Bats to the Left of Me, Jokers to the Right

 

It sometimes shocks me to find out that a movie I loved when I was younger is not one I have ever reviewed on The Midnite Drive-In. I would have sworn I had covered this movie at some point, and recently, after listening to a movie review  podcast on the film, I went through the archives, expecting to refresh my memory of what I wrote about it.  But, surprise, although I had done one on Batman and Robin, I had never covered the one that started it all.

Batman has some fond memories for me. See the "personal note" at the end of this prologue. 

When it came time to cast the film, as usual, there were a lot of A-list actors who lined up for the role of the Joker. Brad Dourif, who was the voice of Chucky in nearly every Child's Play movie, I think would have made an excellent Joker, but others who attempted auditions included Ray Liotta, John Lithgow(!), Tim Curry(!!) and even Robin Williams(!!!). (I heard somewhere that that was how the studio convinced Jack Nicholson to take the role... as in, "Well, if you don't do it we are gonna go with Robin Williams...")

Kim Basinger landed the role of Vicki Vale rather fortuitously, at least for her.  The original role was going to go to Sean Young (Blade Runner), but she had a horse riding accident that took her out of the picture.  Basinger came at the suggestion of producer Jon Peters, and that was that.  

The casting for the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman had several intriguing possibilities, too. Mel Gibson, Dennis Quaid, Tom Selleck(!), Harrison Ford(!!) and Charlie Sheen(?) were all interested. The studio tried to get Pierce Brosnan interested but he had no interest in playing a comic book character. Too bad. But can you imagine... if he had, he might not have been available to play James Bond in the late 90's. (Brosnan is my second favorite Bond, behind Roger Moore... and, yes, I know I am in a minority there.) 

But of course, we all know that the final result was the casting of Micheal Keaton in the primo role. 

If you weren't alive in the early 80's you probably have no clue as to what a hubbub the casting of Michael Keaton in the role of Batman caused. Prior to this film, Keaton was mostly known for oddball comedies, many of which his character in the film was a bit unhinged.  Like Night Shift, Johnny Dangeously and, most recently at the time, Beetlejuice. Serious Batman fans who were expecting a drastic reformation of the campy 60's TV (and movie) Batman with Adam West and Burt Ward were, needlessly to say, dismissive of the casting.  Micheal Keaton? "Beetlejuice" is going to be "Batman"? Some 50,000 protest letters were sent to the studio when the casting was revealed.

But, guess what? When it came time to tally up the effect that apparent faux pas had on the viewing public that consternation withered away. Unlike the fears and trepidation that Keaton would just rehash the old campy TV show, Burton and Keaton and company surprised the viewing public with a darker and grittier Batman, much like the then current and popular rehashing in the comic world by Frank Miller. Miller had, in 1986, presented a new look to Batman franchise in the comic world, Batman: The Dark Knight. The new Batman took it's cue from that  series.  

 

 

 

 

Batman (1989): 

The opening involves a family of three exiting a venue and trying to find a cab.  Your first impression will probably be, as was mine, that this is the introduction to the origin of the Batman, since everyone knows that Bruce Wayne's parents were killed when he was a kid.  But if you are observant it will become readily apparent that these three are tourists in Gotham, not young Wayne and his parents, who were rich socialites already established in the city. 

Hoodlums assault the family and make off with their booty, but while divvying up their treasure, discuss the recent sightings of a "giant bat" that had sent one of their buddies off a roof. Even though one of them is dismissive of the legend, the "giant bat" in question, Batman (Michael Keaton) shows up and dispatches, although does not kill, the hoodlums. Instead he tells one of them to tell all his friends about the vigilante.

 

 Hood: "Who ARE you?"

Batman: "I'm Batman"

While the hood is carted off, raving about giant bats, Lt. Eckhardt (William Hootkins) meets up with Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson), the second in command of top crime boss of Gotham, Carl Grissom (Jack Palance). Eckhardt doesn't like Napier much and the feeling is mutual. Eckhardt has been taking bribes from Grissom to keep a lid on the investigation into his underworld activities. (Eckhardt is obviously not a very nice character himself.)

 

Side Note: William Hootkins is probably one of the greatest character actors in the late 70's and 80's. One of his first roles was as Porkins (also known as Red Six) in Star Wars, and due to that role he became well remembered, at least with the Star Wars geeks.  But one of my favorite has to be his brief role as Munson in Flash Gordon.  You would also remember him in the early part of Raiders of the Lost Ark as one of the Army men who visit Indiana Jones to lure him into the search for the lost ark.

In the normal world things are going along as would be expected. Top investigative reporter for the Gotham newspaper, Alexander Knox (Robert Wuhl) is investigating these mysterious sightings of a giant bat wreaking havoc in the criminal underworld, but Mayor Borg (Lee Wallace), District Attorney Harvey Dent (Billy Dee Williams) and Commissioner Gordon (Pat Hingle) are refusing to cooperate.  Knox doesn't have many friends on his side taking him seriously until he meets a photographer, Vicki Vale (Kim Bassinger), who is interested in pairing up with him to investigate the vigilante.

 

(l to r): Dent, Mayor and Gordon

 

(l to r): Knox and Vicki

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Grissom discusses with Napier how to deal with the threat from the police. He sets Napier up to be arrested during a sabotage operation on one of his "legal" holdings, Axis Chemicals. The reason he is setting up his second in command is that Napier has been making time with Grissom's woman, Alicia (Jerry Hall). 

