I'm just a guy who loves stories, whether they be past, present, future, movies, TV Shows, video games, whatever. If you came to get an average guys thoughts on film, you've come to the right place.
So... can we all just agree that James Bond in the 60s was weird... like really weird.
I think when you look at it subjectively, the movie seems really iconic. Sean Connery is the suave misogynist that made the role iconic, the plot is perfectly Bondish with Goldfinger, using a random laser and wanting to break into Fort Knox... a woman named Pussy Galore...
It all kind of ties into the whole legend of James Bond. You don't really need to see the movie to be a fan of the lore. The movie is really iconic just as an image of pop culture.
But if you actually watch it, the movie is weird as hell.
And before I go on, I have to admit, I messed up. I wanted to start at the earliest Bond I could find. I thought the earliest Bond Hulu had was Goldfinger... until I just figured out that they had From Russia with Love so I may go back before I move on in this journey through the Bond movies that could go as far as my journey through the earlier Tim Burton/Schumacher Batman films or as short as my journey through the Nolan Batman films. Only time will tell.
Goldfinger begins with James Bond (played by Sean Connery) just doing his crazy spy stuff. He's reckless, he's cocky, and dear lord, he's a misogynist.
Daniel Craig did an interview recently where he kind of reminded the world that James Bond is not really the hero you want to look up to. Mainly because he treats women like absolute shit.
Now I think a lot of this is a product of the era Bond was created. In the 60s and even before that when the books were written, it was totally cool to send a woman away, tell her its because they're doing "man talk" and slap her ass as she was walking away.
Now the fact of the matter is that thing have been cleaned up quite a lot since Sean Connery's Bond. If Daniel Craig did that to a woman, the movie wouldn't make any money because feminist groups would be blocking the entrance. And thats a good thing. I'm glad we can still have this iconic character but have him updated for the time.
But anyways, Bond is doing his thing, and he's given a pretty simple task. Observe Auric Goldfinger. Don't troll him. Don't sleep with his girlfriend. Observe him. And what does Bond do? He trolls Goldfinger then sleeps with his girlfriend. And it ends horribly.
Now I think one of the surprises of this movie was how much I actually enjoyed Auric Goldfinger.
Gert Frobe plays Goldfinger and his character is set up pretty early. He doesn't like to lose and he's evil. That's it. There's not much of a backstory, he's just evil. Now I know that this is kind of a theme in the Bond movies and that's really what they used to be known for before the reboot with Daniel Craig, but Goldfinger is so hokey and so 60s, that it actually really works.
Prior to watching this movie I always saw Goldfinger as the fat guy that Chris Farley would eventually parody in Austin Powers. I never really knew that much about him nor did I really want to.
And is he the best Bond villain? No. I think there are a lot of more menacing and just not as silly villains in the series, but I understand why he's iconic.
This movie really kind of highlights something that I've never really understood with James Bond... He's not very good at his job.
Like I already mentioned how he botches up the first task he's given and it ends horribly, but the rest of the movie Bond doesn't do a good job at any task that he's given. He's suppose to ellict Goldfinger to buy a bar of Nazi Gold and he fails at that. He's suppose to sneak into Goldfinger's factory without being detected and he fails at that and gets captured. The rest of the movie is really kind Bond is captivity and not even doing a really great job escaping.
So what does he does he do instead of actual spy work in this movie?
Well... he plays Golf with Goldfinger.
I'm not even joking, he spends a good ten minutes of this movie, playing golf and just trolling Goldfinger. There's a short scene where he tried to do his job and it turns into a bet that Bond eventually cheats his way out of.
I do have to give him credit, Connery does where that hat like a boss though. Like I really don't think Daniel Craig's Bond could pull that off.
But anyways, remember how I said the majority of the movie is him captured? Yeah they give him just enough time to show off all the gadgets on his car before he magically ends up on a plane piloted by... Pussy Galore...
Now where Goldfinger was interesting because he had a little bit of explanation to his character and he was just evil for the entire movie, Pussy Galore has absolutely no explanation to her character and is sort of evil... but not really.
First off, what horrible parent, Galore as a last name or not, decides they're going to name their child Pussy? And that's her name. Its not like Pussy Galore is an alias, in either the movie or any of the expanded universe of James Bond. Her name is legally Pussy Galore. And she's totally cool with it. She puts it on the name of her flying circus business. So I mean I have to give her some credit for taking that name with stride but I cannot believe that this was actually a thing that was not only accepted, Pussy Galore is considered everyone's 2nd favorite Bond girl.
And she's also the product of the classic Bond. She's this strong independent woman, doesn't fall for any of the charms of Bond... until he "seduces" her in a barn in a scene that is a lot more rapey than people probably remember. After that she really tosses all her ambitions away and wants to save this random rogue who really kind of forced himself on her.
That's another thing about 60s Bond that I find hilarious. My parents didn't let me watch Bond when I was younger because of the overtly sexual stuff in it, but the truth is, it was the 60s. It was risque to to show a bit of cleavage or a girl in Bond's shirt and showing any kind of nudity wasn't even in the question.
Now even today's Bond doesn't really show any of the sex scenes, a lot of it is left up to the imagination like the old movies. I think if they put a sex scene in a Bond film it would just be in bad taste and it would just be weird.
If I'm excluding any odd James Bond sex scene, please let me know because I could definitely be wrong about that, but from what I remember, it still always starts with kissing, camera pans to next scene and they're naked in bed.
But anyways, moving on from the overt censorship of the 60s.
I'm going to admit something in this post. This is the first time I've ever watched a full length Bond movie with Sean Connery as Bond.
And... I get it. I get why a lot of people consider him to be the quintessential Bond. I always used to associate Sean Connery with being Indiana Jone's father in Last Crusade. And while I still do, I think I'm finally understanding that the guy did have a career outside of that and it was a major success with these Bond movies.
Yeah the movie has a lot of sexism in it and Connery is the vehicle in which a lot of that sexism happens but you do have to appreciate how he began this franchise (I know Goldfinger wasn't the first Bond film) and the legacy he left behind.
So how is Goldfinger as a whole? Its... kinda dumb.
Yeah I get that a lot of it is the classic Bond and a lot of it is very iconic that we remember it, but the majority of this movie is just Bond captured, the action and fist fighting has really not aged well. And the plot, while interesting (breaking into Fort Knox) takes absolutely forever to actually get executed that its only about a 10 to 15 minute segment in the entire movie and kind of ends anticlimactically.
However, I do have to give the movie credit where it is due. It did set the stage for the spy film genre to explode.
Yes it was cheesy, yes it was campy and ridiculous, but at the same time it fed into the legend that is James Bond. Without it, we wouldn't get fantastic movies like Casino Royale and Skyfall.
Sure you can blame a lot of the campiness and ridiculousness on the time, but I think that's less an excuse and more of an origin story of the serious spy movie.
I think at the time, Spy films were just starting to get noticed but weren't taken as seriously and James Bond blazed the trail. So much that we can have a year like this one where we have 5 Spy movies in a year (Kingsmen, Spy, Spectre, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Man from UNCLE) and we consider that normal.
So is Goldfinger a great movie? No. But I'm going to pull exactly what I should pull from that movie. The iconic likes like "'Do you expect me to talk?' 'No Mr. Bond I expect you to die'" The campy gadgets and machines, the blatant sexism that we condemn today but was totally cool in the 60s, and Sean Connery just giving it his all.
