April 25, 2018

MCU Viewing Part Eleven: Thor Ragnarok, Black Panther, and Agents of SHIELD

Falon Marvel 1 Comment

Please, right now, in your head or out loud, start singing one of two themes: Pomp and Circumstance or Star Wars. This is an epic moment, and it deserves an epic soundtrack. Tomorrow at 7:00 pm PST, I will be sitting in my local movie theater’s amazing recliner seats and settling in for two hours and forty minutes of pure, unfiltered Avengers. I’m both so excited I LITERALLY can’t even, and terrified that I am going to be a huddling mass of tears by the end of it. I will have all of my reactions to Infinity War coming at you Thursday night, but for today, we have one final, important piece of business to take care of: the end of my MCU challenge. To be honest, I expected there to be some kind of like amazing, adrenaline rush at the end of all this, but it kind of fizzled to a halt for a couple of reasons. One, the final two movies were ones I had recently seen so I didn’t do a special challenge viewing. And two, Agents of SHIELD has been weird this season. But more on that later. It is the final moments of this epic challenge, and for that I am excited. Without further ado, I give you, the final piece of the MCU puzzle. (If this is your first time checking in, scroll all the way down for links to the rest of the posts in the series.)

Thor: Ragnarok

The Basics: Released in November of 2017 by Disney and Marvel Studios, Thor: Ragnarok reunites Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, while also introducing us to a new villain played by Cate Blanchett and a new badass female hero played by Tessa Thompson.

One Sentence Summary: Thor and Loki get in a in a fight with their big sis.

Full Summary: Please click here for an actual plot synopsis.

End Credits Scenes: The first one is both ominous and mysterious. Thor and Loki are chatting on their way to Earth when a huge spaceship passes in front of them. I’m assuming this is some kind of Infinity War foreshadowing. In the final one, the Grandmaster is taken down by the very people he has been oppressing. #karma

My Reaction: I mean, clearly I love this movie. I wrote a whole blog post about it, and ranked it numero uno on my Marvel countdown list. This movie is really the one that sparked my desire to even complete this challenge in the first place. No matter how many times I watch it, I still find new things to love. I think what really sells this one for me above the other Thor movies-aside from the humor and improv, which is unmatched in the MCU-is the character development. We see both Thor and Loki experience real growth and change due to the circumstances of this movie, and that is something that is lacking in a lot of the earlier MCU films. I guess I’m a sucker for great characters, because that seems to be what stands out to me in my favorite movies. Speaking of, Valkyrie is an amazing addition to the very small Females of the MCU Club, and she is a badass. Seriously, Tessa Thompson is one of the most versatile actresses around, and she is a huge part of the reason why I love this movie. It rules, and you cannot change my opinion on that.

My Rating: 9.5 out of 10. Boom. I went there.

Black Panther

The Basics: Released in February of 2018 by Disney and Marvel Studios, Black Panther stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, and Lupita Nyong’o, among many, many other extremely talented cast members. Oh, and it has kicked so much box office ass. So so much.

One Sentence Summary: Wakanda Forever.

Full Summary: If you want to know what actually happens in the movie, click here.

End Credits Scenes: In the first one, we see T’Challa speaking to a room of diplomats stating that Wakanda is going to start sharing its resources with the rest of the world. In the second one, Shuri goes to visit Bucky (!!) who is no longer frozen and is now healing in Wakanda.

My Reaction: Guys. There is so much to say about this movie, but I’ll just start with the obvious: representation matters. The importance of this film goes so far beyond the consequences of the MCU. And honestly, it’s just really, really well done. Not only is it funny, thrilling, and visually awesome, but the story is so well-developed. And the most important part for me is that T’Challa surrounds himself with kickass women, who fill various roles in Wakandan society. Shuri being an intelligent inventor and engineer, Nakia works undercover to help people in need, and Okoye is a powerful and respected military leader. These women rule. And if you want to look at the film through the most basic of lenses, this is a creation story with layers, and character development. We learn about family, we think about morality, and on top of that, we get to see an entertaining movie. Enough good things cannot be said about Black Panther. It is by far the best creation story in the MCU, and I am going into Infinity War with high expectations from T’Challa, because I have a great sense of who his character is.

My Rating: 9.5 out of 10, ’nuff said.

Agents of SHIELD, Season 5, Episodes 1-18

The Basics: Premiering on ABC in December of 2017, Agents of SHIELD season five reunites all major players from the previous seasons.

One Sentence Summary: Am I watching X-Files?

Full Summary: For an episodic breakdown, click here.

My Reaction: I am strug-gggg-ling with this season of Agents of SHIELD. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know if it’s me or the show, but this season has been rough. Which sucks, because the end of season four was sooooo good (though it did take me a while to get into season four, but we left on a high note so I had high expectations). At the end of season four, the gang was captured and (supposedly) arrested for their crimes in the whole Framework deal. But they were actually taken by aliens and sent to Earth in the future. Everyone except Fitz. Suffice to say, I hated 99% of what happened in the future. I love Deke, and that’s about it. The villains sucked, and not in a good way. I don’t need to see another crybaby man who didn’t get affection from his dad and now decides to kill everyone because of it. The effects were terrible, the fighting was meh at best, and the dialogue was just bad. The only highlight from the first twelve episodes was the Fitz-Simmons wedding. And the main highlight of the next six episodes was, surprisingly, Dove Cameron’s performance as Ruby in last week’s episode. Here’s where I think the problem with this season lies: Ragnarok came out right before the season premiered, and Black Panther came out in the middle of the season, and yet the show has made no reference to either of them. The majority of the other MCU movies have gotten at least a mention in an episode, if not some kind of storyline tie in. Why not have T’Challa’s press conference on in the background? Why not mention Asgard blew up and Thor is bringing an entire planet of people to live on Earth? And more pressingly, with the biggest MCU crossover event in the studio’s history happening this week, why not tie it in to the show? I don’t see how they can fit in an Infinity War link in the last few episodes without it coming out of nowhere and derailing the rest of the season. I don’t know. Something just seems off. I was hoping that AoS this season would be an actual part of the MCU and it just didn’t happen. Also, the scheduling is very strange. Last week we saw episode 18. Avengers is technically premiering on Thursday at 7:00 pm, even though the “release date” is Friday. So thousands of people will have seen the film before this week’s AoS episode on Friday night. And we still have four more episodes before the season ends. It’s very confusing, and honestly the season feels totally separate from the rest of the MCU and that sucks. I’m kinda bummed because I had high hopes for this season.

My Rating: 6 out of 10, and it would be lower if it weren’t for the wedding.

Gah. I can’t believe it’s done! My life is now empty and meaningless. Luckily, tomorrow I have something to live for! Thank you so much for accompanying me on this journey. It has been a lot of hours, and a lot of time spent on my couch watching movies and shows and living in the MCU. But I wouldn’t change a second of it (well, maybe the Daredevil portions) and I am so happy you came along with me for the ride!

If this is your first MCU post, here’s everything you need to catch up:

Original Post and Checklist Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six

Part Seven Part Eight Part Nine Part Ten