Ant-Man and the Wasp
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Written by: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers and Paul Rudd & Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Hannah John-Kamen, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, David Dastmalchian, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi - 118 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 4 Jul 2018
Written by: Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers and Paul Rudd & Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Hannah John-Kamen, Laurence Fishburne, Walton Goggins, Abby Ryder Fortson, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, David Dastmalchian, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Judy Greer, Bobby Cannavale
Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi - 118 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 4 Jul 2018
The first Ant-Man and his follow-up appearance in Captain America: Civil War proved the little guy was a worthy addition to the Avengers; however, why does the size-shifter merit two standalone films while someone like Black Widow remains a backbencher? The visual effects possibilities are juicier jumping between the micro and macro, but these gimmicks do not ensure a story up to the challenge of carrying a Marvel film. There are five men credited as writers on Ant-Man and the Wasp and they formed a plot focused on a rescue with suspicious time constraints and an afterthought villain whose only purpose is to make the rescue suspenseful. Ant-Man and the Wasp is not necessarily a step backward, but there is nothing new to discover even though a female super heroine finally gets her name above the fold in the title.
Director Peyton Reed picks up a thread left dangling by the first Ant-Man. Dr. Hank Pym’s wife, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer, The Family), disabled her regulator and went into the quantum realm some number of decades ago and has been lost down there ever since. It looks like the 1960s; however, her daughter, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) would be much older than she is in the present day if the timelines were truly accurate. Hank (Michael Douglas) and Hope may have figured out a way to locate Janet, shrink down, find her, and bring her back. The exposition involved in this hypothetical process is the script’s first limitation. It is a lot of, “First we did this, then we did this, and then this…” As in the original Ant-Man, the writers lay on the fly-by-night technical jargon far too thick.
Director Peyton Reed picks up a thread left dangling by the first Ant-Man. Dr. Hank Pym’s wife, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer, The Family), disabled her regulator and went into the quantum realm some number of decades ago and has been lost down there ever since. It looks like the 1960s; however, her daughter, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) would be much older than she is in the present day if the timelines were truly accurate. Hank (Michael Douglas) and Hope may have figured out a way to locate Janet, shrink down, find her, and bring her back. The exposition involved in this hypothetical process is the script’s first limitation. It is a lot of, “First we did this, then we did this, and then this…” As in the original Ant-Man, the writers lay on the fly-by-night technical jargon far too thick.
The audience can and will follow along without all the word molasses. Hank and Hope need Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) help. Lang has been under house arrest since the end of Civil War and he only has a couple days left before he is a free man who can spend time with his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), and help get his start-up security agency off the ground with his ex-con partner, Luis (Michael Peña, A Wrinkle in Time). Of course, Hank and Hope need Lang’s help right now; no time to wait that extra pesky 24 hours of his house arrest. Lang marvels at the father/daughter shrinking office building where they store their portable laboratory and he is also envious of Hope’s upgraded Wasp uniform, complete with wings and a laser blaster.
There are actually two villains in the film, but Walton Goggins (Tomb Raider) plays the first one for gags as a malicious gangster and arms dealer. The real antagonist is Ava aka Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen, Ready Player One). Ava has a supernatural skill which is more a problem leading to her doom. She continuously morphs between a solid human being and…something else…I’m not quite sure what it is. This problem/fighting aid confounds Ant-Man and Wasp because their punches and blasters go right through Ava; how can you stop something you cannot hit? Ava wants to steal the portable laboratory with its shrinking pod car thing to the quantum realm to cure herself.
Plot hole alert. Ava needs Janet Van Dyne’s quantum power to fix herself, but Hank and Hope must find Janet first. If Ava steals the lab and gets away, there is no way she can find Janet herself. It makes for nifty fighting, but the whys and hows do not add up. However, Ant-Man has a bit more to latch onto than a weak villain who only exists to help wind down a ticking clock. Michael Peña’s Luis gets his chance to shine as a normal sidekick and gets the film’s most effective extended laugh sequence as he narrates the first movie's events to where we are now while under a truth serum. The riff is very well done and plaudits all around to Peyton Reed and crew for following it along to a natural end. It’s one of the funnier bits in the extended Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Internet message boards are abuzz about Ant-Man and the Wasp with its ‘about time’ message. It’s about time there is a female super hero fighting alongside a man. Well, yes and no. Wasp isn’t the first female super hero in these films, but she earns some substantial screen time here. However, she is not a fully-formed character with interests, likes, and dislikes. Half of her time is spent in an awkward will they or won’t they romantic vibe with Lang and the other half of her time is missing her mother and reminiscing about the past. Thumbs up for another female hero, but thumbs sideways for everything she gets to do. Lang gets the more emotional family scenes with his daughter which turns out to be the glue in a movie hobbled by its bad guy and ho-hum rescue material.
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