Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
I spent the whole movie looking for things to be angry about, thanks to vague Internet reactions, so MAYBE my thorough enjoyment of the movie was partly defensive, but I really liked it. I was pretty much in from the awesome opening scene where
CAP FLIPPED A MOTORCYCLE AT HYDRA,
and I liked that, unlike the first movie, it didn't have to spend all that time getting the team together: it gets going and doesn't stop moving. And I loved watching them fight as a team, with their own special combos. I thought there was great character work for most of the team, though
Cap and Thor didn't get a whole lot (in the first movie, everyone had a real arc),
and I was surprised by how much I cared about the Maximoffs by the end (especially Wanda).
I agree with some of the criticisms, but overall I am pro-this movie.
It's interesting to me that so many people were so bothered by
Natasha saying she's also a monster, because I didn't get any sense that it was directly tied to her sterilization. It was her acknowledging that she was shaped as a person by a horribly fucked-up program.
I mean, if you've seen Agent Carter,
I think about Dottie snapping the neck of her friend, and being taught to do that without question.
Dana, I am positive that this was the
intended
read of that scene, but I absolutely understand why people are reading it the other way. It was exactly how I took it initially until my brain said THAT CANNOT BE WHAT THEY ARE SAYING and rejiggered.
Except that
if you look at the context of what they're talking about, the point in the conversation and explanation when she says it, the motivation given by the Red Room for the forced sterilization (again, not done that way in the comics), and her vision being of trying to intentionally fail the tests to avoid the graduation ceremony, it's a hard reading to avoid. Like I said on Tumblr, there were ways to write it that wouldn't have that effect, but those were not the ways in which it was written.
It was a very poorly written scene.
but I absolutely understand why people are reading it the other way.
Yeah, I meant to say that, but apparently I forgot.
Well, and that's just it; even if we find something problematic, it doesn't have to overwhelm the rest of how we feel about the entire work.
I gave the movie pretty high reviews, because it kept me engaged and didn't make me feel like it was a 2-1/2 hour movie. I didn't cotton to Wanda and Pietro at first, but
once it was put in the context of people will do anything to save their country/family in a time of war, as Steve so correctly pointed out,
it made sense for their choice and I started liking them better. By the end of the movie
the scene of Pietro dying to save Hawekeye and the little boy
left me completely in tears. I think that is some pretty stellar writing, problematic writing in places or not.
To be clear, I didn't hate it. I found it to be uneven, and only connected with it emotionally for a couple of things
OMG SHEILD TECH I LOVE YOU!!!! HEARTEYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
which means I watched the whole thing through my analytical lens instead of my squee and whee lens.
Did I mention my Shallow Feelings here? I had a few.
you know, that was a dimly lit and disappointing bit of Wet Thor there, and Hemsworth's not even my flavor of beefcake. Also, HOLY CRAP, FARMHOUSE NICK FURY HOW ARE YOU SO HOT IN THAT GREY THING AND WOW, YES PLEASE. There was a sad lack of totally gratuitous and lovingly-framed shots of Chris Evans' ass. After Avengers and CA:TWS, this makes me very sad. I mean, that scene in CA:TWS where Steve's confronting Nick, and you can't really focus on Nick's face while he's talking, because the stealth suit clad buttcheeks of freedom are right there in the frame? Come on, that little thing is a national treasure, so show it some love. Also, Scarlett really looked radiant. She's a very glowy pregnant person.
Oh, I found Pietro annoying, and yet
his death totally got me, because sibling stuff is my damn kryptonite.
(To the point where it even gave me a moment where I unreservedly liked Pierce in Community.)
Well, and that's just it; even if we find something problematic, it doesn't have to overwhelm the rest of how we feel about the entire work.
See also, "Blurred Lines" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside," both of which I love even though they're creepy and rapey.
