In, you are.

I never saw the hype for the MCU initially, but I spent the last year or so rewatching most of them. They are fun, even ones I found boring turned out to be fun rewatches, like TTDW.

I didn't have a chance to watch Iron Man last weekend. But after having to shovel snow yesterday, I didn't feel like doing anything else but lay back and watch a movie. So, Iron Man it was. I originally saw this movie in the theater when it released, and I remember thinking that it was just okay. I didn't dislike it, but all the scenes from the trailer were the ones that resonated with me most while watching (especially the tank scene). In that regard, I didn't think it was an overly great film despite all the praise it was getting. I should mention that I do not like Gwenyth Paltrow in just about anything, so that may have played a factor as well. Also, Terrence Howard always seems like he's on the verge of crying, so I usually don't care much for him in movies either. Having seen Don Cheadle take over as "Rhodey" later, it's clear the recast was the right move. Anyway, I would originally say that I gave the movie a 7 out of 10, and I never really felt the need to give it a re-watch in the intervening years.

I was expecting that my opinion would not change much, but I actually enjoyed it more the second time around. Maybe having seen where the MCU went from there heightened my enjoyment of watching Iron Man's origin. Robert Downey Jr knocks the role of Tony Stark out of the park of course. I do agree with many that Obadiah Stane is an incredibly weak villain though. So, the climax does kind of bring the film down. Seeing it again, and knowing that Don Cheadle steps into the role of James Rhodes with so much more personality makes Terrence Howard's performance seem even less desirable as well. And, as I mentioned, I really don't care for Gwenyth Paltrow. Watch the showdown with Stane. She's supposed to be running for her life, but you can tell she's almost casually jogging in front of a green screen displaying about "0" emotion. She practically walks outside the building and then just hangs out in the parking lot on her phone for the rest of the ending. It's a combination of weak writing and worse acting. I don't think they needed to rush into a romance subplot between Stark and Potts so quickly. Tony Stark is so much more fun and interesting as a bachelor. Despite all of this, I would still upgrade my score to an 8 out of 10. For an origin story, it fits the bill and laid a good foundation for the MCU.

Getting ready for Hulk.

I remember liking Incredible Hulk, and thinking it was a decent follow-up to Iron Man. It’s been a long, long time, though. So we will see :P

Many people don't like Incredible Hulk, for me, it's just a case it doesn't really stand out. It's just a hulk film, a decent one at that. Some of the action sequences were very well done, the fight at the Uni is in my view one of the better fights in the MCU in general (some of the motion capture is superb), and Tim Roth carries his role as well as you'd expect him to but the rest, are something to be desired.

Fanboy things, Betty wasn't the best. No Rick Jones. Hulk still doesn't speak, never understood why until Thor 3, Hulk didn't speak much. What are the makers of these films so afraid of? Leader was pointless and needless, obviously went nowhere. Abomination was missing his spiky ears, plus was a russian named, british accented retired US soldier... that's weird.

6/10

So that dropped ever so slightly for me.

The good stuff:

The acting is quite good. Norton, Hurt, and Roth are some of the best in the business, and they perform admirably. The action direction is really good. Leterrier can film a kinetic fight scene, that’s for sure. The romance is believable, which is rare for these movies. Betty and Bruce really seem to have a history, and Norton and Tyler really sparkle on camera.

The not-so-good stuff:

The pacing and content is a little off. There are so many scenes of people looking at computer screens or watching monitors — it just doesn’t make for interesting moviemaking. Some of the sub-plots are a little underdeveloped. Would have liked to see some of that familial strife pan out, or Roth’s super-soldier storyline evolve into something more interesting than dollar-store Doomsday

Overall, a decent superhero flick, with convincing performances from its leads and solid action photography.

6/10

The Incredible Hulk: 5/10 (Rounded up from 4.5/10)

Positives:
- Surprisingly decent music
- Pretty even pacing
- Main cast is pretty good. I really liked Ed Norton
- Some good looking landscape shots
- Diverse amount of locales. Leads to good visual variety
- Very violent. There's a bunch of stabbing, shooting, smashing, and choking involved in this movie and they all have a good amount of weight to them. There's even a scene where the Abomination smashes the army guys with a tax cab. It is refreshingly violent for a Marvel movie.