But those are my thoughts on Goldfinger. What do you think? Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts via Twitter @cmhaugen24 and you can also let me know what you want me to review in the future. For updates on future movie news and reviews, follow me on Twitter and lets have a conversation.
I'll leave you with this. I'm gonna try and go out and see Spectre either this weekend or next weekend. Hopefully I can and I can give you my review on it, I've heard differing opinions on it. I'm not sure if its bad or if its just not as good as Skyfall. Thoughts? Enjoy the trailer!
I have to apologize out right. I sort of said that I was going to have a lot more posts up here on November. I thought that I was going to have a lot more time to watch everything on my Netflix list and get a lot of quality reviews out to you. Unfortunately, I underestimated how much a 40 hour work week would affect this blog. I’ve really been trying but a lot of nights I just get home and I’m too tired to really critically think about anything that I put on that I just resort to either reruns of How I Met Your Mother, or simply falling asleep before I put anything on.
Because of this, I haven’t been able to write any substantial movie blog posts. Unfortunately, the only drafts of blog posts that I have are for two TV series reviews (Once Upon a Time Season 3, and True Detective 2). While I still plan on putting those reviews out, as you know, TV reviews take much
longer because there’s a lot more to cover.
However, I did want to put something out for this month and hopefully put myself in a good habit so I can work, work out, sleep, AND post on this blog.
So I wanted to do a quick but hopefully thoughtful rant on the New Avengers and what the line up of those movies are going to look like after Infinity Wars.
But before that, I want to harken back to an older post where I sort of questioned where the Marvel Cinematic Universe was going to be going after they defeat the apparent ultimate evil in the universe right now, Thanos. I think in the back of my mind, I just thought that it was just going to end after Thanos was defeated.
You’ve got the culminating event in Infinity Wars, I’m guessing a lot of people are going to die, but the Avengers will no doubt be victorious. They’ll pose in front of a sunset or an American flag, jets will fly overhead, and the music will swell to the credits.
But more and more, people are talking about Phase 4, or the string of movies that will happen after Infinity Wars is complete.
Now before I move on I should mention that a lot of this is speculation, none of this is confirmed, Marvel has not stated whether or not they are going to have any movies coming out after Infinity Wars, but… c’mon… its Disney. If Infinity Wars brings in the money that everyone thinks its going to bring in, there’s no way they’re going to just quit. Disney will dig as far as they can into this gold mine and we are going to be getting superhero films until the day we die… or as long as they’re not profitable anymore.
So the question that has started to permeate in everyone’s mind is, what are the Avengers going to look like after Infinity Wars. Who is going to survive the final movie in Marvel’s phase 3, and who is going to face off against the future evils that threaten our way of life?
Well lets take a look at the people we have right now and make a call on whether or not they will make it to phase four or not, and if they do, are they going to remain on the Avengers starting line up.
Tony Stark: The man who started it all. I have no problem saying that we wouldn’t have the Avengers if it wasn’t for the success of Iron Man. Now, I will go on record and say that the first Iron Man as well as the first phase of the Avengers franchise are a little bit overrated, but seemed great at the time because we had never seen something like that before. So yes, Robert Downey Jr. blew out minds with the appearance of Iron Man and the birth of the MCU.
However, I don’t think he’s going to make it to Phase 4. And it’s mainly due to the fact that paying for Robert Downey Jr. is probably the most expensive thing Marvel pays for when it comes to these movies. When you look at how much money he makes for these movies, it’s insane how huge the pay gap is. And to a certain extent I would say that he deserves it… sort of.
Listen, Robert Downey Jr. is an iconic role in the Superhero world. He’s up there with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, especially since by the time Infinity Wars comes around, RDJ will have been playing this role for almost fifteen years. That’s crazy. And the unfortunate thing is that Marvel just can’t always front the bill to have RDJ in their movies and there is no way that RDJ would ever accept a
pay decrease. Could I be wrong, sure, but overall I think that Tony Stark is not going to be a prominent role in the Avengers after Infinity Wars… if he survives.
What I could see happening though is Marvel deciding not to kill Tony Stark but instead just retiring him. Maybe during the Infinity War he is injured in a way that makes it impossible for him to be Iron Man anymore. He could make a cameo here and there but nothing substantial for him to any kind of permanent role.
I also think it would be kind of interesting for him to sit back with Captain America at some point and look at the new Avengers and they can have their sort of old man moment, where they realize that they are now the relics. The way I said that makes it sound sadder than it actually is.
However, as much as I want to see Tony Stark as the Spock of the new Star Trek movies, I just don’t see a circumstance that would force Tony into retirement. I think it is more likely that he will die a heroes death and get a statue or something like that at the end of Infinity Wars.
Captain America: Now this one is tricky. Because if any of these guys deserve some kind of heroes death, it’s Captain America. In the comics he’s the one who dies and he would actually have a profound effect on the rest of the team. Don’t get me wrong, all of them would, but Captain America has really become (amazingly in only 2 movies, Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron) the symbol of The Avengers. While Tony is still the godfather of the group, this show is slowly becoming Steve Rogers.
I know I never gave my full analysis of Age of Ultron, but the truth was a lot of it was self contained. Yeah there were references to future movies, there’s foreshadowing here and there, however at this moment, Captain America is leading the “New Avengers”.
I suppose I should take a moment and talk about these apparent “New Avengers”: War Machine, Vision, Scarlett Witch, Falcon, with Cap and Black Widow training them in. (I’m not totally sure if Hawkeye is in it).
Back to Captain America, I mean he’s not going to die in Civil War… but he could die in Infinity Wars. I get an odd feeling he won’t because I think there needs to be some kind of connection with the new Avengers to the old ones when they make that transition after Infinity Wars. And the reason I think that connection is going to be Captain America is because he’s a strong leader figure and he doesn’t cost as much as RDJ.
Now, I think he’s still fair game once Infinity Wars, and honestly, a part of me wants him to die because it would show the gravity of the situation how much damage Thanos has been built up to so at this point its really 50/50 on whether or not Captain America makes it to Infinity Wars.
The difference between him and Tony Stark is that I don’t see them using him as a wise mentor for the New Avengers once Infinity Wars ends. I just see Steve Rogers as the kind of person who would fight until the end and would never retire. I could be wrong, but I don’t feel like they will retire him.
For some reason a lot of people think that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes is going to take up the mantel of Captain America in future movies. I don’t understand this thought process. Don’t get me wrong, I love Sebastian Stan, but I’d much rather see him as The Winter Soldier as opposed to taking on the title of someone else’s superhero identity. Its kind of like War Machine and Iron Man. I think at some point, someone floated with the theory that Rhodey was going to take over as Iron Man, but the fact of the matter is, he’s doing fine as War Machine. And I think if Bucky wanted to become a superhero, he should stay the Winter Soldier. I know that he becomes Captain America for a time in the comics but when has Marvel ever really maintained the continuity with the comics.
I would probably rather see The Falcon turn into Captain America than I would Bucky and even that I don’t want to see. I don’t understand this idea that we need to have someone take over the position once someone leaves.
This is a little bit of a tangent not on topic, but when Hugh Jackman said that he was going to be leaving the character of Wolverine, the first thing everyone said was, “Who is going to play Wolverine now?” And yeah its fun to speculate with who could take up such an iconic role, and I myself even play that game, but my thought process is, in the case of Wolverine, why do we need someone to replace him?
