Ant-Man and The Wasp

Image credit: IMP Awards

While Avengers, Thor, and Captain America are currently the headliners in the Marvel universe when it comes to putting butts in seats, it’s nice to see that the studio puts just as much effort into its smaller, puff pieces as it does into the main news stories. Which is just downright right on! After the turbulence of the emotional rollercoaster that was Infinity War, Marvel’s newest film reminds us that’s it’s ok to sit back and have some fun once in a while. Cue, Ant-Man and The Wasp!

The film begins with ex Ant-man Scott (Paul Rudd) twiddling his thumbs under house arrest for getting caught after the Avengers’ showdown in Civil War. His two years are almost up and he’s ready to get back out in the world. At least that’s the plan until he has a bizarre dream featuring Hope and her mother Janet, long lost in the quantum realm. After having the dream, Scott is kidnapped by Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pimm (Michael Douglas) who are working on the theory that Janet might still be alive. Scott agrees to help his estranged friends, but the rescue mission takes a turn when a mysterious, phasing agent turns up and starts stealing all sorts of tech for a quantum energy experiment of her own.

Everyone, including everyone who worked on the project, had their doubts about whether or not Ant-Man would fly. The first film was a little like Bambi learning how to walk, but once it found its feet, it was actually a fun and successful movie. This time around there were no hesitations from anyone and the fun, family genre feel of the franchise was completely indulged in. Despite its simple plot and relatively plain performances, Ant-Man and The Wasp was the movie where everyone just had fun.

Broadly speaking, there’s nothing particularly special or significant about the film. It’s the dumb, down to earth humour that makes it memorable. There are scale sight gags going every which way; one would think that they’d become boring, but somehow the child-like stupidity of them gives them continuous life throughout the movie and they make you smile each time.

Image credit: BGR.com

Snaps have to be given to the entire art department as well as the CGI team, not only for the cool and funny scale gags, but also the brilliant models for the end credits and the achievement of Ghost. Hannah John-Kamen’s phasing agent is a nifty little bit of computer magic that is reminiscent of Doctor Strange and a bunch of other sci-fi characters.

While audiences are divided as either fans of the movie or not, I personally found Ant-Man and The Wasp to be a really fun and enjoyable movie experience.

Director: Peyton Reed, 2018

Cast: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Pena, Walter Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park, Michael Douglas, Lawrence Fishburne, and Michelle Pfeiffer