Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) – Movie Review
How many holes do you have?
Recently, people have bashed the last few installments into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and not without good reasons. Some of the criticism is valid, however, most of it appears to be a byproduct of the high experienced with the conclusion from Phase Three. After Avenger’s: Endgame, audience and critic expectations reached an all-time high. And then those expectations were met and even exceeded with Spider-Man: No Way Home. Without adjusting those expectations, most of the Phase 4 movies and likely most of the Phase 5 movies as well will continue to disappoint.
That being said, I really enjoyed Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Ant-Man usually fills the role as one of the side-Avengers, so it was cool seeing him get the introduction to Marvel’s Phase Five. Before going to see it, I had heard both good and bad, so walking into the theater I was unsure what to expect. Turns out, it was just a fun adventure with Ant-Man’s biggest (or maybe smallest) mission yet.
Paul Rudd was an absolute delight, as always, bringing his charisma and humor to his performance as Scott Lang. We saw Kathryn Newton step into the role of Cassie Lang, and I thought she did a decent job with what she had to work with. Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly both did well reprising their roles as Dr. Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne, and it was nice to see more of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne. Having recently re-watched the first two Ant-Man movies, I realized that we actually saw only a handful of scenes with her. In Quantumania, Pfeiffer took on more of a lead role, acting as a guide in the unfamiliar Quantum Realm, and she did great. The stand out, however, was Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. Majors brought a cool and menacing presence to the character, and I’m now eager to see more of him as the next big Avengers baddie.
The visuals of the Quantum Realm were great, even if the entire concept borders on ridiculous. And I got to thinking why haven’t we ever seen this entire Quantum Realm world or its variety of species when Scott traveled to the Quantum Realm before? Most times, it’s best to try and not think about Marvel movies too hard and just enjoy the show. Quantumania was the perfect example of this. The movie seemed as close to a Star Wars movie as Marvel can get with the first half of the movie being a long Cantina-scene, Kang’s army of blue-faced Storm Troopers, and the skyline of Kang’s kingdom resembling Coruscant. And yet, it worked in establishing the Quantum Realm as an alien-like world all around us but too small to see.
My biggest criticism of the movie was the lack of Michael Peña as Luis, and his mile-a-minute wacky storytelling. Quantumania seemed to pivot toward an Ant-Man-family focused tale and introducing the new-found world of the Quantum Realm rather than on the humor of the Ex-Con gang that Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp featured. Which is fine, it just felt like the trilogy wasn’t complete without a story narrated by Luis. Maybe there was a scheduling conflict, but they could have even included it as a post-credit scene.
To conclude, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was a fun addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a great introduction to Phase 5. Despite what critics claim, the movie was entertaining and featured strong performances, especially from Rudd and Majors. The special effects and costume-design were on par for Marvel movies, and the story, while only decent, will play a big role in the future of the MCU.