Movie Review: The Antman and the Wasp
Marvel’s super-size, fun-filled and action movie
Rachael Jaeger
Staff Writer
What I enjoyed most about The Antman and the Wasp (2018) is how the shrinking ability also enlightened the mental aspect of how humans such as the superhero, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), have their own limitations—much like an ant. But because of those limitations, Director Peyton Reed, teamed with Rudd, evokes humor in Lang’s respective situations as a single parent and a superhero.
In this sequel, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) is on a mission to rescue his wife Janet from the Quantum Realm while Lang is still held captive in his own home. The reason told to the audience is because he decided to be a mostly one-man team on the previous mission and didn’t follow all the rules. Part of that backstory includes his stealing the shrinking suit from, whose daughter Lang has a love interest in. Lang learns just how difficult it is to control the suit so it adapts into the proper size at the time.
Most of the humor in The Antman and the Wasp lies within Lang’s stubbornness. From the beginning of the film, the audience can tell that Lang is not happy to be cooped up but he still refuses to get involved even when he is asked. When he finally agrees, there is an ant, genetically engineered to be human-sized, that follows his daily schedule, including smashing on the drums like he is an adolescent.
It is Lang’s possession of a childlike attitude that encourages his daughter, Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) to play along with him. An instance is when she and the mom must go back to Lang’s house to search for her missing shoes for soccer practice and running into Luis (Michael Pena), she senses something is up. Cassie, with her innocent but blunt comments, then stalls long enough for Lang to sneak back inside the house and put on a bathrobe like he had been there all day.
Throughout the film, the audience also feels for The Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) when they learn the heartbreaking truth that she was orphaned after her father attempted to save his experiments that he was conducting with quantum physics and when she woke up, she was defected. If she does not have a cure that the lab can provide, she will die and she has hours left to live. Something I appreciate about is the new movies is that heroes and villains are not as black-and-white and their complexities is what makes them riveting and human.
Even at the end of the film, the citizens scurry from Lang like they are the ants while Lang still stumbles around and is a clumsy giant and presses different spots on the button to find which one will downsize him to a person again. However, his awkward position provides a distraction for Pym and the Wasp as they chase down Luis or The Ghost to retrieve the lab.
The audience also learns of what lengths that Pym will go to so he brings back Janet (Evangeline Lilly) from the Quantum Realm, especially when the atmosphere is melting by the time he arrives there. Even after thirty years in not seeing her, he is still dedicated to her. At the conclusion of the film, there is a hint to a tie-in with Avengers: Infinity War showing Pym and Janet have a house on the beach but all the characters vanish. The same multicolored particles as seen in Infinity War fall from the sky.
If you are a Marvel fan, The Antman and the Wasp is worth a watch: for family values, for the intense action, and for the moments of the unexpected funniness. Mostly it is intriguing to watch the plots continuing to unfold with all the Marvel characters overall and how they will work together in the larger story.
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