Where I Watched It: Disney Plus

English Audio Description Provided By: Deluxe

No, we’re not at QuantumMania yet. I revisited the first two bug hero films to get my bearings before going full on QuantumMania. That task just seems so daunting. I’ve never experienced QuantumMania before, and I’m not sure what that will be like.

In the second film, Scott is on home arrest, trying to pay his penance for the events of Civil War. Of course, soon enough, he has to rejoin with the rest of the Ant-Man family, and Hope, who is now the Wasp. There’s more backstory here about hank’s wife, who was mentioned in the first film, and recovering her becomes a plot element, as they fend off some strange new villain who seems to phase in and out… and Walton Goggins. Goggins is really just doing for the Marvel universe what Sam Rockwell and Andy Serkis have done before. It’s over the top, hammy, and obvious that his future is slim.

This was not my first time through this film, and I can’t actually remember if I had audio description the other time or not. I want to say yes, but perhaps not. Still, considering how visually stunning this film is trying to be, the audio description keeps up with a world where things are constantly growing and shrinking.

not just the constant changes in size, but Ghost’s unique power set has to be described, as do the couple of glimpses we get into the Quantum Realm. Add to that the gigantic version of Ant-Man and the narrator is very busy.

I don’t think I enjoyed this quite as much, only because I felt like we actually somehow took a step backward in terms of the villain. I think the story, the acting, and development of our extended hero family is solid, but when it comes to believing that these bad guys pose a real threat, i just was never there. That being said, having seen some 30 Marvel movies now, I’m starting to appreciate a successful villain, whose urgency isn’t global domination, but rather localized. Some of the more recent films have involved plots that have had me asking where the other heroes are?

The curse of having an expanded cinematic universe with a thousand crossovers, is when a villain is too powerful, it demands the presence of other heroes. This is why a film like Spider-Man: Far From home doesn’t work as well, because an implied alien invasion likely would have attracted a lot more attention. But, the villains in Ant-Man, both the first and second do actually feel like they would likely be not on the wider Avengers radar, especially when they’re going through the fallout of Civil War.

I continue to have a good time with these films. They are well cast, and even the most over the top performers, Walton Goggins and Randall Park, still feel like they’re bringing something to the table. Really, the casting genius was in Paul Rudd, whose Everyman charm makes Ant-man feel like the hero we might actually be if this was our reality. If Scott can do it, anyone can.

Now, on to the maligned third film.

Final Grade: B+