Ant man, Wasp

[Phoebe]

First of all, I'm glad I saw a headline about this because it reminded me that I should take my kids to see it for a fun evening activity sometime: https://io9.gizmodo.com/ant-man-and-the ... 447165/amp

But the reason I bring it to you is that the thesis of this article seems to be we need more room for magic in this Marvel universe, and not attempt to explain magical things away with a scientific account that had heretofore been unknown. My intuition is precisely the opposite, that the less Magic the better. but then I realize I'm perfectly comfortable with accepting magic with respect to Wonder Woman who is my favorite, and I didn't like it when the Force was being reduced to a pseudoscience explanation in the early Star Wars movies. I suspect those cases are exceptions to the general rule that it would be better when super powers and events in superhero movies had some rational or natural explanation, but at least they give me pause. I don't know, what do you think, people who have watched way more of these superhero movies than I have? I think my exposure to this world still remains mostly from comics.

[Kyle]

I prefer magic to bullshit pseudo-science explanations that are just mumbo jumbo. I enjoyed the first half of the movie (we had a thunderstorm and the power went out- so I didn't see the second half). But it bothered me that they were actually pretending to explain science but just stringing nonsense words together that sounded "sciency." It didn't bother me a lot, but I thought it sounded stupid. I would have been much happier with "the suit taps into the forces of another dimension that we don't understand" instead of "the quantum stable-quantum needs to requantum calibrated to syncroquantum with the quantum quantum." Ugh.

[Phoebe]

I think you have put your finger on the problem. I don't mind a scientific explanation that seems semi informed and compatible with information about the natural world we've already heard of. I do mind a fake pseudoscience explanation, and in that event would just prefer straight up magic as the account. Except for Wonder Woman because clearly she is a magical being, so no amount of science would help that.

[Mike]

I enjoyed this film as a comedy. But the quantum science stuff sucked. What was wrong with Pym particles? If you say Pym particles, then I have no way to tell you you're wrong. When you start saying "quantum entanglement" and other terms that have specific real world meanings, then I'm going to tell you you're wrong, and every use of the word quantum makes it that much harder to suspend my disbelief.

Bring back Pym particles.

[El Jefe]

So...how exactly have you felt about the pseudo-science mish-mash that's been used as the backdrop of 70% or more of the MCU to date? Science fantasy has been a staple of the MCU from its creation, let alone the comics that inspired all of it. Using science terms that the public doesn't understand, even using them in absolutely wrong ways...also a long history of that.

Honestly, what was in this film bothered me a lot less than most of the Iron Man flicks and the first two Avengers. Oh, and literally everything about Asgard. And Wakanda. And most of SHIELD tech. Definitely just about everything with Spidey's webs. Oh, the Hulk as well.

Yeah...it seems really weird to pick it out as a problem on just this specific film.

As for the Pym particles, I believe that had to do with some legal concerns, and opening up the MCU to potential legal action from Warner Bros. and DC. Pym particles have faced some legal scrutiny in the past during the comics, due to similarity with existing DC material. It is the same reason the Chitauri were used instead of the Kree (as originally planned), and a pretty big number of other comic things were changed/shifted out of the MCU.

The most interesting thing about this film over all the others? It really doesn't have a villain. And the closest person to even fill that role actually walks away largely unscathed. There's a fascinating thing watching these movies, as they are the only one to have a character that isn't a hardened violent criminal (like most of the Guardians) or a soldier of some sort or another. Even the action scenes themselves seem to largely consist of limited violence (mostly phasing/shrinking to avoid blows...though there is a shitload of property damage). It's almost like you aren't watching a Marvel movie when it comes to the combat.

Outside of Thanos, Marvel has squandered every single villain they've had. Loki isn't a villain. And I'll give honorable mention to Hela, who was the closest to not being a complete waste. It was interesting to see them try to work around that in this one. I'm not sure "let's just totally avoid the problem!" is the best choice, but it is a way to go.

Edit: I'd also wager a guess that the writer tried to use the science jargon to make the viewer feel like Scott (overshadowed by the big brains around him and barely understanding what's happening). That was a noted goal of the writer in the first film.

[Phoebe]

Well, I haven't seen the movie yet but will report back if I do.

[mimekiller]

fun characters in a boring film