‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ reviews call it a free-wheeling but forgettable first chapter for the MCU’s Phase 5

The pressure has never been higher for the Ant-Man franchise. While the first two solo outings for Paul Rudd’s astonishing shrinking superhero could afford to slide under the radar somewhat thanks to their (ahem) smaller scale of Marvel storytelling, that’s not the case for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, as the threequel is being massively hyped as the exciting opening chapter in the MCU’s Phase Five and the one that’s really kicking the ongoing Multiverse Saga up a notch.

The hype has naturally been bigger than Scott Lang in his Giant-Man form, then, with some optimistic fans hoping the film could be up to the level of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The writing started to appear on the wall for Peyton Reed’s film, however, when early reactions turned out to be more mixed than expected, highlighting one consistently mentioned problem with the production. Now, with the review embargo finally lifting, we know what the critics think. And they ain’t exactly being kind.

Empire offers one of the more positive reviews, ascribing it three stars but admitting Quantumania struggles to recapture the earlier films’ charm.

Geeks of Color, meanwhile, were much harsher, blasting it as one of the MCU’s “most forgettable” movies.

IndieWire thinks Ant-Man 3 buckles under the weight of all the extra responsibility.

AP Entertainment agrees, saying it gets bogged down under all the franchise heavy-lifting it has to do.

CheatSheet likewise had less than good things to say, calling it a mere rehash of what we’ve seen before.

We Got This Covered unfortunately has to concur with the pack, as our own review praises the film for its willingness to get weird but ultimately finds it to be disappointing due to the overabundance of MCU furniture-moving.

While this isn’t encouraging, what the critics think and what the fans think frequently differ when it comes to big blockbuster movies, so it remains to be seen what the folks in theaters think of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. We’ll find out when it opens worldwide this Friday, Feb. 17.