REVIEWS
Ant-Man and the Wasp (12A) If you were wondering where Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man was when the Avengers were trying to stop Thanos from wiping out the universe, this solid sequel has all the answers.
And this time around the diminutive superhero has a partner in crime with Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp sharing the limelight — the first female character to feature in the title of a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) flick.
The first Ant-Man was a cracking caper firmly rooted within the heist movie genre and while much of what made that film work is present and correct here, there’s no escaping that this is an inferior follow-up.
Bar Rudd himself, none of the original’s credited writers return, with four newbies contributing to the script, but Peyton Reed is back in the director’s chair.
This sequel’s strength is its comedy; whether it’s the playful banter between Rudd and Lilly, Michael Douglas’ (Hank Pym) grouchiness, Michael Pena (Luis), T.I. (Dave) and David Dastmalchian’s (Kurt) unorthodox trio or Randall Park’s (Woo) inquisitive FBI agent.
Its biggest failure is a sense of true life-ordeath peril — especially coming off the back of Infinity War — and some of the MCU’s weakest villains to date.
Walton Goggins’ (Sonny Burch) oily businessman doesn’t cut it at all, much like his Tomb Raider reboot baddie, and while Hannah