"Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania" Movie Review

 

"Ant-Man and The Wasp: 

Quantumania"

Movie Review

 

Peyton Reed directed Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania from Jeff Loveness' script. The film stars Paul Rudd as Scott Lang, Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, David Dastmalchian, and Michael Douglas, among others. The film is based on Marvel Comics and is the sequel to Ant-Man and the Wasp, which were released in 2015 and 2018, respectively. Kang the Conqueror awaits Lang and Van Dyne in the Quantum Realm together with their family (Majors).

During her confinement in the Quantum Realm, Janet van Dyne meets Kang, an "exiled" traveler who claims they can both escape if she helps him rebuild his Multiversal Power Core. Janet sees a vision of him destroying and conquering worlds after they repair them, and she turns on him. Janet, who is outmatched, uses her Pym Particles to enlarge his Power Core beyond use, stranding them further in the Realm.

After the Battle of Earth, Scott Lang has become a successful memoirist and lives happily with his girlfriend Hope van Dyne. Cassie, Lang's now-teenaged daughter, has become an activist, and as a result of her actions, Lang has bailed her out of jail. While visiting Hope's parents, Hank Pym and Janet, Cassie reveals that she has been working on a device that can communicate with the Quantum Realm. Janet panics and tries to turn off the device, but the message is received, resulting in the opening of a portal that pulls the five of them into the Quantum Realm. Lang and Cassie are discovered by natives who are rebelling against their ruler, while Hope, Janet, and Pym search for answers in a sprawling city.

Hope, Janet, and Pym meet with Lord Krylar, a former Janet ally who reveals that things have changed since she left and that he now works for Kang, the realm's ruler. The three must flee and steal his ship. Jentorra, the rebel leader, informs the Langs that Janet's involvement with Kang is indirectly responsible for his uprising. Kang's forces soon attack the rebels, who are led by M.O.D.O.K., who is revealed to be Darren Cross, having survived his apparent death at the hands of Lang.

The Langs are taken to Kang, who demands that they help him recover his power core or he will kill Cassie. Lang is transported to the core and shrinks down. He is nearly drowning in a sea of variants of himself when Hope arrives and assists him in obtaining the power core. Kang, on the other hand, breaks the agreement by kidnapping Janet and destroying her ship, which was carrying Pym. Pym assists Lang and Hope on their way to Kang after being rescued by his ants, who were also drawn into the Quantum Realm, rapidly evolved, and became hyper-intelligent. Cassie, who is still imprisoned, rescues Jentorra and leads an uprising against Kang and his army. During the fight, Cassie makes an appeal to Cross' character, convincing him to switch sides and fight Kang, even though it costs him his life. 

While Janet, Pym, Hope, and Cassie jump through a portal home, Kang attacks Lang, nearly beating him to submission. Hope reappears when she and Lang destroy the power core and knock Kang into it, pulling him into oblivion. Cassie reopens the portal so Lang and Hope can return home. As Lang happily resumes his life, he begins to reconsider what he was told about Kang's death as the beginning of something terrible, but dismisses it.

Quantumania is a very different type of Ant-Man film. Quantumania transports its characters to a fantastical world and exponentially raises the stakes. Despite this, the writer and director manage to make the film feel like it belongs in the Ant-Man canon, thanks in large part to the characters. Scott Lang, played by Paul Rudd, has been established and developed not only in the Ant-Man trilogy but also in other Avengers team-ups such as Endgame and Captain America: Civil War. As a result, his sense of humor and desire to be a good father help to ground the fantastical aspects of the Quantum Realm and Scott's adventure.

This also works well as a contrast to the film's main antagonist, who, aside from Scott, is the primary focus of Quantumania. Kang is larger than life, speaking about time in ways that a regular human like Scott finds incomprehensible, and it's this contrast with Rudd's hero that makes Major's villain so terrifying. Quantumania is truly exhilarating when Rudd and Majors are onscreen together, showcasing exactly what makes the MCU so special — talented actors bringing these epic stories of good and evil to life. It also helps that the rest of the cast is exceptionally strong. Newton's Cassie has some memorable moments, but it's Pfeiffer's Janet who shines the brightest after Rudd and Majors. Douglas also has some fantastic line deliveries, which add a lot of Ant-trademark Man's humor to the film. Lilly has a lot less to do in this film than she has in previous Ant-Man films, but she does have a few moments. The actor who plays M.O.D.O.K, who is an absolute delight in Quantumania, is the scene-stealer.

Overall, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a fantastic addition to the Ant-Man trilogy while also laying the groundwork for what's to come in the MCU's Phase Five. Both the director and the screenwriter achieve this by balancing the stories of Scott Lang and Kang, making them the most important characters in the film. As a result, Marvel fans should see Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

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