Theme: DC & Marvel

There’s tons of strong action hero movies in recent years & decades based on classic DC and Marvel comicbook characters like Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Black Adam, Aquaman, Thor, Wonder Woman, etc.

Unbreakable (2000) – Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson

Unbreakable (2000) begins with a few minutes of torture in the form of loud crying babies. I simply couldn’t listen properly to any of the dialog here – I had no choice but to mute the entire scene and ready the subtitles. Not a good start!

10 minutes later, after a slow but watchable scene with Bruce Willis on a train, we discover why this movie is called Unbreakable and it becomes quite intriguing. Bruce Willis’s character basically has the same superpower as Marvel’s Luke Cage – an unbreakable body; and by contrast, Samuel L Jackson‘s character easily breaks all his bones like they’re made of glass, but never dies – hence the memorable threequel called Glass (2019) which came after the sequel called Split (2016).

This 100 minute long movie doesn’t get really cool until around half an hour before the end. The movie is like all drama for plot build up until near the end, then findally it becomes really interesting as everything that’s been set up unravels as Bruce Willis’s character finally entertains the ideas of Samuel L Jackson’s character, and Bruce accepts that he probably is a real-life version of a comicbook superhero with multiple superpowers. Nice plot twist at the very end too, as we discover what Samuel’s character is really all about.

All in all, I think we can say this is a strange “mild sci-fi” mostly-drama movie with just enough action, and superhero concept, and cinematography, and star power coming from the lead cast members, to make it Watchable for action hero movie fans who aren’t really into the slow drama genre. I’m certainly in no hurry to rewatch it though – this is one of those movies to be watched once in a lifetime, and maybe again with a friend who’s never seen it before, and maybe again if you’ve completely forgot all about it. Best to enjoy it sequentially before its threequel (Glass). I’d skip the first sequel (Split) though. As weak as they are on the action side of things, Unbreakable and Glass just about manage to sustain attention and be quite emotive and memorable to action fans thanks to their star power in Bruce and Samuel plus decent cinematography.

Sequels

The first sequel – Split (2016) starring James McAvoy (from Wanted) – is of zero interest to action hero movie fans who aren’t into slow gritty drama and find horror repulsive. There are no action heroes in this movie except for a seated 1-liner cameo appearance by Bruce Willis in the final few seconds of the movie. It’s just a serial killer-kidnapper drama-horror movie with zero relevance to action hero movie fans.

The threequel – Glass (2019) – gets off to a better start with the return of Bruce Willis as the unbreakable superhero. His age is really showing here though, as he’s in his mid 60s already and doesn’t try to hide it.

Spencer Treat Clark also returns, as Bruce’s son in Glass, although he looks nothing like him and never did, and looks even less like supposed mother. Still, he makes a good office-based sidekick in this movie.

James McAvoy also reprises his role from Split, as the serial killer-kidnapper with split personalities, but fortunately his role is far less one dimensional here, and the entire movie doesn’t revolve around him like it did in Split. Bruce Willis gets an equal share of screentime this time round.

Daredevil (2003) – Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

This movie has some strong action scenes as well as some entertaining non action scenes between a lot of slow & cold drama – not dissimilar to most Batman movies – a role which Ben Affleck took over in 2016.

The fight scenes have a lot of flashing light & dark to disguise the lack of real martial arts skill on display – not recommend for those suffering from epilepsy. Good music accompanies much of the action in this movie.

The first half hour is mostly boring plot-building, then the movie warms up considerably when Jennifer Garner‘s character (Elektra) is introduced.

Supporting cast includes Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin – he’s a great fit for the role; Colin Farrell as Bullseye – a hired-help baddie – he also does a great job here; and Coolio who adequately plays someone wrongly accused of a crime, who Ben Affleck‘s character defends (no matter how much it costs him). Jon Favreau also does well as the main character’s partner at their own law firm.

Batman Begins (2005) – Christian Bale and Liam Neeson

Batman Begins (2005) is a star-studded action-drama thriller starring Christian Bale (of Equilibrium, 2002) as Bruce Wayne and Batman. In Batman Begins, we see Bruce Wayne’s growth from childhood into adulthood, we see how he became the Batman, who he formed his initial friendships & alliances with, who he became early enemies with, and we follow his first few missions as the Batman.

Also starring Liam Neeson as the Ninja clan leader who helped train Batman near the start of the movie, while harbouring a dark intentions that come back into the plot towards the end of the movie.

Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman play the roles of Batman’s senior helpers – Alfred the butler, and Mr Fox the technologist who was a former board member and friend of Bruce Wayne’s late father.

