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.
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.
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 don't hate it, but it was disappointing
Pros:
- Jonathan Majors killed it, even when given a poorly written character
Some extremely impressive visual effects
Intro and outro felt like the original movie. I wish the rest of the movie was like that
Character designs were pretty great. MODOK would've looked much better with his head covered, but still a good MCU design. Alien designs were fantastic
Cons:
- Modok and Darren were both butchered. I don't hate the design as much as others seem to, but his personality is just wrong. Not just for MODOK as a comic character, but Darren as an established MCU character
Kang was extraordinarily inconsistent and not the threat the marketing made him out to be. He can completely obliterate a background character with the point of a finger, but if that same blast hits a main character, they just get thrown back a bit.
Pacing was awful, and there were no meaningful connections built at ALL. Other than Scott, any character could've died, and it would've meant nothing. In fact, the entire movie was inconsequential. Council of Kangs are doing what they would've done anyway
Most jokes fell flat. The "don't be a dick" thing was painful. A shame considering how well-written and witty the original Ant-Man is
Bill Murray is only there for marketing purposes
(4.5/10) - Ant Man is nowhere near as formidable as the majority of marvel superheroes and I don’t particularly love Paul Rudd. I didn’t really enjoy ‘Ant Man and The Wasp’ and this movie has not been received very well, so I had low expectations for this movie.
However, little did I know just how horrendous this film really was! From terrible special effects to pointless, disinteresting dialogue, you are guaranteed to be disappointed by the beginning of the MCU Phase Five.
I was most angered by how they approached the character of MODOK. In his first appearance in Tales of Suspense #93, MODOK was a real feared and powerful villain and primary foe for Captain America, but in ‘Ant Man and The Wasp: Quantamania’ he is a huge bald head with legs. I understand why some people would potentially find this somewhat funny, but I was outraged to see just how stupid his appearance and general personality was in this film. The MCU Phase Five is not at all promising currently, but upcoming movies look like they could be more watchable than this garbage!
Best Scene: Ant Man VS Kang (7.2/10) - Jonathan Majors did a great job with the trash he was given.
Extra Note: There are two relatively decent post-credit scenes.
[5.8/10] The Ant-Man sub-franchise had a few things going for it. For one, it was smaller stakes, which made it feel a little more down-to-earth relative to the other Avengers’ adventures. For another, it was fun, taking a lighter approach that gave it a distinctive flavor among its more serious brethren. And beyond its vibe, it had a good gimmick, with the shrinking and growing superpower paving the way for some inventive sequences to keep things interesting.
Ant-Man & Wasp: Quantumania effectively throws all of that out the window and suffers mightily for it.
You could argue the stakes are still small here, since Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, his partner Hope Van Dyne, and her parents, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, all descend into the quantum realm, a subatomic world full of unusual beings and its own distinct ecosystem. But the goal here is to stop Kang the Conqueror (a version of whom made his debut in Loki) from not just destroying the Quantum Realm, not just destroying the world, but from breaking out and potentially destroying the multiverse. (Or saving it. Who knows!) What’s at risk is huge.
But hey, most of that is pretty abstract and spoken more in cryptic teases rather for a future Avengers flick than something at issue right now. Nevertheless, even limiting Quantumania to its immediate concerns, you’re still dealing with a Star Wars-esque band of rebels joining together to take down an oppressive evil empire. It’s a far cry from the comparatively mundane concerns of a divorced dad getting wrapped up in something crazy in the midst of some small-time crookery, and the premise is a poor fit for the franchise.
Ant-Man 3 also isn’t especially fun, at least not after our heroes are sucked into the Quantum Realm. The opening has more of the tone of the other films, with amusing bits about Scott leaning into his fame, and some nice intra-family friction. But once things go subatomic, the vibe is generally life or death, with a megalomaniacal villain offering torture and killing, allegedly devastating secrets kept by family members, and a fascist regime holding its bootheel on everyone within reach. These characters aren’t really built to withstand the grim, deadly serious tone.
In Quantumania, it tries to joke around a bit, however intermittently and awkwardly. Scott and Cassie run into a motley crew of freedom fighters, including William Jackson Harper (a ringer from The Good Place) who plays a telepath who wishes he was anything but, and an ooze monster with hole envy. Bill Murray stops by for about five minutes to do his usual shtick. And there’s the occasional bit of banter among the Lang/Van Dyne/Pym clan to try to lighten the mood. Unfortunately, it largely feels shoehorned in and otherwise out of place.
