Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

[Lucky Planet]

I mostly only follow YouTube reviewers. Jeremy jhans and Dan Murell, I like Grace Randolph.

None of them sounded super excited. They said they liked it but had many problems. I heard a lot of bad things, worst things than love and thunder. Grace is what could be called a huge marvel fangirl, she even praised some of the bad marvel tv shows, she tries to praise marvel and even she didn't like it lol.
I'll still watch it because the visuals look amazing but I'm sad at what I heard.
I know I'll form my own opinion but I have always enjoyed the YouTube reviews better than stuff like rotten tomatoes, but it sounds rough

Also one of the secret characters leaked on Reddit and he looks really awful really awful.

 

[Nick]

I mostly only follow YouTube reviewers. Jeremy jhans and Dan Murell, I like Grace Randolph.

None of them sounded super excited. They said they liked it but had many problems. I heard a lot of bad things, worst things than love and thunder. Grace is what could be called a huge marvel fangirl, she even praised some of the bad marvel tv shows, she tries to praise marvel and even she didn't like it lol.
I'll still watch it because the visuals look amazing but I'm sad at what I heard.
I know I'll form my own opinion but I have always enjoyed the YouTube reviews better than stuff like rotten tomatoes, but it sounds rough

Also one of the secret characters leaked on Reddit and he looks really awful really awful.

Grace is a DC fan girl, don’t get it twisted. She comes off as more marvel bc marvel puts out more product. She also stated she liked things like She-Hulk bc of the feminist vibes of the show, not any merit of the show itself.

I generally think her takes are pretty bad tbh and while she gets some scoops right, she gets a lot wrong too. Jahns, Murrell, and Stuckman are the three I go to for reviews.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Grace is a DC fan girl, don’t get it twisted. She comes off as more marvel bc marvel puts out more product. She also stated she liked things like She-Hulk bc of the feminist vibes of the show, not any merit of the show itself.

I generally think her takes are pretty bad tbh and while she gets some scoops right, she gets a lot wrong too. Jahns, Murrell, and Stuckman are the three I go to for reviews.

My point with her was that she's pretty forgiving of stuff like miss marvel and other of the less liked marvel projects. I remember she really stood by miss marvel mostly.
I see grace as someone that tries to see the positive points in superhero movies and she is super very positive with Disney projects even stuff like Mulan. ( I guess I should have said she tries to praise Disney in general. )
So I expected her to like this movie. Lol. I was shocked by her review. She usually tries to stick up for Disney properties
( I watch her because she makes me laugh . I like her box office analysis)

 

[Nick]

My point with her was that she's pretty forgiving of stuff like miss marvel and other of the less liked marvel projects. I remember she really stood by miss marvel mostly.
I see grace as someone that tries to see the positive points in superhero movies and she is super very positive with Disney projects even stuff like Mulan. ( I guess I should have said she tries to praise Disney in general. )
So I expected her to like this movie. Lol. I was shocked by her review. She usually tries to stick up for Disney properties
( I watch her because she makes me laugh . I like her box office analysis)

Ms. Marvel was the best Marvel show of 2022 tho...? While Oscar Isaac was great as Moon Knight himself, the show got a bit off the rails in the back half and She-Hulk was just terrible. Everything about Ms. Marvel was charming and enjoyable in every way, with the exception of the DoDC which seems to keep popping up and just needs to go away already.

 

[HalfGlass]

Just saw it….I actually liked it quite a bit. Pacing is definitely a drag for the first half, but the second half is really good and finishes strong.

I like that this one had more of an epic feel to the story. The biggest issue is that every single phase 4 movie except for maybe Shang Chi and Spider-Man felt that way. Just low stakes, or we’re told the stakes and supposed to believe it. Here - you feel how much of a threat Kang is.

Jonathan Majors and Corey Stoll as MODOK steal the show.

I would say, not as good as the first, but definitely better than the second.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Just saw it….I actually liked it quite a bit. Pacing is definitely a drag for the first half, but the second half is really good and finishes strong.

I like that this one had more of an epic feel to the story. The biggest issue is that every single phase 4 movie except for maybe Shang Chi and Spider-Man felt that way. Just low stakes, or we’re told the stakes and supposed to believe it. Here - you feel how much of a threat Kang is.

Jonathan Majors and Corey Stoll as MODOK steal the show.

