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| Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) |
I mentioned that this film is really a heist movie. Well, that was half right. It's half heist movie, half rescue mission, but notice that I don't use the phrase 'superhero movie' here. Because it's not. It's a heist/rescue movie that just so happens to have superheroes in it. And, really, after 20 MCU movies, this is probably the best thing about this film. One of the big strengths of the MCU is that they're able to adapt multiple different genres into their movies, and when they do, those end up being the most unique. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a spy thriller, Guardians of the Galaxy is a space opera, Spider-Man: Homecoming was a teenage coming-of-age story, and the same thing applies to this film. That's not to say the superhero stuff isn't noteworthy, of course it is, but the fact that the MCU is able to go multi-genre like this is what's going to give it longevity long after the current phase ends. People are already getting a little sick of the traditional Marvel formula (I'm not, but some people are), so the fact that they're able to switch things up both in terms of genre in a film like this, themes in a film like Black Panther and tone in a film like Avengers: Infinity War is a sign of how confident Marvel have become with their story-telling. The three films Marvel have given us this year are an indication of Marvel's range and the fact that all of them were excellent shows us their staying power.
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| Evangeline Lilly as Janet van Dyne and Paul Rudd as Scott Lang |
Don't get me wrong, though. When it needs to be a superhero movie, it's extremely entertaining. The action scenes are superb, and they take advantage of every side of Ant-Man and the Wasp's abilities to give us some really unique set pieces. And I do mean every side. We get the shrinking, the making other objects grow bigger, the ant-control, which is honestly way more impressive here than it was in the first movie. We even get a lot of scenes with Scott as Giant-Man after getting a taste of it in Civil War, and all of that is really great too. The shrinking powers these two have are really the most exciting to watch out of any of the Marvel heroes, and the macro-photography for when they're tiny is still really impressive stuff, but it's just as impressive when Scott is Giant-Man. In fact, the visuals all-round are really great stuff. I love how they brought the villain to life visually, and we'll get to her later, but the way she was constantly flickering in and out of form was very impressive. I don't really have a segue into this, so I'll just say it here: the comedy in this movie is top-notch. After Thor: Ragnarok, this might just be the funniest Marvel film, though it close with the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
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| Michael Pena as Luis |
The cast is sensational. I really don't have any other words for them. Just fantastic all-round. Paul Rudd is just as great as he's always been, and he continues to prove that there was no other cast for Ant-Man. Evangeline Lilly is just as good in her enhanced role, and the chemistry between the two is pitch perfect, which helps to sell the romance on them a little better, which was one of the things about the original that wasn't quite there. Michael Pena is hilarious, just as he was in the original, and Harris and Dastmalchian still work very well off him, leading to some hilarious non-sequiturs. Michael Douglas is still absolutely flawless as Hank Pym, and I'm so happy he was given more to do here, not that he was underused in the first film, but here he's given more range, which I'm all for. I'm also ecstatic that they found a suitable match for him in the form of Michelle Pfeiffer. She's not in the film for long, but when she's there, she's brilliant. Just as Rudd and Lily's chemistry works, Douglas and Pfeiffer's chemistry is 100% perfect. I have no issues believing these two have been married for 30+ years. It's unfeasible at this point, but if you can give me a standalone movie focusing specifically on Michael Douglas and Michelle Pfeiffer, I'd watch that movie 'til the day I die.
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| Michael Douglas as Hank Pym |
And now, we need to talk about everyone's favourite punching-bag of any Marvel movie: the villain. We've had two incredibly strong villains this year, in the form of Michael B. Jordan's Killmonger and Josh Brolin's Thanos, which is why I feel like everyone's going to dislike the villain we got in this movie, but while she doesn't quite rise to the heights of the other villains we've had this year, I still thought she was really good. It's a more personal motivation for this villain, which I'm not against. One of the most compelling attributes a villain can have for me is desperation, and they leant into this angle just enough that it made her really sympathetic in places, which is only aided by the fact that her back-story is genuinely sad. I have no problem understanding her motivations or actions throughout the film. Not to mention, she's acted well by Hannah John-Kamen, and her abilities are really impressive, not just visually, but in the action as well. I feel like the only real let-down for her character was in how they ended her story. I just felt that it was a little too clean, and the phrase 'deus ex machina' comes to mind. She's not a huge focus, so it's not that big a deal, but I feel like it could have been a little stronger as a conclusion.
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| Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Scott |
In summary, Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) was a fantastically entertaining time and I'm sure to return to this again and again. Time will tell where it ranks amongst the other MCU films, but I can say confidently that it ranks higher than the original Ant-Man, and given how much I loved the first Ant-Man, that should tell you all you need to know. 9/10.
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