“You’ll Be Great. It’s Just Like Flying a Bike.” “Is the Bike Alive?”
It wasn’t until the second half of 2024, that I watched any of the Marvel movies from 2023. Granted, from what I’ve heard, I’m not missing much, but since I have Disney+, all I’m wasting is my time. And, since I’ve mostly kept up with the shows, I figured I’d go ahead and catch up on the movies. Up first was the third Ant-Man movies, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Having watched it, I just have one question – What the heck did I just watch???????????
The movie opens with us catching up with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) after the events of Endgame. He’s a hero and he’s even written a book about his time in the Avengers. He’s still dating Hope (Evangeline Lilly), who is running the Van Dyne company now. His daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton) has become something of an activist as well as a genius scientist.
During a family meal, Cassie shares that she’s made a major breakthrough. She goes to demonstrate that, with the help of Hank (Michael Douglas), she has created a device that can connect with the Quantum Realm, so it can be mapped. When Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) realizes what is going on, she panics and tries to shut it down, only to have it turn itself back on and suck the five of them in.
They land in the Quantum Realm in two groups. Scott is with his daughter, while Hank, Janet, and Hope are together. Can they find each other and figure out a way home? What will they encounter along the way home? And what isn’t Janet telling them?
Okay, so I wasn’t bothered by the fact that Janet has kept something from the rest of them. She is trying to forget about what happened when she was stuck there for 30 years. I get it. And she never expected her past to come back again. But why must we have characters saying something bad is coming but not telling us what it is?
Before we even get there, we have Cassie’s activism. When Scott tries to parent, he’s the one who winds up being lectured. I feel like there is a version of this scene where Scott makes the point that what Cassie did was wrong but he is also challenged to do more. Maybe I’m just looking for a sitcom ending instead of a scene fifteen minutes into a movie. There’s also the lecture that Hank starts to give about the benefits of socialism before he’s shut up to get on with the climax.
But here’s my biggest issue. When we get to the Quantum Realm, we are treated to lots of special effects and some magical creatures. Normally, I’d be all for that. This is fantasy, after all, right? But as I watched the movie, I couldn’t help but feel that the writers had to be on something. I mean, this is a psychedelic dream with so many odd things happening that it’s just too wacky. In better hands, I think there’s a version of this script where those strange creatures and things worked. Maybe a world where things were consistent. Instead, it felt like we were pulling one from column A and one from column N in creating the Quantum Realm.
The story? It works. I’m not sure I cared since I knew the characters would figure out a way to defeat the bad guy and get home. There’s lots of talk about there being a multiverse and we also get a big introduction to Kang, who was supposed to be the major villain of this phase of the MCU. One of the end credits scenes is taken directly from Loki’s second season, where Kang also played a large part. Of course, with Jonathan Majors’s conviction of domestic violence, that’s all gone out the window as well.
But not to worry, just in case you thought things had gone too well at the end, we get Scott’s monologue about how things are going to fine. There’s nothing for him, or us, to worry about. Seriously, stop worrying. No, it’s not as clever as it is supposed to be.
Considering how many special effects there are in the film, I thought the film looked fine. I seem to remember hearing some people complaining about the effects, but I didn’t see it.
Likewise, the acting was fine. However, too many of the cast aren’t given much to do by the script. It’s a shame to see that talent wasted. That includes Bill Murry and William Jackson Harper, who essentially just have cameos.
At the end of the day, I just couldn’t care about any of it. Which is a rather bad thing for a movie. We’ve got to have stakes we care about if we are going to be invested.
If you haven’t bothered to watch Ant-Man and the Wasp –Quantumania yet, you really aren’t missing anything. You only need to watch it if you want to stay up to date on Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. But if you feel that way, you’ve probably already watched it.
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