Three days after Valentine’s Day, Marvel released the biggest heartbreaker of all time: Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania — a thematically lacking hodgepodge of cringey lines and poorly developed Star Wars replicated creatures. But hey! Maybe that’s exactly what you’re looking for, and if so, don’t let me break your heart any further with this glaring review. But, as a Marvel fan seeking desperately for a film to finally advance the MCU past whatever this post-Endgame limbo is … let’s just say I was disappointed.
Sure, I’m partially to blame for my disappointment. Did I go into this film with high expectations for Marvel’s Phase 5? Of course. But even then, Antman falls impressively short. Hell, the trailers showed more depth than the entire two-hour movie combined and somehow revealed all the best parts. If you’re wondering whether or not to go see Quantumania, I would save the twenty bucks and go for the free YouTube teasers instead.
That being said, there were a handful of scenes I did enjoy. I’ll get into these moments soon, which means this is your warning!
Spoilers ahead! Let me repeat: SPOILERS AHEAD.
I’ll start with what I liked.
HUMOR
This movie retains its Antman charm and humor, and that’s really where it shines. I almost wish it had leaned more into that than it did because, at times, the tone was confusing. But Paul Rudd is as good as ever as Antman and almost every joke landed.
Also, there’s a moment where Scott finds himself surrounded by versions of himself in a probability storm. These versions lift him up to the energy core he has to obtain for Kang. All the Scotts work together because they all want the same thing: to be with and save Cassie. This was heartwarming and a beautiful way to show how Scott loves his daughter. For me, this was the highlight of the movie.
Now onto what I didn’t like.
CHARACTERS
Starting off strong. Or “eh,” I should say? We are quickly shown the various aspects of Scott’s post-Endgame life. He has a book, he’s seen as a hero, he’s reconnecting (sort of) with his daughter, Cassie, and all in all, experiencing a rather “quiet” life. That is no more high-stakes adventures, no more saving the world, no more anything for that matter — a point that Cassie repeatedly shoves in the audience’s face. In fact, that seems to be Cassie’s whole thing: she is a want-to-do-gooder who is disappointed in her father’s lack of motivation and somehow has a confusing lack of fear or caution for anything. Who knows — maybe having your dad be an Avenger does that to you.
Hope Van Dyne (The Wasp) is briefly given a few moments of screen time, all of which amount to her saying something like, “Mom, you didn’t tell us that? Mom, why didn’t you tell us that!” For being literally a title character, she is given a shockingly low amount of screen time. Then, Hank Pym seems to be there for…literally no reason. Sure, he has a big “save-the-day” moment at the end of the film, but other than that, his entire presence in the Quantum Realm is essentially useless. He reminds us a few times about the coolness of ants and, god forbid we forget, his dedication to studying the Quantum Realm. Yes, we get it. We got that from the last two Antman films.
Janet was alright—I was intrigued by her backstory with Kang, although mildly annoyed by how often she refused to call him by his name. It wasn’t like there was some theme about names and power that made the constant omissions meaningful. She just … never said his name for a good chunk of the film. It felt corny.
That brings us to Kang himself. Reminder again! Spoilers ahead!
Kang was fantastic!
Until he wasn’t.
He initially presented himself with a surprising amount of humanity (and by that, I meant we could feel bad for him to some extent). Kang was reserved, calm, but also horrifyingly powerful. That was what made him interesting to me—the combination of his reservation, calmness, and desire to, I dunno, wipe-out timelines. He had depth and that was something I wanted to see explored.
But then he dies. Literally, dies.
And yes, I know, I know, he’s coming back in a ton of different variant forms. But seriously? This Kang that we believed to be so powerful that he had to be exiled is killed, just like that? By one of the lesser-powerful Avengers, too? I mean, talk about not being a threat. Kang, with all his power and technology, couldn’t blast away ants or a guy and his family? It didn’t make too much sense. Couple that with the amount of times he spends talking instead of fighting and you realize just how stupid Marvel made him out to be in this film. I mean, if I had a dollar for every time he could have killed Antman instead of delivering some heavy-handed monologue, I could probably get all the money I spent on this film back.
As far as side characters go, I couldn’t tell you a single one of their names. Fault me for that, sure, but there were just too many of them. Moreover, all of them seemed to serve as comedic relief (except maybe the lead Freedom Fighter/Resistance lady?) but had too little screen time to really make an impact. None of them also engaged with Antman or Cassie for that long, which made their presences seem all the less important.
WORLD BUILDING
Ah yes, the Quantum Realm. Or should I say, “free-marketing-for-Star Wars” realm. Nothing is really explained about the creatures/people down there, and the film ends with no one, not even Hank Pym, really caring to study more about them. In fact, once they all return to their world, it’s like nothing has happened at all! You would think Scott Lang would be experienced or smart enough to tell someone about Kang and the threats he made, but no! No one cares! It’s as if everything they did in the Quantum Realm means nothing!
I will praise the visuals, though—they were pretty cool to look at.
FIGHT SEQUENCES
Marvel does a fantastic job of making me feel like I could save the world because apparently, all it takes to fight an army of Kang’s henchmen is one five-minute training session with my dad. Yes, Cassie had a suit before entering the Quantum Realm, so maybe we can say she knew how to fight beforehand, but it’s very evident she is not competent. Yet by the end of the movie, she can single-handedly take down so many bad guys (*cue eye rolling*).
Also, every single “escape” scene in this movie was basically the same (Oh! Here’s some Pym particles! Oh! I’m going to hit these guards in the same spot! Oh! I found the signal!) It felt so convenient and repetitive and only furthered the idea of how stupid Kang and his army are. I mean, how on earth were they so easy to defeat? And no, I do not care if that’s the point. I do not care if this Kang dying is supposed to show that there Kangs so much worse out there in the multiverse. Marvel could have shown that without totally nerfing this Kang in the process.
CONCLUSION
Clearly, this movie was not for me. That being said, was it entertaining? Yes! Did I laugh a lot? Yes! Did it make sense? Uh … sort of? It was easy to follow and understand, and if you’re looking for a simple, funny movie, you’ll probably love this. But as the first film of Phase 5, Marvel could have set up the new big-bad villain in a much more convincing manner. The only jaw-dropping part of this movie was the last end credit scene because it played on the anticipation that’s been building for a better Marvel project.
It seems Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania is not going to be the film that takes the MCU out of its post-Endgame limbo, but *sighs and screams* I’ll still be waiting outside the theater at the next movie premier, hoping that’s the one that does.