The latest instalment in the Ant-Man franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, (MCU) as a whole has certainly been divisive, but is it really that bad?
The reaction that was supposed to surround this film was the introduction of the multi-verse villain Kang, and how he is going to affect future films going forward.
However, the main story surrounding this film is how it is the one of the worst-rated MCU films on IMDB, (International Movie Database).
Backlash in the age of the internet tends to be extreme.
There’s never a middle ground, everything is either the worst thing ever or the best.
My initial reaction when watching the latest Ant-Man was that it is fun.
However, when you think about the film, the plot, and the motivations of the characters, glaring cracks begin to appear.
The Plot
The film begins with Scott Lang aka Ant-man (Paul Rudd), narrating passages from his newly-released autobiography.
It appears from the outset, that Lang has gone into a semi-retirement, choosing to focus more on his family life, than the superhero life.
His daughter, Cassie, (Kathryn Newton), has taken a more active role in her community.
Cassie who at the start of the film is arrested for participating in a peaceful protest is trying to encourage Scott to return to a more active role in his community.
Cassie criticises Scott for ‘doing nothing’, telling him that just because something bad is not happening to him, does not mean it isn’t happening.
At first this appears to be the overall message of the film, it appears to be the lesson that Scott will go on, the arch his character will explore.
However, this arch for Scott is largely unfulfilled and forgotten about by the end of the film.
This may be because a large portion of the film’s runtime focuses on Cassie and her grandmother, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer).
In Ant-Man two, Janet was rescued from the Quantum realm, a place in which she had been trapped for up to 30 years.
However, what she actually did in her time in the realm was not touched on in that film, due to the arrival of Thanos and the events of the Infinity saga.
In this film however, she is the main focus.
This is not a bad thing, having the main focus of the film being on Cassie and Janet, but in a film titled ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’, I would expect more of a focus to be on Ant-Man and the Wasp.
The film progresses and you discover that Janet will not reveal what happened while she was trapped in the realm.
Through some errors this then leads the entire family to be thrown into the Quantum realm, and from that moment it appears there is something that Janet is hiding.
From this another frustration arises from the film.
Janet’s blind reluctance to explain what happened while she was trapped holds the characters back so much.
As the viewer, I found it frustrating, I wanted to get up and shout ‘just tell them what happened!’
Janet’s strange need for secrecy regarding the Quantum realm, the realm in which the entire family is trapped in, is bizarre, considering they could all do with crucial information which Janet has.
While in the realm we are introduced to the main threat of this film and seemingly the MCU in general, Kang (Jonathon Majors).
The presentation of Kang throughout the film is that he is extremely dangerous.
He feels like a serious threat, and when he explains how he’s killed so many Avengers before, it brings a genuine chill through the air.
Jonathon Majors is fantastic, he is so strong, and carries the film.
He delivers what is a ‘Shakespearian’ performance in what is in general, an average film.
Paul Rudd has another strong performance as Ant-man, he has a good understanding of the character, and is charming in the role.
The main issue with this film is not the acting, but the plot itself.
Why does Kang keep Cassie when Ant-man is perfectly happy to honour the deal?
Why do the people of this world want a revolution against Kang?
We are told he is bad, but we never see any real evidence of the bad things he does to the people.
This is another troupe with his film, it simply tells us and rarely shows us.
Show us that Kang is evil to these people.
Show us why the people want a revolution.
The main motivation for Ant-man throughout this is saving Cassie, and he is quite clear that what is going on in the Quantum realm, is not his problem.
However, by the end of the film, Ant-man is all about stopping Kang from succeeding.
This is fine if there was a logical progression to this realisation, but there is not.
There is no reason why he comes to this conclusion, he just does, almost as if a large chunk of this progression was cut in post.
The end of this film feels rushed and sloppy.
Kang is defeated by Ant-man, even though he has an entire army, and has defeated hundreds of Avengers before.
Reaction
Though Kang is obviously still alive in many forms and will be back, him being defeated by only Ant-man when the entirety of the Avengers have failed before, seems unbelievable.
The post-credit scenes confirmed that Kang will return, but I can’t help but feel it would have been more effective if Ant-man was defeated.
The jokes were tired through this film, and the writing seemed rushed and lazy.
The acting was strong, though the odd stale performance, (Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang).
An excellent performance from Jonathon Majors does shine through, what is a average affair.
Is the film as awful as everyone says, short answer, no.
It is a fun affair, that I am sure your children will enjoy.
For the hardcore MCU fan however, like with a lot of their recent content, you may be disappointed.
The CGI in general is good, and I feel a character such as MODOK is always going to look stupid – it does remind me of the CGI in ‘Spykids’ at times.
The film is fun, average, but fun.
I don’t think when you go to see a film called ‘Ant-man – Quantumania’, you are expecting a cinematic masterpiece on par with the ‘Godfather’.
However, I do think this shows the MCU may have lost some of its magic in recent films.
In times gone by, an MCU film was a spectacle, must-see event.
Now was the complete saturation of content, the quality has gone down.
Even the most hardcore fan will feel overwhelmed with the amount of films and series they have to watch in this current MCU landscape.
I believe this will be detrimental to all future MCU films and it is certainly detrimental to this one.
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