Gary Oldman (from Léon and The Book Of Eli) plays the detective who Batman forms an early alliance with, and Katie Holmes (ex-wife of Tom Cruise) plays the lead female who Bruce Wayne grew up with and Batman rescues.

Tom Wilkinson plays the main bad guy early on, and Cillian Murphy plays the main baddie in the middle of the movie.

Generally, it’s a great cast with great acting ability expressed throughout the movie. Batman’s car and technological gadgets are also very nice.

But it’s disappointing that we get some annoyingly hard-to-see fight scenes where everything’s dark and the camera keeps switching between pieces of unclear footage – this is not the kind of action scene I enjoy to watch, but I appreciate there’s no real martial arts skill to be demonstrated by any of these guys and this is a way to cover it up and make it still look credible for drama lovers and suspense or even horror genre fans. Indeed, this movie gets a bit boring with a lot of drama genre creeping in, but when the plot gains legs and the action picks up it becomes very entertaining from time to time.

There’s a great plot twist about half an hour before the end of the movie, when Liam Neeson’s character comes to Gotham.

All in all, I rate it pretty good for fans of this kind of mixed action-drama genre; but for pure action hero movie awesomeness, I rate this movie just ‘OK’ on a par with golden oldie action dramas like Lethal Weapon that have minimal special effects and gadgets etc.

Sequels

If you loved this movie, you might also love its immediate sequel The Dark Knight (2008) which brings back most of the same major cast members and gets regularly called a masterpiece by movie critics, although it doesn’t work so well for me – the star of that movie is actually the Joker rather than the Batman. Maybe it’s good for drama and horror movie fans, but it’s not so pleasant for smooth action hero movie connoisseurs to enjoy. But if you do enjoy the sequel, you’ll be pleased to know most of the same guys come back again for a threequel, The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Batman Begins (2005)

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) – Benedict Cumberbatch

This superhero movie by Marvel is a bit of a disappointment for action hero movie fans who loved the original Doctor Strange (2016). This sequel is so bad, Google doesn’t even classify it as an action movie – Google calls it a Horror instead!

The plot lacks cohesion, lacks originality, and lacks awesome action hero moments. Granted, there is a bit of a plot, there are some kind of new concepts, and there are some sort of decent moments in this movie; but it’s generally several levels below the bar set by the original – it’s not on the same level in any way except in the special effects department. So it should be no surprise that critics worldwide are calling it a flop. Actually, there is one thing it does a bit better – Horror – and we know that’s really what Hollywood loves most! But for fans of comfortable-yet-buzzing action hero movies, this sequel really kind of stinks.

Benedict Cumberbatch doesn’t perform poorly though – he does alright, considering what he’s working with here. Elizabeth Olsen plays the ‘bad guy’ – the Scarlet Witch, and does a fair job of that too. Xochitl Gomez plays the butch female superhero born from two mothers (trust Hollywood to push stuff like that) who works with Doctor Strange against the Scarlet Witch. Xochitl gave a very basic performance here – she’s not the best actress – not by a long way – but to her credit she was only in her mid-teens at the time of this movie’s release.

Catwoman (2004) – Halle Berry

Stylistically, Catwoman (2004) is like a cross between Batman (in core concept) and Dark Angel (down to the same kinds of superpowered stunts and musical effects).

Halle Berry stars as the Catwoman superhero in this movie. She’s in her late 30s here – somewhat past her prime physically, but still only a couple of years since she played the role of a Bond girl alongside Pierce Brosnan in Die Another Day (2002). Her acting is pretty good here too. She makes a convincing feline furry.

The supporting cast is pretty good too.

Sharon Stone stars as the main supervillain after killing her husband and framing it on Catwoman towards the back end of the movie. Sharon’s in her mid 40s here – far from being in her physical prime but she does a good job of acting nevertheless.

Lambert Wilson does alright as the main antagonist through most of the movie, until he gets out-done by his estranged wife played by Sharon Stone.

Benjamin Bratt plays the detective who unwittingly gets romantically involved with Catwoman before eventually arresting her. He does a good job in his role here. He has a bit of a Mark Dacascos vibe.

It’s also good to see Byron Mann playing a minor role as a security guard (with half a conscience) for the baddies – his face gets around a lot in action hero movies of this era. His colleague Michael Massee (the guy who shot & killed Brandon Lee (Bruce Lee’s only son) on the set of The Crow with a real gun & bullet and pretended it was an accident) performed adequately as a security guard for the baddies here too. Brandon was killed because he was finally persuaded to investigate his father’s murder (which was also officially ruled an accident) – of course Hollywood couldn’t allow that.

