Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania Christian Movie Review
The Newest film in Marvel's tumultuous second phase is a competent slog through the studio's gluttonous cinematic world. I'm sorry, I meant multiverse. The film Quantumania stars both Ant-Man and the Wasp. An aesthetically hideous expository dump that wastes the abilities of its A-list cast members, who provide good and splendid performances. To counteract the monotony, however, there is a great deal of humour hidden within it. After all, in the days before Endgame, Ant-Man signified lighter fare than, say, Doctor Strange and the Cap'. The golden years.
The realization that Paul Rudd's first turn as Scott "Ant-Man" Lang was ten years ago makes one's hair go grey. Unless, of course, you happen to be Rudd, who defies time and has no signs of ageing. When did this occur, and what has changed? Young Cassie, portrayed by Abby Ryder Fortson and Emma Fuhrmann, has been replaced by Kathryn Newton (Blockers) in the role as she enters her teenage years. Hope Van Dyke (Evangelina Lily), as the Wasp, has gotten a haircut, and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), aka Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) wife, has become an integral member of the Pym family. The fact that Janet didn't see the first Ant-Man because she was stuck in the 'Quantum' dimension plays a role. When Cassie's (functionally useless) Quantum communicator gadget pulls the gang of five into the realm itself, she is the only one who can give them a heads up on what to anticipate.
The ensuing journey is more Journey to the Center of the Earth meets Star Wars than it is Jules Verne meets Ant-Man. The film's look and plot are transparent rip-offs of all of the Avengers, and any one of them would have been a suitable recipient. While the naturally spherical landscape and imaginative insanity borrow heavily from the latter, the residents of the sub-versal world of Quantumania — some of whom are beautifully corporeal and present — might have stepped right out of the cantina from A New Hope.
The highlights are there. Rudd's comedic timing is impeccable, but David Dastmalchian's voice work as a lovely blob steals the show. The clever execution of living structures, like concrete cacti, is also noteworthy. And it's a real shame that so little else is effective. Although Corey Stoll's reappearance as the tottering huge head of original film villain Darren Cross is just plain obscene, Katy O'Brian's performance as a freedom fighter is nearly obscenely forgettable. M.O.D.O.K. supposedly functions correctly in comics. It won't be seen on television.
Phase 4 of the MCU was a huge letdown since the films' quality steadily declined and there was no clear overarching plot. Where do these heroes go and what do they do in the world after Thanos?
Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) tries to make up with his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton) by spending more time with her and by writing a book, despite the constant ridicule he receives from the rest of his family
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When her mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) was rescued from the Quantum Realm in the first Ant-Man film, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) took over the family business and became charitable.
Luckily, Cassie's mathematical prowess is shown when she devises a gadget capable of sending a signal into the Quantum Realm, opening up the possibility of investigating this hitherto undiscovered subatomic realm where time and space act differently. They all get sucked through the device into the Quantum Realm before Janet, who has been reticent to talk about her time down in the Quantum Realm, can explain why this is a bad idea. Once there, they find themselves in a strange world with people who need defending and a new big bad in the form of Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), who has a bone to pick with Janet and wants to escape the Quantum Realm.
Compared to the first Ant-Man film, which was largely a heist movie masquerading as a superhero movie, Quantumania is a huge change. However, they relied heavily on Paul Rudd's endearing humorous persona in the role. The humor is still there, but the film has a much darker tone and relies heavily on CGI effects since much of it is set in the Quantum Realm and has extensive greenscreen work. Like the Guardians of the Galaxy, there are a number of monsters and non-human characters.
I will not even attempt to fathom the nature of the Quantum Realm or its location. In the same way that the Aether in Thor: The Dark World functioned in whatever way was most expedient for the plot at the moment, this location still seems like an amorphous realm that Marvel Studios may utilize as it wants.
Story and end-credits sequences:
The humor and the recurring theme of family road trips are what we remember most about the Ant-Man flicks; we never cared about "saving the world from evil." Happily, the importance of family is maintained in this new film.
The movie does have a few humorous moments, but it falls short of our lofty expectations. It's not so much the soul-crushing, borderline-cheesy humor that we anticipate with joy in most MCU films.
Despite their flaws, the previous two Ant-Man-films focused more on humor and less on the gimmick of their protagonist. The lack of humor was glaringly obvious in Quantumania.
Ant-Man 3's post-credit sequences have left viewers wanting more, much like those in every other Marvel Studios film. Post-credits sequences in Marvel films are often used to establish continuity across franchises. In the second scene after the credits, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) go to a presentation by Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors). Exciting...
A New Escape Novel! The "Ant-Man" Films Are the Most
Marvelous Marvel Films
This evening, I added a new In the Frame article to The Escapist. With Quantumania, the third film in the Ant-Man and the Wasp franchise, coming out soon, we thought it would be a good time to reflect on the first two films in the series and how they represent the MCU's "statistical mean," for better or worse.
What makes the Ant-Man films intriguing is how little they diverge from the comics they're based on, choosing to bring in out-of-continuity characters like Hope van Dyne rather than mainstays like Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne. These films are the purest distillation of the adaptation narrative of the comic book film series since they are structured to avoid using familiar characters and storyline beats from the source material. The Ant-Man films are the ones where Marvel Studios' narrative shorthand is most obvious and noticeable.
In conclusion:
In general, I enjoyed the film. The humor of previous Marvel films was noticeably absent, but the film still managed to be funny when it needed to be and serious when it needed to be, and neither of us felt that the plot dragged for too long. We're curious to see what Marvel does next, and Kang has piqued our interest with his past antics.
It will be fascinating to see whether the Quantum Realm shows up in any other Marvel films.
Although we wouldn't go so far as to call this the finest MCU film, we did like it. Admittedly, it gets a bit off-kilter at times, but it prepares us for the next Marvel Cinematic Universe chapter.
Quantum Maniacs, starring Ant-Man and the Wasp, is currently playing in theatres throughout the globe.
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