Plenty of buzz
Does “Ant-Man and the Wasp” live up to the hype? Also: Read about The Wasp’s origins in comics.
PG-13 1:58
In the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” weighs in as a small and lightweight adventure, and not just because its heroes hang out with and shrink down to the size of insects.
Rather, the follow-up to 2015’s comedic introduction “Ant-Man” is sort of the movie equivalent of a palate cleanser, a cool, sweet and welcome scoop of sorbet after the massive dollop of heavy casualties and interplanetary destruction of spring’s “Avengers: Infinity War.”
But the two movies are definitely on the same MCU menu, opening with security expert and former crusading cat burglar Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and his spunky daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) playing an elaborate pretend version of his Ant-Man adventures. It’s the closest he’s come to any superhero activities in the past two years, since he’s been on house arrest after opting to side against the government and with Captain America in “Civil War.”
While he’s been under the close watch of the FBI’s awkward Agent Woo (Randall Park), Scott has forged a much happier relationship with Cassie’s protective mom and stepdad (Judy Greer and Bobby Cannavale). He also has been working with his ex-con buddies Luis (the hilarious Michael Pena), Dave (Tip “T.I.” Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian) to start their own security consulting business.
But Scott hasn’t had any contact from his former partners in size-shifting hero work. Since they provided the technology that Scott used to shrink and grow giant in “Civil War,” brilliant scientist and original Ant-Man Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his whip-smart business executive daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) also were targeted by federal agents and forced to go on the run.
After thoroughly messing up their lives with no headsup, Scott gives the angry father-daughter duo a wide berth until he experiences a vivid flashback to his time in the quantum realm, including a mental message from Hope’s long-lost mother, Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), who was the original Wasp to Hank’s Ant-Man. Hank, Hope and their brigade of trained ants soon swoop in, and turnabout being fair play, embroil Scott in their plan to build a quantum tunnel and launch a rescue mission to save Janet from the eye-popping microscopic world where she’s been trapped since the Cold War.
Their rescue operation is complicated by a virtually untouchable, ornately costumed mystery woman (Hannah John-Kamen), who can phase through anything solid, and a Southern-fried black-market tech dealer (Walter Goggins), who are both determined to steal Hank’s new lab — which can be dramatically travel-sized for convenient moving and storage − and use the quantum tunnel for their own devices.
The sequel also introduces Hank’s former partner and fellow size-shifter Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne), who was Black Goliath in the comics.
Part of what makes the Marvel movies perpetually entertaining is that each film and film series within the wider franchise has its own tone and genre. With its incredible shrinking man premise and Rudd’s immense talents, the “Ant-Man” movies have become the MCU’s designated adventure comedies. Although the sequel’s script isn’t as clever as its forerunner and depends too much on bumbling slapstick, “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is often laugh-out-loud hilarious, while still giving the story the requisite emotional heft and action sequences. Although he hasn’t yet figured out how to leverage the extensive acting talent at his disposal, director Peyton Reed does a better job in this outing with maximizing the fun factor in the sudden size changes.
Plus, Pena continues to steal the show with his motormouth antics, Douglas’ knack for delivering oneliners remains untarnished, and Rudd and Lilly boast considerable chemistry. “Ant-Man and the Wasp” is the first Marvel movie to have a woman character as the clear colead, and Lilly certainly boasts the superheroic skills and charisma to wear the Wasp’s wings.
Although the mid-credits and post-credits stingers dramatically tie the new release to the events of “Infinity War,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp” offers a refreshing reminder that there’s room for comic-book movies that are both high-stakes universe-altering dramas and lighthearted, more compact adventures.
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Hannah JohnKamen, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Pena.
— Brandy McDonnell,
The Oklahoman