I realised yesterday that I hardly remembered "Quantumania" (I prefer to
shorten the title), even though it's only 10 months since I watched it in the
cinema. I could only remember that Kang is in it. "Quantumania" is usually
mentioned in the same breath as
"The Marvels"
as one of Marvel's big flops. On checking the box office figures I found that
it's not a flop, it made a small profit, but it's a disappointment compared to
the expectations Marvel Studios had for it.
The first impression I had on watching the film today is the excess of CGI.
There's even more CGI than in
"Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness". Is it excusable? Just about. The film takes place in the Quantum Realm, a
world that would be difficult to be shown without the use of computer
graphics.
As the film progressed, it was obvious to me that it's in a completely
category to "The Marvels". The two films shouldn't be lumped together, because
"Quantumania" has a good story. Both films performed badly at the box office,
but for different reasons. "The Marvels" has a confusing, poorly written
story, whereas Quantumania's (relative) failure was the result of Marvel
fatigue. There have been too many Marvel films in a short period of time, and
fans want something new. My personal criticism of Marvel's current films is
that they're too samey. They all revolve around cosmic events. If you look
back at Marvel's comics in their glory days there was a great variety of
themes. There were mind-bending cosmic stories, but there were also
down-to-earth comics like Daredevil, a man facing criminals in New York. We
need films like that. It shouldn't all be about the Multiverse.
But "Quantumania" is a well written Multiverse story. Kang is a character who
co-exists in many branches of the Multiverse. The Kangs have teamed together
to rule over the Multiverse, but one rebel Kang thinks they're doing wrong, so
he fought against them and lost. They exiled him by sending his ship into
the Quantum Realm. When Janet Van Dyne was trapped in the Quantum Realm she
witnessed Kang's ship crashing and saved his life. Together they worked on
repairing his ship to get both of them out of the Quantum Realm, but Janet
realised he was evil – a monster – and sabotaged the ship.
Unable to escape, Kang built an empire in the Quantum Realm, while Janet led
the resistance against him.
Janet was rescued from the Quantum Realm in
"Ant-Man and the Wasp". Scott Lang's daughter Cassie has now built a device to remotely explore the Quantum
Realm, but Kang detects the signal and sucks Cassie, Scott, Janet and Hank
Pym into the Realm. He wants their help in repairing his ship.
It's a very good story. Unlike the previous Ant-Man film, the humour is kept
to a minimum. That makes it a better film. Once you suspend disbelief it's a
thrilling action film. It deserved more success at the box office, but what
could it do against Marvel fatigue? Maybe it's time to call it a day and
reboot the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Success Rate: + 0.4
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