Ant-Man and the Wasp: Fun, But Forgettable

After Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel probably figured that a good way to reach fans was to make them laugh. After all, they’ve just killed off half of their characters and left us all on the dark note of “the Avengers have actually been defeated, what now?” So, who do we turn to? Well, what about the fun hero from 2015 who provided the humor we needed after Age of Ultron? The problem with that is simple: while Ant-Man has been one of Marvel’s more humorous exploits, there is the same amount of history and lore with him as with any of the other superheroes that have been brought to the screen since 2008, only he’s not being used that way. The characters are getting very little growth (if any), we’re right back to where we started on poorly constructed villains, and the most interesting part of the story (the shrinking down to new environments) is not being explored to its fullest potential. The first Ant-Man was fun, but it’s become clear now that there’s no real interest in developing his story’s potential beyond that of a comic relief to tide us over until Captain Marvel and Avengers 4.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: The Most Worthy Marvel Sequel

*Warning: Potential Spoilers*

Marvel now thrives on sequel after sequel, putting out each movie to connect to the others in the hopes that this wide universe that they’ve created is enough to keep us coming back, no matter how annoyed we get at the tantalizing hints and wink-wink-nudge-nudge in-jokes that only the nerds will know. Don’t get me wrong, I still love the MCU, but sometimes it just gets exhausting. It gets even worse when they put out a film like Guardians of the Galaxy, because it just reminds us that they can make something this good and they don’t let their other movies take notes on how the Guardians amuse and delight us. Just as Vol. 1 was, GotG Vol. 2 is a cool refresher in the convoluted sea of Marvel, and it amuses just like its predecessor. Sure, some bits and pieces that are better, and some are worse, but overall it is the break in the universe that both geeks and regular moviegoers will appreciate.