Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors
Directed by Peyton Reed
After saving the world, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has written a book, basking in the notoriety of being Ant-Man, and maintaining his relationship with Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), also known as The Wasp, and trying to maintain a connection with his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) after losing five years for being trapped in the Quantum Realm. While he was gone, Cassie delved into the Quantum Realm and together with Hope and Hope's father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), she invented a way to communicate with the Quantum Realm - to the chagrin of Hank's wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who was trapped there for thirty years. Something goes wrong with the transmitter, and the entire family is sucked into the Quantum Realm and separated, with Scott and Cassie trying to find Hope, Hank, and Janet as they traverse the mysterious Quantum Realm. Not all is safe there, however, as a brutal conqueror known as Kang (Jonathan Majors) has taken over, and together they form a resistance to overtake Kang and prevent him from escaping the Quantum Realm and unleashing his fury on the world.
The previous two "Ant-Man" films have been highly regarded as "palate cleansers" for the MCU, being more light-hearted and centering on comedy and family rather than high-stakes supervillains, and have been released after major "Avengers" films (the first "Ant-Man" came out after "Age of Ultron," while "Ant-Man and the Wasp" came out after the disheartening "Infinity War"). Hoping to change the narrative, Peyton Reed (who directed all three "Ant-Man" installments) decided to center the story on something with much higher stakes: the introduction of the Big Bad after Thanos in Kang the Conqueror, while also maintaining the essence that made the "Ant-Man" movies so enjoyable: the humor and the family dynamic. While it might seem to be too big of a feat (get it?), and even though it didn't necessarily land all its themes perfectly, it still turned itself into an enjoyable adventure in a world unlike anything the MCU has seen before - something more akin to a "Star Wars" movie than a Marvel one.
The setting of the film takes place almost entirely within the Quantum Realm, and we get to see it in a way that's never been seen before: like a better version of "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl." The visuals here are outstanding, even though sometimes it doesn't work out as well, it's still leaps and bounds better than the God-awful CGI in "Thor: Love & Thunder." The Quantum Realm looks like something out of a fever dream of a 1970s artist, or, more likely, their version of a drug trip they went on. The scenes are imbued with vivid colors of blue, yellow, purple, and the creatures are fantastical and something Newt Scamander would love to categorize. There's whole civilizations of intelligent sentient beings as well, crossing the gambit from human-looking people to gelatinous blobs and buildings that are literally alive. Visually it's a spectacle that doesn't really look as faked as you'd expect it to be, save for one character who looks absolutely terrible, but anyone who knows this character from the comics knows that he's really a terrible-looking creation in the first place, and the film makes light of that by having our characters comment on it.
Maybe one of the problems the MCU faces is the fact that they seem to churn these films in their sleep, not really offering anything new to the formula. Superheroes come together to fight a super-baddie, find out more about themselves in the process, and all ends with a spectacular CGI-coated action sequence. While all those tropes check out in "Quantumania," it's elevated by the performances and the essence of the "Ant-Man" movies that make them different from other MCU films: the aspect of family (Dom Toretto would be proud).
The "Ant" family consists of Scott Lang, his daughter Cassie, Scott's girlfriend Hope, and her parents Hank and Janet - all of which are, by now, superheroes in their own right. Hank is the original Ant-Man and is highly intelligent, while Janet is the original Wasp and is the one who spent the most time in the Quantum Realm, knows everything about Kang, and is the one who led the resistance against him. Scott's Ant-Man is more goofy and funny, but his heart has always been with his daughter Cassie, who's now grown into her own hero alongside Scott's girlfriend Hope, who's the new Wasp and also has her mother's tenacity and her father's intelligence. Everything they do, they do for each other, and this bond is something that's unbreakable, and also is the obvious bleeding heart of the film. Yet it's also the film's detriment, as the tried-and-true trope of "do what I say or I'll kill those you love" come into play when Kang forces Scott to retrieve a part he needs in order to escape the Quantum Realm by threatening to kill Cassie. Also, by splitting up the family in the most obvious way, it detracts from seeing them all fight alongside one another, something that would've been interesting to see.
While the film is called "Ant-Man and the Wasp," the titular heroes aren't the ones you'd expect from the title. While Paul Rudd's Ant-Man is obviously front-and-center, Evangeline Lilly's the Wasp is mostly sidelined in favor of the OG Wasp, Michelle Pfeiffer, who dominates the screen. Rudd gives his natural charm and comedic timing while providing some truly heartfelt and surprisingly dramatic moments of the film, but Pfeiffer steals the show as the elder Wasp, who is pivotal in the story. One thing I give the MCU credit for is that they don't sideline the "elder" actors and relegate them to the concerned parents or comedic grandparents, but throw them into the fray just like any other (Angela Bassett proved that by becoming the first actress in an MCU film to be nominated - and win, I'm calling it now - an Oscar for her performance in "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever"). Both Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas get to showcase their action prowess and prove that actors well into their sixties can still kick as much butt as actors in their twenties.
A superhero film is only as strong as their villain, and Jonathan Majors proves that he's got what it takes to grab the baton from Josh Brolin and become the next over-arching villain Kang the Conqueror. Majors gives Kang a multi-faceted feel, showing him as empathetic and highly intelligent, but also a stark raving lunatic who desires to destroy entire worlds and timelines because he's been wronged in the past. While Thanos wanted to erase half the universe's population to ease the abuse of natural resources, Kang wants to eliminate entire timelines because that's what he thinks a conqueror does - eliminate the old so he can build a new one in his own image. Kang - and his multi-versal variants - will be forces to be reckoned with as the MCU moves into the next few phases, and we couldn't ask for a better actor to helm it than Majors.
While "Quantumania" doesn't break any new boundaries for a superhero movie, it's an adequate source of CGI action, stunning visuals, and multi-layered performances. It's not the best MCU has to offer, but as this is the start of the Kang Dynasty, it does a serviceable job at introducing Kang to the world as well as delving deeper into the characters we've gotten to know since their first introduction in 2015.
The Score: A-
Comments
Post a Comment