REVIEW: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
An exciting setup for the next phase in the MCU
PG-13 | 2h 05m | 2.17.2023
Director: Peyton Reed
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action/Adventure, Superhero
Related Films: Ant-Man (2015), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Loki (Season 1), MCU Films
Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors
Ryan’s Score: 82/100
Rotten Tomatoes: 84% Audience, 47% Critic (as of 2.20.2023)
Watch the trailer here:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the first installment to phase 5 of the MCU. It sets the stage for the next several years of Marvel moviemaking, introducing the new Big Bad and hinting at what fans can expect out of the rest of the Multiverse Saga. The movie hits the ground running. Scott (Paul Rudd), Hope (Evangeline Lilly), Cassie (Kathryn Newton), Hank (Michael Douglas), and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) are almost immediately sucked into the quantum realm, thrusting the audience into non-stop action. It’s fun and exciting, although at times it felt like action for action’s sake. The Star Wars similarities are abundant in the quantum realm. From creatures and beings that look like they could be kickin’ it at the Mos Eisley Cantina to ships and locations that resemble vehicles and planets in the Star Wars universe.
Kang (Jonathan Majors) is absent in the movie's first half, being only referenced as “him” with an intense build-up surrounding his incredible power. And he is mighty. I thought this was a great way to introduce him, depicting how terrified Janet and other characters in the quantum realm are just at the mere mention of him. Marvel has something special with Jonathan Majors. Josh Brolin is fantastic, and he played Thanos perfectly. But Kang is a different type of villain. He’s human. However, his intellect and tech seem to grant him as much power as Thanos, if not more. (I’m not a comics expert so I’m not sure how their actual power levels compare). Another Star Wars-esque component to the film is the fact that Kang’s suit grants him telekinetic powers depicted exactly like how a sith lord uses the force.
Majors is by far the best part of this movie. With Majors attached to multiple films for years to come, I’d say the future of the MCU is bright.
In the infinite multiverse, there are infinite iterations of Kang. MCU fans already met “He Who Remains” — one variant of Kang — in the Loki season one finale. The Kang we get in Quantumania is Kang The Conquerer, another variant of the 31st-century time-traveling, multiverse-hopping villain. He is the self-proclaimed most dangerous version of himself. This is backed up by the fact that his other selves exiled him to the quantum realm, a place outside of space and time where he can’t travel the multiverse and destroy even more timelines than he already has.
Majors is perfect for the role of Kang, and Kang is an excellent choice as the next Big Bad of the MCU. What makes Kang such a great choice, as I alluded to earlier, is the fact that he is so different than Thanos, yet just as menacing, just as powerful, and just as dangerous … just in different ways. The character also offers Majors a unique opportunity to showcase his acting prowess, playing what we can expect to be many iterations of Kang.
Thanos wiped the floor with The Hulk in hand-to-hand combat to kick off Avengers: Infinity War. Kang isn’t a physical threat in that way. He won’t be using brute strength to fight our beloved heroes. His 31st-century tech and genius intellect is what makes him so powerful and even more dangerous than Thanos on a larger scale. Thanos threatened to wipe out half the universe. Kang the Conqueror has already wiped out entire timelines across the multiverse.
There are two post-credit scenes, both of which are essential plot development pieces for the next phase of the Multiverse Saga. A lot of the shade thrown at Marvel by critics is directed toward their efforts to build an interconnected cinematic universe spanning 31 films and 8 TV shows and counting. I guess it’s fair to argue some individual Marvel projects are too dependent upon character development or world-building from other projects if you’re analyzing just that one project. That’s a lot of the criticism I’ve seen so far: poor character development and lack of story. If you look at the film in a bubble, that’s a fair argument. But I don’t think it’s entirely fair to critique Marvel projects, especially this one, in that way.
Quantumania might not be for the casual moviegoer. It’s almost imperative to have seen season one of Loki and the first two Ant-Man films. There are a lot of references and plot points built upon events from those projects, along with other movies from the Infinity Saga. However, it’s still a fun action/sci-fi adventure. It’s easy to pick up on relationship dynamics and infer some previous plot points through exposition. The visuals are great and the performances are good, with a great performance from Majors.
The criticism I have of the movie doesn't pertain to character development or a convoluted plot. I think there is some great character development, especially when you consider the overall arcs of characters like Scott, Paul, and Hope that span multiple movies. What I thought could have been much better in the movie was the writing. Some of the jokes just didn’t land and a lot of the dialogue felt really cheesy. That said, there were moments I felt the cheesy dialogue kind of worked in a weird way. The quantum realm is an outrageous environment with wacky, zany characters at every turn. So sometimes a cringe-worthy line felt like exactly what was needed to accompany the outlandish setting.
In all, it’s a great way to kick off Phase 5, and an excellent (second) introduction to Majors as Kang.