Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023) Review

 "That guy looks like broccoli."
-Hank Pym



When Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his family are pulled into the Quantum Realm, they discover that Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) neglected to tell them that the Realm has intelligent life and is basically its own universe.  When Janet's nemesis, Kang (Jonathan Majors), discovers her return, he starts hunting her and her family and he will do whatever it takes to find them.


Spoilers below!


What  Works:

I don't know why people are getting so bent out of shape with this movie.  This was an absolute blast.  Post-Endgame, this is exactly the kind of stuff I wanted from the MCU.  I don't want straight-forward superhero movies.  I'm here for the weird shit.  I'll take stuff like this and Thor: Love and Thunder everyday over Black Widow or Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.  Quantumania is truly bizarre and I dig it.

The one thing everyone can agree in is how great Jonathan Majors is as Kang and I'm really excited to see where the MCU goes with him.  Majors does a fantastic job as the new big bad of the MCU and gives a complex performance.  He's a scary character and I love watching him in action.  His fist-fight with Scott actually hurt to watch.

I was not expecting Corey Stoll to return as Darren Cross.  He was a pretty underwhelming villain in the first Ant-Man, so having him come back was a surprise.  Having him return as M.O.D.O.K was an even bigger surprise.  The visuals of him are jarring and disturbing, but in a good way that fits the film.  Everything involved with his character is both hilarious and insane.  I want more of these weird villains please.

Finally, the action is pretty solid.  It felt like stuff you'd see in a Guardians of the Galaxy movie and that's some of my favorite stuff in the MCU.  It's bizarre and you always get exactly what's happening, but that's okay.  Neither do the main characters.  The Quantum Realm is a fun and unique world and that lends itself to some fun and unique action.  Especially when we get some ants involved in the action.


What Sucks:

As much as I enjoyed the Quantum Realm, it did feel underdeveloped.  The stories of the new characters and Janet's time in the Quantum Realm are brushed over and not explored nearly enough.  I wanted more.  We get so many weird new characters and this weird new world.  I would have loved to learn more about all of it so I could have been more invested in their fate.

Finally, in the first half of the movie, lack of communication is a major theme.  The family is hiding things from Scott and Janet isn't telling people the truth about what happened in the Quantum Realm.  The lack of communication gets them into trouble, and was pretty annoying.  It takes forever for Janet to spill the beans and I was actually getting annoyed waiting for the backstory.  I would have been more forgiving if this paid off in the second half.  If there had been a scene where the family learns to communicate better and uses that to defeat Kang, but that doesn't happen.  It makes the early stuff with Janet more frustrating in hindsight.


Verdict:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has some problems.  The new elements are underdeveloped and the lack of communication is frustrating, but this is what I want from the MCU overall.  Weird bullshit, great villains, and fun action.  I hope the MCU continues in this direction and doesn't get scared by the mixed reception this movie is getting.  Quantumania has absolutely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more