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This has all the well-done action, fights, physical struggles etc one hopes for in a superhero movie, but where it really shines is in its emotional core.

Viewers familiar with the comics will not encounter any huge surprises in terms of plot, though there's two good minor ones: one early, one late. Viewers with no knowledge of the characters except what they've already seen in the MCU are in for a few more twists. But the plot, action, explosions, chases, punching, etc, while all well done, are just gravy compared to the resonantly and movingly handled themes.

There are stand-out performances from Pugh and Pullman, but it's a strong ensemble performance all round.

This is a must-see for MCU fans, and I'd even tentatively recommend it to people who have never seen a Marvel movie before (so long as they have at least an open mind about the concept of "superhero").

This movie is just about a worthy successor to the original set of movies from the 20th century.

Like them, it uses state of the art special effects to wittily investigate contemporary questions of ethics, humanity, status and prejudice while distracting the popcorn crowd with an engrossing adventure of exploration, captivity and escape in a make-believe world that, in what is a strong science fiction tradition, is recognisably a few "what if?"'s away from our own.

Unlike the original five movies, where each sequel was originally unplanned, this is clearly a new "chapter one", taking the time to introduce some elements that will feature in the upcoming sequels.

Over and over it evokes the sense of wonder of the original handful, with plenty of specific visual, musical and thematic evocations. There are reognisable influences from the 1970s TV show and even some of the Apes comic book stories of that era. But, it is also unmistakably a post-Lord of the Rings epic, the influence showing up in how various action and travel sequences have been shot.

While there is not nearly so much sly humour as the originals, the socio-historic themes are more nuanced, closer to the surface and harder to miss. Questions of defining civilisation in terms of laws are answered in a way that will ultimately resonate with modern audiences; a layered and varied spectrum of responses to enslavement is shown; and as expected, anti-monarchist revolutions will always play well in the USA.

Non-Americans may roll their eyes a little at the very earnest equating of eagles with capital-L Liberty (one can't imagine Charlton Heston's sardonic and cynical George Taylor from the 1968 movie being very impressed), but on the plus side, Peter Macon's wonderful Raka just about matches the delightful charm of Kim Hunter's Zira and Roddy McDowell's Cornelius from the originals. Owen Teague also does a good job as Noa.

The various fight scenes are competent without being overly thrilling (the most exciting action is a cornfield chase vaguely inspired by the original 1968 film), but the deeper probing into the various sub-texts and a fine selection of minor characters keeps the interest levels up. One could pick nits about some of the physics shown in the last twenty minutes, but it's hardly the first Hollywood film to sacrifice strict logic for spectacle and it surely won't be the last.

Overall, this does a good job of working on several levels and should appeal to a good range of audiences.

If you enjoy the straight-faced absolute nonsense that this show does so well, you may well enjoy some of genius Brit John Morton's tv series, such as:

People Like Us (1999-2001)

A (fictional, performed) documentary series typically following a day in the working life of a small group of people in a different industry each episode. Teachers, police, clergy, airline staff, real estate agents and more are featured on screen, interviewed by the never-seen host. It all looks and sounds authentically like a low budget social documentary, until you pay close enough attention to the content to notice the densely packed absurdities in the narration ("By half past nine, it's nearly time for ten o'clock") and the intense stupidity of most of the subjects.

Broken News (2005)

Each episode mimics the viewing experience of channel surfing across a dozen recurring fictional 24 hour news channels, mostly British but with a few US ones. Whether the segment lasts a few minutes or mere seconds before the "channel is changed", the satire is precisely crafted, and much of it can now be seen as prophetic! Awful tv journalism in a wide variety of styles and flavours is brilliantly skewered, the nonsensical absurdities land every few seconds. "Statistics show that as many as 3 out of 5 in every 7 students today don't understand basic mathematical concepts"

W1A (2014-2020)

The closest to a traditional sitcom, with continuing characters and stories, this still blithely shows many characters so incredibly thick they are totally oblivious as to how inept, stupid and awful they actually are, but sprinkled with a few normal people enmeshed in their ongoing disasters. It is presented as a documentary giving a behind-the-scenes look at BBC TV, covering people working in a wide range of positions, ranging from sub-entry level to (not quite) the top.