Saturday, July 7, 2018

Film Review - Ant Man and the Wasp (2018)

Ant Man and the Wasp is the 20th Marvel Studios production and the first film to come after April’s Avengers: Infinity War but this movie takes place before that film and after 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest for his actions during that film meanwhile Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) may have found a way to retrieve their mother Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm but others like Ghost (Hannah John Kamen) want the Quantum technology for themselves.

Ant Man and the Wasp works best when it focuses on the personal story of Scott, Hope and Hank trying to bring Janet home as that story was the most interesting to me as it felt focused, had a clear sense of direction and worked with returning director Peyton Reed’s skill in directing actors and comedy moments as Paul Rudd in particular is a real delight in this movie getting many of the films best comedic moments as he plays it mostly straight and takes it in stride whereas the rest of the humour worked okay but mostly just felt like the film pressing stop so it can play a comedy routine.

As for the effects well now that Marvel Studios is willing to spend more than 50 cents in every dollar on its special effects we get a much better look at the Quantum Realm this time and it looks really good on a big cinema screen and there are some great miniaturization and giant man effects this time and Reed does these scenes okay but it really isn’t his strength and as great as it was to see the Quantum Realm it feels like he’s doing those scenes because he has to so it can be used next year as rumoured in Avengers 4.

But where this film really falls over is its villains and after Josh Brolin was so very very good as Almighty Thanos in Infinity War Marvel Studios once again drops the ball with its villains and while Ms Kamen does a good job as Ghost she just felt like a bad person that had to be there because these movies need a bad person to fight the heroes and every time she came on screen I just kept thinking “Piss Off Ghost” from Thor: Ragnarok last year.

And once again Walton Goggins is left with an under developed villain to work with and it really bothers me as he was great in the Hateful Eight in 2016 and since then he’s been wasted both here and in Tomb Raider and if he had been the main villain and the corporate intrigue had been better developed instead of giving a lot of that time to Ghost then this movie might have worked better I feel.

And so that was Ant Man and the Wasp and its okay but its not one of Marvel Studios best movies and really only exists to fill that Civil War-Infinity War gap and introduce the Quantum Realm to the audience for Avengers 4 but it has some good effects and humour from Paul Rudd and a great mid credits scene so it is worth seeing, 2 out of 5.

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