Avengers

5/23/20

This week I:
1) Scrubbed through The Avengers, perhaps watching its 140 minutes in 70
2) Obtained brief ideas of the middle two films
3) Watched Endgame

I understand this would hardly excuse an intent to "review" the Avengers franchise; but seldom am I interested in qualified reviews on this blog. It's a place for me to practice writing and thinking, specifically about a topic I enjoy, so I am happy to assemble thoughts around these films regardless.

Context: I've rarely watched movies the last few years; I just watched the three new mainline Star Wars; I've maybe seen a film or two in the MCU.

I'm guessing this is trite to say: these movies seem almost perfectly engineered for bank-shattering popularity. Yet I expected more of a soul. The first movie was exactly what I expected, and is probably oft-imitated since. Endgame wasn't really surprising, but lacked the soul and grandeur I expected. Obviously it's monumental in various objective ways, and strives constantly to be epic, and it emotionally burdened many fans. But, disregarding my lack of emotional investment in Marvel due to little experience, still Endgame was not as epic as I expected. I felt the same about The Rise of Skywalker. The mega-blockbusters of my generation have now been around so long, and myself deaf to them, I guess I expected them to melt all watching minds, annihilate all souls. I took years away from video games, and returned for one video game, supposedly a culmination of visual and cinematic artistry in video games; after many years away I expected perfection in the modern gaming experience, and it was so far from it. Similarly after years away from blockbuster films I expected a perfect and annihilating experience, and both Star Wars and The Avengers were relatively mild. Again, I'm not a dedicated fan of either, but I still think I can deduce the situation. I think I can assume emotional gravity in Iron Man's arc, and in seeing all your favorite movies converge into one at the final assembling, and still report failures of grandeur.

It was alright -- I didn't mind the films or anything, but they were exceptionally basic. Formulaic, obvious, artificial. In high school I grew cynical of my society, exaggerating its artificiality. Then over the years my ego shrank and I tried to understand human beings better. Now I'm watching these movies with a smaller ego, expecting to succumb as everyone else does -- and they're failing me. They're supporting my old hypotheses, that my society is depressingly basic and artificial. The people aren't, but the products are.

Star Wars was far more profound to me, though superficially more juvenile. The Avengers was more mature in its presentation, but elementary in its content. The ridiculous discussion of quantum mechanics in Endgame serves as a microcosm -- use mature language to try and justify your childish concept of time travel. It's almost offensive how these films speak to mask their emptiness. It feels intentionally deceptive, almost unethical (though I can't really say that). I have no ethical issue with people making and selling these films, but the deception is gross to me, like gilding. It's a blameless but gross reality. These films pretend to be profound and mature, but they're basic. At least Star Wars had a rumor of something profound. The Avengers was written for the adolescent living in the minds of adults, and not in a good way. Star Wars was written for the adult living in the hearts of adolescents. Star Wars guides children into adulthood, while The Avengers regresses adults back into immaturity.

These movies didn't affect me, though they were fine and sometimes fun to watch. They weren't even that fun though. Obviously they were stimulating, but not emotional. I care very little about Marvel, if Endgame affects me so little. I'm sure it affected those who watched every MCU movie. But if this is supposedly the most profound and grand of them all, Marvel has little for me. Even if they're basic I could expect they'd affect me -- but they don't. Maybe I'll be thankful for that, so I can forget them, and reclaim some old ego.