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Ant-Man and The Wasp (2018)
Rated PG-13: For Mild Violence
Running Time: 118 minutes (1 hour and 58 minutes)
Genre/s: Action, Comedy, Science Fiction, Superhero
Released on July 4, 2018 (PH Release Date; Available for Worldwide Viewing)
Presented by Marvel Studios and Walt Disney Motion Picture Studios
"Ant-Man" Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby
"The Wasp" Created by Stan Lee, Ernie Hart, and Jack Kirby
Writers: Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring:
- Paul Rudd as Scott Lang / Ant-Man / Giant-Man
- Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne / The Wasp
- Michael Peña as Luis
- Walton Goggins as Sonny Burch
- Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost
- Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne / The Wasp
- Laurence Fishburne as Doctor Bill Foster
- Randall Park as Agent James "Jimmy" Woo
- Michael Douglas as Doctor Henry "Hank" Pym / Ant-Man
So, it has been awhile ladies and gentlemen. An entire month, to be exact. A lot can happen at the start of the school year, such as having to go through another research process at the second week, loads of review days for college exams, and getting reassigned to editor-in-chief for the school paper. The sad thing was that we were working on plenty of other movie reviews last month, but they all remained in blogging hell. But we are back now, and we will remain as active for as long as we can.
Back to the post at hand, we were left shocked and traumatized to the core by the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Now Marvel Studios decided to give us some breathing space in preparation for an epic finale in 2019. Are the Earth's Tiniest Heroes enough to tide fans over until Captain Marvel, and finally Avengers 4? Welcome back to Dateline Movies, and movie court is back in session for the case of Ant-Man and The Wasp!
Since it is still showing in theaters, a spoiler warning is in order. You really don't need a truth serum to know that one, right?
What is the movie about?
After former thief Scott Lang, played by Rudd (Clueless), participated in a battle that he should not have, he is rebranded as a criminal, and is now placed under house arrest, under the strict supervision of F.B.I. agent Jimmy Woo, played by Park (The Interview).
It has been two years since Scott reached-out to both Hope Van Dyne, played by Lilly (Real Steel), and Hank Pym, played by Douglas (Wall Street). The father-daughter team-up has been spending their time trying to rescue Hope's mother and Hank's wife Janet Van Dyne, played by Pfeiffer (mother!), from the Quantum Realm.
But their little rescue mission is being derailed by the emergence of two villains: gangster and arms dealer Sonny Burch, played by Goggins, and the enigmatic phaser known only as "Ghost", played by John-Kamen (Both Goggins and John-Kamen appeared in Tomb Raider). To rescue Janet and save the world from the dangers of the Quantum Realm, it would take the combined might of Scott, Hope, Hank, Scott's best friend Luis, played by Peña (End of Watch), and Hank's former assistant Bill Foster, played by Fishburne (Passengers).
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What we think of the movie?
The Defense:
- Ant-Man and The Wasp is definitely one of the funniest M.C.U. entries, so far.
Comedy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe tends to be a mixed bag. There are cases that it does make a movie, and also adds layers to a character, and there are times when they are oddly placed, to the point that the placements pretty much ruins the entire movie. Ant-Man and The Wasp definitely delivers on the laughs, although I might say that there is some part of me that still wonders on how Edgar Wright, the originally slated director of the first Ant-Man movie, could have continued his story arc.
There are two scenes that I want to highlight, and one of them, of course, involves comedic standout Luis, played by none other than the ever lovable Michael Peña. In this particular sequence, we get the obligatory "Luis Recounts an Event in Funnily Excessive Detail", but this time, he is under the influence of "not" a truth serum. Luis', Kurt's, played by David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight), and Dave's, played by Tip "T.I." Harris (Takers) insistence that it is a truth serum, much to the maker, Uzman's, played by Divian Ladwa (Lion) dismay, is hilarious.
The other scene that I very much enjoy is when Janet, who through the power of convoluted quantum science made Scott Lang into an antenna, takes control of Scott and course corrects Hank and Hope's quantum tunnel, the gateway to the Quantum Realm. (They really had to add "quantum" to everything, huh?) Paul Rudd definitely steals this scene by acting as if it is Michelle Pfeiffer controlling him, and what really seals the deal is when Janet uses Scott's body to express how much Janet misses her family, much to Hank's confusion.
