[Rating: Minor Rock Fist Down]
The struggles of the post-Endgame MCU continue in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and not even the charming midwestern smile of Paul Rudd nor the bad-assedness of Jonathan Majors are enough to stop it. Expected to be the turning point in the new phase of Marvel storytelling, the final act of the Ant-Man trilogy instead ends up being a boring, convoluted, disappointing…mess that lacks the heart and simplicity of the other movies.
But damn, does it look cool.
Our adventure picks up with Scott Lang (Rudd), living the sweet life of a universe-saving superhero, he’s an author and a local favorite. Everybody loves him, even if some people don’t even know which Avenger he actually is. But he’s gotten lazy as a dad, and his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) is starting to get into trouble as an activist. But apparently also she is working on a quantum beacon that allows her to map the quantum realm without the need to make the quantum trip. None of that makes any sense, but she also has her own suit and knows how to use it without any training.
Of course, her quantum project backfires, mostly because Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) failed to mention at any point that going back to the quantum realm is a tragically bad idea because a mad man, Kang the Conquerer (Majors) is there and he really, really, really wants out so he can destroy some timelines and stuff. If you saw the end of Loki. Also, they were literally running errands into the quantum realm at the end of the last movie like it was no big deal — remember, that’s how Scott got trapped in the quantum realm?
However, once Ant-Man and the Wasp and her parents and Cassie all get kidnapped and sucked into the quantum realm, the movie really struggles to make any of it interesting, outside of teasing the impending arrival of the guy who is supposed to be the MCU’s next “Thanos-level” threat, Kang. The second act suddenly turns into a Star Wars movie, and not really in a good way, unfortunately. And also not surprising considering director Peyton Reid has spent a lot of time lately in the galaxy far, far away. But here it’s just all style and no substance. A lot of the charm of the Ant-Man films has been the blue-collar, down to Earth relatability of Scott’s world.
Lotsa new characters. Bill Murray shows up as an old acquaintance of Janet’s from her time in the quantum realm. And man, does he just kinda Bill Murray walk right through the scene. I guess it will look good on his resume. Adding to the new cast are William Jackson Harper (The Good Place) as a dude that explains what’s going on in case you don’t understand and Katy M. O’Brian as a warrior, so we have someone to care about. But..meh.
There’s a sub-plot about Scott regretting the time he missed with his daughter that becomes less relevant as the movie goes on. Also, the script not enough action to go around. Michael Douglas (Hank Pym) and Evangeline Lilly (The Wasp, her name is literally in the freaking title) are there but mostly in spirit, because they aren’t given much to do anything to do, but when they’re on screen it helps.
Paul Rudd, as per usual is great. The Ant-Man movies have come a long way in its MCU lifespan, starting out as silly fun filler and now developing into a franchise tentpole with gargantuan expectations of setting up a major villain. Michelle Pfeiffer is also great in her increased screen time, even if it makes zero sense that her character kept the information secret that was necessary to make this movie happen.
Kang is cool even if he is pretty one-dimensional. And Majors brings it. This dude is literally in everything right now and I’m all for it. He’s bad. He’s a monster. But because Kang is “one of many” — seriously, watch Loki, it explains everything — his motivations seem pretty thin here. The Conquerer just wants to get out of the realm to which he’s been banished to. And his scenes with Rudd are top notch, but he really is just a mean bully jerk who wants to get out of a microverse (or a teenyverse). He’s at his best when he’s putting Ant-Man in his place.
But while you get Kang, and he’s pretty cool, you also get characters like M.O.D.O.K. — and while I won’t spoil the “surprise” in that character, I’ll say he’s fun and he cracks wise a few times but it’s pretty dumb and at times threatens the seriousness of the movie’s tone.
Kudos to the special effects team, as well. Shot in The Volume, the quantum realm is a seamless wash of CGi eye candy. And this is actually a compliment given some of the atrocious CGi Marvel has been trotting out lately. There are some fantastic, trippy visuals and creative creatures and characters that almost seem like more than a gimmick to make the film look pretty. But after a while it just feels like a distraction from the fact that there isn’t much happening.
And of course, make sure you stay after the credits. There is not one, but two stingers, setting more of this multiverse of madness that’s been unfolding.
P.S. If you’re a Rick and Morty fan, you’ll appreciate a lot of the movie’s humor, because it really seems like the folks who wrote this script sure did watch a lot of that animated series — after all the Council of Ricks is based based on the Council of Kangs from the Marvel Comics.
Marvel has struggled to get its footing again after the mic-dropping epic, Avengers: Endgame, but Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, lacks the heart and soul that made us fall in love with Ant-Man and just isn’t the storytelling boost the MCU needed right now after some misfires from some of its big guns over the past year or so.
But the good news is, more of Jonathan Majors and Kang are coming, and that can’t be a bad thing.
Right?
Lover of movies and tacos. Ad man. Author. Member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle and the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Founder of the Terror on the Plains Horror Festival. Creator and voice of the Reel Hooligans podcast.
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