“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is the third movie of the Ant-Man series. In this movie, Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne, Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne, and Cassie Lang explore the Quantum world, introducing the new Marvel supervillain, Kang. While this movie is fundamental for the development of future projects, it did not surpass expectations and was mediocre at best. While it isn’t bad when compared to other Phase 4 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies, such as “Thor: Love and Thunder”, it was definitely not the best, as “Spider-Man: No Way Home” takes the title by far.
While there were a series of problems with the movie, the Quantum world was still breathtaking and incredibly beautiful, completely different from our standard reality. The setting of the movie was therefore a lot more compelling. The comedic bits were also rather enjoyable. Although some of the funniest characters were missing, such as Luis, Dave, and Kurt, the movie remained amusing. Their absence might be excused by the challenge of encompassing them into the storyline, as the plot took place in a different reality. Despite these positive aspects, there are many negative aspects that should be discussed.
The first issue with this movie is the lack of development. Ant-Man 3 is supposed to set a precedent for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and several other Marvel movies involving Kang, but its introduction to the future supervillain of the MCU was poor. There wasn’t much character depth to him apart from his persistence and harshness. The Disney+ exclusive series, Loki, does a much better job at this, conveying with much more complexity Kang’s objectives.
There was also a lack of development of the relationship between characters following their return from “The Blip”, or following the unfolding of “Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame”. For instance, Cassie Lang – who the audience had a connection to during the previous movies – is all grown-up, but while we get some more insight into her morals, there isn’t much present in her connection to the Van Dyne family. Although she is seen calling Hank and Janet grandpa and grandma sometimes, there’s not much depth apart from that. There isn’t a profound familial bond between her and Hope, and it would’ve been interesting to further explore their dynamic.
Another issue was that some scenes transitioned into each other without having any connection. In fact, sometimes these included thirty-second segments that seem to have been tossed in, without contextualization or explanation of their significance.
The title can also be misleading since the Wasp’s character was barely developed in the movie. Despite her importance in the previous movie, she worked more as a side character in Quantumania. She wasn’t nearly as significant in the new movie as Scott Lang was.
My main problem with the movie, however, is the plot hole at the end. Beware, there will be spoilers ahead. Upon having opened a portal back to their own reality by using Kang’s Time Chair’s Power Core, Hope, Cassie, Hank, and Janet are able to leave the Quantum world. Scott, on the other hand, proceeds to have a fight with Kang, in which he is clearly in a disadvantageous position. When Hope comes back to help him and they are able to stop the man, the portal closes, seemingly making them stuck in the environment as the Power Core has been destroyed. Yet, Cassie is able to open another portal almost immediately, which had previously seemed impossible without the help of the Time Chair.
Viewers are left wondering how she did such a thing. While their arrival at the place was not discussed extensively, we are aware that Darren Cross – the villain in the first Ant-Man movie, who was banished to the Quantum world – played a key role in it. However, up to that point, the audience was unaware that Cassie could open the portal. How she managed to do it remains unknown. Yet, it also sparks questions, for instance: if she was able to access this world, why hadn’t she used this tool to explore the Quantum World beforehand? Although it is possible that the girl discovered this after talking to Cross, this is poorly conveyed in the movie, and the implications of this knowledge are also not shown.
That being said, while the movie proved to be entertaining and an exciting introduction to the new saga of Marvel, it was far from reaching fans’ expectations and was not up to the standards of other Phase 1, 2, and 3 movies. Marvel has some improvements to do for future projects but characters still hold a soft space in the audience’s heart, and that might not be changing any time soon.
EAC PRESS 