Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is entertaining and full of amazing futuristic visual effects with the humor one expects from Marvel superhero movies. Yet its predictable storyline might have been a tad bit too long and contrived. After watching the 7pm showtime at Coronado’s Village Theatre last night, my 18-year-old daughter, an ultra-Marvel movies fan, and I decided this marked the latest downturn in the franchise.
My daughter was disappointed in the newest Ant Man movie because she thought some of the more pointless scenes could have been omitted rather than drag the movie into two hours and 5 minutes of quantum-minutia. While she’s a fan of Bill Murray in movies like Caddyshack and Groundhog Day, she didn’t get the purpose of his part in the film other than pandering to fans of his past works. She thought his role was cringy and a bit cheesy, too heavy on attempts at comedy and not enough character development, which is a common thread for the entire movie. Take Cassie for one. In the early Ant Man movies, she was a little girl wondering who and where her dad was but providing an undeniably adorable anchor for his character’s decisions and motivation. In Quatamania we are suddenly introduced to her as an adult genius with superpowers. I couldn’t warm up to the new Cassie because I just didn’t know who she was other than a replacement for the endearing young actress we knew.
We did find MODOK’s role amusing, and laughed at the parts he was in; unfortunately, my daughter didn’t think the ending made much sense. For one, Jonathan Majors was cast as the all-powerful character Kang, who is curiously vulnerable? While my daughter wasn’t impressed with how the movie ends, she’s still a fan of the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) world. She liked seeing the post credits, especially since it involves one of the funniest Marvel characters and how they are tying in the Disney+ offerings. She’s curious where Marvel is heading now that Quantomania officially kicks off phase five of MCU and delves into the multiverse and time travel, and the reason Kang is the next in a line of menacing antagonists.
As for me, I’m apparently just an average fan, unlike my daughter who spends hours discussing the Marvel movies with her dad. They can talk about the characters, symbolism particular scenes may have, and how each movie is somehow connected to the overall MCU that it even leads to philosophical theorizing of the meaning of life and what other beings are out there in our own universe. Personally, I went to see the newest installment without much expectation. I came out thinking it was charming and funny, like Paul Rudd. There were funny characters like Veb, a blob that reminds you of the gel in lava lamps. In the first movie, we were introduced to Janet Van Dyne, mother of Hope (aka the Wasp), as a woman lost in the Quantum Realm. Ant Man 2 focuses on her family trying to rescue her out of the realm. Quatumania digs into the story of why Janet was stuck in the realm for three decades. Michelle Pfeiffer must have found the fountain of youth. Not only did she look great in the movie, but some of her action scenes made you think of her days when she played Catwoman in Batman, which was theatrically released 34 years ago in 1989. Michael Douglas didn’t look bad either. He didn’t have as big a part as Michelle Pfeiffer, but perhaps in the future with his army of ants.
Genre: Adventure/Action
Rating: PG-13 for violence/action, and language
Runtime: 2h 5m
Director: Peyton Reed
Actors: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly., Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton.
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