Ant-Man and the Wasp - Mobile Edition

Comics Movie Reviews
Ant-Man and the Wasp
By Hervé St-Louis
July 24, 2018 - 20:49

Studios: Marvel Studios
Writer(s): Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michael Peña, Walter Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Tip Harris, Abby Ryder Fortson, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Laurence Fishburne, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Stan Lee
Directed by: Peyton Reed
Produced by: Kevin Feige
Running Time: 118 minutes
Release Date: 6 July 2018
Rating: PG13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
Distributors: Walt Disney Studios

Retuning home from his adventure in the Avengers’ civil war, Ant-Man is under house-arrest and must remain out of trouble otherwise he will return to prison. But his dalliance with the Avengers have pissed Hank Pym and his daughter Hope who is newest Wasp. Yet, they need him to connect with Janet van Dyne, the original Wasp caught in the microverse. Standing in the way of rescue of Janet, the original Wasp is the Ghost. Will the heroes rescue Janet before the Ghost interferes?

Following the high note and end of Avengers Infinity War, Ant-Man and Wasp had to confront quite a challenge. Viewers did not know much connected this movie would be to the rest of the Avengers’ narrative and that was a problem. It was difficult to enjoy this film knowing it would connect somehow with the larger story. This reminds me of a rule that master director Alfred Hitchcock established about his frequent cameos in his own films. He argued that it had to get out of the way as quickly as possible to allow the audience to focus on the film, not other artefacts. Perhaps this rule should also be extended to Stan Lee’s cameos.

The sense of dread related to Thanos’s Infinity War is only resolved late in the film. Meanwhile everything else seems like a pitiful reprisal of the first Ant-Man film but not much. The formula worked once, and director Peyton Reed did not breach any new territory. To be clear, I enjoyed Ant-Man and Wasp tremendously and laughed a lot but the movie was not ground-breaking or anything worth remembering in a few years. With so many Marvel movies, this is one of those that will feel good but that no-one will be able to describe or say anything particular in the future.

The visual effects and the actions were strong. I like the temporal effect use to depict the Ghost’s powers. A very interesting part of the film which gave it an interesting spin for a super hero film was the car chase in San Francisco. Many of the shots were reminiscent of Bullit but with the added fun of size-changing cars and Giant-Man skateboarding with a truck. This was imaginative and made a simple and forgettable plot easier to watch.

Rating: 7/10