Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Film Review)

Serialised storytelling is nothing new. Arguably it's as old as cinema, so Marvel Studios championing the shared universe where each instalment is another chapter in a multi-layered story isn't as revolutionary as one might think. Even so, the juggernaut of Marvel is always moving forwards like a freight train full of money. As we move out of the divisive but consistently enjoyable Phase 4 and into the complex but intriguing Phase 5 we are welcomed in by Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

Picking up after Endgame, we discover that life for everyone is pretty sweet. Scott wrote an memoir (Feige is probably producing a real version right now), Hope is heading a company and making the world a better place, Hank and Janet are happy in their domestic bliss and Scott's daughter Cassie is… fighting a good fight, with mixed results. It's Cassie and her desire to further the science of those around who sends a signal to the Quantum realm and forces the five of them to travel down there where they discover an entire civilisation ruled over by a blast from Janet's past, the sadistic Kang.

Director Peyton Reed returns for the third time as director and clearly has the full blessing of Marvel to go full on Star Wars. The world of the Quantum realm appears to have been drawn from the Lucasfilm archives complete with creations made of CGI and good old fashioned make-up. While the first two acts sees the classic group split up so we can discover more about this world as well as the mystery of who Kang is, we do get some fun supporting players. Katy O'Brian as a rebel leader is an interesting counter-point to so-called heroes like Cassie who thinks they're doing right but without much knowledge, while Bill Murray shows up to do Bill Murray things to uneven results.

The cast are all pretty solid. Paul Rudd gets by on pure likability, while Evangeline Lilly continues to imbue a strength into Wasp that keeps her interesting. Both Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas act through not understanding the script well enough, and get a good share of the laughs, and while Kathryn Newton puts her stamp on Cassie, it's really Jonathan Majors film. His stoic, but barely repressed rage simmers throughout the film but he unleashes it in the third act. As a big bad he's more unstable and vicious than say Thanos, offering a different kind of threat.

Not everything about the film works. For the first time in a while this does feel like a lot of set up instead of a satisfying film in and of itself, and the simple joy of the first two Ant-Man films is somewhat lost in the shuffle for mighty world ending stakes. A character that is essentially a big head doesn't fully work and sort of makes what should be a threat kind of silly.

What this feels like is a big advert for The Kang Dynasty but like the other films in the film it gets by on the sheer force of Paul Rudd and his charm, and by an imposing Majors. This is what a hierarchy shift looks like.