Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania review: Fun and earnest Subatomic Affair that is absurd…

The Lang’s and the Pym’s face a threat that kicks off a space-time misadventure in Phase Five of the Multiversal Saga… *** Spoilers for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ahead ***

If you had told me before the early conception of the MCU that we would be getting an Ant-Man film I would have probably said: “Really? How?” Though if you would have told me around the late noughties in 2007 that we eventually would be on our third Ant-Man film after four Avengers films not long after a fourth cinema release of the Mighty Thor, a She-Hulk Disney+ series and a TV special on Werewolf by Night, I would have told that messenger: “You’re on a heavy cocktail, my friend.”

Fast-forward 16 years or so later, the superhero genre is reasonably healthy (albeit debatable) in some corners of the film industry and its community. Marvel Studios’ competitor is only just on the cusp of keeping a consistent shared universe in just a dozen films after so many restructurings and false starts and rebranding under their entertainment conglomerate Warner Bros. Discovery. Yes, it has been better… I suppose.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania review

A Family Repairing what has been Lost…

For Ant-Man and the Wasp: Qunatumania, we see Scott Lang aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) following the Battle of Earth in Avengers: Endgame becomes a successful author of his own memoir and more of a recognized hero, living happily with his relationship with his girlfriend, Hope van Dyne aka Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) who has taken her father’s company (Pym Technologies) and renamed it the Pym van Dyne Foundation following the aftermath of what the Blip caused to the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Scott’s daughter, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton) became an activist who is often bailed by her guardians and relatives including Hope.

During a family dinner with Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet Pym (Michelle Pfeiffer), Cassie revealed she assisted Hank with further scientific research into the Quantum Realm: a subatomic universe that is a space in a reality where space and time are meaningless. She has been experimenting with further uses of the Pym Particles that allow us to change size (other than using them in protests). Cassie uses a telescopic transmission device to send signals into the Quantum Realm. Concerned and afraid, Janet tries to shut off the machine but all five get sucked into a portal once the message was received.

In the Quantum Realm, Hank, Janet, and Hope become separated from Scott and Cassie as they all discover this strange, microcosmic, and elusive reality has its own inhabitants of creatures (humanoid, the quirky, and the uncanny), society, and culture as they go on their misadventures to find a way back home. The Pym’s meet up with Lord Krylar (Bill Murray), governor of the community in the QR known as Axia who has a history with Janet to find the other two.

Meanwhile, Scott and Cassie get caught up with natives of this realm who seek to rebel against their ruler, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), and his army of robotic underlings. They join the rebellion, the Freedom Fighters, amongst the likes of their leader; Jentorra (Katy O’Brian), the telepath; Quaz (William Jackson Harper), the slime being fanatical about holes; Veb (David Dasmalchian) and fierce rock titan with the glass-like cylinder for a head, Xolum (James Cutler).

It’s fun, visually expressive in design, and hilarious…

From the jump, if you have not seen an Ant-Man movie then you are in for a treat of gratifying cinematic tech-wizardry that delves into the world of atomic physics, chemistry, and molecular sciences. Even the former director, Edgar Wright was given an honorary executive producer credit following his departure from the original 2015 film he did research on nanotechnology when he developed the project. I digress… Quantumania was another spectacle both in VFX and cinematography but really could have executed things better in other areas.

The 3D at times was a bit off at times during certain key sequences, specifically when the action calmed down in more static shots and during some action set pieces. It became generally uncomfortable when you see blue energy beams ricocheting across the big screen and explosions that seem endless but eventually you will be able to adjust. For the most part, the action was sufficient and the choreography was presentable. When Kang comes in (which I will get to later) it dials everything to eleven.

Quantumania feels a bit like I am watching a live-action Saturday Morning cartoon but in a good way. Its charm is the landscapes of this otherworldly setting plus the use of beaming colors like greens, yellows, blues, and reds in some key shots. Almost as if they were commanding the grading of CMYK and RGB to fruition. It was light-hearted and dark (when it needed to be) in tone despite this in some places they played it very safe.

