A frothy romp whose stakes aren't too high is just what we needed after the sturm und drang of Avengers: Infinity War and just what we get with Ant-Man and the Wasp, the latest (and possibly lightest) entry of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
With a little heist caper flick here, a little retro sci-fi à la Fantastic Voyage there, director Peyton Reed makes A&W just interesting enough to be fun while it's going on, although one can't help but see it all as merely a mild diversion between bigger-budgeted tent poles. Paul Rudd generously feeds into his DILF-ness here as ex-con/single dad-turned-mighty mite Scott Lang/Ant-Man. He is joined in the action this time by Evangeline Lilly as his distaff partner in/against crime, the high-flying Hope van Dyne, code name: Wasp. Unfortunately she is just the latest one-note superheroine who isn't entirely boring because that one note is "yo, girl power, kick some ass" but still, can't the ladies have a little personality, you know, a little sense of humor?
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| Little Big Man |
Speaking of humor, it fits into Ant-Man's corner of the MCU better then its brethren since, well, it's Ant-Man, but the jokes are overly-calculated, all protracted set up with minimal pay off, as with the even more rapid-fire shtick of Michael Peña's "um, is this a racial stereotype?" sidekick character. Joining the MCU ranks, Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne add some class to the joint, but are really not given much to do except banter with a grumpy Michael Douglas; still, it's nice to see some seasoned veterans in the mix, even if they do mutate them back to the days of Married to the Mob/Boyz N the Hood/Basic Instinct with that creepy de-aging CGI for flashbacks.
Still, by the time the effects of a certain offscreen finger snap reach our characters here during the worst-timed experiment ever resulting in the most-expected cliffhanger ever, your memories of the adventures of Ant-Man and the Wasp will likely be dissipating into the ether as well.
MD Rating: 6/10
Review by Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.
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