Ant-Man and the Wasp 2018

This will be a minority opinion (of the 8 reviews posted here on Trakt immediatley after the premiere I was the only one who feels this way - the other rating ranges from 7 to 10 out of 10) but as I left the theatre I felt the whole movie was flat and didn't quite hit the mark. The humour seemed more miss than hit. The people around me seemed similarily unamused. During the whole movie there were only two guffaws from audience members at different moments, one from a child during a silly bit and the other from an adult male as a cynical response to a piece of dialogue. I should reveal that I am not a big Paul Rudd fan and found the first ANT-MAN uninspiring as well. Evangeline Lily (who's work I really do enjoy)'s character was at the forefront of this movie but her strength in expressing a depth of emotion (especially internal conflict) was thwarted by a script that didn't allow any depth beyond stoic determination and there didn't seem to be any reason for her character to be drawn to Rudd's Scott Lang. I thought Michael Douglas role and performance was a disaster. Walton Goggins' villain lacked any convincing motivation. However, Hannah John-Kamen (always a good actor) gave us a convincing portrayal as Ava Starr/Ghost. It's always good to see Michelle Pfeiffer (even for the 15 minutes she is in this movie). CGI was great. Adventure was pivotal. Sight gags abounded (as the last post-credit scene attests). I can see this movie appealing to: 1) people who liked the first movie, 2) Junior High males, and/or 3) Marvel Universe purists (by the way, there is a mid-credit and a post credit scene). Although I will always watch each new addition to the Marvel Universe whether in TV or Movie format, I can only give this film a 5 (meh) out of 10. [Superhero Action Adventure]

After the mind blowing Infinity War and its grand scale. I expected nothing out of this one. But then i was surprised how MCU is now practically a hand of Midas touching every movie script and turning it into gold.

Ant Man & The Wasp DOESN'T DISAPPOINT. The movie is so light and funny. The infinity war consequences and stakes are not present here because it hasn't happened yet in the movie. right till the haunting mid credits scene

Any good praise this movie is getting is deserving. Moreover let me add that this movie focuses on lot of characters rather than just Ant Man. Wasp , Ghost , Hope's mother and somewhat Hank and Bill too. Not to mention the brilliant Michael Pena and team and a group of baddies. Its a coherent story. The comedic timing of Paul Rudd is worthy of diamonds. And they use that to their advantage.

Its just so good to see they work so hard on their characters even if they have little to do. Scott's daughter is so cute and continues to play her role accordingly and thus you are happy when she is on screen.

:cough: Jurrassic World Fallen Kingdom girl who is mission impossible spy at first then screaming like anything when seeing a dinosaur :cough: other studios please pay attention to Marvel but dont copy them.

Ghost and quantum realm VFX were mind blowing. You think you have seen everything. But MCU will shut you right up there.

I am MCU fanboy and I dont have to spell it out loud that GO WATCH IT !!! . You will have fun and enjoy it till the very end.

The Revisit the MCU Project (2021) #20 of 23

Ant-Man and the Wasp is...almost good. As it stands it's just as forgettable as it was the first time I saw it...and why is that you might ask. Well...when it's the second time you see a movie, in a major franchise no less, and the only thing you remember is the hotness of the lead women, you know it's forgettable. I remember enjoying it when I was watching it, but still having trouble recalling the plot just minutes after the movie ended. Either my memory is starting to fail me, or this movie really isn't very special.

Evangeline Lilly in that suit might have colored the rating some though...I can't seem to remember...

Old Review

Yeah...well...this one was sort of a letdown.

I liked the first Ant-Man and had high hopes for this one, but as usual, when I get my hopes up, the movies end up not measuring up.

There's not like it is much wrong with the movie, it's just most of it is rather forgettable. The script is ok, the actors do a decent enough job, the effects are good. It's just that when it all came together, it didn't end up as entertaining as it should. It's an ok watch, but you'll probably end up forgetting what it was about rather quickly.

As most MCU outings lately, this one is to be watched, but mostly for the MCU continuity.

...and for Evangeline Lilly and Michelle Pfeiffer.

