Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review
Ken Jones, OnScreen Blog Chief Film Critic
Phase 5 of the MCU kicks off with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which also happens to be the third entry in the Ant-Man MCU films, following Ant-Man and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Phase 4 of the MCU was nothing short of a disappointment as the overall quality of the films dipped and there was a distinct lack of overall direction. In a post-Thanos universe, where do these superheroes go and what is their purpose?
For Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), that answer lies in trying to make up for lost time with his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), but also writing a memoir, for which the rest of his family relentlessly mocks him.
Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) has assumed control of her father Hank Pym’s (Michael Douglas) company, while being philanthropic and reconnecting with her mom, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who was rescued from the Quantum Realm in the previous Ant-Man MCU entry.
Cassie, conveniently, proves to be a mathematical genius, as she has created a device that sends a signal down into the Quantum Realm, which could allow them to explore this hidden, subatomic world where time and space behave differently. Before Janet, who has been reluctant to talk about her time down in the Quantum Realm, can explain why this is a bad idea, they’re all sucked through the device into the Quantum Realm, and soon find themselves in a strange world with people who need defending and a new big bad in the form of Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) who has a bone to pick with Janet and wants to escape the Quantum Realm.
Quantumania is a rather substantial departure from the previous two Ant-Man films, the first of which was essentially a heist movie disguised as a superhero movie. They also leaned a lot on the comedic charm of Paul Rudd as the lead. The comedy is still here, but it is a much heavier movie with a darker tone and a whole lot more CGI involved as most of the movie takes place in the Quantum Realm, which means a lot of greenscreen acting. There are also a lot more creatures and non-human characters, which makes it more akin to the Guardians of the Galaxy.
I’m not going to begin to try to understand how the Quantum Realm works and where it exists. It is a place that still feel like an amorphous place that Marvel Studios can use however it wants just by saying that things work differently there, similar to how the Aether in Thor: The Dark World worked however it was most convenient to the story at any given time.
Paul Rudd as the lead of a superhero movie is still pretty enjoyable as he brings some needed levity to the proceedings. A lot of the story revolves around Kang and how he has ruthlessly conquered the Quantum Realm and how that has created a rebellion force of sorts from those who have been displaced by his ambitions.
His relationship with Hope had been the main thrust of the previous two Ant-Man movies, this time around it is more about his relationship with his daughter and the lengths he must go to protect and save her from Kang.
Jonathan Majors as Kang is the real star of this movie. A variant of the character was introduced in the last episode of Loki on Disney+, and now we get to see a very different character. I enjoyed Majors’ performance and cannot wait to see how he builds as the big bad of Phase 5.
However, that is not to say that there are not trouble areas with this character. At various points in Quantumania, Kang shows the ability to “Force grip” or freeze them in place and shoot out energy bursts from his hands that disintegrate people fleeing from him. These powers apparently disappear from his arsenal when taking on Ant-Man and Wasp. Not to be that guy, but small inconsistencies like that matter. Maybe don’t make your major villain appear invincible right off the bat and then immediately undercut that. Nevertheless, I am at least curious to see how the go forward with the Kang of it all.
With it already being announced that Kang is the new Thanos-level threat to the MCU, it is hard to invest fully in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as being much more than another chapter in the MCU rather than a worthwhile standalone Ant-Man story.
It is becoming increasingly harder to take these movies on their own apart from the larger MCU context, especially when so much of it is in service to the overarching narrative. While Phase 4 felt aimless and lacking in purpose, the start of Phase 5 feels a bit too light on substance outside of laying the groundwork for future films.
Between the multiverse, the Quantum Realm, the galaxy, the underwater civilization led by Namor, and a shared universe that bounces fluidly between movies and TV series, it is a lot to expect people to follow. It is also a lot of narrative threads that Marvel is going to have a high degree of difficulty weaving into a cohesive whole.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is enjoyable enough on the surface level. You can have almost as much fun with it as was the case with the previous two Ant-Man movies. All of these Marvel movies strike a balance between a self-contained story and a story that is contributing the larger MCU. The balance is skewed way too much toward the larger MCU; that is not to the films complete detriment, but it does hamper it. Because of that, though not the worst Marvel Studios movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp is lower-to-middle tier Marvel.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars