2019年6月14日金曜日 - 
John Morning Cinema
Watching
a movie early in the morning is a strange experience and full of dilemmas. Do
you have popcorn for breakfast? Is cola a good substitute for tea? And why does
it feel so strange for there to be daylight when you walk out of the cinema?
I saw the “Avengers: Endgame” movie on
opening morning. I was sooooooo excited for this one- sitting in a full house
and most certainly not tearing up five times. Certainly not. No.
The three hours flew by and I left the
cinema very satisfied, except of course, for that bright sunshine blinding me
at the crack of noon. I always feel like movies are made to be seen in the
evening, like a special treat, and it is more acceptable to have popcorn and
cola in the evening.
The movie itself was one of the most
satisfying experiences I've had in a cinema. It was a pretty much perfect
ending to twenty-two movies worth of development and excitement.
It could have been called “Avengers: Fan
Service” given how many callbacks and references to previous movies there were.
If you haven't seen all the previous movies recently, you would have missed so
many little details. Even something as basic as the shape of a sandwich is a
reference to a previous movie. The Marvel movies are successful not because of
the action, although it is generally good, and recently very good, but because
of the characterization. Whereas most action movies cut out moments of
character development for 'pacing', the Marvel movies keep it all in, resulting
in characters people can relate to even when they are flying through the air
shooting lightning at monsters. When powerful characters show signs of PTSD, or
still need their parents to say the right thing, or have similar foibles to us,
they create characters people relate to and fall in love with.
Another reason the movie was great was the
structure. Most blockbusters have a very standard structure and contain few
surprises. Endgame had it's first surprise about fifteen minutes in and
continued to surprise for the other two hours and forty-five minutes. By taking
risks and focusing on character they have managed to do what no other movie
company has been able to and create a universe beloved around the world, whose
best movie is its twenty-second.dilemmas: ジレンマ
substitute for: ～の代わり
full house：満員の劇場
satisfied: 満足した
treat: 特別な楽しみ
callbacks: 呼び戻し
references: 参照する
characterization: 特徴付け
Whereas: 一方で
foibles:弱点
blockbusters: 超大作
structure: 構造
taking risks: リスクを負う
beloved: 愛されている