[7.6/10] It helps to have a partner. If you walk away from Ant-Man and The Wasp with anything, it’ll be the idea that no individual can go it alone. The film is rife with different versions of partners saving one another, or failing because they’re rejecting help, or succeeding because they work better as the team. The movie isn’t shy about the motif, having its adorable moppet spell it out for anyone in the cheap seats, but it’s a solid idea to build a movie around.

But it’s even better when Ant-Man and The Wasp isn’t belaboring that point and instead constructing a rip-roaring, oft-hilarious action comedy. The Ant-Man films have carved out a nice niche as a lighter breather after the intensity of some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s heaviest films. After The Avengers’ massive, world-threatening outing in Age of Ultron, the original Ant-Man provided something with smaller stakes and bigger laughs to ease the fans from one phase to another.

Likewise, Ant-Man and The Wasp certainly has its big risks and obstacles, but save for a hint or two, avoids the galaxy-threatening tenor of Infinity War. The film’s as much of a comedic romp as it is a bombastic superhero movie, which works as a nice break from the broader machinations of the MCU.

Much of that, once again, owes to the comic chops of Paul Rudd who brings the silliness, scrappiness, and everyman charm to Scott “Ant-Man” Lang that helps keep the proceedings amusing and enjoyable. This sequel sees Lang reaching the end of his FBI-enforced house arrest after the events of Civil War, when he reconnects with Hank Pym and Hope “The Wasp” Van Dyne, whom he became estranged from after his overseas escapade, for another adventure. A vision of Janet Van Dyne, the original wasp who ostensibly perished in the quantum realm thirty years ago, causes Lang to reach out to his old compatriots, who now believe they might be able to retrieve her.

What follows is a nice race to acquire the necessary tools to calibrate and power the device that may be able to reach Janet, while Lang tries to do right by Hank and Hope but also make his house arrest check-ins so that he can do right by his daughter. All the while, our heroes have to fend off interference from the mysterious Ghost, another supersuited adventurer who gives them all they can handle, a crime boss named Sonny who wants to profit off the Pyms’ technology, and the FBI, who want to track down Hank and Hope as fugitives.

That leaves Ant-Man and The Wasp feeling overstuffed at times. While the first half of the movie keeps a frantic pace that fits with the scruffy comic vibes the film seems to be shooting for, as the flick gets deeper into the plot-and-escalation portion of the proceedings, those different storylines and characters have a tendency to pile-up, making the film a little ungainly and extra when it doesn't need to be. There’s no shortage of things happening in Ant-Man and The Wasp, and that’s both a blessing and a curse.

The size-shifting action in the film, however, is always and only a blessing. Giant punch-and-kick affairs are a dime a dozen these days, and so to get your attention, a good cape flick needs a hook to make those legally mandated action sequences more than the inevitable accumulation of pre-viz fireworks and fisticuffs. Thankfully, Ant-Man and The Wasp uses its growing and shrinking gimmickry to make fights big and small into something rousing and imaginative rather than standard-issue.

The peak of this is Hope’s debut as The Wasp, which sees her roughing up a cadre of Sonny’s thugs in a restaurant setting. She flips between big and small like a virtuoso, running along the edge of a kitchen knife, dodging mallets when miniaturized, and using the enclosed space to show how useful the ability to go lilliputian can be.

But it’s a tack the film follows throughout, consistently making the most of its “size doesn't matter” conceit, with some of the most creative action the superhero world has put together since Thor: The Dark World’s portal-hopping mayhem. The fights between the title characters and the phase-shifting attacker Ghost are kinetic and fun, and tricks like tossing a Hello Kitty pez dispenser and making it gigantic to throw off some pursuers helps maintain the film’s goofy tone even when in the midst of the climactic battle.

The film also does well by Rudd on that front. In Ant-Man and The Wasp, Scott Lang’s suit is malfunctioning throughout, which means we get to see the Godzilla-esque humor of the hero turning giant for a spell, balanced with the amusement of seeing him reduced to the size of a toddler. Rudd puts on a show the whole time, finding the right comic notes to hit when his body is taken over by a presence from beyond, keeping up the sweetness when he’s with his daughter, and selling the gentle but still solidly emotional dilemma of making things up to Hank and Hope while still making it so that he can be there for his kid.

