The Safety Gloves Are Off In 'Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania'
Image source: Marvel Studios
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is finally here to open Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is the direct sequel to 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp and stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Jonathan Majors, and Kathryn Newton, who takes over as Cassie Lang from Emma Fuhrmann, who played her in the family’s last appearance in Avengers: Endgame.
The film starts with Scott Lang (Rudd) living his good life and being recognized as the hero who helped defeat Thanos. He’s got his book and is holding readings at the local library. He and Hope (Lilly) are doing great, and she’s using Pym Particles to help the world at PymVanDyne. One can see Rudd walk by Bones and Good Luck Charlies’s Patricia Belcher on his way to get his coffee. The worker played by Ruben Rabasa turns out to just be named Ruben. And unfortunately, it seems as if the teaser trailer shown at D23 showed the entirety of Randall Park’s return as Jimmy Woo: a silent cameo being photographed at a lunch he’s having with Scott.
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Still mentally fresh off her escape from the Quantum Realm, Janet (Pfeiffer) has been rather quiet about her experiences. Cassie (Newton) has been arrested as an activist (multiple times) but she’s also been working with Hank on a device to communicate with the Quantum Realm, described as a two-way radio and a subatomic satellite. She activates it, to Janet’s horror as she realizes locking herself out of the loop is about to bite her in the ass. A portal opens, pulling in the cast and objects in the room. And the ants. Due to the messy entrance, the Langs and the Pyms are split unwillingly and stay that way for much of the movie.
Sure, both sides reconvene for the climax, but it is not a movie where Scott and Hope are together very much at all. Seems like it wasn’t the time to place cracks in the relationship. Instead, it was clearly about how much Cassie means to Scott. However, Scott wasn’t as much in crisis as one of the trailers made him out to be. He was certainly not desperate or tempted to go back to make up for the lost time. The Langs ended up among the rebelling native tribes, where Quaz, Jentorra, and Veb join the picture, while the Pyms ended up in more…civilized? locations.
Image Source: Disney
You may have heard elsewhere that this movie was Marvel “doing a Star War(s)”. In truth, it’s not completely unfounded. Several scenes might seem incredibly reminiscent of moments a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. From the Quantum bar to the very meeting with Krylar played by Bill Murray, to the birth of MODOK. It’s quite a heavy lean, but I don’t think it ruins the film at all. But MODOK, indeed, he is Darren Cross aka Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll) from the first film, grossly deformed and recruited by Kang to be his minion. Now, this reviewer has never seen A Fish Called Wanda, so picking up exactly on the Otto West qualities was a bit difficult, but is very familiar with Frank Grimes from the classic The Simpsons episode “Homer’s Enemy”. The influence there could definitely be felt, even more visually, probably at a higher level than one would expect. It worked though.
Now, what about the film’s big villain, Kang himself? Well, he’s damn good. The scenes he shares with Michelle Pfeiffer are so well acted by both. The flip of the switch when Kang’s true nature is revealed from wounded gazelle to menace is fantastic. The terror in Pfeiffer’s eyes is played so well and Janet is very quick-thinking and resourceful. Lord Krylar was probably the most disappointing character, in behavior, purpose, and screen time, and while Quaz and Veb provide much of the comedy with a good payoff, they and Jentorra can feel one-note. The action and effects are great, even if the fistfight wasn’t as high-stakes as it seemed, it still served, and was still brutal. Seeing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in 3D was the right choice. Whatever format, go see this very fun movie. Phase Five is off to a very promising start.
Rating: 7.5/10
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