Quick Takes on Threequels: Ant-Man & Magic Mike
Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 6:01PM by Nathaniel R
Paul Rudd vs Jonathan Majors in "Quantumania"
Forever behind, always catching up. Herewith two spontaneous reviews of threequels that came out during Oscar madness that we never got around to talking about (as they weren't related to that all-consuming golden season): Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Steven Soderbergh's trilogy-closing Magic Mike's Last Dance...
Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania
Pfans rejoice - Michelle Pfeiffer gets a much larger role in this third "episode" of the franchise and we promise to talk about her once the movie comes to Disney+ and is available for screenshotting. Pfeiffer excepted, the third installment is a major letdown. The problems are many but they began quickly. Strangely, despite the reunion of the old team, the movie promptly forgets that this particular franchise is endearing largely because it eschews the 'end of the world' enormity of the other Marvel films and shrinks down to human size (or less). This one also doesn't feel like a movie at all but a barely shaped Disney+ miniseries that you happen to be bingeing in a movie theater. The strangest problem given Marvel's previous faith that audiences would be with them through everything -- is that it holds your hand at every possible plot point indicating that the story isn't over yet. See, if you defeat a villain it doesn't mean you've won. Duh!
Jonathan Majors (normally potent onscreen) hasn't yet made a case for himself as a Thanos level 'big bad' for the larger MCU despite a lot of screentime. Kang the Conqueror also has a power set that is, let's just say, ill-defined. The vagueness of the villain takes the stakes and interest out of the battles. Most unfortunate of all, the usually reliable Paul Rudd coasts through this one, wearing his charisma like an old shirt that he forgot to wash and iron before putting on, assuming we'd just love seeing it (and him) again. Also the movie is visually hideous not even benefitting from the campiness that excuses some of the garishnessness of the Thor movies. C-
Currently in theaters but, if history is indication, will be on Disney+ soon (April? May?)
Magic Mike's Last Dance
The title is wistful, reminding audiences with finality, of what an enchanting screen character Channing Tatum's furniture-making stripper has been. But, surprise surprise, Salma Hayek completely steals this particular dance. She's too three-dimensional to be a manic pixie dream girl but she does have a dream (to share Mike's Magic with the world) and she is certainly manic. Her character, an obscenely wealthy soon-to-be divorced woman, is a swirling nightmare mix of emotional avoidance, entitlement, short-attention spans, loneliness and horniness... and yet her maddening behavior is somehow endearing! It's an electric but accidental reminder that we seldom see big stars appearing "hungry" onscreen. That vibe is usually reserved for actors of lesser fame when they've landed a role they clearly believe is their ticket to stardom and they're going to leave everything onscreen.
Overall the movie is an odd experience, not completely committed to comedy, drama, sexiness, or even stripping. They're all reduced to utilitarian elements entirely in service of a remarkably silly plot that's right out off a Mickey & Judy MGM picture! Too bad the show these kids are putting on looks so damn terrrible and then asks us to imagine that it's profound. This delusion isn't fully annoying but kind of sweet thanks to Hayek's belief in it. Last Dance is without question the weakest of the three Magic Mike pictures, but it's still worth a look... especially for Hayek fans. B-
After a brief theatrical run it's streaming on HBOMax and available to rent on most services.
Reader Comments (9)
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is likely to be a film I don't think I will revisit as it was just all over the place. There were things I liked about it like Jonathan Majors and Michelle Pfeiffer but it lacked the humor and heart of its predecessors. Plus, I really missed some of the minor characters from those 2 films.
MAGIC MIKE 3 is one of the biggest disappointments I ever experienced as a movie. Where to start? The London re-location was under-utilized (we were mostly inside a generic mansion apartment or an old musty theatre), the divorce plotline took up way too much time without threading any new ground, the voice over narration was peak cringe and, most egregious, isolating Mike from his buddies eliminated the bro-bonding the first 2 movies perfected.
That last part could've been ameliorated somewhat if they made the new dancers have personalities but they couldn't even give them actual dialogue. A truly perplexing choice. And as a trilogy ender, it did Mike a huge disservice. His arc here was basically being swept away from his home/friends for a rich lady's divorce revenge fantasy. His character was oddly passive for most of it. A limp end to his growth and journey in my opinion.
About both movies: "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."
The biggest problem with Quantumania is that taking the film out of the real world/SF really limited some of the fun they were able to have with ant-man's powers. Tonally, it felt different than the first two outings, and was a step down.
With that being said, I thought the film was compelling enough and a fun time at the theatre. It wasn't perfect, but I thought it checked all the boxes that a blockbuster should. The best part was getting Michelle Pfeiffer in full movie-star mode. She's essentially the second lead of the film, and she gives a really great star performance. Her scenes with Jonathan Majors really works, and I hope that as they dig deeper into these stories, especially in some of the team-up films, she gets to play a somewhat central role in resolving the Kang saga. I also really liked Jonathan Majors here too, probably more than most.
MAGIC MIKE'S LAST DANCE would have probably actually been much better on TV as it was originally planned. It's small scale.
ANT-MAN is barely above MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS as the absolute worst of the MCU's entire catalogue. Just appalling. Ghastly to look at, not a moment of sincerity going by without a quip or snarky one-liner, boring in how transparent it is as just another entry and a prologue to something bigger including a tv show and another movie. I didn't even like Majors or Pfeiffer. MODOK is perhaps the ugliest single work of vfx i have ever seen in a movie.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ant-Man and the Wasp Whatever.
There goes that dream.
I never hope for any movie to be bad, but I have to admit I am at least somewhat relieved that even most Marvel fans seem to be cooling down on the franchise in its current phase simply because I want to see a lot more variety in blockbuster filmmaking than we’ve gotten over the past decade. I’m definitely not hopeful that superhero movies are on their way out, but if the MCU installments keep underwhelming, maybe Disney will back down from their “house style” approach and give the directors they hire a bit more creative control (at least stylistically…I understand the shared universe concept inherently limits the amount of narrative control each contributor has).
And also on a more petty level, it is refreshing to not have all my coworkers go on about how I “need” to see the latest MCU product every time a new one comes out, each time insisting, “You don’t need to like the whole franchise to enjoy THIS one though.” I haven’t heard that in a while now.
@Nathaniel, I'm curious, since you mentioned it, what do you think represent examples of lesser-known actors who threw it all in when they got a 'ticket to stardom' role? And any other examples of proper stars giving a charismatic 'hungry' performance like Salma seems to do here?
@Carlos, though I'm not Nathaniel, I've always loved this piece of his on Susan Hayward in Adam Had Four Sons, a classic "young and hungry" performance: http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2017/7/1/young-and-hungry-susan-hayward.html
I also think of Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde as a great example. You get the sense that she's pouring everything into that role, even while being very precise. Before that role, she'd just had two supporting roles.
And Michelle Pfeiffer in Scarface, is to me, a classic young and hungry performance.