Goofy good fun in ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’
Where were we when we last left the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Oh yeah. That happened, in “Avengers: Infinity War.” You could fit the people who haven’t seen that film into the back seat of a Prius, but just in case, we’ll leave it at this: Some serious business happened. Unfinished, too. So naturally all eyes are on “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” the next Marvel movie in the seemingly infinite production line. What can we learn about the events of “Infinity War” from this film?
Not much, really, and that’s a good thing. It would be inaccurate to say that the film exists completely outside the current timeline — as always, stick around for the post-credit scenes —
but it’s not saddled by it. Much like “AntMan,” it’s a kind of pressure-relief valve, coasting on Paul Rudd’s goofy charm. That’s more on display than in the first film; returning director Peyton Reed manages not to shrink Rudd’s appeal when he shrinks his character.
Plus, there’s a good bit of full-size Rudd in this film. That’s because his character, Scott Lang, is finishing up two years of house arrest following the events depicted in “Captain America: Civil War” (yes, they really do expect you to keep up with everything that’s gone before). He’s busying himself playing with his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), and planning a security company with former prison cellmate Luis (Michael Peña).
And then Scott has a dream. It involves Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), wife of Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas); they were the original Wasp and Ant-Man back in the day. She shrunk and went into the Quantum Realm 30 years ago and hasn’t been heard from since. But Hank and his daughter, Hope (Evangeline Lilly), think they’re close to figuring out how to extract her. Scott’s dream may be the key to the science that no one but Hank, Janet and Hope understands.
Hank and Hope are buying blackmarket technology from sleazy Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins, doing his Walton Goggins thing). No good can come of that, says anyone who has ever seen a movie.
But someone else wants the technology, too, for different reasons: Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). Her story gives the film a hint of real feeling. She’s desperate, and you can’t blame her.
Laurence Fishburne shows up as a long-ago rival of Hank’s. But, Ghost’s predicament aside, most of the story exists as a vehicle into which Reed, more comfortable with the scope of a film like this this time around, can jam as many gags, jokes and funny set pieces as possible.
There’s some good stuff here. Rudd is basically the ditzy blonde of a ‘50s movie, while Lilly is the more-serious, much-smarter character (at times a little too serious, but they still have good chemistry together). They’re got a pretty good handle on how to shrink and grow any object at a moment’s notice now, and if you don’t laugh out loud at the car-chase scenes in which giant evil SUVs are suddenly chasing a Hot Wheels through the streets of San Francisco, well, your loss.
Also, truth serum: never not funny. Never.
We’ll get back to the fight against Thanos soon enough. Enthusiasts can resume arguing over various aspects of Marvel minutiae then. For now, “AntMan and the Wasp” is a nice break. And couldn’t we all use one?