This review contains spoilers.
Evelyn is the sister of Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk), a free-market enthusiast who comes to the rescue of the family after their battle with the Underminer in the last few minutes of the first movie. In keeping with the first movie’s conservative themes, the police chastise the family for interfering, the media depict them as criminals, and the government condemns their activities. “Politicians don’t understand people who do good just because it’s right,” observes Rick Dicker (Jonathan Banks), one of the only sympathetic government officials. In case the point isn’t clear, a news report states that “people have more trust in monkeys throwing darts than in Congress.”
Because all this takes place in a mythical 1960s, it’s imbued with a sense of nostalgia—yet nostalgia can blind us to the ugly realities of the past we long to reclaim. Incredibles 2 pines for the hope, the sense of adventure, and, ironically, the innovation that characterized the 60s, while the negative aspects go unacknowledged. When phrases like “make superheroes legal again” are casually thrown around, I wonder if the movie’s nostalgia is less for the period than for a certain mind-set. By making Elastigirl no more than an extension of her family, Incredibles 2 regresses to a time when any power women managed to acquire was carefully controlled so as not to threaten the male order. Such nostalgia is self-defeating. v
Directed by Brad Bird. PG, 118 min.
