Director Report Card: Peyton Reed (2023)

9. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Among hardcore movie nerds, the Marvel Cinematic Universe remains the most hotly debated entity in our current filmic landscape. The superhero saga continues to have hardcore defenders. Yet those who are simply sick of superhero movies dominating the cultural landscape – or distressed by Disney's death grip tactics on the box office, squeezing any other type of movies out of theaters – have been constant critics of the MCU. I find myself torn between these two camps. As someone who has been a comic reader most of my life, I can't help but be invested in the characters and stories of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet as someone who cares deeply about film as an art form, it has been frustrating to watch cape flicks dominate the culture so much lately. 

This debate has placed a movie like “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” – the latest sequel to maybe Marvel’s most affable and laid-back franchise – in a strange place. It’s a simple popcorn movie, not really trying to do anything more than distract and amuse us for two hours, that some people are treating like a hate crime against the art of cinema. As someone who usually enjoys Marvel movies, no matter their effect on wider pop culture, I guess it should be unsurprising that I enjoyed “Quantumania.” 

Following the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” ex-con turned size-changing superhero Scott Lang is enjoying the level of celebrity that helping save the world has afforded him. As well as his relationship with Hope, also known as the Wasp. It has caused a wedge of sorts to form between himself and Cassie, his now teenage daughter who is frequently in jail for her activism. Cassie has created a satellite of sorts, with help from Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne – the original Ant-Man and Wasp – to explore the Quantum Realm. After sending a signal into this subatomic alternate universe, this attracts the attention of Kang, a multiverse hopping warlord from the distant future who rules the Quantum Realm with an iron fist. Scott, Cassie, Hank, and Janet are sucked into the microscopic world and pulled into Kang’s mission to return to normal-sized space and continue his conquest.

The previous two "Ant-Man" movies benefited from being smaller scaled stories. Fitting the idea of a shrinking hero, both films had more personal stakes than is usual for a genre associated with world-ending catastrophe. "Quantumania" does, disappointingly, move away from this in more ways than one. Scott Lang isn't like the other Avengers. He's not a super-soldier, a billionaire super-genius, or a god of thunder. He's a more normal guy, with down-to-earth problems like probation, being there for his daughter, and being separated from the mother of his child. At the beginning of “Quantumania,” Scott Lang is a celebrity who has written a best selling book and gets recognized on the streets. That's a lot harder to relate to than an ex-con pulling one more heist out of desperation.

The previous films didn't deal with massive, universe-shattering consequences either. They were set in a real city and had modest goals for their plots, being variations on the heist movie or MacGuffin chase premises. “Quantumania,” meanwhile, drops its cadre of heroes into a far-out sci-fi universe. It seems some of the cosmic elements of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies have rubbed off on this franchise. Yet weird sci-fi settings bring their own joys. "Quantumania" sees its protagonists interacting with oddball alien bartenders. They ride atop manta ray-like creatures and pilot space crafts with bizarre controls. Among the local residents are strange looking bug people, a guy with a laser cannon for a head, the most casual of mind readers, and a strange oozy entity obsessed with humans having holes. It's wacky, creative, and colorful and I can appreciate that on its own level.

Admittedly, moving the series in a more far-out direction has its downsides too. When nearly the entire movie is shot on a green-screen, with our heroes interacting with CGI environments and characters, the gimmick of the first two movies is somewhat lost. It's harder to get an idea of scale when everything around the characters was created in a computer. In the finale, both Scott and Cassie grow to relative massive size. They even comment on each other being “huge.” Yet, in the context of this story, both are still technically microscopic. Moreover, “Quantumania” really lacks much of the size-changing shenanigans that distinguished the previous films' action scenes. There's nothing as novel or entertaining as the downhill San Francisco car chase from “Ant-Man and the Wasp” here. Instead, it's mostly sci-fi movie shenanigans that could fit in with any cosmic franchises. Too often, the action scenes simply resort to the heroes punching people with their size-changing tech, in ways that are sometimes hard to follow.

Still, there are other elements in "Quantumania" that made it work for me. In the early scene of the film, Cassie chastises her dad for not doing enough to help "the little guy." This is, of course, a pun. Scott has always been “the little guy,” figuratively among his grander superheroes and literally in that he shrinks. As soon as they are tossed into the subatomic Quantum Realm, Scott meets a group of freedom fighters going up against Kang's despotic regime. They are also literally little guys that Cassie is compelled to help, while her father is more concerned with getting home. Yet this theme ultimately emerges as what the responsibility of a hero is. Is being a hero simply answering the call when the moment arrives? Or does it mean continuously standing up for the oppressed, fighting back against systemic prejudice? Where Scott Lang will end up on this debate is pretty easy to guess, though watching him come to that conclusion is still touching.

