LogFAQs > #971770963

Ant-Man and the Wasp
Release Date: July 6, 2018
Stand-Out Character: Wasp aka Hope Van Dyne (played by Evangeline Lilly)
Best Scene: Laboratory Car Chase

So yes, this is out of order but the girlfriend never saw Ant-Man 2 and we're looking to see Quantumania here soon. We'll go back in order after this!

I actually really enjoy this movie. I think it's extremely fun and does a lot of cool things. I think all of the humor works extremely well too. It's a light-hearted, simple movie with a lot of heart infused into it. In a series of movies that are dramatic action movies, it's a really nice change of pace. That said, it's not the best movie. I don't expect it to be though. It doesn't need to be.

I personally love everything that they do with the size manipulation stuff. I'm going in a different order than I usually do discussing these, but I think the action and effects really deserve to have a lot of focus. The choreography in this is actually pretty outstanding. The creative things they do with the shrinking in these action scenes rules. There's so much creativity involved and there's a lot of blink and you'll miss it awesome tricks they do too. Watching Ant-Man and Wasp just shrink in a blink and then re-size and smash people kicks ass. I'll watch that stuff all day every day if they can keep it fresh. It's so awesome to watch and such a nice change of pace from the action we get in other MCU films.

I think the best part is Wasp, played by Evangeline Lilly. I think she continues to do a great job with this character. She's a hell of a lot more endearing in this one and you really get to see her heart and badassery in this. She's still no-nonsense, but they let her have some fun here when the stakes aren't huge. Her and Scott are a cute couple and work out well, which is frankly what I love about those two. They are able to laugh and joke around and just seem to really be into one another. But man, the stuff they do with Wasp in these action scenes, she really comes across as a huge badass. She's an amazing fighter, has a mastery of shrinking and de-shrinking. The stingers look great. Her added flight is a great way to give her more mobility for fighting. Every single thing about Wasp works in this movie and it's by far my favorite thing about it.

But of course Paul Rudd's Ant-Man rules too. He gets a lot of great action scenes by virtue of being able to use his growing powers too as well as shrinking. It's a nice change of pace and ramps things up. You can really tell that he's a hell of a lot better with his powers now. And probably most notably, he's just funny. Paul Rudd is an outstanding comedic actor with so much charm and he's just a complete delight to watch. And he also has so much heart that helps carry this movie too. He just wants to do the right thing and help out the people he cares for.

Hank Pym, played by Michael Douglas, has a lot of good stuff in this movie too. He's really funny, still bitter, but he also provides a lot of heart here. He cares about Hope, he cares about Janet, and you can tell how much love he has for them. I think his more emotional scenes play really well.

Such as his reunion with Michelle Pfeiffer, playing Janet Van Dyne! Janet rules in this and she's pretty perfect. She balances out that bitter part of Hank and even though she's not in it a lot, you get a ton of her personality. She's the glass half full to Hank's glass half empty. Her lines just bring a smile to my face, and her delivery is perfect. She comes across as smart, confident, and caring. She's great.

The X-Con crew, specifically Luis played by Michael Pena, is tons of fun here too, even in their limited role. Luis is still funny as hell. I love Michael Pena so much. Whatever he does is just always hilarious. The dude is just a master of comedic acting. The other two guys are good too, just... with a lot less of a focus. Baba Yaga jokes always landed though.

Cassie is great too in this. The child actor they had, Abby Ryder Fortson, is actually really good. She's fun and plays off of Paul Rudd very well. You really get a sense they are father and daughter here, and she has a lot of emotional moments as well you might not expect. Just good stuff from her all around. Tragically, her parents are very minimal but play their roles fine. Shout outs to Judy Greer.

And Randall Park is great as Jimmy Woo. Just a funny ass dude who really manages to make for some hilarious stuff out of what he has. I just really enjoyed his presence in the film and the casting was awesome.

But then there's the weakest part of the movie, with the villains. Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, is... well, she's kind of here. I'm going to be a comic snob and say I like Ghost in the comics so many more times more than this character. She gets barely any time to develop and she's not particularly interesting. She's a great actress though, and the best part is that they do the effects of Ghost's powers perfectly. I'm actually disappointed we didn't get to see more crazy Ghost action scenes because it's really just so damn cool. I think if you're going to have Ghost play such a little part, having the character be more like the comics is better. Just an unsettling creep who really hates capitalism, but plays a great goon for hire. I know they tried to use the character to inject more heart into it, but it's just not interesting.

And despite Laurence Fishburne being outstanding too, Bill Foster is also not very interesting. He's a sort of villain but... man, who cares? He just tries to reign in Ghost a bit but it's not really interesting. I enjoyed him, because who doesn't like to see Laurence Fishburne on your screen? But it's not like it lit my world on fire.

Walter Goggins also plays Sonny Burch, who is a more traditional villain. He's just a shitty low level crime lord and it's a vibe I kinda like in this sort of movie. I really enjoy the actor as well, but he's a character who is... you know, fine for what he is. I would've like a different story to maybe utilize him a bit better. But I mean, he is just a leader of goons and does a good job of it.

The best parts of this movie are the action and comedy and personal relationships from our heroes. The worst part are the villains and a weaker story overall. This movie doesn't feel as crisp as Ant-Man 1, but it's still a really enjoyable film that you can just sit back and enjoy casually without investing a lot of emotion. And I kind of wish that more MCU movies could give us something like this. A much lower stakes adventure. Just a slice of these heroes' lives. I know a lot of people seem to really dislike this movie for some reason, but I can't find myself disliking it at all. It's all good fun.

Girlfriend Thoughts: She practically melted at any Scott and Hope scenes, and the Janet and Hank/Hope reunions. They hooked her with that stuff. She also thought Jimmy Woo was hilarious and loved that guy. Basically, all of the humor seemed to land with her from Woo, Luis, Baba Yaga, and Lang. We live in San Fransisco area, so it was really fun being able to point out places we knew. She loved the car chase scene and when it seemed like it was over, she was excited all over again when it continued after a Hank Pym interlude. She thought Cassie was completely adorable as well.