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Review of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Christophe Beck)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you appreciate Christophe Beck's decision to reassert his main franchise theme once again, this entry featuring ten to fifteen minutes of highly appealing material akin to the best of the previous scores.

Avoid it... if you demand noteworthy villain themes in your superhero scores, Beck supplying suspense and action filler for this score that suffers from tired manipulation and thematic anonymity.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: (Christophe Beck) With its two preceding films introducing the Ant-Man and Wasp superheroes, 2023's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania sends them and their supporting characters on an adventure to the Quantum Realm, a magical universe at the subatomic level that exists to keep special effects artists employed. They should have called it a "microverse," but some other corporate entity not related to Marvel already owns that word. It's the gravity-defying tax haven where the former Wasp, Janet van Dyne, had been trapped for decades, and now her family and that of Ant-Man's Scott Lang are sucked through a portal to this place as well. There, they encounter a senseless, short cameo by Bill Murray and lead efforts by the local citizens his Axia civilization to vanquish Kang the Conqueror, the asshole of the moment who doesn't live a normal timeline and ultimately enjoys many variants of himself so that he can be more productive in his villainy. Critics and audiences saw Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania as a step down in the franchise despite continued connections to the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), but the project did allow Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas the chance to engage in fantasy warfare. The film still managed to gross fairly handsome sums of money in its first few weeks in theatres, besting its predecessors in equivalent time. The music of the Ant-Man offshoot of the Marvel concept has always been the domain of Canadian composer Christophe Beck, who had expanded his role in the MCU to some television scoring as well. Beck's approach to Ant-Man was applauded for its uniquely snazzy tone against typical orchestral bravado for the superhero genre, though he and a slew of ghostwriters took that sound to a more conventional level for Ant-Man and the Wasp. The style of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania strives to be somewhere in between, with an increased presence of synthetic manipulation for the Quantum Realm, but, on the whole, Beck continues to stray towards the symphonic norms of the genre. Lost in the process is the hip character that once defined this concept, leaving you evaluating the newest results as strictly a standard superhero entry.

The other-worldly presence of the Quantum Realm allowed Beck to explore heavily processed instruments, a detuned violin, and a variety of old synthetic tones to create an abrasive atmosphere for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The rhythmic synthetic effects of the prior scores seem more intrusive in the suspense portions at times, and there is an excess of this clunky, ambient tension in the middle of the score, translating into some tough extended passages on album. When Beck does pull the tone back to the superhero genre with his London and Vienna ensembles, he often supplies merely generic fare, losing increasing amounts of the personality from the first score. There are a few highlights that manage to prevail, but the music may sound much more pro forma than expected when not pummeling you with the new villain material. Beck does, to his credit, reprise the major themes you come to expect in this franchise, including those for Ant-Man, the Wasp, and both Janet Van Dyne and Hank Pym. Joining those ideas are new identities for Kang, his henchman, M.O.D.O.K., and the Axia setting. Listeners dissatisfied with the reduced applications of the main Ant-Man theme in the prior film of 2018 will appreciate that Beck returns it to primary status here. The Ant-Man theme's underlying rhythm is used to better ends in this score as its own driving force; it's all over the place and sometimes deconstructed, as in "Quantum Nexus." Beck's new arrangement of the idea for the start of the end credits, "Theme from 'Quantumania'," contains all usual skittish secondary lines that gave the idea such unique character in the first film. Essentially a faster, repackaged version of first score's "Theme From Ant-Man," this cue's stinging electronic effects along with accelerated pace offer a nice new take on the idea. Elsewhere, the theme appears in a brief moment of action at 2:06 into "The Hunter" and slows to fanfare mode at 0:32 into "Honey, I Shrunk the Energy Core," with nice, melodramatic development in the second half of this cue joined by rare choir. The theme stomps early in "Sting Low, Sweet Variant," mingles redemptively with the Wasp theme on strings in "Don't Let Go," and supplies its rhythmic undercurrents to several other cues. It opens "Hymenoptera" in compelling string phrasing and muscular brass in anthemic form, eventually conveying an interestingly dramatic take on the theme, including its Western percussive colors.

