Superheroes and the Summer Blockbusters

The summer blockbuster season has begun, and I was lucky enough this week to see both The Mummy and Wonder Woman. I saw Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean the days they came out.

As I am guessing is the same with most other people who have seen the first two movies, Wonder Woman is by far and away my favorite. I would go so far as to say that it is easily as good as the first Star Trek (thanks to Chris Pine) and it holds its own with  Guardians 2. I am really looking forward to the upcoming League of Justice film in November.

So the studios that own what superheroes: Disney owns Marvel Studios. Warner Brothers owns DC. Universal is hoping to get into the game with the Dark Universe, of which the Mummy is the flagship film. 20th Century Fox has all the X-Men movies--including Logan, and they also have Deadpool. Paramount has the Star Trek franchise, which I shouldn't mention because it isn't any kind of super hero series, but, hey, Chris Pine. It's very interesting to see what different studios are doing to get into the game since the take-off of The Avengers.

Marvel continues to be consistently strong in Guardians as in their individual character movies and the Avengers films. Warner Brothers has mostly bombed trying to do as well with the DC characters, but I really think they hit it out of the park with Wonder Woman. What's so great about this triumph is that it is a movie with a female protagonist played by an unknown, non-American actress. She is supported by a well put together cast of quirky sidekicks (the staple of any successful action movie), and I think the future looks bright for WB. They are pulling together a powerhouse cast for the League of Justice (I can't tell you how long I've been waiting for Jason Momoa--Kal Drogo--to play Aquaman). Now if they can keep the humor balance and not let Ben Affleck bring it down (Tom Cruise 2)...

Universal should really have picked someone other than Tom Cruise for The Mummy. I am not wild about him, but I respect his rendition of Jack Reacher and his run as Ethan Hunt. But in the Mummy he never found his stride and his attempts at humor and showing a warm side were (not) laughable. Russell Crowe portrayed a credible Dr. Jekyll and even gave us a glimpse of a well-realized Mr. Hyde. But Tom Cruise's character (I can't even remember his name) fell flat in the comedy arena, and lacked good side kicks. Annabelle Wallis set a strong foundation for a continuation of the Jenny Halsey character, but, again, there was no comic relief (sidekicks, minions, whatever) in the movie leading one to believe it took itself (as did its leading man) too seriously.

Now since I don't take myself too seriously, I am off to bed! I'll finish the posts
about the bees tomorrow.