The film also has a murderer’s row of comic performers to help carry the load. Randall Park is consistent laugh-getter as the FBI agent keeping tabs on Lang. Michael Peña returns with a series of hilarious bits as Scott’s pal Luis, and while the movie overexposes him at times, giving us too much frosting and not enough cake with his character, he’s still a welcome presence. Walton Goggins goes a little too big as Sonny for me, but has his amusing moments. And while not as outsized, both Michael Douglas and Evangeline Lilly do great work in slinging sarcastic remarks and withering looks at Lang’s buffoonery.

Lilly in particular, whose character is boosted to shared billing in this one, does a nice job of carrying the emotional ballast of the film. Whether it’s selling her complete investment in even the chance that she could bring back her mother, or making the strained romantic connection between her and Lang have weight in its recovery, Lilly’s take on Hope is given more to do on the drama side than the comedy side, but she pulls off that less flashy work with aplomb and more than holds up her end of the action quotient.

That fits with the themes of the film, with tons of pairings where partners are meant to complement one another. That helps anchor a film with plenty (arguably too much) going on at any given time, with rescues that flow both directions and show the benefits of an equal partnership in science, superheroing, and even the day-to-day. That Ant Man and The Wasp holds this balance while keeping the proceedings so fun and amusing throughout, playing its size-changing premise to the hilt, marks it again as the well-made dessert of the MCU -- sweeter than the entree that precedes it, but in the right hands, just as satisfying.

Barely a comics movie, even less a MCU one. It's more like a light classic adventure/comedy sunday afternoon tv movie where everybody wants the same treasure and keeps stealing it from each other (here, the lab).The fact that some people can shrink or get bigger or phase through stuff doesn't add anything in itself, just a little more action and a little comedy. Actually you could pretty much do a shorter version of the movie with a few people running around in fast forward, stealing the lab from each other with some Benny Hill music.

On the side story, there's the whole quantum real adventure trip that makes no sense at all. I mean, even in a world where you take for granted the getting bigger/smaller thing, which is one of the most unrealistic of powers in the MCU, the quantum thing is just 50 levels above in wtfness. Like, how can they see in there. How can they breathe ? And if she spent 30 years there, what did she eat ? Or she may have evolved into something that just absorb floating energy and lives on this, then how will she do in our world ? How did she even grow old ?

There is no real antagonist in the whole movie. Goggins's character is there as comic relief, he's a Home alone level villain. Ghost and Foster are so plainly manufactured for the scenario antagonists. It's a classic to have people with different goals kinda fighting each to realize their goals are not incompatible in the end, but there it's so obvious since the beginning that the whole scenario could have been avoided if they just talked to each other for one minute.

Also, I'm pretty sure in the first movie Hank explains that while shrinked Ant man keeps his weight and that's why he puches so hard. So if shrinked objects keep their weight, how is Hank going around with 20 cars and how the hell is everybody running around carrying a whole building ?

Same, after the whole discussion how getting so big makes him sleep for days, and the scene insisting of how tired he is, until he passes out, he seems pretty ok just a few minutes after...

I felt like Scott's lines were a lot less funny than in the first one and so the comedy part dropped a level. The best thing was the ant passing for Scott obviously. I almost feel like a spin-off of this ant's story would be more interesting as this movie itself. Like, what training did it have to go through for that ??

The post credit scene is the only thing that really seals the movie in the MCU. I guess it's nice because everybody's been talking about that as soon as Infinity War was out, but for someone in the future seeing these for the first time, you better watch them in order...

I didn't expect much from the first one and was very pleasanly surprised but this one was quite a letdown. It's ok to see it, but probably not worth a rewatch ever.

“You can do it. You can do anything. You're the world's greatest grandma”

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ returns in full size form. So, after all the chaos and heartbreak with ‘Infinity War’, Marvel have stepped on the breaks and went back for a safe comedic tone. Basically being it’s own side story in this already big universe.

