My Review of Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

 

Written by Jeff Loveness

Directed by Peyton Reed

Kang: "You think you could win?"

Scott: "I don't have to win. We both just have to lose."

After the first two movies telling smaller scale but reasonably entertaining stories within the MCU, this third entry decided it was time to up the ante and tell something rather bigger. In other words and what will be a stickler Fr many, this movie felt like an entire prequel for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty than a third Ant-Man adventure.

Since his brief appearance in the first season finale of Loki, there have been certain expectations for Jonathan Majors as Kang and whether or not the latter could pose as a big a threat as Thanos did during the Infinity Saga and this movie certainly proved that the potential was definitely there. Without a doubt, Kang was the best thing about this movie.

This varient in particular found himself trapped in the Quantum Realm and had befriended Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) until the latter betrayed him. Kang got his revenge by conquering the Quantum Realm but ruling one place wasn't enough for Kang. He wanted the rest of the rest of the universe and he was determined that Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) was going to help, no matter what.

Having Ant-Man be the first Avenger to encounter Kang was an interesting choice as was this movie's decision to be largely stuck in the Quantum Realm, due to Cassie's (Kathryn Newton) experiments going wrong. If you loved the father/daughter dynamic with Scott and Cassie in the first two movies, then it's upped here along with Cassie getting her own suit and literally getting stuck into the action, not only with Kang and a rebellion but also the return of an old enemy with a new guise.

Did anyone really really miss Darren Cross/Yellowjacket (Corey Stoll)? Well, even if you didn't he came back but with something of a homicidal upgrade? Hump Cross became MODOK, worming under the thumb of Kang before a confrontation with Cassie saw MODOK having a sudden change of heart. It's a pretty undercooked arc and the MODOK design was hideous. It's easily one of the weaker elements of the movie.

Fortunately though, while MODOK's story was lacking, Kang did pack enough of a punch as a villain to mostly keep things moving along nicely. Kang we given some great scenes with Scott, Cassie and especially Janet, though he had far less interactions with either Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank (Michael Douglas). Speaking of Hope and Hank, both of them had their moments in the movie, especially with the latter and a commentary on ant socialism.

The recurring theme of family continued to be a dominating  factor within this movie. Kang in some ways was exiled by his own while Scott and Cassie had to rely on another as Hope learned more about both of her parents. Even Janet found herself having to open up about her past deeds when confronted with the consequences of her past. In the end, family ties got strengthened and Kang will be an even bigger problem for everyone moving forward.

- A lot of the recurring/supporting characters were absent here, though David Dastmalchian appeared as a new character named Veb. The character being somewhat fixated on holes.

- Scott's book Look Out For The Little Guy is actually available to buy. Even Hank admitted to reading it during a character moment.

- I hate to admit it but actors like Bill Murray and William Jackson-Harper were fairly wasted in the minor roles they had in the movie.

- Both Kang and MODOK aren't generally Ant-Man related enemies. The latter character had been considered for previous MCU entries. 

- The mid and post credits scenes involved multiple versions of Kang, including Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) observing one in Victorian times.

- Chronology: Ten years since the events of the first movie.

Let me just say that while Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania certainly has it's flaws as a movie, it's nowhere near as bad as some critics made it out to be. For the most part, it's a decent enough romp with some action sequences, family drama and a decent outing for Kang. It's far from the worst entry in the MCU, even if it's not the greatest opener for Phase 5.

Rating: 7 out of 10

My Review of Ant-Man And The Wasp (2018)

 

Written by Chris McKenna And Erik Sommers And Paul Rudd And Andrew Barrer And Gabriel Ferrari

Directed by Peyton Reed

Scott: "I do some dumb things and the people I love the most, they pay the price."

Remember back in 2018 when most of the Avengers were getting their asses handed to them and then a certain snap took out half the universe? Well, other stuff was going on a bit before the latter part, notably with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and company.

Two years since a certain civil Scott kind had no choice but to retire the Ant-Man gig and serve a house arrest, which he was nearing completion. Then chaos ensued in the form of Scott sharing visions with the once thought dead Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) in the Quantum Realm and as a result, Scott found himself getting reunited with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly). Quite the reunion too I might add.

Since the last time Scott saw either one of them, Hope assumed her Mother's former mantle of Wasp and Hank was just annoyed with Scott's recklessness in general but both of them needed him for their ultimate  goal of going into the Quantum Realm and retrieving Janet. Unfortunately for all three of them, they had quite a few obstacles in their way.

The most notable one being the main antagonist of the piece - Ava Starr, aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) whose motivations for Janet were quickly revealed to be more survival than world ending based. Ghost along with Hank's former friend, Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) had the unenviable ability of being able to pause in and out but it had gotten to the point where her very life was at stake and she was close to death.

That largely put her at odd with both Ant-Man and the Wasp and many decent enough fight scenes between the three of them as a shrunken lab became the hottest commodity of the movie along with getting Janet back into the present day. Hank succeeded in getting Janet but their reunion while nice also felt a tad rushed. However despite her actions throughout the whole movie, Ghost did manage to mostly get what she wanted, bucked an MCU villain trend (which some others have since bucked) and even took a little accountability for her actions.

In terms of villains, Ghost wouldn't be on anyone's favourite list for the MCU but she was somewhat better compared to black market dealer Sonny Burch (Walter Goggins). I didn't really care for him as a secondary villain but he did have some decent scenes with Luis (Michael Pena), Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (Tip 'TI' Harris) and I did think those three were better used in this movie compared to the first one.

As for the family, it's again the strength of the Ant-Man movies. Scott had great scenes again with Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) while the Van Dyne/Pym and Bill/Ava dynamics also worked similarly well. There was also the introduction of Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) who seemed to have a more friendlier antagonistic banter with Scott to boot.

- The mid and post credit scenes saw Scott trapped in the Quantum Realm while his loved ones were getting the snap.

- Scott's suit constantly malfunctioning had it's funny moments but at least we did get one moment where it had severe consequences with Hope having to save his life.

- Hope had a little too much fun with mocking Scott for being Team Captain America. 

- Chronology: Yup, it's 2018, set during the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

Ant-Man And The Wasp made for a decent sequel, keeping the action relatively smaller scale and more personal. It's not a better or worse film than the first one, though in some respects a bit more of the same way. Overall, it's pretty decent stuff. 

Rating: 7 out of 10