Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is playing in theaters, but the MCU Phase 5 film is hardly perfect — here are 5 issues.
Considering the amazing premise, I had high expectations for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. You have the smallest and seemingly least powerful Avenger, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), taking on the MCU’s next big villain, Kang (Jonathan Majors), in a fight that would otherwise require the combined might of all the Avengers. That’s an amazing way to begin MCU Phase 5, especially after Phase 4 was so lackluster.
Take all of Marvel’s exciting teasers about Ant-Man 3, and nobody would fault you for seeing the film in theaters right away. And the good news is that there are plenty of exciting, even daring things about Quantumania. But it’s ultimately another failure for Marvel, a movie that could have benefited from a tighter script with a clearer focus on the franchise’s protagonists.
In the spoilery review that follows, I’ll give you five things I absolutely hate about Quantumania. Make sure you watch the film before you proceed.
We’ve fantasized about the Quantum Realm since the first Ant-Man movie. We’ve speculated that this plane of existence lies beyond time and space. That the TVA resides here, as there might be massive cities harboring billions of beings.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania finally gives us a magnificent look at life in the Quantum Realm. And it’s a spectacle. But also a deja-vu. Bad deja-vu. This Quantum Realm seems to be taken right out of Star Wars movies.
We have the restaurant scene with various aliens you can’t understand until you magically do. You learn there’s a rebellion in the Quantum Realm against a big oppressor, who we know is Kang (Jonathan Majors). And you have a spectacular fight at the end that the movie doesn’t need.
The rebels, whom you’re not really invested in, fight Kang’s armies with the help of giant Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Cassie (Kathryn Newton), Hank (Michael Douglas), and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer). Oh yes, and the ants from Earth that somehow evolved into a sophisticated species within a few hours.
The reason why Quantumania needs all of this Star Wars excitement is easy to comprehend. Kang needs to be a powerful villain; he needs an empire and a big army.
