THE EMPIRE
Straight on the heels of probably the darkest and most depressing Marvel offering that was Avengers: Infinity war we have a close prequel with Ant-Man and the Wasp.
After Director Edgar Wright dropped out of 2015’s Ant-Man movie I didn’t really have high hopes, but what we got was ultimately a fun light hearted superhero movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp is no different.
A lot of the best bits of Ant-Man definitely had Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim, Baby Driver) all over it, but it did feel it was lacking in his absence.
Ant-Man and the Wasp tries to capture some of the fun of the first movie and succeeds in some areas but fails in others.
The Story
Ant-Man and the Wasp picks up just before the events of Avengers: Infinity War (for reasons that should be obvious). The storyline is a lower level one without the grand scale of Infinity war which is actually a bit of a relief and works well for it.
We have Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) under house arrest for his part in Captain America: Civil War and his grumpy mentor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) are on the run because of it.
Quickly they are reunited to work together but there are a bunch of trust issues hanging in the air.
Michael Pena delivers another high energy performance and does an extended version of his telling a story bit from the previous Ant-Man.
Michael Douglas is just wonderful to watch as he brings such a presence to whatever he is in, even better he gets to be an antagonist to Rudd for most of the movie.
The plot is a bit of a tie in to the events of the previous movie but you can watch this as a stand-alone without feeling you are missing much.
The problems
Ant-Man and the Wasp, really took a long time to get going, the first half did drag for me and some of the jokes and banter just fell flat until the action set pieces kicked in later.
It does suffer from a bit of a weak villain of the week, there is a bit of character motivation but it doesn’t quite land.
The movie not connecting with me could have been the fault of the row of 8-10 year old girls sitting behind that would not stop talking throughout the movie causing other cinemagoers to yell at them to STFU.
But there definitely was a feeling this movie could have been tightened up a lot more in the comedy department.
Thor Ragnarok it’s not.
The Great Stuff
Once the movie really gets going there is a fantastic action sequence with a game of hot potato with 4 different factions all after the same thing.
The visual effects are superb and the sight gags of small things being huge and huge things becoming small (insert innuendo here) never gets tired.
The tripped out homage to The Fantastic Voyage within the quantum realm is some quality eye candy.
The After Credits
There is a mid credits and after credits scene that you HAVE to watch if you were only here to get an idea of how it fits into the Avengers: Infinity War this is what you came for and hints at Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man importance in the next film.
Although the credits were pretty fantastic and well worth watching with scenes from the movie as model dioramas.
There is an after credits scene which is worth a look too but you don’t miss anything if you skip it (it was in the trailer!?)
Overall a wafer thin mint for desert after the emotional meltdown that was Infinity War.
You’ll enjoy it if you like:
The previous Ant-Man.
Anything and everything Marvel.
Some light entertainment.
Skip it if you:
Are easily bored.
Like your superhero stories epic.
Are an 8-10 year old girl.
In Cinemas Now
Wide Release
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