Negative reviews for any movie can range from constructive criticism to absolute wreckage. As the new Marvel movie Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has seen itself wind up on the “rotten” side of the scale, star Jonathan Majors has reacted to the negative reviews with a thoughtful dissections of how he sees the review experience.
During his appearance on IndieWire’s podcast Screen Talk, the man recently seen as Kang the Conqueror definitely had some thoughts on Ant-Man 3’s rather sad Marvel record. Facing the reality of the entertainment world, Majors started off with how, if at all, these reviews have affected him personally:
It doesn’t change how I see myself, period. It’s all data. I’m a performance within a story. One thing I will say to my team as we’re leaving a premiere if they’re reading reviews, I’ll say, ‘How’s the movie doing?’ I try to clean my plate and take care of my part. The response is: ‘You’re straight. You’re good. They like you.’ And they tell me about the movie. Sometimes the movie is also on that level, and sometimes [it’s not].
When it comes to personal reactions to the buzz around a movie, Jonathan Majors has a pretty good head on his shoulders about it all. It’s an important thing to note because while the critical consensus has been trending towards negative on the picture itself, pretty much everyone can also agree that Majors’ Kang was one of the bright spots in the entire affair. Which, from the looks of it, is part of how he keeps cool when it comes to the reactions to any of his films.
Digging deeper into the critical reaction to Ant-Man 3, or for any movie for that matter, Majors went on to lay out a layer of understanding that doesn’t come up often when all is said and done. Looking at the more personal angle, as well as how review scores stack up to box office receipts, the star of the comparatively better received Creed III offered this extra context he considers when reading reviews:
It’s just people. They have an opinion. You always have an opinion. I’m no fool. I know these are people writing it. These aren’t my Yale professors or my drama teachers. These are people who have kids and they have a perspective, they have a religious upbringing or a lack thereof. They live in this town, or they want to be seen in this way or don’t want to be seen in this way. I look at the aggregate and, ok, 47. But what does that 47 mean when you also got this amount of box office? What do these things mean? It’s information. I am in the know. I won’t play myself. If you are a critic on a level, I probably know you and understand your politics.
Just as critics look for the performances of an actor like Majors to help inform why they like or dislike certain parts of a film, that lens works both ways. His outlook only serves to further take any potential sting out of reviews like those seen for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and it's something that anyone in the industry should consider when they find their own rough patches.
Another noted Ant-Man 3 participant who’s spoken out about the reviews is screenwriter Jeff Loveness. Quantumania’s scribe admitted to feeling quite low after seeing the drubbing that his contribution to the MCU took upon its release. It’s unfortunate that he would take such notices to heart, but there’s hope that his future involvement in this universe won’t leave him as downhearted.
Seeing as Loveness is also writing Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, he'll have another shot to work with Jonathan Majors' big bad in the Marvel firmament. And if he's seen this interview himself, Jeff Loveness can use these wise words from his acting collaborator to keep pushing forward with the thrills he has in mind for Phase 6's big cinematic event.
In the meantime, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Creed III are now both in theaters, which is good news for anyone who wants to treat themselves to a Jonathan Majors double feature. If you need some time to brush up on your MCU history, and/or just want to rewatch Majors’ “He Who Remains” in the season finale to Loki, all of that is possible through the power of a Disney+ subscription.