To be fair, the humor’s meager landing isn’t entirely Quantumania’s fault. In the years since Ant-Man, the MCU has seen the arrival of Guardians of the Galaxy, and the comic shift of the Thor franchise. Both of those film series do the wacky aliens and zany hijinks in a wild and wooly galaxy” thing better than this film does. So Ant-Man 3 plays like a late-comer to that approach, whose blows (and jokes) don’t land with nearly the same force, and are all but entirely lacking in novelty.
Yet, maybe the biggest departure is that the action sequences are almost entirely forgettable. Even when the Ant-Man franchise isn’t firing on all cylinders, the ability to miniaturize or embiggen people, places, and things always gave Scott’s exploits a little extra zing. Quantumania tries here and there, but in the Quantum realm, everything about the setting is so fantastical unreal that you never really have the sense of scale necessary to make that sort of concept work.
The closest the film comes is a mid-movie set piece where Scott and Hope shrink down into a “probability storm” that results in dozens of duplicates jostling for space. It’s at least a reasonably unique visual, even if that sort of thing has been seen in everything from The Matrix Reloaded to Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Unfortunately, even that is hobbled by arguably the film’s most glaring weakness -- it is just plain ugly to look at. In many places, the compositing is embarrassingly bad for a major studio release, with the human actors seeming like they’re standing in front of screensavers. Many of the CGI characters lack weight or grace in their movements, giving an uncanny valley feel. And while the makeup, costuming, design and animation teams do come up with some cool-looking players, the overall aesthetic of the film is both muddy and antiseptic, with visuals that make it feel more like a mid-2000s blockbuster rather than one released in 2023.
Even if you wipe all of that stuff away and take Quantumania as its own thing, the movie has other problems it cannot surmount. In particular, the script comes off utterly stunted. Corey Stoll returns as Darren from the first movie (with the most notably hideous character design as MODOK), and gets a sort of redemption arc that might be meaningful if it didn’t come off half-baked and tonally strange. The third act climax sees the rebels joining the Ant-crew to stop Kang, but since they too have barely been fleshed out at all, their grand uprising plays like an empty gesture.
Most of all, the film squanders an interesting father-daughter conflict. Cassie’s become an activist, chastising her father for resting on his laurels rather than continuing to help people post-Endgame. Scott is coasting on his fame a bit, worried that Cassie’s overzealousness might get her in trouble. You could build something worthwhile around that idea!
Instead, the film yada-yadas over most of it, until at the end of the picture, Scott stands up to Kang, and somehow that makes it all better. The movie barely dramatizes the conflict at all after the first act, and doesn’t do the work to really give Scott or Cassie an arc through all of this, simply slapping a happy ending on with a bit of dialogue for spackle and hoping the audience won’t notice. (Don’t get me started on Janet’s similarly undercooked arc.) Even based purely on its own merits, Ant-Man 3 stumbles over basic storytelling.
Part of me wants to give Quantumania credit for being so different. In principle, it’s a good thing for a film franchise not to keep serving up different versions of the same thing to audiences over and over again. Using Scott Lang and company to do a Star Wars riff could pay dividends if done right. The peculiarity of the match could be a feature, not a bug (if you’ll pardon the expression). But the film doesn’t really achieve any of the new, theoretically cool things it tries to do here. The humor, the heart, the gimmick, and the ant-sized adventures all go by the wayside, in favor of something that is certainly different, but unfortunately, isn’t very good.
3 Thoughts After Watching ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’:
I just have so many questions. This entire plot was made up of poorly-explained scenarios. The ants. The whole Quantum Realm world. How Hank became a master pilot in five minutes. Even the new supporting characters were poorly introduced. But the most significant, and unfortunate, blunder of a storyline was Kang. I still don’t get what he is, what he wants, why he wants to eliminate timelines, why he was banished, and what’s supposed to make him so threatening/powerful. With the intensity of which Janet was introducing him, how nervous she was, we should’ve seen someone a bit more intimidating. And for a villain that’s supposed to be the next Thanos… I’m concerned.
There was barely any humor here. This is an Ant-Man movie, right? M.O.D.O.K/Darren’s death was the closest we got to anything remotely amusing.
