AVENGERS: ENDGAME

Avengers Assemble!

AVENGERS: ENDGAME  (2019). Directors: Anthony and Joe Russo. 

Following the events of Avengers: Infinity War, the nihilistic villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) has destroyed half of earth's inhabitants, including many heroes. Five years afterward Thor (Chris Hemsworth), after the destruction of Asgard, has turned into a bloated drunk, and Hawkeye (Jeremy Rennner), whose children disappeared, has turned into a bloodthirsty vigilante. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) has retired with his wife, Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), and adorable daughter, where they only want to live in peace. Scott Lang, the Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), turns out to be alive and hits on the idea of somehow manipulating time to bring back all of the vanished millions. Since Thanos used the Infinity gems to destroy those people. perhaps the heroes could go back in time to before Thanos acquired the gems and use them to restore the lost souls? But will the scheme work? 

Josh Brolin as Thanos with a generous helping of CGI

Divided into teams, the heroes go back to various locations -- New York, Asgard, and other planets -- to get the gems, although there are complications, such as Captain America (Chris Evans) having to battle a younger version of himself, which also happens with Thanos' daughter, Nebula (Karen Gillan). Thanos' past self gets wise to the heroes' plan and rushes to the future. Just as the Avengers think they've won, Thanos reappears and wages all-out war on all of the heroes. 

Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans

Avengers: Endgame is better than Infinity War. The lengthy film is never boring, the actors give committed performances, and the battle sequences are generally well-done and exciting. At the climax there is an eye-popping sequence when all of the heroes with their colorful outfits and accoutrements (such as a winged horse) advance en masse on one side of a battlefield while Thanos and his forces, including weird creatures, soldiers, living serpentine spaceships and so on, approach from the other side. With literally thousands of elements in this sequence, it is truly an example of movie magic par excellance. The stirring music by Alan Silvestri adds to the whole stunning effect. 

Other good scenes include one with Hawkeye and the Black Widow (Scarlett Johanssen), one of whom makes the ultimate sacrifice to spare the other. There's an interesting moment when Tony Stark encounters his own father in the past. I liked that in an early scene at a support group one of the members is a gay man, a rare instance of an LGBT person appearing in a Marvel movie, however peripheral (the part is well-played by co-director Joe Russo. Thanos creator Jim Starlin is also in this scene). With the death of a couple of major characters, and the aging of another, I imagine that if there are more Avengers movies they will feature a cast of different and younger actors and completely reboot the series. 

Rocky Raccoon

Other characters in the movie include the alien "raccoon," Rocky (voiced by Bradley Cooper), whose presence shouldn't work but does; the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), whose human brain is now in control of his brutish body; the Ancient One (an effective Tilda Swinton), sorceress supreme; War Machine (Don Cheadle), an associate of Tony Stark's; with cameos by Spider-Man, Dr. Strange, Captain Marvel, the Scarlet Witch, the Black Panther, and others. One thing the movie doesn't go into is all the things that might happen when millions of people suddenly pop back into existence after five years (for instance, surely some people might have, say, gotten remarried during that time). A bigger unanswered question occurs after Captain America returns all of the gems to the different times and places where he and his colleagues acquired them. Since Thanos still exists in the past, what's to prevent him from simply getting all of the gems again as he did once before and starting the whole clambake all over again? 

Verdict: If you're not a comic book or super-hero freak don't even bother, but for everyone else this is certainly imperfect but not too shabby. ***. 

DARK PHOENIX

Sophie Turner as Jean Grey

DARK PHOENIX (2019). Written and directed by Simon Kinberg. 

Professor Xavier (James McAvoy) sends a team of X-Men out into space on a rescue mission, and telepathic Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is irradiated by what everyone thinks is a solar flare but is actually a powerful energy source. While this energy affects Jean's mind, some hostile shape-shifting aliens led by one Vuk (Jessica Chastain) come to earth to take this power away from Jean and use it for their own evil purposes. Angered that Prof X has kept secrets from her -- she thinks both of her parents were killed in a car accident but her father, who blames her, is still alive --  Jean lashes out and accidentally kills one of her colleagues, leading Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to declare war on her. But the aliens may prove a bigger threat and the mutants may find themselves in an alliance ...

