Ant-Man and The Wasp

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:

Scott Lang is grappling with the consequences of his choices as both a Super Hero and a father. As he struggles to rebalance his home life with his responsibilities as “Ant-Man,” he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with an urgent new mission. Scott must once again put on the suit and learn to fight alongside “The Wasp”—as the team works together to uncover secrets from the past.

WHAT WE THOUGHT:

Just as you recovered from the utter emotional devastation that is Infinity War while still revelling in the African greatness that is Black Panther, Marvel throws its third, smaller movie to its ravenous fans to devour – Ant-man and The Wasp.

It’s a ton of fun, the emotional trauma is limited and this is one of the first Marvel movies to have a female superhero share the headline on equal standing. Unlike the survival of the world or the universe hanging in the balance, Ant-man’s foes are smaller in scale of a more personal nature. It makes for a nice break from the extravagance of the previous two films, and its classic Marvel humour gets some extra juice with Paul Rudd in the lead.

Scott Lang (Rudd) – aka Ant-man – is close to finishing his house arrest after being sentenced for helping out now-fugitive Captain America. Unfortunately, he becomes entangled again with Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) who are on a mission to the Quantum Realm.

As much as its Ant-man’s movie, it’s also The Wasp’s – her motivations drive the plot and her fight scenes are insane, especially the way the Pym Particles (shrinking tech) are used throughout to make things bigger and smaller during a fight. While Lilly might not be the most exciting actress out there, she holds some presence on-screen and balances out Rudd’s goofiness. We also get two more female characters who are both amazing, and it was a great surprise to see Michelle Pfeiffer and Hannah John-Kamen (amazing woman from Killjoys both play such dynamic characters (I avoid many trailers before a movie because Hollywood sucks at trailers). 

As for the guys, Rudd somehow managed to make himself even more charming than the first Ant-man, and the scenes between him and his on-screen daughter will make you just awwwww for eternity. It’s so hard to talk about the most hilarious scene in the whole movie without spoilers, but you’ll know it when you see it, and for that Rudd deserves a standing ovation. The other shining stars are of course his fellow ex-con friends, but Michael Peña as the non-stop-talking best friend might be a comedic genius. His montages are brilliant as even just stand-alone sketches, and the fact that the other actors can keep up with his ramblings in the scenes is also just amazing and a technical piece of art. 

Where the film may have faltered a little bit is with the villain part, where there is no clear-cut arch nemesis, and I wonder if Ant-man and The Wasp isn’t in need of their own Hydra. On the other hand, it could be argued that Ant-man is like the goofy brother that hides in the shadow of its overachieving older brother, but you’re always glad to see them at the family reunion – and he doesn’t need some wily evil villain. 

Except for the few Infinity War hints and in-your-face references, Ant-man isn’t there to make you think deep about the fabric of the universe or have your heart ripped out. It’s here to have fun and make you laugh and shrink your world just long enough to forget for a while of the other bad stuff happening in the universe.

Review post-credit: Too soon, man. Too soon.

Review post-post-credit: Marvel is just being rude now.