So many meant-to-be-poignant moments fell very flat. “It‘s never too late to not be a dick” was just not it. Cassie’s speech was far from inspiring as intended. Even the father/daughter bonding felt a bit forced. Cass seems to be a common denominator here.
Bonus Thought: This film took me four nights to watch, falling asleep the first three.
The only thing which salvaged this movie (and kept my interest while watching) was John Mayer's performance as Kang, but unfortunately, the character he played kinda turned into a nothing-burger as well.
Everything else is a mess. There are a bunch of weird script choices which are noticeable on the first watch already, the characters, are just there, and the plot, only feels valuable in what it set ups instead of being interesting on its own.
It's also crazy how they fumbled with an attempt at superposition in the quantum realm, and how little crazy they attempt with this entirely new world. It was kinda interesting but also very bland at the same time.
But the main problem is that the plot and the characters are just kinda nothing. Kang was intriguing but he was too vague with his motivations, and we got something more concrete it was very generic and uninteresting.
If you already have a villain who can see the end of time and multiple timelines and has an entirely different viewpoint on the world or rather the multiverse, can't you give him something more than just... the desire to conquer? Or petty revenge?
One thing I gotta give to them is that the initial idea of Ant-Man stealing something for Kang was cool. But everything else, especially the third act, was just bad.
3.5/10
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
6.5/10 - It's super silly but also somewhat fun. I found it too cheesy at times though... It was kinda good but not quite there (it was especially a letdown for a Marvel movie, let alone an MCU movie). It also didn't actually feel like a proper MCU movie - there was no real connection to the MCU - apart of Ant-Man. I guess it's only part of the MCU to introduce new characters, that "villain", and more of the multiverse (unfortunately I really don't like multiverses being part of the MCU!).
Anyway, the CGI was really nice but the story not so much. The story was too much of a mess, I didn't really connect to any characters, and it felt too pointless. It was basically just a weird adventure (with elements from "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Tron").
I was very happy to see Loki in the end credits though! Victor Timely must be really bad if even Loki finds him terrifying :o
PS: Did Loki also appear as a bystander when Scott had his monologue at the beginning? One of the "bystanders" looked like him but I wasn't sure.
PPS: I was also wondering where I know Jentorra's voice from (Katy O’Brian) but it looks like I know her from a couple of movies/shows (e.g., Kimball in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).
A few comments after watching this:
- Janet being so cryptic about the Quantum realm up until a while AFTER they're actually in it is so frustraing. Of course everyone's going to have questions, it just doesn't make sense not to warn them or inform them of certain things.
- So we know because of Endgame that Scott was trapped in the QR for a few hours and 5 years passed in the normal world... How long were they trapped in the QR in this movie and why hasn't at least a year or so passed?
- Ah yes, the whole "antagonist will take the time to yap on about their backstory and plan, until it's too late to actually go ahead with it because the good guys have foiled it"... Kang had the core, yet decided to parade his new army to Janet for so much time that Scott, Hope, Cassie, Hank, and pretty much the entire rebellion showed up... How convenient!
- This movie needed Luis. It just doesn't feel like an Antman movie without him. Could've been in any of the 2 credit scenes, or even just the ending?
- The scene where huge Scott and Cassie run and hug was... Weird. They're meant to be gigantic, but there's basically nothing around them in the scene to show up perspective, so it kinda just looks like they're normal sized.
- The battle outside with Kang was... Disappointing. Didn't feel like there were any stakes - in fact, really none of the scenes except maybe the one with Kang about to kill Scott and Cassie was.
- I do wonder if the writers actually thought about actually leaving Scott and Hope in the QR at the very end... Bit dark, but what about the line, "we both have to lose"? Really just threw that one almost immediately after it was said.
- We did not need a MODOK in this movie. Like, at all.
- Cassie's debut as an actual superhero could've been a thing in this movie. It's definitely set up at the beginning: She was already doing things for good (protesting the police who were forcing out displaced persons from the blip), and had a suit... Sure, she may have still been learning how to properly fight and this is her very first adventure, but it was a good enough setup for her to debut. Her character "arc" otherwise just feels flimsy.
This one was quite good actually. Marvel is quite a bit of hit and miss lately. It all depends on whether one of the woke retards has gotten their grubby hands on the script or not.
It was of course encouraging that the woke “critics” on the well known rubbish site Rotten Tomatoes declared it rotten while it got a 82% score from the actual audience. Always a good sign for a movie.
