So guys, we're at the first M.C.U movies of 2023 and the first movie in Phase 5, Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. I wasn't super excited for this if I'm being honest. The first two Ant-Man movies aren't some of my favourite M.C.U movies and you could kinda look at them as being in the lower end of all the films, but the premise and the trailers for this did look interersting enough. It was interesting that we would get a whole movie in the Quantum Realm since the first two were all about learning about it and different things to do with it too. However, early reviews were making me pretty nervous because they were saying this was one of the worst M.C.U movies and its score on Rotten Tomatoes wasn't good either, not to mention the fact that the last few M.C.U movies haven't been that good either like Thor: Love And Thunder and Eternals. Sure, Wakanda Forever was really good and Multiverse Of Madness was pretty good, but, yeah, some people really aren't on board as much as they used to when it comes to this stuff. Anyway, I was still curious about the movie and since Kang was gonna play more of a role in this, it made me all the more curious. So, in the end, I know I'm probably gonna be in a minority about this, but I personally really, really liked this. I really don't understand the hate for this movie at all. I had a really, really good time with this movie and I think it's my favourite Ant-Man movie. No, it's not perfect by any means and it does have some serious problems, but, overall, I really liked this and think this is now my official new most underrated thing in the M.C.U. Yes, again, I am gonna go over the problems because there's some really noticeable ones here that're really weird, but I'm really happy I saw this. Also, like always, this'll have no spoilers for the first part and then I'll go into all the spoilers after a warning. Okay, so, what's the story? Scott is enjoying life after the events of Endgame where he's seen as like a celebrity, but he's having trouble with Cassie, this time played by Kathryn Newton, who's being arrested for trying to help protesters whose lives are being affected after the Snap happened. But, one day, when at Hank's house, they discover that Cassie has built a device to send a message to the Quantum Realm which is something that makes Janet very nervous and when trying to turn it off, it goes haywire and sends Scott, Hope, Cassie, Hank and Janet into the Quantum Realm and getting separated so they're now trying to find each other while trying to avoid Kang trying to find them. And I'm gonna stop right there, so, I dunno exactly how people would react to that whole synopsis I just gave there because depending on who you ask, this could be seen as something that sounds kinda interesting or something people could be very iffy about. But, in my opinion, just from how the film is told and how everything is done, I think they made this into a really fun time. Again, it does have flaws and I'll go over those first because there are a good amount of them. The first and probably the biggest problem I have is the first twenty or so minutes. The pacing is really off in this movie in the beginning. The first twenty or so minutes are really rushed. You can tell they really just want to get to the stuff in the Quantum Realm so they go through all the stuff on Earth really quickly and just want to get the main plot of the movie and it felt kinda clunky. The dialogue can also be weird sometimes. Sometimes it's just characters talking like how movie characters talk and not actual people, especially in regards to the build up of Kang himself where they're trying to keep it a secret to make it feel like huge build up, but it can make the dialogue feel kinda unnatural at points. Also, there are some tiny moments in the action scenes in particular where I just kinda asked myself why some characters didn't do specific things because they could have but they didn't for some reason. Some of the editing is kinda weird too, especially when they try to reveal some stuff and it just cuts to the person without some big reveal and that was really weird with Kang's first real appearance in the film too. And, yeah, like some people were concerned about, some of the C.G.I doesn't look that great and there are time where they kinda set something up only to not go anywhere with it, which is weird in one instance in particular. So, yeah, I guess if people were to say they didn't like this film, I can't act like I don't know why because it does have a good amount of problems and even just weird scenes and some dumb stuff too. But, with all that out of the way, I can finally move onto what I really liked here. For one, I really loved the cast here. In my opinion, the cast definitely helped save this movie for me because I think they all did a great job. Paul Rudd is of course still fantastic as Scott. He's still super likeable, really funny and nails everything he's supposed to do. Evangaeline Lily, Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer are also still great here as Hope, Hank and Janet, and I absolutely loved Kathryn Newton as Cassie. She was very fun, very likeable and had great interactions with the other cast members. I really liked her and Scott together, they were very fun in my opinion. Jonathan Majors as Kang is also great here. I wasn't really a fan of what they did with him in Loki, though that was technically a different variant of him, but he does a great job here and Kang is a really cool villain. I heard from people that he was a huge highlight for the film and I agree, he was really cool