ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton, Bill Murray, and Corey Stoll
Director: Peyton Reed
NICK
Quantumania is the most Star Wars-ish film we've seen in the MCU thus far. In fact, there are clear homages to that franchise within. If this is the Phase Five direction, it's a welcome one; however, it does divert away from a typical Ant-Man film. Gone is a lot of the comedy in favour of showcasing the Quantum Realm and introducing a new "big bad" in Jonathan Majors' Kang, who reclaims much of the terror Thanos brought. This feels like the kick-off to a new saga, and it instills true fear for our heroes as the MCU has found its next villain.
DARRYL
Quantumania, while still entertaining at times, lacks the magic of its predecessors. The original spirit of the characters, the charm of Paul Rudd, and the low stakes of the Ant-Man franchise are absent, leaving viewers with a bleaker tone and lack of goofy charisma they've come to expect. While director Peyton Reed is still taking ambitious swings, a number of ideas don't connect, resulting in a story that doesn't fully live up to its potential. Worth seeing on the biggest screen possible thanks to some of the great visual effects, Quantumania may have viewers continuing to question the overall quality of the post-Endgame world we live in.
QUENTIN
Though enjoyable, Quantumania doesn’t feel like an Ant-Man movie because the heavy “EVENT FILM!” vibe creates a tone that dampens the franchise’s typical lightheartedness. Also, it mostly plays as a prologue, full of Kang (Jonathan Majors) backstory and exposition that sets up the MCU’s next decade. In fact, have you ever read a prequel webcomic that was included as a Blu-Ray special feature? It’s like director Peyton Reed made a movie based on that idea. Seemingly by design, it’s more Multiverse Saga foundation building than a new Ant-Man story. It’s still fun, but overall hindered by the MCU machine. The Star Wars comparisons are apt, though.
JACOB
Jonathan Majors does what he can as Kang to save Quantumania from mediocrity, but ultimately ends up its only true survivor. Unfortunately, the script doesn’t seem terribly interested in its title character, his personal growth, or those who surround him as much as setting up the next "thing." So much of the dialogue is either overly vague or painfully expositional, and most of the jokes don’t really land, either. It also looks terrible, relying far too heavily on green screen (even for a Covid production), which makes its background VFX fall distractingly flat.
AMARÚ
Director Peyton Reed really wanted Quantumania to be an event film, and he succeeds in some aspects. The stakes are much grander, yet there isn’t enough weight to fully fill out the grandiose scope. Still, it’s a great introduction to MCU’s Phase Five, bringing an epic sci-fi feel to a new world that is going to play a major part in The Multiverse Saga. Quantumania is a really big, really weird prelude to what we’re going to be getting, and if performances from Michelle Pfeiffer and Jonathan Majors are any indication, the heaviness is on the way.
ADRIANO
It took a while, but Marvel has finally produced a film that I don’t like. While Quantumania achieves its goal of making me intrigued for the future of the MCU, it doesn't feel like an Ant-Man movie at all. They mostly use Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) as a scapegoat to set-up Kang (Jonathan Majors), and the movie itself takes a while to even introduce him, which makes the first half feel tedious. Once Majors arrives, the movie picks up as he carries the whole thing, but it doesn’t stop the movie from feeling like nothing more than a lifeless exposition machine.
