Film Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp - Quantumania

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable
Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

Ant-Man and the Wasp - Quantumania is meant to launch the MCU into Phase 5.  How good of a kick-off is it?

It's not bad.

I got to see this movie a little later and there were some people savaging it in their reviews, so I went in expecting the worst.  But what I found was a pleasant to middling Marvel film.

Quantumania takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame.  Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is riding high on celebrity.  His girlfriend Hope/The Wasp (Evangeline Lily) is not only still doing the superhero thing but has taken over her father's company and doing great things with it.  The one sticking point is that Scott's daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) gets involved in social action and keeps getting in trouble with the law.  Scott decides to have a sit down diner with them and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his wife who they rescued from the Quantum Realm, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer).  However, things fall apart when Cassie shows them a device she built that sends a signal to the Quantum Realm, which leads to all of them being abducted to that tiny dimension.  There, they encounter strange creatures and a vicious dictator Kang, the Conqueror (Jonathon Majors).  The group, though separated must find a way to get home without letting Kang escape the Quantum realm.

The best of the film is Rudd himself.  The man is so affable and charming that you can't help but feel good will towards him.  He also knows how to expertly play the comedy and the drama.  He effortlessly moves from silly, broad jokes to the serious and terrified father trying to protect his child.  And while Douglass doesn't have as much to do in this film, his chemistry with Pfeiffer makes their relationship believable.  Lily does a fine job, but the script can't seem to find an important part for her to play.  Newton is a decent addition, but she doesn't really stand out.  Partly this is due to the fact that Cassie lacks the things that make Scott so interesting.  She also has the annoying, lecturing tone that the young often have towards their parents.  To be fair, there is some growth here.  But when it is up to Cassie to inspire a rebellion in the Quantum Realm, I didn't quite buy it.

The other great part of the movie is Majors.  His Kang is fantastic.  He believably goes from genial to deadly.  Majors has charisma that flows out from the screen.  What makes his villain so interesting is the sense of sadness and weariness he brings to the part.  Kang has killed countless worlds for what he believes is the greater good.  But the moral toll that has taken on him has filled him with a fatigue.  This is an interesting take on the villain, who, like Thanos, sees himself as the hero who has to take on the debt of doing evil.  And yet, Majors infuses him with a great deal of humanity.

What keeps this story from really taking off is that it really forgets that it is an Ant-Man movie.  What makes an Ant-Man movie unique is the fantastic sense of scale that makes us look a the world in a new way.  My favorite moment from any in this series is when he shrinks for the first time and even a bathroom can seem wild, dangerous and wonderous.  In the second film, it was funny to watch Scott use a truck like a little scooter.  But in Quantumania, that sense of scale is mostly gone.  Yes, they are in microverse, and yes there are times when he shrinks and grows.  But often the scale is not there.  There is one scene where Scott and another enlarged character run towards each other and hug.  However, there is so little to give the scene scale that I didn't realize that they weren't normal-sized.  When you don't have that, you miss most of the magic.

The Quantum Realm itself does not seem like anything cohesive.  It feels like a hodge-podge of fantastical creatures and landscapes.  But there is nothing to differentiate it from other alien locals we've seen in Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor movies.  Because of that, it feels almost generic.

The story and plot points are fine, but it doesn't feel like the characters have as much to do or as much to grow.

I should make a not about the character MODOK, who is long-standing villain in the Marvel comics.  Because of his unusual appearance, the filmmakers decided to use him completely as a punchline.  This would have worked better if the humor landed.  Instead, it feels out of place, especially when next to the grave and humorless Kang.  Though I admit his final scenes had me laughing a bit, MODOK mostly failed in execution.

There were some decent themes about responsibilities of family and how they conflict with duty along with some other moral issues that Catholics might want to explore.  But these themes never get fully developed in the story.

SPOILER FOR THE END OF THE MOVIE BELOW.  SKIP IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS.

At least towards the end, it feels like one or more characters is going to make a harrowing, life-altering decision.  But any price that is paid is almost immediately fixed.  For that reason, it felt like the stakes were weightless.  It reminds me a line from Spirited, "You're sacrifice would be meaningless if there was no consequence."

END SPOILERS

As I wrote, this movie has been getting hit very hard, but it is not a bad film.  It is a fun, enjoyable outing, though it misses a chance and doing great things.

Hopefully if there is another Ant-Man and the Wasp movie, it will rise to the occasion.