The X-men franchise really looks like they’re going in a good direction with the new cast like Michael Fassbender and James McEvoy as Charles Xavier and Magneto. And it looks like they’re building up a new cast of characters in the younger versions of Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey. I really don’t see a need for Wolverine at this point. I think Hugh Jackman can retire, he can have his one last Wolverine Stand alone film, and then we can let Wolverine disappear for a little bit. Do I want him to come back? Yes, eventually. But right now, lets let Hugh Jackman’s performance go unchallenged for a little bit.
Tangent over: But you get my point. By the time Chris Evans leave the role, whether its Infinity Wars or later, he’s going to be doing it for close to a decade. Lets let his legacy as Captain America stand for a little bit and let someone else rise on their own merits, not on his name.
Moving on!
Bruce Banner/ The Hulk – I am 95% sure that Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk is going to make it through Infinity Wars. This one is pretty straight forward. The Hulk is pretty much immortal. Everybody likes Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. He’s not too expensive. He’s doing a good job without having his own standalone films.
A great example of this is The Hulk showing up in Thor Ragnorak. To tie in some recent news, it was announced that Mark Ruffalo is going to be filming as the Hulk in the new Thor solo film and the movie takes place on a planet that isn’t Earth and it also isn’t Asgard… AKA Planet Hulk.
Of course nothing is confirmed yet except the fact that Hulk is in it but c’mon. All they have to do is figure out some way that Bruce Banner was plucked from his mopey zoo lion routine that he was in at the end of Age of Ultron (Maybe an intervention by the government/Tony Stark?) and he ends up on a Planet with Thor and it’s a good time all around. Thor gets some more star power to a movie that I don’t think anybody was incredibly excited about a few months earlier. Fans gets their pseudo-Planet Hulk and we lead up to what could possibly be Thanos using The Hulk against the Avengers in the first part of Infinity Wars. Its perfect!
On top of all of that, its becoming more and more clear that Marvel is okay without making a Hulk standalone film. I think if Hulk has a presence where he just shows up in standalone movies here and there and he continues to be badass in the roles that he has in these team up films that we love, I don’t think we need a standalone Hulk film.
It also pretty much confirms that the Hulk is going to survive Infinity Wars.
The only counter to that argument is the idea that Hulk dying could really bring gravity to the situation with Thanos. If he’s able to kill the Hulk, the Avengers have one tough fight ahead of them.
However, I think he’s too valuable to not have him spice up some of the future properties. So I am about 95% sure that Hulk is going to survive Infinity Wars.
Thor: the main reason I thought I should do a post like this is because of a question that I heard on a podcast with Collider movies on what the new line up after Infinity Wars is going to be for the Avengers. Something interesting was said in regards to Chris Hemsworth and the future of Thor. They basically said that Chris Hemsworth’s future with Marvel depends on how successful he can be without them.
For example, if Hemsworth’s new movie The Heart of the Sea does well and is a commercial success, Hemsworth may believe that he can be successful without having to play Thor. If it doesn’t do well and he can’t find something else to make a lot of money on, he might just stick around as Thor.
Here’s a trailer for The Heart of the Sea. Short review. It looks awesome. (This is how I tie in all the things I haven’t done reviews for in the past few weeks)
So it all depends for Hemsworth. It will also depend on the reception of Thor Ragnorak. Now I have historically been wrong about the Thor movies. Every time one comes out I’m thinking that its going to be a lame film and every time I am of course proven wrong. Now this one I am excited for because it’s the story line that basically brings on the apocalypse in Asgard, Loki is coming back, and its going to have the Hulk in what is probably going to be Planet Hulk smashed in there as well. So, yeah, I’m excited for Thor Ragnorak. But as the Marvel films have come out, the Thor movies really get overshadowed by the other films. They haven’t been the money makers and when it comes to Phase 4, Marvel might look at their slate and realize that they have other new properties that they could explore instead of just rehashing another Thor movie every few years.
Does that mean Thor is going to die? Ehhhh…. Maybe?
There’s nothing incredible story-wise that tells me that Thor is destined to die. But there’s also nothing saying that he’s destined to live. I think Thor could die, and we would all be sad, but I don’t think people would riot hoping that Thor would come back. He’s a good character and I think he would serve the story well whether its through him dying or through him living and retiring after Infinity Wars.
A scenario I could see happening is a direct result of the end of Thor: The Dark World. At the end of the movie, its apparent that Loki has done something to Odin and is now ruling Asgard. I don’t know if this will be resolved in Ragnorak, but this could potentially mean that Odin is dead. Once Thor uncovers this development, he will need to dethrone Loki. If Odin is dead, Asgard will need their king and Thor might say at the end of Infinity Wars “I’ve got too much to do at Asgard, I’m out”. And I could see that being a good conclusion of his story. He goes off to rule Asgard and if they want to throw him in as a cameo in later Phase 4 movies they have the ability to do that.
That being said, I could just as easily see him defeated by Thanos.
I have no idea what his role will be in Phase 4 but I personally hope that it’s a diminished role. I think that Marvel just has so much more going on for them in the future, a lot of which I will talk about once I’m done talking about the original Avengers members.
Hawkeye and Black Widow: I wrestled with whether or not I should do a bit on these two separately or if I should do them together. Now if I had been writing this right after the first Avengers, it would be no question that I would write them together as they were basically carbon copies of one another. They were the side characters that were really quite the same except for the fact that one has a penis and a bow and arrow and the other has a vagina and guns. Along with that, there’s no question that I’d say one or both of them were going to die in Infinity Wars if not before.
But since the movies from Phase 2, especially Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron, these two have really become lovable and almost irreplaceable characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Black Widow became a vulnerable but also incredibly likeable character in both her interactions with Captain America in the Winter Soldier, but also her small and somewhat random romance with Bruce Banner (Whether or not that’s gonna continue to be a thing, I have no idea). And Hawkeye, who almost had a count down to when he was going to bite it in Age of Ultron, now has shown that he’s apart of the team and will probably be in the team for the foreseeable future.
However, while these two have become developed characters and loved, I am almost certain that at least one of them is going to die in Infinity Wars. I go back and forth because it really could be either. Both of them have become such great characters I think it would be equally tragic. Hawkeye has his family and Black Widow has just been in more and has exposed herself more to us.
But the weird thing is, both actors are in a position to stay with Marvel in any capacity by the end of Infinity Wars. Both of them could maintain a supporting role in Phase 4 as much as they could maintain a cameo awesome insert role. I was going to say that its likely that both of them won’t make it, but that I’m not totally sure about either. They’re definitely not safe, but they could benefit Marvel in both life or death so while I am more sure about other like Hulk or Iron Man, Hawkeye and Black Widow are more question marks. I’m pretty sure at least one of them will die but I can’t for the life of me decide who is more likely to die and furthermore, I can’t even definitively say that either are going to die. I’m sorry if that’s a lame answer, but there it is.
SHIELD: This is going to be a more encompassing bit because it covers a lot of people but these people are definitely supporting roles and they’re more of the people likely to die somewhere in between now and Infinity Wars.
Nick Fury could die but something tells me that he won’t. If you want a reoccurring symbol of the old guard once Phase 4 comes along, Nick Fury might be a good symbol. On top of that, I just imagine Samuel L Jackson just hanging out with Marvel as long as they’ll have him. He doesn’t even need to do much, he could just be the craggly old Nick Fury over in the corner.
