The first thing I would like to establish is a spoiler alert. I will be mentioning things from this movie and several others in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
If you follow any of the multi-million-dollar Marvel movies, you know that they are all connected some way, a fact that is prevalent in this movie, but I will hit on that later in the article.
Ant-Man, the comic character, was first introduced to readers in Tales to Astonish #35 in September 1962. The character was originally the superhero alias of the “brilliant scientist” Hank Pym after inventing a substance that allowed him to change size; however, Scott Lang and Eric O’Grady have also taken on the Ant-Man mantle after Pym changed his superhero identity to Giant-Man. This is all in the comics, and I just thought I’d give some background to readers.
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The first Ant-Man film came out in 2015 and introduced Marvel film enthusiasts to characters like Hank Pym played by Michael Douglas, Hope van Dyne — the daughter of Hank — played by Evangeline Lilly and most importantly Scott Lang/Ant-Man played by Paul Rudd.
The movie was like most intro-films for new characters, insofar as it played out to establish a story and build connections to the MCU, while also trying to pack action, comedy and subtle romance and conflict into one film. It made $57,225,526 opening weekend and was one of the side stories offering new characters and an expansion into the universe.
“The story is very simple, but it’s entertaining enough to make us see it to the end,” said Parzival2000 on IMDB. “I was afraid that Ant-Man would be full of comedy, like Guardians of the Galaxy, that had so much that was tiresome. But this film had jokes in the right moment, it was very well used.”
Many reviewers agreed that the film was different and good in that way, which made the sequel something to look forward to, at least in my opinion. This is in spite of it coming three years later, ironically in Phase Three of the MCU films, which includes movies from “Captain America: Civil War” (2016) to “Avengers: Infinity War” (2018), releasing before there was lots of story to catch up on.
The last Avengers film references Ant-Man several times with questions about why he isn’t fighting. The answer is he is on house arrest, which is the main plot in the new film. Infinity War has characters like Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) not knowing of
this “new superhero,” which all contributes to the movie timeline we all anticipated. Yes, both “Ant-Man and the Wasp” and “Avengers: Infinity War” take place simultaneously.
This is very important to remember and the movie doesn’t let us forget this. It makes several references to fighting the Avengers in Germany, which took place in the film “Captain America: Civil War” (2016), and references other characters like Captain America often.
Now, I’ve strayed a bit, so here I will talk about the actual movie. It had plenty of comedy, story and action. We start the film with Scott on house arrest and playing with his daughter, though playtime soon leads to his foot breaching his gate and the cops being called — classic Scott. This leads us to find out about the other characters. When Scott takes a bath, he has a vision of the Quantum Realm and sees that Hank’s wife Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer), has been trapped there.
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He calls Hank and Hope to tell them what he has seen and then gets knocked out, only to wake up in a literal “mini” van — it’s been shrunk — with Hope driving and talking about the machine that opens the Quantum Realm, which is what the movie is plotted around. The movie goes on with them talking to bad guys, fighting and joking left and right.
The bad guy is actually guys in this film, the most important being Ghost (Hannah John-Kaman) — a girl who was in an accident as a kid with a malfunctioned Quantum Realm opener machine, which lead her to have weird powers that split her atoms apart almost every second. This allows her to travel through walls and objects and such. As you probably guessed, she was turned into a weapon by the government and now is trying to use the new machine to save herself by whatever means necessary.
The movie has several shrinkings, growths and so much more, but you will have to watch to understand it all. However, I think the combintion of Ant-Man and the Wasp fighting bad guys and moving the story along is great. Hope as the Wasp gives the suit and the hero a good reputation and a nice intro into what is to come.
I think that the movie does a good job of tying things together in the MCU and explaining why Ant-Man was not present in the latest Avengers film, as well. It focuses more on plot rather than character building with the Wasp but still delivers.
There are also plenty of one-liners and comedy sequences that round the movie out. For something that didn’t get much hype as far as advertising goes, it turned out well. They save Hope’s mom from the Quantum Realm at the end, and Ghost is “cured,” possibly to return as an ally in the next MCU film.
The post-credits scene, however, is something that is amazing and will leave you in shock. The newly reunited Hank, Janet and Hope send Ant-Man into the Quantum Realm to collect matter that could act as healing power. Everything goes correct, and they are communicating. Scott collects the matter in a container, but, as he calls to be returned, there is silence.
Remember the ending of Avengers where half the characters turn to magic space dust and fade to who-knows-where? Well, this happens at the same time Ant-Man is in the Quantum Realm, so naturally this leaves the viewer on edge, because Hank, Janet and Hope turn to that dust and Ant-Man is stuck in the Quantum Realm.
Good stuff. I do enjoy the story-telling that goes on in the MCU and the timeline of all the films. This one does a great job of that, not leaving the audience bored or tired. I cannot wait for the next installment, for I am a fan of the films, characters and the cast.
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