kevinyang’s review published on Letterboxd:
Anti-entertainment. There is not a better example to date of a Marvel film relegating its incredibly talented filmmaker to complete bystander status. This is a film that still hasn't had the courtesy to finish up with its exposition dumps nearly two hours in, crumbling under the weight of the numerous characters it needs to - but doesn't even try to - introduce. Its superheroes are about as nameless and faceless as its CGI sludge villains, arcs nonexistent and character turns nonsensical, motivations cheapened to an almost insulting level, with their only purpose being to stand around and drone on about humanity or fight in some of the most painful battle sequences ever generated by Marvel. I realize this is drawn from source material, but seeing these invincible people just go willy nilly doing whatever they want basically making up the rules of their own world and abilities just robs the whole thing of any dramatic tension. The scenes of them jumping from time period to time period actually verge on parody. Mesopotamia, fucking hilarious. Worst might be the post Hiroshima scene though. The whole thing also just does not flow at all - not once did I think "Hey, that was a cool transition" or "Hey, these scenes build off each other nicely." I am actually surprised at how inert it all manages to be. I love Zhao so this is just more of a bummer than anything.
GRADE: C-/D+