I would say, not as good as the first, but definitely better than the second.

That sounds great !

 

[Nick]

Critics must've been on drugs when reviewing this movie because there's no way in hell this movie is deserving of a sub-50% RT score. This is by no means top tier MCU content, but it's not at the bottom by any means (That's Thor: Love & Thunder obviously). In my book, this is better than Ant-Man & The Wasp, Black Widow, Eternals, Thor 4, The Incredible Hulk, and Thor 2 at least. It's below average MCU material, but it's still a fun enough movie that could've been a lot better if the plot points weren't done so lazily in certain parts of the movie (there's literally a scene that reminds me of The Rise of Skywalker at a pivotal part of the movie and that wasn't fun).

SPEAKING OF STAR WARS... whoever was coming up with the design of a lot of the stuff for the Quantum Realm sure has watched a lot of Disney owned Sci-fi movies. They literally said "What if we made an Ant-Man film, but it was Star Wars, Avatar, and TRON: Legacy all in one!" and then they did everything that they took from those franchises worse than everything in those respective franchises. In some situations it's hard to not feel like you're living in a weird multiverse where Ant-Man is the lead in a Star Wars movie because they took so much inspiration.

Jonathan Majors absolutely crushes it and I think this is the nicest we're going to see Kang be during his run as the main baddie. He makes this movie work, he sells you on Kang, and I think a lesser villain may have truly made this movie a lot worse, but Kang is instantly one of Marvel's best villains. MODOK is ridiculous, served no purpose, and I was annoyed we wasted screen time with him.

This is certainly a lower tier MCU movie for me, but it's still worth the watch and is still plenty enjoyable. Again, the constant quips instead of taking some things serious annoy me. The thing that annoyed me the most was...

Spoiler

no one died. I wasn't expecting anyone too going into it, but as the movie progressed and the threat of Kang loomed and we got to see how powerful he was, it felt inevitable that Janet or Hank would die (and what a fitting ending it would have been for Janet). I just felt that you needed to feel the threat of Kang and a death by seemingly one of the weakest variants would've let the audience know he's no one to mess with. Instead he got trampled by Ants.

It really bothers me that Ant-Man was able to defeat Kang the freaking CONQUEROR. His powers were all over the place.

I'm certainly not gushing about it here and have quite a bit of issues actually, but imo at least, it's serviceably entertaining. However, the MCU used to be so much more than serviceable. I'm just glad they got Kang right. It got a little messy at times and unfortunately that took a potentially really good movie and made it just okay due to silliness and messy writing. I'll say for an Action-Comedy that had a lot of attempted jokes, it wasn't that funny. I only laughed a few times - I know I laughed more than that while watching The Way Of Water and that's not even an attempted comedic movie, just subtle humor.

 

[TheGentTrent]

One thing I read repeatedly is that the CGI is pretty rough in this one. Can anyone who’s seen the movie confirm?

 

[Nick]

One thing I read repeatedly is that the CGI is pretty rough in this one. Can anyone who’s seen the movie confirm?

Looks really good in long shots and rough close. Up. MODOK is painfully bad.

For those hoping that this movie would kickstart some sort of sense of direction for the MCU again... it sort of does, but at the same time, you could skip this movie and not really miss that much.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Just saw this in theaters. Some thoughts I have:

• Wait so this isnt the same actress who portrayed Cassie Lang back in Endgame? Yeah that was a cameo… but still why did they recast her?
• I didn’t watch the trailers so I was highly skeptical of Jonathan Majors after his irritating appearance in Loki, but honestly he did his role as (the real?) Kang the Conqueror well; could have been the best part of the movie if not for…
• The writing. Loki sets him up to be this big massive threat, but honestly he doesn’t seem really different from all the other “big massive threats” like Malekith and Hela intimidation-wise. His seemingly mighty empire falls down pretty easily once the rebellion begins, and for a guy who talks about killing entire universes and Avengers, Scott and Hope take him down pretty anticlimactically. And yeah I know about his variants but still.
• And just like Loki, while it does explore the realms beyond Earth and the future of the MCU, it has the same problem in that it doesn’t really have much in terms of characterization or emotional depth. The rebel aliens are boring. I can’t even remember their names.Modok’s redemption and death is rushed and played as a joke for example.