James McAvoy as Professor X

Dark Phoenix was apparently excoriated by fans and critics alike, even though it is by no means a terrible movie. Unlike other recent X-sagas, Dark Phoenix at least has some well-choreographed battle scenes, and there's an eye-popping sequence on a train that is vivid and exciting. McAvoy and Fassbender offer the most memorable performances, and Turner is professional enough. Nicholas Hoult also makes an impression as the hairy Hank McCoy (better known as the Beast). Jessica Chastain really only has to show up and affect an attitude but she's still a striking presence in the movie. 

Jean Grey turning into "dark phoenix" was one of the best and most beloved storylines in the X-Men comic books, and this is the second time it has been sort of adapted -- and very much changed -- as a movie. (The first was in X-Men: The Last Stand.) In the original stories, Jean is manipulated by a bunch of evil characters called the Hellfire Club. She becomes so drunk with power that she wipes out an entire solar system of living beings, and then is taken to task by extraterrestrials and dies during battle via suicide. (It later developed that the Phoenix was a separate being from Jean, and she returned intact, more or less, in the comic books.) Many X-fans wondered why Fox bothered to do another version of this story if they weren't going to use more elements from the original tales?  

Michael Fassbender as Magneto

Dark Phoenix also creates some continuity problems if you are to take the X-films as being part of the same series of stories, which they obviously can't be. The events in this movie reignite anti-mutant feelings in society, bringing us full circle to the very first X-Men movie, but Jean Grey is very much alive in that film whereas in this she sort of goes off into the ether at the end. In any case, I found Dark Phoenix to be entertaining and better than the last couple of X-Movies, if not as good as the best films in the series. 

Verdict: Colorful X-fun if not all it could have been. ***. 

THUNDERBOLTS

Thunderbolts prepare for action

THUNDERBOLTS (2025). Director: Jake Schreier. 

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) runs black ops for the government -- her group is called Oxe -- but is coming under scrutiny from Congress. She decides to eliminate several of her operatives by unknowingly pitting them against one another in a warehouse where each has been told to "take out' whoever is there. These include Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh); John Walker or U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), who briefly filled in for Captain America; Yelena's father, formerly the Russian hero the Red Guardian (David Harbour); Bucky Barnes or the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Captain America's one-time partner; Ava Starr, a woman who can dematerialize and is also known as the Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen); and Robert Reynolds, an "experiment" in creating super-heroes that resulted in both Sentry and his evil alter ego, the Void (Lewis Pullman). Instead of destroying one another, these six second stringers decide to team up as the Thunderbolts to take down Valentina. But it won't be easy when the Void takes over Robert and has him apparently vaporizing most of Manhattan ... 

Louis-Dreyfus and Wendell Pierce

Most of the above characters originally appeared in Marvel comic books decades ago and their cinematic counterparts are alternate versions of them. Thunderbolts was also a comic about a group of villains pretending to be heroes for their own gain, but eventually metamorphosing into genuine good guys. Sentry was a member of the Avengers for a time as well. Valentina was not a ruthless villainess (pretending to be a good guy) in the comics as she is in this and other Marvel movies, but she is very well played by Louis-Dreyfus. The other cast members, including Wendell Pierce as Congressman Gary, are also notable. People who are completely unfamiliar with the comics will wonder who the hell some of these people are -- I certainly did!

Sentry (Lewis Pullman) goes after Val

Thunderbolts only really gets going late in the movie when Sentry, under the influence of Valentina, goes on the rampage, with some effective action and FX work. Unfortunately, this sequence is much too brief, and dissipates into some tiresome dream-type sequences with the members of the Tbolts encountering images from their pasts. Thunderbolts is also much too long, considering how little of the film is really memorable. At the end of the film Val pulls a fast one and rechristens the team the New Avengers, but it is highly debatable if this team will have any staying power. Florence Pugh also appeared in Don't Worry Darling, and is so different (and versatile) that you will hardly recognize her. 

