Just when we’re finally getting over the drastic events of Avengers: Infinity War, there’s already a new Marvel movie coming to the theaters in the next couple of days. Ant-Man and The Wasp is a lot ‘smaller’ when it comes to the actual scale of events but don’t let this fool you. It’s a Marvel movie just like you love them, and it finally gives us that one crucial answer. Why wasn’t Ant-Man fighting Thanos? Well, seemed like he had other things on his mind!
Get her back
Although it’s a sequel to the first Ant-Man, this movie doesn’t waste time explaining what happened before. You’re a fan if you’re seeing this and Marvel knows. Instead, we jump straight into the action with an oldskool flashback. We see Dr. Hank Pym (once more portrayed by the brilliant Michael Douglas) leaving his daughter Hope behind in order to disable a bomb that’s headed for the mainland. He suits up together with his wife but she has to make the sacrifice of her life. In order to disable the bomb, she has to shrink herself into the Quantum Realm, after she did, she got stuck in there for thirty years.
Enter Scott Lang or Ant-Man for those who can’t know his real identity. Scott (played by the hilarious Paul Rudd) demonstrated that coming back from the Quantum Realm is possible but he paid the price for it. The movie is set just before the events of Infinity War and straight after Civil War. Scott was grounded for his actions in Germany and can’t leave the house for two years if he wants to avoid spending twenty years in prison (absence in Infinity War explained). Watching Scott wasting his days with miniature bowling, Rock Band drumming and cardboard maze creating would be fun but it wouldn’t last for two hours (that’s the length of this movie). So, without spoiling too much, his path crosses with that of Dr. Hank and daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) once more and Ant-Man is forced to save his future mother-in-law (Michelle Pfeiffer), or at least he hopes she is, from the highly psychedelic Quantum Realm. An easy task, if it weren’t for the villains!
Meet your personal ghost
What follows after the brief introduction of the story is a movie packed with high-paced action featuring some truly impressive battle scenes, tons of running jokes, and some really interesting villains. Sonny Burch (Walter Goggins) is the least important villain. He sells high-tech quantum related gear. Gear Hope and her father need in order to create a special tunnel to get back the mother/wife they lost. Of course, a direct line with the Quantum Realm is priceless so Burch wants a slice of the pie. He serves as the villain nobody takes seriously. With only an army of goons at his disposal, he never forms a true treat. He’s more like that annoying mosquito you simply can’t kill. That being said, he does meet up with Scott’s partners, including Luis (played by Michael Peña). Just like in the first movie, the best jokes all come from Luis and he gets his moment of glory in this sequel too.
That being said, the real villain of the movie is Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). If you’ve read the comics, forget everything you know, this is a different type of Ghost, he’s a tormented female now and she’s a lot more likeable than her comic counterpart. During the movie, you’ll get a lot of background about Ghost’s (or Ava’s) story. She’s been living in a constant pain after a quantum explosion. She’s able to do things nobody should be able to do. Vaporizing through walls and turning invisible or just some of the tricks she learned. Since I won’t spoil the story for you, she has her reasons to go after Dr. Hank and his tunnel, reasons that aren’t all bad from her point of view. It really looks like Marvel is moving away from the ‘ultimate evil’ since Ava can easily join Killmonger and even Thanos in the ‘I understand why you did it, but you’re still evil’ club. Personally, I like this more humane approach to the villains and it’s a shame Hannah John-Kamen didn’t get a bit more screen time to really flesh out her character.
A psychedelic journey
Since this is a sequel, there’s always a chance that the formula won’t work for a second time, this is not the case with Ant-Man and The Wasp. Director Peyton Reed learned from his mistakes and made sure the special effects were on point this time. Visually speaking, it’s an impressive movie for sure. The battles got a lot faster and phasing between sizes happens a lot more naturally. One moment we see The Wasp running over a kitchen knife while seconds later she kicks the one who threw it at her straight in the face. It’s impressive to see how much progress Reed and his team managed to make in just a couple of years.
The movements of Ghost also are a true feast for the eyes, too bad the same can’t be said about the Quantum Realm. If you’ve seen Dr. Strange, you know the MCU is capable of creating trippy environments without going overboard. The Quantum Realm feels like a smaller brother of the psychedelic worlds we got to see in Dr. Strange. A bit underwhelming but nothing to really worry about, it’s still fun to look at, especially in 3D.
Conclusion:
Ant-Man and The Wasp is a very enjoyable movie. Although it never reaches the same heights as Black Panther or Infinity War, it’s still worth the watch for sure. The movie offers a lighter approach the the genre and is filled with hilarious jokes followed by high-paced action scenes and some surprising events. If you’re a fan of the first movie, this one is a no-brainer. If you’re not really a fan of Marvel movies, this one won’t change your mind. However, all things considered, it’s not a must-see but it does offer some new and interesting insights in the constantly growing Marvel Cinematic Universe. Just be sure to stay for the first post-credit scene, since it reveals the true ending of the movie. I can’t wait to see where this is going!