 

[Nick]

Just saw this in theaters. Some thoughts I have:

• Wait so this isnt the same actress who portrayed Cassie Lang back in Endgame? Yeah that was a cameo… but still why did they recast her?
• I didn’t watch the trailers so I was highly skeptical of Jonathan Majors after his irritating appearance in Loki, but honestly he did his role as (the real?) Kang the Conqueror well; could have been the best part of the movie if not for…
• The writing. Loki sets him up to be this big massive threat, but honestly he doesn’t seem really different from all the other “big massive threats” like Malekith and Hela intimidation-wise. His seemingly mighty empire falls down pretty easily once the rebellion begins, and for a guy who talks about killing entire universes and Avengers, Scott and Hope take him down pretty anticlimactically. And yeah I know about his variants but still.
• And just like Loki, while it does explore the realms beyond Earth and the future of the MCU, it has the same problem in that it doesn’t really have much in terms of characterization or emotional depth. The rebel aliens are boring. I can’t even remember their names.Modok’s redemption and death is rushed and played as a joke for example.

The writing is definitely what holds this movie back. There was a good movie in here, but it's almost like it got held back by the lack of adults in the room when writing the script.

Spoiler

I was rooting for Kang when he and Scott were fighting at the end and Kang was beating on him pretty good. Like I said in my review, I felt like there needed to be consequences of some sort and someone needed to die. I honestly wouldn't have minded if Scott Lang died protecting his family. That's kinda what this whole movie was about and it would've been a great way to establish that Kang is a real threat and a hero sendoff for Scott.

Like you said, it was just all so anticlimactic.

 

[Lucky Planet]

So many things to say.... So many opinions in my head..... Mmmmm....ok:

Modok was so pathetic and useless that he actually grew on me and ended up being my favorite part of the movie. Lol. ( Well, not favorite but I enjoyed him the most.i kept laughing at him)
Everything he said was so stupid I actually laughed the most with him. He was like one of the three stooges or something
I don't know if there are big fans of Modok out there ( never met anyone that was huge on modok)
But this movie does him so dirty.
The cgi was so bad,some people speculate it was done on purpose. I couldn't stop laughing at his look. And the stuff he said at the very end made me laugh so much. He was so silly.

Kang, everyone is praising Kang around the internet, but for me he felt one dimensional and cliche. He felt underwhelming and one note. Not the fault of the actor. But, he was so underwhelming. Didn't feel dangerous or powerful. Honestly he felt like one of the least threatening villains of the MCU. He talked about all these things he does, but he felt like a villain version of iron man. He's no Thanos.
Maybe he gets much better later on, but here. No, I didn't feel like he's gonna be the big bad.

I just, no, I just can't see him as this giant danger from this movie alone. Partly because he got taken out so easily. Partly because he just talks and talks of things he's done, but we don't see anything. Partly because they didn't give the actor that much to do.

The movie itself was ok but gets boring quick. For all the new places and creatures and all the new technology we see, the story itself is boring. Very very boring by the end.
I didn't go to see this to hate it. But it feels dull.

There's all these amazing creatures and animals and ships and mountains down there, yet the story is as boring as Tron legacy.

It was the same as love and thunder where the villain needs something and the hero needs to get it. Another Mcguffing movie.

 

[Nick]

So many things to say.... So many opinions in my head..... Mmmmm....ok:

Modok was so pathetic and useless that he actually grew on me and ended up being my favorite part of the movie. Lol. ( Well, not favorite but I enjoyed him the most.i kept laughing at him)
Everything he said was so stupid I actually laughed the most with him. He was like one of the three stooges or something
I don't know if there are big fans of Modok out there ( never met anyone that was huge on modok)
But this movie does him so dirty.
The cgi was so bad,some people speculate it was done on purpose. I couldn't stop laughing at his look. And the stuff he said at the very end made me laugh so much. He was so silly.

Kang, everyone is praising Kang around the internet, but for me he felt one dimensional and cliche. He felt underwhelming and one note. Not the fault of the actor. But, he was so underwhelming. Didn't feel dangerous or powerful. Honestly he felt like one of the least threatening villains of the MCU. He talked about all these things he does, but he felt like a villain version of iron man. He's no Thanos.
Maybe he gets much better later on, but here. No, I didn't feel like he's gonna be the big bad.

