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Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania' kicks off Marvel's next phase, but falls short

2023-02-15T15:05:09.138Z


While it falls short, "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" works on one key point: it establishes Kang the Conqueror as a truly formidable and worthy villain.


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(CNN) --

Ant-Man is a somewhat ironic choice for a very, very big job: starting the next phase of Marvel movies.

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" works at a key point, establishing Kang the Conqueror as a truly formidable and worthy villain.

However, with his immersion in inner space, "Ant-Man" falls short in almost every other important way.

In fact, the rapid descent into the Quantum Realm, a sprawling universe within our own, makes it look as much like "Guardians of the Galaxy" as Ant-Man, with a wide variety of bizarre characters and wacky production design, otherworldly and often murky.

With much of the action taking place in that shot, the film bears little resemblance to the original "Ant-Man," or even its sequel, which topped its potentially gimmicky premise with plenty of comedy and a modest story.

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Director Peyton Reed returns for a third time, and the film begins with a similar sense of whimsy, but the similarities to the franchise's 2015 introduction pretty much end there.

"Quantumania," by contrast, has a bad case of gigantism, as Paul Rudd's Ant-Man/Scott Lang is pulled into the Quantum Realm along with the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), her parents (Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas). and Scott's daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton, a welcome addition to a family of heroes that continues to grow through shrinkage).

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What follows is a particularly psychedelic trip, with very little grounding in anything resembling recognizable reality.

The most relatable aspect is that this hidden universe comes under the sway of a being so powerful that its occupants display a Voldemort-like reluctance to even utter his name: Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors.

Kathryn Newton as Cassandra "Cassie" Lang and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania."

(Credit: Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios)

Although he made an appearance in the Marvel TV series "Loki," that didn't prepare audiences for the Thanos-level threat that Kang represents, and Majors imbues him with a quiet menace and majesty, a sense of seriousness that's no small feat. thing given the contents of some of the dialogues.

If Kang is destined to become the central antagonist of the next batch of movies, which are again heading towards an Avengers-sized showdown, Majors is the only thing emerging from "Quantumania" anyone could trust.

In fact, one of the structural problems is that Kang's power and the scope of his evil plans make the hero-villain pairing seem like the wrong pairing;

To put it aptly for Majors' upcoming role in "Creed III," asking a lightweight to take on a heavyweight, one who started out in the comics fighting with the Fantastic Four.

Kang himself insists on it, telling Ant-Man, "You're out of your league."

A pandemic obviously significantly altered the playing field for everyone in Hollywood after Marvel's smash hit "Avengers: Endgame," but the studio hasn't felt like a big league player since that climactic event.

Thanks to its emphasis on Kang, the third "Ant-Man" took a necessary step toward something bigger, with the aforementioned "Guardians" and "The Marvels" sequels still to come this year.

But it's a small step at best, and like much of Marvel's recent output, it only makes "Endgame" loom that much bigger in the rearview mirror.

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" opens on February 17 in US theaters.

It is rated PG-13.

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Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2023-02-15

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