 

At the plant, while Napier is carrying out the sabotage, the police arrive and so does Batman. In a battle between the forces of good and evil, Batman apparently tries to apprehend Napier, but loses his grip and Napier falls to his (apparent) death. Gordon is furious and wants Batman arrested, but he escapes.

 

Of course, somehow Napier escapes with his life, but he is disfigured, with a hideous grin, white face and an even more vindictive personality. Transformed now as The Joker, his first act is to get revenge on Grissom for setting him up. The next act is to take over Grissom's operation, including eliminating any and all crime bosses in the city who pose a threat to his position as top criminal.

 

The Joker is increasing incensed that this Batman character is getting all the attention in the press and develops various ways to get back into the bad graces of the city. "This town needs an enema!" he shouts as he destroys yet another TV in his lair.  (TV's were still high price things in the late 80's so Joker must be making good money in his business...)

Back at the mansion, Bruce Wayne, alias Batman, is developing  a relationship with Vicki, as well as is Batman, who has rescued her on a couple of occasions. 

 

Wayne's butler, Alfred (Michael Gough), alternately tries to get Wayne to back off his vigilante quest, as well as tries to encourage Wayne to let Vicki in on the truth. 

 

The Joker is also trying to horn in on Vicki's romantic escapades. He variously tries to romance Vicki, although not entirely in a Casanova fashion. When he shows up at Vicki's apartment he encounters Wayne and shoots him in a jealous rage, but not before saying to him "You ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light?". Wayne, of course, survives, but now he realizes that the Joker is the same hoodlum that shot his parents. (Note: In the history of the original comic book story, the actual murderer was a guy named "Joe Chill", and not actually The Joker, but this being Hollywood, you gotta have all these loose ends tie up conveniently, so...)

 

The ultimate showdown involves The Joker presenting a parade for the city of Gotham, complete with parade, balloons and huge drops of cash on the citizens.  But The Joker's plan does not really involve charity. He intends to blanket the city in a gas that will kill every one who breathes it in. Batman flies in, literally, to the rescue and thwarts the Joker's plans, leading to an ultimate battle atop the city cathedral.

 

The story itself is secondary to the production of the film.  Much of the story comes off as a little cheesy these days, but Tim Burton and company made the city of Gotham come to life.  The dark feeling of a city on the verge of financial ruin due to the rampant crime in the city is visually impressive. There were a few plot holes that stuck out for me, however.

Primarily the one that hit hardest for me is early in the movie. Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox show up at a charity event in order to try to corner the Mayor and Commissioner Gordon for an interview on the sightings of Batman. Both meet up with Bruce Wayne, but neither of them initially know who he is. These are established news people, and neither of them has ever even seen a picture of Gotham's most famous resident??? I don't believe it.

 

The second one is that entire parade scene.  Have you ever tried to throw a parade, impromptu, in a city, especially one the size of Gotham? Barring the red tape need to create such an event, such as clearing the streets and police protection, just the idea that anyone, including a bigwig crime boss, could pull it off at the drop of a hat is unbelievable. But then, if the Joker had had to go through the proper channels, the whole thing would have been dead in the water at the outset, and then how would we get to that final confrontation?

One other thing that glares, although not necessarily a plot hole, is the scene where Batman, flying the Bat plane, zeroes in on the Joker, blatantly taunting him on the city street. Batman fires machine guns and a couple of missiles at the Joker and misses him completely.  With all the money that Wayne had at his disposal to have that plane built, Batman couldn't have a targeting system better equipped to perform that task?

 

The film made an astounding $250 million in American tickets alone, and $411 million world wide, putting to shame such box office dynamos of the year Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Ghostbusters II. As a Warner Bros. film, it held the rank of the highest grossing film of that studio for 7 years. (Twister, released in 1996, broke that record for WB.) Critics sometimes disparaged the movie as "too dark" but audiences loved it (yours truly included).

It would probably be negligent of me not to mention the phenomenal sales of the soundtrack, featuring a few songs made for the movie by Prince.  However, not only does Danny Elfman's soundtrack surpass anything that Prince contributes, but Prince doesn't even get featured in a scene until nearly an hour into the movie. 

Personal note: At the time this movie was released I was in the D.C. area for a working vacation, working a job during the day and attending Christian leadership conferences at night. My whole group, representing Southwest Texas State University, made a fellowship date one Saturday and saw it. A short time later one of my fellow student attendees bought a Batman logo tee and traded it to me for doing his clothes washing. Kept it for years until a medium tee would no longer fit me.

Well, folks, time to fire up the old Plymouth (which by the way is blue, not green and purple, so don't mistake me for one of the Joker's henchmen...) Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy

 

 

Super New Year

 

 

 

 

First off, I can't believe I never got around to Superman before now.  Going on 9 years, off and on, on this blog, and with some of the entries being memories of childhood, a mention of this movie would have seemed to fit.  

Early on in my childhood, movies were a rare treat. I don't really remember all of them.  Most likely I saw several Disney animated films as a child.  One of the podcasts I regularly listen to, All 80's Movies Podcast, has frequent guests on it's show.  One of the questions the  hosts ask  their guests is "What is the first movie you ever saw?"  For me, my earliest memory is Bedknobs and Broomsticks, but I can't really remember one damn thing about the movie except that it had Angela Lansbury in it.

