Review of Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) by Stjude_Bruh — 09 Jul 2018

It’s another year in Hollywood, and that means that it’s time for another round of Marvel movies. Each year since Phase 3 began, Disney and Marvel Studios have been releasing three movies per year. That may seem like an overload, but each film has come to feel like a fresh and unique take on a similar story. The last of 2018’s Marvel movies, Ant-Man and The Wasp, also offers its own signature take on humor and action to move the typical storyline forward. That storyline is to defeat bad guys who are chasing what the good guys are chasing, but there are definitely different elements added to the story that set this film apart. Overall, I enjoyed this movie and wish to watch it again. Now, I am going to elaborate on this.

I like to begin with the negative aspects of a movie because a positive view on life is to view the good in everything in the end. I have also been superstitious for many years, with one aspect of superstition being that I believe that the best is always saved for last. With this viewpoint established, I will say that the movie does begin quite slow and doesn’t have the greatest initial buildup. This isn’t to say that I don’t like slow films; many award-winning movies are slow, and even Star Wars films are slow. However, there is a purpose to a movie having a slower pacing if there is something that it is building up to. I did not feel that the information provided to us as the audience was valid enough for this movie to feel boring. To me, the main villain wasn’t that interesting as a character, and the secondary villain was not villainous enough. The motives for the latter was a very generic corporate money-driven motive. At least Ghost, the main villain (not a spoiler, since she’s featured in the trailers) has a reasoning for wanting what our heroes want. In fact, it is more of a need. Fortunately, slow pacing in the beginning of the movie is the last of the problems, as things just get better.

First, I would like to recognize the great Paul Rudd for bringing a quirky and charming humor to his character of Ant-Man that makes him a unique MCU villain. He is certainly more entertaining than boring ol’ Captain America, and I would definitely prefer his character over T’Challa (The Black Panther), who lacks interesting qualities. Along with Ant-Man himself, the rest of the main cast does a great job making this movie feel unique in its approach to generating laughs. It is more awkward, random, and situational humor that elaborates on it’s random jokes until another character has to get everyone back on board. If you remember the first movie, you’ll remember that Scott Lang’s friend Luis (Michael Peña) has a fantastic way of retelling a story and how everything happened that led to the present moment in time. He uses this storytelling method once again, but this time it lasts longer and is even more humorous than before. For me, the comedy of the movie was its main draw for me to watch it again, just as it had been for the first film.

What also sets apart Ant-Man and The Wasp from other Marvel movies was its different kind of action. Generally, action movies have the same kind of action that includes punches, explosions, and chases. Many MCU movies also have this kind of action. A few exceptions include the emphasis on hand-to-hand combat in Captain America films, spaceship-driven action in the Guardians of the Galaxy films (my favorite MCU series), and trippy wizardry in Doctor Strange. Ant-Man films have their own approach to action in that they constantly involve shrinking. It’s so much fun to see regular real-world environments from a microscopic perspective. The chase scenes with vehicles turning small and regular sized, The Wasp’s flight while using shrinking, and the Quantum Realm were delightful to watch. Its crazy that this movie’s visuals were so much better than Black Panther visuals even when work with $38 million less (budget of $162 million compared to $200 million). No other action movie can boast action sequences as unique and fun as in the Ant-Man movies, and it is even better the second time.

After watching the movie, I completely forgot about the generic plot and mostly uninteresting villains because I had a great time. The humor and action sequences along with Paul Rudd’s great starring turn as our hero made this Marvel movie a great watch. Unfortunately, the plot and slow pacing in the beginning of the movie can’t make this movie worth buying on Blu-Ray. However, it is certainly worth spending $12 for a theatre ticket and $2 for RedBox. Since Disney and Netflix have an agreement, it will eventually appear for streaming. When it does, I say make the most of its availability and watch it a few times.

Overall, I would bestow Ant-Man and The Wasp a solid 8.25/10.