Unfortunately by this point, Nick Fury’s whole fake death in Winter Soldier kind of makes his death not mean as much because the audience will kind of wonder if he’s actually dead.
Maria Hill could definitely bite it, but she could also be the one who steps up if Nick Fury gets axed off.
The common theme with both of these characters is that they are tertiary characters enough that they could be the cannon fodder in future movies. They’re like the Phil Coulsons. They could die and it would mean something, but it wouldn’t mean as much as if one of the Avengers died. I wish I could speculate more but frankly, if one of these characters from SHIELD dies, I’ll be sad, but it won’t change the way I look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe once Phase 4 comes around. A death in the Avengers changes the dynamic of the movies, sadly, Nick Fury dying is just something that probably should have happened in Winter Soldier… sorry Jackson.
But now we get into the part that was the real reason I started this post. I wanted to talk about who I think is going to be on the lineup of the actual New Avengers once Phase 4 comes rolling around.
In my mind, there’s a large handful of candidates, but this team cannot be incredibly huge. I think that it needs to be anywhere from 5 to 7-ish members and it mainly needs to be new people as they will be the future of the franchise, however it should have some recall back to the original. It also needs to have diversity as that was one of the complaints about the original Avengers. Here’s my list of potential candidates. This of course is all based on if they survive Infinity Wars, for now, I’m throwing everyone in there as potential candidates.
The original Avengers: Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye
The “New” Avengers: Scarlett Witch, War Machine, Vision, Falcon
Phase 3 add-ons (New Characters): Ant-Man, Wasp, Spider-man, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange
I want to talk about the characters in the “New” Avengers, but first I want to get this out of the way. None of The Guardians of the Galaxy will be in Phase 4 Avengers. I think everyone will come together in Infinity Wars, but James Gunn has his thing going pretty well for Guardians, there is no need to cross over if its working for them to stay out in the Galaxy and do their thing out there. Same for InHumans. I don’t even know if this movie is happening still and I have no idea what its going to focus on, but from the sounds of it, it sounds like another team up movie and if you’re in one team, I don’t see the point of having someone be in multiple teams. Could it happen? Sure, I don’t know. I don’t know anything about the Inhumans. Apparently they’ve been a thing with Agents of SHIELD but I stopped watching that a long time ago so I am in no position to make any claims about the Inhumans role in The Avengers in Phase 4.
I’m just gonna close out my miscellaneous category because I already talked about Bucky a little bit. I don’t want him to become Captain America, as much as I like Sebastian Stan I don’t think he’s material for the A-Team and I don’t really want him on the starting lineup for the Avengers.
Now Bucky is a good example of someone who might survive Infinity Wars (although that might be questionable) but won’t make it onto the Avengers. And that’s totally fine. I think Bucky is a cool character and I think he could make appearances here and there and help the Avengers when he can, but I wouldn’t put him on the team. I think if they really want to go down the route of someone taking over for Captain America (say in the case that he dies) I think it should be Falcon. So even if Bucky lives, I don’t think he’ll make the cut.
But let’s start with the “New” Avengers. I call them this because I really don’t think they’re going to last that long as the main team for the Avengers. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these guys get axed off by Thanos or even as early as Civil War.
The synopsis of Civil War makes it sound like these Avengers have an incident in the beginning that makes the government start installing the Hero registration act or something of that nature. This causes the divide between Captain America and Tony Stark and it causes the Civil War. So while its fun to let the B-Squad do their thing for a little bit, they obviously don’t last. In fact I’m going into a theory tangent.
What if one of the casualties of this Civil War is Tony Stark’s best friend Rhodey? What if War Machine bites it in Civil War? I don’t think it will happen due to the fact that the Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle is playing him, but I think that would be an acceptable and meaningful loss in the Civil War, a movie that is looking more and more like nobody important is going to die.
But whether its Civil War or Infinity War, I’m guessing the Rhodey is on the path to death, so I do not think he is going to be headlining in Phase 4.
Falcon is kind of in the same boat. I think he could die anytime between now and Infinity War and he’s also an acceptable loss. It all depends on what Marvel has planned for him and if they want him to take over Captain America’s spot. Last time I’ll say this, I don’t want anybody taking over another Avenger’s title. That being said, it all depends on Anthony Mackie’s career and how the fans respond to him. I think people like him but I don’t think we’ve accepted him as a member of the A-Team quite yet.
Scarlett Witch is pretty much safe. I don’t think she’s gonna die, especially if she becomes a fan favorite character like I think she’s going to turn into in later movies, especially in Civil war. Of the “New” Avengers, I think Scarlett Witch has the best chance of
Vision is the question mark for me because I’m pretty sure he is going to die. He’s got one of the infinity stones on his head, Thanos needs that stone, I’m pretty sure Vision is going to bite it once Thanos takes that stone. The question is, will he stay dead… And if he doesn’t, does he deserve a spot on the A-Team. I’m going to go with a no to the latter question and a I don’t know for the first. Marvel doesn’t have the best track record with death in these movies so I think they probably should keep him dead when Thanos kills him (which again, I’m pretty certain he will) but I could definitely see Marvel finding some way to weasel Paul Bettany out of death so he can return.
So as far as the “New” Avengers go, I think Scarlett Witch is the closest person to staying pretty safe and having a pretty solid chance at earning a top spot in the new Avengers line up. I think Rhodey is going to die. And I’m not sure on Falcon or Vision.
As for new characters introduced in Phase 3, I do need to preface this by repeating, this is all speculation. While I say Scarlett Witch has a spot in Phase 4, I have no idea. She could die. This is just me basing it off of industry news and where I think the story could go. But with these guys, it’s even more conjecture because most of them haven’t been in a movie yet.
But let’s talk about those who have been introduced. Ant-Man and Wasp. It’s pretty early still, but I personally think that these two probably have the best chance of not only living but taking up permanent spots in The Avengers. Despite mine, and everyone else’s doubts about Ant-man, it was a successful movie and created a number of fun characters that will no doubt be featured in future Marvel movies. And the obvious ones are Ant-man and Evangeline Lily as the Wasp. I mean they even got their own movie shoehorned in the middle of the slate that I wrote a post about a while ago. Lily and Rudd aren’t going anywhere and Ant-man and the Wasp were members of the Avengers at one time in the comics.
But on top of it all, the end credit scene at the end of Ant-man with Wasp really made it seem like Marvel has plans for Evangeline Lily’s character and really want to make a push for female superheroes in the future. I think that Ant-Man and The Wasp will be an indicator on whether or not Evangeline Lily’s character remains popular and whether or not she will nab a spot on the Avengers.
As for Ant-man, I mean he’s the goofy character that could replace the humor that is usually provided by Tony Stark. I think Scott Lang’s Ant-man is a pretty clear contender for a permanent spot on the Avengers in Phase 4.
Moving on, I guess the next person worth talking about is Black Panther. Now, this is another example of someone that I think will have a prominent role in Phase 4 but I’m not totally sure that he will be a member of the Avengers. Now that may be unpopular as a lot of people think that Black Panther is the obvious choice for Marvel to bring in some diversity to the Avengers. But the thing that makes me question that move is the fact that Black Panther is the King of Wakanda, the country that Ultron found the vibranium in in Age of Ultron.