Verdict: Fair to middling Marvel movie will probably disappoint most fans. **1/2. 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD

Captain America takes flight

CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD (2025). Director: Julius Onah.

Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), formerly known as the Falcon, has become the new Captain America but kept his wings. He has a difficult relationship with the U.S. President, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross (Harrison Ford), who apparently made a deal with the devil, a sick character named Samuel Sterns (Tim Blake Nelson), who is manipulating everyone behind the scenes. (Sterns is a variation of the Leader from Hulk comic books.) While Wilson and his partner Joaquin (Danny Ramirez) investigate when old friend Isiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) seems to try to assassinate Ross, they uncover Stern's secret laboratory and eventually join forces with security adviser Ruth Bat-Seraph (Shira Haas) to take him down. But before that can happen Sam has to try to stay alive as Ross, transformed into the powerful and humongous Red Hulk, tries to do what the Hulk does best -- smash! 

The Red Hulk about to rampage through Washington D.C.

Captain America: Brave New World may have gotten lukewarm reviews, but I found it quite entertaining and suspenseful, and the Cap-Hulk battle is a decided highlight. Instead of the Serpent Society featured in Captain America comic books, there is a sinister (essentially unseen) group called SERPENT, of which the deadly Sidewinder (a zesty Giancarlo Esposito) is a member, along with Copperhead (who has less to do). Then there's a place called Celestial Island where there is a huge amount of adamantium, which Ross wants the U.S. to get his hands on, briefly bringing him into conflict with the Japanese. Mackie makes an excellent alternate Captain America, the large supporting cast is game, and Harrison Ford simply gives one of the all-time best performances of his long career. 

Verdict: There's still quite a bit of life in those Marvel Movies. ***. 

KRAVEN THE HUNTER

Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Kraven

KRAVEN THE HUNTER (2024). Director: J. C. Chandor.

Sergei Kravanoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is one of two sons of the Russian mobster Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe). Nikolai has decided that Sergei will be the one he will groom to take over his business, but Sergei is having none of it. Instead of working with and for his hated father, he becomes a feared, intense vigilante known as Kraven, even breaking into prisons to murder gangsters. The question is: will he also kill his own father? 

Fully transformed, the Rhino confronts Kraven

In stories published by Marvel Comics, Kraven was a persistent Spider-Man foe who considered himself the world's greatest hunter (in the movie Kraven sees himself as the world's greatest man-hunter), and who wanted to bag Spidey as a challenge. In later years Kraven was made a bit more dimensional, but the cinematic Kraven is essentially a different character, more along the lines of Marvel's Punisher. Kraven the Hunter treads lightly on the Marvel Universe, but while ignoring our web-head, does bring in such other Spider-Man foes as the Foreigner, the Rhino, and at the end, the Chameleon. 

A teenaged Kraven (Levi Miller) with Russell Crowe

Kraven is an extremely well-crafted action flick, with many well-directed battle sequences, superb cinematography by Ben Davis, good FX work, and excellent performances from a large cast. Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven in just the right note, adding insinuating sex appeal to the role as he goes about his violent and acrobatic business. Crowe is terrific as his father, with fine support from Fred Hechinger as his brother; Christopher Abbott as the slimy Foreigner, who can (sort of ) disappear; and Alessandro Nivola as Sytsevich/the Rhino, who underplays his part in a most sinister fashion. Levi Miller and Billy Barratt are also good as the Kravinoff siblings as teens. Ariana DeBose has little to do as Calypso, who saves Kraven's life after he's mauled by a tiger by giving him a special potion (which apparently accounts for his "marvelous" abilities), but I'm not certain if she's even a Marvel character. At the very end of the movie Kraven dons an outfit, a gift from his father, that is similar to the costume he donned in the comics. 

Verdict: Not too original but fun and exciting -- it never hurts to have a hot guy in the lead. ***. 

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA

Jonathan Majors as Kang

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA (2023). Director: Peyton Reed. 

Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), his mentor Henry Pym (Michael Douglas), Pym's wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), their daughter Hope/the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and Lang's daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) are pulled into the weird microscopic quantum zone that Janet escaped from (in Ant-Man and the Wasp) when Cassie uses a device to explore that world without actually entering it. Unfortunately, a dictator named Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) is alerted to this signal because he ultimately wants to escape from the zone, which he has taken over. Lang's adversary from the first Ant-Man, Darren Cross (Corey Stoll) has been turned into the killing machine MODOK, which is basically an enormous head in a flying chair with weaponry. Will the combined efforts of the ant team be enough to stop someone as deadly and powerful as Kang?

Corey Stoll as big-headed MODOK

Quantumania is certainly colorful and there are, as usual, some wonderful effects, but the whole thing is a strange combination of the grim and the campy, a combination that generally doesn't work that well. Ant-Man himself seems almost lost in the miasma with not only the other characters to contend with but all of the weird figures of the Quantum Zone as well, one of which is very well-played by Bill Murray. Although Kang at first does not come off like the character in Marvel comics -- and not just because of the racial switch -- eventually Jonathan Majors is quite impressive as an alternate Kang -- he is a wonderful actor who gives the most notable performance in the film. He wisely underplays through most of the movie, saving his fiery outbursts for the climax. 

Lilly, Rudd, Newton

There is some inventive stuff in the Quantum Zone, such as living buildings that walk around on giant legs, and an aircraft whose controls are also alive, exuding funnels which engulf Pym's arms so he can fly the plane. The performances are all good, although the character of Cassie is irritating and unnecessary. The score is full of those majestic, triumphant tones that ring hollow in a film that is rather silly all told. Still, older children may find it entertaining. 

Verdict: A far cry from those charming old Ant-Man stories in Tales to Astonish. **1/4. 

ALL OF THE MARVELS

ALL OF THE MARVELS: A Journey to the Ends of the Biggest Story Ever Told. Douglas Wolk. Penguin; 2021. 

With it looking to some people like the characters of Marvel Comics are taking over the cinematic universe, author Wolk attempts to put everything in perspective and give fans or wannabee fans directions in what to read and in what order. He does this by highlighting specific issues grouped together somewhat thematically in various chapters. The idea is intriguing, but I'm not certain that it's been especially well executed. For this long-time comics fan the most interesting sections have to do with more recent issues that I have missed, as the book does concentrate more on the past twenty years than the earlier days of Marvel. There are some interesting observations in the book to be sure, but you'll also have to suffer through tedious write-ups on stuff like The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. (Wolk wants to make certain the world knows that Marvel's comics aren't just about, created by, or exclusively popular with the "old white guys" who basically invented the industry and kept it going for many decades.)  All of the Marvels -- I love the title -- comes off less as a labor of love than as a cynical "sure-fire" book project, although I'm not certain what its intended audience was supposed to be. Won't most people interested in Marvel comics already be reading them? 

Verdict: Some good things in this, but it's not really a fun read, and it should have been. **1/4.   

SLUGFEST

SLUGFEST: Inside the Epic 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC. Reed Tucker. Da Capo Press; 2017.

DC Comics, which came out with such iconic characters as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, found itself with real competition from upstart publisher Marvel, whose comics were considered crude in comparison. (In the early days of comics there were many other publishers but most of them eventually fell by the wayside.) But Stan Lee, who was the face of Marvel for decades, took "perfect" super-heroes and made them more flawed and human, igniting the interest of older readers in super-hero comic books and leading to such books as Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, and Uncanny X-Men. Marvel eventually overtook DC in sales, and this interesting, well-written tome looks at the two major comics publishers over the decades and the various ways the companies and their staff battled it out for ascendency, both on the printed page and now in the movie theater. Although many writers and artists have worked for both companies and even jump back and forth between them -- and DC eventually adopted the Marvel style of storytelling --  there are some comics fans who insist on only reading the work from one company, which I've always thought was ridiculous. While Tucker does on occasion overstate things, the book does a good job of showing all the changes in these two companies and indeed in the industry itself. Although the quote doesn't appear in this book, Stan Lee once claimed, accurately, that the main difference between both firms was the age of its readers, although that would change. 

