This is TFG1Mike’s first Marvel Animated Film viewing in a very long time! He takes a look at the recently released Avengers Confidential. This will be a slightly SPOILER FILLED Review!
The Story:
Even though in this section I’ll be talking about the events of the film… I guess I should start out by saying I’m not an anime fan…. in the traditional sense. When I hear the term “anime” I RUN the other way! Because I know most if not all of it will be in some foreign language that isn’t ENGLISH! Sorry but reading subtitles seems like WORK to me and I’d rather kick back and watch something that I can enjoy… then work at READING what the hell is being said for an hour or more. That really is my only issue with the genre, everytime I’ve seen anime I’ve like the animation styles for the most part, well Batman: Gotham Knight notwithstanding… Thankfully with this DVD the language thing aint a problem.
This Marvel animated film takes most every standard plot and mashed them together. They also cater these tropes to fit Black Widow and The Punisher. I mean I get it most of the time Frank is going after drug dealers, gunrunners…. etc etc. I think my major issue with the story is that Nick Fury has SECRETS…. this has been pointed out numerous times in the last 70 damn years. S.H.I.E.L.D. WILL ALWAYS have a hidden agenda. In this story Frank is hunting down a guy named Cain, and along the way he runs into Black Widow, Nick Fury and the hellicarrier. Apparently Franks way of doing things screwed up the mission for S.H.I.E.L.D. Thankfully Frank could care less about their way of how things need to be done, but Fury teams Widow and Punisher up to get this job done.
The team up here is very interesting, because you have two characters who seem to hve many things in common…. yet theyhave very different needs in order to get the job done. I enjoyed how Widow and Punisher interacted with each other, and how their fights scenes were choreographed was a nice touch. Even though I said at the beginning of this review that it might have slight SPOILERS, as I’m writing this… I’m not sure if I want to spoil what happens. I will say though when they are infiltrating the snowy facility I thought of Metal Gear Solid’s opening mission, just look at the image above.
The Voice Acting:
This cast includes Jennifer Carpenter and Brian Bloom as Black Widow and The Punisher respectively. As well as numerous other awesome voice actors. Matthew Mercer is the voice of Tony Stark/Iron Man… you might remember him as Tygra in the 2011 Thundercats series. Kari Wahlgreen is Maria Hill, Kyle Hebert is Cain, John Eric Bentley is Nick Fury, Eric Bauza is Amadeus Cho, Fred Tatasciore is The Hulk and Ren. Plus JB Blanc as Orion, and more. The voices are good for what this film is. However in my personal opinion I would really love it if Marvel started using the Cinematic Universe actors for the voices. At least for Iron Man, I do love Tatasicore’s Hulk, and Brian Bloom nailed The Punisher. I kinda wish they got the real Nick Fury and Maria Hill voices from the MCU, but i understand why they didn’t or probably couldn’t. While I enjoyed this cast… there were moments in the animation that Widow was talking, yet her lips were not moving, so I’ll take a point off of the animators for that.
The Special Features:
There are two special features on this disc. The Vigilante Vs The Spy is the first one, after that we have Espionage and Punishment! I’ll talk about each of them here:
I liked this feature, as it shows you the origins of Black Widow and The Punisher. The interviewees talk about how the characters interact with each other, and how they are and are not cut from the same cloth. How Widow is out for redemption, and The Punisher is all about Revenge. This for me is the better of the two features.
I thought I was going to find this very interesting. And parts of it when there are people speaking ENGLISH… I did. But whenever the Director of the thing started talking, and it was in japanese… I tuned out. I couldn’t even finish watching the feature, because I didn’t know what the hell the guy was saying, and I couldn’t keep up with the subtitles. GET A TRANSLATOR next time Marvel.
Final Thoughts/Rating:
For this being the first Marvel Animated film that I’ve seen in awhile, I liked it. It didn’t scream awesome to me, but it didn’t scream oh my god this is United They Stand. So that’s a great thing. Should fans of Black Widow and Punisher check this out… HELL YEAH! Because it’s something you’d never thought that Marvel would ever do. I’m hoping that Marvel Animation will be on par like this in the future. I’m gonna give this a a three and a half outta five stars. I liked it, but it didn’t shout at me that this is the best thing ever… or omg you love this right. I enjoyed it yes, but it wasn’t my favorite or least favorite animated film. I’d love Marvel and DC to do a Punisher Nightwing Team up! Bwa hahahahahahahahhaha!!! (YES I know Nightwing is DEAD, and I know DC-Marvel would never do this)
