Ant-Man and The Wasp

After the emotionally devastating Avengers: Infinity War, going into the more comedic antics of Ant-Man and The Wasp was a refreshing piece of lightweight fun. The film reunites all the cast members from the first film for this new outing that while not as much fun as the first film, still remains an enjoyable and fun superhero outing

Scott Lang (played by Paul Rudd) has been confined to his house on house arrest for the past two years due to his involvement in the events of Captain America: Civil War. He is days away from the end of his sentence when Hope (played by Evangeline Lilly) and her father, Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas), re-enter his life thinking he may hold the key to finding Hank's wife and Hope's mother, Janet (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), who has been trapped in the Quantum Realm for the past 30 years. Also new on the scene is a new baddie, known as Ghost (played by Hannah John-Green), who is after Hank and Hope to get some technology she needs to hopefully fix her constantly phasing nature from solid to not and is willing to do whatever it takes to get it. If that wasn't enough, they also have a shady dealer Sonny Burch (played by Walton Goggins) on their trail, wanting the Pym technologies for his own nefarious purposes. On top of all of that, Scott is also trying to keep off the radar of Detective Jimmy Woo (played by Randall Park), lest he find out Scott is not actually at home and therefore jeopardizing his chances of release so he can spend more time with his daughter Cassie (played by Abby Ryder Fortson). 

Director Peyton Reed returns to the director's chair to man this sequel, working from a script from a total of five writers, including Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari and Paul Rudd himself. Within that group, they managed to craft a film that is reasonably entertaining with a few nice flourishes I liked in the choices of villains and how they portrayed them. At the same time, it still lacks that same spark the original film had. I can only presume that is because of the noticeable lack of Edgar Wright's contributions that the first film retained, despite him having left that project due to creative differences. That's not to say the film is terrible by any means, but that it lacks the same energy the first film had. Still, the film does come up with some novel touches. They continue Marvel's trend with a sympathetic and understandable villain in Ghost, whose actions are driven by a desperate need to fix her condition. Although, it did occur to me as I was watching the film that if she just approached Hope and Hank and asked for their help, they probably would. But extreme pain probably doesn't make someone think entirely clearly. The film also throws in Walton Goggins character just so there is a more traditional baddie to throw a wrench into the works for Scott, Hope and Hank. And then addition to that, we have Hank and Hope trying to retrieve her mother from the Quantum Realm, which offers some fun surprises I won't dare spoil. 

Paul Rudd once again lends his every man charisma to the film that I've always loved seeing in films with him. Evangeline Lily finally gets her superhero moment as The Wasp after being on the sidelines with Hank throughout the first film and once again rocks it as Hope. Michael Douglas is clearly having fun as Hank, delivering each of his characters jibes to Scott with perfection. Michael Pena once again shows up as Luis and is just as funny in this one after damn near stealing the first film. They do revisit the gag of Luis trying to tell a story again, but do make us wait for it. But it was once again one of the biggest laughs of the movie. Laurence Fishburne pops up as a former associate of Hank Pym that may or may not be the ally they are looking for. Hannah John-Green does reasonably well with her role as the Ghost and does a surprisingly good job making her character relatable and sympathetic, while also establishing her as a formidable foe. 

While Ant-Man and The Wasp doesn't recapture the same level of fun as the first film, it is still an amusing and fun time and a wonderful antidote the emotional and intense Avengers: Infinity War. It's not the best Marvel movie, but it's by no means their worst either. It's a bit fluffier than some of their other films, but that's not necessarily a bad thing either.