Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 2023

A fun one!

I had a terrific time watching 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania', despite hearing 'meh' things about it here and there online. It surpassed my expectations, to be honest. Great cast, entertaining action, super interesting world building (my favourite from the MCU for a while, in that regard) and the humour is good.

Star of the show in my opinion is Michelle Pfeiffer. I don't recall her standing out in 'Ant-Man and the Wasp', but here she's excellent from beginning to end. Elsewhere, Jonathan Majors is brilliant - great to see that guy all over the place recently. Paul Rudd remains a strong lead, while the likes of Michael Douglas and Kathryn Newton are positives too.

Love the Quantum Realm setting. I'm nothing like an MCU nut, I'm only aware of the films, so didn't know what to expect, but the place looks fantastic - from the enviroment to the creatures; shoutout Veb. Like Pfeiffer, Corey Stoll didn't really register on my radar in prior films, but him as M.O.D.O.K. is a lot of fun.

Looking at my personal MCU ranking, this goes in at no. 8 - I didn't anticipate that! A literal quick glance at the average rating on here suggests I'm in the minority but I truly found much enjoyment from this. Quite the improvement on Ant-Man 2, which is at the bottom of my aforementioned ranking.

This week, commenting on the last episode of Marvel's phase 4, I was told that few films are original lately, and that it's easy to see that there are scripts similar to others. Quantumania is a clear example of this, because the other day I didn't see Ant-Man and the Wasp, I saw Tron Legacy.
Maybe it's just how critical I'm being lately with the franchise that has made me go to the cinema the most in my life, but I kept seeing similarities, similar plots, sequences and scenes, which made the experience less enjoyable than expected. Not even the spectacular special effects (not you, Modok. I find the way they've revealed the appearance of one of Marvel's darkest villains in Quantumania so embarrassing that I refuse to comment on it) didn't turn me away from that idea.

Aside from that constant sense of deja-vu, I was grateful to see that the power scales were correct: if you put characters like Ant-Man and the Wasp next to the villain of the film, it's understandable that there's that disparity, and I have to admit that I'm starting to see Jonathan Majors, who I came to loathe in Lovecraft Territory and Loki (yes, he's THAT character), but who has managed to please me with his gestures and way of acting. Looking forward to seeing him in the original version.

Like its predecessors, the third part of Scott Lang's particular saga is still as mediocre as all the others, but it manages to get a smile out of you from time to time. And Bill Murray is in it, what more could we ask for?

The building is good, but the ending disappointing.

It tries to keep the humorous vibe that goes with Ant-Man, but a looot of the jokes fall flat and/or are just stupid.

It's entirely CGI, and with one line of thought: "Quantum means weird: Let's mix whatever weird thing we can thing about but make it look like Star Wars cantina"Some ideas are interesting, some are not, but it's just brushed over and unexploited.

For the characters, it's a bit weird. Not an Ant-Man but a Let's bring the whole family movie. Which mostly does not work.

Paul Rudd does the job. Not much more to say, he was a good fit before, still is. The character is set now, so nothing really new (a bit of a let down on a third movie), but the Scott parts (as in non Ant-Man) are fun.

Cassie being a rebel, also genius scientist, and having her own suit, is a pretty nice thing (probably going for some future teen avengers). I felt the character was well balanced since she's still a child and doesn't know what she's doing, she did not become an instant superhero.

But Hank was very disappointing. He has mostly some punchlines and poses, but overall doesn't bring much to the movie. He really felt out of place most of the time.
Not much better from Janet. Basically "shut up, I had another life there and I won't talk about it" for more than half the movie, and almost nothing afterwards.
And Hope is mostly absent. Following the parents, has a minimum utility in the weird scene, fights a bit at the end.

The Quantum Realm residents have some interesting designs. But again, most of the jokes/punchlines fall flat. The talk about holes was funny the first time, not the fourth.

MODOK was insufferably annoying. Jar Jar Binks level. Looks like lo-fi CGI that really detonates in the middle of an already all CGI movie, like a botched photoshop with different resolution images. No idea if he was supposed to be funny or tragic or weird or a mix, but whatever, all of his scenes are cringe, topped at his ending.

Kang, however, was great. Well, Majors is great, and the character is mostly good. But its use and ending are underwhelming to say the least.

