Film Review: Ant Man and the Wasp

Check out our review of this refreshingly easy-going superhero comedy

After Avengers: Infinity War delivered the largest ensemble superhero movie ever, with devastatingly high stakes, there’s something novel about returning to the world of Ant-Man, where the jokes come thick and fast, and where tiny Hello Kitty Pez dispensers become deadly weapons. The task here isn’t to defend humanity across worlds and galaxies, it’s to survive the claustrophobia of house arrest. We’ve gone from epically big to easy-going and small, and just in time.

Set before the fateful click of Infinity War, Ant-Man aka Scott (Paul Rudd), has a few more days of house arrest to get through; a punishment for his role in the Civil War shenanigans. He’s determined to behave in order to get his life back, but Hank Pim (Michael Douglas) and his daughter Hope (Evangeline Lilly) have something else in mind. Inspired by Scott’s survival of the Quantum Realm in the last film, they’re planning a sub-microscopic mission to try and rescue the original Wasp – Hope’s mother, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), who was lost to the realm 30 years ago.
The addition of Hope’s ultra-capable Wasp, along with another ethereal, molecule-shifting character, Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and shrinking cars and buildings adds up to some rip-roaring action sequences. Tiny vans zip through San Francisco’s winding streets, the Wasp battles ethereal forces, and Ant-Man turns gargantuan. Meanwhile, Michael Pena’s charming and excitable Luis provides constant rapid-fire comedy.

But underneath the fun is a noticeably weak narrative foundation. Walton Goggins plays an utterly generic, suit-clad, technology-stealing villain, whose henchmen are merely an excuse for a car chase with expendables. Meanwhile the Quantum Realm plot has gaping holes and fails to pack the necessary emotional punch.

An enjoyable distraction, but likely to make an ant-sized impact on your memory.

3/5 Stars

Directed by Peyton Reed.
Starring Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Pfeiffer.
118 mins.
In cinemas now.