Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp

Synopsis:

A sequel that is equal in quality to the original. I had just as much fun with this film as I did Ant Man. We now see two actors graduate from the DCU to the MCU. Lawrence Fishburne, who played Perry White in Man of Steel and Superman V Batman now plays Bill Foster, a former colleague of Hank Pym (Douglas) who had a falling out with Pym years ago and Michelle Pfeiffer, who played Catwoman in Batman Returns and is now the long-lost wife of Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne. In the first film it was established the Janet sacrificed herself to save the day by shrinking to the “Quantum realm” which she wasn’t supposed to do, in order to defuse a soviet missile (Maybe they should have got Ray Palmer, who could already shrink to atomic levels with no problem, but the Atom is in a different universe altogether.) Hank had just assumed she was dead, and even if she wasn’t, there was no way for her to come back from that realm, but Scott Lang did in the first film, so, maybe…

Since Scott Lang (Rudd) succeeded in entering the quantum realm and returned, Hank now believes that his wife is alive (with a few subliminal suggestions to lead him to this conclusion from beyond the realm.) And seeks out the now House arrested Lang (for his aligning with Captain America, in Civil War). Some of the films most humorous moments include the cat and mouse games played with the FBI led by Jimmy Woo (Park) who is convinced that Scott is not actually at his house but busy with original Ant-man Hank Pym. And now it’s up to Lang and the new Wasp (Lilly) to figure out how to get her back. The chief antagonist is Sunny Burch (Goggins) who is a black market arms dealer that realizes the financial potential of the “part” that Hope wants to purchase and doesn’t want to give it to her for the agreed upon price. One of the films few flaws is that Burch isn’t to much of the threat since he’s played mostly for laughs so there’s not much suspense to his attempt to retrieve the part, but the film is more or less a comedy so it’s only a mild distraction at best. Foster seems to be an antagonist at first, but, nah, not going to give anything away. Then there’s Ava Starr (Kamen) whose character has a problem with phasing in and out of time and space who sees the object that the Pym’s purchase as a way to correct her “ailment” and is willing to do anything to get the object, even if it means stranding Janet in the quantum realm.

This film does start a bit slower than the first one, but it is a direct sequel, since it deals with the unresolved fate of Janet Van Dyne. And there’s the obligatory lip-syncing to Luis (Pena) dialog which has a few humorous moments, though it’s not as funny as in the original. But once we get past the obvious allusions to the original film, then it’s a roller-coaster ride of fun that builds up to a highly satisfactory conclusion. **** (8.8 rating)

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Director: Peyton Reed
Producer: Kevin Feige, Stephen Broussard
Writer: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
Music: Christophe Beck
Cinematography: Dante Spinotti
Production company: Marvel Studios
Distributer: Walt Disney Studios

Starring:
Paul Rudd
Evangeline Lilly
Michael PeÃ±a
Walton Goggins
Bobby Cannavale
Judy Greer
Tip “T.I.” Harris
David Dastmalchian
Hannah John-Kamen
Abby Ryder Fortson
Randall Park
Michelle Pfeiffer
Laurence Fishburne
Michael Douglas

Trailer:

Author Profile

Kevin Given

Kevin Given has studied with â€œ Longridge Writers Group â€ and â€œ Writerâ€™s Boot Camp â€ a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the â€œ Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter â€ franchise which includes novels and comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of â€œ Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter â€ # 1 and â€œ Files of Karl Vincent â€ # 1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series â€œ Dracula Rising â€ (working title) and developing â€œ Foul Blood â€ into comic book form. Don't forget to check out the YouTube show " Comics: Let's Talk " hosted by Kevin Given