Verdict: A surprisingly good read that actually builds up some suspense. ***. 

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

Shang-Chi in his spiffy new costume

SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (2021). Director: Destin Daniel Cretton. 

Shaun (Simu Lui), AKA Shang-Chi, is the son of a woman, Li (Fala Chen), from the magical dimension of Ta Lo and an immortal man of various names, including Xu Wenwu and the Mandarin (Tony Leung). The essentially evil Wenwu was tamed by his lovely wife (one has to wonder why she ever fell for him) but after her death he trains a young Shang-Chi for combat and pretty much ignores Shang-Chi's sister, Xialing (Meng'er Zhang). Xialing now runs a fight club in another country while their father sends assassins after both her and her brother. This leads to an exciting fight on a bus between Shangi-Chi and Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu), as well as another thrilling battle high on scaffolding outside a skyscraper. Shang-Chi and his sister learn that Wenwu is convinced their mother is alive, and is calling to him from Ta Lo, but it's actually a voice from the Dweller in Darkness (how Lovecraftian!) who wants to escape from behind a mystic barrier. The race is on for Shang-Chi, Xialing, and Shang-Chi's adorable friend, Katy (Awkwafina), to get to Ta Lo before the Mandarin can and prevent disaster from affecting both universes. 

Razor Fist vs Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi was introduced to the Marvel Comics Universe in the 1970's in a series called Master of Kung Fu. The very serious, biracial Shang-Chi was the son of Sax Rohmer's licensed character Dr. Fu Manchu. When Marvel lost the rights, Fu Manchu was said to be only an alias (which was also true in Rohmer's novels), and then long-time Marvel (and Iron Man) villain the Mandarin was made our Kung Fu fighter's father. Although much less of a stereotype, the Mandarin as depicted in this movie is also much less interesting than the fascinating Mandarin of the comics, whose appearance was revised and updated over the decades. This movie has little to do with Master of Kung Fu (for more on that comic series see Superhuman: The Bronze Age of Comics Volume One), although Razor Fist was a recurring villain there. 

Meng'er Zhang

Considering that I always thought he was a minor Marvel character, Shang-Chi made a lot of money at the box office and a sequel is being made. The film is entertaining, but overlong, throwing in everything but the kitchen sink. The climax turns into Marvel's old comic series Where Monsters Dwell with two giant monsters battling each other while Shang-Chi and his sister are astride a mammoth flying serpent. Simu Liu is excellent as Shang-Chi, and the film's big delight is Awkwafina (gotta change that name, gal!) as the amusing and plucky Katy. Meng'er Zhang makes a striking and sexy Xialing, but Ben Kingsley, reprising his role from Iron Man 3, is just a waste as alleged comedy relief. The film sinks quite a bit into silliness when he appears along with a strange mouth-less creature named Morris. 

Verdict: Essentially a fun if relatively minor Marvel movie with some good FX work and great closing credit music. **1/2. 

DR. STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS

Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Stephen Strange

DR. STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022). Director: Sam Raimi. 

Marvel sorcerer Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch (of Spider-Man: No Way Home) dreams about and then encounters a young lady, America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), who comes from another dimension and has the ability to travel from one universe to another. She is being pursued by former Avenger Wanda Maximoff, aka, the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), who wants the girl's power and will kill anyone who gets in her way to obtain it. Her own little boys turned out to be magical in nature -- they didn't really exist -- and she wants to take over the life and body of an alternate Wanda (from another dimension) who has two honest-to-goodness children. Dr. Strange and America travel to a variety of alternate Earths to try and stay one jump ahead of Wanda, encountering Other-Versions of Strange himself and other Marvel heroes (such as Professor Xavier, played by Patrick Stewart of Lifeforce). To win this battle Dr. Strange may need the secrets of the Darkhold and the Book of Vishanti, but will he be corrupted like other versions of himself have been?

