Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it does so in grandiose fashion. The latest installment of the MCU hit theaters last Thursday before roaring to a whopping $118M-weekend. So far, there seems to be a large disconnect between the critics and moviegoers, as critic reviews aren’t exactly adulatory (47% on Rotten Tomatoes) though it’s not stopping Marvel diehards from eating this flick up. Fans seem to be enjoying it quite a bit more, giving it a score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. As I see it, things lie somewhere in the middle.
Peyton Reed is back to direct the third installment of this franchise, which picks up with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) living the good life in San Francisco. At a lovely family dinner, Scott discovers that his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has been piddling around in the lab and developed a way to send a signal down to the Quantum Realm. Of course, things get sideways, and they do so pretty quickly. Quantumania wastes little time getting the ball rolling. Before we know it, we’re whisked away to the Quantum Realm with our heroes as they try to find their way home. Further complicating matters is the fact that they’re being hunted down by a time traveling space conqueror named Kang, played in electric fashion by Jonathan Majors, who is attempting to escape the Quantum Realm to keep on conquerin’ out there in the Multiverse.
There’s plenty to like about Quantumania if you’re a Marvel fan. Personally, I think they’ve been on a pretty lackluster run ever since Avengers: Endgame. Outside of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and a handful of the Disney+ properties, they’ve been on a stretch of projects that I watch because I feel like I have to in order to keep up, and less because I want to (sorry fan boys, I’m a No Way Home hater – nothing but nostalgic fan service). Quantumania did enough to get me back – maybe not “all-in, scrolling-the-MarvelTheories-subReddit-for-hours” back – but as “back” as I’ve been in quite awhile.
It blends the classic far-from-home theme into a hodgepodge of science fiction goodness. Y’all can pick apart the CGI if you want to, but I don’t really notice it. I mean, hell – we suspend disbelief enough to watch cartoons and keep up with a story…I think we’ll survive. That’s more about making sure working conditions are fair for people than it is about how it dampens the luster of a production, but that’s just me. Our characters are lost, they have to find their way home, and there’s an unknown threat hunting them down at every turn. Let’s not complicate it – it really is that simple.
Rudd is spot-on as Lang yet again. But, the Ant-verse cast as a whole continues to be one of the best supporting units in the MCU with a knockout performance from Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne and another scene-stealing comedic effort from Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. They’ve put a lot of hay in the barn between the first two movies and the chemistry they’ve built along the way. As good as they were, it’s Majors who truly steals the show as Kang. We’ve been left craving more of this character since the conclusion to 2021’s Loki, and now, we’ve had a full glimpse into just how powerful and dangerous this character is.
Quantumania offers us an isolated story that doesn’t rely on cameos or introducing characters for an upcoming Disney+ series. Where I was critical of the last several movies forcing new characters (*cough* blatant Young Avengers setup *cough*) on us, I thought they handled the maturation of Cassie Lang nicely, and in a way that didn’t just feel like a ploy to sell us on the longterm plan for the continuation of the Avengers. We get a literal deep dive into the Quantum Realm, and this movie presents it in a curious, interesting manner. It’s a different type of world building – we’re not spanning the multiverse dimension by dimension…we’re sticking to one, and truly exploring it. Minor spoiler: We also got to see MODOK’s ass, which was awesome. Two stars alone for the MODOK butt.
This isn’t to say Quantumania is flawless, because it’s not. I’ll probably keep harping on this, but it is a simple plot. There are plenty of factors that keep it chained down, clearly a tier or two down from the MCU’s elite. Namely, the dialogue in this one was just flat out cringeworthy at times. I can’t help but wonder if this is the result of the frenetic pace that Marvel wants to shell these projects out. It was bad – not all the time, but enough of the time to pull me out of the movie. And, don’t get me started on all of the obvious Star Wars influence. Gross.
Part of what made the first two Ant-Man movies so endearing was the humor. That humor was present in Quantumania, but like some of the dialogue, it felt misplaced, mistimed, and just plain forced. It was as if they were writing this script as a sci-fi action flick and thought, “ah shit, we forgot to make this funny so we need to sprinkle some jokes in here somewhere.” And, sometimes, it actually worked (see again: MODOK butt). Sometimes, it didn’t (the “don’t be a dick” scene, for instance). While the chemistry of the actors in the Ant-verse has been a spark plug in the past, it just didn’t feel as strong in this one, and I believe that’s a result of a script that probably could’ve used some fine-tuning.
I also think the criticism that we sacrificed the heart of what makes Ant-Man movies good for a massive setup for the next Thanos-level villain is a valid criticism. To me, this really felt like an Avengers-level epic between all of the action, the villain, and the major battle scene at the end. All of that’s well and good, and to me, it did make for an enjoyable cinematic experience. But, part of what made the first two Ant-Man movies so special was the street level humor and the street level heart of Scott Lang. Quantumania is a drastic departure from that.
The critics are probably being a little too harsh on this one, but I do think the audience is being rather generous with it as well. While we’re talking about the critics, I do want to go on a bit of a side rant here. I’ve seen a lot of people talk shit about Kang being a flimsy villain, and maybe that’s where being a bit of a comic book nerd helps in going to these movies. Some people don’t seem to understand that we’re in it for the long haul with this villain. They’re going to continue to unfurl this character piece by piece – we’re not going to get a big origin story in one Ant-Man movie. I can’t possibly fathom how you’d see this as a throwaway villain unless you just simply don’t know who Kang is. I’m also wondering if these folks, who seem so unfamiliar with Marvel movies, forgot to stay through the credits. Kang is an incredibly deep character – I’m cool with waiting it out. Also, did you guys watch Loki? What are we doing here with this particular criticism?
I found it to be quite clever how they’re introducing Kang as the next big bad. I’ve worried about how they’re going to set up another Thanos-level threat and how they’re going to keep that interesting. You can’t just have the next guy be bigger and badder, right? Where’s the fun in that? How do you make it interesting? Well, you present him in a different fashion. As we continue to learn about Kang, we begin to realize just how omnipresent and downright complicated he is. Where Thanos was a threat because of his outright strength, Kang is a threat because we don’t know how truly strong he is (yet).
Ultimately, some major swings and misses took me a little too far out of the moment to get over in Quantumania, but I still left the theater feeling that same satisfied feeling I used to with the early iterations of the MCU. I’m excited about the future of the Multiverse Saga, especially if they truly are slowing the release schedule to allow time for each project to shine on its own. In a way, Marvel got back to basics with this one – they’re back on track to telling a larger story without sprawling out in a million different plot lines to set up future projects. Star Rating: 3/5. Phase 5 is here, and with it comes a new purpose and direction for the MCU.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley.
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