Ant-man and the wasp
Insects appeal…
Is it another miniature hero, or a giant disappointment?
Back in 2015, Ant-Man was a small hero, with little expectation on his shoulders. Based on one of the sillier-sounding characters from the comics (“I thought they had run out of characters and now they were making them up,” said Evangeline Lilly when first offered the script), it also suffered production problems as original director Edgar Wright departed, replaced at the 11th hour by Peyton Reed.
You’d have been forgiven for going in with microscopic hopes. But the film turned out to be one of Marvel’s most fun origin stories, with a perfect hangdog (ant-y) hero in Paul Rudd’s criminal turned, well, criminal
(but with cool tech and a righteous mission), Scott Lang.
The scaled-down action brought a new flavour to screen superpowers. Ant-Man has since featured in Civil War, where he made a BIG impact on the side of his idol Captain America, but he was nowhere to be seen in this year’s apocalyptic epic, Avengers: Infinity War, apparently on house arrest for involvement in the Sokovia Accords-contravening dust-up in Germany. Ant-Man And The Wasp is here to show what Scott was up to during that time, and also to offer something of a respite after the heaviosity of the game-changingly ambitious Infinity War, acting as a reminder of just how fun a light, lean standalone MCU movie can be.
It’s more an entertaining detour than a leap forward for the universe. A brief prologue recaps that the original Wasp, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) is lost in the Quantum Realm; years pass, and her husband (and original Ant-Man) Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) thinks he’s found a way to fish her out of there. After that, we’re back in ‘present day’ (but clearly before Thanos has done his business), with ankle-tagged Lang, who’s serving out the final days of his two years of house arrest.
Paul wonder
His involvement in the Cap vs Iron Man rumpus means he’s banned from contacting Hank or his daughter Hope (Lilly), who are on the run for their loose connection (they designed the tech Scott was using, after all). A freaky dream featuring Janet sets the plot in motion, which finds Hank and Hope, the FBI, a shady collective of black-market weapons dealers (led by Walton Goggins’ enjoyably oily Sonny Burch) and the mysterious Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) crossing paths on the hunt for various MacGuffins.
For all the high-tech (and mostly nonsensical) science on show, this is a streamlined plot as far as superhero movies go, which is all the better for letting comedy come to the fore. This time directing from the get-go, Reed again proves as confident a hand on the action as the (considerable) laughs. Rudd’s comic chops and innate likeability are weaponised throughout – when he’s on screen, a charming quip is never far away. Like Robert
‘THRILLING AND FUNNY, THIS IS A BLAST OF PURE POPCORN FUN’
Downey Jr., he’s as fun out of the suit as in it. Michael Peña’s Luis returns to steal every scene he’s in, reprising one of his best moments from the first film in AMATW’s standout gutbuster. Randall Park is also hilarious as the FBI suit on Scott’s case.
LILLY WHIZZ
With Rudd on the comedy, Lilly shines as the sharp, resourceful half of the duo as Wasp MKII. Gifted a super-suit with wings and blasters, she capably handles the film’s more serious smackdowns, and makes a smart foil to Scott’s everyman brand of heroism.
As far as Marvel villains go, Ghost ranks somewhere in the middle. Her ‘phasing’ power looks cool but is ill-defined. Still, John-Kamen manages to invest her with some pathos, despite a slightly overcomplicated backstory that feels like it could have been pared down for greater impact. It’s a plot thread that feels woolly where the rest of the film has so much zip. To say too much about Pfeiffer’s involvement would veer into spoiler territory, but needless to say she invests her minimal screentime with the weight you’d expect from a star of her standing.
There’s still a lot of fun to be had with the scale-shifting set-pieces. Buildings and cars are miniaturised for some cracking sight gags, and there’s plenty of mileage to be had from a problem Scott has with a malfunctioning suit.
The action, meanwhile, hits its dizzy peak with a car chase through San Francisco’s sloping streets that’s thrilling and funny in equal measure. Consistently entertaining, AMATW is a blast of pure popcorn fun, and something of a palate cleanser after the weightier likes of Black Panther and Infinity War. As ever, stick around for the two end-credit stings: one’s a throwaway gag, but the other is absolutely crucial… Matt Maytum
THE VERDICT
With inventive action and a gag-rate that tops most comedies, this is slick entertainment. Rudd and Lilly make a winning double act.