Movie Review

Posted August 8, 2018 at 12:56 pm

Brooke Wright 06-18.psd

Ant-Man and the Wasp:

Saving the world, one joke at a time

By Brooke Wright

NEWS Intern

Marvel is back at it again with Ant-Man and the Wasp, the newest installment to its superhero franchise. Like its preceding Marvel films, Ant-Man and the Wasp combines wit with action, humor with sincerity, bringing characters from the first Ant-Man back for on-screen chemistry, like Scott Lang, Hope Van Dyne and Hank Pym.

Paul Rudd returns in Ant-Man and the Wasp as Scott Lang, the title hero, along with Michael Douglas as Dr. Hank Pym, the sarcastic and exhaustive scientist working to find his wife lost in the quantum realm. Evangeline Lilly returns as Hope Van Dyne, Pym’s independent and strong-willed daughter hopeful of finding her mom as well. Michelle Pfeiffer makes an appearance as Pym’s wife and mother of Van Dyne who was lost in the quantum realm decades before. This all-star cast comes together to make a movie that doesn’t falter to keep its audience entertained.

Lilly as Van Dyne has taken over the character of the Wasp and is equipped with wings and lightning fast abilities to transform into a smaller version of herself as well as bigger to fight off enemies and catch them off guard with the Wasp’s suit abilities.

In fact, the entire movie showcases new technology Pym and Van Dyne have developed over the years in hiding from the first Ant-Man movie. The entire plot is focused around trying to get Pfeiffer’s character, Janet, out of the quantum realm where she has been lost for 30 plus years. Pym and Van Dyne create a quantum tunnel in the film, which is hidden in an old building where their lab is located, also equipped with sizing abilities. To add to the humor, Pym is seen pulling the building behind him like a suitcase whenever they shrink it.

We follow Lang on his adventure while trying to evade the ever-prying eyes of the police as he’s been put on house arrest from events in Captain America: Civil War. Van Dyne and Pym make several jabs at Lang when he talks about Captain America like he’s an old pal.

Lang is asked to help Pym and Van Dyne get Janet out of the quantum realm because they believe she is trying to reach them through Lang’s dreams since he is the only person to have been to the quantum realm and returned. Lang and Van Dyne finally team up as Ant-Man and the Wasp to retrieve Janet while also trying to keep their lab from the hands of Ghost, a woman who is quantumly unstable and proves to be a challenge for Lang, Van Dyne and Pym.

While these two conflicts unravel, the addition of a black market dealer, Sonny Burch, is added when Van Dyne wants to buy a part for the quantum tunnel from him. Burch sees the profit in the quantum tunnel and decides to pursue the lab as well, making for more conflict.

With the two adversaries, the film becomes somewhat of a traditional superhero film coupled with fitting music that throws nostalgia into the mix. The conflicts that unravel are cheesy but realistic and the music composed by Christophe Beck provides an overall “super” theme, allowing for all audiences to find their own superhero within themselves.

Unlike other Marvel films, this movie lacks the depth of plot development and character connection, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The humor coupled with action sequences and failed attempts of Paul Rudd’s character trying to help makes for a very entertaining movie for fans of all ages. The film doesn’t have a dark theme to structure the plot like other Marvel films, but instead this movie stands on its own from the other franchises.

However, spoiler alert, the ending credits scene adds a dark twist to an overall lighthearted film with the continuation of Avengers: Infinity War where we see Lang being projected into the quantum realm to extract energy only to be lost inside with the disappearance of Pym and Van Dyne due to Thanos’ urge to destroy the world.

Nevertheless, this idea shouldn’t stop you from going to see the film in theaters. Ant-Man and the Wasp has proved itself as another Marvel hit and will continue to be loved throughout the years and generations to come.