Ant-Man and the Wasp ** (2018, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Michael Douglas, Walton Goggins, Michelle Pfeiffer) – Movie Review

Peyton Reed follows up his Ant-Man (2015) with Ant-Man and the Wasp, which is pretty much the same as the first one and again is okay as a throwaway popcorn movie. It is fast-paced and amiable, with lots of silly gags and a jokey, campy tone, but it is really disposable and feels a tiny bit predictable and pointless. There are several situations going on, but nothing that you could really call an actual story.

The likeable, good-natured Paul Rudd again stars as Scott Lang, who is under home confinement after a plea deal following siding with Captain America in Captain America: Civil War. But dogged FBI Agent Woo (Randall Park) is always on hand waiting for Scott to mess up and be sent to jail. Scott keeps himself busy entertaining himself on drums and karaoke when his friend Luis (Michael Peña) and his daughter Cassie (Abby Ryder Fortson) are not around. Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and her inventor father Dr Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) are grumpy because Scott took the Ant-Man suit and joined in the Civil War without their permission, but naturally not grumpy for very long.

For Hope and Hank have a new quest – to see if they can uncover Hope’s supposedly dead mom (Michelle Pfeiffer). Well, that is fairly interesting. I suppose. Meanwhile, there are the twin problems of shady tech dealer Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) and his goons and the bad-tempered new adversary Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) to contend with, as well as all those pesky things changing in size all the time – buildings, people, cars etc.

Jokey is the only way to go with Ant-Man, who again proves a tricky super hero to bring to life in a movie, and honestly Hope isn’t any more interesting as a super hero/ action heroine. But there is too much throwaway jokey banter, all of it of the same dryly sarcastic kind. Some sprinklings of genuinely witty banter would be great. The jokes start brightly enough but get more laboured and unamusing as the film runs on. Luckily, that is when Peyton Reed throws in some hectic action in the streets of San Francisco. It really wasn’t like this in Michael Douglas’s early days as the young cop in TV’s The Streets of San Francisco (1972- 77). Ant-Men or Wasps were no part of the plots.

Michael Douglas has more to do this time, and seems to be enjoying himself with some new authority, while Goggins and John-Kamen make reasonable, though not remarkable, villains. But Judy Greer (Maggie Lang) and Bobby Cannavale (Paxton) are so sidelined that they don’t need to be there, Laurence Fishburne is at a bit of a loose end as Dr Bill Foster, and Pfeiffer makes only a belated appearance, though I guess we’ll get more of her next time. However, it is Paul Rudd’s low-key charisma that keeps it going.

Of course it is all very slickly done, with amazing CGI, and the actors and director giving it all they’ve got. But, despite all the hard work, I think they are flogging a dead horse with Ant-Man. It’s time to let him buzz off. Obviously, that isn’t going to happen. As expected, the teasing credits sequences set up further stories.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Movie Review

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