Ant-Man and the Wasp looks at the smaller side of the Marvel Universe
Ant-Man and The Wasp is only the second installment into the Ant-Man franchise but in the wider scope of Marvel properties it takes the 20th spot in the universe.
Now 20 is a large number, especially when talking about movie franchise. By this point in time mostly everything has been done. We just had the culmination of 10 years of these films in the past installment. We have gone to the past several times, to futuristic countries, to outer space, and we have faced universe-threatening events time after time.
Due to this, Ant-Man’s sequel had some very specific tasks to accomplish: It had to fit into the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe framework and deliver on what the audience has loved for 19 previous films while also being innovative and new but bringing things to a smaller scope (no pun intended).
In the past Ant-Man has served as a sort of “pallet-cleanser” to a much larger event, showing that a smaller narrative can be just as entertaining as a universal threat-level one. This is what Ant-Man and the Wasp achieve once again, focusing on one individual struggling for survival, blurring the lines of morality, instead of a grand world-ending conquest. This film is fun, humorous and lighttoned, a perfect countermeasure to what came before.
This installment takes place before and during the events of the past Marvel movie Avengers: Infinity War, but it deals with extremely distinct problems and situations. Having lost his wife in an unfortunate incident to the unescapable quantum realm, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) finds revived confidence in carrying out a rescue. With the help of Hope, his daughter (Evangeline Lilly), Hank attempts to create a shrinking tunnel to reduce himself to the necessary size to find his wife.
Encumbered with some problems of his own as well as crucial information on how to carry out the rescue Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) joins the Pym and Hope. Throughout the way, the group faces several complications, both physical and emotional, and ultimately finds themselves at odds with an individual who knows quite a bit about what they are after.
The story is easy to follow, except for the fact that it many times heavily depends on past films. This crutch is used quite frequently making the film by no means a self-contained or good standalone story.
Though this film is maybe not as memorable as the first AntMan, it manages to deliver on most of the areas that made the first so outstanding. The family themes woven into the first Ant-Man are also present here. The parent/children relationships are very well-developed and strongly displayed whether it was Hope with her parents or Scott Lang with his daughter. The addition of family themes gives relatable motives to our characters while also keeping them grounded.
In most cases, exposition or narration is very detrimental to a film as it demonstrates an inability to explain circumstances purely through the plot. However, when it comes to Ant-Man and the Wasp, exposition helps the movie shine. The great work by the writers of Michael Pena’s character, Luis, has helped the franchise achieve wide recognition and relevance. There is a very well balanced portion of action and comedy, enough of both to keep you invested and laughing. There are some hints of music here and there, which make a fun reference for any Smiths fan.
The concoction of all of these things, plus the acting of the cast and direction of Peyton Reed, into a two-hour, big-screen narrative turned out to be quite fun and entertaining.