No Spoiler Review on Antman and the Wasp Quantumania

The Ant-Man series has been a favorite of mine. The movies are funny, lighthearted, and have heart. Scott Lang is the most average joe and silly of the Avengers, and I can’t get enough of his thieving crew. So when I went into Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, I wanted to go in with the same attitude - that I was there for a good time, and it was. 

We’ve gotten to know Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) over the years since we met him as an ex-con trying to make enough money to get visitation rights to see his daughter Cassie in the first Ant-Man film. He made us laugh in Captain America: Civil War when he wanted orange slices after turning into a giant, he risked his life twice to keep the people he cared about together, and he brought the idea that saved the universe in Avengers Endgame. But Quantumania brought out another side of Scott we haven't seen much of which made the film feel different from other Ant-Man movies. Scott put his stake in the ground as an Avenger in this film as he went up against Kang the Conqueror alone without the help of another Avenger. He gets beaten to a pulp and risks everything not just for his family but all of time and space. 

Paul Rudd typically plays the silly and fun characters in films that we can laugh with, but this time we got to see what Rudd can do with a character like Lang. We got to see Scott scared, angry, worried, and on the brink of death after being beaten to a pulp, where we typically expect him to be the one to deliver a silly line to loosen the tension in intense scenes. Don't worry, Scott still has his funny moments, but when you have a revenge-hungry conqueror pull you into the quantum realm so he can use your Ant-Man tech to destroy timelines and civilizations, it’s going to get serious. 

If you haven’t watched the series Loki on Disney+, watch this before going into the theater. This show will provide a lot of background on Kang the Conqueror who's our main baddie in this movie and will be throughout this phase of the MCU. Jonathan Majors who plays Kang does an excellent job of helping us fans see just how powerful he is, and why we should be afraid of him. It'll put a lump in your throat when he says he’s killed all the Avengers (including Thor) multiple times in various timelines. How could our human Avengers ever compete against him? You can see how driven Kang is to conquer all the timelines and the absolute rage he has against those who get in his way. 

Similar to our previous main MCU baddie Thanos, Kang is motivated by something he believes is necessary for the rest of the world, but for Kang, it's for the good of all space and time. Since Kang has seen all space and time and knows how it’s going to end, he believes he's the only one that can stop this horrible event from happening and is willing to do whatever it takes to prevent it. To do this, he believes he must destroy broken timelines and civilizations. But while doing this, he seeks revenge on his variants that banished him in the quantum realm. This makes Kang more threatening than Thanos since he has almost absolute control over everyone's timelines and can see what will happen in the past and future. 

Making an appearance in the quantum realm with Scott are Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfieffer), and our intro to the older Cassie Lang played by Kathryn Newton. When we meet Cassie, she has just been arrested for protesting at a housing rally in San Francisco and stealing a police car. Even though Scott sees her as his little girl, Cassie has had to learn to take care of herself for five years alone in the city. She’s independent but not to the point where she hates her dad as we see in many cases in movies and shows. Cassie instead still loves Scott and wants to see Scott make better use of his time in helping those around him since everyone else in the family has been using their skills to solve world hunger, the housing crisis, and more.

 

In this movie, the Van Dynes now feel more like a family since Hope, Hank, and Scott were able to save Janet from the quantum realm in Ant-Man and the Wasp. But Janet’s refusal to speak on what happened to her for those many years in the Quantum Realm propels the story as Cassie, Hope, and Hank are trying to learn more about this space. With the help of Hank, Cassie is able to build a device that they can use to study the world better. Unfortunately Kang picks up on their signal and sucks them into the quantum realm, including a bunch of genius-level ants.  

As the Van Dynes and Lang’s enter this world, we learn quickly that everyone knows who Janet is and even though she was a “Freedom Fighter” in the quantum realm, they know she was the one who allowed Kang to stay in their realm.

In the quantum realm, we meet new characters like Quaz (William Jackson Harper) , a telepath who helps us speed up the plot by removing unnecessary conversations that can be solved quickly. Jentorra (Katy O’Brian), is our resident bad-A who has been a leader to the citizens in the quantum realm who were oppressed by Kang and provides support to the Van Dynes as they go up to battle Kang. We also meet a jelly-like creature, who I believe is called Ev, who provides comic relief through most of the film, and Krylar (Bill Murray) who is briefly in the film but gives us background on who Janet was while stranded in the quantum realm. These new characters didn’t outshine our heroes but provided comedic support since Scott's usual crew was not featured in this film.

Without giving spoilers, the film had a great balance of emotional moments and comedic relief moments even if some fell flat or weren't necessary in moments. Scott’s growth as a character was great to see since he typically has been an Avenger who has kind of been along for the ride throughout this time with the MCU. Besides Scott’s growth, we did get to see some action from Hank and Janet and their capabilities outside of what we’ve seen in the past and learn more about Janet and her personality. Cassie has her moments of growing as a hero and learning her way around the Ant-man suit, which will be exciting as the young avengers are slowly starting to form. 

There were moments where you wondered if our heroes were going to make it since Kang is going to be our baddie throughout the rest of this phase, so it was a nice change of pace to see how this movie was going to get away with the heroes succeeding but the villain also succeeding. 

The movie ends with a bit of a cliffhanger and of course, Scott once again knows important details about the quantum realm that none of his other Avengers friends know. I'm sure we'll see Scott appear at various points  in the new phase to help educate his fellow heroes on who they're up against.  

There are two post-credit scenes, but the one at the end of the credits will have you squealing if you’ve seen Loki. 

I give this movie a 3/10 but as a movie from the MCU, a 7/10.