Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania

I liked this film a lot, the fun and the humor are still there, but the stakes are definitively raised.

Jonathan Majors is just outstanding. He's in a different movie, giving a Shakespearean performance in what is otherwise... well, it's Ant-Man.

The more appealing thing about the whole enterprise is the mental image of these former A-listers hanging out between takes, swapping stories of the old days and competing over who least understands the script.

The thrill is gone. The Marvel Universe shoots a blank. A tiny one.

The visuals are so busy, the jokes so tame, the homilies so overfamiliar, the only option is surrendering to the chaos. But those pros Pfeiffer and Douglas up the game with an interstellar Romancing the Stone vibe.

A superhero epic of gargantuan proportions that overwhelms and overstimulates, but still manages to deliver some human emotions despite the CGI circus.

The MCU spent Phase 4 showing a sprawling universe at some point, they’re all going to have to come together to beat the crap out of each other. We’ve got a whole multiverse to sit down to, so let Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania be that appetizer.

I love Marvel and understand the implications the film is supposed to have as it ushers in Phase 5. What I’m at a loss to understand is just why this task was laid at the feet of Ant-Man.

Because audiences warm to Paul Rudd’s humor, his third stand-alone Ant-Man outing should have gone for the laughs, not some convoluted mythology that explains nothing.

Far from the best the MCU has to offer but fun, energetic, and quirky enough to overlook its flaws. Also: Jonathan Majors.