Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Review!
SPOILER WARNING!!
The third installment of the Ant-Man trilogy is finally here and boy is this movie a polarizing one. I was able to see this film on premiere night with friends and family and now I have had a few days to sit and gather my thoughts and opinions, so here we go. Let's review "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania"
Before we dive in, here are just some of the bigger names and roles in this movie:
Paul Rudd- Scott Lang aka Ant-Man
Evangeline Lilly- Hope Van Dyne aka The Wasp
Michael Douglas- Dr. Hank Pym
Michelle Pfeiffer- Janet Van Dyne
Jonathan Majors- Kang The Conqueror
Kathryn Newton- Cassie Lang
*There are other actors in this film like Bill Murray and William Jackson Harper but had miniature roles.
When I said earlier that this movie is a polarizing one, I wasn't joking. Before the film hit theaters, critics and others got to see the film on Monday of release week and as time went on the reviews started coming out and each time the "critic review" got lower and lower. On premiere day it was sitting at 48% from the "critics" which is the second lowest rating in the MCU (the other being "Eternals"). Now if you know me or follow me then you already know that I hate these "critic" scores and I don't look into them at all. "Eternals" is a great movie, but critics gave it a 47% which is ridiculous if you ask me. But I do read the reviews just to see what people are even saying and after seeing this film for myself, I can say that IN MY OPINION these reviews are way off. However, there was one reoccurring positive which I'll get to in a bit. I will start with the negatives just so we can end my review on a positive note.
While I had a lot of fun with this movie, it wasn't anywhere near perfect. I only have a few negatives to discuss and like I said in the header, SPOILER WARNING! One of my biggest isues was the pacing in some scenes. There were times where I really wish a certain scene would speed up or on the opposite side, I wish it slowed down. As an example, when we are first in the Quantum Realm, it felt like our heroes were falling for an eternity! We've been here before and know the length it takes so why slow it down? On the slowing down part, I would've LOVED to see the battle between Kang and the Freedom Fighters be a little longer. Another things that I wish was changed was some of the dialogue. The biggest negative in these "critic" reviews was that Kathryn Newton did a terrible acting performance, but I thought she did just fine. I will say that in some lines she sounded a bit dull but that was about it. Now when I say I would've changed up the dialogue up what I really meant was give the scene some time to breathe and settle down. We would be seeing an ambush by Kang's army on the Freedom Fighters and all we would be hearing was Scott and Cassie talking and running with no battle scenes or action. The conversations were needed, but not at that moment. Finally, I could say that the CGI was bad but that's only for some scenes. There were obvious scenes that you knew the actors were in front of a green screen but overall, the CGI was decent.
Now on to the positives. I will make these into different points because I can :)
The performances by Rudd, Pfeiffer and Majors. These three actors came to WORK in this film, and they did not disappoint! We had not seen Janet Van Dyne that much in the previous two "Ant-Man" films so seeing more on her backstory and her time in the Quantum Realm was awesome and Pfeiffer was on fire whenever she was on screen! Rudd was an absolute treat in this film with his hero side and his father side. You can tell that he had missed that time with his daughter and wanted to make it up, but it is so difficult when you're an Avenger. Lastly is the MVP of this film, Jonathan Majors. Kang The Conqueror is here and I am so excited. Majors stole every scene he was in and demanded all eyes on him! The once scene that sticks out to me is when Janet and Kang are having a discussion and almost done fixing Kang's time chair when Janet touches it and see's the monster that Kang really is. What captured me the most about this scene was when Janet see's it all, Kang just smirks and says "what did you see?" when he already knew what she had seen. Chills.
Look, this may just be a personal opinion, but hey it's my review so here is point #2. M.O.D.O.K. I know I know, how can this goofy looking character but a positive. Let me tell you why. The writers completely changed the backstory of M.O.D.O.K. and I was perfectly fine with it. Going from Darren Cross in the first "Ant-Man" film to becoming the Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing is nice little twist. M.O.D.O.K looked every bit of the goofy, silly, crazy part with a giant head and little arms and legs and being a comic book fan, seeing that on screen was awesome. I thought M.O.D.O.K had a little bit of everything with his time on screen. He had those menacing moments when we first meet him but also had his funny moments like when he was dying and basically called himself an Avenger. In my opinion, M.O.D.O.K was awesome in this film.
I'm not sure how many times I can say this, but Kang is here. This is my favorite Marvel character right now and I have been waiting ever since we saw a variant of his in "Loki" (He Who Remains) to see him shine and show us what he's really about. I said it before in my first positive point but seeing Majors as Kang was incredible. I do wish we saw more of him in this movie, but what we did see was awesome. He demands all eyes on him and he already knows how things play out. The scene that send shivers down my spine was when he asked Scott "You're an Avenger? Have I killed you before?" CHILLS!
Finally, the mid and post credit scenes. Now, I normally don't talk about these because it really gives away that shock factor so here is you warning, SPOILER WARNING! The council of Kang has arrived and boy oh boy do are they here to cause some chaos! In the mid credit scene we see a huge arena filled with people starting to appear. We are then greeted by three different Kang variants: Rama-Tut, Scarlet Centurion(?) and Immortus. This scene was a comic book fans dream because we know that things are about to get real for our heroes! All three of these characters are Kang from different points in time, do yourself a favor and look them up! Finally in post credit scene we get a glimpse of the past as Victor Timely, another Kang variant, is talking to a group of people and in that group we see Loki and Mobius. This sets up "Loki" season 2 and what's to come. Again, go look up Victor Timely and you'll understand.
Overall, I had a fun time with this wild movie. To some, it may be a flop but to me it was a fun time that sets up the future of the MCU and my favorite character, Kang The Conqueror!