My review of this movie I'll get to in a moment but first I feel like i have to clarify something. Bit of a lengthy review this one so strap in.
Since Endgame there have been 18 movies and TV shows (almost as many as there were movies between Iron Man 2008 and Endgame 2019). I've watched everything MCU related and the only MCU content I can reference that was either good or just half decent is Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and Moon Knight. Each of these still obviously have their own problems but these problems personally aren't big enough that it weighs down the rest of the story for me. Everything else has been soiled by completely incompetent writing and just feels like corporate, lifeless, monotonous sludge pushed out by the colossal rectum that is Walt Disney Studio's to keep content and money flowing.
I have been a solid fan of Marvel Studios for over a decade now and after Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness I had mentally checked out entirely. The writing for these movies/tv shows has become so ridiculously lazy and convoluted that its impossible to follow logically. They are treating the concept of the multiverse like its this sacred thing that can't be altered and they can't interact or merge but also that you can do anything what so ever with zero consequences because there's an infinite amount of other universes so who cares. Why should we as an audience care about your universe when you very blatantly don't care about it yourself.
The multiverse can be an incredible story telling device if utilised properly and with meaning behind it, but they've instead decided to go down the Rick and Morty route and make it so nothing matters. Its entertaining for a moment but also loses all meaning when the stakes you set can be nullified completely at any moment. (Dosent surprise me that my friend mentioned after watching the movie that it felt like an episode of Rick and Morty, especially with some of the comedy, themes and the fact that marvel has now hired a multitude of writers from that show to head multiple different projects, including this one.)
There is so much to say about how little there is to say about everything Marvel has released the past 4 years. The formula has been abused so hard that I can do a description of virtually everything they've put out the past few years in one go:
Hero and friends are all in a great position, Hero accidentally discovers something, world/universe is in danger, comedy, action, comedy, action, one or two big subverted twists that makes no sense, means nothing and pleases nobody, comedy, action, big CGI fight and then the Hero and their friends are right back where they started. Throw in a few 'woke' wins/ideologies/issues to please the woke crowd and keep them defending any criticism of your films, kick your feet up and call it a day.
(For context, the comment on the inclusion of 'woke' ideologies in these films isn't a comment on whether its good or bad, whether you should agree or disagree or whether it should or shouldn't even be in the movie, everybody has their own opinions and everybody is entitled to them. This is a comment on the fact that Disney very clearly dosent actually care about these issues they portray and instead uses these as some what of a shield against valid criticism of their films online.)
Of course each new movie/show they put out they have to dangle a carrot in front of you in the form of some major marvel character/actor who is going to show up, and then of course by the end of the movie/show, that character/actor will have been retconned, killed off or just straight up revealed to not be the character you thought it was because "hey we gotcha again didn't we lol look how clever and funny we are". They want to use all of these crazy characters and properties they now own to entice people to come see their films but either don't have the balls to commit to any of them or dont have the talent/creativity to bring them to life, so they "subvert" our expectations, do something nobody wants and then call it clever. It's borderline false advertising at this point. Its like variations of groundhog day, especially now that I've just watched Bill Murray walk in and out of this movie so quickly I forgot he was even in the film until writing this review.
Even without all the multiverse stuff almost every movie/TV show has been made to look so important and game changing yet felt so inconsistent and inconsequential that by the end you could completely remove it and it would make virtually no difference to the overall story. I'm not saying every movie has to have some next level, world changing thing that completely switches everything up but to have everything that has been released feel this lifeless really is a killer expecially when the MCU felt truly incredible at one point. Now its this dead husk being puppeted and milked for every penny by Disney.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is no exception. The concept for what this movie was about is actually great material however it is constantly bogged down by plot holes, terrible comedy and some questionable CGI. Don't get me wrong there were a few genuinely funny moments and for the most part the visuals are fantastic and the artists who brought this world to life should be proud of themselves. Infact everybody involved in the making of this movie should be proud because you can tell pretty much everybody brought it. However this movies suffers enormously from what everything else in Phase 4 of the MCU has suffered from.
Horrendously incompetent writing.
The overall story and concepts for these movies aren't the problem, its the lack of respect for the characters and source material and the attention to detail that these hack writers seem to not even remotely care about. Its gotten so bad that to even enjoy some of these movies you need to switch the thinking part of your brain off completely. I feel genuinely sorry for some of the highly talented actors in this film that had to regurgitate some of the most incomprehensibly insane dialogue I've ever heard in a movie.
"But hey these are just stupid superhero movies for kids you're not supposed to think too deep into it"
Some of the greatest movies I've seen are very much family friendly. Implying that because children's brains aren't as fully developed as adults its ok to phone it in and make everything braindead is whats killing cinema and empowering these lazy writers to not care what they put to paper. What made these movies and this universe so herculean now is the attention to detail and the respect they had for the characters, the story and the fans who got them to this point. The overall writing and story for a film should never be sacrificed for the sake of spectacle and subversion yet the writers of these movies and shows seem to think that's now compulsory.
