Marvel machine suffocates ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’
The lumbering mechanizations of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe swallows its most charming and eccentric heroes in “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” a movie that veers far away from the small-scale charm of its previous two installments.
“Quantumania,” marketed as the official start of Marvel’s “Phase 5” plans, appears squarely interested in introducing the Universe’s next big bad — the time traveling, multiverse-destroying Kang (played by Jonathan Majors). Never mind that Marvel kinda-sorta already introduced him in the Disney+ series, “Loki,” and really never mind that he doesn’t do much or explain his plans in this movie either. Stay tuned, Marvel fans! He’ll eventually be important!
Majors is a dynamic force, to be sure, but the focus on him in “Quantumania” leaves little room for any of the preestablished characters in the “Ant-Man” segment of the MCU. The first two solo films, 2015’s “Ant-Man” and 2018’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp” served as fun, energetic palette cleansers to the MCU’s more sprawling storytelling. Let’s be honest: Ant-Man is sort of a silly character on paper, so the goofball allure of Paul Rudd as thief-turned-shrinking man Scott Lang gave those films plenty of space to embrace the weird and not worry too much about whatever the heck was happening with the Avengers and Thanos, etc.
Those two “Ant-Man” found fun ways for a tiny-superhero (or a big one, in the case of Giant Man) to engage with real world environments. One of the best action sequences in all of the Marvel movies comes from “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” where Lang and friends shrink and grow various objects during a car chase on the streets of San Francisco.
“Quantumania” sends Ant-Man and friends into the CGI-heavy Quantum zone within the first 10 minutes. It’s a “pretty” environment filled with many bizarre, visually interesting creatures, but the humans in the movie interact with them with all the believability of a “Star Wars” prequel. Never once does it feel like the actors are occupying a real environment, a recurring problem in the post-COVID Marvel era, where seemingly entire movies are shot in front of a green screen.
Rudd retains some charm here as he interacts with his now-grown daughter (Kathyrn Newton), who has also been sucked down into the mysterious Quantum Zone for reasons unclear to them (Eventual answer: Kang). However, the remainder of the series’ stellar cast get consumed by dull CGI chases. Evangeline Lilly, playing a character in the title of the movie, has nothing to do here besides ask her character’s mother (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) why she won’t reveal what happened to her when she was trapped in the Quantum Zone for 30 years (Eventual answer: Kang). Michael Douglas, meanwhile, is robbed of most of his character’s hilarious acidity, and he’s separated from Rudd’s Scott Lang for such long stretches that he has few opportunities to disparage him.
The movie spits out a random Bill Murray cameo for little comedic payoff as well, and the movie spends so much time dragging to a Big Kang Reveal that is telegraphed in the film’s very first scene. Even worse, key supporting characters of the previous two “Ant-Man” films are completely absent in “Quantumania,” most egregiously Michael Pena as Lang’s talkative business partner, Luis.
Perhaps “Quantumania” deserves to be judged by what it’s trying to do rather than by what it isn’t. Director Peyton Reed (who made the first two movies) is obviously trying to inject an epic scale into the “Ant-Man” world so it can properly establish the stakes of the Kang-centric new phase of the MCU. There’s still plenty of weirdness here, including new subatomic characters with creative designs and quippy attitudes that would gel with the various wackos of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” sub-franchise. But those strange newbies also have little to do besides be roped into a tired rebellion storyline that culminates with the same cartoonish final battle you’ve already seen in 12 “Star Wars” projects at this point.
Even with the box office success of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the Marvel braintrust seems aware of a growing problem in the MCU since “Avengers: Endgame.” There’s simply too much content that feels haphazardly stitched together. As a result, Marvel is planning on slowing their release schedule (fewer Disney+ shows and longer stretches in between movie releases). With some breathing room, perhaps they can also refocus on quality control.
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Tyler Wilson is a member of the International Press Academy and has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000, including a regular column in The Press since 2006. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.