Reviewed by: Raphael Vera
CONTRIBUTOR
Moral Rating: | Offensive |
Moviemaking Quality: |
|
Primary Audience: | Adults Young-Adults Teens |
Genre: | Superhero Sci-Fi Action Adventure Comedy Sequel |
Length: | 2 hr. 5 min. |
Year of Release: | 2023 |
USA Release: |
February 17, 2023 (wide release) DVD: May 16, 2023 |
Featuring |
Paul Rudd … Scott Lang / Ant-Man Evangeline Lilly … Hope Van Dyne / Wasp Michelle Pfeiffer … Janet Van Dyne / Wasp Michael Douglas … Dr. Hank Pym Bill Murray … Krylar Jonathan Majors … Kang The Conqueror Kathryn Newton … Cassie Lang William Jackson Harper … Quaz Randall Park … Jimmy Woo Corey Stoll … Darren Cross / Yellowjacket See all » |
Director |
Peyton Reed |
Producer |
Marvel Studios Truenorth Productions [Iceland] See all » |
Distributor |
Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) has become world famous for his hand in saving the world back in “Avengers: Endgame” (2019). Hope Van Dyne a.k.a. The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) has built and runs a corporation that is meant to save the world. So how come Scott’s daughter, Cassie keeps landing in jail?
We see that Cassie Lang ( Kathryn Newton) is a social justice warrior, and has a run in with the police while defending the homeless. Luckily, she has dad to bail her out and a brilliant Quantum scientist named Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) to confide in and become her new mentor. In fact, while Scott was away all those years she has become a brilliant scientist in her own right and managed to build a way to look into the Quantumverse. Little did she know that simply turning on her device would pull Scott, Hope, Dr. Pym, his wife Janet and herself into the sub-atomic universe.
Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) is terrified at the prospect of returning and is very reluctant to talk about her past experience there. We learn that not only strange and bizarre creatures exist in this fantasy sub-atomic universe, but creatures both alien and human-like that live in abject fear of, “Kang the Conqueror”.
Kang ( Jonathan Majors) needs Ant-Man’s help to take the empire he has built into our much larger universe and threatens anyone who gets in his way.
Janet’s secret life of 30-years spent in the Quantumverse will be revealed, new alliances will be made and an old villain from the past will emerge to threaten them. Can this rag tag group of heroes overcome one of comic-book’s most ruthless, powerful, time-travelling villain’s and find their way back to the ‘real’ world they know?
“Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania” is a surreal painted trip into a sub-atomic universe where buildings are alive, multiple alien races exist and ants from Pym’s lab can technologically advance in only a thousand years. Yes, time works differently on some, while the same on almost everyone else. This is just one of the film’s many inconsistencies and like other things introduced you are expected to just dismiss them and go along for the ride.
LANGUAGE: Moderate. The Lord’s name is taken in vain a lot in this film—“G*d” (3), “Oh My G*d” (5), and “G*d-d**n” (1). Other offensive words include: Holy-s**t (3), Sh*t (4), A**-h*le (1), “Son of a …” (1), D**n (3) and H*ll is said several times before comically featured a dozen or more times as Scott’s variants show up and say the same thing. A former villain from the first Ant-Man film returns, and he is called a d**k (euphemism for male genitals) three (3) times, mostly by young Cassie.
VIOLENCE: Heavy. Kang can beat people to death, but he does so only for his pleasure or to make a point. He can crush people with his mind and commands force blasts that destroy or cut through anything. People/aliens are vaporized, tortured by whips, fall to their death, crushed, sliced, imploded/exploded—including an alien shown eating several in a fit of rage. Directors of films like this suggest that because the violence is shown so quickly, or comically, it will have less effect, yet it is impressive the amount of carnage we and our kids are being exposed to. We should not accept such gratuitous violence for the sake of the next generation.
FILM VIOLENCE—How does viewing violence in movies affect families? Answer
SEX/NUDITY: Mild. Minor kissing, but no sex is shown. A woman displays cleavage and her midriff. A human is shown being pulled from a liquid and his rear is shown briefly naked from a distance—another unnecessary bit of content that should not be seen in a ‘family’ Marvel/Disney venture, but was included none-the-less.
Janet admits to an affair during the 30-years she spent in the Quantum realm because she “has needs,” to which Hank admits to the same. This pleasure principle is a secular viewpoint promoted by our media, that humans are nothing more than our natural urges, and we cannot and should not resist them.
“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.“ —I Corinthians 6:18-20
WOKENESS: Moderate. Dr. Pym comments on how great Socialism can be, while Scott, as a father, is portrayed as weak, guilt-ridden and therefore not one to ever discipline his daughter Cassie. Cassie is an social justice warrior activist. Hope is focused on saving the world through “sustainable” energy and foods.