This movie has some quality moments, the acting is overall good with some being exceptional (Jonathan Majors as Kang being the standout), some of the comedy definately got a good laugh and some of the creative elements they did with the world and the action set pieces was next level. However, all this really is the icing on the cake with the overall cake being the story you're telling and the cake was so flavourless and inconsistent its impossible to go a few minutes without questioning everything that's happening.
Characters being shown in one situation then magically being in a different one next time they're on screen, the most unbelievably convenient, infinitely impossible moments just landing right in the characters laps like magic, gaping plot holes that completely break the universe and immersion, terrible comedy usually at the expense and detriment of the script/story, clunky/rushed CGI, main characters being completely forgotten about and sidelined for the whole movie (Feeling very sorry for Evangeline Lilly, The Wasp is completely underutilised and has been turned from a character into a cog to keep the other characters moving along. The fact that this movie is called "Ant-Man and the Wasp is quite frankly a joke.), subverted, meaningless plot twists that make zero sense and of course... mcguffins.
Marvel... This is really your big kick off for Phase 5?
This is obviously a spoiler-free review but the tricky thing about these reviews (which I think Disney also likes to bank on) is obviously a majority of people who haven't seen the movie will be avoiding any reviews with spoilers but without going into the spoilers its impossible to describe just how meaningless this movie and so many other MCU movies have been recently.
If you go to these movies to switch your brain off completely and enjoy the comedy and visuals then you'll have a great time however if thats what you're paying disney and these hack writers for then I suggest either waiting until it releases on streaming services or putting on a comedy podcast and finding a few different 4K youtube visualiser's to stare at for 2 hours instead. You might save some money and also hit Disney's pockets just enough they decide to actually start caring about the content they put out.
If you're going to these movies to follow the stories and the characters you've cared about for well over a decade you will leave feeling deflated and confused, only feeling more deflated and confused the more time passes by and you chew on what you just watched.
Fully done with the MCU now as are a plethora of other people, the universe is so broken and messy that Marvel might as well reboot the whole universe and start from scratch now that they've acquired all the properties that they have.
If you still want to watch this movie just wait until its out on streaming, as I mentioned this movie has some redeeming qualities but nowhere near enough to make it worth your money. The writing weighs this film down like a dingy loaded with a ton of lead.
Since Endgame there have been 18 movies and TV shows (almost as many as there were movies between Iron Man 2008 and Endgame 2019). I've watched everything MCU related and the only MCU content I can reference that was either good or just half decent is Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and Moon Knight. Each of these still obviously have their own problems but these problems personally aren't big enough that it weighs down the rest of the story for me. Everything else has been soiled by completely incompetent writing and just feels like corporate, lifeless, monotonous sludge pushed out by the colossal rectum that is Walt Disney Studio's to keep content and money flowing.
I have been a solid fan of Marvel Studios for over a decade now and after Doctor Strange: Multiverse of Madness I had mentally checked out entirely. The writing for these movies/tv shows has become so ridiculously lazy and convoluted that its impossible to follow logically. They are treating the concept of the multiverse like its this sacred thing that can't be altered and they can't interact or merge but also that you can do anything what so ever with zero consequences because there's an infinite amount of other universes so who cares. Why should we as an audience care about your universe when you very blatantly don't care about it yourself.
The multiverse can be an incredible story telling device if utilised properly and with meaning behind it, but they've instead decided to go down the Rick and Morty route and make it so nothing matters. Its entertaining for a moment but also loses all meaning when the stakes you set can be nullified completely at any moment. (Dosent surprise me that my friend mentioned after watching the movie that it felt like an episode of Rick and Morty, especially with some of the comedy, themes and the fact that marvel has now hired a multitude of writers from that show to head multiple different projects, including this one.)
There is so much to say about how little there is to say about everything Marvel has released the past 4 years. The formula has been abused so hard that I can do a description of virtually everything they've put out the past few years in one go:
Hero and friends are all in a great position, Hero accidentally discovers something, world/universe is in danger, comedy, action, comedy, action, one or two big subverted twists that makes no sense, means nothing and pleases nobody, comedy, action, big CGI fight and then the Hero and their friends are right back where they started. Throw in a few 'woke' wins/ideologies/issues to please the woke crowd and keep them defending any criticism of your films, kick your feet up and call it a day.
(For context, the comment on the inclusion of 'woke' ideologies in these films isn't a comment on whether its good or bad, whether you should agree or disagree or whether it should or shouldn't even be in the movie, everybody has their own opinions and everybody is entitled to them. This is a comment on the fact that Disney very clearly dosent actually care about these issues they portray and instead uses these as some what of a shield against valid criticism of their films online.)