Likewise, I went with my parents and sister to see Patton at the drive-in, and I can't remember diddly about the first experience.  But I do know that it caused my father to determine that we as kids would be allowed to see no movie rated higher than G.

I had to beg and plead for my sister and me to be allowed to go see Star Wars. I  am not sure if my arguments on the subject convinced him to relent or if he was influenced by some other people that it was not that bad.  I always say that his main objection to PG and higher was the presence of language, since, if it was violence he probably would have not even considered Patton in the first place.

So Star Wars is probably my earliest theater going experience i can really remember.  A year later, on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, I am not sure which, we were allowed to go see our second PG movie, Superman.

The producers promoted the film with a memorable tagline : "You'll believe a man can fly."  And, as I can recall, it was pretty impressive at the time.  Nowadays it looks pretty quaint, having been exposed to CGI and the like, but it still looks pretty decent. 

The first of the potential Superman franchise had it's eye on it's sequel already, so there were some setup scenes that included the introduction , early in the movie, of the villains that would serve as foils for the man in the blue suit in the sequel, Superman II.  The first film had some pretty good clout in the form of it's stars.  One particular note was the name Marlon Brando.  His name appears, along with Gene Hackman, before the title "Superman" appears on screen. Such was the clout of Brando, given that his screen presence only really occupies less than 10 minutes of the opening scene. 

In addition, Glenn Ford had an all too brief appearance as Clark's ("Kal-El") Earth father. Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill, who played the original Superman and Lois Lane in the first 1940's live-action version of the Superman saga made a brief cameo as the parents of a young Lois Lane on a train.  Among others who had cameo roles, if you are quick, you can see Larry Hagman, John Ratzenberger, and Rex Reed.

The casting for Superman was probably not quite as expansive as the casting of some other coveted roles, like, say, Scarlett O'Hara, but quite a few names were in the running.  For instance, the producers sought out James Caan, and imagine that for a minute.  Hard to think of the same guy who had recently played a very emotional and rough character like Sonny Corleone trying to pull off the shy and reserved Clark Kent...  I also read that Arnold Scwarzenegger tried for the role.  (At least HE wouldn't have needed any padding as Superman, but even Jimmy Olsen would not have been fooled by the Clark Kent disgiuse in that case...)  

From wikipedia I gleaned the information that a whole raft of other then big names were either courted or tried out for the role.  Among these were Robert Redford, Burt Reynolds, Sylvester Stallone and even Paul Newman.  The one that caught my eye, however, was Neil Diamond.  That would have been the biggest mistake of the movie had it gone that way.  Diamond is a great singer, but he couldn't act worth squat. His one starring role, in 1980's The Jazz Singer, proved that.

The cache of big names didn't stop there.  The script was written by Mario Puzo, the same guy who brought us The Godfather saga, after William Goldman turned down the offer.  Puzo was a great writer in his own right, but I would love to have seen what Goldman would have done with the story.  (Goldman is the man responsible for the scripts for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Princess Bride as well as a host of other great dialogue driven films, so the dialogue would have popped for sure.  He won the Oscar for Best Screenplay for All the President's Men, which I've been meaning to track down a copy of to review,)

As well, instead of Richard Donner, look at the list of "who could have been"  in the director's chair: Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, George Lucas. And, if the producers had been a little more confident in him during pre-production, Steven Spielberg.  But by the time they got the ball rolling Spielberg was already involved in his next opus, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The movie had what was, at that time, the biggest budget, at in the neighborhood off $55 million. Fortunately for the financial backers it was a huge hit and made well over $300 million in it's first run, a good enough showing that all that pre-setup in the picture to point to the sequel wasn't wasted.  (Just as an endpoint, since I won't be reviewing it here, the early scenes involving Jor-el and the three rebels figures prominently in Superman II.) 

Superman: (1978)

On the planet Krypton, Jor-El (Marlon Brando) delivers a sum-up of his case against three renegades, General Zod (Terence Stamp) and his cohorts Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O'Halloran).  In the end the three are sentences to a life (actually "Forever") sentence in The Forbidden Zone (essentially a two-dimensional prism that floats endlessly through space.)

After the trial Jor-El pleads with the council to listen to his aguments once again that Krypton needs to be evacuated immediately because it is on it's last legs.  He is silenced and forced to eep it to himself, because none of the powers-that-be want to admit that there might be something to his predictions, (And isn't that the way with ALL politicians when world-changing scenarios come into the fore.)

Jor-El swears that neither he, nor his wife, will attempt to leave planet Krypton.  But he didn't say anything about his son, Kal-El.  Just before all hell breaks loose on the planet, he manages to send his son off in a space ship, destined for a remote planet called...Earth.

The ship takes a little while to make the trip, since Kal-El is a baby when it leaves Krypton, but by the time it arrives on Earth, the baby is about 3 years old. (Which makes one wonder what kind of technology Krypton had to keep him alive and well-fed all that time, since he obviously couldn't have operated any computer functions himself...)

When the ship crash lands on Earth, it is conveniently near an older couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent (Glenn Ford and Phyllis Thaxter).  They adopt the kid as their own, using the ruse that the boy is an orphan from Martha's side of the family to hide his true origin.

Fast forward 15 years.  Young Clark (Jeff East) is struggling to be accepted in his coterie of friends because he is such a geek.  Of course, we all know that the "geek" is just a front, since Clark could handle the entire football squad single-handedly.  Clark has a tendency to show off, secretly using his superpowers, but since the kids don't know his secret, they just think of him as more of a "geek".

