Comic book movie fatigue has set in for a few years now, at least for me. There are just too many of them coming out one after another. I found the recent releases like DC's Black Adamand Marvel's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever to be underwhelming. However, I did have a lot of fun with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness because it had an oddball charm thanks to off kilter direction from Sam Rami (The Evil Dead).
Now we have the new Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which is the third trip to the well for the size-changing super hero. While it's not as good as the first two Ant-Man movies, it has enough energy and laughs for me to recommend it.
In this latest Marvel Comics extravaganza, Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), the daughter of Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), has created a portal to the Quantum Realm. What is the Quantum Realm, you ask? Well, it's a small dimension that can only be enters by compressing a person's mass. Yeah, it's a tiny place. Anyway, a miscalculation sucks Cassie, her dad, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) into the Quantum Realm.
Janet has been in the minuscule dimension before. In fact, she had been trapped there for 30 years, and during that time she unwittingly helped a banished warlord, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors), return to power. It is now up to Ant-Man and company to take Kang down, and get back to their own dimension.
One big problem I had with Wakanda Forever is that no one did much. Here, everyone has their moment in the sun. Rudd's charm is working at 100 percent, the rest of the good guys are likable, and Majors delivers an effectively venomous performance. There is also a very funny cameo, and a running gag involving a former Ant-Man foe is equally amusing.
Quantumania does move in fits and starts before going hog wild in a familiar but admittedly exciting action finale. Yeah, it does go on a little too long, but director Peyton Reed and writer Jeff Loveness add just enough excitement and quirkiness - without being smug - to keep it all afloat.
