Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was pretty crowded.
With the wrap up of the Infinity Saga, and the need to tell a new yet coherent story, the Marvel Studios pulled out all stops to replenish the ranks while keeping us updated about existing characters in Phase 4.
The result was a mixed bag.
Although I don’t think the MCU is about pleasing hardcore comic books or movie fans, I personally felt a bit overwhelmed.
I still have excitements for each show and movie, and I still think most of them kept me happy. However, when keeping up the story telling became a job I must do most of the year, the pleasure and leisure of watching MCU stuff started to wane.
I don’t know whether it was the decision of the previous CEO to maximise profit to open the flood gates, but I am certainly glad that Bob Iger’s return marks a restoration of quality over quantity.
Phase 5 kicked off with Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. A mouth full for a title, but also very descriptive.
The movie followed up with the Pym and Lang families after the events of Endgame. It is apparent that not every super hero was the same. As compared to the mainline Avengers, the Pym and Lang family live a pretty good life after Endgame.
The only issue was the aspired Cassie Lang, whom, now a teenager, became a scientist and activist in her own right, causing headache for Scott, whom, basically wanted his daughter to live a normal life.
However, as Cassie put it in the trailer – a man dressed like a bee tried to kill her when she was 6 in her bed room – nothing is normal about her life.
Teenagers are supposed to make mistakes, and so she did, and her mistake dragged everyone back into the Quantum Realm that Janet van Dyne tried to get out for 30 years.
It turned out, and destiny has it, Janet’s return kicked off a series of events that she had to put to rest after her sudden departure in Ant Man 2.
Without going in too much with the story, and hence treading spoiler territory, I personally enjoyed the movie a lot. I do not understand the talk down by some critics, but as a movie packed with action and an intense plot that needed to tell a self-contained story, while responding to previous questions about the multi-verse, and setting up the motion for the remainder of the Multiverse Saga, I think it achieved a lot in its just over 2 hours run time.
To be honest with you, if you haven’t been catching up with certain pieces in the MCU puzzle, particularly the Loki series, and the Multiverse of Madness, and to some extent Spiderman: No Way Home, you will find the story and plot points convoluted and not making sense. However, if you have seen those, you will immediately click with the story and the description of the multiverse. And, that is why I am glad that MCU is slowing its output this year, because it will allow it to refocus on storytelling without wearing out its audience.
The downturn of MCU audienceship is contributed by the densely populated schedule, and, as I said I started to feel more like a job to keep up with my writing and viewing, instead of something I wanted to do because, well, I wanted to.
It is a pity that Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania took the blunt of this threshold, but in time, people will appreciate what the creative team had put together.
Despite with Ant Man and the Wasp in the title, I personally think that it is a Janet van Dyne story. Michelle Pfeiffer is brilliant throughout, and I wished they have given her even more screen time. The only thing I found it inconsistent is that, the power she exhibited in Ant Man 2 was not showcased in any form or manner. Is it because those powers were irrelevant in the Quantum Realm? That I don’t know.
We don’t know whether there would be a fourth outing for Ant Man and the Wasp, but as a movie that was intended to shift gear from palette cleanser to a major phase kick starter, I think it had achieved its goal, and in a very enjoyable manner.
Again, the only down side is, some might need prior knowledge in Phase 4 to enjoy it to the fullest, and for me, that is not a creative issue, but a management matter.
