Top Five Casting Decisions: Marvel Cinematic Universe - Movies

Over the years, the MCU has brought in a lot of terrific actors, from big names (like Scarlett Johansson) to new talents (hey, Winston Duke!)  Sometimes, the choices are at once fitting (like Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark,) while others are surprising (like Vin Diesel as Groot!)  I love so many of them, but having set myself the task of narrowing it down to my absolute favorites, this is what I came up with.

Chris Hemsworth as Thor

I’ve always liked Hemsworth as Thor, although the character has definitely come into his own in the last year.  The balance he strikes between noble monarch and lovable meathead really shouldn’t work, but Hemsworth carries it off, and Infinity War in particular offers him just the right tone to play.

Tom Hiddleston as Loki

Impeccable as the god of mischief, Hiddleston is magnetic to watch.  He captures the wheels-within-wheels intelligence and forethought of Loki’s machinations, the charged roil of his feelings (justified or not, you can’t doubt that they feel true for him,) and his sly deviousness.  Intense and compelling, this is most certainly a performance to be remembered.

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America

Oh wow, Evans as Steve.  There’s so much honesty in this performance – Steven is a very genuinely-good guy in an uncertain world trying to do his best, and Evans carries that integrity and decency without feeling like a Boy Scout.  Even at moments when Cap’s upstanding-ness is played up for laughs, there’s a knowing quality to it, with Steve well aware that he’s coming off a little corny and being in on the joke.

Tom Holland as Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man

While Spidey was great fun in Civil War and Homecoming is a delightful film, Tom Holland is far and away the best reason that we have a new Spider-Man franchise.  He wonderfully embodies the pluck, bravery, and nervous energy of a quippy teenage superhero and has emerged as one of the new hearts of the MCU.  No matter what happens after Avengers 4, I’m glad he’ll be one of the anchors to carry us into Marvel’s next phase.

Letitia Wright as Shuri

I love Wright’s Shuri so much.  Honestly, I love the whole cast of Black Panther, but I think she’s my favorite.  Her energy is infectious, her humor sparkles, and Wright does a great job bringing Shuri’s enthusiastic love for technology and innovation to life.  You’d be hard-pressed not to adore her in the role.

Asexual Sighting: Raphael Santiago (Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments)

It’s been a while since I posted an Asexual Sighting, and I’m glad to be able to make this new entry for Pride month.  Shadowhunters is, admittedly, more than a little ridiculous, but it works its way up to being entertaining enough, and I’m particularly happy to have Raphael to add to my collection of fictional aces (a few Raphael-related spoilers.)

We meet Raphael early in the series, though he’s a recurring character whose screentime waxes and wanes as the plot calls for him.  He’s a vampire, a higher-up in a New York clan housed out of the aptly-named Hotel Dumort.  As immortals go, he’s not too old – he became a vampire less than 100 years ago – but he’s naturally been around and seen a few things.  He starts out largely antagonistic with our heroes, but we get hints here and there that he can be reasoned with more than some of the other vampires, and when Simon is turned, Raphael tries to look out for him and show him the ropes. 

That’s Raphael’s early function – Simon’s mostly-unwanted mentor, sometimes allied against the Shadowhunters but occasionally working alongside them on a temporary basis.  Of the main Downworlders in the show, he’s the grayest, showing an unpredictability in his allegiances.  While he can often be persuaded to help out, especially as the series goes on, his self-interest can also prompt him to go against the Shadowhunters at crucial times, and he’s never as solidly “good guy” as, say, Magnus or Luke.  His periodic woobie moments, like his clear affection for his now-elderly “little” sister, is a counterpoint to the genuinely-dark things he’s done on the show without erasing them.  I like that, that you never fully know where he stands.

It’s in season 2 that we learn that Raphael is also a romantic asexual.  He makes a connection with Izzy at a low moment for both of them – she’s become addicted to vampire venom, and in her desperation to get it, she plays on Raphael’s own addiction for blood straight from the vein.  Shadowhunter blood, as it happens, is even more potent than the usual stuff, and they’re soon one another’s respective fixes.  It’s a complicated relationship in which their real feelings are tangled up in their addictions, and needless to say, when their friends find out about it, no one’s too happy.

