allison g

I was not expecting to cry at the end of the movie. I just chose to watch it because I’ve been a fan of ND Stevenson’s work before and the story looked interesting, plus I love Eugene from the Try Guys and wanted to support - and I was totally floored! The animation is so dynamic and fluid and beautiful to look at, and that mixed with the futuristic x medieval aesthetic is so pleasing to the eyes and an interesting take. I also loved Ballister and Ambrosious’s relationship. ND Stevenson definitely has love for the friends to enemies to lovers trope, something that is similar to what was in Netflix’s reboot of She-Ra that he created. Ballister is definitely someone to root for as well, I loved him so much. The story was definitely a pit more fast paced, imo, but still gave a lot of time and dedication into fleshing out the world and the relationships between characters so they felt more real and tangible, instead of just being what you’re being told about the characters if that makes sense. Picked it for something to watch while eating, ended it with my phone in my hands while sniffling at the end. Give it a watch!

Going to be honest - walking out of the theatre initially, I remember saying to my boyfriend, “I don’t think I really liked this movie.” Looking back, I genuinely now believe I was just thrown off by the 2h30min runtime (seeing movies in the theatre tends to give me a headache and make me tired). Now, I would say I absolutely love the movie and would put it in my Top 5 Marvel Movies. (Spoiler free!) This movie was unlike any MCU movie I had ever seen before - it had to tackle the typical grand, sweeping origins of the superheroes (in which there were MANY to be introduced in one film), while also handling the theme of humanity through these beings who have been here since the start. This film comes after the precarious year of 2020 in which we’ve seen the lows of our world, but this movie sheds a hopeful perspective on life, which was extremely refreshing. All the actors did fantastically. Richard Madden did great as Ikaris, and he did really well portraying him when the film hits its climax and the tone of his character shifted. Gemma Chan portrayed Sersi beautifully - her hope and love for humankind was perfectly done. The other cast members were also fantastic, and I loved the strength that came from vulnerability for Thena and the revelation that comes from Sprite regarding Ikaris. Her motivations and struggles were really interesting and unique. I will say I felt a bit of disconnect from the characters initially when things were happening, but it’s likely because there were so many to cover, and by the end I had warmed up to them significantly. And, by the way, this has to be the MOST aesthetically pleasing film I’ve seen in a while. Chloe Zhao’s insistence on using real locations when possible as opposed to digitally crafting each scene’s background paid off and grounded the story, and there were shots that I wanted to take pictures of and look at for a little longer. And when CGI was used to show off their powers, it looked great. Especially Makkari’s speed. My only downside was that the pacing seemed to suffer a bit before the ending, as it was a lot of exposition to explain their place in the universe as we already knew it. And, tiny spoiler, there was a sex scene, which I didn’t really mind since I was only with my boyfriend, but I could see how that could be awkward with a family member or something. It was very brief and non-raunchy, though. Just intimate. But I really enjoyed this film! It’s a great introduction, and I’d be happy to see them in future Marvel projects. ❤️