I haven't seen Echo but based on a few points from this review and previous articles, it seems Gamespot is way too hung up on Marvel movies and shows being connected with one another and leading into a "greater picture". But not all of them have to.
What matters is interesting, well-written stories. Netflix's Daredevil is a fantastic series which doesn't burden itself with the MCU. I'd rather they use these shows to set up the Kingpin as the main street level villain and then introduce him in one of the team-up movies as being in cahoots with the big bad guy whether it's Kang, Dr Doom, etc. That would force the street level heroes like Daredevil to join the fight.
I was under the impression that Filoni's movie would basically be Mando and Grogu on the big screen, tying up and concluding the overrarching storyline of The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, Bobba Fett et al. Guess they decided an additional movie is "required".
I have no interest in the MCU tv shows but I'll probably give Echo a watch just for D'Onofrio's Wilson Fisk. He was amazing in Daredevil - hopefully Disney won't ruin his character.
The dark side bad guy redeeming himself, turning to the light and sacrificing himself to defeat Palpatine sounds kind of familiar...
The sequel trilogy was a disaster. TFA played it safe but set up a few interesting narrative threads, TLJ scraped everything that was set up and took its own direction and then ROS just crammed all the fanservice it could in a desperate attempt to appeal to everyone.
Hopefully Disney will leave the franchise direction to Dave Filloni from now on without interference. The Disney+ tv shows weren't perfect but they mostly (cough Boba Fett cough) respected what made Star Wars special and tried to recapture the same magic and soul.
Since when does a movie have to be connected with all others in the MCU to be enjoyable? Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was great and that's because it told a contained story that had a soul independent from the whole multiverse saga.
The problem is that they can no longer produce great stand alone movies. The references to other events and overrarching narrative is there to add spice and set up the future Avengers movies, not the selling point.
@gleencross: On one hand, it is nigh impossible to create a sequel with an aging protagonist that could compare to the original. However, I don't think that featuring an old protagonist is the underlying issue. There are still stories to tell and explore the dusk of a hero's life. The problem is that Hollywood seems incapable of providing a decent story. They rely too much on fanservice, nostalgia and passing the torch (aka continuing to milk the franchise).
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