I enjoyed the first ‘Ant-Man’. Not great by any means and just like everyone else would have loved to see Edgar Wright's version. Reeking of re-writes and a clash of people working on the movie. However, to everyones surprise, was not a complete disaster due to it’s muddled production is unheard of.

The sequel, on the other hand, was...fine. There are plenty of entertaining and hilarious scenes, but nothing beyond that. To be honest, I liked the first a little better, because I can tell the leftover ideas from Wright or any visually cues were still present which kept the overall movie afloat. We also get to see Scott Lang becoming Ant-Man and trying out the suit and his abilities. It was creative and sweet with the father and daughter subplot.

Paul Rudd plays Paul Rud- oh sorry, I mean Scott Lang. Whoopsie daisy. But in all seriousness, I can’t see a character beyond Rudd. Never against him, as I like the actor and a joy to watch. I don’t understand why they dumb down his character, because while not a genius compared to other MCU characters, yet shown some intelligence in the first movie, especially when breaking into houses and impress Hank Pymm (Michael Douglas) so much he gave him the suit. Just to make the other characters look good, I guess? Still, I love Paul Rudd; he brings a goofy charm to his character, at least.

Evangeline Lilly has more to done this time, fighting wise, just without any development or depth for her character to be compelling. Basically ‘bad-ass girl who can beat you up” type of trope. Michael Douglas, another actor I love and respect, spouts out techno jargon that I don’t think he knows what it means. Michael Pena is great though and him telling stories are the best thing in these movies.

Walton Goggins and Michelle Pfeiffer are completely underused here, which is such a waste of talent. Marvel needs to stop underusing talent.

The action scenes were at least fun. The shrinking/growing involving different objects was always thrilling to watch. A little overexposed in the trailers, yet never stopped me from enjoying what’s on screen. Although nothing compares to the battle sequence in the first movie where the whole final act was in a little girls bedroom with a toy train set. Thomas the Tank Engine was added to the mix. I can’t think of any blockbuster that has ended like that. Completely ridiculous, yet refreshing.

Peyton Reed, best known for comedy movies, did the best he could for something not so familiar to him.

Now the character of Ghost, which I thought was the main villain, but when her back story is relieved, not so much. I mean, She had so much potential for greatness if the script did the actress justice, because Hannah John-Kamen was putting her heart and soul into this. A real shame. When reflecting back, her main goal could have been achieved if she asked nicely for help.

I don’t hate the movie, due to the heavy criticism throughout this review. Nothing epic in scale, but the likable cast and action stops it from feeling ant size small. It should keep fans happy until the next installment.

Overall rating: DAMN TRUTH SERUM!

The sequel to the 2015 hit, Ant-Man, sees Paul Rudd return as the titular hero, joined by Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp. After the intense and emotional Avengers: Infinity War, this lighthearted action-comedy-fungasm is a welcome relief. Still under house arrest, Scott Lang/Ant-Man is pulled back into the superhero life when former associates Hank Pym and his daughter Hope open a tunnel to the quantum realm where Hank's wife has been trapped since 1987. Black-market dealer Sonny Burch wants in on the technology, but they didn't expect quantumly unstable assassin, Ghost, to show up. It's a race against time to save Janet and bring her back to the real world. Ant-Man and the Wasp is full of what we've come to expect from Marvel: action, fun, humor, big set pieces, and cool costumes. The humor and action are balanced well and the performances by Rudd and Lilly are excellent. The movie is a great palate cleanser before the next big Marvel releases.

La secuela del éxito de 2015, Ant-Man, ve a Paul Rudd regresar como el héroe titular, junto con Evangeline Lilly como Wasp. Después de la intensa y emotiva Vengadores: Infinity War, esta alegre comedia de acción es un alivio bienvenido. Todavía bajo arresto domiciliario, Scott Lang/Ant-Man regresa a la vida de superhéroe cuando los antiguos socios Hank Pym y su hija Hope abren un túnel hacia el reino cuántico donde la esposa de Hank ha estado atrapada desde 1987. El traficante del mercado negro Sonny Burch quiere en la tecnología, pero no esperaban que apareciera el asesino cuánticamente inestable, Ghost. Es una carrera contra el tiempo para salvar a Janet y traerla de regreso al mundo real. Ant-Man and the Wasp está lleno de lo que esperábamos de Marvel: acción, diversión, humor, grandes escenarios y disfraces geniales. El humor y la acción están bien equilibrados y las actuaciones de Rudd y Lilly son excelentes. La película es un gran limpiador del paladar antes de los próximos grandes lanzamientos de Marvel.

