Both Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War both completely changed the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No one was safe from the events of Civil War. Having to pick a side affected many relationships, with every single hero having to suffer consequences of their actions in some form.
Following the events of Civil War, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has been under house arrest for two years after the events in Berlin. He’s trying to improve his life by starting a new security company while spending more time with his daughter. At the start of the film, we see Scott and Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) playing together until a moment where Scott’s foot goes through a fence, which prompts FBI agents including Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) to search his home. We learn that Scott Lang only has a few more days left before his house arrest is over, and if he breaks it, he will be thrown in jail for a long time.
Ant-Man & The Wasp is a great entry in the MCU not because it’s the best movie but instead is a movie that does something completely different from the rest and does it well. While Scott Lang may be the main character, this movie serves better as an origin plot for Wasp as it mainly focuses on Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who are trying to save Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). Janet has been lost in the sub-atomic Quantum Realm, and their only lead to saving her is Scott after he had a vision of Janet and Hope playing a game of hide-and-seek when Hope was a little girl. The biggest issue is that Scott has not had contact with either of the two since Berlin, where he took Dr. Hank Pym’s Ant-Man suit without permission.
This is the first MCU movie not to feature a major villain with a goal like setting out to destroy the world or trying to make world a better place by causing chaos. I actually liked this concept because it hits all the main parts and shows more depth to all of the central characters, delving into more of their relationships and helping further expand what is to come. Laurence Fishburne’s portrayal as Bill Foster is quite interesting as the character has a past with Dr. Hank Pym as his previous assistant working together on “Project Goliath,” where he has was able to grow large. A funny point in the film is where Foster and Scott talk about how big they have both gotten, until they are interrupted by Hope who asks if they are done comparing sizes.
The antagonist for the film is “Ghost” (Hannah John-Kamen), a woman who has the ability to phase through objects and seems immune to physical attacks. While the character isn’t bad by any means, she doesn’t exactly serve too much of a purpose other than giving Ant-Man and Wasp someone to face off against and help further the story. My only issue was the last two Marvel films focused on villains you could try and relate to (Killmonger and Thanos), so doing it a third time in a row isn’t ideal in my opinion. However, I didn’t dislike Ghost because of this.
Overall, I was very impressed with the film. It’s not very serious until the last half and takes liberty by adding well-placed jokes and gags to keep it fun and interesting. I like Guardians of the Galaxy because it’s silly and humorous with some spectacular action sequences. I wasn’t too much of a fan of all the forced jokes in Thor, but liked I the story for Ant-Man & The Wasp. The film does a great job creating a perfect blend of both story and comedy, which included showing how Scott is his own worst enemy. He has good intentions, especially when it comes to making his daughter happy, but he doesn’t think everything through. Also, his actions have some pretty grave consequences, which makes Hope the perfect partner to bring him some balance and stability in his life.
There were many memorable moments in this film. Something I can say about every MCU film, besides being filled with great actors who bring these characters to life, are that they have spectacular special effects, and this one one is no exception. In one scene we see a giant ant taking over the role of Scott while he is under house arrest, playing drums and taking a bath. We see a giant building shrink and being carried around like a suitcase and even various vehicles carried around in a Matchbox carrying case, being used and in a few scenes growing and shrinking in a matter of seconds as Wasp and Luis are chased around San Francisco.
Ant-Man & The Wasp is a great movie to watch and enjoy as it has something to keep everyone entertained. It’s a great follow up to Avengers: Infinity War, which was released two months ago, being more light-hearted and funny, while further developing more of the characters we’ve come to enjoy watching.
Nuke the Fridge Score: 8.5 out of 10
Wasp movie