When Clark's adopted father dies, Clark discovers, hidden in the barn, a crystal from his space ship. He takes the crystal and treks north to the frozen tundra of the North Pole where he creates the Fortress of Solitude with it, and spends the next 12 years under the tutelage of his real father, via hologram.

The next thing you know, Clark is a fully grown man and has gone to Metroplolis where he has a job as a reporter, and meets three of the main characters he will interact with the rest of he film: Perry White (Jackie Cooper), his boss; Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure), the paper's star photographer; and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) one of the star reporters.  (One thing, played for laughs in some scenes is Lois asking someone how to spell some word.  It's funny, but it made me wonder how she got a job as a reporter when she lacked the wherewithal of vocabulary... or at least a good dictionary...)

Superman reveals his presence very early when Lois, who is on a helicopter to go meet the President of the United states gets into a bind and nearly crashes.  Subsequently he foils a robbery, snares a guy trying to get to the top of the building without using the building's elevator, and rescues a cat in a tree.

Everyone wants to know about this mysterious hero, and Superman eventually agrees to an interview with none other than Lois.  Making Superman and Lois seemingly bosom friends (at the very least...)

Meanwhile, deep under the subway in his secret lair, mastermind criminal Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is making plans for his domination of the real estate market by planning to hijack two nuclear warheads and use them to destroy most of southern California nd make all the desert land he bought up prime coastal property.  In this endeavor he is helped by his dimwit flunky, Otis (Ned Beatty) and his woman, Miss Tessmacher (Valerie Perrine).  (With stalwart help like this, who needs enemies...?)

Eventually things come to a head when Luthor entices Superman to his lair.  But Luthor is not an idiot.  He didn't entice Superman without a backup.  He has a piece of Kryptonite, a remnant of Superman's home world on hand, which will render Superman useless when he comes in contact with it.

With Superman out of the way, and the warheads on their  destination, things seem bleak.  But when Miss Tessmacher finds out that Luthor has sent one of the warheads to Hackensack, NJ(?), she rescues Superman, on the promise that he will stop the warhead going to NJ first, because that's where her mother lives.

(OK. Interjection here.  Superman is "faster than a speeding bullet". So why is he taking such a long time to overtake the first warhead?  We need that to happen so that the next part will happen, but it just doesn't compute...)

Superman does stop the first warhead, but the second one does it's damage by causing the San Andreas Fault to malfunction and start causing serious damage.  But Superman is able to keep the entire coast from disappearing into the Pacific Ocean.  Unfortunately, one of the losses in the event is the life of Lois.  Which doesn't really set well with Superman...

One of his father's admonitions during his training was that it was "forbidden for him to interfere with human history".  But Superman refuses to let that stop him.  He roars into space and using his super speed manages to reverse the turning of the Earth to go back before Lois died. (And thus, even though he took his own precious time chasing down the first warhead, he finds the wherewithal to fly faster than that to reverse time.. go figure.)

All's well that ends well, at any rate.  Lois is still alive and Luthor and Otis end up in prison.

 This movie is still pretty good even now, 47 years later, although at times, as I said before, it comes off a little dated by it's special effects.  But I can't fault it for that, after all, it was the best that Hollywood and the science of filming had to offer at the time,

Well, folks, time to fly off to the home front.  Drive safely.

Quiggy

MCU Sunday #19 and #20 Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the nineteenth (and twentieth) installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

 

 
Note: As stated in the last post (MCU Postponed) I decided to post a review of both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame as one post, since both are together essentially one longer film divided into two movies.  This means that the chronological portion of the series is going to be out of order, but I felt it necessary to do it this way.  Beginning next week I will circle back to Ant-Man and the Wasp and Captain Marvel, both of which appeared in theaters before the second movie in this post.  I will be back on track when I get through those two.  Patience.

 

When these two films hit the theaters there was a change in the way that Marvel did films.  Although there was a running thread in the other 18 movies in the MCU cycle, with these films, for the first time, there was what was obviously a cliffhanger aspect. In my experience of 45 years of watching movies in theaters, I had only experienced this a few times. The most recent one (for me) at that time, had been when I saw Back to the Future Part II. Understand that I was not in the know when I saw that one, but late in the movie I realized that there was no way this was going to end as a complete story.  And sure enough, the credits rolled with the enticement to come back for Back to the Future Part III.

Now, I am not so rigid in my film viewing that I don't like to see those words "... to be continued... appear.  But I have to admit that I prefer to wait until the cycle is complete and watch all of them in succession rather than wait for the next installment, since sometimes it can take a couple of years before the next one.  By which time I will probably have forgotten a lot of the previous movie.

Which is why I decided to pair these two as one movie.  Three weeks is a lot less than three years (and no, it wasn't three years between the two, that's just a metaphor for the post...). 

With this iteration of MCU, all of the previously introduced characters over the past 10 years or so are brought together in one climatic showdown.  And much of the previously only tantalizing tidbits of what the future held finally come to fruition.  For instance, we finally get to see the significance of the Tesseract, an object first introduced way back in the first Captain America film.

 

 

 

Avengers: Infinity War (2018):

The first thing that happens is Thanos (Josh Brolin) and his cohorts are attacking the refugee ship of Asgardians who have escaped Asgard after it's destruction (See Thor: Ragnarok).  Already having acquired one of the Infinity Stones, he is seeking the rest of them, and he knows that one of them is being held by the Asgardians.  And, of course, it is encased in our old friend, the Tesseract. During the encounter, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) is killed and The Hulk, who tries but fails to subdue Thanos by his lonesome, is cast to Earth.  Which is Thanos' next goal.

