Film Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Size matters . . .

Ant-Man and the Wasp (12A)

Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer

Director: Peyton Reed

The Plot: Scott Lang (Rudd) has spent the past two years under house arrest for his involvement in Civil War, facing an automatic prison sentence if he leaves his home. Meanwhile, Hope van Dyne (Lilly) and Hank Pym (Douglas) have been forced on the run, wanted by the FBI for Scott's use of their tech. They're grudgingly reunited when Hope - now operating with her own Wasp suit - comes to Scott: they're building a new machine that they hope can help them reach the Quantum Realm and rescue the long-lost Janet van Dyne (Pfeiffer), and need his help to steal a piece of technology to do it. Attempting to stop them is the mysterious young woman Ghost, who has phase-shifting abilities and wants the tech for herself. Scott faces difficult choices if he is to win back Hope's trust and become Ant-Man again, without risking losing his family . . .

Check out the trailer for the film here.

Review: 2015's Ant-Man was a (for many, unexpected) delight that introduced us to yet another likeable set of characters within the MCU, and featured a combination of brilliant special effects and a light tone with plenty of comedy. It's ending promised more, including officially setting up Hope van Dyne as the Wasp, and now Marvel Studios have returned to that world with it's twentieth film Ant-Man and the Wasp. The entire cast has returned, director Peyton Reed is once again in the director's chair, and star Paul Rudd also takes a writing credit on the screenplay as well. The big question is, following the shock waves that Infinity War created earlier this year, can Ant-Man and the Wasp both lift the spirits of audiences and be a worthy sequel? The answer, you won't be surprised to learn, is yes.

Perhaps the biggest question that people were asking, ahead of the film's release, is where exactly does it fit in with the time line surrounding Infinity War? After all, Ant-Man was noticeably absent from it, and I personally was a bit disappointed that this was explained via a rather throwaway line from Falcon who mentions Scott's plea deal. Happily, AM&tW clears this all up and offers a satisfying explanation for everything: the film takes place shortly before Infinity War (and there's a incredibly effective post-credits sting that connects to it that I'll talk about later), and we're given a good explanation as to why Scott chose his house arrest deal, why he's had no contact with Hope and Dr Pym, and why he isn't around when Thanos comes to town. Trust me when I say that by the end of the film, everything makes sense.

The story itself is noticeably different to the first film, and this was intentional. Director Peyton Reed has said that while the first film was essentially one big heist movie, he purposefully wanted this one to feel more like a split between an action movie and romantic comedy. This it definitely does, as while it does feature a heist element to it, the film places far more focus on setting up action set-pieces and Scott and Hope's personal and professional partnership. The romance element, pleasingly, isn't overly mushy and progresses naturally - the attraction between the pair was already established in the first film, remember, so here we get to see them build back up to it in a way that flows nicely. The big theme of the film is choice and consequence - all of the characters either have to make important choices, or are still dealing with the consequences of ones they made before, or both. It allows the film to have a serious aspect to it, as some of these choices have life-or-death consequences, but brilliantly the same light, humorous tone from the first film is retained here and it continues to work really well. The laughs come thick and fast, from both verbal jokes and sight gags (a scene where Scott sneaks into his daughter's school and becomes stuck at the size of a small child is hilarious), and after the bleakness of Infinity War this is exactly what the MCU needed.

Now free from having to set up the characters and explain how Pym's shrinking technology works - although there's still a great deal of techno-babble, prompting Scott to ask "Do you guys just put the word 'Quantum' in front of everything?" - the film goes all-out with the action sequences and we're treated to some fantastic visual effects as a result. Some particular standouts include Hope's first foray into action against a whole cadre of thugs that turns into their first encounter with Ghost, and also the film's climactic car chase across San Francisco as the pair battle both inside and out of various cars and an enlarged Scott uses a truck as a scooter. The fight scenes where Scott and Hope team up together are fantastic, with the both of them fluidly shrinking and enlarging in sync to take out their enemies which looks really good. I was a little disappointed at Hope's new suit - the character's traditional yellow and black costume (which was revealed at the end of Ant-Man) has been replaced with  . . . green? I'm colour blind, I can't tell, but it doesn't look as good. She has her blasters and wings though, and she kicks all kinds of ass, which is what really matters. Scott also has a new suit, a prototype model that malfunctions repeatedly and causes him to get stuck at various sizes, a recurring joke throughout the film. There's lots of other great uses of the shrinking tech in the film (Hank now has a portable building containing his lab that he shrinks down to the size of a small suitcase, for example) and these are often used for great comedic effect - you won't see a Pez dispenser the size of a car being thrown at someone in another film, that's for sure.

