You may know how much faith (or lack thereof) I put into sequels, and I am starting to wonder if this faith has bled over to the superhero genre. There have been, oh I don’t know, about 187 superhero films in the last couple decades, and it does have to be asked if it is going to get to the point where they are “Ice Aged Out”. Do the studios think “let’s just make them because we will make a big bucket of money on every release”, and have we gotten to the point where they no longer become special, watering down the product.
“Ant-Man and the Wasp” is the new film directed by Peyton Reed, who did the first one as well as “Yes Man”. The film returns Paul Rudd (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy), Evangeline Lilly (The Hurt Locker, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), and Michael Pena (Crash, End of Watch) while adding Walter Goggins (The Hateful Eight, The Shield), Hannah John-Kamen (Black Mirror, Ready Player One), Randall Park (Veep, The Interview), Michelle Pfeifer (Dangerous Minds, Wolf), Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix, Mystic River), and Michael Douglas (Wall Street, Basic Instinct). After the events of the original as well as “Captain America: Civil War,” Scott/Ant-Man (Rudd) is under house arrest, and after a dream, he ends up re-teaming with Dr. Pym (Douglas) and his daughter Hope van Dyne/The Wasp (Lily) to help find mother and wife, Janet (Pfeifer) to the Quantum Realm.
Yes, this is a big budget Disney film, and it shows on the CGI in this film, which blew me away with its realism. From a practical standpoint, the film takes place in San Francisco and shows the film well with great lighting and cinematography. I was able to screen this in IMAX 3-D, but I do not know if it enhanced the film enough to where it is worth the extra cost. The acting is good overall, keeping the same caliber as the original with pros like Douglas and Pfeiffer living up to their standards. I do have to give 2 shout-outs: Park, the FBI agent trying to catch Scott violating the terms of his sentence, whose mannerisms and character style of being by the book but needing a back bone and wanting acceptance was a good twist, as well as Pena, who really made the film fun. He has played many different characters through the years, but him doing this comical role was real fun and amusing.
This is not your standard “evil dude comes to destroy, and you get the superhero to try to stop him, with a bunch of mindless action” type of film, as this story becomes a bit more personal. The best part is that there ARE superheroes that are needed for the story without having the “bad dude” trying to destroy everything. There is a ton of comedy (which mixes well with the action) making its two-hour run time just about right. “Ant-Man and The wasp” is a fun film that breaks from the normal format, and since there was nothing I truly did not like about this film, I will recommend this film as the coveted full price in the theaters.