Ant-man and the Wasp Review

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Director: Peyton Reed
 Cast Headliners: Paul Rudd,  Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Pena, others
Original Release Date: July 6th, 2018Seen: Mid July 2018

        The Marvel Cinematic Universe has reached it's peak and most epic possible heights. Just a few months ago Infinity War brought it all together to its darkest and largest limits yet reached or possibly that ever will be. What's next … well, something that in comparison is literally the smallest possible. Ant-Man and the Wasp brings back a street-level criminal silly corner of the MCU into something that can be viewed or mood whiplash with everything that's been going on lately. Maybe some simple joy is what's needed however.

Besides some references to his appearance in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, the movie picks up with the only main tie to the past in that Scott Lang / Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest from his past actions. It really is more about ties into the first 2015 Ant-Man film which is the foremost helpful viewing although as with most superhero films its enjoyable standalone as well. He spends his time loitering , heart-warmingly entertaining with imagination games his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) when she's not being watched by her mom Maggie (Judy Greer) or step-father Jim (Bobby Cannavale, delightfully wackily cheery after the last film's events) or otherwise dealing with the investigations of FBI parole officer Agent Woo (Randall Park). Events of course transpire to bring him back into the micro-world of the original Ant-man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) , his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and crew.

Paul Rudd becomes even more of a highlight as Scott in this film. The writing can sometimes be dumb quips but often times causing a smile and much of it is through him. This is helped by the wacky situations he's put in including some surprising twists on how he is disguised as well as now-familiar Giant-Man shenanigans included amidst being small. Whether it's goofing off at home, teaming up with Hope on the field, or talking to his friends and family he offers charisma often.

Yet at times he's not the main protagonist anymore. In what is a first for Marvel a woman gets top billing in the title and one of the more increased roles in a film (all respect to Black Widow and Gamora and the like beforehand). Lilly's Hope gets the chance to step out of the training room this time to many places as she uses the teased Wasp suit. In many ways Wasp outdoes Ant-Man himself since she can fly and shoot energy blasts aside shrinking down. She brings her own charisma and dramatic moments as well, particularly with the arc around her family. Put together with Scott Lang it's twice the superheroics. She still feels limited in some ways in her humor and involvement with Lilly doing the best with what's given but it's good for her to have a role and one hopes for even some more in the future.

The friendly supporters don't usually astound but there's some good bit stuff. It usually comes from the new characters like jerkish, slightly odd and committed Park as Woo or the former colleague of Pym's Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne). Fishburne's jump into THIS superhero universe is surprisingly great as he offers some quips and wise morals along his scientific grudges. Douglas' Pym even has a bit of an increased role (heck doesn't everyone) as he searches for his missing wife Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). He brings back the wisdom and ant powers along some more emotion. Pfeiffer's Janet's whereabouts are best seen firsthand but via flashbacks (old re-used footage and new) and perhaps the present she brings grace , kindness, and her own sleek capabilities with wisdom. One can also expect the “Xcon” criminal friends to tag along at a point including spunky Dave (TI), mysterious Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and most of all Luis (Michael Pena) with his silly recap stories. It's a mix of been there done that yet also growing in entertaining new directions at times.

For all the general strengths in easy-breezy heart and humor the actual plot and villainous angles are a bit less fleshed out which is not to be unexpected for these films. There's certainly value however. The plot attempts to wrangle a lot of its own layers over its long runtime in ways that feel both attempted deep (landing on the mark at times) yet rushed / shallow in others. Aside the house arrest / search for Janet material there's the Quantum Realm-afflicted Ghost / Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kammen) with her reality shifting warp suit. She has an awesome design and fierce capabilities in-combat although that can trend generic. Outside of it, she ends up having some quality emotional feels and moral angles with her connections to other characters but it sometimes gets lost in the tapestry. Far more grounded of a threat are the generic mercenary thugs led by Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) who have their own stake in the events. Goggins offers his charisma and laughs seen as ever in his ther film roles but this isn't his best stuff ever while his presence can sometimes be seen as a pointless nag along the ride.

Thrown all together it can be an exciting ride however. The action doesn't accomplish much new ground that hasn't been seen in prior films but director Peyton Reed does some fun stuff with the big and small ruckus at play, particularly whenever Wasp does things or there's a car chase involved. It's fast , snappy, and grounded but however in today's age one may want more grandoise experiences. For some of that, there's some incredible colorful CGI visuals in the Quantum Realm (seen even more than the first film... or perhaps its been elsewhere in other MCU before..) Christophe Beck's musical score is also punky pumping with some surprising areas it goes as well.

That sums up the experience as a whole. One knows what to expect, it's more of the same..but that's not an entirely bad thing. It's ANOTHER dose of a lightweight silly fun superhero snack between the bigger fare that's coming. Sprinkled throughout this is some more depth and chances for existing characters to shine while mostly smartly weaving in some new ones. For one so small, it packs plenty of fun at the end of the day. Not too bad of a use of summer blockbuster time by any means, never is wrong with Paul Rudd and crew. 8.35 out of 10