Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania kicks off Phase 5; the next stage of Multiverse Saga MCU movies.
It’s a fun quantum-level visual spectacle movie with a weak plot. Although, two performances do shine through all of this.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s character Janet Van Dyne was interesting to follow and Pfeiffer’s performance really stands out here, but they never really fully explored her backstory in the Quantum Realm much; who helped her gain those abilities seen in the second Ant-Man movie? How did she find those other people that don’t like her anymore?
Most of those were only mentioned in dialogue exposition instead of showing any of that. The ‘Wasp’ part in the tilte for this movie was afterall, not a focus on Evangeline Lily’s character.
The storyline did get dragged out when Janet was not informing the other characters of any dangers that could come from the Quantum Realm, for far too long.
Jonathan Majors’ performance as Kang the Conqueror is impeccable and he did also deliver on exciting scenes in terms of carnage. Majors’ acting so far is very versatile and flexible, with being able to change how he differentiates between this variant and He Who Remains.
The actor has quite an extensive future with Marvel; as he will playing so many more variants that will be appearing throughout this Multiverse Saga and I’m looking forward to seeing his career develop further with his other upcoming movie Creed 3.
Paul Rudd and Kathryn Newton’s on-screen chemistry as father and daughter feels lackluster, in some sense I can understand it, since he missed so much of her life growing up, however the build-up during the movie just felt empty.
A lot of missed opportunities to build a stronger connection between Cassie and Scott. Cassie’s storyline did also feel rushed into with a fast recap in the beginning, so it didn’t really give me a chance to take to feel anything for the character.
The writers didn’t really explore a stronger plot; to have Scott Lang help Kang with the intension of getting back lost time with his daughter like the trailers implied. It just went directly into Scott being forced to help. It served more to build up Kang without progressing anyone else further.
Humour was well balanced compared to the Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder, and I did like Quantumania more in many regards. MODOK was the funniest part of this movie. Paul Rudd who also still brings that lighthearted and perfect comedic timing to his scenes.
Visually the Quantum Realm looked awesome, the background scenes were displayed using technology called The Volume and this looks like it has improved so much in recent years, especially when actors don’t need to imagine an environment like this, it’s right there in front of them instead of a green screen.
The designs of the characters in the Quantum Realm looked so good. Although, MODOK didn’t really resemble Corey Stoll that much at all apart from it being a bald head, there could have been some more refininements on his face.
Overall, the movie seemed great on paper and impressive from the trailers, however the storyline was poorly executed in this movie. This Marvel film felt rushed, quite empty and flat in terms of emotional connections and character development. It was great to see more appearances of Kang, and how dangerous he can be.
This mostly left me wanting a Wasp spin-off project starring Michelle Pfeiffer, rather than seeing another Ant-Man movie.
