Tag Archives: jonathan majors

03.03.23
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Creed III

Adonis Creed has been living out his wildest dreams, including being the reigning heavyweight boxing champion of the world, and a loving husband and father. When an old friend Dame returns from a long prison sentence, he brings back his and Adonis’ past with him, which will lead to the next big match of Creed’s career.

Though the Creed films were always follow-ups to the beloved Rocky franchise, they’ve made themselves feel fresh and modern while retaining the themes of hard work, underdogs, healthy masculinity, and family that make Rocky so iconic. Three films in, and what you’re watching still feels exciting and imbued with passion from behind the camera. Not to mention the director behind the camera is also its star, Michael B. Jordan. He delivers a strong debut as a filmmaker and brings out not only a strong visual energy to the boxing and training sequences, but the best out of the performances. Jordan and Thompson again work so well together and are two of the most charismatic, vigorous stars of this generation. The dynamic they have, now that their daughter is in the films too, brings another beautiful layer to their world that we’ve already been invested in thanks to the last two films. Jonathan Majors is a formidable screen partner to Jordan as Dame, a man ready to get back at the world for the unfortunate past he’s suffered and the life he feels he’s been robbed of. But similar to the Dragos in Creed II, Dame is empathetic and his longing for the championship Rocky and Creed have already felt isn’t as selfish as his attitude towards getting there.

Along with the excitement of seeing cool stars spar it out in the boxing ring is the complexity that the Creed films’ characters have and the scripts’ push to always have them growing and learning new things, as for every film to feel significant. Despite this, one story arc does feel slightly incomplete at the end and despite creative editing from Jordan, it does get aggressive in a few instances. Though it isn’t as wondrously directed as when Ryan Coogler was at the helm, it’s a film that gets better and better, with the dialogue just as exciting as the sports, but when the sports is there, it’s a blast thanks to the actors, direction, and always thrilling soundtrack that gives the film so much life.

02.16.23
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Scott and Cassie Lang, Hope and Janet van Dyne, and Hank Pym are all accidentally transported to the Quantum Realm and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.

Though this threequel expands on the scale of the last two Ant-Man movies to the massive possibilities of the Quantum Realm, the film lacks the charm and wit that a movie with Paul Rudd as a shrinking superhero should have. The green screen and visual effects are hit or miss in terms of blending in with the actors, and the sets feel derivative of Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy, almost as if the production asked James Gunn to borrow a Guardians set for a day but without following through with the weird and quirkiness of what we’re seeing. Instead, the adventure just feels like it’s going through the motions until we meet Kang, who’s played strongly by Jonathan Majors. The stakes when it comes to his character are engaging but still too vague to give his character the depth beneath Majors’ stellar presence. Whenever the actors do get the chance to quip off each other or interact with bonkers new characters they meet, it makes for funny moments, especially due to Rudd’s undeniable talent and Kathryn Newton’s performance as Cassie, but any meaningful character development is nonexistent besides the characters revealing secrets or reiterating their love to each other. The movie’s themes about heroism and “looking out for the little guy” are sweet but only take it so far because of the unoriginal execution. The action itself has some fun moments and laughs, but ends up a standard adventure that isn’t inspired or clever enough to do its titular hero justice or advance his arc besides showing him the MCU’s new big bad.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a watchable movie without enough quirks to make the tone satisfying or enough complexity to make the conflict fascinating. Even for the Ant-Man trilogy, it’s simply fine and only needs to be watched to collect important puzzle pieces for the future of the MCU.