Ant-Man and the Wasp

Big things come in tiny packages apparently.

Set before Avengers: Infinity War but after Captain America: Civil War, Ant-Man and the Wasp follows Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) at the tail end of a two year house arrest sentence placed on him for his actions in the epic superhero battle depicted in Civil War. With only a few days left on his sentence, Scott gets a message from Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), the long presumed dead wife of Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) aka the original Wasp and Ant-Man, from the quantum realm, a place where Janet had disappeared to nearly thirty years prior after shrinking to sub-atomic levels in order to diffuse a nuclear warhead. Now, with a new villain named Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), complete with the peculiar powers of phasing through solid objects and seemingly turning invisible at will, Scott must find a way to help his mentor Hank Pym as well as Pym’s daughter, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lily), the off and on again lover of Scott and current Wasp, to defeat this new enemy while simultaneously finding a way back to the quantum realm to rescue Janet.

The original Ant-Man was a solid film in every respect; it was fun, entertaining, didn’t require too much thought and ran with the idea of shrinking technology not only as a plot device, but as a fresh take on what an action set piece can accomplish when a script and director are able to go all in with the wackiness inherent to the idea. Lucky for this sequel, we get more of the same, not in the “why didn’t they try anything different” kind of way, but more so in a “please give me more of this” type of approach, and because of this, Ant-Man and the Wasp is able to give audiences something familiar while at the same time giving them something that is a direct evolution of what came before.

As far as Marvel films go, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a highly enjoyable ride through a smaller corner of the MCU, choosing to focus on a much more personal story about people and their relationships to one another than the usual big and bombastic, save the world/city route most superhero films stick to. Returning director Peyton Reed excels in bringing the same wit and charm to the film as he did with the original by giving audiences a lot to love as jokes fly, objects and people shrink and grow at will, and character relationships take the center stage, his all-star cast tying each thread together with a knowing wink and smile; something they all do incredibly well.

Other than the main cast of heroes who all shine just as bright as before, specifically Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp who is a personal favorite of mine, the supporting cast is a lot of fun to watch and follow, especially the scene stealing Michael Peña as Luis. Not only does he get the biggest laughs of the film, but next to Scott’s daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), he’s arguably the beating heart of this franchise, giving the audience someone to love and root for when the real superheroes aren’t onscreen hero-ing the shit out of whatever problem they may be facing at the time. Couple that with a great father/daughter relationship between Cassie and Scott that expands and builds upon what was already established in the original, and you have a sequel that checks off all the boxes even if it doesn’t necessarily go above and beyond what it sets out to do.

All that being said, and while I enjoyed nearly everything presented in this film, I can’t help but feel like the villains in this one were slightly inconsequential. Ghost, while a great threat visually, never really broke out of her one-dimensional role of being more of a plot device than anything else, mostly due to the lack of any kind of real substance outside of a few scenes that shed some light on her plight and how that ties into what Scott and crew are trying to accomplish on their journey towards saving Janet from the quantum realm. I have no doubt that this character can grow into something truly interesting and unique should she be used in future films, but as it stands now, her role in the script felt necessary but relatively insignificant. Same goes for the other villains such as Walter Goggins’ black market dealer, Sonny Burch, and a mystery villain that only shows his hand midway through the film, who, once the film plays out, is more so a good guy with conflicting ideas separate from our heroes, not really a “true” villain in the traditional sense. As it stands, the script seems to know all of this, quickly touching on all of these characters when needed, and only really developing Ghost as a means to an end more than anything of real consequence. I won’t say that these nitpicks ruined anything for me, however, but I just wish, especially now that we’re in a universe where Thanos and Killmonger exist, that a little more attention was paid to the bad guys rather than having them be in the film just for shits and giggles and a face for Ant-Man and the Wasp to punch.

After the heavy conclusion of Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a refreshingly fun and entertaining romp through the MCU that doesn’t take itself too seriously but is also able to wow and amaze with a handful of great action sequences and a welcome sense of comedy. Paul Rudd is as fun as ever as the titular hero and Evangeline Lily is just as good, if not better, as the new and improved Wasp, but it’s the lower, more personal stakes and higher emphasis on a fun filled ride that makes this film a worthy sequel to the original. Some slight missteps with the villain and a few questionably lazy storytelling decisions aside, this film is an effective palette cleanser post-Infinity War, and a great appetizer for the next film in the MCU cannon. Don’t forget to stick around for the mid-credit sequence too!