Ant-Man and The Wasp Review

Ant-Man and The Wasp main focus is the importance of family and just like previous films in the MCU it doesn’t matter if characters are related. How the film shows what Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) are willing to suffer through to reunite their family is the heart and soul of this film.

If you’re going in starving for Avengers: Infinity War answers you will be leaving the theater hungry. What you will get is good sequel to Marvel’s 2015 heist movie which takes place after Captain America: Civil War. The aftermath of Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) teaming up with Captain America unfortunately results in not only his house arrest but Hope van Dyne and Hank Pym having to go into hiding. While being on house arrest, Scott is torn between helping Hope and Hank, and staying out of trouble so he can be a proper role model for his daughter.

Though the stakes are no where near as dire as Infinity War, the plot shines for being personal and more down to earth. The main antagonist (Ghost) played by Hannah John-Kamen, has a nice sympathetic story, but I felt like she needed more screen time. I might have found her more interesting if she was introduced in a previous MCU film. I might be nitpicking here, but this is the twentieth MCU movie. Having Ghost appear somewhere else in the MCU might have helped her be more intriguing. I felt like more could have been done with the character. That being said, she does barely surpasses being one-dimensional so that should please people who didn’t care for the villain in the first Ant-Man.

Out of all the supporting cast members, Michael Peña (Luis) is THE scene-stealer again. His iconic storytelling shtick might be the funniest moment in the entire movie. The only supporting character to come close was Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson). She is given more to work with during her second go around and truly shines in every scene she’s in.

Walton Goggins’ Sonny Burch feels more like a plot device than someone you’d like to know more about. Which is a shame considering you can tell the actor could’ve given more life to the character if given the chance. But, this film is heavy on the comedy; which is what he is mostly used to augment. When time is of the essence, he’s shown to be more of an annoying road block than anything else. Villains are important, and I left not really carrying if I saw him again down the line.

The easter eggs and call backs to previous MCU movies were a nice touch. They never over did it to make newcomers scratch their head. And even though Ant-Man 2 is a comedy, I never felt like it was in a separate world. Evangeline Lilly (Hope van Dyne / Wasp) is rightfully given more screen time and never comes off as a sidekick. Scott is the star, but Hope seems to drive the film’s emotional arc. Her quest to rescue her mother gives the movie some much needed drama. Her overall performance made me wish with Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War. Every action scene (especially with Hope) looked fantastic and the special effects were never done just for the sake of doing them.

I do have one major gripe. FBI agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park). Believing Scott Lang has gone back to his old ways, he monitors him throughout the movie. Here was another great chance to bring more seriousness into the overall story. Unfortunately, he’s used for an overkill of comedy. Randall Park’s ditsy portrayal made me laugh and annoyed at the same time. FBI agents simply don’t act like this. With all the humor going on it would have been nice to have another fear of consequence during the story. I never saw his character as a threat, just unneeded comic relief. The same goes for Bobby Cannavale character, Jim Paxton. In Ant-Man 1 he was a real prick, now he’s got jokes? The movie has enough comedy; there wasn’t a need to change his personality.

Ant-Man and The Wasp doesn’t bring anything new to it’s predecessor’s formula, but it does improve it. I enjoyed the creativity that was put into the action scenes and how the film makes you sympathize with Ghost. It’s a change of pace from Infinity War, but also a nice reminder the MCU is brave enough to take on different tones without hurting what has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe profitable. The first end credit scene will make your jaw drop and get you interested in what will happen next. It’s a fun film that would’ve received a higher score if they chose to not go into comedy overload.