After puttering to the end of their phase four, the MCU kicks off its next chapter with the third Ant-Man movie. Normally, this series has little to do with the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it’s now re-introducing what could be its greatest threat. No, not Kang. Instead, it’s superhero fatigue.
With the help of his autobiography, Scott Lang has finally been noticed as one of the planet’s greatest heroes. Though, he isn’t seen as a hero in his rebellious daughter’s eyes. Minutes into the story and the entire Ant-family is sucked into the nearly inescapable Quantum Realm. While there, they must avoid faceless Quantum cops and befriend random alien species, while avoiding the attention of Kang (Jonathan Majors).
This story ties directly to the rescue of Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), as seen in the previous movie. She has a history with Kang that makes her feel guilty and has lead her to keep secrets from the rest of the family. Without this information, they walk directly into danger and become part of Kang’s plans to escape and become a nefarious conqueror once again.
If there are any bright spots in this movie, they belong to Pfeiffer and Majors. They are actually trying to act in the equivalent of a big budget cartoon fun house. Majors will be key for the next few years of Marvel flicks and this movie does a good job of setting him up as an imposing figure that seemingly can’t be stopped. Majors broods through the script without feeling the need to inject constant humor that normally undercuts every Marvel villain. Honestly, he barely belongs in this movie given the antics that are happening around him at any given time. Pfeiffer is best when she acts against Majors. She carries the rest of the protagonist cast on her back.
It’s getting beyond difficult to take a movie seriously when 95% of the movie is computer-generated. There’s so much happening in the Quantum Realm between the swirling purple clouds, sandstone canyons, and living cities. But with so much happening, it feels like nothing is happening. The heart within Quantumania is entirely synthetic. I would be surprised if any two actors were ever filmed in the same room as another.
I mean this as no insult to Robert Rodriguez movies, but this $200 million tentpole movie look worse than the Sharkboy/Lavagirl and Spy Kids movies from 20 years ago. I truly wonder if the graphic artists behind this and every Marvel movie are desperately hoping that someone sees the hidden pleas of “Help Us!” within these movies. We saw a few examples of stellar special effects, both physical and virtual, in much better films last year. Whereas, in Quantumania it feels like no one in the crew is trying or being given time to finish the job. The screen is bright and busy, but it’s the visual equivalent of Disney’s Stitch vomiting on a movie screen.
Oh, and the CG on one of the high profile villains is ironic nightmare fuel. The character is treated as a whipping boy, because someone has to be. But, why doesn’t anyone working on these movies care a little about the final product?
The script feels just as lifeless as the green screen Volume the movie is filmed in. The science and casual deus ex machina moments are accomplished with nothing more than a hand wave. This is normally fine and dandy for general movie-goers. A superhero flick doesn’t need to be memorable to be a fun rollercoaster. But there are some lines that stop the action dead in its tracks. In one scene, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) refers to some brilliant ants. As these super smart ants march into battle, he casually tosses in, “Ya know, maybe Socialism isn’t that bad.” It’s embarrassing how bad this all gets.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a bad movie and isn’t a good trilogy capper for the titular character. Instead, it’s a “To be continued” movie made by committee to re-introduce the big bad that will impact every Disney+ show and big screen movie for years to come. Majors is better than the material given, so there’s a good chance the risk will pay off, but what a silly launch pad for him. If you saw the last episode of Loki, you don’t need to watch this movie. You’ll still be caught up on any necessary story. Phase five, so far, isn’t the great reset these movies needed. D
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