Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania review: A bonkers Star Wars reboot with bugs
Marvel's Phase Five launches with a hurly burly space opera that's easily the MCU's weirdest film to date
Film Reviews Ant-Man
For better and for worse, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has opted to introduce its new “big bad” to cinemagoers within its goofiest series of films, those of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Following the conclusion of the Infinity Saga (and Phase Three) with Avengers: Endgame, the greater MCU has been biding its time in Phase Four, largely ushering in a hoard of new characters and wandering down CGI-laden rabbit holes rather than concentrating on a cohesive narrative arc. With the arrival of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, however, the mega-franchise pivots to focus on its new antagonist, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror. In some multiverse iteration, it will be Kang who presumably faces off against the Avengers in the Phase Six duology, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars. Kang, who appeared briefly in the finale of Loki, is a deathly serious, multiverse-jumping war lord who spends his time obliterating entire dimensions and pontificating on temporal philosophy. It therefore makes total sense (read: it makes no sense at all) that Kang would get his grand entrance in a film alongside aliens that look like broccoli and recurring butthole jokes.
From its opening montage (set to the Welcome Back, Kotter theme song) in which Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) reads from his memoir (Look Out For The Little Guy) and receives an award at Baskin-Robbins, the film, like its two predecessors, is jokey. And that doesn’t really change when the whole Lang/Pym/Van Dyne clan is sucked by a mysterious force into the Quantum Realm that’s incidentally just a wackier version of the Star Wars universe. (Although, given the infinite multiverses, the real Star Wars does probably exist somewhere within the MCU.)
Our insectile family is split in half during their quantum journey with Team 1, comprised of Ant-Man and his daughter Cassie (now played by Kathryn Newton), landing in a more sloppily created version of Strange World while Team 2, made up of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), crashes on Tatooine in the desert. Team 1 meets a Mos Eisley Cantina Band-esque hoard of alien freedom fighters including William Jackson Harper (from NBC’s The Good Place) and his glowing forehead, a chatty blob of Jell-O, and a more muscular version of the Pixar lamp. Team 2 is met by Tusken Raiders sand nomads and taken to the Quantum Realm equivalent of a Delta Sky Club lounge where they find Janet’s old bestie Krylar (a fun celebrity cameo we won’t spoil). It’s here we learn that Janet and Kang were stranded together in the quantum abyss, trying to escape for many years in Kang’s ship before Janet realized Kang loved genocide and destroyed his power source. Now Kang has sucked Team Ant-Man back into the Quantum Realm in order to finally escape from his purgatory. Of course Lando Calrissian Krylar quickly betrays our heroes, who are hauled off to Coruscant a massive city to face off against Kang and his Stormtroopers henchmen while he tries to launch his Death Star giant, spheric, universe-destroying battleship.
For its entire run time, Quantumania, which, like its predecessors was directed by Peyton Reed, but was penned by Rick and Morty writer and Marvel newbie Jeff Loveness, seems dead set on being both a slapstick comedy and a dramatic space epic. Kang, bolstered by an ominous, award-worthy performance from Majors, is set up to be a Darth Vader Thanos-level horror. But Kang’s scenes are surrounded by those featuring Douglas doofily proclaiming his love for ants and a Humpty Dumpty villain that rivals Jar Jar Binks in ludicrousness. The film is so preposterously disjointed in tone that viewers will struggle to decide if its wild swings are lunacy or genius (or perhaps a combination of both).
Compared to slogs like Thor: Love and Thunder and most of the MCU television shows, however, Quantumania is certainly entertaining from start to finish, and it’s the first film since Endgame with real stakes. Its Star Wars-esque world-building also gives it freshness as it swaps tired superhero tropes for those of sci-fi epics. Of course, Quantumania does suffer from some of the MCU’s recent systemic problems such as an abundance of sloppy green screen work, way too many characters (Lilly has maybe 15 lines in the whole film), and an over-reliance on television show connections. Choosing to hold crucial details for the two post-credit scenes leads to Kang using veiled pronouns and vague language in order to save a (still somewhat confusing) surprise for the audience.
Quantumania’s tone is sure to be polarizing, but if you can surrender yourself to its bonkers A Bug’s Life–meets-Return of the Jedi antics, the two hours (already short for a Marvel film) will fly by. Now we just need Pym to invent some lightsabers for their next trip to a galaxy far far away the multiverse.
(Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opens nationwide February 17)
298 Comments
My gut says that this might be the film that makes a lot of the casual audience starts to check out and things get too confusing and convoluted.We’ve hit Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance of the MCU
I’ve already checked out on all the MCU and DC stuff. Fun ride while it lasted, and hope it’s fun for everyone else still on board, but all the multiverse stuff is a critical mass point where I can go no further.It’s like what the RLM guys were saying about the ‘Parallels’ episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, where introducing parallel universes is fun up until you realize that all these characters you were emotionally invested in (and the choices they made to drive all these stories) don’t actually matter because there’s an infinite number of realities with different or similar outcomes.
Yeah, that is exactly the problem with alternate universe stories but somehow there is a loud contingent of Marvel fans who somehow see that as a good thing.I remember a couple years ago there were a bunch of folks talking about “Oh boy they could get Captain America back if they grab one from another universe” because I guess the enjoyment of these stories isn’t about seeing characters overcome challenges but instead assembling the best team of heroes like you’re collecting action figures.
I heard this idea in context of Star Wars, but I think it still applies.There are a lot of fans who just want movies that are essentially playing with their action figures. And they get annoyed that the movies aren’t that. (Of course, they never will be. They’d be pretty boring movies.)
What a terrible take by the Red Letter team. Shocking, I know, but that argument makes no sense. In “Parallels”, the story is fundamentally a simple one: Worf is going on a zany trip and is just trying to get home.
Yeah, turns out they have a lot of dumb takes.
I’m stunned.
You should craft yourself an Armour of the Eternals….I play too many f’ing video games.
I wish I understood your reference.
It’s an armor you can craft in Divinity: Original Sin II that makes you immune to Stun status effects.
Well, now I’m sorry I asked.
And that Riker from the Borg universe scene was wicked. Also, nice unshowy Wesley cameo, plus Worf flinching when Troi kisses his neck.
It’s a fantastic episode, one of the last truly great ones in the series and rare bright spot in Season 7.
This is what is known as “the comic book problem”–with so many universes and death meaning nothing, it does get very ‘what the hell is the point’ after a while. Of course, so does life, so there’s that…
The thing to remember about comic book logic is that sometimes you wind up writing a story for no better reason than an artist was goofing around and drew something awesome, like a film noir Spider-Man in a porkpie hat. A lot of comics writers fail that challenge, but that doesn’t mean some people won’t love the 4-issue run of the comic where it appears.
Oh 100%—there have been a lot of great stories in comics (even the one-offs like SM: Noir) and a great deal of them seem to come from the ‘wouldn’t it be cool if this happened’? frame of mind. That’s a great example—I know I’ve heard more “I just started doodling and then this cool idea came together”. Like most great comic ideas the ‘alternate universe’ has been pretty much beaten to death at this point (Spider-man saw the X-Men and said hold my beer, basically) but it helps serve as a reminder that it really was a great idea at one point.
I think they’ll be fine.
That’s an interesting take on the liability of a multiverse (or time travel) as a major plot point. For me it’s not the existential meaninglessness it’s that the stories no longer have stakes. Or the stakes are much lower.Need an example… Thanos kills everyone. Just kidding!