In many ways, Beck's identity for the Wasp is the more attractive melody in this franchise, and while the idea is a regular contributor in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, it never achieves an extended, suite-like presence in the work. The theme makes its first impact in an action burst at 1:28 into "The Hunter" with fuller heroics at 2:40, later emerging in the middle of "Fifty Shades of Kang" with muted confidence. The Wasp theme enjoys a short pair of phrases at the end of "Quantum Nexus," is yearningly light in the first minute of "The Conqueror," and informs the hopeful ascending figures in "Look Out For the Little Guy." Some of the best development of the theme comes in "Sting Low, Sweet Variant," where it follows the Ant-Man theme at 0:47. It is stated against the Ant-Man figures in the second half of "Kang Bang," informs inspirational ideas in "Like Father Like Daughter," opens "Threnody for a Reformed Dick" lightly, and helps defeat the Kang material at 2:11 into "Lang vs. Kang." The other returning themes never had huge impacts in the previous scores, but their usage has remained consistent. Here, the Janet Van Dyne theme is teased during the first half of "Fifty Shades of Kang" while the Hank Pym theme experiences more glory in this score, building massively throughout "Alien Ant Harm" until a heroic statement at 2:01. Arguably the new main theme for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania belongs to the locale of Axia, its melody seemingly inspired by a phrase of the Janet Van Dyne theme and espousing a touch of Henry Jackman's Strange World theme, too. It sounds like a secondary phrase for another identity, though, never resolving despite some impressive statements. The Axia theme is established lightly but dramatically in the first half of "We Should Be Dead" but becomes obviously massive on brass at 0:21 into "Skies of Axia," which has a touch of Michael Giacchino's Tomorrowland in its midsection. The idea is again massive and fantastic amongst the action at 1:31 into "Sting Low, Sweet Variant" and later interrupts a dramatic moment at the end of "Like Father Like Daughter." It ensues mysteriously at 1:13 into "Don't Let Go" before building to a satisfying close. While these renditions of the Axia theme aren't particularly frequent in the narrative, they do represent the most tonally impressive new material in this score, even if the underlying structure is somewhat simplistic and derivative.

While the protagonist themes in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania serve their purposes pretty well, those of the villains struggle to identify themselves beyond their instrumental and digital tones. The theme for Kang is particularly nebulous, his rhythmic pounding sometimes manipulated to represent M.O.D.O.K. as well. It consists of aggressively percussive banging and dissonant electronic effects, occasionally joined by stomping chords and slurring pitches with little melodic value. It wiggles into the soundscape at 0:10 into "What is This Place?" but becomes more obnoxious in its menace and volume at 0:18 into "The Hunter." This material gains momentum in the second half of "The Conqueror," consolidating to two-note phrases of rather simplistic pomp. Its rhythmic force annoyingly plagues the latter half of "Sting Operation," but it returns to its two-note bravado in the middle of "Kang Bang." The stomping percussive and electronic rhythms dominate early in "Lang vs. Kang" as well. More interesting is Beck's handling of the Darren Cross/M.O.D.O.K. theme, which shares ascending structural aspects with the Wasp material and develops fully in "He's Kang, He Saw, He Conquered." For the character's redemptive turn, Beck takes the theme through a positive transformation throughout "Threnody for a Reformed Dick," aided by angelic choral tones by the end. Don't expect to remember either of these identities by the conclusion of the movie, however. The highlights of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania all feature the Axia theme or new renditions of the previously existing themes, the nice handling of them in "Sting Low, Sweet Variant" seemingly punctuated by a blaster beam effect. Along with that cue is the Hank Pym theme evolution in "Alien Ant Harm" and the great, punchy performance of the main theme in "Hymenoptera" with distinctly Western percussive flair. The album also includes a source track; the somewhat juvenile "Holes" poem performed by David Dastmalchian's slime-like character is a really awkward way to conclude the presentation. Ultimately, the narrative of this score is reasonably appealing at either end of the story, but the middle passages of suspense and action are surprisingly bland. There's only so much appeal left in the manipulation of organic tones, and Beck doesn't provide sufficient interest there. It's a step back overall when compared to the prior two scores, but there is ten to fifteen minutes of very engaging music spread over three or four cues that certainly belong with the best moments of the preceding works.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 60:04

• 1. Theme from "Quantumania" (2:33) • 2. We Should Be Dead (2:21) • 3. What is This Place? (1:48) • 4. Skies of Axia (2:44) • 5. The Hunter (4:24) • 6. Fifty Shades of Kang (3:23) • 7. Quantum Nexus (3:16) • 8. The Conqueror (6:17) • 9. Through the Storm (3:14) • 10. Sting Operation (2:17) • 11. Honey, I Shrunk the Energy Core (3:02)

• 12. Look Out For the Little Guy (2:11) • 13. He's Kang, He Saw, He Conquered (1:23) • 14. Sting Low, Sweet Variant (3:41) • 15. Like Father Like Daughter (1:09) • 16. Kang Bang (3:19) • 17. Alien Ant Harm (2:29) • 18. Threnody for a Reformed Dick (2:21) • 19. Lang vs. Kang (2:49) • 20. Don't Let Go (2:17) • 21. Hymenoptera (2:32) • 22. Holes* (0:44)

NOTES & QUOTES:

There exists no official packaging for this album.

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