Ant-Man & The Wasp (2018) - Review

Once again, Ant-Man is tasked with following up an Avengers team-up film. While the original installment was a quality addition to the MCU, it is often a forgotten entry. 3 years later, Ant-Man returns to the big screen along with his new partner The Wasp. Does this film stand out among the breadth of Marvel movies?

In Ant-Man & The Wasp, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is on house arrest following the events of Captain America: Civil War. After a strange nightmare of the quantum realm, Scott's former team of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) recruit Lang to help save their long lost wife/mother Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). Meanwhile, the mysterious Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and mob boss Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) stand in the team's way.

I am pleased to say that Ant-Man & The Wasp is indeed more memorable than the original film. While it has the unenviable task of following perhaps the biggest event film in cinema history, Marvel Studios and director Peyton Reed have crafted a light, fun adventure that expands on the strong foundation of the 2015 feature.

The performances of the main cast, a highlight of the original film, are even better this time around. Rudd is more sympathetic and relatable this time around, caught between doing right by his daughter while at the same time living up to his untapped potential as a super hero. Evangeline Lilly's role is doubled, and the film is better off for it. Wasp's addition creates a fresh dynamic, in both the emotional scenes, as well as in the action scenes. The teamwork during fights exhibited by Ant-Man and Wasp works well, and has me excited for future set pieces involving the two (looking at you Avengers 4). The romantic chemistry between Rudd and Lilly is admittedly lacking, but the friendship between the two seems genuine and it plays out on screen as such. Michael Douglas has more to do, even a few nice action beats for the 73 year old Hollywood icon. The supporting cast is strong once again, with Michael Pena having a couple of comedic monologues, and David Dastmalchian delivering my absolute favourite delivery of a line so far this year ("BAAABA YAAAGAA!!"). T.I. is the odd man out, seemingly lacking the fast paced comedic chops required to hang with Rudd and the rest of the crew. Randall Park as Jimmy Woo, Lang's FBI foil, is a fine addition to the cast, and hopefully will turn up again in future MCU films.

Sadly, where the film goes wrong is its villains. While I called Yellowjacket weak for being one note in Ant-Man, at least he had a note. Ghost is a messily written villain with a shoe horned back story to link her to the Pym/Van Dyne family. The writers did not seem to know whether or not they wanted to portray Ghost a sympathetic anti-hero, or a straight up villain with wrong yet understandable motives, so instead settled for a clumsy amalgamation of the two separate takes. That said, Ghost is involved in some dazzling action sequences, and her powers are unique and fresh. Walton Goggins' Burch is your run of the mill mob boss, though if I am being truthful I preferred him over Ghost. While an over the top cliché, at least his characterization was consistent.

Ultimately, I can forgive the film for its poor villains (as most MCU films go) because of how well the heroes are developed. Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige has found the recipe for success when it comes to creating loveable heroes who are compelling and interesting, while maintaining their sheer entertainment value. The first two acts of the film are stuffed with enough laugh out loud jokes and tender character moments that despite the resolution of the film's conflict feeling unearned and easy, it doesn't feel like the film suffers for it. In fact, I think had the film gone too complicated with it's ending, it would not have worked as well as the ending they went with.

FOR THE RECORD: Without spoiling anything, the end credits scene features something I have been predicting since the first Infinity War trailer, and so for that I was very thrilled. It offers an intriguing plot line that could be followed up in future MCU films, and I am very curious to see what becomes of it.

Ant-Man and The Wasp is like the annual to the MCU's ongoing series. While the Avengers films and larger heroes like Captain America and Iron Man can do the heavy lifting of pushing the larger MCU narrative forward, Ant-Man can be the fun side adventure that breaks up the heaviness of the emotionally charged stories. Ant-Man and The Wasp is a fun side adventure that does more right than it does wrong, and offers us more insight into the soul of the heroes that could play a pivotal role in the impending battle to restore order to the universe after Infinity War. I was not disappointed seeing Ant-Man and The Wasp at FULL PRICE, and I don't think you will be either.