If you keep predicting the death of anything (MCU, Baseball, Donald Trump, the Queen of England) you are bound to be right sooner or later.
To be fair, im not saying this is the death of the MCU. Just the move from being the biggest thing in the world exponentially to the biggest thing with competitors in the rear view mirror.
If you keep predicting the death of anything (MCU, Baseball, Donald Trump, the Queen of England) you are bound to be right sooner or later.As backed by science!https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/10/06/we-have-a-pretty-good-idea-of-when-humans-will-go-extinct/(Professor Gott’s principles also applicable to MCU movies. not just the end of the human race.)
But what if we get AI going well enough that they’re still making MCU movies after humans go extinct?
Bro, that’s every film since Endgame, normal people are largely done, it’s just fanboys and folks with no standards (but it looks cool!) who are left.
God I didn’t realize it but yes I kinda feel the same way about this as I did Dream Drop Distance. That made me bow out of the Kingdom Hearts series so we’ll see what happens here.
My gut says that predicting the doom of the superhero film is a really stupid and pointless exercise at this point.
Not predicting doom (though I could predict Doom), just a smaller piece of the cultural pie.
I feel like post Endgame most of us have pretty much checked out and are just watching out of strange sense of obligation.
You guys have been saying this for a decade though
Eh, Ant-Man flicks are the only ones I regularly watch anymore.I think what you’ll see, going forward, is…pretty much what happens with the comics nowadays. Most people read certain titles, and they occasionally check in on other titles or events that feature characters they like.The “everyone sees and consumes absolutely everything we put out” model wasn’t even going to be sustainable, and I don’t think that’s what they’re working toward at this point.
Honestly I saw it last night and liked it MUCH more than this reviewer did. It wasn’t as dark as I was expecting, but you know, it’s an Ant-Man film, and I thought it did a great job of balancing the weirdness with menace from Jonathan Majors. And it may have the most comic-geek head-exploding after-credits scene since Thanos turned around and grinned at the camera after the credits in the Avengers.
I’m casual to full on ‘meh’ when it comes to the MCU. Anything that critics or fans talk about being outside of the cookie cutter mold is a lot more intriguing to me than a standard MCU movie.
Hmmm. Good review, but what I really want to know is: is this in any way like Star Wars?
No, but it does borrow quite a bit from ‘Berlin Alexanderplatz.’
Now THAT would be an especially annoying review to read.
Marvel newbie Jeff LovenessLoveness has been writing comics for Marvel since 2014. I don’t think 9 years = newbie.
Time is relative.Until Jeff Loveness has been writing for Marvel for 83 years, he will always be a newbie to me.
And the reviewer was CLEARLY talking about movies, not comics.Hey, look at that! Feature film debut.
I very much enjoyed the latest Spiderman and Doctor Strange movies, but mostly haven’t enjoyed a lot of Marvel lately. I am still excited to see what they do with Kang. Evangeline Lilly is awesome.Speaking of super heroe movies: the latest animated movie from DC was pretty good IMO. Legion of Super Heroes.
#1: Kang PREDATES Darth Vader. #2: Put some respect on MODOK’s name, you son of a bitch!
Is MODOK the “Humpty Dumpty” villain the review refers to?
Movie Oddball Designed Only for Komedy
Always fun to see something be accused of ripping off something that is itself a patchwork of ripoffs.
You can still very easily ripoff another ripoff.
I had a friend who didn’t want to see Dune because Star Wars already did the whole desert planet years ago and it was just a rip off.
But a ripoff of Star Wars where everyone takes drugs, man. Far out! [Snorts melange off crysknife]
what are you talking aboutKang was introduced in 1963Darth Vader is from a long time ago
Hmmm … Nathaniel Richards is from the future and travels back to the past (and then I think back to the future). Darth Vader is simply from “a long time ago …”So are we sure Kang predates Darth?
Technically Kang is from the future.
Yes, that’s what I wrote.
Now wait just a…d‘oh!
It’s a conundrum.
When I watched The Northman, I thought, “Wow the plot of this movie really reminds me of Hamlet. They barely even changed the character’s name (Amleth).” In fact, the story of Amleth predates Hamlet and was likely an inspiration for Hamlet. But how many people know Hamlet compared to Amleth? How many people know Darth Vader compared to Kang the Conqueror (was he from a Conan movie?)?
At this point, most people know Kang best from his many appearances on The Simpsons Halloween specials.
I thought this was Kang (pictured left).
That’s President Kang, not Kang the Conqueror.
Too bad, otherwise this is an easy fix.
Don’t blame me Freddie. I voted for Kodoss.
I’ve seen every MCU film in theatres but this is going to be the one to break the streak. Nothing about this film looks interesting to me. It’s just all bubblegum CGI.
The last MCU movie I saw in the cinemas was Doctor Strange 2. And this one just looks convoluted, and even though I watched Loki, I have no idea what Kang is supposed to be and do.
If it helps, literally none of that should affect your viewing of this movie. You don’t need to know or have seen Loki, and honestly for a movie regarding a being who can time/multiverse-travel, that particular aspect of his character never plays a part in this film. And I’m pretty sure I could pare the plot of this down to one, easy sentence and you’d have no trouble understanding–which is my roundabout way of saying the plot is WAY more straightforward than even the trailers would lead you to believe. And as a bonus, it trucks right along and comes in at under 2-hours (not counting the credits–which seemed super-long for some reason).Now, if you did watch Loki then it enriches the story some.
I hated Doctor Strange 2 from start to finish. I had some issues with Quantumania, but it’s much, much better.
When I stopped watching football, I never felt the need to explain to people how it’s stupid now and I’m too sophisticated to spend my time on it.Why can’t people just stop doing things or watching things they aren’t as interested in anymore? Why the need to burn the house down when they decide to leave the party.And I say this as someone who’s watched maybe 4 Marvel movies, so I’m not fanboi-ing.
I’m assuming the fun cameo that you won’t spoil is the cameo literally spoiled in the trailer
And by the actor who broke the news of his being in this movie, like, two years ago.
And who is literally fifth billed on top of the poster!
This promotional image is so baffling to me.It looks like the green screen we used to use on our televised morning announcements in high-school. You can’t even see their feet ROFL. This is top dollar?
I assume they gave Evangeline that hairuct to distract from the horrible CGI?
Filming in the actual quantum realm is expensive.Is it really that funny that their feet aren’t in frame?
not as funny as that HILARIOUS quantum realm joke that everyone makes. it looks like shit, full stop.
Do they really? Huh. I was just pointing out that you can’t exactly film this on location. What other choice is there than green screen? I didn’t comment on the quality of it at all.
no offence i’ve just read the ‘well they can’t go and film in the quantum realm’ about 100 times online already. it’s a stupid point. they film warehouse scenes against greenscreen (and they look bad too!)the point isn’t ‘why doesn’t this look like the real-life quantum realm?’ the point is ‘why does this 300 million dollar movie look like shit?’they had the freedom to make it look like anything and they made it look like muddled nothing. spider-man homecoming was filmed atlanta-for-new york but at least both things look like a city.
“I’m outraged by the low quality of this random screenshot of a YouTube video!”
well it extends to everything i’ve seen from the rest of the movie, it’s not purely isolated to this screenshot. they couldn’t film guardians 3 in space, either, but what i’ve seen of it looks great. i can’t say the same for the ant man 3 marketing.
no offence i’ve just read the ‘well they can’t go and film in the quantum realm’ about 100 times online already. You might be spending too much time reading about Ant-Man online.
well that’s almost certainly true but it’s too late now.
