Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

There's been a lot of ups and downs with Marvel movies lately, and how we talk about them has even higher highs and lower lows. I didn't see much about the content of Quantumania before seeing it, but I did see the report. The breaking (entertainment) news of the week is that "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Ties [with Eternals] for MCU's Worst Rotten Tomatoes Score," and a lot about that is rubbing me the wrong way, so let's try to get into it a little bit. What is the movie, what fixes to it could have been made, and why is that headline unnecessarily loaded?

From IMDb, the Ant-Man outline is "Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), along with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), [and Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton),] explore the Quantum Realm, where they interact with strange creatures and embark on an adventure that goes beyond the limits of what they thought was possible." It is directed by series regular Peyton Reed, written by Jeff Loveless (Rick & Morty), and Rudd notably does not have a script credit for the first time in the series. That's one of the differences worth starting with. 

Taking place primarily in the Quantum Realm, there's a feeling that while this isn't a soft reboot, like Thor: Ragnarök, it is a major departure from the grounded (enough) heists and street-level activity from the first two movies. When I reviewed Ant-Man and the Wasp in 2018, I said that "there's no disgustingly evil villain, there's (mostly) just people trying to get by or, in Ava's case, survive." This should be the "Fairly Relaxed Trilogy," and while we're not talking about total tonal whiplash, we are talking about an adjustment. 

Suiting up for this one was a ton of fun. A huge thank you to the guy who listed this cosplay on FB Marketplace. I wasn't exactly sure how to pose in it

Quantumania tries to be a bit of a sci-fi epic that takes visual cues from Star Wars, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Denis Villeneuve's Dune. The Quantum Realm is a split empire of high and low-class that is ruled by a variant of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Despite great casting of new characters, like William Jackson Harper as Quaz, a member of the resistance against Kang, few of them leave an impression. Bill Murray does as Lord Krylar, but that's because he's him, and he's also recently been embroiled in some controversies. Side characters who we most likely won't see again are around mainly to motivate Scott to act, as he's gotten a bit complacent since cashing-in on his status as an Avenger. The good news about that is maybe William Jackson Harper can still play Reed Richards in the main timeline. Gemma Chan was double-cast, so the door is open.

Now, when I first heard that Scott cashing-in was part of the plot, I was alarmed that they were going to assassinate his character. Luckily, it's not that bad. He just needs a slight reality check. The movie kind of addresses my Ant-Man and the Wasp complaint that Hank and Hope were beating up on him too much in the last movie, but they try to like double-fix it. There's less of that, but also, we're getting a more serious Scott, and it's a slight sticking point for me. 

Cassie, who now has her own suit and may go by the title Stature or Stinger, gets kidnapped by Kang, naturally alarming and enraging Scott. Down the line, I can see this saga of Marvel coming down to just Ant-Man and Kang, but I honestly need to see more range from Rudd first. He has to force anger in his performance, and it just comes off as trying. It's endearing because he seems to really be that sweet guy off-screen, but it hurts the movie. Maybe there's a non-comedic role I missed? If so, please tell me what it is. Performances from everyone, except the wonderfully intimidating and stoic Jonathan Majors, seem off, because it's a less comedic film, and there's more acting against green/blue screen instead of sets and people. Michael Douglas, and perhaps Michelle Pfeiffer, could have been the key to fixing that and some other issues with the movie.

Hank and Janet move things along in the Quantum Realm, but I think the story would've been more streamlined, and the actors would've for the most part been better used, if they were communicating with Scott, Hope, and Cassie from home over something like radio. Douglas and Pfeiffer feel a little out of their element having to juggle all that CGI in their heads, and they've earned the right to take it easy in blockbuster roles. Not only is the story more focused on a solid trio this way, but it allows more familiar faces to help, or at least pop-in, in the headquarters of the Pym house. It would've been nice to see the rest of the cast from the last two movies, and we know that Michael Peña would level out the tonal shift at least for a sequence. Maybe this was the result of the movie being made at least partially under Covid restrictions. At there is at least one cast surprise that got me excited for a moment, the villain from the first Ant-Man returns. But only for a moment.

Corey Stoll's portrayal of Darren Cross always struck me as a few notches above the typical corporate superhero villain. He's elevated by the peeks into a long, complicated history with the Pym family and what prolonged Pym Particle exposure has done to his mind. Stoll had a great enthusiasm, mixed with brewing anger. He's great in Quantumania, as the Yellowjacket-turned-M.O.D.O.K, but he's mostly just a servant of Kang. That helps develop Kang further, but it doesn't do much else. His design on M.O.D.O.K is also pretty off-putting, but people are blowing that out of proportion.

If you've seen the screenshots already, it does indeed just look like Stoll's face is stretched out to a large size. It looks surprisingly okay in motion. The effects in general look good, and I really hope the artists weren't fucking abused this time around, but they probably were. I think they added some extra vibrancy to the shrinking and growing to match the new setting, and the action throughout is pretty solid too. A giant, relatively speaking, Ant-Man slamming Kang against the wall is quite satisfying, and so is a new variation on the Hawkeye move from Civil War. But it also seemed like there were some missed opportunities here-and-there. 

It's a minor thing, but it seems to point toward Marvel just kind of churning these movies out quickly in recent years. There's a scene where Scott keeps multiplying, and while they throw in one Baskin-Robbins employee version, seeing Ant-Men in more costumes from the last couple movies, since the super-suit is changed around a bit every time, would've made the scene pop more. They also could've added outfit variants like Scott as a thief, in prison, and and in an oversized hoodie. 

The possibilities were endless and unexplored | Copyright 2023 Marvel/Disney

Still, these are minor things, and Marvel has looked into slowing down and injecting more care back into their movies. Wakanda Forever proves that, and so do statements from the studio lately. So, people who missed Kang in Loki are still looking at a promising start to his rule, and signs point toward that hope continuing, in due time. So, with that in mind, let's not be too hard on them. Let's be fair in our thoughts.

However, there's one more thing. My girlfriend and I had a fantastic time watching the movie with an opening weekend audience. We were really bouncing off of the movie, and Paul Rudd's charm, together, even if he was diluted to suit the story this time around. Going back to the first two movies will surely be even more enjoyable for us, since Michael Peña will be thrown into the mix. For all that, Quantumania earns a bump.