Ant-Man and the Wasp furthers the likability of Scott Lang and gives us a breather from the doom and gloom of Infinity War.
After Avengers: Infinity War, we were quite exhausted. This shouldn’t be considered a bad assessment of the movie. It’s because we were so involved with the characters that their eventual non-existence took a huge emotional toll on all the fans. So how do you recharge from that? The MCU gives us a nice electrolyte-infused drink with Ant-Man and the Wasp—a film that shows why Scott Lang is the Avenger you want to play video games with.
WARNING: Potential Spoilers
For those wondering where Ant-Man was during the events of the Mad Titan’s attack, this film answers it all. Scott, after Captain America: Civil War (2016), has been under house arrest. From some initial expository dialogue, we find out our friend got off quite light. He could’ve served a lot more time.
Scott spends his days entertaining his daughter by reenacting his heroic exploits with some elaborately designed cardboard props. I was actually quite impressed by the lengths he went. When his daughter isn’t there, he just eats, sleeps, play drums, and, for some reason, spends two hours in the bathroom. His occasional ankle monitor snafu (accidentally putting his foot through a fence and triggering the perimeter alarm) unleashes the hounds in the form of the FBI—led by an overzealous, yet gregarious Agent Woo. Other than that, Scott’s life is very mundane.
That is until he has a weird first-person perspective dream about Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer)—Hank’s (Michael Douglas) wife and Hope’s (Evangeline Lilly) mother. After Scott notifies Hank and Hope, they quickly “kidnap” him to find out more. We soon learn the father and daughter team have been working on breaking through to the quantum realm to rescue Janet. Scott’s successful entrance and exit from that mind-bending reality in the first film proved an escape was possible.
Of course, to go completely sub-atomic, the trio will need some sophisticated technology. So in comes the baddies: Sonny Burch (Walter Goggins), a criminal/restaurateur (yeah, it’s a strange combination) who’s trying to steal and sell Hank’s tech to the highest bidder; and Ava Starr / Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), a woman with the ability to phase, but is also dying from it, and wants to absorb Janet’s quantum energy as a cure.
The plot thickens when we discover Ava’s father had once worked for Hank and died after a lab explosion. That same accident is also what gave Ava her abilities. From there, it’s a series of heists with Scott, Hank, and Hope racing against various clocks: getting Scott back home in time so he doesn’t violate his parole; and rescuing Janet before her location within the quantum realm changes.
Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s charm and amusement has very little to do with its shrinking and enlarging visual effects (although they are extremely impressive). It’s Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang that steals the show. Rudd ups his everyman nature as just someone trying to do the right thing. Marvel has always created very relatable characters. However, there are limits on how much you can relate to billionaire Tony Stark or Super-Soldier-serum-infused Steve Rogers.
There is absolutely nothing impressive about Lang—except for his ability to be the best father there is. And, strangely, that’s what makes him uber impressive. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air to see an imperfect character not sabotaging his own relationships. Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson), Scott’s daughter, idolizes her father, so we really see what’s at stake. Scott is caught between loyalty to his daughter and a promise to help Hank and Hope retrieve Janet. It’s an internal struggle of Scott needing to come to terms with his own priorities. But Cassie is never portrayed as a child who doesn’t understand what her father is going through.
Like the first film, the comedy from the supporting cast is also on point. The “wombats” (as Hank so “lovingly” called them in Ant-Man (2015)) make a triumphant return as budding businessmen, trying to launch—of all things—a security company. Their subplot and involvement in the the film’s “master plan” is what makes the overall narrative so fun.
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Ant-Man and the Wasp could go down as the MCU’s most awkwardly funny film (it’s definitely Paul Rudd’s brand). With an extremely warm and lighthearted story, this was the balance we needed after Avengers: Infinity War. Oh, and definitely stick around during the credits (like that needed to be said for an MCU film): a mid-credits scene that explicitly reveals Ant-Man and the Wasp‘s timeline; and a comedic post-credits scene.
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