Overall, considering the density of adrenaline-packed creative scenes vs the less entertaining slower drama scenes, and considering the general quality of cast, plot, script & action at work here, I rate Catwoman (2004) to be a Decent movie – a level better than just OK. Not quite on a par with the very best female-led action hero movies out there, like Wonder Woman, Colombiana and Ghost In The Shell, but it’s only one level shy of those movies, from the perspective of a smooth action hero movie connoisseur who isn’t so fond of slow or gritty drama.

Doctor Strange (2016) – Benedict Cumberbatch

This movie is a bit sickly at near the start, with talk about harvesting organs from a still living man, followed by surgery visuals, the likes of which we get again in an unexpected close-up about half way through the movie. There’s also slightly too long of a car crash scene near the start. This movie clearly wants to traumatise the audience a bit, and/or incite bloodlust in those prone to it. Due to its name I guess we shouldn’t expect clean action – a touch of horror shouldn’t be surprising here.

Mood setting is generally excellent, with great timing where it matters. There are also a few great touches of humour in this movie.

The action gets very interesting at times, and is satisfactory at other times.

The combat is fanciful – hardly realistic – but the sentiment is frequently on point.

Benedict Cumberbatch plays the lead role very well, as if he were made for this role. Additional cast members are generally pretty good too.

All in all, due to its qualities, with the odd drawback, plus the fact it’s not so realistic a movie as what I normally review, I’d rate this movie Decent – no more, no less. It’s a fun movie to watch every now and again, but its depth of vibe is limited due to its near cartoony nature. For this reason it’s comparable to movies like Bloodshot and Black Panther which have a similar mix of realism vs unrealism (albethey generally more believable), and a similar level of action.

Sequel

If you enjoyed this movie, you may also enjoy its sequel: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). However, that movie is a lot messier and of course less original since the lead character has already been fully established. And unlike the original, the sequel is not even classified as an Action movie by Google – it’s classed as a Horror instead!

Doctor Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) was also featured in a few other Marvel Studios films released between the two actual Doctor Strange movies, including Thor: Ragnarok (2017); Avengers: Infinity War (2018); Avengers: Endgame (2019); and Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021).

Venom (2018) – Tom Hardy

This movie has rich action, a creative story, powerful screenplay, and decent acting. But it’s intentionally sacrilegious in so many ways – not least the plethora of antihuman undertones & overtones conveyed by its main antagonists – the human baddie and the alien baddie.

The genre is a cross between a typical Marvel sci-fi fantasy action hero movie and some kind of creepy sadistic horror movie. Fortunately, for those who are here for the former, not the latter, this movie is generally bearable for who generally don’t find the horror genre palatable.

A great replay-worthy bespoke theme tune from Eminem kicks in after the 90 minute mark, as credits start rolling when there’s still strangely 20 minutes to go. When they’re done we get a few minutes more of the movie, then the same credits seem to be rolling all over again, a bit more comprehensively this time. Then there’s a strange 5-minute spiderman cartoon at the end. I wonder if this is in every version of the Venom movie. Seems a little off-genre. I mean it’s all Marvellous stuff, but I’m generally not into animated movies.

Anyway back to the actual movie called Venom, starring Tom Hardy – he does a great job of acting in this movie. He becomes a familiar & likeable actor by the end. Michelle Williams is adequate as the lead female, and Riz Ahmed is pretty good as the main baddie through most of the movie (till he’s out-done by Venom’s counterpart – the alien supervillain). That’s as far as the core cast goes. The next most notable roles are played by Jenny Slate (the doctor who gains a conscience) and Peggy Lu (the convenience store keeper). They’re both about adequate too – no better.

Overall, I rate Venom (2018) as a Decent movie. It’s got too much rich action, strong acting, and high quality cinematography to be rated just OK. But the horror element and the antihuman sentiments shining through, leave a bitter taste in my mouth and prevent me from rating it as highly as Pretty Good.

Sequels

If you enjoyed Venom (2018), you’re in luck, since there’s a sequel called Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021). Unfortunately though, it’s a couple levels down from the standards set by the original. It’s far less creative, mostly just piggybacking on the concepts already established in the original, and has an even more sickly vibe so much that it’s barely watchable at times. It’s not as good as most of the movies that I’ve rated OK, let alone Decent like the original – this is mainly due to the conflict of genre, since I’m tuning in for smooth action-packed entertainment, not repulsive horror material.

