The reviews coming out for the new Ant-Man movie are not looking that positive. In fact, the only movie in the MCU with a worse showing on Rotten Tomatoes is the (in my opinion) absolutely terrible Eternals. I was concerned about this even before the reviews came out as nearly all of the clips from the movie show it to be largely held in the "Quantum Realm" which means more green screen/CGI backgrounds than the Star Wars prequels. As much as I love Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, I think that I'm going to wait to watch this one on Disney+.
The fact is that the MCU really sputtered its way through its cinematic showings in Phase 4, with only Spider-Man: No Way Home really living up to (and exceeding) its expectations with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings being a welcome surprise. The other movies, even the fairly good ones, seemed bound by their own ambitions while not hitting their marks. The lowest point was Eternals, but Phase 4 missed the mark with Black Widow, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (although I'm still moved by its first trailer).
Perhaps, part of the issue is that there were many fantastic TV shows and specials introduced in Phase 4, starting with the astounding sitcom homage in WandaVision. While some of the shows were not as strong as the others (cough, Moon Knight, cough), on the whole, I would rank many of them higher than most of the movies. Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and even the Werewolf by Midnight and Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special were all a lot of fun to watch. All of those shows had more time to present their stories, and thus had time that the movies did not have to recover from any missteps.
I hope that the MCU can regain its footing. The first three phases were amazing, but they also had some missteps along the way (cough, Iron Man 2, cough). There's still time for it to get better.
The fact is that the MCU really sputtered its way through its cinematic showings in Phase 4, with only Spider-Man: No Way Home really living up to (and exceeding) its expectations with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings being a welcome surprise. The other movies, even the fairly good ones, seemed bound by their own ambitions while not hitting their marks. The lowest point was Eternals, but Phase 4 missed the mark with Black Widow, Thor: Love and Thunder, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (although I'm still moved by its first trailer).
Perhaps, part of the issue is that there were many fantastic TV shows and specials introduced in Phase 4, starting with the astounding sitcom homage in WandaVision. While some of the shows were not as strong as the others (cough, Moon Knight, cough), on the whole, I would rank many of them higher than most of the movies. Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and even the Werewolf by Midnight and Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas Special were all a lot of fun to watch. All of those shows had more time to present their stories, and thus had time that the movies did not have to recover from any missteps.
I hope that the MCU can regain its footing. The first three phases were amazing, but they also had some missteps along the way (cough, Iron Man 2, cough). There's still time for it to get better.
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