This movie is the standard David Mamet formula in a fun, small-town comedy. It’s sufficiently interesting and fairly funny, but best of all it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Closest comparison: It’s like The Holiday by way of The Spanish Prisoner.
Setting: Small Town Drama
Plot: Comedy of Errors
Tone: Slow-burn Comedy
This movie does Character better than almost any other. Joss Whedon accomplished the almost insurmountable task of combining the six main characters and several side characters in a way that lets each of them shine unimpeded by the others. The brilliance of the one-on-one confrontations each main character gets with the villain that highlight the unique strengths they bring to the team cannot be overstated. It also contains one of the most dynamic and multi-faceted arguments ever put to film. It combined three existing character-based film franchises, reinvented a fourth, and added in two main characters to boot. And it did it so well that it became the gold standard by which all action films and all team-up films are measured.
Closest comparison: It’s the super hero team up movie that started them all
Setting: Super hero
Plot: War Spy
Tone: Action Adventure
This movie does social sparring very well. Most of the time when characters are talking they are continually vying for social dominance, thrusting and parrying not so much with words as with emotions. Mickey Rourke is fantastic as Whiplash, and while his fight scenes are spectacular they always end in more of a fizzle than a crescendo. The biggest flaw with this movie is giving Tony Stark little to do except aimlessly act out, though Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal is pitch perfect as always. Sam Rockwell also captures all of the subtlety of being an off-brand Tony Stark, but in true reflection his character also has little to do, aimlessly wandering around the plot like a lost, sassy child.
Closest comparison: It’s the gentle sequel to Iron Man (2008)
Setting: Super hero
Plot: Super hero
Tone: Action
This is Marvel’s first attempt at mashing up two different genres, and all things considered it works really well. The action is quite good, the story is solid, and the CGI is fine, kept in dark environments as needed. The Shakespearean dialogue is essential to the core of the Asgardian characters, evoking the sense of royalty with ease and meshing perfectly with the ‘royal drama’ nature of the plot. And no review would be complete without mentioning the Dutch Angles that are just everywhere in this movie, but only work well about half of the time.
Closest comparison: It’s the bisection of the line between He-Man and K-Pax, but with much better production values.
Setting: Fantasy
Plot: Super hero
Tone: Action Comedy
There’s not a lot to redeem this movie. It seems to confuse ‘mean’ with ‘funny’, and does so repeatedly. The main character is unlikable and arrogant, which is a bad combination. Ben Mendelsohn steals the show, which is how badly the writers portrayed Sam Jackson’s character. The action scenes are dimly lit and shake around like the camera man is afraid he’ll miss something; that combined with choppy editing makes them a jumbled mess. The skrull make-up is phenomenal, though, and the plot turn is actually not half bad. The tone was very different from other Marvel movies and felt much more like J.J. Abrams’ Start Trek movies, so if you like those movies you’re in luck.
Closest Comparison: They tried to make Wonder Woman, but made Green Lantern instead.
Setting: Sci-fi
Plot: Action
Tone: A messy mess of Superhero, Action, and Comedy
