Ant Man and the Wasp Review

After the absolutely depressing and soul crushing Avengers Infinity War, Ant Man and the Wasp was a welcome breath of fresh air. Taking place 2 years after the events of Civil War Scott Lang is on house arrest and in a fallout with Hank and Hope Van Dyne after using the Ant Man suit to help Captain America in Civil War. When Scott has a strange dream involving Janet Van Dyne (Hope’s mother) Hank Pym and Hope spring Scott out from house arrest in hopes to use the information in Scott's has head to rescue Janet.

Ant Man and The Wasp is significantly smaller in scope compared to the likes of Black Panther and Thor Ragnarock but we get a much tighter and less bloated adventure which feels much more personal, nobody is trying to save the world or stop an evil megalomaniac. This direction for the film turns out great because there is not a boring moment throughout Ant Man and the Wasp. The plot moves at such a brisk pace and is constantly throwing something cool at us. The film does a great job incorporating the Ant Man powers and the Pym particle in such creative ways that often lead to absolutely hysterical moments. In the first film we got a taste of what Hank uses his tech for other than the suit but in the sequel we get a ton of moments similar to the Tank scene from the original, you never know what to expect.

And thanks to excellent pacing of the plot, the shortage of action scenes compared to the other Marvel movies doesn’t really hinder Ant Man and the Wasp. We get two big action set pieces, one in the beginning of the movie and another at the end, normally this would be a huge negative for me but they are both lengthy and absolutely bonkers. The action scenes in this movie are probably some of the most creative and unique scenes I have seen in any movie. The character’s shrink and grow at a moments notice giving us these amazing perspective shifts that are a sight to behold.

Paul Rudd as Ant Man is as good as you remember from previous films and he is just as funny, if not funnier than before. I can’t express it enough how excellent of a character Scott is. He is a genius but also a total screwball grounding him in a reality filled with larger than life characters making him extremely relatable. His relationship with his daughter is cute as all hell and the scenes they share together are heartwarming to say the least. This time around they leaned more on the slapstick side with Scott having him get slapped around and not throwing down as he did before which is a little disappointing but because of the absolutely badass Hope Van Dyne it’s ultimately forgiven. The Wasp takes up almost as much, if not more, screen time as Ant Man. Evangeline Lilly nails being a hero. She fights like Tony Jaa and its almost artistic in a way how she jumps from mini to full size annihilating everyone is a glorious fashion. Hank also plays a more integral role in the film and doesn’t just stick to the shadows. And of course the Michael Pena return as Luise and is excellent. He is a riot and chews up every scene he is in resulting in side splitting moments.

Like many marvel movies before this the villain is probably the weakest part of this movie. Ghost has excellent motivation but we never spend too much time with her to make her completely sympathetic. She kind of just shows up and wrecks some s**t and leaves but she does a pretty good job helping to move the plot forward and making you care just enough so you stay interested.

Ant Man and the Wasp had me literally smiling the whole way through. There is always something fun happening that constantly kept me engaged and laughing out loud. It might be smaller in scale compared to previous Marvel outing but if we learn anything from this movie its that small doesn’t mean insignificant. And for those wondering Yes it does answer the question of Where was Ant Man at the end of Infinity War.