Review 679: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

 

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a milding entry in the ever expanding MCU, one that is equal parts, fun, visually stunning and numbing.

Super-Hero partners Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) return to continue their adventures as Ant-Man and the Wasp. Together with Hope's parents Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) and Scott's daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) the family find themselves exploring the Quantum Realm, interacting with strange new creatures and embarking on an adventure that will push them beyond the limits of what they thought was possible.

What we have is an Excuse Plot where a series of engineered for action and moving the MCU's latest overeaching arc along that essentially sells out the characters involved. Once the group get sucked into the Quantum Realm, the film turns into a psychedelic albeit clunky adventure with loads of visual references to and influences of Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Fantastic Voyage, Star Wars, Avatar and even John Carter on full display. The films exploration of that world which we had only hints of in the first two films had a very see-saw type effect on the film, on the one hand it's visually impressive and that world is very interesting but on the other hand a rebellion storyline involving Quantum Realm inhabitants rising up against Kang's tyranny feels particularly undercooked and lacking in granular detail because a lot about it is reliant on monotonous refences to simply "him" in desperate attempts to build up mystery when he's been built up as the next Thanos. Kang's villainy, meanwhile, is so overexposed that it lacks the dramatic heft and comes of half baked. I feel like we’ve already seen a similar plot line in Thor: Ragnarok where Thor and Bruce led an uprising against the Grandmaster on Sakaar.

Setting a film entirely in universe where all concept of space and time become irrelevant may sound like a cool idea but in practise it feels so disconnected from the larger MCU which dampens the stakes. It also means that previous Ant-Man film characters Luis, Kurt, Bill Foster and Scott's ex-wife Maggie as well as her new husband Paxton are practically absent and that absence is felt.

The script, written by Rick and Morty writer Jeff Loveness, lacks an strong emotional arc for all the characters; There are hints of one with Scott and Cassie's relationship troubles and the possibility Scott seeking out more time to make up for the years that he's missed with his daughter which would be a natural continuation of the themes of Avengers: Endgame and a desire he shares with Janet, but it’s never paid anything beyond surface level lip service and is ultimately undermined by this painfully formulaic script. They also establish that Hope has bought pappa Hank's company back and is now using the Pym Particle for Humanitarian purposes but it never really goes anywhere. There are also hints she has to confront the realities between what she imagined as a little girl vs the reality of being reunited with Janet, her mum but once again, it's never given the time or attention to be explored in any depth.             

Elsewhere, it's implied that Janet wants to bury her experiences in the Quantum Realm but in reality she can't move forward unless she adresses and comes to terms with her past but that itself only goes skin deep.

Likewise, the film paints the illusion that Scott's selflessness is put to the test and is asking how far is that selflessness, his uplifting of the little guy willing to go. If he's transported to another dimention will he still retain that which makes him who he is; the principles and beliefs that make him a hero. Unfortuanatly, the screenplay isn't interested in answering these questions instead falling back on age old MCU movie cliches that have become tired and stale at this point.

It also spends far too much of the films runtime hiding Kang and many important details about him for seemingly no good reason. The film has a nasty habbit of concealing him as though he's supposed to be a big surprise and it hurts the films pacing and our ability to invest in him. Once the Ant-family end up in the Quantum Realm, Janet is secrative about the mysterious figure hunting them and in conversations with the freedom fighters, the script, for reasons known only to the writer, opts to have the characters refer to Kang as "him'' or ''the Conqueror'' instead of his actual name. I'm so tired of the mysterious overlord trope.

There was just no real tension in Quantumania. When Scott got backed into his fifth corner when Kang convinces him to retrive his Multiversal Engine Core by threatening Cassie's life and then make Scott relieve that terrible moment for all eternity, it was hard to buy into because we know it's not the kind of movie where anything truly bad can happen to any of these characters.

Given that Avengers: The Kang Dynasty is scheduled for May 2025 and this film is a direct line to the former, this feels like, in other words, Marvel’s The Matrix Reloaded. 

Returning director Peyton Reed's direction is sharp and electric, keeping the 2 hr and 4 minute narrative briskly paced and lighting the screen up with  the cinematography is gorgeous and captures the beauty and  of the Quantum Realm, the score by Christophe Beck is beautiful and majestic. The special effects are all marvellous; the Quantum Realm is a lush, luxuriant and vibrant world thriving with plantlife, winged creatures that look like those giant birds from James Cameron's Avatar, waterfalls made out lava, creatures with broccoli and lamps for heads, cityscapes that look reminiscent of Coruscant from Star Wars. A scene where a "possibility" of Scott turns to spagetti is particularly impressive and unsettling. There are some nice jokes and moments of humour here and there though half the time I didn’t know if I was laughing with them or at them. The action scenes are exciting and creative, the production design (bringing the Quantum Realm to life) stunning and immaginative.

Paul Rudd (as expected) continues to bring his usual amiable charm to Scott Lang/Ant-Man. At the beginning of the film, Scott is on top of the world and a celebrated author following his part in bringing back half the population in Avengers: Endgame, a huge contrast from where he was in the first two Ant-Man films. Scott lost some of the earliest, most formative years of Cassie's life whilst he was in prison. He then lost even more years with her because of the Snap. He struggles to relate to her because virtually all of the time he's really known her has been when she was a little girl. Scott, like Spider-Man, is the people's hero, always fighting and looking out for the "little guy." with what little power, privalidge and platform he has. Now, he finds himself conflicted with his own wants and desires, Rudd's natural charm manages to promise what the script can't deliver. He is the reason we care about the incredibly outlandish things that happen in Quantumania. Once they're sucked into the Quantum Realm, Scott basically finds him dragged into a conflict that he has no stake in.

