Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

[Eric Prime]

Does size matter????????????????????????

[Webslinger]

Despite two solid prior entries and a potentially promising premise, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania unfortunately proves not to be up to the task of kicking off a new phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. One of the biggest charms of the first two solo Ant-Man ventures was that they operated with lower stakes than their MCU contemporaries and were content with their silliness and relative lack of impact on the bigger Avengers storylines. With Quantumania, however, the lighthearted charm of the Ant-Man universe buckles under the demand to raise the stakes and act as the launchpad for the new phase’s overarching villain. The result is a surprisingly dry and inert blockbuster where the returning characters and the situations they find themselves in never feel quite right. There are moments of humor that work, and some shades of the visual cleverness that made the first two films enjoyable, but they’re bogged down whenever the film has to bend its characters in the service of setting up the new villain and future movies. While it is true that the MCU has sometimes gotten a little ahead of itself in setting up future installments, it feels noticeably and especially clumsy this time out. There’s also a bit of CGI so grotesque that it grinds everything else to a halt whenever it is onscreen. Perhaps the greatest sin Quantumania commits is saddling Paul Rudd with material that does not play to his strengths. The script rarely plays to his charm, and his tone and demeanor in the third act feel like they belong to a completely different actor and character. Jonathan Majors is fine as new heavy Kang; he has enough presence that I think he could be utilized well in future MCU films, but the script fails to do much interesting with him. Kathryn Newton is such a non-factor as the new, starrier replacement for the much less famous actress who previously played Rudd’s daughter that it’s unclear why the filmmakers felt they needed a bigger name (it’s also weird seeing her play a presumed teenager a half-decade after she played a college-bound 18-year-old in Blockers); she has proven adept at fun genre work in the past, so it’s a shame that she has so little to do here. Despite being in the title, Evangeline Lilly is sidelined as an uninvolved side player for much of the running time. The MCU has operated so effectively for so long that the steep drop off and lack of entertaining material in Quantumania feels like a true shock. While the most recent phase of the MCU has been divisive, I have at least enjoyed them as serviceable action films or big, interesting swings from talented directors trying to do something unique in the biggest franchise of the moment. Quantumania fills neither of those bills and had me leaving one of these movies not wanting more for the first time.

 

C

 

Also, as alluded to above: yikes at the design on M.O.D.A.K. I know there's been a whole lot made of the unrealistic demands the MCU has made of VFX artists, but it's such an eyesore that that I found it difficult to focus on anything else any time he was onscreen. This was not what I had in mind when I thought "I'd like to see Corey Stoll in more movies" while rewatching the first Ant-Man last night.

[Reddroast]

Kang does all the heavy lifting to get this to a B/B-. The film needed more time on earth in the first act and fleshing out Cassie, the rebel side plot and Modok as a character would make the film much better. 

 

 

Modok's design was never an issue for me. As his design had always been stupid looking

 

 

 

[filmlover]

I didn't hate this like a lot of people seem to but it's definitely among the most bland MCU movie entries to date and the least of the three stand-alone Ant-Man movies, despite being unquestionably the most ambitious of them all. While the earlier flicks were much smaller in terms of story and scale, this one feels like it was retooled so that the MCU could start setting in motion their next big saga while also trying to fight off the overall sense of franchise fatigue that seems to have permeated the Marvel universe recently. Also the humor falls entirely flat this time around. Where's Michael Pena and his hilarious recaps when you need them?

 

It speaks to how much the movie overreaches itself that both Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly often feel lost among the spectacle and universe-building despite playing the title characters, even though Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas get more substantial parts than expected this time around and the likeable Kathryn Newton is fine stepping into the recast role of Cassie. Jonathan Majors (the only person that seems to be putting in an actual effort into their performance) provides an intimating presence as apparent Thanos 2.0 Kang, will be interesting to see how that character develops going forward. I don't know why they bothered getting Bill Murray for such a nothing role. And why did they do that to poor Corey Stoll? Cats level of embarrassing.

 

On the plus side, the final battle is well-done, and the much-derided MCU CGI here otherwise isn't as bad as I had been led to believe (although everything inside the Quantum Realm was simply serving Wannabe Star Wars in its aesthetic to me). But that's not much of an endorsement for a both overcooked and undercooked entry that ultimately seems unnecessary.

 

C

[avensis]

I personally find this 3rd opus not that bad. Ant-man remains an endearing superhero. The scenario certainly includes some scriptwriting facilities, but it remains good entertainment with overall good special effects.

Edited July 24 by avensis

[Borobudur]

The VFX is awful ugly and half-baked. 

[LegionWrex]

Saw this back in February but new here so thought I would just post my brief thoughts here.

 

Really, really did not care for this. I'm usually kinder to Marvel then most - I genuinely believe they put out good stuff the majority of the time - but this was bland and actively boring to the point where I was checked out for a good chunk of it. What are we even doing here? Feels like a bunch of story ideas bashed together without much in the way of purpose or even proper scene transition. Looks downright ugly too, Marvel's VFX hasn't been great for a while but this is the first time for me that it really stood out as actively unacceptable.

 

Probably the first MCU film since Dark World I'm just "yeah, no" towards. Even some of the other weaker ones have something there, something interesting, some kind of vision/imagination. There is almost nothing here.