Movie Review: Ant-Man & The Wasp In Quantumania!

MOVIE REVIEW!

Ant-Man & The Wasp In Quantumania (2023)

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily, Jonathan Majors, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer

Directed By: Peyton Reed

MINOR SPOILERS

Our last big Marvel movie was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Arguably one of the better Phase Four films, it focused less on moving the overall narrative of the universe at large and more honoring the world and work of its late star, Chadwick Boseman. But after that return to the world of Wakanda, it’s time for the MCU franchise machine to kick into high gear with Ant-Man & The Wasp in Quantumania, the first installment of Phase Five that introduces the latest villain Kang, who is going to-waitaminute, an Ant-Man movie is the big kick off to understand what’s to come?

Yes, after two fun but not integral movies, Scott Lang’s solo series has graduated to the big leagues by being a bonafide “you need to see this so you know what will happen in Avengers 5” kind of movie. While a lot of that rides on the fact that there aren’t a lot of the “original” MCU heroes left to do this, it also feels like a natural move from the way the Ant-Man movies have progressed. The last film, Ant-Man & The Wasp, added more stakes with the introduction of the Quantum Realm, and it’s kind of neat to see the mini franchise get the upgrade (pun intended). But where do you go with a third film? You go bigger in scope and smaller in setting by setting it entirely in the Quantum Realm.