There is this one scene when both Scott and Hope visit Scott's daughter Cassie's, played Abby Ryder Fortson (Playing It Cool) high school to obtain his old suit, Scott's new regulator malfunctions and he reaches the size of a ten-year old. It might be dragging for some, but it is just the kind of lighthearted nature that makes this film a decent time at the theater.
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- It ties in exceptionally well to the events of Avengers: Infinity War, even if it is completely standalone in nature.
Marvel's recent line of standalone films are given much more chances to stand on their own two feet, without having to constantly place Easter eggs or have pointless cameos just to cement its place in the universe. That trend lives-on as, even if they cranked-in a few references to the events of Captain America: Civil War, this movie, from start to finish, really did feel like a movie about its two titular leads in their own adventures. It is completely standalone is what I am saying, and they did not even get to have any of the other heroes out there to at least make a cameo just to keep things focused.
However, even if it is pretty much a standalone feature, it manages to tie-in relatively decently with the happenings of Avengers: Infinity War with just one mid-credits scene. I will not spoil it to you here, since it would ruin the surprise, even if I have already mentioned a lot of spoilers with regards to the film. Let me just say that the stakes for Scott Lang have just increased once Avengers 4. |
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- Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly are an awesome pair.
Once again, Marvel knock it out of the park with yet another star-studded cast, and the best performance among all of them is given by the film's main star. There really is so much to say about Rudd in his second, major outing as our ant-controlling, minuscule hero. Aside from the fact that I enjoyed that scene when Janet takes control of Scott's body, as Rudd pretty much personifies Janet's unique personality traits, I love how Rudd has a very touching, very relatable with his on-screen daughter Abby Ryder Fortson, who continues to be an integral part of the Ant-Man story with her small but meaningful performance. In fact, their small pretend treasure hunt is a dun exploration on how much they have connected as a family.
Evangeline Lilly finally gets her time to shine as the highly anticipated Wasp, and her next to perfect chemistry with Paul Rudd continues to shine. Just seeing Lilly tease Rudd's character whenever his regulator malfunctions, and just seeing her be her usual snarky self, is pretty entertaining. And heck, she even gets the honor of having the very first fight scene all to herself.
However, there is something about this script that made me feel as if not all of the actors managed to actually stand-out. Regardless, all actors, including Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michael Peña as Luis, and even Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster are all pretty good.
However, there is something about this script that made me feel as if not all of the actors managed to actually stand-out. Regardless, all actors, including Michael Douglas as Hank Pym, Michael Peña as Luis, and even Laurence Fishburne as Bill Foster are all pretty good.
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- Some of its creative visuals, evident especially in Ghost's phasing abilities, and costume designs are a-okay.
Like all other previous M.C.U. titles, Ant-Man and the Wasp also has some of the most decent, eye-catching visuals cinema has to offer, even if they are not as grandiose or memorable as the ones featured from its predecessors.
I have to say that I enjoy the two titular leads' costumes, especially Scott's latest Ant-Man suit, because its much sleeker, and much more contemporary take on the trademark costume makes him much more believable to see on-screen. At first, I was not that exactly sure with The Wasp's costume, since they just pretty much just gave her with the usual black leather suits with an extra sprinkle of yellow coating. I was actually yearning to see The Wasp's sleeveless suit from The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes animated series, since it makes her standout more. However, after giving enough thought into it, I have to say, The Wasp's suit here is brilliant, and it does make the idea of a sleeveless suit less logical in terms of the movie.
Perhaps the best costume design for me is arguably Ghost's. By removing the cartoonish cape from the character's earliest appearances, and by taking inspiration from the modern comicbook version's slightly ghastly appearance, you can immediately tell that, from a distance, Ghost is definitely someone that you should not be messing with. And her menacing get-up is equally complimented by the unique special effects that are featured whenever Ghost makes use of her phasing abilities.
Even if the majority of the film takes place in less than imaginative set pieces, the times when it does actually try to be playful with visuals become a tad bit memorable. The entire sequence of Hank Pym entering the Quantum Realm, only to be threatened by the general quantum weirdness that lingers in this pocket dimension is wonderful. From the color, to the unrealistic and heavily imaginative designs of certain Quantum Realm features, everything about that sequence makes me wish that the entire movie is set in it. Plus, the Hank's portable laboratory that serves as the location of his Quantum Tunnel is also pretty creative in design, especially that weird computer system that they have.
