It Follows

I’ve always seen my Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom as my own version of the STD Monsters from It Follows. I can do all I can to walk away from these pictures, but they keep hanging around. The first Avengers picture was a snooze and I was out. I didn’t have to spend another afternoon with these characters. Then someone said on Twitter that Captain America: The Winter Solider was going to be like a 70s spy thriller and I thought Chris Evans was good as Captain America.  For whatever reason, I liked Winter Solider and I’ve been trapped ever since. Haven’t missed a single one in theaters. Even when things in real life were falling apart, I still managed to see Doctor Strange in a theater. Talk about misplaced priorities, right?

For the most part, I enjoy these pictures. The novelty of seeing characters from the comics interact with each other hasn’t worn off. Yet I see a sliver of light. Just a little piece of light that may allow me to walk away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe permanently. I don’t like “The Falcon & the Winter Solider” all that much. Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan are fine. Wyatt Russell is doing his best with a somewhat difficult part (John Walker is meant to be unlikable but Russell’s charm makes rightfully difficult to know if you’re supposed to be on his side or hate him). For whatever reason, the show does not work for me. It just feels so forced; I know that these two actors/characters have chemistry because I’ve seen almost all of these damn movies. Maybe the dynamic is missing Chris Evans to bring it all home. Mackie and Stan’s scenes lack their metaphorical dad to break up the bickering. Then the action scenes are well, “it is what it is.”

So, I may use this small window in time to leave the Marvel Cinematic Universe behind for once and all. Before I get too attached and excited at the idea of Florence Pugh, action hero. Before some members of X-Men start lurking around the corners. Before the things that I know will pull me back actually pull me back. Maybe I need to be deprogrammed like Michael O’Keefe in Split Image. At the same time, it feels like abandoning something like Gravity’s Rainbow after 800 pages. Do I stick with it just to see it out? To see the finish line before new actors come rolling in as Tony Stark? I mean it would be pretty cool to see Florence Pugh as an action hero.