Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) User Reviews

It's been a while now, but the MCU has really run out of gas....

[flicklover · 5/10 · 18 February 2023]

Well it's happened. The MCU has run out of gas. The last few MCU films have been lackluster at best. Not counting the sort of stand alone Spider-Man No Way Home. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is supposed to start the Phase 5 of this thing and if it goes on like this it's going to get worse!!! This film is of course competently made, looks good and is not horrible but is completely uninspired and like pretty much everything out of the MCE factory since Endgame it's totally forgettable. The reason that the MCU was so successful is that the films had characters we cared about. Stakes were there, of course they were lightoments but there were heroes to root for and some pretty good villains. We cared about what was on the screen. I didn't care at all about what I saw in Quantumania. Not that every film from Iron Man to Endgame was great but they were mostly at least better than average. The two previous Ant-Man films were among the weakest but were still more memorable than this one. The acting in Quantumania is fine but but again no one to really care about. Even Paul Rudd who is usually very engaging seemed just flat and disinterested here. He seems to be phoning it in. The only notable performance is Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror but he alone can't save the film from being a complete snooze fest. I was actually bored fir much if the film.

Just below average in an MCU that is just churning out film after film with diminishing results. I think Kevin Feige and company should go back and see what made these films good when they first started. They are getting so formulaic and forgettable.

Below average.....

Grade: C-

A mixed bag

[cardsrock · 6/10 · 17 February 2023]

After most entries in Phase 4 passed by without doing much to set up the next big bad in the MCU, I was eagerly anticipating this film given it would be the big screen introduction of Kang. While Majors shines as Kang, the rest of the film and even some of the narrative choices with Kang leave a bit of a "meh" feeling.

As far as positives, Paul Rudd remains as endearing as ever. MODOK is a tad jarring, but I liked the tie-in to Yellowjacket. The visuals are solid and it's a very colorful movie. Majors truly has a magnetic presence on screen and I found his dialogues and conversations to be very compelling.

For negatives, there aren't really any arcs for the characters and Ant-Man himself ends up in literally the same place (on the sidewalk thinking about how good his life is) as the beginning of the film. Scott's cohorts aren't given much to do either. The MCU hallmark of jokes undercutting serious moments unfortunately continues and honestly the comedy really didn't land as well as the first two films. I also got major Rise of Skywalker vibes with the cliche "everyone in the rebellion shows up to fight the space troopers at the end."

However, my big issue with the film is the ending. This movie felt like it should've had some major consequences to establish Kang as an Avengers-level threat. Having Scott and Hope dispatch him while a portal opens up to save them literally seconds after you thought they might get trapped in the Quantum Realm or Kang would escape was eyeroll-inducing. The Council of Kangs scene was also almost more goofy than menacing.

I'm hopeful that Feige can right the ship and get the Multiverse Saga to Infinity Saga levels of hype, but right now I'm just left not feeling much. I never thought I'd say this, but I think I'm currently looking forward more to seeing how The Flash movie resets the DCU than how the MCU multiverse plays out.

I'm pretty sure this was written by fifth-graders.

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 6/10 · 17 February 2023]

As a huge fan of the first one, and almost as big a fan of the second one, I decided to go all out and see this one in 3D with the 4DX motion and sensory seats. What a let down; sure, sitting in the nicest seats for the best visual, motion and sensory experience was great, but I felt like I was watching a Looney Tunes story, instead of any type of story that is part, or compliments the MCU timeline. This was literally one of Marvel's dullest and most unnecessary movies to date. The entire story was cliched and predictable, and there was more CGI than there was any type of interesting story, let alone one with any substance. Even the normally awesome and hilarious humor in the previous installments was absent in this one. Almost the entire film is taking place inside a CGI story, so there was no need for any movie sets or locations... this was all green-screen nonsense. It's a very generous 6/10 from me, only because I still enjoyed the fun ride in my upgraded seats, although the money spent would've been more fun at an amusement park.

Soulless Waste

[jojunno · 20 February 2023]

Marvel really has fallen and it can't get up. This is the third legacy character that they've absolutely wasted. In fact, for Doctor Strange, Thor and Ant-Man they not only wasted great established characters but superb casts. Add that they made Kang, the main villain out to be a chump and it appears Marvel has no plan moving forward. Not Kiang the conqueror but Kang the chump.

This movie adds to the malaise of poorly written disappointments that is permeated the MCU since Endgame. With one of the worst third acts of any movie in recent history. MODOK use and "dick" turn could be the dumbest thing I've ever seen and that's not even a spoiler. He also ended the movie as if they ran out of budget. What an absolute waste.

Another one

[oszajcakk · 6/10 · 19 February 2023]

New Ant-Man is not a bad movie, but it's repeating current trend that been plaguing new Marvel productions. Main character is just an excuse to introduce few new characters that are definitely going to have their own stories. That makes Paul Rudd's character less important. You don't feel that this is his story. He is just there. And the story is not even that good. You can feel the lack of great characters from previous movies. They were setting the tone of story and we don't even know what happened to them after previous movie. It's hard to believe that the director is the same person who made two prior movies. Adding Kang definitely made this into Kang movie that have Ant-Man in it.

