An Arguing With Myself Review: Ant-Man And The Wasp
Just three days shy of completing his two year house arrest, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is pulled back into being the Ant-Man. Through vivid dreams, Scott believes Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfieffer), once thought dead, may still be alive in the Quantum Realm. Scott contacts the only people he can trust; Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lily). Together they will create a tunnel to the Quantum Realm in hopes to find Janet and bring her back home.
Let me be upfront by saying, I’m an unabashed fan of the first Ant-Man. For all of the problems that occurred behind the scenes, the film turned out to be one of the more enjoyable of the MCU releases. I’m still curious of how Edgar Wright would’ve handled the character who “talks to ants” but Peyton Reed delivered a visually satisfying entry that proved to be a success. The inevitable thought crossed our minds; would lightning be able to strike twice?
Ant-Man & The Wasp was the highly anticipated sequel, by me, for two reasons: One, as was hinted at the end of Ant-Man, Hope was going to suit up as the Wasp. And two, after seeing Avengers Infinity War, I wouldn’t have to wait AS long to get my Marvel fix. Boy, March can’t come soon enough!
Paul Rudd as Scott Lang is equal parts comic relief and the heart of these films. He tries to be a good dad and keep out of trouble but trouble always finds him. Evangeline Lily seemed to be under-utilized in the first film but in this, she gets her time to shine. Really, this is her film. As it should be. A welcomed carry over from the first film is, without question, Michael Peña. Marc Bernardin (co-host of Fatman on Batman w/ Kevin Smith) suggested he should highlight all the Marvel films as his character, Luis, leading up to the conclusion of Infinity War. Hey, Marvel Studios, could you get on that?
Throughout the films of the MCU, audiences and critics’ biggest complaint is, weak villains. Not until Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan) was a villain humanized and given purpose. It occurred again with Thanos (Josh Brolin). Before them, the big baddie throughout was Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Not as menacing as one would hope. Nevertheless, you have to look at all of them as levels in a video game. You aren’t going to introduce our heroes to Thanos on level one, are you? No, he’s the “Big Boss” you’ve been training to beat. In Ant-Man & The Wasp, the villain is the mysterious Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Someone, we find is so desperate to get what they want, they won’t let anything or anyone get in their way. That includes, Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins), a black market tech dealer. He’s in it for greed. Looking for top-dollar for those that need his tech. A low-level foil for our heroes’ getting what they want.
People touted the first film as a “heist film”, then this one was a “rescue mission”. I really enjoyed the main story of Scott, Hope and Hank getting the right components to make the Quantum Tunnel and the side story of Scott evading capture by Agent Woo (Randall Park). I can’t think of a better word to describe Ant-Man & The Wasp, other than, “Fun”. For twenty films, we’ve taken a journey. Each one, a stepping stone to the next. The Ant-Man films may have been the easiest “stones” to leap to but in the end, you’re glad they were there. At least, I am.
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