Ant Man And The Wasp Movie Review

Welcome to another movie review!

I got the chance to watch this movie on Monday after the weekend and found it quite "fun". The simplest way to describe this movie compared to the heart-breaking but epic Infinity War movie. By the way, if you haven't read my review on it or seen that movie, check out the link here.

Anyway, let's dive into the specifics on what worked and what didn't in this movie. 

The movie picks up two years after Civil War but before the events of Infinity War and Thanos' finger snap. Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest for helping Captain America and Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank (Michael Douglas) have cut ties with him to protect themselves from the government.

But days away from getting released from house arrest, Lang gets a vision of Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), Hope's mother and Hank's wife, which forces him to work with his former girlfriend and mentor to rescue her from the Quantum Realm. 

This is the primary goal of the movie, which allows Hope Van Dyne to spotlight as the main heroine to retrieve her mother at all costs. While Rudd brings a lot of his comedic prowess from the first movie, it's Lilly's performance as The Wasp that really got my attention. It should've been called The Wasp and Ant Man.

The flashbacks involving Janet, Hank, and a young Hope and then Hank's past coming back to haunt him in the form of Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne) makes this arguably more Hope's story than Lang's. While their dynamic is fun to watch, it's her charisma that carried the movie for me.

The theme of redemption also lingers in this movie when Lang tries to make up for what he did in Civil War and how he never even asked Hope to come along, while also trying to give his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) the attention she needs. It also shines on Bill Foster (an antagonist) when he brings up his past partnership with Hank Pym during their SHIELD days.

The humor also plays off really nicely when Lang's suit malfunctions and Luis' (Michael Pena) monologues. Oh gosh how I missed him!! His monologues are the best part of the Ant Man movies. Only problem with his role? It wasn't big enough unlike the first movie.

But I did enjoy whenever Luis and Hope were put in the same car together. Their dynamic and scenes were limited but definitely memorable. 

What also got me laughing was Rudd's performance as Janet in that one scene and how he got to become motherly and loving to both Hope and Hank. Hank and Lang are also amazing foils to each other, and this movie really explores that, especially whenever Hope and Lang had any romantic moment whatsoever. 

Now let's talk about FBI Agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Parker). I love Parker's performance as the idiotic but lovable agent and his strange relationship with Lang. Only with this agent could Lang get away with essentially everything. I hope they do catch dinner at some point in the future. I really do.

It also helped to keep the stakes low in this movie, so it had less reason to take itself seriously. One of the big negatives for me in this movie was the mid-credits scene, when they referenced the finger snap and had the entire Pym family vaporized.

This disappointed me because we watched a movie about a torn family coming together only to have them die to keep the universe balanced (damn you Thanos!). A part of me also had high hopes for The Wasp to have a big role in Infinity War Part 2, but now we gotta rely on Ant Man - trapped in the Quantum Realm - again to save everyone alongside the rest of the surviving Avengers.

The villains also didn't work because Ghost wasn't really a villain. She is an antagonist in the sense that she opposed the protagonists, but she acts more like an anti-hero. Ghost was only doing what she did to survive. The same goes for Bill Foster who is genuinely too nice to be even considered a villain (example:evil monologue scene where he gives Lang a chance to talk to his family). 

The other villain Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) also fell short. He didn't seem like a hard-core Alpha villain but more like an underling. But it was fun seeing him try to steal stuff from the heroes... he provided the car chase scenes and those were incredibly satisfying to watch... especially when Luis took the wheel.

Overall, the movie was "fun". That's what the word means when I say it. 

It was a chance to breathe after Infinity War and it brings us up to speed on how Ant Man will factor into the second part of the Avengers movie. I just pray The Wasp gets to come back early on so we can see her kick ass with the rest of the Avengers.

Sound off in the comments and let's talk about how we got trolled again in the post-credit scenes. An ant playing the drums? Been there done that... earlier in the movie.