The performances from the main cast are all great, across the board. They're certainly helped by that theme of choice and consequence I mentioned earlier, as it allows each of them to have something to grapple with on a personal level as the main story of them racing to rescue Janet from the Quantum Realm progresses. Paul Rudd proves once again that he's a good leading man, and despite being more well known for comedic roles he's more than up to the task for the heavier stuff too: Scott is torn between wanting to fix the rift he's created between himself and Hope and protecting himself, as if he's caught outside of his home being Ant-Man he faces losing his precious daughter Cassie and going to prison. On equal footing to him this time is Evangeline Lilly as Hope, who's wonderful once again, and now getting to wear the Wasp suit and kick some serious ass. Hope was already shown to be a strong character in the first film, and while she spent that one trying to state her case that she should be the one in the suit, when this one kicks off she's already proved her point. Her conflict comes from deciding whether to trust Scott again against her obvious feelings for him, and she's also facing the daunting prospect of getting to see her mother again after thirty years of absence. The two of them together - both their romantic angle and teaming up together professionally - work really well. Michael Peña returns as the brilliant Luis, offering the same comic relief as he did in the first one. This time around he's formed a security company with Scott and their friends Dave and Kurt called "Ex-Con" and he's the only one of them who seems to be serious about it, and also finds himself (terrifyingly) involved in the third act's big set-piece. And yes, he does have one of his fan-favourite exposition sequences, courtesy of a very funny scene where's injected with a truth serum. He stole the first film and he comes very close to doing it here too. Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer are also both great - Douglas gets much more screen time, as Janet (spoilers, she's rescued) doesn't turn up until the end of the film, but he's in much more of a supporting role here and has some withering put-downs for Scott. His reunion with Janet is an emotional one, and Pfeiffer brings a touch of class to the small amount of screen time she gets.

There are some weaknesses to the film, however. Chief amongst them is the villain, or rather the lack of one. The antagonists of the film (the brilliant Walton Goggins as tech-dealer Sonny Burch doesn't count, as he's never a believable threat) are Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, and a former associate of Hank's called Bill Foster, played by Laurence Fishburne. The characters are revealed to be in a very grey area: Ghost (or Ava)'s phase-shifting condition is slowly killing her, painfully, and she needs the same tech that Scott and Hope are after to try and cure herself. Fisher has become Ava's carer and father-figure, trying to use his knowledge to help with a cure. While she proves willing to hurt innocents to get the tech, Fisher refuses to, and ultimately both characters are shown to not really be bad, but just driven to their actions out of desperation. The original Ant-Man had a good villain in Yellowjacket and I honestly think superhero films work best when you have a villain that is clearly out to do harm, regardless of how complex their reasons are for doing so - just look at Killmonger from Black Panther and Thanos himself, two of the best villains Marvel have given us - and I think this film suffers a bit without one. Another weakness is the structure of the story, which feels a bit chaotic in places - each scene feels like a reaction to the previous one, rather than a smooth progressive feel, and while I personally didn't mind this, some viewers may find this noticeable and a bit off-putting.

The biggest issue I have with the film though, is a bit of stupid one to be honest - Hope isn't referred to as the Wasp once. Not once! In a film called Ant-Man and the Wasp, which a big part of is about the two of them pairing up together, she doesn't get called Wasp a single time! It's a really silly oversight and shouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is.

Now, before I wrap things up, I mentioned earlier that the film links itself to Infinity War via the traditional Marvel post-credits sting, and you'd better prepare yourself as it's a heart breaker. Spoilers follow! Having rescued Janet, finished his house arrest and rekindled his relationship with Hope, Scott descends into the Quantum Realm once again, under the guidance of Hope, Hank and Janet, to retrieve some particles to help Ava, and while he's down there . . . Thanos clicks his fingers. The results are shocking, and Scott is left stranded, completely unaware of what's happened. The credits even end with "Ant-Man and the Wasp will return?", just to mess with us even further. Infinity War Part 2 just got even more interesting!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Another excellent film from Marvel that not only acts as a worthy sequel to Ant-Man but provides a welcome light relief after the bleakness of Infinity War. Keeping the same comedic tone as the first film but upping the action, AM&tW delivers lots of laughs, visual spectacle and emotion to boot. The lack of a real villain and the reactionary structure of the story are flaws that keep it from being truly excellent, but this is still essential viewing.