“You can do it. You can do anything. You're the world's greatest grandma”

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ returns in full size form. So, after all the chaos and heartbreak with ‘Infinity War’, Marvel have stepped on the breaks and went back for a safe comedic tone. Basically being it’s own side story in this already big universe.

I enjoyed the first ‘Ant-Man’. Not great by any means and just like everyone else would have loved to see Edgar Wright's version. Reeking of re-writes and a clash of people working on the movie. However, to everyones surprise, was not a complete disaster due to it’s muddled production is unheard of.

The sequel, on the other hand, was...fine. There are plenty of entertaining and hilarious scenes, but nothing beyond that. To be honest, I liked the first a little better, because I can tell the leftover ideas from Wright or any visually cues were still present which kept the overall movie afloat. We also get to see Scott Lang becoming Ant-Man and trying out the suit and his abilities. It was creative and sweet with the father and daughter subplot.

Paul Rudd plays Paul Rud- oh sorry, I mean Scott Lang. Whoopsie daisy. But in all seriousness, I can’t see a character beyond Rudd. Never against him, as I like the actor and a joy to watch. I don’t understand why they dumb down his character, because while not a genius compared to other MCU characters, yet shown some intelligence in the first movie, especially when breaking into houses and impress Hank Pymm (Michael Douglas) so much he gave him the suit. Just to make the other characters look good, I guess? Still, I love Paul Rudd; he brings a goofy charm to his character, at least.

Evangeline Lilly has more to done this time, fighting wise, just without any development or depth for her character to be compelling. Basically ‘bad-ass girl who can beat you up” type of trope. Michael Douglas, another actor I love and respect, spouts out techno jargon that I don’t think he knows what it means. Michael Pena is great though and him telling stories are the best thing in these movies.

Walton Goggins and Michelle Pfeiffer are completely underused here, which is such a waste of talent. Marvel needs to stop underusing talent.

The action scenes were at least fun. The shrinking/growing involving different objects was always thrilling to watch. A little overexposed in the trailers, yet never stopped me from enjoying what’s on screen. Although nothing compares to the battle sequence in the first movie where the whole final act was in a little girls bedroom with a toy train set. Thomas the Tank Engine was added to the mix. I can’t think of any blockbuster that has ended like that. Completely ridiculous, yet refreshing.

Peyton Reed, best known for comedy movies, did the best he could for something not so familiar to him.

Now the character of Ghost, which I thought was the main villain, but when her back story is relieved, not so much. I mean, She had so much potential for greatness if the script did the actress justice, because Hannah John-Kamen was putting her heart and soul into this. A real shame. When reflecting back, her main goal could have been achieved if she asked nicely for help.

I don’t hate the movie, due to the heavy criticism throughout this review. Nothing epic in scale, but the likable cast and action stops it from feeling ant size small. It should keep fans happy until the next installment.

Overall rating: DAMN TRUTH SERUM!

The trouble with sequels is, they have a tough time living up to the standards set by their predecessors. Very few sequels manage to top the expectations of the audience, and Ant-Man and the Wasp definitely isn't one of them. While the first Ant-Man was a comedic romp with unique action sequences, this second film is ... well, mostly more of the same. It's still lighthearted and comedic, it still has creative action scenes and Paul Rudd is still your awkward petty thief gone superhero. He is a natural in the part as Scott Lang/Ant-man and the chemistry between him and his co-stars is great.

The story itself flows well, even if it isn't anything particularly mind-blowing. The new characters work mostly fine, with the sole exception of (surprise!) the villains! Ghost is terribly underutilized in this film and really does nothing at all. Even the funnily misplaced FBI agent chasing Lang across NY feels like a bigger threat. Another interesting thing to point out is that even if this is a fast film it actually contains quite little superhero action and focuses more on the characters and their relationships.

