The Plot: Having adjusted to life back in the real world, Scott (Paul Rudd) has missed out on those years with his now-adult daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton). Having sent a signal down to the quantum realm in a mapping exercise, Cassie inadvertently gets sucked into innerspace with her father, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer). Stranded in the quantum realm, they discover that there’s more to this world beneath our own than meets the eyes. Janet’s former three-decade residence in this lost world comes in handy, as they come face-to-face and fist-to-fist with a new threat: Kang The Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). He seems benign but has ambitious plans of cosmic proportions…
The Verdict: When a superheroic studio is nearly 15 years and 31 films so far into building a vast cinematic universe, their films come out like well-oiled, complex pieces of popcorn-fuelled machinery with many moving and interconnected parts. As Marvel moves into Phase 5, it will take audiences further into the multiverse over the next six films. Further phases beckon as if Marvel stopping production would be akin to James Bond throwing in his Walther PPK and licence to kill. Is it possible to get superhero fatigue after so many franchise entries? While DC restructures itself and its priorities under James Gunn, Marvel marches confidently on and any such fatigue is dissipated within the first act of the grandly-titled Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania. Though returning director Peyton Reed doesn’t explain what Quantumania is exactly, it’s enough to imply that it’s manic and crazy enough to get the adrenaline and popcorn flowing in the frozen tundra of February.
Quantumania takes a deep dive into the quantum realm, that sub-atomic world where time and space have no relation to the human world that we know. Scott and his family find themselves trapped there with friendly / unfriendly locals depending on the situation, while Janet faces up to a past decision that could have massive consequences for them all. Reed doesn’t waste any time, getting down to the sub-atomic level fairly quickly and then powering his multi-dimensional story through personal conflicts, surprise reunions, a mass uprising and an even bigger bad in the soft-spoken but don’t-mess-with-me, all-business form of Kang The Conqueror (an excellent Jonathan Majors. More of him soon in Creed III). This is the kind of villain who has no redemption arc, no well-meaning intentions turned rotten, no snap of his fingers that will kill / save half the world. He’s just a plain, old-fashioned bad apple. He must be stopped at all costs. Is Scott brave enough to stop him though?
It’s a question that is teased out over the course of the film, with Kang taunting Scott that he is out of his league. It’s not like he can phone-an-Avenger-friend from the quantum realm. Reed approaches this as a team effort for all concerned, drawing each of the characters into the fray against Kang. While this is an admirable approach on paper, it does leave Scott himself looking a lot like he’s haphazardly making-it-up as he goes along. There’s no grand plan, not much in the way of leadership (leave that to Michelle Pfeiffer’s engaging turn as the tortured Janet) and he mostly plays the protective father to his daughter throughout. Like any father, he’s constantly worried about finding Cassie without seeing the bigger picture unfolding before him. No fault to Paul Rudd (always good value), but the character does seem to be written into the situation rather than the other way around. However, the film manages to breeze past this character oversight and still deliver on the action front. Big time.
Quantumania is perhaps the closest Marvel has come to delivering their own dynamic, multiversal take on Flash Gordon. The canvas is bigger, brighter and bolder as an outworlder discovers a colourful but enslaved world just waiting to be liberated from a sly, scheming conqueror. Reed dials down the camp of course, though there’s enough of the oddball stuff to raise a few eyebrows (constant talk of holes, a giant floating head and a quantum realm resident that looks like broccoli). The action sequences get increasingly frenetic, in-line with the high stakes game of world building / destroying going on, though they are impressively staged and eye-popping enough in 2D. This Ant-Man instalment is darker in tone (but not too dark), with the fate of many worlds in the balance. For an effects-heavy film, it still manages to keep the characters anchored and worth caring about. Quantumania doesn’t try to re-invent the Marvel wheel, but it does succeed in being its own mostly ant-tastic, goofy thing and running with it for all its worth. It also sets the stage for what’s to come next and that at least is worth getting excited about. What superhero fatigue?
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
In short: Mostly ant-tastic
Directed by Peyton Reed.
Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton, Jonathan Majors, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bill Murray.