There’s also a threequel that hit the big screen recently, called Venom: The Last Dance (2024). Hopefully that’ll be the end of it now, and Marvel can put more energy into their stuff like Thor, Black Panther and Doctor Strange. No disrespect to Tom Hardy though – he’s a quality actor – but this Venom stuff is putrid.

Black Panther (2018) – Chadwick Boseman and Michael B Jordan

Black Panther is a very modern blockbuster movie with all the special effects you’d expect from any modern Marvel Studios movie.

The combat scenes are rapidly flickering between cameras, while being saturated with special effects depicting impossible things, on top of stuntmen doing fancy tricking moves. This is probably to mask the fact the actors themselves don’t have any real martial arts skills. The special effects are occasionally impressive, but the moves generally lack realistic efficiency which makes for a less impressive experience to the trained eye, and brings headaches to anyone suffering from epilepsy or heightened stress levels.

The dialogue and mannerisms displayed in this movie are clearly attempting to push unintelligent, even belligerent forms of communication as an example for our kids to follow. I would even say much of it is childish, while coming from adult actors, but that would be disrespectful to well raised kids. I don’t think this is a racial thing, because all similar modern high-budget movies and TV shows targeting kids and young adults are doing a similar thing – dumbing down and warping the attitude of our next generation.

Chadwick Boseman does a mediocre job as T’Challa, the lead character in this movie. He’s no Wesley Snipes, but that’s not the end of the world, it’s just a missed opportunity. He has a face for friendly mid-level leadership, but he comes across too demure, too emasculated for a major action hero leadership role. Add this to having an all-female crew of bald-headed warrior guards, and it’s clear the Marvel bosses are enamoured with some kind of gender bender fantasy.

Michael B Jordan (of Creed) does a pretty good job as Erik Stevens aka Killmonger, the main antagonist in this movie – the main rival of T’Challa.

Supporting cast members include Letitia Wright who does a pretty good job as Shuri, the younger sister of T’Challa. Winston Duke does a fair job as the leader of a rival tribe, who eventually joins forces with T’Challa in an effort to overthrow the nasty new leader, Erik Killmonger. Andy Serkis is quite convincing in his role as one of the bad guys – he’s just a bit cheesy with his over-acting, it’s borderline satirical, but that’s probably what this movie calls for considering how the lead character has such dry and disconnected humour, and other characters are often childishly bickering. Danai Gurira puts in a dry yet aggressive performance as Okoye, the main royal guard – she’s about as good as Chadwick Boseman (T’Challa) in this movie – in some scenes they do very well but for the most part they fail to foster an appealing vibe. Danai’s best moment is when she decides to turn on the bad new king, she delivers that performance spot on. Lupita Nyong’o does a decent job as Nakia, the female warrior spy who’s set to marry T’Challa. Daniel Kaluuya does a basic job as the royal right-hand man, leader of the male warrior group and commander of the strange robotic rhinos who appear when he blows his special horn. Martin Freeman does a fair job, as a CIA agent familiar with Wakanda – he brings decent acting but with a face made for juvenile drama, not action heroics – this is perfectly in-keeping with the common flaw of this movie, which is accentuated at the very end when the energetic climax morphs into a bratty pop song as the credits begin to roll. It’s good to see Forest Whitaker (the black FBI agent from Bloodsport) playing a supporting role here – he does a decent job as the tribal elder who officiates the leadership duels and associated rituals. That’s all the significant cast members covered. Overall they range from mediocre to pretty good. Nothing too desperate, but no stunning performances either.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) – Tenoch Huerta and Letitia Wright

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) is the sequel to the original Black Panther (2018) movie by Marvel Studios.

If not for the ill motives shining through on so many levels in this movie, I would rate it higher than the original, but as it stands, I’ll rate it equal to the original, alongside several other classics that are excessively one dimensional and a bit dull in patches.

Who is the star of this movie, by the way? I’ve gone for Tenoch Huerta (the bad guy) and Letitia Wright (the female Black Panther), but several others were on a similar level here. I would have personally loved to see a version of this movie starring a benevolent Michael B Jordan and maybe Lupita Nyong’o in an even more prominent role; or a more heroic version of Tenoch Huerta. Nothing against Letitia Wright though, she makes a good supportive sister to an action hero, she just isn’t lead role material in this genre, at least not the way her character comes across here. Come on Marvel, get it right for Black Panther 3, if there will be one. DC blew you out the water with Black Adam in 2022 – they had all your epic new sound effects PLUS a strong lead character (even if he had a dark side, he was mostly heroic).