One night, while sharing a hit with Raphael, Izzy asks him to kiss her, and he replies, “It’s not like that.  I’m not like that,” even adding the more overt, “I’m just not interested in sex.”  Izzy speculates that “being a vampire made [him] this way,” (shades of Oberyn and Varys from Game of Thrones,) but Raphael shuts that thinking down quick:  “No.  I’ve always been like this.”

There are a couple of things I like about this relationship, though I wish there were more of it than we’ve gotten so far.  Granted, with the whole “addicted to his venom/her blood” angle, I understand why they feel they’re not good for each other, so I can’t begrudge them feeling the need to keep their distance.  The Shadowhunter/vampire thing is likewise made to be important, but honestly, every main Shadowhunter in the cast has gotten with Downworlders, so it’s not exactly a dealbreaker.

But I digress.  I was talking about why I like Raphael/Izzy, not the things that keep them apart.  First, given how sexualized Izzy is as a character, I love the idea of her falling for an asexual and sometimes wish they wouldn’t focus so much on the supernatural details, because I want to know more about that.  Her sexiness is a big part of who she is; how is it for her to be with someone who’s not interested in that?  How would she approach the relationship differently?  Would it make her insecure to be with someone would doesn’t notice her sexiness, or would she relish being recognized for everything else about her – or both?  (She does bring this point up during a scene in season 3.  I’m just greedy and want more of it!)  How would they make sure she’s getting her own sexual needs met if they go all in on the relationship?  There’s so much they can explore here, and they’ve just scratched the surface.  It was recently announced that Shadowhunters is being canceled, and they only have 12 episodes left, including a two-part finale commissioned after the cancellation – please tell me the show will give us a little more of these two before it goes!

I also love the relationship from the flipside, how Raphael relates to Izzy.  For my money, David Castro has grown quite a bit as an actor since the start of the series, and by the time Raphael and Izzy start getting close in season 2, Castro 100% sells me on the way Raphael looks at her, which is romantic but not sexual.  I’m not even sure how a sexual manages to convey that, but he does.  Raphael’s addiction to Izzy’s blood means there is some heat coming from his side, but when it comes to his feelings for her, I see the longing and care without the “sizzle,” and it’s just beautiful to me.

Countdown to Thirteen: Attack the Block (2011, R)

This movie’s been on my radar for a while, and it was definitely a Jodie Whittaker film I was looking forward to seeing.  I admit it doesn’t quite live up to my expectations, both on its own and as a Countdown to Thirteen entry, but the cast is strong and I like the creativity of it.

One night, aliens arrive in South London.  A tenacious band of teenage toughs take it upon themselves to defend their tower block from the otherworldly creatures.  Along the way, they find both friends and enemies, including a young nurse they’d mugged earlier in the evening.

I really like the idea of an alien-invasion story set in a working-class neighborhood, with a group of mostly-Black young heroes fighting for their lives while the experts are goodness-knows-where.  There are places where the film works its comparatively-novel setting to its favor:  the boys being just as eager to avoid the police as the aliens, one character suspecting the aliens were in fact set loose by the government to kill Black kids, etc.  I like the group dynamics between the boys – they have a strong back-and-forth together, jocular, determined, or terrified as the situation demands.  It’s fun to watch them speculate, problem-solve, improvise weapons, and generally be smart badasses in their mission to survive the night.

But I dunno.  I keep thinking it over, and it keeps falling just a bit short of what I want it to be.  I don’t fault it for the graphic violence or the slightly-DIY quality of the visual effects; it’s on the story level where it doesn’t quite come together.  The exploration of the themes feels a little too surfacy at points, and while the guys are excellently-watchable as a group, there’s not a huge amount of differentiation between them inidividually, whereas I feel most of the white characters are more clearly defined.  Not that they’re all necessarily what I’d most like to see, but I can easily tell you who they are and what they’re about.