and did have some intimidating moments. The movie can also be really creative at times since they're in this other-worldy place and they do have some fun with it. The film is also pretty funny at times, and thankfully not overdone with it like Love And Thunder was. Speaking of, I feel like they sorta embraced some dumb stuff for the better. As in they did stuff they probably knew was gonna be dumb and stupid so they just embraced it and knew what it was and just had fun with it. And, again, just with how the story was being told and shown and all that was what really kept me interested enough even when some weird stuff happened that I felt wasn't really working for me. I also really liked how this film subverted some of my expectations because there were times where something kinda being set up at the start and I had a feeling it gonna work its way into the characters' arcs at the end in some way, and I was right in the sense that it did, but not the way I thought they would and it made me feel relieved because I thought some of them were gonna be stupid and clichéd, but they actually did it in a way that I thought was really likeable. I also feel like the end climax was really exciting and both of the credit scenes made me excited for what could be happening soon. So overall, I persoanlly had a really good time with this film. Again, I know I'm gonna be in a minority when I say that, and if people say they didn't like this, I can't say I don't see why, but, really, I just felt like this was one of the most fun M.C.U experiences I've had in a while, and I personally like how this was the start of Phase 5 for the M.C.U. So, I personally would recommend checking this out if you're curious, but, if you don't like it, I suppose I understand. So, this review might have been kinda all over the place, but that really is how I feel about this. And so everyone, those are my thoughts on Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think. Okay, now we're gonna go into the spoilers, if you don't want anything spoiled, go see the film then come back and read the rest of this.
Spoilers:
Okay, so, I guess the first thing I should address is the opening scene showing a flashback with Janet in the Quantum Realm discovering the Kang variant who landed there. I like how they have it where he was essentially banished there by the other Kangs so it was cool to see that and it was cool when it was later revealed that Janet helped him fix his ship and get his powers back without knowing what he was and so that made that part kinda interesting to me, even if a part of it did feel a like just simple exposition. I really liked when Scott and Cassie were in that small town with those rebels and trying to earn their trust, and the scene where Hope, Hank and Janet were in that bar is kinda what I meant by having some stuff be kinda wasted because that's when we meet Bill Murray's character and he's only in this one scene and then he's killed, so it felt kinda pointless. Another huge spoiler is M.O.D.O.K, who's eventually revealed to be Darren Cross from the first movie. This is something I imagine is either gonna be fine to people or makes people hate the whole movie because this part is so weird. I didn't necessarily hate it, though, yeah, the C.G.I on him looked really weird with the huge head thing, but this is what I meant by the film feeling like it knew what it was and just embraced it because it didn't feel like that part was meant to be taken super seriously and whenever they did kinda do something slightly serious with it, it is still played as a joke and there were some parts with it that I found funny. But, anyway, I liked when Cassie is in the prison and manages to get those resistance fighters out and this is what I meant by having something done in a way that subverted my expectations because when that was set up at the start with her in jail trying to help people, I thought it was gonna be done in way that was gonna be dumb, but I liked how it was done here with Cassie giving that message to everyone to encourage them and then the end climax, while, yeah, some parts were kinda pointless, and it had some moments like I said before where the characters didn't do some specific things like why didn't Kang shoot Scott and the others with that erasing beam he was shooting at everyone else, I thought was pretty cool and I liked when both Scott and Cassie grew and took down the shield and M.O.D.O.K, and I liked how he sacrificed himself and that part is what I meant by that not needing to be taken seriously because they do do it in a way I thought was funny and they kinda made fun of it themselves that wasn't distracting. And then the actual end fight with Scott and Hope vs. Kang was cool with the way they knocked him into the core and killed him that way. I honestly thought they were gonna be stuck in the Quantum Realm themselves and that would be how the movie ends, but then the others help them. Yeah, that was a bit confusing, but, whatever, I guess. Then, as far as the credit scenes, the first one was cool, I guess, though kinda weird. I dunno, I like the idea that all the Kang variants are coming together, but some of it seemed kinda weird to me. And the end credit scene was kind the same with it being cool that we saw Loki and Mobius with it being a set up for Loki: Season 2, but I'm a little curious about what was going on with the Kang variant there. So, I'm very curious to know what's gonna happen now. And so, yeah, everyone, that's my review of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.
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