citizens of the reject Nation welcome to my non-spoiler thoughts for Ant-Man Quantum Mania
which I did see in IMAX I am now turning so you can actually see me but that was very dramatic
that opening much like the movie very dramatic I have a lot of very conflicting feelings towards
this movie in that I really really want people to enjoy it and I really want people to go see
it and I do think IMAX is the format of choice there are so many scenes that are shot for that
scale ironically a movie about an Ant-Man is very very big and bold it is one of the most
visually stimulating movies I've seen in a very long time but where my problems lie is in the
characterization because some of these characters are being utilized in new ways and a lot of these
characters are delivering a bigger Arc but my issue much like I had with Age of Ultron
is that you're suffering in the temporary Arc to have the overarching arc I feel like this
movie is going to grill on me as I see where this goes but I definitely feel like when I walked out
of the movie I didn't even know how to begin to review it so let's go on this journey together
let's start with Kang Kang is a Powerhouse Kang is Jonathan Majors getting the flex majorly and
I do feel like what Jonathan Majors brings to the table is an almost Shakespearean meets um
Brando esque hyper masculinity that is so for me a leaning in performance I kept being fascinated by
like little choices and facial ticks and his eyes and I was so captivated at all points by Jonathan
Majors my issue wasn't with his performance as Kang it was some of the writing choices for Kang
and again this is a non-spoiler review so I'm not going to give anything away but I definitely felt
the reason Kang served this story is going to be very different than how I feel about Kang
the character overall it is not a spoiler to say tang in the comic books Kang in reality Kang that
you already know you met him and he who remains is a multi-faceted character so the use of this
Kang didn't work for me all the time the delivery of this Kang was always interesting but I don't
know if it actually worked for the story they told hopefully that makes sense I'm very excited
to give a spoiler review because all of this will be a very more linear journey to tell you this as
with any Marvel movie does have two post-credit scenes and the first one is a lot of what I was
really really wanting and I really think it builds off of the last five minutes really well the last
five minutes is actually a perfect example of how I feel about this stuff okay so not giving away
the last five minutes but the last five minutes was a lot more of the thing I wanted the movie to
lean more into but because of the things the movie had to be it wasn't allowed to be the
last five minutes so I love the last five minutes and I loved the mid credit scene but because this
was the third in an Ant-Man Trilogy because this was the continuation of the 3637 Marvel film Saga
they couldn't do the thing that the post-credits scene and the very end of the movie was so I feel
like this movie was fighting itself as much as it was fighting Kang I feel like this this movie
had a lot of really interesting family Dynamics there's a couple little tweets that would have
elevated it from you know like mid-level to upper level that like literally it's it's a
decision here or a decision there but overall it felt like it was warning with itself because it
was growing in a bunch of directions at once but it definitely felt like sometimes it played too
small and sometimes it played too big sometimes it played two Ant-Man sometimes it played two
giant man most of all I think it did a Star Trek Star wars-esque film Justice and I I really love
that that's the flavor they captured here this isn't like the heist film the first one was this
isn't the adventure the second one was this is truly a sci-fi film so whereas you've got space
operas with Guardians of the Galaxy this is a more traditional sci-fi film this has more DNA with
elements of of Loki than it does with elements of Guardians of the Galaxy a lot of that Mobius art
and the character Mobius makes that confusing but Mobius is a comic artist that has a very
intricate design the final post-credits scene is a really interesting choice in that it reveals
more than I think they've done in a lot of them lately it also hearkens back to phase one and two
post-credit scenes in in the style and the choice and the use of the post-credits scene and it also
teases something that I think the movie could have teased but I'm glad they at least teased it it
didn't feel like uh you know Moon Knight or one of the ones where it's like well that could have just
been the end of the movie but it did definitely feel like I would have liked more of that in the
movie highlights for me were definitely Modoc uh I did not expect Modoc to be the scene stealer he
was uh you know modox in this I did not spoil anything he's in the trailer it was something
that I I had hoped would be the way they made Modoc happen and they absolutely nailed it I
think it really fit with World building I think it really fit with balancing drama and comedy I
think it really fit with what they were allowed to do with the science and technology in this
universe and I really had so much fun with that choice and I really enjoyed the family dynamic in
that I love that phase four really addressed all of our heroes getting older and really addressed
