Ant-Man and the Wasp: Film Review
I’m definitely feeling the superhero fatigue – I wasn’t excited about Ant-Man and the Wasp at all, even though I loved the original and his appearance in Captain America: Civil War. It was kinda what I expected though – a lot of fun but ultimately just good. I couldn’t stretch any better than ‘good’.
Following the events of Civil War, during which he was caught breaking the Sokovia Accords, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is nearing the end of a two-year house arrest stint, during which he is banned from speaking to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly). However, he breaks this rule when he has a vision of Hank’s wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) who has been trapped in the quantum realm for years. The trio reunite to help free her, but they have obstacles along the way including Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) and the Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen).
The greatest strength of the Ant-Man films is how funny they are. Most of the MCU franchise have a lot of jokes, but the Ant-Man ones feel like proper comedies. Rudd really throws himself into it in that regard, really trying to sell every joke, usually to great success, but not always. But he’s just so damn likeable, he just puts a smile on my face and I enjoy him a lot as a leading action man.
Michael Pena is back as Luis and hilarious as ever (he’s my favourite), with excellent support from his crew made up of T.I. and David Dastmalchian. Lilly and Douglas are generally very serious, lumbered with a lot of science mumbo jumbo that made no sense, but they have some hilarious moments too.
As always, the visual gags with Ant-Man are on point, a major source of humour and so ridiculous. His ability to shrink or grow 60 feet tall puts a fresh spin on the fight sequences and they are so interesting and cool to look at, because they are so different. Lilly was a great addition action-wise – I love her, she’s so cool. Ditto Pfeiffer, who I wanted more of.
The plot here isn’t the best; I struggled to follow it because there’s so much science jargon, but it is still a lot of fun to watch. I didn’t care much about the villains or the outcome but I was truly entertained by the stunt sequences, action set pieces (some excellent car chases) and some brilliant jokes.
In cinemas Thursday 2nd August