Negatives:
- Horrendous dialogue. There's literally a scene where a character says to the villain, "It will turn you... into an ABOMINATION!!!". The rest is sappy and cliche.
- Awful CGI. I noticed this during the university fight especially but the filmmakers tried their hardest not to show Hulk's face during the fight because he looks awful. He just clashes with the rest of the movie because his muscles look so over the top fake. The helicopter crashes also look like something out of a PS1 FMV cutscene.
- Banner and Ross have absolutely no chemistry what so ever. They're both blander than planks of wood and neither of them have a personality or character quirks that make them enjoyable to watch. Any emotional scene they have together is carried by the music.
- Emil Blonsky is not a very good villain. He's just some army guy that wants to fight the Hulk because he's "looking for a fight". The Abomination's CGI also looks awful.

Anything else about the movie is just average. It's such a middle of the road movie that I really don't know how to respond to it. I really liked Ed Norton as the Hulk and he along with the music are the only things that stood out as well done. I would have liked if he could have stayed as the Hulk for longer but I guess that's not a possibility now. Personally I still think this is better than some Marvel movies like Thor 1 and 2 but it's still one of the weaker entries in the MCU. This movie had a darker tone and a good concept that could have produced something special. Unfortunately, it was executed in a sub par manner. Will add more if I can think of anything else.

After watching it again I feel like Ross is the true villain, and Blonsky just kind of the muscle. And Ross is something of a compelling villain — manipulative, obsessive, so loyal to his military career that he’s willing to throw out his relationship with his daughter. Even his decision to release Bruce at the end isn’t an act of heroism; it’s an act of cowardice. He’s attempting to cover up the “Abomination” he helped to create by sending, as he’s done several times during the movie, a soldier in to battle to do his dirty work.

Yeah, after watching The Incredible Hulk again I can assure this will probably rank in the bottom. Now, it's not an awful movie at all and I find it pretty enjoyable at times. My score will be a 5.4/10, so let's round it to a 5/10. So, unless something changes in my mind, this will be my worst score of any MCU movie to date xD.

Now, about the movie, I like Ross as the villain. Some people consider Blonsky the main villain, but I feel that Blonsky is just a puppet in Ross hands, until Ross noticed he did wrong. But he's to blame for almost everything bad that happened in the movie. He's the reason of Banner's exile, he's the reason about Blonsky's transformation... Decent performances all around the movie, specially Edward Norton. I like the focus in landscapes and the escape section in Brazil, but I feel that the movie drags out a lot in the end.

Now, the bad, some sub-plots are not developed enough. I really don't like the Betty - Banner romance in the movie, I feel that Tyler's acting is pretty stiff and the dialogue doesn't help. Because the dialogue in the movie is, generally speaking, pretty bad. Blonsky is an awful, pretty generic villain. The CGI is abhorrent at times, specially The Abomination, which has an abominable CGI lol. And that's it. I feel that the beginning of the movie was pretty good but once Betty Ross appeared in the movie and they focused on developing their romantic relationship, which doesn't work at all, the movie lost a lot of its steam and turned out being pretty bland in the end.

I'm typically quite stingy as far as critiquing of movies is concerned so my score won't reflect what is commonly accepted (5/10 being average as opposed to bad) but it is still my score.

I give Iron Man a 6/10.

The beginning 15 minutes was really well done. The character is who the character is and was introduced as such. However, the next few scenes that lead to Tony escaping the cave seem very rushed and you aren't really introduced to a convincing bond between the two stuck in the cave. It's more, "Hey, I feel bad for you and I need to show the audience I have morals" kinda deal. Felt almost forced and could have added a bit of back-bone to the escape. Also, he built Iron Man in a cave with cameras...and got away with it...in a day. Do they not checkup on
Tony's progress throughout that day? I mean, come on, they would have seen zero progress on the Jericho missiles.

The middle frame was spanned out quite nice. A few laughs here and there. I like how SHIELD is popping in every now and then, I can appreciate that. Tony is continuing to play the moral game, as he should but not too much development in the character department other than he begins to fall for Ms. Potts and, of course, the suit. I really liked how he showed up to the base where he was captured and made a statement, enjoyed that scene.

The ending was lacking, other than, "I am Iron Man". Not too much in the way of tensity, if any at all. At the same time though I feel as if this movie didn't necessarily need that big moment to close out the movie, but it would have been a nice addition and raised the bar a little.

The after credits was short but affect my score in a positive manner due to the unveiling of the Avengers initiative. Too cool!!

So overall it was an OK movie but it had that great vibe to it throughout the process of watching it. I enjoyed it. 6/10.

I apologize for being so late! I was not expecting it to take this long to watch but now that I have started, it's onto the Hulk tomorrow.