The better moments of the script by Jeff Loveness were when the premise of time is demonstrated and the dichotomy between Scott’s relationship with Cassie and the parallel of Hope’s relationship with her parents Hank and Janet which I felt we needed a bit more of. In both instances, Hope feels concerned for Janet of the pain she has gone through being stuck in this realm for 30 years while Janet feels guilty about not telling her family about Kang. Scott in the meantime feels responsible for losing so much time after being stuck in the same reality for barely a quarter of the length Janet had.

In regards to the humor in this, I found myself chuckling and even bouts of laughter at times as the script did serve its purpose: for the most part the humor went from comical, to silly to bordering on asinine. The butt of all jokes of course was (MODOK) Mechanized Organism Designed Only For Killing aka Darren Cross (Corey Stoll), which I will get to in a moment.

Kang could have been the MVP but was Undermined…

Now onto the Big Bad himself… Kang. The performance that stood out the most other than the charismatic Rudd was Majors as Kang. His performance was very intricate and precise in navigating the complexness of Kang as a character (a future time-traveling human from the 31st century) exiled from doppelgängers of himself for enacting genocide across multiple timelines spanning an infinite number of universes.

One of the best moments of this film was his scenes with Janet (Pfeiffer), with Scott when he threatened to kill Cassie (Newton), and the final battle. Majors’ handling of Kang was calm, collected, and not quick to anger. He takes his time while uttering his lines as though time is precious to him and scoffs at those who waste… his.

Everything about Kang deserves his own column all by himself but we need to discuss the downsides. The problem with Quantumania is the script from Loveness did not display enough levity enough during times when the actor is emoting something crucial, which causes the viewing experience to be nonsensical at times. This led to throw-away lines in places.

Not that it was a problem, but MODOK was the butt of all jokes, and to be fair although it would not be Ant-Man without some comic relief the character only just got in the way and could have saved a spare amount of screen time to explore the Freedom Fighters who felt very flat and were clearly used as a plot device to have Ant-Man do his size-changing schtick and have something for him to do other than carry Cassie’s hand. Instead, some of that spare time in keeping with the 125-minute running time could have been done to delve more into Scott and Cassie’s relationship as father and daughter who have grown further apart over time.

The action was mentioned already but it was very flashy if we do not see our voyagers shrinking and expanding in an instant or not using space guns but using hand-to-hand combat. Thankfully, it was just enough not to take away from the film, but what did will surprise you.

Unfortunately, what lets this film down most importantly was the direction Peyton Reed took with Kang (or rather appeared to be instructed) I won’t even get to the mid-credits and post-credits scenes. Let’s discuss the very moment of the climactic battle: mano y mano between Scott and Kang.

It wasn’t the crankiness of the MCU’s depiction of MODOK that knocked points off the film, it wasn’t the lack of consequences for the protagonists other than Scott that did in spite of the high stakes and the goofy elements of sci-fi that leans more into fantasy. I mean… ants building Type 2 societies… really Hank? No. It was the moment Scott stayed back to deal with Kang while the other went home.

I am uncertain if this was one of the scenes rumored to have gone through reshoots but the producers including Reed himself played it safe which undermined Kang as the overarching villain as the Phase of this story continues. While the fight between Kang and Scott was beautifully choreographed showing how formidable the conqueror is without the use of his armor Scott being saved moments after could have been handled differently or none at all.

Chapter Three of this possible final outing of Ant-Man was a rollercoaster ride delving into the strange world right before our feet, while performances from others like Newton were not something to rave home about, and Majors’ Kang was measured and intensified when the scene demanded it. He still needs to fill the soles of his combat boots with a character that has so many dimensions and at the same time has multiple variants of him: needless to say, with so much potential on hand it may cheat the audience with a fake-out that could have been daring.

Grade: C+

Have you watched Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania? Do you think it’s a satisfying conclusion? Have you watched it already? Was it a great way to kick off Phase Five of the MCU? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!