Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – Film Review

Superhero duo Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, together with Hope’s parents Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, find themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures, and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.

I’m being one hundred percent completely honest with you all when I say that Peyton Reed‘s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania made me absolutely terrified for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). This is the thirty-first film in the decade-spanning series of films and yet, even after all these years, it seems as if the studio has some missteps.

Unfortunately, though, some missteps are just much too big to brush off. Even though I greatly enjoyed Phase Four, even I will admit that there was some room for improvement, especially with projects such as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Moon Knight, and the worst MCU film to this day, Thor: Love and Thunder.

The reason why Quantumania makes me so scared for Marvel’s future is that this film essentially serves as a taste for what’s to come for the next several years. This is, after all, a film in the “Multiverse Saga.” Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I genuinely miss the old days of the MCU in which we just got simplistic superhero stories that didn’t involve time travel, multiverses, or different galaxies.

I miss going to the theatre to see just a simple Ant-Man, Captain America, or Iron Man movie. Now, the MCU is so deadset on bringing the multiverse into every last project that they’re slowly but surely forgetting how to make a truly good film first and foremost.

The first fifteen to twenty minutes of Quantumania honestly impressed me quite a bit. It contained that lighthearted, fun tone from the first two entries and seemed like it was going to be yet another dosage of easy-going fun. But as soon as the band of heroes get sucked into the Quantum Realm, the film takes a considerable nosedive into awful territory.

Despite this film telling the story of the all-powerful Kang the Conqueror, I just couldn’t find myself getting invested in any of what was going on. The tension in this film didn’t feel present no matter what was happening. A lot of it has to do with some cringe-worthy dialogue and poor characters along the way. It also doesn’t help that the story feels extremely bland and not too exciting.

This is almost like Marvel wanted to make a Star Wars movie but miserably failed to understand what made that franchise so good. It’s not the lightsaber battles, the spaceships, or any of that. It’s the characters. There is so much CGI garbage in this film that it actually gave me a gigantic headache after a while. Almost nothing in this film looks or feels real. It’s just a bunch of actors running around in a huge green screen room.

To be honest, though, the actors here are the least of the problems this movie has. As a matter of fact, the actors here are the best part of this dumpster fire. Paul Rudd is once again fantastic as Scott Lang / Ant-Man, perfectly bringing that wholesome, feel-good charm to the role that we’ve come to love from him.

Michael Douglas is a delight to see as Hank Pym, as is Michelle Pfeiffer in the role of Janet van Dyne, who gets a whole lot more to do here than she did in the previous film. But easily my favorite performance in this entire film came from Kathryn Newton, who portrays Cassie Lang, Scott and Hope’s daughter.

Ever since seeing her in Christopher Landon‘s Freaky, Newton has never failed to impress me, and this is no exception. In fact, her work as Cassie Lang might be her best performance yet. She brings such a level of childlike wonder to the role while also being a total badass in her own right. If the MCU ever decides to make her the new Ant-Man going forward, I would be absolutely thrilled.

Jonathan Majors also serves as a terrific and terrifying villain in Kang the Conqueror. Although the film as a whole is a miserable experience, watching Majors deliver one intimidating line after the other was certainly tremendous to watch. I couldn’t be more excited to see what they do with his character next.

I’m just praying that this isn’t the new Marvel standard from here on out. This really feels like the studio that we all once loved has now given up and is settling to make nothing but pure garbage these days. I truly hope that I’m wrong, but after watching Quantumania, I’m not so sure anymore.

With an extremely bland story, headache-inducing visuals, and genuinely terrible direction, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is one of Marvel’s worst outings that not even Kathryn Newton or Jonathan Majors can save.