Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant-Man and the Wasp/Marvel Studios/118 min./Dir. by Peyton Reed/Rated PG-13 for some sci-fi action violence

Many have asked how I manage to maintain my film blog and teach full time at the same time.  Given the fact that this is my first entry for 2018, I think the obvious answer is.....I don't.  As I was deciding to write a review for Marvel's latest, I kept thinking, "but I haven't even done reviews of any of the summer movies yet, so I need to a big summer entry and then a review."  Well, that was just too much for me to wrap my brain around, so here's the brief catching up on summer movies: Avengers:Infinity War - Fun, epic, genuinely surprising, devastating. Solo:A Star Wars Story - Action-packed, enjoyable, underrated. Ocean's 8 - Smart, amusing, well-cast.  Incredibles 2 - Bright, funny, a blast. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Dinosaurs are cool and have an inherent understanding of which humans are disposable, which are evil, and which deserve narrow escapes.

OK.  We're caught up. Now on to Ant-Man and the Wasp.

When Ant-Man was released in 2015, it was widely expected to be the first bomb from the MCU.  It came with the baggage of extremely well-publicized behind-the-scenes drama, the final director was best known for the very un-Marvelesque cheerleading comedy Bring it On, and....well.... it was titled Ant-Man.  However, Marvel Studios knows precisely what they're doing and by casting the imminently likable Paul Rudd and making it more a heist comedy than action film, it became a delightfully surprising bit of candy-flavored fluff that hit with audiences and critics alike.

A year later, the size-shifting superhero made a big impression (pun intended) in Marvel's superhero dust-up Captain America: Civil War by being responsible for one of the most memorable moments in the entirety of the MCU.  The idea of Ant-Man was no longer just a goofy joke, but a relatable hero that audiences looked forward to seeing more from.

So more is what we get with Ant-Man and the Wasp.  As the title suggests, Rudd's character isn't the only central protagonist with Evangeline Lilly's Hope Van Dyne (a.k.a. The Wasp) being the perfectly matched yin to Scott Lang's comedy infused yang.

After the events of Civil War, Lang is on house arrest while Hope and her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) are on the run, basically fugitives for contributing to the delinquency of a superhero. With his release from house arrest only a few days away, Scott spends his days rocking out on his drum set, building elaborate cardboard forts/adventures for his daughter Cassie (winningly played by Abby Ryder Forston) and consulting with his security business partner and former partner-in-crime, Luis (Michael Pena, once again stealing any scene he's in).  However, after Scott has a dream/vision involving Hank's wife Janet, the original Wasp who was thought to be lost in the quantum realm (a dimension discovered when an individual shrinks to a sub-atomic level), he is brought together with Hank and Hope in an effort to find Janet.  The only problem is there is an individual known as Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) who is equally intent on accessing the quantum realm for more mysterious reasons.

Ant-Man and the Wasp maintains the light touch of the original, even if the stakes seem a little more elevated.  It moves away from the heist movie paradigm to more of a heroes on-the-lam/race against the clock vibe, and it works swimmingly.  Once again, Rudd is relaxed and effortlessly likable, but Lilly is given much more to do this time around and she does it with grace and humor.

Speaking of humor, it actually works more consistently this time around.  While I loved the original, there were moments when the humor felt a little awkward and forced.  I felt much less of that this time around, which might be a result of having the same creative team from beginning to end, a luxury that the original did not have.  In particular, Lang's humor feels more genuine to the character.  In addition, the screenplay manages to touch on some of the most enjoyable aspects of Pena's performance in the first film without making them carbon copies (his ranting flashbacks are back, but even more funny).

Another fun aspect of the film is that it makes much better use of San Francisco as a setting.  The exciting, surprising, and quite funny finale is almost a San Fran travelogue with major sequences on Lombard Street and the Pier.  Even the Pier's copious number of gulls gets a particularly amusing shout-out.

Much like the first film, direction, special-effects, and music are all solid.  Reed is not the most artistic director to make a Marvel movie, but he knows how to stage action sequences and use the camera to elicit laughs.  Christophe Beck once again provides the musical score, but his themes (including a new theme for the Wasp) take on a bit more weight this time around, particularly as they are transformed in the closing credits.

The reason for the themes sounding a little more somber in the closing credits is the mid-credits sequence. The film is completely independent from MCU references (other than the aforementioned Civil War references) throughout the movie, however the mid-credits sequence ties directly to the finale of Avengers: Infinity War.  If you haven't seen that movie and don't want it spoiled, leave when the credits begin. Suffice to say that you'll want to see Avengers 4 all the sooner after this.

The Ant-Man movies are doing a great job creating their own little niche in the MCU.  With greater humor, lower stakes, but all the fun and action expected from a Marvel film, they're perfect summer escapism.

Grade: A-