Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (03.03.23)

 

One thing I have to do as a reviewer is avoid reading the opinions of others before I’ve had a chance to view the work for myself, as such knowledge has the potential to subconsciously influence my own feelings about the movie when I actually see it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to a well-regarded movie and hated it because I was expecting something more or watched a supposed dumpster fire that I ended up greatly enjoying because my expectations were pre-tempered. I did not do my due diligence and avoid reviews for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for two reasons: One, I’m a big Marvel fan and was curious as to what others were saying, and two, I was not expecting to review it anyway. But here we are, and here I am telling you that I have no idea why this latest film in the juggernaut that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe was so poorly received.  

A good deal of this reaction is, of course, due to the lowering of expectations that I unwisely subjected myself to beforehand, but I am sure it is not the only cause of this disconnect I feel between myself and the Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb scores, the other being audience fatigue. The first two Ant-Man films are light fun that owe a lot to the charisma and likeability of their casts, and Quantumania is mostly more of the same, albeit with much higher stakes and a dramatic moment or two. Paul Rudd is perfect because Paul Rudd is always perfect, and this third Ant-Man movie gets a huge shot in the arm thanks to Michelle Pfeiffer’s expanded role as well as the addition of Jonathan Majors as the villainous Kang the Conqueror (Evangeline Lilly, despite being the Wasp in Ant-Man and the Wasp, unfortunately doesn’t have much to do this time around and is just kind of there).  

This more-of-the-sameness is why quite a few viewers were left dissatisfied, and it’s not a problem that is limited just to Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man trilogy: Quantumania does, in a lot of ways, feel like the latest clone in its very long parent series, the MCU itself, which some argue is getting quite formulaic and stale at this point. It doesn’t matter which superhero is the focus—the latest movie will have quips, occasionally questionable CGI, quips, the introduction of a new character for a future film or TV series, and even more quips. Quantumania is not an exception to this formula. I get this opinion and in a lot of ways I agree with it as well, but taken on its own in a vacuum Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was exactly what I was looking for: Comic book fun with that gosh-darned talented Paul Rudd. It doesn’t seek to reinvent the wheel and could have been better in a lot of ways (why should I care about these boring Quantum Realm characters and where is Michael Pena??) but overall I think it belongs solidly in the middle of the pack when it comes to MCU films. Whether that is good news or bad, as always that is up to you. 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is now available in theaters. 

 

This article was first published in The Keizertimes on March 3^rd, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/  

Emancipation (02.24.23)

 

Even the darkest periods of human history can teach us important lessons that we can apply to our daily lives. They are, in fact, uniquely good at it. The abominable institution of slavery in the United States and its eventual eradication teaches us that not only is man capable of great evil, but that there is also a resilience of the spirit that is sometimes impossible to snuff out, no matter how bleak the circumstances. Film is just one medium that helps us make sense of the troubled past, and Emancipation is the latest in such attempts; however, it falls short despite its admirable acting and interesting cinematography, as it doesn’t really offer anything new to say and the message is often lost in its Hollywood excesses.  

Will Smith is exceptional as the main character, a runaway slave who history knows as “Whipped Peter,” the subject (or subjects... there is some debate over whether or not “Peter” was actually a press-created amalgamation of two different people) of the iconic and disturbing photographs that helped spur on the abolition movement during the Civil War. Smith is in top dramatic form here, as are his costars. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, a man who is primarily known as an action director, Emancipation often looks interesting as well, with its dynamic shots, unflinching grit, and boldly un-bold color palette. Emancipation opts for a bleak, desaturated look that is so muted it often appears black and white, a choice that underlines the brutality of the situation at some points and leads to distraction at others. Colors randomly choose to present themselves throughout the film, which leant me to believe more than once that my TV was on the fritz (fire, for instance, will sometimes be muted orange and other times will be as gray as everything around it).  

Even without this color palette, Emancipation is bleak, violent, and often disturbing. The script is not particularly good, full of cliches and surface-level observations as it is, nor are the characters at all fleshed out. Peter is a man of faith who loves his family and his god, and that is about all we ever learn of him, other than the fact that he is a crack shot who can easily take on a gator hand-to-hand (hand-to-mouth?) and come out on top. This latter bit is where the movie falters the most: Directed by an action maestro, Emancipation frequently seems more concerned with exciting set pieces than it is with making a salient point about the horrors of slavery, and when it does settle down to say something it is a basic statement like “we are not slaves, we are people.” True and important, but far from groundbreaking or particularly thoughtful. This can also apply to the violence itself, which is dialed up to eleven and comes across as wanting to shock rather than to teach. 

There are much worse films than Emancipation out there, but there are also much better ones that not only focus on the messed up parts of history, but also the things we can learn from them. 

Emancipation is now available on Apple TV+. 

 

This review was first published in the Keizertimes on February 24^th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/