{🚨SPOILERS🚨}: Directed by Peyton Reed, Ant-Man and the Wasp follows the aftermath of Captain America Civil War, where Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is grappling with the consequences of his choices as both a superhero and a father. When he begins to have strange occurrences as a result of his time in the Quantum Realm he’s confronted by Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) with an urgent new mission, which is to rescue Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), Hank’s long lost wife, from the Quantum Realm. Scott must once again put on the suit and team up alongside Hope who now dons her own suit to get Janet back to the real world. As they race against time they end up confronting new enemies that threaten their personal mission and they must work together using their skills and tech to defy the odds.
With the surprising success of the first Ant-Man film, a sequel was pretty much guaranteed to happen, especially since the end of the first film teased the possibility of Hope taking on the mantle of the Wasp, Ant-Man’s long-time partner in comics. Apart from featuring the Wasp’s big debut, no one really knew what to expect from this sequel, especially since it came out on the heels of the emotional, epic Infinity War. If anything, I feel most of us expected a fun little palette cleanser to give us some breathing space before the continuation of the Avengers story.
The best way I can describe Ant-Man and the Wasp is that it is a wacky superhero comedy with Marvel’s label on it, but I mean that in a good way. It’s another small-scale adventure similar to the first film but with a lot more personal stakes and a lot more kick-ass action utilizing the shrinking/enlarging technology in fun ways. The film is a palette cleanser but it contains its own serious and emotional moments that keep us invested and engaged especially with its characters.
Paul Rudd once again is fantastic and hilarious as Scott Lang and really is an under-appreciated hero in more ways than one. He’s just a lovable gem in the film who does his best to make things right after his mistakes as well as showing how big of a heart he has. He again kicks ass as Ant-Man and even though he struggles with technical malfunctions he finds ways to improvise. Plus we get to see him turn large like we saw in Civil War and it really offers a lot of fun sequences.
But the main star for sure is Evangeline Lilly as Hope who gets her time to shine as the Wasp. The building up in the previous film that led to her heroic debut was worth it as she is truly an action badass with a cool winged suit and all sorts of awesome gadgets that are different from Scott’s. But Evangeline Lilly also delivers a really great performance and both she and Paul Rudd share excellent chemistry together making a great dynamic duo. Her motive to save her mother is very strong here, alongside her father Hank Pym.
Michael Douglas brings his A-game in this film, not only pulling off some great comedic scenes but pulling off some really big emotional scenes as well. He’s also having to deal with the consequences of his past and all the bridges he’s burned that all come caving in on him at the worst possible moment. But to him, those are things he wishes to amend later, because his main focus is saving his wife and journeying to the Quantum Realm despite the great risks. When he finally reunites with Janet it is such a fantastic scene that really tugs at the heartstrings and is easily another one of the most underrated scenes in the MCU.
Michelle Pfeiffer also plays the role of Janet beautifully and adds a lot to the emotional stakes even though she isn’t in the film all that long. There are certainly a lot of open-ended questions about how she has been able to survive so long in the Quantum Realm as well as how she gained certain abilities from her long exposure to it. I have a feeling we might get some answers to that in future MCU installments including the third Ant-Man film, seeing as the Quantum Realm has a large importance in the cinematic universe and will probably have more appearances given the nature of the new Phase 4.
Luis, once again reprised by Michael Peña, returns and is once again as hilarious as he was in the last film and we of course get a great funny sum-up of things from him that make him as one of the best side characters in the MCU. Never stop being a treasure Luis. Never stop.
Our primary villain of this film is Ghost (Hannah John Kamen), who is one of the most sympathetic villains in the MCU and one who has some really cool abilities. Ghost aka Ava gained the ability to render herself intangible and generate extreme amounts of power following a quantum accident, which killed her parents who were formally acquainted with Hank Pym. She was taken in by SHIELD and harnessed as a deadly stealth operative until the group’s collapse as a result of the events of The Winter Soldier. She is then taken by Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne), another former acquaintance of Hank Pym, and learns that she is slowly dying due to a lack of quantum energy, which she involuntarily harnesses because of her condition. So like our heroes she is in a race against time to cure herself and is motivated by fear to commit dangerous actions that put our heroes and their mission at risk.