The original had a tidier concept; with an aggressive young male antagonist and a softy for a main action hero; plus terrible bratty pop music throughout; warped gender roles; and belligerent behaviorism.

The sequel, Wakanda Forever, takes the plot to another level, which is probably necessary because the cat’s out the bag in terms of the basic concept from the original. So we could say the plots deserve equal rating.

But the sequel has no strong male character we can get behind. It’s actually hard defining who is the star in this movie, since it’s so messy and void in this department. The nasty antagonist (Namor, played by Tenoch Huerta) is a strong male figure; and there’s a brief scene featuring the antagonist from the original movie (the Black Panther version of Erik Killmonger, played by Michael B Jordan – his short scene is one of the best things about this movie). But in terms of the good guys, all the action heroes in this movie are female except the very minor role by the leader of the tribe that hides in the mountains (M’Baku played by Winston Duke). The Black Panther in this movie only appears near the end, and this role is taken by T’Challa’s sister from the original movie – Shuri, played by Letitia Wright – an androgenous female who has a nice smile and is a decent actress but is hardly a powerful action hero. Aside from her, there’s the spy Nakia, played by Lupita Nyong’o, who plays a major role again that includes rescuing the princess this time; there’s a new girl Dominique Thorne who plays Riri Williams, a world-leading teenage scientist that dons ironman-type suits (representing the comicbook character called Ironheart); there’s the leader of the female warrior guards Okoye played by Danai Gurira who gets a new supersuit, has a more dynamic role this time and excels at it; and there’s Ramonda, Queen of Wakanda, played by Angela Bassett – her character is the mother of T’Challa and his sister who is the new Black Panther this time round. So basically the main action hero and all the similar roles this time round are occupied by women, as if Chadwick Boseman didn’t seem demure & emasculated enough last time round. Boseman actually died in 2020, allegedly of colonic cancer which he’d been battling since 2016 – that’s why he wasn’t in this movie.

The script contains various health related messages from the outset, touching on infections, heart issues, and unexplained sudden deaths. There’s also a strong element of hypnotic entrancement (a zombie innuendo). Considering the year this movie came out, all this can be construed as a nod towards certain institutional foul play that our website would be suppressed for mentioning.

On the plus side, the music is outstanding this time round – much more authentic in terms of traditional African music, and much better in terms of harmonious & enjoyable modern music also – last time it was just a patronising satirical version of African music plus a selection of modern pop songs that barely qualify as noise, having zero benevolent art or real talent within them. Isolated sound effects are also on point this time round. It’s like the sound & music team changed from immature to immortal this time round. It makes a massive difference to the quality of atmosphere generated, and the overall experience, and clicks very well in certain scenes, especially when the new Black Panther jumps out of the sky and announces herself to the mountain tribe, not far from the end. Just a shame this movie is still massively disabled by lack of a strong benevolent male role – we don’t even get a weak male like we had the last time. This movie could have been several times better if Michael B Jordan somehow came back to take care of business towards the end – with a compassionate heart of course.

Blue Beetle (2023) – Xolo Maridueña and Bruna Marquezine

Blue Beetle (2023) is a fairly fun & engaging movie that forms part of the DC Extended Universe alongside characters like Superman and The Flash who incidentally both get namedropped in this movie.

Blue Beetle has some well composed action, some fresh humour, some funky music, some cool special effects, and some entertaining cast members.

The lead character is played entertainingly by Hispanic American actor Xolo Maridueña (from Cobra Kai, the recent Karate Kid spin-off satire series) and the lead female protagonist is played by Brazilian actress & model Bruna Marquezine who is equally attractive so they make a convincing couple. In real life, Bruna is nearly 6 years older than Xolo, and is almost the same height as him but looks taller than him when wearing heels. Nevertheless, this movie has them in suitable enough roles to make the chemistry convincing – it even makes jokes about them having a reverse of the classical roles, since he’s a broke college graduate in need of a job and she’s a famous businesswoman capable of dragging him out of the dirt.

As far as this movie’s core concept goes, the Blue Beetle is some kind of hard-to-control sentient alien technological lifeform with a mind of its own. It bonds with a host body and protects it, like a cross between Iron Man, Deadpool and Venom. Like Venom, it’s initially hard to control, and there’s some black goo going on as the Blue Beetle initially bonds with its host. It can also transform into any shape imagined. Like Iron Man, there’s a digital visor and force fields when it’s flying & fighting, and it shoots energy beams and things like that. And like Deadpool, it does a few ninja moves and has a tight rubber body suit with a pair of horn-like adornments coming up the back and over the head (a pair beetle claws in this case; a pair of swords in Deadpool’s case).

