{"id":26055,"date":"2023-02-15T23:04:45","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T07:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26055"},"modified":"2023-02-15T23:04:45","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T07:04:45","slug":"ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-has-a-few-moments-but-is-tonally-unbalanced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26055","title":{"rendered":"ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA Has A Few Moments But is Tonally Unbalanced"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Running Time: 125 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from Marvel and Disney is opening at\ntheaters nationwide on February 17th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has been a few years since Marvel fans have seen the\nAnt-Man character appear on the big screen (specifically, Avengers: Endgame<\/em>\nin 2019). This series of films have always tried to inject as much humor as\nthrills, often to varying effect. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania<\/em> is\neven more bold in its efforts to mix genres. It further expands the Marvel\ncomic book universe by adding a major and stone-faced villain into the\nproceedings. There are a few amusing gags and some enjoyable action towards the\nclose, but the attempts to throw in heavier drama between laughs results in a\ntonally unbalanced film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The film opens up with an entertaining catch-up with Scott\nLang\/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd). After helping save the world, Scott has rested on his\nlaurels and appears to be enjoying fame. But after learning that his teenage\ndaughter Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) has been following in his old footsteps\nand getting into trouble with the law, he expresses concern. Scott is even more\nsurprised to discover that his offspring has been working with Hope Van\nDyne\/The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) on\nexperiments related to the Quantum Realm. This is a mysterious alternate\ndimension where Hank Pym\u2019s wife Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) was lost for\ndecades. When a family meeting results in the entire group being transported to\nthis strange land, they must deal with unexpected foes like M.O.D.O.K. (Corey\nStoll) and the intimidating Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pacing is fast, with the protagonists being sent quickly\nto an alternate reality. Like other recent titles from Marvel, there is a great\ndeal of discussion detailing the concept of multiverses. The Quantum Realm\noffers filmmakers the opportunity to see environments different from Earth and\nfilled with an array of unique individuals. There are a couple of original\nsights (including organic, living structures), but most of the backdrops seem\ninspired by Star Wars<\/em> films rather than anything new. Additionally, the\nconstant barrage of digital visual effects isn\u2019t always convincing \u2013 at times\nit does look like a group of actors standing in front of a green screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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At least the cast are charismatic and do their best to sell the fantasy. The heroes are likable and some off-the-cuff remarks earn chuckles. This includes Hank Pym\u2019s apt comment on the appearance of an individual at a bar, as well as several of Scott\u2019s observations about his surreal situation. And there are a couple of great cameos. One familiar face appears in a single scene and makes an impression hinting at his own exploits with Janet, tormenting Hank in the process. The other, more obscure reference is an early blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it appearance by the frontman of rock band Eels<\/em>, whose physicist father Hugh Everett III first proposed the many-worlds concept. The latter is a nice nod and one that many will miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But not all of the humor works and many scenes veer from serious and somber to downright silly. Kang The Conqueror is a powerful and threatening villain, but his henchman M.O.D.O.K. is played strictly for laughs. His appearance is so bizarre that it is distracting. The character’s attempts at humor don\u2019t work and feel very jarring. The movie also introduces some new faces from the Quantum Realm, but they aren\u2019t given an opportunity to make an impression. Of course, with seven central heroes and villains already present, it\u2019s a tall order for anyone else to stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The action is also hit-and-miss. Some fights involving\nclose-contact are hard to follow, but the climax does manage to deliver a few\nimpressive jabs. That\u2019s a good thing, especially given that Kang is set up as\nsuch a formidable opponent (possessing psychic visions of the future), it seems\nstrange when simple tactics effectively throw him off. Of course, by the end it\nall leads to a realization that a large part of this film is simply about\nsetting up a major storyline for the current phase of films and beyond (the\nsequences during and after the credits are only interested in further\nemphasizing this villain).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania<\/em> is a busy film and\na mixed bag of positives and negatives. Some of the humor works, while other\nbits seem completely out of place when events turn serious. The multiverse\naspect offers exciting new possibilities, but is equally fatiguing. Even with\nthe potential of all space and time being threatened, if there are thousands\nupon thousands of versions of the same heroes and villains, the struggle\ndoesn\u2019t feel quite as urgent, nor the danger as imminent. Perhaps as this phase\nprogresses it\u2019ll all come together dynamically but for now, like many recent\nMarvel efforts, it frustrates as much as it entertains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 125 minutes This feature from Marvel and Disney is opening at theaters nationwide on February 17th. It has been a few years since Marvel fans have seen the Ant-Man character appear on the big screen (specifically, Avengers: Endgame in 2019). This series of films have always tried to inject as much humor as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,697,741,1563,1568,1569,1570,1571,4668,4790,5922,7122,7314,11000,11433,11511,13333,13341,13775,13872,15833,17775,22581],"class_list":["post-26055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-action","tag-adaptation","tag-ant-man","tag-ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania","tag-ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-film-review","tag-ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-movie-review","tag-ant-man-and-the-wasp-quantumania-review","tag-comic-book","tag-corey-stoll","tag-disney","tag-evangeline-lilly","tag-fantasy","tag-jonathan-majors","tag-kang-the-conqueror","tag-kathryn-newton","tag-marvel","tag-marvel-universe","tag-michael-douglas","tag-michelle-pfeiffer","tag-paul-rudd","tag-science-fiction","tag-the-wasp"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}