Marvel Studios ANT-MAN AND THE WASP..L to R: The Wasp/Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) ..Photo: Ben Rothstein..©Marvel Studios 2018
In the continuing expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we have come to know and love what would have been considered as obscure heroes who would have remained unknown to the masses and one of them is Scott Lang’s “Ant-Man”.
After a successful origin movie a few years ago, Paul Rudd’s take on the “small but terrible” hero has been welcomed by a new generation of fans and if you liked the first movie, with it’s crazy cast of characters, the tummy ache comedy and all the possibilities of it’s science fiction then you will definitely enjoy it’s sequel.
The film opens with Scott on house arrest after his little adventure in Germany with “Cap” (AKA Captain America and #TeamCap) during the events of “Civil War” in violation of th Sokovia accords and it’s days before he is finally released and is looking forward to that freedom after endless days of entertaining himself through video games, show reruns and ugly crying over Young Adult books.
Of course as the day of his freedom approaches so does trouble in the form of “Ghost” (Ava Foster) personified by the beautifully broken Hannah John-Kamen and the Southern criminal Sonny Bursh (Walton Goggins) who both want Hank Pym’s portable lab, where he and his daughter, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lily) AKA “The Wasp” have been working on a project that will bring his wife Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) back from the Quantum Realm.
Scott is drawn back into the thick of things when he has a dream about Janet and it turns out it might actually be more than a dream and he just might be what Hope and Hank need to get to Janet before she is lost forever.
Ant-Man and The Wasp is a welcome reprieve from the dark and heavy events of Avengers: Infinity War, and is confident in a cheeky kind of way, more so than its predecessor and will continue to impress audiences with new tricks up its sleeves, with two heroes who can shrink and blow up to massive sizes in a split second and an antagonist who can phase through solid objects, the possibilities are endless.
Ghost is an interesting villain as she is not out to destroy the world but merely on the move to look out for herself and she is not exactly a villain per say and John-Kamen delivers an impressive performance and her phasing out silhouette -just beautiful!
I was actually worried that the climax was not leading up to a big exciting sequence but was relieved to have a thrilling and hilarious car chase and it was nice to see one of the MCU’s break out stars Micheal Peña have an absolutely great time playing the lovable, dub-smash talkative Luis.
I just thought that the cop comedy and parole officer relationship between Scott and Agent Wu (the obliviously hilarious Randall Park) was a a tad bit trying hard comedy, I was also a bit disappointed with Laurence Fishburne’s minimal screen time as Bill Foster. I would have wanted to have seen some “Goliath action” even as a flashback. I just felt that there was wasted opportunity there.
A delightful sequel, which scales up in size while keeping the same charm from its well loved cast of CRAZY characters and the easy comedy. It also expands on the myth and science of the “Quantum realm” while opening up a world of possibilities in a smaller universe. We’ve already come to love the characters and we get to love them all over again, trust me you’ll end up in stitches from laughing (Paul Rudd + Michelle Pfeifer mild meld!) and you will enjoy the well balanced action sequences with the magic of special effects + that post credit scene…..!!! Wow!
7.5/10 – “Ant-Man And The Wasp” is now showing in cinemas.