When I first saw the trailer for Marvel’s first post-Infinity War (yes, I just made this up) movie, my first reaction was: really? Did we need a sequel to Ant-Man? Why would Marvel’s first movie after the epic and grand blockbuster that was Infinity War be a sequel to Ant-Man, widely considered one of the MCU’s weaker entries? However, I still kept my head high, hoping it could be something refreshing, seeing as it promised a movie in which the female lead could be the star of the show just as much as her male counterpart – in this case, Hope van Dyne dons a suit for the first time to join her new partner Scott Lang… as The Wasp.
Continuing from the previous Ant-Man, Scott Lang is looking forward to finally getting off house arrest – he only has three more days to go, and after that, as far as he’s concerned, freedom is all his. However, after he receives a strange vision he thinks is being sent by the missing wife of Dr. Hank Pym, he reluctantly contacts them, thinking it isn’t much to worry about… until he wakes up in Hope’s car. Hope and her father believe his vision is a message from her, and they want him to wear the Ant-Man suit again, in the hopes of bringing her back from the Quantum Realm. This time, he’s not alone: Hope is joining him as his partner-in-justice: The Wasp. However, getting her mother back won’t be easy, as the two’ll have to deal with several foes who want their hands on Hank’s multi-dimensional lab, including corrupt businessmen, a former work associate, and a mysterious young woman with quantum-related powers, only known as “Ghost”.
First of all, I’m surprised by how much more memorable this film was in comparison to its predecessor. Overall, it had a much more compelling and emotionally-driven narrative, which allowed us to see the different sides to the characters a lot more. For example, Dr. Hank Pym proves that he’s much more than just a grumpy old genius, and Hope’s character description doesn’t both start and end with “sassy female lead”. Lang’s ex-convict friends (Luis and the gang) have larger roles here, but thankfully, they don’t come off as completely useless and annoying like they did in the first film, and they get their own shots at being heroes. In addition, the ‘villains’ are a lot more interesting, definitely much more so than Yellow Jacket before them (FYI, I had to look it up because he was so bland that I forgot he even existed). Although she is played by a relative newcomer, Hannah John-Kamen makes Ghost both an incredibly terrifying and yet an incredibly vulnerable villain, portraying both sides of her personality perfectly.
Despite it’s promises of being a very comedic movie, I felt that a few of its jokes fell a little… flat. Perhaps I haven’t gotten over the emotional brunt of Infinity War just yet, or I experienced severe mood whiplash, but said jokes were quite hit-or-miss: there’d be something hilarious one minute, and one joke that goes on a bit too long the next. In fact, one of the gags was enough to slow down the plot considerably, making me worry that they had lost track of their pacing and sense of direction completely. Thankfully, after that gag is over, the movie holds its head up and picks up the pace again. Moreover, I found some of the decisions the characters made questionable, especially given their situation, and it seemed like they made out-of-character decisions just to set up further joke moments along the line.
In conclusion, Ant-Man and The Wasp is in no way as good as Infinity War – and, obviously, nothing in the MCU ever will be. However, despite its weird reason for existing, some flat one-liners, and some stupidity, it’s still an entertaining summer superhero flick – perhaps after what happened in Infinity War, we needed it.
Final score: 7/10
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