Movie Review: Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) directed by Peyton Reed

Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has only a few days left on his plea-bargained house arrest after he got in trouble helping out Captain America during the events of Civil War (i.e. the big fight at the German airport). He's kept himself busy starting up a new company with some ex-con friends (including the delightful Michael Pena), playing with his daughter, and taking lots of baths. His latest bath includes a weird dream where he was Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer). Janet was partners with the original Ant-Man, Hank Pym (Michael Douglas). She was lost in the Quantum Realm twenty-some years ago. She's also the mother of Hope (Evangeline Lilly) who has been working with her father Hank to save Janet from the Quantum Realm. Turns out his dream wasn't just a dream, because father and daughter opened a portal to the Quantum Realm just when Scott had the dream. The dream had details about Janet that Scott didn't know. Hope and Hank kidnap Scott from his house arrest so that they can finally get their loved one back.

The only problem is the FBI, who want to bust Scott for breaking the agreement. And the black-market tech dealer, who wants to steal Hank's equipment to make a huge profit. And the mysterious quantum-phasing person, who is also after Hank's equipment for unexplained reasons. Make that three problems.

If you think I used the word "quantum" too many times in this plot summary, this movie is not for you. They throw the term around like a magician saying "presto" or "abracadabra." This unexplained science is basically no different from magic, which is fine if you are just going along for the ride. The movie is very fun and imaginative. The fights and chases use the shrinking/growing power of Ant-Man and the Wasp to great effect. The on-going truth serum gag also works surprisingly well. The fake science is well-handled to advance the plot and infuse lots of fun jokes.

This movie also has to be the huggiest superhero movie I've ever seen. A lot of comforting and happy reunions happen (which I guess is a spoiler, but not really). Every character with the exception of the tech dealer is at least two-dimensional. The movie shows sympathetic sides of the bad guys and unattractive sides of the good guys. The movie is not morally complicated but does introduce enough gray shades to give it the right amount of depth. Viewers actually care about the characters, which is important when there's a lot of mumbo-jumbo and CGI going on.

Marvel delivers another fun action/comedy movie--Recommended.