After and an abysmal summer last year, box office numbers have rebounded to record setting highs in 2018. The industry is setting a fierce pace, 10% ahead of 2017 for the biggest second quarter ever. While it’s been a big year for the movie business, much of that is due to Disney. Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War have combined to gross nearly $1.4-billion domestically alone and Incredibles 2 has tacked on an additional $450-million so far in less than a month. All totaled, Disney owns 36% of the entire market share with 29% coming from just those three movies. Add to that the recent Department of Justice approval for the company to buyout 21st Century Fox and it’s a monumental year for the mass media conglomerate. If that wasn’t enough, Ant-Man and the Wasp just hit theaters and will likely push into the half-billion-dollar territory in no time.
I’m a big fan of these characters, Hank Pym’s Ant-Man and Janet Van Dyne’s Wasp, and I really enjoyed the first Ant-Man a lot more than I expected, but my enthusiasm for this sequel had dwindled significantly in the last few months. The initial trailers were sufficient enough to peak my interest but, as time went on, they got stale. They shrink, they grow, they fight and there’s a villian who can walk through walls…we get it. Then the studio continued to tout a “direct connection” to Infinity War which had all the trappings of a bait-and-switch. This movie shouldn’t have really needed a sales pitch and the fact that the studio felt differently was a bit disconcerting.
Ant-Man and the Wasp finds Scott Lang nearing the end of his two-years on house arrest after he was caught following the events of Captain America: Civil War. The deal he struck was briefly mentioned in Infinity War, but the rest of the story is kind of displaced in the timeline. While attempting to be a good father by serving his time and trying to start a new security consultation business with his misfit crew, he crosses paths with Hank and Hope once again while a new threat looms.
Let’s start with this…Paul Rudd is a national treasure and should be treated as such. I was a bit apprehensive when he was originally cast because he didn’t strike me as the Hank Pym type, but he’s the perfect Scott Lang. Charming, charismatic, funny and empathetic. Even though we are first introduced to his character as a thief, it’s easy to see his heart is in the right place. Rudd’s patented sense of humor and comedic timing certainly made Scott a more endearing character, but it sure helps that he was part of the writing team for both of these films. He has tremendous chemistry with his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) and it makes them incredibly easy to cheer for. Rudd has played similar characters across a variety of comedies but, in many ways, this is the quintessential role for him…where all of his strongest qualities literally make him into a superhero. Donning the suit for the third time, it’s clear he is much more confident, controlled and creative. This may not be the role for which Rudd is best remembered, but it will definitely shape the rest of his career.
As the name would suggest, Evangeline Lilly has a bigger (and smaller) role as Hope Van Dyne/Wasp. She’s about as involved as she was in the previous film, only this time she gets to be the one doing the ass kicking. Hope is a significantly more skilled fighter than Scott, so watching her fight choreography and combat design was a great deal of fun. Lilly has good, not great chemistry with Rudd, but the two of them are typically too busy to actually invest in their romance. That cloud sort of hovers about them constantly, but there isn’t much depth to it…yet.
Michael Douglas is always good, but he’s an exceptional Hank Pym. He plays the asshole-ish, science-first genius, who just so happens to have some very redeeming qualities when the occasion calls for it, to a tee. It would’ve been cool to have a closer look at his life as Ant-Man,long before Lang came into the picture, but Douglas isn’t getting any younger and continuing to digitally alter his face will start to get cost prohibitive.
For all the talent on deck here, Michael Peña may have been the most enjoyable. He pretty much stole the show the first time around and I think the same could be said here. His character, Luis, is well written but it’s Peña’s delivery and enthusiasm that give it that something extra. Sure, his character is something of a stereotype, and probably offensive to some, but it’s difficult not to enjoy his performance. T.I. and David Dastmalchian also reprised their roles as Dave and Kurt respectively. Between the three of them, there’s no shortage of laughs but there’s a real camaraderie there as well and that’s refreshing.
Unfortunately, among a myriad of strong performances, Hannah John-Kamen just doesn’t fit the bill. The phase shifting and the suit were cool, but that’s about it. She played Ava/Ghost…ya know…the one in white who we see phase shifting during the trailer. Ava is a young Argentinian, who has a thick British accent for some reason, and she needs Pym’s technology to prevent her own quantum decay…which is the result of a failed experiment by her father. Because of her predicament, she tends to be a bit ruthless but the character development really isn’t ever there. We are introduced to her without any context and made to have some kind of retroactive sympathy for her. While her situation is an unenviable one, she continually jumps to conclusions despite sage advice to the contrary. The portrayal paints the character as a crazy person, who has completely lost sight of things in her journey to cure herself. Ava isn’t a completely unsympathetic character, but the writers didn’t help John-Kamen out and, sadly, the end result is a villain who ends up being more annoying than anything.
Fortunately for us, we have the sensational Walton Goggins playing Sonny Burch, a black-market tech dealer who quickly becomes obsessed with the potential monetary value of Pym’s work. Goggins is never one to shy away from a challenging role and was more than enough of a villain in this case…he just didn’t have superpowers. Randall Park also had a large role as FBI Agent Woo who is in charge of Scott’s case. Park is known for his comedy and this was no different. The character was very over the top, but it worked in the context of this movie as an action comedy. There were a couple other sizeable roles for big name actors, but I’ll just let you discover those on your own.
It’s increasingly rare these days to see a director run it back but Peyton Reed returned to direct the sequel, which certainly helped preserve the elements of the original that people loved. This one did feel a bit long, but that’s due in part to upping the ante with the action. Sadly, the trailer really spoils a huge amount of the big action sequences, so it felt a bit redundant by the time you see it all play out. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still plenty enjoyable…the pace just felt a tad slow. Strangely enough, the only writer who returned to work on the screenplay this time around was Rudd. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers came over from Spider-Man: Homecoming, which may help explain the pacing problems, while Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari, who don’t have a lot of experience between the two of them, rounded out the group. The screenplay itself isn’t bad, but there are problems with the character design and development of Ava/Ghost which make her feel almost unnecessary.
Scale and scope are two things that matter a lot in the world of Ant-Man and there is no shortage of sequences with that aspect in mind.The visual effects team did a remarkable job, like they always do when Disney foots the bill. It may seem like a given these days, but it’s worth mentioning because none of these films would have the same impact or appeal without the massively detailed efforts of the visual artists who put it all together.
Despite Marvel Studios’ continued success, they haven’t had a great track record with their initial sequels. This was about as good as I could have hoped for, especially considering how worried I was that the movie was going to suck. It isn’t the best film in the MCU and I think some people are going to be disappointed because of where it stands in the larger cinematic picture, but it was a solid follow-up for this franchise.
Recommendation: Fans of the first film should enjoy this one since it’s mostly more of the same with some flashier sequences. There is a strong element of family which makes it broadly palatable and it never takes itself too seriously, so the comedy plays well. If you’re looking for a good summer movie, this is a good choice.