Critics Trash ‘Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania’

John F. Trent |

Feb 14, 2023

Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios' ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2022 MARVEL.

Review scores are here for the latest Marvel Studios entry and critics took the film to the woodshed.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rotten 55% score from 114 reviews. There are 63 fresh reviews and 51 rotten reviews with an average rating of 5.9 out of 10.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Rotten Tomatoes Critics score

The film fared even worse when isolating for Rotten Tomatoes’ top critics. It has a 45% score from 31 top critics with an average rating of 6 out of 10. There are 14 fresh scores and 17 rotten ones.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Rotten Tomatoes Top Critics score

Here’s what some of the critics are saying:

David Sims at The Atlantic gives the film a rotten score. He writes, “The story is in service of the larger Marvel engine, an increasingly creaky machine that nevertheless keeps grinding away, dropping superstar performers into CGI glop because the show simply must go on.”

David Fear at Rolling Stone also gives the film a rotten rating. He writes, “Quantumania is somehow heavy without feeling substantial, almost desperate in its dourness. Even scattered with occasional wisecracks, it makes Eternals feel positively breezy by comparison.”

David Poland at Hot Button gives the movie a fresh score. However, he writes, “Way too much of the film feels like they took the story they wanted to tell and then amped it up to be ‘bigger.’ I actually loved many of the ideas, for places and characters… but it was all just too much, distracting from the core story.”

Lupe Rodriguez Haas at CineMovie.tv gives the film a B rating. Haas writes, “The third installment is the busiest movie of this Marvel trilogy with tons of distracting CGI environments. Thankfully Paul Rudd carries the movie as the heart of the story but Michelle Pfeiffer and Jonathan Majors steal the show.”

Brian Lowry at CNN gives the film a rotten score. He pens, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania works on one key level, establishing Kang the Conqueror as a truly formidable and worthy villain. Yet with its plunge into inner space, ‘Ant-Man’ comes up short in almost every other way that matters.”

Lindsey Bahr at the Associated Press gives the film a rotten 2.5 out of 4. She writes, “Majors is certainly chilling and captivating, but Kang seems like a mismatched foe for a standalone Ant-Man film and the result is a Quantumania that is trying to be too many things.”

(L-R): Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror in Marvel Studios' ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

Emannuel Noisette at The Movie Blog gives the film a fresh 6.5 out of 10. He writes, “If it weren’t for Jonathan Major’s performance as Kang, this movie would be a complete fail.”

Nate Adams at The Only Critic gives the film a rotten C+. He explains, “The humor is inconsistent, the visuals, while weird and partially engaging, are ugly, and if not for Paul Rudd’s amicable charm and the one, two punch of Johnathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, the MCU would be in desperate need of some oxygen.”

Kyle Anderson at Nerdist gives the film a fresh 3 out of 5. He pens, “As a movie to properly foist Kang the Conqueror onto the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania succeeds and then some. As a movie for Ant-Man, the Wasp, and their family of size-changing heroes? It’s only just fine.”

Over at Metacritic the film has even worse critic score. It currently has a Metascore of 50 from 39 critics. There are 13 positive reviews, 20 mixed, and 6 negative.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Metacritic Critics score

Leah Greenblatt over at Entertainment Weekly gives the film its highest score on Metacritic with an 83. She writes, “At just over 120 minutes, though — a blink in Marvel time — this Ant-Man is clever enough to be fun, and wise enough not overstay its welcome. Who better understands the benefits, after all, of keeping it small?”

Molly Freeman at ScreenRant gives the movie an 80. She says, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a solid start to the MCU’s Phase 5, working well to serve Scott Lang’s story and introduce the menacing Kang.”

Alonso Duralde at TheWrap gives the film a 72. He pens, “Quantumania may not swing for the fences as ambitiously as recent entries like Wakanda Forever or Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but it does take the wildly disparate tones and plot threads that are seemingly endemic to this series and turn them into an entertainingly cohesive whole. To be continued, obviously.”

Mike Ryan at UpRoxx gives the movie a 60. He says, “With Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, like I said, I think Peyton Reed has given us an installment that, with the material that has to be introduced, is about the best version this could be. But I found myself missing the more grounded and funny world of Scott Lang that the prior movies had set up. You know, being a palette cleanser is a good thing.”

Kevin Harley at Total Film also gives the film a 60. He says, “CGI/saga-building issues aside, the MCU’s fun sci-fi getaway stretches Ant-Man and answers any Multiverse niggles. Majors’ menace focuses the attention fiercely.”

Johnny Oleksinski at New York Post dunked on the film giving it a 50. He wrote, “Sorry to Raid on your parade, “Ant-Man” fans, but the third chapter is a pile of dirt.”

(L-R): Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror, and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.

Soren Andersen from The Seattle Times gave the film a 38. Andersen wrote, “‘I’m tired.’ — Overheard from a member of the audience at the end of the seemingly endless closing credit crawl at the critic’s screening for Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. – I hear you, lady. Believe me, I hear you.”

Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a 30. He wrote, “The moments of wit and feeling that occasionally steal into the frame. . .feel like emotional outliers in a flat, inexpressive void.”

Barry Hertz at The Globe and Mail gave the film its worse score on Metacritic with a 23. He states, “Coloured wall-to-fake-wall with cheap-looking CGI, the film looks like it was shot from inside the guts of a first-generation iPhone – there is an aesthetic emptiness to it all that is soul-crushing.”

According to Box Office Pro, the film is expected to make between $96 and $131 million in its opening weekend and go on to have a total domestic gross somewhere between $249 and $347 million.

However, while making these predictions Box Office Pro noted, “Expectations should be managed when it comes to box office prospects until there’s a clearer sense of quality and audience reception.”

(L-R): Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/Ant-Man, Kathryn Newton as Cassandra “Cassie” Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

For comparison, the first Ant-Man film, which released in July 2015, grossed $57.2 million in its opening weekend and went on to gross $180.2 million at the domestic box office. It finished with $518.8 million at the global box office.

Factoring in inflation, the opening weekend gross would be a $72.2 million opening weekend and a $227.4 million total domestic gross. Global gross would be $654.84 million.

Ant-Man and the Wasp surpassed the first film at the box office. It had an opening weekend of $75.8 million and a total domestic gross of $216.6 million. It’s worldwide box office gross was $623.1 million.

With inflation it would be a $90.3 million opening weekend and a $258.06 million total domestic gross. It’s global gross would clock in at $742.36 million.

(L-R): Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp; Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne/Wasp in Marvel Studios’ ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.

What do you make of these reviews? Do you think they will affect Quantumania’s box office grosses?

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