what it'd be like to be a superhero parent and I really am enjoyed a lot of the Cassie Lang Paul
Rudd dynamic as well as Evangeline Lily being a part of that and then her relationship with
her mom and her relationship with Hank Pym and I do think Hank Pym finally gets some of the
most like badass moments some some very uh Ant-Man moments that I've been you know very much waiting
for but it felt like if it was either two movies or if it was not the third in a series or I just
there was something about how it landed overall it definitely it worked for me in the first two
acts more than the third act because there's a moment and I can't quite piece together where it
was but there's a moment going into the third act where I just feel the stake shift in a way that
I was like oh okay this is where this is going so I had had fun up until that point and I was
engrossed in the world oh by the way the character designs are absolutely stunning there's so much
beautiful character work here there's so much stunning imagery of these insane new creatures
that I think absolutely deliver I really loved the imagination in the quantum realm I really loved
what they were able to do by making us uh believe in imagination there's so many images that feel
like Pure Imagination Quantified and I and I love that but I definitely found that by the time we
got to the third act that Glee that overwhelming sense of wonder turned into me overthinking the
ramifications the consequences and I don't know if that's a problem of a giant shared Universe I
don't know if that's a problem of this having to be contained so you're you know wondering about
their characters I don't know if that's a problem of you know we've mapped out five to seven to ten
years we've got a movie in 2025 called the Kang Dynasty I don't know what that's a symptom of
but I'm definitely aware that I was thinking of it instead of being engrossed and the movie made
me do that fairly often where I was never fully in the quantum realm with them I was watching and
and I think the best superhero movies certainly the best movies you feel like you're with these
characters and when a superhero movie can do that where it can have a reality at an 11 make you feel
like you're running alongside them that is the dream goal and I definitely felt slightly removed
I felt like I was looking through the glass of ants I felt like I was I was on the ant farm with
them in Ant-Man one and two more and I was outside the ant farm feeding the ants it's a lot of ant
metaphors in this review I definitely didn't feel as connected as I wanted to even though
I love the family elements even though I loved a lot of those things it never felt like I was with
them in a way that I really wanted to the comedy versus drama balance is really interesting because
I've heard from a few people that didn't like the film there wasn't enough comedy I found the comedy
really refreshing in that I got to laugh and after phase four there's a lot of not laughing there's a
lot of sadness and the joy this movie brought was definitely something I needed I do feel like we're
entering a more joyous era in Phase five we've mourned we've gone to therapy we've had a lot of
losses this was more joyous in a really wonderful way in a way that I really wanted it to be and
I do credit Peyton reads comedy timing and I do credit obviously Paul Rudd being Charming Carnet
but it wasn't just that it was the Hank Pam Janet relationship being drama heavy and US feeling more
in Paul Rudd's head in a way that you were able to experience the drama of family but also Paul
Rudd inherently being funny allowed some of the drama to be comedic so the thing I think it did
best was present characters that shouldn't work well balance comedy and drama with insane visuals
so I do feel like This lends itself to the deeper sci-fi the 70s sci-fi and the Doctor Who stuff the
Star Trek the Star Wars world the character design especially is all very much that world so as far
as balancing tone dromedy comma and the Star Wars Star Trek sci-fi I do feel like is unique to this
film but it does for me suffer in the third act because of the world they built being what it had
to be so yeah overall enjoyed but definitely the most conflicted I've ever felt walking out of a
Marvel film I definitely have had uh movies where I've like not for me and movies that are like that
was awesome this is a more like I don't know how I feel because I really loved the opening and then I
really found myself in my head in the entire third act and I'm excited to see it again to see how
that lands I'm excited to hear what people think but uh yeah it was an interesting Journey see it
in IMAX because it is visually stunning prepare yourself for a Sci-Fi epic in a way that is almost
removing it kind of takes you over here and I don't know what I would change there but in the
spoiler review I'm going to tell you guys the little line tweaks I would change that
would solve a lot of my problems I'll tell you a couple story beats that change don't solve a lot
of my problems and we're gonna do a live stream so tune in Saturday for that but in the meantime
conflicted my review conflicted my rating score C for conflicted not for a letter grade because I
have to decide later and my overall thoughts talk to me in a week okay reject Nation I appreciate
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