 

Back on Earth, Hulk has reverted back to Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) and enlists the help of Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who in turn seeks out Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Banner tells Stark about Thanos and his goal to acquire all the infinity stones.  But since Stark has no idea what the hell the infinity stones are, he gets an education in them.

 

 
See. at the beginning of the Big Bang, the Infinity Stones were created and scattered throughout the universe. The Stones, which control various aspects of the universe keep the universe in existence by their presence, but if someone were to put them all into one place they could manipulate the universe to their own wishes.

The Stones govern six various aspects of existence: Power, Space, Reality, Soul, Mind and Time. (and Thanos already has the Power and the Space Stones.  Thus he is a third of the way to that power to change things (and not necessarily for the better... he is a villain, after all...)

But the threat is imminent in New York.  While discussing the options of what to do about the Time Stone which is currently in Dr. Strange's possession, a spaceship appears.  

And on a school bus nearby, Peter Parker, alias Spiderman (Tom Holland), senses something is up.

Where is Stan Lee?

Stan is the bus driver who dismisses the imminent danger to the kids of the bus with the comment "What's the matter with you kids?  You never seen a spaceship before?"

 

So Iron man and Dr. Strange and Spiderman do battle with Thanos' main man, Ebony Maw ( trying to prevent him from taking the next stone, the Time Stone.  But, though they succeed in not being eliminated from the scene, Maw manages to get the stone, albeit with Dr. Strange still attached to it.  (There's more than one way to get what you want...)

Meanwhile the Guardians of the Galaxy, consisting of our friends Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Gamora  (Zoe Saldana) and Baby Groot (Vin Diesel) answer the distress call pit out by the Asgardians, but arrive late and see the destruction that Thanos put on the ship. They rescue Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who somehow is still alive.

And revived, Thor tells them that Thanos' next objective is probably to get the Infinity Stone, which is being held by The Collector (Benecio Del Toro) on Knowhere.  He thinks the Time and Mind Stones are safe because they are on Earth under the protection of The Avengers. (He doesn't know yet that the Time Stone's safety has been compromised.) And since no one even knows where the sixth stone, the Soul Stone, is, ergo, Thanos must be going to acquire the one held by the Collector.

But before they go after Thanos, Thor needs to have a new hammer made for him to replace the one his sister destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok. Thus half of them head off to Nidavellir, while the other half head of to Knowhere to confront Thanos.

Meanwhile, despite Thor's insistence that the Stones on Earth are safe, after the Time Stone has been compromised, Vision (Paul Bettany), who has the Mind Stone in his forehead, is attacked by a couple more of Thanos' henchmen.  But Vision an Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) are saved by the efforts of Captain America (Chris Evans), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Falcon (Anthony Mackie). They take Vision to Wakanda where, maybe, with the help of Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and War Machine (Don Cheadle), they can prevent Thanos from getting the Mind Stone.

Back on Knowhere, the remaining Guardians confront Thanos, but are too late to prevent him from acquiring the fourth Stone.  And it turns out that "no one knows where the sixth stone is" was a bit premature presumption.  It turns out that Gamora has that knowledge, and Thanos not only gets the Reality Stone, but also gets Gamora (and we can all guess what he is going to do to get her to reveal the location the Soul Stone (the sixth stone we mentioned.)

WE do get some insight into Thanos' motivation, albeit somewhat twisted.  See he knows that if life is unchecked it will expand beyond the capacity for the resources of the universe to sustain it.  A valid observation, true, but his solution is to eliminate half of the known universe's life to keep the other half from starving from this low capacity of resources.  Not exactly the most equitable of solutions, even if it does solve the immediate problem.

THe movie starts to get a little complicated here, so try to keep up.  Thor and Rocket and Groot have gone to Nidavellir to get the dwarves to make Thor another hammer.  Star Lord,  Drax and Mantis have gone to Titan in search of Drax.  Meanwhile, Dr. Strange, Iron Man and Spider-man have escaped captivity but had to crash land on the nearby planet, you guessed it, Yitan.  Where the two forces meet up and, initially, not knowing who the other force is end up in combat.  But that is quickly resolved when it is revealed that both have the same goal; the defeat of Thanos.

Back on Nidavellir, Thor finds out that the dwarves were the ones who made the glove that Thanos is using to combine the power of the stones.  And, of course, Thanos being Thanos, he killed off every last dwarf on the planet except one. (Should've finished the job, since now there is one left to recreate the mighty hammer of Thor.

Thanos, meanwhile has sought out the Soul Stone.  Which is guarded by... Red Skull (remember the bad guy behind the nefarious Hydra in Captain America: The First Avenger? Yeah, everybody;s getting into the act in this film...) But the Soul Stone is special.  It requires a sacrifice, a soul for the Soul. Thanos must sacrifice one that he loves so he can acquire the stone.  End of movie, since Thanos loves no one.

 

Not so fast.  Apparently Thanos really does love his adopted daughter, Gamora, surprise surprise... At least it is to her and to the viewing audience, since he certainly doesn't show it very well. So if you are keeping track, Thanos has now got 4 stones.  He still needs Dr. Strange's Time Stone and Vision's Mind stone.  Which of course is Thanos' next objectives.  While Thanos fights on Titan to get the Time Stone, his allies battle the remaining Avengers in an attempt to get Vision's Mind Stone.