Of course each new movie/show they put out they have to dangle a carrot in front of you in the form of some major marvel character/actor who is going to show up, and then of course by the end of the movie/show, that character/actor will have been retconned, killed off or just straight up revealed to not be the character you thought it was because "hey we gotcha again didn't we lol look how clever and funny we are". They want to use all of these crazy characters and properties they now own to entice people to come see their films but either don't have the balls to commit to any of them or dont have the talent/creativity to bring them to life, so they "subvert" our expectations, do something nobody wants and then call it clever. It's borderline false advertising at this point. Its like variations of groundhog day, especially now that I've just watched Bill Murray walk in and out of this movie so quickly I forgot he was even in the film until writing this review.
Even without all the multiverse stuff almost every movie/TV show has been made to look so important and game changing yet felt so inconsistent and inconsequential that by the end you could completely remove it and it would make virtually no difference to the overall story. I'm not saying every movie has to have some next level, world changing thing that completely switches everything up but to have everything that has been released feel this lifeless really is a killer expecially when the MCU felt truly incredible at one point. Now its this dead husk being puppeted and milked for every penny by Disney.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is no exception. The concept for what this movie was about is actually great material however it is constantly bogged down by plot holes, terrible comedy and some questionable CGI. Don't get me wrong there were a few genuinely funny moments and for the most part the visuals are fantastic and the artists who brought this world to life should be proud of themselves. Infact everybody involved in the making of this movie should be proud because you can tell pretty much everybody brought it. However this movies suffers enormously from what everything else in Phase 4 of the MCU has suffered from.
Horrendously incompetent writing.
The overall story and concepts for these movies aren't the problem, its the lack of respect for the characters and source material and the attention to detail that these hack writers seem to not even remotely care about. Its gotten so bad that to even enjoy some of these movies you need to switch the thinking part of your brain off completely. I feel genuinely sorry for some of the highly talented actors in this film that had to regurgitate some of the most incomprehensibly insane dialogue I've ever heard in a movie.
"But hey these are just stupid superhero movies for kids you're not supposed to think too deep into it"
Some of the greatest movies I've seen are very much family friendly. Implying that because children's brains aren't as fully developed as adults its ok to phone it in and make everything braindead is whats killing cinema and empowering these lazy writers to not care what they put to paper. What made these movies and this universe so herculean now is the attention to detail and the respect they had for the characters, the story and the fans who got them to this point. The overall writing and story for a film should never be sacrificed for the sake of spectacle and subversion yet the writers of these movies and shows seem to think that's now compulsory.
This movie has some quality moments, the acting is overall good with some being exceptional (Jonathan Majors as Kang being the standout), some of the comedy definately got a good laugh and some of the creative elements they did with the world and the action set pieces was next level. However, all this really is the icing on the cake with the overall cake being the story you're telling and the cake was so flavourless and inconsistent its impossible to go a few minutes without questioning everything that's happening.
Characters being shown in one situation then magically being in a different one next time they're on screen, the most unbelievably convenient, infinitely impossible moments just landing right in the characters laps like magic, gaping plot holes that completely break the universe and immersion, terrible comedy usually at the expense and detriment of the script/story, clunky/rushed CGI, main characters being completely forgotten about and sidelined for the whole movie (Feeling very sorry for Evangeline Lilly, The Wasp is completely underutilised and has been turned from a character into a cog to keep the other characters moving along. The fact that this movie is called "Ant-Man and the Wasp is quite frankly a joke.), subverted, meaningless plot twists that make zero sense and of course... mcguffins.
Marvel... This is really your big kick off for Phase 5?
This is obviously a spoiler-free review but the tricky thing about these reviews (which I think Disney also likes to bank on) is obviously a majority of people who haven't seen the movie will be avoiding any reviews with spoilers but without going into the spoilers its impossible to describe just how meaningless this movie and so many other MCU movies have been recently.
If you go to these movies to switch your brain off completely and enjoy the comedy and visuals then you'll have a great time however if thats what you're paying disney and these hack writers for then I suggest either waiting until it releases on streaming services or putting on a comedy podcast and finding a few different 4K youtube visualiser's to stare at for 2 hours instead. You might save some money and also hit Disney's pockets just enough they decide to actually start caring about the content they put out.
If you're going to these movies to follow the stories and the characters you've cared about for well over a decade you will leave feeling deflated and confused, only feeling more deflated and confused the more time passes by and you chew on what you just watched.
Fully done with the MCU now as are a plethora of other people, the universe is so broken and messy that Marvel might as well reboot the whole universe and start from scratch now that they've acquired all the properties that they have.
If you still want to watch this movie just wait until its out on streaming, as I mentioned this movie has some redeeming qualities but nowhere near enough to make it worth your money. The writing weighs this film down like a dingy loaded with a ton of lead.