Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review

Plot: Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, along with Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, 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.

Film: Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Director: Peyton Reed

Writer: Jeff Loveness

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evageline Lilly, Kathryn Newton

Much likes the first two films in the Ant-Man trilogy, the film is just exceedingly average. Frequent moments of humour, a few fun new characters that I couldn’t name without googling (looking at you Veb) and a massively underused ensemble of characters who were all sucked into the Quantum realm for no reason. 

For a film titled Ant-Man and The Wasp, Hope (Evangeline Lilly) had a very little part to play in this film, only really serving to save Scott (Paul Rudd) at the end of the film, which isn’t entirely unsatisfying, but it didn’t help with how clunky this film felt with so much baggage. The same can be said for Hank (Michael Douglas), whose only role in the film was to be shocked at what his wife had gotten up to in the quantum realm, and even Cassie (Kathryn Newton), who aside from creating the device that gets them in trouble, really serves no purpose in the film, except to maybe set her up for a future project as she debuts her rather underwhelming suit. We see a lot of Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) in this film, and I think the film would have done better with just her and Scott, second generation Ant-Man and original Wasp. 

As well as a too big cast, the film itself feels so dark and cold within the Quantum realm backdrop. For a place we discover is larger and more full of life than previously thought, the experience felt almost claustrophobic, and I found myself missing the ‘real’ world the characters came from, as we were only there for twenty minutes before being sucked into the void where the rest of the film takes place. 

The saving grace of the film is Kang (Jonathan Majors), his role is the perfect balance of comic book villain and just plain terrifying. All the good writing was saved for Kang, and there’s a lot of cringey dialogue, Jonathan Majors did the perfect job delivering his lines in a way that he seemed all powerful, despite his current powerless position, trapped in the Quantum realm. It must be said that all the training Majors did for Creed paid off, as well as his performance, how physically imposing he is when fighting Scott was the highlight of the whole film. 

For such a beloved actor and character, it’s a shame that Ant-Man continues to be the most mediocre of the Marvel franchises.