Sure, this film looks stunning (particularly in the quantum realm) and the acting works very well on all accounts but it just feels too much like a copy of the first film, which is a shame.

I did indeed enjoy this movie…somewhat. However I cannot say that I was overly impressed.

The story was okay. I would not expect a deep and thought provoking story from a super hero movie nor would I want it. It served as a decent enough vehicle for moving things forward.

Most of the actors did a good enough job of the role they were given which in some cases was pretty much mission impossible given some of the overly silly characters in the movie. In particular I got tired of Luis almost before the first scenes he was in had finished. He was just so silly that you started to wonder what age the target audience was. Jimmy Woo was not far behind.

I think this leads to my main gripe with the movie. I expected a super hero movie but what I got was a fairly lame comedy with super heroes in it. It was just too much comic elements in it for me. I could probably have liked it if the jokes were somewhat intelligent but, for me, they were not. They alternated between overly silly and stupid characters, slap-stick and simple fall-on-your ass jokes.

What about the bad guy? Well, first off, there was not really a distinct bad guy but a hole bunch of them. Unfortunately none of them had any real bad guy charisma. I assume that Sonny was supposed to be the main bad guy and he certainly had enough evil lunatic air about him to fit that but again…too silly. Then we have the lame Jimmy Woo who was just annoying. The Ghost was probably the best one but then she was not really a bad guy was she?

I did like most of the action and the special effects though. The playing around with shrinking and returning to normal size, or greater, was both cool and funny. This shrinking business is of course a difficult theme to work with from a science and logic point of view. For instance, if you shrink a car to the size of a toy car it still weighs like a full size one and you cannot just pick it up. And what about the lab popping up and down all the time? Why weren’t everything shaken to bits inside when they started to run around with it? And don’t get me started about electricity and plumbing. But then, in this kind of movie I would say just just have to turn off that part of your brain. It made for some cool scenes after all.

I also did like that the story was more of a down to Earth story. No overall galactic plot, no snapping of fingers to make…well you know what. Okay, there was the post credit scenes which was a bit of an annoying tie in. Perhaps best of all though, I could not really feel much SJW or other form of politically correct preaching being showed down my throat. Today that is a great plus for any movie.

So, to sum up, I did enjoy it but it was not great and I was indeed a little bit disappointed at the end.

Got back from watching Ant-man and the Wasp. I really enjoyed this one. I loved how it was its own adventure and relatively self-contained in terms of the MCU. I actually really liked the original Ant-man a lot more than I thought I would when I saw it, so it's no surprise that the humor and tone of the sequel works for me as well. Paul Rudd definitely plays a solid Ant-man and I love me some Evangeline Lilly, who is the star of this one. Even the secondary characters of Ghost/Ava, Foster (and others) were pretty well fleshed out and had good backstories and development to them.

What really made me like this movie was that it had a very good "end game"/goal to strive toward (don't want to spoil it too much), so it made the adventure, journey and conclusion that much sweeter. It's definitely better than some of the other MCU movies where they just inject a rando bad guy trying to destroy the world for some nefarious reasons.

I definitely recommend checking this out if you liked the first at all. If you haven't seen the first, you'll miss out on a ton and not have a good idea of the what is going on emotionally and what is at stake. The original Ant-man is a great movie as well, so this just gives you another excuse to watch it :P

Why didn't Scott Lang and his incredible resizable crew appear in Infinity War? The answer lies within this, the sequel to 2015's surprisingly charming Ant-Man, and it's... not very convincing? While the universe was literally at risk, his pals on the Avengers struggling against impossible odds, Lang and the Pym family were engaging in a small variety of relatively inconsequential side quests. There's a push to rescue Hank's wife Janet, presumed dead for decades, and an under-explained foil who keeps getting in the way at inopportune moments, but neither of those feel like headline plot points, let alone something that would supersede the call to lend a hand against Thanos.

