You had me at a tunnel built by ants that delivers crypric flash-back dreams from the quantum realm into the brain of someone taking a bath several miles away.
Ant-man and the Wasp, the sequel to 2015’s very enjoyable Ant-man, is in its entirety nothing short of ridiculous.
This time, we follow up on Hope’s (Evangeline Lilly) mother’s disappearance into the sub-atomic realm. Scott (Paul Rudd), on the last leg of his house arrest, receives an unexpected message from her and joins back up with Hank (Michael Douglas) and Hope. Together they try to locate her mother and go on a rescue mission via the quantum tunnel they have built. But their plans are disrupted by Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), a villain who can – and has to – continuously phase. She is attempting to stabilize her atomic make-up using the same technology as our heroes. A wild chase through San Francisco ensues including the FBI, Scott’s security company and Laurence Fishburne.
Obviously, the special effects are amazing. It’s a Marvel movie, so we don’t really need to talk about that. Except that we do because the use of effects was not only perfectly integrated into the plot and had purpose every time but was also hilarious. The shrinking lab-trolley from the first installment makes an appearance again along with an oversized salt shaker and a Hello Kitty PEZ dispenser (which I really hope was a crazy product placement). The quantum realm was of course made up exclusively of CGI but those disgusting microbes or whatever they were are NOT beautiful, no matter what Hank says. I honestly couldn’t force myself to look at that part. Nightmares for days.
The dialogue was off-the-charts ridiculous. Though some of it pretty predictable (“This place … it changes you”), it formed the scenes in a way that there was never any lasting serious tension. Every dire or desperate moment was immediately diffused with silliness, like a quacking phone ring tone or an argument about pastries. If you’re a fan of rapid-fire run-on jokes, mostly involving Michael Peña, naturally, you will have the time of your life with this movie.
For the plot, I can’t give a raving review, unfortunately. But for a sequel it was a lot better than some we have seen in the MCU (*ahem* Thor 2 *ahem*). The fact we got to tie up the mother storyline, that was a huge part in Hope and Hank’s motivation in the first place, fit very well into the greater narrative. It wasn’t needlessly constructed and even the subplot of Ghost was tied to the characters in a believable way, even if it was a bit flimsy. But can we talk about phasing powers? I enjoyed myself so much watching the intricately choreographed fight scenes with people who can change in size and someone able to disregard objects and even people’s physical properties. It made the fights seem like an even playing field and that’s really the only way you can keep excitement in such scenes, especially in superhero movies.
I gotta admit, though, that the scenes between Scott and his absolute sugarplum of a daughter were my favorite. Their interactions are so believable and cute, it will melt the iciest of hearts.
Overall, Ant-man and the Wasp is a light-hearted comedy designed to make you laugh with its silliness and entertain you with crazy special effects. After the seriousness of Black Panther and Infinity War, it is good to scale it down again and give the audience a breather. And director Peyton Reed as well as the wonderful actors in this movie, hit the nail right on the head.
We’ve kept the review short ‘n’ sweet this time, just like the movie itself because a) no spoilers, obviously, and b) what more is there to say? Go have a laugh and let yourself be reminded of how charmingly quaint and adorkably funny Ant-man is.
Scapegrace Heroine 