In the never-ending war on internet spoiler culture, Disney and Marvel's review embargoes for critics often include riders not so politely imploring writers to leave plot specifics out of their coverage. But as time passes and each MCU film's "plot" becomes more and more abstract, it's hard not to think that's not just a ploy to avoid openly discussing what consistently turns out to be these films' weakest points.
That said, "Quantumania" picks up after the events of "Avengers: Endgame," where Scott's original idea to use the Quantum Realm to time travel and collect the Infinity Stones led to the saving of the universe and the return of the 50 percent of Earth's population that had been "blipped." Now he's famous, has written a book, and lives a happy-go-lucky life that looks nothing like the stress and graft of his former existence. But despite being recognized every day as a superhero, Scott does no superhero-ing. He claims he just wants to make up for lost time with his daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton), and she just wants to be a superhero. She wants to make a difference.
This conflict is mirrored between Hope and her mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who spent 30 years of her life trapped in the Quantum Realm but refuses to speak about what she experienced there. Janet, too, just wants to spend time with her daughter, but circumstances send the entire family (including Michael Douglas having a ball with more pithy work as Hank Pym) back to that place. The rest of the film is intended to be a phantasmagorical journey into the unknown, pitting the underdog heroes from the lowest stakes entries in the MCU against a threat that's set to headline the next two mega-budget "Avengers" films.
Director Peyton Reed talked a big game about not wanting to be the palate-cleanser franchise for the MCU anymore, touting exciting-sounding visual influences for exploring the Quantum Realm, from Heavy Metal magazine to Jean Giraud. Screenwriter Jeff Loveness compared it to "Jodorowsky's Dune!" But the execution of those lofty goals leaves a lot to be desired.
Roughly 95 percent of the film takes place in the Quantum Realm, with the opening eight minutes or so sprinting through the set-up at a ridiculous pace, all just so we can watch the cast walk around bland, muddy-looking environments that strike the visual distance between a filler episode of "Rick and Morty" and the Cantina scene from "Star Wars." The former comparison makes sense, as Loveness (who is also writing "Avengers: The Kang Dynasty") is a vet of the Adult Swim series, like other ex-pats from the Dan Harmon industrial complex who have made the jump from funnyman scribe to MCU architect. But as much as Reed seems to think he's finally making the cosmic epic he's been jealous of his peers helming, the result is something that absolutely would have been just fine as a Disney+ special.