The Marvel Studios conveyor belt of quantity over quality continues

[poseyfan · 6/10 · 17 February 2023]

Well, I'll start off by saying that this wasn't a bad movie. It wasn't great, but it was alright. It was like Dune and Star Wars had a baby, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

Jonathan Majors definitely stole the show here. We will be seeing a lot more of him. Literally.

The CGI was very rough in places, and the editing was very off at times. It could have used an extra few months in development. At that, Modok was atrocious in execution.

That's just how Marvel has been lately. Quantity over quality, unfortunately.

Another thing I will say: I wish a Marvel movie would take itself seriously once in a while. The humor gets repetitive.

7/10 for me.

A bit unfocussed

[FeastMode · 6/10 · 17 February 2023]

I enjoyed watching Quantumania. It's a mostly solid and fairly entertaining movie. But relative to MCU standards, it's a bit underwhelming and feels like more of a throwaway movie than something memorable I will keep coming back to.

My biggest issue is that I wasn't fully engaged for at least the first half of the movie. I was enjoying it but I wasn't locked in. The story was unfocussed. When the villain becomes prevalent, the movie jumps a level. But it doesn't completely make up for the much weaker first half.

The other thing that surprised me was not being mesmerized by the visuals. It's very creative and I didn't notice poor CGI like some others. But it didn't wow me like it frequently does. Maybe we're just getting spoiled with the visuals in movies like Doctor Strange 2 and more recently Avatar 2.

There is still a lot of good here. It's pretty funny but doesn't overdo it. This is the second movie in a row where the MCU seems to have dialed back on the "insert joke here" strategy. It's probably a result of the negative reaction from the cartoonish Thor 4. Also, I love the villain. I won't say who in case you're smart (and crazy) like me and don't watch trailers. But he's so damn awesome.

As someone who loves almost everything in the MCU, Quantumania is near the bottom of my MCU rankings. And it's making me a little nervous that it comes only two movies after Thor 4 which is below it (5 stars). But I still have faith and am not joining the MCU doom and gloom crowd. Phase 4 has three of my favorite entries in the entire MCU (Shang-Chi, Loki S01, No Way Home) and I only disliked two (Eternals, Thor 4). They just need to be more consistent while also not playing it so safe.

(3 viewings, opening Thursday IMAX 2/16/2023, IMAX 2/28/2023, 10/5/2023)

Visually Mostly Stunnig With An Average Story

[tabuno · 6/10 · 26 April 2023]

Visually quite stunning with delightful and creative designs, shapes, and forms while the storyline is less than original without much in the way of intellectual or emotional, ethical depth of other recent Marvel movies. Apparently this movie was focused on being acceptable to a broad audience range, including young people, Quantumania loses some of its sharp refreshing focus. The created living entities of the quantum universe are more anthropomorphic (human-based) perhaps to be more relatable to children does not reflect the diversity or original forms of life or new-life that would really make this film stellar. As even as special as the set designs and special effects make for a gorgeous setting, there is still room for more crisp, detailed and immersive design work. Some backgrounds end up being mere basic animation projections that do not come up to the level expected of contemporary Marvel productions. Yes, this movie provides an amazing backdrop or canvas and yet the substance and plot of the movie does not rise to the same level. What one ends up with is a movie with a lot of flash but less than satisfactory bite.

It all becomes a blur after a while.......

[FlashCallahan · 4/10 · 21 February 2023]

.........and that literally is a line from the film, summing up how the MCU has become since Covid hit the world. Disney are now jumping the shark 31 films into the universe......

Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and The Wasp. Together, with Hope's parents Janet and Hank Pym, and Scott's daughter Cassie Lang, the family finds themselves exploring the pretty redundant Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new CGI creatures, and monstrosities, and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of boredom, and what they thought possible.

I love Ant-Man. The first two films were so so different to anything that Marvel had released, and Paul Rudd was amazing as the titular hero. It has humour that no other Marvel humour had, it was childish, and it was all the better for it. It dared to be different, and the payoff was something fresh, even when the marvel behemoth was becoming a little tired, especially after the debacle that was Age Of Ultron. If Wright wasn't given the cold shoulder, we could be watching something different, and while i don't think the blame should be placed on Reed's shoulders, the studio had the final say, it just doesn't have the panache that the first film had.

It's boring, and dull, and the effects all meld into one after a while. It's like the makers have taken the cantina scene from A New Hope, and decided to make a whole movie surrounding it, adding a supposed bigger adversary than Thaos. Kang is not that villain. Majors seems to be homing his most campest bone in his body, as there is nothing remotely sinister about his character, he just tells people to shut up, and make their costumes slightly tighter. Add a worthless cameo from Murray, and what on earth did they do with M. O. D. O. K? And you have a Marvel film that lays in the bowels on the MCU along with Eternals, Love and Thunder, and The Dark World.

Douglas and Pfeiffer are unforgivably wasted in this, Douglas there because of something that happens at the end with the ants, and Pfeieffer just there to tell the story of Kang. Little support is offered, aside from a guy who can read minds who's one running joke wears really thin, and a Valkyries wannabe. This was the franchise in the MCU that i wanted to succeed, because Rudd is just so brilliant and funny in his role. Here, he is just a one dimensional hero who multiplies to become even more unfunny versions of himself.

