Marvel Studios’ third Ant-Man movie, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” introduces Phase Five in an entertaining if dragged-out return to the Quantum Realm. It builds upon the events of the first two Ant-Man movies, specifically Janet Van Dyne’s three-decade-long entrapment in the Quantum Realm, which was terminated in the film preceding “Quantumania,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp.”
The movie begins with Scott Lang, his teenage daughter Cassie, his girlfriend Hope Van Dyne and Van Dyne’s parents Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym accidentally getting sucked into the Quantum Realm by a device invented by Cassie Lang intended to communicate with the Quantum Realm. Once there, the heroes meet the inhabitants of the Quantum Realm, which has been colonized by Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). Majors returns to the franchise as the main antagonist after “Loki,” this time portraying a variant of He Who Remains, his “Loki” character, who warned the titular character of his variants before his death.
The acting in this movie is definitely one of its strong points, which is especially impressive considering that the actors were performing in front of a blue screen for a large chunk of the time. The newer Marvel actors, in particular Kathryn Newton as Cassie and Jonathan Majors as Kang, were especially entertaining to watch. The CGI is also well executed, but as the movie went on, it failed to hold my attention for the full two hours.
The plot focuses on too many things at once while still leaving loose ends unresolved. The whole narrative could be boiled down without losing its essence. There are also many noticeably convenient circumstances that are thrown in at the last minute, such as the hyper-intelligent ants and Darren Cross’ rushed redemption arc.
“Quantumania” is fun but not phenomenal, ultimately making for an underwhelming experience for a movie so significant to the larger Marvel storyline.