She’s honestly a well-written character and is very different from most other MCU villains as she isn’t necessarily an evil person or one who wishes to kill anyone intentionally, instead being an individual who is scared for her life, feels constant pain because of her abilities and is extremely sympathetic in her cause even though she is willing to go to certain extremes and fight anyone that stands in her way. She has a brutal exterior but she is not a heartless person by nature and she feels shame for her actions.
She has also proven to be capable of showing compassion and regard for others’ well-being, particularly to those close to her. This is best exemplified when she urges Foster to abandon her, warning him that he will also be pursued by the authorities if he continues to act as her caretaker. Also, despite what the Pym family’s actions caused her, Starr was willing to accept help from them and seems to be on much better terms with them after Janet returns and they begin extracting quantum energy to gradually cure her quantum illness. She’s a really great character that’s given a great performance by Hannah John Kamen and I hope to see more of her in the MCU, which is more than I can say for the film’s second and forgettable villain.
Sonny Burch, played by Walton Goggins, is a black market dealing asshole who basically wants to steal Pym’s quantum tech for profit of course. And that’s it. That’s all his character is. Now, this wouldn’t be so bad if the character was just in the film briefly but no, he pops up frequently in the film causing annoyances to our heroes and even to Ghost and his inclusion feels utterly pointless for most of the film except to add more fun to the third act. I like Walton Goggins and he does at least deliver a good performance but his character could have been either written better or written out entirely because he drags down a lot of the film for me.
The supporting cast all deliver good performances and serve their necessary roles in the film but the one supporting character that stands out now is Jimmy Woo, played by Randall Park. I thought his character was ok when I saw him in this film but after seeing him in Wandavision I like him a lot more now. He’s actually pretty funny in this film and I’m glad that he ended up being more than a one-off character as I initially thought he was going to be. Also, a little fun detail was how Jimmy Woo tries to learn how to do card tricks in this film after seeing how Scott pulled it off, and later on in Wandavision we see him pull off a card trick showing that he finally nailed it. I know that might be meaningless to some people but I love little details of continuity like that in the MCU because it not only shows just how connected this cinematic universe is but also the effort and attention every MCU creator gives in all of their work.
The story is a smaller stakes narrative similar to the first film, although this one feels much more personal to the characters and can still feel investing and fun in a lot of places. Some elements are weak but this is by no means a boring film, there’s a lot to like and love. When the film gets serious or emotional it is effective as well as honestly touching. The comedy and serious elements all work together well, similar to the first film, but I will say that the first film was definitely funnier because here I found moments where not every joke worked in comparison to the jokes in the first film, most likely due to Edgar Wright’s previous involvement.
Most of the humor is really good as is the overall tone, with Paul Rudd’s talent being the primary lead of the comedy in this film. One of the funniest scenes was when he gets possessed by Janey through the Quantum realm and Rudd literally has to act as Janet, which leads to very humorous interactions that are also kind of touching too. Small moments like these that balance comedy and heart are genius, while others scenes that try to forcefully go for comedy don’t work as well.
The action is an absolute blast, once again utilizing the shrinking and enlarging tech to great effect, allowing for visually fun entertainment. The third act is definitely where all of the best action is, with our heroes involved in exhilarating chase scenes at different sizes that are filmed so excellently and look visually grand. The effects and CGI are also really good, adding ingenuity to the action and giving visual flair to it all as well as bringing the Quantum Realm to life in a beautiful way. When it comes to visuals everything looks fantastic and it enhances a lot of elements in the film in a strong way.
The cinematography though is a different story. There are some really great shots featured in this film but there are others that can appear bland and uninteresting even when the characters and story are strong. Compared to the first film this film has significantly weaker cinematography.
All the best shots are in the action sequences and primarily the exciting third act. The music by Christopher Beck is once again really good and adds thrills to the action and matches the comedic and sci-fi themes.
While this film has its flaws it is still a very and enjoyable film that is worth watching especially for its characters, the visual action, and of course how it ends up tying in hugely with the events of Endgame. I understand why people may not like this film but I also feel people bash it too much because there is a lot to love and appreciate, even if the film is a smaller scale story compared to most of the grander epic stories that Marvel has gained a reputation for. I’m going to give Ant-Man and the Wasp a B+.
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