It's a real shame, really a shame, but hey, the MCU has has the Taika touch, and we all now he really isn't that good.

I have really low expectations now for the rest of phase 5.

And 6, and 7.

This will go on forever...

....Help us.

Ranks among the MCU's weakest efforts in its execution of both fun and emotional payoffs.

[MrDHWong · 6/10 · 16 February 2023]

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" is the first film of Phase 5 in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once again directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly in the title roles, it ranks among the MCU's weakest efforts in its execution of both fun and emotional payoffs.

Some time after the events of "Avengers: Endgame", Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is enjoying being in the spotlight with the recent publication of his autobiography. While Scott is hanging out with Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), her parents Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfieffer), and Scott's daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), the group are accidentally sucked into the Quantum Realm, where they each discover it is not as destitute as they had initially thought. Soon, the group learn of a dangerous new threat inhabiting the Realm known as Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who will stop at nothing to escape his fate as a prisoner of this place. As Kang makes his position clear, it is up to Scott and the others to stop Kang before irreversible damage is inflicted on all of space and time.

Right now, it seems the MCU is in a strange holding pattern after "Avengers: Endgame". Although there have been several films and TV shows made since then, there hasn't really been any concrete indication of what to expect from where the series is heading. This is because even after all these years, we haven't had any proper build-up to whom the main villain will be that is taking over from Thanos. While "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" at least establishes some things to look forward to in the future, it never does so in a way that can distinguish itself as nothing more than a relatively mediocre entry in this already expansive cinematic universe.

Given that this film is supposed to kick off Phase 5, it surprises me how few exciting moments there were to hype up the audience. The previous two "Ant-Man" films contain some of the funniest, most entertaining scenes that fans like myself have come to appreciate from the MCU after all these years. Yet here, I struggled to find anything remotely enjoyable that could leave an impression on the viewer. Aside from the odd dry banter from Scott, there are no amusing scenes of comic relief to alleviate the severity of whenever something bad has taken place. Most other MCU films have been able to strike a balance between humorous and dramatic but this one leans so heavily on its dark tone that it is simply not fun to watch at times. If the filmmakers wanted make a darker "Ant-Man" film, that's fine, but this is not the way they should have gone about it.

Another big problem is that the film goes way too far with its overuse of CGI. Though the MCU has used plenty of CGI in prior films, they at least tried to make it look like it had some basis in reality to give the audience the impression that what was on screen could be imagined as physically right in front of the characters. Here, it is used so much as a means to an end that the whole film looks about as realistic as the Star Wars prequels. At no point did the Quantum Realm ever feel like a real place inhabited by its population of various creatures. Instead, we constantly have to watch the actors move around within the limited confines of what I assume is where green screen stages were in ways that looked so planned out that it doesn't match the vibrant environments they are projected against. Everything looks so clean and sterile that it is near impossible to imagine the characters actually being there in any of these locations. At first, I thought maybe I have just become desensitised to CGI in general but as the visual effects kept piling up here, I found myself becoming less and less invested in the story, which has never happened to me with other MCU entries until now.

The cast of the film were fine, considering what they had to work with, but I doubt this will be viewed as them at their best. Paul Rudd still exudes his likeable charm as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, who is now treated like a true hero by the general public. I'll admit it's nice to see an underdog like Scott finally get the recognition he deserves after all this time, especially considering the important part he played in helping the Avengers bring back half of the universe's population from Thanos's actions. Scott's best scenes were with his daughter Cassie, with Kathryn Newton now playing the role in place of Emma Fuhrmann. At first, I wasn't sure about the recasting of the character, but Newton proved she was right for the part. Some of the physical requirements for the character seemed to come naturally for Newton and she also had pretty good chemistry with Rudd as her onscreen father.

I was somewhat underwhelmed by how Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Michael Douglas were used this time around. For a film that has "Ant-Man and the Wasp" in its title, we don't really see enough of the titular characters doing things together. Instead, Hope mainly hangs around with her parents, and while this does provide some decent scenes of the three bonding together, it still seems like a strange creative decision to keep her separate from Scott for so long. Additionally, Douglas and Pfeiffer, while not exactly going to waste, didn't contribute as much to story as I had hoped. If it weren't for one crucial scene near the end, I'd say that Hank and Janet's presence in the film was quite forgettable. Most of the time I kept forgetting about them as I cared more about what was happening with Scott and Cassie in the meantime.

However, the one character that stood out the most to me was Kang the Conqueror, played by a surprisingly intimidating Jonathan Majors. Anybody who watched the first season of the Disney+ series "Loki" will remember this character, who was known back then as "He Who Remains". This time, we get a better look at Kang's motivations as a villain and why he is so determined to inflict chaos on all the different multiverses. Majors does a good job at concealing Kang's true personality, whose vulnerability is used as a facade for his malicious intent. I guess I liked watching Kang the most because he is the only character in the film with some kind of interesting end goal, while all the others are only there to try and stop him. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Kang in future MCU projects, as I think he has the potential to be as threatening as Thanos was back in the Infinity Saga.

