In honor of probably the biggest Marvel movie yet since The Avengers back in 2012 (wow that was four years ago!), Captain America : Civil War, here is my list of all of the post-the year 2000, live-action Marvel films. (Note : I have yet to see any of the "Blade" films, or any of the "Punisher" films, so they will not be here.) (Another note : This is all opinion! If you think X-Men Origins : Wolverine is the best Marvel movie released, I'm not going to tell you that you're wrong, because there is no right answer!)
Marvel Comics have shaped my childhood in ways you can't imagine. They have thought me my morals, and what it means to be a hero. Video games and cartoons were my first exposure to these characters. I was born in the year 2000, so I was not alive in the golden age of comic books. These films are those that brought these characters to life on the big screen and opened my eyes to just how good film can be. Sometimes, they didn't work out so well. Let's take a look. (One last note : spoilers!)
25. The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The major issue with The Amazing Spider-Man 2, is that there is just too much going on. Here is a handy-dandy little list of all the things that were smushed into this mess.
- Peter trying to find out about his parents' disapperance
- Peter trying to maintain a relationship with Gwen Stacy
- Aunt May and her financial stability
- Peter graduating high school
- Peter fighting Electro
- Sony trying to set up the Sinister Six
- Peter meeting up with Harry Osborn
- Peter fighting the Goblin
- Peter hiding that he is Spider-Man from Aunt May
- Peter fighting the Rhino (this was interesting)
The list goes on, but you get the idea. The plot is extremely overfilled with story elements, likely due to Sony trying to build a universe around Spider-Man. Also, Jamie Foxx as Electro got me pretty hyped from the trailers. He just sucked. He was incredibly over-the-top and felt very cheesy and was just plain irritating. And I really love Jamie Foxx as an actor too! (Have you seen Django and Collateral?). The script was just really bad and it also suffered from just having sub-par action. The singular redeeming quality of this movie is the charm and performances of it's two leads, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. Both of them are great young actors with a loaded future ahead, and their performances are great in both films, and their chemistry as a romantic couple is believable.
24. X-Men Origins : Wolverine
Most people would probably have this in their worst slot, but just the sheer disappointment from The Amazing Spider-Man 2, made it a bit worse in my opinion. But that does not give this atrocity a freebie. I'm gonna be honest here. I have seen almost every movie on this list at least twice, even TASM2, but the last time I saw this movie was opening weekend in 2009, when I was 8 years old. I remember it being the first movie going experience I had that I really disliked. After seeing bits and parts of it, and short clips, this movie is just awful. The script is terrible, Sabretooth was really dumb, Will.i.am (need I say more), Gambit was completely shoe horned in with no real purpose other than just saying "Hey that's Gambit! You kinda know him!", and what they did to Deadpool, I don't even want to speak of. Also, the plot of Logan and Jean was incredibly boring. This movie didn't even know what it was, and neither do we. Similarly to TASM2, the one redeeming quality is one of my favorite actors, Hugh Jackman, giving another fantastic performance as my favorite superhero.
23. Iron Man 2
Ah, our first entry from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In my opinion, this is the only film in MCU which is below average. The world fell in love with Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in 2008, and we were all incredibly hyped for Iron Man 2. I was incredibly surprised to see the pretty damn good 72% Rotten Tomatoes meter, because I believed that I was not the only one who disliked this movie. In a nutshell, this movie felt very similar to it's predecessor, hitting alike beats and having an identical plot almost. (bad guy uses Stark equipment for evil, and Tony has to make better equipment to stop him). Whiplash as a villain was an almost laughable performance from Mickey Roarke. The introduction of Don Cheadle as Rhodes and Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow were great, but they felt almost pointless in the scheme of this film. This movie is not terrible, but it is not good. RDJ is stellar as always as Stark, and I guess he is worth the price of admission. I was honestly pretty bored re-watching this.
22. Spider-Man 3
I freaking love this movie, but at the same time, I know it's really not that good. It's a personal guilty pleasure of mine, but just because it's one of those "so bad it's good" movies, does not mean it's actually a good movie (I really wanted to move this up like 5 or 6 slots).
In all seriousness though, this movie has three villains, and none of them were executed well. It tries to have the audience have an emotional bond with Sandman, but it just falls flat, and Venom was not nearly as menacing as he could have been. However, the black suit is great, and there are some great action sequences in here. Also, Maguire as Peter Parker is just wonderful. I think this movie gets a little more smack than it deserves, just because the first two were just so good.
21. The Incredible Hulk
Here is the first, I would think so, unpopular opinion on this list. This is also where the movies aren't half bad. A lot of people enjoy this movie quite a bit. I don't love this movie, but I don't dislike it. It's okay. Norton is great as Banner, just showing his totally Oscar-caliber acting once again. The action is great, and Abomination is not that bad for an MCU villain. There's really not too much to nitpick here. It's just nothing special in the action genre. Also, the romance feels very tacked on and pointless, and the script is a little off at times. But this isn't a bad movie of any sorts. It's okay. Just watch any of the more recent Marvel films and get a similar yet better experience.
20. Thor : The Dark World
This movie almost felt like a whole of exposition. The major issue with Thor : The Dark World, is that I felt that the director was restricted to set up Avengers : Age of Ultron and Avengers : Infinity War, so that he had no creative direction himself. I think Marvel has realized the issue of having two hour long expositions, because Captain America : The Winter Soldier was 100% it's own film. Chris Hemsworth is very appealing as the Asgardian God and the CGI in this film is some of the best that Marvel has to offer. Tom Hiddleston as Loki is easily the best part of this film, creating even more anticipation for his reprisal as this role once more. Also, Malekith was a complete throw-away villain, in typical Marvel style. Similarly to The Incredible Hulk, there is nothing special here. If you want to see Infinity War : Part 0, well here it is.
Thank you so much for reading about my thoughts, it really means a lot. If you liked this, the next part will appear tomorrow!
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