Ultimately Dr. Strange surrenders the Time Stone to save Iron man, and Thanos immediately transfers to Wakanda to get the final stone. Vision begs Wanda to use her power to destroy the Mind Stone, but Wanda, thought successful, fails because Thanos has the Time Stone and can reverse time to a point before she destroyed it, and Thanos gets the stone.  He then uses the power of the stones to eliminate half of all life in the universe and we watch as many of the Avengers and the rest of the universe dissipates into nothingness.

And the Credits Roll:  

In New York, the dissolving people are creating a bit of havoc, and among those who disappear is Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).  No hint at a preview here, just a continuation of the effects of Thanos' goal.

Thus we move on to how the remaining Avengers will try to set things right, but that won't come until after the intermission.

 

 

Avengers: Endgame (2019):

The movie opens, of course, after half of the universe has been eliminated by Thanos' use of the Infinity Gauntlet.  (And note: Since I jumped the sequential portion to do this, you have to accept that Captain Marvel and The Wasp are going to be present, even though they haven't been formally introduced as characters yet.)

The remaining Avengers assemble after Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) rescues Iron Man and Nebula from being stranded in space.  The remaining Avengers aren't exactly going to go quietly into that good night.  Along with Iron Man, those remaining Avengers, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, War Machine and Hulk seek out Thanos in his "retirement Home" in order to retrieve the Infinity Stones and (hopefully) reverse the damage Thanos had done.

But when they find him, it turns out that after he succeeded in eliminating half the universe he destroyed the stones.  Thor, not exactly a happy camper at this news, decapitates Thanos.

Five years later, the remaining Avengers are still struggling to adapt to this new life. Enter Ant-Man, who has been trapped in some kind of time loop.  When he breaks free he has no idea what has happened.  But gradually learns the truth, especially after he finds his name among those who were lost during the dissipation.

He seeks out the Avengers where he reveals that 5 years earlier he got stuck in the quantum realm, and even though 5 years passed here in the physical realm, only 5 hours passed for him in the quantum realm.  So maybe, just maybe, they could use that quantum realm in some way to alter the present reality. (Can you say "time travel"? Yes! Finally! One of my favorite topics!)

Unfortunately, they need a big brain to help pull it off.  And Tony Iron Man Stark is too cynical and set in his new ways to commit.  But the team finds Bruce Banner, who now, more or less, is The Hulk.  Except with the brain capacity of Bruce, They could still use Tony's expertise, but it may require some convincing.  Especially since Bruce's expertise is not quantum physics.  He has a couple of glitches trying to make that time machine work.  (Maybe they should have sprung for the DeLorean instead of that second hand minivan...)

Time to gather the remaining Avengers.  Thor has turned into an alcoholic wallowing in self-pity, but he may not be the toughest challenge. What really may be the challenge is Hawkeye, who is now basically a mercenary. A good mercenary, to be sure, since when they find him he is in the process of taking out the Yakuza, the Japanese equivalent of the mafia. (No, not just a few key members of the upper echelon... the whole damn Yakuza...)

So with all these (admittedly limited) heroes, plus Tony Stark's modifications, the Avengers plan is to go back in time and get each of the stones before Thanos has a chance to get them. (So I'm thinking... If they are successful in getting just one, wouldn't THAT be enough to stop the damage Thanos caused? Well, it may not be that simple...)

So the Pym Particles that Ant-Man has to power these trips back in time are limited, since, after all, Hank Pym is no longer around to create new ones.  So each member has one and only one opportunity to acquire his or her Infinity Stone from wherever in time and space they choose to make their attempts.  But, hey, a cake walk right, since no one knows they will be going back to try to collect them.

The first team, which includes Cap, Hulk, Iron man and Ant-Man end up in New York City during the Battle for New York (See The Avengers).  There are 3 stones in the same area at this time, so they have objectives to kill three birds with one trip.  Hulk makes an attempt to take the Time Stone from the Sorcerer Supreme, who is reluctant to give it up, until Hulk convinces here that after they have set things aright, the stone will be returned to it's original point mere nanoseconds after it disappeared with him.

The second team, with Thor and Rocket, go to Asgard. And the third team, War Machine, Nebula, Black Widow and Hawkeye end up on Morag.

And on Morag, where the past iteration of Thanos and Gamora and Nebula are seeking the Power Stone, Nebula, who is part machine after all, is getting some interference in her memory from the present iteration of Nebula.  Thus, the past iteration of Thanos discovers some of the details of the Avengers' plans. So maybe this whole time travel scenario may not be a cake walk after all.

Especially when the New York team fails in acquiring all three stones.  It seems during the encounter that had previously happened at SHIELD with Loki captured ended up a bust because Loki managed to escape and take the Tesseract with him.  But Iron Man and Cap have a new plan, one which involves another time leap.  They go to 1970, where not only is there the Tesseract, but they also have the possibility of acquring more Pym Particles for their time travelling.

Where is Stan Lee?

In 1970, Stan Lee (who had in reality died by this time) is a CGI de-aged hippie who tells people "Hey man, make love, not war" as he zooms by a military installation.

 

Which is the destination of Cap and Iron Man. Tony meets his father and has a lasting moment as his father is just on the verge of becoming a father, (to Tony).  And they get away with the Tesseract  and a few Pym particles.