He's building a huge army, destined to conquer the multiverse and it all gets trashed by only one big guy.
He supposedly rule the Quantum Realm, but is totally unaware that there is a whole civilization of more technologically advanced ants.
His fighting abilities are not that great (not supposed to be his strength) even if it tries to make us think so, having a whole army flee from him, but that makes the all ending being a punching contest with Ant-Man a bit stupid.
He has supposedly already defeated so many Avengers that he can't remember. He was supposedly so dangerous that all his other versions leagued together to banish him. But seriously, being defeated that easily by Ant-Man, what could he have done against Thor, or Hulk, or a whole team of Avengers ?

Small annoying thing, that is pretty usual: the whole concept is that it's impossible to get out of the Quantum Realm, yet once it's convenient, they just go back however they want. Janet just spends a few minutes on Kang's computer to open a portal back (and directly to their basement !). Meaning there is already everything for it to work, there is no need for extra hardware or energy source or whatever, just need to configure something. She does it in a few minutes and he couldn't manage it in all these years ?? And then, after the supposedly only chance closes, they just conveniently have a second opened, instantly, just like that, at the right place (supposedly by Cassie this time). So again, she figures it out in a few minutes ??

A word about the big scene. I suppose it was meant to be a cool climax, but it just felt annoying and stupid.

In the first movies, going in the Quantum Realm was something bad happening when you went too small with the suit.Now they're in it, yet they can still use the suits to get bigger or smaller or much smaller or it seems even Quantum Realm smaller...
Not clear why the module/engine/core/whatever has been gigantized, yet he needs to get quantum small to get to it ?
And then there's this whole probability thing.
It's meant to be different versions depending on decisions at that moment. So identical up to the point they split. So how the hell is there the BR version ? Why would all decide to help him ? They're all here to save their daughter. By comparison, the Wasp has just a few barely seen after-images. And I get the symbolism of all disappearing when they joined, but come one, how does that make any sense ? So yeah, what a waste of money on that scene.

So a few good ideas, a good start, but the whole second half is full of disappointment. An ok entertainment mixed with very annoying things.

8/10
Welcome To
Sub-Atomica

ANT-MAN WASP
QUANTUMMANIA
is the 31st entry into
The MCU

And is a direct line
Into the beginning of
Phase 5 and will be a direct line into
Avengers Kang Dynasty
(2026) as stated by
Kevin Feige.

I thought this was a great movie
and has definitely done it's job well
Impacting
The MCU
And setting it up for
The culmination of
THE MULTIVERSE SAGA
(2026-2027).

Jonathan Majors
Absolutely Knocks it clean out the
Ball Park with his
Outstanding performance
Of "Kang"
and with that soft spoken
Voice
But very strong all
Powerful persona
I found him menacing
Scary and definitely
An "Avengers
level threat"
Equal To Thanos
If not more so.
The way Marvel
Is slowly building
"Kang The Conqueror"
right from Loki S1 then
through to Loki season 2
Is fantastic, tremendous actually
because come
Avengers The Kang Dynasty
and
Avengers Secret Wars
In 2026-2027
You know he is going to be near enough unstoppable
And the biggest problem to the hole of creation
In every timeline and
Every possible timeline
right across
The Multiverse,
We can not comprehend
The scale of Chaos and
Destruction this
"Space King"
Will do across
The Entire Multiverse
Trillions and Trillions+
Of lives are at stake
And us
The Marvel
Fandom are in for
A real treat.
We are in safe hands
With Kevin Feige
And he's going deliver
To us something on a scale we have
not seen
The likes of yet
And now
Ant-Man Wasp Quantumania
Has officially kicked
Phase 5 off
We have an extraordinary experience ahead
and I'm here for every
Glorious moment
Of it.

I Loved the emotional family
Bond that this 3rd installment
Put front and centre
And Kathryn Newton
As Cassie Lang
Put in an exceptional performance,
Great chemistry between her
and Scott.
The VFX we're fantastic
And after all our visits
The Quantum Realm
This Time Around Still
Felt and Looked Fresh
and New,
Quantum people in
The Quantum Realm
Wow, super interesting
and so different from anything
We have seen before,
"I loved it".
This was an emotional
Rollercoaster ride of
Fun, excitement, thrills and spills
But with a grounded balance
Of Heart felt family emotion
Of the lengths a parent will
Go to too save and keep their
Child safe.

