An Analysis of Superhero Movie Worldview: The Marvel Edition
Three movies, the director's genius, and the messages within
In superhero comic book history, there were always two dominant names. They were the DC and Marvel. Both of them did pretty well, and later came the age of film adaptations of comic book heroes. After the success of some spiderman movies and the flops of many batman movies (except two- Tim Burton's 1989 and 1992 Batman films), Marvel was firmly establishing their grip. The mixed baggage of Superman and Justice League movies didn't help the DC franchise to match Marvel's global success with the Avengers Franchise.
People who are unaware of comic book history would be astounded by what I am talking about. For starters, Superman, Batman, and Justice League are DC properties, while Iron man, Spiderman, and Avengers are the properties of Marvel. Marvel's dominance of the superhero live-action movie landscape would have been complete if it wasn't for Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight series.
To this day, none of Marvel's movies could match the critical acclaim of the commercially successful Dark Knight series. As a Batman fan who was disappointed to see the caped crusader being made fun of by the many clownish adaptations of Batman, Nolan's trilogy was a breath of fresh air. Nolan firmly established the caped crusader's dark, grave, and grim nature with the genius-level talent and skill that the world-renowned director of psycho-thrillers is known for. Perhaps, the Avenger's franchise is making huge inroads into the commercial success scenario, but the cult of Nolan's Batman will live on, but that is a story for another day.
The Marvel multiverse is doing pretty well with their live-action movies, and the Avengers franchise has struck a chord with the global populace. Last week, I saw three Marvel comic movies, and they were all pretty good. So, let's dig in.
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
[Available in Disney+ Hot Star]
I sat for this 2021 English movie because of the positive reviews that it had garnered, and I was not disappointed. Although the film treads too much into the terrain of fantasy movies, it didn't become a sugary sweet experience that many fantasy movies turn out to be. Shang-Chi is a Chinese superhero (first of its kind in the marvel comics), and the film has become another boon in the Marvel universe.
Shang-Chi (Siu Li) is a young man living in New York working as a car parking boy with his girlfriend. However, unbeknownst to people around him, he is a hard-trained assassin who escaped from his father's empire of killers. His father, Xu Wenwu (Tony Leung Chiu Wai), is a thousand-year-old superhero wielding the power of the Legendary Ten Rings. With his army of assassins, he comes in search of Shang-Chi and his sister Xialing (Meng'er Zhang), who both were living a life hiding from their ruthless father. His father's overreach resulted from the older man's illusion that his dead wife was calling for him from a mystical land hidden from the world.
Shang-Chi and Xialing, with their friend's escape from their father and reaches the mystical land before their father. They realize from the magical land that their father was conned by an underworld army of soul eaters caged away from the world. His father's power is what they need to break free. So, Shang-Chi and Xialing, along with their friends, train from the mystical land, which was their mother's homeland, before she fell in love with their father.
Finally, their father arrives and frees the soul eaters, who in turn take away many lives. However, Shang-Chi awakens the hidden dragon of the mystical land and fights with his father emulating his mother's fighting style. He defeats his father, but it is too late as the king of soul eaters breaks free from the cage. Shang-Chi gets the power of the rings from his father and decides not to kill him contrary to what he intended to do, thereby following his mother's footsteps of virtue. The king of soul eaters unleashes its rampage, and his father sacrifices his life to save the mystical land.
Shang-Chi becomes the sole heir of the rings, and together with Xialing and the dragon, they defeat the king of soul eaters.
I liked the movie because the female characters are not used as pawns in the male world. They had a character arc of their own, and their presence was inevitable in the film's worldview and in defeating the king of soul eaters. Xialing is shown to be more capable of Shang-Chi on multiple occasions as a ruthless fighter, and Shang-Chi is not shown to be an unstained all-good hero. He has killed people like his father and abandoned his sister; this makes the viewers feel with Xialing. However, the climax solves the intricacies of their complex family relationships with style.
The film is directed by Dustin Daniel Cretton. Michelle Yeoh as Shang-Chi's Aunt, Fala Chan as his mother, and Awkwafina as his girlfriend shine in their roles. Both Fala Chan and Tony have done their roles with a fine caliber that they are going to stay with us even after the film.
