Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is a fun watch and nothing more
As someone who had all but given up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) following a string of disappointments with the franchise, I hardly expected to watch its latest installment, let alone write a review on it. Yet here I am, after somehow managing to catch the premiere of the movie at the theatres.
The plot picks up after the events of Avengers: Endgame and follows Scott Lang. As one of the heroes responsible for saving the world, Scott is a well-respected celebrity and a best-selling memoirist. Him and his daughter Cassie, along with Scott's girlfriend, Hope, and her parents, Hank and Janet, make a picture-perfect family in a world of hard-won peace. However, one tiny, innocuous mistake is all it takes to fling them far away from that blissful world. Literally.
This brings us to perhaps the best aspect of this film—the Quantum Realm, where much of the film is set. Some of the visuals are truly breathtaking, and the soundtrack goes great lengths to complement what is already a stimulating experience. Filled with bright colours, rife with unknown dangers, cloaked in mystery, and populated by the most exotic bunch of monsters and aliens, this tiny world underneath ours certainly lives up to the "mania" part of the movie's name, if nothing else.
Speaking of living up to previously established standards, this movie is definitely on par with previous Ant-Man movies in terms of comedy. Some of the lines had us all in stitches, gasping for air. Despite my enjoyment, however, I can totally understand how some might find the humour in Quantumania to be crude or even distasteful. In my books though, it receives full marks in that department.
Unfortunately, this is where the well of praise has to dry up, I'm afraid.
The movie certainly has a story, but for a good fraction of its runtime, everything just seems artificial and contrived. Our protagonists feel more like caricatures than real people. The antagonist, Kang the Conqueror, despite a stellar performance from Jonathan Majors, is still underwhelming due to the film's failure to portray the exiled warlord's goals in a convincing manner.
While Quantumania shows great promise early on, much of the conflict and messaging feels shallow and undercooked by the end of it, given the narrative's unwillingness to explore them at a deeper level. Did I mention that we are also served with yet another helping of the most cliché MCU formula?
The cliché being – bad guy needs object to carry out his evil plans. Consequently, bad guy fights good guys to obtain said object which they succeed at. Bad guy still somehow manages to lose.
All in all, Quantumania is nothing but another amusement park movie. You laugh with it, cheer for it, and get excited for future entries in the franchise.
Just don't think much about it afterwards.
Nayeem can be found reading depressing novels at your nearest café. Tell him to go study at nayeemhaider90@gmail.com