What if, S1 finale - October 6

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and I cannot wait for today to be over for all sorts of reasons; as such, given that I have neither the time nor the inclination to wax poetic about the S1 conclusion of ‘What if?’ let me try to be brief instead.

The S1 finale is rather rushed; I do not know what ‘What if?’ was going for here; maybe it was some sort of a 4^th wall breakthrough, but in this case, they should have gone for a better medium than what is essentially a cartoon series, whose finale had been spoiled since the teaser trailer if not before. Marvel multiverse has plenty of stories, no doubt, but the audience of ‘team Marvel’ had been quite aware of them for a while; unlike the ‘Star Wars: Visions’ anthology, which authentically brought something new to the table due to a variety of factors, Marvel’s ‘What if?’ brought essentially some tried and true ideas to the table, nothing that hadn’t been encountered by Marvel fans before, albeit in different mediums, but still. The S1 finale assembled merely a different set of Avengers – pardon me, Guardians – but somehow they have reminded me of yet another Marvel team-up: Netflix’s ‘Defenders’. Whereas AoS was honestly bad, and ‘InHumans’ insipid, Marvel’s ‘Defenders’ were simply lackluster; a condition made worse by their heterogeneous nature: all 4 series, (plus ‘Punisher’ made the fifth), were different from each other, and when the ‘Defenders’ tried to combine all of them, (minus the Punisher) into a single show, it failed. What next?

‘What if?’ S1 finale was not a variant of the ‘Defenders’, no, but it was also lackluster: it was evident, (just as in case of the ‘Defenders’), just how everything and everyone would go so there were no twists and turns. Individual episodes were predictable enough, but in this case… Uatu threw a variant Gamora into the mix as an extra, and – period. That is it, and even the ‘Gamora killing Thanos’ case isn’t too unique – Marvel comics already did it… in one of the last pre-COVID-19 plot arcs. Yay.

…Well, the fact that ‘What if?’ had not killed the variant Zola and Killmonger off is different, though it is reminiscent of how the 1990’s Spider-Man cartoon had had its’ Captain Rogers and the Red Skull trapped in some timeless void in an eternal struggle. Here we have something similar; and has the variant Dr. Strange become Uatu’s jailer? Seriously, what are the ramifications of Uatu breaking his oath, and are there any ramifications for Uatu? That is not answered; instead, we get ‘What if?’ transformed from an anthology of independent stories – think SW: Visions for comparison – into another ‘Avengers’ variant, which is something that we’ve seen before… unlike the second ‘Venom’ film that we have also recently discussed, and which has actually brought something new to its’ audiences, (however limited or flawed it might be, yes, but still), hence its’ success and ‘What if?’-s not so much. Disney/MCU stopped taking risks after the fall of the SW Sequel Trilogy – but that is another story.

For now, though, this is it instead. See you all soon!

Venom 2 - October 5

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sometimes sucks really badly; this morning of mine’s was a certain proof of that!.. In other news, ‘Venom 2: Let there be Carnage’ was out last week, so let us talk about it instead, while Uatu is busy being Nick Fury to Ultra-Vision’s Loki. What about it?

The initial ‘Venom’ film was a separate beast from the rest of MCU, and so’s ‘Venom 2’… mostly. At the end of the film, there’re not so subtle signs that Venom – and ‘Venom’ – are coming to MCU after all; guess Sony has brokered its’ peace with MCU & Disney… So what?

Good question: ‘Venom 2’ in many ways is a re-mastered first film; the main difference between Carnage, (the movie version), and Riot, (the symbiote from the first film), is that Riot was lawful evil, and had a greater plan – to bring the rest of their race down to Earth so that the latter would be conquered – while Carnage was chaotic evil instead and just went on a murderous killing spree, as he usually does in all of the universes, (though in the 1990s’ cartoon series he joined baron Mordo instead to free Dormamu – but that is neither here nor there). Of course, Venom has to stop him anyhow, or else Carnage will kill him (and everyone else), but the point is that in both Tom Hardy movies Venom is an anti-hero, or rather a hero despite his baser nature: he has to stop the other symbiotes or else he’s doomed just as the rest of Earth is. (Uatu may have other opinions, but so far, he and Venom have never communicated with each other); i.e., there is little character development between those two movies, and there is actually some regress, seeing how Eddie has lost Anne again to the good doctor, (after winning her back at the end of the first film), but don’t fear! She is still the other person that Venom can bond with without killing them instead, (as he did both in this film and in the first one). Seriously, people, just have an orgy – it would be right up in Venom’s alley!..

…However, unlike AoS, where the recycling of ideas has turned MCU’s S.H.I.E.L.D. so toxic that now none of its characters – aside from some Coulson cameos – have re-appeared in either ‘What if?’ or anywhere else in the phase 4 MCU – the Venom franchise actually made it work. Why? Because unlike AoS, the Venom franchise does not attempt to go deep; it is actually is quite shallow, just as the titular character is. I.e., Venom is formidable, but he is not prone to self-contemplation or anything like that; Tom Hardy’s other character of the film – Eddie Brock – attempts to, sort of, but that is not enough: for a powerful alien monster, Venom is rather child-like in some ways, which make him lovable to the audience, sort of. Pause.

Let us try again. All movies are products that aim to be bought by the audience, (both literally and metaphorically), but whereas Disney seeks to make its’ MCU movies, (and also SW films, but let us ignore them right now), something meaningful and insightful and deep, (though nowhere as deep as ‘Dune-2021’ was, thank God), Sony – when it came to the ‘Venom’ franchise – did not. Both ‘Venom’ and ‘Venom 2’ aimed solely to entertain via a shock and awe approach, nothing more, nothing less. As the ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ movie showed, the (American) audiences are tired of ‘deep and meaningful’ movies, and are quite ready for something that is completely different, such as ‘Let there be Carnage’ film. It doesn’t offer any deep truths, any deep meanings, any subtle and/or hidden depths, but rather it wears its’ heart on its’ sleeve: what you see is what you get… which is basically a horror monster movie, quite appropriate for the month of Halloween, and also excellently made by Mr. Serkis from the technical side of things; so naturally, people have enjoyed watching it, and will enjoy to watch it for weeks to come.

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon – probably with the S1 conclusion of ‘What if?’.