Tag Archives: Johnathan Majors

by | February 20, 2023 · 4:55 pm

Ant-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania – A (Spoiler Free) Movie Review

Related Content from And There Came A Day

quantumania-posterTHE FILM 

Marvel Studios put a awful lot on the shoulders of their smallest hero in Ant-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania. This movie is tasked with fleshing out the main antagonist of the entire next “phase” of Marvel films while also, presumably, giving audiences some flavor of the previous two Ant-Man solo adventures. The result is a pleasant – if muddled – dive into the so-called Quantum Realm that succeeds in rolling out the carpet for Kang (Johnathan Majors), another purple-clad Marvel menace, while also reminding the audience of the fun of the smaller Ant-Man movies, perhaps to its own detriment. The Quantum Realm chapters of the film are grand and loud, brightly colored and realized set pieces that set the stakes very high for the found family Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is trying to protect. That found family is comprised of his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), his girlfriend Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) who is also The Wasp and her parents Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer), many of whom have secrets they are protecting. Forced into the Quantum Realm by accident (is there any other way?), the Lang-gang are separated and begin the search for one another while simultaneously discovering that all is not what it seems in this tiny world. The design is wonderful and fun and the encounters here are enjoyable if rarely mind-blowing. But the bookends of the real world in which the audiences sees a newly minted celebrity Scott Lang negotiating his new life are so in keeping with the spirit of the first two movies and so entertaining, that I found myself wanting for them. Then I found myself wondering why this introduction to Kang (this is not the same Kang from the Disney+ series Loki) had to take place in the Quantum Realm, why did it have to be an Ant-Man adventure? This is not the type of question I like to be asking in a film and it took me out of the picture a bit. Never fear, I was able to get back into it before the rousing finale.
THE CAST Paul Rudd is perfect as Ant-Man and has been since his initial appearance in Ant-Man. A welcome and grounded presence among the superpowered gods of the Avengers, Rudd’s performance has always been spot on and he remains, in this film, the eyes of the audience seeing things around him that are impossible to fully believe. Michelle Pfeiffer is full of secrets in a powerful performance as Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp. In all honesty, the movie revolves more around her character’s actions than the titular pair of characters and Evangeline Lily, while perfectly good in the film, is actually given very little to do. Michael Douglas again fills the bemused elder stateman role that Marvel seems to be so good at providing and he looks good doing it. Kathryn Newton is fun and engaging as Cassie Lang and gets a moment or two to shine. She handles them well. The real story here is Johnathan Majors. He is simply magnetic in every scene he is in and illustrates very quickly why his villain (he is a villain, right?) is a worthy successor to Josh Brolin’s Thanos. Each line delivery, each choice, each action is so well drawn and he feels immediately at home in this, let us be honest, ridiculous Marvel Cinematic Universe. One can see something of where his Kang is going and it is nowhere good for humanity. (There are a couple of cameos that are a lot of fun that I will not spoil here… but both worked for me.)
THE VERDICT Ant-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania is an entertaining, middle-of-the-road Marvel movie. For fans of the overall epic, it is required viewing. For those who love the caper-flavor of the first two films, disappointment awaits. For those who drop in for the biggest Marvel events, I have no doubt that Kang’s next appearances will make sense without a viewing of Ant-Man and the Wasp | Quantumania. Perhaps that is my biggest disappointment here: I like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Rudd and Lily in the roles. I like the world they had been inhabiting. This film seemed to take them and shoehorn them into another world – an important one for the Marvel saga, but not the one for which I was hoping.
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP | QUANTUMANIA receives THREE M.O.D.O.Ks out of a possible FIVE

Leave a comment

Filed under Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Films, Marvel Movies, Movie Review, Movies

Tagged as , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,