Evangeline Lilly Hope van Dyne/Wasp. She's reunited with her mum, her relationship with her father has been repaired and is in a stabe relationship with Scott. I liked that she's become a sort of surrogate aunt to Cassie. All of that has allowed her to take her defences down  

Kathryn Newton is terrific playing Cassie Lang. It's quite a contrast seeing Cassie as a teenager, but she's still a big of a charm as ever, bringing spunky life and charisma to Scott daughter as well as capturing her fiery rebellious personality. She's now a young woman with ideas of her own about how to conduct her life, Justice and what being a hero means (even if it lands her in jail). I was also impressed to see her take up her Stature alter ego from the comics. At other times however, her idealism boarders on self-righeous particularly over Scott's descision to slow down from superheroics despite the fact that he helped bring back half the population and make up for lost time while she's off doing protests and then trying to justify it by Scott's past mistakes which Scott is clearly not trying to encourage which shows how he's matured. It feels like Cassie learned all the wrong lessons from Scott and for the most part her animosity towards him doesn't feel justified.                                                                                                                                     This comes to the surface most prominantly when they get stuck in Quantum Realm and encounter the revolutionaries. Scott is hell-bent on getting home with Cassie and the others no matter what and is more than willing to turn a blind eye to people in need but Cassie reaserts that he's the people's hero and they should help them. But the revolutionarys and their plight were shockingly underdeveloped and her impulsiveness undermines her point so it didn't quite land as powerfully as Reed and Loveness were hoping for. But her idealism is also put to the test by seeing what Kang has done to inhabitants of the Quantum Realm. Her trial by fire as it were, mirrors what Scott went through in Ant-Man (2015). Lucky for her Scott's there to help her along the way, albeit reluctantly, but given what he's been through, it's understanable that he doesn't want to go through something like this again and risk loosing more time with her or worse Cassie herself.

Despite a killer performance from Jonathan Majors, Kang is a poorly conceived antagonist - he's mad, he's bad, he's a scientist, he wants to escape the Quantum Realm, he has a personal grudge against Janet and that's about it. We only get second hand accounts of his backstory and all of his multiversal conquests that led him to be banished to the Quantum Realm in the first place have been committed off-screen. Majors brought a quiet menace to the part that helped to elevate the thin material. I was initially a little concerned when it was announced that Kang would be this film's Big Bad considering the two titular heroes are street-level, B list heroes and in the comics and the EMH cartoon series, he's an Avengers-level threat and unfortunately those two just didn't mesh together. Too often, Kang feels like he's a villain from a completely different movie invading this one.

Michelle Pfeiffer is given a lot more to do on round 3 playing Janet van Dyne We learn a lot more about Janet's time in the Quantum Realm and how she finally deals with the trauma of being stuck there for 30 years. There's a sense that Janet has missed a sense of normalcy, that she wants to live in the moment instead of recounting those past 30 years in the Quantum Realm  But even then that character journey rings hollow considering she never mentioned Kang prior the events of this film. Janet has been sitting on this knowledge of him but the film treats it as this dark secret waiting to be revealed. It's also at odds with the previous film where she was happily helping Scott, Hope and Hank recover Qauntum partcles for Ghost at the end of the last film.

Michael Douglas, as always, delivers a fine performance as Hank Pym. In this film, we see a more relaxed and upbeat Hank Pym now that he's more focused on reacquainting with Janet than his work. He's earned a moment to breathe. He's been on the outs with Hope for many years. He's struggled to find a legacy where the suit could go. He's a bit more sure of himself and doesn't feel he has to look around every corner. He sees a lot of Hope in Cassie because they're both  

We also see the return of Corey Stoll as Darren Cross the villain from the first film who becomes the MCU version M.O.D.O.K. Unfortunately, his appearance is quite underwhelming and he’s little more than a secondary antagonist to Majors’ Kang. It feels like a bit of a retcon because I was sure he’d been killed in the first Ant-Man film. Had this return happened a few years earlier, there’s a slim chance that I would’ve been more onboard with it. Ropey effects stretching Corey Stoll's face don't help. Too often, the character felt superfluous and more like a joke villain. His return also reinforces another comics cliche in that there are no stakes. Characters can just come back from the death and nothing of consequence occurs.

Quantum Realm residents Quaz (The Good Places' William Jackson Harper), Veb (David Dastmalchian who also played Kurt in the first two Ant-Man films) and Jentorra (Katy O'Brian) feel like little more than thinly sketched plot devices. The idea behind Quaz in particular is an intriguing one, he can read minds wether he wants to or not. That idea has a lot of comedic potential and the filmmakers don’t milk it for what it’s worth. Randall Park also returns for a non-speaking cameo as Jimmy Woo from Ant-Man and the Wasp and WandaVision.

Regrettably, Bill Murray is wasted in a thankless role of an exposition machine. He and Janet use to be friends during her time in the Quantum Realm, they use to fight side by side against Kang, he’s defected and that’s about it. 

If this is where Phase 5 is headed, God save us for Phases 6, 7 & 8, 3.5/5

The Anonymous Critic.