Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Review

Ant-Man has always been a fun-sized bite of humour and heart in between big multi-starrers - it set up the much-awaited Captain America: Civil War, and its sequel was a similar little respite before the most ambitious film in Marvel history.

Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania is headed down a similar path as it allows for a much-needed, but compact, break in the quantum realm before we're sent onto the roller-coaster that will be Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 as the band gets back together for one last ride.

Director Peyton Reed is back at the helm for a third Ant-Man film, which (let's be honest here) was not something anyone expected back when the first film was announced. It takes a certain amount of gumption to know that your creative (well, about as creative as one can get within the Marvel formula) offering does not have the high stakes that most Marvel films do, and is but light entertainment before the next big release - and yet come out with some of the most fun films in the MCU. While the stakes are slightly higher this time around, Quantumania leaves all that to its antagonist while the good guys have fun!

The Quantum Realm is the big scary world (well, it is actually minuscule - sub-atomic to be accurate - but we digress) that was hinted at in the first Ant-Man and delved into by its sequel - this time around we're in for a full ride. Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the mother of Hope (Evangeline Lilly), has hidden the experiences she went through when she was stuck in the Quantum Realm that she is forced to reveal to her family when the invention of Cassie (Kathryn Newton), the daughter of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), sucks them into the very same place "outside of time and space".

The van Dynes and the Langs are separated and set on different trajectories that are ultimately set to collide by the nefarious machinations of Kang, the time-traveling "Conqueror" who believes himself to be the beginning and the end of creation - having ruled and destroyed not just multiple civilisations, but entire timelines in the multiverse. It is now up to the whole family to succeed where their lone family member failed, as Ant-Man, the Wasp and all their allies work together to not just stop Kang's evil plan, but also to return home.

Low ambition is not at all a crime - quite the opposite, in fact - when one knows exactly what the scope of one's work is going to be. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania does just enough to be endearing while it huffs and puffs at it, knowing perfectly well that it is but a launch vehicle for the next big bad since Thanos, and it is secure in its knowledge that all the hijinks its protagonists go through are merely a cover for the introduction of Kang, the Conqueror. We have the feels (family, and the father-daughter bond between Scott and Cassie as a father sees his daughter grow up), the jokes (most characters, with M.O.D.O.K. being the standout as the most in-your-face and tiring act until it ceases to be tiring and you just end up laughing), and the action (Kang's multiversal shenanigans, Ant-Man's various allies swarming over everything) - basically everything needed to make a perfect family entertainment package, Marvel style.

Ironically, the one exception to all the silliness going around is the least interesting part of the movie. We understand that Kang is the next Marvel villain and needs to command sufficient dread, but it feels like his projections of power are hollow, and his dialogue is hardly intimidating. Maybe this wasn't the greatest film to introduce the big bad, but hey, set-ups are set-ups for a reason.

Paul Rudd is charming and calming as Scott Lang / Ant-Man, but the same cannot be said about Evangeline Lilly whose Wasp persona has been reduced to a generic sidekick. It actually feels like Micheal Douglas' Hank Pym and Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet van Dyne are the protagonists in this one, with the amount of screen time they get (especially the latter). That's not necessarily a bad thing, considering the names in question, but it does strike as an odd decision.

Kathryn Newton's Cassie looks like she is also poised to take over when the next generation of Marvel superheroes assemble, and she plays the part fairly. The supporting cast is capable enough, with a standout performance by David Dastmalchian as the innocent slime creature Veb whose fresh approach towards, well, holes, is nothing short of (w)holesome.

The visuals and the music have never been issues for Marvel, and this one carries on in the same vein. Christophe Beck's score seemed to stay in the background, happy to be around but thumping in when demanded of it.

All in all, a safe family watch, especially if your family already likes Marvel movies and/or Ant-Man. Maybe it could be a bit shorter, but it is only a minor complaint.