I just, no, I just can't see him as this giant danger from this movie alone. Partly because he got taken out so easily. Partly because he just talks and talks of things he's done, but we don't see anything. Partly because they didn't give the actor that much to do.

The movie itself was ok but gets boring quick. For all the new places and creatures and all the new technology we see, the story itself is boring. Very very boring by the end.
I didn't go to see this to hate it. But it feels dull.

It was the same as love and thunder where the villain needs something and the hero needs to get it. Another Mcguffing movie.

Yeah, early into Phase 4 (2021 or so), I was giving them some passes for not really seeming to interconnect a story since they were rebuilding. They also hadn't really put out what I would consider one at least anyway yet.

Black Widow was about what you expect from a film that shouldn't have been made and took place before Infinity War. It was mediocre at best, but introduced some fun characters in Yelena and Red Guardian (and also brought Val to theaters in a post credit scene). Shang-Chi imo was great and holds it's own as a top tier MCU origin story. Loki and WandaVision were promising a lot of streaming to theaters crossover potential and set up that we're only just now getting to.

Eternals was the first bump in the road, but while not the great film people expected from Chloe Zhao, I really admire that she was adamant about location shooting because it took what could've been a CGI fest Eternals movie (that's not to say there wasn't a lot of CGI) and putting it up against some of these movies that are nothing but CGI worlds like Love & Thunder, Multiverse of Madness, Wakanda Forever, and Quantumania today, it grounded that movie in a really big way. No Way Home was probably the last film that felt grounded even a little bit. The more we move away from even seeing the real world in these films the more there's a disconnect from reality and not only do they seem more and more fake, but it means there's more CG work involved which means more hours needed to finish the movie that they aren't being given, so the audience is being handed a 80% completed product or so on the CGI end.

2022 though, which I just talked about, was the year Marvel really went too far for me. Multiverse of Madness was good. Could've been better and had higher expectations, but was still good. Moon Knight started strong, ended weak. Ms. Marvel was really good. Love & Thunder was terrible. She-Hulk was terrible. Wakanda Forever was.... okay? The big bright spot of the year for the MCU imo were the two Marvel Special Presentations with Werewolf By Night and GotG Holiday Special. Now with Ant-Man starting off Phase Five kinda weak and The Marvels shifting, i'm not excited for much except GotG 3 which I actually do have confidence will be good.

TLDR; James Gunn's DCU is looking pretty interesting, Marvel needs to get their act together.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Yeah, early into Phase 4 (2021 or so), I was giving them some passes for not really seeming to interconnect a story since they were rebuilding. They also hadn't really put out what I would consider one at least anyway yet.

Black Widow was about what you expect from a film that shouldn't have been made and took place before Infinity War. It was mediocre at best, but introduced some fun characters in Yelena and Red Guardian (and also brought Val to theaters in a post credit scene). Shang-Chi imo was great and holds it's own as a top tier MCU origin story. Loki and WandaVision were promising a lot of streaming to theaters crossover potential and set up that we're only just now getting to.

Eternals was the first bump in the road, but while not the great film people expected from Chloe Zhao, I really admire that she was adamant about location shooting because it took what could've been a CGI fest Eternals movie (that's not to say there wasn't a lot of CGI) and putting it up against some of these movies that are nothing but CGI worlds like Love & Thunder, Multiverse of Madness, Wakanda Forever, and Quantumania today, it grounded that movie in a really big way. No Way Home was probably the last film that felt grounded even a little bit. The more we move away from even seeing the real world in these films the more there's a disconnect from reality and not only do they seem more and more fake, but it means there's more CG work involved which means more hours needed to finish the movie that they aren't being given, so the audience is being handed a 80% completed product or so on the CGI end.

2022 though, which I just talked about, was the year Marvel really went too far for me. Multiverse of Madness was good. Could've been better and had higher expectations, but was still good. Moon Knight started strong, ended weak. Ms. Marvel was really good. Love & Thunder was terrible. She-Hulk was terrible. Wakanda Forever was.... okay? The big bright spot of the year for the MCU imo were the two Marvel Special Presentations with Werewolf By Night and GotG Holiday Special. Now with Ant-Man starting off Phase Five kinda weak and The Marvels shifting, i'm not excited for much except GotG 3 which I actually do have confidence will be good.

