After 57 hours and 10 minutes of films and shows, Marvel’s Phase Four ended with “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Marvel released “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania” on Feb. 17 to kick off Phase Five. Although this movie is held back by weak plot points and a few irritable characters, it succeeds as a good setup for the rest of the phase.
Most recent Marvel products, like “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania,” contain too many generic plot points such as the heroes do something funny, then they get trapped, but while they’re trapped they do something else that should be funny. This structure would be fine if it did not always saturate every recent Marvel film. However, despite the overuse of bland plotlines, there were plenty of times in “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania” when Paul Rudd would shout a humorous quip, and I started to enjoy the film a little more bit by bit. In fact without these quips, I feel the story would’ve been worse off.
Some of the characters were hard to root for. Cassandra Lang, played by Kathryn Newton, fulfilled the role of one of the main protagonists. While her character provided some funny and action-packed moments, I found myself irritated by most of her dialogue. Throughout the film, Cassandra would get upset with Scott Lang for no reason, and after this happens about five times in under thirty minutes, she just felt like a brat. If Marvel decided to take a different route and make her a more likable character, Cassandra would’ve received a lot more support and made the movie more delightful.
All of Marvel’s Phases build and tell their own stories. Not one movie should explain an entire phase story, rather each film should act like a single step on a ladder. “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania” supplied a superior introduction to Phase Five. The movie not only provides insight into the main antagonist but also establishes the solid ground for future Marvel shows. Since the writers and creators accomplished this task so well, I can look past most of the flaws in this movie.
Overall, “Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania” presents some flaws, but it’s a good film because of its strong setup. I give this movie three and a half ants out of five ants.
