Streaming service Disney + started 2023 as one of the fastest growing players on the market. Nothing boded trouble: new content began to be delivered on a weekly basis, and after numerous delays, projects from the studio also arrived. Marvel, among which the flagship is the series “Falcon and the Winter Soldier” (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier).
However, then something went wrong. First Lucasfilm fired the actress with a scandal Gina Carano, thereby shooting himself in the knee, because Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Star Wars: The Mandalorian) is still a flagship project Mickey Mouse housesable to compete with the unsinkable “Office“(The office). Moreover, the dismissal occurred on the eve of the quarterly report, which only exacerbated the situation, and a campaign was launched on the Web #CancelDisneyPlus…
The series “Wanda Vision“(VandaVision), around which Marvel inflated from scratch such a powerful hype in half with outright lies that the whole project collapsed under its weight (hello, “Ralph Stoyak“).
All this leads us to the TV series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, the premiere episode of which managed to get around the film views “Justice League Zach Snyder“(Zack Snyder’s Justice League). And this despite the fact that HBO Max significantly inferior in terms of audience coverage to Disney +, and the new strategy WarnerMedia turned out to be a failure (according to the company’s latest report).
The trailers in front of us loomed a strong spy thriller in which two heroes must learn to work as a team to defeat a terrorist group. “Flag Crushers“and come out of the shadow of Captain America. At the same time, Marvel promised only six episodes with normal timing, which favorably distinguished the project from the series” Wanda Vision “cut into small pieces. The reality turned out to be a little different.
Each of the storylines is puzzling. The first is the fight with the “Flag Crushers” group, which includes super-soldiers a la Steve Rogers… Leader of the movement Karlie Morgenthau (Erin Kelliman) wants to return the world to the state before cancellation “Clicking Thanos“, but with her own methods (to blow everyone up), she achieves exactly the opposite. And the further, the more the conviction grows that the authors have turned somewhere in the wrong place.
The local theater of the absurd manages to pull out at the expense of Helmut Zemo (Daniel Bruhl), which the main characters release in order to track the sources of whey supplies Captain America… The character’s motives are much more understandable and logical (to prevent the emergence of a new generation of super soldiers), and Marvel portrays him as an antihero.
The second storyline also raises questions. Falcon (Anthony Mackie) abandons Captain America’s shield and donates it to the museum. Such an act Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) perceives as a betrayal of Steve Rogers’ ideals. Conflict escalates when American authorities appoint a new Captain America – an experienced soldier John Walker (Wyatt Russell), not possessing any superpowers. The main characters refuse to accept him into their social circle, which creates a conflict.
Marvel really wanted the audience to hate Walker. During the screening of the series, the media in the United States actively convinced readers that Russell played almost the second Joffrey from “The game of thrones“(Games of thrones), but in reality the hero does not cause rejection. Rather, it turned out to be an antihero who is not afraid to get stained with blood. This is due to the fact that the writers could not arouse sympathy for “Flag Crushers”, and the moment of Walker’s nervous breakdown is not perceived as a disgusting act.
The writers also had a unique opportunity – to show the world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which could not be seen before due to the limited timing of films. They again failed to cope with this task.
Interesting details can only be seen at the beginning and very end of the series. Let’s say the unsuccessful attempt of the Sokol family to get a bank loan. Say, you have no credit history for the last five years, in which you were reduced to ashes.
At the same time, in the middle, the heroes rush along some abandoned Baltic ruins. Most of the questions are raised by Madripoor (the local analogue of Singapore). Supposedly a very dangerous city, but there are no cars on the roads at all, and for some reason life is in full swing only in the slums. It’s just a dead set with a rich comic past.
But the series is densely packed with references to BlackLivesMatter, which are so delusional that they make you laugh. Already in the second episode, the police almost arrange a strangulation session for Sokol. It also turns out that after Captain America there was a black super soldier whose existence the American authorities were hiding. And through it, Marvel shoots the viewer with a concentrated agenda.
“Remember, Sam. They will never let blacks become Captain America. And if they did, no self-respecting black would agree!”
Recall that initially Sokol was presented as a veteran of hostilities in the Middle East, who helps with the rehabilitation of wounded soldiers. On the show, he suddenly becomes peculiar. Martin Luther Kingwho fights racism and American reluctance to recognize black superhero as the new Captain America.
In the finale, Falcon, dressed in a hideous white-blue-red suit, publicly chastises the local senator for not performing well. We remind you that in “Iron Man 3“(Iron man 3) James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) sported in Stars and Stripes Iron Patriot, and for some reason no one asked uncomfortable questions.
The battle scenes could pull out the project – and it really is. The series kicks off with a spectacular aerial chase using wingsuits, and a new approach to staging can be seen in the fights. You see, Marvel is experimenting with age ratings.
The studio’s products consistently receive a PG-13 rating, but in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier you can regularly see blood, and the characters break bones, pierce enemies with iron pipes and cut with knives. Marvel clearly wants to move towards the R rating without getting it.
But towards the end of the series, something happens, and the quality of the staging of the action scenes decreases. This is clearly seen in the aerial battle, which takes place against the backdrop of a static night city. Obviously, they tried to save money in production.
After watching all six episodes, it feels like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was created in an environment of chaos. None of his storylines have been properly brought to mind, and the production is gradually degrading. Even the scene with Zemo dancing in the show itself is cut off! So what happened? Everything is very simple.
The studio initially had completely different plans for the project. The fourth phase of the MCU was supposed to start in 2023 with the movie “Black Widow“(Black widow), then “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” was supposed to debut on Disney +, and only after that – “Wanda Vision”. But the pandemic confused all plans, creating difficulties in production.
Back in the spring of 2023, information appeared that Marvel decided to remake the plot of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” and reshoots were organized in the Czech Republic. If you believe insiders (the studio itself has not officially confirmed anything), then “Flag Crushers” tried to return the world to the state before “Thanos Click” by releasing a dangerous virus developed in the Asian city of Madripoor. As you can imagine, such a plot twist could come back to haunt Disney and Marvel, which are desperately trying to gain a foothold in the Chinese market.
If you look closely, you can even notice the moments affected by the reshoot. So, at the very beginning, the main characters are trying to intercept a cargo with a vaccine, a segment in the Baltic States (filmed in Prague) looks foreign, and the role of one of the actresses is reduced to a death scene in a hospital.
Well, in May 2023, protests began over the death of George Floyd. Marvel executives have decided to ride the trend, which is why the series is packed with references to BlackLivesMatter. The studio now boasts in interviews that most of the writing team is made up of black writers. That is, the race of the authors of Marvel is now more interesting than their talent. The result is discrimination that Hollywood doesn’t want to fight.
The final chord was the desire to attract maximum interest in Disney +. Therefore, Marvel again stepped on a rake with a “secret cameo”. But the viewers, taught by “WandaVision, did not swallow the bait, and the very appearance of the mysterious character turned out to be as insipid as possible. In addition, the advertising department cleaned out a site dedicated to Madripoor, where one could find bold references to vampires and mutants.”
Is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier a bad project? Not. If you’re looking for another spectacular Marvel action movie, then the Disney + exclusive has its elements. It is also worth highlighting the good dynamics in the relationship between the two heroes, who are creakingly trying to establish interaction, as well as the further disclosure of Zemo as an antihero.
However, it is clear that due to Marvel’s desire to please absolutely everyone, its blockbuster pipeline is starting to fail, which is becoming more and more noticeable. And Disney executives should start to panic.
6 out of 10
See also: Sony and Microsoft supported the verdict in the case of George Floyd: “This is only the first step
