comes out of nowhere and it bothered me; imagine my annoyance that this movie doubles down on this to the point of irritation. Thor acts so much like a bumbling idiot that one can argue that his intelligence has dropped significantly after the events of Avengers: Endgame. He is also inconsistent since he damages property for comedy when the Thor in the first Thor movie would do that on purpose and has since learned from that. Thor knew when to be serious, especially in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, but he rarely does that in this movie. Some may argue that he is the strongest Avenger, but after this movie, he will be considered the dumbest/annoying Avenger.

2.) The premise here is that Gorr the God Butcher is killing all the gods in the universe, so Thor has to stop him. This sounds like a good idea, but it is somewhat wasted here. Gorr looks like a terrifying villain (especially when we enter the Shadow Realm), so him going after the gods would be cool to see, but we only see one god killed on-screen and many others killed off-screen. Not only that, it would be nice to see how the other gods would react to that, especially Zeus (played by Russell Crowe), but they are in only one sequence and that is it. There are great moments here and there (although there is one moment near the end that is absolutely ridiculous, and it creates a plot hole in the MCU), but the possibilities that I see here are wasted.

3.) Here is the biggest thing about this movie that ruins it: the comedy. While comedy itself is not bad and Taika Waititi is known for that, the movie overuses it to the point of annoyance. Do you like this one screaming goat joke at the beginning of the movie? Prepare to hear it several times to the point where you want to kill those goats. In fact, comedy is used so much that the tone is rarely serious, and when it is serious, it is easily a breath of fresh air. The fact that the movie extremely rarely takes itself seriously makes it hard for the audience to take the main conflict seriously other than when Gorr comes on-screen; the investment gets lost in the process, and it is hard to get it back when the movie plays off the plot as a joke for the majority of the time.

Overall:

The Norse god of thunder is back on his fourth run in the MCU. After the events of Avengers: Endgame, it would be nice to see how he is holding up now that he got his life back together, but is it worth watching? I can say this: it is better than Thor: The Dark World. It is not the worst Thor movie ever, but it is not going to be one of his best. With the inconsistent tone, lost story opportunities, annoying Thor, and comedic overload to the point where some reviewers call this movie an MCU parody, Thor: Love and Thunder should be renamed Thor: Lame and Blunder. The character arcs and story are fine, but maybe Thor should hang up the ax and join Captain America and Iron Man in retirement if he keeps up like this.

5/10

Benz Eye View: Minions: The Rise of Gru

DISCLAIMER: I only watched the first Minions movie and none of the other Despicable Me films. Keep that in mind as I review this sequel.

Pros:

1.) I can say the animation looks excellent since Illumination rivals Disney Animation Studio. It does have its own animation style considering many of the characters are different from Disney’s animated characters. I do not have much to add after that, let’s move on.

2.) The most prominent stand-out characters are clearly the Minions themselves (voiced by Pierre Coffin). While that is obvious, one of the reasons why is how adorable, charming, and funny they are without being annoying. The main Minion characters: Kevin, Stuart, Bob, and Otto have their own quirks, making them slightly recognizable despite looking similar. Families (and children especially) seem to love them, and this movie continues to show why.

3.) There are some decently funny moments. The best ones are unfortunately shown in the trailers (I seriously question the marketing team when they do that), but they are quite humorous when it happens from how much the Minions can be idiots sometimes to some of the names of the villains. It is not going to break any comedic grounds, but they are amusing enough to bring in a few laughs.

Cons:

1.) The writing is absolutely stupid and possibly dumber than the last movie. There are plenty of conveniences, illogical choices, and dumb cliches that would make some children’s cartoons look clever by comparison. This is somewhat expected considering what this movie is, but if you wanted something that may be on the same level as the Despicable Me films (assuming it is better from what I have heard), you are not going to get it here. At best, this is a turn-off-your-brain movie that could have been better than that.

2.) The pacing goes by too quickly. While there are times when it does slow down to swallow the moment, it feels like the story could have been better if the movie has plenty more of that type of pacing, then goes fast when an action scene occurs. As a result, one thing suffers…

3.) …That is the characters themselves. It is easy to not care for these people other than the Minions, but even they are not that compelling other than one who I will get to in a moment. The only characteristics these people have are that they are evil with one gimmick to them like Belle Bottom (voiced by Taraji P. Henson) is a sassy evil woman and Nun-chuck (voiced by Lucy Lawless) is an evil “holy” nun. The two characters that have slightly more to them are Wild Knuckles (voiced by Alan Arkin) and Master Chow (voiced by Michelle Yeoh), but not enough to make them stand out. The only character I liked was Otto because he screwed up a job for Gru (voiced by Steve Carell) and he wants to fix the mistake. The fast pacing does not help since the movie barely has enough time to explore these characters, so it is easy to forget them as soon as you are finished watching.

Overall:

As mentioned before, I only saw the first Minions, and I thought it was fine (however, it has been such a long time since I have seen it). As for its sequel, even if I have not seen the first one, I can say this movie is dumb. It may be a turn-off-your-brain movie type of dumb, but it is worth noting many of this movie’s problems. I am sure children will enjoy this just fine, but only as a temporary entertainment that they will forget over time. The Minions are charming little characters, but maybe there is a reason why they are minor characters in the Despicable Me films.

4/10