In 2015, Marvel introduced us to its pint-size hero, Ant-Man. Everything about director Peyton Reed‘s film was a ton of fun: Paul Rudd‘s introduction as an action hero, Michael Pena as his ex-con buddy and Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas’ Hank Pym and his daughter, Hope. And it wasn’t only an action caper but a sweet film about a father trying to do right by his daughter (Abby Ryder Fortson).
The new Ant-Man and The Wasp takes that formula and gets it… just about right. While it’s not as fun as the original, it’s absolutely a good upper to the downer ending of Infinity War.
Rudd’s Scott Lang has been under house arrest since the end of Captain America: Civil War and when the movie opens, he’s just about to be set free. But when he starts getting hallucinations about his time in the Microverse from the first film. When Hank and Hope find out about the visions, he’s drawn back into the hero business that he thought he’d given up.
During his time away, Hope has become the Wasp and after watching her first battle with goons sent by Walton Goggins‘ baddie, Sonny Burch, she’s become quite the badass.
One big thing the film suffers from is its villain, Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen). She doesn’t feel like a huge threat and she’s more of a nuisance as to the actual story as the team attempts to retrieve the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer) back from the Microverse.
Lilly seems like she was born to play Hope/Wasp because the role fits her like a glove. And she’s a perfect foil once again for Rudd’s Lang. Rudd could probably do this part in his sleep and every scene he’s in is funnier than the next. And, as usual, Pena is a flat-out scene-stealer.
The film is a good fun summer flick. And for anyone trying to gather clues for the Avengers film next summer, you’ll definitely want to stay around till the end.