For the beginning of a new chapter in the MCU, "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" just doesn't land in the same way as the previous films. It tries hard to be one of the darker entries in the series by upping the ante with its main villain but it ends up relying too much on the audience's assumption that things will be addressed in more detail later on. At this point, I can only hope that "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", the next film in the MCU release schedule, will leave a better impression on me and other long time fans because if that doesn't work, we're in for a relatively dull Phase 5.

I rate it 6/10.

The Midcu Continues With Another Flop

[MamadNobari97 · 4/10 · 16 February 2023]

Where do I even begin? They somehow made a movie that's even worse and more uninteresting than the second Ant-Man movie. I haven't been this uninvested in an MCU movie since Thor 4 and Captain Marvel. Like another reviewer said, who even cares anymore?

First of all, the first act of this movie is probably the worst first act of any MCU movie I've seen in a while. It's also artificially made boring and uninteresting because they do this stupidest trope of one character hiding something from the others and not telling them until the middle of the movie and their explanation for it is "I wanted to protect you". Protect her from what? An angry guy with the size of an atom in the Quantum Realm? Not telling your family of "scientists" about the actual dangers of Quantum Realm and then getting mad when they eff with it is protecting them? I hate this trope so much because there's no point to it. The only reason they did that was to postpone introducing Kang and showing his flashbacks till the second act.

The first act is completely boring but it gets just a little better and more interesting when they introduce Kang. But the movie gets boring and uninteresting as it goes anyway.

There is no character arc in this movie. Marvel, or rather the writers they hire have forgotten how to write scripts anymore. They don't even care enough to have character arcs, so it's no surprise they don't do any characterization for the new characters either.

Remember the first Doctor Strange movie? Remember his memorable character arc throughout his first movie? Remember when MCU writers had an iota of an idea of how to write a movie and make the audience actually care about the characters and have interesting characters? Remember when they actually tried? Now compare that to the second Doctor Strange movie where he doesn't even feel like the main character of his own movie, now imagine something that's somehow even worse and you get this movie.

I don't even know who's the main character of this movie. Scott Lang doesn't have a character arc in this movie. Her daughter wants to help the resistance people for some reason and Lang who is the "hero" apparently, doesn't care and doesn't even change at the end. Things just happen and they go through it and that's that, no character growth and no nothing.

They for some reason again mislead us in the trailers that Scott wants to help Kang because he missed Cassie's childhood. But this is nowhere to be found in the actual movie. Now I know about Marvel trailers and that they have misleading footage and stuff that aren't in the movie, but they aren't usually as misleading as this one. And the funny thing is, this could've worked better than whatever cliché we got in the actual film.

Also, what's with the kid genius trope we keep seeing in these movies? Why does every child of these superheroes have to be a genius scientist and inventor all of a sudden? Can't they be a normal child with normal lives for once? All of them have to invent some multiverse-bending device in their garage that even Tony Stark couldn't've made?

And speaking of the resistance people, please show me someone who actually watched this movie and cared about them or even remembers their names. The writers don't even do the bare minimum of characterizing them. You won't care about these people or their uprising and revolution when watching this movie. You won't care about any of them dying.

This movie was only made to introduce Kang and nothing else. The writers don't care about characterization or character arcs or even writing a decent plot with what they've got. Why even make this movie when we had Kang introduced in Loki? This adds nothing and is repetitive. You don't even need to see this movie if you have seen Loki. Somehow Loki gave more backstory and characterization to this next big baddie of the MCU than this movie, and he was only in the last episode of that show, so you go figure!

It's obvious that they saw the backlash and mediocre reactions to Phase 4 and decided to make Kang the villain of this movie and start Phase 5 with this to set him up as the next big villain and hype people up again, and they failed miserably at that.

MODOK's design and CGI are somehow even worse than the floating head in Thor 4. It's probably the goofiest and worst thing I've seen in a while, and his character doesn't even have a place in this movie. The design of his armor when he's not showing his face is alright, but my god what an atrocious monstrosity! I don't even know what they were thinking designing him like that. Even Marvel's Avengers game had a better design than this, and that game had the blandest and forgettable face designs ever. And the only reason he was in this movie was to have something connected to the first Ant-Man movie. He doesn't serve a purpose in this movie and they even dare thinking we would care about him.

Speaking of the first Ant-Man movie, that movie at least knew how to be a little fun movie about Scott Lang and a reasonable throwaway villain, not a giant world-ending event with a big baddie that's out of Ant-Man's league. If you've seen The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, you know that all the Avengers combined can't even defeat Kang, but here we are with Ant-Man and the Wasp and his daughter saving the world from this omnipotent god. And this omnipotent god has robot soldiers that somehow die from a paintball bullet. This is why it's tricky to have a villain that's omnipotent, because you make it harder for the audience to believe that he would be this dumb to have prison cells that can be opened if you stick a fork into their control panels and robots that die from a punch and him getting defeated at the end somehow.

