Review: Ant Man and the Wasp Quantumania
Written by Kayleigh Beth Fraser on 21st February 2023
Marvel’s tiniest world-saving duo premiered in cinema screens this week with the release of the third instalment in the Ant Man series: Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.
Paul Rudd’s Ant Man and Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp returned to the Marvel Universe with a thrilling yet slightly underwhelming adventure.
Joined by newcomers Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang and Jonathan Majors as antagonist Kang the Conquerer, the third chapter in the film series focuses on an escape from an other dimension known as the quantum realm.
After the whole family, including Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), are trapped inside said realm, all heroes must defeat Kang to find their way back home.
Despite my high expectations for this release, something just didn’t feel right.
First, the lack of world building was one element that really let me down.
Viewers have been given a few glimpses into the quantum realm through the eyes of Rudd’s Ant Man but no formal world building was ever established.
Thus, when the characters and communities living in the realm were overlooked or used as witty quips, I was let down.
I wanted to see more of the quantum realm and understand it as a viewer – yet the film’s small two hour runtime didn’t let that happen.
Paul Rudd is fantastic as Ant Man, a pivotal character that has truly cemented himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Other stand outs include Jonathan Majors’ Kang, as viewers are given a dark, foreboding taste of what to expect in future Avengers film ‘The Kang Dynasty’.
When you have a studio that releases such gems as Avengers: Endgame (2019), Wandavision (2021) and Spiderman: No Way Home (2021), it’s very easy to expect an explosive, defining feature upon every new release.
Yet, Peyton Reed’s latest quest falls into the same trap as Marvel’s Eternals (2021) – both films are simply used to set up another Marvel project and fail to stand out amongst a line up of renowned blockbusters.
In the case of Quantumania, this film feels more like a prologue for Kang the Conquerer than a film with any substantial character development.
To conclude: Ant Man’s third instalment is certainly not the studios best release in recent years but certainly not the worst.
