Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a 2023 American superhero film. It serves as the follow-up to Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, is the sequel to Ant-Man and the Wasp, the third movie in the Ant-Man series, the first installment in MCU's Phase Five, and is overall the thirty-first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film series. It stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors and Corey Stoll.
Plot
Scott, Hope, Cassie, and Hope's parents are transported to the Quantum Realm and must find a way to escape while evading the mysterious Kang.
Qualities That Are a Dick
- The convoluted plot, with several threads that get quickly abandoned and several glaring plot holes; for instance, why did Janet keep her journey to the Quantum Realm a secret from her family for all these years? And how has Cassie become a teen genius at quantum physics?
- Like The Marvels, which came out nine months later, the film had the misfortune of coming out when the MCU's box-office dominance was beginning to falter; what makes this worse is that it was supposed to be the inaugural film of the MCU's Phase 5.
- The terrible special effects and designs, with special mention going to Corey Stoll's elasticated face as M.O.D.O.K and the very obvious green screens.
- The jarring shift in tone from the first two movies, which were light-hearted, low-stakes capers to a serious, potentially world-ending tone; unlike movies such as The Avengers franchise and the MCU's Spider-Man franchise, which did go from light-hearted to serious throughout several movies, the conflict in Quantumania feels contrived.
- Despite being the main characters, Scott and Hope are sidelined in their movie, with more attention being given to Janet and Cassie.
- The lack of chemistry between the main cast.
- The exposition-heavy dialogue.
- Unsatisfying character arcs.
- The headache-inducing editing.
- Cassie Lang was flanderized into an unlikable, selfish, obnoxious little brat, who is completely disrespectful to her father for no reason and takes no responsibility for her actions; not to mention that Kathryn Newton did a really bad job at portraying her.
- M.O.D.O.K's death and redemption arc was pathetic and poorly executed, for example when Cassie childishly stays "Don't be a Dick", Darren suddenly has a change of heart and redeems himself. It was too fast for the audience to take in.
- Despite being the best thing about the movie and being set up as the next Big Bad of the (MCU) after Thanos, Kang the Conqueror was defeated and killed off anticlimactically; some fans have preferred that Kang should have won and escaped the Quantum Realm, instead of being killed off, and revealing the Council of Kangs as the true Bad Bad of the Multiverse Saga (Who are poorly portrayed).
Qualities That Are Not a Dick
- Fantastic performances from Paul Rudd, Michelle Pfeiffer, and especially Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror.
- Kang the Conqueror is, without a doubt, the greatest thing about the movie and is introduced as the next main antagonist of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Thanos. He's not called "the Conqueror" for nothing he single-handedly turns the tide of the battle for the Quantum Realm just by entering the battlefield and completely demolishes the morale to fight.
- Ant-Man/Scott Lang is still a likable protagonist; it's also nice to see him get more appreciation from everyone (except his family).
- The final battle between Ant-Man and Kang is intense and brutal, as Kang gives Scott the beating of a lifetime.
- "My name is Darren, and I, AM NOT, A DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK!!!!"
- In all fairness, M.O.D.O.K/Darren's redemption could be a good idea on paper, but as stated earlier, it was poorly executed and rushed.
Reception
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania received mixed review by fans and critics alike. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 46% with an average rating of 5.5/10, based on 410 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania mostly lacks the spark of fun that elevated earlier adventures, but Jonathan Majors' Kang is a thrilling villain poised to alter the course of the MCU." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 48 out of 100, based on 61 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, and those polled by PostTrak reported that 75% of audience members gave the film a positive score, with 60% saying they would recommend it. Owen Gleiberman from Variety was critical of the film, calling it "at once fun and numbing" and stating "...if this is what Phase 5 looks like, God save us from Phases 6, 7 and 8." Caryn James from the BBC stated that the movie has "Marvel's next big villain but other than that, it has nothing to offer beyond drab-looking action." Wendy Ide from The Guardian called Majors's performance the film's "magnetic core", but said that overall the film was "baffling and illogical". Ross Bonaime from Collider also praised Majors's performance, writing he "makes for an excellent villain, who brings nuance and subtlety to his character ... Majors makes this character [Kang] likable in the beginning, but also never hides the menace and terror that he can cause at any moment." Giving the film a B−, Bonaime stated: "Quantumania is a promising, but shaky start for Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it's just a shame it comes at the sake of the little guy." Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter commended Majors for "bringing real gravitas" to the film, and investing "his performance with such an arrestingly quiet stillness and ambivalence that you're on edge every moment he's onscreen." Scheck also praised Pfeiffer, writing she "is terrific in her expanded role, given the opportunity to be a badass heroine and making the most of it." Manohla Dargis from The New York Times felt Pfeiffer, Majors, and Douglas were the "truer stars of this show", but felt the overall film was "busy, noisy and thoroughly uninspired".
Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times rated the film three out of four stars, writing it as a "mid-tier MCU film, with decent enough battle sequences and some nifty visuals". Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly graded the film a B+, concluding: "At just over 120 minutes, though — a blink in Marvel time — this Ant-Man is clever enough to be fun, and wise enough not overstay its welcome. Who better understands the benefits, after all, of keeping it small?" Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four, stating it is "less fun, and blandly garish visually. The earlier films' throwaway jokes and welcome aversion to brutal solemnity have largely been ditched in favor of endless endgame stuff and weirdly cheesy digital world-building in the Quantum Realm."
Similarly, David Sims of The Atlantic disapprovingly compared the film to the first two entries, writing in his review: "That cleverness, combined with the special-effect goofiness of people and objects getting big and small, powered the series—and it is basically been junked here, replaced by a bunch of celestial showdowns between Kang and Ant-Man. Anytime Quantumania allows itself to get a little silly, it's in much better shape."