My chance tonight to see the film, so at last I can stop dodging every word written about it on the internet.
I'd like to deconstruct it but I'd have to see it again first, as I'm digesting. I know a lot of people think films like this are fluff; but people see what they pay attention to and I've noticed very much with the rise of youtube film reviewers that they don't seem to see very much. There's meat here to chew ... but admittedly it isn't the meat that would satisfy the appetite of a 30-something fanboy who thinks that film-making has been on the skids since Casino.
There are some expositional troubles with it in the first 25 minutes ~ not inconsistencies, not inaccuracies, just "troubles." Mostly from a pressing need to gunshoot its way through the build-up to placate audiences who can't spend another five minutes drinking in the full dialogue, pacing and setting. It goes back to that thing about not paying attention. For a lot of viewers, if the actors slow down long enough to talk, it becomes (apparently) impossible to see or hear anything that's going on.
I'm a fan. I like about two-thirds of Marvel films; this was a departure from the usual form. You'll see people online blathering that its "the same old thing," but AGAIN, they're not seeing and they're not hearing. There are quite a number of quiet themes at play in the film that are tapping into a certain kind of viewer, one who has the patience to let the actors talk about things that matter to them, while enjoying characters who don't scream every line or feel the need to be grotesquely "cool" in every scene.
Should you see it?
If you've think 4chan has "some merits," I'd say no. If you're the sort that watches Extra Credits or Kurzgesagt because you think it's "educational," you should likely give this movie a pass. If you're deeply involved in let's play content on youtube, or you're thinking about taking that UofC course on StarCraft, you're going to find this movie moves way, way too slowly.
On the other hand, if you like women and would like to see them perform in parts that don't pander to the fact that they're women ~ that is, treats them like human beings with believable personalities ~ then you might be surprised by this.
I was ... but only because it turned out to be exactly what I expected it to be. I'm usually wrong.
Cool Review. This movie feels like a post-feminist movie to me. It's not trying to show women can play bad ass characters like the 80's action movies, it's not showing a regular girl can become a hero(Buffy), or a princess can be a warrior hero(wonder woman). No this is just a story about a maverick, trailblazing woman and how she becomes a superhero, it just tells her story straightforwardly because it has nothing to prove to anyone :)
ReplyDelete"On the other hand, if you like women and would like to see them perform in parts that don't pander to the fact that they're women ~ that is, treats them like human beings with believable personalities ~ then you might be surprised by this."
ReplyDeleteThis comment sums up my feelings as well, and as a dad to a 9 year-old girl who I took to this movie, I can relate that this sentiment means so much to her and her girl friends of the same age. They don't want to see a movie about a woman being powerful just because she's a woman. They just want to have character role models that do the same things men do, without any excessive commentary that they are women.
The Wonder Woman movie, as much as I liked it, relied a little too much on the idea that it was unexpected that a woman would do the things she does. In the Captain Marvel movie, the main character is just a superhero - the fact that she's a woman is irrelevant to the main story.
I've always believed the right way to do a female left superhero movie is to write the movie as though she were male and replace the character last minute. Nice to see theory in action.
ReplyDeleteOzymandias,
ReplyDeleteI have to strongly disagree. Whereas a lot of men probably do have some of issues addressed in the film, the manner in which the film explored these themes, the manner in which decisions were made, the manner in which ass was kicked, was very distinctly and intentionally not resolved in the way a "man" would resolve them.
Speaking generally, of course. I hasten to add that many men don't count themselves as "men" in the traditional sense, just as many women don't count themselves as "women" in the traditional sense. But there is a global mean for both and this definitely tips into the red (though admittedly, the suit did have elements of blue).