Sequels are tricky; they can be used as a way to either extend the franchise mythology or re-tread the first movie without offering anything to you. Ant-Man and the Wasp kinda sticks between these two points.
Let's dig in...
Coming straight off Marvel's big daddy Avenger: Infinity War, Ant-Man and the Wasp had big shoes to fill. Yet, in a similar fashion to the first movie, whereby the ethos is not to take itself too seriously, the film does not even try to match up or reinvent the genre.
It becomes a straight by-the-book sequel with enough mushy moments, enough action moments and enough geek moments to pass as a family flick for everyone.
Which is part of the problem. The first Ant-Man was clear that it was a heist-movie-cum-comedy, which gave the film direction and pace. The sequel tries to pander to being a heist movie at times / a spy movie at times/ a family dramedy at times, whereby the parts work better alone than as a whole.
The things that work: the father-daughter/parent-child arc is cool, from Scott Lang and his daughter to Hope Van Dyne searching for her mom. These give the film emotional resonance or the hook for us to feel all mushy about.
It's the story that's meh... the story is not compelling and doesn't push the genre in any new direction... the quantum zone is just background and Michelle Pfeiffers's Janet Van Dyne is almost borderline McGuffin. She really doesn't have a story or a proper arc at all and the villains are not really integral to the story
The villain(s)... Ghost, played by Hannah John-Kamen, is able to pass through walls and emote anger but her arc has no bite. It almost feels like she needed more screen time to be set up and the other bad guy, played by the always great Walton Goggins, is a by-the-number-villain who's driven by greed. Nothing new here.
Which is a pity 'cause you can tell Evangeline Lilly puts her heart into playing the Wasp. She has the energy and passion for the character but the story is average. Take out the shrinking and expanding factor and there's nothing new, inventive nor intriguing about the plot... Evangeline Lilly deserved a better story and more could have been done with the legend Michelle Pfeiffer.
Please, I'm not saying the movie is awful, it's passable but you'll forget it as soon as you walk out the cinema.
As you're watching you will laugh a bit and be heart-tickled now and then but nothing memorable ever happens. I guess even Marvel can't always produce great films that push the genre forward - sometimes you just get an average movie about average heroes. That's Ant-Man and the Wasp for me.
It felt like: Marvel could have just skipped this and gone straight to Avengers 4 and we won't have missed a thing... entire movie could have happened in 30 minutes. Seriously.
Rating
**1/2
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index
* Rubbish ** Meh ***its aight ****now we cooking with gas *****classic, buy the blu-ray