The first official series in the Marvel Universe mixes superheroics, psychological thrillers, and old sitcoms.
Marvel has not released anything on screens for a year and a half – this is the longest hiatus since 2010. And although the pause was caused by circumstances that were not at all included in the plans of the Disney bosses, to some extent it came in handy. Thundered “The final”… Not just another phase of the MCU has ended, but the most expensive and large-scale saga in the history of world cinema. Second Spiderman with Holland, for all its advantages, it was already perceived as an appendage, an epilogue. From the comments, reviews and blogging reviews, it seemed that the viewer was finally tired, and the upcoming “Black Widow” is no longer immune to box office failure.
But then a pandemic broke out and mixed all the cards. Cinemas fell into a coma, and streaming growth, on the other hand, gained momentum. It became clear that the next phase of the Marvel universe should be different: fresh, experimental, serial. AND “Wanda / Vision”As the first true MCU series, it successfully paves the way for the franchise into new territory, albeit stumbling in the process.
In the sense of “the first real series”?
Wanda Maximoff has endured many troubles. The early death of his parents, a beggarly childhood in Sokovia, the death of his brother at the hands of Ultron, even Thanos’ snap. All this time she was shaken from side to side – now she is a terrorist, then an avenger, then a threat to society, then again an avenger, but not quite. Not a minute of rest, only shocks. And now, finally, the girl had a chance to start everything from scratch in the quiet town of Westview, New Jersey. This is a real paradise, the same one-story America, familiar from sitcoms. I don’t care that the locals behave rather strangely, and the eras replace each other literally every day. The main thing is that her beloved Vision is nearby, and Wanda is happy for the first time in many years. But happiness, as usual, will not last long.
How can a Marvel series do without comic book references?
Another sudden plus of the quarantine reshuffles is that the Marvel serial phase does not open “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”as planned, namely Wanda / Vision. After all, it is wholly and completely tied to the very concept of the series. He honors them as a form of entertainment, refers to them, parodies them, and simply cannot exist in any other form. And it will not exist, because the show of the first season itself was part of a collective experience, almost a quest in reality. If you are late, you can still watch it at your own pace and have your portion of pleasure, but the calculation, obviously, was precisely on the fact that each episode after the release will be discussed on the network for the next week. Disassemble, analyze, search for references, build theories. The idea was successful: Youtube bursting with fan speculation and blogging reactions to plot twists, and on the release of the final Disney + series, he simply lay down from the influx of people who wanted to see how it all ended there. In terms of hype generation, Wanda / Vision may well compete with Disney’s “The Mandalorian”…
In one of the episodes “Wanda / Vision” mows under the cult sitcom of the 80s “Full house”… Elizabeth Olsen’s older sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley starred in it, being very young.
But whether he can compete with him in performance is a big question. Wanda / Vision is indeed the most daring experiment in the history of Marvel Studios, but therein lies both its advantage and its main disadvantage. Some viewers write that they quit after the first two or three episodes, and it’s hard to blame them. How many people will appreciate the detailed recreation of the sitcoms of the 50-60s? How many, especially in our area, know “I love Lucy” or The Dick Van Dyke Show? Moreover, it is in the initial episodes that the degree of intrigue and suspense is kept at the highest level, and the sitcom periodically turns into almost a psychological thriller. Of course, then the viewer is explained what the essence and the matter is, the plot accelerates, and everything that happens takes on the familiar Marvel features, but returning to the comfort zone is accompanied by slight disappointment. After all, they could have gone further, to confuse the tracks better – but such maneuvers would certainly have been given at the cost of views. We’re still superhero here, not Twin Peaks. You can also thank for what happened.
The turn comes to “Office” with his signature interviews
And the result was a mixture of “Pleasantville”, The Truman Show, “Dark City“And, oddly enough, the series “Condolences to your loss”… From the first three “Wanda / Vision” inherited the theme of a false world, a fine line between reality and its imitation, and from the last – grief, depression and the magnificent Elizabeth Olsen. For six years, Marvel spent the talent of the actress on short scenes and rare episodes, in order to let her reveal herself only now. Exactly the same can be said about Paul Bettany: his duet with Olsen takes the material to another level. How tenderly they act out romance, how theatrically they quarrel, what an explosive chemistry between them – all this finally allows you to believe in love between an android and a mutant. Through their efforts in the MCU, for once, feelings more complex than adolescent attraction have developed.
The second plan is also meticulously completed. Randall Park and Kat Dennings make up an unexpectedly organic comedy duo, and Katherine Hahn is so good that it’s a shame how small she got the role. I would like to mention one more actor, but even mentioning his name will be a giant spoiler. Or not a spoiler? Here it is how you look, because one of the key plot twists of the season resulted in a quiet zilch. We can say that Wanda / Vision is following in the footsteps of the third “Iron Man” and openly trolls its own audience. Here the serial format again helped the creators, because for several weeks in a row the audience actually led themselves by the nose, inventing the devil and raising the level of hype.
In the end, all that was left was to shrug and remind that no one promised anything to anyone. In general, your expectations are your problems. Although it is more offensive because at the end the story again boiled down to a confrontation of almost unambiguous goodness with unambiguous evil and a scuffle of graphonic boobies. Moreover, they were drawn on a completely television, and not cinematic, level.
Even so, Wanda / Vision is a serious step away from the boring formula. It has everything that millions of people love Marvel films for, but it is diluted with a series of bold finds, such as stylization for retro sitcoms, and experiments with the format. If the subsequent series of the phase are as unlike the usual blockbusters, then the MCU will be afloat for a very long time.
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