Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has been out for almost a month now, so its controversial Rotten Tomatoes score and general reception have had some time to settle.
Given that time, it’s important to ask: was the reaction to Paul Rudd’s latest adventure justified?
Well, yes and no.
The Journey is Rough Around the Edges
It’s hard to deny that the film is rough around the edges—unpolished.
Even just simple things like scene choreography and blocking come off as awkward at points. A key example of this is when Scott and Cassie are running away from MODOK’s bombing, and it feels like they’re just doing laps around the freedom fighter’s camp.
It can also become apparent, generally towards the beginning of a scene, that there was plenty of improvisation. One can see how the actors are slowly easing into any particular bit.
Additionally, some of the hard cuts, and the editing in general, can be jarring. When Kang drops Scott onto the jail cell floor, there are three different cuts—which is completely ridiculous.
Despite these rough edges, however, there’s still plenty of fun to be had. The jokes are funny, the performances are great, and exploring important MCU lore is as engrossing as usual.
The Heroes of Quantumania
Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang is as great as always, but he doesn’t offer much more past his usual charm. When it comes to Kathryn Newton’s debut as Cassie, she does the job, but the story doesn’t give her many points in which to shine.
The little gag between Cassie and her father about how to change size while punching is easily one of her highlights. Oddly enough, though, by the end of the film, it still doesn’t feel like audiences have properly met the character.
As for Janet, she gets a substantial amount of development. For the most part, besides her aggravating and unnecessary inability to share information, it’s all great stuff.
The film also perfectly utilizes Hank Pym while doing a fantastic job at somehow making ants still relevant to the story being told—one that would normally have no place to include them.
But then there was the band of rebels, who sat in a conflicting spot. There should have been either more of them or nothing at all.
As it stands now, they aren’t all too interesting or engaging. The crew really only waste time that could have gone to more productive storylines.
For example, Marvel Studios could have actually given Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp something to do. Despite being a titular character, Hope Van Dyne doesn’t get anything worthwhile throughout the whole film.
Some Room for Visual Improvement
Some Room for Visual Improvement
The VFX proved to be one of the major complaints that fans have had about to recent Peyton Reed film.
It does falter on multiple occasions—but generally, it is never insulting. In fact, the movie has plenty of wonderfully wacky visual set pieces, such as Scott dealing with the probability storm.
The real issue with the film’s CGI lies firmly with the Volume. To put it simply, there hasn’t been a production in recent years, besides The Mandalorian, that knows how to utilize this technology.
The talent behind Quantumania certainly doesn’t. The movie contains some seriously egregious bad and mind-numbingly boring, large flat, barren set pieces, which are a direct result of using those LED screens.
They are the epitome of laziness—or just the crew not getting the time they need to pull off something more dynamic. It becomes easy to see the small, limited spaces everyone involved has to work with.
Marvel Studios, and other companies, truly need to stop using The Volume if they don’t know how to utilize it.
MODOK the Great
One element many audiences find divisive is Corey Stoll’s MODOK. Sure, when it comes to the details, he isn’t the same as his comic counterpart—so it’s understandable for some fans to be hesitant about that.
However, when it comes to his visuals, Marvel nailed it. Sure, the VFX can falter here and there, but it’s hard to tell if it’s actually bad at times.
Seeing an enlarged floating head like that is going to be strange, no matter how good the CGI. Honestly, during his sequences at the end of the movie with, he looked pretty solid.
It’s also worth noting that in the context of Quantumania, and Darren Cross, this take on MODOK works incredibly well.
As a bonus, MODOK had the funniest line (and delivery) in the whole film—if not all of the Multiverse Saga so far.
Kang Conquerors
Now, let’s state the obvious: Jonathan Majors’ Kang is the best part of the whole film. He gives a fantastic performance and offers a perfect first impression of the villain who will plague the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Some might be bothered by how this Kang went out—which is understandable. It might be hard to have an engaging villain if they keep dying every time we meet a different Variant.
However, it’s important to note that nothing confirms he’s dead. Kang got sucked into a Multiversal power source. There was no death on screen.
This leaves Marvel with plenty of leeway for any writer to cook up as many excuses and explanations as needed.
Better Luck Next Time?
Many will claim the project suffers from too much set-up for the wider MCU—however, personally, I don’t feel that’s the case.
Any and all issues in the film are caused by failings relevant to this movie alone.
Jeff Loveness and company wanted to tell a story with Kang and the Quantum Realm, and there’s nothing saying an Ant-Man film can’t be that. Though, clearly the project could certainly have been tidied up.
Given that Loveness will be writing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, many fans aren’t feeling very hopeful.
However, it’s important to remember that the guys behind Thor: The Dark World also wrote four of the best MCU films of all time.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now playing in theaters worldwide.