The film also struggles to match its predecessor's easygoing sense of humor and impressive eye for scale or wonder. We get some inspired re-sizes, like the shrinking suitcase building with wheels and a handle, or the Pym family’s carrying case of Hot Wheel-sized vehicles, but those are easy wins which don’t take my breath away like the bathtub / dance floor scene did in the first film. Inessential at best, it'll fill the need if you're just dying for more giant ants and don't particularly care about what they're doing or where they're headed. I don't feel like I wasted my time, but I also don't think I'll ever need to watch it again.

A fun and entertaining sequel, Ant-Man and the Wasp delivers both thrills and laughs. While on house arrest for aiding Captain America, Scott Lang receives a vision from the Quantum Realm and is then abducted by Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne who have been working on a bridge to the Quantum Realm and believe that Scott’s vision holds the key to succeeding; but a mysterious villain named Ghost appears and attempts to thwart their plans. Hannah John-Kamen makes for a good addition to the cast, as Ghost, and is able to bring something to the character; making her deadly in her desperation but also sympathetic. And Wasp, played by Evangeline Lilly (or her stunt double), proves to be a worthy Marvel hero. Also, the production designers do some creative things with the shrinking and enlarging of various things (particularly during the car chases), and the look of the Quantum Realm. Yet there really aren’t any significant stakes; the villains aren’t trying to destroy or take over the world, and the heroes aren’t trying to save it. Additionally, the violence seems to have been toned down so as to make the fights rather clean and bloodless. Lighthearted and action-packed, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a superhero adventure that the whole family can enjoy.

There is no doubt the easy charm and on-screen charisma of the always fun Paul Rudd drags Ant Man and the Wasp from the mundane to the fun. His amusing asides and observations are somehow more enjoyable and seem less acerbic than the more confident and brash Robert Downey Jnr’s Iron Man. With his crazy gang of friends, led by the ever-reliable Michael Pena, of the first film still in place the smile and laugh quotient is high and if you are not a big fan of comic-book films this definitely a much needed relief.
Luckily Rudd is surrounded by some acting chops to back up him with Evangeline Lilly back as Hope Van Dyne and Michael Douglas as Hank Pym. Both seem to act effortlessly and the chemistry between the three is there to be seen on the screen. Smaller roles are competently played with Randall Park playing the comic-relief role of FBI agent Jimmy Woo to the hilt.

It wouldn’t be a fair review if Walton Goggins was not mentioned as his thankless task of Sonny Burch is played without over the top gurning and histrionics and it was pleasing to see a baddie whose motivation was fairly simply – he was greedy and wanted more.
For the all the fun and excitement of the little-big world Ant Man and Wasp does have its faults though. Certainly, on the small screen, and obviously this might by the reason, a few of the CGIs affects looked a bit ‘ropey’ but a bigger problems for me is the gap between ‘that was great’ and ‘hold on a minute…’ which sometimes, like with some Star Trek films, happens the next day but in this case they happened almost simultaneously. Now some people will say it’s only a comic-book adventure, a fantasy, relax, I get that and I can but some of the shrinking and growing parts of the story bordered on silly. In particularly the luggage sized office building doesn’t stand up to the slightest of scrutiny, unfortunately for me that means I’m thinking about it whilst the film goes on.

The story certainly whips along a fair pace and is not as baggy as some Marvel stories and villain is suitable villainy and isn’t motivated by world-dominance, he even has one of the Detectorists as a henchman, I could have done with the side-order of the Ghost, which felt it was shoe-horned in and was frankly a bit, well boring. Having said this equally within the ginormous Marvel Universe Ant-Man and the Wasp does not seem to move on the character much in any way. The only part that ties this in with that Universe is the ending which leaves you in no doubt what’s happened to three of the four heroes but there’s a huge clumsy clue to how this golden goose will carry just before the ‘terrifying ending’.

All in all I was entertained and found Ant Man and the Wasp fun not least because Paul Rudd dragged it way out of the mundane ably assisted by the film’s cast but after watching and reflecting on what I was going write the nagging feeling I get, despite all that has been said and written about the comic-book world and the themes they present to viewers and readers, is fair from adult fare the more I thought about this film and all the others I say is that are childish, very simple and childish.

There I’ve said it. Now I’ll put my tin-hat on.