Mad Mother Love: Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch

Let's state at the outset that this is a movie for Marvel comics fans and hardly anyone else. As usual multiple characters are thrown at you and the uninitiated will not only not know who most of them are but be quite confused by the storyline (especially as it bounces around from dimension to dimension)! That being said, Dr. Strange 2, as it is also known, is an improvement over the first Strange film, and is quite entertaining, although its moments of alleged humor may make one groan. The storyline is based on events that occurred, I believe, at the very end of the long run of The Avengers comic book volume one, when Wanda went  berserk after her unreal children vanished (but don't quote me, as it's been quite a while since I read these stories). 

the giant one-eyed "octopus" monster

Whatever its flaws, Dr. Strange 2 benefits from the people both in front of and behind the camera. Super-hero movies are often helmed by fledgling directors who can't handle all the disparate elements but Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead; Spider-Man 2) is an experienced director and despite the movie's fast pace you can follow the action -- these sequences are all well done. The FX work is also outstanding, such as when Wanda sends a gigantic, one-eyed tentacled monstrosity after America in Manhattan; or a stunning journey through dimensions in which the characters temporarily turn into water or even paint; and a sequence when two versions of Dr. Strange hurl mystical musical notes -- and the actual music -- at one another (not an original concept but it works beautifully anyway). At one point our Dr. Strange takes over the body of a deceased, rotting version of himself! 

Dead Dr. Strange from an alternate universe

Cumberbatch makes an effective Dr. Strange, but Elizabeth Olsen steals the movie with a terrific and impassioned performance as Wanda. Danny Elfman has contributed another exciting and dramatic score while cinematographer John Mathieson -- with the help of a variety of production designers and art directors, not to mention FX people -- insures that the film is always visually striking. In fact, Dr Strange 2 is stunningly opulent from start to finish. 

Verdict: Strictly for Marvel maniacs, but they should enjoy this. ***. 

MORBIUS

Jared Leto as Michael Morbius

MORBIUS (2022). Director: Daniel Espinosa.  

Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) was born with a rare blood disease for which he is trying to find a cure. This cure involves vampire bats, and it turns out to be worse than the disease. Morbius turns into a vampire who has to subsist on artificial blood, which he created. But he knows that this fake blood won't sustain him for long. Another problem is that his friend, Milo (Matt Smith), who suffers from the same disease, takes the cure and doesn't care at all that he has to kill human beings to sustain him. Before long the two are in an epic battle in and above New York City. 

Morbius contemplates his future

Morbius was originally a character in Spider-Man comic books (Spidey is not mentioned until a post-credit sequence in which Michael Keaton as the Vulture also appears). Morbius also had his own short-lived series but he worked best as an opponent for Webhead. In the comics Morbius did prey upon innocent people and was always hating himself for it, but he never did the compassionate thing and end his life. This aspect of the character is not explored in this film in which he is basically a good guy (it's uncertain if he was responsible for the deaths of some mercenaries or not). 

Leto as Morbius

The action scenes in the movie, heavily dependent on CGI like most of these pictures, are at times too cluttered to be effective -- the business with alternating slow-motion with freeze frames is also annoying --  but the movie benefits greatly from a fine performance by Leto, with Matt Smith also effective as the rather psychotic Milo. I guess the best thing I could say about the modestly entertaining picture is that if there is a sequel I would watch it, but I couldn't necessarily recommend this to others. 

Verdict: A strong lead performance helps bolster this Marvel movie from Columbia studios. **1/2. 

ETERNALS

Eternals Assemble!

ETERNALS (2021). Directed and co-written by Chloe Zhao. 

The Eternals are a group of immortal super-powered beings who allegedly come from another world and have been on earth for thousands of years. Their original adversaries were monstrous creatures called Deviants, who were supposedly destroyed but who are popping up again in modern times. The Eternals have scattered but now their leader, Ajak (Salma Hayek), calls them together. The Eternals, who were sent to Earth by a towering, mysterious race known as the Celestials -- in particular Arishem -- discover not only that they are "synthetic" beings, but that a new Celestial is even now birthing inside the Earth, and when he emerges the Earth will be completely obliterated. The rationale (?) for this is that it will create new celestials and new worlds throughout the universe. Having lived on earth for centuries, having lives and companions, the Eternals try to do what they can to keep this new celestial from awakening, but one of their number, Icarus (Richard Madden), objects, and the battle is on ... 

