Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Review: Lang vs Kang Evokes Zero Emotion. But Jonathan Majors Conquers!
Here for Kang!
It’s hard not to buy into the ‘superhero fatigue’ argument when so many are selling it. But I’d happily hop, skip and jump to the theatres if you gave me a story that’s moving, actually telling a story, and elects to be more human than green screen. Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, the third Ant-Man instalment and the kickstarter to MCU’s ambitious Phase 5, has its moments, but they’re all overshadowed by bland writing, lending it the personality of a badly written children’s movie. The Quantum Realm offers up new worlds to explore, and it’s a mildly fascinating one too. Yet, it couldn’t make me feel a thing, even with Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang being his usual funny self. All my feelings, then were reserved for Jonathan Majors, MVP, who conquers any doubt you might have about the ‘A-list Avengers supervillain’ he’s going to turn out to be in Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.
Well, at least, for his part. You never know what can happen when the other elements don’t come together to tell you a story you can’t connect to.
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Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania has Paul Rudd returning as Scott Lang. Also back are Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang, Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet van Dyne, alongside David Dastmalchian, Katy O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray, Corey Stoll, and of course, Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror.
Quantumania’s beginning (and end) felt very Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man coded, intentionally perhaps, and you’ll know what I mean when you see it. Scott Lang’s gotten his family back, and like hell, he’s going to play Avenger and do anything even remotely dangerous to lose them again, especially Cassie. He’d rather write a book, and just chill. The shadow of the Blip lies thick over the world, and Cassie is hell-bent on helping out. Somehow, her will to do good plunges her, Scott, Hope, Hank, and Janet headfirst into the Quantum realm, where Kang lies in wait.
Now, it is to be noted that this isn’t yet the Kang we met in Marvel’s Loki series on Disney+, The One Who Remains. But he kinda wants the same destructive things, and it’s going to be up to our Avenger (who saved the world, as Scott likes to remind everyone) and his family to stop him. It’s time for Lang vs Kang!
Honestly, though, as exciting and rhythmic as that sounds, it isn’t all that. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania spends its first act just laying it all down for you. From a catch-up on what’s happening with Lang and Co. to what the Quantum realm is like, and the presence of the big bad that looms like a shadow over it, threatening to destroy it all. You want to sit back and enjoy this whole new world, which borrows a little too freely from Star Wars and other space operas for my taste. Still, some of it was good, and I would’ve bought it. But the constant ‘He Who Must Not Be Named’ type referencing to Kang happening every 2 minutes is frustrating as hell. I was counting the number of times we got ‘He is coming for you’, and it just made me want to check out completely. Who is HE? Why don’t y’all just tell the superhero who HE is so he can get with the program?
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Of course, when Kang finally arrives, Jonathan Majors puts on an impressive show. He dominates the screen, delivers his lines with a heady mix of the complicated emotions on his lip that drive his Kang, and nails the mystery that surrounds his character. You want to buy whatever he’s selling you: his sincerity, his threat, even his despaired outlook on what time is (a cage). Quantumania does hype my excitement for Kang because he is finally on the scene, but I still think Loki did a better job introducing Kang to us than this movie did.
Both, the emotional moments and the funny ones don’t often land. For the ones that do, you can thank Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet and Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang, and perhaps even Michael Douglas’s Hank Pym. However, the dialogues feel so amateurish and performative. Ones that particularly irked me were every time Cassie screamed “Dad!” and anything Jentorra, the leader of the rebels, had to say. The tribal subplot had nothing going for it, except perhaps the slimy creature Veb and its obsession with holes providing some comic relief. At one point, I forgot Jentorra still existed until I saw her on the screen. There’s also M.O.D.O.K, who looks a lot like George Lopez’ Mr. Electric from Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, and is funny alright, but doesn’t leave a lasting impression.
Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’s biggest problem is that despite having so many moments where its characters are having heart-to-hearts, it doesn’t make you feel a thing. You mildly care because you know these characters, but other than that, you feel like it’s an empty side quest. It would be kind of a disservice to Kang if this were his first introduction to the MCU, and then we had to go on to believe he was this eventual big bad. There was also a complete and utter lack of cool moments here, where you’d want to hoot or scream at the screen because it blew your mind. For a superhero movie, that’s a death knell. If you’re not giving us the emotions, and not giving us anything to hoot about, then what is the point of your film? How does it stand out?
Also Read: What To Watch This Week Of February 13 To 19: The Night Manager, Ant-Man, The Romantics And More!
Verdict
You’ll come for Ant-Man, but you’ll be staying strictly for Kang, man.
Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania is currently in theatres.
First Published: February 17, 2023 1:48 PMTwitter Hails Kartik Aaryan’s Performance In ‘Shehzada’, Calls Him The New Action Hero!
