THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
During Avengers: Infinity War, it was acknowledged that Clint Barton and Scott Lang took a plea deal after violating the Sokovia Accords, in order to stay close to their families. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, we get Scott Lang's perspective before Thanos' snap wiped out half of the universe.
PLOT
The 20th MCU film shows that Lang only has three days left of his sentence. Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne are on the run due to becoming fugitives, as they violated the Accords as well, because of Lang using their technology. They make contact with him after he calls them first explaining that he got a message by Janet Van Dyne via Quantum Realm. They reveal to him that they've been building a quantum tunnel, in order to rescue her. Scott is able to help him while another ant is used as a decoy for his house arrest bracelet, confusing the FBI. After receiving more material from black market dealer Sonny Burch, Hope, who is the new Wasp, encounters a ghost like figure who can phase through objects. Scott tries to help her but the ghost steals Hank's lab. With advice from Hank's former partner Bill Foster, who used to be the Goliath, they track the lab with the tech from Scott's first suit. When they find it, they are subdued by the Ghost. When they wake up, she reveals her name is Ava and Bill appears, revealing his alliance with her. Ava explains that she gained her phasing abilities when her father's experiment went haywire years ago, taking his and her mother's life. She survived but at the cost of her new abilities. She grew up to be a living weapon for SHIELD and when that agency fell, Bill took her in. Her condition is killing her and Bill believes that they can extract quantum energy from Janet. Hank refuses to let this happen, believing it will kill her. He, Hope and Scott are able to escape with the lab. When they open the tunnel, Janet is able to contact them through Scott, saying that they only got two hours until they find her with the coordinates she provides. Sonny drugs Luis to tell the whereabouts of Lang and the Pyms. Ava overhears this and goes after them. Luis is able to give Scott a heads up in order to prevent his cover being blown. The Pyms are arrested by FBI agent JImmy Woo and Ava takes the lab from them. After Scott is checked on by Woo, he sneaks away and breaks out the Pyms. When finding the lab again, Hank plans to the enter the tunnel while Scott and Hope distract Ava. Before entering the tunnel, Hank tells Bill that he promises to help cure Ava. Scott distracts the ghostly foe when Hope takes back the lab but Sonny catches up and gets involved. This leads to a car chase, fighting for the lab. When their van gets damaged, Luis helps by using another car from Hank's collection to catch up. When Burch has the lab and tries to run away by hopping on a boat, Scott turns into Giant Man, catches up to him and takes the lab. But he faints due to being so huge. Thankfully, Hope is able to save him from drowning. Ava gets the lab from Luis right just when Hank finds his wife in the Quantum Realm. As they return, she begins the extraction but the two heroes stop it from completing once she makes it through. After Janet reunites with her daughter, she is able to share some quantum energy to Ava, which is able to stabilize the phasing. Luis, Dave ('TI' Tip Harris) and Kurt (David Dastmalchian) incapacitate Sonny and his goons, leading to their arrests. Ava and Bill flee go off radar while Scott is able to make it back home in time for his house arrest to be complete and get the bracelet removed. After the events at the dock got caught on television, Luis' security company "X-Con" gets a new wealthy client which prevents the business from going under. With his sentence complete, Lang visits his daughter Cassie and they secretly hang out with Hope. The film ends with a post credit scene where Scott is retrieving quantum energy for Ava in the quantum realm, but is unable to get out due to the Pyms disappearing on the other side.
