I wasn’t planning on going to see Ant-Man and The Wasp. I rented the first one, Ant-Man, after it was available and thought it was fine, but not mind-blowing. It wasn’t until Captain America: Civil War when I actually kinda liked the Ant-Man character.
But this one was out the same week the kids were at Mimi and Poppy’s house, so I had the time available to go see it in Sedalia, and the reviews were pretty solid, especially as a “palate cleanser” after Avengers: Infinity War, so I went ahead and saw it.
It was a fun movie! It takes place after the events of Civil War and focuses on Hope Van Dyne and Hank Pym searching for Hope’s mother, Janet, who was lost in the Quantum Realm (as we found out in the previous film). They have to enlist the help of Scott Lang again because he’s the only person to have ever successfully returned from the Quantum Realm (also in the previous film…). The villain, Ghost, is also interested in finding Janet, but for her own nefarious purposes.
Paul Rudd does an excellent job, as always, and has great comedic buffoonery to throw around, but Evangeline Lilly really steals the show for much of the movie. This is the first Marvel film where a female has “top billing” along with the male and it shows: this is as much her movie as it is his. Captain Marvel will be the first female-centered hero movie among Marvel’s slate.
The effects are mostly solid, but I still think the insects look pretty fake. Not sure they’ve got an alternative on that one, but compared with the other Marvel movies, it just stands out.
I also thought the story, while fun, was a bit contrived. For reasons I won’t get into, there were three interested parties in obtaining the MacGuffin in the movie, and I’m not sure that was really necessary. Did they really have to have the slimy arms dealer also chasing after Our Heroes? Does it really make sense that Ghost happened to need that technology right when Hank and Hope developed it? It just threw some story elements together in a way that felt awfully convenient. Again, it was still a fun watch, but the story wasn’t all that compelling.
I’m definitely glad I saw it, though I likely won’t be buying it. I hope The Wasp ends up being featured more in Avengers 4, as she’s certainly earned it.