Lastly, the two main action sequences, The Wasp's solo fight, and the climactic pursuit of Hank's shrunken laboratory, combined with Christophe Beck's good score, are quite the delight to watch. I personally did enjoy the last fight because we did not have to sit through yet another CGI-filled and over-bloated extravaganza, and we are instead treated to a cat-and-mouse pursuit between our villains and our heroes, who are all fighting over a shrunken building! Yes, a building.
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The Prosecution:
- Every single creative, comicbook-inspired concept is wasted.(Showing all of them in the trailers is also a mistake.)
And when I mean uninspired, I really do mean that they wasted every single one of their most interesting concepts and ideas. Hey, you know the Quantum Realm? Yeah, Janet Van Dyne is stuck there for nearly two to three decades, and the pocket dimension could seemingly give people powers from prolonged exposure. Sounds interesting, right? Well you can forget about it and settle in for spending more time in the least interesting sets yet, from Scott's house, a gangster's restaurant, to San Francisco's roads. You mean to tell me that Janet has a sort-of link to Scott after his trip to the Quantum Realm? Yeah let us just use that concept for one scene, use that for laughs, and never ever bring it up again. So Bill Foster can grow almost as big as Giant-Man, and that Hank has a lot of skeletons in his closet? Yeah, no one wants to see any of those. In fact, why bother showing any other cool story points when we can just show them all in the trailers?
I cannot remember this idea that I stumbled upon somewhere over at Facebook, but the idea revolves around Ant-Man and The Wasp following the same story structure of The Godfather: Part II, wherein one story takes place in the present, revolving around Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne, the other talking about Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne's doomed mission. I think that would have given the writers so much more room to explore all of their unexplored ideas. I suggest that, by following this structure, they ought to have the present arc about Scott and Hope attempting to recover the portable laboratory from Sonny Burch, who is working with Ghost to harness the Quantum Realm's power, and the past storyline revolve around Hank, Janet, and Bill discovering a conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. This way, we get a much more character-driven story, complete with world-building that expands Hank and Janet's past adventures.
The list of the things that went wrong goes on and on, and the biggest disappointment comes in the form of its supposedly main villain: Ghost, which brings us to ...
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- Everything that could have made Ava Starr intriguing and sympathetic is mentioned, but never explored.
After three years of giving us brilliant, threatening, sympathetic, and most of all, fully developed super-villains, Ant-Man and The Wasp decides to take a bold misstep, deciding that since this film is more or less just meant to be a filler episode, less effort should be given to fleshing-out the main antagonist, and by less effort, I mean absolutely no effort at all.
So Ghost's backstory goes like this. Back way back when, when Hank Pym and Bill Foster were scientists for S.H.I.E.L.D., Pym fired his former project partner Elihas Starr, played by Michael Cervais (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant), after he suspected him of being a traitor to the agency. Desperate to clear his own name, Starr attempted to build his prototype Quantum Tunnel, but it only resulted in his and his wife, Catherine's, played by Riann Steele (Sket), deaths. The blast also affects the young Ava Starr, giving her uncontrollable phasing powers that is slowly killing her. S.H.I.E.L.D. found-out about this, so they trained her to be an assassin, but after the agency collapsed, Bill adopted her in her quest to cure herself, to almost no avail.
First off, I just want to point-out how strongly similar Ghost's origin story is to Whiplash, played by Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), who was the main antagonist for Iron Man 2, and was also angry at the main character's father for discrediting his co-worker. Second, you can immediately tell that the writers have almost no idea which motivation should the villain take. Should it be about revenge for the deaths of her parents and for the fact that she is raised to become a child soldier, or should it be desperation for a cure? Third, had the story focused only on Ghost's desire to survive, combined with the moral argument of either letting Janet or Ava die, Ghost could have been a truly unique antagonist. I mean, you really don't get to hear about a villain just wanting to live everyday, after all.
Perhaps the worst thing that could have happened to Ghost is that her own needless origin story is talked about in the laziest way possible, through an expository monologue. Heck, even after Ava reveals her whole story, it is never brought-up again later on.
