It’s time to find out what critics have had to say about Ant-Man’s latest adventures….
The Guardian: *** “Which brings us to the question with major implications for your next few multiplex trips: does Kang bang? Why yes, he does. Majors brings the same emotionally intense it-boy energy of Adam Driver in The Force Awakens. Note how his eyes are often watery with empathy for his victims, even as he throttles them. In his more wistful moments Kang would surely understand the main misgiving with this efficient movie product: the MCU marches inexorably onwards, through “phases” and “sagas”, but what’s the point if there’s no time to pause, reflect and enjoy a joke with old friends?”
The Observer: ** “The film’s main asset is Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror: his performance, with its velvet-soft line deliveries and unfathomable, boundless rage, is the magnetic core of this incoherent effects-dump of a movie.”
Vulture.com: “So the film fails on a basic, meat-and-potatoes comic-book-movie level. It doesn’t even manage to clearly explain the magic doodad (there’s always a magic doodad) our heroes have to recover this time. More importantly, it fails to make you feel anything, which is odd since part of the story involves Ant-Man’s desperate attempts to save his daughter, as ostensibly relatable and immediate a character motivation as one can imagine. But it’s all executed with such little commitment (by otherwise talented actors) that the end result is numb alienation, which is probably not a thing you’re supposed to want from a superhero flick.”
Empire: *** “At its best, Quantumania plays out like an episode of 1960s Star Trek, those hefty themes and more — idealism, abandonment, morality, identity — explored within the context of a wild universe inhabited by wackadoodle aliens. It’s scripted by sometime Rick And Morty writer Jeff Loveness, which is clear via the more surreal highlights — the creature curious about human holes; the walking, talking broccoli; the take on Marvel Comics legend MODOK, an utterly ridiculous killing machine, the film gleefully leaning into his silliness.”
The Independent: *** “Thankfully, Quantumania coughs up a decent amount of the mania promised in its title – it’s done a far better job, at least, than last year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which was miserably sane. There are horses with slug heads. A socially awkward gelatinous blob voiced by actor David Dastmalchian. A sort of fleshy Humpty-Dumpty/human Babybel named MODOK (Mechanised Organism Designed Only for Killing). At one point, Michael Douglas drives a spaceship with gloopy, tube-like controls that make it look like he’s trying to impregnate a cow with both hands. All in all – particularly when balanced against the weightiness of Majors’s performance – Quantumania nicely hits the mark: it’s goofy, but goofy to just the right degree.”
The Telegraph: ** “Plotless and emotionless, the third instalment of Ant-Man is a depressing example of what happens to art when special effects take over.”
Den of Geek: “Those doubts are put to the test by Kang, with Jonathan Majors immediately proving that Marvel’s casting gambits remain among the studio’s strongest assets. Majors is nothing less than riveting whenever he’s onscreen, and his portrayal of Kang—whom we met a much more amiable variant of, also played by Majors, at the end of the first season of Loki—is complex, quietly malevolent, and imbued with a great sense of frightening power. His motivations and plans dwarf those of his MCU predecessor, Thanos, and his ability to move across all of space and time makes him nearly godlike in his ambitions and resources.”
NME.com: **** “To say any more would spoil the film, but rest assured this is top-drawer MCU. Previous Ant-Man films felt slight compared to their bigger Avengers brothers, and even director Peyton Reed concedes the action-comedies were only “fun little palate cleansers”. Quantumania is different. Much darker in tone and more impactful to the franchise’s overarching narrative, Lang’s psychedelic sojourn has a weightier feel to it that’s more in keeping with the Russo Brothers’ climactic epics Infinity War and Endgame.”
Digital Spy: *** “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania ends up as a movie with great elements, rather than completely satisfying whole. It has several fun gags, the requisite surprises for long-term MCU fans and in Jonathan Majors, an excellent new villain who you want to see more of.”
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is out in cinemas now.