Taylor’s Takes: Marvel movies should die a death

Taylor’s Takes: Marvel movies should die a death

Anthony Mackie isn’t exactly a household name.

Before this week, I may have admitted to recognizing his face. But if you had put a gun to my head, I wouldn’t have been able to supply a name.

I’m aware of him now. And more importantly I’m acutely aware of what he represents.

Mackie is the newest film incarnation of Marvel’s Captain America. Unsurprisingly, a new Marvel film is set to debut featuring the black actor as the replacement to Chris Evans’ portrayal of “Cap.”

During a press event promoting the film in Rome, Mackie pontificated on what Captain America represents. “For me, Captain America represents a lot of different things,” said Mackie. “And I don’t think the term ‘America’ should be one of those representations.”

I beg your pardon?

“It’s about a man who keeps his word; who has honor, dignity, and integrity,” continued Mackie. “Someone who is trustworthy and dependable.”

Those are all fine and good virtues to hold in esteem, surely. But why on Earth should Captain America not represent America? Don’t all of those virtues combined capture the spirit of classical, Golden Age Americanism?

It seems to me Mr. Mackie is none too pleased with recent political happenings stateside. The sting of defeat of Kamala Harris at the hands of Orange Man Bad is likely still as fresh today for Mackie as it was in the early morning hours of November 6, 2024. After all, Kamala, and for that matter Joe Biden, heavily courted and relied on Hollywood elites to whip up votes for them.

The age-old tactic of gathering glimmering stars in public support of Democrats didn’t work this time, however. And the face of Hollywood was left heavily bruised.

Tinseltown’s trajectory has been on a steady downward spiral. Woke movies that preached as obnoxiously as Bishop Mariann Budde quickly became box office poison in recent years.

In an effort to be a somewhat cultured member of modern society, I recently watched a heavily Oscar-nominated film, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. The premise was intriguing enough. I won’t bore you with the details. But it became apparent in the movie’s second act where everything was headed. Suffice it to say the entire film was a wagging finger to parents who disapproved of their child’s non-traditional choices of life partners.

I felt like Ralphie with the decoder pin in A Christmas Story after he anxiously translated the transmission from Little Orphan Annie. “Ovaltine? A crummy commercial? Son of a bitch.”

Just like Ralphie, I’d been had. Played for a sucker. I was duped into thinking that a film with a creative and original story would be just that alone. I foolishly thought I could just enjoy a good movie without being lectured. Wrong!

The new Captain America apparently feels that his adoring public need not even wait for the theater projectors to begin whirring before they are spoon-fed the anti-American drivel that is no doubt featured somewhere in the reels. He is taking his message directly to the public, and unashamedly so.

I don’t know much about these Marvel films. I’ve seen a few of them. They are largely formulaic. The only differences between each adaptation being which beloved character is killed off by some universal threat and then resurrected in the inevitable sequel. They are uninspired and soulless movies.

And now it appears the stars of these films are as equally uninspired. How can one take on and inhibit the character who is supposed to be the embodiment of American might and truth and come away feeling Captain America should not represent America?

Let me make a plea to moviegoers. Don’t see the new Captain America installment. If not for Anthony Mackie’s disparaging remarks, then for your own integrity as an individual with discerning tastes.

I guarantee that you’ve seen this movie in some previous Marvel flick. It’s nothing new. Good guy is introduced to bad guy. Bad guy bests good guy. Good guy faces and overcomes internal conflict. Good guy defeats bad guy. Credits roll. Bad guy’s fist punches out of rubble. Cut to black. Repeat in three to six months.

Oh, by the way, the trailer for the movie features Harrison Ford as the President of the United States turning into a vicious, unruly, unpredictable, red (perhaps orange?) Hulk. Do I really need to go into the blatant anti-Trump symbolism there?

You’re better than a Marvel movie. You’re better than 21st century Hollywood. Find a Humphrey Bogart film noir and thank me later.

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