The main antagonists in this movie are played by Susan Sarandon (brains) and Raoul Trujillo (braun). They both do a fair job of acting here – especially Susan considering she’s already in her mid 70s here – she’s got a bit of a Killary vibe about her in this movie. Raoul plays the man whose life she saved, then altered with alien energy & technology from the Blue Beetle to give him superpowers to rival Xolo’s character. He eventually becomes a good guy and kills Susan’s character by unnecessarily blowing himself up, as if suicide is not one of the biggest sins of all. Bad influence much?

The main down side to this movie though, is how it’s pushing pills and massively over-glorifying college from the outset, then proceeds to show the star of the movie getting way too affectionate with his smartphone, resting it on his chest, promoting extremely unhealthy levels of exposure. So ultimately, this movie boils down to just another Hollywood con job. No surprise, is it? Still, if you’re able to overlook these filthy shortcomings, to enjoy the strengths of this movie for what they’re worth, you’ll probably be sufficiently entertained upon first viewing, and probably also when re-viewing a year later. There’s no macho superhero here – it’s got a soft male lead – but he’s a likeable character and is well suited to the fun, lightly comedic and somewhat juvenile vibe of this movie. It’s not a streamlined grown up martial arts action hero movie by any means. It’s nothing like Bloodsport. It’s probably mainly made for kids, which makes the downsides even more disturbing.

All things considered, I rate this movie as Decent, for action hero movie connoisseurs, compared to everything else that’s out there. I rate it on a par with the likes of Black Panther, Bloodshot and Jupiter Ascending, since it has similar levels of pros and cons to those movies.

I deem it most suitable for mid-aged children, but stress it needs a highly educated form of parental guidance to counter the problems mentioned earlier. It can also be very suitable for older children and even adults if they feel young at heart.

Wonder Woman (2017) – Gal Gadot and Chris Pine

Wonder Woman (2017) starring Gal Gadot

Wonder Woman (2017) is a pretty entertaining movie starring Gal Gadot as the Amazonian warrior tasked with killing Ares, the ‘god of war’. It’s an interesting opening, as Wonder Woman grows up on a protected island inhabited only by special Amazonian women, then she meets Chris Pine’s character as his plane crashes through the forcefield-like cloudy veil making the island invisible to outsiders.

The plot develops as he takes her to the frontline of the battle, set in “World War 1”, at the time known as the “Great War”, which of course was not great at all. Was it even the first worldwide war of that scale? I doubt it.

Anyway, for a brief moment, Wonder Woman works wonders on the battlefield – this is probably the best part of the movie, as the rest of the troops are both shocked and encouraged by her abilities.

I’m not big on watching women act like tough guys. I don’t mind women playing slick skill-based combatants like Elektra, Colombiana, Catwoman, etc, because they retain their femininity, but when it comes to tough-guy warriors I prefer to see men in that kind of role. Having said that, Gal Gadot retains just about enough of her femininity to make this a good movie. She’s not acting like a tough guy with balls & muscles – instead, she’s performing with god-given enhanced abilities, so it kind of works well. Her acting is not bad either.

Chris Pine does a respectable job of acting in this movie too. He’s in a bit of a beta-male role, compared to what he’d be doing if he were the lead star of a movie like this, but he retains just about enough manliness and charisma to be passable without criticism on that note. That’s quite a feat in itself – well done Chris.

All in all, I rate this movie slightly lower than the likes of Thor and Black Adam which have strong & manly men in the lead roles. Well, Dwayne Johnson is strong and quite manly, and Chris Hemsworth is at least more strong & manly than Gal Gadot, I think? Plus, those movies have just as many awesome moments as this one.

And I rate Wonder Woman slightly higher than Black Panther and Doctor Strange, since they’re both led by beta-male men, and have a similar level of awesome adrenaline-buzzing moments – in fact they’re probably slightly inferior to Wonder Woman in that respect.

Indeed, I rate Wonder Woman (2017) about equal to Ghost In The Shell from the same year, starring Scarlett Johansson – another woman who is equally just about feminine & attractive enough but still powerful enough a character to take the lead role in an action-packed superhero movie and make it work quite well.

