There you go, Marvel fans - no more excitement until March 2019 - and I'm sorry to say not much excitement here, either. Because Ant-Man and the Wasp may well be the least engaging of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films to date. I really enjoyed director Peyton Reed's first Ant-Man, and for the most part, I really like this cast. But it feels like there are way too many screenwriters (five) at work, and Reed's direction feels tepid and a little unengaged here.
Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest thanks to his involvement in the events of Captain America: Civil War, but it may be that Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) wife - (and mother to Evangeline Lilly's Hope), the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), thought to be lost in the subatomic miasma of the Quantum Realm (you still with me?)... may yet still be alive!
Ant-Man and the Wasp has a tiresome first act, and takes forever to get up and rolling. Hank and Hope are determined to voyage back into to Quantum Realm to find missing Janet, but a mysterious phase-jumping nemesis (Hannah John-Kamen) keeps getting in their way. Everyone needs Scott's help, but he's supposed to be under house arrest, and we get numerous repetitive scenes of Scott barely making it back home before the (wow, really poorly acted) F.B.I. catches him.
Scott Lang/Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is under house arrest thanks to his involvement in the events of Captain America: Civil War, but it may be that Hank Pym's (Michael Douglas) wife - (and mother to Evangeline Lilly's Hope), the original Wasp, Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), thought to be lost in the subatomic miasma of the Quantum Realm (you still with me?)... may yet still be alive!
Ant-Man and the Wasp has a tiresome first act, and takes forever to get up and rolling. Hank and Hope are determined to voyage back into to Quantum Realm to find missing Janet, but a mysterious phase-jumping nemesis (Hannah John-Kamen) keeps getting in their way. Everyone needs Scott's help, but he's supposed to be under house arrest, and we get numerous repetitive scenes of Scott barely making it back home before the (wow, really poorly acted) F.B.I. catches him.
The cast gamely goes through their paces, and I was hoping for much more of a Thor: Ragnarok level of clever irreverence that never manifests here. Many of the scenes feel like outtakes that didn't quite work, and the whole production feels lit like a perfunctory TV movie, that's frankly surprising given Marvel's track record. Thank
Heavens for Michael Peña, who
brings desperately needed energy to every scene he's in. But other than some late in the game third act excitement, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a pretty tedious slog - though evidently prolonged exposure to the Quantum Realm can make it appear as though you had unnecessary plastic surgery. After the last four knockout Marvel installments, this one feels like it has a pretty dull stinger.
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