Summer 2015 - In Review

As the summer movie season winds down, I thought that I would revisit some of its biggest action blockbusters in order to see how the summer stood up when viewed in retrospect. This will also give me a chance to talk about some action films that I did not get around to reviewing on the blog.

The Fast and Furious Avengers

While bigger films like Kingsman: The Secret Service gave audiences their summer thrills early on in the year, the summer didn't truly get off to a start until Furious 7 dropped on April 1st. It was the first real blockbuster of the season and the first of three films this summer to cross $1 billion internationally. Even though the film received solid reviews and every teenager went to see it, I personally found the film to be an enjoyable but immensely flawed blockbuster. Furious 7 features not only one of the most confounding plots in recent history, but also three of the longest action scenes I have seen in recent memory. While the film features great stunts here and there, the film as a whole is mostly forgettable. Appearances by action-gurus Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Tony Jaa, as well as Paul Walker's touching farewell, were the highlights of the film.

Marvel Studios than struck back with their highly anticipated sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film was a huge success, but failed to out gross even Furious 7. While comic book geeks apparently enjoyed the film, I found Avengers to be this summer's worst success. The sequel was extremely uneventful and incredibly boring. Almost every actor, including Robert Downey Jr., phoned in lousy performances into a film plagued by studio interference. The over abundant characters and immensely long finale showed that Marvel can no longer make an exciting event film. The first Avengers film was a fun and charming superhero film that told a story and felt important in the Avengers saga. This entry however is a throwaway adventure that had little to no effect on the team at all, minus the introduction of The Vision. Even though Disney and Marvel have perfected the formula for instant movie success, they seem to have sacrificed artistic creativity and uniqueness in the process.

The true King and Queen of the Summer, Max and Furiosa.

Fortunately, the action Gods smiled upon all of us at the end of May when George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road dropped. Miller's Mad Max reboot quickly gained praise by action fans and movie critics alike as one of the greatest action films in recent years, as well as of all time. Whereas Furious 7 and Age of Ultron were plagued by heavily computer generated stunts and lousy finales, Mad Max dropped the mic with its incredible practical stunt work (as well as its minimal computer work) and thrilling action scenes. The opening set piece alone was better than the entirety of Avengers and Furious 7 put together. I already reviewed Fury Road and gave it a perfect ten. Therefore, it should come as no surprise when I declare it the best blockbuster of the summer at the end of this retrospective.

I didn't see San Andreas, the next big blockbuster of the summer, so I can't really give an opinion on that film at all. I guess the disaster genre classifies as action? The Rock's inclusion also strengthens its action pedigree. Anyways, I doubt people will be remembering the film at all come next year.

The biggest hit of the entire summer was surprisingly Universal's Jurassic World, the fourth Jurassic Park film. Jurassic World doesn't exactly classify as an action film either, as it is more of a sci-fi/adventure film. However, I think that I would be remiss to not discuss the biggest hit of the summer, and possibly of the year until Star Wars comes out. Jurassic World was a pretty fun blockbuster because it was something different apart from all of the superhero films that typically dominate the summer. Plus, it was nice to see dinosaurs rule the box office once again. Although plagued by the same problems as Furious 7 and Age of Ultron (cheap humor, forgettable characters, overlong run time), Jurassic World was still a fun and occasionally smart blockbuster that brought monster mayhem back to the big screen.

The former King of the Summer is now the Joke of the Summer.

Summer's next blockbuster was arguably one of its worst, Terminator: Genisys. This reboot-quel of the Terminator saga will most likely go down as being my least favorite film of the entire year. It's truly sad to see the Terminator saga go from being the most influential and successful action franchise since the 80s and 90s turn into a joke of a series in the 2010s. Alan Taylor and Arnold Schwarzenegger should be ashamed of themselves for churning out such an awful and overly complicated blockbuster that does nothing but piss off hardcore fans of the series. I can honestly say that the Terminator series was one of my favorite franchises of all time before Genisys's release. However, I don't know how I can continue to support Arnold and the Terminator if this is what I have to put up with. If you want to see more details as to why I disliked this film so much, check out my review. Otherwise, steer clear of this embarrassing film that gives a bad name to science fiction.

I made a bold decision not to see summer's next big blockbuster, Ant-Man. Even though the film received good reviews and made money, I was too badly burned by Age of Ultron's mediocrity to give Marvel another dollar of mine. I'm sure it's a fun film, but I simply skipped it over due to my fear of Marvel's generic pedigree. I may catch it somewhere down the line, but have no plans to rush out and catch it any time soon.

The action Gods than shined upon us one last time this summer with Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation. The latest M:i adventure was not only one of its greatest, but also the most mature and complex. It was a globe trotting adventure filled with numerous scenes of suspense befitting the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma. I will give the film a full and proper review once it comes out on home video, but trust me for now when I say that the sequel is quite honestly the best M:i yet and the best old fashioned action film of the summer.

Cruise and friends brought their A-game once again.

M:i:5 was honestly the summer's last big blockbuster in terms of sheer scale and entertainment value. Everything to come after it was either low profile or poorly reviewed. I have no intent on watching the latest Fantastic Four after reading its awful reviews and discovering that the film has a whopping single action scene. I also missed out on The Man From U.N.C.L.E., but plan on catching the film eventually, as Guy Ritchie knows how to put together a fun action film. And as for Hitman: Agent 47, I simply can watch a kill count video of the film once it reaches YouTube.

In all honesty, I found myself profoundly disappointed with the summer blockbuster season this year. Mad Max: Fury Road and Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation were the only memorable films of the few major blockbusters that I cared about. Furious 7 was decent, Age of Ultron was average, Jurassic World was alright, and Terminator was a piece of crap. As far as action adventure films go, this was one of the worst summer blockbuster seasons yet. 

This summer also revealed some interesting facts about today's movie going society. For starters, team centric films that travel the globe dominate blockbuster plots. Furious 7, Age of Ultron, and M:i:5 all feature teams who travel across the globe at various points throughout the film's run time. The summer season also revealed that audiences no longer care about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Once the king of the summer back in the late 80s and early 90s, Arnold is now a relic of his younger self. Generic audiences turned out in droves for Vin Diesel and Dwayne The Rock Johnson, but not for ol' Arnie. 

And even though M:i:5 was successful, it wasn't a massive hit. Therefore, you could say that even Tom Cruise is no longer as popular as he used to be. Although, Cruise has stayed relevant throughout all of his career unlike Arnold. And finally, guns and stunts are no longer enough for audiences. They want superheroes and dinosaurs. Even though both Mad Max and M:i:5 featured plenty of gun play, car chases, and were the two best action films of the summer, they did not dominate the box office. Instead, mediocre to decent films like Age of Ultron and Jurassic World owned the planet.