The sequel

If you enjoyed Wonder Woman (2017) don’t forget to check out its sequel Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) which is a bit less delicately composed in the action early on, but is generally still of a decent quality. It has a substantially new plot that’s a bit quirky and is a bit more depressing, as Wonder Woman slowly loses her powers and the world turns to pandemonium, but it’s not a bad sequel still, it’s quite well made, and like the first, the sequel also goes on for over two hours.

Wonder Woman 1984

I would rate the sequel one or two levels below the original; equal to or slightly inferior to Black Panther and its sequel; equal to or slightly better than The Matrix Resurrections. Because it has strong plot development early on, and retains its fun aspect quite well, but when it gets depressing it never really opens back up, which makes for an experience far less comfortable & enjoyable than it should be – I guess this goes hand in hand with world events of 2020 – maybe that was the vibe DC were going for.

Wonder Woman also appears in various other DC movies – most notably Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and Justice League (2017) where she has substantial roles. She also has short cameo appearances in Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023) and The Flash (2023).

Thor (2011) – Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman

Thor (2011) poster

It’s far from the busiest movie, but Thor (2011) is still one of the best action hero movies from Marvel – it’s a joint best movie of the DC & Marvel genre, in my opinion. Its plot is far from complicated, but is not overly simplistic either. The script is well made and the screenplay is well executed. It’s emotive in its mix of realism and fantasy, with good patience and momentum around its points of climax.

Cast

Every member of the star studded cast acts very well in this movie. Core cast members include Chris Hemsworth as Thor himself – the main protagnoist and the namesake of this movie; Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, an independent researcher from Earth who becomes Thor’s girlfriend; Anthony Hopkins as Odin, the original King and benevolent father of Thor; Tom Hiddleston as Loki, who is Thor’s treacherous adopted brother; Idris Elba as Heimdall, the guardian of the gateway between planets; and Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig, a fellow researcher and colleague of Jane Foster. There’s also strong CGI around the antagonists in the movie – the Frost Giants – so much so that it’s not really evident which actors are behind them.

Summary

All in all, I rate this movie on a similar level to Black Adam – a great modern movie from DC which has a similar mix of CGI-powered fantasy to human-based reality, a similar level of simplicity of plot, a similar level of plot twisting, a similar strength of cast, and a similar level of atmospherics. Both movies are comfortably rewatchable every year or two, although of course, the longer you leave it, the more effective it is.

Sequels

Since Thor was such a hit, it had many sequels.

The immediate sequel was Thor: The Dark World (2013) which is a respectable movie, following the same cast and genre as the original, but is a lot messier in script, and is lacking in the area of patient & powerful scenes. As such, I’d rate it a clear couple of levels below the original.

The third movie in the series was Thor: Ragnarok (2017) – it’s on a similar level to the previous movie in the saga, perhaps with a bit more going on, and a cheesier vibe, but is equally weak in terms of building & sustaining the moment of powerful scenes, to the point of even playing irritating pop music during Thor’s most active moment near the end. This movie momentarily features Dr Strange; plus The Hulk has a significant role here. The main antagonist (Thor’s forgotten evil sister) is played quite naturally by Cate Blanchett, and Jeff Goldblum played a cheesy bad guy role on another planet Thor was on for a while. Tessa Thompson did well as the lead female (aside from the main antagonist), who initially captures Thor but eventually assists him – she has vibes of Rihanna.

The fourth movie in the series was Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) – this is about as messy and cheesy as the last one, but with a weaker plot.

All in all, I rate the original Thor (2011) as a very good action hero movie, and its three sequels are all mediocre action comedies. Of the three sequels, Ragnarok (2017) is probably the better one, while Love and Thunder (2022) is probably the worst of them all.

Aquaman (2018) – Jason Mamoa

Aquaman (2018) starring Jason Mamoa

Aquaman is an action-packed movie with a very original plot (compared to other movies, although it’s obviously based on the much older DC comics).

It’s quite consistently entertaining, for well over two hours. A slight downside is the ignorant pride-driven war mentality pushed at times in this movie, but to its credit, it also presents a counter-narrative in the way Aquaman shows mercy and aims for peace from time to time (just a shame he still gets stuck into ignorant warrior behaviour occasionally).

The sound effects, visual special effects, camerawork and general cinematography is of a fine standard, making for some epic scenes including several that are quite emotionally powerful and get the adrenaline buzzing. In these ways, I rate this movie similar to Thor as well as Black Adam, which are on a similar level with their own pros & cons that balance them out about equal to this one in the end.

Cast members

Jason Mamoa does a good job as Arthur aka Aquaman – the lead man, main hero and namesake of this movie.