‘”Do they really? Huh. I was just pointing out that you can’t exactly film this on location. What other choice is there than green screen? I didn’t comment on the quality of it at all.”’I’m not sure if they’re using it or not but there was a 360° specially designed sound stage created for the Mandalorian, which would have allowed them to do their special effects in camera and by extension they could adjust the camera’s height, distance, and angle and film their feet as well.
I transcribed a few interviews with folks in this, and one of them did mention working on a Volume set.
It looked fine with 3D goggles on tbh.
It’s not a great shot (dark, muddy colors, lack of depth/set makes the greenscreen stand out), but “you can’t see their feet” is an absolutely bizarre complaint.
Have you ever seen another film? Feet are always visible, all the time!
yeah but its only expensive because of all the taxes they make you pay there. wearing Puffy director pants, not wearing puffy director pant. they’ll drain production as much as they can. plus you have to approve any representations with the quantum realms culture minister it’s a whole thing.
What is this… a promotional image for ants??
First you complain that Mr. Peanut has feet, then you complain that you can’t see CGI’d human feet, you’re like a schizophrenic Quentin Tarantino!
First you complain that Mr. Peanut has feet, then you complain that you can’t see CGI’d human feet, you’re like a schizophrenic Quentin Tarantino!
whoops so nice it posted twice
That’s no small feat
I thought the baffling part was Evangeline Lilly’s hairdo…
The longer her hair the more receptive it is to vaccine shedding so she had to cut it short.
honestly it’s probably not green screen at all. These days they shoot most things inside their giant dome of video screens
Top dollar for an Ant-Man movie? They’re saving up for Secret Wars.
Their feet got sent to another dimension, or something. I’m lost.
Sorry for the cropping, Mr Tarantino.
Looks ridiculous.
It looks nothing like whatever you used in high school, and why the fuck would you expect to see their feet? That would place them so far back in the frame you’d barely see their faces.
You had televised morning announcements in high-school? Wow that’s wild. We didn’t get anything like that at all when I was at school.
The rich schools got them in, I want to say, the late ‘90s. Now it’s pretty common. They showed ‘em in the MCU Spider-Man films (and the extras on the first two Blu-Rays actually have a lot of hilarious cut scenes of morning IV announcements).
We did. My friend was in charge of editing them, and he put in a picture of himself at the end with his name and the year of his birth – current year, just to make the school think for 15 minutes that he had died. I’m pretty sure you couldn’t see his feet, either.
I feel so old now, Uselessbeauty.
And given how much Disney wants to continue cutting budgets, combined with the pittance they already pay their post houses, combined with the batshit time frames they demand, it’s n0t bound to get any better.It’s almost like we should stop making these giant fuck-off FX spectacles…
I was assuming their was a Rob Liefeld doesn’t draw feet reference/joke there, but judging by the responses, if there was I was the only one that saw it that way.
SFX have never been realistic. Use your fucking imagination, kid.
INORITE?
And look at this one!
That’s not Bespin, it’s a painting! And they didn’t even bother to show Darth’s feet! Or his whole lower half! Ow, my sides!
You know what makes movie posters really pop??? Stars so far away that you can see their feet, but their faces are tiny.
“Sir, you, uh, you really want to use this still for the promo?”“It’s fine, we know what the characters look like, we don’t need to see their damn suits.”
Just saw this on an airplane, and even that was a sketchy investment of time on this product. The feet missing, though, concerned me more when watching the dancing scenes in La La Land.
I have no idea how good or bad this movie is on its own merits because the reviewer was so occupied with playing some personal game. I’ve seen the Star Wars trilogy once and countless other movies. I’ve got a pretty good grasp on the Marvel “universe.” Is this movie entertaining if you’re not playing “spot the reference?”
The reviewer decides to lay out WAY too much of the plot to play the Star Wars matching game, while avoiding “spoilers” that haven’t been spoilers for months (ie. who “Krylar” is). And ultimately says very little about the actual movie’s merits.
No, it’s not. It’s Marvel. You’ll have forgotten everything that happened five seconds after you leave the theater.
Yeah all that seems like something that could have been written for a separate column. I’m not even sure after reading that if the “inspiration” from SW is supposed to be a bad thing.
It didn’t feel like any judgment was being applied to the similarities, nor should there necessarily BE any. It’s just stating that the movie follows a lot of the same beats. If you like Star Wars you’ll probably like this. Unless you’re eager for NOT Star Wars, in which case maybe you won’t.
Yup. They’ve started to write their reviews like their clickbait, I mean, “news.”
The AV Club died years ago. You can’t expect much from the corpse.
And yet people still come here to kick that dead horse. And then bitch about the smell.
“And yet people still come here to kick that dead horse. And then bitch about the smell.”— the A.V. Club
Oh I miss these!!!
Same. I wanted to learn about this movie, and my goodness, was this review just obnoxious.
I think it’s just snark, like all long running popular franchises get when they dont flip the formula every movie…critics get bored of covering them. Yes, there a decent cgi fest to good time in the movie with some great and outstanding outliners. They are mass market and not ever too awful on paper, just a few really have a bad time with some but yes on paper there fine even the worst ones…well some outliners are awful but still. So i get the snark, but yeah you can go somewhere else for what makes the movie watchable if you like this sorta action flick. Seems it’s weird, funny, and short, with a see you next time sorta tie in since this isnt the last of kang, but a decent time if you like cool effects and enjoy a fun romp. I think if your looking for some deep discussion on the woes of man and humanity while someone cries that the world is so different you should go watch idk the last of us just joking by the way.
Obviously there’s some point being made here about the similarities, but I’m gonna call a slight bit of bullshit on your read of the review. There is substance here if you aren’t distracted by the snark.
I thought this was the best written review since AA and Ignaty left.
AA Dowd hated this film and I count that as the real AV Club review. Whatever this is is very confusing…
It’s a kind of entertaining?
When they originally teased and built up Thanos (the original “Thanos-level villain”) they kept it to things like the post-credits of the Avengers and that scene in GOTG. This just feels so forced “here’s the villain were telling you to get ready to love in our Avengers film! It’ll be just like Thanos”. It just feels like its trying very hard to make me care about Kang.They didn’t know for sure that they would get as far as Thanos but here it feels like they are assuming all of these films will be successful. I miss the uncertainty of a younger MCU when stuff like Thanos was sprinkled in as an early maybe we go that route if the years are kind to us. Not like this…
Now that they are all-in on the multi-verse, Kang is a character they can re-introduce multiple times with different personalities, hoping that is equal to character development. I expect it will result in a mostly flat character that acts more like a MacGuffin than an actually developing character we can follow, like Tony Stark & Thor have been. I quite on paying theater money after End Game and I’m pretty happy with that decision so far.
I support your thesis. The Infinity Stones run was so expertly paced with nice little nuggets pepper throughout and post-credit scenes that sometimes made us say, “WHAT?!” We were deep into Phase 2 before we even realized Thanos and the stones was the big picture.
But here’s Marvel, announcing the next two Avengers films in Phase 6 before Phase 4 is even over. I don’t understand why they’ve forgotten how to build hype.That, or the entire franchise is just too Balkanized now
I’m of the opinion that Disney stockholders told Feige to get to an Avengers team up movie faster than planned to make up for Covid.
I agree with everything your saying but Phase 4 ended last year, we’re in Phase 5 now.
Oh I know! I’m saying as early as Phase 4 they were already revealing the Kang and Secret Wars are the big issues all the way at the end of the saga.
During Phases 1-3 we had to parse out what was happening and it was more exciting.
