If you had told me ten years ago that Ant-Man was getting not only a movie but a whole trilogy, I would’ve been ecstatic. Following the arrival of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” however, I am underwhelmed.
Leaving the theater, I was more excited about seeing Kang the Conqueror again than any of the heroes. Jonathan Majors is an absolute standout and owns every scene he’s in, commanding the audience’s attention.
Kang was one of my favorite comic villains growing up, and Majors’ performance was familiar, yet distinct. His costume perfectly melded the original comic design with futuristic armor.
Unfortunately, for such an interesting and menacing setup, Kang’s defeat was contrived. Without diving too deep into the plot, there are only so many times a franchise can effectively pull the “new army comes out of nowhere just when all hope seems lost” trick.
With a time traveler like Kang, though, there’s still so much potential for the character. Clearly, Marvel recognizes that, as he will appear in the second season of “Loki” as well as “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.” The most telling factor of the Conqueror’s longevity is that after the end-credits scene, the screen read “Kang Will Return,” not “Ant-Man and the Wasp Will Return.”
Making her debut as Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie Lang, Kathryn Newton is a fun addition to the film with lots of potential for the future. The older Cassie from “Avengers: Endgame,” Emma Fuhrmann, was replaced pretty unceremoniously since she found out the role was recast at the same time as the public.
Paul Rudd has settled into a routine as Scott Lang, serviceably balancing comedic and emotional moments. “Quantumania” is the first Ant-Man film not to be co-written by Rudd, which leads me to wonder if that’s the reason for this movie’s lack of heart, especially compared to the first.
Every other actor seems to sleepwalk through the movie, especially Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas. Lilly’s character, the Wasp, was ineffective which isn’t a good thing for the second billing.
Maybe the first two Ant-Man movies caught too much heat for the amount of technobabble required for size-changing and ant-herding, but the science talk here, especially from Douglas, just seems dumb. Transitioning from one of my favorite MCU Hank Pym appearances in “What If…?” directly to “Quantumania,” where his character consisted almost entirely of ant jokes, was jarring.
William Jackson Harper played a fun one-off character Quaz, although I would’ve liked to see him in a more significant role in the MCU. Bill Murray, like Harper, was wasted by attaching a big name to a pretty bland character. Who the heck is Lord Krylar? Murray makes the character work for what it is, but it could’ve been more.
The inclusion and execution of M.O.D.O.K. was a weird choice. Changing his origin to make a more personal villain for Scott makes sense on paper, but he didn’t really add much to the film. His appearance felt like the writers just wanted M.O.D.O.K. to appear in something so they threw him into “Quantumania.”
Despite claims by anonymous visual effects artists that all of Marvel’s money and attention went to “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” the effects look great. The strange environments of the Quantum Realm, where most of the film takes place, are believably unbelievable.
In a franchise with now 31 films, not all of them can be winners. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is definitely not a winner.
