If we could shrink like Ant-Man, the world at quantum scale would not look like THAT.

Rolston admitted he was taken by the film’s eye-catching visual effects, which portrayed a marvelous variety of fantastic landscapes—Tatooine-like deserts; lush, “Avatar”-inspired forests; even a few “Finding Nemo”-esque settings. But: “Squishy and organic is not the way I would envision the quantum world,” he said. “As Wasp and her mom were discussing, I was disappointed they didn’t have pizza down there, too.”

Instead, he said, if you had access to the movie’s “Pym particles” and were able to shrink and look at a single atom, the volume of the nucleus plus electrons (which have no physical dimensions) would be infinitesimal; an atom is almost completely empty space: “A sterile, cold, nonorganic space … dark,” Rolston mused. “Not a funny place—which is maybe why I’m not a filmmaker, or at least a Marvel filmmaker.”

The movie missed some chances to intelligently play with quantum concepts.

When Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) encounter a “probability storm” and meet their doubles, the movie seemed to be introducing “superposition,” Rolston said—a quantum effect crucial in quantum computer science and engineering. A particle in superposition can exist in two states at once, until the quantum system gets knocked out of whack or otherwise collapses into a single reality. Instead of exploring the concept, however, it took an action-packed but nonsensical route dictated entirely by visuals rather than ideas. Likewise, a plotline about the “multiverse”—a quantum mechanics-based theory that there are infinite, constantly branching universes that express every possible iteration of reality—is used purely as a fantasy device. “There’s no possibility of traveling between universes in the theory,” Rolston said.

Quantum scientists often care what the public thinks about the field.

“I’m interested in the popularization of things quantum, because I hope it spurs interest and helps advance it,” whether through increased research funding, more partnerships or talented students coming into the field, Rolston said (and he’s far from the only UMD quantum researcher seeing the movie).

At the same time, he said, many researchers in the field worry about overblown hopes leading to a so-called “quantum winter,” where money for research could freeze up if quantum computers or other devices don’t materialize fast enough for funders. Artificial intelligence research experienced just such a drop in activity in the early 1990s “AI winter.” “Optimism is good, but hype doesn’t help,” he said.

This movie isn’t quantum’s “Dead Poet’s Society”

You know those films that inspire kids to devote themselves to changing lives in the classroom, or become journalists to expose corrupt leaders, or train to profile cannibalistic killers? “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” is unlikely to drive a wave of interest in exotic forms of physics, “but maybe someone will Google one of the terms they hear in the movie and get interested,” Rolston said.

Scientific accuracy aside, the first film he has seen in a theater since the pandemic started wasn’t ALL bad: “There were some funny, sardonic one-liners, and I thought they did a good job with the CGI,” he said. “Couldn’t have been cheap.”

But in the end: “It’s not my thing—all the noise and all the constant visual overstimulation.”

Translation: Another Marvel blockbuster.