“Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” Review

(From Left) Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Stature (Kathryn Newton) and The Wasp (Evangeline Lily) join forces to escape the Quantum Realm and take on Kang the Conqueror in “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.”

Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s “Infinity Saga” ended with “Avengers: Endgame,” Marvel’s films and television shows have been getting more ambitious. The storytellers behind this franchise have tried things I could never have imagined them doing just a few years ago. Sometimes it has resulted in amazing work like “WandaVision,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Other times it’s been lackluster with “Eternals” and “Thor: Love and Thunder.” However, I still appreciate every attempt to try something different, to push the boundaries of this ever expanding world. 

“Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” tries something new as well by taking these characters, whose two solo films have been lighthearted, small-scale comedies, and placing them in a situation that is far more epic and strange. While the film is imperfect and doesn’t have as many laughs as its predecessor, it’s certainly the most daring of the three “Ant-Man” films and still gave me an entertaining time with a lot of imagination. 

After saving the world from Thanos in “Avengers: Endgame,” Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has put a pause on being Ant-Man in favor of experimenting on shrinking technology with his mentors Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), raising his now grown-up daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) and enjoying his relationship with his superhero partner Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily). When a new device goes haywire, Scott, Cassie, Hope, Hank and Janet are all shrunk down and sent to the Quantum Realm: a microscopic universe right beneath ours. In this world, our heroes come across a powerful being named Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who wishes to escape the Quantum Realm and wreak havoc on the universe, Scott and his family must band together and stop Kang’s evil plot.

On the surface, this “Ant-Man” film may seem wildly different compared to the previous two. However, at its core, this is still a film about family and not in the melodramatic way that the “Fast and Furious” films do it. This family unit is a lot of fun and everyone in this cast has such great chemistry together as they try to escape this universe. In particular, Paul Rudd and Kathryn Newton’s father/daughter relationship is compelling because, due to the events of “Avengers: Infinity War,” Scott was separated from his daughter for five years. Now that he’s back, he’s trying to make sure his daughter is on the right path, especially since he’s training her in the ways of using this shrinking technology. 

It’s also great to see Hank and Janet as more central characters. Instead of just mentoring the younger generation, since they were the original Ant-Man and Wasp, now they’re also taking part in the action. So, you’re essentially seeing three generations of this goofy, scientific family fighting in this crazy environment. 

Since all of these characters have been established in two films (with Scott also taking part in “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Endgame”), “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” just dives into the action within the first ten minutes. The vast majority of this film is set in the Quantum Realm and while we’ve seen this world in previous MCU films, it’s always been an unknown entity that the main characters have barely understood. Now, it’s revealed that not only is this world so much bigger than previously thought, but there are actually sentient civilizations that live there. 

This concept leads to some of the most imaginative visuals in the MCU with so many fascinating places and people. The Quantum Realm could have looked just like the many alien worlds that we’ve seen in films like “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but it does look very unique and was a lot of fun to experience, especially on a big screen in 3D.

Jonathan Majors’ (right) performance as Kang is chilling in how much authority he has and how much destruction he can cause.

In this world resides Kang who has already been built up as the next big villain to dominate the MCU. If this film is any indication of what’s to come, Jonathan Majors is magnetic as this fantastic villain and I'm excited for this character’s future. Here, Kang is a chilling presence and, with very few words, quickly comes across as ruthless and intimidating and rarely screams and yells. Instead, he uses people’s relationships to get them to do what he wants so he can conquer the universe. 

However, while Kang himself is a great villain, his motivation left something to be desired. I understand that he wants to escape the Quantum Realm and that would be bad, but it’s unclear what he wants to do. The characters verbally explain it and say that he has the power to destroy multiple dimensions and to manipulate time to his will but it would be better if the film showed it. It would have been incredible to see a montage of Kang’s past rampages across the multiverse but we only get a taste of it. 

In many respects, the film is far more epic with large fight sequences and armies of Quantum people and ants clashing together. However, there’s still plenty of the silly humor that has distinguished the “Ant-Man” films from the rest of the MCU. One of the most hilarious elements of this film concerns the character M.O.D.O.K. (or Mechanized Organism Designed Only for Killing). I’m not going to give anything away about this character, including who plays him, but this film understands that there’s no way to have this character and not make him funny. I mean, he’s a giant head with small arms and legs that kills people. Let’s just say that his very appearance brought so much joy to me. 

Overall, I don’t think that the humor of this film is quite as good as the first two but there’s still plenty of jokes that work. With the previous two films, I’d say that about 85 to 90% of the jokes worked. In this film it’s about 65 to 70%. However, some of the jokes that don’t work are salvaged by Paul Rudd’s comedic timing. Rudd is just one of those people that can make a funny joke gut-busting and can make an unfunny joke just good enough. 

While this is a wildly different “Ant-Man” film, it’s still an “Ant-Man” film nonetheless. “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” tries to offer something new to the MCU and creates something worth watching. While I don’t think it’s one of the best films the MCU has made in the last few years, it still has enough imagination, character and life to it to make it worth seeing in the theater. But seriously, would it have killed you to use more of Bill Murray?