Doctor Strange
[Available in Disney+Hotstar]
This 2016 English Movie speaks of an ego-centric, but ambitious and reckless doctor (Benedict Cumberbatch) who loses his hand's function following an accident. Benedict Cumberbatch shines as Doctor strange with immaculate expressions and voice control. Rachel Mcadams as Christian Palmer sparkles as his love interest; however, her screen space is limited. Chiwetel Ejiofor was perfect in his role as Doctor Strange's fellow sorcerer Baron Mordo. The film does well in crafting together the ambitious Doctor's journey from a well-renowned neurosurgeon to a sorcerer who bends time and space. The recklessness and ego-centrism of the Doctor made the ancient one (played by a charismatic Tilda Swinton) first reject him. But then, that also made him the chosen one for saving the world from the dark dimension's ruler Dormammu.
The Doctor is flexible and cunning, unlike his colleague Mordo who gets shocked by the Doctor's revelation that the ancient one has used the energy from Dormommu to sustain herself for centuries and make herself immortal. The Doctor is unfazed by his finding, and his intelligence makes him understand the world in its grey shades rather than the black-white shades seen by Mordo. The fight of virtue with vice requires flexibility and cleverness of the Doctor, not the rigidity and straight-forwardness of Mordo seems to be the message that the film is dealing with.
I especially liked the film's climax, where a reckless but clever and ambitious Doctor makes the God of dark dimension yield to him. He uses the time of our dimension against the timelessness of the dark dimension. Dormammu, unaware of the aspects of time, goes on a time loop with Doctor Strange, whose death makes Dormammu relive his moments with the Doctor. The Doctor knew that with Dormammu's infinite power, Earth's sorcery is no match for Dormammu, so the Doctor uses the aspect of time to trap Dormammu because the dark dimension God was utterly ignorant of what time is. The direction of Michael Giacchino was brilliant.
Antman
[Available on Disney+Hotstar]
This 2015 English superhero movie talks of a technology that helps the wearer of a suit manipulate her size to atomic and gigantic dimensions with the power to control one of the most efficient creatures of the animal kingdom-Ants. Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Antman is funny and lovable. He gets conned by Hank Pym (played by the charming Michael Douglas) into stealing his suit and makes him his disciple to save the world. Evangeline Lilly as Hope Pym is beautiful and sharp in her role.
With Hank Pym's training, Scott Lang destroys the yellowjacket technology- the superior suit developed by apprentice-turned-evil genius Correy Stoll (Darren Cross). In the process, the wearer of the yellowjacket suit (Correy Stoll) gets eradicated from existence. Paul Rudd with his gang, including Michael Pena, is hilarious, and the film is pretty engaging because of the comic mileage and the crispy sharp screenplay.
Antman drives home the idea that technology at the hands of wrong people driven by ambition is dangerous, and because of that, sometimes technology of great potential needs to be hidden from the world's sight.
Scott Lang is physically agile and fast; at the same time, he is mentally sharp. His marriage failed, and he got thrown in jail because he fought the system created by the rich by stealing from them. The film also seems to be playing with the idea that not everyone who gets convicted is a villain by heart, and not everyone who gets chosen for greatness has virtue in their heart.
Scott Lang and Correy Stoll are similar to each other but yet different. Antman values love and relationship over his ambitions. Correy, blinded by ambition, doesn't care about love or relationship. He is ruthless and loses his humanity in the process. Hank Pym chose Correy as his disciple by seeing the latter's ambition, and Hank, after years, finds the hard way that his choice was wrong. His finding was from the realization that blind ambition is dangerous. An old Hank finds a new disciple in an ex-convict who loves his daughter, is unambitious, and stands with humanity. Peyton Reed's direction and Edgar Wright's story and screenplay make the film a stunning ride.
Conclusion
The three films of this week come from the Marvel Comic world and pack their messages of importance. Shang-Chi plays with the idea of family and relationships, but more than the film's worldview or its message, what stands out about the movie is its character buildup. Every female character is strong and sharply written and underscores that our world doesn't revolve around males or their egos.
Doctor Strange plays with the idea that forces of virtue should have the flexibility and cleverness to defeat the vice, which can sometimes be cunning and powerful. However, unlike the forces of vice, rigidity is a part of the forces of virtue. The way forward is the unity between the various forces of virtue. On the other hand, Antman talks of the dangers of blind ambition and how it should be kept in check with the vulnerability of humanity towards love.
The three movies pack a punch, and it was an entertaining ride. In my opinion, the three films are not just entertaining but also thought-provoking. Pondering upon them can fetch specific ideas that are worthy of thought and introspection.
