ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
The Diminutive Duo
released 3 august 12a | 118 minutes Director Peyton reed Cast Paul rudd, evangeline lilly, Michael douglas, Michael Peña
After the planet-hopping emotional gut punch of Avengers: Infinity War, it’s almost a relief to scale things down to the personal stakes and lightweight feel of the Ant-Man world. In keeping with the tone of the first movie, Ant-Man And The Wasp delivers silly banter, much growing-andshrinking action (including a great sequence set in a school) and a keen sense of what it needs to be.
Though it might not always display the visual panache of the original (with its leftover Edgar Wright influences), the sequel does keep things interesting, finding new ways to use Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and, getting her long-deserved focus, Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and her tech-based powers. Hope takes centre stage here, kicking ass on a level Scott can only dream about.
The story picks up after Captain America: Civil War, with Scott under house arrest for his actions in Germany, which also left him on the outs with Hope and her father Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) for taking the Ant-Man suit with him, and putting them in peril from the authorities. They’re on the run, living and working in a building that gives new meaning to the phrase “portable lab”. Scott, meanwhile, spends his sentence entertaining daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) and trying to steer clear of all thoughts of hero stuff. Yet he’s bothered by visions of the Quantum Realm he survived at the end of the first film, and specifically Janet Van Dyne (now embodied by a slightly underused Michelle Pfeiffer). So, of course events conspire to bring them all back together, with much use of shrunken cars, stolen office blocks and Scott sometimes becoming Giant-Man. The inventiveness continues with a dynamic, size-shifting car chase, various flying ants (though none offer the impact of Anthony from last time) and lots of talk of quantum tunnels.
If there’s a problem with the new film, it’s that the villains really don’t pop. Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost has a few good moments and an interesting backstory, but rarely makes much of an impact. Walton Goggins’s Sonny Burch, meanwhile, registers even less. He’s smooth and his gang offers one or two laughs (particularly when interacting with Michael Peña’s Luis), but he’s not exactly a threatening presence, nor does he do anything memorable.
Yet this is still a confident, thoroughly entertaining romp, which doesn’t need to rely on the rest of the MCU (any necessary information about the Sokovia Accords or whatever is helpfully provided by Randall Park’s FBI agent Woo, tasked with monitoring Scott). Rudd is typically charming and Lilly embraces the chance to do more this time around, ably backed up by Douglas’s gruff genius. Good things, then, still come in small packages. James White
Rudd’s seven-year-old is a fan. “All she does is draw pictures of Ant-Man. It’s the sweetest thing in the world.” Aw.