Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

 

 

6/10

 Starring          

Paul Rudd

Evangeline Lilly

Jonathan Majors

Kathryn Newton

 

Directed by Peyton Reed

 

Here we go, MCU Phase 5 kicks off with Quantumania. This Ant-Man movie is the thirty-first in the MCU, but it’s definitely not one of their best.

The plot follows how Cassie (Scott Lang’s daughter) reveals to Hank and Janet that she’s been working on a device to contact the Quantum Realm. When Janet tries to shut it off, a portal opens, sucking the entire crew (including Scott and Hope) into the Quantum Realm, where they discover a bustling new world.

We learn that during Janet’s 30 years in the Quantum Realm, she lived a wild life filled with fighting and killing, something she never told the others about. There’s now a new power in charge of the realm: Kang. At one point, Kang and Janet worked together to escape the Quantum Realm, but when Janet discovered his true intentions, she sabotaged his plans. Now, Kang, as the ruler of the realm, wants Janet and her family to help fix his machine so he can leave.

Lately, the last two MCU movies before this one— Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) haven’t been particularly great. Love and Thunder was cool and funny, which, for me, made up for the lack of a truly convincing storyline. But Wakanda Forever was just borderline okay—not what I expected from an MCU movie. It felt like it had so much to say but struggled to flesh it all out. I enjoyed it, but not as much as the first Black Panther movie.

This movie follows in the footsteps of Wakanda Forever by being just okay. It borrows the lack of a strong storyline from Love and Thunder while trying to fill in the gaps with laughs, just like Love and Thunder did.

If that was all that was wrong with this movie, it might’ve still scored a 7 from me. But the real issue is that it tries to say too much, struggles to flesh it out, and ends up feeling disjointed. The plot is all over the place. There are too many things happening at once, and Marvel’s decision to cram everything into this one movie feels like a major mistake.

We’re introduced to a whole new world in the Quantum Realm. We have to deal with the existence of Kang. We’re expected to quickly grasp Janet’s life in the Quantum Realm. And just when you think the movie’s done piling things on, the end credits (there are two) drop even more on you.

The pacing is bad, and the storyline is weak. The only saving graces are the acting and the comedy, which are hallmarks of the Ant-Man movies. For an MCU film, though, this one fails to deliver much beyond the laughs. You’d expect a better story, especially with the introduction of Kang, and a stronger hook for the upcoming Marvel movies.

Compared to what I would’ve expected from the MCU and the introduction of Kang, this movie is a 6/10.