Amber Heard does a fair job as Princess Mera – the lead female – the princess who rescues Aquaman from a premature duel that was likely to kill him.

Willem Defoe does a decent job as Vulko, the wise old visier who trained Aquaman when he was young, as a promise to his mother, in the hope Aquaman would become king one day.

Patrick Wilson does a fair job as King Orm, the Ocean Master – one of the two key antagonists, and the guy Aquaman fights in a big scene towards the end of the movie. Wilson sometimes seems a bit nerdy for such a vicious warrior role, but his outfit disguises it well, and he acts quite well, plus there is some truth to him being a close likeness to the kind of people who have stole their positions of nobility in the real world, so it’s a credible casting in a way.

Nicole Kidman (in her early 50s here) plays Atlanna, Queen of Atlantis, and the mother of Aquaman. She does does a fair job in this role and is involved in the odd strong action scene although she doesn’t get much screen time.

Dolph Lundgren (around 60 here) plays King Nereus very convincingly – his demeanour is ideal for this role. He’s the father of Princess Mera, and the king of one of the seven kingdoms – the first and main one that King Orm joins forces with. He doesn’t get loads of screentime either but he makes short appearances quite frequently and does very well in this role.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II does a good job in playing Black Manta – the other key nemesis of Aquaman, who battles him near the start of the movie as a regular pirate with strong human attributes, then battles him again half way through the movie but this time with the help of Atlantean technology, and then he reappears yet again at the very end in a scene semi-hidden between closing credits.

That’s all the significant characters in this movie. Aside from them, we also get a few short appearances of Aquaman’s human dad, Tom Curry, played quite fittingly by Temuera Morrison. And Michael Beach puts in a strong but brief performance as the Manta’s father, left to die after fighting Aquaman near the start of the movie. Randall Park also puts in a quirky but strong performance as Dr Steven Shin, the TV show commentator on Aquaman and the Atlanteans. Dr Shin eventually rescues the injured Manta and joins forces with him at the end of the movie.

Honourable mentions go to the six boys who each did their bit in playing a younger version of Arthur (Aquaman) – they include Tainui Kirkwood, Tamor Kirkwood and Denzel Quirke who all play a 3 year old version of him; plus Kaan Guldur (9 year old version), Otis Dhanji (13 year old version), and most especially Kekoa Kekumano who plays the 16 year old version of Aquaman, having a slightly similar but quite different facial appearance that’s no less quirky-yet-striking than Jason Mamoa himself, at least when given the strange coloured eyes and probably some more CGI-based alterations.

The sequel

If you enjoyed this movie, be sure to check out its sequel, also starring Jason Mamoa. It’s called Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) and is a fair enough sequel although it doesn’t have quite the same level of plot originality, nor action finesse, as the original – sequels rarely do. And it pushes the climate and disease narratives hard – I guess they built the brand with the first movie and are selling out in the sequel. They went hard with a demonic theme in this sequel too – not dissimilar to Thor 3 (Ragnarok). Still, to its credit, the demonic twist is an interesting new plot concept for the Aquaman sequel, and the general action is of a fair quality.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom poster

Black Adam (2022) – Dwayne Johnson and Pierce Brosnan

Black Adam (2022) starring Dwayne Johnson

Powerful music and sound effects, and a top class lead cast, make this movie emotive and enjoyable from start to finish, and easily rewatchable. There aren’t really any boring bits. It’s let down somewhat by a pair of immature, low-IQ supporting superheroes (Cyclone and Atom Smasher) but the rest of the supporting cast range from decent to excellent.

Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is made for this role as Teth Adam / Black Adam – he performs outstandingly in this movie. Pierce Brosnan was also a great fit for his role as Doctor Fate – he also gives a very strong performance.

Aldis Hodge does quite a good job as Hawkman.

America-born ethnic-Iranian actress Sarah Shahi (real name Aahoo Jahansouzshahi) does great in her role as Isis, the benevolent researcher who found the Crown of Sabbac and set free Teth Adam.

Bodhi Sabongui does a decent job as Amon Tomaz, the son of Isis, who befriended Teth Adam.

Mohammed Amer does a decent job as Karim – he’s a bit of a camp comedian playing a semi-serious role as Isis’s brother / Amon’s uncle.

Marwan Kenzari does a good job as the research team member who was hiding his true intentions to become Sabbac – the demon tasked with delivering hell on earth.

Continued… “Black Adam (2022) – Dwayne Johnson and Pierce Brosnan”