The movie is a pure adventure movie meant to entertain the audience. The script is decent and, as usual with a Marvel movie, serves mainly to create a reason for doing action sequences and lots and lots of special effects.
The adventure is mixed in with some humor but it is generally okay and not overdone.
The scenery in the quantum world is fantastic and the creatures are great ranging from terrifying to quite fun. Bringing in Bill Murray was a nice surprise even though he was a bit of a bad guy and quite short lived.
The one character I really didn’t like was Paul Rudd as the Ant-Man. His anti-hero bullshit, reluctance to fight and generally being a douche until he was forced to actually do what was right was really grating on me.
Overall though this was some well spent two hours.
in a sentence, Rick & Morty did it better. This movie certainly isn't bad, I think it's good, but this movie feels like it ripped some of the most interesting multiverse concepts from Rick & Morty and applied them in some of the least interesting ways. Jonathan Majors certainly steals the show here as who I'll call "Loser Kang", but beneath his stellar performance is a film stretched thin: a superhero film with a science fiction plot that's trying so hard to be faithful to each genre that it almost doesn't succeed at both and fails to make the world feel alive in the process.
Without getting into spoilers, there's talk of fighting over timelines without too much explanation beyond "Kang wants to conquer", which makes the idea of alternate versions of him doing certain things with certain people not make much sense at all. Janet's backstory is really compelling, until you realize that it's somewhat hollow because her allies, enemies and even the society for which she fought seems entirely one-dimensional; her friends are good, her enemies are bad, the society must be saved. There's no room for nuance here amongst anyone or any civilization within the Quantum Realm, and much like the first Thor movie, we don't get an idea on what life is really like for the citizens in this society either. And don't get me started on Scott warming up to a certain character near the end, despite his defining trait in this movie being his love for his daughter.
All of that said, there's plenty to like in this movie. I do think that the CGI really worked here, and unlike what I had heard from reviews, Cassie isn't terribly annoying. Sure, she's dumb, headstrong and naive, but that's completely appropriate given her age and experience. So while I may not agree with her ethics on how many fights a hero needs to take on, they would certainly make sense from her perspective. Also, some of the sci fi depictions were visually great. I haven't seen alien races this diverse and well designed since Star Wars, and the Quantum Storm I think is the one idea from Rick & Morty that's absolute worth seeing in live action as opposed to 2D animation.
The worst part of the movie is the ending. Ironically, it feels like the writers cough cough ran out of time. The ant subplot feels contrived for the mere sake of convenience, since it's hinted at towards the end of the first act and then ignored in the middle, only to be brought back in the third act, and there are some really odd lines in the third act that are incredibly cheesy and just feel plain out of place amongst the rest of the dialogue. It's also not clear why Kang confronted Ant Man & Co. in the way that he did, since he probably could have won with 45 minutes to spare in the film. Still, I'm presuming that this movie is supposed to show us a tamer version of Kang, so it does get a pass from me on that point.
In the end, if you don't like the more lore-rich stories from Rick & Morty, you won't like this. It's a sci fi superhero film that doesn't know whether or not it should lean into the sci fi aspects, or the superhero aspects at any given time, which is understandable; lean into the sci fi which could show us some of the nuances of the Quantum Realm's inhabitants, and you miss out on some superhero action, but lean too far into the superhero aspect and this becomes a completely boring and bland expedition.
What we get in the end is a bit of both, and while the mixture is a mild case of mixing flavors that don't really go together particularly well, we're left with a potion that goes down well enough.
This movie cements what was hinted at in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The Avengers could care less about justice. They keep the world spinning and that's about it. It's weird they even put all these social issues in their stories if the superheroes aren't going to do anything about it. As difficult as it is to imagine a world just like outs but one that has had superheroes in it for generations. It's more difficult to understand why Superheroes stood back and did nothing while some of the most disgusting crimes against humanity have been committed. Crimes that should have been stopped and wouldn't have started World War III. I understand if letting the Crown kill a spy needs to happen to stop global thermonuclear war then maybe I can get why Hawkeye lets the spy die. Even more than why weren't the Avengers tapped to the threat to this one character. There's this missing piece in these movies about what the superheroes do about local issues. The TV show heroes do a good job of living locally but the big boys in spite of the fact that they all have homes and live with people just can't seem to muster up any care. Even Ant-Man for crying out loud just doesn't want to step in when the police attack a peaceful protest, but he won't let you forget he fought WITH Captain America like Cap would have stood by and let the police abuse their power.
