“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” has no sting.
It’s an average actioner full of CGI, “Star Wars” and “Dune”-inspired creatures, environments, and allegiance to the comics and television Marvel offerings that not everyone has seen. It looks more like a “Star Wars” clone than it does a Marvel movie.
I really enjoyed, and was pleasantly surprised by, the first “Ant-Man” film, and its sequel was fun, too. But there’s a pattern to Marvel movies, lately. It goes something like this:
The story picks up with the hero/protagonist in real life. Snappy dialogue ensues, and so do references to other Marvel characters. These references seem to be good for easy laughs (I admit I chuckled at them even though I could see them coming.)
Then there’s some kind of disaster through which the hero ends up in a battle/new world. A gathering of forces ensues, along with an even bigger gathering of CGI action. Then a villain is announced, and alliances form.
Generally, there are multiple CGI battle sequences. Then there are two extra scenes, with one at the very end of the credits.
This pattern holds true with the latest “Ant-Man” offering, which reunites the title characters (Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly) as well as Ant-Man’s daughter Cassie, now played as a teenager by Kathryn Newton.
The whole family gets together (including the Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer characters) until they are drawn into the Quantum Realm, with all sorts of threats and psychedelic images that might make you think of Hubble Telescope images (I’ll wager some were inspired by those.)
To pander to the older viewers, I imagine, Bill Murray is on hand in this realm to play a version of himself. Jonathan Majors is notable as the time-traveling villain Kang. There are a couple of clever scenes, including a sequence with, uh, multiple personalities and a smart nod to the intelligence of insects.
Overall, nothing happens that you won’t expect. There are nods galore to prior Marvel projects, including some of the 30 movies that preceded this one, and to the various television series.
Marvel aficionados may enjoy this, especially those who consume and study all that Marvel offers.
Other viewers, include yours truly, will be frustrated the franchise did not feel it worthwhile to include expository dialogue to explain so much of what happens here.
Turns out the Quantum Realm is not as enjoyable as San Francisco – at least when it comes to Ant-Man.
2 stars
Rated: PG-13 for violence.
Running time: 2 hours and 5 minutes.
At Cinemark, Davenport; Regal, Moline; and Palms 10, Muscatine.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sMHRqqyanJOewaqx0meaqKVfmru1sdGtmKKmnZq7tXnNnq6sZ52kw6qx0miaqKebYr%2BmwsiermakkamytMCMmqWtZZ2Wu260wKxkp6ddqMGqusZo