And this is one of the biggest reasons Phase 4, and apparently Phase 5 now have been a huge disappointment for me, especially for the Dinsey Plus shows; the fact that each and every one of them has to end with a huge gigantic clusterfk of an ending and third act, with two Kaijus punching each other. Shang-Chi that's about this father and son? End it with a big fight in the third act with a giant Dragon. Moon Knight which is a street-level superhero? End it with two Kaijus punching each other. Black Widow? Some CGI vomit of bad action in the sky or something. Eternals? Same Kaiju fighting. Same with What If and Ms. Marvel. Just have a big battle or even a full-on war like Wakanda Forever in your third act. Just have "world-ending" "stakes" in each and every project of yours, doesn't matter how big or small the superhero is. I think pretty much most of the audience apart from the Marvel fanboys have gotten tired of this formula since a long time ago, I don't understand how the producers and writers haven't yet.

This movie is also CGI galore and I don't think there was even one real set. The actors probably still never met each other and all of them were shot separately.

I also remember when they said Ant-Man couldn't take his mask off if he's small or big, but here we are having him enlarged to the size of Kong and having his helmet off easily like it's nothing. There's no difference in pressure on his body and his head when he's large and takes his helmet off. So what's even the point of having a helmet in the first place? Just stab yourself with one of those blue enlargement pills ;) and get big or small.

I have rambled a lot, but the more I write, the more I realize I don't care about this movie and it's probably better to stop wasting more time on it and move on.

All in all, this movie is a big disappointment and fails at pretty much everything it does or tries to do. There is no characterization or character arc, there is no real tension and you won't care about anything and anybody because they don't take time to develop characters, the movie is full of tropes and clichés and all in a bad way, Kang has a better introduction in Loki, the movie is all CGI and action and is somehow on par with Eternals on how boring and uninteresting it is.

The M(id)CU continues to be mid and they are progressively getting worse with writing actual decent plots, characters, and villains, and I don't think most people care anymore about what the next MCU movie is gonna be about (apart from GOTG3) and which version of Kang we're gonna see next. The hype and excitement and investment people had MCU has significantly died down since Endgame and I don't think most people now care about what's coming in the future.

I don't even have a morsel of hope in what they're gonna do with the X-Men, Blade, Daredevil, and Fantastic Four. If they can't even think of a good story to tell for Ant-Man and Wasp and they just throw the next big baddie in there to fight, they probably will have ran out of ideas by the time they're gonna make X-Men.

70s style sci-fi weirdness

[jharbert-47785 · 8/10 · 19 February 2023]

A lot of sci-fi these days worries about being grounded more in known science. Concerned with being picked apart by the internet and Neil deGrasse Tyson. I really enjoyed that Quatumania does more of that old school 70s style weirdness while still having things that hint at the science that inspired it. There are crazy creatures, landscapes and communities all over the place. It put me in the mind of something like 'Flash Gordon'(1980) and that's exactly what I've been hoping for from an Ant-man film.

It's not Oscar bait, but it's fun with a cool world that they play in. The cast is entertaining and Johnathan Majors especially, is fantastic as Kang. The film does start to tie all the strings Marvel has been placing together. Which gives what is a popcorn flick a bit more weight.

All in all, for me it was what I expected and hoped for.

Note: there are two end credits scenes.

Another marvel movie that refuses to take itself serious

[amooorales · 6/10 · 18 February 2023]

Convinced marvel movies are just being written by ChatGPT. Kang somehow destroyed multiple versions of the avengers and timelines but gets defeated by an army of ants? I know he comes back but I cannot be the only one who finds this ridiculous. This is why most people are getting burnt out from the MCU. These movies have no integrity and just cater to the mindlesss fans who watches every single piece of media marvels dishes out. Sorry not sorry. I was actually excited for this movie, but once again this movie is just riddled with witty and snarky humor that it takes away from the precedence story. I don't mind humor, it's just take it feels so out of place it takes out the immersion. Every marvel movie just feels like an SNL skit nowadays. If phase 5 doesn't deliver I'm afraid marvel will fall off.

Endless Trash

[Chance_Boudreaux19 · 4/10 · 4 March 2023]

The MCU in its current state is an absolute mess. Up until Endgame the whole series of movies felt like it lead up to something and now it's all over the place. Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania was supposed to introduce the next big bad that the Avengers will face in the form of Kang The Conqueror and I guess it did. First of all, Jonathan Majors plays the role well but the character itself seems like a total wimp. This is supposed to be one of the most powerful Kang variants and yet he gets trapped (maybe killed?) by Ant-Man and the Wasp without any sacrifice. Now, if the movie had the audacity to sacrifice both titular characters in order for them to stop Kang from escaping the Quantumverse it would've worked better but as it stands the movie takes no risks and has the villain defeated by characters that aren't even that powerful. After all that how are we as the audience supposed to believe that this guy can be a threat to more powerful Avengers like Thor or Dr Strange. On the other hand, if the movie did sacrifice any of the major characters it still wouldn't change how I feel about it. In fact, it would've maybe been a waste to sacrifice Ant-Man in such a bland and uninteresting film.

