Ant-Man: Quantumania, A Tired, Slow Sequel
In the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie release, viewers glimpse at Ant-Man’s, played by Paul Rudd, past experiences and battles as he relives them in the present modern world. In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania by Peyton Reed, the director portrays comical, sentimental, and action-infused aspects of superhero Scott Lang’s life. Though the variety of genres involved, a lot of its content was exhausting. The story itself was short, yet made longer with a lot of unnecessary scenes. The jokes were exaggerated and the film itself lacked action scenes. So it leads to the question: was it one of the best movies ever made by Marvel? Nope. Is it better than the first Ant-Man and the Wasp movie? Not even close. Overall, this movie really has its ups and downs.
Despite the entertainment this film brought, the outcome of all combined genres seemed forced and repetitive of past pranks or tricks done in the MCU. A few parts that were considerably enjoyable in the movie were the family dynamics included. There’s pleasing relationship development between Hope Van Dyne, played by Evangeline Lilly, and her mother Janet Van Dyne, played by Michelle Pfeifer, as Janet finally escapes the quantum realm. The father-daughter relationship shared between Cassie, played by Kathryn Newton, and Scott was also inspiring and admirable to watch after their several separations in the past.
Also in Quantumania, the new actress who replaced Emma Cate Fuhrmann as Cassie Lang was introduced. Kathryn Newton, who was in a few Hollywood and blockbuster movies, takes over the role. Fuhrmann was also recast for Abby Ryder Fortson who was the child actress that took the old part. This was caused by the five-year time jump in Avengers: Endgame. Many viewers question why Emma was replaced if the role continued to be a teenager. Sources like Screen Rant and JustJaredJr. say that it might be because Marvel wanted a rather experienced actress to play Cassandra Lang since she might earn more screen time in future Marvel productions. It was said that Fuhrmann found out about her role being recasted through Instagram. This started controversy about the way Marvel announces these types of information to their actors and the public.
Ant-man and his daughter share arguments about the secrets Hope and Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, keep from him about Cassie’s invention involving quantum physics and also the fact that she’s been in jail multiple times. This created disagreements between Scott and Cassie in the movie especially because Scott was not present for a lot of it. Progressively, their relationship strengthened throughout the movie. Scott reassured Cassie that he will always fight battles with her from now on.
In Hope and Janet Van Dyne’s mother-daughter story, there was also a lot of conflict because of the mysteries that Janet hid. When the family gets blipped into the quantum realm because of Cassie’s invention, which was initially used to track the movement and progress there, Janet’s secret was exposed, while also introducing the MCU’s most recent villain in the current timeline.
During the time she spent in the quantum realm before Hank saved her, she formed a relationship with Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors. Viewers recognize Kang as a foreigner at the beginning of the movie who later interacted with Janet. Janet shared a lot about her life with him, yet he never truly opened up to her. In the Marvel comics, Kang, whose real name is Nathaniel Richards, is assumed to be a descendant of Reed Richards, known as Mister Fantastic. He is considered a master manipulator of time. He can destroy and create it at his own will.
After the flashback of when Kang was first seen in the movie, the viewers find out that he was banished into the quantum realm after going rogue and against the council of other Kangs from different universes. He asked Janet to help him to get out, but once Janet found out, she abandoned him and stopped helping rebuild his technology to leave the quantum realm. Kang will be returning in future Marvel film releases as the villain.
Ultimately, there was a decent amount of entertainment and projection of the comics one can get through watching this film. Despite the redundant, almost awkward jokes, it was a good movie to have introduced Kang, after his first appearance on Loki, to the audience. Overall, this movie would get a 6 out of 10.