One of the most unexpected joys of the previous “Ant-Man” films was Scott and Cassie's relationship. She was an adorable little kid and Scott's fatherly love for her became his motivating force. “Quantumania” begins with the two at opposing ends, now that Cassie is a teenager and Scott has been out of her life for five years. Yet their bond still ends up saving the film. Paul Rudd is at his most weeping-heart sincere whenever Scott has to think about his daughter. Kathryn Newton, stepping in for “Endgame's” Emma Fuhrmann, has a snappy chemistry with Rudd. Their scenes of reunion and reconciliation are adorable. This makes sure that the father/daughter relationship remains the emotional heart of the film, helping ground a more far-out story. 

Unfortunately, while “Quantumania” continues to deliver in terms of its protagonist, a lot of other characters are left underserved. The last act seems to suggest that we're meant to really care about Scott and Hope's relationship. “Ant-Man and the Wasp” did a good job of getting us invested in those two. And her name is in the title, after all. Yet they have so few scenes together. There's a cute moment of them sharing a beer literally during the opening montage but that's about it, their bond getting lost among the action scenes. The two are separated for most of the film. Similarly, Janet is centered as an important character in the movie's first half, due to her relationship with Kang and her time spent in the Quantum Realm, before being almost entirely sidelined in the last third.

By now, we all know that the Marvel Machine has many complex parts and is constantly moving. It's not uncommon for entire movies to be reworked in post-production. "Quantumania" is hardly the first sign that this method has its downsides. The pacing here is often lumpy. Long stretches of exposition, such as Janet's lengthy backstory with Kang, interrupt the flow of the story. The biggest flaw with the script is a sudden reappearance by some giant ants that only avoids being a full-on Deus Ex Machina with the most minor of set-up earlier in the movie. It's clear that the juggling of the various characters and subplots were out of balance here. It keeps "Quantumania" from being an all-together satisfying experience.

One can't help but wonder if the movie's uneven qualities were the work of one of Marvel Studios' infamous declaration to follow a master plan. This film gives a proper introduction to Kang the Conqueror, the multiversal war lord that is primed to be the focus of the next crossover event. The post-credit scene really hammers this point. But what of Kang? Is our next Thanos a compelling presence? Well, kind of. Jonathan Majors gives an interesting performance that swings between two poles. Most often, he's quiet, suggesting a man so confident in his power – or so dulled to the horrors he's reeked – that he has no reason to raise his voice. Other times, Majors rages and screams towards to the heavens while firing laser beams from his hands. These moments are less effective, making Kang look less like a fearsome conqueror full of multi-verse shattering rage and more like a petulant child who hasn't gotten his way. He serves his purpose in the story and does well enough as an antagonist but it remains to be seen how he'll measure up in future appearances. (Though it seems increasingly unlikely that Majors will be playing him in those appearances.)

If Kang is a villain who leaves me with a "wait and see" mood, I'm more certain about the sequel's secondary antagonist. I'm one of those nerds who actually anticipated  M.O.D.O.K. – a character everyone agrees is ridiculous but the comics have always treated as a very serious threat – making his cinematic debut. The ever snarky MCU wasn't going to let the infamously big-headed machine organism designed only for killing appear without dunking on his appearance. Yet it ended up working for me. Largely because Corey Stoll – whose face is stretched to intentionally absurd degrees – finds an interesting angle for the guy. Darren Cross is someone so eager to prove his strength and genius that it can't help but reveal an obvious insecurity. This plays off in an amusing, satisfying way when Cassie manages to reach his human heart. The fallout of this is funny and even kind of touching in a sarcastic way. I'm surprised to say that the character arc of M.O.D.O.K. is one of the best things about "Quantumania," but here we are. 

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" has ended up as one of the worst received Marvel movies. Film Twitter has spent large parts of the year dunking on it, with its overreliance on green effects being especially criticized. The box office receipts weren't great either, the movie underperforming in a way that's unusual for superhero films of this pedigree. It's hard to say what the fallout of this will be. It's difficult to blame "Quantumania's" problems on Peyton Reed, when the movie is so obviously directed by the objectives of Marvel's greater corporate needs. Yet I also think the movie is a better than its reputation implies. It's got a lot of quirky, fun, weird sci-fi touches and enough of the earlier "Ant-Man" movies' heart and humor for it to work for me. The script is uneven, the CGI is equally overwhelming and underwhelming, and it's hard to say if the film will work as a foundation for future "Avengers" movies. There are also a lot worst ways to spend two hours. I guess I'm just easier on cape-shit than some. [Grade: C+]