“But here’s Marvel, announcing the next two Avengers films in Phase 6 before Phase 4 is even over. I don’t understand why they’ve forgotten how to build hype.”
Yeah, because this is the first time they’ve had a LONG timeline ahead, right?
The thing with the first decade of the MCU is while its all interconnected now, they were making that shit as they went along. They would pop teasers in and such at the end of other movies to build interconnected stories but they had no idea what those stories were going to be. They literally didn’t figure out where all the Infinity Stones were and which were which until they started writing Infinity War. Apperently during Guardians of the Galaxy they changed the stone color in post because they kept trying to decide which one it was. Basically it was all smoke and mirrors until it came together.
Right? The “Avengers Initiative” started as a cool little easter egg/joke at the end of ‘Iron Man’ that only gained traction due to how wildly successful it ended up being. Hell, Sam Jackson was just an “in joke” casting due to the Ultimate Comics Nick Fury being modeled after Sam Jackson)…and then the Hulk came close to killing that due to not being good.People forge that just two movies in, Marvel had it’s first dud—and replaced the actor in later films, which to me hasn’t gotten nearly the kudos it deserved, since replacing a freaking founding Avenger in the actual Avengers movie is a move no one could have predicted would be successful. It’s not like they haven’t dealt with adversity on the build up to major events before, is my point.
“The thing with the first decade of the MCU is while its all interconnected now, they were making that shit as they went along.”
Exactly. The movies from the last few years are basically littered with little, mini retcons (ie. the infinity gauntlet in Thor).
And if they’d introduced Kang the way they introduced Thanos you’d be bitching that it was the same.
we know bill murray’s in it. his name is on the poster and he’s been in a trailer.
At this point, with ol’ Murray’s recent reputation taking a hammering, I’ve been actively surprised HOW MUCH he’s been included in promotional material for this.
“Lilly has maybe 15 lines in the whole film”
Take that anti-vaxxer
Use this doll to show us where the Marvel movie hurt you.
It therefore makes total sense (read: it makes no sense at all) that Kang would get his grand entrance in a film alongside aliens that look like broccoli and recurring butthole jokes.Gasp. I can’t believe they didn’t give a character with aliases like “Victor Timely,” “Kang the Conglomerator,” and “Kid Immortus” the dignified and deadly serious cinematic entrance he deserves. Don’t they know they’re adapting comic books?? Show some joke-free respect, people.
well i think the issue is that he DOES get a deadly serious cinematic entrance.
“For better and for worse, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has opted to introduce its new “big bad” to cinemagoers within its goofiest series of films, those of Ant-Man and the Wasp.”
And they introduced Thanos in Guardians Vol. 1. So what?
They introduced Thanos in the post-credits scene of The Avengers. But he was a full character and had actual screen time in GotG1.
you see the difference is that old movies good and new movies bad
he appears in one scene of GOTG1 and never comes back in any meaningful way until Infinity War
Also a version of Kang has already been introduced in the MCU (on Loki) so not sure what this review is even talking about.
And I remember him being a punch line for years up until Infinity War came out.Remember all the hot takes about how all Thanos did in Guardians was sit on his throne?
Yes. Sorry I meant more along the lines of “introduced” as in beyond just that stinger at the end of Avengers. Guardians showed you who he was, what he was about, what his goal was, etc.
Tech Kang was introed in Loki and Thanos Avengers 1 but you are correct. final boss level intros are never “epic” in movies/TV.
Where do I go for a review that doesn’t recount the film scene by scene?
Oh noes, did someone spoil the bog standard MCU plot for you?!? In other news, the movie has an excess of shitty CGI.
Yea it’s not the best, though I found it better than most of the TV reviews, which are really just recaps at this point.
Is there a sense that Lilly’s part has been cut down because of the stupid shit she has said about vaccines and stuff? I was surprised when they went all in on Shuri (especially given who she was replacing), but Wasp has not been made crucial to MCU designs in the same way. Have they even decided exactly who is in the Avengers yet? Are they drafting a few Eternals here, a few Thunderbolts there yet to be named?
That wig has got to be some kind of revenge on her.
I think she buzzed her head to play a cancer patient in a movie with Jason Sudeikis that nobody saw
I head she finally got the vaccine and then her hair fell out 😉
i think it would be nice if cause and effect worked that way, but i doubt it. probably just good old fashioned sexism.
I dunno mebbe, but with new Black Widow, new girl Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Riri Williams, and anti-vaxxer Black Panther it seems like they have a pretty good contingent of dem wimmins…it seems like they are actively reducing her role and there’s one good reason why they’d do that (also they have Kathryn Newton on the IMDB page for the next two Avengers movies already, with Paul Rudd…conspicuously absent is Evie)I’m seeing this, because even if Thor: Love and Thunder was inexplicably messy I still like the MCU, but if the main plot per the trailer is Ant-Man trusting somebody who is obviously evil to “turn back time…find a way” then I wish they had a better hook.
i’m seeing it because i saw all the other crap and i’m stuck here.
lol too right
IMDb information is meaningless. Anyone can edit that.
Is that one good reason: “she’s the Wasp and seriously who cares?”
Well, part of why her role seems small is because Janet and Cassie have a lot to do. I think there’s a case to be made that Janet is the Wasp who has title billing here.
It’s only matter of time before Marvel catches up with the rest of the world and forgets that they ever even made the Eternals.
I mean…I don’t want to sound like an anti-woke POS, but it was pretty underwhelming, just because they have some solid people under contract doesn’t mean they shouldn’t maybe leave it at that. I really did like The Rider (I found Nomadland a tiny bit problematic with its Amazon sponsorship) and think Chloe Zhao is very talented, but it was an awkward marriage
the low-key worst part about eternals is how many great actors it wasted on those characters.
The thing with the MCU being so interconnected was always going to be what happens if one of the films didn’t land as hard as the others, how do you drop the new characters you’ve introduced.
Because they just introduced the Eternals into the MCU without doing the usual bringing them in or at least hinting at their existence in the other films they didn’t really feel connected, plus the whole thing of where were they when Thanos came calling, they probably could get away with never mentioning them again.
The number of new characters that they have introduced since Endgame and that are coming along in phase 6, Kang could potentially be facing a army sized Avengers team anyway.
Pretty much every movie suffers from the “where the hell is everybody else?” effect after The Avengers, though. The movies don’t get the same luxury of ‘comic-book logic’ by explaining that “Everyone else is busy with their own stuff, so that’s why it’s up to you and you alone, Squirrel-Girl, to stop Galactus!”
Good point and very good user name.
“The movies don’t get the same luxury of ‘comic-book logic’ by explaining that “Everyone else is busy with their own stuff, so that’s why it’s up to you and you alone, Squirrel-Girl, to stop Galactus!””
1) Says who?2) Why not?
Eternals had what used to be the DCU problem of having too many heroes and not enough time to properly introduce them to give the story any weight (looking at you Black Adam)—I guess the ‘names’ in it were too big for this to happen, but Eternals is the only MCU film I’ve seen where I thought it would have (maybe) worked better as a 6-8 hour-long episode D+ show.
At least acknowledge the giant hand sticking out of the Earth!
