BPX094: The Greatest Phase Five MCU Movie So Far

[Neon Ignition]

The multiverse has fully splintered and branched out and we continue to see a rush of new heroes introduced both in TV and movie form.

This leads us into Phase Five of our search.

To qualify the films have to share some level of on screen connection with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This means some narrative tissue rather than simply making use of the IP, as such multiple films are now part of the MCU however titles like the recent Madame Web are not.




As things stand, which is the best Phase Five movie so far and why?

[Dogg Thang]

I haven't seen The Marvels yet. I found GotG3 mean-spirited and bitter, like the series was going through a bad divorce. Ant-Man was atrocious and that was down to the story and the script. I admire what the visual artists were doing with it and I feel bad for people working on that movie because many departments brought their A-game but that was a bad movie.

[Neon Ignition]

I enjoyed GOTG3, not quite as much as the other two but it closed things off fine enough for me. Ant-Man struggled through trying to force the series in the wrong direction, plus the Quantum realm was never that interesting a world in terms of how they realised it, it ultimately is just a diluted version of what we've seen of space. The Marvels is solid and light but really struggles in several areas, it basically embodies the many issues with Marvels recent years strategy of going high on budgets that aren't reflected on screen and merge the less seen TV stories with the big screen ones. Everything comes together to make something that just feels small which isn't where Marvel needs to be in their cinematic releases. The remainder of Phase Five as a whole looks troublesome, being far too late now to steer it in a new direction. It'll be interesting to see what they change in their Phase Six plans

[Dogg Thang]

the Quantum realm was never that interesting a world in terms of how they realised it, it ultimately is just a diluted version of what we've seen of space.

Yep, it's true. And had this been space, I think I would have loved what they did visually so much more. I did find it inventive and fun and, in places, the design was lovely. But it didn't reconcile at all with what the quantum realm was set up to be in the first movie and was essentially a location where Ant-Man's power, his USP, was pretty meaningless. The fun in Ant-Man was in getting big and small and making other things big and small and that requires setting it in a familiar place that has a fixed size. The setting robbed Ant-Man of the best things about Ant-Man.

[QualityChimp]

I've not seen the others, so I guess GotG3 wins by default.
It's fairly forgettable in comparison to the previous films, though.
I did enjoy that Rocket got some closure and there were some laughs along the way, but I agree with Dogg that it had a maudlin tone to it.

The opening with Rocket sadly strolling through the town, listening to the stripped-down acoustic version of Radiohead's "Creep" set the tone early doors and it never really recovered.

By the end of the movie, it felt like Starlord was turning into Andy from Parks & Rec. Where do they go from here?
I know he's supposed to be a lighter MCU character but someone who's seen what he's seen wouldn't settle with eating cereal on Earth, IMHO.

However, I snort-laughed in the cinema at the Skeletor line!

[Asura]

I had to vote for GotG3 because it's slim pickin's really.

I was disappointed at the end.

->Open Spoiler<-

I wanted Rocket to straight-up kill the guy, and I wanted his arc to in-part be the realisation that some people are beyond redemption, and that "he is without sin throw the first stone" doesn't tally when you're dealing with a villain who has caused suffering on a civilisation-based level.

But I voted for it because of these three movies, it had one moment which genuinely moved me in the cinema:

->Open Spoiler<-

When Nebula is genuinely relieved that Rocket is okay. The sense of tender relief in her voice, when Nebula is normally pretty implacable, was something else.

... and I didn't get anywhere near the same emotional experience from the other films.