I did not see Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in the theatres but I was looking forward to seeing it when it started streaming. I didn’t avoid it in the theatres because it did not do well in the box-office and got poor reviews. Rather, I knew my kids would want to go and that gets expensive.
But I was aware of the bad press and I did keep it in the back of my mind. Having said that, it was not a bad movie. I would say that it was better than the most recent Doctor Strange and Thor movies.
One of the things that I found interesting was that Marvel had really moved toward emphasis on humour in their movies. With Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, you would think that would be really the case here. However, it was not near as silly as some of the other recent Marvel movies. There was some funny moments but the focus was more on the story than the jokes.
This trilogy began with a solitary Ant-Man, but it really has become a family. Scott Lang has hooked up with Hope Van Dyne, the Wasp. Her parents are Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, the original Ant-Man and Wasp. And now Scott’s daughter Cassie also has her own suit and access to the technology.
The basic plot is that the family is pulled into the quantum realm, the place where Janet had been imprisoned for decades when she shrank too small. We discover more about her time there, including her relationship with a mysterious figure, who has since taken over the realm and is desperate to capture Janet because of what she took from him.
In general, I liked the movie. The story was clear enough and the acting was fairly well done. However, considering it is called Ant-Man and Wasp, Hope played a relatively small role. Her mother was much more prominent.
I was intrigued that Bill Murray would be in this. However, I found his inclusion the be a bit of a wasted moment as his character was not that interesting.
Another thing I didn’t like was MODOK. He was a silly character even in the comics, and the way they used him took that silliness to a new level. The movie would have been better without him.
I always say that a superhero movie is only as good as the villain. In this case, the villain was Kang the Conqueror. He is a major villain in the comics and I have been waiting to see how he would be used. A version of him was included in the first season of Loki. Kang is to be the main bad guy for this phase of the MCU, taking the role that Thanos did in a previous phase. While there was much potential, I found this version of Kang to be underwhelming. Of course they are still building his story, but I hope it goes up from here.
So far it sounds like I didn’t like the movie. That is not the case. While not in the top five of MCU movies, it was not in the bottom five either. It was interesting and fun. It had a good story and some great moments. It also lacked the over-the-top humour of some of the other movies. It was a good solid superhero movie and that is okay.
