This is a LiveBlog walking through my investigation into what Disney/Pixar is going to do with the storyline for Incredibles 2 written before and during my watching it on an awards-consideration DVD while the film is still in theaters.
The biggest question I have, going into the movie, is who the bad guy (theoretic spoiler: it’s probably a gal) is going to be.
Here are the suspects, represented in this lineup of concept art released by Disney/Pixar regarding new characters (with no mention of a bad guy, so the suspicion that our baddie is one of these folks is entirely my speculation):
The image depicts a guy with a strong nose (I’m getting a Businessman vibe), a tired looking creative type (looks like a designer or architect to me), an emo-punk hero, and an older woman whom I’m going to guess works in government. Just from the look of these, I would guess that the story would point towards the dude being the bad guy and then – surprise – it’s really the woman on the right. But Disney already did that with Zootopia and Pixar (same thing as Disney) had a similar surprise except with the “she seems like an antagonist but she was really an undercover good guy” in Monsters Inc and even the visuals look the same (the guy above looks like a human version of Randal and the older woman looks like a human version of Roz). Just from a storytelling perspective, I’m going to demote those two characters to “least suspicious” and focus on the two women in the middle. Disney is making specific overtures to SWJ-ize their movies and part of that means women-women-everywhere – regardless of whether it naturally fits the story or not. I don’t know anything about the woman on the left but I can see a strong “I just wanted to be a hero like you and you rejected me so now I hate you and the world” potential on the turquoise chick.
Now, before watching the movie I am going to watch the trailer and whatever other relevant non-spoiler clips and promotional material for the movie.
PRE-MOVIE SPECULATION
[Time Lapse] — Okay, so I know who these 4 characters are now even though the funky haircut hero is the only one whose actual name I know. The guy on the left is indeed a business guy (nailed it), the frazzled chick is his sister (i’m still guessing that she is overworked or otherwise frustrated by him), a new hero named Void, and an ambassador only referred to as “the Ambassador”. So…
MrBillionaire – SisterBillionaire – Void – “The Ambassador” … one of these is the bad guy.
And I’ll remind y’all that it’s not like this was announced by Disney/Pixar or anything that one of those 4 is the baddie. I am deducing this entirely from what seems likely to me and my knowledge of the intentions and formulas used by the filmmakers.
The previews for the movie don’t give any clues about SisterBillion or TheAmbassador but the trailer shows the smirking gentleman to be a billionaire working with the Supers to make Supers not-illegal anymore and Void is the only new hero I’ve seen any media regarding the voice actress of, so that makes me look at both a little harder. Why, out of all the new characters, are we hearing Void’s voice talk about her excitement to be in the movie unless she plays a bigger role than just an affirmative action hire of “woman hero addition”? Also – the villains name is Screenslaver and is not shown in any trailers, so that raises the probability that the identity is a surprise.
At first I thought it was gonna be the guy with the Roman nose, but that would be too “on the nose” of a redo of the first movie with Buddy the failed sidekick being the villain, so hopefully, Screenslaver isn’t him. If they go that direction, it’ll be the same format but gender-swapped where Void is the new Buddy, and of course has actual-powers where Buddy/Syndrome didn’t.
Beginning the movie
I’m starting the watching…. Now…
Disney logo redone to be Incredible’ized. No Pixar studio logo on this one. hmm. Is Luxo Jr (that’s the Pixar lamp mascot) the real identity of Screenslaver?… that wasn’t even 1% as funny as I was thinking it was when it was still in my head. After actually typing it out, it’s just stupid. “Herp derp. Maybe the lamp from the company logo is the villain in this movie derp!”. I hate myself.
40m into the movie: An attack on The Ambassador? Has to be the same villain plan as Syndrome’s from the first movie – i.e. – creating a problem so you can fix the problem you created. Although idk what the larger motive would be yet.
Things that have to be called back:
-Memory erasing & the MIB guy from the begining
-The Underminer – they wouldn’t have included that long of a scene if he wasn’t intended to come back and play a book-ending role.
Void is acting suspiciously like a possible villain but she’s not laying down enough track that would have to be called back later if she was really the bad-gal in this story. She didn’t have enough of an intro to repeat the Buddy & Mr Incredible dynamic from the first movie, but she clearly looks up to Elastigirl and there’s something off about her so she’s still a character of Interest for me.
Bad Writing: the Billionaire Sister is saying “my brother” too much. We get it – you’re his sibling – geez. She remains the most likely real identity of Screenslaver because it’s the safest choice.
56m in – Screenslaver’s first appearance on screen and there’s an immediate cutback to my prime suspect: SisterBillionaire. hmm. If Void turns out to be Screenslaver then I still suspect that SisterBilionaire is going to be the twist-accomplice to her.
A mask and a voice changer means that Screenslaver is definitely a character we’ve already been introduced to.
Nevermind… It’s SisterBillz for sure. 100%. She just said “I’m just the genius behind the genius” and the recently apprehended Screenslaver was being remote controlled… That’s the giveaway. Still no motive other than I guess some kind of “my brother is stupid and loves super heroes so I’m going to show him how ineffective they are because WomanPower or something” but I am betting all chips on SIsterBillz being Screenslaver.
Although… Elastigirl gets called up to the stage to receive Screenslavers mask like an award and Void is shown literally “in her shadow” and her behavior beforehand is villainy. I’m still betting everything on Sisterbillz only because I don’t think this movie is as good as the original and the sister being the bad guy is a safer choice. A Void reveal – or even having Void be a part of the Sisterhood bad guy gang (that’d be cool) would be too bold a choice for this movie.
SIsterBillionaire is giving Elastigirl the same speech about people’s consumerism that Screenslaver gave the public just a little bit ago. So if this is a good movie then it’s a misdirect and if it’s not so great then its going in the straight line that it appears…
Okay, by pointing out that her bodycam footage appears on a monitor in Screenslavers apartment, Elastigirl just revealed to the audience that the real Screenslaver is in fact SisterBillz, but insanely is blind to the discovery herself. There’s no explanation for why she would be so dense or unwilling to connect those dots and instead think-aloud that connection to the prime suspect – alone. Come on dude… Anyway – the jig is up – and its the sister.
Sister confirmed.
Now I’m bored with this movie.
Conclusion…
Giant opportunity wasted: Mind controlled Elastigirl fighting Mr Incredible… for 4.5 seconds until cutting away. WTF, Pixar?? This could have been the best part of the film and instead, Mr Incredible puts up less of a fight than the fakeout Screenslaver who was really just a remote controlled pizza delivery guy. Come the fkk on.
I’m out. This movie is just getting increasingly annoying. The 3rd “runaway train” motif of the flick (get a new premise, guys) in the form of a yacht speeding towards a coastal city and the hero who can create portals never thinks to portal them into the opposite direction.
Yawn. Boo. The unIncredible End.
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