B-

I haven’t seen many Marvel movies, but given the divisive ratings and the fact that it’s from the director of the great Nomadland, I wanted to give it a shot. And I have to say, it’s probably my favorite Marvel movie that I’ve seen.

There’s a surprising amount of humor, which looked eyeroll-inducing in the trailer, but works really well in the movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet still manages to have moments of emotional payoff. I really appreciate Zhao’s attempts to humanize these characters, especially in a genre which always seems to be full of flat and dry personalities. She’s clearly a very realist, humanist director, all the way from the uber-realistic Nomadland to a Marvel movie. To call it groundbreaking might be a bit of a stretch, but it’s certainly one of the fresher entries of this genre that I’ve seen. I gotta check out a couple of Zhao’s other movies.

Kumail Nanjiani, Barry Keoghan and Brian Tyree Henry are awesome. Can we just put Keoghan in every movie? Angelina Jolie is probably one of the least convincing superheroes in cinematic history, but whatever. She’s a good actress.

Some people might not like the overlaps between escapism and reality, with jokes about bad Internet service and the addictiveness of iPhones. But I respect the attempt to create relatability and emotion. So often, at least for me, these movies lack emotion, but that wasn’t the case here. And there are some absolutely stunning shots; it looks superb. Also, it makes two hours and 37 minutes seem bearable, so that’s always a plus.