Ant-Man and the Wasp – 5 out of 5
There have been a lot of gripes about releasing Ant-Man’s follow-up film on the heels of the emotionally heavy Infinity War. The fans have loudly declared that going from “The Snappening” to something with a far lighter tone was a huge mistake but, honestly, I think it worked for Marvel. Ant-Man and the Wasp proves to be a nice palate cleaners to take your mind off of how the next Avengers film will transpire and ends up being just another extremely entertaining and awesome entry into the MCU.
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Never forget Ant-thony. |
The events in Civil War land Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), under house arrest and forbidden from making contact with Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). However, after having a weird dream, he makes contact with the two and discovers he had formed a connection with Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) while he was in the Quantum Realm. Now, risking his potential freedom, he once again puts on the Ant-Man suit and teams with Hope, now The Wasp, and works on getting the parts they need to enter the Quantum Realm and save Janet. However, the tech they need is in the hands of the ruthless businessman Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) and a mysterious and super-powered individual called Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) is out to collect their tech and use it for her own purposes.
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures The villain is a woman and a woman is co-headlined in the title. Did Marvel even once think about all the shattered masculinity that would occur in the Men's Rights Activists community? No, because who cares about them? |
There’s a lot going on that makes Ant-Man and the Wasp a great film. Director Payton Reed was able to tell a very tight story that wastes little time, brings in a whole lot of fun and exciting action, has boat-loads of humor, it has a kick-ass female lead and a great female villain, and it is top off with all the other great elements that have become synonymous with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I know there were a lot of concerns with having a more humor-based feature be released only months after Marvel’s most emotionally heavy film but the very drastic change in tones did nothing to harm the overall narrative that this one is trying to tell. Never mind that the film is taking place before/during Infinity War (although, that certain plot element is later addressed when the story ends) but what this movie does so well is showcase that Ant-Man was involved in his own adventure while the Avengers and Guardians were teaming up to take on Thanos on both the other side of the country and galaxy. The story is told so well and is able to balance being self-contained but still a part of something bigger that I never found myself questioning how the ending is going to play into “the incident” in Infinity War. Reed just did an absolutely astounding job of presenting a story that stands on its own merits and is never hampered by the complete change in tone that is done due to where it stands in the release schedule.
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures He's treating that body of water like a public pool right now... he's peeing in it, is what I am trying to say. |
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Good to see Fishburne make the jump to a cinematic comic universe that has its shit together. |
Quite possibly my favorite part of the film is the female component. Ant-Man and the Wasp marks the first feature in the MCU to be co-headlined by one of their female superheroes and also ushers in another film where the villain is a woman. Granted, Ghost does have some of the issues that all comic book movies suffer from in that she is a tad generic at times and she definitely needed some more development but what we got made her interesting and sympathetic enough that she was a great antagonist with some complexity built within her and felt right at home in the story. Finally, Evangeline Lilly steals the damn movie as The Wasp. Yes, we still have Paul Rudd’s endless charm and likability but Lilly is so badass and her action scenes are so memorable and fun that she was the film’s highlight and, without a doubt, the best part of the movie. The second best part being Michael Peña reprising his role of Luis and being so endearing.
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Luis is the true MVP of the MCU. |
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Once again, Douglas is wearing a great collection of sweater-based apparel in this film. |
Besides having an antagonist that I definitely wanted to see more development from, the only real complaint I have for the film is its pacing. The entire story takes place over a short period of time and once Lang is thrusted into this situation where he needs to rise up and help Hope and Dr. Pym, the pace never lets up. On one hand, this is great because it is able to give the feeling that what you are seeing is happening rather quickly and also plays well for the fact that Lang is putting his freedom at risk by engaging with two fugitives and going against his house arrest so there's a great anxious tone at play. On the other hand, it does harm some potential for development and expansion on various characters. Ultimately, however, this complaint is very minor because I feel the film did its absolute best with what it is presenting and the main points of development, like Hope and Scott’s relationship, is feathered out nicely.
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures I will admit, I gushed at the way they looked at each other. I hope someone looks at me that way one day. I'm lonely...if that wasn't obvious from my movie review blog. |
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| Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Goggins has amazing range. I love watching him work. |
Ant-Man and the Wasp is definitely my favorite of the two Ant-Man films. You have some great humor thanks to Paul Rudd and Michael Peña, you got Evangeline Lilly kicking ass and stealing the show, the villain is very cool and you also got Walton Goggins in the film (and that guy is just talented). Add in a nice self-contained story, terrific performances from everyone involved, some killer special effects (the de-aging effects are incredible) and some unique action and you have another great feature for the MCU (their 20thfilm!). Overall, it’s a wickedly entertaining and fun movie that provided a much needed breather after all the tears that were spent during Infinity War.
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