This week I review the third installment of the Ant-Man franchise, “Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania”. Was it a hit or a miss? Find out in my ICTN review video below!
“Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania” is currently playing in theaters.
Rating: B-
"Wealth, Travel, Fame…I can take you to movies that have all of that." -Me and Orson Welles
Rating: B-
There’s action, there’s romance, and best of all there’s ELVES in the anticipated Hobbit sequel. Now if only the film could have been one hour shorter, we might have had a consistently enjoyable adventure.
Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) and his dwarf companions pick up right where they left off in the last film. They continue their journey to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug the dragon(Voice by Benedict Cumberbatch) . During this part of their quest there is more excitement and a bit more obstacles that occur. Including giant spiders, imprisonment by elves (which brings us familiar faces), and a hefty amount of fish! All while, Bilbo is still in secret possession of the mysterious and magical ring.
The Desolation of Smaug is far more thrilling than the last film. There is much more action, better visual effects, more interesting sub plots, and of course there are elves in this film. The only race that knows how to kick ass! The first appearance of Legolas (Orlando Bloom) returning to the big screen caused applause in the entire theater. And toward the end of the film, I wanted to applaud for any appearance of those smooth, deadly archery skills. I wish the primary focus of this movie was the elves. There was never a dull moment when they were on screen. And I must say, Evangaline Lilly fit in perfectly with the Elven clan as the heroic Tauriel, who will seemingly be caught in an interesting love triangle.
The reason I didn’t absolutely love this film is not because it was 2 hours and 41 minutes. Please, almost half the Oscar contenders I watch are that long. It is because it felt like 2 hours and 41 minutes. I can deal with a long movie that has a purpose for every scene, and needs to be almost 3 hours long to convey all the important details. What I can not handle is unnecessary and dragged out scenes that make you loose the escape that a film like The Hobbit usually creates for its audiences.
Regardless of the irritating lag times throughout the film, Lord of the Ring fans will still be pleased with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. And Peter Jackson leaves the audience with a hell of a cliff-hanger that will guarantee another box office hit for his future installment.
Rated PG-13 for extended sequences of intense fantasy action violence, and frightening images.
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is in theaters now!