Single post in Beep Boop

I think it was... okay. It was worse than the first one. It felt kind of rushed? Like they were trying to get it released to match the mcu timeline, and sacrificed quality for meeting the deadline. The main problems in it imo were 1) too many dang characters/storylines and 2) lack of balance in tone. I'm just,, going to ramble a bit about it and how I think it could maybe be improved. For problem 1, I feel like a lot of the side stories and characters should've just been scrapped. Instead of having the FBI characters be involved, the story should've begun with Scott's end of his house arrest with the beginning scene being his ankle monitor being removed. Then, that day, Hope and Hank appear at his house and want him to join because they think his being in the quantum realm might give insight on getting back Janet (getting rid of the "Janet possesses Scott" thing because that was just... dumb lol). Scott agrees because he feels bad about lying to them or whatever. Sonny or whoever should just. have never been in the movie. He was so unnecessary. X-con I think was okay, but maybe shouldn't have been so much comic relief. It would've been nice to see them be more supportive of Scott? Like have them be more obviously involved in his family life (we only saw a small bit of this with Luis at Scott's house, and the hello kitty pez Luis got from Scott's daughter). Having a bit more of a serious side to them and to Scott would be cool to see,, Wrt Ava and Bill, I think that Bill should've played a larger role rather than being the weirdly passive "hi im a plot point" character and Ava shouldn't have been the main antagonist, but instead been a sort of pawn for Bill. It would've been interesting to see a more manipulative Bill who used Ava and sort of brainwashed her into blaming Hank for everything (because why wasn't she mad at SHIELD for using her and not helping her) because he wanted to get revenge, and never actually intended to help Ava. So for me, the story would've been: 1. Hope and Hank need Scott's help to locate Janet (because quantum something) 2. Ghost interferes, believing she needs Hank's lab 3. Scott, Hope, and Hank request Bill's help, who sets them up to get trapped 4. Ghost is revealed as Ava, and her back story is revealed 5. Scott, Hope, and Hank escape, Bill gets Ava to go kidnap Cassie (showing to the audience that Bill is manipulating Ava) 6. Hank and Hope are preparing to go quantum when Scott gets word of Cassie's kidnapping through X-con 7. Hope and X-Con help Scott save Cassie, while Hank goes to save Janet 8. Big fight w Hope and Scott v Ava, Bill goes to sabotage Hank 9. Hope and Scott find out about Ava's deteriorating condition, and Hope is like "oh I can fix that at the lab" so Ava joins them 10. At the lab, Hope, Scott, and Ava find Bill about to destroy Hank's research and kill Hank and Janet 11. Ava is mad bc she realizes Bill was manipulating her and beats him up, Hope ensures Hank's and Janet's return 12. Hank and Janet return, Janet heals Ava (like the big deus ex machina she is), and Bill is arrested 13. Then the ending scene wah wah I don't know anything about the comics, so like. the character's may be wrong but I just thought it was so boring how there was absolutely 0 tension and how shallow the characters were? There was very little motivation behind the characters, especially with Ava, who could've been sympathetic but was instead written as a stereotypical villain rip. That kind of leads me into problem #2, with the lack of tone balancing. The movie never really got into serious ideas; about the most serious it got with actual tension was with Scott falling asleep in the water, but even then it was quickly resolved and mostly for laughs. I think for a movie's funny moments to shine, there needs to be contrast with serious moments that give tension. And I think for there to be real tension, the characters need to actually try their hardest to succeed but still have a chance of failure by forces outside their control. A timer doesn't really mean anything when the characters can spend a few seconds staring at each other. So even though, yeah, it's a superhero movie, they'll succeed, there can still be some doubt, y'know? I feel like if the movie had brought in some serious topics, the funnier moments could've stood out and made the movie more memorable. Going off the plot I added, I think exploring the idea behind Ava being a victim to manipulation (of both Bill and SHIELD) would give her "villainous" character a sympathetic side that would make her redemption more satisfying. I didn't find her redemption in the movie satisfying at all because her character was so one-sided (and tbh same thing for Hank. He was such a jerk in the first and this movie, that him being a good guy seemed unbelievable. Maybe if he had regret for past actions, it would make him someone to root for). I also wish the movie had explored more of the side effects of transforming in size. Like yeah, Scott got sleepy for a few minutes, but then he was fine almost immediately afterward? Despite having said he slept for 3 days straight after the Germany battle?? Maybe if it had an actual effect on the story or characters it would've been believable. I can't even talk about the Hope/Scott romance. I hate it so much. Hope is such a poorly used character, I wish she was actually written well and didn't have her opinions and feelings slingshot around so much marvel does this so often with their characters I hate it Going along with my plot, I just think exploring the ideas with manipulation and the affects of the quantum realm would've been amazing. It also would've been cool to follow the first movie and look at the ideas of revenge vs forgiveness with Bill vs Hank and all that. Anyways I think I'm done rambling? I doubt my ideas are super fantastic, but sometimes it's therapeutic to think about ways to improve something. I like Ant-man as a character, and Paul Rudd is a fun actor, so I find it a bit sad that the movie seemed so underdeveloped. Plus, I want to see more conversation in movies about more serious ideas (like how infinity war had the ideas of extreme individualism vs extreme collectivism). ¯|_(ツ)_/¯