Ant-Man and the Monotonous Experience of Watching Marvel
★★½
You would think that a film called Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania would feel cinematic. Like a big event.
But somehow it doesn’t.
Directed by Peyton Reed, Quantumania takes Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his family on an unexpected adventure when they are inadvertently zapped, via a device built by Scott’s daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton), into the Quantum Realm, the microscopic dimension briefly explored by Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) in 2018’s Ant-Man and the Wasp. The five members of the Ant-Man family — Scott, Cassie, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), Hank (Douglas, who looks bored) and Hope (Evangeline Lily, who is oddly given little to do in the film despite being the “Wasp” of Ant-Man and the Wasp) — find themselves separated and must navigate a strange universe in order to regroup and find a way home. Of course, the Quantum Realm has different plans for Lang and co. and the size-changing superhero team soon finds themselves in the middle of a power struggle between refugees and Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), the tyrant who has devastated the Quantum Realm and is intended to be the MCU’s next Thanos-level big bad. Along the way, they encounter a diverse range of interesting and unique lifeforms such as living buildings, a telepath named Quaz (The Good Place’s William Jackson Harper), a badass rebel leader named Jentorra (Katy M. O’Bryan), a guy made entirely of goo (David Dastmalchian) and Bill Murray. There’s also M.O.D.O.K., a murderous giant floating head with guns who, surprise-surprise, is revealed to be a character we already know from a previous Ant-Man film.
And of course, there are big reveals, and teases for future Marvel adventures, and jokes, and Welcome Back, Mr. Kotter needle-drops, and jokes, there are plenty of jokes. Lots and lots of jokes. Dad jokes. Goo jokes. Hey, do you like Baskin Robbins jokes? Well let me tell you, this film is loaded with Baskin Robbins jokes.
To give the film its due, Quantumania is not a bad film per se. It is fun and entertaining in a disposable “watch once and never again” sort of way and has potential to be something unique, something more interesting.
There is something to be said about the film’s unwillingness to committ to the material in a meaningful way. Early in the film, it is revealed that Janet, a would-be powerful ally, left the refugees high and dry which in turn helped their land fall into ruin. She also unwittingly helped Kang in the first place by helping him restore power to his ship. So you would think there would be some level of guilt and accountability for Pfeiffer to explore but the movie “aw shucks” it and moves on. This isn’t only thread in the film that feels under-developed. There is also Scott and Cassie’s relationship that seems somewhat at odds. Early in the film, in the boring ole’ normal non-quantum universe, Scott has to bail her out from jail. We learn that in the five years her dad was missing, she took to Pym Particle science and became quite the genius, a skill which she uses for activism and getting in trouble with the law. Once again, the film brushes this character dynamic aside once the family enters the Quantum Realm, but given some of the footage from the trailers that isn’t featured in the film (Kang offering Scott “more time” with his daughter in exchange for helping him, a plot thread that is entirely removed from the film), it would appear this may have played a larger part of the narrative in an earlier cut of the film.
While we are on the subject of relationships, can we also talk about how neither of the romantic relationships in the film feel platonic or real for that matter? Hank and Janet lack intimacy for one another and rarely show affection despite Hank spending decades trying to rescue her from the Quantum Realm (a dilemma now made a minor setback thanks to Cassie’s invention). Do they even kiss? I honestly can’t even remember if they even as much hold hands or touch each other. Hope and Scott’s relationship also seems stiff and awkward. But that could also be because Hope has a silent presence in the film, mostly limited to reaction shots and a line here and there. It hardly seems like she is there. Hope does have one scene that almost made me misty eyed. Near the end of the film, she makes a decision for love that in any earlier Marvel adventure would have had dire consequences but winds up being an empty gesture in this film. Oh, what could have been, to have a film where actions have consequences and the decisions characters make have actual weight and meaning. But instead, the franchise seems to be caught in a gravitational singularity of its own established formula and trademark routines and always trying to be little more than risk-free “fun,” pathos be damned.
Routine. That’s a word that comes to mind when I think of Marvel. Like Scott Lang, Quantumania and the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole are stuck in a Quantum Realm of Monotony and have trapped the audience in with them. I chuckle at the same jokes, gasp at the same plot twists and am wowed by the same big action set pieces. Yet I still feel underwhelmed because each movie has the same kind of jokes, same kind of twists, same kind of needle-drops and even the same campy tone despite some rather diverse creatives (and characters) involved. More so, I know that when I inevitably watch the movie again in my own living room, I won’t chuckle, gasp or be wowed by any of it. Take away a theater full of fans and you take away its power. Do you see the predicament? These films only work in a theater setting and yet they are feeling less and less like movies you have to see in theaters.
As a whole, the current Marvel slate seems extremely repetitive. And unfortunately this means each movie is starting to feel the same. With the increasing lack of stakes, verisimilitude and genuine pathos as well as visual effects, scenes and dialogue that don’t feel rushed, cobbled together or made up on the spot — these superhero spectacles feel less than spectacular. Sure, there are a couple exceptions. Both Spider-Man: No Way Home and Wakanda Forever felt cinematic, like movies an audience has to pay attention to and to varying degrees, each had a certain human touch that isn’t prevalent here. However, those films appear to be outliers. Marvel is running on autopilot.
A few years ago, I would sneer at the word “fatigue” in response to superhero movies, but here I am. When you are 30 films deep into a franchise that’s only celebrating its 15th anniversary, it is hard not to feel a little fatigued by it. That’s a no-brainer. Long-running franchises like James Bond and Batman have slumps where the status quo has run its course and the films require a shake up. But with years between James Bond films and mere months between Marvel films, the slump is much heavier in this case. And with Marvel still relying on a “one size fits all” formula for each film, it is becoming clear that the MCU is in dire need of a shake up. At the very least, some tonal variety. After all, the Marvel universe is populated by thousands of characters, each with a different personality. Why then do these movies feel the same?
But Marvel has another problem and I’m afraid that’s me. Even though I find myself questioning whether I even like these movies, I still go see them. I won’t lie and say a little FOMO doesn’t kick in. Besides, these movies are good enough to justify the price of some popcorn and a trip to the movies on a Saturday afternoon. So yes, I still go see them even though I probably shouldn’t. But it is clear the Marvel cinematic experience is becoming more about eating snacks and getting out of the house than it is seeing a movie I am emotionally invested in.
