Directed by critically acclaimed filmmaker Ron Howard who won the Academy Award for 2002’s A Beautiful Mind, Solo: A Star Wars Story is an entertaining movie in the Star Wars saga with plenty of adventure and CGI-enhanced action sequences but underwhelms compared to the original and most recent installments. As the second standalone anthology film in the series, the movie is more of a origin story that follows the early exploits of Han Solo, played by the up-and-coming charismatic Alden Ehrenreich, and how he evolved into the famous character portrayed by Harrison Ford in the original trilogy. We first meet Han trying to escape a criminal organization with his girlfriend Qi’ra, played by Emilia Clarke of Game of Thrones fame, and travel to another planet where he can pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. For a time, he is a soldier for the Empire, but he eventually becomes a deserter to join forces with a group of criminals led by Tobias Beckett, played by Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson. He also meets his future famous copilot Chewbacca, and they enter in their friendly rapport with humorous back-and-forth as depicted in the first movies. The rest of the movie follows the formula of a heist film in which Han and his new outlaw friends must steal the valuable so-called hyperfuel coaxium for yet another criminal syndicate known as the Crimson Dawn led by Dryden Vos, played by Paul Bettany. Things get increasingly complicated for Han, and he must team up with the notorious smuggler Lando Calrissian, played by Emmy winner Donald Glover, who provides him the means of piloting the well-known Millennium Falcon spaceship. Towards the end of the film, there are a few plot twists and not all of the characters are as they appeared in the beginning. The story appeases Star Wars fans with the appearance of characters and new details that refer to the nine other installments and may not have as much significance for general audiences. Overall, I found it to be a satisfying cinematic experience that had enough excitement to make up for the shortcomings of being sometimes too formulaic and not adding much depth to the already complex Star Wars franchise.

The nineteenth installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that started with 2008’s Iron Man and the third film in The Avengers franchise since 2012, Avengers: Infinity War is an entertaining comic book superhero movie whose title is particularly apt as a result of the seemingly infinite number of Marvel characters all appearing in their greatest war yet. The plot revolves around the appearance of the most threatening villain Thanos, played by Josh Brolin, and his quest to capture all six Infinity Stones, mystical stones imbued with great magical powers, in order to control the universe and remake his own planet. Practically all of the superheroes who have had their own Marvel film seek to prevent the god-like Thanos from destroying half of humanity in his ploy to solve overpopulation. The ensemble cast is jam-packed and features Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Chris Evans as Captain America, Tom Holland as Spider-Man, Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, and Chris Pratt as Star-Lord. Although the plethora of superheroes and storylines is at times over-the-top and complicated to a casual viewer, the filmmakers are able to present a somewhat surprising cohesive story by having several of the characters grouped together and involved in separate parts of the film. When the superheroes do all come together, the audience is in for spectacular CGI-enhanced action sequences that can be best described as comic book porn. The movie also has aspects of a drama in which the powerful protagonists display raw human emotions, including grief over fallen comrades. However, there are several moments of trademark tongue-in-cheek humor for a comic book movie, especially when it comes to the characters from the more comedic Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Overall, I was impressed by the sheer amount of superheroes assembled for a motion picture and found it to be a largely enjoyable experience despite probably jamming a little too much into one bloated comic book lovefest.

Directed by Zach Snyder who is best known for 2006’s 300 and 2009’s Watchmen, Justice League follows a long line of superhero comic book movies that ultimately falls short of reaching the more entertaining adaptations in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the sixth installment in DC Comics Extended Universe that desperately tries to emulate the success of Marvel, the film is unfortunately only marginally better than the other critically unsuccessful installments, including 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and 2016’s Suicide Squad. Similar to The Avengers, the plot revolves around a group of famous superheroes who come together to fight off a villain trying to destroy the world. An alien creature awoken after thousands of years, Steppenwolf, along with his army of Parademons, is set on conquering Earth by locating three so-called Mother Boxes whose combined power would set off the destruction of the world. Eventually, Diana Prince who is better known as Wonder Woman, played by Gal Gadot, is alerted to Steppenwolf’s malevolent goal and eventually joins forces with the superheroes Batman who is played by Ben Affleck, The Flash who is played by Ezra Miller, Aquaman who is played by Jason Momoa, and Cyborg who is played by Ray Fisher. After their first major battle with Steppenwolf in Gotham City, the team learns there may be a way to resurrect Superman, played by Henry Cavill, who died at the end of Batman v Superman and is universally mourned as one of the last great heroes. The ending is fairly formulaic because it involves the newly formed Justice League entering into one epic final battle with the villain Steppenwolf and the outcome has major repercussions for Earth and humanity. Overall, although it has many fine actors, the movie feels like a hodgepodge of several different superhero action flicks that includes several new characters that are not properly introduced for the casual filmgoer. It should have followed the extremely successful formula of 2017’s Wonder Woman in which the characters’ back stories are told in greater detail and thereby the audience feels a greater emotional connection.