I have it on good authority the Thunderbolts are only giving up draft picks in their Avengers trade. Any Eternals will be non-roster invitees to Spring Training.I think with Wright they were facing multiple bad situations (already having to change plans once after Boseman’s death, the fact that there were already expectations out there about Shuri eventually becoming Black Panther because of the comics, Wright’s thing coming up fairly late in Wakanda Forever’s development). With Lilly, I think her anti-vax stuff came out after the movie finished shooting, but otherwise there’s no downside to diminishing her role. She’s not even the best Wasp in the movie…But I think the bigger thing is that it seems that a decent chunk of the acting population are anti-vax, and that it’s not a fight Disney is willing to pick with conservatives, even though they’ll still complain that the effects are crappy and that “you can’t see their feet” in a publicity photo, anyway.
I assume you mean Lilly’s anti-vax stuff coming out after the FIRST movie finished shooting. Because she was very much on the front lines of that bullshit. (And so casual about the risks she was taking with her kids.)
If you think the Eternals are dark horses for A-Team tryouts, remember New Mutants? Does anyone? I’m sure Feig is thrilled that if they want to put Anya Taylor-Joy into Avengers, her character will be carrying around a stuffed dragon and a history of racist statements.Could be that the anti-mandate rally Lilly attended was after shooting, but she’d said some other dumb shit pretty early in the pandemic so everybody knew what was up already.
her character will be carrying around a stuffed dragon and a history of racist statements Ok that made me audibly lol. Excellent work. Take the rest of the day off, you earned it.
If a tree makes racist statements about Native Americans in the forest, and nobody hears it, did it make a sound?On a related note, I didn’t hear about Lilly’s anti-vax stuff early in the pandemic—funny the extent that she’s been allowed to fly under the radar with this, while Wright hasn’t been.
I think it’s a bigger deal with Wright. She’s fully replacing somebody that was a shining light for the black community and she’s urging them into harm’s way. And now what if she runs away with Ye? Or visits Gay Paree with Kyrie? Wtf is Marvel going to do, have her die on the way back to her home planet?Meanwhile, I think that Lilly has been able to get away with it is kind of a sign of how completely not taken seriously she is and how she keeps making further argument that this is the correct choice.
Yeah, and one of the big deals after BP1 was that her character was a role model for science and girls of color. As for the possibility of Ye and Kyrie follies, I think she’s a slightly different, more evangical brand of conspiracy nutbag than they are, but the answer to that is the answer they should’ve gone with in the first place: I presume that Michael B. Jordan has a driveway, large enough for Disney to back up a truck full of money to his house. If Creed III doesn’t suck, maybe they consider backing up a second truck and letting him direct, as a sweetener. And then he plays Multiverse T’Challa, and Shuri…has a very important research project that’s keeping her very busy for the next several movies? Is busy fighting whatever CGI nothings Kang uses as his minions, somewhere far away from where everyone else is fighting? Whatever.
Meanwhile DC is out here just praying that Ezra Miller doesn’t outright murder anyone before June.
“funny the extent that she’s been allowed to fly under the radar with this, while Wright hasn’t been.”
Yeah, it *is* weird that the person taking up the mantle of Black Panther has gotten more attention than a supporting character in a small part of the MCU that barely even has anything to do with the larger MCU.
VERY weird, right? Oh, it’s not at all? Huh…
Not seeing feet has a long history in comics.
If her inability to act hasn’t reduced her screentime, I can’t imagine her views would have.
I mean, this really feels like the answer. Also the question feels like “yeah, Batman is great and all, but why wasn’t there more Robin”–2nd fiddle is 2nd fiddle.
With all the new young characters that fit into the Young Avengers, I’d assume it’s just because they want to forefront Cassie Lang, and if that’s going to eat into another characters screentime it’s going to be Lilly’s Wasp. The next crop of Avengers is clearly going to be a similar to the Young Avengers roster at this point, and they never did much to highlight Wasp to begin with, even before Lilly said some stupid shit. The simple reality and economics of it is that Marvel Studio’s has to start turning over their older cast for cheaper, younger actors willing to take a 3+ movie contract.
I don’t think so—she was always the Robin in this scenario, and its’ an Ant-Man movie. She’s good in it and has the right amount of scenes in my opinion—all they could have really added were some emotional back-story stuff with her and her mom (and Michelle Pfeiffer is surprisingly good in this—and still incredibly beautiful) which would not have fit the film. Maybe they could save that for Marvel’s first stab at an emotional and sad Disney+ MCU series!
“(Lilly has maybe 15 lines in the whole film)“
SHE’S A TITLE CHARACTER!
Madness. By all rights, it should have been “Ant-Man”, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and then “The Wasp”, but now she’s shuffled off to the side?
BOOOOOOO.
way too many characters […] and an over-reliance on television show connectionsSee this is why I’m not gonna see this one. It’s like a college course that looks really interesting but has like 19 prerequisites that are way outside my major.
Unless Loki himself appears in this film, I don’t think the show is really a prerequisite, but rather just the reviewer is the kind of person who gets offended by the existence of inside jokes.
Introducing the main villain of your giant blockbuster in a middling tv show is more than an “inside joke.”
Not the same guy.
This is a really strange definition of “inside joke.”
In this case: Minor reference that means a great deal to people who know the context but doesn’t stop others from understanding what else is happening around it.
I’m glad that I stopped paying attention to Marvel after Endgame. It all seems just so exhausting to keep up with anymore.
See, I would argue that there have been some pretty fun projects since Endgame but… yeah, you’re probably best to have stopped then.I’m still watching these things because I still like to see a superhero fight a supervillain or whatever and I get a kick out of seeing how they adapt certain characters / stories but I’m definitely not nearly as excited or as invested as I used to be.
WandaVision and the Loki series sounded interesting, but I would have to feed the Mouse via subscription in order to watch them, and that’s a bridge too far for me. And now it seems like they’re leaning hard into the notion that you need to have consumed all of the Marvel content in order to get the most out of each new element. It all starts to seem too much like homework.
Eh, I’m actually not sure that’s entirely true. As somebody who has more or less watched everything over the last few years, most of them have gone unreferenced and even when something is referenced or a character does show up, it has generally just been an interesting nod to something that isn’t needed to enjoy the movie or they receive a brief introduction.Like, for instance, I’ll bet that even though Captain Marvel 2 features Monica Rambeau from Wandavision and Kamala Khan from Miss Marvel, they’ll still introduce them within the film in a way that it’s not necessary to have watched the shows. From a business perspective, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to alienate so much of the potential moviegoing audience to require knowledge of the TV shows. Linking everything together is a carrot on a stick that works well for a certain segment of their audience but they know that each work still needs to be enjoyable for the folks who just want to watch a big flash movie on their date night.
This one is the same. Seeing Loki (which I highly recommend as it was the highlight of the TV stuff for me) enriches the character, so you get a little bit of knowledge when he first appears on screen. The trick will be getting people to understand this isn’t the same character that’s on that show. Or, it is and it isn’t, which…yeah, it’s gonna get confusing. And, of course, there’s always the chance with the theories floating around that this is THE exact same character that ends up on Loki. Honestly it’s already a little exhausting and we’re two appearances in…such is Kang.
It’s also gotten so convoluted and extensive that I can’t imagine the movies are attracting a new audience at this point. Which presumably leaves them hoping to hang on to what they have?
well and to that point, the movies out this year are two threequels and a movie that is a sequel to both a movie and a tv series. tough to bring anyone new in with that!
They’re probably refreshing the young kid audience as children come of age. If for no other reason than parents need something to take the kids to. (If people even still do that nowadays….)
“Okay son, we have 25 movies to get through to catch you up so clear your schedule for the next 8 months.”
They’re kids, they could knock off 3-5 a day. What else are they gonna do?
