( WARNING : SPOILERS !!!! )
MARVEL ONE-SHOT: THE CONSULTANT
“Good Bit but Not Great”
So. The Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant was the first of Marvel’s attempts to expand certain scenes in their cinematic movie-verse. I have to say that I admire the concept and that they decided to do so in a manner that doesn’t focus entirely on the superheroes who populate the MCU. Not to mention that they give some screen time to Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) who had a bit part in the first Iron Man movie but graduated to having a supporting role in a number of other films as well—even eventually headlining his own TV series for a while.
However, strictly speaking One-Shot: The Consultant is very—very brief. As in, it’s something like 4 minutes long—and that’s being generous as a decent portion of that is lifted from the genuine The Incredible Hulk film itself.
Plotwise, One-Shot: The Consultant definitely works as it actually strengthens the MCU with a better and more in-depth explanation of the political backroom dealings that Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Agent Sitwell (Maximiliano Herandez) were cooking up with the how and why Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) made that cameo in the credits of the Incredible Hulk and the fallout afterwards.
Agent Coluson Consults
However, despite the better explanation of what was going on behind the scenes—it’s basically filler content with a pair of government agents actually deliberately sabotaging one of their civilian superiors’ more idiotic ideas. It’s not hysterical, but worth a good chuckle to hear about it and you can see Stark actually doing something like that.
As far as the actors, they did a competent job in their performances. Despite Coulson’s business-like demeanor, there is something inherently likeable about his character that the actor manages to project into his performances. Herandez does a good job as well but frankly due to the incredibly short length of this mini-film; it’s hard to give an accurate measure on their performances. They were adequate in their dialogue and exposition of the situation that they find themselves in but overall, I can’t give them too much credit simply because their parts are so darn brief. Likewise, I’m not going to breakdown Robert Downey Jr. and William Hurt’s performance as it was basically completely lifted from the Hulk after credit scene.
Visually, One-Shot: The Consultant is actually incredibly weak where the two agents are just discussing things in a small diner and even the background seems blacked out. There’s little in the way of special effects or sets to analyze. However, that might be a bit deliberate as it does nicely focus attention neatly on those scenes from the Incredible Hulk movie.
So it really feels ... cheap I guess you could say. Basically I would have appreciate this attempt more if it felt more like a genuine attempt to broaden the MCU rather than something that looked like it cost less than $200 bucks to shoot. It's basically an extended end credits scene and a wrap-up to the Abomination and fleshes out Agent Coulson a little bit more.
It does do a good job in that you don’t really need to have seen The Incredible Hulk for you to understand what’s going on. Nevertheless, it helps if you have seen it as it would enhance the understanding and entertainment. Overall, it could have been better if they had gone all the way in and had Tony Stark and General Ross going at it and would have greatly strengthened this brief short. In the end, it’s good ... but lacking and not that great.
Is it worth it? I can’t say it is. There’s just not that much to see. It’s entirely forgettable and even more so, entirely skippable. I’d recommend it only for diehard fans of the MCU.
REPORT CARD
STORY / PLOT : B
CHARACTERS / ACTORS : B -
CINEMATOGRAPHY / ANIMATION / SPECIAL EFFECTS : C -
SOUND / MUSIC : C
OVERALL RATING : 2 STARS.
( SnowyMountain’s 5 STAR RATING SYSTEM NOTES / 2 STARS : Fair to Okay; if you have nothing else to do and want to kill some time … then this is perfect for you. A cheap rental that you can kill some brain cells with. )