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.
VFX and the world they built was amazing as always, and visually beautiful, but other than that it didn't really feel all that special, i still liked it, but yeah /:
also i loved seeing Kathryn Newton in this, she was great i guess
and Jonathan's performance as Kang was amazing
but also, re-including that derren character and even giving him some type of "death scene" was absolutely unnecessary :skull:, and his overall presence and character design in this movie was just plain fucking atrocious, i hated that bit so much; also, why the hell is Bill Murray in an MCU movie, lets be fucking for real
i'm sorta disappointed and sad to see MCU phase 5 kick off like this, but well, i still have hope for the other movies and whats to come, and the ending of the movie where Scott has some doubtful internal monologue + that post credit scene of all the Kang's from every universe appearing one after another was... intriguing..
but i can't lie, some of my favorite moments were:
when they got sucked into that portal Cassie made, and they kept getting smaller and smaller and tried to maneuver between all the obstacles around them
and also when they had to go and get the Core, that scene really showed Scott's skills as Ant Man for me
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.
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 ?
Review by JordyVIP 8BlockedParent2023-02-15T16:27:34Z
If you’d ask me what the highlights of the previous 2 Ant-Man movies are, I’d probably answer: I don’t remember much about them, but I liked those quirky scenes narrated by Michael Peña and the creative use of shrinking powers during the set pieces. For as forgettable as both movies are, at least I still remember the set piece with the train in the first movie, or the kitchen fight from the second movie. With this movie, I'm already having trouble remembering any specifics, because all of those typical Edgar Wright touches have been erased in favor of being a big CGI extravaganza. So, allow me to do a general breakdown of the three acts instead.
1st act: We get a set-up that's similar to Spiderman: No Way Home, which means it’s in a hurry to get to the main dish, making every main character look like an irresponsible dumbass in the process. Once we get to the quantum realm, we're met with a lot of cringe comedy. The design of the world is fine, it feels like a mashup of prequel era Star Wars, Avatar, The Fifth Element and Spy Kids, not like an original creation. A stronger, visionary director probably would've made a big difference here, or at least one who knows how to use the volume stages, because that might’ve avoided the Spy Kids comparisons.
2nd act: Jonathan Majors arrives to do some actual acting, and he somehow pulls it off despite the hammy, pseudo-intellectual lines given to him by the script. Michelle Pfeiffer also gets some time to shine, when she's on the screen with Majors it feels like the movie actually comes to life for a brief second. Still, the scenes with Kang feel tonally inconsistent with the rest of the movie, and I’m not sold on the idea of him being the Avengers level threat we’ve been waiting for. When it comes to the other actors, most of them are given nothing interesting to do, the supposed co-lead of this movie (according to the title) included. I don't like picking on younger actors, but it needs to be said that Emma Fuhrmann expressed more emotion during her 10 second appearance as Cassie Lang in Avengers: Endgame than Kathryn Newton did here. In terms of story, this portion of the movie is all about set-up and clunky exposition as delivered through monologues. One of the characters even gets introduced with his own 'previously on Ant-Man' recap, which I find insulting and shows what little faith this studio has in its audience. Besides, it probably would’ve been better to cut this character, because his inclusion is easily one of Marvel's worst creative decisions (the design and visual effects are laughable). Generally I'd say this act is pretty boring, and occasionally embarrassing.
3rd act: The movie decides it wants to be Aquaman instead, so we're getting an extended battle sequence of stuff fighting other stuff, with plenty of flashes, lasers and more stuff. It's big, it's loud, and I check out. Every cheesy crowdpleaser deserves its fair share of deus ex machina moments, but this movie spams the action movie trope of 'our main character is in peril only to get saved at the very last moment' to death at this point. Furthermore, the cringe comedy makes a big return, with Corey Stoll delivering a line so bad that it will become a meme (you'll know once you see the movie). More punchy stuff, more pew pew, more 'comedy', and thankfully the movie finally decides it has wasted enough of my time. We get a final montage that includes the first good joke of the movie, and the credits roll. Nothing is achieved, absolutely nothing. This is a cynically conceived advertisement that does not deserve your time.
3/10