Now a lot of this is dependent on how the character is introduced in Civil War and where he goes from there to his standalone film to Infinity Wars, but if I were the writers at Marvel, I would give Black Panther a prominent role in the universe but almost make him on a higher level than the Avengers. He’s the king of a country. Aside from vigilante justice, he’s ruling a whole country. Does he really have time to fly in to attend Avengers meetings.
So while I have little doubt that Black Panther is going to survive Infinity Wars, I don’t think that he will take up a spot on the Avengers.
A similar story is unfolding for Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange. Doctor Strange and Black Panther, to me at least, seem like Superheroes that almost work better as standalone people. Again, make them prominent members of the universe, but I don’t think you need to make them official members of the justice leage to give them the justice that they need.
If you’ve seen any of the pictures that leaked from the new Doctor Strange movie, you’ll see that there’s a whole other universe being developed that will open up a whole new branch of the Marvel Universe, and that is the world of the mystical. Doctor Strange is going to be dealing with things that we have never seen done before in the Marvel Universe. Its kind of like when they introduced Thor. Suddenly a world that was grounded in reality is suddenly populated by Norse Gods and Marvel needed to find a clever way to explain that.
While I have no doubt that they will explain it perfectly with Doctor Strange, I just don’t see the mystical wizarding world of Doctor Strange as a good fit for The Avengers and I don’t see him as much of a team player.
Now, for both of these two characters I have just talked about, I do say these things with a little bit of reservation. As I’m writing this, I am formulating the list of characters I would probably like to see as the new line up and I’ll explain why they are there. Black Panther and Doctor Strange could fit in certain categories that I have already filled by certain characters The reason I didn’t put Black Panther or Doctor Strange in either of those roles is because I think the characters I did put in there fit better as a team and I would rather see those two in prominent standalone roles as opposed to permanent members of the team.
But I will get back to them when I make my final list.
Now I want to talk about the character that I am actually probably the most excited about even thought they haven’t introduced who is playing her or what her role is going to be like in the larger Cinematic universe, and that is Captain Marvel.
First off, I have a feeling that Captain Marvel is going to be introduced to us in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I think that she’s going to be introduced and fight alongside the Guardians in their sequel. Of course, they’re going to make sure she’s amazing and we’re excited about her, but I think she’s going to eventually travel to earth and help the Avengers fight Thanos. Now the reason I’m excited for Captain Marvel is for a couple reasons.
First, I’m pretty sure they’re gonna try and get Emily Blunt to play her. This is exciting because I really like Emily Blunt. Her role in Edge of Tomorrow, her talent in Into the Woods, everything that I have seen Emily Blunt in, I have loved. Eventually someone is going to get her to play some kind of superhero and if Marvel is as smart as I think they are, they’re going to give Blunt a role that is probably going to make her the most prominent female superhero in the business outside of Wonder Woman. And if Gal Gadot bombs (which I don’t think she will) the ball can easily be picked up by someone who is strong like Blunt. While there are a lot of talented actors out there, I don’t think there’s anybody as talented and up and coming as Blunt is. It would be silly of Marvel to miss this shot.
But the second reason is that I think Marvel is trying to set up Captain Marvel as the new leader of the Avengers. Now I really have nothing to base this on but when I bring up the list of people I think the Phase 4 Avengers will be, I’ll elaborate on that more.
It probably goes without saying that there’s no doubt in my mind that Captain Marvel is going to survive Infinity Wars and if that’s the case, I think she’s definitely going to have a permanent spot on the Avengers.
Now the last person I’ll talk about would seem like he’d be a no brainer and would obviously be on the new line up for the Avengers. I’m of course talking about Spider-man.
When Sony and Marvel announced that Spider-man was going to be entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I, like many people, thought that it was obvious he was going to be joining the Avengers in the next few movies. Now I actually did a post talking about the ideal times I would like to see Spider-man in the MCU and any of those times I think I would have been okay with Spider-man joining the Avengers. But right now I’m kind of wondering if he’s actually going to be joining the Avengers as opposed to just fighting with them.
Again, like Black Panther and Doctor Strange, Spider-man is a prominent enough character that he is probably going to get a couple of standalone films and will no doubt fight with the Avengers, whether its against Thanos or some other entity. But is he guaranteed to end up on the Avengers officially. A strange part of me thinks not.
Here’s why. Despite what everyone says, Sony still owns Spider-man. Marvel and Sony were able to strike a deal that would make Spider-man appear in Marvel films as well as Marvel characters being able to show up in Spider-man films.
Now Sony is hurting enough that there’s no doubt that someone from the MCU is going to show up in the standalone Spider-man film. Some people have said Iron Man, but it could be anyone. The point is, Sony needs all the help from Marvel they can get so its almost certain that Marvel will have a presence in this new Spidey’s world. But there’s not really a guarantee that Spider-man will have a presence in The Avenger’s world.
Scenario 1: I actually wrote about this scenario in my post on why Spider-man still might fail at Marvel. In short, Civil War does well, but the standalone spider-man film underperforms. Sony is the only one who suffers and Marvel can move onto other films without really caring whether or not Spider-man is popular or not. They don’t own him.
If this scenario happens, Marvel has the license to basically use standalone Spider-man films as testing ground for lesser heroes. And for the fans, this is actually not a bad route. Sure Spider-man still shows up here and there in collaboration films but Marvel picks and chooses where they want him and in what capacity. But why this is good is because Spider-man could actually be the testing ground to see how well lesser known heroes or the heroes from Netflix shows, like DareDevil and Jessica Jones transfer over to film.
By the way have you see the new trailers for Jessica Jones. I loved the DareDevil series on Netflix so I cannot wait for this series to start up.
But back on track, this works out well because everyone still gets what they want. Sony is still suckling at the teet of Marvel because they need Marvel star power to keep them a float, and Marvel gets to test out lesser known heroes.
Scenario 2: This is the scenario that in all likeliness if we’re being optimistic, will happen. In short, Spider-man is successful in both Civil War and his own standalone films. Now the route that everyone thinks will happen in this case is that Marvel will just envelope Spider-man in the shenanigans of the Avengers and he will be a main part of the core group. Now this could very well happen… but I have a slight feeling that it won’t.
I mean what if Sony recovers from the financial state that they’re in and they no longer see the need for the partnership with Marvel? I mean you can keep Spider-man in the universe, but he’s going off doing his own thing like fighting the Sinister Six that he doesn’t have time to be a permanent member of the Avengers.
Now this scenario could very well turn into a great partnership that lasts a long time and Spider-man just becomes a permanent member of the Avengers. But I think things become a little bit more sticky when it comes to a character not officially owned by Marvel in their biggest money making team.
Personally, my guess is that Spider-man is going to have a prominent role in the universe, again, like Black Panther and Doctor Strange, but whereas those two could possibly still be apart of the core group, I actually think there’s a better argument saying that Spider-man will just show up in Marvel films here and there and have his own adventures on the Sony side of things.
Of all the tangents I’ve been on, I have the potential of being wrong the most on this one because I really have no idea what Spider-man’s role is going to be in this new MCU. But for some reason I just don’t think he has an automatic spot like I used to.
I don’t think I ever did an official post about my thoughts on Tom Holland as Spider-man. And if I did I won’t be putting this section in the post. However, if I didn’t, I should say a few things right now.