TLDR; James Gunn's DCU is looking pretty interesting, Marvel needs to get their act together.

I havent watch Shang-Chi, I'll watch it right now ( I keep forgetting) I'm curious. Still haven't watch eternals.

I will always watch everything marvel ( except agents of shield, I just never got around it. Maybe one day) I will watch every movie, no matter what,
But some marvel movies I have only watched once. ( Thor 2, iron man 2, the hulk movies, )

And ant man 3, I'm not sure if I'll rewatch, ( maybe for modok lol) even if I criticize marvel in the past or get angry at their decisions, I will always watch everything. But it's kinda sad on how they seem to keep messing up after end game.

I tried watching Thor love and thunder and it just was too cringe. I just could not ...... Felt like a waste of time and felt embarrassing. It gets worse in the second viewing.
This ant man movie is not cringe or embarrassing but I don't know if I'll watch it again like the others
( Same goes for the tv shows. I'll watch Loki and winter soldier shows again for sure but not miss marvel or she hulk).

And as for DC, DC movies might be lower quality and disorganized, but I have watched all of them at least 3 times lol . Even suicide squad lol

 

[HalfGlass]

In regards to MODOK, I had a shower thought the day after.

With all of this multiversal stuff now, it basically allows them to make a character a punchline, but then have them be a totally different character in a future movie (i.e. Mr. Fantastic).

Some one would say that gives a ton of creative freedom…I say it diminishes the quality of the product.

On another note - I know I liked the movie, but it received a B CinemaScore from audiences. The only other movie to score that low in the MCU was Eternals. Couple that with a projected $102 mil opening weekend and Feige really took a gamble and lost here. I’m almost positive they were hoping for a large weekend since it would “set the stakes for the MCU” despite the previous Ant-Man movies pulling in less money.

I really liked Feige in Phases 1-3…but I think his reach has exceeded his grasp since then.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

They’re getting too large and it’s confusing to keep track of. I’m frankly not happy with the direction they’ve gone whatsoever.

 

[HalfGlass]

They’re getting too large and it’s confusing to keep track of. I’m frankly not happy with the direction they’ve gone whatsoever.

It’s funny too because Feige insists you don’t have to watch everything to keep up. Furthest thing from the truth. Yeah sure, maybe you get the nuts and bolts of the story, but you really don’t get as much out of it if you don’t know what came before.

I saw the movie with my dad who hadn’t seen Loki. He didn’t understand why Kang was a big deal at all.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

It’s funny too because Feige insists you don’t have to watch everything to keep up. Furthest thing from the truth. Yeah sure, maybe you get the nuts and bolts of the story, but you really don’t get as much out of it if you don’t know what came before.

I saw the movie with my dad who hadn’t seen Loki. He didn’t understand why Kang was a big deal at all.

It’s pure over saturation.

 

[Jerroddragon]

It has good ideas and many funny lines but to me it’s lower then dr strange 2 but higher then Thor 4

there are parts I loved and then 30 mins of filler could have been cut fight scenes. I get it they want to make this fight look like a big struggle but I feel like the film could have been 1 hour 40 mins and lost nothing and be a better film for it

 

[pumpkinbot343]

They’re getting too large and it’s confusing to keep track of. I’m frankly not happy with the direction they’ve gone whatsoever.

It’s funny too because Feige insists you don’t have to watch everything to keep up. Furthest thing from the truth. Yeah sure, maybe you get the nuts and bolts of the story, but you really don’t get as much out of it if you don’t know what came before.

I saw the movie with my dad who hadn’t seen Loki. He didn’t understand why Kang was a big deal at all.

It’s pure over saturation.

From what I read of the comics (and heard); I think the MCU’S problem is that it’s becoming exactly like that. The comics always have the big crossovers “that change everything”, the cameos and teamups, the confusing multiverse fluff, retcons (like Mysterio’s backstory), and everything tying together in a big and expansive continuity that frankly overstays it’s welcome. I don’t bother to search for modern comics (especially since the 2010’s) because the continuity is usually such a mess (and DC’s New 52 sounds terrible). The MCU is supposed to be a bunch of movies. Just because something happened in the comics doesn’t necessarily mean rhey have to translate that in live action.

They should have just pulled a “Crisis on Infimite Earths” and reboot the franchise; the inclusion of the X-men would make a lot more sense like that anyway.