Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania -The People’s Review #1
Well… We are off to quite the rocky start with ‘Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’, with the film currently at a 48% rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and is the second lowest-rated MCU movie behind ‘Eternals’ (2021).
Not a good start to it huh?
The film is definitely all over the place, trying to upgrade what are normally smaller-scaled movies to an “Avengers-level” movie.
I think most people know the basic plot of this film, so I don’t think I need to explain it. This is more a review for those who just want to quickly know the basics on if its good or not, only wanting to know the essentials etc.
But the question is the movie really as bad as critics make it out to be? For the record, no spoilers are presented throughout the article. Let's begin with the good, the bad and then the final verdict:
The Good:
The vision of director Peyton Reed is incredibly ambitious this time around, with the film being mostly visually gorgeous when our heroes first enter the Quantum Realm. He really went for the 70's-esque psychedelic look for not just the film’s aesthetic, but even the creatures inhabiting the realm.
The Quantum people really feel like they are from the Mos Eisley cantina from ‘Star Wars IV: A New Hope’ (1977), I would not be surprised if Disney tries to crossover the Star Wars universe into the MCU multiverse.
The Quantum Realm is very fascinating and could see Marvel trying to create a spin-off show set within the realm.
More or less, the film’s protagonist is actually Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and does a pretty good job as a lead character. Her journey in this film explores how she first encountered Kang before her return from the Quantum Realm in Ant-Man 2 and her actions leading to Kang ruling the realm.
And no, this isn’t the same Kang from the ‘Loki’ (2021) TV series.
Kang the Conqueror (Johnathan Majors) is a solid multiversal bad guy, although the level of threat he represents is a little flawed. It may take some audiences to take him as seriously since Marvel didn’t properly set him up in Phase 4.
Regardless, he has the potential for audiences to forget all about Thanos and take over as the new MCU big baddie.
The film’s pacing is consistent with the last two Ant-Man films, the plot immediately starts within the first 15–20 minutes. Audiences can identify Reed’s creative DNA into the vision of this psychedelic film.
But that’s about it for the good, now for the bad…
The Bad:
The narrative is abstract, shallow and weak for an Ant-Man film. It fails to accomplish being an ‘Avengers-level’ film and this isn’t the last film for Ant-Man.
As for Scott Lang himself (Paul Rudd), he gets sidelined in his own movie for the second time in a row. Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) are barely involved in the story, becoming irrelevant.
It’s very clear they are setting up Cassie Lang (Kathyrn Newton) to be the next Ant Woman/Person or whatever, since she does take over her father at one point in the comics. I’m sure she will do a great job coming, but Ant Man can’t catch a break in being pushed to the side in his own movie.
After several attempts within drafts of ‘Iron Man’ (2008) and ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ (2014), M.O.D.O.K (Corey Stroll) is finally on the big screen for us all to see… And his design looks weird, including the CGI.
He is utilized as a comedic scapegoat since he is a giant head, but the character is one of the most important villains in Marvel comic history and feel this isn’t a great approach to introducing to the character. Therefore, his threat level is tossed out the window for now.
Some audiences might have an issue with M.O.D.O.K being played by Stroll since he was also Yellowjacket from the first Ant Man film. Since it’s the multiverse, is Yellowjacket M.O.D.O.K?
The ‘Ant-Many’ humor is jacked up this time around, giving the film a more ‘Love and Thunder’ treatment to the usual MCU humor. There were some chuckles in the crowd, but very few laughed at every single joke per second.
Reed attempted to combine the humor with a “serious” narrative trying to possess emotional weight, but the execution led to messy and devastating results with its audience.
The runtime is 2 hours and 5 mins, being the longest in the Ant-Man trilogy. But still feels short and crammed with what they are trying to establish with Phase 5.
It should have been at least 2 Hours and 40 minutes if the film wanted to achieve a coherent and more ‘epic’ narrative, effectively creating a stronger launch of Phase 5.
Hopefully there may be a director’s cut, I know some of the other MCU movies deserve alternate cuts.
Final Verdict:
Overall, this movie feels like a generic Sci-Film that you’ve seen a million times around since Star Wars or Dune. It’s the weakest in the Ant Man trilogy, but it's not the worst MCU movie overall.
Don’t view this movie as a ‘finale to a trilogy’, but more a small piece to a puzzle leading to set up ‘Avengers: Kang Dynasty’ and ‘Avengers: Secret Wars’.
Plus, Ant Man 4 is apparently in talks but could be a potential prequel following Hank and Janet.
Honestly, it’s better than a lot of Phase 4 movies but barely enough to be impressionable and memorable.
It's great to see Marvel actively trying out new things, but they still haven’t fixed a lot of the issues with Phase 4 and they stick out like a sore thumb in this movie.
My biggest concern is how this movie will divide MCU fans and have a bunch of audiences giving up on the franchise. If Disney screws up ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ (2023), then the MCU is done.
It doesn’t matter if it's the multiverse and they bring a familiar face back, Marvel is starting to get lazier with their storytelling and getting to be comfortable with mediocrity in their films. AKA: not putting in that much effort anymore.
Many talented individuals work on reaching deadlines to pump these movies out like hotcakes, but it’s sad to see those getting sidelined by studio interference from Kevin Feige and the Disney executives.
They really should have started out Phase 5 with an Avengers or big team — type of movie. It’s nearly been 4 years since ‘Endgame’ and the MCU is beginning to feel progressively emptier by the minute.
Don’t spend money for this in the cinema's folks, wait until it comes out on Disney +.
Final Rating: 5.5/10
Conclusion:
If you liked this article, please smash the clapping button and follow me for more similar content. I try to produce new content from a diverse range and humbly appreciate all the support I can get!
