Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review – mini Paul Rudd faces a threequel villain

Something big is happening in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, albeit on an infinitesimal scale. Quantumania is the third film in the Paul Rudd-starring series about a divorced-dad ex-con with an incredible shrinking suit, but the first film in Phase Five of the MCU’s overarching, 31-movies-20-TV-shows-and-counting narrative. And that’s significant. Even if it would take an advanced degree in molecular physics to work through the implications.

Far easier to focus on this sunny day in San Francisco, where Scott (Rudd) and the rest of the beautifully blended Lang-Pym-van-Dyne family are living out their happy post-Blip lives. That is until some teen tinkering with a MacGuffin machine gets them sucked into the subatomic “Quantum Realm”. What does that mean? For one, it means more screen time with Michelle Pfeiffer who, as OG quantum-explorer Janet van Dyne, does an excellent job of grounding all the wacky sci-fi in emotional reality. She’s just a guilt-ridden working mom who hopes keeping her own past traumas hidden will protect her family (it won’t. It never does).

The Quantum Realm, with its micro-fauna forests and pulsating luminescent wildlife is absolutely worth a visit. Trailer-prompted comparisons with Star Wars prove neither unwarranted, nor off-putting, but this extended stay does deprive us of some intrinsic Ant-Man movie pleasures: there are no familiar, everyday objects here to size up or down. (Remember when Ant-man rode a flatbed truck like a skateboard? Classic.) So whatever weird, but surprisingly common, miniaturist kink it is that makes “smol” sights appeal goes achingly unsatisfied. Never forget that Honey I Shrunk the Kids made $222m at the international box office.

There’s also no place for favourite side characters such as Randall Park’s Agent Woo (he gets a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-cameo) or Lang’s erstwhile cellmate Luis (Michael Peña) with his heist-planning hijinks and iconic, long-winded anecdotes. All must make way for the much-anticipated entrance of Phase Five’s new Big Bad, Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors.

Which brings us to the question with major implications for your next few multiplex trips: does Kang bang? Why yes, he does. Majors brings the same emotionally intense it-boy energy of Adam Driver in The Force Awakens. Note how his eyes are often watery with empathy for his victims, even as he throttles them. In his more wistful moments Kang would surely understand the main misgiving with this efficient movie product: the MCU marches inexorably onwards, through “phases” and “sagas”, but what’s the point if there’s no time to pause, reflect and enjoy a joke with old friends?

• Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is released on 17 February in the US and UK.