I honestly don’t know enough about Tom Holland to really say whether or not it’s a good choice for him to be Spider-man. I think that he is actually going to be in The Heart of the Sea so there’s another reason for me to see that movie. However, I don’t know enough about him to say whether or not he’s a good actor or a good fit for the role. While I was opening up to the idea of that guy from the Ender’s Game, Asa Butterfield, I’m glad they didn’t go with him. Tom Holland seems like he has a little bit more of an older look and I want this Spider-man to be as old as they can swing it (Get it… swing it). I haven’t really been a huge fan of the idea of Spider-man beginning his career as a superhero when he’s in middle school but that’s the way they’re going and there’s not much I can say to change it. At least until the next reboot (SHAZING). However, I’m looking forward to his role in Civil War and I’m really looking forward to them integrating him into the movie.
By the way, the trailer for Civil War is suppose to be coming out by the end of the year along with the trailer for X-men: Apocalypse. I can promise you I will be writing posts for that immediately after I see them.
Now I guess this is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. I have a list of people I think are going to be the new A-Team for the Avengers in Phase 4. I chose these people because they really do have the potential to carry their own movies if they haven’t or aren’t slotted to do so already. But furthermore, they fit into the type of character that have already been set up by the original Avengers but are different enough characters that they can fill that role but not feel like they’re just recasting the same role. (Hopefully that will make sense as I explain it).
One last thing worth mentioning, this is a world where none of the original Avengers are permanent members of the team. This doesn’t mean that they’re gone or they’ll have an incredibly diminished role, but I do think they will be more mentor roles and not the actual members of the team. This way we can have a young and vibrant group and Phase 4 can be a new leaf for the MCU, a leaf they will probably need to turn over by 2020.
So first you have the Captain America or the Leader of this team and that is Captain Marvel.
Put aside the fact that both of them have the title of Captain, I feel like Captain Marvel would be a great choice for a leadership role in the group. I already mentioned how if they choose Emily Blunt you’re already setting yourself up for success, but how would it look for Marvel to not only integrate more females into the Avengers, but actually have a woman lead them.
I don’t know the backstory of Captain Marvel so I’m not basing this off much, but from what I’ve seen, she basically looks like a female Superman of the Marvel Universe and I think if this Phase 4 Avengers is going to survive in the 2020’s, we’ll need to shake things up big time.
Following up the leader is the comical but intelligence edge of the team that Iron Man filled and that would be replaced by Ant-man. Paul Rudd showed us in Ant-man that he’s ready for the big leagues. The fact of the matter is, nobody is going to be the new RDJ. Nobody can replace the Tony Starkisms that he brought and gave some comedic effects to the movie while also being serious. I think Scott Lang is a good choice to replace Tony because he’ll be have the comedic chops to help the group out but he will also use his intelligence to actually help the group. He’s filling the same role as Tony did, just in a different manner.
If we’re looking for a Thor-like character who is more in the mystical realm and has immense power that comes from something other than a machine, I think Vision is the right choice.
Now there are a couple reasons why I’m bringing Vision into this line up. This is one of those choices that I could see being replaced by Doctor Strange. The reasons I chose Vision over Doctor Strange is because Vision does have a stronger tie to the Avengers than Doctor Strange does in the comics. Again, Doctor Strange seems a little bit more like a standalone hero who may have a cameo with the Avengers here and there but has more than enough strength to go off on his own.
Furthermore, there is the romance between him and Scarlett Witch that despite the fact that I find that a little bit weird myself, they kind of alluded to at the end of Age of Ultron when he saves her from an exploding island planet. Now maybe he was just saving her because he’s vision, but I think they started something there and I have a little bit of a feeling that that is something that is going to develop beyond Infinity Wars.
Now, I still think Vision is going to die in one of the Infinity Wars movies when Thanos takes the Infinity stone that is on his head. But the thing with that is that we don’t know taking the stone will kill Vision, and we don’t know how permanent that death would be. Plus, when you’re dealing with an infinity stone, anything can happen. While I’m pretty sure Vision is going to die, I think Marvel is going to continue their streak of not really killing anybody and bring him back.
And while we’re kind of on the topic, I think you know the next choice for the lineup and that is Scarlett Witch. Now Scarlett Witch could be considered a role that fits with the kind of character Thor created, but I do think that she actually fits better in the category that Bruce Banner/The Hulk created.
Now I do think that Bruce Banner is still going to have a presence in the new Marvel movies, but if they’re looking for someone who can cause immense destruction but at the same time seems like a weak person on the surface, Scarlett Witch is a great option for that. The things she can do with her powers are incredible and she would make a great juggernaut for the group. And probably more manageable than the Hulk is.
Now when it comes to a standalone film for Scarlett Witch, I have a theory. If they are going in the direction I think they’re going with Scarlett Witch and The Vision, these two are going to end up being a couple. And with that, I think these two would make a good team up movie. I don’t know how many of those Marvel could get away with, especially since it sounds like they’re already doing that with Ant-man and the Wasp. However, if they develop these two more, I could definitely see them getting their own standalone film and they could really delve into the whole human and robot dynamic.
I don’t know for sure, but it does condense some of the workload for Marvel so they are more open to making standalone films for prominent superheroes that aren’t on the main team, like Doctor Strange and Black Panther.
Now when it comes to filling the shoes of Hawkeye and Black Widow, I chose two characters that are good secondary characters but don’t really need their own standalone films, like Hawkeye and Black Widow. And if that’s the case I’m looking for, I think Wasp and Falcon were the best choices.
Like I said, I think that Marvel has a lot planned for Wasp in the future of the Universe but I just don’t see her getting her own film. I see her more as a supporting character in an Ant-man sequel, similar to the supporting role Black Widow had in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. On top of that, she’s already proved herself as the martial arts badass, like Black Widow… are you seeing the similarities here? I don’t think Black Widow needs her own standalone film and I don’t think Wasp needs her own standalone film. These two probably fit the mold pretty well and Wasp will make a good replacement.
And finally, you have Sam Wilson or The Falcon replacing the role of badass supporting guy that Hawkeye was. Except instead of a bow and arrows being his cool thing, Falcon has wings.
While I’m still unsure on Sam Wilson’s future with the cinematic universe and whether or not he’ll live through Infinity Wars, the fact that he’s on the Avengers now, kind of makes him a veteran of the team so he can welcome in Captain Marvel, Ant-man, and Wasp when they take up their mantel.
On top of all of that, he brings some diversity to the group. However, for that reason, I do think that he could be easily replaced by Black Panther. Now Black Panther, from what I’ve heard about his character, does not fit into the mold of Hawkeye. So there the similarities are only skin deep. However, I do think Marvel can benefit from that as they don’t need to fit into the molds that they’ve already created, especially if they want to do something different. The team no doubt needs some diversity, and I think even with all the females in this team, it probably needs some more, so having either Falcon or Black Panther is definitely necessary, especially since I am pretty certain that Rhodey is going to die.
Now the caveat with this is that the team doesn’t have to only be 6 people. This list was just trying to decide who would be a good replacement for the old crew without totally throwing the audience off with new archetypes. More people on the group could also make room for the Chris Hemsworths if they don’t have a career after Infinity Wars. Of course, I could be totally wrong. In fact, a part of me wants to be wrong so we can get that totally new dynamic. However, if they want to do what has been successful without doing the exact same thing, I think this handful of characters, supported by the Doctor Stranges and the Spider-mans who are prominent members of the universe but not permanent members, could make Phase 4 something new and refreshing.