Oh no! Some poor kid is going to watch 25 different movies instead of their favorite movie every day for4 months straight (twice a day on weekends)?
Kids will watch stuff without context. I got into Police Academy with Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach (an underrated entry in the series). Wasn’t confused for a second.
while I realize this isn’t quite the same thing, I can’t really describe with any accuracy what a great joy it was to take my then 8-year-old to see The Avengers on the big screen. I thought I loved it, but he experienced that movie in a way I’m not capable of anymore. My point being there will be new fans, while older ones miss ‘the good old days’, new fans will still be catching up and (you know, provided the product is good enough) wanting to see new things in theaters. I doubt that the MCU will ever reach Infinity War/Endgame heights again, but it could come pretty close if done well.
Same. I skipped most of the TV shows and, while I’ve seen the last several movies (Dr. Strange, Thor 4, Wakanda), they were all consistently weak enough to basically kill (or at least seriously maim) my continued interest in the franchise.
It’s just not been good at all. All these post endgame movies have been mediocre. Even Thor was dull. I eagerly await the x-men movies and hopefully they can do something different with kit harrington and black knight.
I think if I had not disliked the movies following Endgame–which, “dislike” is a very generous word for my feelings about Strange and Thor–then I would at the very least also be exhausted trying to jump from movie to show to movie to show.
I love this idea that it’s somehow exhausting to have to watch a limited series in the six-month lead-up to the next upcoming movie.
The thing is that so far none of the films have really needed more than one prerequisite show and usually they also explain what happened in the show as part of the introduction. Dr Strange: MOM only needed WandaVision knowledge (surprisingly, I figured Loki would show up somewhere in it) heck for this one you don’t actually even need to have seen Loki since the Kangs involved are different characters.
the MCU shows / movies seem to function much the same way the films do. when things crossover you get more out of it if you have seen the other material but it is not required reading unless it is a straight sequel.
Exactly.Even in MoM, they explain that the Darkhold has corrupted Wanda & that she did something involving kids she doesn’t really have. That’s genuinely all you need from WandaVision for the film to make sense.
Dr Strange: MOM only needed WandaVision knowledgeOK but what does WV need? I don’t know who Wanda and Vision are (and I only very recently learned that “Vision” was a character name). And maybe WV doesn’t NEED any prereqs but surely there are references and callbacks, which means I ought to see X and Y and Z and now we’re talking about all this homework for a franchise I am only intermittently curious about.I mean, I get why they do this—to some extent the same structure has the opposite effect on people who want to see the less interesting stuff for the sake of completion and avoiding FOMO. Maybe MODOK doesn’t appeal to you, but you might as well check it out if it’s the only thing you haven’t seen yet.I watched everything up through Winter Soldier or so and then saw Ant-Man and Black Panther since they especially appealed, but I haven’t caught anything between or since, and as it gets more and more sprawling, the less I’m motivated to get back in there.
to be clear you don’t even really need to watch WV for MOM. you just get more out of it. Also WV really doesn’t need any prior reading to enjoy. that’s the thing with the MCU that works so well. You get more value from watching more of the content but you also don’t need to watch much else to enjoy the individual films. No Way Home technically has 11 films needed to “get all of it” but really you don’t need anything but Homecoming and Far From Home to enjoy the movie, which is fair since it’s the 3rd film in a trilogy.
They have balanced this extraordinarily well to this point. Honestly to an impressive degree. But, like the comics universes, it’s gonna get messier as they go for sure. Though at this point for someone like me with the background of growing up reading about all of these characters, and then seeing every MCU movie at least once, it’s very hard to even imagine what a person that’s never seen a single MCU movie might think if they started with this movie.
“OK but what does WV need? I don’t know who Wanda and Vision are (and I only very recently learned that “Vision” was a character name).’
What it needs is for you not to start your comment with such bullshit disingenousness.
It’s a bit of catch 22, since MCU movies generally have bland, predictable action plots gussied up with convoluted mythology. So you could easily skip the mythology “pre-reqs” and jump right in… but then it’s just a bland, predictable action movie.
I genuinely can’t fathom deciding whether to see a movie based on a fuckin AV Club review.
While I’m really looking forward to this I feel like Marvel and Feige are in the middle of some light course correction, and stuff that was already in the bag will be caught in the crosshairs slightly
For some reason I’m looking forward to this much more than the last couple of Marvel films I saw. The shortish run time doesn’t hurt and I feel like Ant Man hasn’t been shoved down our throats as much as some other heroes. I also don’t have super high expectations, I just need something fairly entertaining.
SPOILER: this scene didn’t make the final cut but it’s integral to the plot.
Marvel’s Phase Five launches with a hurly burly space opera that’s easily the MCU’s weirdest film to date*hurly-burly
There was no real need to summarize the entire plot of the movie simply to extend the comparison of this movie to Star Wars. It also is funny that the one thing this review didn’t actively try to spoil was who is playing Krylar, which is not something the movie is trying to hide at all (the actor is listed in main credits and was shown in trailers).I mean I read the majority of this review and it makes it seem like the reviewer found it awful. But then I see stuff like Majors being lauded for an award-worthy performance and that the movie is entertaining and has worthwhile stakes…and I have no idea what to think.
I had exactly the same response to the article. I bugged out halfway through the summarization of the plot because I could see he wasn’t gonna stop. And, while I respect any critic who does try to keep ‘cameos’ under wraps, it just reveals he just hasn’t been paying attention to the marketing campaign.
It was fine for a one-off joke but it took beating a joke into the ground to whole new levels. Holy shit.
“title of your sex tape!”
I’m glad I’m not the only one who was like “We all know who Krylar is, they were in the marketing campaign, why are you trying to hide it”?
I don’t think it’s that complicated. There are good elements to the movie (Majors, the stakes, the tone) and bad elements (too similar to Star Wars plot beats). They gave it a B- grade, which says to me, “This is pretty good! But not great.”
It doesn’t seem to me like the reviewer hated the Star Wars plot though – they describe the movie as entertaining from start to finish.
Sure, but some people value novelty. I don’t personally think there’s merit or lack thereof to novelty but it does seem like the similarities are a knock in the review. You can enjoy a plot and still think it’s overdone.
Yeah, save that shit for letterboxd.
The comparison is apt (though very poorly done in this review, I’ll grant you)–it really does feel more like a Star Wars movie (one of the good ones, mind you) with it’s creativeness and over arcing plot. I personally enjoyed it a lot–it’s got the humor of the Ant-Man films woven through without being distracting or feeling forced (you know, like the good Star Wars movies managed) and Jonathan Majors still turns in an epic, menacing performance. And the end credit scenes (both of them) are pretty damn intriguing.
Hey, maybe you should give away tons of the plot in your review. That’s what’s been missing from AVC.
So, I saw the clip of Kang’s lackey telling the Ant-Man crew that they were “from above”. Combined with the shots of massing armies and the like, tell me how this isn’t going to be Tron Legacy but without the Daft Punk soundtrack please?
“Outsiders assist rebels in overthrowing corrupt leader”? That plot? I have some really bad news if you think the sequel to Tron introduced that storyline.
The list of movies where someone was shrunk into a microscopic world by a technological mishap to get to where the dictator was is a much smaller one.
The list of movies where someone was shrunk into a microscopic world by a technological mishap to get to where the dictator was is a much smaller one.
I’m at the point where I know I don’t like these things, but the marketing is still good at tempting me to check it out. But I know I’m just gonna be bored for 2 hours.
MCU is usually at its best when it realizes it can just get weird as shit and that’s most of the fun. So I am pumped as hell for this.
