Say what you want about the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, but I find them thoroughly enjoyable piece of entertainment. Sure, they are by no means peak art by most definitions and are oftentimes formulaic, but the best of them are breezy, pulpy, character-driven power fantasy that feature highly-likable protagonists and snappy dialogue, and at their worst, they are a half-decent CGI-fest that tie up well to the larger lore in the franchise, which the fans are already familiar with.
Not simply satisfied with their success on the silver screen, MCU head honcho Kevin Feige then decided to bring a few of their characters to television, obviously as part of the strategy to market the new Disney+ streaming service. While shows such as WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (FAWS) and Loki had originally been slated for 2020 premiere dates, the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic in the end delayed them by one year.
It's also worth noting that although there have been other shows that were nominally made under the MCU banner using Marvel comic book properties such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Netflix's Daredevil and Jessica Jones, in recent years they have increasingly been considered non-canon or not part of the official lore, although Feige himself has been reluctant to clarify the matter outright. But I digress.
With the MCU coming at a crossroads, story-wise, due to the conclusion of its Infinity saga arc in 2019, only to be followed by a year-long absence of any release due to the pandemic, understandably the hype was huge in 2021. Fans, me included, want to know the future direction of the franchise.
Unfortunately, all the MCU releases this year have been misses for me.
I'm not going into specific details on why I haven't enjoyed Wandavision, FAWS and Loki, but they all share the same problem; the shows are all essentially movies that have been stretched thin to turn them into television shows.
From my observation, each episode of these MCU shows, which may run between 30 and 40 minutes minus the recap, intro and end credits, has only 10 minutes of plot points that are 'crucial' to the story. The rest is fluff. So how do they pad the running times? By having the characters engage in lengthy conversations that don't really serve the plot.
MCU movies are good at utlilising slower-paced exchanges between the characters to either let the plot breathe between set-pieces, or as character development, but the dialogue in the shows are simply ponderous, unnecessary interludes to the more important scenes.
The longer running times have also made it harder for me to suspend my disbelief, and I believe that I am not alone in noticing this. The believability of the flicks mostly hinge on the fact that they are not dissimilar to good magic tricks; sleights of hand that are performed just slowly enough to wow the audience, but still quickly enough that the spectators don't start noticing the secret compartment in the magician's wand. With the shows paced rather slowly and their sleights sloppy, I've been noticing more plot holes and inconsistencies in the characterisations. For example, who is Falcon and Winter Soldier's superior? Is it the army? SHIELD? The United Nations? Why do they seem to abandon their mission towards the end of the series? And what the hell is that speech in the final episode?
Sad to say, the shows are all stinkers for me, and that they are merely a marketing tool to sell Disney+ subscriptions (the fact that each episode of the show is released weekly instead of Netflix's method of releasing all episodes at the same time seems to corroborate this).
Even with the disappointing shows, I had thought that at least I still had the Black Widow movie to look forward to, which as a film, presents an MCU story in a medium that suits it the best. Surely it would be enjoyable.
Wrong again.
Although it is a film, I find that it makes the same mistakes that the three shows above make. Too little going on, uneven pacing, banal dialogue and protracted running time, on top of the odd story and characterisation choices. Towards the end of the thriller, I was not even able to enjoy the CGI action sequence.
Perhaps the whole Infinity saga arc of the MCU franchise is lightning in a bottle, and coming up with enjoyable, financially successful action-fantasy movies that are also marginally believable is much harder than we've been made to believe.
Or alternatively, maybe Covid-19 is too strong, even for the mighty heroes who once survived and then overturned the Blip, and my fondness for brisk, colourful popcorn entertainment has been tainted forever by living through a global pandemic in one of the worst-hit countries.
Or maybe, just maybe, my taste in film has grown as a mature man to the extent that I can no longer enjoy a genre whose source material was originally aimed at children.
My VERDICT:
- Loki 6/10
- WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Black Widow 5/10
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