The whole thing feels so dull and lifeless that I could not concentrate on what was going on. I was so bored I found myself switching off at various points throughout. Scorcese compared these movies to amusement parks but I wish it was that. I wish it produced moments that would have me entertained but instead it feels on the same level as Morbius. It's certainly more competent than that pile of garbage but I was equally bored whilst watching either of them. On top of that, the characters make nonsensical decisions that I'm supposed to buy without thinking too much about like Michelle Pfeiffer not telling anyone about Kang. Moreover, it's not funny and in general I'm tired of the quippy, inconsequential dross that Marvel is spewing out. Maybe, I'm not the audience for these movies anymore but I don't go into them wanting to dislike them. I want to feel the highs that the Infinity Saga provided again but I don't see it happening. With the exception of No Way Home none of the movies since Endgame have been great and at best they've been mildly entertaining. I also haven't watched any of the MCU shows yet and I'm not planning to because I don't want Marvel to be such a major part of my life, there's too much great cinema out there to devote this much time to something so mediocre. The highest praise I can give Ant-Man and the Wasp is that it's inoffensive and relatively short, although it felt long for me. Also, the performances from Majors, Paul Rudd and others are good. Apart from that, it's just a cookie-cutter husk of a film that looks incredibly artificial and is only designed to set up future events and to sell you on watching more of the current MCU's endless trash content.

Big Ideas, Small Story

[dmoorejr · 7/10 · 17 February 2023]

Ant-Man's 3rd solo outting. Doubling down on the sci-fi elements of the MCU. Overall the humor was like the rest of the previous movies. The cast was all stellar. Doesn't really dive that deep into Kang's story, but what we did get was sufficient. Johnathan Majors portrayal was excellent, just wish he had more substance to work with. The visual effects were definitely spotty. Blue screen overload, wish they took more time blending in the effects with with actors. This leads into Modok, as a concept. I didn't mind his backstop changing, just wish they went more practical with his design. Overall Quantumania was a pretty fun movie, but for setting the tone of "PHASE 5", Marvel will definitely need to step up their storytelling, and start getting more into detail with these characters, and concepts.

It's okay for a standalone movie, but for setting up Phase 5. . .

[chgames-28385 · 7/10 · 23 February 2023]

Let's start out with this, I had no big expectations for this Marvel film like I did with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and there was a reason why. I wasn't expecting much from this movie, plus I wasn't a big Ant-Man fan to even begin with . . . The previous Ant-Man movies didn't leave much lasting impressions on me, and I was meh about the whole series and the superhero in genreal. So when I heard that this movie was coming out, well of course I was going to see it opening weekend just so I could be on top of the game of seeing it, and not being ruined by the movie. I wasn't seeing this because I was really interested into it . . . Not really, anyhow. But after watching this movie twice in theaters the same day, I can say this: it falls short of what I was hoping it would be, but it deliver a solid set up for Phase 5!

I'm not really into the Multiverse, Time Variants, and the Quantum Realm because they just make not only my heard hurt just thinking too much of them, but it makes the MCU timeline even more confusing (than it should be). So to begin with, I wasn't into the Quantum Realm so I could care less if they explored it or not, or if they got trapped in it or not. It was just another big expansion on the MCU side just to get more revenue in, is how I see it. But after watching this movie, I guess you could say it got me to enjoy the Quantum Realm a tad bit better, and fully appreciate all the bright visuals and colors they did to make the Quantum come alive. I mean, beautiful world an all, but I could still care less.

This movie sets up not only Phase 5 very well, but the villain for it quite amazingly! If you're like me, you could agree that Phase 4 was a very weak and if I'm going to be honest, a bit unneeded Phase. The only two movies that carried the whole Phase 4 on its back was Spider-Man: No Way Home and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. No other mentionable movie that was released during Phase 4 made the best impression (although: Doctor Strange 2 could make it). So after an exhaustable Phase 4, we finally move on to I hope a better Phase, Phase 5. Now look, if Marvel/Disney does this right, Phase 5 could be the most interesting Phase since Phase 3!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania by itself was a decent, average movie that had its moments while also having their cringy moments also. But for the beginning/start-up of Phase 5, not going to lie: it sets up Phase 5 very well. We get introduced to not exactly the most menacing/mean villain of all time, but it's the powers he has and its the other variants of him that just may make Phase 5 villain(s) the most interesting to watch . . . To see how Marvel and Disney unfolds his intentions, his powers, and the affect he'll have in the MCU timeline (that is, if they do it right of course). Kang was an interesting villian in this movie . . . He was played by a Johnathon Majors who actually did a great job, so I'm excited to see more of him in later Marvel films. Johnathon Majors has potential in the MCU, and if Marvel and Disney does it right, it may just be the biggest role Johnathon has played in his movie career . . . Or it could be the somewhat of a downfall, just depending on how Marvel and Disney plays out Kang.

But Ant-Man just being a standalone movie in its series does farily alright. I think the beginning struggled to catch my attention. I think the first time watching it I was just waiting for Kang to appear on the screen, and kind of caring less of what playing at the moment. People/Critics alike raved about Johnathon Majors' performance, so of course I wanted to see if hey did actually a good job . . . And after watching it, I think he did a great job! But this movie has some interesting points that they brought to the table; maybe I could have taken the whole thing serisously if the 3rd act of the movie didn't just go a bit out of hand. I felt like the 3rd act of the movie was the downfall of the movie. It's just got a bit out of hand and that cringy speech in that movie didn't help at the least.