"(The things anyone of us
would do for love hey)".

Verdict: a solid 3rd
Installment that brings

Something new to
The MCU, elements that
Will impact it and change it
Forever.
outstanding
Performances
All around.

(Unlike Kang
If I did have power
Over the entire Multiverse
Timelines,
No Way I Would Skip
To The End Of The MCU
To See How It All Plays Out)
(I want to be in the loop
Forever and enjoy every
single second of it in
Real-Time).

KANG WILL RETURN

MORE THAN :a: FAN
#ALWAYSTHATMARVELGUY

Am I becoming a harsher critic or are Marvel movies just getting worse? Probably a little bit of both, but this one certainly makes it feel like the latter. I've described much of the recent Marvel content as serviceable; that is to say, not good, but not bad either. I can't be so generous with this film. It was bad. The dialogue. The plot. The special effects. The dialogue. The humor. The setting. The dialogue. But really, the dialogue was bad. So full of clichés. Bland. Derivative. Forced.

Now, I prefer my reviews to have at least some specifics to hold myself accountable and make sure I'm not just throwing out substance-less word vomit, so here are a couple of problems that I still remember one week after watching this mess: (1) Janet keeping all this crap a secret; (2) Janet continuing to keep all this crap a secret when the crap is practically overflowing; (3) Janet making dumb excuses as to why she won't tell everyone about this secret crap. Okay, I'll throw in some non-Janet secret keeping related issues as well. (4) MODOK doesn't work in live action; (5) the quantum realm's rag-tag team of rebels is underdeveloped and I didn't care about them at all; (6) daughter hacking quantum realm AV system was an eye roll moment; and (7) Michael Douglas' final(?) line (something akin to "Sorry I'm late") was groan inducing.

It would be unfair to be so harsh and not also acknowledge the film's positives. It's a short list: (1) Jonathan Majors. He is the only one that sells his lines. Unfortunately he isn't enough to carry the movie.

Pros
- Ant-Man comedy is still there
- some great action sequences
- amazing visuals of the Quantum Zone (ILM and Digital Foundry are just great at what they do)
- Paul Rudd continues to be fantastic as Ant-Man. His comedic timing and delivery are so good.
- the setup of Kang the Conqueror and Jonathan Major’s performance is top notch
- the rumored cameo is real and I loved it

Cons
- lackluster story that was a pretty weak start for Phase 5
- tone is all over the place
- some terrible CGI. Modok is sooooo bad I’m wondering if that was intentional.
- so many characters that we are supposed to care about, but we don’t even know their names
- continue to miss that “Marvel spark” with Disney produced films. I feel that Disney needs to just let Marvel do what it wants and make that money like they did for so long. I just hope Phase 3 wasn’t the peak.

All in all, the film is entertaining. It’s very formulaic, but it’s not the disaster the critics are saying it is. Parents there is some strong language (s word a couple times) and sexual references but that was all I noticed.

3.5/5 stars - good enough for me to recommend a viewing. The post 3D was actually not terrible so if you enjoy that experience, go for it.

Pros
- Ant-Man comedy is still there
- some great action sequences
- amazing visuals of the Quantum Zone (ILM and Digital Foundry are just great at what they do)
- Paul Rudd continues to be fantastic as Ant-Man. His comedic timing and delivery are so good.
- the setup of Kang the Conqueror and Jonathan Major’s performance is top notch
- the rumored cameo is real and I loved it

Cons
- lackluster story that was a pretty weak start for Phase 5
- tone is all over the place
- some terrible CGI. Modok is sooooo bad I’m wondering if that was intentional.
- so many characters that we are supposed to care about, but we don’t even know their names
- continue to miss that “Marvel spark” with Disney produced films. I feel that Disney needs to just let Marvel do what it wants and make that money like they did for so long. I just hope Phase 3 wasn’t the peak.

All in all, the film is entertaining. It’s very formulaic, but it’s not the disaster the critics are saying it is. Parents there is some strong language (s word a couple times) and sexual references but that was all I noticed.

