Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is definitely the least of the three Ant-Man movies and would land in my Bottom Five MCU films overall. I’m not saying that it’s bad exactly. It just felt like they were trying to shoehorn Ant-Man into a mold made for the Guardians of the Galaxy. If anything, it’s proof that the concept and the character work best on a… ahem… smaller scale.
This time out, Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) looks on as his brilliant daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) opens up a portal to the Quantum Realm. It doesn’t take long before the both of them, not to mention the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) and her parents (Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas) get sucked into the Realm with no way to return home. The Quantum Realm is also home to a nefarious villain named Kang the Conqueror (Johnathan Majors) who takes Cassie hostage and coerces Ant-Man into helping him escape so he can go off and rule the galaxy.
The Quantum Realm looks like a cheesy, overly CGI-ed version of the Cantina scene in Star Wars on steroids. In fact, every frame of the film that takes place in the Quantum Realm feels like Greenscreen City. Everything has a loosey-goosey computer animated feel that makes the effects and creatures in Avatar (or heck, even The Phantom Menace) look startlingly realistic in comparison. That is to say, it looks like a Guardians of the Galaxy sequel. Heck, even the humor is more in line with the Guardians than Ant-Man (like the little comic relief blobby dude), which is OK, I guess, but I came to see an Ant-Man movie, dammit.
It's telling that the best sequence in the movie comes when Ant-Man must rely on his thieving skills to steal a vital piece of machinery for Kang. This is the only time the flick really feels like it belongs in the Ant-Man series. The ensuing “Probability Storm” scene is a lot of fun too. However, the film really needed two or three more scenes of this caliber to make it a worthy successor to the previous Ant-Man entries.
The cast is a mixed bag. The most rewarding dramatic scenes revolve around Rudd and Newton. Rudd excels at being a likeable goofball, and their scenes together hit the right blend of sweetness and believability. Their scenes together give the film the only moments of grounded human emotion. Douglas gets a few laughs, but mostly, he’s just along for the ride. The biggest laughs come courtesy of M.O.D.O.K. and a special guest star playing a sinister space gangster.
Pfeiffer gets more screen time here than before, but she’s pretty much wasted as her character is little more than a walking exposition dump. And for a movie with her character’s name in the title, Lilly isn’t given a whole lot to do. Majors is a disappointment as the villain too. He’s much better here than he was in the dreadful Loki series, but he’s a bit of a bore, which is alarming since he’s supposed to be the next Big Bad for this “Phase” of the Marvel franchise. It doesn’t help that he says all his dialogue in the same disinterested, half-yawning manner. I guess he was trying to underplay the character’s villainy, but he ultimately winds up not feeling like a genuine threat.
Marvel Cinematic Universe Scorecard:
Spider-Man: No Way Home: ****
Avengers: Age of Ultron: ****
The Incredible Hulk: ****
Iron Man: ****
Thor: Ragnarok: ****
Avengers: Endgame: ****
Ant-Man and the Wasp: ****
Spider-Man: Homecoming: ****
Iron Man 3: ****
Captain America: Civil War: *** ½
Ant-Man: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy: *** ½
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: *** ½
Avengers: Infinity War: *** ½
Black Panther: *** ½
The Avengers: ***
Captain America: The First Avenger: ***
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: ***
Thor: Love and Thunder: ***
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: ***
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: ***
Captain Marvel: ***
Spider-Man: Far from Home: ***
Thor: ***
Thor: The Dark World: ***
Iron Man 2: ***
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: ** ½
Doctor Strange: ** ½
Black Widow: ** ½
Eternals: * ½
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