Echoes of the Multiverse

Well… That happened. The world’s first two hours (and five minute!) length teaser trailer for a Disney+ streaming series.

There have only ever been two MCU films released in February. Black Panther was released in February 2018 because that’s Black History Month in the U.S. but I feel like Quantumania might be the first dump month flick in the MCU.

Paul Rudd, Kathryn Newton, and Michelle Pfiefer are great; Michael Douglass is as effortlessly charming as ever; and Jonathan Majors chews the scenery with gleeful abandon… I don’t think an actor has had this much fun playing an MCU villain since Tom Hiddleston in the first Avengers movie. The rest of the actors? Absolutely forgettable. It felt like Evangeline Lilly was asleep for most of her screen time.

But far worse is that the vast majority of the film (if felt like two hours and four minutes, but was probably a mere two hours and three minutes) is spent in Green Screen Land. There’s just nothing real on screen except the faces of the actors… and not even those look real.

If you’re an MCU completionist, then go see it. If you’re only a casual MCU viewer or on a budget, probably best to wait ‘til it hits the Disney+ streaming service in a couple more weeks.

I’m giving this one a “D–” making it officially my least favorite entry in the MCU to date. Below even The Incredible Hulk, Thor: The Dark World, and The Eternals.

My MCU Ratings

This list is relative only to other MCU films, not all super-hero films as a genre. Even a sub-par MCU is still a lot better than the other stuff out there...

1. Iron Man ( A )
2. The Incredible Hulk ( D )
3. Iron Man 2 ( B- )
4. Thor ( B+ )
5. Captain America: The First Avenger ( C )
6. The Avengers ( A )
7. Iron Man 3 ( C- )
8. Thor: The Dark World ( C- )
9. Captain America: The Winter Soldier ( A+ )
10. Guardians of the Galaxy ( A )
11. Avengers: The Age of Ultron ( C )
12. Ant-Man ( B )
13. Captain America: Civil War ( A+ )
14. Doctor Strange ( A )
15. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 ( B )
16. Spider-Man: Homecoming ( B+ )
17. Thor: Ragnarok ( B )
18. Black Panther ( C+ )
19. Avengers: Infinity War ( A )
20. Ant-Man and the Wasp ( C+ )
21. Captain Marvel ( C )
22. Avengers: Endgame ( A )
23. Spider-Man: Far from Home ( B )
24. Black Widow ( C )
25. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ( B- )
26. Eternals ( D )
27. Spider-Man: No Way Home ( A )
28. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ( C+ )
29. Thor: Love and Thunder ( B- )
30. Black Panther Wakanda Forever ( A- )
31. Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania ( D- )

My DCEU Rankings

This list is relative only to other DCEU films and not all superhero films as a genre. Even the better DCEU films are average compared to most of the productions from the competition in the MCU, but for the most part are better than a lot of the “shovelware” we got in the Eighties and Nineties.

1. Man of Steel ( C- )
2. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ( D )
3. Suicide Squad ( C )
4. Wonder Woman ( A- )
5. Justice League [theatrical cut] ( F )
6. Aquaman ( B- )
7. Shazam! ( B+ )
8. Birds of Prey ( C )
9. Wonder Woman 1984 ( D )
10. Justice League [director’s cut] ( D- )
11. The Suicide Squad ( B )
12. Black Adam ( B– )

I'd give it an B+.

Spoiler

Corey Stoll did an amazing job as Darren Cross/MODOK, making him both scary and pathetic at different points. It's a shame that he's fallen victim to the Marvel Movie Villain Curse. On the other hand, Bill Murray's surprise scene did seem a bit pointless.

Did we see the same movie?

Doubt it.

Haven't seen this one yet, but levels of enjoyment ARE pretty subjective; I'd agree with your list in many cases, Batgirl III, and not so much in others (you gave Love and Thunder a higher rating than Black Panther!?), but you know what? Its just amazing that there's a HUGE list of Marvel U movies that are actually worth watching at all (even excluding the non-MCU stuff that came before), because when I was growing up you had junk like the Roger Corman FF movie and the Dolph Lundgren Punisher flick, stuff that was just plain B-A-D.

So we've all been spoiled.

All my best.

Oh, yeah, this review stuff is subjective as heck. I make no claims to being the one and only true arbiter of what movies are good or bad. I just think Davies’ opinion on Corey Stoll’s performance is an odd one. It felt way too much like the Saturday Morning cartoon villain buffoonery of the Skeletor and Starscream style for me to take seriously… especially with the, uh, let’s say less than stellar visual effects. (Don’t want to go into too much detail about it due to the Spoiler Embargo.)

But on the subject of my grades, I gave Black Panther a C+ and Love and Thunder a B–, with really only a hair’s breadth keeping the two from being a tie. I’d probably give Black Panther a solid B if the ending action sequence had been shot with more practical effects and less computer graphics nonsense. Love & Thunder would probably have earned itself a C, for just being too dang silly overall, but the really great performances by Christian Bale and the (underused but still great) Natalie Portman earned it a bit of goodwill.

These grades are also all relative only to the other films in the MCU franchise. Even the worst of the lot (Quantumania, Eternals, and Hulk) are still head and shoulders above almost all of their contemporary challengers from Warner Bros. and the DCEU. The best films in the DCEU are merely average by comparison. If you look further back, to the sort of schlock that most superhero movies were prior to Iron Man it’s a quantum leap in terms of quality.

Pun intended.

Well Mine werent off the charts but I enjoyed the heck out of this one, I cant top 5 it but its in the top 10 easy. its just plain Glorious Fun. highly enjoyable and worth the watch

My baseline test for a movie is “Did I get a level of entertainment that makes me feel the price of the ticket was worth it?” and I do feel that Quantumania was worth it. It’s my least favorite MCU film, to date, but it wasn’t a bad movie… It was just a bad MCU movie.

But the MCU is a really large “big tent” these days, much like the comic books themselves, with a lot of different “sub genres” of film within it. It’s no great secret that I lean towards detective- and mystery-style comics, street-level heroics, political techno-thrillers and the occasional bit of sci-fi. I’m not big on cosmic stories, horror comics, or the like. Which is probably why Quantumania or Eternals just didn’t hook me… It just ain’t my cuppa tea.

Saw it, liked it.

Scuttlebutt is that the film got heavily chopped up, in part due to the films getting scrambled around due to COVID. Originally, Scott worked for Kang for a longer period of time, believing him to be a legitimate ruler of the land, and of course, Scott and Hope got to actually make their heroic sacrifice by being stranded in the process of stopping Kang from escaping.

I personally enjoyed the film myself. Although I want further Ant-Man films to stay sillier.

Overall, it was a fun movie. The CGI was a bit much and the writing could have been better. Overall though, it was entertaining and even some of the sillier bits with MODOK weren't so bad. They stopped the film from getting too serious. That final battle, there is always a final battle, also was light hearted yet hit all he notes it needed to hit.

Saw it and felt the need to apologize to the person I went with for suggesting it. If Ant-Man and the Wasp get further films, give us more like the first two; I really liked the superhero heist formula, and shrinking characters really should be the go-to for stealth-based missions.

The film wasn't horrible, but this current phase hasn't been great compared to the previous ones. While I enjoyed the film, it was a bit too CGI heavy and too much on the comedic side of things.