9.0/10 Iron Man - Iron Man, the first and best of the MCU films so far has such interesting themes and compelling character development that is nearly transcends the superhero genre itself. It concerns Tony Stark(Robert Downey Jr.) a wealthy weapons industrialist who has a change of heart after having his own weapons used against him. While being held captive, he builds a technological suit of metal armor that enables him to fight and defeat his captors singlehandidly. Eventually, he improves the armor and becomes the superhero Iron Man, soon fighting people (one in particular) in his own company that would use his new technology for greed and violence. Not quite a masterpiece, but not far from it. This is the one that The Avengers has to equal or surpass to be highly respected.
6.5/10 The Incredible Hulk - Marvel has yet to make a really good Hulk movie. Perhaps its simply because they have had him being chased by the military throughout the last two, including this one. We want to see the Hulk as a hero, not on the run all the time. Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) spends the movie running from a government who would selfishly take and use the source of the power that turns him into a giant green smashaholic, until the very end when he gets to have an admittedly impressive lengthy battle with his arch nemesis The Abomination. Fairly entertaining, but this is far in quality from Iron Man.
7.0/10 Iron Man 2 - Iron Man 2 lacks the depth and originality of the first film, but it is at least a slight improvement over The Incredible Hulk. This time Stark (with a little help from fellow superhero War Machine) must defend himself from the revenge driven Whiplash (plus some nasty robots), who is certainly a match for our intrepid hero. This movie is pretty much a basic superhero movie that benefits greatly from Downey's still potent performance of the arrogant philanthropist.
7.5/10 Thor - Things get even better with Thor. This film is loosely based on Norse mythology, Thor being the god of thunder. Thor (Chris Hemsworth) develops a particularly captivating character arc in which his character is transformed from an arrogant warrior into an empathetic humanist, even after he finds out his lonely, jealous brother Loki would like nothing better than to kill him and take over their kingdom Asgard. The romantic angle is par for the course, but this is solidly entertaining stuff.
7.5/10 Captain America: The First Avenger - CA is a similarly solid entertainment experience. Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) is a scrawny weakling during the World War 2 era who wants nothing more than to fight for his country. He gets his chance with a serum that makes him into the super soldier hero known as Captain America. While dispatching the nazis, he learns about the nefarious plans of the Red Skull and has to confront and stop him. Good stuff.
Marvel has done an unprecedented job of making all of the pre-Avengers flicks good films, leading up to the Joss Whedon directed The Avengers. I will review The Avengers after I see it, hopefully next month.
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