The 1st and 2nd act were interesting enough, but my favorite moments were when we were trying to understand the villian Kang a bit more. He was easily the best part about the movie, and outshadowing everyone's elses role in the movie, and not lying here. He's just a villian we have never gotten before, so I'm interested on how they're going to handle Kang, and he might be one of my favorite villians that has been brought to big screen. The other characters in the movie that weren't main characters like Scott and Hope, were more or less so unmemorable and they were in the shawdows in a lot of the movie. So basically, any characters in the movie that didn't have a big role were sidelined people who were underused in the movie.

M. O. D. O. K. Was the worst character in the movie and also one of the most unneeded too. I struggled to comprehend/digest him fully, and to be honest I could really care less about him. He wasn't an annoying character, he was just one that made me question why we even have him in the movie to begin with. But besides that character, this movie undergoes a lot of underused characters, and more or less put them in the shadows. Really unfortunate that we didn't get to understand these people in the Quantman Realm more.

Besides some questionable choices for the movie, a cringy speech, a 3rd act getting a bit out of hand, characters being underused, and a character not needed, this movie is a bit solid. For being a standalone Ant-Man movie it was okay, but for setting up Phase 5 and its villian, it did a great job! It was a movie that I enjoyed more on my secondtime and understood more. It's not I would want to see over and over, but it's one that I'm glad I saw how they setted up Phase 5!

Better than expected

[maxmajorgaming · 7/10 · 7 March 2023]

Going in I had low expectations. Suffice to say, I enjoyed this movie. The plot was pretty good and had fun, unique ideas. Most of the jokes land and for once I didnt mind the marvel humor. There were some lines of dialogue that were a little 'cringe' and I think the ending should have been way different. Scott Lang didnt get sidelined as much, but I wish it was still focused on him, as he had to share the screen with four other protagonists. I think they did the story well, but it went from a darker tone to a more 'marvel tone' towards the end. Overall, better than most phase 4 projects, and a pretty decent start to phase 5, would recommend.

Kang pulled his punches?

[glennmeerten06 · 7/10 · 15 February 2023]

Quantum Mania takes the MCU deeper into the quantum realm and presents us a real first taste of Kang the Conqueror. Thanos and his Infinity War are now part of the past in a timeline that has been upended by the discovery of the multiverse. The hype surrounding Ant-Man and the Wasp 2(?) seemed impossible to meet. The same weight was put on the Multiverse of Madness which cracked under the pressure of expectation. Unfortunately, QuantumMania suffers the same fate. Kang is intimidating, powerful and compelling but has been muzzled and restrained by a screenplay that lacks courage and risk when it mattered. Majors is fantastic as the character and I can't wait to see him develop this character and other variants further. However, I can't help but see a missed opportunity here to plant Kang like a unavoidable tree in the multiverse saga. It feels like Marvel prefers to put all their eggs in the basket of Loki season 2 rather than a feature film.

It's not all bad though. On the contrary. The film is often times charming, engaging and genuinely funny. It has some fantastic set pieces with inconsistent CGI which has become the new norm for Marvel as of late. Our main cast of characters are solid, though I can't help but feel Hope has been left by the wayside here. Quantum Mania is a solid entry in the MCU but lacks any weight to be memorable or revolutionary. It had a great opportunity to shock and surprise but chose to play it safe and missed out on some great potential.

The worst start to a Marvel Phase ever.

[Avwillfan89 · 2/10 · 18 April 2023]

This film is unspeakably bad.

It's actually worse than Eternals. Because I didn't care for any of those characters, it didn't bother me as much. Also Chloe Zhao, while being a great director, was simply badly chosen for that kind of film as sci-fi superhero entries are not her strong point.

In the case of this, there is absolutely NO excuse for how bad this is. I liked Scott Lang in other films, especially the ensemble ones like Endgame and Civil War. But seeing him in this travesty, where there is no strong development to any of its characters and has one of the weakest plots ever, is truly depressing.

Its entire purpose is only to introduce the next big bad guy of the multiverse saga: Kang the Conquerer.

Johnathan Majors is probably the best thing about the film, as he really exudes a brooding menace and aggressive physicality. But that's about it.

I ACTIVELY despised Cassie Lang in this film. Her character is so annoying, shallow and ridiculously badly written and acted. This is the third time in almost a year that there has been a young character with special abilities or technology whose sole purpose is to move the plot forward and be an inspiration to younger viewers. In the Multiverse of Madness, you had America Chavez, which was actually OK, but you could only kind of get away with it once. The second time with Riri Williams in Wakanda Forever, I was like: Really, again? And then with this, I went: Oh wait, this deliberate goal to create a Mary Sue teenager that promotes activism and surface level inspiration. And is just brilliant at everything she does and never has to learn anything because she is just awesome as she is. Ugh.

