It's a minor miracle that Antman is as good as it is. Movies that lose their directors that late into production often turn out to be steaming piles of hot rubbish (cough Justice League cough). It was also a massive shame to see Edgar Wright, whom I love as a director, leave the project because a part of me always wondered what his full version of Antman would have looked like. To me, at least, one of the biggest intrigues about Antman and The Wasp was to see what kind of narrative and world Peyton Reed would create, after being in charge of the whole project this time around. The answer is a fairly conservative but enjoyable Marvel movie.
Two years after the events of Civil War, Scott Lang (Rudd) is under house arrest due to his affiliation with Cap and co. He is called back into action by Hope (Lilly) and Hank (Douglas) as his experience of going sub atomic might hold the key to rescuing Janet Van Dyne (Pfeiffer) from the Quantum Realm. Their progress is halted by numerous threats, including the presence of the mysterious Ghost, who needs their tech for her own personal reasons.
As you would expect from a movie with their names in the title, Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are the two stars of this film. To the surprise of no one, Rudd gives a such roguish charm to the character and is at the heart of most of the films best laughs. Lilly is also great throughout, and this film is generally a really strong introduction of The Wasp. Whilst Scott bears the brunt of most of the comedy, Hope is central to the films best action sequences. It's refreshing to see The Wasp fully powered from the get-go of this movie, and it's used to full effect throughout.
Elsewhere the cast is solid. Douglas and Pfeiffer share good chemistry (good to know that mascara is easily accessible in the Quantum Realm). Michael Pena is terrific again as Luis and Reed is smart to play into his hilarity more, including the much welcomed return of his infamous monologues. Laurence Fishburne is a good addition as Bill Foster, whom I would definitely like to see again. Hannah John-Kamen does a great job as Ghost, offering the right mixture of unhinged and sympathetic. Walton Goggins is suitably smarmy secondary antagonist.
On the whole, this movie serves as an MCU palate cleanser, after the craziness and devastation of Infinity War. The whole situation is far more small scaled (perhaps appropriate for the heroes) and the threat is more on a personal level than any catastrophic event, which allows for more levity in the film's tone. As well as heaps of sight gags, Reed also throughs in some meta jokes regarding the Marvel Incognito starter pack (sunglasses and a baseball cap) or the overly complicated technical mumbo jumbo ("do you guys just stick Quantum in front of everything?"). But not everything is addressed with flippancy. The MCU is expanded even further with the exploration of the psychedelic Quantum Realm, and the shocking end credits scene ties directly into Infinity War.
Whilst I do appreciate the need for a more grounded narrative after Avengers 3, the small scale story of this film does boil down to be a little too simple. A lot of the time we jump from A to B with very little of importance in between. There are some really creative uses of the growing/shrinking Pym particle, but regrettably most of which are spoiled in the trailers (I feel like I've been saying that more and more lately). Also, as much as I love Paul Rudd and enjoy him in this role, I feel like most of his screen time is just devoted to him Rudd-ing about. Hopefully in the future he gets a little more opportunity for character work.
The shortcomings of Antman and The Wasp are probably more of a symptom of the success of the MCU rather than any fault in the movie itself. It is a much needed smaller story, and the performances, action and humour are all solid throughout. Yet, after witnessing the diversity of Black Panther and the scope and emotion of Infinity War earlier this year, Antman and The Wasp can't help but feel a little flat in comparison.
3/5 Stars
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