Ant-Man and the Wasp

Ant-Man and the Wasp's five screenwriters come up with an over-plotted superhero sequel but the cast, including Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, bring plenty of humour and unflappable comedic timing

Film Review by Kelli Weston | 31 Jul 2018
Film title: Ant-Man and the Wasp
Director: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Bobby Cannavale, Judy Greer, Tip 'T.I.' Harris, David Dastmalchian, Hannah John-Kamen, Abby Ryder Fortson, Randall Park, Michelle Pfeiffer, Laurence Fishburne, and Michael Douglas
Release date: 2 Aug
Certificate: 12A

Ant-Man and the Wasp – the sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man – has the decidedly unenviable task of following its grander, epic brothers Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War; and while a perfectly satisfying instalment to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it proves not quite up to the job.

Two years after the events of Captain America: Civil War (2016), his role in the face-off between Team Tony Stark and Team Captain America has landed Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) – the size-defying Avenger who communes with ants – in a heavily surveilled house arrest. Otherwise, life is good: he is starting his own security business with sidekicks Kurt (David Dastmalchian), Dave (T.I.), and Luis (Michael Peña, still effortlessly stealing scenes the second time around), and sees his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) fairly regularly. As the final days of his house arrest inch by, Lang has begun having strange visions, from which his mentor Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and romantic interest Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) determine Lang may be the key to rescuing the long-missing Janet van Dyne (an underused Michelle Pfeiffer) – Hank’s wife and Hope’s mother – from the Quantum Realm.

Director Peyton Reed does his best, but with no less than five screenwriters (including Rudd) the film quickly loses the thread under the weight of too many characters and plot lines: enter Pym’s former colleague Dr Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne), with a grudge to bear and a villain for an adoptive daughter, called Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen); meanwhile Sonny Burch (the always welcome Walton Goggins) has his own, rather superfluous, designs for our heroes. The stakes, too, amount to little more than arbitrary deadlines our heroes must meet to save certain characters.

For all its flaws, Ant-Man and the Wasp never loses sight of the fun. The humour and unflappable comedic timing of its cast remains the franchise’s strength, and entertaining action sequences manage to uplift an ultimately heavy-handed sequel.


Released by Disney