Review: Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantamania
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is spending his post saving the world life writing a book about his experience and coasting through. His daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) wants him to do more. During a family dinner, his father-in-law Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) lets it slip that he and Cassie built a 2 way radio to the Quantum Realm and have been sending a signal. Janet (Michelle Pfieffer) freaks out at this discovery and before she can turn it off, they find themselves sucked into the Quantum Realm and face to face with our next big bag, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors)
Paul Rudd has a ton of charisma and thankfully that's still on display here, but I just did not care for this movie as a whole. It didn't bother me in the way that Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness did, but I cannot see myself revisiting this one any time soon. What I found funny is that aside from Lang, all the one off characters that we meet in the Quantum Realm are 100 times more interesting than the Van Dyne family and Cassie. Our main characters spend the majority of the movie separated. Scott and Cassie are together, and the Van Dyne family are together. Rudd and Newton have no chemistry together as father and daughter. I felt a better connection between Cassie's actress Emma Fuhrman in her 2 minutes in Endgame then I did Newton here. Casting a bigger name backfired on them hard.
On the other side, Janet takes FOREVER to explain what she did in the Quantum Realm to her family. It's not building the intrigue they think it is. The writing overall in this movie is incredibly lazy. Quite possibly the laziest in the entire MCU.
Jonathan Majors is the star and when he's on screen, he breathes life into this film. I'm very much looking forward to more Kang, and the two after credit stingers were very intriguing with what's to come.
Overall, I liked Kang's entrance and I did get a few laughs from this, but I look forward to seeing Kang in a better movie. At least this film teaches us the viable lesson that it's never to late to stop being a dick.
Grade: C
I have a bunch of MCU movies to catch up on, but it feels like such a chore. Action movies are supposed to be fun, and keeping up on the MCU is starting to feel like work.
ReplyDeleteI still really love the MCU, but that's how i felt watching Ms. Marvel and Moon Knight - those felt like work.
DeleteI'm finishing up my review of the film right now as while I did enjoy it. It does have issues as I think the film sometimes takes itself too seriously and I think the reason the film isn't clicking with everyone is the script. If you remember in the past 2 Ant-Man films, they were written by multiple writers where there was a lot of ideas yet they were all balanced into this mix of humor, action, drama, and suspense that didn't take itself seriously. I hope Marvel never hires Jeff Loveness ever again.
ReplyDeleteI feel bad for Emma Fuhrmann being replaced as I liked the brief moment she had in Endgame though I didn't mind Kathryn Newton as Cassie as I thought she was pretty good. I'm more upset that Bill Murray only had one scene and it really didn't do anything as that was a waste of Murray. I also miss some of the characters from the previous films like Cassie's mom and step-dad, Luis, Kurt, and Dave. I don't think it's the worst film of the MCU as there's been worse but this was weak but enjoyable. It's likely I'll re-watch this than Eternals and Iron Man 2 on Disney+.
Those characters were definitely missed! I think the laziness of the script is what got me. They no longer need suits to enter the Quantum Realm, despite that being a big part of Endgame? Cassie is just a genius now and built that two-way radio at age 17 (another thing about Newton, she's too old to play Cassie for her age in the time line. She's a decade older) I just had so many little issues.
DeleteI'm with you that I don't care for Newton at all, I wish they hadn't recast Cassie. I look forward to seeing Kang in a better movie too, Majors totally lives up to his name... and the hype!
ReplyDeleteHe does! I can't wait for more of him in Loki.
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