That is exactly what makes this film fun–it is nuts, and manages to be fun even with Jonathan Majors exuding menace as Kang. This one really hit all the right notes for me, so I’m genuinely surprised by all the so-so reviews.
I’m kind of at that point where I just don’t know what people want from a “comic book universe but on large and small screens” thing like the MCU. This is what you get. This is comic books. THIS IS WHAT THEY DO. Anytime I ask people who dislike these movies without seeing them what they want it to be, they just shrug and snarkily say “For it to be good.” Christ.
I also really just need public education worldwide to really, really ingrain in people “You are a different person than you were 5-10 years ago and don’t interact with media in the same way.” People’s expectations are, frankly, kinda dumb.
Maybe this isn’t the best MCU movie, but it absolutely looks like what I want out of a story about Ant-Man going to the goddamn quantum realm.
I don’t get all the negative attitude about this movie. It’s exactly what I wanted out of a film that has Kang and MODOK. I had a blast.
Seems like the reviewer was really stretching things trying say the movie was Star Wars.
Legend tells, that the original draft of this review even included the immortal line:
“Though many of the typical Marvel jokey interactions aren’t particularly BLUE, you will HARVEST many chuckles during the runtime”
> Janet’s old bestie Krylar (a fun celebrity cameo we won’t spoil)Didn’t they spoil the cameo in the trailer for this movie? I don’t know what a Krylar is, but I do know that Bill Murray is in this. (Unless maybe Krylar is the Cuban guy from the I Think You Should Leave focus group sketch.)
Calling it now. Kang is a paper tiger for queueing up Doom (possibly with some wild mash-up adventure that’s lets them roll out all the celeb cameos).
Wow, for someone who doesn’t give a f**k about Star Wars, this was the most insufferable and obnoxious AVClub review in some time- which is saying a lot.Also, it says everything about the total comprehension of the reviewer and the snarky tone, when so much of George Lucas’s work was taken outright from Marvel architect Jack Kirby’s New Gods/Fourth World Saga which predates Star Wars and was published in the early 70s’. A villain literally named Darkseid, his son raised by a bearded mentor who struggles to resist his dark nature, characters like “Mark Moonrider”, light swords, the great ancient power called, yes, “The Source”, it goes on and on. Also, this reviewer is obviously knocking the humpty-dumpty like MODOK.. wow. I’m reminded of that line in Glengarry Glen Ross: Don’t open your mouth if you don’t know the score.
Always stars for GGR references.
While it’s true that Lucas took a lot of ideas from comics, it’s also true that comic book movies take of ideas from George Lucas. His representation of those ideas on film was very influential, even if the ideas weren’t completely original. Jack Kirby didn’t exactly invent mythology either.
YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH
Agreed with the MODOK part, because he’s awesome and worth the price of admission alone.
Probably like the recent few MCU movies, I’ll wait until it’s streaming for free, try to watch it, and punch out around 2/3 in.
Don’t miss the extra scenes!
“Quantumania is certainly entertaining from start to finish”That’s enough for me, and already makes it better than most (all?) of Phase 4.
Now I’ve seen it, and that is an accurate, one-line review.
“Kang, who appeared briefly in the finale of Loki”
He monologues for half an hour the heck are you talking about?
Also, I can’t imagine anything I want to watch less than a B plot following all the Ant-Man characters who aren’t Paul Rudd, the only bearable person from the Ant-Man movies. Between Michael Douglas’ breathtakingly unlikeable Hank Pym and the acting void that is Evangline Lilly – sounds dreadful.
Half an hour? Felt like years he was blabbing on. Kinda ruined the show for me.
It does maybe kind of kill the entire pacing of the finale stone dead.
I assume when you said Paul Rudd is the only bearable one, you forgot about Luis and (young) Cassie, two of the most delightful characters in the whole MCU. I won’t say Douglas is likeable as Pym, but Pym is a jerk in the comics too, and Paul Rudd shines when he gets to stammer and sweat under the glare of an authority figure.
I take your point bout Cassie, but she’s be repalced for the… third (?) time so I don’t really count her here.
Hard disagree about Luis: I find all of Ant-Man’s weirdly dated Ethnic Accent Comedy Sidekicks to be wretchedly unfunny.
But thn I just don’t like anything about the Ants-men pictures. I think I’d take Thor 2 over ever watching any Ants-men again.
(Not Eternals, though. I might hate Ant-man but I just don’t have that kind of time.)
Yeah, in the comics he is a wife beater. In the MCU, the worst part about Hank Pym is when he blames his cancer on performing cunnilingus on Michelle Pfeiffer.
At least he ends that with “WORTH IT!” which is really the only reasonable answer.
Was there a Star Wars reference game on AV today? These articles are not even trying anymore.
You know, some dude had been screaming that the AV Club were all just paid lackeys to Disney’s wokeness, but none of us listened.
I do enjoy that we consistently say Tusken Raiders now because “sand people” sounds genuinely space racist.
“Spracist”, if you will
And I will.
Fuck yes I will, thank you for asking.
duh hey guys look this movie was kinda like STAR WARS, the film that is pointedly and intentionally painted in the broadest archetypal strokes of storytelling and characterization possible
“where they find Janet’s old bestie Krylar” Bill is already in the promos.
Wait wait wait wait wait.I’ve checked Wikipedia and IMDB. And I ain’t seeing Michael Pena’s name anywhere near this. Are you telling me they made an Ant-Man movie without Luis?
They did, although David Dastmalchian’s name is in the end credits and I’m pretty sure he’s on the cutting room floor.
He did the voice of Veb, the blob.
Ah, thanks.
(MCU diehard) serious question, does anyone actually want to see this?
Yes. I may be the only one (also an MCU die hard) and I can say I liked it WAY more than the reviewer—I think, it’s hard to say for sure though, since this review was more like a weird Star Wars ad libs than a review.
After seeing it, I really don’t understand the bad reviews. They have this ranked below the Eternals in their rankings which is absolutely absurd. It’s a solid, middle of the road MCU film. At this point, middle of the road is pretty good.I think reviewers and film critics just want something different at this point, and they will crap on anything Marvel puts out. Dr. Strange was also rated really low, and I would consider it near the top of the MCU hierarchy but was also dumped on.
When I saw this review I realized the end-credits scene must be online. I found what I was looking for… I’m pretty sure it’s real but we wont really know until tomorrow.
That’s how I’m doing this anyway. Spoil the end credits then watch the thing on my couch in two months.
It’s real, and it’s spectacular.
Saw the movie in Manhattan last night. C or C-. Better than Thor 4 but worse than Dr. Strange.The acting outside of Majors in this movie was awful.
Did anyone else catch that moment in the birthday party scene? Scott took a bite of cake and thought it was gross. Was the cake citrus? Because in the film he mentioned craving citrus after going big. So did the “wrong” Scott make it back from the Quantum Realm? Is he a variant??
No, it was gross because Neil Hamburger made it and it was his first bake in 30 years.
I thought it was because the guy who made it clearly wasn’t a good baker. The cake even looked bad.Though the citrus reference in the movie was odd. Chekov’s lime?
it was just a callback to a line in Civil War where he wants orange slices after turning into massive Ant-Man for the first time
It even said “happy bithday”, and as you know, spelling impacts the taste significantly
It was spelled so poorly it made him nauseous!
