Wack Blidow

Yes, because a) NZ isn't rubbish, and b) time zones are a thing, I saw this movie before most people... in fact before it even releases.

I could talk about plot but since people try to avoid spoilers, I'm gonna skip that part. Besides, it's not like you need my opinion of how the story unfolds before if you are going to see it. I will say that the tone is rather straight. It's like they were trying for a Captain America level seriousness, but couldn't quite get it working properly. Which isn't saying there isn't comedy, but it's sprinkled in and just happens, as opposed to rising naturally out what is happening. Especially around Red Guardian. But it mostly comes across as awkward. (Although this didn't stop the audience in the theater from tittering at the less than slightest provocation.)

A point of this movie is to give ScarJo her own movie, now they can no longer fit it into the ongoing series (although complaining about it taking place pre Infinity War would be like complaining that Captain Marvel is pre Iron Man... hey, is putting female led movies into the past a common theme we'll be getting?). So ScarJo gets a lot to do, but is largely giving the same performance as in her other movies, so can't really say the character is getting a lot of stretching.

Still it's nice to see Rachel Weisz and David Harbour having fun. And, of course, we get more Florence Pugh. But, uh, those accents... I'm sure they had coaches and all, but...

The "big bad" of the movie is Taskmaster, and I didn't see any correct predictions about who it was. Although they seem to also co-opt some of DC's Prometheus where moves could be programmed in? But this did raise the question in my mind: could Taskmaster give a great speech?

There are a fair few explosions for those that want some, but this is a more "grounded" story, as Natasha doesn't really have powers other than "can pose well". I have no idea who came up with the big end sequence, but it's certainly impressive.

And of course there is a post credit scene - why are you even asking??

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