ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA Review

“Quantumania is the closest thing to Marvel’s Star Wars, which isn't necessarily a good thing.”

I’m not going to write a long intro explaining what you probably already know – that this is the first Marvel movie of the year, as well as the kick-off for Phase 5, which will eventually lead to another Avengers movie in 2025. No, you already know that, and if you’ve seen the previous two Ant-Man movies, then you generally will know the returning characters as well.

After a brief prologue, we reunite with Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang, enjoying life in San Fran after saving the world and having written a book about his experiences as an Avengers. His daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has been getting into trouble as an activist, because she wants to do good, but she’s also inherited her grandfather’s brilliance, creating a beacon to reach into the Quantumverse. The beacon alerts something that pulls Lang, Evangeline Lilly’s Hope Pym/Wasp, Cassie, and Hope’s parents into the Quantumverse, where they’re seemingly stranded. Once there, Scott and Cassie are separated from the others, and they turn to a group they encounter, including more humanoid characters played by William Jackson Harper (Midsommar) and Katy M. O’Brian.

As cool as things look (relatively speaking – read on), it’s some time before we get to anything resembling an actual plot. In fact, it's almost hour before we see Kang again, and that's when things start to get interesting as we learn of his interactions with Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne while they were both stranded in the Quantumverse. 

The casting of Jonathan Majors as Kang may in fact end up being Marvel Studios’ greatest achievement. I was slightly dubious after his appearance on the Loki series, but Quantumania gives us a chance to really see Kang as the unbeatable conqueror that have plagued the Avengers in comics for decades. Nothing makes me happier than knowing that he will play such a huge part in Phase 5, although it’s interesting how Marvel is taking a counter approach to Kang than how they introduced Thanos (hinting at him but saving him for Avengers: Infinity War). 

Sure, Bill Murray does appear as someone named Krylar, who isn’t quite as evil as Kang, but he basically shows up and does Bill Murray, something that could have easily been cut out without losing much. He’s quickly forgotten once Kang shows up. Handled in a far more amusing way is M.O.D.O.K. (Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing), who is more tied into the Ant-Man movies than the comics version and helps add humor without detracting from the seriousness of what Scott Lang and his family are going through.

In general, the best scenes tend to be between Majors and Pfeiffer, though the father-daughter relationship does act as the emotional core of the film, giving Scott and Cassie a good story arc for the movie. I generally liked how all the main characters were used, because Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas, especially, get a lot more to do, as does Newton’s Cassie, who I imagine will be a popular fave from this movie.

The movie’s creature design and production design are impeccable with lots of intriguing ideas, although sometimes you can clearly see the seams from the green screen. Other times, my head was hurting from the amount happening on screen and all the bright flashing lights. At times, it feels like Peyton Reed is out of his depth, putting so much into the frame that many shots just looked like a complete mess. (It’s actually shocking that this was shot by Bill Pope, but clearly, so much was going on in the visual effects realm where he didn’t have quite the control.)

With all the creatures and ships and a sequence that is clearly inspired by the Mos Eisley Cantina, it’s hard not to feel like you’re watching a Star Wars movie. Personally, I was always more into the Marvel Comics characters than Star Wars, so you can imagine how that detracted from my experience. The third act gets absolutely insane, although that also pays off from stuff that was set up along the way.

I won’t spoil the tag scenes (of which there are two), but both of them seem to be setting up future appearances by Kang in the MCU rather than  offering us a hopeful “Ant-Man will return.” Presumably he will, maybe not in his own movie but in the next Avengers?

Quantumania is the closest thing to Marvel’s Star Wars, which isn't necessarily a good thing, since it follows the George Lucas ethos of just throwing so much at the viewer that they’re too awed to notice the flaws. That’s the case, at least until Kang shows up, and then, it starts to go into more interesting directions. I could definitely see this MCU installment being more divisive, but I expect most to agree that Majors is great.

Rating: 7 / 10