Seen some mixed and negative reviews leading up to this, ignore them. This is a good, enjoyable movie. At the very least its a solid B but more likely a B+. I won’t pretend its perfect, but its my favorite Marvel film since Endgame. It starts quickly and you’re basically thrown right into the story. About 40ish minutes in, there’s an exposition dump, and then its non stop action until the finish.Tonally, its also different from the previous Ant-Man movies, which were more comedic and lower stakes. They try to work some of that previous Ant-Man charm into this film and sometimes its works, other times it doesn’t. The exposition dump and some weird tonal comedy choices (timing of the jokes) keep it from being an A imo but its minor stuff here.
Story-wise it helps if you have comic knowledge to understand all the details of what’s going on (I do) but even if you’re a casual viewer (like have just seen prior movies) don’t stress about it. Just go along for the ride and enjoy.
Everyone in the cast does a solid job but Johnathan Majors and Michelle Pfeiffer really stand out. We need to get a campaign going to get Pfeiffer back in more big time movies. Her and Majors are just fantastic.
This one is a lot of fun and great way to kick off Phase 5. And be sure to stick around for the credits scenes! There’s 2 this time.
Now that I’ve read the review after seeing the movie it’s pretty easy to say this is one of the dumbest fucking reviews of anything anywhere.
Wish I had read this before going to the movie! Saw it over the weekend, and it was WEIRD. Definitely borrowed heaps from SW and Avatar.
Whether your in the camp of convincing themselves this is a good film or not look at reactions online three days after release. This pretty weird. I wouldn’t say my identity is tied to the MCU but like I saw Iron Man at the Drive-Thru in grade 1o. These movies have been with me for a lot of my adult life…. It’s just pretty weird to see so many people claim the Marvel ship is sinking and even weirder to think that a tonne of jaded MCU fans are going to flock to see The Flash this summer (I also like DC, it’s the Snyder nuts that don’t realize you can enjoy both calling us babies etc.).
It’s pretty comical that this has a B- tho. A. A. Dowd reserved B-range for straight up classics. It’s really fascinating to watch people defend this film.
I was worried the third installment would lose its charms by becoming an
interdimensional war epic. Thankfully the family dynamic at its core
remained strong. Quantumania is thoroughly entertaining
escapism, which is no small feet thirty-one films deep into Marvel
territory. Its flaws were suitably miniature.
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2023/02/19/is-ant-man-the-wasp-quantumania-too-small-to-fail/
Just saw it. These stupid fucking critics have no clue what the fuck they are fucking talking about. Stupid fucknuts. Movie rocked.
Bit of context here, I’m a recovering alcoholic up north at my parents all year. I often come here as a bad habit when I relapse – my bad. I just got my first college acceptance letter though yesterday so I’m over obsessing about this film. I was just stressed about college acceptances this month.
I realize a lot of you are older on here just a friendly reminder as your roasting me that I’m just a kid at my parents house who really likes film…
Mostly excited for Jonathan Majors as Kang and I guess Modok maybe
I had a good time in the theater. I laughed, I enjoyed the action scenes, I ate a lot of popcorn.But after marinating on it a few days, there’s still just so much missing. Marvel has simply lost what made them great. Either Feige has lost touch, or he’s surrounded by yes men who no longer push back on him to create better stories. It’s not even that these are big commercials for the next movie. They always have been, and I was okay with it as long as they gave me a good story. But they’re just lazy or sloppy at this point.I’ll start with the good: the performances. The actors always do their best, and it shows, which isn’t easy considering 95% of the movie is shot in a studio surrounded by random green objects and wearing a mocap suit. Majors was the highlight, obviously. They still have a knack for bringing on the perfect star on the rise just as they’re approaching their apex. It will be truly fun to get to watch him play a dozen or so completely different variations of this character. Douglas was great with what little he was given, and Pfeiffer stole most of her scenes, despite the writers doing such a great disservice to her character (then again, Janet Van Dyne has always gotten a shitty deal, so it tracks). Rudd was his usual charming self who you can’t help but root for. I also liked how they really leaned into the absurdity of MODOK. His death scene was legit hilarious with the “stop being a dick” stuff and the back-and-forth about dying an Avenger. I laughed and I’m not ashamed. The explanation for him being down there also works. The big ant battle also felt like a Star Wars homage complete with the “They came!” line. I marked out. They got me. Veb and Quaz were great throwaway characters.The bad: The visuals are completely unimpressive at this point. It’s all greenscreen, the CGI often looks amateurish, it’s a mess. We’ve seen it all before. With the budgets they have, it’s really inexcusable for The Avengers (2012) to look better than the last 6 MCU films.Plot holes are becoming a problem. I can buy Janet’s secrecy about the Quantum Realm and Kang, but then why the hell did she let Scott go into the Quantum Tunnel like it was no big deal at the end of Ant-Man and the Wasp? That’s a huge missed detail, not some little continuity error. Do they realize who their fans are and that we pay attention to these details?Majors was excellent and imbued the character with a variety of emotions and gravitas, but Loveness didn’t really give me a reason to actually believe that Kang and his variants are so terrifying. The Loki writers did a much better job of that with He Who Remains.Where did all these human characters in the QR come from? Are they human? For a movie that had a lot of exposition, I wondered why they didn’t explain that at all. It’s these seemingly insignificant details that Feige always made sure got covered. Speaking of no exposition, Bill Murray’s character was completely pointless and I still have no idea what he was Lord of or why. Again, these little stunt castings/cameos always had some kind of payoff in the past.It actually bothered me how the secondary characters were completely omitted (Luis, Maggie, Jim, etc). Maggie and Jim were more or less retconned out in my opinion, and it was like Hope had become Cassie’s mom. Cassie even called Hank “Grandpa” twice even though they’re not related in any way. The horrible “Chewie is dead!” sequence with Hope coming back to save Scott and the portal collapsing, only to reopen 20 seconds later might be the worst bit of writing and stakes-erasing in MCU history. For a film that’s supposed to play such a huge role in what’s to come, it would have been far more interesting leaving Scott and Hope trapped in the QR and trying to figure a way out in time to help in Kang Dynasty. And, again, why would Janet just let Cassie re-open the portal? She didn’t know Kang was defeated. How many times are they going to make her a hypocrite?For a film that was supposed to be so important to this new saga, it was basically a Bottle Episode of a TV sitcom.
You give the whole play by play of the movie but won’t “spoil” the cameo that’s in the trailer????
well i finally got around to watching this thing, and its…. not great. the material is just such an awkward fit for ant-man, whose franchise’s bread-and-butter revolves around amusing size-changing antics, anchored by Paul Rudd’s definitely-not-Captain-America reluctant superhero/thief. Here Rudd is much more of a square-jawed hero, not bothering to interest bad guy exposition like he would’ve done in either of the prior films. Hank gets most of the laughs and has the best size-changing maneuver when he giant-izes the critter in Bill Murray’s drink. Overall this is a pretty lame ending to Ant-Man’s mcu career, but the 1st film will always be a classic in my book and of course he stole the show in Civil War. I feel like the overall story here would’ve worked better as a Fantastic Four gig, as they are pretty much marvel’s “explorer of weird realms and lost civilizations” group. But even then there are so many problems. just not enough time (ironically) with the rebels for us to care about any of them except maybe the Hole guy. Way too much exposition. too blatantly a setup for future movies. a bad guy whose not very interesting in action, he has some Telekinesis type stuff and fires disintegration beams? not very exciting compared to Thanos. Finally, i thought MODOK didn’t really even look like Corey Stoll, and why did they give him energy buzzsaws, ugh. It did at least kind of make sense for him to become this given his mismatched shrinking at the end of the 1st film