Mark Y

At its best, Weapons delivers some genuinely sharp scares. I caught myself covering my face more than once, and at least one moment had not just me but the entire theater tensed up, holding our breath together. Furthermore, the characters do the leg work for most of this film. Surprisingly believable, grounded, and relatable enough that the horror feels like it could be happening next door. They aren’t just cannon fodder; they carry a weight of realism that makes the terror sting more (Outstandingly so Josh Brolins character and Benedict Wongs character). Add in some solid cinematography and a fitting score, and on the surface, Weapons looks like a strong entry into the genre. But then the question comes: what is the movie about, exactly? That’s where things crumble. The community plot, the missing children mystery, essentially the backbone of the story, get shoved aside so we can wander into subplots about a grumpy cop and a burnout druggie. Sure, they circle back into the “grand scheme” eventually, but the detour kills momentum and leaves the film unfocused. Stranger still are moments that feel unintentionally baffling: the floating gun above the house, the random witch lady appearing in the dream/woods sequence… imagery that wants to imply some larger wrongness, but without context or connective tissue, it plays more like bizarre pop ups, rather than mystery. I like to think I can appreciate subtlety, but this isn’t one of those times where ambiguity pays off. To make things worse, the trailers sold a very different kind of film, one with a sharper mystery and tighter tension. Instead, the movie keeps veering between tones. There are stretches of dark, broody atmosphere that suddenly give way to what feels like outright comedy or wild cop/robber hijinks. The jokes land, but they pull the rug out from the horror, making the final act feel like a stumble across the finish line rather than a payoff. At the end of the day, the more I sit with the film, the more I come to dislike it. I'm not totally sure what Jordan Peele saw in this film, but for me it reads less like a master piece, and more like I film I'll likely never touch again.

I went into this film as a skeptic, hoping above all else to be proven wrong. That amongst a minefield of broken, botched and boring takes on those better than ourselves, that maybe just maybe Marvel's first family would fill the gap that's been only growing steady, and give us something soulful, hopeful, and true to the foundation of these characters. I was justified in my initial skepticism. What we are presented with can only be described as your A-Typical MCU film, with a hastily applied retro-futuristic lens and scrappy integrity, which in it's attempt to wow and dazzle away from the middling film in front of you, reveals exactly how hollow it actually is. The team from the get-go for me just did not work as well as it was clearly assumed to have. Ben and Johnny? Fun. Reed and Johnny? Filler. Ben and Reed? Practically strangers. Even the stronger moments (Sue with the others) feel half-earned. And about Sue, the only topic regarding this movie I'll probably be kind to, but because it is earned; If any one person's film, this film belongs to Sue. She is kickass throughout, and is clearly the leader of the gang, and one who leads well. Vanessa Kirby gives Sue a powerhouse feeling which nails it's attempts whole heartedly. And that's not to say the acting was bad, it was all around good, no complaints from the actors. But beyond them, the rest of this is a trudge of a film. The smaller, intimate moments that we do get boil down to not mattering, like, at all. Ben carries the community weight and emotion throughout the film, and while they are touching in a good way, they are disregarded because 10 seconds later it's off to space for the gang. Instead of letting the audience live and breathe in the city that they are protecting, growing alongside the people they are protecting, their "Family"; We get lab moment, space moment, lab moment, another Ben and Johnny interaction, lab moment, a Sue and Reed moment. It's all so utterly tiring. The final act, finally facing off against Galactus is, fine? Even if the film didn't attempt to wash the finalizing moments through the original Avengers and even Incredibles final beats, it would still be weak. This film is constantly grasping for the undeniability that this is one of the greats amongst the Marvel roster, and just constantly falls short, and we have to constantly watch it happen, and it is constantly a drag. Instead of believing in itself, instead of being what it promised it would be, a technical, intimate, retro-future story about a founding family, Marvel's First Family, with a soul intact throughout the entirety of the runtime we get ANOTHER MCU slop-film. I think worst above all else, beyond the 'Eh' first act and 'Is this almost over?' third act, is the second act detaching us entirely from the world we we're just starting to know. Why? Why are we going to space? Why are we spending SO, MUCH, TIME THERE? I'm unsure if this is a new trend (Because I had the same problem with Superman) with film makers, where any sense of worldbuilding, community, fleshing out of character, get's instantly injected with a 'Mega cool side-quest', then just to dump us back off where we were, but now the stakes are higher! Are they? Why? Because you tell me so? Throughout much of the film I just can't find myself believing much of this, and that sucks, because typically I can. You've told me the threat, warned me about it, but why can't I feel it? Where is the magic and soul in the film? Honestly, there wasn't any to begin with, because even in the teasers, in the trailers I could tell, that this was just another MCU filler film, not anything note worthy, not anything greater than it's contemporaries. TL;DR: Fantastic Four: First Steps had the chance to restore heart and soul to the MCU but ultimately collapses under its own hollow spectacle. Despite a standout performance by Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm and some decent chemistry between a few team members, the film never truly believes in itself. It leans on retro aesthetics and cosmic distractions instead of grounded character work. The pacing is disjointed, the worldbuilding is paper-thin, and by the time we’re thrust into space for an underwhelming Galactus showdown, any hope for intimacy or originality is long gone. Just another MCU assembly-line product with a cooler filter slapped on.

