ANT MAN AND THE WASP: DON'T SWAT THESE INSECTS AWAY
It's hard to really love any Marvel movie after Avengers: Infinity War completely blew my mind, but Ant Man and The Wasp did a pretty good job of keeping me entertained. The story fits nicely into the broader Marvel Cinematic Universe story arc but is also a solid stand alone film. The nods here and there to the events that took place previously in Captain America: Civil War keep the story grounded in the MCU while not overwhelming the viewer with obscure references-good news for anyone who is not an avid Marvel fan and may just be seeing the movie to beat the summer heat. Paul Rudd reprises his character of Ant Man with the same awe-shucks charm he has in the previous Marvel films and is able to carry the movie with his humor and wit. Evangeline Lilly's Hope/The Wasp is somewhat underwhelming (less frantic typing on your computer please-we get it, you're a scientist!) while Michael Douglas almost comically overacts as Dr. Pym (must he huff and puff for the entire 2 hours and 5 minutes?!), but the movie is entertaining enough that neither character is particularly bothersome.
What does at times slow the film down are the four story lines it tries to pursue at one time. The main characters simultaneously attempt to evade the FBI, fight off a mysterious villain named "Ghost", keep their lab from falling into the hands of a bad man with a worse Southern accent, and build a quantum bridge to find the missing wife and mother of Dr. Pym and Hope. The movie easily could have done without the story line of the Ghost, who has a dramatic entrance and then only shows up a few random times before she is essentially forgotten about until her underwhelming final scene. Because the plot lines continuously bounce all over the place the best parts of the movie (the humor and cool superhero bits) felt rushed along and by the start of the final act I was ready for it to be over.
As a big fan of the MCU, I went into this film really only wanting to know why Ant Man was not in Avengers: Infinity War, and what affect the events of this movie will have on next year's fourth Avengers film. You essentially have to wait the entire movie to find that out, and there are still unanswered questions, but overall it does its job of advancing the MCU story arc and setting up Ant Man to potentially play a big role in the next Avengers installment. If you're not a fan of the Marvel world you'll still enjoy this movie thanks to the jokes and the ongoing gimmick of shrinking objects and then blowing them up in size. It's also enough of an independently functioning film in the MCU that you don't really need to see any of the previous Marvel movies to enjoy it. Ant Man and The Wasp definitely isn't the best Marvel film, but after being emotionally toyed with during Infinity War, it is a thankfully light superhero movie that will tide fans over until the much anticipated next MCU installment, Captain Marvel.