Also, the introductions to both Sonny Burch, Jimmy Woo, and Bill Foster feel unnecessary and pointless, because Burch is just an average street-level villain who takes the spotlight away from the supposedly main antagonist, while Jimmy Woo is your more comedic Inspector Javert that makes little to no impact on the overall story other than being Scott's parole officer, Foster has no other reason to be here than to be a fun reference to the comics. No offense to the actors though, at least they did the best they all could have. On the plus side, both Burch and Starr survive their debut appearances, so I do expect that they get much more expanded roles in the third Ant-Man outing.
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- For a superhero film, there is not much action or stakes to go around.
Yes, this is arguably one of the most dialogue-driven M.C.U. films to date, and yes, it does feel sluggishly paced after an endless barrage of jokes, and even a scene dedicated to explaining the intricacies of the Quantum Realm. Yes, even if the jokes are as funny as I have mentioned awhile ago, it eventually feels bloated, as if the writers have absolutely no idea what they should be doing. This becomes evident in the truth serum scene, with Luis pretty summarizing things that we already know, even the details that non-M.C.U. fans should more or less be familiar with, from his origin story, to his involvement in Captain America: Civil War.
Also, is it me, or did the film pretty much just rehashed the core story of the first movie, with Scott again trying to be a model father and law-abiding citizen in a brave, new world, and eventually becoming involved in a game of hot potato against villains who want something made by Hank Pym? Yep, they did. To paraphrase what YouTube user "Browntable" said, just because this film is made for the sole purpose of keeping audiences busy until Avengers 4, it shouldn't be dull overall. It should still be groundbreaking in the best way possible, and it should always strive to standout.
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- Michelle Pfeiffer's Janet Van Dyne is just a glorified, overhyped cameo.
Finally, for my other biggest gripe against this film, aside from the squandered villain, and that is the underuse of Michelle Pfeiffer as the highly awaited cinematic debut of Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp in this universe, and the most popular incarnation in the comics. Remember the feature-length set-up for the return of Janet Van Dyne that was released in 2015? Prepare to lower your expectations, as we only ever get to see Janet at the very last scenes of the film, including the post-credits scene.
Honestly, that really won't be much of a problem, had they not treat the character as if she is extremely that important to the film. Her appearance here also raised much more questions than answers, as now she possesses a wide variety of powers that become useful at the ending, which conveniently placed the film closer to the conclusion. How convenient? The entire film revolves around Ghost getting Janet's quantum energy, which could kill Janet but heal Ava. How did this film resolve such a tremendous conflict? Janet heals Ava with a magic touch, without a context on how she got her powers, or how she even managed to survive the dangers of the Quantum Realm, then the film ends with, you guessed it, avoiding being arrested by Jimmy Woo and his team for violating his house arrest sentence. Sigh.
The movie would have been way better if Janet is made into a sentient plot device, similar to what was done with The Vision, played by Paul Bettany (Priest) in Avengers: Infinity War, leaving Pfeiffer much more room to interact with Douglas and Lilly, and delivering on that family dynamic that is sorely missing from the Pym family in this flick. Alas, Pfeiffer is wasted in a potential-filled yet overall squandered film that could have been great with its interesting ideas, but only settled for "okay" with it by-the-numbers execution. It's not a bad film though. I'll give you that one.
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The Ruling: Not Guilty!
Two charming leads and a sense of humor are probably just enough to make Ant-Man and The Wasp a fun, laid-back time at the theaters, despite having a boring and unoriginal story that does not live-up to its unique potential.
So to answer the question of this film being a decent enough a feature to keep fans hooked? It depends actually. If you are a fan of the franchise, surely you will take the time to appreciate the film for what it is, but if I were to be a typical audience member who has no interest in the franchise, I definitely would not be waiting until Avengers 4, unless if I were to be interested in the resolution to the mid-credits scene's cliffhanger. I do hope Marvel gets Ant-Man back on track in their succeeding films.
And with that, we end our latest movie review in a long time. Hopefully you too can stick around for more of our content in the coming days. Before you leave, here is Ant-Man's official theme song, composed by Christophe Beck. Stay tuned for more Dateline Movies!
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