Richard Madden as Icarus

Eternals is based on characters created by comics legend Jack Kirby for a 1970's Marvel comics series. A lot of changes have been made -- the Eternals were actually an Earth race, not aliens -- especially in regards to ethnicity, sex and personality. Sersi  -- aka Circe -- (Gemma Chan) was originally an edgy sort of witch, hardly the earth mother type of the movie, and she and Icarus, who was her lover in the past, didn't even like each other. The Deviants were ugly-looking but they weren't all giant monsters as in the movie. The Eternals are basically supposed to be one family, but Eternals is relentlessly multi-cultural whether it makes sense or not. A gay couple (black/mid-eastern) is included -- of course they have a child, a new stereotype -- and all that's missing is a non-binary transsexual, but maybe in the sequel ... (There's nothing wrong with being all-inclusive, but it can come off like tokenism if it goes to the extreme.) 

Angelina Jolie as Thena

Eternals is much too long and convoluted and the jumps back and forth in time aren't helpful to the narrative structure. The movie does boast some impressive special effects and striking cinematography, as well as an effective musical score. For such an expensive movie, I couldn't believe how under-lit the nighttime sequences are -- you can hardly make out what's happening (although one hopes this was less of a problem on the giant screen in the movie theater). The acting is generally good, with best-known Angelina Jolie [Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow] making an effective Thena (a variation on Athena), but the movie is stolen by Richard Madden (of The Bodyguard series), a Scottish actor of great intensity and presence who gets to strut his stuff in the film's second half, when finally there is some dramatic conflict between the characters. Madden has acting ability and "it" but I don't know if movies like this will turn him into the major star he deserves to be. 

Richard Madden

Frankly, Eternals almost made it into my semi-annual or quarterly list of "Films I Never Quite Finished" because it takes quite a while to get going, and there's no real story until about an hour has gone by. The script is full of typical flip remarks and dumb comedy relief (such as an utterly unnecessary character who keeps carrying around a camera because one of the Eternals has become a Bollywood star and he wants to film him). This is a shame, because there are moments of splendor and excitement in the movie, as well as some wonderful visual moments. Although at the end it is announced that "Eternals will return," I don't think that's likely. Movies like this, with so much technical wizardry involved as well as cosmic storylines, need a very firm hand to guide them to success, but Chloe Zhao doesn't seem to be that hand, more's the pity. The action scenes in this are not well-crafted, the script is under-developed, and while all the multi-culturalism is very nice -- I'm not one of these people who goes on about something being too "woke" (recognize there are other types of people on the planet besides yourself, for Pete's sake!) it doesn't mean a damn thing if the movie itself is no more than mediocre. In addition, there is no real respect for Jack Kirby's original intentions. 

Verdict: Half a good movie here. **1/2.  

TRUE BELIEVER: THE RISE AND FALL OF STAN LEE

TRUE BELIEVER: THE RISE AND FALL OF STAN LEE. Abraham Riesman. Crown; 2021. 

This very interesting and readable biography of the man most associated with Marvel comics examines the life of author and entrepreneur Stan Lee. Lee gets deserved credit for being the man who took a second or third-rate comic book company and put it on the map, competing with, and becoming, one of the Big Boys. Lee, however, often took more credit than he deserved, although it may be true that other people simply jumped to conclusions. Many people believe that Lee was the sole creator of such characters as Spider-Man, the Hulk, X-Men etc. - there is still debate today as to who contributed what -- but it is clear that people such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko had as big a hand in this, (although they, too, especially Kirby, may also have taken too much credit). The book reveals that it was never Lee's (Stanley Lieber)  goal in life to become associated with comic books, although -- perhaps for his own purposes -- he did much to make them respectable. He and others made the Marvel heroes flawed human beings as opposed to the perfect almost god-like characters of DC Comics such as Superman and Wonder Woman. 