THOUGHTS
When seeing this film in 2018, I admit that I had a lot of fun watching this film than, and I still do now. I personally don't think that it's the better film in comparison o the 2015 predecessor, but I still find it highly entertaining. This film has higher stakes compared to the first film and it delivers. It is thankfully just as funny, provides solid action scenes with of course another home run of visual effects as the best example goes to whenever we see the Quantum Realm. I admit that this is a good film but this one has more problems than I expected. Before going into story flaws, it was so predictable not only getting an Infinity War/Endgame tie in, but the fact that Janet Van Dyne would return. Considering that they revealed she would be played by Michelle Pfeiffer a year before release and hinted the possibility of the character's return in the first film, the dots felt connected for me. The second Hank says how it's possible to bring her back, I shouted 'Called it!'. Going into story flaws, the first would be that Scott should have moved the spare suit if Cassie wanted to show off the trophy for show and tell. If he knew his daughter would want to do that, than the first thing he should have done is move it in order to avoid suspense. Sure it leads to his suit malfunctioning hilariously at Cassie's school but I'm saying that could've been avoided. Seeing the lab and vehicles have a switch where it can shrink or enlarge is really cool. It's pretty suspenseful when Ava enlarges the lab near the docks but it's insane that it and the vehicles had never been spotted beforehand with its abilities. If the lab is supposed to be secret, it is weird that Hank would place it in the city when he reunites with Scott. Also since Ava was working for SHIELD and HYDRA infiltrates SHIELD, I can't help but wonder if she encountered the Winter Soldier. Everytime I hear Ava exposit that she worked for SHIELD, I never stopped thinking about it. Also, Sonny calls a crooked FBI agent and gives a tip on Scott and the Pyms' whereabouts at night, yet he and Woo fail to catch Scott at day. That is pretty odd because they had a lot of time and somehow they missed their chance. The most pointless post credit scene I've ever witnessed is the ant playing a drum. I was blown away with the mid credit tie in for Endgame but that ant was misplaced at that time. It was funny throughout but didn't pay off right then and there. It could’ve been interesting to see that scene play immediately after Scott get stuck. Lastly, the big plot hole here is that Janet was stuck in the Quantum Realm for 30 years but Scott ends up being there for five years, as revealed in Endgame. The difference is that it felt like five hours for him but Janet is able to age, not feeling like 30 hours for her. I really hope this is explained in Quantumania. If you ignore all of these flaws, I am sure that you will still appreciate it. Going into the cast, Paul Rudd is good as he was in his first outing as Scott Lang. We see the growth of him being cautious of his actions and knows that it's okay to have help. The biggest laugh he got from me was his routine being in his house during his sentence. Going from closeup magic to reading The Fault in our Stars, I am indeed laughing at something that looks relatable. Evangeline Lilly improved the most in this cast as Hope Van Dyne, considering the shoes she's filling kicking ass as the new Wasp. She shows off the determination to reunite with her mother and you love her for that because we understand that her absence broke her, making their reunion even more heartwarming. I liked that the romance between her and Scott did not exactly feel forced. The sparks were there in the first film and it got implied that they were a thing before he aided Captain America. In this case, this adventure helped them realize how much they love each other. Michael Douglas is good here as well returning as Hank Pym. He's having his own path of redemption saving the love of his life. His cantankerous presence towards Scott and others does represent his years of grief and the actor plays it out very well. Plus, for some reason, I am always laughing to his line delivery of "You sent my suit through the mail?". I just can't stop laughing when he says it. Michael Pena is funny once again with Luis. Seeing him share another Drunk History style story when getting drugged by 'truth serum' and being on edge running X Con, he did not disappoint. I got to give a shout out to Abby Ryder Fortson as Cassie because you love her for having her dad's back during his situation. She makes the world smile because of the love she shows him. The biggest laugh I had from her was when she calls Scott for an emergency only to freak out over her soccer shoes. I don't have a lot to say with Judy Greer and Bobby Cannavale for being almost absent as Maggie and Paxton in this story, I can live with that. However, I smiled a lot when they had a group hug with Scott, reminding us that co parenting is not bad like some would misinterpret, it can work out. Going into the new cast members/characters, Randall Park leaves a good impression playing the gullible FBI agent Jimmy Woo. I recall laughing a lot when he got caught practicing close up magic. Walton Goggins is surprisingly the true villain here as Sonny Burch. He's just a greedy dude and rolls with it, which works. I liked him here but considering how talented he is, he deserves a bigger role than this. Hannah John Kamen gives a unique perspective of the Ghost. Instead of squaring up against Iron Man like the comics have interpreted, she gets a sympathetic arc which is supposed to justify her actions. Every look she has, you know she is in pain as every second passes. The only time where it felt pure evil of her is being selfish and going forwards with extraction, ignoring Bill that Janet would have died. If this character is still alive, it would be cool to see her have an anti hero arc. As for Laurence Fishburne, I was surprised to see him join the MCU due to appearing in DC Comics films during the 2010s, but he fits right in as the former Goliath, Bill Foster. What I liked about Bill is his father figure presence towards Ava. He is willing to do what he can to help her but still has limits unlike her. When he tells her not to go after Cassie as she threatened to, you just immediately respect him showing his humanity. Lastly, I still enjoyed Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne. In the opening flashback, with great de aging, you see that she was a loving mother to Hope, again making the eventual reunion heartwarming. Forwarding to her older self, she is someone who has lived a whole life than she expected and yet remained as selfless as her husband remembered her when sharing her energy with Ava. I was sold with the tears of joy she had when reuniting with Hank. With her back and returning from the Blip after Endgame, I am really curious with what will be next for her and the Pyms. In short, Peyton Reed succeeds in making Ant-Man and the Wasp a really fun sequel and if you enjoyed the first film, you'll feel the same with this one.
Comments