The giant highs and fun-size lows of 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'

Surely, someone made a bet on this, so wherever you are, pay up: They’ve really made three “Ant-Man” movies now.

Not trying to be mean. Just shocked, and delighted, that a character so perfectly comic-booky and so far from the metaphorical marquee has carried three multimillion-dollar blockbusters.

So sure is the power of Paul Rudd’s shrinking superhero that the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off its next phase — has the general public ever been more interested in a movie studio’s production schedule? — with director Peyton Reed’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”

In this installment of the franchise, Ant-Man, aka Scott Lang (Rudd), has settled into his life as a world-renowned, Thanos-quashing Avenger, which is a far cry from his previous life as an ex-con ne’er-do-well. He’s on a book tour. He’s formed a partnership in every sense of the word with Hope van Dyne, aka the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly). They’ve even got a very weird family going, including Hope’s ex-superhero parents Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne (Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer) and Scott’s socially conscious, genius daughter Cassie (Kathryn Newton).

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This family’s idea of a bonding activity is strange, too: Cassie and Hank have developed a method of remotely exploring the Quantum Realm, the subatomic universe where Scott’s spent some time and Janet was stuck for 30 years. As it turns out, more happened down there than a horrified Janet has let on, which becomes apparent when the whole family is sucked down to the Quantum Realm and into the clutches of the mad despot Kang (Jonathan Majors).

Can Ant-Man and the Wasp (both current and classic) free the denizens of the Quantum Realm from Kang’s rule? Can they escape this subatomic realm without destroying the multiverse? How will they work ants into the plot this time?

We caught a sneak peek of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” and in keeping with the whole shrinking-and-growing motif, here’s what you need to know about the highs and the lows of the newest MCU movie.

HIGH: Everything about Hollywood icon Michelle Pfeiffer

Redesign the poster, renegotiate the billing, call Kevin Feige and have him rework the whole slate: This movie is Pfeiffer’s from top to bottom. The improbability of an “Ant-Man” franchise is made even more surreal by the presence of screen legends Pfeiffer and Douglas. But where Janet van Dyne has been a small (heh) presence in previous films, she’s a giant in this film.

“Quantumania” hinges on Janet’s three-decade exile outside of time and space, and it’s her arc and character relationships that drive the most satisfying parts of the plot. Fittingly, she feels like the co-lead here. No need to be entirely surprised — remember, Pfeiffer knows her way around a superhero movie (see “Batman Returns”).

In “Quantumania,” Pfeiffer trades a bullwhip for space blasters and subatomic freedom fighting. She drips out exposition with steely, traumatized trepidation, and one of the film’s greatest joys is gradually discovering the legend that Janet’s built for herself in this strange world. One knife fight scene, in particular, will have you hoping for a Janet van Dyne trilogy next.

LOW: The incredible shrinking Evangeline Lilly

The prominence of Pfeiffer’s character, unfortunately, bodes ill for the film’s ostensible second headliner, Lilly’s Wasp. She’s almost entirely lost in “Quantumania,” relegated to saving Ant-Man’s hide a few times while the script tells us how much they love each other, even though you’d be hard pressed to recall a single Hope van Dyne line.

That’s not a knock on Lilly, who’s doing fine. She’s just not doing much, through no fault of her own.

If we want to turn to the source text — hey, I grew up in a Bible household; I’m used to looking things up — this is not too shocking. Without getting too into the weeds, the MCU’s Hope van Dyne is a hodgepodge of various comic book characters. Mostly, she has the costume, haircut and superhero mantle of her mother in the original stories. The Janet van Dyne of the comics is one of Marvel’s most enduring heroes, even leading the Avengers for years. If the film version gives that heroic arc to Janet, there’s not much left for her daughter to do but flit around, zap people and be a narrative prop for Ant-Man.

Well, the title of the movie is “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” I guess they never specified which Wasp.

HIGH: A not-so-long time ago, in a subatomic realm far, far away …

As MCU movies continue to bigfoot the box office, the only thing keeping this series from being totally tedious is its exploration of genre. These films are never going to stray too far from the house style (though the Marvel TV shows have been way more adventurous), but it’s still exciting to see a 1970s-style spy thriller like “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” or a horror fantasy like “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.” 

“Quantumania” feels like a “Star Wars”-esque space opera, even if the setting is far below us instead of way above. You’ll glean nods to sand planets and cantinas, armored fascists and creature-feature rebels. (Disney owns both Marvel and the “Star Wars” franchise; there’s a weirder alternate timeline where they just said “eff it” and did some shameless I.P. merging.)

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LOW: It’s bog-standard and looks weird

A little play with genre trappings is where the creativity ends in “Quantumania.” The film is puzzlingly average, hitting familiar beats faster than you can say “Pym particle.” Scott and Cassie don’t understand each other! Oh wait, they do now. This Kang fella sure seems like a particularly brutal threat we’ve never seen before! Oh wait, never mind, there he goes with the hand lasers.

And while I’m not saying I could render a CGI world any better, the visual effects look a tad garish sometimes, which is probably not what you want when your movie is sharing theater space with an “Avatar” flick. Without spoiling, the rendering of one sorta-surprise villain, in particular, looks straight out of a Gushers commercial from the late ’90s. He’s supposed to look funny, but not that kind of funny.

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LOW: Where. Are. The jokes?

Speaking of funny, “Quantumania” isn’t so much. The “Ant-Man” movies have always been reliably more lighthearted and low-stakes than their MCU brethren. It’s been welcome levity, and if your leading man shrinks down to ride ants and is played by Paul Rudd, seems like a good strategy.

It’s not that “Quantumania” is notably darker in tone than its predecessors, which could have been interesting. When it remembers the humor inherent in its premise, it just feels like they went the lazy route. It’s almost a parody of the much-derided MCU style of humor, at times, with characters cocking their heads to the side and a literal “Well, that happened” moment. Worth noting: “Quantumania” was scripted by Jeff Loveness, while the first two “Ant-Man” movies were written by teams that included Edgar Wright (on the first film) and Rudd himself.

A gleeful exception to this: Any time Douglas says the word “ants,” which is many times, is the peak of cinema.

HIGH: It’s a good little worker ant in the MCU colony.

Try as you might, it’s impossible to separate a movie like “Quantumania” from its larger franchise. That’s a feature, not a bug. (Still has bugs, though. Lots of bugs.) As ever, fans flock to these movies for the next bit of interlocking, serialized plot, yours truly included.

“Quantumania” has the goods. It lets Majors take new big bad Kang out for a joyride without feeling like he’s just slumming it in an “Ant-Man” picture. It sets up yet another “Young Avengers” character (see America Chavez in the last “Doctor Strange,” Kate Bishop in “Hawkeye,” etc.) in Cassie. And it certainly, certainly does not waste its two post-credit scenes.

Now, begin your campaigns for Michelle Pfeiffer to lead the Avengers.

If you go: 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania'

Grade: B-

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas

Director: Peyton Reed

Rated: PG-13 for violence, action and language

Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes

Watch: In theaters Feb. 17

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Review of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania starring Paul Rudd