I find the following concept helpful: What if the model of our solar system—the sun being orbited by nine planets—is the exact same model as that of an atom? The nucleus being the sun, and the planet-like electrons orbiting the tiny nucleus sun?
And now imagine, if you zoomed in on one of those teeny-tiny particles with a ridiculously powerful microscope, and as it emerges out of the distant blur … it’s blue? And as you manipulate the coarse and fine adjusters and come in closer … there’s green. Green vegetation! And that blue is rimmed with white. What’s that? Those are beaches. With sand.
And what if you shrunk yourself and landed on one of those beaches, picked up a random grain of sand, and put it over the aperture of your mega-microscope and zoomed in on it?What Goes On There?
“Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” features, of course, Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang (Paul Rudd). In this bloated threequel, Scott’s chilling from frontline superhero duty with the Avengers.He’s kicked back, written a book; he’s at Barnes & Noble doing readings, getting celebrity freebies at the local coffee shop, and so on. He likes it. Except for the running gag of getting mistaken for Spider-Man.
Science Experiments!
Cassie’s been doing some experimenting on her own but, of course, something goes kaflooey. Scott; her mom, Hope Van Dyne (aka The Wasp, played by Evangeline Lilly); Hope’s mom, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer); and granddad Hank Pym (Michael Douglas)—all get sucked into the quantum realm.
You may remember, Janet was stranded in there a long time and knows the lay of the land. She also knows Kang (Jonathan Majors), a dimensional conqueror whom she left stranded before she escaped. Kang’s got his power back and is set to take over the entire multiverse, as villains do.
‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’ Style
Heavy homage is paid to the original “Star Wars.” The whole movie is basically like one prolonged shot of the Mos Eisley cantina bar scene from “Star Wars,” full of jabbering multilingual aliens. Except that, in this case, if characters drink a red goo it gives them the superpower of understanding the quantum realm’s version of the Tower of Babel.There’s plenty of “Avatar” stealing, and copious filching from “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” Unfortunately, these steals don’t result in magical world-building like those originals, but merely result in a derivative hodgepodge.
Rudd’s goofball clowning is always enjoyable. Bill Murray’s cameo allows him to briefly pull the “Ant-Man” franchise into the orbit of his “Saturday Night Live” lounge-singer act, giving it a spritz of that louche, Murray kitschy-ness.
Ultimately, though, the quantum realm’s silly treatment bored me silly. Hopefully, the next one gets back to some believable drama, character interaction, and a less-is-more approach to the Marvel Universe’s crazy-for-Cocoa-Puffs overly liberal reliance on CGI.
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