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” —Hebrews 12:10-11
Symbolism and their deeper meanings used to be subtle and hard to decipher, but recent films have become much more blatant in their messaging, and Ant-Man is no exception. Perhaps the most obvious lessons we should take away is how the movie portrays God, Evolutionism, and The End-Times.
GOD. Kang is the obvious ‘devil’ character, who fell ‘from above’ to this world beneath ours, a terrifying world imbued with red tones, a surreal stand-in for h*ll. The devil imagery continues in a scene where Cassie appears to have drunk blood and her mouth and chin are still covered with it. The red ooze allows them to understand the other life forms, so by drinking it they gain understanding. This harkens back to the fruit of the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3), but why is there blatant blood drinking imagery at all? This feels demonic and associated with worship of demons that some celebrities admit to. Plus, who among us doesn’t wipe their chin after drinking sloppily?
As for who sent Kang to this place, we learn that he was banished to this nether world by a trio of beings, a not so veiled reference to God’s holy Trinity, who are very much like Kang in both strength and character. This is the story no doubt the devil tells himself, that he is God’s equal when he and other angels are mere creations of God, and it was the devil’s own conceit that made him fall as Jesus himself testifies.
“And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” —Luke 10:18
Regarding the Trinity that is God, the New Testament has numerous references to this. However, I truly appreciate how the Gospel According to Matthew closes by speaking on this distinction that belongs only to the one true God.
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” —Matthew 28:19
EVOLUTIONISM. The movie begins with Dr. Pym showing how his ants are becoming intelligent, and this is done as a throwaway scene as if to say this is perfectly normal. This point is further hammered in, when some of Pym’s ants are likewise accidentally pulled into the Quantum zone, but experience a time shift granting them with a thousand years of Evolution in a moment. This Evolutionary jump enables the ants to build their own tech savvy civilization.
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The very existence of sub-atomic intelligent life let alone Pym’s advanced ‘socialist’ ants is just more promotion of a theory that still has no actual proof. Evolution has never been proved, only suggested, and when evidence is found it has always been eventually proven false. In the Marvel cinematic universe, there’s no mention of God, nor need for Him. Not to mention the ‘multi-verse’—another fantasy concept that runs counter to rational, logical thought and is being foisted upon our culture without a single shred of evidence.
END TIMES. The time-traveling Kang has seen the ‘end of time’ and it is not a pleasant one for him. If we remember that he represents the devil, then it makes sense why there is hopelessness in his voice when he says, “I know how it ends.”
“And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” —Revelation 20:10
What are the signs that the end is near? Way too many to recount here, but I will say that The Gospel will be everywhere (Matthew 24:14), nations will talk of coming “peace and security” and it won’t (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3), earthquakes, famines and disease will be prevalent (Luke 21:11), unholy spirits worshiped, evil things taught (1 Timothy 4:1), and many will claim to be Christ (Matthew 24:5). On that last point there are now thousands who follow men around the world who claim to be Christ returned.
As you might have guessed, many signs point to how near we are to the final chapter of history, and I pray that you have received the Lord Jesus as your personal savior. But, if you haven’t it is not too late to seek Him for you will find Him.
What is a TRUE BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN?
“And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” —John 17:3
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” —James 4:8
Discover the good news that Jesus Christ offers
Why is the world the way it is? If God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and loving, would He really create a world like this? (filled with oppression, suffering, death and cruelty) Answer
Discover God’s promise for all people—told beautifully and clearly from the beginning. Discover The HOPE! Watch it on Christian Answers—full-length motion picture
Do you understand God’s Story? Take a short journey through the Bible, from Creation to eternity, summarizing of the Bible’s most important records, in chronological order.
Are you good enough to get to Heaven? Answer
How good is good enough? Answer
Will all mankind eventually be saved? Answer
“Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania” is a stunning visual spectacle, lacking a cohesive storyline and is filled with so many plot holes that you are required to ‘suspend your disbelief’ time and time again. Why leave Kang a ship at all if he was meant to never return? How does a thousand years produce in ants the great awakening that the past thousand haven’t? A teenager is able to read the notes a scientist took a lifetime to write and improve on his theories in only 5-years? Why does Janet continue not to share anything about the Quantum realm even after they arrive?
Admittedly, Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man has an easy going sense of humor that rarely seems forced and is the best feature of his franchise. Unfortunately, aside from the surreal spectacle that is the Quantum universe, this is the weakest Ant-Man film. Add to that the demonic imagery and disjointed story-telling, and I cannot recommend seeing this latest Marvel entry. Your money and your focus could be better spent almost anywhere.
Learn about DISCERNMENT—wisdom in making personal entertainment decisions
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My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5