Meanwhile on Vormir, where Red Skull tells Hawkeye and Black Widow the price to get the Soul Stone is a "soul for a soul" the two battle with each other to see which one of them will be the one to be sacrificed.  (Yeah, OK, these are heroes not villains... They are battling to see which one of them will give up his or her life as a sacrifice so the other can retrieve the Soul Stone...)

Having acquired all of the stones and fitted them to the Infinity Gauntlet, the question then becomes who will be the one to put it on and reverse the effects.  As Hulk points out, the power being mostly gamma ray operated, he, having become Hulk in the first place from gamma rays is the most obvious choice. Although he succeeds, it turns out that Thanos, who found out about the Avengers plan, may have other ideas about how things should go.  (After all, after you have accomplished a life long goal, would YOU want a bunch of malcontents disrupting YOUR success?)

Of course, Thanos fails to take into consideration that, having reversed the damage he originally did, he not only has to deal with the survivors of his destruction, but all those heroes who had been eliminated... Here comes Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Star-Lord, you know, the whol she-bang.  Oh, it's going to get good...

"Avengers! Assemble!"

 

After the (eventual) defeat of Thanos, the Avengers have to return the stones to their proper point in time.  And, spoiler alert!) not ALL of the heroes are going to come out on the other side of the battle and it's solution.  But, boy, is it going to be a glorious battle to the finish (sort of like the legendary battle of Ragnarok from the original Norse mythology...)

Ultimately, when Cap goes back to return the stones, he doesn't come back the same way.  He is now an old man.  It seems he decided to go back to the 40's and live out the life of his dreams that would have happened if he had not gone into hibernation.  Sad but also happy ending.

And the Credits Roll: 

There is no after credits scene previewing upcoming sequences here.  I think maybe this was originally intended to be the final in the MCU sequence.  Of course, you know that's not the case as a new Phase came on the scene later.  

So where do these movies rank in the pantheon?  Well, to be honest, I can't rank them separately, because if I did, Avengers: Infinity war would be unfairly ranked lower just because of the unresolved issue of the ending.  (Reemember, I did say i didn't particularly like the to be continued endings of films.  I prefer my movies to be wrapped up in a neat little shell so that each can be watched without having to cue up another movie.  But that is only when I don't expect to have to see another one, so something like The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit get a pass because I knew going in they would be left unresolved.

So when you see that ultimate ranking at the end of this MCU jaunt, you will see both ranked together. And they do get a fairly high ranking when paired together.

Well, folks, its time to head home.  The old Plymouth is not going to be a time machine.  So I can't go back in time and alter the past, so please drive safely.

Quiggy

MCU Sunday #18: Black Panther

 

 Preface: As promised last year, I plan to review every single currently available movie in what is known as the  Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) over the year 2024. These will appear in order of their release over that time period. This is the eighteenth installment. (Oh, and by the way, after I've exhausted all of the currently available MCU movies I will be rounding out the year with some of the other available movies made from the Marvel comics pantheon.)

Notes: In each of the MCU installments you will be seeing references to two recurring events that occur in nearly every MCU movie.

Where is Stan Lee?: Stan Lee was the driving genius behind Marvel Comics.  He usually shows up in a cameo.  Sometimes these are so quick you gotta be sure you don't blink. Occasionally he gets a line  of dialogue.

And the Credits Roll: You should always stay in the theater for the credits when watching a MCU movie, because during the credits and at the end there is a teaser (or two) that is worth the wait.  Often they were a teaser for the next installment of the films.

 

 

 

Way back in 2005 a project to bring the character to the big screen was going to be made starring Wesley Snipes.  I imagine Snipes would have acquitted himself quite well if this had come about, since he had already done a quite decent job as another "superhero", Blade, beginning in the late 90's.

Eventually when Marvel Studios began producing their own movies, Black Panther became one of the hopeful superheroes they wanted to bring to the big screen.  He was first introduced in Captain America: Civil War. The mantle of the character has always passed down to the current king of Wakanda.  When King T'Chaka (John Kani) was killed, T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman), his son was destined to be the new king and thus also the new Black Panther.

Black Panther garnered a lot of accolades over the awards season.  It was one of the few superhero movies  to be noticed by the Oscar committee.  Of course, you may know 1978's Superman won the first Oscar (a Special Achievement for Visual Effects). And, usually, if a superhero movie did manage to get attention it was for one of the lesser awards like Best Sound.  Superhero movies rarely got beyond that level however, and one of the rare exceptions was when Heath Ledger was given the award for Best Supporting Actor. (Not that  his award was not well deserved, but I really think some of the attention was due to his untimely death.  You can argue that point, but I remain convinced of  that.)

The technical and script writing and even the acting in Black Panther surpassed the standard  fare that had been the standard, enough so that it became the first superhero movie to ever garner a nomination for Best Picture.  And in another year, maybe it would have even won.  But it's competition that year included Green Book and BlacKKKlansman, either one of which was probably fated to win the award. (As it turned out. Green Book  walked away with the statuette.)

 

 

 

Black Panther (2018):

The film opens with a little background as the history of Wakanda is told. Millions of years before men rose to become the predominant species on the planet Earth, a meteor made of vibranium crashed into the African lands.  When men started to come into play, the people of the area that became Wakanda banded together and put it to use in creating a technologically advanced  society.  Four of the five tribes banded together, with the fifth becoming an outlaw band.

