Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania Shrinks Toward Mediocrity

I bet most people reading this article are over the superhero movie craze clogging Hollywood’s arteries; personally, I am ambivalent. I have been thrilled by the superhero movie experience on and off since Avengers: Endgame, which set the bar way too high. However, the issue in watching so much content, such as shows, movies, and animated specials, is that it can all be a daunting task to keep up with; luckily, recent films have leaned more toward keeping things self-contained. 

This leads us to the most recent entry in the Ant-Man franchise, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. For simplicity’s sake, I will be referring to the title as Quantumania (which is still a mouthful!)

The movie starts with Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne, along with Hope’s parents, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, and Lang’s daughter, Cassie, going on a new adventure exploring the Quantum Realm. That adventure pushes their limits and pits them against Kang the Conqueror.

I found myself mulling over how to express my feeling about this film adequately; in one statement, the film is mid-tier. But that won’t cut it for a review, so allow me to elaborate.

There are a lot of solid performances from the cast. This is easily one of Paul Rudd’s strongest performances as Scott Lang or otherwise, and that’s pretty good for a man who I once considered to be Hollywood’s sidekick. He brought the same charm and complexity he’s given in previous performances.

I loved Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne / Wasp, but they didn’t give her much to do for a character whose name is in the title. I felt she was sorely underutilized, and her arc was way too brief. And you could tell Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas were clearly there to fulfill their contractual obligations. Kathryn Newton was definitely a welcome addition to the cast. As Cassie Lang, she worked well independently and in tandem with Paul Rudd. She was likable and, at times, hilarious.

But the stand-out performance has to be from Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror. Majors said Kang is different from He Who Remains (his portrayal in Loki), who is not in Quantumania. And he absolutely delivered, with a depiction of the dimension and time-faring despot that was borderline Shakespearean, for a comic book movie. I can’t wait to see him in future films.

Christophe Beck returns as film composer and does a solid job.

The film was 75 percent green screen, and the use of what seems to be leftover set pieces from the Star Wars: The Force Awakens makes the film seem extremely cheap. They couldn’t even be bothered to bring back a third of the original cast. Phase Five’s starting point begins strong, but sadly doesn’t stick the landing, not as bad as Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Eternals, or Thor: The Dark World, but the fun factor only does so much. 

If you’re a Marvel fanboy like me it’s worth a watch but I can’t say it’s worth multiple viewings. I give Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (Marvel Studios; PG-13; 2hrs 5mins) a 3 out of 5.