Also Darren, the villain from the first film, shows up as MODOK as second villain. But then after Cassie simply tells him to "Stop being a dick." he... is no longer a villain and now wants to be a hero? That was THE dumbest part of the movie for me. What the hell were they thinking?

It's not even worth watching the end-credits, as one has already wasted two hours watching this. I'm glad I didn't waste money in the cinema.

Do not bother.

It slowly gets better

[jaysonjats · 7/10 · 24 February 2023]

This is a great introduction to what Kang could really do for the future of the MCU. The movie starts off a bit slow with some jokes that feel forced. However, the storyline really starts to pick up in the second half.

For the most part, the acting was really good with great performances with from the main cast of the movie. However there are cameos in this movie that seem like a money grab.

The visuals and effects portrayed in the movie stand out more than most marvel movies in the past. There were scenes that would leave you "wow" but also ones that are uneccesary.

Overall the plot of the movie was just alright. This isn't something memorable but if you're a marvel fan would leave you excited for the future of the MCU.

I love MCU...

[angelamiatt · 1/10 · 21 June 2023]

...But this film was awful.

The story was ridiculous in all ways.

Firstly, Hopes mother was in the quantum realm and never told her husband about the entire universe there, with all the species and lives and complex environments.

Secondly the ants happened to follow them into the quantum universe but "on a different stream" and therefore had eternities to develop and become super intelligent.

Thirdly - what the hell was MODOX about? Some second rate character who suddenly appeared in the quantum realm as a head?!

Finally, while CGI is great, it loses any excitement when it is the ENTIRE FILM! All I can think of while watching this is that the entire film was filmed in one room on a green screen ... NOTHING is real.

I watched this film over 3 weeks in batches of 10 minutes as I was bored. I am never bored of a film. I watch everything! But this film is boring!

Honestly - if you need an MCU hit, rewatch one of the Avengers films!

Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania

[galaxytitan-66249 · 8/10 · 19 February 2023]

This movie was great. The cgi gave me a little bit of a headache but not a migraine or anything. Also this movie is more serious instead of funny. They have jokes in the movie every now and then, but not so much. I don't really like how they handled M. O. D. O. K. But he was funny and has an exciting return from a previous character. Kang is really scary and disturbing. There is two bonus scenes in total. One of them is a great way to show the future of the multiverse saga and the second one made me jump out of my seat because I was so happy. This film was a great way to open up phase five.

8/10.

Nice introduction to Phase 5

[beichorndude · 7/10 · 18 February 2023]

Beign the third installment to the Ant-Man (and the Wasp) franchise I went in having an idea what to expect. Something a little light, tone-wise, but with Kang being introduced I also knew the levity would be moved aside for the weight of the story. All previous characters were pretty close to the previous story's portrayal. Michelle Pfeiffer's role was expanded, which she did great with. Kathryn Newton's Cassie Lang filled the role nicely as well, but not quite the same charm as Rudd.

I knew that it would be CGI heavy but I felt that made it slightly harder to digest what was going on. Most locations and characters were full of CGI - not that that's a bad thing, but it really made it hard to tell what was happening at time.

The story was pretty good. It took a while for it to get to the crux of the problems, but it was a fun ride to get there. . I would have liked a little more backstory on the main villain, but I'm sure we will get more of that as Phase 5 continues.

Overall, if you enjoyed the other Ant-Man movies and know that the tone will start getting a little darker, you will enjoy this movie. Just don't expect it to be Civil War or Infinity War.

An astonishingly bad piece of work.

[juergenmeyerdrentwede · 1/10 · 24 June 2023]

How to start? This movie is bad. Really bad. So bad that i am struggling to find words which would not result in a cancellation of this comment. I can not believe that this movie is made by the same studio that made Endgame or Avengers or even She Hulk! It is basically 2+ hours of lifeless CGI porn with a story that is an insult to viewers above the age of six. I would state that the writing is lazy, but that would be an insult to all the lazy writers out there. The moments in the storytelling that actually show some kind of inspiration are less than a minute in combination. The rest is utter and complete waste. You have an ursupator equipped with an army capable of conquering complete worlds? No Problemo, just let an angry teenager hold a 10-second-speech and the mob will rise and overcome. The antagonist is an organism designed only for killing? Just make him the worst possible fighter and let him change his mind by the snap of a finger.

Actually, if this is the storytelling of modern Hollywood, i can't wait for AI to write movies. It can not be worse than this.

Just for Fun. Some Opportunities Were Missed

[nemesis2000-2 · 7/10 · 19 February 2023]

The movie is what it is; just for fun. Quantumania is more comedy, drama, weighing more on comedy. Again the comedy hurts the weight of the story in this film as the intense story with the main villain needing more emphasis. The setup in some parts of the film did in fact heightened the gravity of the situation, but events that followed downplayed everything. Because of who the villain is they could of made him just as strong in the comics, but downplayed him like how they did with Gorr the God Butcher in Thor Love and Thunder.

Is it entertaining? In my opinion, yes. Was it a spectacle/memorable? To a degree. There are some parts where you could tell writers were writing in filler material. Without that material the gravity of who the characters are remains the same. In my eyes Quantumania has a similar feel to some 90's films I grew up with that were there for fun.