A reboot of three different franchise series beginning in 1932, The Mummy is a fairly average Hollywood summer blockbuster action adventure monster flick that simply seems to be a money-making vehicle for the action superstar Tom Cruise. Tom Cruise portrays Nick Morton, a treasure hunter and mercenary for the U.S. Army, who, along with his wisecracking partner Chris Vail, played by comedian Jake Johnson, discover a large mysteriously secret Egyptian tomb in present-day Iraq. They soon realize with the help of the young and beautiful archaeologist Jenny Halsey, played by British actress Annabelle Wallis, that the mummy is a cursed Egyptian princess named Ahmanet, played by Algerian actress Sofia Boutella, who comes to life to make a pact with the evil Egyptian god Set. Morton finds himself possessed by the malevolent undead mummy princess and as a result survives a horrific plane crash in England with the sarcophagus. After battling reanimated corpses under Ahmanet’s spell, Morton and Jenny meet up with Dr. Henry Jekyll, played by Russell Crowe, who runs a secret organization known as Prodigium with the purpose of hunting down and destroying evil and supernatural forces. The organization’s soldiers are able to trap and keep Ahmanet prisoner in their underground base in London. However, her supernatural powers allow her to escape and wreak havoc on London with a dramatic CGI-enhanced sandstorm and creation of an undead army. At the end of the movie, Morton makes a drastic sacrifice in order to save Jenny and prevent Ahmanet’s further reign of terror. Overall, I found the so-called horror sequences not so scary and rather cheesy, and the film was less of an entertaining thrill ride like the most recent series starring Brendan Fraser that started in 1999. Its lackluster quality as a movie that did not really need to be rebooted and poor reception among critics and audiences is not a good starting point for Universal’s new Dark Universe movie series that wants to bring back the classic horror monsters.

Directed by the first female director of a superhero film with a female protagonist, Wonder Woman is one of the better comic book superhero movies that I have seen because it effectively blends action, humor, and drama, all underscored by a unique feminist approach. We first meet Diana, later known as Wonder Woman and played by the beautiful and strong Israeli actress Gal Gadot, as she grows up on the mystical island of Themyscira, which is home to the female warriors the Amazons, and begs her mother Queen Hippolyta to train as an Amazonian warrior. Her aunt General Antiope considered the greatest fighter, played by Robin Wright, secretly trains Diana to become one of the best warriors on the island. Throughout the first part of the film, we learn the back story based on ancient Greek mythology of the Amazons: they are a group of strong females created by Zeus to protect humanity against Ares, the god of war who murdered all of the gods except Zeus, and his corrupting influence on mankind to engage in war. Suddenly Diana’s idyllic life changes after she rescues Steve Trevor, played by the charismatic Chris Pine, who is an American pilot spying for the British whose airplane crashes off the coast of Themyscira. Eventually, Diana travels with Steve to help bring World War I to a peaceful end and prevent the use of a new deadly chemical weapon developed by the evil female scientist Doctor Maru, also known as Doctor Poison, under the guidance of the equally villainous German General Erich Ludendorff, played by Danny Huston. When Diana first arrives in London, the movie becomes more of a funny fish out of water story as she tries to understand feminine fashion and that she cannot carry a sword and shield out in public. Eventually, Diana and Steve along with Steve’s hodgepodge team, including Sameer the North African spy, Charlie the drunk Scottish marksman, and Chief the Native American smuggler, make their way to the Western front in Belgium in hopes of discovering Ludendorff’s weapons factory. In an unusual twist for the superhero genre, Diana is the one with super-strength and superhero powers who helps the male protagonists complete their mission and kill most of the bad guys. At times, Steve and other men are shocked and somewhat embarrassed when they see Diana outmaneuver and outfight them. The film ends with Diana facing an unlikely enemy and losing a newly loved one, but, otherwise, she successfully completes her mission to save human lives. Overall, I found the movie to lend a greatly refreshing take on the wildly successful yet male-dominated superhero genre by creating a strong-willed feminist superhero who can take down the bad guys herself without male intervention. The filmmaker is able to avoid the pitfalls of many recent DC Comics movies and craft a greatly entertaining action hero film, complete with realistic World War I settings and explosive CGI effects while subtly relaying a message of female empowerment and equality for Hollywood and beyond.