Despite my lack of enthusiasm for Marvel movies these days, last night I watched one of their most recent offerings:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
The fact that this movie has been out since February and I’ve only just watched it pretty much sums up how I feel about the whole Marvel/superhero genre right now. There was a time when I’d be one of the first in line to see these movies.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s the third film in the Ant-Man series and the sequel to 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp.
It stars, Paul Rudd (Ghostbusters: Afterlife), Evangeline Lilly (Lost), Kathryn Newton (Freaky), Michael Douglas (Falling Down), Michelle Pfeiffer (Batman Returns) and Jonathan Majors (Creed III) as the new big bad.
This is what it’s about according to the internet:
“Scott Lang (Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Lilly) are dragged into the Quantum Realm along with Hope's parents (Douglas, Pfeiffer) and Scott's daughter Cassie (Newton). Together they must find a way to escape, but what secrets is Hope's mother hiding? And who is the mysterious Kang?”
Interestingly Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania came to streaming platforms just two months after it was released in cinemas. It was only available to buy though, which annoyed me because I don’t pay for a Disney Plus subscription to have to then pay £13.99 (or whatever it was) to watch one of their movies on Sky or Amazon Prime.
It’s no big secret that the film, along with many of Disney’s releases of late didn’t do overly well at the box office. That’s presumably why it was only available to buy at first. I’m guessing Disney were trying to squeeze every last bit of cash out of it before it was available to watch as part of their subscription package. Either way, I think that’s wrong.
I digress…
I actually enjoyed this movie. I’d heard it wasn’t all that good leading up to finally watching it, but like with lots of other films perhaps my low expectations helped with my overall enjoyment of it.
The story is a lot different to the previous two instalments with pretty much 99% of it taking place in the Quantum Realm where [SPOILER ALERT] Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, Janet Van Dyne spent 30 years of her life before being “rescued” in the last movie.
Marvel movies have become increasingly reliant on CGI over the years and this one is no exception. It’s a huge CGI-fest which has its ups and it’s downs. The ups being that visually the movie looks kind of cool, colourful and interesting and different to what we’ve seen before - the downs being that not all of the effects are particularly good (a character called M.O.D.O.K who's strangely reminiscent of Lord Farquaad from Shrek being the worst example).
The over-use of CGI also starts to feel a bit samey after a while making the film feel like it’s dragging in places. At one point I commented to Mrs Screen Room that it felt a bit like the Star Wars prequel trilogy meets Mad Max in the quantum realm (if that makes any sense).
As you’d expect with a film like this it has plenty of action, fun characters and comedy courtesy of the loveable Paul Rudd. His charm shines through once again to make an otherwise forgettable Marvel movie that much more enjoyable to watch.
Joining Paul Rudd in his first outing in a Marvel movie is his Ghostbusters: Afterlife co-star, Bull Murray. I read that he was involved a while back and was interested to see who and what kind of character he’d be playing. He’s a welcome addition, though much like in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, he's not on screen for half as long as I would’ve liked.
Jonathan Majors who plays this film’s villain, Kang the Conqueror is one of the best things about the movie. His performance is excellent and adds a certain amount of weight to the whole thing (his costume is also refreshingly comic-book accurate).
Unfortunately though he’s recently been involved in some legal issues which casts doubt over whether he’ll be returning to the MCU. His character (as I understand it) is supposed to be “the new Thanos” which would give this phase of movies some much needed direction. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with that…
All in all this is a fun popcorn movie.
Is it the best of the trilogy? Not in my opinion but then neither was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3. At best it’s a fun bit of escapism, at worst it’s an example of how mediocre these Marvel movies have become.
One thing’s for sure though, Michelle Pfeiffer’s still gorgeous!
It’s currently streaming on Disney+.
Seen it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.