Movie Name: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Director: Peyton Reed
Producer: Kevin Feige and Stephen Broussard
Written: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari
Release Date: July 6th, 2018
Budget: $162 Million
Box Office: $198.3 Million (as of the writing of this review)
Introduction
I always keep saying that I have superhero fatigue and that there are too many of these types of movies being released in a year. However, for me Ant-Man is slightly different. This is not a superhero that I have followed closely with the years. So I am not too familiar with the subject matter and I discover the story as I go along. Unlike the other Marvel movies where I kind of know where they are going, this one is a mystery for me.
Let us see how this movie fares.
Story
For those who do not know who Ant-Man is. Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) is Ant-Man. He is a former systems engineer that also is a petty criminal. Scott Lang acquires a suit that makes him shrink. In addition to making him smaller, like an ant, his strength is also increased. He is then trained by Hope (played by Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas). The first movie is essentially an introductory movie into Ant-Man and it is worth the watch.
Now forward to the second instalment. It takes place after the Avengers: Infinity War movie. Scott Lang is under house arrest after helping out the Avengers and getting caught. As for Hank Pym and Hope, they are technically fugitives and the FBI are still looking for them.
Scott has only a few days before me can officially leave the house and be on probation. While he was taking a bath, he has a vision and he is not sure what he saw but knew it felt real. He reaches out to Hank Pym and Hope comes and gets him as they need the message that was received by Scott.
The main plot is that Hope's mom Janet was trying to stop a rocket with Hank as the original Ant-Man and Wasp. However, in order to stop the rocket, Janet needed to go into a sub atomic level called the Quantum Realm. Unfortunately, she was not able to come back. Hope had always believed that her mother was dead and Hank thought this as well. However this changed when Scott received the "telepathic" vision.
The rest of the movie is essentially trying to get back to this realm and get back Janet. However, in the meantime we meet a new character / villain and her name is Ghost aka Ava Starr (played by Hannah John-Kamen). Due to a lab malfunction, she has a condition that is deteriorating and she is essentially dying due to molecular instability. The only way to help her would be to open a portal to the Quantum Realm.
There are a few other plot points but I think this gives you a good base without giving too much of the movie.
Bottomline
This is the 20th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is insane how many movies that have been released. I did like the original Ant-Man and I enjoyed this one as well. Although some people such as myself are tired of the Marvel formula, they are still very well done.
I think that this movie is a good action movie. However, it does not have the grandeur of the other Marvel movies such as Avengers. I guess that is to be expected as not all movies can be like Avengers: Infinity War. If you are walking in wanting something as big or bigger, you may be disappointed.
The main villain in this movie is played very well and is introduced well. However, the small time criminals trying to catch the lab were annoying and did not add that much value. It was good for a few laughs but it could have been left on the cutting room floor.
I think all the actors played their parts well. I liked Ghost as she was a good addition to the story. Michael Douglas looked healthier than in the first one. I think when the first movie was filmed he had just come off his cancer treatment or throat cancer.
There was one part of the movie that I was not convinced about.
At the beginning of the movie Hank Pym and Hope are very cold to Scott Lang with reason. However as the movie progresses as you would expect, he grows on them again until he is back in their good graces. I just feel that evolution is not fully earned. It felt like Scott Lang's charm was all that he needed.
This is just fun movie to go watch. There are a few parts where it could have been done better but there is enough here to keep people's attention. There is a good mix of humour and action.
So in the end I enjoyed it and I would recommend it for a movie you want to forget about life for a few hours.
Rating: 4.25 Ants out of 5
Did you like the movie? How off base am I? Let me know below.
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