Whittaker’s character, Sam, is a mixed bag.  Though not rich like the boys suspect, she is posher than any of them, and it’s clear she has her misgivings about living and working (as a nurse) in a rough neighborhood.  It’s her mugging that kicks off the story, and while her plot runs parallel to the boys’ for a bit, they eventually come together in the name of staying alive.

My biggest disappointment with Sam is that, even though she does start making good contributions to the plot, she spends about the first half of the film being of little use.  After her first encounter with the boys, I completely understand her being wary of them and don’t blame her for it.  What I take issue with is her resolute denial that what’s going on is alien, which continues way too long, and her general helplessness for a big chunk of the movie.  Like I said, I does come around more in the second half, so the film gets credit for that, but I don’t see why it has to take so long to get there.

The best reason to see the movie is John Boyega, who plays Moses, the gang’s leader.  This is one of Boyega’s very first projects, and he has a really engaging leading-man presence in the role.  The film also features the always-dependable Nick Frost, Franz Drameh (who’s since joined the Arrowverse as Jefferson Jackson,) and Luke Treadaway (who I remember from National Theatre Live’s recording of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.)

Recommend?

In General – Yes.  Despite its flaws, I do like it, and it’s terrific to see Boyega’s excellent work in one of his first roles.

Jodie Whittaker – Maybe, if only for the way Sam steps her game up in the second half.

Warnings

Tons of graphic violence, swearing, drug use, and thematic elements.

Doctor Who: Series 1, Episode 2 – “The End of the World” (2005)

I’ll be honest:  when I first began new Who, I was intrigued and could tell it had a lot of potential, but I wasn’t really sold on series 1 until “Dalek.”  Before then, there were a few too many Slitheen and carnivorous recycle bins to get behind it 100%.  “The End of the World” has a bit of that early-days roughness, but it really is quite a wonderful episode, and rewatches have allowed me to appreciate it way more.

For her maiden adventure in the TARDIS, Rose opts to see the future, and the Ninth Doctor thinks he knows just what’ll impress her:  the last day of planet Earth, 5 billion years from now.  While the rich and powerful gather on an observation deck to see the planet get roasted by the sun, strange goings-on are afoot.  One of the beings there is not what they seem, and they have a secret plan that involves robotic sabotage.

On the whole, the story gets points for some wild inventiveness – an envoy of trees are among those represented on Platform One, with cultural markers/beliefs that seem appropriate for trees, and we’re treated here to the sight of the “last human,” who’s nipped and tucked herself down to a large patch of skin with a face in the middle.  The “twists” aren’t all that remarkable, but it’s a fairly simple story told well.  Cassandra and Jabe are both memorable characters, and the plot resolves in a satisfying way.  Some of the jokes are a bit too corny, while others are just the right amount of corny (the whole bit with Cassandra’s “iPod” is an easy joke, but I enjoy it anyway, if only for that glorious shot of the Doctor bopping around.)

But if the plot is basic but well done, the deeper parts of the story are something of a goldmine.  The best part of any Ninth Doctor story is generally the character interactions, and that holds beautifully true here.  For her first real rodeo, Rose is a bit freaked out, and the enormity of what she’s just done starts to catch up with her.  That makes her look her gift horse a bit more closely in the mouth – we of course know that the Doctor’s all right, and deep down, I’m sure Rose knows that too, but it’s entirely reasonable for her to realize she ought to know more about the guy that just whisked her off through time and space.

On the Doctor’s side, we get more momentum on the backstory of the Time War and Nine’s heartbreaking Time War angst – it’s only hinted at in the pilot episode, but here, the curtain is drawn back and we get our first proper look at the Doctor’s loneliness and guilt, as well as his determination to continue on in the here and now despite everything he’s been through.  Even before the episode starts putting words to it, it’s there in the mere fact that the Doctor thinks it’s a good idea to show his new companion the future destruction of her own planet.  In this weird, broken way, it’s as though he’ll feel less alone if he’s not the only one who’s witnessed a loss of that scale.

But as we start to see how the Doctor has been beaten down, we also see the friend who will take his hand as he finds his way through it.  Nine and Rose are pretty much everything, and the last scene of this episode is one for the ages, exquisite in its gentle simplicity.