True Believer looks at the attempts Lee made to create different companies in his later years and to produce films, often with people who turned out to be utterly disreputable or downright criminal. The bio also looks at Lee's relationships with his wife and daughter -- who is depicted as being a bit crazy -- and his brother, Larry Lieber. Although there are no great surprises in the earlier chapters of the book -- much has been rehashed-- the later chapters detailing numerous lawsuits, charges of elder abuse, and the like, are fascinating and page-turning. It's amazing that so many Marvel characters who were created back in the sixties (Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America, who was in no way a creation of Stan Lee, debuted in the 1940s!), are now the stars of mega-billion dollar Hollywood films. 

Verdict: Intriguing look at the late Stan Lee. ***. 
 

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME

SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME (2019). Director: Jon Watts.

"No one listens to you unless you've got a cape or lasers shooting from your fingers." -- Mysterio. 

While on a class trip to Europe, Peter Parker (Tom Holland), better-known as Spider-Man, encounters a do-gooder who calls himself Mysterio (Jake Gyllenhaal), and helps him and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) stop attacks by elemental creatures. However, Mysterio -- always a bad guy in the comic  books -- turns out to be behind the attacks and now Spider-Man has to stop his deadly plans while managing to stay alive and protecting his classmates. As with the last Spider-Man film, this is very much a Disney-type movie, and doesn't bear that much resemblance to the comic books, just as the multi-cultural supporting cast -- Maryjane is now Eurasian and so on -- are barely related to the originals, even in personality, which is a much bigger problem than their diversity. Long-time Spider-Man fans may find this all disconcerting although I imagine people who are new to the character won't give a damn. There are some good FX and a few exciting scenes as well as a certain degree of tedium. Holland is okay as Peter; Gyllenhaal is uneven as Mysterio; Jackson's overly gruff Nick Fury is merely tiresome. Jon Favreau shows up as "Happy" Hogan from the Iron Man films; you can miss him. Although he does look like a teenager, Holland is actually in his twenties. 

Verdict: Cutesy super-hero flick with some good moments. **1/2. 

VENOM (2018)

Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock

VENOM (2018). Director: Ruben Fleischer. 

Reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) winds up fired from his job when he goes up against billionaire scientist Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed), who sends men into space to look for resources and finds some weird aliens called Symbiotes. Drake wants to merge the aliens with humans and uses homeless people, most of whom don't survive, for experimentation. Eddie's fiancee, Annie (Michelle Williams), loses her job, too, and cancels their engagement. 

Eddie confronted by Venom

Eddie eventually winds up bonded with one of these creatures himself. The alien talks to him, calls himself "Venom" and has to be talked out of biting people's head's off when he's hungry, which doesn't always work. Venom knows that a group of his kind plan to take over Earth, but he likes it here, and tries to help Eddie prevent Drake -- who has bonded with an alien known as "Riot" -- from taking off into space. 

Venom on thee rampage

Venom is actually a character that was introduced in the Spider-Man comic books. Peter Parker put on a black costume he found during the "Secret Wars" and only later discovered that it was alive. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four helped him separate from the symbiote, which later merged with Eddie Brock (and later with the serial killer Cletus Kasady, as well as with Parker's friend, "Flash" Thompson.) Played by an appealingly grubby Tom Hardy, Brock is more of a sympathetic figure in this movie than he was in the comics. 

Riz Ahmed

Although Venom begins quite well -- and the FX work throughout is quite good -- the movie eventually becomes a mess, getting sillier and more ridiculous as it goes along. Venom might have worked as an outre horror film, but the PG rating works against it, and this doesn't really jell as a part-time black comedy. The movie has no real climax, because there has to be room for a sequel. There are a couple of exciting moments, but the battle between Venom and Riot kind of falls flat. 

Verdict: Not one of the better Marvel movies. **.