This is going to be a short post because I’ve already talked
about these movies a lot in the past. With that said, here’s how I currently
rank the 10 films (pre-release of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron) of the Marvel
Cinematic Universe. I guess you can say this is a ‘Top 10’ list because, in my
opinion, there’s yet to be a ‘bad’ MCU film. Sure, there have been some ‘mediocre’
entries in the franchise but none that were ‘stinkers’.
10. IRON MAN 2
While it’s nowhere near as ‘bad’ as some say it is, the
writing is still a bit of a mess, ultimately resulting in a case of ‘sequel-itis’;
a film that tried to do a bit too much.
9. THE INCREDIBLE HULK
I do still prefer this film over the 2003 ‘Hulk’ and I like
the film’s effective (maybe a little over-done) use of emotional moments. But,
with the recasting of Edward Norton with Mark Ruffalo in the role of Hulk, this
film ultimately is the least connected of the MCU nowadays. Not as messy of a
story as ‘Iron Man 2’, though.
8. THOR: THE DARK WORLD
‘Thor: The Dark World’ does some things better than its
predecessor, namely smoother action sequences and polished visuals. But in the
end it suffers from having the weakest of the MCU villains, mostly because the
film gave more screen-time to Loki due to his increasing popularity, and for
playing things a little more safe, especially compared to the other Phase 2
films. It’s still a lot of fun to watch, which if you ask me is what really
matters.
7. THOR
What could’ve been a disastrous entry in the MCU lineup due
to it potentially coming off as being cheesy ends up not falling victim to that
at all, being the first to truly expand the MCU beyond Earth and benefitting
from solid direction from Kenneth Branagh, a brilliant lead performance by
Chris Hemsworth, and above all else a nice balance in tone as it shifts between
Earth and Asgard.
6. IRON MAN
It may seem shocking to some of you that I rank the first ‘Iron
Man’ film so low, but ultimately this just goes to show how far the MCU has
come since its early days. That’s nothing against ‘Iron Man’ though as it’s a well-directed,
well-written, and well-acted superhero flick with an excellently set-up origin
story for arguably the MCU’s most popular hero.
5. IRON MAN 3
Easily the most underrated MCU film to date, mostly because
it gets a lot of unfair flak, mostly due to the Mandarin twist, WHICH ACTUALLY
WORKED!!!
4. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
Chris Evans’ earnest and charismatic performance as the Cap
makes this a fun, old-school summer blockbuster and one with one of the
greatest non-Avengers ensemble casts in the entire MCU.
3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
But suffice it to say, ‘Winter Soldier’ took Captain
America, and the MCU, one step further. The bold routes taken in this film made
a huge impact on the MCU as a whole but ‘Winter Soldier’ is also a
well-constructed homage to the spy thrillers of the 70’s with excellent
direction by the Russo Brothers and a great ensemble cast.
2. THE AVENGERS
All of the great build-up of the MCU’s Phase 1 led to this…
a truly epic team-up of the MCU’s well-established heroes under the great
direction of Joss Whedon. What’s not to love?
1. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
So why do I like this film more than either ‘Avengers’ or ‘Winter
Soldier’? Because while I was initially hesitant about this film due to it
focusing on a much more obscure superhero team in the Marvel Universe, I was
thankfully proven wrong as ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ had much to love about it;
great direction from James Gunn, a phenomenal ensemble cast, and, as I noted
yesterday, a highly underrated villain, first of all. But then you factor in
the fact that this film is the funniest of the MCU films while also effectively
balancing the humor with genuinely heartfelt emotional moments. And that’s why ‘Guardians
of the Galaxy’ is my favorite MCU film to date.
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