Having had no desire to see this, which has been hanging around our smaller screens for some weeks, and is now at the fag-end of its cinema release schedule, I was enticed to give it a go on hearing that it was 'really good'. Alas, for me it wasn't. Wasn't able to engage with it on any level. I'd gone having worked out when I could leave, if I wanted, without impinging my self-ordained rules for inclusion in the category of 'having seen it'. In the event I did endure it through to the end - including the post-credits epilogue - though it was a merciless experience. I was none the wiser as to what was going on at the close than I'd been at the start when I'd got lost within minutes and didn't have a care to get more involved. Let's face it, I'm just way outside the frame of audience capture that this is aimed at and so my visit had been futile from the outset. It needs an interest in comic-book capers and heroes to keep one enthralled - and all power to those who belong in that class. Sadly(?) for me, I don't and I think there's little point in my attending any more films of this kind..........3.
Oh, no, I feel bad I gave you a bum steer! I too despise the Marvel franchise, but I think I viewed it differently. My daughter teaches in inner-city Cleveland; her kids who were lucky enough to see this movie found it inspiring. As they told her (and is obvious from viewing), it was nice to see a movie that did not have the token black prostitute or drug dealer OR--the flip side--the one, token successful black businessman. It was just a movie, with good and bad, smart and not-so-smart characters, who all happened to be black. The whole layering of social injustice and what makes a leader, which is sadly an issue in the forefront here every single day, was also a factor. So, we saw it perhaps from a different perspective. Would I have seen it if my daughter hadn’t recommended it? No.…I honestly don’t think I have ever paid to see a Marvel movie. They just do not happen to be my type of movie, although this one was a little different.
ReplyDeleteNot to worry, Elle. It was an experience that's helped me to move on with certainty to objects of entertainment I can more readily appreciate, and to just give up on those areas which leave me cold and unmoved.
DeleteI'm with you absolutely on welcoming (at last!) a major film with a cast of overwhelmingly non-white actors playing the whole spectrum of good-evil - and I hope to see many more of them in future, though not more comic-book types, please! Even Spike Lee's otherwise
admirable output of twenty and more years ago has tailed off into near non-existence now.
One further thought - special effects these days are so good, so efficient, that they've become so ho-hum BORING! Yet they are made as though we are expected to be knocked us back in our seats. I'm afraid that for this viewer it's the human element that is much more crucial, all the rest being secondary - and that is largely what I missed here - though I recognise that you, for one, didn't feel so. Nevertheless, I've learnt by this experience.
I am not a superhero movie fanatic by any stretch, but I lovelovelove the idea of a Black superhero. Took a long time to get here, but I'm glad it's made its mark.
ReplyDeleteIt's a spectacular 'start' in that field, Bob - but one that left me feeling miserably short-changed. But who am I to gainsay what most others feel?
DeleteI feel you were generous. the Mr gave it a 3 also I say 2. wasted our money on this one. I was looking forward to it as well, but I think any of the good bits I had already seen in a trailer. there wasnt much else to it. That is a shame
ReplyDeleteI didn't expect you to have come up with those words of agreement, Sol, but I do now feel some gratitude at my not having been left entirely alone.
DeleteRay, after Thor Ragnarok which I also only give a 2 for, and that is only because I like looking at Thor ;) I am a bit disenchanted with these films at present. I agree with Sadie the costumes were good. but I feel they are going down hill
DeleteI can understand why, at my age, I should give up on this type of film, Sol, but it's significant that you, despite being much closer to the client-audience they were trying to please, felt unimpressed, tells me that it can't entirely be put down to my advanced years. One either feels for a film or one doesn't. I'm happy that we've both come down on the same side.
DeleteAh, now see, I am a huge geek and I love the franchise and for me this was one of the best. I do think without prior knowledge of the previous films it could be confusing. But I liked that it was self contained, that the other "Avengers" didn't play a bit part in it. The costumes were amazing and the fact that the women were strong without them ever being treated as if they were "special" for their strength while also not suppressing their femininity was, in my mind, outstanding and rare. (I hope that made sense!) For me, it's probably going to be one of my favorite films this year.
ReplyDeleteYes, fair enough, Sadie. It would be the height of arrogance for me to want to take away anything that you say or feel. I wouldn't dare! Glad you liked it so much and I only wish I had. All the better if it's really going to be one of your films of the year - and I can tell you now that I'm not going nominate it as my worst, even if just out of spite, because it won't be.
DeleteRay, Not going to say much except you said it all for me.
ReplyDeleteSo you're another of our rare breed who felt 'out of the loop', Paul? It confirms to me that my taste and verdict aren't so strange after all.
Delete