Age of The Nerd
Going into the 2018 summer movie season, Ant-Man and The Wasp was easily one of my most anticipated movies. Back before the release of the original Ant-Man film in 2015, I was worried that the departure of co-screenwriter Edgar Wright would mean doom for the last movie that was eventually directed by Peyton Reed. You see—Ant-Man was always one the characters that I was so excited to see brought into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I was always fascinated by the role of Hank Pym and the particle that allows him to shrink and grow at will, so the fact that both the original film and 2016’s Captain America: Civil War focused on these abilities made me extremely excited for what was to come in the sequel. Luckily, ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ fulfills & advances the promise set up in those earlier movies while serving as a fun, breezy entry in the MCU.
Serving as a sequel to both movies mentioned above, Ant-Man and The Wasp follows Paul Rudd’s Scott Lang as he is contacted by Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and Pym (Michael Douglas) with an urgent new mission. Grappling with the consequences of his choices as a superhero and father, Lang must don the suit once again to fight along with the Wasp. Taking place roughly two years after the events of Civil War, the film takes no time into thrusting us back into Scott’s life, where Lilly’s Wasp is already a fully formed hero. Moving the character of Hope into the spotlight is easily the best move that the sequel could have made from a story perspective, proving (rightfully so) that the character is worthy of holding top billing against Rudd’s Ant-Man. The chemistry between Lilly and Rudd is easily the best aspect of the original film, so her inclusion as a co-lead only amplifies this even more.
Just as Rudd and Lilly’s work has improved with Ant-Man and The Wasp, so has director Peyton Reed’s for the sequel. It’s clear from the first set piece that takes place in a kitchen that Reed had much more of a hand in creating the action in the film from the ground up, and it ultimately shows in the final product. Not only does the action expand on everything that has been set up to this point, but the film also doubles down on most of those elements. This makes for a series of fun, and inventive action set pieces that are heads and tails above the first film by far. For the most part, the film does an excellent job of balancing comedy, drama, and action. If there’s one criticism that I have of Reed’s direction, it’s that ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp’ leans into the comedy a little bit too much, but that’s ultimately a nitpick when so much of the film nails the tone.
Despite all of the great work that Ant-Man and The Wasp does with its titular heroes, it’s villains, and supporting characters end up falling short. The backbone of the film is centered on uncovering the mysterious quantum realm, which in turn drives all three plotlines in the movie. You have the primary storyline with Scott, Hope, & Hank; the secondary storyline with Hannah John-Kamen’s Ghost; and a tertiary storyline with Walton Goggins’ Sonny Burch—a low-level criminal that seeks to obtain Pym’s research into the quantum realm to sell on the black market. While Goggins makes the most of a nothing character that has minimal impact on the plot, it’s the Ghost storyline that ultimately suffers the most. The concept of a character like Ghost is endlessly fascinating, albeit flawed in execution.
Without getting into spoilers, Ghost somehow derives her “powers” from the quantum realm. This approach offers not only a much-welcomed change of having a villain that isn’t intent on ending the world, but it also allows John-Kamen’s performance to become much more tragic than your traditional villain. It’s a welcome change, but one that ends up feeling hollow, especially considering how low-stakes the film ultimately ends up being. While I enjoyed many of the ideas behind the character, it’s the way that she’s written that ultimately rubbed me the wrong way. There’s a scene roughly midway through the film where Ghost monologues for what felt like 5 minutes straight. One of the critical rules of good screenwriting is “show, don’t tell,” and this certainly isn’t an exception to the rule. Fortunately, the scene is wonderfully acted by John-Kamen, so it was easy for me to forgive the laziness of the writing.
Much like Ghost, Michelle Pfeiffer’s Janet Van Dyne and Laurence Fishburne’s Bill Foster also get short shrift. While the first film made a big deal about keeping Janet Van Dyne’s identity a secret, the whole plot of the film is centered on rescuing Janet from—you guessed it—the quantum realm. Although the casting of Pfeiffer as the original Wasp is inspired, we don’t get enough of the character for us to form any meaningful connection to her—even if her absence makes for a hilarious scene between Lilly, Douglas and Rudd late in the second act. As for Fishburne’s Bill Foster (a.k.a. Goliath), the character ultimately amounts to not much more than an exposition machine. It’s a shame because both actors could have (and should have) been better established. Regardless of all these minor quibbles, all of the characters are well-realized enough to work for this story.
Ant-Man and The Wasp could have quickly fallen into the trap of intertwining itself with the events of‘ Infinity War, but Marvel was smart enough to make a standalone sequel that is only concerned with telling a stand-alone story. A big part of the reason why this film works so well is that it’s character-centric, allowing Reed and co. to develop the characters before their eventual inclusion in the still untitled Avengers 4. Most of the entries into the MCU have been a little more serious in tone, so it’s great to have a light and fluffy film that serves as a great palate cleanser of a movie. Even if it feels inconsequential at times, Ant-Man and The Wasp is precisely the film that it needs to be—A fun, light-hearted romp.