This post just exploded a lot more than I thought it was going to. I thought I was just going to give my thoughts on who should be the new line up for Phase 4 but apparently that’s a task that took up 15 pages on a Word Doc.
The overall take away from this is that I don’t think Marvel is done after Thanos. That is becoming more and more clear each day. And with a new deal with Sony and access to a whole franchise full of villains, I don’t think they need to be done.
While a part of me thinks that they should stop while they’re ahead, I want this streak of Marvel’s to go on as long as it can, because the studio really does pop out quality films, even when we don’t think they’re going to (Ant-man). They really don’t look like they’re going to stop any time soon and as long as I’m entertained, I’m still going to give them my business.
But what do you think? What do you think of my line up for Phase 4 Avengers? Who do you think is going to die and who do you think is going to live through the Infinity Wars. Please, I know I always say this, but this is a topic that I would love discussion because I love hearing other people’s thoughts and ideas when it comes to this stuff. And yeah for now its just speculation, but I find it fun and I hope you do too. So comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter to @cmhaugen24 as well as give me requests for future reviews or topics I should talk about. I promise, if you give me a request, I will make time to write about it. If you want updates on more movie news and reviews, follow me on Twitter.
I’ll leave you with this. I thought about it for a long time that I was going to do a review for the new Warcraft trailer... of course I don't know much about Warcraft at all so I can't say that its anything incredible towards that knowledge. As far as stories goes, it looks like a combination of Lord of the Rings and Avatar... and I'm not overly excited for this movie. However, I am sort of interested. For now, I'll just leave this here and you should let me know your thoughts on the movie. Enjoy!
When I was a kid my parents showed me Mrs. Doubtfire. I thought it was hilarious. I loved Robin Williams as a kid and this movie had me laughing so hard. The odd thing is, I remember seeing it once and then oddly never seeing it again. Maybe it was because we had recorded it on VHS and those were easy to lose or tape over, but I never understood why I never was able to watch that movie again... until I watched it over a decade later.
Now this isn't the first time I've seen Mrs. Doubtfire since I was kid, but it had been quite a while while I saw it on HBO one night and decided to re-watch it. Again, I laughed my ass off. Especially over a decade later when I was paying more attention because I now soak up everything that has Robin Williams in it. But I also found it incredibly amazing how mature of a movie this is, despite thinking that this movie was a family film. I now understood why my parents thought it'd be best if this movie just disappeared until I was older. I disagree with their decision however because I also watched this movie with a new appreciation for how smart this movie is and how freaking talented Robin Williams really is.
Mrs. Doubtfire stars Robin Williams as Daniel Hillard. Daniel is an out of work actor who adores his three children. His wife (played by Sally Field) is much more successful career-wise and right off the bat you figure out that their marriage is in trouble.
Actually you don't really figure that out at all, in the first 10 minutes of the movie they get a divorce. Not much of a backstory or set up, they just get a divorce.
I'll talk more about this when I talk about Miranda (the wife) and Sally Field's performance, but that's the first thing that amazed me about this movie. How quickly their relationship ends and how quickly they get divorced. The movie starts off as this fun family comedy but quickly dissolves into a very serious issue, Divorce.
It also amazes me how quickly these two become arch enemies. Daniel is not trying to get his wife back throughout this movie and while he doesn't wish harm upon her, you can tell he's angry about the divorce and the effect its having on him and his kids.
So they have a custody hearing and the courts almost immediately give full custody to Daniel's wife. Daniel finds this unacceptable as he loves spending time with his kids and doesn't want to be apart from them. But Miranda feels Daniel is too childish and immature to actually take care of their children so he cuts him out and decides that she needs to hire a housekeeper to take care of the children and clean the house.
And on another side of this film I never got as a kid, she's kind of right.
I mean as a kid I always saw Robin Williams as just a lovable doof and really not capable of doing anything wrong. He seemed like a great father to these kids and I never understood why Miranda was being so difficult about it.
But watching this with grown up eyes, I realize there is a little bit of a truth to her concerns. Now I think they are definitely exaggerated with an attempt to make her kind of an adversary of the film, but Daniel really is kind of a slacker. His new apartment really is as his daughter calls it "detestable" and there is room for growth by the end of the film. Which makes it a good development story for this man child trying to get his kids back. So while, again, the quarrel that Miranda and Daniel have is exaggerated a little bit for dramatic effect, as a grown up I understand it a little bit more.
So in order to see his kids more often, Daniel decides that he's going first troll the shit out of his ex-wife in one of the most hilarious prank phone call scenes in movie history.
Now he does have a method to his madness in this mad troll session. He ends up fooling his ex-wife into believing that he is a 60 year old woman and getting the job as her new house keeper. He of course gives himself the name Mrs. Doubtfire and then goes to his brother (who is gay, but like way over the top gay because it was the 90s) to get the perfect disguise for him to fully accept the role.
And again, as a kid, I don't think I truly understood how crazy this was. Even now men dressing up as women can be considered strange, I can only imagine what people thought when this movie first came out. As a kid, I didn't think anything about it, it was Robin Williams, the man could do no wrong. Him dressing up as a woman was funny but it wasn't necessarily strange, he was doing it for a good reason and that was to see his kids. You sympathized with the hero in this story and anything that he did was totally accepted.
And Williams kills it by the way. Again, its another thing I just accepted as second nature because again, Robin Williams could do no wrong, but its really funny how consistent he is with his voice and the character of Mrs. Doubtfire. That was something I appreciated more as an adult and at the same time, I enjoyed actually understanding the conflict and reasoning of Daniel Hillard. Its a lot smarter of a movie that I think I ever gave it credit for as a kid. As a kid I just thought it was a funny story about a guy dressing up as an old woman to see his kid. But in reality, it feels more than that. Its still a comedy and its not like its an Oscar contender, but its much more of a laugh out loud comedy than a family film which I guess I thought it was.
The rest of the movie is him trying to keep his cover, enjoying time with his kids, and nosing into the business of his wife who is starting to see new people (Pierce Brosnan in fact). With the quick wit of Robin Williams, Mrs. Doubtfire not only has a lot of funny lines, but it also has a surprisingly profound message and views on divorce and overall just has a lot of heart to it.
But one of the biggest thing I found interesting was the portrayal of the ex-wife and the performance of Sally Field.
While I do see hints of the movie trying to tell the audience that divorce always has two sides to it and it tries to give some sympathy towards Miranda in this movie, I never realized how much of a bitch this movie makes her out to be.
First off, the terms of their divorce really make her out to be the bad guy in this flick. I mean these two had a marriage that produced three children and she goes for full custody of these kids with limited visitation privileges? I mean again, I do see her side a little bit in this film, but Daniel is not a bad guy. Its not like he's selling drugs or something like that, and she wants full custody right off the bat.
Now, to be fair, my parents are happily married. I know people who are kids of divorce and while I don't know exactly how it goes, I do now that a lot of those divorces ended in shared custody because while the parents didn't love each other anymore, they still respected the fact that their ex-spouse was the father or mother of their children.
This movie really makes Miranda out to be a stone cold bitch who doesn't care about the fact that even when Daniel gets a job and fixes up his place still limits his visitation rights.
