Ant-Man and the Wasp isn’t a fantastic sequel. I’m gonna say that up front. But I like everything it’s doing, because it knows where it exists in time.
We’re talking about the second movie because we’re getting ready for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and I can’t wait. This is one of those times none of my friends had any sneak peek releases I was able to get my hands on, so I’ve got to go like everybody else does. I’m going to the movies to see it too. So in honor of the new one, we’re looking back at Ant-Man 2.
For those who need the refresher: Ant-Man and the Wasp is the 2018 superhero film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s the sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man, and it takes place after the events of Captain America: Civil War. It follows Scott Lang, Paul Rudd again, as he balances his responsibilities as a father and a superhero while under house arrest. Meanwhile Hank Pym, again reprised by Michael Douglas, and his daughter Hope van Dyne, played by Evangeline Lilly, are on a mission to rescue Hank’s wife Janet, played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who’s been lost in the Quantum Realm for decades. As Scott and the Pyms work together, they run into a new villain, Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, who’s after Hank’s technology for her own purposes. Along the way they discover the truth about Janet’s fate and the consequences of their actions in the Quantum Realm. It’s filled with action, humor and heart, it has a number of exciting and visually stunning sequences, and it has memorable performances from the cast, particularly Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly.
All true. Everything I’ve said there is true.
It Knows Where It Sits After Civil War
This movie comes right on the heels of Captain America: Civil War. We’ve seen the big giant team-up. We saw the big airport fight scene, everybody running at each other, and who was there, conspicuously? Ant-Man. And who else did we get to see in that same movie? Giant-Man. Big fan. Big fan of Giant-Man. I’m six foot seven, come on guys, I’ve got to be a fan of a giant somewhere.
Having Scott deal with the fallout of Civil War is just as interesting, in my opinion, as what a lot of us are looking at now with the fallout after Endgame, the whole five-year blip and whatnot. In universe, you sit here and you go, they’re in a world with the Sokovia Accords. They’re in a world where right now they’re all fugitives. Except for Scott. Scott’s on house arrest.
Which immediately made me think: oh, Hawkeye. Hawkeye’s not a fugitive. He’s got to be on some kind of house arrest too. Everybody who got arrested has got to be dealing with the aftermath of those events.
Jimmy Woo, and Everybody Having Fun
And then, oh my gosh, you get to meet Jimmy Woo. Jimmy is the FBI guy, and he’s so great. Randall Park plays Jimmy Woo. I love that actor, I love that performer. It’s beyond words hilarious, and hilarity ensues at all times.
I was really amazed by all the various characters. Everybody’s so much fun in this thing.
One Antagonist Too Many
I did feel like the story of Ghost was sort of shoehorned in. I’m okay with it. It gave you an antagonist. But we had one too many antagonists. You had the cartoon villain, which was Walton Goggins as Sonny, and of course you have Hannah John-Kamen as the Ghost character. And I felt like you almost didn’t need Walton Goggins’ character at all.
My thought would’ve been to go with Ghost and fully commit, because the problem is the movie feels like it’s splitting itself down two lanes. I don’t know if that was poor writing or bad writing or what was going on.
Remember, here at Mr. Know-It-All we talk about episodic, serialized things. We also talk about movies, but for the most part I look at everything like a show. The MCU is a giant TV show. So in this series, the Ant-Man episodes if you will, this felt like they smooshed two of them together. I wasn’t a big fan of the way that happened.
Walton Goggins’ character isn’t developed enough. And between Ghost and Laurence Fishburne’s character, Bill Foster, there’s too much Bill Foster story and not enough Sonny story. But Sonny should’ve been a character who came and went quickly, and I feel like we spend way too much time with him. There’s literally little to no value there.
There’s a running gag about truth serum. They try their best to re-grab the magic in a bottle of Michael Peña’s little rant from the first movie, where he’s like, oh yeah, let me tell you what’s going on, this and that. They do this whole thing with the truth serum, not truth serum, whatever. And all of it felt like a long way to go for the joke.
I would’ve preferred much more intensity in the Ghost storyline. Give us why that happened. You could’ve given us more about their lives.
So of the two, I believe the second installment is the weaker of them right now. As of this recording I haven’t seen Quantumania yet. But I will soon.
The Building, the Giant Buttons, and the Janet Thing
I love the fact that when they shrink the building, inside the building he’s built this machine, and there are giant buttons and giant batteries. Because the ants function in there, and when the thing shrinks and grows and shrinks and grows, they all shrink and grow with it. When they’re small, they’ve got to build stuff up and use parts and things. Brilliant. I love what they’re doing.
Then there’s the one weird part. Somehow Janet van Dyne has psychically put a message in Scott’s head from when he was in the Quantum Realm in the first movie. And then she kind of possesses him briefly, and he’s running around doing stuff. That part felt very hit or miss for me. I’m not against it, but I feel like they could’ve been better. I feel like we could’ve gotten better.
There you go, now you know, and if knowing is half the battle you’re halfway to being a know-it-all yourself.
The Verdict
Ant-Man and the Wasp lands at a 7.5 out of 10 on the Know-It-All Index.
It was a fun romp, and fun automatically propels you beyond average to me. But it wasn’t as good as the first. I gave the first a nine. Truthfully, this was more like a seven and a half. Yeah. This was a seven and a half.
I’m super excited for Quantumania. I’m literally going to see it tonight, at the midnight showing at my local theater. Which is not an AMC, though I have tickets for AMC, which sucks. My theater nearby is a Regal, and I bought my tickets early, but I won tickets for AMC for something else. So I’ve got to go to Regal. I can’t wait to drop the Quantumania review.
Your turn. Did you enjoy this one? Are there things you would’ve preferred to have seen, and are you excited for Quantumania? Let me know in the comments on the video above.
