Mike McKenny tells of his and his five year old son’s Saturday morning trip out to a superhero-infused Cineworld Bradford. (Image of Corey McKenny as Iron Man and Cineworld staff member as Hulk)
Too often, the multiplex is sneered at by cultural gatekeepers, but it’s important to remember what they bring to the world of cinema. Along with all the misfiring star vehicles and crass mimicry, every now and again we get a cinematic marvel that could only be achieved with a ludicrously large budget. As most cinephiles I know (myself included) had their formative movie experiences in the such cinemas, it can’t be underappreciated how much the films that populate them light the fire of film-passion in the youngsters that go see them.
Last Saturday, my five year old son Corey (aka Tony Stark/Iron Man) and I went to Cineworld Bradford’s family activity event. Saturday mornings is always family-cinema-time in our household due to their ‘Movies For Juniors’ offerings, where you pay £1 per ticket to see a not-quite-new-but-not-that-old release. Well this week was a little different, opting to go for the full priced option to tie in with the superhero festivities they had going on in the foyer.
Thor was selling tickets, Captain America was selling ice-cream and a big green Hulk was simply wandering around. There was a colouring in competition and some helpful staff on hand to greet all the kids.
As for the film, well when your five year old son actively starts chanting ‘Iron Man, Iron Man, Iron Man’ midway through the film and his – usually pretty short – attention span is retained, unfaltered for two and a half hours; not to mention wanting to go back and then sit, transfixed, through the whole thing again just three days later, you know he’s seen something pretty special.
As a very brief summary, this is the film that brings together characters from various recent Marvel superhero films, whether they’ve had their own successful outings (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk), or have featured in a minor capacity in one or more of these (Black Widow in Iron Man 2, Hawkeye in Thor, Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury in EVERYTHING). This film is these characters’ attempted and problematic union to fight against an oncoming alien invasion led by villain of the Thor film, Thor’s own half brother Loki.
I have to lay down a disclaimer with respect to my own views on the film. As I am completely unable to shake a nostalgic realization of childhood wish-fulfilment, seeing these characters all together on screen, there is little chance of me giving an overly objective immediate reaction, but far from a simple fan-boy appreciation, I still contend that this is an almost seamless summer blockbuster.
This could have easily been a disappointing, dream shattering attempt to project my youth onto the big screen – a lá one certain robot toy based franchise of recent years. It could also have been simply satisfactory; simply ticking boxes. As it happens, it is not only one of the most visually arresting, spectacle laden extravaganzas you’d expect from its budget, but also perhaps the most well crafted, paced and written blockbusters of at least the last decade.
It has none of the minor – okay sometimes major – clunks that the previous Marvel Studio films evidenced, particularly the stilted Iron Man 2. This film sees a staggering cast of characters brought together seamlessly. Although some are more prominent than others, all the characters have their own importance and place within the narrative. Robert Downey Jr’s charismatic Tony Stark/Iron Man arguably only just takes centre stage, but is aided by the bickering with character-clashing Captain America or the convincing scientifically charged relationship with Bruce Banner, who almost steals the show with Mark Ruffalo playing the best incarnation of the scientist yet, not to mention his Hulk-outs being some of the most entertaining put on screen.
It was a canny step to not get bogged down with masses of villains, with Tom Hiddleston’s masterful take on Loki easily sufficing. But also having the heroes constantly bickering and fighting amongst each other brought plenty of dramatic friction, whilst allowing every second of this friction to add further layers to each character’s development. Further, in the popular superhero film’s myth-building capacity, particularly in this post-9/11 world, to have the ‘good’ as a fractured, ambiguous, secretive and deceptive agency sets up some interesting sub-text rather than opting for a simplistic ‘good’ vs ‘evil’, ‘us’ vs ‘them’ narrative.
Having Joss Whedon at the helm was always going to be one of the best possible choices for such an ensemble, given his track record at bringing teams together in the likes of TV series’ Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, amongst others. Another of his touches is clearly evident, having such a reputation for bringing interesting, strong women to the fore, it is no surprise that he’s brought the undeniably beautiful, yet often wooden, Scarlett Johansson fully to life as Black Widow, as well as introducing the Shield agent Maria Hill in such a superior position. Having a little boy, it’s imperative for me that he sees such strong female characters, and sees that the world isn’t only saved by men, leaving the women to passively swoon at the fringes, as was unfortunately so predominantly the case in the eighties/nineties action films that I was brought up on.
At numerous points the action left him dumbstruck, simply shaking his head and remarking: ‘this is awesome’, a sentiment shared by myself.
The same superhero shenanigans will be going on at Cineworld Bradford this coming Saturday, starting at 9:30am, with prizes to be won and dressing up to be done. Hopefully you will treat your young’uns to this cinematic marvel, but if that full price is understandably daunting, you’ll be able to watch one of the following films for only a pound a ticket: The Lion King, Smurfs or Puss in Boots. My pick of that bunch, and one I can recommend heartily, Puss in Boots.
You can find Mike McKenny on Twitter @DestroyApathy
Mike,
First thing is, Corey is obviously well enjoying it! Second, everyboy’s [and some girls’] youth was misspent with Marvel, so this must be Marvel-lous. Haven’t seen it myself yet, but your obvious appreciation has certainly not put me off, and I’ll try to catch it before it disappears. Thanx!
b0b