Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jonathan Majors, Evangeline Lilly, Kathryn Newton, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bill Murray, Katy M O’Brian, William Jackson Harper, Randall Park, David Dastmalchian
Distributor: Disney
Runtime: 124 mins. Reviewed in Feb 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Violence

Third in the Marvel Universe adventures of Scott Lang’s Ant-Man. Here his family returns to the subterranean world to save it from tyrant, Kant.

Ant-Man’s alter ego, Scott Lang, asks throughout the film about the world being taken seriously. He gets his answer and this third episode in the Ant-Man franchise. It is taken seriously – and, sometimes, it isn’t. And, once again, is played by Paul Rudd, who is always a pleasant and genial presence.

Here we are back in the Marvel Universe, the Ant-Man, going into the other world to fight the good fight. At the opening of this film, he is cheerfully walking along San Francisco’s streets with the song in the background, “welcome back…”, and everybody greeting him as a celebrity because he saved the world. The question is do we have to do so again?

And we meet his family, Michael Douglas back as Dr Hank Pym, the scientist who developed miniaturisation and contact with ants, his daughter Hope, The Wasp scientist, Evangeline Lilly. Scott and Evangeline’s daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton) is now more than a precocious teenager. She has continued the family experiments, has constructed an armour suit for herself, but also a top-class machine for surveying the Quantum world. She wants to press the button to inaugurate action – but is warned against it by Janet, Michelle Pfeiffer, who, we know, spent 30 years in the Quantum world before returning to her family.

And, just in case, there is a prologue when Janet encounters Kang The Conqueror (Majors who is a powerful presence), helps in the fight against him, betrays him and escapes this subterranean world.

With Cassie pressing the button, the whole family has to go into the subterranean world – an extraordinary creation, visually, with a myriad of creatures that would put some of the Star Wars collection to shame. In fact, this looks like a high budget special effects creation with action sequences and stunts to match.

Looking back, the events are predictable enough, all the members of the family having the opportunity to show their talents – even to Scott going into a world of probabilities, other Scotts emerging, thousands, millions, a huge Tower of Pisa of Scotts. The doctor summons help from his ants. Hope becomes The Wasp and intervenes. Cassie shows her courage. And Janet has to confront Kang all over again.

And there is an interlude with Bill Murray as a Lord of the Quantum World, full of his kind of repartee and nonchalant acting style – but rather irrelevant to the whole adventure.

Compared with some of the Marvel adventures, this is rather low-key, but designed for the very wide younger audience.