Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

 

Score: C

Directed by Peyton Reed

Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton

Running time: 124 minutes

Rated PG-13

Long Story Short:  The most diminutive Marvel hero continues his adventures in Quantumania, alongside partner Hope, aka the Wasp, and company.  Ant-Man movies are usually the "detours" from the main Marvel narrative, but this one is intended as a major plot centerpiece, unfortunately.  The sci-fi blockbuster style here is 180 degrees from what we've seen before, and hope for.  There's still some fun to be had here, but by Marvel standards it's a significant failure.

Having helped the Avengers save Earth from destruction, Scott Lang (Rudd), aka Ant-Man, is taking full advantage of his celebrity, from writing a best-selling memoir to happily greeting a grateful public.  Not everyone in his family is as satisfied, however, particularly his daughter, Cassie (Newton).  The Quantum Realm - where Janet van Dyne (Pfeiffer) was once lost but where the Avengers also found the key to defeating Thanos - still holds many secrets, and Cassie has been determined to explore them.  Soon the entire family finds itself back in that strange dimension, though, and Janet's past returns to menace them.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the third Ant-Man film, is entertaining but among Marvel's weakest films, due to its trading the series' signature charm for a more generic blockbuster feel.  Ant-Man 1 and 2 focused on ex-con Scott's exploits in trying to rebuild his life, both helped and hindered by friends and family, as the superhero life interferes on (an appropriately) small scale.  The third film, however, fully dives into the sci-fi-heavy Quantum Realm that exists only on the periphery of the other films, showing a world that is at once overstuffed with creatures and cities but also disappointingly familiar.  The QR, and its "society", is essentially a mash up of Star Wars and Marvel's own Guardians of the Galaxy, complete with goofy-looking aliens and a rebellion.  Therefore, aside from a few minutes on Earth at the beginning, the style of the first Ant-Man movies is entirely replaced by that of those bigger, better-known sci-fi entities - and Quantumania is significantly worse off for it.  In addition to losing Ant-Man's con-artist, not-so-heroic zest and replacing it with broad, overly familiar sci-fi setting and plot, the script is also quite a bit weaker than Marvel's standards and not nearly as funny as it should be (at least, not for adults).

Perhaps the biggest factor in the success of the first Ant-Man movies was Scott's relationships, both old and new, but, while there are some character highlights here, they, too, suffer from blockbuster bloat.  The dynamics among them, each interesting as individuals, are dulled to stereotype thanks to overreliance on plot. Cassie, Scott's daughter, has been in the previous films in very small but very cute and effective roles.  There was so much potential here, now that she is a young adult, to show how a variety of influences - both good and bad - have shaped her.  But she is mostly a generic, strong, but still learning heir to the superheroes; I certainly welcome more strong female roles, I just wish the filmmakers gave her a unique and creative personality.  Scott and Janet get the other main roles; each gets enticing themes - for Scott, what his purpose is now that he's saved the world, for Janet, how she balances protecting yet being open with her family - but too much of their screentime is pulled into action and/or plot mechanics.  There are also two surprising cameos - one old face, entirely unnecessary and increasing the sci-fi ridiculousness, the other one new and much more welcome and hilarious.  Kang - introduced in the Loki streaming series, which it helps to have seen but not essential - is pretty interesting in his first scenes with Janet, but then turns into yet another generic villain, a surprisingly ineffective one at that.

There is plenty of action, which at least keeps the pace moving well (and at just over two hours, mercifully shorter than the gargantuan running times of other recent films).  But, once again, it suffers from the shift to sci-fi blockbuster.  There are a few neat ant-themed parts, especially a semi-psychedelic one in which an army of Ant-Man clones works together like an ant colony.  For the most part, though, the clever, subtle, sneaking action of the first Ant-Man movies is replaced by overdone big sci-fi laser battles.  There is, of course, a huge climactic battle.  But it almost pulls it off at the very end, when Ant-Man and Kang finally get a more visceral face-off, and we almost get a shocking conclusion that could have had intriguing carry-over into future Marvel films.  Instead, we get the clean, disappointing ending.  Sigh.

***

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a little distressing to me as a big Marvel movie fan.  It's certainly disappointing that, by itself, it's just not nearly as good as its predecessors, especially because it completely abandoned their charming style.  But there is also the direction of the Marvel "universe" overall.  The multiverse theme has developed in a fairly meandering way until now.  Now that we seem to have a major new villain, essentially the new Thanos, the results are so far underwhelming.  I'd also like Marvel to stop the creep of Guardians of the Galaxy style into more and more of its films.  With, of course, a new Guardians movie coming later this year along with The Marvels, I'm very interested, though with unusual trepidation, to see where Marvel goes from here.  With two C-grade movies to start the year, I look forward to anything good, no matter the genre!

* By http://www.impawards.com/2023/antman_and_the_wasp_quantumania_ver4.html, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72090715