Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania is the third entry in what I now see as a trilogy of Antman movies set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact as far and bringing things full circle for the character, I hope Marvel Studios will set all future Antman cast appearances for other installments crossing over with other heroes of the MCU, whether it is on the big screen or streaming on Disney Plus because of the three Antman films thus far, none of the direct sequels have been as good as the first one and I do not see this as being the fault of anyone. Paul Rudd is still likable in the lead and Michael Douglas and Michele Pfeiffer are just fine the way they are. It is nice to see Douglas where he is playing a brilliant scientist instead of a Gordon Gekko knockoff and Pfeiffer has the maturity and drive that makes her an ideal role model. A gentleman never asks a woman for her age and so just judging her performance she as a strong liberated woman, who is devoted to her husband while being strong enough to imply that during her 30 years time in the Quantum Realm, she had companionship and it is also implied by Douglas that thinking she was dead, he may have had intimacy in his private life and there is no jealousy because they love each other and are thankful to have each other again after thirty years so their maturity wins out over baser instincts. The past is past, they are different people given a rare second chance and they both don’t want to blow it so I was very pleased with that subtext in their relationship. Douglas and Pfeiffer still look great too and they use their age as an asset by embracing it. Good role models in my humble opinion.
Hope Van Dyne aka The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) as Scott’s wife, (I think?), is given stuff to do as does the young lady (Kathryn Newton), who plays Scott’s daughter. A teenager on the verge of becoming a young woman in her own right and some of her rebellious nature toward her father, which feels natural.
Johnathon Majors as Kang The Conqueror is great at being sympathetic at one moment and menacing in the next. I still kind of liked his performance has “He Who Remains” in the first season of Loki more, but overall as we inch closer to the next Avengers films, I am hopeful the director and writers use his talents well because I think he is a terrific actor, who just needs a better script and Russo Brothers level screen direction.
David Dastmachian is one of my favorite character actors of his generation and while his role is entirely motion capture, I did not even recognize his voice. Bill Murray shows up briefly in an important role, but his casting felt almost like stunt casting as opposed to an actual best actor for the role. Directed by Peyton Reed with a somewhat stilted script by Jeff Loveness, also collaborate in a screen specific feature length audio commentary for the film too. The Movies Anywhere Digital Copy on Apple TV features a striking 2160p UHD resolution that depending upon your screening capabilities presents Antman and the Wasp Quatumania with a gorgeous Dolby Vision presentation with a full sounding Dolby ATMOS soundtrack too. HDR 10 and English, English AD, French (Canadian) and Latin American Spanish Language Soundtracks with English Captions, English Subtitles for the Dead and Hearing Impaired, Canadian French and Latin American Spanish Language Subtitles encoded also as options.
The interactive menus are somewhat simple, but easy to navigate. Besides the feature length Audio Commentary Track, extra value features include a featurette entitled “All In The Family” (7:26) and features the main cast members discussing their character journey up to and throughout the film while “Formidable Foes” features Johnathon Majors discussing his character as it relates to the previous one and others we have yet to see and the development of his costume is also covered along with other actors in the film that are antagonists or just untrustworthy. A gag reel (1:52) and two deleted scenes that can be viewed individually or as one reel wrap up the extra value materials on this digital copy.
You can also view a trailer (2:20) before entering the main menu and since I love trailers, this is a nice bonus for those who use Apple TV 4K to stream their media.
Antman and the Wasp: Quantumania is available now on Movies Anywhere and other digital platforms courtesy of Marvel Studios and it’s parent company Walt Disney.
(C) Copyright 2023 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.X