3.5/5 stars - good enough for me to recommend a viewing.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

How the hell does one of the biggest franchises that exists currently end up as this? So poorly written from beginning to end. One of Marvel's worst looking movie, the CGI is sometimes terrible and other times good but the shift between the two took me out of it a couple times. The lighting is atrocious, it's as if someone was standing above the actors with leds. Worst of all is the cringey dialogue paired with the bad acting, holy shit was that bad! I mean come on lady you can't say "trillions" and be serious about it. Apart from Jonathan Majors and Paul Rudd it was filled with awful performances worst of all was Kathryn Newton she can't say a single line without being corny.

Jonathan Majors absolutely steals the show whenever he's around and his character has presence, somewhat like Darth Vader has. The whole vibe of the movie felt Star Wars-ish and I enjoyed the sci-fi elements and the aliens they were very imaginative. Still wondering if that holes obsessed alien goo was an analogy for the movie being filled with plot holes. The inclusion of M.O.D.O.(F.)K. was a good one, I enjoyed everything with him, he was funny and everyone laughed hard in the theater when he showed up. The comedy was, for once, well balanced and the action in the third act was enjoyable. Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas' characters were very awkward to me. I feel like we barely got any development with Ant-Man and The Wasp (which she was barely in) but we got plenty for Kang which I felt like it was his movie.

I don't think this was the worst Marvel movie ever but it's definitely down there, great setup for the setup of the next setup though.

I went into "Quantumania" with really low expectations, since none of the trailers really spoke to me. Unfortunately, these doubts were confirmed in the finished film. I liked the two predecessors quite a bit. They were small, family-friendly stories, where the main goal was not yet again to save the whole world from ultimate destruction. The humor, in particular, worked very well in these films.

In the third Ant-Man film, almost none of these strengths remain. The jokes have been reduced to a bare minimum, and the few that are still there often don't work. The solid action sequences from the previous films, which creatively dealt with the different sizes of the characters, are also no longer present. Instead, nearly the entire film is set in a CGI environment that I would describe as "barely okay" in terms of visuals. The villain M.O.D.O.K., on the other hand, looks like a character model from an early PS3 game. They couldn't even get his lip sync right.

The decision to move the action completely to the quantum realm isn't just a visual disappointment, though. The story also suffers from it. Instead of a self-contained little adventure like in its predecessors, "Quantumania" has the task of setting up the "big picture." It's just too bad that they forgot that the film also has to work on its own. In any case, there is hardly any suspense; the new characters are too underdeveloped for that, and the old ones get almost nothing to do. In the last act, everything falls completely apart until the film ends rather abruptly. Any risk is avoided, and the status quo remains. The MCU films have handled that better in the past.

However, there are a few positive aspects to "Quantumania," particularly some of the performances. For instance, Paul Rudd is still pretty good in the lead role. Kathryn Newton also does a solid job as the new Cassie Lang. And to my delight, I noticed that Michelle Pfeiffer gets a lot more to do. Most impressive, however, is Jonathan Majors as the new MCU supervillain Kang. He really has a great presence, even if his character spends a bit too much time delivering long monologues. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of Majors in this multiverse in the future. And that's at least a somewhat conciliatory thought. All in all, I didn't really like "Quantumania", but it's not a total failure either.

Quantamania : Was definitely not great, but didn't feel like it was that bad either.... There was a Quantam Realm in it, but they really didn't wanted to show much of it, i mean they showed a lot but not much exposure enn thonni, and the VFX mainly of MODOK was..... :no_mouth: And Kathyrn Newton as Cassie Lang.... I don't know whether to convey it as "A Miscast or A Mistake" But she was bad, there was this hope/motivation speech thing nearing the climax and in that scene it felt like all she was doing was basically line reading. Paul Rudds charm did work like a charm:sweat_smile: Evangeline Lilly as Hope.. meh nothing much to say, Michael Douglas as Hank was Michael Douglas as Hank, Michelle Pfeiffer was definitely good too.... But the best dish of the course was Jonathan Majors as Kang.... Their intention was to show how menacing he is, or they are... And i personally felt like they succeeded in it. There were no huge consequences, but there was a pretty good consequence and the 2 Credit Scenes were... MORE THAN WHAT I EXPECTED IT TO BE.... Maybe, just maybe this would've worked better as a Special One Hour Feature ?
P.S : IS THERE ANYWAY TO RECAST KATHRYN NEWTON ?