At it's core their is a conceptually astounding achievement in Super-Hero story-telling, that in it's stride for greatness stumbles one to many times in it's pursuit of glory. Superman 2025 at it's core is a story surrounding the concept that maybe the new cool thing is to be kind, courageous and human. But several missteps lead to this point only really being hammered in around the end of the first act and the end of the third. Where the first act is intimate, experiencing this world with Superman and Lois, the second comes swinging out the gate with portals and pocket dimensions and baby joey's that just.. Don't work for me. I'm a fan of going big with these movies, with directors respecting the origins of their craft, but the second act was almost over-doing it. Mr. Terrific and Lois Lane have a wonderful chance to shine and really become more than just set dressing, but man does it suck to have a chunk of the Superman film, Superman-less. Furthermore, I feel that it take's away from the theme's that as previously stated the film is trying to instill. We go from "Be good, be human." head first into "I gotta save baby Joey from the Minecraft dimension", back into a soft, intimate, and gentle "Be good, be human.".. HUH? Now, I'll also be the first to admit that the third act still struggled in some areas. Such as the Jarhanpur conflict's continuation. Now, this is of course just my opinion, and in fairness who am I comparatively? HOWEVER - I feel like, as tears welled in my eye's at the beautiful moment between Clark and his father, and we returned to the Conflict of Jarhanpur, with the kid's rallying a makeshift flag for Superman, their hope, the light in the dark; To come arrive and save them once more, that it would make MORE sense for him to attend to that issue first, and send the Justice Gang to assess the whole tear thing instead. Again, just my opinion, but you're building on this emotional moment, and in my opinion hope truly coming in the most dire of moment's would have hit just right, instead of pretty much saying "I can't be there, here's the leftovers.". Why? Why have the emotional climax of this conflict, something many can relate to as it's mirroring a conflict that's happening NOW, why have that emotional climax occur with Guy Gardner? That left me a bit baffled, but at least we got Superman's speech about Humanity to soothe it over. All in all, the film still has surprisingly strong legs (Yes, even with the second act being majorly inadequate compared to the rest of the film, and my gripes with the Jarhanpur Conflict), the soundtrack is good, the cinematography won't be everyone's favorite thing, but I didn't mind. The dog was funny, side character's were good, not much to comment on there. I liked the different take on the Kent's, though I feel like they were a little underhanded at time's. Lois is a great second to Clark, and Mr. Terrific was a show stealer. Don't quite know why Metamorpho was even in this film, or Baby Joey for that matter but, they're fine. And to the film's credit, James Gunn understands Superman fundamentally, but misses on some aspects that make the impossible man truly feel impossible without sacrificing his humanity. TL;DR - Superman 2025 is conceptually powerful, aiming to make kindness, courage, and humanity "cool" again. The first act nails that tone with an intimate portrayal of Clark and Lois, and the third act lands an emotional payoff. But the second act, full of portals, pocket dimensions, and Baby Joey, feels bloated and off-theme. Superman’s absence during key portions drags the film down, especially when the Jarhanpur conflict is resolved by Guy Gardner and the Justice Gang instead of Clark, undermining its emotional weight. Still, strong performances from Lois and Mr. Terrific, a solid score, decent side characters, and Gunn’s mostly-accurate understanding of Superman give the film sturdy legs, even if it stumbles on the way to greatness.