I mean I understand it a lot more now that I'm older, but as a kid I didn't understand it at all. Probably some of the reason that my parents didn't let me watch this movie that much when I was much younger because it really does hit on some issues that may or may not have been over my head at the time.
On a somewhat related note, College Humor did a list on their blog of 8 things that were kind of inconsistent in Mrs. Doubtfire, its a pretty good list and some of it hits on some of the points I've been making in this post. Take a read and enjoy.
But overall, I was impressed of how real the relationships in this movie feel. The relationship Daniel has with his children, the relationship or lack there of that he has with his ex-wife. Even Pierce Brosnan, who as a kid I of course hated because he was a rival to Robin Williams (Again, the man cannot to wrong in my book) really did a good job in this film and became more of a character as opposed to just the handsome rival I always thought he was when I was a kid.
Mrs. Doubtfire is one of those movies that its hard for me to really say anything horrible about it because its such a nostalgic treasure. Especially watching it now, not just with the passing of Robin Williams, but also just rediscovering the intelligent thought that went behind it.
I guess if I'll say anything, there are a couple of jokes that while at the time nobody thought too much about it, now are pretty off color. Furthermore, while I enjoyed understanding more about Daniel as a character more, I do realize why I liked him so much because he is in essence just Robin Williams. That's how I saw him as a kid and that's really what he is. I still think its smarter than I gave it credit for, but Daniel probably could have been a more developed character as opposed to just a quick witted actor... like Robin Williams is. Not saying Williams wasn't an interesting person, but he probably could have done more than just play himself.
Overall, I'm figuring out that I definitely poorly categorized Mrs. Doubtfire as a kid. To me it always seemed like a family film. And while I can still probably make an argument why I think its important for kids (probably older kids) to see this movie, I am realizing that its a PG-13 comedy. But its not a stupid comedy film like Dumb and Dumber, its got a lot of heart to it and that's kind of a dying breed. While there is immature humor in this movie, it just always seemed to me like it was a different caliber of comedy than I've seen since.
Once again, its the kind of movie that makes you miss Robin Williams even more. His quick wit is just down right entertaining, the premise is actually really creative, and like I've repeated over and over, this movie is smarter than I originally thought.
But those are my thoughts on Mrs. Doubtfire, what do you think of it? Comment and Discuss below. You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 and send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me you can get updates on future movie news and reviews.
I'll leave you with this. Of course someone had to take this childhood classic of mine and make a trailer recutting it as a horror film... and its pretty damn good. Enjoy!
I am really starting to enjoy pre-9/11 action films. I mentioned in my Bourne Identity review that prior to 9/11, international spy action thrillers were starting to get a little hokey and conventional. The Peacemaker is not an over the top hokey film, but it definitely has its conventions. Are they entertaining?
The Peacemaker begins with an overly long heist of a segment where a Russian train is robed as it is going to dismantle 10 nuclear warheads. The robbery is coordinated by professionals with help from the inside and 9 of the warheads are stolen. The 10th warhead is detonated.
Now this is a pretty big deal, a nuclear bomb detonates on Russian soil... and it is a big deal... for about five minutes.
Seriously, for as long as this segment is that leads to a nuclear bomb being detonated, a lot of this segment is really kind of forgotten. The scary night vision dudes who murder everyone on the train are never seen or heard from again, the detonated nuke and the fallout from it is never mentioned again. Its just kind of there. Just interesting...
Anyways, once the overly long beginning segment is done, the movie cuts to the US where Dr. Julie Kelly (played by Nicole Kidman) is tasked with the American response to this nuclear explosion and the assistance in the recovery of the nuclear warheads that were stolen.
Of course, to counter Kidman's strong but studious female lead, she needs a military liason and that liason is Colonel Thomas Devoe (played by George Clooney).
Now, before I dig into Devoe's rank and the accuracy of the portrayal of the military in this movie, I will talk about these two as leads.
These two work well together. They create for a very good dynamic and they have their typical action Hollywood banter, but the thing I liked about this is that any chemistry or romantic inklings between these two are kept till the end of the film. They don't waste time figuring out their feelings for one another while they're trying to eliminate a terrorist threat, they start after.
The truth is, they're attractive people and they really do commit to the role.
Now... about George Clooney as a Colonel in the Special Forces. For some reason, George Clooney has never been one to make me believe that he can do action. While a part of me wants to see it and believes that he could do it, Clooney has always seemed to me like a pretty boy. It happened in Batman and Robin and it kind of happens here. I just don't really buy him as an action hero, he's too suave and has too much of a silver tongue to make me really believe that he needs to do action. And even that's a thing in this movie. Devoe's character is George Clooney, a fast talking lady killer and also a Special Forces Colonel...?
Not to mention, the movie takes a lot of liberties with how Special Forces works. I'll spare you all the military jargon but the reality is, Clooney is way too high of rank first off for his age, but also for all the action bits he gets. Colonels are pretty far removed from the battlefield and Clooney is far from removed in this film.
Furthermore, his and Kidman's role in this investigation is very poorly explained and even for people who don't know that much about these kinds of investigations, you have to wonder what authority they have.
While the plot of the bad guys in this film is interesting, the main villain is pretty generic and you don't really get to know him that well until near the end of the film.
Sure he exists within the movie before the ending, but he's just kind of biding his time while his plan is executed by other people.
He's kind of like the villains of Marvel movies these days. He'll do as a villain, he serves his purpose but you're not going to remember him an hour after the movie is done.
The main draw of this movie is the suaveness of George Clooney and the talent of Nicole Kidman. Everything else about this movie is surprisingly generic and pretty predictable.
Now maybe it wasn't that predictable when it was released in 1997, but this movie can't decide whether or not its going to be an attempt at a campy James Bond like spy thriller or if its going to be a serious crime/war thriller. Believe it or not, there is a difference. The movie has its serious war type scenes where Clooney is working with his Green Beret buddies, but at the same time there's an entire sequence where Clooney kills a bunch of guys with his car.
But the real issue with this movie isn't the identity crisis its having, its more that its so by the numbers. Like I said, its very predictable. It has the same action cliches that you've seen in hundreds of movies like it and you will see more movies that have the same action cliches.
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot about this movie that is pretty fun. But to give you an idea of how predictable this movie, they have a countdown where a bomb is about to go off and they're not sure which wire to cut.
Now this would be different if this movie was looking to be more than it is, or trying to be smarter than it is but its not. Its just a generic action movie with two good looking leads who aren't developed past their generic selfs.
I wish I had more to say about this movie. Its like this movie was trying to be like the Jack Ryan Tom Clancy movies with Harrison Ford. The problem is, while those are actually pretty fun and have the signature of being a Tom Clancy movie, this movie is just kind of vanilla. It still has its moments but its nothing worth going out of your way to check out. Kind of a movie that you watch if you're bored and your in the mood for some kind of generic action. Nothing spectacular but its not horrible.
But those are my (brief) thoughts on The Peacemaker. Comment and Discuss your own thoughts on the movie in the section below. You can also send me your thoughts via Twitter @cmhaugen24. I'll read your thoughts there and accept your requests for future reviews. I will make your requests priority. If you follow me, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews.
I'll leave you with this. I might have left this video on a post before, but this movie is so cliched that it reminded me of the Jimmy Kimmel trailer for Movie: The Movie. Enjoy!
