Review by CJ

Director:
Peyton Reed

Starring:
Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas

Other notable appearances:
Michael Peña, Tip ‘T.I.’ Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Pfeiffer, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Abby Ryder Fortson, Walton Goggins, Randall Park, Stan Lee

Running time:
118 minutes

Watch this if you liked:
Ant-Man, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy

Following the events in Captain America: Civil War, Scott Lang (Rudd) is under house arrest and estranged from the Avengers, Hope van Dyne (Lilly) and Dr. Hank Pym (Douglas). Hope makes contact with Scott when she realises he is their only chance at rescuing her mother, Janet (Pfeiffer), from the Quantum Realm. 

Things get out of hand when the trio become targets for a blackmarket technology dealer and a mysterious attacker who can phase in and out of reality.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is the 20th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

One of my favourite thing about Ant-Man was how humour is in the forefront of the story. Most of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have some very funny moments and use humour well, but Ant-Man in, in my mind, a comedy movie featuring superheroes. Ant-Man and the Wasp does this even better than the first. 

The comedy is in no small part thanks to the comedy expertise of Paul Rudd and Michael Peña, but Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas perform superbly too. I particularly enjoy the chemistry between Michael Peña, Tip Harris and David Dastmalchian.

Using villains that are predominantly Iron Man foes in the comics was an interesting story choice, but I thought it paid off well for the film as a whole. Ghost is a great match for Ant-Man and the Wasp to face as she elicits so many emotions throughout the course of the film and kicks so much butt while she is at it.

Ant-Man and the Wasp manages to incorporate a lot of emotional plot points, fantastic special effects, a giant Pez dispenser and great acting with a really fun and exciting story. This is backed up by incredible fight sequences and so many sassy one-liners. All in all, Ant-Man and the Wasp is an A-grade superhero flick.

I feel viewers need to have seen at least Ant Man, Captain American: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War to truly appreciate everything Ant-Man and the Wasp has to offer. In saying that, I also feel that to enjoy those, you need to have seen their predecessors and so on and so forth. So you’re best off to sit down for a weekend and binge the first 19 movies in the MCU. Go on, it’s okay, we’ll wait. 

Now that you’ve done that and returned to us, we can fairly assume you’re either here to leave unkind comments because you hated them or you loved them. If you’re in the latter category, you absolutely need to check out Ant-Man and the Wasp. As with all MCU films, please remain seated with your seatbelt on and tray table in the upright position until the mid-credits and end credits sequences have come to a complete stop. 

Rating:

“How did he even have time to buy a ticket?”