In 1992, the king T'Chaka (Atandwa Kani) comes to California to confront his brother, N'Jobu (Sterling K. Brown), to accuse him of betraying his country by intending to sell some vibranium to a nefarious black market weapons dealer, and has plans to have him taken back to Wakanda.

In the present, not long after the events which led to the death of his father, T'Challa is preparing to take on the mantle of king.  During the proceedings, all of the tribes resoundingly back him as the new king, with the exception being the outlaw tribe, the Jabari.  M'Baku (Winston Duke), as the champion representing the Jabari challenges his right, which is settled in combat.  T'Challa defeats M'Baku and is installed as king, with the rite of passage that is required; one in which he meats his dead father during the "burial" ceremony.

After he becomes king, T'Challa is tasked with a new quest.  He is required to bring the weapons dealer, Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis) back to Wakanda to face trial for his crimes against Wakanda. T'Challa finds out that Klaue is planning on selling a stolen Wakandan weapon on the black market in South Korea so takes a member of his security force / bodyguards, Okoye (Danai Gurira). (The security force is all female and all with shaved heads.  I'd like to have these women on my bodyguard team.  They are damn good fighters.)  

He also  takes his ex-lover (and would-be queen, i he had his way.) Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), who is not only a former member of the bodyguard elite, but has apparently been spending the last few years as sort of a female James Bond.

Where is Stan Lee? 

Before Klaue shows up, T"Challa attempts to retain his cover by gambling, but leaves the table just as 014he has won a bet. Stan shows up a gambler and retains his winnings for himself.

At the casino where he deal is supposed to go down, T'Challa meets up with a former acquaintance. Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) with whom he had an association while trying to t5rack down Helmut Zemo (See the Captain America: Civil War link above).. Of course, you know things aren't going to go smoothly when both forces have opposing goals.  In the ensuing chaos, Klaue attempts to escape and Black Panther and his limited group give chase.  (And we get some of the most destroyed car scenes this side of The Blues Brothers). But eventually Black Panther and ross capture Klaue.  And he IS talking.  He tells Ross that his limited view of Wakanda and its resources are somewhat naive.  They actually have more vibranium than you can shake a stick at.

And Klaue  has a few more cards up his sleeve.  Including some allies who rescue him. But before he escapes he takes a pot shot at the group, and Ross, attempting to shield Nakia, jumps in front of her and takes a bullet. While Klaue escapes, T"Challa takes Ross back to Wakanda where, hopefully, his life can be saved. Meanwhile he noticed that one of Klaue's rescuers was wearing a ring that supposedly belonged in his family.

It turns out that T'Chaka's brother, the one who betrayed Wakanda at the beginning of this movie, had a child with an American woman, but that child had been left behind.  The child grew up,. and is now Erik (Michal B. Jordan), also known as Kilmonger,  who is now at odds with T'Challa (who is in reality ,his cousin), because he is now claiming a right to the throne of Wakanda. He has killed Klaue aqnd delivered the body to the Wakandans, but now he wants to be king. Of course, his claim is righteous, on the face of it.  He wants to give black people the power to rule all over,

He challenges T'Challa for right through combat. and ends up seriously injuring him.. Although many are willing to stay on the tradition route and serve the new king, who is now known as N'Jadaka. But his ex, Nakia, has more loyalty to T'Challa, and with the help of ross and a limited supply of allies, goes to the Jabari tribe, the same ones who challenged T'Challa's right to rule.  The Jabari, it turns out, although they objected to T'Challa's right to rule, have that unknown virtue of respect, since T'Challa spared the life of M'Baku in that original combat, even though it was within his rights to kill him.

The Jabari help revive T'Challa who goes on to challenge the new king.  But now the new king has his own power as the new Black Panther, so it's not going to be easy. Especially since N'Jadaka has that more well-known "virtue" on his side, revenge.  You see, he knows that T'Challa's father killed his father, T'Chaka's own brother.  Hence one of the driving forces behind his real desire to take the throne.

The group do manage to revive T'Challa so he can pose a threat to N'Jadaka's claim to the throne.  

And the Credits Roll:

In a mid credits scene T'Challa appears before the United Nations to reveal the true existence of Wakanda and its technology, and in a post-credits Shuri (Letitia Wright), T'Challa's whiz-kid kid sister helps Buck Barnes in his rehabilitation, so the Winter Soldier is hopefully on a new path.

This has been a very good movie, despite the fact that, like another movie in the series that I genuinely liked, the real slam-bang action is kept far too low for my tastes in superhero movies.  And although many lists put Black Panther as the top movie in the pantheon, that lack of intensity serves to lower this one on my own personal list.  But it is still in the top 5, so don't sweat that.

BTW, gotta tell you, those African names gave my spell check a run for it's money. But we got a couple of great African-American actors on this one whose names are not only familiar, but far easier to spell.  (Forrest Whitaker as Zuri and Angela Bassett as T'Challa's mother, Ramonda).

I wish I had some of those spaceship-like flying machines that the Wakandans have, though.  They are reminiscent of some of the alien spaceships that appeared in other movies in the series.  It makes one wonder why Stark industries, with the intelligence that they had with the likes of Howard and Tony Stark only managed to create a lousy bullet proof shield (Captain America).  But then, the Wakandans had centuries to work with vibranium and Stark Industries only had access to it for less than 1 century...  

Time to fire up the old Plymouth now.  Too bad it's body isn't made of vibranium.  But I won't be traveling in dangerous territory on the way home.  Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy