By Seth Lukas Hynes
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania
Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Jonathan Majors
Rated M
3/5
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania is fun but frustratingly insubstantial, with several elements that don’t quite succeed, and features many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s bad habits.
After an experiment by his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), superheroes Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and their family are pulled into the quantum realm, a hostile universe beneath our own.
The cast has great chemistry as ever, but the dialogue is serviceable when not annoyingly quippy, and Scott/Ant-Man and Hope/Wasp are oddly sidelined in their own movie. Beyond the dramatic goals of escaping the quantum realm and preventing the stranded conqueror Kang (Jonathan Majors) from leaving, the plot is driven by yet another tired Macguffin. Quantumania has wonderfully creative visual and creature design, offset by the MCU’s muted colour palette. The action sequences are framed too close, cut poorly and rarely carry any genuine peril, and the first act has some terribly abrupt pacing.
Fittingly, ants exemplify Quantumania’s strengths and weaknesses. A triumphant moment in the second act makes brilliant use of swarming imagery, but the ant-based resolution in the third act is a barely-developed Deus Ex Machina.
On the unambiguously good side, Kang is a phenomenal antagonist: a near-unstoppable force of remarkable gravitas. Kang and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) anchor the film with a complicated relationship of shared hardship and betrayal. Corey Stoll is endearingly pathetic as the secondary antagonist Modok.
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania has an outstanding villain surrounded by middling plot and presentation, and is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
